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Special delivery: This Frenchman builds community, letter by letter
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| Redon, France
Vincent Berthelot does not work for the French postal service. But the retired teacher has traveled more than 9,000 miles by bike, hand-delivering letters across France.
In July 2015, he took his maiden voyage, with 66 envelopes in his yellow bike pouch.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onAt a time when letter writing has gone the way of the quill pen, a self-appointed bicycle delivery messenger and his team are helping to build the social bridges the digital world threatens to tear down.
“Each time I deliver a letter, it’s a story, a life,” says Mr. Berthelot. “At first, people are stupefied. They can’t understand how I got there, how I went across the country with a letter just for them.”
What Mr. Berthelot does is a throwback to a time that no longer exists, says Marie Chiron, who worked for the French postal service for 35 years.
“We used to knock on the door. ... People would invite us in for coffee, or ask us to pick up something at the bakery or the pharmacy for them,” says Ms. Chiron. “People had a real fondness for the mail carrier.”
His role as the surprise messenger has a power to break down barriers. Clément Bouju, a farmer, asked Mr. Berthelot to deliver a letter to his father just before becoming a father himself.
“[My father and I] never talk about intimate things or emotions,” says Mr. Bouju. “It’s still hard for him to open up, but that letter allowed us to finally talk about certain things.”
“Bonjour, Nathalie. ... Bonjour, Blandine. ... Bonjour!”
A morning stroll through Redon, France, with Vincent Berthelot is like walking with a local celebrity. In this Breton town, at the crossroads between the Vilaine and Oust rivers, flower boxes line the bridges and a Gothic-era bell tower chimes on the hour. And nearly everyone pauses to say hello and exchange bises, or kisses.
He’s not the mayor, an actor, or an influencer. The retired teacher has created his own hobby/part-time job: person-to-person letter carrier.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onAt a time when letter writing has gone the way of the quill pen, a self-appointed bicycle delivery messenger and his team are helping to build the social bridges the digital world threatens to tear down.
But Mr. Berthelot does not work for the French postal service. He never has. In 2014, on the eve of his retirement, Mr. Berthelot got the idea to cross France on his recumbent bike for three months. But he wanted to do so with purpose. What if he delivered letters on the way?
In July 2015, he took his maiden voyage. With 66 envelopes in his yellow bike pouch, he set off across the country to deliver hand-written letters to friends of friends and soon-to-be new ones. The cardinal rule? No mailboxes allowed. Mr. Berthelot delivers all the letters personally.
“Each time I deliver a letter, it’s a story, a life,” says Mr. Berthelot, a sprightly 60-something who is quick to smile. “At first, people are stupefied. They can’t understand how I got there, how I went across the country with a letter just for them.”
Despite their shock, Mr. Berthelot says people rarely show him the door. He’s often invited in for something to drink and sometimes is asked to stay the night. He usually brings a tent with him, but he says he only puts it up about one-third of the time.
Through his acts of kindness, Mr. Berthelot has not only built unlikely relationships for himself but also helped family members reconnect and rekindle long-lost friendships. He’s even inspired others to join him in what is now a nearly 100-person-strong collective. At a time when letter writing has gone the way of the quill pen, le facteur humain – the human factor, as Mr. Berthelot is dubbed – and his team are helping to build the social bridges the digital world threatens to tear down.
“With social media, our interactions are one-sided. It’s easy to look away from someone who disagrees with us instead of finding common ground,” says Carole Gayet-Viaud, a researcher on civility and social norms at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris. “More and more, we’re finding ourselves in spaces that are compartmentalized and closed off from one another, which affects our definition of reality.”
“It’s great to surprise someone”
Gwenola Furic was one of the first people with whom Mr. Berthelot shared his initial idea and is one of his most prolific writers. Ms. Furic says there’s something about letter writing that allows her to communicate more lasting thoughts and emotions than through email.
“When Vincent told me about his project, I thought it was awesome,” says Ms. Furic, who has invited Mr. Berthelot to her photo restoration studio in Redon to give him a new letter to deliver. “It’s great to surprise someone, a person I haven’t seen in a long time. If we didn’t write these letters, we’d lose touch.”
Mr. Berthelot chooses his route based on the letters he receives, but people also inquire about his plans and look for people they can write to based on his destination. A few years ago, Ms. Furic wrote a letter to a long-lost family friend in Switzerland, after learning that Mr. Berthelot would be heading in that direction.
“He took a while to understand because it’s just not normal for someone to show up at your doorstep with a personalized message,” says Mr. Berthelot of his encounter with Ms. Furic’s friend. “But when it finally registered, he went into his room and came back down with a photo that Gwenola had given him as a kid, that he’d kept in his bedside table.”
Some of these intimate moments were captured in 2018, when filmmaker Alexandre Lachavanne accompanied Mr. Berthelot for 800 kilometers – 500 miles – of a trip between Redon and Switzerland. By then, Mr. Berthelot had clocked more than 9,300 miles on his bike and delivered 230 letters. He has since stopped counting.
In 2020, he self-published a book about his encounters. While people confide in him stories of love affairs and family secrets – even illegal acts – he’s tight-lipped about what he hears, likening himself to “something between a psychologist and a priest.”
His role as the surprise messenger has a power to break down barriers. Clément Bouju, a local vegetable farmer, asked Mr. Berthelot to deliver a letter to his father just before becoming a father himself. It has since opened a channel for communication.
“We’ve always been in touch but we never talk about intimate things or emotions,” says Mr. Bouju. “It’s still hard for him to open up, but that letter allowed us to finally talk about certain things.”
The human touch
How is Mr. Berthelot’s mission different from the regular postal service? For starters, it aims to be 100% no-carbon. He and his team are committed to taking routes on bike or foot, whenever possible. Moreover, “I’m the human delivery service,” says Mr. Berthelot. “The post office is no longer a human affair.”
What he does is a throwback to a time that no longer exists, says Marie Chiron, who worked for the French postal service for 35 years before retiring in 2009.
“We used to knock on the door, and if no one was home, we’d open the door and leave the letter on the table,” says Ms. Chiron, who comes to sit with Mr. Berthelot for a midmorning coffee on Redon’s main street. “Other times, people would invite us in for coffee, or ask us to pick up something at the bakery or the pharmacy for them. People had a real fondness for the mail carrier.”
Mr. Berthelot’s desire for human connection is infectious. Thanks to his initiative, there are now around 90 facteurs humains prepped to set off around the country – and beyond. One trip took a delivery person all the way to St. Petersburg, Russia, while a couple recently left for a three-year trip to Nepal, on foot, with someone’s letter in hand.
Even the younger generation is excited about connecting old-school. During an afternoon party in a nearby village, Mr. Berthelot’s 11-year-old grandson asks if his grandpa can deliver a letter to one of his friends from summer sailing school.
Back at home in a tranquil part of Redon, Mr. Berthelot and his wife of 42 years, Marie-Anne, take a break with homemade apple juice, their chickens squawking in a nearby cage. A neighbor sawing wood next door cuts the silence. Then, an email arrives.
It’s a woman who lives in southeastern France and wants a letter delivered this summer to someone near Carcassonne. With this, Mr. Berthelot’s back springs up straight, ready to pounce on this new mission.
“It only takes up one-third of my time,” says Mr. Berthelot, smiling.
“It’s a lot of organization,” says his wife, throwing her head back in a laugh. “More like half.” | https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2023/0728/Special-delivery-This-Frenchman-builds-community-letter-by-letter | 2023-07-29T15:58:36 | 0 | https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2023/0728/Special-delivery-This-Frenchman-builds-community-letter-by-letter |
Paul DeJong Player Prop Bets: Cardinals vs. Cubs - July 29
Published: Jul. 29, 2023 at 9:28 AM CDT|Updated: 2 hours ago
The St. Louis Cardinals and Paul DeJong (.364 slugging percentage over his past 10 games, including one homer), battle starter Jameson Taillon and the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium, Saturday at 7:15 PM ET.
In his most recent game, he went 1-for-3 against the Cubs.
Paul DeJong Game Info & Props vs. the Cubs
- Game Day: Saturday, July 29, 2023
- Game Time: 7:15 PM ET
- Stadium: Busch Stadium
- Live Stream: Watch this game on Fubo!
- Cubs Starter: Jameson Taillon
- TV Channel: BSMW
- Hits Prop: Over/under 0.5 hits (Over odds: -143)
- Home Runs Prop: Over/under 0.5 home runs (Over odds: +575)
- RBI Prop: Over/under 0.5 RBI (Over odds: +220)
- Runs Prop: Over/under 0.5 runs (Over odds: +155)
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Discover More About This Game
Paul DeJong At The Plate
- DeJong is batting .238 with 11 doubles, 13 home runs and 21 walks.
- In 46 of 78 games this season (59.0%) DeJong has picked up a hit, and in 18 of those games he had more than one (23.1%).
- He has gone deep in 16.7% of his games in 2023 (13 of 78), and 4.3% of his trips to the plate.
- DeJong has picked up an RBI in 20 games this year (25.6%), with more than one RBI in eight of them (10.3%).
- He has scored in 30 games this season (38.5%), including six multi-run games (7.7%).
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Paul DeJong Home/Away Batting Splits
Cubs Pitching Rankings
- The Cubs pitching staff is 21st in the league with a collective 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings.
- The Cubs have the 13th-ranked team ERA across all league pitching staffs (4.11).
- The Cubs give up the sixth-fewest home runs in baseball (111 total, 1.1 per game).
- The Cubs will send Taillon (4-6) to the mound for his 18th start of the season. He is 4-6 with a 5.75 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 83 2/3 innings pitched.
- In his last appearance on Sunday, the right-hander went 5 2/3 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals, giving up one earned run while surrendering seven hits.
- In 17 games this season, the 31-year-old has put up an ERA of 5.75, with 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Opponents are hitting .281 against him.
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.kait8.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/paul-dejong-mlb-player-prop-bets/ | 2023-07-29T15:58:38 | 1 | https://www.kait8.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/paul-dejong-mlb-player-prop-bets/ |
In Israel’s democracy battle, a pivotal role for military pilots
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| TEL AVIV, Israel
For months, thousands of Israeli reservists from dozens of units, among them more than 1,100 from the air force, have repeatedly threatened to end their voluntary military service if the government pushed through its plan to overhaul the judiciary. On Monday, it passed the first law doing just that.
For many Israelis, it’s clear that if an institution exists that has leverage over what happens next, it would be the military.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onIn democracy, the ideal is that the military stays out of politics, and vice versa. But with many Israelis seeing their democracy as wobbling, it’s a refined sense of duty that is compelling veteran pilots and other military reservists to act.
“We pledged to serve the kingdom and not the king,” Eyal Nave, a reservist protest movement leader, said at a press conference last week.
Yoram Bouskila, a proud combat helicopter pilot and father of four, has served in the Israeli air force for practically all his adult life, as a fighter, an instructor, and a volunteer reservist at headquarters. He wasn’t done, but this week he called it quits.
“It makes me cry,” he admits. “But we are on the edge of the abyss, and it’s my duty to do everything in my power to prevent us from falling in. ... My decision is not about politics. It’s about the rules of the game. They have been changed on us, and I am not prepared to serve a dictatorial, illegitimate regime.”
Yoram Bouskila is an air force man.
A combat helicopter pilot, he started his training at age 18. Today, nearing 60, Mr. Bouskila has served in the Israeli air force for practically all his adult life, as a fighter, an instructor, and a volunteer reservist at headquarters.
A few years ago, the father of four, a classically trained musician who invests in clean tech, did a two-year stint at the helm of the Friends of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) chapter of New England, a role he took on while his wife was at Harvard getting her MBA.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onIn democracy, the ideal is that the military stays out of politics, and vice versa. But with many Israelis seeing their democracy as wobbling, it’s a refined sense of duty that is compelling veteran pilots and other military reservists to act.
He is, he says, “an Israeli citizen, a Zionist, and a Jew,” with an identity tied up, thoroughly, with the air force. He is a lieutenant colonel. A proud one.
And this week he called it quits.
He did so after watching Israel’s hard-right government push through a law Monday limiting the power of the Supreme Court to review government actions, a move denounced by critics as undermining Israeli democracy.
“It makes me cry,” he admits. “I love the air force and was planning to be involved for years to come. But we are on the edge of the abyss, and it’s my duty to do everything in my power to prevent us from falling in.
“I have served this country for nearly 42 years – following orders from different governments and taking part in every war and operation I was sent into. My decision is not about politics. It’s about the rules of the game. They have been changed on us, and I am not prepared to serve a dictatorial, illegitimate regime.”
Reservists at the front
Mr. Bouskila is not alone.
In recent months, more than 10,000 reservists from dozens of units, among them more than 1,100 from the air force, have publicly and repeatedly threatened to end their volunteer military service if the government pushed through its plan to overhaul the judiciary.
The military – which Israelis like to think of as a body above politics – has clearly been drawn into the roiling conflict. It also seems clear to many that if an institution exists that has leverage over what happens next, it would be the military.
“We pledged to serve the kingdom and not the king,” Eyal Nave, a leader of the Brothers in Arms reservist protest movement, said at a press conference last week ahead of the Monday vote in parliament.
In the lead-up to the vote, everyone from former heads of the Mossad and Shin Bet security services to the current military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, warned that the internal military situation could get out of hand.
The areas about which they expressed concern ranged from cohesion among the ranks, to the IDF’s general preparedness, to lowering morale among active-duty soldiers and disincentivizing youngsters from volunteering for top units.
Ten former air force chiefs released an open letter calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to work out a solution to the crisis. “We are fearful over ... the serious and tangible danger posed to the national security of the State of Israel,” the letter said.
Then on Monday, the law passed – leaving everyone holding their breath to see if these military threats were just bluster and pressure tactics – or if the reservists would follow through.
So far, according to two pilots involved, who spoke on condition of anonymity, only a “trickle” of reservists have taken the formal step needed and informed their commanders they would not be showing up for training. But, say the pilots, something has indeed been “broken,” and more resignations are sure to follow in the days and weeks to come.
“There will always be platitudes about keeping the military out of politics. But the reality is that the military leadership ... are massively opposed to the authoritarian inclinations of this government,” says Dan Perry, former Mideast chief for The Associated Press and today a regional affairs analyst. “Realistically they are also opposed to the broader strategic positions this government represents, first and foremost the occupation and colonization of the West Bank.
“If the pilots and other reservists who threatened to quit make good on their threat, the cost to Israel’s security – to its military readiness – will be dire,” he says. “That this ‘own goal’ is happening can only be a wonderful surprise and an extraordinary gift to the enemies of Israel – an utterly self-inflicted disaster.”
A reliance on volunteers
In Israel, military service is mandatory for most people, as is, in many cases, reserve duty up to a certain age, depending on one’s rank, role, and unit. After these years of duty, however, many Israelis – in some units over 50% by some accounts – continue to serve the country in a volunteer capacity.
Pilots, who train for three years and serve a mandatory tenure of 10 more in their squadrons, often remain in voluntary service for years after, training a day every week to maintain their operational readiness and taking part in missions.
It is accepted wisdom that the military is heavily reliant on these experienced volunteers – and that reserve pilots and navigators are regularly called upon for missions.
“The [pilots’] threat is a double-edged sword,” says Mr. Perry. “On the one hand, it shows how high the cost of authoritarianism will be in Israel. On the other, though, it made the coalition even more determined to not be seen as giving in to blackmail by security people, which can be presented as a sort of ‘coup.’ It might have backfired in a way.”
Backfired for now, he clarifies – but nonetheless potentially effective going forward.
“One possible outcome,” says Mr. Perry, “is that the coalition pockets what will be sold to its base as a huge victory and then doesn’t risk such a recklessly high cost” by pursuing further pieces of its judicial overhaul.
Among those pieces are changes to the selection process for Supreme Court justices and giving parliament the power to override the court with a simple majority vote. Opponents see the judicial overhaul as opening the way for Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right and ultrareligious allies to impose their worldview on the rest of society.
Pilots under fire
Mr. Netanyahu has called on the reservists to keep out of politics but also has been dismissive of their threats – saying he’s willing to shut down “a few squadrons” in order to continue with the overhaul legislation.
Others in his party have gone far further, calling the reservists everything from anarchists to traitors.
And, in a move sharply condemned by the IDF spokesperson, several coalition members, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, reposted on Facebook a fictitious propaganda video in which pilots withhold combat support from ground troops who refuse to condemn the overhaul. The pilots fly away, leaving those below to be killed by enemy combatants.
“My brothers, on the left and the right,” whispers a dying soldier who called for air support. “Don’t bring politics into the army.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on Facebook, “A country that gives in to the threats of generals will actually become a country ruled by a military junta, and that is the furthest thing from a democracy.”
Fueling the furor over such remarks, Mr. Ben-Gvir never served in the military, and Mr. Smotrich only did short service in a noncombat role.
Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, the air force commander, hit back, saying such statements “have no place in society and ... cause great damage to the cohesion of the force.”
The establishment line
This is not the first time Israeli pilots have sought to influence policy – but the scale is unprecedented.
In September 2003, a group of 27 pilots sent a letter to Dan Halutz, the air force commander then, in which they refused to fly operations endangering Palestinian civilians, such as missions targeting militants in the West Bank and Gaza even as they moved near crowds.
Back then, the establishment, all as one, turned on what was dismissed as a “marginal, small group.” The chief of staff decried their “illegitimate” statements.
Even more telling, hundreds of other pilots then signed a counterpetition denouncing those who had refused to serve – causing a few of the original group to backtrack. Protest leaders and others were suspended by Major General Halutz.
Today, those threatening to stop serving the country are not only many more in number but include the establishment. One of the leaders of the current protest movement is none other than Mr. Halutz himself.
“The government is declaring war against the character and values of the State of Israel, and we won’t let this happen,” he said. “We won’t let the darkness descend upon us.” | https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2023/0728/In-Israel-s-democracy-battle-a-pivotal-role-for-military-pilots | 2023-07-29T15:58:42 | 1 | https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2023/0728/In-Israel-s-democracy-battle-a-pivotal-role-for-military-pilots |
Paul Goldschmidt Player Prop Bets: Cardinals vs. Cubs - July 29
Published: Jul. 29, 2023 at 9:29 AM CDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
The St. Louis Cardinals, including Paul Goldschmidt (.216 batting average in his past 10 games), battle starting pitcher Jameson Taillon and the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium, Saturday at 7:15 PM ET.
In his most recent game he had a hitless performance (0-for-4) against the Cubs.
Paul Goldschmidt Game Info & Props vs. the Cubs
- Game Day: Saturday, July 29, 2023
- Game Time: 7:15 PM ET
- Stadium: Busch Stadium
- Live Stream: Watch this game on Fubo!
- Cubs Starter: Jameson Taillon
- TV Channel: BSMW
- Hits Prop: Over/under 1.5 hits (Over odds: +180)
- Home Runs Prop: Over/under 0.5 home runs (Over odds: +450)
- RBI Prop: Over/under 0.5 RBI (Over odds: +165)
- Runs Prop: Over/under 0.5 runs (Over odds: -111)
Looking to place a prop bet on Paul Goldschmidt? Check out what's available at BetMGM and use bonus code "GNPLAY" when you sign up with this link!
Explore More About This Game
Paul Goldschmidt At The Plate
- Goldschmidt leads St. Louis in OBP (.369), slugging percentage (.470) and OPS (.839) this season.
- Among qualifying batters in MLB action, his batting average ranks 28th, his on-base percentage ranks 18th, and he is 42nd in the league in slugging.
- In 65.3% of his games this season (66 of 101), Goldschmidt has picked up at least one hit, and in 36 of those games (35.6%) he recorded multiple hits.
- He has homered in 13.9% of his games in 2023 (14 of 101), and 4% of his trips to the plate.
- Goldschmidt has had an RBI in 33 games this year (32.7%), including 17 multi-RBI outings (16.8%). He has also driven in three or more of his team's runs in three contests.
- In 47.5% of his games this season, he has scored at least once. And he's had 13 games with multiple runs (12.9%).
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Paul Goldschmidt Home/Away Batting Splits
Cubs Pitching Rankings
- The 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings put together by the Cubs pitching staff ranks 21st in the league.
- The Cubs have a 4.11 team ERA that ranks 13th across all league pitching staffs.
- The Cubs give up the sixth-fewest home runs in baseball (111 total, 1.1 per game).
- Taillon makes the start for the Cubs, his 18th of the season. He is 4-6 with a 5.75 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 83 2/3 innings pitched.
- In his most recent outing on Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals, the righty threw 5 2/3 innings, giving up one earned run while surrendering seven hits.
- The 31-year-old has put up an ERA of 5.75, with 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings, in 17 games this season. Opponents have a .281 batting average against him.
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.kait8.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/paul-goldschmidt-mlb-player-prop-bets/ | 2023-07-29T15:58:44 | 0 | https://www.kait8.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/paul-goldschmidt-mlb-player-prop-bets/ |
Tyler O'Neill Player Prop Bets: Cardinals vs. Cubs - July 29
Published: Jul. 29, 2023 at 9:30 AM CDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
Tyler O'Neill and his .390 on-base percentage over his past 10 games (66 points higher than his season-long percentage), will be in action for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Chicago Cubs and Jameson Taillon on July 29 at 7:15 PM ET.
He had a one-hit performance in his last game (1-for-4) against the Cubs.
Tyler O'Neill Game Info & Props vs. the Cubs
- Game Day: Saturday, July 29, 2023
- Game Time: 7:15 PM ET
- Stadium: Busch Stadium
- Live Stream: Watch this game on Fubo!
- Cubs Starter: Jameson Taillon
- TV Channel: BSMW
- Hits Prop: Over/under 0.5 hits (Over odds: -222)
- Home Runs Prop: Over/under 0.5 home runs (Over odds: +425)
- RBI Prop: Over/under 0.5 RBI (Over odds: +160)
- Runs Prop: Over/under 0.5 runs (Over odds: +115)
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Discover More About This Game
Tyler O'Neill At The Plate
- O'Neill is hitting .252 with eight doubles, two home runs and 13 walks.
- In 66.7% of his games this year (24 of 36), O'Neill has picked up at least one hit, and in six of those games (16.7%) he recorded multiple hits.
- He has hit a long ball in two of 36 games played this season, and in 1.5% of his plate appearances.
- O'Neill has driven in a run in six games this season (16.7%), including two games with multiple runs batted in.
- He has scored in 12 of 36 games this year, and more than once 3 times.
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Tyler O'Neill Home/Away Batting Splits
Cubs Pitching Rankings
- The 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings compiled by the Cubs pitching staff ranks 21st in MLB.
- The Cubs have a 4.11 team ERA that ranks 13th across all league pitching staffs.
- Cubs pitchers combine to surrender the sixth-fewest home runs in baseball (111 total, 1.1 per game).
- Taillon (4-6 with a 5.75 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 83 2/3 innings pitched) gets the start for the Cubs, his 18th of the season.
- In his last outing on Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals, the righty tossed 5 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run while surrendering seven hits.
- In 17 games this season, the 31-year-old has an ERA of 5.75, with 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Opponents are hitting .281 against him.
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.kait8.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/tyler-o-neill-mlb-player-prop-bets/ | 2023-07-29T15:58:51 | 0 | https://www.kait8.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/tyler-o-neill-mlb-player-prop-bets/ |
Willson Contreras Player Prop Bets: Cardinals vs. Cubs - July 29
Published: Jul. 29, 2023 at 9:32 AM CDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
The St. Louis Cardinals, including Willson Contreras and his .655 slugging percentage over his past 10 games, take on starting pitcher Jameson Taillon and the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium, Saturday at 7:15 PM ET.
In his last game he had a one-hit showing (1-for-3) against the Cubs.
Willson Contreras Game Info & Props vs. the Cubs
- Game Day: Saturday, July 29, 2023
- Game Time: 7:15 PM ET
- Stadium: Busch Stadium
- Live Stream: Watch this game on Fubo!
- Cubs Starter: Jameson Taillon
- TV Channel: BSMW
- Hits Prop: Over/under 0.5 hits (Over odds: -250)
- Home Runs Prop: Over/under 0.5 home runs (Over odds: +500)
- RBI Prop: Over/under 0.5 RBI (Over odds: +155)
- Runs Prop: Over/under 0.5 runs (Over odds: +105)
Looking to place a prop bet on Willson Contreras? Check out what's available at BetMGM and use bonus code "GNPLAY" when you sign up with this link!
Read More About This Game
Willson Contreras At The Plate
- Contreras is batting .248 with 22 doubles, 11 home runs and 36 walks.
- Among the qualified batters, he ranks 94th in batting average, while his on-base percentage ranks 42nd and he is 77th in slugging.
- In 48 of 87 games this year (55.2%) Contreras has picked up a hit, and in 23 of those games he had more than one (26.4%).
- He has gone deep in 10.3% of his games this year, and 3.1% of his trips to the dish.
- Contreras has picked up an RBI in 31.0% of his games this year, with two or more RBI in 9.2% of his games. He has also driven in three or more runs in two contests.
- He has scored at least once 30 times this season (34.5%), including seven games with multiple runs (8.0%).
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Willson Contreras Home/Away Batting Splits
Cubs Pitching Rankings
- The pitching staff for the Cubs has a collective 8.4 K/9, which ranks 21st in the league.
- The Cubs have the 13th-ranked team ERA among all MLB pitching staffs (4.11).
- Cubs pitchers combine to give up the sixth-fewest home runs in baseball (111 total, 1.1 per game).
- Taillon gets the start for the Cubs, his 18th of the season. He is 4-6 with a 5.75 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 83 2/3 innings pitched.
- In his last time out on Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals, the right-hander tossed 5 2/3 innings, giving up one earned run while surrendering seven hits.
- The 31-year-old has amassed an ERA of 5.75, with 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings, in 17 games this season. Opponents are hitting .281 against him.
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.kait8.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/willson-contreras-mlb-player-prop-bets/ | 2023-07-29T15:58:57 | 1 | https://www.kait8.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/willson-contreras-mlb-player-prop-bets/ |
Germany vs. Colombia: Women’s World Cup Group H Odds, Stats and Live Stream - July 30
In the second round of Group H matches at the 2023 Women's World Cup, Germany (coming off a 6-0 win over Morocco) plays Colombia (off a 2-0 win against South Korea) at 5:30 AM ET on Sunday, July 30.
Germany is -431 to win this group-stage game, Colombia is +1067, and the draw is +504. This match has an over/under of 2.5 goals. The under is currently +104, and the over is -138.
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Germany vs. Colombia Game Info
- Date: Sunday, July 30, 2023
- Time: 5:30 AM ET
- Location: Sydney, Australia
- Venue: Sydney Football Stadium
- TV Channel: Fox Sports 1
- Total: 2.5
- Germany Moneyline: -431
- Colombia Moneyline: +1067
Germany vs. Colombia World Cup Betting Insights
- These two teams score a combined eight goals per game, 5.5 more than this match's total.
- These two teams allow a combined zero goals per game, 2.5 fewer than this match's over/under.
- Germany has been listed as a moneyline favorite only one other time so far this tournament, and won.
- Germany has played as a moneyline favorite of -431 or shorter in only one game this tournament, which they won.
- Colombia won the only game it has played as an underdog this tournament.
- Colombia has not been a bigger underdog this tournament than the +1067 moneyline set for this game.
Germany World Cup Stats
Colombia World Cup Stats
- In one Women's World Cup match for Colombia, Catalina Usme has tallied one goal (10th in Women's World Cup play).
- Linda Caicedo has scored one goal for Colombia in Women's World Cup.
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Germany vs. Colombia Recent Performance
- So far this year, Germany is 3-1-2 versus fellow 2023 Women's World Cup participants, with a goal differential of +6. In 2022, it was 6-1-4 in such matches (+11 goal differential).
- Germany took on Morocco in its last match and earned a win by a final score of 6-0. The victorious Germany side took 15 shots, outshooting by 10.
- Popp scored two of her club's goals to lead the team against .
- So far this year, Colombia is 3-2-2 versus fellow 2023 Women's World Cup teams, with a goal differential of +1. In 2022, it was 5-2-3 in such matches (0 goal differential).
- Colombia claimed a 2-0 victory versus South Korea on July 24 in its last match. Colombia outshot South Korea 15 to four.
- Caicedo and Usme each registered a goal for Colombia.
Germany Roster
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© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.kait8.com/sports/betting/2023/07/30/2023-womens-world-cup-germany-colombia-betting-preview-odds/ | 2023-07-29T15:59:04 | 1 | https://www.kait8.com/sports/betting/2023/07/30/2023-womens-world-cup-germany-colombia-betting-preview-odds/ |
Updated July 29, 2023 at 11:41 AM ET
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 Sept. 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.wboi.org/npr-news/npr-news/2023-07-29/unusual-photos-at-moma-conjure-the-beaches-bustle-and-history-of-lagos | 2023-07-29T15:59:08 | 0 | https://www.wboi.org/npr-news/npr-news/2023-07-29/unusual-photos-at-moma-conjure-the-beaches-bustle-and-history-of-lagos |
Nearly 70% of U.S. adults believe in angels and heaven, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
About 8 in 10 Americans agree that some things cannot be explained by science or natural causes.
In addition, 72% believe in the power of prayer.
"People are yearning for something greater than themselves — beyond their own understanding," said Jack Grogger, a chaplain for the Los Angeles Angels and a longtime fire captain who has helped people in some of their darkest moments, according to the Associated Press.
Grogger, who also pastors a nondenominational church in Orange, California, said people find comfort in angels.
But the belief in heaven and angels is greater than those who believe in hell, 58%, and those who think the devil exists, 56%.
Half of U.S. adults believe that the spirits of those who have crossed over can interact with the living.
AP-NORC's poll also found that 42% of people in the U.S. believe that spiritual energy can be rooted in physical objects.
About a third of Americans believe in reincarnation, astrology, and yoga as a spiritual practice.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.wmar2news.com/do-angels-and-heaven-exist-here-s-what-most-americans-think | 2023-07-29T15:59:09 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/do-angels-and-heaven-exist-here-s-what-most-americans-think |
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Australia sets record in 4x100m freestyle relay
July 29, 2023 09:00 AM
Australia continues its relay dominance by winning their 13th gold medal in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay in a world record time of 3:18.83 at the 2023 FINA World Championships.
Close Ad | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/australia-sets-record-in-4x100m-freestyle-relay | 2023-07-29T15:59:29 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/australia-sets-record-in-4x100m-freestyle-relay |
Two supermoons in August mean double the stargazing fun
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The cosmos is offering up a double feature in August: a pair of supermoons culminating in a rare blue moon.
Catch the first show Tuesday evening as the full moon rises in the southeast, appearing slightly brighter and bigger than normal. That’s because it will be closer than usual, just 222,159 miles (357,530 kilometers) away, thus the supermoon label.
The moon will be even closer the night of Aug. 30 — a scant 222,043 miles (357,344 kilometers) distant. Because it’s the second full moon in the same month, it will be what’s called a blue moon.
“Warm summer nights are the ideal time to watch the full moon rise in the eastern sky within minutes of sunset. And it happens twice in August,” said retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, dubbed Mr. Eclipse for his eclipse-chasing expertise.
The last time two full supermoons graced the sky in the same month was in 2018. It won’t happen again until 2037, according to Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project.
Masi will provide a live webcast of Tuesday evening’s supermoon, as it rises over the Coliseum in Rome.
“My plans are to capture the beauty of this ... hopefully bringing the emotion of the show to our viewers,” Masi said in an email.
“The supermoon offers us a great opportunity to look up and discover the sky,” he added.
This year’s first supermoon was in July. The fourth and last will be in September. The two in August will be closer than either of those.
Provided clear skies, binoculars or backyard telescopes can enhance the experience, Espenak said, revealing such features as lunar maria — the dark plains formed by ancient volcanic lava flows — and rays emanating from lunar craters.
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the August full moon is traditionally known as the sturgeon moon. That’s because of the abundance of that fish in the Great Lakes in August, hundreds of years ago.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.newschannel6now.com/2023/07/29/two-supermoons-august-mean-double-stargazing-fun/ | 2023-07-29T15:59:32 | 1 | https://www.newschannel6now.com/2023/07/29/two-supermoons-august-mean-double-stargazing-fun/ |
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France's Grousset wins 100m butterfly at Worlds
July 29, 2023 07:52 AM
Maxime Grousset earns France another gold medal at the 2023 FINA World Championships, winning the 100-meter butterfly in 50.14 seconds. American Dare Rose took home the bronze.
Close Ad | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/frances-grousset-wins-100m-butterfly-at-worlds | 2023-07-29T15:59:39 | 0 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/frances-grousset-wins-100m-butterfly-at-worlds |
World War II veteran celebrating 103rd birthday credits red wine for his longevity
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV/Gray News) - A World War II veteran and Wisconsin resident celebrated turning 103 years old this week.
Sal Perce was joined by the Lakeside Fire Department and several others to celebrate his birthday on Thursday.
Perce received WMTV’s Making a Difference Award in 2019 thanks to his volunteer work at a hospital at 101 years old.
“I like finding people I can talk to while helping them with whatever it is,” he said. “I find it refreshing. I’ll stay around an extra hour too as it doesn’t matter to me. I enjoy being there.”
Perce also served in the U.S. Army for nearly four years during World Warr II. He said people who see him volunteer are impressed by what he is doing at his age.
“There’s always something you can do,” he said. “You’re never too old.”
Perce said his three secrets to a long life are doctors, pharmacists and a glass of red wine every night.
Copyright 2023 WMTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.newschannel6now.com/2023/07/29/world-war-ii-veteran-celebrating-103rd-birthday-credits-red-wine-his-longevity/ | 2023-07-29T15:59:39 | 1 | https://www.newschannel6now.com/2023/07/29/world-war-ii-veteran-celebrating-103rd-birthday-credits-red-wine-his-longevity/ |
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Highlights: Amundi Evian Championship, Round 3
July 29, 2023 10:11 AM
Watch the highlights from Round 3 of the Amundi Evian Championship, where Celine Boutier posted another stellar performance in front of her home crowd.
Close Ad | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/highlights-amundi-evian-championship-round-3 | 2023-07-29T15:59:49 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/highlights-amundi-evian-championship-round-3 |
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Highlights: Rea wins Race 1 in Czech Republic
July 29, 2023 10:34 AM
Look back on the best moments from World Superbiks Round 8 in the Czech Republic, where Jonathan Rea wins Race 1 at Autodrom Most.
Close Ad | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/highlights-rea-wins-race-1-in-czech-republic | 2023-07-29T16:00:00 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/highlights-rea-wins-race-1-in-czech-republic |
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How music sets tone for Sheridan and Canada WNT
July 29, 2023 09:00 AM
Presented by Spotify, Canada Women's National Team stopper Kailen Sheridan shares the songs that inspire her and gives you an inside look at the music in the Canadian locker room.
Close Ad | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/how-music-sets-tone-for-sheridan-and-canada-wnt | 2023-07-29T16:00:10 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/how-music-sets-tone-for-sheridan-and-canada-wnt |
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Ledecky cruises to historic 800m freestyle title
July 29, 2023 08:47 AM
Katie Ledecky continues her dominance in the 800m freestyle by winning her sixth-straight title at the 2023 FINA World Championships, passing Michael Phelps with 16 individual world titles.
Close Ad | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/ledecky-cruises-to-historic-800m-freestyle-title | 2023-07-29T16:00:20 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/ledecky-cruises-to-historic-800m-freestyle-title |
Ex-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon joins push for third-party presidential bid as Democrats try to stop it
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels ' increasingly contentious effort to lay the groundwork for a moderate third-party presidential ticket in the 2024 election. He gives the embattled organization another prominent ally amid escalating concerns from Democratic officials that the No Labels campaign could unintentionally help Republican Donald Trump return to the White House.
Nixon, a 67-year-old lawyer, is stepping back into national politics for the first time since leaving office in 2017 and will serve as No Labels’ director of ballot integrity. He said in an interview that he was drawn to the role after learning that well-funded groups aligned with Democrats were working to stop No Labels from securing ballot access in key states.
He said that those seeking to block the group’s right to appear on the presidential ballot are attacking a pillar of American democracy.
“What do I say to those Democrats? I say, ‘You’re entitled to your opinion. But we are also entitled to use our constitutional and statutory rights to allow Americans to have another choice,’” Nixon told The Associated Press.
President Joe Biden and Trump have dominated the 2024 campaign conversation so far. But No Labels, a Washington-based group that promotes compromise, national unity and centrist policy solutions, has been preparing for the strongest third-party presidential bid at least since Texas businessman Ross Perot earned nearly 19% of the popular vote in 1992.
Working with an operating budget of roughly $70 million, No Labels is taking steps to secure presidential ballot spots in roughly 20 states this year; the group has done so already in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon and Utah.
While No Labels has yet to nominate candidates for president and vice president, its leadership insists there is a path to victory for a centrist third-party ticket “if the two parties select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees.”
The group’s critics across the Democratic Party are terrified that No Labels will siphon votes that would otherwise go to Biden, who narrowly beat Trump in 2020 with a coalition that included moderate Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans.
No Labels’ leadership has promised a series of checks and balances that would allow the organization to withdraw its presidential ticket if it appears the group’s participation would help Trump win. No Labels has not outlined a detailed plan about that, and leaders acknowledge privately there is some urgency to come out with their specific safeguards, which would vary state by state. They intend to do so by “early fall.”
Anxious Democrats are unconvinced.
On Thursday, two prominent Democratic groups, the centrist Third Way and more progressive MoveOn, hosted private meetings on Capitol Hill with dozens of chiefs of staff and senior aides to House and Senate Democrats to emphasize the need to stop No Label’s presidential ambitions. In a nod to the seriousness of the Democratic establishment’s concerns, the meetings were held in both the House and Senate Democrats’ campaign headquarters.
“We told them what we have been saying consistently now for a long time: This is dangerous,” said Third Way co-founder Matt Bennett, who helped lead the briefing along with MoveOn’s executive director, Rahna Epting.
The organizers detailed data showing that a No Labels ticket would undercut Biden in the general election and warned that it could handicap vulnerable House and Senate candidates is tight elections. They also questioned that No Labels’ promise to withdraw its ticket if necessary to stop Trump.
No Labels’ leaders are furious.
“They are telling the elected leaders of this country right now that our ballot is a runaway train. And that is categorically false. That is propaganda. And that is why we’re bringing on a director of ballot integrity to stop it because it’s outrageous,” said No Labels’ founder Nancy Jacobson, a former Democratic fundraiser.
For now, Democrats are not willing to take Jacobson’s word for it.
“I don’t want to be doing this. I’d much rather focus on other things. I am concerned, genuinely,” Epting said. “They’re in over their head. They have not given any assurances that they’re clear and sober in their analysis. And when they talk about being able to put the horse back in the barn, they are not consistent about when or how they’re going to do that.”
“They’re just saying, ‘Trust us,’” Epting said. “We can’t. We don’t know you. And the stakes are too high.”
Meanwhile, Nixon joins a growing roster of former elected officials in both parties now affiliated with No Labels. Among the others: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; former Govs. Jon Huntsman Jr., R-Utah, Larry Hogan, R-Md., and Pat McCrory, R-N.C.; and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat who became an independent late in his political career.
Manchin and Huntsman, ambassador to China under President Barack Obama and to Russia under Trump, hosted a town hall in New Hampshire this month, driving speculation they may ultimately become the No Labels presidential ticket.
No Labels plans to hold a presidential nominating convention next April in Dallas, and the group is showing no signs of backing off its 2024 plans. With a massive budget fueled by anonymous donations, No Labels can afford to be patient in the fights ahead.
Democrats in Arizona filed a complaint this month with the secretary of state asking to have the group suspended until it discloses it donors. In May, Maine’s top elections official sent a cease-and-desist letter regarding No Labels voter registration efforts after claiming the group was misleading voters.
The group Citizens to Save Our Republic formed a super political action committee this month specifically designed to stop No Labels. The group’s members includes Bennett from Third Way, several advisers to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.
Nixon, who declined to criticize Biden or Trump, said he understands that he is walking into a political firestorm. But he said he is passionate about No Labels’ constitutional right to secure a place on the ballot.
“I feel calm. I feel correct. I think we have a high moral ground here,” he said.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/29/ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-third-party-presidential-bid-democrats-try-stop-it/ | 2023-07-29T16:00:22 | 1 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/29/ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-third-party-presidential-bid-democrats-try-stop-it/ |
World War II veteran celebrating 103rd birthday credits red wine for his longevity
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV/Gray News) - A World War II veteran and Wisconsin resident celebrated turning 103 years old this week.
Sal Perce was joined by the Lakeside Fire Department and several others to celebrate his birthday on Thursday.
Perce received WMTV’s Making a Difference Award in 2019 thanks to his volunteer work at a hospital at 101 years old.
“I like finding people I can talk to while helping them with whatever it is,” he said. “I find it refreshing. I’ll stay around an extra hour too as it doesn’t matter to me. I enjoy being there.”
Perce also served in the U.S. Army for nearly four years during World Warr II. He said people who see him volunteer are impressed by what he is doing at his age.
“There’s always something you can do,” he said. “You’re never too old.”
Perce said his three secrets to a long life are doctors, pharmacists and a glass of red wine every night.
Copyright 2023 WMTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/29/world-war-ii-veteran-celebrating-103rd-birthday-credits-red-wine-his-longevity/ | 2023-07-29T16:00:23 | 0 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/29/world-war-ii-veteran-celebrating-103rd-birthday-credits-red-wine-his-longevity/ |
BALTIMORE, Md, July 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Lupin) is voluntarily recalling two (2) lots of Tydemy (Drospirenone, Ethinyl Estradiol and Levomefolate Calcium Tablets 3mg/0.03mg/0.451 mg and Levomefolate Calcium Tablets 0.451 mg) to the patient (consumer/user) level due to out of specification (OOS) test results at the 12-month stability time point. Specifically, one lot (L200183) tested low for ascorbic acid (an inactive ingredient) and high for a known impurity.
To date, Lupin has received no reports of adverse events related to either recalled lots. Regardless, Lupin is recalling two lots because if there were a significant reduction in the amount of inactive content (ascorbic acid), this could potentially impact the effectiveness of the product which could potentially result in unexpected pregnancy.
Tydemy is estrogen/progestin oral contraceptive (COC) indicated for use by women to prevent pregnancy and to raise folate levels in women who choose to use an oral contraceptive for contraception. Tydemy is packaged in 28's blister. One such blister was then packed in a pouch along with one printed sleeve, one pack insert (with day label) and one oxygen absorber (Stabilox) sachet. The three pouches were packed in one carton.
The lots were distributed nationwide in the US to wholesalers, drug chains, mail order pharmacies and supermarkets. The recalled lots are included in the table below:
Lupin is notifying its wholesalers, distributors, drug chains, mail order pharmacies and supermarkets by phone and through recall notification and is arranging for the return of all the recalled product lots.
Patients taking, Tydemy are advised to continue taking their medication and immediately contact their pharmacist, physician, or medical provider for advice regarding an alternative treatment.
Wholesalers, distributors and retailers that have Tydemy that is being recalled should discontinue distribution of the recalled product lots immediately.
Consumers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers with questions regarding this recall should contact Inmar Rx Solutions, Inc. at (866) 480-8206 Monday – Friday 09:00 am to 05:00 pm EST. For reimbursement, please have the recalled lots returned to Inmar Rx Solutions, Inc.; the lot number can be found on the side of the carton. Consumers should contact their physician or healthcare provider if they have experienced any problems that may be related to taking or using this drug product.
Adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of this product may be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail or by fax.
- Complete and submit the report Online: www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm
- Regular Mail or Fax: Download form www.fda.gov/MedWatch/getforms.htm or call 1-800-332-1088 to request a reporting form, then complete and return to the address on the pre-addressed form, or submit by fax to 1-800-FDA-0178.
This recall is being conducted with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Product Label:
About Lupin Pharmaceuticals
Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is the U.S. based wholly-owned subsidiary of Lupin Limited and is the 3rd largest pharmaceutical company in the U.S. based on total prescriptions. Together, all Lupin-owned entities combine to make up the 8th largest generic pharmaceutical company in the world by revenue size. Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is dedicated to delivering high-quality medications across many treatment areas. Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s branded pharmaceuticals division, is the provider of products designed to help prevent and manage women's health conditions with serious health consequences.
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SOURCE Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/lupin-pharmaceuticals-inc-issues-voluntary-nationwide-recall-2-lots-tydemytm-drospirenone-ethinyl-estradiol-levomefolate-calcium-tablets-3mg003mg0451mg-levomefolate-calcium-tablets-0451mg-due-out-specification-oos-results-12-month-stability-time-point/ | 2023-07-29T16:00:23 | 0 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/29/lupin-pharmaceuticals-inc-issues-voluntary-nationwide-recall-2-lots-tydemytm-drospirenone-ethinyl-estradiol-levomefolate-calcium-tablets-3mg003mg0451mg-levomefolate-calcium-tablets-0451mg-due-out-specification-oos-results-12-month-stability-time-point/ |
Marlins vs. Tigers Predictions & Picks: Odds, Moneyline, Spread - July 29
Saturday's contest between the Miami Marlins (56-48) and Detroit Tigers (46-58) matching up at LoanDepot park has a projected final score of 6-5 (according to our computer prediction) in favor of the Marlins, who is listed as a slight favorite by our model. The game will start at 4:10 PM ET on July 29.
The Marlins will give the ball to Johnny Cueto (0-1, 4.50 ERA), who is eyeing win No. 1 on the season, and the Tigers will counter with Beau Brieske.
Marlins vs. Tigers Game Info & Odds
- When: Saturday, July 29, 2023 at 4:10 PM ET
- Where: LoanDepot park in Miami, Florida
- How to Watch on TV: Fox Sports 1
- Live Stream: Watch this game on Fubo!
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Marlins vs. Tigers Score Prediction
Our pick for this contest is Marlins 6, Tigers 5.
Total Prediction for Marlins vs. Tigers
- Total Prediction: Over 8 runs
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Marlins Performance Insights
- The Marlins have played as the favorite in six of their past 10 games and won two of those contests.
- When it comes to hitting the over, Miami and its opponents are 5-5-0 in its last 10 games with a total.
- Bookmakers have not set a spread for any of the Marlins' last 10 games.
- The Marlins have won 31, or 66%, of the 47 games they've played as favorites this season.
- Miami has entered 25 games this season favored by -155 or more and is 21-4 in those contests.
- The Marlins have a 60.8% chance to win this game based on the implied probability of the moneyline.
- Miami is among the lowest-scoring teams in the majors, ranking 26th with just 428 total runs (4.1 per game) this season.
- The Marlins have a 4.11 team ERA that ranks 13th among all MLB pitching staffs.
Tigers Performance Insights
- The Tigers have played as the underdog in six of their past 10 games and have gone 1-5 in those contests.
- When it comes to the total, Detroit and its foes are 4-5-1 in its previous 10 contests.
- The Tigers' previous 10 contests have not had a runline posted by bookmakers.
- The Tigers have been victorious in 33, or 39.8%, of the 83 contests they have been chosen as underdogs in this season.
- This season, Detroit has come away with a win 22 times in 48 chances when named as an underdog of at least +130 or worse on the moneyline.
- The Tigers have an implied victory probability of 43.5% according to the moneyline set for this matchup.
- Detroit is the third-lowest scoring team in MLB play averaging 3.9 runs per game (406 total).
- Tigers pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.53 ERA this year, which ranks 22nd in MLB.
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Marlins Schedule
Tigers Schedule
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.valleynewslive.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/marlins-tigers-mlb-picks-predictions/ | 2023-07-29T16:00:25 | 0 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/marlins-tigers-mlb-picks-predictions/ |
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McEvoy takes first, Alexy second in 50m butterfly
July 29, 2023 07:23 AM
Americans Cameron McEvoy and Jack Alexy dominate the men's 50m butterfly at the 2023 FINA World Championships with a stellar one-two finish.
Close Ad | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/mcevoy-takes-first-alexy-second-in-50m-butterfly | 2023-07-29T16:00:30 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/mcevoy-takes-first-alexy-second-in-50m-butterfly |
Germany vs. Colombia: Women’s World Cup Group H Odds, Stats and Live Stream - July 30
In the second round of Group H matches at the 2023 Women's World Cup, Germany (coming off a 6-0 win over Morocco) plays Colombia (off a 2-0 win against South Korea) at 5:30 AM ET on Sunday, July 30.
Germany is -431 to win this group-stage game, Colombia is +1067, and the draw is +504. This match has an over/under of 2.5 goals. The under is currently +104, and the over is -138.
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Germany vs. Colombia Game Info
- Date: Sunday, July 30, 2023
- Time: 5:30 AM ET
- Location: Sydney, Australia
- Venue: Sydney Football Stadium
- TV Channel: Fox Sports 1
- Total: 2.5
- Germany Moneyline: -431
- Colombia Moneyline: +1067
Germany vs. Colombia World Cup Betting Insights
- These two teams score a combined eight goals per game, 5.5 more than this match's total.
- These two teams allow a combined zero goals per game, 2.5 fewer than this match's over/under.
- Germany has been listed as a moneyline favorite only one other time so far this tournament, and won.
- Germany has played as a moneyline favorite of -431 or shorter in only one game this tournament, which they won.
- Colombia won the only game it has played as an underdog this tournament.
- Colombia has not been a bigger underdog this tournament than the +1067 moneyline set for this game.
Germany World Cup Stats
Colombia World Cup Stats
- In one Women's World Cup match for Colombia, Catalina Usme has tallied one goal (10th in Women's World Cup play).
- Linda Caicedo has scored one goal for Colombia in Women's World Cup.
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Germany vs. Colombia Recent Performance
- So far this year, Germany is 3-1-2 versus fellow 2023 Women's World Cup participants, with a goal differential of +6. In 2022, it was 6-1-4 in such matches (+11 goal differential).
- Germany took on Morocco in its last match and earned a win by a final score of 6-0. The victorious Germany side took 15 shots, outshooting by 10.
- Popp scored two of her club's goals to lead the team against .
- So far this year, Colombia is 3-2-2 versus fellow 2023 Women's World Cup teams, with a goal differential of +1. In 2022, it was 5-2-3 in such matches (0 goal differential).
- Colombia claimed a 2-0 victory versus South Korea on July 24 in its last match. Colombia outshot South Korea 15 to four.
- Caicedo and Usme each registered a goal for Colombia.
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DEAR ANNIE: I have been married to my husband for over 50 years. While we are physically unable to have sexual relations due to several health factors, I’m not missing it. Why? Because he has terrible hygiene practices and the biggest is not brushing his teeth enough. He has horrible halitosis now.
I can barely manage to travel short distances in the car with him. He likes to listen to music, but in the car, he whistles to it. He’s always unaware that when he does this, I put my hand over my nose and mouth, and direct the AC vents up toward him to help blow it away. He angers easily and gets insulted when I suggest he brush more and use mouthwash. I know if he tried to be more diligent regarding his breath, I would want to have some cuddle-up time.
He reads the newspaper cover to cover, so I’m hoping he will recognize himself and make some adjustments -- not just for me, but for us. -- Wishing I Could Talk to Him
DEAR WISHING: After 50 years of marriage, there shouldn’t be anything you can’t say to your spouse. Instead of confronting him in an accusatory way, make sure to come from a place of kindness and concern. Let your husband know that you care about him and want to make sure, most importantly, that he’s taking care of himself. It’s not the easiest conversation to have but assure him that he shouldn’t be embarrassed. At the end of the day, you simply have his best interest at heart.
***
MORE FROM DEAR ANNIE:
Dear Annie: How can we get our daughter to move out without having our grandson taken away from us?
Dear Annie: Most would want to end their marriage after finding their partner cheated ... not me
Dear Annie: Most would want to end their marriage after finding their partner cheated ... not me
Dear Annie: Thoughts on elderly folks behind the wheel
Dear Annie: Nurse tells patient’s relative she doesn’t want a ‘sugar daddy’
***
“How Can I Forgive My Cheating Partner?” is out now! Annie Lane’s second anthology -- featuring favorite columns on marriage, infidelity, communication and reconciliation -- is available as a paperback and ebook. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing.com for more information.
Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM | https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/advice/2023/07/dear-annie-mans-bad-breath-keeps-his-wife-at-a-distance.html | 2023-07-29T16:00:41 | 0 | https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/advice/2023/07/dear-annie-mans-bad-breath-keeps-his-wife-at-a-distance.html |
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McKeown completes historic sweep in backstroke
July 29, 2023 08:10 AM
Australian Kaylee McKeown becomes the first swimmer ever to sweep all three distances in the backstroke as she takes home gold in the 200m at the 2023 FINA World Championships.
Close Ad | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/mckeown-completes-historic-sweep-in-backstroke | 2023-07-29T16:00:41 | 0 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/mckeown-completes-historic-sweep-in-backstroke |
Wayfair is holding a huge “5 Days of Deals Sale” with discounts on all the summer essentials you need to outfit your backyard.
The sale, which runs until 8:59am EST on Wednesday, August 2, is offering deals up to 70% off on outdoor items for the home.
Grills are reduced up to 30% off and patio furniture has been marked down up to 55% off. Wayfair has also dropped the price on popular fire pits by as much as 40% off.
Especially for the “5 Days of Deals Sale,” Wayfair is also giving free shipping on all online orders.
Here’s a look at some of the top discounts on backyard must-haves from Wayfair’s “5 Day of Deals Sale.”
Patio Furniture
- Knopf 4-Person Outdoor Seating Group for $260, instead of $400
- Angelos Rectangular 8-Person Outdoor Dining Set for $430, instead of $620
- Brice Swivel Wicker Outdoor Lounge Chair (Set of 2) for $480, instead of $590
Grills
- Blackstone 2-Burner Portable Liquid Propane Gas Grill for $160, instead of $213
- Royal Gourmet-CC Series Charcoal Barrel Grill with Offset Smoker for $230, instead of $330
- Weber Spirit E-330 Liquid Propane Grill for $729, instead of $879 (free assembly included)
Fire Pits
- Austin Steel Wood Burning Fire Pit for $115, instead of $193
- Cayden 25″ H x 30″ W Steel Propane Gas Fire Pit Table for $237, instead of $350
- Jahidul 24″ H x 36″ W Steel Wood Burning Outdoor Fire Pit for $199, instead of $359
Shop for even more savings on outdoor gear for you backyard during Wayfair’s “5 Day of Deals Sale.”
RELATED STORIES ABOUT RETAIL AND SHOPPING:
Wayfair ‘Back-to-School Sale’: These are the best deals on storage, kitchen essentials and more
Samsung deals: How to get up to $1,000 for preordering the newest Galaxy phones
There’s still time to score a Sam’s Club membership for $25 in extended deal
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Dawn Magyar can be reached at dmagyar@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips. | https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/business/2023/07/wayfair-5-days-of-deals-sale-9-best-discounts-on-grills-patio-furniture-fire-pits-up-to-70-off.html | 2023-07-29T16:00:44 | 0 | https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/business/2023/07/wayfair-5-days-of-deals-sale-9-best-discounts-on-grills-patio-furniture-fire-pits-up-to-70-off.html |
Another hot day is in store Saturday in the Lehigh Valley region before a cold front arriving from the west-northwest brings the threat of showers and thunderstorms.
For the National Weather Service’s official climate station at Lehigh Valley International Airport, Saturday’s day-time high is forecast near 89 degrees, continuing a series of hot days. The Lehigh Valley’s normal high for late July is 86. No records were threatened or are expected to fall as July comes to a close.
A pleasant day is forecast Sunday, with lower humidity and temperatures close to 10 degrees cooler — in the upper 70s — across the Pocono Mountains and low to mid-80s elsewhere, the weather service says in a forecast discussion on its Philadelphia region website: “Sunday night will be quite the treat with lows in the low to mid-60s across the region with mid- to upper 50s in the Lehigh Valley, Pocono Plateau, and northwest NJ.”
At Lehigh Valley International Airport, a chance of thunderstorms is forecast before 2 p.m. Saturday, then showers are likely with possibly a thunderstorm until 5 p.m. Showers and thunderstorms are then likely after 5 p.m., with some of the storms capable of producing damaging gusty winds and heavy rain. Showers and thunderstorms remain likely Saturday night, mainly until shortly after midnight.
As of Saturday morning, Easton was still planning to launch its fireworks display that’s been delayed repeatedly from the washed-out Heritage Day on July 9. The show is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Saturday from Upper Hackett Park.
No one will be permitted in the park, the Bob Rute Fields will be closed all day and evening, and there is no parking allowed along Hackett Avenue. Additionally, Wilson Borough officials reversed course and are closing all borough parks at dusk as usual, rather than keeping them open for viewing of the fireworks display.
Stay up-to-date with National Weather Service advisories for our region at weather.gov/phi, and visit lehighvalleylive.com/weather for your local forecast from AccuWeather, plus radar. Check airnow.gov for current air quality conditions in your area.
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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. | https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/weather/2023/07/lehigh-valley-weather-no-trick-a-treat-in-store-after-thunderstorm-threat-fireworks-still-planned.html | 2023-07-29T16:00:45 | 1 | https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/weather/2023/07/lehigh-valley-weather-no-trick-a-treat-in-store-after-thunderstorm-threat-fireworks-still-planned.html |
Are schedules for 49ers, Rams unfair?
May 16, 2023 04:01 PM
After the release of the NFL schedule, it was discovered that both the 49ers and Rams will have to play four teams coming off of their bye weeks, which makes Peter King and Myles Simmons wonder if it's an unfair balance. | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/nfl/the-peter-king-podcasts/peterson-provides-crucial-help-at-cb-for-steelers | 2023-07-29T16:00:51 | 0 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/nfl/the-peter-king-podcasts/peterson-provides-crucial-help-at-cb-for-steelers |
Are schedules for 49ers, Rams unfair?
May 16, 2023 04:01 PM
After the release of the NFL schedule, it was discovered that both the 49ers and Rams will have to play four teams coming off of their bye weeks, which makes Peter King and Myles Simmons wonder if it's an unfair balance. | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/nfl/the-peter-king-podcasts/tomlin-details-potential-of-young-steelers-team | 2023-07-29T16:01:01 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/nfl/the-peter-king-podcasts/tomlin-details-potential-of-young-steelers-team |
Watch Now
Sjostrom breaks her world record in 50m freestyle
Less than 20 minutes after winning her fifth-straight world title in the 50m butterfly, Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden breaks her own world record in the 50m freestyle semifinal with a time of 26.61. | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/sjostrom-breaks-her-world-record-in-50m-freestyle | 2023-07-29T16:01:11 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/sjostrom-breaks-her-world-record-in-50m-freestyle |
Chester County’s homeless population rises for first time since 2020
Numbers from Chester County’s 2023 Point-In-Time count show an eight percent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness.
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Chester County’s homeless population rose for the first time since 2020.
Data from Chester County’s 2023 Point-In-Time count tallied 436 unhoused people on Jan. 25, an eight percent increase from 2022. The latest numbers from Pennsylvania’s wealthiest county — which previously pledged to end chronic homelessness by 2021 — are not an encouraging sign.
Up until last year, the county had made steady progress when many neighboring jurisdictions struggled to combat the housing crisis,
“We continue to look for opportunities to develop more affordable housing. Unfortunately, in this market, it’s become increasingly difficult to find safe, decent, and affordable housing — despite our efforts to create more housing over the past few years,” said Shaun Bollig, deputy director for the Chester County Department of Community Development (DCD).
Rising housing costs, lack of assistance programs are likely to blame for Chester County’s homelessness uptick
Chester County’s problem is not unique, officials said. There’s a nationwide increase in homelessness, said Robert Henry, administrator of the Chester County Partnership to End Homelessness. “So it’s a really difficult time,” he said.
According to Bollig, the expiration and reduced capacity of pandemic-era housing and rental programs played a big part in the loss of progress. Henry added that when you combine that with increasing housing costs, people are “rent-burdened” and forced to choose between paying for rent or basic necessities such as food and medicine.
The county’s system performance report shows that people are staying homeless for a longer period of time this year. Less federal funding to vital assistance programs further perpetuates the cycle.
“Our emergency rental assistance program is still operating. And we also have an eviction prevention case resolution program, which is like an eviction prevention court. But, even our emergency rental assistance program at this point has scaled back a bit from where it was initially,” Henry said.
The 2023 Point-In-Time count revealed huge racial disparities in homelessness: 44% of the individuals tallied were people of color. Children represented 25% of the people counted.
What is Chester County doing to address homelessness and housing costs?
In a joint statement, Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, and Michelle Kichline underscored their commitment to adding affordable housing units through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness’ House America Initiative.
“We have dedicated American Rescue Plan Act money and other funds to building 1,000 new affordable housing units over the next ten years, and by the end of this year, 306 will be built,” the statement read.
Bollig said coming out of 2022, Chester County opened up 111 affordable rental units in West Chester Borough and Kennett Square Borough.
“Those developments, as you can imagine, were filled almost immediately, and already have long waiting lists. So certainly that illustrates the demand,” Bollig said. He added that the DCD’s street team is working the entire geography of the county to connect people to services.
In the coming months, Chester County plans on releasing details of its Whole-Home Repair Program, according to Bollig.
Chester County still has goal of ending chronic homelessness
In a written statement announcing the 2023 Point-In-Time count, DCD Director Doloroes Cooligan said the county’s emergency utility and rental program supported more than 6,000 households since 2021. The Eviction Prevention Case Resolution program resolved more landlord-tenant cases through the court system.
“We encourage anyone to contact our office if they are facing a housing crisis,” Cooligan said.
Henry reminds county residents that they can continue to seek help by texting or calling 211, the front door of the county’s coordinated entry system.
“In 2022, almost 300 people left shelter to a permanent home here in Chester County through that coordinated entry system. So that work is happening every day on the ground with our shelters and our housing providers to work to get people housed,” Henry said.
He said the county still has aspirations of ending chronic homelessness.
Get daily updates from WHYY News!
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today. | https://whyy.org/articles/chester-county-homeless-population-increases/ | 2023-07-29T16:01:12 | 1 | https://whyy.org/articles/chester-county-homeless-population-increases/ |
TOKYO — Toshihiro Mutsuda was only 5 years old when he last saw his father, who was drafted by Japan's Imperial Army in 1943 and killed in action. For him, his father was a bespectacled man in an old family photo standing by a signed good-luck flag that he carried to war.
On Saturday, when the flag was returned to him from a U.S. war museum where it had been on display for 29 years, Mutsuda, now 83, said: "It's a miracle."
The flag, known as "Yosegaki Hinomaru," or Good Luck Flag, carries the soldier's name, Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, and the signatures of his relatives, friends and neighbors wishing him luck. It was given to him before he was drafted by the Army. His family was later told he died in Saipan, but his remains were never returned.
The flag was donated in 1994 and displayed at the museum aboard the USS Lexington, a WWII aircraft carrier, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Its meaning was not known until it was identified by the family earlier this year, said the museum director Steve Banta, who brought the flag to Tokyo.
Banta said he learned the story behind the flag earlier this year when he was contacted by the Obon Society, a nonprofit organization that has returned about 500 similar flags as non-biological remains, to the descendants of Japanese servicemembers killed in the war.
The search for the flag's original owner started in April when a museum visitor took a photo and asked an expert about the description that it had belonged to a "kamikaze" suicide pilot. When Shigeyoshi Mutsuda's grandson saw the photo, he sought help from the Obon Society, group co-founder Keiko Ziak said.
"When we learned all of this, and that the family would like to have the flag, we knew immediately that the flag did not belong to us," Banta said at the handover ceremony. "We knew that the right thing to do would be to send the flag home, to be in Japan and to the family."
The soldier's eldest son, Toshihiro Mutsuda, was speechless for a few seconds when Banta, wearing white gloves, gently placed the neatly folded flag into his hands. Two of his younger siblings, both in their 80s, stood by and looked on silently. The three children, all wearing cotton gloves so they wouldn't damage the decades-old flag, carefully unfolded it to show to the audience.
The soldier's daughter, Misako Matsukuchi, touched the flag with both hands and prayed. "After nearly 80 years, the spirit of our father returned to us. I hope he can finally rest in peace," Matsukuchi said later.
Toshihiro Mutsuda said his memory of his father was foggy. However, he clearly remembers his mother, Masae Mutsuda, who died five years ago at age 102, used to make the long-distance bus trip almost every year from the farming town in Gifu, central Japan, to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where the 2.5 million war dead are enshrined, to pay tribute to her husband's spirit.
The shrine is controversial, as it includes convicted war criminals among those commemorated. Victims of Japanese aggression during the first half of the 20th century, especially China and the Koreas, see Yasukuni as a symbol of Japanese militarism. However, for the Mutsuda family, it's a place to remember the loss of a father and husband.
"It's like an old love story across the ages coming together ... It doesn't matter where," Banta said, referring to the Yasukuni controversy. "The important thing is this flag goes to the family."
That's why Toshihiro Mutsuda and his siblings chose to receive the flag at Yasukuni and brought the framed photos of their parents.
"My mother missed him and wanted to see him so much and that's why she used to pray here," Toshihiro Mutsuda said. "Today her wish finally came true, and she was able to be reunited."
Keeping the flag on his lap, he said, "I feel the weight of the flag."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wbaa.org/2023-07-29/a-wwii-japanese-soldiers-good-luck-flag-is-returned-to-his-family-from-u-s-museum | 2023-07-29T16:01:12 | 0 | https://www.wbaa.org/2023-07-29/a-wwii-japanese-soldiers-good-luck-flag-is-returned-to-his-family-from-u-s-museum |
Updated July 29, 2023 at 11:41 AM ET
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 Sept. 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.wbaa.org/2023-07-29/unusual-photos-at-moma-conjure-the-beaches-bustle-and-history-of-lagos | 2023-07-29T16:01:13 | 0 | https://www.wbaa.org/2023-07-29/unusual-photos-at-moma-conjure-the-beaches-bustle-and-history-of-lagos |
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Sjostrom wins fifth-straight 50m butterfly title
July 29, 2023 07:16 AM
Sarah Sjostrom notches a historic win at the 2023 FINA World Championships as she collects her fifth-straight title in the women's 50m butterfly.
Close Ad | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/sjostrom-wins-fifth-straight-50m-butterfly-title | 2023-07-29T16:01:21 | 0 | https://www.nbcsports.com/watch/sjostrom-wins-fifth-straight-50m-butterfly-title |
Delaware Memorial Bridge gets a $93 million upgrade to protect against ship collision
A multimillion dollar project is underway at the Delaware Memorial Bridge to enhance its protection system and prevent future collisions like the 1968 tanker.
The $93 million New Bridge Ship Collision Protection System has recently begun construction on the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
The Delaware River Bay Authority’s public information officer, James Salmon, says that the aging infrastructure supports nearly 36 billion cars annually, whether that’s for everyday commutes to work, trips to see family, or product delivery.
“The bridge is a vital transportation link on the I-95 North-South corridor. Millions of people rely on the structure of this transportation on a daily basis,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to make sure that the bridge is open and available for our customers to use on a daily basis.”
Since the inauguration of the bridge’s New Jersey-bound span in 1950 and the Delaware-bound span in 1968, both sections of the structure have been subject to substantial annual maintenance and essential infrastructure upgrades. These ongoing efforts, as stated by Salmon, have ensured its capability to support today’s traffic demands.
“Today’s tankers and ships that use the Delaware River are significantly bigger, faster than they were in the fifties and sixties,” he said. “The bridge fendering system that is currently in place was satisfactory in the fifties and sixties. Today it is out-served or outlived its useful life and we need to upgrade the situation for today’s traffic.”
Upgrading the protection system will aid with any potential collisions or strikes that could happen in the future, because it has.
In 1968, “a tanker busted steering and struck one of the tower structures, causing significant damage to the pier, fender ring around the tower structure,” said Salmon.
Construction on this project has begun, with a 360 temporary trestle built from the Delaware coastline south of the New Jersey-bound bridge to transport materials and personnel to barges.
As part of the new bridge ship collision safety system, eight 80-foot-diameter stone cylinders and four cells will be constructed at the piers supporting both sides of the towers, at a minimum of 443 feet from the edge of the 800-foot-wide Delaware River channel.
Should drivers expect delays to this project? Not at all.
“This project will not affect the traveling public at all,” Salmon says. “This is all happening in the river itself to protect the bridge structures from tankers and ship traffic that could accidentally strike the pier structures.”
This project is slated to be completed in September 2025.
Saturdays just got more interesting.
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today. | https://whyy.org/articles/delaware-memorial-bridge-93-million-upgrade-ship-collision-protection/ | 2023-07-29T16:01:22 | 0 | https://whyy.org/articles/delaware-memorial-bridge-93-million-upgrade-ship-collision-protection/ |
What recession? It’s a summer of splurging, profits and girl power
The numbers are in and things look surprisingly rosy for the U.S. economy:
The Federal Reserve is still cautious, but big brands – including Coca-Cola, Hilton and Visa — are singing praises to shoppers seemingly undeterred by companies’ raising prices. What’s more, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Barbie are enticing people to part with their money, bolstering local businesses.
Financial reports by corporations and government data have been painting a picture this month of insatiable American shoppers making companies positively exuberant.
This week, GDP or gross domestic product – considered the measure of economic growth – showed the U.S. economy grew at a rate of 2.4%, much higher than expected. What’s fueling it is — you guessed it — spending. Brand after brand this week boosted their earnings forecasts for the year, calling consumers “resilient” in the face of higher prices.
The ‘she-conomy’ takes center stage
Americans have been scaling back in some categories, including clothing and furniture, but we’re splurging on travel. We’re also going out to eat, and see concerts and movies. You could call it the Barbie bump.
Plus, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have been moving markets, quite literally. The Federal Reserve has tracked the striking effect of Taylor Swift’s tour on host cities. One analysis estimates it could generate almost $5 billion in global revenue. When Beyoncé comes to town, hotels, hair stylists and bartenders all get a boost, according to Yelp.
Southwest Airlines this week reported record revenue. Hilton executives said people were spending more across all its hotels, from the humbler Garden Inn to the upscale Waldorf Astoria, with business travel picking up and overall demand exceeding available rooms. Hotel prices have been setting records too.
“Not to be a Pollyanna at all, it all feels pretty good. … I think the rest of this year’s going to be very solid,” Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta told analysts on Wednesday. “And I think next year will be a darn good year.”
Companies test price limits in a ‘Hot Profit Summer’
Higher prices showed up as good news in corporate reports across the board. Among them was Hershey (whose brands include Reese’s and Skinny Pop). The company said people were buying slightly fewer snacks and candies, but its profits rose almost 30% anyway. A similar thing happened at Procter & Gamble (which makes Tide detergent and Crest toothpaste) and Colgate-Palmolive.
Coca-Cola, like rival Pepsi, reported that shoppers remained loyal to brand-name soda despite several rounds of price hikes.
Corporate execs offered many explanations for those hikes, including higher wages and other costs, such as sugar and corn syrup. Chipotle said it was still spending more on beef, tortillas, salsa, beans and rice, and did not rule out additional price hikes later in the year.
Is a spending hangover on the way?
So how are shoppers paying for all of this? Part of it is going on credit cards; the Federal Reserve Bank of New York saying credit card debt is at a record high. Banks report families are dipping into or even draining their pandemic-era savings.
But there’s more to the story: A lot of workers have gotten raises recently. For the first time in months, our wages are outpacing inflation, as employers continue to compete for workers. This, in fact, raises the specter of the notorious wage-price spiral, with companies citing higher labor costs as a major cause of higher prices, and then workers pointing to those rising prices as proof they need higher pay.
Still, it seems like the pace of those raises is slowing down, which could signal that the labor market is softening. This is good news for inflation – which is now at 3% versus last year’s 9% – but not enough for the Fed to ease up. It raised interest rates again this week, to a 22-year high.
“Inflation has moderated somewhat since the middle of last year,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters, explaining the decision. “Nonetheless, the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go.”
While the economy has remained strong amid months of interest rate hikes — and the unemployment rate near a record low at 3.6% — the effects of the Fed’s actions could still be coming.
If they can cool off the economy just enough to stop companies from raising prices, but not so much that they lay off workers, the Fed will have achieved what economists call a soft landing.
“We’re not there yet,” said KPMG Chief Economist Diane Swonk. “The hope is certainly high that we could get there.”
NPR’s David Gura contributed to this report. | https://whyy.org/npr_story_post/economy-fed-earnings-barbie-taylor-swift/ | 2023-07-29T16:01:32 | 0 | https://whyy.org/npr_story_post/economy-fed-earnings-barbie-taylor-swift/ |
After rebranding, X took @x from its original Twitter owner and offered him merch
Gene X Hwang knew his days on Twitter as @x were numbered.
“Elon had been kind of tweeting about X previously,” Hwang said. “So I kind of knew, you know, I had an inkling that this was going to happen. I didn’t really know when.”
Since 2007, Hwang’s username on the site was @x — but after Elon Musk renamed the social media platform to X earlier this week, it was only a matter of time before the company commandeered the handle.
The news came shortly after Hwang had competed in a pinball tournament in Canada.
“So when I landed and fired up my phone, I just got all these messages and I was like: ‘What is what is going on?’ ”
Hwang received an email from the company explaining that his account data would be preserved, and he’d get a new handle. It offered Hwang merchandise, a tour of its offices and a meeting with company management as compensation.
Hwang’s account is one of the latest casualties in the chaos following Musk’s takeover of the social media company. On Monday, Twitter’s iconic blue bird logo was replaced with the letter “X.”
The rebrand is the company’s next step in creating what Musk has called “the everything app.” Musk and CEO Linda Yaccarino envision the platform becoming a U.S. parallel to WeChat — a hub for communication, banking and commerce that’s become a part of everyday life in China.
But experts are skeptical X will be able to become an “everything app.”
“I’m not sure he has enough trust from his user base to get people to actually exchange money or attach any type of financial institution to his app,” Jennifer Grygiel, a professor at Syracuse University, told NPR.
Hwang is among those who have been looking for Twitter alternatives.
“I’ve been checking out, you know, other options like Threads and Mastodon and Bluesky,” he said. “I’m still on Twitter for now, but … it’s changed a lot. So we’ll see how much longer I’m on there.” | https://whyy.org/npr_story_post/twitter-x-account-owner-gene-hwang-elon-musk/ | 2023-07-29T16:01:42 | 0 | https://whyy.org/npr_story_post/twitter-x-account-owner-gene-hwang-elon-musk/ |
Ex-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon joins push for third-party presidential bid as Democrats try to stop it
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels ' increasingly contentious effort to lay the groundwork for a moderate third-party presidential ticket in the 2024 election. He gives the embattled organization another prominent ally amid escalating concerns from Democratic officials that the No Labels campaign could unintentionally help Republican Donald Trump return to the White House.
Nixon, a 67-year-old lawyer, is stepping back into national politics for the first time since leaving office in 2017 and will serve as No Labels’ director of ballot integrity. He said in an interview that he was drawn to the role after learning that well-funded groups aligned with Democrats were working to stop No Labels from securing ballot access in key states.
He said that those seeking to block the group’s right to appear on the presidential ballot are attacking a pillar of American democracy.
“What do I say to those Democrats? I say, ‘You’re entitled to your opinion. But we are also entitled to use our constitutional and statutory rights to allow Americans to have another choice,’” Nixon told The Associated Press.
President Joe Biden and Trump have dominated the 2024 campaign conversation so far. But No Labels, a Washington-based group that promotes compromise, national unity and centrist policy solutions, has been preparing for the strongest third-party presidential bid at least since Texas businessman Ross Perot earned nearly 19% of the popular vote in 1992.
Working with an operating budget of roughly $70 million, No Labels is taking steps to secure presidential ballot spots in roughly 20 states this year; the group has done so already in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon and Utah.
While No Labels has yet to nominate candidates for president and vice president, its leadership insists there is a path to victory for a centrist third-party ticket “if the two parties select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees.”
The group’s critics across the Democratic Party are terrified that No Labels will siphon votes that would otherwise go to Biden, who narrowly beat Trump in 2020 with a coalition that included moderate Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans.
No Labels’ leadership has promised a series of checks and balances that would allow the organization to withdraw its presidential ticket if it appears the group’s participation would help Trump win. No Labels has not outlined a detailed plan about that, and leaders acknowledge privately there is some urgency to come out with their specific safeguards, which would vary state by state. They intend to do so by “early fall.”
Anxious Democrats are unconvinced.
On Thursday, two prominent Democratic groups, the centrist Third Way and more progressive MoveOn, hosted private meetings on Capitol Hill with dozens of chiefs of staff and senior aides to House and Senate Democrats to emphasize the need to stop No Label’s presidential ambitions. In a nod to the seriousness of the Democratic establishment’s concerns, the meetings were held in both the House and Senate Democrats’ campaign headquarters.
“We told them what we have been saying consistently now for a long time: This is dangerous,” said Third Way co-founder Matt Bennett, who helped lead the briefing along with MoveOn’s executive director, Rahna Epting.
The organizers detailed data showing that a No Labels ticket would undercut Biden in the general election and warned that it could handicap vulnerable House and Senate candidates is tight elections. They also questioned that No Labels’ promise to withdraw its ticket if necessary to stop Trump.
No Labels’ leaders are furious.
“They are telling the elected leaders of this country right now that our ballot is a runaway train. And that is categorically false. That is propaganda. And that is why we’re bringing on a director of ballot integrity to stop it because it’s outrageous,” said No Labels’ founder Nancy Jacobson, a former Democratic fundraiser.
For now, Democrats are not willing to take Jacobson’s word for it.
“I don’t want to be doing this. I’d much rather focus on other things. I am concerned, genuinely,” Epting said. “They’re in over their head. They have not given any assurances that they’re clear and sober in their analysis. And when they talk about being able to put the horse back in the barn, they are not consistent about when or how they’re going to do that.”
“They’re just saying, ‘Trust us,’” Epting said. “We can’t. We don’t know you. And the stakes are too high.”
Meanwhile, Nixon joins a growing roster of former elected officials in both parties now affiliated with No Labels. Among the others: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; former Govs. Jon Huntsman Jr., R-Utah, Larry Hogan, R-Md., and Pat McCrory, R-N.C.; and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat who became an independent late in his political career.
Manchin and Huntsman, ambassador to China under President Barack Obama and to Russia under Trump, hosted a town hall in New Hampshire this month, driving speculation they may ultimately become the No Labels presidential ticket.
No Labels plans to hold a presidential nominating convention next April in Dallas, and the group is showing no signs of backing off its 2024 plans. With a massive budget fueled by anonymous donations, No Labels can afford to be patient in the fights ahead.
Democrats in Arizona filed a complaint this month with the secretary of state asking to have the group suspended until it discloses it donors. In May, Maine’s top elections official sent a cease-and-desist letter regarding No Labels voter registration efforts after claiming the group was misleading voters.
The group Citizens to Save Our Republic formed a super political action committee this month specifically designed to stop No Labels. The group’s members includes Bennett from Third Way, several advisers to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.
Nixon, who declined to criticize Biden or Trump, said he understands that he is walking into a political firestorm. But he said he is passionate about No Labels’ constitutional right to secure a place on the ballot.
“I feel calm. I feel correct. I think we have a high moral ground here,” he said.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/29/ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-third-party-presidential-bid-democrats-try-stop-it/ | 2023-07-29T16:02:15 | 1 | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/29/ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-third-party-presidential-bid-democrats-try-stop-it/ |
World War II veteran celebrating 103rd birthday credits red wine for his longevity
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV/Gray News) - A World War II veteran and Wisconsin resident celebrated turning 103 years old this week.
Sal Perce was joined by the Lakeside Fire Department and several others to celebrate his birthday on Thursday.
Perce received WMTV’s Making a Difference Award in 2019 thanks to his volunteer work at a hospital at 101 years old.
“I like finding people I can talk to while helping them with whatever it is,” he said. “I find it refreshing. I’ll stay around an extra hour too as it doesn’t matter to me. I enjoy being there.”
Perce also served in the U.S. Army for nearly four years during World Warr II. He said people who see him volunteer are impressed by what he is doing at his age.
“There’s always something you can do,” he said. “You’re never too old.”
Perce said his three secrets to a long life are doctors, pharmacists and a glass of red wine every night.
Copyright 2023 WMTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/29/world-war-ii-veteran-celebrating-103rd-birthday-credits-red-wine-his-longevity/ | 2023-07-29T16:02:22 | 0 | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/29/world-war-ii-veteran-celebrating-103rd-birthday-credits-red-wine-his-longevity/ |
Updated July 29, 2023 at 11:41 AM ET
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 Sept. 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.apr.org/2023-07-29/unusual-photos-at-moma-conjure-the-beaches-bustle-and-history-of-lagos | 2023-07-29T16:02:44 | 1 | https://www.apr.org/2023-07-29/unusual-photos-at-moma-conjure-the-beaches-bustle-and-history-of-lagos |
A moment of visibility for Puerto Rican artists in U.S. museums
Are you Team Barbie? Team Oppenheimer? Or Team Allan? I’m going with Allan, who is definitely the popular choice. I’m Carolina A. Miranda, art and design columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and I’m ready to beach and fill you in on the week’s essential arts news.
Boricua artists represent
Over the last year, as I’ve worked to complete a monograph on Nuyorican painter Juan Sánchez (almost there!), I’ve had the opportunity to dive into Puerto Rican history (art historical and otherwise) and into the particulars of artistic movements that have emerged from the island as well as the expansive diaspora now based in the United States. (Puerto Ricans in the U.S. have outnumbered those on the island since 2006.)
Despite the presence, the Puerto Rican experience has remained underrepresented in major arts institutions in the U.S. When the group exhibition “no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria” opened at the Whitney Museum in November, New York Times critic Holland Cotter noted in his review that it was the first major survey of Puerto Rican art in a major U.S. museum in almost half a century.
This singular absence speaks to the greater historical absence of Latinos in major U.S. cultural institutions. It also reflects the unique dilemma of Puerto Rican culture: Among the global intelligentsia, the U.S. colony is often regarded as not quite the U.S., not quite Latin America.
The ongoing exhibition “Afro-Atlantic Histories,” currently on view at LACMA, provides a good example of how Puerto Rico is overlooked in sweeping exhibitions that purportedly cover the breadth of the continent. The show, which explores the connections between Africa and the Americas as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, features not a single Puerto Rican artist.
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This is curious, given the abundance of iconic Puerto Rican artworks centered on Black life — such as Francisco Oller‘s “El Velorio,” from 1893, which depicts a baquiné, a wake held to mark the death of a child in the Afro Boricua tradition. Absent from sections that touched on civil rights were the Young Lords, the militant Puerto Rican civil rights group that emerged in Chicago in the late 1960s and later became prominent in New York (having an important influence on culture there). Also absent: any depiction of Pedro Albizu Campos, the mixed-race Puerto Rican independence leader who materializes regularly in art.
The traveling exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Museu de Arte de Sāo Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The National Gallery’s installation did include a sculpture by Puerto Rican artist Daniel Lind-Ramos (more on him in a bit), but he doesn’t figure in the show’s catalog.
The absence is glaring.
Thankfully, this year, “Afro Atlantic Histories” was more the exception than the rule. The Whitney’s group exhibition was critical in bringing visibility to Puerto Rican artists, as was another important group show, “Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s to today,” which was on view at the MCA Chicago this past spring — and will land at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego next year. (I wrote all about these exhibitions for the New York Review of Books earlier this month.)
Next month, the MCA Chicago will open another survey focused specifically on Puerto Rican artists called “entre horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico,” and currently the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City has a solo show by installation artist Pepón Osorio. It joins an ongoing solo show by Lind-Ramos at MoMA PS1 that features almost a dozen of the totemic assemblages for which he has become known. These employ a variety of found materials — pieces of vegetation, musical instruments, old FEMA tarps, scraps of rope and various bits of industrial detritus — to create pieces that evoke spiritual deities and reference the island’s colonial histories. The New York Times’ Cotter described it in his review as “a fantastic terrestrial and celestial mystery tour of an exhibition.”
I caught the exhibition when I was trotting through New York early last month, and it is powerful. Lind-Ramos is a master of material, transforming old tarps into water and figures that feel like apparitions of the Virgin Mary; he is also a master of critique, taking jabs at colonial power in Spain and the U.S. But his figures also resonate with the history and culture of his native Loiza, a town that was originally settled by free Blacks. His work stands in acknowledgment of vital tradition.
The show is on view through Sept. 4. If you happen to be in New York, do not miss it. If you aren’t going to be in New York any time soon, check out the recent episode of Art21 devoted to his work. It is illuminating.
In the galleries
Virtual reality, notes art critic Christopher Knight, can often feel like a stunt in the context of an art exhibition. But it’s put to smart use in a new multilayered installation by Glenn Kaino called “Aki’s Market” at the Japanese American National Museum. The project is inspired by a market run by the artist’s grandfather in East L.A. in the 1950s and ’60s that Kaino has reconstructed — based entirely on family lore — in various media. “Marvelously orchestrated, the work evolves from an anonymous abstraction into an increasingly personal narrative,” writes Knight. “A viewer’s engagement is surreptitiously enticed.”
At Gagosian in Beverly Hills, a new project by Urs Fischer may look like an ad, but it isn’t. On a 12-foot cube wrapped in video screens, the artist is presenting a fever dream of advertisements from 1950 to the present that have been sorted, combined and reinterpreted using artificial intelligence — a way of exploring how images are used to move merch. “It’s a strange thing,” Fischer tells The Times’ Steven Vargas, “that advertisements are so omnipresent and it’s so influential for all of us.”
Since we’re on the subject of Gagosian ... the profile of Larry “GoGo” Gagosian by Patrick Radden Keefe in the New Yorker has been the chatter of social media: the meteoric rise, the allegations of dining and dashing in his early days (which he denies), the allegations of dirty phone calls as a young man (also denied), the construction of value, the fact that he doesn’t like to sell to museums (“then I can’t get them back”) and the wildly unregulated nature of it all. It certainly raises questions: about his carbon footprint (which must be spectacular) and his gallivanting around with Russian oligarchs and Leon Black.
Aaaand since we’re on the subject of Black: The MoMA trustee has been accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in Jeffrey Epstein‘s townhouse in 2002, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week. Black denies the allegations, with his lawyers describing the lawsuit at “frivolous and sanctionable.”
The Washington Post’s Philip Kennicott is NOT a fan of Kehinde Wiley‘s show at the De Young in San Francisco. “The completed works offer none of the pleasures and surprises afforded by good painting,” he writes. “Their surfaces are immaculate, flat and utterly dead. It doesn’t matter how close you get.”
And Hyperallergic contributor Matt Stromberg reacts to that Vanity Fair piece that claimed art galleries were reviving a “desolate” stretch of L.A. — a desolate stretch that actually happens to be one of the densest corridors in the city.
On and off the stage
Center Theatre Group has announced its 2023-24 season, and leading the charge will be Michael R. Jackson‘s Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play, “A Strange Loop,” about a Black gay man writing a musical about a Black gay man. The lineup also includes a “Funny Girl” revival and “A Christmas Story, the Musical.” Among the other productions is “Hadestown,” which was in L.A. last spring, making a return.
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Classical notes
Gustavo Dudamel’s summer run at the Hollywood Bowl ended a week ago, just two weeks after the season kicked off. But while the Summer of ‘Tavo has been short, it has been very busy, reports Times classical music critic Mark Swed. “He conducted three different Bowl programs, with a wide range of music that included everything from John Williams film scores to Broadway show tunes to Verdi’s operatic Requiem,” writes Swed. “He worked with the YOLA National Chamber Orchestra and YOLA National Symphony Orchestra, a workshop for 170 talented music students between the ages of 12 and 18 from around the country. That culminated in a concert in which he not only conducted but also made a surprise appearance joining in the violin section.”
Moves
Artist Jeffrey Gibson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians who is also of Cherokee descent, will represent the United States at the next Venice Biennale. He is the rare Indigenous artist to do so; in 1932, a small group of Native artists, including Hopi artist Fred Kabotie, presented at the international show.
Amada Cruz has been named the new director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Cruz joins the institution from the Seattle Art Museum, where she had served as director and CEO since 2019.
The Rabkin Foundation announced its art journalism grants for 2023, and among the winners are former L.A. Times scribe and current New York Times contributor Jori Finkel, columnist and author Rebecca Solnit and New York-based writers Maximilíano Durón and Jillian Steinhauer.
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco announced a gift of the Bernard and Barbro Osher Collection of American Art, which includes 61 artworks by figures such as George O’Keeffe, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins and many others. Director Thomas P. Campbell describes the gift as “transformative.”
And the Lucas Museum in Los Angeles has added a study for Géricault’s “Raft of the Medusa” — which I’m incredibly excited about because my dad once painted a copy of that work and it hung for decades in my aunt’s dining room in Lima, which is definitely an interesting location for a painting that alludes to cannibalism.
Passages
Sinéad O’Connor, the Irish singer who achieved global fame for her haunting performance of “Nothing Compares 2 U,” followed by notoriety for tearing up the pope’s picture on stage, has died at 56.
Ales Pushkin, a dissident artist in Belarus who once dumped a pile of manure outside the presidential offices in Minsk in a jab at the country’s authoritarian leader, is dead at 57.
Richard Barancik, the last surviving member of the Monuments Men, an Allied Unit that helped preserve art looted and hidden by the Nazis in the wake of World War II, has died at 98.
Pamela Blair, one of the original performers in “A Chorus Line” on Broadway, is dead at 73.
In the news
— The New York Times reports on the crisis in U.S. theaters. Interviews with 72 top-tier regional companies outside of New York point to a future of 20% fewer productions with “shorter runs, smaller casts and simpler sets.”
— A production of Wagner’s “Parsifal,” led by U.S. director Jay Scheib and incorporating augmented reality glasses for the audience, has led to conflict between the Bayreuth Festival‘s financial and artistic teams.
— My colleague Alejandra Molina interviewed Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, the Puerto Rican poet who will lead the Academy of American Poets.
— President Biden has established a national monument to honor Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
— L.A. is slated to host the 2028 Olympics. According to Jules Boykoff and Dave Zirin, it’s looking mighty expensive.
— Lehrer Architects and Kadre Architects have released a free standard ADU plan for L.A. residents.
— Culver City plans to open a “safe sleep” site for unhoused people that features 20 tents.
— I enjoyed this episode of “Our Opinions Are Correct,” about why Ayn Rand is so popular in Silicon Valley.
And last but not least ...
Speaking of the tech industry, specifically that Twitter logo rebrand: “While some people are getting X Windows System logo vibes, several designers have detected an uncanny resemblance to the ‘X’ in widely available typefaces, including Monotype’s Special Alphabets 4.”
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Federal regulators have approved plans to load radioactive fuel into a second new nuclear reactor in Georgia. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that Georgia Power Company and its co-owners can begin loading fuel into unit 4 at Plant Vogtle, southeast of Augusta. Some Alabama and Florida utilities have also contracted to buy Vogtle's power.
It's a key step toward completing the two-reactor project, which is seven years late and $17 billion over budget.
Georgia Power, a unit of Atlanta-based Southern Company has said it anticipates loading fuel by the end of September.
The milestone comes as a Monday deadline nears for unit 3 to reach commercial operation. The current deadline to reliably send electricity to the grid came after a leaking turbine seal forced another month's wait. The reactor was producing power at 98% of capacity on Friday, according to Nuclear Regulatory Commission records.
Two older reactors are also operating at Plant Vogtle.
Georgia Power said that it's making final preparations to load the 157 fuel assemblies into the reactor core. All of the fuel has already been inspected and is being stored at the site.
Once fuel is loaded, operators will conduct tests and begin splitting atoms, which creates the high temperatures that boil steam that drives turbines, which generates electricity. The company says unit 4 is supposed to reach commercial operation by March 2024.
In Georgia, almost every electric customer will pay for Vogtle. Georgia Power currently owns 45.7% of the reactors. Smaller shares are owned by Oglethorpe Power Corporation, which provides electricity to member-owned cooperatives, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and the city of Dalton.
Currently, the owners are projected to pay $31 billion in capital and financing costs, Associated Press calculations show. Add in 3.7 billion that Westinghouse paid to the Vogtle owners to walk away from building the reactors and the total nears $35 billion.
Georgia Power's 2.7 million customers are already paying part of the financing cost and state regulators have approved a monthly rate increase of at least $3.78 a month as soon as the third unit reaches commercial operation.
But the elected five-member Public Service Commission will decide later who pays for the remainder of the costs. Deciding whether Georgia Power's spending decisions were prudent is supposed to begin once fuel is loaded into the fourth reactor. That process will determine how much the company's customers will pay for Vogtle, as opposed to whether shareholders will have to absorb additional losses. Southern Company has written off $3.26 billion in Vogtle losses since 2018, suggesting it won't recoup those costs.
Commissioners earlier said they would presume $5.7 billion of Georgia's Power's spending as prudent. The company is now projected to spend more than $10.5 billion on construction and $3.5 billion on financing.
The two new units combined are projected to produce enough power for more than 500,000 homes and businesses.
Vogtle is the only nuclear plant under construction in the United States. Its costs and delays could deter other utilities from building such plants, even though they generate electricity without releasing climate-changing carbon emissions. | https://www.apr.org/news/2023-07-29/feds-clear-plant-vogtle-to-fuel-second-new-nuclear-reactor-for-customers-in-alabama-florida | 2023-07-29T16:02:50 | 0 | https://www.apr.org/news/2023-07-29/feds-clear-plant-vogtle-to-fuel-second-new-nuclear-reactor-for-customers-in-alabama-florida |
Port workers in Canada’s British Columbia reject contract offer leaving ports hamstrung by dispute
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Port workers in British Columbia have rejected a mediated contract offer meant to end a labor dispute that stopped goods from moving in and out of harbors, including at Canada’s busiest port in Vancouver.
In a letter posted on the union’s website late Friday, International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada President Rob Ashton said workers in the province are now calling on their employers to “come to the table” and negotiate directly, instead of doing so through the BC Maritime Employers Association.
The vote to reject the contract raises the prospect of back-to-work legislation to end the uncertainty at more than 30 port terminals and other sites.
The four-year agreement between the union and maritime employers went to a vote of about 7,400 workers on Thursday and Friday, after union leaders presented the deal to local chapters on Tuesday.
The deal worked out with federal mediators had put a temporary halt to a 13-day strike that had commenced July 1, but its fate see-sawed wildly as the union leadership then rejected it and tried to go back to picket lines.
When that was deemed illegal by the Canada Industrial Relations Board, the union submitted a new 72-hour strike notice, only to withdraw it hours later.
On July 20, the union announced it was recommending the deal and would put it to a full membership vote.
Its failure will give impetus to calls for the federal government to bring in back-to-work legislation, that came earlier from industry groups and politicians, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
The earlier job action was serious enough that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convened the government’s incident response group to discuss the matter, an occurrence typically reserved for moments of national crisis.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://www.kaaltv.com/news/business-news/port-workers-in-canadas-british-columbia-reject-contract-offer-leaving-ports-hamstrung-by-dispute/ | 2023-07-29T16:03:10 | 0 | https://www.kaaltv.com/news/business-news/port-workers-in-canadas-british-columbia-reject-contract-offer-leaving-ports-hamstrung-by-dispute/ |
Ex-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon joins push for third-party presidential bid as Democrats try to stop it
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels ‘ increasingly contentious effort to lay the groundwork for a moderate third-party presidential ticket in the 2024 election. He gives the embattled organization another prominent ally amid escalating concerns from Democratic officials that the No Labels campaign could unintentionally help Republican Donald Trump return to the White House.
Nixon, a 67-year-old lawyer, is stepping back into national politics for the first time since leaving office in 2017 and will serve as No Labels’ director of ballot integrity. He said in an interview that he was drawn to the role after learning that well-funded groups aligned with Democrats were working to stop No Labels from securing ballot access in key states.
He said that those seeking to block the group’s right to appear on the presidential ballot are attacking a pillar of American democracy.
“What do I say to those Democrats? I say, ‘You’re entitled to your opinion. But we are also entitled to use our constitutional and statutory rights to allow Americans to have another choice,’” Nixon told The Associated Press.
President Joe Biden and Trump have dominated the 2024 campaign conversation so far. But No Labels, a Washington-based group that promotes compromise, national unity and centrist policy solutions, has been preparing for the strongest third-party presidential bid at least since Texas businessman Ross Perot earned nearly 19% of the popular vote in 1992.
Working with an operating budget of roughly $70 million, No Labels is taking steps to secure presidential ballot spots in roughly 20 states this year; the group has done so already in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon and Utah.
While No Labels has yet to nominate candidates for president and vice president, its leadership insists there is a path to victory for a centrist third-party ticket “if the two parties select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees.”
The group’s critics across the Democratic Party are terrified that No Labels will siphon votes that would otherwise go to Biden, who narrowly beat Trump in 2020 with a coalition that included moderate Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans.
No Labels’ leadership has promised a series of checks and balances that would allow the organization to withdraw its presidential ticket if it appears the group’s participation would help Trump win. No Labels has not outlined a detailed plan about that, and leaders acknowledge privately there is some urgency to come out with their specific safeguards, which would vary state by state. They intend to do so by “early fall.”
Anxious Democrats are unconvinced.
On Thursday, two prominent Democratic groups, the centrist Third Way and more progressive MoveOn, hosted private meetings on Capitol Hill with dozens of chiefs of staff and senior aides to House and Senate Democrats to emphasize the need to stop No Label’s presidential ambitions. In a nod to the seriousness of the Democratic establishment’s concerns, the meetings were held in both the House and Senate Democrats’ campaign headquarters.
“We told them what we have been saying consistently now for a long time: This is dangerous,” said Third Way co-founder Matt Bennett, who helped lead the briefing along with MoveOn’s executive director, Rahna Epting.
The organizers detailed data showing that a No Labels ticket would undercut Biden in the general election and warned that it could handicap vulnerable House and Senate candidates is tight elections. They also questioned that No Labels’ promise to withdraw its ticket if necessary to stop Trump.
No Labels’ leaders are furious.
“They are telling the elected leaders of this country right now that our ballot is a runaway train. And that is categorically false. That is propaganda. And that is why we’re bringing on a director of ballot integrity to stop it because it’s outrageous,” said No Labels’ founder Nancy Jacobson, a former Democratic fundraiser.
For now, Democrats are not willing to take Jacobson’s word for it.
“I don’t want to be doing this. I’d much rather focus on other things. I am concerned, genuinely,” Epting said. “They’re in over their head. They have not given any assurances that they’re clear and sober in their analysis. And when they talk about being able to put the horse back in the barn, they are not consistent about when or how they’re going to do that.”
“They’re just saying, ‘Trust us,’” Epting said. “We can’t. We don’t know you. And the stakes are too high.”
Meanwhile, Nixon joins a growing roster of former elected officials in both parties now affiliated with No Labels. Among the others: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; former Govs. Jon Huntsman Jr., R-Utah, Larry Hogan, R-Md., and Pat McCrory, R-N.C.; and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat who became an independent late in his political career.
Manchin and Huntsman, ambassador to China under President Barack Obama and to Russia under Trump, hosted a town hall in New Hampshire this month, driving speculation they may ultimately become the No Labels presidential ticket.
No Labels plans to hold a presidential nominating convention next April in Dallas, and the group is showing no signs of backing off its 2024 plans. With a massive budget fueled by anonymous donations, No Labels can afford to be patient in the fights ahead.
Democrats in Arizona filed a complaint this month with the secretary of state asking to have the group suspended until it discloses it donors. In May, Maine’s top elections official sent a cease-and-desist letter regarding No Labels voter registration efforts after claiming the group was misleading voters.
The group Citizens to Save Our Republic formed a super political action committee this month specifically designed to stop No Labels. The group’s members includes Bennett from Third Way, several advisers to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.
Nixon, who declined to criticize Biden or Trump, said he understands that he is walking into a political firestorm. But he said he is passionate about No Labels’ constitutional right to secure a place on the ballot.
“I feel calm. I feel correct. I think we have a high moral ground here,” he said.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://www.kaaltv.com/news/political-news/ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-for-third-party-presidential-bid-as-democrats-try-to-stop-it/ | 2023-07-29T16:03:16 | 1 | https://www.kaaltv.com/news/political-news/ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-for-third-party-presidential-bid-as-democrats-try-to-stop-it/ |
Kansas man sentenced to nearly 57 years in death of 2-year-old daughter who went days without food
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man whose 2-year-old daughter died after going days without food while he was passed out drunk has been sentenced to nearly 57 years in prison.
The sentence ordered Friday was the maximum that could be imposed after Jeffrey Exon was convicted in April of charges that included aggravated child endangerment and first-degree murder in the commission of a felony, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
Exon, a 47-year-old who goes by the name of James, called 911 on Jan. 5. 2021, telling a dispatcher that his daughter, Aurora Exon, had stopped breathing. He also said she recently had been “starving herself.”
She was cold to the touch when found, and appeared to have been dead for several days, Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay said. The coroner blamed her death on a form of malnutrition called marasmus.
Five empty liquor bottles were found in Exon’s bedroom, investigators said. They determined that Exon would not feed or attend to his children for days because of his addiction issues.
Exon’s 6-year-old son, who was 4 when his sister died, testified at trial that his dad locked them in their rooms for several days without food while he “slept.”
Seonaid Nichols, the children’s mother, said she agreed to give James Exon custody of the children because her living conditions didn’t allow her to take care of them.
For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal. | https://www.kaaltv.com/news/us-world-news/kansas-man-sentenced-to-nearly-57-years-in-death-of-2-year-old-daughter-who-went-days-without-food/ | 2023-07-29T16:03:22 | 1 | https://www.kaaltv.com/news/us-world-news/kansas-man-sentenced-to-nearly-57-years-in-death-of-2-year-old-daughter-who-went-days-without-food/ |
Ex-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon joins push for third-party presidential bid as Democrats try to stop it
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels ' increasingly contentious effort to lay the groundwork for a moderate third-party presidential ticket in the 2024 election. He gives the embattled organization another prominent ally amid escalating concerns from Democratic officials that the No Labels campaign could unintentionally help Republican Donald Trump return to the White House.
Nixon, a 67-year-old lawyer, is stepping back into national politics for the first time since leaving office in 2017 and will serve as No Labels’ director of ballot integrity. He said in an interview that he was drawn to the role after learning that well-funded groups aligned with Democrats were working to stop No Labels from securing ballot access in key states.
He said that those seeking to block the group’s right to appear on the presidential ballot are attacking a pillar of American democracy.
“What do I say to those Democrats? I say, ‘You’re entitled to your opinion. But we are also entitled to use our constitutional and statutory rights to allow Americans to have another choice,’” Nixon told The Associated Press.
President Joe Biden and Trump have dominated the 2024 campaign conversation so far. But No Labels, a Washington-based group that promotes compromise, national unity and centrist policy solutions, has been preparing for the strongest third-party presidential bid at least since Texas businessman Ross Perot earned nearly 19% of the popular vote in 1992.
Working with an operating budget of roughly $70 million, No Labels is taking steps to secure presidential ballot spots in roughly 20 states this year; the group has done so already in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon and Utah.
While No Labels has yet to nominate candidates for president and vice president, its leadership insists there is a path to victory for a centrist third-party ticket “if the two parties select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees.”
The group’s critics across the Democratic Party are terrified that No Labels will siphon votes that would otherwise go to Biden, who narrowly beat Trump in 2020 with a coalition that included moderate Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans.
No Labels’ leadership has promised a series of checks and balances that would allow the organization to withdraw its presidential ticket if it appears the group’s participation would help Trump win. No Labels has not outlined a detailed plan about that, and leaders acknowledge privately there is some urgency to come out with their specific safeguards, which would vary state by state. They intend to do so by “early fall.”
Anxious Democrats are unconvinced.
On Thursday, two prominent Democratic groups, the centrist Third Way and more progressive MoveOn, hosted private meetings on Capitol Hill with dozens of chiefs of staff and senior aides to House and Senate Democrats to emphasize the need to stop No Label’s presidential ambitions. In a nod to the seriousness of the Democratic establishment’s concerns, the meetings were held in both the House and Senate Democrats’ campaign headquarters.
“We told them what we have been saying consistently now for a long time: This is dangerous,” said Third Way co-founder Matt Bennett, who helped lead the briefing along with MoveOn’s executive director, Rahna Epting.
The organizers detailed data showing that a No Labels ticket would undercut Biden in the general election and warned that it could handicap vulnerable House and Senate candidates is tight elections. They also questioned that No Labels’ promise to withdraw its ticket if necessary to stop Trump.
No Labels’ leaders are furious.
“They are telling the elected leaders of this country right now that our ballot is a runaway train. And that is categorically false. That is propaganda. And that is why we’re bringing on a director of ballot integrity to stop it because it’s outrageous,” said No Labels’ founder Nancy Jacobson, a former Democratic fundraiser.
For now, Democrats are not willing to take Jacobson’s word for it.
“I don’t want to be doing this. I’d much rather focus on other things. I am concerned, genuinely,” Epting said. “They’re in over their head. They have not given any assurances that they’re clear and sober in their analysis. And when they talk about being able to put the horse back in the barn, they are not consistent about when or how they’re going to do that.”
“They’re just saying, ‘Trust us,’” Epting said. “We can’t. We don’t know you. And the stakes are too high.”
Meanwhile, Nixon joins a growing roster of former elected officials in both parties now affiliated with No Labels. Among the others: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; former Govs. Jon Huntsman Jr., R-Utah, Larry Hogan, R-Md., and Pat McCrory, R-N.C.; and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat who became an independent late in his political career.
Manchin and Huntsman, ambassador to China under President Barack Obama and to Russia under Trump, hosted a town hall in New Hampshire this month, driving speculation they may ultimately become the No Labels presidential ticket.
No Labels plans to hold a presidential nominating convention next April in Dallas, and the group is showing no signs of backing off its 2024 plans. With a massive budget fueled by anonymous donations, No Labels can afford to be patient in the fights ahead.
Democrats in Arizona filed a complaint this month with the secretary of state asking to have the group suspended until it discloses it donors. In May, Maine’s top elections official sent a cease-and-desist letter regarding No Labels voter registration efforts after claiming the group was misleading voters.
The group Citizens to Save Our Republic formed a super political action committee this month specifically designed to stop No Labels. The group’s members includes Bennett from Third Way, several advisers to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.
Nixon, who declined to criticize Biden or Trump, said he understands that he is walking into a political firestorm. But he said he is passionate about No Labels’ constitutional right to secure a place on the ballot.
“I feel calm. I feel correct. I think we have a high moral ground here,” he said.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/29/ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-third-party-presidential-bid-democrats-try-stop-it/ | 2023-07-29T16:03:54 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/29/ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-third-party-presidential-bid-democrats-try-stop-it/ |
World War II veteran celebrating 103rd birthday credits red wine for his longevity
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV/Gray News) - A World War II veteran and Wisconsin resident celebrated turning 103 years old this week.
Sal Perce was joined by the Lakeside Fire Department and several others to celebrate his birthday on Thursday.
Perce received WMTV’s Making a Difference Award in 2019 thanks to his volunteer work at a hospital at 101 years old.
“I like finding people I can talk to while helping them with whatever it is,” he said. “I find it refreshing. I’ll stay around an extra hour too as it doesn’t matter to me. I enjoy being there.”
Perce also served in the U.S. Army for nearly four years during World Warr II. He said people who see him volunteer are impressed by what he is doing at his age.
“There’s always something you can do,” he said. “You’re never too old.”
Perce said his three secrets to a long life are doctors, pharmacists and a glass of red wine every night.
Copyright 2023 WMTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/29/world-war-ii-veteran-celebrating-103rd-birthday-credits-red-wine-his-longevity/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:00 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/29/world-war-ii-veteran-celebrating-103rd-birthday-credits-red-wine-his-longevity/ |
Precious wholesome tradition still going strong in this NJ town
There are so few traditions and wholesome events that take place in our world today. Certainly not like the ones we remember growing up in the late 20th century. The world has changed so much in our lifetimes.
So many people our age lament these days that it’s a different world than we grew up in, and they certainly would be right in saying that for the most part.
There is a tradition in a small New Jersey town tucked away at the edge of the New Jersey pine barrens that still holds true and goes pretty much unchanged from its beginnings nearly a century ago.
I’m speaking of the Medford Lakes Canoe Carnival, and the pageant that goes along with it.
It’s like taking a journey back in time to a simpler time, a happier place.
Although I’ve never actually been to the canoe carnival, I am reminded of his existence this time every summer. As you drive through the tiny town, as I often do, from late August through early from late July through early August, you see signs promoting individual boys and girls.
They're campaigning to be Mr. or Miss Medford Lakes, The 15–18-year-olds who receive the most votes are crowned the King and Queen of the Canoe Carnival.
It's been a tradition in this idyllic little town every August since 1931. The canoe carnival consists of elaborately decorated canoes, which can get pretty big, parading along Lower Aetna Lake in the heart of this gorgeous lakes community.
It's one of the many things that bring the people of this town closer every year. If you know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who lives in this town, get yourself an invitation and check out this truly unique and special South Jersey tradition.
Here's what last year's carnival looked like.
NJ county fairs are back! Check out the 2023 summer schedule
See inside: Burlington County Farm Fair
Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.
You can now listen to Dennis & Judi — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite best friends anytime, anywhere and any day of the week. Download the Dennis & Judi show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now. | https://catcountry1073.com/precious-wholesome-tradition-still-going-strong-in-this-nj-town/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:14 | 1 | https://catcountry1073.com/precious-wholesome-tradition-still-going-strong-in-this-nj-town/ |
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.
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Hannon reported from Bangkok. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/ap-blinken-says-us-economic-support-for-niger-is-at-risk-as-military-takeover-threatens-stability/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:14 | 0 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/ap-blinken-says-us-economic-support-for-niger-is-at-risk-as-military-takeover-threatens-stability/ |
TOKYO (AP) — Toshihiro Mutsuda was only 5 years old when he last saw his father, who was drafted by Japan’s Imperial Army in 1943 and killed in action. For him, his father was a bespectacled man in an old family photo standing by a signed good-luck flag that he carried to war.
On Saturday, when the flag was returned to him from a U.S. war museum where it had been on display for 29 years, Mutsuda, now 83, said: “It’s a miracle.”
The flag, known as “Yosegaki Hinomaru,” or Good Luck Flag, carries the soldier’s name, Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, and the signatures of his relatives, friends and neighbors wishing him luck. It was given to him before he was drafted by the Army. His family was later told he died in Saipan, but his remains were never returned.
The flag was donated in 1994 and displayed at the museum aboard the USS Lexington, a WWII aircraft carrier, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Its meaning was not known until it was identified by the family earlier this year, said the museum director Steve Banta, who brought the flag to Tokyo.
Banta said he learned the story behind the flag earlier this year when he was contacted by the Obon Society, a nonprofit organization that has returned about 500 similar flags as non-biological remains, to the descendants of Japanese servicemembers killed in the war.
The search for the flag’s original owner started in April when a museum visitor took a photo and asked an expert about the description that it had belonged to a “kamikaze” suicide pilot. When Shigeyoshi Mutsuda’s grandson saw the photo, he sought help from the Obon Society, group co-founder Keiko Ziak said.
“When we learned all of this, and that the family would like to have the flag, we knew immediately that the flag did not belong to us,” Banta said at the handover ceremony. “We knew that the right thing to do would be to send the flag home, to be in Japan and to the family.”
The soldier’s eldest son, Toshihiro Mutsuda, was speechless for a few seconds when Banta, wearing white gloves, gently placed the neatly folded flag into his hands. Two of his younger siblings, both in their 80s, stood by and looked on silently. The three children, all wearing cotton gloves so they wouldn’t damage the decades-old flag, carefully unfolded it to show to the audience.
The soldier’s daughter, Misako Matsukuchi, touched the flag with both hands and prayed. “After nearly 80 years, the spirit of our father returned to us. I hope he can finally rest in peace,” Matsukuchi said later.
Toshihiro Mutsuda said his memory of his father was foggy. However, he clearly remembers his mother, Masae Mutsuda, who died five years ago at age 102, used to make the long-distance bus trip almost every year from the farming town in Gifu, central Japan, to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, where the 2.5 million war dead are enshrined, to pay tribute to her husband’s spirit.
The shrine is controversial, as it includes convicted war criminals among those commemorated. Victims of Japanese aggression during the first half of the 20th century, especially China and the Koreas, see Yasukuni as a symbol of Japanese militarism. However, for the Mutsuda family, it’s a place to remember the loss of a father and husband.
“It’s like an old love story across the ages coming together … It doesn’t matter where,” Banta said, referring to the Yasukuni controversy. “The important thing is this flag goes to the family.”
That’s why Toshihiro Mutsuda and his siblings chose to receive the flag at Yasukuni and brought the framed photos of their parents.
“My mother missed him and wanted to see him so much and that’s why she used to pray here,” Toshihiro Mutsuda said. “Today her wish finally came true, and she was able to be reunited.”
Keeping the flag on his lap, he said, “I feel the weight of the flag.” | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/ap-its-a-miracle-say-family-of-japanese-soldier-killed-in-wwii-as-flag-he-carried-returns-from-us/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:21 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/ap-its-a-miracle-say-family-of-japanese-soldier-killed-in-wwii-as-flag-he-carried-returns-from-us/ |
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.”
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Max Ralph is a student in John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
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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.
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/ap-lgbtq-community-proud-and-visible-at-womens-world-cup/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:27 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/ap-lgbtq-community-proud-and-visible-at-womens-world-cup/ |
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The cosmos is offering up a double feature in August: a pair of supermoons culminating in a rare blue moon.
Catch the first show Tuesday evening as the full moon rises in the southeast, appearing slightly brighter and bigger than normal. That’s because it will be closer than usual, just 222,159 miles (357,530 kilometers) away, thus the supermoon label.
The moon will be even closer the night of Aug. 30 — a scant 222,043 miles (357,344 kilometers) distant. Because it’s the second full moon in the same month, it will be what’s called a blue moon.
“Warm summer nights are the ideal time to watch the full moon rise in the eastern sky within minutes of sunset. And it happens twice in August,” said retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, dubbed Mr. Eclipse for his eclipse-chasing expertise.
The last time two full supermoons graced the sky in the same month was in 2018. It won’t happen again until 2037, according to Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project.
Masi will provide a live webcast of Tuesday evening’s supermoon, as it rises over the Coliseum in Rome.
“My plans are to capture the beauty of this … hopefully bringing the emotion of the show to our viewers,” Masi said in an email.
“The supermoon offers us a great opportunity to look up and discover the sky,” he added.
This year’s first supermoon was in July. The fourth and last will be in September. The two in August will be closer than either of those.
Provided clear skies, binoculars or backyard telescopes can enhance the experience, Espenak said, revealing such features as lunar maria — the dark plains formed by ancient volcanic lava flows — and rays emanating from lunar craters.
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the August full moon is traditionally known as the sturgeon moon. That’s because of the abundance of that fish in the Great Lakes in August, hundreds of years ago.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/ap-two-supermoons-in-august-mean-double-the-stargazing-fun/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:33 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/ap-two-supermoons-in-august-mean-double-the-stargazing-fun/ |
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.yourcentralvalley.com/news/business/ap-with-one-eye-on-china-japan-backs-sri-lanka-as-a-partner-in-the-indo-pacific/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:39 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/business/ap-with-one-eye-on-china-japan-backs-sri-lanka-as-a-partner-in-the-indo-pacific/ |
Germany: Far-right AfD picks top EU election candidate
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)
on Saturday voted for incumbent EU Parliament member Maximilian Krah to lead its 2024 European Union election campaign.
Krah won the vote with 65.7% in favor.
"We are now the most exciting right-wing party in all of Europe," he was quoted as saying in his candidacy speech.
Several days have been set aside for the choice of candidates, with the party congress scheduled to be continued next weekend.
What do we know so far?
The party, which is gaining in polls of German voters, is holding a first conference in the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg until Sunday. Protests against the AfD have been taking place in the city, as DW's Thomas Sparrow has reported on Twitter.
The talks on EU candidates come after the party voted to boost its ties with other far-right parties in the EU.
Delegates yesterday voted in favor of the party leadership's intention to join the far-right (Identity and Democracy) ID Group in the European Parliament. The ID group includes France's National Rally, which is led by Marine Le Pen, and Italy's Lega.
The AfD currently has nine parliamentarians in the European Parliament but now expects to have as many as 20 amid surging popularity ratings in recent opinion polls.
The AfD also elected Petr Bystron, a Bavarian Bundestag lawmaker, as second place on the party's EU Parliament candidate list.
Rene Aust of the central state of Thuringia was elected in third place. The Thuringian branch of the AfD is under investigation by Germany's domestic intelligence agency after being classified by it as extremist.
Anti-EU, anti-migration sentiment
The opening remarks by co-chair Alice Weidel at the congress reflected the fact that leading AfD officials are in favor of reducing the EU itself to a mere economic union, with many even wanting to see Germany leave the bloc.
The goal of the AfD at European level was to see the power of the EU institutions reduced, she said.
"We are working to strengthen nation-states within the EU," she said.
The party leadership is even in favor of abolishing the European Parliament itself, the very institution within which it wants to increase its numbers.
Weidel also underlined her party's anti-immigration agenda.
"We must build a fortress around Europe," she said, adding that the AfD was pursuing this goal "together with our European partners."
Weidel also called on other German parties to drop their objections to working together with her party. Mainstream parties such as the conservative CDU and center-left SPD have ruled out a governing coalition with the AfD, deeming its far-right positions to be too extreme.
"How undemocratic is it to simply exclude millions of voters who vote for us?" Weidel said. "We will talk with anyone," she added, saying that the AfD was "the party of freedom and entrepreneurship and workers; we are the party of tax payers in this country."
Weidel did, however, rule out any cooperation with the Greens, who with the SPD and business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) currently govern Germany in a three-way coaltion.
"The only thing we need is a bulwark against the Green ship of fools that is running this country into the ground," she said.
Her remarks on the EU were seconded by Björn Höcke, the chair of the Thuringian branch of the AfD, who has been classified as right wing extremist by Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
"This EU must die so that the true Europe can live," Höcke said in an interview with broadcaster Phoenix, calling for a new European alliance of states.
AfD picking up support among German economic woes
The AfD is currently polling at around 18% to 22% among the German public, according to recent opinion surveys. The party won its first governing post in the eastern German town of Sonneberg in June, and also won a mayoral election for the first time shortly thereafter.
The rise of the party, which engages in anti-migrant and nationalist rhetoric, has managed to pick up disconcerted voters as Germany grapples with a stagnating economy and inflation.
The party has also raised concerns amid many observers because of the close association of several members with Russian officials and an apparent sympathy with Russian propaganda with regard to alleged "reasons" for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the center-left Social Democratic Party, has downplayed the AfD's swelling poll numbers. He believes AfD will not perform any better than it did in the 2021 German federal election, where the party garnered 10.3% of the vote.
tj/wd (dpa, AFP)
While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing. | https://www.dw.com/en/germany-far-right-afd-picks-top-eu-election-candidate/a-66382312 | 2023-07-29T16:04:44 | 1 | https://www.dw.com/en/germany-far-right-afd-picks-top-eu-election-candidate/a-66382312 |
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels ‘ increasingly contentious effort to lay the groundwork for a moderate third-party presidential ticket in the 2024 election. He gives the embattled organization another prominent ally amid escalating concerns from Democratic officials that the No Labels campaign could unintentionally help Republican Donald Trump return to the White House.
Nixon, a 67-year-old lawyer, is stepping back into national politics for the first time since leaving office in 2017 and will serve as No Labels’ director of ballot integrity. He said in an interview that he was drawn to the role after learning that well-funded groups aligned with Democrats were working to stop No Labels from securing ballot access in key states.
He said that those seeking to block the group’s right to appear on the presidential ballot are attacking a pillar of American democracy.
“What do I say to those Democrats? I say, ‘You’re entitled to your opinion. But we are also entitled to use our constitutional and statutory rights to allow Americans to have another choice,’” Nixon told The Associated Press.
President Joe Biden and Trump have dominated the 2024 campaign conversation so far. But No Labels, a Washington-based group that promotes compromise, national unity and centrist policy solutions, has been preparing for the strongest third-party presidential bid at least since Texas businessman Ross Perot earned nearly 19% of the popular vote in 1992.
Working with an operating budget of roughly $70 million, No Labels is taking steps to secure presidential ballot spots in roughly 20 states this year; the group has done so already in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon and Utah.
While No Labels has yet to nominate candidates for president and vice president, its leadership insists there is a path to victory for a centrist third-party ticket “if the two parties select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees.”
The group’s critics across the Democratic Party are terrified that No Labels will siphon votes that would otherwise go to Biden, who narrowly beat Trump in 2020 with a coalition that included moderate Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans.
No Labels’ leadership has promised a series of checks and balances that would allow the organization to withdraw its presidential ticket if it appears the group’s participation would help Trump win. No Labels has not outlined a detailed plan about that, and leaders acknowledge privately there is some urgency to come out with their specific safeguards, which would vary state by state. They intend to do so by “early fall.”
Anxious Democrats are unconvinced.
On Thursday, two prominent Democratic groups, the centrist Third Way and more progressive MoveOn, hosted private meetings on Capitol Hill with dozens of chiefs of staff and senior aides to House and Senate Democrats to emphasize the need to stop No Label’s presidential ambitions. In a nod to the seriousness of the Democratic establishment’s concerns, the meetings were held in both the House and Senate Democrats’ campaign headquarters.
“We told them what we have been saying consistently now for a long time: This is dangerous,” said Third Way co-founder Matt Bennett, who helped lead the briefing along with MoveOn’s executive director, Rahna Epting.
The organizers detailed data showing that a No Labels ticket would undercut Biden in the general election and warned that it could handicap vulnerable House and Senate candidates is tight elections. They also questioned that No Labels’ promise to withdraw its ticket if necessary to stop Trump.
No Labels’ leaders are furious.
“They are telling the elected leaders of this country right now that our ballot is a runaway train. And that is categorically false. That is propaganda. And that is why we’re bringing on a director of ballot integrity to stop it because it’s outrageous,” said No Labels’ founder Nancy Jacobson, a former Democratic fundraiser.
For now, Democrats are not willing to take Jacobson’s word for it.
“I don’t want to be doing this. I’d much rather focus on other things. I am concerned, genuinely,” Epting said. “They’re in over their head. They have not given any assurances that they’re clear and sober in their analysis. And when they talk about being able to put the horse back in the barn, they are not consistent about when or how they’re going to do that.”
“They’re just saying, ‘Trust us,’” Epting said. “We can’t. We don’t know you. And the stakes are too high.”
Meanwhile, Nixon joins a growing roster of former elected officials in both parties now affiliated with No Labels. Among the others: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; former Govs. Jon Huntsman Jr., R-Utah, Larry Hogan, R-Md., and Pat McCrory, R-N.C.; and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat who became an independent late in his political career.
Manchin and Huntsman, ambassador to China under President Barack Obama and to Russia under Trump, hosted a town hall in New Hampshire this month, driving speculation they may ultimately become the No Labels presidential ticket.
No Labels plans to hold a presidential nominating convention next April in Dallas, and the group is showing no signs of backing off its 2024 plans. With a massive budget fueled by anonymous donations, No Labels can afford to be patient in the fights ahead.
Democrats in Arizona filed a complaint this month with the secretary of state asking to have the group suspended until it discloses it donors. In May, Maine’s top elections official sent a cease-and-desist letter regarding No Labels voter registration efforts after claiming the group was misleading voters.
The group Citizens to Save Our Republic formed a super political action committee this month specifically designed to stop No Labels. The group’s members includes Bennett from Third Way, several advisers to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.
Nixon, who declined to criticize Biden or Trump, said he understands that he is walking into a political firestorm. But he said he is passionate about No Labels’ constitutional right to secure a place on the ballot.
“I feel calm. I feel correct. I think we have a high moral ground here,” he said. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/politics/ap-ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-for-third-party-presidential-bid-as-democrats-try-to-stop-it/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:46 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/politics/ap-ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-for-third-party-presidential-bid-as-democrats-try-to-stop-it/ |
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.yourcentralvalley.com/news/politics/ap-us-pledges-to-help-australia-manufacture-guided-missiles-by-2025/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:52 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/politics/ap-us-pledges-to-help-australia-manufacture-guided-missiles-by-2025/ |
(iSeeCars) — When it comes to car buying, you may be torn between buying and leasing.
While leasing a car might be an attractive option if you want a different car every few years, you might be turned off by the high monthly payments for the cars you’re interested in. What you might not realize is that you can also lease a used car.
Although used cars make up only a small percentage of the leased car market, it’s still possible to lease a used car. And with used car prices still higher than pre-pandemic levels, leasing a used car could be a smart financial decision.
So how can you lease a used car, and is it a good idea? We have the answers.
Which Used Cars Can be Leased?
Used cars that are available to lease are typically Certified Pre Owned cars (also known as CPO) from car dealerships. A certified pre-owned vehicle is a late-model used car that is sold by a franchised dealer after it has been thoroughly inspected, and comes with a factory-backed extended-powertrain warranty and bumper-to-bumper warranty. Each manufacturer has different criteria for their CPO vehicles, but they generally will be less than 6 years old and will not have more than 48,000 miles on the odometer.
You can also take over a lease from someone who wants to get out of their lease. It could be because they are facing a hardship or because they no longer require a vehicle. Whatever the reason, they will post their car on a leasing company website like SwapALease.com or LeaseTrader in hopes that someone can take over their lease so they won’t have to incur the penalties associated with breaking their lease contract. In this case you won’t be required to make a down payment, and you can likely negotiate with the seller to have them pay the transfer fees. However, when taking over someone’s lease, you should estimate how much you plan on driving the vehicle to make sure that you don’t exceed the mileage limit. If you do go over the mileage limit, you will have to pay a penalty when you turn the car in.
How To Find a Used Car to Lease
Used-car leases from dealerships are rare and aren’t widely advertised. The best way to find a leased used car is to do the legwork yourself. All major manufacturers, both mainstream and luxury, offer CPO vehicle leases. However, some automakers, including Stellantis, Ford, and Nissan, require outside financing, while Toyota’s finance department does provide financing for used vehicle leases.
The best way to find a used lease is to decide what vehicle you are interested in, and call around to franchised dealerships to see if they offer used car leases on their CPO inventory.
How to Shop For a Used Car Lease
When deciding if leasing a used car is right for you, you should always shop around. Just as you should compare prices when shopping for used vehicles, you should contact multiple dealerships to see which offer the best pricing.
You should also compare the cost of leasing a used car with the cost of a new car. New car leases often come with better finance rates and may also have incentives and special offers. This cost difference between a new-car lease and used-car lease will be smaller with used Honda and Toyota cars, while the savings will be more significant on luxury vehicles from Acura or Lexus.
The smartest used car lease purchases are for later model year cars, two-to-three-years old and still under warranty, or that offer extended warranties. Otherwise, you are responsible for costly repairs on a car you don’t own. Keep in mind auto insurance is often more expensive for leased cars, so make sure to get a quote from your insurer and factor it into your budget.
As with any used car purchase, you should make sure you get the car fully inspected by an independent mechanic before leasing. You should also use helpful online research tools like the iSeeCars free VIN check that provides a free CARFAX or Autocheck vehicle history report as part of its comprehensive VIN check tool. A comprehensive VIN check will complement the vehicle history report to provide all the important information an interested buyer should know before making a used car purchase.
How Does Used Car Leasing Work?
Used-car leases are similar in structure to new car leases. Just as with a new car lease, the lender will base payments off of a car’s residual value compared to its sales price. The lender will also determine a money factor, which is the vehicle’s interest rate. Just as used cars usually have higher interest rates than new cars, a used car lease will likely have a higher interest rate than a new car lease when it comes to a car loan. However, because a used car has already taken its depreciation hit, the used vehicle will have a lower sales price and lower depreciation rate, which will result in a lower monthly payment than a new car lease. Savings between new and used car leases tend to be more significant when leasing luxury cars.
Used Car Leases: Benefits
The main draw to leasing a used car is the lower monthly payments. It may also allow you to afford a more expensive car than what you would be able to afford with a new car lease. If you don’t care about having the latest new car technology, but want to get rid of a car before it’s too dated, a used car lease might be an appealing option. Additionally, you may have lower car insurance costs than what you would pay on a new car since rates are based on a car’s value.
Used Car Leases: Drawbacks
By leasing a used car, you are responsible for repairs after the vehicle runs past its warranty. You also won’t be able to enjoy the main benefit of new car leasing, which is driving a brand new car with the latest technology. By leasing a used car, although the payments are likely lower, you are still making monthly payments and maintenance costs for a vehicle you don’t own. You may also be charged at the end of the lease if the vehicle is not in good shape or you drive it past the mileage limit as stated in your lease agreement. In many instances, buying a practical used car and keeping it for several years will save you money in the long run compared to leasing.
Bottom Line
If you’re interested in leasing a car and want to lower your monthly lease payments or upgrade to a more expensive vehicle while keeping costs down, a used car lease might be a smart decision. However, used car leases are hard to find, so you should be prepared to do some extra legwork to find the best used car lease deals. Also, be sure to compare prices and lease rates to other used CPO leases as well as new vehicle leases. Avoid leased vehicles that extend beyond a car’s warranty so you won’t be responsible for expensive repairs.
Lastly, once your lease term ends, you’ll have the option for a lease buyout with a purchase price based on the residual value of the car. If you don’t buy the car, you’ll need to find another car to lease. That’s why purchasing a used car outright, that you can keep as long as you want, is often the smartest long-term financial decision.
More from iSeeCars.com:
If you’re interested in a new car or a used car, be sure to check out iSeeCars’ award-winning car search engine. It uses advanced algorithms to help shoppers find the best car deals across all used cars and provides key insights and valuable resources, like the iSeeCars free VIN check report and Best Cars rankings. Filter by make, model, price, CPO vehicles, and special features to find the best deal on your next vehicle.
This article, Can You Lease a Used Car? originally appeared on iSeeCars.com. | https://www.koin.com/automotive/can-you-lease-a-used-car-2/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:55 | 0 | https://www.koin.com/automotive/can-you-lease-a-used-car-2/ |
Researchers looking for Louisiana mobile home residents to take part in severe weather study
Study aims to improve tornado resilience for mobile and manufactured homes
ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - Researchers at the University of North Texas’ Department of Emergency Management and Disaster Science are looking for Louisiana residents who live in mobile or manufactured homes to take part in a study that intends to improve tornado resilience for those types of homes.
The purpose of the study is to learn more about the perceptions of mobile and manufactured home owners when it comes to using anchoring systems designed for high winds. The full title of the study is: “Achieving Greater Tornado Resilience through Informed Decision-Making About Reinforcing the Anchorage of Mobile and Manufactured Homes.” You must be at least 18 years old and own and live in a mobile or manufactured home as your primary residence to participate.
Those interested in participating in the study should complete a short, 10 question online survey. The researchers will use the survey to determine who is eligible for the rest of the study. You will not receive compensation for participating in the survey. If you are eligible for the rest of the study, you may be invited to participate in an interview with researchers.
Participants selected for an interview with researchers can expect the interview to last about one hour and will be provided a $25 gift card as thanks for their valuable time and input. Because the researchers are looking for a broad range of perspectives and can only accept a limited number of participants, taking the survey does not guarantee you will serve as an interview participant. Eligible participants must live in one of the Vortex Southeast states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee or Kentucky. The preference is for in-person interviews, but Zoom may also be used if necessary.
This project will inform the design of better educational materials about anchoring systems for owners of mobile and manufactured homes. This knowledge will assist in decision-making to make housing more resilient to strong storms and tornadoes. This research is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Vortex Southeast program in collaboration with researchers at the University of Oklahoma and Missouri University of Science and Technology.
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Copyright 2023 KALB. All rights reserved. | https://www.wafb.com/2023/07/28/researchers-looking-louisiana-mobile-home-residents-take-part-severe-weather-study/ | 2023-07-29T16:04:56 | 0 | https://www.wafb.com/2023/07/28/researchers-looking-louisiana-mobile-home-residents-take-part-severe-weather-study/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pamela Smith’s voice soared and quivered like a preacher in midsermon as she recalled her troubled childhood and how it helped prepare her for the challenges she faces as the new police chief in the nation’s capital.
“I stand before you as a child who had no hopes, who had no dreams — they were far beyond my reach. But I believe that all things are possible,” she said at her introductory news conference in Washington, in cadences honed by years as an ordained Baptist minister. “I believe I bring a fresh perspective, a different kind of energy, a different level of passion to what I’m going to do.”
Smith takes on the job at a precarious time.
Violent crime is rising sharply, fueled by more homicides and carjackings. The District of Columbia’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, and the D.C. Council have, at times, been at odds about crime legislation. On Capitol Hill, the Republican-led House has begun citing the city’s crime statistics while aggressively reviewing local public safety laws.
On July 24, the Mexican Consulate posted a tweet urging its nationals to “take precautions” in the city due to “a significant increase in crime in areas previously considered safe.”
Smith, 55, now becomes one of the public faces of this long-term fight even before the Council votes on her nomination as chief. She brings an inspirational story to her new role leading the Metropolitan Police Department. Raised in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, by a single mother who battled substance abuse, Smith and her siblings were at one point removed from their home and spent time in foster care. Smith emerged as a track star and went on to a 24-year career in the U.S. Park Police, where she served as the agency’s first Black female chief before retiring in 2022 to take up a senior leadership position at the MPD.
Law enforcement and government officials repeatedly point out that overall crime numbers in Washington have stayed relatively stable. But the crimes that have increased the most — murders and carjackings — are the ones most likely to damage public confidence.
“The scariest crimes are going up and regardless of what’s happening with other crimes, that’s what’s going to fuel the overall perception,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves told The Associated Press.
Graves’ office prosecutes most felonies in Washington, in a unique arrangement due to the district’s status as a nonstate. The city’s attorney general’s office prosecutes misdemeanors and juvenile crime, which is also on the rise.
This intricate dynamic among two separate sets of prosecutors, the city’s police force, Bowser’s administration and the Council has been publicly tested as the crime numbers have stayed high — all with Congress taking an increasing interest in the district’s affairs. Public safety was a primary topic of debate last year when Bowser, 50, successfully ran for a third term in office. She has spent this term sparring with both the Council and the House Oversight and Accountability Committee over how best to address crime.
July has been a particular bloody month, with 22 homicides as of Friday, including murders on the campuses of both Howard and Catholic universities. The victims include an Afghan man who survived years of working as a translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan only to be murdered in America while driving for Lyft. Nine people, including two children, were shot at a July Fourth party, when an assailant in an SUV opened fire on the crowd. A 12-year old girl remains hospitalized after being shot in the back Tuesday night by a bullet that penetrated the walls of her home.
Although the local murder rate is well below the levels in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Washington regularly led the nation in murders per capita, it has climbed steadily in recent years. In 2022, there was a roughly 10% drop in homicides, but now, homicides are up 15 percent compared with this time a year ago and the city is on pace to surpass 200 for the third year in a row. Police also reported 140 carjacking incidents in the month of June — the highest monthly total in more than five years.
Crime in Washington is now a national headline issue in Congress. In the spring, Bowser and Council members were summoned before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee for a heated session on local crime rates.
Congress voted to completely overturn the Council’s comprehensive rewrite of the district’s criminal code. Bowser was caught in the middle of the dispute. She had vetoed the overhaul, saying the reduction of maximum penalties for certain violent crimes “sent the wrong message,” but was overridden by the Council.
The mayor opposes congressional intervention in local affairs as part of Washington’s long push for statehood, but her initial veto was frequently cited by Republican lawmakers as proof that the rewrite was soft on crime. In an embarrassment for the heavily Democratic city, the move to cancel the criminal code revision drew support from dozens of congressional Democratic and was signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Earlier this month, the Council, with Bowser’s support, passed emergency public safety legislation meant to serve as a temporary fix. The bill makes it a felony to fire a gun in public and makes it easier for judges, in cases where people are charged with a violent crime, to detain them before trial. As an emergency bill, the changes will only last 90 days and will not be subject to congressional review; plans to make the changes permanent in the fall will face scrutiny by lawmakers.
“It is no secret … to the public that we are in a state of emergency right now,” said Brooke Pinto, the D.C. Council member who was the bill’s architect. “Like in any emergency, we have to act like it and we have to act urgently to address the problem we’re seeing.”
But some pushing for a criminal justice overhaul said city lawmakers were reverting to mass incarceration policies that had long ago been discredited.
“We’re way beyond thinking that we can just incarcerate more people,” said Patrice Sulton, executive director of the D.C. Justice Lab, who helped draft the now-canceled criminal code revision. “I think everybody who voted for it knows that it will not have an impact.”
The local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement on Twitter that the new bill “essentially flips due process on its head — treating people as guilty and detaining them.”
All sides point to one primary factor fueling the violence: a flood to firearms entering Washington.
Graves, the district’s federal prosecutor, said the number of guns being used in crimes has skyrocketed, turning petty disputes into deadly battles. This includes a new wave of “ghost guns” — firearms that can be ordered in kits and assembled at home. Other kits can easily turn a semiautomatic weapon into an automatic, enabling a rapid-fire and generally less accurate spray of dozens of bullets. In 2018, authorities recovered three such guns; in 2022, the number was 461.
Graves compared the illegal guns to “a virus” in the neighborhood.
“The more virus there is in the community, the more people are going to get sick,” he said. “The more illegal firearms are in the community, the more likelihood those illegal firearms are going to be used.” | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/politics/ap-violent-crime-is-rising-in-the-nations-capital-dc-seeks-solutions-as-congress-keeps-close-watch/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:00 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/politics/ap-violent-crime-is-rising-in-the-nations-capital-dc-seeks-solutions-as-congress-keeps-close-watch/ |
BAY CITY, Mich. (WJRT) -
State leaders are encouraging local communities to start spending millions of dollars from a nationwide $1.45 billion opioid settlement.
Attorney General Dana Nessel sat down with the Bay County Prevention Network this week for a round table talk on the opioid crisis.
Nessel says $85 million from a major opioid settlement with drug makers and distributors is being distributed across the state.
The settlement was announced in January.
According to CDC data, in 2021 more than 80,000 people in the U.S. died from an opioid-involved overdose. | https://www.abc12.com/news/attorney-general-was-in-bay-county-to-discuss-opioid-crisis/article_657e0b16-2e1e-11ee-9b2e-139b0e525392.html | 2023-07-29T16:05:01 | 1 | https://www.abc12.com/news/attorney-general-was-in-bay-county-to-discuss-opioid-crisis/article_657e0b16-2e1e-11ee-9b2e-139b0e525392.html |
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A married couple who owns a luxury cabin just outside of Salem has been named the most hospitable Airbnb host not just in Oregon, but throughout any state in the U.S.
Vacation rental company Airbnb gives the title of “most hospitable host” to those who have 100% 5-star ratings in the cleanliness, check-in and communication categories. Additionally, the platform only recognized listings with more than 100 reviews.
In Oregon, Airbnb co-hosts Cyndi and Tim Hill were highlighted for their Stayton rental located on the Santiam River.
The two moved to their Stayton residence in 2015, and finished building a cabin next door in the years following. Tim said they began renting out the property just a week before the eclipse in 2017, and guests have raved about the listing ever since.
With years of experience as grocery retailers, servers, bartenders and retail associates, the Hills said their background in the service industry has made them better hosts. Still, they never expected their listing outside of the Oregon state capitol to become so popular.
“We were totally surprised and we had no idea that there was such a thing — and especially not for the whole country,” Cyndi said. “We do our best to keep it as spotless as possible and as nice as possible, but mainly we just want to spoil our guests just like we would want to be if we were somewhere.”
The Stayton listing has 416 — and counting — 5-star ratings on Airbnb, and the co-hosts estimate that 50 to 60% of those reviews are from returning guests.
Cyndi and Tim listed the art studio, rain shower and heated floors as some of the cabin’s best amenities. Located on the Santiam River, the listing offers waterfront views, kayaking and rafting as well.
The Hills also said they wash the dishes for guests, many of which miss the same service when they return home.
Tim added that renters love how close the cabin is to other nearby attractions.
“We’re so close to Salem, Portland, Eugene, and we’re 25 minutes off of I-5 and you would never know it by looking at the backyard and the river,” he said. “You would think you’re out in the middle of nowhere.”
The co-hosts book their Stayton listing up to a year in advance, with spring and summer being the busiest seasons.
The earliest availability for the cabin is during the first week of October, and Cyndi and Tim hope to welcome more guests before the year comes to a close. | https://www.koin.com/local/marion-county/oregon-couple-named-most-hospitable-airbnb-hosts-for-cabin-on-santiam-river/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:02 | 0 | https://www.koin.com/local/marion-county/oregon-couple-named-most-hospitable-airbnb-hosts-for-cabin-on-santiam-river/ |
'National Lampoon's Vacation' celebrates 40th anniversary: The cast then and now
'National Lampoon's Vacation' stars Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo and Christie Brinkley recently reunited
"National Lampoon's Vacation" is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The movie follows the Griswold family as they embark on a road trip across the country, starting in the suburbs of Chicago and ending at a Southern California amusement park. Along the way, the family goes through one mishap after the other, while visiting kooky family members along the way.
Here is what the movie's stars have been up to since the film's release in 1983.
CHEVY CHASE, CHRISTIE BRINKLEY AND BEVERLY D'ANGELO ENJOY 'NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION' REUNION
Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase was already an accomplished comedian, having been a part of the original cast of "Saturday Night Live," before taking on the role of the family patriarch, Clark Griswold, in "National Lampoon's Vacation." Along with reprising the role in a number of "National Lampoon" movies, he also appeared in "Fletch" and "Man of the House."
In 2009, Chase returned to television with a starring role in "Community," playing Pierce Hawthorne. The show also starred Joel McHale, Alison Brie and Donald Glover. He left the show in 2013, and has since starred in "Hot Tub Time Machine," "Lovesick" and "The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee."
Chase first married Susan Hewitt in February 1973, however the two got divorced a few years later in February 1976. He then married Jacqueline Carlin in December 1976 and the two were married for four years before getting a divorce in November 1980. Lastly, he married Jayni Luke in June 1982 and the couple has three daughters, Caley, Emily and Cydney. He also has a son Bryan Perkins from a previous relationship.
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Beverly D'Angelo
Beverly D'Angelo already had a Golden Globe nomination under her belt before gaining national recognition for her role as Ellen Griswold in "National Lampoon's Vacation." The following year, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role playing Stella Kowalski in the 1984 TV movie "A Streetcar Named Desire."
She later appeared in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "The House Bunny" and "Mom." From 2005 to 2011, D'Angelo starred in the Max series "Entourage," playing the role of agent Barbara "Babs" Miller.
In 1981, D'Angelo married Italian duke Lorenzo Salviati. However, they divorced in 1995. The actress then dated actor Al Pacino from 1997 to 2003, having fraternal twins, a son and a daughter, in January 2001.
Dana Barron
Dana Barron is most well-known for playing the temperamental teenager, Audrey Griswold, in "National Lampoon's Vacation." Following her breakout role, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for her part in the CBS after-school special "No Means No," and also had a career in soap operas, starring in "One Life to Live."
The actress reprised her role as Audrey, in the 2003 TV movie "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure," and also appeared on "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "The Magnificent Seven."
Barron has one son, Taylor, from her relationship with filmmaker Michael Vickerman.
Anthony Michael Hall
Anthony Michael Hall starred as Rusty Griswold in "National Lampoon's Vacation," before becoming a member of the Brat Pack by starring in "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" and "Weird Science."
He later starred in "Full Metal Jacket," "Johnny Be Good," "Six Degrees of Separation" and his own drama "The Dead Zone," from 2002 to 2007. He then starred in "Foxcatcher," "War Machine," "Halloween Kills" and "The Goldbergs."
The actor announced in 2019 he was engaged to actress Lucia Oskerova, with the two tying the knot in 2020. In February 2023, the couple announced they were expecting their first child together.
Christie Brinkley
Sports Illustrated model Christie Brinkley got her first acting gig in 1983's "National Lampoon's Vacation," playing "the girl in the red Ferrari." She went on to appear in a number of music videos for Billy Joel, as well as continuing to model, appearing on over 500 magazine covers.
The model reprised her role in "Vegas Vacation," going on to appear in "Ugly Betty," "Parks and Recreation," "Nightcap" and "The Goldbergs." Brinkley was first married to Jean-François Allaux from 1973 to 1981. She later married musician Billy Joel in March 1985, having one daughter together, Alexa Ray Joel, before getting a divorce in August 1994.
CHRISTIE BRINKLEY RECREATES HER 'GIRL IN THE RED FERRARI' MOMENT FROM 'NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION'
She then married real estate developer Richard Taubman in December 1994 and they were married for one year before welcoming their son Jack in June 1995, getting a divorce later that year. Brinkley went on to marry Peter Halsey Cook in September 1996 and welcomed daughter Sailor in July 1998. Cook and Brinkley announced their separation in July 2006, finalizing their divorce in 2008.
Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy had already made a name for himself as a member of Second City, an improv theater troupe in Canada, and was a two-time Emmy Award winner before appearing as the car salesman in "National Lampoon's Vacation." He went on to appear in "Armed and Dangerous," "The Man," "Splash," "Serendipity" and had small roles in other comedies throughout the years.
In 2015, Levy and his son created and starred in the hit television show "Schitt's Creek" together. The show reunited him with his "Second City Television" – a sketch comedy series – co-star Catherine O'Hara and earned him a handful of award nominations, including two Emmy wins.
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The actor married his wife Deborah Divine in 1977 and the couple have two children together, Dan and Sarah Levy, both of whom are actors and starred in "Schitt's Creek" with him.
John Candy
John Candy also got his start on the SCTV Network, before appearing as security guard Russ Lasky in "National Lampoon's Vacation." He went on to star in "Ghostbusters," "Splash," "Spaceballs" and "Planes, Trains and Automobiles."
The actor then appeared in "Home Alone," "The Rescuers Down Under," "JFK" and "Cool Runnings." His last on-screen appearances were in "Wagons East" and "Canadian Bacon." He was meant to voice a character in Disney's animated film "Pocahontas," however he passed before he could do the recording, and the character was eventually cut from the film.
He married his wife, Rosemary Hobor in 1979 and the couple went on to have two children, Christopher Michael and Jennifer Anne. The two were married until his death in March 1994 due to a heart attack.
Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid was already an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominated actor before taking on the role of Cousin Eddie in "National Lampoon's Vacation." He went on to win a Golden Globe and score an Emmy nomination for his role in "LBJ: The Early Years."
The actor later appeared in "Independence Day," four of the seven "Vacation" sequels" and the comedy "All You Can Eat." Quaid also earned Gloden Globe and Emmy Award nominations for his work in the miniseries "Elvis," and had a pivotal role in the critically-acclaimed movie "Brokeback Mountain."
He was first married to former model Ella Marie Jolly from May 1980 to August 1989, and in that time they had a daughter, Amanda Marie, born May 1983. He met his second wife, Evi Motolanez, in 1987, while separated from Jolly, going on to marry her in October 1989.
Jane Krakowski
Playing Cousin Vicki in "National Lampoon's Vacation" was Jane Krakowski's first big role. She did not slow down after getting her big break, going on to star in "Search for Tomorrow" from 1984 to 1986.
She went on to star in "Ally McBeal," for which she was nominated for four SAG Awards, "30 Rock," for which she was nominated for seven SAG Awards and four Emmy Awards, and lastly, "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award.
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She also starred in a number of successful movies such as "Fatal Attraction," "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" and "A Christmas Carol." As a trained singer, she appeared on Broadway in "Starlight Express" and "She Loves Me," for which she was nominated for a Tony Award.
In 2009, Krakowski got engaged to British designer Robert Godley, and they welcomed a son Bennett Robert Godley in April 2011. They later separated in 2013.
Imogene Coca
Prior to taking on the role of Aunt Edna in "National Lampoon's Vacation," Imogene Coca was an accomplished Emmy-winning television and Tony award-nominated stage actress.
Following her role as Aunt Edna, Coca continued to appear as a guest on a number of TV shows, including "Moonlighting," which earned her a sixth Emmy Award nomination.
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The actress was married twice, first to Bob Burton, from 1935 until his death in 1955, and then again to King Donovan from 1960 until his death in 1987. In June 2001, Coca passed away from natural causes incidental to Alzheimer's disease, at the age of 92.
Brian Doyle-Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray got his start on Second City before moving on to "Saturday Night Live" and his role as Kamp Komfort Clerk in "National Lampoon's Vacation." He then went on to star in "Sixteen Candles," "Scrooged," "Ghostbusters II," "As Good As It Gets," "Stuart Little" and "17 Again."
On the TV side, he had long-lasting roles in "Spongebob Squarepants," "Good Sports," "Love & Money," "Yes, Dear," "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack," "Sullivan & Son" and "The Middle."
In August 2000, Murray married veterinarian Christina Stauffer and the two have been together ever since.
Miriam Flynn
Miriam Flynn had only a few credits to her name before starring as Cousin Catherine in "National Lampoon's Vacation." She would go on to voice Maa the ewe in "Babe" and become a series regular on "Raising Miranda."
She later appeared in "Grounded For Life," "George Lopez," "The Legend of Calamity Jane," "Mom" and "Call Me Cat," and lent her voice to "The Land Before Time" series.
The actress married screenwriter Will Aldis in 1979. They share two children together.
Frank McRae
Frank McRae was a football player-turned-actor who had more than a few credits to his name before he landed the role of Grover in "National Lampoon's Vacation." In this film, he reunited with John Candy, who he had starred with in "1941."
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He went on to appear in "Red Dawn," "License to Kill," "Batteries Not Included," "The Wizard," "Loaded Weapon 1," "Lightning Jack" and "Love's Long Journey" and "Love's Abiding Joy," which were his last acting roles.
The actor passed away in April 2021 after suffering a heart attack at the age of 80.
James Keach
After starring as Motorcycle Cop in "National Lampoon's Vacation" in 1983, Keach continued to act sporadically, appearing in "The Razor's Edge," "Wildcats," "The New Swiss Family Robinson," "Walk the Line" and "Ray Donovan."
Aside from acting, Keach was also a director, having worked on "The Forgotten," "The Stars Fell on Henrietta," "Blind Dating," "Augie" and "Turning Point."
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Keach was previously married to Holly Collins, and together they had a son named Kalen Keach. After his separation from Collins, he married Mimi Maynard, however they divorced in 1993. In 1993, Keach married actress Jane Seymour, and in 1995, the couple welcomed twin boys John Stacy and Kristopher Steven. The couple announced their separation in April 2013, finalizing their divorce in December 2015. | https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/national-lampoons-vacation-celebrates-40th-anniversary-cast-then-now | 2023-07-29T16:05:03 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/national-lampoons-vacation-celebrates-40th-anniversary-cast-then-now |
The First Warn Weather Team was first to show the wall cloud near Platteville Friday evening on the Queen B Radio skycam. The skycam allowed the First Warn Weather Team to report the rotating wall cloud to both the La Crosse and Milwaukee National Weather Service offices. The severe thunderstorm associated with the wall cloud eventually went on to be tornado warned in Lafayette County.
The wall cloud in the video can be seen looking at the low, dark base of the thunderstorm. This lowering hangs from the cumulonimbus cloud. In this case the entire thunderstorm was rotating, known as “supercell thunderstorm.” Supercell thunderstorms are capable of producing damaging winds, large hail, and in some cases, tornadoes.
Meteorologist Alex Harrington explains that the tail cloud, or warm, humid inflow into the wall cloud gets pulled up into the rotating supercell’s updraft. Rain-cooled downdrafts, likely were the 2” diameter hail was confirmed near Platteville, can also rotate into the wall cloud, too. When this happens, it can help to draw the rotation in the supercell thunderstorm to the ground. Luckily, no tornado was reported with this storm.
COPYRIGHT 2023 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED. | https://www.channel3000.com/news/beyond-the-barometer-platteville-wall-cloud-explained/article_ef054780-2e25-11ee-87ab-8feb43dd632b.html | 2023-07-29T16:05:03 | 0 | https://www.channel3000.com/news/beyond-the-barometer-platteville-wall-cloud-explained/article_ef054780-2e25-11ee-87ab-8feb43dd632b.html |
Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins, reportedly $2.8 million apart in contract talks, are headed to salary arbitration unless they can settle their dollar differences prior to the start of their scheduled hearing on Sunday.
According to a report Friday by hockey insider Elliotte Friedman, the Bruins will present a $2 million offer at the arb table while Swayman, who has termed out of his entry-level contract that carried a $925,000 cap figure, will request $4.8 million.
The figures are consistent with those recently submitted by the Maple Leafs and their goalie, Ilya Samsonov, which resulted in a $3.3 million one-year arb award for $3.55 million.
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Per NHL CBA guidelines, the two parties can settle their difference prior to the start of the arbitration hearing. Once engaged in the process, they must abide by the arbitrator’s award.
Unlike years ago, when the Bruins walked from arb awards to Bryan Berard and Dmitri Khristich, clubs are bound to accept arb awards–provided the amount does not top $4.539 million, per CBA guidelines published by capfriendly.com.
Technically, Swayman’s request of $4.8 million potential has set the bar high enough for the Bruins ultimately to consider rendering him an unrestricted free agent. But it’s unlikely the arbitrator’s award would reach the threshold and equally unlikely that the Bruins would chose to cut free such a prized asset in the 24-year-old Swayman.
Partnering last season with Vezina-winning Linus Ullmark, Swayman finished with a 24-6-4 record.
Samsonov, 26, went 27-10-5 with the Leafs, his first year with Toronto after playing three seasons with the Washington Caps. His expired one-year deal with the Leafs paid $2 million, presenting the Bruins the potential for a “comp” if talks finally do make it to the arb table.
The Bruins and Trent Frederic, who carried a cap hit of $1.05 million each of the last two seasons, are scheduled to have an arb hearing on Tuesday.
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Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/29/sports/jeremy-swayman-bruins-reportedly-28-million-apart-contract-talks-ahead-salary-arbitration/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:03 | 1 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/29/sports/jeremy-swayman-bruins-reportedly-28-million-apart-contract-talks-ahead-salary-arbitration/ |
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.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-4-air-crew-members-are-missing-after-australian-army-helicopter-ditched-off-australias-coast/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:06 | 0 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-4-air-crew-members-are-missing-after-australian-army-helicopter-ditched-off-australias-coast/ |
Washington (CNN) — The US on Friday announced a new weapons package for Taiwan valued at up to $345 million, a move that is likely to anger Beijing at a time when the US has been attempting to reset its relationship with China.
This package marks the first time the US has transferred equipment to Taiwan under what’s known as Presidential Drawdown Authority, allowing the US to pull the weapons and other stocks directly from Defense Department inventories. Just like many of the weapons deliveries to Ukraine, this process accelerates the transfer of inventory.
It’s unclear what weaponry or equipment will be in the drawdown package – the announcement did not detail its contents, as such announcements often do with Ukraine aid packages.
Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Martin Meiners said the package “includes self-defense capabilities that Taiwan will be able to use to build … to bolster deterrence now and in the future.” He added that the systems include “critical defensive stockpiles, multi-domain awareness, anti-armor and air defense capabilities.”
Meiners said that the administration will continue to review the kind of equipment Taiwan will need for self-defense and assess the best authority to meet those requirements moving forward.
“Obviously the US has not changed our policy on Taiwan,” Meiners said. “We are committed to the One China policy [and] the Taiwan relations act.”
In previous instances, the US has allowed Taiwan to purchase weapons from the US, a process that takes more time, instead of delivering the equipment directly from US inventories.
Taiwan’s most recent purchase, which took place last month, included $332.2 million of 30mm ammunition and related equipment, as well as $108 million of logistics support.
The Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office declined to comment.
In early May, the island’s defense minister, Chiu Kuo-Cheng, said Taiwan was in talks with the US for a fast-tracked $500 million weapons package. The package, he said at the time, would make up for delays in the delivery of other weapons, some of which had been diverted to fulfill the urgent needs of Ukraine.
A week later, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers that a “significant” security package would be coming “soon” for Taiwan, part of the $1 billion Congress had authorized in drawdown authority for Taipei.
But the package was delayed, in part because of an accounting error that forced administration officials to recount the value of the equipment provided to Taiwan.
“This is the first time we have done a Taiwan PDA,” a senior administration official said earlier this month, “and it has taken a bit longer than we would normally expect.”
At the same time, the Biden administration pursued diplomatic progress with Beijing, trying to reopen frozen lines of communication and restart dialogue.
In June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken became the first top US diplomat to visit Beijing in five years. Blinken, who canceled a previous visit to Beijing after a Chinese spy balloon made its way across the continental United States, said the two countries had made progress toward improving and stabilizing relations between the two superpowers. His visit was a litmus test for whether the governments, increasingly at odds over Taiwan as well as over China’s actions in the Indo-Pacific, could prevent relations from further deteriorating.
In a sign of progress, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Beijing in early July.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — The African Union has issued a 15-day ultimatum to the junta in Niger to reinstall the country’s democratically elected government just as the coup leaders met with senior civil servants to discuss how they would run the country and as the U.S. and the European Union threatened sanctions against the regime.
Brig. Gen. Mohamed Toumba, one of the soldiers who ousted President Mohamed Bazoum on Wednesday, told state television that the junta met with civil servants on Friday and asked them to continue their work as usual following the suspension of the constitution. “The message given was not to stop the processes underway, to keep on with things,” said Brig. Gen. Toumba.
“Everything that must be done will be done,” he said, signaling the intention of the regime led by Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, who also goes by Omar, to remain in power.
After its meeting on Friday, the African Union Peace and Security Council said it was concerned by the “alarming resurgence” of coups that undermine democracy and stability on the continent. It asked the soldiers to “return immediately and unconditionally to their barracks and restore constitutional authority, within a maximum of fifteen (15) days.”
Bazoum, whose condition and that of his officials remains unknown since the government was overthrown, should also be released immediately and unconditionally, the AU said. Failure to do so would compel the bloc to take “necessary action, including punitive measures against the perpetrators.”
On the streets of the Nigerien capital Niamey on Saturday, things appeared to be returning to normal, though many in the international community were still on lockdown with hotels full of foreigners, many given instructions not to leave.
Locals say they’re waiting to see what unfolds, with many still in support of Bazoum who has not yet resigned. “I’m with him, he does a good work. (But) what can we do?” said Mohamed Cisse, a street seller. “This is (the new leader’s) time, Bazoum’s time is over,” he said.
Tchiani, the junta leader and commander of Niger’s presidential guard, is close to former Nigerien president Mahamadou Issoufou, who stepped down in 2021 after a decade in office. Tchiani’s takeover of power will reinforce speculation that Issoufou is behind the coup, said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German think tank and consultancy.
The U.S. threatened to halt its economic support to Niger while the European Union announced the immediate indefinite suspension of budgetary support and security assistance.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is in Australia as part of a Pacific tour, estimated America’s economic and security partnership with Niger at hundreds of millions of dollars and said its continuity depends on “the continuation of the democratic governance and constitutional order.”
“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 said.
While there are no signs of the junta backing down amid growing international pressure, analysts called for synergy in the interventions of the international community and continental organizations such as the AU and the regional bloc of ECOWAS, which is scheduled to meet over the coup on Sunday.
A successful coup in Niger and the sanctions in the aftermath could cause more hardship for millions of poor and hungry people in West Africa and could further threaten international relations with the region, which is seeing a resurgence of coups in recent years, according to Idayat Hassan, senior Africa program fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“A non-reversal of the coup also means that we are defining a new world order in West Africa in particular as you are pitching the west and other countries against few military regimes which may be backed by Russia,” said Hassan.
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Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria. Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali contributed. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-african-union-gives-15-day-ultimatum-to-niger-junta-to-end-regime-but-soldiers-seek-continuity/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:13 | 0 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-african-union-gives-15-day-ultimatum-to-niger-junta-to-end-regime-but-soldiers-seek-continuity/ |
(CNN) — Manslaughter charges have been dropped against five Oklahoma City police officers who fatally shot a 15-year-old armed robbery suspect in 2020, a prosecutor said Friday.
The five officers were charged in the death of Stavian Rodriguez after the teen dropped a firearm to the ground, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed by the previous Oklahoma County district attorney.
District Attorney Vicki Behenna said Friday the charges were dismissed with prejudice – meaning they can’t be refiled – along with criminal charges filed against two additional officers in separate fatal shootings in 2020.
Behenna said the “difficult” decision follows an independent review of the cases by a legal team and Clarence Chapman, a use-of-force expert and law enforcement veteran – who determined the shootings were justified after examining body camera footage and other evidence, CNN affiliate KOCO reported.
“This was not a quick, spur-of-the-moment decision,” the prosecutor said. “This was a very difficult, very fact-intensive decision and review.”
Rodriguez’s mother, Cameo Holland, said in a statement released to KOCO by her attorney that she will push for changes in laws related to police-involved shootings.
“Before I leave Oklahoma, laws that allow police officers to kill unarmed children will be changed and every police officer that is ever hired or trained by Oklahoma City Police Department will know my son’s name – Stavian Rodriguez,” Holland said.
Behenna was elected Oklahoma County district attorney in November. The decision to charge the seven officers was made by her predecessor, David Prater.
Prater told The Oklahoman on Friday he stood by his decision to file charges against the officers.
“There’s been no communication with Mrs. Behenna or her team regarding this filing decision since she took office,” Prater told the newspaper.
Behenna said she met with the families of the victims before Friday’s announcement. Asked to describe their reactions, she characterized them as “awful.” She also met with community leaders and police administration.
“These families are grieving,” the prosecutor told reporters. “This decision that has been made is difficult. And no matter what this office does or says, these families are forever changed.”
Behenna said future cases involving fatal officer-involved shootings will be investigated and presented to a grand jury.
Rodriguez’s shooting was the highest profile of the three prosecutions affected by Behenna’s decision.
Officers Bethany Sears, Jared Barton, Corey Adams, John Skuta and Brad Pemberton were all charged with first-degree manslaughter in March 2021.
A sixth officer, who fired a less-lethal round, was not charged, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
The shooting happened on November 23, 2020, when officers were called to a report of an armed robbery at a gas station, according to the affidavit. The clerk fled the store during the robbery and locked the suspect inside by himself.
Numerous officers arrived, set up a perimeter around the building and issued commands over a loudspeaker for Rodriguez to come out of the store, the affidavit stated.
Video surveillance showed the teen then climbed out of the drive-through window, according to the court document.
Body camera footage showed multiple Oklahoma City police officers simultaneously giving him various commands. The document stated that Rodriguez lifted his shirt to show his waistline, pulled a firearm from his pants with his left hand – holding it by his thumb and forefinger – and dropped the firearm on the ground.
Rodriguez then put his left hand in his rear left pocket and his right hand at his front right pocket or waistline, the document stated.
At that point, the officer who was not charged fired a 40 mm “less lethal” round that struck Rodriguez, according to the affidavit. The five other officers then “unnecessarily” fired lethal rounds at him, striking him 13 times, the document said.
Rodriguez had no other weapons on him; a cell phone was recovered from his back left pocket, the affidavit stated.
Body camera footage from five of the officers provided to CNN by the police department did not show the actual shooting, but officers can be heard yelling for Rodriguez to show them his hands.
Surveillance footage released by the previous district attorney showed Rodriguez stepping out of the window and pulling a gun out of his waistband as officers were yelling for him to show them his hands and drop the gun. He appeared to be putting his hand down on his left side, and officers opened fire seconds later.
The other two fatal police-involved shootings in which charges were dropped involved the deaths of 60-year-old Bennie Edwards in December 2020 and Christopher Poor in July 2020, KOCO reported.
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™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.abc12.com/news/charges-dropped-against-5-oklahoma-city-officers-who-fatally-shot-15-year-old/article_254c47b3-e449-5f4a-b7c1-6e02a3870d26.html | 2023-07-29T16:05:13 | 0 | https://www.abc12.com/news/charges-dropped-against-5-oklahoma-city-officers-who-fatally-shot-15-year-old/article_254c47b3-e449-5f4a-b7c1-6e02a3870d26.html |
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A 4.4-magnitude earthquake shook off of the Oregon Coast on Saturday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The quake occurred at 6:55 a.m., about 150 miles outside of Coos Bay. It measured at a depth of 10 kilometers.
As of 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, no residents had reported feeling the quake.
A tsunami warning has not been issued, according to the National Weather Service’s Portland office. | https://www.koin.com/local/oregon-coast/4-4-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-west-of-coos-bay/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:15 | 1 | https://www.koin.com/local/oregon-coast/4-4-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-west-of-coos-bay/ |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WJZY) – A “weld indication” has been discovered on the Fury 325 coaster at Carowinds in North Carolina — the same ride that had a support column replaced due to a crack found roughly one month ago.
The North Carolina Department of Labor confirmed with Nexstar’s WJZY that the agency was notified of the structural issue found on the popular coaster this week.
A “weld indication” could be either a break or a crack on the coaster, the department said.
“No certificate of operation has been issued nor do we have a timeline of when the certificate of operation will be issued for the Fury 325,” officials with the department said Friday.
Carowinds has since issued a statement concerning the find.
“We are conducting a full maintenance review of Fury 325 during this testing process. This maintenance review — which is consistent with routine off-season procedures — includes a review of the steel superstructure, the trains, and the ride control system,” park officials said.
“During such reviews, it is not uncommon to discover slight weld indications in various locations of a steel superstructure. It is important to note that these indications do not compromise the structural integrity or safety of the ride.”
Park officials added that each indication will be evaluated, tested, repaired and inspected “before the ride is deemed operational.”
“Additionally, as is customary, we conduct test cycles to ensure its smooth operation before guests are allowed on the ride.”
This newly reported defects come after a significant break was discovered by a parkgoer on a support beam for the roller coaster in late June.
The support pillar was replaced earlier this month. Carowinds is currently conducting its own tests and inspections ahead of inspections by the “final inspections by the “ride manufacturer, a third-party testing firm, and the North Carolina Department of Labor’s Elevator and Amusement Device Bureau,” the park said.
Carowinds bills its Fury 325 coaster as North America’s tallest, fastest, and longest giga coaster, meaning it contains a drop of at least 300 feet. Riders reach a peak height of 325 feet following a dramatic 81-degree drop. The ride can reach speeds of up to 95 mph. | https://www.koin.com/news/another-crack-in-the-coaster-weld-indication-found-on-carowinds-ride-after-july-repairs/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:15 | 0 | https://www.koin.com/news/another-crack-in-the-coaster-weld-indication-found-on-carowinds-ride-after-july-repairs/ |
ATLANTA (AP) — “Excuse me, are you a city of Atlanta voter? Do you know about ‘Cop City?’”
Clipboards in hand, canvassers Sienna Giraldi and Gabriel Sanchez approached shopper after shopper at a Kroger supermarket lot on a recent evening collecting signatures for a referendum over whether to cancel the city’s lease of a proposed police and firefighter training center that’s become a national rallying cry for environmentalists and anti-police protesters.
Most people kept on walking. Others said they weren’t registered to vote or didn’t live within the city limits, both of which are required. Many seemed to have no idea what “Cop City” was and weren’t interested in finding out. The fact that it began raining certainly didn’t help. By the end of a 90-minute shift, 21 people had signed.
“We definitely need to come back here,” Sanchez said. “I was on a roll before the rain started.”
Over the past month, hundreds of people like them — many volunteers, some paid — have spread out across the city of about 500,000, in hopes of persuading more than 70,000 registered voters to sign on to the petition drive. The deadline had been mid-August, but the effort got a boost Thursday when a federal judge extended it to late September, though significant logistical and legal hurdles remain.
Technically, organizers say, they need just 58,203 signatures by Aug. 14 to qualify for the November ballot — the equivalent of 15% of registered voters as of the last city election — but they set the higher goal knowing some will be disqualified. If that’s not reached until late August or September, the referendum wouldn’t happen until March, when a competitive GOP presidential primary could turn out conservative voters and hurt its chances. The city also could move forward with construction in the meantime, unless a judge intervenes.
As of July 25, the drive had collected more than 30,000 signatures, according to Paul Glaze, a spokesperson for the Vote to Stop Cop City Coalition. And with the paid canvassing effort still ramping up, he expects the pace to pick up significantly.
“We’re confident of hitting our number,” Glaze said. “How much extra padding we’re able to get is still a question. … Our experience is that when you talk about this with people, when they hear the price tag, when you ask them if they would choose this or something else to spend the money on, the vast majority are against it.”
Organizers of the drive say Mayor Andre Dickens and the City Council have failed to listen to a groundswell of opposition to the $90 million, 85-acre (34-hectare) training center, which they fear will lead to greater militarization of the police and exacerbate environmental damage in the South River Forest in a poor, predominantly Black area.
Officials counter that the campus would replace outdated, far-flung facilities and boost police morale, which is beset by hiring and retention struggles, especially in the wake of 2020 protests over racial injustice. Dickens has said that the facility will teach the “most progressive training and curriculum in the country” and that officials have repeatedly revised their plans to address concerns about noise pollution and environmental impact.
In June, after hearing about 14 hours of public testimony that was overwhelmingly against the training center, council members voted 11-4 to approve $67 million toward the project. Outraged but not surprised, organizers of the petition drive announced it the next day.
Outside the Kroger, located in a majority-Black neighborhood a few miles south of a Wendy’s parking lot where officers fatally shot Rayshard Brooks in 2020, Giraldi chatted with Lee Little, a Black construction worker who stopped to talk despite the rain, his hands full of bagged groceries.
Little was working near the proposed training center in March and saw the helicopters and mass of armed officers that descended on the area after about 150 masked activists stormed the site and torched construction equipment. He hadn’t thought about it much since, but he signed the petition after hearing Giraldi’s pitch.
“She was just saying that City Council approved 60-something million dollars without listening to the taxpayers. Does that sound fair to you? That should be for the voters to decide,” Little said afterward.
Another who signed was Makela Atchison, who was wearing a “Black Voters Matter” T-shirt as she left the store with her two children.
“I’m not saying I’m for it or against it,” Atchison said, “but I want to be able to have my input.”
The signature drive is the most ambitious in terms of numbers that has ever been launched in a Georgia city, but it has precedent from last year in Camden County, where voters overwhelmingly rejected a planned launchpad for blasting commercial rockets into space. The Georgia Supreme Court in February unanimously upheld the legality of that referendum, though it remains an open question whether citizens can veto decisions of city governments.
In a recent court filing seeking to quash the Atlanta referendum, attorneys for the city said residents can’t force officials to retroactively revoke the lease agreement, which was made in 2021. They called organizers’ efforts “futile” and “invalid.” The state agreed with the city in a separate filing, though that dispute is on hold for now.
Still, activists see the referendum as the best remaining option to block the project. They’ve gotten support from numerous groups, including the Working Families Party and the New Georgia Project Action Fund, which pledged to get 15,000 signatures over the next few weeks.
Activist Hannah Riley tries to collect a handful of them whenever she is out in public, including on a recent afternoon as she worked remotely from Muchacho, a popular taco restaurant in the ultra-liberal Reynoldstown neighborhood. At the end of her table, she taped a sign that read: “Voter? Sign Stop Cop City Petition Here.”
“This is a bit of a Hail Mary, but it’s a Hail Mary that makes a lot of sense,” Riley said. “They’ve begun to clear-cut the trees. They’re getting close to pouring concrete. … Our options are quite limited right now, so this does feel like the most practical, effective next step.”
At the same time, a small number of activists have continued taking a more violent tack, including torching eight police motorcycles over the Fourth of July weekend, actions that canvass organizers have not condemned.
Curtis Duncan, 40, said the first day he went out canvassing, a man approached and accused him of being one of the vandals.
“I said, ‘Well, sir, respectfully, I wasn’t burning cars, and the majority of people within this movement have not been engaging in any type of violent actions,’” Duncan said. He added that troopers fatally shot an activist in the forest and that authorities have brought dozens of “very flimsy” domestic terrorism charges against “Stop Cop City” protesters this year — actions he considers far worse.
Sanchez, who works for a voting rights nonprofit, said that even if the signature drive falls short, it will have made an important impact.
“I feel like we’ve exhausted all the other options, aside from full-on revolution, which I don’t think we need for this,” he said. “There’s a lot of obstacles in our way. … If we only get to 50,000, I think that still shows a real warning sign for these politicians for the 2025 election.” | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-atlanta-cop-city-activists-say-theyre-confident-of-getting-70k-signatures-but-big-hurdles-remain/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:14 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-atlanta-cop-city-activists-say-theyre-confident-of-getting-70k-signatures-but-big-hurdles-remain/ |
(NEXSTAR) – The current Mega Millions jackpot is now tied for the fourth-largest in the game’s history after yet another drawing produced no grand-prize winners.
Friday’s winning numbers — 5, 10, 28, 52, 63, and Mega Ball 18 — went unmatched, continuing a 29-drawing trend that began after the last jackpot-winner was announced on April 18.
The current jackpot now stands at an estimated $1.05 billion, with a cash option of $527.9 million. That amount officially qualifies as the fourth-largest grand prize in Mega Millions history, tied with a jackpot awarded in Jan. 2021.
The current jackpot has steadily grown since April, after a ticketholder in New York matched all six numbers to win a $20-million prize. (The previous jackpot, awarded days before on April 14, was worth $483 million.) A total of 46 players, meanwhile, have won second-tier prizes worth $1 million or more since the last jackpot was won, the Mega Millions lottery confirmed in a press release.
Friday night’s drawing produced five of those second-tier winners, including one each in Arizona, California and New York, and two in Pennsylvania. One of the winning ticketholders in Pennsylvania had also purchased the Megaplier option (which multiplied Friday’s winnings by five times), making that ticket worth $5 million.
“In the current Mega Millions matrix and Megaplier configuration, which has been in place since October 28, 2017, there has never been a Megaplier of 5x drawn at this extraordinary jackpot level,” reads a portion of the Mega Millions press release. “That means a lot of prizes in other tiers have been multiplied by a factor of five!”
The next Mega Millions drawing is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 1. | https://www.koin.com/news/mega-millions-jackpot-exceeds-1-billion-now-4th-largest-in-games-history/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:18 | 1 | https://www.koin.com/news/mega-millions-jackpot-exceeds-1-billion-now-4th-largest-in-games-history/ |
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.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-burning-cargo-ship-off-dutch-coast-will-be-towed-to-a-new-location-after-flames-and-smoke-subsided/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:22 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-burning-cargo-ship-off-dutch-coast-will-be-towed-to-a-new-location-after-flames-and-smoke-subsided/ |
(NEXSTAR) — For many of us, flying is a relatively easy experience. Your flight leaves on time, your seatmates are polite, and you arrive at your destination safely.
But, in some cases, one of those aspects of flying may not go exactly as planned. You may find one of your fellow flyers committing an air travel faux pas: being barefoot.
You’ve seen the photos online of people’s toes peeking out between the seats. Maybe you’ve encountered it yourself. Either way, it’s largely frowned upon. In some cases, barefoot flying can even get you grounded.
Within its contract of carriage, United Airlines considers being barefoot, as well as being “not properly clothed,” an offense that justifies “refusal or removal of a passenger.” The carrier lists it as one of the many infractions that could impact safety for the passenger or others on the plane.
American Airlines says bare feet “aren’t allowed” from passengers, adding that “violent” or “inappropriate actions” could prevent you from boarding, being removed from the terminal, or facing legal prosecution.
Delta Airlines also warns that it can “refuse to transport or may remove passengers from its aircraft” if the passenger is barefoot. A barefoot passenger may be prohibited from boarding the plane, or may be forced to leave the plane, according to Spirit Airlines’ contract of carriage.
Frontier Airlines says it can refuse service to a passenger who is over the age of 3 and barefoot, “unless required to be barefoot for medical reasons.” Southwest Airlines and JetBlue state in their contracts of carriage that they can refuse to let a passenger fly if they are barefoot and older than five years of age, unless required due to a disability.
If these warnings from airlines aren’t enough to sway you from taking off your shoes while flying, maybe consider how many other people have also taken their shoes off on a plane – and what else has touched the floor.
“I would never fly barefoot on a plane,” a veteran flight attendant for a major carrier told Nexstar. “Passengers these days can be quite messy and we see everything from spills to dirty diapers thrown on the floor.”
Planes are tidied between flights, she explains, but the floors won’t be cleaned “unless there is a major mess.” That includes floors in the bathroom, too.
“That is most likely not water on the floor,” she adds. “Think of old men and young boys trying to aim in turbulence. Not good. Also, people love to throw trash anywhere but in the bathroom trash can so it usually ends up on the floor.”
If you still want to take your shoes off, she recommends bringing an old pair of socks to wear, then throwing them away after the flight.
United, American, Delta, Spirit, Frontier, JetBlue, and Southwest did not respond to Nexstar’s request for comment or its inquiry into whether any passengers have been removed or barred from flying over being barefooted.
Barefoot flyers are likely among the least of many airlines’ concerns. Over the last three years, airlines have reported record-setting incidents of disruptive passengers. That includes passengers accused of assaulting flight crews, opening emergency doors, and refusing to wear masks during the height of the COVID pandemic.
More recently, a Las Vegas-bound flight was forced to divert to Denver after an apparent fight broke out between some passengers. Two women were escorted off the plane, according to a passenger that captured video of the incident.
Causing a disturbance on a plane is a federal crime, and unruly passengers can face criminal prosecution or even fines. | https://www.koin.com/news/no-shoes-no-service-what-can-happen-if-you-fly-barefoot/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:25 | 1 | https://www.koin.com/news/no-shoes-no-service-what-can-happen-if-you-fly-barefoot/ |
(CNN) — This week, temperatures soared past 100 degrees in many parts of the country. But if you work in an office, chances are the temperatures indoors felt the exact opposite.
The short-sleeved shirt you were sweating in on the commute could have you searching for blankets and googling ‘space heaters for sale’ by lunch.
Although the heat outside is setting records, the summer cold front in the office is not a new phenomenon.
When air conditioning became standard in buildings in the 1950s, offices started “overcooling,” explains Salvatore Basile, the author of “Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything.” Building owners wanted to show that they offered the comfort of air conditioning, but sometimes they offered too much of it.
“One building exhibitor published an advertisement stating that people got sick after spending time in his air conditioning,” said Basile, “just to prove how cold his building was.”
But why is the office still so cold today? Experts have various answers: different bodies, and sometimes, genders, react to temperatures differently; the temperature model used is decades old; and office air-conditioning is designed for a more formal dress code.
Then there’s the belief that chilly people might just get more work done. Mark Zuckerberg famously kept Facebook, now Meta, at an uncomfortable 59 degrees to boost productivity, former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandburg noted in her 2013 book, “Lean In.”
Architects and engineers explain that air flow in buildings is designed for full occupancy. Few offices are currently reaching those levels as many employees work from home at least part of the workweek.
Buildings are also already designed to withstand the hottest day and don’t necessarily scale back for an average summer one.
“It is like having a car with a NASCAR engine, but you just need to go to Trader Joe’s to get some bread,” says David Lehrer, architect and communications director at UC Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment.
This is compounded by the fact that the current model used for calculating the temperature in offices is decades old and incorrect, said Ruiji Sun, a researcher at the Center. The main issue with the model, Sun says, is that it incorrectly assumes human beings have the same response to a certain temperature.
Women, at least anecdotally, feel the chill more. Some have taken to social media to air their temperature grievances, often with the hashtag “Women’s Winter.” Pittsburgh newscaster Heather Abraham posted a video of the women in her office wearing blankets and sweaters earlier this summer.
“It was so funny because when Heather’s video came up on my feed, I had my space heater on and it was June,” said Leann Parrish, a Tik Tok creator who made a similar post voicing her frustrations with office temperatures.
Way back in 2016, a CollegeHumor sketch on YouTube poked fun at this phenomenon. Women in the office had icicles hanging from their eyebrows, while men were lathering on sunblock.
“Rarely do I hear a guy clutch their arms and shiver and say, ‘Am I the only one who’s cold in here?’ Usually it’s a woman,” said the sketch writer, Kassia Miller, who has since become a television screenwriter on such shows as “The Good Place.”
The term “Women’s Winter” raises the question, why do women seem to feel the office cold front more than men?
“Air conditioning was a sexist technology. It tended to favor men,” said Basile. “This was possibly due to biology and possibly due to men’s clothing,” which used to be suits and ties in the office.
Scientists have studied this phenomenon – but there’s wide disagreement.
“Differences in reactions to temperatures can be explained by body size, body composition, clothing and activity level,” Boris Kingma, a senior biophysics researcher at the Netherlands Institute of Applied Scientific Research, said.
According to a 2015 paper by Kingma, temperatures in office buildings appear to be based on the heat needs of a 40-year-old, 154-pound man.
Kingma said there is no conclusive evidence that different genders are wired to react to the same temperature differently. Gender-based corporate clothing norms play much more of a role.
Luckily there are ways around this, he said, such as allowing employees to wear shorts.
Japan has already jumped on this with their ‘Cool Biz’ campaign, which allows employees to wear lighter clothing to work from the months of May to September, Kingma said. Inside, buildings are set to 82 degrees Fahrenheit to conserve energy.
In addition to allowing lighter clothing in the office, another option is allowing fans, said Stefano Schavion, a professor UC Berkeley.
“Start by raising the office temperature 5 degrees, and then give people the option to use fans, either at their desk or installed into the ceiling,” says Schavion.
Those who are comfortable in the warmer temperatures can leave their fans off, and those who are not can turn on the fans.
Still uncomfortable? Request a seat change. Seats closest to the windows will be the warmest, Kingma said, while those under vents in the center of the office will offer a cool alternative.”The key is allowing people to adjust, whether that be their clothes or the air.”
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THE-CNN-WIRE (TM) & © 2023 CABLE NEWS NETWORK, INC., A TIME WARNER COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. | https://www.channel3000.com/news/money/temperatures-reached-record-highs-this-week-here-s-why-you-still-need-a-sweater-in/article_586a1950-dc4a-5e52-8c64-7fa94ec38d82.html | 2023-07-29T16:05:26 | 1 | https://www.channel3000.com/news/money/temperatures-reached-record-highs-this-week-here-s-why-you-still-need-a-sweater-in/article_586a1950-dc4a-5e52-8c64-7fa94ec38d82.html |
Free agent running back Ezekiel Elliott is visiting with the Patriots on Saturday, a league source confirmed to the Globe.
Elliott, who turned 28 earlier this month, spent his first seven NFL seasons in Dallas before getting released in March. He had two years remaining on the massive six-year, $90 million contract extension signed in 2019.
The Patriots clearly are in the market for a veteran running back, having worked out Leonard Fournette and Darrell Henderson last week. They also have considered Dalvin Cook, who has yet to visit Gillette Stadium.
Asked Wednesday about whether the team would like to bolster its backfield, director of player personnel Matt Groh spoke in generalities.
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“You can never have too many good players on your team,” he said. “We’re going to continue to work out players, just like every team in the league is doing. That’s just going back to exploring every possibility that we can to make this as strong a roster as possible.”
Last year, Elliott rushed for 876 yards and 12 touchdowns in 15 games. He averaged 15.4 carries per game. Knee injuries have plagued his last two seasons, as he played through a partially torn PCL in 2021 and missed two games with a Grade 2 MCL sprain.
Adding a healthy Elliott would help the Patriots alleviate the workload of lead workhorse Rhamondre Stevenson. Elliott is also competent in blitz pickup and pass protection — an valued skill for running backs in New England.
Behind Stevenson, the Patriots have Ty Montgomery, Pierre Strong, and Kevin Harris. Montgomery looked to fill the pass-catching, third down role, but he suffered an undisclosed leg injury on the second day of training camp and did not practice Friday. Strong and Harris flashed in brief moments as rookies last season but remain unproven.
“I’m totally confident in our room right now,” Stevenson said Friday. “But if we get another one, I’m with that, too.”
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The Patriots are expected to practice in pads for the first time on Monday, which will spotlight more of the run game.
Nicole Yang can be reached at nicole.yang@globe.com.Follow her @nicolecyang. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/29/sports/veteran-running-back-ezekiel-elliott-visiting-patriots-saturday/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:26 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/29/sports/veteran-running-back-ezekiel-elliott-visiting-patriots-saturday/ |
New Yorkers fed up after sex workers allegedly ask kids to hand out business cards, taxi driver is beaten
'How do they have this f–king going on in broad daylight?' one police source said
New Yorkers are speaking out against crime in the city after a taxi driver was brutally beaten in broad daylight and children were allegedly enlisted to help solicit prostitution in a Queens open-air sex market.
Shocking footage shared by the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers (NYSFTD) and the New York Post shows two men and three women surrounding and attacking a 60-year-old can driver in Midtown Manhattan.
With pedestrians watching the vicious scene, the man attempts to shield his face as he is repeatedly punched, kicked and dragged. Eventually, he the man is knocked against his vehicle, where one woman punches him several times and kicks him in the chest.
The cab driver was taken to the hospital in stable condition and two of the five suspects, 51-year-old Natalie Morgan and 35-year-old Howard Colley, were arrested at the crime scene.
NYC MOCKED AFTER DISCOURAGING MIGRANTS TO SEEK ASYLUM: 'NO LONGER A SANCTUARY CITY'
The man, now identified as Afzal Butt, told CBS New York that the incident began when someone tried to hail a taxi at Sixth Avenue and West 34th street. One man accused Butt of nearly running the group down with his cab.
"They started messing with me ... Started hitting my car, breaking my side mirror ... and they threw food inside my car, all over my clothes, my body. My car was littered with the food," Butt said.
Last year, 52-year-old New York cab driver Kutin Gyimah was beaten to death by passengers who refused to pay the fare. The crime sparked outrage from New York taxi drivers.
While police say the investigation into the most recent attack on cab drivers is ongoing, the NYSFTD and the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission have spoken out following the assault.
NYC MIGRANTS ALLEGEDLY ATTACK PEDESTRIANS BEFORE TAKING ON TWO MEN WHO INTERVENED
"We must catch these young thugs and lock them up. This elderly driver did not deserve this brutal beating. Assaults, stabbings, shootings, and robberies must stop," NYSFTD spokesperson Fernando Mateo said in a statement.
Taxi and Limousine Commission spokesperson Jason Kersten said the violence was "totally unacceptable and illegal."
"Our Driver Support Unit is in contact with the driver and offering him assistance," he added.
Across the water in Queens, officials and organizations have expressed concern about a street in Corona that is advertised as an open-air sex market on YouTube.
A New York Post investigation found that almost a dozen brothels have gone up along Roosevelt Avenue, where women solicit pedestrians as kids, shoppers and shop owners go about their day.
NYC TO SHELTER 1,000 MIGRANTS IN MENTAL HOSPITAL PARKING LOT
The woman allegedly recruited neighborhood kids and asked them to hand out pornographic cards while they stood outside of dentist shops, massage parlors and pool halls, according to concerned parents via the New York Post.
The Post report found that the street is advertised on YouTube by a Spanish channel, which calls the block the "Market of Sweethearts" and instructs viewers on negotiating with the workers.
"I've lived here my entire life and I've never seen it get to this point," City Councilman Francisco Moya, D-Corona," said.
"How do they have this f–king going on in broad daylight?" a police source told The Post. "They're not allowed to arrest prostitutes anymore, supposedly. But they gotta figure something out."
A spokesperson for the DCPI told Fox News Digital that the NYPD has "proactively shifted" the work of vice enforcement in the last several years to focus primarily on people who purchase or promote the sales of sex rather than the prostitutes themselves.
NEW YORK CITY CONSTRUCTION CRANE CATCHES ON FIRE BEFORE COLLAPSE
"We have significantly reduced the number of arrests for prostitution itself as we work in every case to connect the victims of human trafficking with the services they need," the spokesperson continued. "We have also worked to proactively deter individual buyers of sex. Yet prostitution in all forms remains prohibited by law. The NYPD deploys where crime is reported – in response to community complaints – and we enforce the law impartially."
Six of the brothels on the street have been closed since June by the Queens District Attorney through a policy known as "nuisance abetment" that allows prosecutors to impose hefty fines and significant closures on businesses.
Law enforcement sources have said that the move has barely impacted the thriving sex market.
"You're looking at prostitutes being in a hub area," a law enforcement source told The Post. "So, your children are right there. It's not fair to the people who live there."
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Executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Taina Bien-Aime warned that trafficking cartels from Central America and Mexico are shipping women into Queens and Brooklyn and are taking advantage of the surge of migrants into New York City.
"I spoke to a young girl in Sunset Park [Brooklyn]. She said she's seen vans at night picking up women from the shelters that house these new immigrants," Bien-Aime added.
For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media | https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-yorkers-fed-up-sex-workers-allegedly-ask-kids-hand-out-business-cards-taxi-driver-beaten | 2023-07-29T16:05:27 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-yorkers-fed-up-sex-workers-allegedly-ask-kids-hand-out-business-cards-taxi-driver-beaten |
Professor urges others to celebrate ‘queerness' of birds made infertile by pollution: 'Fun to be f---ed up'
The professor claimed that many perspectives on intersex animals are steeped in 'heteronormativity'
A professor in the United Kingdom suggested that people may find a "perverse joy" in celebrating the "queerness" of birds incapable of reproduction because of pollution.
The Free Press last week highlighted research conducted by Anne Pollock, the head of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at King's College London, who wrote that "posing intersex characteristics" as a metric of an environment's health is a move "steeped in heteronormativity."
"I want to suggest that we depathologize queer animals, even when that queerness is the product of human-produced toxins in the environment, and even when it inhibits animals' reproductive capacity," Pollock wrote in a paper called "Queering Endocrine Disruption."
"Perhaps we even might find a perverse joy here," she added.
PROFESSOR SAYS HE WAS DISCRIMINATELY FIRED FOR TEACHING SEX WAS DETERMINED BY CHROMOSOMES X AND Y
Tackling the issue from a "queer feminist perspective," Pollock wondered whether society should automatically scrutinize the "flourishing of nonreproductive male pairs of birds" and hypothesized that the pollutant-induced intoxication of the birds itself might be a state of being worth celebrating.
"Although these birds' sociality is circumscribed (no intergenerational community), it is not erased (male pairing). Their stroll is neither suicidal nor solitary. These birds are living in the moment and for themselves, rather than for the children," she wrote.
"Yeah, maybe these birds are 'f---ed up' by their polluted environment," Pollock continued. "But I do not think that I am saying too much about my own experiences of intoxication, or assuming too much about that of the reader, to point out that it can be fun to be f---ed up."
CLIMATE ALARMISM IS 'ROBBING' STUDENTS OF HOPE, AMBITION, EARTH SCIENCE PROFESSOR SAYS
Free Press writer Nellie Bowles, critiquing the author's work, noted that Pollock's perspective is part of a growing movement to embrace endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the air and water and the changes they produce in living beings.
"This movement considers it transphobic to be so worried about environmental toxins disrupting fetal sex development in animals (including the human animal)," Bowles added.
Pollock's research explores "feminist, anti-racist, and postcolonial engagements with science, technology and medicine."
Recently, she co-authored a study to determine the value of moving analysis of race and biomedicine outside the laboratory. The study, in part, asks how "genetic ideas of race" are adopted, deployed, and "potentially reworked outside the laboratory environment."
BARBIE'S DREAMHOUSE MUST BE 'REDESIGNED TO SURVIVE' CLIMATE CHANGE, CBS REPORTS
According to the Natural History Museum in London, seabirds have developed a new disease caused exclusively by plastic pollution. The condition, known as plasticosis, scars animal digestive tracts from ingesting human waste and was discovered in March.
According to research, it is the first recorded example of plastic-induced fibrosis in wild animals.
Researchers have long suggested that exposure to certain chemicals can lead to homosexuality in various bird species.
One famous study found that male American white ibises with higher levels of mercury were less likely to be approached by females and had a higher chance of being involved in a homosexual pairing. As the level of mercury exposure increased, so did the degree and persistence of homosexual pairing.
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For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media | https://www.foxnews.com/media/professor-celebrate-queerness-birds-infertile-pollution | 2023-07-29T16:05:29 | 0 | https://www.foxnews.com/media/professor-celebrate-queerness-birds-infertile-pollution |
(CNN) — If you love sandwiches and aren’t all that keen on your name, Subway has an offer for you.
This week, the fast food chain announced that one lucky customer who legally changes their first name to “Subway” will be rewarded with free “Deli Hero” subs for life.
The contest will be open online from August 1 to August 4 at SubwayNameChange.com, and any adult in the US can enter. The winning contestant just needs to agree to the name change if randomly selected. The company said it will reimburse the winner for legal and processing costs connected with the name change.
As the sandwich chain terms it, Subway is putting out a call for “superfans.”
“In 2022, one superfan camped out for two days to get a footlong tattoo of the Subway Series logo in exchange for free Subway for life,” Subway said in announcing the contest.
Earlier this month, Subway debuted a new sandwich featuring cold cuts that are sliced on-site at restaurants rather than pre-portioned.
To introduce its “Deli Hero” collection, the chain implemented an overhaul that took more than two years to complete, according to Subway, which called it “one of the most complex changes the brand has ever made.” It invested more than $80 million in deli meat slicers and installed them in over 20,000 restaurants.
Since debuting the new sandwich, Subway says it has sold more than two million Deli Heroes.
The contest winner must undergo a background check and must provide the company with proof of the name change within four months of accepting the prize, which will be awarded in the form of $50,000 in Subway gift cards. | https://www.channel3000.com/news/money/you-could-win-free-sandwiches-for-life-if-you-change-your-name-to-subway/article_c4b5cabd-4b46-5f0c-9bb8-e1b16694756d.html | 2023-07-29T16:05:29 | 0 | https://www.channel3000.com/news/money/you-could-win-free-sandwiches-for-life-if-you-change-your-name-to-subway/article_c4b5cabd-4b46-5f0c-9bb8-e1b16694756d.html |
Joe and Jill Biden finally acknowledge 7th grandchild for most obnoxious reason
Navy Joan Roberts is the four-year-old daughter of President Biden's son Hunter
For her entire life, four-year-old Navy Joan Roberts has been "she who must not be named." There is no evidence that her father has ever visited her, let alone held her.
Her grandparents repeatedly denied her existence and said that they had only "four granddaughters." They even gave their dogs stockings at Christmas rather than Navy, who never even bit one let alone a score of Secret Service agents. As even Democrats began to voice their own shock at the cruelty of the First Couple shunning this child, the Bidens finally relented and recognized her existence, but only barely so.
Pressed by Fox News, the White House issued this statement:
"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. This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter. Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy."
Even for those of us who merely followed this saga from the beginning, the statement was maddening and frankly insulting. It suggested that there was some reason, until now, that prevented the Bidens from acknowledging the existence of their fifth granddaughter. That is false. There was no legal, or even tactical, reason for the refusal of the first couple to acknowledge Navy for four years.
BIDEN FINALLY SPEAKS OUT ON GRANDDAUGHTER HE REFUSED TO ACKNOWLEDGE FOR YEARS
Navy and her mother sought that recognition and the Bidens refused. How was that in the "best interests" of this child? Were they fostering a relationship when they gave the German Shepherds stockings at Christmas but not their grandchild?
Moreover, Hunter has not been "working together" with Lunden for the best interests of his daughter. He has been a callous cad throughout this process, consistently putting his own interests ahead of his child.
Hunter refused to admit that he was Navy’s father for years until forced to accept the results of a court-ordered DNA test. He then fought child support and even her use of the name Biden.He was threatened repeatedly with contempt of court over his obstruction in the litigation in Arkansas. The statement that he has been working together with Lunden is insulting to anyone who has followed these court proceedings, let alone their granddaughter.
In June, Hunter settled the Arkansas child support case on the condition that Lunden agreed to withdraw her request to change their child’s last name to "Biden."
For President and Mrs. Biden this is a political not a family matter. If it were the latter, they would have done the decent thing years ago.
Washington is a hard town. I have lived and worked here for decades and I am still amazed by the cold calculations of many in this city. Long-standing values and associations are routinely jettisoned for personal advantage. Here the moral strictures of the rest of the nation are flipped; vice is a virtue and integrity is a weakness.
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Yet, even in this place of utter personal corruption, the Bidens shocked the local population. It was not their millions in influence peddling. The Bidens are standouts but hardly unique in that form of corruption. It is not the President’s obvious lies about his knowledge and ties to his son’s foreign dealings. Truth is as relative in Washington as loyalty in this city. However, few have the stomach for how the Bidens treated this little girl. The Bidens spent more time fretting over the "pressure" of the White House on Major and Commander than they did the emotional impact on a four-year-old child who was prevented from even calling herself a Biden.
So what changed after four years to compel this passing recognition in a press statement? It was not the litigation. There was never any legal reason not to recognize their granddaughter since it was confirmed by DNA and court order. It was not any sudden request of the child or her mother. They have been asking for years for such recognition.
It was more likely the disgust expressed even by Democrats that this is simply wrong. The president is about to head out on the campaign trail and had no answer to that objection. In other words, for the first couple, it is a political not a family matter. If it were the latter, they would have done the decent thing years ago.
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Of course, the president cannot go into his loving account of how his granddaughter is "a talker" and playful (like his German Shepherd) because he has never bothered to meet her.
That is now a matter for this little girl to contemplate as she gets older. However, whatever the impetus of the sudden recognition of Navy’s existence, it was not any legal cause. The first couple was free to do the decent thing at any time over the last four years. They simply did not find it in their "best interest" to do so.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM JONATHAN TURLEY | https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/joe-jill-biden-acknowledge-7th-grandchild-obnoxious-reason | 2023-07-29T16:05:30 | 0 | https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/joe-jill-biden-acknowledge-7th-grandchild-obnoxious-reason |
Fetterman respects Trump's 'strength' in Pennsylvania: 'You're still seeing Trump signs everywhere'
'Trump would be very competitive in Pennsylvania. But Trump has to perform above his ceiling,' Fetterman said this week
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., recognizes the political importance of former President Donald Trump in his home state of Pennsylvania, saying this week there’s something to "respect" about the GOP candidate's strength with voters in the Keystone State despite a string of indictments.
In an interview published Friday in the New York Times, Fetterman was asked whether he believes the indictments levied against Trump "will hurt him politically" in Pennsylvania.
"It doesn’t matter. I’m a senator, and I’m not sure how many times he’s been indicted. He’s been impeached twice. Has that changed anything? You’re still seeing Trump signs everywhere in Pennsylvania," Fetterman responded. "You have to respect his strength in all of that."
Fetterman said he believes there are self-imposed limitations on how well Trump can perform in the state, but also implied that many Pennsylvania voters support of Trump's message, making him a "competitive" candidate in the state.
"Trump would be very competitive in Pennsylvania. But Trump has to perform above his ceiling. I think there’s a hard ceiling in Pennsylvania he can’t get past," he added.
Fetterman, who has served as Pennsylvania's junior senator for a little more than six months, was also asked whether he "concerned at all" about President Biden's age. Dismissing any worries as the 80-year-old president runs for a second term, Fetterman claimed that Biden is "sharp" and "aware."
"I’m not concerned about his age. And even if I was, who cares? There’s nothing you can do about his age," Fetterman told the outlet. "I’ve spent enough time around him. He’s sharp, he’s aware, he is absolutely up to the task. I’ll be doing whatever his campaign asks of me. I know Pennsylvania, I’ve won Pennsylvania. I’ll be helping with whatever he asks."
Fetterman's time in the Senate has been marked with numerous health struggles as the senator continues to recover from a stroke he suffered last May during the campaign. Upon his arrival to the chamber,
In February, Fetterman was hospitalized after feeling lightheaded while attending a Democratic retreat in the nation's capital. He was released in the days following after a series of tests ruled out a second stroke.
Shortly after, on February 15, Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for depression. After receiving treatment, he was released by the hospital on March 31.
FETTERMAN APPROACHES BIDEN-LEVEL UNPOPULARITY IN HOME STATE: POLL
Before he checked into Walter Reed, staffers said Fetterman had not been his usual self for weeks and described him as withdrawn, showing disinterest in talking, eating and the usual banter with aides.
Fetterman's absence from the Senate caused him to miss 53 of the 64 Senate roll call votes during February and March.
Due to his stroke, Fetterman has experienced side effects that included "auditory processing disorder." But his campaign and doctors have insisted the senator has "no work restrictions" and "can work full duty in public office."
Reflecting on his health struggles with the Times, Fetterman spoke at length about his bout of depression, which kept him working out of a hospital for over a month.
"It’s a burden, but a privilege, too, to talk about it. It’s also an opportunity to be very bipartisan," he said. "Red or blue, if you have depression, get help, please. Don’t ever, ever, ever harm yourself. Do not leave behind a blueprint of that."
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"In my own situation, in my very lowest, I started thinking about [self-harm]," Fetterman added. "And I realized that if I do harm myself, I will leave behind for my children a blueprint that, if something happens with you, that’s the answer. I can’t do that to anyone."
Fox News' Elizabeth Pritchett, Andrew Mark Miller, and Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report. | https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fetterman-respects-trumps-strength-pennsylvania-still-seeing-trump-signs-everywhere | 2023-07-29T16:05:33 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fetterman-respects-trumps-strength-pennsylvania-still-seeing-trump-signs-everywhere |
Compared with the devil, angels carry more credence in America.
Angels even get more credence than, well, hell. More than astrology, reincarnation, and the belief that physical things can have spiritual energies.
In fact, about 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they believe in angels, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
“People are yearning for something greater than themselves — beyond their own understanding,” said Jack Grogger, a chaplain for the Los Angeles Angels and a longtime Southern California fire captain who has aided many people in their gravest moments.
That search for something bigger, he said, can take on many forms, from following a religion to crafting a self-driven purpose to believing in, of course, angels.
“For a lot of people, angels are a lot safer to worship,” said Grogger, who also pastors a nondenominational church in Orange, California, and is a chaplain for the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.
People turn to angels for comfort, he said. They are familiar, regularly showing up in pop culture as well as in the Bible. Comparably, worshipping Jesus is far more involved; when Grogger preaches about angels it is with the context that they are part of God’s kingdom.
American’s belief in angels (69%) is about on par with belief in heaven and the power of prayer, but bested by belief in God or a higher power (79%). Fewer U.S. adults believe in the devil or Satan (56%), astrology (34%), reincarnation (34%), and that physical things can have spiritual energies, such as plants, rivers or crystals (42%).
The widespread acceptance of angels shown in the AP-NORC poll makes sense to Susan Garrett, an angel expert and New Testament professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Kentucky. It tracks with historical surveys, she said, adding that the U.S. remains a faith-filled country even as more Americans reject organized religion.
But if the devil is in the details, so are people’s understandings of angels.
“They’re very malleable,” Garrett said of angels. “You can have any one of a number of quite different worldviews in terms of your understanding of how the cosmos is arranged, whether there’s spirit beings, whether there’s life after death, whether there’s a God … and still find a place for angels in that worldview.”
Talk of angels, Garrett said, is often also about something else, like the ways God interacts with the world and other hard-to-articulate ideas.
The large number of U.S. adults who say they believe in angels includes 84% of those with a religious affiliation — 94% of evangelical Protestants, 81% of mainline Protestants and 82% of Catholics — and 33% of those without one. And of those angel-believing religiously unaffiliated, that includes 2% of atheists, 25% of agnostics and 50% of those identified as “nothing in particular.”
The broad acceptance is what fascinates San Francisco-based witch and author Devin Hunter: Angels show up independently in different religions and traditions, making them part of the fabric that unites humanity.
“We’re all getting to the same conclusion,” said Hunter, who spent 16 years as a professional medium, and started communicating as a child with what he believed were angels.
Hunter estimates that a belief in angels applies to about half of those practicing modern witchcraft today, and for some who don’t believe, their rejection is often rooted in the religious trauma they experienced growing up.
“Angels become a very big deal” for long-time practitioners who’ve made occultism their primary focus, said Hunter, an angel-loving occultist. “We cannot escape them in any way, shape or form.”
Jennifer Goodwin of Oviedo, Florida, also is among the roughly seven in 10 U.S. adults who say they believe in angels. She isn’t sure if God exists and rejects the afterlife dichotomy of heaven and hell, but the recent deaths of her parents solidified her views on these celestial beings.
Goodwin believes her parents are still keeping an eye on the family — not in any physical way or as a supernatural apparition, but that they manifest in those moments when she feels a general sense of comfort.
“I think that they are around us, but it’s in a way that we can’t understand,” Goodwin said. “I don’t know what else to call it except an angel.”
Angels mean different things to different people, and the idea of loved ones becoming heavenly angels after death is neither an unusual belief nor a universally held one.
In his reading of Scripture as an evangelical Protestant, Grogger said he believes angels are something else entirely — they have never been human and are on another level in heaven’s hierarchy. “We are higher than angels,” he said. “We do not become an angel.”
Angels do interact with humans though, said Grogger, but what “that looks like we’re not 100% sure.” They worship God who created this angelic legion of unknown numbers, he said, adding that evangelicals often attribute the demonic forces in the world to the angels who fell from heaven when the devil rebelled.
The Western ideas about angels can be traced through the Bible — and to the worldviews of its monotheistic authors, Garrett said. Those beliefs have changed and developed for millennia, influenced by cultures, theologians and even the ancient polytheistic beliefs that came before the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, she said.
“There are sort of lines of continuity from the Bible that you can trace all the way up to the New Age movement,” said Susan Garrett, who wrote “No Ordinary Angel: Celestial Spirits and Christian Claims about Jesus.”
The angels in the Bible do God’s bidding, and angelic violence is one part of their job description, said Esther Hamori, author of the upcoming book, “God’s Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible.”
“The angels of the Bible are just as likely to assassinate individuals and slaughter entire populations as they are to offer help and protect and deliver,” said Hamori. She doesn’t believe in these angels, but studies them as a Hebrew Bible professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York where she teaches a popular “Monster Heaven” class.
“They’re just God’s obedient soldiers doing the task at hand, and sometimes that task is in human beings’ best interests, and sometimes it’s not,” she said.
The perception that angels act angelic and look like the idyllic, winged figurines atop Christmas trees could be attributed to an early centuries belief that people are assigned one good angel and one bad — or have a good and bad spirit to guide them, Garrett said.
This idea shows up on the shoulders of cartoon characters and is likely what Abraham Lincoln was alluding to in his famous appeal for unity when he referenced “the better angels of our nature” in his first inaugural address, she said.
“It’s also tied in with ideas about guardian angels, which again, very ancient views that got developed over the centuries,” Garrett said.
For Sheila Avery of Chicago, angels are protectors, capable of keeping someone from harm. Avery, who belongs to a nondenominational church, credits them with those moments like when a person’s plans fall through, but ultimately it saves them from being in the thick of an unexpected disaster.
“They turn on the news and a terrible tragedy happened at that particular place,” Avery said, suggesting it was an “angel that was probably watching over them.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-do-you-believe-in-angels-about-7-in-10-u-s-adults-do-a-new-ap-norc-poll-shows/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:35 | 0 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-do-you-believe-in-angels-about-7-in-10-u-s-adults-do-a-new-ap-norc-poll-shows/ |
(NEXSTAR) – With heat records already falling this summer, you may be running your ceiling fan nearly non-stop, but did you know you may not be as cool as you could be?
If you’ve ever taken a close look at the fan, you may have noticed a small switch located on the side of the fan base. The switch, which is found on nearly every fan, can change the direction the fan spins.
Using that switch according to the season will not only keep you more comfortable, but it can also help you save money.
In the summer, make sure that your fan is going in a counterclockwise direction, which forces cool air directly downward and creates a “wind chill effect,” according to Home Depot. In the winter, you can switch it up so the fan rotates clockwise at a low speed, circulating the warm air that gets trapped near the ceiling.
If you have ceiling fans as well as air conditioning, using the fan correctly will allow you to raise the thermostat by roughly 4 degrees Fahrenheit and still feel just as comfortable, according to the Department of Energy. In moderately hot weather, you may even be able to turn off the AC. The DOE reminds people to turn off fans in unoccupied rooms.
According to Energy Star, if you raise your thermostat by just two degrees and use your ceiling fan, you can lower the cost of air conditioning by up to 14%.
If you’re in the market for a ceiling fan, larger fan blades will move more air than smaller ones, but you have to make sure it’s an appropriate size for the space.
The Department of Energy recommends blades be 7 to 9 feet above the floor and 10 to 12 inches away from the ceiling. The blades should be no closer than 8 inches from the ceiling and 18 inches from any walls. | https://www.koin.com/news/overlooked-ceiling-fan-switch-could-make-you-cooler-this-summer/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:37 | 0 | https://www.koin.com/news/overlooked-ceiling-fan-switch-could-make-you-cooler-this-summer/ |
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Right now, there are three active meteor showers. Their peak viewing times are approaching in the next few weeks, and they are, conveniently, all going to be on Saturday and Sunday.
For optimal meteor shower viewing, it’s best to be in an area with little or no light pollution.
Perseids
According to NASA, the Perseid Meteor Shower is the best one happening this year, and viewers can see up to 100 meteors per hour. The shower became visible in the northern hemisphere on July 14 and will be around until Sept. 1.
If you want to see the Perseids at its peak, plan a night of stargazing for Aug. 12 or 13, according to NASA. For best viewing, NASA says to look during the pre-dawn hours, although meteors and fireballs could be visible as early as 10 p.m. The meteors will originate near the Perseid constellation and will be more easily-found constellation Cassiopeia.
The Perseids shower is expected to be very visible this year because the moon will not be as bright. This means the sky will be darker, making meteors more visible.
Delta Aquariids
The Delta Aquariids are not usually as impressive as the Perseids, but without a noticeable peak, you have a longer window for possibly seeing meteors from this shower. According to the American Meteor Society, the shower will be visible primarily in the southern tropics between July 18 and Aug. 21, with an estimated peak around Sunday, July 30. The northern hemisphere is less likely to see the Delta Aquariids than the southern.
July 30 is also a full moon, making 2023 less favorable for seeing the Delta Aquariids. Those who want to look for them should look toward the Delta Aquarii constellation from around 2 a.m. to dawn.
Alpha Capricornids
If you want a double chance to see more fireballs, July 30 might be your night, because in addition to the Delta Aquariids, the Alpha Capricornids are also expected to peak that night in 2023. The Alpha Capricornids are visible from July 7 to Aug. 15 but are considered much weaker than the other showers listed above, with only about five meteors visible per hour, but according to the AMS, the shower can have some pretty impressive fireballs in lower quantities.
The shower can also be seen equally as well in the northern and southern hemispheres. | https://www.koin.com/news/the-next-3-meteor-showers-peak-on-weekends-what-to-know/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:43 | 0 | https://www.koin.com/news/the-next-3-meteor-showers-peak-on-weekends-what-to-know/ |
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.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-lebanons-hezbollah-leader-urges-muslims-to-punish-quran-desecrators-if-governments-fail-to-do-so/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:42 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-lebanons-hezbollah-leader-urges-muslims-to-punish-quran-desecrators-if-governments-fail-to-do-so/ |
Cubs outfielder robs Cardinals of walk-off home run for 7th straight win: 'My goodness'
The Cubs have won 9 of their last 10 games
One of the oldest and most iconic rivalries in all of sports took center stage Friday night with a game-saving catch that will be remembered for years.
Chicago Cubs outfielder Mike Tauchman robbed the St. Louis Cardinals of a walk-off win by making a spectacular grab in the bottom of the ninth inning.
With one on and two outs in the ninth with the Cubs up 3-2, Cardinals pinch-hitter Alec Burleson hit a deep fly ball to center field.
YANKEES ACTIVATE AARON JUDGE OFF INJURED LIST JUST IN TIME FOR POSTSEASON PUSH
Tauchman tracked the ball before leaping and reaching his glove over the wall at Busch Stadium, robbing the Cardinals of a walk-off home run and giving the Cubs their seventh consecutive victory.
The victory put the Cubs over .500 for the first time since May 6th.
"Tauchman. My goodness," Cubs manager David Ross said, according to MLB.com. "We don't win that game early in the season."
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Tauchman entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the top of the ninth.
"As outfielders, we're taught to get to the wall, and then you have time to make the adjustments you need to," said Tauchman. "I didn't know I was right at the wall until I kind of turned to catch the ball."
The Cubs now sit just 4.5 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central and are 3.5 games back of the final Wild Card spot in the National League.
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The Cubs have won nine of their last ten games and have won five straight in St. Louis with Friday's victory.
"Probably the most dramatic single play I've been a part of in the big leagues," Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.foxnews.com/sports/cubs-outfielder-robs-cardinals-walk-off-home-run-7th-straight-win-my-goodness | 2023-07-29T16:05:44 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/sports/cubs-outfielder-robs-cardinals-walk-off-home-run-7th-straight-win-my-goodness |
(The Conversation) – Like any millennial pop music fan active on social media, I’ve been following Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour – the surprise songs, the scramble to get tickets, her brief romance with that guy from The 1975 with a history of racist comments.
But as a political scientist, I was intrigued by something else: reaction to the tour by government officials. New Jersey renamed the state’s famed Taylor ham, egg and cheese in her honor – it’s now the “Taylor Swift Ham, Egg, and Cheese” official state sandwich.
Pittsburgh’s mayor briefly renamed the city “Swiftsburgh” when her tour hit town.
And in my neck of the woods, Swift Street in North Kansas City was temporarily rebranded “Swift Street (Taylor’s Version).”
Local or state governments have lauded Swift in some way at virtually every stop on her tour. While these honors make for great photo opportunities for Swifties, the politics of these moves is worth examining. Do politicians have something to gain in appealing to Swift’s fans?
Celebrities can help politicians
Unlike many celebrities, Swift does not involve herself much in politics. One particular tool of politicians looking to boost their numbers is to get celebrity endorsements. But Swift’s use of endorsements has been limited, save for backing two Democrats in her adopted home state of Tennessee: Phil Bredesen in his Senate race and U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper in his 2018 reelection campaign. Swift also endorsed Joe Biden in 2020.
Bredesen’s peak in Google search interest from 2010 to the present coincided with Swift’s endorsement in October 2018. Cooper saw more Google search traffic with Swift’s endorsement than at any point since his vote for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010.
While the specific impact of Swift’s endorsements is difficult to assess, an Emerson College poll of Tennesseans in 2018 found that 11.7% of those surveyed said Swift’s endorsement would make them more likely to support Bredesen – a number unlikely to make a difference in a race Bredesen lost by nearly 11 points despite Swift’s support. Cooper easily won reelection in his heavily Democratic Nashville-based district.
Although Swift’s endorsements likely did not sway these particular races, celebrity endorsements can matter in close races, particularly when the celebrity making the endorsement is viewed favorably – a likely scenario in Swift’s case.
Fawning = attention
A slight majority of Americans consider themselves at least something of a fan of Swift’s music – that includes me – and a June 2023 Echelon Insights poll showed 50% of likely voters view Swift at least somewhat favorably. This is a higher favorability rating than Joe Biden, Donald Trump and both major political parties.
We’re not talking about endorsements here, though – we’re talking about politicians aligning themselves with Swift with no reciprocity. One clear benefit to public officials fawning over Swift? Attention – not unlike that seen for Bredesen and Cooper in 2018.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s tweet declaring the “Taylor Swift ham, egg, and cheese” garnered 5,700 likes; his next unrelated tweet had fewer than 100.
A cursory analysis of social media data seems to support the idea that the use of Swift’s name in honorary government actions produces a result similar to that of Swift’s endorsements: it drives engagement. Murphy’s Instagram post lauding Swift garnered the most likes on any post of his in 2023, with the exception of an early June post on the state’s air-quality crisis.
OK, so politicians need publicity, and they can use Taylor Swift’s name to get it. But what about Swifties as a voting bloc?
The idea that Swifties might be a key demographic in future elections is not far-fetched given their location and age. A majority of Swift’s fans live in the suburbs, the swing territory of American politics. Further, most are Gen Zers or Millennials. These groups encompass an increasing share of the electorate with each passing year – up to 31% in 2020. Swift’s favorability among those ages 18 to 29 stands at 72%, and by one poll’s estimate, 21% in that age cohort say they would vote for Swift over Trump and Biden.
Taylor Swift Post Office?
World leaders from numerous countries have taken to social media to ask Swift to bring her tour to their countries. There’s an economic angle to this, of course, as a Swift tour stop can generate huge sums in consumer spending. In the U.S., however, the honorifics bestowed upon Swift have come since her tour dates were confirmed.
There is a question of whether these Swift-adjacent stunts boil down to campaigning thinly disguised as official government action. This is perhaps best demonstrated in Canada, where a member of Parliament filed a parliamentary grievance over the singer’s lack of Canadian tour dates.
Such behavior is perhaps analogous to, on a larger scale, the renaming of post offices in the U.S. Congress. While generally innocuous and locally meaningful, these moves still require government resources and staffers to put their attention toward them as opposed to substantive policy matters.
Taylor Swift is an enormously popular figure, particularly among demographic groups that will be increasingly important in future American elections. In close races, voices such as Swift’s could prove critical – not necessarily because she influences how fans vote, but because her voice provides attention and credibility to candidates. | https://www.koin.com/news/the-taylor-swift-official-state-sandwich-politicians-understand-swifties-are-a-key-demographic/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:49 | 0 | https://www.koin.com/news/the-taylor-swift-official-state-sandwich-politicians-understand-swifties-are-a-key-demographic/ |
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) —
A 9-year-old girl and her 10-year-old brother have been called as witnesses in a criminal case against their mother after she was accused of repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian army.
Lidia Prudovskaya and her two children were summoned by investigators in the northern Russian region of Arkhangelsk on Friday to give testimony in the case, Russian news outlet Sota reported.
Prudovskaya previously faced administrative charges on similar allegations after sharing anti-war posts on Russian social media platform VKontakte in September 2022.
Discrediting the Russian military is a criminal offense under a law adopted after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. The law is regularly used against Kremlin critics.
In April, Russian authorities petitioned to restrict the parental rights of a single father convicted of discrediting the army following an anti-war sketch drawn by his daughter at school.
Alexei Moskalyov, 54, was sentenced to two years in prison for social media comments he had made criticizing Moscow’s war in Ukraine, while his daughter Maria was placed in an orphanage.
The 13-year-old was later moved to live with her mother. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-russian-investigators-call-children-as-witnesses-against-their-mother-accused-of-discrediting-army/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:49 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-russian-investigators-call-children-as-witnesses-against-their-mother-accused-of-discrediting-army/ |
A struggling restaurant owner hired a robot to help her servers. Then the angry messages began.
Restaurant owner frustrated over 'misunderstanding' of AI in service industry as small town bristles at new robot
ESTACADA, Ore. – Diners watched, bemused, as Plato approached their table. The three-and-a-half-foot-tall robot spun and paused, presenting them with their lunch. No one moved, unsure of what would come next, until a man in cowboy boots reached out and took his hamburger before passing another plate to his companions.
Then Plato rolled away, back to The Cazadero's kitchen.
"How was the experience?" a neighboring customer asked the group, leaning over his chair.
"Phenomenal," one woman answered, still looking a little confused.
But Plato, United Robotics Group's hospitality-oriented "cobiot," hasn't won over everyone in the timber town of Estacada, Oregon, highlighting the divide between businesses struggling to stay afloat and a customer base skeptical of change.
"I had no clue that people would literally not want to come to the restaurant because I had a robot," Cazadero owner Sherry Andrus told Fox News.
CHIPOTLE ROLLS OUT 'AUTOCADO,' A ROBOT TO HELP MAKE GUACAMOLE FASTER
Andrus bought The Cazadero in 2018. Since then, Oregon's minimum wage has increased by nearly four dollars to $14.20 per hour. Food prices skyrocketed. And finding servers willing to commute to the small town approximately 45 minutes outside of Portland is so difficult that Andrus requests potential employees Google the address before applying.
"You already have a small pool to work from," she said. "That we're out in a rural area makes it even harder."
So Andrus flew to the Bar & Restaurant Expo in Las Vegas in March with the main purpose of exploring whether robots could take on some of the burden. She came home leasing Plato.
"I love robots and what they can do," she said with a wide smile. "I think they're kind of cute and kind of fun."
She posted on the business Facebook page and local community groups, excited to introduce Plato. But hundreds of angry comments poured in.
"I will never go there again," "NO THANK YOU," "Get rid of this we [live] in a small a–– town why in earth!?"
SEE PLATO IN ACTION AT THE CAZADERO:
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Some community members defended Andrus.
"Y’all are insane," one woman wrote. "They’ve been hiring for months and everyone’s been complaining about the wait time here… Stop your commenting and go apply for the job if you’re so upset about it."
The administrator of one community page had to shut down comments because they got so mean, Andrus said.
"What was so frustrating is the misunderstanding that a AI is replacing people's jobs," she said. "The server positions, the bartender positions are still there. This is just a tool to help them do their job better and be more efficient for the guests."
In person, the response has been friendlier. Usually.
On a blisteringly hot July afternoon, a single employee manned the bar and rushed to get plates to tables as the lunch rush began. Her only reprieve was Plato, programmed to take plates of food from the kitchen to their destination for faster service when the restaurant is understaffed.
One man who looked to be in his 20s told the server in no uncertain terms that he did not want a robot serving his family. That's fine by Andrus, who said customers can absolutely request a "100% human" experience. But several of the bar's regulars love Plato.
"I say ‘Hi’ to him every time he comes by," Roy, a Vietnam-era veteran, told Fox News. He added with a grin, "I know he can't answer, but Mama told me to be polite."
Garrett said that when he left his job with a manufacturing firm, "they were replacing people with robots everywhere."
"That's just modern times," he said, adding that it's fun to see customers interact with Plato. "The little kids love him."
THE LAST LAUGH: HOW COMEDIANS PLAN TO TURN THE TABLES ON AI SCRAPING THEIR MATERIAL
The Cazadero is one of about two dozen locations to deploy Plato so far. Small businesses have been early adopters of the cobiot, as United Robotics Group calls it.
"They have a staffing issue where maybe there's only one or two people working at the time, and this is gonna help them get food out a little bit quicker," Greg McEntyre of URG told Fox News.
Plato's shiny white exterior and cartoonish face stand in stark contrast with the Western-themed steakhouse. And with about 5,000 residents, Estacada is the smallest town to welcome the bionic bus boy.
The one outcome Andrus said broke her heart was seeing tips go down after Plato's introduction.
"Some servers have chosen not to use him for that, because this is their livelihood, and they rely on those tips, and they still provide the good customer service," she said.
Whether rural communities are ready for new technology or not, Andrus predicts that AI will be a key part of the restaurant industry going forward.
"We like being our little rural community, and they don't want to see new technology coming in," she said. "That being said, we are growing. We've doubled in size, and the people moving here are moving from the city."
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She added, "As much as we might hate to say, we're changing our dynamic and our demographic, and you can't please everybody. I want to make everybody happy, but we definitely are a small town."
To see Plato in action, click here.
Ramiro Vargas contributed to the accompanying video. | https://www.foxnews.com/tech/struggling-restaurant-owner-hired-robot-help-servers-angry-messages-began | 2023-07-29T16:05:50 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/tech/struggling-restaurant-owner-hired-robot-help-servers-angry-messages-began |
North Korea and China share ‘comradeship written with blood,’ Xi tells Kim in official letter
Kim Jong Un previously met with a Russian delegation earlier in the same week
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Chinese diplomats in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Armistice Day of the Korean War.
The Chinese delegation, led by Communist Party Politburo member Li Hongzhong, presented the supreme leader with an official letter from President Xi Jinping.
"No matter how the international storm changes, safeguarding, consolidating and developing relations between China and North Korea will always be a firm policy direction of the Chinese Communist Party and the government," Xi wrote, according to Chinese state media outlet Xinhua.
NORTH KOREAN, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTERS HOLD MEETING IN PYONGYANG AMID CELEBRATIONS
Xi wrote in the letter that the two communist nations share a "comradeship written with blood" from the casualties of the Korean War, according to Yonhap News Agency.
However, the full contents of the letter have not been disclosed.
The Chinese delegation was not the only state visitor to Pyongyang this week.
The defense chiefs of Russia and North Korea came together on Wednesday for a bilateral meeting in the hermit kingdom's capital.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with his North Korean counterpart, Defense Minister Kang Sun-nam, expressing desire for greater cooperation.
"For Russia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is an important partner, with which we share a common border and a rich history of cooperation," Shoigu said, according to The Moscow Times.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Media released by the Russian Defense Ministry showed footage and photographs of the meeting between the two Eastern military leaders. | https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-china-share-comradeship-written-blood-xi-tells-kim-official-letter | 2023-07-29T16:05:56 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-china-share-comradeship-written-blood-xi-tells-kim-official-letter |
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian police arrested the president’s son Saturday as part of a high-profile money laundering probe into funds he allegedly collected from convicted drug traffickers during last year’s presidential campaign.
President Gustavo Petro, a former rebel who rose through Colombia’s political ranks as an anti-corruption crusader, said he wouldn’t interfere with the investigation.
“As an individual and father, it pains me to see so much self destruction and one of my sons going to jail,” Petro said in an early morning message on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “As president of the republic, I’ve assured the chief prosecutor’s office that it will have all of the guarantees so it can proceed according to the law.”
The arrest of Nicolas Petro is a major blow to the government, which has been buffeted by conservative attacks from day one at the same time it has struggled to maintain bipartisan support for Colombia in the U.S., a longtime ally in the war on drugs and fight against illegal armed groups.
The investigation stems from shocking declarations made by Nicolas Petro’s ex-wife, Daysuris del Carmen Vasquez, to local media outlet Semana earlier this year.
In the extended interview, Vasquez detailed how she was present at meetings when her husband arranged a donation of more than 600 million pesos (around $150,000) from a politician once convicted in Washington of drug trafficking and who was seeking the Petro campaign’s support to resume his political career.
She said President Petro was unaware of her son’s dealings and the money he collected in his campaign’s name was kept inside a safe inside the couple’s home in the coastal city of Barranquilla.
Nicolas Petro has denied his ex wife’s claims as unfounded.
The chief prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Nicolas Petro and his ex-wife were taken into custody on orders of a court in Bogota around 6 a.m. local time Saturday. It said that once brought before a judge, prosecutors would seek their provisional detention as it investigates the two for money laundering. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-son-of-colombias-president-arrested-as-part-of-money-laundering-probe/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:55 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-son-of-colombias-president-arrested-as-part-of-money-laundering-probe/ |
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The month of July is ending on a mild note in Portland as near normal conditions remain across the Pacific Northwest.
Temperatures will sit in the low to mid-80s Saturday and Sunday as mostly sunny skies remain. Wildfire smoke will stay east of the Cascades as an onshore flow keeps skies clear along the coast and along the Willamette Valley.
Poor air quality will continue to plague those in central Oregon through the weekend and into next week. The threat of new wildfires is possible east of the Columbia River Gorge as winds begin to increase and dry out an already parched landscape.
A ‘Red Flag Warning‘ continues for points east of The Dalles through Sunday evening. Hot, dry, and windy weather could help new wildfires start quickly and spread rapidly in these conditions.
Summer heat begins to build by the start of the new month. August typically see highs in the mid 80s by the start of the month, but averages round out in the low-80s by September.
Unfortunately, both July and August bring some of the driest conditions to Portland area all year. The average rainfall for the two months combined is typically only an inch of rain. This comes as the month of July nears its end with a deficit of nearly a half inch of rain.
Temperatures will begin to warm across Portland for the start of next week. | https://www.koin.com/weather/mild-dry-weekend-weather-expected-in-portland/ | 2023-07-29T16:05:57 | 1 | https://www.koin.com/weather/mild-dry-weekend-weather-expected-in-portland/ |
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday pushed back against Australian demands for an end to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s prosecution, saying the Australian citizen was accused of “very serious criminal conduct” in publishing a trove of classified documents more than a decade ago.
Australia’s center-left Labor Party government has been arguing since winning the elections last year that the United States should end its pursuit of the 52-year-old, who has spent four years in a British prison fighting extradition to the United States.
Assange’s freedom is widely seen as a test of Australia’s leverage with President Joe Biden’s administration.
Blinken confirmed on Saturday that Assange had been discussed in annual talks with Foreign Minister Penny Wong in Brisbane, Australia.
“I understand the concerns and views of Australians. I think it’s very important that our friends here understand our concerns about this matter,” Blinken told reporters.
“Mr. Assange was charged with very serious criminal conduct in the United States in connection with his alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of our country,” he added.
Wong said Assange’s prosecution had “dragged for too long” and that Australia wanted the charges “brought to a conclusion.”
Australia remains ambiguous about whether the United States should drop the prosecution or strike a plea bargain.
Assange faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of of hundreds of thousands of classified diplomatic and military documents in 2010.
American prosecutors allege he helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.
Australia argues there is a “disconnect” between the U.S. treatment of Assange and Manning. Then-U.S. President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence to seven years, which allowed her release in 2017. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-us-secretary-of-state-tells-australia-that-wikileaks-founder-is-accused-of-very-serious-crime/ | 2023-07-29T16:06:02 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/ap-us-secretary-of-state-tells-australia-that-wikileaks-founder-is-accused-of-very-serious-crime/ |
(KOIN) – She’s just gonna shake, shake, shake the earth.
Taylor Swift’s July 22 and 23 concerts in Seattle allegedly produced seismic activity on par with a 2.3 magnitude earthquake, according to a Western Washington University geology professor and seismologist.
Jackie Caplan-Auerbach tracked the seismic activity emanating from Swift’s Lumen Field performances earlier this month, finding similar and overlapping seismic waves on both dates. She later added that she couldn’t be sure whether the fans or the sound systems had caused the activity, but plans to continue investigating.
“I’m not yet convinced that it’s all dancing – the signals between the two nights are ridiculously similar and people tend to be messy,” Caplan-Auerbach wrote on Twitter.
She added that concertgoers were likely unaware of any geological activity at the time, saying the data recorded by the seismometer was “mostly below the range of human hearing.”
Swift’s Seattle concerts, which were attended by over 144,000 people in total, broke Lumen Field’s attendance records, according to The Seattle Times.
Caplan-Auerbach also compared the quake, which she dubbed the “Seismic Swift,” to 2010’s “Beast Quake,” when Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch scored a last-minute touchdown during a playoff game. Activity produced by Seahawks fans registered on a seismograph at a 2.0 magnitude.
The next step for Caplan-Auerbach is attempting to line up the seismic activity beat-by-beat with Swift’s setlist to see how the songs impacted the shake, she said. She’s set up a Google Drive to collect videos to help with her research. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/taylor-swift-concerts-in-seattle-produced-seismic-activity-on-same-scale-as-a-small-earthquake-seismologist-finds/ | 2023-07-29T16:06:08 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/taylor-swift-concerts-in-seattle-produced-seismic-activity-on-same-scale-as-a-small-earthquake-seismologist-finds/ |
FUKUOKA, Japan (AP) — Here’s why Katie Ledecky is one of the greatest freestyle swimmers in the history of the sport. She’s never quite satisfied.
The 26-year-old American won the 800-freestyle on Saturday at the World Aquatics Championships to become the first swimmer to win six golds in the same event at the worlds. It was also her 16th individual world title, breaking a tie with legendary Michael Phelps for the most golds at the worlds.
She’s also a seven-time Olympic gold medalist and the record holder in both the 800 and 1,500.
But that winning time — 8 minutes, 08.87 seconds, which is the seventh quickest she’d even swum — wasn’t quite good enough in her favorite event.
“I’m just always trying to think of new ways to improve. I mean I’ve already got everything turning in my head right now. I kind of wanted to be better than I was tonight,” she said, twirling her right hand beside her right ear, trying to stir up ideas.
“I’m pretty tough on myself,” she said. “But I think I have found the balance of being tough on myself but also having that grace.”
The 800 was Ledecky’s second individual gold following her win in the 1,500 free on Tuesday. She also took silver in the 400 free. Li Bingjie of China took silver in 8:13.31, and Ariarne Titmus of Australia got the bronze in 8:13.59.
“It’s fun to leave a meet with your favorite event, and I just wanted to leave it all in the pool,” Ledecky said.
It was only the fourth gold for the United States in the seventh of eight days in the pool. Meanwhile, Australia has been piling it on with 13 golds, matching its best in the worlds. Australia also won three more golds on Saturday.
The Americans lead the overall table with 31 medals (16 silver), Australia has 20 and China 13.
Kaylee McKeown of Australia made history of her own with gold in the women’s 200 backstroke. McKeown’s victory gave her a sweep of all three backstroke events after earlier wins in the 50 and 100. She became the first swimmer ever to sweep all three backstrokes at the worlds.
It all made up for disqualification earlier in the meet in the 200 IM.
“You can’t change the rules,” she said. “I got ruled out. It’s just the cards I was dealt with and I couldn’t do much more than that. So I just had to carry myself the best I could and channel all my anger and turn a huge negative into a positive.”
Regan Smith of the United States picked up the silver in 2:04.94, while Peng Xuwei of China got the bronze in 2:06.74.
Sarah Sjoestroem of Sweden continued her dominance with gold in the women’s 50-meter butterfly. The 29-year-old won in 24.77 and has now won the event five consecutive times at the worlds. The win brought Sjoestroem’s individual medals at the worlds to 20, equaling Phelps’ mark.
Sjoestroem also broke her own record in the 50 freestyle, going 23.61 in a semifinal heat. Her old record was 23.67 set in 2017.
“There are not too many secrets,” Sjoestroem said to her longevity. “Just do the work every day, go to practice, and stay humble.”
Zhang Yufei of China, who took gold in the 100 fly, claimed the silver in 25.05, while American Gretchen Walsh got the bronze in 25.46.
Japanese fan favorite Rikako Ikee finished seventh (25.78) in the 50 fly but was greeted warmly by the home crowd.
The 23-year-old Ikee won six gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games and was to be a favorite in the Tokyo Olympics. But she was diagnosed with leukemia in February of 2019. Her comeback continues to resonate with both the Japanese public and her fellow competitors.
Cameron McEvoy of Australia led all the way to capture the gold in the men’s 50 free in 21.06. It was his first individual gold in the worlds or Olympics.
American Jack Alexy collected his second silver of the worlds in 21.57 to go with his silver in the 100 free. Benjamin Proud of Britian, last year’s world champion, took the bronze in 21.58.
Dressell won the event in Tokyo but did not qualify for the American team, taking a little break from the sport. McEvoy’s time was quicker than Dressell’s winning time in Tokyo — 21.07
Maxime Grousset of France won gold in the men’s 100 fly in 50.14. The 24-year-old took the early lead and held on for the victory. Josh Liendo of Canada earned the silver in 50.34, while American Dare Rose made the podium with the bronze (50.46).
Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania equaled the world record of 29.30 in her semifinal in the women’s 50 breaststroke.
Australia won the 4×100 mixed freestyle relay in a world record of 3:18.83. The Americans took the silver in 3:20.82, with Britain getting the bronze in 3:21.68. The relay is not an Olympic event.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/sports/ap-katie-ledecky-passes-michael-phelps-for-most-individual-golds-at-world-championships/ | 2023-07-29T16:06:14 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/sports/ap-katie-ledecky-passes-michael-phelps-for-most-individual-golds-at-world-championships/ |
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Eugénie Le Sommer and Wendie Renard revived France’s Women’s World Cup ambitions with a goal each in a 2-1 win over Brazil on Saturday to give Les Bleues the lead in Group F.
After missing with a diving header in the 13th minute, Le Sommer scored her 90th international goal to extend her French record four minutes later with an emphatic header that gave Brazilian goalkeeper Leticia little chance.
Debinha equalized for Brazil as the hour approached and the game opened up as both teams pressed for a winner, the Brazilians desperate to end an 11-match winless streak against France.
But it was the set piece where French captain Renard clinched it, capitalizing on some poor defense.
Renard, who had been in doubt for the match with a calf injury she picked up in the lackluster 0-0 draw against Jamaica, was perfectly placed for a back-post header as the towering defender drifted to the edge of the box to meet a corner with a powerful header in the 83rd.
Hervé Renard has reassembled the French squad since taking over as coach, recalling veterans including Le Sommer and restoring the confidence of others like 33-year-old Renard.
After criticism of France’s opening performance for its lack of adventure and flair, his veterans clicked when it counted against Brazil.
“She’s a leader of the team. She’s efficient at scoring goals like today,” the French coach said of his captain. “If she wasn’t able to play today, I’m sure it wouldn’t be the same. We were lucky to have her today, congratulations to her to give us the victory for this game.”
Brazil had opened with a thumping 4-0 win over Panama, with Ary Borges scoring three goals and providing the back-heel assist for one of the goals of the tournament.
Against a more disciplined defense, the Brazilians were mostly unable to finish despite creating ample opportunities.
Brazil coach Pia Sundhage said she was disappointed with her team’s first half and inability to stick with the gameplan and not contesting quickly enough for possession. She said the failure to build cohesion in the first half was more of a problem for the team than the set-piece defense that conceded France’s second goal.
“I’m more disappointed we couldn’t make this a game where we play like the Brazilian style,” she said.
Veteran forward Marta, returning from injury for her sixth World Cup, went on in the 86th minute but wasn’t able to inspire a winner for Brazil.
Le Sommer, who was among the veterans who missed selection for the European Championship last year under former coach Corinne Diacre, was in the thick of the early action for France.
The French started with high tempo and had three chances before Sakina Karchaoui’s long floating ball into the area found Kadidiatou Diani, who headed square for Le Sommer to finish off from directly in front.
But the Brazilians started to meet them for energy, helped by the majority of an almost 50,000-strong crowd.
Debinha equalized in the 58th, finishing off a quick passing movement into the area, controlling the ball with the outside of her leg before firing in a right-foot shot.
Le Sommer was replaced in the 66th Vicki Becho to add some fresh legs to the French attack.
Leticia pushed a hard strike over the crossbar to keep Brazil level and Selma Bacha hit the side netting with her shot from the right in the 75th, unable to break the deadlock for France.
Renard’s late winner lifted France to four competition points, one more than Brazil ahead of the last group games on Wednesday. The French will play Panama in Sydney, and Brazil will take on Jamaica in Melbourne.
___
AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/sports/ap-le-sommer-renard-score-as-france-edges-brazil-2-1-at-the-womens-world-cup/ | 2023-07-29T16:06:22 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/sports/ap-le-sommer-renard-score-as-france-edges-brazil-2-1-at-the-womens-world-cup/ |
Ex-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon joins push for third-party presidential bid as Democrats try to stop it
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels ' increasingly contentious effort to lay the groundwork for a moderate third-party presidential ticket in the 2024 election. He gives the embattled organization another prominent ally amid escalating concerns from Democratic officials that the No Labels campaign could unintentionally help Republican Donald Trump return to the White House.
Nixon, a 67-year-old lawyer, is stepping back into national politics for the first time since leaving office in 2017 and will serve as No Labels’ director of ballot integrity. He said in an interview that he was drawn to the role after learning that well-funded groups aligned with Democrats were working to stop No Labels from securing ballot access in key states.
He said that those seeking to block the group’s right to appear on the presidential ballot are attacking a pillar of American democracy.
“What do I say to those Democrats? I say, ‘You’re entitled to your opinion. But we are also entitled to use our constitutional and statutory rights to allow Americans to have another choice,’” Nixon told The Associated Press.
President Joe Biden and Trump have dominated the 2024 campaign conversation so far. But No Labels, a Washington-based group that promotes compromise, national unity and centrist policy solutions, has been preparing for the strongest third-party presidential bid at least since Texas businessman Ross Perot earned nearly 19% of the popular vote in 1992.
Working with an operating budget of roughly $70 million, No Labels is taking steps to secure presidential ballot spots in roughly 20 states this year; the group has done so already in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon and Utah.
While No Labels has yet to nominate candidates for president and vice president, its leadership insists there is a path to victory for a centrist third-party ticket “if the two parties select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees.”
The group’s critics across the Democratic Party are terrified that No Labels will siphon votes that would otherwise go to Biden, who narrowly beat Trump in 2020 with a coalition that included moderate Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans.
No Labels’ leadership has promised a series of checks and balances that would allow the organization to withdraw its presidential ticket if it appears the group’s participation would help Trump win. No Labels has not outlined a detailed plan about that, and leaders acknowledge privately there is some urgency to come out with their specific safeguards, which would vary state by state. They intend to do so by “early fall.”
Anxious Democrats are unconvinced.
On Thursday, two prominent Democratic groups, the centrist Third Way and more progressive MoveOn, hosted private meetings on Capitol Hill with dozens of chiefs of staff and senior aides to House and Senate Democrats to emphasize the need to stop No Label’s presidential ambitions. In a nod to the seriousness of the Democratic establishment’s concerns, the meetings were held in both the House and Senate Democrats’ campaign headquarters.
“We told them what we have been saying consistently now for a long time: This is dangerous,” said Third Way co-founder Matt Bennett, who helped lead the briefing along with MoveOn’s executive director, Rahna Epting.
The organizers detailed data showing that a No Labels ticket would undercut Biden in the general election and warned that it could handicap vulnerable House and Senate candidates is tight elections. They also questioned that No Labels’ promise to withdraw its ticket if necessary to stop Trump.
No Labels’ leaders are furious.
“They are telling the elected leaders of this country right now that our ballot is a runaway train. And that is categorically false. That is propaganda. And that is why we’re bringing on a director of ballot integrity to stop it because it’s outrageous,” said No Labels’ founder Nancy Jacobson, a former Democratic fundraiser.
For now, Democrats are not willing to take Jacobson’s word for it.
“I don’t want to be doing this. I’d much rather focus on other things. I am concerned, genuinely,” Epting said. “They’re in over their head. They have not given any assurances that they’re clear and sober in their analysis. And when they talk about being able to put the horse back in the barn, they are not consistent about when or how they’re going to do that.”
“They’re just saying, ‘Trust us,’” Epting said. “We can’t. We don’t know you. And the stakes are too high.”
Meanwhile, Nixon joins a growing roster of former elected officials in both parties now affiliated with No Labels. Among the others: Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; former Govs. Jon Huntsman Jr., R-Utah, Larry Hogan, R-Md., and Pat McCrory, R-N.C.; and former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Democrat who became an independent late in his political career.
Manchin and Huntsman, ambassador to China under President Barack Obama and to Russia under Trump, hosted a town hall in New Hampshire this month, driving speculation they may ultimately become the No Labels presidential ticket.
No Labels plans to hold a presidential nominating convention next April in Dallas, and the group is showing no signs of backing off its 2024 plans. With a massive budget fueled by anonymous donations, No Labels can afford to be patient in the fights ahead.
Democrats in Arizona filed a complaint this month with the secretary of state asking to have the group suspended until it discloses it donors. In May, Maine’s top elections official sent a cease-and-desist letter regarding No Labels voter registration efforts after claiming the group was misleading voters.
The group Citizens to Save Our Republic formed a super political action committee this month specifically designed to stop No Labels. The group’s members includes Bennett from Third Way, several advisers to the anti-Trump Lincoln Project and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.
Nixon, who declined to criticize Biden or Trump, said he understands that he is walking into a political firestorm. But he said he is passionate about No Labels’ constitutional right to secure a place on the ballot.
“I feel calm. I feel correct. I think we have a high moral ground here,” he said.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wlbt.com/2023/07/29/ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-third-party-presidential-bid-democrats-try-stop-it/ | 2023-07-29T16:06:35 | 1 | https://www.wlbt.com/2023/07/29/ex-missouri-gov-jay-nixon-joins-push-third-party-presidential-bid-democrats-try-stop-it/ |
Nearly 70% of U.S. adults believe in angels and heaven, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
About 8 in 10 Americans agree that some things cannot be explained by science or natural causes.
In addition, 72% believe in the power of prayer.
"People are yearning for something greater than themselves — beyond their own understanding," said Jack Grogger, a chaplain for the Los Angeles Angels and a longtime fire captain who has helped people in some of their darkest moments, according to the Associated Press.
Grogger, who also pastors a nondenominational church in Orange, California, said people find comfort in angels.
But the belief in heaven and angels is greater than those who believe in hell, 58%, and those who think the devil exists, 56%.
Half of U.S. adults believe that the spirits of those who have crossed over can interact with the living.
AP-NORC's poll also found that 42% of people in the U.S. believe that spiritual energy can be rooted in physical objects.
About a third of Americans believe in reincarnation, astrology, and yoga as a spiritual practice.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.abc15.com/do-angels-and-heaven-exist-here-s-what-most-americans-think | 2023-07-29T16:08:11 | 1 | https://www.abc15.com/do-angels-and-heaven-exist-here-s-what-most-americans-think |
PHOENIX — Frontier Airlines is now offering a monthly version of their popular GoWild! All-You-Can-Fly pass.
The new monthly pass starts at $149.
To sweeten the deal, Frontier is waiving the $99 enrollment fee to signup for the monthly pass until August 7.
This is on top of the air carrier's fall & winter pass that will allow unlimited travel from September 2 to February 29, 2024.
For more information on the new monthly pass, you can visit Frontier's website.
Frontier has been expanding its presence and service availability at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport the past year.
Among the places Frontier has expanded non-stop service from Phoenix to include Houston, Tampa, Nashville, and Cincinnati. | https://www.abc15.com/news/smart-shopper/frontier-airlines-now-offering-monthly-all-you-can-fly-pass | 2023-07-29T16:08:17 | 1 | https://www.abc15.com/news/smart-shopper/frontier-airlines-now-offering-monthly-all-you-can-fly-pass |
NEW RIVER, AZ — The northbound lanes of I-17 near New River have reopened after a deadly crash early Saturday morning.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety says they got the call of the crash at about 3:45 a.m.
When they arrived, they found two vehicles involved in the crash near mile marker 233 on I-17.
No one else was hurt in the crash, according to DPS.
The crash remains under investigation. | https://www.abc15.com/traffic/i-17-northbound-closed-near-new-river-due-to-deadly-crash | 2023-07-29T16:08:23 | 1 | https://www.abc15.com/traffic/i-17-northbound-closed-near-new-river-due-to-deadly-crash |