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CHICAGO (WGN) – Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett has released a new song in which he again claims to be innocent of lying to Chicago police about a racist and homophobic attack in 2019.
Smollett, who was found guilty on five counts of disorderly conduct last December, had been sentenced to serve 150 days in jail following his conviction in March. He was released after six nights pending an appeal of his conviction.
On Friday, the embattled actor once again declared his innocence in a snippet of a song called “Thank You God,” which he shared to his 4.4 million followers on Instagram. In the minute-and-a-half-long clip, he claims that the authorities are “hell bent on not solving the crime” and downplaying the “elements of race and trans and homophobia that’s straight taking lives.”
In the song, Smollett says: “Some people searching for fame, some people chasing that clout, just remember this, this ain’t that situation, you think I’m stupid enough to kill my reputation?”
The singer/songwriter adds: “Y’all better look at someone else, you got the wrong one.”
In his Instagram post, Smollett also claimed that all proceeds from the song will be donated to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Illinois Innocence Project, and STB (Secure the Bag) Safety.
After a jury found Smollett guilty, Cook County Judge James Linn sentenced the actor to 150 days in jail with 30 months probation. Linn also ordered Smollett to pay the city just over $120,000 in restitution and pay an additional $25,000 fine.
Smollett has remained silent since walking out of Cook County Jail on March 16. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/jussie-smollett-claims-innocence-in-new-song-thank-you-god-after-jail-release/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:06 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/jussie-smollett-claims-innocence-in-new-song-thank-you-god-after-jail-release/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shirley Troutman, a judge on New York’s highest court, was working last week when her daughter texted messages that included a clapping hands emoji. Soon, her phone was buzzing with other celebratory messages. The applause and the excitement was for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who last week was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court and will become its first Black female justice.
Jackson will become the court’s 116th member. That’s special for Troutman, who is the 116th member of her court too.
“As a judge, as a Black woman, I am extremely proud and wish her the best,” said Troutman, who took her seat earlier this year and is the second Black woman to serve on her court. She said she cried “tears of joy” Thursday when Jackson was confirmed.
Troutman is among 17 Black women and 14 Black men currently serving on their state’s highest court, according to the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, which has tracked diversity on those courts. A majority of the women joined the bench within the last five years and, like Jackson, shattered a barrier, becoming the first Black woman on their state’s high court. In interviews, some of those women described not only their own delight at Jackson’s confirmation but also suggested there’s more work to be done to make America’s courts more reflective of its citizens.
“I am so proud and optimistic about her accomplishment and what this means,” said Justice Melissa Long of Rhode Island’s Supreme Court.
Long, who joined her state’s high court in 2021, also feels a “great sense of connection” to Jackson. They were born 10 days apart in 1970 in Washington, D.C. Long’s parents had married in the city because laws against interracial marriage, struck down by the Supreme Court in 1967, prohibited them from getting married in Virginia.
Being the first Black woman and first person of color on her state’s five-member court “feels like a responsibility,” Long said. “It’s an important responsibility, but it does feel like a responsibility.”
That’s in part because diversity overall on state courts is lacking. People of color make up 17% of the judges on state supreme courts, but as of last year, 22 states had high courts where no member identified as a person of color, according to the Brennan Center. In 11 of those states, minorities make up at least 20% of the population, according to the Brennan Center. About 30% of all federal judges, meanwhile, identify as people of color.
Those numbers help explain why the Brennan Center’s Madiba Dennie says she’s wary of people thinking that Jackson’s confirmation means: “We did it. We have a Black woman on the Supreme Court now.” There’s more work to be done, she said, with “huge disparities throughout the rest of the federal judiciary and at the state judiciary as well.”
The history of Black women serving on their state’s highest court goes back to 1988 when Juanita Kidd Stout joined Pennsylvania’s highest court. That was seven years after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. Stout served for a year before she reached the mandatory age of retirement. Today, the four men and three women on Pennsylvania’s highest court are all white.
Other state high courts are more diverse. Maryland has two Black women on its highest court, the Court of Appeals, where members wear red robes with white collars and are called judge, not justice. Judge Shirley M. Watts joined the seven-member court in 2013 and Judge Michele D. Hotten in 2015.
In California, Justice Leondra Kruger was among the women President Joe Biden considered nominating to fulfill his campaign pledge to put a Black woman on the Supreme Court, if given the opportunity. In Ohio, Justice Melody Stewart was a classically trained pianist before making the switch to a career in law. And in Washington, Justice G. Helen Whitener is one of two gay justices and one of seven women on state’s nine-member high court.
In Massachusetts, Kimberly Budd serves as her court’s chief justice, a position she has held since 2020. North Carolina’s Cheri Beasley served as the chief justice of that state’s Supreme Court and is now a leading candidate in the Democratic primary for the 2022 U.S. Senate election.
Louisiana also until recently had a Black woman leading its highest court. Bernette Johnson was elected to the court in 1994 and served as its chief from 2013 to her 2020 retirement. Today, Justice Piper D. Griffin is the second Black woman and third Black person to serve on that court.
Griffin called Jackson’s confirmation “surreal” and “humbling.” “It was one of those things that you never think you’d see in your lifetime. You know, it’s kind of like you, you’re hopeful, but you’re never expecting it,” said Griffin, who was elected to her position in 2020.
Griffin said her phone “blew up” Thursday afternoon when Jackson was confirmed. “I got lots of exclamation points,” she said. One friend, knowing Griffin couldn’t watch Vice President Kamala Harris announce live that Jackson had been confirmed, recorded the moment on her phone and texted it to her. Over and over and over again friends texted one word: Yes!
Troutman, the judge on New York’s highest court, said one of the things her daughter sent her that day was a picture of Jackson and the president hugging. It’s important that Jackson is the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, Troutman said, but: “It is most important that she shall not be the last.” | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/ketanji-brown-jackson-is-and-isnt-first-black-woman-justice/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:12 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/ketanji-brown-jackson-is-and-isnt-first-black-woman-justice/ |
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials say fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who is both a pro-Russian opposition leader and a close associate of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has been detained in a special operation carried out by the country’s SBU secret service.
Ivan Bakanov, the head of Ukraine’s national security agency, said on the agency’s Telegram channel that Medvedchuk had been arrested. The statement came shortly after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on social media a photo of Medvedchuk sitting in handcuffs and wearing a camouflage uniform with a Ukrainian flag patch.
Medvedchuk leads the pro-Russian party Opposition Platform – For Life. He was being held under house arrest before the war began and disappeared shortly after hostilities broke out.
Putin is the godfather to Medvedchuk’s youngest daughter.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Ukraine probes claim poisonous substance dropped in Mariupol
— A look at Russia’s military objectives and challenges it faces
— ‘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:
WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Congress said the Biden administration and its allies will not stand by if chemical weapons were used in the Russian war with Ukraine.
Lawmakers monitoring developments during a trip to Poland said Tuesday that the U.S. is investigating reports that a poisonous substance had been dropped in Mariupol. But they cautioned that determining the nature of the attack in the beleaguered port city could take time.
“We’re taking those reports seriously and I know the United States government and others are trying to determine if that did indeed occur,” said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo.
Crow said the administration “has been very clear that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.”
The Democratic lawmakers, all members of the House Intelligence Committee, are bracing for a potential long war in Ukraine. They said at a press briefing that Congress is looking at next steps in sending additional military and other aid to Ukraine.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also addressed the reports coming from Mariupol.
“We’re not in a position to confirm anything, I don’t think Ukrainians are either,” Blinken told reporters. “But let me say that we had credible information that Russian forces may use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, that would cause stronger symptoms to weaken, incapacitate … Ukrainian fighters and civilians, as part of the aggressive campaign” in Mariupol.
“We share that information with … Ukraine and other partners,” Blinken said. “And we’re in direct conversation with partners to try to determine what what actually is happening.”
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The global chemical weapons watchdog says it is “concerned by the recent unconfirmed report of chemical weapons use in Mariupol” and is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine.
The spokesperson for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says in a statement that the allegations follow “reports in the media over the past few weeks of shelling targeted at chemical plants located in Ukraine, together with accusations levelled by both sides around possible misuse of toxic chemicals.”
The spokesperson said in Tuesday’s statement that the “use of chemical weapons anywhere by anyone under any circumstances is reprehensible and wholly contrary to the legal norms established by the international community against such use.”
Both Russia and Ukraine are among the organization’s 193 member states.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization says that it “remains ready to assist any State Party upon its request, in case of use or threat of use of chemical weapons.”
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WARSAW, Poland – Germany’s president has called on Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin to pull out his troops from Ukraine and stop the “barbarity” there as he stressed that Germany will not restore its previous ties with Russia as long as Putin is in power.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Warsaw on Tuesday to talk with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda about supporting Ukraine’s fight and aiding millions of refugees fleeing the war.
“This barbarity which we see every day must stop,” Steinmeier said at joint news conference.
“This can only happen by President Putin ordering his army to stop and I believe that only then (armistice) talks can be successful,” Steinmeier said.
“One thing is clear: a return to normal is not possible with Russia under Putin,” Steinmeier said, adding that war crimes in Ukraine must be investigated and “those who committed them and those who are politically responsible must be held accountable.”
Steinmeier last week admitted mistakes in policy toward Russia in his previous high-ranking jobs, when Germany pursued dialogue with Putin and cultivated close energy ties.
Steinmeier served as ex-Chancellors’ Gerhard Schroeder’s chief of staff and Angela Merkel’s foreign minister. Schroeder is now head of the board of directors of Russia’s state oil giant Rosneft.
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VIENNA — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer pledged continued “political and humanitarian support” for Ukraine in a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, Nehammer said in a statement.
The call came a day after Nehammer became the first European leader to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
“It’s important to me to immediately inform all key proponents in this conflict about my talks,” Nehammer said, according to the statement released Tuesday evening by the Austrian chancellery.
Nehammer said he recounted his meeting in Moscow to Zelenskyy, telling the Ukrainian leader about the most important messages he relayed to Putin.
Among those messages are that the war needs to stop, that those responsible for “serious war crimes” like those committed in the Ukrainian city of Bucha will be held to account, and that the European Union is “as united as it’s ever been” on maintaining its sanctions against Russia.
He also told Zelenskyy he believes the continuation of talks in Istanbul are an important step toward bringing an end to the violence, and that Austria will “continue to support all ongoing efforts for peace.”
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KYIV, Ukraine — An adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has paid tribute to Ukrainian troops defending the besieged south-eastern port of Mariupol but acknowledged they are running low on supplies.
Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter that “for more than 1.5 months our defenders protect the city from (Russian) troops, which are 10+ times larger. They’re fighting under the bombs for each meter of the city. They make (Russia) pay an exorbitant price.”
Mariupol was a key target for Russian forces soon after the invasion began in late February. It has symbolic significance as one of the largest cities in eastern Ukraine. It is also strategically valuable as a major harbor and as part of a land corridor between territory held by Russia-backed separatists to the east and the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
“Our soldiers remain blocked and have issues with supplies,” Podolyak wrote, adding that Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian general staff are working “to find a solution and help our guys.” He did not give details, citing operational reasons.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The mayor of the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where corpses of civilians with bound hands and gunshot wounds to the head were found after Russian forces pulled out, says 403 bodies have been found so far and that he fears the toll will rise.
“Today, at 10 a.m. we started unearthing the second mass grave, there are 56 bodies there. Plus, there are four private graves. But I’d like to repeat that as of today, we have 403 bodies,” Anatoliy Fedoruk told reporters in Kyiv. “Taking into account that our armed forces, our minesweepers are working in the forests between villages and settlements in our territorial community, we hope that those who are missing are still alive but most probably we will find their bodies somewhere between the villages, in those forests.”
Fedoruk also said 31 multi-story residential buildings had been destroyed or damaged beyond repair during the war, along with 243 private houses.
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BERLIN — Germany’s president says his Polish counterpart suggested that they travel to Ukraine together with other leaders to show solidarity, but that proposed visit “apparently wasn’t wanted in Kyiv.”
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s comments Tuesday, during a visit to Poland, came after German newspaper Bild quoted an unidentified Ukrainian diplomat as saying that he’s not welcome in Kyiv at the moment because he had close relations with Russia in the past.
Steinmeier said Polish President Andrzej Duda had suggested that they travel to the Ukrainian capital with the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to send “a strong signal of joint European solidarity with Ukraine.” He said he had been prepared to do so.
Steinmeier last week admitted mistakes in policy toward Russia in his previous job as foreign minister.
Steinmeier served twice as ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s foreign minister, most recently from 2013 to 2017, and before that as ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s chief of staff. In that time, Germany pursued dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin and cultivated close energy ties.
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KHARKIV, Ukraine — A strike hit a what is believed to be a culinary school near the airport in Ukraine’s second-largest city on Tuesday, destroying the building and damaging others nearby, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene.
It wasn’t clear what hit the building in Kharkiv, with witnesses describing a loud whoosh followed by an explosion. There were no immediate reports of fatalities.
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BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis used a speech to his country’s delegation of Invictus Games participants on Tuesday to admonish Russian aggression in Ukraine.
“The Russian Federation has been waging war against Ukraine for almost 50 days, and shocking evidence of atrocities and horrors is unimaginable day by day,” Iohannis told the wounded and injured military personnel, who will compete in the 2022 Invictus Games set to begin in the Netherlands on Saturday.
“You know best what destruction and loss of life and the dramas of war mean, how much families and communities are affected forever,” he said.
Iohannis said that Russia’s acts of “horrific, unjustified cruelty” must be punished by the international justice system.
The Invictus Games, an international sporting event for wounded servicemen and women, was launched in London in 2014.
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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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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 intelligence 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 successfully 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. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/live-updates-separatists-deny-using-chemical-weapons/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:19 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/live-updates-separatists-deny-using-chemical-weapons/ |
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Tribes in Maine gave up some of their rights to the state when they settled their land claims more than 40 years ago.
They want to change that agreement so they can enjoy the same self-governing rights as the other Native Americans.
The Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Mi’kmaq view legislative debate this week, ahead of the midterm elections, as their best opportunity for establishing rights to self determination.
The proposed changes come against a backdrop of President Joe Biden’s administration seeking to ensure that tribes are consulted early when it comes to policies or actions that impact them. It also has sought ways for the federal government and tribes to co-manage federal land that is part of tribes’ ancestral homeland.
But unlike the hundreds of tribal reservations across the United States, the Passamaquoddy’s and Penobscot’s three reservations in Maine are governed like municipalities and bound by state laws under the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980.
In Maine, the larger Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes operate their own police departments and health clinics but don’t have full autonomy over matters on their land. The state and tribes have butted heads on environmental, fish and wildlife rules.
Change could come with votes in the state Legislature starting Tuesday.
One of the bills would amend the land claims act to ensure that tribes have control over their land that’s comparable to other tribes in the U.S. Of the 574 federally recognized tribes in the country, about 325 have reservation land.
Another bill would ensure the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point can regulate its own drinking water, drilling wells on land owned by the tribe, for example, and working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency instead of being bound by state regulatory agencies.
On Monday, about 300 tribal members and supporters gathered at the State House and marched to the home of Gov. Janet Mills, who’s opposed some aspects of both proposals.
One of the speakers, 19-year-old Passamaquoddy Noela Altvater, told the crowd that clean drinking water is available virtually everywhere in Maine — except on the Pleasant Point reservation where she’s grown up.
“Our community has been stripped and kept from this basic need for our entire existence,” she said.
Chief Maggie Dana of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point, also known as Sipayik, put it in stark terms.
“Our culture is clear — water is life. And for the Passamaquoddy people at Sipayik, it is poison,” Dana said.
For the tribes, it has been a long, frustrating battle since they traded some rights to the state under an $81.5 million settlement that was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. The settlement can be changed, but only with the agreement of both the state and the tribes.
That settlement for the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet, along with a 1991 agreement for the Mi’kmaq, all federally recognized, put the Maine tribes on a different footing from tribes elsewhere across the country.
In Maine, opponents fear unintended consequences, like tribes flexing their muscle on environmental, fish and wildlife, and economic development.
That’s one of the reasons why Maine’s Democratic governor has not warmed to the sovereignty bill. If it’s approved, she might veto it.
A spokesperson said the governor is committed to improving drinking water quality by working with the local water district, Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the federal government. But Mills didn’t appreciate one tribal leader’s suggestion that she was offering “beads and trinkets” instead of substantive proposals.
“The governor is focused on bringing people together to solve problems, not trading insults at press conferences,” spokesperson Lindsay Crete said.
Despite the governor’s opposition, the tribes still see this as their best chance, potentially for some time, to get the bills passed because they have the support of Democratic leadership.
With the midterms coming up, Republicans could take control of one or both Democratically controlled chambers in the State House, along with the governorship, hampering efforts to press forward with the proposals.
Maggie Dana said the tribes have been educating lawmakers and creating alliances, and they’re hopeful for change.
It’s time for the state to live up to its motto Dirigo, which is Latin for “I lead,” instead of being last to expand the rights of Native Americans to the same rights enjoyed by others, Dana said. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/maine-lawmakers-taking-up-thorny-issue-of-tribal-sovereignty/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:27 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/maine-lawmakers-taking-up-thorny-issue-of-tribal-sovereignty/ |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Vladimir Putin vowed Tuesday that Russia’s bloody offensive in Ukraine would continue until its goals are fulfilled and insisted the campaign was going as planned, despite a major withdrawal in the face of stiff Ukrainian opposition and significant losses.
Russian troops, thwarted in their push toward Ukraine’s capital, are now focusing on the eastern Donbas region, where Ukraine said Tuesday it was investigating a claim that a poisonous substance had been dropped on its troops. It was not clear what the substance might be, but Western officials warned that any use of chemical weapons by Russia would be a serious escalation of the already devastating war.
Russia invaded on Feb. 24, with the goal, according to Western officials, of taking Kyiv, toppling the government and installing a Moscow-friendly regime. In the six weeks since, Russia’s ground advance stalled, its forces lost potentially thousands of fighters and the military was accused of killing civilians and other atrocities.
Putin insisted Tuesday that his invasion aimed to protect people in parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed rebels and to “ensure Russia’s own security.”
He said Russia “had no other choice” but to launch what he calls a “special military operation,” and vowed it would “continue until its full completion and the fulfillment of the tasks that have been set.”
For now, Putin’s forces are gearing up for a major offensive in the Donbas, which has been torn by fighting between Russian-allied separatists and Ukrainian forces since 2014, and where 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 in their favor.
In Mariupol, a strategic port city in the Donbas, a Ukrainian regiment defending a steel mill claimed a drone 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.
It came after a Russia-allied separatist official appeared to urge the use of chemical weapons, telling Russian state TV on Monday that separatist forces should seize the plant by first blocking all the exits. “And then we’ll use chemical troops to smoke them out of there,” the official, Eduard Basurin, said. He denied Tuesday that separatist forces had used chemical weapons in Mariupol.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said officials were investigating, and it was possible phosphorus munitions — which cause horrendous burns but are not classed as chemical weapons — had been used in Mariupol.
Much of the city has been razed in weeks of pummeling by Russian troops. The mayor said Monday that the siege has left more than 10,000 civilians dead, their corpses “carpeted through the streets.” Mayor Vadym Boychenko said the death toll in Mariupol alone could surpass 20,000 and gave new details of allegations by Ukrainian officials that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to dispose of the corpses.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, acknowledged the challenges Ukrainian troops face in Mariupol. He said on Twitter that they remain blocked and are having issues with supplies, while Zelenskyy and Ukrainian generals “do everything possible (and impossible) to find a solution and help our guys.”
“For more than 1.5 months our defenders protect the city from (Russian) troops, which are 10+ times larger,” Podolyak said in a tweet. “They’re fighting under the bombs for each meter of the city. They make (Russia) pay an exorbitant price.”
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the 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.”
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that the U.S. could not confirm the drone report. But he 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 resort to phosphorus bombs, which are banned in civilian areas under international law, in Mariupol.
Most armies use phosphorus munitions to illuminate targets or to produce smoke screens. Deliberately firing them into an enclosed space to expose people to fumes could breach the Chemical Weapons Convention, said Marc-Michael Blum, a former laboratory head at the Netherlands-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
“Once you start using the properties of white phosphorus, toxic properties, specifically and deliberately, then it becomes banned,” he said.
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. The war has also driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes — including nearly two-thirds of all children.
Moscow’s 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.
Reports have primarily focused on the northwestern suburbs such as Bucha, where the mayor said 403 bodies have been found. Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk feared the toll would rise as minesweepers comb through the area.
Ukraine’s prosecutor-general’s office said Tuesday that it was also looking into events in the Brovary district, which lies to the northeast.
The prosecutor’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 allegations that 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 attack near Bucha, five people were killed, including two children, when a car was fired upon, prosecutors said.
Putin falsely claimed Tuesday that Ukraine’s accusation that hundreds of civilians were killed by Russian troops in the town of Bucha were “fake.” Associated Press reporters saw dozens of bodies in and around the town, some with hands bound who appeared to have been shot at close range.
The Russian leader spoke at the Vostochny space launch facility in the country’s Far East, during his first known foray outside Moscow since the war began. He also said 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.
Addressing the pace of the campaign, Putin said Russia was proceeding “calmly and rhythmically” because it wanted to “achieve the planned goals while minimizing the losses.”
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.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/mayor-more-than-10000-civilians-dead-in-ukraine-port-city/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:35 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/mayor-more-than-10000-civilians-dead-in-ukraine-port-city/ |
WARREN COUNTY, N.Y. (WTEN) — The now-adult survivor of a kidnapping and sexual assault in 1995 is sharing her story for the first time in an effort to keep the man who attacked her behind bars. Only her first name is used in this story to protect her identity.
The attack happened on Aug. 11, 1995, when Laura was 12 years old. She was vacationing with her family in Brant Lake, located in the Adirondacks in Warren County, New York.
“I went on my bike ride thinking absolutely nothing of it,” she said.
She rode to a corner store and called her mother on the store’s pay phone to let her know she would return in a few minutes. Then she started riding back home.
But moments after leaving, a vehicle pull in front of her on the roadway. “Cut me off and jammed on his brakes. I did not know exactly what to think,” she said. But she did know that something was wrong.
The driver, a man she would soon come to know as Patrick May, was a convicted sex offender.
Laura jumped off her bike screaming. She said she did not hear anyone chasing her.
“The next thing I remember is being on the ground and watching it from above, like just sort of disassociated. Watching myself get raped,” she said. “I remember thinking, ‘I am going to die. My parents will never find my body. They will not know what happened to me.'”
She did her best to fight off her attacker, including biting him.
At just 12 years old, Laura knew she would have to rely on sheer will and her smarts if she was to survive.
After raping her in the woods, May then drove Laura to another wooded location in Hague, 20 miles away, where he assaulted her again.
With her wrists bound with tape, May had Laura clean herself up behind his vehicle. That’s when she noticed his license plate. “I remember just looking at the back of his license plate and repeating it over and over again.”
Even though he had promised not to kill her, May began to strangle Laura in the woods. She tried to outsmart him by playing dead. “And I just dangled there as he strangled me. And he did not stop, and that is the last memory I have of that evening,” she said.
Sixteen hours after being abducted, she woke up in the woods. Naked and badly injured, she was able to make her way to a nearby home for help.
Her anxious parents rushed to the hospital, finding their daughter bruised and beaten. The whites of Laura’s eyes were all red — a condition called petechiae — due to being strangled.
“When the word ‘raped’ came out my mouth associated with a 12-year-old, it was so bizarre. I mean, I believed it, but I couldn’t believe it. In fact, I still don’t believe it,” said her father.
Her parents said they were just grateful that their daughter was alive.
Investigators located May using the license plate number given to them by Laura. Former Warren County Sheriff Bud York worked on the case in 1995, but he already knew Patrick May from the mid-1980s, arresting him for raping a neighbor after he broke into her home. For that crime, May served less than two years in prison.
According to investigators, after May got out, he tried to abduct a woman outside a grocery store in Baldwinsville, New York. York said other previously unidentified victims have since come forward as well.
“He should have never got out,” said York.
Investigators credit Laura’s courage, along with bite marks she left on May and remembering that license plate number for securing a conviction and prison term of 75 to 150 years.
“I was strong before this happened. We always said he picked the wrong girl. And so, I wanted to be able to help others,” says Laura.
Laura’s strength helped her turn her pain into a mission to help other victims. She graduated from law school and is now a prosecuting attorney, going after the Patrick May’s of the world.
“That’s why I wanted to go to trial. It’s led me on the career path I have today,” she said.
But always looming in the background is the fear that her attacker may one day be released. May became eligible for parole two years ago. While that request was denied, he is now up for another parole hearing this June.
“If Patrick gets out of prison, there will be other victims. And they are going to be dead. Because he does not want to be behind bars,” said York.
To ensure May stays behind bars, every two years, Laura’s parents conduct a letter-writing campaign asking everyone they know — and even those they don’t — to write letters to the parole board asking them to keep him in prison.
“Anybody that can get involved because this isn’t just us. This could be your kid. It could be anybody,” said Laura’s mom.
“Thinking that he murdered me and left me for dead in an area where people dump their garbage because that is the regard that he had for my life, he should never, ever, be free,” added Laura.
May, 58, has a conditional release date of Dec. 17, 2028. If he can find appropriate housing and was not disciplined while in prison, he will be released and the parole board has no choice.
But in the meantime, Laura and her parents are reaching out to anyone who will listen, asking them to help. They say they received an incredible response during their last letter-writing campaign, with more than 1,000 letters written to the parole board.
If you wish to send a letter, address envelopes to:
Cayuga Correctional Facility
Attn: SORC (Parole Board)
2202 State Route 38A
P.O. Box 1150
Moravia, NY 13118-1150 | https://www.wane.com/news/1995-kidnapping-sex-assault-survivor-makes-another-plea-to-keep-predator-behind-bars/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:42 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/1995-kidnapping-sex-assault-survivor-makes-another-plea-to-keep-predator-behind-bars/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — A gunman in a gas mask and a construction vest set off a smoke canister on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn and shot at least 10 people Tuesday, authorities said. Police were scouring the city for the shooter and a U-Haul truck with Arizona license plates.
A scene of horror unfolded as frightened commuters ran from the train as other limped out of it. At least one collapsed on the platform.
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS. Smoke poured out of the train car as the door opened, he added.
Five people were in critical condition but expected to survive. At least 17 in all were injured in some way in the attack that began on a subway train that pulled into the 36th Street station in the borough’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said that the attack was not being investigated as terrorism, but that she was “not ruling out anything.” FBI agents and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force surveyed nearby businesses, interviewing witnesses and searching for surveillance footage.
Police helicopters hovered overhead for hours as authorities searched for the shooter, who has not been identified. The motive remains unknown. Investigators recovered a firearm at the scene, along with multiple smoke devices and other items they are analyzing, two law enforcement officials said. The officials were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition on anonymity.
Officers around the city were being told that if they spot the U-Haul truck, they should stop it and detain all occupants immediately.
The attack unnerved a city on guard about a rise in gun violenceand the ever-present threat of terrorism. It left some New Yorkers jittery about riding the nation’s busiest subway system and prompted officials to increase policing at transportation hubs from Philadelphia to Connecticut.
One rider’s video, shot through a closed door between subway cars, shows a person in a hooded sweatshirt raising an arm and pointing at something — possibly the door to a conductor’s booth — as five bangs sound. In another video, smoke and people pour out of a subway car and wails erupt as passengers run for an exit while a few others limp off the train. One falls to the platform.
“Someone call 911!” a person shouts.
Other video and photos from the scene show people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the platform, some amid what appear to be small puddles of blood, and another person on the floor of a subway car.
Juliana Fonda, a broadcast engineer at WNYC-FM, told its news site Gothamist she was riding the train when passengers from the car behind hers started banging on the door between them.
“There was a lot of loud pops, and there was smoke in the other car,” she said. “And people were trying to get in and they couldn’t, they were pounding on the door to get into our car.”
As police searched for the shooter, Gov. Kathy Hochul warned New Yorkers to be vigilant.
“This individual is still on the loose. This person is dangerous,” the Democrat said at news conference. “This is an active shooter situation right now in the city of New York.”
Fire and police officials were investigating reports that there had been an explosion, but Sewell said at a press conference just after noon that there were no known explosive devices. Multiple smoke devices were found on the scene, said mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy.
After people streamed out of the train, quick-thinking transit workers ushered passengers to another train across the platform for safety, system chief Janno Lieber noted.
High school student John Butsikaris was riding the other train when he saw a conductor urging everyone to get in. He thought there might just have been a mundane problem until the next stop, when he heard screams for medical attention and his train was evacuated.
“I’m definitely shook,” the 15-year-old told The Associated Press. “Even though I didn’t see what happened, I’m still scared, because it was like a few feet away from me, what happened.”
No transit workers were physically hurt, according to their union. Besides gunshot wounds, the injured riders were treated for smoke inhalation, shrapnel and panic.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland were briefed on the incident. New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is isolating following a positive COVID-19 test on Sunday, said in a video statement that the city “will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized, even by a single individual.”
The incident happened on a subway line that runs through south Brooklyn in a neighborhood predominantly home to Hispanic and Asian communities and about a 15-minute train ride to Manhattan. Local schools, including Sunset Park High School across the street from the station, were locked down.
Danny Mastrogiorgio of Brooklyn had just dropped his son off at school when he saw a crush of passengers, some of them wounded, running up the subway stairway at the nearby 25th Street station in panic. At least two had visible leg injuries, he said.
“It was insane,” he told the AP. “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 that contains the 36th Street station.
“Then they started ushering people that were on the block to the adjacent block and then closed off the subway entrance,” he told the AP. When he noticed bomb squad officers and dogs, he was certain it was no everyday subway problem.
New York City has faced a spate of 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.
“We say: No more. No more mass shootings. No more disrupting lives. No more creating heartbreak for people just trying to live their lives as normal New Yorkers,” Hochul said. “It has to end.”
___
Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington and Jennifer Peltz, Karen Matthews, Michelle L. Price and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/multiple-people-shot-at-new-york-city-subway-station/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:42 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/multiple-people-shot-at-new-york-city-subway-station/ |
EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – More than 2,000 U.S.-bound trucks are stranded in Juarez as truckers frustrated with “slow” inspections on the American side blocked access to the commercial lanes of the Ysleta Port of Entry for a second consecutive day.
Late Tuesday morning, the head of Juarez’s largest trucking associations said a second border crossing, the Santa Teresa port of entry, was also being blocked from the Mexican side in protest.
The truckers began their protest Monday afternoon after waiting up to nine hours in line to cross into the United States. The delays were first reported on Friday and coincided with the start of the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Enhanced Border Inspections.
The inspections are part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s initiatives to stem human trafficking and other illegal activity and to ensure trucks coming over from Mexico are safe.
But the truckers on Tuesday said they won’t move until inspection times on the U.S. side go back to normal. “Some get paid by the trip, so if they don’t deliver (merchandise), they don’t get paid,” said Randy Cardiel, a trucker from Chihuahua, Mexico.
The drivers aren’t the only ones affected by lengthier inspection times or the shutdown.
U.S. run factories in Mexico are also losing money, said Thor Salayandia, president of the Juarez Chamber of Industry and Manufacturing.
“This is primarily a political issue that is detrimental to the border area. Mexico and the United States are being affected by the Texas inspections,” Salayandia said. “Two-thousand trailers are stuck at the border. If a single truck carries $50,000 in merchandise, then we’re talking about $100 million (in commerce) being held up at the border.”
Juarez has about 300 factories that manufacture components and products for Fortune 500 businesses in the United States, including automakers and tech companies. Those factories operate on a “just in time” schedule, which means delays at the border overwhelm storage capacity and deprive companies in the United States of parts necessary to make and deliver products to American consumers.
“We hope the government of Texas realizes that the most affected by this are U.S. factories that have a presence in Mexico, and the border economy,” Salayandia said. “We talk about free trade treaties and the flow of merchandise. This does not go in line with free trade.”
In a Monday visit to El Paso, Abbott spoke about the need to keep Texas communities safe in the face of record migration and the announced termination of the Title 42 order, which has allowed border agents to quickly expel 1.7 million newly arrived migrants.
He did not address the impact of the enhanced border inspections by DPS.
Juarez business leaders since late Friday are urging truckers to try alternate crossings to avoid delays. Trucks could be seen coming non-stop of the Santa Teresa, New Mexico port of entry on Tuesday morning. New Mexico is not applying enhanced inspections at the border.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, called Texas’ enhanced inspections a “political stunt.”
“Once again, we’re seeing the Governor enact directives that demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of the complex issues we face on our border. Political stunts, like ‘enhanced inspections’ and Operation Lone Star, have no place in El Paso, in Texas, or in public policy,” Escobar tweeted.
RELATED STORY: Truckers in Mexico blocking commercial lanes to Ysleta Port of Entry
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- 1995 kidnapping, sex assault survivor makes another plea to keep predator behind bars
For local and breaking news, sports, weather alerts, video and more, download the FREE KTSM 9 News App from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. | https://www.wane.com/news/bridge-blockade-strands-2k-u-s-bound-trucks-in-mexico/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:48 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/bridge-blockade-strands-2k-u-s-bound-trucks-in-mexico/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, whose seven months in that role has been overshadowed by probes into a previous campaign, was arrested Tuesday in a federal corruption investigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Benjamin was arrested 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 following the resignation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations.
But just over two months later, a real estate developer who steered campaign contributions toward Benjamin’s failed bid for New York City comptroller was indicted.
Federal authorities accused Gerald Migdol of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft in illegally giving donations to Benjamin’s campaign.
Prosecutors had previously not made any accusations against Benjamin, and his campaign said at the time of Migdol’s arrest that it had forfeited any improper donations as soon as they were discovered.
More recently, reports came out saying subpoenas had been issued to Benjamin regarding the financial issues even before Hochul picked him as lieutenant governor.
Despite her saying she didn’t know of the subpoenas at the time, Hochul proclaimed her support for Benjamin, and he said he had told state police as they went though the process of vetting him.
“I have utmost confidence in my lieutenant governor,” Hochul said during a Thursday press conference. “This is an independent investigation related to other people and he’s fully cooperating. He is my running mate.”
Benjamin was the state’s second Black lieutenant governor. During his state Legislature career, the Democrat emphasized criminal justice reform and affordable housing. His district included most of central Harlem, where he was born and raised by Caribbean immigrant parents.
He has a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Brown University and a master’s of business administration from Harvard Business School, and worked as a developer of affordable housing. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/ny-lt-gov-benjamin-arrested-in-campaign-donation-scheme/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:49 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/ny-lt-gov-benjamin-arrested-in-campaign-donation-scheme/ |
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — The city of Fort Wayne plans to widen and improve a stretch of Hillegas Road, and the public is invited to weigh in on the plans.
Hillegas Road from West State Boulevard to West Coliseum Boulevard will see:
- an ADA compliant sidewalk and multi-use path within the corridor
- urban street design with curb and gutter
- drainage improvements with new storm sewers
- green infrastructure
- street lighting
- urban landscaping
The project will be completed in two phases, in 2025 and 2027.
A public meeting will be held at Three Rivers Wesleyan Church at 2825 Hillegas Road on Thursday, April 21 from 6-7 p.m. It will also be shared on Facebook.
At the meeting, city officials will discuss the overview of the project, how they plan to keep closure during construction to a minimum, and the tentative timeline. There will be time for questions from the public. | https://www.wane.com/news/local-news/stretch-of-hillegas-road-to-be-widened/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:54 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/local-news/stretch-of-hillegas-road-to-be-widened/ |
NEW YORK CITY (NEXSTAR) – Ten people were shot on Tuesday morning during an attack in a subway car in Brooklyn, where officials said they also found “several undetonated devices,” according to police and fire officials in New York City.
Suspect opened fire on N train
At a press conference on Tuesday, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the suspect — who remains at large — was riding the N train at approximately 8:24 a.m. when he put on a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister. He opened fire as the train filled with smoke, hitting people both in the subway car and on the platform at the 36th Street subway station in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park, according to Sewell.
10 people shot, 16 injured
The FDNY first got reports of smoke coming from the subway station at around 8:30 a.m. First responders arrived to find at least five people had been shot, but a representative who spoke with Nexstar’s WPIX said the number of shooting victims was likely higher. At a press conference following the attack, the FDNY confirmed 10 people were shot, and five were in critical but stable condition.
Six others were said to be injured, according FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh, but the extent of their injuries was not specified. Kavanaugh said some of the other victims may have suffered from “panic”-induced injuries or smoke inhalation.
The victims were being treated at local hospitals, including NYU Langone and Methodist, the FDNY told Nexstar. None of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening.
Suspect wore gas mask, green vest
At Tuesday’s press conference, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell confirmed the victim had worn a gas mask and a green “construction-type vest” over a gray hooded sweatshirt. Sewell declined to say if the suspect was attempting to pass as an MTA or city employee.
The suspect is described as a Black male, approximately 5-feet, 5-inches, with a “heavy build,” Sewell said.
Police are currently asking the public for assistance or tips, “no matter how insignificant,” that may lead to the suspect’s identification and arrest, she said. Anyone with information is being urged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
His motive is currently unclear, Sewell said.
No ‘explosive devices’ on NYC subway trains
The FDNY said Tuesday morning that “several undetonated devices” were found at the station, but the NYPD later wrote on Twitter that there none were active.
At the press conference, Sewell stated that there were “no known explosive devices” on the city’s trains..
The incident is not currently being investigated as an act of terrorism, but Sewell said police are not ruling out the possiblity.
Startling video emerges on social media
Footage believed to be taken at the 36th Subway Station appeared to show panicked NYC commuters rushing to exit a train on Tuesday morning. In one video, which began circulating on social media shortly after the attack, passengers flee train cars that appeared to be filling with smoke or gas.
One person looked to be hobbling from the train on an injured foot, the video shows. The rider then layed down on the subway platform.
An MTA employee over the loudspeaker could also be heard instructing passengers to quickly board a different train, located across the platform.
NYC’s Department of Emergency Management warned the public to expect delays, disruptions and cancellations due to the investigation, especially on and D, N or R trains in either direction. Commuters are being told to avoid the area, which continues to be an active crime scene.
President Biden briefed on situation
White House officials said Tuesday morning that President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation in Brooklyn. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also confirmed the White House was in touch with NYC Mayor Eric Adams and the city’s police commissioner “to offer assistance.”
The mayor’s office is asking New Yorkers to avoid the station and the surrounding area during the city’s investigation.
“While we gather more information, we ask New Yorkers to stay away from this area for their safety and so that first responders can help those in need and investigate,” the mayor’s press secretary tweeted.
New Yorkers ‘sick and tired,’ gov says
At Tuesday’s press conference, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would devote the full resources of the state to fight “surging crime.”
“It has to end and it ends now,” she said. “We are sick and tired of reading headlines about crime, whether they’re mass shootings, or the loss of a teenage girl or a 13-year-old. It has to stop,”
The NYPD and FDNY said additional briefings would be held later on Tuesday. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/nyc-subway-shooting-what-we-know-about-the-suspect-victims/ | 2022-04-12T19:35:57 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/nyc-subway-shooting-what-we-know-about-the-suspect-victims/ |
DALLAS (AP) — The federal requirement to wear face masks on airplanes and public transportation is scheduled to expire next week, and airline executives and Republican lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to let the mandate die.
The fate of the rule — and consideration of an alternate “framework” of moves to limit the spread of COVID-19 — was under discussion Monday within the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Officials described it as a close call.
“This is a decision that the CDC Director Dr. (Rochelle) Walensky is going to make,” White House coronavirus-policy adviser Dr. Ashish Jha said Monday. “I know the CDC is working on developing a scientific framework for how to answer that. We are going to see that framework come out I think in the next few days.”
Jha said that extending mask mandate again is “on the table.”
The administration gave the rule a one-month reprieve in March so that public-health officials would have time to develop alternative methods of limiting the transmission of COVID-19 during travel.
The mask mandate is the most visible vestige of government restrictions to control the pandemic, and possibly the most controversial. A surge of abusive and sometimes violent incidents on airplanes has been attributed mostly to disputes over mask-wearing.
Critics have seized on the fact that states have rolled back rules requiring masks in restaurants, stores and other indoor settings, and yet COVID-19 cases have fallen sharply since the omicron variant peaked in mid-January.
“The American people have seen through the false logic that COVID-19 only exists on airplanes and public transportation,” Republicans on the House and Senate transportation committees said Friday in a letter to the administration.
However, a recent uptick in cases could provide reason for the CDC to keep the mask rule a bit longer.
After a steep, two-month decline, the seven-day rolling U.S. average of new reported COVID-19 cases has turned slightly higher in recent days, although from relatively low levels.
Several prominent officials have contracted the virus, including the 82-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who tested positive for the virus last week after appearing – without a mask – at a White House event with President Joe Biden. Also last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo disclosed that they had tested positive after a gathering that was quickly dubbed a super-spreader event.
Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist at the New England Complex Systems Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, believes that if the mandate is dropped, more air travelers and airline crew members will get sick. He said the CDC made a mistake by linking mask guidance to hospitalization rates because less-severe but highly transmissible variants can still kill large numbers of people.
“In public health we try to prevent crashes. Medicine is basically mechanics who try to fix cars after they have already crashed,” he said. “Do you say, ‘Oh, you don’t need to buckle your seat belt today, hospital beds are not full?’ Who does that?”
Airlines began requiring masks in 2020, months before the government mandate was issued days after President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Airlines faced financial ruin because of the pandemic, and the masks and other measures such as blocking middle seats were meant to reassure frightened passengers that flying was safe from the virus.
In December, the CEO of Southwest Airlines was forced to walk back a comment that masks didn’t do much to improve health safety in the cabin because planes have strong air filters.
Travelers have returned — the number of Americans getting on planes surged past 2 million a day in March — and airlines think they can sell plenty of seats without the mask rule.
“My flight attendants are begging us to stop this,” Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle said. “Every day it’s causing all of these incidents on board, and it’s frustrating and it’s dangerous. You’re asking a 24-year-old flight attendant to explain it to someone who is mad” about the rule.
Unions that represent flight attendants once supported the mask rule but are now neutral. Officials say their members are divided, which could explain why the two largest U.S. flight-attendant unions declined to comment on the issue this week.
Executives of 10 airlines including American, Delta, United and Southwest wrote to Biden last month, urging the White House to drop the mask rule and a requirement that international travelers test negative for COVID-19 before flying to the U.S. “Much has changed since these measures were imposed and they no longer make sense in the current public health context,” the executives said.
Airlines for America, a trade group representing those big airlines, and three other industry organizations made a similar appeal to Dr. Jha on Friday. They pointed to recent CDC guidance which found that the most Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors because hospitalization rates in their communities are relatively low.
Savanthi Syth, an airline analyst for Raymond James & Associates, said there are some people who will feel uncomfortable flying with fellow passengers who aren’t wearing masks, but there could be others who have avoided flying because they’re not comfortable wearing one for a long flight.
“I expect the vast majority of passengers and flight attendants will welcome the change (if the rule is dropped), given that it is consistent with most other areas of everyday life,” Syth said. She said any impact on travel demand will be small, and that airlines would get a much bigger boost from elimination of the testing requirement on inbound international travelers.
Chris Lopinto, co-founder of travel site ExpertFlyer.com, said that because of the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases, it might be wise to keep the mask mandate until cases subside again.
“I don’t think there would be a material effect on demand either way, considering airlines can barely keep up with the demand they already have,” he said.
Most congressional Democrats continue to support the mask mandate. A leading liberal, Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass, urged the CDC and the Transportation Security Administration to keep the rule in place, saying that the virus and variants remain a threat to seniors and people with weakened immune systems or disabilities.
The political calculus could be shifting, however. Last month, eight Democrats broke with the White House and joined Senate Republicans in a symbolic vote against the mask mandate. Four of those Democrats face difficult re-election races in November, and the party is unlikely to keep control of the Senate if any of them lose. | https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/mask-rule-for-planes-and-trains-still-up-in-the-air/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:00 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/mask-rule-for-planes-and-trains-still-up-in-the-air/ |
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law on Tuesday that makes it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as part of an aggressive push in Republican-led statesacross the country to scale back abortion rights.
The bill, which takes effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns next month, makes an exception only for an abortion performed to save the life of the mother. Abortion rights advocates say the bill signed by the GOP governor is certain to face a legal challenge.
Its passage comes as the conservative U.S. Supreme Court considers ratcheting back abortion rights that have been in place for nearly 50 years.
“We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma,” Stitt said during a signing ceremony for the bill, flanked by anti-abortion lawmakers, clergy and students. “I promised Oklahomans that I would sign every pro-life bill that hits my desk, and that’s what we’re doing here today.”
Under the bill, anyone convicted of performing an abortion would face up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. It does not authorize criminal charges against a woman for receiving an abortion.
Sen. Nathan Dahm, a Broken Arrow Republican now running for Congress who wrote the bill, called it the “strongest pro-life legislation in the country right now, which effectively eliminates abortion in Oklahoma.”
Dahm said the bill would apply to any physicians in Oklahoma who dispense abortion medication to women, which accounted for about 64% of all abortions performed in Oklahoma in 2020, the most recent year for which statistics were available. There is no enforcement mechanism in the bill for women who order abortion medication online from out-of-state suppliers. Oklahoma lawmakers passed a bill last year to prevent women from ordering abortion medication online, but that measure was blocked by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Abortion rights advocates say the bill is clearly unconstitutional, and similar laws approved recently in Arkansas and Alabama have been blocked by federal courts.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki released a statement Tuesday describing the bill as an “unconstitutional attack on women’s rights.”
“Protecting the right recognized in Roe v. Wade continues to be a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration, and we call on Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would shut down these attacks and codify this long-recognized, constitutional right,” Psaki said.
Although similar anti-abortion bills approved by the Oklahoma Legislature in recent years have been stopped as unconstitutional, anti-abortion lawmakers have been buoyed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow new Texas abortion restrictions to remain in place.
The new Texas law, the most restrictive anti-abortion law to take effect in the U.S. in decades, leaves enforcement up to private citizens, who are entitled to collect what critics call a “bounty” of $10,000 if they bring a successful lawsuit against a provider or anyone who helps a patient obtain an abortion.
“The U.S. Supreme Court’s failure to stop Texas from nullifying the constitutional right to abortion has emboldened other states to do the same,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “We’ve sued the state of Oklahoma ten times in the last decade to protect abortion access and we will challenge this law as well to stop this travesty from ever taking effect.”
Several states, including Oklahoma, are pursuing legislation similar to the Texas lawthis year.
The Texas law bans abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy and makes no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Abortions in Texas have plummeted by about 50% since the law took effect, while the number of Texans going to clinics out of state and requesting abortion pills online has gone up.
One of the Texas-style Oklahoma bills that is one vote away from the governor’s desk would ban abortions from the moment of conception and would take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/oklahoma-governor-signs-bill-to-make-abortion-illegal/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:03 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/oklahoma-governor-signs-bill-to-make-abortion-illegal/ |
MEMPHIS, TENN. (WREG) — A report from the Nashville Humane Association shows the director of a Tennessee animal shelter admitted to shooting animals instead of putting them down with drugs.
In the report from January, Terry Kissell, of the Lauderdale County Animal Shelter, told a Humane Association employee that he had been shooting animals to euthanize them because their paperwork had issues and their euthanasia solution was expired.
A detective with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department said he began investigating the shelter in Ripley, Tennessee, in March after he received a complaint about six dogs being shot at the facility. However, he could not find any evidence, and charges were never filed.
Detective Micah Middlebrook said that Kissell admitted to shooting and killing one dog but said he did it because the dog was aggressive and charged him.
At least two rescue groups said the husky was very friendly and not vicious.
“It was not aggressive. It was Snowball,” said Amber Reynolds with Halfway Home Animal Rescue. “I have pictures of him hugging me, loving on me.”
The Lauderdale Animal Shelter was temporarily closed in 2015, and a part-time employee was suspended after a local rescue group found a live puppy in a freezer.
Debbie Flowers with Ripley Animal Rescue said she came to the shelter to take pictures of puppies and heard several had been euthanized. Flowers said she checked the freezer and noticed one still had a pulse.
Reynolds said last week, she found one dead puppy and two live puppies in a dark, cold closet at the Lauderdale County Shelter and was told the dead puppy was put in the closet because it was dying.
“It was colder than it was outside,” said Reynolds. “The puppies didn’t have a blanket. They were just lying on the plastic crate floor.”
Lauderdale County Mayor Maurice Gaines said he didn’t know about any puppies being left in a closet and said 99% of the claims made against the shelter were false.
“I think there was an issue where a vicious dog was put down,” said Gaines. “He was investigated. Everything was dropped.”
Rescue workers said they found out dogs were being shot after Kissell was suspended and said an employee who shared pictures of Kissell with the dog and gun was fired.
The mayor would not say if Kissell had been temporarily removed from his job.
In the report, the Humane Association employee said all of the dogs in the shelter appeared to be in good health. However, she said the kennels and dogs were wet, and the shelter had no medical records to prove the dogs had been vaccinated or de-wormed.
CASA Transport and Halfway Home both rescue dogs regularly and say the kennels are sprayed down with water while the dogs are inside them and that some dogs have not been out of their cages in several months.
“Things we see are urine burns on the dogs that we pull because there aren’t beds. They are lying on the wet floor in their own feces and urine most of the time,” said Brittnie Battle with CASA Transport.
Battle said she has tried to rescue as many dogs as possible but says she has been banned from the shelter since posting a Tik Tok video asking the community to support their local shelter.
“We are pulling dogs every week. So unless we are able to do that, those dogs stay there,” said Battle. “Him shutting us out is a death sentence for the rest of the animals coming in.”
Requests for comment from the mayor about the report from the Nashville Humane Association have not immediately been answered. | https://www.wane.com/news/tennessee-shelter-put-down-dogs-by-shooting-them-report-says/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:06 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/tennessee-shelter-put-down-dogs-by-shooting-them-report-says/ |
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.wric.com/news/u-s-world/police-make-arrest-in-deadly-iowa-nightclub-shooting/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:10 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/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.wric.com/news/u-s-world/potential-far-right-victory-in-france-seen-as-threat-to-eu/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:16 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/potential-far-right-victory-in-france-seen-as-threat-to-eu/ |
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.wric.com/news/u-s-world/seoul-north-korea-destroying-s-korean-owned-golf-course/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:23 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/seoul-north-korea-destroying-s-korean-owned-golf-course/ |
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 to close. 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 the 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 injured,” 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.wric.com/news/u-s-world/shooting-challenges-downtown-sacramentos-rebuilding-efforts/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:30 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/shooting-challenges-downtown-sacramentos-rebuilding-efforts/ |
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Prolonged rains and flooding in the Durban area of South Africa have claimed the lives of at least 45 people, damaging the port, major highways and surrounding areas in KwaZulu-Natal province, according to local officials.
South Africa’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, say officials. Durban port, the largest and busiest shipping terminal in sub-Saharan Africa, has been inundated with floodwaters that carried away shipping containers and left them in a jumbled pile.
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,” Mxolisi 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.”
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This story was corrected to show that the mayor of eThekwini’s name is spelled Mxolisi. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/south-africas-kwazulu-natal-province-hit-by-floods-20-dead/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:38 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/south-africas-kwazulu-natal-province-hit-by-floods-20-dead/ |
MEMPHIS, TENN. (WREG) — A report from the Nashville Humane Association shows the director of a Tennessee animal shelter admitted to shooting animals instead of putting them down with drugs.
In the report from January, Terry Kissell, of the Lauderdale County Animal Shelter, told a Humane Association employee that he had been shooting animals to euthanize them because their paperwork had issues and their euthanasia solution was expired.
A detective with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department said he began investigating the shelter in Ripley, Tennessee, in March after he received a complaint about six dogs being shot at the facility. However, he could not find any evidence, and charges were never filed.
Detective Micah Middlebrook said that Kissell admitted to shooting and killing one dog but said he did it because the dog was aggressive and charged him.
At least two rescue groups said the husky was very friendly and not vicious.
“It was not aggressive. It was Snowball,” said Amber Reynolds with Halfway Home Animal Rescue. “I have pictures of him hugging me, loving on me.”
The Lauderdale Animal Shelter was temporarily closed in 2015, and a part-time employee was suspended after a local rescue group found a live puppy in a freezer.
Debbie Flowers with Ripley Animal Rescue said she came to the shelter to take pictures of puppies and heard several had been euthanized. Flowers said she checked the freezer and noticed one still had a pulse.
Reynolds said last week, she found one dead puppy and two live puppies in a dark, cold closet at the Lauderdale County Shelter and was told the dead puppy was put in the closet because it was dying.
“It was colder than it was outside,” said Reynolds. “The puppies didn’t have a blanket. They were just lying on the plastic crate floor.”
Lauderdale County Mayor Maurice Gaines said he didn’t know about any puppies being left in a closet and said 99% of the claims made against the shelter were false.
“I think there was an issue where a vicious dog was put down,” said Gaines. “He was investigated. Everything was dropped.”
Rescue workers said they found out dogs were being shot after Kissell was suspended and said an employee who shared pictures of Kissell with the dog and gun was fired.
The mayor would not say if Kissell had been temporarily removed from his job.
In the report, the Humane Association employee said all of the dogs in the shelter appeared to be in good health. However, she said the kennels and dogs were wet, and the shelter had no medical records to prove the dogs had been vaccinated or de-wormed.
CASA Transport and Halfway Home both rescue dogs regularly and say the kennels are sprayed down with water while the dogs are inside them and that some dogs have not been out of their cages in several months.
“Things we see are urine burns on the dogs that we pull because there aren’t beds. They are lying on the wet floor in their own feces and urine most of the time,” said Brittnie Battle with CASA Transport.
Battle said she has tried to rescue as many dogs as possible but says she has been banned from the shelter since posting a Tik Tok video asking the community to support their local shelter.
“We are pulling dogs every week. So unless we are able to do that, those dogs stay there,” said Battle. “Him shutting us out is a death sentence for the rest of the animals coming in.”
Requests for comment from the mayor about the report from the Nashville Humane Association have not immediately been answered. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/tennessee-shelter-put-down-dogs-by-shooting-them-report-says/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:44 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/tennessee-shelter-put-down-dogs-by-shooting-them-report-says/ |
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.wric.com/news/u-s-world/turkey-detains-former-kurdish-party-officials-for-pkk-links/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:50 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/turkey-detains-former-kurdish-party-officials-for-pkk-links/ |
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday he paid a fine from police for attending a lockdown-breaching birthday party in his official residence, making him the first British leader to be sanctioned for breaking the law while in office.
The fines for Johnson, his wife, Carrie, and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak brought a simmering crisis for the prime minister back to full boil, with opposition politicians immediately calling for his resignation.
Johnson and his Conservative government have faced growing outrage since allegations surfaced late last year that he and his staff flouted Britain’s pandemic restrictions and held office parties in 2020 and 2021 when millions in the country were barred from meeting with friends and family — or even attending funerals for their loved ones.
“I have paid the fine and want to offer a full apology,” Johnson said. “I understand the anger many will feel that I myself fell short when it came to observing the very rules which the government I lead had introduced to protect the public. I accept in all sincerity that people had the right to expect better.”
Downing Street said Johnson was being sanctioned for attending a “gathering of two or more people indoors in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street” on June 19, 2020. The event was a surprise birthday party for the prime minister.
Johnson said the gathering lasted “less than 10 minutes,” and “at that time, it did not occur to me this might have been a breach of the rules.”
London’s Metropolitan Police force said it had issued at least 50 fines after investigating a dozen events held in 10 Downing St. and and other government buildings. They reportedly included “bring your own booze” office parties and “wine time Fridays” organized by Johnson’s staff.
The force did not identify the recipients or the size of the fines. But Johnson’s office confirmed shortly after that the prime minister and Sunak each received notice Tuesday that they would be issued with fines for an undisclosed amount. If paid promptly, such fines do not result in a criminal record.
Opponents, and some members of the governing Conservative Party, say Johnson should resign.
Thousands of people were fined between 60 pounds ($79) and 10,000 pounds ($13,200) by police for rule-breaking social gatherings during the pandemic.
“Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have broken the law and repeatedly lied to the British public,” said Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party. “The Conservatives are totally unfit to govern. Britain deserves better.”
Opposition parties called for lawmakers to be recalled from their Easter break for a vote of no-confidence in Johnson.
The COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group said “there is simply no way” that Johnson or Sunak can remain in their jobs.
“It’s still unbelievably painful to know that the Prime Minister was partying and breaking his own lockdown rules – while we were unable to be at our loved ones’ sides in their dying moments,” said the group’s spokesman Lobby Akinnola.
A total of 16 parties were investigated by a senior civil servant, Sue Gray, with a dozen of them also under investigation by the Metropolitan Police.
In January, 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.
The report said some of the gatherings showed a “serious failure to observe” standards for government, and some behavior at the parties were “difficult to justify” given how the public were asked to restrict their lives.
Johnson’s grip on power had appeared to be on a knife-edge earlier this year because of the scandal and the departure of several top aides. Allies feared “partygate” could become a tipping point for a leader who has weathered a series of other stormsover his expenses, and his moral judgment.
Some Conservative lawmakers were openly calling for a no-confidence vote in their leader — something that can happen if 15% of Conservative lawmakers demand it.
But Johnson has hung on, partly because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine distracted public and political attention.
Johnson’s international image, battered by Britain’s messy exit from the European Union under his leadership, has been revived by his firm military, political and moral support for Ukraine. Johnson traveled to Kyiv last weekend to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Johnson might also benefit from the woes afflicting Sunak, the 41-year-old Treasury chief who has been seen as a potential rival and successor. The fine for Sunak comes as he also faces a backlash over the spiraling cost of living and questions about his financial arrangements and the tax status of his wealthy wife.
Jill Rutter, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government think-tank, said “partygate” had damaged the reputation of both the government and the civil service.
“The line, ‘It’s one rule for them and another law for the rest of us’ really does resonate,” she said.
Rutter said Johnson was probably safe for now, but could face fresh peril if the Conservatives take a hammering in next month’s local elections.
“And with the prime minister, there’s always a possibility that something else comes out,” she said. “So you wouldn’t say that it’s guaranteed plain sailing through to the 2023-2024 election. But I think we definitely premature to write him off now.”
___
Associated Press Writer Danica Kirka contributed.
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Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/uk-government-johnson-to-be-fined-over-lockdown-parties/ | 2022-04-12T19:36:57 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/uk-government-johnson-to-be-fined-over-lockdown-parties/ |
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.
___
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.wric.com/news/u-s-world/what-do-we-know-about-stealth-omicron-so-far/ | 2022-04-12T19:37:03 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/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.wric.com/news/u-s-world/with-aid-to-spend-schools-look-for-students-who-need-help/ | 2022-04-12T19:37:10 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/with-aid-to-spend-schools-look-for-students-who-need-help/ |
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.wric.com/news/weird-news/hungry-javelina-gets-stuck-in-car-goes-for-ride-in-arizona/ | 2022-04-12T19:37:16 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/weird-news/hungry-javelina-gets-stuck-in-car-goes-for-ride-in-arizona/ |
Which bully stick is best?
Dogs know we love them, but we don’t always have a way to communicate how grateful we are to have them. One solution is to shower them with treats, but this can lead to adverse effects like weight gain. An excellent middle ground to this approach is giving them tasty bully sticks to chew on. Top choice Pawstruck 12-Inch Bully Sticks are high in calories but can last long enough to mitigate that fact.
What to know before you buy a bully stick
Length and thickness
Bully sticks come in a variety of lengths and thicknesses to fit the size and caloric needs of any dog breed. It’s important to use appropriate lengths and thickness with your dog. If it’s too small, it becomes a choking hazard; too large and it can upset their stomach or be difficult to chew.
Four-inch sticks are best for dogs under 30 pounds, while six-inch sticks are best for dogs between 30-50 pounds. Dogs between 50-100 pounds should chew on 12-inch sticks, and dogs over 100 pounds should chew on 24-inch sticks.
Shape
Bully sticks are available in a variety of shapes. The most common is a straight stick. Others include curls, rings and braids. Rings take the longest to chew, while braids provide the most dental benefits.
Per-pack size
Bully sticks are available as an individual purchase, but this is rare. Most come in packs of at least five, though some can be as large as 100. It’s recommended to start with a small package to see if your dog likes the treat before upgrading to larger sizes for cheaper per-stick costs. Extra-large packages should be stored in airtight containers to prevent them from spoiling before you can use them all.
What to look for in a quality bully stick
Odor
All bully sticks have a natural odor. It becomes stronger as your dog pumps moisture into them while chewing. Fair warning: many consumers find the odor to be difficult to stand. Thus, many manufacturers use one of several methods to reduce or change the odor into something more manageable. The most common method of odor reduction is to dry the stick for varying lengths. The less moisture it contains before chewing, the less it will smell. But even the most thoroughly dried sticks — often marketed as odor-free — still have some amount of smell. Smoking the stick to make it smell smoky is also commonly done.
All of this said, the smellier the stick, the more flavorful it will be and the more your dog will enjoy it. Some dogs will outright refuse to chew an odorless stick.
Filling
Some bully sticks take the “treat” aspect even further and stuff the center with all manner of fillings, peanut butter being among the most common. The downside to filled treats is the increase in calories and the likely presence of preservatives that fill-less sticks usually lack.
How much you can expect to spend on a bully stick
Small packages of bully sticks usually cost $10-$30. Medium-sized packages usually cost $20-$50. Large packages can cost up to $100, and the rare individual bully stick rarely costs more than $15.
Bully stick FAQ
What is a bully stick made of?
A. Bully sticks are made from high-protein muscle. They’re a good source of protein and taurine, which improves the health of your dog’s muscles and organs.
How often can a dog have a bully stick?
A. Generally speaking, one stick a day. However, due to the high levels of protein, it’s wise to consider one every two or three days. Too much protein can upset a dog’s stomach and negatively affect its liver and kidneys. You also need to balance your dog’s caloric intake to prevent unhealthy weight gain.
How safe are bully sticks for my dog?
A. When given responsibly, perfectly safe. The biggest risks are simply too much protein and calories. They can also be a possible choking hazard once your dog has chewed a stick down to a size it can swallow, so it’s best to take the stick away once it hits that point. The health benefits of the treats and the dental benefits of being a hard chew outweigh the risks.
What’s the best bully stick to buy?
Top bully stick
Pawstruck 12-Inch Bully Sticks (10-Pack)
What you need to know: These sticks can last for several hours of chewing and provide plenty of nutrition and fun for large-breed dogs.
What you’ll love: Each one has approximately 120 calories. The braided design is excellent for cleaning teeth. They’re sourced from free-range Paraguayan bulls and have no additives, including color or preservatives. Pawstruck is a family-owned small business.
What you should consider: The extra-large size makes for a long-lasting smell. Stick quality is inconsistent between packages.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top bully stick for the money
Best Bully Sticks Odor-Free Angus Bully Sticks
What you need to know: These are lower-cost and come in perfect sizes for any breed.
What you’ll love: They are sourced from free-range, grass-fed Brazilian cattle and contain no additives. The sticks resist even heavy chewers. and help keep your dog’s teeth clean. They’re available in a 6-inch pack of 20 or a 12-inch pack of 12 or 24.
What you should consider: They aren’t fully odor-free, only odor-reduced with some packages being more or less so. Stick quality is inconsistent between packages.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Worth checking out
Nature Gnaws Small Bully Sticks
What you need to know: If you’re unsure about bully sticks, try this small-size package.
What you’ll love: These are 6 inches long and provide adequate dental cleaning. The company sources only fresh material, irradiates for cleanliness, submits for food-grade testing and is packaged in the U.S. with a further round of UV disinfection.
What you should consider: Some consumers found these sticks to have a powerful odor. Others were unhappy with the thinness and hollowness of the sticks.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/best-bully-stick/ | 2022-04-12T19:37:24 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/best-bully-stick/ |
Which navy blue rug is best?
Navy blue is a classic color loved by interior designers for its dignified aesthetic. This versatile hue can do wonders as a backdrop for your decor, letting your accents glimmer and shine like stars in the night sky. This makes a rug the perfect candidate to add a rich pool of color to your interior. Which rug you choose will come down to your taste and the area you’re trying to cover.
For a solid area rug that will elevate your home’s aesthetic, you can’t go wrong with the Safavieh Vision Collection Modern Ombre Tonal Chic Non-Shedding Area Rug.
What to know before you buy a navy blue rug
Advantages of navy blue
Navy blue is a stately color associated with power and authority. When used in deeper, darker shades, navy is a great way to add a sense of importance and momentousness to your room. But it can also be peaceful and relaxing, recalling the expansive ocean. Lighter shades not only inspire tranquil reflection, but also positivity and possibility — after all, the big blue sky’s the limit.
Colors that go with navy blue
Navy blue is a cool color, so it pairs best with the warmer side of the spectrum. Colors from blush pink to rust red can balance out the hue. Consider also warm, muted purples, golden yellows and burnt oranges. And navy blends with warm neutral tones such as grays that have red or yellow undertones.
Another tried-and-true pairing is navy blue and white. This crisp, clean aesthetic is a touch nautical, but suits the modern and classical home alike.
If you’re feeling blue through and through, try adding lighter, warmer shades of the color, or even brighter greens to lean into the cool half of the color wheel.
Patterns vs. solid color
While a solid blue rug provides a rich base to play with accents, a patterned rug can have its benefits as well. Patterns tone down navy’s domineering qualities. When set against a warm neutral tone, a navy-blue patterned rug, whether floral or geometric, can offer a modest dose of blue’s psychological prowess without sucking your entire decor into its awesome orbit.
What to look for in a quality navy blue rug
Material
Choosing the right material comes down to your budget and where you intend to place the rug, as certain materials stand up better to foot traffic than others.
- Wool: Tough yet soft underfoot, wool is one of the most common rug materials because it can take a beating. Just keep it out of damp environments.
- Silk: The stuff of luxury, silk is a great option for patterned rugs as the fine fibers allow for intricate details. It won’t stand up to lots of foot traffic, so place it in a less-visited room. .
- Cotton: A more-affordable natural fiber, cotton is used for a lot of flat-weave rugs. It’s easy to clean, making it great for kids’ rooms or kitchens where spills are inevitable.
- Grasses and fibers: Jute, sisal and seagrass are natural grasses used to make rugged carpets. They’re perfect for the outdoors, but can also look great indoors, especially in sunny rooms. They’re just a little rough underfoot.
- Synthetics: Synthetic rugs can are usually polyester, but also include polypropylene, rayon and viscose. These mimic natural fibers’ properties. They’re not as long-lasting, but are easy to clean and can be used in high-traffic areas. They’re also generally more affordable than wool, cotton or silk.
Weave
Your rug’s weave reflects its manufacturing process. Today, most rugs are produced by machine on a power loom. But you can still find one-of-a-kind handmade ones that not only reflect their makers’ idiosyncrasies, but also last for generations.
Both handwoven and hand-knotted rugs don’t have a backing. Because hand-knotted rugs are flat woven, they have the added benefit of reversibility, meaning you can flip them to extend their lifespan.
Machine-woven rugs, on the other hand, pull the fibers through a backing. This renders them prone to shedding as the glue deteriorates over time. But the cheaper cost of production does make synthetics an affordable alternative.
Pile
Your rug’s pile is a measurement of how long or high each individual fiber is, and how densely they’re woven together. A high pile height indicates long strands like those of a shag rug. These are fluffy and thick, but shed easily. A low pile can still be dense, but lasts much longer as it’s harder to pull these rugs apart. Flat-woven rugs have zero pile.
How much you can expect to spend on a navy blue rug
The cost of a rug depends on its size and material. Smaller rugs are typically $25-$150. A large synthetic area rug can cost as much as $200-$350, and a premium handmade rug can cost $700 or more.
Navy blue rug FAQ
What decors does navy blue look best in?
A. Navy blue is a jack of all trades. While it’s most often associated with beach houses, this grand color looks great with a muted palette in modern decors, or with rich yellow-to-red tones in classical homes. How you integrate it is a game of accents, and warm metals and natural woods work great in this regard.
How do I clean my rug?
A. Most rugs need to be cleaned by hand, though some synthetics can be washed in a machine. Silk must be professionally cleaned.
If you’re cleaning by hand, first dust and vacuum your rug to get any dirt and debris out of the fibers. Then, using a carpet shampoo, scrub thoroughly with a brush. Rinse your rug with a hose or a bucket and dry it off. You can do this by blotting with towels first and then hang-drying on a line. When cleaning your rug, it’s best to first test a small patch in case your dyes will fade.
What’s the best navy blue rug to buy?
Top navy blue rug
Safavieh Vision Collection Modern Ombre Tonal Chic Non-Shedding Area Rug
What you need to know: Cast in deep dark blue, this solid-color rug has a hint of faded glory to soften its presence.
What you’ll love: At 5 feet, 1 inches by 7 feet, 6 inches, this area rug suits bedrooms and living rooms. It’s machine-made from polypropylene, a resilient material that resists staining and heavy treading. That makes it a good fit for homes with kids or pets.
What you should consider: Because it’s synthetic, this rug will have a strong smell out of the wrapper, so prepare to air it out for a couple of weeks.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top navy blue rug for the money
Wayfair Basics Shag Navy Area Rug
What you need to know: This shag rug has just the right amount of pile to feel like you’re walking on a cloud without looking like it came from some big blue animal.
What you’ll love: This rug is versatile. You have your choice of large area rugs and smaller accent rugs, as well as rectangular and circular shapes. As an area rug, its high pile adds rich texture to your decor. And as a smaller accent rug — say, by your bedside — you’ll have a luxuriously plush surface to step onto every morning. The synthetic fibers are durable and resist shedding.
What you should consider: You need a pad under it to avoid slipping.
Where to buy: Sold by Wayfair
Worth checking out
Callista Southwestern Navy/Ivory Area Rug
What you need to know: Inspired by Oriental and Persian rugs, it features a geometric pattern that’s right at home in boho and classical interiors.
What you’ll love: It has a sophisticated ornamental diamond motif. With just the right mixture of blue and ivory, you don’t have to totally commit to navy, making this a great rug for decors that prize the crisp duality of blue and white. It’s synthetic, so it’s tough. And it comes in a vast array of sizes to fit whatever space you envision.
What you should consider: The rug can get pricey the larger you go in size.
Where to buy: Sold by Wayfair
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Karl Daum writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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What are the best gifts for 11-year-olds?
No longer little kids but not quite teenagers, 11-year-olds often want to be more grown-up than they are, and will appreciate gifts that make them feel this way. It can be a tricky age group to buy for, but once you get down to it, you can find plenty for tweens to enjoy.
You know the 11-year-old you’re buying for, so thinking about their likes and interests will help you choose the perfect gift. And it’s useful to look at popular products for inspiration.
Best tech gifts for 11-year-olds
Top tech gift
WobbleWorks 3Doodler Create+ 3D Printing Pen
What you need to know: Creative 11-year-olds who love tech will be wowed by this 3D printing pen.
What you’ll love: It lets users create 3D models out of plastic rods that are inserted into the pen and melt as they come out of the tip. Users can craft all kinds of wonderful creations, both big and small.
What you should consider: Although sensible 11-year-olds will be able to use it safely, it’s recommended for ages 14-plus.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top tech gift for the money
Sphero Mini App-Enabled Programmable Robot Ball
What you need to know: This is an excellent choice if you’re buying for an 11-year-old who loves tech and is interested in programming.
What you’ll love: This tiny robot can teach users how to code with the Sphero app for smartphones, tablets or laptops. It also acts as a controller to play a variety of mini games and has a drive mode that lets users drive it around from the app.
What you should consider: It suffers from a few glitches, such as easily becoming uncalibrated and disconnecting from Wi-Fi.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best gifts for 11-year-olds who love music
Top music gift
Fender Squier Bullet Stratocaster Starter Pack
What you need to know: It’s a reasonably priced electric guitar that’s great for beginners as it comes bundled with other essentials.
What you’ll love: This guitar is on the higher end of basic, so it will serve a new player for at least a few years before they want to upgrade. It comes with accessories including a strap, lead, tuner and small practice amp.
What you should consider: If you’re not sure your 11-year-old wants to learn guitar, it’s a pricey gift to take a risk on.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top music gift for the money
What you need to know: This portable Bluetooth speaker is perfect for music lovers, letting them play music from a phone, tablet or laptop.
What you’ll love: It’s waterproof and durable, so it’s a good choice for kids who aren’t known for taking the best care of their belongings. The sound quality is excellent considering its compact size.
What you should consider: Kids who don’t have their own phone or tablet will get limited use from it.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best gifts for creative 11-year-olds
Top creative gift
Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils
What you need to know: Art-lovers can level up their drawing game with these colored pencils.
What you’ll love: They have soft cores, are highly pigmented and easily blendable, so they’re a huge step up for tweens who only have basic colored pencils. You can choose a range of pack sizes, from small 36-pencil sets to huge 150-pencil ones.
What you should consider: Their high price point means they’re not ideal for kids who aren’t seriously into art.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top creative gift for the money
Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 Instant Camera
What you need to know: This camera lets the tween in your life experience the magic of instant Polaroid pictures, but in a modern package.
What you’ll love: It’s great for 11-year-olds into photography, easy to use and comes in a range of appealing colors: blue, pink, lilac, charcoal and white. It automatically adjusts the shutter speed to get the best results in any lighting.
What you should consider: The film is relatively pricey and kids may go through it quickly when they’re used to taking snaps on digital cameras.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best gift for adventurous 11-year-olds
Top adventurous gift
What you need to know: This mini drone is made by a reputable drone manufacturer, but has cheaper components and hardware to bring the cost down.
What you’ll love: It has a decent build quality and is easy to control, which is great for young drone pilots. It comes with a camera that can capture still photos and videos.
What you should consider: The maximum flight time is only 13 minutes, but it’s still fun to play with.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top adventurous gift for the money
What you need to know: A skateboard is a great gift for adventurous young people who are longing to hang out at the skatepark with their friends.
What you’ll love: This is a complete board, so it’s ready to ride out of the box. It’s a decent setup for new skaters that they’ll take a while to grow out of. The 7.5-inch width is a good size for young skaters.
What you should consider: You’ll need to buy the right safety gear for the 11-year-old in your life to skate safely.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best gifts for 11-year-olds into games and gaming
Top game and gaming gift
What you need to know: This Marvel version of the strategy game Splendor is complex enough to keep 11-year-olds interested without being too hard to play.
What you’ll love: It’s a great choice for Marvel fans, board-gamers and young people you’re trying to encourage to spend less time staring at screens. It’s a relatively quick game, taking around 30 minutes from start to finish once players have the hang of the mechanics.
What you should consider: It can be tough to get some 11-year-olds to agree to family game time.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top game and gaming gift for the money
Paladone Playstation Icons Light
What you need to know: Young people of this age often want to start asserting their identity, so a keen gamer would love to display this in their bedroom or game room.
What you’ll love: It has three lighting modes: one displaying solid colors, one phasing among colors and one music-reactive mode that flashes along with a beat. It’s officially licensed by PlayStation and is solidly made.
What you should consider: Kids who are more into Xbox or Nintendo than PlayStation might not like it.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/best-gifts-for-11-year-olds/ | 2022-04-12T19:37:37 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/best-gifts-for-11-year-olds/ |
Which toddler beanbag chair is best?
A toddler beanbag chair provides a comfy spot to rest that’s just the right size for a little body. It’s a perfect place for toddlers to sit and look at a picture book, do some coloring or watch their favorite shows. The Idea Nuova Toddler Beanbag Chair comes in three cute designs and is an ideal size for young toddlers.
What to know before you buy a toddler beanbag chair
Filling type
Beanbag chairs can be filled with polystyrene beads, expanded polypropylene beads or shredded foam beads.
- Polystyrene beads are comfortable to sit on and inexpensive, but they flatten over time.
- Expanded polypropylene beads bounce back into shape better than polystyrene beads, but they’re pricier.
- Shredded foam beads are light and very comfortable, but feel slightly more squishy than classic beanbag fillings, which some people prefer and some people don’t.
Size
Some beanbag chairs for kids are the perfect size for toddlers but not for older kids, while others are great for toddlers to grow into. It’s up to you to decide if you want a chair that’s just the right size for your toddler now, or one that’s oversized now but might last until they’re 8 or 10 years old.
Design
Beanbags for toddlers generally have more elaborate designs than those for adults. While you can find some in solid colors, many feature animal designs, cartoon characters, princesses or superheroes. This means you should be able to easily find a chair design your child will love.
What to look for in a quality toddler beanbag chair
Washable cover
Toddlers aren’t known for their ability to keep things clean, so any chair you buy for them will probably end up covered in crumbs and sticky fingerprints. Ideally, it should have a removable, washable cover so you can keep it clean and fresh.
Refillable
Fillings often flatten over time, so it’s great if you can top up the filling to keep the chair plush and comfy for years to come.
Safety-locked zippers
Toddlers are curious and get into everything, so it’s natural they’d want to discover what’s inside their chair. However, a learning experience for them equals a huge mess to clean up for you. Safety-locked zippers are easy for adults to open but tricky for toddlers to work, which is a huge bonus.
How much you can expect to spend on a toddler beanbag chair
Expect to spend around $30-$75 on a beanbag chair for your toddler. If it’s cheaper than $30, make sure you’re getting a filled beanbag rather than just a cover.
Toddler beanbag chair FAQ
How long do beanbag chairs last?
A. This depends on a range of factors, including the quality of the chair and how much use it gets. On average, you can expect them to last around three to five years before they split, flatten or get too worn and grubby. It’s likely that your toddler will outgrow the chair before it needs replacing, but it may have enough life left in it to pass down to a younger sibling or another child in your life.
Are beanbag chairs safe for toddlers?
A. The only real risks are that a toddler could eat the filling or open up the zipper, climb inside and suffocate. Both risks are negated by choosing a chair that either has a safety locked zipper or doesn’t open. As long as your toddler can’t open up the chair, it’s safe to use unsupervised.
Which beanbag shape is best?
A. Toddlers will have more support from a with a back and arms than a round sack-shaped one. Beanbag loungers also offer support in a reclined position but are harder to sit up on. Most toddlers are happy to sit on any kind of beanbag chair.
What’s the best toddler beanbag chair to buy?
Top toddler beanbag chair
Idea Nuova Toddler Beanbag Chair
What you need to know: This adorable mini beanbag chair is perfectly sized for toddlers of around 12-36 months.
What you’ll love: You can choose from three designs, featuring Minnie Mouse, Spiderman and Grogu from “The Mandalorian.” It’s made from a soft fleece material with a sherpa trim.
What you should consider: It’s very small, so older toddlers will grow out of it quickly.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top toddler beanbag chair for the money
Big Joe Milano Kids Beanbag Chair
What you need to know: Featuring a terrazzo print, this cool-looking beanbag is ideal for ages 2-4.
What you’ll love: The back and arms offer plenty of support and the foam bead filling is comfortable. It has a handle to make it easier to pick up and move around. It has a safety locked zipper.
What you should consider: The filling flattens slightly over time, so you may need to top it up after a year or so of use.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Posh Creations Beanbag Chair for Kids
What you need to know: It’s perfect for parents who want to buy a beanbag chair for their toddler to grow into.
What you’ll love: Buyers have eight designs to choose from, including a llama, sloth and dragon. The cover is removable and washable, with a safety locked zipper.
What you should consider: Young toddlers may need to climb onto it, but it will last them through much of their childhood.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/best-toddler-beanbag-chair/ | 2022-04-12T19:37:44 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/best-toddler-beanbag-chair/ |
Which YSL lipstick is best?
For more than 50 years, Yves Saint Laurent has been one of the most respected and coveted names in beauty. The brand’s daring colors and high scientific standards make YSL lipsticks a must-have for beauty fans.
If you’re looking for a long-wearing lipstick that’s still hydrating and comfortable, YSL Rouge Pur Couture The Slim Matte Lipstick is a great choice.
What to know before you buy a YSL lipstick
Lipstick formulation
Yves Saint Laurent makes more than a dozen lip products, including classic bullet formulations, liquid lipsticks, lip glosses and lip stains. For a classic lipstick experience, it’s hard to beat a bullet format. However, if you prefer a longer-wearing option, a better bet may be a YSL liquid lipstick or stain.
Bold color choices
Yves Saint Laurent founded his own fashion house in 1961 after working as head designer at Dior for 3 years. He drew inspiration from the Algerian culture he grew up in as well as the bounty of the Mediterranean, and this is reflected in the bold color palettes YSL offers.
Often regarded as one of the most subversive and avant-garde of the French fashion houses, the brand’s lipsticks capture modernity and boldness in shades that are highly pigmented or texturally unique. Along with iconic bright reds, YSL lipsticks come in rich burgundies, bright oranges and corals, vivid pinks and more. If you prefer makeup that stands out, YSL lipstick deserves a place on your vanity.
True French beauty
Yves Saint Laurent Beauty manufactures all of its products in France with internationally sourced ingredients. Some of their ingredients, such as the pomegranates in the Rouge Volupte Shine lipstick, are sourced from a proprietary garden co-op in Morocco.
What to look for in a quality YSL lipstick
Customizable pigmentation
Do you want full, matte coverage from your lipstick, or something more sheer and balmy? Yves Saint Laurent offers lipsticks with varying coverage levels and finishes. Check the product description carefully while you’re shopping, because some YSL lipsticks can look more pigmented in the tube than they do on your lips.
Bold vs. nude lipsticks
Yves Saint Laurent may be famous for its classic red shades, but if you don’t feel like going bold, there are plenty of nude options in YSL’s lineup that still let you stand out.
For fair or light skin skin tones, consider YSL Tatouage Couture Velvet Cream Matte Liquid Lipstick in Nude Sedition or Rouge Pur Couture Satin Lipstick in Rosy Nude.
For medium or deep skin tones, try Rouge Volupte Shine Lipstick in Burnt Zellige or Rouge Pur Couture The Slim Matte Lipstick in Nude Antonym.
Luxe packaging
If you’re going to splurge on a luxury lipstick, it should look and feel luxurious on every level — and YSL delivers. The brand’s lipsticks come in beautiful metallic cases with the distinctive YSL logo highly visible on the side. Some formulations also feature thoughtfully engineered bullet shapes or applicator wands customized to how the formula behaves to make application smoother and simpler.
European cosmetics regulations
As a French brand, YSL adheres to the regulations that control European cosmetics, which are some of the strictest in the world. This means that YSL lipsticks have unsurpassed standards for ingredient quality, and they’re formulated without ingredients like parabens or phthalates.
Yves Saint Laurent Beauty has also been recognized by Positive Luxury, a company that rewards luxury brands for taking steps toward better sustainability and business ethics.
How much you can expect to spend on a YSL lipstick
Almost all YSL lipsticks cost $39. However, some lipsticks, especially the liquid formulations, contain more product per dollar than others.
YSL lipstick FAQ
Do YSL lipsticks have fragrance?
A. Yes, YSL lipsticks contain different fragrances. The flagship Rouge Pur Couture lipstick line has a floral fragrance reminiscent of a classic perfume scent, while other YSL lipsticks have fruity scents like melon or mango thanks to added botanical oils.
Is YSL lipstick vegan?
A. Some Yves Saint Laurent Beauty products contain animal-derived ingredients, and while YSL Beauty does not test its products on animals, they’re sold in countries that require animal testing.
What’s the best YSL lipstick to buy?
Top YSL lipstick
Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture The Slim Matte Lipstick
What you need to know: These highly pigmented lipsticks are so long-wearing, you may never need to reapply.
What you’ll love: The slim, square-shaped bullet makes precise application a breeze, especially for defining your cupid’s bow. It’s available in 19 shades that dry down to a matte finish and leave a lasting tint.
What you should consider: The bullet contains less product than other YSL lipsticks. Not everyone is a fan of the square shape.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora and Macy’s
Top YSL lipstick for the money
Yves Saint Laurent Tatouage Couture Liquid Matte Lip Stain
What you need to know: This long-wearing, non-drying liquid lipstick can last comfortably for up to 8 hours.
What you’ll love: The lightweight, ultra-thin formula resists smudging or flaking for a true and lasting stain. Its unique flat-paddle applicator can also act as a lip liner. It’s available in 18 shades, ranging from everyday nudes to bright corals and pinks.
What you should consider: Application can be uneven. Some users disliked the lipstick’s fragrance.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora and Macy’s
Worth checking out
Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte Shine Lipstick Balm
What you need to know: A lightweight, moisturizing lipstick, this formula is infused with botanical oils for glossy, comfortable color.
What you’ll love: It comes in 35 shades that apply sheer and can be built up for full, glowy color coverage. Users love its luxe packaging, which includes a colored ring that matches the lipstick shade, and the formula’s creamy, hydrating feel.
What you should consider: The soft, oil-rich formula can be prone to quickly smudging and fading. The formula’s botanical scent received mixed reviews.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora and Macy’s.
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Laura Duerr writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/lip-makeup-br/best-ysl-lipstick/ | 2022-04-12T19:37:51 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/lip-makeup-br/best-ysl-lipstick/ |
Which queen-size bedspreads are best?
When you’re looking for a clean, polished look in your bedroom, few items can instantly transform your room like a good bedspread. With its ability to conceal any clutter under the bed to its crisp construction, a bedspread is an easy and fast solution. If you’re looking for a bedspread that instantly dresses up your bedroom, Madison Park Quebec 3-Piece Queen Quilted Bedspread Set is the top choice.
What to know before you buy a queen-size bedspread
Mattress thickness
There can be a wide disparity between thicknesses in different mattresses. This is important in how your bedspread falls and how far down it reaches. If you have a pillow-top mattress or another deep-pocket variety, this may affect the fall of your bedspread. Bedspreads are intended to give crisp edges and a straight fall down the sides of the bed, so getting the measurements right is key.
Bed height and width
After measuring the thickness of your mattress, next tackle the measurement of the distance of its top from the floor. Next, measure the width of your mattress. (If it is a queen mattress, this measurement should equal 60 inches.) Subtracting this amount from the overall width of the bedspread, then dividing this number by two will give you a measurement of how far the bedspread will fall on your bed. If you like the look of a bedspread that just skirts the floor, be precise in your sourcing of a bedspread.
Bed type
Bedspreads give a great, well-made look to a bed, but they aren’t for every bed. They tend to not fit snugly on beds with posts, for example, or those with a tall, pronounced footboard. Even if the foot of your bed is lower but ornate (e.g., a carved wood footboard), a bedspread will both obscure this detail and also fail to fall straight down, which is one of the key benefits of a bedspread. If any of these are true about your bed, you may be better off with either a patterned comforter or, for greater flexibility, a plain white comforter and a duvet cover.
What to look for in a quality queen-size bedspread
Washability
It’s great when a bedspread looks good right out of its packaging, but it’s even better when it still looks good after being washed many times. Fabrics like cotton and linen look great after repeated wear and washing, for example. Be sure to read the care instructions on the packaging or the online listing to be sure the recommended care is something you can easily keep up with.
Weight
Do you tend to like snug, heavy bedding while you sleep? Or do you like to “feel free” and tend to kick off the covers? Bedspreads come in a variety of weights, so pay attention to the description as you consider a bedspread. Light or summer-weight bedspreads will be best for sleepers who don’t like a lot of weight.
Visual interest
Whether it’s an embroidered design, appliques, or patterned fabric, a bedspread can add to the appeal of your bedroom by including detailing that’s pleasing to you. Matelasse bedspreads, which can have raised embroidered detail, offer both the visual appeal of a pattern but the calmness of a solid color.
How much you can expect to spend on a queen-size bedspread
Depending on material, expect to pay between $50-$200 for a queen-size bedspread.
Queen-size bedspread FAQ
Bedspread, comforter, coverlet, quilt … what’s the difference?
A. The basic differences between the various types of bed coverings are size and thickness. Bedspreads are single-layer coverings that are intended to cover the whole bed and its sides down to the floor. A quilt and a coverlet both are designed to cover only to the point where the mattress meets the box spring or the platform of your bed (for beds without box springs, a coverlet would lay flat like a bedspread, but a quilt would contain batting). A comforter also covers the area to the box spring but has thicker filling, giving it a puffy look.
Do people still use bedspreads?
A. Bedspreads were once the go-to bed covering, but they have lost ground to comforters in recent decades due to fashion as well as the latter’s ease of use and superior warmth. However, bedspreads are making a comeback, and they are particularly suited for bedrooms with a retro or boho feel.
What’s the best queen-size bedspread to buy?
Top queen-size bedspread
Madison Park Quebec 3-Piece Queen Quilted Bedspread Set
What you need to know: Available in a dozen color options, this quilted, classic bedspread is sure to make any room look dignified and put together.
What you’ll love: This bedspread looks high-end but is easily machine-washable. It is designed to drape well on pillow-top mattresses.
What you should consider: Some shoppers report that the colors aren’t exactly as seen onscreen, so choose yours carefully.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s
Top queen-size bedspread for the money
Mellanni Bedspread Coverlet Set
What you need to know: Available both in solid and patterned fabric, this budget-friendly option adds polish to your bedroom.
What you’ll love: The microfiber construction is soft and durable, and the stitching is sturdy and beautiful.
What you should consider: This bedspread is on the thinner side and most suited for summertime use.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Martha Stewart Collection Midland Vine Queen Bedspread
What you need to know: Dainty floral embroidery gives this bedspread an air of a time gone by.
What you’ll love: The soft, beige cotton washes easily and spring back into shape on your bed with a minimum of fuss.
What you should consider: Depending on the height of your bed, this bedspread may not fall all the way to the floor, so measure carefully.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s
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Maria Andreu writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/bedding-br/best-queen-size-bedspread/ | 2022-04-12T19:37:58 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/bedding-br/best-queen-size-bedspread/ |
Which Bluetooth headphones are the best for calls?
It’s relatively easy to find an acceptable pair of headphones for listening to music. Making phone calls, though, relies a little more on specific aspects of Bluetooth connectivity and microphone capabilities. There are some Bluetooth headphones that are decidedly poor at making voice and video calls, but luckily, there are plenty of great choices if you need dependable voice capabilities compatible with your phone or PC. Many of those great models are even available at reasonable prices.
What to know about Bluetooth headphones and phone calls
There are two types of noise cancellation
The most well-known form of active noise cancellation (ANC) helps to eliminate noise that you hear around you. Headphones with ANC will let you turn the feature on and off, and generally offer significantly different sound quality and battery life depending on whether ANC is activated or not. This type of ANC isn’t incredibly important to making phone calls, although it can help if you frequently call from busy locations.
The more important type of noise cancellation in terms of making calls, though, has everything to do with your primary microphone. Specifically referred to as Clear Voice Capture (CVC) noise cancellation, it uses algorithms to isolate your voice and remove echo and background noise that might otherwise distract the person you’re calling. This type of noise isolation goes so far as to reduce the sound of keyboard keystrokes and mouse button clicks (when it’s implemented well, at least). In contrast to ANC, CVC noise canceling is especially important when choosing wireless headphones for making calls.
Over-ear headphones vs. earbuds for making calls
Over-ear headphones almost universally sound better when listening to music and true wireless earbuds are practically infinitely more convenient. Both of those items hold true in terms of calls, and there are even more definite considerations. It’s harder to find earbuds (whether true wireless or tethered) that offer pristine call quality, simply because earbuds have smaller and fewer microphones that are essentially located in the ear canal, nowhere near your mouth.
For that reason, you’ll notice that over-ear headphones get the majority of recommendations for voice and video calls. Nonetheless, there are some earbuds that are great at picking up your voice, and we’ve gone to great lengths researching which models are best.
What Bluetooth version do you need for phone calls?
Headphones’ call quality isn’t directly tied to their Bluetooth version, but look for headphones with version 4.2 or later. Bluetooth 5.0 to 5.2 is ideal because it ensures a robust connection and advanced connectivity options like multipoint pairing (which lets you connect to two devices at once and switch between them at will). However, you’ll notice that some models from big-name manufacturers like Sony and Bose still use Bluetooth 4.2, and ultimately it doesn’t cause any significant drawbacks when making calls.
Best Bluetooth headphones for voice and video calls
These are some of the best headphones on the market in nearly every facet, including sound quality, Bluetooth codec support, active noise cancellation and microphone isolation and effectiveness. They also have a great battery life and charge quickly via USB-C.
Sold by: Amazon
Don’t be fooled by their low price; these high-quality headphones punch well above their class and deliver surprisingly good audio quality. In particular, they’re better at making phone calls than such cheap headphones have any right being.
Sold by: Amazon
Bose has made industry-leading wireless headphones for years, and the 700s are no exception. They’re exceedingly simple to use and offer great background noise removal, although they’re not ideal for Android phones due to subpar Bluetooth codec support.
Sold by: Amazon
While true wireless earbuds can be hit or miss when it comes to microphone capabilities, these are an excellent option for both listening to music and talking on the phone. Since they’re also waterproof and have secure ear hooks, they’re great for everyday use like during workouts at the gym.
Sold by: Amazon
The evolution of Bose’s famous QC35 II headphones, the QuietComfort 45 offer arguably the most effective active noise cancellation on the market with advanced features such as transparency mode, which lets you hear your surroundings when needed.
Sold by: Amazon
Since they’re marketed as a gaming headset, these headphones are specially designed with a flexible boom and a microphone engineered for peak clarity, even in crowded environments. In case you do plan on gaming with them, they use a low-latency proprietary wireless connection in addition to Bluetooth 5.0 and wired support.
Sold by: Amazon
If you need professional-grade performance, consider this headset from corporate audio giant Jabra. Their flip-up boom mic ensures you’ll be heard clearly and their on-ear design helps to ventilate and cool your ears during a long workday.
Sold by: Amazon
If you want unobtrusive headphones that are made specifically for phone calls on your iPhone, these are the best on the market. They even work well with some Android phones, but unfortunately not all of them.
Sold by: Amazon
These are some of the most affordable true wireless earbuds available, but in spite of their affordable cost, they sound great with most genres of music and enable clear communication over the telephone as well as Zoom and other PC-based voice and video calling.
Sold by: Amazon
Most people buy these because they’re especially stylish and deliver pristine audio when listening to music. Their lesser-known feature is that they pick up and reproduce voices on phone calls as good as or better then almost anything else.
Sold by: Amazon
If you need headphones for both work and play, it’s hard to beat this pair from a leader in telecommunications. Their active equalizer and noise cancellation algorithm go into effect only when needed, ensuring the best possible audio quality at all times.
Sold by: Amazon
A four-microphone array allows the Voyager 8200 to reduce background noise for you and your call’s recipient better than most of the competition. They even include a USB-A Bluetooth adapter in case there isn’t one built into your PC.
Sold by: Amazon
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Chris Thomas writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/headphones-br/best-bluetooth-headphones-for-calls/ | 2022-04-12T19:38:06 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/headphones-br/best-bluetooth-headphones-for-calls/ |
Which outdoor ceiling fan is best?
If you want to enjoy your outdoor space to its fullest in every season, you need a way to keep cool when the weather turns warm. The best way to do that is by installing an outdoor ceiling fan that can keep the air circulating, even when Mother Nature isn’t providing you with much of a breeze.
While many aspects of choosing an outdoor ceiling fan will be similar to picking an indoor model, such as aesthetics and extra features, you’ll also need to consider its weatherproof rating to ensure it is suitable for your installation location. It’s a good idea to pick a model that can move a lot of air, too, since there may be crosswinds that can affect how much of the fan’s cooling breeze actually reaches you.
What to consider when purchasing an outdoor ceiling fan
Weatherproofing
Outdoor ceiling fans have two ratings — damp rated and wet rated. It is important to understand the difference between these two ratings, as that will determine where you can install a particular fan. Damp rated models can be installed outdoors where the air may be damp, but only in places where they will not be exposed directly to the elements, such as in covered patios and garages.
Wet rated fans can be installed in locations that are completely exposed to the elements, like gazebos and open decks. These have a sealed motor casing that protects their electrical components from water damage even if they are constantly rained on.
Aesthetics
Everyone wants their fan to look nice in their home or business and match well with the existing decor. With that in mind, aesthetics should play a major role in your decision making process. Consider what kind of style you have already cultivated, whether that be contemporary, tropical, rustic, industrial chic or anything else, and look for a fan that will blend in well with it.
Mounting location
Some fans are designed to be flush mounted. These are ideal for areas with a low ceiling. Other models install on a downrod that may be as short as 4 inches or as long as 60 inches. These work best in locations with a high ceiling. There are also outdoor fans that allow for both installation methods as per your needs.
Blades
Many people assume the number of blades matters in determining air flow, but this actually only has a negligible effect on it. More important is the length and the pitch or tilt of the blades. The longer the blades and the deeper the pitch, the more air they will move. You can read more about what blade length best fits spaces of various sizes in this outdoor ceiling fan guide.
Settings
Fans differ in the number of speed settings they have. You may find some that have just two speeds while others may have as many as seven. The more speeds a fan has, the more control you will have over the air flow. There are also fans that feature a reversible motor that can spin backwards. This is useful for pulling warm air up and away from the ground.
The best outdoor ceiling fan
Best overall outdoor ceiling fan
Kathy Ireland Home Batalie Breeze Outdoor Ceiling Fan
This attractive wet-rated fan can be installed in gazebos and other outdoor locations where it will be exposed to the elements, and it boasts the classic palm leaf style blades that many people love so much. It is backed by a limited lifetime warranty too, so you can rest assured you’ll get plenty of years of use out of it.
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Best outdoor ceiling fan for the money
When it comes to bang for the buck, it’s hard to beat the Merrimack II, which offers all the style of a premium model and many of the same features but for a much more palatable price. It can be installed flush to the ceiling or on the included downrod, making it suitable for low and high ceilings alike. It fits in well with many decor schemes too, and the blades are reversible with a different color on each side.
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Best smart outdoor ceiling fan
Trifecte 60-inch Indoor Outdoor Ceiling Fan
If you are searching for a high-tech model that can be controlled via a smartphone or even by voice when paired with an Alexa device, look no further than this sleek model from Trifecte. You can even set schedules and timers for both the fan component and it’s dimmable light. Plus, despite moving a lot of air, it is very quiet so it won’t disturb you when running.
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Best modern outdoor ceiling fan
Monte Carlo Maverick Outdoor Fan
This eye-catching ceiling fan has a unique shape to the blades that really makes it stand out. It is available in a wide variety of colorways, including options like aged pewter and weathered oak or brushed steel and dark walnut, and comes with a six-speed handheld remote control. The fan is pricey, but the bold style statement makes it worth every penny.
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Best tropical-inspired outdoor ceiling fan
Concord Fans Fernleaf Breeze Tropical Ceiling Fan
You can bring that tropical resort feel into your outdoor space with this fern leaf-inspired fan. It is damp rated for covered areas, has three speed settings and can be upgraded with a light with the purchase of an optional adapter kit. Note that the blades are actually plastic, but many will mistake them for wood unless closely inspected.
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Best outdoor ceiling fan for large spaces
Big Air 72-Inch Industrial Indoor/Outdoor Ceiling Fan
If you are trying to cool a large space, this 72-inch, nine-blade model can do the trick. It has six speed settings, and at its highest it moves 10,200 cubic feet of air per minute. The motor is reversible, so it can be used to push cold air towards the ground or draw hot air away. Sadly, it is only backed by one-year warranty.
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Best outdoor ceiling fan for small spaces
Vox Indoor and Outdoor 5-Blade Smart Flush Mount Ceiling Fan
Falling into the opposite end of the spectrum as the Big Air 72-inch is this short-bladed smart fan from Vox. It measures just 26 inches in diameter, so it can fit almost anywhere, yet still moves a respectable 5,084 cubic feet of air per minute. It is quieter than many other models too. You can control it by an app or, when paired with an Alexa device, by voice.
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Brett Dvoretz writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/home-br/heating-cooling-air-quality-br/how-to-choose-an-outdoor-ceiling-fan/ | 2022-04-12T19:38:12 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/home-br/heating-cooling-air-quality-br/how-to-choose-an-outdoor-ceiling-fan/ |
Which Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set is best?
Baking cookies with your children or grandchildren is a time-honored tradition. There’s nothing wrong with the classic circle shape, but your children will love the hands-on work of using a cookie cutter, and the Mickey Mouse shapes pair perfectly with your Disney movie night. Plus, a good set can be used on more than just cookies.
The best Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set is the Elfkitwang Mickey And Minnie-Themed Cookie Cutter Set. It includes multiple sizes of Mickey and Minnie’s silhouettes and some other fun shapes like Mickey’s hands and feet.
What to know before you buy a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set
Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set types
Mickey Mouse cookie cutters can be one of four types.
- Cutout cutters are the classic idea. You press them down into the dough, and the edges cut out the outline of your shape.
- Stamp cutters are like upgraded cutouts. They still cut out an outline, but they also have a second layer that presses a design into the cookie.
- Mold cutters are an inverted process. Instead of being pressed into the dough, you press the dough into them and push the cookie out.
- 3D cutters use several cutters, of any mixture of the above three types, to cut out layers that are then stacked up to create a 3D cookie.
What’s included
Mickey Mouse cookie cutters come in a surprisingly large variety of shapes, plus a given set can have any number of them. Some even have extras like cleaning wands or pipettes.
Most include, at the very least, the outline of Mickey’s head. Many also include Minnie-shaped heads. Other common shapes are Mickey’s hands and feet. If there’s a particular shape you’re looking for, it’s likely just a matter of time before you find it.
What to look for in a quality Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set
Material
Most Mickey Mouse cookie cutters are made of metal, plastic or silicone.
- Metal cutters can be either tin, aluminum or stainless steel. Tin is cheap, flimsy and rusts. Aluminum is also a little flimsy, but affordable and naturally rust resistant. Stainless steel is the most durable, but can still be bent if subjected to enough force.
- Plastic cutters are best for kids, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t great for adults too. They have enough of an edge to cut through most doughs but are much softer on the hands, even if the dough is tough.
- Silicone cutters are typically for molds only. They’re durable and easy to clean.
Nonstick
Some Mickey Mouse cookie cutters are nonstick to help keep your cookie operation flowing. It isn’t the end of the world if they aren’t, but it absolutely helps.
How much you can expect to spend on a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set
Most Mickey Mouse cookie cutter sets cost $5-$15, though some can cost up to $30. Some extra-pricey sets can reach highs of $60-plus.
Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set FAQ
How should I clean and care for my Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set?
A. Unlike most kitchen gear, many cookie cutters can’t be run through your dishwasher. Hand-washing them is relatively straightforward: simply drop them into a sink full of hot soapy water and scrub. You may need to use a little elbow grease to remove all the remnants of dough — some cutter sets include a brush for just this purpose.
Once they’re dry, you need to store them properly to prevent damage. Most are made of sturdy stainless steel, but even these types of cutters can still bend if tossed into the average kitchen drawer. Instead, you’ll want to keep them in their own storage unit. Plastic bins are the most common.
How do I get the cleanest cuts from my Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set?
A. That depends on the dough you’re cutting, but there are a few general tips you can follow. The first is to use metal cutters — they have sharper edges than any other material so have an easier time, well, cutting. Secondly, grease or flour your cutters before each cut. Common cooking spray works especially well.
What’s the best Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set to buy?
Top Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set
Elfkitwang Mickey And Minnie-Themed Cookie Cutter Set
What you need to know: This brightly colored set is excellent for parent-child activities.
What you’ll love: This 15-piece set includes four sizes each of Mickey and Minnie heads, one each of glove, foot, bow and heart, a cleaning wand, a skewer and a stamp. Each cutter has a bright plastic covering on one side for protection and easy identification.
What you should consider: Most of the pieces in this set are too small to be used for cookies, instead being intended for cutting fun shapes out of other foods.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set for the money
BakingWorld Mickey Mouse Cookie Cutter Set
What you need to know: This 10-piece set is full of fun Mickey- and Minnie-related shapes.
What you’ll love: It includes four different sizes of Mickey’s head, four of Minnie’s head and a smiling Mickey cutter. They are made of rigid stainless steel that won’t bend easily. They’re also great for cutting sandwiches into fun shapes.
What you should consider: You might not realize what the small green tools that come with it are for. (They’re for pressing in the filling.)
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Texasdeluxe Mickey-Shape Cookie Cutter Mold Set
What you need to know: This five-piece set can create richly detailed Mickey and Minnie faces.
What you’ll love: It includes one each of Mickey- and Minnie-shaped cutter, one each of Mickey- and Minnie-shaped press molds and a miniature pipette for carefully adding food coloring to each section.
What you should consider: The imprint molds can be difficult to pull from some doughs without damaging the shape. All pieces must be washed and dried by hand.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/bakeware-baking-tools-br/best-mickey-mouse-cookie-cutter-set/ | 2022-04-12T19:38:18 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/bakeware-baking-tools-br/best-mickey-mouse-cookie-cutter-set/ |
Final bids are being prepared for European champion Chelsea and new business figures are being added to consortia as the process to end the ownership of sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich steps up.
Four known bids are still under consideration to buy Chelsea, which could be sold for 3 billion pounds ($4 billion) given the interest that has emerged since Abramovich put the west London Premier League club up for sale six weeks ago.
Steve Pagliuca, co-owner of the NBA’s Boston Celtics, went public for the first time on Tuesday to confirm his plans to become a Premier League team owner that could see him have to relinquish his 55% controlling stake in Serie A team Atalanta.
The American cannot control two clubs playing in the same UEFA-organized European competition, though Atalanta is not in qualifying contention for next season.
“Later this week, we will submit a substantial and credible bid proposal,” Pagliuca said in a statement. “One that we expect will meet the respective requirements and regulations of the Premier League, UK Government and UEFA — and we pledge to honor our commitment to credibility and good guardianship of Chelsea Football Club from day one.”
Another bid, which is led by Chicago Cubs baseball owner Tom Ricketts, has been shrouded in criticism over Islamophobic comments by his father, Joe, that featured in leaked emails three years ago. The Ricketts family has been working to distance itself from the patriarch, and another business leader was announced on Tuesday as a new leading figure involved in the bid.
Karan Bilimoria, a Chelsea fan who founded the Cobra beer company in west London in 1989 and sits in the House of Lords, will become a director of the club if the Ricketts bid is successful, and serve as an ambassador.
“Tom and the wider group have a proven track record of running successful sports teams and a strong vision for both the club and the local community,” Bilimoria said in a statement.
Bilimoria is the outgoing president of the Confederation of British Industry.
“We have always been clear that having local expertise and perspectives on our bid is vital,” Tom Ricketts said in a statement. “Given Lord Bilimoria’s unparalleled credentials and his love for Chelsea, he is the perfect addition to our team.”
A rival bid features an existing American investor in a Premier League team: Josh Harris owns a 17% stake in south London club Crystal Palace. Harris, who is also owner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, is part of a consortium fronted by former Liverpool and British Airways chairman Martin Broughton and World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.
A fourth consortium features Todd Boehly, part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, and Jonathan Goldstein, a London-based property investor who is CEO of Cain International.
Abramovich has been forced to sell Chelsea after he was sanctioned in Britain and his assets were frozen as part of a crackdown on oligarchs following Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.
The government has to sign off on the sale, which is being overseen by the New York-based Raine Group merchant bank, under the terms that allow the team to continue operating since Abramovich was sanctioned. Abramovich cannot profit from the proceeds of the sale.
“Our role is to consider an application for an amended license that authorises a sale of the club when it comes forward with a preferred bidder,” the British government said in a statement.
Chelsea has won 21 trophies in 19 years of Abramovich ownership, relying on his lavish investment to become one of Europe’s most successful clubs.
The ability of a new owner to continue significant funding of players could help to determine which bid prevails.
“Our first focus and goal is to make strategic investments to continue competing for championships and trophies,” Pagliuca said. “We will support our players and managers to make sure that Chelsea are habitual winners and title contenders, whether in the Premier League, Champions League or the Women’s Super League.
“In addition, we will continue to invest in the youth academy to develop the stars of the future and we would not be in this process if we did not have an exciting and inclusive vision for Chelsea.”
There is a long-term need to revamp Stamford Bridge to generate more income from fans and corporate backers. Chelsea has the smallest and most dated stadium of the Premier League’s most successful clubs, with plans for a rebuild of the 41,000-capacity venue put on hold by Abramovich in 2018 as British-Russian diplomatic tensions deepened.
“Not only are we committed to remaining at the home of Chelsea, Stamford Bridge,” Pagliuca said, “but we are inspired to renovate or redevelop the stadium. Chelsea is a world-class team, in a world-class city, with world-class fans: it deserves a world-class stadium.”
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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/chelsea-bidders-reveal-new-details-as-sale-process-heats-up/ | 2022-04-12T19:38:25 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/chelsea-bidders-reveal-new-details-as-sale-process-heats-up/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday saying it found evidence the NFL’s Washington Commanders engaged in potentially unlawful financial conduct for more than a decade by withholding ticket revenue from visiting teams and refundable deposits from fans.
In the letter obtained by The Associated Press, the committee outlined through the testimony of former employees and access to emails and documents a pattern of financial impropriety by owner Dan Snyder and team executives. At one point in 2016, the committee said the team retained up to $5 million from 2,000 season-ticket holders while also concealing sharable revenue from the league.
One former employee testified before Congress saying the team had two separate financial books: one with underreported ticket revenue that went to the NFL and the full, complete picture. According to testimony, Snyder was aware of the numbers shared with the league while also being privy to the actual data.
The business practice was known as “juice” inside Washington’s front office. And, if correct, it could spell significant trouble for Snyder and the Commanders.
Ticket revenue is shared among all 32 NFL teams, with 40% of it deposited in a visiting team fund. Such money is among the pillars of the league’s revenue-sharing commitment.
A team spokeswoman said there was no new comment and referred to the statement from March 31: “The team categorically denies any suggestion of financial impropriety of any kind at any time.”
“We adhere to strict internal processes that are consistent with industry and accounting standards, are audited annually by a globally respected independent auditing firm, and are also subject to regular audits by the NFL. We continue to cooperate fully with the Committee’s work.”
The league did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The House Oversight Committee said it is sharing documents with the FTC because the commission has the authority to investigate unfair or deceptive business practices and determine if any laws were broken.
“We request that you take any other action you deem necessary to ensure that all funds are returned to their rightful owners and that those responsible are held accountable for their conduct,” said the letter signed by committee chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney and economic and consumer policy subcommittee chairman Raja Krishnamoorthi.
The letter is addressed to FTC chair Lina M. Khan but was also sent to the attorneys general of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Congress launched an investigation into the team’s workplace misconduct after the league did not release a report detailing the findings of an independent probe into the matter. The committee said the NFL and the team “have taken steps to withhold key documents and information.”
That led investigators to seek testimony and documents in other ways. The committee said its investigation uncovered everything from “pervasive sexual harassment and other workplace misconduct to potential financial misconduct.”
According to testimony, financial misconduct included making it intentionally difficult for season-ticket holders to recoup refundable deposit money, counting some of those leftover funds as a different kind of revenue that doesn’t need to be shared with the league, and shifting money from ticket sales for NFL games to other events at FedEx Field as a way of hiding that money from the league.
The committee in the letter shared spreadsheet data showing evidence of deposits that were not returned. Citing emails and the testimony of longtime vice president of sales and customer service Jason Friedman, ticket sales from Washington games were shifted to a 2013 Kenny Chesney concert and a 2014 Navy-Notre Dame college football game as a way to “juice” revenue and keep it off the books shared with the NFL.
When word first surfaced in early April about the team withholding ticket revenue, the team released a statement denying that report and added: “Anyone who offered testimony suggesting a withholding of revenue has committed perjury, plain and simple.” Lawyer Lisa Banks, who represents Friedman, said the team defamed her client, who testified truthfully “with evidence.”
After the committee sent the letter to the FTC, Banks and lawyer Debra Katz, who represent more than 40 former employees, called it “damning.”
“It’s clear that the team’s misconduct goes well beyond the sexual harassment and abuse of employees already documented and has also impacted the bottom line of the NFL, other NFL owners, and the team’s fans,” they said in a statement. “We are proud of our many clients who have come forward at great personal risk to reveal the truth and bring us closer to total transparency about the full extent of the dysfunction at the Washington Commanders.”
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Associated Press reporter Farnoush Amiri contributed.
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More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://apnews.com/hub/pro-32 and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/congress-tells-ftc-commanders-may-have-broken-financial-laws/ | 2022-04-12T19:38:32 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/congress-tells-ftc-commanders-may-have-broken-financial-laws/ |
A look at what’s happening around the majors today:
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REMARKABLE ROOKIE
Guardians newcomer Steven Kwan has quickly become the biggest story in baseball after a sensational start in a season-opening series at Kansas City.
The 24-year-old rookie is the first player in major league history to reach base at least three times in each of his first four games. Kwan hit a bases-loaded triple and walked twice Monday in a 10-7 win over the Royals.
Kwan, who made his debut opening day, is 9 for 13 at the plate and has reached base in 15 of 19 plate appearances. That’s the most times any player has safely reached in his first four games since 1901.
“Pretty cool,” Kwan said in his typical understated manner. “Pretty surreal.”
Kwan was Cleveland’s fifth-round draft pick in 2018. He’s a contact hitter — he’s swung 26 times so far this season and gotten a piece of the ball every time, according to Statcast.
Kwan had the lowest swing-and-miss rate in the minors last year among players with at least 300 plate appearances at 2.6%.
Cleveland opens a series at Cincinnati, with Tyler Mahle starting for the Reds. He won on opening day, holding the World Series champion Braves to no earned runs in five innings at Atlanta.
Shane Bieber pitches for the Guardians. In his first start, he allowed one earned run in 4 2/3 innings at Kansas City.
SEEING DOUBLE
Giants reliever Tyler Rogers and his twin brother, Padres reliever Taylor Rogers, spent a few minutes chatting with big grins behind the batting cage Monday afternoon as their teams prepared for a three-game series in San Francisco.
Later, they headed to home plate and exchanged the lineup cards for their managers before posing for photos with the umpire crew.
What fun for these two now playing in the same division on rival clubs.
“Probably if you put them in the same uniform you couldn’t tell them apart,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “I know it’s a special day for both of them being able to be on the field together. There’s twins and then there’s twins, and that is a difficult one to tell apart.”
Both pitched in relief Monday night and played a significant role in the outcome, too. Taylor Rogers earned his third save and Tyler took the loss in San Diego’s 4-2 victory over the Giants.
Yu Darvish starts for the Padres on Tuesday night. In his season debut last week at Arizona, he had a no-hitter in progress but was pulled following the sixth inning after throwing 92 pitches.
DOUBLE DEBUT
Tampa Bay right-hander Tommy Romero and Oakland righty Adam Oller will both be making their major league debuts when they pitch against each other at Tropicana Field.
It will be the 28th time since Baseball Reference data is available since 1901 that two starting pitchers are making their big league debuts in the same game.
Neither the Athletics nor Rays have been involved in such a game.
The most recent occurrences came in 2020 when Washington’s Wil Crowe faced Miami’s Sixto Sánchez on Aug. 22 at Nationals Park and Detroit’s Casey Mize and Dane Dunning of the White Sox met Aug. 19 in Chicago.
WELCOME BACK
Martin Perez spent his first seven big league seasons with the Texas Rangers. The lefty is back after three years away.
Perez makes his return to the mound for the Rangers to wrap up a two-game set against Colorado, with right-hander Chad Kuhl pitching for the first time with the Rockies.
Texas initially signed Perez as a 16-year-old international free agent out of Venezuela in July 2007, and he made his big league debut in 2012. After going 43-49 in 141 games over seven years with the Rangers, Perez went to Minnesota in free agency for the 2019 season and then pitched for Boston the past two years.
Kuhl signed as a free agent last month after pitching in 100 games (84 starts) for Pittsburgh in his first five big league seasons. He was 5-7 with a 4.82 ERA in 28 games (14 starts) for the Pirates last year.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/leading-off-kwan-delivers-again-rogers-twins-together-2/ | 2022-04-12T19:38:39 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/leading-off-kwan-delivers-again-rogers-twins-together-2/ |
Joey Logano has had his share of conflict during a career that began with his appointment as “Sliced Bread” upon arrival.
He was 18 and overhyped, evidenced by a nickname that likened him to the “greatest thing since … sliced bread.” Eager to prove himself and determined not to be pushed around, Logano scrapped with just about all of NASCAR’s biggest stars.
He’s had a beef with Kevin Harvick, as well as former Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Tony Stewart, the guy he replaced at Gibbs, called Logano “nothing but a little rich kid” during their spat, and Matt Kenseth was suspended two races for deliberately knocking Logano out of championship-contention during their contentious flare-up.
And so it is with some bemusement that Logano watches from afar as Ty Gibbs, the 19-year-old heir apparent at the Gibbs organization, is struggling to find his own footing with three incidents in the past six Xfinity Series races.
“I have a lot more grace for seeing that stuff after going through it myself,” Logano said. “Do I agree with the way it went down? No, I don’t. Have I done that type of thing before? Yeah, I have. Am I proud of it? No, not at all. But I learned from it at least.”
Ty Gibbs this year hasn’t helped his bid to overcome the perception he’s only advanced to NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series because his grandfather owns the team. Gibbs has the best car on track each week and it shows — he has three wins through eight races, is ranked second in the standings and has led nearly a quarter of the laps completed to date — but he’s aggressive and it exploded last weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
Gibbs and Sam Mayer were racing AJ Allmendinger on the final lap of Friday’s Xfinity Series race with a $100,000 bonus on the line. Mayer moved Gibbs out of his way, Gibbs retaliated after the checkered flag and then they brawled on pit road.
Gibbs, while still wearing his helmet, threw punches at the unprotected face of his fellow teen rival.
“It’s part of growing up on TV. You’re growing up in the limelight, right?” he said before addressing Gibbs specifically, “it’s a very popular driver. He’s very good, he wins, he’s in a great car, and he’s pretty dang aggressive. And I can relate to all that.
“I wouldn’t say what happened on the race track was wrong, but I’d say what happened after was probably not the right direction.”
What Logano most did not understand is why Gibbs was upset with Mayer after the race. Gibbs has shown since his NASCAR national series debut — a stunning win on the road course in Daytona — that he’s willing to bump and bang his way into victory lane and he’s been aggressive this season.
At Las Vegas in March, Gibbs spun Ryan Sieg early in the Xfinity Series race, which led to a conversation on pit road between the two during a rain delay, and then more contact between the two when racing resumed. At Richmond two races ago, Gibbs bumped his way past teammate John Hunter Nemechek to win the race.
“If you’re going to race a certain way, you got to expect to be raced that way back,” Logano said of Gibbs. “That’s the driver code that nobody can understand. That’s it. If you’re willing to push, then you’ve got to be willing to take some pushes. That’s what it comes down to. If you’re willing to push for a win, and someone is willing to push for $100,000 behind you, (it’s) one for the other at that point.”
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More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/logano-watches-ty-gibbs-scrap-with-veteran-bemusement/ | 2022-04-12T19:38:47 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/logano-watches-ty-gibbs-scrap-with-veteran-bemusement/ |
DALLAS (AP) — The Dallas Mavericks are not putting a timetable on Luka Doncic’s return from a calf strain four days before the opener of a first-round playoff series against Utah.
The team said Tuesday that the 23-year-old superstar had begun treatment. Doncic strained his left calf late in the third quarter of what turned out to be a meaningless regular-season finale against San Antonio on Sunday.
Dallas opens the playoffs at home Saturday against the Jazz. The fourth-seeded Mavericks have home-court advantage in the playoffs for the first time since they won their only championship in 2011. That’s also the last time Dallas won a postseason series.
Doncic finished as the NBA’s third-leading scorer at 28.4 points per game. He was the only player in the league to average at least 28 points, eight rebounds and eight assists per game.
The two-time All-Star wouldn’t have been eligible for the finale against the Spurs if the NBA hadn’t rescinded his 16th technical foul. Without the reversal, Doncic would have served a one-game suspension.
Doncic played his normal rotation, which included all of the first quarter and was supposed to be all of the fourth. Coach Jason Kidd said he would have been finished for the night after the third. The injury happened in the final three minutes of the quarter. | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/mavs-put-no-timetable-on-doncic-return-with-playoffs-looming/ | 2022-04-12T19:38:54 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/mavs-put-no-timetable-on-doncic-return-with-playoffs-looming/ |
The mother of a Puerto Rican Olympian killed by a stray bullet in her Connecticut home was an unintended victim of a drug dispute that erupted into the firing of more than 20 gunshots, a police official said Tuesday.
Mabel Martinez, 56, was shot in the head inside her Waterbury home on Saturday afternoon when at least two people opened fire outside on the street, Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said at a news conference. No arrests were announced.
Martinez was the mother of Yarimar Mercado Martinez, a rifle shooter on the Puerto Rico Olympic team who competed in the summer Olympics last year and in 2016. She and other family members were in Waterbury on Tuesday, but did not speak at the news conference.
Spagnolo said people in two cars, including convicted felons known for drug dealing, got into a shootout outside Mabel Martinez’s home. The reason for the dispute was not clear. A man involved in the confrontation, who was on the street, was shot in the hip but survived. No other injuries were reported.
Officers found 15 9mm casings and seven 45-caliber cases at the scene. Police said they were trying to determine if one or two 9 mm guns were fired.
Police have found both cars involved in the shooting and one of their owners. The other owner was being sought for questioning. Both men are convicted felons known to have sold drugs, police said, but they have not been charged in the shooting.
Spagnolo said the shooting raises questions about how illegal guns get into communities and how people on parole and probation are monitored.
Yarimar Mercado Martinez, 27, traveled to Waterbury late Sunday from Brazil, where she was to compete in an international shooting competition. She expressed her anguish in social media posts.
“Why you? Why this way? You were just sitting in your little house sewing, as you always did,” she wrote in Spanish on Facebook. | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/police-olympians-mother-unintended-victim-of-drug-dispute/ | 2022-04-12T19:39:01 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/police-olympians-mother-unintended-victim-of-drug-dispute/ |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Taylor Rogers struggled to find the right words through all his emotions after he and twin brother Tyler pitched in the same major league game wearing opposing uniforms, each part of the boxscore for a moment they had envisioned for so long.
Taylor pitched the ninth inning to earn his third save in San Diego’s 4-2 victory against losing pitcher Tyler Rogers (0-1) and the San Francisco Giants on Monday night. They even stood in for their managers exchanging the lineup cards, startling the umpire crew before posing for a photo with them.
“I don’t know if I even have the words yet,” said Taylor Rogers, acquired by the Padres from Minnesota last Thursday ahead of opening day. “Really, really cool. I want to thank Bob Melvin and Gabe Kapler for letting us do the lineup cards. That was a special moment and got some good pictures from that, too. I’m so blessed. I can’t believe it’s happening.”
Tyler immediately left the ballpark and the state to go welcome his first child, a boy.
“Next week’s going to feel dull,” joked Taylor, greeted by the game ball already authenticated and in his locker.
Photos showed similar mannerisms, to which Taylor said “that’s how twins work.”
The brothers chatted behind the batting cage before the game,then later exchanged the lineup cards at home plate and posed for a photo with the umpire crew. They didn’t know that was part of the plan.
“Probably if you put them in the same uniform you couldn’t tell them apart,” said Melvin, the Padres’ manager. “I know it’s a special day for both of them being able to be on the field together. There’s twins and then there’s twins, and that is a difficult one to tell apart.”
Hours later, Taylor Rogers was summoned to close out the game and hang his brother with a loss.
“I thought about that as I was running out to the mound — this is putting me in a weird spot here,” he said. “It’s OK, because the relationship that we have, it’s not … I’m not going to go over to him and say, ‘Ha, ha.’ I’m going to go over to him and say, ‘Dude, how freakin’ cool was that?’”
Manny Machado’s RBI groundout in the seventh inning put San Diego ahead, and Austin Nola hit his first home run of the season for the Padres.
Jake Cronenworth’s RBI single in the ninth provided insurance.
Pierce Johnson loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth on a walk to Steven Duggar, but Mauricio Dubon struck out swinging.
Nola connected in the fifth only for the Giants to tie it in the sixth on a two-out wild pitch by winner Steven Wilson (2-0).
San Diego right-hander Nick Martínez made his first major league start since 2017 for Texas after spending three of the past four years playing in Japan. He allowed one run on five hits, struck out six and walked one over five innings.
Giants starter Alex Wood struck out six over 4 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits in his first 2022 start.
Kapler received his 2021 NL Manager of the Year award during a pregame ceremony. He was thrilled for the Rogers brothers, too.
“We can shine the light on a special day for their family,” the Giants’ skipper said.
FAMILIAR FLAPPIN’ FLAGS
Melvin, the former A’s manager who caught for the Giants after growing up in the Bay Area, compared the blustery night to his days going to games at Candlestick Park.
“It’s always special when you get to come home,” Melvin said. “The rivalry between the Giants, this ballpark’s fantastic, you’re always going to get big crowds here. It’s a really good team. You have to play your best to win here.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: LHP Blake Snell, scratched from his start Sunday with tightness in his left upper leg, will wait until Tuesday to throw and then the Padres will determine whether he might need a stint on the 10-day injured list. “He’s walking around OK,” Melvin said, not ready to guess on Snell’s status. “I want to leave it open. I’m a little skeptical based on the fact that he had to be scratched yesterday, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself and I want him to have some input.”
Giants: 3B Wilmer Flores is dealing with a personal matter that is keeping him out of the lineup. “He’s also going through a difficult time off the field and we’re respecting that,” Kapler said, noting the Giants are treating it as they would an injured player by giving Flores the time he needs. “Wilmer and I have had consistent communication and conversations about his personal circumstance over the last couple days since the season began. When we collectively believe he is prepared and strong enough emotionally to be on the field we’re going to have him be on the field. And when we don’t, just like a player who’s dealing with something physical, it’s the same thing. These things are equally challenging when they’re emotional or mental as when they are physical.” … OF LaMonte Wade Jr., on the injured list with left knee inflammation, will soon begin a running progression.
UP NEXT
Padres: RHP Yu Darvish (0-0, 0.00 ERA) looks to build on his season-opening outing last week at Arizona, where he had a no-hitter in progress but was pulled following the sixth inning after throwing 92 pitches.
Giants: RHP Alex Cobb makes his Giants debut after signing a $20 million, two-year contract ahead of the lockout.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/twin-win-rogers-gets-save-brother-loss-as-pads-top-giants/ | 2022-04-12T19:39:08 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/twin-win-rogers-gets-save-brother-loss-as-pads-top-giants/ |
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast meets reproductive care needs for people across southeast Texas.
For some women, it's the only available option within hundreds of miles to seek an abortion.
"We've been doing it for years, but now all of a sudden we have to say we're not able to, and instead, we're helping them get out of state," said Dr. Bhavik Kumar, a family physician at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
For decades, conservatives in the state have chipped away at abortion access, and restrictions have shut down many clinics.
In 2021, Texas lawmakers effectively banned termination of pregnancy after six weeks, even though medical experts say most women won't know if they are pregnant during that time period.
They also passed more restrictions on medicated abortion, which typically uses two pills to end a pregnancy.
Dr. Kumar says the restrictive laws compromise his ability to provide safe and legal medical care.
"But now our hands are tied, and having to say no to somebody, especially when I have the medical training and the expertise to provide that care," Dr. Kumar said.
"We've got the team of nurses and the staff and the techs, everyone available to do what they need to make them feel better and to make all the other things in their life somewhat better, and we're not able to do that."
In a report, the University of Texas Policy Evaluation Project says the law's effect reduced abortions in the state by about 50% around 2,100 in September of 2021.
It also says there are only 24 facilities for a state of 29 million people, forcing many women to travel out to places as far away as Colorado.
Dr. Rebecca Cohen from the Comprehensive Women's Health Center in Denver says some women travel hours to seek abortion care, with up to 20% of their patients being from Texas on some days.
The demand surge has lengthened wait times, as other surrounding states are following the Texas law.
"As hard as it is to kind of look to the horizon and see the tsunami, we know that it's coming," Dr. Cohen said.
The wave reproductive health providers expect is that the conservative-leaning Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision which legalized abortion.
"We know what happens when abortion is banned," Dr. Kuma said. "We know that people will continue to need access to this care, so we're not going anywhere. We'll continue this fight. But I think and what I hope will come out of this is more people will understand how critical abortion access is for people's health care and for families and for communities, and that we will begin to turn the tide the other way."
It'll be an uphill struggle for abortion rights in Texas, as anti-abortion conservative Republicans dominate the legislature.
The Texas laws have also created an underground network of sorts, with many legal funds and confidential logistical operations, to help women without the means find abortion clinics out of state and help them travel there, or to help women find access to medicated abortion.
Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here: https://bit.ly/Newsy1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/how-texas-doctors-help-women-navigate-abortion-laws | 2022-04-12T19:40:43 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/how-texas-doctors-help-women-navigate-abortion-laws |
WOODLAWN, Md. — Chick-fil-A is coming to Security Square Mall, but Outback Steakhouse is out.
Those are the latest reports from the Randallstown NAACP, which has been actively working to revitalize the derelict shopping center.
Local government is also focused on the site. A state bill that just passed will let Baltimore County government create a special "West Baltimore County Redevelopment Authority" for the area. There will also be a charrette - a type of community forum - to help determine next steps for the mall, confirmed Baltimore County spokesperson Erica Palmisano.
In the meantime, the only definite change will be a new Chick-fil-A, which will replace the former Bennigan's site. The Bennigan's building was razed last week.
Local NAACP president Ryan Coleman said Chick-fil-A is slated to open around Thanksgiving.
He said the community is also hoping to get the former IHOP building knocked down, but Outback Steakhouse will no longer be moving to that site, despite previous hopes.
Community leaders are actively looking for new businesses to go in there. He said the county may also consider buying the former Sears building and potentially turning it into a type of ampitheater, similar to Merriweather Post Pavilion. But Palmisano said Baltimore County absolutely has nothing like that planned at this point. She only confirmed that a charrette will be taking place with the stakeholders to decide what to do next. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/chick-fil-a-coming-to-security-square-mall-as-revitalization-plans-move-forward | 2022-04-12T19:40:49 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/chick-fil-a-coming-to-security-square-mall-as-revitalization-plans-move-forward |
GLEN BURNIE, Md. — Stepping into the Doll Apartment complex in Glen Burnie is like stepping back in time, but the Sixties-era units will represent a new beginning for homeless families in Anne Arundel County.
“In our county, we have over 300 that on any given night are either experiencing homelessness, living on the streets or are in a shelter,” said Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman.
For each of those people, there are a hundred more waiting for rental assistance or Section 8 housing.
“Even now, as COVID had ended, the need has grown on our waiting list to over 30,000 families,” said Housing Commission of Anne Arundel County CEO Clif Martin.
The county is using $3 million from its share of the American Rescue Act to purchase the apartment complex just off Crain Highway, and it will spend a million more expanding and renovating it for homeless families at a time when inflation is cutting into help at the state and federal levels.
Rising building costs have priced out the state with 70 or its affordable housing projects across Maryland and those who have federal vouchers for rent are finding that many of those prices for rent have soared to the point where they’re of little use.
Unlike other subsidized housing, residents in these units will only pay what, if anything, they can afford for up to a year, while they seek jobs and permanent housing.
“You want to move into a normal apartment complex, they want to know what your last landlord thought of your rental behavior and did they pay the rent,” said Anne Arundel Affordable Housing Coalition Chair Trudy McFall. “That’s not the world that our homeless are living in.” | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/hope-for-homeless-families-in-glen-burnie | 2022-04-12T19:40:55 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/hope-for-homeless-families-in-glen-burnie |
BALTIMORE — Sail Baltimore has hosted more than 750 ships in Baltimore but there's a brand new ship in town. Pride of Baltimore II escorted the clipper Stad Amsterdam into the inner harbor this morning.
Both Stad Amsterdam and Pride of Baltimore II will be open to the general public on Broadway Pier in Fells Point for free deck tours on Sunday, April 17, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. All who plan to board Stad Amsterdam must register in advance at here and must wear a mask. Pre-registration is not required to board Pride of Baltimore II. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/pride-of-baltimore-ii-escorts-the-clipper-stad-amsterdam | 2022-04-12T19:41:01 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/pride-of-baltimore-ii-escorts-the-clipper-stad-amsterdam |
BALTIMORE — Speed cameras along Baltimore's Jones Falls Expressway will officially be activated on April 14.
For the first 90 days, violators will receive only a warning in the mail instead of a speeding ticket.
But after that time frame, the City will hand out $40 fines for each offense.
For now, the cameras will be posted up in each direction on I-83 at the W. 41st Street ramp.
Last year, the Maryland General Assembly authorized the cameras, in an attempt to slow speeds and avoid collisions which have long plagued that portion of the Expressway.
RELATED: City Board of Estimates approves installation of speed cameras along JFX
According to the Baltimore City Department of of Transportation, test cameras have recorded speeds of up to 173 miles per hour.
Revenue generated by the speed cameras will be used to cover the operating costs of the system, with the remaining funds going towards road maintenance and improvements. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/speed-cameras-along-baltimores-jones-falls-expressway-will-activate-april-14 | 2022-04-12T19:41:07 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/speed-cameras-along-baltimores-jones-falls-expressway-will-activate-april-14 |
Human-caused climate change made the record-smashing 2020 Atlantic hurricane season even wetter.
A new study on the record busy hurricane year found it was 5% rainier than it would have been had there been no global warming from the burning of fossil fuels.
There were a record 30 named storms in 2020 and 11 of them — also a record — made landfall in the United States. The first study to look for a climate change fingerprint on an entire hurricane season found that the storms that reached hurricane status were 8% wetter.
Six hurricanes that impacted the United States in 2020 caused more than $1 billion in damages, the National Hurricane Center reported.
Scientists compared the reality to a computer-simulated world without climate change.
The projection says as the world warms up, hurricanes could become rainier.
“This work is also consistent with a recent assessment of at least a ‘medium-to-high confidence’ that an increase the projected future impacts of climate change on global tropical cyclone precipitation rates to be 7% per °C,” the research’s authors said. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/2020-hurricanes-rainier-because-of-climate-change-scientists-say | 2022-04-12T19:41:13 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/2020-hurricanes-rainier-because-of-climate-change-scientists-say |
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal data confirms that 2021 was the deadliest year in U.S. history.
New research is offering more insights into how it got that bad. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this month quietly updated its provisional death statistics, showing there were more than 3.46 million deaths last year. That's about 80,000 more than 2020′s record tally.
Experts say COVID-19 was the major reason. But a new study released Tuesday shows an unprecedented spike in adolescent drug overdose deaths also played a role.
CDC data indicates that more than 373,000 Americans died from all causes in January 2021, a 108,942 increase from January 2020. January 2021 is widely considered the deadliest month of the pandemic in the U.S. with an estimated 95,000 deaths during the month. The United States did not recording a significant number of COVID-19 fatalities until March 2020.
Researchers also believe U.S. life expectancy dropped another five or six months in 2021 — putting it back to where it was 20 years ago. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/covid-19-overdoses-pushed-us-to-highest-death-total-ever | 2022-04-12T19:41:19 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/covid-19-overdoses-pushed-us-to-highest-death-total-ever |
Millie Bobby Brown is speaking out against the sexualization of young girls in Hollywood.
The "Stranger Things" star opened up about the pressures of navigating through Hollywood as a child star during an April 4 appearance on "The Guilty Feminist" podcast.
"I deal with the same things any 18-year-old is dealing with, navigating being an adult and having relationships and friendships, and it's all of those things," she said, adding, "Being liked and trying to fit in, it's all a lot, and you're trying to find yourself while doing that. The only difference is that obviously, I'm doing that in the public eye."
Brown -- who landed the lead role of Eleven on "Stranger Things" when she was only 12 -- said that she's noticed "a difference" in how people treat her since she turned 18 in February.
"Definitely seeing a difference between the way people act, and the way that the press and social media have reacted to me becoming of age," she continued.
Millie Bobby Brown's Milestones Through the Years
"But it's gross and it's true and so I think it's just a very good representation of what's going on in the world and how young girls are sexualized and so I have been dealing with that but have also been dealing with that for forever."
Entertainment News
The British actress recalled a time when she wore a poofy dress to a red-carpet event and was criticized for "looking like a 16-year-old" because it was low cut.
"I thought, 'Is this really what we're talking about?'" Brown shared. "We should be talking about the incredible people that were there at the awards show, the talent that was there and the people that we're representing."
Due to the negativity, Brown has decided to stop posting anything personal on her social media accounts so she can use her platforms to inspire other young girls.
"You're not gonna see that part of me," she said. "You get to see the things I choose to put out in the world. I hope if there's a 12-year-old that's told Instagram they're 18, and they've created an account, they're going on my account and they're not being exploited to the horrible world that's out there." | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/millie-bobby-brown-criticizes-gross-social-media-reaction-to-her-turning-18/3642619/ | 2022-04-12T19:41:22 | 0 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/millie-bobby-brown-criticizes-gross-social-media-reaction-to-her-turning-18/3642619/ |
Authorities in Iowa said they have made an arrest in connection to a deadly shooting that occurred inside a crowded nightclub in Cedar Rapids that left two people dead and 10 others injured.
Police announced Monday that they arrested 32-year-old Timothy Ladell Rush. He was charged with second-degree murder, willful injury, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, reckless use of a firearm, and possession of a firearm as a felon.
Police also released the names of the two people killed at the Taboo Nightclub as 25-year-old Michael Valentine and 35-year-old Nicole Owens.
The shooting happened just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday, police said.
According to the Associated Press, police believe one of the victims was the target of the shooting. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/iowa-police-make-arrest-in-deadly-nightclub-shooting | 2022-04-12T19:41:25 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/iowa-police-make-arrest-in-deadly-nightclub-shooting |
George To The RescueGeorge Oliphant's surprise renovations for deserving families facing unique challenges | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/the-scene/george-to-the-rescue/chalkboard-wall-created-using-3m-delicate-surface-painters-tape/3642632/ | 2022-04-12T19:41:28 | 1 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/the-scene/george-to-the-rescue/chalkboard-wall-created-using-3m-delicate-surface-painters-tape/3642632/ |
Authorities in four states responded to the scene of deadly shootings over the weekend that took the lives of multiple people.
In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, police said two people died early Sunday morning when a shooting occurred inside a nightclub during a birthday party.
Police arrested 32-year-old Timothy Ladell Rush on Monday in connection to the shooting. Police believe one of the victims was the target.
The shooting left 10 people injured, and 25-year-old Michael Valentine and 35-year-old Nicole Owens were the victims killed.
Police in Indianapolis said one man died after a fight occurred during a birthday party at a nightclub early Sunday morning.
According to Scripps affiliate WRTV, 24-year-old Belansky Fanord was killed, and five others were injured. No arrests have been made.
In Georgia, authorities said the Coweta County coroner arrived at a gun range owned by his family and discovered his father, mother, and son were shot to death on Friday, CBS News and NBC News reported.
According to the Associated Press, 40 guns were stolen, and the surveillance camera was also taken from the Grantville business.
No arrests have been made, and a $15,000 reward has been offered.
In Willowbrook, California, police said a 17-year-old and a man were killed after gunfire erupted in a residential area around 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the Associated Press reported.
Authorities said four men and a woman also suffered gunshot wounds.
No arrests have been made. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/multiple-people-killed-across-u-s-after-deadly-weekend-shootings | 2022-04-12T19:41:31 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/multiple-people-killed-across-u-s-after-deadly-weekend-shootings |
The New Car Assessment Program, or NCAP, lets you compare the safety of new cars.
The star ratings show everything from how well a car protects you in a crash to rollover resistance.
There’s a proposal to update the rating program, but some advocates are concerned the proposal doesn't address the existing gender gap in car safety testing.
“Most of us think when we go buy a car and it says it has a 5 NCAP star rating, there's a presumption that that's for women also. And to me, there's no excuse for treating men and women differently,” said Susan Molinari at Verity now.
The proposal calls for updating male crash test dummies, but it doesn't include a dummy representative for all women.
Currently, tests are done on a smaller version of a male dummy or with a computer simulation.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration acknowledges that women face a 17% higher risk on average of dying in a crash.
Research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety finds newer cars are doing a better job of protecting both men and women, but disparities still exist.
“Women are getting injured more with their arms and their legs. While these injuries may not be life-threatening, they most certainly are life altering, both in terms of capabilities of one of one's body, as well as potential mental health implications that could result from these types of injuries,” said Cathy Chase at Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
More than 60 members of Congress recently sent a letter to the Transportation Secretary asking him to require up-to-date female crash test dummies to be used in the new car assessment program.
The NCAP ratings also show the recommended safety technology that's in the car.
NHTSA is proposing to add blind spot detection, blind spot intervention, lane-keeping support and pedestrian automatic emergency braking.
“The Advanced Driver Assistance technologies are going to work, irrespective of who is in the vehicle so that is going to help either to avoid or to mitigate the collisions. The drawback, however, is that the improvement that's being proposed for NCAP will not actually incorporate those at this point in time into the rating, it will only be a checkbox,” said Shaun Kildare at Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
NHTSA says the new car assessment program has improved safety for both men and women.
The new infrastructure law requires a study of how crash-test dummies are used in car safety tests.
A report on that is required within a year.
You can comment on the proposed safety rating update until May 9th on the Federal Register website. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/safety-advocates-want-gender-gap-addressed-in-car-safety-testing | 2022-04-12T19:41:38 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/safety-advocates-want-gender-gap-addressed-in-car-safety-testing |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — On Monday, two bills expanding Tennessee's existing laws on transgender female athletes in girls' sports passed through the state Senate.
The first bill, which would penalize school districts for not adhering to the state's ban by withholding funding, had already passed through the state House. It will soon head to Gov. Bill Lee.
The sponsor of both bills, Republican Senator Joey Hensley, said he is trying to create a fair playing field for girl athletes and women in college. He said the bill was inspired by transgender athletes who had beaten women in national competitions.
The second bill adds to an existing law to keep transgender female athletes out of girls' middle and high school sports. The bill adds higher education and intramural sports to the list.
Opponents of these bills said they're creating a problem out of an issue that doesn't exist.
"In the process of trying to raise concern that there is something there, we create this really discriminatory environment that really scares people from being who they are," said Dahron Johnson, a transgender athlete. "That's a trauma that has an impact on their entire lives."
Johnson has been cycling since she was 12 or 13 years old. She said it was always about the camaraderie and not the experience Republican lawmakers fear.
"There's some folks and leaders in sports who have children who want to come forward, who want to come out and play but are scared to because of the environment that bills like this and the associated ones help create," said Johnson.
The ACLU and Tennessee Equality Project both released statements shortly after the passage of the bills. They condemned the legislature for creating a discriminatory atmosphere in the state and asked Gov. Lee to veto the bills.
The state's transgender law currently faces legal challenges. So, each law couldn't take effect until those suits were resolved. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/transgender-athlete-penalty-bill-heads-to-tennessee-governors-desk | 2022-04-12T19:41:44 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/transgender-athlete-penalty-bill-heads-to-tennessee-governors-desk |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yelp will cover the travel expenses of employees who must travel out of state for abortions, joining the ranks of major employers trying to help workers affected by restrictions in Texas and other states.
The benefit announced Tuesday covers all 4,000 employees at the online review service, but seems most likely to have its biggest immediate impact on its 200 workers in Texas, which has passed a law banning abortions within the state after six weeks of pregnancy.
New York's Citigroup recently disclosed plans to do the same for its more than 200,000 employees, 8,000 of them in Texas.
Uber and Lyft are paying the legal fees for drivers who could get sued under the new Texas law for transporting passengers to clinics.
The benefits come at a time when numerous states are restricting abortion rights. On Tuesday, Oklahoma's governor signed a bill into law that makes it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The only exception is an abortion to save the life of the mother. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/yelp-to-cover-travel-expenses-for-workers-seeking-abortions | 2022-04-12T19:41:50 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/yelp-to-cover-travel-expenses-for-workers-seeking-abortions |
Inflation is quickly raising prices for households in core areas of their monthly budgets — energy, food and housing. That's making it hard for consumers to avoid a financial hit, even as wages are also rising at their fastest clip in years.
But there are levers Americans can pull — relative to their jobs, investments and spending — that may help, according to financial advisors.
"I liken the situation to being out at sea in a tiny little boat in the midst of a horrible storm," said Andy Baxley, a Chicago-based certified financial planner at The Planning Center. "You just have to control what you can control.
More from Invest in You:
As inflation rises, where to find opportunities to make and save money
Your financial wrap-up: 4 savvy money moves to make before year-end
Here's what Americans plan to cut as prices continue to rise
"You can't control the storm or ocean, but you can control what you're doing on your little boat."
The Consumer Price Index jumped 8.5% in March 2022 from a year earlier, the fastest 12-month increase since December 1981, the U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday.
The index is a gauge of rising prices across a swath of U.S. goods and services. A basket of items that cost $100 a year ago would cost $108.50 today, on average.
Money Report
Gasoline, shelter and food were the biggest contributors to rising costs last month, the Labor Department said.
Those categories have a big impact on the typical American: Housing, transportation and food accounted for almost two-thirds of the average household budget in 2020.
"Households are having to make very difficult [financial] decisions day in and day out," Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, said of inflation.
Food, energy and housing
Specifically, "food at home" prices (i.e., grocery bills) are up 10% over the last 12 months, the biggest annual increase since March 1981. Costs were up across all major food categories, the Labor Department said.
Shelter costs such as rent, meanwhile, rose 5% in the past year, the fastest annual pace since May 1991.
And household energy costs such as electricity and natural gas rose 11.1% and 21.6%, respectively, in the last year. Meanwhile, prices at the pump are up 48%.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a big contributor to inflation in March, especially for gasoline prices. (Gasoline accounted for more than half of overall inflation last month, though prices have fallen recently as oil prices have come down.)
Russia and Ukraine are also big agricultural exporters, and their conflict likely plays at least a small role in higher food prices, McBride said.
But inflation had been high even before the war in Europe, a function of demand outstripping supply since the U.S. economy ramped up in early 2021.
Initially, consumers had lots of money to spend and global supply chains couldn't keep up.
That dynamic is still present, as Covid cases abroad cause lockdowns and halt production, for example. Labor supply also hasn't yet fully recovered, and businesses have raised wages to compete for workers; they may pass those labor costs on to consumers via higher prices, for example.
Some economists are optimistic inflation peaked last month. So-called "core" inflation figures (which strip out the volatile food and energy categories) fell for the second consecutive month, perhaps an early sign of a broader deceleration.
"There seem to be clear signs of a slowdown there," said Andrew Hunter, a senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics. "But it's likely to remain high by past standards for the next year to 18 months because the economy is so strong."
There are a few steps households can take to blunt inflation's financial impact.
1. Ask for a raise — or switch jobs
For one, high prices may be eclipsing some good news for workers: The job market is hot. Job openings are near record highs, layoffs are near historic lows, and employers are raising wages quickly.
Instead of focusing on how much more money is being spent due to inflation, workers can use their newfound leverage to make more money, Baxley said.
Workers should ask for a raise or hunt for a higher-paying job if their employer is unwilling to pay that raise, Baxley said. This is also a good time to negotiate work-related costs — for example, asking to work from home more often can reduce transportation time and, therefore, gasoline expenses.
Taking home thousands of extra dollars in a paycheck will likely have a much bigger impact on a consumer's bottom line than other still useful actions such as buying generic brands instead of "premium" counterparts.
"Power has shifted to employees in a major way," Baxley said. "Take advantage of this rare moment to make sure you're getting what you're worth."
2. Save in a high-interest-rate 'I bond'
Second, consumers saving for a purchase in the next two to three years (maybe a car or a down payment on a home) can buy "I bonds."
These nearly risk-free investments pay a rate that rises and falls according to the Consumer Price Index and therefore protects the purchasing power of consumers' savings, Baxley said. Investors can save up to $10,000 a year.
This should be a bucket separate from emergency savings, since I bonds lock up your money for at least a year, Baxley added.
3. Gauge your personal inflation rate
Lastly, consumers should examine how they're spending money to gauge their personal inflation rate, Baxley said. (Online calculators can help determine this rate.)
The Consumer Price Index is a national average that may not reflect an individual's situation such as their wage growth and household expenses. Households that use public transit may be insulated from high gas prices, just as vegetarians might also be from the higher relative cost of meat and poultry.
"Figure out how inflation is hurting your household the most," Baxley said. "Then you can start to look for substitutes and replacements."
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Disclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors in Acorns. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/business/money-report/is-inflation-crunching-your-budget-here-are-3-ways-to-fight-back/3642711/ | 2022-04-12T19:41:56 | 0 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/business/money-report/is-inflation-crunching-your-budget-here-are-3-ways-to-fight-back/3642711/ |
Fentanyl behind doubling of teen overdose deaths over past decade, study says
Published: Apr. 12, 2022 at 2:44 PM EDT|Updated: 57 minutes ago
(CNN) – More and more teens are overdosing on fentanyl, according to new research.
Adolescent drug overdose deaths doubled from 2010 to 2021, according to a study published Tuesday in the Medical Journal JAMA.
The research says there were about 500 adolescent overdose deaths in 2010 and more than 1,100 in 2021.
Fentanyl was involved in more than 75% of deaths in 2021.
Researchers say the increase isn’t because more teens are using drugs. It’s because drug use is becoming more dangerous.
Annual drug overdose deaths for all ages have reached record highs in the U.S. recently.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/fentanyl-behind-doubling-teen-overdose-deaths-over-past-decade-study-says/ | 2022-04-12T19:41:57 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/fentanyl-behind-doubling-teen-overdose-deaths-over-past-decade-study-says/ |
Palm Beach County commissioners debate affordable housing plan
Housing and the increased rent costs took center stage at Tuesday's weekly Palm Beach County Commission meeting.
Commissioners discussed a $200 million bond program that would create 20,000 units over a 10-year period, equating to an average subsidy of $10,000 per unit.
Representatives from the Housing Leadership Council of Palm Beach County outlined and advocated for the plan at Tuesday's meeting.
Not all of the commissioners currently support the plan, including Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, who shared her concerns about the increased tax burden and inflation costs many residents are currently facing.
"We're hitting the very people who we're trying to help the hardest," McKinlay said. "I don't want to tie the hands of staff right now for the next six months to work on putting together a program to go put out for a referendum, and then if that passes then it's going to take them another six months to 12 months to write the rules on how to distribute the funding."
=The supervisor of elections requires the ballot language for voters to be submitted 95 days before a scheduled election. So, the deadline before the primary election on Aug. 23 would be May 20.
For the general election on Nov. 8, the deadline would be Aug. 5.
Commissioners did not vote on the plan Tuesday and decided to discuss the issue at a further date.
WPTV Senior Reporter Michelle Quesada is working on this story and will have more details on NewsChannel 5 at 6.
Scripps Only Content 2022 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/palm-beach-county-commissioners-debate-affordable-housing-plan/ | 2022-04-12T19:42:04 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/palm-beach-county-commissioners-debate-affordable-housing-plan/ |
Palm Beach County students grieving loss of parent support one another
It's the after-school club that no one wants to be in.
A Palm Beach County teacher started "Steve's Club" a few years ago for students who are grieving the loss of a parent.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Education
"She passed away when I was 9 1/2 years old because of suicide," said Luka Peace, a student at Atlantic Community High School in Delray Beach.
"I lost my dad in October 2020," said student Janaya Stephens.
"I was in Haiti in the earthquake in 2010 and we were under the house," said student Jude Saincyr. "We heard her call back and we couldn't do nothing about it. They spent hours, they spent hours trying to remove everything. But by the time they reached her, she was already gone."
"Steve was my dad. He passed away in 1978 from glioblastoma. He was 30 and I was 8 months old," said Cori Walls, a teacher at Atlantic Community High School.
Every member of "Steve's Club" has a story they wish they didn't have to tell.
"We were already in the house a lot, so him not being around when we were stuck in one place, that really affected a lot," Stephens said.
"It's something that triggers you for the rest of your life," Walls said.
Walls started the club in her father's name when she realized just how many of her students had lost a parent.
"All these kids need to learn each other. They need to know that other people exist," Walls said. "Because I didn't know that anybody else existed. So I just wanted them to have their own network."
"Steve's Club" has developed into a safe place for conversation, community, and continued growth.
"It's been amazing because after hearing all of their experiences, I know that I'm not alone and that I have someone to rely on and talk to and people who understand me," Peace said.
A butterfly memorial at Atlantic Community High School has allowed the school community to honor those they've lost by writing messages to their loved ones.
"I miss you every day, mom," Peace said. "That's the one I wrote because sometimes there are more words than you could put on a butterfly."
Fostering a sense of comfort.
"I joined the group to get extra support from people who actually understand my current situation," Stephens said.
Walls wants the support to run deeper. She'd like the School District of Palm Beach County to create a database to keep tabs on students who are grieving.
"If we don't know who lost a parent, we really don't know how we can help them," Walls said. "Tracking a child who lost a parent is imperative to keep them emotionally and academically straight for their academic career."
For now, this group they never knew they needed will continue to lift each other up.
"That's how I view 'Steve's Club.' Me being able to share my experience can then help other kids with their experience," Saincyr said.
"It allows you to not be so sad and kind of stick to yourself. Let people know how you feel. Be open to help when it's given," Stephens said.
Just like the butterflies, carrying their message of love and hope.
Royal Palm Beach Community High School and Suncoast High School also have "Steve's Club" on campus.
Walls said 10 more Palm Beach County public schools are committed to starting the program next year, but she wants to see it go district and statewide.
"Steve's Club" has a scholarship program for high school seniors. They are required to attend 80% of "Steve's Club" meetings to be eligible. Last year, the club gave out $6,000 in scholarships.
If you'd like to support the "Steve's Club" scholarship program, visit the Education Foundation of Palm Beach County's website by clicking here. From there, choose "Fiscal Agent Account/Program" from the drop-down menu, then specify that you want to donate to "Steve's Club" in the "Fiscal Agent Account" comments section.
Walls also brings in experts to talk to the students, such as grief counselors and other professionals like members of the Delray Beach Police Department. She works with the students on college preparedness and makes sure they are all college or trade school bound.
Walls said there are about 70 students on Atlantic Community High School's campus that have lost a parent. About 30 of them regularly attend "Steve's Club" meetings. Five students lost a parent to COVID-19 during the pandemic.
Walls said keeping track of students who lost a parent or caregiver would make a big impact on their education.
"The biggest issue I have is tracking the kids. So I spend the majority of my time trying to find the kids that would be identified as losing a parent, a caregiver, or a sibling because the school district, nor does the state, nor does anywhere in the country that I know of have a database that identifies the kids who lost a parent. So if we don't know who lost a parent, we really don't know how we can help them," Walls said. "My thought is if a child goes to an elementary school and they have 'Steve's Club' there and they lost a parent in second grade, well, that second grade, third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade teacher, they are going to communicate about that kid. But what happens when they go to the middle school? That child now has to go to middle school and if they already have 'Steve's Club' there then they know they have a safe place to go to."
Although Walls didn't know her father, his loss is still something that triggers her to this day.
"They say a child who loses a parent before the age of 2 is a double loss because you've lost the opportunity to know what it feels like to have that parent as the role that they would have been and also the person that they would have been," Walls said. "I used to always say it's no big deal, I never knew him. But that's really the attitude that a lot of people have toward a kid who lost a parent. You didn't know them for that long or you didn't know them at all, so you'll get past this which is the complete opposite."
Death is a topic people don't want to talk about, Walls said, but it's needed.
"A lot of people who don't want to talk about it are people who can't relate so they avoid the topic of death. It's too uncomfortable for them, they don't know the right thing to say, they definitely don't say the right thing," Walls said. "There are all different triggers that happen all the time and I want to bring awareness to, especially education for the teachers and administrators, to understand that the child may be smiling, they may be participating in class, in after-school activities. But the loss of their parent is always going to be there. There are children who are suffering internally and no matter how much you think they are OK, they may be OK, they may tell you they are OK, but there will always be a part of them that will have that loss. And don't try to diminish it from them because that's all they have left of their parent."
For more information about "Steve's Club," email cori.walls@palmbeachschools.org.
Scripps Only Content 2022 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/palm-beach-county-students-grieving-loss-parent-support-one-another/ | 2022-04-12T19:42:10 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/palm-beach-county-students-grieving-loss-parent-support-one-another/ |
At least 10 people were shot, with six more hurt, at a Brooklyn subway station during the height of morning rush hour on Tuesday.
Authorities say the shooter, a man in a gas mask and orange construction mask, opened fire at the 36th Street and Fourth Avenue subway station around 8:30 a.m. on April 12. The suspect is currently still on the run.
See all live updates here .
Will B. Wylde Riders run from a train car at the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood in New York, April 12, 2022. A man had set off a smoke canister on a train car before shooting at fellow riders.
Will B. Wylde New Yorkers help injured riders in a train at the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood in New York, April 12, 2022.
Derek French Injured subway riders seen on the platform of the 36th Street station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood in New York, April 12, 2022. At least 10 people have been shot by a man in a gas mask and orange construction vest, according to the NYPD.
Courtesy @CarbMeCrazy via Twitter Injured subway riders seen on the platform of the 36th Street station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood in New York, April 12, 2022. At least five people have been shot by a man in a gas mask and orange construction vest, according to the NYPD.
NBC News Senior law enforcement sources confirm this photo of a bag and its contents are tied to the suspect in the Brooklyn shooting.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images Onlookers gather at the site of a reported shooting outside the 36th Street subway station on April 12, 2022, in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park in New York.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images Emergency vehicles and the NYPD crowd the streets after at least 16 people were injured during a rush-hour shooting at a subway station in Brooklyn, New York, on April 12, 2022.
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images An aerial view shows emergency personnel in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood after at least 16 people were injured during a rush-hour shooting in New York, April 12, 2022.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images A member of the NYPD retrieves a security camera near a subway station in New York City on April 12, 2022, after at least 16 people were injured during a rush-hour shooting in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images Members of the New York Police Department look on from a rooftop after at least 16 people were injured during a rush-hour shooting at a subway station Brooklyn, New York, on April 12, 2022.
Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images New York City Fire Department firefighters respond to the scene of a rush-hour shooting at a subway station in Brooklyn, New York, on April 12, 2022.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images Police and first responders gather at the 36th Street subway station in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park, April 12, 2022, in New York.
John Minchillo/AP NYPD personnel gather at the entrance to a subway stop in the Brooklyn borough of New York, April 12, 2022.
John Minchillo/AP NYPD gather at the entrance to a subway stop in the Sunset Park neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York, April 12, 2022.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images Police and first responders gather at the 36th Street subway station in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park, April 12, 2022, in New York.
John Minchillo/AP Police and first responders gather at the 36th Street subway station in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park, April 12, 2022, in New York.
Kevin Hagen/AP Police and first responders gather at the entrance of the 36th Street subway station in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park, April 12, 2022, in New York.
NBC New York Police and first responders swarm the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park in New York, after multiple people were shot or hurt at the height of morning rush hour, April 12, 2022.
NBC New York Police and first responders swarm the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park in New York, after multiple people were shot or hurt at the height of morning rush hour, April 12, 2022.
NBC New York Police and first responders swarm the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park in New York, after multiple people were shot or hurt at the height of morning rush hour, April 12, 2022. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/photos-multiple-people-hurt-in-brooklyn-subway-shooting/3642661/ | 2022-04-12T19:42:17 | 1 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/photos-multiple-people-hurt-in-brooklyn-subway-shooting/3642661/ |
Palm Beach Gardens police investigating hit-and-run crash
Palm Beach Gardens police are investigating a hit-and-run crash that left one woman injured on the afternoon of April 5.
It happened in the 9800 block of Alternate A1A, which is where the Promenade Plaza is located.
Police have not released any further details. Detectives only said they are actively investigating the case and are looking into whether the incident involved road rage.
Orange markings are still on the street and sidewalk where the traffic incident ended up.
According to Dr. Debbie Goodman, a professor of criminal justice at St. Thomas University, this type of scale and scope of crime is very high.
“We are looking at a significant uptick from the 2020 calendar year to the present. On our Florida roadways alone, we’re looking at double digits, a 31% increase," Goodman said.
Goodman added there are a lot of variables to consider why drivers become so aggressive. She said the uptick in incidents started after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“All of this, the day-to-day stress and strain, is enough for some people to literally just lose their ability to think rationally. We don’t want to excuse it by any stretch, but certainly part of today’s conversation as we want our citizens to be aware that this is very dangerous. We do not want to engage that has to be the message," Goodman said. "Do not engage in rage. You know simple things that are reminders that we are on a city street, we are on a highway in our vehicle to get safely to a destination. Not to be involved in any type of verbal altercation or the more horrific a physical one."
Authorities have not released a description of the vehicle involved and there are no arrests made. Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information, is asked to call Palm Beach Gardens police.
Scripps Only Content 2022 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/palm-beach-gardens-police-investigating-hit-and-run-crash/ | 2022-04-12T19:42:17 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/palm-beach-gardens-police-investigating-hit-and-run-crash/ |
Uber says New Yorkers who were charged surge pricing during the shooting at a Brooklyn subway station, which left 16 people injured and delayed the transit system during rush hour, can get a refund.
Commuters turned to the rideshare app Tuesday morning after the violent scene unfolded only to find that fares were increased by the company "due to increased demand" in the area, according to multiple social media posts.
Shannon McDonagh tweeted, "@Uber turn off surges in sunset park. People are scared, let them get out safely," with an image of the app that showed a $68.49 fare from Sunset Park.
After several heated complaints directed at the company, as well as towards Lyft, both rideshare companies said they suspended surge pricing in the area.
“Our hearts go out to the victims of this morning’s terrible shooting in Sunset Park. Following the incident, Uber disabled surge pricing in the vicinity and capped pricing citywide," Uber spokesperson Freddi Goldstein said in a statement.
"As always, Uber strives to be a resource for New Yorkers aiming to get around New York City. If anyone on our platform experienced unintended charges during this emergency, we will work to get them refunded," she added.
Local
Lyft also said it is working to adjust fares for riders who paid "prime-time prices when the situation first unfolded." | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/uber-to-refund-riders-charged-surge-fee-during-brooklyn-subway-shooting/3642627/ | 2022-04-12T19:42:23 | 1 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/uber-to-refund-riders-charged-surge-fee-during-brooklyn-subway-shooting/3642627/ |
WPTV participates in Media Career Fair at Broward College
Over 100 students from various universities and media professionals attended the the National Association of Black Journalists South Florida Chapter's Media Career Fair and Workshops.
WPTV Reporter Kamrel Eppinger and WSFL News Director Nicole Wolfe were panelists at the event, which was held Saturday at Broward College's Miramar West Campus.
The event was free for students and $10 for professionals.
During the workshops, attendees learned about how to break into the journalism business, what managers look for in hiring entry-level employees and interns, and the steps to take if you're interested in sports, entertainment and blogging.
Following each media workshop, students and professionals met with recruiters from local, major TV stations, radio stations, and print media outlets.
WPTV was among 22 organizations represented from all three counties— Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.
NABJ-South Florida, is an organization dedicated to helping journalists build stronger networks, facilitate career growth, and maintain the highest standards of excellence in the profession of journalism.
To learn more about NABJ-South Florida, click here .
Scripps Only Content 2022 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/wptv-participates-media-career-fair-broward-college/ | 2022-04-12T19:42:23 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/wptv-participates-media-career-fair-broward-college/ |
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law on Tuesday that makes it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states across the country to scale back abortion rights.
The bill, which takes effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns next month, makes an exception only for an abortion performed to save the life of the mother. Abortion rights advocates say the bill signed by the GOP governor is certain to face a legal challenge.
Its passage comes as the conservative U.S. Supreme Court considers ratcheting back abortion rights that have been in place for nearly 50 years.
"We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma," Stitt said during a signing ceremony for the bill, flanked by anti-abortion lawmakers, clergy and students. "I promised Oklahomans that I would sign every pro-life bill that hits my desk, and that's what we're doing here today."
Under the bill, anyone convicted of performing an abortion would face up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. It does not authorize criminal charges against a woman for receiving an abortion.
Sen. Nathan Dahm, a Broken Arrow Republican now running for Congress who wrote the bill, called it the "strongest pro-life legislation in the country right now, which effectively eliminates abortion in Oklahoma."
Abortion rights advocates say the bill is clearly unconstitutional, and similar laws approved recently in Arkansas and Alabama have been blocked by federal courts.
"Oklahoma legislators are trying to ban abortion from all sides and merely seeing which of these dangerous, shameful bills they can get their governor to sign," Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Texas and Oklahoma and a board member at Physicians for Reproductive Health, said in a statement.
Although similar anti-abortion bills approved by the Oklahoma Legislature in recent years have been stopped as unconstitutional, anti-abortion lawmakers have been buoyed by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to allow new Texas abortion restrictions to remain in place.
The new Texas law, the most restrictive anti-abortion law to take effect in the U.S. in decades, leaves enforcement up to private citizens, who are entitled to collect what critics call a "bounty" of $10,000 if they bring a successful lawsuit against a provider or anyone who helps a patient obtain an abortion.
"The U.S. Supreme Court's failure to stop Texas from nullifying the constitutional right to abortion has emboldened other states to do the same," Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. "We've sued the state of Oklahoma ten times in the last decade to protect abortion access and we will challenge this law as well to stop this travesty from ever taking effect."
Several states, including Oklahoma, are pursuing legislation similar to the Texas law this year.
The Texas law bans abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy and makes no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Abortions in Texas have plummeted by about 50% since the law took effect, while the number of Texans going to clinics out of state and requesting abortion pills online has gone up.
One of the Texas-style Oklahoma bills that is one vote away from the governor's desk would ban abortions from the moment of conception and would take effect immediately upon the governor's signature. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/abortion-now-illegal-in-oklahoma-after-gov-signs-bill/3642735/ | 2022-04-12T19:42:29 | 1 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/abortion-now-illegal-in-oklahoma-after-gov-signs-bill/3642735/ |
Yelp to cover travel expenses for workers seeking abortions
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yelp will cover the travel expenses of employees who must travel out of state for abortions, joining the ranks of major employers trying to help workers affected by new restrictions in Texas and other states.
The benefit announced Tuesday covers all 4,000 employees at the online review service, but seems most likely to have its biggest immediate impact on its 200 workers in Texas, which has passed a law banning abortions within the state after six weeks of pregnancy.
“We’ve long been a strong advocate for equality in the workplace, and believe that gender equality cannot be achieved if women’s healthcare rights are restricted,” said Miriam Warren, Yelp’s chief diversity officer.
Other states, including Oklahoma, are also are clamping down on abortions, prompting Yelp, based in San Francisco, and several other companies to draw up policies aimed at helping their workers get reproductive health care in other states.
Last month Citigroup, based in New York, disclosed plans to cover the travel expenses of any of its more than 220,000 employees, thousands of whom work in Texas, who travel to another state for an abortion.
The two largest U.S. ride-hailing services, Uber and Lyft, last year announced they will pay the legal fees for drivers who could get sued under the new Texas law for transporting a passenger to an appointment for an abortion.
The policies expose companies to potential backlash from those who support abortion restrictions, but they could be an advantage for employers with a footprint in states like Texas in an increasingly competitive job market.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/yelp-cover-travel-expenses-workers-seeking-abortions/ | 2022-04-12T19:42:29 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/yelp-cover-travel-expenses-workers-seeking-abortions/ |
The U.S. House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday saying it found evidence the NFL’s Washington Commanders engaged in potentially unlawful financial conduct for more than a decade by withholding ticket revenue from visiting teams and refundable deposits from fans.
In the letter obtained by The Associated Press, the committee outlined through the testimony of former employees and access to emails and documents a pattern of financial impropriety by owner Dan Snyder and team executives. At one point in 2016, the committee said the team retained up to $5 million from 2,000 season-ticket holders while also concealing sharable revenue from the league.
One former employee testified before Congress saying the team had two separate financial books: one with underreported ticket revenue that went to the NFL and the full, complete picture. According to testimony, Snyder was aware of the numbers shared with the league while also being privy to the actual data.
The business practice was known as “juice” inside Washington's front office. And, if correct, it could spell significant trouble for Snyder and the Commanders.
Ticket revenue is shared among all 32 NFL teams, with 40% of it deposited in a visiting team fund. Such money is among the pillars of the league’s revenue-sharing commitment.
A team spokeswoman said there was no new comment and referred to the statement from March 31: “The team categorically denies any suggestion of financial impropriety of any kind at any time.”
"We adhere to strict internal processes that are consistent with industry and accounting standards, are audited annually by a globally respected independent auditing firm, and are also subject to regular audits by the NFL. We continue to cooperate fully with the Committee’s work.”
U.S. & World
The league did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The House Oversight Committee said it is sharing documents with the FTC because the commission has the authority to investigate unfair or deceptive business practices and determine if any laws were broken.
“We request that you take any other action you deem necessary to ensure that all funds are returned to their rightful owners and that those responsible are held accountable for their conduct,” said the letter signed by committee chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney and economic and consumer policy subcommittee chairman Raja Krishnamoorthi.
The letter is addressed to FTC chair Lina M. Khan but was also sent to the attorneys general of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Congress launched an investigation into the team's workplace misconduct after the league did not release a report detailing the findings of an independent probe into the matter. The committee said the NFL and the team “have taken steps to withhold key documents and information.”
That led investigators to seek testimony and documents in other ways. The committee said its investigation uncovered everything from “pervasive sexual harassment and other workplace misconduct to potential financial misconduct."
According to testimony, financial misconduct included making it intentionally difficult for season-ticket holders to recoup refundable deposit money, counting some of those leftover funds as a different kind of revenue that doesn't need to be shared with the league, and shifting money from ticket sales for NFL games to other events at FedEx Field as a way of hiding that money from the league.
The committee in the letter shared spreadsheet data showing evidence of deposits that were not returned. Citing emails and the testimony of longtime vice president of sales and customer service Jason Friedman, ticket sales from Washington games were shifted to a 2013 Kenny Chesney concert and a 2014 Navy-Notre Dame college football game as a way to “juice” revenue and keep it off the books shared with the NFL.
When word first surfaced in early April about the team withholding ticket revenue, the team released a statement denying that report and added: “Anyone who offered testimony suggesting a withholding of revenue has committed perjury, plain and simple.” Lawyer Lisa Banks, who represents Friedman, said the team defamed her client, who testified truthfully “with evidence.”
After the committee sent the letter to the FTC, Banks and lawyer Debra Katz, who represent more than 40 former employees, called it “damning.”
“It’s clear that the team’s misconduct goes well beyond the sexual harassment and abuse of employees already documented and has also impacted the bottom line of the NFL, other NFL owners, and the team’s fans,” they said in a statement. “We are proud of our many clients who have come forward at great personal risk to reveal the truth and bring us closer to total transparency about the full extent of the dysfunction at the Washington Commanders.”
___
Associated Press reporter Farnoush Amiri contributed.
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://apnews.com/hub/pro-32 and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/congress-tells-ftc-commanders-may-have-broken-financial-laws/3642712/ | 2022-04-12T19:42:35 | 1 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/congress-tells-ftc-commanders-may-have-broken-financial-laws/3642712/ |
Yelp will cover the travel expenses of employees who must travel out of state for abortions, joining the ranks of major employers trying to help workers affected by new restrictions in Texas and other states.
The benefit announced Tuesday covers all 4,000 employees at the online review service, but seems most likely to have its biggest immediate impact on its 200 workers in Texas, which has passed a law banning abortions within the state after six weeks of pregnancy.
“We’ve long been a strong advocate for equality in the workplace, and believe that gender equality cannot be achieved if women’s healthcare rights are restricted," said Miriam Warren, Yelp's chief diversity officer.
Other states also are clamping down on abortions prompting Yelp, based in San Francisco, and several other companies to draw up policies aimed at helping their workers get reproductive health care in other states.
Last month Citigroup, based in New York, disclosed plans to cover the travel expenses of any of its more than 220,000 employees, thousands of whom work in Texas, who travel to another state for an abortion.
The two largest U.S. ride-hailing services, Uber and Lyft, last year announced they will pay the legal fees for drivers who could get sued under the new Texas law for transporting a passenger to an appointment for an abortion.
The policies expose companies to potential backlash from those who support abortion restrictions, but they could be an advantage for employers with a footprint in states like Texas in an increasingly competitive job market. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/yelp-says-it-will-cover-travel-expenses-for-workers-seeking-abortions/3642726/ | 2022-04-12T19:42:48 | 1 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/yelp-says-it-will-cover-travel-expenses-for-workers-seeking-abortions/3642726/ |
At least 10 people were shot, with six more hurt, at a Brooklyn subway station during the height of morning rush hour on Tuesday.
Authorities say the shooter, a man in a gas mask and orange construction mask, opened fire at the 36th Street and Fourth Avenue subway station around 8:30 a.m. on April 12. The suspect is currently still on the run.
See all live updates here .
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Police and first responders swarm the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park in New York, after multiple people were shot or hurt at the height of morning rush hour, April 12, 2022.
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Injured subway riders seen on the platform of the 36th Street station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood in New York, April 12, 2022. At least five people have been shot by a man in a gas mask and orange construction vest, according to the NYPD.
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Police and first responders swarm the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park in New York, after multiple people were shot or hurt at the height of morning rush hour, April 12, 2022.
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Police and first responders swarm the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park in New York, after multiple people were shot or hurt at the height of morning rush hour, April 12, 2022.
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Police and first responders swarm the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park in New York, after multiple people were shot or hurt at the height of morning rush hour, April 12, 2022.
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Police and first responders swarm the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park in New York, after multiple people were shot or hurt at the height of morning rush hour, April 12, 2022.
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Members of the New York Police Department patrol the streets after at least 13 people were injured during a rush-hour shooting at a subway station in the New York borough of Brooklyn on April 12, 2022, where authorities said “several undetonated devices” were recovered amid chaotic scenes. – Ambulances lined the street outside the 36th Street subway station, where a New York police spokeswoman told AFP officers responded to a 911 call of a person shot at 8:27 am (1227 GMT). The suspect was still at large, according to Manhattan borough president Mark Levine. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images) | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/pictures-multiple-people-hurt-in-brooklyn-subway-shooting/3641961/ | 2022-04-12T19:43:02 | 1 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/pictures-multiple-people-hurt-in-brooklyn-subway-shooting/3641961/ |
Free agent quarterback Cam Newton relayed misogynistic comments during a portion of Barstool Sports’ "Million Dollaz Worth of Game" podcast this weekend, resulting in quite a bit of backlash.
In the latest episode of the popular sports podcast, Newton spoke with no filter when referencing women. The former Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots quarterback went as far as to say if one is a “bad b----,” “you don’t know when to be quiet.”
He first started the conversation with what he defines as “a man,” coming from how he was raised as a child and what he learned from his own father, mother and grandmother. He swerved into his definition of what “a woman” is.
What Did Cam Newton Say About Women?
“I knew what a woman was – not a bad b----,” said Newton during the podcast. “A bad b---- is a person who is just, you know: ‘Girl, I’m a bad b----, I’m doing this, I’m doing that. I look the part but I don’t act that part.”
Newton’s definition of women: “Handling your own, but knowing how to cater to a man’s needs.”
He told co-hosts Gillie Da King and Wallo that a “bad b----” cannot cook and “you don’t know when to be quiet.”
Sports
Newton clarified that his reference to women was not in a derogatory effort to “degrade a woman,” but rather just to “go off the aesthetic of what they deem is a boss chick.”
“I don’t wanna beat up on my queens,” the quarterback said. “But I’m also gonna tell the men to start being men. That sucker s---- can’t be rewarded.”
Newton Gets Backlash for Misogynistic Comments
His comments immediately resulted in backlash, including from The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach, who tweeted:
Fox59’s Alexa Ross also ridiculed Newton’s tasteless comments via Twitter:
Ross Read of "The Mac & Read Show" commented:
This is not the first time Newton’s comments about women have been criticized. In 2017, Newton laughed at reporter Jordan Rodrigue’s question about routes during a postgame press conference. “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes,” said Newton.
Nicknamed “Super Cam,” Newton is the career leader in quarterback rushing touchdowns, with 75, and the leader for the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a single season, with 14. The 32-year-old Georgia native was the first overall NFL draft pick in 2011, and joined the Panthers in 2011 until 2019. He then played for the Patriots in 2020, before finally returning back to the Panthers in 2021. He is now a free agent awaiting his fate for the 2022 season. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/sports/cam-newtons-misogynistic-comments-about-women-criticized/3642808/ | 2022-04-12T19:43:08 | 0 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/sports/cam-newtons-misogynistic-comments-about-women-criticized/3642808/ |
Up close and in person, Gaston Library Friends' annual book sale returns
Melinda Pierce and Linda Klocker are nothing less than giddy over the prospects for the upcoming Friends of the Gaston County Public Library book sale.
And why shouldn't they be?
The sale, which beings at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 20, is the first on-site, in person sales event since April of 2019.
Plans for the April 2020 sale were well underway when a nasty little party pooper named COVID-19 came calling and the sale had to be canceled.
Even though it had thoroughly worn out its welcome, COVID lingered through 2021 as well, meaning only a limited, virtual sale could be held.
But for next week, the doors will be open, the boots will be on the ground, and the books, videos, and music will be on the shelves.
"It's simply marvelous," said Pierce, who is the chairwoman of the sale. "We can have people coming inside and they won't have to wear masks if they don't wish to. It's very exciting."
Pierce explained the library staff has been working very hard in cooperation with the Friends group to make the sale happen and that more than three dozen local high school students will be volunteering in the effort as well.
"We have students from both South Point and Highland Tech who are giving up part of their Easter break to lend us a hand," said Pierce. "And there will be plenty for them to do because we will be restocking the shelves throughout the day."
The sale will take place in the multi-purpose room on the library's third floor. Larger facilities on the library's ground floor are not accessible this year due to the ongoing renovation of the facility.
"What's exciting for our customers is that they're going to have three years worth of donations to choose from," said Friends President Klocker. "There is so much material and they will have so many choices."
Tanya Jones, the library's collection development supervisor, explained that only a small percentage of the sale's offering will be of old books which the library is discarding.
"No," she said, "the bulk of the sale will be of donated items, many of them new and many of them very close to new."
Klocker explained that the annual book sale is the library system's primary fundraiser and that the money it generates is used for a variety of purposes.
"The author events which we host here are paid for through book sale monies," she said. "The new circulation desk downstairs was paid for by these monies. No question, it is our major fundraiser."
This year the on-site sale will stretch over eight days and two weeks.
The schedule:
- Wednesday, April 20, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Thursday, April 21, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Friday, April 22, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday, April 23, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Wednesday, April 27, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Thursday, April 28, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Friday, April 29, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Saturday, April 30, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Both cash and credit cards are welcome at the sale.
In addition to the on-site sale, an online store will be open each day from April 11-30.
The web address is gcplfriends.square.site/
Bill Poteat who never met a book sale he didn't like, may be reached at 828-448-0195 or bpoteat@gastongazette.com. | https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2022/04/12/up-close-and-person-gaston-library-friends-book-sale-returns/7289639001/ | 2022-04-12T19:48:45 | 1 | https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2022/04/12/up-close-and-person-gaston-library-friends-book-sale-returns/7289639001/ |
THE BBC DOCUMENTARY series “Rise of the Nazis: Dictators at War” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) enters its second season. In the years 1940 and 1941, Adolf Hitler’s Germany seemed all but invincible. Having conquered France in a matter of weeks, German forces seemed to be massing for an invasion of Britain.
But was this cross-channel threat a real strategy, or merely a ruse to fool fellow dictator Joseph Stalin into believing that Germany’s plans still involved only Western Europe? Hitler’s intentions became brutally clear in June 1941, when Hitler renounced his pact with Stalin and invaded the USSR.
“Dictators” offers a study of the mentality of absolute rulers. Stalin’s ruthless gutting of the Red Army high command in the 1930s would reap grim dividends as Hitler’s forces approached Moscow. But in the end, it was Hitler who would display a dictator’s blindness as he disregarded facts on the ground and all his military experts in his battle with Stalin, a conflict that would ultimately result in Germany’s destruction and division as well as Hitler’s death.
“Dictators” recalls the massive scale of the cataclysmic war between Germany and the USSR. While Hollywood puts American efforts at the center of World War II in Europe, the vast majority of the fighting and dying was on the Eastern Front.
The filmmakers make the case that dictators ultimately fail because they can disregard the facts and nobody can tell them “no.” Russia’s Vladimir Putin’s recent Ukraine invasion and his disregard of military intelligence make this season of “Dictators” timely, to say the least.
To underscore that point, “Frontline” (10 p.m., PBS, r, check local listings) repeats “Putin’s Road to War.”
The lessons of Hitler, Stalin and now Putin certainly demonstrate how absolute power can result in absolute disasters, but strategic blindness is hardly unique to despots. It’s worth recalling Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s arrogant disregard for intelligence when he advocated invading Iraq in 2003.
• A class trip to the zoo is the setting for the season finale of “Abbott Elementary” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG), the most charming new network comedy of the year, as well as a bona fide hit.
• Britbox begins streaming “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?” an adaptation of a 1934 Agatha Christie detective novel written and directed by Hugh Laurie (“House”).
Young golfer Bobby Jones (Will Poulter, “Dopesick”) is distracted from his game when he finds a body at the bottom of a cliff. He scrambles to help, only to hear the victim’s last words, which provide the story’s title. He also discovers a woman’s photograph in the dead man’s pocket.
With only these two clues to pursue, Jones teams up with witty socialite Lady Frances “Frankie” Derwent (Lucy Boynton, “Bohemian Rhapsody”) to pursue a mystery that takes them to places and encounters both squalid and refined.
As you can imagine, Laurie makes the most of Christie’s clever dialogue, but “Evans” would probably have worked better as a movie than a miniseries.
Other highlights
• A couple returns from vacation only to find danger on “FBI” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
• “CMT Campfire Sessions” (8 p.m., CMT, TV-PG) features Little Big Town.
• Gambling can be murder on “FBI: International” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
• Kate and Toby go through changes on “This Is Us” (9 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
• “Creative” projects run amok and questionable personal choices result in “Unsellable Houses” (9 p.m., HGTV) only expert hosts can unload.
• Three generations embark on a road trip on “black-ish” (9:30 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
• Teen angst knows no borders on “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
Cult choice
Haley Joel Osment stars as a sentient robot developing human emotions in the 2001 fantasy “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” (8:30 p.m., Starz), a film begun by Stanley Kubrick, who died in 1999, and completed by director Steven Spielberg.
Series notes
Dwayne needs a mentor on “Young Rock” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14) ... A pharmacist overprescribes on “The Resident” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) ... Gavel-to-gavel coverage on “Judge Steve Harvey” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) ... Turning the Inverse Society inside out on “Superman & Lois” (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) ... Neil is keen to show off his negotiating skills on “Mr. Mayor” (8:30 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
Jennie Garth appears on “Name That Tune” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) ... Zumbado to the rescue on “Naomi” (9 p.m., CW, TV-PG) ... “To Tell the Truth” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14)
Late night
Molly Shannon and Rep. Cori Bush are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) ... Jimmy Fallon welcomes Amy Schumer, Denis Villeneuve and Christina Tosi on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC, r). | https://www.unionleader.com/dictators-at-war-recalls-epic-cataclysm/article_62813dfc-f98b-595b-8227-7ccc3d9714f4.html | 2022-04-12T19:53:10 | 0 | https://www.unionleader.com/dictators-at-war-recalls-epic-cataclysm/article_62813dfc-f98b-595b-8227-7ccc3d9714f4.html |
CONCORD -- A participant in the alleged Free Keene Bitcoin conspiracy case pleaded guilty to a single charge of wire fraud in exchange for a sentence of probation in the federal system, according to an agreement filed in U.S. District Court.
The agreement makes no demand that Andrew Spinella, who was arrested in March 2021 along with five other Free Keene activists, testify in any future trials. But such requirements are not usually spelled out in federal court documents.
The agreement reads that prosecutors could oppose any downward adjustment in the case if Spinella fails to admit responsibility at the time of his plea "or at any other time." It was filed Tuesday and signed by both Spinella and lead prosecutor Georgiana MacDonald.
Judge Joseph Laplante scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 26, which would likely take place before any trial associated with the case.
Meanwhile, a change of plea hearing for his wife, Renee Spinella, did not take place as scheduled Tuesday. She is scheduled for a Change of Plea hearing Thursday afternoon, and prosecutors filed a document that supersedes the three charges she faces with a single charge -- wire fraud against Service Credit Union.
Both Spinellas live in Derry but were arrested with Free Keene activists. Authorities allege that Free Keene activist Ian Freeman, the Spinellas and three others operated a wide-ranging, no-questions-asked cryptocurrency exchange, at times using churches they established.
They are accused of charging high dollar-to-cryptocurrency exchange rates to scammers and others engaged in criminal activities.
According to the filing signed by Andrew Spinella, he admitted opening a Wells Fargo bank accounts in November 2017. Starting the following January, the account was "used almost exclusively to support Freeman's virtual currency exchange business," reads the filing.
It received electronic fund transfers of $601 from Kerrville, Texas; $2,500 from Doral, Fla.; $1,301 from Decatur, Ala.
The account closed in May 2018, and the FBI interviewed Andrew Spinella a month later. He admitted opening the account so Freeman could use it to sell Bitcoin. | https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/free-keene-bitcoin-case-first-person-to-plead-guilty-to-get-probation/article_5513d2ab-735a-5af8-9fb0-12f99b3bd2bf.html | 2022-04-12T19:53:16 | 1 | https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/free-keene-bitcoin-case-first-person-to-plead-guilty-to-get-probation/article_5513d2ab-735a-5af8-9fb0-12f99b3bd2bf.html |
Prosecutors have charged Kayla Montgomery with receiving stolen property, related to a gun theft in the fall of 2019.
Montgomery, 31, the stepmother of missing girl Harmony Montgomery, had been offered a plea agreement for charges that she had received welfare benefits for Harmony after the girl went missing in 2019, but she now faces the additional charges.
Montgomery's new charges are related to a theft of firearms that occurred in the fall of 2019 in Manchester, according to a news release from the Attorney General's Office. She is being held at the Hillsborough County House of Corrections.
Montgomery's estranged husband, Adam Montgomery, was charged last week with several related firearms crimes. Prosecutors alleged he stole a rifle and shotgun from a person prosecutors identified only as C.F. in 2019.
The new charges for Kayla Montgomery allege that in the fall of 2019, she received or kept the stolen firearms that belonged to C.F., and knew or believed they had been stolen.
There is no evidence of any connection between the stolen firearms and the disappearance of Harmony Montgomery, prosecutors said.
Police asked anyone with information about Harmony Montgomery's disappearance of whereabouts to call the Manchester Police Department’s 24-hour Harmony Montgomery tip line at 603-203-6060. | https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/stolen-property-charges-added-for-kayla-montgomery/article_16d7867a-d4f1-5b74-9bd0-e341b3557fc6.html | 2022-04-12T19:53:22 | 1 | https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/stolen-property-charges-added-for-kayla-montgomery/article_16d7867a-d4f1-5b74-9bd0-e341b3557fc6.html |
Bob Cioppa, director of student services for the Nashua School District, enters Nashua High School South Feb. 15 during the first day of hybrid learning for upperclassmen. Nashua schools will have to hire English Language Learner teachers and make other accommodations under agreement signed Monday between the district and federal officials.
School officials in Nashua are expected to decide by Aug. 1 how to safely reopen city schools based on a future recommendation from a newly formed task force.
Bob Cioppa, director of student services for the Nashua School District, enters Nashua High School South Feb. 15 during the first day of hybrid learning for upperclassmen. Nashua schools will have to hire English Language Learner teachers and make other accommodations under agreement signed Monday between the district and federal officials.
Kimberly Houghton/Union Leader file
School officials in Nashua are expected to decide by Aug. 1 how to safely reopen city schools based on a future recommendation from a newly formed task force.
Nashua's interim superintendent has taken a job in a Massachusetts school district.
Garth McKinney has been leading New Hampshire's second-largest school district since Feb. 2021, as Nashua finds its way to a post-pandemic normal, through a contentious round of contract negotiations with the teachers union, and navigating a staff shortage that forced the district to switch to remote learning for two days in January.
McKinney, who had served as an administrator in Nashua, was tapped to lead the district after former Superintendent Jahmal Mosley left Nashua to lead the schools in South Hadley, Mass. The school board extended McKinney's contract though this school year after the board was unable to agree on a new superintendent in 2021.
Now, with a new Nashua superintendent due to start work on July 1 -- Stephen Linkous, currently of Kansas City, Kansas, schools -- it's McKinney's turn to go to the Bay State.
McKinney announced Monday that after he finishes out his contract in Nashua on June 30, he will start work as the assistant superintendent for curriculum and human eesources in Milton, Mass., a suburb just south of Boston, with about 4,300 students in six schools.
Timothy Otis has been chosen as the next principal of Manchester School of Technology (MST) High School, the Manchester School District announced Tuesday.
CONCORD — The House Education Committee chairman said he will propose boosting state aid to help pay for more costly special education services that local property taxes are unable to cover. | https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/nashuas-interim-schools-chief-headed-to-mass-district/article_dcfc785f-3321-5197-8d13-53e106abd94e.html | 2022-04-12T19:53:28 | 0 | https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/nashuas-interim-schools-chief-headed-to-mass-district/article_dcfc785f-3321-5197-8d13-53e106abd94e.html |
Timothy Otis has been chosen as the next principal of Manchester School of Technology (MST) High School, the Manchester School District announced Tuesday.
Otis has served as acting principal at the school since last year, previously serving as assistant principal at the school for five years.
Otis is a Manchester native and has worked for the school district since 1988, beginning his career teaching physics and engineering at Memorial High School. In 2011, he became an assistant principal at Memorial, then held the same position at McLaughlin Middle School and West High School before joining the staff at MST in 2016.
Otis earned his undergraduate degree from Saint Anselm College and graduate degree and certificate of advanced studies from University of New England.
“I am excited to lead a school with such a dedicated staff and hard working students who are preparing for their future in advanced education or in a career that they trained for at MST,” Otis said in a statement.
MST operates as a four-year high school and a career and technical education (CTE) training center. Students from the other three city high schools, as well as several surrounding communities, can take CTE courses at the school.
“I’m confident the school is in good hands with Principal Otis,” Interim Superintendent of Schools Jenn Gillis said in a statement. “Tim is student-focused first, and that shows in every interaction he has. His experience gives him deep knowledge of the school’s successes and challenges, and that has prepared him well to lead the school into the future. I know that he’s excited about this opportunity, and we’re excited to have him in this role on a permanent basis.”
Timothy Otis has been chosen as the next principal of Manchester School of Technology (MST) High School, the Manchester School District announced Tuesday.
CONCORD — The House Education Committee chairman said he will propose boosting state aid to help pay for more costly special education services that local property taxes are unable to cover. | https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/timothy-otis-named-new-principal-at-mst/article_dd61df68-d9c4-5710-b048-b617b4488e73.html | 2022-04-12T19:53:34 | 0 | https://www.unionleader.com/news/education/timothy-otis-named-new-principal-at-mst/article_dd61df68-d9c4-5710-b048-b617b4488e73.html |
Comedian Gilbert Gottfried dies at age 67
Published: Apr. 12, 2022 at 3:36 PM EDT|Updated: 15 minutes ago
(Gray News) - Actor and comedian Gilbert Gottfried has died, according to his verified Twitter page.
He was 67.
His family posted a statement about his death, reporting it was because of a “long illness.”
“Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honor,” his family said in the statement.
Gottfried was known for his iconic voice. One of his most notable works was as the voice of Iago the parrot in the 1992 “Aladin.”
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/comedian-gilbert-gottfried-dies-long-term-illness/ | 2022-04-12T19:53:40 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/comedian-gilbert-gottfried-dies-long-term-illness/ |
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Construction work on I-75 in Bay Co., US-127 Gratiot Co. starts April 18
LANSING, Mich. (WNEM) - Construction crews will be starting work next week on multiple road projects across the state, including here in mid-Michigan.
The projects include US-127 resurfacing in Gratiot County, the I-69 Rebuilding Michigan project in Lapeer County, the second year of the I-75 resurfacing project in Bay County, US-131 resurfacing project in Mason County, I-96 and bridge improvements in Kent County, and the I-96 interchange connection project in Kent County. Based on economic modeling, the investment is expected to directly and indirectly support 1,287 jobs, according to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“Across Michigan, we are fixing the damn roads to save motorists time and money. Investments like these in Bay, Gratiot, Kent, Lapeer, and Mason counties will ensure our bridges and roads are safe for years to come,” Whitmer said. “My Rebuilding Michigan Plan and the recently enacted Building Michigan Together Plan are helping us fix our roads and bridges with the right mix and materials, making them much less susceptible to our notorious pothole seasons, all without raising taxes by a cent. Since I took office, Michigan has repaired, rebuilt, or replaced over 13,000 lane miles of road and over 900 bridges, supporting nearly 82,000 jobs. These projects will add to that total and continue and support even more good-paying jobs in these communities.”
Starting April 18, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) will resume work on I-75 from Beaver Road to Cottage Grove Road in Bay County to improve the driving surface. The remaining work includes median cleanup and temporary crossovers as well as bridge work at the Kawkawlin River.
Later in the construction season, crews will finish the remaining work for the Parish Road bridge. This work is part of a $29 million investment started in spring 2021 to resurface nearly five miles of I-75 and complete bridge repairs at Parish Road and I-75 over Beaver Road. The project is expected to be completed by August.
MDOT will invest $1.2 million to resurface 1.7 miles of US-127 from north of Humphrey Road to Washington Road in Gratiot County, near Ithaca. This investment is expected to directly and indirectly support nearly 20 jobs.
This work will improve the driving surface and extend the life of the road. Work will begin on April 18 and the project is expected to be finished by May 18.
In Lapeer County, MDOT will invest $54.5 million to rebuild more than 7 miles of I-69 from M-24 to Lake George Road. The Five Lakes Rest Area will also be replaced. The investment is expected to directly and indirectly support 685 jobs.
The two-year project will start on April 18 with crews rebuilding westbound I-69. During this time, all traffic will be maintained on eastbound I-69.
The following ramps will be closed during this phase of work:
- Southbound M-24 to eastbound I-69
- Westbound I-69 to M-24
- Westbound I-69 to Wilder Road
- Wilder Road to westbound I-69
- Lake Pleasant Road to westbound I-69
Westbound traffic will be switched back to the westbound side of the freeway at the end of the construction season.
In spring 2023, work will begin to rebuild eastbound I-69 with additional traffic restrictions in place.
Copyright 2022 WNEM. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/construction-work-i-75-bay-co-us-127-gratiot-co-starts-april-18/ | 2022-04-12T19:53:41 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/construction-work-i-75-bay-co-us-127-gratiot-co-starts-april-18/ |
Fentanyl behind doubling of teen overdose deaths over past decade, study says
Published: Apr. 12, 2022 at 2:44 PM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
(CNN) – More and more teens are overdosing on fentanyl, according to new research.
Adolescent drug overdose deaths doubled from 2010 to 2021, according to a study published Tuesday in the Medical Journal JAMA.
The research says there were about 500 adolescent overdose deaths in 2010 and more than 1,100 in 2021.
Fentanyl was involved in more than 75% of deaths in 2021.
Researchers say the increase isn’t because more teens are using drugs. It’s because drug use is becoming more dangerous.
Annual drug overdose deaths for all ages have reached record highs in the U.S. recently.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/fentanyl-behind-doubling-teen-overdose-deaths-over-past-decade-study-says/ | 2022-04-12T19:53:41 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/fentanyl-behind-doubling-teen-overdose-deaths-over-past-decade-study-says/ |
Peters, Stabenow announce $10M to support public transportation in Flint
FLINT, Mich. (WNEM) - Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow announced the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will award $10,382,118 in federal funding to improve public transportation in the city of Flint.
This investment comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that Peters and Stabenow helped enact last year.
“Michiganders utilize public transit every day to get groceries, stay connected with loved ones, and go to work, school, and appointments,” Peters said. “I was proud to help secure this critical investment in the bipartisan infrastructure law – to bolster Michigan’s economy, create good-paying jobs, and ensure our public transit infrastructure can safely and efficiently transport Michiganders to where they need to go.”
The funding will allow Flint to purchase new buses and railcars, address repair backlogs, transition to more sustainable and climate-friendly technologies, increase services for residents, or other critical infrastructure upgrades they deem necessary to bolster public transit in their community.
“Public transportation provides a lifeline for many people to make sure they can get to their jobs, doctor appointments, and grocery stores,” Stabenow said. “This funding will make sure that our transportation agencies can continue to provide these vital services.”
Copyright 2022 WNEM. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/peters-stabenow-announce-10m-support-public-transportation-flint/ | 2022-04-12T19:53:45 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/peters-stabenow-announce-10m-support-public-transportation-flint/ |
PORTSMOUTH -- The Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire (BHTNH) and St. John’s Episcopal Church will present their Good Friday Walk in person this year, bringing to light religious reflection as well as the Seacoast's ties to slavery.
The public is invited to meet at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 13, in Prescott Park, near the Liberty Pole. Sankofa Scholar Angela Matthews will lead the tour.
During Lent, many Christians follow symbolically in the steps of Jesus as he carried his cross through Jerusalem to the site of his crucifixion.
Expanding on this, participants in the upcoming walk will visit 14 sites on the Black Heritage Trail to pair a story of an African American with each of the Stations of the Cross.
That journey revolves around stories of enslavement on Portsmouth’s waterfront, including Prince Whipple, who was captured in Africa and enslaved by one of the city’s wealthiest merchants at the Moffett Ladd house.
This year’s walk will end at noon at the African Burying Ground Memorial. A Seacoast Community Lunch will follow at Middle Street Baptist Church, 18 Court St.
For those who cannot attend the walk in person, the walk can be viewed virtually on Friday, April 15, at 2 p.m.
To register for either program, go to blackheritagetrailnh.org. There is no fee to participate, but donations are welcome. | https://www.unionleader.com/nh/arts_and_ent/good-friday-walk-on-april-13-takes-steps-toward-religious-and-racial-reflection-on-seacoast/article_add37f62-55da-5108-95b4-306445002318.html | 2022-04-12T19:53:46 | 0 | https://www.unionleader.com/nh/arts_and_ent/good-friday-walk-on-april-13-takes-steps-toward-religious-and-racial-reflection-on-seacoast/article_add37f62-55da-5108-95b4-306445002318.html |
Saginaw police exercising zero tolerance policy towards street racing, ATVs within city limits
SAGINAW, Mich. (WNEM) - The Saginaw Police Department is sending a message to the community and hoping to get ahead of the problem when it comes to street racing and illegal ATV use in the city.
The police said to the community any vehicle going above the speed limit is a dangerous problem.
Go carts, ATVs or any non-street legal vehicle being used in the Saginaw city limits is illegal. The police are reminding residents they can purchase these types of vehicles, but they can not be used within city limits.
Any drivers caught street racing could be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony for reckless driving.
Drivers not obeying these laws could have to deal with impound fees, ordinance violations or be put in jail.
Copyright 2022 WNEM. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/saginaw-police-exercising-zero-tolerance-policy-towards-street-racing-atvs-within-city-limits/ | 2022-04-12T19:53:51 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/saginaw-police-exercising-zero-tolerance-policy-towards-street-racing-atvs-within-city-limits/ |
Yelp to cover travel expenses for workers seeking abortions
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yelp will cover the travel expenses of employees who must travel out of state for abortions, joining the ranks of major employers trying to help workers affected by new restrictions in Texas and other states.
The benefit announced Tuesday covers all 4,000 employees at the online review service, but seems most likely to have its biggest immediate impact on its 200 workers in Texas, which has passed a law banning abortions within the state after six weeks of pregnancy.
“We’ve long been a strong advocate for equality in the workplace, and believe that gender equality cannot be achieved if women’s healthcare rights are restricted,” said Miriam Warren, Yelp’s chief diversity officer.
Other states, including Oklahoma, are also are clamping down on abortions, prompting Yelp, based in San Francisco, and several other companies to draw up policies aimed at helping their workers get reproductive health care in other states.
Last month Citigroup, based in New York, disclosed plans to cover the travel expenses of any of its more than 220,000 employees, thousands of whom work in Texas, who travel to another state for an abortion.
The two largest U.S. ride-hailing services, Uber and Lyft, last year announced they will pay the legal fees for drivers who could get sued under the new Texas law for transporting a passenger to an appointment for an abortion.
The policies expose companies to potential backlash from those who support abortion restrictions, but they could be an advantage for employers with a footprint in states like Texas in an increasingly competitive job market.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/yelp-cover-travel-expenses-workers-seeking-abortions/ | 2022-04-12T19:54:00 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/yelp-cover-travel-expenses-workers-seeking-abortions/ |
TAMPA (WFLA) – Famed comedian and actor Gilbert Gottfried has passed away at the age of 67.
The death was announced on the actor’s Twitter page.
“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Gilbert Gottfried after a long illness. In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children. Although today is a sad day for us all, please keep laughing as possible in Gilbert’s honor.”
Actor Jason Alexander shared the news on his Twitter account with the message.
“Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh at times when laughter did not come easily. What a gift. I did not know him well but I loved what he shared with me. My best wishes and sympathy to his family. #ripGilbertGottfried”
Gottfried was most well known for his very popular voice acting including roles as Iago the Parrot in Aladdin and the voice of the Aflac Duck.
This is a developing story check back for updates. | https://www.wfla.com/entertainment-news/comedian-gilbert-gottfried-dies-at-67/ | 2022-04-12T19:57:11 | 0 | https://www.wfla.com/entertainment-news/comedian-gilbert-gottfried-dies-at-67/ |
Gas dips below $4 in Daytona Beach for the first time in over a month
DAYTONA BEACH — Gas prices on Tuesday finally fell below $4 a gallon for the first time in over a month in the Daytona Beach area, but motorists here remain wary that relief at the fuel pump may just be temporary.
"I'm skeptical. I believe they're going to go back up," said Palm Coast resident R.J. Ruther as he stopped at the RaceTrac gas station on State Road 44 in New Smyrna Beach to refuel his truck for work. Ruther is a fire alarm technician for a company called K n R Electrical which sends himto service clients throughout the state. "I drive close to 300 miles daily."
The average price of regular gasoline rose above $4 a gallon in both the Daytona Beach area as well as for the rest of Florida on March 7 amid growing concerns regarding global supplies of crude oil and petroleum products because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Q&A:Why the Ukraine crisis is affecting gas prices in the United States
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After setting all-time record highs of $4.383 a gallon for the Daytona Beach area and $4.378 a gallon for the state on March 11, gas prices have generally inched lower with the exception of a few days at the beginning of April.
On Tuesday, the average price for regular gasoline in the Daytona Beach area, which includes all of Volusia and Flagler counties, was down to $3.997 a gallon, while the statewide average dipped to $4.056 a gallon, according to AAA Auto Club.
The national average price for regular gasoline on Tuesday improved to $4.098 a gallon, down from the record $4.331 a gallon mark set on March 11.
AAA reports average gas prices for metro areas based on a comprehensive nightly survey it conducts of the final credit care purchases for fuel at gas stations throughout the country.
Gas prices moving 'in the right direction,' down
GasBuddy.com reports gas price changes at individual gas stations throughout the country based on motorists' reports. On Tuesday morning, it listed the Buc-ee's gas station next to the Interstate 95/LPGA Boulevard interchange in Daytona Beach, and the members-only Sam's Club gas station across the street, as having the cheapest fuel prices in Volusia County. Both were selling regular gasoline for $3.57 a gallon.
In Flagler County, the Wawa gas station on the corner of State Road 100 and Bulldog Drive in Palm Coast, had the cheapest gas at $3.70 a gallon for regular.
"Gas prices have continued to move in the right direction — down — saving Americans approximately $100 million every day compared to when prices peaked about a month ago," wrote Patrick DeHaan, the Chicago-based head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, in a news release. "The national average this week will likely fall back under the critical $4 per gallon mark. It remains possible that gas prices may have hit their 2022 peak, barring the typical caveats like the Russia war on Ukraine, the economy, hurricane season and COVID don't take drastic and unexpected turns.
"Diesel prices are also falling and (are) likely to go back under the $5 a gallon average this week," he added.
The average price for diesel in the Daytona Beach area on Tuesday was $5.053 a gallon, down from the record high of $5.168 a gallon set on March 31, according to AAA.
What's driving the decline in gas prices
Mark Jenkins, a Tampa-based spokesman for AAA, wrote in his weekly report on Tuesday the gasoline prices have been declining because of the drop in global wholesale crude oil prices.
While the United States is the world's biggest producer of crude oil, wholesale prices are set in international auctions based on the global supply.
Jenkins said the current dip in both crude oil and gasoline prices is the result of a combination of factors. They include lessened global demand because of the resurgence of the COVID-19 coronavirus in China which is resulting in government-mandated lockdowns there, the increase in interest rates and the strengthening U.S. dollar in this country, and an "unprecedented release of petroleum reserves to offset the shortfall of Russian crude." Russia is the world's third-largest producer of crude oil.
The United States recently pledged to release 180 million barrels of oil over the next six months, while the International Energy Agency has committed to releasing 60 million barrels. The combined 240 million barrel release is the largest of all time, according to Jenkins.
"On Monday, the U.S. price for oil settled at $94.29 per barrel. That's the lowest price since February, before Russia invaded Ukraine (late that month)," wrote Jenkins. "Unless oil prices rebound, this downward trend should enable gas prices to continue moving lower this week."
Motorist Pat Hoag of DeLand said he has noticed the gradual decrease in gas prices as of late.
Hoag stopped by the RaceTrac gas station in New Smyrna Beach to refuel his truck for work. He does building inspections throughout Florida for a company called ECS. "I fill almost a tank a day," he said. "I'd like (gas prices) to be back to $1.85."
Daily gas price tracker in Florida and Daytona Beach
Average price for a gallon of regular gasoline:
DAYTONA BEACH
Tuesday: $3.997
Monday: $4.021
Week Ago: $4.119
Month Ago: $4.355
Year Ago: $2.823
Highest Recorded Average Price: $4.383 (March 11, 2022)
Previous Record Average Price (prior to March 8, 2022): $4.117 (July 17, 2008)
FLORIDA
Tuesday: $4.056
Monday: $4.072
Week Ago: $4.151
Month Ago: $4.357
Year Ago: $2.840
Highest Recorded Average Price: $4.378 (March 11, 2022)
Previous Highest Recorded Average Price (prior to March 8, 2022): $4.079 (July 16, 2008)
SOURCE: AAA Auto Club | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/business/travel/2022/04/12/gas-prices-daytona-beach-now-below-4-gallon/7287149001/ | 2022-04-12T20:00:14 | 0 | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/business/travel/2022/04/12/gas-prices-daytona-beach-now-below-4-gallon/7287149001/ |
Bunnell man charged with impersonating police after claiming to be cop for Wendy's discount
A Bunnell man had been flashing a badge and claiming a law enforcement discount at a Wendy’s, but there was a problem: He was not a police officer, according to a charging affidavit.
Jesse David Stover, 57, was charged Monday with falsely impersonating an officer, a felony, by claiming to be a police officer or a federal agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a press release and charging affidavit.
Stover was released from the Flagler County Jail Monday after posting a $2,500 bond.
Stover had been requesting and receiving the discount for more than two years at the Wendy’s on Commerce Parkway, a press release stated. The discount is 50%, according to police.
But when he requested the discount on Monday, the manager, Jamie Davis, said he was not getting one, according to an affidavit. The manager then asked Stover for his law enforcement identification.
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Impersonating police officer:Report: State Department security officer arrested for impersonating police officer in Deltona
Stover took out his wallet, flashed a badge and again demanded a discount, according to a press release.
The manager then asked for a closer look at the badge, a charging affidavit stated. That’s when an argument started.
The manager asked Stover if he was a police officer, why was he so argumentative about showing his badge, an affidavit stated.
Stover then said he was not a police officer but worked for the DEA.
Suspect became defensive when Wendy's manager asked to see badge again
When the manager asked to see the badge again, Stover said he didn’t have to show it to her and became argumentative and defensive, the affidavit stated.
Police responded to the restaurant. Stover told deputies that he usually gets a discount because he is friends with the cashier and he denied ever saying he was a police officer or currently employed with the DEA, according to an affidavit.
Stover admitted that he had a “concealed carry badge” in his wallet and that he had shown it to an employee who requested to see it, the affidavit said.
Stover said he had been a police officer a while back but had been fired due to being an alcoholic, the affidavit stated.
Stover was arrested and during a search police found a gold-colored badge with the words “Concealed Weapon Permit,” the release stated.
Stover told police that he works flipping homes and was a former DEA agent, the affidavit stated.
The badge was similar to a law enforcement style badge and “could easily be confused with one,” by someone unfamiliar with police badges, the affidavit stated.
The manager, Davis, said that Stover had been a regular customer for more than two years, the affidavit stated. The manager said that Stover was friends with a cashier who would frequently give him discounts but those discounts ended when the cashier left the job, the affidavit stated.
Davis said that’s when Stover started saying he was a police officer or worked undercover for the DEA to try to defraud the business, the affidavit stated.
Davis said that she had witnessed Stover on several occasions flashing a gold badge and telling workers that he does not wear a typical law enforcement uniform because he works undercover for the DEA, the affidavit stated. | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/crime/2022/04/12/bunnell-man-accused-claiming-police-wendys-discount/7288173001/ | 2022-04-12T20:00:20 | 1 | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/crime/2022/04/12/bunnell-man-accused-claiming-police-wendys-discount/7288173001/ |
Longtime Pierson councilman Thomas R. Larrivee dies
Thomas R. Larrivee, a longtime entrepreneur and member of Pierson's Town Council, died April 3 at the age of 85.
"He was a great ally and wonderful council member who was on top of things," Carmen Spelorzi, town clerk, said Friday.
Larrivee was first elected to the council in 1982 and served until 1985. He was elected again in 2014 and served up until his death.
Among his endeavors, Larrivee ran an electronics business in Pierson for about 35 years.
Larrivee is the fourth Pierson council member to die in as many years.
James Thomas Peterson, a councilman for more than three decades, died May 7, 2021, at 87 years old. Herbert J. Bennett, who also served more than 30 years, died Sept. 8, 2020, at the age of 80. James Sowell, Pierson's mayor for nearly 20 years, died March 17, 2019, at 82 years old.
Lisa Lewis, supervisor of elections in Volusia County, said anyone can file for Larrivee's seat at this time, and the qualifying period is from noon, June 13, to noon, June 17.
A celebration of Larrivee's life is scheduled for 1 p.m. on April 23 at the Community Christian Assembly, 235 W. Washington Ave. in Pierson. | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2022/04/12/thomas-r-larrivee-longtime-pierson-councilman-dies-85/9513061002/ | 2022-04-12T20:00:26 | 0 | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/volusia/2022/04/12/thomas-r-larrivee-longtime-pierson-councilman-dies-85/9513061002/ |
East Carolina transfer and Mainland grad TJ Lockley commits to Jacksonville State
Mainland High grad TJ Lockley needed less than a month to find his next college football destination.
The 6-foot, 181-pound wide receiver, who entered the NCAA's transfer portal on March 22, committed to Jacksonville State on Tuesday. Lockley redshirted for the 2021 season, his first and only as a member of East Carolina's football program.
Lockley will arrive at Jacksonville State with four years of eligibility remaining. The Gamecocks, who famously upset Florida State last September, will complete a transition from the Ohio Valley Conference (D-I FCS) to Conference USA (D-I FBS) in 2023.
SIGNING DAY MEMORIES:Mainland's TJ Lockley brings 'speed, speed, speed' to East Carolina
"I saw the whole town and the facilities. They're rebuilding everything," Lockley said. "The area is similar to Greenville (N.C.), where I'm at now.
"They want me to get in the playbook so I can play in the fall. It doesn't matter how big of a school it is, but I like the competition level and the schools they will be playing in Conference USA. I'm just looking to play football at this point."
Selected to The News-Journal's All-Area Offense in each of his two seasons at Mainland, Lockley collected 36 Division I offers in high school. He committed to Illinois in June 2020, but reopened his recruitment a month later and eventually chose ECU.
Lockley led the Bucs with 673 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches in 2019. For his senior year, he moved to quarterback — the position he played for two seasons at Father Lopez — and compiled 1,856 yards from scrimmage and 18 total touchdowns for the Region 1-6A finalists.
"I should be able to fit right in. They run a fast-tempo offense and want to get their playmakers the ball," Lockley said.
Last weekend, Lockley landed an offer while on his official visit to Jacksonville State. He claimed previous FBS offers from Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Eastern Kentucky. | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/college/football/2022/04/12/tj-lockley-commits-jacksonville-state-east-carolina/7290236001/ | 2022-04-12T20:00:32 | 1 | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/college/football/2022/04/12/tj-lockley-commits-jacksonville-state-east-carolina/7290236001/ |
NASCAR SPEED FREAKS: Boogity-boogity-boogity! Ready for some Darrell Waltrip?
Excited to see Darrell Waltrip back in the Fox booth this week?
KEN'S CALL: Can't believe I'm saying this, but I could actually use a dose of boogity-boogity right about now. Not every week, mind you . . .
DEAN'S DIRT: Clint Bowyer and DW in the same booth will be magic. Buckle up!
NASCAR Q&A:"Mild Matt" Kenseth, "Cousin Carl" Edwards on new Hall of Fame ballot
THRU THE GEARS:'No idea of how you fix this': NASCAR has a Next Gen problem and Darrell Waltrip is back!
VIVE LA FRANCE?:NASCAR and Le Mans need to make the most of this opportunity | KEN WILLIS
The Bristol dirt race has to be better than last year's debut, right?
KEN'S CALL: They were cursed by bad weather last year, then dust and mud issues on race day. They'll fix what they can fix, then hope the weatherman likes dirt-racin'.
DEAN'S DIRT: After seeing the last two short-track races, it better be. | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/motorsports/2022/04/12/nascar-speed-freaks-darrell-waltrip-clint-bowyer-together-bristol/9529544002/ | 2022-04-12T20:00:38 | 1 | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/motorsports/2022/04/12/nascar-speed-freaks-darrell-waltrip-clint-bowyer-together-bristol/9529544002/ |
NASCAR Bristol Odds: Early lines, sleepers and best value picks for Food City Dirt Race
Nothing like sitting down after a big Easter Sunday dinner, watching the automobile race on the TV, and making a little money!
The NASCAR Cup Series head to the Bristol Dirt for a primetime showdown Sunday night. This will be the second straight night race for the series — lets hope this one goes a little better than Martinsville — and third straight short track event.
And yes, we have the early odds! Although, frankly, I'm not sure how books are supposed to handicap this one. It's just the second ever trip to the Bristol Dirt, the first at night, and the first in this new, Next Gen car.
Using the BetMGM sportsbook, Kyle Larson opens the week as the heavy favorite at +450 (9/2), followed in a distant second by Christopher Bell (+800), last year's winner, Joey Logano, at +900, and point-leader Chase Elliott (+1200).
Denny Hamlin and William Byron also check in at 12/1, followed by Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick, who all sit at 14/1.
All right. Enough small talk. Let's find some sleepers, good value picks, and best bets for Sunday's race.
UH-OH:'No idea of how you fix this': NASCAR has a Next Gen problem and Darrell Waltrip is back!
HAILIE DEEGAN:'Our lives are being threatened': NASCAR driver Hailie Deegan skips race, tells shocking story on YouTube
NEXT GEN:NASCAR makes sweeping changes to Next Gen cars, including bigger wheels with one lug nut each
Austin Dillon
Odds: 40/1
Why he could win: This number seems a bit high to me, especially given Dillon's recent speed (he finished third at Martinsville) and dirt experience.
Dillon has a handful of dirt wins to his name in a late model, won at Eldora in the Truck Series back in 2013, and he's also running the truck race this weekend, too, giving him some more seat time before Sunday's main event.
Dillon's finished no worse than 10th in the past three races, and already has more top-5s (two) than he did all of last season. A simple $10 bet on Dillon at this value could pay off big time come Sunday night.
Daniel Suarez
Odds: 20/1
Why he could win: Seems awful low for a guy who led 58 laps and finished fourth in this race last year, doesn't it?
Combine that with the fact that Suarez is in much, muuuucccchhhhh, better equipment this season, and this seems like a pretty decent chance to take.
Yes, Suarez has struggled pretty bad over the last three races (best finish of 16th), but this is a different animal, and he proved last year he knew how to handle the dirt.
Chase Briscoe
Odds: 14/1
Why he could win: He won earlier this year at Phoenix, but it's Briscoe's dirt background that's intriguing this week.
He's a third generation racer who grew up on dirt tracks around Indiana, and has experience in midgets and sprint cars.
And then there's this quote from Briscoe when asked about dirt guys having success in the Next Gen car.
"The dirt guys have always had to figure it out and adapt very quickly," he said after his Phoenix win. "The guys that grew up late model racing or pavement racing, they don't really have that. They go out and test, or have hours of practice, where the dirt guys have to adapt quickly ... I think that's why you've seen dirt guys run better, earlier, in this Next Gen car."
Tyler Reddick
Odds: 14/1
Why he could win: Speaking of those dirt guys who've had early success ...
Reddick was just 15 when he won his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event, becoming the youngest driver to do so, and has plenty of experience on the dirt. He's also been really, really good this season despite a few rocky weeks in a row.
Reddick finished seventh in this race last year, is way overdue for a Cup win, and knows how to win on the dirt. Not a bad gamble at +1400.
Christopher Bell
Odds: 8/1
Why he could win: Yes, it's low-hanging fruit. But still, getting a dirt guru like Bell at +800 isn't terrible value. Frankly, if I had to choose between taking Larson or Bell this week, I'd roll the dice and go with Bell.
There's just more value at his number and the gap between the two, at least when it comes to dirt, is very, very small.
Bell has won multiple Chili Bowls, has been good, and fast, this season, and should be in the mix all night Sunday. | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/nascar/2022/04/12/best-betting-odds-sleepers-and-picks-nascar-bristol-dirt-race-suarez-dillon-bell-reddick-briscoe/7287480001/ | 2022-04-12T20:00:44 | 0 | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/nascar/2022/04/12/best-betting-odds-sleepers-and-picks-nascar-bristol-dirt-race-suarez-dillon-bell-reddick-briscoe/7287480001/ |
EARNHARDT COUNTRY: An Earnhardt is returning to Talladega to run NASCAR Xfinity race
An Earnhardt is returning to Earnhardt Country.
Richard Childress Racing (RCR) announced Tuesday that Jeffrey Earnhardt, the grandson of Dale Earnhardt, will drive the No. 3 Chevy in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega on April 23.
Earnhardt is also the nephew of Dale Jr. His father, Kerry, was a regular competitor in the Xfinity Series from 1998 until 2009.
Jeffrey has competed in all three NASCAR national series and has 135 Xfinity starts. His best finish (third) came in 2019 at Charlotte, and he also led 29 laps and finished 15th at the Xfinity opener at Daytona that same year.
“It’s great to have an Earnhardt back in one of our cars,” said Richard Childress. “We think Jeffrey is a talented young driver and I’m confident he will run well at Talladega.”
Earnhardt's last win:Dale Earnhardt had to pass 17 cars in five laps to win 76th — and final — race of career
UH-OH:'No idea of how you fix this': NASCAR has a Next Gen problem and Darrell Waltrip is back!
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Dale Earnhardt at Talladega
Earnhardt, 32, has run 76 career Cup races, with a best finish of 11th at the 2018 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. He has four Xfinity starts this season, finishing 13th at Atlanta last month and 15th at Daytona in February.
“What a dream come true,” said Earnhardt. “The chance to be behind the wheel of the No. 3 car for RCR, that my pawpaw made famous, has long been a dream of mine and now it’s finally happening.
"The No. 3 car is cherished by a lot of people, and I know how much it means to him. To give me this opportunity is something I’ll never forget.”
Dale Sr. won 10 times in 44 career Cup starts at Talladega, including his 76th, and final, victory in the fall of 2000. | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/nascar/2022/04/12/jeffrey-earnhardt-grandson-dale-sr-run-nascar-race-talladega-xfinity-series/7291583001/ | 2022-04-12T20:00:50 | 0 | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/sports/nascar/2022/04/12/jeffrey-earnhardt-grandson-dale-sr-run-nascar-race-talladega-xfinity-series/7291583001/ |
INDIANAPOLIS — U.S. Supreme Court experts believe that the 6-3 conservative majority will likely weaken or overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1973 ruling that protects a women’s right to abortion.
The Indiana General Assembly declined to pass abortion bans in the 2022 legislative session. Instead, 100 Republicans sent a letter to Gov. Eric Holcomb, urging him to call them back for a special session after the country’s high court rules, which is anticipated in June.
“Providing a voice for those that have not yet been able to speak for themselves is a responsibility that we do not take lightly, and this is exactly why this request is so important,” the letter to Holcomb said.
One hundred of the state’s 150 legislators signed the letter, all Republicans.
Other states, including neighboring Kentucky, have moved ahead with abortion bans before the Supreme Court weighs in, many following in the steps of Texas. Texas used civilian litigation to bypass Roe and ban all abortions, with no exceptions for rape, incest or an endangerment of the woman’s life.
Jim Bopp, former general counsel for Indiana Right to Life, said that he believed Indiana could attempt to revive a 2016 law that courts struck down. The law prohibited abortions obtained because of a fetal abnormality or another discriminatory reason, such as race.
“There is some regulation of abortion procedures in Indiana. However, there is no prohibition … for having an abortion for any reason whatsoever,” Bopp said.
“So abortions are legal for any reason, including as a method of birth control or to kill a baby with Down syndrome or because a baby is Black.”
Bopp said that the state might consider a “dismemberment abortion” ban, or a ban on abortions once a fetus can “feel pain.”
Lisa Humes-Shulz, the vice president of policy and regulatory affairs for Planned Parenthood’s Indiana affiliate, said the organization anticipates that the General Assembly will take advantage of whatever the Supreme Court allows — whether a 15-week ban or an outright ban.
“We know it’s going to get even harder for the people who live in Indiana — as well as people who are coming into the state — to get abortion care,” Humes-Shulz said.
“We fully anticipate that (the Legislature) will pass the most restrictive abortion ban that they’re allowed as soon as the Supreme Court gives the green light.”
Both Bopp and Humes-Shulz acknowledged that Illinois, which protects the right to abortion in its constitution, would likely serve the estimated 7,710 Hoosier women who annually seek abortions.
But researchers with Guttmacher, an organization that advocates for protecting abortion access, estimates that Illinois will be the closest abortion provider for 8.9 million women of reproductive age, including 1.5 million Hoosier women.
Humes-Shulz said that Indiana was preparing with other abortion providers to create a seamless transfer of care for women across the country, though she said Hoosiers should be able to access the health care right in their own backyards.
“We’re really working on investing and expanding our patient navigation resources to make sure that when someone calls us and they need abortion care, that we’re able to provide them as much as we can in state and then seamlessly hand them off to another provider in a state where abortion remains legal,” Humes-Shulz said.
“But we absolutely don’t believe we should be having to do this.”
Bopp said that most people don’t travel to get around their state’s laws, criticizing the “totally unregulated” abortion landscape that he equated to the self-managed abortions women attempted in the decades before Roe protected abortion access.
“You have absolutely barbaric abortion clinics all over the country where they don’t follow the basic health and safety guidelines,” Bopp said. “We just brought the back alley abortion clinics onto the front street.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified just two deaths related to legal abortion in 2017, reporting that the fatality rate from 2013 to 2017 was less than one death for every 100,000 abortions.
In contrast, the CDC reported that the maternal mortality rate, in which women die during childbirth or up to a year after, was 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births. In Indiana, which has one of the country’s highest maternal mortality rates, 60 women died in childbirth or up to a year after childbirth in 2019.
Humes-Shulz called Indiana’s maternal mortality rate shameful, noting that the death rate is higher for Black Hoosier women than for females in other racial groups. She cited a Colorado study that estimated pregnancy-related deaths could increase by 21% under a total abortion ban, increasing to 33% for Black women.
“These abortion bans really are going to disproportionately harm Black women … who are already facing very dangerous pregnancies because of the ongoing systemic racism that’s in our health care system,” said Humes-Shulz. “People’s lives are at risk.” | https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/state_news/indiana-awaits-u-s-supreme-court-before-acting-on-abortion/article_c1d45945-64ab-5e50-9cca-a158e31630b7.html | 2022-04-12T20:06:44 | 1 | https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/state_news/indiana-awaits-u-s-supreme-court-before-acting-on-abortion/article_c1d45945-64ab-5e50-9cca-a158e31630b7.html |
PIERRE, S.D. — The South Dakota House on Tuesday impeached state Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg over a 2020 fatal crash in which he initially told authorities he thought he had struck a deer or another large animal.
Ravnsborg will at least temporarily be removed from office pending the historic Senate trial, where it takes a two-thirds majority to convict on impeachment charges.
Ravnsborg pleaded no contest last year to a pair of traffic misdemeanors in the crash, including making an illegal lane change. He has cast Joseph Boever’s death as a tragic accident.
On Monday night, he sent lawmakers a pair of defiant letters urging them to vote against impeachment.
“In a few hours, your vote will set a precedent for years to come,” Ravnsborg said in the first of two letters sent Monday night and obtained by the Argus Leader. “No state has ever impeached an elected official for a traffic accident.”
The South Dakota Legislature had never investigated impeachment for an elected official, and only once, in 1917, launched an impeachment inquiry into a circuit judge.
Ravnsborg’s letter also accused Republican Gov. Kristi Noem of interfering in the investigation and of supporting impeachment because of the attorney general’s investigations into her behavior. A second letter from Ravnsborg’s spokesman delved into “evidence, allegations and misconceptions,” about the case.
In its 36-31 vote, the House rejected the recommendation of a GOP-backed majority report from a special investigative committee and sided with Noem, who has argued that Ravnsborg lied to investigators. Democrats also had pushed for impeachment, arguing that he was not “forthcoming” to law enforcement officers and had abused the power of his office.
Ravnsborg, who took office in 2019, initially told aides and a 911 dispatcher he did not know what he hit on a rural highway as he was returning home from a Republican dinner in September 2020. He went back to the scene the next day and found the body of 55-year-old Boever, who had been walking on the highway’s shoulder.
The Highway Patrol concluded that Ravnsborg’s car crossed completely onto the highway shoulder before hitting Boever, and criminal investigators said later that they didn’t believe some of Ravnsborg’s statements.
The special investigative committee’s report argued Ravnsborg’s actions in the crash were unrelated to his official duties.
But some Republicans raised doubts about the crash reconstruction and where Boever was when he was hit. Ravnsborg, who has said little about the crash, denied being untruthful in a brief interview in February.
Ravnsborg is positioning for a reelection bid. He would face a Republican challenger, former attorney general Marty Jackley, at the June GOP convention that decides its next nominee. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/ct-aud-nw-south-dakota-attorney-general-impeached-20220412-mubyavje75e6dk7wjq72ki3lsm-story.html | 2022-04-12T20:07:05 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/ct-aud-nw-south-dakota-attorney-general-impeached-20220412-mubyavje75e6dk7wjq72ki3lsm-story.html |
A 47-year-old Seminole County Jail inmate died Tuesday at the facility, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Corrections officers found Abriam Lee Perez, of Longwood, unresponsive in his cell during a routine morning check, said SCSO spokesperson Kim Cannaday. Online records show Perez was booked into jail on Saturday and charged with driving under the influence.
The jail’s medical staff and Seminole County Fire Rescue tried to revive him in his cell, Cannaday said.
Perez was taken to a local hospital, where he later died, Cannaday said. His death is under investigation.
An early autopsy showed there was no trauma on his body, Cannaday said, and “his death is believed to be medical in nature.”
lgarza@orlandosentinel.com | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/seminole-county/os-ne-seminole-county-jail-inmate-death-20220412-v3b5hwo6kzaije26oy646t7hv4-story.html | 2022-04-12T20:07:11 | 0 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/seminole-county/os-ne-seminole-county-jail-inmate-death-20220412-v3b5hwo6kzaije26oy646t7hv4-story.html |
Black people deserve the freedom to have joyful, affirming pregnancies with the right to carry out their pregnancies in safe and healthy ways, whether that means choosing to have an abortion or carrying to term. Safe, quality, and unbiased health care is the bare minimum.
We’re in the middle of Black Maternal Health Week, a week of awareness, activism, and community-building aimed at amplifying the voices of Black Mamas and centering the values and traditions of the reproductive and birth justice movements. This activism is much needed: In 2020, Black women had a maternal mortality rate nearly three times higher than that of white and Hispanic women. Nationally, Black mothers face some of the highest rates of maternal morbidity and are considerably more likely to suffer from perinatal mood disorders such as postpartum depression, often without clinical help.
Here in Florida, we have much to be proud of in terms of passing legislation aimed at ending maternal mortality. With bipartisan support, the Florida Legislature has passed several progressive bills to promote Black maternal health while securing a record amount of funding for organizations like Healthy Start and the Office of Minority Health & Health Equity. However, there is much more work to do. We need to keep pushing for a comprehensive set of policies. One policy alone isn’t going to solve this maternal health crisis.
While access to care is a critical component to advancing Black maternal health outcomes, access alone is not enough. Research shows that 22% of Black women seeking care receive lower-quality care than their white counterparts and face discrimination while accessing health-care services. A true commitment to reproductive justice requires acknowledging and addressing disparities in Black maternal health and their root causes.
Becoming a mother in 2020 has fueled my passion to do everything necessary to pass meaningful Black maternal-health policies in Florida.
I proudly led in the passage of a bipartisan postpartum Medicaid extension bill that extends Medicaid coverage for pregnant people up to one year after delivery. Medicaid coverage for one year fills a major coverage gap in Black maternal health. One-third of pregnancy-related deaths occur between one week and one year postpartum, with 12 percent of pregnancy-related deaths occurring after six weeks postpartum. I personally know of so many women who were not able to come home with their baby or who experienced complications weeks after birth. With access to health care, mothers can now receive regular checkups and be informed of warning signs.
Being pregnant at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with little support and less than adequate care, prompted me to introduce legislation that created a telehealth program currently running as a pilot program in Orlando and Jacksonville. This bill requires doctor’s offices to create tool kits specific to individual mothers in order to provide high-quality telehealth care during pregnancy.
Black maternal health was previously one of a multitude of health concerns covered by the Office of Minority Health and is becoming a key issue in the Florida state Legislature. Stressing the importance of unbiased community-based care alongside a record amount of funding, a number of improvements were made from restructuring the Office of Minority Health and pushing for increased federal funding to creating a donor milk bill for Medicaid moms.
While we have moved the needle on advancing Black maternal health in Florida, we still have a ways to go toward ensuring the health and wellbeing of Black mothers and babies.
Not long ago, a Florida perinatal group reviewed and determined causes of infant and maternal mortality in order to develop a toolkit to aid hospitals in addressing these disparities. However, since it was not a requirement for hospitals to adopt any pieces of those toolkits, of the more than 300 hospitals within the state doing labor and delivery, only about four had adopted at least one piece of the toolkit. In an effort to hold hospitals accountable and push for better health outcomes, we must mandate the adoption of these toolkits in Florida hospitals.
Florida legislators recently passed their most restrictive abortion ban yet, a 15-week ban with no exceptions. Abortion bans disproportionately impact communities of color, hitting low-income people the hardest. Attacks on abortion and the dismal state of Black maternal health both stem from systemic, historical racism and a continued effort to control Black women and birth givers’ bodies. The disparities we see in maternal mortality and morbidity among Black communities across the United States cannot be separated from barriers to abortion care. Liberating abortion is a fundamental step toward improving maternal health outcomes.
Black moms have always been the guide and bridge for families, communities, movements, and waves of change. The time is now to invest in the advancement of racial and birth justice.
Rep. Kamia Brown, a Democrat, has represented the 45th district in the Florida House since 2016. She has registered for the state Senate Democratic primary in the 11th district. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/guest-commentary/os-op-black-maternal-health-kamia-brown-20220412-vmrgfn5kizhghfted45252s2tu-story.html | 2022-04-12T20:07:17 | 0 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/guest-commentary/os-op-black-maternal-health-kamia-brown-20220412-vmrgfn5kizhghfted45252s2tu-story.html |
Gaetz’s words weren’t worth reading
I’d like to comment on the April 10 guest column by Congressman Matt Gaetz (“Close tax loophole that benefits Disney, others”) by saying that I did not read the April 10 guest column by Congressman Matt Gaetz. He has chosen to become a clown as a political strategy, and I do not take clowns or their views seriously. As soon as I saw his name, I moved on.
I’ll keep listening to legitimate conservatives (the few that remain), but the Republicans should know that even if they have a strong argument to make on a serious issue, they no longer have standing with serious, intelligent adults.
Cal Massey Flagler Beach
Pitts is wrong: GOP media mistrust is warranted
In his National Viewpoint column (”Americans have lost the will to share a common identity,” April 11), Leonard Pitts blames Republicans who “no longer understand the meaning and mission of their country.” Further he claims “the average Republican trusts no mainstream source of information.”
Could it be that Republicans do not agree with liberal views on the meaning or mission of the country? Or do not trust liberal-leaning “mainstream media” such as CNN or the Washington Post? Perhaps it is because of a two-year suppression of the Hunter Biden story, now finally having to be reported as true. Or maybe it was the reporting of a successful withdrawal from Afghanistan that was, in reality, a debacle. All of these stories falsely reported by Pitts’ “mainstream media.”
Evidently, Pitts wants everyone to fall in line and follow his party’s “meaning and mission of the country” by accepting the false narratives of his “mainstream media” without scrutiny. I certainly agree with Pitts’ call for “better education in civics” and his call for media literacy. Just maybe he can call upon his “mainstream media” to start the process.
Mark W. Needham Clermont
Unanimous confirmation votes are impossible
We all have opinions. The Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel editorial boards opined Saturday that the Senate vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson as a Supreme Court justice should have been in favor unanimously (”Lessons learned from Ketanji Brown Jackson”). That is their opinion.
Latest Letters to the Editor
Is it not possible that the 53-47 vote had more to do with whether or not the Senate voters believed she could be unbiased politically? Isn’t that the real reason for similar votes for Amy Coney Barrett (52-48), Brett Kavanaugh (50-48) and Neil Gorsuch (54-45)?
It’s just that simple. In this day and age, most Republican senators will vote against a nominee of a Democratic president, and most Democratic senators will vote against a nominee of a Republican president. Because they doubt that the nominee would be politically unbiased when on the court.
Unanimous votes? Not likely. Is it wrong? Probably. But the editorial boards are entitled to their opinions — as we all are.
Robert Coleman Longwood | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/letters/os-op-letters-gaetz-not-worth-reading-20220412-cutfq6edrjbehcxnedsb6lox4y-story.html | 2022-04-12T20:07:24 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/letters/os-op-letters-gaetz-not-worth-reading-20220412-cutfq6edrjbehcxnedsb6lox4y-story.html |
I’m ticked off that no one has addressed the remark made by Chris Rock at the Oscars. My mother always taught me that you do not make fun of peoples’ looks. Especially a medical issue that is no fault of their own. Why do some comediennes think that this is the only way they can be funny. It is not funny. It is insulting and rude.
When a hurricane threatens we’re supposed to report price gouging. Where do I report price gouging of cat food? How does a dollar package of cat treats rise 80%? Temptations Treats are not regulated by world trade like gasoline. And stores limit the amount canned we can purchase IF they have it at all. Cat food is the new toilet paper!
I’m ticked off at myself for falling for a gift card scam and now being out $12,000! I should have known better, but I didn’t. I think all stores should have to train their employees and managers to question gray haired senior citizens, like myself, to question us when such large purchase is being made. They should quiz the old ladies/men. and ask if anyone has forced them or suggested they do this. Has their bank account or computer been scammed/hacked?
Rent control proposals should be addressed for all of Central Florida, if not all of Florida, not just Orange County. It will stand a chance if the proposals are a little more reasonable to landlords, due to their rising costs too.
Inflation ticks me off. Every home maintenance company I use - lawn, pool, pest - has raised its rates because of increased material, labor, and fuel costs.
The flip side
Many thanks to the kind person who found my purse hanging on a rack in the Dillard’s Fashion Square Outlet and turned it in to the customer service desk. Your thoughtful action saved so much trauma for me. I am saying special prayers for you. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-op-ticked-off-041322-20220412-7bblexhsezb2tebn3vcienuvvu-story.html | 2022-04-12T20:07:30 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/os-op-ticked-off-041322-20220412-7bblexhsezb2tebn3vcienuvvu-story.html |
TALLAHASSEE — A three-judge panel has scheduled a trial to start May 12 in the federal lawsuit filed against Florida’s proposed congressional district lines and rejected a motion by Secretary of State Laurel Lee for a delay in the case.
The legal moves came as Florida lawmakers prepare to hold a special session next week to try to agree on a congressional map as part of the once-a-decade reapportionment process. Gov. Ron DeSantis called the special session, which will start April 19, after vetoing a redistricting plan passed by the Legislature.
The lawsuit, filed March 11, argued that an impasse between DeSantis and lawmakers jeopardized the chances of reaching agreement on a map and that judges should step in to make sure revamped districts are set before this year’s elections. A similar case filed in state court was dropped after some of the plaintiffs were allowed to join the federal suit.
The three-judge panel’s order Monday setting a trial in the federal case acknowledged that lawmakers could approve a congressional map that meets DeSantis’ approval.
“But the Legislature and the governor have so far not seen eye-to-eye on this issue, so no one can predict with any certainty what will happen in the special session. And if the political process does not result in a new congressional map, a court will have to step in and draw the map,” Judge Adalberto Jordan of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote. “For now, we need to put ourselves in a position to draw a new congressional map if the Florida Legislature and Gov. DeSantis fail to agree on a new one.”
Jordan, U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rogers and U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor have been assigned to the case.
DeSantis on Tuesday reaffirmed that his proposal will include redrawing a sprawling North Florida congressional district that has elected a Black Democrat. DeSantis’ proposal would create a more compact district in the Jacksonville area.
Congressional District 5 currently stretches from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee and is held by U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat.
“I think that what they’ll produce will be something that will be acceptable to folks and obviously would get my signature if we’re proposing it,” DeSantis said during an appearance at Miami Dade College. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne-redistricting-federal-court-case-20220412-svyttruiengkldmu5zilceuid4-story.html | 2022-04-12T20:07:36 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/os-ne-redistricting-federal-court-case-20220412-svyttruiengkldmu5zilceuid4-story.html |
Orange City University’s softball team realized there was no sense in competing with the past when it opened preseason practices earlier this spring.
A year after finishing 25-1 and reaching the FHSAA large-class state semifinals, the Titans returned just five starters to their lineup.
“Last year was an amazing time. It was once-in-a-lifetime for us, and I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to emulate it.” University coach Kenny Walters said.
Walters reminded returning players of all that made the 2021 team so special before the season started. He’s since been focused on helping this year’s group find an identity of their own, even while there’s still three weeks left in the regular season.
University (11-5) entered Tuesdays game at Flagler Palm Coast (5-6) ranked No. 1 in its region and No. 6 overall in FHSAA Class 6A power rankings. The Titans play at Hagerty (10-2) on Thursday.
Port Orange Spruce Creek (11-3) is No. 2 and Winter Springs (10-5) ranks No. 3 behind University in 6A Region 1. Clermont East Ridge (11-6) ranks No. 3 in Region 3.
“There’s been growing pains, and we’re still going through them, but hopefully we’ve matured enough by the end of the year when we start the district tournament,” Walters said. “We’ve got some good athletes out there.”
Senior standout Aminah Vega is batting a team-best .429 (21-for-49) with 20 runs scored and 8 extra-base hits. Junior Annalyn Duncan, who moved from third base to second base this season, is batting .321 (17-for-53) with 14 RBIs, 13 runs scored and 8 extra-base hits.
Senior pitchers Grace Taylor (6-4, 1.78 ERA) and Emma Grubbs, a DeLand transfer, both have been reliable in the circle. Taylor has 97 strikeouts in 67 innings pitched. Grubbs is 4-1 with a 1.96 ERA.
FHSAA rankings
Lake Brantley (12-4, 20.35 rating) maintains a slim lead over Hagerty (20.20) as the top-ranked team in 7A Region 1. The Patriots, who lost 4 of their last 6 games since starting 10-0, have regional games upcoming vs. No. 3 Apopka (April 25), No. 5 Lake Mary (April 20) and No. 7 Winter Park (April 27).
Deltona (8-0, 19.08) and defending state champion Eustis (14-2, 15.72) are the top teams in 4A Region 2. Deltona hosts No. 5 Bishop Moore (11-7, 7.42) on April 19.
Montverde Academy (13-4, 14.80) holds a firm grip at No. 1 in 3A Region 2 ahead of Brooksville Hernando (10-4, 11.90) and Windermere Prep (6-4, 9.63).
The top six teams in 2A Region 2 hail from the Orlando area, led by The First Academy (9-4, 9.67) and Orlando Christian Prep (11-4, 8.23).
Deltona Trinity Christian (7-3, 5.01) is ranked No. 3 followed by Mount Dora Christian (10-6, 4.94), The Geneva School (6-3, 4.79) and Foundation Academy (8-6, 3.43).
This article originally appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email J.C. Carnahan at jcarnahan@orlandosentinel.com. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/highschool/os-sp-hs-orange-city-university-softball-fhsaa-rankings-20220412-rxrathvzivgbldwqj535kq2s2y-story.html | 2022-04-12T20:07:42 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/highschool/os-sp-hs-orange-city-university-softball-fhsaa-rankings-20220412-rxrathvzivgbldwqj535kq2s2y-story.html |
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill may not be the last 2021 Kansas City Chief the Miami Dolphins are adding this offseason.
And no, this is not a development with free agent safety Tyrann Mathieu.
Three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Melvin Ingram, who has made his mark in the NFL over nine seasons with the Chargers but found a resurgence late last season with the Chiefs, is coming to Miami for a visit with the Dolphins on Tuesday, according to a league source.
Ingram, who turns 33 later this month, has 55 career sacks between regular season and postseason play since entering the league as a first-round pick in the 2012 draft.
After consecutive Pro Bowl campaigns from 2017 to 2019, Ingram suffered multiple knee injuries in 2020 that cut his final year with the Chargers short and caused him to miss more than half the season. He signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of training camp in 2021, and the Steelers then traded him at the deadline to the Chiefs.
In the second half of the 2021 season in Kansas City, he started six games, making 15 tackles and a sack. He then started all three of the Chiefs’ playoff games, adding five tackles and two postseason sacks. He was touted for the number of quarterback pressures he provided during the stretch, on top of the three total sacks.
The Dolphins also showed interest in Ingram, who has a home and trains in South Florida, last offseason and brought him to team facilities for a visit before he inked with Pittsburgh.
Adding Ingram (6-foot-2, 247 pounds) would provide another edge defender that can play defensive end or outside linebacker for the Dolphins defense. He can fit in with fellow versatile edge Jaelan Phillips, who set a Dolphins rookie sack record with 8 1/2 last year, defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah and outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel. Jerome Baker can also play either as an inside or outside linebacker.
Last year Miami had one of the most blitz-happy defenses in the NFL, often bringing extra linebackers and even safeties in their pass rush, while relying on cornerbacks to play single coverage.
The Dolphins, on Friday, also brought in inside linebacker Reuben Foster for a visit as the team surveys options to bolster its linebacker corps at different spots.
Earlier this offseason, Miami re-signed inside linebackers Elandon Roberts, Duke Riley and Sam Eguavoen, who can also play outside, as well as outside linebacker Brennan Scarlett. The Dolphins also already return linebackers Baker, Phillips, Van Ginkel, Calvin Munson and Darius Hodge. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-dolphins-ingram-visit-20220412-nbtpx7hlcfbaxgxclkrf2sb3eu-story.html | 2022-04-12T20:07:48 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-dolphins-ingram-visit-20220412-nbtpx7hlcfbaxgxclkrf2sb3eu-story.html |