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Comedian and actor Frankie Quiñones talks about the second season of the show This Fool, now streaming on Hulu.
Copyright 2023 NPR
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We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/hulus-the-fool-gives-a-working-class-perspective-of-life-in-los-angeles | 2023-07-28T22:46:36 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/hulus-the-fool-gives-a-working-class-perspective-of-life-in-los-angeles |
Every two years, Alpha Phi Alpha, the nation’s oldest and largest Black intercollegiate fraternity, brings thousands of attendees — and millions of dollars — to the cities where it holds its biennial convention.
In 2025, Orlando was slated to benefit from that influx — an economic impact Alpha Phi Alpha projected to be between $4.6 million and $10 million. Instead, the organization — which once counted civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall among its members — has decided to relocate its convention, citing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s “harmful, racist, and insensitive policies against the Black community.”
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“Our intent is to ensure that, where we spend our dollars, we are going to be respected,” Alpha Phi Alpha General President Willis L. Lonzer III told The Washington Post. “And people that look like us, who are Black people, brown people, people of different cultures and ethnicities, need to be respected.”
The decision comes six months after Florida rejected the College Board’s new Advanced Placement course in African American studies — a part of DeSantis’s long-running battle against what he calls “woke ideology” infiltrating schools. The governor has urged restrictions on how Black history is taught since 2021. Last year, DeSantis signed a law banning the teaching of critical race theory — an academic framework focused on the idea that racial inequality is systemically interwoven in American society, legal systems, and institutions — in public schools.
Yet Lonzer said “the final straw that broke the proverbial back” came last week, when the state’s board of education approved a new set of standards for public schools’ Black history curriculum — one that says students should learn that enslaved people “developed skills” that “could be applied for their personal benefit.”
“We need to be clear that slavery was immoral, and anyone who suggests otherwise is either incredibly ignorant or grossly divisive or both,” Lonzer said. “Our efforts are to really make sure that it’s clear that we will not tolerate that level of disrespect. This is considered an economic protest by removing our convention out of the Orlando market and, really, out of Florida.”
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Though DeSantis has said he “wasn’t involved” in crafting the new standards, he defended the policy, telling reporters “they’re probably going to show some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.”
Spokespeople for DeSantis and Florida’s Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a previous statement, Cassandra Palelis, press secretary for the state’s education department, said changes made under DeSantis’s administration have made it so ‘’the past and present contributions of African Americans are celebrated, and their rich history is fully and accurately taught.’’
Over the past months, though, civil rights groups have disagreed with that notion. Earlier this year, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Equality Florida, and the NAACP all issued travel advisories to the Sunshine State, warning that the recent slew of policies have turned Florida into a hostile state for people of color, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Florida’s new curriculum has sparked backlash from educators, organizations, and elected officials ranging from Vice President Harris to members of the GOP, including Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, and former congressman Will Hurd of Texas.
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Lonzer said it would take a reversal of Florida’s policies for Alpha Phi Alpha to backpedal its decision. A new location will be decided after this year’s convention in Dallas wraps up on Sunday, he said.
The organization chooses where to host its conventions based on a slew of factors, Lonzer said. The cities must have an environment that is favorable for business and families. They must also be in places where Alpha Phi Alpha will be able to “leave a positive footprint” through the convention’s mentorship opportunities, lectures, and community-based activities, including blood drives and health-care drives.
In Orlando, DeSantis’s laws have hindered that, he added.
“Until those things happen, we’re going to stand strong with our protest because we have to make it plain to individuals who do not understand that we will not be intimidated by law changes and an infrastructure that is not favorable for us,” he said. “We’ve survived worse than that.” | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/nation/oldest-black-fraternity-moves-convention-over-floridas-racist-policies/ | 2023-07-28T22:46:42 | 1 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/nation/oldest-black-fraternity-moves-convention-over-floridas-racist-policies/ |
This month, members of the mid-Columbia River tribes set off from Oregon on an annual intertribal canoe journey to Seattle. It's especially poignant this year after a three-year hiatus due to COVID.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This month, members of the mid-Columbia River tribes set off from Oregon on an annual intertribal canoe journey to Seattle. It's especially poignant this year after a three-year hiatus due to COVID.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/intertribal-canoe-trip-from-oregon-to-seattle-will-set-out-for-first-time-since-covid | 2023-07-28T22:46:42 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/intertribal-canoe-trip-from-oregon-to-seattle-will-set-out-for-first-time-since-covid |
The Falcons have agreed to terms with free agent defensive tackle Justin Ellis, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
Ellis worked out for the Falcons on Friday.
The Raiders made Ellis a fourth-round pick in 2014, and he has played nine seasons for the Raiders, (2014-18), Ravens (2019-21) and Giants (2022).
He played all 17 games for the Giants last season, making four starts. Ellis totaled 22 tackles, one sack and one quarterback hit in 362 defensive snaps and 44 on special teams.
Ellis has not played more than 50 percent of the defensive snaps in any season since his rookie season when he played 56 percent, but he has been a solid run stopper as a rotational player.
He has appeared in 117 games with 54 starts in his career, recording 182 tackles, 1.5 sacks and five quarterback hits. | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/falcons-agree-to-terms-with-justin-ellis | 2023-07-28T22:46:45 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/falcons-agree-to-terms-with-justin-ellis |
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — After suffering a torn meniscus in his left knee at the end of Thursday’s practice, Jalen Ramsey addressed his Miami Dolphins teammates and told them not to worry or feel sorry for him.
The six-time Pro Bowl cornerback is expected to miss the start of the regular season. But he vowed — bragged a little — that he could beat whatever timeline for return doctors give him.
“It really moved a lot of people,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Friday. “He first let everybody know how much he appreciated this team, how this team has accepted him, how he has been in the league a little bit and how he knows what we’re doing here, in his opinion, is special, for his position group not to waiver, and exuded all the confidence that he had in that position group.”
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Ramsey was scheduled for surgery later Friday to repair the tear. A timeline for his return was unknown before the procedure.
Miami acquired the All-Pro corner in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams in March.
“I feel good about the entire crew,” McDaniel said. “We are dealing with some injuries now in that group, but I feel very, very, very good about the competition there and the guys that are ready to go see some more opportunities.”
With the cornerback room not at full strength, McDaniel said the team will work out a cornerback for “depth purposes.” | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/sports/jalen-ramsey-vows-be-back-with-dolphins-sooner-than-timeline-doctors-lay-out-him-after-knee-surgery/ | 2023-07-28T22:46:48 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/sports/jalen-ramsey-vows-be-back-with-dolphins-sooner-than-timeline-doctors-lay-out-him-after-knee-surgery/ |
Marine scientists say record ocean temperatures have sparked widespread coral bleaching in the Florida Keys. The extreme heat and bleaching have been deadly — killing all coral on one popular reef.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Marine scientists say record ocean temperatures have sparked widespread coral bleaching in the Florida Keys. The extreme heat and bleaching have been deadly — killing all coral on one popular reef.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/scientists-fight-to-help-protect-the-florida-coral-thats-dying-from-heat | 2023-07-28T22:46:48 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/scientists-fight-to-help-protect-the-florida-coral-thats-dying-from-heat |
From the time the Red Sox signed Wikelman Gonzalez out of Venezuela in 2018, the righthander has displayed the swing-and-miss stuff to create daydreams of considerable potential. His upside ranked with that of any pitcher in the system.
“The fastball plays, he has a four-pitch repertoire, and he’s got a starter’s build and stamina,” summarized assistant general manager Eddie Romero.
Though Gonzalez struggled at the start of 2022, he closed the year on a tremendous run to earn a year-ending promotion to High A Greenville. He had a strong spring, setting expectations that he might push quickly to get to Double A this season.
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But in the first month, the reality of Gonzalez’s performance was divorced dramatically from his promise. He pitched just 8⅔ innings across four starts, with more walks (16) and runs (16) than strikeouts (14). The 21-year-old’s inability to throw strikes was alarming.
“His April was as bad as it could be,” said director of pitching development Shawn Haviland.
Certainly, there were mechanical issues — not shocking given what team officials describe as “hyper-mobility” that lends itself to unusual release angles — but they believed the issues went deeper.
Greenville pitching coach Bob Kipper and pitching coordinator Nick Otte sat down with Gonzalez to get to the root of his struggles.
“I’ll give Wiki a lot of credit because he revealed things to us that we could not have known,” said Kipper. “It really came down to the pressure that he was putting on himself, the negative thoughts that he was having before an outing even took place, the pressures he was feeling at home, particularly in the wake of his poor performances early on in the season.
“It was affecting how he ate, affecting how he slept — all things that we were beginning to see. He didn’t have energy. If he had a good inning, he couldn’t sustain it. It began to explain a lot.”
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The meeting also offered the Sox a chance to explain to Gonzalez the purpose underlying some of his between-starts work — the type of work that might be necessary to improve delivery stability and allow the pitcher to harness his mid-90s fastball, curve, changeup, and newly introduced cutter in the strike zone.
The coaches talked to Gonzalez about the need to think not about upcoming starts but about the responsibilities of each individual day, the need for intent when playing catch, in side work, in strength and conditioning routings.
“We talked about winning the day,” said Kipper. “You’re going to wake up every day, you’re going to go to the ballpark, you’re going to win the day. When you win the day, you’re going to go home, you’re going to feel really good about you because you dominated the day, and you’re going to sleep really well because of that.
“That’s really how it started. He started feeling good about Wiki Gonzalez again.”
Gonzalez’s next start represented a breakthrough: five innings of one-run ball in which he struck out nine and walked one. That was the start of a remarkable run that now spans 13 starts and two levels.
Over that time, Gonzalez — who was promoted to Double A Portland in mid-July — is 7-1 with a 2.98 ERA, .181 opponents’ average, 41 percent strikeout rate, and 11 percent walk rate. He was brilliant in his first two starts with the Sea Dogs (12 innings, 1 run, 19 strikeouts). For the year, Gonzalez leads minor leaguers who have thrown at least 70 innings with a 38 percent strikeout rate.
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“What he went through the first three weeks of the season to where he is now, it’s two different guys,” said Kipper.
The difference starts with fastball command.
“Sometimes pitchers and even coaches think it needs to be stuff vs. command,” said farm director Brian Abraham. “It can be both. You can work on pitch design and swing-and-miss but also still work on command.”
This year, for many pitchers, the Sox have emphasized the point in between-starts work, dividing the strike zone into ninths — a tic-tac-toe board slicing it into thirds horizontally and vertically, numbering each section.
A coach might yell a pitch type and number to suggest a specific location to target. “Fastball, 5,” for instance, calls for a middle-middle fastball. Kipper often asked Gonzalez to target that location, understanding that his distinct traits — a low release point with a fastball that has excellent carry at the top of the zone, resulting in heaters that can explode above hitters’ bats — would take it to an effective location.
The results have been dramatic.
“It’s a very significant jump and puts him right there in line with what major league starters need to do,” said Haviland. “He probably went from close to 30-grade command [on the 20-to-80 scale, where 50 is average] and it’s now in that 45- to 50-grade command.
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“There’s still a lot of work to be done as the hitters get better and the zone gets smaller. He’s going to have to improve but he’s made a lot of progress.”
As promising as Gonzalez’s pure stuff has been, his ability to adjust in the face of struggles may be even more significant.
“He had never failed, by his own admission, to the extent he failed this year early in the season,” said Kipper. “It requires tremendous courage to be able to respond and recover from something that he went through.
“Wikelman Gonzalez can be as good as he wants to be. I think he has the potential to be a really, really good major league starting pitcher.”
Three up
▪ Outfielder Corey Rosier earned a promotion to Worcester after hitting .302/.357/.483 in Portland. The 23-year-old was 35 for 41 in steal attempts.
▪ In five July starts spanning 28 innings for Greenville, righthander Angel Bastardo struck out 42 and walked 7 with a 2.89 ERA.
▪ After hitting .188/.335/.241 with 1 homer through 39 games, 19-year-old infielder Cutter Coffey has posted a .285/.372/.489 line with 6 homers in his last 35 games for Salem.
Three down
▪ Portland second baseman Nick Yorke hasn’t played since July 20 because of what the Sox view as a minor Achilles’ injury. He was hitting .211/.241/.312 with a 32 percent strikeout rate since June 11.
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▪ While righthander Luis Guerrero has been largely unhittable in Portland, the 22-year-old has struggled to throw strikes this month, walking 9 batters in 5⅔ innings to increase his walk rate to 17 percent.
▪ High A outfielder Roman Anthony has struck out 19 times in 40 plate appearances in his last nine games. Still, the 19-year-old is hitting.302/.446/.677 in 27 games since his promotion.
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/sports/red-sox-coaches-find-way-unlock-talent-pitching-prospect-wikelman-gonzalez/ | 2023-07-28T22:46:54 | 1 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/sports/red-sox-coaches-find-way-unlock-talent-pitching-prospect-wikelman-gonzalez/ |
NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Amnesty International's Ousmane Diallo about the implications of the recent coup in Niger.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/the-implications-of-the-recent-coup-in-niger | 2023-07-28T22:46:55 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/the-implications-of-the-recent-coup-in-niger |
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who has previously worn a wristband with the Ravens’ plays written on it to assist him with play calling, has ditched it this year at the request of new offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
Monken says that without a wristband to rely on, Jackson will be more engaged mentally and better able to communicate play calls to his teammates.
“One of the most important things is your ability to communicate the calls,” Monken said, via Sarah Ellison. “And the best way for that to happen is to not start with wristbands. He has to hear what I say. He has to process the call. He has to regurgitate to the players. He has to get the cadence. We can always go to wristbands. Wristbands are easy. You just read it. Hard is learning the offense, being able to process and make the calls.”
The Ravens made a big investment in a new contract for Jackson this offseason, and they brought in Monken to design an offense around Jackson. Monken wants Jackson to know that offense so well that a wristband isn’t necessary. | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/todd-monken-lamar-jackson-will-call-plays-better-by-ditching-the-wristband | 2023-07-28T22:46:55 | 0 | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/todd-monken-lamar-jackson-will-call-plays-better-by-ditching-the-wristband |
SAN FRANCISCO — The Red Sox are a weird team.
They are 25-19 against the 12 teams holding playoffs spots, but 30-28 against everybody else.
They are one of six teams averaging at least five runs a game. But they also lead the majors in errors. They’re over the league average in stolen bases and under in home runs. Has any Sox team ever done that before?
The starting pitchers have the fifth-worst ERA in the majors; the relievers have the fourth best.
They have a backup catcher (Jorge Alfaro) who’s a terrible catcher and a backup second baseman (Justin Turner) who’s usually their 38-year-old designated hitter.
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Their highest-paid player (Chris Sale) has appeared in only 11 games and their second-highest paid player (Trevor Story) hasn’t played at all.
The Sox have twice allowed Little League home runs, the embarrassing spectacle of a batter touring the bases after a series of defensive blunders.
They also ran into a triple play on Tuesday on a routine fly ball to center field with runners on first and second. The 8-3-5 triple play was only the second in major league history.
The first was in 1884. The Civil War veterans in the stands were aghast and that was a tough bunch.
What better place for a weird team than San Francisco and beautiful Oracle Park, where a man in an Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox jersey — really, buddy? — stopped me near the Willie Mays statue on Friday afternoon and asked if the Red Sox should be sellers or buyers.
It is tempting to say the Sox should sell. It feels inevitable they will tease us against a soft schedule through mid-August before collapsing during a 10-game stretch against the Astros and Dodgers.
A team with a poor rotation and porous defense is doomed to fail. That’s usually how it works. Even if the Sox manage to snag a wild card, it’s hard to imagine them advancing very far given all their weaknesses.
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The trade deadline hits Tuesday and the Sox have a bunch of veterans who would be attractive chips. Maybe that would be the smart move.
But the unusual aspect of this season also suggests the Sox should lean into their weirdness and go for it.
The Orioles have the best record in the American League powered by a group of talented young players with little playoff experience. The Rays started 30-9 and are 32-34 since. The Rangers are 25-23 since June 1.
The American League can be had, so why not the Red Sox?
This is not to suggest that Chaim Bloom blow up his vaunted plan. But stick with the plan while determining which players in the minor leagues the Sox can live without. Then trade for at least one starting pitcher and a reliable second baseman.
Bloom owes the clubhouse more than catchphrases about the future. The Sox were on the verge of collapse after being swept by Miami at home in late June and they pulled it together by winning 15 of 20.
Alex Cora, the coaches, and the players have done well in salvaging the season. They deserve more than two bullpen games every five days.
The Sox can’t wait for Sale, Tanner Houck, and Garrett Whitlock to come back to address their rotation.
Bloom owes the fans something, too.
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It’s hard being a Sox fan. Tickets are expensive, it’s impossible to find parking near Fenway Park without paying $50, and leaving your seat to get a beer is an adventure.
Then again, leaving your seat might be a good idea if it’s facing center field or behind a pole.
It’s great that the organization has better prospects; that’s important. All hail the plan. But the product being sold at the park and on NESN matters, too.
Trading Kiké Hernández was a good start. That was addition by subtraction and maybe one of the two Triple A pitchers they received from the Dodgers will be helpful.
But there needs to be more than that. Maybe the Sox can grab a starter from the Cardinals or take a shot at landing Mets lefthander José Quintana.
This is off the wall, but maybe the White Sox’ Tim Anderson could fit at second base. He seems like a player badly in need of a change of scenery.
Get weird. Do something. This season makes no sense but it’s been fun lately. There’s a lot to be said for more fun.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him @PeteAbe. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/sports/red-sox-should-lean-into-weird-season-buy-before-mlb-trade-deadline/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:00 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/sports/red-sox-should-lean-into-weird-season-buy-before-mlb-trade-deadline/ |
NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Gene X. Hwang about X (formerly Twitter) taking over his handle @x without informing nor compensating him.
Copyright 2023 NPR
NPR's Juana Summers speaks with Gene X. Hwang about X (formerly Twitter) taking over his handle @x without informing nor compensating him.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/the-man-who-once-tweeted-as-x-wasnt-informed-when-the-company-took-over-his-handle | 2023-07-28T22:47:01 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/the-man-who-once-tweeted-as-x-wasnt-informed-when-the-company-took-over-his-handle |
Chris Stapleton surprises girl with a rare backstage meet and greet
(Circle) - Chris Stapleton made a little girl’s dream come true over the weekend.
Stapleton’s 2023 All-American Road Show has kept him on the go, performing night after night, but amongst all the shows, one truly stood out.
At his July 14 concert at the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a heartwarming moment unfolded when a young fan named Lily held up a sign that read, “Will you take a picture with me?”
The simple question seemed to really catch Stapleton’s attention because the girl and her family were escorted backstage after the concert, where they patiently waited for Stapleton and his wife, Morgane, to join them.
In the TikTok video, Morgane asks the young fan if she created the sign. She nods and replies, “Yes,” proudly holding out a guitar pick she had received during the concert before the meet-and-greet.
“Well. We saw your sign, and we said, We’ve gotta do that,” Morgane added.
The fan’s successful meet and greet with Stapleton came as a surprise to many, given his reputation as a private person. He is well-known for his low-key status, rarely participating in interviews, let alone participating in meet and greets.
Stapleton also surprised some fans recently by announcing to the world that he will be releasing his 5th studio album, titled “Higher.”
The upcoming album will mark his first studio release since 2020 when he dropped his fourth studio album, “Starting Over,” which won him a Grammy for Best Country Album.
Originally appeared on Circle All Access. https://www.circleallaccess.com/
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/28/chris-stapleton-surprises-girl-with-rare-backstage-meet-greet/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:02 | 0 | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/28/chris-stapleton-surprises-girl-with-rare-backstage-meet-greet/ |
With Brock Purdy the expected starter for the 49ers in Week 1, Trey Lance is competing with Sam Darnold for the backup job. It’s a long fall from No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 draft and unquestioned starter this time last year.
Lance, though, is approaching training camp as an opportunity.
“Just taking it one day at a time,” Lance said Friday, via David Bonilla of 49erswebzone.com. “I’m very present-mind focused. Every rep, one rep at a time, one day at a time, one meeting at a time. Whatever it is, I truly believe everything works out exactly how it’s supposed to. So as long as I control what I can control, that’s all I can worry about.”
Lance remains a young, inexperienced quarterback with potential. He has played only eight games, with four starts, in two seasons. Because of injuries, Lance has seen only 262 regular-season snaps.
Private quarterbacks coach Jeff Christensen retooled Lance’s throwing motion this offseason, which has eliminated Lance’s ongoing arm soreness.
Lance said from his rookie year to where he is now is like “night and day.”
“The game has slowed down a lot,” Lance said. “Just going to continue to get better, though. . . . It’s more my feet, honestly, than anything from the last couple of years. But, yeah, I don’t find myself liking to watch the mechanics side of the last couple of years’ reps. I feel like I’m in a much, much better place now, for sure.” | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/trey-lance-unconcerned-with-his-spot-on-depth-chart | 2023-07-28T22:47:05 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/trey-lance-unconcerned-with-his-spot-on-depth-chart |
BALTIMORE — The New York Yankees have been a sub-.500 team since Aaron Judge injured his toe in early June. Now they hope his return can help them rally for a postseason spot.
The Yankees reinstated Judge from the injured list on Friday before the opener of their weekend road series against the Baltimore Orioles. Judge admits he isn’t fully recovered but says he’s healthy enough to play.
“It’s feeling all right, feeling good. It’s not 100 percent. I don’t think it’ll be 100 percent until the end of the year,” he said. “I think our biggest goal is just getting to a point where I could play, I could tolerate it.”
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Judge had been out since tearing a ligament in his right big toe June 3 when he crashed into the right-field fence while making a catch at Dodger Stadium.
Judge played a simulated game Wednesday at the team’s complex in Tampa, Fla., and returned to New York after that. The 2022 American League MVP faced live pitching Sunday at Yankee Stadium for the first time since the injury. Manager Aaron Boone said Judge homered during a simulated game Tuesday in Florida. He also played the field and ran the bases.
Judge was penciled into the lineup as the designated hitter, batting second Friday night. Boone said he could have potentially played in the field, but that will be a day-by-day decision.
“Obviously, as much as there’s urgency for us, we’ve got to be smart about that and make sure that in talking to Aaron, making sure he’s honest with his feedback about how he’s recovering, how he’s bouncing back,” Boone said. “Obviously, how the toe’s doing, but how everything else is doing.”
New York is 19-23 since Judge got hurt in Los Angeles. The Yankees are 30-19 with the star outfielder, who also missed 10 games earlier this season with a right hip strain.
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Judge set an AL record with 62 home runs last year. He is batting .291 with 19 homers and 40 RBIs in the first season of a $360 million, nine-year contract he signed last offseason.
“I guess he’s back and he’s ready,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “So we’ll have to pitch to him well.”
Baltimore entered this series with a 1½-game lead in the AL East over Tampa Bay. The Yankees were six games over .500 but at the bottom of the ultracompetitive division. New York was eight games behind the Orioles and 2½ behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the American League’s final wild card.
Judge was asked if the team’s offensive struggles without him made him even more anxious to come back.
“No, I just wanted to get back,” Judge said after a noticeable pause. “Any time you’re sitting out, even if we were winning and we had an eight-game lead in the division, or we were 10 games out of it, I want to be back out there battling with the guys.”
Boone said Judge had an MRI in the last few days, and Judge indicated that was a factor in his return.
“I didn’t want to come back and make it worse, and this is something that leads into the next year and the following year,” he said. “Ligament’s stable. Last couple MRIs didn’t really show much healing, but this one did.”
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To make room for Judge, the Yankees optioned infielder Oswald Peraza to Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/sports/yankees-hope-aaron-judge-can-lift-their-listless-offense/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:06 | 1 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/28/sports/yankees-hope-aaron-judge-can-lift-their-listless-offense/ |
With more than 200 careers under her pink belt, Barbie has always been a hard worker. What can the types of professions Barbie's done tell us about women in the U.S. labor force? A lot, actually.
Copyright 2023 NPR
With more than 200 careers under her pink belt, Barbie has always been a hard worker. What can the types of professions Barbie's done tell us about women in the U.S. labor force? A lot, actually.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/what-barbies-professional-history-says-about-women-in-the-labor-force | 2023-07-28T22:47:07 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/what-barbies-professional-history-says-about-women-in-the-labor-force |
Donald Trump appeals judge’s decision to keep hush-money case in New York state court
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court Friday to reverse a federal judge’s decision to keep his hush-money criminal case in a New York state court that the former president claims is “very unfair” to him.
Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan after U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein last week rejected his bid to move the case to federal court, where his lawyers were primed to argue he was immune from prosecution.
U.S. law allows criminal prosecutions to be moved from state to federal court if they involve actions taken by federal government officials as part of their official duties, but Hellerstein ruled that the hush-money case involved a personal matter, not presidential duties.
Trump’s appeal notice came at the end of another busy week of legal action for the twice-indicted Republican as he seeks a return to the White House in next year’s election. On Thursday, he was indicted on new criminal charges in a separate case in federal court in Florida involving allegations that he illegally hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the hush-money case and fought to keep it in state court, declined to comment on Trump’s appeal.
Trump pleaded not guilty April 4 in state court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide reimbursements made to his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen for his role in paying $130,000 to the porn actor Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
Cohen also arranged for the National Enquirer to pay Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about an alleged affair, which the supermarket tabloid then squelched in a dubious journalism practice known as “catch-and-kill.”
Trump denied having sexual encounters with either woman. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up.
He is scheduled to stand trial in state court on March 25, 2024. In the meantime, his lawyers have asked the state court judge presiding over the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, to step aside, arguing that he’s biased in part because his daughter does political consulting work for some of Trump’s Democratic rivals. Trump has referred to Merchan as “a Trump-hating judge” with a family full of “Trump haters.” The judge has yet to rule on the request.
In seeking to try the hush-money case tried in federal court, Trump’s lawyers have argued that some of his alleged conduct amounted to official presidential duties because it occurred in 2017 while he was president, including checks he purportedly wrote while sitting in the Oval Office.
Moving the case from state court to federal court would have significant legal and practical consequences for Trump. In federal court, for example, his lawyers could then try to get the charges dismissed on the grounds that federal officials have immunity from prosecution over actions taken as part of their official job duties.
A shift to federal court would also mean a more politically diverse jury pool — drawing not only from heavily Democratic Manhattan, where Trump is wildly unpopular, but also from suburban counties north of the city where he has more political support.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/28/donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-keep-hush-money-case-new-york-state-court/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:08 | 1 | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/28/donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-keep-hush-money-case-new-york-state-court/ |
Former President Donald Trump faces three new charges in the case accusing him of hoarding classified documents as a grand jury continues to investigate his role in trying to overturn 2020's election.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Former President Donald Trump faces three new charges in the case accusing him of hoarding classified documents as a grand jury continues to investigate his role in trying to overturn 2020's election.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/where-trumps-legal-issues-stand-as-he-sees-more-charges-in-classified-documents-case | 2023-07-28T22:47:13 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/where-trumps-legal-issues-stand-as-he-sees-more-charges-in-classified-documents-case |
‘Horrible conditions’: Nearly 30 dogs found dead in freezers; dog rescue owner charged
HAMILTON, Ohio (Gray News) - The owner of a dog rescue in Ohio is facing multiple charges after deputies found animals in unlivable conditions.
Authorities said deputy dog wardens were called to two properties in Butler County regarding a complaint this week.
The team found at least 30 deceased dogs on the properties along with about 90 living animals in “the most horrible conditions they have ever seen.”
According to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, Rhonda Murphy, the owner of the properties, was operating a rescue under the name Helping Hands for Furry Paws.
When deputies and investigators searched the structures, multiple dogs’ bodies were found in refrigerators and freezers, with some of the coolers not working.
Other deceased canines were also found on the property, including puppies.
According to investigators, a garage housed about 25 living dogs, but they were kept in cages, some together, with no air conditioning or ventilation in the room. Temperatures were measured to be about 89 degrees inside.
Numerous animals were found without access to food or water, including a mother dog and her eight puppies.
Deputies said the odor was so strong that it burned their eyes and took away their breath as they checked the property.
Additionally, 11 more dogs were found in the main house living in the same deplorable conditions as others found on the property.
“Conditions were so horrendous that dog wardens had to leave the structure numerous times to catch their breath,” the sheriff’s office said.
All dogs were seized from the properties.
Authorities said Murphy is facing dozens of misdemeanor and felony charges that include neglect and cruelty to animals.
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/28/horrible-conditions-nearly-30-dogs-found-dead-freezers-dog-rescue-owner-charged/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:15 | 1 | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/28/horrible-conditions-nearly-30-dogs-found-dead-freezers-dog-rescue-owner-charged/ |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – For more than a decade, developers have been working on turning the Winrock Town Center into an economic and social hub. Now, construction of a park and lake is well underway, but plans have changed slightly.
Last year, the Albuquerque-based Goodman Realty Group set a timeline for a landscaped park to turn Winrock into more than just a shopping center. A key feature of that plan is a lake that is set to be part of a long-term project bringing recycled water to more parts of Albuquerque.
“Originally, we were working with the water authority to build an on-site water treatment plant,” says Darin Sand, the senior vice president of development at the Goodman Realty Group. “Now, what we’re doing is bringing [water from] a reuse line that’s about two and a half miles to the south of the Winrock site.”
Rather than building an on-site treatment plant, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) says they are now planning on simply running underground pipes to the existing recycled water system. This change in plans came after the water utility took a close look at the costs and benefits of an on-site treatment plant.
“The devil was in the details,” says Diane Agnew, the Water Rights Program manager for ABCWUA. “Once we went through the full design, we realized it was going to be pretty expensive, both to construct and to continuously operate.”
Installing a pipeline instead isn’t necessarily cheap. But it does come with a key benefit, Agnew says. “It allows us to deliver more reuse water to more turf areas. The pipeline runs right next to some city parks, for example. We can work with the city to make those connections, and then we can be using water for those turf areas.”
Story Continues Below
Winrock could be a connection point between existing reaches of water reuse lines in the city.
For Winrock, Darin Sand says switching from a treatment plant to a pipeline doesn’t change the overall plan for the lake. The grand opening was originally supposed to be spring of 2023, but delays have pushed it back a bit.
“The opening of the park is scheduled for the middle of fall. We’re planning on the middle to end of November,” Sand says. “The landscaper started this week…It is starting to take place and we’re starting to get a feel for how the environment is going to be, how the walking paths are going to be. We’re pretty excited to see it come together.”
While Winrock has plans for the site as an outdoor draw – perhaps with things like farmer’s markets, food vendors, and music – the water utility has a slightly different end goal. For them, Winrock represents a key part of citywide water conservation. It could let them connect water reuse facilities in the north end of town with water reuse near the Airport – a big step in connecting more of Albuquerque to recycled water.
“It gives us another point where we can branch off into the east side [of Albuquerque],” Agnew with ABCWUA says. “It seems like a small step, but it’s actually a pretty significant step into branching reuse into the entire eastern side of the city.”
As things currently stand, some city parks and facilities like the Albuquerque Sunport are hooked up to ABCWUA’s recycled water system. But other parks, landscaping, and golf courses aren’t hooked up to the system and use millions of gallons of water each year. ABCWUA hopes to eventually change that.
“The goal is to get reuse out to all of the city parks if we can make connections,” Agnew says. Right now, in addition to connecting Winrock, ABCWUA is also designing a wastewater treatment plant near the Bosque School at Montaño near Coors Boulevard. That’s currently in the planning stage.
“It’s going to be a full wastewater treatment plant that will be able to do eight to 10 million gallons per day of treated wastewater,” Agnew says. “We’ve been working with our partners throughout the middle Rio Grande to design outfall to the river that’s similar to what we have for our existing wastewater treatment plant.”
So, several projects are in the works. Agnew says that the connection to Winrock will take some time – perhaps a couple of years. Sand with Goodman Realty Group says they are planning on temporarily filling the lake with non-potable water until the pipes are in place. | https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/lake-at-winrock-development-is-coming-soon-with-a-slight-change-in-plans/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:19 | 1 | https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/lake-at-winrock-development-is-coming-soon-with-a-slight-change-in-plans/ |
Attacks against postal carriers are up, and so are mail thefts. The U.S. Postal Service has a new safety plan, but is it strong enough? This is occurring as the USPS tries to recruit more workers.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Attacks against postal carriers are up, and so are mail thefts. The U.S. Postal Service has a new safety plan, but is it strong enough? This is occurring as the USPS tries to recruit more workers.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/with-a-rise-in-robberies-of-postal-carriers-its-a-dangerous-time-to-work-in-mail | 2023-07-28T22:47:19 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/with-a-rise-in-robberies-of-postal-carriers-its-a-dangerous-time-to-work-in-mail |
Sponsored - The following content is created on behalf of Chippewa Falls Oktoberfest and does not reflect the opinions of Gray Media or its editorial staff. To learn more about Chippewa Falls Oktoberfest, visit https://gochippewacounty.com/.
Oktoberfest Chippewa Falls is celebrating its 20th year. Join us in the celebration and enjoy great food, music, and much more. Oktoberfest Chippewa Falls, happening September 15 + 16 at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds, provides a family-friendly German heritage event in the Chippewa Valley. This year, visitors will be greeted with new kids’ activities and Glockenspiel acts. Plus, some of our favorite competitions, such as stein holding, sauerkraut eating, and keg rolling.
Kids under 12 are always free. An adult daily wristband is $12, and if you want to enjoy both days, the price is just $18.
5. The Bierhaus Experience is NEW this year. Offering flights of beer, you can sample some tap beer and relax in the bierhaus with friends and family.
4. Great Food - Strudels, potato dumplings, sauerkraut, and PRETZELS….need we say more? Not into traditional German food? That’s ok. With over ten food vendors, there is sure to be something you will enjoy.
3. Demonstrations - Know how to speak German? Wonder how dumplings are made? Check out one (or all) of the demonstrations and learn something new.
2. Competitions - Are you competitive? From stein holding and barrel rolling to sauerkraut eating, see how you hold up against your competitors. Not into competing? Come be a spectator at one or all of these entertaining events.
1. The number 1 reason why you shouldn’t miss Oktoberfest is the great music. This year, Oktoberfest will feature three music tents ranging from polka to rock. There is something for everyone to enjoy.
Don’t delay, reserve your wristbands online today.
Daily admission is only $12, or come both days for $18! It’s an Oktoberfest you don’t want to miss, and a portion of the proceeds go back to the volunteer groups who work at the event. So not only do you have a fun weekend, but local nonprofits are benefiting too! Prost!
September 15-16
Northern WI State Fairgrounds
225 Edward St, Chippewa Falls, WI | https://www.weau.com/sponsored/chippewa-falls-oktoberfest/reasons-why-you-shouldnt-miss-oktoberfest-chippewa-falls/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:22 | 0 | https://www.weau.com/sponsored/chippewa-falls-oktoberfest/reasons-why-you-shouldnt-miss-oktoberfest-chippewa-falls/ |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are one step closer to getting reparations for New Mexicans affected by the detonation of the first atomic bomb at the Trinity Site 78 years ago. Advocates for the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium say this is a huge step for getting New Mexicans the compensation they say they’ve missed out on for decades.
“Almost 80 years ago, New Mexico became ground zero for the detonation for the first nuclear bomb. Millions of people across the country traveled to theaters this weekend, and they saw a blockbuster centered around this infamous day, but not enough people have focused on the collateral damage caused by our nation’s nuclear weapons testing,” says Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D-New Mexico).
For decades, advocates have tried to gain access to the fund that pays out reparations to and covers health care costs of Americans who were exposed to radiation as a result of testing, like those downwind of the Trinity Site. “New Mexico, the people in New Mexico, were the first people exposed to radiation anyplace in the whole world as the result of an atomic bomb, and we’ve never been included,” says Tina Cordova, co-founder of Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortiums.
“We’ve basically been excluded for 33 years from that fund, and that fund has paid out $2.5 billion in reparations to people who live in other places. And all we’ve ever wanted is justice,” Cordova says.
Now, people like Cordova may be one step closer to getting reparations. The U.S. Senate passed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to extend and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include New Mexicans.
While the expansion of this act isn’t across the finish line yet, Cordova says this is the farthest that legislation that includes New Mexicans has gotten so far: “It’s truly a historic day for the people of New Mexico and the people who have been working with me side by side; not just the downwinders but the uranium workers. We can’t leave out the uranium workers,” Cordova says.
From here, the act has to be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. | https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/new-mexicans-closer-to-compensation-for-trinity-site-radiation-exposure/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:25 | 1 | https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/new-mexicans-closer-to-compensation-for-trinity-site-radiation-exposure/ |
The Peruvian community met on Friday to celebrate their Independence Day, at the state Capitol in Hartford.
The ceremony consisted of the Peruvian national anthem and raising of the flag, followed by a cultural display of dances. A mass and reception afterward featured traditional music performers and appetizers.
State authorities were present at the event as state senator John Fonfara, U.S Senator Richard Blumenthal, and state Representative Hilda Santiago.
Elvis Tuesta Cuadros, who is the Peruvian consul representing Connecticut and Rhode Island, spoke about the contributions of the Peruvian community in the state.
“Frequently, Connecticut’s authorities tell me about the recognition of our community. They say Peruvians are very hard working, with family values, respect the law, and try to promote the culture all the time,” he said.
According to Tuesta, data from the 2020 census show there are about 35 thousand Peruvians residing in Connecticut, but he thinks that in the last 3 years the community has grown exponentially to 83 thousand, including undocumented Peruvians.
The celebrations started on July 28 with the famous singer of Peruvian folk music, Manuel Donaire, known as “The Black Diamond of Peru.” He sang the national anthem at a reception at the Peruvian consulate. But on Friday, he talked about Peruvian diversity and why he is proud to represent afro-peruvians.
“I am afro, and I am proud to be afro-peruvian. I hold high Peruvian Criolla music,” Donaire said in Spanish. “Peruvians are about love, unity, and peace.”
Former state representative Edwin Vargas Jr. was present at the event. He talked about the importance of diversity and cultural heritage.
“What holds people together is their ethnicity, their nationality, their culture, their music, and language,” Vargas said. “And while they become Americans, they should adopt what is good about the United States, avoid what’s bad, but also preserve what they bring to themselves as immigrants to this country.”
Tuesta, the Peruvian consul, said the Peruvian community is thriving and financially contributing to Connecticut. He said some of the most common fields that members of his community go into are entrepreneurship in the service industry such as restaurants, bakeries, cleaning companies, and construction.
State representative James Sanchez, of Puerto Rican origins,was also at the event. He said that Peruvians are an example of unity, family values and hard work.
“Most people don't realize that Peruvians are the second largest Hispanic/Latino population in the state of Connecticut,” he said. “I respect them because they are proactive.”
Milagros Acosta is from Lima and is an administrative assistant at the State. She said she is happy to see the community coming together despite the political upheaval in Peru.
“I'm excited to see everybody here. As a Peruvian American, I want to see the community prosper and unite, especially during our independence day celebration. ”
Griselda Calderon De La Vega is from Tarma, and has been living in Connecticut for 25 years. She said is proud that the community is thriving.
“It's incredible! I’m happy that the community is moving forward. I want to congratulate them because it's not easy to leave everything behind,” De La Vega said.
Peruvians have not only brought their cultural traditions, but also their culinary flavors, importing delicious ingredients for the most exquisite dishes. Brian Ocasio is of Puerto Rican origins and has been working at Coracora restaurant for the last 5 years. He said he feels connected with the Peruvian community for its values and praises their exquisite cuisine.
“There are so many things about the Peruvian community that I feel connected [to], including the food and their energy to celebrate,” Ocasio said.
In the last 2 decades the World Travel Awards (WTA), known as “The Oscars of Tourism,” awarded Peru three recognitions in its global edition: World's Leading Culinary Destination, World's Leading Cultural Destination and, the World's Leading Tourist Attraction. The Peruvian community in Connecticut is proud to represent and celebrate these achievements. | https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2023-07-28/a-cultural-celebration-peruvians-commemorate-their-independence-day-in-hartford | 2023-07-28T22:47:26 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2023-07-28/a-cultural-celebration-peruvians-commemorate-their-independence-day-in-hartford |
Sponsored - The following content is created on behalf of Chippewa Falls Oktoberfest and does not reflect the opinions of Gray Media or its editorial staff. To learn more about Chippewa Falls Oktoberfest, visit https://gochippewacounty.com.
Mark your calendars for Oktoberfest Chippewa Falls, happening September 15 + 16 at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. Oktoberfest Chippewa Falls has been providing a family-friendly German heritage event in the Chippewa Valley for 20 years. This year, visitors will be greeted with new kids’ activities and Glockenspiel acts. Plus, some of our favorite competitions, such as stein holding, sauerkraut eating, and keg rolling.
Kids under 12 are always free. An adult daily wristband is $12, and if you want to enjoy both days, the price is just $18.
Here are the top 10 family-friendly things to do at Oktoberfest Chippewa Falls:
10. Kids Kingdom - Everything for kids! Bounce houses, games, face painting, German paper craft activities….fun for all ages.
9. Glockenspiel Show - While we can’t travel to Munich to see the real glockenspiel, you can see it come to life at Oktoberfest Chippewa Falls. Daily shows with lots of laughs.
8. Great Food - Your family can find something to please everyone at the festival. Of course, we have authentic German cuisine, but we also have burgers, hotdogs, ice cream, and much more. We even have some local people that will show you how to make a great dumpling during one of our food demonstration classes.
7. Sing Along with Crazy George - It’s not Oktoberfest without Crazy George! Learn what is inside an accordion or polka to his music. It’s always festive with Crazy George.
6. Check out the Entertainment - It’s not JUST Polka! There are THREE music tents, including rock and country music. Plus, we have jugglers, magicians, and more on the grounds. There’s something for everyone.
5. Sauerkraut Eating and Barrel Rolling Contests - Come see who can eat the most sauerkraut - unless you are up for a challenge to try for yourself. Not up for the sauerkraut-eating contest? Check out the barrel rolling competition. Competitions for both kids and adults.
4. Look for Royalty - Look for sashes that say Festmeister or Festmeisterin. A highlight for both kids and adults to see our current and past royalty in their dirndls and lederhosen. If you ask nicely, they will share their royalty buttons with you, and your family can collect them all.
3. Parades - The Royalty aren’t the only ones that dress up. Whether you dig through your closet for your German attire or find some that fit at the festival, everyone can show off their duds in the daily parades. If dirndls and lederhosen aren’t your thing - no problem. Everyone is welcome to participate just put a little bounce in your step and join in the fun.
2. Learn how to speak German - Guten tag, brezel, vielen dank, learn to speak some German from the experts on Saturday morning so you can join in the fun.
1. And the number one family-friendly thing to do is Polka! – Would it be Oktoberfest without some polka dancing? Get your dancing schuhe (shoes) out and start practicing. No one is watching - promise!
Don’t delay, reserve your wristbands online today.
Daily admission is only $12, or come both days for $18! It’s an Oktoberfest you don’t want to miss, and a portion of the proceeds go back to the volunteer groups who work at the event. So not only do you have a fun weekend, but local nonprofits are benefiting too! Prost!
Oktoberfest Chippewa Falls
September 15-16
Northern WI State Fairgrounds
225 Edward St, Chippewa Falls, WI | https://www.weau.com/sponsored/chippewa-falls-oktoberfest/top-family-friendly-things-do-oktoberfest-chippewa-falls/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:28 | 0 | https://www.weau.com/sponsored/chippewa-falls-oktoberfest/top-family-friendly-things-do-oktoberfest-chippewa-falls/ |
Chris Stapleton surprises girl with a rare backstage meet and greet
(Circle) - Chris Stapleton made a little girl’s dream come true over the weekend.
Stapleton’s 2023 All-American Road Show has kept him on the go, performing night after night, but amongst all the shows, one truly stood out.
At his July 14 concert at the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a heartwarming moment unfolded when a young fan named Lily held up a sign that read, “Will you take a picture with me?”
The simple question seemed to really catch Stapleton’s attention because the girl and her family were escorted backstage after the concert, where they patiently waited for Stapleton and his wife, Morgane, to join them.
In the TikTok video, Morgane asks the young fan if she created the sign. She nods and replies, “Yes,” proudly holding out a guitar pick she had received during the concert before the meet-and-greet.
“Well. We saw your sign, and we said, We’ve gotta do that,” Morgane added.
The fan’s successful meet and greet with Stapleton came as a surprise to many, given his reputation as a private person. He is well-known for his low-key status, rarely participating in interviews, let alone participating in meet and greets.
Stapleton also surprised some fans recently by announcing to the world that he will be releasing his 5th studio album, titled “Higher.”
The upcoming album will mark his first studio release since 2020 when he dropped his fourth studio album, “Starting Over,” which won him a Grammy for Best Country Album.
Originally appeared on Circle All Access. https://www.circleallaccess.com/
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/28/chris-stapleton-surprises-girl-with-rare-backstage-meet-greet/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:36 | 0 | https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/28/chris-stapleton-surprises-girl-with-rare-backstage-meet-greet/ |
Donald Trump appeals judge’s decision to keep hush-money case in New York state court
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court Friday to reverse a federal judge’s decision to keep his hush-money criminal case in a New York state court that the former president claims is “very unfair” to him.
Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan after U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein last week rejected his bid to move the case to federal court, where his lawyers were primed to argue he was immune from prosecution.
U.S. law allows criminal prosecutions to be moved from state to federal court if they involve actions taken by federal government officials as part of their official duties, but Hellerstein ruled that the hush-money case involved a personal matter, not presidential duties.
Trump’s appeal notice came at the end of another busy week of legal action for the twice-indicted Republican as he seeks a return to the White House in next year’s election. On Thursday, he was indicted on new criminal charges in a separate case in federal court in Florida involving allegations that he illegally hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the hush-money case and fought to keep it in state court, declined to comment on Trump’s appeal.
Trump pleaded not guilty April 4 in state court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide reimbursements made to his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen for his role in paying $130,000 to the porn actor Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
Cohen also arranged for the National Enquirer to pay Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about an alleged affair, which the supermarket tabloid then squelched in a dubious journalism practice known as “catch-and-kill.”
Trump denied having sexual encounters with either woman. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up.
He is scheduled to stand trial in state court on March 25, 2024. In the meantime, his lawyers have asked the state court judge presiding over the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, to step aside, arguing that he’s biased in part because his daughter does political consulting work for some of Trump’s Democratic rivals. Trump has referred to Merchan as “a Trump-hating judge” with a family full of “Trump haters.” The judge has yet to rule on the request.
In seeking to try the hush-money case tried in federal court, Trump’s lawyers have argued that some of his alleged conduct amounted to official presidential duties because it occurred in 2017 while he was president, including checks he purportedly wrote while sitting in the Oval Office.
Moving the case from state court to federal court would have significant legal and practical consequences for Trump. In federal court, for example, his lawyers could then try to get the charges dismissed on the grounds that federal officials have immunity from prosecution over actions taken as part of their official job duties.
A shift to federal court would also mean a more politically diverse jury pool — drawing not only from heavily Democratic Manhattan, where Trump is wildly unpopular, but also from suburban counties north of the city where he has more political support.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/28/donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-keep-hush-money-case-new-york-state-court/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:42 | 1 | https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/28/donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-keep-hush-money-case-new-york-state-court/ |
‘Horrible conditions’: Nearly 30 dogs found dead in freezers; dog rescue owner charged
HAMILTON, Ohio (Gray News) - The owner of a dog rescue in Ohio is facing multiple charges after deputies found animals in unlivable conditions.
Authorities said deputy dog wardens were called to two properties in Butler County regarding a complaint this week.
The team found at least 30 deceased dogs on the properties along with about 90 living animals in “the most horrible conditions they have ever seen.”
According to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, Rhonda Murphy, the owner of the properties, was operating a rescue under the name Helping Hands for Furry Paws.
When deputies and investigators searched the structures, multiple dogs’ bodies were found in refrigerators and freezers, with some of the coolers not working.
Other deceased canines were also found on the property, including puppies.
According to investigators, a garage housed about 25 living dogs, but they were kept in cages, some together, with no air conditioning or ventilation in the room. Temperatures were measured to be about 89 degrees inside.
Numerous animals were found without access to food or water, including a mother dog and her eight puppies.
Deputies said the odor was so strong that it burned their eyes and took away their breath as they checked the property.
Additionally, 11 more dogs were found in the main house living in the same deplorable conditions as others found on the property.
“Conditions were so horrendous that dog wardens had to leave the structure numerous times to catch their breath,” the sheriff’s office said.
All dogs were seized from the properties.
Authorities said Murphy is facing dozens of misdemeanor and felony charges that include neglect and cruelty to animals.
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/28/horrible-conditions-nearly-30-dogs-found-dead-freezers-dog-rescue-owner-charged/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:48 | 1 | https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/28/horrible-conditions-nearly-30-dogs-found-dead-freezers-dog-rescue-owner-charged/ |
Taylor Schabusiness faces jail for killing and dismembering man in Green Bay
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - The woman accused of killing and dismembering a Green Bay man will be sentenced this fall. Taylor Schabusiness is facing life in prison instead of committing to a state mental health facility.
The decision came down to a 12-member jury comprised of eight women and four men. They listened to days of testimony and heard from dozens of witnesses that resulted in two relatively quick deliberations this week.
Schabusiness was convicted of three felonies-- including first-degree-intentional homicide for the gruesome murder of Shad Thyrion in February of 2022.
A 911 call at 3:24 a.m. on February 23, 2022, prompted a massive police response to a home on Stony Brook Lane in Green Bay: “I have no clue what is happening, but my girl says she found the severed head of her son in the basement, in a bucket, I am freaked out, did she wake up and see it? Yes.”
Police body camera footage shows responding officers going to the basement – to confirm the report.
Officer Alex Wanish is heard saying: “Hold on, that’s real right, that’s real bro.”
A search for a suspect led investigators to the apartment. Again an officer is heard saying: “Is this blood, does this look like blood to you?”
Taylor Schabusiness was seen walking outside, unsuspecting.
The officer is addressing her: “Hi Taylor how’s it going?” After she was confronted by officers, she was arrested with blood still on her hands.
“She appeared in shock or very surprised to see us, I equate it to deer in the headlights look,” said Thomas Buchmann from the Green Bay Police Department.
Schabusiness told investigators how Shad died at his mother’s house - just hours after they used meth together.
In the interrogation video, she can be heard saying: “We went there, five minutes in and I was already choking him. So it happened quick? Yeah.”
Schabusiness said she dismembered Shad with kitchen knives.
“This would have taken quite a great deal of time,” Medical Examiner Dr. Vincent Tranchida later explained.
Authorities found his body in four different containers.
Taylor Schabusiness asked investigators: ”Did you find all the parts yet?” They responded: “Going through the process. Looking.”
Investigators saw signs of ‘cleaning up’. Schabusiness admitted she didn’t want to get caught— she planned to take his body with her. She said: “I know I forgot the head, I wanted the head.” - “You were gonna take it with you?” she was asked, and she responded: “Yes.”
Schabusiness told investigators she didn’t want Thyrion dead, but it just happened as she ‘blacked out’.
“Did you like it?” she was asked by investigators. “I liked it,” she responded.
In the lead-up to the trial, Brown County Judge Thomas Walsh ordered several competency evaluations, which delayed the trial twice and allowed a new defense lawyer - after Schabusiness attacked her previous attorney in court.
Judge Walsh said: “There is a greater weight of the credible evidence which supports a finding Schabusiness is competent to stand trial and I will make that finding now.
Over four days, the jury sat through dozens of witnesses and hours of testimony. Once in their hands, it took jurors just 30 minutes to deliberate and convict Schabusiness of murder.
And it only took them 58 minutes during the trial’s second phase to reject the defense’s insanity plea and find her legally responsible for her crimes.
“At the time the crimes were committed, did she have a mental disease or defect? the answer is no,” the judge said.
The jurors never heard from Schabusiness directly. She maintained her right to remain silent during both phases of the trial.
She will be back in court for sentencing on September 26, 2023.
Copyright 2023 WBAY. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/28/taylor-schabusiness-faces-jail-killing-dismembering-man-green-bay/ | 2023-07-28T22:47:55 | 0 | https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/28/taylor-schabusiness-faces-jail-killing-dismembering-man-green-bay/ |
CEO of Milwaukee-based Exit 7c gets more than four years for fraud
The young founder of a Milwaukee fuel-sales startup who fleeced his investors out of millions of dollars is going to prison for just over four years.
U.S. District Court Judge Brett H. Ludwig on Friday sentenced Blessing Egbon to a 51-month prison and ordered him to pay $3 million in restitution.
Egbon, 36, was the CEO and board chair of Exit 7c, Inc., a Milwaukee-based company in the business of selling bulk fuel and onsite fuel, and maintenance services to transportation companies.
In court papers, prosecutors said Egbon gave false statements about the company's cash flow and operations in his application to gener8tor, a local startup accelerator that helps new businesses expand, grow and find funding.
Prosecutors said Egbon also lied to investors about his background and experience, and used millions of their money to appear wealthy.
"In all respects, it appears that Egbon is consistently and strongly motivated by greed and a desire to maintain a lifestyle that is beyond his reach," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Haastand wrote in a July 24 sentencing memorandum.
Prosecutors wanted him to serve five years behind bars, while Egbon's lawyer pushed for two.
The claims against Egbon
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Egbon in 2022 with fraud and misappropriation and sought to bar him from future work in securities. This was not a criminal prosecution.
Prosecutors said in court papers Egbon lied about Exit 7C's cash flow and operations in his application to gener8tor, a local startup accelerator that helps new businesses expand, grow and find funding. They say he raised more than $6 million from investors, including $50,000 from Brightstar Wisconsin, a nonprofit that supports minority entrepreneurs.
Here's how prosecutors say Egbon kept the scheme going
Prosecutors contended Egbon intended his falsely padded resume to deceive investors and potential investors into buying into Exit 7c. He also faked his success, they say, in an attempt to look rich — including $530,000 at "luxury nightclubs," almost $270,000 on chartered jets and $62,500 on private villa rentals.
He kept up the ruse by making false monthly business reports to investors; during a 16-month period, he promoted to them that Exit 7c had total sales revenue of more than $91 million, court records show.
Total sales revenue for that period, in fact, was between $343,249 and $348,562.
Egbon's lawyers say he got in 'over his head'
Defense attorney Michelle L. Jacobs, of Mequon, said Egbon went into Exit 7C intending to operate a legitimate business, but "got in way over his head" after getting substantial start-up funds from investors.
In arguing for a lower sentence, Jacobs noted Egbon had never committed a criminal act, has been in therapy since 2020 and quickly admitted his behavior was “deceiving, irresponsible, and a violation of trust;" he pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud in February 2022.
"(He) tried to make amends for his poor decisions by immediately taking responsibility for his actions," Jacobs said.
Egbon admits to 'deceiving, irresponsible' behavior
An apologetic Egbon maintained in his allocution he knows right from wrong, having been reared by parents who were in the military. He said he never meant to deceive anyone, and took responsibility for his actions.
The fraud started small, "with a meal here and there." Then it grew.
Egbon said he set out to raise investors money to build an auto services company after he had landed the private capital he needed to build flex fuel pumps at gas stations around the Midwest. He said he built the used oil recycling business to repay investors, but he lost focus at times, leading to lavish spending at nightclubs in Chicago and Scottsdale, Arizona.
"What I did was deceiving, irresponsible, and a violation of trust," he wrote in an allocution letter to the judge. "I am truly sorry not because I face prison time, but because my action could potentially hurt other minority entrepreneurs who already struggle to raise investment capital for their ideas." | https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2023/07/28/ceo-of-milwaukee-based-exit-7c-is-going-to-prison-after-fraud-plea/70486005007/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:00 | 0 | https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2023/07/28/ceo-of-milwaukee-based-exit-7c-is-going-to-prison-after-fraud-plea/70486005007/ |
Sheriff seeking help identifying person of interest in armed robbery
Published: Jul. 28, 2023 at 6:38 PM EDT|Updated: 7 minutes ago
MONROE CO., Mich. (WNEM) - The Monroe County Sheriff is asking for help identifying a woman who allegedly is connected to an armed bank robbery.
He told Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson this woman could be involved and has a connection to the Grand Blanc Area.
The robbery happened Tuesday, July 25.
If you know who she is, call 911 or the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office.
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Copyright 2023 WNEM. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2023/07/28/sheriff-seeking-help-identifying-person-interest-armed-robbery/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:00 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2023/07/28/sheriff-seeking-help-identifying-person-interest-armed-robbery/ |
‘Tiny tot tax cut’ would create sales tax exemption for baby products
Published: Jul. 28, 2023 at 5:06 PM CDT|Updated: 41 minutes ago
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - A new bill introduced in Madison is aimed at putting more money back in the pockets of parents.
Rep. David Steffen of Green Bay is co-sponsoring a bill called the tiny tot tax cut, it would create a permanent sales tax exemption for baby-related products, including diapers, car seats, cribs and strollers.
It mirrors similar legislation that was just passed in Florida and aims to reduce the financial stress on young families.
Representative David Steffen joins us to talk about the bill in the video above.
Copyright 2023 WBAY. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/28/tiny-tot-tax-cut-would-create-sales-tax-exemption-baby-products/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:01 | 1 | https://www.wbay.com/2023/07/28/tiny-tot-tax-cut-would-create-sales-tax-exemption-baby-products/ |
Milwaukee Diaper Mission celebrates 1 million diaper donations
Three years ago, Meagan Johnson discovered a statistic that would change her life: One in three U.S. families with young children can't afford enough diapers to change their child's diaper at frequent, healthy intervals.
Johnson — whose own children were both in diapers at the time — helped launch the Milwaukee Diaper Mission in September 2020 to be part of solving the problem for local families.
"That statistic really broke my heart and really made me think deeply about what families have access to as far as basic essentials go," Johnson said.
Three years later, the Milwaukee Diaper Mission has reached the milestone of 1 million donated diapers, and hosted a distribution event outside Hayat Pharmacy at 807 W. Layton Ave. on Friday to celebrate.
The event, hosted in partnership with Baby2Baby and Supergoop!, had 30,000 diapers, 600 packs of baby wipes and 600 bottles of sunscreen to distribute to the community.
“We're here today to celebrate this incredible milestone by providing local families with additional support as inflation rises and COVID-19 benefits come to an end,” Johnson said. “While every diaper distributed matters, we know we have a lot of work to do to end diaper needs in our community.”
And the number of families facing diaper need has increased in the time since Johnson first learned of it: nearly half of families with young children now can't afford diapers, according to a new study by the National Diaper Bank Network.
According to the report, 47% of families with small children in the United States reported diaper need in 2023, and 46% reported reducing other expenditures to afford diapers. Less than 20% of households struggling with diaper need reported that they have received support from a diaper bank.
Johnson said diaper needs have long-lasting consequences for children and caregivers. Babies who remain too long in a soiled diaper are exposed to potential health risks.
Most child care centers also require parents to provide a day's supply of diapers.
“Without diapers, babies cannot attend child care. Without child care, parents cannot go to work,” Johnson said.
She said this cycle is an ongoing problem for many families in Milwaukee.
“My kids are a little older now, but I remember when they were little, like how much money diapers and formula and just all baby products are. It’s just ridiculous how expensive they are,” one volunteer, Melissa Koch, said. “When I met (Johnson), I was just like ‘This is my mission, this is what I would like to participate in.’”
'We know the need is so high'
Koch stood under the first tent of the drive through. She held colorful sticky notes, each labeled with a number from one through six – correlating with the diaper sizes they had to offer.
“What sizes do you need today? OK, here you go. You can keep driving down, thanks for coming today,” Koch told people as they drove up to the tent and she passed out numbers to stick on their windshields.
At the next tent, other volunteers gathered the correct diaper sizes to give to the respective cars, along with wipes and sunscreen.
Shakita LaGrant McClain, executive director of Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services, said Johnson’s work reflects the vision of the Department of Health and Human Services in meeting people where they are, and creating healthy communities together.
As Milwaukee Diaper Mission celebrates this milestone, LaGrant McClain said it brings greater awareness to the ongoing need to support families and look at the basic necessities.
“Diaper need is associated with stress, it is associated with worry and it affects people of all income levels,” LaGrant McClain said.
Now that Milwaukee Diaper Mission has met this milestone of 1 million diapers, Johnson said she is excited for what comes next.
"It's an incredible feeling. We know the need is so high," Johnson said. "I am now looking forward to 2 million diapers, I guess. That's our main goal for right now and just to continue to be able to provide a reliable source of these products to families."
Contact Skyler Chun at schun@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @skylerchun_. | https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2023/07/28/milwaukee-diaper-mission-celebrates-1-million-diaper-donations/70488011007/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:06 | 1 | https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2023/07/28/milwaukee-diaper-mission-celebrates-1-million-diaper-donations/70488011007/ |
Former Green Bay Packers Sterling Sharpe, Mike Holmgren advance to next round of Pro Football Hall of Fame voting
Sterling Sharpe and Mike Holmgren advanced through the latest round of voting by committees overseeing the Pro Football Hall of Fame process, putting them essentially one step away from Canton.
Sharpe, the former Packers wide receiver, was one of 12 semifinalists to emerge from a fresh round of voting July 27 in the “Seniors” category, and Holmgren made a list of 12 in the “Coach/Contributor” category. Both lists initially featured 30 names each.
Does this mean Sharpe and Holmgren are definitely on track to make the Hall of Fame?
Their inclusion isn't surprising nor indicative of imminent induction; both made it this far last year. Sharpe's chances remain better than Holmgren's; three of the 12 players on the Seniors list will be forwarded onward by a Seniors committee as “finalists,” and all three will be given a yes/no vote by the final 49-person Hall of Fame committee. Last year, all three players sent onward (Ken Riley, Chuck Howley, Joe Klecko) were given final approval and will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August.
The Coach/Contributor category still forwards only one name for final selection, giving Holmgren a much tougher battle. Last year, that was Don Coryell, who earned approval and will also be inducted in August.
In the Seniors category, three names will again get forwarded next year for the Class of 2025, rounding out a three-year window of expanded selections, before the selection process is pared back to one finalist per season.
Where is Cecil Isbell?
One player not on the list of 12 names is Cecil Isbell, who played for the Packers from 1938-42 and was named in the final 12 last year. He was on the expanded semifinalists list released this month but joins three other non-inducted players (Bob Kuechenberg, Tommy Nobis, Everson Walls) who were on the final-12 list last year and not on this year's list.
Who are the Pro Football Hall of Fame Seniors semifinalists?
Sharpe is joined by returnees quarterback Ken Anderson, linebacker Maxie Baughan, linebacker Randy Gradishar and cornerback Eddie Meador, plus newcomers running back Roger Craig, tackle Joe Jacoby, defensive back Albert Lewis, defensive tackle Steve McMichael, wide receiver Art Powell, wide receiver Otis Taylor and tackle Al Wistert.
McMichael spent the 1994 season with the Packers but spent the bulk of his career in Chicago.
Remind me why Sterling Sharpe should be in the Hall of Fame
Sharpe made five Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pro teams during his career, with 18 touchdown receptions in his final season standing alone as a franchise record until Davante Adams matched it in 2020.
But his career lasted only from 1988-94 because of a career-ending neck injury. When he caught 108 passes in 1992 and 112 in 1993, he set NFL single-season records both times, though those marks have since been obliterated under an NFL that began to emphasize the passing game in the 1990s.
Shannon Sharpe, Sterling's brother who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011, mentioned Sterling in his own induction speech.
"I’m the only player of 267 men that’s walked through this building to my left that can honestly say this: I’m the only pro football player that’s in the Hall of Fame, and the second best player in my own family," Shannon said.
"If fate had dealt you a different hand, there is no question, no question in my mind we would have been the first brothers to be elected to the Hall of Fame. The 44 men and women that I thanked and congratulated earlier for giving me and bestowing this prestigious honor upon me, all I do is ask, all I can do is ask, and the most humblest way I know how, is that the next time you go into that room or you start making a list, look at Sterling Sharpe’s accomplishments."
Sterling can still make that Hall of Fame first happen; Eli Manning won't be eligible until the Class of 2025, when he could potentially join Peyton, and we're several years away from seeing the Kelce brothers or Watt brothers make it happen.
What are Mike Holmgren's chances this year?
Holmgren, who coached the Packers from 1992-98 and led the team to two Super Bowl appearances (one title), finds himself on a list with a number of familiar names, including Mike Shanahan, the Broncos coach who beat Holmgren's Packers in Super Bowl XXXII following the 1998 season. Holmgren coached Seattle to a Super Bowl later in his career.
Shanahan and Tom Coughlin, also on the list, both have two Super Bowl championships. Other finalists are Patriots front-office leaders Frank "Bucko" Kilroy and Robert Kraft, two-time NFL champion Lions head coach Buddy Parker, Broncos coach Dan Reeves, Steelers front-office leader Art Rooney Jr., longtime coach Marty Schottenheimer, Rams coach Clark Shaughnessy, Chiefs scout Lloyd Wells and Cowboys scout and NFL player development guru John Wooten.
Kilroy, Kraft, Parker, Reeves, Rooney, Shanahan, Shaughnessy and Wooten all made this stage last year along with Holmgren.
It's a loaded field.
What is the next step in the process?
The Seniors committee will meet again to choose its three finalists Aug. 22; names forwarded from the committee have a high success rate of approval into the Hall of Fame, though it's not 100%. In 1997, for example, the Senior committee suggestion of Jerry Kramer was not approved for induction; the Packers great later earned induction but not until 2018.
The Coach/Contributor team will forward its one name to the Hall of Fame committee Aug. 15. | https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2023/07/28/packers-greats-sterling-sharpe-mike-holmgren-inching-closer-to-pro-football-hall-of-fame-selection/70487712007/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:12 | 0 | https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2023/07/28/packers-greats-sterling-sharpe-mike-holmgren-inching-closer-to-pro-football-hall-of-fame-selection/70487712007/ |
SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) — A man allegedly stabbed a woman to death in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday and then posted a video of the slaying to Facebook, authorities said.
The gruesome footage helped police track down the suspect, who was later identified as 39-year old Mark Mechikoff. He was arrested about 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) south of where the victim was found dead in a San Mateo apartment complex.
“While the motive for stabbing the victim is still under investigation, we do know Mechikoff mercilessly filmed the last moments of the victim’s life and posted the video to Facebook, then fled the area,” San Mateo police said in a statement.
Prosecutors identified the victim as Claribel Estrella. The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office plans to file a case against Mechikoff Friday and charge him with a single count of murder with an enhancement for use of a knife.
His arraignment is scheduled for Friday afternoon, where an attorney will be appointed to represent him, DA Stephen Wagstaffe said in an email.
The stabbing was first reported to the Nye County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada when a caller said she saw the video on Facebook. The sheriff’s office “pinged” the phone number associated with the Facebook page and traced it to a large San Mateo apartment complex.
Officers there went door-to-door and found Estrella nearly three hours later inside a unit, authorities said. Police say Mechikoff knew her but have not described how.
Mechikoff was arrested two hours later on suspicion of homicide in the city of San Jose. | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/bay-area-man-fatally-stabbed-woman-and-posted-video-of-it-on-facebook-police-say/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:26 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/bay-area-man-fatally-stabbed-woman-and-posted-video-of-it-on-facebook-police-say/ |
PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — A Foresthill man was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was criminally charged for sexually assaulting and torturing a toddler.
Jeremy Wilson, 30, was accused of attacking a two-year-old boy, who was tortured, beaten, drugged and sexually abused in his home, in February 2020, according to the Placer County District Attorney's Office.
The district attorney's office said the child, identified as John Doe, was rushed to the hospital after being found by his mother with extreme bruising and swelling over his face and mouth, more than a dozen fresh adult marks and clear signs of sexual abuse.
Detectives investigated the sexual assault and the evidence led to Wilson, who is also the child's mother's boyfriend.
According to the district attorney's office, during the sentencing, Honorable Judge Jones said the crime was “indescribable”, “disgusting, violent, callous and cruel” and “one of the worst things that he had ever seen.” The judge found that due to the gravity of the crime and the brutality of the attack on the young child the maximum sentence is appropriate for Wilson.
The prosecutor presenting evidence showed there was also domestic violence occurring in the home leading up to the attack of the toddler, according to the district attorney's office.
“This crime was particularly heinous. The defendant took out his frustrations with the child’s mother on her toddler in the middle of the night. The victim had bruising, including bite marks, from the top of his head to tops of his feet, and on every body part in between," said Supervising Deputy District Attorney Kalin Everett, who prosecuted the case. "This assault was intended to be cruel and to cause the child pain. The attack was an exceptionally depraved crime, one of the worst crimes this county has ever seen. It is irredeemable by society standards, as well by the rule of law. Wilson is now where he belongs, in prison for the rest of his life where he can never hurt another child ever again.
Wilson will serve his life sentence in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Watch more from ABC10: 13-year-old crashes into fence, fire hydrant after chase in Stockton | Top 10 | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/crime/forresthill-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-without-parole-for-sexually-assaulting-and-torturing-a-toddler/103-1ab8bd01-5a67-42ed-99ca-3f4c84e0ceec | 2023-07-28T22:48:30 | 1 | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/crime/forresthill-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-without-parole-for-sexually-assaulting-and-torturing-a-toddler/103-1ab8bd01-5a67-42ed-99ca-3f4c84e0ceec |
A Burnsville man was sentenced to 306 months in prison for the December 2021 shooting of a 33-year-old Eagan man, officials announced Friday.
A Dakota County jury in May found Sakaria Osman Ahmed, 32, of Burnsville, guilty of second-degree murder for killing Faisal A. Abukar, 33, of Eagan at the Marathon gas station on Silver Bell Road, just east of the Twin Cities Premium Outlet Mall.
During the trial, Ahmed claimed self-defense and defense of others.
“Our deepest sympathy is extended to the family and friends of Faisal Abukar for their great loss,” Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena said in a press release Friday.
According to the criminal complaint, witnesses told police that prior to the shooting, four men, who had arrived in two separate cars, were arguing.
Abukar’s car pulled up alongside the other and Ahmed’s friend got out and tried to sit in the back seat. An argument ensued. Abukar’s friend told police that Ahmed’s friend punched him in the face and threw him to the ground. He said Ahmed exited his car, pulled out a gun and shot Abukar in the head.
Ahmed was arrested after crashing his car about a 100 yards from the shooting scene. He had a 9mm handgun in his pocket loaded with ammunition matching the casing left at the scene of the crime, according to investigators.
His friend was not found. | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/burnsville-man-sentenced-in-2021-eagan-gas-station-shooting-death/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:32 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/burnsville-man-sentenced-in-2021-eagan-gas-station-shooting-death/ |
ELK GROVE, Calif. — The family of a woman allegedly poisoned and killed by her husband said they're devastated by the loss.
Glennis Smith was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of killing Jennifer Smith-Floyd in January. Elk Grove police believe Smith intentionally put fentanyl in her food that day and the day before.
Police say the couple had been married for five years, but were living separately for several months leading up to her death.
In a statement from Floyd's family, they said she was a loving mother, daughter, sister and friend. They also emphasized that she was a champion for women, building them up and providing strength for them.
"Unfortunately, her life was ended due to her murder. She didn’t deserve this. As a family, we are devastated by her loss. We miss her and our lives are forever changed," the family said in the statement.
Praising the work from Elk Grove Police Department, the family said they're looking forward to getting justice in her killing.
"Our family is grateful for the outpouring of love and support. We also appreciate all of the kind words, messages, and phone calls we have received from family, friends, and community members, and we will continue to need this support as we enter this next chapter," the family said.
WATCH ALSO: | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/elk-grove/elk-grove-family-fentanyl/103-2f87a44d-d85c-4cbf-bcdc-012431223f7f | 2023-07-28T22:48:36 | 0 | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/elk-grove/elk-grove-family-fentanyl/103-2f87a44d-d85c-4cbf-bcdc-012431223f7f |
DENVER (AP) — A Colorado police officer who put a handcuffed woman in a parked police vehicle that was hit by a freight train was found guilty of reckless endangerment and assault but was acquitted of a third charge of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter during a trial Friday.
Jordan Steinke was the first of two officers to go to trial over the Sept. 16, 2022, crash that left Yareni Rios-Gonzalez seriously injured.
Steinke testified that she did not know that the patrol car of another officer she was helping was parked on the tracks even though they can be seen on her body camera footage along with two railroad crossing signs. Steinke said she was focused on the threat that could come from Rios-Gonzalez and her pickup truck, not the ground.
Steinke said she put Rios-Gonzalez in the other officer’s vehicle because it was the nearest spot to temporarily hold her. She said she didn’t know the train was coming until just before it hit.
There was no jury in Steinke’s trial, which started Monday. Instead, Judge Timothy Kerns listened to the evidence and issued the verdict. Mallory Revel, Steinke’s attorney, didn’t immediately respond to requests by phone and email for comment.
Steinke, who was working for the Fort Lupton Police Department at the time of the crash, was charged with criminal attempt to commit manslaughter, a felony; and reckless endangerment and third-degree assault, both misdemeanors.
The other officer, Pablo Vazquez, who worked for the police department in nearby Platteville, is being prosecuted for misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and traffic offenses. He hasn’t entered a plea yet. His lawyer, Reid Elkus, didn’t immediately respond to a request by phone for comment.
Vazquez pulled over Rios-Gonzalez on a rural road that intersects U.S. Highway 85 after she was accused of pointing a gun at another driver. Trains pass on tracks that parallel the highway about a dozen times a day, prosecutors said, and the sound of their horns is common in the area north of Denver.
Rios-Gonzalez, who suffered a traumatic brain injury, is suing over her treatment. She later pleaded no contest to misdemeanor menacing, said one of her lawyers, Chris Ponce, who was in court to watch the trial. Rios-Gonzalez did not testify or attend herself.
Steinke said she placed Rios-Gonzalez in the other police car temporarily because it was the nearest place to keep her secure, a move that is standard practice for high-risk traffic stops, said defense expert witness Steve Ijames. He also testified that in dangerous situations officers can become hyperfocused on particular threats and overlook things that turn out to be important in hindsight.
Steinke, who drove at around 100 mph (161 kph) at times on her way to backup Vazquez, testified that she was surprised to see him sitting in his vehicle when she arrived, rather than pointing a gun at Rios-Gonzalez’s truck. She said she quickly parked her patrol vehicle behind his and got out because it was the quickest way “to get a gun in the fight.”
Steinke also said she did not notice the tracks or the ground when she squatted down to arrest a kneeling Rios-Gonzalez along the tracks after the suspect was ordered out of her pickup truck.
When pressed by Deputy District Attorney Christopher Jewkes, Steinke replied, “I am sure I saw the tracks sir, but I did not perceive them.” She said she was focused on the suspect and the potential threat she posed and was “fairly certain” that the traffic stop would end in gunfire.
“I never in a million years thought a train was going to come plowing through my scene,” Steinke said.
The Weld County District Attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request by phone for comment.
___
This story has been updated to correct that the officer was acquitted of the charge of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter, not manslaughter. | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/colorado-officer-who-put-suspect-in-car-hit-by-train-found-guilty-of-reckless-endangerment/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:38 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/colorado-officer-who-put-suspect-in-car-hit-by-train-found-guilty-of-reckless-endangerment/ |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Dozens of city-funded tents will soon be returning to Sacramento's controversial Miller Park "safe ground" site, Mayor Darrell Steinberg said Friday.
Sacramento will be installing 60 tents for the unhoused at the park, months after the city removed the original tents that were installed there due to damaging winter storms.
Since January, 17 trailers have given shelter to those at Miller Park. In a statement, Mayor Darrell Steinberg said he and Councilmember Katie Valenzuela requested that the tents be re-installed.
“Opening additional safe ground at Miller Park is an important step in creating appropriate places in the city for people to camp,” the statement said. “Temporary facilities like Miller Park will make it easier for the city and county to deliver services and help people find temporary and permanent housing. We will aggressively pursue more safe ground in the weeks ahead. By clearly identifying where people can camp, we can more effectively clean those city corridors where it is both unsafe and unhealthy for people to live.”
The city first opened the "safe ground" site in Feb. 2022. The temporary plan to shelter the homeless at the park drew criticism from community members including those involved in the city's lowrider scene.
Homeless advocates have also criticized "safe ground" sites like Miller Park over a lack of safety and adequacy.
The Miller Park site, staffed 24 hours a day, offers resources as well as necessities such as bathrooms, showers and electricity.
According to the city, since launching the Safe Ground Program in April 2021, 374 people have used the program to move to "exit destinations" including permanent housing. Of those people, 142 sheltered at Miller Park.
Watch more from ABC10: Sacramento homelessness: Tour the newly reopened Miller Park homeless site | To The Point | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/tents-miller-park-safe-ground/103-725256a3-2395-4c41-8fe1-14a33e637bef | 2023-07-28T22:48:42 | 1 | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/sacramento/tents-miller-park-safe-ground/103-725256a3-2395-4c41-8fe1-14a33e637bef |
With free agency petering out and only about two months until training camp, Evan Fournier remains on the Knicks roster but is worried that another season in New York would ruin his career.
“If I stayed, it would be a disaster, sportingly, for my career, everything,” Fournier told French publication L’Equipe in a wide-ranging interview from his home in Manhattan. “A year without playing, I can manage.
“Two… that would be terrible.”
Fournier, who signed a three-year, $54 million deal in 2021, was pulled from Tom Thibodeau’s rotation in December and spent most of the season parked on the bench.
The 30-year-old said he took it hard, at first.
“You want to spit on everyone. You have hatred,” Fournier said. “Derrick Rose [who was also pulled from the rotation] and I looked at each other and said to each other, ‘What the hell are we doing here?’
“During the 5x5s at practice, we were on the side like some prospects. Uncool times. And when I realized that wouldn’t change, I took things more slowly. I focused on me and didn’t let the rest get to me anymore.”
Fournier added that the explanation from Tom Thibodeau was abrupt and the player-coach relationship was nonexistent.
“I have nothing to say because I have no [rapport with Thibodeau],” Fournier said. “When he took me out of the five, he just told me he was going to try something else. Then at the first match of a road trip, he announced to me that I was leaving the rotation, and ciao.”
The previous season, Fournier was third on the Knicks in minutes played and set the franchise record for 3-pointers. But the team struggled and Thibodeau replaced Fournier in the lineup with the more defensive-minded Quentin Grimes.
After six games coming off the bench, Fournier was pulled from the rotation entirely as Miles McBride and Immanuel Quickley ate up the backcourt bench minutes. The acquisitions of Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo further pushed away the possibility of Fournier ever rediscovering a role in New York.
Fournier said he was happy the team didn’t trade him before the February deadline because he didn’t want to uproot his family. But the Frenchman, who is preparing to represent his country at next month’s FIBA World Cup, said his value has now tanked.
“If you want to trade me with a good return, why didn’t you use me?” Fournier said. “I was coming out of a season where I was the fourth-best 3-point shooter in the league. Why not take advantage of it?”
Still, Fournier’s contract holds value to the Knicks as an expiring $18.9 million. If they ever pull the trigger on a deal for a star, Fournier would likely be included to match salaries.
There were unsubstantiated rumors over the summer of a deal to the Spurs, where Fournier could’ve helped mentor his fellow countryman Victor Wembanyama. Fournier would’ve been satisfied if only because it’s a change of scenery.
“I want a spot where I have fun again, where I can be myself,” he said. “Would their game be more suited to me? It’s not the Spurs of 2014 anymore. But it is sure that playing for Pop [Gregg Popovich], learning from him, it would be a pleasure, an honor.”
Although the clock is running out on the offseason, Fournier still believes the Knicks will move him.
“I am going to be traded, it is not possible otherwise. Or I’d be stuck, and so would they,” Fournier said, citing the Knicks’ salary cap situation.
() | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/evan-fournier-another-season-with-knicks-would-be-a-disaster-4/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:44 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/evan-fournier-another-season-with-knicks-would-be-a-disaster-4/ |
STOCKTON, Calif. — With a new donation of $200,000, Stockton's University of the Pacific is aiming to enhance behavioral health services in San Joaquin County and minimize the healthcare workforce shortage.
Nonprofit HealthForce Partners launched a scholarship at the university Friday by handing over the $200,000 check. The scholarship will give students enrolled in the college's Master in Social Work program $5,000 per year for as many as two years.
Students enrolled in the Professional Clinical Psychology program at the Benerd College are also eligible for up to $5,000 each year for two years.
To finish the program, students are required to complete clinical hours in San Joaquin County.
“There's a tremendous shortage of mental health providers. It affects young children, seniors and everyone in between," said Nicoleta Bugnariu, dean of the university's School of Health Sciences. "This gives us the ability to attract local students from our community who can get their master of social work degree, have their practice clinical hours in San Joaquin County and then return to deliver that mental health care that is much needed. Scholarships and paid internships — those are absolutely game changers.”
The first scholarships are expected to go out for this year's fall semester.
HealthForce Partners, which started in 2018, is a nonprofit that aims to alleviate the healthcare worker shortage in the northern San Joaquin Valley through recruitment, training and retention of healthcare workers.
The same nonprofit launched a similar scholarship at Stanislaus State.
Watch more Stockton news from ABC10: Donations, community support keeps lights on at downtown Stockton restaurant | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/stockton/new-scholarship-uop-behavioral-health/103-e6e57ef2-61c9-4068-aea9-61469237b9b5 | 2023-07-28T22:48:49 | 0 | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/stockton/new-scholarship-uop-behavioral-health/103-e6e57ef2-61c9-4068-aea9-61469237b9b5 |
Chris Stapleton surprises girl with a rare backstage meet and greet
(Circle) - Chris Stapleton made a little girl’s dream come true over the weekend.
Stapleton’s 2023 All-American Road Show has kept him on the go, performing night after night, but amongst all the shows, one truly stood out.
At his July 14 concert at the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a heartwarming moment unfolded when a young fan named Lily held up a sign that read, “Will you take a picture with me?”
The simple question seemed to really catch Stapleton’s attention because the girl and her family were escorted backstage after the concert, where they patiently waited for Stapleton and his wife, Morgane, to join them.
In the TikTok video, Morgane asks the young fan if she created the sign. She nods and replies, “Yes,” proudly holding out a guitar pick she had received during the concert before the meet-and-greet.
“Well. We saw your sign, and we said, We’ve gotta do that,” Morgane added.
The fan’s successful meet and greet with Stapleton came as a surprise to many, given his reputation as a private person. He is well-known for his low-key status, rarely participating in interviews, let alone participating in meet and greets.
Stapleton also surprised some fans recently by announcing to the world that he will be releasing his 5th studio album, titled “Higher.”
The upcoming album will mark his first studio release since 2020 when he dropped his fourth studio album, “Starting Over,” which won him a Grammy for Best Country Album.
Originally appeared on Circle All Access. https://www.circleallaccess.com/
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/07/28/chris-stapleton-surprises-girl-with-rare-backstage-meet-greet/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:49 | 1 | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/07/28/chris-stapleton-surprises-girl-with-rare-backstage-meet-greet/ |
Chris Stapleton surprises girl with a rare backstage meet and greet
(Circle) - Chris Stapleton made a little girl’s dream come true over the weekend.
Stapleton’s 2023 All-American Road Show has kept him on the go, performing night after night, but amongst all the shows, one truly stood out.
At his July 14 concert at the Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a heartwarming moment unfolded when a young fan named Lily held up a sign that read, “Will you take a picture with me?”
The simple question seemed to really catch Stapleton’s attention because the girl and her family were escorted backstage after the concert, where they patiently waited for Stapleton and his wife, Morgane, to join them.
In the TikTok video, Morgane asks the young fan if she created the sign. She nods and replies, “Yes,” proudly holding out a guitar pick she had received during the concert before the meet-and-greet.
“Well. We saw your sign, and we said, We’ve gotta do that,” Morgane added.
The fan’s successful meet and greet with Stapleton came as a surprise to many, given his reputation as a private person. He is well-known for his low-key status, rarely participating in interviews, let alone participating in meet and greets.
Stapleton also surprised some fans recently by announcing to the world that he will be releasing his 5th studio album, titled “Higher.”
The upcoming album will mark his first studio release since 2020 when he dropped his fourth studio album, “Starting Over,” which won him a Grammy for Best Country Album.
Originally appeared on Circle All Access. https://www.circleallaccess.com/
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/28/chris-stapleton-surprises-girl-with-rare-backstage-meet-greet/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:49 | 0 | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/28/chris-stapleton-surprises-girl-with-rare-backstage-meet-greet/ |
Neelam Kaur Gill is putting romance rumors to bed.
The British-Indian model was quick to set the record straight when rumors began to suggest she and Leonardo DiCaprio are dating after they were spotted out together—most recently on a yacht in Sardinia on July 27.
"Just to clear up any rumors..." the 28-year-old began her July 28 Instagram Story, "I am not Leonardo DiCaprio's 'new flame.'"
So why has she been spotted around the actor recently? There's a very good reason.
"In fact, I am in a committed relationship with his good friend, and have been for many months now," Neelam explained. "The only reason we have been pictured in the same vicinity, is because I have been there with my partner. I hope this clears up all the false stories."
There has been much speculation over the Don't Look Up actor's love life since he and Camila Morrone split in August 2022 after four years together. Most recently, Leo has been linked to Gigi Hadid.
Since late last year, the two have been seen at events together and out in public, sparking romance rumors.
From being spotted together in France during Paris Fashion Week to attending an event at Casa Cipriani in NYC for New York Fashion Week—and even celebrating this year's Met Gala at the same NoHo after party—the two do seem to be spending lots of time together.
Most recently, the duo were seen at the same London eatery in June. And to make the encounter that much more significant, who were the other attendees? None other than Leo's parents George DiCaprio and Irmelin Indenbirken.
But despite the meet-the-parents implication, a source told E! News at the time that the two were actually attending a group event hosted by Vogue editor Edward Enninful for about 20 people at London's Chiltern Firehouse. According to the insider, Gigi and Leonardo did not sit with each other or leave together.
So, what's the vibe between them?
In November 2022, a separate insider told E! News, "Gigi and Leo are having a lot of fun right now. They have been trying to stay low-key and private and she has been enjoying the time they have been spending together." | https://www.eonline.com/news/1381648/model-neelam-kaur-gill-reveals-the-truth-about-leonardo-dicaprio-relationship-rumors?cmpid=rss-syndicate-genericrss-us-top_stories | 2023-07-28T22:48:49 | 0 | https://www.eonline.com/news/1381648/model-neelam-kaur-gill-reveals-the-truth-about-leonardo-dicaprio-relationship-rumors?cmpid=rss-syndicate-genericrss-us-top_stories |
MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge in Miami on Friday blasted prosecutors for an apparent attempt to disavow a court order and take control of a oceanside condo belonging to a former Republican Congressman ahead of a high-profile trial connected to a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist government.
When David Rivera and an associate were charged last November with money laundering and acting as unregistered foreign agents for President Nicolás Maduro’s government, prosecutors obtained a judge’s order freezing around $24 million from banking and brokerage accounts as well as Florida properties that they said were the product of ill-gotten gains.
Prosecutors also blocked eight more properties belonging to Rivera and his associate in Florida and Georgia that, while unrelated to criminal activity, would likely be seized if the two are found guilty.
This month, in a harshly worded ruling, Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said that the government had no right to take the “innocent” Florida assets without a conviction. Rather than lift the restraining order, the government then asked the court to reconsider and said that it had since determined that three of the properties — including a condo that Rivera and his wife purchased in 2019 for $301,000 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida — could also be traced to the defendants’ alleged lobbying on behalf of Maduro’s government.
Judge Darrin Gayles on Friday expressed frustration with the government’s change in strategy.
“This reeks of gamesmanship,” said Gayles, who reversed his own sealed order of a week ago granting prosecutors’ request that the real estate properties once again be frozen. “It seems like the government simply filed this because it lost.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nalina Sombuntham said prosecutors first learned from investigators that the property could be directly “tainted” by Rivera’s consulting work with Venezuela in May or June but didn’t alert the court until July 14 — a week after Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres issued his 23-page order freeing up the properties.
Gayles, who is overseeing the criminal case, was unimpressed. “It seems like you’re wasting the court’s time,” he said.
Rivera has been marred by scandals stretching back to his days in Congress from 2011 to 2013. He was arrested late last year on an eight-count criminal indictment alleging that at the start of the Trump administration he was part of a conspiracy to lobby on behalf of Venezuela to lower tensions with the U.S., resolve a legal dispute with a U.S. oil company and end U.S. sanctions against the South American nation — all without registering as a foreign agent.
As part of that effort, he arranged meetings in Washington, New York and Dallas for allies of Maduro with U.S. lawmakers and a top aide to former President Donald Trump, according to the indictment. To hide the sensitive nature of his work, prosecutors allege Rivera referred to Maduro in chat messages as the “bus driver,” a congressman as “Sombrero” and millions of dollars as “melons.”
Court records show Rivera’s consulting work was closely coordinated with Raúl Gorrín, a Venezuelan insider and media tycoon who has himself been sanctioned and indicted in the U.S. on money laundering charges. Part of the more than $20 million that Rivera was alleged to have received from Venezuela was used to pay maintenance on one of Gorrin’s yachts, according to prosecutors.
Rivera maintains that Gorrín was his attorney in Venezuela and that all of his work was conducted on behalf of PDV USA — a Delaware-based affiliate of Venezuelan-owned Citgo — and didn’t require he register as a foreign agent.
The dispute over Rivera’s assets has slowed the government’s prosecution of the high-profile case. Eight months after being charged, Rivera has yet to be formally arraigned — normally a routine procedural step — because he said he needs access to the disputed assets to pay his attorneys.
Rivera’s attorneys in filings have accused prosecutors of waging a “scorched earth attack” against the south Florida GOP stalwart who once shared an apartment in Tallahassee with now Sen. Marco Rubio when both were state lawmakers.
“They lost, they got caught and they came to this court and it is wrong,” David Oscar Markus, an attorney for Rivera’s co-defendant Esther Nuhfer said.
Rivera was triumphant following Friday’s hearing, accusing the prosecutors of “misconduct.” Judge Gayles was more restrained, making no such finding of wrongdoing even as he questioned prosecutors’ actions.
“Today’s decision shows that there are still honorable judges in America who will not tolerate misconduct from dishonest government prosecutors,” Rivera wrote The Associated Press in a text message. “Another victory for truth and justice.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida didn’t immediately comment.
—
Follow Goodman on Twitter: @APJoshGoodman | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/judge-blasts-prosecutors-handling-of-venezuela-case-against-ex-miami-congressman/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:48:49 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/judge-blasts-prosecutors-handling-of-venezuela-case-against-ex-miami-congressman/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Kowalski’s employees have reached a tentative agreement and called off a threatened three-day strike.
Announced Friday, more than 600 employees across six different Kowalski’s stores reached a tentative agreement for a two-year contract that provides raises for part-time and full-time employees and secures worker-driven health care, according to a news release from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663.
The strike that was planned for Aug. 4, 5 and 6 across Eagan, Eden Prairie, Excelsior, Minneapolis Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis Lyndale Avenue and Minneapolis Chicago Avenue (Parkview) Kowalski’s stores has been called off.
“We secured our Union Healthcare, won historic wage increases, pay equity and secured our retirement,” said Jacob Stromquist, produce manager at the Minneapolis Lyndale store, in the release. “I’m proud to be a UFCW Local 663 member and Kowalski’s employee.”
According to the union, Kowalski’s employees have been working without a collective bargaining agreement since March 5.
A ratification vote for the tentative agreement will take place sometime next week, per the release. | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/kowalskis-employees-in-eagan-west-metro-avert-three-day-strike/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:50 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/kowalskis-employees-in-eagan-west-metro-avert-three-day-strike/ |
Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny are spending un verano with each other.
The pair were recently seen at a dinner date at Sushi Park in West Hollywood.
For the occasion, the model wore a black, figure-hugging dress. Meanwhile, the "Dakiti" color-coordinated in all black attire, wearing a jack with silver buttons over a dark top and pants. He completed his look with a backwards hat and minimal jewelry.
At one point in the night, Bad Bunny was seen carrying a bottle of wine in hand, which he then gave to Kendall.
The outing is just the latest of several date nights the pair, who first sparked dating rumors back in February, have been spotted on. Neither Kendall nor Bad Bunny have spoken out about their relationship status just yet, instead enjoying their time together on beachy vacations and nights out with pals Justin and Hailey Bieber.
In fact, Bad Bunny, 29, previously shared that he was adamant about protecting his private life.
"I know something is going to come out," he told Rolling Stone in June. "I know [people are] going to say something. People know everything about me, so what's left for me to protect? My private life, my personal life."
As the "Tití Me Preguntó" artist put it: "In the end, the only thing I have is my privacy."
Meanwhile, the Kardashians star shared in June that even though she's looking forward to having a family in the future, that is not her biggest priority at the moment.
"I'm excited for that time in my life," the 27-year-old told WSJ. Magazine. "I just know it's not right now." | https://www.eonline.com/news/1381652/kendall-jenner-and-bad-bunny-are-on-a-roll-during-sushi-date-night?cmpid=rss-syndicate-genericrss-us-top_stories | 2023-07-28T22:48:51 | 0 | https://www.eonline.com/news/1381652/kendall-jenner-and-bad-bunny-are-on-a-roll-during-sushi-date-night?cmpid=rss-syndicate-genericrss-us-top_stories |
Donald Trump appeals judge’s decision to keep hush-money case in New York state court
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court Friday to reverse a federal judge’s decision to keep his hush-money criminal case in a New York state court that the former president claims is “very unfair” to him.
Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan after U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein last week rejected his bid to move the case to federal court, where his lawyers were primed to argue he was immune from prosecution.
U.S. law allows criminal prosecutions to be moved from state to federal court if they involve actions taken by federal government officials as part of their official duties, but Hellerstein ruled that the hush-money case involved a personal matter, not presidential duties.
Trump’s appeal notice came at the end of another busy week of legal action for the twice-indicted Republican as he seeks a return to the White House in next year’s election. On Thursday, he was indicted on new criminal charges in a separate case in federal court in Florida involving allegations that he illegally hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the hush-money case and fought to keep it in state court, declined to comment on Trump’s appeal.
Trump pleaded not guilty April 4 in state court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide reimbursements made to his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen for his role in paying $130,000 to the porn actor Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
Cohen also arranged for the National Enquirer to pay Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about an alleged affair, which the supermarket tabloid then squelched in a dubious journalism practice known as “catch-and-kill.”
Trump denied having sexual encounters with either woman. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up.
He is scheduled to stand trial in state court on March 25, 2024. In the meantime, his lawyers have asked the state court judge presiding over the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, to step aside, arguing that he’s biased in part because his daughter does political consulting work for some of Trump’s Democratic rivals. Trump has referred to Merchan as “a Trump-hating judge” with a family full of “Trump haters.” The judge has yet to rule on the request.
In seeking to try the hush-money case tried in federal court, Trump’s lawyers have argued that some of his alleged conduct amounted to official presidential duties because it occurred in 2017 while he was president, including checks he purportedly wrote while sitting in the Oval Office.
Moving the case from state court to federal court would have significant legal and practical consequences for Trump. In federal court, for example, his lawyers could then try to get the charges dismissed on the grounds that federal officials have immunity from prosecution over actions taken as part of their official job duties.
A shift to federal court would also mean a more politically diverse jury pool — drawing not only from heavily Democratic Manhattan, where Trump is wildly unpopular, but also from suburban counties north of the city where he has more political support.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/28/donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-keep-hush-money-case-new-york-state-court/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:51 | 0 | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/28/donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-keep-hush-money-case-new-york-state-court/ |
Federal investigators renewed their recommendation that major freight railroads equip every locomotive with the kind of autonomous sensors that could have caught the track flaws that caused a fatal 2021 Amtrak derailment in northern Montana.
But installing the sensors on the tens of thousands of locomotives in the fleet could be cost prohibitive, and it’s not entirely clear if one would have caught the combination of rail flaws that the National Transportation Safety Board said caused the crash near Joplin, Montana, that killed three people and injured 49 others. And rail unions caution that no technology should be a substitute for human inspectors.
The NTSB report laid blame in part on BNSF railroad, which owns the tracks, and “a shortcoming in its safety culture.” But it noted that even if track inspections had been more frequent, the severity of the problems may not have been noticed the day of the crash without devices and technology designed to enhance the inspections.
“It is unlikely that the track deviations would have been detected through the current track inspection process,” the board concluded in the report released Thursday. But “autonomous monitoring systems … have the ability to monitor track conditions and provide real-time condition monitoring that could be used for early identification and mitigation of unsafe track conditions.”
BNSF defends its safety record and said it already employs a number of the sensors that the NTSB is recommending. Spokeswoman Lena Kent said BNSF inspections meet all federal requirements, and the Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad is committed to timely maintenance, repair and replacement whenever issues or potential issues are detected.
But track problems have long been a safety concern for the NTSB, which can recommend but not mandate changes. In a 2021 report on the Joplin derailment, it attributed 592 U.S. derailments over a decade-long timespan to “track geometry,” which includes the distance between the rails and their horizontal and vertical alignment. Those issues were the second-leading cause of derailment in 2021.
Railroad safety expert Dave Clarke, the former director of University of Tennesse’s Center for Transportation Research, said it is important to remember that the NTSB doesn’t do any kind of cost-benefit analysis on its recommendations.
“If they think something is a good idea for safety they put it out there. In the real world there may be no way to economically or practically do everything NTSB recommends,” Clarke said.
Clarke said it’s also not clear that these sensors would have definitely caught the problems that caused the Montana derailment because none of the individual factors was severe enough to be considered a defect under Federal Railroad Administration rules. The NTSB said it was the combination of all those factors that caused the derailment.
The major freight railroads have more than 23,000 locomotives in their fleets, including thousands that have been put into storage in recent years as the railroads have overhauled their operations to rely more on longer trains that don’t need as many locomotives.
It would require a major investment to add detectors to every locomotive, although the Association of American Railroads trade group couldn’t immediately provide an estimate of how much each sensor costs. BNSF and the five other major U.S. freight railroads already spend roughly $23 billion every year on improving and maintaining their networks and investing in new equipment.
But attorney Jeff Goodman, who represented family members of the three passengers who died in the derailment, said he believes his clients would have lived if trains that had passed through the area before the Amtrak train had been equipped with these sensors.
Tracks will always bend or get out of sync because they’re exposed to the elements, but monitoring allows trains to know when to slow down and prevent accidents, he said.
“If the recommendations that the NTSB issued today were implemented prior to this tragedy, Zach Scheider and Don and Marjorie Varnadoe would all be alive today,” he said, naming the deceased family members of his clients.
Railroads have long resisted new regulations, Although there aren’t any rules requiring these automated inspection sensors or the thousands of trackside detectors they employ, railroads have spent millions developing the technology and installed them voluntarily to improve safety. But regulators are considering drafting rules for them in the wake of recent derailments.
An AAR trade group spokeswoman said that the type of sensors the NTSB singled out measure the force a locomotive exerts on the track and hasn’t proven as useful as other kinds of sensors railroads have developed.
“This technology has been difficult to maintain in real-world operations and lacks a strong correlation to track geometry defects,” Jessica Kahanek said.
Railroads are experimenting with a variety of technologies to find the best way to spot problems.
Another kind of autonomous sensor that can be installed on locomotives as well as the trucks inspectors use to ride along the rails can spot problems like misaligned track and wear on the rails by testing the track continuously.
Vehicle track interaction systems, like the ones the NTSB singled out, must be mounted on locomotives because they measure the force a train puts on the tracks.
Both kinds of sensors can help identify areas of concern for a human inspector to follow up on after computers analyze the data they generate. But the VTI sensors tend to be so sensitive that they flag areas where there aren’t true defects.
In the past, BNSF and other railroads have even petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration to get a waiver releasing them from some inspection requirements because they believe the track geometry sensors provide enough information that the frequency of human inspections can be safely reduced.
Federal officials approved a waiver allowing BNSF to reduce inspections on a couple of areas of its more than 30,000-mile (48,000-kilometer) network after the railroad successfully tested the devices for several years, but later declined to let the railroad expand that practice, including its tracks that cross Montana. BNSF took the FRA to court over that decision and the dispute is still pending.
Rail unions have opposed the waivers. They argue that while the new technology is helpful, it shouldn’t replace human inspections. Even with an interest in preserving jobs, they say safety is their primary concern.
Already, the unions say the widespread job cuts the major railroads have made — eliminating nearly one-third of all rail jobs over the past six years — have made it difficult for employees to keep up with inspection demands and meet all FRA requirements. The NTSB pointed out that the inspector responsible for the territory where the Montana derailment happened had worked an average of 13 hours a day in the four weeks prior to the crash.
Former NTSB director Bob Chipkevich, who spent years investigating rail crashes, said it often takes multiple derailments to force railroads to implement new safety technology.
One of the biggest recent advances in rail safety came after a commuter train collided head-on with a freight train near Los Angeles in 2008, killing 25 people and injuring more than 100. Congress mandated a $15 billion automatic braking system that stops trains when they’re in danger of colliding, derailing and other situations — but it took 12 years to complete.
“When there are safety issues that have been raised after multiple accidents that occurred again and again, the question is to the industry,” Chipkevich said. “Why haven’t you done it after all these years?”
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Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska, and Metz reported from Salt Lake City.
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Follow Josh Funk on Twitter at www.twitter.com/funkwrite | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/montana-train-derailment-report-renews-calls-for-automated-systems-to-detect-track-problems/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:48:51 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/montana-train-derailment-report-renews-calls-for-automated-systems-to-detect-track-problems/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Hometown Hero | Joshua Taylor
TORNADO, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- An off-duty volunteer firefighter is being honored for going above and beyond the call of duty.
Joshua Taylor has been in the fire service for more than 18 years. During that time, he has responded to lots of emergencies while on-call.
However, late in the evening on Tuesday, July 11, Taylor was off the clock, home at his apartment along Ferrell Road when he suddenly heard smoke alarms and cries for help.
His neighbor’s unit had caught fire. With no protective gear or backup, Taylor ran into that unit -- putting himself in harm’s way to save the woman trapped inside.
“The training kicked in and I just went in without even thinking.” said Taylor as he recalled the rescue. “She was laying on the floor by her wheelchair. The whole room was just pretty much engulfed.”
Taylor fought through the intense smoke and flames to get to her and pull her out.
“I bent down and grabbed her underneath her armpits,” Taylor said. “Just bent down and drug her while I was still on my feet. I was actually in the smoke so I actually held my breath.”
In the chaos of getting her out, Taylor made another life-saving move. He shut the door behind him to keep the flames from spreading and then called the fire department.
Danny Dalton, Deputy Fire Chief of the West Side Volunteer Fire Department, says he’s not surprised by Taylor’s actions.
“It’s pretty impressive. Josh saved that lady’s life and kept the building from burning to the ground,” said Dalton. “Josh is just a dedicated individual to the fire service as a whole.”
Days after the fire, fellow volunteer firefighters gathered for a ceremony at the fire station where Taylor was presented the Hometown Hero award.
Both Taylor and the woman he rescued suffered some injuries, but thankfully both are going to be OK.
Copyright 2023 WSAZ. All rights reserved. | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/28/hometown-hero-joshua-taylor/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:51 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/28/hometown-hero-joshua-taylor/ |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Another structural issue has been located with a large roller coaster that’s been closed for weeks since a large crack in a support column was discovered, a North Carolina agency confirmed on Friday.
A Swiss-based engineering company that designed and built the Fury 325 roller coaster at Carowinds, which sits along the North Carolina-South Carolina border, replaced that steel support column earlier this month, news outlets reported.
But the North Carolina Department of Labor, which inspects the ride and decides whether it can operate, said in an email that the agency has now been notified of a separate “weld indication,” which “could be either a break or a crack.”
“No certificate of operation has been issued nor do we have a timeline of when the certificate of operation will be issued for the Fury 325,” department spokesperson Meredith Watson said, referring other questions to Carowinds.
In a statement released Friday, Carowinds said it was conducting a full maintenance review of the ride while test runs are performed.
“During such reviews, it is not uncommon to discover slight weld indications in various locations of a steel superstructure. It is important to note that these indications do not compromise the structural integrity or safety of the ride,” the statement reads. “Once a repair is completed, it undergoes inspection and approval before the ride is deemed operational.”
Park staff closed Fury 325 on June 30 after a visitor pointed out the sizable crack. State Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson said earlier this month that the crack had been visible for at least a week before it was shut down.
Video of the coaster, which reaches 325 feet (99 meters) in height, had showed a key support beam bending with the top visibly detached as cars with passengers barreled by. The roller coaster runs at speeds of up to 95 mph (150 kph).
The department’s Elevator and Amusement Device Bureau said it had conducted its annual inspection of Fury 325 in February and only found a few signage issues, which the park quickly corrected.
Inspections by the park, the engineering company, a third-party testing firm and the Department of Labor have been ongoing. Carowinds has said it’s changing how it inspects rides daily, including the use of drone cameras to examine areas.
While the park straddles the border between the two states, North Carolina regulators inspect Fury 325 because its nearby entrance is in North Carolina. | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/roller-coaster-with-big-crack-has-a-second-structural-issue-inspectors-say/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:48:52 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/roller-coaster-with-big-crack-has-a-second-structural-issue-inspectors-say/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
NEW YORK (AP) — The entertainment publication Variety, under fire this week for an article it published about former CNN chief Jeff Zucker’s interest in his old employer, revised the piece on Friday to reflect some of the complaints about it.
None of its changes affected what was written about Zucker, however. He has called for the story to be retracted.
The article by Tatiana Siegel, which initially ran online Tuesday, depicted Zucker as badmouthing his successor at CNN, Chris Licht, while simultaneously trying to buy the news organization that fired him in early 2021. Licht’s unsuccessful run atop the struggling news network ended with his firing in May.
The dispute also points to the dangers inherent in the use of confidential sources by journalists. There are at least a dozen claims made in the story that Variety did not attribute to a named source that were denied on the record, either in the story or after publication, leaving it up to readers to decide who to believe.
“There used to be a time when Variety held its content and its reporters to a high standard of truth and facts in journalism, but those days are clearly over,” said Risa Heller, a spokeswoman for Zucker. “It is stunning to read a piece that is so patently and aggressively false. On numerous occasions, we made it clear to the reporter and her editors that they were planning to publish countless anecdotes and alleged incidents that never happened. They did so anyway. The piece is a total joke.”
Variety’s co-editor-in-chiefs, Cynthia Littleton and Ramin Setoodeh, said in a statement Friday that they have been carefully following the conversation about the story.
“The story was heavily vetted and deeply sourced,” they said. “Everyone included in the story was asked to comment and given the chance to respond. We stand by our reporting and our award-winning reporter.”
The piece is also critical of two reporters who have covered CNN, Tim Alberta of The Atlantic and Dylan Byers of Puck. Both of those news organizations complained of inaccuracies and, in the changes made on Friday, Variety added their specific denials.
Zucker’s team hasn’t sought to hide ill feelings toward Licht, but strongly denied he has tried to buy CNN.
The story begins with an anecdote about Zucker, “with tears in his eyes,” approaching David Zaslav in Miami Beach in March. Zaslav is CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, current owners of CNN, and Variety said Zucker complained that Licht was unfairly maligning him in the press. Zaslav wanted to know if Zucker was trying to assemble investors to buy CNN.
Byers, writing for Puck, said “multiple sources” said no such run-in at the Faena Hotel ever took place and Zucker’s spokeswoman said that anecdote wasn’t checked with them.
The story outlines several specific efforts made by Zucker, or on his behalf, to convince investors to join him in buying CNN. The story includes his denials: “Any allegation or insinuation that Jeff has made any effort to purchase CNN is unequivocally false,” Heller said. Zucker is now head of a private equity firm, RedBird IMI.
At one point, Variety also floated the theory that a secret group of investors was using Zucker’s name without his knowledge to approach Warner Bros. Discovery about buying CNN.
In a June 4 article, The New York Times reported that Zucker was not in talks to buy CNN, although “he has told some associates he would be interested in acquiring the network” if it came up for sale one day, the newspaper said.
The Variety article “struck me as utterly implausible and sophomoric,” Byers wrote for Puck this week.
Variety’s piece called Byers “a former Zucker disciple at CNN who, by his own admission, wrote about Licht incessantly and even took a victory lap after his exit.” The piece described Byers as a writer of “Zucker fan fiction” and criticized him for a conflict of interest in not disclosing in any of his articles that Zucker once had discussions about funding Puck, an online subscription news service.
In its revision on Friday, Variety quoted Puck’s co-founder, Jon Kelly, saying the discussions with RedBird were not disclosed by Byers because “Dylan was intentionally unaware of them.”
For The Atlantic, Alberta wrote a widely-read story that seen by many as being instrumental in Licht’s dismissal by Zaslav. Variety was critical of Alberta, and accused the reporter of using material in his story that he had agreed to keep off the record — a serious charge of malfeasance against a journalist.
As with Byers, Variety didn’t change what it had written about Alberta. But it added a paragraph to its story using some of what Alberta had written on social media, including a denial that he had used off-the-record material, and disputing Variety’s claim of how many times he had met with Licht while reporting the story.
The story was reposted on Variety’s home page. The only indication that it had been changed was a note at its end: “This story was updated on July 28 to reflect new statements from Kelly and Alberta.” | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/variety-revises-article-on-former-cnn-chief-jeff-zucker-that-was-sharply-criticized/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:48:52 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/variety-revises-article-on-former-cnn-chief-jeff-zucker-that-was-sharply-criticized/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
‘Horrible conditions’: Nearly 30 dogs found dead in freezers; dog rescue owner charged
HAMILTON, Ohio (Gray News) - The owner of a dog rescue in Ohio is facing multiple charges after deputies found animals in unlivable conditions.
Authorities said deputy dog wardens were called to two properties in Butler County regarding a complaint this week.
The team found at least 30 deceased dogs on the properties along with about 90 living animals in “the most horrible conditions they have ever seen.”
According to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, Rhonda Murphy, the owner of the properties, was operating a rescue under the name Helping Hands for Furry Paws.
When deputies and investigators searched the structures, multiple dogs’ bodies were found in refrigerators and freezers, with some of the coolers not working.
Other deceased canines were also found on the property, including puppies.
According to investigators, a garage housed about 25 living dogs, but they were kept in cages, some together, with no air conditioning or ventilation in the room. Temperatures were measured to be about 89 degrees inside.
Numerous animals were found without access to food or water, including a mother dog and her eight puppies.
Deputies said the odor was so strong that it burned their eyes and took away their breath as they checked the property.
Additionally, 11 more dogs were found in the main house living in the same deplorable conditions as others found on the property.
“Conditions were so horrendous that dog wardens had to leave the structure numerous times to catch their breath,” the sheriff’s office said.
All dogs were seized from the properties.
Authorities said Murphy is facing dozens of misdemeanor and felony charges that include neglect and cruelty to animals.
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/28/horrible-conditions-nearly-30-dogs-found-dead-freezers-dog-rescue-owner-charged/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:52 | 0 | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/28/horrible-conditions-nearly-30-dogs-found-dead-freezers-dog-rescue-owner-charged/ |
New Herbert Hoover High School building set to open the doors to students in August
KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - In just under one month, an area filled with construction cones and trucks will house hundreds of students for their first day of school on Aug. 18.
The new and improved Herbert Hoover High School comes seven years after a disastrous flood struck the area, leaving their old school completely underwater. During this time, students and faculty were displaced but the community stood together, especially the students.
“They were the bridge to get us here. They sacrificed a lot to get us to this point, so we need to recognize them, and get them in here and let them know that this is theirs, too,” said Jason Cantrell, assistant vice principal of Herbert Hoover High School.
It has been a long road getting to where they are now, and Cantrell said it is hard to believe that it is actually happening.
“It’s surreal, to look around and walk around this amazing building and see these amazing facilities and think this is Herbert Hoover High School,” he said. “We have came so far as a school and as a community”
And the new facilities are state of the art, according to Cantrell.
“Now we have two gyms, we have amazing football facility, multiple practice fields, baseball softball, I mean it’s just anything you could imagine in a high school, we have it here at Herbert Hoover,” he said.
The new school is not just a building, it’s a testament to the communities resilience and perseverance after all these years.
“To know that this is ours, and the kids can come here and enjoy the facilities and be educated here, it’s exciting, it’s surreal, and we are really looking forward to it,” Cantrell said.
Copyright 2023 WSAZ. All rights reserved. | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/28/new-herbert-hoover-high-school-building-set-open-doors-students-august/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:54 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/28/new-herbert-hoover-high-school-building-set-open-doors-students-august/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC’s “This Week” — Gov. Chris Sununu, R-N.H.; Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y.; actor Matthew McConaughey.
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NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.; former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, a Republican presidential candidate.
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CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Republican presidential candidates; Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
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CNN’s “State of the Union” — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican presidential candidates; Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
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“Fox News Sunday” — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican presidential candidate; Reps. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C.; Alina Habba, a lawyer for Donald Trump. | https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/guest-lineups-for-the-sunday-news-shows-197/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:48:54 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/guest-lineups-for-the-sunday-news-shows-197/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
When you get a stomachache, you may reach for a glass of ginger ale to help feel better. It is a common home remedy for nausea or other gastrointestinal issues. However, some people online are wondering if their mom’s go-to cure actually works.
THE QUESTION
Does ginger ale help with stomachaches?
THE SOURCES
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- A study published in Nutrients in 2020
- Emma Slattery, RDN, in a post on Johns Hopkins Medicine
- A blog post by Matthew Goldman, M.D., on Cleveland Clinic
- Seagram’s
- Schweppes
- Canada Dry
THE ANSWER
While ginger root can help stomachaches, many popular brands of ginger ale do not contain any real ginger. The sugar and high carbonation may also worsen digestive problems.
WHAT WE FOUND
Ginger ale could help relieve stomachaches for some people, but only if it contains real ginger. A scientific review of more than 100 studies on the effects of ginger show moderate effectiveness in relieving nausea.
Emma Slattery, a registered dietician at Johns Hopkins Medicine, explains in a blog post that “eating ginger encourages efficient digestion, so food doesn’t linger as long in the gut.” This can help you cut down on bloating and constipation as ginger improves “the rate at which food exits the stomach and continues along the digestive process.”
But while “ginger” may be in the name of the fizzy drinks you find in stores, many brands of ginger ale do not actually contain any real ginger.
VERIFY looked at the ingredients list of Seagram’s ginger ale and found that the soda contains “ginger extract with other natural flavors.” Schweppes, Canada Dry and Great Value ginger ale do not include ginger in their ingredient list and instead only say “natural flavors.” According to the FDA, “natural flavors” can refer to a wide variety of ingredients whose “significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”
Ginger ale often contains large amounts of sugar, which may create further issues for your stomachache. In a blog post for the Cleveland Clinic, Matthew Goldman, M.D., says, “If a person has bloating, gas or indigestion, the carbonation and sugar may make it worse. Even diet ginger ale can be harmful because our bodies may not digest artificial sugars as well.”
Another aspect of ginger ale believed to assist with stomachaches is carbonation. But that might not be helpful for everyone.
Baptist Health explains, “Some people find that the bubbles in carbonated drinks help soothe an upset stomach, in part, by making it easier for them to burp and release stomach pressure. For others, gas and acidity can make matters worse.” Baptist Health recommends that you drink heavily carbonated drinks with caution if you are not sure how they affect you.
So how can you best take advantage of ginger’s soothing effects when you’re feeling sick? Cleveland Clinic recommends getting ginger root from the grocery store and mixing it with decaf tea or warm water.
Some ginger sodas do have real ginger in the ingredient list. Reed’s sells a ginger ale with 2 grams of ginger in a 12 oz bottle and ginger beer that contains 17 grams of ginger per bottle. | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/verify/health-verify/ginger-ale-no-help-stomachache-because-no-ginger/536-b21c22d9-743a-4f5a-a9d6-a570ef090627 | 2023-07-28T22:48:55 | 0 | https://www.abc10.com/article/news/verify/health-verify/ginger-ale-no-help-stomachache-because-no-ginger/536-b21c22d9-743a-4f5a-a9d6-a570ef090627 |
Donald Trump appeals judge’s decision to keep hush-money case in New York state court
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court Friday to reverse a federal judge’s decision to keep his hush-money criminal case in a New York state court that the former president claims is “very unfair” to him.
Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan after U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein last week rejected his bid to move the case to federal court, where his lawyers were primed to argue he was immune from prosecution.
U.S. law allows criminal prosecutions to be moved from state to federal court if they involve actions taken by federal government officials as part of their official duties, but Hellerstein ruled that the hush-money case involved a personal matter, not presidential duties.
Trump’s appeal notice came at the end of another busy week of legal action for the twice-indicted Republican as he seeks a return to the White House in next year’s election. On Thursday, he was indicted on new criminal charges in a separate case in federal court in Florida involving allegations that he illegally hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the hush-money case and fought to keep it in state court, declined to comment on Trump’s appeal.
Trump pleaded not guilty April 4 in state court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide reimbursements made to his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen for his role in paying $130,000 to the porn actor Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
Cohen also arranged for the National Enquirer to pay Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about an alleged affair, which the supermarket tabloid then squelched in a dubious journalism practice known as “catch-and-kill.”
Trump denied having sexual encounters with either woman. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up.
He is scheduled to stand trial in state court on March 25, 2024. In the meantime, his lawyers have asked the state court judge presiding over the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, to step aside, arguing that he’s biased in part because his daughter does political consulting work for some of Trump’s Democratic rivals. Trump has referred to Merchan as “a Trump-hating judge” with a family full of “Trump haters.” The judge has yet to rule on the request.
In seeking to try the hush-money case tried in federal court, Trump’s lawyers have argued that some of his alleged conduct amounted to official presidential duties because it occurred in 2017 while he was president, including checks he purportedly wrote while sitting in the Oval Office.
Moving the case from state court to federal court would have significant legal and practical consequences for Trump. In federal court, for example, his lawyers could then try to get the charges dismissed on the grounds that federal officials have immunity from prosecution over actions taken as part of their official job duties.
A shift to federal court would also mean a more politically diverse jury pool — drawing not only from heavily Democratic Manhattan, where Trump is wildly unpopular, but also from suburban counties north of the city where he has more political support.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/07/28/donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-keep-hush-money-case-new-york-state-court/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:55 | 1 | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/07/28/donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-keep-hush-money-case-new-york-state-court/ |
By FELIPE DANA and JIM HEINTZ (Associated Press)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces on Friday struck the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro and pounded a key village in the southeast that Ukraine claimed to have recaptured in its grinding counteroffensive, while Moscow accused Kyiv of firing two missiles at southern Russia and wounding 20 people.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, marked Ukraine’s Statehood Day by reaffirming the country’s sovereignty — a rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who used his claim that Ukraine didn’t exist as a nation to justify his invasion.
“Now, like more than a thousand years ago, our civilizational choice is unity with the world,” Zelenskyy said in a speech on a square outside St. Michael’s Monastery in Kyiv. “To be a power in world history. To have the right to its national history -– of its people, its land, its state. And of our children -– all future generations of the Ukrainian people. We will definitely win!”
He also honored servicemen and handed out first passports to young citizens as part of ceremonies. The holiday coincides with commemorations of the adoption of Christianity on lands that later became Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it shot down a Ukrainian missile in the city of Taganrog, about 40 kilometers (about 24 miles) east of the border with Ukraine, and local officials reported 20 people were injured, identifying the epicenter as an art museum.
Debris fell on the city, the ministry added, alleging the missile was part of a “terror attack” by Ukraine.
Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, blamed Russian air defense systems for the explosion.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed a second Ukrainian missile near the city of Azov, which like Taganrog is in the Rostov region, and debris fell in an unpopulated location.
Earlier in the day, a Ukrainian drone was shot down outside Moscow, the Defense Ministry said, in the third drone strike or attempt on the capital region this month. The ministry reported no injuries or damage in the latest incident, and it didn’t give an exact location where the drone fell.
Since the war began, Russia has blamed Ukraine for drone, bomb and missile attacks on its territory far from the battlefield’s front line. Ukrainian officials rarely confirm being behind the attacks, which have included drone strikes on the Kremlin that unsettled Russians.
The strikes have hit Russian ammunition and fuel depots, as well as bridges the Russian military uses to supply its forces, and military recruitment stations. The attacks have also included killings of Russian-appointed officials on occupied Ukrainian territory.
Three months ago, a Russian warplane accidentally dropped a bomb on Belgorod, injuring two people, in an incident where Ukraine was initially suspected.
In Dnipro, an apparent Russian missile attack wounded at least three people in a modern 12-story apartment building, officials said. The nighttime attack also hit the Security Service of Ukraine’s building in the city, Zelenskyy reported. “Russian missile terror again,” he wrote on social media.
Video showed the apartment building’s upper floors in ruins, with gray smoke billowing from them, and flames raging in the night at ground level, where shattered concrete and glass littered a courtyard.
Russia has often struck apartment buildings during the conflict, while denying it intentionally targets civilians.
Meanwhile, the commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, Col.-Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, said his troops were pushing forward in parts of eastern Ukraine occupied by Russia and meeting stiff resistance as the war drags into its 18th month.
“The enemy fiercely clings to every centimeter, conducting intense artillery and mortar fire,” he said in a statement.
Recent fighting has taken place at multiple places along the more than 1,000-kilometer (more than 600-mile) front, where Ukraine deployed its recently acquired Western weapons to push out the Kremlin’s forces. However, it is attacking without vital air support and faces a deeply entrenched foe.
A Western official said Thursday that Ukraine had launched a major push in the southeast. Putin acknowledged that fighting has intensified there, but insisted Kyiv’s push has failed.
Zelenskyy posted a video Thursday night in which Ukrainian soldiers said they had taken Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region. Russian military bloggers said artillery fire at the Ukrainian troops had effectively razed the village and reported more barrages Friday.
Capturing the village, which in 2014 had a population of 682, would give Ukraine a platform to push deeper into Russian-held territory, the bloggers noted.
The area has been a focus of Ukraine’s counteroffensive since June, and its troops have previously captured several other villages there as they slowly work their way across extensive Russian minefields.
It was not possible to verify either side’s claims about what is happening in the war zone.
Syrskyi said fighting that targets the enemy’s artillery as well as its command and control structure is a priority as his troops probe Russian lines for weaknesses.
“In these conditions, it is crucial to make timely management decisions in response to the situation at hand and take measures for maneuvering forces and resources, shifting units and troops to areas where success is evident, or withdrawing them from the enemy’s fire,” he said.
Russia is trying to hold on to the territory it controls in the four provinces it illegally annexed in September — Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kherson and Luhansk.
___
Heintz reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Andrew Katell in New York contributed.
___
An earlier version corrected that Oleksiy Danilov is Ukraine’s secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, not defense minister.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/moscow-blames-kyiv-for-attacks-in-south-russia-as-kremlin-forces-hit-ukrainian-buildings/ | 2023-07-28T22:48:56 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/moscow-blames-kyiv-for-attacks-in-south-russia-as-kremlin-forces-hit-ukrainian-buildings/ |
CHICAGO (AP) — Officers searching the apartment of a Chicago man accused of fatally stabbing a man on a restaurant’s roof discovered the body of a young woman in his refrigerator earlier this month, authorities said.
Brandon Sanders, 33, has not been charged in the death of Iman Al-Sarraj, 18, whose beaten body was found in early July in a refrigerator at his apartment in Chicago’s West Ridge neighborhood.
But he was arrested June 29 and charged with murder, robbery and burglary in the May killing of Rasim Katanic, a 69-year-old who was a Bosnian War refugee, WLS-TV reported.
Prosecutors said surveillance footage shows Sanders climbing a stairwell on May 12 to a rooftop where Katanic was working on a cooler compressor atop Tahoora Sweets & Bakery. Katanic was later found stabbed to death on that roof.
At his bail hearing, Sanders’ attorney said, “There are some issues with a mental state.” Sanders remains held without bail.
Katanic’s daughter, Aida Sutardio, told the Chicago Sun-Times her father had retired at 66 but continued doing maintenance work for longtime clients of his heating, ventilation and air conditioning business, including the restaurant where he was found on the roof.
She said she is having a difficult time grasping “that he was slaughtered on top of a roof.”
“We never thought that this is how his life would end,” Sutardio said.
The Associated Press left telephone messages Friday with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office seeking comment on the status of the investigation into Al-Sarraj’s death.
Al-Sarraj’s father, Khalil Sarraj, said his daughter was born in Chicago after he came to the United States from Israel. “My heart is shattered in a million pieces,” he said. | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/police-searching-apartment-of-chicago-man-charged-in-mans-killing-find-woman-dead-in-refrigerator/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:02 | 1 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/police-searching-apartment-of-chicago-man-charged-in-mans-killing-find-woman-dead-in-refrigerator/ |
‘Horrible conditions’: Nearly 30 dogs found dead in freezers; dog rescue owner charged
HAMILTON, Ohio (Gray News) - The owner of a dog rescue in Ohio is facing multiple charges after deputies found animals in unlivable conditions.
Authorities said deputy dog wardens were called to two properties in Butler County regarding a complaint this week.
The team found at least 30 deceased dogs on the properties along with about 90 living animals in “the most horrible conditions they have ever seen.”
According to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, Rhonda Murphy, the owner of the properties, was operating a rescue under the name Helping Hands for Furry Paws.
When deputies and investigators searched the structures, multiple dogs’ bodies were found in refrigerators and freezers, with some of the coolers not working.
Other deceased canines were also found on the property, including puppies.
According to investigators, a garage housed about 25 living dogs, but they were kept in cages, some together, with no air conditioning or ventilation in the room. Temperatures were measured to be about 89 degrees inside.
Numerous animals were found without access to food or water, including a mother dog and her eight puppies.
Deputies said the odor was so strong that it burned their eyes and took away their breath as they checked the property.
Additionally, 11 more dogs were found in the main house living in the same deplorable conditions as others found on the property.
“Conditions were so horrendous that dog wardens had to leave the structure numerous times to catch their breath,” the sheriff’s office said.
All dogs were seized from the properties.
Authorities said Murphy is facing dozens of misdemeanor and felony charges that include neglect and cruelty to animals.
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/07/28/horrible-conditions-nearly-30-dogs-found-dead-freezers-dog-rescue-owner-charged/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:01 | 0 | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/07/28/horrible-conditions-nearly-30-dogs-found-dead-freezers-dog-rescue-owner-charged/ |
President Biden will host the leaders of South Korea and Japan at Camp David next month, in a summit aimed at showing solidarity among Indo-Pacific countries in the face of threats from North Korea, the People’s Republic of China and fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at Camp David on August 18, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Friday.
The summit will focus on expanding cooperation in the region, including to counter threats from North Korea related to its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons program, the statement read, and to strengthen ties with Southeast Asian Nations and the Pacific islands.
“The summit will advance a shared trilateral vision for addressing global and regional security challenges, promoting a rules-based international order, and bolstering economic prosperity,” Jean-Pierre said.
Biden has placed a priority on deepening ties with Japan and South Korea, in particular, as key defense partners guarding against North Korea’s nuclear threats, China’s ambitions in the region, and as part of a democratic coalition supporting Ukraine.
The Camp David summit follows North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un hosting Chinese and Russian delegations in Pyongyang to mark the 70th anniversary of the armistice with South Korea that froze the Korean War.
Yet Japan and South Korea are not easy partners for each other. The two Pacific countries have worked to ease tensions, with support by the U.S., and to overcome historic grievances stemming from Japan’s occupation of the peninsula in the early 20th century.
In March, Kishida and Yoon held the first bilateral summit between the two nations in over a decade. But experts have cautioned against calling it a breakthrough, warning that Korean public opinion views the Japanese as not going far enough in addressing crimes committed during the occupation.
Still, the Biden administration has put intense efforts in increasing and encouraging cooperation between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.
Biden hosted Yoon for a State visit in April and the two countries signed the “Washington Declaration,” that brought South Korea under the protection of America’s nuclear-weapons umbrella, aimed at deterring North Korea from ever using a nuclear weapon.
Biden met with Kishida in Washington in January and as members of the Group of 7 nations, have worked closely together to support Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia.
During the G7 leaders summit hosted in Hiroshima in May, the joint communique also included a reference to maintaining “peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” a reference to concerns that China is building up its military to carry out an invasion or enact a blockade around the island.
The U.S. has welcomed Japan’s commitment to increase its defense spending over the next five years for an estimated total $318 billion. | https://pix11.com/hill-politics/biden-seeks-to-deepen-ties-with-south-korea-and-japan-with-camp-david-summit/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:04 | 0 | https://pix11.com/hill-politics/biden-seeks-to-deepen-ties-with-south-korea-and-japan-with-camp-david-summit/ |
WASHINGTON — A freshman Republican congressman from Wisconsin is refusing to apologize after he yelled and cursed at high school-aged Senate pages during a late night tour of the Capitol this week, eliciting a bipartisan rebuke from Senate leaders.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden, speaking in a round of interviews Friday on Wisconsin conservative talk radio, did not refute reports of his actions or back down from what he did.
Van Orden used a profanity to describe the pages as lazy and and another to order them off the floor of the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday night, according to a report in the online political newsletter PunchBowl News. The pages were laying down to take photos in the Rotunda, according to the publication.
“I’m not going to apologize for making sure that anybody — I don’t care who you are and who you’re related to — defiles this House,” Van Orden said on “The Jay O’Donnell Show.” “It’s not going to happen on my watch, man.”
Van Orden said he was protecting the integrity of the Capitol Rotunda because it served as a field hospital during the Civil War and it’s where presidents have lain in state upon their deaths. He said the young people he confronted were “goofing off” and that Democrats were making it an issue.
“Would this be an issue if those young people did not have political connections?” Van Orden said on “The Jay Weber Show.” “Why do you think this is an issue, pal?”
A former Navy SEAL who was outside of the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, Van Orden also appeared to embrace the presence of alcohol in his office the same evening he encountered the pages. Images were posted on social media showing bottles of liquor and beer cans on a desk in his office. Van Orden said on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, that the alcohol was from constituents.
And his spokeswoman Anna Kelly posted: “As the Congressman says, once you cross the threshold to our office, you are in Wisconsin!” She followed that with a beer mug emoji.
Van Orden represents Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, a GOP-leaning jurisdiction that comprises parts of central, southwestern and western Wisconsin, including moderate exurbs of Minnesota’s Twin Cities.
On Thursday evening, just before the Senate left for its August recess, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., rebuked Van Orden’s behavior and thanked the pages, high school-age students who serve as helpers and messengers around the Senate. Several of the pages were sitting on the Senate floor at the time, smiling and nodding as dozens of senators stood and gave them a standing ovation.
Without mentioning Van Orden by name, Schumer said he was “shocked” to hear about the behavior of a member of the House Republican majority and “further shocked at his refusal to apologize to these young people.” He noted that Thursday was the final day for this class of pages.
“They’re here when we need them,” Schumer said. “And they have served this institution with grace.”
McConnell said he associated himself with Schumer’s words. “Everybody on this side of the aisle feels exactly the same way,” he said.
When asked about McConnell’s rebuke, Van Orden said Friday “I don’t know what it was because I honestly have not tracked any of this stuff.”
Van Orden was elected to Congress in 2022 after a losing bid in 2020. He has insisted that he did not enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and on Friday again condemned those who did, calling them “buffoons.” That didn’t stop fellow Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat, from invoking the Jan. 6 attack in criticizing Van Orden.
“Wonder if he told that to his fellow insurrectionists, who were beating police officers on the same ground?” Pocan said on X.
Rebecca Cooke, a Democrat who is running to challenge Van Orden in 2024, called him an embarrassment and a hypocrite. She called Van Orden a “serial harasser” and referenced an incident in June 2021 when Van Orden was upset about a display of LGBTQ+ books at a southwestern Wisconsin library and yelled at a teenager who was working there.
“For someone to perhaps drunkenly, and definitely belligerently, yell at these kids for enjoying our nation’s Capitol is just stupid,” Pocan said Friday. “He would be best to say it was stupid and just move on.”
Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin. | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/senators-rebuke-wisconsin-congressman-who-yelled-vulgarities-at-high-school-age-pages/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:08 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/senators-rebuke-wisconsin-congressman-who-yelled-vulgarities-at-high-school-age-pages/ |
ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta police renewed calls Friday for the public’s help to try to solve the gruesome stabbing death of a woman who was walking her dog at a popular park two years ago, a killing that stoked fear across the city.
Katherine Janness, 40, was found just inside an entrance to Piedmont Park around 1 a.m. on July 28, 2021. She had been stabbed multiple times, and her dog, Bowie, was found nearby also stabbed to death.
Police still do not have a suspect.
“You may not have even been in the park that night, but if you’ve heard or saw anything that seems suspicious or just off, please notify us,” Lt. Germain Dearlove said at a news conference. “We will check and confirm every tip. Nothing is too small.”
Police have cast a wide net in the investigation, including looking at the victim’s background, he said. They have conducted numerous interviews but can’t say whether the killer knew Janness.
“It seems senseless to me,” Dearlove said of the slaying.
Janness, known as Katie, was a bartender at a restaurant near the park where she died, friends and relatives have said. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/2-years-after-a-woman-and-her-dog-were-slain-in-an-atlanta-park-police-renew-calls-for-public-help/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:49:09 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/2-years-after-a-woman-and-her-dog-were-slain-in-an-atlanta-park-police-renew-calls-for-public-help/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Healthy snacking company That's it. aims to simplify back-to-school nutrition with curated shopping lists
LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The new school year is approaching, and with it, parents are preparing for the accompanying stress of the back-to-school season. Amongst the biggest stressors for parents of school-aged children? Managing after school activities (24%), followed by finding healthy snack options (23%) and packing lunches / food prep (20%)1.
With 43% of parents' top stressors coming in as nutrition-related, That's it. has partnered with childhood nutrition expert Rachel Rothman, MS, RD, CLEC to take the guesswork out of shopping for healthy back-to-school snacks by creating two curated snack shopping lists for Target and Walmart. (Seventy percent of parents indicated that they will do the majority of their back-to-school shopping at one of these two retail giants2.)
"The best part about these snacks is the variety of ingredients and nutrients," said Rothman. "They all contain key nutrients, and are made from whole foods, without the use of flavors or additives. These snacks are all shelf-stable and can be eaten as a quick, nutritious snack, or as part of a more diverse meal to keep your kids fed as the weather cools off and fall schedules heat back up."
Keep reading for Rothman's hand-selected healthy picks:
Target:
- That's it. Mango & Blueberry Mini Fruit Bars
- Whisps Cheese Crisps
- Chomps Snack Sticks
- Simple Mills Crackers
- Seapoint Farms Dry Roasted Edamame
Walmart:
- That's it. Apple + Strawberry Mini Fruit Bars
- Terra Sweet Potato Chips
- Kars Nuts Second Nature Wholesome Medley Trail Mix
- BOOMCHICKAPOP Sea Salt Popcorn
- Wild Planet Wild Albacore Tuna pouches
That's it. Mini Fruit Bars are made from two ingredients: Fruit + fruit. These shelf-stable Mini Fruit Bars contain no juices, purees, concentrates or added sugars, and are all-natural, gluten-free, non-GMO, and free from all top food allergens – making them the perfect back-to-school snack for the whole family.
About That's it.
That's it. makes delicious, convenient, plant-based super snacks from only the purest ingredients, and completely free from the top 12 allergens. Since 2012, it has been innovating the natural foods category in the United States with its portfolio of simple and nutritious snacks made from real, whole foods. All That's it. products transparently contain six real ingredients or less, and absolutely no natural or artificial flavors, sugar alcohols, or artificial colors. Its flagship Fruit Bars, now the #1 fruit bar in America, contain only two ingredients: fruit + fruit. You can find That's it. nationwide at your local Starbucks, at major retailers such as: Target, Whole Foods, Costco, Sam's Club, 7-Eleven, Walmart, VONS, CVS and Kroger, and online at Amazon and www.thatsitfruit.com. Learn more on Instagram and TikTok.
Media Contact:
Chief Marketing Officer
That's it.
1 About Suzy Survey:
The "Parents' Plates" study surveyed 1,000 parents of school-aged children in the U.S. in July 2023. Survey was conducted via real-time consumer insights platform Suzy.
2 About Suzy Survey:
The "Back-to-School" study surveyed 2,706 parents of school-aged children in the U.S. in June 2023. Survey was conducted via real-time consumer insights platform Suzy.
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SOURCE That’s it Nutrition | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/dietitians-top-walmart-target-picks-back-to-school-snacking/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:09 | 0 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/dietitians-top-walmart-target-picks-back-to-school-snacking/ |
Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips (D) is toying with a potential 2024 primary challenge against President Biden, a development likely to bring additional scrutiny to the incumbent’s reelection campaign.
A well-placed Democrat in the state confirmed to The Hill that Phillips is talking to various people about possibly mounting a White House challenge to Biden.
“True in that he is talking to folks,” said the Minnesota Democrat on Friday, who hedged that Phillips hasn’t “definitively” decided to run.
He would be the first Democratic lawmaker in either chamber of Congress to run against Biden this cycle.
The news of his early thinking was initially reported by Politico. Phillips confirmed independently to CNN that he will meet with donors in New York City.
The idea Biden may have to face a Democratic competitor from Capitol Hill is notable. For one, Phillips is a moderate, bucking Democrats’ more common concern that a progressive could primary him from the left.
He’s also not a household name, like fellow centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), whose contemplation of a presidential run has been viewed with frustration by the party’s establishment.
But a potential primary campaign from Phillips wouldn’t entirely be a surprise. He’s at times been critical of Biden, even going as far as to say he shouldn’t run for a second term due in part to his age. At 54, Phillips is 26 years younger than the 80-year-old president.
A campaign spokesperson for Phillips did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden already has a handful of marginal primary challengers, including political heir Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and author Marianne Williamson. Neither has gotten enough traction to cause more than just headaches, though Democrats have recently gone after Kennedy more harshly for his inflammatory rhetoric.
Democrats are also grappling with the unknowns that could come from philosopher Cornel West’s third-party presidential bid, which has frustrated those who see him as a potential spoiler candidate in the general election.
A congressional challenger would add another layer of uncertainty to the race.
“Not sure what the upside is,” the Minnesota Democrat said of a possible Phillips bid. | https://pix11.com/hill-politics/rep-dean-phillips-mulls-2024-primary-challenge-against-biden/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:10 | 1 | https://pix11.com/hill-politics/rep-dean-phillips-mulls-2024-primary-challenge-against-biden/ |
By NOMAAN MERCHANT, ELLEN KNICKMEYER, ZEKE MILLER and TARA COPP (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Friday announced $345 million in military aid for Taiwan, in what is the Biden administration’s first major package drawing on America’s own stockpiles to help Taiwan counter China.
The White House’s announcement said the package would include defense, education and training for the Taiwanese. Washington will send man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters ahead of the announcement.
U.S. lawmakers have been pressuring the Pentagon and White House to speed weapons to Taiwan. The goals are to help it counter China and to deter China from considering attacking, by providing Taipei enough weaponry that it would make the price of invasion too high.
The package is in addition to nearly $19 billion in military sales of F-16s and other major weapons systems that the U.S. has approved for Taiwan. Delivery of those weapons has been hampered by supply chain issues that started during the COVID-19 pandemic and have been exacerbated by the global defense industrial base pressures created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The difference is that this aid is part of a presidential authority approved by Congress last year to draw weapons from current U.S. military stockpiles — so Taiwan will not have to wait for military production and sales. This gets weapons delivered faster than providing funding for new weapons.
The Pentagon has used a similar authority to get billions of dollars worth of munitions to Ukraine.
Taiwan split from China in 1949 amid civil war. Chinese President Xi Jinping maintains China’s right to take over the now self-ruled island, by force if necessary. China has accused the U.S. of turning Taiwan into a “powder keg” through the billions of dollars in weapons sales it has pledged.
The U.S. maintains a “One China” policy under which it does not recognize Taiwan’s formal independence and has no formal diplomatic relations with the island in deference to Beijing. However, U.S. law requires a credible defense for Taiwan and for the U.S. to treat all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern.”
Getting stockpiles of weapons to Taiwan now, before an attack begins, is one of the lessons the U.S. has learned from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Pentagon deputy defense secretary Kathleen Hicks told The Associated Press earlier this year.
Ukraine “was more of a cold-start approach than the planned approach we have been working on for Taiwan, and we will apply those lessons,” Hicks said. Efforts to resupply Taiwan after a conflict erupted would be complicated because it is an island, she said.
China regularly sends warships and planes across the center line in the Taiwan Strait that provides a buffer between the sides, as well as into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, in an effort to intimidate the island’s 23 million people and wear down its military capabilities.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, said in a statement Friday that Beijing was “firmly opposed” to U.S. military ties with Taiwan. The U.S. should “stop selling arms to Taiwan” and “stop creating new factors that could lead to tensions in the Taiwan Strait,” Liu said. | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/us-announces-345-million-military-aid-package-for-taiwan/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:14 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/us-announces-345-million-military-aid-package-for-taiwan/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly acknowledged his seventh grandchild, a four-year-old girl fathered by his son Hunter with an Arkansas woman, Lunden Roberts, in 2018.
“Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden, are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible going forward,” Biden said in a statement. It was his first acknowledgement of the child.
“This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter,” he said. “Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy.”
Hunter Biden’s paternity was established by DNA testing after Roberts sued for child support, and the two parties recently resolved outstanding child support issues. The president’s son wrote about his encounter with Roberts in his 2021 memoir, saying it came while he was deep in addiction to alcohol and drugs, including crack cocaine.
“I had no recollection of our encounter,” he wrote. “That’s how little connection I had with anyone. I was a mess, but a mess I’ve taken responsibility for.”
The president, who has made a commitment to family central to his public persona, has faced increasing criticism from political rivals and pundits for failing to acknowledge the granddaughter. According to a person familiar with the matter, he was taking the cue from his son while the legal proceedings played out. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.
Biden’s statement was first reported by People Magazine. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/biden-openly-acknowledges-7th-grandchild-the-daughter-of-son-hunter-and-an-arkansas-woman/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:49:16 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/biden-openly-acknowledges-7th-grandchild-the-daughter-of-son-hunter-and-an-arkansas-woman/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Former President Trump on Friday appealed a judge’s ruling that mandated his hush money criminal case be tried in state court in New York.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a President Clinton appointee, ruled last week that the 34-count indictment was not connected to Trump’s role as president, rejecting his request to move the case to federal court in favor of prosecutors’ objections.
Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles filed a notice of appeal Friday afternoon, the first step in taking the dispute to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Trump sought to remove the state case to federal court, arguing it must be transferred because it involves important federal questions, including whether he should face charges for alleged crimes that occurred while he was in office. Doing so would increase the potential jury pool, which is currently limited to the heavily-Democratic population of Manhattan.
“This case is unprecedented in our nation’s history,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the nine-page filing when first seeking to remove the case in May. “Never before has a local elected prosecutor criminally prosecuted a defendant either for conduct that occurred entirely while the defendant was the sitting President of the United States or for conduct that related to federal campaign contribution laws.”
Hellerstein dismissed that argument when ruling on the case in July.
“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President — a cover-up of an embarrassing event. Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties,” he wrote.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over his alleged role in a hush money scheme ahead of the 2016 presidential election. He pleaded not guilty.
Hush money by itself is legal; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) is prosecuting Trump over the manner in which he reimbursed his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, for making the $130,000 hush payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Bragg is connecting the allegedly falsified records to purported violations of campaign finance laws.
When reached out to, Bragg’s office declined to comment.
A trial in the case is currently set for March 2024. Trump’s lawyers have a deadline late next month to file any motions in state court to dismiss the charges ahead of trial.
Earlier Friday, Bragg suggested during a radio interview on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show,” however, that the trial timeline could be delayed as a result of the other criminal investigations the former president faces.
“If our trial judge is reached out to by another judge, we will obviously consider everything in its totality,” Bragg said.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office charged Trump with three additional counts in the classified records federal case Thursday, and prosecutors have signaled an indictment could be close in their probe over the transfer of power following the 2020 election.
In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) has signaled any charges against Trump would likely come in early August.
“In matters like this, judges will confer,” Bragg told WNYC.
“And I take a very broad lens on justice,” he continued. “We’ll obviously follow the directives of our court but won’t sit on ceremony in terms of what was charged first or things like that, if and when that’s presented.” | https://pix11.com/hill-politics/trump-appeals-decision-keeping-hush-money-case-in-state-court/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:16 | 1 | https://pix11.com/hill-politics/trump-appeals-decision-keeping-hush-money-case-in-state-court/ |
NEW YORK, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Official Committee of Talc Claimants (the "Committee"), which has been tirelessly pursuing justice for its constituency of talc victims' injury by Johnson & Johnson's ("J&J's") talc products, is pleased with the court's decision to dismiss the second bankruptcy attempt. We believe the decision of the Honorable Chief Judge Kaplan was thoughtful, well-reasoned, and well-supported by the facts and law. This outcome now frees tens of thousands of victims to seek their justice through the tort system either before juries of their peers or by settlement on terms acceptable to them. The Committee has consistently contended the tort system is the rightful place for these claims to be resolved. Today's ruling validates the Committee's belief that J&J manipulated the bankruptcy system by using the "Texas Two-Step" legal maneuver and wrongfully sought to manufacture financial distress in its "Legacy Talc Liabilities" (LTL) Management subsidiary, solely to carry out a bad faith bankruptcy case. The company will now face the full weight of its conduct in the appropriate judicial forums.
"This ruling sends a clear message: multibillion-dollar, wholly solvent companies like J&J should not be allowed to use and in fact abuse bankruptcy laws to avoid accountability," said Brown Rudnick's David Molton, one of the co-counsels representing the Committee. "We are reassured by the Bankruptcy Court's reaffirmation that it will not allow solvent corporations to abuse the system and impose coercive, low-value and cram-down solutions on nonconsenting claimants. Justice should and now will triumph over corporate greed and legal chicanery."
"The claimants have waited long enough. Untold numbers of cancer victims have died while Johnson & Johnson attempted to manipulate the bankruptcy system to limit its liabilities," added Molton. "Now victims and their families can seek justice through the tort system – by presenting their case before a jury of their peers in courts of their own choosing."
The TCC filed its motion to dismiss on April 24, 2023, alongside several other movants, including the Office of the United States Trustee, numerous State Attorneys General, and other plaintiff groups, who shared a vision for this outcome. Chief Judge Kaplan's Opinion can be viewed on the case docket, available at: https://document.epiq11.com/document/getdocumentbycode?docId=4202926&projectCode=LCN&source=DM
About The Official Committee of Talc Claimants
The Official Committee of Talc Claimants (TCC), appointed by the Office of the United States Trustee (UST), an arm of the US Department of Justice, represents and acts as a fiduciary for all mesothelioma and ovarian cancer victims, as well as all subrogation claimants who have claims based on or derivative to the victims' talcum powder claims. For more information about the TCC, please view our website at https://www.ltltalccommittee.org/
The TCC is advised by counsel, an investment banker, a financial advisor, and claims estimation experts well-versed in mass tort, asbestos, talc, bankruptcy, and victim advocacy. These entities include Genova Burns L.L.C., Brown Rudnick L.L.P., Otterbourg PC, Massey & Gail L.L.P., Miller Thomson L.L.P., MoloLamken L.L.P., Compass Lexecon, FTI Consulting, and Houlihan Lokey.
Media Contact
questions@ltltalccommittee.org
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SOURCE Official Committee of Talc Claimants | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/official-committee-talc-claimants-applauds-decision-dismiss-ltl-management-second-bankruptcy-attempt/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:16 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/official-committee-talc-claimants-applauds-decision-dismiss-ltl-management-second-bankruptcy-attempt/ |
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal trial for the man who fatally shot 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue approached its conclusion Friday as the defense, trying to persuade a jury to spare his life, pressed its case that mental illness spurred the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack.
Robert Bowers, a 50 year-old truck driver from suburban Baldwin, was convicted in June on 63 criminal counts for the 2018 massacre at Tree of Life synagogue. The jury has been hearing testimony in the penalty phase of the trial and will decide whether Bowers will receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors have presented evidence that Bowers was motivated by his hatred of Jewish people when he opened fire at the synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, killing members of three congregations gathered for Sabbath worship and study. The defense argues Bowers has schizophrenia and acted out of a delusional belief that Jews were participating in a genocide of white people.
On Friday, a defense psychiatrist who met with Bowers 10 times for nearly 40 hours said Bowers saw himself as a soldier of God in a war in which Satan was trying to use Jewish people to bring about the end of the world. Dr. George Corvin, of Raleigh, N.C., said it was a delusion brought on by psychosis.
Corvin said Bowers continues to express delusional beliefs about Jews — “disgustingly so” — and that he is incapable of remorse. He said Bowers should be on anti-psychotic medication.
Bowers “has a belief that we’re at the end of a war that’s been going on for thousands of years,” Corvin testified. “He still envisions what he did as an unfortunate act of violence at the direction of God — that it will save lives. He believes he’s a tool for God. I know it sounds absurd. It’s psychotic.”
Corvin continued: “This is the result of a mental illness.”
Corvin was one of several defense experts who diagnosed Bowers with schizophrenia, a serious brain disorder whose symptoms include delusions and hallucinations. A neurologist testifying for the prosecution disputed that Bowers has schizophrenia, saying Bowers has a personality disorder but is not delusional, and that mental illness did not appear to play a role in the attack. Prosecutors have noted Bowers spent six months planning the shooting.
Also testifying Friday were Bowers’ aunt and uncle.
The uncle, Clyde Munger, said he visited with Bowers in prison because “he is my nephew and I love him.” He said he prays for Bowers every morning.
The aunt, Patricia Fine, was expected to the final defense witness. She said Bowers had a difficult childhood from infancy, describing the house where he lived as unsafe. She said he was a sad child and that she “was convinced” he would take his own life. A defense expert previously described Bowers’ early life as deeply unstable and said he attempted suicide several times in his teens.
Fine’s testimony was scheduled to resume Monday, with closing arguments and jury deliberations expected to follow. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/defense-presses-case-that-mental-illness-spurred-pittsburgh-synagogue-massacre/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:49:22 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/defense-presses-case-that-mental-illness-spurred-pittsburgh-synagogue-massacre/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
DALLAS (NewsNation) — Starting next week, Americans will only be able to purchase LED lights from retailers across the nation as an official ban on incandescent lightbulbs will go into effect.
Come Tuesday, while it won’t be illegal to own incandescent light bulbs, it will be illegal for stores to sell them and companies to manufacture them.
The federal government’s warnings started in January and have been getting progressively more aggressive as they want to make sure Americans don’t go back in time. The government announced a ban on the manufacturing and selling of incandescent bulbs, saying it will help Americans save money and help the environment.
Everyone will have to purchase LED or compact fluorescent light bulbs instead.
However, some critics of the ban are calling it government overreach, saying lawmakers should let Americans make their own decisions about the light bulbs in their houses.
The Department of Energy says LED lights provide more light using 75% less energy and last 25 times longer than incandescent light bulbs. Plus, LED lights are estimated to save families about $100 per year.
The average cost of an LED light bulb ranges from $5 to $7 each, while an incandescent light bulb would normally range from $2 to $3 a bulb, according to a report from Lifehacker. However, LED bulbs save money in the long run because they use less energy to run and last longer.
The agency also claimed that discontinuing inefficient incandescent lights will save Americans nearly $3 billion yearly and substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions over 30 years.
Despite the long-term benefits, some people said the decision to make the light switch should be their own, not the government’s.
Last week, a House subcommittee discussed the ban at a hearing titled, “Canceling Consumer Choice: Examining the Biden administration’s regulatory assault on American’s home appliances.”
“I’m happy the Department of Energy is out here making sure that we can all save money because we’re too dumb to figure out how to do it ourselves,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., said.
The hearing was in part a reference to gas stoves. The House passed a bill to prohibit banning them last month despite the Consumer Product Safety Commission not currently considering a ban.
“These updated regulations are not an attempt to ban or take away appliances like gas stoves, light bulbs, or dishwashers,” Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said.
Manufacturers who violate the ban could face a maximum penalty of $542 per illicit bulb. | https://pix11.com/news/incandescent-light-bulb-ban-goes-into-effect-next-week/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:22 | 1 | https://pix11.com/news/incandescent-light-bulb-ban-goes-into-effect-next-week/ |
EAST HARTFORD, Conn., July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pratt & Whitney, an RTX (NYSE: RTX) business, continues to receive positive support for various F135-related program items on the path toward finalizing the 2024 appropriations bill. On July 27, the Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME), passed a bipartisan bill that included:
- $497 million for the development of the F135 engine core upgrade (ECU), the DoD's chosen F-35 engine modernization effort.
- $264 million above the President's budget request for F135 engine spares and repair parts.
- A prohibition against integrating any alternate engine on any F-35 variant.
- $280 million for the development of future engine technology that could be used on 6th generation tactical aircraft.
"I want to personally thank Senators Tester and Collins for their leadership on this effort, because it's essential to ensuring our limited DoD funds go to the most urgent, high-priority needs," said Jeff Shockey, senior vice president of RTX Global Government Relations. "I also want to express my gratitude to the Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and the entire Connecticut and Maine delegations for their support and advocacy."
The F135 supports nearly 55,000 jobs across 41 states and more than 260 domestic suppliers. In March 2023, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy chose to upgrade the F135 versus replace it with an entirely new engine. The decision was announced as part of the administration's 2024 budget proposal.
"The Senate Appropriations Committee's full funding of the Engine Core Upgrade program, its addition of $280 million for future-generation propulsion technologies, and language prohibiting integration of an alternate engine on any F-35 variant are critically important," said Jill Albertelli, president of Military Engines at Pratt & Whitney. "Our collective focus should be on maximizing the performance of all three variants of the F-35, while prioritizing the advancement of sixth-generation solutions that serve our highest, most urgent national defense priorities."
About Pratt & Whitney
Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines and auxiliary power units. To learn more visit prattwhitney.com. To receive press releases and other news directly, please sign up here.
About RTX
RTX is the world's largest aerospace and defense company. With more than 180,000 global employees, we push the limits of technology and science to redefine how we connect and protect our world. Through industry-leading businesses – Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon – we are advancing aviation, engineering integrated defense systems for operational success, and developing next-generation technology solutions and manufacturing to help global customers address their most critical challenges. The company, with 2022 sales of $67 billion, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
Pratt & Whitney
+1 (860) 565-9600
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SOURCE RTX | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/pratt-amp-whitneys-f135-engine-receives-full-funding-support-senate-appropriations-committee/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:22 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/pratt-amp-whitneys-f135-engine-receives-full-funding-support-senate-appropriations-committee/ |
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Legacy admissions, in which universities give students related to alumni preference, could be on the chopping block after the U.S. Department of Education agreed to investigate the practice at Harvard University.
The Lawyers for Civil Rights advocacy group filed the complaint that prompted the investigation.
“It’s harmful to applicants of color,” Michael Kippins of the organization said of legacy admissions. “Donor and legacy preference overwhelmingly favor white applicants and many of them are not as qualified as applicants of color.”
Lawyers for Civil Rights’ complaint alleges applicants related to wealthy Harvard donors are seven times more likely to be admitted.
“This complaint targets Harvard specifically; however, the Department of Education has very broad power to ensure … programs and organizations that receive federal funding not discriminate,” Kippins said.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said the practice is among many being examined to ensure equal access to higher education.
“Historically, universities have separated the haves and have-nots,” Cardona said. “We have to do better.”
Harvard said that following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision limiting affirmative action, it is working to ensure all its policies fall in line with the law.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., and the Congressional Black Caucus are pushing a bill that would end all legacy admissions.
“Now without affirmative action, these discriminatory actions cannot be tolerated,” Scott said.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., agreed legacy admissions don’t make sense, calling it a “silly policy.” But he said Congress should be focused on the biggest obstacle for all applicants: the high cost of tuition. | https://pix11.com/news/politics/dept-of-education-looks-into-legacy-admissions/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:28 | 1 | https://pix11.com/news/politics/dept-of-education-looks-into-legacy-admissions/ |
LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In an unprecedented collaborative endeavor, Slovenia's Ministry of Environment, Climate and Energy, in partnership with Global Footprint Network, announces a critical date for the planet: this year's Earth Overshoot Day lands on August 2nd.
The date, calculated by Global Footprint Network each year using National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, marks when humanity's demand for biological resources exceeds the Earth's capacity to regenerate them within that year. To spotlight this issue, the Ministry and Global Footprint Network are organizing a high-level event on August 1st, held in Ljubljana and online, to discuss the implications of overshoot. The high-level event enjoys support from key figures including President of the Republic of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28 and IUCN President Razan Al Mubarak, and Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel at UNEP Dr. Janez Potočnik.
"Slovenia, as the first EU country, joins the ranks of countries such as Ecuador, Japan, the Philippines, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates, leveraging Ecological Footprint data and officially endorsing the metric as a useful tool to steer environmental policy," affirms Bojan Kumer, Slovenia's Minister of the Environment, Climate and Energy. He further elucidates that efforts to reduce Slovenia's Ecological Footprint by 20% by 2030 will spur greater opportunities for the country amid a future marked by climate change and resource constraints.
Razan Al Mubarak notes the Ecological Footprint's utility, "With this metric in hand, any country, region, city, or company can assess its current standing and determine how it can contribute to postponing this date (Earth Overshoot Day)." It provides valuable insights for forward-thinking strategies that address resource security and enable the transition towards a sustainable economy.
Earth Overshoot Day coincides with the European Parliament's recent vote on the Nature Restoration Law. The persistence of overshoot has led to land and soil degradation, fish stock depletion, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and greenhouse gas accumulation. These symptoms are becoming more prominent every day across the planet, with unusual heat waves, wildfires, droughts, and floods, exacerbating the competition for food and energy.
"The biggest risk, apart from ecological overshoot itself, lies in complacency towards this crisis. Entities that act now are not just safeguarding the environment but future-proofing their economy and the wellbeing of their residents," underlines Steven Tebbe, CEO of Global Footprint Network.
Contacts
Watch event https://video.sta.si/
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SOURCE Republic of Slovenia Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/slovenias-ministry-environment-climate-energy-global-footprint-network-host-high-level-event-mark-earth-overshoot-day-2023/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:29 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/slovenias-ministry-environment-climate-energy-global-footprint-network-host-high-level-event-mark-earth-overshoot-day-2023/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court Friday to reverse a federal judge’s decision to keep his hush-money criminal case in a New York state court that the former president claims is “very unfair” to him.
Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan after U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein last week rejected his bid to move the case to federal court, where his lawyers were primed to argue he was immune from prosecution.
U.S. law allows criminal prosecutions to be moved from state to federal court if they involve actions taken by federal government officials as part of their official duties, but Hellerstein ruled that the hush-money case involved a personal matter, not presidential duties.
Trump’s appeal notice came at the end of another busy week of legal action for the twice-indicted Republican as he seeks a return to the White House in next year’s election. On Thursday, he was indicted on new criminal charges in a separate case in federal court in Florida involving allegations that he illegally hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the hush-money case and fought to keep it in state court, declined to comment on Trump’s appeal.
Trump pleaded not guilty April 4 in state court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide reimbursements made to his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen for his role in paying $130,000 to the porn actor Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
Cohen also arranged for the National Enquirer to pay Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about an alleged affair, which the supermarket tabloid then squelched in a dubious journalism practice known as “catch-and-kill.”
Trump denied having sexual encounters with either woman. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up.
He is scheduled to stand trial in state court on March 25, 2024. In the meantime, his lawyers have asked the state court judge presiding over the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, to step aside, arguing that he’s biased in part because his daughter does political consulting work for some of Trump’s Democratic rivals. Trump has referred to Merchan as “a Trump-hating judge” with a family full of “Trump haters.” The judge has yet to rule on the request.
In seeking to try the hush-money case tried in federal court, Trump’s lawyers have argued that some of his alleged conduct amounted to official presidential duties because it occurred in 2017 while he was president, including checks he purportedly wrote while sitting in the Oval Office.
Moving the case from state court to federal court would have significant legal and practical consequences for Trump. In federal court, for example, his lawyers could then try to get the charges dismissed on the grounds that federal officials have immunity from prosecution over actions taken as part of their official job duties.
A shift to federal court would also mean a more politically diverse jury pool — drawing not only from heavily Democratic Manhattan, where Trump is wildly unpopular, but also from suburban counties north of the city where he has more political support. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-to-keep-hush-money-case-in-new-york-state-court/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:49:28 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-to-keep-hush-money-case-in-new-york-state-court/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (WSAV) – Guests at a seaside restaurant in South Carolina had quite the sight on Sunday as several sharks swam around the dock at Hudson’s Seafood on Hilton Head Island.
A video shows at least five sharks circling in the shallow waters of Skull Creek.
The video was taken after a fishing charter returned to the dock and threw out scraps into the water, according to Nexstar’s WSAV.
Only days before, the Town of Hilton Head also reported a possible shark bite about 10 miles down the shore. A man said he was bitten on the foot by a shark while swimming in waist-deep water.
A portion of the beach was closed after the bite.
Shark attacks actually hit a 10-year-low in 2022, with some spikes in regional hot spots, according to the International Shark Attack File, which maintains a database of shark attacks.
They recommend swimmers swim with a buddy, stay close to shore, not swim at dawn or dusk and not swim around schools of fish or where people are fishing, among other tips.
Should a shark bite you, the Shark Attack File says to hit the shark in the eyes, gills or on the snout — sensitive areas on the shark — and push away. Remember that the water resistance will slow down your punches. | https://pix11.com/news/sharks-circle-dock-outside-south-carolina-restaurant-video-shows/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:34 | 1 | https://pix11.com/news/sharks-circle-dock-outside-south-carolina-restaurant-video-shows/ |
A malfunction in some Ford F-150 pickup trucks could cause drivers to lose control, prompting a recall affecting 870,701 of the automaker's top-selling vehicles.
The recall covers F-150 trucks from 2021 through 2023 with single exhaust systems in which a rear wiring bundle may contact the rear axle housing.
According to documents posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Friday, this contact can cause the truck's wiring to short circuit, which can unintentionally activate the electric parking brake while a person is driving.
Drivers may see the parking brake warning light and a message in their vehicle's dashboard, even if they haven't activated the brake.
SEE MORE: New report lists the most and least recalled vehicles
Ford has received 918 warranty claims and three field reports in North America from August 2021 to July 2023. Of those, 299 reported unintended electric parking brake activation, with 19 happening while driving, though the company said it wasn't aware of any accidents or injuries occurring because of the recall.
Ford said it will start notifying vehicle owners by mail on Sept. 11. Owners will be instructed to take the affected trucks to a dealer to fix the wiring issue free of charge, as long as the remedy is done before Sept. 11 of next year.
The company has issued multiple recalls within the last few months, including for an air bag issue in other F-Series cars and a seat belt issue in some Broncos.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.lex18.com/ford-recalls-more-than-870-000-f-150-vehicles-for-parking-brake-issues | 2023-07-28T22:49:35 | 0 | https://www.lex18.com/ford-recalls-more-than-870-000-f-150-vehicles-for-parking-brake-issues |
Tampa General is recognized nationally in the top 100 of the Best Employers for Women list and ranks #1 among Best Employers for Women in Florida in the Healthcare and Social category.
TAMPA, Fla., July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital has been named one of America's Best Employers for Women by Forbes for 2023, ranking in the top 100 of organizations nationally and as the Best Employer for Women in Florida in the Healthcare and Social category. The academic health system is also ranked #3 overall in the state. Tampa General has been included on Forbes America's Best Employers for Women list every year since 2020.
"The health and well-being of our team at Tampa General is our top priority and critical to our success as an organization as well as our ability to provide the highest level of care to our community and beyond. We continue to nurture a human-centered culture that both empowers everyone to be their whole, authentic selves at work and ensures every individual feels seen, heard and valued," said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General Hospital. "As an academic health system, we are committed to prioritizing not only the personal and professional development of all team members through education opportunities, but we also work to ensure that they have all the support they need."
Forbes partnered with the market research company Statista to identify organizations committed to the advancement of women in and out of the workplace. More than 60,000 American employees were surveyed, including 40,000 women working for companies employing at least 1,000 people within the United States. Survey responses were evaluated against various criteria, including atmosphere and development, image, working conditions, workplace, diversity, family support, flexibility, representation and pay equity.
Tampa General routinely gauges the needs of team members through annual evaluations conducted by a third-party professional survey company.
"When we talk about providing world-class care at Tampa General, that includes taking care of our team members as well as our community," said Qualenta Kivett, executive vice president and chief people and talent officer at Tampa General Hospital. "To make this a reality, our academic health system embodies a culture of belonging and fairness. Our steadfast commitment to our team members' growth and well-being is essential to recruiting and retaining high-quality and diverse talent, which results in better experiences and outcomes for the patients we serve."
Aligning with Tampa General's culture focused on helping all team members thrive personally and professionally, the academic health system has developed and continues to introduce new programs and initiatives that provide support to women team members such as:
- Flexibility: Tampa General offers a competitive time-off policy as well as remote working options and flexibility for part-time positions. Over the past two years, the academic health system's team members have increasingly expressed a desire for part-time work schedules and those have been accommodated through offering seasonal contracts and part-time opportunities, where possible.
- Growth and Development: In addition to competitive tuition reimbursement, skills reimbursement and scholarships, Tampa General also offers free access to career, leadership and personal development through courses in Organizational Development, such as Crucial Conversations. Through clinical and non-clinical ladders, the academic health system also offers structured systems to advance career development while the team member remains in a current position.
- Health, Wellness and Benefits: Along with competitive medical benefits, team members receive access to wellness activities and fitness tracking through a free app, an on-site gym and online classes through the TGH Fitness Center. The academic health system also provides free access to virtual behavioral health support that provides access to a trained mental health counselor within 72 hours. It is also available to dependents with TGH insurance. Additionally, there is a team member lounge in the hospital that includes massage chairs to allow team members to decompress.
- Family Support: An on-site daycare center provides families with an education and development curriculum for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. Understanding that family support looks different for every team member, through the TGH Foundation, the academic health system offers an annual school supply giveaway, which includes computers and an emergency fund to support team members in crisis. Other support includes gas cards to team members when gas prices skyrocketed, as well as grants to help team members rebuild their homes after sustaining hurricane damage. Tampa General offers a generous maternity leave package. All team members who give birth are guaranteed 12 weeks of job-protected leave post-delivery, regardless of whether they qualify for Family Medical Leave (FMLA) or have exhausted their FMLA entitlement for the year. In addition, Tampa General provides several options to team members needing financial assistance, including ATO leave sharing and short-term disability. TGH also provides a supportive environment to enable breastfeeding team members to express milk during work hours. Private lactation rooms or designated nursing space is available throughout the hospital and every TGH location.
- People Development Institute: Tampa General has invested heavily in the continued education and professional development of all team members with programs such as its People Development Institute (PDI), which offers classes through a partnership with the University of South Florida (USF) Muma College of Business at no charge. Among the program's most impactful success stories are those of women who have leveraged PDI offerings to broaden their career horizons. One example is Stephanie Jackson, who started as a parking attendant at Tampa General and pursued advanced degrees and PDI courses to become a director for the academic health system.
- AKTiVe Leadership Initiative: Through the PDI program, the AKTiVe Leadership Initiative involves all TGH leaders in their leadership development. The AKTiVe Leadership Model embodies four qualities of leaders: Authenticity, Kindness, Transparency and Vulnerability. When enacted through the behaviors of leaders, these qualities create a positive environment for leaders, team members and patients.
- LEAD TGH: LEAD (Leadership, Enrichment and Development) TGH provides a platform for emerging leaders to share ideas, overcome challenges and foster personal and professional development. The free program spans 12 months and creates career pathways while identifying future leaders.
- Modern Advances in Leadership: Facilitated through the University of Tampa's Sykes College of Business, the series provides transformative and interactive learning experiences to advance the skills of current and future leaders.
Inclusion on the Forbes America's Best Employers for Women list is the latest among several high-profile recognitions for Tampa General for its supportive work environment:
- Forbes' Best Employers for New Graduates (Top 20) – May 2023
- Becker's Hospital Review's 150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare – April 2023
- Glassdoor's Employee's Choice Award – January 2023
- Newsweek's America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity – January 2023
- Forbes' America's Best Employers by State (Top 10 Employer in Florida) – August 2022
ABOUT FORBES
Forbes champions success by celebrating those who have made it, and those who aspire to make it. Forbes convenes and curates the most influential leaders and entrepreneurs who are driving change, transforming business and making a significant impact on the world. The Forbes brand today reaches more than 140 million people worldwide through its trusted journalism, signature LIVE and Forbes Virtual events, custom marketing programs and 32 licensed local editions in 71 countries. Forbes Media's brand extensions include real estate, education and financial services license agreements. For more information, visit the Forbes News Hub or Forbes Connect.
ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL
Tampa General Hospital, a 1,040-bed, not-for-profit, academic health system, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2022-23 Best Hospitals, and is tied as the third highest-ranked hospital in Florida, with seven specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic health system's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious Forbes magazine rankings – in the top 100 nationally in the 2023 America's Best Employers for Women and sixth out of 100 Florida companies in the 2022 America's Best Employers by State. Tampa General is the safety net hospital in the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2021, provided a net community benefit worth more than $224.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With six medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health, and 21 TGH Imaging powered by Tower outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.
Media Contact: Beth Hardy, APR
Senior Communications Specialist
(727) 510-6363 (cell)
ehardy@tgh.org
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SOURCE Tampa General Hospital | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/tampa-general-hospital-named-one-americas-best-employers-women-2023-by-forbes/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:35 | 0 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/tampa-general-hospital-named-one-americas-best-employers-women-2023-by-forbes/ |
Re: “Don’t let EVs kill vital AM radio” [July 25, Opinion]:
I read Tom Philp’s informative Op-Ed on forcing car manufacturers to keep AM radios in electric vehicles. However, it left off one important aspect of AM broadcasting.
I am a ham radio operator and focus my volunteer hours on emergency communications. I was also the designated amateur radio operator tasked to assist the city of Redmond to program its AM 1650 broadcast radio, which can be used to broadcast emergency or blue-sky information to residents as the need arises. Systems like these are used across the country to inform drivers of road or bridge closures, construction or avalanche detours, storm warnings and more.
I owned a 2017 Tesla that initially came with an AM radio (which worked fine) but it was subsequently removed after a hardware “update.” My current 2023 Tesla is still missing an AM receiver. As a ham, I’m familiar with radio frequency shielding and it’s not that difficult to halt interference at the source.
I encourage Congress to force manufacturers to put AM radios in cars and continue funding for local and roadside emergency AM radio broadcast systems. What the country needs is more receivers and more public awareness of these critical systems — not less.
William Vaughn, Redmond | https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/am-radio-valuable-emergency-broadcast-system/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:49:35 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/am-radio-valuable-emergency-broadcast-system/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Black farmers make up a small, aging part of the farming population. Some worry traditions may die with them. So there's an effort in Mississippi to cultivate the next generation of Black farmers.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Black farmers make up a small, aging part of the farming population. Some worry traditions may die with them. So there's an effort in Mississippi to cultivate the next generation of Black farmers.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-28/cultivating-the-next-generation-of-black-farmers-in-mississippi | 2023-07-28T22:49:35 | 1 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-28/cultivating-the-next-generation-of-black-farmers-in-mississippi |
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (KTVI) – A rideshare driver in Illinois was supposed to take Kristina Caruso home early on Saturday morning. Instead, Caruso said the driver ordered her out at a gas station at about 2:30 a.m.
Things only got stranger after that.
Caruso had earlier ordered an Uber to pick her up outside a friend’s home in Belleville, Illinois. Being a “very cautious person,” she took a screengrab from her Uber app before going outside to meet a driver named “Sara” who pulled up in a black Dodge Avenger.
“I always snapshot my driver before they pick me up to send to who I’m with,” Caruso said.
Caruso’s friend Katie walked her outside to the car.
“It was dark, but the car looked like what was supposed to be picking me up,” Caruso said. “It took me a second to realize we were going the wrong way because it was dark out. I was in the back seat not really paying attention, and then we pulled into a gas station. She pulled up, and she said, ‘Your payment didn’t go through. Get out!’”
Caruso said she knew her payment went through because it showed up on her account as an Uber charge that she also screengrabbed. She said the driver was adamant that she get out.
“There were two men to my right and one man to my left,” Caruso said. “As soon as I got out of the car, they were asking me if needed a ride. They were asking me to get in their car.”
Thankfully, her friend Katie Davis was tracking her on her iPhone. When Davis walked out of her house to go pick up Caruso, she found another Uber parked outside.
“He asked if I was Kristina, and I explained to him, no, that another Uber picked her up and then dropped her off at this location,” Davis said. “He said, ‘That was very strange — that it doesn’t show she was ever picked up and that she was still needing a ride.’”
“I’m wondering who the hell picked me up,” Caruso said.
Uber refunded her payment, and when Nexstar’s KTVI called for a comment, the company gave her an additional $15 to use later. But Caruso wants more answers about rider safety.
KTVI found a recent case in Kansas City over which attorney Andy Smith, of Humphrey, Farrington & McClain, is suing. He alleges an Uber left his client on the side of Interstate 35 back in November.
“[She was stranded] in a manner that really left her with no options but to walk along the highway to try to get somewhere,” Smith said. “She was trying to do that and was struck by another party and killed.
“It sent chills down my spine,” Caruso said, “because I got lucky.”
Caruso hopes video surveillance at the gas station can reveal who the mysterious driver was. The screenshot she took offers one of the few clues, but it shows a plate number with at least one too many digits to be legitimate. And that trip, she said, no longer shows up in her history.
“It completely disappeared from the Uber app after I was dropped off,” Caruso said. “There’s zero evidence of it other than I always screenshot my rides. The actual Uber driver who came — not knowing somebody else had grabbed me — that trip is still in the app, available, and it looks like a canceled ride because I wasn’t there to be picked up.”
KTVI has been in contact with Uber over this case, but the company has declined to comment other than to confirm an active investigation. | https://pix11.com/news/she-says-an-uber-stranded-her-then-things-really-got-weird/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:40 | 0 | https://pix11.com/news/she-says-an-uber-stranded-her-then-things-really-got-weird/ |
By the end of the year, the water level at Lake Mead is expected to be almost 20 feet higher than it was in January.
Future releases from Lake Powell to Lake Mead are expected to raise the lake another six feet, the Bureau of Reclamation forecast this week.
Just a few months ago, the lake, which is fed by the Colorado River, was only about 100 feet above what's called "dead pool" status, according to hydrologist David Kreamer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
"If the lake goes down to a dead pool level, about 950 feet above sea level, no more water can go through Hoover Dam and go downstream to California, to the crops and the fields that are located there. And that would be a pretty tremendous impact, not only for the Southwest, but for the entire United States," Kreamer said in February.
Now Lake Mead, located near Las Vegas, is expected to be at 1,065 feet by the end of the year, compared with 1,047 feet in January.
As of June 2023, the lake was at 1,056 feet, according to Bureau of Reclamation data.
SEE MORE: Divers find more human remains at receding Lake Mead
Ben Burr, executive director of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, an organization dedicated to recreation and public lands, says this is good news.
"Everyone who is recreating at Lake Mead this year is having a far better year this year than last year," Burr told Channel 13. "A lot of the facilities are open now that were struggling to be accessible last year, and it's a blessing to have this much water."
Burr says while this is positive news, the lake is still low and conservation efforts need to continue. He says this buys the feds more time to come up with a plan for future conservation.
Colorado River water conservation has been a focal point in environmental efforts in recent years. A 20-year water shortage plan for the river was put into place in 2007, and recently, new plans have been in talks.
This story was originally published by Joe Moeller for Scripps News Las Vegas.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.lex18.com/lake-mead-expected-to-gain-20-feet-of-water-by-end-of-2023 | 2023-07-28T22:49:41 | 1 | https://www.lex18.com/lake-mead-expected-to-gain-20-feet-of-water-by-end-of-2023 |
More Than 1,175 Higher Education Workers Gain Teamster Representation
OAKLAND, Calif., July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Workers at the University of California (UC) have joined Teamsters Local 2010. The 1,175 newest members of Local 2010 in Oakland will now bargain for higher pay, reduced benefit costs, overtime pay, job security, and respect in the workplace.
"It's great to be represented again! I feel secure knowing someone is fighting for us to receive better pay and protect our rights," said Azalia Maldonado, a facilities management specialist at UC Berkeley.
"I'm so happy to be a Teamster again!" said Michelle Belden, a research administrator at UC Davis who was Teamster Shop Steward in her previous job of Blank Assistant 4 in the CX Unit. "There is power in our solidarity."
"I am excited to be a part of a strong union that advocates for members' rights and interests," said Patricia Passalacqua, an ambulatory care administration coordinator at UC San Diego. "All of the Teamsters' hard work and tenacity is evident. Knowing we have the support of Teamsters from all industries to help us protect our rights has lifted a weight off our shoulders. I look forward to connecting with other members in the future."
Workers in the titles of Ambulatory Care Administration Coordinator, Facilities Management Specialist, Health Professional Education Specialist, and Research Administrator had been misclassified by the UC in an effort to deny union-negotiated wages and benefits, including the right to strike. The Public Employment Relations Board issued unit modification orders on June 22, 2023.
The newly organized workers will join more than 16,000 administrative, paraprofessional, and skilled trades workers who provide critical public services at every University of California and California State University campus, medical center, and laboratory throughout the state, as well as 1.2 million Teamster members in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, with Public Services being one of the largest Teamster divisions.
"Teamsters Local 2010 welcomes our new sisters and brothers," said Jason Rabinowitz, Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 2010. "We are especially pleased that they will immediately see the benefits of being Teamsters — guaranteed raises that are higher than those for non-union workers, this year and every year of our contract — plus all the rights at work and benefits of Teamster representation."
The group will soon assemble a bargaining team to begin the bargaining process for salary ranges, step placement, on-call and shift differential pay, as well as other bonus eligibility and pay.
Teamsters Local 2010 is a union of 15,000 hardworking employees in California higher education. We are affiliated with the 1.2 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing members throughout the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. We stand together to win better wages, benefits, and working conditions. We strive to protect workers' rights through direct action and determined labor representation.
Contact
Aimee Baror, (213) 220-0538
abaror@teamsters2010.org
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SOURCE Teamsters Local 2010 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/university-california-workers-join-teamsters-local-2010/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:41 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/university-california-workers-join-teamsters-local-2010/ |
Upon reading Sydney Brownstone’s piece on Northern State Hospital in Sedro-Woolley, I could not help but realize that our history of erasure has a long legacy and one that continues today [“Lost patients,” July 16, A1].
The marginalized and disenfranchised people of the 20th century were routinely warehoused in institutions like Northern State. Upon their death, their existence was largely denied. Parallels can be drawn between the policies of sequestering Native Americans and Indigenous Canadians in residential boarding schools to purge them of their culture. The records of the fates of these Native youth were similarly withheld from public view in order to minimize liability and embarrassment about the deplorable treatment they were subjected to.
Today, we are opening a new chapter of erasure with the growing epidemic of denial of the record of institutional racism. The culture wars and denial of racial history strive for the same obfuscation that will ultimately leave our populace with no knowledge of the civil rights struggle. This country’s history of slavery will eventually be classified as a “conspiracy theory” by those who restrict our schools from teaching factual history.
Jeffrey Pollack, Kingston | https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/american-history-a-long-legacy-of-erasure/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:49:41 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/american-history-a-long-legacy-of-erasure/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Berlin's conservative mayor ran on a pledge to stand up for car drivers against encroachment from bicyclists. But bike-riders have pushed back, forcing the government to backpedal.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Berlin's conservative mayor ran on a pledge to stand up for car drivers against encroachment from bicyclists. But bike-riders have pushed back, forcing the government to backpedal.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-28/cyclists-and-car-drivers-in-berlin-fight-over-road-space | 2023-07-28T22:49:43 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-28/cyclists-and-car-drivers-in-berlin-fight-over-road-space |
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — In a press conference held Friday afternoon, the Hoover Police Department announced that Carlee Russell had been charged with filing a false police report and filing a false statement to law enforcement authorities, a Class A misdemeanor.
The Hoover Police Department (HPD) revealed that Carlee had turned herself in Friday to the Hoover City Police and was released on a $2,000 bond – $1,000 per charge.
“Judging from the amount of phone calls and emails that we have received from all over the country, I know that many are shocked and appalled that Miss Russell is only being charged with two misdemeanors, despite all the panic and disruption her actions caused,” Derzis said. “Let me assure you, I, too, share the same frustration, but existing laws only allow the charges that were filed to be filed.”
Derzis said he will be contacting Alabama legislatures and asking them to look at this law and “urge them to add enhancement to current legislation” for when an individual falsely reports kidnapping or a violent crime.
During the press conference, Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said HPD have not uncovered anything about her whereabouts during the 49 hours she was missing, and they have not been able to confirm that she acted alone.
“This story opened wounds for families whose loved ones really were victims of kidnappings, some of which even helped organize searches in hopes that they could find Carlee alive so that her family would not experience the pain and suffering that they felt when their loved ones never returned home,” Derzis said.
This press conference comes days after Russell, 25, admitted to lying about being kidnapped earlier this month. Between July 13 and July 15, the Hoover native was missing.
On Monday, July 24, Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis addressed the public in what was HPD’s second press conference since Carlee’s disappearance. There, he read a statement from Russell that had been prepared by her attorney, Emory Anthony, where she admitted that she was not adducted the night of July 13 and that she had not seen a child on I-459.
At 9:30 p.m. July 13, Russell called 911 to report that she saw a toddler on the side of I-459 near Exit 10. When police arrived, she was nowhere to be found. This launched a 49-hour search for Carlee that gained nationwide attention. On July 15, Russell was reported by the Hoover police as having safely returned home.
Four days after her return, parents Talitha Robinson-Russell and Carlos Russell went on the “Today” show where they said they believed their daughter had been kidnapped. That same day, HPD had held a press conference where Derzis recounted what Russell had told police happened to her.
During his recounting, Derzis said Russell reported being kidnapped while she was checking on the child; being made to climb a fence; being kept in a tractor-trailer; being recaptured after an attempted escape; being forced to strip naked; and being fed cheese crackers.
Russell’s search history was also combed through, which a search for the movie “Taken,” a question about Amber alerts and how to take money from a register.
Prior to any charges being brought against her, speculations had circulated on how much money it would cost to cover the efforts that were put into the search for Carlee.
Watch the full press conference at 1 p.m. | https://pix11.com/news/us-world-news/carlee-russell-charged-with-filing-a-false-police-report-following-kidnapping-hoax/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:46 | 1 | https://pix11.com/news/us-world-news/carlee-russell-charged-with-filing-a-false-police-report-following-kidnapping-hoax/ |
Emotions are expected to run high next week when Lori Vallow Daybell is sentenced for the deaths of two of her children and her fifth husband’s previous wife.
Lori faces up to life in prison when she is sentenced on July 31.
SEE MORE: Scripps News finds red flags in review of child fentanyl overdoses
Back in May, the so-called "Doomsday Cult Mom" was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 9-year-old JJ Vallow, and for conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell.
She was also found guilty of grand theft. The childrens' bodies were found buried on Chad Daybell's Fremont County, Idaho property in 2020. Prior to trial, Lori's case was severed from Chad's. Chad is expected to go on trial on April 1, 2024.
Last month, Fremont County District Judge Steven Boyce ruled that only immediate family members of the victims would be permitted to speak at the sentencing hearing.
Expected to speak
The following family members are expected to speak on behalf of the victims:
-Colby Ryan, who is Lori’s oldest son and Tylee and JJ’s older brother.
-Kay Woodcock, who is JJ’s grandmother and JJ’s designated representative.
-Summer Shiflet, who is Lori’s sister and Tylee’s designated representative.
-Samantha Gwilliam, who is Tammy’s sister.
Other loved ones expressed interest in speaking on behalf of the victims, but Judge Boyce decided not to allow it because they were not immediate family members.
Tammy’s aunt, Vicki Hoban, was granted special permission to speak because Tammy’s mother passed away in June, but Lori’s legal team argued that an aunt is not a victim in this context, under Idaho law, and therefore should not be permitted to speak.
A hearing on the matter is set for July 26.
Daybell may speak in court
Daybell will also have an opportunity to speak before Judge Boyce reads the sentence.
She faces 10 years to life in prison on each charge of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Daybell could also receive between 1 and 20 years in prison on a grand theft charge.
She will not be sentenced to death, as Judge Boyce took that option off the table back in March. While she awaits sentencing, Lori is being housed at the Madison County Jail. After sentencing, she’s expected to be transferred to the custody of the Idaho Department of Correction.
It is believed that she will then serve out her time at the Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center. Lori also faces separate charges in Arizona in connection to the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow; as well as for allegedly conspiring to kill her ex-nephew-in-law, Brandon Boudreaux.
This story was originally published by Katie McLaughlin at Court TV, which will have live coverage of Lori Vallow Daybell's sentencing on July 31.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.lex18.com/lori-vallow-daybell-sentencing-here-s-what-to-expect | 2023-07-28T22:49:47 | 1 | https://www.lex18.com/lori-vallow-daybell-sentencing-here-s-what-to-expect |
Junior's Rolls Out a Dessert Fit for The King: Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana is Winner of National Cheesecake Day Flavor Contest
BROOKLYN, N.Y., July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Elvis Presley is the original rock 'n' roll legend, and Junior's is the original cheesecake legend. So, it is more than appropriate that peanut butter chocolate and banana – inspired by Elvis' favorite sandwich -- is now the newest limited edition Junior's cheesecake flavor, the result of a national flavor contest held in the lead-up to National Cheesecake Day, this coming Sunday, July 30.
Out of more than 5,000 entries across the country, Thomas Zahorec, from Greenville, South Carolina, channeled his inner King when submitting the winning flavor.
"Elvis had his numerous number one hits, and we have ours," said Alan Rosen, owner of Junior's. "So, I can't think of a better way to celebrate National Cheesecake Day than by creating this new flavor to honor the King, himself. Because just as you 'can't help falling in love' with Elvis, I know you won't be able to resist this peanut butter chocolate banana cheesecake. My deepest congratulations goes to Mr. Zahorec for inspiring our 25th flavor."
Rosen said that in addition to a $2500 cash prize, Zahorec will win a cheesecake a month for a year, including one of the new flavor, of course. And Junior's lovers around the country are also winners because the peanut butter chocolate banana cheesecake will be available for a limited time in Junior's restaurants and by mail order. This limited edition flavor will be available in various sizes through Labor Day.
About Junior's
Since the 1950s, Junior's Restaurant and Bakery in Brooklyn, New York has been famous for great food, great fun, great service, and, of course, the World's Most Famous Cheesecake. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, Junior's Restaurant and Bakery's menu features New York and Brooklyn comfort food dishes ranging from classic New York deli sandwiches piled high, famous 10 oz. steak burgers, salads, jumbo half pound hot dogs, fresh seafood and a full-service bar. For more information, visit juniorscheesecake.com.
Instagram: @JuniorsCheesecake, Facebook: @JuniorsCheesecake
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SOURCE Junior's | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/viva-las-cheesecake/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:47 | 0 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/viva-las-cheesecake/ |
Re: “Extreme heat’s impact on our health demands we take action” [July 25, Opinion]:
It is certain that the doctor/authors of this piece are extremely well-meaning and that their solutions are viable, but once again, the experts fail to recognize that our planet simply has too many humans. If there were a 70%-80% reduction in our numbers over the next 50 years, the effects of climate change would be mitigated. Short of disasters or wars, this would take a commitment by every adult to account for no more than a single offspring.
However, this is a topic that has been ignored. Governments continue to desire an increase in populations to make GDP figures look better and corporations want increases in order to increase profits. Yes, the distribution of financial resources will need to be readjusted to accommodate an aging population for a few decades.
This course of action will reduce use of the planet’s resources, allowing it to replenish itself. But I predict that this true solution will not be recognized until it is much too late.
Richard Thomasy, Sammamish | https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/climate-crisis-too-many-humans/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:49:48 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/climate-crisis-too-many-humans/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Hulu's 'The Fool' gives a working class perspective of life in Los Angeles By Gabriel J. Sánchez, Sarah Handel Published July 28, 2023 at 4:48 PM CDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 4:16 Comedian and actor Frankie Quiñones talks about the second season of the show This Fool, now streaming on Hulu. Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-28/hulus-the-fool-gives-a-working-class-perspective-of-life-in-los-angeles | 2023-07-28T22:49:49 | 1 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-28/hulus-the-fool-gives-a-working-class-perspective-of-life-in-los-angeles |
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford is recalling more than 870,000 newer F-150 pickup trucks in the U.S. because the electric parking brakes can turn on unexpectedly.
The recall covers certain pickups from the 2021 through 2023 model years with single exhaust systems. Ford’s F-Series pickups are the top-selling vehicles in the U.S.
The company says in documents posted by government safety regulators Friday that a rear wiring bundle can come in contact with the rear axle housing. That can chafe the wiring and cause a short circuit, which can turn on the parking brake without action from the driver, increasing the risk of a crash.
Drivers may see a parking brake warning light and a warning message on the dashboard.
Ford says in documents that it has 918 warranty claims and three field reports of wire chafing in North America. Of these, 299 indicated unexpected parking brake activation, and 19 of these happened while the trucks were being driven.
The company says it doesn’t know of any crashes or injuries caused by the problem.
Dealers will inspect the rear wiring harness. If protective tape is worn through, the harness will be replaced. If the tape isn’t worn, dealers will install a protective tie strap and tape wrap.
Owners will be notified by letter starting Sept. 11.
Owners with questions can call Ford customer service at (866) 436-7332. | https://pix11.com/news/us-world-news/ford-recalls-870k-f-150-pickups-in-us-because-parking-brakes-can-turn-on-unexpectedly/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:52 | 0 | https://pix11.com/news/us-world-news/ford-recalls-870k-f-150-pickups-in-us-because-parking-brakes-can-turn-on-unexpectedly/ |
PORSTMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire man celebrating his birthday on the ocean with his three daughters captured video of something so rare that even marine scientists are jealous — three humpback whales leaping from the water in near perfect unison.
“It was such an uplifting thing to see. Just incredible," Robert Addie said.
The Portsmouth man, now a home remodeler, spent decades on the water as a commercial fisherman in Massachusetts and Alaska. In that time, he said he's seen thousands of whales.
But he never witnessed anything like Monday's whale encounter on a tuna fishing trip off Cape Cod. The excursion with his daughters was for his 59th birthday, as well as to celebrate his safe return from a humanitarian aid trip to Ukraine where he came under heavy artillery fire.
During the fishing trip, he was trying to film some humpback whales about 300 yards (275 meters) from their boat and was having no luck, until he got what he called a “whale ballet.”
“A triple breach is unheard of and a synchronized triple breach is even rarer,” he said. “It’s once in a lifetime. Just very fortunate. I feel God shined down on me to allow me to to capture that.”
To add to the thrill, seconds after the three whales breached and twisted through the air, a juvenile whale did the same thing. Whale experts later told Addie that the aerial maneuvers may have been an attempt to remove parasites or aid digestion.
He has another theory: “I have a feeling that maybe they were teaching or training” the younger whale.
Those same experts also know how rare the spectacle was.
“Even some of the whale experts that have reached out to me, they’re all jealous because they’ve never seen it," Addie said. | https://www.lex18.com/news/covering-the-nation/whale-ballet-video-shows-3-humpbacks-jump-in-unison-a-birthday-surprise-for-man-and-daughters | 2023-07-28T22:49:53 | 0 | https://www.lex18.com/news/covering-the-nation/whale-ballet-video-shows-3-humpbacks-jump-in-unison-a-birthday-surprise-for-man-and-daughters |
We understand people are concerned about secondhand exposure to fentanyl smoke. The Op-Ed “Jail and treatment can work together in helping WA drug crisis” [July 20, Opinion] incorrectly stated that fentanyl “poses major health risks … to those who may inadvertently breathe in its smoke.”
While people have sought health care due to concerns about inadvertent or secondhand exposure to fentanyl, there have been no medically documented cases of fentanyl (a type of opioid) intoxication or overdose resulting from secondhand exposure. In Washington state in 2022, 1,762 people died from an overdose involving “other synthetic opioids,” primarily fentanyl. None are known to have been due to secondhand exposure.
It’s safe to help someone who appears to be having an opioid overdose from fentanyl. If we want to meaningfully address the crises of overdose and opioid use disorder, we should make all evidence-based interventions widely available, including the overdose reversal medication naloxone and the treatment medications methadone and buprenorphine.
To learn more about fentanyl, please see two resources we have jointly developed: “Fentanyl Exposure FAQs” and an informational flyer, “Responding to Scenes with Suspected Fentanyl or Other Opioids Present: It’s Safe for Law Enforcement to Assist.”
Scott Phillips, M.D., executive/medical director, Washington Poison Center, and Caleb Banta-Green, Ph.D., research professor, University of Washington School of Medicine | https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/fentanyl-secondhand-smoke-not-a-major-health-risk/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:49:54 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/fentanyl-secondhand-smoke-not-a-major-health-risk/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
This month, members of the mid-Columbia River tribes set off from Oregon on an annual intertribal canoe journey to Seattle. It's especially poignant this year after a three-year hiatus due to COVID.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This month, members of the mid-Columbia River tribes set off from Oregon on an annual intertribal canoe journey to Seattle. It's especially poignant this year after a three-year hiatus due to COVID.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-28/intertribal-canoe-trip-from-oregon-to-seattle-will-set-out-for-first-time-since-covid | 2023-07-28T22:49:56 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-28/intertribal-canoe-trip-from-oregon-to-seattle-will-set-out-for-first-time-since-covid |
(NEXSTAR) – When pounding rain and lightning force you to take cover inside, a warm shower might be an inviting thought, but experts warn it could be more dangerous than you think.
Lightning can travel through plumbing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
It’s not just showers that should be avoided, but all activities that use water from the home’s pipes, including bathing, washing dishes and washing hands.
“The risk of lightning traveling through plumbing might be less with plastic pipes than with metal pipes,” the CDC says. “However, it is best to avoid any contact with plumbing and running water during a lightning storm to reduce your risk of being struck.”
Just to illustrate how powerful lightning can be inside your home, in May 2022, lightning traveled through the exhaust vent of an Oklahoma apartment building and shattered a toilet in one of the units, leaving the walls and ceiling above it covered in soot.
Here are some other precautions to take when a thunderstorm approaches:
- You want to take shelter in a fully enclosed building and stay away from windows.
- Do not use a corded phone, you can use a cordless phone or a cell phone.
- Do not touch other electronic equipment including computers, hair dryers, game systems and more as lightning can travel through electrical systems.
- If you’re outside, do not take shelter under a tree. If the tree gets struck by lightning it can go through the tree and into you.
- Stay out of the water, you don’t want to be in a pool or lake.
- “Do NOT lie on the ground,” the CDC says. “Lightning causes electric currents along the top of the ground that can be deadly more than 100 feet away. Get inside a safe location; no place outside is safe.” If you can’t get inside or somewhere safe, stay away from tall trees and, as a last resort, crouch down in a ball-like position, tucking your head and covering your ears.
According to the CDC, about 10% of people die after lightning strikes them, usually from a heart attack.
The U.S. averaged 43 reported lightning fatalities every year from 1989 to 2018, according to the National Weather Service. The odds of getting struck by lightning are 1 in 15,300, but that probability could be higher depending on the state – strikes are more common in Texas and Florida, for instance – and the amount of work or recreational outdoor activity the person does. | https://pix11.com/news/us-world-news/is-it-safe-to-shower-during-a-thunderstorm/ | 2023-07-28T22:49:59 | 1 | https://pix11.com/news/us-world-news/is-it-safe-to-shower-during-a-thunderstorm/ |
LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — In this heat, there are people all over working hard to get a job done despite the temperatures.
At the Valley View Ferry, they work 12-hour shifts. Even though it might be an ideal job over the summer and when the weather is nice, it does come with the not-so-ideal temperatures.
"Oh yeah, I love being out here," said James Elam, who works as a deckhand on the ferry. "Day like today, well, it's hot, but we have a job to do."
Brian Rutherford and Elam work together. Both bring plenty of water on days like these to stay hydrated and safe.
"I was warned before I even started here," Elam said. "You're out in the heat, you're out in the cold no matter what. I said okay."
The Valley View Ferry operates every single day except Christmas and if there is high water or a storm. It's a joint operation with Madison, Fayette, and Jessamine counties. Steve Cox is the board's vice president. He even stopped by to drop off cold beverages and ice cream for the crew.
"If you're looking for heroes, it's these guys because it's 12 hours a day," said Captain Clayton Embly.
There is a fan on board for the crew to cool down, and the deckhouse is air conditioned if necessary. | https://www.lex18.com/news/crew-braves-heat-for-12-hours-to-provide-much-needed-service | 2023-07-28T22:49:59 | 1 | https://www.lex18.com/news/crew-braves-heat-for-12-hours-to-provide-much-needed-service |
Former President Trump on Friday appealed a judge’s ruling that mandated his hush money criminal case be tried in state court in New York.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a President Clinton appointee, ruled last week that the 34-count indictment was not connected to Trump’s role as president, rejecting his request to move the case to federal court in favor of prosecutors’ objections.
Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles filed a notice of appeal Friday afternoon, the first step in taking the dispute to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Trump sought to remove the state case to federal court, arguing it must be transferred because it involves important federal questions, including whether he should face charges for alleged crimes that occurred while he was in office. Doing so would increase the potential jury pool, which is currently limited to the heavily-Democratic population of Manhattan.
“This case is unprecedented in our nation’s history,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the nine-page filing when first seeking to remove the case in May. “Never before has a local elected prosecutor criminally prosecuted a defendant either for conduct that occurred entirely while the defendant was the sitting President of the United States or for conduct that related to federal campaign contribution laws.”
Hellerstein dismissed that argument when ruling on the case in July.
“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President — a cover-up of an embarrassing event. Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties,” he wrote.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over his alleged role in a hush money scheme ahead of the 2016 presidential election. He pleaded not guilty.
Hush money by itself is legal; Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) is prosecuting Trump over the manner in which he reimbursed his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, for making the $130,000 hush payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Bragg is connecting the allegedly falsified records to purported violations of campaign finance laws.
When reached out to, Bragg’s office declined to comment.
A trial in the case is currently set for March 2024. Trump’s lawyers have a deadline late next month to file any motions in state court to dismiss the charges ahead of trial.
Earlier Friday, Bragg suggested during a radio interview on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show,” however, that the trial timeline could be delayed as a result of the other criminal investigations the former president faces.
“If our trial judge is reached out to by another judge, we will obviously consider everything in its totality,” Bragg said.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office charged Trump with three additional counts in the classified records federal case Thursday, and prosecutors have signaled an indictment could be close in their probe over the transfer of power following the 2020 election.
In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) has signaled any charges against Trump would likely come in early August.
“In matters like this, judges will confer,” Bragg told WNYC.
“And I take a very broad lens on justice,” he continued. “We’ll obviously follow the directives of our court but won’t sit on ceremony in terms of what was charged first or things like that, if and when that’s presented.” | https://fox59.com/hill-politics/trump-appeals-decision-keeping-hush-money-case-in-state-court/ | 2023-07-28T22:50:00 | 0 | https://fox59.com/hill-politics/trump-appeals-decision-keeping-hush-money-case-in-state-court/ |
Yearly polls from Gallup paint a dire picture of Americans’ trust in news media — last year’s poll reported a near record low in media trust, with only 34% of respondents expressing a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in news media.
As a journalism and misinformation researcher, much of my work is around understanding this crisis of trust and its impact on everyday information-seeking. And while these yearly, national assessments offer a useful snapshot of public confidence over time, they don’t provide much insight into how distrust shows up at the local level and what it means when members of a community don’t trust in the information they read in their local paper.
Trust is often talked about in the abstract — declining trust is a bad thing for democracy, for institutions, etc. But a lack of trust has tangible impacts that can be seen acutely in our local communities.
And journalists aren’t the only local information providers facing problems of distrust.
Librarians and educators, traditionally the pillars of a local information ecosystem alongside local news, are facing similar challenges to their credibility compounded by issues of political polarization and a growing tide of digital misinformation. However, little academic research has explored the shared attacks these traditional information providers are facing, and how threats to trust play out at the local level.
To bridge this gap, my research team at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public set out to examine issues of trust close to home, looking to Whatcom County to understand how local journalists, librarians and educators are dealing with erosions of trust in their institutions and the particular impact this has on their ability to counter digital misinformation.
Whatcom County is a microcosm of the modern local information environment. The area has a number of local and community news outlets and the Whatcom County Library System operates 10 library branches across the county, an area of northwest Washington that covers six school districts in addition to being the home of Western Washington University in Bellingham.
Yet communities in Whatcom County are not immune to problems of misinformation and community polarization. In 2021, the Bellingham City Council suspended public comments during meetings due to concerns about the spread of misinformation and false claims surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The suspension came after YouTube removed a recording of a council meeting from the city’s channel, for contravening platform community guidelines around COVID-19 misinformation.
In the spring of 2022 our team sent a survey to Whatcom County educators, librarians and journalists on trust in their work and profession, and their views on the impact of misinformation on the local community.
The survey results were mixed with respondents reporting high levels of trust in their personal roles but mixed impressions of public trust in their organizations and their wider professions. Respondents overwhelmingly agreed that growing political polarization, the existence of social media echo chambers and the rise of anti-democratic politics were core threats to trust in their work.
When asked about a route forward, local information providers named professionalism, empathy and a commitment to the truth as central to building trust. However, seeing the practical difficulties ahead of them, respondents were unsure whether the local community valued honesty if it challenged the status quo.
To dive deeper into these challenges we organized three in-person workshops over the summer of 2022 that brought together mixed groups of local educators, journalists and librarians. Over several days, participants discussed with us the impacts waning trust is having on their ability to safely and effectively do their jobs.
Educators shared how some school board meetings had to be moved online following safety concerns around heated debates about COVID-19 safety and other controversial topics such as critical race theory.
Librarians expressed feelings of difficulty in pushing back on misinformation, fearing they would be seen as overstepping their role as neutral information providers and leaving themselves open to further distrust.
Similarly, local journalists spoke about the challenges of reporting on polarized topics and the online and offline harassment reporters faced from local residents who labeled their reporting as biased.
Taken together, our group discussions highlighted a reinforcing cycle of belief in misinformation and distrust in community information providers. This has resulted in a range of negative impacts from people feeling alienated from traditional spaces of information-seeking like the local library, to verbal and physical attacks by community members emboldened by conspiracy theories.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Our conversations also surfaced practical suggestions local information providers had for each other’s professions and strategies for trust-building that could be of great use to local communities everywhere.
Notably, our workshops highlighted the importance of cultivating curiosity within the community. While information providers may feel unable or too uncomfortable to directly debunk misinformation for fear of further damaging relationships of trust with local residents, leveraging their professional roles to promote curiosity feels like a more natural fit and invites local residents into a continued conversation that may increase trust over time.
Perhaps most importantly, local participants highlighted the importance of simply showing up and being present in the community.
Distrust, whether in the media, local libraries or school system, can often arise in more abstract, often online, contexts rather than being attached to something concrete local institutions have or haven’t done.
By being present and visible in the community, local information providers build vital connections that push back on national narratives of distrust and provide vital avenues for relationship building.
There may be no easy answers to our declining levels of trust in public institutions, but local information providers are at the forefront of rebuilding and sustaining the community relationships that are central to reversing worrying trends of distrust. | https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/local-information-providers-can-cultivate-curiosity-to-build-community-trust/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-28T22:50:00 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/local-information-providers-can-cultivate-curiosity-to-build-community-trust/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
Marine scientists say record ocean temperatures have sparked widespread coral bleaching in the Florida Keys. The extreme heat and bleaching have been deadly — killing all coral on one popular reef.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Marine scientists say record ocean temperatures have sparked widespread coral bleaching in the Florida Keys. The extreme heat and bleaching have been deadly — killing all coral on one popular reef.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-28/scientists-fight-to-help-protect-the-florida-coral-thats-dying-from-heat | 2023-07-28T22:50:02 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-28/scientists-fight-to-help-protect-the-florida-coral-thats-dying-from-heat |
(KTLA) — Come on Barbie, let’s go to the theme park!
Mattel is launching its first-ever theme park in Glendale, Arizona. Mattel Adventure Park will highlight all of its brands such as Barbie, Masters of the Universe, Hot Wheels and Thomas & Friends.
The city first made the announcement last year in a press release. However, there’s no exact date as to when the park will open, but according to Travel and Leisure, it will open sometime in 2024.
“From rides and attractions that appeal to the tiniest of tots, to a double-looping launch coaster designed for speed, to a flying theater adventure that shoots for the stars – Mattel Adventure Park is built to delight guests of all ages,” the park’s website read.
Barbie fans will be able to live in their own Barbie world by hanging out in the Barbie Beach House. The exhibit will feature the Barbie flying theater, which will take “riders on a journey from deep underwater to outer space.”
“Our unique indoor/outdoor design keeps your family cool and comfortable on even the hottest Arizona day with acres of air-conditioned space for your enjoyment,” the park website read.
The space is to be about nine acres large.
Visitors can even dress like Barbie through the Dream Closet Experience.
The “state-of-the-art hologram technology” will “help curate the ultimate wardrobe.”
Guests can rest their feet and try a signature pink cocktail at the Barbie Rooftop while also enjoying “panoramic views of the property.”
“Mattel Adventure Park will be even more engaging and entertaining at launch, with the addition of these iconic Mattel brand experiences,” said Julie Freeland, Senior Director, Global Location Based Entertainment, Mattel. “The expansion of this flagship attraction brings together the largest representation of Mattel’s beloved brands in a live space as never before.”
The park currently has a Facebook page and recently posted a graphic featuring an animation of some of the experiences expected.
The park will feature a nine-hole mini golf attraction that will also be an immersive experience with some Mattel Games.
Imagine playing golf while also dealing with some Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.
For fans of Master of the Universe, the iconic Castle Grayskull will be transformed into an over 4,500 square-foot laser tag arena. Fans will “have the power to fight for Eternia.”
“We are extremely excited to add Barbie, Masters of the Universe and Mattel Games-themed attractions and rides to an already outstanding offering in development at the first-ever Mattel Adventure Park. We have spared no expense to bring these iconic brands to life in ways that will delight visitors of all ages for years to come,” said Mark Cornell, President, Epic Resort Destinations.
A camera monitoring the construction of the park is currently up on the Mattel Adventure Park website. | https://pix11.com/news/us-world-news/mattel-theme-park-to-bring-barbie-world-to-life/ | 2023-07-28T22:50:05 | 1 | https://pix11.com/news/us-world-news/mattel-theme-park-to-bring-barbie-world-to-life/ |