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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s lawmakers voted Friday to approve an amended but divisive law on Russian influences believed to be targeting the opposition and criticized by the U.S. and the European Union.
The law was proposed in May by Poland’s ruling right-wing Law and Justice party and critics see it as primarily targeting opposition leader and former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, before a parliamentary election scheduled for this fall. Following criticism, President Andrzej Duda proposed urgent amendments to tone it down.
The lower house, or Sejm, voted 235-214 with four abstentions to reject the Senate’s veto to the draft law amended by Duda. It only now requires Duda’s signature to take effect.
The amended bill calls for a commission to check whether between 2007 and 2022 politicians have taken decisions under Russia’s influence that could threaten Poland’s security. Duda has said it is needed for transparency’s sake and to prevent Russia from influencing Poland’s stability in the future.
Poland is supporting neighboring Ukraine to fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion and is supplying weapons, humanitarian aid and political backing for Kyiv. That has drawn harsh comments from Moscow.
The previous, more restrictive law is currently in effect, but the commission members haven’t been chosen yet.
When it takes effect, the law will create a powerful committee by experts but not lawmakers to investigate Russian influence in Poland and name politicians who allegedly allowed them, thus barring them in practice from holding public positions. However, critics say it is primarily targeting Tusk, who also served as a top EU official.
Law and Justice accuses Tusk of having been too friendly toward Russia and President Vladimir Putin as prime minister between 2007 and 2014, and making gas deals favorable to Moscow before he went to Brussels to be the president of the European Council between 2014 and 2019.
Law and Justice party leader Jarosław Kaczyński and Tusk are longtime political rivals.
Critics say the law violates the Polish Constitution and could keep government opponents from holding public office by having a negative effect on their eligibility, especially in a parliamentary election later this year. Amendments by Duda, who holds a law doctorate, allowed for the commission verdict to be appealed to court.
The U.S. State Department and EU authorities have strongly criticized the law in its first version and expressed concerns about Poland’s democracy. The 27-member EU, which Poland joined in 2004, also threatened to take measures, if it became fully clear that such a law would undermine democratic standards.
When Duda proposed the amendments in June, he also bowed partially to critics and sent the bill to the Constitutional Tribunal for a review for conformity with the supreme law. That verdict is still pending. | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-polands-lawmakers-approve-a-divisive-law-on-russian-influence/ | 2023-07-29T03:23:39 | 0 | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-polands-lawmakers-approve-a-divisive-law-on-russian-influence/ |
Sinéad O’Connor, 56, an Irish singer-songwriter who sold millions of records in the 1990s with her ethereal ballads and rebellious anthems, all while defying expectations of how a female pop star should behave — shaving her head, speaking out about her mental health struggles, protesting the Catholic Church during a performance on live television — has died. Her family announced the death in a statement Wednesday. Additional details were not immediately available.
Declaring that she was “proud to be a troublemaker,” O’Connor made music that channeled and reflected her tumultuous personal life, with lyrics about sexism, religion, child abuse, famine and police brutality set against reggae beats, traditional Irish melodies and throbbing pop hooks. Beaten by her mother as a young girl, she was later diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder, and acknowledged having suicidal thoughts in recent years.
Her teenage son Shane died by suicide in January 2022. Earlier this month, O’Connor tweeted that Shane “was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul,” adding that she was “lost … without him.”
Randy Meisner, 77, a founding member of the Eagles who added high harmonies to such favorites as “Take It Easy” and “The Best of My Love” and stepped out front for the waltz-time ballad “Take It to the Limit,” died Wednesday night in a Los Angeles hospital of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the Eagles said in a statement. “Randy was an integral part of the Eagles and instrumental in the early success of the band,” the statement said.
Johnny Lujack, 98, a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who helped lead the University of Notre Dame to three national championships in the 1940s and played on both sides of the ball for the Chicago Bears in the NFL, died Tuesday at a hospice center in Naples, Fla. He was the oldest living recipient of college football’s highest honor. Lujack was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1960.
Seiichi Morimura, 90, a mystery writer whose nonfiction trilogy “The Devil’s Gluttony” exposed human medical experiments conducted by a secret Japanese army unit during World War II, died Monday. His official website and publisher, Kadokawa, said Morimura died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital.
“Akuma no Hoshoku,” or “The Devil’s Gluttony,” which began as a newspaper series in 1981, became a bestseller and created a sensation across the country over atrocities committed by Japanese Imperial Army Unit 731 in China. He won the prestigious Edogawa Rampo Prize for his mystery fiction in 1969 and the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1973.
Hugh “Sonny” Carter Jr., 80, who helped organize the “Peanut Brigade” that helped elect his cousin Jimmy to the White House and later enforced the president’s frugal ways in the West Wing, died July 23 in Tampa, Fla. The Carter Center, the 39th president’s post-White House organization for advocating for democracy and fighting disease in the developing world, did not release a cause of death.
Hugh Carter was among the aides who helped make the Brigade a near-constant presence in early nominating states. After Jimmy Carter won, he assigned Hugh Carter the task of curtailing waste among White House staffers. The job earned him the nickname “Cousin Cheap.”
Richard Barancik, 98, the last living member of a special Allied unit whose mission to safeguard the artistic patrimony of Europe amid the destruction and plunder of World War II was dramatized in the Hollywood film “The Monuments Men,” died July 14 at a hospital in Chicago.
For much of his life, Barancik was known as an architect, sought after for the stylish homes, high-rise apartment buildings and office complexes that he and his firm designed in his home city of Chicago and across the country. But in his final years, he came to renown for his role in a U.S. Army unit during World War II that had long gone unnoted: the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section. Museum curators and directors, artists and architects, scholars and librarians volunteered for service to help the Allies minimize the destruction of artwork and cultural sites in Europe in the course of the war. Their story was turned into the film “The Monuments Men,” in 2014, directed by and starring George Clooney.
John Hayes, 76, who played a starring role in land conservation and development of the Methow Valley’s recreation-based economy, died July 11 at his home near Winthrop. The cause was renal failure while recovering from colon cancer treatment and a broken hip and femur.
Hayes played a pivotal role in Washington state’s acquisition of Big Valley Ranch, the purchase of Sun Mountain Lodge by the Haub family and the creation of a groomed community ski trail between Winthrop and Mazama in Okanogan County. He also pushed a decadeslong volunteer effort to persuade dubious landowners to donate right of way deeds to build the Nordic skiing Methow Community Trail. | https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/obituaries/this-weeks-passages-329/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T03:23:42 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/obituaries/this-weeks-passages-329/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
With leading scorer Napheesa Collier sidelined with a sprained right ankle Friday night, it was the rookies and the veteran who picked up the slack for the Minnesota Lynx.
Diamond Miller, whom the team selected with the second overall pick in this year’s WNBA draft, finished with 22 points, despite leaving the game briefly in the third quarter after tweaking her right ankle. Center Dorka Juhász, drafted out of Connecticut in the second round, added 13 points and 10 rebounds.
But it was guard Kayla McBride, now in her 10th season, who led the way with 26 points as Minnesota improved to 12-13 with an 88-83 victory over the New York Liberty at Barclays Center.
Yet the win did not come easy. The Lynx had to withstand a 14-0 New York run in the fourth quarter that cut the gap to just one – at 77-76 – on a pair of free throws by Breanna Stewart with 2:57 to play.
Standout guard Sabrina Ionescu helped spark her team’s comeback, finishing with 31 points, including seven 3-pointers.
But Miller had a big 3-pointer to end the slump, then McBride hit a layup to put Minnesota back in front 82-76.
The Liberty started hot from 3-point range, hitting their first three shots from beyond the arc to open an early 15-5 lead.
But a pair of baskets by Miller ignited a 17-2 Minnesota run to end the first quarter and put the Lynx on top 22-17. New York went 0-for-8 from behind the 3-point line over that stretch.
Ionescu got the Liberty back in the game with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, in the second quarter – the last of which put New York back on top 36-35 with 3:30 to go before halftime.
But a 3-pointer by McBride, a layup by Miller and a 3-pointer at the buzzer by guard Tiffany Mitchell gave the Lynx a 48-39 halftime lead.
Miller and McBride each finished with 13 to lead Minnesota in the first half. Ionescu had 18 to lead all scorers.
The Lynx expanded their lead in the third quarter, despite playing briefly without Miller and losing forward Emily Engstler, whom the team just signed to a seven-day contract Friday. Engstler, who had previously been signed to a hardship exception contract on June 14 before being released Wednesday, left the game after injuring her shoulder on a collision and did not return.
But Minnesota went into the fourth quarter on top by 12 at 70-58.
The Lynx return to action with a road matchup against the Connecticut Sun at noon Sunday. | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/lynx-hang-on-to-defeat-liberty/ | 2023-07-29T03:23:44 | 1 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/28/lynx-hang-on-to-defeat-liberty/ |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Officers arrested several suspects after car chase followed a north Charlotte shooting Friday night.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police responded to a call for assault with a deadly weapon with injury just before 7:30 p.m. July 28 in the 1900 block of Prospect Drive near Tom Hunter Road.
Upon arrival, officers reportedly discovered a victim suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. The Charlotte Fire Department provided initial medical aid, and the victim was then transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries.
CMPD said officers observed the suspect vehicle leaving at a high rate of speed and attempted to stop the vehicle. It failed to stop, and pursuit ensued as it was considered a crime dangerous to life.
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The suspect crashed the vehicle at the intersection of Sugar Creek Road and Cinderella Lane. No other motorists or residents were involved in the collision.
CMPD said multiple suspects were taken into custody. The investigation is ongoing. | https://www.qcnews.com/charlotte/north-charlotte-police-chase-ends-with-crash-shooting-suspects-arrested-cmpd/ | 2023-07-29T03:23:45 | 1 | https://www.qcnews.com/charlotte/north-charlotte-police-chase-ends-with-crash-shooting-suspects-arrested-cmpd/ |
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly said he is "fine" since he froze up mid-sentence during a press conference on Wednesday. And now his office is trying to tamp down speculation that he might not fill out his term as leader because of his health.
In a statement, his office said McConnell appreciates the continued support of his colleagues and "plans to serve his full term in the job they overwhelmingly elected him to do."
The statement, first reported by Politico, comes after McConnell, 81, has suffered health problems in recent months.
At his weekly press conference this week, he froze and stared vacantly for about 20 seconds before his GOP colleagues standing behind him grabbed his elbows and asked if he wanted to go back to his office. He later returned to the news conference and answered questions as if nothing had happened.
When asked about the episode, he said he was "fine" - a statement he repeated in a hallway to reporters later that day.
Neither McConnell nor his office would answer questions about whether he got medical help afterward.
SEE MORE: Feinstein corrected, told to 'just say aye' at Senate hearing
Even as McConnell tried to brush off the concerns, the episode raised new questions among his colleagues about his health and also whether McConnell, who was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and has served as Republican leader since 2007, might soon step aside from his leadership post.
He was elected to a two-year term as leader in January by a large majority of his conference, despite an insurgent challenge from Florida Sen. Rick Scott.
He would be up for re-election as leader again after the 2024 elections. By then, he will have to decide also if he wants to run again for another Senate term. He is up for re-election in 2026.
In March, McConnell suffered a concussion and a broken rib after falling and hitting his head after a dinner event at a hotel. He didn’t return to the Senate for almost six weeks.
He has been using a wheelchair in the airport while commuting back and forth to Kentucky. And his speech has recently sounded more halting. But McConnell, famously reticent and often private about his personal life and health, has said very little about what is going on.
Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said after, Wednesday’s episode, that McConnell’s job as leader calls for more transparency than it would for others.
"We should find out, you know, fairly soon what happened and how serious it is," Cramer said. "But I don’t have to tell you, Mitch is also, as an individual, a pretty private guy. So we’ll see."
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he talked to McConnell on Wednesday night and he seemed "strong and alert." But, he said, what happened at the news conference on Wednesday was disturbing to watch.
"Mitch is strong, he’s stubborn as a mule," Cruz said. "My prayers are with them. I hope that - we’re going into the August recess - I hope he has time to fully recuperate."
GOP senators who are seen as potential successors have been cautious in their reaction.
"He’s fine, he’s back to work," said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican and one of the senators standing behind McConnell when he froze up."
"I support Senator McConnell as long as he wants to serve as leader," said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, another potential replacement.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 3 Senate Republican and a former orthopedic surgeon, guided McConnell back to his office to rest during the news conference. Afterwards, he told reporters that he has been concerned since McConnell was injured earlier this year, "and I continue to be concerned."
Barrasso then added: "I said I was concerned when he fell and hit his head a number of months ago and was hospitalized. And I think he’s made a remarkable recovery, he’s doing a great job leading our conference and was able to answer every question the press asked him today."
Several other GOP senators projected confidence in the Republican leader.
"I do have confidence in his leadership," said Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis. "At lunch yesterday, he spoke. He was completely on his game using numbers that were pulled out of his head and he was completely with it. So I don’t know what precipitated the freeze, but he’ll be careful to evaluate his own capabilities."
Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall said he was "a little concerned" after the news conference.
"He said that he got a little overheated, a little dehydrated," said Marshall, who is also a doctor.
"That’s what it looks like to me. I can tell you, he’s got a strong, strong voice in our conference. He’s providing steady leadership. And I think he’s doing a great job as leader."
McConnell had polio in his early childhood and he has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in climbing stairs. In addition to his fall in March, he also tripped and fell four years ago at his home in Kentucky, causing a shoulder fracture that required surgery.
The Republican leader carried on with his full schedule after the episode on Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he spoke with his Republican counterpart at an event Wednesday evening for Major League Baseball owners.
"I said I’m so glad you’re here," Schumer said. "And he made a very good speech."
The Republican leader is one of several senators who have been absent due to health issues this year. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, 90, was out of the Senate for more than two months as she recovered from a bout of shingles. And, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., 53, took leave for several weeks to get treatment for clinical depression.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kxxv.com/mcconnell-to-serve-his-full-term-as-gop-leader-amid-health-worries | 2023-07-29T03:23:46 | 1 | https://www.kxxv.com/mcconnell-to-serve-his-full-term-as-gop-leader-amid-health-worries |
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin courted leaders from Africa at a summit on Friday, hailing the continent’s growing role in global affairs and offering to expand political and business ties.
Addressing the Russia-Africa summit for a second day, Putin said Moscow would closely analyze a peace proposal for Ukraine that African leaders have sought to pursue.
“This is an acute issue, and we aren’t evading its consideration,” the Russian leader said, emphasizing that his government was treating the African initiative with respect and “looking at it attentively.”
He encouraged the African leaders to talk to Ukraine, which has refused to engage in talks until Russian troops pull back. “I believe it’s necessary to also talk to the other side, although we are grateful to our African friends for their attention to the issue,” Putin said at the St. Petersburg summit.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said African leaders were looking forward to engaging further with Putin later Friday on their peace proposal.
“It is our hope that constructive engagement and negotiation can bring about an end to the ongoing conflict,” Ramaphosa, who leads sub-Saharan Africa’s most developed country, said, adding in South Africa, “our own history has taught us that this is indeed possible.”
Without specifically mentioning the fighting in Ukraine, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni denounced those who foment ideologically-driven military conflicts as “time and opportunity wasters,” adding that “human history will move on, whether they like it or not.”
“The only justified wars are the just wars, like the anti-colonial wars,” Museveni said. “Wars of hegemony will fail and waste time and opportunity. Dialogue is the correct way.”
In the public portion of a late night meeting Friday about the peace proposal, Putin repeated to the African leaders his explanations for the conflict’s origins and Russia’s actions in it, without giving any specific reaction to their suggestions. The African leaders said they expected to hear Putin’s detailed reactions in a subsequent closed part of the meeting.
In his speech, Putin reaffirmed his pledge that Russia will maintain steady supplies of grain and other agricultural products to the continent after its withdrawal from a deal allowing grain shipments from Ukraine. Moscow’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative has fueled concerns of a global food crisis.
“Russia will always be a responsible international supplier of agricultural products and will continue to support the countries and region in need by offering free grain and other supplies,” the Russian leader said.
He declared at the summit’s opening Thursday that Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Eritrea and Central African Republic each will receive 25,000 to 50,000 tons of Russian grain in the next three to four months.
In comparison, the U.N. World Food Program shipped 725,000 tons of grain to several countries, including Somalia, under the Black Sea deal.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres responded to Putin’s pledge of no-cost grain shipments by noting that such donations of grain can’t compensate for the impact of Moscow cutting off grain exports from Ukraine, which along with Russia is a top supplier to the world market.
Guterres said the U.N. was in contact with Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and other countries to try to reestablish the year-old agreement, under which Ukraine exported more than 32 million tons of grain. The resumption of shipments from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports allowed global food prices to drop significantly from the levels they reached after Putin sent troops into the neighboring country.
The deal brokered a year ago by the U.N. and Turkey reopened Ukrainian Black Sea ports blocked by fighting and provided assurances that ships entering them wouldn’t be attacked. Russia declined to renew the agreement last week, complaining that its own exports were being held up.
Putin used the summit to repeat his accusations against the West of obstructing the export of Russian grain and fertilizers, including proposed no-cost supplies of fertilizers to Africa.
The Russia-Africa summit marks a renewed Kremlin effort to bolster ties with a continent of 1.3 billion people that is increasingly assertive on the global stage. Africa’s 54 nations make up the largest voting bloc at the United Nations and have been more divided than any other region on General Assembly resolutions criticizing Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Only 17 heads of state were at the summit, compared to 43 at the first Russia-Africa summit in 2019, a sharp drop in attendance that the Kremlin has attributed to what it described as “outrageous” Western pressure to discourage African countries from showing up.
Putin hailed Africa’s role in the emerging “multipolar world order,” noting that “the era of hegemony of one or several countries is receding into the past, albeit not without resistance on the part of those who got used to their own uniqueness and monopoly in global affairs.”
“Russia and Africa are united by an innate desire to defend true sovereignty and the right to their own distinctive path of development in the political, economic, social, cultural and other spheres,” he said.
He said Russia plans to expand trade and economic ties with Africa and continue efforts to relieve their debt burden by writing off another $90 million of their debts.
Putin noted that Moscow also stands ready to bolster defense ties with African countries by helping train their military and expanding supplies of military equipment, some of them on a no-cost basis.
___
This story corrects the amount that Ukraine exported under the Black Sea deal to 32 million tons.
___
Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Cara Anna in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report. | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-putin-woos-african-leaders-at-a-summit-in-russia-with-promises-of-expanding-trade-and-other-ties/ | 2023-07-29T03:23:46 | 1 | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-putin-woos-african-leaders-at-a-summit-in-russia-with-promises-of-expanding-trade-and-other-ties/ |
BLAINE, Minn. (AP) — With the FedEx Cup two weeks away, Lee Hodges can breathe easier. Justin Thomas can’t.
Hodges birdied four of his last six holes for a 7-under 64 and a four-stroke lead over Tyler Duncan on Friday after almost two rounds of the 3M Open.
A nearly two-hour afternoon weather delay led to play being suspended due to darkness with six players yet to finish — none within 10 shots of the lead.
Hodges, 74th in the FedEx Cup points race, opened with a 63 for the first-round lead and had a 15-under 127 total to break the tournament 36-hole record of 128 set by Bryson DeChambeau in 2019.
Hodges was 3 under on the front nine and added a 33-foot birdie putt on No. 13, followed by birdies from 14 feet on No. 14 and 11 feet on No. 17.
“I’ve got a great attitude out there. Me and my caddie (Andrew Medley), we’re 70-something on the points list, like what do we have to lose, you know?” Hodges said. “We’ve committed to every shot we’ve hit so far, which has been great. We’ll continue to do it, because what do we have to lose.”
A lengthy last-hole putt was not enough to overcome a couple bad holes as Thomas aims to make the FedEx Cup playoffs for the eighth straight season. He birdied four of his last five holes to shoot a shot an even-par 71, leaving him 2 under for the tournament and two strokes short.
Thomas, at No. 75 in the FedEx Cup standings, has missed five cuts in his last seven starts. The top 70 next week after the Wyndham Championship will advance to the playoffs. Looking to stay in strong consideration for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, Thomas has just two top-10 finishes in 14 tournaments since mid-February.
Starting on the back nine, Thomas put two balls in the water on the par-5 18th, falling to 1 under. An errant tee shot and poor chip led to another double bogey on the par-3 fourth, before a strong finishing stretch was punctuated by a 30-foot putt on No. 9.
“This is a good chance for me to learn a little bit about myself and push myself and become better,” Thomas said before the tournament. “I mean, this game, nothing’s given to you. I’ve had great chances to win the FedEx Cup the last five or six years and now I’m trying to make the playoffs. That’s just the way that this sport is. And it can happen to anybody, so you’ve just got to go out and get it.”
He wasn’t the only player to put untimely dents in possible playoff plans by missing the cut. No. 70 K.H. Lee (1 under), No. 72 Davis Thompson (2 under) and No. 90 Gary Woodland (3 over) also get the weekend off.
Duncan, who has missed six cuts in his past eight events and 17 of 27 this season, shot a 67. He has back-to-back bogey-free rounds.
“You never know when it’s coming, but I’ve been putting in the work and you always hope it shows up,” Duncan said. “But it doesn’t always show up when you want it to.”
Defending champion Tony Finau (66), J.T. Poston (66), Brandt Snedeker (68) and Kevin Streelman (68) were 10 under.
With one top-10 in 25 starts this season, Streelman is in a rare position.
“I haven’t been in the final groups in a while on a Saturday, so looking forward to that. At my age I don’t have much to lose, so go out and have some fun this weekend,” the 44-year-old Streelman said.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/lee-hodges-leads-the-3m-open-while-justin-thomas-misses-the-cut-to-hurt-his-playoff-hopes/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T03:23:48 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/lee-hodges-leads-the-3m-open-while-justin-thomas-misses-the-cut-to-hurt-his-playoff-hopes/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
MARLBORO COUNTY, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — More than 30 months after Hollis Slade’s death, two people accused in stealing from him within hours of his death are facing grand larceny charges.
Slade died on Jan. 23, 2021, after complaining of stomach pains. Slade called medics from his bedroom and died within an hour or so of arriving at a Chesterfield County hospital. Slade was caretaker for his wife Joyce, who was suffering from what her family called severe dementia.
Multiple video cameras Slade installed around his home captured several of his friends and former coworkers arriving at his Bennettsville home soon after an ambulance left with the retired papermill worker onboard.
Those friends – which included county Deputy Probate Judge Tammy Bullock – would later go into Slade’s home with Joyce, a newly widowed housewife, inside. Video recordings later captured Bullock discussing “ransacking” Slade’s home looking for his will. Bullock was the appointed deputy probate judge at the time, but then-elected Probate Judge Mark Heath didn’t swear Bullock into office until nearly two months following Slade’s death.
SC Law Enforcement Division agents went to Marlboro County Friday afternoon – unannounced – to obtain arrest warrants for Bullock and Charlotte Green. Slade’s video recordings captured both women at Slade’s home following his death. The recordings showed the women searching Slade’s pickup truck and going in and out of Slade’s home with his dementia-ridden wife inside.
At one point, the women joked about stealing cigarettes out of the dead man’s truck, “Oh, me and Tammy got four packs of cigarettes out of it; figured he didn’t need them no more,” one recording from January 2021 captured Green telling the group. The comment was followed by a burst of laughter from the group.
The group was also accused of stealing cash, a gun, and a checkbook, but later returned those items to Slade’s sister, Beth Boling, who drove to her brother’s home from Indiana after learning of his death. Boling said the group returned a little more than $2,000 in cash – money Joyce’s hired caretaker, Linda Hood, told QCN she went around the home and collected.
Boling said she had no reason to suspect anything of any of the people at her brother’s home when she arrived the day after his death. She thought they were his grieving friends and were there to help the family plan the funeral and to see that what belonged to her brother was collected and accounted for so his wife would be taken care of through his estate.
That all changed as soon as Boling had a moment alone with Joyce Slade’s caretaker.
“The caretaker, who had taken care of my sister-in-law that night, said to me there were some things that were taken by one of the individuals that you need to be sure you get back,” Boling told Barr in an August 2021 interview, “I asked her what those things were and she said there’s a Ziploc bag full of cash. There’s the truck keys, there’s a handgun, and Hollis’s checkbook.”
“I was kind of surprised that all those things had been taken,” Boling said, “Did she say who took them,” Barr asked. “Yes, Charlotte Green,” Boling said.
The video recordings show Hood was likely telling the truth. Green was standing behind a truck in the driveway when one of the recordings captured her telling the group, “I got that pistol out that drawer.”
The drawer was the exact spot where Hood said she hid the money and the gun.
“I took Mrs. Joyce’s money and Hollis’ money and I put it in a sandwich bag, one of the quarts—the gallons—it was the big ones,” Hood said. Hood used her hands to show the size of the bag, which was a gallon-sized bag. “It was one of the big ones and it was loaded with money,” Hood said.
Hood said Slade kept stacks of cash around the house.
“I took all the money and put it in a bag and stuck it in the middle of her (Joyce’s) dresser. I went back Sunday morning, Charlotte (Green) told me she got all the money, they got Mrs. Joyce’s pistol, it was a .38 and a lot of other stuff,” Hood said in an August 2021 interview outside her home in Marlboro County.
Boling said she messaged Green asking her to return the things Hood said she’d taken. The next day, Boling said Ricky Gardner, Green’s husband, returned the things Hood said the group had taken.
“At this point, I still hadn’t figured out – we hadn’t looked at all the videos. My daughter had begun saving the videos from the security cameras. But at this point, I mean really, we were busy the whole time. We didn’t have time to watch hundreds of videos,” Boling said.
“I will tell you what you told the family that was missing, they got back,” Barr said to Hood during the 2021 interview. “No, they got the money back—a little bit of money…and the pistol. They got a little bit of money because she (Boling) showed me that bag and the jewelry box. They got the money that was in the jewelry box; no, all that money wasn’t in there.”
“I’d been there four years. I knew Mr. Hollis and Mrs. Joyce like my mama and daddy. Me and Hollis was about the same age, but we had a bond. For four years you working with somebody, but I knew a lot of stuff got gone and I told Beth and I was mad as hell,” Hood said.
Will Adams, who showed up to Slade’s home the day of his death, was not accused of stealing anything and has not faced charges in this case.
SLED charged both Bullock and Green with grand larceny – a felony under South Carolina law. The charge addresses the “Larceny of goods, chattels, instruments, or other personalty valued in excess of two thousand dollars is grand larceny. Upon conviction, the person is guilty of a felony,” according to S.C. Code Sec. 16-13-30(B). The penalty for a conviction would carry a fine or a prison sentence up to five years if the theft totals more than $2,000.
Slade’s family told Queen City News Chief Investigator Jody Barr neither SLED nor the SC Attorney General’s Office notified the family of the arrests or gave anyone notice to have an opportunity to attend the bond hearings. The only notification the family received was a voicemail from the jail notifying Joyce’s next-of-kin that Bullock and Green had been released from the jail.
Sources confirmed to QCN SLED agents called Bullock and Green and asked them to surrender at the Marlboro County Detention Center Friday afternoon. The women were booked, given a bond hearing, and released before 3:30 p.m., according to sources within the law enforcement community.
The county typically holds afternoon bond hearings at 3 p.m.
Jail records show the judge set a $5,000 no cash bond on Green, who does not have a criminal record. Bullock’s bond was set at $2,500 surety. Bullock is already out on bond from a gun charge from February 2021.
Neither SLED nor the Attorney General’s Office provided any details about the charges as of this report. SLED could only confirm Bullock’s arrest in connection to the Slade estate theft investigation, but when asked about the specifics, the state’s top law enforcement agency did not respond.
SLED’s press office also did not have copies of the warrants the arresting agents used to charge the women. Those warrants would contain
AG Spokesman Robert Kittle also did not know anything about the arrests when contacted late Friday evening. Kittle said he conferred with Assistant Attorney General Joel Kozak on Tuesday about the Slade case, but Kozak did not mention his intent to charge the women on Friday; just three days later.
We’ve checked on the status of the Slade estate investigation every month since SLED finished its criminal investigation in June 2022. SLED turned over the Slade investigation to the AG’s office on June 10, 2022, for the AG’s office to determine whether to file charges.
It took the AG’s office and Kozak nearly 14 months to file the single charge against Bullock and Green. None of the others depicted in the security camera records have been charged.
We contacted Tammy Bullock late Friday to ask whether she had an attorney representing her on the new charge. Bullock did not respond as of the posting of this report. We also contacted Charlotte Green by phone.
“Go f–k yourself, man,” Green told QCN’s Chief Investigator Jody Barr in the call. Green hung up before we could ask about her attorney situation.
Bullock was charged with pointing and presenting a firearm in February 2021 – just days after Slade’s death – stemming from an incident involving her roommate. That gun charge was initially filed under a Bennettsville city ordinance, but the police department later charged Bullock under the state’s pointing and presenting statute in October 2021.
The AG’s office took over that prosecution, but has never set a court date, despite Bullock’s attorney filing a motion to dismiss in December 2021. Bullock’s weapon charge is still pending with no action in the case in the past 19 months.
As soon as we can access the charging documents in the case, we’ll update our reporting. | https://www.qcnews.com/news/investigations/final-disrespects/sled-arrests-former-marlboro-county-deputy-probate-judge-friend-in-final-disrespects-estate-theft-case/ | 2023-07-29T03:23:51 | 0 | https://www.qcnews.com/news/investigations/final-disrespects/sled-arrests-former-marlboro-county-deputy-probate-judge-friend-in-final-disrespects-estate-theft-case/ |
Analysis by real estate firm Redfin finds that in 2021 and 2022, more people moved into regions that are at risk of flooding, wildfire or extreme heat events.
Nearly 400,000 more people moved into the counties in the U.S. that are most prone to flooding. Nearly 450,000 more moved to places where fire is a big risk, and nearly 630,000 more people will have to deal with the risks of extreme heat, according to Redfin's numbers.
In all three of those risk categories, the rate of people moving to the areas increased over the rates from 2019-2020.
Refdin crunched numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau and from the climate risk assessment scores by First Street Foundation.
It found more people are moving into flood-prone counties than out. The most popular was Florida's Lee County — where roughly half of homes are at high flood risk.
Riverside County, California, where homes are at high risk from wildfires, saw a net population increase. So did Maricopa County, Arizona, where extreme heat is a regular risk, and is currently baking the region in an unprecedented heatwave. Redfin says Maricopa County gained the most residents of any in the U.S. in 2022.
Separate data from moving van company U-Haul showed the same: more people moved to the Southeast and Southwest in 2022 than anywhere else. Texas and Florida were the top two destinations, respectively.
SEE MORE: Why are insurance companies pulling out of some states?
As for why — real estate is relatively affordable in many of these destinations, Redfin says. Construction in Florida's Lee County is still buzzing to meet demand.
Research into the phenomenon published last year also found natural amenities and socioeconomic factors can play a big role: people often moved toward bodies of water, for example, or away from regions that had high unemployment. That study, too, warned that people were increasing their risk of encountering hazards like wildfire.
Meanwhile, certain short- and long-term costs of living are changing along with the climate.
Residents in Phoenix, Arizona, are facing steep utility bills due to air conditioning demand.
And some major home insurance companies are starting to back out of the Florida market, saying that recent disasters like last year's Hurricane Ian are pushing their operating costs too high.
Average home insurance in Florida now runs $6,000 a year — roughly three times he national average.
SEE MORE: What are some health complications from extreme heat?
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kxxv.com/more-and-more-americans-are-moving-into-high-risk-climate-zones-why | 2023-07-29T03:23:52 | 1 | https://www.kxxv.com/more-and-more-americans-are-moving-into-high-risk-climate-zones-why |
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street’s rally got back on track Friday following more encouraging profit reports and the latest signal that inflation is loosening its chokehold on the economy.
The S&P 500 rose 1% to its highest close in more than 15 months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 176 points, or 0.5% after breaking a 13-day winning streak the day before. The Nasdaq composite jumped 1.9% as Big Tech stocks led the market.
Stocks have been rising recently on hopes high inflation is cooling enough to get the Federal Reserve to stop hiking interest rates. That in turn could allow the economy to continue growing and avoid a long-predicted recession. The S&P 500 closed out its third straight winning week and its ninth in the last 11.
A report on Friday bolstered those hopes, saying the inflation measure the Fed prefers to use slowed last month by a touch more than expected. Perhaps just as importantly, data also showed that total compensation for workers rose less than expected during the spring. While that’s discouraging for workers looking for bigger raises, investors see it adding less upward pressure on inflation.
The hope among traders is that the slowdown in inflation means the Federal Reserve’s hike to interest rates on Wednesday will be the final one of this cycle. The federal funds rate has leaped to a level between 5.25% and 5.50%, up from virtually zero early last year. High interest rates work to lower inflation by slowing the entire economy and hurting prices for stocks and other investments.
Critics, though, say the stock market’s rally may have gone too far, too fast. The full effects of the Fed’s rate hikes have yet to make their way fully through the system. Other parts of the economy could still crack under the pressure, like the three U.S. bank failures this spring that shook confidence. Plus, inflation remains above the Fed’s target level, and the central bank could have to keep the brakes on the economy a while to get it down to target.
“Don’t underestimate central bank commitment to 2% inflation,” Bank of America economists wrote in a BofA Global Research report.
Still, hopes for a halt to rate hikes helped technology stocks and others seen as big beneficiaries from easier rates to rally and lead the market Friday.
Microsoft, Apple and Amazon each rose at least 1.4% and were the three strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500.
Companies also continued to deliver stronger profits for the spring than analysts expected. Roughly halfway through the earnings season, more companies than usual are topping profit forecasts, according to FactSet.
Intel rose 6.6% after reporting a profit for the latest quarter, when analysts were expecting a loss.
Food giant Mondelez International climbed 3.7% after reporting stronger results for the spring than expected. The company behind Oreo and Ritz also raised its forecasts for financial results for the full year.
On the losing end was Exxon Mobil. It fell 1.2% and was the heaviest single weight on the S&P 500. It reported weaker profit for the spring than expected, though its revenue topped forecasts.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 44.82 points to 4,582.23. The Dow added 176.57 to 35,459.29, and the Nasdaq jumped 265.55 to 14,316.66.
In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.4% after the Bank of Japan made moves that could allow longer-term interest rates to rise. Stocks rose in China and were modestly higher across Europe.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.95% from 4.00% late Thursday. It helps set rates for mortgages and other important loans.
The two-year Treasury, which moves more on expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, fell to 4.87% from 4.92%.
Yields dipped after a survey said sentiment among U.S. consumers wasn’t quite as high in July as thought, though it was still the strongest reading since October 2021.
The report from the University of Michigan also said expectations for inflation inched up in July but remain well below where they were last year. The Fed wants to keep such expectations anchored because it fears a vicious cycle where expectations for high inflation only worsen it.
___
AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed. | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-stock-market-today-asian-shares-mixed-tokyo-falls-as-bank-of-japan-adjusts-bond-purchase-policy/ | 2023-07-29T03:23:53 | 0 | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-stock-market-today-asian-shares-mixed-tokyo-falls-as-bank-of-japan-adjusts-bond-purchase-policy/ |
(The Hill) — A federal judge in Montana issued a temporary restraining order on Friday, blocking the state from enforcing a law that bans certain drag performances, writing in an order that the law likely suffers from “constitutional maladies.”
Montana’s House Bill 359, passed by the state’s majority Republican legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte in May, prohibits schools or libraries that receive state funding from hosting a drag story hour or “sexually oriented performance.” Performances are also prohibited from taking place in public or in the presence of a minor.
A group of 10 plaintiffs challenged the law in federal court earlier this month, arguing that the bill is “breathtakingly ambiguous and overbroad.” Plaintiffs include Adria Jawort, a transgender and two-spirit author whose lecture at a public library in Butte was canceled last month after officials determined that having her speak posed “too much of a legal risk” under the new law.
Montana Pride, the host of an annual LGBTQ Pride celebration in Helena, joined the lawsuit last week, arguing that city officials — as a result of the law — have withheld permits that are needed for this year’s Pride festival, which is slated to run from July 30 to August 6.
“The thirtieth annual Montana Pride is slated to begin in less than two days,” Chief Judge Brian Morris wrote in Friday’s order. “Plaintiffs, along with the approximately 15,000 Montanans who wish to attend the events, cannot avoid chilled speech or exposure to potential civil or criminal liability under H.B. 359 in the absence of the extraordinary remedy of a [temporary restraining order.]”
Republicans in the state legislature this session had argued the law was necessary to protect children from “mature themes” and obscene material.
But “Montana law already protects minors from obscene material,” Morris wrote Friday.
On top of that, the state conceded during a July 26 hearing that the statutory text of House Bill 359 regulates speech and expression outside of what is considered “legally obscene.”
The law additionally “contains no carveout for speech or expression with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value,” Morris argued, and the First Amendment protects “at least some of the speech and expression” regulated by the law.
Morris noted in the order that the only two other district courts to have considered First Amendment challenges to similar state drag bans in Tennessee and Florida “have confirmed that those laws constitute facially content-based restrictions” and are therefore discriminatory.
A federal judge in June ruled that a Tennessee law banning drag shows in public or where children could view them is unconstitutional. The same month, a federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a similar ban on drag performances.
Attorneys for the state had sought to distinguish the Montana law from those of Florida and Tennessee on the basis that those laws failed to define “lewd.” But Morris on Friday argued that Montana’s drag ban also failed to define it.
The measure also fails to define “lascivious,” “flamboyant or parodic persona,” “salacious dancing” and “sexual manner,” Morris wrote. “The absence of definitions for these terms raises concerns for the Court about vagueness and overbreadth.”
In a statement to the Montana Free Press following Friday’s order, Montana Pride’s lead organizer, Kevin Hamm, said the court “got it right.”
“As I said throughout the legislature, drag is art. And drag bans not only infringe on free speech, but they are crafted (by design) to be so broad to allow for discrimination against trans & nonbinary people as well,” state Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr posted Friday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in response to Morris’s decision.
Zephyr, one of two openly transgender lawmakers in Montana, was censured by House Republicans in April after she said legislators who voted to pass a bill banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors would have “blood on your hands.”
In a statement to The Hill, Emily Flower, a spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R), who is a defendant in the case, said the state will present its response at an upcoming preliminary injunction hearing.
“We look forward to presenting our written response and full argument at the upcoming preliminary injunction hearing to defend the law and protect minors from sexually oriented performances,” she said. | https://www.pahomepage.com/uncategorized/federal-judge-halts-montana-ban-on-drag-performances/ | 2023-07-29T03:23:55 | 0 | https://www.pahomepage.com/uncategorized/federal-judge-halts-montana-ban-on-drag-performances/ |
Each year, the Phoenix Rescue Mission hands out more than 600,000 bottles of water to people living on the streets.
Every day, case managers with PRM, like Sergio Armendariz, load up a PRM Hope Coach with lifesaving essentials to hit the city's streets. Those essentials include water, snacks, and some basic necessities, like deodorant and a toothbrush.
"Especially in Phoenix, you could go down any area, and I can go through pretty much all or most of my hygiene and water just because of the amount of people who are living on the street," Armendariz said.
"This is typically a spot where there's always a lot of people," he said.
One man he came across, David, said he'd been experiencing homelessness for about two years.
"It's just tough out here," David said. "I can barely walk, or get out of bed."
He told Armendariz that he wanted to get out of the hot Phoenix sun that day. Armendariz called some of his contacts at PRM and other local non-profit organizations to see what was available.
A lot of times, that's not a quick or easy task for him because of the number of people experiencing homelessness looking to get off the streets.
"I think, with this job, that's the toughest part about it is being able to find bed space," Armendariz said. "Sometimes, it's just not enough. That's why I'm huge on more shelter space."
SEE MORE: How much heat is too much for the human body?
David ended up not wanting to start a year-long recovery program, which would have gotten him a space at a shelter that had room that week.
Armendariz understands why making the decision to make a change can be difficult for some people. Five years ago, he was in the same place as the people he now serves.
"Every day, I get to wake up and I give thanks to God for having a place to sleep, a shelter, restoration with my family, restoration with my kids, with my extended family," he said.
"It's just been amazing, really. Freedom - the freedom to just live my life, go to work every day, and do something that I really enjoy doing, and it has its difficulties, but, ultimately, I'm here to help."
Phoenix Rescue Mission is currently doing its "Code:Red Summer Heat Relief" campaign through the end of August.
If you'd like to help or donate, visit their website.
This story was originally published by Amelia Fabiano at Scripps New Phoenix.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.lex18.com/advocates-rush-to-help-those-living-with-homelessness-in-record-heat | 2023-07-29T03:23:55 | 1 | https://www.lex18.com/advocates-rush-to-help-those-living-with-homelessness-in-record-heat |
PHOENIX — Yes, Julio Rodriguez played two of his best back-to-back games this season in Minnesota and it was noteworthy.
But if you are looking for the Mariners’ hottest hitter for an extended period, it would be catcher Tom Murphy.
Coming into Friday’s game, Murphy had posted a .362/.404/.830 slash line in 53 plate appearances in his last 15 games. Of his 17 hits in that span, he has four doubles and six homers to go with nine RBI, three walks and 13 strikeouts.
With lefty Tommy Henry starting for Arizona, manager Scott Servais put both catchers in the starting lineup with Cal Raleigh behind the plate, batting fifth, and Tom Murphy at designated hitter, batting sixth.
The decision paid off immediately. The Mariners loaded the bases with one out to bring Raleigh to the plate. Batting right-handed, Raleigh ripped a ground ball just inside the third-base bag and down the left field for a two-run double. Murphy followed with a screaming line drive to the gap in left-center that scored two more runs.
After missing basically all of last season with a left shoulder injury that forced him into having season-ending surgery, Murphy is healthy in 2023 and looking more like the catcher the Mariners saw in 2019 when he posted a .273/.324/.535 slash line with 12 doubles, 18 homers and 40 RBI in 75 games.
The Mariners think Murphy might be an even better hitter this season. Continually working to improve his swing and approach, he’s now driving the ball to right field with more authority than before and feels more capable of hitting right-handed pitching, particularly getting quality contact on breaking pitches.
“He did a couple of things that have really helped him,” manager Scott Servais said. “He tends to play the game very intense. I think just loosening some things up at the plate, whether it was a grip adjustment and some other stuff with his swing has helped,” Servais said.
Indeed, Murphy might be the most intense player on the team. He’d listen to heavy metal while doing yoga if allowed.
Murphy didn’t want to give away any secrets, but said it was a little more than just loosening up some things.
“I’ve been putting a lot of work,” he said. “It’s continuous.”
He can see the difference with the balls hit to right-center. They are homers and not just fly balls. He’s also driving off-speed pitches that gave him fits in the past.
“He has worked extremely hard,” Servais said. “He takes more swings than anybody else on our team and he’s found some things that are working for him, so hopefully it continues. He’s putting together really nice offensive year after not getting a ton of playing time early.”
Murphy played in just 10 games in April and played in 11 in May.
“We weren’t seeing a lot of left-handed pitching, now we are playing him against righties and he’s doing really well,” Servais said.
Of all the positional situations, the duo of Murphy and Raleigh at catcher has been pretty seamless.
“That’s really important the consistency you have when you’re catching, certainly with how we value our pitching and getting the most out of those guys,” Servais said. “So having guys back there that have relationships with our pitchers and understand what their strengths are. Our guys really trust both of those guys behind the plate and I trust them. It doesn’t really matter who’s out on the mound. I think what we’re seeing now with Murph picking it up offensively is more equal time, which I think benefits them both at this time of the year.”
Ray visits
Robbie Ray (left elbow surgery) was on the field in uniform before Friday’s game, watching his teammates take batting practice. He also chatted up members of the Diamondbacks staff. He spent six seasons with Arizona (2015-2019), establishing himself as a MLB pitcher. He is living in Arizona with his family as he recovers and rehabs from elbow surgery.
Ray was sporting an impressive swath of hair coming out of the back of his cap. He has not cut his hair since before he had season-ending surgery and he doesn’t plan to cut it again until returns to the mound in a big league game.
Shortly after Dr. Keith Meister performed surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon and reconstructed his ulnar collateral ligament on May 3, Ray made an appearance in Seattle to meet with the team’s medical staff. He was wearing a clunky brace to keep the elbow limited and protected.
Ray and his wife, Taylor, hosted the Mariners players and coaches at his house in Arizona on Thursday night for a get together.
“It was great,” Servais said. “It was very nice of him and his wife to host us.”
He was brace free on Friday and had recently been cleared to resume lifting weights.
“It felt weird, but good,” he said.
And the elbow brace?
“I threw that thing into the lake,” Ray said, possibly joking and possibly serious.
Ray said he’s progressing on schedule in his recovery from the surgery. A return from the surgery is anywhere from 12 to 18 months.
Pollock getting close
AJ Pollock (strained left hamstring) has been ramped his rehab to participate in baseball activities. During the series in Minnesota, he was doing some agility work and light running. Before Friday’s game, he increased the output and intensity that work and running. He also took on-field batting practice and played catch.
Pollock expects to be ready come off the injured list when he’s eligible to return on Aug. 1. | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/who-is-hottest-mariners-hitter-of-late-thatd-be-tom-murphy/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T03:23:55 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/who-is-hottest-mariners-hitter-of-late-thatd-be-tom-murphy/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
(The Hill) — A federal judge in Montana issued a temporary restraining order on Friday, blocking the state from enforcing a law that bans certain drag performances, writing in an order that the law likely suffers from “constitutional maladies.”
Montana’s House Bill 359, passed by the state’s majority Republican legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte in May, prohibits schools or libraries that receive state funding from hosting a drag story hour or “sexually oriented performance.” Performances are also prohibited from taking place in public or in the presence of a minor.
A group of 10 plaintiffs challenged the law in federal court earlier this month, arguing that the bill is “breathtakingly ambiguous and overbroad.” Plaintiffs include Adria Jawort, a transgender and two-spirit author whose lecture at a public library in Butte was canceled last month after officials determined that having her speak posed “too much of a legal risk” under the new law.
Montana Pride, the host of an annual LGBTQ Pride celebration in Helena, joined the lawsuit last week, arguing that city officials — as a result of the law — have withheld permits that are needed for this year’s Pride festival, which is slated to run from July 30 to August 6.
“The thirtieth annual Montana Pride is slated to begin in less than two days,” Chief Judge Brian Morris wrote in Friday’s order. “Plaintiffs, along with the approximately 15,000 Montanans who wish to attend the events, cannot avoid chilled speech or exposure to potential civil or criminal liability under H.B. 359 in the absence of the extraordinary remedy of a [temporary restraining order.]”
Republicans in the state legislature this session had argued the law was necessary to protect children from “mature themes” and obscene material.
But “Montana law already protects minors from obscene material,” Morris wrote Friday.
On top of that, the state conceded during a July 26 hearing that the statutory text of House Bill 359 regulates speech and expression outside of what is considered “legally obscene.”
The law additionally “contains no carveout for speech or expression with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value,” Morris argued, and the First Amendment protects “at least some of the speech and expression” regulated by the law.
Morris noted in the order that the only two other district courts to have considered First Amendment challenges to similar state drag bans in Tennessee and Florida “have confirmed that those laws constitute facially content-based restrictions” and are therefore discriminatory.
A federal judge in June ruled that a Tennessee law banning drag shows in public or where children could view them is unconstitutional. The same month, a federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a similar ban on drag performances.
Attorneys for the state had sought to distinguish the Montana law from those of Florida and Tennessee on the basis that those laws failed to define “lewd.” But Morris on Friday argued that Montana’s drag ban also failed to define it.
The measure also fails to define “lascivious,” “flamboyant or parodic persona,” “salacious dancing” and “sexual manner,” Morris wrote. “The absence of definitions for these terms raises concerns for the Court about vagueness and overbreadth.”
In a statement to the Montana Free Press following Friday’s order, Montana Pride’s lead organizer, Kevin Hamm, said the court “got it right.”
“As I said throughout the legislature, drag is art. And drag bans not only infringe on free speech, but they are crafted (by design) to be so broad to allow for discrimination against trans & nonbinary people as well,” state Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr posted Friday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in response to Morris’s decision.
Zephyr, one of two openly transgender lawmakers in Montana, was censured by House Republicans in April after she said legislators who voted to pass a bill banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors would have “blood on your hands.”
In a statement to The Hill, Emily Flower, a spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R), who is a defendant in the case, said the state will present its response at an upcoming preliminary injunction hearing.
“We look forward to presenting our written response and full argument at the upcoming preliminary injunction hearing to defend the law and protect minors from sexually oriented performances,” she said. | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/federal-judge-halts-montana-ban-on-drag-performances/ | 2023-07-29T03:23:57 | 0 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/federal-judge-halts-montana-ban-on-drag-performances/ |
On Friday, Washington, D.C. metro rail authorities announced that the city's commuter train lines would be slowed down to 35 mph on above-ground tracks because of extremely hot weather.
The service said that passengersshould expect delays, which had the possibility of causing issues in Washington's many open-air stations without air conditioning.
The issue is not unique to just the U.S. capital, as other major cities have expressed worry that high temperatures could cause major issues for commuter rail operations.
In Los Angeles, officials called extreme heat the "most pervasive risk that metro faces," the LAist reported in 2019.
The heat could cause failures with signal switches, station elevators and other mechanical equipment.
SEE MORE: Biden to sign executive order to encourage more US-made inventions
In a study that included researchers from Northwestern University's engineering school, Professor Alessandro Rotta Loria stated, "Subsurface temperature rises can also cause transportation infrastructure and public health issues, such as overheated subway rails that force trains to slow down or stop to avoid incidents with significant economic costs associated with the delay of public transportation services."
The study authors wrote, "Urban areas increasingly suffer from subsurface heat islands: an underground climate change responsible for environmental, public health, and transportation issues. Soils, rocks, and construction materials deform under the influence of temperature variations and excessive deformations can affect the performance of civil infrastructure."
In New York City, officials tried the short-term solution of placing fans in subway stations to try and create more breeze, and cool down subsurface temperatures.
Masoud Ghandehari, a professor at NYU of Urban Systems Engineering said he doesn't believe it's "financially viable" to ventilate the subway system in that city, and said it may not be physically possible.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kxxv.com/washington-among-cities-slowing-metro-rail-amid-hot-weather | 2023-07-29T03:23:58 | 0 | https://www.kxxv.com/washington-among-cities-slowing-metro-rail-amid-hot-weather |
NEW YORK (AP) — The fate of U.S. trucking company Yellow Corp. isn’t looking good.
After years of financial struggles, Yellow is reportedly preparing for bankruptcy and seeing customers leave in large numbers — heightening risk for future liquidation. While no official decision has been announced by the company, the prospect of bankruptcy has renewed attention around Yellow’s ongoing negotiations with unionized workers, a $700 million pandemic-era loan from the government and other bills the trucker has racked up over time.
Yellow, formerly known as YRC Worldwide Inc., is one of the nation’s largest less-than-truckload carriers. The Nashville, Tennessee-based company has some 30,000 employees across the country.
Here’s what you need to know.
Not yet. But industry experts suspect that a bankruptcy filing could come any day now.
People familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that the company could seek bankruptcy protection as soon as this week — with some noting that a significant amount of customers have already started to leave the carrier.
Meanwhile, according to FreightWaves, employees were told to expect the filing Monday. Yellow laid off an unknown number of employees Friday, the outlet later reported, citing a memo that stated the company was “shutting down its regular operations.”
According to Satish Jindel, president of transportation and logistics firm SJ Consulting, Yellow handled an average of 49,000 shipments per day in 2022. As of this week, he estimates that number is down to between 10,000 and 15,000 daily shipments.
With customers leaving — as well reports of Yellow stopping freight pickups earlier this week — bankruptcy would “be the end of Yellow,” Jindel told The Associated Press, noting increased risk for liquidation.
“The likelihood of them surviving and remaining solvent diminishes really by the day,” added Bruce Chan, a research director at investment banking firm Stifel.
Yellow media contacts did not immediately respond to the Associated Press’ requests for comment on Friday. In a Wednesday statement to The Journal, the company said it was continuing “to prepare for a range of contingencies.” On Thursday, Yellow said it was in talks with multiple parties about selling its third-party logistics organization.
Even if Yellow was able to sell its logistics firm, it would “not generate a sufficient amount of cash to keep them operational on any sort of permanent basis,” Chan said. “Without a major equity injection, it would be very difficult for them to survive.”
As of late March, Yellow had an outstanding debt of about $1.5 billion. Of that, $729.2 million was owed to the federal government.
In 2020, under the Trump administration, the Treasury Department granted the company a $700 million pandemic-era loan on national security grounds. Last month, a congressional probe concluded that the Treasury and Defense Departments “made missteps” in this decision — and noted that Yellow’s “precarious financial position at the time of the loan, and continued struggles, expose taxpayers to a significant risk of loss.”
The government loan is due in September 2024. As of March, Yellow had made $54.8 million in interest payments and repaid just $230 million of the principal owed, according to government documents.
Yellow’s current finances and prospect of bankruptcy “is probably two decades in the making,” Chan said, pointing to poor management and strategic decisions dating back to the early 2000s. “At this point, after each party has bailed them out so many times, there is a limited appetite to do that anymore.”
In May, Yellow reported a loss of $54.6 million, a decline of $1.06 per share, for its first quarter of 2023. Operating revenue was about $1.16 billion in the period.
A Wednesday investors note from financial service firm Stephens estimated that Yellow could be burning between $9 million and $10 million each day. Using a liquidity disclosure from earlier this month, Yellow had roughly $100 million in cash at the end of June, the note added — estimating that the company has been burning through increasing amounts of money through July.
“It is reasonable to believe that the Company could breach its $35 mil. liquidity requirement at any moment,” Stephens analyst Jack Atkins and associate Grant Smith wrote.
The reports of bankruptcy preparations arrive just days after a strike from the Teamsters, which represents Yellow’s 22,000 unionized workers, was averted.
A series of heated exchanges have built up between the Teamsters and Yellow, who sued the union in June after alleging it was “unjustifiably blocking” restructuring plans needed for the company’s survival. The Teamsters called the litigation “baseless” — with general president Sean O’Brien pointing to Yellow’s “decades of gross mismanagement,” which included exhausting the $700 million federal loan.
On Sunday, a pension fund agreed to extend health benefits for workers at two Yellow Corp. operating companies, averting a strike — and giving Yellow “30 days to pay its bills,” notably $50 million that Yellow failed to pay the Central States Health and Welfare Fund on July 15, the union said. While the strike didn’t occur, talks of a walkout may have caused some Yellow customers to pull back, Chan said.
Talks between Yellow and the Teamsters, which also represents UPS’s unionized workers, are ongoing. The current contract expires in March 2024.
“The financial struggles of Yellow are not related to the union and the contracts,” Jindel said, pointing to management’s responsibility around its services and prices. He added the union wages from Yellow are “lower than any competitor.”
If Yellow files for bankruptcy and customers continue to take their shipments to other carriers, like FedEx or ABF Freight, prices will go up.
Yellow’s prices have historically been the cheapest compared to other carriers, Jindel said. “That’s why they obviously were not making money,” he added. “And while there is capacity with the other LTL carriers to handle the diversions from Yellow, it will come at a high price for (current shippers and customers) of Yellow.”
Chan adds that we’re in an interesting time for the LTL marketplace — noting that, if Yellow declares bankruptcy and liquidates, “the freight would find a home” with other carriers, which may not have been true in recent years.
“It may take time, but there’s room for it to be absorbed,” he said. | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-trucking-company-yellow-corp-is-reportedly-preparing-for-bankruptcy-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:00 | 0 | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-trucking-company-yellow-corp-is-reportedly-preparing-for-bankruptcy-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ |
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly said he is "fine" since he froze up mid-sentence during a press conference on Wednesday. And now his office is trying to tamp down speculation that he might not fill out his term as leader because of his health.
In a statement, his office said McConnell appreciates the continued support of his colleagues and "plans to serve his full term in the job they overwhelmingly elected him to do."
The statement, first reported by Politico, comes after McConnell, 81, has suffered health problems in recent months.
At his weekly press conference this week, he froze and stared vacantly for about 20 seconds before his GOP colleagues standing behind him grabbed his elbows and asked if he wanted to go back to his office. He later returned to the news conference and answered questions as if nothing had happened.
When asked about the episode, he said he was "fine" - a statement he repeated in a hallway to reporters later that day.
Neither McConnell nor his office would answer questions about whether he got medical help afterward.
SEE MORE: Feinstein corrected, told to 'just say aye' at Senate hearing
Even as McConnell tried to brush off the concerns, the episode raised new questions among his colleagues about his health and also whether McConnell, who was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and has served as Republican leader since 2007, might soon step aside from his leadership post.
He was elected to a two-year term as leader in January by a large majority of his conference, despite an insurgent challenge from Florida Sen. Rick Scott.
He would be up for re-election as leader again after the 2024 elections. By then, he will have to decide also if he wants to run again for another Senate term. He is up for re-election in 2026.
In March, McConnell suffered a concussion and a broken rib after falling and hitting his head after a dinner event at a hotel. He didn’t return to the Senate for almost six weeks.
He has been using a wheelchair in the airport while commuting back and forth to Kentucky. And his speech has recently sounded more halting. But McConnell, famously reticent and often private about his personal life and health, has said very little about what is going on.
Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said after, Wednesday’s episode, that McConnell’s job as leader calls for more transparency than it would for others.
"We should find out, you know, fairly soon what happened and how serious it is," Cramer said. "But I don’t have to tell you, Mitch is also, as an individual, a pretty private guy. So we’ll see."
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he talked to McConnell on Wednesday night and he seemed "strong and alert." But, he said, what happened at the news conference on Wednesday was disturbing to watch.
"Mitch is strong, he’s stubborn as a mule," Cruz said. "My prayers are with them. I hope that - we’re going into the August recess - I hope he has time to fully recuperate."
GOP senators who are seen as potential successors have been cautious in their reaction.
"He’s fine, he’s back to work," said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican and one of the senators standing behind McConnell when he froze up."
"I support Senator McConnell as long as he wants to serve as leader," said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, another potential replacement.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 3 Senate Republican and a former orthopedic surgeon, guided McConnell back to his office to rest during the news conference. Afterwards, he told reporters that he has been concerned since McConnell was injured earlier this year, "and I continue to be concerned."
Barrasso then added: "I said I was concerned when he fell and hit his head a number of months ago and was hospitalized. And I think he’s made a remarkable recovery, he’s doing a great job leading our conference and was able to answer every question the press asked him today."
Several other GOP senators projected confidence in the Republican leader.
"I do have confidence in his leadership," said Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis. "At lunch yesterday, he spoke. He was completely on his game using numbers that were pulled out of his head and he was completely with it. So I don’t know what precipitated the freeze, but he’ll be careful to evaluate his own capabilities."
Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall said he was "a little concerned" after the news conference.
"He said that he got a little overheated, a little dehydrated," said Marshall, who is also a doctor.
"That’s what it looks like to me. I can tell you, he’s got a strong, strong voice in our conference. He’s providing steady leadership. And I think he’s doing a great job as leader."
McConnell had polio in his early childhood and he has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in climbing stairs. In addition to his fall in March, he also tripped and fell four years ago at his home in Kentucky, causing a shoulder fracture that required surgery.
The Republican leader carried on with his full schedule after the episode on Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he spoke with his Republican counterpart at an event Wednesday evening for Major League Baseball owners.
"I said I’m so glad you’re here," Schumer said. "And he made a very good speech."
The Republican leader is one of several senators who have been absent due to health issues this year. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, 90, was out of the Senate for more than two months as she recovered from a bout of shingles. And, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., 53, took leave for several weeks to get treatment for clinical depression.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.lex18.com/mcconnell-to-serve-his-full-term-as-gop-leader-amid-health-worries | 2023-07-29T03:24:01 | 0 | https://www.lex18.com/mcconnell-to-serve-his-full-term-as-gop-leader-amid-health-worries |
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The troubled brother of the late NFL player Aaron Hernandez was charged Friday, now in federal court, with new counts of threatening and stalking after authorities say he threatened to shoot up the University of Connecticut and kill three people in another state.
Dennis Hernandez was ordered to be held in custody after his appearance in the court in Hartford. A message seeking comment was sent Friday night to his attorney.
The new charges came days after it emerged that Hernandez was arrested July 18 on state charges after police said he threatened to kill officers and then urged them to shoot him at his home in Bristol. Officers had gone there after two people close to him raised concerns about his mental health, police said.
The arrest report said the 37-year-old had sent threatening messages, including ones about carrying out a shooting at UConn. He was a Huskies quarterback and wide receiver who went by DJ Hernandez in the mid-2000s.
Court filings in the new federal case include the same messages. Some say the writer is struggling financially, is frustrated at seeing other people get hired as coaches, feels owed by UConn, is planning on “taking down everything” and doesn’t care “who gets caught in the crossfire.”
“I’ve died for years now and now its others peoples turn,” read a July 7 message sent to a woman in Hernandez’s life. It followed a message the day before that warned: “UConn’s gonna see how accurate I am too with my targets.”
Hernandez told another person that he drove July 7 to UConn’s campus in Storrs and to Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, where he coached quarterbacks during the 2010-11 season, according to court papers.
He had been due in state court that day on another case stemming from allegations that he threw a bag containing a brick and a note over a fence and onto ESPN’s property in Bristol.
UConn police confirmed that a vehicle linked to Hernandez was on campus that day. Brown has said that its investigation didn’t indicate Hernandez had been on campus in recent weeks.
Hernandez is due back in state court Tuesday and in federal court Aug. 11.
His younger brother, former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, killed himself in 2017 while serving a murder sentence. | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/nfl/aaron-hernandezs-brother-now-facing-federal-charges-over-alleged-threatening-messages/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T03:24:01 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/nfl/aaron-hernandezs-brother-now-facing-federal-charges-over-alleged-threatening-messages/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
HURON, Ohio (WJW) – A suspected bank burglar was busted when he gave new meaning to the term “direct deposit.”
Police in Huron, Ohio watched as the suspected bank thief dropped from the ceiling over the drive-thru, right in front of their eyes.
Police body camera video obtained by the WJW shows the incident. Officers can be heard ordering the suspect on the ground, and then helping get him out of the recycling can. The suspect was not injured.
“In my 35-plus years in law enforcement, this is the first time I ever saw a suspect fall into a garbage can,” said Huron Police Chief Terry Graham.
Graham said around 2:12 a.m. Wednesday, police received an alarm from the VacationLand Federal Credit Union located on University Drive East.
While checking the building, officers could hear noises coming from inside the roof area over the drive-thru.
They also noticed the recycling can positioned in the middle of the drive-thru lane, directly under a roof access door. The officers heard noises coming from inside the bank and patiently waited.
“I am most impressed with our officers’ patience in a very difficult situation,” the chief said. “The tactics they used, I think, substantially contributed to no one being injured and the suspect being taken into custody.”
Tristan Heidl, 27, was arrested and charged with breaking and entering, possession of criminal tools and safecracking.
Police say Heidl had a backpack full of construction tools.
“He did get inside the bank and attempt to open numerous areas in the bank that contain money,” the chief said.
Police say Heidl was unable to get inside the safe and crash-landed with empty pockets.
“He didn’t get a dime,” Graham said.
Heidl is being held in the Erie County Jail on a $50,000 bond. He is due back in court soon. | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/watch-ohio-bank-burglary-suspect-falls-from-ceiling-lands-in-recycling-can-near-officers/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:04 | 1 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/watch-ohio-bank-burglary-suspect-falls-from-ceiling-lands-in-recycling-can-near-officers/ |
Analysis by real estate firm Redfin finds that in 2021 and 2022, more people moved into regions that are at risk of flooding, wildfire or extreme heat events.
Nearly 400,000 more people moved into the counties in the U.S. that are most prone to flooding. Nearly 450,000 more moved to places where fire is a big risk, and nearly 630,000 more people will have to deal with the risks of extreme heat, according to Redfin's numbers.
In all three of those risk categories, the rate of people moving to the areas increased over the rates from 2019-2020.
Refdin crunched numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau and from the climate risk assessment scores by First Street Foundation.
It found more people are moving into flood-prone counties than out. The most popular was Florida's Lee County — where roughly half of homes are at high flood risk.
Riverside County, California, where homes are at high risk from wildfires, saw a net population increase. So did Maricopa County, Arizona, where extreme heat is a regular risk, and is currently baking the region in an unprecedented heatwave. Redfin says Maricopa County gained the most residents of any in the U.S. in 2022.
Separate data from moving van company U-Haul showed the same: more people moved to the Southeast and Southwest in 2022 than anywhere else. Texas and Florida were the top two destinations, respectively.
SEE MORE: Why are insurance companies pulling out of some states?
As for why — real estate is relatively affordable in many of these destinations, Redfin says. Construction in Florida's Lee County is still buzzing to meet demand.
Research into the phenomenon published last year also found natural amenities and socioeconomic factors can play a big role: people often moved toward bodies of water, for example, or away from regions that had high unemployment. That study, too, warned that people were increasing their risk of encountering hazards like wildfire.
Meanwhile, certain short- and long-term costs of living are changing along with the climate.
Residents in Phoenix, Arizona, are facing steep utility bills due to air conditioning demand.
And some major home insurance companies are starting to back out of the Florida market, saying that recent disasters like last year's Hurricane Ian are pushing their operating costs too high.
Average home insurance in Florida now runs $6,000 a year — roughly three times he national average.
SEE MORE: What are some health complications from extreme heat?
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.lex18.com/more-and-more-americans-are-moving-into-high-risk-climate-zones-why | 2023-07-29T03:24:07 | 1 | https://www.lex18.com/more-and-more-americans-are-moving-into-high-risk-climate-zones-why |
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two taxi drivers have been arrested in the Mexican city of Cancun for assaulting a van carrying foreign tourists, prosecutors said Friday.
The events in the Caribbean coast resort on Thursday were the latest in a months-long string of assaults on vehicles that medallion-cab drivers suspect of being operated by ride-hailing apps such as Uber.
Prosecutors in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo said such behavior will not be tolerated.
“Strong action will be taken to ensure that the state is a safe destination for local inhabitants and visitors,” the state prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Local residents posted video on social media showing at least two uniformed cab drivers bashing a Chevy Suburban with poles and other objects.
The van driver attempts to escape with the vehicle’s tailgate open, according to the footage, and the tourists’ luggage spills into the street. Three women can later be seen retrieving their luggage from the street.
“What are you doing?” cries one woman in English as belligerent cabbies mill around the scene, carrying what looked like improvised cudgels. “That is not okay.”
A local business owner who filmed the incident invited the women to take refuge in her store. The video shows the taxi drivers chasing the driver of the Suburban down the street until he reached a police officer.
The state prosecutors’ office said two taxi drivers were charged with robbery, and causing damage and injuries.
Local media reported the Suburban was not run through a ride-hailing app but by a local, non-medallion limousine service. Past incidents of taxi drivers attacking private vehicles in Cancun were based on the mistaken assumption they were Uber cars.
Cancun residents organized a boycott of medallion taxis in January following a week of blockades and violent incidents by drivers protesting the ride-hailing app Uber.
Road blockades, stone throwing and cabbies physically getting in the way had prevented tourists from boarding Uber vehicles. The U.S. issued a travel advisory warning that “past disputes between these services and local taxi unions have occasionally turned violent, resulting in injuries to U.S. citizens in some instances.”
Ride-hailing app s were blocked in Cancun until January, when a court granted an injunction allowing Uber to operate. | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-two-taxi-drivers-arrested-in-mexican-resort-of-cancun-for-assaulting-van-carrying-foreign-tourists/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:07 | 1 | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-two-taxi-drivers-arrested-in-mexican-resort-of-cancun-for-assaulting-van-carrying-foreign-tourists/ |
TORONTO (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit his major league-leading 39th home run for the Angels before leaving with leg cramps as the Toronto Blue Jays slugged three solo homers and rallied to beat Los Angeles 4-1 on Friday night.
Ohtani was replaced by pinch-hitter Michael Stefanic when his at-bat came up with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. Ohtani was lifted because of cramping in both of his calves, Angels manager Phil Nevin said.
“We’ll evaluate it tomorrow when he gets up,” Nevin said. “It’s just cramping right now. It’s kind of in both legs. He’s done a lot of work the last two days and wasn’t able to go.”
A day earlier, Ohtani left the second game of a doubleheader at Detroit because of cramps. The two-way superstar threw a one-hitter in the opener Thursday for his first career MLB shutout, then homered twice in the second game.
Nevin said Ohtani’s soreness developed after he grounded out to begin the eighth.
“He came in and was trying to get some work done and just kept cramping up,” Nevin said.
Stefanic struck out looking at a 3-2 pitch from right-hander Jordan Romano as Toronto ended the Angels’ four-game winning streak.
After the game, an angry Nevin was seen holding up a tablet computer and yelling at plate umpire Mike Estabrook as the crew left the field.
“I just explained to him that I thought the pitch to Stefanic was outside,” Nevin said.
Matt Chapman, Danny Jansen and Whit Merrifield homered for the Blue Jays, who are 24-11 when they hit two or more home runs.
“Our team has been playing a good brand of baseball for a while now,” Chapman said. “I think maybe we’re just starting to find ways to come out on top of some of those close games.”
Chapman hit a two-out drive in the second, his 14th of the season. Jansen homered to lead off the third, his 14th. Both home runs came off right-hander Lucas Giolito, who made his first start for the Angels since being acquired from the White Sox earlier this week.
Giolito (6-7) allowed three runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
“I felt relatively sharp, throwing a lot of strikes, but they hammered my mistakes pretty good,” Giolito said.
Bo Bichette hit an RBI double off Giolito in the sixth and Merrifield made it 4-1 with a two-out homer off José Soriano in the seventh, his eighth. Merrifield finished 3 for 4 and has six home runs in his last 17 games. He hit a three-run homer in Thursday’s road win over the Dodgers.
The Blue Jays began the day in the third AL wild-card spot, three games ahead of the Angels. Los Angeles trails Boston and the New York Yankees in the postseason race.
After being greeted with a loud ovation from the sellout crowd of 42,106, Ohtani homered on the first pitch he faced, going deep in three straight at-bats over two games.
Ohtani’s 397-foot drive came off Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman. Ohtani homered in consecutive games for the ninth time this season.
Ohtani’s streak of homers ended when he struck out swinging on a 2-2 pitch from Gausman in the third. Ohtani singled in the sixth and grounded out against left-hander Tim Mayza in the eighth.
Gausman (8-5) allowed one run and five hits in six-plus innings to win for the first time since June 21 at Miami. Gausman walked three and struck out nine, increasing his AL-leading total to 171.
Erik Swanson relieved Gausman after the Angels loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh. Swanson struck out Trey Cabbage and pinch-hitter Eduardo Escobar, then retired Luis Rengifo on a fly ball.
“Not getting one across, that hurts,” Nevin said.
Mayza worked one inning and Romano got two outs in the ninth before Yimi García finished for his third save in six chances. Romano was pitching for the fifth time since leaving the July 11 All-Star game because of a sore back.
“He’s doing alright,” manager John Schneider said of Romano. “Just lower back discomfort, it kind of locked up on him a little bit. Just kind of wanted to play it safe there.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: Before the game, Nevin said Ohtani would get an extra day of rest before his next start, which was scheduled for next Thursday’s home game against Seattle. … SS Zach Neto (sore back) was scratched from the starting lineup and replaced by Andrew Velazquez. Rengifo took over in the leadoff spot.
Blue Jays: LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (Tommy John surgery) will start on Tuesday against Baltimore, Schneider said. With the Blue Jays beginning a stretch of 17 games in 17 days Friday, Schneider said Ryu will be part of a six-man rotation. … RHP Chad Green (Tommy John surgery) will make a rehab appearance with Class-A Dunedin Saturday, his third.
ANGRY WORDS
Cameras caught Chapman yelling at Schneider in the dugout after the top of the first.
“That’s just everybody being competitive, wanting to win baseball games,” Chapman said. “Just a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing. What was said and what it’s about, I’m just going to keep between us.”
NEW-LOOK LINEUP
Blue Jays OF George Springer, who came in stuck in an 0-for-16 slump, was dropped from the leadoff spot to fifth. Springer finished 0 for 4. Merrifield moved up to hit leadoff.
ROSTER MOVES
The Angels optioned RHP Gerardo Reyes to Triple-A Salt Lake to make room on the roster for Giolito.
UP NEXT
RHP Alek Manoah (2-8, 6.10 ERA) starts for the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon. LHP Reid Detmers (2-7, 4.38) goes for the Angels.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/ohtani-hits-majors-best-39th-hr-before-leaving-with-leg-cramps-in-angels-4-1-loss-to-blue-jays/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T03:24:07 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/ohtani-hits-majors-best-39th-hr-before-leaving-with-leg-cramps-in-angels-4-1-loss-to-blue-jays/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (CHARLOTTE SPORTS LIVE) – What a difference a year makes.
While training camp can be grueling, it’s also a great time for teams to bond heading into the season — especially if they leave home base like the Panthers.
For some members of the Black and Blue, the last two seasons with two different staff is all they know. Early on in camp, there’s already a noticeable change in the vibe around Wofford.
“Yeah, I think so. Guys are out here competing a lot,” said Ickey Ekwonu. “Obviously, there’s a lot of competition at a lot of positions, but we’re out here having fun too. I feel like we’re enjoying each other and building that chemistry more and more.”
Camp is always hard on the bodies of players, and it’s imperative the Panthers make it out of Spartanburg as healthy as possible. The team also wants to make sure it’s well-equipped to handle all kinds of situations they’ll see on Sundays.
“I’m not even going to talk about the other staff, but this staff they just know how to take care of players a little bit,” said Shaq Thompson. “You see how practice is; we come out here, get our work in, and get off the field. We try to beat the heat and come in and work. We’ll start to do situational stuff. He’ll bring in that because it’s all about situational football. Two minutes happens, four minutes happens, and it brings a lot of knowledge into us. We make sure everybody knows what to do and how to handle situations. Nobody folds under pressure, and that’s what they’re doing out here for us.”
We’ve talked all offseason about the key additions to this squad. One of those in receiver, DJ Chark, is already making his presence known, and he feels right at home in the Carolinas.
“As far as chemistry and things like that, I feel great,” Chark said. “I’m from the south, so being back in the South is refreshing. I’m used to the heat and mosquitoes that’s all around. It’s what I know.”
Safe to say the vibes and the heat here in Spartanburg are rather immaculate. | https://www.qcnews.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/theres-a-new-vibe-in-carolina/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:10 | 1 | https://www.qcnews.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/theres-a-new-vibe-in-carolina/ |
LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A crash caused damage to a downtown Lexington restaurant Friday evening.
Police say around 8:30 p.m., two cars crashed at the intersection of Main Street and Limestone Street. One car hit an object that then hit the building where Taste of Thai is located.
The glass at the front of the restaurant shattered in the incident.
Workers at Taste of Thai say they plan on being open on Monday.
Police say no one was injured. | https://www.lex18.com/news/downtown-lexington-restaurant-damaged-in-crash | 2023-07-29T03:24:13 | 0 | https://www.lex18.com/news/downtown-lexington-restaurant-damaged-in-crash |
RENTON — The Seahawks’ third practice of training camp Friday featured some big plays by receivers (particularly DK Metcalf), a few turnovers, more rotating at center and additional evidence that Jarran Reed will play significantly this year at nose tackle.
Here are some thoughts on those topics and more:
Reed happy wherever he lines up
One of the more intriguing story lines of the first few days of camp has been the rotation at nose tackle, a spot that has been considered one of the team’s biggest question marks after the offseason release of veteran Al Woods in a salary-cap move and with Bryan Mone continuing to rehab from an ACL injury suffered Dec. 15 and no clear ETA for a return.
During the offseason program the Seahawks had rookie Cameron Young of Mississippi State playing with the first unit, and they used veteran Myles Adams.
Coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday that veteran Jarran Reed — listed as an end and generally projected to play that spot in the team’s base 3-4 line — will see significant time at nose tackle.
That has indeed been the case in the first three practices as Reed has often worked with the starters at that spot with Dre’Mont Jones and veteran free-agent signee Mario Edwards at the ends with Adams also getting snaps. The Seahawks recently signed free agent Roderick Perry II, who played in two games with the Browns last season and has worked inside.
Reed is listed at 6-3, 306, which makes him lighter than their prototype nose tackle, as is Adams, listed at 6-2, 290, and Perry, who is listed at 6-2, 304. Mone is listed at 345 and Woods was listed at 331.
Carroll said in the spring that Young, listed at 304, had put on weight and was in the 320 range, giving the team the kind of heft inside it desires.
They also hope to get Mone back this season. The Seahawks may be intrigued by a different type of player at the nose after struggling to defend the run last season.
Reed, who signed a two-year contract to return to the team that drafted him in the second round in 2016 after a season each with Kansas City and Green Bay, said Friday that whatever the team asks is fine with him.
“Whatever they need me to play I’m going to play it,’’ he said. “At the end of the day it’s football and I love playing. I can play the nose, three, end. Wherever they need me to play I’m going to play to the best of my ability.”
Lockett still tight with Wilson
After a win last October against the Giants, receiver Tyler Lockett offered a lengthy answer about why he thought the team was surpassing lowly expectations, which included a statement that “it’s amazing what we can accomplish when no one cares who gets the credit.’’
Many took that as a veiled shot at former quarterback Russell Wilson.
Lockett took to social media to say he had said similar things often.
Proof that Lockett and Wilson remain close came earlier this month when Lockett invited Wilson to his wedding in Dallas (Lockett had gotten engaged in November to his girlfriend Lauren Jackson; not to be confused with the former Storm great).
“It was great to be able to have Russ there,” Lockett said Friday, noting that he had attended Wilson’s wedding to Ciara in 2016 in Liverpool, England. “We’ve been brothers for this whole entire time. He’s been like my big brother giving me advice, helping me along the way, and was there for me if I ever needed anything. So it was really cool just for him to be able to come out there, to be able to support me and Lauren’s union and like I said, we still talk to this day, we encourage one another and he knows if he ever needs anything he can call me and it’s vice versa.”
Metcalf and Jackson get something started
The highlight of the practice might have been a few battles between Metcalf and Michael Jackson, who continues to start at one cornerback spot with Riq Woolen out and rookie Devon Witherspoon working mostly with the second team.
In one two-play sequence, Jackson batted down a Geno Smith pass intended for Metcalf at the goal line (the ball was a little behind him), and getting called for defensive pass interference for grabbing Metcalf on a fade route.
A little later, Jackson batted down a pass intended for Metcalf, who a few plays later got past Jackson to grab a pass in the end zone.
The tete-a-tete continued a strong start for receiving corps in camp, with Metcalf, Lockett (who had about a 45-yard TD thrown by Smith), first-round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba routinely turning in big plays, and 2021 second-rounder Dee Eskridge also contributing at times.
Not that the defense didn’t have its moments. There were three turnovers — two interceptions by Drew Lock and another by third-team QB Holton Ahlers.
In Lock’s defense, one of his turnovers came on a play when tight end Griffin Hebert had the ball stolen out of his hands by safety Joey Blount, who raced for a touchdown.
Notes, quotes and anecdotes
— The Seahawks continued their rotation at center with veteran free agent Evan Brown getting all the snaps with the first team and rookie Olu Oluwatimi working with the second unit. Brown also got all the first-team snaps Wednesday, while Oluwatimi worked with the first team Thursday. The rest of the offensive line has remained the same — Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas as the starting tackles and Damien Lewis and Phil Haynes at guard.
— Running back Kenneth Walker III sat out for a second straight day. But since Carroll did not talk to the media it was unclear the reason. Walker watched from the sideline with no evident injury. Second-round pick Zach Charbonnet also sat out, leaving the Seahawks shy at running back as DeeJay Dallas and rookie Kenny McIntosh got most of the work with the first unit. They added to the depth by signing undrafted free-agent rookie Wayne Tualapapa, who played last year at the University of Washington. Tualapapa took part in the team’s rookie minicamp in May as a tryout player.
— The Seahawks waived rookie cornerback Montrae Braswell to make room on the roster for Tualapapa. That leaves them with 11 cornerbacks, and with all but Riq Woolen healthy and available. | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/seahawks-taking-look-at-jarran-reed-normally-a-defensive-end-at-nose-tackle/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T03:24:14 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/seahawks-taking-look-at-jarran-reed-normally-a-defensive-end-at-nose-tackle/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government wants to raise the fuel economy of new vehicles 18% by the 2032 model year so the fleet would average about 43.5 miles per gallon in real world driving.
The proposed numbers were released Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which eventually will adopt final mileage requirements.
Currently the fleet of new vehicles must average 36.75 mpg by 2026 under corporate average fuel economy standards adopted by the administration of President Joe Biden, who reversed a rollback made by former President Donald Trump.
The highway safety agency says it will try to line up its regulations so they match the Environmental Protection Agency’s reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But if there are discrepancies, automakers likely will have to follow the most stringent regulation.
In the byzantine world of government regulation, both agencies essentially are responsible for setting fuel economy requirements since the fastest way to reduce greenhouse emissions is to burn less gasoline.
“I want to make clear that EPA and NHTSA will coordinate to optimize the effectiveness of both agency standards while minimizing compliance costs,” NHTSA Acting Administrator Ann Carlson said.
A large auto industry trade group which includes General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Stellantis and others said requirements from the agencies should be lined up. “If an automaker complies with EPA’s yet-to-be-finalized greenhouse gas emissions rules, they shouldn’t be at risk of violating CAFE rules (from NHTSA) and subject to civil penalties,” John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, said in a statement.
However the alliance has said the EPA’s proposed cut in carbon emissions will require a huge increase in electric vehicle sales that’s not attainable by 2032. The EPA says the industry can reach the greenhouse gas emissions goals if 67% of new vehicles sold in 2032 are electric. Currently, EVs make up about 7% of new vehicle sales.
NHTSA said its proposal includes a 2% annual improvement in fuel mileage for passenger cars, and a 4% increase for light trucks. It’s proposing a 10% improvement per year for commercial pickup trucks and work vans. Automakers can meet the requirements with a mix of electric vehicles, gas-electric hybrids and efficiency improvements in gas and diesel vehicles.
The agency says the new regulations will save more than $50 billion on fuel over the vehicles’ lifetimes and save more than 88 billion gallons of gasoline through 2050 if NHTSA’s preferred alternative is adopted. The standards would cut new-vehicle fuel consumption nearly in half by the 2035 model year, and benefits will exceed costs by $18 billion, the agency said.
NHTSA will take comments from the public for 60 days before drafting a final regulation. | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-us-proposes-18-fuel-economy-increase-for-new-vehicle-fleet-from-2027-through-2032/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:13 | 1 | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-us-proposes-18-fuel-economy-increase-for-new-vehicle-fleet-from-2027-through-2032/ |
FLOYD COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — To live in Kentucky is to know the fear of a natural disaster.
“It just flooded everything. It didn’t get in the house, but it got under it, washed our car away,” said Anthony Kiskaden, describing the damage to his dad’s Nicholas County home.
In Cynthiana, a family is mourning the loss of Rosa Rowland. The 52-year-old was killed in the Nicholas County flooding overnight.
“They said she called dispatch five times, telling them the water was getting higher and higher and she needed help,” said Rowland’s daughter.
The pain felt by Rowland’s family parallels that of 45 families who lost loved ones in eastern Kentucky’s flooding one year ago. Throughout the week, Governor Andy Beshear traveled the state speaking to survivors.
“If you are still recovering, know you are not alone. It's going to take us time, and I'm sure for you, it's taken way too long,” said Beshear.
For 11 families in Floyd County, that support has finally arrived.
FEMA recently approved $1.2 million to acquire each of their flood-damaged properties, giving them the option to move out of flood-prone areas.
Their former properties will be demolished, and the land designated as green space.
“The goal is to move them onto higher ground so that they don't live in a high-risk area anymore,” said Kim Fuller, FEMA spokesperson.
FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program has already helped more than 250 homeowners across eastern Kentucky move out of the flood plain.
“There's a point where they say, ‘We don't want to go through this again,’ and if there's an opportunity to make an offer on their home, to give them the assistance to get the recovery started, we're really happy to be able to do it,” said Fuller.
For families starting on the road to recovery, it can be an intimidating process, and while help from FEMA can take months to kick in, they say help can start right away with those around you.
“The best thing to do is to reach out to local groups, either through your local government officials or your pastor or nonprofits, and they can get you in touch with people to provide assistance you need right away, whether it's money for a place to stay or clothing on your back, the most basic things,” said Fuller.
For more information on eastern Kentucky’s recovery from last year’s historic flooding, click here. | https://www.lex18.com/news/fema-helping-floyd-co-homeowners-move-to-higher-ground | 2023-07-29T03:24:19 | 0 | https://www.lex18.com/news/fema-helping-floyd-co-homeowners-move-to-higher-ground |
The Seattle Storm snapped their franchise-record 10-game losing streak Friday with an 83-74 road win against the Chicago Sky.
The Storm had three players in double-digit scoring with Gabby Williams scored 17 points in just her sixth game with the team this year. Ezi Magbegor also scored 17
Jewell Loyd struggled in the first half (1 of 6, six points) and finished with 15 and Sami Whitcomb knotting a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Storm opened the third quarter on a 10-4 run and kept the Sky at arm’s length in the second half, building an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter.
The Sky put some pressure on late and cut the lead to single digits 77-70. Center Mercedes Russell kept the Storm’s lead with two key offensive rebounds and two layups.
The Storm out-rebounded the Sky 30-20 with 13 on the offensive side resulting in 24 second-chance points. | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/storm/storm-beat-sky-to-finally-snap-franchise-record-10-game-losing-streak/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T03:24:20 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/storm/storm-beat-sky-to-finally-snap-franchise-record-10-game-losing-streak/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesotans can legally possess and grow their own marijuana for recreational purposes starting Tuesday, Aug. 1, subject to limits meant to keep a lid on things while the state sets up a full-blown legal cannabis industry.
The Democratic-controlled Minnesota Legislature approved a massive legalization bill and Democrat Gov. Tim Walz signed it in May.
At least one Minnesota tribe plans to take advantage of its sovereignty and allow sales right away. But the state projects most legal retail sales won’t begin until early 2025, while it creates as licensing and regulatory system for the new industry.
Legalization followed a debate between critics who fear for the impacts on public safety and young people, and supporters who argue that prohibition of the drug had failed. Backers of the law framed legalization noted that people of color were more likely than whites to be arrested for minor offenses, and to suffer lasting consequences in employment and housing.
Minnesota is the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana, more than a decade after Colorado and Washington did so.
It comes as New York struggles to end the illicit trade while failing to quickly license legal shops with a focus on “social equity” and New Mexico punishes retailers for illegally selling weed sourced from California — amid wider gluts and plummeting prices for pot farmers.
Farmers, like members of the public, can’t legally move cannabis across state lines amid the ongoing federal ban.
Here’s a look at what will and won’t change in Minnesota as of Aug. 1:
WHAT’S LEGAL
Adults 21 and older can possess and travel in the state with 2 ounces of cannabis flower, 8 grams of concentrate and 800 milligrams worth of THC-containing edible products such as gummies and seltzers. They can have up to 2 pounds of cannabis flower at home.
Low-potency edibles made with THC from industrial hemp were legalized last year. They’ve been subject to a 10% marijuana tax since July 1.
That tax will apply to other marijuana products as they become licensed for sales, but not on sovereign tribal lands.
It remains illegal under federal law to bring marijuana in from out of state.
RETAIL WEED
The Red Lake Nation plans to sell recreational marijuana at its existing medical cannabis dispensary starting Aug. 1. But that’s on its remote reservation in northwestern Minnesota. It’s not clear yet if other tribes will follow.
While states like New Mexico managed to legalize and regulate marijuana within a year of legalization, Minnesota will take a bit longer.
Like New York, the Minnesota law gives priority to social equity considerations for awarding licenses. That can mean applicants from low-income areas that have felt disproportionate effects from marijuana being illegal, people whose convictions have been expunged, and military veterans who lost their honorable status due to a marijuana-related offense, to name a few.
That includes a long list of license categories for cannabis-related businesses, with application fees ranging from $250 for delivery services to $10,000 for growers and product manufacturers.
Local governments can’t ban cannabis sales, but they can limit the number of retailers to one per 12,500 residents.
MINNESOTA GROWN
Adults can grow up to eight plants at home, with no more than four flowering at a time. The plants must be grown in an enclosed, locked space that’s not open to public view, whether that’s indoors or in a garden.
Retailers can start selling marijuana seeds if they comply with labeling and other requirements set by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
WHERE AND WHERE NOT TO TOKE
Cannabis can be legally consumed on private property, including private homes. Eventually it will be allowed at special events where organizers have permits.
But it’s still illegal to smoke or vape cannabis anywhere that tobacco smoking is prohibited, including most businesses, apartment buildings and college campuses. Nothing in the state law prohibits smoking it on a public sidewalk, but local ordinances might.
Cannabis use remains illegal in all forms while driving, in public schools, on school buses, in state prisons, and on federal property. It can’t be smoked or vaped where a minor could inhale it.
GUNS AND GANJA
Federal law still bars cannabis consumers from owning firearms or ammunition.
That’s despite Second Amendment-friendly provisions in the Minnesota law. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has said that regardless of Minnesota’s new law, a “current user” of marijuana is defined as an “unlawful user” for federal purposes. That means people following state law are still prohibited from having guns and ganja.
Gun purchasers must fill out an ATF form saying whether or not they use marijuana. Lying on the form is a felony under federal law.
CLEANING SLATES
Minor marijuana convictions, like possession of small amounts, will began to be automatically expunged starting in August. More than 60,000 Minnesotans could benefit, but the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says the process could take up to a year to clear everyone’s record.
A special Cannabis Expungement Board will be formed to review felony convictions to determine eligibility case by case.
REGULATING IT
The Office of Cannabis Management will oversee the cannabis industry in Minnesota. It’s starting to list job positions, with applications for the office’s first executive director open through July 31.
The office will also take over the running of Minnesota’s medical marijuana program, which won’t be taxed.
Tribal governments will set their own rules. | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-what-to-know-as-recreational-marijuana-becomes-legal-in-minnesota-on-aug-1/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:20 | 1 | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-what-to-know-as-recreational-marijuana-becomes-legal-in-minnesota-on-aug-1/ |
STANTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Georgia man is in jail Friday night after police say he was driving under the influence in Powell County with a child in the car.
Around 5:30 p.m., police were called to the 28-mile marker of the Mountain Parkway eastbound for reports of a reckless driver.
The caller told authorities that a white Kia was unable to maintain its lane and pulled over into the shoulder multiple times.
Deputy Hunter Martin with the Powell County Sheriff's Office located and followed the car for about a mile. During that time, the car almost went into the median and almost hit a guardrail before Deputy Martin conducted a traffic stop.
38-year-old Jackie Caudill of Georgia was arrested. Police say Caudill's BAC was over three times the legal limit, and he had urinated on himself while driving.
Police say there was also a 5-year-old in the car.
Caudill was charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, wanton endangerment, and possession of an open alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle.
Caudill is being held at the Powell County Detention Center. | https://www.lex18.com/news/man-charged-after-allegedly-driving-over-3-times-legal-limit-with-5-year-old-in-car | 2023-07-29T03:24:25 | 0 | https://www.lex18.com/news/man-charged-after-allegedly-driving-over-3-times-legal-limit-with-5-year-old-in-car |
Set to make his return from Tommy John, Brewers' Justin Wilson suffers injury in bullpen
ATLANTA – Moments away from taking a major-league mound for the first time since April 2022, Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Justin Wilson suffered an apparent arm injury while warming up in the bullpen Friday night at Truist Park.
Wilson, who underwent Tommy John surgery on his left elbow last June, made the long, arduous journey back to pitching over the past 14 months. The veteran left-hander was activated from the 60-day injured list by the Brewers on Friday afternoon and was set to appear in his first MLB game in 461 days in the seventh inning of the Brewers' loss to the Atlanta Braves.
Brewers manager Craig Counsell even walked out to the mound to remove reliever Bryse Wilson from the game and signaled with his left hand to summon Justin Wilson.
But in the bullpen, Wilson was seen holding his left arm, crouched over in discomfort. The Brewers had to make a quick switch and bring in J.C. Mejia instead.
Wilson walked in from the bullpen back into the Brewers clubhouse for further evaluation. | https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2023/07/28/brewers-justin-wilson-suffers-injury-warming-up-in-bullpen/70485550007/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:27 | 1 | https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/mlb/brewers/2023/07/28/brewers-justin-wilson-suffers-injury-warming-up-in-bullpen/70485550007/ |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — While Nashville International Airport hums to the tune of live music in a terminal filled with tourists and locals alike, this trendy gateway to Tennessee has quietly confronted an identity crisis.
Under a new state law, there is no clear agreement now about who’s in charge of airport operations. The confusion comes at a time when the airport is booming, its annual passengers having more than doubled over the past decade to 21.8 million by the 2023 fiscal year.
The nonprofit Metro Nashville Airport Authority and state officials argue that a new group of state appointees has lawfully taken over the authority’s board. But federal officials and the city contend the old board picked by Nashville’s mayor still has power.
Both boards met at the same time last week across town from each other.
The dispute heads to a hearing Friday in a state court in Nashville.
Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers approved plans for the state to make enough appointments to control the airport’s board starting in July. The change was among several passed by legislators seeking to curtail the power of the heavily Democratic city, whose metro council sunk a bid to bring the 2024 Republican National Convention to Nashville.
The city has filed suit against the state over the changes to the airport authority, which manages, operates, finances and maintains the international airport and a smaller one in Nashville. In the meantime, the authority installed the new board members on July 1, saying it can’t defy state law without a court order.
Citing the Tennessee Constitution, the city’s lawsuit argues the state violated home rule protections by singling out Nashville without requiring either a local referendum or a two-thirds vote of the metro council for the change.
The state responded that Nashville can’t make its claims because the airport authority is independent of the local government.
City leaders, however, reached out and received input from the Federal Aviation Administration, which can veto certain changes to the airport’s governance. The federal agency said it would keep recognizing the pre-July 1 board until a court decides the lawsuit.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper, a Democrat, has cried foul on the Republican change.
“Nashville’s airport has grown very successfully over the years by the direction of this board, and that’s unquestionable,” Cooper said during a recent meeting of the board he selected. “Any state action is purely about politics.”
Tennessee’s situation isn’t unprecedented. Due to FAA and court action, North Carolina’s 2013 law to shift control of Charlotte Douglas International Airport from the city to a separate regional board never came to fruition. Mississippi’s 2016 law to reconfigure Jackson’s airport remains blocked by an ongoing legal challenge. Georgia lawmakers flirted with flipping the Atlanta airport’s governance in 2019 but opposition sank the proposal.
Nashville officials say the state is upending an airport board without complaints about its performance, even during a time of extensive expansion.
In the 2023 budget year, the airport unveiled a new lobby, added more restaurants and live music, opened an additional parking garage and made progress toward an onsite hotel. The airport hosts country, jazz and bluegrass concerts in its terminals and exhibits the work of local artists.
The facility has endured growing pains, too, marked by passenger pickup lines sometimes stretching well past a nearby interstate exit.
Lawmakers passed the change despite predictions in April by former FAA official Kirk Shaffer that it would create competing boards in “a messy and costly stalemate that damages all involved,” possibly jeopardizing federal grant money.
So far, the fight is largely unfolding in court filings. The city says lost grant money could halt projects to accommodate more flights, spurring cancellations and delays. The state and the airport authority argue the grants aren’t in jeopardy. The authority said Nashville officials are making “sky-is-falling” exaggerations.
Republican lawmakers contend the state deserves more say over the growing airport because of its regional impact. House Speaker Cameron Sexton said lawmakers created “the legally sanctioned board.”
As an intervenor in the lawsuit, the airport authority has remained neutral on whether the new law is unconstitutional. Updates to the FAA have never resulted in the federal agency directing the authority to stop following the state law, while even worse disruptions would result from an order to temporarily return to the preexisting board, the authority wrote.
The state-majority board met at the airport on Wednesday, conducting standard-fare business on contracts and reports. At the same time, the members of the mayoral-picked board gathered in city hall, reiterating that the FAA still acknowledges them while criticizing the state law and approving an outside attorney hire.
In a letter to the Nashville community at large, the authority’s CEO has acknowledged the “frustration and confusion” caused by the dispute. But he said the authority is responsible for staying legally compliant.
“As an airport authority, we do not take political positions,” airport authority President and CEO Doug Kruelen wrote in the July 6 letter. | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-whos-in-charge-of-nashvilles-airport-us-and-tennessee-officials-disagree-under-a-new-state-law/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:27 | 0 | https://who13.com/business/ap-business/ap-whos-in-charge-of-nashvilles-airport-us-and-tennessee-officials-disagree-under-a-new-state-law/ |
JACKSON, Ky. (LEX 18) — People in Breathitt County gathered Friday to remember the lives lost in last summer's deadly floods.
The event, held in a courtroom at the county justice center, marks one year to the day the county woke up to the rising waters.
Nine people were killed directly by the flooding in the county.
"Their absence has left a void in our hearts that will never be filled," said Wallace Caleb Bates, a coordinator with Aspire Appalachia.
Multiple community pastors shared their own prayers during the event, including Mark Driskill.
"May this be a day we not only remember but we celebrate that no matter how dark, darkness can be, the light of God is always brighter and greater," he said.
Faith is the guiding light that is allowing them to rebuild their homes and lives, Driskill said.
Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman spoke about the resilience of Eastern Kentucky.
"The only thing that rivaled that destruction was the spirit of Breathitt County that showed up for each other," Coleman said. "Today, I hope that we never forget the lives that were lost, the homes that were damaged, and the people whose lives were changed forever. "
Also speaking was Breathitt County Judge Executive Jeff Noble, who said he never felt more helpless than at 3 a.m. on the day of the floods, as his phone was filled with texts and calls from people needing help.
"It still just breaks my heart," Noble said "We're the only county that still has someone missing."
The widower and son of a still-missing woman, Vanessa Baker, were in attendance along with the family members of other flood victims.
It's a miracle the county didn't have 300 to 400 flood victims, Noble said.
"It's just amazing that god protected those people in the middle of the night, that they didn't just get some water in their house that washed their homes away," Noble said.
Jackson City Councilmember Stephen Bowling lost his son during the flood. Friday, he repeated the request he shared at his son's funeral.
"I asked people to say his name, I asked people to say his name to remember him, and I ask you to do the same," Bowling said.
He then shared the names of each flood victim in Breathitt County:
Vanessa Baker
Nancy Cundiff
Ruby Cundiff
Amy Henson
Jeanette Johnson
Gilla Ann Miller
Helen Campbell
Gary Combs
Tony Calhoun
"Say their name, and they live forever," Bowling said.
In the weeks after the flood, we heard repeatedly from people in Eastern Kentucky who were worried they would be forgotten. Friday's event goes to show how the opposite is true. | https://www.lex18.com/news/say-their-name-and-they-live-forever-breathitt-county-remembers-flood-victims | 2023-07-29T03:24:31 | 1 | https://www.lex18.com/news/say-their-name-and-they-live-forever-breathitt-county-remembers-flood-victims |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two weeks into the the actors strike, Max Greenfield is urging the studios and their CEOs to return to the bargaining table.
“Be the heroes, come to the table, make a deal,” said Greenfield, who co-stars in the CBS sitcom “The Neighborhood.” “My hope is these guys get organized and have a real conversation with both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA so that we can get to a resolution,” he said, referencing the unions for the writers and actors, respectively.
Greenfield spoke at a charity ping pong event at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night, joined by his co-star Cedric the Entertainer.
“We struck because our deal was up and it’s time to adjust to what has changed in the business. To make a minor adjustment feels disproportionate to what has obviously changed in a massive, massive way,” Greenfield said. “Until we feel like we’re getting fair compensation and we feel like we’re protected, this is going to continue to go on.”
Bryan Cranston, who had fiery words for Disney CEO Bob Iger at a New York rally on Tuesday, acknowledged things are “going very, very slowly.”
“Until we’re able to get back to the table, which we are more than willing to do and we’ve told them so, we want to keep talking through this strike,” he said. “We want to end this as soon as possible.”
On July 14, actors joined striking screenwriters who walked out in May. The stoppage has shuttered nearly all film and television production.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Writers Guild of America are striking for fair pay and protections involving the use of artificial intelligence, among other issues.
There has reportedly been no negotiating between the unions and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers since shortly after the actors hit the picket lines.
“I think when people realize that the artists are the people that are making this and nothing is going to get made without the actors and the writers, maybe that will force a little more flexibility in the negotiations,” Oscar-winning actor Casey Affleck said.
Actor and entrepreneur Danny Trejo urged the studios to look beyond Hollywood’s highest-paid actors and consider the financial plight of those working behind the scenes.
“One of the problems is people on top are making a lot of money right now and they don’t want to share,” he said. “We’ve got people that are in SAG that can’t even afford to live in LA. It’s like, wait a minute guys, we got to just be fair.
“Figure if one of your kids was trying to get into the movies and was working as an extra or just made it into SAG, they couldn’t live in LA,” Trejo said, imagining the offspring of a Hollywood CEO. “Oh no wait, yes they could. They could live in Beverly (expletive) Hills with you, punk.”
Trejo filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy earlier this year and owes over $2 million in back taxes to the IRS, according to a report by KABC-TV.
“I make good money, but right now I’m buried in taxes, so I have to work that out,” he said. “This strike is killing me. I can’t pay what I’m supposed to be paying for my taxes, so man, imagine the guy that’s making $18 an hour and not working all the time.”
Actor Holly Robinson-Peete, a SAG member since 1977, said it’s important for the actors’ union to communicate the economic issues behind the strike.
“We’re not just a bunch of spoiled people that want more and we’re greedy,” she said. “The majority of our union are people who are not working very often, can’t really make a living at this. It’s going to take an incredible amount of patience and messaging, and we just got to stick to it.” | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-actor-max-greenfield-urges-studio-ceos-to-be-the-heroes-and-make-a-deal-in-hollywood-strikes/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:34 | 0 | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-actor-max-greenfield-urges-studio-ceos-to-be-the-heroes-and-make-a-deal-in-hollywood-strikes/ |
On Friday, Washington, D.C. metro rail authorities announced that the city's commuter train lines would be slowed down to 35 mph on above-ground tracks because of extremely hot weather.
The service said that passengersshould expect delays, which had the possibility of causing issues in Washington's many open-air stations without air conditioning.
The issue is not unique to just the U.S. capital, as other major cities have expressed worry that high temperatures could cause major issues for commuter rail operations.
In Los Angeles, officials called extreme heat the "most pervasive risk that metro faces," the LAist reported in 2019.
The heat could cause failures with signal switches, station elevators and other mechanical equipment.
SEE MORE: Biden to sign executive order to encourage more US-made inventions
In a study that included researchers from Northwestern University's engineering school, Professor Alessandro Rotta Loria stated, "Subsurface temperature rises can also cause transportation infrastructure and public health issues, such as overheated subway rails that force trains to slow down or stop to avoid incidents with significant economic costs associated with the delay of public transportation services."
The study authors wrote, "Urban areas increasingly suffer from subsurface heat islands: an underground climate change responsible for environmental, public health, and transportation issues. Soils, rocks, and construction materials deform under the influence of temperature variations and excessive deformations can affect the performance of civil infrastructure."
In New York City, officials tried the short-term solution of placing fans in subway stations to try and create more breeze, and cool down subsurface temperatures.
Masoud Ghandehari, a professor at NYU of Urban Systems Engineering said he doesn't believe it's "financially viable" to ventilate the subway system in that city, and said it may not be physically possible.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.lex18.com/washington-among-cities-slowing-metro-rail-amid-hot-weather | 2023-07-29T03:24:37 | 1 | https://www.lex18.com/washington-among-cities-slowing-metro-rail-amid-hot-weather |
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Adidas said Friday that it is releasing a second batch of high-end Yeezy sneakers after cutting ties with rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, as the German sportswear brand seeks to unload the unsold shoes while donating to groups fighting antisemitism.
The online sale, to start Wednesday through Adidas smartphone apps and its website, follows an earlier set of sales in May. Models that will be available include the Yeezy Boost 350 V2, 500, and 700 as well as the Yeezy Slide and Foam RNR.
The company cut ties with Ye in October after he made antisemitic and other offensive remarks online and in interviews. That left Adidas holding 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) worth of unsold Yeezys and searching for a responsible way to dispose of them.
Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said in May that selling the popular sneakers and donating some of the profits was the best solution to deal with the unsold inventory and make a difference. He said the company spoke with nongovernmental organizations and groups that were harmed by Ye’s comments and actions.
Part of the profits from the sales of the Yeezy shoes will go to the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change, run by social justice advocate Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd.
Shoes sold directly by Adidas in North America will include blue square pins established by Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism as a symbol of solidarity in rejecting antisemitism, the company said.
The Anti-Defamation League calls the sale “a thoughtful and caring resolution” for the unsold merchandise and that “any attempt to turn the consequences of (Ye’s) actions into something that ultimately benefits society and the people he has hurt is most welcome.”
Adidas declined to give details on numbers of shoes that would be released for sale and how much of the proceeds would be donated. Asked if Ye would receive royalties from the sales, the company would only say that “we will honor our contractual obligations and enforce our rights but will not share any more details.”
The company said Monday that the first sale of Yeezy shoes helped its preliminary second-quarter financial results and contributed to it raising its outlook for the year — from a high single-digit decline in revenue to a mid-single digit decline.
That would still amount to an operating loss of 450 million euros (more than $494 million) this year, instead of a loss of 700 million euros.
Adidas, which reports its earnings for the first half of the year on Thursday, said it expected future Yeezy sales to further boost its results. | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-adidas-to-release-second-batch-of-yeezy-sneakers-after-breakup-with-ye/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:41 | 0 | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-adidas-to-release-second-batch-of-yeezy-sneakers-after-breakup-with-ye/ |
DALLAS (AP) — The combat boots and dog tags Alan Alda wore while playing the wisecracking surgeon Hawkeye on the beloved television series “M-A-S-H” sold at auction Friday for $125,000.
Alda held onto the boots and dog tags for more than 40 years after the show ended but decided to sell them through Heritage Auctions in Dallas to raise money for his center dedicated to helping scientists and doctors communicate better.
The buyer’s name wasn’t released.
Alda, 87, said he wore the boots and dog tags for the 11-season run of the show about a Korean War medical unit. His character, Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce, was a talented surgeon who helped ease the stress of working in a war zone with quips and practical jokes. The show’s final episode, which aired in 1983 and was written and directed by Alda, was the most watched TV show in U.S. history.
The boots and dog tags, given to him by the costume department, “made an impression on me every day that we shot the show,” said Alda, who won five Emmys for his work on the sitcom.
Alda said auctioning off the dog tags and boots now made sense. “I saw this as a chance to put them to work again,” he said.
The money raised from the auction will go to the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University in New York, which aims to help scientists and doctors communicate better through the use of improvisational exercises and other strategies.
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Associated Press writer Ken Miller in Oklahoma City contributed to this report. | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-boots-and-dog-tags-alan-alda-wore-on-m-a-s-h-sell-at-auction-for-125000-that-will-go-to-charity/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:48 | 0 | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-boots-and-dog-tags-alan-alda-wore-on-m-a-s-h-sell-at-auction-for-125000-that-will-go-to-charity/ |
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A judge in Florida on Friday refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Gov. Ron DeSantis appointees against Disney’s efforts to neutralize the governor’s takeover of Disney World’s governing district.
The judge in state court in Orlando denied Disney’s motion in the lawsuit that says the company wrongly stripped appointees of powers over design and construction at Disney World when it made agreements with predecessors, who were supporters.
The case is one of two lawsuits stemming from the takeover, which was retaliation for the company’s public opposition to the so-called Don’t Say Gay legislation championed by DeSantis and Republican lawmakers. In the other lawsuit, in federal court in Tallahassee, Disney says DeSantis violated the company’s free speech rights.
The governor has touted his yearlong feud with Disney in his run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, often accusing the entertainment giant of being too “woke.” Disney has accused the governor of violating its First Amendment rights.
Attorneys for Disney had argued that any decision in state court would be moot since the Republican-controlled Legislature already has passed a law voiding agreements that the company made with a prior governing board made up of Disney supporters that gave design and construction powers to the company.
The entertainment giant had asked that the state court case be put on hold if it’s not dismissed until the federal lawsuit in Tallahassee was resolved since they covered the same ground and that lawsuit was filed first.
In that case, Disney sued DeSantis and his appointees to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District in an effort to stop the takeover, saying the governor was violating the company’s free speech and “weaponizing the power of government to punish private business.”
DeSantis wasn’t a party in the state court lawsuit.
The fight between DeSantis and Disney began last year after the company, facing significant pressure internally and externally, publicly opposed a state law banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades, a policy critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”
As punishment, DeSantis took over the district through legislation passed by Florida lawmakers and appointed a new board of supervisors to oversee municipal services for the sprawling theme parks and hotels. But before the new board came in, the company made agreements with previous oversight board members who were Disney supporters that stripped the new supervisors of their authority over design and construction.
In response, DeSantis and Florida lawmakers passed the legislation that repealed those agreements.
Disney announced in May that it was scrapping plans to build a new campus in central Florida and relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California to work in digital technology, finance and product development. Disney had planned to build the campus about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the giant Walt Disney World theme park resort.
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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at @MikeSchneiderAP | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-judge-refuses-to-dismiss-lawsuit-against-disneys-efforts-to-neutralize-governing-district-takeover/ | 2023-07-29T03:24:55 | 1 | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-judge-refuses-to-dismiss-lawsuit-against-disneys-efforts-to-neutralize-governing-district-takeover/ |
The 75th Emmy Awards are the latest production to be put on pause due to the Hollywood strikes and will not air as planned in September.
A person familiar with the postponement plans but not authorized to speak publicly pending an official announcement confirmed the delay Friday. No information about a new date was immediately available.
The Emmy Awards were scheduled to be broadcast on Fox on Sept. 18. Rules laid out by the actors’ union, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, say stars cannot campaign for the Emmys or attend awards shows while on strike.
Writers are also not permitted to work on awards shows until the strike ends.
Whenever the next Emmy Awards are held, HBO will walk in as the leading contender. The network is up for 74 awards for three of its top shows: “ Succession,” “The White Lotus” and “The Last of Us.”
“Ted Lasso” has the most comedy category nominations with 21, including best comedy series and best actor for Jason Sudeikis.
Roughly 65,000 SAG-AFTRA actors and 11,500 Writers Guild of America screenwriters are on strike, calling for better pay, structure with residual payments and protection from the use of artificial intelligence. | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-the-emmy-awards-are-postponed-due-to-the-hollywood-actors-and-writers-strike-source-says/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:02 | 1 | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-the-emmy-awards-are-postponed-due-to-the-hollywood-actors-and-writers-strike-source-says/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Rapper Travis Scott has released “Utopia,” his first album in five years and his first major release since 10 people died at his 2021 Astroworld music festival.
The star-studded 19-track “Utopia” features Beyoncé, SZA, Drake, Sampha, Young Thug, Playboi Carti, Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Future, Bon Iver, James Blake, Kid Cudi, 21 Savage, and many more.
The LP, Scott’s fourth full-length, was originally announced back in 2020 and follows 2018’s “Astroworld.” In November 2019, 10 people died as a result of compression asphyxia during a massive crowd surge during Scott’s Astroworld festival. A grand jury declined to file charges against Scott earlier this year.
Also Friday, Houston police released files that showed that some workers were concerned about the crowd conditions at the show. The 1,300-page report also included a summary of an interview with Scott in which he said he did not hear calls from the crowd to stop the show.
The first track from the album, the popetón -adjacent “K-pop”, was released on July 21 and features the Weeknd and Bad Bunny. The release spans genres — an eclectic mix of autotune ambient ballads (“My Eyes”), ferocious bars (“Looove”), futuristic trap (“Lost Forever,” Telekinesis”), and beyond.
In addition to the album, Scott hosted a one-night-only release of his feature film, “Circus Maximus” at select theaters on Thursday night.
“Utopia” was originally scheduled to be celebrated with a livestreamed concert at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, but was canceled due to “complex production issues,” Live Nation said in a statement. | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-travis-scott-drops-utopia-his-first-album-since-the-astroworld-festival-tragedy/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:04 | 0 | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-travis-scott-drops-utopia-his-first-album-since-the-astroworld-festival-tragedy/ |
FRANKFORT, Ind. (WLFI) — Up next on our Camp Frenzy tour we travel down south to Clinton County. After coming off a competitive season last year, Clinton Prairie football is ready to take their game to the next level.
And this team is ready to go.
Head coach Kurt Schlicher said, “We're excited about the upcoming 20-23 season. We've got several returning players this year. We have a schedule this year where where we start the season at home. So our first game is at home and our scrimmage is at home.”
The Gophers are on a mission to make school history.
Under a second-year coaching staff, this team wants to bring Clinton Prairie its first Sectional Championship title.
Senior running back Jaycob Wilson, said the senior leadership will play a big part in setting that tone.
Wilson said, “Our leadership is I think pretty good. A lot of players want to be here and listen to us. They respect how we lead the team.”
However, it's a long road ahead. Senior Quarterback, Steven Dunford, said they need to take it one week at a time if they want to reach their goal.
Dunford said, “And then trusting my teammates. Trusting the greatest coaching staff we have. Just coming out here and like I said, giving it 120% every day. And then hopefully that will climb onto the next goal.”
Senior running back, Seth Whitlock believes this team has what it takes to get the job done.
Whitlock said, “We have a lot of talent out here. Lots of people showing up every day and working hard. I believe we have what it takes.”
The Gophers kick their season off against Frontier on August 18. | https://www.wlfi.com/news/camp-frenzy-gophers-eyes-set-on-sectional-championship/article_2cb9fecc-2dae-11ee-8d98-b7c392486184.html | 2023-07-29T03:25:10 | 0 | https://www.wlfi.com/news/camp-frenzy-gophers-eyes-set-on-sectional-championship/article_2cb9fecc-2dae-11ee-8d98-b7c392486184.html |
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://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-variety-revises-article-on-former-cnn-chief-jeff-zucker-that-was-sharply-criticized/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:11 | 0 | https://who13.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-variety-revises-article-on-former-cnn-chief-jeff-zucker-that-was-sharply-criticized/ |
Lake Worth Beach bar set to hold annual back-to-school supply drive
A Palm Beach County bar is stepping up to help families and teachers prepare for the start of school.
Harry's Banana Farm in Lake Worth Beach is hosting its annual Christmas in July school supply drive.
This is a tradition that's taken place for the last six years, collecting thousands of supplies every year.
Workers at the bar are now starting a nonprofit called "Harry's Helping Hands of Lake Worth" to maximize the bar's philanthropic efforts for local schools.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Back to School
"The need is greater every year and especially this year with the rising cost of school supplies," Laurie Steele of Harry's Banana Farm said. "Many families are having a very hard time meeting the needs of students and a lot of times these teachers are pulling money out of their own pocket to buy supplies, so these supplies that we provide them help them in many ways both personally and professionally."
Steele outlined why they created the nonprofit.
"What we found is a lot of organizations didn't really want to give to us because of the fact we are a bar, but now that we are a full-on 501c3 nonprofit, we feel we will be able to extend our reach even further and we are very happy to be doing that," Steele said.
The supply drive kicks off Saturday at 3 p.m. with a raffle, silent auction, food truck and jello shots for the adults.
The logo for Harry's Helping Hands was created by local fiberglass artist Dan Meyers, who also created the bar's logo and banana on the roof of the bar.
Last year the event raised more than $4,500 in cash donations.
Scripps Only Content 2023 | https://www.wflx.com/2023/07/29/lake-worth-beach-bar-set-hold-annual-back-to-school-supply-drive/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:20 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2023/07/29/lake-worth-beach-bar-set-hold-annual-back-to-school-supply-drive/ |
ATLANTA (AP) — Authorities in Alabama said Friday they filed criminal charges against a woman who confessed to fabricating a story that she was kidnapped after stopping to check on a toddler she saw walking on the side of an interstate highway.
Carlee Russell was charged with false reporting to law enforcement and falsely reporting an incident, both misdemeanors that carry up to a year in jail, Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said. Russell turned herself in to jail Friday and was released on bond, he said.
“Her decisions that night created panic and alarm for citizens of our city and even across the nation as concern grew that a kidnapper was on the loose using a small child as bait,” he said. “Numerous law enforcement agencies, both local and federal, began working tirelessly not only to bring Carlee home to her family but locate a kidnapper that we know now never existed. Many private citizens volunteered their time and energy in looking for a potential kidnapping victim that we know now was never in any danger.”
Derzis said he was frustrated that Russell was only being charged with two misdemeanors despite the panic and disruption she caused, but he said the law did not allow for enhanced charges.
Russell, 25, disappeared after calling 911 on July 13 to report a toddler wandering beside a stretch of interstate. She returned home two days later and told police she had been abducted and forced into a vehicle.
Her disappearance became a national news story. Images of the missing woman were shared broadly on social media.
“We don’t see this as a victimless crime,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said at a Friday news conference. “There are significant hours spent, resources expended as a result of this investigation.”
Marshall’s office was asked to handle the prosecution because of the attention the case received, Derzis said. Marshall said he intends to “fully prosecute” Russell and said his office will take into account the police investigation to see whether additional charges are warranted.
Russell, through her attorney, Emory Anthony, acknowledged earlier that she made the story up.
In a statement read by police on Monday, Anthony said Russell was not kidnapped, did not see a baby on the side of the road, did not leave the city and acted alone. He said Russell apologized and he asked for prayers and forgiveness as she “addresses her issues and attempts to move forward, understanding that she made a mistake in this matter.”
A message left Friday at Anthony’s office was not immediately returned.
Russell told detectives she was taken by a man who came out of the trees when she stopped to check on the child, put in a car and an 18-wheel truck, was blindfolded and was held at a home where a woman fed her cheese crackers, authorities said at a news conference last week. At some point, Russell said she was put in a vehicle again but managed to escape and run through the woods to her neighborhood.
“This story opened wounds for families whose loved ones really were victims of kidnappings,” Derzis said.
He said police have not determined where Russell went during the 49 hours she was missing. They plan to talk to the attorney general’s office about recovering some of the money spent on the investigation. | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-authorities-charge-alabama-woman-who-acknowledged-fabricating-story-about-kidnapping-toddler/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:24 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-authorities-charge-alabama-woman-who-acknowledged-fabricating-story-about-kidnapping-toddler/ |
Nonprofit reports 'massive' uptick in child abuse, neglect allegations
Behavioral health experts are sharing their findings concerning children in local schools.
The nonprofit Genesis Community Health in Boca Raton said staff has noticed a "massive" uptick of students reporting allegations of abuse and neglect.
Joseph Toste, a licensed clinical social worker and the director of behavioral health with Genesis Boca Raton, described the allegations that five Palm Beach Central High School employees failed to report child abuse as "disheartening and irresponsible."
The staffers who were arrested have posted bail and been released from the Palm Beach County Jail.
"It is abhorrent that school officials have allegedly failed to report allegations of sexual assault, self-harm, and suicidal ideation to the Florida Department of Children and Families and law enforcement," Toste said. "In today's youth mental health crisis, our children need competent and dedicated on-campus professionals to steadfastly report any and all allegations of abuse, neglect, and abandonment to the authorities in a timely manner in order to protect our most innocent."
According to Toste, one out of three girls and one out of eight boys have been sexually abused.
"One of my biggest fears again is that students that hear about this tragic situation at Palm Beach Central will stop them from getting the help that they need," Toste said. "It takes time to open up to something so incredibly sensitive."
Toste said, on average, he reports three cases involving high school students a week to the Department of Children and Families. He said after investigating that about 45% turn out to be confirmed cases of abuse.
"My job as a social worker is not to investigate to see whether or not they're telling the truth or not," Toste said. "My job is to report the allegations and let law enforcement professionals do their job."
He also stated that students have confessed to him about being the ones who have committed sexual assault.
"From the students I have worked with who are the alleged perpetrators, they usually want to get it off their chest. They've been holding onto this for so long," Toste said. "Usually when they admit that they were sexually abused when they were younger and they, in turn, have acted out with other children."
Toste said the uptick in reports of assault is partly due to the fact more students feel empowered to report it.
He found on average most sexual assaults happen in the child's home, but he's also seeing a rise in sexual exploitation cases through social media.
"We always tell students and the community at large that there's no excuse for sexual violence," Toste said. "Sexual abuse is sexual abuse regardless of who the players are, so we take every allegation seriously."
The Florida Department of Children's and Families abuse hotline is 1-800-962-2873.
The Florida Abuse Hotline accepts reports 24 hours a day and seven days a week of known or suspected child abuse, neglect or abandonment and reports of known or suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
Scripps Only Content 2023 | https://www.wflx.com/2023/07/29/nonprofit-reports-massive-uptick-child-abuse-neglect-allegations/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:26 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2023/07/29/nonprofit-reports-massive-uptick-child-abuse-neglect-allegations/ |
Peggy Coppom hasn’t quite seen it all with the Colorado Buffaloes, but she’s seen much more than most, so believe her when she says Thursday was a good day to be a fan.
The 98-year-old has been attending football games since her family moved from the high plains of eastern Colorado to Boulder in 1939 to escape the Dust Bowl, and she’s missed only a couple home games since buying season tickets in 1966.
The excitement in her voice was obvious during a phone call minutes after university regents approved the school’s return to the Big 12 in 2024.
“I’m so happy to get back to the Big 12 — or the Big 15 or whatever it ends up being,” she said, laughing. “It seems like that’s where we belong. We don’t belong with the West Coast people.”
Of course, the Big 12 isn’t the same league it was when the Buffs left for the Pac-12 in 2012. Nebraska and Missouri are gone, and Oklahoma and Texas will be, too. BYU could become a rival, but the Buffs have little in common with Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida.
“I wish some of those old schools were there, but we’ll make the best of it,” Coppom said.
The conference change, plus the hiring of Deion Sanders, has her eagerly anticipating watching the Buffs from her seats near the 40-yard line on the west side of Folsom Field — “God willing, I always have to add,” she said.
Coppom, carrying a gold pom-pom, was escorted onto the field by Sanders and performed a ceremonial kickoff during the spring game in April. Coppom said Sanders and the return to the Big 12 has created the most buzz about the team since it won a share of the national championship in 1990.
Former CU fullback Jim Kelleher, who was second in the Big Eight with 15 rushing touchdowns in 1976, said he’s in wait-and-see mode about the move.
“I originally wasn’t that excited about it, but at the same time, the Pac-12 had let things get to such a point where you had to do something,” he said. “The Big 12 signed a good media rights agreement. It’s just sad the Pac-12 hasn’t been able to get a TV contract.”
Kelleher said that while Colorado will get exposure across three time zones, which is a positive, he’s sad to see how traditions and geographic rivalries have been sacrificed with realignment in general.
Specific to Colorado, he said, the Buffs seemed to be a good fit in the Pac-12. He said his sentimental attachment to the Big 12 won’t be there without Nebraska and other teams he played against in the old Big Eight.
“Whether it’s the school or the individual athletes — with TV and NIL — it’s all money, money, money,” he said. “I understand their decision. Hey, I’m part of the Colorado team, so I’m for my team and hope it works out.”
Tom Osborne, the College Football Hall of Fame coach at Nebraska and its former athletic director, shepherded the Cornhuskers’ move from the Big 12 to Big Ten in 2011. He said he’s able to view past, present and future realignment from the perspective of both a fan and administrator.
“You’re talking about lost traditions,” Osborne said. “I can share the feelings of the fans in that I miss those drives to Manhattan, Kansas; Lawrence, Kansas; Ames, Iowa, and some of those relationships.”
Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten had as much or more to do with finding stability as it did with finances, Osborne said. In the summer of 2011, Osborne said, Big 12 South teams were negotiating with the Pac-12, Missouri wanted to go to the SEC and Texas A&M also was looking to leave.
“Finances are driving this thing more than anything, and my guess is that the uncertainty about where the Pac-12 stands right now appears to make the Big 12 better for Colorado — even though the Big 12 has not been a paragon of stability.”
___
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25 Sign up for the AP Top 25 newsletter here: https://link.apnews.com/join/6nr/morning-wire-newsletter-footer-internal-ads | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-big-12-not-quite-the-same-but-it-feels-like-home-to-a-98-year-old-colorado-fan/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:30 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-big-12-not-quite-the-same-but-it-feels-like-home-to-a-98-year-old-colorado-fan/ |
‘Our hero is going home’: Police officer released from rehab 3.5 months after Ky. bank shooting
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - After 109 days, Louisville Metro police officer Nickolas Wilt has been released from Frazier Rehabilitation Institute and is going home.
Wilt has been hospitalized, receiving medical care for the last three and a half months after the Old National Bank mass shooting on April 10. Wilt was critically injured when he was shot in the head after responding to the shooting that ultimately killed five people.
The victims were identified as Tommy Elliott, 63; Jim Tutt, 64; Josh Barrick, 40; Juliana Farmer, 45; and Deana Eckert, 57.
Wilt was listed in critical condition for nearly a month. Officials with the University of Louisville Health said Wilt received multiple surgeries and underwent several procedures at University of Louisville Hospital and Jewish Hospital.
On May 10, one month after the shooting, Wilt was transferred to Frazier Rehabilitation Institute to begin neuro and physical rehabilitation after seeing an improvement in his condition. Over the course of the last three and a half months, doctors and family of Wilt have called his journey remarkable.
On Friday, Governor Andy Beshear shared a photo with Wilt ahead of his release.
“Kentucky, our prayers were heard. @LMPD Officer Nick Wilt is headed home with his family. Officer Wilt is a hero who ran toward danger to save the lives of several of my friends. I am forever grateful for him and his bravery. Let’s keep praying for him.”
Wilt was honored as he left the halls of Frazier Rehab. He was accompanied by family as well as some fellow officers.
After leaving the rehab facility, Wilt was driven to Southeast Christian Church on Blankenbaker Parkway where he was driven past a line of well-wishers. The van then headed for Oldham County where community members were invited to gather along Highway 53 in La Grange to greet Wilt.
LMPD shared their sentiment on their social media, honoring the heroic actions of Wilt.
“Resilience, strength, courage. Those are just a few words to describe Ofc. Nickolas Wilt. April 10th, innocent lives were lost. Ofc. Wilt, just 10 days on the job, answered the call to help stop an active shooter. Today, our hero is going home. He’s ready. #WiltsWarriors”
Louisville Metro Police Foundation has created a donation site to help pay for Wilt’s medical expenses.
To make a donation, click or tap here.
Copyright 2023 WAVE via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2023/07/29/our-hero-is-going-home-police-officer-released-rehab-35-months-after-ky-bank-shooting/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:32 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/2023/07/29/our-hero-is-going-home-police-officer-released-rehab-35-months-after-ky-bank-shooting/ |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Racing will resume at Churchill Downs in September, with no changes being made after a review of surfaces and safety protocols in the wake of 12 horse deaths, including seven in the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby in May.
The Louisville track suspended racing operations on June 7 and moved the rest of its spring meet to Ellis Park in western Kentucky at the recommendation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the sport’s national overseer.
Training continued at Churchill Downs during the track’s investigation.
Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen called the deaths “a series of unfortunate circumstances” and said the review “didn’t find anything fundamentally wrong or different about our track from previous years.”
“That, in a sense, can sometimes be unsatisfying,” he said. “But that’s business, and that’s sports.”
Two of the horse deaths occurred in undercard races on Derby day. Another five died later.
“The takeaway is, the track is very safe,” Carstanjen said Thursday on an earnings call with CDI investors.
“What we needed to do was spend some of this time in the interim, while we ran the rest of the (spring) meet at Ellis to just go soup to nuts through every single thing we do at the racetrack. There was nothing that jumped out as an apparent cause of the injuries, of the breakdowns; and, as we went through and rebuilt our processes from the ground up to check everything that we do to make extra sure, we didn’t find anything material.”
The track’s fall meet begins Sept. 14 and runs through Oct. 1.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-churchill-downs-to-resume-racing-at-fall-meet-with-no-changes-after-horse-deaths/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:37 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-churchill-downs-to-resume-racing-at-fall-meet-with-no-changes-after-horse-deaths/ |
BEIJING, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chengdu Universiade officially kicked off Friday night in the capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, known as the hometown of giant pandas and one of the most vibrant Chinese cities.
Ahead the opening ceremony of the 31st summer edition of the FISU World University Games, Chinese President Xi Jinping has engaged himself in a flurry of face-to-face high-level meetings with foreign leaders attending the ceremony over the past couple of days.
Behind the tight diplomatic schedule, Xi has highlighted the importance of solidarity, cooperation and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, three key messages shared by the visiting leaders of Indonesia, Guyana, Georgia, Mauritania and Burundi.
Solidarity
In a toast at a welcoming banquet on Friday noon, Xi said the Games, since its inception, has always been "a celebration of youth, solidarity, and friendship."
"We should promote solidarity through sports, build up positive energy across the international community, join hands to tackle global challenges such as climate change, food crisis and terrorism, and shape a better future through cooperation," he urged.
Solidarity, unity and togetherness were also one of the hot topics during the Chinese president's separate meetings with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani and Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye.
During the meeting with the Burundian leader, for instance, Xi stressed the importance of solidarity between China and Africa in safeguarding the common interests of developing countries and the international fairness and justice.
Cooperation
During the meetings of the leaders, China and the five countries agreed to further cooperation, such as on trade, infrastructure and people-to-people exchanges.
In a meeting with Xi on Thursday, Widodo said Indonesia is willing to continue to enhance cooperation with China in areas including investment, marine fisheries, food security and healthcare. The leaders witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents following the meeting.
China and Georgia will issue a joint statement and announce the establishment of strategic partnership during Garibashvili's historic visit. Xi hailed the remarkable achievements in cooperation in various fields between the two countries over the past 31 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, while the Georgian prime minister said the elevation of bilateral relations will bring more opportunities to his country.
On Friday, China and Mauritania also signed a cooperation plan on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to enhance bilateral ties.
A community with a shared future for mankind
The term of building a community with a shared future for mankind was repeatedly highlighted during the leaders' meetings, with Indonesia, Guyana, Georgia, Mauritania and Burundi also expressing support for China-proposed initiatives.
While meeting with Xi on Friday afternoon, Ghazouani said Mauritania supports the BRI, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, saying that these initiatives are in line with the norms governing international relations that respect countries' independence and sovereignty and exchanges between different civilizations.
Addressing the welcoming banquet, Xi stressed the importance of deepening exchanges and mutual learning to promote harmony without uniformity in the spirit of inclusiveness and seeing different cultures with an attitude of mutual appreciation and mutual learning.
"The Chengdu Games should be an opportunity for us to champion the common values of humanity and write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind," said Xi.
In an interview with CGTN, Ali, the Guyanese president, said the Games goes beyond the competitions among the young athletes.
"They can share the experiences, they can share culture, [and] they can share who they are in building a stronger family of humanity," he said.
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SOURCE CGTN | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/cgtn-solidarity-vowed-xi-hosts-foreign-leaders-amid-chengdu-universiade/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:39 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/cgtn-solidarity-vowed-xi-hosts-foreign-leaders-amid-chengdu-universiade/ |
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Ballots from Spaniards living abroad were counted Friday, and they gave a new twist to the inconclusive results from the general election.
The conservative Popular Party gained an additional seat from Madrid’s constituency late in the day at the expense of the Socialist Workers’ Party. That change gives the right-wing coalition of the PP and the far-right Vox party 172 seats in the lower house of parliament and drops left-wing forces to 171.
Forming a stable governing coalition will require one of the blocks to have the support of 176 lawmakers in the 350-seat body, and it’s not clear that either side will be able to obtain enough backing from smaller parties.
The country’s main political parties had been waiting for the count in the hope they might win seats from opponents and recompose the final picture. Results coming in from different constituencies during the day showed no changes across Spain — until Madrid added the last-gasp surprise.
The switch likely will make it even tougher to cobble together a government.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is considered the only leader with a chance to form a coalition, since the Popular Party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo is being shunned by other parties for allying with Vox.
But Sánchez does not have it easy. He needs help from secessionist parties in the Basque Country and Catalonia, and it could be politically risky to bid for support from the Catalan party Junts, which is headed by Carles Puigdemont, a leader of 2017’s failed secession bid in Catalonia.
His party has seven seats, but its goal of forcing Spain to allow a secession referendum is Catalonia is highly unpopular, including in Sánchez’s party.
The new parliament is to convene Aug. 17 and it will have three months to vote in a new prime minister. Otherwise, new elections would be called. | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-count-of-ballots-from-spaniards-abroad-gives-edge-to-right-wing-block-and-deepens-the-stalemate/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:43 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-count-of-ballots-from-spaniards-abroad-gives-edge-to-right-wing-block-and-deepens-the-stalemate/ |
NEW YORK, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sooth, an industry-leading strategic marketing insights platform and consultancy, is excited to announce a dynamic partnership with Kestrel Consulting. This collaboration brings Sooth's founder, Ian Baer, and his innovative methodologies and expertise into Kestrel's broad network, promising to enrich Kestrel's client marketing and branding initiatives with fresh perspectives and deeper understanding.
Recognized for its patent-pending method that fuses data, AI, and human intellect, Sooth deciphers the intricacies of human decision-making, mapping emotional drivers and receptivity of diverse consumer and business audiences. Now part of Kestrel's network, Sooth's unique, sophisticated approach will bolster client marketing initiatives, offering a powerful toolset to unlock new avenues for connection, empathy, and understanding that is proven to increase customer lifetime value by four times or more.
As Kestrel's preferred provider of brand strategic services, Sooth will also accelerate its own growth by working on branding and marketing projects for clients and partners within the Kestrel network.
"Kestrel Consultants helps leadership teams, founders, entrepreneurs, and enterprises fly higher and achieve strategic outcomes through its exclusive partnership network of fractional executives and boutique business consultants," the company said in a statement. "We're proud to welcome Sooth into our exclusive partnership and referral network. We've admired Ian Baer's work for years, and his exceptional talent is a real complement to our network's other areas of expertise. We're excited to collaborate on new projects together."
This partnership represents a convergence of Sooth's methodologies and Kestrel's expansive network. By bringing together Sooth's unparalleled insights and Kestrel's team of skilled executives and consultants, they aim to empower Kestrel's clientele with deeper understanding and fresh perspectives, enabling them to achieve their marketing goals.
"Changes in consumer and business culture over the past several years have irrevocably changed how marketing works at an elemental level," said Ian Baer, Founder and Chief Soothsayer at Sooth. "With 90 percent of all decisions now determined by each person's unique emotional priorities, we're able to roadmap success for brands by unlocking an in-depth understanding of the factors that create connection between these brands and the customers they serve. Kestrel's model brings together complementary innovators to help companies elevate their game across a broad spectrum of business and marketing interdependencies. I could not be more excited to align with the talented leaders of Kestrel Consultants to bring clients high-impact business solutions at the speed and efficiency of modern commerce."
About Sooth
Sooth is an industry-leading strategic marketing insights platform and consultancy. Using a unique, patent-pending method that synergizes data, artificial intelligence, and human intellect, Sooth decodes the intricacies of consumer decision-making and maps the emotional motivators of diverse audiences with unparalleled precision. Sooth is committed to making marketing strategies more effective, intuitive, and emotionally engaging, empowering brands with the insights they need. www.SoothBeTold.com
About Kestrel Consultants
Kestrel Consultants helps leadership teams, founders, entrepreneurs, and enterprises fly higher and achieve strategic outcomes through its exclusive partnership network of fractional executives and boutique business consultants. Learn more at KestrelConsultants.com.
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TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese government stepped up its alarm over Chinese assertiveness, warning in a report issued Friday that the country faces its worst security threats since World War II as it plans to implement a new strategy that calls for a major military buildup.
The 2023 defense white paper, approved by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet, is the first since the government adopted a controversial new National Security Strategy in December, seen as a break from Japan’s postwar policy limiting the use of force to self-defense.
China, Russia and North Korea contribute to “the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II,” according to the 510-page report. It says China’s external stance and military activities have become a “serious concern for Japan and the international community and present an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge.”
On Thursday, Russian and Chinese delegates joined North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in North Korea’s capital for a military parade that showed off the country’s latest drones and long-range nuclear-capable missiles.
Russia and China have also stepped up strategic ties, the white paper said, noting five joint bomber flights since 2019, and several joint navigations of Chinese and Russian warships that it said were “clearly intended for demonstration of force against Japan and of grave concern” to both Japan and the region.
The report predicted that China will possess 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035 and increase its military superiority over Taiwan, in what Japan views as a security threat, especially to its southwestern islands including Okinawa.
While Okinawan Gov. Denny Tamaki has called for U.S. bases there to be reduced and for greater efforts in diplomacy and dialogue with Beijing, the central government has been reinforcing the defenses of the remote southwestern islands, including Ishigaki and Yonaguni, where new bases for missile defense have been installed.
Many residents of Okinawa have bitter memories of the Battle of Okinawa, in which Japan’s wartime military essentially sacrificed the local population in an attempt to delay a U.S. landing on the main Japanese islands. Many Okinawans worry they would be the first to suffer in the event of a Taiwan emergency.
Earlier this week, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno visited Ishigaki and acknowledged the challenges of evacuating residents from remote islands, and pledged to give firm support. Ishigaki Mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama asked for airport and port facilities to be reinforced and for underground shelters to be built as preparation for a possible Taiwan emergency.
China claims self-governing Taiwan as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who in 2017 set a goal of building a “world-class military” by the mid-21st century, may move the target forward, the report said, noting his call for a rapid advancement of the People’s Liberation Army in his speech at the Communist Party congress in October.
North Korea is rapidly progressing in its nuclear and missile development and poses “a graver, more imminent threat to Japan than ever before,” the report said. North Korea has test-fired around 100 missiles since the start of 2022, including ICBMs, and the report noted it is now believed to have an ability to conduct nuclear attacks on Japan and the continental United States.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the Japanese defense paper interfered in China’s internal affairs and “deliberately played up the so-called Chinese threat and created tensions in the region.” She said Japan’s own military buildup has drawn concern from its Asian neighbors and the international community, and urged Tokyo to “stop finding excuses for its military expansion.”
She said China’s military policy is defensive, and “military cooperation such as joint patrols with relevant countries is in line with international law and practice.”
South Korea, despite the rapid improvement of its ties with Japan this year due to shared concern over China’s threat, slammed Japan’s claim in the defense report to a South Korean-controlled contested island, calling it “unjust.”
The report comes seven months after Kishida’s government adopted new national security and defense strategies that called for doubling the defense budget to 43 trillion yen ($310 billion) by 2027.
Questions have been raised about whether the ambitious expansion of military capability and funding for it is feasible in a country that has a rapidly aging and shrinking population.
A government-commissioned panel recently adopted a package of recommendations for Japan’s military to maintain troop numbers despite population concerns, including scholarships, extension of the retirement age, hiring retirees, improving the workplace environment and tackling harassment.
___
Associated Press writers Joe McDonald in Beijing and Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-japan-raises-alarm-over-chinas-military-russia-ties-and-taiwan-tensions-in-new-defense-paper/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:49 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-japan-raises-alarm-over-chinas-military-russia-ties-and-taiwan-tensions-in-new-defense-paper/ |
BEIJING, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Tarena International, Inc. (NASDAQ: TEDU) ("Tarena" or the "Company"), a leading provider of IT professional education and IT-focused supplementary STEAM education services in China, today announced that it received a written notification from the Staff of the Listing Qualifications Department of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq") dated July 28, 2023, indicating that the Company no longer meets the continued listing requirement of minimum Market Value of Publicly Held Shares ("MVPHS") for the Nasdaq Global Select Market, as set forth in the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(b)(2)(C), because the Company's MVPHS for the last 30 consecutive business days was below the minimum MVPHS requirement of US$15,000,000.
Pursuant to the Nasdaq Listing Rules, the applicable grace period to regain compliance is 180 calendar days, or until January 24, 2024. The Company can cure this deficiency if its MVPHS closes at US$15,000,000 or more for a minimum of ten consecutive business days during the compliance period. The Company's management is looking into various options available to regain compliance and maintain its continued listing on The Nasdaq Global Select Market. In the event the Company does not regain compliance prior to the expiration of the compliance period, it will receive written notification that its securities are subject to delisting. Alternatively, the Company may apply to transfer the Company's securities to The Nasdaq Capital Market, subject to the Nasdaq Capital Market's continued listing requirements.
About Tarena International, Inc.
Tarena is a leading provider of IT professional education and IT-focused supplementary STEAM education services in China. Through its innovative education platform combining live distance instruction, classroom-based tutoring and online learning modules, Tarena offers professional education courses in IT and non-IT subjects. Its professional education courses provide students with practical skills to prepare them for jobs in industries with significant growth potential and strong hiring demand. Tarena also offers IT-focused supplementary STEAM education programs, including computer coding and robotics programming courses, etc., targeting students between three and eighteen years of age. Aiming to encourage "code to learn," Tarena embraces the latest trends in STEAM education and technology to develop children's logical thinking and learning abilities while allowing them to discover their interests and potential.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Tarena may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including any business outlook and statements about Tarena's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Many factors, risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak; Tarena's goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; its ability to continue to attract students to enroll in its courses; its ability to continue to recruit, train and retain qualified instructors and teaching assistants; its ability to continually tailor its curriculum to market demand and enhance its courses to adequately and promptly respond to developments in the professional job market; its ability to maintain or enhance its brand recognition, its ability to maintain high job placement rate for its students, and its ability to maintain cooperative relationships with financing service providers for student loans.
Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in Tarena's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and Tarena does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.
For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations Contact
Tarena International, Inc.
Email: ir@tedu.cn
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SOURCE Tarena International, Inc. | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/tarena-announces-receipt-nasdaq-notification-regarding-minimum-market-value-publicly-held-shares/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:53 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/tarena-announces-receipt-nasdaq-notification-regarding-minimum-market-value-publicly-held-shares/ |
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Mutinous soldiers who staged a coup in Niger declared their leader the new head of state on Friday, hours after the general asked for national and international support despite rising concerns that the political crisis could hinder the nation’s fight against jihadists and boost Russia’s influence in West Africa.
Spokesman Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane said on state television that the constitution was suspended and Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani was in charge.
Various factions of Niger’s military have reportedly wrangled for control since members of the presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum, who was elected two years ago in Niger’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence from France.
Niger is seen as the last reliable partner for the West in efforts to battle jihadists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group in Africa’s Sahel region, where Russia and Western countries have vied for influence in the fight against extremism. France has 1,500 soldiers in the country who conduct joint operations with the Nigeriens, and the United States and other European countries have helped train the nation’s troops.
The coup sparked international condemnation and the West African regional group ECOWAS, which includes Niger and has taken the lead in trying to restore democratic rule in the country, scheduled an emergency summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Sunday.
The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned efforts “to unconstitutionally change the legitimate government.” Its statement, agreed to by all 15 members including the U.S. and Russia, called for “the immediate and unconditional release” of Bazoum and expressed concern over the negative effect of coups in the region, the “increase in terrorist activities and the dire socio—economic situation.”
Extremists in Niger have carried out attacks on civilians and military personnel, but the overall security situation is not as dire as in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso — both of which have ousted the French military. Mali has turned to the Russian private military group Wagner, and it’s believed that the mercenaries will soon be in Burkina Faso.
Now there are concerns that Niger could follow suit. Before the coup, Wagner, which has sent mercenaries around the world in support of Russia’s interests, already had its sights set on Niger, in part because it’s a large producer of uranium.
“We can no longer continue with the same approaches proposed so far, at the risk of witnessing the gradual and inevitable demise of our country,” Tchiani, who also goes by Omar Tchiani, said in his address. “That is why we decided to intervene and take responsibility.”
“I ask the technical and financial partners who are friends of Niger to understand the specific situation of our country in order to provide it with all the support necessary to enable it to meet the challenges,” he said.
If the United States designates the takeover as a coup, Niger stands to lose millions of dollars of military aid and assistance.
The mutinous soldiers, who call themselves the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, accused some prominent dignitaries of collaborating with foreign embassies to “extract” the deposed leaders. They said it could lead to violence and warned against foreign military intervention.
Bazoum has not resigned and he defiantly tweeted from detention on Thursday that democracy would prevail.
It’s not clear who enjoys majority support, but the streets of the capital of Niamey were calm Friday, with a slight celebratory air. Some cars honked in solidarity at security forces as they drove by — but it was not clear if that meant they backed the coup. Elsewhere, people rested after traditional midday prayers and others sold goods at their shops and hoped for calm.
“We should pray to God to help people come together so that peace comes back to the country. We don’t want a lot of protests in the country, because it is not good … I hope this administration does a good job,” said Gerard Sassou, a Niamey shopkeeper.
A day earlier, several hundred people gathered in the city chanting support for Wagner while waving Russian flags. “We’re fed up,” said Omar Issaka, one of the protestors. “We are tired of being targeted by the men in the bush. … We’re going to collaborate with Russia now.”
That’s exactly what many in the West likely fear. Tchiani’s criticism of Bazoum’s approach and of how security partnerships have worked in the past will certainly make the U.S., France, and the EU uneasy, said Andrew Lebovich, a research fellow with the Clingendael Institute.
“So that could mark potentially some shifts moving forward in Niger security partnerships,” he said.
Even as Tchiani sought to project control, the situation appeared to be in flux. A delegation from neighboring Nigeria, which holds the ECOWAS presidency and was hoping to mediate, left shortly after arriving, and the president of Benin, nominated as a mediator by ECOWAS, has not arrived.
Earlier, an analyst who had spoken with participants in the talks said the presidential guard was negotiating with the army about who should be in charge. The analyst spoke on condition they not to be named because of the sensitive situation.
A western military official in Niger who was not authorized to speak to the media also said the military factions were believed to be negotiating, but that the situation remained tense and violence could erupt.
Speaking in Papua New Guinea, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the coup as “completely illegitimate and profoundly dangerous for the Nigeriens, Niger and the whole region.”
The coup threatens to starkly reshape the international community’s engagement with the Sahel region.
On Thursday, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said the country’s “substantial cooperation with the Government of Niger is contingent on Niger’s continued commitment to democratic standards.”
The United States in early 2021 said it had provided Niger with more than $500 million in military assistance and training programs since 2012, one of the largest such support programs in sub-Saharan Africa. The European Union earlier this year launched a 27 million-euro ($30 million) military training mission in Niger.
The United States has more than 1,000 service personnel in the country.
Some military leaders who appear to be involved in the coup have worked closely with the United States for years. Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou, the head of Niger’s special forces, has an especially strong relationship with the U.S., the Western military official said.
While Russia has also condemned the coup, it remains unclear what the junta’s position would be on Wagner.
The acting head of the United Nations in Niger said Friday that humanitarian aid deliveries were continuing, even though the military suspended flights carrying aid.
Nicole Kouassi, the acting U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator, told reporters via video from Niamey that 4.3 million people needed humanitarian aid before this week’s military action and 3.3 million faced “acute food insecurity,” the majority of them women and children.
Jean-Noel Gentile, the U.N. World Food Program director in Niger, said “the humanitarian response continues on the ground.” He said the U.N. is providing cash assistance and food to people in accessible areas and that the agency is continuously assessing the situation to ensure security and access.
This is Niger’s fifth coup and marks the fall of one of the last democratically elected governments in the Sahel.
Its army has always been very powerful and civilian-military relations fraught, though tensions had increased recently, especially with the growing jihadist insurgency, said Karim Manuel, an analyst for the Middle East and Africa with the Economist Intelligence Unit.
___
Associated Press reporters John Leicester in Paris; Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria; and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations in New York contributed to this report. | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-no-clarity-about-whos-in-charge-in-niger-2-days-after-mutinous-soldiers-ousted-the-president/ | 2023-07-29T03:25:56 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-no-clarity-about-whos-in-charge-in-niger-2-days-after-mutinous-soldiers-ousted-the-president/ |
LONDON, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- VAPORESSO, a leading innovator in the vaping industry, has received well-deserved recognition at this year's London Design Awards, with four of its groundbreaking products being awarded for their exceptional design. The London Design Awards is an international competition that recognises exceptional designs and outstanding creative projects worldwide, celebrating the vibrancy and diversity of the international design community.
The four distinguished products from VAPORESSO - the COSS, ECO NANO, LUXE XR, and XROS 3 NANO - have showcased the brand's formidable innovative prowess and have also been recognized with awards from many organizations. VAPORESSO's latest groundbreaking offering, the VAPORESSO COSS, is regarded as a game-changer in the vaping industry. It tackles existing issues with a thoughtful design that seamlessly caters to user habits. Its slogan, 'Convenient Operating, Smart Supplying', perfectly encapsulates the product's core values of INNOVATION, RELIABILITY, and STYLE.
"Winning these awards is a testament to the creativity, skill, and dedication of our team," said Jimmy Hu, Vice President of VAPORESSO, "We are thrilled to have our efforts recognised on such a prestigious global platform. It validates our commitment to delivering innovative, high-quality products that enhance the vaping experience for our customers."
The London Design Awards, held annually, applauds outstanding design achievements across various creative sectors. It acknowledges exemplary projects, products, and professionals who demonstrate innovation, creativity, and excellence within their respective industries. Meanwhile, the London Design Awards not only honours design excellence but also fosters creativity, encourages innovation, and facilitates collaborations between designers and design-driven businesses. The awards have grown in stature and popularity since their inception, attracting a wide range of participants from various design fields.
The recognition from the London Design Awards underscores VAPORESSO's dedication to creating products that exceed customer expectations and further solidifies its position as a thought leader in the industry. It also acts as an external validation of VAPORESSO's capabilities and quality of work, building trust and confidence among potential customers.
About VAPORESSO
Established in 2015, VAPORESSO is committed to creating a smoke-free world and enhancing the quality of life for its users. Through continuous innovation, stringent quality control, and substantial commitment, VAPORESSO produces products that cater to all levels and styles of vapers.
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SOURCE VAPORESSO | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/vaporesso-wins-big-london-design-awards-2023-with-four-innovative-vaping-products/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:00 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/vaporesso-wins-big-london-design-awards-2023-with-four-innovative-vaping-products/ |
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Four air crew members were missing after an Australian army helicopter ditched into waters off the Queensland state coast during joint military exercises with the United States, officials said Saturday.
The MRH-90 Taipan helicopter went down near Hamilton Island, a Great Barrier Reef tourist resort, at about 10:30 p.m. Friday, Defense Minister Richard Marles said.
A search was underway to find the crew, and their families had been notified, officials said.
A rescue helicopter reported spotting debris Saturday morning near Dent Island in the Whitsunday Islands group.
The Taipan was taking part in Talisman Sabre, a biennial joint U.S.-Australian military exercise that is largely based in Queensland. This year’s exercise involves 13 nations and more than 30,000 military personnel.
Marles said the helicopter ditched, which refers to an emergency landing on water. He said it was taking part in a mission that involved a second helicopter, which immediately started a search and rescue operation.
“Defense exercises, which are so necessary for the readiness of our defense force, are serious. They carry risk,” Marles told reporters in Brisbane. “As we desperately hope for better news during the course of this day we are reminded about the gravity of the act which comes with wearing our nation’s uniform.”
Defense Force Chief Gen. Angus Campbell said Queensland state authorities, members of the public and U.S. military personnel were taking part in the search.
“Our focus at the moment is finding our people and supporting their families and the rest of our team, “ Campbell said. “This is indeed a terrible moment.”
It is the second emergency involving an Australian Taipan this year, after one ditched into the sea off the New South Wales state coast in March. That helicopter was taking part in a nighttime counterterrorism training exercise when it ran into trouble. All 10 passengers and crew members were rescued.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Brisbane for a meeting on Saturday and is due to travel with Marles to north Queensland on Sunday to see the exercise.
The exercise has been paused by the search.
Austin and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid tribute to the missing air crew at the outset of a meeting with their Australian counterparts, Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
“It’s always tough when you have accidents in training, but … the reason that we train to such high standards is so that we can be successful and we can protect lives when we are called to answer any kind of crisis,” Austin said.
“Our guys tend to make this look easy and they make it look easy because they’re so well exercised and rehearsed and trained, and this is unfortunately a part of that, what it takes to get them to where we need them to be,” Austin added.
Blinken said, “We’re so grateful to them for their dedication, for their service, for everything they’ve been doing to stand up for the freedom that we share and that is what unites us more than anything else.”
___
Find more of AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-4-air-crew-members-are-missing-after-australian-army-helicopter-ditched-off-australias-coast/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:03 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-4-air-crew-members-are-missing-after-australian-army-helicopter-ditched-off-australias-coast/ |
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants have a surplus of starting pitching. They could also use a rotation upgrade.
Huh?
Even as the club is reportedly exploring deals for Justin Verlander and other frontline starting pitchers, other teams are inquiring with president Farhan Zaidi about their stable of starters filling out the back of their rotation, according to a report from FanSided insider Robert Murray.
Chief among the possible trade chips is Alex Wood, who has lost his spot in the rotation and is set to become a free agent after this season. Other logical candidates include Ross Stripling, Sean Manaea and Anthony DeSclafani, all of whom have also been asked to pitch out of relief at some point this year.
One reason why Wood leads the speculation has been his outward displeasure for his usage, remarking on multiple occasions that he believes he should be starting games, not coming out of the bullpen. Four of Wood’s last six appearances have come out of the bullpen, following an opener.
But Wood said Friday those comments have been overblown and he has no desire to go anywhere.
“I haven’t taken advantage of my opportunities recently, but I do feel like for us to get to where we want to go I have to start and be good,” Wood said. “I’ve been around the block, I know how things go. Anything can happen this time of year. It is what it is. You just show up, try to help the team win and see what happens, you know.”
Wood was given starts in his first two turns out of the All-Star break, but after a solid showing in a win against the Pirates, he was tagged for five runs in a loss to the Nationals. The next time his spot came up in the rotation, Wednesday against the A’s, Wood didn’t enter until the fifth inning (and wasn’t told when he was going to pitch until the inning beforehand).
After posting a 3.83 ERA in 26 starts in his first season with the Giants in 2021, Wood posted a 5.10 mark in 2022 — the highest of his career in a full season — and has a 4.75 ERA in 16 games this year. Attempting to remedy his third-time-through-the-order problems, he has completed five innings in only four of his 16 outings.
The two-year, $25 million contract Wood signed before the 2022 season expires after this year.
“No matter what happens, I’ve loved being here,” Wood said. “I love these guys. I feel like I’ve been a big part of building this team, this clubhouse the last three years. But at the end of the day it’s a business, so whatever happens, that’s what happens. …
“I’d like to think that if me or whoever gets traded, you’d like to think that you’d go somewhere to somebody that’s in the hunt, too. But this is where I want to be.”
What would the structure of such a deal look like?
Starting pitching is always a hot commodity at the deadline, so while Wood and others might feel expendable to the Giants, they could just as well be upgrades for other contenders. The Reds and Orioles, for example, both possess the middle infield depth the Giants are looking for and are short on starting pitching.
Jonathan India, the 2021 Rookie of the Year, has fallen behind other young infielders on the Reds’ depth chart. Under team control through 2026, he would certainly be an attractive option for the Giants, though San Francisco would have to sweeten the deal.
Jorge Mateo, overtaken by Gunnar Henderson in Baltimore, would give the Giants a right-handed hitter to pair with Brandon Crawford. Mateo, 28, also plays exceptional defense and his 23 steals this season would give Gabe Kapler a pinch-runner to play with.
On the other hand, simply unloading the salaries of DeSclafani and Manaea might be viewed as a win by the Giants.
After flashing a return to his 2021 form during the first month of the season, DeSclafani hasn’t been the same since. He has a 4.88 ERA, including a 7.27 mark in eight games (seven starts) since June. He is owed $12 million in 2024, the final year of the three-year, $36 million deal he signed after his breakout 2021.
Manaea has a $12.5 million player option for 2024 that he seems destined to pick up after underperforming the two-year, $25 million contract he signed this past offseason. He has pitched slightly better in a relief role (4.50 ERA, 2.28 FIP) than in six starts (7.54 ERA) but seems unlikely to regain a spot in the rotation.
Ultimately, it’s an issue of roster construction as much as performance.
The pitchers on the Giants roster who can be optioned to the minor leagues are Camilo Doval, Tyler Rogers and Ryan Walker, and it’s unlikely they are going anywhere. If the do add an arm at the deadline, they will need to offload somebody just to clear space. They’ll face the same issue when the time comes for John Brebbia to be activated from the injured list. And, at the end of the day, Zaidi is an executive who values roster flexibility, which their current crop of pitchers don’t offer much of.
But if the Giants move any of them, it’s because they have faith in the stable of young starters at Triple-A.
That group includes Kyle Harrison and Keaton Winn, who are no longer surefire options because of recent injuries. Harrison is still out with a hamstring strain, while Winn was scratched from his start at Triple-A Sacramento on Friday because of elbow soreness.
How is manager Gabe Kapler approaching the situation in the clubhouse? Business as usual.
“The main situation we had today in our coaches’ room — and I’m pretty confident that our coaches are having those conversations with players — is that we’ve got a good group of players in that room,” Kapler said. “This is the crew that’s put us in position to have a good path to the playoffs.” | https://www.chicoer.com/2023/07/28/does-it-make-sense-for-sf-giants-to-deal-starting-pitching-alex-wood-says-this-is-where-i-want-to-be/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:09 | 0 | https://www.chicoer.com/2023/07/28/does-it-make-sense-for-sf-giants-to-deal-starting-pitching-alex-wood-says-this-is-where-i-want-to-be/ |
PHOENIX — When Hilario Sanchez was a young boy living in south Phoenix he used to watch the big planes from Sky Harbor fly over the old Food City grocery store that was near 16th street and Mojave Street.
“Whoa, that is cool,” Sanchez recalls saying as he saw the planes as a child.
“I was just an awe. That is awesome. I’d like to do that. I’d like to be in one of those things someday.”
What started as a childhood dream turned into a military career serving Arizona and the country.
The boy with a dream of aviation is now SMSgt Hilario Sanchez. He has been serving with the 161st Air Refueling Wing based at the Goldwater Arizona Air National Guard base for the past 25 years.
“Just an asset to our military. That’s why we’re the number one military in the world because of what we can do,” said Sanchez.
The 161st Refueling Wing keeps our military airborne refueling fighter jets while in flight.
“Important part of the military strategy. Being able to get your airplanes across the Atlantic or across the Pacific without stopping,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez is the boom operator. The boom is the large stick that’s deployed out of the back of the tanker. It delivers fuel to the fighter jets in midair.
“The boom is an awesome job. It’s dangerous but rewarding,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez said with the risk of peril comes a spectacular view.
“You pop open that window in the back and you got a great view of whatever is down below. It could be snowcapped mountains. It could be canyons. It could be forest. It could be desert,” said Sanchez.
Prior to serving with the Air National Guard Sanchez was a mechanic with the Air Force Reserve stationed at Luke Air Force base. He’s proud of his 34 years of service.
“We help the cause. The world cause for freedom in the world,” said Sanchez.
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Amazon Fire TV: Search for "12 News KPNX" to find the free 12News+ app to add to your account, or have the 12News+ app delivered directly to your Amazon Fire TV through Amazon.com or the Amazon app. | https://www.12news.com/article/life/people/those-who-serve/air-force-national-guard-member-dreamt-of-working-in-aviation-since-he-was-a-child/75-6ac07d8c-57f6-48d2-b006-ca23a718a328 | 2023-07-29T03:26:09 | 1 | https://www.12news.com/article/life/people/those-who-serve/air-force-national-guard-member-dreamt-of-working-in-aviation-since-he-was-a-child/75-6ac07d8c-57f6-48d2-b006-ca23a718a328 |
Grandview Medical Center doctors explain when to go ER for bug bites and stings
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - We’re in the middle of summer which means more heat, outdoor activities, and bug bites.
Dr. Kevin Cope, Medical Director at Grandview Freestanding Emergency Department in Trussville, says they are seeing a lot of people come into the emergency room with mild to even severe reactions to bug bites and stings right now. He says they’re seeing mosquito bites of course, but also bee and wasp stings and quite a few spider bites.
“If you spend time outside, getting bit or stung by an insect is nearly unavoidable, which is why it’s important to know when to get medical treatment,” says Wendy Miller, M.D., Primary Care Physician with Grandview Primary Care Brook Highland. “Depending on the severity of a reaction to a bite or sting, a round of antibiotics, steroids or topical ointment may be prescribed.”
While most reactions tend to be isolated pain or itching, he says some stings can cause anaphylaxis in some people where your tongue, throat, and lungs can swell or close up.
Dr. Cope says if you have any trouble breathing or notice it’s hard to swallow, you need to seek medical attention immediately.
“If you get a sting in say your hand and you notice that redness or swelling starts to significantly spread and travel up the entire arm, up into the shoulder -- then that’s another reaction that I would get evaluated in an emergency department for,” he said.
In a press release, Grandview Medical Center recommends seeking medical care if you experience:
● An allergic reaction: Hives, rapid heartbeat, or swelling of the mouth, tongue and throat could indicate an allergic reaction or anaphylaxis. If you or a loved one are experiencing symptoms of an allergic reaction or anaphylaxis, which is life threatening, call 911 and administer epinephrine if it is available.
● Cellulitis: Swollen lymph nodes and oozing pus can be symptoms of cellulitis, a non-contagious skin infection that requires antibiotics. If left untreated, it could cause sepsis.
● Bite from a disease carrier: Ticks can carry Lyme disease and mosquitoes can spread viruses through their bites like West Nile and Zika. If bitten by a disease-carrying insect and you experience symptoms like fever, fatigue or red streaks surrounding the bite, seek medical attention.
● Flu-like symptoms: Go to the emergency room if symptoms like chills, headache, sore throat and fever last more than 48 hours after a bite or sting or if symptoms worsen rapidly.
● Worsening redness: Redness usually goes away after a few days, however, if the redness spreads or red lines from the bite site develop, it could be a sign of infection.
Dr. Cope says most bug bites or stings can be handled at home with over-the-counter steroid creams or Benadryl creams.
“To better protect yourself or your loved ones this summer, wear long sleeve shirts and pants, use insect repellents with DEET as an active ingredient and avoid bug-infested areas. Make it a point to check your skin when you go inside to find any insects that might have attached to you or bites needing treatment,” says Dr. Miller.
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Copyright 2023 WBRC. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbrc.com/2023/07/29/grandview-medical-center-doctors-explain-when-go-er-bug-bites-stings/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:09 | 0 | https://www.wbrc.com/2023/07/29/grandview-medical-center-doctors-explain-when-go-er-bug-bites-stings/ |
A British court ruled Friday against London suburbs that tried to block a pollution tax on older cars as green policies become a hot political issue in the U.K. amid increasingly dramatic impacts of global climate change.
The High Court ruled that Mayor Sadiq Khan had the authority to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone, or ULEZ, which charges drivers of older gas and diesel vehicles 12.50 pounds ($16) a day they operate, to the city’s outskirts next month.
Five conservative councils challenged Khan’s right to impose the measure. They criticized the expansion to an area where there are fewer public transport options and people are more reliant on cars, and because of a disproportionate impact on lower-income drivers who can’t afford newer, cleaner cars.
Khan said the ruling would allow the expanded zone to take effect Aug. 29 and help reduce air pollution. He said he would also expand a program that provides financial assistance to some families and small businesses to scrap older cars.
“The ULEZ has already reduced toxic nitrogen dioxide air pollution by nearly half in central London and a fifth in inner London,” said Khan, a member of the Labour Party. “The coming expansion will see 5 million more Londoners being able to breathe cleaner air.”
The five councils that challenged the zone issued a joint statement saying they were “hugely disappointed”. While they accepted that Khan may have the legal right to implement the measure, they questioned whether it was morally right.
“It is evident that the mayor of London and (Transport for London) do not realize the damage the extension will have to the lives of residents and businesses in outer London as well as those outside of its borders,” the group said.
The city’s transportation agency said most gas vehicles under 16 years old and diesel vehicles less than 6 years old comply with the standard.
In April, a study from London City Hall found levels of nitrogen dioxide exceeded the legal limit in 14 of the city’s 32 boroughs. Khan argued he had a statutory responsibility to take measures to improve air quality.
Nine out of 10 cars on the road in outer London on an average day comply with standards, Transport for London said. The Royal Automobile Club said nearly 700,000 licensed cars in London are unlikely to comply.
Fury over the the ULEZ expansion was credited last week with helping Tories hold one of three seats in Parliament in a special election. Conservatives had been expected to lose all three but they retained their seat in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Interestingly, the emissions charge was first imposed in 2015 by then-Mayor Boris Johnson, the Conservative who went on to become prime minister before resigning last year amid several scandals and quitting Parliament last month. It was his House of Commons seat Tories retained in the by-election.
The issue has now caused a crisis for the Labour Party, which is seen as likely to return to power next year after being ousted by Conservatives in 2010.
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said there was no doubt ULEZ cost them the Uxbridge election and said Khan should “reflect” on the policy.
Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair was widely quoted this week in a New Statesman magazine interview in which he cautioned: “Don’t ask us to do a huge amount when frankly whatever we do in Britain is not really going to impact climate change.” The interview was conducted before the special elections.
The dust-up over how to control emissions comes as July is on target to be the hottest month in recorded human history and the effects of a warming planet can be seen in catastrophic wildfires, flooding and alarming ocean temperatures. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres this week declared: “The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.”
While the by-election has caused consternation for Labour over how best to stick to a green agenda, it is also sparking a rethink for Conservatives who have been accused recently of backing away from pledges to combat climate change.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak signaled this week he was open to revisiting net-zero policies, saying he’d take a pragmatic approach that didn’t add more hassles or costs to people’s lives. He caused confusion by not recommitting to a ban on gas and diesel cars by 2030, though cabinet minister Michael Gove later insisted that deadline was firm. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-a-pollution-tax-on-older-cars-can-be-extended-to-londons-suburbs-after-a-british-court-ruling/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:09 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-a-pollution-tax-on-older-cars-can-be-extended-to-londons-suburbs-after-a-british-court-ruling/ |
WASHINGTON — It's highly likely we'll see another billion-dollar jackpot in the coming days, with $940 million on the line in Friday night's Mega Millions drawing.
The game's giant prizes come with miniscule chances of actually winning — winners overcome odds of roughly 1 in 302.6 million. That's not deterring players, though, and those small odds are what makes huge jackpots as the prize rolls over each time.
The prize is now the eighth-largest U.S. lottery prize and the fifth-largest in Mega Millions history. July has been a hot month for lottery prizes after a ticket sold in downtown Los Angeles won the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot.
Mega Millions hasn't seen a grand prize winner since April 18, when a 71-year-old man from New York won the state's largest Mega Millions jackpot ever. Johnnie Taylor of Howard Beach in Queens, New York, won $476 million but opted for the cash option — a lump sum of more than $157 million after taxes.
Since mid-April, there have been 28 drawings without a grand prize winner.
Winners almost always take the cash option, but they do have a choice to instead get the full amount in regular payments over 29 years. The cash option for Tuesday's drawing is $422 million.
Mega Millions winning numbers for July 28, 2023:
The winning numbers were: 5-10-28-52-63, Mega Ball: 18 and Megaplier: 5.
When is the Mega Millions drawing?
Mega Millions drawings take place on Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
What are the largest lottery jackpots ever?
- $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)
- $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)
- $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)
- $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023 (one ticket, from Maine)
- $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)
- $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023 (one ticket, from California)
- $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)
- $940 million, Mega Millions (estimated), July 28, 2023
- $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)
- $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.12news.com/article/news/nation-world/mega-millions-940m-jackpot-winning-numbers-friday-july-28-2023/507-f6918143-63c8-4129-ba3c-afd22afbc18d | 2023-07-29T03:26:16 | 0 | https://www.12news.com/article/news/nation-world/mega-millions-940m-jackpot-winning-numbers-friday-july-28-2023/507-f6918143-63c8-4129-ba3c-afd22afbc18d |
BEIJING, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chengdu Universiade officially kicked off Friday night in the capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, known as the hometown of giant pandas and one of the most vibrant Chinese cities.
Ahead the opening ceremony of the 31st summer edition of the FISU World University Games, Chinese President Xi Jinping has engaged himself in a flurry of face-to-face high-level meetings with foreign leaders attending the ceremony over the past couple of days.
Behind the tight diplomatic schedule, Xi has highlighted the importance of solidarity, cooperation and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, three key messages shared by the visiting leaders of Indonesia, Guyana, Georgia, Mauritania and Burundi.
Solidarity
In a toast at a welcoming banquet on Friday noon, Xi said the Games, since its inception, has always been "a celebration of youth, solidarity, and friendship."
"We should promote solidarity through sports, build up positive energy across the international community, join hands to tackle global challenges such as climate change, food crisis and terrorism, and shape a better future through cooperation," he urged.
Solidarity, unity and togetherness were also one of the hot topics during the Chinese president's separate meetings with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani and Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye.
During the meeting with the Burundian leader, for instance, Xi stressed the importance of solidarity between China and Africa in safeguarding the common interests of developing countries and the international fairness and justice.
Cooperation
During the meetings of the leaders, China and the five countries agreed to further cooperation, such as on trade, infrastructure and people-to-people exchanges.
In a meeting with Xi on Thursday, Widodo said Indonesia is willing to continue to enhance cooperation with China in areas including investment, marine fisheries, food security and healthcare. The leaders witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents following the meeting.
China and Georgia will issue a joint statement and announce the establishment of strategic partnership during Garibashvili's historic visit. Xi hailed the remarkable achievements in cooperation in various fields between the two countries over the past 31 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, while the Georgian prime minister said the elevation of bilateral relations will bring more opportunities to his country.
On Friday, China and Mauritania also signed a cooperation plan on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to enhance bilateral ties.
A community with a shared future for mankind
The term of building a community with a shared future for mankind was repeatedly highlighted during the leaders' meetings, with Indonesia, Guyana, Georgia, Mauritania and Burundi also expressing support for China-proposed initiatives.
While meeting with Xi on Friday afternoon, Ghazouani said Mauritania supports the BRI, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, saying that these initiatives are in line with the norms governing international relations that respect countries' independence and sovereignty and exchanges between different civilizations.
Addressing the welcoming banquet, Xi stressed the importance of deepening exchanges and mutual learning to promote harmony without uniformity in the spirit of inclusiveness and seeing different cultures with an attitude of mutual appreciation and mutual learning.
"The Chengdu Games should be an opportunity for us to champion the common values of humanity and write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind," said Xi.
In an interview with CGTN, Ali, the Guyanese president, said the Games goes beyond the competitions among the young athletes.
"They can share the experiences, they can share culture, [and] they can share who they are in building a stronger family of humanity," he said.
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SOURCE CGTN | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/cgtn-solidarity-vowed-xi-hosts-foreign-leaders-amid-chengdu-universiade/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:16 | 1 | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/cgtn-solidarity-vowed-xi-hosts-foreign-leaders-amid-chengdu-universiade/ |
BEIRUT (AP) — An impasse at the United Nations over a border crossing with Syria’s last rebel-held enclave is putting 4.1 million Syrian there in danger, the president of the International Rescue Committee warned this week.
David Miliband’s comments came more than two weeks after the U.N. Security Council failed to renew the mandate for the Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Syria and Turkey, which secures aid for Syrians in the enclave.
The vast majority of people in northwestern Syria live in poverty and rely on aid to survive — a crisis that was further worsened by a devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria in February. The earthquake killed more than 50,000 people, including over 6,000 in Syria, according to the United Nations. The quake also displaced hundreds of thousands of others.
“The people of northwest Syria can ill afford a new wave of suffering, having lived through the trauma of the earthquake,” Miliband told The Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday.
He urged the Security Council to “do its job” and resume the humanitarian border crossing.
The council earlier in July failed to adopt one of two rival resolutions on the crossing. Russia, a top ally of the Syrian government in Damascus, vetoed a Swiss-Brazilian compromise resolution backed by Western countries that renewed authorization for the crossing of aid through Bab al-Hawa for six months. Moscow’s draft resolution with additional requirements — including increasing aid delivery to the opposition enclave through Damascus — only received China’s backing.
The paralysis also comes as donor fatigue has led to aid cuts in aid to both northwestern Syria and neighboring countries hosting millions of Syrian refugees who fled the ongoing conflict, now in its 13th year.
Syrian President Bashar Assad opened two additional crossing points from Turkey at Bab al-Salameh and al-Rai to increase the aid flow to the quake victims. The U.N. says that some 85% of its aid to northwestern Syria goes through Bab al-Hawa, a more efficient route.
For the moment, Miliband said the International Rescue Committee is trying to cope by using other crossings and finding other ways of getting aid into the enclave.
“Our point of view is that interference with the humanitarian crossing point poses severe danger to the efficiency and the effectiveness of humanitarian aid,” he explained.
Additionally, the United States said Monday that it has joined major donors in demanding the U.N. be able to deliver aid through Bab al-Hawa independently and to everyone in need — a rejection of conditions set by Syria and backed by its ally Russia that Damascus control all aid and banning U.N. communications with rebels in the region.
The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan through four border crossing points into rebel-held areas in Syria.
However, Russia, backed by China, over the years successfully applied pressure to reduce the authorized crossings to just Bab al-Hawa, and the mandates from a year to six months.
Moscow alleges that militant groups in the northwestern province of Idlib are taking the aid and preventing it from reaching families in need. Russia and China have been calling for all aid to be routed through Damascus instead.
But Syrians in the northwestern enclave, as well as Western countries critical of Assad, say they are skeptical of the push.
“There’s a lot of danger for people in need in northwest Syria,” Miliband said. “And it’s very important that they’re not forgotten.” | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-aid-group-official-warns-that-impasse-at-the-un-on-border-crossing-puts-4-1-million-syrians-at-risk/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:16 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-aid-group-official-warns-that-impasse-at-the-un-on-border-crossing-puts-4-1-million-syrians-at-risk/ |
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — 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 has 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.
He'd been 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 together, a juvenile whale did the same thing. Whale experts have told him the aerial maneuvers may have been an attempt to remove parasites or aid digestion.
Addie 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," he said. | https://www.12news.com/article/news/nation-world/whale-ballet-humpbacks-jump-in-unison/507-c2f2ec93-cf1b-4c25-8e0d-9a0398b7035b | 2023-07-29T03:26:22 | 0 | https://www.12news.com/article/news/nation-world/whale-ballet-humpbacks-jump-in-unison/507-c2f2ec93-cf1b-4c25-8e0d-9a0398b7035b |
NEW YORK, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sooth, an industry-leading strategic marketing insights platform and consultancy, is excited to announce a dynamic partnership with Kestrel Consulting. This collaboration brings Sooth's founder, Ian Baer, and his innovative methodologies and expertise into Kestrel's broad network, promising to enrich Kestrel's client marketing and branding initiatives with fresh perspectives and deeper understanding.
Recognized for its patent-pending method that fuses data, AI, and human intellect, Sooth deciphers the intricacies of human decision-making, mapping emotional drivers and receptivity of diverse consumer and business audiences. Now part of Kestrel's network, Sooth's unique, sophisticated approach will bolster client marketing initiatives, offering a powerful toolset to unlock new avenues for connection, empathy, and understanding that is proven to increase customer lifetime value by four times or more.
As Kestrel's preferred provider of brand strategic services, Sooth will also accelerate its own growth by working on branding and marketing projects for clients and partners within the Kestrel network.
"Kestrel Consultants helps leadership teams, founders, entrepreneurs, and enterprises fly higher and achieve strategic outcomes through its exclusive partnership network of fractional executives and boutique business consultants," the company said in a statement. "We're proud to welcome Sooth into our exclusive partnership and referral network. We've admired Ian Baer's work for years, and his exceptional talent is a real complement to our network's other areas of expertise. We're excited to collaborate on new projects together."
This partnership represents a convergence of Sooth's methodologies and Kestrel's expansive network. By bringing together Sooth's unparalleled insights and Kestrel's team of skilled executives and consultants, they aim to empower Kestrel's clientele with deeper understanding and fresh perspectives, enabling them to achieve their marketing goals.
"Changes in consumer and business culture over the past several years have irrevocably changed how marketing works at an elemental level," said Ian Baer, Founder and Chief Soothsayer at Sooth. "With 90 percent of all decisions now determined by each person's unique emotional priorities, we're able to roadmap success for brands by unlocking an in-depth understanding of the factors that create connection between these brands and the customers they serve. Kestrel's model brings together complementary innovators to help companies elevate their game across a broad spectrum of business and marketing interdependencies. I could not be more excited to align with the talented leaders of Kestrel Consultants to bring clients high-impact business solutions at the speed and efficiency of modern commerce."
About Sooth
Sooth is an industry-leading strategic marketing insights platform and consultancy. Using a unique, patent-pending method that synergizes data, artificial intelligence, and human intellect, Sooth decodes the intricacies of consumer decision-making and maps the emotional motivators of diverse audiences with unparalleled precision. Sooth is committed to making marketing strategies more effective, intuitive, and emotionally engaging, empowering brands with the insights they need. www.SoothBeTold.com
About Kestrel Consultants
Kestrel Consultants helps leadership teams, founders, entrepreneurs, and enterprises fly higher and achieve strategic outcomes through its exclusive partnership network of fractional executives and boutique business consultants. Learn more at KestrelConsultants.com.
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SOURCE Sooth | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/ian-baer-brings-sooths-brand-strategy-mastery-kestrel-consultings-executive-network/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:22 | 1 | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/ian-baer-brings-sooths-brand-strategy-mastery-kestrel-consultings-executive-network/ |
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Armenia’s authorities on Friday called on the country’s international allies to put pressure on Azerbaijan after accusing it of carrying out a three-day blockade of humanitarian aid to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The accusations mark another flashpoint in the tense relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan which have fought over the breakaway region for decades.
The Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vahan Kostanyan, accused Azerbaijan of blocking the so-called Lachin Corridor and demanded international allies step in to allow 19 trucks with 400 tons of humanitarian aid to pass. According to Armenian authorities, the trucks have been stuck there since the evening of July 26.
“The additional pressure of our international partners on Baku is very important. We have heard statements from our various colleagues, but we don’t think this is enough,” he said.
Kostanyan previously also accused Azerbaijan of ignoring a ruling by the International Court of Justice ordering Azerbaijan authorities to ensure unimpeded movement in the Lachin Corridor, the only road from Armenia into Nagorno-Karabakh.
The ongoing dispute over the road has impeded food supplies to the region and aggravated tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which have fought two wars since the end of Soviet rule.
Nagorno-Karabakh had substantial autonomy under the Soviet Union and came under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military in 1994 at the end of years of separatist fighting. Armenian forces also took sizable territory surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh itself.
In 2020, Azerbaijan regained most of that surrounding territory and pieces of Nagorno-Karabakh itself in a war which killed about 6,800 soldiers. Under a Russia-brokered armistice, transit along the Lachin Corridor was to continue under the guarantee of Russian peacekeepers.
According to Armenian media, trucks and foreign diplomats are currently in the village of Kornidzor on Armenia’s border with Nagorno-Karabakh, which is at one end of the Lachin Corridor.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said that it viewed Armenia’s attempt to send a convoy to Nagorno-Karabakh “under the guise of ‘humanitarian aid’” as a violation of Azerbaijan’s “territorial integrity and sovereignty.” Azerbaijan also accuses Armenia of smuggling weapons into Nagorno-Karabakh.
The latest flare-up comes weeks following talks in Brussels and Washington aimed at calming tensions between the two countries after Azerbaijan opened a checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor in April. At that point, the road had already been blocked for four months by demonstrators who were protesting what they claimed to be illegal mining and other ecological abuses by Armenians in the area. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-armenia-calls-on-allies-to-help-get-aid-to-nagorno-karabakh-during-tensions-with-azerbaijan/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:23 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-armenia-calls-on-allies-to-help-get-aid-to-nagorno-karabakh-during-tensions-with-azerbaijan/ |
GLENDALE, Ariz. — What a difference three months can make for Arizona Cardinals' safety Budda Baker. For a guy requesting a trade a handful of months ago due to the status of his contract, Baker is back at training camp like he never left.
"I'm all in," Baker said. "This is early in the process in training camp and just understanding that if I put my head down and grind everything else will take care of itself."
And it surely did. According to reports, Baker received a $300,000 signing bonus and can earn up to $2.4 million in bonuses and incentives this season.
Baker spoke to the media for the first time Friday after the ongoing contract dispute and while he didn't discuss the specifics of the completed deal, he continued to stress the importance of continuing to perfect his craft.
"This is what I am always going to continue to do," Baker added. "Just have that tunnel vision and for me, I have just been grinding. Let the outside noise be outside noise and laughing at it here and there. Keep grinding, take it day by day and that's what I will continue to do and continue to always do."
That's the kind of leader you want on your team and that's the man the Cardinals secured amid what was a tumultuous offseason for the All-Pro.
Baker signed a four-year, $59 million deal in 2020 and is under contract through the 2024 season after the Cardinals picked up a team option.
Sports
Watch more of the latest sports videos on the 12News YouTube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe! | https://www.12news.com/article/sports/nfl/cardinals/arizona-cardinals-budda-baker-training-camp/75-6b695733-5eba-44cc-b142-363d42b7ce9b | 2023-07-29T03:26:28 | 1 | https://www.12news.com/article/sports/nfl/cardinals/arizona-cardinals-budda-baker-training-camp/75-6b695733-5eba-44cc-b142-363d42b7ce9b |
BEIJING, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Tarena International, Inc. (NASDAQ: TEDU) ("Tarena" or the "Company"), a leading provider of IT professional education and IT-focused supplementary STEAM education services in China, today announced that it received a written notification from the Staff of the Listing Qualifications Department of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq") dated July 28, 2023, indicating that the Company no longer meets the continued listing requirement of minimum Market Value of Publicly Held Shares ("MVPHS") for the Nasdaq Global Select Market, as set forth in the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(b)(2)(C), because the Company's MVPHS for the last 30 consecutive business days was below the minimum MVPHS requirement of US$15,000,000.
Pursuant to the Nasdaq Listing Rules, the applicable grace period to regain compliance is 180 calendar days, or until January 24, 2024. The Company can cure this deficiency if its MVPHS closes at US$15,000,000 or more for a minimum of ten consecutive business days during the compliance period. The Company's management is looking into various options available to regain compliance and maintain its continued listing on The Nasdaq Global Select Market. In the event the Company does not regain compliance prior to the expiration of the compliance period, it will receive written notification that its securities are subject to delisting. Alternatively, the Company may apply to transfer the Company's securities to The Nasdaq Capital Market, subject to the Nasdaq Capital Market's continued listing requirements.
About Tarena International, Inc.
Tarena is a leading provider of IT professional education and IT-focused supplementary STEAM education services in China. Through its innovative education platform combining live distance instruction, classroom-based tutoring and online learning modules, Tarena offers professional education courses in IT and non-IT subjects. Its professional education courses provide students with practical skills to prepare them for jobs in industries with significant growth potential and strong hiring demand. Tarena also offers IT-focused supplementary STEAM education programs, including computer coding and robotics programming courses, etc., targeting students between three and eighteen years of age. Aiming to encourage "code to learn," Tarena embraces the latest trends in STEAM education and technology to develop children's logical thinking and learning abilities while allowing them to discover their interests and potential.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Tarena may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including any business outlook and statements about Tarena's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Many factors, risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak; Tarena's goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; its ability to continue to attract students to enroll in its courses; its ability to continue to recruit, train and retain qualified instructors and teaching assistants; its ability to continually tailor its curriculum to market demand and enhance its courses to adequately and promptly respond to developments in the professional job market; its ability to maintain or enhance its brand recognition, its ability to maintain high job placement rate for its students, and its ability to maintain cooperative relationships with financing service providers for student loans.
Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in Tarena's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and Tarena does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.
For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations Contact
Tarena International, Inc.
Email: ir@tedu.cn
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SOURCE Tarena International, Inc. | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/tarena-announces-receipt-nasdaq-notification-regarding-minimum-market-value-publicly-held-shares/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:29 | 0 | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/tarena-announces-receipt-nasdaq-notification-regarding-minimum-market-value-publicly-held-shares/ |
QUESTA, N.M. (KRQE) – New Mexico State Police are investigating a homicide in Questa. Details are extremely limited but they said one juvenile has died and the suspect is in custody.
State Police said the investigation is ongoing. News 13 will provide updates as they become available. | https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/nmsp-investigating-the-murder-of-a-juvenile-at-a-home-in-questa/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:30 | 0 | https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/nmsp-investigating-the-murder-of-a-juvenile-at-a-home-in-questa/ |
(The Hill) — A federal judge in Montana issued a temporary restraining order on Friday, blocking the state from enforcing a law that bans certain drag performances, writing in an order that the law likely suffers from “constitutional maladies.”
Montana’s House Bill 359, passed by the state’s majority Republican legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte in May, prohibits schools or libraries that receive state funding from hosting a drag story hour or “sexually oriented performance.” Performances are also prohibited from taking place in public or in the presence of a minor.
A group of 10 plaintiffs challenged the law in federal court earlier this month, arguing that the bill is “breathtakingly ambiguous and overbroad.” Plaintiffs include Adria Jawort, a transgender and two-spirit author whose lecture at a public library in Butte was canceled last month after officials determined that having her speak posed “too much of a legal risk” under the new law.
Montana Pride, the host of an annual LGBTQ Pride celebration in Helena, joined the lawsuit last week, arguing that city officials — as a result of the law — have withheld permits that are needed for this year’s Pride festival, which is slated to run from July 30 to August 6.
“The thirtieth annual Montana Pride is slated to begin in less than two days,” Chief Judge Brian Morris wrote in Friday’s order. “Plaintiffs, along with the approximately 15,000 Montanans who wish to attend the events, cannot avoid chilled speech or exposure to potential civil or criminal liability under H.B. 359 in the absence of the extraordinary remedy of a [temporary restraining order.]”
Republicans in the state legislature this session had argued the law was necessary to protect children from “mature themes” and obscene material.
But “Montana law already protects minors from obscene material,” Morris wrote Friday.
On top of that, the state conceded during a July 26 hearing that the statutory text of House Bill 359 regulates speech and expression outside of what is considered “legally obscene.”
The law additionally “contains no carveout for speech or expression with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value,” Morris argued, and the First Amendment protects “at least some of the speech and expression” regulated by the law.
Morris noted in the order that the only two other district courts to have considered First Amendment challenges to similar state drag bans in Tennessee and Florida “have confirmed that those laws constitute facially content-based restrictions” and are therefore discriminatory.
A federal judge in June ruled that a Tennessee law banning drag shows in public or where children could view them is unconstitutional. The same month, a federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a similar ban on drag performances.
Attorneys for the state had sought to distinguish the Montana law from those of Florida and Tennessee on the basis that those laws failed to define “lewd.” But Morris on Friday argued that Montana’s drag ban also failed to define it.
The measure also fails to define “lascivious,” “flamboyant or parodic persona,” “salacious dancing” and “sexual manner,” Morris wrote. “The absence of definitions for these terms raises concerns for the Court about vagueness and overbreadth.”
In a statement to the Montana Free Press following Friday’s order, Montana Pride’s lead organizer, Kevin Hamm, said the court “got it right.”
“As I said throughout the legislature, drag is art. And drag bans not only infringe on free speech, but they are crafted (by design) to be so broad to allow for discrimination against trans & nonbinary people as well,” state Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr posted Friday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in response to Morris’s decision.
Zephyr, one of two openly transgender lawmakers in Montana, was censured by House Republicans in April after she said legislators who voted to pass a bill banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors would have “blood on your hands.”
In a statement to The Hill, Emily Flower, a spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R), who is a defendant in the case, said the state will present its response at an upcoming preliminary injunction hearing.
“We look forward to presenting our written response and full argument at the upcoming preliminary injunction hearing to defend the law and protect minors from sexually oriented performances,” she said. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/federal-judge-halts-montana-ban-on-drag-performances/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:30 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/federal-judge-halts-montana-ban-on-drag-performances/ |
PITTSBURGH — A sudden burst of heavy rain might have been the only thing capable of stopping Zack Wheeler Friday night in a 2-1 Phillies win over the Pirates.
Wheeler mowed through Pittsburgh's feeble batting order, striking out 12 and allowing one run on three hits over 6⅔ innings. He began the bottom of the seventh at just 71 pitches and it looked like he'd be out there until at least the eighth inning.
Then the skies opened and play was halted with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, a man on first base and a 1-2 count. After a rain delay of approximately 42 minutes, play resumed but the pause was too long for Wheeler to return. The PNC Park grounds crew had a world of trouble covering the infield with the tarp and never had it fully applied. The first base line was uncovered and it took considerable work to get the field back into playable condition, even though the rain ended five minutes after the delay started.
"We tried to get him to finish that half-inning off but it was just raining so hard that they had to pull (the tarp), and it was raining so hard that they couldn't get it on the field," manager Rob Thomson said. "It is what it is, but he pitched great. I thought his command was great, two-seamer was really good. He gave us what we needed."
Thomson said he would not have gone back to Wheeler even if the rain delay was only 20 pitches, citing Wheeler's pitch count (90) when the game was stopped, his workload this season and the fact that the Phillies have 17 straight games without an off-day.
Jeff Hoffman entered in relief for Wheeler and finished the seventh inning with one pitch. Gregory Soto preserved the lead by inducing an inning-ending double-play ball from the Pirates' best player, Bryan Reynolds, with men on first and second in the eighth and the game on the line. Craig Kimbrel picked up save No. 17.
It was a tense game because the Phillies couldn't capitalize on numerous early opportunities against right-hander Mitch Keller.
Philadelphia Phillies
"Another laugher, huh?" Thomson joked after the Phillies improved to 22-12 in one-run games. Only the Reds, Guardians and Athletics have played more.
They stranded a leadoff double by Kyle Schwarber in the first inning, a one-out double from Bryson Stott in the second and stranded the bases loaded with one out in the fourth. They also stranded the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth inning and Bryce Harper at the plate. He lined out hard to left field on the first pitch.
They scored their two runs on Schwarber's 27th home run of the season, a 406-foot shot to center in the third inning. Schwarber reached base all five times with a double, homer and three walks, one of them to end an 11-pitch plate appearance. He was the designated hitter Friday for the fourth time in the last five games, each of which Harper has started at first base.
Friday was Wheeler's first start with Harper at first. That transition is already paying dividends for the Phils. Their left-field defense is significantly improved. Schwarber beat out an infield single earlier this week. Does that happen if he's running around in left? He's driven in a run in three of the last five games.
"I do think he's moving around a lot better," Thomson said of Schwarber. "Just getting off his feet every other day, I think he's running better, he's running smoother."
Harper is expected to start at first base in two of the three games at beautiful PNC Park this weekend. He'll either start there Saturday night or Sunday afternoon, DH'ing in the other game.
Wheeler touched 98 mph in the first inning and hit 97 six times, also topping out at 93 with a slider that had averaged 88. He mowed through an overmatched Pirates team that is 25-50 since April 30 and ranks in the bottom three of baseball in batting average, OPS and runs per game this month.
Wheeler is 8-5 with a 3.74 ERA in 21 starts. He's struck out 146 and walked 24 for the best ratio in the league. The Phillies' ace has been locked in since the All-Star break, allowing just five runs and 15 baserunners in 20⅔ innings. The Phils are 8-1 in his last nine starts and the only loss was a 1-0 game last weekend when the Guardians scored their lone run on a defensive miscue.
At 56-47, the Phillies end the night in a playoff spot, no more than a half-game back of the top wild-card. They have Aaron Nola on the mound Saturday night against this meek Pirates offense.
"When you win close games, I think it's good for a team," Thomson said. "It builds character and it shows a little bit of toughness of what you're all about. You don't want to play them every day, but the more playoff-like games you can play, I think you learn from them."
After finishing in Pittsburgh, the Phillies have a four-game series in Miami against the skidding Marlins. They come home to face the lowly Royals and Nationals. From August 4 through August 30, the Phils have 19 of 24 games at home.
"Whenever you go on the road, the odds are a little bit stacked against you," Schwarber said. "Definitely can make headway on the road trip." | https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/mlb/philadelphia-phillies/phillies-news/zack-wheeler-gem-phillies-pirates-kyle-schwarber/530298/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:30 | 1 | https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/mlb/philadelphia-phillies/phillies-news/zack-wheeler-gem-phillies-pirates-kyle-schwarber/530298/ |
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The rival leaders of ethnically divided Cyprus on Friday jointly appealed for information that could lead to the buried remains of people who vanished amid violence and war decades ago, a task with increasing urgency as eyewitnesses die.
Cyprus’ Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Ersin Tatar, the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots, made the appeal in a symbolic move aiming to show that the purely humanitarian issue should stay above the complex and often bitter politics of the nearly half-century ethnic split.
It also sought to inject some fresh urgency into efforts to resume deadlocked peace talks. A deal has eluded Cypriot leaders since a 1974 coup aiming at union with Greece triggered a Turkish invasion that entrenched that division.
Both Christodoulides and Tatar toured the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) that has, since 2006, been tasked with locating, unearthing and identifying the remains of individuals who vanished during clashes in the early 1960s and the 1974 invasion.
“This is a humanitarian issue, therefore this is something which is outside politics,” Tatar told reporters. “What ever we can do to improve, as I saw the discovery of missing persons is something that we owe to the families.”
Christodoulides echoed a shared commitment to collect more information, but added that progress on this issue would also send a “clear political message” about building trust between the two sides that haven’t engaged in direct talks in six years.
Information is now at a premium, said Paul-Henri Arni, the U.N. appointed member of the tripartite committee that also includes a Greek and Turkish Cypriot representative.
Arni told The Associated Press that the CMP has found, identified and returned to relatives the remains of 51.5% of all missing persons.
But having the leaders nudge anyone with information to step forward is essential to resolving the most difficult remaining cases, in which individuals were killed at one spot and buried elsewhere without witnesses.
According to CMP figures, of 1,510 Greek Cypriots and 492 Turkish Cypriots who are missing, 769 and 200 respectively have not been found.
“The issue is access to new information at the moment where witnesses are passing away,” Arni said. “And so we’ve discussed with the leaders ways they could help us through the own networks, also with specific former combatants.”
Work is slow as the chances of finding remains at excavated sites currently stands at 10% — far below the 50% when the CMP began work in earnest in 2006.
Arni said another key source of information are archived witness accounts which have been digitized for easer access, as well as sifting through 900,000 pages of U.N., U.K. and International Committee of the Red Cross archives which produced 3,740 documents of actionable data.
Christodoulides told reporters following the visit to the CMP premises that access to Turkey military archives is still restricted.
Some 80% of the CMP’s 3.2 million euro ($3.5 million) annual budget is funded by the EU and Arni said additional funding would enable the committee to augment is current number of seven excavation teams to speed up work on 65 new sites.
Christodoulides said it would be a “shame” for more information becoming available but without additional teams to act on them, adding that he would formally ask the EU for more funding. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-divided-cyprus-rival-leaders-appeal-for-information-on-the-missing-as-eyewitnesses-die/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:30 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-divided-cyprus-rival-leaders-appeal-for-information-on-the-missing-as-eyewitnesses-die/ |
LONDON, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- VAPORESSO, a leading innovator in the vaping industry, has received well-deserved recognition at this year's London Design Awards, with four of its groundbreaking products being awarded for their exceptional design. The London Design Awards is an international competition that recognises exceptional designs and outstanding creative projects worldwide, celebrating the vibrancy and diversity of the international design community.
The four distinguished products from VAPORESSO - the COSS, ECO NANO, LUXE XR, and XROS 3 NANO - have showcased the brand's formidable innovative prowess and have also been recognized with awards from many organizations. VAPORESSO's latest groundbreaking offering, the VAPORESSO COSS, is regarded as a game-changer in the vaping industry. It tackles existing issues with a thoughtful design that seamlessly caters to user habits. Its slogan, 'Convenient Operating, Smart Supplying', perfectly encapsulates the product's core values of INNOVATION, RELIABILITY, and STYLE.
"Winning these awards is a testament to the creativity, skill, and dedication of our team," said Jimmy Hu, Vice President of VAPORESSO, "We are thrilled to have our efforts recognised on such a prestigious global platform. It validates our commitment to delivering innovative, high-quality products that enhance the vaping experience for our customers."
The London Design Awards, held annually, applauds outstanding design achievements across various creative sectors. It acknowledges exemplary projects, products, and professionals who demonstrate innovation, creativity, and excellence within their respective industries. Meanwhile, the London Design Awards not only honours design excellence but also fosters creativity, encourages innovation, and facilitates collaborations between designers and design-driven businesses. The awards have grown in stature and popularity since their inception, attracting a wide range of participants from various design fields.
The recognition from the London Design Awards underscores VAPORESSO's dedication to creating products that exceed customer expectations and further solidifies its position as a thought leader in the industry. It also acts as an external validation of VAPORESSO's capabilities and quality of work, building trust and confidence among potential customers.
About VAPORESSO
Established in 2015, VAPORESSO is committed to creating a smoke-free world and enhancing the quality of life for its users. Through continuous innovation, stringent quality control, and substantial commitment, VAPORESSO produces products that cater to all levels and styles of vapers.
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SOURCE VAPORESSO | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/vaporesso-wins-big-london-design-awards-2023-with-four-innovative-vaping-products/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:35 | 1 | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/vaporesso-wins-big-london-design-awards-2023-with-four-innovative-vaping-products/ |
(The Hill) — A federal judge in Montana issued a temporary restraining order on Friday, blocking the state from enforcing a law that bans certain drag performances, writing in an order that the law likely suffers from “constitutional maladies.”
Montana’s House Bill 359, passed by the state’s majority Republican legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte in May, prohibits schools or libraries that receive state funding from hosting a drag story hour or “sexually oriented performance.” Performances are also prohibited from taking place in public or in the presence of a minor.
A group of 10 plaintiffs challenged the law in federal court earlier this month, arguing that the bill is “breathtakingly ambiguous and overbroad.” Plaintiffs include Adria Jawort, a transgender and two-spirit author whose lecture at a public library in Butte was canceled last month after officials determined that having her speak posed “too much of a legal risk” under the new law.
Montana Pride, the host of an annual LGBTQ Pride celebration in Helena, joined the lawsuit last week, arguing that city officials — as a result of the law — have withheld permits that are needed for this year’s Pride festival, which is slated to run from July 30 to August 6.
“The thirtieth annual Montana Pride is slated to begin in less than two days,” Chief Judge Brian Morris wrote in Friday’s order. “Plaintiffs, along with the approximately 15,000 Montanans who wish to attend the events, cannot avoid chilled speech or exposure to potential civil or criminal liability under H.B. 359 in the absence of the extraordinary remedy of a [temporary restraining order.]”
Republicans in the state legislature this session had argued the law was necessary to protect children from “mature themes” and obscene material.
But “Montana law already protects minors from obscene material,” Morris wrote Friday.
On top of that, the state conceded during a July 26 hearing that the statutory text of House Bill 359 regulates speech and expression outside of what is considered “legally obscene.”
The law additionally “contains no carveout for speech or expression with serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value,” Morris argued, and the First Amendment protects “at least some of the speech and expression” regulated by the law.
Morris noted in the order that the only two other district courts to have considered First Amendment challenges to similar state drag bans in Tennessee and Florida “have confirmed that those laws constitute facially content-based restrictions” and are therefore discriminatory.
A federal judge in June ruled that a Tennessee law banning drag shows in public or where children could view them is unconstitutional. The same month, a federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a similar ban on drag performances.
Attorneys for the state had sought to distinguish the Montana law from those of Florida and Tennessee on the basis that those laws failed to define “lewd.” But Morris on Friday argued that Montana’s drag ban also failed to define it.
The measure also fails to define “lascivious,” “flamboyant or parodic persona,” “salacious dancing” and “sexual manner,” Morris wrote. “The absence of definitions for these terms raises concerns for the Court about vagueness and overbreadth.”
In a statement to the Montana Free Press following Friday’s order, Montana Pride’s lead organizer, Kevin Hamm, said the court “got it right.”
“As I said throughout the legislature, drag is art. And drag bans not only infringe on free speech, but they are crafted (by design) to be so broad to allow for discrimination against trans & nonbinary people as well,” state Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr posted Friday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in response to Morris’s decision.
Zephyr, one of two openly transgender lawmakers in Montana, was censured by House Republicans in April after she said legislators who voted to pass a bill banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors would have “blood on your hands.”
In a statement to The Hill, Emily Flower, a spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R), who is a defendant in the case, said the state will present its response at an upcoming preliminary injunction hearing.
“We look forward to presenting our written response and full argument at the upcoming preliminary injunction hearing to defend the law and protect minors from sexually oriented performances,” she said. | https://www.krqe.com/news/national/federal-judge-halts-montana-ban-on-drag-performances/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:36 | 1 | https://www.krqe.com/news/national/federal-judge-halts-montana-ban-on-drag-performances/ |
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Pope Francis urged governments to do more to fight climate change and protect “our common home” as improving weather conditions Friday helped firefighters contain wildfires in Greece, Italy and other countries in southern Europe.
Francis, who has been outspoken on environmental issues, sent a telegram of condolences to Greece, where wildfires killed five people over the past week, including the pilots of a water-dropping aircraft.
The pope noted that successive heat waves have exacerbated the dangers of the summer fire season. He offered his prayers for firefighters and emergency personnel in particular.
“(I hope) that the risks to our common home, exacerbated by the present climate crisis, will spur all people to renew their efforts to care for the gift of creation, for the sake of future generations,” Francis said.
Fueled by the heat waves and strong gusts of wind, wildfires in Europe’s Mediterranean region have kept travelers and residents on alert. In Greece, fires scorched hundreds of square kilometers of land outside Athens, on the island of Rhodes and elsewhere this month.
As the situation improved considerably on Friday, Greece’s minister for the police unexpectedly stepped down, citing “personal grounds.” Greek media said Notis Mitarachi’s resignation was requested after it emerged he had been on a family holiday during the wildfire crisis.
The main opposition Syriza party issued a statement accusing the center-right government of using “personal grounds” as a euphemism for “(Mitarachi’s) holidays while the country was burning from end to end.”
In central Greece, authorities maintained an exclusion zone around one of the country’s largest air force bases after a wildfire triggered powerful explosions at a nearby ammunition depot Thursday. Fighter jets stationed at the 111th Combat Wing base were moved to other facilities.
The depot blasts near the central city of Volos shattered windows in nearby towns and prompted the evacuation of more than 2,000 people. Local news broadcasts showed a ground-shaking fireball erupting.
Residents were rushed onto private boats mobilized by the coast guard and taken to a conference center in Volos, some 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) from the weapons storage site. A civilian traffic ban and evacuation order remained in effect Friday within a 3-kilometer (2-mile) radius of the depot.
The explosions did not affect flights at Volos international airport, officials told The Associated Press.
A drop in temperatures and calmer winds helped firefighters get a handle on the blazes in Greece and all major fires were contained by midday Friday, Greek Fire Service officials said.
Conditions also improved elsewhere in Europe’s Mediterranean regions thanks to cooler temperatures, allowing firefighters to contain wildfires along the Croatian coast and in Sicily.
Firefighting teams in Turkey also brought a wildfire burning close to the southern Mediterranean resort of Kemer under control, four days after it erupted, Ibrahim Yumakli, the country’s forestry minister, said.
The governments of the countries hit by heat waves and fires have steered public debate away from the potential impact on tourism. Rhodes, where a fire last weekend required about 19,000 people to be evacuated from several locations on the island, was promised state support Friday for its international advertising campaign.
In Germany, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach sought Friday to address Italian irritation over a mid-July social media post in which he described the heat wave he encountered on a visit to Italy as “spectacular” and added that “if it goes on like this, these vacation destinations will have no future in the long term.”
Lauterbach told reporters in Berlin that he wasn’t warning against vacations in southern Europe and plans to visit Italy again himself.
“Of course, it is more difficult now for the southern countries to organize heat protection in such a way that it is also accessible for every tourist, but I think those countries will know exactly what they have to do,” he said.
Vassilis Kikilias, the Greek minister for climate change and civil protection, said fires had burned 400 square kilometers (155 square miles) of land in the country in July alone, while the recent average is 500 square kilometers (nearly 200 square miles) in a year.
“Is the situation any better in other countries bordering the Mediterranean? It’s a fair question … but the answer is no,” Kikilias said.
“The climate crisis that brought us this unprecedented heat wave is here. It’s not a theory. It is our actual experience,” he said. “This is not something that will just occur this year. It will last and we have to face the consequences of what that means.”
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Winfield reported from Rome. Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, Geir Moulson in Berlin, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey contributed.
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Follow AP’s coverage of climate issues at https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-exclusion-zone-set-up-around-greek-military-base-after-wildfires-trigger-powerful-explosions/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:36 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-exclusion-zone-set-up-around-greek-military-base-after-wildfires-trigger-powerful-explosions/ |
BENGALURU, India (AP) — The final meeting of climate and environment ministers from the world’s largest economies ended without an agreement or joint statement Friday despite pleas from leading figures for nations to show a united front on climate change as weather records shatter across the globe.
In a gathering in Chennai in India, ministers from the Group of 20 countries — who emit around 80% of the world’s planet-warming gases — failed to agree on four of 68 points of discussion.
A document published by the group shows countries did not agree on aiming to peak emissions by 2025, moving to clean energy and a tax on carbon as a way to reduce emissions.
“We couldn’t get a consensus but we agreed on a lot,” said Canada’s climate minister Steven Guilbeault at a virtual press conference after the meeting.
The ministers’ decisions will now be passed on to country leaders ahead of a summit in New Delhi in September this year. It will be the group’s last chance to issue a joint statement on climate this year.
On Thursday, the president of the upcoming United Nations climate talks Sultan al-Jaber and the U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell attended the Chennai meeting to urge countries to issue an ambitious statement that will make sure the world is on track to keep global warming within the agreed temperature limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
The world has currently warmed around 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times and effects are already being felt all over the world, with hosts India especially vulnerable. Earlier this year, more than 100 people died during a heat wave in the center of the country and last week at least 27 people died in western India due to landslides triggered by heavy rains.
Since India took over the G-20 presidency last December, none of the meetings that deal with various policy areas like foreign affairs, finance, energy and climate change have come out with a joint communique but their announcements may form part of a final document released at the leaders’ summit in September.
Earlier this month, a meeting of finance chiefs and central bank governors of the G-20 leading economies ended in Gandhinagar in the western state of Gujarat without a consensus because of differences between countries over the war in Ukraine.
Similarly, a meeting of energy ministers in Goa last week ended unsuccessfully with the final summary failing to mention a phase down of fossil fuels and ministers did not agree to raise ambition to treble renewable energy targets.
The meeting in Chennai was the last of four meetings of G-20 climate ministers. They had earlier met in Bengaluru, Gandhinagar in Gujarat and Mumbai.
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Follow Sibi Arasu on Twitter at @sibi123
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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-g20-ministers-reach-agreement-on-most-but-not-all-climate-issues/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:43 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-g20-ministers-reach-agreement-on-most-but-not-all-climate-issues/ |
BERLIN (AP) — A leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany on Friday urged members of the country’s main opposition conservative bloc to break down a “firewall” meant to isolate his party, which is at record levels in polls.
The 10-year-old Alternative for Germany, or AfD, gathered in the eastern city of Magdeburg for a convention stretching over the next two weekends at which it plans to choose candidates and set its policy platform for next June’s European Parliament election.
Recent polls put support for AfD at 19-22%, behind only the main conservative opposition bloc. Earlier this week, the latter’s main leader, Friedrich Merz, insisted that there would be no cooperation even at the local level between his Christian Democratic Union and AfD, after his apparent suggestion that they might work together prompted criticism from fellow conservatives.
AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla told delegates that “polls aren’t results” and they should view recent surveys with “humility.” But he pointed to his party’s prospects of winning three state elections in eastern regions next year, and said that “we could take on government responsibility.”
The first AfD candidates recently won elections in eastern Germany to lead a county administration and become the full-time mayor of a municipality.
Chrupalla mocked Merz, who recently described his conservative bloc as an “alternative for Germany with substance.” He said that “we are the original,” and argued that Merz has recognized “it was wrong to put up a firewall against our party.”
“I call on all patriots in the CDU: tear down this … wall,” he said.
Chrupalla spent large parts of his speech assailing the environmentalist Green party, part of the center-left coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and also underlined his party’s opposition to weapons deliveries to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. He asserted that today’s European Union is “responsible for a disastrous migration policy, with sanctions policies that are harmful to the economy.”
The AfD convention will, probably several days in, address the party’s position on the EU and whether Germany should leave. The party’s other co-leader, Alice Weidel, told ZDF television Friday that it favors a dismantling of EU areas of responsibility, but didn’t specify whether the bloc should be dissolved. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-german-far-right-leader-urges-conservatives-to-break-down-firewall-against-his-party/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:50 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-german-far-right-leader-urges-conservatives-to-break-down-firewall-against-his-party/ |
HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong judge on Friday denied a government request to ban a popular protest song in a landmark decision after Google had resisted official pressure to alter internet search results for the city’s anthem.
The development was a setback for Hong Kong leaders who are trying to crush a pro-democracy movement. They have been embarrassed when “Glory to Hong Kong” — written during mass protests against the government in 2019 — was mistakenly played at international sporting events instead of China’s national anthem, “March of the Volunteers.”
Critics have warned that granting the request to prohibit broadcast or distribution of the song would add to a decline in civil liberties since Beijing launched a crackdown following the 2019 protests. They said that might disrupt internet companies and hurt the city’s appeal as a business center.
But some analysts cautioned the court’s decision on Friday does not mean that foreign tech giants can from now on let down their guard in Hong Kong, and said that political challenges surrounding their operations in the financial hub still linger.
Judge Anthony Chan said he considered whether a ban of the song would act as a wider deterrence than the city’s criminal law already in place. That includes a National Security Law imposed by Beijing in 2020 under which many of the city’s leading activists have been arrested.
“I cannot be satisfied that it is just and convenient to grant the injunction,” he wrote in a ruling.
The government went to the court after Google resisted pressure to display China’s national anthem as the top result in searches for the city’s anthem instead of “Glory to Hong Kong.”
Google had asked that a ruling prove the song violated the law before it could be removed, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong told a local broadcaster earlier. Google did not reply to a request for comment on its earlier exchanges with officials.
The city’s leader, Chief Executive John Lee, told reporters he had asked government lawyers to study the judgment and decide how to respond.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997 and was promised that it could keep its Western-style civil liberties intact for 50 years after the handover. But the security law and other changes since the 2019 protests have shrunk the openness and freedoms that were once hallmarks of the city.
The city’s secretary for justice sought the injunction last month after the song was mistakenly played as the city’s anthem at international events. And a mix-up in an ice hockey competition in February resulted in the city’s top sports body reprimanding the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association, which appealed for forgiveness for what it called an “independent and unfortunate” event.
In seeking the court order, the government wanted to target anyone who uses the song to advocate for the separation of Hong Kong from China. It also sought to ban actions that use the song to incite others to commit secession and to insult the national anthem, including online.
However, Friday’s ruling will not mean the end of the controversy for tech giants, said George Chen, former head of public policy for Greater China at Meta.
He said it was a new beginning for the platforms and the government to work together on content-related issues, given there was “zero chance” that the government would just leave all versions of the protest song online.
“Now the ball is back to the government but it doesn’t mean platforms can relax,” said Chen, who now works as a managing director for business advisory firm The Asia Group.
He said the city is now a “highly political place” and many lawmakers were surprised by the ruling, predicting that the political pressure on content removal on tech platforms will remain.
“It may feel more like Season 1 of a long series,” he said.
Eric Lai, visiting researcher of King’s College London’s School of Law, said that the government was trying to abuse the legal system by using an injunction to tackle a political matter when it sought the court order. The ruling reflects that the court still wants to defend the integrity of the city’s legal system, Lai said.
“Had this injunction been granted by the court, it would further create a more restrictive environment for both the internet and the public,” he said.
Lai cautioned that it’s a worrying trend to see that the secretary for justice “is so eager to politicize the court and the legal proceedings” to suppress the opposition camp and dissenting opinions, adding that he would monitor how the government would respond to the decision.
The government earlier said the lyrics contain a slogan that could constitute a call for secession. The song was already banned at schools. It said that it respected freedoms protected by the city’s constitution, “but freedom of speech is not absolute.”
The 2019 protests were sparked by a proposed extradition law that would have allowed Hong Kong criminal suspects to be sent to the mainland for trial. The government withdrew the bill, but the protesters widened their demands to include direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-hong-kong-court-rejects-government-requested-ban-on-protest-song-glory-to-hong-kong/ | 2023-07-29T03:26:57 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-hong-kong-court-rejects-government-requested-ban-on-protest-song-glory-to-hong-kong/ |
HONG KONG (AP) — The Chinese government on Friday demanded the United States invite Hong Kong’s leader to an economic conference following a news report that Chief Executive John Lee would be barred due to his role in crushing the city’s pro-democracy movement.
The conflict threatens to complicate Washington’s efforts to revive relations that are at their lowest level in decades due to disputes about security, technology, human rights and other irritants.
The Washington Post, citing unidentified U.S. officials, said Lee would be barred from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in San Francisco in November due to sanctions imposed on him in 2020. Lee oversaw the crackdown as Hong Kong’s top police official before he was named chief executive last year.
The United States and other governments have accused Beijing of violating promises of autonomy and Western-style civil liberties after the former British colony returned to China in 1997.
The foreign ministry demanded Washington lift the “illegal and unreasonable” sanctions on Lee, which it called “bullying that seriously violates the basic norms of international relations.” It accused Washington of “undermining the solidarity and cooperation” of the regional forum.
“We demand that the U.S. side immediately correct its wrong move, lift the sanctions against the chief executive and other officials of the SAR, fulfil the due responsibility as APEC host, invite Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu to the meeting,” said a ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning.
Lee’s office in Hong Kong said the United States is “obliged to fulfil its basic responsibilities as a host” and should follow the usual APEC practice by inviting him.
“APEC meetings do not belong to any country or economy,” the office said in a statement.
Lee later said in a press briefing that the city would attend the meeting according to APEC rules and guidelines, saying he hoped that the host of the meeting could handle it in accordance with such norms.
The Washington Post cited U.S. officials as saying Hong Kong could send another representative to APEC.
Washington has launched a flurry of diplomatic missions to restore dialogue suspended by Beijing, mainly over U.S. support for the self-governing island democracy of Taiwan, which the mainland’s ruling Communist Party claims as part of its territory.
Officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and climate envoy John Kerry have traveled to China for meetings.
Chinese officials have demanded concessions, including changes in U.S. dealings with Taiwan, but have given given no indication Beijing might change trade, strategic or other policies that irk Washington and China’s Asian neighbors and other trading partners.
In a July 20 meeting with Henry Kissinger, a former U.S. secretary of state who has been used by Beijing to convey messages to Washington, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said both sides need to make decisions that could result in stable ties and joint success and prosperity.
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Associated Press video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-hong-kongs-leader-may-be-barred-from-a-key-economic-summit-the-city-says-that-breaks-conventions/ | 2023-07-29T03:27:04 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-hong-kongs-leader-may-be-barred-from-a-key-economic-summit-the-city-says-that-breaks-conventions/ |
MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge in Miami on Friday criticized prosecutors for an apparent attempt to undercut 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 several banking and brokerage accounts as well as Florida properties that they said were the product of some $24 million in 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.
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Joshua Goodman on Twitter: @APJoshGoodman | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-judge-blasts-prosecutors-handling-of-venezuela-case-against-ex-miami-congressman/ | 2023-07-29T03:27:11 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-judge-blasts-prosecutors-handling-of-venezuela-case-against-ex-miami-congressman/ |
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s navy located the boat of a missing American sailor off the country’s southern coast, but the Maryland man who had been piloting it solo wasn’t found, authorities said Friday.
Donald Lawson’s capsized trimaran was found Thursday night by a patrol boat involved in the search 356 nautical miles (about 410 miles or 660 kilometers) southwest of the resort city of Acapulco, according to the navy’s press office.
The navy said that it would continue its search for Lawson, 41, an experienced sailor.
A plane had reported spotting a boat similar to the description of Lawson’s on July 23 about 320 nautical miles (370 miles or 595 kilometers) south of Acapulco. The navy sent boats to the area, but it wasn’t until Thursday night that they found it.
Port authorities in Acapulco said that Lawson had arrived on Jan. 26 for repairs to a motor and hull of the boat. After the repairs were completed, Lawson left Acapulco on July 5, headed for the Panama Canal, where he planned to cross to the Caribbean Sea and continue north to Baltimore, Maryland.
His wife, Jacqueline Lawson, told local media outlets that on July 9, he had sent her a message saying he was having mechanical problems and the motor was losing power. Three days later, he told her a storm had knocked out his wind generator and he would try to return to Acapulco. The last satellite positioning message received for the Defiant was July 13.
Lawson, who is Black, grew up in Baltimore and from his first sailing opportunity at age 9, set his sights on making it his career.
“From that day forward, that was my goal – become a professional sailor,” Lawson said in a profile published by U.S. Sailing last year.
He started out cleaning boats, folding sails and stowing gear in Annapolis. Later, he and his wife founded the Dark Seas Project, an effort to increase diversity in the sport of sailing. He is the chairman of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee for U.S. Sailing.
Lawson was working toward challenging records for circumnavigating the globe solo. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-mexicos-navy-finds-boat-but-not-missing-us-sailor/ | 2023-07-29T03:27:17 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-mexicos-navy-finds-boat-but-not-missing-us-sailor/ |
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Millions of Shiite Muslims in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and around the world on Friday commemorated Ashoura, a remembrance of the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, that gave birth to their faith.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban cut mobile phone services in key cities holding commemorations for fear of militants targeting Shiites, whom Sunni extremists consider heretics. Security forces in neighboring Pakistan as well stood on high alert as the commemorations there have seen attacks in the past.
Not all Shiites, however, were to mark the day Friday. Iraq, Lebanon and Syria planned their remembrances for Saturday, which will see a major suburb of Beirut shut down and the faithful descend on the Iraqi city of Karbala, where Hussein is entombed in a gold-domed shrine.
Shiites represent over 10% of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims and view Hussein as the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad. Hussein’s death in battle at the hands of Sunnis at Karbala, south of Baghdad, ingrained a deep rift in Islam and continues to this day to play a key role in shaping Shiite identity.
Over 1,340 years after Hussein’s martyrdom, Baghdad, Tehran, Islamabad and other major capitals in the Middle East were adorned with symbols of Shiite piety and repentance: red flags for Hussein’s blood, symbolic black funeral tents and black dress for mourning, processions of men and boys expressing fervor in the ritual of chest-beating and self-flagellation with chains.
In Iran, where the theocratic government views itself as the protector of Shiites worldwide, the story of Hussein’s martyrdom takes on political connotations amid its tensions with the West over its advancing nuclear program.
Iranian state television aired images of commemorations across the Islamic Republic, tying the event to criticizing the West, Israel and the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in 2020. Anchor Wesam Bahrani on Iran’s state-run English-language broadcaster Press TV referred to America as the “biggest opponent of Islam” and criticized Muslim countries allied with the U.S.
Men wore black, rhythmically beating their chests in mourning or using flails to strike their backs. Some wore red headbands, as black and red banners bore Hussein’s name. Some sprayed water over the mourners in the intense heat.
“Every year everyone joins hands in solidarity,” said 23-year-old Mohammad Hajatmand, who took part in a processional in Tehran. Hussein “was martyred very brutally and when anyone hears the story of Ashoura, regardless of their religion, their hearts will be broken and they will sympathize with him.”
The commemoration in Iran also comes as Tehran prepares for the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini. Her death launched protests nationwide in Iran that reportedly saw more than 500 protesters killed and some 20,000 others detained. Authorities have begun stepping up their enforcement of mandatory hijab, or headscarf, laws for women in recent weeks.
In the suburb of Sayida Zeinab near Syria’s capital, Damascus, security forces guarded checkpoints after a bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens more. On Tuesday, another bomb in a motorcycle wounded two people. The suburb is home to a shrine to Zeinab, the daughter of the first Shiite imam, Ali, and granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad.
Local resident Mustafa Semaan, 41, said the area had seen a resurgence of religious tourism after security stabilized amid Syria’s ongoing war and the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I don’t believe the religious observances will be affected (by the recent bombings), but the economic situation as a result of visitors coming from outside Syria may be affected,” Semaan said. “If this continues, if there were a third attack, there might be a very negative impact.”
Iraq will see the main observance of the Ashoura on Saturday in Karbala, where hundreds of thousands are expected and many will rush toward the shrine to symbolize their desire to answer Hussein’s last cries for help in battle. Convoys of the faithful already had begun to arrive there.
Those marking the commemoration in Kabul, Afghanistan, beat their backs bloody with chains and knives in ritual bloodletting known as “tatbir,” meant to recreate the blood flowing from the slain Hussein. The practice has become debated among Shiite clerics in recent decades.
“We have only one problem that (the Taliban) are preventing us to raise our flags and enter (the city) with the flags,” said Karbalayee Rashid, an organizer of the Kabul commemoration. “Thank God the security has been taken care. It is OK, but there are more limits in this country this year than last year.”
In Pakistan, authorities stepped up security as an Interior Ministry alert warned that “terrorists” could target Ashoura processions in major cities. Security was tight in the capital, Islamabad, where police were deployed at a key Shiite place of worship.
The main Ashoura processions also got underway in the eastern city of Lahore in the Punjab province, where thousands of police officers have been deployed. Processions in Karachi and elsewhere were also starting. There was no immediate report of any violence.
“The Imam’s lesson is … hold on to patience,” said Anam Batool, a mourner who took part in a commemoration in Islamabad. “After that, resist falsehood, stand with the truth. Where you must raise your voice against oppression, raise your voice there.”
___
Associated Press writers Abby Sewell in Baghdad; Anmar Khalil in Karbala, Iraq; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-millions-of-shiite-muslims-across-the-world-commemorate-the-mourning-day-of-ashoura/ | 2023-07-29T03:27:23 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-millions-of-shiite-muslims-across-the-world-commemorate-the-mourning-day-of-ashoura/ |
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was joined by senior Russian and Chinese delegates as he displayed his most powerful nuclear-capable missiles in a military parade marking a major war anniversary with a show of defiance against the United States and deepening ties with Moscow as tensions on the peninsula are at their highest point in years.
Kim attended Thursday night’s parade with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese ruling party official Li Hongzhong from a balcony looking over a brightly illuminated Kim Il Sung Square, named after Kim’s grandfather, the founder of North Korea.
Edited footage from North Korean state TV on Friday showed streets and stands packed with tens of thousands of mobilized spectators, who roared in approval as waves of goose-stepping soldiers, tanks and huge, intercontinental ballistic missiles wheeled out on launcher trucks filled up the main road. People were brought from around the country to the capital, Pyongyang, to fill the crowd, according to state media.
The parade began with warm-up events that featured ceremonial flights of newly developed surveillance and attack drones, which were first unveiled by state media this week as they reported on an arms exhibition attended by Kim and Shoigu.
The main event began with Kim arriving at the square in a limousine escorted by a formation of motorcycles. Kim saluted honor guards and military officials and walked down a red carpet to enter a building where Shoigu and Li greeted him at the balcony, as troops below chanted “protect Kim Jong Un with our lives!”
Organizers broadcast messages in Russian, Chinese and Korean while introducing Kim’s guests to the crowd, drawing cheers and applause.
As the parade proceeded, Kim was constantly talking and exchanging smiles with Shoigu and Li, who respectively stood to his right and left at the balcony’s center. Kim and Shoigu repeatedly raised their hands to salute the parading troops. The broadcast did not show Kim making a speech.
Kim’s biggest weapons were saved for the end, when his troops rolled out new ICBMs that were flight-tested in recent months and demonstrated ranges that could reach deep into the U.S. mainland, the Hwasong-17 and Hwasong-18. Some analysts say the missiles are based on Russian designs or know-how.
North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam spoke, describing the parade as a historic celebration of the country’s “great victory” against “U.S. imperialist aggression forces and groups of its satellite states.”
He condemned the United States for its expanding military exercises with South Korea, which the North portrays as invasion rehearsals, and also holding new rounds of nuclear contingency planning meetings with Seoul. The allies describe their drills as defensive, and say the upgrades in training and planning are necessary to cope with the North’s evolving nuclear threat.
“We solemnly declare that if they attempt military confrontation as now, the exercise of our state’s armed forces will go beyond the scope of the right to defense for the United States of America and (South Korea),” Kang said, repeating previous North Korean threats of nuclear conflict.
“The U.S. imperialists have no room of choice of survival in case they use nuclear weapons against the DPRK,” he said, using the initials of his country’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Clouds over Pyongyang in recent days made it difficult for satellites to monitor preparations for the parade, which took place at night.
Satellite images showed what appeared to be a massing of people at the square at 1316 GMT (10:16 p.m. local) Thursday, said Dave Schmerler, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, which is part of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
North Korea’s invitation of Russian and Chinese delegates was a rare diplomatic opening since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts say Kim is trying to break out of diplomatic isolation and boost the visibility of his partnership with authoritarian allies to counter pressure from the United States.
The parade followed meetings between Kim and Shoigu this week that demonstrated North Korea’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and added to suspicions the North was willing to supply arms to Russia, whose war efforts have been compromised by defense procurement and inventory problems.
North Korean state media also highlighted a message sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who thanked Kim for “firmly supporting” his war efforts in Ukraine. Putin said that interests between Moscow and Pyongyang were aligning as they counter the “collective West in its policy to stand in the way of establishing a genuinely multipolar and just world order,” according to the Kremlin’s version of the letter.
Kim also held a luncheon and dinner banquet for Shoigu and his delegation following a second day of talks about expanding the countries’ “strategic and tactical collaboration and cooperation” in defense and security, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
“Given Russia’s need for ammunition for its illegal war in Ukraine and Kim Jong Un’s willingness to personally give the Russian defense minister a tour of North Korea’s arms exhibition, U.N. member states should increase vigilance for observing and penalizing sanctions violations,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
He added: “China’s representation at North Korea’s parading of nuclear-capable missiles raises serious questions about Beijing enabling Pyongyang’s threats to global security.”
The parade capped off the North Korean festivities for the 70th anniversary of the armistice that stopped fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea, which triggered the war with a surprise attack on the South in June 1950, was supported by Chinese troops and the then-Soviet air force. South Korea, the United States and troops from other nations under the aegis of the U.N. fought to push back the invasion.
The July 1953 truce was never replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula in a technical state of war, but the North still sees it as a victory in the “Grand Fatherland Liberation War.”
The anniversary events were more somber in South Korea, where President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a war cemetery in Busan to honor foreign troops who died while fighting for the South.
In the face of growing North Korean threats, Yoon has pushed to expand South Korea’s military exercises with Washington and is seeking stronger U.S. reassurances that it would use its nuclear capabilities to defend the South in the event of a nuclear attack.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also marked the anniversary with a statement expressing concern over what he described as a growing “nuclear risk” on the Korean Peninsula.
“I urge the parties to resume regular diplomatic contacts and nurture an environment conducive to dialogue,” he said.
___
Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Edith Lederer in New York contributed to the report. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-north-korean-leader-kim-shares-center-stage-with-russian-chinese-delegates-at-military-parade/ | 2023-07-29T03:27:29 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-north-korean-leader-kim-shares-center-stage-with-russian-chinese-delegates-at-military-parade/ |
TEMPLE, Texas — The Wildcutz Barber School in Temple is taking heat after offering the promise of a new career path, and allegedly not delivering. Several people told 6 News they paid an enrollment deposit, but the school never opened.
In May 2021, Damon Cross and veteran barber shop owner Stephon Taylor filed an LLC to create their business with a physical storefront in Temple.
In March 2023, the company forfeited existence, failing to file its franchise tax return or pay the tax due, meaning the company is currently inactive and dissolved.
The physical location on South 25th Street now sits vacant with an expired building permit.
Multiple people were allegedly told the school would open in 2022, but that did not happen.
One man who wished to stay anonymous said he made a deposit in June of 2021. He said he has contacted the barber school many times and says the line just rings.
"I guess they blocked my number," he said.
Olivia Reyna's nephew made a $500 deposit and was reportedly given a start date. The date came around, and Reyna says no one called to tell him what time to show up for the first day of class.
"I can't even imagine how many other people lost deposits that were paid to this school and individual," Reyna said. "I was told the contract my nephew signed states deposits are non-refundable, but it's not the enrollee's fault that the school was never completed in the first place. I think the owner should return everyone's money."
Shaqunna Austin's son also paid a deposit. According to Austin, they never gave him a start date, so he went to another barber school.
"The other barber shop in Temple did give my son a $500 scholarship since the other company scammed him," Austin said. "I thought was nice of them. That company needs to be put on blast."
Multiple other aspiring barbers are out hundreds of dollars, and they aren't the only ones.
Maria Perez claims her husband and others were hired to do electrical work for the building. However, they never got paid.
"The barber shop still owes him $10,000," Perez said. "We actually had to take out a loan... it's currently impacting our family economically. We have three kids. It's not easy. The thing that is frustrating for us is not having communication with us, not answering calls and then we see that we're not the only ones that haven't gotten calls from him, like did he scam us or what's going on?"
One of the partners in the business, Stephon Taylor, addressed the claims, saying this is not a scam, just a failure of communication, and those who have been affected will be refunded in some form.
"We have a new location now because of permit issues that were out of our control, between contractors abandoning us in the middle of the mission and price hikes from inflation," said Taylor. "The school name will be reinstated the same so the public will know this has not been a scam, just unfortunate happenstances and a failure in communication. Now that I’m aware of all that’s going on I give my deepest apologies and I hope to be given a chance to restore their confidence in us. Those that are affected by our delay in construction will be refunded or they will receive totally free barber school education at our facility this fall!" | https://www.kcentv.com/article/life/people/temple-barber-shop-faces-backlash-students-after-taking-deposits-never-opening/500-300f40c1-392f-4a74-aed2-939e20eb72f1 | 2023-07-29T03:27:33 | 1 | https://www.kcentv.com/article/life/people/temple-barber-shop-faces-backlash-students-after-taking-deposits-never-opening/500-300f40c1-392f-4a74-aed2-939e20eb72f1 |
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 nine people in the area of a newly constructed and as yet unoccupied 12-story apartment building, as well as an unoccupied adjacent Security Service of Ukraine building. “Russian missile terror again,” Zelenskyy 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://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-russia-says-a-ukrainian-drone-was-shot-down-outside-moscow/ | 2023-07-29T03:27:36 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-russia-says-a-ukrainian-drone-was-shot-down-outside-moscow/ |
WASHINGTON — A popular fast food chain is trying a new approach to serving food, with two new restaurant design concepts being developed near Atlanta and New York City.
Chick-fil-A announced Thursday it's planning two new locations to test an elevated drive-thru and digital walk-up concept. The restaurant with the elevated drive-thru will be built in the Atlanta metro area, with the walk-up concept built in New York City.
Both locations are scheduled to open in 2024 and are part of an attempt to improve the drive-thru and mobile ordering experiences, Chick-fil-A said in a statement.
“Understanding this desire for convenience, the locations for these tests were intentionally selected with the customers in mind, giving them more control over their desired experience and cutting down wait-time, while continuing to provide genuine hospitality and care to every guest," said Khalilah Cooper, the company's executive director of restaurant design, in the announcement.
The drive-thru concept will have the kitchen seated directly above the drive-thru, allowing cars to pass under the building, stopping to collect their food as it is sent down to them. Employees will still deliver the food to the cars, executives promised in a video showing off the restaurant concepts.
According to the company, their initial concept for the elevated restaurant has four drive-thru lanes.
The other test Chick-fil-A is running involves mobile orders. That concept restaurant won't have cash registers or other ways to buy food in the restaurant itself. Instead, it will be a pickup hub for customers to order through the mobile app. When they reach the store, their food should be ready to go.
“Digital orders make up more than half of total sales in some markets – and growing – so we know our customers have an appetite for convenience,” said Cooper.
Chick-fil-A isn't the first fast food company to test out novel ways to deliver meals.
Taco Bell earlier this year launched a two-story restaurant in Minneapolis that has a similar concept to the restaurant Chick-fil-A is bringing to Atlanta.
The Taco Bell restaurant is also elevated above four drive-thru lanes. But the Mexican food chain's lines are all for different purposes.
There are lines for customers who preorder their Crunchwrap Supremes and Quesaritos ahead of time on the Taco Bell app, a spot for delivery drivers to pull up and quickly grab orders made with third-party partners, and then a single traditional drive-thru lane.
Unlike the Chick-fil-A restaurant, nobody hands over the food at the Taco Bell Instead, orders are lowered down to your car.
"The guest comes in, they pull up to the arrival monitor and they scan their phone. It checks in for orders prepared and assigns it to a lane. Once the order is assigned to the lane, we just verify the customer's name, we lift up the top of the lift, put the food in, push the two buttons and it's on its way," explained Jarret Persons, regional manager for Border Foods, which owns 170 Taco Bell locations, including the unique Minneapolis one. | https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/nation-world/chick-fil-a-new-restaurant-concepts/507-916c263e-76b8-4db5-a110-02b37fc86f5a | 2023-07-29T03:27:39 | 0 | https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/nation-world/chick-fil-a-new-restaurant-concepts/507-916c263e-76b8-4db5-a110-02b37fc86f5a |
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by: AP Posted: Jul 28, 2023 / 09:32 AM CDT Updated: Jul 28, 2023 / 09:32 AM CDT MOSCOW (AP) — Russian military says it shot down a Ukrainian missile over a southern Russian city, accuses Kyiv of a “terror attack.” Close Modal Suggest a Correction Your name(required) Your email(required) Report a typo or grammatical error(required) Submit Δ Suggest a Correction | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-russian-military-says-it-shot-down-a-ukrainian-missile-over-a-southern-russian-city-accuses-kyiv-of-a-terror-attack/ | 2023-07-29T03:27:42 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-russian-military-says-it-shot-down-a-ukrainian-missile-over-a-southern-russian-city-accuses-kyiv-of-a-terror-attack/ |
WASHINGTON — It's highly likely we'll see another billion-dollar jackpot in the coming days, with $940 million on the line in Friday night's Mega Millions drawing.
The game's giant prizes come with miniscule chances of actually winning — winners overcome odds of roughly 1 in 302.6 million. That's not deterring players, though, and those small odds are what makes huge jackpots as the prize rolls over each time.
The prize is now the eighth-largest U.S. lottery prize and the fifth-largest in Mega Millions history. July has been a hot month for lottery prizes after a ticket sold in downtown Los Angeles won the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot.
Mega Millions hasn't seen a grand prize winner since April 18, when a 71-year-old man from New York won the state's largest Mega Millions jackpot ever. Johnnie Taylor of Howard Beach in Queens, New York, won $476 million but opted for the cash option — a lump sum of more than $157 million after taxes.
Since mid-April, there have been 28 drawings without a grand prize winner.
Winners almost always take the cash option, but they do have a choice to instead get the full amount in regular payments over 29 years. The cash option for Tuesday's drawing is $422 million.
Mega Millions winning numbers for July 28, 2023:
The winning numbers were: 5-10-28-52-63, Mega Ball: 18 and Megaplier: 5.
When is the Mega Millions drawing?
Mega Millions drawings take place on Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
What are the largest lottery jackpots ever?
- $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)
- $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)
- $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)
- $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023 (one ticket, from Maine)
- $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)
- $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023 (one ticket, from California)
- $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)
- $940 million, Mega Millions (estimated), July 28, 2023
- $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)
- $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/nation-world/mega-millions-940m-jackpot-winning-numbers-friday-july-28-2023/507-f6918143-63c8-4129-ba3c-afd22afbc18d | 2023-07-29T03:27:45 | 1 | https://www.kcentv.com/article/news/nation-world/mega-millions-940m-jackpot-winning-numbers-friday-july-28-2023/507-f6918143-63c8-4129-ba3c-afd22afbc18d |
BEIJING, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chengdu Universiade officially kicked off Friday night in the capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, known as the hometown of giant pandas and one of the most vibrant Chinese cities.
Ahead the opening ceremony of the 31st summer edition of the FISU World University Games, Chinese President Xi Jinping has engaged himself in a flurry of face-to-face high-level meetings with foreign leaders attending the ceremony over the past couple of days.
Behind the tight diplomatic schedule, Xi has highlighted the importance of solidarity, cooperation and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, three key messages shared by the visiting leaders of Indonesia, Guyana, Georgia, Mauritania and Burundi.
Solidarity
In a toast at a welcoming banquet on Friday noon, Xi said the Games, since its inception, has always been "a celebration of youth, solidarity, and friendship."
"We should promote solidarity through sports, build up positive energy across the international community, join hands to tackle global challenges such as climate change, food crisis and terrorism, and shape a better future through cooperation," he urged.
Solidarity, unity and togetherness were also one of the hot topics during the Chinese president's separate meetings with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani and Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye.
During the meeting with the Burundian leader, for instance, Xi stressed the importance of solidarity between China and Africa in safeguarding the common interests of developing countries and the international fairness and justice.
Cooperation
During the meetings of the leaders, China and the five countries agreed to further cooperation, such as on trade, infrastructure and people-to-people exchanges.
In a meeting with Xi on Thursday, Widodo said Indonesia is willing to continue to enhance cooperation with China in areas including investment, marine fisheries, food security and healthcare. The leaders witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents following the meeting.
China and Georgia will issue a joint statement and announce the establishment of strategic partnership during Garibashvili's historic visit. Xi hailed the remarkable achievements in cooperation in various fields between the two countries over the past 31 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, while the Georgian prime minister said the elevation of bilateral relations will bring more opportunities to his country.
On Friday, China and Mauritania also signed a cooperation plan on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to enhance bilateral ties.
A community with a shared future for mankind
The term of building a community with a shared future for mankind was repeatedly highlighted during the leaders' meetings, with Indonesia, Guyana, Georgia, Mauritania and Burundi also expressing support for China-proposed initiatives.
While meeting with Xi on Friday afternoon, Ghazouani said Mauritania supports the BRI, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, saying that these initiatives are in line with the norms governing international relations that respect countries' independence and sovereignty and exchanges between different civilizations.
Addressing the welcoming banquet, Xi stressed the importance of deepening exchanges and mutual learning to promote harmony without uniformity in the spirit of inclusiveness and seeing different cultures with an attitude of mutual appreciation and mutual learning.
"The Chengdu Games should be an opportunity for us to champion the common values of humanity and write a new chapter in building a community with a shared future for mankind," said Xi.
In an interview with CGTN, Ali, the Guyanese president, said the Games goes beyond the competitions among the young athletes.
"They can share the experiences, they can share culture, [and] they can share who they are in building a stronger family of humanity," he said.
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SOURCE CGTN | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/cgtn-solidarity-vowed-xi-hosts-foreign-leaders-amid-chengdu-universiade/ | 2023-07-29T03:27:49 | 1 | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/cgtn-solidarity-vowed-xi-hosts-foreign-leaders-amid-chengdu-universiade/ |
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Salvage crews dealing with a cargo ship loaded with cars that has been burning for more than two days off the northern Dutch coast boarded the vessel for the first time Friday as heat, flames and smoke eased, the Netherlands’ coast guard said.
“In the course of the morning, after measurements by the recovery companies, it turned out that the temperature on board the Fremantle Highway had dropped sharply. The fire is still raging but decreasing. The smoke is also decreasing,” the coast guard said in a statement.
Salvage workers boarded the ship and established “a new more robust towing connection,” the agency added. “This makes it easier to move the ship and keep it under control.”
Government officials are now “looking at various scenarios to determine the next steps,” the coast guard said.
One crew member died and others were injured after the blaze started. The entire crew was evacuated from the ship in the early hours of Wednesday, with some leaping into the sea and being picked up by a lifeboat. The cause of the fire hasn’t been established.
The Fremantle Highway was 23 kilometers (14 miles) north of the island of Terschelling on Friday afternoon, close to busy North Sea shipping lanes and an internationally renowned migratory bird habitat.
K Line, the company that chartered the ship, said Friday that it was carrying far more electric vehicles than initially reported by the coast guard.
Company spokesman Pat Adamson said the ship was carrying a total of 3,783 new vehicles, including 498 electric vehicles. The coast guard, citing an early freight list, had said it was carrying 2,857 cars, including 25 electric cars.
Adamson said K Line didn’t know the source of the initial lower number.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has warned about the possible dangers of electric vehicle battery fires, a hazard that stems from thermal runaway, a chemical reaction that causes uncontrolled battery temperature and pressure increases.
The burning vessel was close to the shallow Wadden Sea, a World Heritage-listed area that is considered one of the world’s most significant habitats for migratory birds. It’s also close to the Netherlands’ border with Germany, whose environment minister, Steffi Lemke, said Thursday that if the ship were to sink, it “could turn into an environmental catastrophe of unknown proportions.”
Earlier this month in Newark, New Jersey, firefighters took nearly a week to extinguish a similar blaze in a car transport ship. Two firefighters were killed and five others were injured battling the flames. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-salvage-crews-board-a-cargo-ship-burning-off-the-netherlands-the-smoke-and-flames-are-easing/ | 2023-07-29T03:27:48 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-salvage-crews-board-a-cargo-ship-burning-off-the-netherlands-the-smoke-and-flames-are-easing/ |
WACO, Texas — What's better than one Little League World Series title? Two in a row!
The Midway Softball All-Star team has their eyes set on a two-peat.
"It was a great feeling because half of us have already experienced it, so we were really excited to get to do it again," Kyndal Brown, a 12-year-old left fielder and 2022 LLWS champion, said.
Nine Midway Softball stars are ready to hit the road to the World Series for a second straight year, but for some, there's a first for everything.
"For the new players, they were really excited because they've never done this before," Brown said. "So, we're really excited to be able to tell them what's gonna be happening at the World Series."
Midway earned their spot in the Series by shutting out Texas East on July 27.
"It's really exciting because we're about to go back to school and we get to finish the summer traveling with our friends, playing our favorite sport," said Brown.
Brown has been playing softball since she was 4 years old, with her dad right there for every single inning.
"Watching them play and watching their hard work pay off, that's what I love to see," Chad Brown, Kyndal's dad, said. "That's what makes me more excited than anything. Especially when a girl does something really good, hits a home run, makes a diving catch or makes a clutch hit. I remember when they were working and I'm just glad it pays off for these girls."
Chad Brown has watched this team thrive from the start. He is there at every practice and every game.
"They're a year older. A year more mature. A year stronger," Chad said. "So, I didn't really feel it but when we got to Regionals this year, there were some good pitchers with a lot of good competition."
But, it was nothing this team couldn't handle.
Midway now heads to North Carolina with their eyes set on a two-peat and some very proud parents cheering them on.
"Exciting, choked up. There's a little lump in your throat," Chad Brown said. "Tears your eyes up a little bit, but I'm real excited. Real proud of the girls."
Kyndal Brown says she has always wanted to play softball on TV in the College World Series, and it's probably a safe bet to say two trips to the Little League World Series is a pretty great start!
The team's first battle on the diamond is Sunday, August 6, against the Southeast Regional qualifier.
KCEN Related Stories: | https://www.kcentv.com/article/sports/local-sports/midway-all-star-softball-heads-back-to-little-league-world-series-for-second-straight-year/500-cc294c5d-8aa7-4a5a-9047-a5b7244f5482 | 2023-07-29T03:27:51 | 0 | https://www.kcentv.com/article/sports/local-sports/midway-all-star-softball-heads-back-to-little-league-world-series-for-second-straight-year/500-cc294c5d-8aa7-4a5a-9047-a5b7244f5482 |
NEW YORK, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sooth, an industry-leading strategic marketing insights platform and consultancy, is excited to announce a dynamic partnership with Kestrel Consulting. This collaboration brings Sooth's founder, Ian Baer, and his innovative methodologies and expertise into Kestrel's broad network, promising to enrich Kestrel's client marketing and branding initiatives with fresh perspectives and deeper understanding.
Recognized for its patent-pending method that fuses data, AI, and human intellect, Sooth deciphers the intricacies of human decision-making, mapping emotional drivers and receptivity of diverse consumer and business audiences. Now part of Kestrel's network, Sooth's unique, sophisticated approach will bolster client marketing initiatives, offering a powerful toolset to unlock new avenues for connection, empathy, and understanding that is proven to increase customer lifetime value by four times or more.
As Kestrel's preferred provider of brand strategic services, Sooth will also accelerate its own growth by working on branding and marketing projects for clients and partners within the Kestrel network.
"Kestrel Consultants helps leadership teams, founders, entrepreneurs, and enterprises fly higher and achieve strategic outcomes through its exclusive partnership network of fractional executives and boutique business consultants," the company said in a statement. "We're proud to welcome Sooth into our exclusive partnership and referral network. We've admired Ian Baer's work for years, and his exceptional talent is a real complement to our network's other areas of expertise. We're excited to collaborate on new projects together."
This partnership represents a convergence of Sooth's methodologies and Kestrel's expansive network. By bringing together Sooth's unparalleled insights and Kestrel's team of skilled executives and consultants, they aim to empower Kestrel's clientele with deeper understanding and fresh perspectives, enabling them to achieve their marketing goals.
"Changes in consumer and business culture over the past several years have irrevocably changed how marketing works at an elemental level," said Ian Baer, Founder and Chief Soothsayer at Sooth. "With 90 percent of all decisions now determined by each person's unique emotional priorities, we're able to roadmap success for brands by unlocking an in-depth understanding of the factors that create connection between these brands and the customers they serve. Kestrel's model brings together complementary innovators to help companies elevate their game across a broad spectrum of business and marketing interdependencies. I could not be more excited to align with the talented leaders of Kestrel Consultants to bring clients high-impact business solutions at the speed and efficiency of modern commerce."
About Sooth
Sooth is an industry-leading strategic marketing insights platform and consultancy. Using a unique, patent-pending method that synergizes data, artificial intelligence, and human intellect, Sooth decodes the intricacies of consumer decision-making and maps the emotional motivators of diverse audiences with unparalleled precision. Sooth is committed to making marketing strategies more effective, intuitive, and emotionally engaging, empowering brands with the insights they need. www.SoothBeTold.com
About Kestrel Consultants
Kestrel Consultants helps leadership teams, founders, entrepreneurs, and enterprises fly higher and achieve strategic outcomes through its exclusive partnership network of fractional executives and boutique business consultants. Learn more at KestrelConsultants.com.
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Singapore conducted its first execution of a woman in 19 years on Friday and its second hanging this week for drug trafficking despite calls for the city-state to cease capital punishment for drug-related crimes.
Activists said another execution is planned next week.
Saridewi Djamani, 45, was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking about 31 grams (1 ounce) of diamorphine, or pure heroin, the Central Narcotics Bureau said. It said the amount was “sufficient to feed the addiction of about 370 abusers for a week.”
Singapore’s laws mandate the death penalty for anyone convicted of trafficking more than 500 grams (17.6 ounces) of cannabis and 15 grams (0.5 ounces) of heroin.
Djamani’s execution came two days after that of a Singaporean man, Mohammed Aziz Hussain, 56, for trafficking around 50 grams (1.7 ounces) of heroin.
The narcotics bureau said both prisoners were accorded due process, including appeals of their convictions and sentences and petitions for presidential clemency.
Human rights groups, international activists and the United Nations have urged Singapore to halt executions for drug offenses and say there is increasing evidence it is ineffective as a deterrent. Singapore authorities insist capital punishment is important to halting drug demand and supply.
Human rights groups say it has executed 15 people for drug offenses since it resumed hangings in March 2022, an average of one a month.
Anti-death penalty activists said the last woman known to have been hanged in Singapore was 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen, also for drug trafficking, in 2004.
Transformative Justice Collective, a Singapore group which advocates for the abolishment of capital punishment, said a new execution notice has been issued to another prisoner for Aug, 3, the fifth this year alone.
It said the prisoner is an ethnic Malay citizen who worked as a delivery driver before his arrest in 2016. He was convicted in 2019 of trafficking around 50 grams (1.7 ounces) of heroin and his appeal was dismissed last year, it said.
The group said the man had maintained in his trial that he believed he was delivering contraband cigarettes for a friend to whom he owed money, and he didn’t verify the contents of the bag as he trusted his friend.
The High Court judge ruled that their ties weren’t close enough to warrant the kind of trust he claimed to have had for his friend. Although the court found he was merely a courier, the man still had to be given the mandatory death penalty because prosecutors didn’t issue him a certificate of having cooperated with them, it said.
“But how could he have cooperated if, as he told the police and the court, he had not even been aware that he was being used to deliver heroin?” the group said on Facebook.
The group said it “condemns, in the strongest terms, the state’s bloodthirsty streak” and reiterated calls for an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
Critics say Singapore’s harsh policy punishes low-level traffickers and couriers, who are typically recruited from marginalized groups with vulnerabilities. They say Singapore is also out of step with the trend of more countries moving away from capital punishment. Neighboring Thailand has legalized cannabis while Malaysia ended the mandatory death penalty for serious crimes this year. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-singapore-hangs-first-woman-in-19-years-after-she-was-convicted-of-trafficking-31-grams-of-heroin/ | 2023-07-29T03:27:55 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-singapore-hangs-first-woman-in-19-years-after-she-was-convicted-of-trafficking-31-grams-of-heroin/ |
BEIJING, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Tarena International, Inc. (NASDAQ: TEDU) ("Tarena" or the "Company"), a leading provider of IT professional education and IT-focused supplementary STEAM education services in China, today announced that it received a written notification from the Staff of the Listing Qualifications Department of the Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq") dated July 28, 2023, indicating that the Company no longer meets the continued listing requirement of minimum Market Value of Publicly Held Shares ("MVPHS") for the Nasdaq Global Select Market, as set forth in the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5450(b)(2)(C), because the Company's MVPHS for the last 30 consecutive business days was below the minimum MVPHS requirement of US$15,000,000.
Pursuant to the Nasdaq Listing Rules, the applicable grace period to regain compliance is 180 calendar days, or until January 24, 2024. The Company can cure this deficiency if its MVPHS closes at US$15,000,000 or more for a minimum of ten consecutive business days during the compliance period. The Company's management is looking into various options available to regain compliance and maintain its continued listing on The Nasdaq Global Select Market. In the event the Company does not regain compliance prior to the expiration of the compliance period, it will receive written notification that its securities are subject to delisting. Alternatively, the Company may apply to transfer the Company's securities to The Nasdaq Capital Market, subject to the Nasdaq Capital Market's continued listing requirements.
About Tarena International, Inc.
Tarena is a leading provider of IT professional education and IT-focused supplementary STEAM education services in China. Through its innovative education platform combining live distance instruction, classroom-based tutoring and online learning modules, Tarena offers professional education courses in IT and non-IT subjects. Its professional education courses provide students with practical skills to prepare them for jobs in industries with significant growth potential and strong hiring demand. Tarena also offers IT-focused supplementary STEAM education programs, including computer coding and robotics programming courses, etc., targeting students between three and eighteen years of age. Aiming to encourage "code to learn," Tarena embraces the latest trends in STEAM education and technology to develop children's logical thinking and learning abilities while allowing them to discover their interests and potential.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Tarena may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Any statements that are not historical facts, including any business outlook and statements about Tarena's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Many factors, risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, but not limited to the following: the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak; Tarena's goals and strategies; its future business development, financial condition and results of operations; its ability to continue to attract students to enroll in its courses; its ability to continue to recruit, train and retain qualified instructors and teaching assistants; its ability to continually tailor its curriculum to market demand and enhance its courses to adequately and promptly respond to developments in the professional job market; its ability to maintain or enhance its brand recognition, its ability to maintain high job placement rate for its students, and its ability to maintain cooperative relationships with financing service providers for student loans.
Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in Tarena's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and Tarena does not undertake any obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law.
For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations Contact
Tarena International, Inc.
Email: ir@tedu.cn
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SOURCE Tarena International, Inc. | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/tarena-announces-receipt-nasdaq-notification-regarding-minimum-market-value-publicly-held-shares/ | 2023-07-29T03:28:02 | 0 | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/tarena-announces-receipt-nasdaq-notification-regarding-minimum-market-value-publicly-held-shares/ |
BEIJING (AP) — Typhoon Doksuri made landfall in China after bringing deadly landslides to the Philippines.
The storm plowed into the eastern province of Fujian on Friday morning after bringing heavy rains and gale-force winds to parts of Taiwan, especially the Penghu island group, also known as the Pescadores.
In the Philippines, a week of stormy weather across the main island of Luzon caused 39 deaths, including 26 killed in the capsizing of a passenger ship. At least 13 people were reported killed earlier due to Doksuri’s onslaught, mostly due to landslides, flooding and toppled trees, and thousands were displaced, disaster response officials said. More than 20 others remained missing, including four coast guard personnel whose boat overturned while on a rescue mission in hard-hit Cagayan province, disaster response officials said Friday.
The storm caused widespread power outages and agricultural damage in the archipelagic country and prompted the suspension of work, classes and sea travel at the height of the onslaught, officials said, adding they were monitoring another approaching storm.
China has upped its typhoon preparedness through text messaging and notices on social media. In Fujian, more than 400,000 people had been moved to safety, hundreds of ships returned to ports and transportation suspended. Businesses and summer school classes were also ordered suspended and the public was urged to stay indoors. In the city of Quanzhou, the roof of a sports stadium was partially torn off, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
After hitting the coast, most typhoons tend to lose strength while moving into the mountainous interior of southeastern China, although they sometimes linger over areas, dropping heavy rain.
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AP reporter Jim Gomez contributed from Manila, Philippines. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-typhoon-doksuri-makes-landfall-in-china-after-bringing-deadly-landslides-to-philippines/ | 2023-07-29T03:28:02 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-typhoon-doksuri-makes-landfall-in-china-after-bringing-deadly-landslides-to-philippines/ |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations has been forced to cut food, cash payments and assistance to millions of people in many countries because of “a crippling funding crisis” that has seen its donations plummet by about half as acute hunger is hitting record levels, a top official said Friday.
Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, told a news conference that at least 38 of the 86 countries where WFP operates have already seen cuts or plan to cut assistance soon — including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and West Africa.
He said WFP’s operating requirement is $20 billion to deliver aid to everyone in need, but it was aiming for between $10 billion and $14 billion, which was what the agency had received in the past few years.
“We’re still aiming at that, but we have only so far this year gotten to about half of that, around $5 billion,” Skau said.
He said humanitarian needs were “going through the roof” in 2021 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine and its global implications. “Those needs continue to grow, those drivers are still there,” he said, “but the funding is drying up. So we’re looking at 2024 (being) even more dire.”
“The largest food and nutrition crisis in history today persists,” Skau said. “This year, 345 million people continue to be acutely food insecure while hundreds of millions of people are at risk of worsening hunger.”
Skau said conflict and insecurity remain the primary drivers of acute hunger around the world, along with climate change, unrelenting disasters, persistent food price inflation and mounting debt stress — all during a slowdown in the global economy.
WFP is looking to diversify its funding base, but he also urged the agency’s traditional donors to “step up and support us through this very difficult time.”
Asked why funding was drying up, Skau said to ask the donors.
“But it’s clear that aid budgets, humanitarian budgets, both in Europe and the United States, (are) not where they were in 2021-2022,” he said.
Skau said that in March, WFP was forced to cut rations from 75% to 50% for communities in Afghanistan facing emergency levels of hunger, and in May it was forced to cut food for 8 million people — 66% of the people it was assisting. Now, it is helping just 5 million people, he said. In Syria, 5.5 million people who relied on WFP for food were already on 50% rations, Skau said, and in July the agency cut all rations to 2.5 million of them. In the Palestinian territories, WFP cut its cash assistance by 20% in May and in June, and cut its caseload by 60%, or 200,000 people, he said. And in Yemen, he said, a huge funding gap will force WFP to cut aid to 7 million people as early as August.
In West Africa, where acute hunger is on the rise, Skau said, most countries are facing extensive ration cuts, particularly WFP’s seven largest crisis operations: Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.
He said cutting aid to people who are only at the hunger level of crisis to help save those literally starving or in the category of catastrophic hunger means that those dropped will rapidly fall into the emergency and catastrophe categories, “and so we will have an additional humanitarian emergency on our hands down the road.”
“Ration cuts are clearly not the way to go forward,” Skau said.
He urged world leaders to prioritize humanitarian funding and invest in long-tern solutions to conflicts, poverty, development and other root causes of the current crisis. | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-un-says-its-forced-to-cut-food-aid-to-millions-globally-because-of-a-funding-crisis/ | 2023-07-29T03:28:09 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/international-news/ap-international/ap-un-says-its-forced-to-cut-food-aid-to-millions-globally-because-of-a-funding-crisis/ |
LONDON, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- VAPORESSO, a leading innovator in the vaping industry, has received well-deserved recognition at this year's London Design Awards, with four of its groundbreaking products being awarded for their exceptional design. The London Design Awards is an international competition that recognises exceptional designs and outstanding creative projects worldwide, celebrating the vibrancy and diversity of the international design community.
The four distinguished products from VAPORESSO - the COSS, ECO NANO, LUXE XR, and XROS 3 NANO - have showcased the brand's formidable innovative prowess and have also been recognized with awards from many organizations. VAPORESSO's latest groundbreaking offering, the VAPORESSO COSS, is regarded as a game-changer in the vaping industry. It tackles existing issues with a thoughtful design that seamlessly caters to user habits. Its slogan, 'Convenient Operating, Smart Supplying', perfectly encapsulates the product's core values of INNOVATION, RELIABILITY, and STYLE.
"Winning these awards is a testament to the creativity, skill, and dedication of our team," said Jimmy Hu, Vice President of VAPORESSO, "We are thrilled to have our efforts recognised on such a prestigious global platform. It validates our commitment to delivering innovative, high-quality products that enhance the vaping experience for our customers."
The London Design Awards, held annually, applauds outstanding design achievements across various creative sectors. It acknowledges exemplary projects, products, and professionals who demonstrate innovation, creativity, and excellence within their respective industries. Meanwhile, the London Design Awards not only honours design excellence but also fosters creativity, encourages innovation, and facilitates collaborations between designers and design-driven businesses. The awards have grown in stature and popularity since their inception, attracting a wide range of participants from various design fields.
The recognition from the London Design Awards underscores VAPORESSO's dedication to creating products that exceed customer expectations and further solidifies its position as a thought leader in the industry. It also acts as an external validation of VAPORESSO's capabilities and quality of work, building trust and confidence among potential customers.
About VAPORESSO
Established in 2015, VAPORESSO is committed to creating a smoke-free world and enhancing the quality of life for its users. Through continuous innovation, stringent quality control, and substantial commitment, VAPORESSO produces products that cater to all levels and styles of vapers.
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A University of Notre Dame professor has filed a defamation lawsuit against a student-run publication over news coverage of her abortion-rights work. The case is raising questions about press freedom and academic freedom at one of the nation’s preeminent Catholic universities.
Tamara Kay’s suit, filed in May, alleges falsehoods in two articles published by The Irish Rover in the past academic year. The Rover defended its reporting as true in a motion filed earlier this month to dismiss the case, under a law meant to protect people from frivolous lawsuits over matters of public concern.
Kay, a professor of global affairs and sociology, asks for unspecified punitive damages after she “has been harassed, threatened, and experienced damage to her residential property” and “continues to experience mental anguish” because of the two articles.
Published in October and March after public events in which Kay participated, the articles cover her remarks about her support for abortion rights. The lawsuit alleges that the articles contained “false and defamatory” information, arguing that they misinterpreted a sign on her door about helping students access healthcare and denying two quotes about academic freedom and her work at a Catholic institution.
“The note on my door referenced sexual assault, and the inadequate resources and support for student survivors at Notre Dame,” Kay told The Associated Press via email.
She added that she had asked the Rover’s faculty advisors to retract or correct the story, and that Notre Dame officials refused to intervene on her behalf.
“All of this is utterly devastating,” Kay said. She said her public writing and public speech “are all fair game for reporting and critique, as long as that reporting is accurate. It has not been.”
Notre Dame’s Office of Media Relations didn’t answer repeated requests for comment from the AP. Neither did Kay’s attorney in the lawsuit.
In the motion filed under Indiana’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) law, the Irish Rover argued that – as an “independent, non-profit, student publication ‘devoted to preserving the Catholic identity of Notre Dame’” – its coverage of a Notre Dame professor’s public statements and actions about abortion qualify under the law’s public interest and free speech criteria.
The motion added that the stories were “at least substantially true” and “did not contain defamatory imputation.” Exhibits include a transcript of the March event and since-deleted tweets by Kay last fall referring Notre Dame colleagues to websites with information on where to find abortion providers and how to procure abortion pills.
That “targeted advocacy” — just as Indiana’s abortion ban first went briefly into effect — motivated Notre Dame student W. Joseph DeReuil, 21, to seek comments from Kay and write a news story, he told the AP.
DeReuil, the Rover’s editor-in-chief during the last academic year, said he is a practicing Catholic and believes the Church’s teaching that life starts at conception and thus abortion is intentional killing.
“I do wish at times that, I guess, Notre Dame would take, as an institution, a stronger stance in favor of the Catholic position on some of these issues,” he said.
He added that he condemned harassment of abortion rights advocates and specifically the threats mentioned in the lawsuit by Kay.
DeReuil said he was confident his reporting was factually correct and hoped the suit would be dismissed, instead of consuming his senior year.
“You’ll face pushback, but you can still be a normal, cheerful, happy student,” he said. “It’s not going to affect you negatively in the long term if you’re standing up for what you believe is true.”
The Rover’s attorney, James Bopp, Jr., said lawsuits like this can create a chilling effect.
“If we fail, it will send the message that if you speak out about the abortion issue, then you risk punishment through the legal system, and particularly if you speak out on the pro-life side,” said Bopp, who has worked on major national cases on behalf of anti-abortion and free speech causes.
While the Church’s position on abortion is unwavering, not all Catholics agree with it. Some oppose it based on their sense of Catholic teachings about individual conscience or social justice, said professor Samira Mehta, an expert on gender and religion at the University of Colorado.
It’s rare to have faculty sue students for libel over an issue broaching “diametrically opposed worldviews,” said Jonathan Gaston-Falk, an attorney with the Student Press Law Center. The organization defends press freedom rights for high school and college journalists and their advisors; it is not involved in this litigation.
“Libel can be boiled down to a false statement of fact that harms somebody’s reputation” – and is published with knowledge of that falsity and malice if the person is a public figure, Gaston-Falk added.
According to Indiana law, courts have six months to rule on an anti-SLAPP motion.
Indiana was the first state to enact sweeping abortion restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. | https://who13.com/news/national-news/ap-us-news/ap-a-notre-dame-professor-sues-a-student-publication-over-its-coverage-of-her-abortion-rights-work/ | 2023-07-29T03:28:15 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/national-news/ap-us-news/ap-a-notre-dame-professor-sues-a-student-publication-over-its-coverage-of-her-abortion-rights-work/ |
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — When Alicia Navarro disappeared in 2019 from her home in a Phoenix suburb days before her 15th birthday, she left a signed note for her family promising she would return.
“I will be back, I swear,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”
Believing she would keep her promise, Jessica Nunez never stopped searching for her daughter.
She paid for a billboard ad in Mexico that featured a photo of her daughter for a year. She bought 10 more ads in Las Vegas. She spoke at events and gave media interviews to raise awareness. She left flyers all around Glendale — at salons, truck stops, parks.
Nunez’s yearslong search came to an end Sunday when her daughter, now 18, walked into a small-town Montana police station near the Canadian border and identified herself as the missing teenager.
Police said Navarro told them she hadn’t been harmed, wasn’t being held, and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they added.
Investigators are now trying to determine what happened to Navarro after she disappeared and how she ended up in Havre, Montana, more than 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) from her home.
A spokesperson for the Glendale police said Friday that no one has been taken into custody in Navarro’s disappearance. Officer Gina Winn declined to say whether investigators know how long Navarro was in Montana.
Glendale police Lt. Scott Waite said at a news conference Wednesday they were looking into all the possible scenarios that could have led to Navarro’s disappearance, including kidnapping.
Over the years, Nunez had raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed with autism, may have been lured away by someone she met online.
In Havre — a town of about 9,200 people surrounded by farmland and north of the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation — Navarro’s story had residents buzzing even though most had never seen or heard of her. It also piqued interest when a team of heavily armed law enforcement officers entered an apartment and took a man into custody just a few blocks from the Havre police station Wednesday night, witnesses told The Associated Press.
As many as 10 uniformed and undercover officers showed up at about 8 p.m. and took him away in handcuffs. The man had been living in the apartment, said Rick Lieberg, who lives across the street.
A young woman later emerged from the apartment — one of six units in an aging building in a residential neighborhood — who Lieberg said he had not previously seen. The woman resembled a photograph of Navarro that was released by police, he said.
Jonathan Michaelson, who lives next door, said he was questioned Wednesday night by a plainclothes police officer from Arizona who asked whether he had ever seen a girl at the apartment next door. He said he had not.
“If she was in that apartment, I’m surprised I never saw her,” Michaelson said.
A person who works at the Dollar Tree in Havre, Jeff Hummert, said he saw a young woman resembling a photograph of Navarro last year in a city park just up the street from the apartment raided by police Wednesday. She was walking alone and carrying a plastic Walmart bag, Hummert said.
Theories about how Navarro came to be in Montana topped the conversation Friday among the regulars at a coffee shop inside Gary & Leo’s IGA, a grocery store in downtown Havre. With scant details from authorities, most of the talk — about Navarro’s possible destination and whether she was being coerced — was conjecture, said former county Coroner Steve Sapp, who joined the discussion.
“When you’re in law enforcement, all these different stories about what happened make it hard to tell which story is really true,” Sapp said. “I would really like to know more.”
Nunez declined an interview request. But for years, she had documented her efforts to find her daughter on a Facebook page titled “Finding Alicia” and an audio podcast. In an emotional video viewed more than 200,000 times since it was posted Wednesday, Nunez told her tens of thousands of followers: “For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example. Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight.”
Nunez had amassed a loyal following on social media throughout the years while sharing inspirational quotes, photos of Navarro as a young child and posts addressed directly to her daughter.
“Alicia I know you will fulfill what you promised,” Nunez wrote in one post. “You will be back.”
People across the U.S. reached out to the Arizona mother to ask how they could help, creating an informal network of volunteers. They shared photos and information through the Facebook page.
Glendale police said this week that they received thousands of tips over the years.
In a short video clip that Glendale police said was taken shortly after Navarro arrived at the Montana police station, she can be heard telling authorities, “No one hurt me.” In another short video, Navarro thanked the police.
“Thank you for offering help to me,” she said.
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Yamat reported from Las Vegas. | https://who13.com/news/national-news/ap-us-news/ap-arizona-mom-never-stopped-looking-for-her-missing-daughter-she-showed-up-4-years-later-in-montana/ | 2023-07-29T03:28:22 | 1 | https://who13.com/news/national-news/ap-us-news/ap-arizona-mom-never-stopped-looking-for-her-missing-daughter-she-showed-up-4-years-later-in-montana/ |
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — An Arizona teenager who disappeared days before her 15th birthday nearly four years ago is safe after walking into a small-town police station in Montana this week, authorities announced Wednesday.
Police in Havre, Montana, said Alicia Navarro, now 18, showed up alone Sunday morning in the town of about 9,200 people near the Canadian border and identified herself as a missing teenager from the Phoenix suburb of Glendale.
Navarro’s disappearance on Sept. 15, 2019, sparked a massive search that included the FBI. Glendale police spokesperson Jose Santiago said over the years, police had received thousands of tips.
Investigators are now trying to determine what happened to Navarro after vanishing at age 14 and how she ended up in Montana, more than 1,300 miles (2,090 kilometers) away from her hometown.
When she disappeared, Navarro left a signed note that read: “I ran away. I will be back, I swear. I’m sorry.”
But her mother, Jessica Nunez, raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed as on the autism spectrum, may have been lured away by someone she met online.
Law enforcement officers took a man into custody at an apartment just a few blocks from the Havre police station on Wednesday night, according to several witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press.
As many as 10 heavily-armed uniformed and undercover officers showed up about 8 p.m. and took away in handcuffs the man who had been living in the apartment, said Rick Lieberg, who lives across the street.
A young woman later emerged from the apartment who Lieberg said he had not previously seen. He said the woman resembled a photograph of Navarro that has been released by police.
“She came out, talked to the officers, then two ladies pulled up and then she got into a car with them and they left,” Lieberg said.
Officers remained on the scene for several hours, taking pictures and doing other work inside the apartment, Lieberg said. He said the young woman returned to the apartment building with the two women on Thursday, but he did not see her go into the apartment.
A second witness, Jonathan Michaelson, who lives next door, said he was questioned at the scene by a plainclothes police officer who said he was from Arizona and asked if Michaelson had ever seen a girl at the apartment. He said he had not.
“If she was in that apartment, I’m surprised I never saw her,” Michaelson said.
Glendale police Lt. Scott Waite, the lead investigator, said they were looking into all the possible scenarios that could have led to Navarro’s disappearance, including kidnapping.
“As much as we’d like to say this is the end,” Waite said, “we know this is only the beginning of where this investigation will go.”
Police said Navarro told them after her arrival at the station she hadn’t been harmed, wasn’t being held and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they added.
In a short video clip that police said was taken shortly after Navarro arrived at the police station this week, she can be heard telling authorities, “No one hurt me.”
In another short video, Navarro thanked the police.
“Thank you for offering help to me,” she said.
Authorities in both Montana and Arizona haven’t said how long Navarro had been in Havre before walking into the police station. Havre is surrounded by farmland and is north of the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.
Waite described Navarro’s reunion this week with her mother as “emotionally overwhelming” and that Navarro said she was sorry for “what she has put her mother through.”
In an emotional video posted Wednesday to a Facebook account titled “Finding Alicia,” Nunez told her tens of thousands of followers, “I want to give glory to God for answering prayers and for this miracle.”
Nunez had been documenting her efforts to find her daughter on the Facebook page throughout the years. The account features hundreds of posts with photos of Navarro as a young child and pictures of Nunez holding up signs that read, “Children don’t just disappear!”
“For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example,” Nunez said in the video, which had been viewed more than 200,000 times. “Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight.”
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Yamat reported from Las Vegas. Associated Press writers Robert Jablon in Los Angeles and Amy Hanson in Helena, Montana, contributed. | https://who13.com/news/national-news/ap-us-news/ap-arizona-teen-alicia-navarro-missing-since-2019-shows-up-safe-at-montana-police-station/ | 2023-07-29T03:28:29 | 0 | https://who13.com/news/national-news/ap-us-news/ap-arizona-teen-alicia-navarro-missing-since-2019-shows-up-safe-at-montana-police-station/ |