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Marine staff sergeant found not guilty in 2021 death of recruit at South Carolina’s Parris Island
A staff sergeant who oversaw Marine training at South Carolina’s Parris Island has been cleared of criminal responsibility in the death of a 19-year-old recruit in 2021.
A military jury on Friday found Staff Sgt. Steven Smiley not guilty of negligent homicide and four other counts in the death of Pfc. Dalton Beals, The Hilton Head Island Packet reported.
The defense argued with the help of medical experts that an existing heart condition contributed to Beals’ death. The prosecution had asserted Beals was suffering from heat stroke after Smiley pushed him too hard.
The jury did, however, find Smiley guilty of violating an order that forbids drill instructors from calling recruits names. Smiley called recruits “pig” and “war pigs” and “sweet bacon” during training. The jury was still deliberating on a sentence Friday night, the Island Packet reported.
Beals died on June 4, 2021, during a strenuous exercise known as “The Crucible” that caps a 13-week training course at Parris Island, one of two Marine training depots in the country.
Beals graduated in 2020 from Pennsville Memorial High School in Pennsville, New Jersey, the school noted in a Facebook post.
Several days before Beals began The Crucible, his mother posted on Facebook about the details of the grueling exercise, which she called “the final leg of my baby’s journey to becoming a Marine!” The 54-hour effort, during which recruits are allowed limited food and sleep, includes 48 miles (77 kilometers) of hiking, loaded with heavy gear.
As Smiley’s verdict was read Friday, his wife wept from her seat behind him in the front row of the courtroom, the Island Packet reported. The recruit’s mother, Stacie Beveridge Beals, told the newspaper she was not ready to comment.
Smiley became emotional as he read a statement to Beals’ family: “I’m sorry what happened to your son,” he said, adding that if something similar happened to his family, he “wouldn’t know what to do.”
Smiley, who joined the Marines in 2009 and has now completed his enlistment, said he plans to move to Wisconsin and be a firefighter and emergency first responder.
There have been a number of recruit deaths over the years at Parris Island, which has been training Marines since 1915 on the island off South Carolina’s coast. At least four Marine recruits have died in recent years with 10 total deaths since 2000, the Island Packet reported.
In 2018, a judge dismissed a lawsuit from the family of Raheel Siddiqui, a 20-year-old recruit from Michigan who killed himself in 2016 after a confrontation with a Parris Island drill instructor.
Siddiqui’s family disputed his suicide, saying he was targeted because of his Islamic faith. Several Marines were ultimately convicted for abuse, following evidence that drill instructors beat, choked and kicked recruits.
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/us-world-news/marine-staff-sergeant-found-not-guilty-in-2021-death-of-recruit-at-south-carolinas-parris-island/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:22 | 1 | https://www.kaaltv.com/news/us-world-news/marine-staff-sergeant-found-not-guilty-in-2021-death-of-recruit-at-south-carolinas-parris-island/ |
(KTLA) — An invasive fly species has prompted the quarantine of an upscale Southern California neighborhood, the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
The Tau fruit fly is native to Asia and is a “serious pest for agriculture and natural resources,” according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
The flies can be typically found on a variety of fruits and vegetables along with a “select range of native plants in California,” officials said.
After the detection of more than 20 Tau flies in the Stevenson Ranch area of the Santa Clarita Valley, a quarantine was placed on residents.
The quarantine area spans about 79 square miles, bordered on the north by Castaic Junction, on the south by Oat Mountain, on the west by Del Valle, and on the east by Honby Avenue.
Stevenson Ranch is an upscale neighborhood with a median home price of $1.15 million dollars according to Redfin.
Officials believe the fly was introduced to Los Angeles County by travelers who brought uninspected produce into the state. Agriculture officials note this is a common way for invasive species to arrive.
To prevent the species’ further spread, quarantined residents are asked not to move any fruits or vegetables away from their property. The produce they own may be safely consumed or processed, but must remain at the property.
If residents choose not to consume their produce, they must be disposed of by “double-bagging in plastic and placing the bags in a bin specifically for garbage,” officials said.
CDFA is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the L.A. County Agricultural Commissioner to “utilize a multi-tiered approach to eliminate the Tau fruit fly and prevent its spread to new areas.”
On properties within 200 meters of fly detections, crews will cut host fruit and vegetables to inspect for present fly larvae. Those properties will also be treated with a “naturally derived organic-approved material known as Spinosad, which will help remove any live adult fruit flies and reduce the density of the population,” said CDFA.
Fly traps that incorporate a pheromone along with a small amount of pesticide will also be placed throughout the treatment zones. | https://phl17.com/nmw/california-neighborhood-under-quarantine-due-to-invasive-fly-species/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:25 | 0 | https://phl17.com/nmw/california-neighborhood-under-quarantine-due-to-invasive-fly-species/ |
Concordia College Hosts Minnesota All-State Music Camps
MOORHEAD, Minn. (Valley News Live) - Concordia College is gearing up to welcome the Minnesota All-State Band, Jazz Band, and Orchestra camps, set to take place from August 1st to August 5th.
Students vying for a coveted spot in the All-State camps underwent rigorous auditions back in March. Their overall musicianship and technical prowess were thoroughly evaluated by judges.
The chosen ones will now get the opportunity of a lifetime—spending nearly a week on Concordia’s campus, honing their skills under the guidance of world-class conductors. Notably, Concordia’s music faculty, alongside professional musicians and educators from all across Minnesota, will also be actively involved as section coaches.
Jerri Neddermeyer, MMEA’s Executive Director, spoke highly of the All-State camp.
“Minnesota’s All-State camp is one-of-a-kind nationally with a week of intense musicianship development, Neddermeyer said. “MMEA believes that the experience these students receive will certainly inspire growth as individuals, but additionally, they will bring leadership and musicianship expertise back to their home ensembles--improving the state-wide music education environment.”
The culmination of the camp will be marked by free, public concerts at the Memorial Auditorium on Saturday, August 5th. Starting at 10 a.m., which includes the likes of Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Jazz Band. Following this, the Orchestra will take the stage at 1 p.m. The concerts will also be livestreamed, and concert links, digital programs, and All-State student lists can be accessed here.
Copyright 2023 KVLY. All rights reserved. | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/29/concordia-college-hosts-minnesota-all-state-music-camps/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:25 | 0 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/29/concordia-college-hosts-minnesota-all-state-music-camps/ |
Miami, Florida Keys getting additional area code of ‘645’
MIAMI (AP) — It looks like the singer Pitbull is going to have to add some digits to his ode to Miami’s area code, “305 Anthem.”
That’s because Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys are getting a new area code, “645,” starting next week.
Beginning next Friday, area customers who request new phone numbers will be assigned the “645” area code, the Florida Public Service Commission said in a news release on Friday.
The new area code will supplement the existing codes of “305” and “786″ which already are used for the Miami area and the Florida Keys.
“While minimizing the impact to current customers, the Commission must plan for the continuing influx of new residents and businesses to the region — a testament to South Florida’s growing economy,” Andrew Giles Fay, the commission’s chairman said in a statement. “The new 645 area code will ensure that customer demand for new lines is met.”
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/us-world-news/miami-florida-keys-getting-additional-area-code-of-645/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:29 | 1 | https://www.kaaltv.com/news/us-world-news/miami-florida-keys-getting-additional-area-code-of-645/ |
GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A North Carolina man’s long-lost 1967 Mustang coupe was found after being stolen 21 years ago.
Detectives in Guilford County, and the owner of the car, were also surprised to find the vehicle was still in decent shape.
“Twenty-one years. That is unbelievable,” David Tucker said.
The blue Mustang was Tucker’s dream car. He and his son even formed a bond during the boy’s childhood, riding together in the coupe.
“Riding in it with my son … he was in a car seat in the back,” Tucker said. “He finally got out of the car seat and was able to sit up front with me. Just riding around with him, and seeing the look on his face. That’s the best.”
In 2002, Tucker decided to sell the car. He left it sitting at a friend’s house in Oak Ridge, where it might have more visibility for potential buyers.
But somebody decided to just take it.
“I can’t even describe the sadness,” Tucker said. “That was like my baby, you know? A member of the family just got gone. I never thought I would see it again.”
For years, Tucker worked along with the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office to try to find it.
He checked in on his VIN number every year.
“The VIN number had been changed on it,” said Detective Sergeant Ryan Seals with the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office. “The initial VIN number … came back to a vehicle that had already been scrapped.”
But a few weeks back, deputies said that VIN number eventually led to a crack in the case: The car was found states away in Florida — and only a little worse for wear.
In addition to a little bit of damage on the inside and outside, the car, too, had been painted white.
“It’s nowhere near what it used to be. It’s going to take some work,” Tucker said.
Tucker is currently trying to figure out how to get the car back to North Carolina.
“It means a lot, there was a lot of memories.” he said. “That was my dream car, and my son loved it. We rode in and all the time. So I’m just anxious to get it back and maybe get it back to where it was when it got stolen.”
Tucker is also working with DMV to get his title back. He says it could still take several weeks or even months to get his car back to North Carolina. | https://phl17.com/nmw/dream-car-mans-stolen-mustang-found-21-years-later/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:31 | 0 | https://phl17.com/nmw/dream-car-mans-stolen-mustang-found-21-years-later/ |
Robert Chambers, NYC’s ‘Preppy Killer,’ is released after 15 years in prison on drug charges
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Chambers, better known to some as the “Preppy Killer,” was released after spending 15 years in prison for drug and assault charges, according to state records.
Chambers spent a similar amount of time in prison after pleading guilty to strangling Jennifer Levin in New York City’s Central Park during the summer of 1986.
Chambers entered the plea to killing 18-year-old Levin as part of a deal when a jury could not reach a decision after nine days of deliberations.
He was released in 2003 for that crime but again ran afoul of the law soon after.
He was again arrested in 2007 for selling drugs out of his apartment. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison but was released Tuesday — four years early — from the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York, according to online inmate records maintained by the New York Department of Corrections.
Chambers, now 56, will remain under supervision for up to five years, records show.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/29/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-prison-drug-charges/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:31 | 1 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/29/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-prison-drug-charges/ |
Robert Chambers, NYC’s ‘Preppy Killer,’ is released after 15 years in prison on drug charges
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Chambers, better known to some as the “Preppy Killer,” was released after spending 15 years in prison for drug and assault charges, according to state records.
Chambers spent a similar amount of time in prison after pleading guilty to strangling Jennifer Levin in New York City’s Central Park during the summer of 1986.
Chambers entered the plea to killing 18-year-old Levin as part of a deal when a jury could not reach a decision after nine days of deliberations.
He was released in 2003 for that crime but again ran afoul of the law soon after.
He was again arrested in 2007 for selling drugs out of his apartment. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison but was released Tuesday — four years early — from the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York, according to online inmate records maintained by the New York Department of Corrections.
Chambers, now 56, will remain under supervision for up to five years, records show.
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/us-world-news/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-in-prison-on-drug-charges/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:36 | 1 | https://www.kaaltv.com/news/us-world-news/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-in-prison-on-drug-charges/ |
(WFRV) – It may have many names, but depending on where you live, it only has one. “Cornhole” or “Bags” has been in the middle of discussions when it comes to what the popular bag toss game is called.
The American Cornhole Association (ACA) wanted to settle the debate about what the popular game is called. In addition to having it on its website, the ACA also posted on its Facebook page.
The Facebook post had nearly 600 engagements, and the results painted an interesting picture. A map with the results showed how different parts of the country have different names for the game.
Nearly 79% of the answers were “cornhole,” while just over 21% were “bags.” There was also a percentage for “bean bag toss.” Most of the answers for “bags” came from the Midwest.
But outside of the Midwest, answers were dominated by “cornhole.”
Regardless of what the game is called, most people play by the same rules.
On the American Cornhole Association’s website, it says that it was established in 2003 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was reportedly the first organized corn toss organization in the United States. | https://phl17.com/nmw/is-it-bags-or-cornhole-official-governing-body-tries-to-settle-the-debate/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:37 | 0 | https://phl17.com/nmw/is-it-bags-or-cornhole-official-governing-body-tries-to-settle-the-debate/ |
Willi Castro Player Prop Bets: Twins vs. Royals - July 29
Published: Jul. 29, 2023 at 4:23 PM CDT|Updated: 43 minutes ago
On Saturday, Willi Castro (coming off going 0-for-3) and the Minnesota Twins face the Kansas City Royals, whose starting pitcher will be Jordan Lyles. First pitch is at 7:10 PM ET.
He had a hitless showing in his most recent game (0-for-3) against the Royals.
Willi Castro Game Info & Props vs. the Royals
- Game Day: Saturday, July 29, 2023
- Game Time: 7:10 PM ET
- Stadium: Kauffman Stadium
- Live Stream: Watch this game on Fubo!
- Royals Starter: Jordan Lyles
- TV Channel: BSKC
- Hits Prop: Over/under 0.5 hits (Over odds: -208)
- Home Runs Prop: Over/under 0.5 home runs (Over odds: +725)
- RBI Prop: Over/under 0.5 RBI (Over odds: +210)
- Runs Prop: Over/under 0.5 runs (Over odds: +120)
Looking to place a prop bet on Willi Castro? Check out what's available at BetMGM and use bonus code "GNPLAY" when you sign up with this link!
Discover More About This Game
Willi Castro At The Plate
- Castro has 11 doubles, two triples, five home runs and 21 walks while batting .241.
- Castro has gotten at least one hit in 53.9% of his games this season (41 of 76), with multiple hits 14 times (18.4%).
- He has hit a home run in four games this year (5.3%), homering in 1.9% of his plate appearances.
- Castro has driven home a run in 18 games this season (23.7%), including more than one RBI in 3.9% of his games and producing three or more of his team's runs on one occasion..
- In 29 of 76 games this year, he has scored, and five of those games included multiple runs.
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Willi Castro Home/Away Batting Splits
Royals Pitching Rankings
- The Royals pitching staff is 26th in the league with a collective 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
- The Royals have the 28th-ranked team ERA among all league pitching staffs (5.19).
- The Royals rank 19th in baseball in home runs allowed (126 total, 1.2 per game).
- Lyles (1-12 with a 6.10 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 107 2/3 innings pitched) gets the start for the Royals, his 20th of the season.
- In his last outing on Sunday against the New York Yankees, the righty tossed five innings, allowing five earned runs while surrendering nine hits.
- The 32-year-old's 6.10 ERA ranks 64th, 1.282 WHIP ranks 46th, and 6.4 K/9 ranks 59th among qualifying pitchers this season.
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.valleynewslive.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/willi-castro-mlb-player-prop-bets/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:37 | 1 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/sports/betting/2023/07/29/willi-castro-mlb-player-prop-bets/ |
Angels manager Phil Nevin suspended 1 game for outburst at umpire
TORONTO (AP) — Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin was suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball on Saturday for a postgame outburst at an umpire following a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays a night earlier.
Bench coach Ray Montgomery managed the Angels during the second game of the three-game series as Nevin served his suspension.
Nevin was seen holding up a tablet computer and yelling at plate umpire Mike Estabrook as the crew left the field after the 4-1 loss Friday night.
The umpires access their locker room through the tunnel at the end of the visitor’s dugout on the first base side of Rogers Centre.
A Toronto police officer accompanied the umpire crew as it descended the dugout steps. Montgomery had to restrain Nevin as the umpires passed through the end of the dugout.
Nevin was angry about the game-ending called third strike against pinch hitter Michael Stefanic, who entered in the ninth inning with the bases loaded after Shohei Ohtani left because of cramping in both of his calves.
“I just explained to him that I thought the pitch to Stefanic was outside,” Nevin later told reporters.
Ohtani hit his major league-leading 39th home run in the series opener — part of a streak of three homers in three at-bats over two games — before exiting early.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://www.kaaltv.com/sports/national-sports/angels-manager-phil-nevin-suspended-1-game-for-outburst-at-umpire/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:42 | 1 | https://www.kaaltv.com/sports/national-sports/angels-manager-phil-nevin-suspended-1-game-for-outburst-at-umpire/ |
(The Hill) – A majority of Americans believe former President Trump has done “something illegal” or “unethical,” according to a new poll.
The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll released Friday, found that 51% of Americans believe the former president has done “something illegal,” 27% said he’s done something “unethical,” but “not illegal,” and 19% said he’s done “nothing wrong.”
The results of the new poll come just one day after the Department of Justice (DOJ) levied new charges against Trump in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case for attempting to delete surveillance footage. The superseding indictment brings the total number of counts facing the former president in the classified documents case to 40.
The poll, however, was conducted before the new charges against Trump were announced.
The survey also found that the percentage of Democrats who think Trump has done “something illegal” has increased — up from 78% in June to 84%. The number of independents that believe the same also increased from 50% to 52% in the same period, according to the poll.
The number of Republicans that believe Trump’s actions are “illegal,” however, has remained steady at around 13%. But, as the poll notes, there was a dip the number of Republicans that believe Trump has done “nothing wrong” — going from 50% to 41% since June.
DOJ special counsel Jack Smith has been investigating Trump and his allies’ efforts to upend the 2020 election. The former president also faces another indictment from New York district attorney Alvin Bragg for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to a 2016 hush money payment.
The survey of 1,285 respondents was conducted from July 25-27, with a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points. | https://phl17.com/nmw/majority-of-americans-believe-trump-has-done-something-illegal-poll/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:43 | 1 | https://phl17.com/nmw/majority-of-americans-believe-trump-has-done-something-illegal-poll/ |
Jimmy Graham is grateful to be back with the Saints and confident he can still play
METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Jimmy Graham offered a few reasons why — at age 36 and without having played football last year — he could become a playmaker again for the New Orleans Saints.
“I’m feeling better than ever. I’m still 6-(foot)-7 and I like the red zone,” the veteran tight end said Saturday in his first public comments since rejoining his first NFL team Tuesday. “I definitely came into this with a chip on my shoulder and with something to prove.”
Estimating he weighed as much as 285 pounds in his previous stint with the Saints, when he worked out like “a meathead,” Graham said he has been cycling “hundreds of miles a week” and has changed his workout and eating habits to suit to his age.
“I know I’m definitely in shape,” said Graham, now listed at 265 pounds. “That’s not a problem at all.”
Graham, who has caught at least eight touchdown passes in six of his 12 NFL seasons, was a favorite target of former star quarterback Drew Brees and among the most popular players in New Orleans before the club surprisingly traded him to Seattle in 2015.
Many fans were upset, including general manager Micky Loomis’ own daughter. So, too, was Graham.
“For me, it was pretty shocking,” Graham said. “I thought I would never leave this place. … I woke up to the part of the business that hurt.”
Alluding to a difficult childhood in which he sometimes lived in an orphanage, Graham added, “at first it was very difficult because of my connection with Drew as an ‘older brother’ and all the people in this building.”
“It was family, you know?” Graham continued. “So, for me, a guy who didn’t have a lot of family, it was definitely a difficult time.”
Graham played three seasons with the Seahawks — where he had a major knee injury 2015, but also his last 10-TD season in 2017 — before spending two seasons each at Green Bay and Chicago. He said he spent several of those seasons avoiding interviews because he “didn’t really have a lot to say that was positive.”
In recent years, Graham said, he longed for another chance to play in New Orleans.
“I’ve been trying to come home for a long time,” Graham said, adding that by last season, he didn’t want to play anywhere else. He said several teams reached out to him in 2022, but he told his agent, Jimmy Sexton, “that if I don’t retire as a Saint that I wasn’t going to play again.”
Sitting out last season was “extremely weird, especially after you spend a whole offseason preparing (to play), working out and making sure you’re in shape,” he said. “I think everything happens for a reason and I think it’ll be to my benefit.”
The Saints used a third-round pick to draft Graham in 2010, despite the fact that he’d played just one season of football at Miami after spending four seasons as a basketball power forward for the Hurricanes.
In just his second NFL season, Graham caught 99 passes for 1,310 yards and 11 touchdowns and was selected to his first of five Pro Bowls. He had another banner season in 2013, with 1,215 yards and a career-high 16 TDs receiving.
Around that time, current Saints tight end Foster Moreau was playing for Jesuit High School in New Orleans and had a signed No. 80 Graham Saints jersey in a shadow box in his room.
“Jimmy was a dog, and he still is. Honestly, he runs great,” Moreau said. “So, it’s just such a funny situation. You walk into the locker room and, ‘Oh my God! Jimmy Graham right there.’”
Graham’s production plummeted in his final season with the Bears in 2021, when he caught 14 passes for 167 yards and three TDs in 15 games.
And while the Saints cannot be sure how well he’ll play this season, they expressed confidence he’ll be a leader in the locker room. Graham sounded ready to embrace that role, noting that he, along with 13th-year defensive end Cameron Jordan, are the only players on the roster who’d once been teammates with most of the stars of the Saints’ 2009 championship team.
“I understand what that culture was like and what that looks like, the sacrifice that it takes and the brotherhood – that bond – that needs to be molded,” Graham said.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://www.kaaltv.com/sports/national-sports/jimmy-graham-is-grateful-to-be-back-with-the-saints-and-confident-he-can-still-play/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:48 | 0 | https://www.kaaltv.com/sports/national-sports/jimmy-graham-is-grateful-to-be-back-with-the-saints-and-confident-he-can-still-play/ |
(NerdWallet) – Labor Day may mark the unofficial end of summer in the U.S. — but it’s hardly the end of airport crowds. In fact, given record-breaking crowds already this year, there’s a good chance this Labor Day weekend could be busier than any prior Labor Day weekend.
Already this summer, U.S. airports have set fresh passenger records. June 30, the Friday before July 4, marked a new record high of passengers on a single day when more than 2.884 million people passed through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints.
That figure topped the previous record of 2.882 million people from the Sunday after 2019’s Thanksgiving, according to a NerdWallet analysis of TSA data showing the number of passengers screened at U.S. TSA checkpoints over the last four years.
Roughly 12% more people passed through U.S. airports in June 2023 versus June 2022, which is perhaps unsurprising given the lingering effects of the pandemic through 2022.
The more impressive feat, though, is that 2023’s crowds have exceeded 2019 levels. TSA screened 0.6% more passengers in June 2023 versus June 2019, proving that summer is back and bigger than ever.
Expect Labor Day 2023 crowds to be no different, but some days around the long weekend are significantly busier than others.
The best and worst days to fly Labor Day weekend
TSA checkpoint data suggests most people use Labor Day — which is observed on the first Monday of September — as a long weekend. They depart on Friday, bask in two full days of vacation and return home on Monday.
To avoid crowds, and likely save money, book Labor Day travel on days that aren’t the start and end of the weekend. Based on an average of the past four years, here were the most to least crowded days for the week surrounding Labor Day, ranked:
- Friday before Labor Day (most crowded).
- Thursday before.
- Labor Day Monday.
- Sunday after.
- Friday after.
- Monday after.
- Monday before.
- Thursday after.
- Tuesday after.
- Wednesday before.
- Sunday before.
- Saturday before.
- Wednesday after.
- Tuesday before.
- Saturday after (least crowded).
When broken out by pre- and post-Labor Day travel, here are the three least crowded days to travel ranked from least to most crowded:
Pre-holiday:
- Tuesday before (overall least crowded day pre-holiday).
- Saturday before.
- Sunday before.
Post-holiday:
- Saturday after (overall least crowded day post-holiday).
- Wednesday after.
- Tuesday after.
During the seven days after and before Labor Day (including the holiday itself), the Friday before Labor Day has been the single busiest day to fly over each of the past four years.
As far as the period starting on Labor Day itself and spanning the subsequent seven days, Labor Day Monday has been the busiest day to fly over the past three years. If Labor Day Monday is excluded from the rankings, the Sunday after has been the busiest over the past three years. In 2019, the trends were flipped: the Sunday after was the busiest, and the holiday itself was the second busiest.
The smarter, cheaper Labor Day weekend itinerary
If you work a standard Monday-Friday workweek and have the holiday off, leaving Friday after work and returning on Labor Day seems logical. But following the same itinerary as everyone else means you’ll likely pay — both in airfares and navigating airport crowds. For lighter crowds (and perhaps better deals), try these travel days instead:
Fly on the Tuesday or Wednesday before: Let Labor Day weekend become closer to a week by jetting off earlier than the folks leaving Thursday or Friday, assuming you have enough vacation days to use (or can work remotely). You’ll have more time away from home and be more relaxed without the big airport crowds.
Travel on Saturday: Crowds are light on Saturdays before and after the holiday. So, rather than rushing out of work on Friday afternoon to catch a flight, opt for the morning flight the next day.
That Saturday morning flight might also reduce your risk of delays, too. According to travel booking site Hopper’s Flight Disruption Outlook for Spring 2023, flights departing after 9 a.m. are twice as likely to be delayed than departures scheduled from 5-8 a.m.
Fly home the Sunday before: While most folks fly home on Labor Day Monday, you might get a head start by flying home on Sunday. Sure, you’ll have one less vacation day than folks following your same itinerary departing Monday, but that’s not a bad thing. By returning Sunday night, you’ll have a whole day to refresh and prepare for the week ahead by doing laundry, meal prepping or catching up on potential jetlag. Sometimes the nicest way to relax is by taking a vacation from your vacation. | https://phl17.com/nmw/the-busiest-days-to-fly-around-labor-day-2023/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:49 | 0 | https://phl17.com/nmw/the-busiest-days-to-fly-around-labor-day-2023/ |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday signed a law moving the official Christmas Day holiday to Dec. 25 from Jan. 7, the day when the Russian Orthodox Church observes it.
The explanatory note attached to the law said its goal is to “abandon the Russian heritage,” including that of “imposing the celebration of Christmas” on Jan. 7, and cited Ukrainians’ “relentless, successful struggle for their identity” and “the desire of all Ukrainians to live their lives with their own traditions, holidays,” fueled by Russia’s 17-month-old aggression against the country.
Last year, some Ukrainians already observed Christmas on Dec. 25, in a gesture that represented separation from Russia, its culture and religious traditions.
The law also moves the Day of Ukrainian Statehood to July 15 from July 28, and the Day of Defenders of Ukraine to Oct. 1 from Oct. 14.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which claims sovereignty over Orthodoxy in Ukraine, and some other Eastern Orthodox churches continue to use the ancient Julian calendar. Christmas falls 13 days later on that calendar, or Jan. 7, than it does on the Gregorian calendar used by most church and secular groups.
The Catholic Church first adopted the modern, more astronomically precise Gregorian calendar in the 16th century. Protestants and some Orthodox churches have since aligned their own calendars for the purpose of calculating Christmas and Easter.
Ukraine’s religious landscape has fractured for years. There are two branches of Orthodox Christianity in the country, one aligned with the Russian church, even as it enjoys broad autonomy, the other completely independent of it. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the branch that is separate from the Russian church, announced earlier this year that it was switching to the Revised Julian calendar, which marks Christmas on Dec. 25.
Its leadership last year allowed believers to celebrate the holiday on Dec. 25.
Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Saturday that the rival Orthodox Church, which is aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church, vowed to continue observing Christmas on Jan. 7.
Zelenskyy on Saturday traveled to the war-torn Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, which Russia has illegally annexed, but only partially occupies, and met with members of the country’s Special Operation Forces. Zelenskyy noted in an online statement that Saturday marks their official day of recognition and also the anniversary of the deadly attack on the Olenivka prison in the Russian-held part of the region in which dozens of prisoners of war were killed.
Russia and Ukraine accused each other of the attack, with both sides saying that the assault was premeditated in a bid to cover up atrocities. A United Nations fact-finding mission requested by Russia and Ukraine was sent to investigate the killings, but the team was disbanded in January 2023 due to security concerns.
Zelenskyy described the attack as one of Russia’s “most vile and cruel crimes” in a video statement Saturday. | https://phl17.com/nmw/ukraine-moves-date-of-christmas-day-to-distance-itself-from-russian-tradition/ | 2023-07-29T22:07:55 | 1 | https://phl17.com/nmw/ukraine-moves-date-of-christmas-day-to-distance-itself-from-russian-tradition/ |
(NEXSTAR) — Yet another new, unsafe trend is catching attention.
This time, some TikTok users are encouraging viewers to add borax to their water, claiming the common cleaning product can help reduce inflammation and joint pain, or even “detoxify” the body. As you may have guessed, health officials are warning of the consequences the trend could have on your health.
Borax, or sodium tetraborate decahydrate, is a chemical compound commonly available in the form of a white crystalline powder. It’s been utilized in a variety of ways since the Middle Ages, and today is often used a laundry detergent, kitchen/bathroom cleaner, and even a bug and weed killer.
Boric acid has also been found to have bacteriostatic properties, meaning it can prevent the growth of bacteria, Dr. S. Ruddy Rose, director of VCU Health’s Virginia Poison Center, told Nexstar.
Despite its endless safe uses, however, borax is not approved for ingestion by humans.
Ingesting borax can cause people to become quite sick, according to Dr. Rose, leading to convulsions, problems with the gastrointestinal tract, heat burns, and even kidney damage.
“This happens pretty quickly,” he adds.
Even the company behind 20 Mule Team Borax, a popular borax product, has warned against participating in the TikTok trend.
“20 Mule Team Borax has many uses but ingesting is not one of them,” the company warned on July 25.
“Do not bathe in, apply to skin, or ingest Borax, including drinking it diluted in water,” the company continued. “It is not intended for use as a personal care product or dietary supplement.”
Should your child fall victim to the trend, Dr. Rose said you can follow up with the child’s pediatrician, as long as they don’t have any symptoms. But if your child is vomiting, has abdominal pain, or experiences a seizure or other serious symptoms, it’s best to seek emergency medical attention.
Several videos recommending borax have been removed from TikTok, according to NBC News.
Social-media users, meanwhile, should always be cautious about taking medical advice from influencers or TikTok personalities.
“Just beware of these types of activities,” Dr. Rose said. “The people promoting it may not be doing it for the right reason.”
Borax uses
There are plenty of non-dangerous ways to use borax that you may not be aware of.
- It can unclog drains. As recommended by Southern Living, 1/2 cup of borax and two cups of boiling water down a clogged drain should clear it right out. Let the solution sit for 15 mins before flushing with warm water.
- It’s a pest deterrent/killer. Borax is a desiccant, which means it sucks up moisture. In this way, borax can be useful to sprinkle in places where bugs might ordinarily populate. The powder will keep the area dry and make it less optimal for insects to make home. Meanwhile, if bugs are already in your home, it’s not too late. The Spruce explains that insects, like cockroaches and ants, become “dried out” from the inside and die after eating the powder.
- It can help grow your fruit trees. Bob Vila recommends adding borax to the soil around your tree to help keep the plant’s pH levels desirable for growth.
- It’s in ingredient in “slime.” If your kids love making and playing with slime, Taste of Home has a recipe for using borax to make the stretchy, gooey stuff. | https://phl17.com/nmw/why-are-people-drinking-borax-cleaning-powder-on-tiktok/ | 2023-07-29T22:08:01 | 1 | https://phl17.com/nmw/why-are-people-drinking-borax-cleaning-powder-on-tiktok/ |
(NEXSTAR) – The astounding critical and commercial reception of the new “Barbie” movie has catapulted all-things-Barbie back to the forefront of pop culture.
Even Allan!
Mattel’s Allan dolls — first introduced in the earlier half of the ‘60s as a “buddy” for Ken dolls — are currently experiencing increased demand among collectors and Barbie fans, with early specimens selling for upwards of $200 on eBay over the last several days.
The value of Allan dolls has increased, no doubt, due to Allan’s inclusion in the film. But that’s about the only effect the movie has had on the price of vintage Barbies, according to Barbie expert Rebecca Chulew, who has been featured such shows as “Collector’s Call,” “Toy Hunter” and “My Crazy Obsession.”
“Many vintage Barbies were produced by the millions and are easy to find,” said Chulew, who has sold over 10,000 Barbies on eBay and Macari over the years. “Everybody thinks they have a valuable Barbie. The truth is, the majority aren’t.”
Certain vintage Barbie dolls, meanwhile, might still be worth a pretty penny, but their value really isn’t tied to the movie, according to Chulew.
“The doll now is kind of holding steady,” she said. “It has a good value, but I don’t see it going up or down a lot.”
The most valuable Barbies, she said, continue to be the very first series of dolls ever produced in 1959. Specifically, the No. 1 or No. 2 Ponytail Barbies, which can fetch anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000 per doll, depending on condition, the inclusion of the original box, and — perhaps more importantly — the hair color.
“They made three blondes for every brunette,” said Chulew, who noted that brunette Ponytail Barbies from 1959 can sell for up to $6,000, even out of the box.
Chulew further said that sealed or boxed dolls don’t matter as much to many Barbie collectors, seeing as the early opaque boxes were more akin to “shoeboxes” and didn’t showcase the dolls. (“There’s a lot of [online] box sales going on” for folks who want just the packaging, she said.)
Another coveted doll is the Side-Part American Girl Barbie produced in the mid-‘60s, which can go for “about $3,000” (and reportedly once sold for almost double), according to the expert.
Collectors also tend to prize “Twist ‘n Turn” Stacey dolls (not to be confused with Stacie dolls) from the late ‘60s, as well as “Steffie-face” Barbies (i.e., a type of doll using a certain face mold) introduced a few years later. Both can sell for hundreds to the right collectors.
Other valuable dolls include rarer Barbies that weren’t widely produced — like the brunette mentioned above — and, specifically, Black Barbies. According to Chulew, first- and second-issue Francie dolls from 1967-1969 are tough to find, while Alpha Kappa Alpha Barbies (which commemorated the historically African American sorority) can go for up to around $1,000.
And then, there’s Allan.
Allan dolls — including the original from 1964, the bendable-leg version from 1965 and the Wedding Day Allan doll from 1990 — have seen a “slight increase [in value] due to the movie,” said Chulew, adding that sellers might be able to get a few hundred for each one.
The rest of the Barbie line, and even vintage dolls that were mentioned in the movie, are likely worth no more than they were last year.
“I think what you’re going to see in the next 30 to 60 days are a lot of people selling their childhood dolls. And a lot of them aren’t going to be valuable,” Chulew said. “A few rarities might be unearthed, but it might cause stagnation in the market. It’s going to be tough for collectors to sort through all the barbies being advertised as ‘rare’ when they’re not.”
Barbie collectors, on the other hand, might be busy scooping up other “Barbie”-movie merchandise to complete their collections or prepare for any future scarcity. For example, the collectible “Barbie” popcorn buckets from AMC are very “hot” right now, Chulew said, and certain dolls from Mattel’s latest line of movie-inspired figures are becoming hard to find, even if they’re still selling at retail prices.
“But they don’t appear to have made the Allan doll from the movie,” she lamented, “which may be a mistake on their part.” | https://phl17.com/nmw/your-vintage-barbie-dolls-might-be-worth-a-pretty-penny-if-you-have-the-right-ones/ | 2023-07-29T22:08:07 | 0 | https://phl17.com/nmw/your-vintage-barbie-dolls-might-be-worth-a-pretty-penny-if-you-have-the-right-ones/ |
Here are the first round tee times for the 2023 Taunton Junior City Open.
TAUNTON— The tee times for the first round of the 2023 Taunton Junior City Open have been announced, as 16 area young golfers are set to compete across three age brackets at the John F. Parker Golf Course.
Golfers aged 16-18 will compete in Division 3, while golfers aged 14 and 15 compete in Division 2 and golfers aged 11-13 compete in Division 1, with tee times arranged in order by age group.
On Monday, the first Division 3 group of Sean Velozo, McKyen Gonsalves and Shawn Clary will tee off at 7:30 a.m., while the second Division 3 group of Donny Azar, Ella Rosa, Alex Dias and Noah Faidell are set for a 7:40 a.m. tee time.
The first Division 2 group of Charlie Rosa, who captured last year's Division 1 crown, Logan Gallagher and Cole Sousa will tee off at 8 a.m., with the second Division 2 group of Mason Bell, defending Division 2 champion Cameron Poirier and Griffin Clary set to tee off at 8:10 a.m. and the final grouping of Bryce Botelho, this year's lone Division 1 golfer, Quint Perry and Mackinley Garcia are set for an 8:20 a.m. tee time.
All golfers will play 18 holes on Monday before the field is cut to the low scores for a final round of 18 holes on Tuesday, with the lowest score after 36 combined holes declared the winner, with the winners and runner-up in each division receiving trophies.
Taunton Daily Gazette sports reporter Cameron Merritt can be reached at cmerritt@tauntongazette.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @CamMerritt_News. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to the Taunton Daily Gazette today. | https://www.tauntongazette.com/story/sports/youth/2023/07/29/first-round-tee-times-for-the-2023-taunton-junior-city-open/70491660007/ | 2023-07-29T22:08:33 | 0 | https://www.tauntongazette.com/story/sports/youth/2023/07/29/first-round-tee-times-for-the-2023-taunton-junior-city-open/70491660007/ |
NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri, Chief Imam at the Islamic Centre of Ireland. He was a friend and spiritual advisor to Sinead O'Connor who died earlier this week.
Copyright 2023 NPR
NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri, Chief Imam at the Islamic Centre of Ireland. He was a friend and spiritual advisor to Sinead O'Connor who died earlier this week.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.apr.org/2023-07-29/how-sinead-oconnor-found-peace-in-islam-after-a-lifelong-struggle-with-religion | 2023-07-29T22:09:28 | 1 | https://www.apr.org/2023-07-29/how-sinead-oconnor-found-peace-in-islam-after-a-lifelong-struggle-with-religion |
An NPR investigation into Pentagon documents finds flaws in the U.S. claim that civilians were spared in the 2019 operation against the leader of ISIS.
Copyright 2023 NPR
An NPR investigation into Pentagon documents finds flaws in the U.S. claim that civilians were spared in the 2019 operation against the leader of ISIS.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.apr.org/2023-07-29/pentagon-files-reveal-flaws-in-u-s-claims-about-syrian-casualties-in-baghdadi-raid | 2023-07-29T22:09:34 | 0 | https://www.apr.org/2023-07-29/pentagon-files-reveal-flaws-in-u-s-claims-about-syrian-casualties-in-baghdadi-raid |
News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you. | https://www.apr.org/2023-07-29/the-deepest-breath-director-on-her-new-documentary-about-free-diving | 2023-07-29T22:09:40 | 0 | https://www.apr.org/2023-07-29/the-deepest-breath-director-on-her-new-documentary-about-free-diving |
Former President Trump faces three new charges in the case that accuses him of hoarding classified documents, as a grand jury continues to investigate his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Former President Trump faces three new charges in the case that accuses him of hoarding classified documents, as a grand jury continues to investigate his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.apr.org/politics-government/2023-07-29/trump-faces-new-charges-in-classified-documents-case | 2023-07-29T22:09:46 | 0 | https://www.apr.org/politics-government/2023-07-29/trump-faces-new-charges-in-classified-documents-case |
News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you. | https://www.apr.org/science-health/2023-07-29/how-to-maximize-your-summer-meteor-gazing | 2023-07-29T22:09:52 | 1 | https://www.apr.org/science-health/2023-07-29/how-to-maximize-your-summer-meteor-gazing |
Robert Chambers, NYC’s ‘Preppy Killer,’ is released after 15 years in prison on drug charges
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Chambers, better known to some as the “Preppy Killer,” was released after spending 15 years in prison for drug and assault charges, according to state records.
Chambers spent a similar amount of time in prison after pleading guilty to strangling Jennifer Levin in New York City’s Central Park during the summer of 1986.
Chambers entered the plea to killing 18-year-old Levin as part of a deal when a jury could not reach a decision after nine days of deliberations.
He was released in 2003 for that crime but again ran afoul of the law soon after.
He was again arrested in 2007 for selling drugs out of his apartment. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison but was released Tuesday — four years early — from the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York, according to online inmate records maintained by the New York Department of Corrections.
Chambers, now 56, will remain under supervision for up to five years, records show.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/29/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-prison-drug-charges/ | 2023-07-29T22:09:58 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/29/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-prison-drug-charges/ |
In 2009, Lin-Manuel Miranda performed “The Hamilton Mixtape” at the White House's Evening of Poetry, Music and Spoken Word, unveiling in some measure the musical sensation of the decade for President Barack Obama and guests.
Then in 2015, “Hamilton,” the rapped-and-sung biographical musical about Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, who served as the first secretary of the treasury and famously died of injuries sustained in a duel with political rival Aaron Burr, debuted first off Broadway, then at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, where it continues to run.
Nominated for a record 15 Tony Awards, “Hamilton” won 11 — the second most ever — set Broadway box office records and continues to sell out performances.
The most recent available totals show that “Hamilton” on Broadway has put on 2,666 performances for 3.58 million people and grossed $853 million, fourth behind "The Lion King,” “Wicked” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”
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But that is far from the total numbers for “Hamilton,” which began a run in London’s West End in 2017; played Chicago, Los Angeles, Hamburg and Australia for years; and has had national tours of the U.S. since 2017, often drawing 50,000 or more in each city it plays.
Lincoln will be adding some 30,000 to that total in the next two weeks as “Hamilton” makes its debut with a 16-show engagement at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
So, why, Nikisha Wiliams, does “Hamilton” remain so popular that it can play two-week or longer engagements in every city where it stops?
“It’s a myriad of reasons,” said Williams, who plays Eliza Hamilton in the Philip Company production that will take the Lied stage Wednesday.
“It appeals to a lot of different kinds of people,” Williams said. “You have people who are interested in history and they are going to want to go and see the story and see exactly what things have been put in about Alexander Hamilton's life and the people around him like Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson and all those things. So they're going to be interested in seeing that.
“You're going to have people who are interested in rap music, and so they're going to want to see how rap music and all of those things have been incorporated in the show. And you just have musical theater people in general who are going to see anything that Lin-Manuel Miranda puts up. That encompasses a lot of different types of people, which is why it's continued to be so popular.”
The touring version of “Hamilton” also got a boost three years ago when Disney+ began streaming a 2015 film of the original Broadway production.
“I think the live capture that they presented on Disney+ got some people more engaged in the show, being able to watch it from their homes,” Williams said. “I think now the opportunity to come and watch it live is exciting because there's a lot of things that you miss watching us, you know, and not seeing the full picture. So I think that ignited some excitement about the show.”
Williams, a Mobile, Alabama, native who studied vocal performance at the University of Southern Mississippi, joined the touring “Hamilton” company in 2018 as a member of the ensemble, understudying the three Schuyler sisters — Eliza, Angelica and Peggy.
“When I first got the ensemble role and covered the sisters, I was most excited to play Angelica because I liked her songs,” Williams said. “But then when I started learning all of them and going on for them, I realized that I connected more with Eliza. I didn't ask to be bumped up to Eliza. A spot opened and they asked if I wanted to be Eliza.”
Eliza is, to some measure, the musical’s main character — “The title says ‘Hamilton,’ not which Hamilton,” Williams said — as her story is told along with that of her husband.
“It’s a story of someone trying to make something of themselves,” Williams said. "I think anybody can relate to that story, right on top of the female aspect and realizing that Eliza has done just as much if not more than Alexander Hamilton. It's really nice that this particular story talks about her legacy as well."
While it can be debated which “Hamilton” is the title character, it’s certain that Eliza is the most challenging role in the production — she is a featured part of 16 songs, several of them solo.
“I would absolutely say it is (the most challenging)," Williams said. “That’s mostly because everybody has moments where they're kind of rapping, so you're like you're speaking; Eliza, everything she does is sung. And even when she doesn't have her own solo stuff, when you see the live production, which is something that Disney+ doesn't tell you, a lot of the principals are in the balcony, singing the ensemble stuff.
“So like when Aaron Burr is singing his song, ‘Wait For It,' Eliza is out there singing. She's not always singing her solo songs but she's singing a lot of ensemble songs on stage. That equals out to be a lot of time singing on stage, for sure”
Williams, who says she has to live a “monk-like” existence on tour, rarely venturing out from her hotel to explore cities to preserve her voice and energy for the performances, said she can directly connect with audiences a few times during each performance, which runs for 2 hours and 45 minutes.
“In the first act, in her first big number, ‘Helpless’, when she is introduced to Alexander Hamilton and when they get married, there's a lot of her interacting with the audience straight on and kind of breaking the fourth wall,” Williams said "In those moments, I get to see at least the first couple of rows of people and kind of engage with them. There's some other moments throughout the show that I can kind of look in and engage. But for the most part, just hearing their excitement, hearing the tears and hearing the laughs, you know that they're invested in the show.”
That, Williams said, is rewarding for the performers and, importantly, evidence of why “Hamilton” has continued to connect with thousands eight years after it debuted. | https://journalstar.com/life-entertainment/local/art-theater/hamilton-musical-lied-center-miranda/article_0fa253ee-2b0a-11ee-a700-bbba3b27ed9d.html | 2023-07-29T22:10:38 | 1 | https://journalstar.com/life-entertainment/local/art-theater/hamilton-musical-lied-center-miranda/article_0fa253ee-2b0a-11ee-a700-bbba3b27ed9d.html |
In the fall of 2021, Cyrus Jaffery walked into a McDonald's in West Point, and offered the cashier a job. For months, while bringing his energetic kids in for their monthly order of chicken nuggets and fries, he had observed how cheerful and attentive Rosa Barragan was with her customers, no matter their background. Jaffery was a serial entrepreneur who was looking to grow his businesses; he knew a good hire when he saw one.
Shortly after, Barragan, then 24, became an account manager on the customer experience team, working across the eight independent insurance agencies Jaffery runs under the Omaha-based CJ Insurance Group. Even today, Jaffery’s job offer across that fast food counter feels “unreal,” said Barragan.
“I was very surprised. I’m at McDonald’s. I smell like grease. Why me?” At the time, the recent college graduate had been working 16-hour days — eight hours at McDonald’s for about $11 an hour and eight hours doing family support social work for $15 an hour. She lived with her parents and felt stuck. Jaffery’s job offer allowed her to move out, move to Omaha, and work regular eight-hour days, earning more than twice the pay at a salaried job with benefits and flexibility.
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Jaffery, who employs 90 people and expects his roster to grow to 200 or more by the end of 2024, has made a habit of hiring people with nontraditional backgrounds — servers, artists, chefs with no industry experience, parents with employment gaps or people who’ve been fired multiple times. Jaffery doesn’t care about pedigree. “We hire for character,” he said. “It’s easy to teach someone how to do insurance; it’s hard to teach them how to be a good human being.”
To Jaffery, a résumé only says so much. He’s willing to take a chance on people outside the norm. He’s willing, because not long ago, someone took that very chance on him.
“If you just gave me a chance, I could prove myself.”
Jaffery was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1988. A few years later, amid the country’s civil war, the Taliban bombed his family’s house, forcing him to flee to neighboring Pakistan with his mother and siblings. (Jaffery’s father stayed behind to run the family gas station and, later, assist the U.S. military.) In 2002, the family was resettled in the U.S. as refugees and eventually made their home in Omaha.
Arriving in the U.S. just months after the attacks of 9/11, “was not the best for people from Afghanistan,” Jaffery said. With his heavy accent and foreign style, Jaffery became a target for bullies at his mostly white high school. There was “a lot of racism,” he said. “It was tough.” He and his brothers relied on each other, trading tips on how to navigate teen social life in America. Eventually, he joined the school’s soccer team where he excelled and built a community. “I finally felt like a normal kid,” he said.
But life at home was hard. His mom made a modest living cleaning houses; often, their food stamps ran out before the end of the month. After soccer practice, Jaffery would head to one job at a call center, followed by an evening shift at McDonald’s. On weekends, he cleaned homes with his mom.
He craved a stable, white-collar career. After graduating from Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, he turned to insurance. He knew he was outgoing and would make a good salesman. The field seemed secure; “everyone legally needs insurance,” he said. And agents earn predictable revenue off their cut of monthly insurance payments. But after an internship with a national insurance company and interviews with different agencies, he couldn’t land a full-time position. When Wells Fargo offered him a job as a personal banker, he moved on.
A few years later, Jaffery’s future wife, Michelle Rivera, brought him home to meet her parents, Cynthia and Tom. Jaffery was awestruck by the spacious house overlooking a golf course. “I want this life,” he remembers thinking. As it turns out, Tom Rivera was an insurance agent.
When Tom Rivera saw Jaffery’s eyes wander around his house, he thought, “I know that look.” Rivera himself was one of eight siblings whose parents had fled Mexican poverty in the 1950s. He’d grown up spending his summers clearing weeds, hoeing beans, and thinning sugar beets across Nebraska farmlands alongside his parents and siblings. Rivera understood that Jaffery had the same work ethic, ambition and sense of family. “What I saw in him was the same thing I saw in myself; if you just gave me a chance, I could prove myself,” Rivera said.
Inspired by the wealth and security Rivera built from his career, Jaffery took another stab at breaking into the insurance industry. But it led to another string of rejections. Rivera eventually recommended Jaffery for a job at his company. As a friend — and later father-in-law — Rivera mentored Jaffery through early-career challenges. Jaffery took these lessons to heart and quickly became a high-performing agent. He was soon exceeding monthly goals, outpacing other top performers and winning awards.
Jaffery began to consider taking a risk. If he went independent, he could sell products from a range of insurance companies, have more control over who his agency hired, and earn more. But if he left, he’d lose his clients with his current employer and be forced to start over. He turned to Rivera, who explained how Jaffery could leave his current company without burning bridges. He helped him think through planning for the company’s future, potential downsides, and balancing the responsibilities of a CEO with the responsibilities he had to his family. “You reach for the moon,” Rivera remembered saying. “But you don’t want to pull away from your family.”
A space to thrive no matter your background
Jaffery went independent in 2019 and has seen his business grow at rapid speed, spawning a tech platform that helps independent agents more efficiently gather quotes from multiple carriers, along with multiple independent agencies that partner with real estate and banking. He attributes much of his company’s success to his open-minded hiring strategy. Whether he’s hiring nontraditional candidates or those referred to the company, he doesn’t rule out folks with atypical résumés. The majority of his hires do not have college degrees, and many come from the service industry, where he believes folks develop the people skills needed for his industry. So much of the decision comes down how well the candidate can hang with Jaffery and the team. “If they are a good fit, and I like their story, personality, and work ethic, we give them a chance,” he said.
Even when he’s reviewing a formal application, he’s looking for the Rosa Barragans of the world. People who are used to “talking to people all day, pleasing them, solving problems,” he said. These are the skills necessary to attract, sign, and maintain relationships with insurance clients.
When a late-career woman reached out to him after being let go from the industry multiple times, Jaffery met with her. He listened to her story. He learned that previous companies didn’t offer room for advancement, and they micromanaged her work. She had the skills his company was seeking; she just needed space to thrive, which he happily offered. “She’s been with us for almost three years now,” Jaffery said. “She’s one of our best employees and she’s knocking it out of the park.”
Jaffery understands that there’s often a divide between people’s potential and the opportunities they’re given. Sometimes you can create your own opportunities — like Rivera’s parents bringing his family to America. Other times, you might benefit from larger forces — like the United States providing refugee status to a family escaping the Taliban. But sometimes, your ambition and resilience only get you so far. If you’re Rosa Barragan, you might need a Tom Rivera or a Cyrus Jaffery to open doors that were previously closed.
Jaffery is trying to open these doors for as many people as possible. CJ Insurance Group runs donation drives for Afghan evacuees who fled the Taliban two summers ago. But he worries their door might soon be closing. Without a Congressional pathway to permanent residency, most of these evacuees could be deported back to Afghanistan.
“I see myself every day in the people that are moving here from Afghanistan,” Jaffery said. If the U.S. just gave them a chance and let them stay, he said, “they’re going to become me.”
Whether it’s Americans welcoming newcomers or employers looking for their next hire, Jaffery believes there is so much untapped potential before us. “We just need to give people the opportunity to shine.”
This article is published in partnership with The Economic Hardship Reporting Project. | https://journalstar.com/news/state-regional/business/taliban-refugee-now-helping-nontraditional-job-seekers-in-nebraska/article_cacda0f6-2b19-11ee-a93b-4bc296358c87.html | 2023-07-29T22:10:44 | 0 | https://journalstar.com/news/state-regional/business/taliban-refugee-now-helping-nontraditional-job-seekers-in-nebraska/article_cacda0f6-2b19-11ee-a93b-4bc296358c87.html |
RENTON — After Drew Lock agreed to re-sign with the Seahawks last March, but before almost anyone else knew, he reached out to Geno Smith.
“I texted him just to let him know that ‘Hey, we are going to run this thing back again — let’s do it,’” Lock said this week.
Lock, though, may have been more excited at the prospect of being Smith’s backup for another year than Smith.
And not because Smith didn’t want Lock back, but because Smith — who had been a backup for seven years before finally winning the starting job with Seattle last season — wondered whether Lock wouldn’t be better off where he’d have a better chance to play.
“It’s a bittersweet thing because I know he’s a starter and I know he can go and do great things,” Smith said this week. “I want him to go get that opportunity somewhere.”
Lock does someday, as well.
But for 2023, Lock says he’s satisfied in Seattle.
“You always want to play,” Lock said. “But at the same time, being comfortable with what you are going into (is important). I’ve had three different offensive coordinators in those first four (NFL) years. To come back to one of my first training camps ever running the game offense and to grow in this place — I believe in this place. I believe in coach (Pete) Carroll and our coaching staff and the players. So, it’s always tough when you go to a team and you know you are not really the guy. But I trust my decision and I’m just really enjoying being here. I’m a confident football player when I’m here.”
Lock became a free agent after the 2022 season when the four-year rookie contract Seattle inherited when acquiring him as part of the Russell Wilson deal with Denver (where he was a second-round pick in 2019) ran out.
His agents talked with numerous teams, including Tampa Bay, which was suddenly without Tom Brady but had hired Dave Canales — Seattle’s quarterbacks coach last season — as its new offensive coordinator.
Lock says “of course” Tampa Bay was a serious option. “That Dave was going to be there was intriguing.”
With a standing offer on the table from the Seahawks, Lock also considered some other options as free agency opened in March.
“It’s the first time I’ve gone through this,” said Lock. “I didn’t want (general manager) John (Schneider) or Pete to think I didn’t love this place. At the same time, when you are not saying yes right off the bat — but it’s like, I really do like this place. So it was interesting.”
Ultimately, Lock made the decision to return on March 16, 10 days after Smith had re-upped and a day after Tampa Bay signed Baker Mayfield.
He got a contract that marked a not-insignificant investment, and a seeming vote of confidence, from the Seahawks — a one-year deal worth up to $4 million, tied for the 13th-highest salary cap hit on the team this year and the most the Seahawks have ever paid a backup quarterback (though only $1.75 million is guaranteed). Getting all of the $4 million would also mean Lock would make more than double what he has in any previous NFL season.
Lock also signed a month before the draft, when Seattle strongly considered taking a quarterback; the Seahawks may well have taken Florida’s Anthony Richardson had he been available at No. 5 overall.
But once none of the top three QBs fell to the Seahawks, Seattle then didn’t take a quarterback at all, with one thought that the team didn’t consider any of the other options better than Lock and they didn’t want to split Lock’s practice reps or chances to play in the preseason.
“I guess analytically when you look at not drafting one, you could say they have confidence in me,” said Lock, before joking that as the draft unfolded he thought, “I’ve really got to be my best now that we’ve drafted a defensive guy (cornerback Devon Witherspoon at No. 5).”
And Lock thinks being with Seattle another season will allow him to indeed be his best.
This time a year ago, he was competing with Smith for the starting job.
But he was also learning a new offense one more time, having had two offensive coordinators in three years with Denver as well as enduring a change in OCs his last year at Missouri.
“It’s been fantastic,” Lock said of being able to play in the same system. “I think the easiest way to put it is when you get into an offense early there are these little things you have to think about all the time and it kind of takes away from bigger-picture football stuff that is going to pretty much determine if you are going to be good or bad that day. And those little things have just slowly faded away for me since I’ve come back. Now I get to focus on the things I might not have been able to last camp and feel confident in myself. There is no pre-snap walking up the line second-guessing things. It’s like ‘I know the play, I know what I need to do, I know the checks we can get into.’ It just feels good.”
So, too, does reuniting with Smith.
Despite competing for what is about as high-profile a position as there is in professional sports, the two forged a close relationship.
“I think both of us understood that if the team was going to be good, we couldn’t have a nasty quarterback room,” Lock said. “… It’s interesting because the public eye of a quarterback competition is that when one wins, it’s getting ugly. That’s not how we were. That’s not what we were going to let happen.”
Said Smith: “When he’s in the room with me, we are going to push each other. He makes me better. Hopefully, I make him better as a player. We have a great relationship, and I was happy to be able to continue that. When he gets his opportunity, he is going to kill it.”
Not that Lock wasn’t disappointed to lose the job, especially given the circumstances.
After Smith started the preseason opener a year ago, Lock was in line to start the second game against Chicago. But then he came down with COVID-19 and couldn’t play.
That pretty much ended the competition, with Carroll naming Smith the starter following the third preseason game at Dallas. Lock at the time figured he’d still probably have to play at some point. Instead, Smith became the only quarterback in the NFL in 2022 to take every snap.
“Obviously it’s upsetting,” Lock said of not winning the job a year ago. “You want to play. You want to be that guy for your team.”
But when he re-signed, the Seahawks also pledged he will get a lot of chances in the team’s three preseason games — chances to prove to the team, the rest of the league, and maybe even himself, that he can still be a viable NFL starter.
“I’m excited,” he said. “It’ll be almost 365 (days) since I last played. I hope I get hit the first drive pretty good and feel it all over again.” | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/for-drew-lock-opting-for-familiarity-comfort-as-seahawks-backup-qb-just-feels-good/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_seahawks | 2023-07-29T22:10:46 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/for-drew-lock-opting-for-familiarity-comfort-as-seahawks-backup-qb-just-feels-good/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_seahawks |
(KTLA) — An invasive fly species has prompted the quarantine of an upscale Southern California neighborhood, the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
The Tau fruit fly is native to Asia and is a “serious pest for agriculture and natural resources,” according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
The flies can be typically found on a variety of fruits and vegetables along with a “select range of native plants in California,” officials said.
After the detection of more than 20 Tau flies in the Stevenson Ranch area of the Santa Clarita Valley, a quarantine was placed on residents.
The quarantine area spans about 79 square miles, bordered on the north by Castaic Junction, on the south by Oat Mountain, on the west by Del Valle, and on the east by Honby Avenue.
Stevenson Ranch is an upscale neighborhood with a median home price of $1.15 million dollars according to Redfin.
Officials believe the fly was introduced to Los Angeles County by travelers who brought uninspected produce into the state. Agriculture officials note this is a common way for invasive species to arrive.
To prevent the species’ further spread, quarantined residents are asked not to move any fruits or vegetables away from their property. The produce they own may be safely consumed or processed, but must remain at the property.
If residents choose not to consume their produce, they must be disposed of by “double-bagging in plastic and placing the bags in a bin specifically for garbage,” officials said.
CDFA is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the L.A. County Agricultural Commissioner to “utilize a multi-tiered approach to eliminate the Tau fruit fly and prevent its spread to new areas.”
On properties within 200 meters of fly detections, crews will cut host fruit and vegetables to inspect for present fly larvae. Those properties will also be treated with a “naturally derived organic-approved material known as Spinosad, which will help remove any live adult fruit flies and reduce the density of the population,” said CDFA.
Fly traps that incorporate a pheromone along with a small amount of pesticide will also be placed throughout the treatment zones. | https://www.wfla.com/nextstar-news-wire/california-neighborhood-under-quarantine-due-to-invasive-fly-species/ | 2023-07-29T22:10:58 | 0 | https://www.wfla.com/nextstar-news-wire/california-neighborhood-under-quarantine-due-to-invasive-fly-species/ |
Robert Chambers, NYC’s ‘Preppy Killer,’ is released after 15 years in prison on drug charges
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Chambers, better known to some as the “Preppy Killer,” was released after spending 15 years in prison for drug and assault charges, according to state records.
Chambers spent a similar amount of time in prison after pleading guilty to strangling Jennifer Levin in New York City’s Central Park during the summer of 1986.
Chambers entered the plea to killing 18-year-old Levin as part of a deal when a jury could not reach a decision after nine days of deliberations.
He was released in 2003 for that crime but again ran afoul of the law soon after.
He was again arrested in 2007 for selling drugs out of his apartment. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison but was released Tuesday — four years early — from the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York, according to online inmate records maintained by the New York Department of Corrections.
Chambers, now 56, will remain under supervision for up to five years, records show.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wafb.com/2023/07/29/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-prison-drug-charges/ | 2023-07-29T22:11:06 | 1 | https://www.wafb.com/2023/07/29/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-prison-drug-charges/ |
MOUNT CARMEL, Pa. — Chocolate and peanut butter, coffee and cream–some things are just better together.
That expression is especially true for petite pups named Ham and Beans.
These Jack Russell/Chihuahua mixes were found abandoned and scared outside. Rescue workers were able to scoop Ham up first and bring him to Mommy and Me Rescue in Northumberland County.
He was without his best friend for two days before rescue worker Shannon Kohan was able to locate and rescue Beans.
"I brought her back to his kennel, and he just cried and screamed, and she jumped up and down, and they were kissing and just could not wait to get back together again. They're definitely bonded," Kohan said.
Now that the pair are back together, when they're not snuggling one another, they have been busy charming rescue workers with their bouncy personalities and plenty of kisses.
Ham and Beans are a cuddly couple, and Kohan says they're the best of both worlds.
At an estimated 7 years old, both pups are up for a walk but would be just as happy snuggling in their new forever home.
The duo will have to be adopted as a set, but rescue workers say the family who welcomes these little lovebugs into their home would be lucky.
"If they were able to adopt both of these, they would hit the jackpot," said Kohan.
Ham and Beans are healthy and looking for a new home where they can be together forever.
Rescue workers don't know how these paired pups are with cats in the home but say they get along well with other dogs.
They also say children in their new home are possible, as long as they are calm with dogs.
"They love everything, everybody," says Kohan.
Kohan also says Ham and Beans are low maintenance and don't take up much room.
There is one special requirement for adopting these pups, though, if you're able.
"All they need is love!" Kohan said.
As long as you can provide that, rescue workers are confident Ham and Beans will adjust perfectly to their home.
Interested in adopting Ham and Beans? You can find their adoption information here.
See more pets and animal stories on WNEP’s YouTube playlist. | https://www.wnep.com/article/life/pets/16-to-the-rescue/ham-beans-16-to-the-rescue-mommy-and-me-pets-animals-jack-russell-chihuahua-mommy-and-me-shannon-kohan-northumberland-county/523-316ea03e-5136-4076-99c6-2b5e62435a6f | 2023-07-29T22:11:13 | 1 | https://www.wnep.com/article/life/pets/16-to-the-rescue/ham-beans-16-to-the-rescue-mommy-and-me-pets-animals-jack-russell-chihuahua-mommy-and-me-shannon-kohan-northumberland-county/523-316ea03e-5136-4076-99c6-2b5e62435a6f |
Bronny James plays piano in a video posted by his father, LeBron James, on Saturday, four days after the teenager went into cardiac arrest during a basketball workout at the University of Southern California.
The 18-year-old plays a brief melody in front of his family, smiles and gets up without speaking in the video posted on his father's Instagram account. The video doesn't indicate where or when it was shot.
“A man of many talents,” the Los Angeles Lakers superstar can be heard saying in the background as Bronny finishes playing with his two younger siblings looking on.
TMZ posted photos of Bronny out to dinner with his family, which it says were taken Friday night. They show the teenager with his father outside celebrity hot spot Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica.
Wearing black pants and a zip-up hoodie, Bronny carried his phone while standing outside the Italian restaurant.
Bronny was released from the hospital on Thursday. He will continue to undergo tests to determine the cause of his cardiac arrest, which occurred Monday morning during a workout at USC’s Galen Center.
"We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love," LeBron wrote on social media Thursday. "Will have more to say when we’re ready but I wanted to tell everyone how much your support has meant to all of us!"
Bronny, whose full name is LeBron James Jr., committed to USC in May after the 6-foot-3 guard became one of the nation’s top prospects out of Sierra Canyon School in nearby Chatsworth.
TEGNA's Val Lick contributed to this report. | https://www.wnep.com/article/news/nation-world/bronny-james-update-after-cardiac-arrest/507-3280e25d-0548-45c6-b647-40568b3c99ea | 2023-07-29T22:11:19 | 0 | https://www.wnep.com/article/news/nation-world/bronny-james-update-after-cardiac-arrest/507-3280e25d-0548-45c6-b647-40568b3c99ea |
NEW YORK (AP) — The entertainment publication Variety, under fire this week for an article it published about former CNN chief Jeff Zucker’s interest in his old employer, revised the piece on Friday to reflect some of the complaints about it.
None of its changes affected what was written about Zucker, however. He has called for the story to be retracted.
The article by Tatiana Siegel, which initially ran online Tuesday, depicted Zucker as badmouthing his successor at CNN, Chris Licht, while simultaneously trying to buy the news organization that fired him in early 2021. Licht’s unsuccessful run atop the struggling news network ended with his firing in May.
The dispute also points to the dangers inherent in the use of confidential sources by journalists. There are at least a dozen claims made in the story that Variety did not attribute to a named source that were denied on the record, either in the story or after publication, leaving it up to readers to decide who to believe.
“There used to be a time when Variety held its content and its reporters to a high standard of truth and facts in journalism, but those days are clearly over,” said Risa Heller, a spokeswoman for Zucker. “It is stunning to read a piece that is so patently and aggressively false. On numerous occasions, we made it clear to the reporter and her editors that they were planning to publish countless anecdotes and alleged incidents that never happened. They did so anyway. The piece is a total joke.”
Variety’s co-editor-in-chiefs, Cynthia Littleton and Ramin Setoodeh, said in a statement Friday that they have been carefully following the conversation about the story.
“The story was heavily vetted and deeply sourced,” they said. “Everyone included in the story was asked to comment and given the chance to respond. We stand by our reporting and our award-winning reporter.”
The piece is also critical of two reporters who have covered CNN, Tim Alberta of The Atlantic and Dylan Byers of Puck. Both of those news organizations complained of inaccuracies and, in the changes made on Friday, Variety added their specific denials.
Zucker’s team hasn’t sought to hide ill feelings toward Licht, but strongly denied he has tried to buy CNN.
The story begins with an anecdote about Zucker, “with tears in his eyes,” approaching David Zaslav in Miami Beach in March. Zaslav is CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, current owners of CNN, and Variety said Zucker complained that Licht was unfairly maligning him in the press. Zaslav wanted to know if Zucker was trying to assemble investors to buy CNN.
Byers, writing for Puck, said “multiple sources” said no such run-in at the Faena Hotel ever took place and Zucker’s spokeswoman said that anecdote wasn’t checked with them; Variety says it was.
The story outlines several specific efforts made by Zucker, or on his behalf, to convince investors to join him in buying CNN. The story includes his denials: “Any allegation or insinuation that Jeff has made any effort to purchase CNN is unequivocally false,” Heller said. Zucker is now head of a private equity firm, RedBird IMI.
At one point, Variety also floated the theory that a secret group of investors was using Zucker’s name without his knowledge to approach Warner Bros. Discovery about buying CNN.
In a June 4 article, The New York Times reported that Zucker was not in talks to buy CNN, although “he has told some associates he would be interested in acquiring the network” if it came up for sale one day, the newspaper said.
The Variety article “struck me as utterly implausible and sophomoric,” Byers wrote for Puck this week.
Variety’s piece called Byers “a former Zucker disciple at CNN who, by his own admission, wrote about Licht incessantly and even took a victory lap after his exit.” The piece described Byers as a writer of “Zucker fan fiction” and criticized him for a conflict of interest in not disclosing in any of his articles that Zucker once had discussions about funding Puck, an online subscription news service.
In its revision on Friday, Variety quoted Puck’s co-founder, Jon Kelly, saying the discussions with RedBird were not disclosed by Byers because “Dylan was intentionally unaware of them.”
For The Atlantic, Alberta wrote a widely-read story that seen by many as being instrumental in Licht’s dismissal by Zaslav. Variety was critical of Alberta, and accused the reporter of using material in his story that he had agreed to keep off the record — a serious charge of malfeasance against a journalist.
As with Byers, Variety didn’t change what it had written about Alberta. But it added a paragraph to its story using some of what Alberta had written on social media, including a denial that he had used off-the-record material, and disputing Variety’s claim of how many times he had met with Licht while reporting the story.
The story was reposted on Variety’s home page. The only indication that it had been changed was a note at its end: “This story was updated on July 28 to reflect new statements from Kelly and Alberta.” | https://www.myarklamiss.com/entertainment-news/ap-variety-revises-article-on-former-cnn-chief-jeff-zucker-that-was-sharply-criticized/ | 2023-07-29T22:11:43 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/entertainment-news/ap-variety-revises-article-on-former-cnn-chief-jeff-zucker-that-was-sharply-criticized/ |
Bear caught in California homeowner's pool trying to 'beat the heat': 'I don't blame him'
California authorities responded to a report of a bear in a swimming pool amid the scorching heat wave
Summer is in full in swing in southern California for one bear that decided take a dip in a pool amid scorching temperatures.
The Burbank Police Department responded to a call of a bear in a swimming pool Friday. When they arrived, they found the unbothered mammal chilling in the pool and lazily surveying the city's beautiful hillside.
"This bear is beating the heat in Burbank," officers said in a Facebook post, along with a short clip of the furry intruder. The department did not say what type of bear it was.
In the comical video, authorities captured the wild animal sitting in the small in-ground pool as it seemingly posed for the officers by grazing one paw on the side of the pool deck.
"I don't blame him," an officer is heard in the video say, commenting on the heat wave that has scorched much of the U.S. bringing triple digit temperatures and an increased risk of wildfires in California.
SHARKS MIGHT BE CONSUMING COCAINE AS AMERICA'S DRUG CRISIS SPILLS INTO THE SEA
Others chimed in on the department's social media post, saying that they don't blame the bear for taking a dip.
"Get the bear a beer and leave him be," one commenter quipped.
Another said, "I hope he doesn't think of coming to my place!"
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife provided guidelines if you come across a bear in your swimming pool this summer. The department said to not run, instead, face the animal, make noises and try to appear as large as possible.
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If a bear attacks, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife says to defend oneself and immediately contact 911 for assistance. | https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/bear-caught-california-homeowners-pool-trying-beat-heat | 2023-07-29T22:11:43 | 0 | https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/bear-caught-california-homeowners-pool-trying-beat-heat |
(CNN) — NBA star LeBron James shared a video Saturday on Instagram of his son Bronny playing piano after the young athlete’s cardiac arrest this week.
LeBron James wrote in the video’s caption, “Grand rising! God Is Great! @Bronny, you are amazing! Simple as that!”
It is unclear when the video was taken of the 18-year-old, who suffered the emergency Monday during basketball practice.
The incoming freshman for the University of Southern California’s basketball team has been released from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
“Keep going young (king)! We’re here right with you every step of the way!” LeBron James wrote on Instagram.
The four-time NBA champion tweeted about his son on Thursday for the first time since the incident, thanking well wishers for sending his family “love and prayers.”
“We feel you and I’m so grateful. Everyone doing great,” the Lakers star wrote. “We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love. Will have more to say when we’re ready but I wanted to tell everyone how much your support has meant to all of us! #JamesGang.”
A source familiar with the matter said Bronny James underwent a cardiac screening several months prior for prospective NBA athletes.
The results of that screening came back normal, according to the source. | https://www.channel3000.com/news/national-and-world-news/lebron-james-shares-video-of-son-bronny-playing-piano-after-cardiac-arrest/article_95d98527-7aff-5711-a903-a5495c620136.html | 2023-07-29T22:11:43 | 0 | https://www.channel3000.com/news/national-and-world-news/lebron-james-shares-video-of-son-bronny-playing-piano-after-cardiac-arrest/article_95d98527-7aff-5711-a903-a5495c620136.html |
FOXBOROUGH — On a sweltering day at Patriots training camp, Mike Gesicki paired a two-hour practice with a prolonged session of catching passes from the JUGS machine.
But when the tight end was finished and headed over to speak with reporters, he didn’t seem to be sweating at all.
“It hasn’t been hot, so that’s been good,” Gesicki said to the assembled media masses covered in sweat and sunscreen. “I guess my blood is still a little bit adjusted to that South Florida weather.”
The former Dolphin signed a one-year, $9 million contract as a free agent with New England, which is pairing him with Hunter Henry to inject more talent into a plodding skill position group. With his 6-foot-6-inch frame, Gesicki could help invigorate an offense that was the league’s worst in converting red-zone opportunities into touchdowns a season ago.
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In the first three days of training camp, the Patriots spent the bulk of 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills inside that small but valuable area of the field, part of coach Bill Belichick’s plan after a spring that didn’t see such work.
New England converted just 42.2 percent of its red-zone chances into touchdowns last year. The top five teams — the Cowboys, Chiefs, Eagles, Lions, and Bengals — were all above 64 percent.
Gesicki was limited last year, his fifth in Miami after being drafted in the second round out of Penn State, in an offense that focused more on wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. But despite earning 52 targets, the lowest total since his rookie season, Gesicki still finished tied for the seventh-most receiving touchdowns among tight ends with five.
He noted that good red-zone targets keep themselves composed rather than getting overly excited at the prospect of scoring a touchdown, which allows them to take the extra step to get open.
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“You [have] to understand timing and spacing,” he said. “It’s going to be tight, contested throws and catches, and that’s how you score down there. Obviously, there’s going to be some layups here and there, but for the most part, it’s going to be tough.”
Gesicki also said he’s done this level of work in the red zone in the past when Brian Flores, a former Belichick assistant, was the Dolphins’ coach.
“I think it shows an emphasis of what coach Belichick’s trying to get us to understand is that when you’re down there, third down, four-point plays, [those are] big plays down there,” he said.
The Patriots’ No. 1 offense didn’t have a stellar Friday at camp in the red zone. The rare touchdowns came between incompletions on fade routes and short checkdowns.
With the team still in the early phases of learning new coordinator Bill O’Brien’s offense, the team isn’t game-planning specifically for the defense and is instead just running plays to grasp the basics of the scheme, Gesicki said.
O’Brien’s previous NFL offenses in Houston varied in red-zone performance. From 2014 to 2019 (he was fired just four games into the 2020 campaign), his teams ranked tied for 13th, 13th, 31st, 20th, 27th, and seventh in percentage of chances they turned into touchdowns.
“There’s a bunch of guys down there [in the red zone] that can make plays,” Gesicki said. " And I think I’ll be one of them.”
One of those potential playmakers is wide receiver Tyquan Thornton, whose primary skill is speed. The 2022 second-round pick had a quiet rookie season and a similar performance so far in training camp.
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In the red zone, where the field is compressed, speed can be less of a factor. For that reason, Thornton said he’s trying to work on making contested catches.
Another key to excelling in the red zone comes with the run game. Even though Rhamondre Stevenson had a strong sophomore campaign, finishing with 1,040 yards, he scored just five touchdowns.
“Red zone work is just all about getting the ball into the end zone and positive plays and no negative plays,” Stevenson said. “We did all right [in Friday’s practice], we’re still learning the system, just learning each other and just trying to get better.”
Last year, Stevenson had 31 carries in the red zone but only scored three times. For comparison, Seattle’s Kenneth Walker III, who finished ahead of Stevenson with 1,050 rushing yards, had 48 attempts inside the 20-yard line and scored seven touchdowns.
New England could be getting reinforcements to bolster their red zone rush attack, as free agent Ezekiel Elliott visited the team Saturday. The Cowboys red-zone prowess in 2022 came in part because of the 28-year-oldback. He had 35 carries inside the 20 last season and scored 12 touchdowns.
Varun Shankar can be reached at varun.shankar@globe.com. Follow him @byvarunshankar. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/29/sports/patriots-need-improvement-red-zone-hot-topic-training-camp-mike-gesicki-plays-it-cool/ | 2023-07-29T22:11:43 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/29/sports/patriots-need-improvement-red-zone-hot-topic-training-camp-mike-gesicki-plays-it-cool/ |
Fisherman say they spotted rare, endangered whale off Texas coast
According to NOAA Fisheries, there are estimated to be less than 100 of the whales remaining in the world, with many thought to be in the Gulf of Mexico. Experts suggest that the whales spend the daytime diving near the seafloor and spend a substantial amount of time around the water’s surface at night.
GALVESTON, Texas – A pair of fishermen approximately 100 miles off the coast of Galveston got the surprise of a lifetime Monday after spotting what they believed to be a rare, endangered Rice's whale a little more than a football field’s length away from their boat.
Brandon Overton said they were in the Gulf of Mexico trolling for billfish when his friend Nate Ressling spotted the creature.
At first, the fishermen didn’t know exactly what type of marine life it was until they spotted water shooting from its blowhole and knew they had stumbled upon a whale.
"He was definitely skittish of the boat," said Overton. "We tried to get some photos of him, and he didn’t hang around for long."
The duo took photos and videos of the animal from a safe distance as it surfaced before heading on a trek southward.
NEARLY 100 WHALES DIE FOLLOWING MASS STANDING ALONG AUSTRALIA’S SOUTHERN COAST
After reviewing the photos and video, the Texas residents believed the animal to be a rare Rice's whale, typically found in the northern Gulf.
According to NOAA Fisheries, there are estimated to be less than 100 of these whales remaining in the world, and the species was added to the endangered species list over the past few years.
Due to their limited population, not much is known about the creatures, but experts believe that the whales generally spend the daytime diving near the seafloor and spend a substantial amount of time near the surface at night.
Overton didn’t say how large he believed the whale to be, but according to NOAA, the endangered animals can weigh upwards of 60,000 pounds and grow to more than 40 feet long.
SPECTATORS GATHER AS KILLER WHALE WASHES ASHORE FLORIDA COAST
NOAA Fisheries said experts are conducting research to better understand the whales’ habitat and distribution around the Gulf of Mexico.
Overton said the rare sight will make his latest fishing trip one he will never forget. | https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/fishing-rices-whale-texas-coast-video | 2023-07-29T22:11:44 | 0 | https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/fishing-rices-whale-texas-coast-video |
More than 100 troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner are moving towards a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, Poland’s prime minister says, who warned they could pose as migrants to cross the border.
Poland's prime minister says more than 100 troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner are moving towards a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania. Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton says NATO should be concerned about the activity and explains why it will help Russia.
Poland's prime minister says more than 100 troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner are moving towards a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania. Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton says NATO should be concerned about the activity and explains why it will help Russia.
Omar Marques/Getty Images
More than 100 troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner are moving towards a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, Poland’s prime minister says, who warned they could pose as migrants to cross the border.
(CNN) — More than 100 troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner are moving towards a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, Poland’s prime minister says, who warned they could pose as migrants to cross the border.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Saturday that his government had received information that the Wagner mercenaries were not far from Grodno, a city in western Belarus close to the land, which is also known as the Suwalki gap or corridor.
Thousands of Wagner troops are reportedly in Belarus following a failed military uprising in Russia.
Morawiecki repeated allegations that Belarus, a key ally to Russia, has been sending migrants westward in an attempt to overwhelm Polish border forces.
The troop movements, Morawiecki said, appeared to be another element in this campaign to destabilize the border.
“They will probably be disguised as Belarusian border guards and will help illegal immigrants to enter Polish territory, destabilize Poland, but they will also probably try to infiltrate Poland pretending to be illegal immigrants and this creates additional risks,” he said.
So far this year, there have been about 16,000 attempts by migrants to cross the border illegally, “pushed to Poland” by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Morawiecki said.
What exactly Wagner troops are doing in Grodno is unclear, as Wagner has not commented on the reports. But deploying Russian-allied forces near the Suwalki corridor would represent an escalation that could rattle NATO and EU members.
Though just 60 miles long, the corridor is strategically important to NATO, the EU, Russia and Belarus. The border region connects the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to Belarus and it is the only overland link between the Baltic states and the rest of the EU.
Analysts feared in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that the Kremlin would target the Suwalki corridor in an attempt to protect Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost territory and the only part of the country surrounded by EU states.
It is not clear exacttly how many Wagner troops are in Belarus. They were invited to the country as part of a deal negotiated by the Belarus president to end the mercenary group’s armed insurrection against the Kremlin last month.
Lukashenko then asked Wagner to help train his country’s military. The two plan to hold joint military exercises near the border with Poland, a move likely to further raise tensions.
At a summit Lukashenko joked with Russia’s President Putin that Wagner fighters had begun to stress him as they wanted to go west on “an excursion.”
Poland has said its borders are safe but has moved troops east due to possible threats posed from Wagner. | https://www.channel3000.com/news/national-and-world-news/wagner-troops-moving-towards-polish-border-and-could-try-sneaking-across-pm-says/article_72be6a97-2510-5404-8c82-2a8cf31b7016.html | 2023-07-29T22:11:44 | 0 | https://www.channel3000.com/news/national-and-world-news/wagner-troops-moving-towards-polish-border-and-could-try-sneaking-across-pm-says/article_72be6a97-2510-5404-8c82-2a8cf31b7016.html |
Senate Republicans cite 'Sound of Freedom' to demand hearings on human trafficking, Biden's border policies
'Sound of Freedom' has become a summer blockbuster
FIRST ON FOX: Senate Republicans led by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., have signed onto a letter calling for additional hearings on human trafficking, noting the recent blockbuster film "Sound of Freedom" has raised public awareness on the issue.
"The United States Senate must continue to conduct much-needed oversight of this administration’s border policies to find immediate solutions to combat one of the most disturbing consequences of inadequate border security: the proliferation of human trafficking," the letter to the Democratic chairs of the Senate Homeland, Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committee states.
The lawmakers cite estimates of up to 17,500 trafficking victims each year, with more than 1,300 investigations opened in fiscal year 2022 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and an increase of 50% of trafficking-related arrests.
The Republicans blame the Biden administration for running an "open border policy," which they say is encouraging drug, sex and human trafficking, tapping into long-standing criticisms of the administration’s policies from conservatives.
There were approximately 1.7 million migrant encounters in fiscal 2021 and 2.4 million in fiscal 2022. The lawmakers noted ongoing concerns about a surge in unaccompanied children, which has been reported as fueling child labor trafficking in the U.S. They say it paints a "dire picture of the crisis at our southwest border that cannot be ignored."
The administration has said it is cracking down on smugglers and illegal entry while encouraging the use of significantly expanded legal pathways for migrants so they do not need to use smuggling routes. The Labor Department said this week it is "leaving no stone unturned to root out exploitative child labor."
The lawmakers note the issue of human trafficking has been back in the spotlight with the release of "Sound of Freedom," a faith-based movie in which a federal special agent quits his job and journeys to the jungles of South America in search of a victim of human trafficking.
The movie has become a summer blockbuster, raking in over $130 million at the box office since its July 4 weekend debut.
REPUBLICANS FUME AT MAYORKAS OVER BORDER POLICIES AT FIERY HOUSE HEARING
"The movie, ‘Sound of Freedom’ … has played an important role in creating public awareness of this modern-day form of slavery," the lawmakers said in the letter.
Johnson presented a copy of the letter to Agent Tim Ballard and actor Jim Caviezel this week.
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"Given your committee’s roles in overseeing DHS, we urge you to investigate and hold hearings into DHS’s efforts to combat human trafficking," the lawmakers wrote. "Without our attention and leadership, human trafficking will continue to plague this country." | https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-republicans-cite-sound-freedom-demand-hearings-human-trafficking-bidens-border-policies | 2023-07-29T22:11:44 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-republicans-cite-sound-freedom-demand-hearings-human-trafficking-bidens-border-policies |
Chiefs' Travis Kelce throws a punch at teammate as tempers flare during training camp
Kelce later apologized and said he needed to be a better leader
Tempers flared during the Kansas City Chiefs' training camp session Saturday.
After Travis Kelce hauled in a touchdown pass from All-Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the star tight end threw a punch with his left hand in the direction of backup linebacker Jack Cochrane.
Saturday's incident was not the first time Kelce's emotions ran high on the practice field.
On Friday, he got into a shoving match with cornerback Dicaprio Bootle.
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Saturday's scuffle started after Cochrane tried to knock the ball out of Kelce's hands at the end of the play. At least one teammate approached Kelce and Cochrane in an effort to calm the situation.
TRAVIS KELCE UPSET HE WASN'T ABLE TO MEET TAYLOR SWIFT: ‘I TOOK IT PERSONAL'
Kelce later took to Twitter and issued an apology, saying he needs to be a "better leader" and "better teammate."
Tussles between teammates during training camp are not uncommon. Players often have to compete in hot weather, and athletes on the bottom of the roster are trying to earn a spot on a team before the start of the regular season.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid argued fights are counterproductive.
"Fighting is a waste of time,'' Reid said after Saturday's practice. "You get thrown out of games doing it, you get hurt out here doing it. But they're going to jaw. It's hot, humid. They're going to jaw a little bit. Just as long as there are not punches thrown, we're all right."
During the early portion of his career, Kelce was penalized several times for unsportsmanlike conduct. He was ejected during a 2016 game against the Jaguars after he threw a towel at an official who called a penalty.
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Cochrane went undrafted in 2022. He was signed to the Chiefs' practice squad last year in late August before earning a spot of the 53-man roster in September.
He appeared in 15 games in 2022 and recorded nine tackles. | https://www.foxnews.com/sports/chiefs-travis-kelce-throws-punch-teammate-tempers-flare-during-training-camp | 2023-07-29T22:11:45 | 0 | https://www.foxnews.com/sports/chiefs-travis-kelce-throws-punch-teammate-tempers-flare-during-training-camp |
WHAT WE'RE TRACKING: Quiet and comfortable weather is expected over the entire weekend. A few chances of rain next week, but not much is expected at this time.
PLANNING THE NEXT 24 HOURS: Southern Wisconsin can enjoy a period of calm, comfortable & quiet weather for tonight and Sunday.
EXTENDED FORECAST: Another slight rise in the high temperatures and humidity is expected during the first half of next week before cooling off slightly at the end of the week. Along with this rise and fall in temperatures, there will be slight chances of showers and thunderstorms next week. Dry and seasonable conditions are expected next weekend.
TONIGHT: Partly cloudy. Low: 60 Wind: NE 5 MPH
SUNDAY: Mostly sunny and seasonable. High: 78 Wind: N 6-12 MPH
SUNDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear. Low: 58 Wind: N 5-10 mph
MONDAY: Mostly sunny and seasonable. (A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms Monday night.) High: 82 Wind: NW 5 MPH
TUESDAY: Mostly sunny and warm. (A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms Tuesday night.) Low: 62 High: 85
WEDNESDAY: Partly sunny and continued warm, with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Low: 64 High: 86
THURSDAY: Partly sunny and continued warm with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Low: 65 High: 85
FRIDAY: Partly sunny and seasonable. Low: 61 High: 82
SATURDAY: Mostly sunny and seasonable. Low: 59 High: 82
SUNDAY: Partly sunny and seasonable. Low: 58 High: 82
MONDAY: Partly sunny and a little warmer. Low: 58 High: 85
COPYRIGHT 2023 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED. | https://www.channel3000.com/weather/forecast/enter-quiet-and-comfortable-weather---jacob/article_a1211afa-86c8-5443-b891-835dd6b621fd.html | 2023-07-29T22:11:45 | 1 | https://www.channel3000.com/weather/forecast/enter-quiet-and-comfortable-weather---jacob/article_a1211afa-86c8-5443-b891-835dd6b621fd.html |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Racing will resume at Churchill Downs in September, with no changes being made after a review of surfaces and safety protocols in the wake of 12 horse deaths, including seven in the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby in May.
The Louisville track suspended racing operations on June 7 and moved the rest of its spring meet to Ellis Park in western Kentucky at the recommendation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the sport’s national overseer.
Training continued at Churchill Downs during the track’s investigation.
Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen called the deaths “a series of unfortunate circumstances” and said the review “didn’t find anything fundamentally wrong or different about our track from previous years.”
“That, in a sense, can sometimes be unsatisfying,” he said. “But that’s business, and that’s sports.”
Two of the horse deaths occurred in undercard races on Derby day. Another five died later.
“The takeaway is, the track is very safe,” Carstanjen said Thursday on an earnings call with CDI investors.
“What we needed to do was spend some of this time in the interim, while we ran the rest of the (spring) meet at Ellis to just go soup to nuts through every single thing we do at the racetrack. There was nothing that jumped out as an apparent cause of the injuries, of the breakdowns; and, as we went through and rebuilt our processes from the ground up to check everything that we do to make extra sure, we didn’t find anything material.”
The track’s fall meet begins Sept. 14 and runs through Oct. 1.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-churchill-downs-to-resume-racing-at-fall-meet-with-no-changes-after-horse-deaths/ | 2023-07-29T22:11:44 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-churchill-downs-to-resume-racing-at-fall-meet-with-no-changes-after-horse-deaths/ |
LeBron James shares video of son Bronny smiling, playing piano days after cardiac arrest
Bronny suffered the medical emergency Monday during basketball practice
Four-time NBA champion LeBron James shared an encouraging update on his son Bronny's health Saturday.
Several days after Bronny's cardiac arrest, the Lakers superstar posted a social media video of the 18-year-old playing the piano.
Bronny suffered the medical emergency during a basketball practice at the University of Southern California.
"GRAND RISING!! God Is Great," James captioned the Instagram video of Bronny showing off his musical talents. "@bronny YOU ARE AMAZING!!! Simple as that! Keep going Young [king emoji] !!! We’re here right with you every step of the way!"
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In the video, Bronny sits down and plays the keys as his dad and siblings, Bryce and Zhuri, watch. At the end of the video, LeBron says his son is a "man of many talents."
The video drew comments from several of LeBron's celebrity friends, including Jamie Foxx and Kevin Hart.
DAMAR HAMLIN LEADS OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT FOR BRONNY JAMES FOLLOWING CARDIAC ARREST
"Blessed!!!!!! God is good KING," Hart wrote. "Happy to see you doing well Bronny."
Foxx, who recently experienced his own health scare, wrote, "Blessings and love."
Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young wrote, "Blessingsss!!"
Bronny was transported from the Galen Center, home of USC Trojans basketball team, around 9:26 a.m. Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times. On Tuesday, a James family spokesperson confirmed Bronny was in stable condition.
"Yesterday while practicing Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest," a spokesperson said in a statement to multiple outlets. "Medical staff was able to treat Bronny and take him to the hospital. He is now in stable condition and no longer in ICU."
He was discharged from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Thursday. That same day, James thanked everyone for their support.
"I want to thank the countless people sending my family love and prayers. We feel you and I’m so grateful," LeBron wrote on Twitter. "Everyone doing great. We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love. Will have more to say when we’re ready but I wanted to tell everyone how much your support has meant to all of us! #JamesGang."
On Friday, LeBron posted pictures of himself with son Bryce and wrote about his job as a father.
"It’s my job to always remain strong & to show them the blueprint regardless of the outcome! #JamesGang," he wrote.
Bronny committed to USC in May. He chose the Trojans over Ohio State and Oregon. James was the 33rd ranked player in his class, and he was named a McDonald's All-American earlier this year.
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During James' tenure at Sierra Canyon High School in California, the school went 95-22. He averaged 14.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game his senior season.
Fox News' Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report. | https://www.foxnews.com/sports/lebron-james-shares-video-son-bronny-smiling-playing-piano-days-after-cardiac-arrest | 2023-07-29T22:11:48 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/sports/lebron-james-shares-video-son-bronny-smiling-playing-piano-days-after-cardiac-arrest |
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Ballots from Spaniards living abroad were counted Friday, and they gave a new twist to the inconclusive results from the general election.
The conservative Popular Party gained an additional seat from Madrid’s constituency late in the day at the expense of the Socialist Workers’ Party. That change gives the right-wing coalition of the PP and the far-right Vox party 172 seats in the lower house of parliament and drops left-wing forces to 171.
Forming a stable governing coalition will require one of the blocks to have the support of 176 lawmakers in the 350-seat body, and it’s not clear that either side will be able to obtain enough backing from smaller parties.
The country’s main political parties had been waiting for the count in the hope they might win seats from opponents and recompose the final picture. Results coming in from different constituencies during the day showed no changes across Spain — until Madrid added the last-gasp surprise.
The switch likely will make it even tougher to cobble together a government.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is considered the only leader with a chance to form a coalition, since the Popular Party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo is being shunned by other parties for allying with Vox.
But Sánchez does not have it easy. He needs help from secessionist parties in the Basque Country and Catalonia, and it could be politically risky to bid for support from the Catalan party Junts, which is headed by Carles Puigdemont, a leader of 2017’s failed secession bid in Catalonia.
His party has seven seats, but its goal of forcing Spain to allow a secession referendum is Catalonia is highly unpopular, including in Sánchez’s party.
The new parliament is to convene Aug. 17 and it will have three months to vote in a new prime minister. Otherwise, new elections would be called. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-count-of-ballots-from-spaniards-abroad-gives-edge-to-right-wing-block-and-deepens-the-stalemate/ | 2023-07-29T22:11:51 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-count-of-ballots-from-spaniards-abroad-gives-edge-to-right-wing-block-and-deepens-the-stalemate/ |
Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa says he was offered $1.5 million if he transferred to unnamed SEC school: report
Tagovailoa led the Terrapins to an 8-5 record in 2022
The brother of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa claims he could have made a lot of money in his redshirt senior season.
Maryland Terrapins quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa said he was offered "crazy money" – $1.5 million – on behalf of an unnamed SEC team if he transferred this offseason, according to The Athletic.
"It can be eye-opening, but I think for my situation – if I was in a different situation where maybe I didn’t have a brother in the NFL or maybe my parents, it’d be a different situation," Tagovailoa said.
Taulia said he consulted with his brother before deciding to return to Mayland for his senior year, per The Athletic’s report.
DEION SANDERS REACTS TO COLORADO’S BIG 12 MOVE: 'A GAME CHANGER'
"It would be hard for me to go to another place and not be happy but have all the money in the world," he said. "(I’d rather) be at a place where maybe I don’t have as much, but I’m happy and I’m here to work."
The implementation of the transfer portal combined with name, image and likeness (NIL) has been a potent combination, and more players than ever are putting their names in the portal.
First-year UAB head coach Trent Dilfer passionately spoke about transfer portal tampering at American Football media days Tuesday.
"It’s cheating. To coerce a player off a roster, whether you do it through a third person, whether you do it through an agent, a collective – no matter how you do it — it’s cheating. It’s against the rules," Dilfer told reporters Tuesday. "So, let’s go attack that."
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Dilfer emphasized he has no issue with any of his players entering the transfer portal, but he does have a major problem if other programs try to get his players to enter the portal.
"But don’t have a scouting department in your building that’s doing cut-ups of my players and then going and coercing them to enter the portal when they had no idea, they didn’t want to enter the portal," Dilfer continued. "That’s the problem I’m addressing. And I’m not going to stop."
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Taulia Tagovailoa led the Terrapins to an 8-5 record in 2022, the program's first eight-win season since 2010.
The 2022 offense finished the year in the top half of the Big Ten, averaging the third-most passing yards per game in the conference.
Maryland opens the 2023 season against Towson Sept. 2 and begins Big Ten play against Michigan State in Week 4. | https://www.foxnews.com/sports/maryland-qb-taulia-tagovailoa-offered-1-5-million-transferred-unnamed-sec-school-report | 2023-07-29T22:11:55 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/sports/maryland-qb-taulia-tagovailoa-offered-1-5-million-transferred-unnamed-sec-school-report |
CHICAGO (AP) — Leading up to the 2020 election, Facebook ads targeting Latino and Asian American voters described Joe Biden as a communist. A local station claimed a Black Lives Matter co-founder practiced witchcraft. Doctored images showed dogs urinating on Donald Trump campaign posters.
None of these claims was true, but they scorched through social media sites that advocates say have fueled election misinformation in communities of color.
As the 2024 election approaches, community organizations are preparing for what they expect to be a worsening onslaught of disinformation targeting communities of color and immigrant communities. They say the tailored campaigns challenge assumptions of what kinds of voters are susceptible to election conspiracies and distrust in voting systems.
“They’re getting more complex, more sophisticated and spreading like wildfire,” said Sarah Shah, director of policy and community engagement at the advocacy group Indian American Impact, which runs the fact-checking site Desifacts.org. “ What we saw in 2020, unfortunately, will probably be fairly mild in comparison to what we will see in the months leading up to 2024.”
A growing subset of communities of color, especially immigrants for whom English is not their first language, are questioning the integrity of U.S. voting processes and subscribing to Trump’s lies of a stolen 2020 election, said Jenny Liu, mis/disinformation policy manager at the nonprofit Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Still, she said these communities are largely left out of conversations about misinformation.
“When you think of the typical consumer of a conspiracy theory, you think of someone who’s older, maybe from a rural area, maybe a white man,” she said. “You don’t think of Chinese Americans scrolling through WeChat. That’s why this narrative glosses over and erases a lot of the disinformation harms that many communities of colors face.”
In addition to general misinformation themes about voting machines and mail-in voting, groups are catering their messaging to communities of color, experts say.
For example, immigrants from authoritarian regimes in countries like Venezuela or who have lived through the Chinese Cultural Revolution may be “more vulnerable to misinformation claiming politicians are wanting to turn the U.S. into a Socialist state,” said Inga Trauthig, head of research for the Propaganda Research Lab at the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin. People from countries that have not recently had free and fair elections may have a preexisting distrust of elections and authority that may make them vulnerable to misinformation as well, Trauthig said.
Disinformation efforts often hinge on topics most important to each community, whether that is public safety, immigration, abortion, education, inflation or alleged extramarital affairs, said Laura Zommer, co-founder of the Spanish-language fact-checking group Factchequeado.
“It takes advantage of their very real fear and trauma from their experiences in their home countries,” Zommer said.
Other vulnerabilities include language barriers and a lack of knowledge of the U.S. media landscape and how to find credible U.S. news sources, several misinformation experts told The Associated Press. Many immigrants rely on translated content for voting information, leaving space for bad actors to inject misinformation.
“These tactics exploit information vacuums when there’s a lot of uncertainty around how these processes work, especially because a lot of election materials may not be translated in the languages our communities speak or be available in forms they are likely to access,” said Clara Jiménez Cruz, another co-founder of Factchequeado.
Misinformation can also arise from mistranslations. The Brookings Institute, a nonprofit think tank, found examples of mistranslations in Colombian, Cuban and Venezuelan WhatsApp groups, where “progressive” was translated to “progresista,” which carries “far-left connotations that are closer to the Spanish words ‘socialista’ and ‘comunista.’”
Disinformation, often in languages like Spanish, Mandarin or Hindi, flows onto social media apps like WhatsApp and WeChat heavily used by communities of color.
Minority communities that believe their views and perspectives aren’t represented by the mainstream are likely to “retreat into more private spaces” found on messaging apps or groups on social media sites like Facebook, Trauthig said.
“But disinformation also targets them on these platforms, even though it may feel to them to be that safer space,” she said.
Messages on WhatsApp are also encrypted and can’t be easily seen or traced by moderators or fact-checkers.
“As a result, messages on apps like WhatsApp often fly under the radar and are allowed to spread and spread, largely unchecked,” said Randy Abreu, policy counsel for the National Hispanic Media Coalition, which leads the Spanish Language Disinformation Coalition.
Abreu also raised concerns about Spanish YouTube channels and radio shows that are growing in popularity. He said the coalition is tracking more and more YouTube and radio personalities who are spreading misinformation in Spanish.
A 2022 report by the left-leaning watchdog group Media Matters tracked 40 Spanish-language YouTube videos spreading misinformation about U.S. elections. Many of these videos remained on the platform, despite violating YouTube election misinformation policy, the report said.
Amid changes in voting policies at state and local levels, advocates are sounding the alarm on how disinformation about voting in 2024 may target communities of color. Many of these efforts have surged as Asian American, Black and Latino communities have grown in political power, said María Teresa Kumar, founding president of the nonprofit advocacy group Voto Latino.
“Disinformation is, at its core, meant to be a sort of voter suppression tactic for communities of color,” she said. “It targets communities of color in a way that feeds into their already justifiable concerns that the system is stacked against them.”
The tactics also feed into a history “as old as the Jim Crow era of attempting to disenfranchise people of color, going back to voter intimidation and suppression efforts after the Civil Rights Act of 1866,” said Atiba Ellis, a professor of law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
While many of the same recycled claims around alleged fraud in the 2020 and 2022 elections are expected to resurface, experts say disinformation campaigns will likely be more sophisticated and granular in attempts to target specific groups of voters of color.
Trauthig also raised concerns about how layoffs and instability at social media platforms like Twitter may leave them less prepared to tackle misinformation in 2024. It also remains to be seen how new social media platforms like Threads will approach the threat of misinformation. Changes in policies like WhatsApp launching a “Communities” function connecting multiple groups and expanding group chat sizes may also “have big implications for how quickly misinformation will spread on the platform,” she said.
In response to the mounting threat of misinformation, Indian American Impact is ramping up its fact-checking efforts through what the organization says is the first fact-checking website specifically for South Asian Americans. Shah said the group is drawing inspiration from 2022 projects, including a voting toolkit using memes with Bollywood characters and passing out Parle-G crackers with voting information stickers at Indian grocery stores.
Cruz of Factchequeado is paying close attention to misinformation in swing states with significant Latino populations like Nevada and Arizona. And Liu of Asian Americans Advancing Justice is reviewing misinformation trends from previous elections to strategize about how to inoculate Asian American voters against them.
Still, they say there is more work to be done.
Critics are urging social media companies to invest in content moderation and fact-checking in languages other than English. Government and election officials should also make voting information more accessible to non-English speakers, organize media literacy trainings in community spaces and identify “trusted messengers” in communities of color to help approach trends in misinformation narratives, experts said.
“These are not monolithic groups,” Cruz said. “This disinformation is very specifically tailored to each of these communities and their fears. So we also need to be partnering with grassroots organizations in each of these communities to tailor our approaches. If we don’t take the time to do this work, our democracy is at stake.”
___
The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-election-disinformation-campaigns-targeted-voters-of-color-in-2020-experts-expect-2024-to-be-worse/ | 2023-07-29T22:11:58 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-election-disinformation-campaigns-targeted-voters-of-color-in-2020-experts-expect-2024-to-be-worse/ |
Former Florida teacher allegedly tipped off to teen sex arrest by deputy in custody after traveling to Mexico
The former Florida high school teacher was also a soccer coach
A former teacher in Florida was arrested after arriving back in the U.S. from Mexico and is accused of having sexual relations with a teenage girl.
The Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post that Omar Ayala, 31, was arrested on Monday after arriving on a flight to Orlando, Florida from Mexico.
Ayala is accused of engaging in sexual activity with a minor when he was 24 years old, and the victim was 16 or 17 years old. Customs and Border Patrol assisted in making the arrest possible, according to the department.
Officials in Florida have been trying to arrest Ayala for the past month. A former Osceola County Sheriff's deputy, Arturo Dominguez, allegedly told Ayala that a warrant was out for his arrest after a traffic stop.
FORMER FLORIDA SHERIFF'S DEPUTY ARRESTED AFTER TIPPING OFF FRIEND ACCUSED OF HAVING SEX WITH MINOR
Dominguez was arrested on May 31 and is facing four felony charges - official misconduct by obstructing an investigation, accessory after the fact to unlawful sexual activity with a minor, unauthorized access of computer and devices and disclosure or use of confidential criminal justice information.
Ayala was a teacher and soccer coach at Okeechobee High School, according to WPTV.
Dominguez allegedly ran Ayala's name in a database system before the traffic stop. Investigators allege that the former deputy told Ayala to flee.
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According to investigators, they were lifelong friends.
Fox News' Louis Casiano contributed to this report. | https://www.foxnews.com/us/former-florida-teacher-allegedly-tipped-teen-sex-arrest-deputy-custody-traveling-mexico | 2023-07-29T22:12:03 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/us/former-florida-teacher-allegedly-tipped-teen-sex-arrest-deputy-custody-traveling-mexico |
Tesla is ramping up efforts to open showrooms on tribal lands where it can sell directly to consumers, circumventing laws in states that bar vehicle manufacturers from also being retailers in favor of the dealership model.
Mohegan Sun, a casino and entertainment complex in Connecticut owned by the federally recognized Mohegan Tribe, announced this week that the California-based electric automaker will open a showroom with a sales and delivery center this fall on its sovereign property where the state’s law doesn’t apply.
The news comes after another new Tesla showroom was announced in June, set to open in 2025 on lands of the Oneida Indian Nation in upstate New York.
“I think it was a move that made complete sense,” said Lori Brown, executive director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, which has lobbied for years to change Connecticut’s law.
“It is just surprising that it took this long, because Tesla had really tried, along with Lucid and Rivian,” she said, referring to two other electric carmakers. “Anything that puts more electric vehicles on the road is a good thing for the public.”
Brown noted that lawmakers with car dealerships that are active in their districts, no matter their political affiliation, have traditionally opposed bills allowing direct-to-consumer sales.
The Connecticut Automotive Retail Association, which has opposed such bills for years, says there needs to be a balance between respecting tribal sovereignty and “maintaining a level playing field” for all car dealerships in the state.
“We respect the Mohegan Tribe’s sovereignty and the unique circumstance in which they operate their businesses on Tribal land but we strongly believe that this does not change the discussion about Tesla and other EV manufacturers with direct-to-consumer sales, and we continue to oppose that model,” Hayden Reynolds, the association’s chairperson, said in a statement. “Connecticut’s dealer franchise laws benefit consumers and provide a competitive marketplace.”
Over the years in numerous states, Tesla has sought and been denied dealership licenses, pushed for law changes and challenged decisions in courts. The company scored a victory earlier this year when Delaware’s Supreme Court overturned a ruling upholding a decision by state officials to prohibit Tesla from selling its cars to directly customers.
At least 16 states have effectively changed their laws to allow Tesla and other direct-to-consumer manufacturers to sell there, said Jeff Aiosa, executive director of the Connecticut dealers association. He doesn’t foresee Connecticut changing its law, noting that 32 “original equipment manufacturers,” a list that includes major car companies like Toyota and Ford, currently abide by it.
“It’s not fair to have an unlevel playing field when all the other manufacturers abide by the state franchise laws and Tesla wants this exception to go around the law,” he said. “I would suggest their pivoting to the sovereign nation is representative of them not wanting to abide by the law.”
Tesla opened its first store as well as a repair shop on Native American land in 2021 in New Mexico. The facility, built in Nambé Pueblo, north of Santa Fe, marked the first time the company partnered with a tribe to get around state laws, though the idea had been in the works for years.
Brian Dear, president of the Tesla Owners Club of New Mexico, predicted at the time that states that are home to tribal nations and also have laws banning direct car sales by manufacturers would likely follow New Mexico’s lead.
“I don’t believe at all that this will be the last,” he said.
Tesla’s facility at Mohegan Sun, dubbed the Tesla Sales & Delivery Center, will be located at a shopping and dining pavilion within the sprawling casino complex. Customers will be able to test drive models around the resort. and gamblers will be able to use their loyalty rewards toward Tesla purchases.
Tesla also plans to exhibit its solar and storage products at the location. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-automaker-tesla-is-opening-more-showrooms-on-tribal-lands-to-avoid-state-laws-barring-direct-sales/ | 2023-07-29T22:12:06 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-automaker-tesla-is-opening-more-showrooms-on-tribal-lands-to-avoid-state-laws-barring-direct-sales/ |
Marines to meet recruiting goal this year while other military branches fall short
Space Force, the smallest branch of the military, which recruits at Air Force stations, is also expected to meet its goal of 500
While the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force have all said they will fall short of their recruiting goals this year, the Marines expect to meet theirs and even meet 30% of their 2024 goal by the start of the new fiscal year on October 1.
"I’m bearish for not only concluding FY23 on a strong footing, but also how we set the conditions for FY24," Brig. Gen. Walker Field, who heads the Marines’ Eastern recruiting region, told the Associated Press this week.
While the Marines have a much smaller recruiting goal than the Army – 33,000 compared to 65,000 – they also have notoriously high standards, refusing to take recruits who get low score on their Armed Services Voluntary Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test.
The Army and Navy have both set up programs to help recruits who score below 30 on the test move into a job.
ALL-VOLUNTEER FORCE LOOKS TO FIND NEXT GENERATION OF FIGHTERS ON ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
The Marines have also resisted increasing bonuses to attract recruits — something the other services have found helpful.
"Your bonus is you get to call yourself a Marine," Gen. Eric Smith, the acting Marine Corps commandant, said during a naval conference in February. "That’s your bonus, right? There’s no dollar amount that goes with that."
All of the armed services have been forced to compete for recruits with higher-paying non-governmental jobs and physical and mental standards that not everyone can make.
Last year, the Navy, Air Force and Marines had to eat into their pools of delayed entry applicants in order to make their goals and the Army expects to fall substantially short of its goal this year.
AI TECH IDENTIFIES SUICIDE RISK IN MILITARY VETERANS BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE: ‘FLIPPING THE MODEL’
The Corps focuses on putting its top performers in recruiting positions, increasing the number of recruiters and they plan to get recruiters back into high schools, which stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic. Field said they are also repositioning recruiters where the population is growing.
Marine Col. Jennifer Nash, a combat engineer who has deployed more than once, told the Associated Press she was at first "voluntold" for a recruiting position but has now come to appreciate it.
"We put our best and brightest in those positions," she said. "That's why they got selected, because they were above their peers."
Nash also explained her pitch.
"I say, 'Hey, ever thought about being Marine? We're a bunch of Marines. And, you know, I think you potentially could be a good Marine. You ever thought about it?' And usually you get, ‘Yeah, I thought about it.’ And I'm, like, ‘What’s holding you back? Would you like to learn more about your opportunities?' ‘Absolutely.’ `OK. Mind giving me your name and phone number? I’ll have one of my recruiters give you a phone call.'"
Nash told The Associated Press that 10 Marines dressed in uniform is worth more than $10 million for recruiting.
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"Give me those 10 Marines and give me a day," she said. "We’ll go out and we’ll get more out of that, I think, than $10 million in advertising."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.foxnews.com/us/marines-make-recruiting-goal-year-other-branches-fall-short | 2023-07-29T22:12:10 | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/us/marines-make-recruiting-goal-year-other-branches-fall-short |
NEW YORK (AP) — The fate of U.S. trucking company Yellow Corp. isn’t looking good.
After years of financial struggles, Yellow is reportedly preparing for bankruptcy and seeing customers leave in large numbers — heightening risk for future liquidation. While no official decision has been announced by the company, the prospect of bankruptcy has renewed attention around Yellow’s ongoing negotiations with unionized workers, a $700 million pandemic-era loan from the government and other bills the trucker has racked up over time.
Yellow, formerly known as YRC Worldwide Inc., is one of the nation’s largest less-than-truckload carriers. The Nashville, Tennessee-based company has some 30,000 employees across the country.
Here’s what you need to know.
Not yet. But industry experts suspect that a bankruptcy filing could come any day now.
People familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that the company could seek bankruptcy protection as soon as this week — with some noting that a significant amount of customers have already started to leave the carrier.
Meanwhile, according to FreightWaves, employees were told to expect the filing Monday. Yellow laid off an unknown number of employees Friday, the outlet later reported, citing a memo that stated the company was “shutting down its regular operations.”
According to Satish Jindel, president of transportation and logistics firm SJ Consulting, Yellow handled an average of 49,000 shipments per day in 2022. As of this week, he estimates that number is down to between 10,000 and 15,000 daily shipments.
With customers leaving — as well reports of Yellow stopping freight pickups earlier this week — bankruptcy would “be the end of Yellow,” Jindel told The Associated Press, noting increased risk for liquidation.
“The likelihood of them surviving and remaining solvent diminishes really by the day,” added Bruce Chan, a research director at investment banking firm Stifel.
Yellow media contacts did not immediately respond to the Associated Press’ requests for comment on Friday. In a Wednesday statement to The Journal, the company said it was continuing “to prepare for a range of contingencies.” On Thursday, Yellow said it was in talks with multiple parties about selling its third-party logistics organization.
Even if Yellow was able to sell its logistics firm, it would “not generate a sufficient amount of cash to keep them operational on any sort of permanent basis,” Chan said. “Without a major equity injection, it would be very difficult for them to survive.”
As of late March, Yellow had an outstanding debt of about $1.5 billion. Of that, $729.2 million was owed to the federal government.
In 2020, under the Trump administration, the Treasury Department granted the company a $700 million pandemic-era loan on national security grounds. Last month, a congressional probe concluded that the Treasury and Defense Departments “made missteps” in this decision — and noted that Yellow’s “precarious financial position at the time of the loan, and continued struggles, expose taxpayers to a significant risk of loss.”
The government loan is due in September 2024. As of March, Yellow had made $54.8 million in interest payments and repaid just $230 million of the principal owed, according to government documents.
Yellow’s current finances and prospect of bankruptcy “is probably two decades in the making,” Chan said, pointing to poor management and strategic decisions dating back to the early 2000s. “At this point, after each party has bailed them out so many times, there is a limited appetite to do that anymore.”
In May, Yellow reported a loss of $54.6 million, a decline of $1.06 per share, for its first quarter of 2023. Operating revenue was about $1.16 billion in the period.
A Wednesday investors note from financial service firm Stephens estimated that Yellow could be burning between $9 million and $10 million each day. Using a liquidity disclosure from earlier this month, Yellow had roughly $100 million in cash at the end of June, the note added — estimating that the company has been burning through increasing amounts of money through July.
“It is reasonable to believe that the Company could breach its $35 mil. liquidity requirement at any moment,” Stephens analyst Jack Atkins and associate Grant Smith wrote.
The reports of bankruptcy preparations arrive just days after a strike from the Teamsters, which represents Yellow’s 22,000 unionized workers, was averted.
A series of heated exchanges have built up between the Teamsters and Yellow, who sued the union in June after alleging it was “unjustifiably blocking” restructuring plans needed for the company’s survival. The Teamsters called the litigation “baseless” — with general president Sean O’Brien pointing to Yellow’s “decades of gross mismanagement,” which included exhausting the $700 million federal loan.
On Sunday, a pension fund agreed to extend health benefits for workers at two Yellow Corp. operating companies, averting a strike — and giving Yellow “30 days to pay its bills,” notably $50 million that Yellow failed to pay the Central States Health and Welfare Fund on July 15, the union said. While the strike didn’t occur, talks of a walkout may have caused some Yellow customers to pull back, Chan said.
Talks between Yellow and the Teamsters, which also represents UPS’s unionized workers, are ongoing. The current contract expires in March 2024.
“The financial struggles of Yellow are not related to the union and the contracts,” Jindel said, pointing to management’s responsibility around its services and prices. He added the union wages from Yellow are “lower than any competitor.”
If Yellow files for bankruptcy and customers continue to take their shipments to other carriers, like FedEx or ABF Freight, prices will go up.
Yellow’s prices have historically been the cheapest compared to other carriers, Jindel said. “That’s why they obviously were not making money,” he added. “And while there is capacity with the other LTL carriers to handle the diversions from Yellow, it will come at a high price for (current shippers and customers) of Yellow.”
Chan adds that we’re in an interesting time for the LTL marketplace — noting that, if Yellow declares bankruptcy and liquidates, “the freight would find a home” with other carriers, which may not have been true in recent years.
“It may take time, but there’s room for it to be absorbed,” he said. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-trucking-company-yellow-corp-is-reportedly-preparing-for-bankruptcy-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ | 2023-07-29T22:12:13 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-trucking-company-yellow-corp-is-reportedly-preparing-for-bankruptcy-heres-what-you-need-to-know/ |
Russian UFO engagements, secret 'Tic Tac' report and 3 key figures slip under radar at Congressional hearing
Investigate journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp provided Congress with sworn testimonies, which were obtained by Fox News Digital, and flanked former Intelligence Community Inspector General at Wednesday's UFO hearing
FIRST ON FOX - Russian warplanes engaged UFOs, "chased them and even shot at them" at least 45 times by 1993, according to investigative reporter George Knapp.
That's just one snippet of information revealed in letters written by Knapp and investigative journalist Jeremy Corbell to the House's Oversight Committee before Wednesday's UFO hearing.
Both letters, which were first obtained by Fox News Digital and published in their entirety below, were entered into the Congressional record.
"Since 1969, the position of our military has been that UFOs pose no threat to national security and are not worthy of further study," Knapp wrote in his letter. "This dismissive attitude is directly at odds with what was revealed in documents, reports and internal memos."
UFO WHISTLEBLOWER TESTIFIES HIS LIFE WAS THREATENED OVER SECRET ALIEN TECH RETRIEVAL
As the country's eyes and ears were glued to three explosive testimonies, Corbell whispered something to Charles McCullough as George Knapp listened in with a smirk.
These three men sat directly behind David Grusch, who was flanked by Navy pilots Ryan Graves and David Fravor during Wednesday's Congressional hearing about UFOs.
McCullough, who was President Barack Obama's former Intelligence Community Inspector General, represented Grusch in his Intelligence Community Inspector General complaint purposefully seated behind him.
Grusch's testimony about recovered "biologics" of "non-humans" from alleged UFO crash sites made national - and even international - headlines, while details in Knapp's and Corbell's letters went under the radar.
VIDEO: WHITE HOUSE'S STANCE ON UFOS
Knapp has been reporting on UFOs, now referred to as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), since 1987 and had a direct relationship with Sen. Harry Reid.
And Corbell has become a go-to source for UFO whistleblowers and been acknowledged as essential in organizing witnesses for Wednesday's historic, bipartisan hearing.
UFOS: IS THE GOVERNMENT HIDING SOMETHING?
Knapp said he first heard whispers about crashed UFOs, "strange materials and reverse engineering programs being carried out in secrecy in the Nevada desert by intelligence operative and defense contractors," in 1989.
That's what sparked his relationship with then-freshman Sen. Reid.
READ GEORGE KNAPP'S LETTER TO CONGRESS
He revealed Russia's 10-year study about UFOs, which he wrote "was likely the largest UFO investigation ever undertaken," that included thousands of case files from interviews with military personnel.
The program's director told Knapp about the Russian warplane dogfights with UFOs.
"In most incidents, the UFOs shot away at unbelievable speeds, but in three incidents, the Russian warplanes were dibbled and crashed. Two of the pilots were killed," Knapp wrote in his letter.
"After those incidents, the MOD (Ministry of Defense) issued a nationwide order that UFOs should be left because, in the words of a top Air Defense official, ‘they may have incredible capacities for retaliation.’"
READ JEREMY CORBELL'S LETTER TO CONGRESS
He brought this information back to the U.S., but for decades the topic of UFOs and aliens were a taboo subject that could ruin a person's livelihood and career.
Then the ‘Tic Tac’ UFO, named after its odd shape, was engaged in 2004 by David Fravor, retired Commanding Officer of the Navy's Black Aces Squadron.
FOX EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: STRANGE OBJECTS ON OCEAN FLOOR MAY BE UFO CRASH DEBRIS
He described it as a "giant flying propane tank" that was "far superior to anything we had at the time, have today or are looking to develop in the next 10-plus years."
He described the object's physics-defying maneuvers and its lack of propulsion systems and control surfaces, such as wings or engines.
Fox News Digital has learned a 100-plus page scientific analysis for a contracted agency specifying the technological details and capabilities of the performance that was observed and documented during the multi-week, multi-vehicle "Tic Tac" UAP event series hasn't been available to the public.
NO MORE GOVERNMENT COVERUP
Over classification of UFO-related records and an alleged decades-long government coverup were the underlying basis of Wednesday's hearing.
UFO LEGISLATION TO USHER IN NEW AGE OF TRANSPARENCY: 'LONG PAST TIME'
Grusch, a decorated Air Force veteran, testified that the government "absolutely" has UFO tech and "biologics" of "non-human origins" since the 1930s and knows the exact locations where they're being held.
Because of an open whistleblower reprisal program case against him, he said he can't say anything more in a public setting.
Corbell wrote in his letter to Congress that the "UFO issue is emerging as a major topic of global importance"
"UFOs are real. This is objective truth - not a subjective reality," Corbell wrote in the first two sentences of his letter. "And UFOs - whatever they represent - have been present and part of the human condition since at least the beginning of recorded history."
LAWMAKERS CLAIM UFO ‘COVER-UPS’ FROM PENTAGON, MILITARY: ‘WE’RE FINALLY GOING TO SHED LIGHT ON THIS'
The problem, Corbell says in his letter, is UAP "have proven that they can operate with impunity within our airspace" and occurs virtually every day.
"Most alarmingly, UAP are witnessed, documented and often captured on corroborative multi-platform defense sensors and targeting systems while displaying the capability to outpace, outmaneuver and outperform our most advanced military weaponry; or any other known technologically advanced terrestrial nation’s military inventory and private industry holdings."
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Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who has spearheaded the fight for UFO transparency, said during the hearing, "We can't trust a government that does not trust its people."
After listening to the witnesses' testimony for more than two hours, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., said there's "clearly a threat to the national security of the United States."
The House's hearing followed the Senate's bipartisan legislation to declassify and release UFO-related records that brought political foes like Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., together. | https://www.foxnews.com/us/russian-ufo-engagements-secret-tic-tac-report-key-figures-slip-under-radar-congressional-hearing | 2023-07-29T22:12:16 | 0 | https://www.foxnews.com/us/russian-ufo-engagements-secret-tic-tac-report-key-figures-slip-under-radar-congressional-hearing |
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron held discussions with his Sri Lankan counterpart Saturday on an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region in the first-ever visit by a French leader to the Indian Ocean island nation.
As the fourth-largest creditor to Sri Lanka, France had pledged cooperation in debt restructuring to help the island nation recover from its economic crisis.
Macron arrived in Sri Lanka Friday night, following his trip to the South Pacific region, to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations, Sri Lanka’s president’s office said.
Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe praised France’s significant role in global affairs, particularly in areas such as climate mitigation, global debt restructuring, and matters related to the Indo-Pacific region, the statement said.
“Sri Lanka and France are two Indian Ocean nations that share the same goal: an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific. In Colombo we confirmed it: strengthened by 75 years of diplomatic relations, we can open a new era of our partnership,” Macron said in a Twitter message after the meeting. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/international/ap-french-president-macron-visits-his-counterpart-in-sri-lanka/ | 2023-07-29T22:12:21 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/international/ap-french-president-macron-visits-his-counterpart-in-sri-lanka/ |
MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge in Miami on Friday criticized prosecutors for an apparent attempt to undercut a court order and take control of a oceanside condo belonging to a former Republican congressman ahead of a high-profile trial connected to a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist government.
When David Rivera and an associate were charged last November with money laundering and acting as unregistered foreign agents for President Nicolás Maduro’s government, prosecutors obtained a judge’s order freezing several banking and brokerage accounts as well as Florida properties that they said were the product of some $24 million in ill-gotten gains.
Prosecutors also blocked eight more properties belonging to Rivera and his associate in Florida and Georgia that, while unrelated to criminal activity, would likely be seized if the two are found guilty.
This month, in a harshly worded ruling, Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said that the government had no right to take the “innocent” Florida assets without a conviction. Rather than lift the restraining order, the government then asked the court to reconsider and said that it had since determined that three of the properties — including a condo that Rivera and his wife purchased in 2019 for $301,000 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida — could also be traced to the defendants’ alleged lobbying on behalf of Maduro’s government.
Judge Darrin Gayles on Friday expressed frustration with the government’s change in strategy.
“This reeks of gamesmanship,” said Gayles, who reversed his own sealed order of a week ago granting prosecutors’ request that the real estate properties once again be frozen. “It seems like the government simply filed this because it lost.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nalina Sombuntham said prosecutors first learned from investigators that the property could be directly “tainted” by Rivera’s consulting work with Venezuela in May or June but didn’t alert the court until July 14 — a week after Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres issued his 23-page order freeing up the properties.
Gayles, who is overseeing the criminal case, was unimpressed. “It seems like you’re wasting the court’s time,” he said.
Rivera has been marred by scandals stretching back to his days in Congress from 2011 to 2013. He was arrested late last year on an eight-count criminal indictment alleging that at the start of the Trump administration he was part of a conspiracy to lobby on behalf of Venezuela to lower tensions with the U.S., resolve a legal dispute with a U.S. oil company and end U.S. sanctions against the South American nation — all without registering as a foreign agent.
As part of that effort, he arranged meetings in Washington, New York and Dallas for allies of Maduro with U.S. lawmakers and a top aide to former President Donald Trump, according to the indictment. To hide the sensitive nature of his work, prosecutors allege Rivera referred to Maduro in chat messages as the “bus driver,” a congressman as “Sombrero” and millions of dollars as “melons.”
Court records show Rivera’s consulting work was closely coordinated with Raúl Gorrín, a Venezuelan insider and media tycoon who has himself been sanctioned and indicted in the U.S. on money laundering charges. Part of the more than $20 million that Rivera was alleged to have received from Venezuela was used to pay maintenance on one of Gorrin’s yachts, according to prosecutors.
Rivera maintains that Gorrín was his attorney in Venezuela and that all of his work was conducted on behalf of PDV USA — a Delaware-based affiliate of Venezuelan-owned Citgo — and didn’t require he register as a foreign agent.
The dispute over Rivera’s assets has slowed the government’s prosecution of the high-profile case. Eight months after being charged, Rivera has yet to be formally arraigned — normally a routine procedural step — because he said he needs access to the disputed assets to pay his attorneys.
Rivera’s attorneys in filings have accused prosecutors of waging a “scorched earth attack” against the south Florida GOP stalwart who once shared an apartment in Tallahassee with now Sen. Marco Rubio when both were state lawmakers.
“They lost, they got caught and they came to this court and it is wrong,” David Oscar Markus, an attorney for Rivera’s co-defendant Esther Nuhfer said.
Rivera was triumphant following Friday’s hearing, accusing the prosecutors of “misconduct.” Judge Gayles was more restrained, making no such finding of wrongdoing even as he questioned prosecutors’ actions.
“Today’s decision shows that there are still honorable judges in America who will not tolerate misconduct from dishonest government prosecutors,” Rivera wrote The Associated Press in a text message. “Another victory for truth and justice.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida didn’t immediately comment.
___
Joshua Goodman on Twitter: @APJoshGoodman | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/international/ap-judge-blasts-prosecutors-handling-of-venezuela-case-against-ex-miami-congressman/ | 2023-07-29T22:12:28 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/international/ap-judge-blasts-prosecutors-handling-of-venezuela-case-against-ex-miami-congressman/ |
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Typhoon Doksuri weakened into a tropical storm late Friday night after bringing heavy winds and rain that left more than a million people without power in southern China.
After making landfall Friday morning in southern Fujian province, where at least 400,000 people were evacuated, the storm flooded streets and toppled electric transmission towers in the province. Over a million households were left without power, according to the state-backed Xiamen Evening News.
The typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm at 11 p.m. Friday night, China’s state-owned broadcaster CCTV announced.
Businesses and summer school classes had been ordered suspended and the public was urged to stay indoors. In the city of Quanzhou by China’s southern coast, authorities reported some 50 individuals sustained minor injuries. Residents shared photos on social media showing downed trees with roots fully out of the ground Saturday morning.
The tropical storm is expected to move its way farther inland in China, bringing heavy rains to the capital, Beijing.
Earlier in the week, the storm grazed past Taiwan’s main island after hitting the Philippines ‘ main island of Luzon, where it produced landslides, flooding and downed trees. The storm displaced thousands and caused 41 deaths — including 27 killed in the capsizing of a passenger ship. About 20 others remained missing, including four coast guard personnel whose boat overturned while on a rescue mission in hard-hit Cagayan province, officials said Saturday, adding that they were monitoring another approaching storm. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/international/ap-typhoon-doksuri-is-downgraded-to-tropical-storm-status-as-it-leaves-southern-china/ | 2023-07-29T22:12:36 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/international/ap-typhoon-doksuri-is-downgraded-to-tropical-storm-status-as-it-leaves-southern-china/ |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations has been forced to cut food, cash payments and assistance to millions of people in many countries because of “a crippling funding crisis” that has seen its donations plummet by about half as acute hunger is hitting record levels, a top official said Friday.
Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, told a news conference that at least 38 of the 86 countries where WFP operates have already seen cuts or plan to cut assistance soon — including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and West Africa.
He said WFP’s operating requirement is $20 billion to deliver aid to everyone in need, but it was aiming for between $10 billion and $14 billion, which was what the agency had received in the past few years.
“We’re still aiming at that, but we have only so far this year gotten to about half of that, around $5 billion,” Skau said.
He said humanitarian needs were “going through the roof” in 2021 and 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine and its global implications. “Those needs continue to grow, those drivers are still there,” he said, “but the funding is drying up. So we’re looking at 2024 (being) even more dire.”
“The largest food and nutrition crisis in history today persists,” Skau said. “This year, 345 million people continue to be acutely food insecure while hundreds of millions of people are at risk of worsening hunger.”
Skau said conflict and insecurity remain the primary drivers of acute hunger around the world, along with climate change, unrelenting disasters, persistent food price inflation and mounting debt stress — all during a slowdown in the global economy.
WFP is looking to diversify its funding base, but he also urged the agency’s traditional donors to “step up and support us through this very difficult time.”
Asked why funding was drying up, Skau said to ask the donors.
“But it’s clear that aid budgets, humanitarian budgets, both in Europe and the United States, (are) not where they were in 2021-2022,” he said.
Skau said that in March, WFP was forced to cut rations from 75% to 50% for communities in Afghanistan facing emergency levels of hunger, and in May it was forced to cut food for 8 million people — 66% of the people it was assisting. Now, it is helping just 5 million people, he said. In Syria, 5.5 million people who relied on WFP for food were already on 50% rations, Skau said, and in July the agency cut all rations to 2.5 million of them. In the Palestinian territories, WFP cut its cash assistance by 20% in May and in June. It cut its caseload by 60%, or 200,000 people. And in Yemen, he said, a huge funding gap will force WFP to cut aid to 7 million people as early as August.
In West Africa, where acute hunger is on the rise, Skau said, most countries are facing extensive ration cuts, particularly WFP’s seven largest crisis operations: Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.
He said cutting aid to people who are only at the hunger level of crisis to help save those literally starving or in the category of catastrophic hunger means that those dropped will rapidly fall into the emergency and catastrophe categories, “and so we will have an additional humanitarian emergency on our hands down the road.”
“Ration cuts are clearly not the way to go forward,” Skau said.
He urged world leaders to prioritize humanitarian funding and invest in long-tern solutions to conflicts, poverty, development and other root causes of the current crisis. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/international/ap-un-says-its-forced-to-cut-food-aid-to-millions-globally-because-of-a-funding-crisis/ | 2023-07-29T22:12:43 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/international/ap-un-says-its-forced-to-cut-food-aid-to-millions-globally-because-of-a-funding-crisis/ |
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The new prosecutor in Oklahoma’s biggest county announced Friday she’s dropping criminal charges against seven police officers in three separate fatal shootings from 2020, including one in which five officers were charged with killing a 15-year-old boy outside a convenience store.
District Attorney Vicki Behenna’s predecessor and fellow Democrat, David Prater, had filed criminal charges against the police officers before leaving office. Behenna said she hired a use-of-force expert to examine the evidence, and her office spent hundreds of hours reviewing the three cases.
“Under Oklahoma law, these shootings were justified,” Behenna said at a news conference.
“This was not just a quick, spur-of-the-moment decision. This was a very difficult, very fact-intensive decision and review,” she said.
The charges were dismissed with prejudice, which means they are permanently dismissed and can’t be refiled, she said.
A former federal prosecutor and defense attorney from the suburb of Edmond, Behenna is the first woman elected top prosecutor in the state’s most populous county. She defeated conservative Republican Kevin Calvey last year to win a four-year term.
The most high-profile case dismissed Friday involved five Oklahoma City officers charged with first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Stavian Rodriguez. The teen was shot on Nov. 23, 2020, by officers responding to reports of an attempted armed robbery at a convenience store.
TV news reports of the shooting showed video of the boy dropping a gun then reaching toward his waist before being shot.
Willard Paige, the investigator for the previous district attorney, said the officers fired live rounds “unnecessarily,” and that an autopsy determined Rodriguez suffered 13 gunshot wounds.
Initially charged in the shooting were officers Bethany Sears, Jared Barton, Corey Adams, John Skuta and Brad Pemberton. All five have been on paid administrative leave since the shooting.
The teen’s mother, Cameo Holland, said in a statement that she intends to work to change the law to make it easier for police to be criminally charged.
“When the district attorney of Oklahoma County apologizes to your face for the justice system failing you, it’s clear we need changes in the law,” Holland said.
Behenna said Friday that she does not take these decisions lightly.
“These families are grieving,” she said. “No matter what this office does or says, these families are forever changed.”
Holland has a pending civil rights excessive force lawsuit against Oklahoma City and the five officers in federal court.
In another Oklahoma City case, Sgt. Clifford Holman was charged with first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of 60-year-old Bennie Edward.
Holman, who is white, had responded to a call of a Black man harassing customers at a business in north Oklahoma City, according to a police affidavit by homicide detective Bryn Carter. When he arrived at the scene, Holman encountered Edwards, who was holding a knife and refusing officers’ commands to drop it, the affidavit states.
The shooting sparked days of protests and demonstrations by Black Lives Matter groups and other activists.
The third case involved The Village officer Chance Avery, who was charged with second-degree murder in the July 2020 shooting death of Christopher Pool.
Avery was called to the home by Pool’s wife, who was retrieving personal belongings, when Pool ran inside carrying a bat and was shot by Avery after refusing to drop it, police said.
Gary James, an attorney for Avery and Adams, one of the officers charged in the Rodriguez shooting, said he was “ecstatic” about Behenna’s decision.
“We’ve got seven police officers who were just doing their duty, and were placed in a position by all three of the deceased that they had to use deadly force,” James said.
Although criminal charges against police officers are not common, previous district attorney Prater — himself an ex-cop who served 16 years as the county’s top prosecutor — had secured criminal convictions against officers before.
In 2013, Del City police Capt. Randy Harrison was sentenced to four years in prison for second-degree manslaughter after shooting an unarmed teenager in the back as he ran away following a scuffle.
In 2019, another Oklahoma City police sergeant, Keith Sweeney, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a jury convicted him of second-degree murder in the shooting death of an unarmed, suicidal man.
Behenna said that in future cases involving police shootings, she will present evidence to a multi-county grand jury to make a decision on whether to file criminal charges, rather than making that decision herself.
Oklahoma City Police Chief Wade Gourley said the department has implemented “significant changes” since the fatal shootings, such as creating a training unit that has worked with every officer on de-escalation strategies. The chief’s statement Friday said officers are also provided with additional less-lethal equipment, like stun guns and weapons that deploy bean bags, as well as crisis-intervention training. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/national-news/ap-charges-dropped-against-7-oklahoma-police-officers-in-3-separate-fatal-shootings/ | 2023-07-29T22:12:50 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/national-news/ap-charges-dropped-against-7-oklahoma-police-officers-in-3-separate-fatal-shootings/ |
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal trial for the man who fatally shot 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue approached its conclusion Friday as the defense, trying to persuade a jury to spare his life, pressed its case that mental illness spurred the nation’s deadliest antisemitic attack.
Robert Bowers, a 50 year-old truck driver from suburban Baldwin, was convicted in June on 63 criminal counts for the 2018 massacre at Tree of Life synagogue. The jury has been hearing testimony in the penalty phase of the trial and will decide whether Bowers will receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors have presented evidence that Bowers was motivated by his hatred of Jewish people when he opened fire at the synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, killing members of three congregations gathered for Sabbath worship and study. The defense argues Bowers has schizophrenia and acted out of a delusional belief that Jews were participating in a genocide of white people.
On Friday, a defense psychiatrist who met with Bowers 10 times for nearly 40 hours said Bowers saw himself as a soldier of God in a war in which Satan was trying to use Jewish people to bring about the end of the world. Dr. George Corvin, of Raleigh, N.C., said it was a delusion brought on by psychosis.
Corvin said Bowers continues to express delusional beliefs about Jews — “disgustingly so” — and that he is incapable of remorse. He said Bowers should be on anti-psychotic medication.
Bowers “has a belief that we’re at the end of a war that’s been going on for thousands of years,” Corvin testified. “He still envisions what he did as an unfortunate act of violence at the direction of God — that it will save lives. He believes he’s a tool for God. I know it sounds absurd. It’s psychotic.”
Corvin continued: “This is the result of a mental illness.”
Corvin was one of several defense experts who diagnosed Bowers with schizophrenia, a serious brain disorder whose symptoms include delusions and hallucinations. A neurologist testifying for the prosecution disputed that Bowers has schizophrenia, saying Bowers has a personality disorder but is not delusional, and that mental illness did not appear to play a role in the attack. Prosecutors have noted Bowers spent six months planning the shooting.
Also testifying Friday were Bowers’ aunt and uncle.
The uncle, Clyde Munger, said he visited with Bowers in prison because “he is my nephew and I love him.” He said he prays for Bowers every morning.
The aunt, Patricia Fine, was expected to the final defense witness. She said Bowers had a difficult childhood from infancy, describing the house where he lived as unsafe. She said he was a sad child and that she “was convinced” he would take his own life. A defense expert previously described Bowers’ early life as deeply unstable and said he attempted suicide several times in his teens.
Fine’s testimony was scheduled to resume Monday, with closing arguments and jury deliberations expected to follow. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/national-news/ap-defense-presses-case-that-mental-illness-spurred-pittsburgh-synagogue-massacre/ | 2023-07-29T22:12:58 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/national-news/ap-defense-presses-case-that-mental-illness-spurred-pittsburgh-synagogue-massacre/ |
Federal investigators renewed their recommendation that major freight railroads equip every locomotive with the kind of autonomous sensors that could have caught the track flaws that caused a fatal 2021 Amtrak derailment in northern Montana.
But installing the sensors on the tens of thousands of locomotives in the fleet could be cost prohibitive, and it’s not entirely clear if one would have caught the combination of rail flaws that the National Transportation Safety Board said caused the crash near Joplin, Montana, that killed three people and injured 49 others. And rail unions caution that no technology should be a substitute for human inspectors.
The NTSB report laid blame in part on BNSF railroad, which owns the tracks, and “a shortcoming in its safety culture.” But it noted that even if track inspections had been more frequent, the severity of the problems may not have been noticed the day of the crash without devices and technology designed to enhance the inspections.
“It is unlikely that the track deviations would have been detected through the current track inspection process,” the board concluded in the report released Thursday. But “autonomous monitoring systems … have the ability to monitor track conditions and provide real-time condition monitoring that could be used for early identification and mitigation of unsafe track conditions.”
BNSF defends its safety record and said it already employs a number of the sensors that the NTSB is recommending, but spokeswoman Lena Kent said the Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad will review the report for any additional lessons and ways to improve safety.
But track problems have long been a safety concern for the NTSB, which can recommend but not mandate changes. In a 2021 report on the Joplin derailment, it attributed 592 U.S. derailments over a decade-long timespan to “track geometry,” which includes the distance between the rails and their horizontal and vertical alignment. Those issues were the second-leading cause of derailment in 2021.
Railroad safety expert Dave Clarke, the former director of University of Tennesse’s Center for Transportation Research, said it is important to remember that the NTSB doesn’t do any kind of cost-benefit analysis on its recommendations.
“If they think something is a good idea for safety they put it out there. In the real world there may be no way to economically or practically do everything NTSB recommends,” Clarke said.
Clarke said it’s also not clear that these sensors would have definitely caught the problems that caused the Montana derailment because none of the individual factors was severe enough to be considered a defect under Federal Railroad Administration rules. The NTSB said it was the combination of all those factors that caused the derailment.
The major freight railroads have more than 23,000 locomotives in their fleets, including thousands that have been put into storage in recent years as the railroads have overhauled their operations to rely more on longer trains that don’t need as many locomotives.
It would require a major investment to add detectors to every locomotive, although the Association of American Railroads trade group couldn’t immediately provide an estimate of how much each sensor costs. BNSF and the five other major U.S. freight railroads already spend roughly $23 billion every year on improving and maintaining their networks and investing in new equipment.
But attorney Jeff Goodman, who represented family members of the three passengers who died in the derailment, said he believes his clients would have lived if trains that had passed through the area before the Amtrak train had been equipped with these sensors.
Tracks will always bend or get out of sync because they’re exposed to the elements, but monitoring allows trains to know when to slow down and prevent accidents, he said.
“If the recommendations that the NTSB issued today were implemented prior to this tragedy, Zach Scheider and Don and Marjorie Varnadoe would all be alive today,” he said, naming the deceased family members of his clients.
Railroads have long resisted new regulations, Although there aren’t any rules requiring these automated inspection sensors or the thousands of trackside detectors they employ, railroads have spent millions developing the technology and installed them voluntarily to improve safety. But regulators are considering drafting rules for them in the wake of recent derailments.
An AAR trade group spokeswoman said that the type of sensors the NTSB singled out measure the force a locomotive exerts on the track and hasn’t proven as useful as other kinds of sensors railroads have developed.
“This technology has been difficult to maintain in real-world operations and lacks a strong correlation to track geometry defects,” Jessica Kahanek said.
Railroads are experimenting with a variety of technologies to find the best way to spot problems.
Another kind of autonomous sensor that can be installed on locomotives as well as the trucks inspectors use to ride along the rails can spot problems like misaligned track and wear on the rails by testing the track continuously.
Vehicle track interaction systems, like the ones the NTSB singled out, must be mounted on locomotives because they measure the force a train puts on the tracks.
Both kinds of sensors can help identify areas of concern for a human inspector to follow up on after computers analyze the data they generate. But the VTI sensors tend to be so sensitive that they flag areas where there aren’t true defects.
Kent said BNSF’s use of both kinds of sensors allows the railroad to check its track network multiple times — more than 450,000 miles (720,000 kilometers) of track each year — and that the technology has helped the railroad reduce the rate of defects that it finds by 82% over the past five years.
In the past, BNSF and other railroads have even petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration to get a waiver releasing them from some inspection requirements because they believe the track geometry sensors provide enough information that the frequency of human inspections can be safely reduced.
Federal officials approved a waiver allowing BNSF to reduce inspections on a couple of areas of its more than 30,000-mile (48,000-kilometer) network after the railroad successfully tested the devices for several years, but later declined to let the railroad expand that practice, including its tracks that cross Montana. BNSF took the FRA to court over that decision and the dispute is still pending.
Rail unions have opposed the waivers. They argue that while the new technology is helpful, it shouldn’t replace human inspections. Even with an interest in preserving jobs, they say safety is their primary concern.
Already, the unions say the widespread job cuts the major railroads have made — eliminating nearly one-third of all rail jobs over the past six years — have made it difficult for employees to keep up with inspection demands and meet all FRA requirements. The NTSB pointed out that the inspector responsible for the territory where the Montana derailment happened had worked an average of 13 hours a day in the four weeks prior to the crash.
Former NTSB director Bob Chipkevich, who spent years investigating rail crashes, said it often takes multiple derailments to force railroads to implement new safety technology.
One of the biggest recent advances in rail safety came after a commuter train collided head-on with a freight train near Los Angeles in 2008, killing 25 people and injuring more than 100. Congress mandated a $15 billion automatic braking system that stops trains when they’re in danger of colliding, derailing and other situations — but it took 12 years to complete.
“When there are safety issues that have been raised after multiple accidents that occurred again and again, the question is to the industry,” Chipkevich said. “Why haven’t you done it after all these years?”
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Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska, and Metz reported from Salt Lake City.
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Follow Josh Funk on Twitter at www.twitter.com/funkwrite | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/national-news/ap-montana-train-derailment-report-renews-calls-for-automated-systems-to-detect-track-problems/ | 2023-07-29T22:13:05 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/national-news/ap-montana-train-derailment-report-renews-calls-for-automated-systems-to-detect-track-problems/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court Friday to reverse a federal judge’s decision to keep his hush-money criminal case in a New York state court that the former president claims is “very unfair” to him.
Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan after U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein last week rejected his bid to move the case to federal court, where his lawyers were primed to argue he was immune from prosecution.
U.S. law allows criminal prosecutions to be moved from state to federal court if they involve actions taken by federal government officials as part of their official duties, but Hellerstein ruled that the hush-money case involved a personal matter, not presidential duties.
Trump’s appeal notice came at the end of another busy week of legal action for the twice-indicted Republican as he seeks a return to the White House in next year’s election. On Thursday, he was indicted on new criminal charges in a separate case in federal court in Florida involving allegations that he illegally hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the hush-money case and fought to keep it in state court, declined to comment on Trump’s appeal.
Trump pleaded not guilty April 4 in state court to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide reimbursements made to his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen for his role in paying $130,000 to the porn actor Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
Cohen also arranged for the National Enquirer to pay Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story about an alleged affair, which the supermarket tabloid then squelched in a dubious journalism practice known as “catch-and-kill.”
Trump denied having sexual encounters with either woman. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up.
He is scheduled to stand trial in state court on March 25, 2024. In the meantime, his lawyers have asked the state court judge presiding over the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, to step aside, arguing that he’s biased in part because his daughter does political consulting work for some of Trump’s Democratic rivals. Trump has referred to Merchan as “a Trump-hating judge” with a family full of “Trump haters.” The judge has yet to rule on the request.
In seeking to try the hush-money case tried in federal court, Trump’s lawyers have argued that some of his alleged conduct amounted to official presidential duties because it occurred in 2017 while he was president, including checks he purportedly wrote while sitting in the Oval Office.
Moving the case from state court to federal court would have significant legal and practical consequences for Trump. In federal court, for example, his lawyers could then try to get the charges dismissed on the grounds that federal officials have immunity from prosecution over actions taken as part of their official job duties.
A shift to federal court would also mean a more politically diverse jury pool — drawing not only from heavily Democratic Manhattan, where Trump is wildly unpopular, but also from suburban counties north of the city where he has more political support. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-to-keep-hush-money-case-in-new-york-state-court/ | 2023-07-29T22:13:11 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-donald-trump-appeals-judges-decision-to-keep-hush-money-case-in-new-york-state-court/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s a stunning new allegation in an already serious case: Former President Donald Trump sought to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage to obstruct the Justice Department’s investigation into his handling of classified documents.
The latest criminal charges unsealed Thursday deepen Trump’s legal jeopardy, alleging a more central role for the former president than previously known in a cover-up that prosecutors say was meant to prevent them from recovering top-secret documents he took with him after he left the White House. Coming as Trump braces for possible additional indictments related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the new allegations strengthen special counsel Jack Smith’s already powerful case against Trump while undercutting potential defenses floated by the former president, experts say.
“Before these new charges, you could maybe try some sort of defense that ‘this was all a mistake, it was my staff’ or confusion about what documents he actually had,” said former federal prosecutor Randall Eliason, a George Washington University law professor.
“But especially now, when you’re trying to destroy video footage,” he added, “that’s kind of the final nail in the coffin. I don’t see much in the way of a defense, not a real defense. All he can do is claim he’s being persecuted and hope for a holdout juror or something.”
Trump resorted to that familiar playbook on Friday, writing in a post on his Truth Social platform that “this is textbook Third World intimidation by rabid, lawless prosecutors.” He insisted during an interview with radio host John Fredericks that he did nothing wrong and accused prosecutors of trying to intimidate his staff into making up lies about him.
Later Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Mar-a-Lago security tapes were voluntarily handed over to prosecutors. Trump said he was told they were not “deleted in any way, shape or form.”
The new Florida charges came as a surprise given that Trump and his legal team have been focused on the prospect of an additional indictment in Washington — possibly within days — related to his efforts to cling to power after he lost to President Joe Biden. Trump received a letter this month informing him that he’s a target in that probe, and his lawyers met Thursday with special counsel Jack Smith’s office.
Hours after that meeting, Smith revealed the new classified documents case charges on top of a 38-count indictment issued last month against Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta. The updated indictment includes a detailed chronology of phone conversations and other interactions between Trump, Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, in the days after the Justice Department last June drafted a subpoena for security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago.
Video from the home would ultimately become vital to the government’s case because, prosecutors said, it shows Nauta moving boxes in and out of a storage room — an act alleged to have been done at Trump’s direction and in an effort to hide records not only only from investigators but Trump’s own lawyers.
The day after a draft subpoena was sent to the Trump Organization, the indictment says, Trump called De Oliveira and spoke with him for about 24 minutes. Though the details of that conversation are not included in the indictment, De Oliveira is described by prosecutors as asking a Mar-a-Lago information technology staffer several days later how long the server retained footage for and is quoted as telling the employee that “the boss” wanted it deleted.
Lawyers for Nauta, who has pleaded not guilty, and De Oliveira declined to comment on the allegations. De Oliveira is expected to make his first court appearance in Miami on Monday.
To the extent that evidence of Trump’s involvement in trying to delete video is circumstantial rather than direct, it might present a challenge for prosecutors, said David Aaron, a former Justice Department national security prosecutor who has worked on cases involving the mishandling of classified documents.
But if they can tie the effort to Trump, he added, “it’s devastating in its own right, because it doesn’t matter at that point what he thought he had the right to do, or whatever other defense he’s going to have about the classified documents. That’s in and of itself very bad.”
It could also help prosecutors establish that Trump knew what he was doing was wrong because “you only delete video of what you’ve done if you think it’s going to get you in trouble,” Aaron said. And Trump’s own accusations against others, like his claims against Hillary Clinton, his opponent in the 2016 presidential race, could boomerang against him.
Trump has claimed that Clinton deleted emails from her private server for the purpose of obstructing a criminal investigation into her own handling of classified information — something the FBI and Justice Department never alleged — but now stands himself accused of scheming to delete evidence he feared would be incriminating.
“He has specifically criticized other public figures for deleting data when he says they thought they were going to be in trouble,” Aaron said. “So if you needed to prove his consciousness of guilt, it’s not just an obvious thing that you would ask the jury to rely on common sense for — he’s actually made statements about what it means when someone does this.”
Trump and Nauta are set for trial next May, though it’s not clear if that date will hold.
Smith’s team also added a new count of willful retention of national defense information related to a classified document about a Pentagon plan of attack on a foreign country prosecutors say Trump showed off during a July 2021 meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey resort.
That charge comes after Trump repeatedly claimed he didn’t have any secret documents when he spoke, only magazine and newspaper clippings, even though an audio recording captured him saying “this is secret information.” The document was returned to the government in January 2022, months before the subpoena for classified records.
It’s not clear why prosecutors moved now to indict another one of Trump’s underlings, though bringing charges against De Oliveira that could carry significant prison time adds serious pressure on him, potentially increasing the odds that he could decide to cut a plea deal and cooperate.
“But, you know, Trump seems to inspire a lot of loyalty, at least in some people,” Eliason said. “Maybe they are holding out for the idea that he is reelected and he can pardon them.”
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Richer reported from Boston. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-fresh-charges-tie-trump-even-more-closely-to-coverup-effort-that-could-deepen-his-legal-woes/ | 2023-07-29T22:13:18 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-fresh-charges-tie-trump-even-more-closely-to-coverup-effort-that-could-deepen-his-legal-woes/ |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The city of San Francisco has opened a complaint and launched an investigation into a giant “X” sign that was installed Friday on top of the downtown building formerly known as Twitter headquarters as owner Elon Musk continues his rebrand of the social media platform.
City officials say replacing letters or symbols on buildings, or erecting a sign on top of one, requires a permit for design and safety reasons.
The X appeared after San Francisco police stopped workers on Monday from removing the brand’s iconic bird and logo from the side of the building, saying they hadn’t taped off the sidewalk to keep pedestrians safe if anything fell.
Any replacement letters or symbols would require a permit to ensure “consistency with the historic nature of the building” and to make sure additions are safely attached to the sign, Patrick Hannan, spokesperson for the Department of Building Inspection said earlier this week.
Erecting a sign on top of a building also requires a permit, Hannan said Friday.
“Planning review and approval is also necessary for the installation of this sign. The city is opening a complaint and initiating an investigation,” he said in an email.
Musk unveiled a new “X” logo to replace Twitter’s famous blue bird as he remakes the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last year. The X started appearing at the top of the desktop version of Twitter on Monday.
Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla, has long been fascinated with the letter X and had already renamed Twitter’s corporate name to X Corp. after he bought it in October. One of his children is called “X.” The child’s actual name is a collection of letters and symbols.
On Friday afternoon, a worker on a lift machine made adjustments to the sign and then left. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/tech-news/ap-technology/ap-x-logo-installed-atop-twitter-building-spurring-san-francisco-to-investigate-permit-violation/ | 2023-07-29T22:13:25 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/news/tech-news/ap-technology/ap-x-logo-installed-atop-twitter-building-spurring-san-francisco-to-investigate-permit-violation/ |
READING, Pa. - Reading Police Chief Richard Tornielli has confirmed he will retire on Monday, July 31.
Tornielli said he plans to follow a new career path. 69 News learned of his retirement on Saturday morning, two days before it becomes effective.
Mayor Eddie Moran said Tornielli's retirement comes after he and the chief "agreed a change of strategy was needed" in addressing public safety.
Moran announced the appointment of Tornielli as police chief on Jan. 9, 2020, the same day Tornielli's predecessor, Andres Dominguez, resigned as chief.
Before becoming chief, Tornielli was an RPD supervisor for eight years, most recently as captain. In total, Tornielli worked for the city for more than 20 years.
Moran provided a statement on Tornielli's retirement Saturday afternoon after being contacted by 69 News for a request for comment.
Moran's statement, in its entirety, is provided below.
"When I was elected four years ago, among several issues I wanted to tackle, making the community safe was and still is my number one priority. Given recent events, I decided that we needed to move forward with new leadership in the police department. As such, the Chief and I agreed that a change of strategy was needed, and I graciously accepted his offer of retirement. On behalf of the City of Reading, I thank Chief Tornielli for his 22 years of service and wish him well in retirement.
"After hearing from many people across the city who feel unsafe, I will make it a priority for my administration to do a nationwide search for a qualified applicant who can be visible in the community while helping my administration develop a safety plan to address growing concerns of crime within our city.
"In the very near future, I’ll be appointing an interim police chief to lead the department while a search is conducted. And finally, to the men and women of the Reading Police Department. I hear you, I am with you, and I am willing to do all I can to ensure that you feel valued and respected. I will continue to listen to your opinions on how we fight crime in the city and whom I choose to lead the police department in the future."
69 News reporter Jack Reinhard interviewed Tornielli Saturday afternoon. He said his decades of working in Reading were rewarding.
"I got to meet and work with a lot of great people over the years." Tornielli said. " And I'm really proud of the work our officers put in day and day out."
Tornielli said he was nearing the end of his career with the department and started looking at what opportunities were out there.
"My retirement is a benefit to the city as well because crime in general, specifically violent crime, are complex issues," he said. "It never hurts to have a fresh set of eyes looking at those issues, so my hopes are that the city will identify a very well qualified and experienced chief to replace me and to hopefully look at those challenges with a fresh set of eyes and see what they can do to help continue the success we're having and really make this community a better place to live for the residents because that's what our job really involves." | https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/berks/reading-police-chief-to-retire-monday-mayor-says-he-and-chief-agreed-a-change-of/article_c97c164c-2e20-11ee-9e92-2bc33618add4.html | 2023-07-29T22:13:34 | 1 | https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/berks/reading-police-chief-to-retire-monday-mayor-says-he-and-chief-agreed-a-change-of/article_c97c164c-2e20-11ee-9e92-2bc33618add4.html |
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The troubled brother of the late NFL player Aaron Hernandez was charged Friday, now in federal court, with new counts of threatening and stalking after authorities say he threatened to shoot up the University of Connecticut and kill three people in another state.
Dennis Hernandez was ordered to be held in custody after his appearance in the court in Hartford. A message seeking comment was sent Friday night to his attorney.
The new charges came days after it emerged that Hernandez was arrested July 18 on state charges after police said he threatened to kill officers and then urged them to shoot him at his home in Bristol. Officers had gone there after two people close to him raised concerns about his mental health, police said.
The arrest report said the 37-year-old had sent threatening messages, including ones about carrying out a shooting at UConn. He was a Huskies quarterback and wide receiver who went by DJ Hernandez in the mid-2000s.
Court filings in the new federal case include the same messages. Some say the writer is struggling financially, is frustrated at seeing other people get hired as coaches, feels owed by UConn, is planning on “taking down everything” and doesn’t care “who gets caught in the crossfire.”
“I’ve died for years now and now its others peoples turn,” read a July 7 message sent to a woman in Hernandez’s life. It followed a message the day before that warned: “UConn’s gonna see how accurate I am too with my targets.”
Hernandez told another person that he drove July 7 to UConn’s campus in Storrs and to Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, where he coached quarterbacks during the 2010-11 season, according to court papers.
He had been due in state court that day on another case stemming from allegations that he threw a bag containing a brick and a note over a fence and onto ESPN’s property in Bristol.
UConn police confirmed that a vehicle linked to Hernandez was on campus that day. Brown has said that its investigation didn’t indicate Hernandez had been on campus in recent weeks.
Hernandez is due back in state court Tuesday and in federal court Aug. 11.
His younger brother, former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, killed himself in 2017 while serving a murder sentence. | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-aaron-hernandezs-brother-now-facing-federal-charges-over-alleged-threatening-messages/ | 2023-07-29T22:13:33 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-aaron-hernandezs-brother-now-facing-federal-charges-over-alleged-threatening-messages/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas was suspended for five games and fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball on Friday for intentionally throwing at Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs.
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was suspended for one game and fined as a result of Mikolas’ actions Thursday night. Mikolas appealed his penalties, while Marmol served his suspension Friday night against the Cubs.
In the first inning in the Cardinals’ 10-3 loss, Happ bloodied St. Louis catcher Willson Contreras when he hit him in the head with a long follow-through on a swing, then was soon hit himself by a pitch from Mikolas.
Andrew Knizner took over behind the plate for Contreras, and Mikolas brushed back Happ with the first pitch when play resumed to run the count to 3-1. With the next pitch, Mikolas hit Happ in the rear end.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-cardinals-mikolas-suspended-5-games-and-fined-for-intentionally-throwing-at-cubs-happ/ | 2023-07-29T22:13:40 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-cardinals-mikolas-suspended-5-games-and-fined-for-intentionally-throwing-at-cubs-happ/ |
BLAINE, Minn. (AP) — With the FedEx Cup two weeks away, Lee Hodges can breathe easier. Justin Thomas can’t.
Hodges birdied four of his last six holes for a 7-under 64 and a four-stroke lead over Tyler Duncan on Friday after almost two rounds of the 3M Open.
A nearly two-hour afternoon weather delay led to play being suspended due to darkness with six players yet to finish — none within 10 shots of the lead.
Hodges, 74th in the FedEx Cup points race, opened with a 63 for the first-round lead and had a 15-under 127 total to break the tournament 36-hole record of 128 set by Bryson DeChambeau in 2019.
Hodges was 3 under on the front nine and added a 33-foot birdie putt on No. 13, followed by birdies from 14 feet on No. 14 and 11 feet on No. 17.
“I’ve got a great attitude out there. Me and my caddie (Andrew Medley), we’re 70-something on the points list, like what do we have to lose, you know?” Hodges said. “We’ve committed to every shot we’ve hit so far, which has been great. We’ll continue to do it, because what do we have to lose.”
A lengthy last-hole putt was not enough to overcome a couple bad holes as Thomas aims to make the FedEx Cup playoffs for the eighth straight season. He birdied four of his last five holes to shoot a shot an even-par 71, leaving him 2 under for the tournament and two strokes short.
Thomas, at No. 75 in the FedEx Cup standings, has missed five cuts in his last seven starts. The top 70 next week after the Wyndham Championship will advance to the playoffs. Looking to stay in strong consideration for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, Thomas has just two top-10 finishes in 14 tournaments since mid-February.
Starting on the back nine, Thomas put two balls in the water on the par-5 18th, falling to 1 under. An errant tee shot and poor chip led to another double bogey on the par-3 fourth, before a strong finishing stretch was punctuated by a 30-foot putt on No. 9.
“This is a good chance for me to learn a little bit about myself and push myself and become better,” Thomas said before the tournament. “I mean, this game, nothing’s given to you. I’ve had great chances to win the FedEx Cup the last five or six years and now I’m trying to make the playoffs. That’s just the way that this sport is. And it can happen to anybody, so you’ve just got to go out and get it.”
He wasn’t the only player to put untimely dents in possible playoff plans by missing the cut. No. 70 K.H. Lee (1 under), No. 72 Davis Thompson (2 under) and No. 90 Gary Woodland (3 over) also get the weekend off.
Duncan, who has missed six cuts in his past eight events and 17 of 27 this season, shot a 67. He has back-to-back bogey-free rounds.
“You never know when it’s coming, but I’ve been putting in the work and you always hope it shows up,” Duncan said. “But it doesn’t always show up when you want it to.”
Defending champion Tony Finau (66), J.T. Poston (66), Brandt Snedeker (68) and Kevin Streelman (68) were 10 under.
With one top-10 in 25 starts this season, Streelman is in a rare position.
“I haven’t been in the final groups in a while on a Saturday, so looking forward to that. At my age I don’t have much to lose, so go out and have some fun this weekend,” the 44-year-old Streelman said.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-lee-hodges-leads-the-3m-open-while-justin-thomas-misses-the-cut-to-hurt-his-playoff-hopes/ | 2023-07-29T22:13:48 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-lee-hodges-leads-the-3m-open-while-justin-thomas-misses-the-cut-to-hurt-his-playoff-hopes/ |
NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri, Chief Imam at the Islamic Centre of Ireland. He was a friend and spiritual advisor to Sinead O'Connor who died earlier this week.
Copyright 2023 NPR
NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri, Chief Imam at the Islamic Centre of Ireland. He was a friend and spiritual advisor to Sinead O'Connor who died earlier this week.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.kasu.org/2023-07-29/how-sinead-oconnor-found-peace-in-islam-after-a-lifelong-struggle-with-religion | 2023-07-29T22:13:49 | 1 | https://www.kasu.org/2023-07-29/how-sinead-oconnor-found-peace-in-islam-after-a-lifelong-struggle-with-religion |
An NPR investigation into Pentagon documents finds flaws in the U.S. claim that civilians were spared in the 2019 operation against the leader of ISIS.
Copyright 2023 NPR
An NPR investigation into Pentagon documents finds flaws in the U.S. claim that civilians were spared in the 2019 operation against the leader of ISIS.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.kasu.org/2023-07-29/pentagon-files-reveal-flaws-in-u-s-claims-about-syrian-casualties-in-baghdadi-raid | 2023-07-29T22:13:56 | 0 | https://www.kasu.org/2023-07-29/pentagon-files-reveal-flaws-in-u-s-claims-about-syrian-casualties-in-baghdadi-raid |
MIAMI (AP) — Miguel Cabrera’s farewell tour has reached a special location.
The Detroit Tigers’ slugger is approaching the last two months of his major league career. And in his final season, Cabrera has received numerous tributes in visiting stadiums.
This weekend, the honors bring added significance.
The Tigers opened a three-game series Friday in Miami against the Marlins. The 40-year-old Cabrera is returning to the city where he spent his first five seasons and is facing the organization that signed him shortly after his 16th birthday.
“It is very emotional because this is where it all started,” Cabrera, a native of Venezuela, said before the Tigers lost to the Marlins 6-5 in Friday’s series opener. “To be back here is awesome.”
The Marlins brought up the then-20-year-old Cabrera two months into the 2003 season. Cabrera made an immediate impact, hitting a walk-off home run to help the Marlins beat Tampa Bay in his major league debut.
“I remember it well because in all the stadiums I’ve visited, that is the first video presented,” said Cabrera, who went 0 for 3 and was hit by a pitch. “My teammates kid me because I was so skinny back then.”
It was a sign of things to come. Cabrera played a key role in the Marlins’ postseason run in 2003 that culminated with a World Series championship.
Cabrera was a four-time All-Star during his time with the Marlins. But the club, fearing it would lose Cabrera to free agency once he became eligible, dealt him to Detroit following the 2007 season.
“When I received that call, I had many questions on why I was being traded,” Cabrera said. “The club had a good young group and was growing tremendously. Had the group stayed together, we had a chance to contend for the division. They told me to be calm, that you’re going to a good club with a chance to win.”
Cabrera flourished in Detroit, becoming one of the game’s top hitters and a two-time AL MVP. In 2012, Cabrera won the AL Triple Crown, the first to accomplish the feat since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.
But the offensive production, which included four AL batting titles, declined as Cabrera reached his late 30s. Nonetheless, Cabrera reached the career 3,000-hit and 500-homer milestones over the last two seasons.
Now limited to a parttime role, Cabrera will play the three games against Miami. The second game on Saturday also will be promoted as Venezuelan Heritage Day.
“It is going to be great for me and my family,” Cabrera said of the ceremony,” Cabrera said. “You have to enjoy this moment, every second, every minute. After that, you prepare for the game and do your best to help our team win.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-miguel-cabreras-farewell-tour-makes-a-stop-miami-where-his-career-started-years-ago/ | 2023-07-29T22:13:55 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-miguel-cabreras-farewell-tour-makes-a-stop-miami-where-his-career-started-years-ago/ |
Arts & Culture 'The Deepest Breath' director on her new documentary about free diving Published July 29, 2023 at 4:40 PM CDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 7:57 NPR's Scott Detrow talks to film director Laura McGann about her new documentary on free diving, The Deepest Breath. Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.kasu.org/arts-culture/arts-culture/2023-07-29/the-deepest-breath-director-on-her-new-documentary-about-free-diving | 2023-07-29T22:13:59 | 0 | https://www.kasu.org/arts-culture/arts-culture/2023-07-29/the-deepest-breath-director-on-her-new-documentary-about-free-diving |
NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA told teams Friday that Damian Lillard and his agent confirmed that the All-Star guard would honor his contract in any potential trade, despite the agent saying Lillard only wanted to be dealt to the Miami Heat.
A memo sent to general managers and obtained by The Associated Press also warned that Lillard would be subject to discipline by the league if he or Aaron Goodwin make additional comments suggesting he won’t fully perform the requirements of his contract in the event of a trade.
Lillard told the Portland Trail Blazers earlier this month he wanted to be traded and Goodwin subsequently made clear his preference was Miami.
“Dame’s position won’t change,” Goodwin told AP on July 6. “This entire situation was about building an opportunity for Portland to win or giving him another opportunity that he wants, which is Miami.”
The league said it interviewed Lillard and Goodwin, along with several teams with whom Goodwin spoke. Goodwin denied telling teams that Lillard would refuse to play for them and the teams provided descriptions that were “mostly, though not entirely, consistent with Goodwin’s statements to us.”
Players are not allowed to publicly request trades. The league also stated in the memo that it told the Players Association that further comments such as Goodwin’s will be subject to discipline.
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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-nba-tells-teams-lillard-would-honor-contract-in-any-trade-warns-of-discipline-for-saying-otherwise/ | 2023-07-29T22:14:03 | 1 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-nba-tells-teams-lillard-would-honor-contract-in-any-trade-warns-of-discipline-for-saying-otherwise/ |
TORONTO (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit his major league-leading 39th home run for the Angels before leaving with leg cramps as the Toronto Blue Jays slugged three solo homers and rallied to beat Los Angeles 4-1 on Friday night.
Ohtani was replaced by pinch-hitter Michael Stefanic when his at-bat came up with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. Ohtani was lifted because of cramping in both of his calves, Angels manager Phil Nevin said.
“We’ll evaluate it tomorrow when he gets up,” Nevin said. “It’s just cramping right now. It’s kind of in both legs. He’s done a lot of work the last two days and wasn’t able to go.”
A day earlier, Ohtani left the second game of a doubleheader at Detroit because of cramps. The two-way superstar threw a one-hitter in the opener Thursday for his first career MLB shutout, then homered twice in the second game.
Nevin said Ohtani’s soreness developed after he grounded out to begin the eighth.
“He came in and was trying to get some work done and just kept cramping up,” Nevin said.
Stefanic struck out looking at a 3-2 pitch from right-hander Jordan Romano as Toronto ended the Angels’ four-game winning streak.
After the game, an angry Nevin was seen holding up a tablet computer and yelling at plate umpire Mike Estabrook as the crew left the field.
“I just explained to him that I thought the pitch to Stefanic was outside,” Nevin said.
Matt Chapman, Danny Jansen and Whit Merrifield homered for the Blue Jays, who are 24-11 when they hit two or more home runs.
“Our team has been playing a good brand of baseball for a while now,” Chapman said. “I think maybe we’re just starting to find ways to come out on top of some of those close games.”
Chapman hit a two-out drive in the second, his 14th of the season. Jansen homered to lead off the third, his 14th. Both home runs came off right-hander Lucas Giolito, who made his first start for the Angels since being acquired from the White Sox earlier this week.
Giolito (6-7) allowed three runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
“I felt relatively sharp, throwing a lot of strikes, but they hammered my mistakes pretty good,” Giolito said.
Bo Bichette hit an RBI double off Giolito in the sixth and Merrifield made it 4-1 with a two-out homer off José Soriano in the seventh, his eighth. Merrifield finished 3 for 4 and has six home runs in his last 17 games. He hit a three-run homer in Thursday’s road win over the Dodgers.
The Blue Jays began the day in the third AL wild-card spot, three games ahead of the Angels. Los Angeles trails Boston and the New York Yankees in the postseason race.
After being greeted with a loud ovation from the sellout crowd of 42,106, Ohtani homered on the first pitch he faced, going deep in three straight at-bats over two games.
Ohtani’s 397-foot drive came off Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman. Ohtani homered in consecutive games for the ninth time this season.
Ohtani’s streak of homers ended when he struck out swinging on a 2-2 pitch from Gausman in the third. Ohtani singled in the sixth and grounded out against left-hander Tim Mayza in the eighth.
Gausman (8-5) allowed one run and five hits in six-plus innings to win for the first time since June 21 at Miami. Gausman walked three and struck out nine, increasing his AL-leading total to 171.
Erik Swanson relieved Gausman after the Angels loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh. Swanson struck out Trey Cabbage and pinch-hitter Eduardo Escobar, then retired Luis Rengifo on a fly ball.
“Not getting one across, that hurts,” Nevin said.
Mayza worked one inning and Romano got two outs in the ninth before Yimi García finished for his third save in six chances. Romano was pitching for the fifth time since leaving the July 11 All-Star game because of a sore back.
“He’s doing alright,” manager John Schneider said of Romano. “Just lower back discomfort, it kind of locked up on him a little bit. Just kind of wanted to play it safe there.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: Before the game, Nevin said Ohtani would get an extra day of rest before his next start, which was scheduled for next Thursday’s home game against Seattle. … SS Zach Neto (sore back) was scratched from the starting lineup and replaced by Andrew Velazquez. Rengifo took over in the leadoff spot.
Blue Jays: LHP Hyun Jin Ryu (Tommy John surgery) will start on Tuesday against Baltimore, Schneider said. With the Blue Jays beginning a stretch of 17 games in 17 days Friday, Schneider said Ryu will be part of a six-man rotation. … RHP Chad Green (Tommy John surgery) will make a rehab appearance with Class-A Dunedin Saturday, his third.
ANGRY WORDS
Cameras caught Chapman yelling at Schneider in the dugout after the top of the first.
“That’s just everybody being competitive, wanting to win baseball games,” Chapman said. “Just a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing. What was said and what it’s about, I’m just going to keep between us.”
NEW-LOOK LINEUP
Blue Jays OF George Springer, who came in stuck in an 0-for-16 slump, was dropped from the leadoff spot to fifth. Springer finished 0 for 4. Merrifield moved up to hit leadoff.
ROSTER MOVES
The Angels optioned RHP Gerardo Reyes to Triple-A Salt Lake to make room on the roster for Giolito.
UP NEXT
RHP Alek Manoah (2-8, 6.10 ERA) starts for the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon. LHP Reid Detmers (2-7, 4.38) goes for the Angels.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-ohtani-hits-majors-best-39th-hr-before-leaving-with-leg-cramps-in-angels-4-1-loss-to-blue-jays/ | 2023-07-29T22:14:10 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-ohtani-hits-majors-best-39th-hr-before-leaving-with-leg-cramps-in-angels-4-1-loss-to-blue-jays/ |
Education & Technology How to maximize your summer meteor gazing By Nell Greenfieldboyce Published July 29, 2023 at 4:40 PM CDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 2:43 It's the time of year when many people look to the skies in search of shooting stars. We learn a few tricks to get the best view of incoming meteors. Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.kasu.org/education-technology/2023-07-29/how-to-maximize-your-summer-meteor-gazing | 2023-07-29T22:14:18 | 0 | https://www.kasu.org/education-technology/2023-07-29/how-to-maximize-your-summer-meteor-gazing |
Former President Trump faces three new charges in the case that accuses him of hoarding classified documents, as a grand jury continues to investigate his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Former President Trump faces three new charges in the case that accuses him of hoarding classified documents, as a grand jury continues to investigate his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Copyright 2023 NPR | https://www.kasu.org/politics/2023-07-29/trump-faces-new-charges-in-classified-documents-case | 2023-07-29T22:14:19 | 0 | https://www.kasu.org/politics/2023-07-29/trump-faces-new-charges-in-classified-documents-case |
TORONTO (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit his major league-leading 39th home run — for a streak of three homers in three at-bats over two games — before being sidelined due to cramping for a second consecutive game.
Ohtani was replaced by pinch-hitter Michael Stefanic when his at-bat came up with the bases loaded in the ninth inning due to leg cramps. The Blue Jays beat the Angels 4-1 Friday.
Los Angeles manager Phil Nevin said Ohtani was removed because of cramping in both of his calves.
“We’ll evaluate it tomorrow when he gets up,” Nevin said. “It’s just cramping right now. It’s kind of in both legs. He’s done a lot of work the last two days and wasn’t able to go.”
Ohtani homered twice in the second game of a doubleheader at Detroit on Thursday before leaving with cramps. He threw an eight-strikeout, one-hitter in the opener for his first career MLB shutout.
The two-way superstar became the first player to throw a shutout in one game of a doubleheader and hit one homer — much less two — in the other.
Thursday’s performance against the Tigers came hours after the team confirmed Ohtani will stay with the Angels for the rest of the season before he becomes a free agent.
Nevin said Ohtani’s soreness developed after he grounded out to begin the eighth inning.
“He came in and was trying to get some work done and just kept cramping up,” Nevin said.
Stefanic struck out looking at a 3-2 pitch from right-hander Jordan Romano as Toronto ended the Angels’ four-game winning streak.
On Friday, Ohtani homered on the first pitch he faced, going deep in three straight at-bats. His drive to right came off Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman and traveled 397 feet.
Ohtani streak of homers ended when he struck out swinging on a 2-2 pitch from Gausman in the third. He singled off Gausman in the sixth and grounded out to shortstop against left-hander Tim Mayza in the eighth, slowing up as he approached first base.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-ohtani-hits-majors-leading-39th-home-run-against-blue-jays-extends-hr-streak-to-3-at-bats/ | 2023-07-29T22:14:18 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-ohtani-hits-majors-leading-39th-home-run-against-blue-jays-extends-hr-streak-to-3-at-bats/ |
OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. — Several people are displaced after an apartment fire early Saturday morning in Oakbrook Terrace.
Ken Kovarik, the fire marshal for the York Center Fire Protection District, said the fire was believed to be caused by lightning from the storms overnight.
The DuPage County Arson Task Force is investigating.
While an official cause of the fire hasn’t been determined, Kovarik said the preliminary cause is believed to be the storms.
“It’s all wood construction, so you have wood truss ceiling and wood truss floors, so once the fire starts going, there’s really not much,” Kovarik said. “It can overrun the fire sprinkler system.”
No civilians were injured.
At least three firefighters were taken to a local hospital for heat exhaustion. They were treated and have since been released. | https://wgntv.com/news/lightning-strike-believed-to-be-start-of-apartment-fire-in-oakbrook-terrace/ | 2023-07-29T22:14:20 | 0 | https://wgntv.com/news/lightning-strike-believed-to-be-start-of-apartment-fire-in-oakbrook-terrace/ |
(KTLA) — An invasive fly species has prompted the quarantine of an upscale Southern California neighborhood, the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
The Tau fruit fly is native to Asia and is a “serious pest for agriculture and natural resources,” according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
The flies can be typically found on a variety of fruits and vegetables along with a “select range of native plants in California,” officials said.
After the detection of more than 20 Tau flies in the Stevenson Ranch area of the Santa Clarita Valley, a quarantine was placed on residents.
The quarantine area spans about 79 square miles, bordered on the north by Castaic Junction, on the south by Oat Mountain, on the west by Del Valle, and on the east by Honby Avenue.
Stevenson Ranch is an upscale neighborhood with a median home price of $1.15 million dollars according to Redfin.
Officials believe the fly was introduced to Los Angeles County by travelers who brought uninspected produce into the state. Agriculture officials note this is a common way for invasive species to arrive.
To prevent the species’ further spread, quarantined residents are asked not to move any fruits or vegetables away from their property. The produce they own may be safely consumed or processed, but must remain at the property.
If residents choose not to consume their produce, they must be disposed of by “double-bagging in plastic and placing the bags in a bin specifically for garbage,” officials said.
CDFA is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the L.A. County Agricultural Commissioner to “utilize a multi-tiered approach to eliminate the Tau fruit fly and prevent its spread to new areas.”
On properties within 200 meters of fly detections, crews will cut host fruit and vegetables to inspect for present fly larvae. Those properties will also be treated with a “naturally derived organic-approved material known as Spinosad, which will help remove any live adult fruit flies and reduce the density of the population,” said CDFA.
Fly traps that incorporate a pheromone along with a small amount of pesticide will also be placed throughout the treatment zones. | https://wgntv.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/california-neighborhood-under-quarantine-due-to-invasive-fly-species/ | 2023-07-29T22:14:26 | 1 | https://wgntv.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/california-neighborhood-under-quarantine-due-to-invasive-fly-species/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — As Bronny James continues to recover after going into cardiac arrest, his Southern California teammates have been at practice to prepare for a 10-day exhibition tour of Greece and Croatia that begins next week.
The tour will run from from Aug. 5-15 and see the Trojans visit Athens and Mykonos, Greece, and Dubrovnik, Croatia. Teams are allowed to go on a foreign tour once every four years under NCAA rules.
James was discharged from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Thursday and is resting at home, according to a statement from the hospital. His father, Lakers superstar LeBron James, also posted on social media that his family is “safe and healthy.”
Bronny James will continue to undergo tests to determine the cause of his cardiac arrest, which occurred Monday morning during a workout at USC’s Galen Center.
Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart abruptly stops beating, because of a problem with its electrical activity. While uncommon in young people, sudden cardiac arrest is the leading medical cause of death in young athletes. Some studies have estimated one sudden cardiac death in 50,000 to 80,000 young athletes each year.
No information has been made public about what may have caused Bronny James’ cardiac arrest. But one of the most common causes in young athletes is an underlying problem with the heart’s structure, such as a genetic condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that leads to a thickened heart muscle more prone to irregular electrical activity. A more rare cause is commotio cordis, which occurs when someone receives a sharp blow to the chest during a specific part of the heartbeat’s cycle — what happened to Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin earlier this year.
James was the second high-profile USC basketball recruit to go into cardiac arrest in the last year. Vincent Iwuchuwku also was stricken during a workout last July, but the 7-foot-1 center returned to the court six months later and appeared in 14 games.
It’s too soon to know how James’ playing career could be affected, especially without a lot of information being made public. Various experts point to James’ quick move out of intensive care and being released three days later as encouraging.
The upcoming trip is important for the Trojans as James recovers. USC had the nation’s fourth-ranked recruiting class, including the top-rated player in guard Isaiah Collier.
James committed to the Trojans in May after the 6-foot-3 18-year-old became one of the nation’s top prospects as a two-way point guard for Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, California.
He is the sixth McDonald’s All-American to come to USC since Andy Enfield became coach in 2013.
With his family fame and huge social media following, Bronny James also has the top name, image and likeness valuation in sports at $6.3 million, as estimated by On3.com. He is the oldest of LeBron and Savannah James’ three children.
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AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham and AP Health & Science Writer Lauran Neergard contributed to this report.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/lebron-james | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-usc-still-preparing-for-a-european-tour-as-bronny-james-recovers-at-home-after-cardiac-arrest/ | 2023-07-29T22:14:26 | 0 | https://www.myarklamiss.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-usc-still-preparing-for-a-european-tour-as-bronny-james-recovers-at-home-after-cardiac-arrest/ |
(WFRV) – It may have many names, but depending on where you live, it only has one. “Cornhole” or “Bags” has been in the middle of discussions when it comes to what the popular bag toss game is called.
The American Cornhole Association (ACA) wanted to settle the debate about what the popular game is called. In addition to having it on its website, the ACA also posted on its Facebook page.
The Facebook post had nearly 600 engagements, and the results painted an interesting picture. A map with the results showed how different parts of the country have different names for the game.
Nearly 79% of the answers were “cornhole,” while just over 21% were “bags.” There was also a percentage for “bean bag toss.” Most of the answers for “bags” came from the Midwest.
But outside of the Midwest, answers were dominated by “cornhole.”
Regardless of what the game is called, most people play by the same rules.
On the American Cornhole Association’s website, it says that it was established in 2003 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was reportedly the first organized corn toss organization in the United States. | https://wgntv.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/is-it-bags-or-cornhole-official-governing-body-tries-to-settle-the-debate/ | 2023-07-29T22:14:32 | 1 | https://wgntv.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/is-it-bags-or-cornhole-official-governing-body-tries-to-settle-the-debate/ |
Robert Chambers, NYC’s ‘Preppy Killer,’ is released after 15 years in prison on drug charges
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Chambers, better known to some as the “Preppy Killer,” was released after spending 15 years in prison for drug and assault charges, according to state records.
Chambers spent a similar amount of time in prison after pleading guilty to strangling Jennifer Levin in New York City’s Central Park during the summer of 1986.
Chambers entered the plea to killing 18-year-old Levin as part of a deal when a jury could not reach a decision after nine days of deliberations.
He was released in 2003 for that crime but again ran afoul of the law soon after.
He was again arrested in 2007 for selling drugs out of his apartment. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison but was released Tuesday — four years early — from the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York, according to online inmate records maintained by the New York Department of Corrections.
Chambers, now 56, will remain under supervision for up to five years, records show.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wlbt.com/2023/07/29/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-prison-drug-charges/ | 2023-07-29T22:14:44 | 1 | https://www.wlbt.com/2023/07/29/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-prison-drug-charges/ |
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Fire crews in Durham rescued an injured construction worker nearly 140 feet above the ground Saturday morning.
First responders to reports of a "high angle rescue" just at around 9:30 a.m. in the 600 block of Foster Street. When firefighters arrived, found a man injured at the end of a tower crane.
According to the Durham Fire Department, the man had injuries on his left shoulder, side, and back, and was unable to get down on his own. Firefighters were able to climb up the crane and lower the man back to the ground.
He was treated for minor injuries, officials said. | https://abc11.com/durham-crane-rescue-fire-department-injure-construction-worker/13569693/ | 2023-07-29T22:14:46 | 0 | https://abc11.com/durham-crane-rescue-fire-department-injure-construction-worker/13569693/ |
It was a sea of red in Iowa on Friday, where Republican presidential hopefuls spoke at the Lincoln dinner.
The event served as the first major opportunity for candidates to tell voters why they should be the next president of the United States.
Former President Donald Trump got the biggest reception of any presidential candidate at the annual Lincoln Dinner in Des Moines.
The 13 Republican candidates who spoke during the event stayed on time, as they were each given just 10 minutes to speak. In his speech, the former president accused President Joe Biden of political interference.
"They want to weaponize the IRS just like they've weaponized the Justice Department and the FBI. And by the way, if I weren't running, I would have nobody coming after me, or if I was losing by a lot, I would have nobody coming after me," Trump told the crowd.
Despite the looming possibility of a third criminal indictment, President Trump's popularity remains remarkably strong in the polls for the 2024 Iowa Republican caucus.
According to a Fox Business July 15–19 poll, 46% of Iowa Republican caucus goers said they'd caucus for Trump, with 16% saying that they caucus for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and 11% for Senator Tim Scott, who has spent a lot of time in Iowa.
SEE MORE: Judge sets date for Trump's motion to dismiss DA from election probe
Despite his massive lead in the polls, almost every single Republican candidate for president refused to talk about the former president in their 10-minute speeches at the event.
The only presidential candidate to bring up the charges against Trump was Will Hurd.
"Donald Trump is not running for president to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and 2020. Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison. And if we elect, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. Listen, I know the truth. The truth is hard," Hurd told the crowd.
Though Hurd faced a strong negative reaction from the crowd, the former congressman has put a footnote in the polls.
Meanwhile, DeSantis, who himself had a rough week, laying off reportedly 38 of his campaign staffers—a third of his campaign—did not directly address Trump during his remarks to the Iowa Republican Party.
"We're not getting a mulligan on 2024," DeSantis said. "We either win this election and make good on all the promises that we're making, or the Democrats are going to throw this country into a hole that's going to take us a generation to come out of. I believe that decline is a choice. I believe success is attainable, and I know that freedom is worth fighting for. This is our chance in 2024 to send the Biden-Harris administration to the dustbin of history, where it belongs."
The 2024 Iowa Republican caucuses are the first in the nation's Republican presidential nominating contest. They're less than six months away, on Jan. 15, 2024.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.abc15.com/trump-s-2024-rivals-ignored-legal-cases-against-him-at-iowa-gop-event | 2023-07-29T22:14:59 | 0 | https://www.abc15.com/trump-s-2024-rivals-ignored-legal-cases-against-him-at-iowa-gop-event |
ATLANTA — Veteran slugger Carlos Santana joined the Brewers’ active roster on Saturday and was expected to make his debut with Milwaukee in a game against the Atlanta Braves later in the day.
The Brewers acquired the first baseman in a Thursday trade that sent minor league infielder Jhonny Severino to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Santana, 37, is hitting .235 with 12 home runs and 53 RBIs in 94 games.
To make room for Santana, the Brewers sent reserve infielder Jahmai Jones to Triple-A Nashville. Jones appeared in seven games for the Brewers this season and was 2 for 10 at the plate.
The Brewers also placed pitcher Justin Wilson on the 15-day injured list. Wilson was set to make his first appearance of the season on Friday night after recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he injured his left lat or triceps warming up in the bullpen in the seventh inning.
Right-hander Trevor Megill, who was sent down on Thursday to Triple-A Nashville to make room for Wilson, was recalled. | https://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/news/carlos-santana-added-to-brewers-active-roster-expected-to-make-debut-vs-braves | 2023-07-29T22:14:59 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/news/carlos-santana-added-to-brewers-active-roster-expected-to-make-debut-vs-braves |
WASHINGTON — Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic former House speaker, and George W. Bush, the Republican former president, do not agree on much. But earlier this year, they joined a high-powered gathering in Washington — with Irish rock star Bono on video from Dublin — to mark the 20th anniversary of America’s biggest and, arguably, most successful foreign aid program.
Bush created that program, the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, in 2003. In the two decades since, PEPFAR, as it is known, has saved 25 million lives and served as a powerful tool for soft diplomacy, a symbol of America’s moral leadership in the world. It has had extraordinary support from a bipartisan coalition of liberals and Christian conservatives.
But now PEPFAR is in danger of becoming a victim of abortion politics — just as the State Department is reorganizing to make the program permanent.
The program is set to expire at the end of September. But House Republicans are not moving forward with a bill to reauthorize it for another five years, because opponents of abortion — led by a GOP congressman who has long been a supporter of PEPFAR — are insisting on adding abortion-related restrictions.
The stalemate is the latest example of how Republicans are using their majority in the House of Representatives to impose their conservative views on social policy throughout the federal government. They have focused in particular on abortion, a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and, with it, the right to legal abortion. Earlier this summer, House Republicans loaded up the annual military policy bill that has long been bipartisan with provisions to limit abortion access and transgender care.
The fight over PEPFAR, a $7 billion-a-year program that operates in more than 50 countries, is similar, because it is a broadly bipartisan program that now appears at risk of being sucked into a partisan fight over cultural and social issues.
PEPFAR continues to have wide support, including from Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which oversees the program and approves the reauthorization legislation. But so far, McCaul has not advanced it because of the objections of opponents of abortion, including his Republican colleague, Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, one of the leading anti-abortion voices in Congress who also helped draft the legislation creating PEPFAR.
Smith now says he will not agree to renew the program unless it is subject to the so-called Mexico City policy — enacted by Republican presidents but lifted by Democrats, including President Joe Biden — that would bar the program from partnering with any organization that provides abortion services, no matter the source of the funding.
That is a nonstarter for Democrats, who are demanding a “clean” five-year reauthorization — one with no added policy restrictions.
“We’ve done clean reauthorizations for 20 years,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., a chief sponsor of PEPFAR.
But there is a substantial stumbling block: Three influential outside groups that oppose abortion — the Family Research Council, the Heritage Foundation’s political action arm and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America — have sided with Smith and intend to “score” the vote when they compile their annual ratings of members of Congress. A vote for renewing PEPFAR without the anti-abortion language would be counted as a demerit, making it politically toxic for most Republicans.
The situation has alarmed champions of the program. In an email, Bono called the impasse “madness,” and called on Congress to “protect the bipartisan commitment to keeping politics out of PEPFAR.”
McCaul said he is “talking to supporters both inside and outside the government, and working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House and the Senate” to resolve the dispute. He has also been texting with Bono, who in turn has been in touch with congressional leaders on the matter.
A senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the negotiations, said Thursday that the White House was “engaging closely with Congress at senior levels” in pursuit of a straight five-year reauthorization.
But in recent months, Smith and right-wing groups have begun accusing the Biden administration of injecting progressive politics into the program.
In late May, a Heritage Foundation scholar published an essay in The Hill arguing that PEPFAR had become “increasingly politicized” and needed an overhaul. Smith followed in early June with a “Dear Colleague” letter asserting that Biden had “hijacked PEPFAR.”
In an interview, he pointed to new language in a PEPFAR country and regional operational plan calling for the program to partner with organizations that advocate for “institutional reforms in law and policy regarding sexual, reproductive and economic rights of women.” He argued that was code for a plan to “integrate abortion with HIV/AIDS work.”
The document also says PEPFAR programs should “advance human rights and decriminalization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) communities.” That did not sit well with the Family Research Council, whose chief lobbyist, Travis Weber, recently called PEPFAR “a massive slush fund for abortion and LGBT advocacy.” In an interview, he said he stood by those words.
The senior White House official said that the “intentional focus on health equity is new” and that it came in response to requests from local communities for PEPFAR to “address barriers to health for children, adolescent girls and young women, and key populations.” The mention of women’s rights refers to ensuring that adolescent girls have access to schools, the official said.
The Biden administration has added a footnote to the document clarifying that PEPFAR does not fund abortions, an assertion that Smith called “meaningless.”
There is no evidence that PEPFAR or its foreign partners have used federal tax dollars to promote or perform abortions; U.S. law does not allow it. But some PEPFAR grantees, such as Population Services International, a global health nonprofit based in Washington, do provide abortion-related services with money from other sources.
“The assertion is made by critics is that organizations like PSI are working with U.S. money and involved in abortion — and shouldn’t that be illegal?” said Karl Hofmann, the group’s president and CEO. “I guess my answer is, those two facts are true, and it’s not illegal.”
As the debate plays out on Capitol Hill, the State Department official who oversees PEPFAR, Dr. John N. Nkengasong, is about to get a big promotion. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce the establishment of a new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, to be led by Nkengasong. The idea is to integrate PEPFAR into the department’s broader global health work and to transition it out of emergency status.
Since its inception, the program has invested more than $100 billion in fighting the global AIDS crisis. Independent analyses by KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation, have found that PEPFAR has helped improve maternal and child health and is “associated with large, significant declines in mortality” in countries where it has operated.
Backers of the program are hoping that Bush will weigh in. Earlier this year, Emily Bass, an author and activist, sent the former president a signed copy of her book, “To End a Plague: America’s Fight to Defeat AIDS in Africa,” which chronicles the PEPFAR story.
A few weeks ago, Bass said, Bush sent a letter thanking her.
“Laura and I will remain invested in this mission for the rest of our lives,” he wrote. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/aids-relief-program-under-threat-as-gop-insists-on-abortion-restriction/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-29T22:15:07 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/aids-relief-program-under-threat-as-gop-insists-on-abortion-restriction/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
DES MOINES, Iowa — When former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida shared the same stage at an Iowa Republican Party dinner Friday, their appearances seemed to capture the basic dynamics of the 2024 presidential primary.
Trump played headliner. DeSantis was reduced to an opening act.
Even as Trump has been hit with two criminal indictments, with more possibly coming, he has only consolidated support in recent months, flashing the same resilience in Iowa that he has nationally.
Trump’s rivals have long circled Iowa as the early state where Trump, who finished a disappointing second in the 2016 Iowa caucuses, might be most vulnerable in 2024. But although some influential leaders have signaled their eagerness for an alternative, Trump arrived Friday for one of his episodic visits as the undisputed front-runner, as Republicans look past his political and legal liabilities.
His mere appearance generated some of the evening’s loudest applause. Like the 12 other candidates who spoke, he entered to snippets of “Only in America” by Brooks & Dunn. The lyrics that blared as he took the stage were:
One could end up going to prison. One just might be president.
DeSantis arrived in Des Moines, Iowa, after a two-day bus tour that was aimed at stabilizing his campaign amid two successive rounds of staff cutbacks and demonstrating his investment in the state, which comes first on the nominating calendar. There were public displays of humility — small-town stops, shopping for snacks at a gas station (he bought a protein bar), taking questions from voters and reporters — that were previously missing from the governor’s once higher-flying campaign.
“Six months ago, you would have said there were two tiers: Trump and DeSantis, and then everyone else,” said Craig Robinson, an Iowa Republican strategist. Now, he said, “you have Donald Trump in a tier by himself, and you have everyone else trying to be the alternative to Trump.”
While DeSantis is stuck trying to reset his campaign, former Vice President Mike Pence is facing the possibility of not even qualifying for the first debate next month. The rest of the field is straining for voters to pay any attention at all.
Trump has certainly provided openings for his rivals in Iowa. Against his own team’s wishes, he criticized the popular Republican governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, this month. (He did not mention her Friday.) And in a state that has often rewarded frequent visits, Trump has campaigned only sporadically.
On Friday, however, Trump did stay for an hour after his speech to shake hands and take pictures with supporters. DeSantis mingled with a crowd down the hall with a Coors Light in hand.
Trump’s growing strength in national polling — he has surged above 50% in many surveys — has reinforced an emerging dynamic in which he is being treated as the de facto incumbent, both by party insiders with years of reluctantly falling into line under their belt and by risk-averse donors, according to interviews with numerous Republican strategists and officials.
The first primary debate, scheduled for late August, is widely viewed as the critical next date for DeSantis or anyone else to upend the current dynamic, even if Trump does not attend.
For now, outside groups looking to slow down Trump have focused on Iowa. The new political action committee Win It Back, which is tied to the Club for Growth, has run negative television ads worth $3.5 million this month in Iowa and South Carolina.
The ads reveal much about the state of the race. Each features testimonials from Republican voters describing both their affection for the former president and their interest in moving on.
“I love what he did,” the narrator in one ad says. “He definitely was the right man in 2016,” the narrator in another says, before pivoting, “It’s just time for new blood.”
Trump’s enduring popularity with the Republican base has meant that even his competitors often sandwich the gentlest of criticism with praise. Few of his rivals mentioned his name Friday, while Trump repeatedly used a derisive nickname for DeSantis. “I wouldn’t take a chance on that one,” he said.
One rival who addressed Trump directly was Will Hurd, a former Texas congressman running a long-shot campaign. He declared that Trump was running for president again to avoid prison. He was booed as he exited the stage.
DeSantis has generally avoided direct criticism of Trump.
He did not say the former president’s name Friday, and when he was asked about the criminal charges facing Trump in an interview with CBS News on Thursday, DeSantis answered with only a vague generality: “I think voters have to make this decision on that.”
Some prominent Trump critics have questioned such a delicate approach, especially as his criminal problems have mounted.
“If you’re down 20 points in the polls to anybody, you’ve got to be able to hit them,” said Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, who decided against a 2024 run for president but attended the dinner in Iowa.
Trump has been indicted by the Manhattan, New York, district attorney and a Justice Department special counsel already this year, and he may face another special counsel indictment for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. A separate investigation into efforts to interfere with the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia could result in yet another charge.
Many Republicans who are leery of entering another turbulent cycle with Trump atop the ticket remain intrigued by the Florida governor but not yet sold.
“I think people are just waiting for DeSantis to close the deal for them,” said David Kerr, a DeSantis supporter who attended an event in Osceola with the governor at a distillery this week.
DeSantis has committed to visiting all 99 of Iowa’s counties (he is at 17, according to a campaign aide), an arduous task for a candidate who is trying to compete across all the early states and must travel the country to fundraise for a campaign supported heavily by big-money bundlers.
“This caucus demands that you earn it,” DeSantis said Friday. Trump has mostly focused on visiting more populous areas rather than every county.
For DeSantis, the goal is to come in first — or a strong enough second to prove that Trump can be defeated and narrow the contest to a two-person race. But some of DeSantis’ allies worry that the heavy emphasis on Iowa could prove a self-inflicted knockout punch — that after investing so much, his campaign will have a less-than-compelling case to carry on if he falters badly in the opening state.
Amy Sinclair, the president of the Iowa state Senate, who has endorsed DeSantis, acknowledged, “It’s a tough uphill battle to fight against a machine like Donald Trump.”
But she said Trump’s swipe at Reynolds had damaged him. “He’s not doing himself any favors if he wants to win Iowa behaving that way,” she said. “You don’t insult our family.” | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/trump-and-desantis-collide-for-first-time-in-iowa-as-fortunes-diverge/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-29T22:15:14 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/trump-and-desantis-collide-for-first-time-in-iowa-as-fortunes-diverge/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — At least eight dogs died of heat -related injuries after being transported in the back of an uncooled cargo van through northern Indiana Thursday night, authorities said.
The dogs that died were among 18 shepherds traveling from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago to a training facility in Michigan City, Indiana, police said.
The driver, whom police did not name, said he was unaware that the air conditioning in the cargo area failed until he heard dogs barking. Then, he pulled off Interstate 94 at a convenience store and gas station in Lake Station, Indiana. When he opened the back, the driver found several dogs dead and others suffering. Numerous store employees and passersby stepped in to aid the dogs.
Jennifer Webber, executive director of the Humane Society of Hobart, responded to the call at 7:40 p.m. and said the dogs displayed signs of heatstroke: Salivating heavily, wobbling, vomiting and convulsing.
“There were already several dogs dead on the scene, and multiple failing fast,” Webber said. “Their crates inside the truck were completely trashed on the inside and the little water bowls were the size you’d give a parrot. And they were empty and torn up as if the dogs were exasperated.”
In a statement posted online, the Lake Station Police Department described the incident as a “freak event.” Telephone and email messages seeking further comment were left with the police station Saturday.
“This was not an act of animal cruelty or neglect but a mechanical failure of the AC unit that was being used in the cargo area,” the statement said.
But Webber said she encountered resistance when attempting to gather facts for the investigation she is authorized to conduct. The police officer in charge of the scene told her she could leave because the deaths were an accident that “the owner will take care of.”
The owner, who was driving the car, used abusive language, cursed at her and refused to produce health certificates, Webber said. Such paperwork is typically signed by veterinarians in each state involved and required to move dogs across borders for commerce. Webber said she doubted a veterinarian would have approved travel on Thursday, when heat indices exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius).
The extreme heat is a worldwide problem, and scientists calculate that July will be the hottest month on record.
“He shouldn’t have been traveling at all. So No. 1: That is neglectful,” Webber said. Then, the police let the owner drive away — this time with the door to the cargo area open — with several dead dogs and others who should have been hospitalized in crates that were not secured in the cargo area, she continued.
The truck, crates and dogs are evidence she wanted to inspect.
Even more, five of the dogs were transported to veterinary hospitals — in ambulances used for people, not in the specialized humane society vans offered on site. Webber filed a notice of seizure of the dogs when they’re released. According to Lake Station ordinance, the humane society may confine any dog who is “ill, injured, or otherwise in need of care” or “reasonably believed to have been abused or neglected.”
But Webber claimed that Lake Station police blocked the order, directing the hospitals treating the animals to release them to the owner when they are well again. She said that in her five years working with Lake Station, that has never happened. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/8-dogs-died-from-extreme-heat-in-the-midwest-during-unairconditioned-drive/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-29T22:15:21 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/8-dogs-died-from-extreme-heat-in-the-midwest-during-unairconditioned-drive/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
IRVINE, Calif. — On a Thursday evening in late June, Clarissa Champlain learned that her 15-year-old son Brodee had been in a terrible crash, the latest teen victim of an e-bike accident.
He had been riding from home to shot-putting practice. The e-bike, a model made by Rad Power, had a top speed of 20 mph, but his route took him on a busy road with a 55 mph. While turning left, he was clipped by a Nissan van and thrown violently.
Champlain rushed to the hospital and was taken to Brodee’s room. She could see the marks left by the chin strap of his bike helmet. “I went to grab his head and kiss him,” she recalled. “But there was no back of his head. It wasn’t the skull, it was just mush.”
Three days later, another teenage boy was taken to the same hospital after the e-bike he was riding collided with a car, leaving him sprawled beneath a BMW, hurt but alive. In the days following, the town of Encinitas, California, where both incidents occurred, declared a state of emergency for e-bike safety.
The e-bike industry is booming, but summer 2023 has brought sharp questions about how safe e-bikes are, especially for teenagers. Many e-bikes can exceed the 20 mph speed limit that is legal for teenagers in most states; some can go 70 mph. But even when ridden at legal speeds, there are risks, especially for young, inexperienced riders merging into traffic with cars.
“The speed they are going is too fast for sidewalks, but it’s too slow to be in traffic,” said Jeremy Collis, a sergeant at the North Coastal Station of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the fatal accident involving Brodee.
To some policymakers and law enforcement officials, the technology has far outpaced existing laws, regulations and safety guidelines. Police and industry officials charge that some companies appear to knowingly sell products that can easily evade speed limits and endanger young riders.
“It’s not like a bicycle,” Collis said. “But the laws are treating it like any bicycle.”
Two federal agencies, the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said they were evaluating “how best to oversee the safety of e-bikes,” according to a statement provided by the highway safety agency.
Communities have begun to alert their residents to the dangers of e-bikes. In June, the police department in Bend, Oregon, ran a public service campaign acquainting the public with the e-bike laws that were frequently being broken there. Days later, a 15-year-old boy was killed when the e-bike he was riding was struck by a van.
Sheila Miller, who is the spokesperson for Bend police and helped develop the public service campaign, emphasized that not everything that calls itself an e-bike qualifies as one, or is safe or legal for minors. Under Oregon law, which is more restrictive than those in most states, a person must be at least 16 to ride an e-bike of any kind.
“Parents, please don’t buy these bikes for kids when they are not legally allowed to ride them,” Miller said. “And if you own an e-bike, make sure that everyone who is using them knows the rules of the road.”
Booming industry, modest regulation
The typical e-bike has functioning pedals as well as a motor that is recharged with an electrical cord; the pedals and the motor can be used individually or simultaneously. Unlike a combustion engine, an electric motor can accelerate instantly, which makes e-bikes appealing to ride.
E-bikes are also seen as vital in shifting the transportation system away from emission-spewing cars and the congestion they create, said Rachel Hultin, policy and governmental affairs director for Bicycle Colorado, a nonprofit advocacy group for bicycle safety and policy. E-bikes and electric scooters are part of the so-called micromobility movement, propelling commuters and other people short distances across crowded spaces.
The number of e-bikes being sold is unclear because, like regular bikes, they do not need to be registered with the government. (Cars, motorcycles and mopeds must be registered through a state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.)
Law enforcement officials have begun to express concerns about the minimal training required of teenage e-bike owners, and about their behavior. Car drivers ages 16 to 19 are three times as likely to be killed in a crash as drivers 20 or older, and bicyclists ages 10 to 24 have the highest rate of emergency room visits for crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some states have begun to raise training requirements for young drivers, including adding graduated license programs that require extended hours of supervised driving, limiting night driving or restricting the number or age of passengers.
The California Legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit e-bike use by people younger than 12 and “state the intent of the Legislature to create an e-bike license program with an online written test and a state-issued photo identification for those persons without a valid driver’s license.”
“I know the e-bike situation is evolving,” said Collis of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. “But personally, with all these bikes, you should have at least a permit or a license to ride them at the speed they’re going.”
As a transportation solution, e-bikes seem promising. “I’m really bullish about middle and high schoolers being able to use e-bikes,” said Hultin of Bicycle Colorado. She noted that e-bikes offered children and busy families more transportation options at lower cost. But she worried that the vehicles could lead to an unsafe mix of untrained e-cyclists and unaware car drivers.
That problem, Hultin said, was exacerbated by “an algae bloom of noncompliant e-bikes.” She was referring to products on the market that call themselves e-bikes but are not, either because they can go faster than allowed by law or because, once purchased, they can be modified to do so.
One vehicle that has drawn attention for its speed is made by Sur-Ron, whose products have been involved in several recent deaths. In June in Cardiff, Wales, two boys on a Sur-ron bike died in a crash while being followed by police; days earlier, a boy riding a Sur-ron in Greater Manchester had died after colliding with an ambulance.
In its marketing materials, Sur-Ron describes one model, the Light Bee Electric Bike, as “easy to maneuver like a bicycle, with the torque and power of an off-road motorcycle.” Its operating manual cautions the owner to “please follow the traffic rules and with the safe speed (the top speed for this electric vehicle is 20 km/h).”
But the speed restraint — equivalent to about 12 mph — can be removed by simply clipping a wire, a procedure that is widely shared in online videos, and which law enforcement officials said appeared to be there by design.
“There are all kinds of videos on how to jailbreak your Sur-ron,” said Capt. Christopher McDonald of the Sheriff’s Department in Orange County, California, where e-bike accidents and injuries are rising. With the speed wire clipped, the vehicle can approach 70 mph, he said. Several requests for comment were sent through the Sur-ron website but did not receive a response.
Matt Moore, general counsel for PeopleForBikes, the main trade group for bicycles and e-bikes, said he worried about products such as Sur-ron’s. “Some products are sold as ostensibly compliant but are easily modified by the user with the knowledge and presumably the blessing of the manufacturer,” he said. “Unfortunately, there appears to be a lack of resources at the federal level to investigate and address e-mobility products that may actually be motor vehicles.”
Tragedy in Encinitas
The day after Brodee entered the hospital, his family sat at his bedside. They played his favorite music, including Kendrick Lamar and early Wu-Tang Clan. “I read to him for hours,” his mother said. “We wanted to wake up his brain.”
Three days later, as Brodee clung to life, Niko Sougias, owner of Charlie’s Electric Bike, a popular e-bike shop in town, was driving in Encinitas on Highway 101 when he saw two teenage boys riding Sur-rons in the opposite direction.
“They were doing wheelies,” Sougias said. He has grown concerned about the e-bike industry, he said, and does not sell many models that are popular with teenagers.
His route that Saturday followed the path of the boys on the Sur-rons. Moments later, after a turn, Sougias saw that one of the Sur-ron riders had collided with an SUV, had been thrown from his bike and was under a BMW.
According to police, the Sur-ron rider had been seen driving recklessly and was found at fault. “He was lucky to escape with his life,” Sougias said.
Champlain was at the hospital with Brodee when the boy who had been riding the Sur-ron was brought in. Paramedics stopped by Brodee’s room to check in. “I can’t believe I’m here again for this,” she said one of them had told her; the same paramedic had brought in Brodee by ambulance.
Hours later, Brodee was pronounced dead. He was a beloved young man with a bright future. He was fluent in Spanish and had a college-level knowledge of Japanese; he could dead-lift 300 pounds and, in 2020, was named student of the year at his high school. “I had so many people call me to tell me they’d lost their best friend,” his mother said.
Champlain said witnesses had told her that her son “did everything right,” including signaling to make a left turn.
“There should be more education for drivers with the change that’s happened,” she said. “I’d never seen an e-bike on the road until three years ago. Now I see hundreds.”
“They’re treated like bicycles when they’re not. They’re not equal.” | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/a-dangerous-combination-teenagers-accidents-expose-e-bike-risks/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-29T22:15:28 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/a-dangerous-combination-teenagers-accidents-expose-e-bike-risks/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A prominent journalist in Belarus was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison, the latest step in a years-long crackdown on opposition figures, independent journalists and human rights activists.
On trial in the city of Grodno in western Belarus, Pavel Mazheika, 45, was found guilty of “complicity in extremist activity” for covering the activities of the political opposition.
He was accused of working for news outlets including Belsat TV, which broadcasts in Belarusian from its base in neighboring Poland. The Belarusian authorities have labeled Belsat as “extremist.”
Lawyer Yuliya Yurhilevich also was sentenced to six years in prison after she was accused of giving Mazheika information on Belarus’ political prisoners, notably on dissident artist Ales Pushkin who died in a Belarusian prison earlier this month.
Yurhilevich, 42, who practiced law for almost 18 years and defended human rights activists, was stripped of her license in February 2022.
“This is not a trial, but a theater of the absurd - a journalist and a lawyer are being tried for disseminating information,” Mazheika said during the trial.
Mazheika is a well-known figure in Belarus. In 2002, he was sentenced to two years in jail for “slandering the president,” before becoming press secretary for presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich in 2006.
Mazheika has since worked for leading independent news outlets in both Belarus and Poland, hosting several shows and acting as executive director for Belsat TV.
The journalist has spent 11 months behind bars since his arrest in August 2022. Earlier, Mazheika said that during his detention he was severely beaten by law enforcement officers, and accused them of trying to gouge out his eye.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is among those who have condemned Mazheika’s and Yurhilevich’s sentencing.
“Today, brave journalist Pavel Mazheika and lawyer Yulia Yurhilevich were sentenced to six years in prison in another mockery of justice in Belarus," she said. “This is a blatant attack on those who dare to speak the truth. Journalists and lawyers are persecuted for carrying out their profession."
Journalists and activists in Belarus have faced large-scale repression since the August 2020 vote that handed a sixth term to President Alexander Lukashenko. Following the election, which was rejected as fraudulent by the opposition and the West, Belarus was swept by massive protests, some of which drew more than 100,000 people.
Authorities responded with a brutal crackdown. More than 35,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten by police while in custody, and dozens of nongovernmental organizations and independent media outlets were shut down.
Some 1,481 recognized political prisoners are currently behind bars in Belarus, according to the Viasna human rights center.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/ap-top-news/2023/07/27/belarusian-journalist-sentenced-to-6-years-in-prison-for-reporting-on-the-opposition | 2023-07-29T22:15:38 | 1 | https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/ap-top-news/2023/07/27/belarusian-journalist-sentenced-to-6-years-in-prison-for-reporting-on-the-opposition |
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to discuss military issues and the regional security environment, state media said Thursday as the country celebrated the 70th anniversary of an armistice that halted fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim and Shoigu talked Wednesday in the capital, Pyongyang, and reached a consensus on unspecified “matters of mutual concern in the field of national defense and security and on the regional and international security environment.”
During the meeting, Shoigu conveyed to Kim a “warm and good letter” signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, KCNA said. The report did not specify the military matters that were discussed.
In a rare case of diplomatic opening since the start of the pandemic, North Korea invited delegations from Russia and China to attend the events marking the armistice of July 27, 1953. While the truce left the Korean Peninsula in a technical state of war, the North still sees it as a victory in the “Grand Fatherland Liberation War.”
KCNA said Kim also took Shoigu to an arms exhibition that showcased some of North Korea’s newest weapons and briefed him on national plans to expand the country’s military capabilities. Photos from the exhibition showed Kim and Shoigu walking near a row of large missiles mounted on launcher trucks.
Some of the weapons in the images appeared to be intercontinental ballistic missiles that the North has flight-tested in recent years as it pursues an arsenal that can pose a viable threat to the continental United States. Kim and Shoigu also walked past what were possibly new surveillance and attack drones that had not been publicly announced by the North.
Lee Sung Joon, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing that the South Korean military was analyzing the military assets shown in the North Korean photos but did not share specific assessments.
The North Korean festivities were widely expected to be capped later Thursday by a giant military parade in Pyongyang, where Kim could showcase his most powerful, nuclear-capable missiles. State media, however, had not confirmed plans for a military parade.
Some experts say North Korea sees U.S. confrontations with China and Russia over regional influence and the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to break out of diplomatic isolation and insert itself into a united front against Washington.
The last time North Korea invited foreign government delegates for a military parade was in February 2018, when it held a low-key event that excluded Kim’s ICBMs. North Korea at the time was initiating diplomacy with Seoul and Washington as Kim attempted to leverage his nukes for badly needed economic benefits.
Those efforts led to a summit between Kim and then-U.S. President Donald Trump that June, but the diplomacy collapsed after their second meeting in February 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of their nuclear capabilities.
Kim has since ramped up the development of the nuclear arms that he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival while berating “gangster-like” U.S. sanctions and pressure.
Beijing’s delegation to North Korea is headed by mid-level official Li Hongzhong, a politburo member of China’s ruling Communist Party.
KCNA said senior North Korean officials led by Choe Ryong Hae, chairman of the standing committee of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, held a reception for Li’s delegation in Pyongyang on Wednesday at which they honored Chinese soldiers who died while fighting alongside the North Koreans during the war.
Li said in a speech at the event that China is ready to promote the “sound and stable” development in relations with the North, KCNA said.
Analysts say Kim sharing the center stage with Shoigu and Li at a military parade would be a key accomplishment he could show to his domestic audience as well as a statement of defiance toward the United States.
On Wednesday, Shoigu also held talks with North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam that were aimed at “strengthening cooperation between our defense departments,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
KCNA reported that at a reception hosted by Kang, Shoigu praised the North Korean People’s army under the leadership of Kim, saying it “has become the strongest army in the world.” Russian media reports did not include that comment.
North Korea has been aligning with Russia over the war in Ukraine, insisting that the “hegemonic policy” of the U.S.-led West forced Moscow to take military action to protect its security interests. The Biden administration has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia to aid its fighting in Ukraine, although the North has denied the claim.
Both Moscow and Beijing have been derailing U.S. efforts to strengthen U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea over its flurry of missile tests.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/ap-top-news/2023/07/27/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-meets-with-russian-defense-minister-on-military-cooperation | 2023-07-29T22:15:44 | 0 | https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/ap-top-news/2023/07/27/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-meets-with-russian-defense-minister-on-military-cooperation |
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing “harmful” materials to minors, a federal judge ruled Saturday.
U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a preliminary injunction against the law, which also would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request that they be relocated to areas not accessible by kids. The measure, signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier this year, was set to take effect Aug. 1.
A coalition that included the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock had challenged the law, saying fear of prosecution under the measure could prompt libraries and booksellers to no longer carry titles that could be challenged.
The judge also rejected a motion by the defendants, which include prosecuting attorneys for the state, seeking to dismiss the case.
The ACLU of Arkansas, which represents some of the plaintiffs, applauded the court’s ruling, saying that the absence of a preliminary injunction would have jeopardized First Amendment rights.
“The question we had to ask was — do Arkansans still legally have access to reading materials? Luckily, the judicial system has once again defended our highly valued liberties,” Holly Dickson, the executive director of the ACLU in Arkansas, said in a statement.
The lawsuit comes as lawmakers in an increasing number of conservative states are pushing for measures making it easier to ban or restrict access to books. The number of attempts to ban or restrict books across the U.S. last year was the highest in the 20 years the American Library Association has been tracking such efforts.
Laws restricting access to certain materials or making it easier to challenge them have been enacted in several other states, including Iowa, Indiana and Texas.
The Arkansas lawsuit names the state’s 28 local prosecutors as defendants, along with Crawford County in west Arkansas. A separate lawsuit is challenging the Crawford County library’s decision to move children’s books that included LGBTQ+ themes to a separate portion of the library.
The plaintiffs challenging Arkansas’ restrictions also include the Fayetteville and Eureka Springs Carnegie public libraries, the American Booksellers Association and the Association of American Publishers. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/judge-blocks-arkansas-law-allowing-librarians-to-be-criminally-charged-over-harmful-materials/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-29T22:15:35 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/judge-blocks-arkansas-law-allowing-librarians-to-be-criminally-charged-over-harmful-materials/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
PERTH, Australia (AP) — Survivors of a pod of almost 100 whales that beached on the southwestern Australian coast were euthanized Wednesday after a second day of frantic, but unsuccessful efforts to rescue them, authorities said.
The pod of long-finned pilot whales stranded themselves Tuesday on Cheynes Beach east of the former whaling station of Albany in Western Australia state, south of the capital Perth.
Despite the efforts of 100 wildlife officers and 250 volunteers wearing wetsuits to protect against the Southern Hemisphere winter cold, 52 stranded whales died on the beach.
The remaining 45 were euthanized Wednesday after efforts to lead them to deeper water failed. The survivors continually returned to the shallows, the Western Australia Parks and Wildlife Service said in a statement late Wednesday.
“Sadly, the decision had to be made to euthanize the remaining whales to avoid prolonging their suffering,” the service said.
“It was a difficult decision for all involved, however the welfare of the whales had to take precedence,” it added.
The service thanked the officials and volunteers who helped with the attempt to save the whales. A storm lashed the beach with wind and rain Wednesday afternoon, and two volunteers were treated by paramedics for hypothermia, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Peter Hartley, a manager of the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions who oversaw the response, on Thursday described the decision to euthanize the survivors as “incredibly hard.”
“Probably one of the hardest decisions of my 34 years of wildlife management. Really, really difficult,” Hartley told reporters in Albany.
“It was a considered and well thought out decision. And you know, we thank the support of the ... veterinarians that assisted with the assessments and the advice that they gave me to make that decision,” Hartley added.
Wildlife experts speculated the beaching could be an indicator of stress or illness within the pod, but said the reasons would likely remain a mystery.
Pilot whales are highly social animals and maintain complex familial relationships with their pods from birth.
Drone footage released by the state government showed the whales clustering and forming into a heart shape before stranding themselves on the beach.
Hartley said samples would be taken from the whale carcasses for analysis before they are buried at an inland location.
“We're getting requests from around the world from scientists wanting the video footage of them all huddled together on the Tuesday,” Hartley said.
“We're going to be learning a lot about the behavior. We're also going to be learning a great deal about the genetics, the make up of that group, were they related?" he said.
The incident was reminiscent of one last September, in which some 200 pilot whales died after a pod stranded itself on the remote west coast of the island state of Tasmania, off Australia’s southeastern coast.
The following month, nearly 500 pilot whales died after stranding themselves on two remote beaches in New Zealand.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/ap-top-news/2023/07/27/survivors-of-pilot-whale-pod-that-beached-on-the-australian-coast-are-euthanized-after-rescue-fails0 | 2023-07-29T22:15:50 | 0 | https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/ap-top-news/2023/07/27/survivors-of-pilot-whale-pod-that-beached-on-the-australian-coast-are-euthanized-after-rescue-fails0 |
A staff sergeant who oversaw Marine training at South Carolina’s Parris Island has been cleared of criminal responsibility in the death of a 19-year-old recruit in 2021.
A military jury on Friday found Staff Sgt. Steven Smiley not guilty of negligent homicide and four other counts in the death of Pfc. Dalton Beals, The Hilton Head Island Packet reported.
The defense argued with the help of medical experts that an existing heart condition contributed to Beals’ death. The prosecution had asserted Beals was suffering from heat stroke after Smiley pushed him too hard.
The jury did, however, find Smiley guilty of violating an order that forbids drill instructors from calling recruits names. Smiley called recruits “pig” and “war pigs” and “sweet bacon” during training. The jury was still deliberating on a sentence Friday night, the Island Packet reported.
Beals died on June 4, 2021, during a strenuous exercise known as “The Crucible” that caps a 13-week training course at Parris Island, one of two Marine training depots in the country.
Beals graduated in 2020 from Pennsville Memorial High School in Pennsville, New Jersey, the school noted in a Facebook post.
Several days before Beals began The Crucible, his mother posted on Facebook about the details of the grueling exercise, which she called “the final leg of my baby’s journey to becoming a Marine!” The 54-hour effort, during which recruits are allowed limited food and sleep, includes 48 miles (77 kilometers) of hiking, loaded with heavy gear.
As Smiley’s verdict was read Friday, his wife wept from her seat behind him in the front row of the courtroom, the Island Packet reported. The recruit’s mother, Stacie Beveridge Beals, told the newspaper she was not ready to comment.
Smiley became emotional as he read a statement to Beals’ family: “I’m sorry what happened to your son,” he said, adding that if something similar happened to his family, he “wouldn’t know what to do.”
Smiley, who joined the Marines in 2009 and has now completed his enlistment, said he plans to move to Wisconsin and be a firefighter and emergency first responder.
There have been a number of recruit deaths over the years at Parris Island, which has been training Marines since 1915 on the island off South Carolina’s coast. At least four Marine recruits have died in recent years with 10 total deaths since 2000, the Island Packet reported.
In 2018, a judge dismissed a lawsuit from the family of Raheel Siddiqui, a 20-year-old recruit from Michigan who killed himself in 2016 after a confrontation with a Parris Island drill instructor.
Siddiqui’s family disputed his suicide, saying he was targeted because of his Islamic faith. Several Marines were ultimately convicted for abuse, following evidence that drill instructors beat, choked and kicked recruits. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/marine-staff-sergeant-found-not-guilty-in-2021-death-of-recruit-at-south-carolinas-parris-island/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-29T22:15:51 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/marine-staff-sergeant-found-not-guilty-in-2021-death-of-recruit-at-south-carolinas-parris-island/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
MIAMI (AP) — It looks like the singer Pitbull is going to have to add some digits to his ode to Miami’s area code, “305 Anthem.”
That’s because Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys are getting a new area code, “645,” starting next week.
Beginning next Friday, area customers who request new phone numbers will be assigned the “645” area code, the Florida Public Service Commission said in a news release on Friday.
The new area code will supplement the existing codes of “305” and “786″ which already are used for the Miami area and the Florida Keys.
“While minimizing the impact to current customers, the Commission must plan for the continuing influx of new residents and businesses to the region — a testament to South Florida’s growing economy,” Andrew Giles Fay, the commission’s chairman said in a statement. “The new 645 area code will ensure that customer demand for new lines is met.” | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/miami-florida-keys-getting-additional-area-code-of-645/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-29T22:15:57 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/miami-florida-keys-getting-additional-area-code-of-645/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Chambers, better known to some as the “Preppy Killer,” was released after spending 15 years in prison for drug and assault charges, according to state records.
Chambers spent a similar amount of time in prison after pleading guilty to strangling Jennifer Levin in New York City’s Central Park during the summer of 1986.
Chambers entered the plea to killing 18-year-old Levin as part of a deal when a jury could not reach a decision after nine days of deliberations.
He was released in 2003 for that crime but again ran afoul of the law soon after.
He was again arrested in 2007 for selling drugs out of his apartment. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison but was released Tuesday — four years early — from the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York, according to online inmate records maintained by the New York Department of Corrections.
Chambers, now 56, will remain under supervision for up to five years, records show. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-in-prison-on-drug-charges/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-29T22:16:04 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-in-prison-on-drug-charges/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia is under a Heat Health Emergency on Saturday, and officials recommend everyone take it easy as temperatures remain oppressive.
Those who did have outside events planned around the city, however, made accommodations for the weather.
READ | Heat Health Emergency issued in Philadelphia
"It's too hot, but not too hot that we won't eat tacos and nachos," joked Joe Wade from The Nacho Depot.
He and his team were vendors at the annual Kamp For Kids Philly Food Truck Festival in South Philadelphia.
The event helps children with autism go to summer camp.
Organizers were giving away spray fans to keep attendees cool.
"Once you come into the ticket booth, we'll sit there and give you a spray bottle ... you can come back and refill it as many times as necessary," said Jamiel Owens from Kare for Kids.
The city is under a Heat Health Advisory until 8 p.m., meaning it's recommended people take it easy and find cool spaces.
That extreme heat is the reason why the Street Dog Coalition pushed its free clinic at this Kensington Park on the 3000 block of Ruth Street up from 10 a.m. to 8 a.m.
"It's nice here we have the grass, it's a little cooler for them to stand on, but especially with the high heat warnings over the past couple of days, we really want to keep pets indoors as much as possible," said Katie Krebs, a veterinarian.
If you have a pet, vets recommend you also keep them well hydrated and look for signs they may be overheating, like panting or fatigue.
Runners prepping for the AACR Philadelphia Marathon were certainly feeling some fatigue on their training run.
They set out in the morning to get their workout in before the hottest part of the day.
Philadelphia's Office of Emergency Management recommends that anyone out during the heat wave wears and reapplies sunscreen, finds shade, and drinks plenty of water. | https://6abc.com/heat-health-emergency-philadelphia-summer-hot-weather/13569131/ | 2023-07-29T22:16:05 | 0 | https://6abc.com/heat-health-emergency-philadelphia-summer-hot-weather/13569131/ |
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces struck a grain terminal in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, extending a bombardment of the country’s infrastructure that has raised alarm about Kyiv’s ability to ship grain to the world.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has vowed to enhance air defenses around the port and the southern coast, but Kyiv’s resources are stretched thin and it faces difficult choices about where to deploy the limited number of air defense systems that can shoot down Russia’s most sophisticated missiles.
Ukraine continues to ask its Western allies to speed up the delivery of more air defense systems and warn that continued Russian bombardment could leave it without the necessary infrastructure to ship grain even if Black Sea shipping lanes reopen. Moscow has struck Ukrainian ports nearly daily since pulling out of a deal last week that allowed Ukraine to ship its grain despite the war.
“In two or three months, we may not have a single port left,” Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian military southern command, told French journalists this past week. “They want to dominate the Black Sea. They want to have a monopoly on grain,” she said.
On Saturday, Humeniuk said that Ukraine had taken measures to better protect the ports but warned that Russia may once again be adjusting its tactics before striking again.
The attack reported Saturday hit a grain terminal in the Beryslav district and was one of 29 attacks by Russian forces directed at Kherson in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military said. At least four civilians were injured in those attacks, which were carried out with mortars, artillery, tanks and aircraft, the Ukrainian military said.
The bombardment of the port city came as tensions in the waters off the southern coast of Ukraine continued to rise, with Kyiv accusing Russian warships of threatening a civilian vessel and Russia’s Black Sea fleet running drills off Ukraine’s southern coast this month. Moscow has warned that any ships sailing to Ukraine’s ports would be considered potentially hostile.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Friday that the Russian naval posture in the Black Sea, which includes a warning that ships bound for Ukrainian ports would be potentially seen as carrying military cargo, was most “likely intentionally ambiguous to generate widespread concern about possible detention by the Russian navy or outright strikes on civilian vessels.”
“The Kremlin likely aims for this posturing to have a chilling effect on maritime activity so that Russian naval assets do not need to enforce an actual blockade of Ukrainian ports,” the analysts wrote.
Ukrainian border guards said they had intercepted a threatening message from a Russian warship communicating on an open channel to a civilian ship. The claim was amplified by Russian military bloggers who replayed a recording of the message. The message and the claim could not be independently verified.
Ukraine has vowed to step up its efforts to target Russian warships and vessels using Russian ports and has been working to expand its fleet of naval drones, which it has used to attack and harass the Russian Black Sea fleet.
In apparent recognition of the danger they pose, Russian authorities announced a nighttime navigation ban for all small vessels near the Kerch Strait. This month, Ukraine used naval drones in an attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge, which links the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula to Russia, and is a primary supply route for Russian troops fighting in the south of Ukraine. The attack left the roadway badly damaged. The rail line over the bridge, however, is functioning, and Ukraine has vowed to continue mounting attacks.
African leaders meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia at a summit in St. Petersburg on Friday called for the revival of the Black Sea grain deal, saying that the continent was disproportionately affected by disruptions to the global food supply, while stopping short of directly criticizing Moscow for pulling out of the agreement.
“The grain deal must be extended for the benefit of all the peoples of the world, Africans in particular,” Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the African Union Commission, said at a Russia-Africa summit Friday. “This conflict is now directly affecting us as well,” President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said.
President Azali Assoumani of Comoros, chair of the African Union, said Russia’s promise of free grain for six African nations announced this week was “important but maybe not enough.”
But Putin at a news conference late Saturday offered no sign that he might rejoin the grain deal. Instead, he said that Russia stood to profit because global grain prices had risen after Russia exited the agreement.
“That means our companies will make more, which means we will get more in taxes,” Putin said. “If we get more in taxes, we will share part of our income with the poorest countries and will supply a certain volume of production for free.”
The African leaders also tried to advance their effort to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, but Putin poured cold water on the idea. A cease-fire would be unworkable, he said, because Ukraine was mounting a counteroffensive. “The Ukrainian army is on the offensive. They are attacking,” Putin said. “Why ask us for a cease-fire?”
Here is what else is happening in the war:
— Zelenskyy Visit: The Ukrainian president said Saturday that he had traveled to the Donetsk region in the country’s east “to congratulate our warriors” and to “honor their strength.” In one of a series of posts on social media accompanied by photographs with soldiers, he said he had heard a commander’s report but could not share details of current operations.
Along with pushing toward the south, Ukraine is trying to advance eastward in the direction of Bakhmut, which fell to Russian forces in May after months of bloody fighting.
— Zaporizhzhia Strike: Two people were killed and a third was injured when a Russian missile struck an open area in the city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, the secretary of the city council, Anatolii Kurtiev, said on Telegram. Kurtiev added that the blast had blown out the windows of apartments in 13 high-rise buildings nearby and that the city had social workers and other support services on the scene to help residents who were affected.
— Dnipro Strike: On Friday evening, at least one missile strike in the city of Dnipro, in central Ukraine, damaged a high-rise apartment building, hours after Russia accused Kyiv of firing missiles at two Russian cities.
Rescue efforts were completed overnight, the regional military administration said Saturday morning. Nine people, including two children, were injured, local officials said. There were no casualties reported at the apartment building. The 12-story building was new, and many apartments were still unoccupied, local residents said.
— North Korea and Russia: A visit by Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, this past week to North Korea, during which he met with the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, was probably a bid to secure additional weapons and political support for the war in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday.
“We’re seeing Russia desperately looking for support for weapons wherever it can find them,” Blinken said, responding to a reporter’s question in Brisbane, Australia. “We see that in North Korea. We see that as well with Iran.” | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/russia-strikes-another-grain-terminal-extending-a-campaign-against-ukraines-ports/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-29T22:16:10 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/russia-strikes-another-grain-terminal-extending-a-campaign-against-ukraines-ports/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
Offbeat adventures: Travel to the coolest hidden wonders in every US state
(Stacker) - Americans spent $93 billion on travel in February 2023—5% above 2019 (before COVID-19) and 9% above 2022, according to the U.S. Travel Association. As more and more people venture out to make up for the last few pandemic-ridden years, you might be looking to go a little farther off the beaten path to avoid the crowds.
But it’s not always easy to learn about lesser-known travel gems or figure out how to find them. Fortunately, Stacker did some digging and found a hidden travel gem for every state, using data from Atlas Obscura.
Each state’s top hidden wonders were based on their travel rarity ratio, which Stacker calculated by taking the number of “want to visit” votes for places on Atlas Obscura and dividing those by the number of “been here” votes as of April 11, 2023. This list includes each state’s places with the highest-ranking ratio—that is, lots of people want to visit, but not many actually have—as long as they had at least 100 “been here” votes at the time of tabulation.
Here you’ll find opportunities to explore offbeat history, admire ancient geological formations, witness unexplained phenomena, and reveal long-kept secrets—no matter what state your travels take you to.
Because these locations aren’t the most obvious and out-in-the-open tourist attractions that you’d find in your garden variety travel guide, some of these locations require making special arrangements to access them. In other cases, the hidden gem might be on private property and only visible from afar. In those cases, it is vital to respect property owners and avoid trespassing.
Read on to find each state’s coolest hidden wonder.
Alabama: Neversink Pit
- - Address: Fackler, Alabama, 35746
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 2,454
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 172
- - Rarity ratio: 14.3
Reaching the bottom of Neversink’s 162-foot pit—and getting back up—requires specialized rock-climbing and rope-rigging skills and equipment, but hikers are welcome to visit without actually entering the sinkhole. It’s located in Jackson County, about 34 air miles northeast of Huntsville—at the end of a short but strenuous hike up a steep mountain. Free permits are available from the Southeastern Cave Conservancy.
Alaska: The Upside-Down Forest of Glacier Gardens
- - Address: 7600 Glacier Highway Juneau, Alaska, 99801
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 859
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 129
- - Rarity ratio: 6.7
You might not think of Alaska as a destination for a temperate rainforest habitat—but that’s exactly what the botanical attraction Glacier Gardens offers, tucked away in the Tongass National Forest near the Mendenhall Glacier just north of Juneau. From May to October, Glacier Gardens turns any preconception of what Alaska has to offer on its head with its “upside-down” grove of trees—whose branches are firmly planted into the ground and whose roots create an unusual flower bed canopy high above. You can only explore the gardens and their “flower towers” on a guided, hourlong tour, which is offered to cruise passengers and land tourists alike.
Arizona: Pumpkin Spring Pool
- - Address: Mile 212.9, Grand Canyon, Littlefield, Arizona, 86432
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,749
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 119
- - Rarity ratio: 14.7
It may look like autumn all year at Pumpkin Spring Pool in Littlefield, Arizona—but you definitely don’t want to take a sip out of this orange-colored gourd. In fact, you won’t even want to touch the hot springs-fed mineral water that’s overflowing out of this natural limestone formation because it’s a rogues’ gallery of toxins (like arsenic and lead).
Geologically known as a “mound form,” it’s a worthy destination to gaze upon and marvel at—if you can get there, as it’s only reachable by traveling via boat down the Colorado River on the rim of the Grand Canyon. A local river outfitter can hook you up with a rafting trip—and then all you have to do is look for Pumpkin Spring and its curious cauldron at Mile 212.9.
Arkansas: The Gurdon Light
- - Address: 64 Collins Road, Gurdon, Arkansas, 71743
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,223
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 124
- - Rarity ratio: 9.9
Questions surrounding the Gurdon Light in Gurdon, Arkansas, abound—as do theories surrounding it. The glowing orb appears to have no man-made source, and it’s not always found in the same spot. People who’ve spotted it don’t even agree on what color it is.
The television station KTHV, a CBS affiliate in nearby Little Rock, reported that the actual existence of the light can’t be denied because of how many people have witnessed it—but after interviewing a historian and other locals, no one can say for sure what this “ghost light” is, or why it’s there, located somewhere along an abandoned right-of-way along old railroad tracks, a short walk west from Highway 53. One thing’s for sure, though: Sightings only happen at night.
California: Institute of Illegal Images
- - Address: 3466 20th Street, San Francisco, California, 94110
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 2,760
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 204
- - Rarity ratio: 13.5
All the art at the Institute of Illegal Images in San Francisco’s Mission District was created on sheets of “acid tabs,” aka LSD blotter paper. Also known as the Blotter Barn, the museum is the brainchild—and home—of Mark McCloud, a self-professed acid-tripper who told Wired magazine that he credits LSD for saving his life when he fell out of a window while high. To meet McCloud and peruse his collection of more than 30,000 pieces of framed blotter art (as of 2014)—including M.C. Escher-style designs alongside fractals, blue unicorns, flying saucers, and a purple Jesus—Atlas Obscura recommends arranging your trip by contacting McCloud directly via email or phone.
Colorado: Magic Mushroom House
- - Address: Private Address, Aspen, Colorado, 81611
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,564
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 109
- - Rarity ratio: 14.3
It took Warsaw-born Andre Ulrych six years (beginning in 1973) to finish the Magic Mushroom House, his home near Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado—perhaps because he wasn’t an experienced builder (he was a nightclub owner and restauranteur by profession), or because a hallucinogenic state inspired his design, as current owner Patty Findlay told CNN.
The 6,000-square-foot, 12-story shroom incorporates a mind-bending array of twists and turns that Ulrych attempted to evoke the golden ratio, a geometric design that incorporates the divine mathematics of the Fibonacci sequence most commonly seen in the shape of a nautilus shell. Although the Magic Mushroom House has been included in a design tour in the past, opportunities to visit this private residence are rare, so please respect the owners’ privacy.
Connecticut: Gungywamp
- - Address: Gungywamp Groton, Connecticut, 06340
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,006
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 123
- - Rarity ratio: 8.2
Did Celtic monks cross the Atlantic in the 6th century and build Gungywamp an hour outside of what would become New Haven, Connecticut? According to the Hartford Courant, that’s just one of the theories that try to explain the existence of this archaeological site that looks like it could pre-date the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the “New World” in 1492.
Other theories lean more towards the supernatural, including energy vortexes and ancient aliens—namely because of the Stonehenge-like way that the sun lines up perfectly with the stone chambers’ windows during the equinoxes. If you want to investigate the state-owned site yourself (which also crosses private property), join the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center on a public hike or make an appointment for a private walk.
Delaware: Marian Coffin Gardens
- - Address: 1301 Greenhill Avenue, Wilmington, Delaware
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 853
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 197
- - Rarity ratio: 4.3
Marian Coffin Garden offers a lush landscape at the vacant Gibraltar estate—a 19th-century mansion once owned by Hugh Rodney Sharp Jr., who hired the garden’s namesake, landscape architect Marian Cruger Coffin, to install an elaborate garden. The house itself has unfortunately deteriorated into a derelict state, but the gardens have been restored to Coffin’s original circa 1916 vision by Preservation Delaware, which allows free public access daily from sunrise to sunset.
Florida: Neptune Memorial Reef
- - Address: 3.25 miles offshore, Key Biscayne, Florida, 33149
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 2,596
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 254
- - Rarity ratio: 10.2
An “underwater city for the dead,” the Neptune Memorial Reef off the shore of Key Biscayne, may look like a lost city akin to the fabled Atlantis, but it’s actually an intentionally submerged cemetery made out of cremated remains. The organization calls it the “ultimate green burial opportunity”: It recycles remains into funerary structures and memorials that serve as an artificial reef. Fortunately, divers are welcome—which means being interred (or “deployed”) in this necropolis isn’t the only way to visit it.
Georgia: Fantastic Pit
- - Address: Rocky Lane, Walker County, Georgia
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,434
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 115
- - Rarity ratio: 12.5
Imagine climbing Seattle’s Space Needle, from top to bottom, deep into the underground—and then you’ll have a sense of what it’s like to descend through Georgia’s Fantastic Pit, a 586-foot unobstructed drop within Ellison’s Cave (which, in total, goes down 1,063 feet). Located under Walker County’s Pigeon Mountain, this is an advanced cave system—one that’s not for novice spelunkers. Just getting to Fantastic Pit in the first place requires navigating through a labyrinth of other, smaller pits. But for cavers who have the experience—or are willing to learn vertical caving skills—it’s a rare opportunity to drop through the deepest cave pit (that we know of) in the United States.
Hawaii: Lithified Sand Dunes
- - Address: Unnamed Road, Koloa, Hawaii, 96756
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 568
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 105
- - Rarity ratio: 5.4
On Kauai, the oldest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, it’s not unusual to find rocky cliffs right next to sandy beaches at the shore. But at Kawailoa Bay, near Mahaʻulepu Beach, the rugged landscape deserves a closer look—because it’s actually composed of ancient sand that slowly turned to stone over the last 350,000 years. Known as the Lithified Sand Dunes, you can find them on the southeastern coast of Kauai, accessible via an easy walk along the Mahaʻulepu Heritage Trail. Look for their odd yellow color—and examine closely to find fossils of sea and land creatures alike.
Idaho: Big Idaho Potato Hotel
- - Address: Orchard Access Road and E Monroe Road, Boise, Idaho
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 753
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 108
- - Rarity ratio: 7.0
If you love potatoes enough to sleep inside one, behold the Big Idaho Potato Hotel—born in 2012 out of the Idaho Potato Commission’s 75th-anniversary campaign (“The Famous Idaho Potato Tour”) but now available to rent by the night on Airbnb.
Although it’s just over 10 years old, the giant ‘tato follows the tradition of many of the roadside attractions found throughout the United States in the early and mid-20th century—when three-story shoes, giant donuts, and larger-than-life dogs, all part of the style of programmatic architecture, attracted motorists to local businesses with an eyeful of spectacle. This portly potato, however, has been planted in a far more remote location: in the middle of a 400-acre farm on the outskirts of Boise.
Illinois: The Secret Mermaid
- - Address: Oakwood Beach, Chicago, Illinois, 60653
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,834
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 234
- - Rarity ratio: 7.8
There may not be any real mermaids swimming in Lake Michigan—but those in the know traveling down Lake Shore Drive through Chicago’s South Side will head to the southern tip of Oakwood Beach to find the Secret Mermaid, a stone figure that was surreptitiously sculpted out of limestone by four artists in broad daylight in 1986. It remained a mystery to locals for 14 years—but the siren’s secret has been out since 2000. And after being temporarily relocated from her original location, she’s back where she belongs: right by the shoreline in Burnham Park, and in plain view for the public to enjoy.
Indiana: Market Street Catacombs
- - Address: 222 E Market St Indianapolis, Indiana, 46204
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 2,412
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 387
- - Rarity ratio: 6.2
You don’t have to travel all the way to Paris to visit historic catacombs—because in Indianapolis, there’s an entire underground city known as the Market Street Catacombs. Those curious about this limestone and brick underworld can head to Indianapolis City Market, where the tunnels once served as part of its infrastructure—namely, in the days before refrigerators and freezers, keeping its goods cool. Although this subterranean labyrinth is generally not open to the public, the market does allow occasional guided tours of its dark basement through its partnership with Indiana Landmarks.
Iowa: The Hobo Museum
- - Address: 51 Main Avenue S, Britt, Iowa, 50423
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 639
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 114
- - Rarity ratio: 5.6
One of the lasting icons that came out of the Great Depression was the American “hobo”—a railroad car-hopping vagabond sporting a five o’clock shadow and carrying all his worldly possessions in a blanket tied to the end of a stick. This archetype is the jumping-off point for the collection of the Hobo Museum, founded in the early 1980s by actual hobos (as they identified themselves) who wanted to preserve their legacy and the tradition that they had continued throughout the 20th century.
Located in the former Chief Theater in Britt, Iowa, the museum’s collection includes personal artifacts from prominent American hobos throughout history. Opportunities to visit, however, are limited—as it’s only open Thursdays through Saturdays from Memorial Day in May through the Hobo Days festival in August. For the rest of the year, you can request an appointment by emailing the museum.
Kansas: Wamego LSD Missile Silo
- - Address: 16795 Auburn Circle, Wamego, Kansas, 66547
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 787
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 127
- - Rarity ratio: 6.2
The Wamego LSD Missile Silo is a Cold War-era artifact—once home to the Atlas E-type ballistic missile, which was active from 1961 to 1965 at the former Forbes Air Force Base in nearby Topeka, Kansas. But its military history isn’t its claim to fame. The decommissioned silo’s notoriety comes from its status as what Vice magazine called “the world’s most productive LSD laboratory.”
That’s just the tip of the 15,000-square-foot underground iceberg—because its most infamous resident, Gordon Todd Skinner, became an informant for the DEA, leading to the arrest and conviction of Skinner’s friend William Leonard Pickard for his role in running an illegal LSD lab that resulted in the biggest federal seizure of illegal acid and paraphernalia ever.
Kentucky: Broke Leg Falls
- - Address: US-460, Wellington, Kentucky
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 891
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 102
- - Rarity ratio: 8.7
Broke Leg Falls is a nature preserve in Kentucky’s eastern Menifee County that shows what could happen when an EF-3 tornado rips through a wooded area—because after a twister ripped the surrounding trees out in 2012, the hidden waterfalls within Daniel Boone National Forest were suddenly and violently exposed. Since the small park had just celebrated its grand reopening just a few months before, after an extensive restoration project, officials decided to put the falls’ fate in the hands of nature’s will—and not try to return it back to its pre-tornado state.
Louisiana: Escape My Room
- - Address: 633 Constance Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70130
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,496
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 171
- - Rarity ratio: 8.7
Escape My Room in New Orleans is such an elaborate escape room visitors might start to actually believe the storyline that draws them into the lore of the DeLaporte family’s trials and tribulations—including missing treasures, covered-up crime, and a doomed mansion. Each of its custom-themed games has a staggeringly low escape rate. Admission is by advance ticket sales only, and punctuality is a must—or risk being turned away from DeLaporte Manor and denied access to its secrets.
Maine: Boon Island Light
- - Address: York, Maine, 03909
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 923
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 153
- - Rarity ratio: 6.0
It makes sense that a lighthouse would be built on an island that’s proven treacherous for sea vessels. It’s clearly where a guiding light is needed most. But the tallest lighthouse in New England—Boon Island Light—was established on a site of a shipwreck so tragic the only way the survivors made it out alive was by eating their ill-fated fellow sailors’ dead bodies. While you can see Boon Island Light from afar from the shore, the truly brave board a boat to get a closer view. As it’s a working lighthouse, no interior access is currently available.
Maryland: Underground Railroad Experience Trail
- - Address: 16501 Norwood Road, Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park Ashton-Sandy Spring, Maryland, 20860
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 994
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 127
- - Rarity ratio: 7.8
Although there’s no evidence that any of the structures at the Woodlawn Manor (or its owners) were involved in the Underground Railroad, Montgomery Parks/Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission created the Underground Railroad Experience Trail through this former plantation in honor of the local area’s history in aiding in the safe passage of escaped enslaved people in the 1800s—particularly in Sandy Spring, the Quaker town in which it stands.
Between Baltimore and Washington D.C. and well south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the trail takes visitors along a self-guided tour of nine points of interest across 2 miles, illustrating the challenges faced on their path to freedom and the techniques used to get there safely.
Massachusetts: Museum of Modern Renaissance
- - Address: 115 College Avenue Somerville, Massachusetts, 02144
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,314
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 143
- - Rarity ratio: 9.2
On an otherwise nondescript residential street in Somerville, Massachusetts, one house stands out among the rest: the colorful Museum of Modern Renaissance, located in a former Masonic lodge that Russian artists Ekatrina Sorokina and Nicholas Shaplyko took over in 2002 and transformed into their private art immersion.
It’s not an artist’s studio per se—it doesn’t just contain the duo’s mystical and magical paintings. The structure, too, has become an expression of their art. But it’s still somewhat under the radar in the art world, as the artists only allow the public to experience it on occasional tours by appointment only or sometimes during the annual open houses sponsored by Somerville Open Studios.
Michigan: Cherry Point Farm and Market Lavender Labyrinth
- - Address: 9600 W Buchanan Road, Shelby, Michigan
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,095
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 115
- - Rarity ratio: 9.5
If there’s intelligent life beyond planet Earth looking down at us to try to decide a good spot to make their eventual landing, they just might choose Cherry Point Farm and Market Lavender Labyrinth—because this stunning, enormous feat of landscape design, which features 36 herb beds, can be seen from space.
But this visual marvel is also a fragrant, meditative destination where creatures from this planet or the next can meander through a spiral of sacred geometry, finding their way into and out of it while also discovering something about themselves. And fortunately, it’s free to access during the farm’s normal business hours, which are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily beginning May 5.
Minnesota: Orfield Labs Quiet Chamber
- - Address: 2709 East 25th Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55406
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 2,236
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 213
- - Rarity ratio: 10.5
In 2021, the Guinness World Records organization determined that Orfield Labs Quiet Chamber in Minneapolis was the quietest place on Earth—which comes in handy for the various manufacturers who use it to test their products, including various types of equipment that need to operate within certain sound level constraints. This “quiet room” (known technically as an “anechoic chamber”) was designed specifically to be absent of any echo and to absorb 99.99% of sound—and as a result, it’s become a kind of destination for visitors wanting to challenge the limits of their ability to withstand sensory deprivation for hours on end.
According to BBC News, the room is so quiet that all some people can hear in there is the sound of their own heart beating and stomach digesting—which could be therapeutic, unsettling, or downright panic-inducing. If you’re interested in seeing how you’d react (and how long you’d last), you can arrange a tour through Orfield Labs.
Mississippi: Margaret’s Grocery and Market
- - Address: 4535 N. Washington Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 39183
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 506
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 114
- - Rarity ratio: 4.4
Margaret Rogers is the namesake of Margaret’s Grocery and Market—a folk art environment in Vicksburg, Mississippi, that began as a humble roadside store, which she ran and lived in starting in 1944. But everything changed in the 1980s when Rogers married the Rev. Herman “Preacher” Dennis, who turned her country store into a castle-like assemblage of pink-and-yellow cinder block turrets, a school bus pulpit, and handcrafted signs with messages that read, “The house of prayer for all people to worship, Jews and Gentiles” and the like.
When Dennis and Rogers both passed away, the Mississippi Folk Art Foundation stepped in to help preserve the grocery, which had begun to fall apart. Although it may no longer sell any goods to weary travelers, it’s open for occasional tours and special events.
Missouri: Welch Spring Hospital Ruins
- - Address: Jadwin, Missouri, 65501
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,515
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 183
- - Rarity ratio: 8.3
Welch Spring’s supposedly healing waters flowed from a cave along the Current River in southern Missouri’s Ozarks—and, in 1913, they attracted the attention of Dr. C.H. Diehl, who bought the spring and built a hospital at the cave’s opening for patients struggling with consumption (aka tuberculosis). However, the facility—which was probably more akin to a health spa—ultimately failed; it was too difficult to reach in such a remote location. After Dr. Diehl died in 1940, it fell into disrepair—and the Welch Spring Hospital Ruins are now accessible by foot (at the end of a half-mile trail) or via canoe.
Montana: Medicine Rocks State Park
- - Address: 1141 MT-7, Ekalaka, Montana
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 723
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 100
- - Rarity ratio: 7.2
The sandstone formations at Medicine Rocks State Park may look a bit like Swiss cheese because of how they’ve eroded over time, but these pillars are more than a geological oddity. They also provided a canvas for Native Americans dating hundreds of years back—many of whom were part of hunting parties that gathered here and considered the site both sacred and medicinal. As the soft stone is easy to carve markings into, a lot of rock art can be found throughout the grounds, including petroglyphs depicting local wildlife, people, and events that occurred over the course of hundreds of years.
Nebraska: Toadstool Geologic Park
- - Address: Toadstool Road, Oglala National Grassland Harrison, Nebraska
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 760
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 164
- - Rarity ratio: 4.6
Toadstool Geologic Park offers an opportunity to explore an arid desert with an alien-like landscape that was formed when ancient waters flowed through the area around 45 million years ago. Although the prehistoric river has since vanished from these badlands, the traces it left behind include sandstone rock formations (known as hoodoos) that resemble a mushroom forest.
As if the “toadstool” part of this geological wonder weren’t enough of a draw, the site—which is located within Oglala National Grasslands—also boasts a number of fossils of ancient wildlife, like horses and saber-toothed cats, which can be discovered along a mile-long interpretive trail. Just make sure you leave the artifacts undisturbed and take only pictures.
Nevada: Atomic Survival Town
- - Address: Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,471
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 109
- - Rarity ratio: 13.5
Atomic Survival Town is a bucolic neighborhood that was built in the middle of the unforgiving Nevada desert with the specific purpose of blowing it up with an atomic bomb. The only way to get to see it—at least, what’s left of it—is by booking one of the highly in-demand public tours of the Nevada National Security Site located north of Las Vegas.
The two-story houses of the “town”—which were populated by mannequins living an otherwise-ideal mid-20th century existence—were so close to Vegas, in fact, that the nuclear explosions and resulting mushroom clouds attracted spectators who gathered at viewing parties at local hotels. Note: Photography on the entire test site is strictly forbidden, and even bringing a cell phone onto the tour is prohibited.
New Hampshire: Sculptured Rocks
- - Address: 251 Sculptured Rocks Road, Hebron, New Hampshire
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,706
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 260
- - Rarity ratio: 6.6
At the end of the last ice age, the Cockermouth River was flowing on its way to Newfound Lake—and along its path, the grains of sand it contained slowly eroded the local bedrock to create Sculptured Rocks. These geologic formations were carved into oddball shapes, and they now surround a swimming hole and a waterfall in Sculptured Rocks Natural Area, part of the New Hampshire State Parks system. Called the “little Grand Canyon of New Hampshire” by New Hampshire Magazine, Sculptured Rocks is a natural oddity that’s strangely beautiful and a reminder of how the landscape around us can change so dramatically over time.
New Jersey: Abandoned Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital
- - Address: Edna Volpe Road, Glen Gardner, New Jersey, 08826
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,302
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 171
- - Rarity ratio: 7.6
The only tuberculosis sanatorium in New Jersey that was state-owned and -operated first opened in 1907 and closed in the late 1970s. It was replaced in 1977 by a new facility called the Senator Garret W. Hagedorn Gero-Psychiatric Hospital, then rebranded as a nursing home and psych ward. But that treatment center reached the end of its line in 2012, when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ordered the state government to shut it down—leaving it abandoned, right next to the ruins of the old TB center.
Together, the pair comprises the abandoned Hagedorn Psychiatric Hospital complex in Glen Gardner, New Jersey, where nature is taking its course. The New Jersey Natural Lands Trust is currently working to create public access to the decommissioned hospitals’ grounds and the open space that surrounds them.
New Mexico: Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area
- - Address: Bloomfield, New Mexico
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 3,546
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 291
- - Rarity ratio: 12.2
Although any water supply in Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area is currently scarce, water once rolled through these badlands of northwestern New Mexico and carved mysterious shapes into the sandstone hills. Although the resulting formations—known as hoodoos—aren’t very difficult to reach, this area is primitive backcountry without facilities and trails. The payoff of making the trek, however, is admiring mushroom-shaped rock columns that appear in a rainbow of colors with varying textures in clay.
New York: North Brother Island
- - Address: North Brother Island, Bronx, New York, 10455
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,943
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 152
- - Rarity ratio: 12.8
Manhattan may be the most famous island in the New York City metropolitan area, but there’s another, much smaller isle located in the East River—between two other boroughs, the Bronx and Queens—that has a fascinating but little-known history. It’s called North Brother Island, and it’s infamous for its most famous former resident, “Typhoid Mary,” who for a time was a quarantined patient at the island’s Riverside Hospital.
The facility closed in 1963 and, left abandoned, has since become a bird sanctuary—specifically for the black-crowned night heron. While visiting the nature preserve is prohibited in order to protect nesting birds, it is visible from the water—especially if you can catch one of the birdwatching cruises offered occasionally by Audubon.
North Carolina: Blue Ghost Fireflies
- - Address: 1400 Staton Road, Hendersonville, North Carolina, 28739
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 2,346
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 222
- - Rarity ratio: 10.6
Even bug experts don’t know much about the Blue Ghost Fireflies that populate the western environs of North Carolina, particularly in the wooded areas of the Appalachian Mountains. But one thing’s for sure: The bluish color of their “glow” is unusual among creatures that exhibit bioluminescence (or the ability to “light up,” thanks to a chemical reaction in the body). Although these lightning bugs are abundant locally, they’re found in very few places throughout the world—and they only appear seasonally in spring.
North Dakota: The Pyramid of North Dakota
- - Address: 81st Street NE, Nekoma, North Dakota, 58355
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 847
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 133
- - Rarity ratio: 6.4
The Pyramid of North Dakota is part of what put the tiny town of Nekoma on the map: an anti-Russian missile defense facility called the Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex. A monumental, four-story-high pyramid that still stands today once housed the complex’s radar system, although Congress voted to dismantle the military installation the day after it opened in October 1975.
It was operational for just a few months before becoming decommissioned the following July and subsequently abandoned. Although the Cold War-era relic, located along 81st Street Northeast, is closed to the public, you can view it from afar—at least until cryptocurrency company Bitzero Blockchain Inc. converts it into a new data center.
Ohio: Early Television Museum
- - Address: 5396 Franklin Street, Hilliard, Ohio
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 869
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 111
- - Rarity ratio: 7.8
The Huffington Post has called the Early Television Museum in Hilliard, Ohio, “where old TVs go to live.” And this “retirement home” contains some antique television sets that go back to the earliest days of the “boob tube”—as far back as 1928, the year of the first American TV broadcast, which used mechanical scanning technology (later replaced by electron beams). But don’t mistake this museum for a graveyard of vintage sets because most of them are actually still in working order.
Oklahoma: Gandini’s Circus
- - Address: N Kelly Avenue between Swan Lake Road and Pruett Drive, Edmond, Oklahoma, 73003
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 992
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 165
- - Rarity ratio: 6.0
According to The Daily Oklahoman, local entrepreneur Howard Suesz housed the winter camps of two traveling “big top” attractions on the now-abandoned Edmond circus camp property from the 1940s to the 1970s. While local lore has it that both the Hagen Bros. Circus and the Clyde Bros. Circus actually came out of a pre-Great Depression predecessor called Gandini’s Circus, no artifacts on the site contain that name—and the Edmond Historical Society & Museum adds, no digitized newspaper clippings, other archives, or records have verified the legend. As the property is still privately owned, trespassing is not allowed—but some remnants may be visible from the sidewalk.
Oregon: Out ‘n’ About Treehouse Treesort
- - Address: 300 Page Creek Road, Cave Junction, Oregon, 97523
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,407
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 142
- - Rarity ratio: 9.9
Cave Junction, Oregon, is home to no ordinary resort—drawing vacationers to its Out ‘n’ About Treehouse Treesort, where they can spend the night in their very own arboreal hideout. Located just outside the forested foothills of southern Oregon’s Page Mountain, with plenty of oak trees and Douglas fir pines, this “treesort” also offers opportunities to zip-line through the tree canopy or ride horseback with four legs firmly planted on the ground.
Pennsylvania: Devil’s Hole Ruins
- - Address: Pennsylvania State Gamelands #221, Monroe County Cresco, Pennsylvania
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,815
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 152
- - Rarity ratio: 11.9
With a name like “Devil’s Hole Creek,” the mind can go to some scary places when imagining what might’ve happened at Devil’s Hole Ruins in the Pocono region of Pennsylvania. According to the Monroe County Historical Association, the name might’ve come from the legend of a bottomless lake where swimmers could sink into the depths of hell.
While local legend tells of a possible speak-easy there (at least according to The Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania), the historical society’s archives show that the ruins in the area are from structures washed away in a 1955 flood, like the former Seven Pines Lodge, a powerhouse, and a sanitarium destroyed by fire in 1911 (leaving only a foundation and chimney).
Rhode Island: Neutaconkanut Hill Park
- - Address: 665 Plainfield Street, Providence, Rhode Island, 02909
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 768
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 138
- - Rarity ratio: 5.6
The Neutaconkanut Hill Conservancy calls Neutaconkanut Hill Park “the last wild place in Providence”—the capital city of Rhode Island with a population of nearly 200,000 as of 2020. It’s a green oasis in a densely-populated part of the city, where 88 acres of open space comprise a wilderness park that contains the highest point in Providence.
The Works Progress Administration created a trail system through this “city forest” in the 1930s—but otherwise, this mostly undeveloped park remains a pristine oak/hickory woodland where creatures, wildflowers, and berry bushes abound. That’s thanks to the last survivor of the original King Homestead, Abby King, who bequeathed the land to the city with the provision that it should stay wild.
South Carolina: The Last Yogi Bear Honey Fried Chicken Restaurant
- - Address: 514 US-15 Business, Hartsville, South Carolina, 29550
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,024
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 182
- - Rarity ratio: 5.6
The cartoon character Yogi Bear, sidekick to Huckleberry Hound, was once the pitchman for a chain of chicken restaurants in the Carolinas—but after their debut in the 1960s, the bear-approved Honey Fried Chicken restaurants have been whittled down to just one surviving location, The Last Yogi Bear Honey Fried Chicken Restaurant, in Hartsville, South Carolina. You can still get boxes of chicken like the Boo Boo Basket and the Picnic Basket (pronounced “pic-a-nic,” if you’re Yogi)—all containing pieces with that honey flavoring (which reportedly contains no actual honey).
South Dakota: Petrified Wood Park
- - Address: 500 Main Avenue, Lemmon, South Dakota, 57638
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 497
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 112
- - Rarity ratio: 4.4
Petrified Wood Park in Lemmon, South Dakota, is the world’s largest such park—sprawling across an entire city block and boasting not only fossilized remains in a relatively natural state but also a castle, two museums, and more constructed from petrified logs.
It was the creation of amateur geologist Ole S. Quammen, who directed its construction from 1930 to 1932, using locally sourced “stone wood” from a 25-mile radius of Lemmon. His daughter donated it to the city in 1954—and in 1977, it landed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its architectural and social significance, having provided jobs to unemployed locals during the Great Depression. The park is open all year, but building interiors are only open during summer, between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Tennessee: ‘The Evil Dead’ Cabin
- - Address: 2321 Inman Bend Road, Morristown, Tennessee, 37814
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 2,427
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 213
- - Rarity ratio: 11.4
The “cabin in the woods” has become a trope of modern-day horror films. But the film that brought this scary concept to mass audiences was “The Evil Dead” in 1981—and in 1979, director Sam Raimi shot this cult favorite largely at a real cabin in Morristown, Tennessee, which subsequently burned down. All that’s left of “The Evil Dead” cabin is part of the fireplace, the film’s lead actor Bruce Campbell told Knox News. And, he warned, it’s on private property—in an area where locals might take a criminal offense such as trespassing pretty seriously.
Texas: Newman’s Castle
- - Address: 504 E Main Street, Bellville, Texas
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,507
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 130
- - Rarity ratio: 11.6
Newman’s Castle sticks out like a sore thumb on a 20-acre plot of land in the woods of rural Texas, outside of the town of Bellville. It’s the brainchild and home of Newman’s Bakery owner Mike Newman, who took 10 years to build the 3,400-square-foot medieval-style oddity out of cinder blocks and masonry. Fortunately, the opportunity to storm the drawbridge, climb the 62-foot bell tower, and brave the dungeon doesn’t require knighthood. Reserve a tour simply by calling the bakery, where the tours start (and where attendees receive the address and directions to the castle).
Utah: Fantasy Canyon
- - Address: Fantasy Canyon, Vernal, Utah, 84078
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,689
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 181
- - Rarity ratio: 9.3
Nearly 200 miles southeast of Salt Lake City lies Fantasy Canyon—a geological wonder whose weathered sandstone takes shape in fantastical formations with mystical names like “Witch,” “King’s Throne,” “Ant Castle,” and even “Alien Head,” all of which can be seen on an interpretive trail that forms a 0.6-mile loop.
This lesser-known gem was the site of the prehistoric Lake Uinta, where sand deposits eventually turned to stone—and some of the resulting pillars and pinnacles are so peculiar-looking they appear to be dripping with melted wax. Today, it’s hiding in plain sight within a labyrinth of service roads belonging to natural gas plants, although a visit to the local BLM field office will help you find your way through the remote area.
Vermont: Freedlyville Quarry
- - Address: 3817-5015 Dorset Hill Road, Dorset, Vermont
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 964
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 114
- - Rarity ratio: 8.5
The Freedlyville Quarry in Dorset, Vermont, was established in 1808 by tunneling into the eastern side of Mount Aeolus—creating an underground marble extraction site that has the look and feel of a man-made, horizontal cave. It gets its name from a misspelling of its former operator J.K. Freedley & Sons, although no quarrying activity has happened there since the 1930s, according to the Manchester Journal.
But one activity has taken place inside the marble quarry since at least 1931: underground ice skating, as seen in a historic photo in the Dorset Historical Society archives. It still happens, too—namely at Vermont Cavers Association’s annual ice-skating party (which happens in February, as long as the water is frozen solid).
Virginia: Great Channels of Virginia
- - Address: Saltville, Virginia
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 2,162
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 197
- - Rarity ratio: 11.0
The Channels Natural Area Preserve, located in the Virginia Department of Forestry’s Channels State Forest, is home to the Great Channels of Virginia—a 400-million-year-old maze of narrow sandstone pathways known as slot canyons that take hikers to the high point of Clinch Mountain. It’s an unusual sight in eastern U.S. topography, as slot canyons are far more often found in the desert terrain of the American Southwest. It’s not for novice hikers, either: the Great Channels were once off-limits because they were so difficult to reach. Today’s “easier” trails still involve steep climbs to 4,208 feet above sea level and a rocky landscape.
Washington D.C.: Riggs Library
- - Address: O Street NW and 37th Street, Washington, District of Columbia
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,809
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 227
- - Rarity ratio: 8.0
Georgetown University’s Riggs Library looks like a scene out of a book lover’s most elaborate fantasy: multiple levels of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves connected by cast-iron catwalks and spiral staircases, with daylight streaming into the central atrium. A rare example of cast-iron construction in such a facility, it was the university’s main library from 1891 until being replaced in 1970—but now, it’s used only as a space for the upper echelon of university-sponsored events. Unfortunately, the general public is not allowed access without an invitation.
Washington: Treehouse Point
- - Address: 6922 Preston-Fall City Road SE, Issaquah, Washington
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 2,333
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 169
- - Rarity ratio: 13.8
Pete Nelson—known for his starring role in the Animal Planet reality show “Treehouse Masters”—created a unique playground for adults in 2006 known as Treehouse Point. This “tree B&B,” located about 25 miles east of Seattle, offers a getaway for the young-at-heart to channel their inner child in an immersive, wooded setting. Each of the seven treehouses where guests can stay is totally unique—and the main ways to see them are either by booking an overnight stay (which sells out months in advance) or signing up for a tour of the property.
West Virginia: Archive of the Afterlife
- - Address: 86 Railroad Street, Cameron, West Virginia, 26033
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,620
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 158
- - Rarity ratio: 10.3
At the Archive of the Afterlife—aka the “National Museum of the Paranormal”—the spirited artifacts in the collection include an execution cap from a local electric chair, creepy dolls, a “haunted” Dr. Seuss book, and a photograph that the museum claims contains a powerful entity. Together, the Charleston Gazette-Mail wrote in a 2016 article, it’s all “a riot of weird.” And is it just a coincidence that is located across the street from Grave Creek? If you dare to become one of the “visiting souls” who cross over to find out, note that the tour season only runs on Fridays and Saturdays from April 1 through October 31.
Wisconsin: Shorewood Ghost Train
- - Address: 1325 E Capitol Dr Shorewood, Wisconsin
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 646
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 101
- - Rarity ratio: 6.4
A high-speed passenger train called the Twin Cities 400 used to run through Shorewood, Wisconsin, on its route between Minneapolis and Chicago—until it was decommissioned in 1963. But since 2016, it’s lived on as the Shorewood Ghost Train, a multimedia installation on the rail line’s former train trestle now known as the Oak Leaf Trail Bridge, which crosses over Capitol Drive.
The sound and light display mimic the “schedule, speed, and drama” of the 400 passing over it—with two departures nightly, heading northbound and southbound. Unfortunately, the schedule is temporarily suspended while the Shorewood Public Art Committee attempts to address a technical issue, but the plan is for the ghostly rail service to make a return appearance.
Wyoming: Hole-in-the Wall Outlaw Hideout
- - Address: Johnson and Natrona Counties, Kaycee, Wyoming, 82639
- - Want to visit votes on Atlas Obscura: 1,144
- - Been here votes on Atlas Obscura: 128
- - Rarity ratio: 8.9
The Hole-in-the-Wall Pass was a legendary hideout for criminal gangs, cattle thieves, stagecoach robbers, and other bandits in the Old West—and today, the Hole-in-the Wall Outlaw Hideout is a hidden gem in the high plains of Wyoming’s Johnson County where visitors can literally walk in the footsteps of infamous “bad guys” who trekked over a narrow trail to cross up and over a steep geologic formation known as the Red Wall. Current access is through a private dude ranch called Willow Creek Ranch, where guests can drive cattle just as infamous outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid did in the late 1800s.
Copyright 2023 Stacker via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.azfamily.com/2023/07/29/offbeat-adventures-travel-coolest-hidden-wonders-every-us-state/ | 2023-07-29T22:18:07 | 0 | https://www.azfamily.com/2023/07/29/offbeat-adventures-travel-coolest-hidden-wonders-every-us-state/ |
Officer involved in crash in north Phoenix
Published: Jul. 29, 2023 at 2:48 PM MST|Updated: 28 minutes ago
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - An officer was involved in a crash in north Phoenix on Friday night.
Around 9:45 p.m., a Phoenix police officer was headed east on Bell Road near the intersection with 7th Avenue when a vehicle turned left in front of the police vehicle. The officer was taken to a hospital out of precautionary measures and has since been released.
The driver of the car was not injured in the crash but has been processed for DUI.
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Copyright 2023 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved. | https://www.azfamily.com/2023/07/29/officer-involved-crash-north-phoenix/ | 2023-07-29T22:18:13 | 0 | https://www.azfamily.com/2023/07/29/officer-involved-crash-north-phoenix/ |
When Odell Beckham Jr.’s one-year deal with the Ravens was first announced in April, fans dreamed about what the Super Bowl champion and three-time Pro Bowl selection would bring to a new offense.
On Saturday, they finally caught a glimpse. Beckham had his most active and best day of practice by far in front of screaming fans at M&T Bank Stadium as the NFL’s most followed player on Instagram provided several Kodak moments.
“I’m happy to see him out there,” quarterback Lamar Jackson said. “I’m screaming on the inside. In my mind, I’m like, ‘That’s that guy, man.’ We’ve got one of the best receivers in the game and a future Hall of Famer, and I’m just glad he’s here.”
Beckham was a bright spot on a day when the Ravens’ defensive line stood out. For some, the real football begins when the pads come on Monday in what should be one of the summer’s most competitive and intense practices.
In the meantime, they were happy to see one of the league’s biggest stars show off. Beckham dazzled with a diving catch in the red zone in front of cornerback Rock Ya-Sin. Jackson then connected with Beckham on a crossing route in front of cornerback Marlon Humphrey for a touchdown, but the play would have been wiped out thanks to a holding call.
“I expect nothing but classic Odell Beckham Jr.,” coach John Harbaugh said. “He’s a hard worker. He’s very conscientious about what he does, so I have no concerns about that at all.”
The penalty didn’t stop the “oos” and “ahhs” from fans. Even NBA superstar LeBron James chimed in, reposting a clip of a catch by Beckham on his Instagram story.
Overall, it was a good day for OBJ, Tyler Huntley and many on the defensive line in what was the final day of practice before the pads come on. Here are a few observations:
Pass rush on display yet again
Despite the cheers after every completion, it was the Ravens’ pass rush that stood out as a couple of those “completions” would have resulted in sacks in a real game.
Despite the light nature of practice and the lack of physicality thus far, Harbaugh sees the work his defense has been putting in throughout the summer.
The defensive line was a force Saturday, not only in the 11-on-11 team period but in drills against the offensive line. The holding calls racked up thanks to a relentless rush led by second-year outside linebacker David Ojabo and third-year defensive lineman Justin Madubuike, who teamed up with veteran defensive tackle Michael Pierce to flush Jackson out of the pocket for a would-be sack.
Pierce stood out, as did second-year defensive tackle Travis Jones, who blew up center Sam Mustipher in drills. The defensive line showed how disruptive it can be if everyone is healthy.
Big days for Huntley and Likely
While an injury to a starting quarterback could set a franchise back years, Huntley showed Saturday that he’s a capable fill-in.
The fourth-year pro had a solid day, stepping up in the pocket and going through his progressions to find open receivers while producing several big plays.
“He looked really good. I mean, all the quarterbacks looked really good,” Harbaugh said. “But Tyler Huntley had another really big day. I think he’s been locked in every single day.”
Baltimore Ravens Insider
The 2022 Pro Bowl alternate’s performance was filled with completions to second-year tight end Isaiah Likely, who continues to string together strong practices working with the second team and with the starters in two tight-end sets. Likely capped off his day by beating All-Pro middle linebacker Roquan Smith for a touchdown.
“[I have] high expectations for Isaiah Likely — nothing but the highest,” Harbaugh said. “He’s a talented guy [who] works super hard. [He] had his best day today and I think he just works to get better every day, so it should be a big year for him.”
While the Ravens have a strong group of weapons in Beckham, Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews and rookie Zay Flowers, its going to be hard for Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Todd Monken to keep Likely off the field.
They said it
Melvin Gordon III on the spiraling running back market: “It’s hard out here to get that money. We put in so much work and grind and go through so much — and not saying that every other player doesn’t — but every other player is compensated what they’re worth and we just want the same. I’m in their corner 100%”
Cornerback Rock Ya-Sin on why he chose to sign with Baltimore: “The culture. I love the guys we have on defense here and then you got the best player in the league Lamar Jackson playing quarterback for us. So I felt like there was a great chance to do something special.”
Rookie wide receiver Dontay Demus Jr. on his experience at training camp so far: “So far its been great, watching the older guys and really just getting a full experience of how to practice and approach the game like a pro. A lot of us [rookies] are coming from being that guy in college and now it’s time to reset and really learn how to play the game of football on this level.” | https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-ravens-observations-training-camp-odell-beckham-20230729-sl6bfoplp5fnxlp56ikrfaoeli-story.html | 2023-07-29T22:18:17 | 1 | https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-ravens-observations-training-camp-odell-beckham-20230729-sl6bfoplp5fnxlp56ikrfaoeli-story.html |
By Ryan Michaels
The Birmingham Times
Carlee Russell on Friday turned herself in and was charged with two misdemeanors related to her faked abduction.
Booked around noon in Hoover City Jail, Russell was charged with one count of false reporting to law enforcement authorities and one count of falsely reporting an incident, both of which are class A misdemeanors with $1,000 bonds.
If sentenced, Russell could serve up to a year in jail and be compelled to pay $6,000 per charge.
Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said “many are shocked and appalled that Miss Russell is only being charged with two misdemeanors despite all the panic and disruption her actions caused.”
“Let me assure you, I too share the same frustration, but existing laws only allowed the charges that were filed to be filed,” Derzis said.
Derzis said he will use Russell’s case to advocate with the Alabama Legislature for stronger penalties against people who falsely report kidnappings and violent crimes.
The police department presented the case to Jefferson County District Attorney Lynneice Washington, who after conferring with a circuit court, referred the case back to municipal court.
Additionally, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Friday congratulated Hoover Police Department (HPD) for its work on Russell’s case.
“Obviously, this [case] captured attention not only the allegations themselves, but also the concern about a possible victim and being able to return her home. The work that was done by the [HPD] was monumental in its lift, and the results of that work you’re seeing come to fruition today with the charges that have been levied,” Marshall said.
The crimes are not “victimless,” Marshall said.
“There are significant hours spent, resources expended as a result of this investigation, and not only that, but the many men and women who are civilians that wore those yellow vests on a hot afternoon and evening looking for someone they thought was abducted, trying to be of assistance,” he said.
The AG added that his office will look at the existing evidence in Russell’s faked kidnapping to determine if any additional can be brought.
Specifically, Derzis said Hoover police are also currently working to determine a dollar amount for the resources spent on Russell’s case and discussing with Marshall’s office whether law enforcement could seek reimbursement from Russell. | http://www.birminghamtimes.com/2023/07/carlee-russell-arrested-on-friday-charged-with-2-misdemeanors/ | 2023-07-29T22:18:17 | 1 | http://www.birminghamtimes.com/2023/07/carlee-russell-arrested-on-friday-charged-with-2-misdemeanors/ |
Robert Chambers, NYC’s ‘Preppy Killer,’ is released after 15 years in prison on drug charges
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Chambers, better known to some as the “Preppy Killer,” was released after spending 15 years in prison for drug and assault charges, according to state records.
Chambers spent a similar amount of time in prison after pleading guilty to strangling Jennifer Levin in New York City’s Central Park during the summer of 1986.
Chambers entered the plea to killing 18-year-old Levin as part of a deal when a jury could not reach a decision after nine days of deliberations.
He was released in 2003 for that crime but again ran afoul of the law soon after.
He was again arrested in 2007 for selling drugs out of his apartment. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison but was released Tuesday — four years early — from the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York, according to online inmate records maintained by the New York Department of Corrections.
Chambers, now 56, will remain under supervision for up to five years, records show.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.azfamily.com/2023/07/29/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-prison-drug-charges/ | 2023-07-29T22:18:19 | 0 | https://www.azfamily.com/2023/07/29/robert-chambers-nycs-preppy-killer-is-released-after-15-years-prison-drug-charges/ |
alabamanewscenter.com
Bobbie Knight, president of Miles College, has been elected to the board of directors of Alabama Power.
“We are pleased to welcome Bobbie back to Alabama Power and appreciate her willingness to serve in this capacity,” said Jeff Peoples, Alabama Power president and CEO. “She is a dedicated, strategic leader whose presence on our board of directors will benefit our company, customers and communities across the state.”
Knight is the 15th president of Miles College and the first female president in its 125-year history.
Knight previously served on Miles College’s Board of Trustees while also working as CEO at her own company, Bobbie Knight Consulting LLC. In 2017, the same year that she was named to the college’s board, Knight was named by then-Birmingham Mayor-elect Randall Woodfin as co-chair of his transition team alongside retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Charles Krulak.
In 2007, Knight was selected as one of 21 women worldwide for the acclaimed Leadership Foundation Fellows Program of the International Women’s Forum. In what she considers a highlight of her career, Knight earned the opportunity to study at both Harvard University and the Judge School of Business at Cambridge through the program.
Knight is a graduate of both the University of Alabama and the Birmingham School of Law. She is also a graduate of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management Executive Leadership Program and, in May 2022, was presented with an honorary doctor of humane letters by the Miles College Board of Trustees.
Knight served Alabama Power in multiple areas during the course of her nearly 38 years with the company. She held various executive and leadership positions, including vice president of the Birmingham Division, vice president of Public Relations and general manager of Supply Chain. She retired from the company in 2016.
A Birmingham native, Knight grew up in the Zion City neighborhood as the youngest of five siblings. She is married to Gary Burley, a retired NFL player, local philanthropist and founder of both ProStart Academy and ProStart Scholarship Fund. Knight also is chair of the Board of Managers for The Birmingham Times Media Group.
For more on Alabama Power visit www.alabamapower.com. | http://www.birminghamtimes.com/2023/07/miles-college-president-bobbie-knight-joins-alabama-power-board-of-directors/ | 2023-07-29T22:18:23 | 0 | http://www.birminghamtimes.com/2023/07/miles-college-president-bobbie-knight-joins-alabama-power-board-of-directors/ |
(KRON) — A large group of people drinking alcohol in the street ended up in a violent fight on Friday night, the San Rafael Police Department said.
Police began receiving 911 calls about a large physical fight around 10:40 p.m. in the area of Winward Way, police said. Witnesses stated that at least 14 people were involved and people in the group were throwing beer bottles at one another.
Officers at the scene found a man with a cut on his face, he had been struck by what witnesses initially called a machete. The man was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Investigators later learned the man was struck by a knife inside a sheath, not a machete.
Witnesses pointed to two men who they said were responsible for the man’s facial injuries. The two suspects were identified as Joselito Miguel Vasquez and Selvin Alvarado Vasquez; both men were detained at the scene.
Police later learned that a large group had been drinking the the area when several people got into a verbal argument when the fight turned physical. Several people in the group identified themselves as members of a gang, and two fights broke out in the street.
Joselito is accuased of striking the a victim in the face with a the sheathed knife during the fight. Police later found a knife sheath, without a knife inside, nearby. Selvin is accused of kicking a victim in the face and stomach.
Officers are still trying to determine if anyone involved is actually affiliated with a gang. Joselito and Selvin were both arrested and booked into the Marin County Jail. Joselito was cahrged with felony assault with a knife and is currently held on $50,000 bail. Selvin was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery and is being held on $2,000 bail.
SRPD is reviewing nearby surveillance footage to learn more details about what happened. Anyone with further information about the crime is asked to cal SRPD at 415-485-3000. | https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/14-people-involved-in-fight-in-san-rafael-street/ | 2023-07-29T22:18:25 | 1 | https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/14-people-involved-in-fight-in-san-rafael-street/ |