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(NEXSTAR) – Have you ever found yourself at a crosswalk, waiting for the walk sign to appear as traffic buzzes by. And even though you press the crosswalk button – maybe multiple times – it seems to take forever for the light to change in your favor.
While some slow-changing stop lights just need you to tell them you’re there, some crosswalk signals don’t care how many times you press the crosswalk button – it’ll change when it’s ready.
Let’s explain.
It’s not exactly clear when and where the first walk/don’t walk signs were installed, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Records show it likely occurred in the 1930s, and they were much like they are today.
“When it was on, all traffic approaching the intersection stopped so pedestrians could cross the streets in all directions, including diagonally,” the DOT writes. One early system gave pedestrians 20 seconds to cross the street every 100 seconds. Another gave pedestrians the walk signal while traffic moving in the same direction had a green light.
About three decades later, crosswalk buttons began appearing. They were intended to allow vehicle traffic to continue moving smoothly until a pedestrian came along rather than frequently stopping traffic for nobody.
Today, many of those buttons are useless.
In Austin, Texas, for example, most of the downtown intersections have walk indicators that are part of the normal traffic cycle, the city’s Transportation and Public Works Department told Nexstar. This means pedestrians don’t have to push a button at all (however, outside of downtown Austin, almost all signals do have buttons).
In San Francisco, there are 1,286 traffic signals operated by the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency, 610 of which have a version of a pedestrian push button, a spokesperson told Nexstar.
At just 264 of those, pedestrians need to press a button to get a ‘walk’ signal to cross some or all of the streets at the intersection. San Francisco has 490 signals with Accessible Pedestrian Signal buttons – which verbally tell pedestrians what streets they’re on and when to cross – at 143 intersections, those buttons are also used to activate a walk signal at some or all of the crosswalks, a spokesperson explains.
Few work in Boston as well, where city officials told the Boston Globe there is too much vehicular and foot traffic to let one person influence the whole traffic light setup. Only about 100 of the roughly 1,000 pedestrian buttons in New York City work, according to reports. High costs of removing some of the non-working buttons prompted city officials to leave them in place, The New York Times reported, prompting many to find themselves pushing a useless button.
In addition to the impacts the buttons can have on interrupting traffic, some cities have cited their required maintenance when opting to abandon them.
Crosswalk signals that are actuated, meaning they are triggered by a pedestrian hitting the button or loop detectors, generally require more upkeep, according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials. Still, actuated signals could be beneficial “where vehicle and pedestrian volumes vary considerably throughout the day.”
While some cities may leave you confused about whether the crosswalk button actually works, San Francisco has placed signs at intersections that require you to hit the button.
Unless you’re instructed not to push the crosswalk button, it’s likely in your favor to press the button to get the ‘walk’ signal. If you find yourself waiting for an extended period of time, you can cross the street when safe to do so. You can also report a walk signal that should be functioning but isn’t to your city, sometimes by calling 311 if your community uses that number. | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/are-you-wasting-your-time-pressing-crosswalk-buttons/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:33 | 0 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/are-you-wasting-your-time-pressing-crosswalk-buttons/ |
How to Watch the Wings vs. Aces Game: Streaming & TV Channel Info for July 30
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 11:28 AM CDT|Updated: 58 minutes ago
A pair of the WNBA's best scorers take the court -- A'ja Wilson (fifth, 20.8 points per game) and Arike Ogunbowale (third, 21.9) -- when the Las Vegas Aces (22-2) host the Dallas Wings (14-10) on Sunday, July 30, 2023 at 6:00 PM ET on CBS Sports Network and BSSW.
Watch live WNBA games without cable on all your devices with a seven-day free trial to Fubo!
Check out the latest odds and place your bets on the Aces or Wings with BetMGM Sportsbook. Use our link for the best new user offer, no promo code required!
Wings vs. Aces Game Info
- Game Day: Sunday, July 30, 2023
- Game Time: 6:00 PM ET
- TV: CBS Sports Network
- Arena: Michelob ULTRA Arena
- Live Stream: Watch on Fubo!
Rep your team with officially licensed Wings gear! Head to Fanatics to find jerseys, shirts, and much more.
Key Stats for Wings vs. Aces
- Dallas' 86.0 points per game are 7.3 more points than the 78.7 Las Vegas allows to opponents.
- The Wings are 10-2 when they shoot higher than 42.2% from the field.
- Dallas is making 29.6% of its shots from three-point distance, which is 4.0 percentage points fewer than the 33.6% Las Vegas' opponents are averaging on the season.
- The Wings are 5-2 when shooting over 33.6% as a team from three-point range.
- Las Vegas and Dallas rebound at around the same rate, with Las Vegas averaging 4.8 fewer rebounds per game.
Wings Recent Performance
- The Wings are putting up 88.1 points per contest in their previous 10 games, which is 2.1 more than their average for the season (86.0).
- While Dallas is scoring 86.0 points per game in 2023, it has bettered that mark over its previous 10 games, producing 88.1 a contest.
- Over their last 10 games, the Wings are making 5.7 threes per game, 0.9 fewer threes than their season average (6.6). They have a better three-point percentage over their last 10 contests (30.5%) compared to their season average (29.6%).
Wings Injuries
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.ktre.com/sports/betting/2023/07/30/wings-vs-aces-wnba-live-stream-tv/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:34 | 1 | https://www.ktre.com/sports/betting/2023/07/30/wings-vs-aces-wnba-live-stream-tv/ |
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.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-angels-manager-phil-nevin-suspended-1-game-for-outburst-at-umpire/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:38 | 1 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-angels-manager-phil-nevin-suspended-1-game-for-outburst-at-umpire/ |
(NEXSTAR) – Facebook users still have a few weeks to claim their piece of a $725 million settlement Meta agreed to pay to resolve a lawsuit. Ex-Facebook users can get in on the action too, as long as they meet a few criteria.
The main requirement is that you had a Facebook account for any time between May 24, 2007, and Dec. 22, 2022. You also need to have been a United States resident during that period of time.
Even people who deleted their Facebook account qualify – they’re just likely to see a smaller payout. How big your check ends up being depends in part on how long your account was active.
People have until Aug. 25, 2023 to file a claim, either online or by mail.
After the deadline passes, a judge will need to give the settlement final approval. That hearing is set for Sept. 7.
If the settlement gets the final OK, it’s not yet clear when the payments will be sent out – but you might not need to wait for a check in the mail. When submitting your claim, you can fill out your Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, or direct deposit info to get your payment sent straight to your account.
It’s also not clear how much each eligible recipient will get. Legal fees and administrative costs need to be deducted first. The remaining amount will be divvied up among eligible Facebook users, but we don’t know how many people have submitted a claim.
We asked Scott Dodson, a distinguished professor of law at UC Law San Francisco and the director of the Center for Litigation and Courts, to help us estimate a figure. He broke down all the factors that go into calculating the size of a class action lawsuit payment, and said that based on similar cases he estimated the higher end of payments might be in the “triple digits.” Many more people will likely receive less than $100, he estimated.
Earlier this year, Meta agreed to settle the lawsuit claiming Facebook allowed users’ personal data to be shared with third parties, the most famous being Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The firm harvested the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users, the Associated Press reported. | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/facebook-settlement-checks-can-you-still-get-a-payment-if-you-deleted-your-account/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:39 | 1 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/facebook-settlement-checks-can-you-still-get-a-payment-if-you-deleted-your-account/ |
TORONTO (AP) — Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward was taken to a Toronto hospital for tests after being hit in the head by a pitch from Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah in the fifth inning Saturday.
Angels manager Phil Nevin said he planned to visit Ward in the hospital after leaving the stadium following the Angels’ 6-1 loss.
Batting with the bases loaded, Ward was hit by a 2-0 pitch clocked at 91 mph. The ball appeared to strike Ward next to his next left eye, knocking off his batting helmet.
“It got him pretty flush,” Nevin said.
Plate umpire Andy Fletcher motioned to the Angels’ dugout for the trainer as Ward went down with blood running down his face.
“It’s scary,” Angels left-hander Reid Detmers said. “You’re just hoping and praying that he’s all right, that he gets up.”
Angels trainers rushed to the plate and held a towel to Ward’s face. After a couple of minutes, Ward got to his feet and left the field on a cart. His left eye appeared to be swollen shut.
“Obviously it didn’t look very good,” Angels infielder Mike Moustakas said. “Hopefully we get some good news here in a little bit. We’re all praying for him.”
Manoah put his hands on his head as he stood on the mound. It was the second hit batter of the game for Manoah, who hit Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani on the left foot in the first.
Andrew Velazquez ran for Ward, who drove in the first run of the game. Velazquez went to shortstop and Luis Rengifo, who scored on the play, moved to left field in the bottom of the inning.
Asked whether the Angels might visit Ward in hospital, Moustakas said he thought it was better to let his teammate rest.
“I’m sure we’ll all send him some text messages and see how he’s doing, but I don’t know if going over there is a good thing,” Moustakas said. “I don’t think that’s the right thing to do right now. Let him rest and recover, get healthy.”
Before play resumed, Blue Jays manager John Schneider came to the mound and replaced Manoah with left-hander Génesis Cabrera.
After the game, Manoah called it “a terrible moment.”
“That’s probably the worst feeling ever,” Manoah said. “Definitely want to pray for him and his family. That’s the last thing you want to do, no matter the situation, no matter the team, no matter anything. I feel really bad about it. I’ll definitely be looking to see how he’s doing.”
In September 2021, Manoah hit Oakland’s Starling Marte in the helmet with a 92 mph pitch. Marte stayed in the game to run the bases but was later replaced.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-angels-outfielder-taylor-ward-leaves-game-after-being-hit-in-head-by-alek-manoah-pitch/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:44 | 0 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-angels-outfielder-taylor-ward-leaves-game-after-being-hit-in-head-by-alek-manoah-pitch/ |
(The Conversation) – Rivers have been the lifeblood of human civilization throughout history, and yet we know surprisingly little about what lives in many of them – including the giant creatures that prowl their depths.
While we know the biggest animal in the ocean is the blue whale and the largest marine fish is the whale shark, the identity of the world’s largest freshwater fish species long remained a mystery.
Until 2022, that is, when fishers in Cambodia caught a giant freshwater stingray in the remote reaches of the Mekong River.
Weighing an astounding 661 pounds, the stingray surpassed by 15 pounds a giant catfish caught in Thailand in 2005 that had previously been considered the unofficial record holder.
The discovery marked a milestone in fish biologist Zeb Hogan’s more than two-decade quest to study and protect giant freshwater fish. As a group, these megafish are among the most endangered animals on the planet.The world’s largest freshwater fish confirmed so far is a stingray caught in the Mekong River.
Before releasing the female ray back into the river, Hogan’s research team put an acoustic tracker on her. She has been sending back clues about stingrays’ elusive behavior ever since.
Colossal catfish and gargantuan gars
In a new book, “Chasing Giants: In Search of the World’s Largest Freshwater Fish,” Hogan and I tell the troubling story of the 30 or so fish species that live exclusively in rivers and lakes and can grow to more than 200 pounds or at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) long.
Found on all continents except Antarctica, they are a wonderfully weird bunch of creatures, from colossal catfish and carp to gargantuan gars.
But freshwater vertebrate populations have declined over the past five decades at twice the rate experienced by species within terrestrial or marine ecosystems. Megafish numbers in particular fell by a shocking 94%, according to one study of more than 200 large freshwater species.
One of the largest species, the Chinese paddlefish, is believed to have gone extinct sometime in the 2000s. “This is a fish that had been on Earth for more than 100 million years before disappearing in a flash,” says Hogan, who used to host National Geographic’s “Monster Fish” television show and now leads a University of Nevada, Reno, research project I am involved with called Wonders of the Mekong, supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The importance of very large fish to freshwater ecosystems has been woefully understudied. Many giant freshwater fish are apex predators that can have profound effects on the ecosystems in which they live by keeping their prey populations in check and maintaining biodiversity.
What’s killing off the megafish
The decline of giant freshwater fish is due to human impacts, such as overfishing, dam building and climate change.
Large fish are disproportionately targeted by fishing. Since many of these species are slow to mature, they may never reach the age to reproduce. Dam building is another major threat, because large fish often need to make long migrations to complete their life cycles, and a new dam can block their migration paths.
In the Mekong, where more giant fish species are found than in any other river, climate change is causing more severe droughts and disrupting the monsoon seasons that govern the river’s essential flood regime.
There are signs that interest in freshwater species is gaining momentum, including increasing calls to explicitly include freshwater ecosystems in the 30×30 initiative, a global effort to set aside 30% of land and sea area for conservation by 2030. So far, however, conservation efforts to protect endangered giant freshwater fish species are mostly regional.
Alligator gars and sturgeon make a comeback
Although the outlook for most giant fish remains grim, some species, like the air-breathing arapaima in South America, may be bucking the trend.
The arapaima, a torpedo-shaped giant that can grow to lengths of more than 12 feet, has long been overharvested by fishers in the Amazon, where it’s known as the Amazonian cod. But stricter fishing regulations introduced by Indigenous communities appear to have led to populations’ rebounding in many places.
In the United States, the alligator gar, another air-breathing megafish, was once largely considered a “trash fish” thought to devour game fish, so it was systematically exterminated from much of its southern range. But then scientists began to study the species and found it was an important contributor to ecosystem functions. Today, alligator gar populations have bounced back in rivers like the Trinity in Texas.
A similar case involves the lake sturgeon, one of the few true freshwater sturgeons, whose populations in Wisconsin have benefited from long-term conservation efforts and science-driven management that includes strictly regulated seasonal recreational fishing.
Protecting the giants of the Mekong
Back in Cambodia, our Wonders of the Mekong project is raising public awareness about the plight of the megafish, and we are working closely with local fishers to encourage them to protect threatened species.
In an example of those efforts’ paying off, fishers in early 2023 caught a Mekong giant catfish weighing more than 200 pounds. Instead of killing it and selling the meat for a sizable profit, the fishers decided to release the fish in an elaborate ceremony in which it was sprinkled with flowers before it was let go.
In recent months, our project has also reintroduced into the Mekong rare giant catfish that were captured as young fish and raised in Cambodia, and giant barb, another critically endangered megafish species that historically has grown to 600 pounds.
While giant freshwater stingray numbers have plummeted in other parts of its native Southeast Asian range, the population appears to be relatively robust in the upper stretches of the Mekong River in Cambodia where the record ray was discovered. Data collected from that female, and reported in a study I co-authored, shows it is staying in much the same location, leading researchers to believe the area could be an important refuge for the stingrays and possibly other megafish.
Long-standing plans by the Cambodian government to build two large dams on this section of the river appear to have been scrapped, at least for now. At the end of 2022, the government instead put forth a proposal to turn the biodiverse stretch of the river, which is also home to a critically endangered population of Irrawaddy river dolphins, into a UNESCO World Heritage site.
While the record stingray is big, it might not be the largest of this species of ray in the Mekong. Local fishers speak of rays growing up to 200 pounds heavier.
It’s also possible the giant stingray is not the largest freshwater fish species. Research on the arapaima, for example, suggests it could grow as big, or even bigger, in places like Guyana. But, as Hogan says, “It’s not about finding the biggest fish. It’s about learning more about these amazing creatures to figure out how to better protect them.” | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/in-search-of-the-wonderfully-weird-giants-lurking-in-earths-rivers/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:45 | 1 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/in-search-of-the-wonderfully-weird-giants-lurking-in-earths-rivers/ |
KHAR, Pakistan -- A powerful bomb ripped through a political rally by supporters of a hard-line cleric and political leader on Sunday in the country's northwestern Bajur district, police and health officials said. At least 40 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded, including children, in one of the worst attacks in recent years.
Senior police officer Nazir Khan said the workers' convention of Maulana Fazlur Rehman's Jamiat Ulema Islam party was taking place on the outskirts of Khar, the capital of Bajur district, when the explosion took place. AP video showed wounded people being carried from the scene in the chaotic aftermath of the explosion.
Bajur used to be a haven for Islamic militants. It is the former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, a militant group that is a close ally of the Taliban government of Afghanistan. The TTP was in recent years evicted from the area as a result of operations by the Pakistani military.
In a statement sent to The Associated Press, the TTP condemned the bombing, saying it was aimed at pitching Islamists against each other. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, also condemned the bombing. "Such crimes cannot be justified in any way," he said in a message on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Though a separate group, the TTP remains a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021. The takeover emboldened the TTP. They unilaterally ended a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government last November and have since stepped up attacks across the country.
One of the victims, Adam Khan, 45, was hit by splinters in his leg and both hands. He said it was around 4 p.m. when the explosion knocked him to the ground.
"There was dust and smoke around and I was under some injured people from where I could hardly stand up, only to see chaos and some scattered limbs," he said.
Initially, police said 10 people were killed but later more bodies arrived at a local hospital, bringing the death toll to 40. Feroz Jamal, the provincial information minister, told The Associated Press that so far 40 people had been "martyred" and nearly 200 wounded in the bombing.
SEE ALSO: 'Retrograde' National Geographic documentary captures the U.S. exodus from Afghanistan
The JUI workers' convention was arranged in a hall close to a market, but later tents were added because of the large number of supporters who turned out. The venue was being guarded by party volunteers with batons. An announcement was being made for the arrival of Abdul Rasheed, a senior leader of the party, when the bomb exploded.
The bombing was one of the four worst attacks in the northwest since 2014, when 147 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. In January, 74 people were killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. More than 100 people, mostly policemen, died in a bombing at the city's mosque at police headquarters in February this year.
District health officer Dr. Faisal Khan said 40 bodies from the blast were at Khar's main hospital. Some of the wounded were in critical condition and were being transferred to a facility in Peshawar and the adjoining district of Dir, including by army helicopters.
Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi condemned the attack and asked officials to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the bereaved families.
Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Rehman's party, was among the dead. JUI leaders Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin were also on the stage but escaped unhurt. Party officials said Rehman was not at the rally.
Rasheed, the regional chief of the party, said the attack was an attempt to remove JUI from the field before parliamentary elections in November, but he said such tactics would not work.
Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the upcoming elections.
"Many of our fellows lost their lives and many more wounded in this incident. I will ask the federal and provincial administrations to fully investigate this incident and provide due compensation and medical facilities to the affected ones," Rasheed said.
Mohammad Wali, another attendant at the rally, said he was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the huge explosion temporarily deafened him.
"I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the ground," he said. "We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying, wounded people and sobbing relatives taking the bodies of their loved ones."
Riaz Khan reported from Peshawar. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmad contributed from Islamabad. | https://abc11.com/pakistan-explosion-blast-bajur-today/13573472/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:50 | 0 | https://abc11.com/pakistan-explosion-blast-bajur-today/13573472/ |
ÉVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — Céline Boutier carded a 4-under 67 in the third round of the Évian Championship on Saturday to increase her lead to four shots going into the final day.
The 29-year-old Boutier aims to become the first Frenchwoman to win the tournament, which became a major in 2013.
“I didn’t start that good to be honest. I missed the first three greens but got a good break on 2 and was able to chip in. Then I just had really good chances on the two par-fives, seven and nine, and was able to take advantage of that,” said Boutier, who had a bogey on the 12th hole in a round of five birdies.
“I was just trying to focus on making, hitting a good shot, and if I happen to have a birdie opportunity, I hit a solid putt. It was definitely positive and felt pretty good to start very good on the front.”
Boutier’s closest challenger is Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, who posted a 68 on Saturday after rounds of 70 and 67.
“Hopefully I will get more birdies tomorrow. It was good iron shots and distance control,” Hataoka said. “Also I was good too with my putting stroke, so I was really comfortable. Tomorrow is another new day, and I want to enjoy the next 18 holes.”
Minjee Lee of Australia and Brooke Henderson of Canada are joint-third, a shot behind Hataoka.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-boutier-takes-4-shot-lead-into-final-round-of-evian-championship/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:50 | 1 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-boutier-takes-4-shot-lead-into-final-round-of-evian-championship/ |
(KTLA) – A security guard at a nightclub was killed after being brutally beaten by a large mob in Hollywood early Sunday morning, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Officers responded to the Dragonfly Hollywood nightclub in the 6500 block of Santa Monica Boulevard near Wilcox Avenue around 2 a.m. on reports of a group of 10 people attacking one person, police said.
“The victim was working at this nightclub, and a large group – for unknown reasons – confronted that security guard, causing him to fall into the street,” said LAPD West Bureau Homicide Division Detective Samuel Marullo. “At which time the group advanced and kicked and stomped him to death.”
Police are still investigating whether the fight began inside the club and spilled onto the street or if it began outside entirely.
Video from the scene captured first responders attempting life-saving measures on the security guard, only identified as a male in his 30s, as he was lying in the street.
Dragonfly Hollywood was still open and full of patrons at the time of the security guard’s death. According to the club’s social media, it was hosting its weekly Signature Saturdays event, with Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley headlining the festivities.
The club also hosts an event on Sundays called Sunday Night Fever, but it is unclear whether that event will be postponed following the security guard’s death.
No arrests have been made.
Anyone with information regarding the attack is urged to contact the LAPD immediately. | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/nightclub-security-guard-allegedly-beaten-to-death-in-hollywood-police/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:51 | 0 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/nightclub-security-guard-allegedly-beaten-to-death-in-hollywood-police/ |
PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Mercury say All-Star center Brittney Griner will not travel for the team’s next two games so she can focus on her mental health.
The 6-foot-9 center — who became an international story during her 10-month detainment in Russia last year — is averaging 18.2 points and 6.7 rebounds over 20 games this season.
“The Mercury fully support Brittney and we will continue to work together on a timeline for her return,” the team said in a statement on Saturday.
Griner’s impressive individual season hasn’t translated to success for the Mercury, who have a 6-17 record and fired Vanessa Nygaard earlier in the season.
The Mercury’s tough season and coaching change are among the multiple challenges Griner has faced in her return to the WNBA following her ordeal in Russia on drug-related charges that caused her to miss the entire 2022 season.
Griner and her teammates were confronted by what the WNBA called a “provocateur” at the Dallas airport in June and she’s also dealt with a hip injury that caused her to miss a handful of games.
Griner will miss road games against Chicago on Sunday and Indiana on Tuesday.
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Follow David Brandt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/davidbrandtAP | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-brittney-griner-wont-travel-for-next-2-games-to-focus-on-her-mental-health-team-says/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:57 | 0 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-brittney-griner-wont-travel-for-next-2-games-to-focus-on-her-mental-health-team-says/ |
(AP) – A woman from New Hampshire who works for a nonprofit organization in Haiti and her young daughter have been reported as kidnapped as the U.S. State Department issued a “do not travel advisory” in the country and ordered nonemergency personnel to leave there amid growing security concerns.
Alix Dorsainvil, a nurse for El Roi Haiti, and her daughter were kidnapped on Thursday, the organization said in a statement Saturday. El Roi, which runs a school and ministry in Port au Prince, said the two were taken from campus. Dorsainvil is the wife of the program’s director, Sandro Dorsainvil.
“Alix is a deeply compassionate and loving person who considers Haiti her home and the Haitian people her friends and family,” El Roi president and co-founder Jason Brown said in the statement. “Alix has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering as she loves and serves the people of Haiti in the name of Jesus.”
A State Department spokesperson said in a statement Saturday it is “aware of reports of the kidnapping of two U.S. citizens in Haiti,” adding, “We are in regular contact with Haitian authorities and will continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners.”
In its advisory Thursday, the department said that “kidnapping is widespread, and victims regularly include U.S. citizens.”
It said kidnappings often involve ransom negotiations and U.S. citizen victims have been physically harmed.
Earlier this month, the National Human Rights Defense Network issued a report warning about an upsurge in killings and kidnappings and the U.N. Security Council met to discuss Haiti’s worsening situation.
WMUR-TV reported that Dorsainvil is from Middleton, New Hampshire, and went to Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, which has a program to support nursing education in Haiti.
“It doesn’t surprise me that Alix chose to get involved in this type of service work,” Regis College president Toni Hays told the station. “She was amazing. She was passionate, she was compassionate.” | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/us-mother-daughter-reportedly-kidnapped-in-haiti-do-not-travel-advisory-issued/ | 2023-07-30T17:26:57 | 0 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/us-mother-daughter-reportedly-kidnapped-in-haiti-do-not-travel-advisory-issued/ |
(Stacker) – American life expectancy dropped in 2021 for the second year in a row and represents the largest two-year decline since 1921-1923. The average life span across the entire population is 76.1 years—the lowest since 1996. Life expectancy can be affected by numerous factors, from genetics to air quality to economic opportunities.
Stacker used data from the 2023 County Health Rankings to determine the 25 states where people live the longest. The 2023 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2018-2020 National Center for Health Statistics.
The U.S. Census 2021 American Community Survey and America’s Health Rankings Senior Report 2023 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state’s rank on senior health care, respectively.
Please note that in the data below, the demographics for Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders were left out due to being less than 0.5% of the senior population. The two exceptions on this list are Utah (0.5%) and Hawaii (7.0%).
Keep reading to see if your home state made the list of areas where people live the longest.
Joseph Sohm // Shutterstock
#25. Maine
– Average life expectancy: 78.6
– Total seniors in the state: 297,101 (21.7% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #12
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.0
— Breakdown by sex: 46.2% male, 53.8% female
— Breakdown by race: 95.4% White, 0.4% Black or African American, 0.7% Hispanic or Latino, 0.7% Asian, 0.2% Native American or Alaska Native
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#24. Maryland
– Average life expectancy: 78.6
– Total seniors in the state: 1,003,383 (16.3% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #13
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.1
— Breakdown by sex: 43.7% male, 56.3% female
— Breakdown by race: 63.2% White, 25.0% Black or African American, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 5.8% Asian, 0.2% Native American or Alaska Native
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#23. Illinois
– Average life expectancy: 78.6
– Total seniors in the state: 2,103,309 (16.6% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #27
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.0
— Breakdown by sex: 44.5% male, 55.5% female
— Breakdown by race: 74.9% White, 11.4% Black or African American, 7.9% Hispanic or Latino, 4.8% Asian, 0.3% Native American or Alaska Native
Jacob Boomsma // Shutterstock
#22. Iowa
– Average life expectancy: 78.7
– Total seniors in the state: 567,581 (17.8% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #23
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.1
— Breakdown by sex: 45.8% male, 54.2% female
— Breakdown by race: 94.8% White, 1.3% Black or African American, 1.8% Hispanic or Latino, 0.8% Asian, 0.2% Native American or Alaska Native
Jacob Boomsma // Shutterstock
#21. North Dakota
– Average life expectancy: 78.8
– Total seniors in the state: 123,840 (16.0% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #20
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.0
— Breakdown by sex: 46.8% male, 53.2% female
— Breakdown by race: 95.4% White, 0.3% Black or African American, 0.8% Hispanic or Latino, 0.5% Asian, 1.9% Native American or Alaska Native
Mihai_Andritoiu // Shutterstock
#20. Wisconsin
– Average life expectancy: 78.9
– Total seniors in the state: 1,054,247 (17.9% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #10
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 72.8
— Breakdown by sex: 46.3% male, 53.7% female
— Breakdown by race: 92.4% White, 3.1% Black or African American, 2.0% Hispanic or Latino, 1.0% Asian, 0.4% Native American or Alaska Native
Katherine Welles // Shutterstock
#19. Nebraska
– Average life expectancy: 79.0
– Total seniors in the state: 322,833 (16.4% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #21
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 72.9
— Breakdown by sex: 45.8% male, 54.2% female
— Breakdown by race: 91.5% White, 2.3% Black or African American, 3.5% Hispanic or Latino, 1.2% Asian, 0.4% Native American or Alaska Native
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#18. Arizona
– Average life expectancy: 79.1
– Total seniors in the state: 1,333,985 (18.3% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #32
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.4
— Breakdown by sex: 46.4% male, 53.6% female
— Breakdown by race: 79.7% White, 2.5% Black or African American, 13.6% Hispanic or Latino, 2.3% Asian, 2.1% Native American or Alaska Native
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#17. Virginia
– Average life expectancy: 79.1
– Total seniors in the state: 1,406,480 (16.3% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #31
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.0
— Breakdown by sex: 44.8% male, 55.2% female
— Breakdown by race: 73.7% White, 16.2% Black or African American, 3.4% Hispanic or Latino, 5.1% Asian, 0.2% Native American or Alaska Native
Charles Knowles // Shutterstock
#16. Idaho
– Average life expectancy: 79.2
– Total seniors in the state: 314,010 (16.5% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #34
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 72.8
— Breakdown by sex: 47.6% male, 52.4% female
— Breakdown by race: 91.6% White, 0.2% Black or African American, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Native American or Alaska Native
George Wirt // Shutterstock
#15. Rhode Island
– Average life expectancy: 79.4
– Total seniors in the state: 200,201 (18.3% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #4
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.4
— Breakdown by sex: 44.3% male, 55.7% female
— Breakdown by race: 86.4% White, 3.2% Black or African American, 6.5% Hispanic or Latino, 1.5% Asian, 0.2% Native American or Alaska Native
Mihai_Andritoiu // Shutterstock
#14. New Jersey
– Average life expectancy: 79.5
– Total seniors in the state: 1,563,621 (16.9% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #25
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.2
— Breakdown by sex: 44.0% male, 56.0% female
— Breakdown by race: 70.6% White, 10.0% Black or African American, 11.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.6% Asian, 0.1% Native American or Alaska Native
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#13. New Hampshire
– Average life expectancy: 79.6
– Total seniors in the state: 267,741 (19.3% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #10
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 72.7
— Breakdown by sex: 46.5% male, 53.5% female
— Breakdown by race: 95.0% White, 0.5% Black or African American, 1.3% Hispanic or Latino, 1.3% Asian, 0.0% Native American or Alaska Native
Albert Pego // Shutterstock
#12. Vermont
– Average life expectancy: 79.7
– Total seniors in the state: 133,173 (20.6% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #18
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 72.6
— Breakdown by sex: 46.9% male, 53.1% female
— Breakdown by race: 95.9% White, 0.5% Black or African American, 0.9% Hispanic or Latino, 0.6% Asian, 0.1% Native American or Alaska Native
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#11. Utah
– Average life expectancy: 79.7
– Total seniors in the state: 388,120 (11.6% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #33
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 72.7
— Breakdown by sex: 47.2% male, 52.8% female
— Breakdown by race: 89.9% White, 0.5% Black or African American, 6.3% Hispanic or Latino, 2.1% Asian, 0.6% Native American or Alaska Native
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#10. Oregon
– Average life expectancy: 79.7
– Total seniors in the state: 789,896 (18.6% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #29
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 72.8
— Breakdown by sex: 46.1% male, 53.9% female
— Breakdown by race: 88.2% White, 1.0% Black or African American, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 3.0% Asian, 0.6% Native American or Alaska Native
Mia2you // Shutterstock
#9. Florida
– Average life expectancy: 79.7
– Total seniors in the state: 4,598,996 (21.1% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #38
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.9
— Breakdown by sex: 45.5% male, 54.5% female
— Breakdown by race: 73.7% White, 8.9% Black or African American, 16.1% Hispanic or Latino, 2.1% Asian, 0.1% Native American or Alaska Native
Canva
#8. Colorado
– Average life expectancy: 80.0
– Total seniors in the state: 880,167 (15.1% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #9
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 72.5
— Breakdown by sex: 46.5% male, 53.5% female
— Breakdown by race: 83.6% White, 2.7% Black or African American, 10.9% Hispanic or Latino, 2.3% Asian, 0.7% Native American or Alaska Native
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#7. Connecticut
– Average life expectancy: 80.1
– Total seniors in the state: 649,172 (18.0% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #3
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.4
— Breakdown by sex: 44.5% male, 55.5% female
— Breakdown by race: 82.5% White, 6.7% Black or African American, 7.1% Hispanic or Latino, 2.6% Asian, 0.1% Native American or Alaska Native
Sean Pavone // Shutterstock
#6. Massachusetts
– Average life expectancy: 80.2
– Total seniors in the state: 1,216,447 (17.4% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #2
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.2
— Breakdown by sex: 44.2% male, 55.8% female
— Breakdown by race: 84.5% White, 4.3% Black or African American, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 4.2% Asian, 0.2% Native American or Alaska Native
Agnieszka Gaul // Shutterstock
#5. Washington
– Average life expectancy: 80.2
– Total seniors in the state: 1,251,640 (16.2% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #15
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 72.7
— Breakdown by sex: 46.1% male, 53.9% female
— Breakdown by race: 83.2% White, 2.1% Black or African American, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 7.3% Asian, 0.8% Native American or Alaska Native
Wangkun Jia // Shutterstock
#4. New York
– Average life expectancy: 80.3
– Total seniors in the state: 3,477,337 (17.5% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #6
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.3
— Breakdown by sex: 43.9% male, 56.1% female
— Breakdown by race: 68.0% White, 11.8% Black or African American, 12.0% Hispanic or Latino, 7.3% Asian, 0.3% Native American or Alaska Native
Canva
#3. Minnesota
– Average life expectancy: 80.4
– Total seniors in the state: 959,272 (16.8% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #1
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 72.9
— Breakdown by sex: 46.2% male, 53.8% female
— Breakdown by race: 91.9% White, 2.4% Black or African American, 1.6% Hispanic or Latino, 2.2% Asian, 0.4% Native American or Alaska Native
Marek Masik // Shutterstock
#2. California
– Average life expectancy: 81.1
– Total seniors in the state: 5,964,526 (15.2% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #8
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.1
— Breakdown by sex: 45.1% male, 54.9% female
— Breakdown by race: 55.8% White, 5.1% Black or African American, 21.8% Hispanic or Latino, 16.6% Asian, 0.8% Native American or Alaska Native
Canva
#1. Hawaii
– Average life expectancy: 82.3
– Total seniors in the state: 282,567 (19.6% of state population)
– Health care for seniors rank: #22
– Senior demographics:
— Median age: 73.5
— Breakdown by sex: 45.9% male, 54.1% female
— Breakdown by race: 27.2% White, 0.9% Black or African American, 3.2% Hispanic or Latino, 51.7% Asian, 0.2% Native American or Alaska Native | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/where-do-people-live-the-longest-see-the-top-25-u-s-states/ | 2023-07-30T17:27:04 | 1 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/where-do-people-live-the-longest-see-the-top-25-u-s-states/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bronny James plays piano in a video posted by his father, LeBron James, on Saturday, five 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.
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.
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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://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-bronny-james-plays-piano-dines-out-in-video-photos-emerging-days-after-he-suffers-cardiac-arrest/ | 2023-07-30T17:27:04 | 1 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-bronny-james-plays-piano-dines-out-in-video-photos-emerging-days-after-he-suffers-cardiac-arrest/ |
TORONTO (AP) — Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward was placed on the 10-day injured list with facial fractures on Sunday, a day after he was hit by a 91 mph pitch from Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah.
Ward was taken to a Toronto hospital after being struck in the fifth inning of Saturday’s 6-1 loss. He was released from the hospital Saturday evening.
To replace Ward, the Angels selected the contract of infielder Kevin Padlo from Triple-A Salt Lake.
Batting with the bases loaded, Ward was hit by a 2-0 pitch from Manoah. The ball appeared to strike Ward next to his next left eye, knocking off his batting helmet.
Plate umpire Andy Fletcher motioned to the Angels’ dugout for the trainer as Ward went down, blood running down his face. Angels staff rushed to the plate and held a towel to Ward’s face. After a couple of minutes, Ward got to his feet and left the field on a cart. His left eye appeared to be swollen shut.
A six-year veteran who has spent his entire career with the Angels, Ward is batting .253 with 14 home runs and 47 RBI in 97 games.
Earlier this season, Colorado Rockies pitcher Ryan Feltner suffered a skull fracture and a concussion after being struck by a line drive off the bat of Philadelphia’s Nick Castellanos. The ball hit Feltner on the back right side of his head, and he fell to the ground. He lay on his stomach as two members of the Rockies athletic training staff aided him. He was able to get on his feet and walked off the field with the assistance of the two trainers.
While it isn’t clear if Feltner will return this season — he was placed on the 60-day injured list after the May incident — he told reporters he does not “want to rule it out.” | https://www.qcnews.com/sports/mlb-player-suffers-facial-fractures-after-being-hit-in-head-by-91-mph-pitch/ | 2023-07-30T17:27:10 | 1 | https://www.qcnews.com/sports/mlb-player-suffers-facial-fractures-after-being-hit-in-head-by-91-mph-pitch/ |
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Kyler Murray’s football career was nearly flawless for the first 25 years of his life: First, he was a Texas high school phenom, then a Heisman Trophy winner, then the No. 1 overall pick for the Arizona Cardinals, then a two-time Pro Bowl selection.
In all those situations, Murray was being compared to other football players.
These days, the competition is with himself.
“This is different,” Murray said. “This is you-on-you. Nobody really knows what you’re going through except for yourself and whoever you’re working out with.”
Murray, who turns 26 on Aug. 7, is working his way back to football relevancy following an underwhelming fourth season that was cut short by a torn ACL in his right knee against the New England Patriots on Dec. 12.
The quarterback acknowledged some tough days after the surgery — nights when it was tough to sleep because of the pain — but said he’s not feeling sorry for himself as he works to get back to the field.
“I get to do what I love every day — play quarterback in the NFL,” Murray said. “Did I get hurt? Yeah. Did I experience something no one wants to experience? Yeah. But it’s nothing for me to get up and work out. I was already doing that before I got hurt.”
Murray’s expected to miss at least a few games of the upcoming season while he continues to recover, and the quarterback watched Saturday’s practice at State Farm Stadium in a gray hooded sweatshirt and long black sleeve over his entire right leg.
His impending return is the hottest topic for the Cardinals during camp, but says he’s not committing to a certain return date.
“I don’t have a timetable,” Murray said.
Murray said he saw Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow at a recent UFC event and the two discussed the perils of an ACL injury. Burrow tore the ACL in his left knee during his rookie season in 2020, but returned to play 16 games in 2021.
“I wouldn’t want to go out there and hurt the team or hurt myself,” Murray said. “The advice that I’ve gotten from a lot of people around me is to go when you’re ready. Don’t listen to outside noise. Don’t feel pressure to come back because of this situation or that situation.
“Whenever you’re ready, you’ll know you’re ready.”
Murray has been very good — at times spectacular — for much of his first four seasons. His uncanny scrambling ability has produced several highlight-reel plays and he’s got plenty of arm to make all the throws he needs to make.
The apex of his pro career came in 2021, when the Cardinals started the season with a 10-2 record and looked like a Super Bowl favorite. But the franchise collapsed, losing four of the next five games before getting blown out against the Los Angeles Rams in an embarrassing playoff performance.
With high hopes in 2022, the Cardinals were one of the league’s most disappointing teams, finishing with a 4-13 record. Murray was far from the only reason for those struggles, but also wasn’t blameless, as his performance regressed in several areas.
“It’s not a bad thing to sit back, watch, and try to make this a positive deal,” Murray said. “I feel good. Getting better each and every day, taking one day at a time. Just trying to be there for my teammates and learn as much as possible before I do stuff on the field.”
Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill made big changes after last season’s debacle, bringing in a defensive-minded coach in Jonathan Gannon and a new general manager in Monti Ossenfort. The new regime seems just as smitten with Murray as the previous one — Gannon said one major reason he took the Cardinals job was Murray’s presence.
Murray says he’s excited about what the changes can bring.
The Cardinals have a large monetary interest in making things work: Murray signed a $230.5 million, five-year deal before last offseason that keeps him in the desert until 2028.
“It’s been great so far,” Murray said. “We’re actually establishing a run game. I believe we’ll be able to run the ball a lot better, which will only be a weapon for us. Get under center, mix it up, not be as predictable.”
Veteran Colt McCoy is the Cardinals’ most likely quarterback while Murray continues to recover. The 36-year-old has been the team’s backup for the past two seasons and has a 3-3 record in the six games he’s started.
The other current options are David Blough, who played decently in two starts last season, and Clayton Tune, a rookie fifth-round pick out of Houston.
“To me, whoever is available, we’re trying to put the best guy out there to win football games,” Gannon said. “Obviously, Kyler’s not available right now, but we’ve got a lot of guys who are very capable who I’m excited to see play and compete if he’s not ready to go.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-cardinals-kyler-murray-says-his-knee-rehab-is-going-well-but-has-no-timetable-for-his-return/ | 2023-07-30T17:27:11 | 1 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-cardinals-kyler-murray-says-his-knee-rehab-is-going-well-but-has-no-timetable-for-his-return/ |
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (AP) — Two-time reigning Formula One champion Max Verstappen won the rain-hit sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday to extend his huge lead over Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to 118 points.
It was Verstappen’s ninth straight win including the two sprint races he has won this season. He collected eight points for the victory and will look to extend his overall lead further in Sunday’s main race as he continues his march to a third straight world title.
“That was not bad,” Verstappen said with casual understatement.
He finished a comfortable 6.7 seconds ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and 10.7 clear of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
“I’m getting more and more comfortable with the car, which is much better than it was at the start of the year,” said the 22-year-old Piastri. “It’s been amazing for me.”
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in fourth but dropped down to seventh after being given a five-second time penalty for causing a collision when trying to overtake Perez, who scored no points after retiring near the end.
“Lewis crashed into me and took the whole right hand side of my car off,” said Perez, blaming that incident on his failure to finish.
Hamilton’s penalty moved Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. into fourth spot ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, with McLaren’s Lando Norris sixth and Mercedes driver George Russell in eighth behind his teammate Hamilton
This was the third of six scheduled sprint races this season, with Perez winning in Azerbaijan and Verstappen winning in Austria and here. The top eight drivers all score points from eight down to one.
The sprint race was delayed by more than one hour due to heavy rain, getting underway with a rolling start procedure after several laps behind a safety car, in order to clear more water off the track for the sprint, which lasted 11 laps.
“I think the rolling start was the smart thing to do,” Verstappen said. “(But) I think we could have a raced a little earlier, maybe two laps earlier.”
Safety was paramount at the Spa track, which has seen two drivers from other racing series killed in the past four years.
F2 driver Anthoine Hubert died in a multi-car crash at the track in 2019, on the eve of the F1 race.
Dutch teenage driver Dilano van ’t Hoff was killed earlier this month on the same circuit while competing in the Formula Regional European Championship.
Two years ago, six drivers from the all-female W Series needed medical checks following a heavy crash during a qualifying session on the same track.
Spa’s layout features a notorious flat-out uphill section known as Eau Rouge, which is followed by a blind corner sequence into Radillon.
The most serious issue during rain is a lack of visibility with so much spray from the cars flying up.
“The water just stayed in the air. I couldn’t see anything so I can only imagine how bad it was at the back,” said Gasly, who was close friends with Hubert. “I was hoping no car (goes) off the track or collides on the straight because we know what happened (in the past).”
Even Verstappen was unsighted when at slow speed.
“I couldn’t even see the safety car sometimes and I was the first car,” Verstappen said. “Unfortunately we had these accidents happen over the years.”
It was a welcome result for Gasly, who crashed out of the Hungarian GP last weekend and whose team is undergoing an overhaul after some disappointing results.
The encouraging performance was also a poignant one for Gasly.
“It feels very special to have done it here in Spa,” he said. “So obviously a thought for Anthoine.”
Earlier, Verstappen edged out Piastri by just .011 seconds to take the sprint pole.
The shortened qualifying format — known as the “sprint shootout” — was delayed by 35 minutes because of wet and rainy conditions, with air blowers used to clear water from the track.
Piastri shot to the top of the leaderboard on his last run, only for Verstappen to typically find extra pace.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll pushed too hard in the final seconds of Q2, the second part of qualifying, and slid off into the barriers, mangling his right tire and bringing out a red flag. His teammate Fernando Alonso was on his out lap when the crash happened and couldn’t set a time, meaning he also failed to make it into Q3.
Heavy rain had also impacted Friday’s running at the 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) Spa-Francorchamps circuit, which is nestled in a forest amid the Ardennes countryside and is often impacted by gloomy weather.
Verstappen also set the fastest time in qualifying for Sunday’s main race, but Leclerc will start from pole because of Verstappen’s five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. He begins Sunday’s race from sixth, but that will not bother Verstappen considering he won here last year from 14th.
Verstappen and Perez have won every F1 race and sprint race between them in the ultra-dominant Red Bull car.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-f1-leader-verstappen-wins-rain-hit-belgian-gp-sprint-race-piastri-is-second/ | 2023-07-30T17:27:18 | 1 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-f1-leader-verstappen-wins-rain-hit-belgian-gp-sprint-race-piastri-is-second/ |
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.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-jimmy-graham-is-grateful-to-be-back-with-the-saints-and-confident-he-can-still-play/ | 2023-07-30T17:27:24 | 1 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-jimmy-graham-is-grateful-to-be-back-with-the-saints-and-confident-he-can-still-play/ |
WESTFIELD, Ind. (AP) — Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor has requested a trade, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Saturday night.
Taylor, the 2021 NFL rushing champ, has been seeking a contract extension before his rookie contract expires at the end of this season and he’s been one of several running backs to publicly air their grievances throughout the offseason.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the request hadn’t been made public. NFL Network first reported Taylor’s request to be traded.
It came shortly after Taylor left team owner Jim Irsay’s motorhome after a meeting that lasted nearly an hour as the Colts conducted a night practice.
“It was just a good conversation and, you know, hopeful going forward,” Irsay told reporters after practice. “We’re looking forward to a great season, hoping that Jonathan’s a big part of that and I think we had a good conversation.”
Taylor has not spoken with reporters since being placed on the physically unable to perform list Tuesday. General manager Chris Ballard said then the Colts wanted to wait for a new deal until they could see how a healthy Taylor fit the new offense installed by first-year coach Shane Steichen.
Taylor topped the 2,000-yard mark twice in college at Wisconsin and rushed for 2,980 yards and 29 TDs in his first two NFL seasons. He was a unanimous All-Pro selection in 2021, when he led the league with 2,171 total yards and tied for the league lead in total touchdowns with 20.
Last year, he rushed for 861 yards despite missing six games with an ankle injury that required offseason surgery. Indy also struggled, finishing the season 4-11-1.
Irsay posted on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday suggesting some player agents were acting in bad faith by complaining about how much running backs earned with a franchise tag designation after the collective bargaining agreement was negotiated in good faith. The $10.1 million price tag is the lowest of any position other than kickers or punters.
On Saturday, in front of a capacity crowd at Grand Park in Westfield a staff member took Taylor to the nearby motorhome. Irsay did not divulge details of the meeting afterward, but did talk about two other former Colts star runners — Marshall Faulk, who was traded after Peyton Manning’s rookie season in 1998, and Edgerrin James, who left as a free agent between the 2005 and 2006 seasons.
“I’m responsible for everyone on the team and to look at the cap money as you go forward,” Irsay said. “It’s a great responsibility and you try to be as fair as you possibly can be with the whole football team. So again, I’m hopeful.”
Now the Colts may be looking to move Taylor before he even gets a chance to team up rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 overall pick in April.
“We need to make sure he (Taylor) is healthy, and we expect he should have an outstanding year,” Irsay said. “(Linebacker) E.J. Speed had the same surgery and is doing well, but it’s early in the process and we want to make sure Jonathan is 100%.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-jonathan-taylor-requests-trade-after-meeting-with-owner-jim-irsay-at-colts-practice-source-says/ | 2023-07-30T17:27:30 | 0 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-jonathan-taylor-requests-trade-after-meeting-with-owner-jim-irsay-at-colts-practice-source-says/ |
BLAINE, Minn. (AP) — Chasing his first PGA Tour victory Lee Hodges shot a 5-under 66 on Saturday to stretch his lead to five strokes with a round left in the 3M Open.
Hodges had a 20-under 193 total at the TPC Twin Cities to break the tournament 54-hole mark of 195 set last year by Scott Piercy. Hodges led at 8 under after the first round and a record 15 under after the second.
“I have nothing to lose,” Hodges said. “I’m out here playing with house money. I have a job next year on the PGA Tour, this is all great. This is just icing on the cake.”
J.T. Poston was second after a 66. Defending champion Tony Finau was another stroke back at 14 under after a 67.
Hodges’ best finish in 64 prior events was a tie for third at The American Express in 2022, the only other time the 28-year-old Alabama player has led or shared the lead after 54 holes.
And he almost certainly has played himself into the playoffs that begin in two weeks. He began the week 74th in the FedEx Cup standings, with the top 70 players qualifying.
“I honestly don’t think I’ll be that nervous tonight.” Hodges said. “I’ll hang out with my wife. We’ll go do something fun. I mean, yeah, it’s just golf at the end of the day. I’m lucky to be here.”
Hodges opened with an up-and-down even nine holes, then had five birdies on the back nine.
“I didn’t think I played bad on the front nine, I just couldn’t really get it close to the hole and when I did, I couldn’t make the putt,” he said.
Things were much different after the turn.
Hodges dropped birdie putts from 12 feet on No. 10 and nearly 11 feet on No. 11. His tee shot on the par-3 13th stopped 4 1/2 feet from the cup for another birdie. He added a 5-foorter for birdie on 16 and a 7-footer on 18.
He’ll be paired with Poston on Sunday the final group.
“We play some practice rounds together and I know him really well,” Poston said. “He’s a good friend. So, if I can’t get it done tomorrow, I’ll be pulling for him.”
Finau birdied four of his final eight holes. Last year, he trailed by five shots early in the final round and won by three at 17 under.
“It was just nice to make a run on the back nine today just to give myself a chance,” Finau said. “If I’m eight back, that’s a whole different feeling than five or six. I was just happy with the way I finished my round today and to creep up and just be a little closer to the lead.”
Aaron Baddeley was fourth at 13 under after a 65.
Sam Ryder (65), Keith Mitchell (67), Billy Horschel (68) and Kevin Streelman (69) were 12 under. Ryder birdied in his final five holes — and seven of nine — to toe the tournament back-nine record of 29. Mitchell set that mark two years ago.
Kevin Yu shot 29 on his first nine, tying a score recorded by five others, but he was 5 over for his final six holes to finish with a 67. He was tied for 11th.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-looking-for-1st-pga-tour-title-lee-hodges-takes-5-shot-lead-onto-3m-open-final-round/ | 2023-07-30T17:27:32 | 0 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-looking-for-1st-pga-tour-title-lee-hodges-takes-5-shot-lead-onto-3m-open-final-round/ |
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Denny Hamlin is not offering any apologies for the move he made last weekend at Pocono that caused Kyle Larson to hit the wall and let Hamlin sail on to victory.
Truth be told, it’s what NASCAR was hoping to see more of when it established the system that divides races into three stages, rewards drivers with points for doing well in those stages and allows them to accrue playoff points, Hamlin said.
“That is what it was geared to do — give us the sense of urgency to ramp up and that regular season performance matters to get to the final four with a shot,” he said at Richmond Raceway. “The system is doing what it was designed to do.”
Hamlin also has changed, he said, after getting spun several times while leading.
“If you have one person willing to be aggressive and one person not, aggressive will win every time,” he said.
Larson, who said things are “fine” between he and Hamlin after they exchanged text messages Friday night, agreed that the point system encourages the aggressive approach Hamlin took, but added that it “makes the guys on the receiving end more mad as well just because of what’s at stake and what’s taken.”
Larson said four or five restart battles with Kyle Busch at World Wide Technology Raceway in June showed how cleanly he tries to race other drivers.
“I respect Kyle and that’s why I raced him with respect at Gateway, and I respect Denny every bit as much, if not more, or I did,” he said.
“I tend to blow things over pretty quickly,” Larson said. “This time, I probably have let it linger on my attitude a little bit this week just because it’s happened more often with him than any other driver in my career and also a win was taken.”
Larson won the first Richmond race this season in April.
POINTS RACE
William Byron has dropped 30 points behind Martin Truex Jr. in the points race with five races remaining before the playoffs begin. The regular season champion gets a 15-point bonus, but Byron doesn’t expect to make any changes to the way he’s racing while trying to secure that top spot and bonus.
“It’s really important but we can’t get too focused on the result of the regular season points,” he said. “We obviously want those points, but our process has been like it is to this point, and if we start focusing on that carrot out in front of us too much, it’s going to get us off-track.”
CHASING SPEED
Chase Elliott said Richmond is “such a weird place” where his car never feels good, but he was pleased to make the second round of qualifying. He’ll start fourth.
“Any position you can gain is good ahead of 10th,” Elliott said. “I also know this is a place where you can qualify really good and be really bad.”
Elliott missed six races with an injury and another while serving a suspension. He hasn’t won yet and likely will need to win to make the playoffs. He’s 21st in points.
“There’s a few guys that I feel like have been consistently good at this track and the rest of us are kind of hit or miss,” Elliott said. “Hopefully we can hit it tomorrow and just put together a solid day, try to get some stage points and just get up in the mix.”
HEAT CHECK
The temperature was near 100 degrees when the cars went out for qualifying, and the heat index made it feel even hotter. It’s expected to be about 90 on Sunday.
“There’s less grip and more emphasis on tire management,” Brad Keselowski said. “It will be a different race here than it was in the spring, for sure.”
Truex and Larson are the betting favorites Sunday, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-unapologetic-hamlin-says-nascars-point-system-encourages-in-race-urgency-and-aggression/ | 2023-07-30T17:27:40 | 0 | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-unapologetic-hamlin-says-nascars-point-system-encourages-in-race-urgency-and-aggression/ |
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HANOVER TWP. — Police in Hanover Township released pictures of an alleged thief who stole items from EZ Express Convenience Store at Sans Souci Parkway and King’s Road on Tuesday.
Police reported the man concealed merchandise and left the store without paying at about 3:30 p.m.
Anyone who can identify the man is asked to call Hanover Township police at 570-825-1254.
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Click now to support or get more information. | https://www.timesleader.com/news/1615410/hanover-township-police-seek-thief-who-fled-on-scooter | 2023-07-30T17:28:11 | 1 | https://www.timesleader.com/news/1615410/hanover-township-police-seek-thief-who-fled-on-scooter |
Updated July 29, 2023 at 11:35 AM ET
Two Supreme Court decisions are changing the way students, educators and even the Biden administration are approaching higher education.
The first ruling ended affirmative action for public and private colleges. It declared that race conscious admissions programs at both Harvard and the University of North Carolina violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The second put a halt to President Biden's student loan cancellation plan. Now the Biden administration is trying to find new ways to make college more accessible. The administration recently unveiled a new student loan repayment plan that will save borrowers thousands of dollars by keeping monthly payments low and preventing interest from accumulating.
This week, the administration's focus is on affirmative action: The U.S. Department of Education has opened a civil rights investigation into the practice of legacy admissions at Harvard University, and on Friday, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona visited Wesleyan University, which recently got rid of legacy admissions.
Legacy admissions are on the chopping block
The federal inquiry comes after to three Boston-based groups — the Chica Project, the African Community Economic Development of New England and the Greater Boston Latino Network — filed a complaint with the Education Department against Harvard. It accuses the university of discriminating against Black, Hispanic, Asian and other non-white undergraduate applicants by showing preference for those who have family relationships with donors or alumni.
In a statement to NPR, Harvard spokesperson Nicole Rura said the university is reviewing its admissions policy to ensure it is "complying with the law and to carry forward Harvard's longstanding commitment to welcoming students from a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences."
Ivory Toldson, the national director of Education Innovation and Research at the NAACP, said that legacy admissions compromise a university's ability to create a diverse student body. He said if colleges are committed to diversity, they should not be favoring applicants from wealthier backgrounds.
"Now that race conscious admissions has been outlawed by the Supreme Court, you have to look at other ways to achieve diversity," Toldson said during an interview for Morning Edition.
Toldson said legacy admissions should be abolished.
The impact of legacy admissions policies on a student body
A study released this week by the Harvard School of Economics showed that richer applicants are getting a leg up in the college admissions process. Students from affluent backgrounds are twice as likely to get into top colleges than students from more middle class backgrounds, even if the students have similar GPAs and SAT scores.
Admissions data cited in documents that were part of the affirmative action case revealed that nearly 70% of the university's legacy applicants were white — including applicants who have relationships with donors, those who are children of faculty or staff, and athletes applicants. And while legacy applicants make up less than 5% of applicants to Harvard, the data showed they constitute around 30% of the applicants admitted each year, the ruling cited.
Some schools have gotten rid of legacy admissions altogether.
Wesleyan University, a private liberal arts college in Connecticut that has a 16% acceptance rate, recently eliminated its legacy admissions policy. Wesleyan President Michael Roth told NPR's Leila Fadel, during an interview for Morning Edition, the decision to end the policy was a direct response to the Supreme Court ruling that effectively ended affirmative action as part of college admissions.
"It became clear to me that any advantage you give to incumbents, to people who already have advantages, is a glaring sign of unfairness," Roth said.
Other schools have done the same. The University of Minnesota Twin Cities also ended legacy admissions this month, and Colorado passed a state law banning the practice at all public colleges and universities.
"Not getting in" is just one concern for students
Whitney Gouche is vice president of a nonprofit called EMERGE that serves high-achieving students from low-income areas in Texas. She said her students feel discouraged by the recent Supreme Court decision.
"We've explained to our students, that regardless of the decision, you still belong here, she said. "You have the merits to be a successful student at this campus."
Convincing students to apply isn't the easiest task — concerns about high cost are also on students' minds. Even if they get in, it could cost about $70,000 in tuition for an elite college like Wesleyan.
Roth said that while admitted students who qualify for financial aid will receive it at Wesleyan, the university has to do more to convince students to apply in the first place.
"We have to be very aggressive in recruiting students from places that haven't typically looked at schools like Wesleyan," Roth said.
Roth said that ending legacy admissions won't solve the more widespread problem of education disparities in the United States.
"Legacy admissions is attractive to talk about, but the real issues are elsewhere," Roth said.
This story was edited by Nicole Cohen and Erika Aguilar.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-26/colleges-are-ending-legacy-admissions-to-diversify-campuses-post-affirmative-action | 2023-07-30T17:28:11 | 0 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-26/colleges-are-ending-legacy-admissions-to-diversify-campuses-post-affirmative-action |
The ‘Barbie’ bonanza continues at the box office, ‘Oppenheimer’ holds the No. 2 spot
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie” has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kxii.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:13 | 1 | https://www.kxii.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ |
WATCH: Officers pull unconscious man from burning car
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 12:12 PM CDT|Updated: 15 minutes ago
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (CNN) – Dramatic video out of Texas caught the moment officers pulled a man from a burning car.
Police in White Settlement, Texas, said they responded to a report of a car hitting a pole early Saturday morning.
The responding officers found two people in the car.
The driver was able to get out safely, but a male passenger was unconscious and unable to get out.
Officers quickly pulled the man from the burning car until medics could arrive.
The driver and passenger were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Copyright 2023 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.kxii.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:20 | 0 | https://www.kxii.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ |
Darick Hall’s two-run single in the eighth inning powered the Lehigh Valley IronPigs to a 4-3 win over Syracuse Saturday night at Coca-Cola Park.
Trailing 3-2, the bottom of the IronPigs’ batting order sparked the eighth-inning rally. Jordan Qsar drew a walk to start the inning and Dustin Peterson doubled him to third. After two strikeouts, Weston Wilson was intentionally walked to load the bases, bringing up Hall and setting the stage for his game-winning base hit.
The Mets (41-57, 9-16) took a 2-0 lead in the first with the help of three straight walks. Carlos Cortes dropped a double into left field to score two.
The IronPigs (51-47, 15-10) tied it in the third. Qsar singled to open the inning and Peterson walked. Esteban Quiroz ripped a double into the righ-tfield corner, scoring Qsar. Simon Muzziotti tied it with a sacrifice fly, scoring Peterson.
The Mets reclaimed the lead in the sixth. Luke Ritter singled to open the inning and moved to third on another Cortes double. After a strikeout and walk, Brandon Fryman grounded out to score Ritter.
Taylor Lehman (1-0) picked up the win for the IronPigs, working a scoreless eighth, allowing just a hit. Tyler McKay converted the save, his first, for the IronPigs, pitching a scoreless ninth, striking out two and working around a hit.
Josh Walker (2-2) suffered the loss for the Mets out of the bullpen, allowing two runs over 1.2 innings on two hits and two walks, striking out four
The IronPigs and Mets wrap up their six-game series at 1:35 p.m. today. | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/darick-halls-two-run-single-in-eighth-powers-lehigh-valley-ironpigs-past-syracuse-4-3/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:21 | 1 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/darick-halls-two-run-single-in-eighth-powers-lehigh-valley-ironpigs-past-syracuse-4-3/ |
PHILADELPHIA — DeVonta Smith is the 100th best player in the NFL, not the 99th, not the 101st, not the best, not the worst.
The Big One-Zero-Zero.
So, at least, say the players of the NFL in a poll promoted on league platforms.
Congratulations?
“I mean, it’s a blessing to be a part of that list,” Smith said Friday, after practice at the Eagles’ training complex. “But honestly, I am just getting ready to play football – to keep doing the things I have been doing and to land where I land.”
About to head into his third NFL season, the former Heisman Trophy winner has landed as a central piece to whatever the Eagles may achieve in 2023. Since they achieved a Super Bowl last season, the thought of an encore has been mentioned once or twice.
“It’s not about that now,” he said. “We are hitting a new season, in training camp, trying to get better. Saying anything about that doesn’t do anything for you.”
Talk doesn’t help, but receptions do. Smith had 95 last year, most among Eagles, good for 1,196 yards and seven touchdowns. With Dallas Goedert, A.J. Brown and Quez Watkins back in Jalen Hurts’ passing lanes, he’s hopeful the production will increase.
“You already have that relationship with guys and things like that,” he said. “Coming in, you are still speaking the same language and stuff and don’t have to be caught up to speed. Everybody is on the same page and you have great timing and have things down.”
The NFL is releasing 10 of the Top 100 Players each day through Aug. 7, counting down from Smith.
“There is always room for improvement,” Smith said. “You can never sit there and say that’s good enough. I’ll just keep going out there and doing things the way I have always done things and do it at a higher level.”
• • •
One tack-on fee from reaching the Super Bowl is a shorter offseason. Dallas Goedert, for one, is willing to pay up.
“There was less time for training between OTAs and the Super Bowl, but other than that, everything has been the same,” the tight end said. “Ever since that game, I have been trying to get back here. So I’ll go along with it every year. I enjoyed last year, so hopefully we can have a successful season again.”
• • •
First-round draft choice Jalen Carter is two training-camp practices into his NFL career, and already the defensive tackle has announced that he wants to be the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year.
So how about the earliest-ever report card?
“He’s doing a great job and he’s taking ownership,” defensive coordinator Sean Desai said. “He knows what it is in terms of the preparation for your mind and your body, off the field, in the weight room, in the training room, all that stuff. He’s embracing it and learning it, and he’s doing a great job.” | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/eagles-camp-notebook-devonta-smith-brushes-off-talk-of-being-in-top-100-nfl-players/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:27 | 0 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/eagles-camp-notebook-devonta-smith-brushes-off-talk-of-being-in-top-100-nfl-players/ |
Kelly green is back. Scrambling.
Originally anticipating a Monday release, the return of the Eagles’ highly anticipated kelly green jerseys was posted via social media late Saturday, after images of the jerseys leaked online. Earlier in the day, the Eagles announced that the three team store locations carrying kelly green gear would be closed Sunday in anticipation of it going on sale Monday. The Eagles recently have been teasing the uniform reveal to fans, who had been begging for the return of the throwback jerseys, on the team’s social media accounts, but only sharing a snippet of what the uniform looks like.
About an hour before the Eagles officially announced the release via its social media account, the X account, Eagles Nation, posted the graphic. Last year, the Eagles announced that they would be breaking out the kelly greens after a new rule allowed for NFL teams to use a second helmet color. The team started working with Nike to find the exact replica of the late 1980s-early 1990s jerseys worn by legendary Eagles such as Reggie White and Randall Cunningham.
In March, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said he was “super excited” about getting the chance to bring kelly green back after getting the kelly green helmet approved.
“I think the fans will love it,” Lurie said. “That’s why we’re bringing it back. We really took the feedback seriously over the years, and the first moment we could get the kelly green helmet approved we did and we’ll finally be able to see it on the field.”
Why do fans love those beautiful kelly green uniforms? It’s symbolic of franchise history. The Eagles won three NFL championships in those uniforms dating back to 1948, 1949, and 1960. After Lurie purchased the team in 1996, the kelly green jerseys went away, and he brought in a more modern style: midnight green.
It wasn’t until the 2010 season opener — which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1960 NFL championship — the lightly shaded green uniforms made its return. With the league announcing in 2018 that teams are allowed to have alternative uniforms, the Eagles have since tried to fulfill those wishes by fans of bringing kelly green back.
Inquirer staff writer Kerith Gabriel contributed to this report.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/eagles-new-kelly-green-jerseys/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:28 | 0 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/eagles-new-kelly-green-jerseys/ |
If retired NFL pro Andrew East was drawing up the game plan, he and pregnant Shawn Johnson East would have a whole football team's worth of kids.
But since it's his 4-foot-9 retired Olympic gymnast wife who's birthing what she's called "very large babies that take a large toll on my body", the 6-foot-2 former long snapper punted the decision her way.
And after welcoming 8-pound, 8-ounce daughter Drew, 3, and 9-pound, 13-ounce son Jett, 2, "I feel like at the moment, our family is complete with three," Shawn explained in an exclusive interview with E! News.
Though to appease Andrew, one of five siblings, "I said, 'Well, I can tell you this, this will be my last pregnancy,'" she said. "I'm up for helping babies around the world who need families. I think we can have that conversation later if that's something we want to talk about. But this will be our last pregnancy."
This not being her first trip around the uneven parallel bars so to speak, the 31-year-old is well aware "the damage C-sections can do," she noted. "And I've been so lucky to be able to get pregnant and carry babies. But three C-sections will take a toll. And I want to be able to be that mom that's chasing my children around for years and years and years."
And perhaps doing a bit of showing off as well?
While son Jett is already displaying an aptitude for making melodies ("He's a really musical kid, he just loves music"), her daughter enjoys dance and "anything girly" says Shawn. (Plus the boxing mitts and helmet she and Andrew, 31, recently gifted to Jett.)
Then there's her other hobby.
"She does a gymnastics camp that she loves," says Shawn, noting it's more "padded playground" than Olympic training center.
And though, theoretically, the toddler could have a leg up on her fellow campers, she basically DGAF.
"She still asks Daddy to teach her gymnastic stuff instead of me, which kills me," revealed Shawn, who collected a gold medal and three silvers competing in Beijing in 2008. "I think it's the funniest thing in the entire world. Like she wanted to learn a handstand and I was like, 'Let me show you.' And she's like, 'No, no, Mama. Daddy.' And I was like, all righty."
Because don't get it [insert fancy gymnastics term here] twisted: Shawn is handling her final pregnancy like a champ.
Despite battling some nausea (perhaps helped by a July 27 trip to Dairy Queen for Miracle Treat Day, the franchise donating proceeds from each Blizzard sold to local children's hospitals through Children's Miracle Network Hospitals), "I feel good," said Shawn of living that second trimester life. "I forget I'm pregnant except for the fatigue and the aches and pains. And then I'm like, 'Why can't I get my shoes on? Oh, yeah. There's a baby in there.'" | https://www.eonline.com/news/1381511/pregnant-shawn-johnson-is-open-to-having-more-kidswith-one-caveat?cmpid=rss-syndicate-genericrss-us-top_stories | 2023-07-30T17:28:34 | 0 | https://www.eonline.com/news/1381511/pregnant-shawn-johnson-is-open-to-having-more-kidswith-one-caveat?cmpid=rss-syndicate-genericrss-us-top_stories |
The ‘Barbie’ bonanza continues at the box office, ‘Oppenheimer’ holds the No. 2 spot
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie” has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:34 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ |
The ‘Barbie’ bonanza continues at the box office, ‘Oppenheimer’ holds the No. 2 spot
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie” has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:34 | 1 | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie” has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million. | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-30T17:28:34 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
PHILADELPHIA — DeVonta Smith is the 100th best player in the NFL, not the 99th, not the 101st, not the best, not the worst.
The Big One-Zero-Zero.
So, at least, say the players of the NFL in a poll promoted on league platforms.
Congratulations?
“I mean, it’s a blessing to be a part of that list,” Smith said Friday, after practice at the Eagles’ training complex. “But honestly, I am just getting ready to play football, to keep doing the things I have been doing and to land where I land.”
About to head into his third NFL season, the former Heisman Trophy winner has landed as a central piece to whatever the Eagles may achieve in 2023. Since they achieved a Super Bowl last season, the thought of an encore has been mentioned once or twice.
“It’s not about that now,” he said. “We are hitting a new season, in training camp, trying to get better. Saying anything about that doesn’t do anything for you.”
Talk doesn’t help, but receptions do. Smith had 95 last year, most among Eagles, good for 1,196 yards and seven touchdowns. With Dallas Goedert, A.J. Brown and Quez Watkins back in Jalen Hurts’ passing lanes, he’s hopeful the production will increase.
“You already have that relationship with guys and things like that,” he said. “Coming in, you are still speaking the same language and stuff and don’t have to be caught up to speed. Everybody is on the same page and you have great timing and have things down.”
The NFL is releasing 10 of the Top 100 Players each day through Aug. 7, counting down from Smith.
“There is always room for improvement,” Smith said. “You can never sit there and say that’s good enough. I’ll just keep going out there and doing things the way I have always done things and do it at a higher level.”
• • •
One tack-on fee from reaching the Super Bowl is a shorter offseason. Dallas Goedert, for one, is willing to pay up.
“There was less time for training between OTAs and the Super Bowl, but other than that, everything has been the same,” the tight end said. “Ever since that game, I have been trying to get back here. So I’ll go along with it every year. I enjoyed last year, so hopefully we can have a successful season again.”
• • •
First-round draft choice Jalen Carter is two training-camp practices into his NFL career, and already the defensive tackle has announced that he wants to be the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year.
So how about the earliest-ever report card?
“He’s doing a great job and he’s taking ownership,” defensive coordinator Sean Desai said. “He knows what it is in terms of the preparation for your mind and your body, off the field, in the weight room, in the training room, all that stuff. He’s embracing it and learning it, and he’s doing a great job.” | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/eagles-notebook-devonta-smith-giving-100-to-improve-his-numbers/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:35 | 0 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/eagles-notebook-devonta-smith-giving-100-to-improve-his-numbers/ |
Allentown NAACP members criticize City Hall for ignoring racism complaints
In an explosive letter, members of the Allentown NAACP allege “incidents of racism and discrimination” against employees of color within City Hall, and call on Mayor Matt Tuerk’s administration to take immediate action. Tuerk responded by questioning the origins of the letter, which was sent without the knowledge of top NAACP leaders.
Lehigh Valley residents seek relief during scorching heat wave
A heat wave hit the Lehigh Valley this week, sending residents scrambling to find places to cool down. Allentown opened Mack Pool free for all residents and the fire department set up cooling stations. Easton opened fire hydrants at multiple locations.
Allentown School District demotes embattled principal
Former Allen High School Principal Cheryl Clark was demoted to the role of assistant principal at an unknown school location in Allentown School District, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. Clark was placed on administrative leave from her position in April following a report from The Morning Call detailing teacher concerns with safety and morale at Allen under Clark’s leadership. The school board on Thursday voted on the demotion, which was listed in a personnel report only by employee ID.
One man dead in second fatal police shooting in Allentown this year
A 27-year-old Allentown man who fired a gun at police was killed by officers when they returned fire early Monday in Allentown, officials said. Police said Dominick Hogans fired at officers during a chase. His is the second police-related shooting death in Allentown this year. The incident remains under investigation.
Active search ends for infant lost in Bucks County floods
The search for a missing 9-month-old boy who was swept away by floodwaters along with his 2-year-old sister has ended without results, Bucks County authorities announced. Conrad Sheils and his sister Matilda “Mattie” Sheils slipped out of the arms of family members during a flash flood July 15 in Upper Makefield Township. Mattie’s body was found July 14 in the Delaware River in Philadelphia. Conrad, Mattie and their mother, Katie Seley, were among six victims of the floods.
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie to challenge Susan Wild for Congress
State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie announced this week he will seek the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Susan Wild in the 2024 congressional race. A lifelong resident of the Lehigh Valley, he has represented Lehigh County in Harrisburg since 2012. He is the third Republican so far to announce their campaigns.
Good Shepherd opens rehab hospital in Center Valley
Good Shepherd Rehabilitation cut the ribbon Tuesday on its long-awaited new rehabilitation hospital in Upper Saucon Township. The four-story, 123,000-square-foot facility inpatient rehabilitation hospital has 76 private beds and replaces its hospital in Allentown. Once it opens to patients on Sunday, the new hospital at 3200 Center Valley Parkway, across the street from The Promenade Shops of Saucon Valley, will offer wide treatment and recovery options for people with complex medical conditions, such as stroke, spinal cord injury and brain injury. | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/here-are-some-of-the-top-lehigh-valley-area-stories-you-might-have-missed-last-week-5/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:35 | 1 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/here-are-some-of-the-top-lehigh-valley-area-stories-you-might-have-missed-last-week-5/ |
WATCH: Officers pull unconscious man from burning car
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 1:12 PM EDT|Updated: 15 minutes ago
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (CNN) – Dramatic video out of Texas caught the moment officers pulled a man from a burning car.
Police in White Settlement, Texas, said they responded to a report of a car hitting a pole early Saturday morning.
The responding officers found two people in the car.
The driver was able to get out safely, but a male passenger was unconscious and unable to get out.
Officers quickly pulled the man from the burning car until medics could arrive.
The driver and passenger were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Copyright 2023 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:40 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ |
PHILADELPHIA — James Bradberry says that he doesn’t think about the penalty that cost the Eagles the Super Bowl. Not unless someone asks him about it. So after the Eagles practiced Friday at the NovaCare Complex, someone asked him about it. Before we get to Bradberry’s answer, the topic requires some narrative unpacking and lots of what-ifs.
Yes, yes, it might be unfair to home in on Bradberry like this, especially after so much time has passed since the Eagles’ 38-35 loss at State Farm Stadium on Feb. 12.
After all, everyone knows the cliche that every play in every game is important and no single mistake by a player or bad call by an official determines the final outcome. And everyone knows that the Kansas City Chiefs turned a Jalen Hurts fumble into a game-changing touchdown, that Quez Watkins turned a potential big play into a momentum-killing drop, and that Andy Reid went full Westley-vs.-Vizzini on Jonathan Gannon in the second half.
But let’s be real. Super Bowl LVII was tied with 1 minute, 54 seconds to go and Kansas City was facing a third-and-8 when Bradberry was flagged for holding JuJu Smith-Schuster. The penalty gave the Chiefs a first down and allowed them to run the clock down until, when Harrison Butker hit the winning field goal, eight seconds remained in regulation. Give the ball back to Hurts that night with 90 seconds to go and two timeouts, and even with the Eagles down by three, you’d still have to like their chances to force overtime at least.
Then there’s the issue of whether the call was correct and justifiable. Yes on the former, less so on the latter. It was a hold — a subtle hold, but a hold nonetheless. Bradberry admitted as much in the locker room afterward.
The key question was whether the officials had established an unspoken rule: In that particular game, they would not penalize a defensive back for that particular kind of hold. If they broke that rule by calling that hold on Bradberry, then he, the Eagles, and their fans have a pretty legitimate beef, and if they wanted, they could continue driving themselves crazy with outrage and might-have-beens.
James Bradberry has not driven himself crazy over that penalty. He has more than five months of distance from it, and from then to now, he has handled the incident and its aftermath in the same standup manner. As he said, he answers when he’s asked about it — and he had to be asked about it. But by all indications, he does not dwell on it and does not wallow in any disappointment or anger about it.
“I try to live my life with a DB mindset,” he said Friday. “A play’s going to happen. Good play, bad play — you’ve got to move on to the next one. That’s how I really thought about it.”
He applies the same principle to the other aspects of his career, too. He will turn 30 on Thursday, and the cornerback opposite him, Darius Slay, is 32. Both of them were selected to the Pro Bowl last season; the Associated Press named Bradberry to its All-Pro second team. But neither of them is, by the NFL definition of the term, young. Can they repeat that same measure of excellence?
“The best thing we can do is just forget about what we did last year and move on to this year,” said Bradberry, who must be a huge Ted Lasso fan, because he apparently has the memory of a goldfish. “I think we can be as good as we want to be. I know Slay, for one, I feel like he’s a Hall of Famer. He’s one of the greatest corners of this decade — well, of this past decade, and we’re trying to build in this decade, as well.”
Was he sensitive to making Slay sound old?
“You know what?” Bradberry said. “We’re both getting up there in age, but that’s what also makes us better. We have a lot of experience. Whatever we lack, we make up for it in our mental game.”
In March, he re-signed with the Eagles, considering other options in free agency but ultimately agreeing to a three-year contract that could be worth as much as $38 million. Maybe it’s a silly question, but did he fear that the Super Bowl penalty would be held against him (no pun intended) by the teams that were interested in signing him?
“I wasn’t worried about that,” Bradberry said. “I felt like I had a pretty good year. Had it affected the signing, I just would have had to live with it.”
He has learned to live with a lot of things. It’s a credit to his character that he has.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/james-bradberrys-penalty/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:41 | 1 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/james-bradberrys-penalty/ |
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Voting rights activists are returning to court to fight Alabama’s redrawn congressional districts, saying state Republicans failed to follow federal court orders to create a district that is fair to Black voters.
Plaintiffs in the high-profile redistricting case filed a written objection Friday to oppose Alabama’s new redistricting plan. They accused state Republicans of flouting a judicial mandate to create a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it” and enacting a map that continues to discriminate against Black voters in the state.
A special three-judge panel in 2022 blocked use of the the state’s existing districts and said any new congressional map should include two districts where “Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority” or something close. That panel’s decision was appealed by the state but upheld in June in a surprise ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which concurred that having only one Black-majority district out of seven — in a state where more than one in four residents is Black — likely violated federal law.
The plaintiffs in the case, represented by the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and other groups, asked the three-judge panel to step in and draw new lines for the state.
“Alabama’s new congressional map ignores this court’s preliminary injunction order and instead perpetuates the Voting Rights Act violation that was the very reason that the Legislature redrew the map,” lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the case wrote.
The new map enacted by the Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature maintained one-majority Black district but boosted the percentage of Black voters in the majority-white 2nd Congressional District, now represented by Republican Rep. Barry Moore, from about 30% to 39.9%
Lawyers representing plaintiffs in the case wrote Friday that the revamped district “does not provide Black voters a realistic opportunity to elect their preferred candidates in any but the most extreme situations.” They accused state Republicans of ignoring the courts’ directive to prioritize a district that would stay under GOP control “pleasing national leaders whose objective is to maintain the Republican Party’s slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Alabama has maintained the new plan complies with the Voting Rights Act, and state leaders are wagering that the panel will accept their proposal or that the state will prevail in a second round of appeals to the Supreme Court. Republicans argued that the map meets the court’s directive and draws compact districts that comply with redistricting guidelines.
The state must file its defense of the map by Aug. 4. The three judges have scheduled an Aug. 14 hearing in the case as the fight over the map shifts back to federal court.
The outcome could have consequences across the country as the case again weighs the requirements of the Voting Rights Act in redistricting. It could also impact the partisan leanings of one Alabama congressional district in the 2024 elections with control of the U.S House of Representatives at stake.
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in a statement that Alabama’s new map is a “brazen defiance” of the courts.
“The result is a shameful display that would have made George Wallace—another Alabama governor who defied the courts—proud,” Holder said in a statement. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/plaintiffs-in-voting-rights-case-urge-judges-to-toss-alabamas-new-congressional-map/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-30T17:28:41 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/plaintiffs-in-voting-rights-case-urge-judges-to-toss-alabamas-new-congressional-map/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
WATCH: Officers pull unconscious man from burning car
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 11:12 AM MDT|Updated: 16 minutes ago
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (CNN) – Dramatic video out of Texas caught the moment officers pulled a man from a burning car.
Police in White Settlement, Texas, said they responded to a report of a car hitting a pole early Saturday morning.
The responding officers found two people in the car.
The driver was able to get out safely, but a male passenger was unconscious and unable to get out.
Officers quickly pulled the man from the burning car until medics could arrive.
The driver and passenger were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Copyright 2023 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:41 | 0 | https://www.kmvt.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ |
Letter comparing Jesus and Biden was offensive
I take offense to a recent letter that referred to a commercial, “Jesus gets us,” stating, in part, “they should put Joe Biden’s name in there instead of Jesus.”
As a Christian, I was appalled to say the least, at this most blasphemous comment.
Yes, Biden suffered some losses, as many other people have encountered in their personal lives.
Nevertheless, how can any mortal soul dare to compare any living being to our Lord, who was crucified and died for our sins and rose victoriously for our salvation.
May God bless us all.
Jacqueline L. Quigley
Allentown
Repaying debt builds character, teaches responsibility
I write in response to recent letters to the editor concerning “unfair debt.”
If you live life and live it to the fullest you will incur debt. Whether that debt be in the form of home mortgage, car loan, apartment rental or retail purchases, debt is a big part of one’s life (fair or unfair, your perspective).
Oh, I agree that our society depends on the future crop of college and trade/technical school-trained teachers, doctors, engineers, computer experts, plumbers, medical assistants and the like, however debt forgiveness is not the solution.
Payment of debt, no matter what it’s for, teaches one responsibility for their decisions/actions; it builds character. Payment responsibility leads to the lack of careless decisions.
Past generations paid off their just due and built a great country.
As one writer referenced, payment of imposed tax from the “mother land” was viewed as unfair by the colonists. The result was a revolution. The main difference between the two debts is one was imposed and the other was openly and freely applied for.
Life isn’t easy, but repayment is just.
John J. Kelhart
Allen Township
Attacks on books are attacks on freedom itself
What is happening to the principal reason this country was founded? What has happened to the true meaning and concept of freedom? How is it that a small band of people can tell me or any other American what they can read? What’s next? Banning all movies some people don’t feel are “appropriate”? Banning toilet paper commercials because they portray the “unsavory” function of elimination? Banning peaceful meetings of like-minded people because they don’t comport with one’s beliefs?
This country was based on the concept of freedom for all. And that means the precious freedom to think for oneself, not the now-mutilated, manipulative meaning of the freedom to tell others what to think and what to read. This is frighteningly too similar to what occurs in totalitarian countries, where the concept of freedom is just a pipe dream.
Freedom is the foundation of what is one of the greatest countries in the world. We need to stand up for the true meaning of freedom, and not cave to those who want to dictate a narrow set of beliefs and values that will stifle the creativity and imagination that has made the U.S. what it is.
Marianne Phillips
Allentown
Will micro-hospitals really cut costs?
I see that Lehigh Valley Health Network is proposing yet another “neighborhood” hospital, this time in Hellertown. It will soon open similar sites in Macungie and in Montgomery County. These facilities must be adequately staffed and open 24/7. Yet virtually everything that I have read and heard over the past few years is that all hospitals in Pennsylvania suffer from a shortage of health care professionals.
I have no idea how much money LVHN is pouring into these micro-hospitals, but I would think it is not insubstantial. LVHN’s CEO has said these smaller hospitals will provide lower-cost treatment for patients. Hmmm. Over the course of my life, I have yet to see any reduced costs in my patient care. And, as noted by Advis (“the smart health care consultants”), “Micro-Hospitals … bring favorable financial opportunities … [T]he potential to turn a profit is well within the grasp of many systems via the Micro-Hospital model.”
LVHN is not alone; hospital systems throughout Pennsylvania are on the micro-hospital bandwagon. And I am not picking on LVHN. St. Luke’s University Health Network is seeking final approval from Bethlehem Township for an expansion to nearby St. Luke’s-Anderson. May I die in my bed.
Jill Hirt
Upper Saucon Township
Drive defensively remains better lesson than ever
There was a letter recently in the Morning Call regarding the increasingly unsafe driving habits of local Lehigh Valley drivers. I am confident this condition is not limited to our geographic area, but nonetheless it is quite concerning. Today I drove into west Allentown from Macungie and back, and during this brief trip I witnessed two drivers running red lights (it wasn’t even close), two drivers sliding through stop signs without stopping, and another driving through a stop sign and almost T-boning a truck that had the clear right of way. When I took the driver’s education course at Parkland High School over 60 years ago, our instructor was Mr. Dorney, and his first rule of the road was to “drive defensively” and try to anticipate accidents in order to take evasive action. This is true today more than ever.
James McMahan
Lower Macungie Township
Lawmakers’ behavior makes US look pathetic
If you want to work in this country today, you may be required to take a urine test. While you are working, you may be asked to take a drug test because of work-related incidents. Usually if you have a problem, that results in a visit to human resources, whether it is due to injury resulting in missing work, constantly being late or, as with most cases, you have a problem with another worker that disrupts the workplace. When I see the things Marjorie Taylor Greene does and I hear the things she says to and about fellow lawmakers, I’m wondering why is it that I have to follow a set of rules that people in Congress and the Senate do not have to follow? Ethics Committee? How about a Morals Committee? You have people in government who would be sitting in the corner at school or sent to the principal’s office. We all know this and yet we put up with it? How pathetic we look!
Lonnie Toth
Washington Township, Lehigh County
The Morning Call encourages community dialogue on important issues. Submit a letter to the editor at letters@mcall.com. | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/letters-to-the-editor-comparing-president-biden-and-jesus-blasphemous/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:47 | 0 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/letters-to-the-editor-comparing-president-biden-and-jesus-blasphemous/ |
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish government researchers said Sunday they had identified 357 foreign fighters who went missing during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the conflict that foreshadowed World War II.
Researchers confirmed the names of 212 fighters from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, according to a statement from the government Sunday. Some 102 are of German origin, 70 Austrian and 40 Dutch. It gave no information on how many people of other nationalities had been identified.
The identified combatants fought within the International Brigades, military units set up by the Communist International to fight against General Francisco Franco’s fascist forces. Some 40,000 foreign men and women joined up as volunteers, fighting alongside the forces of the democratic Second Spanish Republic and against the rise of fascism in Europe in late 1930s.
The findings are based on a year of research in records held in documentary archives in Spain and Russia. Researchers combed through the daily lists of casualties and missing soldiers compiled by officers in the International Brigades.
The names of private soldiers were frequently omitted from the lists, making the research process more difficult. These lists are held in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, in Moscow. Researchers also dipped into the main archives on the Spanish Civil War located in Spain.
By cross-referencing documents, researchers were also able to identify the likely area where the soldiers died or were badly wounded. It is an important step toward locating their remains inside mass graves scattered across the country.
This research provides “very valuable information that gives us the opportunity to contact the families of the missing combatants and, in the future, to intervene in the mass graves that have been located,” said Alfons Aragoneses, head of the project.
All those identified were part of the Thälmann Brigade, a Communist unit made up largely of anti-Nazi Germans. The battalion was active on the Ebro River front in northeastern Spain between March and September 1938, the site of the longest and deadliest battle of the war.
The research is ongoing and it is funded by Catalan regional government, with the aim of contributing to the country’s historical memory. The second phase of the project will try to identify missing militiamen from Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and the United States. The final step would require opening the graves in search of bodies.
Historians estimate nearly 10,000 foreign volunteers died in combat on Spanish soil during the war. How many are still unidentified, buried inside graves, remains unknown.
The Spanish Civil War served as a testing ground for Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy prior to World War II. This triggered an international outcry to try to save the Republic’s democratic government, which eventually succumbed to Franco in 1939. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/world/spain-identifies-212-german-austrian-and-dutch-fighters-who-went-missing-during-spanish-civil-war/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-30T17:28:47 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/world/spain-identifies-212-german-austrian-and-dutch-fighters-who-went-missing-during-spanish-civil-war/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
vivo Unveils V3 chip with 6nm Processes, Powering 4K Cinema Portrait Mode
SHENZHEN, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- vivo today held this year's Special Event of the 2023 vivo Imaging Conference in Xining, China, where it showcased a host of innovations in imaging technology. The company unveiled the V3 chip, a state-of-the-art 6nm customized V3 chip, as well as the latest algorithm technology. In addition, vivo revealed a periscope lens with the new "Vario-Apo-Sonnar" standards developed in partnership with ZEISS. During the event, vivo also announced the winners of the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards, with Indonesia photographer Jiehan Herry Saputro 's "Let Me Fly" crowned the Best Photograph of the Year.
Yu Meng, Vice President of vivo Imaging; Li Zhuo, Senior Director of vivo Imaging Products; Sebastian Döntgen, Head of Category Management, Marketing and Sales, ZEISS Consumer Products; Zhang Yan, Product Manager of vivo Imaging Performance; visual artists Gao Yuan and Duan Yueheng; Song Wen, Founder of FIRST International Film Festival; and Bertram Hönlinger, ZEISS Expert of Photography, attended the event to share their views on technological innovation and the future of mobile imaging.
"At vivo, we are committed to advancing 'human-centric professional imaging'. To this end, we continuously enhance our expertise across optics, computing, and algorithm foundations to build imaging capabilities comparable to professional photography equipment. We aim to deliver the user experience of recreating what the human eye can see and make professional-grade imaging capabilities more accessible for everyone. In the future, vivo will stay committed to creating the best imaging technology and help users record life's most precious moments," said Mr. Yu Meng.
At a time when everyone can be a creator, vivo has been dedicated to providing exceptional user experience with innovative mobile imaging technology. From industry-outstanding imaging chips and algorithms to expanding technological boundaries in partnership with other industry leaders, vivo continues to make efforts to boost its image technology strengths and improve the user experience in any scenario.
Unveiling the latest V3 chip and algorithm technology
The brand's latest V3 chip adopts a 6nm process and incorporates a newly designed multi-concurrent AI-ISP architecture and second-generation Frame Info Tunneling (FIT) technology. The technology upgrade delivers a superior user experience by enabling 4K cinema-like bokeh, automatic subject focus detection and switching, cinema-like skin optimization, and cinematic color processing. This makes vivo the first Android phone maker to enable 4K cinema-quality portrait video with post-processing functions.
In addition to the launch of the new V3 chip, vivo has also announced a composite algorithm matrix solution. The company's new vivo Origin Imaging Engine (VOIE) enhances image quality, color, tone, and computing functionality by advancing the underlying algorithmic capabilities for three sub-modules: Color Restoration Engine, Ultra HD Engine, and Accelerated Computing Engine. vivo also developed the Hyper-Sense Portrait System and Vast-Sky Night System based on the common portrait and night scene user scenarios. Additionally, vivo has been continuously upgrading its algorithmic matrix and technological capabilities to ensure the best possible shooting experience in various scenarios.
Building a prosperous image ecosystem with joint innovation
vivo's long-term partnership with optical pioneer ZEISS has led to breakthrough innovations for X series, from generation to generation proving ZEISS technologies and iconic optical designs were adapted for vivo's flagships. ZEISS T* coating for superior optical quality and iconic ZEISS Style Portrait to name just a few.
At the event, vivo and ZEISS jointly announced a periscope lens design with the new "Vario-Apo-Sonnar" standards. APO design is considered to have the level of the industry's top-quality control of chromatic aberration. For the very first time, the APO design will be adapted to a mobile imaging system enhancing a high performance zoom quality.
Further leveraging the floating lens group technology in the periscope lens, aiming to provide ultra-high resolution and enhanced focusing capability, to enable users to achieve excellent macro shooting outcomes. At the same time, it also has a creamy bokeh effect that allows the subject to be further emphasized.
The T* Coating is ZEISS's signature technology for anti-reflective coating on optical surface. The co-engineered rear camera system in the vivo's X series has achieved compliance with ZEISS T* Coating and reduced significantly unwanted lens flares in images under challenging lighting conditions such as nighttime, strong backlighting, and complex light sources.
For vivo's upcoming X series flagship model, ZEISS T* Coating will be equipped with Multi-ALD technology to enhance further the image clarity, by reducing center reflectivity from 0.2% to 0.1% on the visible light spectrum. Compared with the previous generation of ALC coating, the reflectivity will be reduced by 50%.
In addition to product innovation and joint development, being user-oriented is in vivo's and ZEISS' joint belief. vivo is committed to further diversifying the cooperation with ZEISS, including co-organizing the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards.
Sebastian Döntgen, Head of Category Management, Marketing and Sales, ZEISS Consumer Products said: "At ZEISS, we have photography in our DNA. To invite and enable even more users worldwide to enjoy creativity through cutting-edge smartphone image technology, it was a logical step for us to co-organize the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards with vivo. The impressive results that we were able to experience again this year are a great acknowledgment of our partnership on imaging aspects."
vivo has announced a deep collaboration with MediaTek for its X80 series. Additionally, vivo plans to team up with Sony for further collaboration on technologies such as 2-layer pixel (stack pixel) and HDR in the future. vivo will also actively expand joint innovation research by collaborating with more industry partners, and with educational institutes such as ETH Zurich and other universities, striving for technological breakthroughs and a more diversified and open mobile imaging ecosystem.
Creating professional portraits and the ultimate night scene experiences
vivo has formed a unique portrait style that blends clear texture, natural skin tones, and a balance of real and virtual effects across device iterations. In addition, the brand continues to research and develop 3D portrait technology with 3D facial reconstruction and virtual content.
To this end, vivo has relied on its imaging laboratory platform to establish a 3D image laboratory with a proprietary cinema-like optical field system, capable of reconstructing extremely delicate 3D models of human faces and producing highly realistic visual effects in virtual environments. Based on experience gained from past products and real-life business scenarios, the company's 3D models achieve precise facial expressions, body postures and gestures.
These technologies have been developed with three user scenarios in mind: generative portrait style, generative portrait editing, and various portrait special effects. Users will be able to take photos that perfectly balance real and virtual effects, edit photos powered by texture reconstruction and lighting estimation algorithms and freely change the lighting, hair and facial expressions.
vivo has introduced enhancements to its technical capabilities in image quality, tone, and color for landscape shooting. The upgraded Vast-Sky Night System was designed to improve image quality and supply the most advanced quality solution for night scenes at all focal lengths. The upgraded SuperRAW technology offers exclusive parameter adjustment capabilities, meeting any professional imaging requirements for all focal lengths.
Based on VOIE, vivo has also introduced a True Color Night model powered by AI learning to the Night Sky Imaging System. This enhancement enables adaptive tone and color adjustments for night scenes and for night scenes with high contrast, a comprehensive night HDR solution has been introduced to tackle viewing issues in preview, shooting and display modes. In addition, the new XDR Photo 2.0 adds a highlight color preservation mechanism for light sources with high dynamic range and saturation at night. This improves the overexposure for highlights without affecting the color performance of the light source and preserves the night scene.
In the future, vivo will work together with Adobe, Apple, and Google to improve HDR photo standardization and overcome the inconsistent display of HDR photos on different devices—making vivo the only Chinese company involved in the development of the IOS standards for HDR photos.
On top of vivo's original distinctive colors and ZEISS Natural Color, vivo's team has launched a series of rich and personalized colors, drawing inspiration from classic photography techniques, classic films, and masterworks.
2023 vivo VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards Winners
During this year's Special Event at the Imaging Conference, vivo also announced the winners of this year's VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards. The top award went to Jiehan Herry Saputro 's "Let Me Fly", which is crowned the Best Photograph of the Year. In addition, the competition included awards in six categories: Portrait, Photo Series, Night, Landscape, Motion, and News. Two special awards were also announced: the X90 Series Best Photograph Award and the ZEISS Professional Imaging Award.
Since its inaugural launch in 2020, the VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards program has received nearly one million submissions from over 40 countries and regions. This year, vivo received submissions from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and many other countries and regions.
Note: Please be aware that some of the features and technologies mentioned in this press release may currently only be available in the Chinese Mainland market. The availability of certain capabilities and functions may vary depending on your location.
About vivo
vivo is a technology company that creates great products based on a design-driven value, with smart devices and intelligent services as its core. The company aims to build a bridge between humans and the digital world. Through unique creativity, vivo provides users with an increasingly convenient mobile and digital life. Following the company's core values, which include Benfen*, user-orientation, design-driven value, continuous learning and team spirit, vivo has implemented a sustainable development strategy with the vision of developing into a healthier, more sustainable world-class corporation.
While bringing together and developing the best local talents to deliver excellence, vivo is supported by a network of R&D centers in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanjing, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Xi'an and more cities, focusing on the development of state-of-the-art consumer technologies, including 5G, artificial intelligence, industrial design, imaging system and other up-and-coming technologies. vivo has also set up an intelligent manufacturing network (including those authorized by vivo), with an annual production capacity of nearly 200 million smartphones. As of now, vivo has branched out its sales network across more than 60 countries and regions, and is loved by more than 500 million users worldwide.
*"Benfen" is a term describing the attitude on doing the right things and doing things right – which is the ideal description of vivo's mission to create value for society.
Stay informed of latest vivo news at https://www.vivo.com/en/about-vivo/news
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SOURCE vivo | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/30/vivo-unveils-major-optics-computing-algorithm-technologies-vivo-2023-imaging-conference/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:47 | 1 | https://www.wsaz.com/prnewswire/2023/07/30/vivo-unveils-major-optics-computing-algorithm-technologies-vivo-2023-imaging-conference/ |
Ukraine brought the war far from the front line into the heart of Russia again Sunday in drone penetrations that Russian authorities said damaged two office buildings a few miles from the Kremlin and a pig breeding complex on the countries' border.
The attacks, which Ukraine didn't acknowledge in keeping with its security policy, reflected a pattern of more frequent and deeper cross-border strikes the Kyiv government has launched since starting a counteroffensive against Russian forces in June. A precursor and the most dramatic of the strikes happenned in May on the Kremlin itself, the seat of power in the capital, Moscow.
Sunday's was the fourth such strike on the capital region this month and the third this week, showing Moscow's vulnerability as Russia's war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month.
The Russian Defense Ministry said three drones targeted the city in an "attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime." Air defenses shot down one drone in Odintsovo in the surrounding Moscow region, while two others were jammed and crashed into the Moscow City business district.
Photos and video showed that a drone had ripped off part of the facade of a modern skyscraper, IQ-Quarter, located 4.5 miles from the Kremlin. When the drone hit, sparks, flames and smoke spewed from the building, with debris falling on the sidewalk and street. Windows were blown out, and metal window frames were mangled. A security guard was injured, Russia's state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials. Russia's Ria-Novosti news agency reported the building's tenants included several government agencies.
Flights were temporarily suspended at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, and the airspace over Moscow and the outlying regions was temporarily closed.
President Vladimir Putin, who was in his hometown of St. Petersburg at the time of the attempted attacks for meetings with African leaders and a naval celebration, was briefed, his spokesman said.
Ukrainian officials didn't acknowledge the attacks but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address: "Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia — to its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process."
A Ukrainian air force spokesman also didn't claim responsibility but said the Russian people were seeing the consequences of Russia's war in Ukraine.
"All of the people who think the war 'doesn't concern them' — it's already touching them," spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told journalists Sunday.
"There's already a certain mood in Russia: that something is flying in, and loudly," he said. "There's no discussion of peace or calm in the Russian interior any more. They got what they wanted."
Ihnat also referenced an early Sunday drone attack on Crimea, Ukrainian territory which Russia occupied and illegally annexed in 2014. The Russian Defense Ministry announced it had shot down 16 Ukrainian drones and neutralized eight others through electronic jamming. No casualties were reported.
Zelenskyy has vowed to take back all land Russian forces have occupied, including Crimea, and his efforts have been strengthened by the receipt and deployment of increasingly advanced Western weapons.
In the earlier attacks on Moscow, Russia's Defense Ministry reported shooting down a Ukrainian drone outside the city on Friday. Four days earlier, two drones struck the Russian capital, one of them falling in the center of the city near the Defense Ministry's headquarters along the Moscow River about 2 miles from the Kremlin. The other drone hit an office building in southern Moscow, gutting several upper floors.
In another attack on July 4, the Russian military said air defenses downed four drones on Moscow's outskirts and jammed a fifth that was forced down.
Russia has also blamed Ukrainian forces for attacking border areas, and on Sunday, the governor of one such region, Bryansk, said a Ukrainian strike damaged a pig breeding complex and injured three people.
In Ukraine, the air force reported Sunday it had destroyed four Russian drones above the Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Information on the attacks could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike late Saturday killed two people and wounded 20 in the city of Sumy in northeast Ukraine. A four-story vocational college building was hit, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said. Local authorities said that dormitories and teaching buildings were damaged in the blast and a fire that followed. | https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/jul/30/ukraine-again-reported-bringing-war-deep-into-russia-with-attacks-on-moscow-and-border-region/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:49 | 1 | https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/jul/30/ukraine-again-reported-bringing-war-deep-into-russia-with-attacks-on-moscow-and-border-region/ |
Updated July 30, 2023 at 1:02 PM ET
KHAR, Pakistan — A powerful bomb ripped through a political rally by supporters of a hard-line cleric and political leader on Sunday in the country's northwestern Bajur district, police and health officials said. At least 40 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded, including children, in one of the worst attacks in recent years.
Senior police officer Nazir Khan said the workers' convention of Maulana Fazlur Rehman's Jamiat Ulema Islam party was taking place on the outskirts of Khar, the capital of Bajur district, when the explosion took place. AP video showed wounded people being carried from the scene in the chaotic aftermath of the explosion.
Bajur used to be a haven for Islamic militants. It is the former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, a militant group that is a close ally of the Taliban government of Afghanistan. The TTP was in recent years evicted from the area as a result of operations by the Pakistani military.
In a statement sent to The Associated Press, the TTP condemned the bombing, saying it was aimed at pitching Islamists against each other. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, also condemned the bombing. "Such crimes cannot be justified in any way," he said in a message on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Though a separate group, the TTP remains a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021. The takeover emboldened the TTP. They unilaterally ended a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government last November and have since stepped up attacks across the country.
One of the victims, Adam Khan, 45, was hit by splinters in his leg and both hands. He said it was around 4 p.m. when the explosion knocked him to the ground.
"There was dust and smoke around and I was under some injured people from where I could hardly stand up, only to see chaos and some scattered limbs," he said.
Initially, police said 10 people were killed but later more bodies arrived at a local hospital, bringing the death toll to 40. Feroz Jamal, the provincial information minister, told The Associated Press that so far 40 people had been "martyred" and nearly 200 wounded in the bombing.
The JUI workers' convention was arranged in a hall close to a market, but later tents were added because of the large number of supporters who turned out. The venue was being guarded by party volunteers with batons. An announcement was being made for the arrival of Abdul Rasheed, a senior leader of the party, when the bomb exploded.
The bombing was one of the four worst attacks in the northwest since 2014, when 147 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. In January, 74 people were killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. More than 100 people, mostly policemen, died in a bombing at the city's mosque at police headquarters in February this year.
District health officer Dr. Faisal Khan said 40 bodies from the blast were at Khar's main hospital. Some of the wounded were in critical condition and were being transferred to a facility in Peshawar and the adjoining district of Dir, including by army helicopters.
Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi condemned the attack and asked officials to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the bereaved families.
Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Rehman's party, was among the dead. JUI leaders Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin were also on the stage but escaped unhurt. Party officials said Rehman was not at the rally.
Rasheed, the regional chief of the party, said the attack was an attempt to remove JUI from the field before parliamentary elections in November, but he said such tactics would not work.
Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the upcoming elections.
"Many of our fellows lost their lives and many more wounded in this incident. I will ask the federal and provincial administrations to fully investigate this incident and provide due compensation and medical facilities to the affected ones," Rasheed said.
Mohammad Wali, another attendant at the rally, said he was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the huge explosion temporarily deafened him.
"I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the ground," he said. "We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying, wounded people and sobbing relatives taking the bodies of their loved ones."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.kbia.org/2023-07-30/a-bombing-at-a-political-rally-in-pakistan-has-killed-at-least-40-people | 2023-07-30T17:28:53 | 0 | https://www.kbia.org/2023-07-30/a-bombing-at-a-political-rally-in-pakistan-has-killed-at-least-40-people |
On July 3, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board launched a new version of its licensee online order portal, a digital system that bars and restaurants use to place orders for wine and spirits.
The rollout of the system known as LOOP — already over budget and delivered about six months late — was riddled with bugs and confusing prompts, creating a three-week nightmare for Pennsylvania’s hospitality industry and businesses trying to sell or buy alcohol.
“I’m guessing, but we’ll probably do a third of the business we normally do this month. Every dime matters and every bottle we sell matters, but they don’t seem to care much about that,” says John D’Andrea, co-owner of D’Andrea Wines, founded by his father, Joseph, in Penn Hills in 1982.
Those in the industry also are unhappy about new fees built into the system that they say they didn’t see coming and might be passed on to consumers.
While state officials defend improvements they say the new system will deliver, the disruption has many in the commercial wine and spirits world once again asking: Why does state government continue to be directly involved in wholesale alcohol sales at all?
Questions and fees
The PLCB shut down ordering for a week at the end of June to swap in the new system, forcing bar and restaurant owners to stock up early for the extended July 4 weekend.
Then, just when businesses thought they could resume buying cases of wine and spirits, the system’s limited functionality made it almost impossible to place orders, particularly for items in the special liquor order category.
Some vendors and importers had waited months to list their special order products with the state as a result of a moratorium on new additions leading up to the launch. When they tried to get back to adding special order products, they ran into trouble, too.
“Here’s how stupid it is. When you apply to add a new bottle, one of the questions is, ‘Were any salmon harmed in the making of this product?’ That’s not a joke. I’m dead serious,” says Deb Mortillaro, manager of Dreadnought Wines and co-owner of Palate Partners in Lawrenceville.
Dreadnought, opened by Bob Gonze and Shawn Beck in 1980 and owned by Mike Gonze since 1986, has a history of trying to expand the products available to Pennsylvania customers. It was among the trailblazers in prompting the PLCB to allow the distribution of wine not listed in the standard catalog.
“There are maybe 20 similar questions that you later find out you don’t have to answer. But you don’t know that at first because there’s an asterisk next to them. In most places, an asterisk means you do have to answer it,” Mortillaro says.
And even if restaurateurs and vendors could pick up a special liquor order, there was a surprise with the bill — an 80% hike in a fee called “logistics, transportation and merchandising factor.”
The botched system launch and the unexpected fee hike are seen by many as the latest slight to merchants and licensees operating in a state where a bottle of wine can, in some cases, cost up to 55% more than in neighboring states.
“The general consumer isn’t as aware of the issues a licensee deals with,” says Joe Mastro, president of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association. “However, they’re impacted by their purchase choices and purchase prices when things like this happen.”
A necessary fix
The update to the licensee online order portal is part of phase two of a four-phase, estimated $120 million effort by the PLCB to modernize its systems. Called Project New Horizon, it will, according to an explanatory YouTube video, “enable a business transformation from a traditional retail model to a wholesale/distribution, e-commerce and retail-focused business.”
“The legacy system was an out-of-date system we kept customizing to make work for our wholesale functions,” says Elizabeth Brassell, PLCB deputy assistant director.
“This moves the entire system to the cloud. It comes with out-of-the-box functionality that allows us to operate in different lines of business without shoving it all into a retail system held together with paper clips and duct tape, and there are seamless upgrades and enhancements available as we need them.”
Brassell says most of the phase two digital components — such as new modules for supply chain management that interact with distribution centers, a new front and back end to the Fine Wine & Good Spirits website and new order management tools — came online seamlessly.
LOOP didn’t.
“They’re never going to go without hiccups and challenges. But big picture, it was as successful as an implementation can be when replacing everything soup to nuts,” she says.
Three weeks later, things are starting to fall into place, but people who use the system have been less kind in assessing the procedure.
“To shut us down for three weeks during a summer holiday is wild. On top of that, there were whole systems that weren’t functioning when it finally did launch and that continued for several weeks,” says Alyssa McGrath, Western Pennsylvania sales representative for specialty importer and distributor Skurnik Wines & Spirits.
“I wasn’t surprised this rollout was bad. This is a state-run system that’s been wholly unresponsive to anything. It’s at best inept, at worst corrupt,” says Tomasz Skowronski, co-owner of Apteka in Bloomfield.
Skowronski and his partner, Kate Lasky, were 2023 James Beard Award co-finalists for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic, and their restaurant has an ambitious wine program and retail bottle shop.
They stocked their establishments with extra bottles in anticipation of the system launch. But few businesses have the space or the liquid capital to keep a month’s worth of wine and spirits in stock.
“[The PLCB is] in so much control of the very way we are able to receive the lifeline in which we sell to our customers. And you don’t even invest the money to make sure it’s a seamless, user-friendly new system? It’s an insult to injury,” says Sarah Shaffer, owner of tina’s in Bloomfield.
System upgrade?
“We spent more than a year testing various aspects of it,” counters Brassell.
She notes the PLCB pushed the launch date of phase two from January until July because testers felt the system wasn’t ready. The board added four rounds of system integration testing and 18 weeks of user acceptance testing.
Despite all that, vendors say they are finding the product unwieldy.
“This new system added numerous steps and hours of work to anyone who is trying to sell wine in Pennsylvania,” says Jason Malumed, a partner of MFW Wine Co.
His Philadelphia-based business imports and distributes wine to establishments in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania.
Among their complaints is that users now have to log into three platforms: The central system (where they can see accounting and other information), and two sales systems (one for special liquor retail orders placed, one for licensees).
There are more steps for creating shipping labels, and more steps for invoices — they used to be able to use an online form that would tell you the price automatically. Now users have to manually add every cost point and calculate it before they sell it to customers.
“The overwhelming question is what is the point of this? What were they trying to improve?” says Mortillaro.
The tutorial provided by the PLCB on how to enter a new product is 45 pages long.
On the subject of the salmon question and other such prompts, Brassell says, “We have customers that want to know that information. But it’s an optional field.”
The PLCB says much of the user-end slowdown is because people are learning a new system. Once the kinks are worked out, it’ll be better than the old one, Brassel says.
“These are completely new platforms and processes, so there’s going to be a learning curve at the outset,” she says.
The PLCB says it is taking feedback and making real-time adjustments.
Brassel announced at a July 20 PLCB meeting that there will be an extension of the hypercare period with its project contractor, Oracle. Set to expire 30 days from the July 3 launch, that extra attention now is expected to last through the end of December, at an additional cost of $4.1 million.
Many licensees and vendors seek accountability. Some politicians in Harrisburg are, too.
“Anyone in the private sector would have been fired for this disaster,” says Gene Mangrum, co-owner of Shilo Gastro on Mount Washington. “But with this system, I bet nobody will suffer any consequences except for us.”
State Sen. Mike Regan, R-Cumberland and York counties and the majority leader of the Senate Law and Justice Committee that oversees the PLCB, says he’s open to holding hearings.
“There’s been an overspend in the modernization of the system,” he says. “One of the major problems is the lack of communication between the PLCB and the licensee. There’s a lack of transparency.”
Nearly every vendor of wine interviewed for this story, including several who spoke on background, echoed a similar sentiment: The PLCB isn’t working in the best interest of the hospitality industry and its customers.
“They’ll never say, ‘We want to get rid of all the small distributors who bring in special products.’ But clearly this process of making the listing and ordering process so hard and having restaurants do cumbersome things on their end is aimed at doing just that,” says Mortillaro.
Systems of control
Seventeen states exercise some degree of control over the sale of alcohol, but only two maintain complete control over wholesale and retail sales and distribution of wine.
“A lot of states have weird alcohol laws. But it’s only us and Utah that have the state control wine for wholesale purposes,” says Skowronski. “It’s a relic created by Prohibition-principled people and it’s stayed that way for nearly 100 years now.”
The PLCB was founded Nov. 29, 1933, and took authority a few days after the ratification of the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition. It regulates the manufacturing, importation, sales and distribution of all alcohol in the commonwealth, with beer and other malt beverages less controlled than wine and spirits.
The PLCB is a boon to Pennsylvania’s coffers. In the past fiscal year, total sales, including taxes, topped $3 billion for the first time.
Of that, $786 million was returned to the state’s general fund: $421 million from an 18% liquor tax formerly known as the Johnstown Flood Tax, $167.7 million in state sales tax, and $185.1 million in mark-up fees. The PLCB contributed an additional $42.6 million to other agencies and grantees, including $30.7 million to State Police Liquor Control Enforcement and $63 million sent to the PLCB’s administration and the Office of Administrative Law Judge.
It’s also a monopoly.
Every bottle of wine or spirits sold in the state has, at some point, passed through the hands of the PLCB, regardless of whether it goes through state warehouses or stores.
Pennsylvania is one of the largest buyers of wine and spirits in the United States. In fiscal year 2021-22, it spent $1,653.5 billion, including federal tax, on alcohol. Allegheny County is the top purchasing county in the state, representing 14.26% of overall sales.
There are some advantages to a system this massive. In some circumstances, particularly with mass-market wine and spirits sold at more than 600 Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores, Pennsylvania consumers can get a good deal.
“There are some bottles in Pennsylvania that are priced really well because the PLCB is such a big buyer they can negotiate a good price,” says Mortillaro of Dreadnought.
Pricey wine
Even so, many wines are significantly more expensive here. That higher cost is passed on to consumers in higher menu prices and fewer choices.
“It’s not expensive for any reason other than they are squeezing so much money out of the product. And that means we have to pay for it and the customer has to pay for it in the end,” Skowronski says.
Here’s how it breaks down: If suppliers want to sell a bottle of wine for $6.32, they have to add a 10% mark-up fee for the state, bringing the total to $6.95. The 18% liquor tax adds another $1.25.
There’s also a $3 per bottle freight charge. Vendors used to be able to offer freight discounts to customers who purchased in bulk, but the new system doesn’t easily allow for entering quantity markdowns.
The higher logistics, transportation and merchandising factor fee, which is subject to tax, adds another $2.91. With sales tax, the bottle that started at $6.32 now costs $14.88.
Malumed says a customer in New York or New Jersey would pay $9.32 for the same bottle from his company.
And that’s all before the final mark-up from the proprietor to the retail customer, from which the state also takes a 6% sales tax plus an additional 1% in Allegheny County.
“If we were able to deal directly with customers, it would cost everyone a lot less money. We bring you something to sell, you buy it and that’s it. But this system adds so much complexity and they just keep making it worse,” says McGrath.
Special order solution
Although special orders are a small percentage of the PLCB’s overall sales, they’re essential to the hospitality industry as well as to boutique wine stores that are run as offshoots of liquor license holders.
“This is the wine the top restaurants enjoy buying because they’re not in the stores. They’re not widely available,” says Malumed.
In fiscal year 2018-19, special liquor order sales totaled $112.8 million. After dropping during the pandemic, that jumped to $116.2 million when the hospitality industry began to rebound in 2021-22.
Apteka specializes in hard-to-find products from small producers in Eastern Europe. Adding a new wine, even from the same grower, can take months to get coded.
“You’re talking half a year for a wine that’s already in other states to be sold at a much higher price than anyone else, and now they’re adding another cost,” says Skowronski.
Mangrum noticed the new mark-up when he got his first bill from a vendor earlier this month. “The first order that comes in, everything is a lot more than I thought I was paying for it.”
Restaurants and bars are low-margin businesses and any hike can be a hit.
“You based your prices on what you thought they were going to cost,” Mangrum says.
Surprise fee increase
It’s an oversight the PLBC acknowledges.
“I will give you this. It fell off the radar about communicating the specific change to licensees and suppliers. It’s an opportunity that we missed and we apologize for that. We did not do what we could have and should have done to communicate at go-live,” Brassel says.
An extra $1.29 per bottle might not sound like much, but when a business is dealing with thousands of bottles per year, that lost revenue adds up.
The PLCB says the hike in the logistics, transportation and merchandising factor fee reflects the actual cost of receiving special order products in its warehouses, storing and transporting them to stores.
Brassel says it was the first increase since 2015.
The 2015 rise was approved by the PLCB board of directors and only on new items registered after a specific date. “It was well defined. They sent out notice ahead of time,” says Malumed.
This time the fee increase is across the board and came without public comment.
The PLCB says its executive director, Michael G. Demko, has such authority following a 2016 directive that allows “the executive director or his assignees, subject to certain conditions, to approve any decisions regarding the cost at which to acquire such products from suppliers and the prices at which and the manner in which such products will be sold by the PLCB.”
“Given that pricing authority was delegated by the board to the executive director in a public meeting, the change to the LTMF did not require board approval, although the board is aware and supportive of the change,” PLCB press secretary Shawn M. Kelly wrote in an email to the Post-Gazette. “The board agreed in October 2022 that the new rate would be effective at the start of the next phase of the … project.”
It appears the fee now can be raised at any time without notice. In the new special liquor order language, a clause reads: “The PLCB will review the LTMF rate regularly and update when necessary, so that the fee fairly reflects the PLCB’s costs of handling SOs.”
Direct attack
One way restaurant and bar owners can circumvent the additional logistics, transportation and merchandising factor hike is to use direct delivery of purchases from vendors.
“As soon as we were allowed to deliver, I bought more trucks and hired more people. The majority of our orders go direct delivery to restaurants or grocery stores,” says D’Andrea.
Direct delivery was part of Act 39, the most significant reform of PLCB oversight ever. The 2016 bipartisan legislation had a lot packed in.
It’s why wine is now sold in grocery and convenience stores. Restaurant owners were authorized to sell bottles of wine for takeaway without having to open them first. It allowed for expanded Sunday sales at Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores.
It reduced the mark-up on special liquor orders to 10% from 30% (but also disallowed the 10% discount licensees received on listed products, meaning wholesale customers pay the same prices as retail customers).
Kelly says that in working through the Act 39 changes, the PLCB decided it could wait until it next upgraded its systems to open the doors to direct delivery, relying on language in the law that said it “may” allow for direct delivery rather than “shall” allow for it.
“We’d heard there wasn’t a lot of appetite for direct delivery. So when we implemented the changes, it was lower on the priority scale,” he says.
That wasn’t how the hospitality industry saw it, a concern heightened during the greatest challenge to the industry in modern history. “It was so disheartening when they didn’t implement direct delivery during COVID,” says McGrath.
Since the state’s stores were closed, vendors looked to Act 39 to get products to their customers. The PLCB fought them. Some, including MFW Wine Co., sued.
“We had orders. We wanted to deliver them directly to restaurants,” says Malumed. “We sued them and we won.”
An emergency order said the PLCB couldn’t add handling fees for directly delivered products. The PLCB appealed, and the lawsuit went to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Direct delivery was finally allowed in June 2022.
On top of that, the businesses were awarded damages and attorney fees, although the PLCB fought that by claiming sovereign immunity. This lawsuit is on appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Call for change
“A year or two ago I could defend this system. I really could. But I can’t say that today. It’s a big shift for me,” says Mortillaro.
In the case of direct delivery, hospitality professionals want to know why the state continues to take a cut of a sale that it’s not facilitating. Why stifle the creativity of importers, sommeliers and bartenders who might find an exciting product and don’t want to pay extra fees and wait months for permission?
“I’m not talking to the PLCB. I’m not getting my wine delivered to a state store. All I’m doing is using their awful online ordering system, which is buggy, when there’s a waiting period, when you’re not even sure they will carry what you want,” Skowronski said.
The solution, some say, is to liberalize control over wholesale sales and allow for direct relationships between vendors and licensees.
“Let us invoice the customers directly. Cut out the 10% mark-up, cut out the LTMF fee. I’m not even advocating for getting rid of the 18% liquor tax because it goes directly to the general fund,” says Malumed.
Change might not be coming any time soon.
“I’m a ‘privatize it’ guy. I believe that’s the best way. Why are we only one of two states that do it this way? They’re driving prices up every step of the way,” says Sen. Regan. “However, they’re an entity on their own. We don’t have the votes to make sweeping changes. If anything, it’s going to be incremental.”
For now, Shaffer of tina’s in Bloomfield says, “It continues to make it more and more difficult for the people of Pennsylvania to have access to global spirits and wine. What a bummer.”
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/pa-liquor-control-boards-grip-on-liquor-sales-faces-a-new-round-of-resistance/ | 2023-07-30T17:28:53 | 1 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/pa-liquor-control-boards-grip-on-liquor-sales-faces-a-new-round-of-resistance/ |
A wildfire in Okanogan County has spread north, prompting evacuations on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.
The Eagle Bluff Fire, which started Saturday southwest of Oroville, has burned timber and brush across an estimated 8,000 acres in Okanogan County, according to the county’s emergency management department and the state Department of Natural Resources.
“The Fire has calmed down but is still VERY Active,” Okanogan County posted in an update at 10:47 p.m. Saturday, warning people to stay aware of their surroundings.
A level 3 immediate evacuation notice has been issued for people living on both sides of Highway 97, from Shirley Road to Oroville. An immediate evacuation notice was also ordered on the Loomis-Oroville Road from River Street to Enloe Dam Road.
A Red Cross shelter has been set up at Oroville High School to aid displaced people.
The fire spread north and crossed into British Columbia, where an evacuation order was issued for 732 properties in and around the town of Osoyoos, according the CBC.
Washington’s largest ongoing wildfire remains in Klickitat County, where the Newell Road fire has burned more than 60,000 acres east of Goldendale, threatening nearly 200 homes, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.
The fire started July 21 near Newell and Dot roads south of Bickleton, threatening farms, homes and a natural gas pipeline and prompting evacuations in the area last week.
The fire was reported 100% contained as of Saturday. | https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/eagle-bluff-fire-prompts-evacuations-in-okanogan-county-and-british-columbia/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all | 2023-07-30T17:28:53 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/eagle-bluff-fire-prompts-evacuations-in-okanogan-county-and-british-columbia/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
A New Hampshire nurse and her child were kidnapped in Haiti late last week, according to the humanitarian organization El Roi Haiti.
Alix Dorsainvil works as a community health nurse for El Roi Haiti and is also married to the group's founder and director, Sandro Dorsainvil, who grew up in Port-au-Prince.
In a statement posted to its website on Saturday, El Roi Haiti said Alix and the couple's child were taken Thursday morning from the organization's campus near Port-au-Prince.
"Alix is a deeply compassionate and loving person who considers Haiti her home and the Haitian people her friends and family," the group said. "Alix has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering as she loves and serves the people of Haiti in the name of Jesus."
El Roi Haiti is a Christian organization that operates a K-12 school for Haitian children and offers a variety of other programs, including adult education, vocational instruction and discipleship training.
Alix Dorsainvil is originally from New Hampshire, but had been living in Haiti and operating a children's clinic for El Roi Haiti, according to a promotional video on the organization's website.
"Haitians are such a resilient people. They're full of joy and life and love," she said in the video. "I'm so blessed to be able to know so many amazing Haitians."
El Roi Haiti said it was working with its "partners and trusted relationships" to get Alix and her child returned safely, and said it was "grateful for the outpouring of prayers, care, and support for our colleague."
A State Department spokesperson told NPR that the administration is aware of reports that two U.S. citizens had been kidnapped in Haiti.
"The U.S. Department of State and our embassies and consulates abroad have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas," the spokesperson said.
The State Department is in regular contact with Haitian authorities, the spokesperson added, and is continuing to work with them and other U.S. government interagency partners.
Unrest in Haiti has worsened lately, with gangs controlling much of the country including the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The National Human Rights Defense Network said earlier this month that deadly violence and kidnappings have been surging in Haiti, with at least 75 people killed and 40 abducted between May and mid-July, the Associated Press reported.
In 2021, following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, kidnappers abducted a group of 17 missionaries on their way back from helping to build an orphanage. Five of the missionaries were later released, while 12 would eventually escape their captors.
On July 14, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution asking the secretary-general to provide some possible options to "enhance the security situation" in Haiti, including a possible U.N. peacekeeping force.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.kbia.org/2023-07-30/a-new-hampshire-nurse-and-her-child-have-been-kidnapped-in-haiti | 2023-07-30T17:28:59 | 1 | https://www.kbia.org/2023-07-30/a-new-hampshire-nurse-and-her-child-have-been-kidnapped-in-haiti |
PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies are expected to be active by Tuesday’s trade deadline. They don’t have a ton of needs. The most glaring is they aren’t slugging the way they were built to. But there could be a solution for that. With Bryce Harper playing first base, Kyle Schwarber can move out of left field and into the DH spot, opening up a spot for an outfielder who hits right-handed.
With the trade deadline approaching, what better time to review the top 10 Phillies trades of all time? Let’s take a look.
10. J.T. Realmuto for Will Stewart, Jorge Alfaro, Sixto Sánchez and international bonus slot money
This one is unconventional — because it still is a work in progress — but Realmuto has been so valuable to the Phillies that I felt it was worth including on this list. The Marlins traded Realmuto to the Phillies in February 2019. Since then, he has defied age, hitting 22 home runs and stealing 21 bases for the Phillies at age 31 last season.
He’s been one of the best — if not the best — catchers in baseball over his time in Philadelphia. Realmuto caught 1,131 2/3 innings last season and threw out 30 runners trying to steal. He’s hit .267/.333/.470 with a 115 OPS+ over his five seasons with the Phillies.
Sánchez’s career has been derailed by injuries. He’s pitched in only seven games for the Marlins, all in the shorted 2020 season. Jacksonville, the Marlins’ Triple-A affiliate, placed him on the seven-day injured list in March. He has yet to pitch in a game this season.
9. Matt Stairs for Fabio Castro
Like the Realmuto trade, this one might be unconventional, but Stairs took one of the most important swings in franchise history, so I’m going to include him. Stairs was traded to the Phillies for a player to be named later (Castro) in August 2008. A few months later, in Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS, Stairs hit a towering two-run, pinch-hit home run to break a 5-5 tie en route to a 7-5 win over the Dodgers. It was a signature moment of their 2008 championship run.
Stairs’ production dropped off after that. He slashed only .194/.357/.379 in 99 games with the Phillies in 2009. But that NLCS moment will be remembered forever. Castro, a left-handed pitcher, didn’t pitch a single inning for the Blue Jays. He spent his 2009 season split between Triple-A and Double-A.
8. Bobby Abreu for Kevin Stocker
The Rays traded a 23-year-old Abreu to the Phillies in November 1997 for shortstop (and now Phillies broadcaster) Kevin Stocker. Stocker played in only parts of three seasons with the Rays before he was released in 2000. Abreu played in Philadelphia for nine seasons, posting a .303/.416/.513 slash line with a .928 OPS and 195 home runs.
7. Lenny Dykstra, Roger McDowell and Tom Edens for Juan Samuel
Dykstra and McDowell were two beloved members of the Mets’ 1986 World Series team, and the former played a similar role with the Phillies after this intradivision trade in June 1989. The center fielder posted one of his best seasons in 1993, hitting .305/.420/.482 with 194 hits, and helped lead the Phillies to their 1993 postseason run. It didn’t end up the way they wanted it to — losing to the Blue Jays in the World Series — but not to any fault of Dykstra, who hit .348/.500/.913 with a 1.413 OPS in six World Series games.
He hit .289/.388/.422 over eight seasons with the Phillies. Samuel played 86 games for the Mets in 1989, slashing .228/.299/.300 with only three home runs. He was granted free agency that offseason and signed with the Dodgers.
6. Brad Lidge and Eric Bruntlett for Michael Bourn, Mike Costanzo and Geoff Geary
Lidge became one of the best closers in franchise history. His tenure with the Phillies wasn’t perfect. He battled injuries in his final three seasons in Philadelphia, but he was at his best when it mattered most — in 2008.
Lidge posted a 1.95 ERA over 69 1/3 innings that season. He recorded 41 saves and allowed only one earned run in nine postseason outings. He also recorded the final out of the 2008 World Series, creating an iconic franchise moment shortly after.
5. Curt Schilling for Jason Grimsley
Schilling was traded by the Astros for Grimsley in April 1992. Schilling, who re-signed with the Phillies in 1995, played parts of nine seasons in Philadelphia. He was traded to the Diamondbacks at the deadline in 2000.
Schilling posted a 3.35 ERA in 1,659 1/3 innings with a record of 101-78 with the Phillies. He was named NLCS MVP in 1993 after posting a 1.69 ERA in two starts. Grimsley didn’t pitch in a big league game for the Astros. He spent that season with triple-A Tucson, posting a 5.05 ERA in 26 games. The Astros released him in March 1993. He played for seven teams over a 15-year career.
4. The first Cliff Lee trade
In July 2009, Cleveland sent Lee and catcher Ben Francisco to the Phillies at the trade deadline in exchange for pitchers Jason Knapp and Carlos Carrasco, infielder Jason Donald, and catcher Lou Marson. Knapp didn’t make it out of the minors. Donald played in parts of only three big league seasons for Cleveland. Marson slugged .295 in parts of five seasons with the team. Carrasco settled into a nice career that is still going, but he has struggled this season with the Mets.
In all, not much of a price to pay for a pitcher who helped lead his team to an NL championship in 2009. Lee posted a 2.95 ERA over his final five seasons in the big leagues. He was traded to the Mariners in December 2009 but re-signed with the Phillies when he became a free agent after the 2010 season.
3. Jim Bunning and Gus Triandos for Don Demeter and Jack Hamilton
All you need to know is that Jim Bunning was an ace when the Tigers traded him to the Phillies in December 1963, and — to no one’s surprise — he continued to pitch like one. Demeter and Hamilton were not on his level. Bunning pitched a perfect game in his first season with the Phillies, on Father’s Day in 1964, and posted a 2.48 ERA in his four seasons with the team. He went to two All-Star Games over that span and finished second in Cy Young voting in 1967. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1996.
2. Roy Halladay for Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor
On Dec. 16, 2009, the Phillies changed the course of their franchise, acquiring Halladay from the Blue Jays in exchange for catcher Travis d’Arnaud, pitcher Kyle Drabek and outfielder Michael Taylor. It was a negligible cost for what the Phillies got in Halladay. He won the Cy Young Award in his first season with the Phillies in 2010, going 21-10 over 250 2/3 innings with a 2.44 ERA, and threw a perfect game in May of that season. He placed second in Cy Young voting in 2011.
He had a 2.37 ERA in three postseason series with the Phillies from 2010-11, including a no-hitter in his first postseason appearance, in Game 1 of the 2010 National League Division Series. He was elected to the Hall of Fame, posthumously, in 2019.
1. Steve Carlton for Rick Wise
This trade was not viewed as a steal at the time, but in retrospect, it certainly was. In February 1972, the St. Louis Cardinals sent Carlton to the Phillies in exchange for Wise. Carlton went on to have one of the best seasons in MLB history. He won 27 of his 41 starts and pitched 30 complete games with 310 strikeouts in 346 1/3 innings. He posted a 1.97 ERA that season, en route to his first Cy Young Award.
Carlton went on to win three more Cy Youngs during his time with the Phillies. He won 252 games from 1972-88, the last season of his career. Wise won 113 games from 1972-82. Carlton ended up with a plaque in Cooperstown. He pitched in two World Series for the Phillies — 1980 and 1983 — and pitched seven innings of one-run ball in Game 6 of the 1980 World Series, helping to clinch the Phillies’ first world title.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/top-10-phillies-trades-of-all-time/ | 2023-07-30T17:29:01 | 1 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/top-10-phillies-trades-of-all-time/ |
Pat Monahan of Train doesn’t need to write new songs and make new albums. He’s had more than enough hits over a career that now spans nearly 30 years to be able to tour for as long he wants.
But here he is back on tour fronting Train this summer, which plays at the Wind Creek Steel State at PNC Plaza on Sunday, Aug. 13, the last day of Musikfest. He’s promoting a new single, “I Know,” and “AM Gold,” the album the band released last year. Far from coasting on a catalog that includes more than 20 adult pop hits, Monahan’s still as driven as ever to stay in the current pop music conversation.
“You know, there was a famous conversation between Billy Joel and Elton John where Elton John was like ‘How come you aren’t making new albums?’ And he (Joel) says, ‘How come you haven’t stopped?’” Monahan recalled in a phone interview. “But Elton has this desire to continue to be relevant. And I have that same desire. I don’t have the artillery that both Elton John and Billy Joel have. I’m still trying to get that (kind of) set list…(But) I feel more like Elton John than Billy Joel.
“It’s not about record sales,” he concluded. “It’s simply the desire to stay relevant.”
Over the years, Monahan and Train have certainly had times when they were highly relevant, but also some periods of drought when radio didn’t respond to the singles and albums didn’t connect on a major level.
Things started off strong for Monahan and his original bandmates in Train. Their 1998 self-titled debut gave the band a top 20 single in “Meet Virginia” and the album went platinum.
But the big breakthrough came with “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me),” the title track from Train’s 2001 second album. It reached the top five at top 40 and topped “Billboard” magazine’s Adult Pop singles chart. Along with a pair of more modest hits, “Something More” and “She’s On Fire,” they sent the album to triple platinum and made Train a major pop act.
The momentum continued with the third album, “My Private Nation,” which generated another top 20 hit with “Calling All Angels.”
But as Train established itself as a hit-making act, tensions within the band had been growing. Before making the fourth album, “For Me, It’s You,” the group split with bassist Charlie Colin and guitarist Rob Hotchkiss, leaving Monahan, drummer Scott Underwood and guitarist Jimmy Stafford as the core band members. “For Me, It’s You” failed to register at radio and Train then went on hiatus while Monahan made his 2007 solo album, “Last Of Seven.”
That’s when Monahan knew some major things had to change. It had been eight years since “Drops of Jupiter,” and the singer was worried his time had come and gone.
“Well, my career was coming to a close,” he said. “I had gone through a divorce. I was bankrupt musically, I was bankrupt financially, it was a really difficult time.”
That’s when Jonathan Daniel from Crush Management entered the picture. Monahan liked what Daniel had to say and how he viewed the path forward for the singer and Train. Monahan sent Daniel some 70 new songs he had written, and one song that stood out was “Hey, Soul Sister.”
The song became the lead single from the 2009 album, “Save Me, San Francisco,” and it blew up at multiple formats, easily becoming the biggest hit yet for Train. Two more hit singles — “If It’s Love” and “Marry Me” — followed from the “Save Me, San Francisco” album. Then the next Train album, “California 37,” spawned another major hit single in “Drive By.”
Over the next several years, more changes were made, the most significant of which was forming an entirely new lineup of Train. By 2016, Stafford and Underwood were gone and over the next three years, a more musically flexible and personally harmonious lineup came together, with drummer Matt Musty joining in 2019 and guitarist Taylor Locke stepping in in 2021 to join keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Becker, bassist Hector Maldonado and backing singers Sakai Smith and Nikita Houston.
“It’s a really good, we’re already really close friends, which is different from the way Train started,” Monahan said. “Train, the five of us when we started were really not close friends. We were business partners and now I’m surrounded by people I love and it’s really, really fulfilling.”
In fact, Train worked more like a band than ever on “AM Gold.” On the band’s previous two albums, “Bulletproof Picasso” and “A Girl, a Bottle a Boat,” Monahan had collaborated with outside writers to generate songs he hoped would have commercial potential.
He started down a similar path with “AM Gold.”
“(On) ‘A Girl, a Bottle, a Boat.’ I worked mostly with a guy called Will Larson. I loved what Will did and I love that record and I love those songs. But it’s much more pop,” Monahan said. “And when I started to write this record, it was before any pandemic shutdown and I was writing with a lot of professional songwriters. Those songs were poppy as well, and I loved them.”
But when the pandemic hit, those collaborations stopped, and Monahan shifted gears, eventually ditching the early batch of songs.
“I started to work with my bandmates, Jerry Becker and Matt Musty, and then it was very quick into it that I realized when I work with professional songwriters, I tend to lean toward the way they write,” Monahan said. “And I think that’s the opposite of what Train fans are looking for, and my band is the opposite. They know my strengths more than anybody, so they write songs to help me be a better me. When we were writing these songs, it was very apparent that they’re so conscious of what I’m good at (namely vocal melodies and lyrics) that we ended up writing these songs that sound a little bit more like older Train in a fresher way.”
The songs on “AM Gold” have retro elements. The strings and bouncy rhythms of the title track recall ‘70s soul (think the Spinners or the O’Jays), while “Bettin’ On Me” and “Running Back (Trying To Talk To You)” at their core are classic sounding soul ballads with pop overtones. The piano-rooted and lyrically stinging ballad “Fake Flowers” and the perky “Amber Light” could have fit on Train’s first couple of albums. That said, the songs come dressed with various programmed rhythms and synthetic sonics that bring them into today’s pop world. And the Latin-meets-classic-pop of the first single, “Cleopatra” (with guest vocals from Sofia Reyes), seems designed to capitalize on the growing popularity of that genre.
Monahan said there are roughly 12 to 16 songs that generally make up the core of the Train live set, and he doesn’t want to overstock the show with additional songs.
“I think after 90 minutes, you will have just heard of other music, and your ears get to the point where you’re like ‘OK, I’m good,’” he said. “So we have to make it exciting and different and that’s what our plan is.”
Alan Sculley is a freelance writer. | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/train-feature-musikfest/ | 2023-07-30T17:29:07 | 1 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/train-feature-musikfest/ |
PORT au PRINCE, Haiti -- A woman from New Hampshire who works for a nonprofit organization in Haiti and her young daughter have been reported as kidnapped as the U.S. State Department issued a "do not travel advisory" in the country and ordered nonemergency personnel to leave there amid growing security concerns.
Alix Dorsainvil, a nurse for El Roi Haiti, and her daughter were kidnapped on Thursday, the organization said in a statement Saturday. El Roi, which runs a school and ministry in Port au Prince, said the two were taken from campus. Dorsainvil is the wife of the program's director, Sandro Dorsainvil.
"Alix is a deeply compassionate and loving person who considers Haiti her home and the Haitian people her friends and family," El Roi president and co-founder Jason Brown said in the statement. "Alix has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering as she loves and serves the people of Haiti in the name of Jesus."
A State Department spokesperson said in a statement Saturday it is "aware of reports of the kidnapping of two U.S. citizens in Haiti," adding, "We are in regular contact with Haitian authorities and will continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners."
In its advisory Thursday, the department said that "kidnapping is widespread, and victims regularly include U.S. citizens."
It said kidnappings often involve ransom negotiations and U.S. citizen victims have been physically harmed.
Earlier this month, the National Human Rights Defense Network issued a report warning about an upsurge in killings and kidnappings and the U.N. Security Council met to discuss Haiti's worsening situation.
WMUR-TV reported that Dorsainvil is from Middleton, New Hampshire, and went to Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, which has a program to support nursing education in Haiti.
"It doesn't surprise me that Alex chose to get involved in this type of service work," Regis College president Toni Hays told the station. "She was amazing. She was passionate, she was compassionate." | https://6abc.com/news-haiti-kidnapped-in-el-roi-kidnapping/13573232/ | 2023-07-30T17:29:08 | 1 | https://6abc.com/news-haiti-kidnapped-in-el-roi-kidnapping/13573232/ |
In July 2022, the United States government enacted the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America and Science Act and appropriated $39 billion for the CHIPS for America Fund.
The fund provides financial incentives for building, expanding and equipping domestic semiconductor manufacturing facilities as well as supporting the supply chain for manufacturing equipment, materials and services. The fund also provides $11 billion for joint government and commercial R&D in semiconductor technology.
This technology is vitally important because semiconductor devices and the microelectronics they enable are uniquely important to nearly all modern industrial and national security activities. Communications, advanced weapons, modern manufactured products and key emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and quantum computing, all depend on microelectronics. Therefore, our national economic health, military readiness and a large part of future technological progress depend of the availability and application of semiconductors.
In spite of the vital importance of semiconductors, the U.S. share of global semiconductor fabrication capacity fell from about 36% in 1990 to about 10% in 2020. By 2020, the U.S. share of the most advanced semiconductor devices had fallen to essentially zero, making the United States totally dependent on the international semiconductor market for these critical components.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. produces approximately 60% of the world’s semiconductor devices. But about 93% of the world’s most advanced semiconductor devices are made by TSMC. The remainder of the world’s most advanced semiconductor devices are made in South Korea. Either political or military initiatives in East Asia could make the supply of these devices vulnerable.
The history of the transistor began in 1947 with its invention at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. The inventors, John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley, shared a patent for their invention in 1950 and the Nobel Prize in physics in 1956. The world’s first commercial transistor manufacture began at the Western Electric factory on Union Boulevard in Allentown in 1951.
Roughly 10 years after that pioneering work, Martin Atalla and Dawon Kahng, also at Bell Labs, invented the metal oxide semiconductor transistor. The simplicity, versatility and ease of fabrication of the MOS transistor made it the superior choice for high-level manufacture. Virtually all of today’s modern semiconductor manufacture uses MOS transistors.
In 1958 Jack Kilby, a Texas Instruments engineer, invented a complete electronic circuit consisting of transistors and other electrical components on a single piece of germanium. Interconnection of the components was provided externally. For his integrated circuit, Kilby received the Nobel Prize in physics for 2000. Roughly six months after Kilby’s announcement, Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor proposed a more practical configuration. Noyce proposed using silicon rather than germanium and incorporated internal copper lines for electrical connections. Later versions replaced the copper lines with photo defined aluminum. Modern integrated circuits are based on Noyce’s concept.
In the years following, commercial development of semiconductors featured bold entrepreneurs and individual initiative. But there was more. In the early years, a sort of stealth U.S. government industrial policy stimulated the growth and direction of the domestic industry.
The U.S. Department of Defense’s purchases in the domestic semiconductor market in the 1950s and ’60s provided steady demand and profits to U.S. manufacturers that helped underwrite the related R&D. Government also supported AT&T’s de facto telephone monopoly. And AT&T’s monopoly profits financed Bell Labs’ R&D labs to provide a steady stream of experienced engineers carrying readily licensed technology to industry. Today’s CHIPS for America Fund is a modern analog of that early government support.
Most voters and elected officials understand microelectronics poorly, if at all. Even fewer understand the science, technology and economics of semiconductor manufacture. Our collective ignorance doesn’t change the fact that the most modern microelectronics is and will be vital to our economy and national security. That implies the need for domestic microelectronics R&D, technology and manufacture.
So, our national self-interest is served by the success of the CHIPS for America Fund. As voters and informed citizens we need to insist that our elected representatives keep abreast of the actions and results that come from this initiative. We can’t allow ourselves and them to be distracted by the most recently discovered political drama.
Glen T. Cheney of Bethlehem is a retired manager of microelectronic research and development with Bell Laboratories in Allentown and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/your-view-the-u-s-government-is-supporting-a-key-piece-of-electronics-manufacturing-this-is-essential/ | 2023-07-30T17:29:13 | 0 | https://www.mcall.com/2023/07/30/your-view-the-u-s-government-is-supporting-a-key-piece-of-electronics-manufacturing-this-is-essential/ |
KHAR, Pakistan -- A powerful bomb ripped through a political rally by supporters of a hard-line cleric and political leader on Sunday in the country's northwestern Bajur district, police and health officials said. At least 40 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded, including children, in one of the worst attacks in recent years.
Senior police officer Nazir Khan said the workers' convention of Maulana Fazlur Rehman's Jamiat Ulema Islam party was taking place on the outskirts of Khar, the capital of Bajur district, when the explosion took place. AP video showed wounded people being carried from the scene in the chaotic aftermath of the explosion.
Bajur used to be a haven for Islamic militants. It is the former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, a militant group that is a close ally of the Taliban government of Afghanistan. The TTP was in recent years evicted from the area as a result of operations by the Pakistani military.
In a statement sent to The Associated Press, the TTP condemned the bombing, saying it was aimed at pitching Islamists against each other. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, also condemned the bombing. "Such crimes cannot be justified in any way," he said in a message on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Though a separate group, the TTP remains a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021. The takeover emboldened the TTP. They unilaterally ended a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government last November and have since stepped up attacks across the country.
One of the victims, Adam Khan, 45, was hit by splinters in his leg and both hands. He said it was around 4 p.m. when the explosion knocked him to the ground.
"There was dust and smoke around and I was under some injured people from where I could hardly stand up, only to see chaos and some scattered limbs," he said.
Initially, police said 10 people were killed but later more bodies arrived at a local hospital, bringing the death toll to 40. Feroz Jamal, the provincial information minister, told The Associated Press that so far 40 people had been "martyred" and nearly 200 wounded in the bombing.
SEE ALSO: 'Retrograde' National Geographic documentary captures the U.S. exodus from Afghanistan
The JUI workers' convention was arranged in a hall close to a market, but later tents were added because of the large number of supporters who turned out. The venue was being guarded by party volunteers with batons. An announcement was being made for the arrival of Abdul Rasheed, a senior leader of the party, when the bomb exploded.
The bombing was one of the four worst attacks in the northwest since 2014, when 147 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. In January, 74 people were killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. More than 100 people, mostly policemen, died in a bombing at the city's mosque at police headquarters in February this year.
District health officer Dr. Faisal Khan said 40 bodies from the blast were at Khar's main hospital. Some of the wounded were in critical condition and were being transferred to a facility in Peshawar and the adjoining district of Dir, including by army helicopters.
Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi condemned the attack and asked officials to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the bereaved families.
Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Rehman's party, was among the dead. JUI leaders Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin were also on the stage but escaped unhurt. Party officials said Rehman was not at the rally.
Rasheed, the regional chief of the party, said the attack was an attempt to remove JUI from the field before parliamentary elections in November, but he said such tactics would not work.
Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the upcoming elections.
"Many of our fellows lost their lives and many more wounded in this incident. I will ask the federal and provincial administrations to fully investigate this incident and provide due compensation and medical facilities to the affected ones," Rasheed said.
Mohammad Wali, another attendant at the rally, said he was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the huge explosion temporarily deafened him.
"I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the ground," he said. "We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying, wounded people and sobbing relatives taking the bodies of their loved ones."
Riaz Khan reported from Peshawar. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmad contributed from Islamabad. | https://6abc.com/pakistan-explosion-blast-bajur-today/13573472/ | 2023-07-30T17:29:15 | 0 | https://6abc.com/pakistan-explosion-blast-bajur-today/13573472/ |
WOODSTOWN, New Jersey (WPVI) -- A big storm hit the small town of Woodstown, New Jersey Saturday night.
Woodstown Police say no one was hurt, but two homes are uninhabitable. The storm left many residents in the small town with a big cleanup ahead of them.
An uprooted tree causes concern in the cemetery of Spencer UAME Church, which is over 200 years old.
"I wanted to see if any of the trees fell on their gravestones," said Lisa Braxton as she walked through the cemetery searching for family names.
Dozens of resting places were disturbed as winds uprooted trees in the cemetery of Spencer UAME Church.
Several of the graves underneath the branches were the graves of Black soldiers who fought in the Civil War.
"We're just devastated at the moment. This is an historical site," says Spencer UAME Pastor Andrew Fulton. "God had blessed us for over 205 years."
Across the street from the church, Dan Jackson assed the damage in his yard.
"It was really bad, really bad. All down the street that guy just got a new roof put on his house the tree came straight down on that," said Jackson.
His house is along Bailey Street where a number of homes had downed trees and limbs and toppled yard furniture.
Along South Main Street, ten power lines snapped in the storm.
"This is an extensive amount of damage," said Amber Burruezo, spokesperson for Atlantic City Electric. "There are literally sections of the grid that we'll be rebuilding."
Crews worked though Saturday night and all day Sunday to remove the downed poles and replace them with new ones.
"Within the next 24 hours we're going to ensure that this road is open," said Burruezo.
About 4,000 people lost power in Woodstown Saturday night. As of Sunday morning, only about 60 were still without power. Atlantic City Electric credits its power grid with keeping the outages from being more wide-spread.
Neighbors also offered helping hands to one another.
"When you do need help, I think they're all ready to jump in," said John Fox of Elsinboro. He was one of several people who helped Jackson clean up debris from his yard.
As powerful as the storm was, it left Spencer UAME Church unscathed, giving members gathered for Sunday service another reason to rejoice.
"It did spare the church so that's a blessing," said Braxton. | https://6abc.com/woodstown-new-jersey-storm-damage-spencer-uame-church/13573410/ | 2023-07-30T17:29:21 | 1 | https://6abc.com/woodstown-new-jersey-storm-damage-spencer-uame-church/13573410/ |
The ‘Barbie’ bonanza continues at the box office, ‘Oppenheimer’ holds the No. 2 spot
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie” has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ | 2023-07-30T17:29:42 | 0 | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ |
WATCH: Officers pull unconscious man from burning car
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 10:12 AM MST|Updated: 17 minutes ago
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (CNN) – Dramatic video out of Texas caught the moment officers pulled a man from a burning car.
Police in White Settlement, Texas, said they responded to a report of a car hitting a pole early Saturday morning.
The responding officers found two people in the car.
The driver was able to get out safely, but a male passenger was unconscious and unable to get out.
Officers quickly pulled the man from the burning car until medics could arrive.
The driver and passenger were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Copyright 2023 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ | 2023-07-30T17:29:48 | 1 | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ |
vivo Unveils V3 chip with 6nm Processes, Powering 4K Cinema Portrait Mode
SHENZHEN, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- vivo today held this year's Special Event of the 2023 vivo Imaging Conference in Xining, China, where it showcased a host of innovations in imaging technology. The company unveiled the V3 chip, a state-of-the-art 6nm customized V3 chip, as well as the latest algorithm technology. In addition, vivo revealed a periscope lens with the new "Vario-Apo-Sonnar" standards developed in partnership with ZEISS. During the event, vivo also announced the winners of the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards, with Indonesia photographer Jiehan Herry Saputro 's "Let Me Fly" crowned the Best Photograph of the Year.
Yu Meng, Vice President of vivo Imaging; Li Zhuo, Senior Director of vivo Imaging Products; Sebastian Döntgen, Head of Category Management, Marketing and Sales, ZEISS Consumer Products; Zhang Yan, Product Manager of vivo Imaging Performance; visual artists Gao Yuan and Duan Yueheng; Song Wen, Founder of FIRST International Film Festival; and Bertram Hönlinger, ZEISS Expert of Photography, attended the event to share their views on technological innovation and the future of mobile imaging.
"At vivo, we are committed to advancing 'human-centric professional imaging'. To this end, we continuously enhance our expertise across optics, computing, and algorithm foundations to build imaging capabilities comparable to professional photography equipment. We aim to deliver the user experience of recreating what the human eye can see and make professional-grade imaging capabilities more accessible for everyone. In the future, vivo will stay committed to creating the best imaging technology and help users record life's most precious moments," said Mr. Yu Meng.
At a time when everyone can be a creator, vivo has been dedicated to providing exceptional user experience with innovative mobile imaging technology. From industry-outstanding imaging chips and algorithms to expanding technological boundaries in partnership with other industry leaders, vivo continues to make efforts to boost its image technology strengths and improve the user experience in any scenario.
Unveiling the latest V3 chip and algorithm technology
The brand's latest V3 chip adopts a 6nm process and incorporates a newly designed multi-concurrent AI-ISP architecture and second-generation Frame Info Tunneling (FIT) technology. The technology upgrade delivers a superior user experience by enabling 4K cinema-like bokeh, automatic subject focus detection and switching, cinema-like skin optimization, and cinematic color processing. This makes vivo the first Android phone maker to enable 4K cinema-quality portrait video with post-processing functions.
In addition to the launch of the new V3 chip, vivo has also announced a composite algorithm matrix solution. The company's new vivo Origin Imaging Engine (VOIE) enhances image quality, color, tone, and computing functionality by advancing the underlying algorithmic capabilities for three sub-modules: Color Restoration Engine, Ultra HD Engine, and Accelerated Computing Engine. vivo also developed the Hyper-Sense Portrait System and Vast-Sky Night System based on the common portrait and night scene user scenarios. Additionally, vivo has been continuously upgrading its algorithmic matrix and technological capabilities to ensure the best possible shooting experience in various scenarios.
Building a prosperous image ecosystem with joint innovation
vivo's long-term partnership with optical pioneer ZEISS has led to breakthrough innovations for X series, from generation to generation proving ZEISS technologies and iconic optical designs were adapted for vivo's flagships. ZEISS T* coating for superior optical quality and iconic ZEISS Style Portrait to name just a few.
At the event, vivo and ZEISS jointly announced a periscope lens design with the new "Vario-Apo-Sonnar" standards. APO design is considered to have the level of the industry's top-quality control of chromatic aberration. For the very first time, the APO design will be adapted to a mobile imaging system enhancing a high performance zoom quality.
Further leveraging the floating lens group technology in the periscope lens, aiming to provide ultra-high resolution and enhanced focusing capability, to enable users to achieve excellent macro shooting outcomes. At the same time, it also has a creamy bokeh effect that allows the subject to be further emphasized.
The T* Coating is ZEISS's signature technology for anti-reflective coating on optical surface. The co-engineered rear camera system in the vivo's X series has achieved compliance with ZEISS T* Coating and reduced significantly unwanted lens flares in images under challenging lighting conditions such as nighttime, strong backlighting, and complex light sources.
For vivo's upcoming X series flagship model, ZEISS T* Coating will be equipped with Multi-ALD technology to enhance further the image clarity, by reducing center reflectivity from 0.2% to 0.1% on the visible light spectrum. Compared with the previous generation of ALC coating, the reflectivity will be reduced by 50%.
In addition to product innovation and joint development, being user-oriented is in vivo's and ZEISS' joint belief. vivo is committed to further diversifying the cooperation with ZEISS, including co-organizing the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards.
Sebastian Döntgen, Head of Category Management, Marketing and Sales, ZEISS Consumer Products said: "At ZEISS, we have photography in our DNA. To invite and enable even more users worldwide to enjoy creativity through cutting-edge smartphone image technology, it was a logical step for us to co-organize the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards with vivo. The impressive results that we were able to experience again this year are a great acknowledgment of our partnership on imaging aspects."
vivo has announced a deep collaboration with MediaTek for its X80 series. Additionally, vivo plans to team up with Sony for further collaboration on technologies such as 2-layer pixel (stack pixel) and HDR in the future. vivo will also actively expand joint innovation research by collaborating with more industry partners, and with educational institutes such as ETH Zurich and other universities, striving for technological breakthroughs and a more diversified and open mobile imaging ecosystem.
Creating professional portraits and the ultimate night scene experiences
vivo has formed a unique portrait style that blends clear texture, natural skin tones, and a balance of real and virtual effects across device iterations. In addition, the brand continues to research and develop 3D portrait technology with 3D facial reconstruction and virtual content.
To this end, vivo has relied on its imaging laboratory platform to establish a 3D image laboratory with a proprietary cinema-like optical field system, capable of reconstructing extremely delicate 3D models of human faces and producing highly realistic visual effects in virtual environments. Based on experience gained from past products and real-life business scenarios, the company's 3D models achieve precise facial expressions, body postures and gestures.
These technologies have been developed with three user scenarios in mind: generative portrait style, generative portrait editing, and various portrait special effects. Users will be able to take photos that perfectly balance real and virtual effects, edit photos powered by texture reconstruction and lighting estimation algorithms and freely change the lighting, hair and facial expressions.
vivo has introduced enhancements to its technical capabilities in image quality, tone, and color for landscape shooting. The upgraded Vast-Sky Night System was designed to improve image quality and supply the most advanced quality solution for night scenes at all focal lengths. The upgraded SuperRAW technology offers exclusive parameter adjustment capabilities, meeting any professional imaging requirements for all focal lengths.
Based on VOIE, vivo has also introduced a True Color Night model powered by AI learning to the Night Sky Imaging System. This enhancement enables adaptive tone and color adjustments for night scenes and for night scenes with high contrast, a comprehensive night HDR solution has been introduced to tackle viewing issues in preview, shooting and display modes. In addition, the new XDR Photo 2.0 adds a highlight color preservation mechanism for light sources with high dynamic range and saturation at night. This improves the overexposure for highlights without affecting the color performance of the light source and preserves the night scene.
In the future, vivo will work together with Adobe, Apple, and Google to improve HDR photo standardization and overcome the inconsistent display of HDR photos on different devices—making vivo the only Chinese company involved in the development of the IOS standards for HDR photos.
On top of vivo's original distinctive colors and ZEISS Natural Color, vivo's team has launched a series of rich and personalized colors, drawing inspiration from classic photography techniques, classic films, and masterworks.
2023 vivo VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards Winners
During this year's Special Event at the Imaging Conference, vivo also announced the winners of this year's VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards. The top award went to Jiehan Herry Saputro 's "Let Me Fly", which is crowned the Best Photograph of the Year. In addition, the competition included awards in six categories: Portrait, Photo Series, Night, Landscape, Motion, and News. Two special awards were also announced: the X90 Series Best Photograph Award and the ZEISS Professional Imaging Award.
Since its inaugural launch in 2020, the VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards program has received nearly one million submissions from over 40 countries and regions. This year, vivo received submissions from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and many other countries and regions.
Note: Please be aware that some of the features and technologies mentioned in this press release may currently only be available in the Chinese Mainland market. The availability of certain capabilities and functions may vary depending on your location.
About vivo
vivo is a technology company that creates great products based on a design-driven value, with smart devices and intelligent services as its core. The company aims to build a bridge between humans and the digital world. Through unique creativity, vivo provides users with an increasingly convenient mobile and digital life. Following the company's core values, which include Benfen*, user-orientation, design-driven value, continuous learning and team spirit, vivo has implemented a sustainable development strategy with the vision of developing into a healthier, more sustainable world-class corporation.
While bringing together and developing the best local talents to deliver excellence, vivo is supported by a network of R&D centers in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanjing, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Xi'an and more cities, focusing on the development of state-of-the-art consumer technologies, including 5G, artificial intelligence, industrial design, imaging system and other up-and-coming technologies. vivo has also set up an intelligent manufacturing network (including those authorized by vivo), with an annual production capacity of nearly 200 million smartphones. As of now, vivo has branched out its sales network across more than 60 countries and regions, and is loved by more than 500 million users worldwide.
*"Benfen" is a term describing the attitude on doing the right things and doing things right – which is the ideal description of vivo's mission to create value for society.
Stay informed of latest vivo news at https://www.vivo.com/en/about-vivo/news
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SOURCE vivo | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/30/vivo-unveils-major-optics-computing-algorithm-technologies-vivo-2023-imaging-conference/ | 2023-07-30T17:29:55 | 0 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/30/vivo-unveils-major-optics-computing-algorithm-technologies-vivo-2023-imaging-conference/ |
TELEVISION
Live and same day tape-delay events. Some channels listed may be available only on cable or satellite TV. Channels vary, depending upon your service provider. Schedule subject to change. Channel key: BSWis (Bally Sports Wisconsin), FS1 (FOX Sports 1), MLBN (MLB Network), NHLN (NHL Network), TGC (The Golf Channel).
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
6 p.m.: Milwaukee at Washington, BSWis; Tampa Bay at NY Yankees, MLBN.
10 p.m.: Boston at Seattle (joined in progress), MLBN.
SOCCER (MEN’S)
9 p.m.: Leagues Cup Group Stage: Chivas Guadalajara at Sporting Kansas City, Group F, FS1.
SOCCER (WOMEN’S)
People are also reading…
2 a.m. (Tuesday): FIFA World Cup Group Stage: Portugal vs. U.S., Group E, Auckland, New Zealand, FOX; FIFA World Cup Group Stage: Vietnam vs. Netherlands, Group E, Dunedin, New Zealand, FS1.
THE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
6 p.m.: Tournament: TBD, Quarterfinal, Dayton, Ohio, ESPN.
8 p.m.: Tournament: TBD, Quarterfinal, Louisville, Ky., ESPN2.
TENNIS
11 a.m.: Washington-ATP/WTA Early Rounds, Tennis.
10 p.m.: Los Cabos-ATP Early Rounds, Tennis.
4 a.m. (Tuesday): Kitzbuhel-ATP, Prague-WTA Early Rounds, Tennis.
5 a.m. (Tuesday): Kitzbuhel-ATP, Prague-WTA Early Rounds, Tennis.
YOUTH HOCKEY (BOY’S)
Noon: Hlinka Gretzky Cup U-18: Czech Republic vs. U.S., Preliminary Round, Breclav, Czechia, NHLN.
RADIO
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
6 p.m.: Milwaukee at Washington, WTMJ (620 AM).
7 p.m.: Cincinnati at Chicago Cubs, WSCR (670 AM). | https://kenoshanews.com/sports/on-the-air-for-july-31/article_795bfc16-2ef9-11ee-83d2-fbfdfce6990b.html | 2023-07-30T17:30:13 | 0 | https://kenoshanews.com/sports/on-the-air-for-july-31/article_795bfc16-2ef9-11ee-83d2-fbfdfce6990b.html |
OF NOTE
Andersen Corp., a Bayport-based maker of windows and doors for the residential market, announced the promotion of Andrea Nordaune as senior vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary. Nordaune most recently was vice president, general counsel, and assistant corporate secretary.
DEVELOPMENT
Doran Cos., a Bloomington-based property developer, announced the appointment of Chris Keenan to senior vice president of development. Previously, Keenan was director of real estate acquisitions and capital markets at Olympus Ventures. … Kraus-Anderson, Minneapolis, announced the following personnel moves: Nick Slauson hired as director of lean and process; Jessica Swanson, senior manager of total rewards; Megan Hannon, corporate and community engagement coordinator; at Kraus-Anderson Construction, Randy Winger, senior project manager; Alex Hoffman, Gary Lackey, Rich Mickschl, Dan Schauer, Tim Sweet, Ed Lebak and Mark Opsal as project superintendents; Kyle Gow as MEP systems manager, and Minnie Sindt as senior project coordinator; at Kraus-Anderson Realty, Tony Wentworth, senior property accountant; Katie Foss, assistant property manager, and Biff Drew, maintenance technician.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Mairs & Power, a St. Paul-based investment advisory firm, announced the transition of Michael C. Marzolf into the role of lead manager for the Mairs & Power Small Cap Fund. Andrew R. Adams will shift into a co-manager role and Christopher D. Strom will continue in his role of co-manager for the fund. … Bank of America announced it has named Bryant Shurn president of Bank of America Wisconsin. The bank plans eight branches across the state by 2025. … The Minnesota Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co., a Minneapolis-based provider of professional liability insurance and risk management in 15 states, announced the election of Tamika D. Jones to its board of directors. Jones is a solo practitioner in the Alexandria, Va., area. … U.S. Bank, Minneapolis, announced that Jimmy Whang has been named the head of its Commercial Products group. Whang, who joined U.S. Bank in 2009, succeeds Stephen Philipson, who was promoted to a new role overseeing Global Markets and Specialized Finance for the bank.
HEALTH CARE
Advent, a medical practice specializing in ear, nose and throat treatment, announced the opening of a clinic at 8401 Seasons Parkway, No. 300, Woodbury.
LAW
Fredrikson, Minneapolis, announced the return of attorney Deborah Walker Kool to the firm’s Start Up & Rapid Growth Enterprises, Venture Capital & Angel Financing, Corporate, Finance & Securities and Mergers & Acquisitions groups. … Moss & Barnett, Minneapolis, announced that shareholder and family law attorney James J. Vedder was elected president of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. … Susan M. Holden, attorney and partner at SiebenCarey, Minneapolis, was presented with the 2023 Professional Excellence Award by the Minnesota State Bar Association.
MANUFACTURING
Matsuura USA , a St. Paul-based maker of machine tools for industry, announced the planned retirement of President David Hudson; current Vice President of Sales and Marketing Billy Bogue will succeed Hudson as acting president. The company is the U.S. subsidiary of Matsuura Machinery Corp. in Japan. … Mate Precision Technologies, an Anoka-based provider of metal fabricated machine tool products for industry, announced the promotion of Tom Olmscheid to vice president of U.S. and Canada Sales.
MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
Elucent Medical, an Eden Prairie-based developer of electronic surgical navigation tools, announced the appointment of Jason Pesterfield as president and chief executive officer and Kirk G. Jacquay as chief finance officer. Both joined the company from executive roles at Optellum Ltd., a med-tech AI software startup.
ORGANIZATIONS
Stillwater Sunrise Rotary announced Lonny Stormo as its new president; he succeeds Rick Heidick.
RETAIL
Duluth-based women’s clothing chain Maurices announced the departure of CEO David Kornberg; Jeff Kirwan, executive chairman of Maurices’ parent company OpCapita has been appointed interim CEO.
EMAIL ITEMS to businessnews@pioneerpress.com. | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/30/business-people-andrea-nordaune-promoted-at-andersen-corp/ | 2023-07-30T17:30:33 | 1 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/30/business-people-andrea-nordaune-promoted-at-andersen-corp/ |
Two moments in two days at Busch Stadium could mean the difference between the Chicago Cubs selling one or two of their biggest stars or going for broke at the trade deadline.
It began when St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas suffered a brain cramp and intentionally hit Ian Happ on Thursday in response to Happ accidentally hitting former teammate Willson Contreras in the head with his backswing. Had Mikolas kept his cool and not been ejected, he wouldn’t have been replaced in the first inning by Dakota Hudson, who promptly imploded in what turned into a 10-3 Cubs win.
And if Cubs center fielder Mike Tauchman didn’t make a sensational, over-the-wall catch with two outs in the ninth inning Friday to rob pinch hitter Alec Burleson of a three-run home run, the Cubs would have suffered a tough, walk-off loss instead of eking out a 3-2 win.
A moment of stupidity and a moment of splendor added up to two huge wins for a surging Cubs team that might not have capitalized on them a couple of months ago.
Those weren’t the only reasons the Cubs pulled within 3 1/2 games of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers and three games of the third wild-card spot after a rain-delayed 5-1 victory against the Cardinals on Saturday.
But if President Jed Hoyer was looking for an omen as an excuse to roll the dice before the Tuesday deadline, those W’s on Thursday and Friday were made to order. If he saw the reaction of Cubs players to Friday’s pulsating ending, he would know there’s only one direction to go.
“When you build momentum, you keep riding it,” shortstop Dansby Swanson told me after Friday’s win. “It’s a big thing in this game, and we’ve been playing such good baseball recently, I just think it’s rewarding to see the work everybody has put in and what this group has done and what we’ve battled through so far to get to this point.
“This isn’t the end-all, right? This isn’t where we want to be. But you can definitely take so many great things from what we’ve been doing recently. Players making plays when they need to be made.
“We can talk about analytics, or we can talk about this, that and the other thing. But players making plays, that’s the name of the game in any sport, and tonight we made some big plays, and none was bigger than Mike’s catch at the end.”
Emotions already were running high on a sweltering summer night, with thousands of road-tripping Cubs fans on their feet and ready to sing. Perhaps the second-best feeling to a walk-off home run is robbing the other team of a walk-off homer, and the Cubs celebrated like they had won the World Series.
“One of the coolest moments I’ve been a part of,” first baseman Trey Mancini said afterward. “It was awesome. You take all that excitement into the clubhouse with you, and it’s fun. That’s why we do this. I’m really proud of this team, the way we’ve been playing the last couple weeks. Tonight’s game really epitomizes that.”
A late-afternoon downpour might have delayed Saturday’s game, but it couldn’t stop the trade-deadline talk that has been the focus of the media the last few weeks. When the Texas Rangers reportedly agreed to a deal to acquire Max Scherzer from the New York Mets on Saturday, some wondered whether the Cubs would be interested in the other Mets ace, 40-year-old Justin Verlander, who also could be on the market.
Verlander wanted to be dealt from the Detroit Tigers to the Cubs late in the 2017 season, but the Cubs’ interest was lukewarm. Hoyer later told WSCR-AM 670: “There’s ones that you beat yourself up over because you think: ‘What could we have seen differently? Could we have predicted this?’ Obviously we didn’t. (Verlander’s) late-career resurgence has been amazing.”
Would Hoyer jump at another shot at Verlander, who has a no-trade clause and another year left on a two-year, $87 million deal, plus a conditional $35 million option for 2024? Would Verlander even agree to come to the Cubs if asked for what likely would be the end of his career?
It’s not a crime to dream. Nothing gets a clubhouse geeked like the addition of a superstar, as happened in 2016 when the Cubs acquired closer Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees.
“If not now, when?” President Theo Epstein famously said that day, referring to the team’s quest to end its championship drought.
Hoyer can’t really say the same. The Cubs have only gone seven years without a championship. So if it’s not now, it could be the winter or even next year’s trade deadline before the Cubs go all in.
That 2016 team was already headed to the postseason, and Epstein was looking to shore up a weakness. This year’s edition was only one game over .500 on Saturday and still a long shot to make the playoffs, much less win it all.
Asked Saturday if there’s value in the clubhouse with management making even a small move at the deadline, manager David Ross told the Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro “your question is set up for controversy, to me,” adding that “every player would say that.”
Not sure where the controversy is in that, but maybe Ross is feeling more pressure than we know. He has been asked about the trade deadline for weeks and never seemed to take it personally.
The closer the Cubs get to the deadline, and the longer this hot streak continues, the greater the pressure is on Hoyer to make the right call. And if he does decide to go for it, the pressure will be on Ross to keep the train rolling.
Meanwhile, Cubs fans have been scoreboard watching to see how the other division and wild-card contenders were faring. Mancini said it’s too early for the players to follow suit, and Swanson agreed.
“What’s the point?” Swanson asked. “At the end of the day, we have to do our job.”
Of course. But the closer the Cubs get to a playoff spot, the harder it would be for management to sell off some key pieces, right?
“If we just keep playing good baseball, man, we’ll be in good shape,” Swanson said.
The countdown to Tuesday is on.
Do you know where your Cubs are?
() | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/30/column-pressure-mounts-as-chicago-cubs-inch-closer-to-a-playoff-spot-now-3-1-2-games-out-of-1st-before-the-trade-deadline/ | 2023-07-30T17:30:39 | 1 | https://www.twincities.com/2023/07/30/column-pressure-mounts-as-chicago-cubs-inch-closer-to-a-playoff-spot-now-3-1-2-games-out-of-1st-before-the-trade-deadline/ |
Massachusetts communities on Sunday were assessing the damage from powerful thunderstorms that marched across the state the night before, flooding roads, stranding motorists and downing trees and wires.
There were reports of wind damage in Scituate and flooding in Newton, Wellesley, Quincy, Brookline, Revere and as far west as Springfield, according to the National Weather Service.
Boston had 3.07 inches of rain on Saturday, said Frank Nocera, lead meteorologist at the agency’s office in Norton.
“Boston had a record,” Nocera said Sunday morning. “It was the fifth wettest single day in the month of July. Records go back to 1872.”
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The old record of 2.68 inches was set on July 17, 2018. The all-time record for wettest single day in July is 6.04 inches, which occurred July 9, 1921, according to the weather service.
The Boston Fire Department received over 500 calls yesterday, the department said in a tweet. Spokesman Brian Alkins said it was probably over triple the calls they usually get in a day.
Reports included flooding, roof leaks, and electrical issues due to wires getting wet, Alkins said. There was flooding reported on the Charles River Esplanade and streets in West Roxbury and Dorchester, Alkins said.
“Everything flooded quickly,” Alkins said. “The drains weren’t able to handle the volume of water.”
In Chelsea, fire crews rescued two people from their cars on a flooded road around 10 p.m., according to deputy chief Wayne Ulwick.
“On 2nd Street near Market Basket, we had a whole road flooded out and two people got taken out from their cars,” Ulwick said in a phone interview. “Their cars just shut down in the water, and I don’t think the water was that deep — just enough to shut their vehicles down.”
In southeastern Massachusetts, a tornado warning issued Saturday night for Bristol and Plymouth counties, eventually expired. But the severe wind and rain caused serious damage for some communities, he said.
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Nocera said the weather service was assessing damage in Easton and Foxborough on Sunday.
The weather service received reports of downed trees and wires in Easton, Brockton, Hanover, West Bridgewater, and Pembroke, according to the weather service.
Photos posted by Brockton fire show downed trees on front lawns, vehicles, and streets.
Last evening, a storm caused severe damage throughout an area from the westside to Campello and through Southfield....
Posted by Brockton Fire and Life Safety on Sunday, July 30, 2023
The West Bridgewater Fire Department responded to 10 reports of structural damage due to the storm, Firefighter Kevin Picher said in a phone interview.
“It was mostly from wind damage,” Picher said. “Telephone poles, tree limbs down — that type of stuff.”
At 9:48 p.m. Saturday night, the West Bridgewater Fire Department made a post on Twitter asking residents to stay inside and call 911 to report emergencies.
The #westbridgewater fire department is responding to multiple areas in town affected by the storm. Please stay indoors and call 911 to report an emergency or call @nationalgridus at 1-800-465-1212 to report a power outage. pic.twitter.com/hQ9IJ1Ars0
— West Bridgewater Fire Dept. (@WBFD1910) July 30, 2023
As of noon on Sunday, National Grid had 678 customers without power across the communities they serve, said spokesperson Christine Milligan. Worcester county accounted for 338 customers without power, and Plymouth county accounted for 247 customers, Milligan said.
“What we saw was pretty typical of a windy, stormy night,” Milligan said. “We expect everyone to be back on before 3 p.m. this afternoon.”
Claire Law can be reached at claire.law@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @claire_law_. Bailey Allen can be reached at bailey.allen@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @baileyaallen. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/30/metro/severe-thunderstorms-leave-trail-damage-mass/ | 2023-07-30T17:32:32 | 1 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/30/metro/severe-thunderstorms-leave-trail-damage-mass/ |
WATCH: Officers pull unconscious man from burning car
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 12:12 PM CDT|Updated: 18 minutes ago
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (CNN) – Dramatic video out of Texas caught the moment officers pulled a man from a burning car.
Police in White Settlement, Texas, said they responded to a report of a car hitting a pole early Saturday morning.
The responding officers found two people in the car.
The driver was able to get out safely, but a male passenger was unconscious and unable to get out.
Officers quickly pulled the man from the burning car until medics could arrive.
The driver and passenger were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Copyright 2023 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbrc.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ | 2023-07-30T17:32:34 | 1 | https://www.wbrc.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ |
The Red Sox saw their five-game winning streak end on the bat of JD Davis’s walk-off home run Saturday night in a 3-2 loss to the Giants in San Francisco. They’ll have a shot to take the three-game series, which has produced two close contests so far, this afternoon.
The Blue Jays notched a 6-1 victory against the Angels yesterday. That result now puts the Red Sox 2½ games behind both Toronto and the Astros for one of the final two Wild Card spots. The Yankees beat the Orioles Saturday, which means Boston is still seven games back of the division lead, but also just one game up on New York in the Wild Card race. Here are the standings | Wild Card standings.
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Lineups
RED SOX (56-48): Refsnyder LF, Turner 1B, Devers 3B, Duvall CF, Yoshida DH, Arroyo 2B, Verdugo RF, Reyes SS, Alfaro C
Pitching: LHP Brennan Bernardino (1-0, 2.31 ERA)
GIANTS (57-48): TBA
Pitching: LHP Scott Alexander (6-1, 3.41 ERA)
Time: 4:05 p.m.
TV, radio: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7
Red Sox vs. Alexander: Jorge Alfaro 1-1, Justin Turner 0-0
Giants vs. Bernardino: Austin Slater 0-1
Stat of the day: In his seven combined innings working as an opener for the Red Sox, Bernardino has allowed just one earned run on four hits and one walk, with 10 strikeouts.
Notes: Sunday’s start as an opener will be Bernardino’s fifth this month. The 31-year-old seems to have grown into the role, having thrown a total of 5 2/3 shutout innings in his last three starts, allowing just three hits and one walk. Eight of the 17 outs he recorded were strikeouts. ... The 34-year-old Alexander will make his third start of the season, with mixed results in the first two. On May 25 in Milwaukee, he retired the Brewers in order in his only inning pitched with one strikeout. On July 23 against the Washington Nationals, he left the game in the opening inning with two outs and runners on first and third, and the bullpen allowed both runs to score. ... Top Giants prospect Marco Luciano continues to look comfortable at the major league level. He logged his first two-hit effort in his third career game on Saturday.
Advertisement | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/30/sports/red-sox-game-preview/ | 2023-07-30T17:32:38 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/30/sports/red-sox-game-preview/ |
vivo Unveils V3 chip with 6nm Processes, Powering 4K Cinema Portrait Mode
SHENZHEN, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- vivo today held this year's Special Event of the 2023 vivo Imaging Conference in Xining, China, where it showcased a host of innovations in imaging technology. The company unveiled the V3 chip, a state-of-the-art 6nm customized V3 chip, as well as the latest algorithm technology. In addition, vivo revealed a periscope lens with the new "Vario-Apo-Sonnar" standards developed in partnership with ZEISS. During the event, vivo also announced the winners of the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards, with Indonesia photographer Jiehan Herry Saputro 's "Let Me Fly" crowned the Best Photograph of the Year.
Yu Meng, Vice President of vivo Imaging; Li Zhuo, Senior Director of vivo Imaging Products; Sebastian Döntgen, Head of Category Management, Marketing and Sales, ZEISS Consumer Products; Zhang Yan, Product Manager of vivo Imaging Performance; visual artists Gao Yuan and Duan Yueheng; Song Wen, Founder of FIRST International Film Festival; and Bertram Hönlinger, ZEISS Expert of Photography, attended the event to share their views on technological innovation and the future of mobile imaging.
"At vivo, we are committed to advancing 'human-centric professional imaging'. To this end, we continuously enhance our expertise across optics, computing, and algorithm foundations to build imaging capabilities comparable to professional photography equipment. We aim to deliver the user experience of recreating what the human eye can see and make professional-grade imaging capabilities more accessible for everyone. In the future, vivo will stay committed to creating the best imaging technology and help users record life's most precious moments," said Mr. Yu Meng.
At a time when everyone can be a creator, vivo has been dedicated to providing exceptional user experience with innovative mobile imaging technology. From industry-outstanding imaging chips and algorithms to expanding technological boundaries in partnership with other industry leaders, vivo continues to make efforts to boost its image technology strengths and improve the user experience in any scenario.
Unveiling the latest V3 chip and algorithm technology
The brand's latest V3 chip adopts a 6nm process and incorporates a newly designed multi-concurrent AI-ISP architecture and second-generation Frame Info Tunneling (FIT) technology. The technology upgrade delivers a superior user experience by enabling 4K cinema-like bokeh, automatic subject focus detection and switching, cinema-like skin optimization, and cinematic color processing. This makes vivo the first Android phone maker to enable 4K cinema-quality portrait video with post-processing functions.
In addition to the launch of the new V3 chip, vivo has also announced a composite algorithm matrix solution. The company's new vivo Origin Imaging Engine (VOIE) enhances image quality, color, tone, and computing functionality by advancing the underlying algorithmic capabilities for three sub-modules: Color Restoration Engine, Ultra HD Engine, and Accelerated Computing Engine. vivo also developed the Hyper-Sense Portrait System and Vast-Sky Night System based on the common portrait and night scene user scenarios. Additionally, vivo has been continuously upgrading its algorithmic matrix and technological capabilities to ensure the best possible shooting experience in various scenarios.
Building a prosperous image ecosystem with joint innovation
vivo's long-term partnership with optical pioneer ZEISS has led to breakthrough innovations for X series, from generation to generation proving ZEISS technologies and iconic optical designs were adapted for vivo's flagships. ZEISS T* coating for superior optical quality and iconic ZEISS Style Portrait to name just a few.
At the event, vivo and ZEISS jointly announced a periscope lens design with the new "Vario-Apo-Sonnar" standards. APO design is considered to have the level of the industry's top-quality control of chromatic aberration. For the very first time, the APO design will be adapted to a mobile imaging system enhancing a high performance zoom quality.
Further leveraging the floating lens group technology in the periscope lens, aiming to provide ultra-high resolution and enhanced focusing capability, to enable users to achieve excellent macro shooting outcomes. At the same time, it also has a creamy bokeh effect that allows the subject to be further emphasized.
The T* Coating is ZEISS's signature technology for anti-reflective coating on optical surface. The co-engineered rear camera system in the vivo's X series has achieved compliance with ZEISS T* Coating and reduced significantly unwanted lens flares in images under challenging lighting conditions such as nighttime, strong backlighting, and complex light sources.
For vivo's upcoming X series flagship model, ZEISS T* Coating will be equipped with Multi-ALD technology to enhance further the image clarity, by reducing center reflectivity from 0.2% to 0.1% on the visible light spectrum. Compared with the previous generation of ALC coating, the reflectivity will be reduced by 50%.
In addition to product innovation and joint development, being user-oriented is in vivo's and ZEISS' joint belief. vivo is committed to further diversifying the cooperation with ZEISS, including co-organizing the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards.
Sebastian Döntgen, Head of Category Management, Marketing and Sales, ZEISS Consumer Products said: "At ZEISS, we have photography in our DNA. To invite and enable even more users worldwide to enjoy creativity through cutting-edge smartphone image technology, it was a logical step for us to co-organize the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards with vivo. The impressive results that we were able to experience again this year are a great acknowledgment of our partnership on imaging aspects."
vivo has announced a deep collaboration with MediaTek for its X80 series. Additionally, vivo plans to team up with Sony for further collaboration on technologies such as 2-layer pixel (stack pixel) and HDR in the future. vivo will also actively expand joint innovation research by collaborating with more industry partners, and with educational institutes such as ETH Zurich and other universities, striving for technological breakthroughs and a more diversified and open mobile imaging ecosystem.
Creating professional portraits and the ultimate night scene experiences
vivo has formed a unique portrait style that blends clear texture, natural skin tones, and a balance of real and virtual effects across device iterations. In addition, the brand continues to research and develop 3D portrait technology with 3D facial reconstruction and virtual content.
To this end, vivo has relied on its imaging laboratory platform to establish a 3D image laboratory with a proprietary cinema-like optical field system, capable of reconstructing extremely delicate 3D models of human faces and producing highly realistic visual effects in virtual environments. Based on experience gained from past products and real-life business scenarios, the company's 3D models achieve precise facial expressions, body postures and gestures.
These technologies have been developed with three user scenarios in mind: generative portrait style, generative portrait editing, and various portrait special effects. Users will be able to take photos that perfectly balance real and virtual effects, edit photos powered by texture reconstruction and lighting estimation algorithms and freely change the lighting, hair and facial expressions.
vivo has introduced enhancements to its technical capabilities in image quality, tone, and color for landscape shooting. The upgraded Vast-Sky Night System was designed to improve image quality and supply the most advanced quality solution for night scenes at all focal lengths. The upgraded SuperRAW technology offers exclusive parameter adjustment capabilities, meeting any professional imaging requirements for all focal lengths.
Based on VOIE, vivo has also introduced a True Color Night model powered by AI learning to the Night Sky Imaging System. This enhancement enables adaptive tone and color adjustments for night scenes and for night scenes with high contrast, a comprehensive night HDR solution has been introduced to tackle viewing issues in preview, shooting and display modes. In addition, the new XDR Photo 2.0 adds a highlight color preservation mechanism for light sources with high dynamic range and saturation at night. This improves the overexposure for highlights without affecting the color performance of the light source and preserves the night scene.
In the future, vivo will work together with Adobe, Apple, and Google to improve HDR photo standardization and overcome the inconsistent display of HDR photos on different devices—making vivo the only Chinese company involved in the development of the IOS standards for HDR photos.
On top of vivo's original distinctive colors and ZEISS Natural Color, vivo's team has launched a series of rich and personalized colors, drawing inspiration from classic photography techniques, classic films, and masterworks.
2023 vivo VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards Winners
During this year's Special Event at the Imaging Conference, vivo also announced the winners of this year's VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards. The top award went to Jiehan Herry Saputro 's "Let Me Fly", which is crowned the Best Photograph of the Year. In addition, the competition included awards in six categories: Portrait, Photo Series, Night, Landscape, Motion, and News. Two special awards were also announced: the X90 Series Best Photograph Award and the ZEISS Professional Imaging Award.
Since its inaugural launch in 2020, the VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards program has received nearly one million submissions from over 40 countries and regions. This year, vivo received submissions from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and many other countries and regions.
Note: Please be aware that some of the features and technologies mentioned in this press release may currently only be available in the Chinese Mainland market. The availability of certain capabilities and functions may vary depending on your location.
About vivo
vivo is a technology company that creates great products based on a design-driven value, with smart devices and intelligent services as its core. The company aims to build a bridge between humans and the digital world. Through unique creativity, vivo provides users with an increasingly convenient mobile and digital life. Following the company's core values, which include Benfen*, user-orientation, design-driven value, continuous learning and team spirit, vivo has implemented a sustainable development strategy with the vision of developing into a healthier, more sustainable world-class corporation.
While bringing together and developing the best local talents to deliver excellence, vivo is supported by a network of R&D centers in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanjing, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Xi'an and more cities, focusing on the development of state-of-the-art consumer technologies, including 5G, artificial intelligence, industrial design, imaging system and other up-and-coming technologies. vivo has also set up an intelligent manufacturing network (including those authorized by vivo), with an annual production capacity of nearly 200 million smartphones. As of now, vivo has branched out its sales network across more than 60 countries and regions, and is loved by more than 500 million users worldwide.
*"Benfen" is a term describing the attitude on doing the right things and doing things right – which is the ideal description of vivo's mission to create value for society.
Stay informed of latest vivo news at https://www.vivo.com/en/about-vivo/news
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SOURCE vivo | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/30/vivo-unveils-major-optics-computing-algorithm-technologies-vivo-2023-imaging-conference/ | 2023-07-30T17:32:40 | 0 | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/30/vivo-unveils-major-optics-computing-algorithm-technologies-vivo-2023-imaging-conference/ |
Marine 1st Lt. Harvey "Barney" Barnum jumped to the ground when he came under fire during an ambush in Vietnam that killed his radio operator and commander.
Collecting himself, Barnum realized he was now the highest-ranking officer of a rifle company he'd just joined. He called in artillery and, amid gunfire, dragged the commander to safety, where he died in Barnum's arms. Then he proceeded to mount a counterattack, oversee evacuation of the wounded and lead the unit's eventual break out to rejoin the battalion.
The Medal of Honor recipient, now 83, watched Saturday as his wife smashed a bottle of sparkling wine against the bow to christen the future U.S. Navy destroyer that'll bear the name Harvey C. Barnum Jr.
He said he was speechless when he learned that a warship would bear his name. "As anybody that knows Barney Barnum knows, I've never been speechless," he joked before the event.
The ceremony on Saturday at Navy shipbuilder Bath Iron Works was a tribute to the Vietnam War hero who during his first firefight was foisted into leadership of Marines who didn't yet know his name because he'd just joined them a couple of days earlier.
Dignitaries included Maine's governor and senators, as well as Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, who praised Barnum's humility and generosity, in addition to being a war hero who inspired fellow Marines.
Gen. Eric Smith, the acting Marine Corps commandant whose nomination to lead the Marine Corps is being blocked by a Republican senator, called Barnum "an icon, a legend, a Marine."
In an interview, Barnum said the combat was harrowing on that day, Dec. 18, 1965, during Operation Harvest Moon. His unit was outnumbered, caught off guard and separated from the larger battalion outside the village of Ky Phu in Quang Tin Province.
The ship's namesake said he was scared like everybody else but he tried not to show it. The other Marines were looking to him, an artillery spotter, after their commander died, he said.
To launch a counterattack, he brandished a .45-caliber handgun and told the others to follow him. They did.
"It's a tough business. But when it gets tough, the tough get going and that's what Marines do," he said. "We came together as a team. And, you know, there's no fury unleashed that's greater than that of a bunch of Marines that know that their buddies have been shot."
Barnum later became the first Medal of Honor recipient in the Vietnam conflict to return for another tour. He retired from the Marine Corps as a colonel after nearly three decades of service and served the secretary of defense as principal director of drug enforcement policy, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for reserve affairs, and acting assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs.
Barnum, of Reston, Virginia, was born in Cheshire, Connecticut, and studied at Saint Anslem College, a Benedictine college in Goffstown, New Hampshire. The school's abbot, Mark Cooper, delivered the invocation on Saturday.
The event was a family affair for Barnum, who now lives in Virginia.
His wife, Martha Hill, served as the ship's sponsor. At the event Saturday, she was in a wheelchair; Barnum has been her care provider since she had a stroke about five years ago. Her daughter; two granddaughters, one of whom sang "God Bless America;" and an 11-year-old great-granddaughter were also participants at the event Saturday. Other family and friends were present.
Displacing 9,500 tons, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer is built to simultaneously wage war against submarines, aircraft and missiles, and other warships. The newest versions are being equipped for ballistic missile defense.
The 510-foot (155 meters) guided-missile destroyer was in dry dock for the ceremony as work continues to prepare the ship for delivery to the Navy. | https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/medal-of-honor-recipient-watches-as-warship-bearing-his-name-is-christened-in-maine | 2023-07-30T17:32:42 | 0 | https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/medal-of-honor-recipient-watches-as-warship-bearing-his-name-is-christened-in-maine |
(Green Car Reports) — GM brought back the Chevrolet Bolt EV this week—as a future affordable EV product peg for the company’s product plan.
While the timeline is yet to be disclosed for the revamped Bolt EV, the timeline for the current Bolt EV disappearing from dealerships remains confirmed.
In April, GM disclosed that it would discontinue the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV at the end of 2023, as production winds down at the Orion Assembly plant in Michigan. GM had already committed that plant to produce the Chevrolet Silverado EV and other large electric trucks on its Ultium platform.
“Drawing on various Ultium and Ultifi technological advancements will help GM bring this popular model back to market on an accelerated timeline,” GM said Tuesday, confirming that the future Bolt EV won’t carry over its existing propulsion tech.
Future Bolt EV won’t be all-new
The automaker also suggested that not everything on the Bolt EV will be new. GM noted that it “will execute it more quickly compared to an all-new program with significantly lower engineering expense and capital investment by updating the vehicle with Ultium and Ultifi technologies and by applying our ‘winning with simplicity’ discipline.”
Ultium is the broad trade term applying to GM battery and electric propulsion families, and Ultifi is the term applying to its EV software, so this simply means that the future Bolt EV won’t carry forward with its present-generation LG Chem cells. Those cells had been the focus of a very costly, large-scale recall that appears to have been worth the effort, leaving customers satisfied and loyal to the brand and nameplate.
GM had no incentive to carry the current Bolt EV’s battery tech forward anyhow.
“We’re already on the road to delivering a 60% cost reduction compared to the Bolt EV with the next generation of Ultium,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in 2021, of tech set to arrive mid-decade, as part of a statement touting the automaker as one of the few to have an EV that’s as affordable as the Bolt family.
Did GM ever actually kill the Chevy Bolt EV?
GM executives had already hinted to Green Car Reports and other outlets that while future electric small cars might be in the works, those vehicles wouldn’t use the same large-format Ultium pouch cells that GM planned to deploy on everything from the Chevrolet Equinox EV and Blazer EV on up to big trucks such as the GMC Hummer EV and Chevy Silverado EV.
Likewise, GM and Honda announced in April 2022 that they were working together on a joint architecture for affordable EVs—one that would use “next-generation Ultium battery technology,” according to GM.
At that time, those compact EVs were set to arrive for 2026. It’s hard to imagine GM working on multiple compact EV platforms outside China, so this week’s announcement likely signals that the project has been pulled ahead—perhaps like how the automaker managed to accelerate development of the Cadillac Lyriq.
GM may have provided some of the answer to what comes next. Earlier this year the company clarified that it might include the flexibility of cylindrical cells in future EVs, as part of its Ultium tech but not as part of the Ultium Cells LLC joint venture. That was made clearer this April with the announcement of a joint venture between GM and Samsung SDI that will mass-produce cylindrical cells for GM products starting in 2026.
The lower-profile cells would help answer the dimensional challenges that make those large-format cells harder to package within a small car or beneath the floor of a low-profile vehicle.
Bolt EV’s manufacturing dilemma
While the Bolt EV’s Michigan plant shifts to electric truck production later in the year, the automaker doesn’t have other immediate options for U.S. manufacturing. GM vacated its Lordstown, Ohio, plant that used to assemble compact cars and is located near the Ultium LLC cells facility. It’s now under the ownership of Foxconn, which will likely assemble the $29,900 Fisker Pear urban EV there.
Meanwhile, demand for the Bolt EV surges, and GM will face a gap in its lineup after the end of the year. Of the 36,024 EVs GM delivered in the first half of 2023, just 2,365 were of its new-generation Ultium EVs. The remaining 33,659 were Chevrolet Bolt EVs.
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In its update for investors earlier this week, CEO Barra pointed to the Bolt as one of its most in-demand vehicles, at or under a 10-day supply in dealer inventory.
“Actually, we can’t build enough Bolts right now,” Barra said to Wolfe Research analyst Rod Lache. | https://www.kark.com/automotive/whether-gm-killed-the-chevy-bolt-ev-or-not-its-returning-soon/ | 2023-07-30T17:33:23 | 1 | https://www.kark.com/automotive/whether-gm-killed-the-chevy-bolt-ev-or-not-its-returning-soon/ |
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas Treasurer Mark Lowery passed away Wednesday, just a day after announcing his retirement. This and more are the topics covered on this week’s Capitol View.
Capitol View host Roby Brock sat down with Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge to remember the legacy of Lowery after years of hard work and public service.
He was honored in a service at the State Capitol on Friday.
Then, Brock spoke with U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford about his new book and what inspired him to write it. He also talked about major happenings in the U.S. Congress.
Capitol View airs Sunday mornings at 8:30 on KARK 4. | https://www.kark.com/capitol-view/capitol-view-remembering-arkansas-treasurer-mark-lowery/ | 2023-07-30T17:33:29 | 0 | https://www.kark.com/capitol-view/capitol-view-remembering-arkansas-treasurer-mark-lowery/ |
Appellate court rules that Missouri man with schizophrenia can be executed after all
The planned execution of a 45-year-old Missouri man with schizophrenia is back on after an appellate court reversed course Saturday.
Johnny Johnson is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Tuesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre for killing 6-year-old Casey Williamson after trying to sexually assault her in 2002.
With questions swirling about his mental competency, the execution was halted last Tuesday by a divided three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court. But after the Missouri Attorney General’s Office asked that the full court reconsider, that decision was reversed in a 7-3 ruling.
The case will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court before the scheduled execution date.
Attorneys for Johnson have claimed his schizophrenia prevents him from understanding the link between his crime and the punishment. They have also said Johnson has delusions about the devil using his death to bring about the end of the world.
The Missouri Supreme Court in June declined to halt the execution based on the mental health claim. The attorney general’s office challenged the credibility of psychiatric evaluations of Johnson and contended that medical records indicate he is able to manage his mental illness through medication.
Johnson lured the girl to an abandoned glass factory, even carrying her on his shoulders on the walk to the dilapidated site. When he tried to sexually assault her, Casey screamed and tried to break free. He killed her with bricks and rocks, then washed off in the Meramec River. Johnson confessed to the crimes.
Casey’s disappearance set off a frantic search involving first responders and volunteers. Her body was found in a pit less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from her home, buried beneath rocks and debris.
The execution would be the fourth in Missouri this year.
To report a correction or typo, please email digitalnews@ky3.com
Copyright 2023 KY3. All rights reserved. | https://www.kait8.com/2023/07/30/appellate-court-rules-that-missouri-man-with-schizophrenia-can-be-executed-after-all/ | 2023-07-30T17:33:30 | 1 | https://www.kait8.com/2023/07/30/appellate-court-rules-that-missouri-man-with-schizophrenia-can-be-executed-after-all/ |
OSHKOSH, Wis. (WFRV) – Four people are dead and two are hospitalized after two separate crashes on Saturday. Both incidents are connected to an annual air show in Wisconsin, according to officials.
The first crash happened shortly after 9 a.m. A T-6 Texan aircraft crashed into Lake Winnebago near Oshkosh, where the Experimental Aircraft Association is holding its annual fly-in convention, EAA AirVenture.
Both people aboard the aircraft died, according to EAA officials.
A few hours later, a Rotorway 162F helicopter and ELA 10 Eclipse gyrocopter collided in mid-air at the south end of the EAA AirVenture flight line at Wittman Regional Airport, killing two and injuring two others. Both of the injured are in stable condition, according to EAA.
The Oshkosh Fire Department said one of the aircraft landed on top of a parked plane, but did not clarify which.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating both accidents and has not provided a cause for either.
“Naturally, with the mid-air collision, somebody was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” EAA director of communications Dick Knapinski said. “How that occurred and why that occurred is what the NTSB will investigate and, from then, lessons will be learned as to what aviators can do to keep themselves safer.”
The investigation will likely take months to reach its conclusion.
“NTSB investigations typically take between a full year to 18 months to complete,” Knapinski explained. “They will have a preliminary investigation within the next week or so and then put out those findings. But the probable cause will probably take a year or more to determine by the board.”
The factors the NTSB will examine in its investigations include weather conditions, pilot experience, aircraft condition, flight pattern, and communication between ground and flight operations to determine the cause, which could be pilot error, a mechanical issue, or another reason, according to Knapinski. He described the weather as “mild” and likely not a contributing factor.
“Having accidents like this in the singular is very rare,” he said. “Having two fatal accidents take place on the same day is exceedingly rare.”
These are not the first incidents regarding aircraft at or en route to EAA this week. On Thursday, a single-engine plane bound for EAA AirVenture crash-landed in a cornfield in Green Lake County, hospitalizing two people.
On Tuesday, Knapinski said there was a “forced landing” east of the north/south runway at EAA AirVenture. The pilot was the only person onboard and was not injured.
Last Saturday, a single-engine ERCO Ercoupe headed to EAA AirVenture crashed in Fond du Lac County, injuring the pilot.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/4-killed-in-2-separate-aircraft-crashes-near-wisconsin-air-show/ | 2023-07-30T17:33:35 | 1 | https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/4-killed-in-2-separate-aircraft-crashes-near-wisconsin-air-show/ |
(NEXSTAR) – Have you ever found yourself at a crosswalk, waiting for the walk sign to appear as traffic buzzes by. And even though you press the crosswalk button – maybe multiple times – it seems to take forever for the light to change in your favor.
While some slow-changing stop lights just need you to tell them you’re there, some crosswalk signals don’t care how many times you press the crosswalk button – it’ll change when it’s ready.
Let’s explain.
It’s not exactly clear when and where the first walk/don’t walk signs were installed, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Records show it likely occurred in the 1930s, and they were much like they are today.
“When it was on, all traffic approaching the intersection stopped so pedestrians could cross the streets in all directions, including diagonally,” the DOT writes. One early system gave pedestrians 20 seconds to cross the street every 100 seconds. Another gave pedestrians the walk signal while traffic moving in the same direction had a green light.
About three decades later, crosswalk buttons began appearing. They were intended to allow vehicle traffic to continue moving smoothly until a pedestrian came along rather than frequently stopping traffic for nobody.
Today, many of those buttons are useless.
In Austin, Texas, for example, most of the downtown intersections have walk indicators that are part of the normal traffic cycle, the city’s Transportation and Public Works Department told Nexstar. This means pedestrians don’t have to push a button at all (however, outside of downtown Austin, almost all signals do have buttons).
In San Francisco, there are 1,286 traffic signals operated by the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency, 610 of which have a version of a pedestrian push button, a spokesperson told Nexstar.
At just 264 of those, pedestrians need to press a button to get a ‘walk’ signal to cross some or all of the streets at the intersection. San Francisco has 490 signals with Accessible Pedestrian Signal buttons – which verbally tell pedestrians what streets they’re on and when to cross – at 143 intersections, those buttons are also used to activate a walk signal at some or all of the crosswalks, a spokesperson explains.
Few work in Boston as well, where city officials told the Boston Globe there is too much vehicular and foot traffic to let one person influence the whole traffic light setup. Only about 100 of the roughly 1,000 pedestrian buttons in New York City work, according to reports. High costs of removing some of the non-working buttons prompted city officials to leave them in place, The New York Times reported, prompting many to find themselves pushing a useless button.
In addition to the impacts the buttons can have on interrupting traffic, some cities have cited their required maintenance when opting to abandon them.
Crosswalk signals that are actuated, meaning they are triggered by a pedestrian hitting the button or loop detectors, generally require more upkeep, according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials. Still, actuated signals could be beneficial “where vehicle and pedestrian volumes vary considerably throughout the day.”
While some cities may leave you confused about whether the crosswalk button actually works, San Francisco has placed signs at intersections that require you to hit the button.
Unless you’re instructed not to push the crosswalk button, it’s likely in your favor to press the button to get the ‘walk’ signal. If you find yourself waiting for an extended period of time, you can cross the street when safe to do so. You can also report a walk signal that should be functioning but isn’t to your city, sometimes by calling 311 if your community uses that number. | https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/are-you-wasting-your-time-pressing-crosswalk-buttons/ | 2023-07-30T17:33:41 | 0 | https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/are-you-wasting-your-time-pressing-crosswalk-buttons/ |
(NEXSTAR) – Facebook users still have a few weeks to claim their piece of a $725 million settlement Meta agreed to pay to resolve a lawsuit. Ex-Facebook users can get in on the action too, as long as they meet a few criteria.
The main requirement is that you had a Facebook account for any time between May 24, 2007, and Dec. 22, 2022. You also need to have been a United States resident during that period of time.
Even people who deleted their Facebook account qualify – they’re just likely to see a smaller payout. How big your check ends up being depends in part on how long your account was active.
People have until Aug. 25, 2023 to file a claim, either online or by mail.
After the deadline passes, a judge will need to give the settlement final approval. That hearing is set for Sept. 7.
If the settlement gets the final OK, it’s not yet clear when the payments will be sent out – but you might not need to wait for a check in the mail. When submitting your claim, you can fill out your Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, or direct deposit info to get your payment sent straight to your account.
It’s also not clear how much each eligible recipient will get. Legal fees and administrative costs need to be deducted first. The remaining amount will be divvied up among eligible Facebook users, but we don’t know how many people have submitted a claim.
We asked Scott Dodson, a distinguished professor of law at UC Law San Francisco and the director of the Center for Litigation and Courts, to help us estimate a figure. He broke down all the factors that go into calculating the size of a class action lawsuit payment, and said that based on similar cases he estimated the higher end of payments might be in the “triple digits.” Many more people will likely receive less than $100, he estimated.
Earlier this year, Meta agreed to settle the lawsuit claiming Facebook allowed users’ personal data to be shared with third parties, the most famous being Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The firm harvested the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users, the Associated Press reported. | https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/facebook-settlement-checks-can-you-still-get-a-payment-if-you-deleted-your-account/ | 2023-07-30T17:33:47 | 0 | https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/facebook-settlement-checks-can-you-still-get-a-payment-if-you-deleted-your-account/ |
TORONTO (AP) — Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward was placed on the 10-day injured list with facial fractures on Sunday, a day after he was hit by a 91 mph pitch from Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah.
Ward was taken to a Toronto hospital after being struck in the fifth inning of Saturday’s 6-1 loss. He was released from the hospital Saturday evening.
To replace Ward, the Angels selected the contract of infielder Kevin Padlo from Triple-A Salt Lake.
Batting with the bases loaded, Ward was hit by a 2-0 pitch from Manoah. The ball appeared to strike Ward next to his next left eye, knocking off his batting helmet.
Plate umpire Andy Fletcher motioned to the Angels’ dugout for the trainer as Ward went down, blood running down his face. Angels staff rushed to the plate and held a towel to Ward’s face. After a couple of minutes, Ward got to his feet and left the field on a cart. His left eye appeared to be swollen shut.
A six-year veteran who has spent his entire career with the Angels, Ward is batting .253 with 14 home runs and 47 RBI in 97 games.
Earlier this season, Colorado Rockies pitcher Ryan Feltner suffered a skull fracture and a concussion after being struck by a line drive off the bat of Philadelphia’s Nick Castellanos. The ball hit Feltner on the back right side of his head, and he fell to the ground. He lay on his stomach as two members of the Rockies athletic training staff aided him. He was able to get on his feet and walked off the field with the assistance of the two trainers.
While it isn’t clear if Feltner will return this season — he was placed on the 60-day injured list after the May incident — he told reporters he does not “want to rule it out.” | https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/mlb-player-suffers-facial-fractures-after-being-hit-in-head-by-91-mph-pitch/ | 2023-07-30T17:33:53 | 1 | https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/mlb-player-suffers-facial-fractures-after-being-hit-in-head-by-91-mph-pitch/ |
(KTLA) – A security guard at a nightclub was killed after being brutally beaten by a large mob in Hollywood early Sunday morning, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Officers responded to the Dragonfly Hollywood nightclub in the 6500 block of Santa Monica Boulevard near Wilcox Avenue around 2 a.m. on reports of a group of 10 people attacking one person, police said.
“The victim was working at this nightclub, and a large group – for unknown reasons – confronted that security guard, causing him to fall into the street,” said LAPD West Bureau Homicide Division Detective Samuel Marullo. “At which time the group advanced and kicked and stomped him to death.”
Police are still investigating whether the fight began inside the club and spilled onto the street or if it began outside entirely.
Video from the scene captured first responders attempting life-saving measures on the security guard, only identified as a male in his 30s, as he was lying in the street.
Dragonfly Hollywood was still open and full of patrons at the time of the security guard’s death. According to the club’s social media, it was hosting its weekly Signature Saturdays event, with Detroit rapper Tee Grizzley headlining the festivities.
The club also hosts an event on Sundays called Sunday Night Fever, but it is unclear whether that event will be postponed following the security guard’s death.
No arrests have been made.
Anyone with information regarding the attack is urged to contact the LAPD immediately. | https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/nightclub-security-guard-allegedly-beaten-to-death-in-hollywood-police/ | 2023-07-30T17:33:59 | 0 | https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/nightclub-security-guard-allegedly-beaten-to-death-in-hollywood-police/ |
In his recent commentary, “Political border battle rages on” (July 27), Carl P. Leubsdorf writes, “It came as the Republican-controlled U.S. House and the Republican governor of Texas were pressing ahead with “solutions” to the immigration problem that are unlikely to solve anything.”
Has it not occurred to Leubsdorf that any “solutions” offered by the far-right are never intended to solve or accomplish anything except earn the approval of their devoted followers and ensure votes?
— Susan Sachs Fleishman, Baltimore
Add your voice: Respond to this piece or other Sun content by submitting your own letter. | https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/readers-respond/bs-ed-rr-immigration-furor-letter-20230730-yde2qzecfbdfvouiy5ujrvslpy-story.html | 2023-07-30T17:34:40 | 1 | https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/readers-respond/bs-ed-rr-immigration-furor-letter-20230730-yde2qzecfbdfvouiy5ujrvslpy-story.html |
Plaintiffs in voting rights case urge judges to toss Alabama’s new congressional map
By KIM CHANDLER
Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Civil rights groups urged three federal judges to reject Alabama’s newly drawn congressional districts, saying state Republicans prioritized partisan concerns over compliance with a court order to draw lines that are fair to Black voters. The groups representing voters who won the surprise U.S. Supreme Court ruling — that affirmed a decision blocking the state’s previous map — filed their objection to the new plan late Friday. They said the new map “perpetuates” the state’s violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and fails to follow the three-judge panel’s finding that the state should have a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it.” | https://kion546.com/ap-colorado/2023/07/30/plaintiffs-in-voting-rights-case-urge-judges-to-toss-alabamas-new-congressional-map/ | 2023-07-30T17:35:32 | 0 | https://kion546.com/ap-colorado/2023/07/30/plaintiffs-in-voting-rights-case-urge-judges-to-toss-alabamas-new-congressional-map/ |
An unnamed juvenile is charged with first-degree assault after firing a gun Saturday night at a Huntsville shopping mall and injuring two people.
According to police, an argument between a group of juveniles escalated and a gun was fired once at the Bridge Street Town Centre. Law enforcement responded to the scene at 7:22 p.m.
Two people were injured and taken to the hospital. They both had “non-life-threatening” injuries, said Huntsville Police Department spokesperson Sydney Martin.
Assault in the first degree is the most severe kind of assault; a conviction can carry between two and 20 years in prison, per Alabama code.
Police will transport the juvenile who is being charged to the Neaves Davis Center, a juvenile detention center in Huntsville, Martin said.
“No further information is available due to the age of the individuals,” Martin said in an email. | https://www.al.com/crime/2023/07/huntsville-juvenile-charged-with-assault-after-bridge-street-town-centre-mall-shooting.html | 2023-07-30T17:35:34 | 0 | https://www.al.com/crime/2023/07/huntsville-juvenile-charged-with-assault-after-bridge-street-town-centre-mall-shooting.html |
The ‘Barbie’ bonanza continues at the box office, ‘Oppenheimer’ holds the No. 2 spot
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie” has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ | 2023-07-30T17:35:34 | 1 | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ |
Russian anti-war activists hold protest after activists face entry, residence problems in Serbia
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Dozens of Russian antiwar supporters in Serbia have held a protest after two prominent activists and critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin had problems with entry and residence permits in the Balkan country. Activists on Sunday held banners reading “We came to live in peace” and ”I love Serbia and I want safe and happy life here,” as they gathered at a central square in Belgrade, the Serbian capital. Serbia’s authorities have cited unspecified security concerns but activists say the problems could be tied to their activism. The Balkan nation has maintained friendly relations with Russia and has not joined Western sanctions against Moscow, despite condemning its invasion of Ukraine. | https://kion546.com/ap-colorado/2023/07/30/russian-anti-war-activists-hold-protest-after-activists-face-entry-residence-problems-in-serbia/ | 2023-07-30T17:35:38 | 0 | https://kion546.com/ap-colorado/2023/07/30/russian-anti-war-activists-hold-protest-after-activists-face-entry-residence-problems-in-serbia/ |
WATCH: Officers pull unconscious man from burning car
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 12:12 PM CDT|Updated: 21 minutes ago
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (CNN) – Dramatic video out of Texas caught the moment officers pulled a man from a burning car.
Police in White Settlement, Texas, said they responded to a report of a car hitting a pole early Saturday morning.
The responding officers found two people in the car.
The driver was able to get out safely, but a male passenger was unconscious and unable to get out.
Officers quickly pulled the man from the burning car until medics could arrive.
The driver and passenger were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Copyright 2023 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ | 2023-07-30T17:35:41 | 0 | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ |
Spain identifies 212 German, Austrian and Dutch fighters who went missing during Spanish Civil War
By DAVID BRUNAT
Associated Press
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s government researchers say they’ve identified hundreds of foreign fighters who disappeared in the region during the Spanish Civil War. Of these, 212 are German, Austrian and Dutch nationals. Researchers were also able to find the likely areas where they died or were badly wounded. It is a notorious advance towards locating their bodies inside mass graves scattered across the country. The next step is trying to identify militiamen from Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and US. Some 40,000 foreign men and women fought as volunteers against General Franco’s fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. About 10,000 of them died. | https://kion546.com/ap-colorado/2023/07/30/spain-identifies-212-german-austrian-and-dutch-fighters-who-went-missing-during-spanish-civil-war/ | 2023-07-30T17:35:44 | 0 | https://kion546.com/ap-colorado/2023/07/30/spain-identifies-212-german-austrian-and-dutch-fighters-who-went-missing-during-spanish-civil-war/ |
The ‘Barbie’ bonanza continues at the box office, ‘Oppenheimer’ holds the No. 2 spot
By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie” has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million. | https://kion546.com/ap-colorado/2023/07/30/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/ | 2023-07-30T17:35:50 | 1 | https://kion546.com/ap-colorado/2023/07/30/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/ |
Thousands take to streets in Gaza in rare public display of discontent with Hamas
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Several thousand people briefly took to the streets across the Gaza Strip to protest the territory’s chronic power outages and difficult living conditions. Sunday’s rallies were a rare public show of discontent with the territory’s Hamas government. Hundreds joined marches in Gaza City, the southern town of Khan Younis and other locations. They chanted “what a shame” and in one place burned Hamas flags, before police moved in and dispersed the gatherings. Several people were arrested. Hamas has ruled Gaza since overrunning the area in 2007. It has shown little tolerance for dissent. | https://kion546.com/ap-colorado/2023/07/30/thousands-take-to-streets-in-gaza-in-rare-public-display-of-discontent-with-hamas/ | 2023-07-30T17:35:56 | 0 | https://kion546.com/ap-colorado/2023/07/30/thousands-take-to-streets-in-gaza-in-rare-public-display-of-discontent-with-hamas/ |
A concertgoer threw a drink at Cardi B while she was performing on stage, so she fought back
By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN
(CNN) — Audience members at concerts in recent months have continued a pattern of throwing objects at artists who are on stage performing, and rapper Cardi B has had enough.
On Saturday, the “WAP” rapper was on stage at Drai’s Beach Club in Las Vegas when an audience member appeared to throw a drink at her, as seen in video footage posted to social media.
In the clip, Cardi B is seen getting splashed with liquid from the cup while performing her 2018 hit “Bodak Yellow.” Clearly upset, she reacted immediately by throwing her microphone into the crowd as security guards rushed to the stage.
More security guards are then seen flocking to the person in the crowd as she watched from the stage before continuing on with her set.
In another video posted to TikTok on Saturday, Cardi B is seen throwing her microphone at a DJ who appeared to cut off her song early during a performance at Drai’s Nightclub on Friday.
CNN has reached out to a representative for Cardi B for comment.
The incident in Las Vegas on Saturday is just the latest in a slew of similar scenes at concerts where artists – including Drake, Kelsea Ballerini, Harry Styles and Bebe Rexha – have become the target of objects thrown at them while on stage, with some artists suffering injuries as a result.
Only recently have performers, including R&B singer Monica and country star Miranda Lambert, gotten involved when they see behavior they do not approve of.
Last week, Monica jumped off the stage after witnessing someone allegedly assault a female audience member in the crowd at her Detroit show.
She was praised for her interference when footage of the altercation went viral on social media, and she later told CNN’s Abby Phillip she feels concerts have become “a dangerous space and place.”
“I just really want that to change,” she added.
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How ‘Soul Train’ immortalized an exuberant era of Black style and culture
By Brooklyn White-Grier, CNN
(CNN) — You’ve seen the early episodes. Teeth gleaming, hips grooving, and oil-misted ‘fros bouncing to the beat. This was “Soul Train,” the music television series that served as Blackness’ binoculars. It featured popular cuts and performances by a variety of acts, not to mention the liveliest studio audience you’d ever seen. Decades before MTV’s “TRL,” BET’s “106 & Park” or NPR’s “Tiny Desk,” to name just a few, “Soul Train” was chugga-chugging along, shaping ideas of cool across dance, fashion and culture.
Debuting in August 1970 on Chicago’s WCIU-TV, the Saturday morning entertainment show was a look at carefree, yet politically alert, Black Americans. In the middle of the Black Power era and feeding from the civil rights movement, “Soul Train” provided a fresh opportunity for Black people to see and celebrate themselves. It was the most prominent stage displaying the mingling of sociocultural and political progress — and an imagining of life unencumbered by white supremacy. And it quickly became a hit, resonating with Black families across the county; to this day, it holds the crown as the longest first-run syndicated television series in broadcast history.
“It was appointment television — you knew what time it was coming on and you cleared your schedule, whatever you were doing, to watch ‘Soul Train,’” radio and music industry veteran Dyana Williams told CNN. “You could see your favorite artist, your favorite dancers.”
A teenager when the program first aired, Williams saw first-hand the way it imprinted instantly on music, fashion and culture. “Let me send you my Afro picture,” Williams recalled of how the show helped shape her generation’s beauty and sartorial choices. “(We wore) all the regalia.”
In the early 1970s, beauty industry tycoon George E. Johnson generated millions of dollars in revenue for Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen. The products, a grease and hairspray, respectively, were for at-home use and perfect for maintaining the afro, as well as other natural hairstyles like braids. These styles were swelling in popularity among an impressionable and growing demographic with the expansion of the Black Power and Black Is Beautiful movements. Johnson soon became a co-sponsor of “Soul Train,” advertising the hair goods throughout the program. This, along with performances from natural-haired singers like Aretha Franklin, Al Green and Sly Stone encouraged even more Black people to embrace natural styles.
At the same time, a new style of dress was emerging too.
“The fashion was fly,” Williams said. “It was a combination of kind of boho hippie meets Black nationalism… ‘Soul Train’ set a tone for young people at that time to wear their hair natural, to wear vests, the platform shoes, the bell bottoms, the long maxi dresses. So our fashion taste, the cultivation clearly came from ‘Soul Train’ and then the rest of the media that we saw.”
The show’s appeal was dualistic — it was both a mirror of fashion trends and a catalyst for them. Seventies ensembles ranged from leisure suits to a Superman costume to anything cuffed. There were contrasting separates, like fitted clothing and loose garments and an array of earth tones and electric hues, that gave the show’s fashion its iconic, confident flavor. The vibe was simply the fact that dancers and celebrity talent alike wore what made them feel fabulous, whether it was a tip-toe away from cocktail attire or a tight tee and flared jeans. The most accurate descriptor for the dress code was “cool.”
In Nelson George’s “The Hippest Trip in America: Soul Train and the Evolution of Culture & Style,” designer Todd Oldham highlights in particular the fashion-forward matching looks often worn by couples and paired-up performers. “People were there together,” Oldham says in the book. “That’s what made it work. It kind of magnified the moves when your outfits are the same, and it wasn’t exactly androgynous dressing, even though they’re the same clothes.” These correlating looks were likely the result of the unisex fashion craze (and broader unfolding movements around feminism and gender roles) and the basic idea that two is better — certainly more eye-catching — than one.
Among the show’s greatest cultural contribution is the “Soul Train” line. Its format was both accessible and aspirational: Two buzzing rows of giddy dancers would face each other, with either one or two of the head of the lines eagerly showing off their dance moves down the middle. It’s now crucial to Black gatherings, predating line dances like the Electric Slide, the Cha-Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle.
In her late teens, Williams was hosting concerts in Washington, DC, and witnessed the dance’s impact on the streets. “We wouldn’t have a house party or at a club where we weren’t doing the ‘Soul Train’ line,” she said. In February 2012, less than two weeks after the death of the show’s long-running resident conductor, Don Cornelius, Williams set the Guinness World Record for the longest “Soul Train” line. She was looking to honor the legacy of a man she says was “kind, lovely, warm, and respectful” with her but “stern” as well. (Williams’ ex-husband is Kenneth Gamble, half of music duo Gamble & Huff, who wrote and produced “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” the theme song for “Soul Train.”)
Music journalist Naima Cochrane believes the show’s most pivotal fashion era was its earliest one. It’s certainly the most replicated. “Honestly the best era of ‘Soul Train’ was that first decade,” she says. “Those were the fits and the looks and the moves where I think ‘Soul Train’ probably had its biggest influence.”
Still, Cochrane, a Gen X-er, says that her era of the “Soul Train” — and the “Soul Train” line — moved with the times. It “progressed to being a little more kind of that ’80s glam look instead of the ‘70s pop locking,” she said. “That was the ‘80s hair-shaking and doing the little pump with your hands, with your chest.”
Multihyphenates like Rosie Perez, who went on to star in films like “Do the Right Thing” and “White Men Can’t Jump,” got their start on the “Soul Train” dance floor. Many more cultural phenomena, including Patrice Rushen, Shalamar, Fred Berry, Vivica A. Fox, and Cheryl Song (the show’s first non-Black dancer), also enjoyed career success after appearing on the show.
Perez’s time on the show, in particular, was so signature that, in 2020, TikTok user @terriarcelia amassed nearly one million views for emulating her dance moves; some 50 years after the show’s debut, “Soul Train” can still enrapture the masses. “Nobody was trying to be anything else. Nobody was trying to look like anything else,” Cochrane said. “It was just Black. And that to me is ‘Soul Train’’s biggest gift.”
“It’s the foundation of any other music shows that came after because the only one we knew prior to was ‘American Bandstand,’” Williams noted. “But it was on ‘Soul Train’ that we got to see our favorite artist, hear our beloved songs, get our style trends and language. And at a time where we did not see ourselves on television, it was great to be seen, heard, and to impact culture for generations to come. Forever.”
Editor’s Note: The next episode of the CNN Original Series “See It Loud: The History of Black Television” explores the reality TV series and talk shows that have showcased Black talent and shaped culture. It airs Sunday, July 30, at 9 p.m. ET.
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Elon Musk reactivates Kanye West’s Twitter account following X rebrand
By Eva Rothenberg, CNN
(CNN) — X, formerly known as Twitter, has reinstated Kanye West’s account on the social media platform. West will not be able to monetize his account, and no ads will appear next to his posts, the company told the Wall Street Journal on Saturday.
The musician’s account was suspended in December for violating the platform’s rules on inciting violence. The suspension followed multiple antisemitic comments made by West – who has legally changed his name to Ye – including a threat to “Go death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.” Those statements led to a swift disintegration of multiple business deals, including partnerships with Adidas and luxury fashion house Balenciaga.
Although CNN at the time was unable to determine which tweet had been the final straw, the day before his suspension West tweeted an altered image of the Star of David with a swastika inside.
Twitter has long been embroiled in questions surrounding moderation, with the platform’s CEO Elon Musk describing himself as a “free speech absolutist.” After agreeing to buy the company last October, he said Twitter would “be very reluctant to delete things” and “be very cautious with permanent bans.”
But after West was suspended, Musk tweeted “I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence.”
In April, Twitter’s safety team launched a new content enforcement strategy called “Freedom of Speech, Not Reach,” which focused on “restricting the reach of Tweets that violate our policies by making the content less discoverable.”
This approach, in part, requires the team to “proactively prevent ads from appearing adjacent to content” labeled as violative.
In an update earlier this month, the safety team reported that these labeled tweets “receive 81% less reach or impressions” than non-restricted ones, and that “more than 99.99% of Tweet impressions are from … content that does not violate our rules.”
Twitter’s Violent Speech Policy prohibits inciting and glorifying violence, wishing harm on other people, and threatening others. But it makes some exceptions, including for “figures of speech, satire, or artistic expression when the context is expressing a viewpoint rather than instigating actionable violence or harm.”
“We make sure to evaluate and understand the context behind the conversation before taking action,” the policy states, adding that if a user believes their account was wrongfully suspended, they can submit an appeal.
It’s not clear whether West submitted an appeal, or if something else prompted his account’s reactivation. The musician has yet to post on the platform. CNN has reached out to Twitter and a representative for West but has not received a response.
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Margot Robbie didn’t break character with her ‘Barbie’ press looks
By Jacqui Palumbo and Leah Dolan, CNN
(CNN) — She may be a Barbie girl in a Barbie world, but the boundaries between Barbieland and real life blurred for Margot Robbie during the whirlwind international press tour for the Greta Gerwig-directed movie.
On July 12, Robbie attended the film’s London premiere in her most extravagant look — a custom Vivienne Westwood gown modelled after Mattel’s ‘Enchanted Evening’ Barbie released in 1960. Before that, at the world premiere in Los Angeles, she recreated the ‘60s ‘Solo in the Spotlight’ doll with a black glittering Schiaparelli number and flamboyant tulle hem.
Robbie and her stylist, Andrew Mukamal, fully committed to delivering some of Barbie’s iconic looks, which Mukamal shared on Instagram. In one image, Robbie posed in a black-and-white striped summery Herve Leger dress that resembled the original Barbie’s beach romper in 1959. In another, she stepped out at the Seoul premiere in two different hot-pink ensembles made famous with 1985’s ‘Day to Night’ Barbie: a knee-length suit and glittery tulle gown, updated by Versace.
Robbie’s commitment to staying in sartorial character on the red carpet has been dubbed ‘method dressing,’ following in the recent footsteps of the spidery details Zendaya donned while promoting “Spiderman: No Way Home,” Jenna Ortega’s gothic glamour for “Wednesday” and Halle Bailey’s, well, mermaid gowns for “The Little Mermaid.”
It’s a fashion tactic that appeared to have particularly struck a chord with “Barbie,” as excitement mounted for the summer blockbuster. (Warner Bros. Pictures, which is distributing the film, is also owned by CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.) Images of her outfits went viral thanks to their nostalgia factor, while Mukamal was praised for his creative and flattering takes.
See highlights from Robbie’s wardrobe below.
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The ‘Barbie’ bonanza continues at the box office, ‘Oppenheimer’ holds the No. 2 spot
By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie” has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million. | https://kion546.com/news/2023/07/30/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot-2/ | 2023-07-30T17:36:26 | 0 | https://kion546.com/news/2023/07/30/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot-2/ |
Christie calls Trump’s team ‘the Corleones with no experience’ amid indictments
By Shawna Mizelle, CNN
Washington (CNN) — Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie on Sunday labeled Donald Trump and his team “the Corleones with no experience” after additional charges were filed against the former president over his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.
“This is bad stuff. And you can’t say there was no underlying potential crime here,” Christie told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on “State of the Union.”
“This was the withholding of confidential classified information from the government. After 18 months of asking Donald Trump to return it voluntarily, not only did he not return it. He lied about having it,” the former New Jersey governor added.
Prosecutors allege in an updated indictment that two Trump employees – aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira – attempted to delete security camera footage at the former president’s resort after the Justice Department had issued a subpoena for it.
De Oliveira told the director of IT at the resort “that ‘the boss’ wanted the server deleted,” according to the indictment.
Trump, who already faced 37 criminal charges in the classified documents case, was charged with one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.
The former president on Sunday denied that he directed his employees to delete security footage, claiming in a Truth Social post that his legal team had “voluntarily” turned over the security tapes to authorities.
“This is not what a former president should be doing, and it’s certainly not something that someone who wants to be president should be doing,” Christie said Sunday.
The New Jersey Republican conceded that Trump is innocent until proven guilty, before adding that “the government has made a very, very compelling case.”
Since entering the race last month, Christie has been among the most outspoken critics of Trump in a GOP primary full of candidates still hesitant to directly criticize the party’s front-runner.
Vivek Ramaswamy, another 2024 Republican candidate, told CNN in a separate interview Sunday on “State of the Union” that the latest round of charges against Trump wouldn’t change his vow to pardon him if the tech entrepreneur was elected president.
“I intend to be our next president. And, yes, I do believe I will move us forward. And, yes, I think one of the right ways to do that is to pardon the former president of the United States from what is clearly a politicized prosecution,” he told CNN.
Ramaswamy said Trump should not be convicted for a crime “that would not have existed but for the existence of an investigation.”
Meanwhile, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, another 2024 GOP contender, told CBS News in an interview that aired Sunday that if the accusations against Trump were true, “It’s incredibly dangerous to our national security.”
But Haley argued “this is coming down from a Department of Justice that, frankly, the American people don’t trust.” She maintained she would consider “what’s in the best interest of the country” when asked if she would pardon the former president if elected to the White House.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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CNN’s Alayna Treene and David Wright contributed to this report. | https://kion546.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2023/07/30/christie-calls-trumps-team-the-corleones-with-no-experience-amid-indictments/ | 2023-07-30T17:36:32 | 0 | https://kion546.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2023/07/30/christie-calls-trumps-team-the-corleones-with-no-experience-amid-indictments/ |
Democratic senator calls Samuel Alito ‘stunningly wrong’ on Supreme Court ethics controversy
CNN
By Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Washington (CNN) — Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut on Sunday called Justice Samuel Alito “stunningly wrong” in his contention that Congress should stay out of the Supreme Court’s business and stop trying to impose ethics rules.
“It is just wrong on the facts to say that Congress doesn’t have anything to do with the rules guiding the Supreme Court. In fact, from the very beginning, Congress has set those rules,” Murphy told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on “State of the Union.”
“But it is even more disturbing that Alito feels the need to insert himself into a congressional debate. And it is just more evidence that these justices on the Supreme Court, these conservative justices, just see themselves as politicians. They just see themselves as a second legislative body that has just as much power and right to impose their political will on the country as Congress does.”
Spurred by a string of stories about alleged ethics violations by justices, Senate Democrats have advanced legislation meant to create a code of ethics for the Supreme Court.
But Alito, a conservative appointed by President George W. Bush, maintained in an interview published in The Wall Street Journal’s opinion section Friday that “Congress did not create the Supreme Court” and doesn’t have the authority to regulate it.
“I marvel at all the nonsense that has been written about me in the last year,” Alito said in the interview, adding that “the traditional idea about how judges and justices should behave is they should be mute.”
The high court has repeatedly evaded requests in recent months to adopt a binding code of conduct, instead responding to allegations of ethical improprieties by releasing statements outlining and defending its current procedures.
That has failed to satisfy critics in the wake of an array of media reports shining a spotlight on how the justices are leading their lives off the bench, triggering questions about whether they are improperly benefiting from their positions.
“They are going to bend the law in order to impose their right-wing view of how the country should work on the rest of us,” Murphy said Sunday of the court’s conservative justices.
“And it’s why we need to pass this commonsense ethics legislation to at least make sure we know that these guys aren’t in bed having their lifestyles paid for by conservative donors, as we have unfortunately seen in these latest revelations,” Murphy said.
The ethics legislation is not expected to get the 60 votes required to advance on the floor of the Democratic-controlled Senate. And even if it did, the GOP-led House is unlikely to take it up.
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CNN’s Dan Berman and Ariane de Vogue contributed to this report. | https://kion546.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2023/07/30/democratic-senator-calls-samuel-alito-stunningly-wrong-on-supreme-court-ethics-controversy-2/ | 2023-07-30T17:36:38 | 0 | https://kion546.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2023/07/30/democratic-senator-calls-samuel-alito-stunningly-wrong-on-supreme-court-ethics-controversy-2/ |
Democratic senator calls Samuel Alito ‘stunningly wrong’ on Supreme Court ethics controversy
By Paul LeBlanc, CNN
Washington (CNN) — Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut on Sunday called Justice Samuel Alito “stunningly wrong” in his contention that Congress should stay out of the Supreme Court’s business and stop trying to impose ethics rules.
“It is just wrong on the facts to say that Congress doesn’t have anything to do with the rules guiding the Supreme Court. In fact, from the very beginning, Congress has set those rules,” Murphy told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on “State of the Union.”
“But it is even more disturbing that Alito feels the need to insert himself into a congressional debate. And it is just more evidence that these justices on the Supreme Court, these conservative justices, just see themselves as politicians. They just see themselves as a second legislative body that has just as much power and right to impose their political will on the country as Congress does.”
Spurred by a string of stories about alleged ethics violations by justices, Senate Democrats have advanced legislation meant to create a code of ethics for the Supreme Court.
But Alito, a conservative appointed by President George W. Bush, maintained in an interview published in The Wall Street Journal’s opinion section Friday that “Congress did not create the Supreme Court” and doesn’t have the authority to regulate it.
“I marvel at all the nonsense that has been written about me in the last year,” Alito said in the interview, adding that “the traditional idea about how judges and justices should behave is they should be mute.”
The high court has repeatedly evaded requests in recent months to adopt a binding code of conduct, instead responding to allegations of ethical improprieties by releasing statements outlining and defending its current procedures.
That has failed to satisfy critics in the wake of an array of media reports shining a spotlight on how the justices are leading their lives off the bench, triggering questions about whether they are improperly benefiting from their positions.
“They are going to bend the law in order to impose their right-wing view of how the country should work on the rest of us,” Murphy said Sunday of the court’s conservative justices.
“And it’s why we need to pass this commonsense ethics legislation to at least make sure we know that these guys aren’t in bed having their lifestyles paid for by conservative donors, as we have unfortunately seen in these latest revelations,” Murphy said.
The ethics legislation is not expected to get the 60 votes required to advance on the floor of the Democratic-controlled Senate. And even if it did, the GOP-led House is unlikely to take it up.
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CNN’s Dan Berman and Ariane de Vogue contributed to this report. | https://kion546.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2023/07/30/democratic-senator-calls-samuel-alito-stunningly-wrong-on-supreme-court-ethics-controversy/ | 2023-07-30T17:36:44 | 1 | https://kion546.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2023/07/30/democratic-senator-calls-samuel-alito-stunningly-wrong-on-supreme-court-ethics-controversy/ |
Max Verstappen one win away from another F1 record after eighth race victory in a row at Belgian GP
By Ben Morse, CNN
(CNN) — Max Verstappen is now within one race from another Formula One record after winning his eighth race in a row at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Verstappen came from sixth on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps to finish over 22 seconds ahead of his Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez in second and over 32 seconds ahead of third-placed Charles Leclerc.
The dominant victory was his 10th of the season and his eighth in a row. The record for the most consecutive race wins is held by Sebastian Vettel with nine.
Staggeringly, it is the 13th straight win for Red Bull, dating back to last season, and 12th in a row this year, the first team in the sport’s history to win the first 12 races of the season.
“It’s a new spot (winning from) P6. I knew that we had a great car and it was just about surviving Turn One. I could see it getting really tight so I was just going to stay out of that and it worked out,” he said afterwards on Sky Sports.
“From there onwards we made the right overtakes and moves. I got a bit stuck in a DRS train at the start but once that cleared I could do my own pace. Again, really enjoyable.”
The Dutch driver continued to show why he’s the runaway drivers’ championship leader – Sunday’s win extended his lead to 125 points – passing his opposition at will during the race.
At one point during the race, Verstappen felt so comfortable that he even suggested he do a pit stop practice.
“I could also push on and do another stop – a bit of pit stop practice,” Verstappen could be heard saying to his team on their radio.
The response was emphatic. “No. Not this time.”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://kion546.com/sports/cnn-sports/2023/07/30/max-verstappen-one-win-away-from-another-f1-record-after-eighth-race-victory-in-a-row-at-belgian-gp/ | 2023-07-30T17:36:50 | 1 | https://kion546.com/sports/cnn-sports/2023/07/30/max-verstappen-one-win-away-from-another-f1-record-after-eighth-race-victory-in-a-row-at-belgian-gp/ |
Updated July 30, 2023 at 1:02 PM ET
KHAR, Pakistan — A powerful bomb ripped through a political rally by supporters of a hard-line cleric and political leader on Sunday in the country's northwestern Bajur district, police and health officials said. At least 40 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded, including children, in one of the worst attacks in recent years.
Senior police officer Nazir Khan said the workers' convention of Maulana Fazlur Rehman's Jamiat Ulema Islam party was taking place on the outskirts of Khar, the capital of Bajur district, when the explosion took place. AP video showed wounded people being carried from the scene in the chaotic aftermath of the explosion.
Bajur used to be a haven for Islamic militants. It is the former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, a militant group that is a close ally of the Taliban government of Afghanistan. The TTP was in recent years evicted from the area as a result of operations by the Pakistani military.
In a statement sent to The Associated Press, the TTP condemned the bombing, saying it was aimed at pitching Islamists against each other. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, also condemned the bombing. "Such crimes cannot be justified in any way," he said in a message on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Though a separate group, the TTP remains a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021. The takeover emboldened the TTP. They unilaterally ended a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government last November and have since stepped up attacks across the country.
One of the victims, Adam Khan, 45, was hit by splinters in his leg and both hands. He said it was around 4 p.m. when the explosion knocked him to the ground.
"There was dust and smoke around and I was under some injured people from where I could hardly stand up, only to see chaos and some scattered limbs," he said.
Initially, police said 10 people were killed but later more bodies arrived at a local hospital, bringing the death toll to 40. Feroz Jamal, the provincial information minister, told The Associated Press that so far 40 people had been "martyred" and nearly 200 wounded in the bombing.
The JUI workers' convention was arranged in a hall close to a market, but later tents were added because of the large number of supporters who turned out. The venue was being guarded by party volunteers with batons. An announcement was being made for the arrival of Abdul Rasheed, a senior leader of the party, when the bomb exploded.
The bombing was one of the four worst attacks in the northwest since 2014, when 147 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. In January, 74 people were killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. More than 100 people, mostly policemen, died in a bombing at the city's mosque at police headquarters in February this year.
District health officer Dr. Faisal Khan said 40 bodies from the blast were at Khar's main hospital. Some of the wounded were in critical condition and were being transferred to a facility in Peshawar and the adjoining district of Dir, including by army helicopters.
Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi condemned the attack and asked officials to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the bereaved families.
Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Rehman's party, was among the dead. JUI leaders Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin were also on the stage but escaped unhurt. Party officials said Rehman was not at the rally.
Rasheed, the regional chief of the party, said the attack was an attempt to remove JUI from the field before parliamentary elections in November, but he said such tactics would not work.
Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the upcoming elections.
"Many of our fellows lost their lives and many more wounded in this incident. I will ask the federal and provincial administrations to fully investigate this incident and provide due compensation and medical facilities to the affected ones," Rasheed said.
Mohammad Wali, another attendant at the rally, said he was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the huge explosion temporarily deafened him.
"I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the ground," he said. "We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying, wounded people and sobbing relatives taking the bodies of their loved ones."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-30/a-bombing-at-a-political-rally-in-pakistan-has-killed-at-least-40-people | 2023-07-30T17:36:54 | 1 | https://www.ctpublic.org/2023-07-30/a-bombing-at-a-political-rally-in-pakistan-has-killed-at-least-40-people |
NEW YORK – A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie" has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million. | https://www.wsls.com/entertainment/2023/07/30/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/ | 2023-07-30T17:36:55 | 1 | https://www.wsls.com/entertainment/2023/07/30/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/ |
The ‘Barbie’ bonanza continues at the box office, ‘Oppenheimer’ holds the No. 2 spot
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie” has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ | 2023-07-30T17:36:55 | 0 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/30/barbie-bonanza-continues-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-no-2-spot/ |
WATCH: Officers pull unconscious man from burning car
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 1:12 PM EDT|Updated: 22 minutes ago
WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (CNN) – Dramatic video out of Texas caught the moment officers pulled a man from a burning car.
Police in White Settlement, Texas, said they responded to a report of a car hitting a pole early Saturday morning.
The responding officers found two people in the car.
The driver was able to get out safely, but a male passenger was unconscious and unable to get out.
Officers quickly pulled the man from the burning car until medics could arrive.
The driver and passenger were taken to a hospital and are expected to survive.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Copyright 2023 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ | 2023-07-30T17:36:58 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/30/watch-officers-pull-unconscious-man-burning-car/ |
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Voting rights activists are returning to court to fight Alabama's redrawn congressional districts, saying state Republicans failed to follow federal court orders to create a district that is fair to Black voters.
Plaintiffs in the high-profile redistricting case filed a written objection Friday to oppose Alabama's new redistricting plan. They accused state Republicans of flouting a judicial mandate to create a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it" and enacting a map that continues to discriminate against Black voters in the state.
A special three-judge panel in 2022 blocked use of the the state's existing districts and said any new congressional map should include two districts where “Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority” or something close. That panel’s decision was appealed by the state but upheld in June in a surprise ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which concurred that having only one Black-majority district out of seven — in a state where more than one in four residents is Black — likely violated federal law.
The plaintiffs in the case, represented by the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and other groups, asked the three-judge panel to step in and draw new lines for the state.
“Alabama’s new congressional map ignores this court’s preliminary injunction order and instead perpetuates the Voting Rights Act violation that was the very reason that the Legislature redrew the map,” lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the case wrote.
The new map enacted by the Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature maintained one-majority Black district but boosted the percentage of Black voters in the majority-white 2nd Congressional District, now represented by Republican Rep. Barry Moore, from about 30% to 39.9%
Lawyers representing plaintiffs in the case wrote Friday that the revamped district “does not provide Black voters a realistic opportunity to elect their preferred candidates in any but the most extreme situations.” They accused state Republicans of ignoring the courts' directive to prioritize a district that would stay under GOP control "pleasing national leaders whose objective is to maintain the Republican Party’s slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Alabama has maintained the new plan complies with the Voting Rights Act, and state leaders are wagering that the panel will accept their proposal or that the state will prevail in a second round of appeals to the Supreme Court. Republicans argued that the map meets the court’s directive and draws compact districts that comply with redistricting guidelines.
The state must file its defense of the map by Aug. 4. The three judges have scheduled an Aug. 14 hearing in the case as the fight over the map shifts back to federal court.
The outcome could have consequences across the country as the case again weighs the requirements of the Voting Rights Act in redistricting. It could also impact the partisan leanings of one Alabama congressional district in the 2024 elections with control of the U.S House of Representatives at stake.
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in a statement that Alabama's new map is a “brazen defiance” of the courts.
“The result is a shameful display that would have made George Wallace—another Alabama governor who defied the courts—proud,” Holder said in a statement. | https://www.wsls.com/news/politics/2023/07/30/plaintiffs-in-voting-rights-case-urge-judges-to-toss-alabamas-new-congressional-map/ | 2023-07-30T17:36:59 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/news/politics/2023/07/30/plaintiffs-in-voting-rights-case-urge-judges-to-toss-alabamas-new-congressional-map/ |
BARCELONA – Spanish government researchers said Sunday they had identified 357 foreign fighters who went missing during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the conflict that foreshadowed World War II.
Researchers confirmed the names of 212 fighters from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, according to a statement from the government Sunday. Some 102 are of German origin, 70 Austrian and 40 Dutch. It gave no information on how many people of other nationalities had been identified.
The identified combatants fought within the International Brigades, military units set up by the Communist International to fight against General Francisco Franco’s fascist forces. Some 40,000 foreign men and women joined up as volunteers, fighting alongside the forces of the democratic Second Spanish Republic and against the rise of fascism in Europe in late 1930s.
The findings are based on a year of research in records held in documentary archives in Spain and Russia. Researchers combed through the daily lists of casualties and missing soldiers compiled by officers in the International Brigades.
The names of private soldiers were frequently omitted from the lists, making the research process more difficult. These lists are held in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, in Moscow. Researchers also dipped into the main archives on the Spanish Civil War located in Spain.
By cross-referencing documents, researchers were also able to identify the likely area where the soldiers died or were badly wounded. It is an important step toward locating their remains inside mass graves scattered across the country.
This research provides “very valuable information that gives us the opportunity to contact the families of the missing combatants and, in the future, to intervene in the mass graves that have been located,” said Alfons Aragoneses, head of the project.
All those identified were part of the Thälmann Brigade, a Communist unit made up largely of anti-Nazi Germans. The battalion was active on the Ebro River front in northeastern Spain between March and September 1938, the site of the longest and deadliest battle of the war.
The research is ongoing and it is funded by Catalan regional government, with the aim of contributing to the country’s historical memory. The second phase of the project will try to identify missing militiamen from Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and the United States. The final step would require opening the graves in search of bodies.
Historians estimate nearly 10,000 foreign volunteers died in combat on Spanish soil during the war. How many are still unidentified, buried inside graves, remains unknown.
The Spanish Civil War served as a testing ground for Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy prior to World War II. This triggered an international outcry to try to save the Republic’s democratic government, which eventually succumbed to Franco in 1939. | https://www.wsls.com/news/world/2023/07/30/spain-identifies-212-german-austrian-and-dutch-fighters-who-went-missing-during-spanish-civil-war/ | 2023-07-30T17:37:00 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/news/world/2023/07/30/spain-identifies-212-german-austrian-and-dutch-fighters-who-went-missing-during-spanish-civil-war/ |
vivo Unveils V3 chip with 6nm Processes, Powering 4K Cinema Portrait Mode
SHENZHEN, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- vivo today held this year's Special Event of the 2023 vivo Imaging Conference in Xining, China, where it showcased a host of innovations in imaging technology. The company unveiled the V3 chip, a state-of-the-art 6nm customized V3 chip, as well as the latest algorithm technology. In addition, vivo revealed a periscope lens with the new "Vario-Apo-Sonnar" standards developed in partnership with ZEISS. During the event, vivo also announced the winners of the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards, with Indonesia photographer Jiehan Herry Saputro 's "Let Me Fly" crowned the Best Photograph of the Year.
Yu Meng, Vice President of vivo Imaging; Li Zhuo, Senior Director of vivo Imaging Products; Sebastian Döntgen, Head of Category Management, Marketing and Sales, ZEISS Consumer Products; Zhang Yan, Product Manager of vivo Imaging Performance; visual artists Gao Yuan and Duan Yueheng; Song Wen, Founder of FIRST International Film Festival; and Bertram Hönlinger, ZEISS Expert of Photography, attended the event to share their views on technological innovation and the future of mobile imaging.
"At vivo, we are committed to advancing 'human-centric professional imaging'. To this end, we continuously enhance our expertise across optics, computing, and algorithm foundations to build imaging capabilities comparable to professional photography equipment. We aim to deliver the user experience of recreating what the human eye can see and make professional-grade imaging capabilities more accessible for everyone. In the future, vivo will stay committed to creating the best imaging technology and help users record life's most precious moments," said Mr. Yu Meng.
At a time when everyone can be a creator, vivo has been dedicated to providing exceptional user experience with innovative mobile imaging technology. From industry-outstanding imaging chips and algorithms to expanding technological boundaries in partnership with other industry leaders, vivo continues to make efforts to boost its image technology strengths and improve the user experience in any scenario.
Unveiling the latest V3 chip and algorithm technology
The brand's latest V3 chip adopts a 6nm process and incorporates a newly designed multi-concurrent AI-ISP architecture and second-generation Frame Info Tunneling (FIT) technology. The technology upgrade delivers a superior user experience by enabling 4K cinema-like bokeh, automatic subject focus detection and switching, cinema-like skin optimization, and cinematic color processing. This makes vivo the first Android phone maker to enable 4K cinema-quality portrait video with post-processing functions.
In addition to the launch of the new V3 chip, vivo has also announced a composite algorithm matrix solution. The company's new vivo Origin Imaging Engine (VOIE) enhances image quality, color, tone, and computing functionality by advancing the underlying algorithmic capabilities for three sub-modules: Color Restoration Engine, Ultra HD Engine, and Accelerated Computing Engine. vivo also developed the Hyper-Sense Portrait System and Vast-Sky Night System based on the common portrait and night scene user scenarios. Additionally, vivo has been continuously upgrading its algorithmic matrix and technological capabilities to ensure the best possible shooting experience in various scenarios.
Building a prosperous image ecosystem with joint innovation
vivo's long-term partnership with optical pioneer ZEISS has led to breakthrough innovations for X series, from generation to generation proving ZEISS technologies and iconic optical designs were adapted for vivo's flagships. ZEISS T* coating for superior optical quality and iconic ZEISS Style Portrait to name just a few.
At the event, vivo and ZEISS jointly announced a periscope lens design with the new "Vario-Apo-Sonnar" standards. APO design is considered to have the level of the industry's top-quality control of chromatic aberration. For the very first time, the APO design will be adapted to a mobile imaging system enhancing a high performance zoom quality.
Further leveraging the floating lens group technology in the periscope lens, aiming to provide ultra-high resolution and enhanced focusing capability, to enable users to achieve excellent macro shooting outcomes. At the same time, it also has a creamy bokeh effect that allows the subject to be further emphasized.
The T* Coating is ZEISS's signature technology for anti-reflective coating on optical surface. The co-engineered rear camera system in the vivo's X series has achieved compliance with ZEISS T* Coating and reduced significantly unwanted lens flares in images under challenging lighting conditions such as nighttime, strong backlighting, and complex light sources.
For vivo's upcoming X series flagship model, ZEISS T* Coating will be equipped with Multi-ALD technology to enhance further the image clarity, by reducing center reflectivity from 0.2% to 0.1% on the visible light spectrum. Compared with the previous generation of ALC coating, the reflectivity will be reduced by 50%.
In addition to product innovation and joint development, being user-oriented is in vivo's and ZEISS' joint belief. vivo is committed to further diversifying the cooperation with ZEISS, including co-organizing the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards.
Sebastian Döntgen, Head of Category Management, Marketing and Sales, ZEISS Consumer Products said: "At ZEISS, we have photography in our DNA. To invite and enable even more users worldwide to enjoy creativity through cutting-edge smartphone image technology, it was a logical step for us to co-organize the 2023 VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards with vivo. The impressive results that we were able to experience again this year are a great acknowledgment of our partnership on imaging aspects."
vivo has announced a deep collaboration with MediaTek for its X80 series. Additionally, vivo plans to team up with Sony for further collaboration on technologies such as 2-layer pixel (stack pixel) and HDR in the future. vivo will also actively expand joint innovation research by collaborating with more industry partners, and with educational institutes such as ETH Zurich and other universities, striving for technological breakthroughs and a more diversified and open mobile imaging ecosystem.
Creating professional portraits and the ultimate night scene experiences
vivo has formed a unique portrait style that blends clear texture, natural skin tones, and a balance of real and virtual effects across device iterations. In addition, the brand continues to research and develop 3D portrait technology with 3D facial reconstruction and virtual content.
To this end, vivo has relied on its imaging laboratory platform to establish a 3D image laboratory with a proprietary cinema-like optical field system, capable of reconstructing extremely delicate 3D models of human faces and producing highly realistic visual effects in virtual environments. Based on experience gained from past products and real-life business scenarios, the company's 3D models achieve precise facial expressions, body postures and gestures.
These technologies have been developed with three user scenarios in mind: generative portrait style, generative portrait editing, and various portrait special effects. Users will be able to take photos that perfectly balance real and virtual effects, edit photos powered by texture reconstruction and lighting estimation algorithms and freely change the lighting, hair and facial expressions.
vivo has introduced enhancements to its technical capabilities in image quality, tone, and color for landscape shooting. The upgraded Vast-Sky Night System was designed to improve image quality and supply the most advanced quality solution for night scenes at all focal lengths. The upgraded SuperRAW technology offers exclusive parameter adjustment capabilities, meeting any professional imaging requirements for all focal lengths.
Based on VOIE, vivo has also introduced a True Color Night model powered by AI learning to the Night Sky Imaging System. This enhancement enables adaptive tone and color adjustments for night scenes and for night scenes with high contrast, a comprehensive night HDR solution has been introduced to tackle viewing issues in preview, shooting and display modes. In addition, the new XDR Photo 2.0 adds a highlight color preservation mechanism for light sources with high dynamic range and saturation at night. This improves the overexposure for highlights without affecting the color performance of the light source and preserves the night scene.
In the future, vivo will work together with Adobe, Apple, and Google to improve HDR photo standardization and overcome the inconsistent display of HDR photos on different devices—making vivo the only Chinese company involved in the development of the IOS standards for HDR photos.
On top of vivo's original distinctive colors and ZEISS Natural Color, vivo's team has launched a series of rich and personalized colors, drawing inspiration from classic photography techniques, classic films, and masterworks.
2023 vivo VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards Winners
During this year's Special Event at the Imaging Conference, vivo also announced the winners of this year's VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards. The top award went to Jiehan Herry Saputro 's "Let Me Fly", which is crowned the Best Photograph of the Year. In addition, the competition included awards in six categories: Portrait, Photo Series, Night, Landscape, Motion, and News. Two special awards were also announced: the X90 Series Best Photograph Award and the ZEISS Professional Imaging Award.
Since its inaugural launch in 2020, the VISION+ Mobile PhotoAwards program has received nearly one million submissions from over 40 countries and regions. This year, vivo received submissions from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and many other countries and regions.
Note: Please be aware that some of the features and technologies mentioned in this press release may currently only be available in the Chinese Mainland market. The availability of certain capabilities and functions may vary depending on your location.
About vivo
vivo is a technology company that creates great products based on a design-driven value, with smart devices and intelligent services as its core. The company aims to build a bridge between humans and the digital world. Through unique creativity, vivo provides users with an increasingly convenient mobile and digital life. Following the company's core values, which include Benfen*, user-orientation, design-driven value, continuous learning and team spirit, vivo has implemented a sustainable development strategy with the vision of developing into a healthier, more sustainable world-class corporation.
While bringing together and developing the best local talents to deliver excellence, vivo is supported by a network of R&D centers in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanjing, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Xi'an and more cities, focusing on the development of state-of-the-art consumer technologies, including 5G, artificial intelligence, industrial design, imaging system and other up-and-coming technologies. vivo has also set up an intelligent manufacturing network (including those authorized by vivo), with an annual production capacity of nearly 200 million smartphones. As of now, vivo has branched out its sales network across more than 60 countries and regions, and is loved by more than 500 million users worldwide.
*"Benfen" is a term describing the attitude on doing the right things and doing things right – which is the ideal description of vivo's mission to create value for society.
Stay informed of latest vivo news at https://www.vivo.com/en/about-vivo/news
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SOURCE vivo | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/30/vivo-unveils-major-optics-computing-algorithm-technologies-vivo-2023-imaging-conference/ | 2023-07-30T17:37:00 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/30/vivo-unveils-major-optics-computing-algorithm-technologies-vivo-2023-imaging-conference/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Barbie,” the pink-infused pop sensation, has seen remarkably sustained business following its year-best $162 million opening. Its ticket sales dipped only 43%.
“Barbie” has also outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to notch the best first two weeks in theaters of any Warner Bros. release. It’s rapidly accumulated $351.4 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, a rate that will soon make it the biggest box office hit of the summer. Every day it’s played, “Barbie” has made at least $20 million.
“Oppenheimer,” from Universal Pictures, again landed in second place with an estimated $46.2 million. It, too, held especially strong in its second weekend, with sales decreasing just 44%. Nolan’s three-hour drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million thus far.
With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
The week’s top new release, Walt Disney Co.’s “Haunted Mansion,” an adaptation of the Disney theme park attraction, was easily overshadowed by the “Barbenheimer” blitz. The film, which cost about $150 million, debuted with $24 million domestically and $9 million in overseas sales. “Haunted Mansion,” directed by Justin Simien (“Dear White People,” “Bad Hair”) and starring an ensemble of LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito and Rosario Dawson, struggled to overcome mediocre reviews.
“Talk to Me,” the A24 supernatural horror film, fared better. It debuted with $10 million. The film, directed by Australian filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou and starring Sophie Wilde, was a midnight premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and received terrific reviews from critics (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was made for a modest $4.5 million.
While theaters being flush with moviegoers has been a huge boon to a film industry still recovering ground it lost during the pandemic, it’s been tougher sledding for Tom Cruise, the so-called savior of the movies last summer with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I,” starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. Its domestic total stands at $139.2 million.
Instead, the sleeper hit “Sound of Freedom” has been the best performing non-“Barbenheimer” release in theaters. The Angel Studios’ release, which is counting crowdfunding pay-it-forward sales in its box office totals, made $12.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its haul thus far to nearly $150 million. | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business | 2023-07-30T17:37:17 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business |
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish government researchers said Sunday they had identified 357 foreign fighters who went missing during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the conflict that foreshadowed World War II.
Researchers confirmed the names of 212 fighters from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, according to a statement from the government Sunday. Some 102 are of German origin, 70 Austrian and 40 Dutch. It gave no information on how many people of other nationalities had been identified.
The identified combatants fought within the International Brigades, military units set up by the Communist International to fight against General Francisco Franco’s fascist forces. Some 40,000 foreign men and women joined up as volunteers, fighting alongside the forces of the democratic Second Spanish Republic and against the rise of fascism in Europe in late 1930s.
The findings are based on a year of research in records held in documentary archives in Spain and Russia. Researchers combed through the daily lists of casualties and missing soldiers compiled by officers in the International Brigades.
The names of private soldiers were frequently omitted from the lists, making the research process more difficult. These lists are held in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, in Moscow. Researchers also dipped into the main archives on the Spanish Civil War located in Spain.
By cross-referencing documents, researchers were also able to identify the likely area where the soldiers died or were badly wounded. It is an important step toward locating their remains inside mass graves scattered across the country.
This research provides “very valuable information that gives us the opportunity to contact the families of the missing combatants and, in the future, to intervene in the mass graves that have been located,” said Alfons Aragoneses, head of the project.
All those identified were part of the Thälmann Brigade, a Communist unit made up largely of anti-Nazi Germans. The battalion was active on the Ebro River front in northeastern Spain between March and September 1938, the site of the longest and deadliest battle of the war.
The research is ongoing and it is funded by Catalan regional government, with the aim of contributing to the country’s historical memory. The second phase of the project will try to identify missing militiamen from Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and the United States. The final step would require opening the graves in search of bodies.
Historians estimate nearly 10,000 foreign volunteers died in combat on Spanish soil during the war. How many are still unidentified, buried inside graves, remains unknown.
The Spanish Civil War served as a testing ground for Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy prior to World War II. This triggered an international outcry to try to save the Republic’s democratic government, which eventually succumbed to Franco in 1939. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/world/spain-identifies-212-german-austrian-and-dutch-fighters-who-went-missing-during-spanish-civil-war/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_world | 2023-07-30T17:37:23 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/world/spain-identifies-212-german-austrian-and-dutch-fighters-who-went-missing-during-spanish-civil-war/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_world |
Nearly two years after 10 people were crushed to death during the deadly 2021 Astroworld festival, no charges have been filed — even though some people, including event workers, expressed safety concerns.
Pinpointing “who exactly caused those deaths is not an easy question to answer,” said Sandra Guerra Thompson, a criminal law professor at the University of Houston Law Center.
“It’s a very difficult thing to say, unless you have some kind of clear evidence that somebody in charge, whose job it was to ensure safety and who should have known better, failed to take action,” she said.
A nearly 1,300-page report on the investigation into the tragedy released by Houston police Friday said contract worker Reece Wheeler told authorities that he saw a crush of people and warned an event organizer that people could die, shortly before rapper Travis Scott went onstage.
In the report, investigators wrote that Scott said he did see one person near the stage getting medical attention, but said that overall, the crowd seemed to enjoy the show. He said he did not see any signs of serious problems, nor did he hear anyone tell him to stop the show.
Hip-hop artist Drake, who also performed, told police it was difficult to see from the stage what was going on in the crowd and that he didn’t hear anyone call for the show to stop.
Despite no charges being filed, more than 500 lawsuits have been filed over the deaths and injuries at the concert, including many against concert promoter Live Nation and Scott. Some of those suits have since been settled.
Those who were killed ranged in age from 9 to 27, and all 10 people died due to compression asphyxia, according to medical examiners.
In June, a Texas grand jury declined to indict six people in the case, including Scott. Prosecutors said, then, that the circumstances of the deaths limited what charges they were able to present, eliminating potential counts such as murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Thompson said the sheer number of people involved in putting on the event, the large scale of it, and the high bar for proving criminal negligence or recklessness are challenges for prosecutors in cases like this.
“It goes back to, who knows what’s going on, is that being communicated?” she said. “Were they being told that people have died, and they still wanted the concert to go on? Or, were they being told that ‘Hey, some people are getting hurt, which might not be that unusual at an event like that?”
Assistant Harris County District Attorney Alycia Harvey said after the grand jury declined to issue indictments that prosecutors were left with only possible counts of endangering a child in connection with the deaths of the two youngest concertgoers, ages 9 and 14.
Scott’s lawyer, Kent Schaffer, has said that the performer was not responsible for the tragedy.
“He never encouraged people to do anything that resulted in other people being hurt,” Schaffer said.
Scott has previously said he was unaware of the deaths until after the show. He has since created what he called Project HEAL, a $5 million initiative that includes funding for an effort to address safety challenges for festivals and large-scale events.
The police report said Scott told investigators that around the time Drake came onstage he was told to end the show after the performance, but that no one told him of an emergency.
Following the tragedy, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott formed a task force to study concert safety, and to recommend crowd control and security measures during mass gathering.
The task force in April 2022 reported that people without tickets entered the outdoor festival area hours before the performances began, overwhelming staff and leading to a variety of injuries. It also concluded that the process for issuing permits for mass gatherings is inconsistent statewide.
The task force recommended creating a command center that is authorized to pause or cancel a show in response to safety concerns.
“Sometimes, sadly, industries learn safety practices following disasters,” said Thompson, the law professor. “The standards for live concerts like this, I would imagine, are going to change.”
_____
Miller reported from Oklahoma City, Willingham reported from Charleston, West Virginia. | https://www.kark.com/entertainment-news/ap-10-people-died-at-the-astroworld-music-festival-two-years-ago-what-happens-now/ | 2023-07-30T17:37:24 | 0 | https://www.kark.com/entertainment-news/ap-10-people-died-at-the-astroworld-music-festival-two-years-ago-what-happens-now/ |
Motorcyclist dies in crash with SUV in Palm City
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 1:30 PM EDT|Updated: moments ago
A motorcyclist died in a crash with an SUV on Sunday morning in Palm City, the Martin County's Sheriff Office said.
Crews responded to the crash at 11:45 a.m. at 8626 SW Citrus Blvd., near the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center, the agency posted on Twitter.
Three people in the SUV were injured, and transported to the hospital, including 2 children who suffered minor injuries, the sheriff's office said.
An initial investigation shows the motorcycle was traveling at 120 mph when it struck the SUV.
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.
Both lanes of Citrus are expected to be closed for several hours, the sheriff's office said.
Scripps Only Content 2023 | https://www.wflx.com/2023/07/30/motorcyclist-dies-crash-with-suv-palm-city/ | 2023-07-30T17:37:24 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/2023/07/30/motorcyclist-dies-crash-with-suv-palm-city/ |
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