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BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — On Saturday, we met Gigi!
Gigi is a 1-year-old bulldog mix who gets along with everyone! She loves treats and to play with other dogs. She is a calm and quiet dog who is up for adoption through Buddy’s Second Chance Rescue.
For more information on how you can bring this sweet pup home, view the full segment above or click here.
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Emily Miller is a digital producer who has been part of the News 4 team since 2022. See more of her work here. | https://www.wivb.com/wake-up/wake-up-wags/wake-up-wags-gigi/ | 2023-07-29T12:30:49 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/wake-up/wake-up-wags/wake-up-wags-gigi/ |
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (AP) — For a single, unthinkable moment last summer, the Chautauqua Institution was a hostile place for the freedom of expression that has been its hallmark for 150 years: As Salman Rushdie was about to speak, an audience member leapt onto the stage and stabbed the celebrated author more than a dozen times.
By the next day, Chautauqua Institution President Michael Hill recently recounted, the decision had been made not only to resume programming, but to “double down on what Mr. Rushdie stands for, what our speakers and preachers and artists stand for — which is the free exchange of ideas and the belief that society is stronger when we do that.”
A year later, Rushdie, blinded in one eye by the assault, is recovering from the attack. The Chautauqua Institution is recovering, too.
Programming and revenue for the arts and intellectual retreat in the rural southwest corner of New York was disrupted for two seasons by COVID-19. Then the attack further shattered the return to normal that regular visitors had so craved.
With a new nine-week summer season now under way, well-tended gardens are in bloom and rocking chairs are back out on the porches of Victorian- and cottage-style homes.
Security has been strengthened, though the gated compound remains open to anyone who buys a pass to enter.
“We look at the work that we do under a different lens since” the stabbing, Hill said during an interview in his office, which overlooks Bestor Plaza, a lush expanse of greenery anchoring the 750-acre (303-hectare) grounds. “The attack was an attempt at silencing, which underscores the need for institutions like ours to not stay silent.”
As an institution, Chautauqua defies easy explanation.
“NPR camp for grown-ups” is the description preferred by Erica Higbie, who owns a house on the grounds.
Located on the shore of Chautauqua Lake, the institution is a self-contained community with lecture halls, houses of worship, cafes, shops, a library, post office and bookstore, along with private homes, rentals and the Athenaeum Hotel, which served as former President Bill Clinton’s executive mansion for a week in 1996 as he prepared for his debate with Republican challenger Bob Dole.
Aside from boating and golf, the 4,400-seat, open-air amphitheater is a main draw, with a summer entertainment lineup this year offering concerts by Diana Ross and Bonnie Raitt, ballet and theater productions and performances by the house Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.
But for Higbie and many others, the primary appeal exists in the institution’s 19th Century beginnings as a summer educational experiment in which daily lectures are curated around weekly explorations of anything from politics to infrastructure and faith to friendship.
“I am a lecture junkie,” Higbie said from her porch as people navigated the grounds on foot, bikes and scooters. The speed limit for the rare vehicle traffic is 12 mph. The retired teacher takes in a daily morning lecture and may hear two more in the afternoon at the amphitheater and the Hall of Philosophy.
Through the decades, Susan B. Anthony advocated for women’s rights at the institution and President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his 1936 “I Hate War” speech in the amphitheater. Former Vice President Al Gore spoke about the climate crisis and Supreme Court Judges Robert H. Jackson and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are among countless others who have offered insights.
Rushdie’s appearance came during a week last year exploring home as “a place for human thriving.”
Henry Reese, co-founder of the City of Asylum Pittsburgh, was about to interview “The Satanic Verses” author about violence against writers when Rushdie was attacked as the men sat in armchairs on the amphitheater’s sunken stage.
Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death, was stabbed in the neck, stomach, chest, hand and right eye. Reese suffered bruises and a gash to his forehead.
With alleged assailant Hadi Matar awaiting trial in a nearby courthouse, Reese is scheduled to return to the institution on the anniversary of the attack, Aug. 12. His appearance is expected to kick off a week exploring freedom of expression, imagination and the resilience of democracy. Republican strategist Karl Rove and Democratic strategist David Axelrod are among other invited guests.
It would have been out of character for the institution to do anything but pick up where it left off after the assault, regular guest lecturer Eboo Patel said.
“Not a single artist or speaker canceled,” Patel, founder of Interfaith America in Chicago, said by phone.
“Chautauqua recognizes that it has a responsibility to its own community, honestly to American civilization and the human spirit, and it’s back up in 24 to 48 hours. That’s stunning,” he said.
Property owners differed on how far the institution should go to ensure personal safety, said Higbie, the president of the Chautauqua Property Owners Association.
“Everybody was in shock for a long time,“ Higbie said.
Visitors say they notice more security and protocols at events. Amphitheater patrons can bring only clear bags inside, for example, and may be scanned or asked to walk through a weapons detector.
Even so, “I never hesitated for a minute” to return, said Michael Crawford of Washington, D.C., as he chatted with Mary Pat McFarland of Philadelphia. The two sat on one of the red benches placed around the grounds to invite discussion.
A handful of musicians with violins, guitars and a small harp played an impromptu jam session beneath a tree nearby.
Hill said he sees his role as “teeing up” issues for engagement, so shying away from difficult ones would be a disservice at a time when civic discourse is in short supply.
“It’s about bringing divergent viewpoints for people to digest,” Hill said. “For us to have made the decision to stop bringing speakers who may be controversial in any way would have been for us to stop doing our mission.”
“It would have been,” he said, “to literally stop the reason this place was created.” | https://www.wjhl.com/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-after-an-attack-on-salman-rushdie-the-chautauqua-institution-says-its-mission-wont-change/ | 2023-07-29T12:30:52 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-after-an-attack-on-salman-rushdie-the-chautauqua-institution-says-its-mission-wont-change/ |
Win a pair of tickets to see ISO’s Symphony on the Prairie: Here Come the Mummies August 12 at Conner Prairie
by: Allan Haw
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- 8 Community Calendar picks: Things to do in Indy July 28-30 | https://www.wishtv.com/contests/win-a-pair-of-tickets-to-see-isos-symphony-on-the-prairie-here-come-the-mummies-august-12-at-conner-prairie/ | 2023-07-29T12:30:58 | 0 | https://www.wishtv.com/contests/win-a-pair-of-tickets-to-see-isos-symphony-on-the-prairie-here-come-the-mummies-august-12-at-conner-prairie/ |
Trader Joe's has recalled its frozen falafel for potentially having rocks in it, after it recalled two of its cookie products for the same reason recently.
The company's supplier informed them of the concern, and Trader Joe's said in a statement Friday that "all potentially affected product has been removed from sale and destroyed."
Customers who purchased the product should discard it or return it to a Trader Joe's location for a full refund, the company said.
The falafel, which is fully cooked and frozen, has the SKU number 93935 and is sold in Washington, D.C., and 34 states.
Last Friday, Trader Joe's said rocks could also possibly be found in its Almond Windmill Cookies and Dark Chocolate Chunk and Almond Cookies.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/trader-joes-recalls-its-frozen-falafel-for-possibly-having-rocks-in-it | 2023-07-29T12:30:59 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/trader-joes-recalls-its-frozen-falafel-for-possibly-having-rocks-in-it |
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) — In the sweltering summer heat, nobody tries to cool off by jumping into a hot tub. In parts of Florida, however, that’s what the ocean has felt like.
Earlier this week, sea surface temperatures reached as high as 101.2 degrees Fahrenheit (38.4 degrees Celsius) around the state’s southern tip in Manatee Bay, according to the National Weather Service — although scientists said the context for Monday’s reading is complicated.
“It was like there was no difference between humidity of the air and going into the water,” said Chelsea Ward of Fort Myers, Florida.
Triple-digit ocean temperatures are stunning even in Florida, where residents are used to the heat and where many retirees find refuge from cold, northern winters. Several other nearby spots reached the mid-90s (about 35 Celsius). A storm finally came through on Wednesday, helping water temperatures drop back down in to the more temperate 80s (about 29 Celsius).
Humans naturally look to water for a chance to refresh. Every summer, millions grab their swimsuits for a day on the beach and a chance to cool off in the water — a break from everyday work and worry. Pools offer the same relief and a place for friends to gather. But when water temperatures get too high, some of the appeal is lost.
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Ward, 47, doesn’t keep her beach bag in her car anymore even though she lives minutes away from the beach in Fort Myers. Lately, the water is just too hot. On Sunday, when her friend asked if she wanted to go to the beach, the two decided against it after discovering the water temperature was around 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius).
When it’s hot, the body cools down by sweating, which evaporates and releases heat. Dipping into the ocean is typically so refreshing because heat efficiently transfers from your body into the water. But as water temperatures climb, that effect diminishes and you lose less heat less quickly, according to Michael Mullins, a Washington University toxicologist and emergency medicine physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
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A hot tub — or a stretch of ocean water hotter than body temperature — reverses the transfer of heat into your body. That’s not a pleasant experience on a sizzling, humid, Florida day.
“It would feel," Mullins said, “like you are swimming in soup.”
Ice blocks for your pool? Why not.
People already tend not to swim that much in the Florida waters that were so extremely hot earlier this week. The water can get muddy and there are alligators and crocodiles in the area, too.
But high temperatures anywhere can make swimming less pleasant. Through Friday, Phoenix endured highs above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) every day this month. Pools are warm. About 150 miles (240 kilometers) to the northwest in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, Stefanee Lynn Thompson, 50, wanted to keep guests cool for a pool party she hosted Sunday. The heat had raised the pool's temperature to 96 degrees (36 Celsius).
Her friend recommended she go buy ice blocks. She ran to the grocery store, picked up 40 of them and dumped them in the pool. She set up fans, too. All that hard work dropped the pool's temperature a grand total of 4 degrees (7 degrees Celsius).
“When it's 120 out, anything helps,” Thompson said.
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Recently, ocean temperatures off the western coast of Florida have been a few degrees above normal, sitting around 88 to 90 degrees (31-32 degrees Celsius). It's not just humans that suffer when the oceans warm. Sea corals are bleaching. They can be hurt when water temperatures rise above the upper 80s (low 30 degrees Celsius).
July has been so hot that scientists announced a global heat record even before the month ended. Climate change is creating a hotter world, warming oceans and making some storms more destructive. Sea surface temperatures are somewhat above average around Florida, but they are far higher in parts of the North Atlantic near Newfoundland where they are as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) hotter than usual.
The extremely high sea surface temperatures recorded earlier this week off Florida's southern tip were caused by lots of sun, little wind and no storms.
“I've never seen temperatures 100 degrees in Florida Bay in the 21 years I've been in the Keys,” said Andy Devanas, science officer at the National Weather Service in Key West, Florida.
Is the water that warm everywhere?
And there are some questions about how representative Monday’s 101.2-degree reading in Manatee Bay were. Water there is shallow and thus heats up quickly. If there’s lots of sediment, that can raise temperatures, too, according to David Roth, a forecaster with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.
By contrast, stop by the YMCA pools on the North Shore of Massachusetts near Boston and you'll descend into water that's around 78 to 80 degrees (26 to 27 degrees Celsius). The ocean nearby is cooler, too. Sea surface temperatures off Cape Cod, for example, barely touched the mid-70s (about 24 degrees Celsius) this week.
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When Maria Argueta, 38, has time off from her job at an open-air decorative plant nursery in Homestead, Florida, she'll go with her family to swim.
“This year, the heat is stronger,” she said.
The hot ocean water doesn't bother her, but sometimes she takes her 2-year-old son and other members of the family to the Venetian Pool, a public facility in Coral Gables fed by water from an aquifer that's always in the 70s. The very cool water, she said, is refreshing.
Florida's humid weather makes it harder for sweat to evaporate and cool the body down. People in south Florida know the ocean doesn't tend to offer real relief from that suffocating heat.
“You aren’t getting much cooling at all,” Roth said. “Nobody goes into the water in South Florida in the summer really except to swim, because it is comfortable to swim, but it is not refreshing.” | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/29/lifestyle/water-is-refreshing-heat-right-parts-florida-this-past-week-not-so-much/ | 2023-07-29T12:30:59 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/29/lifestyle/water-is-refreshing-heat-right-parts-florida-this-past-week-not-so-much/ |
CHICAGO (AP) — The beginning of the pandemic was devasting for the leader of the indie rock band Black Belt Eagle Scout, Katherine Paul. All her tours, including one headlining across North America, were canceled and she feared her ascending music career might be over.
She got a day job at a nonprofit and returned to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s homelands in Western Washington. But as Paul, or KP to her friends, spent time in the cedar forests and walked along the Skagit River, she turned to her guitar to deal with the isolation and stress. Those snippets, recorded on her phone, provided the foundation for what would become songs on her powerful, grunge-soaked new record “The Land, The Water, The Sky.”
“I feel like if the pandemic hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have made this record,” said KP, who writes the songs, sings and plays guitar in the band that was the only Native American artist at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this month.
“I spent a lot of time outside. I spent a lot more time than normal going on hikes, being part of the land,” she continued. “It’s not like I never do that stuff but it brought me back to a place where this is who I am.”
The new record, which came out in February, helped launch what has probably been the most successful year so far for Black Belt Eagle Scout. The band toured Europe and will go to Australia later this year. Two of her songs, “Soft Stud” from an earlier record and “Salmon Stinta” from her latest, appear this season on the television series “Reservation Dogs.”
Reservation Dogs Music Supervisor Tiffany Anders said she was introduced to the band’s music by the show’s creator, Sterlin Harjo, when they started working on the second season.
“It’s always been important for us on this show to include Native American artists, but beyond representation, Black Belt Eagle Scout’s music is beautiful and emotional, and fits these characters, their world and landscape — and the vibe of the show,’” she said in a statement.
Then there was Pitchfork, a three-day festival that is a significant milestone for indie musicians. The festival is held every year in Chicago’s Union Park and this year’s headliners included Bon Iver, Big Thief and The Smile, which has members of Radiohead.
She admitted stepping on that stage last weekend was nerve-wracking given her high hopes for the show, a feeling compounded by concerns that storms could scuttle their performance. But as she launched into the blistering set of mostly new songs in front of thousands of eager fans, KP found solace in her guitar. She launched several long jams that were punctuated by her twirling her jet-black hair around to the point it obscured her face.
“It was totally a moment,” she said with a laugh.
“I kind of cried after we played because it felt so meaningful,” she added. “Like, I’ve always wanted to play this music festival. I remember trying to play one of the years before the pandemic when I was touring and it didn’t happen. This year, I was just so stoked to play.”
Reaching Pitchfork has been a long journey for the 34-year-old artist, who is a member of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and left her home on the reservation in LaConner, Washington, when she was 17 to attend Lewis & Clark College in Oregon and play rock music.
Growing up on the reservation off the Washington coast on islands in the Salish Sea, she drummed and sang cultural songs. As a teenager, she discovered local Pacific Northwest bands like Mount Eerie and the sounds of the Riot Grrrl movement and played one of her first gigs at a small bar called Department of Safety. She moved to Portland, Oregon, due to its outsized role in the indie scene that featured bands like Sleater-Kinney and quickly immersed herself in the music scene playing drums and guitar.
She joined an all-female outfit whom she met at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland. She went on to play a lot of small, basement shows with bands like Genders — whose wolf tattoo she still has on her left arm.
But she wanted to write her own songs and formed Black Belt Eagle Scout in 2013. Her early music was defined by her ethereal singing about love, friendship and healing — often only accompanied by minimal guitar strumming. But she did rock out on songs like “Soft Stud,” which featured searing solos.
“She is a really an authentic musician and she carries a lot of power on stage with her presence and sound,” Claire Glass, who plays guitar in the band and first saw KP seven years ago.
KP has said her Native American identify has always been present on her records. But her latest music paints a more vivid picture of life on the Swinomish reservation. There are references to chinook salmon, which are traditionally fished, and a powwow dance.
“I started thinking of feeling grateful for the life that I have been given; this place that I’m from; how much the land, the water, the sky means to me — being surrounded by it,” KP said of writing the song ”Don’t Give Up.” “It has so much more meaning because the land, that’s where my people are from.”
Her songs aren’t meant to directly confront issues like the crisis of missing and murdered Native American women or tribes’ forced relocation. It’s not the way she writes songs. Instead, she envisions them connecting with people, drawing more Native Americans to indie rock shows in places like Minneapolis, which has a vibrant Native American community, and inspiring young Native Americans to connect with her after shows.
“Isn’t me like being here existing with my music good enough? Can’t I just be who I am?” she asked, adding she doesn’t need to speak out from stage about these issues because being Native often means she is already wrestling with them. A judge, for example, ruled in March that BNSF Railway intentionally violated the terms of an easement agreement with the tribe by running 100-car trains carrying crude oil over the reservation.
“As a Native person, you know someone who is missing. Your tribe is trying to get your land back. Those are topics that are part of your every day life,” she said. ”I care about those things deeply but there are certain ways in which my music is, maybe not as direct, but it can be healing.”
KP also doesn’t want to be seen just as a rock musician or as a Native artist. “I am a musician who happens to be Native, but I am also a Native musician … I think I am always both,” she said.
Her latest record aims to show that.
“I kind of had in the back of mind, just kept thinking what would Built to Spill do,” KP said of the guitar-heavy, indie-rock band from the Pacific Northwest. “I’ve gone on tour with them and seen their three guitars at one point playing together and how they overlap and all these other things.”
It’s also a more collaborative effort with more musicians playing on the record— a departure for KP, who is accustomed to doing everything herself. A cellist who played with Nirvana, Lori Goldston, is featured on several songs, as are two violinists, as well as a saxophone and mellotron player.
Takiaya Reed, a first-time producer who is also in a doom metal band, described the experience of working on the record as “beautiful and amazing” and said the two bonded over their love of punk. Reid also brought her classical training and love of “heavier sounds” to the studio.
“We approached it fearlessly. It was wonderful to be expansive in terms of sonic possibilities,” she said.
KP also wanted to find a place for her parents, whom she had grown especially close to during the pandemic, to play on the record. She chose the song “Spaces,” which she described as having a “healing vibe.” Her dad, who is one of the main singers at the tribe’s cultural events, embraced the idea of lending his powerful powwow chant to the song. Her mom sang harmonies.
KP said: “It meant the world to me to have my parents sing because it felt like it was full circle in who I am.” | https://www.wjhl.com/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-black-belt-eagle-scouts-latest-record-inspired-by-return-home-to-swinomish-tribes-ancestral-lands/ | 2023-07-29T12:30:59 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-black-belt-eagle-scouts-latest-record-inspired-by-return-home-to-swinomish-tribes-ancestral-lands/ |
Indiana Grown: E-Love’s Garden
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Each and every Saturday, WISH-TV highlights a local company together with our partners at Indiana Grown.
This week, Erin Shockley, owner of E-Love’s Garden, joins Daybreak to share more about the garden!
Based in Tipton County, Indiana, E-Love’s Garden provides homegrown luffa sponges and delicious produce grown on their 3-acre farm. They also produce baked goods, foraged plants, and artisan garden decor.
E-Love’s Garden’s goods can be purchased at the Tipton County Farmers & Artisans Market, Arcadia Farmers Market, and specialty events across Indiana.
Visit their Facebook and Instagram, and enjoy the full interview above to learn more! | https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/indiana-grown-e-loves-garden/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:04 | 1 | https://www.wishtv.com/news/indiana-news/indiana-grown-e-loves-garden/ |
SAN FRANCISCO — The city of San Francisco has opened a complaint and launched an investigation into a giant "X" sign that was installed Friday on top of the downtown building formerly known as Twitter headquarters as owner Elon Musk continues his rebrand of the social media platform.
City officials say replacing letters or symbols on buildings, or erecting a sign on top of one, requires a permit for design and safety reasons.
The X appeared after San Francisco police stopped workers on Monday from removing the brand's iconic bird and logo from the side of the building, saying they hadn't taped off the sidewalk to keep pedestrians safe if anything fell.
Any replacement letters or symbols would require a permit to ensure "consistency with the historic nature of the building" and to make sure additions are safely attached to the sign, Patrick Hannan, spokesperson for the Department of Building Inspection said earlier this week.
Erecting a sign on top of a building also requires a permit, Hannan said Friday.
"Planning review and approval is also necessary for the installation of this sign. The city is opening a complaint and initiating an investigation," he said in an email.
Musk unveiled a new "X" logo to replace Twitter's famous blue bird as he remakes the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last year. The X started appearing at the top of the desktop version of Twitter on Monday.
Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla, has long been fascinated with the letter X and had already renamed Twitter's corporate name to X Corp. after he bought it in October. One of his children is called "X." The child's actual name is a collection of letters and symbols.
On Friday afternoon, a worker on a lift machine made adjustments to the sign and then left.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/x-logo-installed-atop-twitter-building-spurring-san-francisco-to-investigate | 2023-07-29T12:31:06 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-28/x-logo-installed-atop-twitter-building-spurring-san-francisco-to-investigate |
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; Variety says it was.
The story outlines several specific efforts made by Zucker, or on his behalf, to convince investors to join him in buying CNN. The story includes his denials: “Any allegation or insinuation that Jeff has made any effort to purchase CNN is unequivocally false,” Heller said. Zucker is now head of a private equity firm, RedBird IMI.
At one point, Variety also floated the theory that a secret group of investors was using Zucker’s name without his knowledge to approach Warner Bros. Discovery about buying CNN.
In a June 4 article, The New York Times reported that Zucker was not in talks to buy CNN, although “he has told some associates he would be interested in acquiring the network” if it came up for sale one day, the newspaper said.
The Variety article “struck me as utterly implausible and sophomoric,” Byers wrote for Puck this week.
Variety’s piece called Byers “a former Zucker disciple at CNN who, by his own admission, wrote about Licht incessantly and even took a victory lap after his exit.” The piece described Byers as a writer of “Zucker fan fiction” and criticized him for a conflict of interest in not disclosing in any of his articles that Zucker once had discussions about funding Puck, an online subscription news service.
In its revision on Friday, Variety quoted Puck’s co-founder, Jon Kelly, saying the discussions with RedBird were not disclosed by Byers because “Dylan was intentionally unaware of them.”
For The Atlantic, Alberta wrote a widely-read story that seen by many as being instrumental in Licht’s dismissal by Zaslav. Variety was critical of Alberta, and accused the reporter of using material in his story that he had agreed to keep off the record — a serious charge of malfeasance against a journalist.
As with Byers, Variety didn’t change what it had written about Alberta. But it added a paragraph to its story using some of what Alberta had written on social media, including a denial that he had used off-the-record material, and disputing Variety’s claim of how many times he had met with Licht while reporting the story.
The story was reposted on Variety’s home page. The only indication that it had been changed was a note at its end: “This story was updated on July 28 to reflect new statements from Kelly and Alberta.” | https://www.wjhl.com/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-variety-revises-article-on-former-cnn-chief-jeff-zucker-that-was-sharply-criticized/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:06 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-variety-revises-article-on-former-cnn-chief-jeff-zucker-that-was-sharply-criticized/ |
Dumpster fire causes downtown hotel evacuation
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An alleyway dumpster fire early Saturday morning led to the partial evacuation of a downtown hotel, the Indianapolis Fire Department says.
IFD shared in a Facebook post that around 1:08 a.m., they were called to the Omni Hotel on West Georgia Street on a report of a dumpster fire.
The dumpster fire was soon upgraded to a building fire after firefighters found a fire showing in the alleyway between the hotel and the next-door Hooters restaurant.
As IFD investigated, they found embers and hot spots had spread to the 2nd and 3rd floors of the hotel. Firefighters put out the hot spots quickly, and cleared smoke from the hotel corridors using ventilation equipment.
People who were evacuated from the hotel returned to their rooms around 2:30 a.m. Investigators are still gathering information on what caused the fire.
No one was injured in the incident. | https://www.wishtv.com/news/local-news/dumpster-fire-causes-downtown-hotel-evacuation/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:10 | 0 | https://www.wishtv.com/news/local-news/dumpster-fire-causes-downtown-hotel-evacuation/ |
Women who are soon to be released from prison in Oklahoma get help with the transition by focusing on the arts.
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We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/a-program-in-oklahoma-uses-art-to-re-integrate-women-recently-released-from-prison | 2023-07-29T12:31:12 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/a-program-in-oklahoma-uses-art-to-re-integrate-women-recently-released-from-prison |
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with a resident of Odesa, Ukraine about what the last several days — and nights — have been like, under repeated attack from Russian missiles and drones.
Copyright 2023 NPR
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with a resident of Odesa, Ukraine about what the last several days — and nights — have been like, under repeated attack from Russian missiles and drones.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/a-resident-of-odesa-ukraine-describes-life-amid-russian-missile-and-drone-strikes | 2023-07-29T12:31:13 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/a-resident-of-odesa-ukraine-describes-life-amid-russian-missile-and-drone-strikes |
CANBERRA, 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 Lindeman Island, a Great Barrier Reef tourist resort, at about 11 p.m. Friday, exercise director Australian Army Brigadier Damian Hill said.
A search involving U.S., Canadian and Australian personnel was underway to find the crew who are all Australian men, officials said.
Debris that appeared to be from a helicopter had been recovered, Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Douglas McDonald said.
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.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said the helicopter ditched, which refers to an emergency landing on water.
“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.”
Hill said the exercise was postponed on Saturday morning but had restarted limited activity later in the day. Australia had grounded its Taipan fleet as a precaution, Hill said.
It was 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.
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.”
Marles thanked the United States for their contribution to the search and rescue effort.
The missing helicopter had just dropped off two Australian commandos before it hit the water, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Australia announced in January that its army and navy would stop flying the European-built Taipans by December 2024, 13 years earlier than originally planned, because they had proven unreliable. They will be replaced by 40 U.S. Black Hawks. Marles said at the time the Lockheed Martin-designed Black Hawks “have a really good proven track record in terms of their reliability.”
Australia’s Taipans had been plagued by problems since the first helicopter arrived in the country in 2007.
Australia’s entire fleet of 47 Taipans was grounded in 2019 to fix a problem with their tail rotor blades. A year later, 27 Taipans were grounded because of a problem with doors.
___
Find more of AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific | https://www.wjhl.com/news/international/ap-4-air-crew-members-are-missing-after-australian-army-helicopter-ditched-off-australias-coast/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:14 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/international/ap-4-air-crew-members-are-missing-after-australian-army-helicopter-ditched-off-australias-coast/ |
Colorado officer who put suspect in car hit by train found guilty of reckless endangerment
DENVER (AP) — A Colorado police officer who put a handcuffed woman in a parked police vehicle that was hit by a freight train was found guilty of reckless endangerment and assault but was acquitted of a third charge of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter during a trial Friday.
Jordan Steinke was the first of two officers to go to trial over the Sept. 16, 2022, crash that left Yareni Rios-Gonzalez seriously injured.
“There’s no reasonable doubt that placing a handcuffed person in the back of a patrol car, parked on railroad tracks, creates a substantial and unjustifiable risk of harm by the train,” said Judge Timothy Kerns.
But the evidence didn’t convince Kerns that Steinke “knowingly intended to harm Ms. Rios-Gonzalez,” and he added that Stienke had shown “shock and remorse.”
Steinke testified that she did not know that the patrol car of another officer she was helping was parked on the tracks even though they can be seen on her body camera footage along with two railroad crossing signs. Steinke said she was focused on the threat that could come from Rios-Gonzalez and her pickup truck, not the ground.
Steinke said she put Rios-Gonzalez in the other officer’s vehicle because it was the nearest spot to temporarily hold her. She said she didn’t know the train was coming until just before it hit.
The judge found that Steinke observed the tracks, but failed to “appreciate the risk.”
There was no jury in Steinke’s trial, which started Monday. Instead, Kerns listened to the evidence and issued the verdict. Mallory Revel, Steinke’s attorney, didn’t immediately respond to requests by phone and email for comment.
Steinke, who was working for the Fort Lupton Police Department at the time of the crash, was charged with criminal attempt to commit manslaughter, a felony; and reckless endangerment and third-degree assault, both misdemeanors.
The other officer, Pablo Vazquez, who worked for the police department in nearby Platteville, is being prosecuted for misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment and traffic offenses. He hasn’t entered a plea yet. His lawyer, Reid Elkus, didn’t immediately respond to a request by phone for comment.
Vazquez pulled over Rios-Gonzalez on a rural road that intersects U.S. Highway 85 after she was accused of pointing a gun at another driver. Trains pass on tracks that parallel the highway about a dozen times a day, prosecutors said, and the sound of their horns is common in the area north of Denver.
Rios-Gonzalez, who suffered a traumatic brain injury, is suing over her treatment. She later pleaded no contest to misdemeanor menacing, said one of her lawyers, Chris Ponce, who was in court to watch the trial. Rios-Gonzalez did not testify or attend herself.
Steinke said she placed Rios-Gonzalez in the other police car temporarily because it was the nearest place to keep her secure, a move that is standard practice for high-risk traffic stops, said defense expert witness Steve Ijames. He also testified that in dangerous situations officers can become hyperfocused on particular threats and overlook things that turn out to be important in hindsight.
Steinke, who drove at around 100 mph (161 kph) at times on her way to backup Vazquez, testified that she was surprised to see him sitting in his vehicle when she arrived, rather than pointing a gun at Rios-Gonzalez’s truck. She said she quickly parked her patrol vehicle behind his and got out because it was the quickest way “to get a gun in the fight.”
Steinke also said she did not notice the tracks or the ground when she squatted down to arrest a kneeling Rios-Gonzalez along the tracks after the suspect was ordered out of her pickup truck.
When pressed by Deputy District Attorney Christopher Jewkes, Steinke replied, “I am sure I saw the tracks sir, but I did not perceive them.” She said she was focused on the suspect and the potential threat she posed and was “fairly certain” that the traffic stop would end in gunfire.
“I never in a million years thought a train was going to come plowing through my scene,” Steinke said.
The Weld County District Attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request by phone for comment.
___
This story has been updated to correct that the officer was acquitted of the charge of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter, not manslaughter.
___
Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. | https://www.wishtv.com/news/national/colorado-officer-who-put-suspect-in-car-hit-by-train-found-guilty-of-reckless-endangerment/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:16 | 1 | https://www.wishtv.com/news/national/colorado-officer-who-put-suspect-in-car-hit-by-train-found-guilty-of-reckless-endangerment/ |
There are dueling efforts in Florida by activists on both sides of the abortion issue to insert language into the state constitution.
Copyright 2023 NPR
There are dueling efforts in Florida by activists on both sides of the abortion issue to insert language into the state constitution.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/activists-on-both-sides-of-the-abortion-issue-are-trying-to-change-floridas-constitution | 2023-07-29T12:31:19 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/activists-on-both-sides-of-the-abortion-issue-are-trying-to-change-floridas-constitution |
NPR's Scott Simon talks with graphic artist Karla Ortiz about the issues of consent and compensation around the use of AI in the art world.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/an-artist-explains-why-marvels-use-of-ai-to-animate-a-sequence-is-worrying | 2023-07-29T12:31:19 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/an-artist-explains-why-marvels-use-of-ai-to-animate-a-sequence-is-worrying |
HUARINA, Bolivia (AP) — A 70-year-old man’s feet sink into the soil as he passes abandoned boats where there used to be the water of Lake Titicaca. The highest navigable lake in the world has receded to what Bolivian authorities say are critically low levels due to a persistent drought.
“It’s completely dry,” Jaime Mamani said in exasperation while walking along the new shoreline in Huarina, a farming town 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of La Paz where he is a community leader.
The National Service of Naval Hydrography declared an alert this week for the iconic lake after its surface fell 2 centimeters (0.8 inches) below the drought warning stage, or 3,807.8 meters (12492.7 feet) above sea level. But the agency says this is just the beginning of a situation that is worrying Indigenous Aymara communities that rely on the lake for their livelihoods and fear the dry spell could permanently impact the region’s flora and fauna.
The hydrology unit of Bolivia’s navy warned that water levels could reach historically low levels in the coming months. By December, there is a “high probability” Lake Titicaca will be 64 centimeters (more than 25 inches) below the drought alert level, breaking a low water record set in 1998 by 33 centimeters (almost 13 inches).
“In three months, the water has decreased by 30 centimeters (11.8 inches), and considering that radiation is much stronger during this time of the year … we expect it to keep decreasing,” Carlos Carrasco, a hydraulic engineer for the hydrography service said.
The drought is the result of a combination of factors, including natural phenomena like La Niña and El Niño, which arrived unusually early this year and have been particularly strong due in part to climate change, according to Lucía Walper, who heads up the Hydrological Forecasting Unit at Bolivia’s National Meteorology and Hydrology Service.
But the vast lake is vital for this region of the Bolivian highlands, where hundreds of Aymara rural communities have relied on the blue body of water for millennia to practice subsistence farming and raise livestock.
Authorities in the Peruvian city of Puno also issued a warning about the declining water levels and expressed concern about the potential impact on tourism.
“We’re reaching a critical point. There will be a significant loss of water,” said Juan José Ocola, president of the Binational Authority of Lake Titicaca. The lake serves as the border between Bolivia and Peru.
Mateo Vargas, 56, a fisherman who has lived off the Lake Titicaca for 28 years, said he used to catch “lots” of fish daily. Now he considers himself lucky if he can catch six.
Vargas’ wife, Justina Condori, shares his concerns.
“The fish have vanished,” Condori, 58, said, predicting there will be famine if the current conditions persist.
Condori makes a living by renting boats to tourists. She worries fewer people will come to visit the lake, which at an elevation of 3,810 meters above sea level, is the largest body of freshwater in the Andes mountain range.
Evidence of the receding lake is seemingly everywhere. Women who sell fried fish and other snacks by the lake face rising costs for ingredients. Those who make a living transporting people from one side of the lake to the other are altering their routes because their rafts and boats no longer reach their usual docks.
Livestock farmers who rely on the plants that grow on the shores of the Titicaca to feed their animals are also seeing their livelihoods threatened.
The economic hardship is causing many residents of Huarina to migrate to other areas of the country, leaving behind mostly older townspeople, Mamani said. The waters of the Titicaca have always been shallow around the town, so the drought is even more visible there.
“There is a detriment to the economy of the inhabitants of the region,” he said.
Vargas, the fisherman, is also concerned about what the declining water levels will mean for the future.
“It looks like it will continue to decrease, day by day,” he said. “We’re worried because if we continue like this, what’s going to happen to our children?”
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the climate and environment at https://apnews.com/climate-and-environment | https://www.wjhl.com/news/international/ap-a-drought-alert-for-receding-lake-titicaca-has-indigenous-communities-worried-for-their-future/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:21 | 1 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/international/ap-a-drought-alert-for-receding-lake-titicaca-has-indigenous-communities-worried-for-their-future/ |
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to $1.05 billion after another drawing without a big winner
The Mega Millions jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.05 billion Friday night, only the fifth time in the history of the game that the grand prize has reached into the billions.
No one managed to beat the massive odds and match all six numbers for Friday’s estimated $940 million jackpot. The numbers drawn were: 5, 10, 28, 52, 63 and the gold ball 18.
There have been 29 straight draws without a Mega Millions jackpot winner since the last grand prize ticket on April 18.
The $1.05 billion prize up for grabs in the next drawing Tuesday night would be for a sole winner choosing to be paid through an annuity, with annual payments over 30 years. Jackpot winners almost always opt for a lump sum payment, which for Tuesday’s drawing would be an estimated $527.9 million.
The potential jackpot is the fourth-largest in the game and the fifth over $1 billion, Mega Millions said in a statement early Saturday.
Although there were no jackpot winners, one ticket in Pennsylvania was worth $5 million and another in the state connected for $1 million. There also were $1 million winners in Arizona, California and New York, Mega Millions said.
It has been less than two weeks since someone in Los Angeles won a $1.08 billion Powerball prize that ranked as the sixth-largest in U.S. history. The winner of the prize is still a mystery.
Lottery jackpots grow so large because the odds of winning are so small. For Mega Millions, the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 302.6 million.
Winners also would be subject to federal taxes, and many states also tax lottery winnings.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. | https://www.wishtv.com/news/national/mega-millions-jackpot-climbs-to-1-05-billion-after-another-drawing-without-a-big-winner/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:22 | 0 | https://www.wishtv.com/news/national/mega-millions-jackpot-climbs-to-1-05-billion-after-another-drawing-without-a-big-winner/ |
One of the largest Protestant denominations in the U.S. is losing congregations over disputes over LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage. (This story first aired on Morning Edition on July 25, 2023.)
Copyright 2023 NPR
One of the largest Protestant denominations in the U.S. is losing congregations over disputes over LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage. (This story first aired on Morning Edition on July 25, 2023.)
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/congregations-leave-united-methodist-church-over-defiance-of-lgbtq-bans | 2023-07-29T12:31:26 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/congregations-leave-united-methodist-church-over-defiance-of-lgbtq-bans |
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Salvage crews were preparing Saturday to tow a car-carrying cargo ship that has been burning for days to an anchor point in the North Sea after flames and smoke on board subsided, the Dutch government said.
Fire erupted in the Fremantle Highway late Tuesday night near a chain of islands in the northern Netherlands and has been blazing ever since. The ship is carrying 3,783 new vehicles, including 498 electric vehicles, the company that chartered the vessel said.
One crew member died and others were injured after the fire broke out on the ship that was heading from Bremerhaven in Germany to Singapore. The crew was evacuated in the early hours of Wednesday. The cause of the fire has not been established.
Measurements Friday showed that heat, flames and smoke had subsided enough for salvage experts to board the ship for the first time and establish a strong towing connection with a tugboat, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management said.
It will be towed, likely over the weekend, to a new position 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of the island of Schiermonnikoog , the ministry said in a statement. The timing of the operation that is expected to take 12-14 hours depends on smoke development and weather, the ministry added. The aim is ultimately “once conditions on board allow,” to tow the ship to a port, though the destination has not yet been decided.
The ministry said the ship is stable and intact below the waterline.
The burning vessel is 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 near the Netherlands’ border with Germany, whose environment minister, Steffi Lemke, has warned of “an environmental catastrophe of unknown proportions,” if the ship were to sink. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/international/ap-burning-cargo-ship-off-dutch-coast-will-be-towed-to-a-new-location-after-flames-and-smoke-subsided/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:27 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/international/ap-burning-cargo-ship-off-dutch-coast-will-be-towed-to-a-new-location-after-flames-and-smoke-subsided/ |
Ukraine’s top fencer granted place at Olympics after disqualification for Russia handshake snub
(CNN) — The Ukrainian fencing champion banned from the world championships in Italy for refusing to shake hands with a Russian opponent has been readmitted to the tournament and given an automatic place at next year’s Paris Olympics.
Olga Kharlan, leader of Ukraine’s national fencing team, was earlier disqualified at the tournament after she refused to shake hands with the Russian rival Anna Smirnova she defeated. Smirnova then walked away before staging a sit-down protest for about 45 minutes.
An athlete’s refusal to shake hands after a contest results in a black card and expulsion, according to International Fencing Federation rules.
The symbolic move, made as her country fights back against Russia’s invasion, was risky for Kharlan because her disqualification looked set to also scupper the four-time individual world champion and four-time Olympic medalist’s chances of racking up enough points to qualify for Paris next year.
But the International Fencing Federation said on Friday that while it stands “fully behind the penalty’, it would allow Kharlan to participate in the women’s team sabre competition.
The federation said it has met with Kharlan and spoken with the International Olympic Committee and finds the reinstatement “in keeping with the Olympic Spirit”.
“It also sends a message of sensitivity and understanding to our members and all sports federations,” it said.
IOC chief’s intervention
That turnaround came came after a pointed intervention from the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, himself a former fencer.
In a letter to Kharlan, Bach said: “The war against your country, the suffering of the people of Ukraine, the uncertainty about your participation at the World Fencing Championships in Milan, the difficult inner conflicts that you and many of your fellow Ukrainian athletes may have, and then the events that unfolded yesterday”.
“All this is a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings,” he wrote.
Expressing his “full support” for Kharlan, Bach said the IOC would offer her an automatic place at the Paris Olympics next year because of her “unique situation” and because her disqualification in Milan could cost her sufficient qualifying points for the Olympiad.
The International Fencing Federation said Kharlan had since conceded the appropriateness of the penalty against her, though the fencer has not apologized, despite saying she was thankful to the federation’s decision.
Responding to the news, Kharlan also thanked Bach for her qualification at the Olympics.
“This is the moment when you see no hope, feel unbearable pain and despair, and think you are all alone. And then a whole multi-million country of Heroes stands up for you and changes everything in your life,” she said.
“I knew what I was risking, but I didn’t expect that it would shake up the entire Ukrainian society and that everyone would join the fight with me!”
The fencer champion said she “acted with my heart” shortly after the original news of her disqualification, calling for a change of rules “because the world is changing”.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, also weighed in – tweeting: “Congratulations to Ukraine’s fencing star Olha Kharlan on having her unfair disqualification reversed and her right to compete restored, including in the Olympics. Truth and dignity prevail when we all stand up for them and fight as one.”
Kharlan not alone
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered tanks and troops into Ukraine in February last year, triggering Europe’s largest land war since the Second World War.
Some 16-months later the war grinds on with Ukrainians fighting a battle for survival and trying to push Russian forces out of their country.
Smirnova was competing as a neutral athlete as representatives of Russia are not eligible to take part in most sporting tournament since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The issue of Ukrainians and Russians not shaking hands in sport is not confined to fencing – Ukrainian tennis star Marta Kostyuk, who is from Kyiv, said at the start of the year that she would not shake hands with Russian or Belarusian players while the war rages in her country, along with Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko.
Kostyuk was booed at the French Open when she refused to meet Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka at the net. Sabalenka condemned the booing and said she understands why Ukrainian players won’t shake her hand.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina took to Twitter to support Kharlan, writing: “We are not shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian athletes. That is our position! I call on international sports organisations and federations to respect our decision!”
She added that “All our love and respect goes to @olgakharlan.” | https://www.wishtv.com/sports/ukraines-top-fencer-granted-place-at-olympics-after-disqualification-for-russia-handshake-snub/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:28 | 0 | https://www.wishtv.com/sports/ukraines-top-fencer-granted-place-at-olympics-after-disqualification-for-russia-handshake-snub/ |
Carlee Russell's parents got the only outcome that mattered to them: Their daughter is alive and came home safely.
But the true end result of the 25-year-old nursing student's actions—lying to police about being kidnapped—remains up in the air.
"It is what it is," Hoover, Ala., Police Chief Nick Derzis told reporters July 25, the day after Carlee admitted through her attorney to making up a story about being abducted. "The facts, I think, last Wednesday pretty much showed that we knew that it was a hoax."
On that Wednesday, July 19, he told the press that Russell had said she'd been held against her will for two days before managing to escape—and his detectives hadn't been able to verify most of her story.
"I wouldn't say I'm frustrated," the chief said at the time. "I'm very happy that Carlee's home, that was the main ingredient here. We'll figure it out, I promise you that. We'll end up figuring it out."
And so they did.
Carlee is now facing misdemeanor charges of false reporting to law enforcement authorities and falsely reporting an incident, each of which carries a possible punishment of up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine if she's convicted.
Derzis said July 28 that she turned herself in at Hoover City Jail, where she was arrested and subsequently released from custody after posting bond.
E! News has reached out to Carlee's attorney and the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office for comment but has not yet heard back.
While this case is now in prosecutors' hands, Derzis said he'd be contacting state legislatures to urge lawmakers to review the charges that were possible pertaining to the facts of the investigation and "add an enhancement" to current legislation regarding false reports of kidnapping or other violent crime.
"Her decisions that night created panic and alarm for the citizens of our city," he told reporters, "and even across the nation."
Here's how Carlee's story unraveled:
What was the initial response to Carlee Russell's disappearance?
No piece of information was considered too small when it came to finding Carlethia "Carlee" Nichole Russell, who went missing on the night of July 13, according to a news release from Hoover police shared on social media the next day.
"We really want this to blow up," said her dad Carlos Russell, per NBC affiliate WVTM. "We want the word of the day to be Carlee. We just really want to have her back home safe."
Angela Harris, whose 19-year-old daughter Aniah Blanchard was abducted and killed in Auburn, Ala., in 2019, immediately called Carlee's parents and volunteered to lead a search. She was always among the first to show up when someone went missing, Angela told Al.com, explaining, "Just knowing the pain they're going through, I have to be."
Carlee left her part-time job at the Woodhouse Spa Birmingham at 8:20 p.m. and stopped to pick up food from Taziki's at The Colonnade shopping center at 9 p.m., according to police and details provided by her family to AL.com. She then called 911 at 9:34 p.m. to report seeing a toddler walking alone on the southbound side of I-459.
She then called her brother's girlfriend and also told her there was a child on the road and she was going to check on him, according to her mother, Talitha Russell.
On the phone, her son's girlfriend heard Carlee asking, "'Are you OK?'" Talitha told AL.com. "She never heard the child say anything but then she heard our daughter scream. All you hear on her phone is background noise from the interstate."
"She probably let her guard down thinking 911 would be there in a second‚" she said of her daughter's apparent decision to get out of her car and help the child.
"Her car door was open," Russell's mother added. "They found her phone on the ground, along with her wig and her hat...Her purse was still in the car. Her Apple Watch was in her purse and her AirPods as well."
When officers located Russell's Mercedes on the highway, they said the motor was running and neither Russell nor a toddler was anywhere to be found. The news release noted there had been no other reports of a small child going missing.
Immediate responses to the police's July 14 update were heartfelt, and TikTok videos breaking down the story were already multiplying.
What happened when Carlee Russell returned home?
Authorities were alerted at 10:45 p.m. on July 15 that Carlee had returned to the Hoover home where she lived with her parents, after which she was taken by ambulance to a hospital for evaluation, Hoover Police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said in a statement that night. She was discharged the following afternoon.
"We tried to hug her as best we could but I had to stand back because she was not in a good state," Talitha described their reunion during a July 18 TODAY interview. "So we had to stand back and let medical professionals work with her. It was..." She tearfully shook her head.
But it had been a long two days. Waiting for news of their daughter's whereabouts, "there were actually just so many calls and texts from people who maliciously lied to us," Talitha said. "I just didn't know people could be so evil."
Moreover, the jaded social media tide had started to turn against Carlee practically overnight.
"She's having to deal with the trauma of people making completely false allegations about her," her mom said.
In the meantime, her daughter had given detectives a statement so "they can continue to pursue her abductor," Talitha said. Asked by NBC News' Priscilla Thompson if she believed her daughter's abductor was still out there, she replied, "Absolutely."
Talitha continued, "She definitely fought for her life. There were moments where she physically had to fight for her life and there were moments when she had to mentally fight for her life."
The day after Carlee was found, her boyfriend Thomar Latrell Simmons wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post, "All I asked from everyone right now is to be respectful of Carlee's situation. She was literally fighting for her life for 48 hours, so until she's physically & mentally stable again she is not able to give any updates or whereabouts on her kidnapper at this very moment."
What was Carlee Russell's kidnapping story?
Carlee told detectives that, when she got out of her car to check on the child on the road, "a man came out of the trees and mumbled that he was checking on the baby," Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis told reporters during a July 19 news conference. "She claimed that the man then picked her up and she screamed. She stated he then made her go over a fence. She claimed he then forced her into a car, and the next thing she remembers is being in the trailer of an 18-wheeler."
She told detectives she tried to run away, he said, but was caught and then blindfolded, though not tied up "because the captor said he did not want to leave impressions on her wrists."
According to the chief, Carlee said she was brought to a motel, ordered to get undressed and then photographed, but she didn't have any memory of being sexually assaulted.
At some point the next day she was put back in a vehicle, his account of Carlee's story continued, and then she was able to escape once they were in the west Hoover area. "She told detectives she ran through lots of woods until she came out near her residence," he said.
The chief noted that, when Carlee came home, her T-shirt was torn and she had "a small injury" to her lip." There was $107 tucked into her right sock, he added, and she told police her head was hurting. He also said there was no alcohol or drugs in her system.
Police had been "unable to verify most of Carlee's initial statement," he said. And what investigators had found out resulted in more questions than answers.
What was Carlee Russell doing before she disappeared?
Two days before she made the 911 call, Derzis said, Carlee's phone was used to search "do you have to pay for an amber alert or search."
On the day she went missing, he continued, Carlee looked up "how to take money from a register without being caught," "Birmingham bus station," "one way bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville" and Taken (the 2008 film starring Liam Neeson as an ex-CIA agent whose daughter is kidnapped by human traffickers).
"There were other searches on Carlee's phone that appear to shed some light on her mindset," the chief said, "but out of respect for her privacy, we will not be releasing the content of those searches at this time."
While Carlee was talking to the 911 operator, he noted, her phone traveled at least 600 yards, or the length of six football fields.
"I'm not saying it couldn't happen," he added. "To think that a toddler, barefoot, that could be 3 or 4 years old, he's going to travel six football fields without getting in the roadway, without crying...It's just very hard for me to understand."
They were still investigating, Derzis concluded, and while authorities hadn't yet secured a second interview with Carlee, they hoped to soon.
"There are many questions left to be answered," he said, "but only Carlee can provide those answers."
When did Carlee Russell admit she faked her kidnapping?
On July 24, Carlee's lawyer said she wasn't kidnapped, nor did she see a child on the side of the road.
She acted alone, attorney Emory Anthony said in a statement read by police.
Carlee wanted to apologize to everyone she deceived, the lawyer said, and asked for forgiveness and prayers "as she addresses her issues and attempts to move forward."
Social media judgment was merciless, and Thomas—who deleted his posts in support of Carlee (as well as all photos of her) from his Instagram—went from being identified by national media as her boyfriend to calling her his ex.
In a statement shared to Instagram July 25, he said he and his family were "disgusted from the outcome of this entire situation" and he felt "blindsided."
Activists, however, stressed the importance of not getting discouraged by this uncommon turn of events.
"At the onset of this case, it seemed credible," Derrica Wilson, co-founder of the Black & Missing Foundation, which maintains a database of open missing-person cases, told WVTM. Law enforcement did "an incredible job of coming through with the investigative process," she said. "Sadly, this is the outcome."
But Carlee's case going viral and police getting to the bottom of what happened so quickly was what groups like hers wanted to see, according to Derrica, who also told CNN the public should not be deterred from making the inevitable next missing-person case go viral, too.
Where is Carlee Russell now?
Carlee's attorney met with the police chief on July 25, and the lawyer told reporters the next day he expected his client would be charged in connection with her disappearance.
Anthony called their roughly 20-minute talk a "great meeting," per WIAT. "We tried to identify some things about where we go from here," he said. "There's responsibilities that we need to take care of."
Their goals, he added, were to ensure that Carlee was "dealing with her issues" while the city of Hoover felt "comfortable and safe."
The charges against Carlee, both Class A misdemeanors, were announced at a July 28 news conference.
"Actions can have consequences," Derzis said, "and that's why we're here today." | https://www.eonline.com/news/1381382/how-carlee-russell-s-kidnapping-hoax-quickly-unraveled?cmpid=rss-syndicate-genericrss-us-top_stories | 2023-07-29T12:31:30 | 1 | https://www.eonline.com/news/1381382/how-carlee-russell-s-kidnapping-hoax-quickly-unraveled?cmpid=rss-syndicate-genericrss-us-top_stories |
BEIJING, July 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hundreds of English education experts and scholars from all over the world assembled in Macao on Friday for a three-day event to explore new opportunities for global cooperation in English education brought by China's development.
The 2023 Global English Education China Assembly, an online-and-offline event that opened at the City University of Macau (CityU), attracted over 1,600 experts, front-line educators and scholars from more than 20 countries and regions. Participants were mainly from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Thailand, Russia, Singapore, Nepal, Mongolia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
They shared their insights to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and discussed the most recent trends in English language teaching.
The event's theme is "New opportunities for the world with new advances in China's development: Opening up new prospects in English education cooperation worldwide", and features nine keynote speeches and 23 parallel sessions.
This year's assembly is hosted by China Daily and Shanghai International Studies University, and co-hosted by the Macao SAR Government Education and Youth Development Bureau, and organized by CityU and China Daily's 21st Century English Education Media.
For the first time, the assembly, which started in 2018, was held in Macao — one of the engine cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. This location echoes the Outline Development Plan for the GBA released in 2019, which set out to, among other goals, build the region as a model area for high-quality education and promote opening up education to the world.
At the event's opening ceremony, Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, highlighted that 2023 marks the 10th year since President Xi Jinping put forward both the idea of "building a community with a shared future for mankind" and the Belt and Road Initiative.
It is, therefore, appropriate that for the first time, the conference this year has moved out of the Chinese mainland to Macao where East meets West and multiple cultures blend, Qu said.
He said he believes the event will catalyze many innovative outcomes. Qu further said that English education could be a bridge to promote high-quality development of the BRI and people-to-people cultural exchanges could provide momentum for "building a community with a shared future for mankind".
He urged the audience to cultivate talent in order to bolster the promotion of the three global initiatives brought forward by Xi — the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.
Qu also said China attaches great importance to education and cultural exchange. Xi, in his several correspondences with foreign students studying in China, has encouraged the latter to see with their own eyes the development of China and tell the world about what they have seen, to boost people-to-people bonding and friendship between their countries and China.
Zha Mingjian, vice-president of Shanghai International Studies University, said development in recent times has brought many opportunities as well as challenges. In this context, the English education sector in China has the responsibility to serve as a vital bridge for English education globally.
Opening education more extensively to the outside world will significantly strengthen China's efforts to modernize education in the new era, Zha said.
Svetlana V. Sannikova, coordination council chairperson of the National Association of Teachers of English in Russia, said the Macao event offers a high-end international academic platform where teachers can learn many practical ideas and methods to improve their English teaching skills.
On Friday, the event's organizer and CityU jointly established the Belt and Road English Education Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Exchange Base, which will use English education as a means to promote cultural exchanges and people-to-people bonding in countries and regions participating in the BRI.
The GBA Exchange Base will also strive to promote high-quality development in the BRI landscape.
Liu Jun, rector of CityU and president of the International Research Foundation for English Language Education, and Zeng Qingkai, editor-in-chief of 21st Century English Education Media, were the signatories of the document for the establishment of the base.
Among the several dignitaries who graced Friday's opening ceremony were Ao Ieong U, secretary for social affairs and culture of the Macao SAR government, participating in the event on behalf of Macao SAR Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng; Yan Zhichan, deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR; Liu Xianfa, commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao SAR; Kong Chimeng, director of the Macao SAR government Education and Youth Development Bureau; and Chan Meng-kam, chairman of the council of CityU.
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SOURCE China Daily | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/experts-foresee-china-role-english-learning/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:30 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/experts-foresee-china-role-english-learning/ |
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Saturday that Sri Lanka is a key partner in a Tokyo-led initiative aimed at building security and economic cooperation around the Indo-Pacific but also at countering an increasingly assertive China.
Sri Lanka, strategically located in the Indian Ocean, is integral to realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific, Hayashi said. He was speaking after a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Ali Sabry, in the capital, Colombo.
The initiative, announced by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in March includes Japan’s assistance to emerging economies, support for maritime security, a provision of coast guard patrol boats and equipment and other infrastructure cooperation.
Last year Sri Lanka, which owed $51 billion in foreign debt, became the first Asia-Pacific country since the late 1990s to default, sparking an economic crisis.
While Japan is Sri Lanka’s largest creditor, about 10% of its debt is held by China, which lent Colombo billions to build sea ports, airports and power plants as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. In March, China agreed to offer Sri Lanka a two-year moratorium on loan repayments.
Hayashi said that he conveyed expectations for further progress in Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring process. He welcomed Sri Lanka’s efforts under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which includes anti-corruption measures and transparency in the policy-making process.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Sabry said that he, along with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, invited Japan to resume investment projects already in the pipeline and to consider fresh investments in sectors such as power generation, ports and highways, and dedicated investment zones, as well as in the green and digital economy.
Over many decades, Japan became one of Sri Lanka’s key donors, carrying out key projects under concessionary terms. However, relations between the two countries came under strain after Wickremesinghe’s predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa unilaterally scrapped a Japan-funded light railway project following his election in 2019.
Sri Lanka’s Cabinet has already approved a proposal to restart the railway project.
Rajapaksa was forced to resign in July 2022 amid angry public protects over the country’s worst economic crisis. | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/with-one-eye-on-china-japan-backs-sri-lanka-as-a-partner-in-the-indo-pacific/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T12:31:30 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/with-one-eye-on-china-japan-backs-sri-lanka-as-a-partner-in-the-indo-pacific/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
NEW DELHI (AP) — An explosion ripped through a firecracker factory in southern India on Saturday, killing eight people and wounding several others, police said.
There was no immediate word as to what had caused the explosion in the district of Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu state. Houses and shops nearby were also damaged, authorities told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Rescuers, police and firefighters rushed to the site.
India has a huge demand for firecrackers, which are used in religious festivals and weddings. There are fatal accidents nearly every year as people work in makeshift factories in the absence of proper safety standards.
In 2018, a massive fire at a firecracker factory in capital of New Delhi killed 17 workers. A year earlier, 23 workers were killed when a blast occurred while they were making firecrackers in a village in Madhya Pradesh state in central India.
Factories start manufacturing firecrackers months before the nation’s biggest Hindu festivals, when people set them off in celebration. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/an-explosion-at-a-firecracker-factory-in-southern-india-kills-8-people-police-say/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T12:31:30 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/an-explosion-at-a-firecracker-factory-in-southern-india-kills-8-people-police-say/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
NEW DELHI (AP) — A group of Indian opposition lawmakers on Saturday visited a remote northeastern state where deadly ethnic clashes have killed at least 130 people, in a bid to pressure the government to take action against the violence which began in May.
The delegation of 20 lawmakers from 15 political parties, who are part of a new opposition alliance called INDIA, arrived in Manipur state for a two-day visit to assess the situation on the ground as the ongoing violence and bloodshed have displaced tens of thousands in recent months.
The conflict in Manipur has become a global issue due to the scale of violence, said Adhir Ranjan Choudhury, a lawmaker belonging to the opposition Congress party. “Our delegation is here to express solidarity with the people of Manipur in this time of distress. The top priority now is to restore normalcy as soon as possible,” he added.
Tucked in the mountains on the border with Myanmar, Manipur is on the brink of a civil war. Mobs have rampaged through villages, torching houses and buildings. The conflict was sparked by an affirmative action controversy in which Christian Kukis protested a demand by mostly Hindu Meiteis for a special status that would let them buy land in the hills populated by Kukis and other tribal groups and get a share of government jobs.
After arriving in the state capital, Imphal, the lawmakers went to Churachandpur district, where they visited two relief camps and spoke to community leaders.
The conflict has triggered an impasse in India’s Parliament, as opposition members demand a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the violence roiling the state. On Wednesday, the opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government. This means the government will soon face a no-confidence vote in Parliament, which is likely to be defeated, as Modi’s party and its allies have a clear majority.
But opposition leaders say the move could at least force Modi to speak on the conflict and open a debate.
Two weeks ago, Modi broke more than two months of public silence over the conflict in Manipur when he condemned the mob assaults on two women in the state who were paraded naked – but he did not directly refer to the larger violence. He has also not visited the state, which is ruled by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, since the violence broke out.
Both houses of Parliament were adjourned at various times last week as the opposition stopped proceedings with their demand for a statement from Modi.
Despite a heavy army presence and a visit earlier by the home minister, when he met with both communities, the deadly clashes have persisted.
The violence in Manipur and the assault on the two women triggered protests across the country last week. In Manipur, thousands held a sit-in protest recently and called for the firing of Biren Singh, the top elected official in the state, who also belongs to Modi’s party.
The European Parliament also recently adopted a resolution calling on Indian authorities to take action to stop the violence in Manipur and protect religious minorities, especially Christians. India’s foreign ministry condemned the resolution, describing it as “interference” in its internal affairs. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/indian-opposition-lawmakers-visit-violence-wracked-state-in-bid-to-pressure-modis-government/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T12:31:32 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/indian-opposition-lawmakers-visit-violence-wracked-state-in-bid-to-pressure-modis-government/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron held discussions with his Sri Lankan counterpart Saturday on an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region in the first-ever visit by a French leader to the Indian Ocean island nation.
As the fourth-largest creditor to Sri Lanka, France had pledged cooperation in debt restructuring to help the island nation recover from its economic crisis.
Macron arrived in Sri Lanka Friday night, following his trip to the South Pacific region, to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations, Sri Lanka’s president’s office said.
Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe praised France’s significant role in global affairs, particularly in areas such as climate mitigation, global debt restructuring, and matters related to the Indo-Pacific region, the statement said.
“Sri Lanka and France are two Indian Ocean nations that share the same goal: an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific. In Colombo we confirmed it: strengthened by 75 years of diplomatic relations, we can open a new era of our partnership,” Macron said in a Twitter message after the meeting. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/international/ap-french-president-macron-visits-his-counterpart-in-sri-lanka/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:32 | 1 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/international/ap-french-president-macron-visits-his-counterpart-in-sri-lanka/ |
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The United States will expand its military industrial base by helping Australia manufacture guided missiles and rockets for both countries within two years, the allies announced on Saturday as they ramped up defense cooperation to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
The new cooperation on guided weapon production follows a trilateral partnership announcement in March that will see Britain provide Australia with a fleet of eight submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology.
The greater integration of U.S. and Australian militaries was announced after annual talks between U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and their Australian counterparts, Defense Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
They agreed to cooperate on Australia producing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems by 2025, a communique said.
U.S. companies Raytheon and Lockheed Martin only established an Australian enterprise to build such weapons last year. That followed the drain on Western countries’ munitions caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Austin said the move on missiles would strengthen the two allies’ defense industrial base and technological edge.
“We’re racing to accelerate Australia’s priority access to munitions through a streamlined acquisition process,” Austin told reporters in Brisbane, Australia.
Marles welcomed U.S. support to achieve Australian missile production within two years.
“We are really pleased with the steps that we are taking in respect of establishing a guided weapons and explosive ordnance enterprise in this country,” Marles said.
The two governments also agreed to upgrade joint military facilities in Australia and to increase U.S. nuclear submarine visits as the United States increases its focus on the South Pacific.
The region came to the forefront of the U.S. competition with China for influence last year, when Beijing signed a security pact with Solomon Islands and raised the prospect of a Chinese naval base being established there.
Austin became the first U.S. defense secretary to visit Papua New Guinea and Blinken visited New Zealand and Tonga before they arrived in Australia.
Saturday’s meeting was overshadowed by the loss of an Australian Army helicopter with four air crew late Friday, during military exercises with the U.S. off the northeastern coast of Australia.
U.S., Australian and Canadian militaries are taking part in the search for potential survivors near Whitsunday Islands off the Queensland state coast.
Austin and Marles will travel to north Queensland on Sunday to inspect Talisman Sabre, a biennial military exercise between the two countries that this year includes 13 nations and more than 30,000 military personnel. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/us-pledges-to-help-australia-manufacture-guided-missiles-by-2025/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T12:31:35 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/us-pledges-to-help-australia-manufacture-guided-missiles-by-2025/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
BAGHDAD (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah said Saturday that if governments of Muslim-majority nations do not act against countries that allow the desecration of the Quran, Muslims should “punish” those who facilitate attacks on Islam’s holy book.
The comments by Hassan Nasrallah came in a video address to tens of thousands gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs to mark Ashoura, a Shiite holy day commemorating the 7th century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein.
Nasrallah often uses religious occasions to send political messages to followers, and on Saturday slammed recent incidents in which the Quran was burned or otherwise desecrated at authorized demonstrations in Sweden and Denmark.
He said Muslims should watch for the outcome of an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, scheduled to take place in Baghdad on Monday to discuss the organization’s response to the Quran burnings.
The organization and its member states should “send a firm, decisive and unequivocal message to these governments that any repeat of the attacks will be met with a boycott,” Nasrallah said. If they do not, he said, Muslim youth should “punish the desecrators.”
He did not elaborate what such a boycott and punishment should entail.
Members of the crowd, who carried banners with religious slogans alongside the flags of Hezbollah, Lebanon and Palestine, chanted, “Oh, Quran, we are at your service; Oh, Hussein, we are at your service.”
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.
Millions of Shiite Muslims in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and around the world on Friday commemorated Ashoura, while Saturday marked the culmination of the observances in countries such as Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered in the Iraqi city of Karbala, where Hussein is entombed in a gold-domed shrine. In the streets of the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, mourners gathered to watch reenactments of the Battle of Karbala and Hussein’s death.
In the streets, young men clad in black and white slashed their heads with swords and knives to demonstrate their grief. Friends swabbed each other’s heads with tissues and handed each other water.
In Syria’s capital, Damascus, the crowds were mourning not only the death of Hussein but a deadly attack in the suburb of Sayida Zeinab, home to a shrine to Zeinab, the daughter of the first Shiite imam, Ali, and granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad.
A bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded there on Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens more. On Tuesday, another bomb in a motorcycle had wounded two people.
On Friday, the Islamic State group — a Sunni militant group that often targets Shiites — claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying Thursday’s bombing came “during their annual polytheistic rituals.” The group’s extreme interpretation of Islam holds Shiite Muslims to be apostates.
___
Associated Press writers Anmar Khalil in Karbala, Iraq, and Hassan Ammar in Beirut contributed to this report. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/world/lebanons-hezbollah-leader-urges-muslims-to-punish-quran-desecrators-if-governments-fail-to-do-so/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-29T12:31:35 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/world/lebanons-hezbollah-leader-urges-muslims-to-punish-quran-desecrators-if-governments-fail-to-do-so/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
ODESSA, Ukraine, July 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ukrainian entrepreneur, Vadim Novynskyi has announced a donation of up to $1 million to help restore the Transfiguration Church in Odessa, Ukraine that was seriously damaged during rocket attacks on Sunday, July 23. The destruction of one of the most beautiful Ukrainian churches, which was erected by the founders of Odessa at the end of the 18th century is a true tragedy. This cathedral was the center of the spiritual life of Odessa.
This is not the first time the church has been destroyed. In 1936, the Bolsheviks destroyed the cathedral and it was restored in the early 2000's after tens of thousands of ordinary people participated in the restoration with their donations.
"I sincerely mourn with the inhabitants of Odessa and I want to assure them and all the people of Ukraine that this cathedral will be rebuilt and the people of Odessa will once again be able to worship and seek community in this hallowed place," said Vadim Novynskyi. "In the days of war and persecution of the Church, it is very important to be able to protect and revive the shrines of Orthodoxy, demonstrating faith, unity and mutual support. After all, the true Orthodox Church is based on these principles."
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SOURCE Vadym Novynskyi | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/restoration-transfiguration-chuch-odessa-ukraine-by-ukrainian-entrepreneur-vadym-novynskyi/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:36 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/restoration-transfiguration-chuch-odessa-ukraine-by-ukrainian-entrepreneur-vadym-novynskyi/ |
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Still shopping? Check out Kenzie and Maddie Ziegler's clothing collection. | https://www.eonline.com/news/1381678/get-dollar90-j.crew-shorts-for-dollar20-dollar90-leggings-for-dollar29-dollar98-sandals-for-dollar38-and-more-can't-miss-deals?cmpid=rss-syndicate-genericrss-us-top_stories | 2023-07-29T12:31:36 | 1 | https://www.eonline.com/news/1381678/get-dollar90-j.crew-shorts-for-dollar20-dollar90-leggings-for-dollar29-dollar98-sandals-for-dollar38-and-more-can't-miss-deals?cmpid=rss-syndicate-genericrss-us-top_stories |
BAGHDAD (AP) — The leader of Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah said Saturday that if governments of Muslim-majority nations do not act against countries that allow the desecration of the Quran, Muslims should “punish” those who facilitate attacks on Islam’s holy book.
The comments by Hassan Nasrallah came in a video address to tens of thousands gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs to mark Ashoura, a Shiite holy day commemorating the 7th century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein.
Nasrallah often uses religious occasions to send political messages to followers, and on Saturday slammed recent incidents in which the Quran was burned or otherwise desecrated at authorized demonstrations in Sweden and Denmark.
He said Muslims should watch for the outcome of an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, scheduled to take place in Baghdad on Monday to discuss the organization’s response to the Quran burnings.
The organization and its member states should “send a firm, decisive and unequivocal message to these governments that any repeat of the attacks will be met with a boycott,” Nasrallah said. If they do not, he said, Muslim youth should “punish the desecrators.”
He did not elaborate what such a boycott and punishment should entail.
Members of the crowd, who carried banners with religious slogans alongside the flags of Hezbollah, Lebanon and Palestine, chanted, “Oh, Quran, we are at your service; Oh, Hussein, we are at your service.”
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.
Millions of Shiite Muslims in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and around the world on Friday commemorated Ashoura, while Saturday marked the culmination of the observances in countries such as Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered in the Iraqi city of Karbala, where Hussein is entombed in a gold-domed shrine. In the streets of the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, mourners gathered to watch reenactments of the Battle of Karbala and Hussein’s death.
In the streets, young men clad in black and white slashed their heads with swords and knives to demonstrate their grief. Friends swabbed each other’s heads with tissues and handed each other water.
In Syria’s capital, Damascus, the crowds were mourning not only the death of Hussein but a deadly attack in the suburb of Sayida Zeinab, home to a shrine to Zeinab, the daughter of the first Shiite imam, Ali, and granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad.
A bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded there on Thursday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens more. On Tuesday, another bomb in a motorcycle had wounded two people.
On Friday, the Islamic State group — a Sunni militant group that often targets Shiites — claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying Thursday’s bombing came “during their annual polytheistic rituals.” The group’s extreme interpretation of Islam holds Shiite Muslims to be apostates.
___
Associated Press writers Anmar Khalil in Karbala, Iraq, and Hassan Ammar in Beirut contributed to this report. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/international/ap-lebanons-hezbollah-leader-urges-muslims-to-punish-quran-desecrators-if-governments-fail-to-do-so/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:39 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/international/ap-lebanons-hezbollah-leader-urges-muslims-to-punish-quran-desecrators-if-governments-fail-to-do-so/ |
Hammerhead worms are an invasive species that have been spreading through the U.S. since at least the early 1900s.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/if-you-see-a-hammerhead-worm-remember-salt-dont-slice | 2023-07-29T12:31:39 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/if-you-see-a-hammerhead-worm-remember-salt-dont-slice |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly acknowledged his seventh grandchild, a 4-year-old girl fathered by his son Hunter with an Arkansas woman, Lunden Roberts, in 2018.
“Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden, are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible going forward,” Biden said in a statement. It was his first acknowledgement of the child.
“This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter,” he said. “Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy.”
Hunter Biden’s paternity was established by DNA testing after Roberts sued for child support, and the two parties recently resolved outstanding child support issues. The president’s son wrote about his encounter with Roberts in his 2021 memoir, saying it came while he was deep in addiction to alcohol and drugs, including crack cocaine.
“I had no recollection of our encounter,” he wrote. “That’s how little connection I had with anyone. I was a mess, but a mess I’ve taken responsibility for.”
An attorney for Roberts did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The president, who has made a commitment to family central to his public persona, has faced increasing criticism from political rivals and pundits for failing to acknowledge the granddaughter. According to a person familiar with the matter, he was taking the cue from his son while the legal proceedings played out. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.
Hunter Biden has four other children, including a son, Beau, born to his wife Melissa Cohen in 2020. He was named after the president’s late son who died of cancer in 2015, leaving behind two children.
Biden’s grandchildren have played a distinctive role in his presidency, often accompanying the president or first lady on trips and making regular visits to the White House. The president has also credited his grandchildren with persuading him to challenge then-President Donald Trump for the White House in 2020.
Biden’s statement was first reported by People Magazine. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-biden-openly-acknowledges-7th-grandchild-the-daughter-of-son-hunter-and-an-arkansas-woman/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:45 | 1 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-biden-openly-acknowledges-7th-grandchild-the-daughter-of-son-hunter-and-an-arkansas-woman/ |
Flor Marte knows someone will die. She knows when and how, because it came to her in a dream. That's her gift – all the women in the Marte family have one.
But Flor refuses to share who the dream is about. Instead, she insists on throwing herself a living wake, a reason for the entire family to come together and celebrate their lives. That's the starting point for Elizabeth Acevedo's debut novel for adults, Family Lore.
Acevedo grew up in Harlem, with summer visits to the Dominican Republic, and aspirations of becoming a rapper – until a literature teacher invited her to join an after-school poetry club.
She attended reluctantly; but what she found in spoken word performance broke her world and the possibilities of language wide open.
"I think for folks who maybe have felt it difficult to occupy their bodies and take up space and demand attention, to have three minutes where that is the requirement is really powerful," she says.
Acevedo went on to become a National Poetry Slam champion and earn degrees in performing arts and creative writing. After college, she taught language arts in Prince George's County, Maryland. Teaching, she says, is its own kind of performance – one where the audience doesn't always want to be there. But her students were struggling in other ways.
"So many of my young people weren't at grade level, but they'd also not encountered literature that they felt reflected them," she says. "Trying to meet some of those students where they were was really a kickoff for my writing."
So Acevedo began writing young adult books. The Poet X, her first novel about a Dominican-American teen finding her voice through poetry, won a National Book Award in 2018.
Pivoting to a new audience
Now, with Family Lore, Acevedo turns her attention to adult readers.
"I think the way this pushes forward her work and the growing body of Dominican-American literature is how deeply she writes into the interiors of her women characters," says author Naima Coster, who read an early draft of the novel.
The story is told through memories, out of order, sometimes a memory within a different memory. Acevedo jumps from the Dominican countryside to Santo Domingo to New York, as sisters Matilde, Flor, Pastora and Camila – along with younger generation Ona and Yadi – reflect on their childhoods and teenage romances and the secrets that bind them all together. Though the Marte women grow older together, their relationships do not get easier.
"What does it mean if these women have really just had a different experience of their mother?" says Acevedo. "And how that different experience of their mother automatically will create a schism, because now it's like, 'You don't remember her the way I remember her, and because of that, I can't trust you."
There are infidelities, miscarriages, childhood love affairs and therapeutic dance classes. Acevedo explains that she needed to tell this story in a non-linear format, in the way memories surface and warp; the way family gossip is passed on from person to person, in a roundabout way.
Returning to the body
That format, she says, was more suited for adult readers; and writing for adults also allowed her to be candid about bodies: how they move, change, excite, disappoint.
"The generation I was raised by felt like their relationship to their body was very othered," Acevedo says. "When I speak to my cousins, when I think about myself, it's been a return to desire, a return to the gut, a return to health in a way that isn't necessarily about size but is about: who am I in this vessel and how do I love it?"
That tension is felt especially by the younger Marte women, whose supernatural gifts radiate from within. Ona has a self-described "alpha vagina," Yadi has a special taste for sour limes.
Naima Coster says it's easy to feel pressure to write about marginalized communities as clean-cut, exemplary characters. But Family Lore relishes in airing out the Marte family's dirty laundry– in showing Afro-Dominican women as full, complicated protagonists.
"It feels major, the way she writes about the ways that these women misunderstand each other, but still love each other," she says.
Acevedo says those themes – family, home, Blackness, power – will be in every book she writes, "because those are the questions that haunt me."
Family Lore reads like the feeling of getting older and no longer having moms and aunts lower their voices when you enter the room – like finally being privy to what makes a family flawed and perfect.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/in-family-lore-award-winning-ya-author-elizabeth-acevedo-turns-to-adult-readers | 2023-07-29T12:31:45 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/in-family-lore-award-winning-ya-author-elizabeth-acevedo-turns-to-adult-readers |
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Political instability in Niger resulting from a military takeover that deposed the president this week threatens the economic support provided by Washington to the African nation, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Saturday.
Members of the Niger military announced on Wednesday they had deposed democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and on Friday named Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani as the country’s new leader, adding Niger to a growing list of military regimes in West Africa’s Sahel region.
Blinken, who is in Australia as part of a Pacific tour, said the continued security and economic arrangements that Niger has with the U.S. hinged on the release of Bazoum and “the immediate restoration of the democratic order in Niger.”
“Our economic and security partnership with Niger — which is significant, hundreds of millions of dollars — depends on the continuation of the democratic governance and constitutional order that has been disrupted by the actions in the last few days,” Blinken said. “So that assistance, that support, is in clear jeopardy as a result of these actions, which is another reason why they need to be immediately reversed.”
Blinken stopped short of calling the military actions in Niger a coup, a designation that could result in the African country losing millions of dollars of military aid and assistance.
Speaking in Brisbane, Blinken said he had spoken with President Bazoum on Saturday but did not provide details. He cited the support of the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States and other regional entities in trying to bring an end to the unrest.
“The very significant assistance that we have in place that’s making a material difference in the lives of the people of Niger is clearly in jeopardy and we’ve communicated that as clearly as we possibly can to those responsible for disrupting the constitutional order and Niger’s democracy,” Blinken said.
Blinken said the U.S. Embassy in Niger had accounted for the safety of all staff members and their families, while issuing a security alert advising U.S. citizens in the country to limit unnecessary movements and avoid areas impacted by the coup.
The military group that conducted the coup, calling itself the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, said its members remained committed to engaging with the international and national community.
“This is as a result of the continuing degradation of the security situation, the bad economic and social governance,” air force Col. Major Amadou Abdramane said in the video released by the coup leaders Wednesday. He said aerial and land borders were closed and a curfew was in place until the situation stabilized.
Bazoum 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 jihadis 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 Niger’s military, while the U.S. and other European countries have helped train the nation’s troops.
___
Hannon reported from Bangkok. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-blinken-says-us-economic-support-for-niger-is-at-risk-as-military-takeover-threatens-stability/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:51 | 1 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-blinken-says-us-economic-support-for-niger-is-at-risk-as-military-takeover-threatens-stability/ |
A visit to the Paris suburb where riots first broke out in France, following the police killing of a young man of North African descent.
Copyright 2023 NPR
A visit to the Paris suburb where riots first broke out in France, following the police killing of a young man of North African descent.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/in-the-paris-suburb-where-riots-erupted-protests-have-died-down-but-anger-remains | 2023-07-29T12:31:52 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/in-the-paris-suburb-where-riots-erupted-protests-have-died-down-but-anger-remains |
CHICAGO (AP) — Leading up to the 2020 election, Facebook ads targeting Latino and Asian American voters described Joe Biden as a communist. A local station claimed a Black Lives Matter co-founder practiced witchcraft. Doctored images showed dogs urinating on Donald Trump campaign posters.
None of these claims was true, but they scorched through social media sites that advocates say have fueled election misinformation in communities of color.
As the 2024 election approaches, community organizations are preparing for what they expect to be a worsening onslaught of disinformation targeting communities of color and immigrant communities. They say the tailored campaigns challenge assumptions of what kinds of voters are susceptible to election conspiracies and distrust in voting systems.
“They’re getting more complex, more sophisticated and spreading like wildfire,” said Sarah Shah, director of policy and community engagement at the advocacy group Indian American Impact, which runs the fact-checking site Desifacts.org. “ What we saw in 2020, unfortunately, will probably be fairly mild in comparison to what we will see in the months leading up to 2024.”
A growing subset of communities of color, especially immigrants for whom English is not their first language, are questioning the integrity of U.S. voting processes and subscribing to Trump’s lies of a stolen 2020 election, said Jenny Liu, mis/disinformation policy manager at the nonprofit Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Still, she said these communities are largely left out of conversations about misinformation.
“When you think of the typical consumer of a conspiracy theory, you think of someone who’s older, maybe from a rural area, maybe a white man,” she said. “You don’t think of Chinese Americans scrolling through WeChat. That’s why this narrative glosses over and erases a lot of the disinformation harms that many communities of colors face.”
In addition to general misinformation themes about voting machines and mail-in voting, groups are catering their messaging to communities of color, experts say.
For example, immigrants from authoritarian regimes in countries like Venezuela or who have lived through the Chinese Cultural Revolution may be “more vulnerable to misinformation claiming politicians are wanting to turn the U.S. into a Socialist state,” said Inga Trauthig, head of research for the Propaganda Research Lab at the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin. People from countries that have not recently had free and fair elections may have a preexisting distrust of elections and authority that may make them vulnerable to misinformation as well, Trauthig said.
Disinformation efforts often hinge on topics most important to each community, whether that is public safety, immigration, abortion, education, inflation or alleged extramarital affairs, said Laura Zommer, co-founder of the Spanish-language fact-checking group Factchequeado.
“It takes advantage of their very real fear and trauma from their experiences in their home countries,” Zommer said.
Other vulnerabilities include language barriers and a lack of knowledge of the U.S. media landscape and how to find credible U.S. news sources, several misinformation experts told The Associated Press. Many immigrants rely on translated content for voting information, leaving space for bad actors to inject misinformation.
“These tactics exploit information vacuums when there’s a lot of uncertainty around how these processes work, especially because a lot of election materials may not be translated in the languages our communities speak or be available in forms they are likely to access,” said Clara Jiménez Cruz, another co-founder of Factchequeado.
Misinformation can also arise from mistranslations. The Brookings Institute, a nonprofit think tank, found examples of mistranslations in Colombian, Cuban and Venezuelan WhatsApp groups, where “progressive” was translated to “progresista,” which carries “far-left connotations that are closer to the Spanish words ‘socialista’ and ‘comunista.’”
Disinformation, often in languages like Spanish, Mandarin or Hindi, flows onto social media apps like WhatsApp and WeChat heavily used by communities of color.
Minority communities that believe their views and perspectives aren’t represented by the mainstream are likely to “retreat into more private spaces” found on messaging apps or groups on social media sites like Facebook, Trauthig said.
“But disinformation also targets them on these platforms, even though it may feel to them to be that safer space,” she said.
Messages on WhatsApp are also encrypted and can’t be easily seen or traced by moderators or fact-checkers.
“As a result, messages on apps like WhatsApp often fly under the radar and are allowed to spread and spread, largely unchecked,” said Randy Abreu, policy counsel for the National Hispanic Media Coalition, which leads the Spanish Language Disinformation Coalition.
Abreu also raised concerns about Spanish YouTube channels and radio shows that are growing in popularity. He said the coalition is tracking more and more YouTube and radio personalities who are spreading misinformation in Spanish.
A 2022 report by the left-leaning watchdog group Media Matters tracked 40 Spanish-language YouTube videos spreading misinformation about U.S. elections. Many of these videos remained on the platform, despite violating YouTube election misinformation policy, the report said.
Amid changes in voting policies at state and local levels, advocates are sounding the alarm on how disinformation about voting in 2024 may target communities of color. Many of these efforts have surged as Asian American, Black and Latino communities have grown in political power, said María Teresa Kumar, founding president of the nonprofit advocacy group Voto Latino.
“Disinformation is, at its core, meant to be a sort of voter suppression tactic for communities of color,” she said. “It targets communities of color in a way that feeds into their already justifiable concerns that the system is stacked against them.”
The tactics also feed into a history “as old as the Jim Crow era of attempting to disenfranchise people of color, going back to voter intimidation and suppression efforts after the Civil Rights Act of 1866,” said Atiba Ellis, a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
While many of the same recycled claims around alleged fraud in the 2020 and 2022 elections are expected to resurface, experts say disinformation campaigns will likely be more sophisticated and granular in attempts to target specific groups of voters of color.
Trauthig also raised concerns about how layoffs and instability at social media platforms like Twitter may leave them less prepared to tackle misinformation in 2024. It also remains to be seen how new social media platforms like Threads will approach the threat of misinformation. Changes in policies like WhatsApp launching a “Communities” function connecting multiple groups and expanding group chat sizes may also “have big implications for how quickly misinformation will spread on the platform,” she said.
In response to the mounting threat of misinformation, Indian American Impact is ramping up its fact-checking efforts through what the organization says is the first fact-checking website specifically for South Asian Americans. Shah said the group is drawing inspiration from 2022 projects, including a voting toolkit using memes with Bollywood characters and passing out Parle-G crackers with voting information stickers at Indian grocery stores.
Cruz of Factchequeado is paying close attention to misinformation in swing states with significant Latino populations like Nevada and Arizona. And Liu of Asian Americans Advancing Justice is reviewing misinformation trends from previous elections to strategize about how to inoculate Asian American voters against them.
Still, they say there is more work to be done.
Critics are urging social media companies to invest in content moderation and fact-checking in languages other than English. Government and election officials should also make voting information more accessible to non-English speakers, organize media literacy trainings in community spaces and identify “trusted messengers” in communities of color to help approach trends in misinformation narratives, experts said.
“These are not monolithic groups,” Cruz said. “This disinformation is very specifically tailored to each of these communities and their fears. So we also need to be partnering with grassroots organizations in each of these communities to tailor our approaches. If we don’t take the time to do this work, our democracy is at stake.”
___
The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-election-disinformation-campaigns-targeted-voters-of-color-in-2020-experts-expect-2024-to-be-worse/ | 2023-07-29T12:31:57 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-election-disinformation-campaigns-targeted-voters-of-color-in-2020-experts-expect-2024-to-be-worse/ |
A visit to a harvest festival in Taiwan, a celebration of summer by the island's indigenous communities.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/indigenous-communities-in-taiwan-celebrate-summer-with-the-harvest-festival | 2023-07-29T12:31:58 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/indigenous-communities-in-taiwan-celebrate-summer-with-the-harvest-festival |
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand striker Hannah Wilkinson has helped create two milestones at the Women’s World Cup.
With her 48th-minute goal in the tournament opener against Norway, she led the co-host Football Ferns to their first win in six trips to the Women’s World Cup. She’s also one of at least 95 out members of the LGBTQ+ community competing in this year’s tournament, according to a count being kept by Outsports, a website that covers the LGBTQ+ sports.
The Ferns were greeted with a fan-made sign at their next match in Wellington: “Gay for soccer, gay for Wilkie,” it read.
The 95 out participants make up roughly 13% of the 736 total players at the Women’s World Cup, more than doubling the 40 players and coaches Outsports counted in 2019.
The 2023 tournament also is hosting the first openly trans and non-binary player in either a men’s or Women’s World Cup, Quinn of Canada.
“Last World Cup was so big, especially with the visibility of the U.S. women’s national team winning and (Megan Rapinoe) fighting with (Donald) Trump. So I think that was a huge year for LGBTQ+ visibility,” said Lindsey Freeman, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.
“It’s just the ad hoc, fun culture of women’s soccer that you’re seeing in this World Cup,” said Freeman, who is in New Zealand conducting research on the topic.
Jim Buzinski, co-founder of Outsports, agreed. “In the Western world, it’s such a non-issue that it really just doesn’t get talked about,” he said. “And I think that’s in a good way.”
VISIBILITY
Prior to the start of the tournament, FIFA designated eight socially conscious armbands team captains could wear throughout the Women’s World Cup. The decision came after “One Love” armbands were denied to men’s teams in Qatar in 2022.
The armbands being used this year include anti-discriminatory sayings and multiple colors, but the rainbow version Germany wanted to use is not allowed. None of the available options explicitly mention LGBTQ+ rights.
The decision has led many players to express their support in more creative ways across Australia and New Zealand.
New Zealand midfielder Ali Riley was interviewed on the official Women’s World Cup broadcast after her team’s upset of Norway. Her painted fingernails, left hand in the colors of the pride flag and right hand as the trans flag, were clearly visible as she held her head and fought back tears.
“She’s such an advocate and she’s definitely someone who uses her platform in such a positive way. We are all so proud of her and the way she represents the LGBTQ+ community,” teammate CJ Bott said. “Good on her. We’re all backing her, and we all back the community as well.”
The Philippines, making its Women’s World Cup debut, took home its own historic win over New Zealand 1-0 thanks to the foot of Sarina Bolden. Bolden’s Instagram bio reads, “i just wanna have fun n b gay.”
Irish star Katie McCabe wowed fans with a goal directly from a corner kick. She’s also made tabloid news for her relationships with other players.
Thembi Kgatlana, who has scored in the tournament for South Africa, has a patch of her hair dyed rainbow colors.
“My personality is very big for me, and my hair has become a part of my personality,” Kgatlana said. “And I did this rainbow because I want to represent all the people that are part of the LGBTQ and cannot talk while in countries where they’re oppressed.”
FAN EXPERIENCE
Kristen Pariseau and her wife started a U.S. women’s national team supporters group on Facebook ahead of traveling to this year’s Women’s World Cup. Aside from some hateful users she blocked, it’s been “super LGBT friendly.”
She and her wife did not go to Qatar for the 2022 men’s World Cup to avoid referencing each other as friends and receiving questions on their sexuality. In New Zealand, she said she’s met many same-sex couples at games and while traveling around the country.
“Everywhere you turn, it’s like, ‘Oh, my wife, my girlfriend.’ It’s been so welcoming and open,” Pariseau said. “In a way, it is kind of cool to be where there’s a lot of other people like you.”
Kelsie Bozart took her own pride flag armband to the United States’ second match in Wellington, along with a pride scarf.
“If you look back a couple years, I feel like it just wasn’t really talked about or there just wasn’t much of a presence,” Bozart said. “But moving forward I feel like, especially for the U.S., they’ve done an amazing job of just incorporating pride and LGBTQ.”
NOT UNIVERSAL
Though this year’s tournament has highlighted vast gains for the LGBTQ+ community in women’s soccer, advocates feel there is still work to be done.
According to Buzinski and Outsports, there were at least 186 LGBTQ+ athletes at the Tokyo Olympics. Women outnumbered men by a 9:1 ratio. There also were no confirmed out players at the 2022 men’s World Cup.
“I think women’s sports have always been open,” Denmark striker Pernille Harder said, adding that there are many role models for women who want to come out.
Freeman said it would be good to see men feel the same level of comfort.
“What can happen in the women’s game, I would love to spill over to the men’s game,” she said. “Because obviously, there’s way more queer players in the men’s game and it’s just not safe for them to come out.
“If you want to say that you’re in an inclusive space, you really have to be an inclusive space,” Freeman added. “And I think that that includes also holding the World Cup in places where it’s fine to be a queer person.”
___
Max Ralph is a student in John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
___
Contributing reporters included Joe Lister in Wellington and Rafaela Pontes in Auckland, students in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State, and Clay Witt in Sydney, Australia, a student at the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
___
AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-lgbtq-community-proud-and-visible-at-womens-world-cup/ | 2023-07-29T12:32:03 | 1 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-lgbtq-community-proud-and-visible-at-womens-world-cup/ |
At a time of increasing isolation for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the world stage, he just concluded a summit with leaders from Africa.
Copyright 2023 NPR
At a time of increasing isolation for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the world stage, he just concluded a summit with leaders from Africa.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
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NPR's Scott Simon talks with Lydia Kiesling about her new novel, "Mobility." It's part of a growing genre of literature addressing climate change.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/lydia-kiesling-on-her-new-novel-mobility | 2023-07-29T12:32:10 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/lydia-kiesling-on-her-new-novel-mobility |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers broke for their August recess this week with work on funding the government largely incomplete, fueling worries about whether Congress will be able to avoid a partial government shutdown this fall.
Congress has until Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year, to act on government funding. They could pass spending bills to fund government agencies into next year, or simply pass a stopgap measure that keeps agencies running until they strike a longer-term agreement. No matter which route they take, it won’t be easy.
“We’re going to scare the hell out of the American people before we get this done,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.
Coons’ assessment is widely shared in Congress, reflecting the gulf between the Republican-led House and the Democratic-led Senate, which are charting vastly different — and mostly incompatible — paths on spending.
The Senate is adhering mostly to the top-line spending levels that President Joe Biden negotiated with House Republicans in late May as part of the debt-ceiling deal that extended the government’s borrowing authority and avoided an economically devastating default.
That agreement holds discretionary spending generally flat for the coming year while allowing increases for military and veterans accounts. On top of that, the Senate is looking to add $13.7 billion in additional emergency appropriations, including $8 billion for defense and $5.7 billion for nondefense.
House Republicans, many of whom opposed the debt-ceiling deal and refused to vote for it, are going a different way.
GOP leaders have teed up bills with far less spending than the agreement allows in an effort to win over members who insist on rolling back spending to fiscal year 2022 levels. They are also adding scores of policy add-ons broadly opposed by Democrats. There are proposals to reduce access to abortion pills, bans on the funding of hormone therapy and certain surgeries for transgender veterans, and a prohibition on training programs promoting diversity in the federal workplace, among many others.
At a press conference at the Capitol this past week, some members of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative faction within the House GOP, said that voters elected a Republican majority in that chamber to rein in government spending and it was time for House Republicans to use every tool available to get the spending cuts they want.
“We should not fear a government shutdown,” said Rep. Bob Good, R-Va. “Most of the American people won’t even miss if the government is shut down temporarily.”
Many House Republicans disagree with that assessment. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, called it an oversimplification to say most Americans wouldn’t feel an impact. And he warned Republicans would take the blame for a shutdown.
“We always get blamed for it, no matter what,” Simpson said. ”So it’s bad policy, it’s bad politics.”
But the slim five-seat majority Republicans hold amplifies the power that a small group can wield. Even though the debt ceiling agreement passed with a significant majority of both Republicans and Democrats, conservatives opponents were so unhappy in the aftermath that they shut down House votes for a few days, stalling the entire GOP agenda.
Shortly thereafter, McCarthy argued the numbers he negotiated with the White House amounted to a cap and “you can always do less.” GOP Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, followed that she would seek to limit nondefense spending at 2022 budget levels, saying the debt agreement “set a top-line spending cap — a ceiling, not a floor.”
The decision to cut spending below levels in the the debt ceiling deal helped get the House moving again, but put them on a collision course with the Senate, where the spending bills hew much closer to the agreement.
“What the House has done is they essentially tore up that agreement as soon as it was signed,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. “And so we are in for a bumpy ride.”
Even as House Republicans have been moving their spending bills out of committee on party-line votes, the key committee in the Senate has been operating in a bipartisan fashion, drafting spending bills with sometimes unanimous support.
“The way to make this work is do it in a bipartisan way like we are doing in the Senate. If you do it in a partisan way, you’re heading to a shutdown. And I am really worried that that’s where the House Republicans are headed,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters this week.
McCarthy countered that people had the same doubts about whether House Republicans and the White House could reach an agreement to pass a debt ceiling extension and avoid a default.
“We’ve got ’til Sept. 30. I think we can get this all done,” McCarthy said.
In a subsequent press conference, McCarthy said he had just met with Schumer to talk about the road ahead on an array of bills, including the spending bills.
“I don’t want the government to shut down,” McCarthy said. “I want to find that we can find common ground.”
In all, there are 12 spending bills. The House has passed one so far, and moved others out of committee. The Senate has passed none, though it has advanced all 12 out of committee, something that hasn’t happened since 2018.
Still, the difficulty ahead was evident on the House side, where Republicans gave up until after the recess on trying to pass a spending measure to fund federal agriculture and rural programs and the Food and Drug Administration, amid disagreements over its contents. They began their August recess a day early instead of holding votes Friday.
Simpson said some of his Republican colleagues don’t want to take money approved already outside the appropriations process to cover some of this year’s spending and avoid deeper cuts. For example, the House bills would take almost all of the money approved last year for the Internal Revenue Service in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and use the savings to avoid deeper spending cuts elsewhere.
Simpson said that without such rescissions, as they are called in Washington, he couldn’t vote for the agriculture spending bill because the cuts “would have just been devastating.”
“That’s the challenge we’re going to have when we get back in September,” he said.
Further complicating things in the House, a few Republicans are opposed to some of the policy riders being included in the spending bills. For example, the agriculture spending bill would reverse the FDA’s decision to allow abortion pills to be dispensed in certified pharmacies, instead of only by prescribers in hospitals, clinics, and medical offices.
“I had a problem with abortion being put inside an ag bill,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. “I think that’s ridiculous.”
It’s a strong possibility that Congress will have to pass a stopgap spending bill before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. The Senate can vote first on the measure, which would put the onus on House Republicans to bring it up for a vote or allow for a shutdown. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-members-of-congress-break-for-august-with-no-clear-path-to-avoiding-a-shutdown-this-fall/ | 2023-07-29T12:32:09 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-members-of-congress-break-for-august-with-no-clear-path-to-avoiding-a-shutdown-this-fall/ |
PHOENIX (AP) — A historic heat wave that turned the U.S. Southwest into a blast furnace throughout July is beginning to abate with the late arrival of monsoon rains.
Forecasters expect that by Monday at the latest, people in metro Phoenix will begin seeing high temperatures under 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) for the first time in a month. As of Friday, the high temperature in the desert city had been at or above that mark for 29 consecutive days.
Already this week, the overnight low at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport fell under 90 (32.2 C) for the first time in 16 days, finally allowing people some respite from the stifling heat once the sun goes down.
Temperatures are also expected to ease in Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Death Valley, California.
The downward trend started Wednesday night, when Phoenix saw its first major monsoon storm since the traditional start of the season on June 15. While more than half of the greater Phoenix area saw no rainfall from that storm, some eastern suburbs were pummeled by high winds, swirling dust and localized downfalls of up to an inch (2.5 centimeters) of precipitation.
Storms gradually increasing in strength are expected over the weekend.
Scientists calculate that July will prove to be the hottest globally on record and perhaps the warmest human civilization has seen. The extreme heat is now hitting the eastern part of the U.S, as soaring temperatures moved from the Midwest into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where some places are seeing their warmest days so far this year.
The new heat records being set this summer are just some of the extreme weather being seen around the U.S. this month, such as flash floods in Pennsylvania and parts of the Northeast.
And while relief may be on the way for the Southwest, for now it’s still dangerously hot. Phoenix’s high temperature reached 116 (46.7 C) Friday afternoon, which is far above the average temperature of 106 (41.1 C).
“Anyone can be at risk outside in this record heat,” the fire department in Goodyear, a Phoenix suburb, warned residents on social media while offering ideas to stay safe.
For many people such as older adults, those with health issues and those without access to air conditioning, the heat can be dangerous or even deadly.
Maricopa County, the most populous in Arizona and home to Phoenix, reported this week that its public health department had confirmed 25 heat-associated deaths this year as of July 21, with 249 more under investigation.
Results from toxicological tests that can takes weeks or months after an autopsy is conducted could eventually result in many deaths listed as under investigation as heat associated being changed to confirmed.
Maricopa County confirmed 425 heat-associated deaths last year, and more than half of them occurred in July.
Elsewhere in Arizona next week, the agricultural desert community of Yuma is expecting highs ranging from 104 to 112 (40 C to 44.4 C) and Tucson is looking at highs ranging from 99 to 111 (37.2 C to 43.9 C).
The highs in Las Vegas are forecast to slip as low as 94 (34.4 C) next Tuesday after a long spell of highs above 110 (43.3 C). Death Valley, which hit 128 (53.3 C) in mid-July, will cool as well, though only to a still blistering hot 116 (46.7 C).
In New Mexico, the highs in Albuquerque next week are expected to be in the mid to high 90s (around 35 C), with party cloudy skies. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-the-extreme-heat-wave-that-blasted-the-southwest-is-abating-with-late-arriving-monsoon-rains/ | 2023-07-29T12:32:12 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-the-extreme-heat-wave-that-blasted-the-southwest-is-abating-with-late-arriving-monsoon-rains/ |
The Lincoln Dinner in Iowa hosts the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 - as hopefuls try to stand out against front-runner Donald Trump.
Copyright 2023 NPR
The Lincoln Dinner in Iowa hosts the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 - as hopefuls try to stand out against front-runner Donald Trump.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/new-charges-against-trump-didnt-keep-him-off-the-campaign-trail-in-iowa | 2023-07-29T12:32:16 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/new-charges-against-trump-didnt-keep-him-off-the-campaign-trail-in-iowa |
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s a stunning new allegation in an already serious case: Former President Donald Trump sought to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage to obstruct the Justice Department’s investigation into his handling of classified documents.
The latest criminal charges unsealed Thursday deepen Trump’s legal jeopardy, alleging a more central role for the former president than previously known in a cover-up that prosecutors say was meant to prevent them from recovering top-secret documents he took with him after he left the White House. Coming as Trump braces for possible additional indictments related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the new allegations strengthen special counsel Jack Smith’s already powerful case against Trump while undercutting potential defenses floated by the former president, experts say.
“Before these new charges, you could maybe try some sort of defense that ‘this was all a mistake, it was my staff’ or confusion about what documents he actually had,” said former federal prosecutor Randall Eliason, a George Washington University law professor.
“But especially now, when you’re trying to destroy video footage,” he added, “that’s kind of the final nail in the coffin. I don’t see much in the way of a defense, not a real defense. All he can do is claim he’s being persecuted and hope for a holdout juror or something.”
Trump resorted to that familiar playbook on Friday, writing in a post on his Truth Social platform that “this is textbook Third World intimidation by rabid, lawless prosecutors.” He insisted during an interview with radio host John Fredericks that he did nothing wrong and accused prosecutors of trying to intimidate his staff into making up lies about him.
Later Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Mar-a-Lago security tapes were voluntarily handed over to prosecutors. Trump said he was told they were not “deleted in any way, shape or form.”
The new Florida charges came as a surprise given that Trump and his legal team have been focused on the prospect of an additional indictment in Washington — possibly within days — related to his efforts to cling to power after he lost to President Joe Biden. Trump received a letter this month informing him that he’s a target in that probe, and his lawyers met Thursday with special counsel Jack Smith’s office.
Hours after that meeting, Smith revealed the new classified documents case charges on top of a 38-count indictment issued last month against Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta. The updated indictment includes a detailed chronology of phone conversations and other interactions between Trump, Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, in the days after the Justice Department last June drafted a subpoena for security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago.
Video from the home would ultimately become vital to the government’s case because, prosecutors said, it shows Nauta moving boxes in and out of a storage room — an act alleged to have been done at Trump’s direction and in an effort to hide records not only only from investigators but Trump’s own lawyers.
The day after a draft subpoena was sent to the Trump Organization, the indictment says, Trump called De Oliveira and spoke with him for about 24 minutes. Though the details of that conversation are not included in the indictment, De Oliveira is described by prosecutors as asking a Mar-a-Lago information technology staffer several days later how long the server retained footage for and is quoted as telling the employee that “the boss” wanted it deleted.
Lawyers for Nauta, who has pleaded not guilty, and De Oliveira declined to comment on the allegations. De Oliveira is expected to make his first court appearance in Miami on Monday.
To the extent that evidence of Trump’s involvement in trying to delete video is circumstantial rather than direct, it might present a challenge for prosecutors, said David Aaron, a former Justice Department national security prosecutor who has worked on cases involving the mishandling of classified documents.
But if they can tie the effort to Trump, he added, “it’s devastating in its own right, because it doesn’t matter at that point what he thought he had the right to do, or whatever other defense he’s going to have about the classified documents. That’s in and of itself very bad.”
It could also help prosecutors establish that Trump knew what he was doing was wrong because “you only delete video of what you’ve done if you think it’s going to get you in trouble,” Aaron said. And Trump’s own accusations against others, like his claims against Hillary Clinton, his opponent in the 2016 presidential race, could boomerang against him.
Trump has claimed that Clinton deleted emails from her private server for the purpose of obstructing a criminal investigation into her own handling of classified information — something the FBI and Justice Department never alleged — but now stands himself accused of scheming to delete evidence he feared would be incriminating.
“He has specifically criticized other public figures for deleting data when he says they thought they were going to be in trouble,” Aaron said. “So if you needed to prove his consciousness of guilt, it’s not just an obvious thing that you would ask the jury to rely on common sense for — he’s actually made statements about what it means when someone does this.”
Trump and Nauta are set for trial next May, though it’s not clear if that date will hold.
Smith’s team also added a new count of willful retention of national defense information related to a classified document about a Pentagon plan of attack on a foreign country prosecutors say Trump showed off during a July 2021 meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey resort.
That charge comes after Trump repeatedly claimed he didn’t have any secret documents when he spoke, only magazine and newspaper clippings, even though an audio recording captured him saying “this is secret information.” The document was returned to the government in January 2022, months before the subpoena for classified records.
It’s not clear why prosecutors moved now to indict another one of Trump’s underlings, though bringing charges against De Oliveira that could carry significant prison time adds serious pressure on him, potentially increasing the odds that he could decide to cut a plea deal and cooperate.
“But, you know, Trump seems to inspire a lot of loyalty, at least in some people,” Eliason said. “Maybe they are holding out for the idea that he is reelected and he can pardon them.”
____
Richer reported from Boston. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/politics/ap-fresh-charges-tie-trump-even-more-closely-to-coverup-effort-that-could-deepen-his-legal-woes/ | 2023-07-29T12:32:18 | 1 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/politics/ap-fresh-charges-tie-trump-even-more-closely-to-coverup-effort-that-could-deepen-his-legal-woes/ |
Happy Saturday! Another hot and humid afternoon is in store for Central Kentucky. Highs are climbing to the low/mid 90s with dew points in the 70s, making it feel muggy outside. Heat index could reach the triple digits again today, so be sure to drink plenty of water, avoid strenuous activity outside, and take breaks in the shade/AC. A few showers and storms will move in this morning with more severe storm potential in our late afternoon/early evening. Sunday will be slightly cooler with humidity falling as well. We will start the week off back in the 80s.
Strong afternoon storms and hot temperatures Saturday
Marginal severe threat today
Posted at 8:21 AM, Jul 29, 2023
and last updated 2023-07-29 08:21:45-04
Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | https://www.lex18.com/weather/daily-forecast/strong-afternoon-storms-and-hot-temperatures-saturday | 2023-07-29T12:32:20 | 0 | https://www.lex18.com/weather/daily-forecast/strong-afternoon-storms-and-hot-temperatures-saturday |
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with a resident of Odesa, Ukraine about what the last several days — and nights — have been like, under repeated attack from Russian missiles and drones.
Copyright 2023 NPR
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with a resident of Odesa, Ukraine about what the last several days — and nights — have been like, under repeated attack from Russian missiles and drones.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/a-resident-of-odesa-ukraine-describes-life-amid-russian-missile-and-drone-strikes | 2023-07-29T12:32:20 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/a-resident-of-odesa-ukraine-describes-life-amid-russian-missile-and-drone-strikes |
This may be the most scorching month in the most scalding summer of what may become the hottest year in recorded history.
From Arizona, where it's been above 110 degrees Fahrenheit every day for a month, to Sardinia which hit 118 F this week, to Xinjiang, China, where the temperature soared to 126 F.
It felt a little mournful, then, to turn on summer playlists and hear lyrics like, "Summer breeze makes me feel fine." And, "Summer's here and the time is right / For dancing in the street."
This summer — these past few summers, really — has meant weeks of swelter, smoke, wildfires, and peril, across much of the hemisphere.
It was 107 degrees Fahrenheit in Rome last week. The Italian health ministry put 23 cities under a red alert, and cautioned people not to walk outside, and to avoid wine and coffee.
Too hot in Italy to stroll, enjoy a glass of soave, or sip an espresso. Next they'll say stop boiling pasta.
170 million people in America were under heat alerts this week. The National Weather Service warns, "Take the heat seriously and avoid time outdoors."
Isn't being outdoors the beauty of summer?
For most of my life, summer has been a time to shuck off all the layers of winter cold and gloom, to feel warmth and sunlight. School is out. Vacations are planned. We can go coatless, feel carefree, dawdle, travel, and play.
But this summer in America many outdoor shows, concerts, and festivals have been canceled, and sporting events postponed because of unsafe heat, and wildfire smoke in the skies. How many families have avoided picnics, camping trips, or games of catch in the yard, because it's just too darn hot?
The temperature of the water in Manatee Bay at Everglades National Park in Florida has been 101.1 F. The heat of ocean water — water — may be too dangerous for fish to survive.
This excruciating heat, driven by human activity, can be dangerous for every living creature, as well as the plants that bear the fruits and vegetables we need to survive. For humans, the heat is especially hazardous for seniors, children, and people who are unsheltered.
Will red alerts, heat emergencies, wildfires and temperatures in the triple digits become the new signs of summer? And will that make summer, as my friends and I used to dream about through frigid and forbidding Chicago winters, now seem a season to fear?
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/opinion-its-too-hot-in-here | 2023-07-29T12:32:22 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/opinion-its-too-hot-in-here |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/an-artist-explains-why-marvels-use-of-ai-to-animate-a-sequence-is-worrying | 2023-07-29T12:32:26 | 1 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/an-artist-explains-why-marvels-use-of-ai-to-animate-a-sequence-is-worrying |
WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Pentagon official has attacked this week’s widely watched congressional hearing on UFOs, calling the claims “insulting” to employees who are investigating sightings and accusing a key witness of not cooperating with the official U.S. government investigation.
Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick’s letter, published on his personal LinkedIn page and circulated Friday across social media, criticizes much of the testimony from a retired Air Force intelligence officer that energized believers in extraterrestrial life and produced headlines around the world.
Retired Air Force Maj. David Grusch testified Wednesday that the U.S. has concealed what he called a “multi-decade” program to collect and reverse-engineer “UAPs,” or unidentified aerial phenomena, the official government term for UFOs.
Part of what the U.S. has recovered, Grusch testified, were non-human “biologics,” which he said he had not seen but had learned about from “people with direct knowledge of the program.”
A career intelligence officer, Kirkpatrick was named a year ago to lead the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, which was intended to centralize investigations into UAPs. The Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies have been pushed by Congress in recent years to better investigate reports of devices flying at unusual speeds or trajectories as a national security concern.
Kirkpatrick wrote the letter Thursday and the Defense Department confirmed Friday that he posted it in a personal capacity. Kirkpatrick declined to comment on the letter Friday.
He writes in part, “I cannot let yesterday’s hearing pass without sharing how insulting it was to the officers of the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community who chose to join AARO, many with not unreasonable anxieties about the career risks this would entail.”
“They are truth-seekers, as am I,” Kirkpatrick said. “But you certainly would not get that impression from yesterday’s hearing.”
In a separate statement, Pentagon spokeswoman Sue Gough denied other allegations made by Grusch before a House Oversight subcommittee.
The Pentagon “has no information that any individual has been harmed or killed as a result of providing information” about UFO objects, Gough said. Nor has the Pentagon discovered “any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently.”
Kirkpatrick wrote, “AARO has yet to find any credible evidence to support the allegations of any reverse engineering program for non-human technology.”
He had briefed reporters in December that the Pentagon was investigating “several hundreds” of new reports following a push to have pilots and others come forward with any sightings.
Kirkpatrick wrote in his letter that allegations of “retaliation, to include physical assault and hints of murder, are extraordinarily serious, which is why law enforcement is a critical member of the AARO team, specifically to address and take swift action should anyone come forward with such claims.”
“Yet, contrary to assertions made in the hearing, the central source of those allegations has refused to speak with AARO,” Kirkpatrick said. He did not explicitly name Grusch, who alleged he faced retaliation and declined to answer when a congressman asked him if anyone had been murdered to hide information about UFOs.
Messages left at a phone number and email address for Grusch were not returned Friday. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/politics/ap-the-ufo-congressional-hearing-was-insulting-to-us-employees-a-top-pentagon-official-says/ | 2023-07-29T12:32:25 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/politics/ap-the-ufo-congressional-hearing-was-insulting-to-us-employees-a-top-pentagon-official-says/ |
National parks and hiking trail networks around the country are facing dual pressures - crowds and changing weather. Preservationists in New Hampshire are painstakingly restoring one such trail.
Copyright 2023 NPR
National parks and hiking trail networks around the country are facing dual pressures - crowds and changing weather. Preservationists in New Hampshire are painstakingly restoring one such trail.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/preservationists-are-trying-to-restore-national-park-trails-destroyed-by-the-weather | 2023-07-29T12:32:28 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/preservationists-are-trying-to-restore-national-park-trails-destroyed-by-the-weather |
A visit to the Paris suburb where riots first broke out in France, following the police killing of a young man of North African descent.
Copyright 2023 NPR
A visit to the Paris suburb where riots first broke out in France, following the police killing of a young man of North African descent.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/in-the-paris-suburb-where-riots-erupted-protests-have-died-down-but-anger-remains | 2023-07-29T12:32:32 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/in-the-paris-suburb-where-riots-erupted-protests-have-died-down-but-anger-remains |
BALTIMORE (AP) — Anthony Santander said it felt like a playoff game at Camden Yards.
A few more performances like this, and the Baltimore Orioles will be there.
Santander homered off Tommy Kahnle in the ninth inning to give the Orioles a 1-0 victory over New York on Friday night, spoiling Aaron Judge’s return for the Yankees. Judge walked three times in his first game back from a toe injury, but the Orioles kept New York off the scoreboard with a spectacular defensive effort.
In the eighth inning alone, Santander made a lunging, sliding catch in right field, and second baseman Adam Frazier made a diving stop on Anthony Rizzo’s grounder with a man on second.
“Great defense, great pitching, that’s how we win baseball games,” Santander said.
Orioles rookie Grayson Rodriguez pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, going toe to toe with New York’s Gerrit Cole, who went seven. Félix Bautista (6-1) struck out two in a scoreless ninth. Kahnle (1-1) couldn’t match that in the bottom half, allowing Santander’s one-out drive that went well beyond the fence in right-center field.
The Orioles remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Tampa Bay atop the AL East, and they now lead the last-place Yankees by nine.
The game was delayed 2 hours, 32 minutes by rain, but that did little to dampen the enthusiasm of a crowd that included a mix of Yankees fans cheering Judge and Orioles fans embracing their first-place team.
“Right before the start of the game, it felt like a playoff game,” Santander said. “That’s good to have those fans to support us. Hopefully they can continue to do that.”
Judge lined out to right field on the first pitch to him in the first, but he reached base the other three times he came up.
Anthony Volpe was robbed twice by stellar Baltimore defense. Third baseman Ramón Urías made a diving stop on his one-hopper in the fifth. In the eighth, Volpe led off with a fly to right that Santander reached out and caught before sliding on his stomach across the grass.
New York eventually had two on and two out that inning when Rizzo’s grounder looked headed to right field. Frazier’s diving play prevented that.
“Defense won us the game,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “Adam Frazier, diving play off Rizz. Santander with a great diving catch. We turned some double plays.”
Each team had only four hits. Rodriguez was one of Baltimore’s prized prospects, and after being sent back to the minors for a bit, he may be finding a groove.
“I just love his delivery right now and the tempo of his delivery,” Hyde said. “Just really, really competitive.”
DEADLINE OUTLOOK
Orioles general manager Mike Elias said it’s no secret that the Orioles are working on potentially adding pitching upgrades at the trade deadline. He said the team has the wherewithal to make “good baseball trades” even if it means adding payroll.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: Elias said he hopes OFs Cedric Mullins (right adductor groin strain) and Aaron Hicks (left hamstring strain) can return and play a large part of August. … Elias said LHP John Means (left elbow UCL surgery) and RHP Mychal Givens (right shoulder inflammation) will probably be pitching in games in the Florida Complex League in the early part of August.
UP NEXT
Baltimore’s Tyler Wells (7-5) takes the mound against New York’s Clarke Schmidt (6-6) on Saturday night. Schmidt will be on extended rest, having last pitched July 21.
___
Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wjhl.com/sports/us-world-sports/ap-santander-hits-9th-inning-homer-to-give-orioles-1-0-win-over-yankees-and-spoil-judges-return/ | 2023-07-29T12:32:33 | 1 | https://www.wjhl.com/sports/us-world-sports/ap-santander-hits-9th-inning-homer-to-give-orioles-1-0-win-over-yankees-and-spoil-judges-return/ |
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Michele Steele of ESPN about the week ahead in the Women's World Cup and some big baseball news.
Copyright 2023 NPR
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Indigenous communities in Taiwan celebrate summer with the harvest festival By Emily Feng Published July 29, 2023 at 7:05 AM CDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email A visit to a harvest festival in Taiwan, a celebration of summer by the island's indigenous communities. Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/indigenous-communities-in-taiwan-celebrate-summer-with-the-harvest-festival | 2023-07-29T12:32:38 | 1 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/indigenous-communities-in-taiwan-celebrate-summer-with-the-harvest-festival |
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — United States midfielder Savannah DeMelo can speak some Portuguese and may be able to put it to use in the Women’s World Cup.
The U.S. plays Portugal on Tuesday to wrap up the tournament’s group stage, and a fter a disappointing 1-1 draw against the Netherlands, the Americans needs a win. At stake is both the top spot in Group E and also a much-needed boost to team confidence.
That’s where DeMelo can help.
The 25-year-old’s dad, Robert, is from Portugal and had a successful career as a player in that country before becoming a coach. DeMelo has dual citizenship and understands Portuguese.
“I’ll definitely be listening for it,” she laughed.
DeMelo made her first international start for the United States against Vietnam in the group opener, a 3-0 victory for the Americans.
Prior to the World Cup, DeMelo had played in only one other match for the United States: she was a substitute in the team’s send-off match against Wales in San Jose in early July. DeMelo, who plays for Racing Louisville FC in the National Women’s Soccer League, was the first U.S. player since Shannon Boxx in 2003 and third overall to be named to the World Cup roster without any previous appearances for the national team.
U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski started DeMelo in the both of the American’s World Cup matches. She played both opening halves before being subbed off for veteran Rose Lavelle, who has been playing limited minutes for the United States because of a knee injury suffered in April.
The journey from being named to the team to getting a start in the World Cup has “been a crazy roller coaster of emotions,” said DeMelo.
“But I think I’ve had a lot of great people, including the girls on the team, who have been super helpful with getting me acclimated to the team,” she said. “And I’m just super grateful to be here.”
The United States may need to switch up its tactics against Portugal.
The Americans are tied on points with the Netherlands in Group E and have an advantage over the Dutch on goal difference. The top two teams in the group advance to the knockout round.
But the results haven’t been as emphatic as they were in 2019, when the U.S. opened with a 13-0 victory over Thailand and went on to win their second straight World Cup title, and fourth overall.
The United States trailed the Netherlands by a goal in the first half before Lindsey Horan scored a game-tying header in the 62nd minute.
One reason for the less-than-dominant play could be inexperience. DeMelo is among 14 U.S. players appearing in their first World Cup.
Fellow midfielder Andi Sullivan, who is also making her tournament debut, said it takes some adjustment to play together as newcomers.
“That’s definitely a challenge that we’re going through, is that we just kind of came together,” Sullivan said. “It’s not like a team that you’re training with all year round, constantly. You’re in and out all the time. So I think you’re constantly adjusting.
“But the way that you get in sync is we watch a lot of stuff together, we communicate constantly. We’re very direct when something’s not going the way we want it to go,” Sullivan added. “You have to be direct and clear and honest and loud.”
DeMelo is also among six players at the World Cup who play for Racing Louisville. Among the Racing Louisville representatives are Ary Borges, who scored a hat trick for Brazil in its 4-0 victory over Panama to start the tournament.
DeMelo, who said her father never pushed her into soccer growing up, could have played for Portugal at the senior level.
“It could have been an option,” she said, “but I think my heart was always with the United States.”
___
AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wjhl.com/sports/us-world-sports/ap-savannah-demelos-ability-to-speak-portuguese-may-help-us-in-critical-womens-world-cup-match/ | 2023-07-29T12:32:39 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/sports/us-world-sports/ap-savannah-demelos-ability-to-speak-portuguese-may-help-us-in-critical-womens-world-cup-match/ |
The coup in Niger, this week, raises questions about the future of democratic leadership in the West African country. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Rama Yade of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center.
Copyright 2023 NPR
The coup in Niger, this week, raises questions about the future of democratic leadership in the West African country. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Rama Yade of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/the-coup-in-niger-is-a-blow-to-democracy-in-the-west-african-country | 2023-07-29T12:32:41 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/the-coup-in-niger-is-a-blow-to-democracy-in-the-west-african-country |
At a time of increasing isolation for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the world stage, he just concluded a summit with leaders from Africa.
Copyright 2023 NPR
At a time of increasing isolation for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the world stage, he just concluded a summit with leaders from Africa.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/isolated-by-the-west-putin-hosted-a-summit-for-leaders-from-africa-in-st-petersburg | 2023-07-29T12:32:44 | 1 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/isolated-by-the-west-putin-hosted-a-summit-for-leaders-from-africa-in-st-petersburg |
NPR's Scott Simon talks with Henry Bushnell of Yahoo Sports about the American connection to the Philippines women's soccer team competing in the World Cup.
Copyright 2023 NPR
NPR's Scott Simon talks with Henry Bushnell of Yahoo Sports about the American connection to the Philippines women's soccer team competing in the World Cup.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/the-upset-scoring-philippines-womens-soccer-team-has-strong-roots-in-the-u-s | 2023-07-29T12:32:47 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/the-upset-scoring-philippines-womens-soccer-team-has-strong-roots-in-the-u-s |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/lydia-kiesling-on-her-new-novel-mobility | 2023-07-29T12:32:50 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/lydia-kiesling-on-her-new-novel-mobility |
Congress leaves for recess despite a big to-do list. New charges filed against former President Donald Trump. Promising new economic numbers.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Congress leaves for recess despite a big to-do list. New charges filed against former President Donald Trump. Promising new economic numbers.
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/week-in-politics-congress-on-recess-new-charges-against-trump-economy-looks-up | 2023-07-29T12:32:53 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/week-in-politics-congress-on-recess-new-charges-against-trump-economy-looks-up |
The coup in Niger, this week, raises questions about the future of democratic leadership in the West African country. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Rama Yade of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center.
Copyright 2023 NPR
The coup in Niger, this week, raises questions about the future of democratic leadership in the West African country. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Rama Yade of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/the-coup-in-niger-is-a-blow-to-democracy-in-the-west-african-country | 2023-07-29T12:32:56 | 1 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/the-coup-in-niger-is-a-blow-to-democracy-in-the-west-african-country |
A group of crafters has come together to finish items for those who can no longer work on them, or for those who have recently died. (This story first aired on All Things Considered on June 20, 2023.)
Copyright 2023 NPR
A group of crafters has come together to finish items for those who can no longer work on them, or for those who have recently died. (This story first aired on All Things Considered on June 20, 2023.)
Copyright 2023 NPR
This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.
We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.
Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/when-illness-or-death-leave-craft-projects-unfinished-these-strangers-step-in-to-help | 2023-07-29T12:32:59 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-29/when-illness-or-death-leave-craft-projects-unfinished-these-strangers-step-in-to-help |
You don't expect to walk into one of the world's great art museums and hear car horns honking.
It's a soundtrack for New Photography 2023, an ambitious new exhibit of 151 works at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) that seeks to capture the essence of Lagos, Nigeria, the bustling home to upward of 17 million people.
The exhibit, which runs through September 16, is notable for other reasons. With seven photographers represented, the exhibit marks the first time MoMA has presented a group show by living West African photographers. And it's the launch of an ongoing series of exhibits that MoMa says will focus on "specific art scenes across the globe."
Oluremi C. Onabanjo, associate curator of MoMA's department of photography, who organized the show with the assistance of curatorial fellow Kaitlin Booher, welcomes the shift to international perspectives. "Lagos until now hasn't had a home at MoMA. Why not let this be the moment of encounter?"
What you'll encounter is a compelling collage of a massive cityscape whose clogged congestive sprawl co-exists with serene waterscapes and beaches, where ultra-modern skyscrapers tower over the abandoned buildings and artifacts of the colonial past — and where as many protesters as pedestrians sometimes fill the streets.
These contrasting photos create a conversation in the three galleries. In the first gallery, for instance, the gritty, vibrant black-and-white photos of Logo Oluwamuyiwa lining one wall are pitted against Amanda Iheme's colorful photos of colonial-era buildings in decay.
Oluwamuyiwa's "Monochrome Lagos" series shows how vibrant Lagos is – and how cameras and cellphones are everywhere. One of the first images a visitor sees is iPhone, in which a stylishly dressed young woman reluctantly raises her eyes from her cell phone to meet the gaze of the photographer.
Like the sounds of honking horns that boom through the gallery, many of the photos display a cacophony of heavily trafficked streets and bridges, flowing water, hazy smoke from a nearby fire, people of all ages and classes.
There are two stacks of large-sized prints for visitors to take home as souvenirs: one a wide-angle shot of a highway bridge so uncharacteristically empty one wonders if it has been abandoned, the other a super-close-up of the back of a bus bearing a poster declaring "Lagos Hosts the World."
By contrast to Oluwamjhkwa's bustling modern urban scenes, Iheme in her series "The Way of Life explores the past that remains embedded in the present. Her large color photos portray older buildings that have fallen into states of decay and abandonment. In addition to her focus on their current neglect, the buildings she depicts share a common origin, dating to Nigeria's years under British rule, from 1851 to the country's independence in 1960.
"She is attuned to how the houses hold the traces of history and the impact of history on our beings," Onanbanjo comments. The most intriguing photo focuses on a single brownish-red brick, which Iheme, who is a psychotherapist in addition to a photograher, herself recovered from an 1846 house as it was being torn down. It had been built for an Afro-Brazilian slave-trading family and was later refitted for use as a post office, restaurant and bar.
Another photo captures shadowy stairs inside an abandoned building, a scene that evokes shadows lurking from the past. In yet another, pedestrians in Western and traditional African dress walk side by side down a street whose pavement is in visible disrepair. She also shows a sense of humor in her depiction of a grand pink building with no evidence of anyone living there 00 but with laundry drying on the outside hedges.
The next gallery emphasizes the sensual beauty of the city. In his finely detailed black-and-white series, "Sea Never Dry," Akinbode Akinbiyi conjures the sense of an unending ebb and flow of life in Lagos, which is located on a lagoon and consists of several islands famed for their beaches. Onabanjo describes this series as "photographic constellations of people, animals, and objects" found at Bar Beach on Victoria Island in Lagos. Among the most striking is a woman dressed all in white, holding a book (perhaps a Bible) as she strides alone by the surf's edge, a place where the foam from the sea and the gritty grains of sand blend one into the other.
On display nearby is what Onabanjo calls "the spectral spine of the exhibit," a series of collages that artist Abraham Oghobase, calls "Constructed Realities." The photographer juxtaposes blurrily reconfigured archival images of local African and colonial figures with legal documents and lawbook pages that spell out the racist basis of imperial rule.
The second work in the set, shows Ọba Ọvonramwen, the last king who ruled the independent Benin Kingdom, in 1897, as the British rulers to whom he has just surrendered prepare to send him into exile. "He was humiliated. You could see the leg chains, you could see the security guards," the photographer notes on the MoMA website. Oghobase uses the same historic image of Ọba Ọvonramwen in another piece in the series, but here, he says, "I've scaled it down to the point that you can't even see the leg chains ... I cut things up, scan them, digitally crop them" in order to tell the story from an African point of view.
The exhibit's final gallery further illuminates the interplay between the city's fading past and vibrant political present. Nostalgia and memory from the early decades of Nigerian independence are the dominant themes of "Casing History" by Kelani Abass and "The Archive of Becoming" by Karl Ohiri.
Abass repurposes the tools of his late father's printing trade: Thin wooden letter press cases, whose compartments were commonly used to sort out printers' letters. Abass transforms them into display cases for snapshots from the 1960s and 1970s documenting all manner of life, work and educational celebrations and milestones of people of different ages and generations. Time itself has aged the photos, giving them different shades and tints of yellow and sepia. Mixed together this way, the cases and images form a kaleidoscopic landscape of the early years of Nigerian independence, notes Onanbanjo.
Ohiri call his collage of old negatives and prints, collected from commercial photographers, "The Archive of Becoming" — a reference to the often psychedelic colors and transformations wrought by heat, humidity and time. "They are also unbelievably striking, strange, beautiful, swirling, unexpected pictures," says Onabanjo.
Ohiri's two-pronged video, "Rolling Footage" also offers a social critique, in its depiction of a Lagos community of the homeless and the disabled who are forced to construct their own makeshift vehicles — in this case, a skateboar, which is also on display — to navigate the congested streets of an indifferent-seeming city.
The exhibit closes with the photos of photojournalist Yagazie Emezi documenting Nigeria's October 2020 country-wide protest of the police brutality of the country's Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). These photos document her own participation in the protests and contain "extraordinary power. They show the anger, joy and celebration inside a political movement feels like," says Onanbanjo.
In these photos, Emezi has said, "It's like the crowd breathes in and out." In the same way, visitors to the show can see, feel and hear the breath and pulse of the city of Lagos.
Diane Cole writes for many publications, including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, and is book columnist for The Psychotherapy Networker. She is the author of the memoir After Great Pain: A New Life Emerges. Her website is DianeJoyceCole.com.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/unusual-photos-at-moma-conjure-the-beaches-bustle-and-history-of-nigerias-capital | 2023-07-29T12:33:02 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/2023-07-29/unusual-photos-at-moma-conjure-the-beaches-bustle-and-history-of-nigerias-capital |
School district officials in Urbandale have made a list of nearly 400 books that are no longer allowed in classrooms and libraries.
Teachers have been told to remove the titles in order to comply with a new state law passed this year, SF 496, which both prohibits lessons related to gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten through sixth grade and also requires schools to remove all books that include sexual content.
The list shared with Urbandale teachers includes titles singled out by Moms for Liberty and other conservative groups that advocated for the law — books such as the graphic-style memoir Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison.
Literary classics show up the list, such as Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, George Orwell’s 1984 and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. So do acclaimed works by writers of color including Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker and Maya Angelou.
A number of children’s picture books are listed for removal because they include LGBTQ characters.
Urbandale school board member Daniel Gutmann said he is upset the list wasn’t given to board members to review beforehand, and by the lack of guidance at the state level.
With no further explanation from the Iowa Department of Education, Gutmann said schools are unsure of the law’s boundaries.
“In that vacuum of leadership, school districts are fearful and they’re putting out lists that are exhaustive and possibly exceed the scope of Senate File 496,” Gutmann said. “It’s infuriating as a parent, it’s infuriating as an educator and it’s infuriating as a board member tasked with the oversight of a school district.”
The list was acquired through a public information request by the Johnston nonprofit, Annie’s Foundation, which advocates against book bans.
According to a district spokesperson, the list was made in order to give direction to teachers at a year-round elementary school that started classes this week.
“As we have not received guidance yet from the Iowa Department of Education regarding implementation of SF496, we looked at other states that have passed similar laws in order to create the list of books,” said Urbandale schools communications coordinator Dena Claire. “UCSD will continue to comply with the law and timeline as written.”
A letter sent to teachers by the district administration warns of penalties written into the law for educators who violate the new rules banning sexual content in library books. An initial violation earns a warning, but after two or more violations a teacher or superintendent would go before the Board of Educational Examiners for possible professional discipline.
Claire said there is a process for staff members to question books that are included on the list or to propose to add books to the list. Books purchased by the school that are removed from libraries or classrooms will be stored in a central location. | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/education/2023-07-29/urbandale-schools-made-a-list-of-nearly-400-books-forbidden-from-classrooms-because-of-a-new-iowa-law | 2023-07-29T12:33:09 | 1 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/education/2023-07-29/urbandale-schools-made-a-list-of-nearly-400-books-forbidden-from-classrooms-because-of-a-new-iowa-law |
The Mega Millions jackpot grew to a whopping $1.05 billion after no ticket matched all six numbers in Friday night's draw. The last winning ticket was sold on April 18.
The next drawing for the grand prize, which is currently equal to the fourth-largest Mega Millions jackpot to date, is on Tuesday. A lump-sum payment would be an estimated $528 million.
Friday's jackpot was $940 million, and had been growing steadily, finally passing the $1 billion mark after 29 straight draws without someone matching all six winning numbers.
Just last week, a winning ticket for a $1.08 billion Powerball drawing was sold in Los Angeles, but the winner is still unknown.
The odds of winning the Mega Millions are slim — just about 1 in 302.6 million.
The largest Mega Millions winning jackpot was sold in South Carolina in 2018 — a massive $1.537 billion.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/2023-07-29/mega-millions-jackpot-passes-1-billion-after-no-one-draws-all-6-winning-numbers | 2023-07-29T12:33:15 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/2023-07-29/mega-millions-jackpot-passes-1-billion-after-no-one-draws-all-6-winning-numbers |
The nights have been sticky and the days hot for much of summer, but August will fly by quickly, and, in just a few weeks, as the weather cools and the leaves change color, the army of camo- and orange-clad hunters will be back in the woods and fields.
If you haven’t already, it’s time to start planning your 2023 fall hunting seasons.
Again this year, the News Tribune has compiled a calendar of important hunting dates to remember, and some permit application dates are coming up quickly.
Minnesota bear hunters who entered the lottery for bear hunting licenses should check to see if they were selected for a license, with the deadline to buy that license Aug. 1. Lottery winners should have received a postcard notification, but you can also check dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/bear/index.html. Any leftover licenses go on sale Aug. 4. Permits for no-quota bear hunting zones are on sale now.
Minnesota 2023 hunting seasons
Aug. 1: Deadline to purchase bear permit
Aug. 1: Deer hunting licenses go on sale
Aug. 11: Bear baiting begins
Sept. 1-Nov. 29: Mourning dove
Sept. 1-Oct. 31: Crow
Sept. 1-Oct. 15: Bear
Sept. 2-6: Ducks, teal only, statewide
Sept. 2-17: Canada goose early season, statewide
Sept. 7: Deadline to apply for antlerless deer permits and special hunts (where available)
Sept. 9-10: Youth waterfowl, statewide
Sept. 16-Jan. 1: Ruffed grouse
Sept. 16-Dec. 31: Deer, archery and crossbow
Sept. 16-Oct. 22: Sandhill crane, northwest zone only
Sept. 16-Nov. 29 : Sharp-tailed grouse, northwest zone only (closed in east-central area)
Sept. 16-Feb. 29: Squirrel and rabbit, including snowshoe hares
Sept. 23-Nov. 6: Woodcock
Sept. 23-Nov. 21: Ducks, north zone
Sept. 23-Dec. 22: Geese, north zone
Sept. 23-Oct. 1: Ducks, central zone
Sept. 23-Oct. 1: Ducks, south zone
Sept. 30-Oct. 29: Turkey
Oct. 7-Nov. 26: Ducks, central zone, second season
Oct. 7-Nov. 26: Ducks, south zone, second season
Oct. 14-Jan. 1: Pheasant, statewide
Oct. 19-22: Minnesota school break
Oct. 19-22: Youth-only (ages 10-17) firearms deer, statewide
Oct. 15-March 15: Fox and raccoon
Nov. 4-19: Deer, firearms, 100-numbered areas
Nov. 4-12: Deer, firearms, 200- and 300-numbered areas
Nov. 18-26: Deer, firearms, 300-numbered permit areas, second season
Nov. 25-Dec. 10: Deer, muzzleloader, statewide
For more information, check a hunting/trapping regulations booklet available free wherever licenses are sold or go to dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/seasons.html and click on the species you are interested in.
Wisconsin 2023 hunting seasons
Sept. 1-Nov. 29: Mourning dove
Sept. 1-9: Early teal-only season
Sept. 1-15: Early goose, statewide
Sept. 6-Oct. 10: Bear (dates vary for baiting and use of dogs)
Sept. 16-Dec. 16: Goose, north zone
Sept. 16-17: Youth waterfowl hunt, statewide
Sept. 16-Jan. 7: Deer, archery and crossbow
Sept. 16-Jan. 7: Ruffed grouse, north zone (northern two-thirds of state)
Sept. 16-Nov. 17: Turkey, statewide
Nov. 18-Jan. 7: Extended turkey season, zones 1-5
Sept. 16-Nov. 16: Crow
Sept. 16-Feb. 29: Rabbits, north zone (there is no season or limit restrictions on hares)
Sept. 16-Feb. 29: Squirrel
Sept. 16-Dec. 16: Goose, northern zone
Sept. 23-Nov. 6: Woodcock
Sept. 23-Nov. 21: Ducks, north zone
Oct. 7-8: Firearms deer, youth only, statewide
Oct. 14-Jan. 7: Pheasant statewide
Oct. 14-Feb. 15: Fox and coyote
Nov. 18-26: Deer, firearms, statewide
Nov. 27-Dec. 6: Deer, muzzleloader, statewide
Dec. 7-10: Deer, antlerless only, statewide
Dec. 10: Deadline to apply for 2022 spring turkey, bear permits
For more information, check a state hunting/trapping regulations booklet available free wherever licenses are sold or go to dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/dates.html and click on the species you are interested in.
North Dakota
Sept. 30-Dec. 3: Nonresident ducks and geese, tentative (eastern goose zone ends Dec. 17)
Oct. 7-Jan. 1: Pheasant, tentative
South Dakota
Oct. 21-Jan. 31: Nonresident pheasant | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/29/hunters-plan-your-seasons-with-this-2023-calendar-for-minnesota-wisconsin/ | 2023-07-29T12:33:16 | 1 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/29/hunters-plan-your-seasons-with-this-2023-calendar-for-minnesota-wisconsin/ |
She's one of India's biggest Barbie fans. When Vichitra Rajasingh was growing up, family and friends helped her build her collection of Barbie dolls until she had almost 80 of them. She once owned a Barbie camper, a speedboat, supermarket and post office. The mermaid Barbie and scuba-diving Barbie were her favorites.
Since her family ran a hotel, they put the dolls on display in the lobby in the late '90s. On Rajasingh's 14th birthday, her parents painted her room bright pink and hired artists to draw her favorite Barbie dolls on the walls.
All her Barbies were blond. She says she didn't like the Indian ethnic ones that came on the local market.
Living the pink life
"My love for the color pink began with my childhood passion for Barbie," she says. "And now it's become my identity." For her, the color represents love, joy, femininity and playfulness, everything she once associated with Barbie, she says.
Today Rajasingh lives in the southern Indian city of Madurai, where she drives a pink mini-Cooper and runs a bakery and lives in an apartment that are dominated by that color.
When the Barbie movie released in India on July 21, she gathered a bunch of friends, "everyone dressed to the nines in pink," and watched it on the day of its release. "I loved the movie. It was fun to watch and brought back many joyful childhood memories," she says.
While she no longer has her huge doll collection — having long since given it away to family and friends — Rajasingh is still a Barbie lover. She bakes six or seven Barbie-themed cakes a week, with an actual doll at the center of a cake that serves as her frothy dress, constructed around her in a swirl of sugar and cream.
Rajasingh saw Barbie as an aspirational figure — and grew up admiring the doll's freedom, confidence, globe-trotting lifestyle and even her arched feet in sassy stilettos.
But for others in India, Barbie has a far more complicated legacy.
The pressures Barbie can bring
Shweta Sharan, a writer who lives in Mumbai, admits to being conflicted about whether or not to watch the movie with her 13-year-old daughter, Laasya, who until a year ago ardently loved Barbie but then outgrew playing with dolls.
"I am aware that these dolls have many complicated associations," Sharan says. "Watching my daughter love a doll that looked nothing like her — with blond hair, blue eyes, perfect breasts — I worried if she would always strive to be someone else and feel inadequate."
These worries are valid in the opinion of ElsaMarie DSilva, a social entrepreneur from India and an Aspen fellow. "While Barbie is almost universally loved among girls of all ages, many do aspire to look like her, unconsciously pressurizing young girls to conform to unrealistic body shapes and expectations," she says — a common criticism aimed at Barbie.
Indian Barbie is not a rousing success
Mattel did make an effort to adapt the doll for an Indian market. When Mattel launched Barbie in India in 1991, it was the familiar Western-looking blond-haired blue-eyed Barbie. Then in 1996, they rolled out Indian Barbie, with brown skin. She came either wearing a bright sari or a salwar kameez — a knee-length tunic over fitted trousers.
But the Indian Barbie was not popular. "Indian kids gravitated toward the white-skinned Barbie instead of the brown-skinned one because light-skinned women were considered more beautiful in India and an automatic choice," DSilva says.
She points out how even in Indian clothes, Barbie still had a body that did not represent real women in India or anywhere else — she was way too tall and way too thin.
Priti Nemani, an Indian American attorney living in Chicago, analyzed why Barbie failed so spectacularly in the Indian market in a research paper published in 2011. In addition to the unrealistic, impossibly thin appearance of the doll, she points out how other cultural factors were at play.
"We weren't seeing Indian features on Barbie," she says. "We were seeing white Barbies dipped in brown. And even those brown Barbies didn't last long on the shelves. The latest versions of the Indian Barbie have much lighter skin tone.
Meanwhile, even though blond Barbies sold well, Ken tanked in India. "Indian parents who wouldn't want their daughters in romantic relationships at such an early age weren't going to buy the boyfriend," Nemani says.
In spite of her initial misgivings, Sharan enjoyed the Barbie movie with her daughter, now 13, who especially liked the feminist overtones. Laasya loved the beginning, when they were told "Barbie has a great day everyday. Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him."
Barbie inspires a poem
There are other issues about Barbie in India. For many kids, the doll is too expensive.
Ankita Apurva, 26, a writer who grew up in a farming family in Ranchi, a city in the Eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, recalls a childhood bereft of Barbies.
Her parents, who struggled to pay for a good education that they hoped would be her armor against bullying and discrimination, could not afford to buy their daughter a Barbie.
"They weren't in a position to splurge on fancy dolls like a Barbie," she says. She recalls feeling inferior for not owning one of these expensive dolls that would help her connect with other Barbie owners in her circle. It was especially hard for her at lunch when girls would boast about how many dolls they owned.
"I believe that even if children from marginalized communities manage to enter [private] institutions [for the privileged], there are certain social, cultural and economic symbols which are consciously and subconsciously deployed to mark them out, and Barbie, as loved as it is, is definitely one of them," she says.
Over the years, Apurva's family has grown stronger financially. When she saw the global resurgence of interest in Barbie now, she didn't feel angry or alienated, but it did bring back memories of desperately wanting to fit in – and not just because she didn't have a Barbie.
"Growing up, I rarely felt represented in literature or media. If pens or cameras turned toward us, they inadvertently counted us as data: dead bodies of farmers or survivors of violence of umpteen kinds."
As a girl from a farming family in Jharkhand, Apurva felt invisible. And so, she decided to express those emotions. She wrote a poem that she posted on Instagram, not to shame anyone who is privileged enough to own a Barbie but to comfort those who, like her, may have felt left out.
Here are some excerpts:
"Here's to the girls who do not get the Barbie craze,
...
girls who had parents who could not
or did not or choose not
to get them Barbie dolls
...
it's okay,
to not relate to any of it
...
what is not okay are friends ...
who intentionally make you
feel low by asking how many Barbies
you owned as a kid even as they
know you weren't privileged enough
to have them.
...
you are also not "too much" ...
if you feel
that Barbie is a colonial icon
legitimizing racial supremacy
while being a 'white feminist' trope
...
and once again
remember,
you are everything,
they are just Ken
Kamala Thiagarajan is a freelance journalist based in Madurai, Southern India. She reports on global health, science, and development, and her work has been published in the New York Times, The British Medical Journal, BBC, The Guardian and other outlets. You can find her on twitter @kamal_t
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/news-from-npr/2023-07-28/the-dreams-and-disappointments-of-indias-barbie | 2023-07-29T12:33:21 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/news-from-npr/2023-07-28/the-dreams-and-disappointments-of-indias-barbie |
Sainted
I’m on my scooter in line to pick up a prescription at a Walgreen’s drive-up window. I put on the parking brake to keep from rolling back. Then, when it’s my turn, I can’t release the parking brake!
The rear wheel is immobilized, and I can’t push the scooter aside.
I call AAA for a tow and tell folks coming for prescriptions they need to use the other line, scooter is immovable. One woman, Jessica, asks, what’s wrong with it? I tell her and she says, well the cable needs to be released from the caliper and the rear wheel should free up. She’s eying the brake mechanism while waiting in line for her prescription and figures out what needs to be done but we’ve got no tools.
I’ll run home and get mine, she said. Wait right here, she said.
Jessica returns, removes the emergency brake assembly, and voila! The rear tire is spinning again!
Thank you Jessica. There really are angels in our midst, and Jessica is definitely among them.
Michael Green, Maplewood
Sainted
Sainted to the wonderful volunteers at St. Anthony Park Home.
The volunteers include musicians, help with bingo, reading and playing games with residents. The music is great with singers, guitar, horns, accordion players and more.
Recently a 15-person band volunteered.
The music is enjoyed and appreciated by both residents and staff.
The home has four pianos and only three floors. The pianos are played often by talented people. My husband really enjoys the music and bingo.
Betty Gruber, St. Paul
Sainted
A huge we Sainting to Linn Ahrendt for nearly 30 years of service operating St. Rose of Lima school’s pre-, after-school and summer power play programs.
For nearly 30 years Linn’s jeeps have seemingly been a year-round dawn-to-evening fixture in the parking lot. She’s mentored and helped form a generation of Roseville’s kids by ensuring homework gets done, coaching sports, and directing children’s choirs. Linn is moving on from that and will be greatly missed.
Thanks, Linn. You’re an inspiration.
Sue Finnegan, Roseville
Tainted and Sainted
Tainted: myself, for forgetting to pick my phone back up after I had set it on a pile of clothes at the Maplewood Costco. I had been holding up various garments to eyeball for size. My phone had a credit card holder attached to the back and two credit cards in the holder. I proceeded to continue my Fourth of July holiday shopping for the cabin, placing many refrigerated items in the cart. I was almost to the checkout when I realized — no phone, no way to pay. Went back to clothing section — phone nowhere to be found. Not enough printable words to describe the feeling.
Sainted: the Costco “clothes-folder” ladies who helped me search — especially one whose name I did not catch. But ESPECIALLY sainted was the person who saw my phone and turned it in to management immediately. I really hope you see this, and know that you saved the day for many people besides myself that day, including little grandchildren whose long-anticipated visit to the cabin would have been significantly delayed.
May God bless you, a thousand times over.
Tina Appleby, Roseville
Sainted
A huge sainting goes out to the Woodbury EMTs and the staff at Stonecrest Assisted Living who responded when my dear 96-year-old mom fell and hit her head.
We are grateful for the professionalism, kindness, and compassion she received from everyone who responded. Thankfully there were no broken bones or any serious complications related to her fall, only some very colorful bruises.
With sincere gratitude,
Cindy Klatt, Shafer, and the family of Joan Hohman
Sainted
Sainted to the two women who saw me on 90+ degree days while I was walking up the Marie Avenue hill.
One stopped to offer me a ride, and the next day one offered me a cold bottle of water.
They were both so kind and generous It is good to know that people still think about other people who may need help in the heat.
Tom Haas, St. Paul
Sainted
Kudos to the Minnesota Supreme Court on the silver anniversary of its adoption of the right of privacy for all Minnesota residents.
It was 25 years ago this week, July 30, 1998, to be precise, that the Court, in a ruling written by Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz, joined nearly the rest of the country (except North Dakota and Wyoming) in recognizing the fundamental right of personal privacy.
Her eloquent ruling, many years after courts in this state had repeatedly rejected the claim, occurred in a case entitled Lake v. Walmart Stores. In it, she extolled privacy as “an integral part of our humanity … guarded and preserved.”
While the right of privacy in this state has ebbed and flowed since the Lake decision, the case is a landmark in Minnesota law and was recognized in one publication as one of the Top Ten rulings of the past millenium. Its forceful and well-reasoned opinion is worth recalling and reviewing on the silver anniversary of this important principle.
Marshall H. Tanick, Minneapolis | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/29/sainted-tainted-jessica-runs-home-to-get-her-tools-and-voila-the-rear-tire-spins/ | 2023-07-29T12:33:22 | 1 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/29/sainted-tainted-jessica-runs-home-to-get-her-tools-and-voila-the-rear-tire-spins/ |
Trader Joe's has recalled its frozen falafel for potentially having rocks in it, after it recalled two of its cookie products for the same reason recently.
The company's supplier informed them of the concern, and Trader Joe's said in a statement Friday that "all potentially affected product has been removed from sale and destroyed."
Customers who purchased the product should discard it or return it to a Trader Joe's location for a full refund, the company said.
The falafel, which is fully cooked and frozen, has the SKU number 93935 and is sold in Washington, D.C., and 34 states.
Last Friday, Trader Joe's said rocks could also possibly be found in its Almond Windmill Cookies and Dark Chocolate Chunk and Almond Cookies.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/news-from-npr/2023-07-28/trader-joes-recalls-its-frozen-falafel-for-possibly-having-rocks-in-it | 2023-07-29T12:33:27 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/news-from-npr/2023-07-28/trader-joes-recalls-its-frozen-falafel-for-possibly-having-rocks-in-it |
BEIJING, July 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hundreds of English education experts and scholars from all over the world assembled in Macao on Friday for a three-day event to explore new opportunities for global cooperation in English education brought by China's development.
The 2023 Global English Education China Assembly, an online-and-offline event that opened at the City University of Macau (CityU), attracted over 1,600 experts, front-line educators and scholars from more than 20 countries and regions. Participants were mainly from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Thailand, Russia, Singapore, Nepal, Mongolia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
They shared their insights to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and discussed the most recent trends in English language teaching.
The event's theme is "New opportunities for the world with new advances in China's development: Opening up new prospects in English education cooperation worldwide", and features nine keynote speeches and 23 parallel sessions.
This year's assembly is hosted by China Daily and Shanghai International Studies University, and co-hosted by the Macao SAR Government Education and Youth Development Bureau, and organized by CityU and China Daily's 21st Century English Education Media.
For the first time, the assembly, which started in 2018, was held in Macao — one of the engine cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. This location echoes the Outline Development Plan for the GBA released in 2019, which set out to, among other goals, build the region as a model area for high-quality education and promote opening up education to the world.
At the event's opening ceremony, Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, highlighted that 2023 marks the 10th year since President Xi Jinping put forward both the idea of "building a community with a shared future for mankind" and the Belt and Road Initiative.
It is, therefore, appropriate that for the first time, the conference this year has moved out of the Chinese mainland to Macao where East meets West and multiple cultures blend, Qu said.
He said he believes the event will catalyze many innovative outcomes. Qu further said that English education could be a bridge to promote high-quality development of the BRI and people-to-people cultural exchanges could provide momentum for "building a community with a shared future for mankind".
He urged the audience to cultivate talent in order to bolster the promotion of the three global initiatives brought forward by Xi — the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.
Qu also said China attaches great importance to education and cultural exchange. Xi, in his several correspondences with foreign students studying in China, has encouraged the latter to see with their own eyes the development of China and tell the world about what they have seen, to boost people-to-people bonding and friendship between their countries and China.
Zha Mingjian, vice-president of Shanghai International Studies University, said development in recent times has brought many opportunities as well as challenges. In this context, the English education sector in China has the responsibility to serve as a vital bridge for English education globally.
Opening education more extensively to the outside world will significantly strengthen China's efforts to modernize education in the new era, Zha said.
Svetlana V. Sannikova, coordination council chairperson of the National Association of Teachers of English in Russia, said the Macao event offers a high-end international academic platform where teachers can learn many practical ideas and methods to improve their English teaching skills.
On Friday, the event's organizer and CityU jointly established the Belt and Road English Education Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Exchange Base, which will use English education as a means to promote cultural exchanges and people-to-people bonding in countries and regions participating in the BRI.
The GBA Exchange Base will also strive to promote high-quality development in the BRI landscape.
Liu Jun, rector of CityU and president of the International Research Foundation for English Language Education, and Zeng Qingkai, editor-in-chief of 21st Century English Education Media, were the signatories of the document for the establishment of the base.
Among the several dignitaries who graced Friday's opening ceremony were Ao Ieong U, secretary for social affairs and culture of the Macao SAR government, participating in the event on behalf of Macao SAR Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng; Yan Zhichan, deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR; Liu Xianfa, commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao SAR; Kong Chimeng, director of the Macao SAR government Education and Youth Development Bureau; and Chan Meng-kam, chairman of the council of CityU.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE China Daily | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/experts-foresee-china-role-english-learning/ | 2023-07-29T12:33:28 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/experts-foresee-china-role-english-learning/ |
There are dueling efforts in Florida by activists on both sides of the abortion issue to insert language into the state constitution.
Copyright 2023 NPR
There are dueling efforts in Florida by activists on both sides of the abortion issue to insert language into the state constitution.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/news-from-npr/2023-07-29/activists-on-both-sides-of-the-abortion-issue-are-trying-to-change-floridas-constitution | 2023-07-29T12:33:34 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/news-from-npr/2023-07-29/activists-on-both-sides-of-the-abortion-issue-are-trying-to-change-floridas-constitution |
ODESSA, Ukraine, July 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ukrainian entrepreneur, Vadim Novynskyi has announced a donation of up to $1 million to help restore the Transfiguration Church in Odessa, Ukraine that was seriously damaged during rocket attacks on Sunday, July 23. The destruction of one of the most beautiful Ukrainian churches, which was erected by the founders of Odessa at the end of the 18th century is a true tragedy. This cathedral was the center of the spiritual life of Odessa.
This is not the first time the church has been destroyed. In 1936, the Bolsheviks destroyed the cathedral and it was restored in the early 2000's after tens of thousands of ordinary people participated in the restoration with their donations.
"I sincerely mourn with the inhabitants of Odessa and I want to assure them and all the people of Ukraine that this cathedral will be rebuilt and the people of Odessa will once again be able to worship and seek community in this hallowed place," said Vadim Novynskyi. "In the days of war and persecution of the Church, it is very important to be able to protect and revive the shrines of Orthodoxy, demonstrating faith, unity and mutual support. After all, the true Orthodox Church is based on these principles."
View original content:
SOURCE Vadym Novynskyi | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/restoration-transfiguration-chuch-odessa-ukraine-by-ukrainian-entrepreneur-vadym-novynskyi/ | 2023-07-29T12:33:35 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/restoration-transfiguration-chuch-odessa-ukraine-by-ukrainian-entrepreneur-vadym-novynskyi/ |
Vaughn Dalzell breaks why the AL East is wide open and a team like the Toronto Blue Jays is set up to make a run.
AL East Champion: Toronto Blue Jays (+600)
The AL East is heating up with five teams potentially playoff eligible and in the postseason hunt.
What once seemed like a division led by the Rays is now wide-open as Baltimore has taken a 1.5-game lead over Tampa Bay. Toronto sits 5.5 games back of Baltimore but has a four-game homestand coming up against the Orioles after this three-game series with the Angels concludes.
That four-game set with the O’s will shift the AL East standings, especially with the Rays taking on the Astros and Yankees over the next week.
Since the All-Star break, Toronto’s offense has been top three in batting average (.285) and OBP (.368), plus top 10 in hits (127), walks (51), SLG (.452), and OPS (.820) over 13 games (8-5 record).
On the other hand, the Blue Jays’ pitching staff is second in ERA (3.51) and save opportunities (10), while ranking tied-third in saves (5), eighth in strikeouts (126), and 12th in OBA (.241) during that 13-game span.
Four of Toronto’s five losses since the break came by two or fewer runs compared to seven out of the eight wins coming by two-plus runs, so the Blue Jays could very well be 12-1 opposed to 8-5 during that span.
The Blue Jays have an upcoming four-game home series versus the Orioles and plenty of fringe to non-playoff teams on deck in August (Cubs, Reds, Guardians, Phillies, etc.) before playing a favorable September schedule.
Toronto starts September with nine games versus Colorado, Oakland, and Kansas City before playing Texas, then AL East opponents Boston, New York, and Tampa Bay to close out the season.
I expect Toronto to close the gap between Tampa Bay and Baltimore and with September being prime for the Blue Jays to put themselves in a position to win the AL East, let me get a piece of the current +600 price on FanDuel.
Pick: Toronto to win the AL East (0.5u)
Start off your Sunday with MLB Sunday leadoff on Peacock featuring exclusive games with no blackout restrictions. Check out the schedule now to see if your favorite team is playing and join for one low annual fee.
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Live Odds: NFL | NBA | MLB | CFB | CBB | NHL
Player Props: NFL | NBA | MLB | CFB | CBB | NHL | https://www.nbcsports.com/betting/mlb/news/al-east-futures-best-bet-toronto-blue-jays | 2023-07-29T12:33:39 | 0 | https://www.nbcsports.com/betting/mlb/news/al-east-futures-best-bet-toronto-blue-jays |
Shenandoah native John Bay served in the U.S. Secret Service for more than 20 years. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in music education - and was a cohort of Simon Estes.
River to River host Ben Kieffer spends this episode with Bay, discussing how he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a field interrogator during the Vietnam War, and how that led to working at the White House during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
He even sings a couple of bars with a nod to his hometown.
This episode was originally produced April 6, 2023.
Guest:
- John Bay, former U.S. Secret Service special agent, North Liberty resident | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/river-to-river/2023-07-29/a-retired-secret-service-agent-shares-tales-from-the-white-house | 2023-07-29T12:33:40 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/river-to-river/2023-07-29/a-retired-secret-service-agent-shares-tales-from-the-white-house |
How to Watch NASCAR, F1, IndyCar & More: Auto Racing Streaming Live - Saturday, July 29
Published: Jul. 29, 2023 at 6:44 AM EDT|Updated: 2 hours ago
Need more auto racing in your life? Well, you're in luck. The race slate on Saturday, July 29 includes Formula 1, Formula E, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Racing Series, and NHRA Drag Racing action that can be watched on Fubo. For a complete list, along with information on how to watch or live stream it all, check out the article below.
Watch even more racing action with ESPN+!
Auto Racing Streaming Live Today
Watch Formula 1: Belgium Grand Prix - Sprint Shootout
- Series: Formula 1
- Game Time: 5:55 AM ET
- TV Channel: ESPN
- Live Stream: Watch on Fubo!
Watch Formula 1: Belgium Grand Prix - Sprint
- Series: Formula 1
- Game Time: 10:25 AM ET
- TV Channel: ESPN
- Live Stream: Watch on Fubo!
Watch Formula E: Round 15: London - Race
- Series: Formula E
- Game Time: 11:30 AM ET
- TV Channel: CBS Sports Network
- Live Stream: Watch on Fubo!
Watch NHRA Drag Racing: DENSO Sonoma Nationals - Qualifying
- Series: NHRA Drag Racing
- Game Time: 12:00 PM ET
- TV Channel: FOX Sports Networks
- Live Stream: Watch on Fubo!
Watch Formula E: Hankook London E-Prix
- Series: Formula E
- Game Time: 12:00 PM ET
- TV Channel: CBS
- Live Stream: Watch on Fubo!
Watch NASCAR Cup Series: Cook Out 400 - Qualifying
- Series: NASCAR Cup Series
- Game Time: 12:30 PM ET
- TV Channel: USA Network
- Live Stream: Watch on Fubo!
Watch NASCAR Xfinity Racing Series: Henry 180
- Series: NASCAR Xfinity Racing Series
- Game Time: 3:00 PM ET
- TV Channel: NBC
- Live Stream: Watch on Fubo!
Watch NASCAR Xfinity Racing Series: Road America 180
- Series: NASCAR Xfinity Racing Series
- Game Time: 3:00 PM ET
- TV Channel: NBC
- Live Stream: Watch on Fubo!
Watch NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Worldwide Express 250
- Series: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
- Game Time: 7:30 PM ET
- TV Channel: FOX Sports Networks
- Live Stream: Watch on Fubo!
Make sure you're following along with racing action all year long on Fubo and ESPN+!
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/auto-racing-live-stream/ | 2023-07-29T12:33:41 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/auto-racing-live-stream/ |
With temperatures soaring, the heat can alter the course of transpiration and photosynthesis, leaving plants dehydrated and lacking nutrients, which in turn causes their leaves to be hot. On this horticulture day episode of Talk of Iowa, expert Aaron Steil recommends tips for taking care of vulnerable plants during a heatwave. Then Cindy Haynes joins the program to answer your horticulture and gardening questions.
Guests:
- Aaron Steil, horticulture specialist, ISU Extension and Outreach
- Cindy Haynes, horticulture professor, Iowa State University | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/talk-of-iowa/2023-07-29/how-to-keep-plants-safe-in-hot-temperatures | 2023-07-29T12:33:46 | 0 | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/podcast/talk-of-iowa/2023-07-29/how-to-keep-plants-safe-in-hot-temperatures |
Last year, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Tyrese Haliburton made the leap into the first round.
In 2021-22, it was Dejounte Murray.
In 2020-21, it was Nikola Vucevic and Myles Turner.
Who will it be this season? Which player will take a huge step forward and reward fantasy managers with a top-12 season? Finding a diamond in the rough is the goal of each and every fantasy draft, and fortunately, we have seven guys who can be the best of the best without costing you a first-round pick.
As a rule of thumb, we’re excluding guys like Donovan Mitchell, Lauri Markkanen, Domantas Sabonis, Brook Lopez and Nicolas Claxton. All of them finished as top-24 options in 2022-23, and we’re looking for players whose best fantasy finishes have been outside that range and who have first-round ceilings in 2023-24.
Here are the picks, starting with a pair of Raptors ready to rise after the departure of their PG:
OG Anunoby
Last three fantasy finishes: 28 (‘22-23), 52 (‘21-22), 35 (‘20-21)
Three-season averages: 16.6 points, 5.3 boards, 2.3 assists, 1.6 steals 0.6 blocks, 1.8 TOs, 2.3 triples, 46.5 FG%, 79.7 FT%
Who he is: Anunoby has spent all six seasons of his career with Toronto, operating as a key role player during the team’s 2018-19 run to the Finals and establishing himself as one of the NBA’s best two-way players.
How he can jump into the top-12: Anunoby had a strong 2022-23 season and provided career-best marks in FT% (83.8) and steals (1.9). His averaged just 2.0 assists and 2.1 triples - both three-year lows - but with Fred VanVleet gone, both of those numbers could realistically increase. VanVleet averaged 19.3 points, 7.2 dimes, 16.1 FGA and 23.2 usage last season, so there should be plenty of opportunities for Anunoby to boost his value in points, three-pointers and assists. As a solid shooter and last season’s steals leader, he’s got the fantasy skillset to be a top-12 option if he can put it all together at the same time.
OG Anunoby's stats vs. Los Angeles:
— NBA Canada (@NBACanada) March 11, 2023
31 PTS | 86% FG | 4 3PT | 5 STL | 2 REB @Raptors | #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/EOLUVhLSTE
Scottie Barnes
Last two fantasy finishes: 85 (‘22-23), 66 (‘21-22)
Two-season averages: 15.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.8 blocks, 0.8 triples, 45.6 FG%, 77.2 FT%
Who he is: Barnes won a closely-contested Rookie of the Year race in 2021-22, making a name for himself as a high-level scorer, rebounder and playmaker with upside as a defender. He didn’t experience a sophomore slump, but he didn’t take a big step forward, either. He disappointed plenty of fantasy managers who spent a valuable pick on him, meaning he’ll likely come at a discount in 2023-24 drafts.
How he can jump into the top-12: While Barnes didn’t have a strong encore to his ROY season, he showed improvement as a playmaker, handing out a career-high 4.8 assists per game. He compiled 13 double-doubles and even recorded a triple-double with an 11/11/10 stat line against the Mavs on November 4. “Point Scottie” ran the offense at times throughout the season, and the departure of FVV could mean more of that in 2023-24. Barnes has room to grow as a scorer and three-point shooter, and improvements in shooting percentages could boost his value in points and triples. A higher-usage role and an increase in efficiency are on the table for Barnes, as he figures to play a big role for a Toronto team with one of the worst benches in the NBA. Beam me up!
Scottie Barnes (age 21 years, 95 days) becomes the youngest player in Raptors history to record a triple-double. pic.twitter.com/qxszjZEbup
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) November 5, 2022
Mikal Bridges
Last three fantasy finishes: 32 (‘22-23), 54 (‘21-22), 42 (‘20-21)
Three-season averages: 15.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.7 blocks, 1.0 TOs, 1.8 triples, 50.4 FG%, 86.3 FT%
Who he is: Like Anunoby, Bridges has made a name for himself as an elite, two-way option. After spending the first four seasons of his career in Phoenix, he was traded to Brooklyn midway through Year 5 as part of the Kevin Durant deal. Bridges is an iron man, who has never missed a game in his NBA career and finished with 83 under his belt after being traded.
How he can jump into the top-12: Bridges broke out last season, posting career-high marks in a number of categories with 20.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.0 three-pointers. Increased usage and a nearly 50% spike in FGAs (10.5 in 2021-22, 15.3 in 2022-23) led to a career-high 1.5 TOs and the second-lowest FG% of his career (46.8). His production in those categories took a turn in the wrong direction, but 1.5 TOs and 46.8% shooting are not inherently bad numbers for a guy operating as his team’s go-to option on offense.
After arriving in Brooklyn, Bridges averaged 26.1 points, 4.5 boards, 1.0 steals, 2.7 assists and 2.0 triples in 27 games, while shooting 47.5% from the field and 89.4% from the charity stripe. We should see high usage and plenty of scoring in his first full campaign with Brooklym, but Bridges can boost his fantasy stock and move into the top-12 with manageable improvements in shooting percentages and assists. He’s pushed for a 50/40/90 shooting season before, and his assist numbers had the most substantial growth of his career in 2022-23.
Mikal Bridges scored 44 points and I’m running out of things to say about him because he’s been so consistently good for BKN.
— V̷a̷t̷o̷r̷ (@Vator_H_Town) March 27, 2023
So smooth getting to his spots and that middy is cash money. pic.twitter.com/OUzhRZ6gb9
Desmond Bane
Last three fantasy finishes: 36 (‘22-23), 36 (‘21-22), 211 (‘20-21)
Three-season averages: 16.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 0.9 steals, 1.5 TOs, 2.5 triples, 47.1 FG%, 88.7 FT%
Who he is: One of the best three-point shooters in the NBA, Bane is also a quality defender and playmaker. After signing a monster, five-year, $207 million extension at the end of June, Bane has been cemented as a franchise cornerstone in Memphis’ future plans.
How he can jump into the top-12: Bane’s averages in most categories have grown in each of the last two seasons, resulting in the best statistical season of his career in 2022-23. Last season, he posted 21.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.0 steals and 2.9 triples while shooting 47.9% from the field and 88.3% from the charity stripe. He’s shot no worse than 40.8% from beyond the arc in any of his three NBA seasons, and it wouldn’t be surprising for him to hit north of three triples per game in 2023-24. Bane’s usage has also gone from 16.2 in his rookie campaign to 23.2 in 2021-22 and finally to 26.1 in 2022-23. Last season’s usage broke down to 25.6 with Ja Morant 28.5 without Morant.
Morant will miss the first 25 games of the season while serving a suspension, which means Bane should be in line for substantial usage and an increase in scoring opportunities. The Grizzlies added Marcus Smart in the offseason, but Bane finished as a top-36 option alongside a much more talented high-usage PG in each of the last two seasons. Smart will likely be utilized more as an elite defender than a true facilitator, which opens the door for Bane to take another step forward in the assists department. Memphis also lost Tyus Jones, so this isn’t a deep roster at guard. High-level shooting, scoring and facilitating could push Bane into the first round of fantasy hoops even after Morant returns.
Desmond Bane scored 32 second-half points in the win vs the Nets 🔥
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) October 25, 2022
38 Points (Career-High)
14/21 Shooting
8/11 Threes
7 Assists
1 Turnoverpic.twitter.com/e82KwE1srL
Anthony Edwards
Last three fantasy finishes: 40 (‘22-23), 42 (‘21-22), 119 (‘20-21)
Three-season averages: 21.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.4 steals, 0.6 blocks, 2.7 TOs, 2.7 triples, 43.8 FG%, 76.9 FT%
Who he is: One of the most talented young scorers in the game, Ant Man has shown that he’s a walking bucket who can also contribute on the defensive end. He’ll be just 22 when the season starts, and we haven’t seen his best basketball yet.
How he can jump into the top-12: Edwards isn’t an efficient shooter, and his percentages have dragged down his fantasy value throughout his career. His FG% has improved in each of the last two seasons, and he can be better from the charity stripe. Small improvements from 2022-23 could really boost his fantasy value, even though we know he won’t sniff 50% from the field or 85% from the foul line. Where he can make a major leap is as a scorer. Edwards averaged a career-best 24.4 points per game last season, but that number is sure to rise in Year 4. He can hit more three-pointers, his rebounds and assists can tick up, and his defensive numbers have room for improvement as well. Edwards averaged an eye-popping line of 31.6 points, 5.2 assists, 5.0 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 2.0 blocks against Denver in last season’s playoffs, and numbers like that over the course of an entire season would put him in the first-round conversation. He’s got all the tools to be a top-12 fantasy option in 2023-24.
Anthony Edwards has 129 points in the series vs the Nuggets. This is the 3rd-most all-time by a player 21 or younger in their team's first four games of a postseason.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 24, 2023
🏀2006 LeBron James, 137 pts
🏀2001 Tracy McGrady, 135 pts
🏀2023 Anthony Edwards, 129 pts pic.twitter.com/uA6i5MqW35
Walker Kessler
Last season fantasy finish: 57 (‘22-23) as a rookie
Last season averages: 9.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.4 steals, 2.3 blocks, 0.8 TOs, 72.0 FG%, 51.6 FT%
Who he is: “Blocker Kessler,” “The Ranger,” “Salt Lake Swatter” - whatever you want to call him, there’s no mistaking Kessler’s enormous fantasy potential in 2023-24. He finished as the highest-ranked fantasy rookie on a per-game basis last season thanks to his outstanding blocking ability, high FG%, low TOs and strong rebounds.
How he can jump into the top-12: Kessler’s work as a shot-blocker wasn’t just good. It was historic. Since 1988, he’s one of just 12 players to average at least 2.0 blocks per game as a rookie. Since 2000? He’s one of only three players to hit that per-game average, and his total blocks in 2022-23 were the most by a rookie in that span. Kessler averaged just 23.0 minutes per game in his inaugural campaign, but his role grew steadily as the season went on. Over the final two months of the season, his minutes soared to 28.6, and he ranked 21st in per-game value behind 11.9 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.2 swats.
In most categories, the league-leader in that particular stat isn’t head-and-shoulders above the competition. A scoring title is often decided by fractions of a point, and the same is usually true of rebounds and assists. Steals and particularly blocks are different. In 2020-21, Myles Turner’s 3.5 blocks per game were 1.1 more than the runner-up, Rudy Gobert. That cavernous gap gave Turner such insane value in the blocks category that it propelled him into the first round that season.
Clutch blocks... that's Walker Kessler's thing.
— NBA (@NBA) March 21, 2023
The @utahjazz rookie center helps seal a second-consecutive game on the defensive end! 💯 pic.twitter.com/PS1f5ToYVU
In 2020-21, Turner averaged 12.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.9 steals, 3.4 blocks and 1.5 triples while shooting 47.7% from the field and 78.2% from the free-throw line. Kessler doesn’t shoot thres, but his elite production in rebounds and FG% are more than enough to compensate. It’s not a bold take to guess that Kessler leads the league in blocks this season, and if he does so by a significant margin, he can elevate into the top-12. We can certainly count on him averaging better than 23.0 minutes per game, which should lead to improved production in points and rebounds as well.
Most blocks since the All-Star break:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 28, 2023
51 — Walker Kessler
45 — Brook Lopez
43 — Jaren Jackson Jr
The rook is averaging 3.6 BPG in that span. pic.twitter.com/aAHJN24Diw
Jalen Brunson
Last three fantasy finishes: 45 (‘22-23), 98 (‘21-22), 183 (‘20-21)
Three-season averages: 17.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 0.7 steals, 1.6 TOs, 1.5 triples, 50.0 FG%, 83.2 FT%
Who he is: After four seasons in Dallas, including a (pre)breakout 2021-22 campaign, Brunson took his talents to New York last offseason. He enjoyed the best season of his career while leading the Knicks to an upset first-round playoff victory over the Cavs.
How he can jump into the top-12: Brunson’s role changed from role-player alongside Luka Doncic to leader and franchise cornerstone of a team. How did he handle the new responsibilities? He promptly increased his career-high in scoring from 16.3 to 24.0 and his career-high in assists from 4.8 to 6.2. Most impressively, his usage spiked from 21.9 to 27.2 from 2021-22 to 2022-23, yet his turnovers only increased from 1.6 to 2.1. His FG% fell from 50.2 to 49.1 despite a massive jump in FGAs from 12.8 to 17.6. Brunson maintained a high level of efficiency and relatively low turnovers while going off in the scoring and facilitating departments.
He absolutely detonated in the playoffs, averaging 27.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.4 triples while shooting 47.4% from the field and 91.2% from the charity stripe. He can still improve as a scorer and hand out more assists in his second season with New York. He shot a career-best 41.6% from beyond the arc last season, and after finding success from three-point range in the playoffs, there’s optimism he’ll attempt more three-pointers in 2023-24. Even after logging 35.0 minutes per night a season ago, it wouldn’t be shocking if head coach Tom Thibodeau gave Brunson even more playing time moving forward. Brunson averaged more than 40 minutes per game in the postseason.
The only Knicks player to show up.
— Teg🚨 (@IQfor3) May 13, 2023
Jalen Brunson following a 38-point elimination game with a 41-point elimination game. Thank you pic.twitter.com/gCRtF4OBV4 | https://www.nbcsports.com/fantasy/basketball/news/who-is-this-seasons-shai-gilgeous-alexander | 2023-07-29T12:33:49 | 0 | https://www.nbcsports.com/fantasy/basketball/news/who-is-this-seasons-shai-gilgeous-alexander |
Although the NFL has decided that players can’t have equity in their teams, the league has no rules about teams helping a player who has equity in his own business.
The news from early May the receiver Tyler Lockett’s real estate company has become an official sponsor of the Seahawks raised a few eyebrows at the time, given that the non-football business relationship potentially opens the door for the team to give benefits to a player that don’t, but should, fall under the salary cap.
Lockett discussed with reporters on Friday how the arrangement came to be.
“I kind of brought it up,” Lockett said. “I learned the worst thing that can happen is people say no, so I kind of reached out to the Seahawks upstairs on the third floor. I talked to them just about the opportunity to be able to do a partnership. I learned about them just throughout the years of me being here, they had one with Windermere and so when I heard that Windermere wasn’t going to do it anymore, I had an opportunity to see if it was even possible to do it. We went through all the rules, the laws, the regulations, we did everything the right way and so I’m thankful to even be able to have a chance to do that.
“Honestly I think it says a lot about our organization just believing in us, giving us a chance to be able to start our second careers early, being able to find balance, and time management. To be able to do those types of things I can’t speak for every organization, but I never heard of a lot of organizations even going that extra mile to do stuff to help a player even if it doesn’t help them.”
To the extent that the first paragraph alleviates concerns of salary-cap circumvention, the second paragraph immediately dusts them off. If the Seahawks are “going that extra mile to do stuff” to help Lockett “even if it doesn’t help them” through this sponsorship, it becomes the kind of thing that potentially creates a cap loophole, since the league insists that any financial value given to a player must be accounted for under the spending limit. (Earlier this year, for example, the league took a fifth-round pick from the Texans for paying a mere $26,000 to a local facility where Deshaun Watson had been training.)
The point here isn’t to knock Lockett’s entrepreneurial spirit. He’s doing something other players should emulate. The issue is whether he has found a true exception to the cap rules that other players with other teams will be able duplicate.
Tom Brady did it with TB12 while at the Patriots. And even though the anti-Pats of the world wonder whether there were overlooked cap violations there, we’re told that the arrangement was fully scrutinized by the league office. If arrangements like this can indeed hold up to NFL examination, why shouldn’t more players and more teams do it? | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/tyler-lockett-explains-his-real-estate-sponsorship-deal-with-team | 2023-07-29T12:33:59 | 0 | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/tyler-lockett-explains-his-real-estate-sponsorship-deal-with-team |
A program in Oklahoma uses art to re-integrate women recently released from prison By Elizabeth Caldwell Published July 29, 2023 at 8:00 AM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Women who are soon to be released from prison in Oklahoma get help with the transition by focusing on the arts. Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/a-program-in-oklahoma-uses-art-to-re-integrate-women-recently-released-from-prison | 2023-07-29T12:34:35 | 1 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/a-program-in-oklahoma-uses-art-to-re-integrate-women-recently-released-from-prison |
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with a resident of Odesa, Ukraine about what the last several days — and nights — have been like, under repeated attack from Russian missiles and drones.
Copyright 2023 NPR
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with a resident of Odesa, Ukraine about what the last several days — and nights — have been like, under repeated attack from Russian missiles and drones.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/a-resident-of-odesa-ukraine-describes-life-amid-russian-missile-and-drone-strikes | 2023-07-29T12:34:41 | 0 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/a-resident-of-odesa-ukraine-describes-life-amid-russian-missile-and-drone-strikes |
There are dueling efforts in Florida by activists on both sides of the abortion issue to insert language into the state constitution.
Copyright 2023 NPR
There are dueling efforts in Florida by activists on both sides of the abortion issue to insert language into the state constitution.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/activists-on-both-sides-of-the-abortion-issue-are-trying-to-change-floridas-constitution | 2023-07-29T12:34:47 | 0 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/activists-on-both-sides-of-the-abortion-issue-are-trying-to-change-floridas-constitution |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/an-artist-explains-why-marvels-use-of-ai-to-animate-a-sequence-is-worrying | 2023-07-29T12:34:53 | 0 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/an-artist-explains-why-marvels-use-of-ai-to-animate-a-sequence-is-worrying |
One of the largest Protestant denominations in the U.S. is losing congregations over disputes over LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage. (This story first aired on Morning Edition on July 25, 2023.)
Copyright 2023 NPR
One of the largest Protestant denominations in the U.S. is losing congregations over disputes over LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage. (This story first aired on Morning Edition on July 25, 2023.)
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/congregations-leave-united-methodist-church-over-defiance-of-lgbtq-bans | 2023-07-29T12:34:54 | 1 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/congregations-leave-united-methodist-church-over-defiance-of-lgbtq-bans |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/if-you-see-a-hammerhead-worm-remember-salt-dont-slice | 2023-07-29T12:34:55 | 1 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/if-you-see-a-hammerhead-worm-remember-salt-dont-slice |
BEIJING, July 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hundreds of English education experts and scholars from all over the world assembled in Macao on Friday for a three-day event to explore new opportunities for global cooperation in English education brought by China's development.
The 2023 Global English Education China Assembly, an online-and-offline event that opened at the City University of Macau (CityU), attracted over 1,600 experts, front-line educators and scholars from more than 20 countries and regions. Participants were mainly from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Thailand, Russia, Singapore, Nepal, Mongolia, Indonesia and Pakistan.
They shared their insights to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and discussed the most recent trends in English language teaching.
The event's theme is "New opportunities for the world with new advances in China's development: Opening up new prospects in English education cooperation worldwide", and features nine keynote speeches and 23 parallel sessions.
This year's assembly is hosted by China Daily and Shanghai International Studies University, and co-hosted by the Macao SAR Government Education and Youth Development Bureau, and organized by CityU and China Daily's 21st Century English Education Media.
For the first time, the assembly, which started in 2018, was held in Macao — one of the engine cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. This location echoes the Outline Development Plan for the GBA released in 2019, which set out to, among other goals, build the region as a model area for high-quality education and promote opening up education to the world.
At the event's opening ceremony, Qu Yingpu, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, highlighted that 2023 marks the 10th year since President Xi Jinping put forward both the idea of "building a community with a shared future for mankind" and the Belt and Road Initiative.
It is, therefore, appropriate that for the first time, the conference this year has moved out of the Chinese mainland to Macao where East meets West and multiple cultures blend, Qu said.
He said he believes the event will catalyze many innovative outcomes. Qu further said that English education could be a bridge to promote high-quality development of the BRI and people-to-people cultural exchanges could provide momentum for "building a community with a shared future for mankind".
He urged the audience to cultivate talent in order to bolster the promotion of the three global initiatives brought forward by Xi — the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative.
Qu also said China attaches great importance to education and cultural exchange. Xi, in his several correspondences with foreign students studying in China, has encouraged the latter to see with their own eyes the development of China and tell the world about what they have seen, to boost people-to-people bonding and friendship between their countries and China.
Zha Mingjian, vice-president of Shanghai International Studies University, said development in recent times has brought many opportunities as well as challenges. In this context, the English education sector in China has the responsibility to serve as a vital bridge for English education globally.
Opening education more extensively to the outside world will significantly strengthen China's efforts to modernize education in the new era, Zha said.
Svetlana V. Sannikova, coordination council chairperson of the National Association of Teachers of English in Russia, said the Macao event offers a high-end international academic platform where teachers can learn many practical ideas and methods to improve their English teaching skills.
On Friday, the event's organizer and CityU jointly established the Belt and Road English Education Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Exchange Base, which will use English education as a means to promote cultural exchanges and people-to-people bonding in countries and regions participating in the BRI.
The GBA Exchange Base will also strive to promote high-quality development in the BRI landscape.
Liu Jun, rector of CityU and president of the International Research Foundation for English Language Education, and Zeng Qingkai, editor-in-chief of 21st Century English Education Media, were the signatories of the document for the establishment of the base.
Among the several dignitaries who graced Friday's opening ceremony were Ao Ieong U, secretary for social affairs and culture of the Macao SAR government, participating in the event on behalf of Macao SAR Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng; Yan Zhichan, deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR; Liu Xianfa, commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao SAR; Kong Chimeng, director of the Macao SAR government Education and Youth Development Bureau; and Chan Meng-kam, chairman of the council of CityU.
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SOURCE China Daily | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/experts-foresee-china-role-english-learning/ | 2023-07-29T12:34:59 | 1 | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/experts-foresee-china-role-english-learning/ |
A visit to the Paris suburb where riots first broke out in France, following the police killing of a young man of North African descent.
Copyright 2023 NPR
A visit to the Paris suburb where riots first broke out in France, following the police killing of a young man of North African descent.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/in-the-paris-suburb-where-riots-erupted-protests-have-died-down-but-anger-remains | 2023-07-29T12:35:01 | 0 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/in-the-paris-suburb-where-riots-erupted-protests-have-died-down-but-anger-remains |
ODESSA, Ukraine, July 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ukrainian entrepreneur, Vadim Novynskyi has announced a donation of up to $1 million to help restore the Transfiguration Church in Odessa, Ukraine that was seriously damaged during rocket attacks on Sunday, July 23. The destruction of one of the most beautiful Ukrainian churches, which was erected by the founders of Odessa at the end of the 18th century is a true tragedy. This cathedral was the center of the spiritual life of Odessa.
This is not the first time the church has been destroyed. In 1936, the Bolsheviks destroyed the cathedral and it was restored in the early 2000's after tens of thousands of ordinary people participated in the restoration with their donations.
"I sincerely mourn with the inhabitants of Odessa and I want to assure them and all the people of Ukraine that this cathedral will be rebuilt and the people of Odessa will once again be able to worship and seek community in this hallowed place," said Vadim Novynskyi. "In the days of war and persecution of the Church, it is very important to be able to protect and revive the shrines of Orthodoxy, demonstrating faith, unity and mutual support. After all, the true Orthodox Church is based on these principles."
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SOURCE Vadym Novynskyi | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/restoration-transfiguration-chuch-odessa-ukraine-by-ukrainian-entrepreneur-vadym-novynskyi/ | 2023-07-29T12:35:02 | 1 | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/restoration-transfiguration-chuch-odessa-ukraine-by-ukrainian-entrepreneur-vadym-novynskyi/ |
Indigenous communities in Taiwan celebrate summer with the harvest festival By Emily Feng Published July 29, 2023 at 8:05 AM EDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email A visit to a harvest festival in Taiwan, a celebration of summer by the island's indigenous communities. Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/indigenous-communities-in-taiwan-celebrate-summer-with-the-harvest-festival | 2023-07-29T12:35:15 | 1 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/indigenous-communities-in-taiwan-celebrate-summer-with-the-harvest-festival |
At a time of increasing isolation for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the world stage, he just concluded a summit with leaders from Africa.
Copyright 2023 NPR
At a time of increasing isolation for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the world stage, he just concluded a summit with leaders from Africa.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/isolated-by-the-west-putin-hosted-a-summit-for-leaders-from-africa-in-st-petersburg | 2023-07-29T12:35:22 | 0 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/isolated-by-the-west-putin-hosted-a-summit-for-leaders-from-africa-in-st-petersburg |
The weather was active overnight as a line of strong to severe thunderstorms traveled over the state. The strongest storms were in our northern-most counties, where severe warnings were issued. A 74 MPH wind gust was measured in Grissom at 2:21 AM. There was also a report of downed powerlines in Portland around 3:30 AM.
The system not only brought gusty winds, but also heavy rainfall. Nearly an inch of rain fell at the Purdue Airport in West Lafayette (0.96”.) Other notable totals include Frankfort (0.94”), Fishers (0.79”), and Logansport (0.61”.) The totals were collected at 5:30 AM.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms are still possible through the mid-morning. Cloud cover decreases by midday and the area will begin to dry out. There is still a limited storm chance with peak heating this afternoon and evening. We’ll have another shot at 90-degree heat with oppressive dew points in the lower 70s.
Relief from the high heat and humidity is on the way! A cold front is going to slide over the state this afternoon/evening and it will bring a northwesterly wind shift. Dew points will drop back to more comfortable levels tomorrow with near-average highs in the mid-80s.
We will wrap-up the month of July with dry conditions and cooler highs in the lower to mid-80s. Mild mornings are also anticipated with lows falling into the 50s at times this week! Hotter, more humid weather will return at the end of the workweek. Storm chances will return Thursday and Friday. | https://fox59.com/weather/weather-blog/storm-chances-dwindle-this-afternoon-relief-from-high-heat-on-the-way/ | 2023-07-29T12:35:22 | 1 | https://fox59.com/weather/weather-blog/storm-chances-dwindle-this-afternoon-relief-from-high-heat-on-the-way/ |
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida camp powered by solar panels and a generator is home to about a dozen sex offenders who claim they were sent there by probation officers, but there is no indication the public was alerted.
Land records indicate the tents that sit under a structure made from branches are on land owned by the Florida Department of Transportation. An FDOT spokesperson said they were “not aware of this.”
Several sources, including a defense attorney, told Nexstar’s WFLA that anyone on probation is still “under sentence,” and they said that telling them to live outdoors violates state administrative code.
A DOC spokesperson denied offenders are told where to live by probation officers.
Several of the camp residents agreed to discuss their living conditions but asked to hide their identities to avoid possible retribution from the state employees they claim sent them there.
“Yes,” one of them said when asked if his probation officer told him to live there. “They actually brought me out here.”
“They told me there’s a spot that you need to go to,” another offender said. “So, I drove around for a while trying to find this place, and eventually, I did.”
The sex offender registration law was put on the books to let the public know where these types of offenders live.
But the registry website lists an intersection for the people who live in the camp — an intersection about a mile away from the tents.
“Exactly,” one offender said. “There’s no address.”
The camp is within walking distance of schools, homes and businesses. But it does not appear to violate the state law that restricts sex offenders from living within “1,000 feet of a school, child care facility, park, playground, or other place where children regularly congregate.”
Camp residents said their makeshift homes are well hidden from the public.
“They don’t even know we’re here,” one said. “They’re hiding us from society.”
All the offenders in the camp are wearing electronic monitoring devices, but they said they were not told how to charge them to avoid violating terms of their probation.
This prompted them to buy a solar-powered charging station and a generator, they say.
Department of Corrections spokesman Paul Walker denied the offenders were told to live in the woods.
“For purpose of your story, FDC does not assign residence locations,” Walker said in an email. “The FDC aims to protect the community by supervising offenders and reporting non-compliance to the sentencing court or sentencing authority.”
The camp is in House District 60, which is served by State Rep. Lindsay Cross.
“I think the first thing is being aware of the situation,” Cross said. “I think it’s very irresponsible to direct people to an open area and not alert the residents of that community.”
Cross said she plans on talking with other lawmakers about finding a way to avoid using the outdoors as housing for offenders on probation.
“We need to go back to the safety of the residents,” Cross said. “It’s also inhumane to have anyone live without running water, electricity, housing.”
Denise Rock, founder of inmate advocacy non-profit Florida Cares, said the state has to do more to find housing for offenders to ensure their safety and to protect the public.
Rock said several former inmates from other parts of the state have made similar claims about being sent to live in wooded areas by probation officers.
“I remember one case where they said they were told to go to an area behind a [fast-food restaurant],” said Rock. “The address on the registry was for the [restaurant.]” | https://www.krqe.com/news/sex-offender-camp-growing-in-florida-woods-public-apparently-not-warned/ | 2023-07-29T12:35:22 | 1 | https://www.krqe.com/news/sex-offender-camp-growing-in-florida-woods-public-apparently-not-warned/ |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/lydia-kiesling-on-her-new-novel-mobility | 2023-07-29T12:35:28 | 1 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/lydia-kiesling-on-her-new-novel-mobility |
PORSTMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire man celebrating his birthday on the ocean with his three daughters captured video of something so rare that even marine scientists are jealous — three humpback whales leaping from the water in near perfect unison.
“It was such an uplifting thing to see. Just incredible,” Robert Addie said.
The Portsmouth man, now a home remodeler, spent decades on the water as a commercial fisherman in Massachusetts and Alaska. In that time, he said he’s seen thousands of whales.
But he never witnessed anything like Monday’s whale encounter on a tuna fishing trip off Cape Cod. The excursion with his daughters was for his 59th birthday, as well as to celebrate his safe return from a humanitarian aid trip to Ukraine where he came under heavy artillery fire.
During the fishing trip, he was trying to film some humpback whales about 300 yards (275 meters) from their boat and was having no luck, until he got what he called a “whale ballet.”
“A triple breach is unheard of and a synchronized triple breach is even rarer,” he said. “It’s once in a lifetime. Just very fortunate. I feel God shined down on me to allow me to to capture that.”
To add to the thrill, seconds after the three whales breached and twisted through the air, a juvenile whale did the same thing. Whale experts later told Addie that the aerial maneuvers may have been an attempt to remove parasites or aid digestion.
He has another theory: “I have a feeling that maybe they were teaching or training” the younger whale.
Those same experts also know how rare the spectacle was.
“Even some of the whale experts that have reached out to me, they’re all jealous because they’ve never seen it,” Addie said. | https://www.krqe.com/news/weird/watch-whale-ballet-video-shows-3-humpbacks-jump-in-unison-in-rare-sighting/ | 2023-07-29T12:35:28 | 1 | https://www.krqe.com/news/weird/watch-whale-ballet-video-shows-3-humpbacks-jump-in-unison-in-rare-sighting/ |
The Lincoln Dinner in Iowa hosts the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 - as hopefuls try to stand out against front-runner Donald Trump.
Copyright 2023 NPR
The Lincoln Dinner in Iowa hosts the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 - as hopefuls try to stand out against front-runner Donald Trump.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/new-charges-against-trump-didnt-keep-him-off-the-campaign-trail-in-iowa | 2023-07-29T12:35:34 | 0 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/new-charges-against-trump-didnt-keep-him-off-the-campaign-trail-in-iowa |
This may be the most scorching month in the most scalding summer of what may become the hottest year in recorded history.
From Arizona, where it's been above 110 degrees Fahrenheit every day for a month, to Sardinia which hit 118 F this week, to Xinjiang, China, where the temperature soared to 126 F.
It felt a little mournful, then, to turn on summer playlists and hear lyrics like, "Summer breeze makes me feel fine." And, "Summer's here and the time is right / For dancing in the street."
This summer — these past few summers, really — has meant weeks of swelter, smoke, wildfires, and peril, across much of the hemisphere.
It was 107 degrees Fahrenheit in Rome last week. The Italian health ministry put 23 cities under a red alert, and cautioned people not to walk outside, and to avoid wine and coffee.
Too hot in Italy to stroll, enjoy a glass of soave, or sip an espresso. Next they'll say stop boiling pasta.
170 million people in America were under heat alerts this week. The National Weather Service warns, "Take the heat seriously and avoid time outdoors."
Isn't being outdoors the beauty of summer?
For most of my life, summer has been a time to shuck off all the layers of winter cold and gloom, to feel warmth and sunlight. School is out. Vacations are planned. We can go coatless, feel carefree, dawdle, travel, and play.
But this summer in America many outdoor shows, concerts, and festivals have been canceled, and sporting events postponed because of unsafe heat, and wildfire smoke in the skies. How many families have avoided picnics, camping trips, or games of catch in the yard, because it's just too darn hot?
The temperature of the water in Manatee Bay at Everglades National Park in Florida has been 101.1 F. The heat of ocean water — water — may be too dangerous for fish to survive.
This excruciating heat, driven by human activity, can be dangerous for every living creature, as well as the plants that bear the fruits and vegetables we need to survive. For humans, the heat is especially hazardous for seniors, children, and people who are unsheltered.
Will red alerts, heat emergencies, wildfires and temperatures in the triple digits become the new signs of summer? And will that make summer, as my friends and I used to dream about through frigid and forbidding Chicago winters, now seem a season to fear?
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/opinion-its-too-hot-in-here | 2023-07-29T12:35:40 | 1 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/opinion-its-too-hot-in-here |
National parks and hiking trail networks around the country are facing dual pressures - crowds and changing weather. Preservationists in New Hampshire are painstakingly restoring one such trail.
Copyright 2023 NPR
National parks and hiking trail networks around the country are facing dual pressures - crowds and changing weather. Preservationists in New Hampshire are painstakingly restoring one such trail.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/preservationists-are-trying-to-restore-national-park-trails-destroyed-by-the-weather | 2023-07-29T12:35:46 | 0 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/preservationists-are-trying-to-restore-national-park-trails-destroyed-by-the-weather |
Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy. | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/saturday-sports-the-week-ahead-in-the-womens-world-cup-orioles-defeat-yankees | 2023-07-29T12:35:52 | 0 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/saturday-sports-the-week-ahead-in-the-womens-world-cup-orioles-defeat-yankees |
The coup in Niger, this week, raises questions about the future of democratic leadership in the West African country. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Rama Yade of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center.
Copyright 2023 NPR
The coup in Niger, this week, raises questions about the future of democratic leadership in the West African country. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Rama Yade of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/the-coup-in-niger-is-a-blow-to-democracy-in-the-west-african-country | 2023-07-29T12:36:16 | 0 | https://www.wboi.org/2023-07-29/the-coup-in-niger-is-a-blow-to-democracy-in-the-west-african-country |