text string | url string | crawl_date timestamp[ms] | label int64 | id string |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ATLANTA (AP) — The National Urban League released its annual report on the State of Black America on Tuesday, and its findings are grim. This year’s Equality Index shows Black people still get only 73.9% of the American pie white people enjoy.
While Black people have made economic and health gains, they’ve slipped further behind white people in education, social justice and civic engagement since this index was launched in 2005. A compendium of average outcomes by race in many aspects of life, it shows just how hard it is for people of color to overcome systemic racism, the civil rights organization says.
“These numbers change so little and so slowly. What it tells me is that this institutional disparity based on race seems to be built into American society,” National Urban League President Marc Morial said in an interview.
The index shows not only that the median household income for Black people, at $43,862, is 37% less than that of white people, at $69,823. Black people also are less likely to benefit from home ownership, the engine of generational wealth in America. Census data shows Black couples are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to be denied a mortgage or a home improvement loan, which leads to just 59% of the median home equity white households have, and just 13% of their wealth.
“In that area of wealth, we’ve seen almost no change, none, since the civil rights days,” Morial said. “The wealth disparity has gotten wider.”
Among dozens of health measures, one stands out: Life expectancy has declined slightly for African Americans, so a Black child born today can expect to live to 74.7, four years less than a white baby. And lifelong inequities loom: Black women are 59% more likely to die as a result of bearing a child, and 31% more likely to die of breast cancer. Black men are 52% more likely to die of prostate cancer.
Overdoses afflict the races about equally, while white people are 55% more likely to drink themselves to death through cirrhosis or chronic liver disease. Among people 15-24, white people are more than twice as likely to kill themselves, while Black men are nine times more likely to die by homicide.
Educational gaps abound: Black and white preschoolers are roughly equally prepared, but the classrooms they enter are starkly different. Schools with more minority students are more likely to have inexperienced, less trained and even uncertified teachers. Fewer of these students are enrolled in the STEM classes that can lead to higher-paying jobs. Black students are less likely to graduate from college.
The index uses U.S. Justice Department statistics to chart social justice differences, noting that Black people have been more than twice as likely as white people to experience threats or uses of force during police encounters, and three times more likely to be jailed if arrested. In 2020, they were 93% more likely to be victims of hate crimes.
Measuring civic engagement, the index cites 2020 census data showing that white people are about 5% more likely to be registered and to actually vote than Black people.
Morial chose to release the report in Atlanta, where a concentration of historically Black colleges have long represented high achievement among African Americans, in part because its survey shows a declining faith among young people that voting can make a difference. The Urban League is responding by launching a “Reclaim Your Vote” campaign.
“Georgia is ground zero for voter suppression,” Morial said. The legislature’s actions after Jan. 6 have been sweeping in their aggressiveness to suppress the vote. We’ve got to remain resolute, to push back against this. We cannot give in. We cannot give up.” | https://www.wivb.com/news/health-news/national-urban-league-finds-state-of-black-america-is-grim/ | 2022-04-13T00:56:56 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/health-news/national-urban-league-finds-state-of-black-america-is-grim/ |
PLAYA GIRON, Cuba (AP) — Every year in Cuba, millions of crabs emerge from the forest at the beginning of the spring rains and head for the waters of the Bay of Pigs, crossing streets and highways on a perilous journey to mate and reproduce.
Now underway, the migration causes concern to drivers who try to swerve in an often futile attempt not to kill the crustaceans. The crabs are a nuisance to residents but the sight of their road-crossing is a wonder for tourists and other first-time onlookers.
“They got here before us,” said Amaury Urra, a 50-year-old hiking guide who spent his entire life in this part of the Ciénega de Zapata, the largest wetland in the Caribbean, particularly picturesque for the backdrop of turquoise sea waters and the coastal cliffs. ″We’re used to this.″
“Where I live, which is in the center of the town of Girón, the crabs don’t get there as much,″ though there are plenty on the outskirts, he said.
Located about 180 kilometers (110 miles) southeast of Havana, the area was the scene of a 1961 failed invasion by Cuban exiles who signed up for a covertly CIA-funded operation to overthrow Fidel Castro.
This year, the crabs started their journey early. At the end of March, the municipal authorities issued a warning to drivers to avoid traveling in the morning and evening hours – the favorite crossing times for the crabs. Environmentalists usually demand the closure of the main road, especially at key migration times.
The passage of the red crustaceans — the species is called gecarcinus ruricola — could last until July. The largest amount of traffic occurs between April and May. Residents have to be careful: When the crabs feel threatened, they can puncture car tires with their pincers.
Official figures estimate that some 3.5 million crabs die each season on the road, many crushed by passing vehicles. They take a minute and a half to cross.
This type of crab lives and migrates in the Bahamas, Nicaragua, Jamaica and Dominica. But only here, and perhaps in another sector of the coast towards the neighboring province of Cienfuegos, does its path collide so dramatically with human traffic. | https://www.wivb.com/news/in-cuba-crabs-embark-on-perilous-migration-to-bay-of-pigs/ | 2022-04-13T00:57:03 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/in-cuba-crabs-embark-on-perilous-migration-to-bay-of-pigs/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shirley Troutman, a judge on New York’s highest court, was working last week when her daughter texted messages that included a clapping hands emoji. Soon, her phone was buzzing with other celebratory messages. The applause and the excitement was for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who last week was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court and will become its first Black female justice.
Jackson will become the court’s 116th member. That’s special for Troutman, who is the 116th member of her court too.
“As a judge, as a Black woman, I am extremely proud and wish her the best,” said Troutman, who took her seat earlier this year and is the second Black woman to serve on her court. She said she cried “tears of joy” Thursday when Jackson was confirmed.
Troutman is among 17 Black women and 14 Black men currently serving on their state’s highest court, according to the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, which has tracked diversity on those courts. A majority of the women joined the bench within the last five years and, like Jackson, shattered a barrier, becoming the first Black woman on their state’s high court. In interviews, some of those women described not only their own delight at Jackson’s confirmation but also suggested there’s more work to be done to make America’s courts more reflective of its citizens.
“I am so proud and optimistic about her accomplishment and what this means,” said Justice Melissa Long of Rhode Island’s Supreme Court.
Long, who joined her state’s high court in 2021, also feels a “great sense of connection” to Jackson. They were born 10 days apart in 1970 in Washington, D.C. Long’s parents had married in the city because laws against interracial marriage, struck down by the Supreme Court in 1967, prohibited them from getting married in Virginia.
Being the first Black woman and first person of color on her state’s five-member court “feels like a responsibility,” Long said. “It’s an important responsibility, but it does feel like a responsibility.”
That’s in part because diversity overall on state courts is lacking. People of color make up 17% of the judges on state supreme courts, but as of last year, 22 states had high courts where no member identified as a person of color, according to the Brennan Center. In 11 of those states, minorities make up at least 20% of the population, according to the Brennan Center. About 30% of all federal judges, meanwhile, identify as people of color.
Those numbers help explain why the Brennan Center’s Madiba Dennie says she’s wary of people thinking that Jackson’s confirmation means: “We did it. We have a Black woman on the Supreme Court now.” There’s more work to be done, she said, with “huge disparities throughout the rest of the federal judiciary and at the state judiciary as well.”
The history of Black women serving on their state’s highest court goes back to 1988 when Juanita Kidd Stout joined Pennsylvania’s highest court. That was seven years after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. Stout served for a year before she reached the mandatory age of retirement. Today, the four men and three women on Pennsylvania’s highest court are all white.
Other state high courts are more diverse. Maryland has two Black women on its highest court, the Court of Appeals, where members wear red robes with white collars and are called judge, not justice. Judge Shirley M. Watts joined the seven-member court in 2013 and Judge Michele D. Hotten in 2015.
In California, Justice Leondra Kruger was among the women President Joe Biden considered nominating to fulfill his campaign pledge to put a Black woman on the Supreme Court, if given the opportunity. In Ohio, Justice Melody Stewart was a classically trained pianist before making the switch to a career in law. And in Washington, Justice G. Helen Whitener is one of two gay justices and one of seven women on state’s nine-member high court.
In Massachusetts, Kimberly Budd serves as her court’s chief justice, a position she has held since 2020. North Carolina’s Cheri Beasley served as the chief justice of that state’s Supreme Court and is now a leading candidate in the Democratic primary for the 2022 U.S. Senate election.
Louisiana also until recently had a Black woman leading its highest court. Bernette Johnson was elected to the court in 1994 and served as its chief from 2013 to her 2020 retirement. Today, Justice Piper D. Griffin is the second Black woman and third Black person to serve on that court.
Griffin called Jackson’s confirmation “surreal” and “humbling.” “It was one of those things that you never think you’d see in your lifetime. You know, it’s kind of like you, you’re hopeful, but you’re never expecting it,” said Griffin, who was elected to her position in 2020.
Griffin said her phone “blew up” Thursday afternoon when Jackson was confirmed. “I got lots of exclamation points,” she said. One friend, knowing Griffin couldn’t watch Vice President Kamala Harris announce live that Jackson had been confirmed, recorded the moment on her phone and texted it to her. Over and over and over again friends texted one word: Yes!
Troutman, the judge on New York’s highest court, said one of the things her daughter sent her that day was a picture of Jackson and the president hugging. It’s important that Jackson is the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, Troutman said, but: “It is most important that she shall not be the last.” | https://www.wivb.com/news/ketanji-brown-jackson-is-and-isnt-first-black-woman-justice/ | 2022-04-13T00:57:10 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/ketanji-brown-jackson-is-and-isnt-first-black-woman-justice/ |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Vladimir Putin vowed Tuesday that Russia’s bloody offensive in Ukraine would continue until its goals are fulfilled and insisted the campaign was going as planned, despite a major withdrawal in the face of stiff Ukrainian opposition and significant losses.
Russian troops, thwarted in their push toward Ukraine’s capital, are now focusing on the eastern Donbas region, where Ukraine said Tuesday it was investigating a claim that a poisonous substance had been dropped on its troops. It was not clear what the substance might be, but Western officials warned that any use of chemical weapons by Russia would be a serious escalation of the already devastating war.
Russia invaded on Feb. 24, with the goal, according to Western officials, of taking Kyiv, the capital, toppling the government and installing a Moscow-friendly regime. In the six weeks since, the ground advance stalled and Russian forces lost potentially thousands of fighters and were accused of killing civilians and other atrocities.
Putin insisted Tuesday that his invasion aimed to protect people in parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed rebels and to “ensure Russia’s own security.”
He said Russia “had no other choice” but to launch what he calls a “special military operation,” and vowed it would “continue until its full completion and the fulfillment of the tasks that have been set.”
For now, Putin’s forces are gearing up for a major offensive in the Donbas, which has been torn by fighting between Russian-allied separatists and Ukrainian forces since 2014, and where Russia has recognized the separatists’ claims of independence. Military strategists say Moscow appears to hope that local support, logistics and the terrain in the region favor its larger, better-armed military, potentially allowing Russia to finally turn the tide in its favor.
In Mariupol, a strategic port city in the Donbas, a Ukrainian regiment defending a steel mill claimed a drone dropped a poisonous substance on the city. It indicated there were no serious injuries. The assertion by the Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian military, could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that while experts try to determine what the substance might be, “The world must react now.” Evidence of “inhuman cruelty” toward women and children in Bucha and other suburbs of Kyiv continued to surface, he added, including of alleged rapes.
“Not all serial rapists reach the cruelty of Russian soldiers,” Zelenskyy said.
The claims came after a Russia-allied separatist official appeared to urge the use of chemical weapons, telling Russian state TV on Monday that separatist forces should seize the plant by first blocking all the exits. “And then we’ll use chemical troops to smoke them out of there,” the official, Eduard Basurin, said. He denied Tuesday that separatist forces had used chemical weapons in Mariupol.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said officials were investigating, and it was possible phosphorus munitions — which cause horrendous burns but are not classed as chemical weapons — had been used in Mariupol.
Much of the city has been leveled in weeks of pummeling by Russian troops. The mayor said Monday that the siege has left more than 10,000 civilians dead, their bodies “carpeted through the streets.” Mayor Vadym Boychenko said the death toll in Mariupol alone could surpass 20,000.
Zelenskyy adviser Mykhailo Podolyak acknowledged the challenges Ukrainian troops face in Mariupol. He said via Twitter that they remain blocked and are having issues with supplies, while Ukraine’s president and generals “do everything possible (and impossible) to find a solution.”
“For more than 1.5 months our defenders protect the city from (Russian) troops, which are 10+ times larger,” Podolyak tweeted. “They’re fighting under the bombs for each meter of the city. They make (Russia) pay an exorbitant price.”
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the use of chemical weapons “would be a callous escalation in this conflict,” while Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said it would be a “wholesale breach of international law.”
U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time referred to Russia’s invasion as a “genocide.” He was even blunter later Tuesday, repeating the term and saying: “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that the U.S. could not confirm the drone report. But he noted the administration’s persistent concerns “about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents.”
Britain, meanwhile, has warned that Russia may resort to phosphorus bombs, which are banned in civilian areas under international law, in Mariupol.
Most armies use phosphorus munitions to illuminate targets or to produce smoke screens. Deliberately firing them into an enclosed space to expose people to fumes could breach the Chemical Weapons Convention, said Marc-Michael Blum, a former laboratory head at the Netherlands-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
“Once you start using the properties of white phosphorus, toxic properties, specifically and deliberately, then it becomes banned,” he said.
In Washington, a senior U.S. defense official said the Biden administration was preparing yet another package of military aid for Ukraine possibly totaling $750 million to be announced in the coming days. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans not yet publicly announced. Delivery is due to be completed this week of $800 million in military assistance approved by Biden a month ago.
In the face of stiff resistance by Ukrainian forces bolstered by Western weapons, Russian forces have increasingly relied on bombarding cities, flattening many urban areas and killing thousands. The war has driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes — including nearly two-thirds of the country’s children.
Moscow’s retreat from cities and towns around Kyiv led to the discovery of large numbers of apparently massacred civilians, prompting widespread condemnation and accusations of war crimes.
More than 720 people were killed in Kyiv suburbs that had been occupied by Russian troops and over 200 were considered missing, the Interior Ministry said early Wednesday.
In Bucha alone, Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said 403 bodies had been found and the toll could rise as minesweepers comb the area.
Ukraine’s prosecutor-general’s office said Tuesday it was also looking into events in the Brovary district, which lies to the northeast.
It said the bodies of six civilians were found with gunshot wounds in a basement in the village of Shevchenkove and Russian forces were believed to be responsible.
Prosecutors are also investigating allegations that Russian forces fired on a convoy of civilians trying to leave by car from the village of Peremoha in the Brovary district, killing four people including a 13-year-old boy. In another attack near Bucha, five people were killed including two children when a car was fired upon, prosecutors said.
Putin falsely claimed Tuesday that Ukraine’s accusation that hundreds of civilians were killed by Russian troops in the town of Bucha were “fake.” Associated Press journalists saw dozens of bodies in and around the town, some of whom had their hands bound and appeared to have been shot at close range.
Speaking at the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s far east, in his first known foray outside Moscow since the war began, Putin also said the West would fail to isolate Russia and its economy has withstood a “blitz” of sanctions.
Addressing the pace of the campaign, he said Moscow was proceeding “calmly and rhythmically” to “achieve the planned goals while minimizing the losses.”
The Russian defense ministry said Tuesday that it used used air- and sea-launched missiles to destroy an ammunition depot and airplane hangar at Starokostiantyniv in the western Khmelnytskyi region and an ammunition depot near Kyiv.
___
Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Robert Burns in Washington, and AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wivb.com/news/mayor-more-than-10000-civilians-dead-in-ukraine-port-city/ | 2022-04-13T00:57:17 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/mayor-more-than-10000-civilians-dead-in-ukraine-port-city/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — A gunman in a gas mask and construction vest set off a smoke grenade and fired a barrage of at least 33 bullets in a rush-hour subway train, shooting at least 10 people Tuesday, authorities said. Police were scouring the city for the shooter and trying to track down the renter of a van possibly connected to the violence.
A scene of horror unfolded as frightened commuters ran from the train as others limped out of it. At least one rider collapsed on the platform.
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS. Smoke poured out of the train car as the door opened, he added.
Five people were in critical condition but expected to survive. At least 29 in all were treated at hospitals for gunshot wounds, smoke inhalation and other conditions, according to hospitals.
The gunfire erupted on a train that pulled into a station in the Sunset Park neighborhood, about a 15-minute ride from Manhattan and predominantly home to Hispanic and Asian communities.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the attack was not being investigated as terrorism, but that she was “not ruling out anything.” The shooter’s motive was unknown.
Authorities found a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun at the scene, along with extended magazines, a hatchet, both detonated and undetonated smoke grenades, a black garbage can, a rolling cart, gasoline and key to a U-Haul van, Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
He said the key led investigators to the van renter, who they said has addresses in Philadelphia and Wisconsin. Authorities were looking for him, but Essig stressed that it wasn’t yet clear whether the man was linked to the shooting.
Investigators believe the weapon jammed, preventing the suspect from continuing to fire, the officials said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has completed an urgent trace to identify the gun’s manufacturer, seller and initial owner.
The officials said authorities zeroed in on a person of interest after the credit card used to rent the van was found at the shooting scene.
The attack unnerved a city on guard about a rise in gun violenceand the ever-present threat of terrorism. It left some New Yorkers jittery about riding the nation’s busiest subway system and prompted officials to increase policing at transportation hubs from Philadelphia to Connecticut.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced last fall that it had put security cameras in all 472 subway stations citywide, saying they would put criminals on an “express track to justice.” But at the station where the train arrived, the cameras apparently weren’t working.
MTA system chief Janno Lieber told TV interviewers he didn’t know why the cameras malfunctioned. But he said police had “a lot of different options” from cameras elsewhere on the subway line to get a glimpse of the shooter.
One rider’s video, shot through a closed door between subway cars, shows a person in a hooded sweatshirt raising an arm and pointing at something as five bangs sound. In another video, smoke and people pour out of a subway car, some limping.
“Someone call 911!” a person shouts.
Other video and photos from the scene show people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the platform — some amid what appear to be small puddles of blood — and another person on the floor of a subway car.
Rider Juliana Fonda, a broadcast engineer at WNYC-FM, told its news site Gothamist that passengers from the car behind hers started banging on the connecting door.
“There was a lot of loud pops, and there was smoke in the other car,” she said. “And people were trying to get in and they couldn’t, they were pounding on the door to get into our car.”
As police searched for the shooter, Gov. Kathy Hochul warned New Yorkers to be vigilant.
“This individual is still on the loose. This person is dangerous,” the Democrat said at a news conference just after noon. “This is an active shooter situation right now in the city of New York.”
Fire and police officials had responded to reports of an explosion, but Sewell said at the press conference that there were no known explosive devices. Multiple smoke devices were found on the scene, mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy said.
After people streamed out of the train, quick-thinking transit workers ushered passengers to another train across the platform for safety, Lieber, the MTA chairman, noted.
High school student John Butsikaris was riding the other train when he saw a conductor urging everyone to get in. He thought it might be a mundane problem until the next stop, when he heard screams for medical attention and his train was evacuated.
“I’m definitely shook,” the 15-year-old told The Associated Press. “Even though I didn’t see what happened, I’m still scared, because it was like a few feet away from me, what happened.”
No transit workers were physically hurt, according to their union.
In Menlo, Iowa, President Joe Biden praised “the first responders who jumped in action, including civilians, civilians, who didn’t hesitate to help their fellow passengers and tried to shield them.”
Adams, who is isolating following a positive COVID-19 test on Sunday, said in a video statement that the city “will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized, even by a single individual.”
New York City has faced a spate of shootings and high-profile bloodshed in recent months, including on the city’s subways. One of the most shocking was in January, when a woman was pushed to her death in front of a train by a stranger.
Adams, a Democrat a little over 100 days into his term, has made cracking down on crime — especially on the subways — a focus of his early administration, pledging to send more police officers into stations and platforms for regular patrols. It wasn’t immediately clear whether officers were already inside the station when the shootings occurred.
Danny Mastrogiorgio of Brooklyn had just dropped his son off at school when he saw a crush of panicked passengers, some wounded, running up the stairway at the 25th Street station. At least two had visible leg injuries, he said.
“It was insane,” he told the AP. “No one knew exactly what was going on.”
___
Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Karen Matthews, Julie Walker, Deepti Hajela, Michelle L. Price and David Porter in New York contributed to this report. | https://www.wivb.com/news/multiple-people-shot-at-new-york-city-subway-station/ | 2022-04-13T00:57:24 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/multiple-people-shot-at-new-york-city-subway-station/ |
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Scandal once again plagues Albany and the Executive Chamber, but political analysts say Former Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin could still win both the primary and general elections.
Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin resigned Tuesday evening after been charged and arraigned in an alleged federal bribery conspiracy earlier in the day.
In a statement Tuesday night, Benjamin’s legal team said they plan to fight these charges so that he can return to public office.
There has never been a federal case like this in America. Brian supported a $50,000 grant to Friends of Public School Harlem. Every dollar was to buy supplies for public school students in Harlem. There was nothing inappropriate about this grant.
After today’s charges, Brian will resign his duties as Lieutenant Governor and suspend his campaign. he will focus his energies on explaining in court why his actions were laudable—not criminal.
He looks forward to when this case is finished so he can rededicate himself to public service.”
James D. Gatta and William J. Harrington, Counsels for Brian Benjamin
Governor Kathy Hochul announced Benjamin’s resignation late Tuesday afternoon, saying it is clear he cannot continue to serve.
“I have accepted Brian Benjamin’s resignation effective immediately,” Gov. Hochul said in a statement. “While the legal process plays out, it is clear to both of us that he cannot continue to serve as Lieutenant Governor. New Yorkers deserve absolute confidence in their government, and I will continue working every day to deliver for them.”
News 4 obtained the indictment against Benjamin, which says that he used his abilities as a state senator to give $50,000 in state funds to a real estate developer in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. According to the indictment, this allegedly occurred between 2019 and 2021.
Governor Hochul tapped Benjamin as her second-in-command weeks after taking office, and many regard this appointment as her first major decision as governor. She took the office after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned due to several counts of sexual misconduct.
Gov. Hochul and Benjamin were slated to run for re-election this year, and Benjamin will appear on the June primary ballot, battling against three other candidates: New York University Professor Ana Maria Archila, former New York City Councilwoman Diana Reyna and Sodus Mayor David Englert.
“It also opens up the lanes for some of the primary challengers that are going to be pushing on the ethics issue really hard now,” Professor Grant Reeher, political science expert from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, told News 4. “This is just smacks of old Albany and Albany at its worst.”
Aside from the primary election, this new scandal could impact the general election and boost republican candidates.
“I think Republicans have something to run on now, which may give them the ability to raise more money and therefore be more competitive,” political analyst Carl Calabrese said.
New York Primary Day is just 11 weeks away. Benjamin can only be removed from the ticket if he dies or moves out of state. If he wins in June, he will appear on the November ballot.
“If he wins, if he hasn’t been convicted of a crime, even if the trial is ongoing, if he is acquitted or if he pleads this down to a minor charge, he could become the next Lieutenant Governor even though he has resigned. It’s kind of a crazy system,” political analyst Jack O’Donnell added.
The more permanent stain could fall on Governor Hochul’s campaign, even though some say she is still the front-runner.
“This could end up being a blip in the road, but it is one of those things that change minds or get people to look at things and start asking questions. Then it becomes what’s next,” O’Donnell concluded.
Gov. Hochul and Benjamin will appear separately on the primary ballot, so Democrats will have the opportunity to decide both of their fates for November.
Tara Lynch is a Buffalo native who joined the News 4 team as a reporter in 2022. She previously worked at WETM in Elmira, N.Y., a sister station of News 4. You can follow Tara on Facebook and Twitter and find more of her work here. | https://www.wivb.com/news/new-york/he-could-become-the-next-lieutenant-governor-political-analysts-react-to-benjamin-resignation/ | 2022-04-13T00:57:31 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/new-york/he-could-become-the-next-lieutenant-governor-political-analysts-react-to-benjamin-resignation/ |
SUNSET PARK, Brooklyn (PIX11) — Police identified Frank R. James, 62, as a person of interest in connection with Tuesday morning’s Brooklyn subway attack.
Officials do not have evidence he was the same person who actually committed the shooting. Ten people were shot in the attack.
James’ name was connected to a U-Haul sought in connection with the attack, official said. A key was left behind at the scene of the shooting. Police connected that to a U-Haul with Arizona plates, which they later located in Brooklyn. James had rented the U-Haul.
“We’re looking to determine if he has any connection to the train,” NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
There were some “concerning” social media posts police believe may be connected to James, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. They mentioned homelessness and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Security for the mayor was increased because of the posts.
James has addresses in Wisconsin and Philadelphia. The U-Haul was rented in Philadelphia.
At the scene of the attack, officers also recovered a 9mm semi-automatic weapon and a hatchet. They found a liquid believed to be gasoline and a bag with commercial-grade fireworks inside.
No arrests have been made. Police described the suspected gunman as being around 5 feet, 5 inches tall. The man weighs around 175-200 pounds. He was last seen wearing a gas mask and a construction vest. Police initially said the vest was green, but later officials said it was orange. The man also had on a gray, hooded sweatshirt.
Submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, downloading the NYPD Crime Stoppers mobile app, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish-speaking callers are asked to dial 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). | https://www.wivb.com/news/new-york/who-is-frank-r-james-person-of-interest-in-brooklyn-subway-attack/ | 2022-04-13T00:57:37 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/new-york/who-is-frank-r-james-person-of-interest-in-brooklyn-subway-attack/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, whose seven months in that role has been overshadowed by probes into a previous campaign, was arrested Tuesday in a federal corruption investigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Benjamin was arrested on charges of bribery, honest services wire fraud and falsification of records.
Benjamin, formerly a state senator from Harlem, had joined the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul in September, chosen by her to fill her former job a couple of weeks after she stepped into the governorship following the resignation of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations.
But just over two months later, a real estate developer who steered campaign contributions toward Benjamin’s failed bid for New York City comptroller was indicted.
Federal authorities accused Gerald Migdol of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft in illegally giving donations to Benjamin’s campaign.
Prosecutors had previously not made any accusations against Benjamin, and his campaign said at the time of Migdol’s arrest that it had forfeited any improper donations as soon as they were discovered.
More recently, reports came out saying subpoenas had been issued to Benjamin regarding the financial issues even before Hochul picked him as lieutenant governor.
Despite her saying she didn’t know of the subpoenas at the time, Hochul proclaimed her support for Benjamin, and he said he had told state police as they went though the process of vetting him.
“I have utmost confidence in my lieutenant governor,” Hochul said during a Thursday press conference. “This is an independent investigation related to other people and he’s fully cooperating. He is my running mate.”
Benjamin was the state’s second Black lieutenant governor. During his state Legislature career, the Democrat emphasized criminal justice reform and affordable housing. His district included most of central Harlem, where he was born and raised by Caribbean immigrant parents.
He has a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Brown University and a master’s of business administration from Harvard Business School, and worked as a developer of affordable housing. | https://www.wivb.com/news/ny-lt-gov-benjamin-arrested-in-campaign-donation-scheme/ | 2022-04-13T00:57:43 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/ny-lt-gov-benjamin-arrested-in-campaign-donation-scheme/ |
Climate change made the record-smashing deadly 2020 Atlantic hurricane season noticeably wetter, a new study says. And it will likely make this season rainier, too, scientists said.
Human-caused climate change made the entire season — 30 named storms — drop 5% more rain. During the 14 storms that reached hurricane status the rainfall was 8% heavier, according to the study in Tuesday’s Nature Communications.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you’re near a threshold, a little bit can push you over the top,” said Lawrence Berkeley National Lab climate scientist Michael Wehner, co-author of the paper. “The implication is that that means there was more freshwater flooding and that the damages from freshwater flooding were increased, but by how much would require a more detailed analysis.”
While past studies have predicted climate change would make storms wetterand found individual storms, such as 2017’s Harvey,were in fact wetter because of human-caused climate change, this is the first study to look at an entire season, Wehner said. That’s important because it removes the selection bias of just picking the worst storms, such as Harvey.
“It’s not just the big monster ones, it’s a whole season,” Wehner said.
It’s likely 2020 is not the only year made significantly rainier by climate change. Warming is probably increasing the downpours in nearly all storms and most hurricane seasons, including the one that starts June 1, said study lead author Kevin Reed, an atmospheric scientist at Stony Brook University.
And what a season 2020 was. It broke recordsnot only for the number of named storms, but for the number that became major storms with winds of at least 111 miles per hour — seven — and the number that made landfall in the United States. Louisiana got hit five times. Overall, more than 330 people were killed directly by named storms in 2020 and damage soared past $41 billion, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Hurricanes Laura, Sally, Isaias, Zeta, Delta, Eta and Hanna all caused more than $1 billion in damage, much of it from flooding. Laura, for example, was 10% wetter than it would have been without climate change, a separate quick analysis shows, Reed said.
The researchers used computer simulations — continually updated with real-time observations — to calculate how much water fell during the 30 storms and then compared them to a simulated world with no human caused climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. The difference is what’s caused by global warming. This scientifically accepted technique came up with the 5% and 8% figures.
When scientists looked at just the three rainiest hours of each storm, climate change amped them up 8% compared to the mythical world without climate change. For the storms that hit hurricane status, 11% more rain fell during the peak rainy time than would have otherwise, the study found.
A fundamental rule of physics is that the atmosphere can hold nearly 4% more moisture for every degree Fahrenheit the air warms (7% more for every degree Celsius). Globally, temperatures have increased about 2 degrees (1.1 degrees Celsius) since pre-industrial times. And the water of the Atlantic hurricane basin, which acts as storm fuel, has warmed about 1.3 degrees (.7 degrees Celsius) in the past century, Wehner said.
“That signal will only get larger as the sea surface temperatures continue to warm,” Reed said.
Storms are getting stronger, which also makes them wetter, Wehner said.
“The expected increase in hurricane rainfall is probably the most robust prediction concerning the response of hurricanes to climate change,” said MIT atmospheric science professor Kerry Emanuel, who wasn’t part of the study team. But the study is limited by not looking at how climate change could have affected storm track, intensity and frequency, he said.
___
Follow AP’s climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate
___
Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears
___
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/pouring-it-on-climate-change-made-2020-hurricanes-rainier/ | 2022-04-13T00:57:50 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/pouring-it-on-climate-change-made-2020-hurricanes-rainier/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier, the sharpest year-over-year increase since 1981. Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine. From February to March, inflation rose 1.2%, the biggest month-to-month jump since 2005. Gasoline prices drove more than half that increase.
Across the economy, the year-over-year price spikes were widespread. Gasoline prices rocketed 48% in the past 12 months. Used car prices have soared 35%, though they actually fell in February and March. Bedroom furniture is up 14.7%, men’s suits and coats 14.5%. Grocery prices have jumped 10%, including 18% increases for both bacon and oranges.
Investors focused on a bright spot in the report and sent stock prices up: So-called core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose just 0.3% from February to March, the smallest monthly rise since September. Over the past year, though, core prices are up 6.5%, the most since 1982.
“The inflation fire is still out of control,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at the research firm FWDBONDS LLC.
The March inflation numbers were the first to fully capture the surge in gasoline prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow’s attacks have triggered far-reaching Western sanctions against the Russian economy and disrupted food and energy markets. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gasoline — $4.10 — is up 43% from a year ago, though it’s dipped in the past couple of weeks.
The acceleration of inflation has occurred against the backdrop of a booming job market and a solid overall economy. In March, employers adding a robust 431,000 jobs — the 11th straight month in which they’ve added at least 400,000. For 2021, they added 6.7 million jobs, the most in any year on record. In addition, job openings are near record highs, layoffs are at their lowest point since 1968 and the unemployment rate is just above a half-century low.
The escalation of energy prices, a potential threat to the economy’s long-term durability, has led to higher transportation costs for the shipment of goods across the economy, which, in turn, has contributed to higher prices for consumers. The squeeze is being felt particularly hard at the gas pump.
“That’s an extra dollar per gallon that I’m paying to get into the city to work,” Jason Emerson of Oakland, California, said as he loaded groceries into his car. “And then, you know, we have the tolls that just went up this past year a dollar. My eggs are a dollar more as well. So everything’s going up at least a dollar, which, you know, adds up.’’
The latest inflation numbers solidify expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates aggressively in the coming months to try to slow borrowing and spending and tame inflation.
Kathy Bostjancic, an economist at Oxford Economics, said she expects year-over-year inflation to hit 9% in May and then begin “a slow descent.” Some other economists, too, suggest that inflation is at or near its peak. With federal stimulus aid having expired, consumer demand could flag as wages fall behind inflation, households drain more of their savings and the Fed sharply raises rates, all of which could combine to slow inflation.
But that could take time. Robust spending, steady pay raises and chronic supply shortages are still fueling inflation. In addition, housing costs, which make up about a third of the consumer price index, have escalated, a trend that seems unlikely to reverse anytime soon.
Economists note that as the economy has emerged from the depths of the pandemic, consumers have been gradually broadening their spending beyond goods to include more services. A result is that high inflation, which at first had reflected mainly a shortage of goods — from cars and furniture to electronics and sports equipment — has been emerging in services, too, like travel, health care and entertainment. Airline fares, for instance, have soared an average of nearly 24% in the past 12 months. The average cost of a hotel room is up 29%
The expected fast pace of the Fed’s rate increases will make loans sharply more expensive for consumers and businesses. Mortgage rates, in particular, though not directly influenced by the Fed, have rocketed higher in recent weeks, making home buying costlier. Many economists say they worry that the Fed has waited too long to begin raising rates and might end up acting so aggressively as to trigger a recession.
The American public’s expectation for inflation over the next 12 months has reached its highest point — 6.6% — in a survey the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has conducted since 2013. Once public expectations for inflation rise, they can be self-fulfilling: Workers typically demand higher pay to offset their expectations for price increases. Businesses, in turn, raise prices to cover their higher labor costs. This can set off a wage-price spiral, something the nation last endured in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Inflation, which had been largely under control for four decades, began to accelerate last spring as the U.S. and global economies rebounded with unexpected speed and strength from the brief but devastating coronavirus recession that began in the spring of 2020.
Many Americans have been receiving pay increases, but inflation has more than wiped out those gains for most people. In February, after accounting for inflation, average hourly wages fell 2.7% from a year earlier. It was the 12th straight monthly drop in inflation-adjusted wages.
Still, for now, with the job market healthy, inflation has yet to dampen overall consumer spending. Levi Strauss & Co., for example, says its price increases don’t seem to have fazed its customers.
That said, Adrian Mitchell, chief financial officer at Macy’s, cautions that chronically high inflation will likely lead consumers to be choosier: They may spend less on department store goods and more on services like travel and dinners out.
“We do believe that the consumer is going to be spending,’’ Mitchell said. “But are they going to be spending on discretionary items that we sell, or are they going to be spending on an airline ticket to Florida or air travel or going out to restaurants more?”
In Atlanta, Shirley Hughes has had to raise prices at her bakery, Sweet Cheats, because of soaring costs for items like eggs and milk. Two years ago, a 36-pound container of butter cost $75. Now, it’s $145. Thirty dozen eggs were $50. Now, they’re $75 — and even that price is possible only if Hughes picks them up herself, instead of having them delivered. She’s raised the price of her six-inch cake by $5 to $50.
So far, she said, people have generally accepted her higher prices. But there are limits. One customer wanted a six-inch cake delivered to her boyfriend — an hour’s drive away. Hughes told her the price of making the cake and delivering it would come to nearly $200.
The customer canceled.
___
D’Innocenzio and Anderson reported from New York. AP video journalist Terence Chea in Oakland, California, contributed to this report. | https://www.wivb.com/news/sticker-shock-march-inflation-likely-set-new-40-year-high/ | 2022-04-13T00:57:58 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/sticker-shock-march-inflation-likely-set-new-40-year-high/ |
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A defense attorney raised doubt Tuesday about the competency of a 16-year-old student to face sex assault and attempted murder charges in a violent after-school attack that left a Las Vegas high school teacher injured and unconscious in her classroom last week.
In a police report, investigators said the boy’s mother said he had no known medical or mental disabilities but recently seemed “depressed and disconnected.”
A local judge confirmed with the teen’s lawyer and a prosecutor that state law calls for him to be prosecuted as an adult if the case moves forward on those charges and others including first-degree kidnapping, which could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
Defense attorney Paul Adras told Justice of the Peace Joe M. Bonaventure he’ll seek a mental evaluation for his client ahead of a May 6 competency hearing in state court.
The Associated Press is not naming the teen, pending a competency determination. He is being held as an adult on $500,000 bail at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas.
Additional charges including more counts of sexual assault and battery by strangulation were added Monday, bringing to 15 the number of felonies he faces. He has not been asked to enter a plea.
A Las Vegas police arrest report obtained Tuesday provided new details of the alleged attack at Eldorado High School. It said the student, a junior, went to the teacher’s classroom last Thursday afternoon to talk about his grades.
The female teacher told investigators the teen is physically larger than her, approached her as she sat at her desk and choked her from behind with a rope or cord before pulling a bookcase and filing cabinet down upon her.
The teacher “asked … repeatedly why he was ‘doing this’ to her,” before she lost consciousness, police said. She “recalled (him) telling her he had something like ‘multiple personalities,’ and … he ‘didn’t like teachers’ and was ‘getting revenge.’ “
The teacher said she tried to fight her attacker and scratched his arms. When she awoke, she had blood in her hair and her clothes were disheveled.
“I don’t know why I attacked her, she was good to me,” the arrest report quotes the student telling detectives. It said he admitted taking the teacher’s keys before he fled the campus.
He attends ROTC and was with his mother driving him back to school about two hours later for an award ceremony when they were stopped and he was arrested by school police.
His mother described her son as a good student who was “not diagnosed with any medical or mental disabilities.” She told police that in recent months he seemed “depressed and disconnected” but would not talk about what was wrong.
Officials said the teacher was hospitalized. Neither her name or the extent of her injuries were immediately made public. The police report said the teen described removing her clothes, and said DNA evidence was collected.
Outside court, Adras called it too early in the case to comment on his client’s behalf, and acknowledged intense public interest since his arrest.
“I know there’s a lot of information going out on social media,” the attorney told The Associated Press. “We’re asking everyone to respect the process.”
Adras added that prosecutor Lindsey Moors informed him the case may be presented to a grand jury behind closed doors.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, outside court, expressed frustration with escalating violence in Clark County schools, the nation’s fifth-largest district, and told reporters that he spoke Tuesday with school Superintendent Jesus Jara.
“This is an example of the kind of behavior that will not be tolerated,” Wolfson said of the allegations against the teen.
Wolfson, Jara and other officials convened a news conference two weeks ago to call for calm in the sprawling school district, which has more than 300,000 students and 18,000 teachers at about 336 campuses. Wolfson, the top prosecutor in Las Vegas since 2012, is running for reelection this year.
Jara blamed incidents on the “stress, anxieties and isolation of the (coronavirus) pandemic.”
The same day the news conference was held, a campus police officer fired three gunshots at a moving car that had struck a girl amid a report of an after-school fight in a parking lot at a downtown Las Vegas high school. Among four teenage non-students in the car, the driver and a passenger received minor wounds, authorities said. The girl struck by the car was not seriously hurt.
Classrooms are empty this week during spring break.
Since schools opened in August, campus police have reported 3,000 assaults and fights, and confiscated more than 25 guns. Brawls at some schools have involved non-students, adults and parents. The mothers of two students have been accused in separate cases of using their vehicles as weapons to defend their children from schoolmates. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/competency-issue-raised-in-vegas-teen-teacher-attack-case/ | 2022-04-13T00:58:05 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/competency-issue-raised-in-vegas-teen-teacher-attack-case/ |
A Kokomo man accused in the shooting death of another man in October 2021 was sentenced to one year in the Indiana Department of Correction, with credit for time served and the balance suspended to supervised probation.
The sentencing against 26-year-old Mycah Fowler stems from a January plea agreement and motion to dismiss other charges of voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony, and reckless homicide, a Level 5 felony.
Fowler was originally arrested on those charges after the Oct. 23, 2021, shooting death of 27-year-old Harvey Lenoir, whose body was found by officers in the 900 block of West Monroe Street.
Lenoir had reportedly sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and investigators believe a physical altercation between the two men led to the incident.
January’s motion to dismiss the voluntary manslaughter and reckless homicide charges cited additional evidence obtained in the investigation into Lenoir’s death, including Lenoir’s autopsy report and evidence located at the crime scene, though the filing does not go into detail about what specifically those discoveries were.
But during Tuesday’s sentencing, Judge William Menges did allude to them.
“If he was in fear, he had every right to defend himself,” Menges said, referring to Fowler. “… Then the first act of shooting was justified. But I have a problem in continuing to shoot. … It’s a classic definition of criminal recklessness.”
Fowler also addressed the shooting in a recent statement filed through the Howard County Clerk’s Office, in which he acknowledged that what he did was a “dangerous act.”
“It is obvious that I fired shots at the victim (and others) as they ran away down the alley after the altercation on my porch,” Fowler wrote, adding that it even created bullet holes in a nearby garage. “My firing a gun at them while they ran away created a risk of harm to those individuals and was reckless on my part.” | https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/kokomo-man-gets-probation-in-2021-death/article_0b934d4e-ba9f-11ec-a7cc-97d77add8af2.html | 2022-04-13T00:58:10 | 0 | https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/kokomo-man-gets-probation-in-2021-death/article_0b934d4e-ba9f-11ec-a7cc-97d77add8af2.html |
NEW YORK (AP) — 2021 was the deadliest year in U.S. history, and new data and research are offering more insights into how it got that bad.
The main reason for the increase in deaths? COVID-19, said Robert Anderson, who oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work on death statistics.
The agency this month quietly updated its provisional death tally. It showed there were 3.465 million deaths last year, or about 80,000 more than 2020’s record-setting total.
Early last year, some experts were optimistic that 2021 would not be as bad as the first year of the pandemic — partly because effective COVID-19 vaccines had finally become available.
“We were wrong, unfortunately,” said Noreen Goldman, a Princeton University researcher.
COVID-19 deaths rose in 2021 — to more than 415,000, up from 351,000 the year before — as new coronavirus variants emerged and an unexpectedly large numbers of Americans refused to get vaccinated or were hesitant to wear masks, experts said.
The coronavirus is not solely to blame. Preliminary CDC data also shows the crude death rate for cancer rose slightly, and rates continued to increase for diabetes, chronic liver disease and stroke.
Drug overdose deaths also continued to rise. The CDC does not yet have a tally for 2021 overdose deaths, because it can take weeks of lab work and investigation to identify them. But provisional data through October suggests the nation is on track to see at least 105,000 overdose deaths in 2021 — up from 93,000 the year before.
New research released Tuesday showed a particularly large jump in overdose deaths among 14- to 18-year-olds.
Adolescent overdose death counts were fairly constant for most of the last decade, at around 500 a year, according to the paper published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. They almost doubled in 2020, to 954, and the researchers estimated that the total hit nearly 1,150 last year.
Joseph Friedman, a UCLA researcher who was the paper’s lead author, called the spike “unprecedented.”
Those teen overdose deaths were only around 1% of the U.S. total. But adolescents experienced a greater relative increase than the overall population, even though surveys suggest drug use among teens is down.
Experts attributed the spike to fentanyl, a highly lethal drug that has been cut into heroin for several years. More recently it’s also been pressed into counterfeit pills resembling prescription drugs that teens sometimes abuse.
The total number of U.S. deaths often increases year to year as the U.S. population grows. But 2020 and 2021 saw extraordinary jumps in death numbers and rates, due largely to the pandemic.
Those national death trends affect life expectancy — an estimate of the average number of years a baby born in a given year might expect to live.
With rare exceptions, U.S. life expectancy has reliably inched up year after year. But the CDC’s life expectancy estimate for 2020 was about 77 years — more than a year and a half lower than what it was in 2019.
The CDC has not yet reported its calculation for 2021. But Goldman and some other researchers have been making their own estimates, presented in papers that have not yet been published in peer-reviewed journals.
Those researchers think U.S. life expectancy dropped another five or six months in 2021 — putting it back to where it was 20 years ago.
A loss of more than two years of life expectancy over the last two years “is mammoth,” Goldman said.
One study looked at death data in the U.S. and 19 other high-income countries. The U.S. fared the worst.
“What happened in the U.S. is less about the variants than the levels of resistance to vaccination and the public’s rejection of practices, such as masking and mandates, to reduce viral transmission,” one of the study’s authors, Dr. Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, said in a statement.
Some experts are skeptical that life expectancy will quickly bounce back. They worry about long-term complications of COVID-19 that may hasten the deaths of people with chronic health problems.
Preliminary — and incomplete — CDC data suggest there were at least 805,000 U.S. deaths in about the first three months of this year. That’s well below the same period last year, but higher than the comparable period in 2020.
“We may end up with a ‘new normal’ that’s a little higher than it was before,” Anderson said.
___
The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/covid-19-overdoses-pushed-us-to-highest-death-total-ever/ | 2022-04-13T00:58:12 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/covid-19-overdoses-pushed-us-to-highest-death-total-ever/ |
The IHSAA on Monday announced the new classifications for member schools in the sports of basketball, football, soccer and volleyball for the next two school years. Locally, Kokomo football, Northwestern girls basketball, and Eastern volleyball and boys and girls basketball all saw changes.
Kokomo is dropping to Class 4A in football. Kokomo has played in Class 5A since 1985 when the IHSAA introduced the all-in tournament and expanded to five classes. Kokomo stayed in Class 5A when the IHSAA expanded to six classes in 2013.
With an enrollment of 1,510, Kokomo was going to be the smallest school in Class 5A. But Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger's move to Class 5A under the IHSAA's success factor caused Kokomo to drop to the lower class where it is the largest school.
Northwestern's girls basketball team is returning to Class 3A after playing three years in Class 4A. The Tigers won Class 3A state championships in 2018 and '19. Under the success factor, they moved to Class 4A for a two-year stint. When they finished as Class 4A state runners-up in '20, an extra year was added to the stint.
Eastern's volleyball and basketball teams all had short stints in Class 3A, but with an enrollment of 456, Eastern is squarely back in Class 2A in those sports.
Sectional groupings for each sport (except for softball and baseball) will be announced in early May. Softball and baseball sectional groupings will be released in August. | https://www.kokomotribune.com/sports/ihsaa-sets-new-classifications-for-basketball-football-soccer-volley/article_083a4d56-babc-11ec-89f2-2f63cc15ea86.html | 2022-04-13T00:58:17 | 0 | https://www.kokomotribune.com/sports/ihsaa-sets-new-classifications-for-basketball-football-soccer-volley/article_083a4d56-babc-11ec-89f2-2f63cc15ea86.html |
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The influx of prescription opioids into West Virginia communities was the main driver of the state’s drug crisis — more than poverty, job loss and other economic stressors, an epidemiologist testified Tuesday at the ongoing trial against three major pharmaceutical companies.
“The economic conditions were the kindling, but the opioid suppliers were the gasoline that was poured directly on that kindling,” said Dr. Katherine Keyes, director of Columbia University’s Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program.
Keyes was questioned on the stand all day Tuesday in the state’s bench trial against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., AbbVie Inc.’s Allergan and their family of companies.
The West Virginia trial began last week and is expected to last up to two months. State and local governments, Native American tribes, unions, hospitals and other entities have filed more than3,000 lawsuits involving the opioid epidemic in state and federal courts.
Most allege the industry created a public nuisance in a crisis that has been linked to the deaths of 500,000 Americans over the past two decades.
A trial opened Monday in Florida’s opioid epidemic lawsuitagainst the Walgreens pharmacy chain, which state officials accuse of prioritizing profits over health by improperly dispensing millions of powerful painkillers that caused tens of thousands of deaths. Closing arguments are expected this week for an opioid-related trial in Washington.
Keyes described West Virginia, one of the poorest U.S. states, as the “epicenter of the opioid crisis in the U.S.” More people have died of overdoses in the state per capita than any other, all while the state has been grappling with a loss of jobs from the declining coal industry. West Virginia was one of the only U.S. states to lose population during the 2020 U.S. census.
But while she said there is a relationship between poverty and unemployment and drug deaths, the number of prescription drugs present in communities makes a much greater impact.
“Economic factors certainly are important and certainly play a role and we should be paying attention to those, but the opioid supply is by far the predominant risk factor,” she said.
Keyes said she’d cited at least 400 scientific papers in her research preparing for trial. One 2021 studyreviewing opioid shipments to retail pharmacies across the country showed that Mingo County, West Virginia, had the highest rate of per capita pill volume in the country in 2008. The county saw an influx of 372 pills per capita, compared with a population-weighted national average of around 35.
Lawyers representing the pharmaceutical companies said West Virginia has greater rates of prescription drug use across the board. They also said there are higher rates of individuals who are diagnosed with chronic pain conditions in the state compared with the national average, a statistic likely related to the higher number of people working jobs that require manual labor.
During her testimony, Keyes said that the wave of prescription opioids drove a tsunami of drug dependence and prescription opioid-related overdose deaths. As the number of people being prescribed opioids decreased, people turned to heroin and fentanyl. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/epidemiologist-drug-supply-fueled-wva-crisis-over-poverty/ | 2022-04-13T00:58:19 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/epidemiologist-drug-supply-fueled-wva-crisis-over-poverty/ |
DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp rose to national notice in 2018 in part through a television ad that showed him brandishing a shotgun at an actor playing a suitor of one of his daughters.
The Republican, then running as conservative insurgent, pushed his support for gun rights, proposing to do away with the requirement that Georgians obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public.
Tuesday, facing a Republican primary challenge from former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, Kemp completed his return to those roots, signing Senate Bill 319. It immediately allows permitless carry in Georgia, making it the 25th state with such a law, and the 10th added in the past two years.
“SB 319 makes sure that law-abiding Georgians, including our daughters, and your family too, can protect themselves without having to have permission from your state government,” Kemp said outside Gable Sporting Goods in Douglasville, where he said he had previously purchased a handgun for one of his daughters. “The Constitution of the United States gives us that right, not the government.”
Republicans argue that requiring a carry permit, which costs about $75, infringes on Second Amendment gun rights. They also cite permitting delays in some Georgia counties during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kemp’s advocacy of permitless carry had grown quieter after he took office. He supported some gun rights expansions but talked little of constitutional carry, failing to mention the issue in his 2019, 2020 or 2021 State of the State speeches. Republican state House Speaker David Ralston shelved even a more modest gun bill in 2021 after shootings killed eight people at two Atlanta-area spas.
But in one example of how Perdue’s Donald Trump-endorsed challenge has forced Kemp to the right,he revived calls for constitutional carry in January,saying people need to carry guns to protect themselves against crime.
Perdue told reporters Tuesday in Atlanta that he’s “glad” Kemp was signing the bill but said the governor isn’t doing enough to fight crime. Perdue cited the failure of lawmakers to allow the Buckhead neighborhood to vote on seceding from Atlanta, said Kemp has let the state police force “deteriorate” and said Kemp should do more to arrest people who entered the country illegally.
“It’s too bad it took four years to get it done, and it’s too bad it took me getting in the race for them to get any energy to get that done,” Perdue said of the gun law.
Kemp denies he ever waivered on the issue, saying he had to keep persuading lawmakers. “The votes haven’t been there, but a lot changed,” he told reporters after signing the law.
Kemp’s support points to a sharp divergence between the Georgia Republican and Democratic parties this year on guns and other issues. There’s little dissension inside the Republican Party on expanding gun rights, while Democrats are eager to stake their claim to “commonsense” gun regulation.
At an event before Kemp signed the law, several Democratic lawmakers lambasted the measure as “criminal carry,” saying it would remove one of Georgia’s few deterrents blocking people who aren’t supposed to carry a gun.
Under Georgia law, people who have been convicted of a felony, are facing felony charges or have been treated for certain mental health issues within the past five years can’t carry a gun. The new law doesn’t change that. But it removes the background check for a permit to carry a loaded or concealed handgun in public. Democrats note that more than 5,000 people applied for permits last year and were blocked, and say police and the public will now face the danger of some of those people carrying guns.
“Yes, I believe in the Second Amendment,” said Sen. Donzella James, an Atlanta Democrat. “But why are we spreading the access to guns to everyone?”
Democrats point to polling showing the measure is unpopular with a majority of the public, saying Kemp has become a prisoner of his party’s right wing.
“It is a sad day when the Republican leadership across Georgia cares more about their political position than public safety,” said Rep. Roger Bruce, an Atlanta Democrat.
The state would still issue concealed-carry permits to allow Georgians to take advantage of agreements allowing interstate gun carry. Kemp also signed a bill Tuesday enhancing reciprocity in Georgia for gun owners from other states.
Kemp signed the law a day after Democratic President Joe Biden announced new regulations on ghost guns, privately made firearms without serial numbers. But Biden has made no progress on getting Congress to pass gun regulations, and the U.S. Supreme Court could be poisedto strike down New York’s more restrictive permitting regime.
There are no studies that show permitless carry laws decrease violent crimes, a 2020 Rand Institute analysis found, while it’s uncertain whether the laws increase violence.
Even some gun control proponents say that Georgia’s laws were already so permissive that it’s unclear what will change without permits. Allison Anderman is senior counsel for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, named for former Arizona U.S. Rep Gabby Giffords, a Democrat who was shot outside a supermarket and suffered a severe brain injury in 2011.
“I don’t know that we can really draw any conclusions,” Anderman said.
___
Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/georgia-gov-kemp-signs-bill-easing-gun-laws-amid-primary/ | 2022-04-13T00:58:26 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/georgia-gov-kemp-signs-bill-easing-gun-laws-amid-primary/ |
An influential U.S. group is raising doubts about routine suicide screening for children and teens even as others call for urgent attention to youth mental health.
In draft guidance posted Tuesday, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said there’s not enough evidence to recommend routinely screening kids who show no obvious signs of being suicidal. The document is open for public comment until May 9, and opposing voices are already weighing in.
Many experts agree with the group’s assessment that more research is urgently needed but argue that there’s no evidence that screening — asking kids if they’ve ever considered or attempted suicide — could cause harm.
“In the meantime, what are you going to do with this mental health crisis? You cannot turn a blind eye,’’ said psychologist Lisa Horowitz of the National Institute of Mental Health.
The task force is an independent group of doctors and other experts that creates guidelines for prevention services in primary care settings, based on an analysis of research. The group’s final recommendations often mirror its draft guidance. Insurance coverage decisions are often based on its advice.
The draft guidance pertains to screening in pediatricians’ offices and similar settings for kids up to age 18.
In 2020, suicide was the second-leading cause of death for ages 10 to 14, and the third leading cause for ages 15 to 19, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Abundant reports suggest kids’ mental health has suffered during the pandemic, with troubling numbers of suicide attempts and increases in depression, anxiety, eating disorders and other signs of distress.
“Certainly, we all share the same concern about wanting to minimize this risk for young people and to intervene effectively so that we can prevent these consequences,’’ said task force member Martha Kubik, a professor of nursing at George Mason University. But she said suicide screening in kids who aren’t obviously troubled could lead to stigma and needless anxiety.
The task force’s draft document recommends anxiety screening for ages 8 to 18, and echoes its previous advice for depression screening starting at age 12. Kubik said depression screening may catch some suicidal kids.
Suicide prevention experts say there’s a common misconception that asking kids about suicide will plant the idea in their minds. They argue that open conversations will reduce suicide stigma and let kids know parents and trusted adults care about their wellbeing.
“This report may actually set the field back,’’ said Dr. Christine Moutier of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Just last month, the foundation and the American Academy of Pediatrics backed suicide screening for ages 12 and up, and for kids aged 8 to 11 when there are concerns.
Last year, the pediatrics group and two others declared children’s health a national emergency worsened by the pandemic. And in January, the government issued updated Affordable Care Act preventive care guidelines that call for universal screening for suicide risk for ages 12 to 21.
The suicide of a 12-year-old Elkhart, Indiana, girl last month left her close-knit family reeling and wondering if they’d missed any signs. Rio Allred was a witty, bright-eyed seventh grader with a wicked laugh who loved books, sketching and video games.
They knew she was bothered by merciless bullying about her alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss. She developed it during the pandemic, shaved her head and only sometimes wore wigs or a hat. The family complained to school authorities and gave Rio a choice of transferring or home-schooling, but she wanted to stay put, said her mom, Nicole Ball.
“She put on such a brave face,” Ball said. “I never thought it would get to this point.”
The family talked openly about tough subjects including suicide, and Ball says Rio had recently gone to a school counselor, worried about one of her friends self-harming.
But Ball says she thinks routine suicide screening by “somebody that’s trained, on the outside looking in,’’ might pick up things kids don’t openly share, or signs that parents overlook.
The family has launched an anti-bullying campaign, and Ball says she’s sure Rio would approve.
“I always said she would change the world,’’ she said. “I hate that it’s this way.”
___
Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner: @LindseyTanner
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/influential-panel-raises-doubts-on-youth-suicide-screening/ | 2022-04-13T00:58:33 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/influential-panel-raises-doubts-on-youth-suicide-screening/ |
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Tribes in Maine gave up some of their rights to the state when they settled their land claims more than 40 years ago.
They want to change that agreement so they can enjoy the same self-governing rights as the other Native Americans.
The Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Mi’kmaq view legislative debate this week, ahead of the midterm elections, as their best opportunity for establishing rights to self determination.
The proposed changes come against a backdrop of President Joe Biden’s administration seeking to ensure that tribes are consulted early when it comes to policies or actions that impact them. It also has sought ways for the federal government and tribes to co-manage federal land that is part of tribes’ ancestral homeland.
But unlike the hundreds of tribal reservations across the United States, the Passamaquoddy’s and Penobscot’s three reservations in Maine are governed like municipalities and bound by state laws under the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980.
In Maine, the larger Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes operate their own police departments and health clinics but don’t have full autonomy over matters on their land. The state and tribes have butted heads on environmental, fish and wildlife rules.
Change could come with votes in the state Legislature that began Tuesday.
One of the bills would amend the land claims act to ensure that tribes have control over their land that’s comparable to other tribes in the U.S. Of the 574 federally recognized tribes in the country, about 325 have reservation land. The Legislature has not voted on that bill.
Another bill would ensure the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point can regulate its own drinking water, drilling wells on land owned by the tribe, for example, and working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency instead of being bound by state regulatory agencies.
That bill overwhelmingly passed, 103-35, in the initial House vote on Tuesday. The Senate will take it up later this week.
On Monday, about 300 tribal members and supporters gathered at the State House and marched to the home of Gov. Janet Mills, who’s opposed some aspects of both proposals.
One of the speakers, 19-year-old Passamaquoddy Noela Altvater, told the crowd that clean drinking water is available virtually everywhere in Maine — except on the Pleasant Point reservation where she’s grown up.
“Our community has been stripped and kept from this basic need for our entire existence,” she said.
Chief Maggie Dana of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point, also known as Sipayik, put it in stark terms.
“Our culture is clear — water is life. And for the Passamaquoddy people at Sipayik, it is poison,” Dana said.
For the tribes, it has been a long, frustrating battle since they traded some rights to the state under an $81.5 million settlement that was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. The settlement can be changed, but only with the agreement of both the state and the tribes.
That settlement for the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet, along with a 1991 agreement for the Mi’kmaq, all federally recognized, put the Maine tribes on a different footing from tribes elsewhere across the country.
In Maine, opponents fear unintended consequences, like tribes flexing their muscle on environmental, fish and wildlife, and economic development.
That’s one of the reasons why Maine’s Democratic governor has not warmed to the sovereignty bill. If it’s approved, she might veto it.
A spokesperson said the governor is committed to improving drinking water quality by working with the local water district, Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the federal government. But Mills didn’t appreciate one tribal leader’s suggestion that she was offering “beads and trinkets” instead of substantive proposals.
“The governor is focused on bringing people together to solve problems, not trading insults at press conferences,” spokesperson Lindsay Crete said.
Despite the governor’s opposition, the tribes still see this as their best chance, potentially for some time, to get the bills passed because they have the support of Democratic leadership.
With the midterms coming up, Republicans could take control of one or both Democratically controlled chambers in the State House, along with the governorship, hampering efforts to press forward with the proposals.
Maggie Dana said the tribes have been educating lawmakers and creating alliances, and they’re hopeful for change.
It’s time for the state to live up to its motto Dirigo, which is Latin for “I lead,” instead of being last to expand the rights of Native Americans to the same rights enjoyed by others, Dana said. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/maine-lawmakers-taking-up-thorny-issue-of-tribal-sovereignty/ | 2022-04-13T00:58:40 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/maine-lawmakers-taking-up-thorny-issue-of-tribal-sovereignty/ |
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law on Tuesday that makes it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as part of an aggressive push in Republican-led statesacross the country to scale back abortion rights.
The bill, which takes effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns next month, makes an exception only for an abortion performed to save the life of the mother. Abortion rights advocates say the bill signed by the GOP governor is certain to face a legal challenge.
Its passage comes as the conservative U.S. Supreme Court considers ratcheting back abortion rights that have been in place for nearly 50 years.
“We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma,” Stitt said during a signing ceremony for the bill, flanked by anti-abortion lawmakers, clergy and students. “I promised Oklahomans that I would sign every pro-life bill that hits my desk, and that’s what we’re doing here today.”
Under the bill, anyone convicted of performing an abortion would face up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. It does not authorize criminal charges against a woman for receiving an abortion.
Sen. Nathan Dahm, a Broken Arrow Republican now running for Congress who wrote the bill, called it the “strongest pro-life legislation in the country right now, which effectively eliminates abortion in Oklahoma.”
Dahm said the bill would apply to any physicians in Oklahoma who dispense abortion medication to women, which accounted for about 64% of all abortions performed in Oklahoma in 2020, the most recent year for which statistics were available. There is no enforcement mechanism in the bill for women who order abortion medication online from out-of-state suppliers. Oklahoma lawmakers passed a bill last year to prevent women from ordering abortion medication online, but that measure was blocked by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Abortion rights advocates say the bill is clearly unconstitutional, and similar laws approved recently in Arkansas and Alabama have been blocked by federal courts.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki released a statement Tuesday describing the bill as an “unconstitutional attack on women’s rights.”
“Protecting the right recognized in Roe v. Wade continues to be a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration, and we call on Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would shut down these attacks and codify this long-recognized, constitutional right,” Psaki said.
Although similar anti-abortion bills approved by the Oklahoma Legislature in recent years have been stopped as unconstitutional, anti-abortion lawmakers have been buoyed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow new Texas abortion restrictions to remain in place.
The new Texas law, the most restrictive anti-abortion law to take effect in the U.S. in decades, leaves enforcement up to private citizens, who are entitled to collect what critics call a “bounty” of $10,000 if they bring a successful lawsuit against a provider or anyone who helps a patient obtain an abortion.
“The U.S. Supreme Court’s failure to stop Texas from nullifying the constitutional right to abortion has emboldened other states to do the same,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “We’ve sued the state of Oklahoma ten times in the last decade to protect abortion access and we will challenge this law as well to stop this travesty from ever taking effect.”
Several states, including Oklahoma, are pursuing legislation similar to the Texas lawthis year.
The Texas law bans abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy and makes no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. Abortions in Texas have plummeted by about 50% since the law took effect, while the number of Texans going to clinics out of stateand requesting abortion pills online has gone up. If the Oklahoma bill were allowed to take effect, women from Texas seeking abortions would be forced to travel further distances to Democratic-led states like Colorado and New Mexico, which have recently passed laws to protect abortion access.
One of the Texas-style Oklahoma bills that is one vote away from the governor’s desk would ban abortions from the moment of conception and would take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority also has indicated they would uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and allow states to ban abortion much earlier. The court may even overturn the nationwide right to abortion that has existed for nearly 50 years. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/oklahoma-governor-signs-bill-to-make-abortion-illegal/ | 2022-04-13T00:58:47 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/oklahoma-governor-signs-bill-to-make-abortion-illegal/ |
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police have made an arrest in a shooting during a birthday party inside a crowded Iowa nightclub that left two people dead and 10 others injured.
Timothy Ladell Rush, 32, was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree murder, willful injury and three weapons-related felonies, police said in a statement Monday night.
Online court records Tuesday didn’t list information about Rush’s case, including whether he has a lawyer yet. He was being held in the Linn County jail and couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Police said the shooting at the Taboo Nightclub and Lounge in Cedar Rapids killed Michael Valentine, 25, and Nicole Owens, 35, both of Cedar Rapids. Ten other people also were injured in the shooting, which occurred around 1:30 a.m. Sunday during a birthday party for a friend of the victims.
Police said Sunday they believe one of the victims was the target of the shooting. Between 100 and 150 people were inside the club when the shooting happened, police said.
Police have not provided an update on the condition of those injured. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/police-make-arrest-in-deadly-iowa-nightclub-shooting/ | 2022-04-13T00:58:55 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/police-make-arrest-in-deadly-iowa-nightclub-shooting/ |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The mass shooting that police say was a gun battle between rival gangs that left six dead and 12 wounded earlier this month shook the downtown core of California’s capital — and created another challenge for a city trying to redefine itself as a destination for more than just government workers.
In recent years, downtown Sacramento has benefited from billions of dollars of development but has been rattled by rising crime, protests resulting in property damage and an economic drubbing caused by the pandemic. Now, the city is reeling from the aftermath of the April 3 shooting, when at least five gunmen fired 100 shots as people left bars and nightclubs.
The violence just blocks from the Capitol highlights the successes and challenges many U.S. urban centers are facing as struggles with crime and homelessness persist despite revitalization efforts.
Though Sacramento is home to more than 500,000 people, it’s considered sleepy by California standards. The derisive nickname “Cowtown” grew out of its agricultural roots.
Today, downtown is at the center of the city’s efforts to become an entertainment and food destination. Local officials have worked to rebrand the city as “America’s Farm to Fork Capital,” a nod to a large number of well-regarded restaurants that get ingredients from the region’s many farms.
A major part of the revitalization is a six-block strip of K Street anchored by a renovated convention center and the Golden 1 Center, home to the NBA’s Sacramento Kings and a regular stop for major concert tours. The shooting happened on a block that’s home to high-end nightclubs but also dotted by vacant buildings that once housed coffee shops and restaurants.
Police have made two arrests connected to the shootings, but no one has been charged with homicide. The violence “came at a really pivotal moment for downtown,” said Sacramento City Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela, who represents the area.
“It’s causing me to sort of reflect on where we go from here — and as a city, not just as downtown,” she said.
A century ago, K Street was a bustling, diverse center of activity. But the strip struggled as people moved into the suburbs — giving way to decades of failed revival efforts, including the construction of a mall in the late 1960s and the launch of a light rail commuter line in the 1980s.
A fresh wave of investment came to the area about a decade ago, with new businesses opening on K Street as part of an effort to revive downtown after the financial crisis. The Golden 1 Center’s 2016 opening sought to build on that, helping generate $6.7 billion in nearby investment and spurring the opening of 150 new businesses, according to the Downtown Sacramento Partnership business group.
Then the pandemic hit, sending many of downtown’s 100,000 workers home and forcing some businesses to close. Now about 45,000 people work downtown daily, according to the partnership.
As employment fell, crime rose. Aggravated assaults, burglaries and vandalism were up in 2020 and 2021 compared to the five previous years for a roughly 100-square block area that includes the Capitol and the arena, according to Sacramento police crime data.
The city’s central hub has also served as the epicenter for protests focusing on racial justice and police misconduct. Protesters in 2018 shut down a downtown freeway entrance and blocked fans from entering the arena after Sacramento police shot and killed a young Black man. Then demonstrations in 2020 over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis swept the city. Many downtown properties were vandalized and some were ransacked.
“We’ve had a lot of different realities kind of hit downtown in different waves,” said Dion Dwyer, director of public space services for the business partnership.
Now Sacramento is among the ranks of cities recovering from recent mass shootings. Since 2017, there have been 133 mass shootings in the U.S., according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
Dayton, Ohio, in 2019 was shaken when a gunman killed nine people and wounded 17 just after midnight at a bar in the main entertainment district for the city of 140,000. Sandy Gudorf, president of the Downtown Dayton Partnership, said officials mounted an “intentional strategy to reclaim the district” after the shooting.
Within three weeks of the violence, there was a free performance by Dave Chappelle, who lives outside the city. The community rallied to support local businesses, but it took time for people to feel comfortable returning to nightlife. The pandemic hit just as that activity was rebounding, Gudorf said.
“In people’s minds and hearts they knew that this did not define who we are. It was an incident, it was a tragic incident where we lost lives and people were injured,” she said. “I think it just took time to process all of that.”
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg repeatedly said people should continue to feel comfortable going downtown.
“It’s not one or the other” when it comes to enjoying the city’s entertainment offerings and feeling safe, he said last week.
Rachel Muro, a manager at the locally owned Capital Books several storefronts away from the shooting, said downtown has problems like any city but that people should not avoid it. The bookstore’s owners recently opened a board game cafe just around the corner.
“We believe in this part of town enough to continue to help make it thrive,” Muro said.
Elsewhere on the block, the area’s troubles are obvious, with many office and restaurant spaces vacant. Homelessness downtown and elsewhere in Sacramento has been a vexing problem.
Last week the City Council voted to place a measure on the November ballot requiring the city build to more shelter beds and ban encampments on public land. Valenzuela, the councilwoman, opposed the plan and said it was inappropriate to debate that proposal so soon after the tragedy.
Crystal Sanchez, president of the Sacramento Homeless Union, said homeless people live downtown because the area has street lighting and lots of activity and plenty of alcoves near businesses where they can shelter.
“People are here because there are coves for protection,” Sanchez said.
At a brewery a few blocks from the shooting site, co-workers enjoying a drink reflected on whether the shooting changed their view of the city.
Braden Kolb, who was at a downtown bar for a friend’s 30th birthday the night before the shooting, said he patronizes downtown about once a month and that the shooting “is not going to change my behavior.”
But his friend Jason Slieter said the incident made him wonder if Sacramento is the right place to raise his family, saying he felt a sense of heaviness downtown when coming to work after the six people were killed.
“It definitely felt like something had changed,” he said.
__
Associated Press journalists Adam Beam in Sacramento and Camille Fassett in Oakland contributed. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/shooting-challenges-downtown-sacramentos-rebuilding-efforts/ | 2022-04-13T00:59:02 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/shooting-challenges-downtown-sacramentos-rebuilding-efforts/ |
Schools across America are racing to make up for time they lost during the pandemic by budgeting billions of dollars for tutoring, summer camps and longer school days and trying to untangle which students need help most urgently after two years of disruptions.
Many schools saw large numbers of students fall under the radar when learning went online for the pandemic. Many skipped class, tests and homework. Record numbers of families opted out of annual standardized tests, leaving some districts with little evidence of how students were doing in reading and math.
Now districts are trying to address that lack of information by adding new tests, training teachers to spot learning gaps and exploring new ways to identify students who need help. In many districts, the findings are being used to guide the spending of billions of dollars in federal relief that’s meant to address learning loss and can be used in myriad ways.
New York City is adding three rounds of testing this year, hoping to pinpoint which students are behind. Similar tests are being used in Virginia’s Fairfax County, which is allotting larger shares of funding to schools with lower scores. Chicago is prioritizing students using a ranking system that factors in their grades and also rates of COVID-19 and violent crime near their homes.
“Understanding completely where students are and what those gaps or challenges might be for them — that is going to be a challenge for us,” said Debbie Durrence, the data officer for Gwinnett County, Georgia.
Her team, which serves the 180,000-student district, has started tracking a new metric: “missingness.” In regular reports, the team aims to log what is known about each student’s learning progress, but also what is unknown. Schools have been asked to help fill in gaps, and students are being tested more frequently.
For students, disruptions related to the pandemic are still reverberating. Now that Lorena Rivera’s twin daughters are back in the classroom in Boston, some of their teachers have quit mid-year or gotten sick with COVID-19. The 14-year-old twins struggled with virtual learning, feeling like they had nowhere to turn when they had trouble with math problems.
“There was a lot of giving up — it was hard,” Rivera said.
Her daughters, Elizabeth and Amerie Allder, have since found support through a local tutoring program, Boston Partners in Education, but Rivera wonders whether their school knows how her daughters are doing.
“I’m not sure because every time you meet with someone, they give you something different,” she said. “Some teachers say they’re doing great, others say they can do better.”
Early results of data gathering by some of the country’s biggest school districts confirm what many had feared: Groups of students that already faced learning gaps before the pandemic, including Black and Hispanic students and those from low-income families, appear to be behind in even greater numbers now.
In Fairfax County, tests given this fall found that 68% of Hispanic elementary school students need intervention in math, up from 55% in 2019. Students learning English saw a similar increase. A quarter of white students were flagged for help, up from 19% in 2019.
Last year, public schools in Houston found that 45% of Black and Hispanic students had at least one failing grade. That was up from 30% in 2019, and nearly three times the rate of white students.
Similar inequities are turning up at schools across the country, said Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a national research group. It suggests that longstanding inequities are widening, she said, which could translate to deeper learning and income gaps for generations to come.
States have been raising alarms, urging schools to focus on students who spent more time away from school. Utah’s education officials found that students who missed last year’s exams were far more likely to be Native American or Hispanic, prompting an urgent call to find those students and “prevent them from falling into an academic spiral.”
Many bigger districts already had testing regimes and data systems to find students who are falling behind, while some are scrambling to catch up. But not all major districts are analyzing the data or making it public.
New York City is spending $36 million on new testing, but officials said they don’t have district-wide results. Instead, they said the tests are being used at the school level to help teachers support students.
Schools in Chicago were encouraged to use a new screening exam, but a district spokesperson declined to provide the results.
In Fairfax County, where more than 20% of students opted out of state tests last year, district officials attempted to fill in the gaps by giving students informal, low-stakes tests to measure their progress this fall.
“We’ve been working to figure out which students need the most targeted support most quickly,” said Amy Goodloe, principal of Rocky Run Middle School. Teachers have used test results to find concepts students struggle with and create plans to get them up to speed, she said.
The results are also guiding the district as it divides $188 million in federal funding among nearly 200 schools. In many buildings, the money is being used to add staff who help students in small groups, or to hire tutors for more personal help after school.
Testing increases in some districts have led to pushback from parents and teachers who say it takes away from valuable classroom time, but proponents say it’s a crucial step toward understanding the impact of the pandemic.
In Texas, a law passed last year requires 30 hours of tutoring for students who did not pass state exams last year. It applies to students who failed tests but also those who didn’t take exams.
In Houston, the state’s largest district, officials are hiring more tutors but haven’t added new tests.
“Increasing the numbers of assessments isn’t going to yield a different result, it just would impact the amount of instructional time we have as a district,” said Margarita Gardea, who oversees elementary curriculum and instruction.
Finding tutors, though, has been a challenge in many areas amid a sudden surge in demand.
In Florida’s Miami-Dade County, school officials created a new learning loss index based on assessments, attendance and state exams, and then ranked students based on need. The district brought back retired teachers to work as tutors on a temporary basis, and it’s expanding summer school, Saturday classes and other programs.
So far, test results have shown some progress toward getting students up to grade level, but thousands of students are still behind.
“The bottom line is that we have such a loss that it will take some time,” said Gisela Feild, administrative director of assessment, research and data analysis. “You can’t make up that kind of a loss in one year.”
___
Associated Press reporter Kathleen Foody contributed from Chicago. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/with-aid-to-spend-schools-look-for-students-who-need-help/ | 2022-04-13T00:59:09 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-headlines/with-aid-to-spend-schools-look-for-students-who-need-help/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and its allies are pushing ahead with sanctions aimed at forcing Vladimir Putin to spend Russia’s money propping up its economy rather than sustaining its “war machine” for the fight in Ukraine, a top Treasury Department official said Tuesday.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, one of the main U.S. coordinators on the Russian sanctions strategy, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the goal is to make Russia “less able to project power in the future.”
On the same day that inflation notched its steepest increase in decades, Adeyemo said reducing supply chain backlogs and managing the pandemic are key to bringing down soaring prices that he related to the ongoing land war in Ukraine, which has contributed to rising energy costs.
“Let’s be clear that the increase in energy prices was caused by President Putin’s invasion, and we’re going to continue to see volatility in those markets as long as President Putin continues his illegitimate invasion of Ukraine,” he said. He added that the Biden administration was “committed to doing everything we can to lower the cost of energy for the American people.”
As Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s No. 2, Adeyemo is tasked with developing a sanctions strategy that many economists have equated to economic warfare with Russia. He’s also leading Treasury’s efforts to rebuild the American economy from the pandemic with equity at the fore.
Adeyemo discussed the next steps the U.S. and its allies will take to inflict financial pain on Russia — and the complications the war has on rising costs to Americans back home.
The U.S. and its allies will next target the supply chains that contribute to the construction of Russia’s war machine, Adeyemo said, which includes “everything from looking at ways to go after the military devices that have been built to use not only in Ukraine, but to project power elsewhere.”
“What that means practically is that with less money, Russia will have less money to invest in their military,” he said.
Adeyemo said Putin recently admitted that the Russian economy was going to have to transform. Adeyemo interpreted that to mean that “the Russian economy is less flexible, it’s smaller, it’s less able to project power into the future.”
Adeyemo’s work includes coordinating with U.S. allies to develop thousands of unprecedented sanctions on Russia’s leadership and its Central Bank, which is intended to cripple the country’s financial system.
Germany in particular faces international pressure to curb its business ties with Russia, which provides the European superpower with natural gas.
“Our German counterparts and my European counterparts in general are working as hard as possible to make plans to get off of Russian energy as quickly as possible, including last week’s announcement that they were going to ban Russian coal in the near term,” Adeyemo said. “And our expectation is that they’re going to take these steps.”
In the U.S., the economy has proven to be a struggle for the Biden administration as the strong job gains of the past year have also yielded the worst inflation in more than four decades.
The Labor Department reported Tuesday that prices in March climbed 8.5% from a year ago, the steepest increase since December 1981. While inflation began to increase before Russia invaded the Ukraine, the war has strained supplies of oil and gasoline. Half of the past month’s increase in consumer prices came from gas.
This economic volatility is a challenge to other work that Adeyemo is tasked with for Treasury — leading an equitable pandemic-related economic recovery through Treasury’s Office of Recovery Programs, which marks its one year anniversary this week.
Adeyemo said he had recently visited Memphis to see how the city was using American Rescue Plan dollars to help people pay their rent. Overall, he said, “we’ve seen 80% applied towards low income households, 40% to African American households and 20% to Latinx households.”
He said it was imperative that remaining relief money under the program be used to help small businesses, including through the State Small Business Credit Initiative, which allows states to increase access to credit for small businesses.
“Lots of communities are thinking through ways to not only use the money to address the immediate crisis, but how they build their communities better into the future in order to make sure that people have economic opportunity,” he said.
___
Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this report. | https://www.wivb.com/news/us-allies-aim-to-force-russia-to-shift-money-away-from-war/ | 2022-04-13T00:59:16 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/us-allies-aim-to-force-russia-to-shift-money-away-from-war/ |
What do we know about“stealth omicron”so far?
It’s an extra-contagious version of the omicron variant, but it doesn’t seem to cause more severe disease.
Since it was first identified in November, BA.2 has been spreading around the globe, driving new surges in parts of Asia and Europe. It’s now the dominant coronavirus version in the U.S.and more than five dozen other countries.
It was given the “stealth” nickname because it looks like the earlier delta variant on certain PCR tests, says Kristen Coleman at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The original omicron, by contrast, is easy to differentiate from delta because of a genetic quirk.
In rare cases, early research indicates BA.2 can infect people even if they’ve already had an omicron infection. COVID-19 vaccines appear just as effective against both kinds of omicron, offering strong protection against severe illness and death.
Health officials also are tracking other variants including XE — a combination of BA.2 and BA.1, the original omicron — that was first identified in January in the United Kingdom. The World Health Organization is keeping tabs on XE but has not yet deemed it a variant of concern or interest.
___
The AP is answering your questions about the coronavirus in this series. Submit them at: FactCheck@AP.org. Read more here:
How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed after two years?
Why are COVID vaccination rates still low in some countries?
Can you get long COVID after an infection with omicron? | https://www.wivb.com/news/what-do-we-know-about-stealth-omicron-so-far/ | 2022-04-13T00:59:23 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/what-do-we-know-about-stealth-omicron-so-far/ |
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Ukraine said Tuesday it is investigating a claim that a poisonous substance was dropped on the besieged city of Mariupol. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said it was possible that phosphorus munitions — which cause horrendous burns but are not classed as chemical weapons — had been used.
Now the question is how to establish the truth amid the fog of war that has descended over a city still under attack from Russian forces. A clear answer is unlikely to emerge any time soon.
The global chemical weapons watchdog said Tuesday it is “concerned by the recent unconfirmed report of chemical weapons use in Mariupol” and is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine are among the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ 193 member states.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning OPCW says that it “remains ready to assist any State Party upon its request, in case of use or threat of use of chemical weapons.”
WHO COULD INVESTIGATE?
First in line to investigate in Ukraine is the country’s own law enforcement agencies. There also are teams from other nations investigating allegations — particularly around the Ukrainian town of Bucha — of war crimes and the International Criminal Court has launched an investigation in Ukraine. The OPCW has, so far, not announced any investigations in Ukraine, although it says on its website that it “is monitoring the status of relevant chemical industrial facilities and any threats of use of toxic chemicals as weapons in the country.”
Marc-Michael Blum, former head of the OPCW’s laboratory and now an independent consultant, said the organization won’t send a team to Mariupol any time soon to investigate.
“We have an active war zone where the OPCW would not send a team in because the security of the team cannot be guaranteed,” Blum told The Associated Press.
HOW ARE SUSPECTED CHEMICAL ATTACKS INVESTIGATED?
If a team of experts were able to investigate what was used and by whom, it would seek to build a dossier of evidence based on laboratory tests of samples collected at the scene and from victims. That means taking soil samples and testing them for traces of possible chemical weapons or other munitions. Samples of blood and urine from victims who were exposed to the munition would also be tested.
Then investigators would seek to interview witnesses and survivors, to build a picture of what they experienced, and the physicians who treated them. In past investigations, experts have studied gas dispersion models and topographic charts and looked at digital images. The OPCW has experience building such investigations in Syria, where its experts have confirmed the use of chemical weapons on multiple occasions.
Damascus denies using chemical weapons.
WHAT HAPPENED IN PREVIOUS CASES OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS USE ELSEWHERE?
Hundreds of people were killed in gas poisoning attacks in Syria during the country’s civil war. The OPCW faced numerous hurdles and Russian vetoes complicating the establishment of investigation mechanisms. To this day, no one has been held accountable.
Two recent cases outside Syria show how a suspected chemical weapon use can be investigated by local authorities — the poisoning in 2020 of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny and of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury in 2018.
In those cases, authorities in Germany, where Navalny went for treatment, and in the United Kingdom in the case of the Skripals, took and tested biological samples and concluded that they were targeted with a Soviet-era nerve agent known as Novichok. In those cases, the OPCW tested the samples and confirmed the findings by national authorities.
Russia denied involvement in both attacks.
IF PHOSPHORUS WAS USED IN MARIUPOL, IS IT ILLEGAL?
Phosphorus munitions are not considered chemical weapons. Most armies have phosphorus munitions to use for illuminating battlefields or targets or to produce smoke screens. However, if an army deliberately fired a phosphorus munition into an enclosed space in order to expose people to toxic fumes, it could be a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention, said Blum.
“Once you start using the properties of white phosphorus, toxic properties, specifically and deliberately then it becomes banned,” he said.
WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF A SUCCESSFUL INVESTIGATION IN BESIEGED MARIUPOL?
Blum is not optimistic. “Given the current situation we have Mariupol, almost impossible to really pin down, and so I have no high hopes for any any kind of investigation,” he said.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/explainer-how-to-investigate-alleged-chemical-attacks/ | 2022-04-13T00:59:29 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/explainer-how-to-investigate-alleged-chemical-attacks/ |
VERNON, France (AP) — Far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Tuesday described France as a nation that would put its people’s voices at the center of the political process if she is elected president in 12 days.
Le Pen, a solid nationalist, faces centrist President Emmanuel Macron in a presidential runoff on April 24. He placed first and Le Pen second in Sunday’s first-round presidential vote that eliminated 10 other candidates. Both Le Pen and Macron are now aggressively campaigning to win an election that could upend France’s system of governance and Europe’s dynamics should Le Pen be victorious.
In a dramatic change, new laws could be passed or old laws modified in a referendum proposed by citizens, with conditions such as 500,000 signatures backing the proposal . Such a system was demanded two years ago by the sometimes violent yellow vest movement for social and economic justice that challenged Macron’s government as being too business-friendly.
In Sunday’s first round of voting for the country’s next president, the far-right, including Le Pen and two other parties, together won 32% of the vote, compared to Macron’s 27.8% support, although he was the top individual candidate. Still, that means far-right voters can be expected to factor into France’s political future not just in the next two weeks, but for years, even if Le Pen loses.
Le Pen also wants two-thirds of the 577 seats in France’s lower house of parliament to be allotted by the proportional system to better reflect voters’ choices. Her anti-immigration National Rally party currently holds 8 seats.
Le Pen claimed that democracy would be the main beneficiary of these changes, giving citizens who represent what she calls “the France of the forgotten” a say in how they are governed.
Having referendums can contribute to France’s democratic culture, Le Pen said Tuesday at a news conference in the Normandy town of Vernon. A small crowd of local opponents cried “Facist!” while supporters shouted back “Marine, president!” as she left the hotel to meet the press.
“During my mandate, I count on consulting the only expert that Emmanuel Macron never consulted —the people,” Le Pen said.
Le Pen would also return the French presidency to a seven-year non-renewable mandate, instead of the current five-year term that can be renewed once.
“I want to be the president who gives back the people their voice in their own country,” she said.
The French Constitution would have to be revised to make possible the referendum concept possible, and vital subjects like nuclear power could not be put to a vote.
Also needing a constitutional change would be Le Pen’s plan, if elected, to ban Islamic headscarves in French streets. That’s a big step further than current laws, which ban headscarves in classrooms since 2004 and face-coverings in the streets since 2010. With an estimated 5 million Muslims in France, headscarves are commonly worn by many Muslim women.
“We must leave no space, not a thumb space,” for Islamists, Le Pen said, adding that she wants to “liberate” French Muslim women from the yoke of radicals.
France has faced several deadly attacks by Islamic extremists in the past decade, including the 2015 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead.
___
Follow all AP stories on France’s 2022 presidential election at https://apnews.com/french-election-2022. | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/far-right-le-pen-campaigns-as-french-voice-of-the-people/ | 2022-04-13T00:59:35 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/far-right-le-pen-campaigns-as-french-voice-of-the-people/ |
“Good morning! Happy morning!” Rabbi Avraham Wolff exclaimed, with a big smile, as he walked into the Chabad synagogue in Odesa on a recent morning.
Russian missiles had just struck an oil refinery in the Ukrainian city, turning the sky charcoal gray. Hundreds were lining up outside his synagogue hoping to receive a kilo of matzah each for their Passover dinner tables. The unleavened flatbread, imperative at the ritual meal known as a Seder, is now hard to find in war-torn Ukraine amid the war and a crippling food shortage.
But the rabbi wanted no challenge to get him down — be it the lack of matzah or that he was missing his wife and children who had fled the Black Sea port for Berlin days ago.
“I need to smile for my community,” Wolff said. “We need humor. We need hope.”
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian Jews have fled while about 80% remain in Ukraine, according to estimates from Chabad, one of the largest Hasidic Jewish organizations in the world. Inside and outside Ukraine, a nation steeped in Jewish history and heritage, people are preparing to celebrate Passover, which begins sundown on April 15. It’s been a challenge, to say the least.
The holiday marks the liberation of Jewish people from slavery in ancient Egypt, and their exodus under the leadership of Moses. The story is taking on special meaning for thousands of Jewish Ukrainian refugees who are living a dramatic story in real time.
Chabad, which has deep roots and a wide network in Ukraine, and other groups such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Jewish Federations of North America, have mobilized to help Ukrainian Jews celebrate Passover wherever they have sought refuge. In Ukraine, Chabad plans 52 public Seders welcoming about 9,000 people.
In Odesa, Wolff is preparing to host two large Seders – one in early evening at the Chabad synagogue for families with young children and a later Seder at a hotel where participants can stay the night, obeying a 9 p.m. curfew.
He’s been waving in trucks loaded with Passover supplies – matzah from Israel, milk from France, meat from Britain.
“We may not all be together, but it’s going to be an unforgettable Passover,” Wolff said. “This year, we celebrate as one big Jewish family around the world.”
JDC, which has evacuated more than 11,600 Jews from Ukraine, has shipped more than 2 tons of matzah, over 400 bottles of grape juice and over 700 pounds of kosher Passover food for refugees in Poland, Moldova, Hungary and Romania, said Chen Tzuk, the organization’s director of operations in Europe, Asia and Africa. In Ukraine, their social service centers and corps of volunteers are distributing nearly 16 tons of matzah to elderly Jews and families in need, she said.
“Passover is something familiar and basic for Jewish people,” Tzuk said. “For refugees who have left everything behind, it’s important to be able celebrate this holiday with honor and dignity.”
JDC is organizing in-person Seders in countries bordering Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, she said, and is facilitating online Seders where it’s too dangerous to gather in person.
The Jewish Federations of North America has set up a volunteer hub in support of refugees fleeing Ukraine; it’s a partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel, the JDC and IsraAID. Russian-speaking volunteers, such as Alina Spaulding, will help organize a Seder for 100 refugees at a hotel in Budapest.
Spaulding, a resident of Greensboro, North Carolina, fled Kharkiv, Ukraine, as a 5-year-old in the 1970s with her parents. She said the war has rekindled strong connections to Ukraine.
“My mom showed me a photo of me with my grandpa on a street that was recently bombed,” Spaulding said. “We talked about the university in Kharkiv where my mom and dad went, which was also hit. Suddenly, it all felt so personal.”
Spaulding believes spending Passover with refugees will be “an experience to remember.”
“Part of the magic of Passover is finding your own story,” she said. “We’re in the middle of a modern-day exodus. I can’t even imagine the stories I will hear.”
Celebrating a holiday can give people a rush of hope and happiness even in grim situations, said Rabbi Jacob Biderman, who leads Chabad activities throughout Austria, including a center in Vienna that is sheltering about 800 Ukrainian Jews. Days after refugees reached his center, Biderman led a joyous celebration of Purim, a festival commemorating the deliverance of Jews from a planned massacre in ancient Persia.
“The look on their faces changed from sorrow to joy… Their eyes lit up,” Biderman said. “It gave them a sense of normalcy, dignity and the belief that their spiritual life is something no one can take away from them.”
That fueled Biderman’s determination to provide a memorable Passover Seder for the refugees.
Dr. Yaacov Gaissinovitch, his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children – ages 11, 8 and 4 – will be part of that celebration. They fled the Ukrainian city of Dnipro by car on Friday, March 4. Gaissinovitch, a urologist and mohel who performs the Jewish rite of circumcision, said it pained him, as an observant Jew, to drive on Shabbat – a forbidden act on the day of rest and prayer except when lives are at stake.
“I drove nonstop for 12 hours to Moldova to save us all,” he said. “We sang all the Shabbat songs in the car. It was very, very hard.”
In Dnipro, Gaissinovitch had his offices in the sprawling Menorah Center, which serves as a center of Jewish life, housing a synagogue, shops, restaurants, museums and the office of the city’s chief rabbi.
After a month of being severed from everything familiar, the Chabad center in Vienna has been a blessing, Gaissinovitch said.
“We’ve been accepted here very warmly,” he said. “After being disconnected for days, the children have been able to see that our life hasn’t stopped.”
A similar community at the Chabad center in Berlin is housing about 1,000 refugees, including Rabbi Avraham Wolff’s wife and children from Odesa. The center plans to host eight Seders citywide and has distributed matzah and other food to community members. Refugees, including 120 children from an Odesa orphanage who arrived in Berlin along with Wolff’s family, distributed the items to locals, said Yehuda Teichtal, the chief rabbi of Berlin.
“To me, this is extremely touching,” he said. “That people on the receiving end are able to give and not be viewed as victims. It’s empowering and energizing.”
As they prepare for Passover, Teichtal, Biderman and Wolff said they have been inspired by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who was among the most influential global leaders in Judaism in modern times. April 5 marked the Rebbe’s 120th birth anniversary, a special number in Jewish tradition.
“The Rebbe built a strong foundation (in Ukraine) so we’re able to do what we’re doing now,” Wolff said.
Schneerson grew up in Ukraine during a challenging time in the former Soviet Union, Teichtal said.
“In spite of all the darkness, his focus was selflessness, dedication, love for all humanity and the unwavering faith that we are going to overcome,” Teichtal said.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/for-jews-fleeing-ukraine-passover-takes-on-new-meaning/ | 2022-04-13T00:59:41 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/for-jews-fleeing-ukraine-passover-takes-on-new-meaning/ |
BERLIN (AP) — A German woman who allegedly abused a Yazidi slave while in Islamic State-held territory in Syria has been charged with crimes against humanity and other offenses, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
The woman, identified only as Jalda A. in keeping with German privacy laws, was arrested upon her arrival back in Germany on Oct. 7. Before her repatriation, she had been held captive by Kurdish forces since late 2017.
She was charged with membership in a foreign terrorist organization, crimes against humanity, war crimes and being an accessory to genocide, prosecutors said in a statement.
The suspect traveled in April 2014 via Turkey to Syria, according to prosecutors, where she quickly married an IS fighter and gave birth to a son the following year. When her first husband died, she married two other men in succession.
She lived with the third man in and near the Syrian city of Mayadin from September to October 2017, prosecutors said, adding that the husband kept a Yazidi woman as a slave and regularly raped her with the suspect’s knowledge.
The suspect also physically abused the woman “almost every day,” according to prosecutors. She allegedly punched and kicked the woman, pulled her hair, and slammed her head against the wall, and on one occasion hit the woman in the head with a flashlight.
In addition, prosecutors said, the suspect constantly watched the woman and repeatedly told her to pray according to Islamic custom, an act that “served the stated goal of the IS, to eradicate the Yazidi faith.”
The indictment was filed last month at the state court in Hamburg, which will have to decide whether and when to open a trial. | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/german-court-charges-is-returnee-over-alleged-slave-abuse/ | 2022-04-13T00:59:48 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/german-court-charges-is-returnee-over-alleged-slave-abuse/ |
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In Rio de Janeiro, two rescue dogs have turned local mascots and budding online influencers after joining their rescuers’ ranks, wooing their growing audience, one bark at a time.
Corporal Oliveira, a dog with short brown hair thought to be around four years old, turned up one morning in 2019 at a police station on Rio’s Governador Island, injured and weak.
“I gave him food, water. It took a while for him to get used to me,” said Cpl. Cristiano Oliveira, the officer who took the dog under his wing and later gave him his name. But within a few days, Corporal Oliveira – the furry animal – started following his new master around the precinct. Oliveira has since joined another precinct, but the dog never left.
Corporal Oliveira has his own Instagram profilewith more than 45,000 fervent followers, always hungry for more photos and videos of their mascot in his trademark police uniform, standing on top of police armoured vehicles, motorcycles or sticking his little head out of a regular patrol car’s window. He even has a miniature toy firearm attached to his uniform.
A dozen miles from there, in the leafy and leftist neighborhood of Laranjeiras, another rescue dog has turned mascot.
Caramello – a name inspired by the colour of his fur – has been residing at the fire brigade that found him injured across the iconic Sugarloaf mountain ever since he was rescued nearly a year ago. During that time, the 11-year-old dog has amassed some 27,000 followers.
Older, and slightly less adventurous then Corporal Oliveira, Caramello’s online efforts have focused on drawing attention to a wide range of good causes and campaigns.
He has used his newly found clout to promote awareness around cancer, or to encourage donations for victims of natural disasters such as the recent deadly landslides in Petropolis. He’s also helped other rescue dogs or cats find new homes.
“Caremello is a real digital influencer,” said Maj. Fabio Contreiras, from the Catete Fire Brigade, one of Rio de Janeiro’s oldest.
But with fame, comes burden. And the dogs’ fans are demanding.
“Sometimes I have too much work. I go a week without posting and people complain: ‘Where is (Corporal) Oliveira? Has he gone missing?’,” jokes Oliveira, the police officer in charge of the dog’s social media. He can get more than 200 messages in one day. Sometimes, he just has to tell them: “He’s on holiday!” | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/in-rio-rescue-dogs-watch-out-for-their-rescuers/ | 2022-04-13T00:59:55 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/in-rio-rescue-dogs-watch-out-for-their-rescuers/ |
BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) — The coffin was made from pieces of a closet. In a darkened basement under a building shaking from the bombardment of war, there were few other options.
Six-year-old Vlad watched as his mother was carried out of the shelter last month and to the yard of a nearby home. The burial was hurried and devastating.
Now Russian forces have withdrawn from Bucha after a monthlong occupation, and Vlad’s father, Ivan Drahun, dropped to his knees at the foot of the grave.
He reached out and touched the dirt near his wife Maryna’s feet. “Hi, how are you?” he said during the visit last week. “I miss you so much. You left so soon. You didn’t even say goodbye.”
The boy also visits the grave, placing on it a juice box and two cans of baked beans. Amid the stress of war, his mother barely ate. The family still doesn’t know what illness caused her death. They, much like their town, barely know how to move on.
Bucha witnessed some of the ghastliest scenes of Russia’s invasion, and almost no children have been seen in its silent streets since then. The many bright playgrounds in the once popular community with good schools on a far edge of the capital, Kyiv, are empty.
The Russians used a children’s camp in Bucha as an execution ground, and bloodstains and bullet holes mark a basement. On a ledge near the camp entrance, Russian soldiers placed a toy tank. It appeared to be connected to fishing wire — a possible booby trap in the most vulnerable of places.
Steps away from Vlad’s home, some of the Russians used a kindergarten as a base, leaving it intact while other nearby buildings suffered. Casings of used artillery shells were left along a fence in the yard. In a nearby playground, white and red tape marked off unexploded ordnance. The booms of de-mining operations were so strong they set off car alarms.
At the apartment block where Vlad, his older brother Vova and sister Sophia live, someone had spray-painted “CHILDREN” in child-high letters on an outside wall. Under it, a wooden box once used for ammunition held a teddy bear and other toys.
It is here that Bucha’s fragile renewal can be seen.
A small group of neighborhood children gathered, finding distraction from the war. Bundled up in winter coats, they kicked a football, wandered around with bags of snacks handed out by visiting volunteers, called out from a glass-less window above.
Their parents, taking in the feeble warmth of spring after weeks in freezing basements, reflected on how they tried to protect the children. “We covered his ears,” said Polina Shymanska of her 7-year-old great-grandson Nikita. “We hugged him, kissed him.” She tried to play chess and the boy let her win.
Upstairs, in a neighbor’s apartment where Vlad’s father for now has merged his family with that of the neighbor to help manage their collection of children, Vlad curled up on a bed with another boy and played cards. The radiator gave off no heat. There was still no gas, no electricity, no running water.
Not everyone in Vlad’s family can stand to return to their own apartment nearby. The memories of Maryna are everywhere, from the perfume bottles on the table by the front door to the quiet kitchen.
In the living room, time has stopped. Limp balloons dangled from the overhead light. A string of colorful flags still hung on the wall, along with a family photo. It showed Ivan and Maryna holding Vlad on the day he was born. They celebrated his birthday on Feb. 19.
Five days later, the war began. And the family’s life shrank to a dank concrete half-room in the basement, lined with blankets and scattered with sweets and toys. It was very, very cold, Ivan remembers. He and Maryna did what they could to muffle the sounds of shelling for Vlad and keep him calm. But they were afraid, too.
Two weeks ago, Ivan took Vlad to the makeshift toilet in the shelter and visited neighbors. Then he came to Maryna to tell her that he was going outside. “I touched her shoulder, and she was cold,” he said. “I realized she was gone.”
At first, he said, Vlad appeared not to understand what had happened. The boy said his mother had moved away. But at the burial, the boy watched Ivan kneel and cry, and now he knows what death is.
Death is inseparable from Bucha. Local authorities told The Associated Press that at least 16 children were among the hundreds of people killed. Those who survived face a long recovery.
“They’ve realized that now it’s calm and quiet,” Ivan said. “But at the same time, older children understand that it’s not the end. The war is not finished. And it’s hard to explain for the smaller ones that war is still going on.”
The children are adapting, he said. They have seen a lot. Some even saw dogs killed.
Now the war has slipped into the games they play.
In a sandbox outside the kindergarten, Vlad and a friend “bombed” each other with fistfuls of sand.
“I’m Ukraine,” one said. “No, I’m Ukraine,” said the other.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/its-not-the-end-the-children-who-survived-buchas-horror/ | 2022-04-13T01:00:01 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/its-not-the-end-the-children-who-survived-buchas-horror/ |
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is preparing yet another, more diverse, package of military support possibly totaling $750 million to be announced in coming days, a senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans not yet publicly announced.
The additional aid is a sign that the administration intends to continue expanding its support for Ukraine’s war effort.
Delivery is due to be completed this week of $800 million in military assistance approved by President Joe Biden just one month ago.
— reported by Associated Press writer Robert Burns.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Ukraine probes claim poisonous substance dropped in Mariupol
— A look at Russia’s military objectives and challenges it faces
— ‘It’s not the end’: The children who survived Bucha’s horror
— Russian war worsens fertilizer crunch, risking food supplies
— Czechs provide free shooting training for local Ukrainians
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage
___
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials say fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who is both the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close associate of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, has been detained in a special operation carried out by the country’s SBU secret service.
In his nightly video address to the nation Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed that Russia could win Medvedchuk’s freedom by trading Ukrainians now held in Russian prisons.
Ivan Bakanov, the head of Ukraine’s national security agency, said on the agency’s Telegram channel that Medvedchuk had been detained.
The statement came shortly after Zelenskyy posted on social media a photo of Medvedchuk sitting in handcuffs and wearing a camouflage uniform with a Ukrainian flag patch.
Medvedchuk was the former leader of the pro-Russian party Opposition Platform – For Life. He was being held under house arrest before the war began and disappeared shortly after hostilities broke out.
Putin is the godfather to Medvedchuk’s youngest daughter.
—
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the world Tuesday to respond to Russia’s use of a poisonous substance in Mariupol.
“Given the repeated threats by Russian propagandists to use chemical weapons against the Mariupol defenders and given the repeated use by the Russian army, for example, of phosphorus munitions in Ukraine, the world must react now,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation Tuesday.
Phosphorus munitions cause horrendous burns but are not classed as chemical weapons.
Zelenskyy said experts were still trying to determine what had been used in Mariupol.
Zelenskyy said in addition to the killings in Bucha, more evidence was appearing of the “inhuman cruelty” of Russian soldiers toward women and children in other Kyiv suburbs and other towns in the north and east.
__
DES MOINES, Iowa —President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that Russia’s war in Ukraine amounted to a “genocide,” accusing President Vladimir Putin of trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
Speaking in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington, Biden said he meant it when he said at an earlier event that Putin was carrying out a genocide against Ukraine.
“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters. “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”
Biden added that it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard for genocide, 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,” Biden said.
Biden had previously said he did not believe Russia’s actions amounted to genocide, just that they constituted “war crimes.”
__
MENLO, Iowa — President Joe Biden for the first time referred to Russia’s invasion in Ukraine as a “genocide” Tuesday.
Speaking in Iowa at an event about steps his administration is taking to staunch rising fuel costs because of the war, Biden termed the conflict, which has seen Russia carry out atrocities against Ukrainian civilians, as a “genocide.”
Said Biden: “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.”
Biden has previously stated that he did not believe Russia’s actions amounted to genocide, as Ukrainian government officials have argued, but rather were “war crimes.”
—
WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Congress said the Biden administration and its allies will not stand by if chemical weapons were used in the Russian war with Ukraine.
Lawmakers monitoring developments during a trip to Poland said Tuesday that the U.S. is investigating reports that a poisonous substance had been dropped in Mariupol. But they cautioned that determining the nature of the attack in the beleaguered port city could take time.
“We’re taking those reports seriously and I know the United States government and others are trying to determine if that did indeed occur,” said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo.
Crow said the administration “has been very clear that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.”
The Democratic lawmakers, all members of the House Intelligence Committee, are bracing for a potential long war in Ukraine. They said at a press briefing that Congress is looking at next steps in sending additional military and other aid to Ukraine.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also addressed the reports coming from Mariupol.
“We’re not in a position to confirm anything, I don’t think Ukrainians are either,” Blinken told reporters. “But let me say that we had credible information that Russian forces may use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, that would cause stronger symptoms to weaken, incapacitate … Ukrainian fighters and civilians, as part of the aggressive campaign” in Mariupol.
“We share that information with … Ukraine and other partners,” Blinken said. “And we’re in direct conversation with partners to try to determine what what actually is happening.”
___
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The global chemical weapons watchdog says it is “concerned by the recent unconfirmed report of chemical weapons use in Mariupol” and is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine.
The spokesperson for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says in a statement that the allegations follow “reports in the media over the past few weeks of shelling targeted at chemical plants located in Ukraine, together with accusations levelled by both sides around possible misuse of toxic chemicals.”
The spokesperson said in Tuesday’s statement that the “use of chemical weapons anywhere by anyone under any circumstances is reprehensible and wholly contrary to the legal norms established by the international community against such use.”
Both Russia and Ukraine are among the organization’s 193 member states.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization says that it “remains ready to assist any State Party upon its request, in case of use or threat of use of chemical weapons.”
___
WARSAW, Poland – Germany’s president has called on Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin to pull out his troops from Ukraine and stop the “barbarity” there as he stressed that Germany will not restore its previous ties with Russia as long as Putin is in power.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Warsaw on Tuesday to talk with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda about supporting Ukraine’s fight and aiding millions of refugees fleeing the war.
“This barbarity which we see every day must stop,” Steinmeier said at joint news conference.
“This can only happen by President Putin ordering his army to stop and I believe that only then (armistice) talks can be successful,” Steinmeier said.
“One thing is clear: a return to normal is not possible with Russia under Putin,” Steinmeier said, adding that war crimes in Ukraine must be investigated and “those who committed them and those who are politically responsible must be held accountable.”
Steinmeier last week admitted mistakes in policy toward Russia in his previous high-ranking jobs, when Germany pursued dialogue with Putin and cultivated close energy ties.
Steinmeier served as ex-Chancellors’ Gerhard Schroeder’s chief of staff and Angela Merkel’s foreign minister. Schroeder is now head of the board of directors of Russia’s state oil giant Rosneft.
___
VIENNA — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer pledged continued “political and humanitarian support” for Ukraine in a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, Nehammer said in a statement.
The call came a day after Nehammer became the first European leader to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
“It’s important to me to immediately inform all key proponents in this conflict about my talks,” Nehammer said, according to the statement released Tuesday evening by the Austrian chancellery.
Nehammer said he recounted his meeting in Moscow to Zelenskyy, telling the Ukrainian leader about the most important messages he relayed to Putin.
Among those messages are that the war needs to stop, that those responsible for “serious war crimes” like those committed in the Ukrainian city of Bucha will be held to account, and that the European Union is “as united as it’s ever been” on maintaining its sanctions against Russia.
He also told Zelenskyy he believes the continuation of talks in Istanbul are an important step toward bringing an end to the violence, and that Austria will “continue to support all ongoing efforts for peace.”
___
KYIV, Ukraine — An adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has paid tribute to Ukrainian troops defending the besieged south-eastern port of Mariupol but acknowledged they are running low on supplies.
Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter that “for more than 1.5 months our defenders protect the city from (Russian) troops, which are 10+ times larger. They’re fighting under the bombs for each meter of the city. They make (Russia) pay an exorbitant price.”
Mariupol was a key target for Russian forces soon after the invasion began in late February. It has symbolic significance as one of the largest cities in eastern Ukraine. It is also strategically valuable as a major harbor and as part of a land corridor between territory held by Russia-backed separatists to the east and the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
“Our soldiers remain blocked and have issues with supplies,” Podolyak wrote, adding that Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian general staff are working “to find a solution and help our guys.” He did not give details, citing operational reasons.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — The mayor of the Ukrainian town of Bucha, where corpses of civilians with bound hands and gunshot wounds to the head were found after Russian forces pulled out, says 403 bodies have been found so far and that he fears the toll will rise.
“Today, at 10 a.m. we started unearthing the second mass grave, there are 56 bodies there. Plus, there are four private graves. But I’d like to repeat that as of today, we have 403 bodies,” Anatoliy Fedoruk told reporters in Kyiv. “Taking into account that our armed forces, our minesweepers are working in the forests between villages and settlements in our territorial community, we hope that those who are missing are still alive but most probably we will find their bodies somewhere between the villages, in those forests.”
Fedoruk also said 31 multi-story residential buildings had been destroyed or damaged beyond repair during the war, along with 243 private houses.
___
BERLIN — Germany’s president says his Polish counterpart suggested that they travel to Ukraine together with other leaders to show solidarity, but that proposed visit “apparently wasn’t wanted in Kyiv.”
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s comments Tuesday, during a visit to Poland, came after German newspaper Bild quoted an unidentified Ukrainian diplomat as saying that he’s not welcome in Kyiv at the moment because he had close relations with Russia in the past.
Steinmeier said Polish President Andrzej Duda had suggested that they travel to the Ukrainian capital with the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to send “a strong signal of joint European solidarity with Ukraine.” He said he had been prepared to do so.
Steinmeier last week admitted mistakes in policy toward Russia in his previous job as foreign minister.
Steinmeier served twice as ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s foreign minister, most recently from 2013 to 2017, and before that as ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s chief of staff. In that time, Germany pursued dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin and cultivated close energy ties.
___
KHARKIV, Ukraine — A strike hit a what is believed to be a culinary school near the airport in Ukraine’s second-largest city on Tuesday, destroying the building and damaging others nearby, according to Associated Press journalists at the scene.
It wasn’t clear what hit the building in Kharkiv, with witnesses describing a loud whoosh followed by an explosion. There were no immediate reports of fatalities.
___
BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis used a speech to his country’s delegation of Invictus Games participants on Tuesday to admonish Russian aggression in Ukraine.
“The Russian Federation has been waging war against Ukraine for almost 50 days, and shocking evidence of atrocities and horrors is unimaginable day by day,” Iohannis told the wounded and injured military personnel, who will compete in the 2022 Invictus Games set to begin in the Netherlands on Saturday.
“You know best what destruction and loss of life and the dramas of war mean, how much families and communities are affected forever,” he said.
Iohannis said that Russia’s acts of “horrific, unjustified cruelty” must be punished by the international justice system.
The Invictus Games, an international sporting event for wounded servicemen and women, was launched in London in 2014.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian prosecutors are expanding their war crimes investigations in northeastern suburbs of Kyiv after Russian forces withdrew.
Reports of killings of civilians have primarily focused so far on the northwestern suburbs such as Bucha, but the Prosecutor-General’s Office said Tuesday it was also looking into events in the Brovary district, which lies to the northeast.
Russian troops advanced into that area last month before retreating to focus on fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office said the bodies of six civilians had been found with gunshot wounds in a basement in the village of Shevchenkove and that Russian forces were believed to be responsible.
Prosecutors are also investigating an incident in which they allege Russian forces fired on a convoy of civilians trying to leave by car from the village of Peremoha in the Brovary district, killing four people including a 13-year-old boy. In another incident near Bucha, five people were killed, including two children, when a car was fired upon, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors did not say when they believed the incidents occurred.
___
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin says that Russians’ unity will only grow stronger in the face of Western sanctions and it will be the West that will face instability.
Putin said during a visit to the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s Far East on Tuesday that the West mistakenly expected its sanctions to undermine Russia’s stability. He said that “the Russian people always strengthen their unity in a difficult situation.”
He insisted that it will be the West that will be shaken by growing instability, fueled by public dismay over galloping inflation. The Russian leader also lashed out at European leaders, describing them as Washington’s stooges and saying that they are conducting policies harmful to their nations.
___
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin says that Russia will press on with its military action in Ukraine until its goals are fulfilled.
Putin said Tuesday that the campaign is going according to plan. He said it is not moving faster because Russia wants to minimize losses.
He said during a visit to the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s Far East that the “military operation will continue until its full completion and the fulfillment of the tasks that have been set.”
Putin claimed that Ukraine backtracked on proposals it made during talks with Russian negotiators in Istanbul, resulting in a deadlock in talks and leaving Moscow no other choice but to press on with its offensive.
___
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Russian economy has successfully resisted new Western sanctions over Ukraine.
Speaking Tuesday on a visit to the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s Far East, Putin said that Russia’s economy and financial system withstood the impact of what he called the Western sanctions “blitz” and the ruble has recovered its losses.
Putin argued that the sanctions will backfire against the West. For example, he said that Western restrictions on fertilizer exports from Russia and ally Belarus will drive up global fertilizer prices, eventually leading to food shortages and increased migration flows.
Putin said that “common sense should prevail” and added that the West should “come back to reason and make well-balanced decisions without losing its face.” He contended that “they won’t be able to shut all the doors and windows.”
He argued that new Western restrictions on high-tech exports will encourage Russia to move faster to develop new technologies, opening a “new window of opportunities.”
___
BOSTON — Ukrainian officials say a planned cyberattack by Russian military hackers on the country’s power grid has been foiled.
They say the country’s computer emergency response thwarted an attack planned by hackers from Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency that intended to knock electrical substations offline last Friday.
The State Service of Special Communications said on its website that malware was discovered designed to destroy data on computers.
There was no immediate explanation of how the attack was defeated, though the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine thanked Microsoft and the cybersecurity firm ESET in a separate bulletin. Nor was the scope immediately explained.
GRU hackers twice successfully attacked Ukraine’s power grid, in the winters of 2015 and 2016.
Russia’s use of cyberattacks against Ukrainian infrastructure has been limited compared to experts’ pre-war expectations. In the early hours of the war, however, an attack Ukraine blames on Russia knocked offline an important satellite communications link that also impacted tens of thousands of Europeans from France to Poland.
___
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia’s government has approved increasing the number of troops in a multinational NATO battlegroup in the country from 2,100 to 3,000.
The first 800 service members have already arrived in Slovakia. The Czech Republic took charge of the battlegroup, with the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia also contributing.
Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad says the increase in the planned troop numbers is related to Patriot air defense systems that the United States, Germany and the Netherlands are deploying in Slovakia.
The move should boost Slovakia’s defense capabilities after the country donated its Soviet-era S-300 air defense system to Ukraine last week.
The alliance stationed troops in the Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — and Poland after the 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula by Russia. After Russia attacked Ukraine, NATO decided to boost its presence along the entire eastern flank by deploying forces in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
___
GENEVA — The World Trade Organization is predicting that trade in goods will grow much less than previously expected this year, saying prospects for the global economy have darkened since the onset of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Geneva-based WTO on Tuesday pointed to multiple uncertainties in its forecast over the next two years because Russian and Ukrainian exports of items like food, oil and fertilizers are under threat from the war. It also cited the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic –- notably from lockdowns in China.
Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala described a “double whammy” from the conflict and the coronavirus. She said the war has caused “immense human suffering” in the region and its effect has rippled around the world, notably in poorer countries.
The WTO said its projections for world trade take into account factors like the impact of the war, sanctions on Russia, and lower demand around the world from lower business and consumer confidence. It said world merchandise trade volume is expected to grow 3% this year, down from a forecast of 4.7% before the war began.
___
MOSCOW — The Russian military says it has hit Ukrainian arsenals with long-range cruise missiles.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Tuesday that the military used air- and sea-launched missiles to destroy an ammunition depot and a reinforced hangar for warplanes at Starokostiantyniv in the Khmelnytskyi region.
Konashenkov said that another strike destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot in Havrylivka, near Kyiv.
___
NICOSIA, Cyprus — The head of Cyprus’ Orthodox Christian Church is “unreservedly” condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying there’s “no justification” for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “destroy a country, to raze it to kill.”
Archbishop Chrysostomos II told state broadcaster CyBC Tuesday that the invasion is “an unacceptable situation” and that Putin’s actions have “no logic.” The archbishop said he’s distraught that people are being killed and questioned whether the Russian leader is “in his right mind.”
The archbishop added that he’d be the “first to go and bless a defensive war,” but the “egotism, if not the stupidity” of the Russian leadership “knows no bounds.”
Chrysostomos also questioned Putin’s embrace of Orthodox Christianity, including the sincerity of his travels to the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was baptized.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian police say they have launched a war crimes investigation after a 64-year-old man was killed by a mine left behind in an area from which Russian forces recently retreated.
Police said the unidentified local man was driving Monday near the village of Krasne in northern Ukraine and had pulled over his car to greet acquaintances when he struck an anti-tank mine left at the side of the road.
Ukrainian authorities have issued repeated warnings of mines and explosive traps left in areas where Russian troops have been operating. | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/live-updates-separatists-deny-using-chemical-weapons/ | 2022-04-13T01:00:08 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/live-updates-separatists-deny-using-chemical-weapons/ |
STRASBOURG, France (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and extreme-right politician Marine Le Pen voiced two radically opposed visions of Europe on Tuesday: one resolutely advocating for the bloc of 27 nations, the other defending her French nationalist mottos.
If Macron falters in France’s April 24 presidential runoff between the two, the far-right could be at the helm of the European Union, an abhorrent idea to most leaders in the bloc.
Experts say a win for Le Pen would have immense repercussions on the functioning of the EU. Not only would her coming to power damage the democratic values and commercial rules of the bloc, but it would also threaten the EU’s common front and sanctions in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Macron headed on Tuesday to Strasbourg, the seat of the EU parliament, to speak about France’s role in Europe. All polls show he is the favorite in the runoff, but Le Pen has significantly narrowed the gap compared to when Macron handily won five years ago.
“Nationalism is war,” Macron warned in front of thousands of supporters waiving French and European flags.
At a time when “war is back on the European continent … it’s through Europe that we will build peace,” he said, welcoming a big Ukrainian flag being waived in front of the stage.
“Europe is a treasure we patiently built, but which will also allow us to respond to the challenges of the future,” he added.
The outdoor rally, near the city’s 12th-century cathedral, was closed by the French and the European anthems.
France has always stood at the heart of the EU — a founding member that has partnered with neighbor and historical rival Germany to turn the bloc into an economic giant and an icon of Western values. To hand that vaunted perch to a far-right politician would be bad enough. But, as coincidence would have it, France also holds the EU’s rotating six-month presidency this spring, which also allows it to speak with the power of the 27.
It is a pedestal few want to offer to Le Pen. The National Rally leader wants to establish national border controls on imports and people, reduce the French contribution to the EU budget and cease to recognize that European law has primacy over national law.
She has proposed removing taxes on hundreds of goods and wants to reduce taxes on fuel — which would go against the EU’s free market rules and efforts to fight climate change.
Although Le Pen has excised Frexit from her platform, her hostility toward the EU is still clear. Speaking to France Inter radio, Le Pen said Tuesday that “a large majority of French people no longer want the European Union as it exists today.” She accused the bloc of acting “in an absolutely anti-democratic way.”
She refuted critics’ charges that her policies would amount to a French exit from the EU. Instead, she said the EU can be changed “from within.”
Macron accused Le Pen of speaking “nonsense.”
“She explains that she won’t pay the bill for the (EU) club, that she will change the rules, but will change the rules alone” he said. “It means she wants to get out (of the EU) but doesn’t dare say it anymore.”
Jean-Claude Piris, who served as a legal counsel to the European Council, said a victory for Le Pen would have the effect of an “earthquake.”
“She is in favor of a form of economic patriotism with state aids, which is contrary to the rules of the single market,” Piris told The Associated Press.
“She wants to modify the French constitution by giving preference to the French, by suppressing the right of the soil, the right of asylum,” which would be “totally incompatible with the values of the European treaties,” Piris added.
Piris said Le Pen would also threaten the unanimity of the bloc’s 27 nations on the sanctions they have adopted so far against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. She could prevent further measures being adopted. The bloc is currently mulling whether to add further restrictions on oil imports from Russia.
Le Pen has built close links with the Kremlin over the years. In her previous bid to become the French president in 2017, she called for strong security ties with Moscow to jointly combat radical Islamic groups. She also pledged to recognize Crimea — the peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 — as part of Russia.
Le Pen acknowledged Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “partially” changed her views about Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he was “wrong” and expressing her support for the Ukrainian people and refugees.
A report from the Center for European Reform highlighted how Le Pen could go down the same road as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki in throwing up roadblocks for Brussels wherever she can to further slow the EU’s already cumbersome decision-making.
“The difference is that France … is indispensable to the EU,” the report stressed, saying the consequences would be “political chaos.”
Macron made a similar parallel with Hungary, warning that the far-right Le Pen would do the same thing that he said is happening in Budapest: “methodically, gradually reducing and deteriorating rights.”
CER experts also believe that Le Pen’s policies would clash with the bloc’s climate goals. Le Pen is in favor of expanding nuclear and several non-governmental groups have warned that she would slow down the transition toward renewable energy.
On top of that, the traditional French-German tandem would be undermined, with German Socialist chancellor Olaf Scholz highly unlikely to reach any compromise with Le Pen.
Luxembourg’s long-serving foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, said Le Pen as French president “would put us on a totally different track in the essence of the European Union.”
“The French must prevent that,” he said.
____
Casert and Petrequin reported from Brussels. Colleen Barry in Milan, Italy, and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed. | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/potential-far-right-victory-in-france-seen-as-threat-to-eu/ | 2022-04-13T01:00:15 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/potential-far-right-victory-in-france-seen-as-threat-to-eu/ |
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is destroying a South Korean-owned golf course at a scenic mountain resort in the second confirmed case of South Korean assets being eliminated in an area where the rivals once ran a joint tour program, officials said Tuesday in Seoul.
North Korea’s demolition of South Korean-built facilities at its Diamond Mountain resort comes as ties between the countries remain strained over the North’s recent series of high-profile missile tests.
Responding to queries by The Associated Press, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said it has confirmed North Korea is demolishing the golf resort in addition to a South Korean-owned hotel there. Last Friday, the ministry said North Korea was dismantling the Haegumgang Hotel, a floating hotel docked at a coastal area in the resort.
The ministry said it strongly urges North Korea to stop destroying the South Korean facilities. It demanded North Korea return to talks to address the issue.
The two Koreas jointly ran a tour project at the resort for about 10 years during an earlier era of inter-Korean detente. The tours drew an estimated 2 million South Korean visitors and served as a rare source of foreign currency for the impoverished North. But South Korea suspended the project in 2008 after one of its tourists was fatally shot by a North Korean soldier there.
After their relations improved in 2018, the two Koreas pushed to resume stalled cooperation projects including the mountain tours. But Seoul eventually failed to do so without defying U.S.-led sanctions that kept the tours from restarting. In 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered officials to tear down South Korean-owned assets in the resort, but the demolition was delayed due to worries about the spread of the coronavirus.
North Korea has sought sanctions relief and other concessions from the United States and South Korea to revive its moribund economy. Some experts say its recent weapons testing activity was meant to perfect its missile technology and boost its leverage in future negotiations with its rivals.
Besides the golf resort and floating hotel, South Korea owns other facilities in the resort such as spas, a culture center, accommodations, a duty free shop, karaoke rooms and a building used for reunions of Korean families separated by war. The fate of those facilities was unclear.
The North’s state media reported Tuesday that a fire in the Diamond Mountain area over the weekend destroyed unspecified facilities and hundreds of hectares of forests. It said the blaze was put out on Sunday.
It wasn’t immediately known if the fire was related to the demolition of the South Korean facilities at the resort. The South Korean Unification Ministry said it was trying to find out if the fire caused any damage to its facilities in the resort. | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/seoul-north-korea-destroying-s-korean-owned-golf-course/ | 2022-04-13T01:00:22 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/seoul-north-korea-destroying-s-korean-owned-golf-course/ |
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Prolonged rains and flooding in the Durban area of South Africa have claimed the lives of at least 45 people, damaging the port, major highways and surrounding areas in KwaZulu-Natal province, according to local officials.
South Africa’s military has been deployed to Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area on Tuesday to assist with rescue operations as residents flee flooded areas.
Some people have been swept away by surging waters, say officials. Durban port, the largest and busiest shipping terminal in sub-Saharan Africa, has been inundated with floodwaters that carried away shipping containers and left them in a jumbled pile.
Authorities are providing shelter for several hundred people whose homes and possessions were washed away by the floods and technicians are working to restore electricity to areas where power had been knocked out.
Emergency services have for several days been responding to urgent calls for help from people stuck in their houses but the number is beginning to decrease, emergency services spokesman Robert McKenzie told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
“There are still cases of collapsed buildings where operations are still continuing,” he said.
“Most of our power stations have been flooded and our teams are working hard to restore power to the affected areas,” Mxolisi Kaunda, mayor of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality, told a press briefing Tuesday.
“Our teams are on the ground to try and return the situation to normalcy,” he said. “We continue to assess the damages, we cannot be sure of the extent of the damages at the moment.”
___
This story was corrected to show that the mayor of eThekwini’s name is spelled Mxolisi. | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/south-africas-kwazulu-natal-province-hit-by-floods-20-dead/ | 2022-04-13T01:00:29 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/south-africas-kwazulu-natal-province-hit-by-floods-20-dead/ |
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish authorities have detained 46 people, including former local officials from a pro-Kurdish political party, who are suspected of having financial links to Kurdish militants, the state-run news agency reported on Tuesday.
The detained are among 91 suspects sought by a chief prosecutor for allegedly “providing financial resources on behalf” of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, Anadolu Agency reported. They are accused of being a part of the PKK’s “economic structure,” of money-laundering and of taking instructions from PKK commander Murat Karayilan, it said.
Anadolu said the suspects include former deputy mayors, former party treasurers and former city council members of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP.
There was no immediate comment from the HDP — the second-largest opposition party in Turkey’s parliament — which is fighting legal moves toward its closure at Turkey’s Constitutional Court.
Prosecutors accuse the party of colluding with the PKK and of seeking to “destroy the unity of the state.” They are demanding that the party be dissolved, that it be deprived of treasury funding and that about 450 party members be barred from holding political office for five years. The HDP denies the accusations.
Dozens of elected HDP lawmakers and mayors — including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag — as well as thousands of party members have been arrested on terror-related accusations as part of a government crackdown on the party. Several HDP mayors who were elected in 2019 have, meanwhile, been replaced by state-appointed trustees.
The PKK is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the European Union and the U.S. The group has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people. | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/turkey-detains-former-kurdish-party-officials-for-pkk-links/ | 2022-04-13T01:00:36 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/turkey-detains-former-kurdish-party-officials-for-pkk-links/ |
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday he paid a fine from police for attending a lockdown-breaching birthday party in his official residence, making him the first British leader to be sanctioned for breaking the law while in office.
The fines for Johnson, his wife, Carrie, and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak brought a simmering crisis for the prime minister back to full boil, with opposition politicians immediately calling for his resignation.
Johnson and his Conservative government have faced growing outrage since allegations surfaced late last year that he and his staff flouted Britain’s pandemic restrictions and held office parties in 2020 and 2021 when millions in the country were barred from meeting with friends and family — or even attending funerals for their loved ones.
“I have paid the fine and want to offer a full apology,” Johnson said. “I understand the anger many will feel that I myself fell short when it came to observing the very rules which the government I lead had introduced to protect the public. I accept in all sincerity that people had the right to expect better.”
Downing Street said Johnson was being sanctioned for attending a “gathering of two or more people indoors in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street” on June 19, 2020. The event was a surprise birthday party for the prime minister.
Johnson said the gathering lasted “less than 10 minutes,” and “at that time, it did not occur to me this might have been a breach of the rules.”
London’s Metropolitan Police force said it had issued at least 50 fines after investigating a dozen events held in 10 Downing St. and and other government buildings. They reportedly included “bring your own booze” office parties and “wine time Fridays” organized by Johnson’s staff.
The force did not identify the recipients or the size of the fines. But Johnson’s office confirmed shortly after that the prime minister and Sunak each received notice Tuesday that they would be issued with fines for an undisclosed amount. If paid promptly, such fines do not result in a criminal record.
Opponents, and some members of the governing Conservative Party, say Johnson should resign.
Thousands of people were fined between 60 pounds ($79) and 10,000 pounds ($13,200) by police for rule-breaking social gatherings during the pandemic.
“Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have broken the law and repeatedly lied to the British public,” said Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party. “The Conservatives are totally unfit to govern. Britain deserves better.”
Opposition parties called for lawmakers to be recalled from their Easter break for a vote of no-confidence in Johnson.
The COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group said “there is simply no way” that Johnson or Sunak can remain in their jobs.
“It’s still unbelievably painful to know that the Prime Minister was partying and breaking his own lockdown rules – while we were unable to be at our loved ones’ sides in their dying moments,” said the group’s spokesman Lobby Akinnola.
A total of 16 parties were investigated by a senior civil servant, Sue Gray, with a dozen of them also under investigation by the Metropolitan Police.
In January, Gray published a report into some of the gatherings, the ones not under criminal investigation. She said “failures of leadership and judgment” in Johnson’s government allowed events to occur that should not have happened.
The report said some of the gatherings showed a “serious failure to observe” standards for government, and some behavior at the parties were “difficult to justify” given how the public were asked to restrict their lives.
Johnson’s grip on power had appeared to be on a knife-edge earlier this year because of the scandal and the departure of several top aides. Allies feared “partygate” could become a tipping point for a leader who has weathered a series of other stormsover his expenses, and his moral judgment.
Some Conservative lawmakers were openly calling for a no-confidence vote in their leader — something that can happen if 15% of Conservative lawmakers demand it.
But Johnson has hung on, partly because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine distracted public and political attention.
Johnson’s international image, battered by Britain’s messy exit from the European Union under his leadership, has been revived by his firm military, political and moral support for Ukraine. Johnson traveled to Kyiv last weekend to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Johnson might also benefit from the woes afflicting Sunak, the 41-year-old Treasury chief who has been seen as a potential rival and successor. The fine for Sunak comes as he also faces a backlash over the spiraling cost of living and questions about his financial arrangements and the tax status of his wealthy wife.
Jill Rutter, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government think-tank, said “partygate” had damaged the reputation of both the government and the civil service.
“The line, ‘It’s one rule for them and another law for the rest of us’ really does resonate,” she said.
Rutter said Johnson was probably safe for now, but could face fresh peril if the Conservatives take a hammering in next month’s local elections.
“And with the prime minister, there’s always a possibility that something else comes out,” she said. “So you wouldn’t say that it’s guaranteed plain sailing through to the 2023-2024 election. But I think we definitely premature to write him off now.”
___
Associated Press Writer Danica Kirka contributed.
—-
Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/uk-government-johnson-to-be-fined-over-lockdown-parties/ | 2022-04-13T01:00:43 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/uk-government-johnson-to-be-fined-over-lockdown-parties/ |
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — 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.
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.wivb.com/news/wrong-dem-candidates-blast-pac-influence-in-new-district/ | 2022-04-13T01:00:50 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/wrong-dem-candidates-blast-pac-influence-in-new-district/ |
WHAT ARE THE 10 BEST BUYBUYBABY CAR SEATS?
A car seat is an absolute must-have for all babies and toddlers. In many places, parents and caretakers are required to use a car seat or booster for kids up to 10 or 11 years old.
Since these seats are so important for keeping a child safe, it’s worth it to take the time and find a quality car seat. That said, you don’t need to spend a fortune to buy a seat that’s safe and comfortable.
Baby-products retailer BuyBuyBaby sells top-notch car seats at a range of price points, so you’re sure to find one that works for you and your child.
INFANT CAR SEATS VS. CONVERTIBLE CAR SEATS
Infant car seats are rear-facing car seats designed for newborns up to around 1 year of age. They generally have carry handles so you can move a sleeping baby from the car to the house easily. They also often fit into a travel-system stroller, so they’re perfect for going out and about.
Convertible car seats cover several stages of a child’s life, so you can use them for longer periods before your child outgrows them. Some convert from infant seats to toddler seats and eventually boosters, while others convert from toddler seats to boosters. Make sure to check the product details before making a purchase. Some are forward-facing only, while others can remain in the rear-facing position into toddlerhood and beyond.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A CAR SEAT
Quality car seats should undergo rigorous crash testing for safety. Car seats should have a sturdy five-point harness to keep your child secure while still being easy for adults to release when they need to take it out of the car. They should have good padding with the option for extra padding for newborns, which you can remove as your child grows. Also, look for removable, washable covers since they get dirty easily.
BEST INFANT CAR SEATS
Graco SnugRide SnugFit 35 DLX Infant Car Seat
A safe, secure choice for infants, this car seat features five recline positions and connects to its LATCH base with ease. The “Graco ProtectPlus” engineering ensures this design withstood a range of rigorous crash tests to make it as safe as possible. The anti-rebound bar offers an extra layer of protection in the rear-facing position.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Chicco KeyFit 30 Infant Car Seat
Lightweight yet strong, this versatile seat for infants is compatible with Chicco strollers to create a handy travel system. The strong shell and EPS energy-absorbing foam provides exceptional impact protection. And the leveling foot helps you find the right base installation for a secure foundation. Thanks to the SuperCinch LATCH tightener, it’s easier than ever to get a secure fit.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Nido Infant Car Seat
It might be on the pricier side, but this seat has several excellent features that make it worth the cost. You can move the adjustable side impact protection into six different positions without rethreading the seat. The dual-stage cushion system helps you position your baby’s head in the right spot. It has a fully adjustable seat recline, allowing you to adjust the angle.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
This light car seat only weighs 10 pounds, but it offers exceptional protection for your little one, thanks to clever engineering. It features impact-absorbing foam and an adjustable headrest with side impact protection. The SMARTSecure System makes it extremely easy to fit the seat into place, and it includes an indicator that changes from red to green when you install it properly.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Maxi-Cosi Mico 30 Infant Car Seat
Well-padded and comfortable, your baby will be snug and secure in this seat. It’s easy to install with a one-click LATCH system, so you won’t need to wrestle it into place. Also, the harness holders conveniently keep the straps out of the way as you put your baby down in the seat.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
BEST CONVERTIBLE CAR SEATS
Graco Extend2Fit Convertible Car Seat
This seat accommodates various weights and ages, from 4-pound babies to toddlers to 2-year-old kids. It converts from rear-facing to a forward-facing toddler seat and holds up to 65 pounds. It has a steel-reinforced frame and uses EPS energy-absorbing foam to absorb the impact in an accident.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Baby Jogger City Turn Convertible Car Seat
Kids can stay in this convertible car seat for years. It’s suitable for babies, toddlers and kids from 4-65 pounds. It has rear- and forward-facing modes, and the steel-reinforced frame keeps them safe. The press-button LATCH system is easy to use, too.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Chicco NextFit Max ClearTex Convertible Car Seat
This seat fits children from newborns (including babies weighing as little as 4 pounds) right up until they are 65 pounds and 49 inches tall. You can use it in the rear-facing mode for kids up to 50 pounds, and it offers up to 25% more legroom to keep kids feeling comfortable in the rear-facing setup for longer.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Cybex Sirona S SensorSafe Convertible Car Seat
Due to its innovative load leg, this seat minimizes the force of impact in the event of a collision. Plus, the linear side-impact protection absorbs up to 25% more shock. The rear-facing mode is suitable for kids between 4-50 pounds, and the forward-facing mode is best for children between 22-65 pounds. The design makes it easy to switch between the two modes, too.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
UPPAbaby KNOX Convertible Car Seat
This car seat could see kids throughout their entire childhood, especially since it can accommodate children up to 45 pounds in rear-facing mode and 65 pounds in forward-facing mode. It uses Koroyd technology to offer maximum-impact absorption in the event of a collision.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/10-best-buybuybaby-car-seats/ | 2022-04-13T01:00:56 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/10-best-buybuybaby-car-seats/ |
Which bully stick is best?
Dogs know we love them, but we don’t always have a way to communicate how grateful we are to have them. One solution is to shower them with treats, but this can lead to adverse effects like weight gain. An excellent middle ground to this approach is giving them tasty bully sticks to chew on. Top choice Pawstruck 12-Inch Bully Sticks are high in calories but can last long enough to mitigate that fact.
What to know before you buy a bully stick
Length and thickness
Bully sticks come in a variety of lengths and thicknesses to fit the size and caloric needs of any dog breed. It’s important to use appropriate lengths and thickness with your dog. If it’s too small, it becomes a choking hazard; too large and it can upset their stomach or be difficult to chew.
Four-inch sticks are best for dogs under 30 pounds, while six-inch sticks are best for dogs between 30-50 pounds. Dogs between 50-100 pounds should chew on 12-inch sticks, and dogs over 100 pounds should chew on 24-inch sticks.
Shape
Bully sticks are available in a variety of shapes. The most common is a straight stick. Others include curls, rings and braids. Rings take the longest to chew, while braids provide the most dental benefits.
Per-pack size
Bully sticks are available as an individual purchase, but this is rare. Most come in packs of at least five, though some can be as large as 100. It’s recommended to start with a small package to see if your dog likes the treat before upgrading to larger sizes for cheaper per-stick costs. Extra-large packages should be stored in airtight containers to prevent them from spoiling before you can use them all.
What to look for in a quality bully stick
Odor
All bully sticks have a natural odor. It becomes stronger as your dog pumps moisture into them while chewing. Fair warning: many consumers find the odor to be difficult to stand. Thus, many manufacturers use one of several methods to reduce or change the odor into something more manageable. The most common method of odor reduction is to dry the stick for varying lengths. The less moisture it contains before chewing, the less it will smell. But even the most thoroughly dried sticks — often marketed as odor-free — still have some amount of smell. Smoking the stick to make it smell smoky is also commonly done.
All of this said, the smellier the stick, the more flavorful it will be and the more your dog will enjoy it. Some dogs will outright refuse to chew an odorless stick.
Filling
Some bully sticks take the “treat” aspect even further and stuff the center with all manner of fillings, peanut butter being among the most common. The downside to filled treats is the increase in calories and the likely presence of preservatives that fill-less sticks usually lack.
How much you can expect to spend on a bully stick
Small packages of bully sticks usually cost $10-$30. Medium-sized packages usually cost $20-$50. Large packages can cost up to $100, and the rare individual bully stick rarely costs more than $15.
Bully stick FAQ
What is a bully stick made of?
A. Bully sticks are made from high-protein muscle. They’re a good source of protein and taurine, which improves the health of your dog’s muscles and organs.
How often can a dog have a bully stick?
A. Generally speaking, one stick a day. However, due to the high levels of protein, it’s wise to consider one every two or three days. Too much protein can upset a dog’s stomach and negatively affect its liver and kidneys. You also need to balance your dog’s caloric intake to prevent unhealthy weight gain.
How safe are bully sticks for my dog?
A. When given responsibly, perfectly safe. The biggest risks are simply too much protein and calories. They can also be a possible choking hazard once your dog has chewed a stick down to a size it can swallow, so it’s best to take the stick away once it hits that point. The health benefits of the treats and the dental benefits of being a hard chew outweigh the risks.
What’s the best bully stick to buy?
Top bully stick
Pawstruck 12-Inch Bully Sticks (10-Pack)
What you need to know: These sticks can last for several hours of chewing and provide plenty of nutrition and fun for large-breed dogs.
What you’ll love: Each one has approximately 120 calories. The braided design is excellent for cleaning teeth. They’re sourced from free-range Paraguayan bulls and have no additives, including color or preservatives. Pawstruck is a family-owned small business.
What you should consider: The extra-large size makes for a long-lasting smell. Stick quality is inconsistent between packages.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top bully stick for the money
Best Bully Sticks Odor-Free Angus Bully Sticks
What you need to know: These are lower-cost and come in perfect sizes for any breed.
What you’ll love: They are sourced from free-range, grass-fed Brazilian cattle and contain no additives. The sticks resist even heavy chewers. and help keep your dog’s teeth clean. They’re available in a 6-inch pack of 20 or a 12-inch pack of 12 or 24.
What you should consider: They aren’t fully odor-free, only odor-reduced with some packages being more or less so. Stick quality is inconsistent between packages.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Worth checking out
Nature Gnaws Small Bully Sticks
What you need to know: If you’re unsure about bully sticks, try this small-size package.
What you’ll love: These are 6 inches long and provide adequate dental cleaning. The company sources only fresh material, irradiates for cleanliness, submits for food-grade testing and is packaged in the U.S. with a further round of UV disinfection.
What you should consider: Some consumers found these sticks to have a powerful odor. Others were unhappy with the thinness and hollowness of the sticks.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/best-bully-stick/ | 2022-04-13T01:01:03 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/best-bully-stick/ |
Which navy blue rug is best?
Navy blue is a classic color loved by interior designers for its dignified aesthetic. This versatile hue can do wonders as a backdrop for your decor, letting your accents glimmer and shine like stars in the night sky. This makes a rug the perfect candidate to add a rich pool of color to your interior. Which rug you choose will come down to your taste and the area you’re trying to cover.
For a solid area rug that will elevate your home’s aesthetic, you can’t go wrong with the Safavieh Vision Collection Modern Ombre Tonal Chic Non-Shedding Area Rug.
What to know before you buy a navy blue rug
Advantages of navy blue
Navy blue is a stately color associated with power and authority. When used in deeper, darker shades, navy is a great way to add a sense of importance and momentousness to your room. But it can also be peaceful and relaxing, recalling the expansive ocean. Lighter shades not only inspire tranquil reflection, but also positivity and possibility — after all, the big blue sky’s the limit.
Colors that go with navy blue
Navy blue is a cool color, so it pairs best with the warmer side of the spectrum. Colors from blush pink to rust red can balance out the hue. Consider also warm, muted purples, golden yellows and burnt oranges. And navy blends with warm neutral tones such as grays that have red or yellow undertones.
Another tried-and-true pairing is navy blue and white. This crisp, clean aesthetic is a touch nautical, but suits the modern and classical home alike.
If you’re feeling blue through and through, try adding lighter, warmer shades of the color, or even brighter greens to lean into the cool half of the color wheel.
Patterns vs. solid color
While a solid blue rug provides a rich base to play with accents, a patterned rug can have its benefits as well. Patterns tone down navy’s domineering qualities. When set against a warm neutral tone, a navy-blue patterned rug, whether floral or geometric, can offer a modest dose of blue’s psychological prowess without sucking your entire decor into its awesome orbit.
What to look for in a quality navy blue rug
Material
Choosing the right material comes down to your budget and where you intend to place the rug, as certain materials stand up better to foot traffic than others.
- Wool: Tough yet soft underfoot, wool is one of the most common rug materials because it can take a beating. Just keep it out of damp environments.
- Silk: The stuff of luxury, silk is a great option for patterned rugs as the fine fibers allow for intricate details. It won’t stand up to lots of foot traffic, so place it in a less-visited room. .
- Cotton: A more-affordable natural fiber, cotton is used for a lot of flat-weave rugs. It’s easy to clean, making it great for kids’ rooms or kitchens where spills are inevitable.
- Grasses and fibers: Jute, sisal and seagrass are natural grasses used to make rugged carpets. They’re perfect for the outdoors, but can also look great indoors, especially in sunny rooms. They’re just a little rough underfoot.
- Synthetics: Synthetic rugs can are usually polyester, but also include polypropylene, rayon and viscose. These mimic natural fibers’ properties. They’re not as long-lasting, but are easy to clean and can be used in high-traffic areas. They’re also generally more affordable than wool, cotton or silk.
Weave
Your rug’s weave reflects its manufacturing process. Today, most rugs are produced by machine on a power loom. But you can still find one-of-a-kind handmade ones that not only reflect their makers’ idiosyncrasies, but also last for generations.
Both handwoven and hand-knotted rugs don’t have a backing. Because hand-knotted rugs are flat woven, they have the added benefit of reversibility, meaning you can flip them to extend their lifespan.
Machine-woven rugs, on the other hand, pull the fibers through a backing. This renders them prone to shedding as the glue deteriorates over time. But the cheaper cost of production does make synthetics an affordable alternative.
Pile
Your rug’s pile is a measurement of how long or high each individual fiber is, and how densely they’re woven together. A high pile height indicates long strands like those of a shag rug. These are fluffy and thick, but shed easily. A low pile can still be dense, but lasts much longer as it’s harder to pull these rugs apart. Flat-woven rugs have zero pile.
How much you can expect to spend on a navy blue rug
The cost of a rug depends on its size and material. Smaller rugs are typically $25-$150. A large synthetic area rug can cost as much as $200-$350, and a premium handmade rug can cost $700 or more.
Navy blue rug FAQ
What decors does navy blue look best in?
A. Navy blue is a jack of all trades. While it’s most often associated with beach houses, this grand color looks great with a muted palette in modern decors, or with rich yellow-to-red tones in classical homes. How you integrate it is a game of accents, and warm metals and natural woods work great in this regard.
How do I clean my rug?
A. Most rugs need to be cleaned by hand, though some synthetics can be washed in a machine. Silk must be professionally cleaned.
If you’re cleaning by hand, first dust and vacuum your rug to get any dirt and debris out of the fibers. Then, using a carpet shampoo, scrub thoroughly with a brush. Rinse your rug with a hose or a bucket and dry it off. You can do this by blotting with towels first and then hang-drying on a line. When cleaning your rug, it’s best to first test a small patch in case your dyes will fade.
What’s the best navy blue rug to buy?
Top navy blue rug
Safavieh Vision Collection Modern Ombre Tonal Chic Non-Shedding Area Rug
What you need to know: Cast in deep dark blue, this solid-color rug has a hint of faded glory to soften its presence.
What you’ll love: At 5 feet, 1 inches by 7 feet, 6 inches, this area rug suits bedrooms and living rooms. It’s machine-made from polypropylene, a resilient material that resists staining and heavy treading. That makes it a good fit for homes with kids or pets.
What you should consider: Because it’s synthetic, this rug will have a strong smell out of the wrapper, so prepare to air it out for a couple of weeks.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top navy blue rug for the money
Wayfair Basics Shag Navy Area Rug
What you need to know: This shag rug has just the right amount of pile to feel like you’re walking on a cloud without looking like it came from some big blue animal.
What you’ll love: This rug is versatile. You have your choice of large area rugs and smaller accent rugs, as well as rectangular and circular shapes. As an area rug, its high pile adds rich texture to your decor. And as a smaller accent rug — say, by your bedside — you’ll have a luxuriously plush surface to step onto every morning. The synthetic fibers are durable and resist shedding.
What you should consider: You need a pad under it to avoid slipping.
Where to buy: Sold by Wayfair
Worth checking out
Callista Southwestern Navy/Ivory Area Rug
What you need to know: Inspired by Oriental and Persian rugs, it features a geometric pattern that’s right at home in boho and classical interiors.
What you’ll love: It has a sophisticated ornamental diamond motif. With just the right mixture of blue and ivory, you don’t have to totally commit to navy, making this a great rug for decors that prize the crisp duality of blue and white. It’s synthetic, so it’s tough. And it comes in a vast array of sizes to fit whatever space you envision.
What you should consider: The rug can get pricey the larger you go in size.
Where to buy: Sold by Wayfair
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Karl Daum writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/best-navy-blue-rug/ | 2022-04-13T01:01:10 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/best-navy-blue-rug/ |
Which RV sewer hose extension is best?
The ability to travel around the country with your home on your back is an incredible gift. Just like stationary homes, it doesn’t come without effort and upkeep. One of the least enjoyable tasks is emptying your toilet tank at designated spots. Making matters worse, sometimes you can’t reach those designated spots with your standard sewer hose.
In these cases, you’ll wish you had the Lippert Waste Master Extension Hose Kit For RV Sewer System. It’s expensive, but you can’t beat its quality.
What to know before you buy an RV sewer hose extension
How frequently will you use it?
Some people live in their RV year-round. Others take it on an extended vacation once or twice a year. RVs are expensive enough as it is, so save some money by buying an RV sewer hose extension with a price tag that fits your expected usage. For example, if you travel once a year, you don’t need a top-dollar, max-durability hose, just something that gets the job done.
Contraction
Most RV sewer hoses contract when not in use to save storage space. Some hoses will attempt the contract on their own at all times. These will put undue pressure on the couplings and lead to broken hoses and disgusting messes. So, you’ll want to purchase a hose that expands and shrinks manually. Better hoses will usually be able to constrict further than lesser hoses.
Flexibility
There’s no way of knowing what situation you’ll find at your RV campground until you get there. You’ll want to have a hose that’s flexible enough to bend and twist around obstacles with just enough rigidity to remain durable. Highly rigid hoses may last longer, but it’s only a matter of time before you find yourself in a situation that your unbending hose can’t handle.
What to look for in a quality RV sewer hose extension
Interior
The best RV sewer hose extensions have the smoothest interiors. This allows the waste to flow smoothly and prevents, or at least limits, clogs. Smooth interiors are also less likely to hold onto small amounts of waste that can leak out in storage.
Durability
There are many elements to an RV sewer hose extension’s durability, but crush and UV resistance are two of the most important.
- Crush-resistance: If something lays on the ground, inevitably, someone or something will eventually step on it. Better hoses have enough strength to hold their shape and prevent flattening or breaks from a few accidents. All will eventually succumb, though.
- UV-resistance: PRV sewer hose extensions tend to become weaker the longer it remains in direct contact with the sun. Hoses with UV resistance will last far longer than a hose without UV resistance.
How much you can expect to spend on an RV sewer hose extension
RV sewer hose extensions can cost as little as $10, which is perfect if you rarely use your RV. Most extensions cost $25-$50. The best extensions can easily exceed $100, a tier reserved for constant RV travelers.
RV sewer hose extension FAQ
How often do I need to empty the waste tank?
A. That depends on many factors, such as the size of your RV’s waste tank, the number of people traveling in the RV and how often each person uses the onboard bathroom. Some RVs have metered tanks, so you can be informed of exactly how full your tank is. In these cases, you’ll want to empty the tank once it hits two-thirds full to be safe. If you don’t have a metered tank, dumping once you arrive or before you leave your RV campground is a good policy.
Do I really need to cap my waste hoses when not in use?
A. Yes. No matter how thoroughly you flush a used hose with clean water, there’s no way to be sure there isn’t still a little something nasty hiding in an interior crevice. Capping your hoses before storing them is the best way to prevent any nasty spills or seepage from ruining your storage compartments.
What’s the best RV sewer hose extension to buy?
Top RV sewer hose extension
Lippert Waste Master Extension Hose Kit for RV Sewer System
What you need to know: This is among the highest quality kits you can find.
What you’ll love: It adds up to 20 feet to your main sewer hose. It is highly resistant to most weather conditions and has high UV resistance. The interior is smooth enough to prevent clogs and to limit waste being left inside after dumping.
What you should consider: It’s among the priciest options. Some consumers had issues with the glue connections being improperly connected or totally lacking in glue, leading to leaks.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top RV sewer hose extension for the money
Camco RhinoFLEX Heavy Duty 10-Foot RV Sewer Hose Extension Kit
What you need to know: This budget pick is excellent for infrequent travelers.
What you’ll love: It uses a swiveling bayonet design to lock the connectors into place, and the locking rings are reusable. It can contract to over 3 feet long when not in use, and it’s made of steel wire-reinforced polyolefin for durability.
What you should consider: The 10-foot size isn’t enough for some situations. Some consumers had issues with the connections suddenly separating during a dump.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Worth checking out
Valterra EZ Coupler RV Sewer Hose Kit
What you need to know: This is a great midrange pick.
What you’ll love: The kit includes a universal sewer adapter that’s transparent so you can monitor the draining process, rotating fittings and two 10-foot collapsible hoses that can add up to 20 feet to your main sewer hose. When collapsed, the hoses measure just over 2 feet long.
What you should consider: Some consumers had issues not reaching its listed maximum of 20 feet. It has fewer connectors and thus a higher chance of failure.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/best-rv-sewer-hose-extension/ | 2022-04-13T01:01:17 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/best-rv-sewer-hose-extension/ |
What do you decorate on Easter?
Springtime pastel hues, flower-adorned wreaths, artistically-designed eggs and more — there are numerous ways to showcase your Easter spirit with lovely decorations for both inside and outside your home. From your front door to your dining room table, decorations that are both classy and reasonably priced will make your place inviting for the upcoming holiday. Whether you prefer simplistic or whimsical designs, our favorite decorative ideas will help you celebrate the holiday with style.
Focus on color
With sprouting greenery and blooming flowers, spring is all about color. When it comes to Easter, soft, subdued shades are always on trend. White bunnies, yellow chicks and pastel blue, green and pink eggs are all cheerful icons of the holiday.
Colors that represent the death and resurrection of Christ are symbolic of the religious meaning of the holiday. Purple has long been the color associated with Lent and sorrow, while gold and white represent rebirth and joy.
Add spring flowers
Flowers representing renewal and rebirth go hand in hand with springtime and the Easter holiday. Tulips, lilies, daffodils, crocuses and hyacinths are popular blooms for the season. Adding a live arrangement to special events like Easter dinner creates a special touch. If you prefer flowers that can be displayed year after year, these Easter blooms are also available in artificial bouquets, centerpieces and wreaths.
Include your entryway
Easter decorations for your front porch and door will create festive curb appeal. Wreaths and door art are affordable and easy to put in place. Baskets, signs, figures and statues are available with spring and bunny themes that appeal to Easter enthusiasts of all ages.
Create festive tables
Seasonal bouquets add a classy touch to accent and end tables in your home this time of year. Centerpieces are a nice touch for a dining table for Easter gatherings. Runners and tablecloths with Easter graphics are also available.
Don’t forget the eggs
Coloring eggs is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to decorate for Easter. There are more options than ever for turning eggs into colorful art, including pens, paints, decals, stencils and dyes. Many of these items come in sets that include everything you need for eye-catching eggs.
Best Easter decorations
Glitzhome Wooden Easter Welcome Porch Sign with Bunny Ears
This welcome sign sports a sweet bunny face that kids and the young at heart will appreciate when they stop by for Easter visits. It’s crafted of firwood and fiberboard that’s durable, making it suitable for use year after year.
Sold by Macy’s
National Tree Company Easter Egg Garland
Garland isn’t just for Christmas. This pretty strand includes springtime blooms with pastel-colored eggs, and it can be placed on a shelf, mantle or table. It’s made of quality materials that will last for many Easters to come.
Crowned Beauty Spring Easter Garden Flag
A spiritual message with colorful graphics makes this garden flag a nice addition to seasonal outdoor decorations. It’s made of strong polyester that holds up well to outdoor conditions.
Sold by Amazon
Adding fresh flowers to your Easter decor is easy with this beautiful flower-filled basket. It features roses, daisies, carnations and eggs in pastel shades that pair perfectly with the season. Small, medium and large displays are available.
Sold by 1-800Flowers.com
Winston Porter Charlestown Peter Rabbit Statue
This adorable rabbit statue features realistic details. It’s crafted of durable resin and makes a nice addition to a porch or garden.
Sold by Wayfair
Celebrate Easter Together Easter Bunny Tablecloth
Setting an Easter table starts with a tablecloth like this one that’s covered in bunnies and pastel flowers. It is available in two sizes and is machine-washable for easy care.
Sold by Kohl’s
EverBloomingOriginal Tulip Wreath
Greet your Easter guests with this unique handmade door wreath that’s packed with colorful faux tulips in a bucket and topped with a bow. There are several size options, and you can pick both the bow color and tulip color.
Sold by Etsy
National Tree Company Easter Tree
This artificial tree is designed for spring, as it showcases flowers and eggs in colors that are ideal for the Easter season. It has a sophisticated appearance that complements any room’s decor.
Sold by Home Depot
Flowers, pastel eggs and a cute bunny — this wreath has an unmistakable Easter theme. It can be used to decorate a front door but works just as well as part of an indoor Easter display.
Sold by 1-800Flowers.com
Anyone who prefers to decorate with earth-friendly products will appreciate this natural Easter egg dye kit that produces beautiful colors with dyes derived from fruits and vegetables. Even the packaging is safe for the environment, as it’s recycled and biodegradable.
Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jennifer Manfrin writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/holiday-br/these-easter-decoration-ideas-are-classy-and-surprisingly-affordable/ | 2022-04-13T01:01:25 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/holiday-br/these-easter-decoration-ideas-are-classy-and-surprisingly-affordable/ |
Which men’s base layers are best?
Whether you live in a cold climate, plan on taking a trip to a chilly destination or just like to be prepared for the winter months, wearing a base layer is one of the surest ways to keep warm. They’re thin, insulated pants and long-sleeve shirts that don’t add uncomfortable bulk underneath your main bottoms and tops. Some come in top and bottom pairs, but most clothing companies separate the two.
The best men’s base layer is the Helly-Hansen HH LIFA Crew Baselayer Top. It is a little on the costly side, but it is breathable and thin without sacrificing warmth.
What to know before you buy men’s base layers
Material
Most men’s base layers are blends of one majority material to provide warmth and a small amount of stretchy material for fit and function. However, some top-dollar layers might be made entirely of one material. The most commonly used majority materials are polyester, nylon, acrylic and rayon. High-end layers may use polypropylene. Cotton is occasionally used as well, though rarely. The stretchy material is usually elastane, which is also known as Lycra or spandex.
Size
Men’s base layers go by the same sizing standards as most clothing. Some base layers come in big and tall options. The complication comes from the elasticity of most base layers. This means a shirt that’s normally your size may restrict your body to the point of discomfort. Most brands also use different sleeve and pant leg lengths than a similarly sized option from a different brand. All of which to say, you’ll likely need to try on multiple base layers before you find a comfortable fit.
What to look for in quality men’s base layers
Weight
Men’s base layer weights are closely tied to the degree of heat retention they provide. Lightweight layers provide minimal retention, making them best for cool morning runs and the like. Heavyweight layers are thick enough to trap a huge amount of body heat and keep you warm in frigid environments. Medium-weight layers have the widest range of weights and heat retention. Weather conditions between cool and frigid will be covered here, but you may need to shop for a while to find the perfect weight.
Cuffs and collars
To facilitate maximum heat retention, most men’s base layers have highly elastic cuffs and collars to prevent body heat from escaping through these weak points. The goal is to be snug enough that the cuff won’t be pulled away during average movement but not tight enough to constrict. You’ll also want to look for thin cuffs — if they’re too thick, they’ll make your outer layers feel bunched and uncomfortable.
How much you can expect to spend on men’s base layers
The cheapest men’s base layers cost no more than $20, though their effectiveness may be questionable. The priciest options start at $60 and can exceed $100 in some cases. Most men’s base layers cost between $30-$50.
Men’s base layers FAQ
What else can I wear with men’s base layers?
A. Many additional articles of clothing can be worn to increase your comfort in cold weather. Starting at the top and moving down:
- Warm hats that cover the ears, such as beanies or even balaclavas for especially frigid weather.
- Long-sleeve shirts or T-shirts made from warm materials like fleece and flannel.
- Jackets, sweatshirts and hoodies for additional top-area coverage.
- Sweatpants and other similar styles for extra bottom layers.
- Wool socks and insulated shoes for the feet.
How long do men’s base layers last?
A. Most men’s base layers last up to three years, even with regular use. Once they start to be noticeably stretched or develop any holes or thin sections, it’s time to consider a replacement. Don’t bother with repairs, as the stretchy construction of most base layers is impossible to fix once stretched or torn.
How should I wash men’s base layers?
A. Most men’s base layers require special care when washing to prevent damage. For many, this means machine-washing in cold water with bleach-free detergent and no fabric softeners. Most base layers, even machine-washable ones, shouldn’t be machine-dried.
What are the best men’s base layers to buy?
Top men’s base layer
Helly-Hansen HH LIFA Crew Baselayer Top
What you need to know: This top is warm and stylish, and it comes from an excellent brand.
What you’ll love: It’s entirely polypropylene with high degrees of breathability, flexibility and warmth retention. It comes from Scandinavia. It feels ultra-light on the body at only 0.3 pounds and uses flatlock seams for comfort. It’s available in black and two shades of white.
What you should consider: It’s among the priciest tops. The zebra-stripe accents can be too much for some consumers. Some consumers found them to run small, so it is best to purchase a size up.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top men’s base layer for the money
Starter Athletic Light-Compression Leggings
What you need to know: This bottom layer piece is effective for a low price.
What you’ll love: It’s made of 88% woven polyester with 12% Spandex for compression and fit. It dries quickly and wicks moisture. Plus, mesh inner legs allow for maximum breathability, which make these well-suited for runners. It is machine-washable and comes in black or gray.
What you should consider: With a low cost and mesh on the inner leg comes low heat retention, and some consumers found the compression to be too strong.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Under Armour Packaged Base 2.0 Crew-Neck T-Shirt
What you need to know: This shirt traps body heat to keep the wearer warm in cool weather.
What you’ll love: It comes in sizes small to 3XL. It has four-way stretch construction and a soft interior for maximum comfort in any direction. Light and breathable, this top dries quickly and wicks moisture.
What you should consider: This top is also among the priciest picks. It runs a little small, so make sure to order a size up. Additionally, it has minimal heat retention.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Dick’s Sporting Goods
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/loungewear-undergarments-br/best-mens-base-layers/ | 2022-04-13T01:01:31 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/loungewear-undergarments-br/best-mens-base-layers/ |
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal judicial panel declined Tuesday to grant an order temporarily blocking certification of 2022 U.S. House races that have gone forward in Ohio under a disputed congressional map.
Ruling on largely technical grounds, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio advised a group of Black voters from Youngstown claiming to be disenfranchised by the map that their issue must be litigated separately.
The group, known as the Simon parties, had sought the order against the congressional map as a side party in a lawsuit involving Ohio’s unresolved maps of state legislative districts.
But judges said adding congressional maps to that dispute would be “doubling the scope and complexity” of the case.
“The court did not contemplate sweeping congressional redistricting, which is a wholly distinct process, into this lawsuit,” the judges wrote. “Though both varieties of redistricting involve the (Ohio Redistricting) Commission, they are separate tasks, utilizing independent standards and resulting in different district boundaries for General Assembly members versus Congressmembers.”
The panel urged the Simon parties to return to the Northern District of Ohio, where it had filed — and then dropped — an earlier lawsuit, to make its case against the U.S. House map. The voter group must limit its arguments in the case involving legislative maps only to disenfranchisement they allege under those maps, judges said.
While U.S. House races have gone forward in Ohio, the state’s legislative races — to determine state representatives and senators — are on hold. The federal court has said it will intervene after April 20 if the state fails to come to some resolution.
In a series of divided votes, the redistricting commission has passed four different sets of legislative maps. The first three were invalidated by the Ohio Supreme Court as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders unduly favoring Republicans, and a fourth set — hardly different from the third — is now before the court.
As the public awaits their ruling on the fourth set of maps, justices also are weighing arguments on the extraordinary question of whether commissioners should be held in contempt of its orders to pass maps that fairly reflected the state’s 54% Republican-46% Democratic partisan breakdown. | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/74574/federal-panel-in-ohio-punts-dispute-over-congressional-map | 2022-04-13T01:01:33 | 1 | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/74574/federal-panel-in-ohio-punts-dispute-over-congressional-map |
What are the best gifts for 11-year-olds?
No longer little kids but not quite teenagers, 11-year-olds often want to be more grown-up than they are, and will appreciate gifts that make them feel this way. It can be a tricky age group to buy for, but once you get down to it, you can find plenty for tweens to enjoy.
You know the 11-year-old you’re buying for, so thinking about their likes and interests will help you choose the perfect gift. And it’s useful to look at popular products for inspiration.
Best tech gifts for 11-year-olds
Top tech gift
WobbleWorks 3Doodler Create+ 3D Printing Pen
What you need to know: Creative 11-year-olds who love tech will be wowed by this 3D printing pen.
What you’ll love: It lets users create 3D models out of plastic rods that are inserted into the pen and melt as they come out of the tip. Users can craft all kinds of wonderful creations, both big and small.
What you should consider: Although sensible 11-year-olds will be able to use it safely, it’s recommended for ages 14-plus.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top tech gift for the money
Sphero Mini App-Enabled Programmable Robot Ball
What you need to know: This is an excellent choice if you’re buying for an 11-year-old who loves tech and is interested in programming.
What you’ll love: This tiny robot can teach users how to code with the Sphero app for smartphones, tablets or laptops. It also acts as a controller to play a variety of mini games and has a drive mode that lets users drive it around from the app.
What you should consider: It suffers from a few glitches, such as easily becoming uncalibrated and disconnecting from Wi-Fi.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best gifts for 11-year-olds who love music
Top music gift
Fender Squier Bullet Stratocaster Starter Pack
What you need to know: It’s a reasonably priced electric guitar that’s great for beginners as it comes bundled with other essentials.
What you’ll love: This guitar is on the higher end of basic, so it will serve a new player for at least a few years before they want to upgrade. It comes with accessories including a strap, lead, tuner and small practice amp.
What you should consider: If you’re not sure your 11-year-old wants to learn guitar, it’s a pricey gift to take a risk on.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top music gift for the money
What you need to know: This portable Bluetooth speaker is perfect for music lovers, letting them play music from a phone, tablet or laptop.
What you’ll love: It’s waterproof and durable, so it’s a good choice for kids who aren’t known for taking the best care of their belongings. The sound quality is excellent considering its compact size.
What you should consider: Kids who don’t have their own phone or tablet will get limited use from it.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best gifts for creative 11-year-olds
Top creative gift
Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils
What you need to know: Art-lovers can level up their drawing game with these colored pencils.
What you’ll love: They have soft cores, are highly pigmented and easily blendable, so they’re a huge step up for tweens who only have basic colored pencils. You can choose a range of pack sizes, from small 36-pencil sets to huge 150-pencil ones.
What you should consider: Their high price point means they’re not ideal for kids who aren’t seriously into art.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top creative gift for the money
Fujifilm Instax Mini 11 Instant Camera
What you need to know: This camera lets the tween in your life experience the magic of instant Polaroid pictures, but in a modern package.
What you’ll love: It’s great for 11-year-olds into photography, easy to use and comes in a range of appealing colors: blue, pink, lilac, charcoal and white. It automatically adjusts the shutter speed to get the best results in any lighting.
What you should consider: The film is relatively pricey and kids may go through it quickly when they’re used to taking snaps on digital cameras.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best gift for adventurous 11-year-olds
Top adventurous gift
What you need to know: This mini drone is made by a reputable drone manufacturer, but has cheaper components and hardware to bring the cost down.
What you’ll love: It has a decent build quality and is easy to control, which is great for young drone pilots. It comes with a camera that can capture still photos and videos.
What you should consider: The maximum flight time is only 13 minutes, but it’s still fun to play with.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top adventurous gift for the money
What you need to know: A skateboard is a great gift for adventurous young people who are longing to hang out at the skatepark with their friends.
What you’ll love: This is a complete board, so it’s ready to ride out of the box. It’s a decent setup for new skaters that they’ll take a while to grow out of. The 7.5-inch width is a good size for young skaters.
What you should consider: You’ll need to buy the right safety gear for the 11-year-old in your life to skate safely.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best gifts for 11-year-olds into games and gaming
Top game and gaming gift
What you need to know: This Marvel version of the strategy game Splendor is complex enough to keep 11-year-olds interested without being too hard to play.
What you’ll love: It’s a great choice for Marvel fans, board-gamers and young people you’re trying to encourage to spend less time staring at screens. It’s a relatively quick game, taking around 30 minutes from start to finish once players have the hang of the mechanics.
What you should consider: It can be tough to get some 11-year-olds to agree to family game time.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top game and gaming gift for the money
Paladone Playstation Icons Light
What you need to know: Young people of this age often want to start asserting their identity, so a keen gamer would love to display this in their bedroom or game room.
What you’ll love: It has three lighting modes: one displaying solid colors, one phasing among colors and one music-reactive mode that flashes along with a beat. It’s officially licensed by PlayStation and is solidly made.
What you should consider: Kids who are more into Xbox or Nintendo than PlayStation might not like it.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/best-gifts-for-11-year-olds/ | 2022-04-13T01:01:38 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/best-gifts-for-11-year-olds/ |
SCIOTO — Shane A. Tieman, Scioto County Prosecutor announced the January term of the SciotoCounty Grand Jury met on April 8 and returned 10 Public indictments and three Secret indictments. The Defendants Indicted are charged as follows:
DAVID S. RUSSELL, 52
West Portsmouth, Ohio, was indicted on:
Failure to Appear
DYLAN JAMES FRATE, 20
Portsmouth, Ohio, was indicted on:
Carrying a Concealed Weapon
2 Counts Having Weapons while under Disability
2 Counts Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
Trafficking in Marihuana
2 Counts Aggravated Possession of Drugs
Possession of Marihuana
DERICK DERON FONVILLE, 32
Detroit, Michigan, was indicted on:
Possessing Criminal Tools
5 Counts Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
2 Counts Trafficking in Heroin
9 Counts Trafficking in a Fentanyl-Related Compound
5 Counts Aggravated Possession of Drugs
9 Counts Possession of a Fentanyl-Related Compound
Possession of Marihuana
2 Counts Possession of Heroin
RANDY TRIBBLE, JR., 26
Detroit, Michigan, was indicted on:
5 Counts Aggravated Trafficking in Drugs
2 Counts Trafficking in Heroin
9 Counts Trafficking in a Fentanyl-Related Compound
5 Counts Aggravated Possession of Drugs
9 Counts Possession of a Fentanyl-Related Compound
Possession of Marihuana
2 Counts Possession of Heroin
NATHANIEL LEE FODGE, 36
Portsmouth, Ohio, was indicted on:
Sexual Battery
Unlawful Sexual Conduct with a Minor
Endangering Children
ANDREA D. CRAGER, 36
Portsmouth, Ohio, was indicted on:
Endangering Children
2 Counts Complicity in the Commission of an Offense
ERIC SHANE COPAS,41
South Webster, Ohio, was indicted on:
4 Counts Theft of Drugs
4 Counts Aggravated Possession of Drugs
4 Counts illegal Processing of Drug Documents
AMANDA L. BLAKE, 40
Ironton, Ohio, was indicted on:
Aggravated Possession of Drugs
Possession of a Fentanyl-Related Compound
DENNIS DEWAYNE JONES, 50
Huntington, West Virginia, was indicted on:
Trafficking in Cocaine
Trafficking in a Fentanyl-Related Compound
Possession of a Fentanyl-Related Compound
Possession of Cocaine
TERRY ALLEN JEWELL, 53
West Portsmouth, Ohio, was indicted on:
2 Counts Murder
2 Counts Felonious Assault
2 Counts Having Weapons while under Disability | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/74579/10-indictments-handed-down | 2022-04-13T01:01:41 | 0 | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/74579/10-indictments-handed-down |
New YORK — Police say the gunman in the Brooklyn subway shooting fired at least 33 bullets in the rush-hour train, shooting 10 people.
Police say they are looking for a “person of interest” who rented a van that they believe might be connected to the shooting, although they haven’t established a definitive link.
Chief of Detectives James Essig says the van key was found along with a semi-automatic handgun, a hatchet, smoke grenades and other items at the scene.
Police have since found the van, empty. They say the person of interest is a man with addresses in Philadelphia and Wisconsin.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
A gunman in a gas mask and a construction vest set off a smoke canister on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn and shot at least 10 people Tuesday, authorities said. Police were scouring the city for the shooter and found a rental van possibly connected to the violence.
A scene of horror unfolded as frightened commuters ran from the train as others limped out of it. At least one rider collapsed on the platform.
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS. Smoke poured out of the train car as the door opened, he added.
Five people were in critical condition but expected to survive. At least 29 in all were treated at hospitals for gunshot wounds, smoke inhalation and other conditions.
The gunfire erupted on a train that pulled into a station in the Sunset Park neighborhood, about a 15-minute ride from Manhattan and predominantly home to Hispanic and Asian communities.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the attack was not being investigated as terrorism, but that she was “not ruling out anything.” The shooter’s motive was unknown.
Authorities gave officers a photo they believed to depict the gunman, and the Arizona license plate number of a U-Haul van to look out for, two law enforcement officials said. By early evening, police found a matching, unoccupied U-Haul van in Brooklyn, one of the officials said.
Police were closing off a street about four miles from the shooting scene and clearing nearby businesses while awaiting a bomb squad and the highly specialized emergency services unit.
Investigators found a credit card at the scene of Tuesday’s shooting that led them to identify a person of interest, one of the law enforcement officials said, adding that the credit card was used to rent the U-Haul van that police located in Brooklyn. The two officials were not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Investigators recovered a handgun at the scene, along with multiple smoke devices and other items they are analyzing, said the officials. They said the suspect is believed to have had at least two extended magazines.
Investigators believe the weapon jammed, preventing the suspect from continuing to fire, the officials said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has completed an urgent trace to identify the gun’s manufacturer, seller and initial owner.
The attack unnerved a city on guard about a rise in gun violence and the ever-present threat of terrorism. It left some New Yorkers jittery about riding the nation’s busiest subway system and prompted officials to increase policing at transportation hubs from Philadelphia to Connecticut.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced last fall that it had put security cameras in all 472 subway stations citywide, saying they would put criminals on an “express track to justice.” But at the station where the train arrived, the cameras apparently malfunctioned.
MTA system chief Janno Lieber told TV interviewers he didn’t know why the cameras weren’t working. But he said police had “a lot of different options” from cameras elsewhere on the subway line to get a glimpse of the shooter.
One rider’s video, shot through a closed door between subway cars, shows a person in a hooded sweatshirt raising an arm and pointing at something as five bangs sound. In another video, smoke and people pour out of a subway car, some limping.
“Someone call 911!” a person shouts.
Other video and photos from the scene show people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the platform — some amid what appear to be small puddles of blood — and another person on the floor of a subway car.
Rider Juliana Fonda, a broadcast engineer at WNYC-FM, told its news site Gothamist that passengers from the car behind hers started banging on the connecting door.
“There was a lot of loud pops, and there was smoke in the other car,” she said. “And people were trying to get in and they couldn’t, they were pounding on the door to get into our car.”
As police searched for the shooter, Gov. Kathy Hochul warned New Yorkers to be vigilant.
“This individual is still on the loose. This person is dangerous,” the Democrat said at a news conference just after noon. “This is an active shooter situation right now in the city of New York.”
Fire and police officials had responded to reports of an explosion, but Sewell said at the press conference that there were no known explosive devices. Multiple smoke devices were found on the scene, mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy said.
After people streamed out of the train, quick-thinking transit workers ushered passengers to another train across the platform for safety, Lieber, the MTA chairman, noted.
High school student John Butsikaris was riding the other train when he saw a conductor urging everyone to get in. He thought it might be a mundane problem until the next stop, when he heard screams for medical attention and his train was evacuated.
“I’m definitely shook,” the 15-year-old told The Associated Press. “Even though I didn’t see what happened, I’m still scared, because it was like a few feet away from me, what happened.”
No transit workers were physically hurt, according to their union.
In Menlo, Iowa, President Joe Biden praised “the first responders who jumped in action, including civilians, civilians, who didn’t hesitate to help their fellow passengers and tried to shield them.”
Adams, who is isolating following a positive COVID-19 test on Sunday, said in a video statement that the city “will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized, even by a single individual.”
New York City has faced a spate of shootings and high-profile bloodshed in recent months, including on the city’s subways. One of the most shocking was in January, when a woman was pushed to her death in front of a train by a stranger.
Adams, a Democrat a little over 100 days into his term, has made cracking down on crime — especially on the subways — a focus of his early administration, pledging to send more police officers into stations and platforms for regular patrols. It wasn’t immediately clear whether officers were already inside the station when the shootings occurred.
Danny Mastrogiorgio of Brooklyn had just dropped his son off at school when he saw a crush of panicked passengers, some wounded, running up the stairway at the 25th Street station. At least two had visible leg injuries, he said.
“It was insane,” he told the AP. “No one knew exactly what was going on.” | https://www.al.com/crime/2022/04/police-focus-on-renter-of-van-in-brooklyn-subway-shooting-probe.html | 2022-04-13T01:01:43 | 1 | https://www.al.com/crime/2022/04/police-focus-on-renter-of-van-in-brooklyn-subway-shooting-probe.html |
Which toddler beanbag chair is best?
A toddler beanbag chair provides a comfy spot to rest that’s just the right size for a little body. It’s a perfect place for toddlers to sit and look at a picture book, do some coloring or watch their favorite shows. The Idea Nuova Toddler Beanbag Chair comes in three cute designs and is an ideal size for young toddlers.
What to know before you buy a toddler beanbag chair
Filling type
Beanbag chairs can be filled with polystyrene beads, expanded polypropylene beads or shredded foam beads.
- Polystyrene beads are comfortable to sit on and inexpensive, but they flatten over time.
- Expanded polypropylene beads bounce back into shape better than polystyrene beads, but they’re pricier.
- Shredded foam beads are light and very comfortable, but feel slightly more squishy than classic beanbag fillings, which some people prefer and some people don’t.
Size
Some beanbag chairs for kids are the perfect size for toddlers but not for older kids, while others are great for toddlers to grow into. It’s up to you to decide if you want a chair that’s just the right size for your toddler now, or one that’s oversized now but might last until they’re 8 or 10 years old.
Design
Beanbags for toddlers generally have more elaborate designs than those for adults. While you can find some in solid colors, many feature animal designs, cartoon characters, princesses or superheroes. This means you should be able to easily find a chair design your child will love.
What to look for in a quality toddler beanbag chair
Washable cover
Toddlers aren’t known for their ability to keep things clean, so any chair you buy for them will probably end up covered in crumbs and sticky fingerprints. Ideally, it should have a removable, washable cover so you can keep it clean and fresh.
Refillable
Fillings often flatten over time, so it’s great if you can top up the filling to keep the chair plush and comfy for years to come.
Safety-locked zippers
Toddlers are curious and get into everything, so it’s natural they’d want to discover what’s inside their chair. However, a learning experience for them equals a huge mess to clean up for you. Safety-locked zippers are easy for adults to open but tricky for toddlers to work, which is a huge bonus.
How much you can expect to spend on a toddler beanbag chair
Expect to spend around $30-$75 on a beanbag chair for your toddler. If it’s cheaper than $30, make sure you’re getting a filled beanbag rather than just a cover.
Toddler beanbag chair FAQ
How long do beanbag chairs last?
A. This depends on a range of factors, including the quality of the chair and how much use it gets. On average, you can expect them to last around three to five years before they split, flatten or get too worn and grubby. It’s likely that your toddler will outgrow the chair before it needs replacing, but it may have enough life left in it to pass down to a younger sibling or another child in your life.
Are beanbag chairs safe for toddlers?
A. The only real risks are that a toddler could eat the filling or open up the zipper, climb inside and suffocate. Both risks are negated by choosing a chair that either has a safety locked zipper or doesn’t open. As long as your toddler can’t open up the chair, it’s safe to use unsupervised.
Which beanbag shape is best?
A. Toddlers will have more support from a with a back and arms than a round sack-shaped one. Beanbag loungers also offer support in a reclined position but are harder to sit up on. Most toddlers are happy to sit on any kind of beanbag chair.
What’s the best toddler beanbag chair to buy?
Top toddler beanbag chair
Idea Nuova Toddler Beanbag Chair
What you need to know: This adorable mini beanbag chair is perfectly sized for toddlers of around 12-36 months.
What you’ll love: You can choose from three designs, featuring Minnie Mouse, Spiderman and Grogu from “The Mandalorian.” It’s made from a soft fleece material with a sherpa trim.
What you should consider: It’s very small, so older toddlers will grow out of it quickly.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top toddler beanbag chair for the money
Big Joe Milano Kids Beanbag Chair
What you need to know: Featuring a terrazzo print, this cool-looking beanbag is ideal for ages 2-4.
What you’ll love: The back and arms offer plenty of support and the foam bead filling is comfortable. It has a handle to make it easier to pick up and move around. It has a safety locked zipper.
What you should consider: The filling flattens slightly over time, so you may need to top it up after a year or so of use.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Posh Creations Beanbag Chair for Kids
What you need to know: It’s perfect for parents who want to buy a beanbag chair for their toddler to grow into.
What you’ll love: Buyers have eight designs to choose from, including a llama, sloth and dragon. The cover is removable and washable, with a safety locked zipper.
What you should consider: Young toddlers may need to climb onto it, but it will last them through much of their childhood.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/best-toddler-beanbag-chair/ | 2022-04-13T01:01:45 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/best-toddler-beanbag-chair/ |
PORTSMOUTH – Portsmouth Mayor Sean Dunne has called a special session of council on Saturday, April 30 at 8:30 a.m. at the Portsmouth Welcome Center.
The special session will focus on recovery housing within the City of Portsmouth.
“What we are looking to do is to establish a registration program that would also become a regulated standard of care,” explained Mayor Dunne. “Moving into a project like this, there is a wide variety of things we simply won’t be able to do that day. There are a lot of ideas that would improve the relationship between treatment facilities and the City – such as creating a method of data collection and analysis – but what we need to do first is understand the issue more.”
Dunne estimates the meeting will take around four hours and focus on themes involving regulatory agencies, community concerns, city services, recovery advocacy groups, and addiction treatment facilities.
“There is a lot of uncertainty about this topic. What we are looking to do is to move forward legislation on each of the issues and themes we’ve discussed…I’ve been in touch with city services such as the Department of Health, Fire Department, Code Enforcement, different regulatory agencies in Portsmouth and in larger areas, individuals with different legal interpretations of potential legislation, and a variety of individuals which have spoken out about their concerns as community members,” Dunne said.
“One thing is for certain: there is a unified agreement against bad treatment facilities that are failing clients, and therefore, failing communities. No one supports bad treatment facilities – that is what I want to stress.”
Dunne explained the meeting will help to develop legislation which will then move into discussion items on the City Manager’s meeting agenda. Afterward, it will move forward onto the city council agenda for a vote.
Fifth Ward Councilman Joey Sandlin urged residents to attend the meeting and offer input.
“If you can, please avail yourself to come and participate. There will be a five minute time limit to speak…we need everybody from all different perspectives to come and share their thoughts. Participate, don’t just talk about what you do or do not like in private.”
“We want to hear your perspective,” said Sandlin. “This is a complex issue.”
Reach the Daily Times at (740) 353-3101 or by email at [email protected]
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/74581/council-to-host-special-session-on-recovery-housing-april-30 | 2022-04-13T01:01:47 | 1 | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/74581/council-to-host-special-session-on-recovery-housing-april-30 |
The countdown is on for I Love Tina & Gina’s, the New York Style deli coming to the Pizitz food hall in downtown Birmingham.
The new sandwich stall will host its grand opening on Saturday, April 16 from 3 to 8 p.m.
The deli’s namesake comes from the owner, Christina Harrison’s mother, Gina and her grandmother, Tina --- both of whom were raised in Long Island, New York.
I Love Tina & Gina’s will take the place of mo:mo, the banh mi and dumplings stall helmed by veteran chef Abhi Sainju).
Homage to New York will be evident in I Love Tina & Gina’s interior, according to a press release: " Everything from the wallpaper to the lights, to the subway style tiles tells a little story of New York --- through the owner’s eyes, centered around the family she loves!”
A brief look at the menu is proof of that reverence. The design is a nod to the lines of the New York Subway system, and a few of the sandwich names-- such as the Boogie Down Bronx Chopped Cheese and the Bed-Stuy B.E.C.-- are a tribute to the New York City boroughs.
I Love Tina & Gina’s is staying true to its roots by serving up classic sandwiches made with meats from Boar’s Head-- a New York institution (“Because how can you have a New York Style Deli without Boar’s Head!” says the press release).
Here’s a look at a few of the sandwiches:
The Italian Stallion: Boar’s Head smokemaster ham, hot capicola, Genoa salami, Boar’s Head pepperoni and provolone cheese with lettuce, tomato, red onions, roasted red peppers, banana peppers, garlic aioli, and Boar’s Head deli dressing on a hoagie
Tommy Pastrami: Hot Boar’s Head top round pastrami, melted Swiss cheese, house made coleslaw, creamy Russian dressing on toasted rye bread
Boogie Down Bronx Chopped Cheese: Ground chuck tossed in caramelized onions and Boar’s Head white American cheese and topped with melted Boar’s Head yellow American cheese served on a King’s Hawaiian roll with garlic aioli.
I Love Tina & Gina’s will be open on Monday - Saturday from 11a.m. to 8 p.m. and closed on Sundays. Earlier this month, the Pizitz welcomed The Spun Cow, a stall featuring a selection of artisan ice cream, hand blended old-fashioned milkshakes, floats, and seasonally changing fresh-spun cotton candy. Later this year, SOCO Southern Kitchen and Bar -- the restaurant helmed by Chef Erica Barrett, will open its Birmingham location at the Pizitz. | https://www.al.com/life/2022/04/i-love-tina-ginas-new-york-style-sandwich-stall-sets-grand-opening-date-at-the-pizitz.html | 2022-04-13T01:01:50 | 0 | https://www.al.com/life/2022/04/i-love-tina-ginas-new-york-style-sandwich-stall-sets-grand-opening-date-at-the-pizitz.html |
What are the best bassinets at BuyBuyBaby?
Lightweight and compact enough to position at your bedside, bassinets make excellent first beds for babies. Having your baby right next to you at night will help you both rest easier — and make it easy to breastfeed right away or console your newborn when they wake up. The trouble is finding the perfect bassinet for you and your newborn.
A good bassinet is, above all else, safe for babies. It should give you easy access to your baby at night so nocturnal disturbances aren’t so stressful. Once you know what you’re looking for, it’s less challenging to find the right bassinet.
Best bassinets from BuyBuyBaby
Halo Bassinest Luxe Swivel Sleeper
This deluxe bassinet is not only safe and comfortable for babies but highly convenient for parents. The swivel design brings your baby even closer to you when you need it to, which is perfect when you have to feed or soothe your child in the night but don’t want to get out of bed. The lowering bedside wall also allows you easier access while keeping your little one safe. What’s more, the bed portion is easy to remove from the base for naps in other parts of your home.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
You don’t have to spend a fortune to get a decent bassinet, as proved by this affordable model. The mesh sides are breathable and allow you to see in and check on your baby without getting up from bed. Thanks to the quick-fold mechanism, it’s easy to pack and move for travel or naps outside or in other parts of your home. The hammock-style shelf below the sleeping area is perfect for holding changing or feeding essentials that you need on hand.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Ingenuity Dream and Grow Bedside Bassinet
A common complaint about bassinets is how quickly babies grow out of them. Most bassinets are no longer safe to use once your baby can sit up. This model has an adjustable depth, so you can use it until your child reaches 12 months. What’s more, it has a convenient storage caddy to hold diapers, wipes, muslins and other essentials.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Baby Delight Beside Me Dreamer Bassinet and Bedside Sleeper
You can either use this as a standard bassinet or as a co-sleeper bassinet with the side down and the base properly anchored to your mattress. The latter is great for parents who like the idea of co-sleeping but are concerned about the potential risks as it gives babies their own space where there’s no chance you could roll onto them. It’s easy to adjust the height so it’s at the right level for your bed.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
With four ways to use this bassinet, it’s perfect for parents who want something that will grow with their child. You can use it as a raised bassinet so your baby’s at eye level when you’re in bed, as a standard crib-level bassinet, as a portable bassinet separate from the base and as a crib or play yard for older babies and toddlers. It folds down and comes with a convenient carry case for travel use.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Delta Children Wave Vibrating Bassinet
Thanks to its built-in wave vibration, this bassinet can help soothe fussy infants, either to get them off to sleep at bedtime or to settle them down if they wake in the night. It has a toy bar suspended above the sleeping area, giving babies something to look at. Below is a shelf that you can use for storage of all those items you need to care for your baby.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
DaVinci Archie Portable Bassinet
If you like the classic crib look, this is the bassinet for you. It’s made from wood with slats down the sides for breathability; this also allows you to easily look in and see your baby from bed or another low angle. It’s available in a brown wood finish or painted white or gray. It’s on wheels so you can easily move it from one spot to another, as needed. The large shelf at the base gives you plenty of space to hold what you need for changing, feeding and so on.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Skip Hop Cozy-Up 2-in-1 Bedside Sleeper and Bassinet
This height-adjustable bassinet can be used either in a regular freestanding fashion or as a bedside co-sleeper, anchored to your mattress for safety. Whichever option you choose, it’s safe to use and performs well. The mesh sides are breathable and offer great visibility. Some buyers found it hard to find sheets to fit, so it’s worth checking that before you buy.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Fisher-Price Soothing Motions Bassinet
A perfect choice for fussy babies or difficult sleepers, this bassinet has a range of options to help soothe infants to sleep. It has a gentle swaying motion, gentle vibrations and soothing sounds, all of which combine to help babies and parents get more rest. Of course, these are optional, so you don’t have to use them if your child isn’t a fan. It also has a mobile with stars and a lion, providing visual stimulation. The storage shelf below the sleeping area is also nice to have.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Ingenuity FoldAway Rocking Wood Bassinet
Thanks to its rocking abilities, you can more easily soothe your baby off to sleep with the help of this bassinet. You can also lock it into stationary mode to keep it safe and stable when you need. It has an attractive dark wood frame and a gray and white sleeping area with breathable mesh sides that are removable and machine washable. It also folds extremely quickly and easily, so it’s great for travel or simply taking to different rooms in your house so your baby can nap near you.
Sold by BuyBuyBaby
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/nursery-br/10-best-buybuybaby-bassinets/ | 2022-04-13T01:01:52 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/nursery-br/10-best-buybuybaby-bassinets/ |
WHEELERSBURG — Like the number to hit in Blackjack, “21” isn’t too shabby for a softball squad either.
On Friday, with the weather not the least bit ideal either, the Wheelersburg Pirates hit —literally and figuratively —towards 21 runs, resulting in a 21-0 shutout of the Oak Hill Oaks in a Southern Ohio Conference Division II contest.
The game was called following the fifth inning with the 10-run mercy rule.
The actual number of Pirate hits was the reciprocal of 21 — 12 to be exact, including a game-high three with a game-high four runs batted in by two-hole hitter Haley Myers.
She, Macee Eaton and Catie Boggs all scored three runs apiece, as Rileigh Lang landed three RBIs —and AndiJo Howard hammered both of her basehits for doubles.
The Pirates sent 14 batters to the plate for 10 runs already in the opening inning, sent another dozen up in the second for nine more markers, and finally —following a 1-2-3 third frame —batted around and scored twice more in the fourth.
In the circle, the ace Howard had another mastery of an SOC II foe —facing 17 Oaks and striking out nine, while pitching three-up and three-down innings in stanzas one, three, four and five.
With two strikeouts in the bag, Howard did give up her only walk and hit to back-to-back batters in the second, but came right back with back-to-back inning-ending strikeouts.
She then struck out the final four Oaks she saw to end the game.
For the Pirates, aside from their season-opening and epic 6-5 nine-inning win at South Webster, they have recorded three consecutive SOC II shutouts —including a pair of 14-0 blankings before Friday of Waverly and Eastern.
Wheelersburg raised its league record to a perfect 4-0, upped its overall mark to 6-1, and extended upon its lengthy SOC II win streak of AT LEAST 33.
The loss left the Oaks at 2-5, including at 1-4 in the division.
Wheelersburg was set to host Valley on Wednesday, before a colossal SOC II —and even an all-important OHSAA Division III Southeast District seeding — makeup matchup on Thursday at West.
The Senators are also unbeaten in the league at 5-0, part of a perfect 8-0.
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74584/pirates-put-up-21-on-oaks | 2022-04-13T01:01:54 | 1 | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74584/pirates-put-up-21-on-oaks |
Music stars that recorded in Muscle Shoals in recent years include Chris Stapleton, Alicia Keys, Jack White, Hanson, Steven Tyler and Heart singer Ann Wilson. That’s just for starters.
But here’s the thing, says Rodney Hall, co-owner and president of FAME Studios, the storied Shoals recording facility. “Yeah, we’re doing all those records. But we’re doing for other labels and other interests. They come in and we’re like a hotel room. They pay us to be there for those days, but that’s the end of that story. We need an outlet to release our music.”
Which is why FAME is bringing back its own record label, FAME Records. The imprint that back in the day issued recordings by soul-music talents like Clarence Carter, Candi Staton, Jimmy Hughes and Willie Hightower.
MORE ON CULTURE:
Ann Wilson talks Heart, new Muscle Shoals album, Led Zeppelin
This Alabama singer and producer has breakthrough potential
20 awesome female guitarists and their essential recordings
The general perception is FAME makes their money on studio time. “But that’s not the case at all,” Hall says. “It’s just a drawing card really, for our publishing companies and production companies and now our record label,” which are the studio’s most important revenue streams. Hall is the son of Rick Hall, FAME’s founder, producer and the father of the country-funk sound Muscle Shoals is known for, whether on essentials like Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally” cut at FAME or Rolling Stones tracks like “Brown Sugar” cut at Muscle Shoals Sound, founded by Rick Hall’s former studio band The Swampers.
“Most people don’t know this,” Rodney Hall says, “but my dad when he left Atlantic (Records, which FAME worked closely with), he was hired by Capitol (Records) to start their soul-music division. And FAME Records was the label, the outlet for doing that.”
In 2013, interest in Muscle Shoals music was reignited by the documentary “Muscle Shoals.” That film featured legends like Mick Jagger and Aretha Franklin singing praises of local studios like FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound, telling stories behind classic records made there and local musicians who helped make them.
Now, FAME is partnering with Nashville-founded venture 8 Track Entertainment for a “60th Anniversary Of FAME And The Muscle Shoals Sound” album. Currently in production and planned for a release later this year, the album will feature Shoals classics covered by artists including Demi Lovato, Chris Stapleton, Candi Staton, Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss, Alan Jackson, Anderson East, Michael McDonald and others, including standout local singer Billy D. Allen.
“Not many businesses are around for 60 years,” Hall says. “We’re still here and still doing it and as relevant as ever, if not more. It’s just an exciting time in Muscle Shoals, to be honest. Everything’s been growing since the documentary in 2013, and it really seems like it’s coming to a head now.”
8 Track’s founders include Noah Gordon, a Grammy-winning recording engineer, producer and songwriter who’s worked with heavyweights such as Keith Urban, Wynonna Judd, Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker. Since 8 Track Entertainment launched last year – initially focusing on publishing and production, those same money-makers Hall mentioned - they’ve scored a number-one country song, “Am I The Only One” by erstwhile Staind singer Aaron Lewis.
MORE ON MUSIC
Prince’s proteges, collaborators and muses: 15 essential tracks
The 20 best songs ever recorded in Muscle Shoals
Brittany Howard’s high-school marching-band roots
Last fall, the Muscle Shoals Music Association brought a group of Nashville music industry pros to town, including Gordon. Visiting the Shoals, a low-key North Alabama area far away from big-city distractions and hangers-on, Gordon says, “There’s a feeling that I got that was different from any other music center I’ve ever been to. My level of anxiety went down, my love for the music (made there) increased, my creative juices got flowing.”
After 30 years in Nashville – “a city that’s been good to me,” Gordon says – Gordon and 8 Track are setting up a country label in Muscle Shoals, called 8 Track Records. They’ve signed Shenandoah, the Shoals-founded group that scored chart-topping hits in the ‘80s and ‘90s, including “Two Dozen Roses” and “Next to You, Next to Me.” Shenandoah, fronted by singer Marty Raybon, is also slated to be among the artists on the “60th Anniversary Of FAME And The Muscle Shoals Sound” album.
“We’re not going to alienate Nashville,” Gordon says. “I hope we can rebuild a bridge that increases the number of artists and producers and talent that makes the trek down here to Muscle Shoals.” It’s worth noting this year’s Grammy for Best Country Song went to “Cold” by Chris Stapleton, which was cut at Muscle Shoals Sound in Sheffield. With Florence-founded Single Lock Records notching three Grammy nominations this year - including a Best Traditional Blues Album win for Cedric Burnside’s “I Be Trying” - Muscle Shoals-based labels seem viable again.
MORE ON MUSCLE SHOALS:
Muscle Shoals studio wizard on recording Jason Isbell, Alabama Shakes
The musical secrets of FAME Studios legend Rick Hall
The story of Gregg Allman’s Muscle Shoals album
In addition to legacy-oriented projects, FAME and 8 Track will be signing new artists. The labels will collaborate on some projects, with distribution via Warner Music Group, and works separately on others. “There’s a lot of things that we’ll announce within the next six months,” Gordon says.
Hall is particularly jazzed about plans for Muscle Shoals-based film and TV productions: “We’ve got some great ideas. And everything would be based in music and more than likely Southern music, whether it be something pertaining to the Allman Brothers or to Muscle Shoals itself or Wilson Pickett. There’s a lot of stories out there that have never been told.”
Even after the 2013 “Muscle Shoals” documentary? Yes, says Hall. “There’s more to that story. You can only tell so much in 90 minutes, and a lot of people were left out, other studios. I can definitely see a volume two of that.” Muscle Shoals-based stories work visually. For example, the recent Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect,” which was partially set in the Shoal.
According to Hall, certain aspects of 2020s life have made Muscle Shoals more attractive to music industry pros. The overpopulation in Nashville, for one. Then there’s the pandemic-inspired exodus from large cities and back to more rural ways of life. “We fit that bill for people that want to work in music,” Hall says. “There’s been probably a dozen or so really relevant music industry folks move here in the last year or two. And there’s more looking and there’s more coming.”
Hall says he’s excited about the entire Muscle Shoals music scene – and the growing music presence in nearby Huntsville – benefiting from energy generated by FAME and 8 Track. That means other studios, as well as recording engineers, producers, songwriters and musicians. “We’ll be looking for songs. We’ll be looking for artists,” Hall says. “We’ll be looking for all of it.”
RELATED:
Hanson on how they made their new album at Muscle Shoals’ FAME Studios
Swampers drum legend’s hot beats and cold winter
Aretha Franklin’s deep Alabama music connections | https://www.al.com/life/2022/04/muscle-shoals-music-new-record-labels-filmtv-projects-on-the-way.html | 2022-04-13T01:01:56 | 1 | https://www.al.com/life/2022/04/muscle-shoals-music-new-record-labels-filmtv-projects-on-the-way.html |
Should you buy a Graco jogging stroller?
If running is important to you, having a baby or toddler to look after doesn’t mean giving up on it. With a jogging stroller, you can safely and easily run with your child. However, choosing the stroller is important, and you may be wondering if Graco strollers can provide the durability and features you want.
Many people love them, but it’s up to you to decide if they’re worth it for you. Learning more about their features, pros and cons will help you decide if a jogging stroller from Graco is what you need.
Graco jogging stroller features
Locking front wheel
When jogging with a stroller, the front wheel must be fixed in a forward-facing position for safety reasons. While some dedicated jogging strollers have front wheels permanently fixed in place, this makes them impractical for non-jogging use, as they’re difficult to maneuver at a walking pace. Instead, all Graco jogging strollers have locking front wheels so you can lock them in place for jogging and unlock them when you want to use the stroller for standard day-to-day activities.
Child tray
Every jogging stroller from Graco has a child tray with a cup holder and a compartment for snacks. This is an excellent feature to keep toddlers happy and hydrated while you’re on the go.
Adult cup holder
You also need to keep yourself hydrated while you’re running, which is why you’ll appreciate the adult cup holder attached to the handles of these strollers. It can fit two standard water bottles or coffee cups and has a recess that can be used for snacks or as a phone holder.
Large wheels
Jogging strollers’ wheels are larger than those of standard strollers, which makes jogging strollers roll along more smoothly. The large wheels can roll right over obstacles that standard strollers can’t, making them less likely to be caught by potholes or other bumps in the road.
Under-seat storage
The large under-seat baskets on these strollers provide ample storage. Even when you’re out for a run, you still need to bring diapers, bottles, snacks and all those other baby and toddler essentials. Plus, you might decide to grab a few groceries on the way back from your jog, in which case the extra storage space comes into its own.
Air-filled tires
Air-filled tires provide some natural shock absorption to give your child a smoother ride while you’re running. Although not all Graco strollers have suspension systems, these tires do a decent job of absorbing bumps in the road so your little one will feel more comfortable.
Sun canopy
There’s no need to worry about your baby on a sunny day with the sun canopy providing UV50 sun protection. Of course, you’ll still need to apply baby sunscreen on any exposed skin that isn’t shaded by the canopy, but it still offers your child a decent level of protection.
How much do Graco jogging strollers cost?
Compared to high-end jogging strollers, they’re fairly affordable. Expect to pay roughly $150-$250, depending on your chosen model.
Graco jogging stroller pros
- Compatibility: You can buy Graco jogging stroller travel systems if you want to be able to fit an infant car seat to your jogging stroller base.
- Features: They’re thoughtfully designed with features parents and caregivers want, such as storage and cup holders.
- Foldability: These strollers fold easily even when you’re only using one hand, a huge relief when you’re trying to hold a baby with one arm and adjust your stroller with the other.
- Air-filled tires: All Graco strollers have them, providing some natural shock absorption and, therefore, giving your little one a smoother ride.
- Sneak peek: The peekaboo window in the canopy lets you check in on your baby while keeping the canopy up for sun protection.
Graco jogging stroller cons
- Singles only: While you can buy standard double strollers from Graco, the company doesn’t make double jogging strollers.
- Spot-clean only: The seat pads are spot-clean only, so they can get grubby once you’ve had the stroller for a while.
- Pavement only: Only one features a suspension system, so the others aren’t suitable for off-road use.
- Leaks possible: While the air-filled tires provide a smoother ride, there is a chance they could get punctured.
Are Graco jogging strollers worth it?
While they have a handful of flaws and features that could be improved upon, they’re solid, reliable strollers for an affordable price. This makes them an attractive choice for many buyers. They’re versatile enough to use day-to-day, as well as for jogging or running, so you could make one your only stroller.
If you’re looking for a high-end stroller, on the other hand, you may prefer to pay more to have a stroller with all the bells and whistles, along with a trendy brand name.
Ultimately, you’ll need to weigh the pros and cons, take a closer look at the models available and decide whether a Graco jogging stroller is the best one for you.
Best Graco jogging strollers
Graco FastAction Fold Jogging Stroller
This affordable, lightweight jogging stroller is quick and easy to hold with just one hand. The air-filled tires provide excellent shock absorption to give your baby a smooth ride.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Graco Modes 2.0 Jogging Stroller
With seven ways to position your baby or toddler, this is a versatile jogging stroller. It has a suspension system as well as air-filled tires, which is great for use on bumpy trails.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and BuyBuyBaby
Graco FastAction Jogger LX Stroller
It works as both a stroller for toddlers and older babies and is compatible with any Graco infant car seat for newborns. It folds quickly and has plenty of storage.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/strollers-br/are-graco-jogging-strollers-worth-it/ | 2022-04-13T01:01:58 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/strollers-br/are-graco-jogging-strollers-worth-it/ |
PORTSMOUTH — The Notre Dame Titans handed previously unbeaten Ironton St. Joe their first loss of the season — defeating the visiting Flyers 5-1 at home in Southern Ohio Conference Division I play.
Junior pitcher Alex Cassidy benefited from early run production by the Titans. Cassidy went the distance on the mound, allowing no earned runs on five hits — and striking out a dozen St. Joe batters.
Notre Dame struck first on the scoreboard and never trailed. Cassidy singled to score senior Matt Boldman in the bottom of the first after Boldman reached via a one-out single.
A Flyer error on a ball hit by senior Nate Johnson scored junior Dylan Seison to make it 2-0 Titans with one out in the first.
With a pair of runners in scoring position with two outs in the first, freshman Myles Phillips singled to score Cassidy and Johnson to give Notre Dame a 4-0 edge.
The Titans added another run in the second when Boldman doubled with two outs, scoring junior catcher Reagan Lester from first base after his one-out single.
Notre Dame (3-5, 3-1 SOC I) will host South Gallia on Tuesday in a non-league contest.
***
BOX SCORE
St. Joe 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 5 5
Notre Dame 4 1 0 0 0 0 X — 5 7 1
St. Joe hitting
Medinger 1-3, R
E. Rowe 1-3
Stuntebeck 1-3, RBI
Mahlmeister 2-3
L. Rowe 1-3
Notre Dame hitting
Eugene Collins 1-4
Matt Boldman 2-4, R, RBI
Dylan Seison 0-3, R
Alex Cassidy 1-3, R, RBI
Nate Johnson 1-3, R, RBI
Braidan Shepherd 0-3
Myles Phillips 1-3, 2RBI
Alex Styles 0-3
Reagan Lester 1-3, R
Pitching
Michael Mahlmeister (ISJ) 6IP, 8H, 1ER, 7K (L)
Alex Cassidy (ND) 7IP, 5H, 0ER, 2BB, 12K (W)
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74587/titans-top-undefeated-flyers | 2022-04-13T01:02:00 | 0 | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74587/titans-top-undefeated-flyers |
One of the 20 tornadoes that touched down in Alabama on March 30 has been upgraded to an EF-3 with estimated winds of 145 mph.
That would make it the strongest confirmed tornado so far this year, and the only EF-3.
The National Weather Service in Birmingham said the tornado, which tracked through parts of Perry, Bibb and Shelby counties, was given an upgraded rating following an aerial survey earlier today.
The weather service typically sends out storm survey teams to look at damage reported after storms. Meteorologists use the damage to rate the intensity using the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which ranges from EF-0 to EF-5.
The tornado was blamed for two injuries. It touched down in northeast Perry County just before 10 p.m. on March 30 and was on the ground for nearly 30 miles before dissipating on the University of Montevallo campus in Shelby County.
The weather service in its survey today noted significant tree damage in southeast Bibb and northeast Perry counties in the Oakmulgee Ranger District of the Talladega National Forest.
“Though it’s hard to assess how many trees were blown down, it’s clear that tens of thousands of hardwood and softwood trees were snapped and uprooted along the tornado’s path during max intensity,” the weather service said.
“Due to the widespread nature of the timber damage, including some 300-400-yard-wide sections of complete blow-down, the rating of this tornado has been upgraded to EF3 with estimated peak winds of 145 mph.”
That tornado was one of 20 confirmed during the round of severe weather that spanned March 30 and 31.
Then there were 16 tornadoes confirmed from the last round of severe storms on April 5.
And more storms will be possible starting late Wednesday in Alabama as another cold front pushes through the state.
See the preliminary report from the weather service on the EF-3 tornado here. | https://www.al.com/news/2022/04/march-30-alabama-tornado-upgraded-to-an-ef-3-with-145-mph-winds.html | 2022-04-13T01:02:02 | 0 | https://www.al.com/news/2022/04/march-30-alabama-tornado-upgraded-to-an-ef-3-with-145-mph-winds.html |
Sephora’s bestselling eye masks
When outlining how to have glowing and smooth skin, the first tip dermatologists and skin care experts always offer is to get more sleep and drink water. While there’s no replacement for staying hydrated, there is a way to look like you got eight hours of sleep, even after spending all night in the office or out with friends.
Under-eye masks are no longer the beauty industry’s best-kept secret. Whether you have puffy eyes, dark circles or dehydrated skin, eye masks offer a miracle solution in just 15 minutes. If you’re wondering which choice is best for you, here are the eight most popular eye masks at Sephora.
Eye mask considerations
Styles of eye masks
There are several styles of eye masks. The most popular is an under-eye patch, which is usually soaked in a serum full of quality ingredients. The patches themselves are made from paper, cloth, fibers or gel and don’t provide too much benefit. The most important part of an eye mask patch is the serum it’s soaked in.
Some eye masks come with dry patches and a separate gel or serum. In this case, you apply the gel or serum and place the mask on top. There are also eye masks in the form of a cream or a balm that are used without a patch, similar to an eye cream.
When using the patch style, the thinner, tapered end is the side that goes next to the inner corner of your eye. This leaves the thick end to wrap around the outer side of your eye and target any fine lines. While some hydrating masks can be used every day, masks with actives and powerful ingredients may only be recommended for use once or twice a week.
Benefits of eye masks
Eye masks can have numerous benefits, which are primarily dependent on the ingredients. For example, some eye masks are targeted toward those with puffy eyes, while others are designed to brighten or smooth fine lines and wrinkles. Some of the most common ingredients used in eye masks include:
- Caffeine: One of the most popular ingredients found in eye masks is caffeine. Caffeine is known to restrict blood vessels, which can significantly reduce puffiness.
- Hydrating ingredients: Some under-eye issues like fine lines and texture are caused by a lack of moisture, which can be improved by using a hydrating eye mask. A few hydrating ingredients found in eye masks include hyaluronic acid, ceramides and squalane.
- Antioxidants: One of the primary ways to brighten the under-eye area is by using ingredients rich in antioxidants, including vitamin C, vitamin K and niacinamide.
- Actives: Actives are powerful ingredients that go deeper into your skin to address a specific issue. A few actives include retinol, which targets fine lines and wrinkles, and chemical exfoliants like BHAs and AHAs that encourage skin cell turnover.
Most popular eye masks at Sephora
Best eye masks with retinol
Shiseido Benefiance WrinkleResist24 Pure Retinol Express Smoothing Eye Mask
Packed with retinol, these powerful eye masks brighten and smooth the under-eye area in as little as 15 minutes. Over time, the active ingredients also target fine lines around the eyes. As a bonus, these masks can also be used for laugh lines around the mouth.
Sold by Sephora
Glow Recipe Avocado Melt Retinol Eye Sleeping Mask
Those who prefer a cream instead of a patch will love this sleeping mask formulated with encapsulated retinol and avocado. The encapsulated retinol is gentler around the eyes than other forms because it releases smaller amounts at a time. This cream is also packed with antioxidants that help to brighten and de-puff.
Sold by Sephora
Best gold eye masks
Wander Beauty Baggage Claim Eye Masks
After seeing shiny gold masks on celebrities around the world, this eye mask became a skin care favorite. It doesn’t just look pretty but also contains peptides, amino acids and hyaluronic acid. Together, these ingredients work to hydrate, diminish the appearance of fine lines and improve the texture of your skin.
Sold by Sephora
Peter Thomas Roth 24-Karat Gold Pure Luxury Lift and Firm Hydra-Gel Eye Patches
Everyone loves a gold mask, and they’re even better if they work. These luxurious eye patches are infused with 24K and colloidal gold to lift and firm the under-eye area. The formula also includes caffeine and hyaluronic acid to reduce the look of puffiness and deliver hydration.
Sold by Sephora
Best eye masks for puffiness and bags
Peace Out Puffy Under-Eye Patches
With powerhouse ingredients like caffeine, niacinamide and hyaluronic acid working together, your sleepy eyes don’t stand a chance. If you want to reduce puffiness and brighten and hydrate your under-eye area, put these patches on for just 15 minutes. They’re also vegan and free of parabens, mineral oil, sulfates, and gluten and contain less than 1% synthetic fragrance.
Sold by Sephora
Tarte SEA Pack Your Bags Under-Eye Patches
Those looking for eye masks with unique ingredients will appreciate these clear, contoured patches that use jellified algae and coconut to brighten and hydrate. They’re also vegan and hypoallergenic and, most importantly, won’t slide around your face. The pack includes four sets of two patches.
Sold by Sephora
Best visibly hydrating eye masks
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Concentrated Eye Treatment Mask
Estee Lauder has been creating top skin care for years, and these eye masks are no different. The patches are soaked in an intensely concentrated treatment that delivers effective and powerful results. It’s so effective that it’s only recommended to use these eye masks once a week.
Sold by Sephora
Dior Backstage Eye Reviver Patches
If you want to look fancy, these eye patches with the iconic Dior logo printed all over them are the way to go. Unlike most eye masks, the serum and eye patches are separate. After smoothing the eye serum on your under-eyes, place the patches on for 10 minutes. If you run out of patches before serum, you can use other patches and get the most bang for your buck.
Sold by Sephora
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Bre Richey writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/eye-care-br/8-most-popular-eye-masks-at-sephora/ | 2022-04-13T01:02:04 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/eye-care-br/8-most-popular-eye-masks-at-sephora/ |
MINFORD — The Minford Falcons earned a bounce-back win on Monday — besting visiting Eastern 13-1 in five innings in Southern Ohio Conference Division II play.
Minford took a 1-0 lead into the second before posting three-straight four-run innings in their final three half innings at the play.
The Falcons combined for nine hits as a team in the victory, which raises their overall mark to 4-4 (4-2 SOC II).
Sophomore Mason Book drove in a team-high four RBI on a pair of hits — one of two Falcons who had a multi-hit day, along with sophomore Carson Cronin.
Adam Crank, Aodhan Queen, Branson Alley, Rhyan Queen, and Cam Thacker each reached base once via hit in the win.
Noah Martin earned the win on the mound, going four innings and allowing two hits and no earned runs.
***
BOX SCORE
Eastern 0 0 0 0 1 — 1 3 7
Minford 1 4 4 4 X — 13 9 1
Minford hitting
Noah Martin 0-4, 2R
Adam Crank 1-2, 2R, RBI, BB
Pierce Banks 0-1, RBI
Aodhan Queen 1-1, 2R, RBI, BB
Jimmy Adams 0-0, R
Mason Book 2-3, 4RBI
Branson Alley 1-2, RBI
Kyle Laxton 0-0, BB
Cole Borland 0-4
Jacob Lewis 0-1, BB
Rhyan Queen 1-1, R
JD Matiz 0-2, R
Cam Thacker 1-1, R, RBI
Carson Cronin 2-3, 3R, RBI
Minford pitching
Noah Martin (M) 4IP, 2H, 0ER, 6K (W)
Levi Coriell (M) 1IP, 0ER, 1BB, 3K
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74590/falcons-run-rule-eagles | 2022-04-13T01:02:07 | 0 | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74590/falcons-run-rule-eagles |
NEW YORK — Law enforcement officials have identified a 62-year-old man as a person of interest in the Brooklyn subway shooting that injured more than 20 people Tuesday morning.
Police tied a key that was found at the scene of the crime to a U-Haul van that was rented by Frank R. James in Philadelphia. They are still investigating whether James is the suspected gunman, and only have tied him to the van at this time. James has addresses in Wisconsin and Philadelphia.
The U-Haul van was found at Kings Highway and West 4th Street in Brooklyn, police said.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press briefing Tuesday evening that police officers recovered a 9mm semiautomatic weapon, extended magazines, a hatchet and gasoline earlier today.
The alleged suspect was sitting in the second car of a Manhattan-bound N train between 59th and 36th street stations, police said. As the train approached the 36th Street station, the suspect allegedly tossed two gas grenades before firing his weapon 33 times, police said.
No police officers were at the 36th Street station at the time of the incident, according to Chief Kenneth Corey, though he mentioned that officers are routinely patrolling stations on a rotating basis.
Ten of the injured commuters were wounded by gunfire, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at the press briefing. An additional 13 commuters were treated for smoke inhalation, injuries from falling while trying to exit the train car, and panic attacks.
The alleged shooter is described as a black male, heavy set, wearing a green construction nylon vest and a grey hoodie. | https://www.al.com/news/2022/04/nyc-subway-shooting-nypd-identifies-person-of-interest-50k-reward-offered.html | 2022-04-13T01:02:09 | 1 | https://www.al.com/news/2022/04/nyc-subway-shooting-nypd-identifies-person-of-interest-50k-reward-offered.html |
What’s the best eye primer at Sephora?
If you haven’t been using eye primer, you’re lucky you’ve never needed one, but most likely you aren’t getting the best performance out of your eyeshadow. Starting your eye look with a primer creates a smooth, flawless base that can actually make it easier to apply and blend your eyeshadow. Plus, a good eyeshadow primer can help your makeup stay as crease-free and brilliant as the moment you put it on. Here are the most popular Sephora eye primers to try out for lasting, perfect eye makeup.
Eye primer considerations
Do I need eye primer?
Have you ever caught a glimpse of your makeup a few hours after applying and noticed it creasing, fading or smudging? Even eyeshadow formulas touting their long-lasting capabilities are prone to wearing away over time. Applying an eyeshadow primer first can help your eye makeup look freshly done for hours. Eyeshadow primers create a smooth, even canvas that lets eyeshadows blend more easily, avoiding patchiness. Primers can also capture the true color of your eyeshadow and prevent it from being altered by your skin tone showing through.
How to choose an eye primer
Most eye primers are formulated to create a grippy base for your eyeshadow, but some offer color-correcting or skincare benefits as well. When it comes to color coverage, some primers dry down transparent, while others are tinted. Shop carefully to pick one that suits your skin tone and your makeup goals, and keep in mind that the lighter your primer, the more your eyeshadow’s pigment will pop. If you have oily eyelids, look for an eyeshadow primer formula that’s described as long-lasting to avoid creasing. For dry eyelids, choose a formula with hydrating ingredients like vitamin E.
Can I use concealer as eye primer?
Probably not. Some people with drier eyelids might be able to make their under-eye concealer multitask as an eye primer, but in general, concealers just don’t have the same ability to grip pigments and prevent creasing the way an eye primer can. Concealer can act as a good eyeshadow base and help eyeshadow color look truer and brighter, but it won’t last as long. You can set your concealer with a translucent setting powder or an eyeshadow that matches your skin tone, which helps turn it into a better base for blending. But in general, an eyeshadow primer is going to give you the same flawless base plus much longer-lasting staying power.
How to use eye primer
Eye primer is a quick and easy step to add to your makeup routine. To use eye primer, apply a small amount to your eyelid using your fingers (or the primer’s applicator, if it has one) and lightly pat with your ring finger to blend. Fill in your eyelid area from corner to corner and up to your brows. Start small, because it’s easier to build up product than it is to remove it. Let the primer dry down completely before applying your eyeshadow. To help your makeup last even longer, use a setting spray when you’re done with your makeup to lock everything in place.
Most popular Sephora eye primers
Urban Decay Original Eyeshadow Primer Potion
This sheer beige primer can help heavily pigmented eyeshadows stay bright, colorful and crease-free for up to 24 hours. It blends out and dries down well, leaving your eyes ready for your makeup. This primer is vegan and cruelty-free.
Smashbox 24-Hour Photo Finish Eyeshadow Primer
This powerful, long-wearing formula is sweat- and humidity-resistant so your eyeshadow can stay vibrant up to 24 hours, no matter what climate you’re in. Users with hooded and/or oily eyelids report excellent results. It comes in one shade that dries clear.
Nars Pro-Prime Smudge-Proof Eyeshadow Base
This highly rated primer applies smoothly and keeps eyeshadow looking crease-free and true to color for hours, even on oily eyelids. The unique formula combines polymers and minerals for a grippy canvas that’s so lightweight, you’ll forget it’s there. It’s ophthalmologist- and dermatologist-tested and comes in four color choices, including untinted.
Urban Decay Eden Eyeshadow Primer Potion
This opaque beige formula offers the same crease-free primer power as the original, but with a pale tint that can make eyeshadow colors look more vibrant. If you have a shimmery eyeshadow that looks too glittery, use this primer to soften it. This formula tends to feel a little thicker than the original, so only use a very small amount and build up as needed.
Benefit Cosmetics Stay Don’t Stray 360-Degree Stay Put Eyeshadow Primer
Apply this primer in a circle around your eye to conceal under-eye dark circles and create a base for eyeshadow. It’s a great choice for those with drier eyelids because it’s formulated with vitamins C and E as well as sodium hyaluronate, a hydrating, more lightweight derivative of hyaluronic acid.
Urban Decay Anti-Aging Eyeshadow Primer Potion
Another variation of the popular Urban Decay Primer Potion, this formula smooths the appearance of fine lines thanks to blurring pigments. Hydrating ingredients also help nourish the eye area, especially on dry eyelids. It needs a little longer to dry down than other Urban Decay formulas, but eye makeup still lasts hours without creasing.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Pro Pencil
Perfect for makeup minimalists looking for a multitasking product, this pencil can highlight and carve out brows, conceal dark circles, highlight the inner eye area and act as a grippy eyeshadow primer. The pencil point also makes it handy for priming for eyeliner and cat-eye flicks. It blends easily and comes in three shades.
Rare Beauty Always An Optimist Weightless Eyeshadow Primer
This primer is formulated to boost the color of your eyeshadow, and its hydrating ingredients help create a smoother, silky canvas for makeup. The custom doe-foot applicator has a pointed tip to help you get primer wherever it’s needed. The hydrating formula performs better on drier eyelids.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Laura Duerr writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/eye-makeup-br/8-most-popular-eye-primers-on-sephora/ | 2022-04-13T01:02:11 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/eye-makeup-br/8-most-popular-eye-primers-on-sephora/ |
The downtown Birmingham Starbucks closed three hours early on Tuesday, a day after workers there announced plans to unionize.
A worker at Store No. 23642, at Third Avenue North and 20th Street North, told a reporter at 5 p.m. that the Starbucks location was closed -- three hours earlier than its usual 8 p.m. closing time.
While the worker did not give a reason for the early closing, and Starbucks could not immediately be reached for comment, the Birmingham chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America said the store was closing “for a union-busting meeting.”
A longtime downtown Birmingham Starbucks customer who only wanted to be identified as Laura said she requested that “Union Strong” be written on her cup in solidarity with the workers but one of the employees told her their boss would not allow it.
“I’m sorry, but if I want to be that kind of customer, if I say, ‘write a name on my product,’ you write it,” said Laura. “I’m like the nicest customer ever, and I’ll be a bitchy customer if it’s gonna be me saying, ‘you write “union strong” on my product,’ so I can show you people that we support unions in this community.”
Laura, who said she goes to the downtown Birmingham Starbucks once or twice a week for lunch, instead wrote “unionize Starbucks” on her food wrapper and held it up against the store’s glass window.
“As supporting customers of the people that work here, we want to support their rights, and I want them to have a good life as much as we have a good life,” she said.
In their letter to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz notifying them of their attempt to unionize, employees of Store No. 23642 cited “daily discrimination, short staffing, and hard labor conditions.”
A striking miner at Warrior Met Coal who only wanted to be identified as Dedrick showed up with co-workers to show their support for the downtown Birmingham Starbucks employees.
“Just standing in solidarity,” he said. “I support all efforts to unionize.”
Since December, workers at more than 175 Starbucks locations in 25 states have filed for union elections, according to The New York Times. Another six stores last week voted to unionize. Starbucks has roughly 9,000 corporate-owned stores in the U.S.
Schultz, who served as CEO two times previously, was named interim CEO last month, replacing Kevin Johnson, who had served as chief executive since 2017. The move was seen by some as a response to the sharp uptick in unionization. | https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2022/04/birmingham-starbucks-closes-early-day-after-workers-announce-union-plans.html | 2022-04-13T01:02:15 | 1 | https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2022/04/birmingham-starbucks-closes-early-day-after-workers-announce-union-plans.html |
LATHAM — The Clay Panthers scored in every inning of their 17-4 road win at Western on Friday in SOC I play.
As a team, the Panthers (4-2, 4-1 SOC I) tallied 13 hits — while their pitching held Indian hitters to just three hits.
Freshman Malachi Loper drove in a team-high four RBI on three hits from the No. 2 position in the Panthers’ lineup. Carson Porginski, Clay’s senior leadoff hitter and pitcher, collected three hits and scored a team-best four runs.
Porginski earned the win on the hill, allowing two hits and one earned run with seven punch-outs in three-and-one-third innings.
***
BOX SCORE
Clay 1 6 3 6 1 — 17 13 3
Western 0 0 1 2 1 — 4 3 7
Clay hitting
Carson Porginski 3-4, 4R, 2RBI, BB
Malachi Loper 3-4, 2R, 4RBI
Evan Balestra 1-3, R, RBI
Mitchell King 0-2, R, 2BB
Gaige Shorter 1-2, BB
Isaiah Whitt 0-1, R
Dawson James 0-1, BB, 2R
Drew Zuefle 1-2, 2R, BB
Breylon Holsinger 0-1
Damone Sparks 1-1, R
Brandon Malone 2-4, 2R, RBI
Carson Holschuch 1-2, R, RBI
Charlie Swartz 1-2, R, RBI
Clay pitching
Carson Porginski (C) 3.1IP, 2H, ER, 4BB, 7K (W)
Evan Balestra (C) 1.2IP 1H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74594/clay-powers-past-western | 2022-04-13T01:02:14 | 1 | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74594/clay-powers-past-western |
Which YSL lipstick is best?
For more than 50 years, Yves Saint Laurent has been one of the most respected and coveted names in beauty. The brand’s daring colors and high scientific standards make YSL lipsticks a must-have for beauty fans.
If you’re looking for a long-wearing lipstick that’s still hydrating and comfortable, YSL Rouge Pur Couture The Slim Matte Lipstick is a great choice.
What to know before you buy a YSL lipstick
Lipstick formulation
Yves Saint Laurent makes more than a dozen lip products, including classic bullet formulations, liquid lipsticks, lip glosses and lip stains. For a classic lipstick experience, it’s hard to beat a bullet format. However, if you prefer a longer-wearing option, a better bet may be a YSL liquid lipstick or stain.
Bold color choices
Yves Saint Laurent founded his own fashion house in 1961 after working as head designer at Dior for 3 years. He drew inspiration from the Algerian culture he grew up in as well as the bounty of the Mediterranean, and this is reflected in the bold color palettes YSL offers.
Often regarded as one of the most subversive and avant-garde of the French fashion houses, the brand’s lipsticks capture modernity and boldness in shades that are highly pigmented or texturally unique. Along with iconic bright reds, YSL lipsticks come in rich burgundies, bright oranges and corals, vivid pinks and more. If you prefer makeup that stands out, YSL lipstick deserves a place on your vanity.
True French beauty
Yves Saint Laurent Beauty manufactures all of its products in France with internationally sourced ingredients. Some of their ingredients, such as the pomegranates in the Rouge Volupte Shine lipstick, are sourced from a proprietary garden co-op in Morocco.
What to look for in a quality YSL lipstick
Customizable pigmentation
Do you want full, matte coverage from your lipstick, or something more sheer and balmy? Yves Saint Laurent offers lipsticks with varying coverage levels and finishes. Check the product description carefully while you’re shopping, because some YSL lipsticks can look more pigmented in the tube than they do on your lips.
Bold vs. nude lipsticks
Yves Saint Laurent may be famous for its classic red shades, but if you don’t feel like going bold, there are plenty of nude options in YSL’s lineup that still let you stand out.
For fair or light skin skin tones, consider YSL Tatouage Couture Velvet Cream Matte Liquid Lipstick in Nude Sedition or Rouge Pur Couture Satin Lipstick in Rosy Nude.
For medium or deep skin tones, try Rouge Volupte Shine Lipstick in Burnt Zellige or Rouge Pur Couture The Slim Matte Lipstick in Nude Antonym.
Luxe packaging
If you’re going to splurge on a luxury lipstick, it should look and feel luxurious on every level — and YSL delivers. The brand’s lipsticks come in beautiful metallic cases with the distinctive YSL logo highly visible on the side. Some formulations also feature thoughtfully engineered bullet shapes or applicator wands customized to how the formula behaves to make application smoother and simpler.
European cosmetics regulations
As a French brand, YSL adheres to the regulations that control European cosmetics, which are some of the strictest in the world. This means that YSL lipsticks have unsurpassed standards for ingredient quality, and they’re formulated without ingredients like parabens or phthalates.
Yves Saint Laurent Beauty has also been recognized by Positive Luxury, a company that rewards luxury brands for taking steps toward better sustainability and business ethics.
How much you can expect to spend on a YSL lipstick
Almost all YSL lipsticks cost $39. However, some lipsticks, especially the liquid formulations, contain more product per dollar than others.
YSL lipstick FAQ
Do YSL lipsticks have fragrance?
A. Yes, YSL lipsticks contain different fragrances. The flagship Rouge Pur Couture lipstick line has a floral fragrance reminiscent of a classic perfume scent, while other YSL lipsticks have fruity scents like melon or mango thanks to added botanical oils.
Is YSL lipstick vegan?
A. Some Yves Saint Laurent Beauty products contain animal-derived ingredients, and while YSL Beauty does not test its products on animals, they’re sold in countries that require animal testing.
What’s the best YSL lipstick to buy?
Top YSL lipstick
Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture The Slim Matte Lipstick
What you need to know: These highly pigmented lipsticks are so long-wearing, you may never need to reapply.
What you’ll love: The slim, square-shaped bullet makes precise application a breeze, especially for defining your cupid’s bow. It’s available in 19 shades that dry down to a matte finish and leave a lasting tint.
What you should consider: The bullet contains less product than other YSL lipsticks. Not everyone is a fan of the square shape.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora and Macy’s
Top YSL lipstick for the money
Yves Saint Laurent Tatouage Couture Liquid Matte Lip Stain
What you need to know: This long-wearing, non-drying liquid lipstick can last comfortably for up to 8 hours.
What you’ll love: The lightweight, ultra-thin formula resists smudging or flaking for a true and lasting stain. Its unique flat-paddle applicator can also act as a lip liner. It’s available in 18 shades, ranging from everyday nudes to bright corals and pinks.
What you should consider: Application can be uneven. Some users disliked the lipstick’s fragrance.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora and Macy’s
Worth checking out
Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte Shine Lipstick Balm
What you need to know: A lightweight, moisturizing lipstick, this formula is infused with botanical oils for glossy, comfortable color.
What you’ll love: It comes in 35 shades that apply sheer and can be built up for full, glowy color coverage. Users love its luxe packaging, which includes a colored ring that matches the lipstick shade, and the formula’s creamy, hydrating feel.
What you should consider: The soft, oil-rich formula can be prone to quickly smudging and fading. The formula’s botanical scent received mixed reviews.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora and Macy’s.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Laura Duerr writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/lip-makeup-br/best-ysl-lipstick/ | 2022-04-13T01:02:17 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/lip-makeup-br/best-ysl-lipstick/ |
A Central Alabama man died Monday afternoon, a day after he was found shot in the face in Chilton County, police said Tuesday.
Dante Gervaise Millner. 38, of Clanton, was airlifted to UAB Hospital in Birmingham in critical condition after he was found lying in the street Sunday in the 1200 block of 1st Avenue in Clanton suffering from a gunshot wound to the face.
Milliner died of his injuries around 2:30 p.m. Monday, Clanton police said.
Police believe the shooting happened during an argument.
A suspect in the case has been identified and is being pursued by multiple law enforcement agencies.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family,” police said.
Anyone with information on the deadly shooting was asked to call Det. Jason Ousley of Clanton police at 205 755-1194 | https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2022/04/central-alabama-man-dies-day-after-being-shot-in-the-face-police-say.html | 2022-04-13T01:02:21 | 0 | https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2022/04/central-alabama-man-dies-day-after-being-shot-in-the-face-police-say.html |
PORTSMOUTH — A 10-run second inning and a no-hit performance by sophomore Kyndall Ford led the Notre Dame Lady Titans to a 13-0 win over Green in five innings on Friday.
With the victory, Notre Dame remains unbeaten (5-0, 4-0 SOC I) in the early 2022 season.
The Lady Titans collected 12 hits as a team in the victory — two apiece by freshman Maddie Entler, Ford, and senior Maddie Brown.
Ford faced two over the minimum in the no-hit performance — as Green junior Kyleigh McIntyre reached once via error and once via hit-by-pitch.
Notre Dame hosts Clay on Wednesday in the first of two meetings between the unbeaten SOC I contenders.
***
BOX SCORE
Green 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 1
Notre Dame 0 10 2 1 X — 13 12 1
Notre Dame hitting
Bree Hicks 1-2, R, 2RBI
T. Herrmann 0-1, RBI
Maddie Entler 2-3, 2R, BB
Kyndall Ford 2-3, 2RBI
Kaylyn Darden 0-2, R, RBI
Mia McPheters 0-1, RBI
Libby Kelly 0-2, R
Annabelle Ball 0-0, RBI
Gracie Ashley 1-2, 2R, RBI
Alivia Taylor 1-1
Maddie Brown 2-3, 2R, 2RBI
Gwen Sparks 1-2, R, RBI
Katie Strickland 1-2, RBI
Adyson Arnold 1-1, R
Pitching
Gracie Daniels (G) 3IP, 11H, 9ER, 1BB, 3K (L)
Natalie Butler (G) 1IP, 1H, 1ER
Kyndall Ford (ND) 5IP, 0H, 0ER, 0BB, 11K (W)
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74597/titans-use-10-run-second-to-stay-unbeaten | 2022-04-13T01:02:21 | 0 | https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74597/titans-use-10-run-second-to-stay-unbeaten |
Which queen-size bedspreads are best?
When you’re looking for a clean, polished look in your bedroom, few items can instantly transform your room like a good bedspread. With its ability to conceal any clutter under the bed to its crisp construction, a bedspread is an easy and fast solution. If you’re looking for a bedspread that instantly dresses up your bedroom, Madison Park Quebec 3-Piece Queen Quilted Bedspread Set is the top choice.
What to know before you buy a queen-size bedspread
Mattress thickness
There can be a wide disparity between thicknesses in different mattresses. This is important in how your bedspread falls and how far down it reaches. If you have a pillow-top mattress or another deep-pocket variety, this may affect the fall of your bedspread. Bedspreads are intended to give crisp edges and a straight fall down the sides of the bed, so getting the measurements right is key.
Bed height and width
After measuring the thickness of your mattress, next tackle the measurement of the distance of its top from the floor. Next, measure the width of your mattress. (If it is a queen mattress, this measurement should equal 60 inches.) Subtracting this amount from the overall width of the bedspread, then dividing this number by two will give you a measurement of how far the bedspread will fall on your bed. If you like the look of a bedspread that just skirts the floor, be precise in your sourcing of a bedspread.
Bed type
Bedspreads give a great, well-made look to a bed, but they aren’t for every bed. They tend to not fit snugly on beds with posts, for example, or those with a tall, pronounced footboard. Even if the foot of your bed is lower but ornate (e.g., a carved wood footboard), a bedspread will both obscure this detail and also fail to fall straight down, which is one of the key benefits of a bedspread. If any of these are true about your bed, you may be better off with either a patterned comforter or, for greater flexibility, a plain white comforter and a duvet cover.
What to look for in a quality queen-size bedspread
Washability
It’s great when a bedspread looks good right out of its packaging, but it’s even better when it still looks good after being washed many times. Fabrics like cotton and linen look great after repeated wear and washing, for example. Be sure to read the care instructions on the packaging or the online listing to be sure the recommended care is something you can easily keep up with.
Weight
Do you tend to like snug, heavy bedding while you sleep? Or do you like to “feel free” and tend to kick off the covers? Bedspreads come in a variety of weights, so pay attention to the description as you consider a bedspread. Light or summer-weight bedspreads will be best for sleepers who don’t like a lot of weight.
Visual interest
Whether it’s an embroidered design, appliques, or patterned fabric, a bedspread can add to the appeal of your bedroom by including detailing that’s pleasing to you. Matelasse bedspreads, which can have raised embroidered detail, offer both the visual appeal of a pattern but the calmness of a solid color.
How much you can expect to spend on a queen-size bedspread
Depending on material, expect to pay between $50-$200 for a queen-size bedspread.
Queen-size bedspread FAQ
Bedspread, comforter, coverlet, quilt … what’s the difference?
A. The basic differences between the various types of bed coverings are size and thickness. Bedspreads are single-layer coverings that are intended to cover the whole bed and its sides down to the floor. A quilt and a coverlet both are designed to cover only to the point where the mattress meets the box spring or the platform of your bed (for beds without box springs, a coverlet would lay flat like a bedspread, but a quilt would contain batting). A comforter also covers the area to the box spring but has thicker filling, giving it a puffy look.
Do people still use bedspreads?
A. Bedspreads were once the go-to bed covering, but they have lost ground to comforters in recent decades due to fashion as well as the latter’s ease of use and superior warmth. However, bedspreads are making a comeback, and they are particularly suited for bedrooms with a retro or boho feel.
What’s the best queen-size bedspread to buy?
Top queen-size bedspread
Madison Park Quebec 3-Piece Queen Quilted Bedspread Set
What you need to know: Available in a dozen color options, this quilted, classic bedspread is sure to make any room look dignified and put together.
What you’ll love: This bedspread looks high-end but is easily machine-washable. It is designed to drape well on pillow-top mattresses.
What you should consider: Some shoppers report that the colors aren’t exactly as seen onscreen, so choose yours carefully.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s
Top queen-size bedspread for the money
Mellanni Bedspread Coverlet Set
What you need to know: Available both in solid and patterned fabric, this budget-friendly option adds polish to your bedroom.
What you’ll love: The microfiber construction is soft and durable, and the stitching is sturdy and beautiful.
What you should consider: This bedspread is on the thinner side and most suited for summertime use.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Martha Stewart Collection Midland Vine Queen Bedspread
What you need to know: Dainty floral embroidery gives this bedspread an air of a time gone by.
What you’ll love: The soft, beige cotton washes easily and spring back into shape on your bed with a minimum of fuss.
What you should consider: Depending on the height of your bed, this bedspread may not fall all the way to the floor, so measure carefully.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Maria Andreu writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/bedding-br/best-queen-size-bedspread/ | 2022-04-13T01:02:24 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/bedding-br/best-queen-size-bedspread/ |
A 2-year-old girl died Friday night after she was hit by a vehicle in southwest Alabama.
Jackson Police Chief Jerry Taylor said it appeared the girl got away from her mother on Clolinger Road when she was hit by a driver passing by on his way home from work, according to WKRG.
The investigation into the incident remained ongoing Tuesday. | https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2022/04/girl-2-dies-after-being-hit-by-vehicle-in-southwest-alabama.html | 2022-04-13T01:02:27 | 0 | https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2022/04/girl-2-dies-after-being-hit-by-vehicle-in-southwest-alabama.html |
Which Bluetooth headphones are the best for calls?
It’s relatively easy to find an acceptable pair of headphones for listening to music. Making phone calls, though, relies a little more on specific aspects of Bluetooth connectivity and microphone capabilities. There are some Bluetooth headphones that are decidedly poor at making voice and video calls, but luckily, there are plenty of great choices if you need dependable voice capabilities compatible with your phone or PC. Many of those great models are even available at reasonable prices.
What to know about Bluetooth headphones and phone calls
There are two types of noise cancellation
The most well-known form of active noise cancellation (ANC) helps to eliminate noise that you hear around you. Headphones with ANC will let you turn the feature on and off, and generally offer significantly different sound quality and battery life depending on whether ANC is activated or not. This type of ANC isn’t incredibly important to making phone calls, although it can help if you frequently call from busy locations.
The more important type of noise cancellation in terms of making calls, though, has everything to do with your primary microphone. Specifically referred to as Clear Voice Capture (CVC) noise cancellation, it uses algorithms to isolate your voice and remove echo and background noise that might otherwise distract the person you’re calling. This type of noise isolation goes so far as to reduce the sound of keyboard keystrokes and mouse button clicks (when it’s implemented well, at least). In contrast to ANC, CVC noise canceling is especially important when choosing wireless headphones for making calls.
Over-ear headphones vs. earbuds for making calls
Over-ear headphones almost universally sound better when listening to music and true wireless earbuds are practically infinitely more convenient. Both of those items hold true in terms of calls, and there are even more definite considerations. It’s harder to find earbuds (whether true wireless or tethered) that offer pristine call quality, simply because earbuds have smaller and fewer microphones that are essentially located in the ear canal, nowhere near your mouth.
For that reason, you’ll notice that over-ear headphones get the majority of recommendations for voice and video calls. Nonetheless, there are some earbuds that are great at picking up your voice, and we’ve gone to great lengths researching which models are best.
What Bluetooth version do you need for phone calls?
Headphones’ call quality isn’t directly tied to their Bluetooth version, but look for headphones with version 4.2 or later. Bluetooth 5.0 to 5.2 is ideal because it ensures a robust connection and advanced connectivity options like multipoint pairing (which lets you connect to two devices at once and switch between them at will). However, you’ll notice that some models from big-name manufacturers like Sony and Bose still use Bluetooth 4.2, and ultimately it doesn’t cause any significant drawbacks when making calls.
Best Bluetooth headphones for voice and video calls
These are some of the best headphones on the market in nearly every facet, including sound quality, Bluetooth codec support, active noise cancellation and microphone isolation and effectiveness. They also have a great battery life and charge quickly via USB-C.
Sold by: Amazon
Don’t be fooled by their low price; these high-quality headphones punch well above their class and deliver surprisingly good audio quality. In particular, they’re better at making phone calls than such cheap headphones have any right being.
Sold by: Amazon
Bose has made industry-leading wireless headphones for years, and the 700s are no exception. They’re exceedingly simple to use and offer great background noise removal, although they’re not ideal for Android phones due to subpar Bluetooth codec support.
Sold by: Amazon
While true wireless earbuds can be hit or miss when it comes to microphone capabilities, these are an excellent option for both listening to music and talking on the phone. Since they’re also waterproof and have secure ear hooks, they’re great for everyday use like during workouts at the gym.
Sold by: Amazon
The evolution of Bose’s famous QC35 II headphones, the QuietComfort 45 offer arguably the most effective active noise cancellation on the market with advanced features such as transparency mode, which lets you hear your surroundings when needed.
Sold by: Amazon
Since they’re marketed as a gaming headset, these headphones are specially designed with a flexible boom and a microphone engineered for peak clarity, even in crowded environments. In case you do plan on gaming with them, they use a low-latency proprietary wireless connection in addition to Bluetooth 5.0 and wired support.
Sold by: Amazon
If you need professional-grade performance, consider this headset from corporate audio giant Jabra. Their flip-up boom mic ensures you’ll be heard clearly and their on-ear design helps to ventilate and cool your ears during a long workday.
Sold by: Amazon
If you want unobtrusive headphones that are made specifically for phone calls on your iPhone, these are the best on the market. They even work well with some Android phones, but unfortunately not all of them.
Sold by: Amazon
These are some of the most affordable true wireless earbuds available, but in spite of their affordable cost, they sound great with most genres of music and enable clear communication over the telephone as well as Zoom and other PC-based voice and video calling.
Sold by: Amazon
Most people buy these because they’re especially stylish and deliver pristine audio when listening to music. Their lesser-known feature is that they pick up and reproduce voices on phone calls as good as or better then almost anything else.
Sold by: Amazon
If you need headphones for both work and play, it’s hard to beat this pair from a leader in telecommunications. Their active equalizer and noise cancellation algorithm go into effect only when needed, ensuring the best possible audio quality at all times.
Sold by: Amazon
A four-microphone array allows the Voyager 8200 to reduce background noise for you and your call’s recipient better than most of the competition. They even include a USB-A Bluetooth adapter in case there isn’t one built into your PC.
Sold by: Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Chris Thomas writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/headphones-br/best-bluetooth-headphones-for-calls/ | 2022-04-13T01:02:32 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/headphones-br/best-bluetooth-headphones-for-calls/ |
How to get a flagship smartphone and one of the top smart displays in a bundle
Once upon a time, OnePlus was an entry-level and midrange smartphone company trying to get a foothold in a crowded industry. With its latest release, the OnePlus 10 Pro, it’s clear that this former upstart company deserves its place among high-end mobile device manufacturers.
While the OnePlus 10 Pro is an excellent phone in its own right, Amazon is offering to sweeten the deal by including its popular and convenient Alexa-enabled Echo Show 8 smart display. It’s an especially noteworthy deal because the OnePlus 10 Pro is already one of the best-value flagship smartphones today. Adding a free smart display that normally costs $100 or more makes it that much more worthwhile.
To take advantage of the bundle, just head over to Amazon and add both the OnePlus 10 Pro pre-order and Amazon Echo Show 8 to your cart. Upon purchase, Amazon will apply the discount.
The OnePlus 10 Pro officially launches on April 14th.
Why is the OnePlus 10 Pro such a good phone?
The latest OnePlus is designed to go toe-to-toe with heavy-hitting flagships, such as the iPhone 13 Pro and Galaxy S22 Ultra. Early benchmarks actually prove that the OnePlus is no slouch up against the industry leaders’ best. It performs at a similar level to both when under a heavy load while multitasking, and even exceeds them in some graphics-intensive testing.
It currently comes in a single configuration, with 128 gigabytes of storage and 8GB of RAM. There’s no microSD card slot, unfortunately, but that’s becoming par for the course with the most high-end smartphones.
What is unusual is the inclusion of a 65-watt fast charger in the OnePlus 10 Pro’s box, so you can go from zero to 100% battery without an aftermarket charger. In addition to the premium charger, the 5,000-mAh battery inside should last most users an entire day without issue.
It ships with Android 12, which finally provides a stable experience after a relatively buggy launch. OnePlus has already committed to three new Android OS updates in addition to 4 years of security patches.
As you might expect from such a costly phone, the 10 Pro doesn’t skimp when it comes to the camera array. OnePlus offers a number of impressive photography features, including a high-efficiency HDR image format and a proprietary RAW mode for precise control. There’s a decent list of other camera features, such as professionally tuned color filters and a long exposure mode. Whether you’re a seasoned photographer or novice Instagram artist, you’ll be highly satisfied with the OnePlus 10 Pro’s photos.
What makes the Amazon Echo Show 8 great
The big selling point of Amazon’s 8-inch smart display is its advanced Alexa integration. If you want to control your smart home by activating the stereo system, changing the lighting, locking and unlocking doors or adjusting the thermostat, the Echo Show 8 can help you do so without lifting a finger.
While the screen isn’t exactly huge, it’s big enough to be seen from partway across the room if, for example, you’re working in the kitchen and need to keep an eye on a recipe. Its speakers also sound surprisingly good considering their small size. The whole package doesn’t take up much space and has a modest design, so it won’t stand out for being too gaudy or high-tech in an otherwise normal living room.
An unusual but worthwhile pair
The OnePlus 10 Pro is the perfect option for lovers of flagship smartphones who want something other than a Samsung or iPhone. It is not as expensive as its competitors and offers similar or better performance on most tasks.
On the other hand, the Amazon Echo Show 8 is a versatile smart display that can make your life considerably easier through voice control and smart home integration. Together, they’ll make calls, provide entertainment, help with cooking and simplify home management on a daily basis.
OnePlus 10 Pro
This premium smartphone offers high performance at a respectable price. Sold by Amazon
Amazon Echo Show 8
The Echo Show 8 is one of the most convenient smart displays available. Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Chris Thomas writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/home-portable-audio-br/amazon-is-giving-away-a-free-echo-show-8-if-you-pre-order-the-oneplus-10-pro-smartphone/ | 2022-04-13T01:02:39 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/home-portable-audio-br/amazon-is-giving-away-a-free-echo-show-8-if-you-pre-order-the-oneplus-10-pro-smartphone/ |
Which Kendra Scott earrings are best?
Looking for a pair of versatile earrings with beautiful gemstones at a reasonable price? Kendra Scott is known for gold earrings that are accessible, comfortable and affordable. The Kendra Scott Sophee Drop Earrings are a great one-tone pair suitable for any occasion.
What to know before you buy Kendra Scott earrings
What Kendra Scott is
Kendra Scott is a company that’s all about family, fashion and philanthropy. It has spent the last two decades creating inspiring, well-made jewelry, from bold statement earrings to subtle, sophisticated studs. While it sells pricier solid gold jewelry, it’s best known for its gold-plated pieces.
Assorted styles
It can be hard to find a pair of gold earrings that’s right for you, but Kendra Scott has a lot of styles — great for picky shoppers who are looking for that perfect piece.
The most popular styles at Kendra Scott include:
- Studs: These are small earrings that rest snugly against the earlobe.
- Drop earrings: These hang below the earlobe and can be long or short, but do not offer much in terms of movement.
- Dangle earrings: Similar to drop earrings, these also hang below the earlobe, but they “dangle” and dance around as the head moves.
- Hoop earrings: These hang off the ear but in a curved circular design. Hoops can be big or small, thick or thin.
- Huggie earrings: These are like hoops, only smaller and thicker. They “hug” the ear, putting the metal in closer contact with the earlobe.
Earring-back types
Kendra Scott uses both open and closed backing types for their earrings. Consider which style you like the look of and what feels most comfortable on your earlobe.
- Closed-back earposts feature a straight point that is put through the earring hole with a push, screw or tube snap backing to keep it in place.
- Other earrings are made with earwire. These have bows of looped wire that slip through the earring hole and hang loose with no added backing. It’s a style most popular with dangle earrings.
Gemstones and crystals
Kendra Scott is known for vibrant, colorful gemstones. In fact, the company was founded because its namesake, Kendra Scott, struggled to find the gemstone colors she wanted at an affordable price.
Earrings at Kendra Scott feature natural gemstones as well as custom colors created by crushing stones and mixing them with metallic powders. In some cases, real or lab-created crystals are worked into the designs.
What to look for in quality Kendra Scott earrings
Gold plating
Some great Kendra Scott earrings are made from brass with gold plating. Gold plating is more affordable than solid gold but still offers a luxurious finish that makes a piece look more high-end. Brass alone can tarnish easily and turn skin green. Gold plating offers protection against signs of excessive wear.
Lightweight feel
Kendra Scott often makes bold earrings with large stones or long designs. These stylistic choices can make earrings feel bulky or heavy as they hang from the lobe. A good pair of Kendra Scott earrings feels lightweight and comfortable, no matter how large the faceted stone looks.
Vibrant colors
Since Kendra Scott is known for bringing beautiful colors to its designs, it’s important that their earrings look fresh and vibrant. Metals shine and stones sparkle, with rich color and detail in each. Kendra Scott frequently uses rose quartz and mother-of-pearl, both of which offer rich tones. It also uses a lot of crystals that are bright and eye-catching.
How much you can expect to spend on Kendra Scott earrings
Most cost $50-$150, but solid gold Kendra Scott earrings with real diamonds can cost up to $450.
Kendra Scott earrings FAQ
What stones are used for Kendra Scott ‘drusy’ earrings?
A. “Drusy” refers to the clustered crystals on a rock surface. Kendra Scott is known for centering these crystalized formations as textured centerpieces in its jewelry.
Do gold-plated earrings tarnish?
A. Gold-plated jewelry can fade or tarnish over time, but it tarnishes less than the metals used beneath it. Kendra Scott usually plates brass in gold, and the gold plating prevents the metal from turning green.
How do you clean gold-plated earrings?
A. Gold-plated earrings are easy to clean. All you have to do is mix a mild liquid soap with warm water and leave your earrings to soak for a few minutes. When that’s done, simply remove them from the mixture and wipe them dry.
What are the best Kendra Scott earrings to buy?
Top Kendra Scott earrings
Kendra Scott Sophee Drop Earrings
What you need to know: These bestselling dainty drop earrings are gold-plated over brass with earwire backs.
What you’ll love: This simple curved design can be paired with any outfit for any occasion. The earrings are large but lightweight. They come in gold, rose gold, gunmetal and rhodium tones.
What you should consider: They hang long.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Macy’s
Top Kendra Scott earrings for the money
Kendra Scott Elle Drop Earrings
What you need to know: These drop earrings feature large stones framed in gold-plated brass with earwire backs.
What you’ll love: A real stone is faceted as the centerpiece for each, available in genuine rose quartz, abalone or mother-of-pearl. They are versatile, with bright, vibrant colors.
What you should consider: They come in gold or silver tones but not rose gold.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s
Worth checking out
Kendra Scott Faceted Illusion Stone Drop Earrings
What you need to know: These drop earrings feature large glass “illusion stones” faceted in thin gold-plated brass with earwire backs.
What you’ll love: There’s depth and dimension to the colors, especially the black “pyri” stone. Other available colors include an “iridescent oxford” with pinks and yellows as well as a purple stone. They look stunning and are lightweight.
What you should consider: They don’t come in rose gold tones.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Emily Verona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/fashion-accessories-br/jewelry-br/best-kendra-scott-earrings/ | 2022-04-13T01:02:46 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/fashion-accessories-br/jewelry-br/best-kendra-scott-earrings/ |
Which rose quartz heart necklace is best?
Rose quartz is a pale pink stone that’s all about love, making it a perfect accent or centerpiece for heart-themed jewelry. And it’s as much about self-love as it is about promoting loving relationships with those you care about. So whether you’re looking to treat yourself to something special or want to give a loved one a gift with meaning, a rose quartz heart necklace is a tender, thoughtful choice.
The Macy’s Heart-Shaped Rose Quartz Necklace In Sterling Silver is a gorgeously designed necklace made from excellent materials.
What to know before you buy a rose quartz heart necklace
Raw vs. tumbled crystals
When a piece of rose quartz is “rough” or “raw,” it’s in the same shape in which it naturally formed. The edges are rough, and no two pieces of raw quartz will match because each grows with its own unique details and imperfections.
A tumbled crystal, on the other hand, has been smoothed out and polished, often worked into a specific shape. Most rose quartz hearts are tumbled so that they can be heart-shaped, though raw rose quartz can be incorporated into alternative heart designs.
Settings
There are several ways for a piece of rose quartz to be attached to a pendant. The most popular include:
- Prong setting: This is a classic stone setting with four to six metal prongs that wrap around the edges of the stone to hold it in place. It works with both raw and tumbled crystals.
- Bezel setting: This features a vertical strip of metal that wraps all the way around the stone’s edge. It works for raw and tumbled crystals but is more popular with tumbled ones. It can cost a little more because it uses more metal.
- Wire wrapped: This one sees thin wires wrapped around the stone several times to secure it in place. It is one of the less expensive settings, popular with those who like to make their own pendants with jewelry-making kits.
- End cap: A small piece of metal is glued or fastened to the top of the stone, with a hole at the top for securing the pendant to a rope or chain.
- Drilled hole: This is when a hole is drilled into the stone so it can be directly attached to a rope or chain. Sometimes a top drilled setting is used so that a post can be inserted.
Stone size
The size of the crystal depends on the necklace. Some pendants feature large heart-shaped rose quartz stones about an inch in both width and height. Other pendants are small and dainty, around a quarter of a inch in width and height. Smaller stones are also more popular for necklaces that feature multiple crystals instead of one big centerpiece.
What to look for in a quality rose quartz heart necklace
Authentic quartz
The best rose quartz stones are transparent, or at least translucent. One way to tell if a piece of rose quartz is genuine or fake is to look for air bubbles inside the stone. Fake rose quartz usually has air bubbles inside, because it is made from dyed glass, while natural rose quartz has imperfections or cracks developed as the stone forms. Real rose quartz feels heavier in the hand than glass fakes.
Resilient chain
The chain should match the stone in quality and resilience. Solid silver or gold chains must be sturdy, and cords or less expensive chains must stand up to daily use and wear. A good cord won’t fray, and a good chain won’t snap with the weight of the pendant.
If you don’t want to spend the money on silver or gold, consider silver-plated or gold-plated chains that are more affordable without sacrificing that high-end look.
Mix and match options
The best rose quartz jewelry gives you choices, especially when it comes to the chain. It’s much easier to find a necklace to match your wardrobe when there are gold, rose gold and silver-toned versions. It’s also great to have options when it comes to the length of the chain.
How much you can expect to spend on a rose quartz heart necklace
A simple rose quartz heart necklace costs $10-$30, while ones that use upscale metals or settings can cost $60-$200.
Rose quartz heart necklace FAQ
Is rose quartz a precious stone?
A. Rose quartz is considered a semi-precious stone. While quartz in general is a common mineral, the pale pink rose color is a little harder to come by.
Is rose quartz a healing crystal?
A. People who believe in the healing power of crystals say it has healing properties and strong love vibrations. This makes it a particularly comforting stone, especially for those who like their jewelry to have specific meaning.
What’s the best rose quartz heart necklace to buy?
Top rose quartz heart necklace
Macy’s Heart-Shaped Rose Quartz Necklace In Sterling Silver
What you need to know: This necklace features a tumbled, heart-shaped rose quartz centerpiece that measures a little under an inch in width and length. It comes fastened to a 17.5-inch sterling silver chain with a spring ring clasp.
What you’ll love: The rose quartz is smooth, with a delicate “X”-shaped design across the surface in sterling silver. The chain comes with a 2-inch extender.
What you should consider: Because of the way it is set, it cannot be removed from the chain.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s
Top rose quartz heart necklace for the money
Lotus Metta Asana Love Rose Quartz Heart Pendant
What you need to know: This necklace features a tumbled, heart-shaped rose quartz pendant on an 18-inch silver chain or sterling-silver filled chain.
What you’ll love: The pendant comes in four types ranging from half an inch to a little over an inch in size. The stone is smooth with lovely light pink tones. It can be purchased with or without a chain. For a few dollars more, it comes with a gift box.
What you should consider: It only comes on a rolo chain, made of thick interlocking round links, but you can put it on a chain of your own with ease.
Where to buy: Sold by Etsy
Worth checking out
Cotacoco Rose Quartz Minimalist Heart Necklace
What you need to know: This necklace features a five-eighths-inch piece of heart-shaped rose quartz framed in gold-plated brass on a matching chain.
What you’ll love: It’s delicate and elegant, with dimension and depth you don’t find with smoother pieces of quartz. The chain comes in three lengths. A free gift box is included.
What you should consider: There is no silver-plated option.
Where to buy: Sold by Etsy
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Emily Verona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/fashion-accessories-br/jewelry-br/best-rose-quartz-heart-necklace/ | 2022-04-13T01:02:53 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/fashion-accessories-br/jewelry-br/best-rose-quartz-heart-necklace/ |
Which protein shake is best?
If you’re hitting the gym consistently, it’s crucial to keep your body’s protein levels up. Protein is one of the most vital macronutrients required for efficient muscle repair and growth, so if you’re working out a lot, you need to make sure you’re getting enough of it.
There’s a lot of conflicting information about dietary supplements, especially protein powder, but the truth is, there’s no conclusive science surrounding them because everyone’s body reacts differently.
That said, they can help facilitate your progress, but which shake is the right one for you?
What you should consider before buying a protein shake
How much protein do you need?
If you’re unsure about how much protein you need, there is a baseline you can use as a starting point. The average adult needs 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. If you exercise often, you’ll need roughly 1.1 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight, while weightlifters require 1.2 to 1.7 grams per kilogram.
Types of protein powders
Whey protein powders are the most popular choice among athletes and weightlifters. There are three main types: concentrate, isolate and hydrolysate. Whey protein concentrate has low levels of carbohydrates and fats, while whey protein isolate doesn’t have any at all. Whey protein hydrolysate is the least common of the three, but it’s the most easily digestible, which is why it’s primarily found in infant formulas.
Most protein powders contain one type of whey protein, but others include a blend of two, and some even incorporate other types of proteins like soy. Also, it’s important to note that all kinds of whey protein contain essential amino acids for muscle regeneration.
Casein protein is usually extracted from cow’s milk and is absorbed and digested by the body at a much slower rate than whey protein. Some athletes prefer it, as it allows for slow but steady absorption of amino acids, but it’s not as common as whey protein powders.
If you don’t want any animal by-products in your protein shake, you can do away with whey and casein protein and opt for a vegan protein powder. The protein in these powders is usually derived from eggs, soy, rice, hemp or peas.
Are protein shakes necessary?
Some skeptics believe that protein powders and other dietary supplements are a waste of money, and the truth is that they can be — but it depends on your diet. According to the Mayo Clinic, protein shakes and powders aren’t needed if you’re getting enough protein in your regular diet from whole foods.
Side effects
As previously mentioned, everyone’s body reacts differently to supplements. So, while some may experience side effects after drinking a protein shake, it really depends on each individual and the type of protein powder.
Any side effects from consuming protein shakes are usually minor and can include bloating, stomach cramps and nausea. Some protein powders can also cause acne, but it’s not very common.
What are your fitness goals?
Weight loss
If your main fitness goal is to lose weight, look for protein shakes containing low or no amounts of sugars or sweeteners. Also, any protein powders with extra quantities of amino acids, specifically branch-chain amino acids (BCAA), can be detrimental to your weight loss goals, as they do the opposite and facilitate muscle growth and weight gain in general.
Muscle gain
On the flip side, if you’re looking to increase muscle mass, you want protein powders loaded with BCAA. Whey protein isolate is digested quickly by the body and helps speed up the muscle recovery process, so it’s your best bet if you want to build your muscles at an efficient rate.
Best protein shakes
Best whey protein shakes
Dymatize Iso100 Hydrolyzed Whey Protein
This powder incorporates a combination of whey protein isolates and hydrolysate to deliver 25 grams of protein and 5.5 grams of BCAA per serving. It’s easy to mix and digest, and it’s available in more than 15 delicious flavors, including Cinnamon Bun and Orange Dreamsicle.
Sold by iHerb
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey
Whey protein isolate is the main ingredient in this budget-friendly protein shake. You’ll get 24 grams of protein and 5.5 grams of BCAA per serving. Plus, it’s gluten-free and available in 18 flavors.
Sold by iHerb and Bodybuilding.com
Isopure Zero Carb Protein Powder
This whey protein isolate powder packs a whopping 50 grams of protein and 10.9 BCCA per serving and contains zero carbohydrates, gluten and lactose. It has an unpleasant aftertaste, but it offers an efficient way to get your daily protein intake.
Sold by iHerb
Best casein protein shakes
Bodybuilding.com Signature Casein Protein
If you want a protein shake that’ll help your muscles recover hours after your workout, this casein solution will do the trick. It contains 25 grams of protein per serving with just 0.5 grams of sugars and 2 grams of total carbohydrates.
Sold by Bodybuilding.com
Kaged Muscle Kasein Casein Protein
With this delicious vanilla-flavored protein shake, you’ll get 26 grams of protein and 10.5 grams of BCAA per serving. It mixes easily and is easy to digest, making it an excellent option for those with sensitive stomachs.
Sold by Bodybuilding.com
Best vegan protein shakes
This organic protein will provide you with the protein you need without the animal by-products found in whey protein shakes. Its protein is derived from chia seeds, acacia, peas and brown rice and each serving contains 21 grams of it.
Sold by iHerb
Garden of Life Organic Protein Powder and Greens
This vanilla-flavored, plant-based protein shake is ideal for those following a strict diet and offers 20 grams of protein per serving at just 100 calories. It’s easy to mix with water, but it also goes great with unsweetened almond milk.
Sold by Kohl’s
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Kevin Luna writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/supplements-br/best-protein-shakes/ | 2022-04-13T01:03:00 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/supplements-br/best-protein-shakes/ |
What should I add to a protein shake to make it taste better?
Protein shakes help you meet your protein requirements and gain muscle, but they can taste awful. If you’re fed up with dutifully forcing them down, you might be wondering how to make protein shakes taste better.
There are several ways to achieve this, whether you change your mixing technique or add extra ingredients to improve the flavor.
Mix your protein shake the right way
If it isn’t so much the flavor of your protein shake that you find offensive, but a lumpy or grainy texture, changing the way you mix it can help. If you’re making it at home or somewhere with access to a kitchen, you’ll get a far better texture if you blend it with a stick blender or bullet blender than you will mixing it in a shaker bottle. That said, not all shaker bottles give you equally poor results. The BlenderBottle has a patented whisk that makes lumpy shakes a thing of the past.
If you’re looking for a thicker texture, consider blending your protein powder with some ice for a frappe-like drink. This is especially great on hot days.
What makes protein shakes taste better
Another secret to making your shake taste better is as simple as throwing a few extra ingredients into the blender. Think about the flavor of your protein powder, as some additives work better with certain flavors than others. Once you’ve found a few combinations you like, your days of lackluster protein shakes will be behind you.
Cocoa powder
Cocoa powder is the ultimate addition for chocolate lovers. It can cover a multitude of sins without adding many extra calories, as a little goes a long way. It blends nicely with vanilla protein powder or coffee protein powder to make a mocha flavor. You can even add a little to chocolate protein powders that aren’t chocolatey enough.
If mixing it with an unsweetened protein powder, add some sweetener or you’ll be left with a muddy, bitter shake.
Sweeteners
Some shakes can be improved with just a little extra sweetness. While this can come from fruit or juice, sometimes it makes sense to simply add some sweetener.
You have a wide range of options when it comes to sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners add sweetness without sugar or calories, but they can have bitter notes or taste overly sweet, and some people prefer to avoid them altogether. Stevia is a natural sweetener that contains no calories and is a good alternative to artificial sweeteners, but some people don’t like the flavor.
Then you have sugar-based sweeteners. These add calories and can cause blood-sugar spikes, so they aren’t everyone’s first choice. Agave nectar is a great alternative to granulated sugar and honey, as it has a significantly lower glycemic index, meaning it’s less likely to cause blood-sugar spikes.
Nut butters
Not only can nut butters improve the flavor of your shake, but they also add extra protein and other nutrients. They’re relatively high in fat and calories, ideal for people looking to bulk up or for drinking after heavy exercise sessions. Plus, they thicken shakes, so if you find your protein powder too thin, nut butter is a great option.
You can choose classic peanut butter (which technically isn’t even a nut butter) or other nut butters, such as almond, cashew or macadamia butter. It’s a great idea to switch every now and then to change up your nutrient intake. Nut butters taste great with chocolate, vanilla or even plain protein powders.
Juice
Using juice instead of water (or half juice and half water) when you mix your protein powder adds sweetness from a natural source. It tastes good with fruity protein powders, but most juices don’t work well with chocolate powders and vanilla can be hit or miss. That said, orange juice and chocolate protein powder makes a chocolate-orange flavor some people love.
Fruit
Blend fresh or frozen fruit with your protein powder and either juice or water to make a protein smoothie. This thickens your shake, as well as flavoring it and adds all kinds of nutrients and a great dose of sweetness from the fruit. Banana makes a pleasant addition to chocolate- or peanut-butter-flavored protein drinks, while berries can liven up a strawberry-flavored powder. If you want to use a blend of fruits, it works best with unflavored or fruity protein powders.
Consider changing your protein powder
If you’ve only tried one or two varieties, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t like the taste of protein powder — you might just not like the ones you’ve tried. Some people don’t like the taste of whey protein powders, so it’s worth trying a vegan protein powder if you haven’t already. Orgain Organic Plant-Based Protein Powder has a creamy chocolate fudge flavor that melds well with chocolate coconut and peppermint hot cocoa and is ideal for chocolate lovers.
What you need to buy to make protein shakes taste better
Barney Bare Smooth Almond Butter
This nutritious organic almond butter contains nothing but almonds and oil. It’s free from added salt and sugar and is made from skinned almonds, so it’s an ideal additive for smooth, healthy protein shakes.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and rich in antioxidants, this cacao powder makes a perfect addition to protein shakes for a chocolatey kick.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Agave in the Raw Organic Agave Sweetener
Thanks to its low glycemic index, agave nectar is great for adding to protein shakes that need some extra sweetness. This brand is non-GMO and has USDA organic certification.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
If you want to add some natural sweetness and fruity flavor to your shakes, look no further. It’s made from pure concentrated orange juice with no added sugar.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/supplements-br/how-to-make-protein-shakes-taste-better/ | 2022-04-13T01:03:07 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/supplements-br/how-to-make-protein-shakes-taste-better/ |
Which mustard throw pillow is best?
Whether you want to match a throw or comforter, or add some color to a black or gray couch, sometimes only mustard throw pillows will do. And it’s important your pillows are as practical as they are attractive. Think about the size, shape, material and whether you want a plain mustard pillow or something with a decorative design.
The JWH Handmade 3D Decorative Sunflower Pillow is sunny and bright and will add a fun flavor to your decor.
What to know before you buy a mustard throw pillow
Size
Most square throw pillows measure either 18 by 18 or 20 by 20 inches, but you can find larger and smaller options. Pillows of other shapes often measure 16-18 inches across at their widest point but, again, larger and smaller versions are available.
Consider the size of the couch, chair or bed you intend to put your pillows on when picking the size, as well as the size of other throw pillows you already own. Some people like a mismatched look, with pillows of varying sizes, while others prefer the same size across the board.
Material
Cotton and polyester are some of the most common materials for pillows. Both are easy to care for and clean, making them obvious choices. You’ll also find many velvet pillows as it’s an on-trend fabric right now. Then there are less-common fabrics such as satin, faux fur and fleece. There’s no right or wrong fabric for a cushion, so choose one you like the look of.
Design
Consider whether you want a plain mustard pillow or one that features a pattern or design. For example, you could choose a throw pillow with mustard and white stripes or chevron zigzags, or you might want a pillow with a mustard background and a bumblebee design in the center. You’ll find many pillows that use mustard as a key color and you might even choose a few kinds of mustard pillows to display.
What to look for in a quality mustard throw pillow
Washable cover
If you’re worried about getting your pillows dirty, choose ones with covers that are removable and machine-washable. This is especially important if you have pets or young children on your couch.
Shape
In addition to standard square and rectangular mustard throw pillows, you’ll also find some that are round, oval and flower-shape. Assuming they have removable covers, it’s harder to find replacement inserts for pillows with non-standard shapes.
Hidden zipper
A hidden zipper gives a seamless appearance to a throw pillow. Because there’s no noticeable closure, it makes pillows effectively reversible.
How much you can expect to spend on a mustard throw pillow
Basic throw pillows cost less than $10, while designer ones can cost $200 and up. That said, you usually won’t need to pay more than $50 for a single pillow, and often much less.
Mustard throw pillow FAQ
Why is it called a throw pillow?
A. It’s called a throw pillow because you “throw” it on your couch or bed (although actual throwing is optional). Throw pillows are both decorative and used for comfort and support while you sit. The term helps differentiate this type of pillow from the pillows you rest your head on at night.
Are throw pillows necessary?
A. Throw pillows certainly aren’t essential, but they can add color to rooms otherwise dominated by neutrals and tie together elements of rooms that might otherwise make them look disjointed. For example, if you have an open- plan living room/dining area and you’ve chosen mustard yellow chairs for your table, adding mustard throw pillows on the couch carries over the color palette and helps bring a cohesive look.
How many throw pillows is too many?
A. There’s no hard and fast rule, so place as many as looks good to you. If you can’t see the back of your couch or it takes you minutes to get them off your bed at night, you may have gone overboard.
What’s the best mustard throw pillow to buy?
Top mustard throw pillow
JWH Handmade 3D Decorative Sunflower Pillow
What you need to know: This cute and sunny sunflower pillow cover comes with an insert.
What you’ll love: The pillow would fit in perfectly with farmhouse decor and measures 12 inches in diameter. You can also buy a 14-inch version. The zipper blends in well with the fabric.
What you should consider: Some thought the pillow was smaller than they expected.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top mustard throw pillow for the money
Amazon Basics Velvet Decorative Throw Pillows
What you need to know: Made from a soft polyester velvet fleece, these pillows look and feel good.
What you’ll love: They’re suitable for machine-washing or hand-washing. Both the color and fabric are on trend. They look full and plush when they arrive.
What you should consider: They don’t have removable covers, so you can’t replace the filling if it gets flat.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Roslynwood Shelly Round Yellow Pillow
What you need to know: This round throw pillow makes a change from square ones and can double as a floor pillow.
What you’ll love: It comes in golden yellow, a rich mustard hue, but there’s also a brighter lemon yellow that’s similar to English mustard for buyers who prefer it. The polyester filling is plush and comfortable.
What you should consider: The cover isn’t removable and the pillow is hand-wash only.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/home-br/decor-br/best-mustard-throw-pillow/ | 2022-04-13T01:03:15 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/home-br/decor-br/best-mustard-throw-pillow/ |
Which throw pillow cover is best?
An economical and easy way to refresh your interior design is to swap out your throw pillow covers. You can even do this seasonally, such as buying festive covers for the holidays and summery ones for warmer months.
Before you buy a new throw pillow cover, you’ll need to know the size of your existing pillow or buy the correct-sized insert. If you’re looking for a square cover, Willa Arlo Interiors Edgar Square 100% Cotton Pillow Cover is a top choice and comes in three sizes.
What to know before you buy a throw pillow cover
Material
Throw pillows are both decorative and functional. They are also known as “toss pillows” for their loose placement on couches, armchairs, beds and even floors. The material of the cover can add texture and a pop of color to furnishings. You can find covers in a wide variety of textiles, including cotton, velvet, corduroy, flannel, linen, microfiber, chenille, suede, leather and faux fur.
Size
Throw pillow covers come in a variety of sizes, such as 16 by 16 inches, 18 by 18 inches, 20 by 20 inches, 22 by 22 inches, 24 by 24 inches and 12 by 20 inches. Select manufacturers may offer smaller and larger covers. The majority of covers are 18 by 18 inches and you’ll find plenty of options in those dimensions.
Shape
Square and rectangular covers are widely available for throw pillows. Cylindrical and circular throw pillows may be harder to find covers for that fit properly, other than the one that came with the insert. Circular inserts come in a range of diameters, from 14-36 inches, so be sure the cover has the correct dimensions to fit the pillow.
Count
You can buy throw pillow covers individually or in packs of two. Some manufacturers only offer covers in sets of two or four, especially when buying 18 by 18-inch covers.
What to look for in a quality throw pillow cover
Color
Throw pillow covers do not need to match bedding and upholstery exactly in color (or in textile). In fact, you can opt for a contrasting color, such as a dark color to contrast lighter furnishings for an aesthetic statement. Or pick a complementary shade that goes with color accents in a room. You can find throw covers in every color under the sun, from neutral hues to pastels to bold gem tones.
Pattern
Covers not only come in solid colors but also in patterns. Geometric patterns are popular as well as floral, plaid and striped designs. You can also find covers with graphics and words, such as “love” or “home sweet home.” During holiday time, there are plenty of Christmas-themed throw pillow covers to spruce up your living space with the holiday spirit.
Texture and decorations
Depending on its material, a throw pillow cover can also be textured. Some materials are naturally textured, like corduroy or faux fur, while other covers add tufted materials, yarn, fur or raised material that provide both texture and a decorative element. In addition, throw pillow covers can have tassels, pom-poms or piping.
Closure
Throw pillow covers feature either a concealed envelope or a hidden zipper closure. Both use zippers to close the opening of the pillow cover. Envelope-style closures conceal a hidden zipper behind it and use an extra piece of fabric to do so. Hidden zipper openings are located along the bottom edge of the pillow and the zipper is concealed on the inside of the cover.
How much you can expect to spend on a throw pillow cover
Expect to pay between $4-$58 for an 18- by 18-inch cover.
Throw pillow cover FAQ
Should the pillow insert be the same size as the throw pillow cover?
A. You can certainly buy a cover that is the same size as the insert. For a full look, try buying a pillow insert that’s 2 inches bigger than the size of the cover. For instance, for a 20- by 20-inch cover buy a 22- by 22-inch insert for a plump appearance.
Can I machine-wash my throw pillow cover?
A. It really depends on the fabric. Some fabrics can only be dry-cleaned or hand-washed while others can only be spot-cleaned. If you want a throw pillow that can be cleaned easily, especially if you live in a household with children and pets, select a throw pillow cover that is machine washable.
What’s the best throw pillow cover to buy?
Top throw pillow cover
Willa Arlo Interiors Edgar Square 100% Cotton Pillow Cover
What you need to know: To add a pop of color to your bed or couch, this simple cotton cover has a velvety finish.
What you’ll love: This cover comes in three square sizes: 18 by 18 inches, 20 by 20 inches and 22 by 22 inches. The velvety-soft material is perfect to cozy up to and is high quality. The zipper closure makes changing out inserts easy. It comes in a plethora of solid color choices.
What you should consider: The cover is not machine-washable.
Where to buy: Sold by Wayfair
Top throw pillow cover for the money
Miulee Velvet Soft Solid Decorative Square Throw Pillow Covers Set
What you need to know: This two-pack of covers comes in every color imaginable and has many size options, all at a great value.
What you’ll love: The polyester material is soft and plush with a velvety feel. The colors are rich and saturated. The covers look luxurious and expensive but cost under $20 for a pair of 18-inch by 18-inch covers.
What you should consider: The zipper handle is noticeable and on the big side, even though the zipper itself is hidden.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Wlnui Set of 2 Fluffy Pillow Covers
What you need to know: This fluffy, faux fur design adds coziness to any room.
What you’ll love: These covers have shaggy fur on one side and a plush velvet backing on the other. You can brush the faux fur to keep it looking fresh. This pair of covers comes in pink, light gray, black and white.
What you should consider: The fur can shed. For some, the material comes apart in the wash.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Ana Sanchez writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/home-br/decor-br/best-throw-pillow-cover/ | 2022-04-13T01:03:21 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/home-br/decor-br/best-throw-pillow-cover/ |
Which outdoor ceiling fan is best?
If you want to enjoy your outdoor space to its fullest in every season, you need a way to keep cool when the weather turns warm. The best way to do that is by installing an outdoor ceiling fan that can keep the air circulating, even when Mother Nature isn’t providing you with much of a breeze.
While many aspects of choosing an outdoor ceiling fan will be similar to picking an indoor model, such as aesthetics and extra features, you’ll also need to consider its weatherproof rating to ensure it is suitable for your installation location. It’s a good idea to pick a model that can move a lot of air, too, since there may be crosswinds that can affect how much of the fan’s cooling breeze actually reaches you.
What to consider when purchasing an outdoor ceiling fan
Weatherproofing
Outdoor ceiling fans have two ratings — damp rated and wet rated. It is important to understand the difference between these two ratings, as that will determine where you can install a particular fan. Damp rated models can be installed outdoors where the air may be damp, but only in places where they will not be exposed directly to the elements, such as in covered patios and garages.
Wet rated fans can be installed in locations that are completely exposed to the elements, like gazebos and open decks. These have a sealed motor casing that protects their electrical components from water damage even if they are constantly rained on.
Aesthetics
Everyone wants their fan to look nice in their home or business and match well with the existing decor. With that in mind, aesthetics should play a major role in your decision making process. Consider what kind of style you have already cultivated, whether that be contemporary, tropical, rustic, industrial chic or anything else, and look for a fan that will blend in well with it.
Mounting location
Some fans are designed to be flush mounted. These are ideal for areas with a low ceiling. Other models install on a downrod that may be as short as 4 inches or as long as 60 inches. These work best in locations with a high ceiling. There are also outdoor fans that allow for both installation methods as per your needs.
Blades
Many people assume the number of blades matters in determining air flow, but this actually only has a negligible effect on it. More important is the length and the pitch or tilt of the blades. The longer the blades and the deeper the pitch, the more air they will move. You can read more about what blade length best fits spaces of various sizes in this outdoor ceiling fan guide.
Settings
Fans differ in the number of speed settings they have. You may find some that have just two speeds while others may have as many as seven. The more speeds a fan has, the more control you will have over the air flow. There are also fans that feature a reversible motor that can spin backwards. This is useful for pulling warm air up and away from the ground.
The best outdoor ceiling fan
Best overall outdoor ceiling fan
Kathy Ireland Home Batalie Breeze Outdoor Ceiling Fan
This attractive wet-rated fan can be installed in gazebos and other outdoor locations where it will be exposed to the elements, and it boasts the classic palm leaf style blades that many people love so much. It is backed by a limited lifetime warranty too, so you can rest assured you’ll get plenty of years of use out of it.
Sold by Amazon
Best outdoor ceiling fan for the money
When it comes to bang for the buck, it’s hard to beat the Merrimack II, which offers all the style of a premium model and many of the same features but for a much more palatable price. It can be installed flush to the ceiling or on the included downrod, making it suitable for low and high ceilings alike. It fits in well with many decor schemes too, and the blades are reversible with a different color on each side.
Sold by Amazon
Best smart outdoor ceiling fan
Trifecte 60-inch Indoor Outdoor Ceiling Fan
If you are searching for a high-tech model that can be controlled via a smartphone or even by voice when paired with an Alexa device, look no further than this sleek model from Trifecte. You can even set schedules and timers for both the fan component and it’s dimmable light. Plus, despite moving a lot of air, it is very quiet so it won’t disturb you when running.
Sold by Amazon
Best modern outdoor ceiling fan
Monte Carlo Maverick Outdoor Fan
This eye-catching ceiling fan has a unique shape to the blades that really makes it stand out. It is available in a wide variety of colorways, including options like aged pewter and weathered oak or brushed steel and dark walnut, and comes with a six-speed handheld remote control. The fan is pricey, but the bold style statement makes it worth every penny.
Sold by Amazon
Best tropical-inspired outdoor ceiling fan
Concord Fans Fernleaf Breeze Tropical Ceiling Fan
You can bring that tropical resort feel into your outdoor space with this fern leaf-inspired fan. It is damp rated for covered areas, has three speed settings and can be upgraded with a light with the purchase of an optional adapter kit. Note that the blades are actually plastic, but many will mistake them for wood unless closely inspected.
Sold by Amazon
Best outdoor ceiling fan for large spaces
Big Air 72-Inch Industrial Indoor/Outdoor Ceiling Fan
If you are trying to cool a large space, this 72-inch, nine-blade model can do the trick. It has six speed settings, and at its highest it moves 10,200 cubic feet of air per minute. The motor is reversible, so it can be used to push cold air towards the ground or draw hot air away. Sadly, it is only backed by one-year warranty.
Sold by Amazon
Best outdoor ceiling fan for small spaces
Vox Indoor and Outdoor 5-Blade Smart Flush Mount Ceiling Fan
Falling into the opposite end of the spectrum as the Big Air 72-inch is this short-bladed smart fan from Vox. It measures just 26 inches in diameter, so it can fit almost anywhere, yet still moves a respectable 5,084 cubic feet of air per minute. It is quieter than many other models too. You can control it by an app or, when paired with an Alexa device, by voice.
Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Brett Dvoretz writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/home-br/heating-cooling-air-quality-br/how-to-choose-an-outdoor-ceiling-fan/ | 2022-04-13T01:03:28 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/home-br/heating-cooling-air-quality-br/how-to-choose-an-outdoor-ceiling-fan/ |
Which Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set is best?
Baking cookies with your children or grandchildren is a time-honored tradition. There’s nothing wrong with the classic circle shape, but your children will love the hands-on work of using a cookie cutter, and the Mickey Mouse shapes pair perfectly with your Disney movie night. Plus, a good set can be used on more than just cookies.
The best Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set is the Elfkitwang Mickey And Minnie-Themed Cookie Cutter Set. It includes multiple sizes of Mickey and Minnie’s silhouettes and some other fun shapes like Mickey’s hands and feet.
What to know before you buy a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set
Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set types
Mickey Mouse cookie cutters can be one of four types.
- Cutout cutters are the classic idea. You press them down into the dough, and the edges cut out the outline of your shape.
- Stamp cutters are like upgraded cutouts. They still cut out an outline, but they also have a second layer that presses a design into the cookie.
- Mold cutters are an inverted process. Instead of being pressed into the dough, you press the dough into them and push the cookie out.
- 3D cutters use several cutters, of any mixture of the above three types, to cut out layers that are then stacked up to create a 3D cookie.
What’s included
Mickey Mouse cookie cutters come in a surprisingly large variety of shapes, plus a given set can have any number of them. Some even have extras like cleaning wands or pipettes.
Most include, at the very least, the outline of Mickey’s head. Many also include Minnie-shaped heads. Other common shapes are Mickey’s hands and feet. If there’s a particular shape you’re looking for, it’s likely just a matter of time before you find it.
What to look for in a quality Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set
Material
Most Mickey Mouse cookie cutters are made of metal, plastic or silicone.
- Metal cutters can be either tin, aluminum or stainless steel. Tin is cheap, flimsy and rusts. Aluminum is also a little flimsy, but affordable and naturally rust resistant. Stainless steel is the most durable, but can still be bent if subjected to enough force.
- Plastic cutters are best for kids, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t great for adults too. They have enough of an edge to cut through most doughs but are much softer on the hands, even if the dough is tough.
- Silicone cutters are typically for molds only. They’re durable and easy to clean.
Nonstick
Some Mickey Mouse cookie cutters are nonstick to help keep your cookie operation flowing. It isn’t the end of the world if they aren’t, but it absolutely helps.
How much you can expect to spend on a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set
Most Mickey Mouse cookie cutter sets cost $5-$15, though some can cost up to $30. Some extra-pricey sets can reach highs of $60-plus.
Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set FAQ
How should I clean and care for my Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set?
A. Unlike most kitchen gear, many cookie cutters can’t be run through your dishwasher. Hand-washing them is relatively straightforward: simply drop them into a sink full of hot soapy water and scrub. You may need to use a little elbow grease to remove all the remnants of dough — some cutter sets include a brush for just this purpose.
Once they’re dry, you need to store them properly to prevent damage. Most are made of sturdy stainless steel, but even these types of cutters can still bend if tossed into the average kitchen drawer. Instead, you’ll want to keep them in their own storage unit. Plastic bins are the most common.
How do I get the cleanest cuts from my Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set?
A. That depends on the dough you’re cutting, but there are a few general tips you can follow. The first is to use metal cutters — they have sharper edges than any other material so have an easier time, well, cutting. Secondly, grease or flour your cutters before each cut. Common cooking spray works especially well.
What’s the best Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set to buy?
Top Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set
Elfkitwang Mickey And Minnie-Themed Cookie Cutter Set
What you need to know: This brightly colored set is excellent for parent-child activities.
What you’ll love: This 15-piece set includes four sizes each of Mickey and Minnie heads, one each of glove, foot, bow and heart, a cleaning wand, a skewer and a stamp. Each cutter has a bright plastic covering on one side for protection and easy identification.
What you should consider: Most of the pieces in this set are too small to be used for cookies, instead being intended for cutting fun shapes out of other foods.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Mickey Mouse cookie cutter set for the money
BakingWorld Mickey Mouse Cookie Cutter Set
What you need to know: This 10-piece set is full of fun Mickey- and Minnie-related shapes.
What you’ll love: It includes four different sizes of Mickey’s head, four of Minnie’s head and a smiling Mickey cutter. They are made of rigid stainless steel that won’t bend easily. They’re also great for cutting sandwiches into fun shapes.
What you should consider: You might not realize what the small green tools that come with it are for. (They’re for pressing in the filling.)
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Texasdeluxe Mickey-Shape Cookie Cutter Mold Set
What you need to know: This five-piece set can create richly detailed Mickey and Minnie faces.
What you’ll love: It includes one each of Mickey- and Minnie-shaped cutter, one each of Mickey- and Minnie-shaped press molds and a miniature pipette for carefully adding food coloring to each section.
What you should consider: The imprint molds can be difficult to pull from some doughs without damaging the shape. All pieces must be washed and dried by hand.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/bakeware-baking-tools-br/best-mickey-mouse-cookie-cutter-set/ | 2022-04-13T01:03:36 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/bakeware-baking-tools-br/best-mickey-mouse-cookie-cutter-set/ |
Which Lavazza espresso machine is best?
The Lavazza name is nearly synonymous with quality espresso, and its single-serve consumer machines hold true to those standards. These sleek machines are perfect for the coffee connoisseur who wants excellence without the labor or cleaning involved in a manual espresso machine. They are also ideal for serving multiple people with different drink preferences.
For an easy-to-use espresso machine that brews a variety of single-serve drinks on demand, the Lavazza Expert Classy Plus is the perfect choice.
What to know before you buy a Lavazza espresso machine
A machine’s number and amount of drink settings, size, compatibility and maintenance requirements are all key things to think about when choosing the right one for your coffee habits.
Drink settings
Lavazza machines come with varying drink options. The more advanced ones offer up to six drinks — espresso, lungo, coffee, cappuccino, macchiato and latte. Simpler models typically offer two settings — espresso and lungo.
Some models also let you program a delayed brew time or save your favorite setting. These extra conveniences can make brewing your favorite drinks at home even easier.
Size and capacity
All Lavazza machines are small compared to others on the market. That said, some may fit better in your kitchen than others, and their capacities vary.
Lavazza water reservoirs can hold anywhere from 25 to 42 fluid ounces. To avoid lots of water refills. look for a model that caters to how often you plan to brew.
Many good Lavazza models are less than 24 inches tall. However, if you enjoy a variety of drinks, those features may add to the machine’s height and depth.
Compatibility
Lavazza machines only accept branded coffee pods from Lavazza. They can be either from the Blue or Expert lines of coffees, and are shaped differently than any other brand of pods, making them hard to confuse.
Maintenance
Lavazza technology helps you maintain your machines regularly with LED alerts. These lights or flashing indicators tell you when it’s time to refill the water reservoir, empty the used-capsule container or clean and descale individual parts.
You can remove the drip tray, capsule container and water reservoir for easy cleaning. Some parts are dishwasher-safe — check the manufacturer’s instructions for more information on cleaning.
What to look for in a quality Lavazza espresso machine
A Lavazza machine always delivers quality espresso. However, a few extra capabilities make certain machines stand out.
Milk frother
If you enjoy your espresso drinks with milk, a machine with a built-in frother may be worth the investment. These machines have a small frother at the front to whisk your milk. It’s one less step for you, and one less gadget you need to buy.
Programmable settings
Many Lavazza machines let you select the quantity of coffee you want to brew per cup and save your settings as favorites. Some even let you program a delayed brew cycle to schedule your drinks.
Accessories
Small but helpful additional features can include a removable drip tray for easy cleaning, adjustable cup sizing for brewing multiple types of drinks, automatic capsule disposal, and a standby function for instant brewing.
How much you can expect to spend on a Lavazza espresso machine
Single-serve Lavazza espresso machines range in price from $100-$275, with more settings and features available at the higher prices.
Lavazza espresso machine FAQ
Can I use other coffee pods in Lavazza espresso machines?
A. No. Lavazza espresso machines only work with Lavazza brand capsules. Be sure to confirm if there is a specific type of capsule you need to buy, such as Blue or Expert model capsules. Lavazza capsules are smaller and shaped differently than any others, so you can’t accidentally install the wrong type.
Does the milk frother steam milk, make froth or both?
A. An attached milk frother both heats the milk with steam wand and froths it with a mini whisk. To brew a milk-based drink, add the appropriate amount of milk for the drink you want, place the lid with the frother attachment on the mug and place it on the drip tray. Select your drink and watch the machine steam the milk, froth it and brew your espresso, all at the touch of a button.
What’s the best Lavazza espresso machine to buy?
Top Lavazza espresso machine
What you need to know: This single-serve machine is small but mighty, able to craft the best barista-style espresso drinks at the push of a button.
What you’ll love: It includes a milk frother, which makes it easy to brew a variety of espresso drinks such as a latte, macchiato or cappuccino. The slim profile can fit on most countertops and tables, while the 42-fluid-ounce capacity can brew many cups of espresso before needing a refill. This was the first all-in-one espresso and coffee machine.
What you should consider: It’s only compatible with Lavazza Expert capsules.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Lavazza espresso machine for the money
What you need to know: This small single-serve espresso machine brews your favorite Lavazza shots for a reasonable price.
What you’ll love: The drink selection module gives visual alerts when the water tank is empty or the capsule drawer is full. The cup support ledge is adjustable for any type of cup or mug. Standby mode lets you save energy when not in use.
What you should consider: Some customers noted it’s louder than other espresso machines.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
What you need to know: The Lavazza Blue is a scaled-down version of the Blue Classy Mini, offering the best of Lavazza espresso in one simple machine.
What you’ll love: The interface is straightforward and easy to use, with a programmable brewing option. The drip tray keeps your counters clean and is adjustable for different cup sizes. The smallest of the Lavazza options, this single-serve espresso machine will easily fit in any size kitchen, pantry or office.
What you should consider: Some customers notice functionality issues when resetting it.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Katy Palmer writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/coffee-accessories-br/best-lavazza-espresso-machine/ | 2022-04-13T01:03:43 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/coffee-accessories-br/best-lavazza-espresso-machine/ |
Which smart device is best for cats?
Advances in technology have made life for humans a lot easier over the last few decades. Few things in your house can’t be automated with faster phones, powerful computers and smarter devices.
That advancement can also extend to your cats (and pets in general) as there are plenty of smart gadgets to feed, track, hydrate and play with your furry friends. A good option for food-obsessed cats is the Petlibro Automatic Cat Feeder, which allows you to monitor their intake and regulate their portion sizes.
What to know before you buy a smart device for cats
It will take time for your cat to be comfortable
Few cats take to intelligent gadgets quickly around the house. It might take some time to get comfortable with the new device. Don’t feel discouraged if they don’t immediately use it, but try to show them what it’s for.
Consider the needs of your cat
While it might be cute to humans when cats use smart devices, consider your feline friend’s needs. For example, if they don’t cover their waste (or have difficulty doing so), then a self-cleaning litter box is more important than a remotely controlled mouse. And while a smart water fountain keeps them hydrated, overweight cats will benefit more from a smart pet feeder.
Most require an internet connection
A smart device in your home is a great idea, but you should be aware of the limitations. Most require a constant connection to a Wi-Fi network for pets or humans. This is so you can monitor the device through your mobile phone and change settings. Without an internet connection, the gadget may continue working with limited functionality.
What to look for in a quality smart device for cats
Reputable brand
When it comes to gadgets your pets need to use without your supervision, the device mustn’t get damaged. In most cases, reputable brands use robust materials for the construction and can take a few knocks. Unfortunately, unknown brands might not have the same level of quality checks as others, and you might put your cat at risk.
Easy to set up and operate
It can get incredibly frustrating when you want to set up a new gadget, but it doesn’t work. Making it overly complicated isn’t a good thing, so a good-quality cat device will have detailed instructions for setup and operation. Many reputable brands will also have a webpage that you can turn to for help.
A smart device that they can’t outsmart
Cats are brilliant, and even the most cuddly or docile felines can be highly inquisitive. So while they will undoubtedly try to outsmart the device, a good-quality gadget will quickly stop any attempts. For example, a smart feeder has a lid that closes tightly with a latch at the top, so no cat without opposable thumbs can click it open.
How much you can expect to spend on a smart device for cats
The average cost of a smart device for your cat will largely depend on what the device is designed to do and how the manufacturer is. An entry-level smart device such as a tracker can retail for $10-$20, while a more complex gadget such as an automatic feeder can retail for $100-$200.
Smart device for cats FAQ
What happens when there is a power failure?
A. Most smart devices require a wall socket connection to operate. However, some models can use shop-bought batteries to remain operational with the electricity fails. So while it won’t be connected to the internet, it can still perform as needed, possibly with limited functions.
How do you train a cat to use a smart device?
A. Depending on what the device is for, you might want to slowly introduce your cat to the gadget. For example, a smart litter box shouldn’t be a problem, but a feeder can be intimidating. Try to show your cat what is happening so that they don’t assume it will hurt them.
What’s the best smart device for cats to buy?
Top smart device for cats
What you need to know: This automatic feeder is the perfect device to monitor your cat’s daily food intake and regulate their portion sizes. This feeder can hold up to 17 cups of dry cat food and has a built-in LCD screen.
What you’ll like: This feeder takes the hassle out of your cat waking you up for breakfast. It features customizable feeding times that can dispense four meals a day. The food tray is angled so kibble doesn’t accumulate in front of the outlet. In addition, you can record a 10-second voice clip to play before each feed.
What you should consider: The feeder uses a 5-volt adapter to connect to a wall socket but can also be operated on three D-cell batteries.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Top smart device for cats for the money
What you need to know: Cats will always wander around as they expand their territory. This can be stressful to owners, but an intelligent pet tag lets you keep track of where they are.
What you’ll love: The “smarter” cat tag easily clips onto their collar, and when you set up a safe zone around your property through the app, the tag alerts you if they move beyond that. Other Pawscout users can get notifications when your cat moves into their safe zone, allowing you to track their movements.
What you should consider: The tag doesn’t give you the precise GPS location of your cat, but rather an alert if it is within 300 feet of you.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Worth checking out
PetSafe ScoopFree Smart Self-Cleaning Cat Litter Box
What you need to know: Unremoved cat waste has a powerful odor and can quickly permeate a room. A self-cleaning litter box takes the hassle out of the process by rapidly removing undesired particles.
What you’ll love: This litter box initiates the cleaning process 20 minutes after use by automatically removing the waste and raking the crystal granules. It comes with a prefilled disposable tray, which only needs to be changed out once a month. By connecting the litter box to your mobile phone, you can keep track of your cat’s health from anywhere and see daily statistics of litter box usage.
What you should consider: It is not recommended to use any other brand of cat litter crystals as the ScoopFree crystals are specifically designed not to overstress the cleaning motors.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/pets-br/best-smart-device-for-cats/ | 2022-04-13T01:03:49 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/pets-br/best-smart-device-for-cats/ |
When should you bathe your puppy?
Getting your puppy used to baths will stand you in good stead as they get bigger and harder to control. But how often should you bathe them? It’s important to strike the right balance between keeping them fresh and clean and potentially over-bathing them.
Whether you’re a first-time dog owner or you need a refresher, it’s important to learn how regularly to bathe a puppy and what you need to get the job done well.
Puppy bathing questions
When should you give a puppy their first bath?
Some breeders and shelters give puppies their first baths before they send them off to their new homes, as it’s safe to do so from the age of 4-6 weeks. When you get a puppy as a pet, they should be at least 8 weeks old, at which point it’s perfectly safe to bathe them right away. That said, it’s a good idea to give your new puppy a week or two to settle in before you attempt to bathe them, because you’re a stranger to them at first and baths can be stressful for dogs.
Whether it’s their first bath ever or their first bath in their new home, start slowly to avoid putting them off bathing for life. Invite them into the bathroom and give them treats for a few days before you attempt a first bath to create a positive association with the bathroom. Never bathe young puppies outside with cold water, as they get chilled easily.
Can you bathe a puppy too much?
Yes, you absolutely can bathe a puppy too much. Dogs have natural oils in their coats that do a great job of self-cleaning. Overly frequent bathing disrupts these oils and can dry out the skin. It’s fine to give your puppy an occasional extra bath if they roll in something nasty, but avoid excessive bathing just for the sake of it.
How often should you bathe a puppy?
Bathe your pup once every 4-8 weeks. It’s fine to go as long as 3 or 4 months between baths in adult dogs, but getting your puppy used to them at a young age will make it easier when they’re older.
What you need to give a puppy a bath
Now that you know how often to bathe your puppy, you just need to gather the right supplies. Having everything you need on hand makes the bathing process much simpler.
Puppy shampoo
You should use puppy shampoo rather than standard dog shampoo when bathing your pup. These are designed to be extra gentle so they won’t irritate your puppy’s delicate skin. Many have “tear-free” formulas that don’t sting the eyes, though you should avoid shampooing their face anyway. Don’t use human shampoos on puppies, if you can avoid it. In an emergency, it’s OK to use baby shampoo as a one-off, as it’s gentler than shampoo for adults, but it still doesn’t have the correct pH balance for canine skin.
Towels
Assuming you don’t want to dry your puppy on the same towels you use to dry yourself, you should have a selection of towels just for your dog. It’s fine to use any old towels you have lying around, but if you don’t have towels you’re no longer using, dedicated dog towels are often made from microfiber, so they’re extra absorbent.
Treats
The first few times you bathe your puppy, you might need an extra person on hand to feed them treats as a distraction. This helps keep them calm and happy and can create a positive association if they know every time they get a bath, they also get plied with treats. If you don’t have someone who can continuously feed your pup treats, you can get lick mats with suction cups so you can adhere them to your bathroom tiles. You smear pastes such as peanut butter on them and it keeps your dog entertained.
Brush
Although it’s not 100% essential, you might want a rubber brush to help work the shampoo through your puppy’s coat, especially if they have medium or long fur. These brushes also massage the skin to improve blood flow and scratch any itches your pup might have.
Shower attachment
You can buy shower attachments specifically for dogs. These have longer heads than regular shower attachments so you can wet and rinse your canine companion more quickly. The less time it takes to bathe your dog, the easier it will be, so they’re worth investing in. You can use them in your bathroom or outside, but remember not to bathe young puppies with cold water, even on a hot day.
What to buy to bathe a puppy
Its extra-gentle, tearless formula makes it the ideal choice for puppies. It leaves their coat soft, shiny and smelling great.
Where to buy: Sold by Chewy and PetSmart
Kong Dog ZoomGroom Multi-use Brush
This rubber brush helps work shampoo through the coat and gives your puppy’s skin a massage at the same time.
Where to buy: Sold by Chewy and Amazon
Waterpik Pet Wand Pro Dog Shower Attachment
This shower attachment gives you better coverage so you can rinse your puppy off more quickly and easily. You can use it indoors or outdoors, but only attempt the latter on hot days with older puppies and adult dogs.
Where to buy: Sold by Chewy and Amazon
Frisco Microfiber Towel for Cats and Dogs
This is a large, highly absorbent towel that’s perfect for drying puppies off after a bath. It’s machine washable and fast drying, so it’s easy to clean between uses.
Where to buy: Sold by Chewy
Aquapaw Slow Treater Silicone Lick Mat
If you need a distraction for your pup, simply smother this lick mat in peanut butter or similar, stick it to a tiled wall and keep them entertained while you bathe them.
Where to buy: Sold by Chewy and Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/pets-br/grooming-br/how-often-to-bathe-a-puppy/ | 2022-04-13T01:03:56 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/pets-br/grooming-br/how-often-to-bathe-a-puppy/ |
Are hard or soft golf travel cases better?
Golf clubs are not only expensive, but can be irreplaceable if the manufacturer discontinued a model you really like. So it makes sense golfers want to do everything possible to keep them safe when traveling.
Hard models offer the most protection but soft travel cases are lighter weight and can be more convenient to store. There are also several other pros and cons to consider that will make one more suitable for your needs than the other.
Hard golf travel cases
Hard golf travel cases have a rigid structure similar to hard-sided luggage. Nearly all feature thick interior padding and have wheels for easy maneuverability. They can also be carried like a suitcase if needed. Hard cases close securely via latches, often with locks approved by the Transportation Security Administration and are available in styles that accommodate just your clubs or your clubs and golf bag. Most cost $200-$350.
Hard golf travel case pros
- Highest level of protection
- Secure latches
- Thick interior padding
- Often equipped with TSA-approved locks
- Some have spinner wheels
Hard golf travel case cons
- Heavier than soft cases
- Require a lot of storage space
- Can be difficult to fit inside vehicles
Best hard golf travel case
Samsonite Hard-Sided Golf Travel Case
Combining a high level of protection with a conveniently portable design, this case does a good job of keeping your clubs safe without being a hassle to roll around. It features multidirectional spinner wheels and has a quilted interior with extra foam at the top, where it’s most needed.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best hard golf travel case for the money
SKB Cases ATA Standard Hard-Shell Wheeled Golf Bag Carrier
This case is made from a sturdy, high-density polyethylene and is equipped with industrial-strength latches and a TSA-approved lock so your clubs will arrive safely at their destination. Despite this, it’s a pound or so lighter than many other hard cases.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Ram Golf Ultimate Hard-Sided Travel Cover
This hard-sided case has many of the same features as the most popular luggage, including a tough thermoplastic shell, compression straps, spinner wheels and a TSA-approved lock. It’s equipped with plenty of interior padding and two handles for convenient lifting.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Soft golf travel cases
Soft cases lack a rigid structure and, instead, are made entirely of durable fabrics such as polyester or nylon. There are also hybrid cases that feature a rigid shell around the club head area, but are soft fabric everywhere else. Some have interior padding. Some of the cheapest lack wheels.
Unlike hard cases, soft cases close via a zipper, which some people feel makes them more likely to open up during travel. You can prevent this by attaching a small TSA-approved luggage lock if your bag allows for that. Most soft travel cases cost $50-$300.
Soft golf travel case pros
- More affordable
- Lightweight construction
- Commonly feature an easy-to-access exterior pocket
- Fold up for storage when not in use
Soft golf travel case cons
- Uninsurable with many airlines
- May have little to no padding
- Leave clubs more susceptible to damage
Best soft golf travel case
Sun Mountain Golf ClubGlider Meridian Club Cover Travel Bag
Thanks to flip-out support legs and smooth-rolling wheels, this case eliminates most of the hassle of traveling with your clubs. It comes in several colors and features an ID window so you can label it with your personal information.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best soft golf travel case for the money
This lightweight case is a good choice for those who are on a budget but lacks some of the padding found in many of the more expensive options. It’s both weather- and tear-resistant, and features internal compression straps to hold your clubs in place.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Sun Mountain Kube Golf Travel Cover
The Kube combines elements of hard and soft cases to give you the best of both worlds. It offers extra protection and durability where it’s most needed, yet still maintains a lightweight construction. Plus, it folds down into a cube barely larger than 1 cubic foot when not needed.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Should you buy a hard golf travel case or a soft golf travel case?
The decision comes down to your budget, storage space and how much protection you want for your clubs. If budget and storage between uses aren’t issues, and you want the maximum protection for your clubs, hard cases are the way to go. If money or storage is a bit tight, and you can make do with less protection, you’ll likely prefer a soft case.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Brett Dvoretz writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/sports-fitness-br/golf-br/hard-golf-travel-case-vs-soft-golf-travel-case/ | 2022-04-13T01:04:03 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/sports-fitness-br/golf-br/hard-golf-travel-case-vs-soft-golf-travel-case/ |
Which indoor playset for toddlers is best?
Many toddlers love playing outdoors on backyard playsets, but sometimes Mother Nature just doesn’t want to cooperate. On those cold, rainy or snowy days, you need another option to keep your children occupied. Rather than plopping them in front of the TV or a tablet, consider providing them with an indoor play set to expel that endless energy they are so full of.
Indoor playsets often feature several of the most beloved activities of outdoor ones but are smaller and more manageable. For example, the Costzon Toddler Climber and Swing Set has a climbing wall, slide and even a small basketball hoop, yet it only measures 66 by 59 by 47 inches, so it should fit in most bedrooms and living rooms.
What to know before you buy an indoor playset for toddlers
Skills
There are many kinds of play sets for toddlers, and not all help develop the same skills. Some are similar to outdoor swing sets and feature high-energy activities. These are good for developing strength, balance and speed. Others have activities that focus more on imaginative play, developing hand-eye coordination and even musical abilities.
Consider both what skills your child needs to work and what kinds of activities they find most enjoyable.
Space
When deciding how much room in your home you want to dedicate to the set, don’t forget to account for additional space around it for your child to play in. Sets that include intense activities — such as jumping, sliding and tumbling — require more space around them than those that focus on educational or imaginative play.
Placement
Indoor play sets should only be used under adult supervision. They should be set up where you can always keep an eye on your child. This area should be clear of objects that could cause harm, including sharp furniture and decorations, and of delicate items that are easily damaged if a child accidentally bumps into them.
If you’ll be setting up the play set on hard flooring such as tile or wood, consider purchasing a large foam play mat or thick rug to place underneath it. These reduce the chance of injury if your child falls off.
What to look for in a quality indoor playset for toddlers
Activities
The most basic playsets only have two or three activities. Others can have 10 or more. The more activities a playset has and the greater their variety, the longer it can keep a toddler entertained. Common activities include ball pits, slides, swings, basketball, climbing walls, jungle gyms, target tosses and spinning gears. Some also feature numbers and letters to help teach counting and reading.
Sounds
Though less common, you can find models that play music and sounds when buttons are pressed or that feature simple tap instruments such as pianos and xylophones.
Bright colors
Colors affect people’s moods, and that’s true of children as well as adults. According to the National Institutes of Health, children have positive reactions to bright colors and negative emotions attached to dark colors. It is also easier for kids to recognize bright colors, which makes them more likely to capture kids’ attention. So your child is likely to be drawn to a brightly colored set and spend more time playing with it than with one in muted colors.
Reconfigurable
No matter how brightly colored a play set is or how many activities it has, toddlers will eventually tire of them. Purchasing one that is reconfigurable helps mitigate this. These modular sets can be constructed in different ways after a child gets bored with a particular setup.
Multi-child play
If you have two young children in your home, or want your toddler to be able to use their playset with a friend, look for one that allows multi-child play. These have a higher weight capacity and at least two separate play stations.
How much you can expect to spend on an indoor playset for toddlers
Most indoor playsets for toddlers cost $50-$400.
Indoor playset for toddlers FAQ
Are indoor playsets difficult to assemble?
A. It varies by the model, but most are designed to be easy for one person to assemble on their own. Many don’t require any tools and simply snap together.
Can I use an indoor playset outdoors?
A. Some indoor playsets are also suitable for use outdoors. If so, this should be specified somewhere in the product details.
What’s the best indoor playset to buy for toddlers?
Top indoor playset for toddlers
Costzon Toddler Climber and Swing Set
What you need to know: This 4-in-1 model replicates all the fun of an outdoor play set and offers plenty of activities to keep tots occupied.
What you’ll love: It’s made of a sturdy, high-density polyethylene material that can last through several children and also be used outside. Plus, it does a great job of tiring kids out so you’ll get a little peace and quiet afterward.
What you should consider: It’s a bit short and isn’t ideal for older or taller toddlers.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top indoor playset for toddlers for the money
Little Tikes Activity Garden Playhouse
What you need to know: This budget-priced option helps foster a child’s imagination, yet hardly requires any floor space.
What you’ll love: It expands to grow with a baby or be used by two kids simultaneously. There is a shape sorter and tap-a-tune piano for mental development.
What you should consider: It’s best for toddlers under age 2.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Reliancer Six-Piece Climb and Crawl Foam Activity Play Set
What you need to know: Made entirely of soft, CertiPUR-US-certified foam and covered in faux leather that’s free of potentially harmful phthalates, this set is a smart and safe choice for toddlers of any size and age.
What you’ll love: It can be configured in a nearly limitless number of ways to keep kids from getting bored. Toddlers can use it to learn color recognition and matching, too.
What you should consider: Because it is made from multiple components that will be spread out across the floor, it can make rooms look a bit messy.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Brett Dvoretz writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/toys-games-br/action-figures-playsets-br/best-indoor-playset-for-toddlers/ | 2022-04-13T01:04:10 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/toys-games-br/action-figures-playsets-br/best-indoor-playset-for-toddlers/ |
Which ‘Toy Story’ Jessie doll is best?
As the first film franchise ever established by Disney Pixar, “Toy Story” has become a cultural phenomenon and has spawned many memorable characters. The most popular are sheriff Woody and the space ranger Buzz Lightyear, but characters such as Jessie, Woody’s cowgirl companion, are just as beloved by fans.
If you have a little one who’s a Jessie fan, there might not be a better way to see them smile than by gifting them a doll of the spunky cowgirl. The Disney Pixar Toy Story 4 Jessie Figure is a crowd favorite because of her elaborate detail and posable body parts.
What to know before you buy a ‘Toy Story’ Jessie doll
Age
“Toy Story” is one of those franchises with fans of all ages, but you should consider your child’s age before buying them any toy. Most Jessie dolls have basic designs and are safe for children of all ages, but if you spot one with small accessories or peripherals, it’s best to avoid them if you have a toddler, as they can be dangerous.
For a small child, a toy larger than their mouth is always the best choice since it decreases the chances of choking. In any case, you can read the label to determine the suitable age range of any “Toy Story” doll.
Quality
Jessie dolls are usually made of plastic, but some are thicker than others. Thin plastic can break easily, potentially posing a hazard, especially for younger children. Sturdy plastic toys can take more of a beating without breaking.
Plush
Traditional dolls and figures are made of plastic, and if they’re inspired by a famous movie, they’re designed to resemble their appearance in their respective film as closely as possible.
It’s easy to recreate a figure that’s to scale when using materials such as plastic, but if you want the safest toy possible and don’t mind a reduction in likeness, a plush toy is your best bet. Plush dolls are super-soft and the best choice for younger children, especially those under 3 years old.
What to look for in a quality ‘Toy Story’ Jessie doll
Height
There’s nothing wrong with a mini-Jessie doll, but if you want something where she looks similar to her appearance in the films, you’re going to want it to be at least 7 inches tall when standing. The most common size for a “Toy Story” doll is 6-12 inches, but you can find plush toys as small as 2 inches and as large as 4 feet.
Design
Jessie has braided red hair in the movies and sports an outfit like Woody’s. She wears a western-style shirt with blue jeans, black-spotted chaps, a red hat with white laces and cowboy boots.
You might stumble upon a Jessie doll where she’s sporting a different outfit, but for an authentic figure, you’re going to want her to look like she does in the films.
Collectible
“Toy Story” is such a popular franchise that it’s not uncommon for some adults to have a collection of toys inspired by the franchise. Most Jessie dolls are designed for children, but some exclusive or limited-edition figures are expensive and treated as valuable collectibles.
How much you can expect to spend on a ‘Toy Story’ Jessie doll
More miniature Jessie dolls and plush toys usually go for anywhere from $10-$30, but collector or special edition dolls can cost $30-$100.
‘Toy Story’ Jessie doll FAQ
Can plush toys be dangerous for small children?
A. Unless they’re very small, plush toys are among the safest options for children under 3 years old.
Do Jessie dolls always have a smiling facial expression?
A. In the films, Jessie’s motionless facial expression is a smile showing her teeth. Most dolls attempt to recreate that, but you can find some that feature her with a sad-looking facial expression or a more subdued, close-lipped smile.
What’s the best ‘Toy Story’ Jessie doll to buy?
Top ‘Toy Story’Jessie doll
Disney Pixar Toy Story 4 Jessie Figure
What you need to know: Inspired by the latest film in the franchise, this doll accurately reflects Jessie’s appearance in the movies and is a worthy addition to any “Toy Story” toy collection.
What you’ll love: It’s a highly posable Jessie figure, as the head, arms and legs can move, and it features a classic design, outfit and her endearing smiling facial expression. It’s large, standing at 8.8 inches tall, but suitable for children ages 3 and up.
What you should consider: It’s somewhat sensitive, as light scratches can scuff the plastic and paint.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top ‘Toy Story’ Jessie doll for the money
Disney Pixar Jessie and Bullseye
What you need to know: This is an excellent bargain pick, since you get a Jessie doll along with a figure of Bullseye, her faithful horse companion.
What you’ll love: These figures boast movie-scale sizes at 7 inches and have impressive detail inspired by the films. They’re suitable for children as young as 3 years old and can be positioned in many ways for different pose setups.
What you should consider: Although they’re sturdy, Jessie’s hat often slips off her head, and she cannot firmly sit on Bullseye to ride him.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Disney Pixar Toy Story 4 Jessie Plush
What you need to know: This plush makes for a cuddly bedtime companion and is appropriate for younger “Toy Story” fans.
What you’ll love: It stands 16.5 inches and has meticulously detailed plush sculpturing and high-quality embroidered features such as Jessie’s belt buckle and back pull-string. The hat is made of soft velour fabric, and the bottom of her boots have “Andy” written on them, just like in the movies.
What you should consider: Some find it too stiff for a plush doll.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Kevin Luna writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/toys-games-br/theme-toys-br/best-toy-story-jessie-doll/ | 2022-04-13T01:04:17 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/br/toys-games-br/theme-toys-br/best-toy-story-jessie-doll/ |
Tips for picking the best carpet cleaner
If you love the plush, cozy feeling carpets bring to your home but hate how dirty they get over time, it only makes sense to buy a carpet cleaner. It will soon pay for itself compared to hiring someone to do the job, and you have it ready to use whenever you need.
Some cleaners are perfect for deep cleans, whereas others are better for spot cleaning and cleaning smaller areas. Learn how to pick the best carpet cleaner for you so yours will give you everything you need.
Questions to ask yourself before buying a carpet cleaner
How dirty do your carpets get?
You’ll need more impressive cleaning power if you have kids or dogs than if you have a small, adult-only, pet-free household. Some carpet cleaners are specifically designed for homes with pets and have the extra oomph needed to get rid of pet odors, muddy paw prints and other pet-related messes. Think about whether there are any high-traffic areas in your home in which your carpets tend to get extra dirty. If so, it’s worth paying more for a powerful cleaner that will do its job well.
How often will you use your carpet cleaner?
Are you likely to use a carpet cleaner once every couple of months, once a year or once in total before relegating it to the back of a closet somewhere? It makes sense to spend more if you’ll use your cleaner regularly, getting more bang for your buck. For occasional use, an inexpensive one will do the trick.
Do you want to clean upholstery?
Most carpet cleaners also work on upholstery, with the help of the right attachments. However, some are specifically geared toward upholstery and do a better job with it than they do with carpets and rugs.
What to look for in a carpet cleaner
Upright vs. canister
You’ll find two main types of carpet cleaners: upright and canister. Upright ones have the water tanks, motor and cleaning head all in one unit, with most looking similar to upright vacuum cleaners. Canister models have the motor and water tanks in the body of the unit with a separate cleaning head attached to the body by a hose. It’s generally quicker to clean with an upright model, so they’re suitable for cleaning large areas, while canister options are better for spot cleaning and upholstery.
Quick-dry mode
When you deep clean your carpet, it can take as long as 24 hours to fully dry, but this isn’t always practical or necessary. Quick-dry mode is a lighter cleaning mode that doesn’t get your carpet as wet, so it will fully dry within 1-2 hours. After an initial deep clean, you should only need to use the quick-dry mode to refresh your carpets if you clean them regularly.
Tools
Carpet cleaners should come with at least a couple of tools or attachments. The main cleaning head is what you’ll use for cleaning large areas, such as big rugs or wall-to-wall carpet, but you’ll also want a crevice tool for getting into tight corners and an upholstery brush for cleaning couches and other soft furnishings. Other tools are less essential, but it’s nice to have a good range just in case.
Dual tanks
Ideally, your carpet cleaner should have two water tanks: one that holds clean water only and one that holds dirty water after it’s been sucked out of the carpet. Without dedicated tanks for each, you’ll be cleaning your carpet with grubby water and you’ll need to empty and refill the tank regularly to keep the water clean.
Tank capacity
Check the capacity of both the clean water tank and the dirty water tank. Larger capacities allow you to clean more of your home before needing to empty the dirty water and replenish the fresh water. Compact models may only hold 1.5-2 liters of water, while large models can hold as much as 3.5-4.5 liters. If you have a large home with fitted carpets, you’ll thank yourself for choosing a model with a decent tank capacity.
Cleaning solutions
Check what kind of cleaning solution is required before buying. Some work with any cleaning solution designed for use with carpet cleaning machines, while others only work with the manufacturer’s proprietary solution, which can be limiting.
Best carpet cleaners
Bissell TurboClean PowerBrush Pet Carpet Cleaner
This inexpensive, lightweight carpet cleaner is great for occasional use but still powerful enough to clean up after pets.
Sold by Amazon
Bissell Big Green Professional Carpet Cleaner
This professional-quality carpet cleaner leaves rugs, carpets and upholstery looking as good as new. It’s pricey, so it’s best suited for people who will use it regularly or who have large homes with fitted carpets in most rooms.
Sold by Amazon
Hoover PowerDash Pet Compact Carpet Cleaner
With quick-drying technology, this is a great choice for quick cleans to tackle pet messes as well as more thorough deep cleans. It’s compact and easy to use and maneuver.
Sold by Amazon
Hoover Smartwash Automatic Carpet Cleaner
Thanks to its automatic cleaning technology, it’s extremely simple to use — just push it forward to clean and pull it backward to dry. Its power brushes clean deep into the pile of your carpet.
Sold by Amazon
Rug Doctor Pet Portable Spot Cleaner
This compact canister spot cleaner is perfect for cleaning up pet-related stains on carpet and upholstery but isn’t well-suited to cleaning whole rooms worth of carpet.
Sold by Amazon
Vacmaster Wet/Dry Shampoo Vacuum Cleaner
A wet/dry model, the Vacmaster is suitable for dry vacuuming, wet vacuuming and carpet shampooing. It’s good for low pile rugs and carpets but really shines when it comes to upholstery cleaning.
Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/how-to-pick-the-best-carpet-cleaner-for-you/ | 2022-04-13T01:04:24 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/reviews/how-to-pick-the-best-carpet-cleaner-for-you/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — A cryptocurrency expert was sentenced Tuesday to more than five years in federal prison for helping North Korea evade U.S. sanctions.
Virgil Griffith, 39, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy, admitting he presented at a cryptocurrency conference in Pyongyang in 2019 even after the U.S. government denied his request to travel there.
A well-known hacker, Griffith also developed “cryptocurrency infrastructure and equipment inside North Korea,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. At the 2019 conference, he advised more than 100 people — including several who appeared to work for the North Korean government — on how to use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions and achieve independence from the global banking system.
The U.S. and the U.N. Security Council have imposed increasingly tight sanctions on North Korea in recent years to try to rein in its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The U.S. government amended sanctions against North Korea in 2018 to prohibit “a U.S. person, wherever located” from exporting technology to North Korea.
Prosecutors said Griffith acknowledged his presentation amounted to a transfer of technical knowledge to conference attendees.
“Griffith is an American citizen who chose to evade the sanctions of his own country to provide services to a hostile foreign power,” prosecutors wrote. “He did so knowing that power — North Korea — was guilty of atrocities against its own people and has made threats against the United States citing its nuclear capabilities.”
Defense attorney Brian Klein described Griffith as a “brilliant Caltech-trained scientist who developed a curiosity bordering on obsession” with North Korea. “He viewed himself — albeit arrogantly and naively — as acting in the interest of peace,” Klein said. “He loves his country and never set out to do any harm.”
Klein added that he was disappointed with the 63-month prison sentence but “pleased the judge acknowledged Virgil’s commitment to moving forward with his life productively, and that he is a talented person who has a lot to contribute.”
A self-described “disruptive technologist,” Griffith became something of a tech-world enfant terrible in the early 2000s. In 2007, he created WikiScanner, a tool that aimed to unmask people who anonymously edited entries in Wikipedia, the crowdsourced online encyclopedia.
WikiScanner essentially could determine the business, institutions or government agencies that owned the computers from which some edits were made. It quickly identified businesses that had sabotaged competitors’ entries and government agencies that had rewritten history, among other findings.
“I am quite pleased to see the mainstream media enjoying the public-relations disaster fireworks as I am,” Griffith told The Associated Press in 2007.
Klein previously said Griffith cooperated with the FBI and “helped educate law enforcement” about the so-called dark web, a network of encrypted internet sites that allow users to remain anonymous. | https://www.wivb.com/science/cryptocurrency-expert-gets-5-years-in-nkorea-sanctions-case/ | 2022-04-13T01:04:31 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/science/cryptocurrency-expert-gets-5-years-in-nkorea-sanctions-case/ |
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 t o 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. | https://www.wivb.com/science/elon-musk-accused-of-breaking-law-while-buying-twitter-stock/ | 2022-04-13T01:04:38 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/science/elon-musk-accused-of-breaking-law-while-buying-twitter-stock/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Western law enforcement agencies have dismantled an online marketplace used to buy and sell hacked and stolen personal data belonging to millions of people, and have brought criminal charges against the platform’s founder and chief administrator, officials announced Tuesday.
Authorities say the RaidForums website trafficked in hundreds of databases of sensitive data, including credit card and Social Security numbers and bank account information, that had been hacked or stolen from victims.
In addition to seizing three domains that hosted the website, officials have also arrested 21-year-old Diogo Santos Coelho of Portugal, who prosecutors say controlled and administered the platform between 2015 and this past January, when he was taken into custody in the United Kingdom.
The U.S. is seeking his extradition to federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on charges including conspiracy, access device fraud and aggravated identify.
“The takedown of this online market for the resale of hacked or stolen data disrupts one of the major ways cybercriminals profit from the large-scale theft of sensitive personal and financial information,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr., head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement.
The site, founded in 2015, offered special access and features for members willing to pay — including a “God” membership that prosecutors say enabled nearly unlimited access. The site also sold “credits” to members that enabled them to download means of identification and information from stolen databases, and also allowed them to earn credits by posting instructions on how to commit illegal acts, according to an indictment.
“Disruption has always been a key technique in operating against threat actors online, so targeting forums that host huge amounts of stolen data keeps criminals on their toes,” said Edvardas Šileris, head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre. “Europol will continue working with its international partners to make cybercrime harder — and riskier — to commit.”
The FBI and Justice Department and other Western law enforcement agencies, including Europol and agencies in Sweden, Portugal, Germany and the UK, were involved in the operation.
Alex Holden, the founder of Hold Security, said RaidForums was the largest English-speaking forum and marketplace for cybercrooks and its takedown will be “a major problem for the bad guys who trade based on their reputation.”
But as the criminals migrate to different forums, he said, “they will have to mark their territory, assert their position, which only means more breaches” and more online dumping of stolen data.
____
Associated Press writers Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Frank Bajak in Boston contributed to this report. | https://www.wivb.com/science/global-operation-takes-down-hackers-leaked-data-market/ | 2022-04-13T01:04:45 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/science/global-operation-takes-down-hackers-leaked-data-market/ |
BOSTON (AP) — Russian military hackers attempted to knock out power to millions of Ukrainians last week in a long-planned attack but were foiled, Ukrainian government officials said Tuesday.
At one targeted high-voltage power station, the hackers succeeded in penetrating and disrupting part of the industrial control system, but people defending the station were able to prevent electrical outages, the Ukrainians said.
“The threat was serious, but it was prevented in a timely manner,” a top Ukrainian cybersecurity official, Victor Zhora, told reporters through an interpreter. “It looks that we were very lucky.”
The hackers from Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency used an upgraded version of malware first seen in its successful 2016 attack that caused blackouts in Kyiv, officials said, that was customized to target multiple substations. They simultaneously seeded malware designed to wipe out computer operating systems, hindering recovery.
Authorities did not specify how many substations were targeted or their location, citing security concerns, but a deputy energy minister, Farid Safarov, said “2 million people would have been without electricity supply if it was successful.”
Zhora, the deputy chair of the State Service of Special Communications, said the malware was programmed to knock out power on Friday evening just as people returned home from work and switched on news reports.
He said that power grid networks were penetrated before the end of February, when Russia invaded, and that the attackers later uploaded the malware, dubbed Industroyer2. The malware succeeded in disrupting one component of the impacted power station’s management systems, also known as SCADA systems.
Zhora would not offer further details or explain how the attack was defeated or which partners may have assisted directly in defeating it. He did acknowledge the depth of international assistance Ukraine has received in identifying intrusions and the challenges of trying to rid government, power grid and telecommunications networks of attackers. The helpers include keyboard warriors from U.S. Cybercommand, which declined comment.
The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine thanked Microsoft and the cybersecurity firm ESET for their assistance in dealing with the power grid attack in a bulletin posted online.
Officials said the destructive attacks had been planned at least since March 23, and Zhora speculated it was timed by Russia to “invigorate” its soldiers after they took heavy losses in a failed bid to capture Kyiv, the capital.
Zhora stressed that Russian cyberattacks have not successfully knocked out any power to Ukrainians since this invasion began.
GRU hackers from a group that researchers call Sandworm twice successfully attacked Ukraine’s power grid — in the winters of 2015 and 2016. U.S. prosecutors indicted six GRU officials in 2020 for using a previous version of the Industroyer malware to attack Ukraine’s power grid by gaining control of electrical substation switches and circuit breakers.
In the 2016 attack, Sandworm hackers used Industroyer to turn circuit breakers on and off in a sequence designed to create a blackout, said Jean-Ian Boutin, director of threat research at ESET.
“We know that Industroyer still has the capability to turn off circuit breakers,” he said.
Working closely with Ukrainian responders, ESET also determined that the attackers had infected networks at the targeted plants with disk-wiping software.
Successfully activating the malware would have rendered plant systems in operable, seriously hindering remediation and recovery and destroying the attackers’ digital footprints, Boutin said.
One of the destructive malware varieties used in the attack, dubbed CaddyWiper, was first discovered by ESET in mid-March being used against a Ukrainian bank, he said.
Western prosecutors blame Sandworm for a series of high-profile cyberattacks including the most destructive, the 2017 NotPetya wiper virus that caused more than $10 billion in damage globally by destroying data on entire networks of computers of companies doing business in Ukraine including those belonging to the shipper Maersk and the pharmaceutical company Merck.
Russia’s use of cyberattacks against Ukrainian infrastructure during its invasion has been limited compared with experts’ pre-war expectations. In the early hours of the war, however, an attack Ukraine blames on Russia knocked offline an important satellite communications link that also impacted tens of thousands of Europeans from France to Poland.
In another serious cyberattack of the war, hackers knocked offline the internet and cellular service of a major telecommunications company that serves the military, Ukretelecom, for most of the day on March 28.
Zhora said “the potential of Russian (state-backed) hackers has been overestimated” and cited a number of reasons why he believes cyberattacks have not played a major role in the conflict:
— When the aggressor is pummeling civilian targets with bombs and rockets there is little need to hide behind covert cyberactivity.
— Ukraine has significantly upped its cyber defenses with the help of volunteers from sympathetic countries.
— Attacks as sophisticated as this effort to knock out power are complex and tend to require a lot of time.
“This is not an easy thing to do,” Zhora said.
Ukraine has been under steady Russian cyberattack for the past eight years, with Zhora noting that the attacks have tripled since the invasion when compared with the same period last year.
Russia has said its invasion was needed to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine, a false claim the U.S. had predicted Russia would make as a pretext for the invasion. Ukraine has called Russia’s assault a “war of aggression,” saying it “will defend itself and will win.”
___
Associated Press writer Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report. | https://www.wivb.com/science/ukraine-says-potent-russian-hack-against-power-grid-thwarted/ | 2022-04-13T01:04:52 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/science/ukraine-says-potent-russian-hack-against-power-grid-thwarted/ |
For eight years, the University of Central Florida’s Limbitless Solutions has been on the cutting edge of outfitting children who have lost limbs with new 3-D printed bionic prosthetics that revolutionize their lives. Now, the organization is reaching for the next level of that mission, partnering with children’s hospitals to research the effect of these devices on young patients’ brains.
Although there has been a lot of research on limb loss and prosthetics usage, not much has been done on the possible effects of that usage on the patient’s brain. Limbitless Solutions, along with Jacksonville-based Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Nemours Children’s Health, will be investigating these impacts in an upcoming four-month clinical trial.
“The idea for this study came about several years ago and we proposed it to the hospital after presenting it at a conference,” said Albert Manero, president of Limbitless Solutions. “They were so receptive to being able to do this type of work, and it really is a cutting edge look at the brain and how it evolves from using prosthetics.”
Shea McLinden, a UCF health sciences junior and Limbitless Solutions intern, explained that when someone gets a prosthetic for the first time, it is a new experience to learn how to flex certain muscles to use the prosthetic. The study will look at brain images to identify any changes, such as different neural pathways being developed that would possibly be developed due to this learning process.
The amount of imaging and testing needed to carry out a research project like this made it impossible before, and Manero said he is glad Wolfson and Nemours joined Limbitless in this project.
“The clinical research allows for functional MRI testing along with other advanced imaging techniques in order to be able to scan the child’s brain as they are thinking about moving part of the prosthetic,” Manero said. “That will allow us to be able to see how that part of their brain is changing to the training that they are doing to learn their prosthetic.”
This research is also reinforcing the organization’s previous partnership with UCF’s School of Visual Arts and Design and the Nicholson School of Communication and Media, as participants will use training video games to learn how to use their prosthetics during the study.
“This particular clinical trial is really looking at how that training is affecting the brain and how it is improving the use of the bionic arm, so we are really excited to be able to see how that partnership continues to grow and develop,” Manero said.
Limbitless Solutions has worked with about 40 families since it started in 2014.
Limbitless Solutions’ first-ever clinical research was in Portland, Oregon. Manero said that despite the constant back-and-forth travel, he was happy with the opportunity. Now, he is even more excited to work with the Central and North Florida healthcare communities.
Limbitless is still looking for the five participants for this pilot study, which will require several trips to the Wolfson hospital in Jacksonville during the four-month period.
“For applicants who are the ages 9 through 12 and have not used a prosthetic before, this is a great opportunity to consider being involved in the research,” Manero said, inviting members of the Central and North Florida communities to submit their information at http://trials.limbitless-solutions.org/.
This story is part of a partnership between the Orlando Sentinel and UCF’s Nicholson School of Communication and Media. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/os-ne-health-limbitless-bounds-ucf-study-20220412-vardvzqlzjcxznozzkx3nejjmu-story.html | 2022-04-13T01:04:54 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/os-ne-health-limbitless-bounds-ucf-study-20220412-vardvzqlzjcxznozzkx3nejjmu-story.html |
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Akron and Maryvale squared up on the diamond for some spring break non-league baseball on Tuesday afternoon.
Bottom of the first, Josh Magda stays patient as the Akron pitcher throws his fourth ball for the bases loaded walk to score Hunter Murphy. Flyers take a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, Steven Doktor strikes out Magda with the bases loaded to get out of the inning unscathed. It’s still 1-0 after two.
Top of the third now, Jack Klodzinski smacks a ball all the way out to the centerfield fence for a standup triple to get the offense going for the Tigers.
And a few minutes later, he comes home after a balk to tie the game up at one a piece.
Bottom of the frame, Alex Havernick knocks a RBI sac grounder to second to score Nick Jacobs and give Maryvale the 2-1 lead after three innings.
The Flyers would run away with a 10-3 win over Akron to remain undefeated on the season, 5-0. | https://www.wivb.com/sports/maryvale-baseball-runs-away-with-10-3-win-over-akron/ | 2022-04-13T01:05:00 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/sports/maryvale-baseball-runs-away-with-10-3-win-over-akron/ |
I cannot believe what I am about to say, but here goes:
The Orlando Magic actually had a great season.
A tremendous season.
A dream season.
By their standards.
I know, I know, I can hear all of you out there screaming at me in unison:
“Bianchi, you moron, the Magic finished 22-60 with the second-worst record in league! How can you say they had a dream season?!!!”
You’re not listening.
I said they had a dream season by their standards.
I’m not judging the Magic’s season by our traditional fan criteria of wins and losses; I’m judging it by the goals the team itself strived to achieve.
If you don’t believe me, just listen:
“Yes, I think we accomplished a lot of our goals,” Jeff Weltman, the Magic’s president of basketball operations, told me Tuesday. “We established a way of working in large part because our coach [Jamahl Mosley] and coaching staff did a great job keeping our guys elevated and believing every day. If you had seen us practice at any point during the season, regardless of our record, you would have been amazed at our spirit, energy, belief and togetherness. Obviously, we knew we were going to take our lumps this year, and we took them, but everybody knows our future is in front of us.
“We have not pushed any chips into the middle of the table yet,” Weltman added. “We still have all of our draft picks. We’re excited about this year’s draft, our cap flexibility and the young guys who clearly improved and got integrated into our coaching staff.”
Translation: The first full season of the latest total rebuild was a resounding success from management’s perspective.
The Magic saw some of their young pieces like rookie Franz Wagner and big man Wendell Carter Jr. emerge, Mosley established a culture that kept the players motivated, no key players were seriously injured who weren’t already seriously injured (see Jonathan Isaac) and, of course, the team lost a massive amount of games to assure themselves of a high draft pick.
The problem is that the goals of management don’t always jibe with the desire of fans. The fact is the NBA strategy of tanking/rebuilding goes against everything we were ever taught about sports fandom. Instead of openly rooting for their rebuilding team to win; NBA fans are secretly rooting for their team to lose so that it will have the best chance possible of getting a top draft pick and a possible future star.
However, Magic fans, are fully and painfully aware that there are no guarantees. It’s been exactly 10 years since the inaugural rebuild began following Dwight Howard’s departure, and the Magic have suffered through nine losing seasons and the worst record in the league (275-526) over the last decade.
Let’s face it, most fans don’t root for player development and cap flexibility. They root for their team to win games and hopefully challenge for a championship. While most hardcore NBA fans understand the strategy and the “process” behind tanking, casual fans simply lose interest. Considering the misery of the last 10 years, it’s certainly not surprising that the Magic are among the bottom of the league in attendance and local TV ratings.
“I’ll always be a fan and I love going to the games, but I have noticed that some of the season-ticket holders around me have come and gone,” says Magic super fan and retired attorney Dennis Salvagio — aka The Fat Guy. “It seems like more and more of our opponents’ fans are in the arena these days, and that bothers me. We used to be able to fill up the building with just Magic fans. It’ll happen again as soon as we start winning, and I honestly believe we are on the right track this time. I really like this young nucleus of players.”
Bless the Fat Guy for his eternal optimism and his fanatical faithfulness. He has bought into Magic management’s vision of the team and says the rebuild has gone about as well as fans could have expected. Young players developed, the defense significantly improved as the year progressed and Markelle Fultz came back from a serious knee injury and looked like his old self.
The biggest bummers were that rookie Jalen Suggs, the No. 5 overall pick, was banged up for much of the season and didn’t show his full potential while Isaac, sadly, didn’t play for a second consecutive season while continuing to rehab from a devastating knee injury.
“We’re not content. We’re not satisfied,” Weltman said. “Everybody says you need stars in this league. Sometimes, stars don’t always reveal themselves instantly. We’ve had guys that have had tremendous growth on this team, and I think this team right now has a lot of potential. But there are still many improvements our guys have to make and that’s going to take a lot of work and it’s going to take time.”
We can only hope it doesn’t take too much more time.
After a decade of dreadfulness, Magic fans are ready to start rooting for the here and now instead of future draft picks.
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and HD 101.1-2 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/mike-bianchi-commentary/os-sp-orlando-magic-jeff-weltman-season-recap-mike-bianchi-column-20220413-ulxdwup7nrcwje2lyocw4sqpla-story.html | 2022-04-13T01:05:01 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/mike-bianchi-commentary/os-sp-orlando-magic-jeff-weltman-season-recap-mike-bianchi-column-20220413-ulxdwup7nrcwje2lyocw4sqpla-story.html |
Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez may be in excellent form at the club level with the L.A. Galaxy this season and a return to the Mexican national team for the first time since 2019 is possible, head coach Gerardo Martino confirmed with the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday.
Speaking ahead of the MexTour friendly scheduled for April 27 against Guatemala at Camping World Stadium, Martino recognized Chicharito’s current form in MLS saying the door remains open to a return for El Tri’s all-time leading goal scorer.
“Javier is who he is,” Martino told the Sentinel. “He’s one of the most important players Mexico has developed, playing for teams like Real Madrid and Manchester United. My respect for him as a player.
“But it’s up to the coach and he is one of the players who we could call up. It’s clear that I say this and the last two years I haven’t called him up whether in good or bad moments he hasn’t been with the national team since September 2019 but today, the conditions continue being the same, he’s one of the players who we could call up … without a doubt.”
After a lackluster debut season with the Galaxy in 2020 in which he scored twice in 12 games played, Hernandez returned the following year with 17 goals in 21 games for Los Angeles.
This season, Hernandez has scored 5 goals in six games for the MLS club.
While the April 27 friendly against Guatemala doesn’t fall during a FIFA date, Martino said he expects to call up a heavily domestic squad – citing the match in Orlando taking place toward the conclusion of the Liga MX Clausura season.
With Mexico locking an automatic 20202 FIFA World Cup berth last month, Martino said he expects to have his final roster for the tournament in Qatar ready by the end of October, beginning of November.
Martino, who coached Atlanta United to the 2018 MLS Cup title, also touched on the current state of Major League Soccer since leaving the Five Stripes to coach Mexico in 2019.
“MLS is a league growing constantly,” said Martino. “One sees it year by year. I lived it from the inside and I continue to see it from the outside. It’s a league with clear rules and a league I enjoy. The players that play in the United States and Mexico, what I observe are the young players from the U.S. heading to Europe, which has been a challenge for players in Mexico.”
Mexico’s game at Camping World Stadium is schedule to kick off at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by visiting MexTour.org.
El Tri also will play friendlies against Nigeria in Arlington, Texas, on May 28 which is followed by a game against Uruguay on June 2 in Glendale, Arizona, and Ecuador on June 5 in Chicago. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/soccer/world-cup/os-sp-orlando-exhibition-mexico-guatemala-chicharito-0413-20220413-tjzgk5imvndzvlgsvkiqygrmqy-story.html | 2022-04-13T01:05:07 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/soccer/world-cup/os-sp-orlando-exhibition-mexico-guatemala-chicharito-0413-20220413-tjzgk5imvndzvlgsvkiqygrmqy-story.html |
HENRICO, Va. (WRIC) — The Henrico Board of Supervisors voted to approve a 10-story apartment building near the intersection of Staples Mill and Bethlehem Roads at their meeting Tuesday night.
According to planning documents filed with the city, the mixed-use building will have 232 residential units, as well as shops on the ground floor.
Residents will have access to a two-story parking deck, which will separate the 8 floors of apartments from the commercial space below. It’s still unclear whether the ground-floor commercial space will be used for offices or retail, but it will total about 10,000 square feet.
Plans filed with the county suggest the building will be more geared towards single residents than families. Of the 232 units, 167 will be one bedrooms and 23 will be studios, while just 32 will be two bedrooms and 10 three bedrooms.
The project will replace an office and warehouse that currently occupy the site. | https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/henrico-county/henrico-approves-10-story-apartment-complex-on-staples-mill-road/ | 2022-04-13T01:05:23 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/henrico-county/henrico-approves-10-story-apartment-complex-on-staples-mill-road/ |
Update 8:30 p.m.: One lane on I-64 West has been reopened.
HENRICO, Va. (WRIC) — All lanes were closed on I-64 West at mile marker 203 in Henrico due to a car fire Tuesday evening, according to VDOT.
The Henrico County Fire Department received a call about a fire involving two vehicles, but upon arrival personnel saw one box truck on fire. The truck is considered a total loss.
Henrico Fire said one person was taken VCU Medical Center, but the individual’s condition is unknown.
The vehicle fire was located about 1.5 miles east from I-295 around Exit 200.
There was a 1.5 mile back up as of about 8 p.m. Use alternate routes and expect delays.
This is a breaking news story, stay with 8News for updates. | https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/henrico-county/henrico-vehicle-fire-closes-all-lanes-on-i-64-west/ | 2022-04-13T01:05:29 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/henrico-county/henrico-vehicle-fire-closes-all-lanes-on-i-64-west/ |
PETERSBURG, Va. (WRIC) — Police are on scene in Petersburg, where three people were shot Tuesday evening.
Three people were shot, and one of those people died as a result of his injuries, according to officials.
Police said there were three locations connected with the three people who were shot: Locust Street, High Pearl, and East Washington Street.
Police tweeted around 8 p.m. that forces were on scene at the 1500 block of East Washington conducting a death investigation.
Petersburg Police asked for anyone with information on the incident, to call 804-861-1212.
This is a breaking news story, stay with 8News for updates. | https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/police-investigating-fatal-triple-shooting-in-petersburg/ | 2022-04-13T01:05:35 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/local-news/police-investigating-fatal-triple-shooting-in-petersburg/ |
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC)-Governor Glenn Youngkin is amending a bill impacting what cannabis products can be sold in Virginia and possibly setting new misdemeanor penalties for marijuana possession.
It’s the first time Youngkin is taking a formal stance in some thorny debates: navigating punishments under recreational marijuana legalization and reining in a largely unregulated hemp industry.
“We protected Virginians from potentially harmful synthetically-modified substances while preserving the market for regulated CBD products currently available,” Youngkin said in a statement on Monday night. “I call on the General Assembly to adopt these changes and quickly enact them into law so that they can benefit all residents of the Commonwealth.”
So far, the Governor is getting mixed reviews.
Some say the bill remains overly restrictive and will “re-active The War on Drugs.”
Meanwhile, at least one shop that sells CBD in Richmond is cautiously optimistic.
“About 40 percent of our CBD product inventory would’ve been illegal July 1st had the bill passed unamended. This will be very helpful for us and other small businesses in the state,” said Chris Haynie, co-founder of Happy Trees Agricultural Supply.
Those comments come after Governor Youngkin scrapped new proposed per serving and per container limits on THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis. Many in the hemp industry said the caps could’ve forced helpful products off of the shelves.
Youngkin’s amendments were not posted online as of Tuesday afternoon, leaving some ambiguity over how the administration planned to protect full-spectrum CBD.
Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for Youngkin, said the amendments give a board within the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services the authority to set THC limits. She didn’t respond when asked if the agency plans to do so or if this was included to preserve flexibility.
The underlying bill sponsored by Senator Emmett Hanger (R-Augusta) was initially intended to ban edibles in certain shapes and colors that may appeal to children.
“Some manufacturers we did get gummies from will have to change their molds and the shaping of the products, which they don’t seem to mind at all. I think one of the most important parts of this is it will give clarity to businesses operating in this space,” Haynie said.
Youngkin also wants to set age restrictions for CBD, potentially prohibiting sales to those under 21 years old for the first time. Some stores are already doing that on their own.
“We’re just trying to stay a step ahead of it because we kind of saw that coming,” said Josiah Ickes, another co-found of Happy Trees.
Controversially, Youngkin is green-lighting the push to crack down on the cannabis compound Delta-8. The bill bans the retail sale in Virginia, at least for now.
The products are becoming increasingly common in convenience stores and specialty shops due to loopholes in the law, according to legislators. Supporters of the bill say the products are often mislabeled and unsafe for consumers.
American Healthy Alternatives Association President JD McCormick argues lawmakers should’ve focused on passing stricter safety standards, including lab testing, child-resistant packaging and marketing requirements, rather than restricting access to products that are allowed under federal law. He said the Virginia chapter of their organization advocated for these adjustments and they’re now urging lawmakers to reject Youngkin’s amendments.
“The Commonwealth of Virginia is banning the sale of these products and changing the rules halfway through the game,” McCormick said. “Many of these small businesses and farmers have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in these products and the administration is now taking them away from them and giving them over to these giant, multinational corporations.”
Another change proposed by Youngkin could add new misdemeanor penalties for recreational marijuana possession of more than two ounces. Youngkin’s office confirmed the amended bill lays out the following graduated punishments for public possession, not private possession.
- More than one ounce to two ounces: $25 dollar fine
- Two ounces to six ounces: Class two misdemeanor
- Six ounces to one pound (sixteen ounces): Class one misdemeanor
- More than one pound: Felony with a maximum punishment of ten years in prison and $250,000 fine
Current state law sets a $25 dollar fine for public possession between more than one ounce and one pound. The felony punishment kicks in after that.
The more gradual escalation proposed by Youngkin was recommended in a presentation last year from the non-partisan Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. JLARC Project Lead Mark Gribbin said this would put Virginia more in line with other states.
However, the amendment was met with swift push back from multiple advocacy groups.
“Instead of creating new ways to criminalize Virginians for a legal substance, Governor Youngkin’s administration ought to focus on establishing the retail market for adult-use cannabis, ensuring that products are safe, convenient, and affordable,” said Virginia NORML Executive Director JM Pedini.
Marijuana Justice Executive Director Chelsea Higgs Wise said the new misdemeanor penalties could criminalize Virginians, especially young adults.
“These new crimes really re-activate another generation of this racist War on Drugs here in Virginia,” Wise said.” Youth ages 18 to 24 have always been criminalized the hardest and these new crimes could lead them back to cages, rather than receiving care.”
The General Assembly still needs to approve Youngkin’s amendments in a reconvened session scheduled for April 27. | https://www.wric.com/news/youngkin-amendments-impact-sale-of-cannabis-products-marijuana-penalties/ | 2022-04-13T01:05:41 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/youngkin-amendments-impact-sale-of-cannabis-products-marijuana-penalties/ |
TAMPA (WFLA) – President Biden aims to cut gasoline prices nearly a dime a gallon by temporarily waiving rules that restrict ethanol blending.
U.S gasoline is normally blended with 10 percent ethanol, but an emergency waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency will allow the sale of a 15 percent ethanol blend. A higher increase in ethanol is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 as it’s said to create smog in hot temperatures.
8 On Your Side spoke to an automotive expert from Hillsborough County’s Erwin Technical College about the impact higher ethanol can have on vehicles.
“More ethanol is not a good thing, it’s a bad thing. Shelf life is very short, it causes deterioration to all the rubber parts of the engine,” Thomas Shindel, an automotive instructor said.
Shindel has worked in the automotive industry for over thirty years and shared gas with a higher ethanol percentage evaporates faster.
“These engines weren’t designed for ethanol gas, the more ethanol you put in it, the more issues you’ll have down the road,” Shindel said.
Tampa Bay area drivers shared they want to see a decline in their weekly gas costs.
“If it lowers my gas prices, and it doesn’t affect my vehicle, I’ll go for it, but he’s got to do something,” said John Huff.
“My gasoline bill has gone up from $300 to $400 a month to $800 a month, so it’s double,” said Phil Pulido. | https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/president-biden-waives-ethanol-rule-to-lower-summer-gas-prices/ | 2022-04-13T01:07:19 | 0 | https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/president-biden-waives-ethanol-rule-to-lower-summer-gas-prices/ |
(NewsNation) — Investigators in Utah have tracked down a man accused of faking his own death to avoid a rape charge. The man in question, who was reportedly found in Scotland, is maintaining his innocence and insisting police have the wrong guy.
The man identified by authorities as Nicholas Alahverdian, who claims he is a different man, was arrested in December for a 2008 sexual assault allegation in Orem, Utah. According to prosecutors, he invited a woman to whom he owed money to his home, saying he would pay her back but instead brutally raped her.
The registered sex offender is under investigation in four states for sexual assault and kidnapping. He also faces charges for fraudulently obtaining credit cards in his foster father’s name, amassing $200,000 in debt.
Many people in Rhode Island, including reporters, local politicians and members of his own family, believed Alahverdian died in February 2020 from cancer. Someone claiming to be his wife confirmed the reported death and had an obituary published for him. His life was even eulogized at the Rhode Island State House, where he was praised for his work on behalf of children. But it turns out, authorities say, he was alive.
“I’m shocked. Honestly, I feel like that I was used a little bit. I went along with it, you know, meaning I was unaware that this was a setup,” uncle Michael Alahverdian said.
Law enforcement officers say they tracked Nicholas Alahverdian down in December. They say he was in a Scottish hospital on a ventilator being treated for COVID-19. Scottish investigators and staff at the Glasgow hospital reportedly worked with the Utah County Attorney’s Office to identify Alahverdian based on tattoos and DNA evidence.
While it may seem like the case was nearly closed, they soon learned it was just the beginning.
The man identified as Alahverdian claims his name is actually Arthur Knight and that the entire ordeal is a big misunderstanding. The man saying he is Knight insists he has never even been to the United States and a woman claiming to be his wife backs up his story.
Still, the man claiming to be Knight has not been able to produce a birth certificate to authorities. He also refused to roll up his sleeves when a BBC reporter asked to check his arm for tattoos.
Knight appeared Monday on NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live” via Zoom, but his breathing device made him hard to understand. He did show parts of his arms during the interview. And as for DNA evidence, his attorney Craig Johnson says prosecutors don’t have it.
“There is no DNA. That’s inaccurate. (The prosecutor) is inaccurate and we’re looking forward to proving that beyond a reasonable doubt,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he just returned from spending time with Knight. According to Nexstar’s WPRI, Johnson is not representing Knight in the U.K. proceedings.
“I just got back from spending four days in Scotland with him and his wife. I was able to see his arms as proof that he does not have the tattoos supposedly, that Mr. Alahverdian had,” Johnson said. “In addition, during those entire time with him, some 12- to 16-hour days, I never saw him off of his oxygen mask, it all seemed genuine to me. There were times that I had to help him out of his wheelchair into a sitting chair for dinner and things like that into his car. And so from my perspective, he is not Mr. Alahverdian. He’s never been to the United States and they have the wrong man.”
Johnson previously worked for the Utah County Attorney, and a Salt Lake Tribune article from March 2020 reveals that he and two other prosecutors resigned amid an investigation into whether they received inappropriate gifts from a defense attorney.
Even with Johnson’s arguments, prosecutors are not backing down. They say in the past, Alahverdian was able to avoid law enforcement by giving multiple aliases. Officials believe there may be more victims of Alahverdian in multiple states. | https://www.wric.com/news/man-accused-of-faking-own-death-found-maintains-innocence/ | 2022-04-13T01:10:04 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/man-accused-of-faking-own-death-found-maintains-innocence/ |
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.wric.com/news/u-s-world/1-dead-2-pulled-from-rubble-following-partial-building-collapse-on-west-side/ | 2022-04-13T01:10:10 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/1-dead-2-pulled-from-rubble-following-partial-building-collapse-on-west-side/ |
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – An Ohio man with four children to feed, and who has seen his rent and food bills increase, decided to get a B1DNSUX license plate to share his thoughts with fellow drivers.
Joseph Haig, of Pickaway County, owns a painting business. Like many small business owners, he’s been hurt by increased costs.
“I got the license plate because I didn’t like the gas prices, I didn’t like that my rent had gone up, I didn’t like that the food and formula and diapers for my baby had gone up and was becoming harder to find, and I blamed the current administration,” he said.
Haig applied for the plate eight months ago.
“I did think it was funny,” Haig said. “I also didn’t think it would get approved. It was kind of like a joke to the teller that was doing the paperwork. And she said, ‘Spell it out.’ So I wrote it on a piece of paper, and she laughed, and she gave me a paper copy.
“For three weeks I didn’t think the hard copy was ever going to come — and then,” Haig said with a grin, “it came.”
Most people like the license plate, Haig said, and it’s a good talking point.
“Very few negative feedbacks compared to the positive feedback,” he said. “It makes my day every time somebody gives me a thumbs up. … I’ve even had somebody get out of a car at a Wendy’s and pound on my window and tell me that he loved it.”
Even though Haig is frustrated with the current administration, he said he followed pandemic rules — “I wore my mask inside people’s houses” — and he’s also pitched in when somebody gets hurt: He pulled a victim of a tubing accident from Alum Creek into his fishing boat in 2020. Haig said the victim died as Haig tried to keep him alive.
Haig is not the only person to have a plate that sounds off about the administration. A BIDN SUX plate was seen in a nearby neighborhood in March.
Although Ohioans have been able to show their frustration with President Joe Biden on license plates, they haven’t been able to disparage Michigan in a similar way. Two references were denied in 2020 related to the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry: “MCHSUX” and “UM SCKS.”
In 2021, the BMV denied 827 vanity plates, including at least 48 plates referencing Biden or making a similar comment, according to an analysis of an internal list received via public records request. | https://www.wric.com/news/weird-news/b1dnsux-license-plate-owner-why-i-got-it/ | 2022-04-13T01:10:16 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/weird-news/b1dnsux-license-plate-owner-why-i-got-it/ |