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- Richard Dale "Ricky" Steinman, 59, passed away Sunday, April 10, 2022, at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. Ricky was born November 21, 1962 in Batesville, MS to the late Al and Rita Steinman. Ricky married the love of his life, Dawn Hanlon, on August 14, 1983. They spent 38 wonderful years together. Ricky was a kind and gentle soul and a role model to all. He was a very active member of St. James Catholic Church in Tupelo, were he was a Sunday school teacher and a Confirmation Sponsor. He was always involved in his children's lives. He coached baseball and loved any sports his children played. It is said that Ricky loved a good prank. The Christmas stockings were always the best, along with his Halloween decorations. Ricky was known as the "Candy Man." He always had candy in his pocket to give to anyone. Ricky knew how to fix anything. He was the best handyman around as long as he could google how to fix it. He was a giver of life as he was a regular blood donor. Ricky is survived by his wife, Dawn; Son Kevin Steinman (Rebecca); Daughters, Katherine Pacheco (Daniel), Jasmine Steinman, and Carly Yarber (Jason); Sister Carol Anton (Bill); Brothers, David Steinman, Mark Steinman, Marvin Steinman (Alice), Brian Steinman (Sylvia), and Greg Steinman (Kim); 3 Grandchildren, Gaines Steinman, Ross Steinman, and Emilia Pacheco; and several nieces and nephews. Ricky was preceded in death by his parents and brother Glen Steinman. Service will be on Wednesday April 13, 2022 at 2PM at St. James Catholic Church with Father Tim Murphy and Father Henry Shelton officiating. Visitation will be on Wednesday April 13, 2022 from Noon until service time at St. James Catholic Church. In Lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to St. James Catholic Church Youth Fund, P.O. BOX 734, Tupelo, MS, 38802.
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WASHINGTON (Nexstar) — When the bipartisan-passed No Surprises law took effect at the beginning of the year, the goal was to protect consumers from surprise medical bills. But now that it’s in effect, 6 lawsuits have been filed by medical associations.
The No Surprises law is meant to protect Americans from unanticipated, out-of-network bills that can total thousands of dollars.
The law, said Health & Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, “protects Americans from being broadsided, surprised, by unexpected medical bills. We’re going to be vigorous in enforcement of that law.”
But the Biden adminitration is now facing six lawsuits from medical associations that disagree with the proposed rules for implementing the law.
Various medical associations bringing the suits declined on-camera interviews but said they’re not challenging the portions that affect consumers’ out-of-pocket expenses.
They argue Congress wrote the law to allow for an independent dispute resolutions process to decide how much insurance companies should pay and that the Health and Human Services rules don’t allow for that.
Patricia Kelmar with the US Public Interest Research Groups said the rules crafted by the Biden administration serve as important guardrails.
“You can imagine what happens when you take a away a very lucrative billing practice from providers. They’re very upset,” Kelmar said. “When out-of-network providers can charge whatever they want with no regard to a market value, then all consumers, all insured consumers are paying those added costs.”
She said in the end consumers will pay higher premiums to pick up that cost. | https://fox59.com/news/washington-dc-bureau/med-associations-sue-over-no-surprises-billing-law/ | 2022-04-12T23:59:30 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/washington-dc-bureau/med-associations-sue-over-no-surprises-billing-law/ |
Agreement will expand Univar Solutions' diverse excipient portfolio, helping customers with drug delivery in Brazil and Mexico
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., April 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Univar Solutions Inc. (NYSE: UNVR) ("Univar Solutions" or "the Company"), a global chemical and ingredient distributor and provider of value-added services, today expanded its specialty ingredient portfolio in Mexico and Brazil through a new distribution agreement with Ashland, a focused additives and specialty ingredients company. The agreement combines the strengths and offerings of two sustainability-focused and innovation driven organizations and will benefit formulators and manufacturers focused on delivering science-based pharmaceutical solutions in Latin America and across the globe.
"Univar Solutions proudly serves pharmaceutical manufacturers and formulators through our relationships with premier suppliers like Ashland, offering the ingredients and solutions our customers are seeking for their high quality and high performing products, globally," said Jorge Buckup, president of Latin America for Univar Solutions. "Together with Ashland, we're better able to help customers formulate next-generation products, work to improve time to market and achieve a sustainability advantage using more environmentally conscious ingredients and innovations. We're proud to team up with a supplier who is also passionate about working at the intersection of science and technology to deliver products that help keep communities healthy and safe."
Under the agreement, Univar Solutions customers in Brazil and Mexico will have access to Ashland's binders and disintegrants for solid dosage forms, matrix formers for modulated release drugs and coatings for regular and modulated release solid dosage forms. Pharmaceutical ingredient customers are supported by Univar Solutions' global Solution Centers scientists, who help solve formulation challenges, address changing regulatory requirements, innovate to meet market trends and help customers work toward sustainability and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.
"Ashland's specialty ingredients are a perfect complement and addition to our existing portfolio and with it we look forward to offering an even more expansive range of excipients to customers in Brazil and Mexico," said James Peterson, vice president, global Pharmaceutical Ingredients for Univar Solutions. "Partnering with Ashland will help further our approach to manufacturers and formulators as we work together to meet the ever-changing pharmaceutical market demands in Latin America, backed by the technical expertise from our global network of Solution Centers."
"As a global leader in pharmaceutical oral solid dose (OSD) excipients, Ashland is innovating for safe, easy-care, patient-centric formulations and we will continue to grow by building out our pipeline with these innovations and new sales opportunities," said Alejandra Alvarez, strategic global marketing and business development of Latin America for Ashland. "We are excited for our customers that will be supported by Univar Solutions as they help us address evolving global pharmaceutical needs coinciding with the growing pharmaceutical industry in Brazil and Mexico."
For more information about Univar Solutions' pharmaceutical ingredients business, visit univarsolutions.com/pharma.
Univar Solutions (NYSE: UNVR) is a leading global commodity and specialty chemical and ingredient distributor representing a premier portfolio from the world's leading producers. With the industry's largest private transportation fleet and technical sales force, unparalleled logistics know-how, deep market and regulatory knowledge, formulation and recipe development, and leading digital tools, the Company is well-positioned to offer tailored solutions and value-added services to a wide range of markets, industries, and applications. While fulfilling its purpose to help keep communities healthy, fed, clean and safe, Univar Solutions is committed to helping customers and suppliers innovate and focus on Growing Together. Learn more at univarsolutions.com.
Ashland is a global, consumer market-focused additives and specialty ingredients company that is responsibly solving for a better world. Through science and a conscious and proactive mindset for sustainability, the company serves customers in pharmaceutical, personal care, architectural coatings, construction, energy, food, beverage, and nutraceuticals. There are approximately 3,800* passionate, tenacious solvers at Ashland who thrive on developing practical, innovative, and elegant solutions to complex problems for customers in more than 100 countries. Visit www.ashland.com and www.ashland.com/sustainability to learn more.
* Reflects employee base following the planned sale in 2022 of performance adhesives.
This press release includes certain statements relating to future events and our intentions, beliefs, expectations, and predictions for the future, which are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations and assumptions. A detailed discussion of these factors and uncertainties is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Potential factors that could affect such forward-looking statements include, among others: the ultimate geographic spread of the COVID-19 pandemic; the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic; actions that may be taken by governmental authorities to address or otherwise mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the potential negative impacts of COVID-19 on the global economy and our customers and suppliers; the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, results of operations and financial condition; other fluctuations in general economic conditions, particularly in industrial production and the demands of our customers; significant changes in the business strategies of producers or in the operations of our customers; increased competitive pressures, including as a result of competitor consolidation; significant changes in the pricing, demand and availability of chemicals; our levels of indebtedness, the restrictions imposed by our debt instruments, and our ability to obtain additional financing when needed; the broad spectrum of laws and regulations that we are subject to, including extensive environmental, health and safety laws and regulations; an inability to integrate the business and systems of companies we acquire, including of Nexeo Solutions, Inc., or to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions; potential business disruptions and security breaches, including cybersecurity incidents; an inability to generate sufficient working capital; increases in transportation and fuel costs and changes in our relationship with third party providers; accidents, safety failures, environmental damage, product quality and liability issues and recalls; major or systemic delivery failures involving our distribution network or the products we carry; operational risks for which we may not be adequately insured; ongoing litigation and other legal and regulatory risks; challenges associated with international operations; exposure to interest rate and currency fluctuations; potential impairment of goodwill; liabilities associated with acquisitions, ventures and strategic investments; negative developments affecting our pension plans and multi-employer pensions; labor disruptions associated with the unionized portion of our workforce; and the other factors described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution you that the forward-looking information presented in this press release is not a guarantee of future events or results, and that actual events or results may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking information contained in this press release. In addition, forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "plan," "seek, "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe" or "continue" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Any forward-looking information presented herein is made only as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise, except as required by law.
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DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., April 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Univar Solutions Inc. (NYSE: UNVR) ("Univar Solutions" or "the Company"), a global chemical and ingredient distributor and provider of value-added services, today announced that on May 9, 2022 it plans to report financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2022.
After the market closes on Monday, May 9, Univar Solutions plans to issue its first quarter news release. At the same time, the Company will post a slide presentation in the investor relations section of its website at https://investors.univarsolutions.com. Following the release, at 9:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 10, the Company will host a webcast with investors to discuss the first quarter results. The webcast will be accessible through the investor relations section on the Univar Solutions' website.
Following the event, an archived version of the webcast and supporting materials will be available on the Univar Solutions' website at https://investors.univarsolutions.com.
Univar Solutions (NYSE: UNVR) is a leading global commodity and specialty chemical and ingredient distributor representing a premier portfolio from the world's leading producers. With the industry's largest private transportation fleet and technical sales force, unparalleled logistics know-how, deep market and regulatory knowledge, formulation and recipe development, and leading digital tools, the Company is well-positioned to offer tailored solutions and value-added services to a wide range of markets, industries, and applications. While fulfilling its purpose to help keep communities healthy, fed, clean and safe, Univar Solutions is committed to helping customers and suppliers innovate and focus on Growing Together. Learn more at univarsoltions.com.
This press release includes certain statements relating to future events and our intentions, beliefs, expectations, and predictions for the future, which are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations and assumptions. A detailed discussion of these factors and uncertainties is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Potential factors that could affect such forward-looking statements include, among others: the ultimate geographic spread of the COVID-19 pandemic; the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic; actions that may be taken by governmental authorities to address or otherwise mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the potential negative impacts of COVID-19 on the global economy and our customers and suppliers; the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, results of operations and financial condition; other fluctuations in general economic conditions, particularly in industrial production and the demands of our customers; significant changes in the business strategies of producers or in the operations of our customers; increased competitive pressures, including as a result of competitor consolidation; significant changes in the pricing, demand and availability of chemicals; our levels of indebtedness, the restrictions imposed by our debt instruments, and our ability to obtain additional financing when needed; the broad spectrum of laws and regulations that we are subject to, including extensive environmental, health and safety laws and regulations; an inability to integrate the business and systems of companies we acquire, including of Nexeo Solutions, Inc., or to realize the anticipated benefits of such acquisitions; potential business disruptions and security breaches, including cybersecurity incidents; an inability to generate sufficient working capital; increases in transportation and fuel costs and changes in our relationship with third party providers; accidents, safety failures, environmental damage, product quality and liability issues and recalls; major or systemic delivery failures involving our distribution network or the products we carry; operational risks for which we may not be adequately insured; ongoing litigation and other legal and regulatory risks; challenges associated with international operations; exposure to interest rate and currency fluctuations; potential impairment of goodwill; liabilities associated with acquisitions, ventures and strategic investments; negative developments affecting our pension plans and multi-employer pensions; labor disruptions associated with the unionized portion of our workforce; and the other factors described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We caution you that the forward-looking information presented in this press release is not a guarantee of future events or results, and that actual events or results may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking information contained in this press release. In addition, forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "plan," "seek, "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe" or "continue" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Any forward-looking information presented herein is made only as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise, except as required by law.
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BOSTON and PARIS, April 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlassian announced today that Valiantys has received the Atlassian Partner of the Year Enterprise Services award for their outstanding contribution and achievements during the calendar year 2021. This award recognizes an Atlassian Solution Partner providing exceptional effort in developing new business, forward-looking perspectives, and delivering products and services at scale that complement Atlassian. Valiantys continues to earn the trust and praise of large enterprise customers, as they successfully deliver complex transformation solutions and ensure positive client experiences on a global scale.
"We are delighted to receive this award from Atlassian," said Lucas Dussurget, CEO at Valiantys. "It is a testament to the caliber and talent of the entire Valiantys team, and validates our continued effort and investment in scaling our services and delivery capabilities worldwide."
"Atlassian would like to congratulate this year's Partner of the Year award recipients," said Ko Mistry, Atlassian's Head of Global Channels. "Our partners go above and beyond for our customers and play an instrumental role in our customers' success. We are excited to spotlight some of our top partners who provide cutting edge solutions and Atlassian services to our customers."
About Valiantys
Valiantys is the leading global consulting and services firm dedicated to Atlassian. We accelerate business transformation by digitizing processes and modernizing teamwork, using the best Agile methods and tools. Our Atlassian technical expertise is unparalleled and we support our customers across the entire spectrum of their projects on those platforms. As a recognized Agile at Scale and Cloud Specialized Partner, we help organizations accelerate time to value with Agile at scale, cloud, and ITSM implementations. Because teamwork requires more than just tools, we help bridge the gap between applications and strategic practices such as SAFe® and ITIL. Over the last 15 years, we have helped more than 5,000 customers achieve their desired business outcomes at a reduced time to value, through improved team collaboration.
Find out how Valiantys can lead the way with you and your business transformation at valiantys.com
For more information regarding this Press Release, contact: marketing@valiantys.com
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Eltice Jarrett was born July 18, 1928, to Mamie Hale Joyner and James Amos Joyner. She departed this earthly life from Pontotoc Health and Rehab on Sunday, April 10, 2022. She is survived by her husband of 74 years, Graden Jarrett, 3 daughters, Jean Mathews of Pontotoc, Patsy Medlin (James) of New Albany, Rhonda Goolsby (Aaron) of Hickory Flat; 7 grandchildren, Steve Mathews (Lisa), David Mathews (Tabatha), Barry Mathews (Kourtney), Joy Williams (Todd), Jarrett Thompson (Megan), Ginger Heatherly (Derek), Jessie Hutchison (Wesley); several great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren, 1 sister-in-law Cora Browning. And several bonus great grandchildren and great great grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her Mother and Father, brothers, Martin and Collins Joyner, 1 sister Patricia Joyner Fitts, and 1 son-in-law Johnny Mathews. Her greatest treasure was her family. She was a devoted Christian wife, mother and grandmother and was a member of Midway Baptist Church. She will be remembered for her kindness and humbleness to meet the needs of her community. She was a member of the Beckham Homemakers Club for over 50 years. Pallbearers will be Steve Mathews, David Mathews, Barry Mathews, Jarrett Thompson, Todd Williams, Derek Heatherly, Wesley Hutchison, Colten Mathews, Ross Mathews, and Parker Heatherly. Funeral services will be at 2:00 Friday, April 15, 2022, at Midway Baptist Church with Bro. Rocky Watts and Bro. Bobby Caples officiating. Visitation will be Thursday night April 14, from 5 pm until 8 pm and Friday from 12 pm until service time at 2 pm all at Midway Baptist Church, 8773 Highway 15 South, Pontotoc, MS 38863. Browning Funeral Home is honored to assist the family. The family would like to express our sincere thanks to the Pontotoc Health and Rehab and HomeCare Hospice for the compassionate and loving care that they provided to our wife and mother. Condolences may be offered at www.browningpontotoc.com.
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STAMFORD, Conn., April 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE: WBS), the holding company for Webster Bank, N.A. and its HSA Bank division, today announced the following details for its first quarter 2022 earnings release and conference call:
About Webster Financial Corporation
Webster Financial Corporation (NYSE:WBS) is the holding company for Webster Bank, N.A. and its HSA Bank Division. Webster is a leading commercial bank in the Northeast that provides a wide range of digital and traditional financial solutions across three differentiated lines of business: Commercial Banking, Consumer Banking and its HSA Bank division, one of the country's largest providers of employee benefits solutions. Headquartered in Stamford, CT, Webster is a values-driven organization with $65 billion in assets. Its core footprint spans the northeastern U.S. from New York to Massachusetts, with certain businesses operating in extended geographies. Webster Bank is a member of the FDIC and an equal housing lender. For more information about Webster, including past press releases and the latest annual report, visit the Webster website at www.websterbank.com.
Media Contact:
Alice Ferreira, 203-578-2610
acferreira@websterbank.com
Investor Contact:
Emlen Harmon, 212-309-7646
eharmon@websterbank.com
View original content:
SOURCE Webster Financial Corporation | https://www.1011now.com/prnewswire/2022/04/12/webster-financial-corporation-announces-first-quarter-2022-earnings-release-conference-call/ | 2022-04-12T23:59:52 | 1 | https://www.1011now.com/prnewswire/2022/04/12/webster-financial-corporation-announces-first-quarter-2022-earnings-release-conference-call/ |
MENLO, Iowa • With inflation at a 40-year high, President Joe Biden journeyed to corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday to announce a modest step aimed at trimming gasoline prices by about a dime a gallon at a limited number of stations by waiving rules that restrict ethanol blending.
His action reflects the ways Biden is deploying almost every weapon in his bureaucratic arsenal to ease price pressures, yet the impact appears to be small and uncertain. Inflation has only accelerated in recent months, instead of fading as Biden once promised it would after the recovery from the coronavirus recession following last year's $1.9 trillion relief package.
A government report Tuesday that consumer prices jumped 8.5% in March from a year ago — the worst reading since December 1981 — only deepened the political challenge for Biden and fellow Democrats ahead of this year's midterm elections. More than half the increase came from higher gas prices, which spiked in part because of Russia's war in Ukraine, but costs also jumped for housing, food and other items.
Biden called the inflation report "Putin's price hike."
"Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away," the U.S. president said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But in his remarks at the POET biofuels facility in Menlo, west of Des Moines, Biden acknowledged that the waiver on ethanol mixes was a small step.
"I'm doing everything within my power by executive orders to bring down the price," he said. "It's not going to solve all our problems, but it's going to help some people."
Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol, a biofuel that is currently cheaper than gas. Biden was announcing that the Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver to allow widespread sale of a 15% ethanol blend that is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.
Senior Biden administration officials said the action will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon based on current prices, but at just 2,300 gas stations out of the nation's more than 100,000. The affected stations are mostly in the Midwest and the South, including Texas, according to industry groups.
Administration officials said the EPA has determined that the "emergency" step of allowing more E15 gasoline sales for the summer is not likely to have a significant air quality impact. That's despite some environmentalists long arguing that more ethanol in gasoline increases pollution, especially during warmer summer months.
The waiver is another effort to help ease global energy markets that have been rocked since Russia invaded Ukraine. Last month, the president announced the U.S. will release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation's strategic petroleum reserve over the next six months. His administration said that has helped to slightly reduce gas prices lately, after they climbed to an average of about $4.23 a gallon by the end of March, compared with $2.87 at the same time a year ago, according to AAA.
"Not only is this decision a major win for American drivers and our nation's energy security, it means cleaner options at the pump and a stronger rural economy," Emily Skor, CEO of the biofuel trade association group Growth Energy, said in a statement.
Members of Congress from both parties also had urged Biden to grant the E15 waiver.
"Homegrown Iowa biofuels provide a quick and clean solution for lowering prices at the pump, and bolstering production would help us become energy independent once again," said Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. He was among nine Republican and seven Democratic senators from Midwestern states who sent Biden a letter last month urging him to allow year-round E15 sales.
The trip will be Biden's first as president to Iowa, where his 2020 presidential campaign limped to a fourth-place finish in the state's caucus. He will arrive saddled with sagging approval ratings and the high inflation while his party faces the prospect of big midterm election losses that could cost it control of Congress.
The president also planned to promote his economic plans to help rural families and highlight the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law enacted last fall. That law includes money to improve internet access, as well as for modernizing wastewater systems, reducing flooding threats and improving roads and bridges, drinking water and electric grids in sparsely populated areas.
Biden had hoped Democrats could run on the low 3.6% unemployment rate and an agenda geared toward lifting the middle class, but inflation has hijacked those ambitions and given Republicans a target for criticism.
Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kauffman was unsparing in his criticism of Biden's handling of the economy and inflation. But, he said, the temporary move on ethanol was the right one.
"First of all, let me say that that's a good thing. Absolutely good thing. It would have been nice had he done it earlier," Kauffman said. "Am I glad about this waiver? Yes I am. Is it enough? Nope."
The high inflation also poses a threat to Biden's broader domestic agenda that likely hinges on the vote of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Manchin released a statement saying that the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve failed "to act fast enough," to curb costs for the American people and that the problem of high prices predates the invasion of Ukraine.
Manchin, whose opposition doomed Biden's 10-year, roughly $2 trillion measure in December, had recently returned to the negotiating table with the White House. It remains unclear what impact the new inflation data will have on those negotiations.
After Iowa, Biden will visit Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday.
The EPA has lifted seasonal restrictions on E15 in the past, including after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The Trump administration did so in the summer two years later but had that action struck down by a federal appeals court.
A group representing petroleum refiners blasted Biden's decision, saying the only emergency was his dropping poll numbers.
"We are right there with the administration on wanting to see relief for consumers at the pump, but an unlawful executive order is not how to solve the problem,'' said Chet Thompson, president & CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers. | https://www.djournal.com/print-features/biden-waiving-ethanol-rule-in-bid-to-lower-gasoline-prices/article_d137baae-6c81-5968-8c91-0c7bc451e5d4.html | 2022-04-12T23:59:55 | 1 | https://www.djournal.com/print-features/biden-waiving-ethanol-rule-in-bid-to-lower-gasoline-prices/article_d137baae-6c81-5968-8c91-0c7bc451e5d4.html |
LOS ANGELES • Gilbert Gottfried, the actor and legendary standup comic known for his raw, scorched voice and crude jokes, has died. He was 67.
Gottfried died from a rare genetic muscle disease that can trigger a dangerously abnormal heartbeat, his publicist and longtime friend Glenn Schwartz said in a statement.
"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 all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert's honor," his family said in a statement posted on Twitter.
Gottfried was a fiercely independent and intentionally bizarre comedian's comedian, as likely to clear a room with anti-comedy as he was to kill it with his jokes.
"The first comedian I saw who would go on and all the other comics would go in the room to watch," standup comic Colin Quinn said on Twitter.
He first came to national attention with frequent appearances on MTV in its early days and with a brief stint in the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in the 1980s.
Gottfried also did frequent voice work for children's television and movies, most famously playing the parrot Iago in Disney's "Aladdin."
"Look at me, I'm so ticked off that I'm molting," a scratchy-voiced Gottfried said early in the film as his character shed feathers.
He was particularly fond of doing obscure and dated impressions for as long as he could milk them, including Groucho Marx, Bela Lugosi and Andrew "Dice" Clay. He would often do those voices as a guest on the Howard Stern show, prompting listeners by the dozens to call in and beg Stern to throw him off.
In his early days at the club the Comedy Store in Hollywood, the managers would have him do his impression of then-little-known Jerry Seinfeld at the end of the night to get rid of lingering patrons.
Gottfried was especially beloved by his fellow comedians and performers.
"I am so sad to read about the passing of Gilbert Gottfried," actor Marlee Matlin said on Twitter. "Funny, politically incorrect but a softie on the inside. We met many times; he even pranked me on a plane, replacing my interpreter." (Gottfried bore a close resemblance to Matlin's American Sign Language interpreter Jack Jason.)
"Seinfeld" actor Jason Alexander tweeted that "Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh at times when laughter did not come easily. What a gift."
Gottfried was interviewed by The Associated Press last month following Will Smith's Oscar night slap of Chris Rock. While he took the attack seriously, saying it might imperil other comedians, he couldn't resist wisecracks.
He said that before on stage, he "just had to worry about wearing a mask. Now I have to worry about wearing a football helmet." He later added: "If Will Smith is reading this, dear God, please don't come to my shows."
The year has already seen the loss of several beloved comedians, including Louie Anderson and Bob Saget.
In January, Gottfried tweeted a picture of the three men together, with the text, "This photo is very sad now. RIP Bob Saget and RIP Louie Anderson. Both good friends that will be missed."
Gottfried was born in Brooklyn, the son of a hardware store owner and a stay-at-home mom. He began doing amateur standup at age 15.
He thought he was getting his big break when he landed a spot on "Saturday Night Live" alongside Eddie Murphy in 1980. But he was given little to do on the show.
He later said a low point was playing the body in a sketch about a funeral. He would last only 12 episodes.
But he would find his own way, doing bits on MTV and as a both beloved and hated guest on talk shows.
He had roles in "Beverly Hills Cop II" and the "Problem Child" films and presented bad movies as host of "USA Up All Night" from 1989 to 1998.
And he had recurring voice roles on "Ren and Stimpy," "The Fairly OddParents" and several spin-offs of "Aladdin."
Gottfried's schtick wasn't always popular. In 2011, Aflac Inc. fired him as the voice of the duck in its commercials over tasteless tweet the comic sent about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Less than a month after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, at the Friars Club Roast of Hugh Hefner, Gottfried made jokes about planes making stops at skyscrapers, and was met with boos and shouts of "Too soon!" He responded with an especially foul version of the comedians' inside joke "The Aristocrats," which many in the audience took as a message that he believed it was the comic's job to remain crude at all costs.
"To me, funny is funny," he told the AP last month. "I'll regret a bit I do that just doesn't get a laugh, because it's not funny or an ad lib that doesn't work. But if it gets a laugh, I feel like, I'm the comedian and that's my job."
He made many notorious contributions to televised roasts, his harshness and love of old-timey standup style making him a perfect contributor. He took famously cruel and relentless jabs at roastees including George Takei and Roseanne.
"Like most monsters she goes by one name," he said at the Roseanne roast in his signature style, leaning into the microphone, hands spread apart, shouting himself hoarse. "And that name is Rozilla."
"I shall miss you, my friend, my sometimes foil, my always pain in my side, usually from the belly laughs," Takei said on Twitter Tuesday. The heavens are a great deal louder with you out there now, I'm sure. Keep 'em shaking their heads and smiling, Gilbert."
Gottfried is survived by his wife Dara, sister Karen, 14-year-old daughter Lily and 12-year-old son Max. | https://www.djournal.com/print-features/gilbert-gottfried-actor-and-comics-comic-dies-at-67/article_636da6ba-5905-506b-b90c-64eeffaac524.html | 2022-04-13T00:00:01 | 1 | https://www.djournal.com/print-features/gilbert-gottfried-actor-and-comics-comic-dies-at-67/article_636da6ba-5905-506b-b90c-64eeffaac524.html |
Brand new alt-rock music festival coming to Atlantic City, NJ
NJ's alternative rock scene must, at times, feel left out by tour managers and concert promoters. Unless a major headliner is coming to MetLife Stadium or Prudential Center, your options to see an alt-rock concert are usually limited within the confines of the Garden State. It's been a long time since Bamboozle.
That's what makes today's announcement of the brand new Frantic City Music Festival in Atlantic City all that more exciting.
The one-day festival will take place at the Orange Loop Amphitheater in Atlantic City, Sept. 24.
The lineup includes:
Car Seat Headrest
Yo La Tengo
Snail Mail
The Murder City Devils
Shannon And The Clams
Superchunk
The Raveonettes
Rocket From The Crypt
Samiam
Titus Andronicus
Protomartyr
Control Top
It's worth noting: Yo La Tengo originated in Hoboken, NJ. Titus Andronicus, meanwhile, hails from Glen Rock, NJ.
The festivities will be hosted by none other than Fred Armisan of "SNL" fame.
According to StereoGum, Frantic City was booked by Todd Abramson, the longtime New Jersey indie rock promoter and WFMU DJ who used to be a partner in the legendary Hoboken nightclub Maxwell’s, along with co-creator Joe HoldFast of HoldFast records.
Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 15 on the festival website.
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 producer, writer, and host Joe Votruba. Any opinions expressed are his own.
Questions, corrections, or comments? Send Joe Votruba an email. Follow Joe on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. | https://nj1015.com/brand-new-alt-rock-music-festival-coming-to-atlantic-city-nj/ | 2022-04-13T00:01:52 | 1 | https://nj1015.com/brand-new-alt-rock-music-festival-coming-to-atlantic-city-nj/ |
Doubts expressed on NJ’s plan to compensate for learning loss
TRENTON – Some lawmakers question whether the state education department has a robust plan to deal with learning loss, especially after results of the Start Strong assessments that students took last September were published last week.
The topic was one of many repeatedly mentioned at an Assembly budget hearing Monday that lasted more than four hours, in which acting Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan outlined the state’s response but said in a decentralized system, districts can pivot more quickly than the state.
“Learning loss while on paper looks abysmal – it is very sad for us to look at numbers and see that our children have had this effect from a pandemic,” Allen-McMillan said. “But we do see the opportunity there to continue to advance learning in creative ways, which our districts have done well since their inception, to move students forward and help them reengage in a learning environment.”
Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz, R-Union, said the extended time in online classes reduced students’ comprehension, focus and engagement – part of lockdowns early in the pandemic that, in retrospect, had little to no health benefits but enormous economic and social costs, she said, citing a Johns Hopkins study.
Munoz called the Start Strong results “pretty frightening” and said some kids are two years behind. She said teachers are going to be asked to teach both their grade and the one prior and that she’s not clear on the state’s learning-loss plan, even after Allen-McMillan’s testimony.
“Not just in words but a number and a plan,” Munoz said. “How are we going to address this? Because this will and may and should and will have long-term effects on these kids.”
Allen-McMillan said Gov. Phil Murphy “followed the science” on school closure decisions in the pandemic’s uncertain early days to keep students and teachers safe, then worked to open school doors from the start of the current 2021-22 academic year.
And she said teachers aren’t being asked to teach two years’ worth of curriculum standards – “We don’t approach this problem that way” – but rather highlight priority standards, identified from Start Strong results, to help students going forward.
“It’s not about remediation. It’s about acceleration,” Allen-McMillan said. “And what damage we would do to children if we said, ‘Because you did not learn all of the content in the grade level you were in when the pandemic first occurred, you had to stay there until you learned all of that content.’ No. We actually work to meet students where they are, to understand that we’re always growing and developing and that we will put in place the strong supports.”
Allen-McMillian said the first of three batches of federal funds was the smallest, from which the state had a competitive grant for 16 school districts to address learning loss. That became a $75 million plan in the second batch, she said, with three-fourths devoted to science and math and the other quarter to visual and performing arts.
She said learning loss is connected with students’ social and emotional well-being, so the state is providing funds for mental health supports, such as small groups for students who have lost family members and suicide interventions. She said the state hired a mental health expert at the Department of Education to help identify best practices in districts.
The proposed state budget also includes $2 million for a RAPID reading intervention program. Munoz questioned whether that’s sufficient, comparing it to $5 million in the budget for climate change education.
Allen-McMillan said that’s one of many learning-loss strategies being pursued.
“It’s like a conflaguration,” she said. “It’s not just one silver bullet. We’re adding on to the work that’s being done as we learn more.”
Allen-McMillan said the state lacks the longitudinal data it had before the pandemic and is looking to administer the Start Strong assessments again this coming September to have data moving forward.
Michael Symons is the Statehouse bureau chief for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at michael.symons@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story. | https://nj1015.com/doubts-expressed-on-njs-plan-to-compensate-for-learning-loss/ | 2022-04-13T00:01:59 | 0 | https://nj1015.com/doubts-expressed-on-njs-plan-to-compensate-for-learning-loss/ |
Pet adoption still a good idea, but NJ shelters’ COVID stories vary
The earliest months of the COVID-19 pandemic were stereotyped as time to catch up on Netflix, order takeout pizza, adjust to working from home, and shut off from the outside world.
One other trend quickly became apparent: a spike in pet adoptions that seemed to be as pronounced in New Jersey as anywhere else in the country.
Shelters of the Garden State say that pace has slowed in the two years since, but their own specific circumstances were impacted by the health crisis too, and in differing ways.
At the Monmouth County SPCA in Eatontown, executive director Ross Licitra said the animal population is lower across the board than in years past.
"We're at an all-time low when it comes to cats right now at the shelter," Licitra said. "Normally we have several hundred cats in the shelter, and at the moment we're down to about 20."
The same is not true for St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center, although director of communications Diane Ashton said some of that is attributable to COVID necessitating St. Hubert's consolidating its adoption services just to its main branch in Madison.
"Our shelters are full, they're at capacity, there's always a need for adopters," Ashton said. "So I think that would be the headline, is to always encourage people to either adopt or foster."
Licitra joined Ashton in telling New Jerseyans to keep adopting or fostering, and both also debunked reports and rumors of pandemic pets being returned in droves.
That does happen, Licitra said, but typically not on a whim.
"What we're seeing is a lot of behavioral surrenders, people coming back to the shelter looking for advice on behavioral issues, especially with their dogs," he said, adding that as human life has returned to normal, pets who came into homes in the last two years don't know what "normal" is.
Also a factor: financial hardships brought on by COVID employment instability, which may have caused residents to give up pet-friendly homes.
As a rule, Ashton said, puppies and kittens always get adopted, and always will. But it's those longer-stay animals — either with behavioral problems, or older, or larger — that occupy shelter space when they, and the facility, would be better off being fostered, if even for a short time.
"Your shelter is filled with animals, a lot of dogs that are longer-stay dogs, and therefore you can't bring in as many dogs as you used to," Ashton said.
Pre- or post-pandemic, Licitra said, pet ownership is a huge, though worthwhile, responsibility that could last 15 years or more, and should be carefully considered by the entire family.
Patrick Lavery is a reporter and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story. | https://nj1015.com/pet-adoption-still-a-good-idea-but-nj-shelters-covid-stories-vary/ | 2022-04-13T00:02:05 | 0 | https://nj1015.com/pet-adoption-still-a-good-idea-but-nj-shelters-covid-stories-vary/ |
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ Concert For Ukraine is a major success
In times of trouble, you can always count on Jersey Shore rockers to step up to the plate, whether it be in New Jersey or anywhere in the world.
Sunday night, Jersey Shore rockers and musicians including Bobby Bandiera, Jillian Rhys McCoy, Tommy LaBella, Tony Perruso, Layonne Holmes, Joe JoBonanno, Eddie Testa, Ron Haney, Joey Stann, Southside Johhny, Steve Forbert, Tommy Meares, and more came together at Jenkinson's in Pt Pleasant for the Concert For Ukraine and raised over $200,000, which will be split between two charities.
Mayor Kanitra shared on Facebook:
"I couldn’t be any more proud of the entire Jersey Shore and State of New Jersey for coming together as one for an amazing cause last night!!!! To say it was electric with thousands of you rocking and raising funds together is almost an understatement. I could spend a day thanking everyone that volunteered their time and talents to make it happen. Bobby Bandiera, Tom Parr, Kristen O’Rourke, Jenkinson’s and all our sponsors deserve some major kudos for being the backbone of it all. It’s going to take a few days to total up the numbers, but we’ve hit our goal of $200,000 for the refugees and that is going to make a HUGE difference in the world."
I asked Mayor Kanitra how much of the money will be donated after the overhead from the concert.
Mayor Kanitra shared with New Jersey 101.5 that overhead was low and likely over 95% of the money collected will go directly to the two charities, Help for Ukraine and World Central Kitchen.
Kanitra was a guest on my New Jersey 101.5 show. You can listen On-Demand starting at 1:29:00
"It was like a "Who's who of all the best Jersey Shore bands," says Kanitra, "and that was Bobby (Bandiera). I was driving to the Krakow airport leaving the border and Tom Paar who's a mutual friend of both Bobby's and mine reached out to me and said he'd been talking to Bobby and Bobby said 'Hey if the mayor wanted to keep this going and was interested in a concert, we could put something together.'"
"So from there, we wound up all going out and grabbing a beer at Amendment 21 in Pt Beach and we talked to Jenkinson's, we secured the venue and it just started rolling from then on."
Eddie Testa, who performed at the event called into my New Jersey 101.5 show, you can listen On-Demand starting at 1:37:53:
Eddie put things into perspective, he then turned his attention to the musicians who played:
"The guys in my band, Neil DeSimone, Illya Stemkovsky, John Farnsworth, Jeff Hawkins, Ron Haney, These guys gave up afternoons with their families which every band does. When you do a benefit, you're out to support the cause but these guys in my band, they're just fantastic and all the musicians that were there were just like one big family. All right, you need help, let's do it man."
Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise only. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.
You can now listen to Steve Trevelise — On Demand! Discover more about New Jersey’s personalities and what makes the Garden State interesting . Download the Steve Trevelise show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now: | https://nj1015.com/point-pleasant-beach-nj-concert-for-ukraine-is-a-major-success/ | 2022-04-13T00:02:11 | 1 | https://nj1015.com/point-pleasant-beach-nj-concert-for-ukraine-is-a-major-success/ |
Still in need of school-bus drivers, NJ renews waiver of ‘under the hood’ testing
Seven months into the academic year, bus companies and districts still need drivers to handle shortages on a daily basis.
In the meantime, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission is continuing to waive the requirement that all wannabe school bus drivers be able to identify "under the hood" engine parts in order to get the necessary license — the requirement has been mentioned by groups and schools as an obstacle to attracting new drivers.
Driver applicants in New Jersey will not be required to take the engine compartment component of the CDL skills test through June 30. The original waiver expired March 31.
The waiver from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is intended to continue alleviating a critical shortage of school bus drivers nationwide, which was worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, NJMVC said. States have had the option to adopt the waiver or continue mandating the "under the hood" component of testing.
"It has helped in some situations," Chloe Williams, president of the New Jersey School Bus Contractors Association, said of the waiver.
But, according to Williams, districts are still looking for routes to be covered due to short rosters of drivers. And drivers who receive the CDL license without the "under the hood" expertise are blocked from traveling out of state — schools may have field trips planned for Pennsylvania, New York, or Delaware.
"We get numerous contacts every day for both routes and trips," Williams said.
According to Williams, a heavy flow of applicants came in during the fall, likely due to strong media coverage of the need for drivers.
"By January, things were better, but we still absolutely do need drivers," she said.
Heading toward the end of the academic year, Williams said the concern now is keeping drivers on the job beyond the summer months.
Dino Flammia is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story. | https://nj1015.com/still-in-need-of-school-bus-drivers-nj-extends-waiver-of-under-the-hood-testing/ | 2022-04-13T00:02:17 | 1 | https://nj1015.com/still-in-need-of-school-bus-drivers-nj-extends-waiver-of-under-the-hood-testing/ |
What Point Pleasant Beach mayor saw: Trip that inspired NJ Concert for Ukraine
It was Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Paul Kanitra's trip to the Ukraine-Polish border that inspired the Concert for Ukraine, which raised over $200,000 for Ukrainian refugees.
Mayor Kanitra was a guest on my New Jersey 101.5 radio show and talked about how the concert came about.
You can listen On-Demand starting at 1:29:00
"It was like a Who's Who of all the best Jersey Shore bands," says Kanitra. "And that was Bobby (Bandiera).I was driving to the Krakow airport leaving the border and Tom Paar who's a mutual friend of both Bobby's and mine reached out to me and said he'd been talking to Bobby and Bobby said if the mayor wanted to keep this going and was interested in a concert, we could put something together.
"So from there, we wound up all going out and grabbing a beer at Amendment 21 in Point Beach and we talked to Jenkinson's, we secured the venue and it just started rolling from then on."
What inspired Mayor Kanitra to go to the border?
"When the crisis started, and the refugees started flowing over, I decided to just buy a ticket and see what I could do to help. I convinced one of my buddies from Dallas to go with me. We rented a van, we brought over five suitcases of supplies. We volunteered with some other groups. We did pretty much everything and anything from preparing food to handing out meals on the border to shuttling refugees to pretty much just buying supplies and handing them out at the refugee center."
Why was it important for Mayor Kanitra to be there?
"Half of my ancestry is Polish and Slovakian and Point Pleasant Beach has really benefitted from Eastern Europeans for a lot of years. They come over, they enjoy themselves for the summer, they operate the rides and attractions and they really forge great relationships with our residents and their kids and a lot of them endured for years and years and years if not life time, so it was our way to give back in going over there and we really made a big difference last night(at the Concert For Ukraine)."
What were some of the things Mayor Kanitra saw at the border?
"It was surreal. Your emotions kind of ran the whole gamut. The kids stick with you. There are no men of fighting age there at all. Basically from 16-65 we didn't see any men. There were a lot of women and small children. A lot of elderly people, the buses were coming across with orphans which was really really tough. There were 20-30 kids on a bus and just 2-4 adults and that hits home."
"It was surreal all over the place. It was frigid cold. There were trash can fires burning everywhere" says Kanitra "kind of the smell of ash burning everywhere, the ash is falling the snow is falling."
But through it all, he shared the one thing that stuck with him.
"The something that stuck with me throughout the really difficult stories and all the sadness was the resolve of the Ukrainian people. The entire time we were there for a week straight, I didn't see anybody fight, I didn't see anybody argue, steal, yell, push in line, do anything like that, and these people lost everything. Most of them only have a carry-on suitcase size bag with all their worldly possessions in it and the class and dignity that they handled themselves with through what any of us would have a difficult time emulating it was something that will stick with me forever."
Mayor Kanitras shared his best memory from the Concert For Ukraine.
"I actually met a ton of Ukrainian individuals. There were some Ukrainians there that didn't speak any English, and had just come after already having fled to the United States to be with family. There was a Ukrainian woman who had just come over a couple of weeks previously, she brought a cake that she made in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. There were some people who had worked at Jenkinson's and in Point Pleasant Beach previously."
"There was all this great music going on the stage and everybody just jamming out and everybody having a good time but there were these connections to what it was all about scattered throughout the crowd."
If you would like to donate to help
"If people want their totals added into ours they can send a check to the Point Pleasant Beach Community Endowment Fund and put Ukraine in the subject line. 416 New Jersey Ave., Point Pleasant Beach, NJ 08742. Or they can donate directly to the two charities at Help for Ukraine or World Central Kitchen. "
Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise only. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.
You can now listen to Steve Trevelise — On Demand! Discover more about New Jersey’s personalities and what makes the Garden State interesting . Download the Steve Trevelise show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now: | https://nj1015.com/what-point-pleasant-beach-mayor-saw-trip-that-inspired-nj-concert-for-ukraine/ | 2022-04-13T00:02:24 | 1 | https://nj1015.com/what-point-pleasant-beach-mayor-saw-trip-that-inspired-nj-concert-for-ukraine/ |
Two men accused of posing as federal law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C., were granted bail and can stay with relatives in the region until their trial, a judge ruled on Tuesday
Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 35, were arrested last week. The FBI raided a luxury apartment building in Southeast Washington, where the men were staying and had been offering free apartments and other gifts to U.S. Secret Service agents and officers, prosecutors said.
Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey said Taherzadeh and Ali can be released on bail and be put in the custody of relatives in the area.
The case doesn’t meet any of the standards for denying bail, Harvey said. The charged crime, pretending to be police officers, is not a violent crime.
The government said Ali was a flight risk, but the judge said there’s no evidence that any foreign power was trying to target Secret Service agents.
Prosecutors have argued the men compromised four Secret Service agents and could pose a risk to national security.
However, defense attorneys said the government was overreacting and there was no evidence the men were involved in any nefarious scheme.
Taherzadeh and Ali appeared in front of Judge Harvey via a video call Tuesday.
When asked if Ali was a citizen of Pakistan, Ali's attorney told Harvey he was not.
Harvey also asked if other law enforcement officers were compromised, to which the prosecutor said Taherzadeh had contact with a DHS analyst and a Naval intelligence officer. The officer was so concerned about the contact that he reported it to NCIS, the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor also told the judge the FBI is investigating whether the gifts the two men are accused of giving to agents — including a drone, a flat screen TV and free rent at a luxury apartment — were part of a bribe. At this time, there's no evidence of that, the prosecutor said.
Defense attorneys for both men argued that they don't pose a danger to the public and they're not currently charged with any violent crimes.
On Monday, Taherzadeh's lawyer described what happened as an "embarrassing misrepresentation that got out of control" and said he acted out of a "desire for friendship, not to influence anyone." Taherzadeh never asked for anything from the officers he befriended, the lawyer said.
Meanwhile, Ali’s attorney said Ali was never convicted in his previous arrests, that he offered to turn himself in and that prosecutors are trying to conflate the two men.
The two men were tipped off to the investigation when an internal affairs investigator with the Secret Service emailed Taherzadeh looking for information after the Secret Service officers were put on administrative leave last week, the prosecutor said.
The FBI searched five residences at the building on Wednesday and three vehicles. They found body armor, gas masks, zip ties, handcuffs, equipment to break through doors, drones, radios and police training manuals, prosecutors previously said.
The two men also had surveillance equipment and a high-power telescope, according to prosecutors.
The FBI also found several firearms — including handguns and ammunition — and disassembled rifle pieces and sniper scopes, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said FBI agents also found a machine to create and program personal identification verification cards, which, if programmed correctly, can be used to access sensitive law enforcement computers.
Prosecutors allege Taherzadeh and Ali had falsely claimed to work for the Department of Homeland Security and work on a special task force investigating gangs and violence connected to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The plot unraveled when the U.S. Postal Inspection Service began investigating an assault involving a mail carrier at the apartment building and the men identified themselves as being part of a phony Homeland Security unit they called the U.S. Special Police Investigation Unit, prosecutors said.
Investigators believe Ali had taken multiple trips to the Middle East and had three visas showing he had been to Pakistan and two Iranian visas, Rothstein said. U.S. travel records also showed he had traveled to Istanbul, Turkey and Doha in Qatar, he said. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/defense-says-2-men-who-posed-as-federal-agents-not-a-danger/3643159/ | 2022-04-13T00:15:14 | 1 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/defense-says-2-men-who-posed-as-federal-agents-not-a-danger/3643159/ |
An Arkansas man photographed with his feet on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has rejected a plea deal over the federal charges against him, attorneys said Tuesday.
An attorney for Richard Barnett said during a pretrial teleconference hearing that the 61-year-old Gravette man was turning down an offer by the government to plead guilty to one charge in his case, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Barnett has pleaded not guilty to federal charges including entering and remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon, theft of government property and disorderly conduct.
Prosecutor Mary L. Dohrmann said that under the rejected agreement, Barnett would have pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding while six other charges would have been dismissed, the newspaper reported.
Joseph McBride, Barnett's attorney, called the offer unreasonable and cited the sentencing guideline of 70 to 87 months for the charge, the newspaper reported. McBride also cited Barnett's age as a factor.
Barnett's trial is set to begin Sept. 6. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/man-photographed-in-pelosis-office-rejects-plea-bargain/3643249/ | 2022-04-13T00:15:35 | 0 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/man-photographed-in-pelosis-office-rejects-plea-bargain/3643249/ |
Biden: Russia’s war in Ukraine amounts to ‘genocide’
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday said Russia’s war in Ukraine amounted to “genocide,” accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
At an earlier event in Menlo, Iowa, addressing spiking energy prices resulting from the war, Biden had implied that he thought Putin was carrying out genocide against Ukraine, but offered no details. Neither he nor his administration announced new consequences for Russia or assistance to Ukraine following Biden’s public assessment.
WARNING: Videos may contain graphic content.
Biden’s comments drew praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had encouraged Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia’s invasion of his country.
“True words of a true leader @POTUS,” he tweeted. “Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil. We are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.”
Biden said it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard for genocide, as Ukrainian officials have claimed, but said “it sure seems that way to me.”
“More evidence is coming out literally of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine, and we’re only going to learn more and more about the devastation and let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies,” he said.
Just last week Biden had he did not believe Russia’s actions amounted to genocide, just that they constituted “war crimes.”
During a trip to Europe last month, Biden faced controversy for a nine-word statement seemingly supporting regime change in Moscow, which would have represented a dramatic shift toward direct confrontation with another nuclear-armed country. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.
He clarified the comments days later, saying: “I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man. I wasn’t articulating a policy change.”
Past American leaders often have dodged formally declaring bloody campaigns such as Russia’s in Ukraine as genocide, hesitating to trigger an obligation under an international genocide convention that requires signing countries to intervene once genocide is formally identified. That obligation was seen as blocking President Bill Clinton from declaring Rwandan Hutus’ killing of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis in 1994 as genocide, for example.
—
Miller reported from Washington. AP writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/biden-russias-war-ukraine-amounts-genocide/ | 2022-04-13T00:16:39 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/biden-russias-war-ukraine-amounts-genocide/ |
Crist outlines plan to win Democratic nomination for governor
U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla, spoke to WPTV about a wide range of topics, including his plan to win the Democratic nomination for governor and criticism he's facing from his opponents.
Crist wants to take back the governor's mansion, the same place he lived in from 2007 to 2011.
At the time, he was a Republican, then he turned independent, and in 2012 joined the Democratic party.
His opponents have called him a flip-flopper, but when he spoke to WPTV NewsChannel 5 anchor Shannon Cake, he said he adapted to the change in society.
"Our country has progressed in many ways, it has on LGBTQ, as have I, as did President Obama and has as President Biden. I think that is important," Crist said. "Somebody who has had the confidence that says, 'You know, I may have made a mistake before, but I am confident enough to admit it and change and do what you feel is right in your heart and share it.' That is not easy to do, but it is important to have the courage to do it."
When pressed about his position on women's rights, Crist said he has always been pro-life but supports a woman's right to choose.
"When I said pro-life, I'm still pro-life, meaning I'm for life. I hope most people are, and I think it's important to understand the distinction," Crist said. "When I say I'm pro-life, I mean I'm for life and I'm for a woman's right to choose and make her own decisions about her body."
Crist said if elected one of the first things he will focus on will be resolving the increase in homeowner's insurance across the state.
"I dealt with it before. This was a big issue when I got elected governor the first time, and shortly after I got sworn in as governor, I called a special session to get the rates down, and we got them down 10% for the people of Florida," Crist said. "That's what I will do when I win on Nov. 8."
He said he also wants to focus on public education, teacher salaries and environment.
The Democratic primary for Florida will be held Aug. 23. He currently leads among the candidates, including Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and State Sen. Annette Taddeo.
Scripps Only Content 2022 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/crist-outlines-plan-win-democratic-nomination-governor/ | 2022-04-13T00:16:46 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/crist-outlines-plan-win-democratic-nomination-governor/ |
VIDEO: School district bus driver makes stop at liquor store while on duty, witness says
LAMAR COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM/Gray News) - A video on social media is gaining attention in the Mississippi area when it comes to a bus driver seemingly making an unscheduled stop at a local shopping center.
WDAM reports it obtained a video from April 7 that showed a Lamar County School District bus driver walking out of a liquor store with what a witness called a bottle in his hand and then getting back on the bus and driving away.
The Lamar County School District Supt. Steven Hampton issued the following statement regarding the video:
“On Thursday, April 7th, a concerned citizen made us aware of a situation where we had an employee use a school district bus for a personal reason. We have investigated this incident and have found it to be true. We have taken disciplinary actions against this employee that are in line with our policies.”
School officials have not released any further immediate information about the incident.
Copyright 2022 WDAM via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/video-shows-school-district-bus-driver-making-stop-liquor-store-while-duty/ | 2022-04-13T00:16:52 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/video-shows-school-district-bus-driver-making-stop-liquor-store-while-duty/ |
AP source: DOJ denies panel details in Trump records probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department declined a request this week from the House oversight committee to disclose the contents of records that former President Donald Trump took to his Florida residence after leaving the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The move could serve as a setback for Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform as it was ramping up its investigation into Trump’s handling of sensitive and even classified information during his time as president and after he left the White House. It remains unclear what implications the decision could have for the panel’s probe, which was announced in March.
The Justice Department’s decision is part of an effort to protect confidential information that may compromise an ongoing investigation, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The development was first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post.
The National Archives had referred the matter of Trump’s handling of those records to the Justice Department earlier this year. Because of that, the DOJ is asking the National Archives not to share information related directly to it, including the contents of the 15 boxes that Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago residence.
The notice to the committee comes days after its chair, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., accused the Justice Department of “obstructing” the panel’s expanded investigation by preventing the release of information from the National Archives.
The Justice Department has not formally announced it is investigating Trump’s handling of the records, but letters between the committee and the department seem to indicate that investigators are taking steps toward it.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined a request for comment Tuesday.
In addition, the FBI has taken steps to begin examining the potential mishandling of classified information related to the documents in the boxes, according to two other people familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. It wasn’t clear exactly what work investigators had done so far or what additional steps they were planning to take.
In a letter to the National Archives last month, Maloney made a series of requests for information she said the committee needs to determine if Trump violated federal records laws over his handling of sensitive and even classified information. In response, the general counsel for the archivist wrote on March 28 that “based on our consultation with the Department of Justice, we are unable to provide any comment.”
___
Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/13/ap-source-doj-denies-panel-details-trump-records-probe/ | 2022-04-13T00:16:58 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/13/ap-source-doj-denies-panel-details-trump-records-probe/ |
If you have a love for nature that you’re hoping to pass down to you future descendants, America’s oldest national park is offering a unique way to do just that.
Yellowstone National Park is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2022 and is marking that milestone with special passes that let you — and a person still to come in your family tree — experience the natural wonders it possesses. The park’s limited-edition Inheritance Pass gives you one pass for a year of visits starting in 2022 and another pass that isn’t valid until 2172, which is 150 years from now and 300 years from when Yellowstone was dedicated.
This one-of-a-kind fundraiser was thought up by marketers at Havas Chicago, who were tasked with creating a campaign that would celebrate the park’s big birthday without immediately driving up foot traffic, according to Chicago’s WBEZ radio. The pandemic has already led to an uptick in visitors to Yellowstone, but these passes are meant to help generate donations while holding off half of the visitors they cover for another century and a half.
To get an Inheritance Pass, you’ll have to donate $1,500 to Yellowstone Forever, the official nonprofit partner of Yellowstone National Park. The donation is tax deductible and will be used on “priority projects that protect wildlife, preserve resources and enhance visitor experiences,” according to Yellowstone Forever.
When you make the donation, you’ll get a thank-you note and a complimentary pass to Yellowstone that must be used at some point during 2022 and will last for a year from the first date it’s used. If you donate before July 2022, your Inheritance Pass (the one that can’t be used until 2172) will be shipped in August 2022. If your donation is made after July 2022, the Inheritance Pass won’t ship until January 2023.
If you’re worried about the Inheritance Pass getting lost or destroyed during the next 150 years, a record of all donors will be kept by Yellowstone Forever in case a backup is needed.
Here’s hoping Yellowstone is just as gorgeous in 150 years as it was in 1872 and remains today.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories. | https://www.wmar2news.com/yellowstone-inheritance-pass-cant-used-until-2172 | 2022-04-13T00:19:01 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/yellowstone-inheritance-pass-cant-used-until-2172 |
Ormond Beach man who killed infant son started using drugs at age 8 or 9, expert says
An Ormond Beach man facing a possible death sentence for killing his infant son started using drugs when he was 8 or 9 years old, according to a defense expert who testified Tuesday during the penalty phase of the trial.
Calib Justice Scott, 26, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of his son, Daemon, who was not quite 5 months old and weighed about 12 pounds when he was killed in 2019.
A jury returned guilty verdicts last week against Scott on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and child neglect causing great harm.
The trial is in the penalty phase this week when the jury will weigh whether Scott should live or die. The jury must unanimously agree on the death penalty in order to give Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols the option of sentencing Scott to death.
If the decision is not unanimous, then Nichols must sentence Scott to a mandatory life in prison without parole on the murder count.
Murder trial begins:Death-penalty trial begins for Ormond father accused of beating infant son to death
Father convicted in son's death:Ormond man guilty of first-degree murder in infant son's killing, faces possible death sentence
Death penalty decision:Jury to decide whether to recommend death for Ormond Beach man convicted of killing son
Scott is represented by Assistant Public Defenders Rosemarie Peoples, Larry Avallone and Brian Smith.
Peoples on Tuesday called to the witness stand Susan M. Skolly-Danziger, a licensed pharmacist and an expert on toxicology, according to a live webcast of the trial.
Skolly-Danziger testified that Scott has used nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, marijuana, inhalants and methamphetamine.
Scott started inhaling gasoline vapors and computer cleaner when he was 8 or 9 years old, she testified. He started by putting gasoline on a rag, she said. He would do it with his brother, she said.
He restarted using inhalants at age 15, inhaling computer cleaner to the point of passing out, Skolly-Danziger said.
The inhalants deprive the brain of oxygen and can also lead to a heart attack and seizures, she said, adding that long-term use can deteriorate the brain's white matter.
Scott started drinking alcohol at 18 and drank heavily, five or more drinks, for a period of about seven months, Skolly-Danziger said. She said that Scott decided he would stop using alcohol, but she is unsure why.
Scott also used methamphetamine, which is addictive and can cause delusions and hallucinations, she testified. Skolly-Danziger said she was unable to determine how often he used it. He finally stopped using the drug in August 2018, she testified.
Skolly-Danziger said Scott’s mental health records indicated he suffered from depression, anxiety and panic disorder.
Scott started using marijuana at the age of 15 to self-treat for anxiety and hallucinations, Skolly-Danziger testified.
Scott had been smoking marijuana about five times a day: when he first woke up; at noon; at 3 or 4 p.m.; at 7 p.m.; and then at 11 p.m. or midnight.
By the time of the killing, he had cut back once a day, Skolly-Danziger said.
Scott told her he cut back because he was smoking so much he wanted to reset his use so he could feel the effects again, she said.
She said withdrawal from marijuana could produce insomnia, irritability and agitation.
She said Scott was also drinking caffeine in the form of energy drinks called Full Throttle and Gas Monkey. He was also using caffeine pills.
Peoples asked her about a defense expert, Dr. Travis Snyder, who testified on Monday that an MRI showed scarring to part of Scott's brain, which was consistent with a traumatic brain injury.
Snyder's conclusions indicate some correlation with the use of the computer cleaner which can cause changes in the brain, as well as alcohol and marijuana, she testified.
Peoples finished her questioning by asking Skolly-Danzigerif she was saying that drug use caused Daemon’s death.
“No, not at all,” Skolly-Danziger replied.
During cross-examination, Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak, who is prosecuting the case along with Heatha Trigones, asked whether Scott was binge drinking at the time of the murder.
Skolly-Danziger said he was not.
“He didn’t report using methamphetamine around the time of Daemon’s death?"
“No,” Skolly-Danziger said.
Urbanak asked whether during the two meetings she had with Scott if she spoke with him about the night of the killing.
She said she had talked to him about drug use and about his emotions on the night of the offense.
“Did he tell you that he was angry when he did this?” Urbanak asked.
“He did say he was angry,” Skolly-Danziger said.
“Did he say he was irritable when he did this,” he asked.
“He said he was upset and he was irritable, yes,” Skolly-Danziger replied.
The trial continues Wednesday. | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/courts/2022/04/12/witness-ormond-man-who-killed-son-started-using-drugs-age-8-9-calib-scott/7290346001/ | 2022-04-13T00:21:54 | 0 | https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/news/courts/2022/04/12/witness-ormond-man-who-killed-son-started-using-drugs-age-8-9-calib-scott/7290346001/ |
LOGAN COUNTY, Ark. — As we prepare for another round of storms, Logan County residents are still cleaning up after high winds and possible tornadoes swept through the area Monday, April 11.
Just off Highway 109 in Scranton damage was done to a few houses, several barns, fences and tons of trees. People here say they are fortunate no one was injured.
“My sister was screaming bloody murder, a couple of them were just praying and it was just really scary. I don’t want to live through it again,” said John Baumgartner.
John Baumgartner has lived in Scranton almost all his life and last night as the storm was rolling in his neighbors and family took cover in his outside cellar and basement.
“I’d happen to be looking out the window which is kind of ground level and I’d seen it coming. My family, I just threw them blankets and told them to get down and next thing we knew we heard glass break,” he said.
He is very thankful he and his neighbors are all okay. The window on the side of his house was blown out, so there is lots of glass, water, mud and tree debris inside his house. His shed also had damage, along with his roof and lots of downed trees. He’s most upset about all the fruit trees he lost that were planted by his late father.
“Within 5 minutes, New Blaine fire department, Scranton fire department, everyone was out clearing the way, so I could get out of my driveway, and they all came together. The road was completely full of people helping. We really appreciate it,” he said.
John Fox says they were taking cover and heard the wind really pick up and then it was over. His house didn’t have any damage but the storage barn in the backyard lost its roof.
With more storms expected Tuesday evening and Wednesday people in Scranton say they are wary of what’s to come. No injuries were reported in logan county.
The Logan County Sheriff's Department reports several downed trees, many of which were snapped in half or ripped from the ground.
Logan County road crews along with volunteers have spent the day clearing trees from the road on Highway 109.
The National Weather Service has not confirmed whether or not the storm that hit the area was a confirmed tornado.
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To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com. | https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/logan-county-residents-cleaning-up-after-storms/527-1af85f37-c015-423a-8c15-76a7992884f8 | 2022-04-13T00:27:43 | 0 | https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/logan-county-residents-cleaning-up-after-storms/527-1af85f37-c015-423a-8c15-76a7992884f8 |
Ascension offering free sports physicals on April 18-19
SAGINAW, Mich. (WNEM) - Ascension Medical Group and Sports Medicine is offering free physicals for student-athletes 14-years and older on April 18, and April 19 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The physicals will be provided at the Medical Arts Building 3 on the second floor in Saginaw at 4677 Towne Centre Road. Physicals will be done by sports medicine physicians, athletic trainers, and Central Michigan University family of medicine residents.
Every student will have to bring a completed Michigan High School Athletic Association medical history/consent form signed by a parent or guardian.
Forms are available here.
Residents can call 989-790-6719 and press option one to schedule an appointment.
A parent in attendance is required.
Copyright 2022 WNEM. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/ascension-offering-free-sports-physicals-april-18-19/ | 2022-04-13T00:27:43 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/ascension-offering-free-sports-physicals-april-18-19/ |
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Tuesday his administration will suspend a federal rule that bars higher levels of ethanol in gasoline during the summer. The move, which Biden announced during a visit to Iowa, is intended to tamp down prices at the pump that have spiked during Russia’s war with Ukraine. Iowa is a key producer of the corn-based fuel additive.
A look at how that the decision to authorize year-round use of so-called E15 will impact gas supplies, prices and the environment.
What action is Biden taking?
Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol. At Biden's direction, the Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver to allow widespread sale of 15% ethanol blend that is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.
Senior Biden administration officials said the move will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon at 2,300 gas stations that sell E15, as the high-blend ethanol is known. Those stations are mostly in the Midwest and the South, including Texas, according to industry groups.
Why is Biden doing this?
Lawmakers from both parties and ethanol advocates have urged Biden and the EPA to allow year-round sales of E15, calling it a cheaper and readily available domestic alternative to traditional gasoline. The U.S. has banned imports of Russian crude oil since the country's late February invasion of Ukraine, disrupting global markets and raising prices.
“Homegrown Iowa biofuels provide a quick and clean solution for lowering prices at the pump, and bolstering production would help us become energy independent once again,″ said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime ethanol proponent. Grassley and 15 other senators sent Biden a letter last month urging him to allow year-round E15 sales.
Ethanol groups called Biden's action a major win for American drivers and U.S. energy security. "It means cleaner options at the pump and a stronger rural economy,” said Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, a biofuel trade group.
How will this affect the environment?
Biden administration official say the short-term move will have little effect on the environment and that EPA will work with states to "ensure there are no significant air quality impacts through the summer driving season.''
Environmentalists questioned that, saying ethanol production contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and soil erosion and raises prices for corn and other crops.
“The ethanol lobby will be happy and kids with asthma will be sicker,'' said Dan Becker of the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. “However well-meaning (Biden's action) might be, kids and the elderly shouldn’t pay the price with their health for slight gas savings.''
A recent report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences revealed that the federal ethanol mandate inflated corn prices by 30% from 2008 to 2016, made corn-based ethanol more carbon intensive than gasoline and increased annual fertilizer use by up to 8%, polluting waterways.
Has the EPA done this before?
The EPA has lifted seasonal restrictions on E15 in the past, including after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The Trump administration allowed for year-round E15 sales starting in 2019, but a federal appeals court struck down the policy change in July 2021, saying the EPA overstepped its authority.
The decision dealt a significant blow to the ethanol industry and corn farmers who had anticipated increased ethanol demand through year-round sales of the higher blend.
How is this different from Trump's action?
Senior Biden administration officials said they expected the EPA waiver to survive a likely court challenge, saying that unlike the open-ended Trump rule, the action is limited to this summer and is prompted by a supply disruption caused by the war in Europe.
Greater use of E15 should "help alleviate some of the pain that we’ve seen since Russia launched this war against Ukraine,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told a Senate committee last week.
But critics said the only emergency is Biden's dropping poll numbers.
Emergency fuel waivers are reserved for acute supply disruptions, such as those resulting from a hurricane, said Chet Thompson, president & CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents petroleum refiners.
“An additional three months of E15 sales won’t do anything to address high crude oil prices, and 98% of retail (gas) stations can’t even sell the fuel,'' Thompson said. “This is politics, not a real solution for drivers.”
Will E15 hurt my car's engine?
E15, often sold at the pump as Unleaded 88, for its octane rating, can safely be used in all cars, trucks and SUVs from 2001 on. Those model years represent more than 90% of vehicles on U.S. roads. The ethanol industry says the fuel is one of the most tested in history and has no effect on vehicle drivability. More than 20 billion miles have been driven in cars and trucks using Unleaded 88, a number continues to grow.
What is the price of E15 gas?
E15, or Unleaded 88, typically sells for 10 cents a gallon less than E10, the standard formulation for U.S. cars. The price difference between Unleaded 88 and conventional gasoline without ethanol is around 40 cents.
Will I get better mileage from E15 gas?
There is no noticeable difference between the mileage achieved when using E15 and mileage when operating on E10.
Can I use E15 in my lawnmower and other small engines?
E15 has not been approved by EPA for use in non-automotive engines such as boats, motorcycles, lawn mowers and other small engines. E10, the standard ethanol formulation, is approved for small engines. | https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/nation-world/biden-ethanol-gasoline-explainer/507-e823ab64-4e21-4ed3-80b0-5cd84e1cd253 | 2022-04-13T00:27:49 | 1 | https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/nation-world/biden-ethanol-gasoline-explainer/507-e823ab64-4e21-4ed3-80b0-5cd84e1cd253 |
Biden: Russia’s war in Ukraine amounts to ‘genocide’
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday said Russia’s war in Ukraine amounted to “genocide,” accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
At an earlier event in Menlo, Iowa, addressing spiking energy prices resulting from the war, Biden had implied that he thought Putin was carrying out genocide against Ukraine, but offered no details. Neither he nor his administration announced new consequences for Russia or assistance to Ukraine following Biden’s public assessment.
WARNING: Videos may contain graphic content.
Biden’s comments drew praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had encouraged Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia’s invasion of his country.
“True words of a true leader @POTUS,” he tweeted. “Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil. We are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.”
Biden said it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard for genocide, as Ukrainian officials have claimed, but said “it sure seems that way to me.”
“More evidence is coming out literally of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine, and we’re only going to learn more and more about the devastation and let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies,” he said.
Just last week Biden had he did not believe Russia’s actions amounted to genocide, just that they constituted “war crimes.”
During a trip to Europe last month, Biden faced controversy for a nine-word statement seemingly supporting regime change in Moscow, which would have represented a dramatic shift toward direct confrontation with another nuclear-armed country. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.
He clarified the comments days later, saying: “I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man. I wasn’t articulating a policy change.”
Past American leaders often have dodged formally declaring bloody campaigns such as Russia’s in Ukraine as genocide, hesitating to trigger an obligation under an international genocide convention that requires signing countries to intervene once genocide is formally identified. That obligation was seen as blocking President Bill Clinton from declaring Rwandan Hutus’ killing of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis in 1994 as genocide, for example.
—
Miller reported from Washington. AP writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/biden-russias-war-ukraine-amounts-genocide/ | 2022-04-13T00:27:49 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/biden-russias-war-ukraine-amounts-genocide/ |
A headline published by The U.S. Sun newspaper has led to confusion among some people about whether Americans will soon receive another round of direct payments.
The headline says: “Americans to receive checks worth $1,657 in just FOUR days – and your birthday will decide when you’ll get the cash.” Some social media users are wondering whether that’s true and Google Trends data show people are asking whether everyone will receive the checks worth $1,657.
THE QUESTION
Are all Americans receiving checks worth $1,657?
THE SOURCES
- Social Security Administration (SSA)
- U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Social Security
- AARP
THE ANSWER
No, all Americans are not receiving checks worth $1,657.
WHAT WE FOUND
The checks worth $1,657 are only for Social Security recipients, not the general public. The Sun newspaper mentions that later in its story but not in the misleading headline. The checks themselves aren’t new either – recipients are just getting a cost-of-living increase in the amount they receive in their monthly benefits payments.
Social Security provides people with income when they retire or can’t work due to disability. Those who are retired can start receiving their Social Security benefits as early as age 62.
On its website, the Social Security Administration (SSA) said Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for about 70 million Americans would increase by 5.9% in 2022 due to an increase in the cost of living. The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for the majority of Social Security recipients began in January 2022 and the average payment for all retired workers is now $1,657.
The Social Security Act ties the annual COLA to the increase in the Consumer Price Index, the most widely used measure of inflation which is determined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Social Security, said in a press release about the 5.9% increase.
“The COLA protects benefits against losing their purchasing power over time when the cost of rent, food, and other expenses increase,” the press release says. “Medicare premiums – which are deducted from Social Security checks for most beneficiaries – typically consume much of the COLA increase.”
A fact sheet from the SSA also references the $1,657 number that’s quoted in The Sun headline.
SSA estimates that all retired workers will receive average monthly Social Security payments of $1,657 after the 5.9% increase, compared to $1,565 before. For a couple receiving benefits, the average estimated monthly payment jumped from $2,599 to $2,753.
The Sun also mentions in its headline that a person’s birthday determines when they’ll get their check. That’s not new, either.
A schedule that’s been in place since 1997 outlines when Social Security recipients will receive their benefits payments based on their birthday, AARP writes on its website. Previously, all payments went out on the third day of the month but that wasn’t feasible anymore as the number of recipients grew.
The Social Security benefits payment schedule is as follows:
- Those with birthdays on the 1st through the 10th are paid on the second Wednesday of each month.
- Those with birthdays on the 11th through 20th are paid on the third Wednesday of each month.
- Those with birthdays on the 21st through the 31st are paid on the fourth Wednesday of each month.
These payments aren’t related to stimulus checks. The federal government previously sent three rounds of stimulus payments for amounts between $600 and $1,400 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A fourth stimulus check for all Americans isn’t in the works right now. The Internal Revenue Service’s website only has information pertaining to the first three stimulus checks, with no evidence a fourth check will be coming from the federal government. Congress also hasn’t passed any legislation for a fourth stimulus check. | https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/verify/money-verify/1657-checks-not-for-everyone-social-security-cost-of-living-adjustment/536-8bb5b351-c65c-4c09-a0fe-d3c3bf02ed66 | 2022-04-13T00:27:55 | 0 | https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/verify/money-verify/1657-checks-not-for-everyone-social-security-cost-of-living-adjustment/536-8bb5b351-c65c-4c09-a0fe-d3c3bf02ed66 |
VIDEO: School district bus driver makes stop at liquor store while on duty, witness says
LAMAR COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM/Gray News) - A video on social media is gaining attention in the Mississippi area when it comes to a bus driver seemingly making an unscheduled stop at a local shopping center.
WDAM reports it obtained a video from April 7 that showed a Lamar County School District bus driver walking out of a liquor store with what a witness called a bottle in his hand and then getting back on the bus and driving away.
The Lamar County School District Supt. Steven Hampton issued the following statement regarding the video:
“On Thursday, April 7th, a concerned citizen made us aware of a situation where we had an employee use a school district bus for a personal reason. We have investigated this incident and have found it to be true. We have taken disciplinary actions against this employee that are in line with our policies.”
School officials have not released any further immediate information about the incident.
Copyright 2022 WDAM via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/video-shows-school-district-bus-driver-making-stop-liquor-store-while-duty/ | 2022-04-13T00:27:56 | 0 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/video-shows-school-district-bus-driver-making-stop-liquor-store-while-duty/ |
AP source: DOJ denies panel details in Trump records probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department declined a request this week from the House oversight committee to disclose the contents of records that former President Donald Trump took to his Florida residence after leaving the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The move could serve as a setback for Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform as it was ramping up its investigation into Trump’s handling of sensitive and even classified information during his time as president and after he left the White House. It remains unclear what implications the decision could have for the panel’s probe, which was announced in March.
The Justice Department’s decision is part of an effort to protect confidential information that may compromise an ongoing investigation, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The development was first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post.
The National Archives had referred the matter of Trump’s handling of those records to the Justice Department earlier this year. Because of that, the DOJ is asking the National Archives not to share information related directly to it, including the contents of the 15 boxes that Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago residence.
The notice to the committee comes days after its chair, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., accused the Justice Department of “obstructing” the panel’s expanded investigation by preventing the release of information from the National Archives.
The Justice Department has not formally announced it is investigating Trump’s handling of the records, but letters between the committee and the department seem to indicate that investigators are taking steps toward it.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined a request for comment Tuesday.
In addition, the FBI has taken steps to begin examining the potential mishandling of classified information related to the documents in the boxes, according to two other people familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. It wasn’t clear exactly what work investigators had done so far or what additional steps they were planning to take.
In a letter to the National Archives last month, Maloney made a series of requests for information she said the committee needs to determine if Trump violated federal records laws over his handling of sensitive and even classified information. In response, the general counsel for the archivist wrote on March 28 that “based on our consultation with the Department of Justice, we are unable to provide any comment.”
___
Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/13/ap-source-doj-denies-panel-details-trump-records-probe/ | 2022-04-13T00:28:02 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/13/ap-source-doj-denies-panel-details-trump-records-probe/ |
Elon Musk accused of breaking law while buying Twitter stock
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk’s huge Twitter investment took a new twist Tuesday with the filing of a lawsuit alleging that the colorful billionaire illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices.
The complaint in New York federal court accuses Musk of violating a regulatory deadline to reveal he had accumulated a stake of at least 5%. Instead, according to the complaint, Musk didn’t disclose his position in Twitter until he’d almost doubled his stake to more than 9%. That strategy, the lawsuit alleges, hurt less wealthy investors who sold shares in the San Francisco company in the nearly two weeks before Musk acknowledged holding a major stake.
Musk’s regulatory filings show that he bought a little more than 620,000 shares at $36.83 apiece on Jan. 31 and then continued to accumulate more shares on nearly every single trading day through April 1. Musk, best known as CEO of the electric car maker Tesla, held 73.1 million Twitter shares as of the most recent count Monday. That represents a 9.1% stake in Twitter.
The lawsuit alleges that by March 14, Musk’s stake in Twitter had reached a 5% threshold that required him to publicly disclose his holdings under U.S. securities law by March 24. Musk didn’t make the required disclosure until April 4.
That revelation caused Twitter’s stock to soar 27% from its April 1 close to nearly $50 by the end of April 4′s trading, depriving investors who sold shares before Musk’s improperly delayed disclosure the chance to realize significant gains, according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of an investor named Marc Bain Rasella. Musk, meanwhile, was able to continue to buy shares that traded in prices ranging from $37.69 to $40.96.
The lawsuit is seeking to be certified as a class action representing Twitter shareholders who sold shares between March 24 and April 4, a process that could take a year or more.
Musk spent about $2.6 billion on Twitter stock — a fraction of his estimated wealth of $265 billion, the largest individual fortune in the world. In a regulatory filing Monday, Musk disclosed he may increase his stake after backing out of an agreement reached last week to join Twitter’s board of directors.
Jacob Walker, one of the lawyers that filed the lawsuit against Musk, told The Associated Press that he hadn’t reached out to the Securities and Exchange Commission about Musk’s alleged violations about the disclosure of his Twitter stake. “I assume the SEC is well aware of what he did,” Walker said.
An SEC spokesperson declined to comment.
The SEC and Musk have been wrangling in court since 2018 when Musk and Tesla agreed to pay a $40 million fine to settle allegations that he used his Twitter account to mislead investors about a potential buyout of the electric car company that never materialized. As part of that deal, Musk was supposed to obtain legal approval for his tweets about information that could affect Tesla’s stock price — a provision that regulators contend he has occasionally violated and that he now argues unfairly muzzles him.
Musk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment posted on Twitter, where he often shares his opinion and thoughts. Alex Spiro, a New York lawyer representing Musk in his ongoing dispute with the SEC, also didn’t immediately respond to a query from The Associated Press.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/13/elon-musk-accused-breaking-law-while-buying-twitter-stock/ | 2022-04-13T00:28:08 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/13/elon-musk-accused-breaking-law-while-buying-twitter-stock/ |
WASHINGTON — If you happened to be at Dacha Beer Garden in Navy Yard just as the Nationals were beating the Mets on a bright, blustery Sunday afternoon, your degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon would have decreased to one. (It is a hard-and-fast rule of journalism that all lead paragraphs about Bacon reference the degrees of separation. We don’t make the rules; we just follow them.)
The 63-year-old actor was there with his brother, Michael, 72, and their aptly named band, the Bacon Brothers. They have played music as the Bacon Brothers since 1985, but not usually at beer gardens at 5 o’clock on a Sunday. They were there for a quick pop-up show to aid Dacha’s mission to raise money for Ukraine relief.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, Dacha has steadily raised money for various foundations aiding the country — UNICEF, primarily — and plans to continue doing so until the war ends. The cause is particularly close to co-owners Dmitri Chekaldin and Ilya Alter, who both emigrated from Russia and would face discrimination there — Chekaldin is part of the LGBTQ community and Alter is Jewish.
“We might not be Ukrainian by blood, but we are Ukrainian by heart,” said Chekaldin. He was wearing one blue sock and one yellow sock in solidarity. “We have the same goal, to end autocracy and discrimination in Russia.”
As luck would have it, Stacy Huston — the executive director of Six Degrees, Bacon’s philanthropic organization, which is dedicated to “donating to or raising money for local and grass-roots charities in the United States” — frequents the bar and had an idea of how to beef up donations: Have the Bacon Brothers play a few songs.
Bacon (Kevin Bacon, we mean, not the other Bacon. Assume from here on that “Bacon” pretty much always means Kevin. No offense to Michael, who is surely used to nearly a lifetime of being zero degrees from Kevin Bacon) announced the show via tweet just a few hours before they took the stage. By “stage,” we mean the ground at the front of the beer garden. The invite also encouraged anyone looking to contribute to text “DonateUKR” to 44-321. Dacha offers several donation options in person at the bar, too.
Around 4 o’clock, just as the Nats were staging an eighth-inning comeback in the neighboring stadium, the place was fairly quiet. But word got out, and a trickle of curious patrons became a stream, eventually turning into a flood when the stadium gates opened and unleashed all those happy Washingtonians and unhappy Mets fans. Both groups needed beer for different reasons.
Soon, the garden was overflowing, and that’s about when the Bacon Brothers marched on in and began playing some of their folk-rock tunes with a band, our main man handling the duties of vocals, guitar, tambourine, harmonica and some other instrument that you shake and rattle around. | https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/at-a-beer-garden-in-washington-kevin-bacon-drops-by-to-help-ukraine-effort/article_f3aca85f-1c75-5e4a-b935-061d13db973a.html | 2022-04-13T00:32:11 | 1 | https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/at-a-beer-garden-in-washington-kevin-bacon-drops-by-to-help-ukraine-effort/article_f3aca85f-1c75-5e4a-b935-061d13db973a.html |
LEBANON — Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health will now be known as Dartmouth Health, the medical provider announced Tuesday.
“Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health has a new name and a new look, one that reflects the significant growth and interdependence of our health system and sets the stage for our future. Today we are Dartmouth Health,” Dr. Joanne M. Conroy, CEO and president of Dartmouth Health, said in a video announcing the change to employees on Tuesday.
“The new Dartmouth Health brand brings us to the present and positions us strategically for the future. It allows us to share the strengths and benefits of our growing integrated system in this dynamic health care environment. And will help to deepen our historically strong relationship with the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and our collaborative partnership with Dartmouth.”
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health initiated the strategic effort to update its brand three years ago, according to a press release. The new name comes with a new logo and will be integrated into the organization over the next two to three years.
Dartmouth Health, the state’s largest private employer, is based at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, the center of the academic health system in Lebanon, and employs more than 13,500 people.
Dartmouth Health also includes 24 Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics locations, the Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, New London Hospital in New London, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor, Vt.; and Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire, serving patients in both states.
Dartmouth Health also includes the Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center and the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, or “CHaD,” which under the rebranding are now renamed the Dartmouth Cancer Center and Dartmouth Health Children’s, respectively.
The Hitchcock name comes from Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, which opened in 1893 in Hanover. Donor Hiram Hitchcock of Hanover named the hospital for his late wife.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center was formed in 1974, when Dartmouth College resumed granting medical degrees after a 60-year hiatus, and the new hospital in Lebanon was completed in 1991. | https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/dartmouth-health-drops-hitchcock-from-its-branding/article_907de529-7857-5766-b0eb-6e492cd60a08.html | 2022-04-13T00:32:17 | 0 | https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/dartmouth-health-drops-hitchcock-from-its-branding/article_907de529-7857-5766-b0eb-6e492cd60a08.html |
CONCORD — Gov. Chris Sununu urged the New Hampshire Senate Tuesday to carve out an exception to the ban on abortions after 24 weeks for fetal anomalies found to be “incompatible with life.”
“This common sense piece of legislation makes necessary improvements to a recently-passed provision contained in the state budget,” Sununu wrote the Senate Judiciary Committee, which held a hearing Tuesday on this House-passed bill (HB 1609).
“Like most Granite Staters, I do not live in extremes on either side of the issue that is being considered today.”
Lisa Akey of Brookline is an expectant mother with one viable twin and the other not able to survive, according to her doctor.
Akey’s tragic story played a major role in convincing enough House Republicans last month to drop their opposition and pass this change to the abortion ban.
Akey emailed the committee from her Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center bed, where she’s awaiting the delivery, by Cesarean section, of her two daughters at the end of this month.
For the first time, she revealed names she and her husband have chosen, Lily June, the healthy fetus and Iris Hope, the fetus with the fatal condition.
“Lily June will go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The nurses will wrap Iris Hope in a blanket to keep her comfortable,” Akey wrote.
“My husband and I will get to hold her as long as we want, tell her how much we love her, and how proud we are of her for bravely taking care of her sister all these months; and then we’ll have to say goodbye.”
Rep. Matthew Simon, R-Littleton, said many of these mothers with tragic pregnancies still want to carry their child to term.
And Simon said the diagnosis of medical providers in these cases at times is wrong.
“What is the purpose of taking the added step of killing the child before extracting it?” Simon said.
“Why not just induce labor early, have the birth of the child, and if this is one of those cases where the diagnosis was incorrect, you have a healthy child to take home with you.”
Robert Dunn, director of public policy for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, opposed the bill on behalf of Bishop Peter Libasci.
“This would be the first time New Hampshire would designate a particular category of children to be liable for abortion, and that’s a door we don’t think the state should open,” Dunn said.
In 2005, Michelle Foisy was 22 weeks pregnant when she had a medical abortion performed after learning her unborn baby, Kayla, was missing one heart chamber and had little brain tissue.
“This abortion ban simply doesn’t fit; not every pregnancy is as black and white as the law,” said a sobbing Foisy, who urged the Senate pass this bill.
Ultrasound change also in bill
The abortion ban that took effect last Jan. 1 also requires an ultrasound be done before any abortion to confirm the fetus is not 24 weeks old.
This House-passed bill would apply that ultrasound requirement only to those later-term abortions in which the doctor had reason to believe the fetus could be 24 weeks or older.
Anti-abortion leaders and groups support this change and maintain it was always the intent of this law for ultrasounds to be limited to these cases.
In March, the House sent to the Senate a separate bill (HB 1673) that contained the same ultrasound mandate language.
Sununu has also supported exceptions to the ban for rape and incest, but attempts to make those changes have failed in both the House and the Senate.
He said more than 40 states in the country ban late-term abortions but most have exceptions.
“We must ensure that access to these medical services remain safe and accessible in the Granite State during what is a rare but extremely difficult and stressful time for a woman and her family,” Sununu said.
The ban also includes criminal penalties against providers who perform abortions after 24 weeks, subjecting them to jail terms of up to seven years and fines of up to $100,000.
Danielle Albushies, an OB-GYN in Bedford, said with the current abortion ban, she can’t recommend inducing labor early in these fetal anomaly cases.
“A woman should not be forced to continue with a pregnancy that is fatal,” Albushies said. “It is really hard to ask a woman to carry that fetus emotionally and physically.” | https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/state/gov-sununu-seeks-exception-to-abortion-ban/article_1be5172d-9888-5c8b-96c9-8f4c934e16c3.html | 2022-04-13T00:32:23 | 0 | https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/state/gov-sununu-seeks-exception-to-abortion-ban/article_1be5172d-9888-5c8b-96c9-8f4c934e16c3.html |
(Recasts with manhunt, additional reports on casualties, suspected moving van found)
By Maria Caspani, Jonathan Allen and Rami Ayyub
NEW YORK, April 12 (Reuters) - Police mounted an intense manhunt on Tuesday for a gunman who set off a smoke bomb and opened fire in a New York subway car, injuring at least 17 people in a morning rush-hour attack that prompted new calls to fight a surge of violence in the city's transit system.
Police said the perpetrator, who was seen wearing a gas mask and was believed to have acted alone, immediately fled. The attack unfolded as a Manhattan-bound subway train on the N line of the underground rail system was pulling into a station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood.
Ten people were hit directly by gunfire, including five hospitalized in critical but stable condition, authorities said. Seven others were injured by shrapnel or otherwise hurt in the chaos as panicked riders fled the smoke-filled subway car, some collapsing to the pavement as they poured onto the platform of the 36th Street station. The fire department said two of those hurt were treated at the scene.
According to CNN and other media organizations, a total of 29 people suffering various injuries in the incident turned up at area hospitals, though most appeared to have been emergency room walk-ins who were treated and discharged.
CNN, Fox News and various local media outlets reported that a U-Haul van that authorities were searching for in connection with the shooting had been located parked on a city street a few miles from the crime scene.
The suspect, described by police as a man of heavy build, wearing a green construction-type vest and hooded sweatshirt, remained at large several hours after the shooting.
New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the shooting was not being investigated as an act of terrorism, though authorities would not rule anything out as a motive.
Sewell said the suspect was seen donning a gas mask in the train car as it was about to enter the station, then removed a canister from his bag and opened it.
"The train at that time began to fill with smoke. He then opened fire, striking multiple people on the subway and in the platform," she added.
Outside the station, in an area known for its thriving Chinatown and views of the Statue of Liberty, authorities shut down a dozen or so blocks and cordoned off the immediate vicinity with crime-scene tape. Schools in the neighborhood were placed under security lockdowns.
John Butsikares, a 15-year-old who passed through the 36th Street station soon after the incident, said the train's conductor ordered everyone on the station platform to get on board.
"I didn't know what happened. It was a scary moment. And then at 25th Street (the next station) we were all told to get off. There was people screaming for medical assistance," said Butsikares, who was going to school.
'SURGE OF CRIME'
New York, the nation's most populous city, has seen a sharp rise in violent crime during the pandemic, including a string of seemingly random attacks on its subways. The system is one of the world's oldest and most extensive.
The subway violence has included a number of attacks in which passengers have been pushed onto the tracks from platforms, including a Manhattan woman whose murder was seen as part of a surge in hate-driven attacks against Asian Americans.
Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain and Brooklyn borough president who took office in January, has vowed to improve subway safety by increasing police patrols and expanding outreach to the mentally ill.
Speaking to CNN, Adams said Tuesday's incident "was a senseless act of violence" and pledged to double the number of officers on subway patrol.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul pledged "the full resources of our state to fight this surge of crime, this insanity that is feeding our city." The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the incident.
CNN and local media, citing law enforcement sources, said multiple high-capacity ammunition magazines, additional unused smoke canisters, gasoline containers and fireworks were found in the subway station with the gun, which apparently had jammed.
Speaking on a radio interview, Adams confirmed media reports of "some form of malfunction" in the station's security camera system, which could hamper the investigation. But how many cameras were affected was not immediately clear, he said.
However, investigators obtained cell phone video from an eyewitness that shows the suspect, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Brooklyn resident Yayha Ibrahim said he saw people running from the station, and decided to walk down into it to see what was happening.
"I saw a lady, she was shot right in her leg and she was screaming for help," he said. Rescue workers "did a good job of coming quick and fast, and the ambulance came in and they took her."
(Reporting by Maria Caspani and Jonathan Allen; additional reporting by Aleks Michalska, Brendan McDermid, Andrew Kelly and Tyler Clifford in New York; Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; David Shepardson, Steve Holland, Doina Chiacu and Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; and Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico; writing by Rami Ayyub and Steve Gorman; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman) | https://www.unionleader.com/wire/national/update-10-manhunt-under-way-for-gunman-in-nyc-subway-attack-that-injured-nearly-30/article_4fbb77af-c97e-57ba-9410-1e3538f45a5f.html | 2022-04-13T00:32:29 | 0 | https://www.unionleader.com/wire/national/update-10-manhunt-under-way-for-gunman-in-nyc-subway-attack-that-injured-nearly-30/article_4fbb77af-c97e-57ba-9410-1e3538f45a5f.html |
A Nashua, N.H., man just became millions of dollars richer after a winning ticket he bought across the state border in Tyngsborough, Mass.
Massachusetts State Lottery announced earlier this month that Robert Mullen of Nashua won a $4 million prize from the state’s “Diamonds 50X” instant ticket game.
Mullen chose the one-time payment of $2.6 million before taxes when claiming his prize at the lottery’s headquarters in Dorchester, Mass.
Mullen was joined by his son, also named Robert, and said he intends to use some of his winnings to buy a vehicle for himself and one for his son as well, according to the lottery.
The lottery added that Mullen’s winning ticket was purchased as he stopped for gas at Lukoil located at 397 Middlesex Road in Tyngsborough.
The store will receive a $40,000 bonus for its sale of the winning ticket, the lottery said.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden Tuesday unveiled plans to extend the availability of higher biofuel blends of gasoline during the summer to curb soaring fuel costs and to cut reliance on foreign energy sources, senior administration officials said.
LONDON — President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday peace talks with Ukraine had hit a dead end, using his first public comments on the conflict in more than a week to vow his troops would win and to goad the West for failing to bring Moscow to heel. | https://www.unionleader.com/wire/region/nh-man-wins-4m-on-mass-scratch-ticket/article_16a77c23-8f3b-5d2f-81bc-016c1fff8dfb.html | 2022-04-13T00:32:35 | 0 | https://www.unionleader.com/wire/region/nh-man-wins-4m-on-mass-scratch-ticket/article_16a77c23-8f3b-5d2f-81bc-016c1fff8dfb.html |
Identities released of two pedestrians killed in East Peoria traffic accident
EAST PEORIA – Two people from out of state were identified as having been killed Sunday evening when they were struck by a car in East Peoria.
Tazewell County Coroner Charles Hanley said Andrea Rosewicz, 43, of Avon, Ohio, and Paul Prowant, 55, of Seattle died at the scene after being struck in the 3300 block of North Main Street.
More:2 pedestrians die after being hit by vehicle in East Peoria
An autopsy performed Tuesday indicated both suffered multiple blunt force injuries sustained as pedestrians struck by a motor vehicle, Hanley said in a news release.
The two were hit around 10:15 p.m. Sunday. East Peoria police Chief Rich Brodrick said that his department handled the initial investigation and that his officers processed the driver of the vehicle for allegedly driving under the influence. No further details were available.
Due to the ongoing investigation, Brodrick said that no further information will be released at this time. The case remains under investigation by the Illinois State Police, the East Peoria Police Department and the Tazewell County Coroner’s Office.
It wasn't immediately clear if any arrests had been made. An initial attempt to reach Brodrick wasn't immediately successful. | https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/crime/2022/04/12/pedestrians-ohio-and-washington-killed-east-peoria-accident/7296050001/ | 2022-04-13T00:34:49 | 1 | https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/crime/2022/04/12/pedestrians-ohio-and-washington-killed-east-peoria-accident/7296050001/ |
Peoria parents acted in 'brutal and heinous' way, fatally neglecting son, prosecutor says
PEORIA – Imprisoned. Beaten. Tortured. Starved.
Those are the words that Peoria County State's Attorney Jodi Hoos used to describe what happened to 8-year-old Navin Jones in the last six months of his life.
The county's top prosecutor on Tuesday provided new details about allegations against his parents, Stephanie Jones and Brandon Walker, both of whom face six counts of murder in Navin's death. The parents' conduct was characterized as "brutal and heinous indicative of wanton cruelty" — legalese that triggers a possible life sentence if the two are convicted of killing Navin.
"The shocking conduct that I am referring to includes text messages between the defendants where they discuss locking Navin in his room, tying Navin up in an unfinished basement, beating Navin because he had urinated in his bedroom because he was unable to open the door," Hoos said.
Navin was beaten on his face, body, arms and legs. That showed chronic or ongoing physical abuse, Hoos said.
The young boy, who was described as "thriving" by his teachers a year prior, lived in a room with one bed, one dresser and one toy. There was urine and feces all over the room, Hoos said. The bed had no sheets and no pillowcase.
The door was tied shut and a note on his door read, "Do not give Navin any food or drink. Do not let him out of the room. He has what he needs until I wake up."
The rest of the house, the prosecutor said, was "well furnished."
'I just didn't do enough':Grandma of Peoria boy laments not being able to stop his death
The parents are scheduled to appear in court Thursday to be arraigned on the charges. Hoos also said she planned to ask a judge for a higher bond given the new allegations.
When initially charged two weeks ago, prosecutors alleged Navin's parents "withheld medical care and nutrition from Navin Jones," knowing such acts created a strong probability of death or great bodily harm to the boy.
Those charges carried a possible 100-year sentence. The new counts have a possible life term.
But the new charges, based in part upon added investigation and text messages between the two parents, allege the two talked about their actions. That's rare, Hoos said, as oftentimes child abuse involves one parent – not both.
Related:Peoria boy, 8, weighed 30 pounds, had signs of physical abuse when he died, prosecutor says
How Navin Jones was found
On March 29, the 8-year-old boy – who weighed 30 pounds when he died – was found unresponsive at his parents' home in the 1700 block of North Gale Avenue. His mother had called 911 to report him, but Hoos noted in her press conference that Stephanie Jones spent almost a minute complaining about the child before telling the 911 dispatcher that her son was unresponsive.
"It's not until the dispatcher asked defendant Jones 'why are you calling?' that she says that Navin's unresponsive," the prosecutor said.
Hoos said the boy had ligature marks on his wrists, which indicated he'd been tied up. He was left in his room for a "significant" amount of time, she said.
More in the case:From 'unfounded' abuse reports to his death: DCFS documents detail Navin Jones' final months
Navin had been in the custody of his grandmother Laura Walker prior to last summer. Walker went out of town for a few weeks, leaving the boy with his parents. When she returned in early August, Brandon Walker and Stephanie Jones refused to give the boy back, despite Laura Walker having legal guardianship.
It was unclear, Hoos said, when the abuse started. She would say only that the injuries and the neglect showed it was "ongoing" and didn't happen overnight.
Hoos said as of now, the investigation is focused on the two parents and no one else. That could change as the investigation continues. When asked if the parents could face charges for the mistreatment of Navin's older brother, who was taken into protective custody by the state, Hoos again said the investigation was ongoing. | https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/crime/2022/04/12/peoria-prosecutor-says-navin-jones-tortured-imprisoned-parents/7293461001/ | 2022-04-13T00:34:55 | 0 | https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/crime/2022/04/12/peoria-prosecutor-says-navin-jones-tortured-imprisoned-parents/7293461001/ |
Why Bradley was the perfect fit for its newest women's basketball coach
PEORIA — Kate Popovec approached the podium Tuesday after being introduced as Bradley's newest coach and looked to a crowd filled with friendly faces.
Her parents, Ken and Renee, sat in the front row inside the atrium of Renaissance Coliseum, as did her fiance, Ollie — each of them dressed in Bradley red. Braves players also dotted the chairs around the podium and stage in support of Popovec, who was hired last week as the 10th women's basketball coach in Bradley history.
No surprise, considering the first tenet of the new coach's philosophy: Family, followed by accountability, resiliency and joy.
"Family is the foundation of my heart," she said, "and I am here because of them."
Hiring story:Bradley has a new head coach for the 2022-23 season. Meet her here.
The 32-year-old Ohio native comes to Peoria after time as associate head coach and recruiting director at Northwestern. She takes over for Andrea Gorski, who retired in late March after 25 years of coaching.
Bradley athletics director Chris Reynolds beamed as he introduced the school's newest coach, joking that he and Popovec got along because they "both talk a lot."
"We want someone who's in the community really waving the flag for women's basketball," Reynolds said. "She has a high motor, a great communicator. I'm really excited for her to be here."
'Bradley is not a product'
Popovec said she was drawn to Bradley because of its strong academics, the intimate campus and a strong basketball conference and community. Popovec said she feels immense support from Reynolds and the school — and she wants to provide that same support to the program and its players.
"You will hear about my recruiting philosophy as I move forward, but one thing you will consistently hear from me is I do not sell," Popovec said. "Bradley is not a product. It is an institution."
Vision, leadership and Bobby Knight:One-on-one with Bradley athletic director Chris Reynolds
Popovec wants to show players how they fit at Bradley — the same way the administration showed her how she was the perfect fit for Bradley.
"Certainly, we want to win games," Reynolds said. "Everywhere and everything that Kate stands for ... points to success and achievement at a high level ... more importantly, it is about developing our young women."
Popovec has jumped into the job, already leading workouts with her players, who appeared at the introductory news conference in practice gear.
"I will give you everything I have in the tank," Popovec said with a smile, addressing her players, "in case you haven't noticed from our few short workouts we've had."
Expect exciting basketball that starts with defense, Popovec said.
"I'm a defensive girl," she said before explaining an "unorthodox" mix of zone and man-to-man defense called "blizzard" — which will help the Braves convert turnovers and steals into more possessions. That then allows more opportunities for the players to shine on offense and play with freedom, she said.
"Girls, bear with me," Popovec said with a smile. "You're going to be confused as we learn it, but we're gonna get through it together."
Andrea Gorski:Inside the surprise retirement of the Bradley women's basketball coach
Bradley is coming off a 4-24 season and 1-17 record in the Missouri Valley Conference. Yet the Braves are one season removed from an MVC Tournament title and the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.
Popovec said Bradley is in a position to test its resiliency.
"That did intimidate me. It excited me," she said. "Last year was a hard year, undoubtedly, and there is rebuilding to be done. It is going to take time, and it is going to take investment. But I believe we again can be Missouri Valley champions."
'Grateful for the opportunity'
Popovec played at Pittsburgh and Northwestern, then returned to her alma mater as an assistant in 2017. In the spring of 2018, she was named Northwestern’s recruiting and defensive coordinator.
The up-and-coming coach was named associate head coach under Joe McKeown at Northwestern in August of 2021 before landing with Bradley for the 2022-23 season.
Popovec brings energy. ("I am not a wallflower, so you will see me and you will hear me.") The coach also says she likes to be transparent and open about all things, speaking enthusiastically for more than 15 minutes about her plans for the nearly every facet of the Braves program.
"I learned early: You win with people," she said. "They are the foundation on which you build championship programs, championship students and championship young women."
'Living large':Coach Dick Versace remembered by Bradley players, coaches, friends
Life is coming at Popovec pretty fast. She's a new head coach and is getting married on Aug. 6 to fiancee, Ollie Goss, who worked with her as director of basketball operations at Northwestern.
"I'm excited. I'm ready. I'm juiced up," Popovec said. "But more than anything ... I'm grateful for the experiences that led me to this position, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to build a championship program here at the hilltop.
"We're gonna do it together."
Wes Huett is Journal Star sports editor. Email him at whuett@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @WesHuett. | https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/college/basketball/bradley-hoops/2022/04/12/bradley-introduces-new-womens-basketball-coach-kate-popovec/7290443001/ | 2022-04-13T00:35:01 | 1 | https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/college/basketball/bradley-hoops/2022/04/12/bradley-introduces-new-womens-basketball-coach-kate-popovec/7290443001/ |
BALTIMORE — Around 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, Maryland State Police received a call from a construction worker alerting them that there was a body near the road on Interstate 95 near the Harford County/ Cecil County line.
The person was pronounced deceased on the scene. Officials also couldn't provide a positive ID.
Autopsy will determine cause of death as well.
Crime scene technicians from the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division were also on the scene looking for evidence.
This investigation is ongoing. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/maryland-state-police-find-body-on-i-95-tuesday-morning | 2022-04-13T00:36:25 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/maryland-state-police-find-body-on-i-95-tuesday-morning |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California woman is admitting that she faked her own kidnapping more than five years ago.
The search for 39-year-old Sherri Papini of Redding set off a three-week search until she resurfaced on Thanksgiving Day in 2016.
But federal prosecutors alleged in early March that she actually was staying with a former boyfriend nearly 600 miles away in Southern California.
They said she injured herself to back up her false statements.
Papini was arrested in March on charges of making false statements to a federal law enforcement officer and engaging in mail fraud.
Her attorney, William Portanova, confirmed that she signed a plea agreement Tuesday.
On Nov. 2, 2016, Papini was reported missing and after she resurfaced 22 days later, she initially told authorities that she was abducted and held at gunpoint by two Hispanic women, the Associated Press reported.
But investigators said she fabricated her story and in August 2020, they presented her with evidence that showed she had not been abducted. Even then she didn't retract her original kidnapping story.
A spokesperson for federal prosecutors couldn't confirm the plea deal until something is on the public record. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/california-woman-admits-she-faked-2016-kidnapping | 2022-04-13T00:36:31 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/california-woman-admits-she-faked-2016-kidnapping |
PORTLAND, Ore. — Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies swarmed an area on the far northeast side of Portland on Tuesday afternoon in a search for an armed robbery suspect following a car chase punctuated by gunfire.
Two suspects were taken into custody, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said, but at least one more remained at large.
Both the sheriff's office and the City of Gresham asked the public to stay inside or avoid that area during the investigation.
The robbery happened at the Columbia Gorge Outlets in Troutdale just before 4 p.m., the sheriff's office said. Three suspects reportedly used a gun to rob one of the stores, though authorities did not immediately reveal which one.
When deputies started pursuing the suspects in a vehicle, at least one of the suspects fired a gun. The sheriff's office said that no deputies fired their weapons in response.
The suspects drove westbound on Northeast Sandy Boulevard when they ran into another vehicle, the sheriff's office said. Officers were able to quickly take two of the suspects into custody, but a third got away.
The driver of the vehicle hit by the suspects was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
As of 5 p.m., the sheriff's office indicated that the third suspect was still on the loose. At one time there were 64 police units involved in the response and search.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more details as they emerge. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/crime/police-search-armed-robbery-suspect-gresham-troutdale-multnomah/283-5669364a-4725-4a37-9d98-dcf9c461d8d9 | 2022-04-13T00:41:50 | 0 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/crime/police-search-armed-robbery-suspect-gresham-troutdale-multnomah/283-5669364a-4725-4a37-9d98-dcf9c461d8d9 |
PORTLAND, Ore. — Tree removal crews stayed busy on Tuesday, cleaning up after a historic storm brought several inches of snow to the Portland area overnight Sunday into Monday.
On Tuesday afternoon in Gresham, a crew from Rich's Tree Service cleaned up what was left of a tree that came down on a property on the city's south side. Before that, the crew was near Southeast 35th and Belmont where a tree came down on a house.
"It was about 32 inches in diameter," Caleb Gillum said. "A fairly big tree."
Gillum, of Rich's Tree Service, said he and his team have been extremely busy since Monday morning. Most of the calls have involved snow-packed tree limbs coming down on houses, decks and cars.
"We've been getting a mass influx of calls over the past couple of days," Gillum said. "We don't have enough guys to keep up with it."
Fortunately, Rich's Tree Service is not the only company in town.
KGW spotted a crew working near Southeast Cesar Chavez and Ankeny. The owner and head arborist at Buds Expert Tree Care told KGW his team has also been busy. None of this comes as a surprise to Gillum.
"This area was hit pretty hard, this Southeast area, hit pretty hard, but we're seeing damage throughout Portland," Gillum said.
In the coming days we may see even more trees coming down with the possibility of more snow.
"If you see low hanging branches or whatever stay clear of those if they have weight on them," Gillum said. "If you have a way to knock snow off or something with a stick or broom stick or something, that's what I do at my house. Keep those branches from breaking." | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/downed-trees-portland-metro/283-57d84258-2f3a-4bff-a529-5657e6f0bcb1 | 2022-04-13T00:41:56 | 0 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/downed-trees-portland-metro/283-57d84258-2f3a-4bff-a529-5657e6f0bcb1 |
SALEM, Oregon — The battle over who represents Oregon's new congressional district became heated Tuesday as six Democratic candidates jointly denounced almost $1 million in support for a rival party member by a super PAC that focuses on electing Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives
“This effort by the political arm of the Democratic establishment to buy this race for one candidate is a slap in the face to every Democratic voter and volunteer in Oregon,” five of the candidates for the 6th District seat said at a news conference. One of the candidates couldn't attend because of a scheduling conflict.
RELATED: Candidates for Oregon governor 2022
They noted that candidate Carrick Flynn, who received the support from the House Majority PAC, is already backed by cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried's political action committee, which has provided about $5 million in support for Flynn, mostly in TV ads.
Loretta Smith, a former Multnomah County commissioner who wants to be the first Black woman from Oregon elected to Congress, said she feels betrayed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the PAC's support for Flynn, a white man educated at Yale and Oxford universities who hasn't held elected office.
“I think it’s disrespectful and it’s wrong,” Smith said.
She said Black women's votes were key to getting President Joe Biden elected in 2020 and to giving Democrats a majority in the House.
It is unclear, however, what role, if any, that Pelosi had in throwing the PAC's support to Flynn. Pelosi's top political fundraiser, Mike Smith, last year became the PAC's senior adviser.
The PAC's spokesperson, C.J. Warnke, said in an email that it “is dedicated to doing whatever it takes to secure a Democratic House Majority in 2022, and we believe supporting Carrick Flynn is a step towards accomplishing that goal.”
He did not address the complaints by six of Flynn's rivals for the Democratic nomination. Oregon's primary election is on May 17.
State Rep. Andrea Salinas, another of the Democratic candidates for the U.S. House, was befuddled by the PAC's backing of Flynn.
“Why? Who was behind it? Why was this decision made? We have a wealth of candidates, four of whom are women, three women of color — this is a diverse district," Salinas said. “I’ve been doing the work for diverse communities for a long time.”
Flynn's campaign manager, Avital Balwit, said the campaign is "grateful for the confidence and support" of the House Majority PAC and others who are backing Flynn.
“Our campaign is rooted in Carrick’s Oregon values -– hard work, opportunity, and supportive, resilient communities. That message is clearly resonating," Balwit said in an email.
Flynn has worked on pandemic preparedness and biosecurity years before the pandemic and has advised Congress and the White House on pandemic preparedness and the creation of technology jobs, his campaign said. If elected, he plans to focus on the creation of green jobs and pandemic recovery and preparedness.
Also condemning the House Majority PAC’s “unprecedented and inappropriate decision to spend nearly a million dollars in this Democratic primary” were Democratic candidates Matt West, a development engineer at chipmaker Intel who aims to tackle climate change; Kathleen Harder, a physician in Salem; state Rep. Teresa Alonso Leon; and cryptocurrency entrepreneur Cody Reynolds.
Oregon’s 6th congressional district was created by the 2020 U.S. census and extends from Portland’s suburbs to the southwest, including the state capital of Salem and towns in the Willamette Valley and the Coastal Range. The Cook Political Report said the new district would vote “likely Democratic” in the November election.
Republican candidates include state Rep. Ron Noble, former congressional candidate Amy Ryan Courser, clinical psychologist Angela Plowhead and Dundee Mayor David Russ. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/oregon-democratic-candidates-new-congressional-district-house-majority-pac/283-be4a19d7-aa5d-4682-8021-1ccd2f419f1d | 2022-04-13T00:42:02 | 0 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/oregon-democratic-candidates-new-congressional-district-house-majority-pac/283-be4a19d7-aa5d-4682-8021-1ccd2f419f1d |
MCMINNVILLE, Ore. — Nearly 200 guests will pack the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum (EASM) in McMinnville Friday to celebrate progress by the Carlton Observatory.
The sold-out event is one of many efforts to boost awareness for the upcoming campaign to fund construction of an $11 million planetarium and science center next door.
For Janet Zuelke and her husband Forrest Babcock, the passion project is years in the making.
"It's amazing how excited people are," Babcock said.
Babcock has a love of telescopes. He and Zuelke's collection is displayed at the EASM, with many telescopes that he has built or refurbished.
One is a brass telescope found in a crawlspace at Linfield College, dating back to 1888.
Another is the famous "Big Blue," a $15,000 custom telescope that was stolen in March 2021, but later recovered intact.
After the ordeal, the couple secured a sponsorship from First Federal Bank in Yamhill County and space at the EASM. The exhibit now serves as a community gateway to their bigger project: The Carlton Observatory at Evergreen.
"It's daunting... [but] the momentum is there," Zuelke said.
The observatory will officially launch its roughly $11 million dollar campaign this September, but is working to drum up donor interest early.
Zuelke said people and businesses can purchase sponsored stars, planets and nebulas that will light up on the future planetarium's ceiling.
For her, the effort to expand space education in rural Yamhill County is inspiring.
"This is an underserved area, so this resource will mean a lot," Zuelke said. "The first time somebody actually sees the rings of Saturn or the craters on the moon with such detail, they feel something... it's a visceral experience."
The goal is to fundraise for about a year and a half starting in September and to complete the new Carlton Observatory science center within about three years.
In the meantime, Zuelke and Babcock are seeking volunteers to help run the EASM exhibit. Opportunities are open to high school students and adults. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/planetarium-project-campaign-yamhill-county/283-c046cfeb-4a47-4ac5-9dd2-39353a4ad2db | 2022-04-13T00:42:08 | 0 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/planetarium-project-campaign-yamhill-county/283-c046cfeb-4a47-4ac5-9dd2-39353a4ad2db |
PORTLAND, Ore. — Multiple roads through the West Hills area of Portland could remain closed for several more days due to recent — and upcoming — winter weather, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
Hannah Schafer with PBOT said crews have been on 24-hour schedules to remove debris from roads following Monday's unprecedented April snowstorm.
Maria Perte said she tried to get to Portland from Hillsboro on Tuesday morning, but had trouble getting downtown due to all the road closures. She had to turn around near Skyline and Burnside.
"I can't find my way around because everywhere you go is a detour and the roads are all closed, so it's very difficult to get where you want to go," she said.
The PBOT crews have also been salting the roads in case there's more winter weather to come, which could add to the amount of time the roads are closed.
The current list of closed West Hills roads includes:
- Northwest Skyline Boulevard, from Northwest Newberry Road to Northwest Germantown Road
- Northwest Skyline Boulevard, from West Burnside Street to Northwest Cornell Road
- Southwest Capitol Highway, from Southwest Terwilliger Boulevard to Southwest Barbur Boulevard
- Northwest Germantown Road, from Northwest Skyline Boulevard to Northwest Bridge Avenue
- Northwest Cornell Road at Northwest Miller Road, and also from Skyline to Northwest 25th Avenue for tunnel maintenance
Highway 26 closed on Monday morning due to downed trees on the freeway near the Oregon Zoo, but was able to reopen on Monday afternoon. PBOT said over 400 trees fell in the city because of the winter weather. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/west-hills-roads-closed-several-more-days/283-0aa1f8b0-a098-47cb-9d24-5684dee8b336 | 2022-04-13T00:42:14 | 0 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/west-hills-roads-closed-several-more-days/283-0aa1f8b0-a098-47cb-9d24-5684dee8b336 |
A headline published by The U.S. Sun newspaper has led to confusion among some people about whether Americans will soon receive another round of direct payments.
The headline says: “Americans to receive checks worth $1,657 in just FOUR days – and your birthday will decide when you’ll get the cash.” Some social media users are wondering whether that’s true and Google Trends data show people are asking whether everyone will receive the checks worth $1,657.
THE QUESTION
Are all Americans receiving checks worth $1,657?
THE SOURCES
- Social Security Administration (SSA)
- U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Social Security
- AARP
THE ANSWER
No, all Americans are not receiving checks worth $1,657.
WHAT WE FOUND
The checks worth $1,657 are only for Social Security recipients, not the general public. The Sun newspaper mentions that later in its story but not in the misleading headline. The checks themselves aren’t new either – recipients are just getting a cost-of-living increase in the amount they receive in their monthly benefits payments.
Social Security provides people with income when they retire or can’t work due to disability. Those who are retired can start receiving their Social Security benefits as early as age 62.
On its website, the Social Security Administration (SSA) said Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for about 70 million Americans would increase by 5.9% in 2022 due to an increase in the cost of living. The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for the majority of Social Security recipients began in January 2022 and the average payment for all retired workers is now $1,657.
The Social Security Act ties the annual COLA to the increase in the Consumer Price Index, the most widely used measure of inflation which is determined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Social Security, said in a press release about the 5.9% increase.
“The COLA protects benefits against losing their purchasing power over time when the cost of rent, food, and other expenses increase,” the press release says. “Medicare premiums – which are deducted from Social Security checks for most beneficiaries – typically consume much of the COLA increase.”
A fact sheet from the SSA also references the $1,657 number that’s quoted in The Sun headline.
SSA estimates that all retired workers will receive average monthly Social Security payments of $1,657 after the 5.9% increase, compared to $1,565 before. For a couple receiving benefits, the average estimated monthly payment jumped from $2,599 to $2,753.
The Sun also mentions in its headline that a person’s birthday determines when they’ll get their check. That’s not new, either.
A schedule that’s been in place since 1997 outlines when Social Security recipients will receive their benefits payments based on their birthday, AARP writes on its website. Previously, all payments went out on the third day of the month but that wasn’t feasible anymore as the number of recipients grew.
The Social Security benefits payment schedule is as follows:
- Those with birthdays on the 1st through the 10th are paid on the second Wednesday of each month.
- Those with birthdays on the 11th through 20th are paid on the third Wednesday of each month.
- Those with birthdays on the 21st through the 31st are paid on the fourth Wednesday of each month.
These payments aren’t related to stimulus checks. The federal government previously sent three rounds of stimulus payments for amounts between $600 and $1,400 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A fourth stimulus check for all Americans isn’t in the works right now. The Internal Revenue Service’s website only has information pertaining to the first three stimulus checks, with no evidence a fourth check will be coming from the federal government. Congress also hasn’t passed any legislation for a fourth stimulus check. | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/verify/money-verify/1657-checks-not-for-everyone-social-security-cost-of-living-adjustment/536-8bb5b351-c65c-4c09-a0fe-d3c3bf02ed66 | 2022-04-13T00:42:20 | 0 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/verify/money-verify/1657-checks-not-for-everyone-social-security-cost-of-living-adjustment/536-8bb5b351-c65c-4c09-a0fe-d3c3bf02ed66 |
CHICAGO — One man is dead and two people are hospitalized following a partial building collapse on Chicago’s West Side.
Multiple emergencies crews remain on scene in the 3400 block of W. Jackson in East Garfield Park.
According to Chicago Fire spokesperson Larry Langford, the adult male, believed to be in his 50s or 60s, was pulled from under the heavy debris. He was pronounced dead at the scene and taken to Stroger Hospital.
Firefighters also pulled two men from the rubble. Paramedics rushed the injured males to Mt. Sinai Hospital in serious-to-critical condition.
Langford added that a facade from the top of the building fell onto the porch, likely causing the collapse.
Bystanders who spoke with WGN News, all three adults were sitting on the porch at the time of the collapse.
“[Firefighters] brought two guys out on a stretcher and they put them in the ambulance, but they were still working on a third person to try and get him up from under the rubble,” neighbor Cassandra Stewart said. “He was under the bricks, and from what I heard, the only thing you could see was his face. All the rest of his body was covered with bricks.”
Stewart adds that the building caught fire just last year.
The city has cited the building for multiple violations, according to public records. The building was in foreclosure in 2018 but the case was later dismissed. The building owner, Katie Mae Simmons, filed for bankruptcy just weeks ago.
The case is still pending.
This is a developing story. Stay with WGN News for updates. | https://www.wane.com/news/1-dead-2-pulled-from-rubble-following-partial-building-collapse-on-west-side/ | 2022-04-13T00:43:04 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/1-dead-2-pulled-from-rubble-following-partial-building-collapse-on-west-side/ |
(The Hill) – President Biden formally announced a waiver on Tuesday that will allow the sale of fuel with higher ethanol content to be sold during the summer months, an action he said would help lower soaring gas prices.
Current regulations prevent the fuel from being sold between June and September due to concerns about its effect on smog and other forms of air pollution.
Advocates have said the regulations in question were written for fuels that are 10 percent ethanol rather than so-called E15, which is 15 percent ethanol.
Administration officials, announcing the decision Monday night, projected it would save the average family 10 cents a gallon, a figure Biden also cited in his remarks Tuesday afternoon.
“Home grown biofuels have a role to play right now … as we work to get prices under control and reduce the costs for families,” the president said in Iowa on Tuesday, during a speech at POET Bioprocessing in Menlo, next to a giant pile of cornmeal.
In his remarks, Biden emphasized the role of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in energy costs, blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for the recent surge in energy prices.
“I’m doing everything within my power by executive orders to bring down the price and address the Putin price hike,” the president said.
“Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away,” he said, also describing Putin’s actions as “genocide” for the first time.
Biden appeared at the event alongside Cindy Axne (D-Iowa), who is among vulnerable Democrats in Congress in the impending midterm election cycle.
The speech represented the latest effort by the Biden administration to address growing concerns about inflation and heightened gas prices in particular.
Fuel prices, already spiking earlier this year, have ballooned further as Russia’s war in Ukraine has disrupted the global market. Gas prices averaged about $4.10 per gallon nationwide as of Tuesday, according to AAA.
Labor Department data released Tuesday showed consumer prices rose 1.2 percent in March and 8.5 percent over the past year.
Polls show the American public increasingly concerned about high consumer prices.
Biden on Tuesday highlighted other actions his administration has taken, including the largest-ever release from the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve he announced last month.
The president framed the waiver announced Tuesday as a “made in America” solution to the crisis, citing its potential to both support agricultural economies and reduce reliance on foreign oil.
“It gives you a choice at the pump — when you have a choice, you have competition, when you have competition, you get better prices,” he said. “This is an industry with a tremendous future.”
Biden also said increased use of such fuels was vital to achieving the administration’s goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury. Ethanol is made from corn and has been mixed into fuel as a way to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
“You simply can’t get to net-zero by 2050 without biofuels,” he said. | https://www.wane.com/news/biden-pitches-new-action-to-lessen-gas-prices/ | 2022-04-13T00:43:10 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/biden-pitches-new-action-to-lessen-gas-prices/ |
Tornado Warning issued for Lancaster County | Watch live severe weather coverage
Published: Apr. 12, 2022 at 6:49 PM CDT|Updated: 9 minutes ago
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - A Tornado Warning was issued for Lancaster County Tuesday until 7:45 p.m. Tornado sirens sounded in Lincoln.
The Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Lancaster County has been extended until Tuesday at 8 p.m. View other active weather alerts here.
Watch live severe weather coverage from the 1011 NOW Weather team in the video player above.
Copyright 2022 KOLN. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/12/severe-weather-alert-issued-lancaster-county/ | 2022-04-13T00:43:24 | 1 | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/12/severe-weather-alert-issued-lancaster-county/ |
INDIANAPOLIS — Indy Parks is now offering new hiring incentives for summer 2022 employees! To view information about two new bonus opportunities. Indy Parks is now hiring for several open positions, including facility attendants and year-round lifeguards. Starting pay ranges from $10-$15 per hour, with lifeguards starting at $13 per hour. For more information on how to apply, click here.
Countdown to the
2022 Tax Filing Deadline
2022 Tax Filing Deadline
April 18 2022 12:00 am | https://fox59.com/morning-news/indy-parks-offers-incentives-for-summer-jobs/ | 2022-04-13T00:47:20 | 0 | https://fox59.com/morning-news/indy-parks-offers-incentives-for-summer-jobs/ |
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Melanie Tucker fought back tears on the stand but was able to express how frightened she had been about her daughter, Monica Moynan, dating Brian Sluss.
It was an on-again-off-again relationship and the pair had two daughters together.
"She was scared. She thought he was going to choke her," testified Tucker.
Moynan had a protective order against Sluss.
The prosecution said it wasn't enough to save her.
"It was about power and control, violence and deceit," said prosecutor Melanie Shekita.
The prosecution said Moynan was murdered in April 2019 by Sluss, while the children slept upstairs.
"She was making every effort to become a self-sufficient, single mother of two beautiful girls -- so that she would no longer have to rely on the defendant. She was making efforts to leave this relationship and the State maintains that was another reason for her death," said Shekita.
The prosecution said Sluss was cashing in after the killing, using Moynan's credit card and finding other ways to generate money.
"The defendant was selling household items from Monica's home on Facebook Marketplace," said Shekita.
Search warrants show that Sluss had been driving around in her car and pretending to be Moynan in text messages to her family.
"He would tell law enforcement later he was doing it to buy time," said Shekita.
The defense argued it wasn't murder that took place, but abandonment.
"He said Monica walked out on him and his girls," said Attorney Tommy Manning. "He wasn't running away. He was running toward a safe haven and he took his two girls with him."
The trial resumes Wednesday morning. | https://abc11.com/brian-sluss-murder-trial-monica-moynan-holly-springs/11741908/ | 2022-04-13T00:50:00 | 1 | https://abc11.com/brian-sluss-murder-trial-monica-moynan-holly-springs/11741908/ |
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Fayetteville State University launched a new first-of-its-kind initiative to connect students to career opportunities.
A 36-foot long, 7-foot tall digital wall gives shout-outs to Fayetteville State students with paid internships.
"A lot of people have been trying to get on the wall," said Brianna Alston, a junior at FSU."It's life-changing."
Alston's picture is on the wall.
The accounting major landed a paid internship with FedEx.
"It's been overwhelming honestly. I got to go to the NYC for the first time, and I went to the stock exchange with FedEx to do the ringing-of-the-bell ceremonies," said Alston.
She said her photo on the wall has inspired other students to ask her how they can get one, too.
Administrators said that is the strategy behind the wall, which cost $300,000.
"We also want to make sure they are graduating and getting the jobs that they want after they finish and leave us," said Yasmine Farley, Director of Career Services.
The digital wall is only a month old, but Farley said she is seeing more students in her office hoping to connect with their list of company partners.
"Seeing the excitement that they have about not only getting their name and face on this wall but the experience that they are going to get -- that they know is going to help them toward their future -- I mean it is just so valuable to me and makes my work very meaningful," said Farley.
So far, 108 students -- and counting -- have received paid internships.
The university said it wants that number to be 750 in three years. | https://abc11.com/fayetteville-state-digital-wall-paid-internships-college-students/11741919/ | 2022-04-13T00:50:06 | 1 | https://abc11.com/fayetteville-state-digital-wall-paid-internships-college-students/11741919/ |
BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Symphony Orchestra has canceled its European tour that had been scheduled for next month because of an increase in positive coronavirus cases among orchestra members as well as concerns about the rising number of cases on both sides of the Atlantic.
Despite health and safety protocols that include mandatory vaccinations for all musicians and daily testing for woodwind and brass instrumentalists, as well as members of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, there were 31 cases among onstage musicians and chorus members following recent performances, the BSO said in a statement Monday.
The increase in cases in Europe could potentially disrupt travel during the tour, the BSO said.
The decision to cancel was made with “deep regret,” BSO President and CEO Gail Samuel said.
“Given the ongoing presence of COVID, brought home by its unfortunate impact on a significant number of our own artists, we must keep as our first priority the health and safety of everyone involved with the Boston Symphony Orchestra,” she said.
The BSO had been scheduled to visit Vienna, Leipzig, Hamburg and Paris in May during a Strauss-focused tour partnership with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, under Andris Nelsons, who is the music director of both ensembles.
“I was deeply passionate and excited to share this international alliance — a musical and human bond between exceptional orchestras on two continents — with our audiences,” Nelsons said. “I am so very sorry for all presenters and audience members who were looking forward to the BSO’s performances, and to all the wonderful teams who spent so much time and energy on making this dream a reality.”
The Boston Symphony Orchestra hopes to visit Europe when conditions allow, Samuel said. | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/boston-symphony-orchestra-cancels-europe-dates-over-covid/ | 2022-04-13T00:52:07 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/boston-symphony-orchestra-cancels-europe-dates-over-covid/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gilbert Gottfried, the actor and legendary standup comic known for his raw, scorched voice and crude jokes, has died. He was 67.
Gottfried died from a rare genetic muscle disease that can trigger a dangerously abnormal heartbeat, his publicist and longtime friend Glenn Schwartz said in a statement.
“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 all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honor,” his family said in a statement posted on Twitter.
Gottfried was a fiercely independent and intentionally bizarre comedian’s comedian, as likely to clear a room with anti-comedy as he was to kill it with his jokes.
“The first comedian I saw who would go on and all the other comics would go in the room to watch,” standup comic Colin Quinn said on Twitter.
He first came to national attention with frequent appearances on MTV in its early days and with a brief stint in the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s.
Gottfried also did frequent voice work for children’s television and movies, most famously playing the parrot Iago in Disney’s “Aladdin.”
“Look at me, I’m so ticked off that I’m molting,” a scratchy-voiced Gottfried said early in the film as his character shed feathers.
To a younger generation he’s known as the voice of Digit the bird on PBS Kids’ “Cyberchase.”
Gottfried was particularly fond of doing obscure and dated impressions for as long as he could milk them, including Groucho Marx, Bela Lugosi and Andrew “Dice” Clay. He would often do those voices as a guest on the Howard Stern show, prompting listeners by the dozens to call in and beg Stern to throw him off.
In his early days at the club the Comedy Store in Hollywood, the managers would have him do his impression of then-little-known Jerry Seinfeld at the end of the night to get rid of lingering patrons.
Gottfried was especially beloved by his fellow comedians and performers.
Jon Stewart said that getting to open for Gottfried was one of the great thrills of his early standup career.
“He could leave you gasping for breath,” Stewart tweeted, “just indescribably unusually hilarious.”
“I am so sad to read about the passing of Gilbert Gottfried,” actor Marlee Matlin said on Twitter. “Funny, politically incorrect but a softie on the inside. We met many times; he even pranked me on a plane, replacing my interpreter.” (Gottfried bore a close resemblance to Matlin’s American Sign Language interpreter Jack Jason.)
Gottfried was interviewed by The Associated Presslast month following Will Smith’s Oscar night slap of Chris Rock. While he took the attack seriously, saying it might imperil other comedians, he couldn’t resist wisecracks.
He said that before on stage, he “just had to worry about wearing a mask. Now I have to worry about wearing a football helmet.” He later added: “If Will Smith is reading this, dear God, please don’t come to my shows.”
The year has already seen the loss of several beloved comedians, includingLouie Anderson and Bob Saget.
In January, Gottfried tweeted a picture of the three men together, with the text, “This photo is very sad now. RIP Bob Saget and RIP Louie Anderson. Both good friends that will be missed.”
Gottfried was born in Brooklyn, the son of a hardware store owner and a stay-at-home mom. He began doing amateur standup at age 15.
He thought he was getting his big break when he landed a spot on “Saturday Night Live” alongside Eddie Murphy in 1980. But he was given little to do on the show.
He later said a low point was playing the body in a sketch about a funeral. He would last only 12 episodes.
But he would find his own way, doing bits on MTV and as a both beloved and hated guest on talk shows.
He had roles in “Beverly Hills Cop II” and the “Problem Child” films and presented bad movies as host of “USA Up All Night” from 1989 to 1998.
And he had recurring voice roles on “Ren and Stimpy,” “The Fairly OddParents” and several spin-offs of “Aladdin.”
Gottfried’s schtick wasn’t always popular. In 2011, Aflac Inc. fired him as the voice of the duck in its commercials over tasteless tweet the comic sent about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Less than a month after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, at the Friars Club Roast of Hugh Hefner, Gottfried made jokes about planes making stops at skyscrapers, and was met with boos and shouts of “Too soon!” He responded with an especially foul version of the comedians’ inside joke “The Aristocrats,” which many in the audience took as a message that he believed it was the comic’s job to remain crude at all costs.
“To me, funny is funny,” he told the AP last month. “I’ll regret a bit I do that just doesn’t get a laugh, because it’s not funny or an ad lib that doesn’t work. But if it gets a laugh, I feel like, I’m the comedian and that’s my job.”
He made many notorious contributions to televised roasts, his harshness and love of old-timey standup style making him a perfect contributor. He took famously cruel and relentless jabs at roastees including Matlin, George Takei and Roseanne.
“Like most monsters she goes by one name,” he said at the Roseanne roast in his signature style, leaning into the microphone, hands spread apart, shouting himself hoarse. “And that name is Rozilla.”
“I shall miss you, my friend, my sometimes foil, my always pain in my side, usually from the belly laughs,” Takei said on Twitter Tuesday. The heavens are a great deal louder with you out there now, I’m sure. Keep ’em shaking their heads and smiling, Gilbert.”
Gottfried is survived by his wife Dara, sister Karen, 14-year-old daughter Lily and 12-year-old son Max.
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AP Television Writer Lynn Elber contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/gilbert-gottfried-standup-comic-and-actor-dies-at-67/ | 2022-04-13T00:52:14 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/gilbert-gottfried-standup-comic-and-actor-dies-at-67/ |
HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii couple have dropped their petition for a temporary restraining order against actor Ezra Miller, who is known for playing “The Flash” in “Justice League” films and allegedly harassed patrons of a karaoke bar in a Big Island town last month.
According to court documents, a judge dismissed the restraining order case Monday after the couple requested it.
William Dean, a lawyer who represents the couple, declined comment Tuesday on why his clients no longer want to pursue the petition that accused Miller of bursting into their bedroom and threatening them in Hilo, the same town where Miller was arrested.
A judge had granted the restraining order petition, saying it was needed to prevent future harassment and had set a hearing for Wednesday. It’s unclear if the hearing will be held now that the case is dismissed.
A judge on Tuesday granted a request by Miller’s lawyer, Francis Alcain, to postpone a hearing on a separate case involving an alleged traffic violation for Miller in Hilo until April 26 because Miller and prosecutors are in what Alcain described as “pre-negotiations” for an agreement on the two outstanding cases. Alcain did not disclose details of the potential agreement. A hearing for the arrest case is also scheduled for April 26.
In the traffic case against Miller, police were called to a dispute in downtown Hilo on March 19, where Miller was “uncooperative and refused to leave the area and continued to obstruct the sidewalk,” Hawaii Police Department Assistant Chief Kenneth Quiocho said Tuesday. Miller was cited for obstructing a highway, Quiocho said.
On March 27, police police were called to Margarita Village in Hilo, where they said Miller yelled obscenities, grabbed a mic from a singing woman and lunged at a man playing darts.
Miller was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and harassment.
The day after Miller was released on $500 bail, the couple filed a petition for a temporary restraining order. | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/hawaii-couple-drop-restraining-order-against-ezra-miller/ | 2022-04-13T00:52:20 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/hawaii-couple-drop-restraining-order-against-ezra-miller/ |
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A trial over libel allegations by Johnny Depp against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, will likely turn into a six-week, mudslinging soap opera, Heard’s lawyers warned a Virginia jury Tuesday.
“You’re going to see who the real Johnny Depp is — behind the fame, behind the pirate costumes,” Heard lawyer J. Benjamin Rottenborn told the jury during opening statements in the civil trial. “Because Johnny Depp brought this case, all of this is going to come out.”
Depp sued Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Depp says the article indirectly defames him by referring to abuse allegations Heard made back in 2016. Depp denies abusing her.
In Tuesday’s opening statements, Rottenborn said the evidence will show that Depp physically and sexually assaulted Heard on multiple occasions. But he told jurors that they don’t need to make themselves referees of the couple’s turbulent marriage if they focus on the basics of libel law.
He argued that Heard was exercising her First Amendment rights as an advocate when she wrote the article, which focused largely on the broad topic of domestic violence.
He also said the 2018 article did nothing to damage Depp’s reputation. He noted that the abuse accusations had been public for two years already, and he said Depp’s spiraling career was the result of his drinking and drug-using, which made him an unreliable commodity to Hollywood studios.
“This man’s poor choices have brought him to this point,” he said. “Stop blaming other people for your own self-created problems.”
More than anything, though, he pointed out that the article in question never even mentions Depp’s name.
Depp’s lawyer, Benjamin Chew, acknowledged that Depp’s name never appears in the piece.
“It didn’t have to,” Chew told the jury. “Everyone in Hollywood knew exactly what she was talking about.”
Depp’s team argues that the article is an example of “defamation by implication.” In the December 2018 piece, Heard wrote that “two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.”
Chew said that’s a clear reference to a restraining order Heard sought in May 2016 — right after Depp told her he wanted a divorce — in which she claimed she’d been physically abused.
Chew said she showed up at the courthouse on May 27 of that year with a bruise on her face that was photographed by the paparazzi. But he said the evidence will show that Heard gave herself the injury to ruin Depp’s reputation. He said that Depp and Heard hadn’t seen each other since May 21: He’d gone on a European tour with his band, the Hollywood Vampires.
Police and others saw Heard immediately after May 21 and her face wasn’t bruised, Chew said. He said a witness will testify that he saw security footage in which Heard’s sister throws fake punches at her, and the two laugh.
Another of Depp’s lawyers, Camille Vasquez, told the jury that Heard refuses to admit she lied and has now dug in even deeper.
“She can’t back down. She has been living and breathing this lie for years,” Vasquez said. “She’s going to give the performance of a lifetime in this courtroom.”
Both Depp and Heard are expected to testify at the trial, scheduled for six weeks, along with actors Paul Bettany and James Franco and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.
About 80 people, mostly Depp supporters, sat in the courtroom Tuesday. Some people lined up hours early for seats, but several rows were largely vacant.
The courtroom went silent a few minutes before the 10 a.m. start time when Heard entered the room, through a special entrance usually reserved for the judge. But there was an audible intake of breath when Depp came in a minute later, again through a special entrance. At the end of the day, after the jury had left the courtroom, Depp turned and saluted the gallery as he exited, receiving dozens of excited waves in return.
The first witness Tuesday afternoon was Depp’s older sister, Christi Dembrowski. She said the pair endured a difficult childhood in which Depp learned to hide from an abusive mother.
She said she saw the same pattern in Depp’s relationship with Heard. She said that when she booked travel for the couple in her role as Depp’s personal manager, she booked an extra hotel room so Depp would have somewhere to hide if Heard started a fight.
Dembrowski struggled on cross-examination, though, when she was asked why she sent texts to Depp in February 2014 that said, “Stop drinking. Stop coke. Stop pills.” She was unwilling to acknowledge she had a concern about Depp’s drinking and drug use.
“I don’t know what they were in reference to,” she said.
Heard’s lawyers have argued that Depp has no credibility when he denies abusing Heard because he frequently drank and used drugs to the point of blacking out and failing to remember anything he did.
Depp, who almost always faced forward during the trial, glared at Rottenborn for an extended period after the questioning of Depp’s sister ended for the day.
A civil jury of seven members, plus four alternates, was selected Monday to hear the case.
Heard’s lawyers had sought to have the case tried in California, where the actors reside. But a judge ruled that Depp was within his rights to bring the case in Virginia because The Washington Post’s computer servers for its online edition are located in the county. Depp’s lawyers have said they brought the case in Virginia in part because the laws here are more favorable to their case. | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/jury-to-hear-opening-statements-in-johnny-depp-libel-case/ | 2022-04-13T00:52:27 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/jury-to-hear-opening-statements-in-johnny-depp-libel-case/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Reactions to the death of comedian Gilbert Gottfried:
“I am so sad to read about the passing of Gilbert Gottfried. Funny, politically incorrect but a softie on the inside. We met many times; he even pranked me on a plane, replacing my intepreter@655jack (they’re like twins).” — Oscar winning actor Marlee Matlin, on Twitter.
“Nobody was funnier than @RealGilbert on a roll. He could put you into convulsive hysterics. He was also the sweetest man. His podcast is a comedy treasure. What a terrible loss.” — Director Judd Apatow on Twitter.
“Opening for Gilbert Gottfried at Carolines and Princeton Catch was one of the great thrills of my early stand up life. He could leave you gasping for breath…just indescribably unusually hilarious.” — Jon Stewart on Twitter.
“I shall miss you, my friend, my sometimes foil, my always pain in my side, usually from the belly laughs. The heavens are a great deal louder with you out there now, I’m sure. Keep ’em shaking their heads and smiling, Gilbert.” — “Star Trek” actor and Gottfried roast victim George Takei, on Twitter.
“Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh so hard that day on set, I could barely do my job. A wholly original comic, and an equally kind and humble guy behind the scenes. He will be missed.” — Seth MacFarlane, who posted a scene they did together in “A Million Ways to Die in the West.”
“Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh at times when laughter did not come easily. What a gift.” — “Seinfeld” actor Jason Alexander, on Twitter.
“Sad to hear of the passing of the groundbreaking and legendary Gilbert Gottfried. Here was the last time I saw you in Miami. My condolences to the family and friends of this genius comic, artist, and provocateur. Comedy mourns tonight.” — comedian Tom Green.
“The funniest person I’ve ever known.” — actor-writer Matt Oswalt.
“Gilbert Gottfried was never not funny. He was a lovely guy, always friendly & made many people happy.” — Dane Cook, via Twitter.
“The first comedian I saw who would go on and all the other comics would go in the room to watch,” — standup comic Colin Quinn, via Twitter.
“This is a sad day.” — Tiffany Haddish on Twitter. | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/marlee-matlin-george-takei-mourn-gilbert-gottfried/ | 2022-04-13T00:52:33 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/marlee-matlin-george-takei-mourn-gilbert-gottfried/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — “Hello, Molly! A Memoir” by Molly Shannon (Ecco)
Molly Shannon made a name for herself as a standout performer on “Saturday Night Live,” star of the movie “Superstar” featuring her “SNL” character Mary Katherine Gallagher, and playing an eager-to-please stage mom in the sitcom “The Other Two.”
But before the professional successes, Shannon had to overcome an enormous tragedy, she details in her new memoir, “Hello, Molly!” which she wrote with Sean Wilsey.
When she was just 4, her whole family was involved in a horrendous car accident that killed her mother, younger sister and cousin. Her father, who survived, was driving after drinking earlier in the day.
“My whole life changed in an instant,” she writes.
Though devastated by the loss of her mother at such a young age, Shannon found solace in performing in school plays and community shows while growing up in the Irish-Catholic community in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio. She also found comfort in a close bond with her sister, Mary, who also survived the accident.
She remained close with her father Jim, a charismatic but unstable man who is haunted by the accident. He encourages her adventurous performer side, but he can also be suffocating and fly off the handle into a rage at a moments’ notice. She later says many of her characters are partly based on her larger-than-life father.
Shannon peppers the memoir with inside-showbusiness anecdotes that make the memoir a hard-to-put down page turner. She recounts waiting tables for Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts while she awaits her big break and landing auditions in Hollywood by calling agents and pretending to be David Mamet’s assistant. More disturbingly, she recalls an unscrupulous manager setting her up with an 18-year-old Gary Coleman who harasses her.
After a few years of trying to make it in L.A., she finally gets her big break, an audition with Lorne Michaels for “Saturday Night Live.” She’s passed over her first time, but a second audition lands her the gig. She spends six seasons on the show with fellow cast members including Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, Ana Gasteyer and Tracy Morgan.
She left in 2001, not because she had another job lined up, but because she wanted to finally have time to have a personal life. “I wanted to get coffee with friends and start a family,” she says. She now has two children with her husband, Fritz – successfully becoming the mother she always dreamed of being.
“Hello, Molly!” paints a portrait of a resilient spirit persevering through tragedy and the cutthroat world of fame to build a fulfilling life for herself. | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/molly-shannons-tragedy-and-perseverance-in-hello-molly/ | 2022-04-13T00:52:40 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/molly-shannons-tragedy-and-perseverance-in-hello-molly/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — The hiring of non-journalists as contributors to television news organizations isn’t new. Far less common is seeing pushback to such decisions from journalists working there, as has happened recently at CBS and NBC News.
Discontent emerged over CBS’ hiring of former Trump administration official Mick Mulvaney as a commentator and discussions about current White House press secretary Jen Psaki working at MSNBC when her time in the Biden administration is through.
In both cases, journalists have been quiet publicly about their concerns over the decisions. Because of concern about Psaki — which has raised ethical issues for the press secretary — NBC News President Noah Oppenheim was compelled to address the discussions in a phone meeting with Washington-based staff, first reported by CNN.
While both cases are different, the fact that these internal complaints surfaced illustrates some of the pressures many journalists feel under, said Mark Whitaker, a former executive at NBC News, CNN and Newsweek. They already work in a hyper-partisan time and face accusations of promoting “fake news,” he said.
“There’s a feeling of ‘this just makes our job harder when we’re under attack anyway,’” Whitaker said.
Each case is more complex than rubbing elbows at the water cooler with a partisan.
Neither MSNBC nor Psaki have publicly confirmed their talks about a role there. MSNBC has already hired Symone Sanders, former chief spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris, for a job that begins in May. NBC News has taken pains to draw distinctions between its journalists and MSNBC, which has beefed up its opinion programming, although that’s awkward when journalists like Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd both have shows on the cable network.
At least until the situation becomes clearer, NBC News journalists are put in the uncomfortable position of having professional contact with someone who may soon become a colleague.
NBC White House correspondent Kristen Welker asked Psaki about her status at a recent White House briefing, saying “is it ethical for you to keep conducting this job while negotiating with a media outlet?”
Without confirming or denying those talks, Psaki said she had already gone “over and above” stringent ethical requirements. Welker followed up twice, asking “how can you be an effective briefer if you do, in fact, have plans to join a media outlet?”
Psaki said she has taken steps to make sure there is no conflict. While the situation is still in flux, CNN reported that she is not expected to do any on-camera interviews with NBC News or MSNBC personnel, and won’t be involved in decisions about booking administration officials on the networks.
Oppenheim declined an opportunity to discuss the issue, through a spokesman.
CBS News said Mulvaney’s signing was part of the network’s buildup of its roster of contributors in advance of the 2022 midterm and 2024 presidential elections. The news division’s co-president, Neeraj Khemlani, said in a staff meeting prior to the announcement that CBS is making sure that it hires contributors that ensure the network has access to officials in both parties with a midterm election looming, according to a tape of that meeting provided to the Washington Post.
In addition to internal grumbling, CBS News received outside criticism; Post columnist Margaret Sullivan, for example, blasted the “ galling cynicism ” of the move. A former congressman, Mulvaney served Trump as chief of staff, as well as director of the Office of Management and Budget.
CBS has had other like-minded outsiders as contributors, like former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus, and it recently announced the signing of former national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
Mulvaney, however, drew criticism for lying when he publicly admitted Trump had withheld aid to Ukraine to pressure the country into investigating political opponents, then later suggesting he hadn’t said that. In the early days of the coronavirus, he said the media was hyping the virus as a way to bring down Trump.
“Even in opinion journalism, a respect for facts is essential,” said Geneva Overholser, a veteran consultant who’s worked at both the University of Missouri and USC Annenberg journalism schools.
“I read the CBS staff reaction as trying to hold onto that principle, to continue to uphold the network’s honor,” she said. “More power to them.”
Khemlani was not made available for an interview. CBS said that when Mulvaney makes appearances as a commentator on political news, he will be with news anchors who can give context to his statements.
Since the March 29 announcement that he’d been hired as a contributor, he’s appeared once on the network’s streaming service but not yet on TV, a spokeswoman said. | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/psaki-rumors-mulvaney-hire-at-cbs-news-trouble-journalists/ | 2022-04-13T00:52:47 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/psaki-rumors-mulvaney-hire-at-cbs-news-trouble-journalists/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Timekeeping isn’t Rihanna’s strong suit, and that goes for the pregnancy she’s been sharing with the world as well.
“Planning? I wouldn’t say planning,” she told Vogue about her upcoming motherhood. “But certainly not planning against it. I don’t know when I ovulate or any of that type of (expletive). We just had fun. And then it was just there on the test.”
Now in her third trimester, the music star, and fashion and beauty mogul hasn’t exactly been hiding under a maternity tentsince she and boyfriend A$AP Rocky announced they were expecting in late January via a wintry New York street photo shoot. Since, she’s made the fashion week rounds in Milan and Paris wearing a range of belly-bearing couture.
If it’s not something she would have put on pre-pregnancy, Rihanna said, it’s not something on her list now.
“My body is doing incredible things right now, and I’m not going to be ashamed of that,” she said. “This time should feel celebratory. Because why should you be hiding your pregnancy?”
The cover interview, out Tuesday, has 34-year-old Rihanna in a lacy red Alaïa bodysuit and long gloves. It’s just one of the numerous rule-breaking designer looks she’s been wearing in celebration of her bump.
So how is she feeling about the next part, where she actually gives birth and scheduling possibly kicks in?
Rihanna wishes all of her closest loved ones could be in the room, but that seems unlikely under COVID-19 rules. She didn’t disclose where she’ll be headed for labor and delivery — or when she’s due for that matter.
“Maybe I’ll just have a party bus parked outside or something,” she said. And what frightens her the most? “Postpartum depression. Will I feel out of control emotionally? Those are the stories I hear from other women that scare me.” | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/rihanna-talks-fashion-motherhood-as-due-date-approaches/ | 2022-04-13T00:52:53 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/rihanna-talks-fashion-motherhood-as-due-date-approaches/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Tiger Woods may not have won the Masters golf tournament, but his stirring return from injury was certainly a winner for the television networks following him.
CBS’ final round coverage of the venerable tourney on Sunday averaged 10.17 million viewers, the highest for any golf telecast since the corresponding day in 2019 — the last time Woods won the coveted green jacket, the Nielsen company said.
ESPN’s coverage of the first two rounds of the Masters averaged 3.3 million viewers, the most for its Master’s coverage since 2018, the network said.
ESPN’s viewership peaked at 4.6 million just as Woods was finishing up his second round on Saturday, Nielsen said.
CBS led the broadcast networks last week in prime time, averaging 4.2 million viewers. ABC had 3.6 million, NBC had 3 million, Fox had 1.7 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 860,000.
Fox News Channel led among the cable networks, averaging 2.32 million viewers. TBS had 1.52 million, TNT had 1.2 million, HGTV had 1.17 million and ESPN had 1.13 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 7.9 million for the week. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.7 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.8 million.
For the week of April 4-10, the 20 most-watched prime-time shows, their networks and viewerships:
1. NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: North Carolina vs. Kansas, TBS, 9.54 million.
2. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.27 million.
3. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.4 million.
4. “The Equalizer,” CBS, 6.68 million.
5. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 6.61 million.
6. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.93 million.
7. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 5.71 million.
8. “American Idol” (Monday), ABC, 5.6 million.
9. “Survivor,” CBS, 5.583 million.
10. NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: North Carolina vs. Kansas, Turner, 5.578 million.
11. “American Idol” (Sunday), ABC, 5.47 million.
12. “Magnum P.I.,” CBS, 5.31 million.
13. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 5.26 million.
14. “FBI,” CBS, 4.81 million.
15. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.76 million.
16. “This is Us,” NBC, 4.74 million.
17. “Station 19,” ABC, 4.52 million.
18. “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC, 4.33 million.
19. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 4.21 million.
20. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 4.07 million. | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/tiger-woods-return-to-masters-a-winner-for-tv-networks/ | 2022-04-13T00:52:59 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/entertainment-news/tiger-woods-return-to-masters-a-winner-for-tv-networks/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department declined a request this week from the House oversight committee to disclose the contents of records that former President Donald Trump took to his Florida residence after leaving the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The move could serve as a setback for Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform as it was ramping up its investigation into Trump’s handling of sensitive and even classified information during his time as president and after he left the White House. It remains unclear what implications the decision could have for the panel’s probe, which was announced in March.
The Justice Department’s decision is part of an effort to protect confidential information that may compromise an ongoing investigation, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The development was first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post.
The National Archives had referred the matter of Trump’s handling of those records to the Justice Department earlier this year. Because of that, the DOJ is asking the National Archives not to share information related directly to it, including the contents of the 15 boxes that Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago residence.
The notice to the committee comes days after its chair, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., accused the Justice Department of “obstructing” the panel’s expanded investigation by preventing the release of information from the National Archives.
The Justice Department has not formally announced it is investigating Trump’s handling of the records, but letters between the committee and the department seem to indicate that investigators are taking steps toward it.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined a request for comment Tuesday.
In addition, the FBI has taken steps to begin examining the potential mishandling of classified information related to the documents in the boxes, according to two other people familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. It wasn’t clear exactly what work investigators had done so far or what additional steps they were planning to take.
In a letter to the National Archives last month, Maloney made a series of requests for information she said the committee needs to determine if Trump violated federal records laws over his handling of sensitive and even classified information. In response, the general counsel for the archivist wrote on March 28 that “based on our consultation with the Department of Justice, we are unable to provide any comment.”
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Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. | https://www.wivb.com/news/ap-source-doj-denies-panel-details-in-trump-records-probe/ | 2022-04-13T00:53:06 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/ap-source-doj-denies-panel-details-in-trump-records-probe/ |
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday said Russia’s war in Ukraine amounted to genocide,” accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
At an earlier event in Menlo, Iowa, addressing spiking energy prices resulting from the war, Biden had implied that he thought Putin was carrying out genocide against Ukraine, but offered no details. Neither he nor his administration announced new consequences for Russia or assistance to Ukraine following Biden’s public assessment.
Biden’s comments drew praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had encouraged Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia’s invasion of his country.
“True words of a true leader @POTUS,” he tweeted. “Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil. We are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.”
A United Nations treaty, to which the U.S. is a party, defines genocide as actions taken with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
Past American leaders often have dodged formally declaring bloody campaigns such as Russia’s in Ukraine as genocide, hesitating to trigger an obligation that under international convention requires signing countries to intervene once genocide is formally identified. That obligation was seen as blocking President Bill Clinton from declaring Rwandan Hutus’ killing of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis in 1994 as genocide, for example.
Biden said it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard for genocide, as Ukrainian officials have claimed, but said “it sure seems that way to me.”
“More evidence is coming out literally of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine, and we’re only going to learn more and more about the devastation and let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies,” he said.
Just last week Biden had he did not believe Russia’s actions amounted to genocide, just that they constituted “war crimes.”
During a trip to Europe last month, Biden faced controversy for a nine-word statement seemingly supporting regime change in Moscow, which would have represented a dramatic shift toward direct confrontation with another nuclear-armed country. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.
He clarified the comments days later, saying: “I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man. I wasn’t articulating a policy change.”
—
Miller reported from Washington. AP writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed. | https://www.wivb.com/news/biden-russia-war-a-genocide-trying-to-wipe-out-ukraine/ | 2022-04-13T00:53:13 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/biden-russia-war-a-genocide-trying-to-wipe-out-ukraine/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mentions of Donald Trump have been rare at the first few trials for people charged with storming the U.S. Capitol, but that changed Tuesday: The latest Capitol riot defendant to go on trial is blaming his actions on the former president and his false claims about a stolen election.
Dustin Byron Thompson, an Ohio man charged with stealing a coat rack from the Capitol, doesn’t deny that he joined the mob on Jan. 6, 2021. But his lawyer vowed to show that Trump abused his power to “authorize” the attack.
Describing Trump as a man without scruples or integrity, defense attorney Samuel Shamansky said the former president engaged in a “sinister” plot to encourage Thompson and other supporters to “do his dirty work.”
“It’s Donald Trump himself spewing the lies and using his position to authorize this assault,” Shamansky told jurors Tuesday during the trial’s opening statements.
Justice Department prosecutor Jennifer Rozzoni said Thompson knew he was breaking the law that day.
“He chose to be a part of the mayhem and chaos,” she said.
Thompson’s lawyer sought subpoenas to call Trump and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as witnesses at his trial this week. A judge rejected that request but ruled that jurors can hear recordings of speeches that Trump and Giuliani delivered at a rally before the riot.
Thompson’s jury trial is the third among hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions. The first two ended with jurors convicting both defendants on all counts with which they were charged.
In a February court filing, Shamansky said he wanted to argue at trial that Thompson was acting at the direction of Trump and “his various conspirators.” The lawyer asked to subpoena others from Trump’s inner circle, including former White House strategist Steve Bannon, former White House senior adviser Stephen Millerand former Trump lawyers John Eastman and Sidney Powell.
Prosecutors said Thompson can’t show that Trump or Giuliani had the authority to “empower” him to break the law. They also noted that video of the rally speeches “perfectly captures” the tone, delivery and context of the statements to the extent they are “marginally relevant” to proof of Thompson’s intent on Jan. 6.
Thompson’s lawyer argued that Trump would testify that he and others “ orchestrated a carefully crafted plot to call into question the integrity of the 2020 presidential election.” Shamansky claimed that Giuliani incited rioters by encouraging them to engage in “trial by combat” and that Trump provoked the mob by saying that “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Shamansky said Thompson, who lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic, became an avid consumer of the conspiracy theories and lies about a stolen election.
“This is the garbage that Dustin Thompson is listening to day after day after day,” Shamansky said. “He goes down this rabbit hole. He listens to this echo chamber. And he acts accordingly.”
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled in Marchthat any in-person testimony by Trump or Giuliani could confuse and mislead jurors.
More than 770 people have been charged with federal crimes arising from Jan. 6. Over 250 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Thompson is the fifth person to be tried on riot-related charges.
On Monday, a jury convicted a former Virginia police officer, Thomas Robertson, of storming the Capitol with another off-duty officer to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Last month, a jury convicted a Texas man, Guy Reffitt, of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun.
A judge hearing testimony without a jury decided cases against two other Capitol riot defendants at separate bench trials. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden acquitted one of them of all charges and partially acquitted the other.
Thompson has a co-defendant, Robert Lyon, who pleaded guilty to riot-related charges in March.
Thompson, then 36, and Lyon, then 27, drove from Columbus, Ohio, to Silver Spring, Maryland, stayed overnight at a hotel and then took an Uber ride into Washington, D.C., on the morning of Jan. 6. After then-President Donald Trump’s speech, Thompson and Lyon headed over to the Capitol.
Thompson was wearing a “Trump 2020” winter hat and a bulletproof vest when he entered the Capitol and went to the Senate Parliamentarian’s Office, where he stole two bottles of liquor and a coat rack worth up to $500, according to prosecutors.
Thompson and Lyon traded text messages during the riot.
“Some girl died already,” Lyon said in one text, an apparent reference to a law enforcement officer’s fatal shooting of a rioter, Ashli Babbitt
“Was it Pelosi?” Thompson replied.
“I’m taking our country back,” Thompson later texted Lyon.
Around 6 p.m. on Jan. 6, Thompson and Lyon were sitting on a sidewalk and waiting for an Uber driver to pick them up when Capitol police officers approached and warned them that they were in a restricted area. As they started to leave, Thompson picked up a coat rack that appeared to be from the Capitol, the FBI said. Thompson ran away when the officers told him to put down the rack, dropping it as he fled. Lyon stayed behind and identified himself and Thompson to police.
That night, Thompson received a text from his wife that said, “I will not post bail.”
The FBI said agents later searched Lyon’s cellphone and found a video that showed a ransacked office and Thompson yelling: “Wooooo! ’Merica Hey! This is our house!” A surveillance video also captured Thompson leaving a Capitol office with a bottle of bourbon, the FBI said.
Thompson is charged with six counts: obstructing Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote, theft of government property, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Lyon pleaded guilty to theft of government property and disorderly conduct. Both counts are misdemeanors punishable by a maximum of 1 year imprisonment. Walton is scheduled to sentence Lyon on June 3. | https://www.wivb.com/news/blame-trump-jury-hears-that-defense-at-capitol-riot-trial/ | 2022-04-13T00:53:20 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/blame-trump-jury-hears-that-defense-at-capitol-riot-trial/ |
PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona man faces four years in prison after pleading guilty to falsely claiming non-existent employees and business revenues when applying for $3.5 million in federal pandemic relief loans in 2020. Officials said he used some of the money to buy a Porsche and a home.
The sentence imposed last Thursday for James Theodore Polzin, 48, of the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert included an order for him to pay over $2.2 million in restitution.
According to federal officials, Polzin used a portion of the proceeds of the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster loans for his own personal benefit, including the car and home purchases, and for “stashing money offshore.”
“This defendant defrauded a program intended to assist hardworking Americans who have been unfairly impacted as a result of this unprecedented and challenging health crisis,” said Scott Brown, special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Polzin pleaded guilty last fall to wire fraud and transactional money laundering. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/arizona-man-in-3-5m-pandemic-loan-fraud-case-gets-4-years/ | 2022-04-13T00:53:27 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/arizona-man-in-3-5m-pandemic-loan-fraud-case-gets-4-years/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended slightly lower on Wall Street Tuesday after investors weighed new data showing some signs that inflation slowed slightly in March, though overall it remained at its highest level in 40 years.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% after having been up 1.3% earlier in the day. The pullback extends the benchmark index’s losing streak to a third day, reflecting investors’ worries about the potential economic collateral damage as the Federal Reserve tackles high inflation more aggressively.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq composite each fell 0.3% after shedding early gains.
The indexes initially rallied following the release of the report, which showed inflation last monthwas again at its highest level in generations, driven by soaring gasoline prices in particular. Still, the reading was relatively close to economists’ expectations.
Another faint silver lining was that inflation wasn’t as bad as economists expected, when ignoring the costs of food and fuel. Known as “core inflation,” this is the reading that the Federal Reserve pays more attention to when setting policy because it’s less volatile. And core inflation on a month-over-month basis moderated to its slowest level since September.
“Hopefully this is as bad as it gets,” said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments.
“The risk is that a red hot labor market grows cold under the force of those higher food, fuel, and financing costs. This is a time when economic resilience will be tested.”
The S&P 500 fell 15.08 points to 4,397.45. The Dow fell 87.72 points to 34,220.36, and the Nasdaq lost 40.38 points to 13,371.57.
Smaller company stocks held up better than the broader market. The Russell 2000 rose 6.61 points, or 0.3%, to 1,986.94.
Stocks in recent days have been trading in the opposite direction of Treasury yields, which have climbed to their highest levels since well before the pandemic. Yields jumped as investors brace for the Federal Reserve to hike short-term rates at a faster pace than typical and to aggressively pare its trove of bonds, whose buildup helped keep longer-term rates low.
But Treasury yields pulled back on Tuesday following the inflation report. The 10-year yield slid to 2.72% from 2.77% late Monday. It was as high as 2.83% overnight, before the inflation report’s release. The 10-year yield nevertheless remains well above the 1.51% level where it began the year.
Stocks elsewhere around the world closed lower or mixed, as unease continues to hang over markets about the war in Ukraine, Chinese efforts to contain COVID outbreaks and where inflation and interest rates are heading.
The price of U.S. crude oil climbed 6.7% to settle at $100.60, keeping the pressure on high inflation. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 6.3% to settle at $104.64.
Higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve would slow the economy, which would hopefully knock down high inflation. Consumer prices were 8.5% higher in March than a year earlier, accelerating from February’s 7.9% inflation rate and the highest since 1981. To bring it down, the Fed revealed in the minutes from its latest meeting that it’s prepared to hike short-term rates by half a percentage point, double the usual amount, at some upcoming meetings, something it hasn’t done since 2000.
The worry is the Federal Reserve may be so aggressive about hiking interest rates that it forces the economy into a recession.
Higher interest rates also put downward pressure on all kinds of investments, with those seen as the most expensive hardest hit. That’s because when investors are earning more in interest to own relatively safe bonds, they’re less willing to pay higher prices for riskier stocks. Technology and other high-growth stocks that have been some of the stock market’s biggest recent winners have been in the spotlight in particular.
On Tuesday, technology stocks were among the biggest drags on S&P 500, along with health care and financial companies. Microsoft fell 1.1%, Pfizer lost 1.5% and Wells Fargo slid 1.8%.
Energy companies and retailers were among the sectors that notched gains. Marathon Oil rose 4.2% and Ross Stores rose 2.5%.
More swings may be in store for stocks as companies prepare to report their earnings for the first three months of the year. Delta Air Lines, JPMorgan Chase and other big-name companies will kick off the reporting season on Wednesday.
A key focus for investors during the latest round of earnings will be any sign of consumers pulling back on spending and how companies reacted, said Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio manager and lead portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions.
“It all boils down to their margins and how are companies deal with rising costs,” Janasiewicz said.
Earnings were able to stay at record levels through the end of last year as companies raised prices for their products and services enough to protect their profit margins. But the further acceleration of inflation may be straining that formula.
Used car dealership chain CarMax slumped 9.5% after reporting disappointing earnings. The company said high prices for cars were discouraging buyers.
While they can swing sharply for many reasons in the short term, stock prices tend to track the path of corporate profits over the long term.
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AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed. Veiga reported from Los Angeles. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/asian-stocks-mixed-as-investors-await-us-profits-inflation/ | 2022-04-13T00:53:34 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/asian-stocks-mixed-as-investors-await-us-profits-inflation/ |
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The top international official in Bosnia on Tuesday suspended a Bosnian Serb property law that is seen as part of a separatist drive by Bosnian Serbs.
Christian Schmidt, who heads the U.N. Office of High Representative in Bosnia, says that the law passed in February in the Bosnian Serb assembly was unconstitutional.
Bosnian Serbs have refused to withdraw the law and top Serb politician Milorad Dodik said Tuesday he does not accept Schmidt’s decision.
The legislation seeks to transfer ownership of public property to the Serb-run entity called Republika Srpska, rather than the Bosnian federal state.
Bosnia’s government consists of two entities — one run by Bosnian Serbs and the other by Bosniaks and Croats — established in a U.S.-brokered peace agreement that ended the 1992-95 ethnic war. The two semi-autonomous regions are bound together by joint central institutions.
Dodik, a pro-Russia politician who’s the Serb member of Bosnia’s multi-ethnic presidency, has repeatedly called for the separation of the Serb entity from the rest of Bosnia.
Britain slapped Dodik and Bosnian Serb President Zeljka Cvijanovic with sanctions on Monday for undermining peace in the Balkan nation. Dodik already has faced U.S. sanctions earlier this year.
He remained defiant on Tuesday, saying that “the property of Republika Srpska remains the property of Republika Srpska.”
Schmidt said that his decision “makes it clear that only the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina can dispose of state property or regulate property.”
The Dayton peace accord envisages that joint decisions in Bosnia are reached by consensus of its ethnic groups. The U.N. High Representative has the authority to suspend laws and officials viewed as violating the peace deal.
The issue of ownership and division of the state property has remained unsolved for years amid disagreements between Bosnian politicians.
Bosnia’s war killed more than 100,000 people and left millions homeless. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/bosnias-international-official-suspends-serb-property-law/ | 2022-04-13T00:53:40 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/bosnias-international-official-suspends-serb-property-law/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is suingTransUnion and one of its long-time executives alleging that the credit company completely “disregarded” a previous order from five years ago to stop selling dubious credit-related products and marketing.
TransUnion entered into an agreement with the CFPB in 2017, agreeing to pay $13.9 million in restitution and $3 million in civil penalties, saying it would stop trying to sell customers credit monitoring subscription products and would provide an clear way for a customer to cancel a subscription if they no longer wanted it.
Instead of taking actions to stop these practices, the CFPB alleged Tuesday that TransUnion executive John Danaher looked for ways to keep the subscription revenues flowing. This included keeping a vague “checkbox” on the TransUnion website that signed customers up for products that they may not have wanted. This often happened when a customer used annualcreditreport.com, the Federal Government’s portal that gives every American access to their credit report from each of the bureaus free once a year.
The CFPB says that roughly 18% of TransUnion’s annual revenue came from these services, which means it would have been a substantial hit to the Chicago company’s bottom line if it were to stop the program entirely.
“TransUnion is an out-of-control repeat offender that believes it is above the law,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said. “I am concerned that TransUnion’s leadership is either unwilling or incapable of operating its businesses lawfully.”
In a prepared statement TransUnion called the CFPB’s lawsuit “meritless” and said that the CFPB refused to meet with TransUnion to resolve this matter in the weeks and months leading up to the suit.
“We have been in compliance with our obligations and we remain in compliance with the consent order today,” the company said. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/cfpb-sues-transunion-for-violating-previous-agreement/ | 2022-04-13T00:53:48 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/cfpb-sues-transunion-for-violating-previous-agreement/ |
MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Climate activists are urging more banks and insurers not to back the controversial $5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline that is primed to transport oil from the Hoima oilfields in Uganda to the Tanzanian coastal city of Tanga. Influential climate activists Vanessa Nakate and Hilda Nakabuye have lent their support to opponents of the pipeline citing the need for Africa to stay away from fossil fuels.
The unrelenting pressure mounted by environmental groups, under the banner #StopEACOP, has led to a growing list of banks and insurers quitting the oil pipeline project. Just this week the project suffered another major setback after insurer Allianz Group pulled out of the project. It joins 15 banks and seven insurance companies — including HSBC, BNP Paribas and Swiss Re — who have denied financially backing the pipeline in response to the campaign waged by numerous environmental organizations, led by the international group 350.org.
The 897 mile (1443 km) oil pipeline is billed as the longest heated pipeline in the world. The China National Oil Corporation and French energy conglomerate TotalEnergies, alongside the Uganda National Oil Company and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Cooperation, have remained firm in pushing ahead with the pipeline project which is expected to start transporting oil in 2025.
Johnson Nderi a financial analyst in Nairobi supports the oil pipeline, saying “Africa needs cheap stable power as that afforded by oil and coal, to grow its manufacturing sector.”
Construction of the pipeline will displace thousands of families and threaten water resources in the Lake Victoria and River Nile basins, according to 350.org. The environmental group goes on to say that the crude pipeline will generate some 37 million tons (34 million metric tonnes) of carbon dioxide emissions annually, fueling climate change.
“TotalEnergies is putting profits over people and it shows. Communities in Uganda and Tanzania have been fighting tirelessly against the planned pipeline and the trail of destruction it is already leaving in its wake,” Omar Elmawi, the coordinator of the #StopEACOP campaign, said. “At a time when scientists call for the phasing out of fossil fuel projects, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, it is ill-advised and irresponsible to go ahead with this project, while ignoring the cries of those most affected.”
TotalEnergies has defended the pipeline noting that it adheres to strict Ugandan and Tanzanian environmental laws. An environmental social impact assessment report conducted by the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment raised concerns about significant risks posed to wildlife notably chimpanzees in the Bugoma, Wambabya and Taala forest reserves.
Initially priced at $3.5 billion, the underground electrically heated pipeline will now cost $5 billion and is expected to start near Lake Albert in Hoima District, western Uganda. It will skirt around Lake Victoria entering northern Tanzania on its way to Chongoleani peninsula on the Indian Ocean transporting 216,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The pipeline is expected to displace over 14,000 households in both Uganda and Tanzania, according to the international poverty charity Oxfam. But proponents of the project are citing a $2 billion annual revenue from the oil exports alongside some 12,000 direct jobs in its defence.
British firm Tullow Oil first discovered oil in the Lake Albert Basin in 2006, with recoverable oil estimates pegged at 1.2 billion barrels. In 2020, Tullow sold its entire stake to Total Energies. In early February, the oil pipeline’s major backers, led by Total Energies, announced the conclusion of the Financial Investment Decision, signaling the commencement of the construction of the oil pipeline.
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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/east-african-oil-pipeline-hits-the-headwinds/ | 2022-04-13T00:53:54 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/east-african-oil-pipeline-hits-the-headwinds/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Another month, another four-decade high for inflation.
For the 12 months that ended in March, consumer prices rocketed 8.5%. That was the fastest year-over-year jump since 1981, far surpassing February’s mark of 7.9%, itself a 40-year high.
Even if you toss out food and energy prices — which are notoriously volatile and have driven much of the price spike — so-called core inflation jumped 6.5% in the past 12 months. That was also the sharpest such jump in four decades.
Consumers have felt the squeeze in everyday routines. Gasoline is up an average of 48% in the past year. Airline tickets are up 24%, men’s suits nearly 15%, bacon 18%.
The Federal Reserve never anticipated inflation this severe or persistent. Back in December 2020, the Fed’s policymakers had forecast that consumer inflation would stay below their 2% annual target and end 2021 at around 1.8%.
Yet after having been merely an afterthought for decades, high inflation reasserted itself last year with brutal speed. In February 2021, the government’s consumer price index was running just 1.7% above its level a year earlier. From there, the year-over-year increases accelerated — 2.6% in March, 4.2% in April, 5% in May, 5.4% in June.
By October, the figure was 6.2%, by November 6.8%, by December 7%.
For months, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and some others characterized higher consumer prices as merely “transitory” — the result, mainly, of shipping delays and temporary shortages of supplies and workers as the economy rebounded from the pandemic recession much faster than anyone had anticipated. Now, most economists expect inflation to remain elevated well into next year, with demand outstripping supplies in numerous areas of the economy.
So the Fed has radically changed course. Last month, it raised its benchmark short-term rate by a quarter-point and is expected to keep raising it, probably aggressively, well into 2023. In doing so, the Fed is moving decisively away from the ultra-low rates that helped revive the economy from the recession but also helped fuel surging consumer prices.
The Fed is making a high-risk bet that it can slow the economy enough to rein in inflation without weakening it so much as to trigger a recession. The overall economy is healthy, with a robust job market and extremely low unemployment. But many economists say they worry that the Fed’s steady credit tightening will cause an economic downturn.
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WHAT’S CAUSED THE SPIKE IN INFLATION?
Good news — mostly. When the pandemic paralyzed the economy in the spring of 2020 and lockdowns kicked in, businesses closed or cut hours and consumers stayed home as a health precaution, employers slashed a breathtaking 22 million jobs. Economic output plunged at a record-shattering 31% annual rate in 2020’s April-June quarter.
Everyone braced for more misery. Companies cut investment and postponed restocking. A brutal recession ensued.
But instead of sinking into a prolonged downturn, the economy staged an unexpectedly rousing recovery, fueled by vast infusions of government aid and emergency intervention by the Fed, which slashed rates, among other things. By spring of last year, the rollout of vaccines had emboldened consumers to return to restaurants, bars, shops, airports and entertainment venues.
Suddenly, businesses had to scramble to meet demand. They couldn’t hire fast enough to fill job openings or buy enough supplies to meet customer orders. As business roared back, ports and freight yards couldn’t handle the traffic. Global supply chains seized up.
With demand up and supplies down, costs jumped. And companies found that they could pass along those higher costs in the form of higher prices to consumers, many of whom had managed to pile up savings during the pandemic.
Critics blamed, in part, President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, with its $1,400 checks to most households, for overheating an economy that was already sizzling on its own. Many others argued that the Fed kept rates near zero far too long, lending fuel to runaway spending and inflated prices in stocks, homes and other assets.
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HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?
Elevated consumer price inflation could endure as long as companies struggle to keep up with consumers’ demand for goods and services. A recovering job market — employers added a record 6.7 million jobs last year and are adding 560,000 a month so far this year — means that Americans as a whole can continue to splurge on everything from lawn furniture to electronics.
Many economists foresee inflation staying well above the Fed’s 2% annual target this year. But relief from higher prices might be coming. Jammed-up supply chains are beginning to show some signs of improvement, at least in some industries. The Fed’s pivot away from easy-money policies toward an anti-inflationary policy could eventually reduce consumer demand. There will be no repeat of last year’s COVID relief checks from Washington. Inflation itself is eroding purchasing power and might force some consumers to shave spending.
At the same time, new COVID variants could cloud the outlook — either by causing outbreaks that force factories and ports to close and disrupt supply chains even more or by keeping people home and reducing demand for goods.
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HOW ARE HIGHER PRICES AFFECTING CONSUMERS?
The strong job market is boosting workers’ pay, though not enough to offset higher prices. The Labor Department says that after accounting for higher consumer prices, hourly earnings for private-sector employees fell 2.7% last month from a year earlier, the 12th straight such drop.
There are exceptions: After-inflation wages rose 8% for hotel workers and 4% for restaurant and bar employees in March from a year earlier.
Partisan politics, in the meantime, is influencing the way Americans view the inflation threat. With a Democrat in the White House, Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say that inflation is having a negative effect on their personal finances, according to surveys of consumer sentiment conducted by the University of Michigan. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/explainer-why-us-inflation-is-so-high-and-when-it-may-ease-5/ | 2022-04-13T00:54:00 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/explainer-why-us-inflation-is-so-high-and-when-it-may-ease-5/ |
MULHOUSE, France (AP) — Facing a tougher-than expected fight for reelection, French President Emmanuel Macron has hit the campaign trail at last — and it isn’t always proving welcoming.
But he’s not shying away from angry voters, instead engaging in lively, sometimes confrontational debates. Since he and far-right nationalist rival Marine Le Pen qualified Sunday for France’s April 24 presidential runoff, Macron has seemed eager to go in the field to explain his policies and try to convince people to hand him a second term.
On Tuesday, he was asked hard questions during a visit to the eastern city of Mulhouse.
“Why didn’t you help the poorest?”
“Why do hospitals suffer from shortages of beds and shortages of health workers?”
“How can you propose to push back retirement age from 62 to 65 when so many people are jobless?”
The 44-year-old leader appeared determined to explain his policies at length — but sometimes grew impatient when people kept contradicting him.
Before Sunday’s first round presidential vote which had 12 candidates, Macron skipped most campaign activities, focusing his time at the Elysee Presidential Palace on diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Domestic critics decried the perceived lack of debate in France’s presidential campaign.
Now the role of candidate has taken over. Macron is considered the favorite by the polls, but Le Pen appears to have significantly narrowed the gap from 2017, when he trounced her in the same presidential runoff.
On Monday, Macron went to an economically depressed region in northern France that is considered Le Pen’s stronghold. The next day, he visited the eastern cities of Mulhouse and Strasbourg, where far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came in third Sunday, got a majority of the first-round vote.
Upon his arrival in Mulhouse, Macron literally ran toward the small crowd waiting for him. He met some supporters, but also angry, discouraged workers from a nearby public hospital who came to challenge him.
“We are exhausted,” some nurses told him. “Improve our working conditions!”
A 61-year-old health care worker said he worked for 30 years and but is earning only 1,885 euros ($2,051) a month.
“I am not thinking about myself. I am thinking of my children, my grandchildren,” he said, explaining his vote.
Macron mentioned changes his government had made amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including a small salary increase for hospital workers.
“Have your earnings been increased?” he asked.
“We don’t feel the impact of it,” the man answered.
Another health care worker asked him about hospitals “losing beds” as the pandemic is still going on.
“I know, that is the challenge we are facing,” Macron acknowledged, explaining that the issue is about a lack of trained hospital staff, a situation amplified in a region where many French seek work in neighboring Germany and Switzerland where wages are higher.
“Two years ago, I made commitments… and the salaries were increased. And 183 euros ($199) per month, you can’t say that’s nothing,” Macron insisted.
Another big obstacle repeatedly came Macron’s way: his planned pension changes. Macron wants to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 65, which he argues is needed so France can keep financing the pensions. Le Pen says she would maintain the retirement age at 62. The issue prompted major street protests in late 2019, and Macron then had to postpone his plans amid the COVID-19 crisis.
“We must work longer,” Macron said. “It’s not true we can keep financing our social model if we don’t push back (the retirement age).”
He kept repeating that the retirement changes would be implemented very gradually through 2031 and opened the door to softening the reform, as he seeks to attract voters who chose other candidates in the first round.
At a rally on the plaza adjacent to the 12th-century cathedral of Strasbourg, home to the European parliament, boos briefly disrupted Macron’s speech on Europe but failed to destabilize him. Instead, he responded spontaneously to criticism and called for his supporters and his opponents to respect each other.
Le Pen’s supporters credit her months of campaigning in France’s provinces for her strong first-round showing. But as Macron joined the fray at last, he sought to make a distinction between their campaigns, criticizing those candidates “who never go to meet opponents.”
“I’m not going to meet only people who like me,” he said.
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Associated Press journalists Masha Macpherson and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.
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Follow all AP stories on the 2022 French presidential election at https://apnews.com/hub/french-election-2022. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/frances-macron-faces-angry-voters-as-he-fights-for-2nd-term/ | 2022-04-13T00:54:07 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/frances-macron-faces-angry-voters-as-he-fights-for-2nd-term/ |
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Some grain elevators are so full that farmers trying to sell their crops are being turned away. But at the same time, flour and animal-feed mills are halting production because they can’t get the grain they need.
The issue? The lack of trains to move the grain.
Federal regulators are holding hearings later this month to look into the causes of the dearth of rail capacity, which the railroads largely attribute to factors outside their control, like the broader supply-chain issues and widespread labor shortages.
But shippers, regulators and rail labor groups say they believe the heart of the problem is that railroads cut too deeply when they eliminated nearly one-third of their workforce in recent years in the name of efficiency.
“The cuts were too severe,” said Max Fisher, chief economist for the National Grain and Feed Association. “Now there’s no buffer capacity to respond to increases in demand or problems in weather or train derailments and things like that. That buffer capacity that used to be in place is no longer there.”
Union Pacific, BNSF and other major railroads say they are addressing the problems by hiring aggressively and asking customers to cut the number of carloads they are shipping to reduce congestion along the rail network.
“Railroads are not immune to challenges felt throughout the economy,” said Ted Greener, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads trade group. “Railroads continue to take active measures to address these challenges, including labor shortages.”
Companies all across the country are reporting shipping problems but trade groups say some of the worst rail issues are currently in the western United States.
In addition to the issues for farmers and grain processors, some ethanol plants have had to cut production while waiting for empty railcars to arrive. A spokesman for the American Chemistry Council said Tuesday that more than half the companies it represents have reported railroad service problems this year.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently joined the NGFA and Growth Energy trade groups in making formal complaints to the Surface Transportation Board that oversees rail service. Labor groups, including the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation union and the Transportation Trades Department union coalition, also weighed in with concerns about how the deep job cuts have hurt railroad capacity.
Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin Oberman has said that the major freight railroads placed too much emphasis on lowering costs and satisfying shareholders as they eliminated 45,000 jobs over the past six years and cut “their workforce to the bare bones.” The board will hold a hearing on April 26-27.
“All of this has directly contributed to where we are today — rail users experiencing serious deteriorations in rail service because, on too many parts of their networks, the railroads simply do not have a sufficient number of employees,” Oberman said.
The shipper groups say they hope the board will order the railroads to deliver better service and consider requiring them to open up their networks to allow competing railroads to bid on hauling shipments from companies that are currently served by only one railroad. Freight railroads oppose that proposal because they say it would complicate shipments and slow deliveries.
The railroads defend the large operational changes they have made in recent years which include relying on increasingly longer trains run on a tighter schedule so they need fewer locomotives and crews to deliver millions of tons of goods.
“What we’re seeing now and have seen for some time is the impact of disruptive events,” Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South said. “We’ve always staffed based on volume.”
Norfolk Southern said it has adjusted staffing to meet demand wherever possible but “a tight labor market continues to contribute to service challenges, while demand on our national supply chain remains unprecedently high.”
BNSF CEO Katie Farmer acknowledged to customers in a letter that its recent service isn’t meeting their expectations, but the railroad is working to improve that.
“However, restoring our network and meeting our customers’ service expectations will not be an overnight process,” Farmer said.
Railroads have been hiring steadily since the economy rebounded sharply from the depths of the pandemic, and they have stepped up those efforts this year to help resolve the service problems and prepare for more volume.
Union Pacific said it has hired 450 additional workers since January and BNSF says it is on pace to hire 1,000 people this year. Norfolk Southern is offering $5,000 bonuses to new employees as it ramps up its hiring efforts. CSX has also been hiring aggressively. But hiring takes a while to have an effect because of the length of time it takes to train new employees.
The railroads have also taken hundreds of locomotives out of storage since winter to help them handle additional demand, and BNSF and Union Pacific have also imposed stricter attendance rules to help ensure they have the crews they need to operate those trains.
Union Pacific just started asking customers to cut back on their shipments this week. That Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad said it will impose firm limits on shipments from some customers starting next week if firms don’t voluntarily cut back. BNSF said late last month that it had started to try to reduce the number of railcars it is moving by roughly 2% to help alleviate congestion.
The traffic limits those railroads are imposing are similar to steps they took last year to temporarily reduce shipments of containers of imported goods when warehouses and ports were having trouble moving them because of the ongoing supply chain problems. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/freight-railroads-work-to-resolve-service-problems-delays/ | 2022-04-13T00:54:13 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/freight-railroads-work-to-resolve-service-problems-delays/ |
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — One of the busiest trade ports on the U.S.-Mexico border remained closed on Tuesday as frustration mounted over new orders by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requiring extra inspections of commercial trucks as part of the Republican’s sprawling border security operation.
Since Monday, Mexican truckers have blocked the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in protest of Abbott directing state troopers last week to pull over and inspect trucks coming into Texas. The bridge is the largest land port for produce entering the U.S.
Unusually long backups — some lasting 12 hours or longer — have also been reported elsewhere along Texas’ roughly 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) border in the early rollout of an initiative that Abbott says is needed to curb human trafficking and the flow of drugs. But critics question how the inspections are meeting that objective, while business owners and experts say the impact is already being felt and warned that U.S. grocery shoppers could notice shortages as soon as later this week.
Frustration is also spreading to members of Abbott’s own party: Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican, called the inspections a “catastrophic policy” that is forcing some trucks to reroute hundreds of miles (kilometers) to Arizona.
“I do describe it as a crisis, because this is not the normal way of doing business,” said Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, whose county includes the bridge in Pharr. “You’re talking about billions of dollars. When you stop that process, I mean, there are many, many, many, many people that are affected.”
The shutdowns and slowdowns have set off some of widest backlash to date of Abbott’s multibillion dollar border operation, which the two-term governor has made the cornerstone of his administration. Texas already has thousands of state troopers and National Guard members on the border and has converted prisons into jails for migrants arrested on state trespassing charges.
Abbott warned last week that inspections would “dramatically slow” border traffic, but he hasn’t addressed the backups or port shutdowns since then. His office didn’t reply to a message seeking comment left Tuesday.
The disruptions at some of the world’s busiest international trade ports could pose economic and political threats to Abbott, who is seeking a third term in November. Democrat Beto O’Rourke, the former presidential candidate who is running against Abbott for governor, said during a stop in Pharr on Tuesday that the inspections were doing nothing to halt the flow of migrants and were worsening supply chain issues.
He was joined by Joe Arevalo, owner of Keystone Cold, a cold-storage warehouse on the border. He said that although Texas state troopers have always inspected some trucks crossing the border “they’ve never, ever, ever held up a complete system or a complete supply chain.”
An estimated 3,000 trucks cross the Pharr bridge on a normal day, according to the the National Freight Transportation Chamber.
“We’re living through a nightmare, and we’re already suffering through a very delicate supply chain from the pandemic and to try to regrow the business,” Arevalo said.
The additional inspections are conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which said that as of Monday, it had inspected more than 3,400 commercial vehicles and placed more than 800 “out of service” for violations that included defective brakes, tires and lighting. It made no mention of whether the truck inspections had turned up migrants or drugs.
Mexican trucking companies accused Abbott of collapsing cross-border trade through his order, and Mexico’s assistant secretary of commerce wrote a letter to Abbott requesting a solution.
The order’s impact is spreading beyond Texas: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials confirmed Tuesday that there was another blockade at the Mexican customs facility at the Santa Teresa port of entry in southern New Mexico, not far from El Paso. Those protests are misguided since New Mexico has nothing to do with Texas’ inspection policies, said Jerry Pacheco, executive director of the International Business Accelerator and president of the Border Industrial Association.
He said the protests were costing businesses millions of dollars a day.
“Everybody down here is on a just-in-time inventory system,” Pancheo said. “It’s going to affect all of us, all of us in the United States. Your car parts are going to be delivered late, your computer — if you ordered a Dell or HP tablet, those are going to be disrupted.”
Ed Anderson, a professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, compared the disruptions to those caused by February’s trucker blockade in Canada that forced auto plants on both sides of the border to shut down or scale back production. During that protest, trucks looking for other entries to cross into the U.S. wound up causing congesting at other bridges, a scenario that Anderson said might now be repeated on the southern border.
Anderson said consumers would likely begin noticing the effects by the end of this week, if not sooner.
“Either prices are going to spike or shelves are going to be low,” he said.
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Associated Press reporters Acacia Coronado. Susan Montoya in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/frustration-grows-over-truck-backlogs-at-texas-mexico-border/ | 2022-04-13T00:54:19 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/frustration-grows-over-truck-backlogs-at-texas-mexico-border/ |
Boeing has removed 141 airplanes from its backlog of pending orders, many of them because of what it termed geopolitical considerations including restrictions on sales because of sanctions like those imposed on Russia for its war against Ukraine.
That means that Boeing now questions whether those sales will ever be completed because of sanctions.
Boeing still has more than 4,200 undelivered orders. Under U.S. accounting rules, Boeing regularly adds or removes orders from the backlog, but usually only when an order is canceled or the buyer’s financial problems put the deal in jeopardy.
This time, however, the company said Tuesday that about two-thirds of the 130 Boeing 737s that it removed from the backlog resulted from geopolitical reasons, including sanctions. The move suggests that 85 to 90 sales were, in effect, downgraded to questionable because of the sanctions.
Boeing did not identify the customers. The company previously indicated that it had undelivered orders for 34 planes with Russian carriers Utair and Volga-Dnepr and seven with SkyUp Airlines of Ukraine. A company spokeswoman said planes ordered by leasing companies but destined ultimately for a Russian airline were also removed from the backlog.
In the past 10 years, Boeing has taken orders for 86 planes from Russian companies including 30 from Utair, 22 from Sberbank Leasing and six from Aeroflot, the nation’s flag carrier. Those numbers could understate Boeing’s exposure to Russia, however, because the company doesn’t always identify buyers, and Russian airlines get many of their planes from European and U.S. leasing companies — who are now scrambling to get their planes back from Russia.
Cai von Rumohr, an aerospace analyst for Cowen, said Boeing has more pressing issues than losing Russian orders, including concern that inflation, higher oil prices, the war and COVID-19 could slow the recovery in air travel and hurt demand for new planes.
“Just losing Russia, if everything else is on track, is basically not a big deal because they have a great big backlog,” he said. “But Shanghai is in lockdown (because of coronavirus) and China traffic is down, so how many planes are they going to want?”
Boeing announced the backlog changes while reporting that it took 38 net new orders for planes in March, most of them single-aisle 737 Max jets. Los Angeles-based Air Lease Corp. placed an order for 32 Maxes.
Boeing Co. said it delivered 41 planes in March, including 37 737s, most of them Max models. The Chicago-based company has delivered 95 planes so far this year, providing crucial cash because airlines typically pay a large part of the purchase price on delivery.
The United States and its allies have been imposing steadily escalating sanctions on Russiasince it invaded Ukraine in February.
Last week, Boeing’s European rival, Airbus, announced that it canceled an Aeroflot order for two planes. Airbus, which uses different accounting standards, still has an Aeroflot order for 13 planes and 14 planes for Russia’s Ilyushin Finance Co. in its backlog.
Sanctions have also forced Boeing and Airbus to stop providing aircraft parts and services to Russian airlines. Aviation consultant IBA said that Russian airlines will be able to cannibalize parts from their planes for a while, but the lack of spare parts will have “a significant impact” on them in six to 12 months.
Boeing shares rose less than 1% to close at $176.28. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/geopolitics-leads-boeing-to-downgrade-dozens-of-jet-orders/ | 2022-04-13T00:54:25 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/geopolitics-leads-boeing-to-downgrade-dozens-of-jet-orders/ |
BERLIN (AP) — German auto parts and technology company Bosch said Tuesday it is buying Five, a British automated driving startup, for an undisclosed amount.
Bosch said Five, which is based in Cambridge and employs 140 people at six locations in the U.K., currently focuses on a cloud-based development and testing platform for the software used in self-driving cars.
Bosch board member Markus Heyn said the company wants Five “to give an extra boost to our work in software development for safe automated driving, and offer our customers European-made technology.”
Bosch said in a statement that Five ”gave preference to Bosch over other takeover bidders,” which it didn’t identify, and that the agreement was signed at the beginning of April. It said the companies agreed not to disclose financial details, and that the deal is subject to approval by antritrust authorities. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/germanys-bosch-buys-british-automated-driving-startup-five/ | 2022-04-13T00:54:31 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/germanys-bosch-buys-british-automated-driving-startup-five/ |
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece will accelerate plans to exploit offshore natural gas deposits, the country’s prime minister said Tuesday, describing a return to reliance on fossil fuels as a temporary necessity due to the disruption caused by the war in Ukraine.
Surveys in six regions in western and southern Greece should be completed by the end of next year, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing international energy crisis have added to the very serious level of uncertainty in all our lives,” he said.
“I would like to emphasize that this new path in no way diverts us from the long-term goals of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.”
Low oil and gas prices in recent years were blamed for stalling gas exploration in Greece’s Ionian Sea and off the coast of the island of Crete.
But the government last week announced plans to increase domestic coal production and expand its natural gas infrastructure to boost its liquefied natural gas capacity with additional storage space at an existing facility and plans to build two more.
The expansion will eventually allow Greece to export gas to its northern neighbors Bulgaria and North Macedonia, which are also heavily reliant on Russian gas. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/greece-fossil-fuels-offer-new-path-to-green-transition/ | 2022-04-13T00:54:38 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/greece-fossil-fuels-offer-new-path-to-green-transition/ |
MENLO, Iowa (AP) — Withinflation at a 40-year high, President Joe Biden journeyed to corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday to announce a modest step aimed at trimming gasoline prices by about a dime a gallon at a limited number of stations by waiving rules that restrict ethanol blending.
His action reflects the ways Biden is deploying almost every weapon in his bureaucratic arsenal to ease price pressures, yet the impact appears to be small and uncertain. Inflation has only accelerated in recent months, instead of fading as Biden once promised it would after the recovery from the coronavirus recession following last year’s $1.9 trillion relief package.
A government report Tuesday that consumer prices jumped 8.5% in March from a year ago — the worst reading since December 1981 — only deepened the political challenge for Biden and fellow Democrats ahead of this year’s midterm elections. More than half the increase came from higher gas prices, which spiked in part because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, but costs also jumped for housing, food and other items.
Biden called the inflation report “Putin’s price hike.”
“Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away,” the U.S. president said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But in his remarks at the POET biofuels facility in Menlo, west of Des Moines, Biden acknowledged that the waiver on ethanol mixes was a small step.
“I’m doing everything within my power by executive orders to bring down the price,” he said. “It’s not going to solve all our problems, but it’s going to help some people.”
Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol, a biofuel that is currently cheaper than gas. Biden was announcing that the Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver to allow widespread sale of a 15% ethanol blend that is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.
Senior Biden administration officials said the action will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon based on current prices, but at just 2,300 gas stations out of the nation’s more than 100,000. The affected stations are mostly in the Midwest and the South, including Texas, according to industry groups.
Administration officials said the EPA has determined that the “emergency” step of allowing more E15 gasoline sales for the summer is not likely to have a significant air quality impact. That’s despite some environmentalists long arguing that more ethanol in gasoline increases pollution, especially during warmer summer months.
The waiver is another effort to help ease global energy markets that have been rocked since Russia invaded Ukraine. Last month, the president announced the U.S. will release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve over the next six months. His administration said that has helped to slightly reduce gas prices lately, after they climbed to an average of about $4.23 a gallon by the end of March, compared with $2.87 at the same time a year ago, according to AAA.
“Not only is this decision a major win for American drivers and our nation’s energy security, it means cleaner options at the pump and a stronger rural economy,” Emily Skor, CEO of the biofuel trade association group Growth Energy, said in a statement.
Members of Congress from both parties also had urged Biden to grant the E15 waiver.
“Homegrown Iowa biofuels provide a quick and clean solution for lowering prices at the pump, and bolstering production would help us become energy independent once again,″ said Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. He was among nine Republican and seven Democratic senators from Midwestern states who sent Biden a letter last month urging him to allow year-round E15 sales.
The trip will be Biden’s first as president to Iowa, where his 2020 presidential campaign limped to a fourth-place finish in the state’s caucus. He will arrive saddled with sagging approval ratings and the high inflationwhile his party faces the prospect of big midterm election losses that could cost it control of Congress.
The president also planned to promote his economic plans to help rural families and highlight the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law enacted last fall. That law includes money to improve internet access, as well as for modernizing wastewater systems, reducing flooding threats and improving roads and bridges, drinking water and electric grids in sparsely populated areas.
Biden had hoped Democrats could run on the low 3.6% unemployment rate and an agenda geared toward lifting the middle class, but inflation has hijacked those ambitions and given Republicans a target for criticism.
Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kauffman was unsparing in his criticism of Biden’s handling of the economy and inflation. But, he said, the temporary move on ethanol was the right one.
“First of all, let me say that that’s a good thing. Absolutely good thing. It would have been nice had he done it earlier,” Kauffman said. “Am I glad about this waiver? Yes I am. Is it enough? Nope.”
The high inflation also poses a threat to Biden’s broader domestic agenda that likely hinges on the vote of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Manchin released a statement saying that the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve failed “to act fast enough,” to curb costs for the American people and that the problem of high prices predates the invasion of Ukraine.
Manchin, whose opposition doomed Biden’s 10-year, roughly $2 trillion measure in December, had recently returned to the negotiating table with the White House. It remains unclear what impact the new inflation data will have on those negotiations.
After Iowa, Biden will visit Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday.
The EPA has lifted seasonal restrictions on E15 in the past, including after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The Trump administration did so in the summer two years later but had that action struck down by a federal appeals court.
A group representing petroleum refiners blasted Biden’s decision, saying the only emergency was his dropping poll numbers.
“We are right there with the administration on wanting to see relief for consumers at the pump, but an unlawful executive order is not how to solve the problem,” said Chet Thompson, president & CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
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Josh Boak and Matthew Daly reported from Washington. AP writers Tom Beaumont in Des Moines and Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/iowa-rejected-biden-but-president-back-to-sell-rural-plan/ | 2022-04-13T00:54:45 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/iowa-rejected-biden-but-president-back-to-sell-rural-plan/ |
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A California appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that Johnson & Johnson must pay penalties to the state for deceptively marketing pelvic mesh implants for women, but reduced the amount by $42 million to $302 million.
Johnson & Johnson had appealed in 2020 after Superior Court Judge Eddie Sturgeon assessed the $344 million in penalties against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Ethicon.
Sturgeon found after a non-jury trial that the company made misleading and potentially harmful statements in hundreds of thousands of advertisements and instructional brochures for nearly two decades.
California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal issued a ruling Monday that $42 million in penalties assessed for the company’s sales pitches to doctors were unjustified because there was no evidence of what the sales representatives actually said.
But the appeals court said Sturgeon received ample evidence that Ethicon knowingly deceived both physicians and patients about the risks posed by its products, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Ryan Carbain, a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson, told the Chronicle that the company would appeal the appeals court ruling to the state Supreme Court.
The instructions for use in all of the company’s pelvic mesh implant packages “falsified or omitted the full range, severity, duration, and cause of complications associated with Ethicon’s pelvic mesh products, as well as the potential irreversibility and catastrophic consequences,” Presiding Justice Judith McConnell of the appeals court said in a 3-0 ruling upholding the $302 million in penalties.
She rejected the company’s claim that the fine was excessive, saying it amounted to less than 1% of Johnson & Johnson’s net worth of $70.4 billion.
The products, also called transvaginal mesh, are synthetic and surgically implanted through the vagina of women whose pelvic organs have sagged or who suffered from stress urinary incontinence when they cough, sneeze or lift heavy objects.
Many women have sued the New Jersey-based company alleging that the mesh caused severe pain, bleeding, infections, discomfort during intercourse and the need for removal surgery.
The condition is estimated to affect 3% to 17% of women and it sometimes becomes severe after age 70.
Johnson & Johnson, the world’s biggest maker of health care products, is contesting other lawsuits over drug side effects, its role in the U.S. opioid epidemic and allegations its baby powder caused cancer in some users. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/johnson-johnson-ordered-to-pay-302m-in-pelvic-mesh-case/ | 2022-04-13T00:54:52 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/johnson-johnson-ordered-to-pay-302m-in-pelvic-mesh-case/ |
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 reprievein 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.
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Associated Press White House reporter Zeke Miller contributed to this report. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/mask-rule-for-planes-and-trains-still-up-in-the-air/ | 2022-04-13T00:54:59 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/mask-rule-for-planes-and-trains-still-up-in-the-air/ |
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands’ data protection watchdog imposed a record 3.7 million euro ($4 million) fine Tuesday on the country’s tax office for unlawfully processing and storing personal information in a “black list” used to detect fraud.
Data Protection Authority’s Chairman Aleid Wolfsen said the government’s Taxation Service “violated the rights of the 270,000 people on that list in an unprecedented way.”
“For over 6 years, people were often wrongly labeled as fraudsters, with dire consequences,” said Wolfsen.
It was the latest in a string of rebukes for Dutch tax authorities, including a fine of 2.75 million euros last year for what the Data Protection Authority called discriminatory practices in a long-running scandal centered on efforts to stamp out fraud with child welfare payments.
The last Dutch government resigned early last year to take responsibility for the welfare fraud scandal.
In the latest case, the authority said that tax authorities collected personal information without a proper legal foundation, often got personal details wrong, leading to people being incorrectly labeled as fraudsters, and did not adequately protect the list.
An internal investigation also revealed that tax office staff were instructed to use the nationality and appearance of people as criteria for gauging whether they could be considered fraud risks.
“If you had a Turkish, Moroccan or East European nationality, then you were further investigated without good reason,” Wolfsen said. “This discrimination is unacceptable.”
The data protection agency said that the tax authorities stopped using the black list in February 2020.
The government minister in charge of the tax office, Marnix van Rij, said the decision was “hard and undeniable and shows once again that fundamental improvements are necessary at the Taxation Service.”
He called the fine “a painful, but understandable conclusion given the seriousness of the findings” and said he would not appeal. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/record-fine-for-dutch-tax-office-over-personal-data-list/ | 2022-04-13T00:55:06 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/record-fine-for-dutch-tax-office-over-personal-data-list/ |
KIAMBU COUNTY, Kenya (AP) — Monica Kariuki is about ready to give up on farming. What is driving her off her 10 acres of land outside Nairobi isn’t bad weather, pests or blight — the traditional agricultural curses — but fertilizer: It costs too much.
Despite thousands of miles separating her from the battlefields of Ukraine, Kariuki and her cabbage, corn and spinach farm are indirect victims of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The war has pushed up the price of natural gas, a key ingredient in fertilizer, and has led to severe sanctions against Russia, a major exporter of fertilizer.
Kariuki used to spend 20,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $175, to fertilize her entire farm. Now, she would need to spend five times as much. Continuing to work the land, she said, would yield nothing but losses.
“I cannot continue with the farming business. I am quitting farming to try something else,’’ she said.
Higher fertilizer prices are making the world’s food supply more expensive and less abundant, as farmers skimp on nutrients for their crops and get lower yields. While the ripples will be feltby grocery shoppers in wealthy countries, the squeeze on food supplies will land hardest on families in poorer countries. It could hardly come at a worse time: The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said last week that its world food-price index in March reached the highest level since it started in 1990.
The fertilizer crunch threatens to further limit worldwide food supplies, already constrained by the disruption of crucial grain shipments from Ukraine and Russia. The loss of those affordable supplies of wheat, barley and other grains raises the prospect of food shortages and political instability in Middle Eastern, African and some Asian countries where millions rely on subsidized bread and cheap noodles.
“Food prices will skyrocket because farmers will have to make profit, so what happens to consumers?’’ said Uche Anyanwu, an agricultural expert at the University of Nigeria.
The aid group Action Aid warns that families in the Horn of Africa are already being driven “to the brink of survival.’’
The U.N. says Russia is the world’s No. 1 exporter of nitrogen fertilizer and No. 2 in phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. Its ally Belarus, also contending with Western sanctions, is another major fertilizer producer.
Many developing countries — including Mongolia, Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Mexico and Guatemala — rely on Russia for at least a fifth of their imports.
The conflict also has driven up the already-exorbitant price of natural gas, used to make nitrogen fertilizer. The result: European energy prices so high that some fertilizer companies “have closed their businesses and stopped operating their plants,’’ said David Laborde, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
For corn and cabbage farmer Jackson Koeth, 55, of Eldoret in western Kenya, the conflict in Ukraine was distant and puzzling until he had to decide whether to go ahead with the planting season. Fertilizer prices had doubled from last year.
Koeth said he decided to keep planting but only on half the acreage of years past. Yet he doubts he can make a profit with fertilizer so costly.
Greek farmer Dimitris Filis, who grows olives, oranges and lemons, said “you have to search to find’’ ammonia nitrate and that the cost of fertilizing a 10-hectare (25-acre) olive grove has doubled to 560 euros ($310). While selling his wares at an Athens farm market, he said most farmers plan to skip fertilizing their olive and orange groves this year.
“Many people will not use fertilizers at all, and this as a result, lowers the quality of the production and the production itself, and slowly, slowly at one point, they won’t be able to farm their land because there will be no income,’’ Filis said.
In China, the price of potash — potassium-rich salt used as fertilizer — is up 86% from a year earlier. Nitrogen fertilizer prices have climbed 39% and phosphorus fertilizer is up 10%.
In the eastern Chinese city of Tai’an, the manager of a 35-family cooperative that raises wheat and corn said fertilizer prices have jumped 40% since the start of the year.
“We can hardly make any money,” said the manager, who would give only his surname, Zhao.
Terry Farms, which grows produce on 2,100 acres largely in Ventura, California, has seen prices of some fertilizer formulations double; others are up 20%. Shifting fertilizers is risky, vice president William Terry said, because cheaper versions might not give “the crop what it needs as a food source.”
As the growing season approaches in Maine, potato farmers are grappling with a 70% to 100% increase in fertilizer prices from last year, depending on the blend.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty expensive crop, no matter what you’re putting in the ground, from fertilizer to fuel, labor, electrical and everything else,” said Donald Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board.
In Prudentopolis, a town in Brazil’s Parana state, farmer Edimilson Rickli showed off a warehouse that would normally be packed with fertilizer bags but has only enough to last a few more weeks. He’s worried that, with the war in Ukraine showing no sign of letting up, he’ll have to go without fertilizer when he plants wheat, barley and oats next month.
“The question is: Where Brazil is going to buy more fertilizer from?” he said. “We have to find other markets.”
Other countries are hoping to help fill the gaps. Nigeria, for example, opened Africa’s largest fertilizer factory last month, and the $2.5 billion plant has already shipped fertilizer to the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.
India, meanwhile, is seeking more fertilizer imports from Israel, Oman, Canada and Saudi Arabia to make up for lost shipments from Russia and Belarus.
“If the supply shortage gets worse, we will produce less,” said Kishor Rungta of the nonprofit Fertiliser Association of India. “That’s why we need to look for options to get more fertilizers in the country.”
Agricultural firms are providing support for farmers, especially in Africa where poverty often limits access to vital farm inputs. In Kenya, Apollo Agriculture is helping farmers get fertilizer and access to finance.
“Some farmers are skipping the planting season and others are going into some other ventures such as buying goats to cope,” said Benjamin Njenga, co-founder of the firm. “So these support services go a long way for them.”
Governments are helping, too. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month that it was issuing $250 million in grants to support U.S. fertilizer production. The Swiss government has released part of its nitrogen fertilizer reserves.
Still, there’s no easy answer to the double whammy of higher fertilizer prices and limited supplies. The next 12 to 18 months, food researcher LaBorde said, “will be difficult.”
The market already was “super, super tight” before the war, said Kathy Mathers of the Fertilizer Institute trade group.
“Unfortunately, in many cases, growers are just happy to get fertilizer at all,’’ she said.
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Asadu reported from Lagos, Nigeria, and Wiseman from Washington. Contributing to this story were: Tatiana Pollastri in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Debora Alvares in Brasilia, Brazil; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; Lefteris Pitarakis in Athens; Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Joe McDonald and Yu Bing in Beijing; Lisa Rathke in Marshfield, Vermont; Dave Kolpack in Fargo, North Dakota; Kathia Martínez in Panama City; Christoph Noelting in Frankfurt; Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City; Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria; Tarik El-Barakah in Rabat, Morocco; Tassanee Vejpongsa and Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok; Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem; Edie Lederer at the United Nations; and Aya Batrawy in Dubai. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/russian-war-worsens-fertilizer-crunch-risking-food-supplies/ | 2022-04-13T00:55:13 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/russian-war-worsens-fertilizer-crunch-risking-food-supplies/ |
BEIJING (AP) — Some residents of Shanghai were allowed out of their homes as the city of 25 million eased a two-week-old shutdown Tuesday after a video posted online showed what was said to be people who ran out of food breaking into a supermarket.
About 6.6 million people can go outdoors, but some must stay in their own neighborhoods, the online news outlet The Paper reported, citing city officials. The government said some markets and pharmacies would reopen.
A health official warned Shanghai doesn’t have the virus under control despite easing restrictions.
“The epidemic is in a period of rapid growth,” said Lei Zhenglong of the National Health Commission at a news conference. “Community transmission has not been effectively contained.”
The abrupt closure of most businesses starting March 28 and orders to stay home left the public fuming about lack of access to food and medicine. People who test positive for the virus are forced into sprawling temporary quarantine facilities criticized by some as crowded and unsanitary.
Meanwhile, the American government announced all “non-emergency U.S. government employees” would be withdrawn from its Shanghai Consulate. A foreign ministry spokesman defended China’s handling of the outbreak and accused Washington of politicizing its evacuation.
Also Tuesday, the government of Guangzhou, a manufacturing and trading center northwest of Hong Kong, announced a new round of virus testing for its 19 million people. Most access to the city was stopped after 27 infections were found Monday.
The unusual severity of Shanghai’s shutdown appeared to be driven as much by politics as by public health concerns.
The struggle in China’s richest city is an embarrassment during a politically sensitive year when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as leader of the ruling Communist Party.
China’s case numbers are relatively low, but the ruling party is enforcing a “zero-tolerance” strategy aimed at isolating every case. Some officials have been fired for failing to act aggressively enough, which gives others an incentive to impose extreme measures.
The government reported 24,659 new cases through midnight Monday, including 23,387 with no symptoms. That included 23,346 in Shanghai, only 998 of whom had symptoms.
In Shanghai, more than 200,000 cases but no deaths have been reported in the latest wave of infections.
The government eased restrictions by announcing residents of areas with no cases for at least two weeks can leave their homes starting Tuesday. It said they could go to other areas that also had no new cases during that time but were urged to stay home when possible.
Such “prevention areas” have about 4.8 million people, The Paper reported, citing city officials. It said all but 500,000 of those were in less crowded suburbs.
An additional 1.8 million people in “control areas” with no new cases in the past week are allowed out but can’t leave their neighborhoods, the report said.
Another 15 million people in “quarantine areas” that have had infections in the past week still are barred from leaving their homes. The report gave no indication of the status of the remaining 3.4 million people in the official population.
The shutdown of Shanghai, home of the world’s busiest port and China’s main stock exchange, has prompted fears manufacturing and global trade might be disrupted.
Automakers in Shanghai, a manufacturing center, have suspended or reduced production due to interruptions in supplies of components. The port’s management says operations are normal, but European Union Chamber of Commerce in China has estimated the volume of cargo it handles every day has fallen 40%.
Residents complained the shutdown left them without access to food or medicine and unable to look after elderly relatives who lived alone.
The government distributed packages of vegetables and other food for a few days at least twice to some households. Others said they received nothing.
A video that circulated online Saturday showed what a caption said were people in the Songjiang district breaking into a supermarket and carrying away cartons of food.
Police denied the event occurred in Shanghai. A police statement Tuesday said the video was posted by a man in Kunshan, west of Shanghai, but not when or where it was shot. It said the man received unspecified “administrative penalties” for “disrupting public order by fabricated facts.”
The Associated Press was unable to find the source of the video or when and where it was shot.
Official plans in late March called for suspending access to districts of Shanghai for four days at a time while residents were tested. After case numbers soared, that changed to an indefinite citywide shutdown with only a few hours’ notice.
Despite a promise by city officials to improve food supplies, residents said online grocers often sold out early in the day or were unable to deliver. Vendors said they added hundreds of employees to speed deliveries.
The State Department last week advised Americans against travel to China due to “arbitrary enforcement” of laws and anti-virus restrictions. It cited a risk of “parents and children being separated.”
On Tuesday, a State Department statement said the U.S. government decided “it is best for our employees and their families to be reduced in number” due to “changing circumstances on the ground.”
The foreign ministry criticized the announcement and said China’s anti-virus work is “scientific and effective.”
“The United States should immediately stop attacking China’s epidemic prevention policy, stop political manipulation with the epidemic issue and stop smearing and discrediting China,” said a ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian.
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AP video producer Liu Zheng and researcher Yu Bing in Beijing and researcher Chen Si in Shanghai contributed. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/shanghai-eases-2-week-shutdown-letting-some-residents-out/ | 2022-04-13T00:55:20 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/shanghai-eases-2-week-shutdown-letting-some-residents-out/ |
Alexa Pano is turning professional.
The 17-year-old Pano announced the news on Tuesday evening that effective immediately she would be joining the play-for-pay ranks and, as expected, bypassing college golf.
Her father, Rick, told GolfChannel.com that Pano, who at age 8 starred in the Netflix documentary, “The Short Game,” wanted her final round as an amateur to be at Augusta National. Pano accomplished that goal, making her first cut in three tries two weeks ago at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, where she tied for 12th.
Pano turns pro as the 64th-ranked amateur in the world. She had posted four runner-up finishes in the past year at the junior and amateur level.
She has Epson Tour status for this season – she was too young to play in Q-Series last winter – and tied for 10th earlier this year at the Florida’s Natural Charity Classic. Her first start as a pro will be the Epson Tour’s Copper Rock Championship on April 21-23 in Hurricane, Utah.
There are 17 tournaments remaining on the developmental tour’s schedule. The top 10 players on the money list at the end of the season will earn LPGA cards. | https://www.golfchannel.com/news/alexa-pano-17-turns-professional-sets-sights-epson-tour | 2022-04-13T00:55:27 | 0 | https://www.golfchannel.com/news/alexa-pano-17-turns-professional-sets-sights-epson-tour |
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka is suspending its repayment of foreign debt, including bonds and government-to-government borrowing, pending the completion of a loan restructuring program with the International Monetary Fund to deal with the island nation’s worst economic crisis in decades, the government announced Tuesday.
Sri Lankans in recent months have endured fuel and food shortages and daily power outages. Most of those items are paid for in hard currency, but Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy, saddled with dwindling foreign reserves and $25 billion in foreign debt due for repayment over the next five years. Nearly $7 billion is due this year.
“Sri Lanka has had an unblemished record of external debt service since independence in 1948,” the Ministry of Finance said in a statement. “Recent events, however, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from the hostilities in Ukraine, have so eroded Sri Lanka’s fiscal position that continued normal servicing of external public debt obligations has become impossible.”
The ministry said the IMF has assessed Sri Lanka’s foreign debt as unsustainable, and that staying current on foreign debt payments is no longer a realistic policy.
In addition to seeking help from the IMF, the government has turned to India and China for help in dealing with shortages.
“The government intends to pursue its discussions with the IMF as expeditiously as possible with a view to formulating and presenting to the country’s creditors a comprehensive plan for restoring Sri Lanka’s external public debt to a fully sustainable position,” the ministry said.
Central Bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe told reporters that the announcement on suspending foreign debt payments was urgent because Sri Lanka is due to repay nearly $200 million next week and if the country can’t raise that money, it would face a “hard default” leading to worse repercussions.
The Central Bank appealed to Sri Lankans living and working abroad to donate foreign currency into four government-run bank accounts set up for government officials to purchase essentials like food, fuel and medicine for distribution to the population urgently because talks with the IMF will take time to generate economic improvement. The Central Bank tweeted that a three-member committee will assure transparency in distribution of the funds and promised to make public quarterly financial statements.
Sri Lankans have been forced to wait in long lines to buy cooking gas, fuel and milk power and doctors have warned there is a catastrophic shortage of essential drugs in government hospitals.
Protesters camped out around the president’s office for a fourth straight day demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, holding him responsible for the economic crisis. Supporters of the protesters who are also calling on the ruling Rajapaksa family to quit supplied drinking water and food to the demonstrators. Muslim protesters broke their Ramadan fasting at the site to share food with people around them.
Much of the anger expressed in weeks of protests has been directed at the Rajapaksa family, which has held power for most of the past two decades. Critics accuse the family of borrowing heavily to finance projects that have earned no money, such as a port facility built with Chinese loans.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, a former president who is the current president’s older brother, sought in a speech Monday night to reassure people that the government is working to resolving the country’s financial problems.
“We are embarking on an enormous program to overcome the crisis we face today. Every second spent by the president and this government is used up exhausting avenues to rebuild our country,” he said.
Rajapaksa refused to yield power, saying the governing coalition will continue to rule Sri Lanka because opposition parties rejected its call for a unity government.
The crisis and protests prompted many Cabinet members to resign. Four ministers were sworn in as caretakers, but many of the key government portfolios are vacant.
Parliament has failed to reach a consensus on how to deal with the crisis after nearly 40 governing coalition lawmakers said they would no longer vote according to coalition instructions, significantly weakening the government.
But with opposition parties divided, they have been unable of forming a majority to take control of Parliament. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/sri-lanka-halts-debt-repayment-pending-imf-bailout-plan/ | 2022-04-13T00:55:27 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/sri-lanka-halts-debt-repayment-pending-imf-bailout-plan/ |
It's been a long road back to the PGA Tour for Morgan Hoffmann.
And near the end of that road came a crash ... literally.
In 2016, Hoffmann was diagnosed with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, a genetic muscle disorder that leads to progressive muscle degeneration. After being told by doctors that his disease was essentially incurable, he tried a series of different treatments and eventually relocated from Jupiter, Florida, to Costa Rica, leading him back to professional golf.
Hoffmann, 32, hasn't made a Tour start since the 2019 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He was eyeing a return to competition at March's Honda Classic, but he broke his shoulder and two ribs in a motorcycle accident in December.
"Well, it wasn't really an official decision until last week to decide to play here (at the RBC Heritage)," said Hoffmann, who is playing this week on one of his three final major medical exemptions. "But I've been trying to shoot to play — I tried to play at Honda, that was my real goal, but the motorcycle accident ... ironically it happened on the day that I was heading to the gym to start my comeback in December, because my muscles were feeling good, but kind of pushed things back a couple months."
But the path to recovery was a unique one, even before the crash. Hoffmann, a former Oklahoma State star and No. 1 amateur in the world, sought "original medicine" treatments, which are different forms of ancient, non-Western remedies. A Golf Digest article detailed his treatments, which included eating a “raw” diet (no processed or packaged foods). For 17 days at one point, Hoffmann ate only grapes — about 800 a day. He also did a 10-day urine cleanse, in which consumed no food and no water, just a cup of his urine in the morning and at night.
After experimenting with different natural treatments in various parts of the world, he and his wife, Chelsea, eventually made their way to Costa Rica in 2019, where they started a foundation and are building a health and wellness center.
Full-field tee times from RBC Heritage
"Since I started on this journey of soul searching, let's say, my spirituality has definitely changed and been opened up to so many different things and different aspects of life, whether that's physical or on different planes dimensionally," Hoffmann said. "It's something that's hard to talk about here because not a lot of people understand and it can be deemed as crazy, but I think that's kind of what most people see me as anyway (laughing). But, yeah, some of the plant medicine has been truly amazing, mind-blowing. And a lot of people call some of the things that I've embarked on as hallucinogenic, but the way I see them is so much different. I think it's like a, kind of a back door or a side door to really like different dimensions or different planes, I don't really have it down yet, I'm still questioning and trying to figure it all out."
Ever since he went to Nepal four years ago, Hoffmann says his muscles have steadily improved. He says his atrophy is gone and he's been in the gym every day, working on getting stronger.
"My pecs are coming back from the atrophy, which is huge and very, very exciting," he said "I'm being subdued to the excitement of seeing muscle firing again right now. So, yeah, every day is a success."
For the past two weeks, Hoffmann has been practicing at Ohoopee Match Club in Cobbtown, Georgia, getting ready for his return. There was one point where he wasn't sure if he'd come back. But now that he is, he's excited that he's making his return in Hilton Head because he attended high school on Daufuskie Island — sandwiched between Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia — and would play Harbour Town on weekends.
As mentioned, he has three events remaining on his medical exemption — which ends this year — and needs to earn 238 FedExCup points before the end of the season to regain full PGA Tour status. And now that the comeback is set, Hoffmann, who before his two-and-a-half-year hiatus posted three top-3s nine top-10s on Tour, will be smiling through his return no matter what his results are.
"I knew that golf has always been something that I love and I wanted it to be fun again," he said. "And I've always put a lot of pressure on myself, and I think that's why on Tour previous to this was the reason why I didn't reach my potential, at least in my mind. So I just wanted the main goal when I came back to be fun. Whether that's professional or amateur, but, yeah, I still had some dreams that I wanted to accomplish out here." | https://www.golfchannel.com/news/morgan-hoffmanns-unique-path-back-pga-tour-leads-hilton-head | 2022-04-13T00:55:33 | 0 | https://www.golfchannel.com/news/morgan-hoffmanns-unique-path-back-pga-tour-leads-hilton-head |
DETROIT (AP) — Toyota, the top-selling automaker in the U.S., is rolling out its first fully electric vehicle in eight years.
The company on Tuesday unveiled the battery-powered bZ4X small SUV, which starts at $42,000 and can go up to 252 miles (406 kilometers) per charge.
The bZ4X, which will be sold globally, adds to the 38 electric vehicle models now on sale in the U.S., with more than 120 expected by 2025.
While it doesn’t have ground-breaking range or performance for an electric vehicle, the bZ4X is an important entry because it’s from a trusted brand that will convince some buyers to make the switch from internal combustion engines, said Stephanie Brinley, principal analyst for S&P Global Mobility.
“You’ve got buyers who are interested in checking this out but may not be willing to try a new brand, or leave (Toyota) to go to Chevrolet or Ford,” Brinley said. “As we transition to a market that is more dominated by electric vehicles, the answer is really convincing normally ICE (internal combustion engine) owners to try something new.”
The bZ4X looks similar to and is slightly longer, lower and wider than Toyota’s RAV4, the top-selling vehicle in the U.S. that isn’t a pickup truck. It is Toyota’s first EV since 2014, when it last sold an electric version of the RAV4.
Like most electric vehicles, it’s fast when compared with internal combustion engine vehicles. The all-wheel-drive version can go from zero to 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) in as little as 6.5 seconds, Toyota says.
Sales will start in states that have zero-emissions vehicle requirements, then spread to the rest of the U.S., Toyota said. The bZ4X will be on display at the New York International Auto Show, where press days start this week. The show opens to the public from April 15-24.
Toyota says it plans to offer 15 electric vehicles by 2025, with seven with the bZ brand, which stands for “Beyond Zero.”
When the bZ4X arrives in U.S. showrooms in May, owners likely will have to hurry to get the $7,500 federal tax credit that would make it more affordable. The automaker expects that sometime before the end of June it will reach a 200,000-vehicle cap on the credits.
After it hits the cap, the credits will be phased out over the next year, reaching zero as Tesla and General Motors already have.
Toyota reached the cap largely by selling plug-in gas-electric hybrid vehicles such as the RAV4 Prime, which can go 42 miles on electricity before switching to a hybrid system that uses an internal combustion engine.
Automakers sold nearly 4.6 million electric vehicles worldwide last year. LMC Automotive, an industry consulting firm, expects that to rise to nearly 7 million this year and to more than 15 million by 2025. Still, that will be only about 15% of global vehicle sales. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/toyota-unveils-first-electric-vehicle-since-rav4-ev-in-2014/ | 2022-04-13T00:55:35 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/toyota-unveils-first-electric-vehicle-since-rav4-ev-in-2014/ |
PRAGUE (AP) — Westinghouse Electric Co. and France’s Framatome have been selected to deliver fuel supplies for the Czech Republic’s Temelin nuclear plant, easing the country’s dependence on Russia.
State-controlled power company CEZ said Tuesday that Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse and Framatome will deliver the nuclear fuel for about 15 years, starting in 2024. The deal is worth billions Czech crowns (1$ = 22.515 Czech crowns), it said.
Russia’s TVEL, the plant’s current supplier and part of Russian energy giant Rosatom, had also bid to supply the fuel.
CEZ said it selected the U.S. and French nuclear power companies so that it could reliably ensure a continuous supply of fuel cells for Temelin’s reactors, while “minimizing the risks of a possible supply outage.”
CEZ operates two 1,000-megawatt reactors at the Temelin plant. Westinghouse had provided fuel supplies to Temelin for 10 years till 2010.
The Czech Republic already relies on six nuclear reactors to generate more than a third of its total electricity. Besides the two in Temelin, CEZ operates another four 510-megawatt units at the Dukovany power plant.
Dukovany have been also using the nuclear fuel from TVEL.
Unlike its western neighbors Austria and Germany, the Czech Republic is doubling down on nuclear power and also renewable energy sources after deciding to phase out coal as a fuel for energy generation by 2033 in order to reduce carbon emissions.
CEZ launched a tender last month to build a new reactor at the Dukovany nuclear plant as the country aims to increase nuclear power generation.
Russia’s Rosatom and China’s CNG were excluded from the tender on security grounds. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/westinghouse-framatom-to-supply-fuel-to-czech-nuclear-plant/ | 2022-04-13T00:55:41 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/westinghouse-framatom-to-supply-fuel-to-czech-nuclear-plant/ |
GENEVA (AP) — The World Trade Organization predicted Tuesday that trade in goods will grow much less than previously expected this year, saying prospects for the global economy have darkened since the onset of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In the latest grim economic outlook to emerge, the Geneva-based trade body pointed to multiple uncertainties in its forecast over the next two years because Russian and Ukrainian exports of items like food, oil and fertilizers are under threat from the war. It also cited the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic — notably from lockdowns in China.
“It’s now clear that the double whammy of the pandemic and the war has disrupted supply chains, increased inflationary pressures and lowered expectations for output and trade growth,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told reporters.
The WTO said its projections for world trade take into account factors like the impact of the war, sanctions on Russia and shrinking worldwide demand amid lower business and consumer confidence.
It said world merchandise trade volume is expected to grow 3% this year, down from a forecast of 4.7% before the war began. For 2023, it’s expected to increase 3.4%.
The trade body also projects that global gross domestic product at market exchange rates will grow by 2.8% this year, down from the 4.1% previously anticipated.
Okonjo-Iweala said the war has caused “immense human suffering” in Ukraine and its effect has rippled around the world, notably in poorer countries, adding: “A potential food crisis is looming.”
She said high fuel prices and expensive fertilizer pose a threat to future crop yields, and the war has further strained global supply chains already under pressure.
The WTO is part of a steering committee set up by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to look into the possible food crisis. The panel has discussed, among other things, whether countries with “additional buffer stocks” of grain could release some supply into international markets, Okonjo-Iweala said.
She expressed hopes for a “humanitarian cover” to ensure that the harvest of 80% of Ukraine’s winter wheat in July can go forward, and that wheat can be planted in the country in September.
The WTO outlook follows a similarly downbeat forecast from the World Bank.
The Washington-based lender said in a report Sunday that the war in Ukraine is set to inflict twice the amount of economic damage across Europe and Central Asia that the COVID-19 pandemic did.
It also said Ukraine’s economy will shrink by 45.1% this year. Besides Ukraine, the report focused on central and Eastern Europe, former Soviet republics, the Balkan countries and Turkey. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/wto-war-in-ukraine-to-curb-trade-economic-growth-this-year/ | 2022-04-13T00:55:48 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/wto-war-in-ukraine-to-curb-trade-economic-growth-this-year/ |
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. | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/yelp-to-cover-travel-expenses-for-workers-seeking-abortions/ | 2022-04-13T00:55:55 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/yelp-to-cover-travel-expenses-for-workers-seeking-abortions/ |
BRNO, Czech Republic (AP) — Of the first four shots Olha Dembitska fired from an AK-47 assault rifle in her life, one hit the target.
“It’s pretty difficult the first time,” the 22-year-old Ukrainian woman acknowledged.
On this occasion, the target was the shape of a human body at a shooting range in the Czech Republic. Next time, it might be for real, in Ukraine, and the target could be one of the Russian troops who have invaded her homeland.
Dembitska is one of at least 130 men and women who have so far undergone free-of-charge training for Ukrainians living in the Czech Republic who want to learn how to fight the aggressor.
“I might return to Ukraine if they need me,” she said.
Almost none of the participants had any experience with weapons before war struck their homeland.
Since Russia launched its brutal attack, Ukrainians from all parts of the country and elsewhere have been arriving in the Czech Republic’s second-largest city, Brno, attracted by courses designed to teach them essentials and skills to safely handle lethal rifles while being able to inflict damage on their enemy.
Beside learning to shoot, the courses give them the basics about guns, movement around the battlefield and a lesson in providing first aid, something that can save lives if they‘re mobilized by their embattled country or decide to return home as volunteers to join the Ukrainian army.
They are all motivated.
“It’s horrible,” Dembitska said about the situation in her homeland. She gets her news from social media and from phone calls with a friend based in the southern city of Kherson, seized by Russian troops in the early stages of the invasion.
“She tells me everything. They haven’t received humanitarian aid. It’s a horror what the Russian soldiers are doing, I’m sick of it.”
Michal Ratajsky, the owner of CS Solutions, a security company that offers the training program at its base on the outskirts of Brno, located some 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Prague, called it “our contribution to the help for Ukrainians.”
“We view it as a morale boost we’re giving them in this situation, an effort to show we’re supporting them and that we will do for them what we can at the given moment,” Ratajsky said. “That was our motivation and goal.”
A crowdfunding campaign helped secure enough money for the ammunition, while his company provides the rest, including experienced instructors, weapons and the shooting range.
Ratajsky said the brief, three-hour training can’t do miracles but should be enough to introduce the Ukrainians to new, unfamiliar skills.
“We know that we don’t make soldiers of them in those three hours,” he said. “We try to do the maximum for them in the time, with the focus on their safety.”
Some of the participants have returned for repeated lessons. Some have come from as far away as Vienna. in neighboring Austria. Some took the course on their way back to Ukraine from Western Europe, Ratajsky said.
He said the Ukrainians are united by anger about the Russian aggression, and determined to end it.
“They take it seriously and want to do something about it.”
He said that because some 80% percent of troop losses in a war like the one in Ukraine are caused by artillery and missiles, a sense of self-preservation and knowledge of first aid might be more useful for survival than shooting.
“We’re aware of the limits of what we can get them ready for and make no secret of it,” Ratajsky said.
Yehor Nechyporenko, 38, who had traveled some 260 kilometers (160 miles) from the town of Mlada Boleslav to Brno for the second time said he is helping Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in the Czech Republic but wants to be ready to go back home to fight.
“It’s very useful for me,” he said of the training. “I really like it. I need to learn those things because I didn’t do military service.”
Nechyporenko said he was sure the Russians have no chance of taking the entire country.
“I think the war will be over in a couple of months,” he said. “And if we see we’re losing, we’ll all travel home.”
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wivb.com/news/czechs-provide-free-shooting-training-for-local-ukrainians/ | 2022-04-13T00:56:01 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/czechs-provide-free-shooting-training-for-local-ukrainians/ |
Russia is readying a massive, new offensive in eastern Ukraine, hoping to reverse its fortunes on the battlefield after a catastrophic start to seven weeks of war.
A long convoy of combat vehicles has jammed highways across northeastern Ukraine in preparation for an attack that could begin within days, and the Kremlin has named a general known for overseeing Moscow’s campaign in Syria to lead it.
A look at Russia’s military objectives and challenges it faces.
A BOTCHED BLITZ
A failed Russian attempt to storm Kyiv and other big cities took a heavy toll in personnel and equipment, boosted morale in Ukraine and allowed it to rally broad international support.
“The myth about the invincibility of the Russian military as the second-most powerful in the world has been shattered to much surprise of the Ukrainians themselves,” Ukrainian military expert Oleh Zhdanov told The Associated Press.
The flow of Western weapons into Ukraine and a growing popular resistance to Russian aggression will further raise the costs of war for Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin badly needs a quick battlefield victory to find an exit from what increasingly looks like a disastrous quagmire.
Russia’s focus is turning to Ukraine’s industrial heartland, known as the Donbas, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian government forces since the conflict there erupted shortly after the Kremlin’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
“In the first round, Russia has lost face both politically and militarily,” Zhdanov said. “It has done every possible stupid thing in the careless hope for a blitz … but it will make the Russian attack in the next round even more furious.”
REFOCUS AND REDEPLOYMENT
After their retreat from Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy, Russian forces pulled back to the territory of Belarus, Moscow’s ally, as well as areas in western Russia to be rearmed and resupplied for the new offensive.
Retired British Gen. Sir Richard Barrons estimated the Russians have “probably lost about 25% of the ground forces they started out with in the sense that those have been units that have become noncombat effective.”
“So they’re amalgamating them, they’re refitting them, they’re reinforcing them and then moving them around,” Barrons told AP.
Russia also was trying to move additional equipment from elsewhere and mobilize reservists in a desperate attempt to build a sufficient attack force, said Barrons, a co-chair of the consulting group Universal Defence & Security Solutions.
“They’ve had a beating, and they will have only a few weeks to get better,” he said.
Recently, Russian troops have been seen rolling into eastern Ukraine to move into attack positions. A convoy stretched for about 13 kilometers (8 miles) on a highway east of Kharkiv, heading south toward Ukrainian lines near Izyum, a strategic road junction.
At the same time, Russian forces rushed to crush remaining pockets of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol after besieging the vital Sea of Azov port for nearly 1 1/2 months.
The offensive is expected to start once Mariupol is fully under Russian control, and the troops pulled from areas near Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy complete their redeployment.
WILL A NEW COMMANDER MAKE THE DIFFERENCE?
Gen. Alexander Dvornikov was appointed the new military commander for the campaign in Ukraine. The 60-year-old soldier is one of Russia’s most experienced officers, credited with leading Moscow’s forces to victory in Syria in a ruthless campaign to shore up President Bashar Assad’s regime in a civil war that saw entire cities flattened and millions displaced.
In 2016, Putin awarded Dvornikov the Hero of Russia medal, one of the country’s highest awards, and named him the chief of the Southern Military District, commanding units in southwestern Russia.
Dvornikov’s appointment is seen as reflecting the Kremlin’s awareness to quickly improve poor coordination among various forces that hampered previous military efforts. Skeptics point out, however, that the Syrian campaign involved a relatively small number of troops, unlike the massive operation in Ukraine.
TRYING NEW BATTLEFIELD TACTICS
Ukrainian and Western experts expect the Russians to try to encircle Ukrainian forces in Donbas with a pincer movement by advancing from Izyum in the north and Mariupol in the south.
Some predict Russia also may try to use its forces north of Crimea to try to capture the industrial hubs of Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro on the Dnieper River, effectively cutting Ukraine in half.
Barrons said the Russians are focusing on the east ”instead of trying to do three or four big things at once and spreading the air power and the logistics.”
“The key conundrum is, can the Russians muster enough force … good enough to overwhelm a very good Ukrainian defensive position by sheer weight of brutality” by concentrating firepower and troops in a few key locations, he said.
WILL RUSSIA’S LOGISTICAL PROBLEMS PERSIST?
Despite a new commander, the offensive will likely face the same logistical challenges Russian troops encountered early in the campaign.
During the botched attempt to storm Kyiv, Russian convoys stretched along highways leading to the capital, becoming easy prey for Ukrainian artillery, drones and scouts.
Supporting the operations in the east could be equally hard, with Russian supply lines likely to face hit-and-run raids, helped by the arrival of spring as foliage offers natural cover for Ukrainian scouts and guerrillas.
Control of the skies also has been a problem, with Ukrainian air defense assets continuing to shoot down Russian warplanes, making it more difficult for ground troops to advance. In recent days, Russia has launched strikes on Ukrainian long-range air defense systems in apparent preparation for the offensive.
“If the Russians learned the lessons of their failure so far and could concentrate more force and could connect their air force to the ground forces better and could sort the logistics out, then they might start to overwhelm the Ukrainian positions eventually, although I still think it would be a battle of enormous attrition,” Barrons told AP.
MORE FAVORABLE TERRAIN FOR RUSSIA?
During the eight years of fighting separatists in the east, Ukrainian forces have built multilayered defenses, which Russian troops failed to break despite persistent attacks since the invasion began Feb. 24.
“They’ve been fighting in these current positions in the Donbas for about eight years, so they’re very seasoned and they’re very well prepared,” Barrons said of Ukrainian forces.
He noted, however, that “this will be different because the Russian onslaught will be potentially very much greater” and the east’s flat terrain could give the Russians an edge.
“The sort of ambush tactics the Ukrainians were highly successful with around Kiev may not apply in the Donbas,” Barrons said. “And if the Russians were capable of maneuvering their armor so tanks, armored infantry and armored artillery at speed, they could get behind the Ukrainian position. It is going to be a much harder, bigger fight than we’ve seen so far.”
Ukraine has pleaded with the West for warplanes, long-range air defense systems, heavy artillery and armor to counter a massive Russian edge in firepower.
“There is a battle of time and space between the Russians and Ukrainians for the Russians to muster enough force and the Ukrainians to get the weapons that they need and rehearse themselves for what will be a bigger and slightly different battle, and I think it is finely balanced,” Barrons said.
FOR PUTIN, A RACE AGAINST TIME
After earlier battlefield failures, Putin desperately needs a quick success in the east.
Battered by Western sanctions, Russia lacks financial resources for a protracted conflict. If the fighting drags on, it will inevitably worsen the economy and could bring social tensions, eroding the Kremlin’s support base.
The military already has put its most capable combat units in the campaign, and continued fighting will likely force it to call up more reservists and throw fresh conscripts into combat — moves that could be extremely unpopular.
Putin could be hoping to quickly expand the territory under separatist control in the east, then try to force Ukraine into concessions in negotiations to wrap up the campaign and spin it as victory.
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Associated Press writers Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and Danica Kirka in London contributed.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wivb.com/news/explainer-new-front-same-challenges-for-russian-offensive/ | 2022-04-13T00:56:08 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/explainer-new-front-same-challenges-for-russian-offensive/ |
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has become the first state to criminalize the use of puberty blockers and hormonesto treat transgender people under age 19. In line with some other Republican-led states, legislators here also passed a law requiring students to use bathrooms corresponding to their sex at birth and prohibiting discussion of gender and sexual identity in the lower grades. Critics have derided the limitation on such discussions as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The two GOP bills were signed into law Friday by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, a day after being passed by the Alabama Legislature. Advocacy groups quickly filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the medication ban.
Republicans argue the bills are needed to protect children and that decisions on gender-affirming medications should wait until adulthood. Critics say the politicians are interfering with medical decisions that belong with families and their doctors. Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, a national advocacy group for the LGBTQ community, called the two pieces of legislation “the single most anti-transgender legislative package in history.”
WHAT DOES THE TREATMENT BAN DO?
Titled the “Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act,” the law makes it a crime to prescribe or administer to anyone under 19 puberty blockers or hormone treatment “for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of or affirm the minor’s perception of his or her gender or sex.”
Legislators made it a Class C felony to violate the law, meaning doctors who prescribe or administer such medication would be subject to up to 10 years in prison.
The law, which takes effect on May 8 unless blocked by the courts, also bans surgeries for the purpose of altering gender appearance, but doctors say those are generally not performed on minors.
Alabama’s legislation goes further than measures passed in other states. Arkansas was the first state to pass a ban on gender-affirming drugs, but its measure did not include criminal penalties. The Arkansas law was blocked by a federal judgebefore it could go into effect. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate as child abuse reports of youth receiving such care.
WHAT ARE THE CRITICISMS?
Doctors, families and advocacy organizations say politicians are inserting themselves into decisions that belong with families and medical teams. The measures have prompted swift backlash from medical experts, Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, the U.S. Department of Justice and the families of trans youth. Doctors say the Alabama law is contrary to peer-reviewed research and applies a criminal label to standard medical care. Health experts also say that minors with gender dysphoria who do not receive appropriate medical care face dramatically increased risk of suicide and serious depression.
DOES THE LAW DO ANYTHING ELSE?
Yes. The law requires counselors, teachers, principals and other administrators — in both public and private schools — to tell parents if a child discloses that they think they may be transgender. It also prohibits school staff from encouraging students to withhold the information from their parents.
WHAT DOES THE BATHROOM/ “DON’T SAY GAY” LAW DO?
The second piece of legislation signed by Ivey involves public school bathroom use and classroom instruction.
The law requires students in grades K-12 to use multi-person bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their sex at birth rather than their gender identity. It also prohibits teachers and others who provide lessons to grades K-5 from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
Critics have labeled a similar measure passed in Florida that applies to grades K-3 the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Opponents of the medication ban who filed the lawsuit are hoping a judge will grant their request to block it. A legal challenge is also expected to be filed against the bathroom and classroom-instruction measures.
The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to states warning that efforts to block transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming care may be violating federal law and the constitutional protections. | https://www.wivb.com/news/explainer-what-do-new-alabama-laws-say-on-transgender-kids/ | 2022-04-13T00:56:14 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/explainer-what-do-new-alabama-laws-say-on-transgender-kids/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday his administration will suspend a federal rule that bars higher levels of ethanol in gasoline during the summer. The move, which Biden announced during a visit to Iowa, is intended to tamp down prices at the pump that have spiked during Russia’s war with Ukraine. Iowa is a key producer of the corn-based fuel additive.
A look at how that the decision to authorize year-round use of so-called E15 will impact gas supplies, prices and the environment.
WHAT ACTION IS BIDEN TAKING?
Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol. At Biden’s direction, the Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver to allow widespread sale of 15% ethanol blend that is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.
Senior Biden administration officials said the move will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon at 2,300 gas stations that sell E15, as the high-blend ethanol is known. Those stations are mostly in the Midwest and the South, including Texas, according to industry groups.
WHY IS BIDEN DOING THIS?
Lawmakers from both parties and ethanol advocates have urged Biden and the EPA to allow year-round sales of E15, calling it a cheaper and readily available domestic alternative to traditional gasoline. The U.S. has banned imports of Russian crude oil since the country’s late February invasion of Ukraine, disrupting global markets and raising prices.
“Homegrown Iowa biofuels provide a quick and clean solution for lowering prices at the pump, and bolstering production would help us become energy independent once again,″ said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime ethanol proponent. Grassley and 15 other senators sent Biden a letter last month urging him to allow year-round E15 sales.
Ethanol groups called Biden’s action a major win for American drivers and U.S. energy security. “It means cleaner options at the pump and a stronger rural economy,” said Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, a biofuel trade group.
HOW WILL THIS AFFECT THE ENVIRONMENT?
Biden administration official say the short-term move will have little effect on the environment and that EPA will work with states to “ensure there are no significant air quality impacts through the summer driving season.”
Environmentalists questioned that, saying ethanol production contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and soil erosion and raises prices for corn and other crops.
“The ethanol lobby will be happy and kids with asthma will be sicker,” said Dan Becker of the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. “However well-meaning (Biden’s action) might be, kids and the elderly shouldn’t pay the price with their health for slight gas savings.”
A recentreport in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciencesrevealed that the federal ethanol mandate inflated corn prices by 30% from 2008 to 2016, made corn-based ethanol more carbon intensive than gasoline and increased annual fertilizer use by up to 8%, polluting waterways.
HAS EPA DONE THIS BEFORE?
The EPA has lifted seasonal restrictions on E15 in the past, including after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The Trump administration allowed for year-round E15 sales starting in 2019, but a federal appeals court struck down the policy change in July 2021, saying the EPA overstepped its authority.
The decision dealt a significant blow to the ethanol industry and corn farmers who had anticipated increased ethanol demand through year-round sales of the higher blend.
HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM TRUMP’S ACTION?
Senior Biden administration officials said they expected the EPA waiver to survive a likely court challenge, saying that unlike the open-ended Trump rule, the action is limited to this summer and is prompted by a supply disruption caused by the war in Europe.
Greater use of E15 should “help alleviate some of the pain that we’ve seen since Russia launched this war against Ukraine,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told a Senate committee last week.
But critics said the only emergency is Biden’s dropping poll numbers.
Emergency fuel waivers are reserved for acute supply disruptions, such as those resulting from a hurricane, said Chet Thompson, president & CEO of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents petroleum refiners.
“An additional three months of E15 sales won’t do anything to address high crude oil prices, and 98% of retail (gas) stations can’t even sell the fuel,” Thompson said. “This is politics, not a real solution for drivers.”
WILL E15 HURT MY CAR’S ENGINE?
E15, often sold at the pump as Unleaded 88, for its octane rating, can safely be used in all cars, trucks and SUVs from 2001 on. Those model years represent more than 90% of vehicles on U.S. roads. The ethanol industry says the fuel is one of the most tested in history and has no effect on vehicle drivability. More than 20 billion miles have been driven in cars and trucks using Unleaded 88, a number continues to grow.
WHAT IS THE PRICE OF E15 GAS?
E15, or Unleaded 88, typically sells for 10 cents a gallon less than E10, the standard formulation for U.S. cars. The price difference between Unleaded 88 and conventional gasoline without ethanol is around 40 cents.
WILL I GET BETTER MILEAGE WITH E15?
There is no noticeable difference between the mileage achieved when using E15 and mileage when operating on E10.
CAN I USE E15 IN MY LAWNMOWER OR OTHER SMALL-ENGINE EQUIPMENT?
E15 has not been approved by EPA for use in non-automotive engines such as boats, motorcycles, lawn mowers and other small engines. E10, the standard ethanol formulation, is approved for small engines. | https://www.wivb.com/news/explainer-why-biden-is-allowing-more-ethanol-in-gasoline/ | 2022-04-13T00:56:21 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/explainer-why-biden-is-allowing-more-ethanol-in-gasoline/ |
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa Democrat Abby Finkenauer’s hopes of running against Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley this fall may hinge on a state Supreme Court ruling on three petition signatures.
Finkenauer’s campaign was thrown into turmoil this week after a judge overturned a panel’s decision that she had qualified for the ballot. Finkenauer, a former one-term congresswoman, called the ruling “deeply partisan” and appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court.
The court, under pressure to rule quickly to meet deadlines to mail ballots to Iowa residents who live out of the country, will hear arguments Wednesday and likely will issue a decision within days. The state’s primary is June 7.
Here’s what you should know about the challenge to Finkenauer:
WHAT ARE THE LEGAL ARGUMENTS?
Two Republicans who have served as county election officials in Iowa challenged several signatures on Finkenauer’s nomination petitions. They claimed that three signatures out of the 5,000 obtained by Finkenauer’s campaign were not properly dated, as required by state law. Without the signatures from rural Allamakee and Cedar counties, Finkenauer didn’t meet a requirement that at least 100 signatures come from at least 19 counties.
A three-member State Objections Panel voted 2-1 last week to reject the arguments, saying the panel has historically favored ballot access and given campaigns deference if they substantially complied with the nomination petitions law. Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, voted against Finkenauer, but Attorney General Tom Miller and state Auditor Rob Sand, both Democrats, voted in favor of placing her on the ballot.
In 2020, the same three officials rejected challenges to the nomination petitions of four Republicans running for Congress that also included at least one case of a missing date. The panel’s decision was not challenged further, and all four candidates, including then-state Sen. Randy Feenstra and then-U.S. Rep. Steve King, stayed on the ballot. Feenstra ultimately won the election.
This year, the panel’s 2-1 decision was challenged, and the case ended up before District Judge Scott Beattie, a 2018 appointee of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. He disagreed with the panel, abiding by a strict reading of the law that requires each signature line to also have the date the petition was signed. His ruling eliminated the three signatures, leaving Finkenauer two counties short of the 19-county requirement.
ARE PARTISAN POLITICS TO BLAME FOR THE JUDGE’S RULING?
Finkenauer and other Democrats think so. Finkenauer, who in 2018 at age 29 became the second-youngest woman ever elected to Congress, said Judge Beattie “did the bidding of Chuck Grassley and his allies in Washington.” Iowa Democratic Senate leader Zach Wahls called the ruling a “dangerous injection of partisan politics into the ballot qualification process.”
But others said Finkenauer should acknowledge her own mistake in not gathering more signatures in case any ended up being thrown out.
“Regardless of which party you’re from, candidates seem to get fixated on hiring staff, raising money and building websites, and forget that small detail called getting on the ballot,” said Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, which represents media organizations and advocates for government transparency.
He also faulted her for being too quick to assume the judge had partisan motives, noting that it was a Republican-appointed Iowa Supreme Court justice who wrote the 2009 unanimous opinion that legalized gay marriage in the state. The same chief justice, the late Mark Cady, wrote the 2018 majority opinion that Iowa’s constitution allows the right to an abortion.
But the challenge itself was undoubtedly political. It was brought by two Republican county election officials represented by lawyer Alan Ostergren, who has supported conservative causes and represented former President Donald Trump’s campaign to nullify absentee ballots in Iowa. It’s not uncommon in Iowa for political activists to challenge the nomination papers of opposite party candidates to knock them off a ballot, so the process is part of Iowa politics.
The Iowa Supreme Court decision, however, could change the landscape for such objections if it upholds the judge’s decision and requires strict adherence to the letter of the law rather than allowing the “substantial compliance” standard to stand.
Although Republicans have previously benefited from the substantial compliance standard, Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kauffman put all the blame on Finkenauer.
“Abby Finkenauer made the fundamental, ridiculous, illogical decision to not get more signatures that every city council member, every single supervisor, every legislator does in case this comes up,” Kauffman said. “This didn’t need to happen.”
WHAT WOULD A RACE WITHOUT FINKENAUER LOOK LIKE?
Although Finkenauer is the best-known Democrat in the race, her opponents question whether she is the strongest candidate to take on Grassley, who has held elected office since 1959 and will be heavily favored to win another Senate term.
Finkenauer, now 33, lost her reelection bid in 2020 after serving just one term in Congress representing a district anchored by the Cedar Rapids and Waterloo metro areas.
She won the seat by 5 percentage points in 2018 by knocking off a Republican incumbent but lost by 2.6 points to Republican Ashley Hinson, a former TV news anchor, in 2020.
Finkenauer’s top Democratic competitor is Mike Franken, a retired vice admiral and 36-year naval veteran. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to face Republican Sen. Joni Ernst in 2020.
Since then, Franken has kept pace with Finkenauer’s fundraising, taking in $1.8 million, just behind Finkenauer’s $1.9 million. Franken also reported having $1 million in his campaign account as of March, compared to Finkenauer’s roughly $724,000.
“I do think Franken has broader appeal and would be a stronger candidate in Iowa against Grassley,” said Nancy Bobo, a longtime Des Moines area Democratic activist and Franken’s Polk County campaign chair. “He’s just as strong as he can be.”
Grassley, who will turn 89 in September, is seeking his eighth term in office. He had $3.7 million in the bank as of March and is viewed favorably by 47% of Iowans and unfavorably by 41%, according to The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll, conducted in late February and early March.
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Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report. | https://www.wivb.com/news/explainer-why-finkenauers-senate-bid-rests-on-3-signatures/ | 2022-04-13T00:56:28 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/explainer-why-finkenauers-senate-bid-rests-on-3-signatures/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg so liked the caricature that accompanied an article about her that she got a copy from the artist and hung it in her Supreme Court office.
That signed and inscribed print by artist Eleanor Davis is among 150 items from Ginsburg’s office and home at the Watergate in an online auctionto benefit opera in Washington that will end in late April.
An earthenware plate by Pablo Picasso that hung in Ginsburg’s dining room, a black mink coat with her name sewn in a pocket and a souvenir vase from the Capitol luncheon following former President Barack Obama’s first inaugural also are up for auction.
The sale could raise $50,000 to $80,000 for the Washington National Opera, one of the late justice’s passions. She took part in at least three productions over the years, including a speaking, but non-singing, role for one night in 2016.
Ginsburg’s family selected the Potomack Company to handle the auction.
“It’s an opportunity to own something personal of hers and support the opera,” said Elizabeth Haynie Wainstein, the auction house’s owner.
Bidding for some items begins as low as $25, though the opening bid on the Picasso plate is $4,000, Haynie Wainstein said. Three other Picasso pieces also are in the auction.
The natural black mink coat, made by the Gartenhaus fur company in the Washington area, is going for a starting bid of $250.
Ginsburg died of cancer at age 87 in September 2020. Appreciation for the Supreme Court’s second female justice and liberal icon, dubbed the Notorious RBG in her later years, has continued well after her death.
The Navy recently announced it would name a ship after her in the John Lewis-class of replenishment oilers. The ships are named in honor of people who fought for civil and human rights, the Navy said.
Last month, the Smithsonian also posthumously honored Ginsburg with the National Museum of American History’s Great Americans Medal. Her children, Jane and James Ginsburg, have donated other of their mother’s possessions to the museum, including Ginsburg’s Paris-made judicial robe and a collection of collars she wore over it.
In January, an online auction of Ginsburg’s books brought in $2.3 million, almost 30 times the pre-sale estimate, according to Bonhams, the company that conducted the auction.
The April auction includes a print of the artist Josef Albers’ “Red Orange Wall” that hung above Ginsburg’s bed. Albers was among Ginsburg’s favorite artists. An original Albers work that was on loan from the National Gallery of Art was prominently displayed in her office at the court.
Six works by the sculptor Glenna Goodacre that Ginsburg acquired during her regular summer trips to Santa Fe, New Mexico for an opera festival are for sale, along with a silver tea set and a pair of Saint Louis Crystal eagle bookends.
One of Ginsburg’s grandchildren, Paul Spera, also has an original piece of art among the items being auctioned. His “Bubbie of Liberty,” using the Yiddish word for grandma, has Ginsburg’s likeness atop the Statue of Liberty. | https://www.wivb.com/news/ginsburgs-art-fur-coat-awards-in-auction-to-benefit-opera/ | 2022-04-13T00:56:35 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/ginsburgs-art-fur-coat-awards-in-auction-to-benefit-opera/ |
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — An armed gang has killed more than 100 people in a remote part of northern Nigeria, survivors and local authorities said on Tuesday.
The attackers targeted four villages in the Kanam area of Plateau State, the most recent in a series of violent attacks in Nigeria’s north.
Such attacks in Nigeria’s northern region have become frequent, especially between Fulani Muslims who are mostly cattle herders and Christian communities from the Hausa and other ethnic groups who are mainly farmers.
The conflict over access to land and water has further worsened the sectarian division between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with its 206 million people deeply divided along religious lines.
In this recent attack, the assailants arrived Sunday afternoon, ransacking houses and shooting at residents, according to Alpha Sambo, a survivor and Kanam youth leader who is helping those displaced and injured.
“The people that have been killed are more than 100,” he told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Other witnesses say as many as 130 died and many have been injured and displaced.
The police and the state government confirmed the attacks but did not give details on the cause or number of casualties. Authorities in Nigeria have in the past been accused of withholding information about death tolls in such killings.
On social media, videos viewed by AP appeared to show razed houses and bodies wrapped in mats and bags in mass graves. Many were buried even before their loved ones heard of their demise, residents said.
While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest violence, residents said it was carried out by the herdsmen.
The assailants “were well-armed” with AK-47 rifles and machetes and arrived on dozens of motorcycles each carrying up to three men, said youth leader Sambo.
Two days after the attack, the Kanam area is still tense and calm has not been fully restored, Dayyabu Yusuf Garga, chairman of the Kanam local government authority, said.
Plateau State Governor Simon Bako Lalong directed security forces to restore peace and order in the affected villages and vowed “to make it difficult for terrorists and other criminals to set their bases in any part of the state,” according to a government statement.
The State Security Council has adopted “far-reaching measures to strengthen all security measures,” Lalong said, but similar commitments made in the past have not succeeded in improving security in the area, say residents.
President Muhammadu Buhari was elected in 2015 on promises that he would improve Nigeria’s security and is facing growing pressure to curb the killings as he reaches the end of his second and final four-year term as the country’s leader.
The West African nation continues to grapple with security challenges in other parts of the country. A decade-long insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast by the Islamic extremist rebels of Boko Haram and violence by armed groups in the northwest have led to the deaths of thousands more.
Nigerian security forces are often outnumbered and outgunned by the armed groups in those volatile areas, say security analysts, creating a serious challenge to Nigeria’s quest for peace and stability. | https://www.wivb.com/news/gunmen-kill-more-than-100-in-nigerias-north-say-survivors/ | 2022-04-13T00:56:42 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/gunmen-kill-more-than-100-in-nigerias-north-say-survivors/ |
LONDON (AP) — European health officials investigating an outbreak of salmonella linked to chocolate Easter eggs that has sickened at least 150 children across the continent said Tuesday they suspect it is due to bad buttermilk in a Belgian factory.
In an assessment of the continuing outbreak, experts at the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Food Safety Authority said they had matched the same salmonella strain currently infecting people to samples taken from a factory in Belgium last December.
Officials said “the processing step involving buttermilk” was identified by the company as the point of contamination for two products, chocolate eggs that normally have a surprise toy inside and bite-sized praline chocolates. National authorities have previously named the involved company as the Italian chocolate firm Ferrero.
Before the Belgian factory was shut down, however, European officials noted it had exported “the implicated chocolate products” across Europe and globally.
As of this week, 150 cases of salmonella have been reported in nine European countries and the U.K. after the first case was identified in Britain last December. The majority of cases have been in children under age 10 and “an exceptionally high number” have been hospitalized, European officials said. Britain has so far reported the most cases – 65 – of whom 43% are hospitalized.
Ferrero began recalling chocolate eggs and other products in Britain, France, Germany, Italy and elsewhere weeks ago. Last week, the company expanded its recall to the U.S., acknowledging that some of the goods on sale were made in the tainted Belgian factory.
“This outbreak is rapidly evolving, and children have so far been most at risk for severe infection among reported cases,” the European CDC said in its report. It noted that further investigation was needed to determine how the problem happened and evaluating “the possibility of the wider use of contaminated raw material in other processing plants.”
Salmonella typically causes symptoms including diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. Most people who get sick do not need any medicine but severe cases that result in hospitalization may require antibiotics or other treatment.
European officials warned that it was likely cases were being missed in some countries due to a lack of surveillance and genetic sequencing.
Ferrero has previously said it is cooperating with national and European health authorities in the outbreak investigation.
“We are taking this extremely seriously as consumer care is our top priority,” the company said. | https://www.wivb.com/news/health-news/eu-salmonella-outbreak-in-chocolate-eggs-due-to-bad-milk/ | 2022-04-13T00:56:49 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/health-news/eu-salmonella-outbreak-in-chocolate-eggs-due-to-bad-milk/ |