text string | url string | crawl_date timestamp[ms] | label int64 | id string |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
TAMPA, Fla. — Ronde Barber never doubted he’d wind up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The undersized cornerback’s journey included some of the most memorable plays in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history, as well as several trips to Canton in which he resisted the temptation to step foot in the building where he’ll be enshrined as part of a class of nine 2023 inductees.
Barber, 48, played much of his career in the shadow of twin brother Tiki, who garnered far more attention as a star running back for the New York Giants.
That is until Ronde turned himself into a household name with a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown that sealed the 2002 NFC championship game and propelled the once hapless Bucs to their first Super Bowl appearance.
“It took a long time to get where I am, but I truly believed I was going to get there,” Barber said, looking back on a 16-year career in which he set an NFL mark for consecutive starts by a defensive back and never missed a game because of injury.
“I’ve been (to Canton) five times. I’ve never gone through the Hall,” he added. “I was purposely waiting until I had my opportunity to go in.”
Barber becomes the fourth member from a defense that dominated the league in the late 1990s and early 2000s to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch. He struggled early, only to persevere and become every bit as important to Tampa Bay’s success as the others.
“We wouldn’t have been as great without him,” Brooks said.
“He’s the best nickel corner who’s ever played. It ain’t even close,” Sapp offered. “That only begins to tell the story.”
Barber, a self-described perfectionist, blossomed in the Tampa 2 defensive scheme Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy brought to the Bucs in the mid-1990s. He excelled outside in base formations and revolutionized the nickel role when he moved inside to cover slot receivers and disrupt opposing offenses as a run-stopper and pass rusher.
Barber especially had a knack for delivering when the Bucs seemed to need him most, fully embracing opportunities to step up and help himself, Brooks, Sapp and Lynch change the perception of a franchise once referred to as the “Yucks.”
“I wanted to be that guy,” Barber said.
“Most teams used their third-best corner in nickel. Ronde was our best, and the best to ever do what he did,” Sapp noted. “Nobody else was versatile enough, durable enough to play at that level outside and inside. He wasn’t a big guy, but he wasn’t afraid of anything. He wanted perfection and prepared to do anything necessary to help us win.”
A three-time, first-team All-Pro, Barber is the only player in NFL history with at least 40 interceptions (47) and 25 sacks (28). He scored 14 non-offensive touchdowns, fourth most all time behind Devin Hester and Hall of Famers Deion Sanders and Rod Woodson.
After appearing in just one game — and playing poorly — as a rookie, the 1997 third-round draft pick out of Virginia appeared in 240 consecutive games over the final 15 years of his career. He started the last 215, the longest-ever streak by a defensive back.
“I never wanted to see anybody else do my job,” Barber said.
“He worked hard to perfect that position. He knew what it took to earn that job,” Brooks, who had a streak of 208 consecutive starts at linebacker, said. “When we got on the field it was going to take something drastic to get us out of there.”
For all his accomplishments, including the long interception return against the Philadelphia Eagles that clinched Tampa Bay’s first trip to the Super Bowl, Barber may be most proud of his streak of consecutive games played.
He appreciates the impressive numbers he compiled, as well as winning a Super Bowl. But there’s just something about defying the odds of not missing a game in 15 years.
Especially for a guy who appeared much smaller than his listed playing size of 5-foot-10, 184 pounds.
“With perseverance and hard work, really dedication to doing things uncommon … you can be special,” Barber said. “There was a lot that went into that, and I’m glad it’s now being appreciated.”
Barber, Sapp and Brooks also think it’s pretty cool that long after their playing careers have ended, the Tampa 2 defense lives on.
Numerous teams have adopted variations of the scheme, though without the level of success the Bucs enjoyed in their defensive heyday.
“That’s because it’s not the system, it’s the players in the system,” Brooks said. “Ronde, with his ability, allowed our defense to expand to all areas of the field. That’s hard to duplicate.”
Pittsburgh’s defense was nicknamed the “Steel Curtain” in the 1970s. Minnesota’s defense was once known as the “Purple People Eaters.”
The Bucs Hall of Famers take pride that the scheme they flourished in carries the name of the city wherever it’s implemented.
“We compared favorably to everybody over the years,” said Barber, who will be inducted on Aug. 5, along with DeMarcus Ware, Darrelle Revis, Joe Thomas, Zach Thomas, Joe Klecko, Chuck Howley, Don Coryell and Ken Riley.
Tiki, a six-time 1,000-yard rusher who ran for 10,449 yards and scored 67 TDs over 10 seasons with the Giants, will present Ronde to the Hall.
“Telling him was one of the highlights of my life,” said Ronde, who hopes one day Tiki will be enshrined in Canton, too. “He said, ’Now that you’re in, I’m in.’”
Before you move on, we invite you to become a Times Leader Advocate. You'll receive some great benefits, including our Diamond Card with local discounts and deals, access to our E-Edition, a faster, reduced ad experience on timesleader.com, and more.
Click now to support or get more information. | https://www.timesleader.com/sports/1615754/hall-of-famer-ronde-barber-emerged-from-shadow-of-twin-brother-tiki-to-make-name-for-himself | 2023-07-31T01:20:01 | 0 | https://www.timesleader.com/sports/1615754/hall-of-famer-ronde-barber-emerged-from-shadow-of-twin-brother-tiki-to-make-name-for-himself |
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Megan Rapinoe is adjusting to her new role at the Women’s World Cup, even if it means she’s not on the field as much as she’d like to be.
The outspoken 38-year-old known for her eclectic hair colors and the iconic victory pose she struck at the 2019 World Cup is the oldest player on the team. She already announced that her fourth World Cup would be her last.
“Ultimately, we’re at the World Cup. This is where everybody wants to be, whether you’re playing 90 minutes, whether you’re a game changer, whatever,” she said Sunday. “I think it’s a lot similar to what I thought it would be — bringing all the experience that I can, all the experience that I have, and ultimately being ready whenever my number is called up.”
Rapinoe has played limited minutes so far, coming in as a substitute in the 3-0 victory over Vietnam in the tournament opener, which was her 200th career appearance for the team.
She was available but didn’t play in the disappointing 1-1 draw with the Netherlands on Thursday in Wellington. U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski made just one substitution in the match, bringing in midfielder Rose Lavelle after the first half.
“I think all of us on the bench, it’s like we think we should be on the field as much as the players on the field believe that they should be on the field,” Rapinoe said. “Every player on the field that starts the game thinks that they should play 90 minutes, and every player who doesn’t, who is a sub, thinks that they should be on at some point.”
The United States has won the last two World Cups, but the players find themselves in a more precarious position as they chase an unprecedented third consecutive title. The Americans need at least a draw going into the final group match against Portugal on Tuesday at Eden Park in Auckland.
The Americans top Group E, even on points with the Netherlands, but hold the edge because of goal difference. Portugal, which beat Vietnam, could send the United States home early with a win over the Americans.
“We’re unsatisfied with the way we played, but we know there are areas that we can be better and I think there’s some really simple fixes we can do to put ourselves in a better position to have more joy on the ball, especially in the final third,” Rapinoe said. “I think everybody’s looking at this like `Let’s go.’”
At the 2019 World Cup in France, Rapinoe scored six goals over the course of the tournament, including a penalty in a 2-0 victory over the Netherlands in the final. She also finished with three assists and claimed both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball for the best overall player.
Rapinoe, who is engaged to former WNBA star Sue Bird, has been a leader on and off the field.
She made headlines during the 2019 tournament when she said she wouldn’t visit the White House if the United States won. Her decision was based on her disdain for then-President Donald Trump, and the team did not go to the White House after winning its second World Cup.
And in the midst of a dispute with U.S. Soccer over equal pay with the men’s national team, Rapinoe helped the women hold firm on their position.
“I just think back to 2019 in particular. We didn’t really talk about it a lot as a group but we were like, `Well, we have to win. This is kind of like a must-win World Cup for us.’ And I think it did give us confidence,” she said. “It pressured us, but I think we also knew that we could handle it and it was almost a mandatory upping of our level to be able to match everything that we were saying off the field. I think in so many ways we were betting on ourselves.”
Rapinoe has won two Women’s World Cup titles and an Olympic gold medal with the United States. She also took home the Ballon d’Or and the Best FIFA Women’s Player awards — the game’s top individual honors — for her play in 2019.
As a fierce advocate for social justice issues, including gender equity and LGBTQ rights, she was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Joe Biden last year.
The team also won a new contract that pays the players the same as their male counterparts.
“I’ve always tried to use whatever platform we have, and this platform was built long before I got here. We just continue to add to to it, to grow the game, to make the world a better place, to use our voices, to advocate for more,” she said.
At this World Cup, she’s passing that legacy on to younger generation. Fourteen of the U.S. players are playing in their first World Cup. In 2019, Carli Lloyd was in a similar role of a player who was also something of a coach who led by example.
Rapinoe is doing that now.
“Still every day in training I’m like, `I’m gonna try to bust your ass,’ and that makes them better, that makes me better,” she said. “That makes the whole team better. So I think it’s been really rewarding. And I think ultimately, and I think that this gets lost, but I get to play in another World Cup.”
___
AP Women’s World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-megan-rapinoe-adjusts-to-new-role-at-womens-world-cup-while-still-savoring-final-days-in-spotlight/ | 2023-07-31T01:20:01 | 0 | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-megan-rapinoe-adjusts-to-new-role-at-womens-world-cup-while-still-savoring-final-days-in-spotlight/ |
DUNEDIN, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand outshot Switzerland and even moved goalkeeper Victoria Esson into an attack position several times, but failed to break a 0-0 tie Sunday in the Women’s World Cup and became the first host nation to be eliminated in group play in tournament history.
The Football Ferns are co-hosting the World Cup with Australia, which must win Monday against Canada to avoid its own early elimination.
Switzerland advanced to the round of 16. The Swiss also played to a scoreless draw against Norway, but won the group with the draw against New Zealand, coupled with the Norwegians’ simultaneous 6-0 rout of the Philippines.
New Zealand controlled the pace for long stretches of the match and had its chances to score, outshooting Switzerland 12-3. Jacqui Hand knocked a shot off the right post in the 24th minute.
All 25,947 seats at Forsyth Barr Stadiums were filled — the only one of Dunedin’s six tournament matches to sell out. The raucous crowd stomped and cheered all night, to no avail.
The tournament began July 20 with New Zealand upsetting Norway 1-0, but the Ferns failed to score from the 48th minute of that match through two more games. They lost their previous match 1-0 against the Philippines.
KEY MOMENTS
Esson moved into an offensive position several times in the last minutes of the match as New Zealand pressed for a winner. She managed a header off a corner kick but was off target.
WHY IT MATTERS
Switzerland becomes one of two teams from Group A to advance to the round of 16. It’s only the team’s second time in the knockout round — the first was in the Swiss’ only previous Women’s World Cup in 2015.
The New Zealanders’ failure to score put an end to their Women’s World Cup run.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“Just gutted, I think. Obviously we talked and we were proud of ourselves and what we’ve been able to accomplish, but at the end of the day we wanted to get out of this group stage and we just didn’t. It’s just black and white. So, obviously gutted,” said New Zealand midfielder Malia Steinmetz of the elimination.
“We expected it to be really tough. New Zealand really tried everything they could, and I think we knew how to respond, especially defensively. We did a lot right,” said Inka Grings, Switzerland’s coach.
WHAT’S NEXT
Switzerland will play either Spain or Japan from Group C, pending a match between those teams on Monday to decide the top two places in that group.
New Zealand is done for the Women’s World Cup.
__
Ellen McIntyre is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
—-
AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-new-zealand-out-of-womens-world-cup-following-0-0-draw-with-switzerland-as-swiss-advance/ | 2023-07-31T01:20:08 | 0 | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-new-zealand-out-of-womens-world-cup-following-0-0-draw-with-switzerland-as-swiss-advance/ |
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
SYDNEY — Believe the hype. Linda Caicedo is for real, and so are Colombia’s chances of going far at the Women’s World Cup.
As for the country’s fans, who gave Sydney Football Stadium the feel of a Colombia home game on Sunday, their passionate support created a jubilant atmosphere that lingered long after a 2-1 win over two-time champion Germany provided one of the tournament’s great upsets.
“This is something historic for us. We’ve been feeling the whole time the backing from the fans from our country,” Colombia assistant coach Angelo Marsiglia said. “Today we were playing as a home team.”
Caicedo produced another moment of magic to put Colombia on course for back-to-back wins in Group H with her opening goal in the 52nd minute. She needed treatment late in regulation but stayed on the field and, five minutes later, Alexandra Popp equalized from the penalty spot.
That setback for Colombia in the 89th merely preceded an even later twist when defender Manuela Vanegas headed in a winner in seventh minute of stoppage time.
Cue wild celebrations from Colombia, and looks of disbelief among the German players.
Caicedo and her teammates certainly have had a dramatic campaign.
The 18-year-old Real Madrid star had a health scare earlier in the week when she dropped to the ground, holding her chest in a practice session. Team officials said it was fatigue, and she certainly appeared to be in full flight for her stunning second-half strike.
Cancer survivor Caicedo had already scored from distance in the 2-0 win against South Korea on Tuesday. But while that goal involved an error from goalkeeper Yoon Young-geul, on this occasion it was all about individual brilliance.
Collecting the ball from just inside the area after a corner, she worked her way into space by bewildering two German defenders in a fast-stepping move before lashing a shot into the top corner.
Caicedo, followed by her teammates, charged toward the corner to get closer to share the moment with the elated crowd.
“Linda Caicedo is a fantastic player. We knew that before the World Cup,” Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg said. “We needed to be very attentive.
“It was a good goal. I have to admit that. But we definitely should be better. We should keep ball.”
Germany is unlikely to be the last team to get the Caicedo treatment in her debut World Cup, provided she remains healthy.
Just days after struggling with fatigue at practice, Caicedo needed medical treatment behind play in the 84th minute. She dropped to the ground and, as she lay face down on the pitch, was checked by trainers as the referee stood nearby. She got up and started walking to the bench but, after signaling she was okay, went back onto the field and continued the game.
Marsiglia later tried to allay concerns, explaining that the teenager had been exhausted but adding that there was a “bit of acceleration” in her heart.
While Caicedo has been her country’s inspiration at the tournament, Vanegas’ late strike embodied the wide spread of talent in the team.
She rose to head in substitute Leicy Santos’ corner deep into time added on to move Colombia to the top of the group.
“This was a decisive match to qualify for the next round,” Marsiglia said. “This is a great win for the whole country but the game and tournament still continues.”
Germany now must regroup, having gone so close to salvaging a draw when Colombia goalkeeper Catalina Perez was penalized for bringing down Lena Oberdorf in the box.
Popp, who scored twice in her country’s opening 6-0 rout of Morocco, fired straight down the middle to level the game.
Germany has never failed to advance from the group stage of the World Cup and this was its first loss in a group game since 1995.
It is still expected to beat South Korea in its last game of Group H, but will likely have to settle for second place, which could set up a round of 16 match with France.
The runners-up at last year’s Euros should have been ahead in the first half when Popp was guilty of missing the target with a with a volley from close range shortly before the break.
Earlier Lina Magull had the chance to test Perez from close range, but mis-kicked and the opportunity was wasted.
WHAT’S NEXT
In the last of the group games Thursday, Germany faces South Korea and Colombia plays Morocco, with three teams still able to advance to the knockout stage.
Before you move on, we invite you to become a Times Leader Advocate. You'll receive some great benefits, including our Diamond Card with local discounts and deals, access to our E-Edition, a faster, reduced ad experience on timesleader.com, and more.
Click now to support or get more information. | https://www.timesleader.com/sports/1615758/caicedo-shines-before-late-vanegas-goal-seals-colombias-2-1-win-over-germany-at-womens-world-cup | 2023-07-31T01:20:12 | 1 | https://www.timesleader.com/sports/1615758/caicedo-shines-before-late-vanegas-goal-seals-colombias-2-1-win-over-germany-at-womens-world-cup |
HOUSTON (AP) — Quarterback C.J. Stroud, taken second overall in this year’s draft, isn’t worried that the Panthers picked No. 1 selection Bryce Young as their starter on Day 1 of training camp while the Houston Texans are making him compete for the job.
“I’m happy for him, but his situation is his situation, and my situation is mine,” Stroud said Sunday. “So, I know that I’ve got to work on my end and do whatever I’ve got to do to make this team better. It’s not about the starter (or) who’s not the starter, it’s about getting better for Week 1 against Baltimore.”
Stroud is vying with Davis Mills to be the team’s quarterback. The Texans have split first-team snaps between the two in the first few days of camp.
Houston drafted Stroud after Mills struggled as the team’s starter for the past two years after Deshaun Watson sat out following a trade request before being shipped to Cleveland before last season.
Mills went 5-22-1 in 28 games, including 26 starts, as the Texans were among the NFL’s worst teams.
Stroud is just the third quarterback the Texans have drafted in the first round, joining Watson, taken 12th in 2017 and David Carr, the team’s first draft pick who was taken first overall in 2002.
After using such a high pick on Stroud it’s hard to imagine that he won’t end up as the team’s starter. But for now, new coach DeMeco Ryans is adamant that it’s an open competition between the former Ohio State star and Mills.
While Ryans won’t answer questions about what Stroud will have to do to win the job, he’s had plenty to say about the dedication the 21-year-old has shown since joining the team.
“What you see about C.J. is the work and preparation that he does when he’s not here,” Ryans said. “He’s a true football junkie. He loves football, always watching football, always asking for extra cut-ups from our coaches. I’m so impressed with the mental part of him and just how much he loves the game of football. When a guy has that much love for the game of football, he’s (only) going to continue to get better.”
Stroud was a two-year starter for Ohio State, where he threw for 8,123 yards with 85 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions as the Buckeyes went 21-4. His 85 touchdowns over two seasons broke a Big Ten record held by Drew Brees.
Despite competing with Mills for the job, the rookie said that he and fellow quarterback Case Keenum have both helped him a lot as he’s made the jump from college to the pros.
“I’ve learned everything from Davis,” Stroud said. “Davis and Case are great vets. And just because we may be competing against each other, doesn’t mean that we’re not going to learn from each other. I’ve had a really great time being in the room with those guys.”
Stroud certainly knows what’s at stake for him in this camp, but he’s trying not to let the competition change how he approaches his job day to day.
“I feel like when you try to have a different mindset you confuse yourself,” he said. “So, for me, I just try to keep my head down and I work — just try to work harder and harder every day. Just trying to … be the best person I can be on and off the field.”
As Stroud prepares for his first NFL season, he certainly has plenty of goals. However, his approach to goals has never been to list only lofty, far down the road ones.
“I have goals written down,” he said. “I did it in college and I’ll do it now. But I have a lot of things that I put down, like really small goals. I think the more you can accomplish small goals in your life, the big ones can come kind of natural. And they come as you get the small ones checked off.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-no-2-pick-stroud-competes-with-mills-for-starting-qb-job-with-houston-texans/ | 2023-07-31T01:20:16 | 1 | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-no-2-pick-stroud-competes-with-mills-for-starting-qb-job-with-houston-texans/ |
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Sophie Roman Haug’s hat trick kick-started Norway’s dormant offense and sparked a 6-0 blowout win over the Philippines on Sunday that moved the Norwegians into to the knockout stage of the Women’s World Cup.
The Philippines’ debut run in the tournament came to an end as Norway scored early and often, netting three goals in the first 31 minutes.
Norway’s spot in the round of 16 was secured when Switzerland and New Zealand simultaneously played to a 0-0 draw and the Norwegians. Norway and New Zealand were tied in Group A but Norway advanced on goal differential. New Zealand became the first host country to be eliminated in the group stage in tournament history.
Before the game, Norway had not scored in three consecutive Women’s World Cup matches dating to the quarterfinals of the 2019 tournament.
But Roman Haug one-timed a ball into the net in the sixth minute, and scored again 11 minutes later. Caroline Graham Hansen added a long-distance shot in the 31st minute.
Roman Haug completed the hat trick in injury time.
In the second half, an Alicia Barker own goal in the 48th minute and Guro Reiten’s penalty kick in the 53rd minute extended Norway’s lead to 5-0. Filipina defender Sofia Harrison received a red card in the 67th minute for using excessive force, and the Philippines played the rest of the match a player down.
Eden Park was turned into a makeshift home match for the Philippines, as the Filipina fans screamed in unison any time the Philippines touched the ball, even as the deficit grew.
The Philippines were fresh off of a historic 1-0 win over co-host New Zealand that marked the first Women’s World Cup win for the debutantes.
KEY MOMENTS
Roman Haug got the Norwegians off to a hot start. The first of her two goals was a left-footed volley from inside the six-yard box in the sixth minute. Eleven minutes later, Roman Haug scored a header delivered by a Vilde Boe Risa cross. Roman Haug’s header flew over the reach of Philippines goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel.
Graham Hansen scored on a long-distance strike that curled into the bottom left corner in the 31st minute to give Norway its third goal of the half.
From that point on, Norway was in control.
WHY IT MATTERS
The win advances Norway to the knockout stage after the Norwegians found themselves in last place in Group A heading into the Philippines match.
The Norwegians had yet to score in 2023 before their six-goal eruption.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“They showed some of their class today with their skill. They picked us apart and won a couple of battles in the air in the box early. We really released the pressure early and allowed them to, sort of, be a little more creative as the game went on,” Philippines head coach Alen Stajcic said.
“We’ve been talking quite a bit about having the first goal, then it will give us energy. We know in our attack, we are strong and have good combination play both on the right side and left side. Today was the day that, when we had the first one, we knew there could be more,” Norway head coach Hege Riise said.
__
WHAT’S NEXT
Norway will play either Japan or Spain in the round of 16 next Saturday, depending on the results of a game between those Group C teams on Monday.
The inaugural tournament run ends for the Philippines, who needed at least a draw to have a chance of moving on.
__
Zach Allen is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
—-
AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-norway-moves-into-the-knockout-round-at-womens-world-cup-with-6-0-rout-over-the-philippines/ | 2023-07-31T01:20:22 | 1 | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-norway-moves-into-the-knockout-round-at-womens-world-cup-with-6-0-rout-over-the-philippines/ |
SYDNEY (AP) — Some of the biggest names in soccer have yet to show up at the Women’s World Cup.
That’s literally been the case of Australian star Sam Kerr, who missed the first two games with a calf injury.
Kerr has recovered in time to play for Australia in a crucial final Group B game against Canada on Monday. The Matildas need to beat the Canadians to ensure they advance to the knockout round, and the Chelsea striker’s return to the lineup brings needed energy to the team.
“Mentally, it’s massive. It brings so much to our team and obviously also a lot to the opposition knowing that we have Sam available for this game,” Australia defender Ellie Carpenter said.
Kerr’s injury on the eve of Australia’s opening game against Ireland set the tone for a tournament that hasn’t been kind to some of its biggest stars. She was the face of co-host Australia’s preparations for the tournament, which is also being staged in New Zealand.
She dominated the covers of magazines across newsstands, while the autobiography she released late last year chronicled her rise to become arguably the best player in the women’s game right now. Kerr’s popularity transcends women’s soccer and she is considered a national icon.
So the disappointment was palpable when news broke about an hour before the opening match that Kerr was going to be sidelined at least two games in this tournament.
Kerr’s absence was felt in the 3-2 loss to Nigeria in Australia’s second game, a loss that put the Matildas in danger of elimination. It is not known what her role will be against Canada, but Australia needs Kerr to deliver in the final game of group play.
“I’m definitely going to be available, but how we decide to use that is not to be given to the opposition,” said Kerr.
The World Cup is supposed to be a showcase for the finest talent and biggest names, but injuries have always robbed the tournament of some its star players.
Norway forward Ada Hegerberg has had her playing time curtailed. Often referred to as “the Lionel Messi of women’s soccer,” Hederberg was part of a Norway’s 1-0 upset loss to New Zealand in the opening game of the World Cup.
It got worse for the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner when she suffered a groin injury in the warm-up ahead of Norway’s game against Switzerland, and she’s been ruled out of the final Group A game against the Philippines.
Keira Walsh of England suffered a knee injury against Denmark that will sidenline her for the Lionesses’ final Group D game against China. Described as irreplaceable, it is not known how much she will be able to play.
Even for some stars who have seen plenty of playing time, it has been difficult to make an impact.
American icon Alex Morgan has underwhelmed so far at her fourth World Cup, where she is hoping to help the United States to an unprecedented third consecutive title.
Morgan, the co-leading scorer at the last World Cup, has yet to score at this year’s event and missed a penalty in the 3-0 win against Vietnam. U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski said Morgan was adapting to playing in a forward line with Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman.
“I think it’s not hard to realize that Alex’s role is slightly different than the Alex that we’re used to maybe in the past,” Andonovski said. “She does set up the other two forwards a lot more. It’s not that she’s not capable of scoring goals or getting behind crosses, but we can also see her playing balls to Trinity and Soph, but also getting crosses for them as well.”
Morgan, at 34, is now one of the older players at the tournament.
Christine Sinclair of Canada is also searching for first goal of the tournament. Sinclair is highest scorer in international soccer — men or women — with 190 goals.
Like Morgan, she also missed a penalty, in a 0-0 draw with Nigeria that could still prove costly. She was benched for Canada’s second game against Ireland before coming in as a substitute at halftime as the gold medalist from the Tokyo Olympics logged a come-from-behind 2-1 win.
At 40 years old, Sinclair is having to accept a more limited role for Canada.
Brazil great Marta, at 37, has also been used sparingly in her sixth World Cup.
Her teammate, Debinha, who is also an iconic figure to Brazil fans, has been one of the standout players for her country so far. But she wasn’t able to stop a 2-1 loss to France on Saturday despite scoring in that match.
The gap appears to be closing in the women’s game, with underdogs proving more of a test for the more established nations. That’s one reason some of the big name stars have yet to impress in tournament.
One of the few standouts who has not disappointed so far has been Alexandra Popp, who scored twice in Germany’s 6-0 rout of Morocco.
Major tournaments are traditionally a mix of rising talents coming to the surface, while established stars have the chance to confirm their status among the greats.
Linda Caicedo of Colombia, Lauren James of England and Melchie Dumornay of Haiti have proven their worth as some of the brightest prospects in the game. But as the second round of games nears its completion, it feels like the tournament is still waiting for many of its big hitters to make an impact.
___
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
___
More AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-some-of-soccers-biggest-stars-are-struggling-to-make-an-impact-at-the-womens-world-cup/ | 2023-07-31T01:20:28 | 1 | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-some-of-soccers-biggest-stars-are-struggling-to-make-an-impact-at-the-womens-world-cup/ |
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (AP) — Defending Formula One champion Max Verstappen enters the mid-season break in unstoppable form, after emphatically winning the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday for an eighth straight win and 10th overall of a crushingly dominant season.
Despite starting from sixth place he finished 22.3 seconds ahead of teammate Sergio Perez to give Red Bull an easy 1-2. It moved Verstappen ominously closer to a third straight world title and his own F1 record of 15 wins from last year.
Verstappen is 125 points ahead of Perez after just 12 races, and his next target is matching Sebastian Vettel’s F1 record of nine straight wins with a victory at the Dutch GP when the lopsided season resumes on Aug. 27.
“I just want to have a nice time now, have a bit of time with family and friends,” Verstappen said.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc finished in third spot for a third podium of the season, with Lewis Hamilton in fourth for Mercedes ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
George Russell was sixth for Mercedes, with Lando Norris (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) completing the top 10.
Leclerc started on pole ahead of Perez, with Hamilton and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. behind them. McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri was on the next row alongside Verstappen — who was fastest in Friday’s qualifying but took a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change and had to avoid early traffic.
“It was just about surviving turn one. I could see it was all getting really tight,” Verstappen said. “I’ve been in that position before myself so I am just going to stay out of that and it worked out. From there onwards I made the right overtakes.”
Last year Verstappen won from 14th, and once he overtook Perez on Lap 17 of 44 his 45th career win was seemingly inevitable.
“Really enjoyable to drive once I got in the lead,” Verstappen said. “It was again a great race.“
Red Bull extended its record to 13 straight wins, including the final race of last season.
Hamilton came in on the penultimate lap for a tire change and the move paid off as he took the bonus point for fastest lap from Verstappen — a very minor blip for the dominant Dutchman.
It was yet another stellar weekend for Verstappen, who also won Saturday’s sprint race. The only issue was some more bickering with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase over radio, as they continued their spat from Friday’s qualifying.
“Don’t forget Max, use your head, please,” Lambiase told Verstappen when he questioned why Perez was making his first tire change on Lap 14.
Verstappen defused any talk of tension with Lambiase.
“It’s fine. We know each other very well and we have a very good relationship,” he said. “I think it’s really important.”
With some rain forecast, Verstappen boxed on the next lap and came out about 2 seconds behind Perez. Just minutes later he cruised past Perez and, as so often this season, the rest was just about control.
Perez, meanwhile, pledged to stay on the podium for the rest of the season.
“It’s been a bit of a rough patch,” the 33-year-old Mexican said. “I really need this summer break, it’s been really intense. I’ll come back really strong for Zandvoort.”
Conditions were dry for the race start, in stark contrast to the two previous days, which were impacted by heavy rain at the 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
Leclerc, who won his first F1 race here in 2019, made a solid start but Perez’s extra pace soon put him in front.
“I knew it was quite crucial for my race to get Charles on Lap 1,” Perez said.
Verstappen rose two places to fourth after Sainz bumped into Piastri on the first corner.
Piastri had to retire, while Verstappen overtook Hamilton on Lap 6, Leclerc three laps later and made short work of Perez just before some rain fell briefly.
Some good overtaking from Ocon moved the Frenchman up from 10th to eighth in the closing stages.
It was an early end for Piastri, who had impressed with a second place in Saturday’s sprint race.
A bad day for Sainz saw him retiring on Lap 25 and Leclerc moving above him in the standings.
“Of course the race was good on my side, a shame for Carlos as we had good pace,” Leclerc said. “When you look at the Red Bulls we still have a lot of work to do … This was the best we could achieve today, no doubt.”
After the F1 break there will be 10 races left, but most of the competition for places will be behind Verstappen.
Alonso is one point ahead of Hamilton in third overall, with Leclerc and Russell level and Sainz seven points behind them.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-verstappen-wins-belgian-gp-to-extend-huge-f1-lead-red-bull-teammate-perez-2nd/ | 2023-07-31T01:20:35 | 0 | https://www.wowktv.com/sports/ap-verstappen-wins-belgian-gp-to-extend-huge-f1-lead-red-bull-teammate-perez-2nd/ |
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Thousands of people backing the coup in Niger marched through the streets of the capital denouncing France, the country’s former colonial power, waving Russian flags, and setting a door at the French Embassy ablaze on Sunday before the army broke up the crowd.
Demonstrators in Niger are openly resentful of France, and Russia is seen by some as a powerful alternative. The nature of Russia’s involvement in the rallies, if any, isn’t clear but some protesters have carried Russian flags, along with signs reading “Down with France” and supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian mercenary group Wagner is operating in neighboring Mali, and under Putin Russia has expanded its influence in West Africa. The new junta’s leaders have not said whether they intend to ally themselves with Moscow or stick with Niger’s Western partners.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that attacks on France and its interests would not be tolerated and anyone who attacks French citizens will see an immediate response.
Niger, a French colony until 1960, had been seen as the West’s last reliable partner battling jihadists in Africa’s Sahel region. France has 1,500 soldiers in the country who conduct joint operations with the Nigeriens. The United States and other European countries have helped train the nation’s troops.
At an emergency meeting Sunday, the West African bloc known as ECOWAS said that it was suspending relations with Niger, and authorized the use of force if President Mohamed Bazoum is not reinstated within a week. The African Union has issued its own 15-day ultimatum to the junta in Niger to reinstall the democratically elected government.
Shortly after the ECOWAS meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, Chadian President Mahamat Deby arrived in Niger to lead mediation efforts, according to the Chad state radio station.
ECOWAS has struggled to make a definitive impact on the region’s political crises in the past but Bazoum was democratically elected two years ago in Niger’s first peaceful transfer of power since independence from France in 1960.
Members of the Niger military announced on Wednesday that they had deposed Bazoum and on Friday named Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani as the country’s new leader, adding Niger to a growing list of military regimes in West Africa’s Sahel region.
Some leaders of the mutiny said they overthrew Bazoum because he wasn’t able to secure the nation against growing jihadi violence. But some analysts and Nigeriens say that was a pretext for a takeover driven by internal power struggles.
“We couldn’t expect a coup in Niger because there’s no social, political or security situation that would justify that the military take the power,” Prof. Amad Hassane Boubacar, who teaches at the University of Niamey, told The Associated Press.
He said Bazoum wanted to replace the head of the presidential guard, Tchiani. Tchiani, who also goes by Omar, was loyal to Bazoum’s predecessor, and that sparked the problems, Boubacar said.
Niger’s dire security situation is not as bad as that in neighboring Burkina Faso or Mali, which have also been battling an Islamic insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Last year, Niger was the only one of the three to see a decline in violence, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
Some taking part in Sunday’s rally warned outside bodies to stay away.
“I would like also to say to the European Union, African Union and ECOWAS, please, please stay out of our business,” Oumar Barou Moussa said at the demonstration. “It’s time for us to take our lives, to work for ourselves. It’s time for us to talk about our freedom and liberty.”
Niger has the most at stake of any country in the Sahel if it turns away from the West, given the millions of dollars of military assistance it has received from abroad.
On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the continued security and economic cooperation with the U.S. hinges on the release of Bazoum — who remains under house arrest — and “the immediate restoration of the democratic order in Niger.”
Macron said he’d spoken to Bazoum and his predecessor on Sunday. On Saturday France suspended all development and financial aid to Niger.
The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc has unsuccessfully tried to restore democracies in nations where the military took power in recent years. Four nations are run by military regimes in West and Central Africa, where there have been nine successful or attempted coups since 2020.
While the bloc has struggled to have much impact, the measures placed on Niger Sunday show the gravity of the situation, said Andrew Lebovich, a research fellow with the Clingendael Institute.
“The strenuous measures they have put in place or threatened to put in place show not only how seriously they are taking this crisis, but also the urgency the regional body and larger international community feel in trying to force a return to normal that will likely prove elusive,” he said.
The response from the bloc towards Niger differs from how it dealt with recent coups in Mali and Burkina Faso, which did not involve the threat of force if constitutional rule wasn’t reinstated.
In the last few decades it has sent troops into member countries a handful of times.
In the 1990s, ECOWAS intervened in Liberia during its civil war. In 2017 it intervened in The Gambia to prevent the new president’s predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, from disrupting the handover of power. Approximately 7,000 troops from Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal entered, according to the Global Observatory, which provides analysis on peace and security issues.
Economic sanctions could have a deep impact on Nigeriens, who live in the third-poorest country in the world, according to the latest U.N. data. The country relies on imports from Nigeria for up to 90% of its power, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency. The sanctions would suspend all commercial and financial transactions between ECOWAS member states and Niger.
In a televised address Saturday, Col. Major Amadou Abdramane, one of the soldiers who ousted Bazoum, accused the meeting of making a “plan of aggression” against Niger and said the country would defend itself.
“Tensions with the military are still ongoing. There could be another coup after this one, or a stronger intervention from ECOWAS, potentially military force,” said Tatiana Smirnova, a researcher in conflict resolution and peace missions at the Centre FrancoPaix. “Many actors are also trying to negotiate, but the outcome is unclear.”
___
Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria and Edouard Takadji in N’Djamena, Chad contributed. | https://www.wowktv.com/top-stories/ap-top-headlines/ap-as-regional-and-global-powers-decry-nigers-coup-the-countrys-future-remains-uncertain/ | 2023-07-31T01:20:43 | 0 | https://www.wowktv.com/top-stories/ap-top-headlines/ap-as-regional-and-global-powers-decry-nigers-coup-the-countrys-future-remains-uncertain/ |
Music streaming is through the roof this year.
With acts from all over the world taking over the charts and doing so in record fashion.
American music acts are on the list of chart-topping hits from Miley Cyrus, whose single "Flowers" reached one billion streams faster than any song in Spotifyhistory in 2023. To SZA's smash hit "Kill Bill," which has also amassed more than a billion streams this year.
Luminate, one of the leaders in global entertainment data and research, says global streams have already topped one trillion this year.
The fastest climb to a trillion streams since the inception of music streaming reached just three months into the year, a full month faster than last year. And with that growth comes an increasing interest in non-English-language music.
Luminate’s report found nearly 40% of music listeners in the U.S. enjoy music in languages other than English.
Spanish and K-pop are leading the surge in global pop music.
"They both have incredibly loyal and passionate fan bases, and that really creates an environment where fans are always on the lookout for new music," said Jaime Marconette.
Marconette is Luminate’s senior director of music insights and industry relations.
When asked if English-speaking artists are losing their global appeal, Marconette said what we're seeing is most likely due to the increase of people speaking other languages other than English in the country.
"I think that's a fair question, but I think that's a really complicated answer because I don't know if they're losing their appeal," said Marconette. "But I think that what we're seeing is probably a bit of a rise of native languages, or languages that are specific to certain regions, or even diasporas as they move to other countries, starting to grow."
SEE MORE: Why are Mexican Corridos gaining popularity on the music charts?
Latin megastar Bad Bunny’s "Un Verano Sin Ti," which dropped in the Spring of 2022, continues to dominate Luminate’s mid-year top album chart in 2023.
When it comes to both physical and digital sales, K-pop is as pop as it gets.
"The number one source of discovery for K-pop fans here in the U.S. is video and then also audio streaming services; you know, these K-pop fans are also 76% more likely to stream music than the average listener," said Marconette.
Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, and Arabic have all emerged as popular languages for non-anglophonic music.
The cultural melting pot that is the U.S. is also helping the rise of non-English music.
"But one of the things that we're seeing is that changing population demographics is definitely making the import of music from other countries easier," said Marconette.
Content platforms like YouTube and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram also bring the world’s music to U.S. listeners and make it easier for people to share new songs.
"There are really no borders; there are really no geographical barriers," said Marconette. "We're finding that fans in other countries are very easily able to access all sorts of music; you know, really, the world's music library is essentially available."
While it's safe to say English-speaking music will always be around, American music executives are certainly paying attention to the shift. That means they're scoping out international talent more than ever.
"Understanding population changes, you know, those sorts of things together can really guide the way for, you know, music to cross borders, whether, you know, internationally or coming into the U.S. as well," said Marconette.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kbzk.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time | 2023-07-31T01:21:03 | 0 | https://www.kbzk.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time |
The Biden administration says it's hunting for destructive computer code or malware; it believes China has hidden deep inside networks controlling power grids, according to theNew York Times.
The discovery raises suspicions that hackers acting on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army have embedded malware designed to disrupt U.S. military operations in the event China were to invade Taiwan.
"So if it's not just localized and if it's a deep infiltration and it's utilized in that way, you can imagine the banking system or the power grid going down nationally or the water systems being ineffectual nationally, and that could obviously disrupt operations at home, not just for the purposes of slowing us down in response but actually taking us out of the game altogether, unable to resupply our forces and the like," said Jamil Jaffer, former counsel to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Earlier in May, tech giant Microsoft warned that hackers likely acting on behalf of China targeted U.S. military assets on the island of Guam, seeding harmful computer code in communications infrastructure.
SEE MORE: The evolution and future of the US-China relationship
"It was referred to as a vault typhoon. And obviously, this raises some concerns about how deep in are the Chinese in our systems. Are they in just military systems? Are they just in that region? Is it spread more broadly across the country, other military bases overseas, or in the United States?" said Jaffer.
The news about the malware adds tension to an increasingly fraught U.S.-China relationship, with clashes that include increasing threats towards Taiwan and American efforts to ban complex semi-conductor sales to China.
The U.S. has also blamed China for other major infrastructure computer hacks as well as accusing the foreign power of spying on the continental U.S. with school bus-sized balloons.
For its part, China accused the U.S. of hacking into its telecom giant, Huawei.
The U.S. recently reiterated its commitment to defending Taiwan, the island nation off the coast of mainland China. Taiwan recently held military exercises.
"With respect to Taiwan, you know, the capability that we are providing them is defensive capability, as you know, in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act. We are committed to helping them get the capability they need to defend themselves. And so, this is no change from what we've done in the past," said Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense.
China regards Taiwan as a rogue province and a constant source of tension between the U.S. and China. Two nations that are trading partners and, at the same time, increasingly wary adversaries.
In response to the New York Times article, the Chinese embassy in Washington reacted with dismay, denying it engages in hacking and calling the United States a far bigger offender.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kbzk.com/nyt-officials-fear-chinese-hackers-malware-could-disrupt-us-military | 2023-07-31T01:21:09 | 0 | https://www.kbzk.com/nyt-officials-fear-chinese-hackers-malware-could-disrupt-us-military |
Southern Miss F Denijay Harris commits to Arkansas
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 7:20 PM CDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KAIT) - Southern Miss forward Denijay Harris is the seventh player to join Arkansas via the transfer portal this offseason, the 6-7 Mississippi native Tweeted Friday.
Harris played in 82 games in his Golden Eagle career, averaging a career-best 9 points and 6 rebounds a night this season... including a career-high 22 points against A-State in January.
It’s the seventh and final transfer to join Arkansas’ roster.
Arkansas Men’s Basketball Offseason
TRANSFER PORTAL ADDITIONS
- F Denijay Harris (Junior - Southern Miss)
- G Khalif Battle (Senior - Temple)
- G El Ellis (Senior - Louisville)
- G Jeremiah Davenport (Senior - Cincinnati)
- F Chandler Lawson (Senior - Memphis)
- G Tramon Mark (Junior - Houston)
- G Keyon Menifield (Sophomore - Washington)
PORTAL DEPARTURES
- G Derrian Ford - Arkansas State
- F Barry Dunning - UAB
- F Makhel Mitchell - Little Rock
NEWCOMERS
- F Baye Fall (Accelerated Schools in Denver)
- G Layden Blocker (Sunrise Christian Academy (Ks.), Little Rock Christian)
RETURNERS
- G Devo Davis (Sr.)
- F Jalen Graham (Sr.)
- G Cade Arbogast (Sr.)
- F Lawson Blake (Jr.)
- G Joseph Pinion (Soph.)
- F Trevon Brazile (Soph.)
Copyright 2023 KAIT. All rights reserved. | https://www.kait8.com/2023/07/31/southern-miss-f-denijay-harris-commits-arkansas/ | 2023-07-31T01:23:32 | 0 | https://www.kait8.com/2023/07/31/southern-miss-f-denijay-harris-commits-arkansas/ |
SUZHOU, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Transcenta Holding Limited ("Transcenta") (HKEX: 06628), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully-integrated capabilities in discovery, research, development and manufacturing of antibody-based therapeutics, announces that it has received approval from China Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) to initiate Phase II clinical trial of TST002(Blosozumab). This study aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of TST002(Blosozumab) after single and multiple intravenous administrations in patients with reduced bone mineral density.
Osteoporosis is a significant health concern for the middle-aged and elderly population in China. It is estimated that by 2050, the number of osteoporosis patients will reach 120 million. Compared with RANKL mAbs, sclerostin mAbs successfully achieve the dual goal of preventing bone loss and rebuilding the bone. Evenity (Romosozumab) of Amgen is the only anti-sclerostin antibody drug that has been approved by the FDA in the United States. Up to the present, there was no anti-sclerostin antibody drug approved in China.
In May 2023, Transcenta presented Phase I unblinded data, which showed that the overall safety and tolerability of TST002 (Blosozumab) in all dose cohorts is favorable. On the efficacy side, all dose cohorts from 200-1,200 mg have shown a clinically meaningful increase in lumbar spine BMD on Day 85 (D85) after a single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab) and comparable to those of Blosozumab single dose study at the similar dose levels. The average increase of lumbar spine BMD at Day 85 (D85) from baseline ranged from 3.52% to 6.20% across dose cohorts, all exceeding the least significant difference (2.77%). The increase of lumbar spine BMD in the placebo group was only 0.30% even with optimal calcium and vitamin D supplemental treatment. In addition, encouraging BMD increase in total hip from 1.30% to 2.24% across dose cohorts were observed after single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab). In comparison, the mean percent change in lumbar spine BMD from baseline to month 12 was 5.4% after one year of Denosumab treatment.1
"We are excited to have received the clearance to move forward from CDE. Our Phase II will assess several regimens of TST002 (Blosozumab) with reduced dosing frequency, bringing us closer to our Phase III. We look forward to fully exploring the differentiated profile of TST002 to address the unmet medical need of the large patient population who suffers from osteoporosis," said Dr. Caroline Germa, Transcenta's Executive Vice President, Global Medicine Development and Chief Medical Officer.
Reference:
1 https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/105/3/e255/5607536
About TST002 (Blosozumab)
TST002 (Blosozumab) is a humanized anti-sclerostin monoclonal antibody as a drug candidate for osteoporosis and other bone loss diseases. It has a dual effect possessing both anabolic and anti-resorptive effects, which stimulates bone formation and inhibits bone absorption, resulting in fast increase in bone mineral density and bone strength. Blocking sclerostin activity in human treated with anti-sclerostin antibody or with naturally occurring genetic deletion has been shown to be an effective approach in increasing bone mineral density (BMD) and reducing bone fracture. Currently there is no approved anti-sclerostin antibody therapy in China yet although Romosozumab from Amgen has been approved in the United States, Europe and Japan.
About Transcenta Holding Limited
Transcenta (HKEX: 06628) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully integrated capabilities in antibody-based biotherapeutics discovery, research, development and manufacturing.
Transcenta has established global footprint, with Headquarters and Discovery, Clinical and Translational Research Center in Suzhou, Process and Product Development Center and Manufacturing Facility in Hangzhou, and Clinical Development Centers in Princeton, US and in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou of China, and External Partnering Center in Boston and Los Angeles, US. Transcenta has also initiated the construction of the Group Headquarters and the second high-end biopharmaceutical facility with ICB as its core technology in Suzhou Industrial Park. Transcenta is developing 13 therapeutic antibody molecules for oncology and selected non-oncology indications including bone and kidney disorders.
For more information, please visit www.transcenta.com and https://www.linkedin.com/company/transcenta.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Transcenta, are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Transcenta does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.
These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Transcenta with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Transcenta's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Transcenta's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.
Transcenta, the Directors and the employees of Transcenta assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialize or turn out to be incorrect.
View original content:
SOURCE Transcenta Holding Limited | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ | 2023-07-31T01:23:35 | 1 | https://www.ktre.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ |
Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe | https://www.albanyherald.com/news/8-year-old-survives-extraordinarily-rare-cougar-attack-near-washington-s-lake-angeles/article_6082f535-7bc0-5ca8-aa52-2f1efc657ed9.html | 2023-07-31T01:24:03 | 1 | https://www.albanyherald.com/news/8-year-old-survives-extraordinarily-rare-cougar-attack-near-washington-s-lake-angeles/article_6082f535-7bc0-5ca8-aa52-2f1efc657ed9.html |
HOUSTON, Minn. (WXOW) - The Forsyth House is recognized as the longest owned property by a single family and the earliest home built in Houston, Minnesota.
The house dates back to 1878 and is now part of the Houston Area Preservation Initiative (HAPI). The Forsyth family, one of the first settlers to the town, still own the house.
Co-Owner Bryan Forsyth said that he purchased the house from the remaining daughter of his great uncle.
“When we bought it we never had intentions of living here,” Forsyth said. “But when I was a little kid I would visit these two elderly ladies growing up. They thought I was pretty cool. My eyes would be this big with the antiques that were in here.”
Forsyth decided that he was going to buy the house from the guardian which was looking over the property.
“I did not want anyone else to buy it and put trailer houses next door,” he said. “I really wanted the barn. It’s across the alley. My great uncle had teams of horses like people today have semi’s.”
Flash forward to the present day, and the house has a long lasting history within the family. HAPI and the family are trying to get it recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.
“Once you get that you're open to a lot of different degrees,” Forsyth said. “As far as grants are concerned because they know you're part of the national register then they're more apt to give you a grant for money. "
The house is already hooked up with the Minnesota Historical Society, according to Forsyth.
“In order to do that you have to have everything just so. You have to have the right kind of eves troughs and everything has to be just right,” Forsyth said.
There are some upgrades that the house will have to see before being recognized. Those include adding a handicap accessible ramp to the back of the house as well as specifications for the width of handicap accessible doors.
“Most of the old doors are only 32 inches wide,” he said. “We have one door in here that is 36. A wheelchair cannot get in.”
The Forsyth House is just beginning to give tours with there only being two prior opportunities for the general public to view the house. The plan is to pick up the pace in terms of tours. Each month, the house is themed and this month is historic calendars.
Forsyth said that next month will be a women's Victorian era theme.
The home is open for tours by phone call. The number to call is (507) 896-2252. They also have a Facebook Page. | https://www.wxow.com/news/historic-forsyth-house-giving-tours/article_d2cb5b66-2f3a-11ee-ab0a-c7016f983d61.html | 2023-07-31T01:24:16 | 0 | https://www.wxow.com/news/historic-forsyth-house-giving-tours/article_d2cb5b66-2f3a-11ee-ab0a-c7016f983d61.html |
Well, Colts G.M. Chris Ballard might be playing hardball with running back Jonathan Taylor.
Mike Chappell of Fox 59/CBS 4 reports that the Colts are considering placing Taylor on the non-football injury list. Taylor currently is on the physically unable to perform list.
“He suffered some type of back injury while working out on own in Arizona,” Chappell tweeted. “Also still rehabbing from January ankle surgery.”
The ankle injury is a covered football activity, guaranteeing his salary if he can’t play. The back injury would be not covered, allowing the Colts to not pay him.
That’s delicate territory. It’s one thing for Taylor to get injured while hang gliding or rock climbing or whatever. It’s another for him to be injured while getting ready for the season. Teams usually (but not always) protect players who get injured while doing something other than watching bowling and eating pork rinds in their free time.
When Ballard explained to #PFTPM in May 2022 that he wants players who want to be on the team, he left open the option of taking a hard line.
“Mike Tomlin says it best,” Ballard explained. “I always say, ‘You want volunteers.’ You want people that want to be here. So when you get a player who doesn’t want to be in your organization anymore, you can play hardball -- which sometimes we all do -- but you want volunteers. You want people who want to be here.”
If Ballard intends to play hardball, he either has a good reason for it (he’s a very good man who truly cares about players), or his hands are tied by owner Jim Irsay.
Regardless, an ugly situation could soon get even uglier. | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/report-colts-consider-switching-jonathan-taylor-from-pup-to-nfi | 2023-07-31T01:25:11 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/report-colts-consider-switching-jonathan-taylor-from-pup-to-nfi |
Riverside Mo woman dies while attending the Chiefs training camp
SAINT JOSEPH, Mo. (KCTV) - Lifelong Chiefs fan, Jessica Tangen, Riverside Missouri, passed away on Sunday while attending the Chiefs training camp.
Mosaic Life Care, healthcare partner to the Chiefs, provided medical attention along with Buchanan County EMS and Missouri Western State University staff Sunday morning.
Tangen’s family shared with the healthcare provider that she loved cheering for the Chiefs.
KCTV5 reached out to Mosaic Life Care to ask the cause of death. At this time, no additional details were provided.
It is our honor and sacred duty to provide the highest quality health care to our communities and visitors. Our Mosaic caregivers who provided medical attention at camp Sunday morning and our emergency department caregivers would like to thank our partners who reacted swiftly including Buchanan County EMS and Missouri Western State University staff.
To get the latest news sent to your phone, download the KCTV5 News app here.
Copyright 2023 KCTV. All rights reserved. | https://www.kwch.com/2023/07/31/riverside-mo-woman-dies-while-attending-chiefs-training-camp/ | 2023-07-31T01:25:53 | 0 | https://www.kwch.com/2023/07/31/riverside-mo-woman-dies-while-attending-chiefs-training-camp/ |
It looks like the end of the road for one of the nation's largest freight carriers.
Yellow, a trucking company that just three years ago took a $700 million federal pandemic loan, has reportedly shut down after laying off employees at all locations. The company is expected to file for bankruptcy as soon as Monday, according to industry experts, following a recent exodus of customers amid union strife and on top of years of financial troubles.
With 30,000 jobs at stake, it would be the largest trucking bankruptcy in the history of the U.S., experts said. The company, formerly known as YRC Worldwide, is the third largest less-than-truckload carrier by revenue, behind FedEx and Old Dominion. LTL companies move pallet-sized shipments — smaller than a container, but bigger than a parcel.
Yellow has not publicly announced any plans for bankruptcy or a potential shutdown.
Here's what we know.
Employees are told to prepare for a company shutdown
The Wall Street Journal reported that Yellow shut down on Sunday afternoon, citing internal notices sent to customers and employees.
According to the industry outlet FreightWaves, which also obtained internal documents, Yellow says it plans to issue a public statement on Monday about "the state of the company and the operation."
NPR has not independently confirmed the shutdown and Yellow has not responded to NPR's requests for comment.
Yellow laid off an unknown number of its employees on Friday, reported FreightWaves, citing a memo sent to staff informing them that the company is "shutting down its regular operations" and "laying off employees at all of its locations."
Meanwhile, Teamsters, who represent Yellow's 22,000 unionized workers, advised Yellow employees to "prepare for the worst."
"Yellow appears to be headed to a complete shutdown within the next few days," said Teamsters National Freight Director John Murphy in a Friday memo shared with NPR. He advised drivers to collect their belongings so that they don't get caught up in bankruptcy liquidation.
The Teamsters union declined to comment about a potential bankruptcy or shutdown.
A strike threat delivered a final blow to cash-poor Yellow
Reports of a shutdown come days after a Teamsters strike at the company was averted. A week ago, a pension fund agreed to extend health benefits for workers at two Yellow operating companies after the carrier missed its $50 million benefits payment to the fund on July 15, the union said.
While the extension held off a July 24 strike, the threat of a walkout that could disrupt operations prompted a wave of Yellow customers to bolt.
"The Teamsters actions induced a high level of variability and uncertainty in the market for Yellow's customers. The market abhors variability and uncertainty," wrote Mike Regan, co-founder of TranzAct Technologies, which manages transportation services for retailers. "Consequently, Yellow lost substantial and much needed volume."
After the strike threat, Yellow's freight volumes fell 80% within the span of a week, according to Jack Atkins, a managing director at the financial services firm Stephens who researches the transportation sector.
At the same time, he said, Yellow's cries that it was running out of cash during union negotiation attempts scared off customers. Since then, customers haven't returned.
"Both sides bear fault," Atkins said. "Once that freight left, there was nothing left to really restructure," he added. "It was really too late to save the company."
The company has been at risk of bankruptcy for years
Animus between Yellow and Teamsters has grown in recent months, after the trucking carrier tried to restructure its operations this spring as a cost-saving measure that would allow it to refinance its debt. In June, Yellow sued the union for blocking the restructuring plan it said was "essential to the company's survival." The Teamsters in turn called the lawsuit "baseless," instead blaming Yellow for "decades of gross mismanagement," that included its alleged exhaustion of the $700 million bailout loan.
The company reported a net income of $21.8 million last year. Yellow has $1.3 billion in loan debt due in fall 2024, $729 million of which is owed to the federal government, according to the company's latest quarterly report.
Yellow received a $700 million loan from the government in 2020 as part of a COVID-19 rescue package. In return, the Treasury Department took a 30% stake in the company's shares, which have since plummeted to less than a dollar apiece as of Friday.
In June, a congressional probe found that the Treasury Department's disbursement of the loan was a mistake; the freight company — whose customers included the Department of Defense — did not actually meet the standards to qualify for the business loan because its survival was not "critical to maintaining national security."
"Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Yellow was a financially struggling company that had a long-term non-investment grade (i.e., junk) rating and previous close calls with bankruptcy over the years. The pandemic did not cause Yellow's longstanding problems, nor is the Treasury's loan to the company likely to solve those problems," the Congressional Oversight Commission report read.
A world without Yellow
An end to the Nashville-based company would mean the loss of 30,000 jobs. And Atkins doesn't expect the federal government to come to the rescue this time.
While there may be some slight disruptions, the analyst anticipates other freight carriers will have some capacity to absorb Yellow's business because of the dent in freight volumes.
"This is not going to create a supply-chain crisis," he said.
Retailers and manufacturers are likely to see higher shipping rates if the company folds, he said. Yellow is known for its low shipping rates compared to its rivals.
Atkins visited the Yellow terminal in Little Rock, Ark., on Sunday to find all gates chained up, a sign of ceased operations.
"They've been in wind-down mode, clearing the network out of all the remaining freight," he said. "This is the end."
NPR's Camila Domonoske contributed to this story.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.apr.org/business-education/2023-07-30/the-yellow-trucking-company-meltdown-explained | 2023-07-31T01:25:53 | 1 | https://www.apr.org/business-education/2023-07-30/the-yellow-trucking-company-meltdown-explained |
SUZHOU, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Transcenta Holding Limited ("Transcenta") (HKEX: 06628), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully-integrated capabilities in discovery, research, development and manufacturing of antibody-based therapeutics, announces that it has received approval from China Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) to initiate Phase II clinical trial of TST002(Blosozumab). This study aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of TST002(Blosozumab) after single and multiple intravenous administrations in patients with reduced bone mineral density.
Osteoporosis is a significant health concern for the middle-aged and elderly population in China. It is estimated that by 2050, the number of osteoporosis patients will reach 120 million. Compared with RANKL mAbs, sclerostin mAbs successfully achieve the dual goal of preventing bone loss and rebuilding the bone. Evenity (Romosozumab) of Amgen is the only anti-sclerostin antibody drug that has been approved by the FDA in the United States. Up to the present, there was no anti-sclerostin antibody drug approved in China.
In May 2023, Transcenta presented Phase I unblinded data, which showed that the overall safety and tolerability of TST002 (Blosozumab) in all dose cohorts is favorable. On the efficacy side, all dose cohorts from 200-1,200 mg have shown a clinically meaningful increase in lumbar spine BMD on Day 85 (D85) after a single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab) and comparable to those of Blosozumab single dose study at the similar dose levels. The average increase of lumbar spine BMD at Day 85 (D85) from baseline ranged from 3.52% to 6.20% across dose cohorts, all exceeding the least significant difference (2.77%). The increase of lumbar spine BMD in the placebo group was only 0.30% even with optimal calcium and vitamin D supplemental treatment. In addition, encouraging BMD increase in total hip from 1.30% to 2.24% across dose cohorts were observed after single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab). In comparison, the mean percent change in lumbar spine BMD from baseline to month 12 was 5.4% after one year of Denosumab treatment.1
"We are excited to have received the clearance to move forward from CDE. Our Phase II will assess several regimens of TST002 (Blosozumab) with reduced dosing frequency, bringing us closer to our Phase III. We look forward to fully exploring the differentiated profile of TST002 to address the unmet medical need of the large patient population who suffers from osteoporosis," said Dr. Caroline Germa, Transcenta's Executive Vice President, Global Medicine Development and Chief Medical Officer.
Reference:
1 https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/105/3/e255/5607536
About TST002 (Blosozumab)
TST002 (Blosozumab) is a humanized anti-sclerostin monoclonal antibody as a drug candidate for osteoporosis and other bone loss diseases. It has a dual effect possessing both anabolic and anti-resorptive effects, which stimulates bone formation and inhibits bone absorption, resulting in fast increase in bone mineral density and bone strength. Blocking sclerostin activity in human treated with anti-sclerostin antibody or with naturally occurring genetic deletion has been shown to be an effective approach in increasing bone mineral density (BMD) and reducing bone fracture. Currently there is no approved anti-sclerostin antibody therapy in China yet although Romosozumab from Amgen has been approved in the United States, Europe and Japan.
About Transcenta Holding Limited
Transcenta (HKEX: 06628) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully integrated capabilities in antibody-based biotherapeutics discovery, research, development and manufacturing.
Transcenta has established global footprint, with Headquarters and Discovery, Clinical and Translational Research Center in Suzhou, Process and Product Development Center and Manufacturing Facility in Hangzhou, and Clinical Development Centers in Princeton, US and in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou of China, and External Partnering Center in Boston and Los Angeles, US. Transcenta has also initiated the construction of the Group Headquarters and the second high-end biopharmaceutical facility with ICB as its core technology in Suzhou Industrial Park. Transcenta is developing 13 therapeutic antibody molecules for oncology and selected non-oncology indications including bone and kidney disorders.
For more information, please visit www.transcenta.com and https://www.linkedin.com/company/transcenta.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Transcenta, are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Transcenta does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.
These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Transcenta with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Transcenta's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Transcenta's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.
Transcenta, the Directors and the employees of Transcenta assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialize or turn out to be incorrect.
View original content:
SOURCE Transcenta Holding Limited | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ | 2023-07-31T01:27:03 | 1 | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ |
Diana Ross coming to Louisville on ‘Music Legacy Tour’
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 6:03 PM EDT|Updated: 3 hours ago
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Music icon Diana Ross is coming to Louisville this fall on her Music Legacy Tour.
She is scheduled to perform at the Louisville Palace Theatre Saturday, September 16 at 8 p.m.
(Story continues below)
Ross rose to fame as the lead singer of The Supremes, Motown’s most successful act during the 1960′s.
In 1970, Ross’s version of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’” became her first No. 1 hit song as a solo artist.
The tour, which began in June, will showcase her No. 1 hits as a solo artist and with The Supremes.
Tickets are now on sale to the public. To purchase tickets, click or tap here.
Copyright 2023 WAVE. All rights reserved. | https://www.wymt.com/2023/07/30/diana-ross-coming-louisville-music-legacy-tour/ | 2023-07-31T01:28:25 | 1 | https://www.wymt.com/2023/07/30/diana-ross-coming-louisville-music-legacy-tour/ |
WASHINGTON, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Teamsters Union was served legal notice today that Yellow Corp. is ceasing operations and filing for bankruptcy.
"Today's news is unfortunate but not surprising. Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself despite billions of dollars in worker concessions and hundreds of millions in bailout funding from the federal government. This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien.
The Teamsters are committed to ensuring members are protected and notified with all the latest information. The International is putting infrastructure in place to help affected members get the assistance they need to find good union jobs throughout freight and other industries.
The situation is developing. Additional details are forthcoming.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
Contact:
Daniel Moskowitz, (770) 262-4971
dmoskowitz@teamster.org
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-notified-that-yellow-corp-operating-companies-have-closed/ | 2023-07-31T01:28:31 | 0 | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-notified-that-yellow-corp-operating-companies-have-closed/ |
SUZHOU, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Transcenta Holding Limited ("Transcenta") (HKEX: 06628), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully-integrated capabilities in discovery, research, development and manufacturing of antibody-based therapeutics, announces that it has received approval from China Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) to initiate Phase II clinical trial of TST002(Blosozumab). This study aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of TST002(Blosozumab) after single and multiple intravenous administrations in patients with reduced bone mineral density.
Osteoporosis is a significant health concern for the middle-aged and elderly population in China. It is estimated that by 2050, the number of osteoporosis patients will reach 120 million. Compared with RANKL mAbs, sclerostin mAbs successfully achieve the dual goal of preventing bone loss and rebuilding the bone. Evenity (Romosozumab) of Amgen is the only anti-sclerostin antibody drug that has been approved by the FDA in the United States. Up to the present, there was no anti-sclerostin antibody drug approved in China.
In May 2023, Transcenta presented Phase I unblinded data, which showed that the overall safety and tolerability of TST002 (Blosozumab) in all dose cohorts is favorable. On the efficacy side, all dose cohorts from 200-1,200 mg have shown a clinically meaningful increase in lumbar spine BMD on Day 85 (D85) after a single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab) and comparable to those of Blosozumab single dose study at the similar dose levels. The average increase of lumbar spine BMD at Day 85 (D85) from baseline ranged from 3.52% to 6.20% across dose cohorts, all exceeding the least significant difference (2.77%). The increase of lumbar spine BMD in the placebo group was only 0.30% even with optimal calcium and vitamin D supplemental treatment. In addition, encouraging BMD increase in total hip from 1.30% to 2.24% across dose cohorts were observed after single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab). In comparison, the mean percent change in lumbar spine BMD from baseline to month 12 was 5.4% after one year of Denosumab treatment.1
"We are excited to have received the clearance to move forward from CDE. Our Phase II will assess several regimens of TST002 (Blosozumab) with reduced dosing frequency, bringing us closer to our Phase III. We look forward to fully exploring the differentiated profile of TST002 to address the unmet medical need of the large patient population who suffers from osteoporosis," said Dr. Caroline Germa, Transcenta's Executive Vice President, Global Medicine Development and Chief Medical Officer.
Reference:
1 https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/105/3/e255/5607536
About TST002 (Blosozumab)
TST002 (Blosozumab) is a humanized anti-sclerostin monoclonal antibody as a drug candidate for osteoporosis and other bone loss diseases. It has a dual effect possessing both anabolic and anti-resorptive effects, which stimulates bone formation and inhibits bone absorption, resulting in fast increase in bone mineral density and bone strength. Blocking sclerostin activity in human treated with anti-sclerostin antibody or with naturally occurring genetic deletion has been shown to be an effective approach in increasing bone mineral density (BMD) and reducing bone fracture. Currently there is no approved anti-sclerostin antibody therapy in China yet although Romosozumab from Amgen has been approved in the United States, Europe and Japan.
About Transcenta Holding Limited
Transcenta (HKEX: 06628) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully integrated capabilities in antibody-based biotherapeutics discovery, research, development and manufacturing.
Transcenta has established global footprint, with Headquarters and Discovery, Clinical and Translational Research Center in Suzhou, Process and Product Development Center and Manufacturing Facility in Hangzhou, and Clinical Development Centers in Princeton, US and in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou of China, and External Partnering Center in Boston and Los Angeles, US. Transcenta has also initiated the construction of the Group Headquarters and the second high-end biopharmaceutical facility with ICB as its core technology in Suzhou Industrial Park. Transcenta is developing 13 therapeutic antibody molecules for oncology and selected non-oncology indications including bone and kidney disorders.
For more information, please visit www.transcenta.com and https://www.linkedin.com/company/transcenta.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Transcenta, are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Transcenta does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.
These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Transcenta with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Transcenta's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Transcenta's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.
Transcenta, the Directors and the employees of Transcenta assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialize or turn out to be incorrect.
View original content:
SOURCE Transcenta Holding Limited | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ | 2023-07-31T01:28:37 | 1 | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ |
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A 15-year-old has been hospitalized after being shot during an encounter with a Fresno police officer Sunday morning, the Fresno Police Department confirms.
Chief Paco Balderrama says just before 10:30 a.m., a citizen approached a police officer who was in the area on a call, and told him that there was a suspicious person near Warner Avenue and Effie Street on a scooter wearing a ski mask, and displaying a handgun.
Police say the officer, a 28-year veteran of the department, approached the male and held him at gunpoint, ordering him to stay on the ground and keep his hands up.
Investigators say that despite the officer giving repeated commands to keep his hands up, the teen displayed the firearm at the officer and allegedly reached for his waistband for it.
The officer responded, Balderrama says, by firing his service weapon at the juvenile twice, striking him in the arm. He was transported to an area hospital and is believed to be in critical, but stable, condition. The officer, for his part, was not injured in the incident.
Balderrama also says that the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, the City Attorney’s Office, and the Office of Independent Review were all called out to the scene to do their individual investigations. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/officer-involved-shooting-investigation-in-northeast-fresno-fpd/ | 2023-07-31T01:28:37 | 0 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/officer-involved-shooting-investigation-in-northeast-fresno-fpd/ |
MUNCIE, Ind. (WXIN) — A street party in Muncie, Indiana, turned into the scene of a deadly shooting early Sunday morning.
One man died and nearly two dozen others were injured. Of those wounded, 19 were treated at Ball Memorial Hospital’s emergency room, and four were taken to other hospitals. Thirteen victims remained hospitalized in stable condition Sunday afternoon.
After the mass shooting, police announced that there was no further danger to the general public.
”Stranger comes up and decides to take it personal on somebody he knows in the crowd,” said one anonymous man who claimed his nephew was the block party’s disc jockey. “And you can’t fight against an AR. He let loose in the crowd. Everywhere in the crowd.”
The Delaware County coroner identified the deceased victim as 30-year-old Joseph Bonner. There’s no indication if Bonner played an active role in the shooting, whether any other victims are suspected of firing guns, or if any firearms were recovered.
A witness at IU/Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie described a scene of emergency department chaos with more than 100 people descending on the facility — many of whom were victims that were taken to the hospital by private vehicles.
Officers from several agencies — including a Muncie-based FBI agent — secured the crime scene and collected evidence while doctors and nurses treated the wounded from the mass casualty event.
By midday, detectives were still walking the debris-strewn street and parking lot with brown bags filled with collected evidence. A tow truck was also seen hauling away a bullet-riddled red Buick that appeared to have crashed during an attempt to leave the scene.
The Muncie Homecoming Festival committee said the street party where the shooting happened was not part of the official MHF celebration going on this week.
Muncie Parks Superintendent Carl Malone told Nexstar’s WXIN he chaired a neighborhood crime watch meeting last Thursday, and residents expressed fear that this weekend could turn volatile.
”We was a little concerned about violence that we thought might happen,” said Malone, who described Muncie Homecoming as a city-wide welcome home celebration held once every four years for former residents and family members to reconnect with their hometown. ”You had a lot of people congregating in one area, just hanging out and wanting to be part of the neighborhood activities. And then, at that point at time, it got into late night, and when you get into late nights, you usually have some sort of curfew violations, alcohol, guns and drugs seem to be a problem.”
Malone said Muncie has not had a community-wide gun violence initiative since 2015.
”We’ve always had concerns about this area and teenagers involved with handguns,” said Malone, whose niece attended the party. ”She just got out of surgery. She’s doing well. She’s whole. And then my godson was being treated out at Ball Hospital.”
Malone said he will meet with the city’s police leadership Monday morning to review the shooting and plans for keeping Muncie streets safe the rest of the summer.
”The mayor knows my push for gun violence, the lack of gun violence education, the lack of gun violence awareness, the lack of how to report gun violence in and out of our homes,” Malone said. “There’s a way to report crime, there’s a way to report guns, and we just have to report guns in and out of our backpacks and homes.”
Muncie is about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis. The city is home to about 65,000 people. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/1-dead-23-wounded-after-street-party-shooting-in-indiana/ | 2023-07-31T01:28:43 | 0 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/1-dead-23-wounded-after-street-party-shooting-in-indiana/ |
At 24, Alberto Rodriguez has grandparents younger than Joe Biden. But he’s more interested in the 80-year-old president’s accomplishments than his age.
“People as young as me, we’re all focusing on our day-to-day lives and he has done things to help us through that,” Rodriguez, a cook at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, said of Biden’s support among young voters. Rodriguez pointed specifically to federal COVID-19 relief payments and government spending increases on infrastructure and other social programs.
Voters like him were a key piece of Biden’s winning 2020 coalition, which included majorities of young people as well as college graduates, women, urban and suburban voters and Black Americans. Maintaining their support will be critical in closely contested states such as Nevada, where even small declines could prove consequential to Biden’s reelection bid.
His 2024 campaign plans to emphasize messages that could especially resonate with young people in the coming weeks as the anniversary of the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act approaches in mid-August. That legislation includes provisions that the White House will embrace to argue that Biden has done more than any other president to combat climate change.
Such efforts, however, could collide with Biden’s personal reality — like when he recalled that, while attending a St. Patrick’s Day parade at age 14, he appeared in a photo with President Harry S. Truman.
“Purely by accident — I assume it was an accident — the photographer from the newspaper got a picture of me making eye contact with Harry Truman,” Biden said to chuckles last week at the Truman Civil Rights Symposium in Washington.
In 2020, 61% of voters under age 30 — and 55% of those between 30 and 44 — supported Biden, according to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of the electorate.
It’s an age group with which Republicans hope to make inroads. Former President Donald Trump, who is the early front-runner in the GOP presidential primary and is only 3 1/2 years younger than Biden, said Friday, “We are hitting the young person’s market like nobody’s ever seen before.”
Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for Biden’s campaign, referred to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement in arguing that “young people are acutely impacted by the issues front and center in this election, driven by the extreme MAGA agenda.” He said that included inaction on climate change, gun violence and student debt.
“We will meet younger Americans where they are and turn their energy into action,” Munoz said in a statement.
That might not defuse questions about age, though, when it comes to Biden or Trump.
“There’s a frustration and exhaustion that they feel with the rematch,” Terrance Woodbury, co-founder & CEO of the Democratic polling firm HIT Strategies, said of young voters.
“That’s more of a problem than either of those two candidates individually, is that a system can just keep reproducing,” Woodbury added. “And I think a lot of people just find that untenable.”
An April poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that just 25% of Democrats under 45 said they would definitely support Biden in a general election, compared with 56% of older Democrats. A majority of Democrats across age groups said they would probably support him as the party’s nominee, however.
Biden’s campaign is relying heavily on the Democratic National Committee, which during last year’s midterms, hired campus organizers in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and other battleground states and offered weekly youth coordinating meetings to encourage in-class contacts and “dormstorms.” The DNC sees young people as some of the most critical voters it will need to reach in 2024 and promises “significant investments” to mobilize them. Plans are underway to expand on its work last cycle, including trainings it held on how best to turn out voters.
The Republican National Committee is trying to use Biden’s age against him, posting online videos of Biden seeming frail or making verbal gaffes, such as when he declared in June “God save the queen,” nearly nine months after the death of England’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Rodriguez shrugged off online attacks, “People can make all the hit pieces and memes and TikToks all they want.”
A starker contrast might be between the president and rising Democrats such as 46-year-old California Rep. Ro Khanna and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, 41, one of Biden’s primary rivals in 2020. Neither seriously entertained running for the White House in 2024 and have backed Biden’s reelection.
“The only thing that really matters is your ability to do the job,” Buttigieg, who was 37 when he launched his 2020 presidential bid, said recently on CNN. Khanna told Fox News Channel that age will “obviously” be a 2024 factor, but suggested that Biden’s staff “overprotects” him and “the more he’s out there, the better.”
Other top young Democrats have lined up to back Biden. Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, who was elected to Congress last year at 26, is on the Biden campaign’s advisory board, as is Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, 44. New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, 33, recently endorsed Biden.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a progressive who says strong turnout among young voters helped him win a runoff election this spring, said Biden’s policies transcend his age. Johnson noted that the president’s work “around climate justice speaks not just to this generation, but generations to come.”
“The excitement that I believe that we’re going to have is going to speak to the incredible work and organizing that we are committed to doing as a party,” said Johnson, 47. “And we’re looking forward to working with the president over the course of his next four years.”
Still, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, acknowledged that even the president’s supporters understand how demanding the White House can be.
“People worry about Joe Biden. They worry like you would worry about a beloved father or grandfather,” said Weingarten, 65. “What you normally hear from Democrats is this sense of, ‘OK, I just want him to be OK.’ And you’re hearing just the consternation of, ’This is a hard job.’”
Biden said he “took a hard look” at his age while deciding to seek a second term. But he’s also tried to suggest his age and experience are assets rather than liabilities by joking repeatedly about them. That’s a departure from 2020, when Biden called himself a “transition candidate” and pledged to be a “bridge” to younger Democrats.
Santiago Mayer, the founder of Voters of Tomorrow, which has 20-plus chapters nationwide and works to increase political engagement among young voters, argues that Biden is not defying his past promise by running for reelection, but keeping it.
“He just needs more time,” said Mayer, who graduated from California State University at Long Beach in May. “I think the second term is a very important part of that pledge. He’s building a progressive future for young people and he can’t actually pass the baton until that’s done.”
One key policy piece of Biden’s efforts to appeal to young voters, providing student debt relief, was recently struck down by the Supreme Court. The White House has launched a new effort, but it will take longer.
“Of course it’s going to dampen some of that because people are disappointed,” Weingarten said of the ruling’s effect on enthusiasm for Biden. But she said the decision could also motivate young Biden supporters anxious show their support for the president’s alternative plan.
“It is also about the fight,” Weingarten said “not just about the results.” | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/joe-biden-the-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-will-his-age-matter/ | 2023-07-31T01:28:50 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/joe-biden-the-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-will-his-age-matter/ |
(NewsNation) — While questions remain about a mystery company buying 52,000 acres of land near an Air Force base, a congressman says farmers in the area are being targeted in a lawsuit.
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., has been speaking out over the past five years about the $800 million in land acquisitions by Flannery Associates near Travis Air Force Base in Northern California.
In an interview with NewsNation, Garamendi said he’s been in contact with the families of farmers who handed over their land to Flannery. He said they didn’t want to sell in the first place.
Since no California laws require them to sell, the land was bargained for by both parties at a much higher price. But now, Flannery is suing those families for $510 million, accusing them of conspiring together to inflate the value of the land.
“It’s a suit designed to force the farmers to lawyer up, spend tens of thousands of dollars on lawyering and maybe at the end of the day, bankrupt themselves,” Garamendi said. “In fact, that has happened to at least one family that I know of and I’ve heard rumors that another family simply said we can’t afford the lawyers.”
NewsNation reviewed a copy of the lawsuit. Attorneys for Flannery said they believe “this is a simple case about a group of wealthy landowners who saw an opportunity to conspire, collude, price fix and illegally overcharge Flannery.”
But Garamendi said there was no viable economic reason to justify spending several times more than what the land is worth in the first place.
The suit comes as companies with ties to China have been ramping up efforts to buy American farmland in recent years.
Public records show “Flannery Associates” has invested more than $800 million on more than 50,000 acres of land surrounding the Travis Air Force Base since 2018.
Legal representation for Flannery said the group is controlled by U.S. citizens, with 97% of its capital coming from U.S.-based investors. But after eight months of investigation, federal officials can’t confirm or deny this to be true and have not been able to determine exactly who is backing the company.
The Air Force’s Foreign Investment Risk Review office is currently investigating Flannery Associates. Garamendi said there are valid concerns that Flannery’s land acquisitions could be tied to foreign enemies.
“The fact they chose to buy all three sides of the Travis Air Force Base even raises immediate questions about national security,” Garamendi said. “So, is this Chinese money? We don’t know, but we do know that the Chinese money was being used in North Dakota and we have a very deep suspicion, given the amount of money, given the lack of attention to values, that they simply want to acquire all of this land.”
NewsNation investigated the now thwarted deal with a Chinese-owned company in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Last year, 300 acres of farmland were purchased near the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota by Chinese-owned Fufeng – a deal that raised red flags about potential spying.
After pushback from the community, the city council ultimately voted to end the project, citing national security risks.
Garamendi said local residents near Travis Air Force Base are riled up, just like the residents in Grand Forks, due to how critical the area is for the U.S. military.
“Travis Air Force Base is absolutely essential. It is the gateway to the Pacific,” Garamendi said, later adding, “A good deal of the munitions that are going to Ukraine also passed through Travis Air Force Base.”
China has been buying up American farmland for years. Nearly 384,000 acres of agricultural land in the U.S. is controlled by China, and the rate at which they are purchasing land is growing, the USDA reports.
Chinese ownership of American farmland has increased 55% in the past five years, with almost 75% of it located in the South and about 16% on the West Coast. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ | 2023-07-31T01:28:56 | 0 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/u-s-world/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ |
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. “Oppenheimer” stayed in second with a robust $46.2 million. Sales for the two movies dipped 43% and 44%, respectably — well shy of the usual week-two drops.
“Barbenheimer” has proven to be not a one-weekend phenomenon but an ongoing box-office bonanza. The two movies combined have already surpassed $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales. Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore, call it “a touchstone moment for movies, moviegoers and movie theaters.”
“Having two movies from rival studios linked in this way and both boosting each other's fortunes — both box-office wise and it terms of their profile — I don't know if there's a comp for this in the annals of box-office history," said Dergarabedian. “There's really no comparison for this.”
Following its year-best $162 million opening, the pink-infused pop sensation of “Barbie” saw remarkably sustained business through the week and into the weekend. The film outpaced Nolan's “The Dark Knight" to have the best first 11 days in theaters of any Warner Bros. release ever.
“Barbie” has 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.
And the “Barbie” effect isn't just in North America. The film made $122.2 million internationally over the weekend. Its global tally has reached $775 million. It's the kind of business that astounds even veteran studio executives.
“That's a crazy number,” said Jeff Goldstein, distribution chief for Warner Bros. “There's just a built-in audience that wants to be part of the zeitgeist of the moment. Wherever you go, people are wearing pink. Pink is taking over the world."
Amid the frenzy, “Barbie” is already attracting a lot of repeat moviegoers. Goldstein estimates that 12% of sales are people going back with friends or family to see it again.
For a movie industry that has been trying to regain its pre-pandemic footing — and that now finds itself largely shuttered due to actors and screenwriters strikes — the sensations of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” have showed what's possible when everything lines up just right.
“Post-pandemic, there's no ceiling and there's no floor," Goldstein said. "The movies that miss really miss big time, and the movies that work really work big time."
Universal Pictures' “Oppenheimer,” meanwhile, is performing more like a superhero movie than a three-hour film about scientists talking.
Nolan’s drama starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer has accrued $174.1 million domestically thus far. With an additional $72.4 million in international cinemas, “Oppenheimer” has already surpassed $400 million globally.
Showings in IMAX have typically been sold out. “Oppenheimer” has made $80 million worldwide on IMAX. The large-format exhibitor said Sunday that it will extend the film's run through Aug. 13.
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 the film industry, 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,” which debuted the week before the arrival of “Barbenheimer,” grossed $10.7 million in its third weekend. The film starring Cruise and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, has grossed $139.2 million domestically and $309.3 million overseas.
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.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Barbie,” $93 million.
2. “Oppenheimer,” $46.2 million.
3. “Haunted Mansion,” $24.2 million.
4. “Sound of Freedom,” $12.4 million.
5. “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” $10.7 million.
6. “Talk to Me,” $10 million.
7. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” $4 million.
8. “Elemental,” $3.4 million.
9. “Insidious: The Red Door,” $3.2 million.
10. “Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani,” $1.6 million. | https://www.nbcdfw.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/3306314/ | 2023-07-31T01:30:10 | 0 | https://www.nbcdfw.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/3306314/ |
3 dead after small plane crashes into Southern California airport hangar
Three people were killed when a small plane crashed into a hangar at a Southern California airport Sunday morning, officials said.
The single-engine Beechcraft P35 crashed during departure at Cable Airport in Upland, about 35 miles from Los Angeles, at around 6:30 a.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The three people killed were the only passengers on board.
Firefighters from the San Bernardino County Fire Department found the plane engulfed in flames. There was an exposure threat to both the hangar and a fuel truck parked nearby, but firefighters were able to get the blaze under control in less than 20 minutes. No injuries to firefighters were reported.
The impacted hangar is used to support Ontario Police Department’s Aviation Unit, officials said. Several helicopters are housed at the location. Police described the damage to the hangar as moderate. Pictures from the scene show debris on the ground and a hole in the side of the hangar.
The Upland Police Department and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
Officials have not yet publicly identified the victims who were killed. | https://www.wsgw.com/3-dead-after-small-plane-crashes-into-southern-california-airport-hangar/ | 2023-07-31T01:30:11 | 1 | https://www.wsgw.com/3-dead-after-small-plane-crashes-into-southern-california-airport-hangar/ |
Chris Buescher pulled away on a restart with three laps to go and won at Richmond Raceway on Sunday, earning himself a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Buescher led 88 laps. He was ahead by nearly six seconds when a caution came out with under 10 laps to go. That erased his sizeable lead over local favorite Denny Hamlin, but when the race went back to green, Buescher pulled away easily.
He and RFK Racing teammate Brad Keselowski led a combined 190 of the 400 laps, with Keselowski's Ford pacing the field for 102 laps on the 0.75-mile oval.
Hamlin, coming off a victory last weekend at Pocono, finished second, followed by Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Ryan Preece.
The race was slowed just three times by caution flags, the last sending the leaders to pit road for four tires with eight laps to go. When the green flag was shown again, Buescher used the inside line to pull away for his third career victory.
Hamlin's bid for the victory ended on the second lap of the final sprint when he drove in too deep in the first turn and slid up the track. He finished 0.549 seconds behind Buescher, with Busch winding up 0.817 off the winning pace. | https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/sports/chris-buescher-wins-cook-out-400-at-richmond-secures-nascar-playoffs-spot/3306293/ | 2023-07-31T01:30:17 | 1 | https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/sports/chris-buescher-wins-cook-out-400-at-richmond-secures-nascar-playoffs-spot/3306293/ |
PAC spent over $40 million on legal bills for Trump, aides in 2023
▶ Watch Video: Trump campaigns in Iowa and Pennsylvania as legal troubles mount
Save America, the political action committee founded by former President Donald Trump, has spent more than $40 million on legal fees for Trump and his allies on multiple legal cases in the first six months of 2023, a source familiar with the PAC’s upcoming public filing confirmed to CBS News.
The PAC is expected to officially disclose that information and other expenditures in its semi-annual Federal Election Commission filing on Monday. The Washington Post first reported the figure.
The more than $40 million figure in half a year represents a sharp increase in the PAC’s legal service spending, which came in at over $16 million across all of 2021 and 2022 combined, according to a previous FEC filing.
Earlier this year, the Trump campaign noted in fine print that it was increasing the percentage of supporters’ donations it sent to Trump’s Save America PAC from 1% to 10%, as the New York Times first reported in June.
Before Trump announced he was running for reelection in November 2022, the Republican National Committee paid many of the former president’s legal bills. But in November, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told CNN the committee could not pay the former president’s legal bills if he announced a 2024 presidential bid, which he shortly thereafter did.
Trump has made varying claims about his net worth over the years. As of May, Forbes estimated the former president’s net worth at $2.5 billion.
Trump has already been indicted on multiple counts and his biggest legal battles are only intensifying. The New York “hush money” case trial won’t get going until March, at the earliest, and he won’t face trial until at least May in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, as currently scheduled. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts in both cases.
The former president could also be facing more indictments. He said on social media earlier in July that he received a target letter from special counsel Jack Smith related to the Jan. 6 investigation and alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, and multiple sources confirmed the post was accurate. In Fulton County, Georgia, a grand jury has also been investigating attempts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election in that state. | https://www.wsgw.com/pac-spent-over-40-million-on-legal-bills-for-trump-aides-in-2023/ | 2023-07-31T01:30:42 | 1 | https://www.wsgw.com/pac-spent-over-40-million-on-legal-bills-for-trump-aides-in-2023/ |
Boat crash off Anna Maria sends six minors to hospital
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 9:21 PM EDT|Updated: 8 minutes ago
ANNA MARIA, Fla. (WWSB) - Two boats collided in the waters off of Anna Maria Island Sunday afternoon that sent six minors to the hospital, according to the West Manatee Fire Rescue District. WMFR said 11 people were on board with five children and six adults.
A 41-year-old female suffered head lacerations from impact and nine other people were transported to the hospital with minor injuries, said WMFR. WMFR explained of the nine people transported six of them were minors.
WMFR said there is no information regarding anyone’s condition.
Copyright 2023 WWSB. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/31/boat-crash-off-anna-maria-sends-six-minors-hospital/ | 2023-07-31T01:31:24 | 0 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/31/boat-crash-off-anna-maria-sends-six-minors-hospital/ |
Shark attack on Anna Maria Island
Published: Jul. 30, 2023 at 9:07 PM EDT|Updated: 21 minutes ago
SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - A shark attack took place on Sunday near Bean Point on the north end of Anna Maria Island.
A man in his early 20′s was bitten in his lower leg by a shark, according to the West Manatee Fire Rescue.
A person who was with him applied a tourniquet to the leg. The man was brought onto the Kingfish Boat Ramp and was transported as a trauma alert by Manatee County EMS, according to WMFR.
His condition is unknown at this time and the type of shark and circumstances leading up to the event are not clear.
This is an ongoing investigation.
Copyright 2023 WWSB. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/31/shark-attack-anna-maria-island/ | 2023-07-31T01:31:30 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/31/shark-attack-anna-maria-island/ |
A message to that NJ resident who had a problem with Mr. Softee
Out of all the issues we have in this state, Mister Softee is apparently top of mind. At least, it is to one particular South Jersey resident.
When I first saw this story on Fox 29, I couldn't believe what I was reading. Somebody actually had a problem with hearing ice cream truck music in their neighborhood.
So much so in fact, that they complained and succeeded in stopping this ice cream truck from making an appearance. Yes, because of the music.
This particular incident occurred in the Blackwood section of South Jersey's Gloucester Township. A resident in that area of the town complained about the music and effectively put an end to Mr. Softee.
The good news is, since this story broke an agreement has been made for the ice cream truck to return for all the kids who depend on a cold treat during the summer heat. But that doesn't hide the fact that somebody had the audacity to complain in the first place.
And apparently, this isn't the first time Mr. Softee has had to deal with complaints over music. According to Fox 29, "complaints about the music are a continuous issue they deal with from time to time."
Really? It's an ice cream truck. Kids get excited when they hear the music. Heck, adults get excited when they hear that music.
I remember growing up in my old hometown of Brick, NJ. Every summer without fail the famous ice cream truck would come driving down the street.
The moment we heard that music we ran inside to grab our money and waited anxiously by the side of the street. What kind of ice cream would we get today? Hopefully, our favorite wasn't out of stock.
I particularly remember getting the ice cream bar with the gumball eyes on it. I don't remember what it was specifically called, or if they still serve that particular one. But I do know I always looked forward to it.
And just listening to that music when the truck is coming down the street still brings me joy even as an adult. In fact, I wish the truck would visit my section of the neighborhood more often than it does now.
And as a parent, I get that same excitement in me when I see my kids perk up when they hear that iconic ice cream music playing in the distance. It's just a happy feeling all around.
And for Mr. Softee in particular, there's no brand that's as iconic as them. So for the South Jersey resident in Gloucester Township that complained about the music in the first place, here's a little message for you.
If you're a parent of a young child, then I do get that it can be hard. Yes, I understand if you have a baby and perhaps you're trying to get them to take a nap.
But you know what? Any of us who are parents now also went through this and we didn't call and complain because of the sound of ice cream music playing.
And if you don't have kids? Then the only thing I can conclude is that you're just a miserable person for complaining in the first place.
Perhaps you were just having a bad day. It happens to all of us. But don't bring down the joy of others because you're in a bad mood.
And if you're new to the neighborhood and something like ice cream music bothers you, then why did you move to an area with kids in the first place? It's like the person who moves next to a sports complex and complains the games and crowds make too much noise.
Or the person who moves next to a school and complains about the after-school programs. There's just no logic to it.
So if that's you, then do us all a favor and find a new place to live. I'm sure there are many other locations where you won't have to worry about hearing that dreaded ice cream theme.
But seriously, why make everyone else miserable because you're miserable? Fortunately for all your neighbors, Mr. Softee is coming back. A win for the community for sure.
So you better get ready and invest in some earplugs, because you're going to need them. And I hope that the ice cream truck plays its music loud and proud when it passes by your house.
Now that that's out of the way, let's get back to a happier note and think about those childhood memories. Did you look forward to the ice cream truck coming down your street?
Feel free to share your memories in the comments. And if you had a favorite in particular that was your go-to, feel free to share that as well. Everyone had favorites, whether a classic soft-serve or an iconic ice cream bar.
Let's show this person who complained just how much joy vehicles like Mr. Softee bring to a community.
Why you shouldn't visit the Jersey Shore this summer
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own. | https://nj1015.com/a-message-to-that-nj-resident-who-had-a-problem-with-mr-softee-music/ | 2023-07-31T01:31:51 | 0 | https://nj1015.com/a-message-to-that-nj-resident-who-had-a-problem-with-mr-softee-music/ |
Buckle Up: The Best Looking Police Patrol Cars In (Almost) Every State
While you might think police officer uniforms look nearly identical in every state, the cars they drive couldn't be more different from one another.
For the past 10 years, the American Association of State Troopers has held a contest to determine which state has the best looking patrol cruiser.
Nearly every state police agency submits their best photo of their sharpest patrol vehicle a chance to win the coveted cover photo on the association's annual calendar.
Kentucky landed on the cover of the 2023 calendar.
Proceeds from calendar sales go toward the American Association of State Troopers Foundation. The group provides educational scholarships to dependents of troopers who are also members of the association.
"The contest began as a friendly competition between the state agencies and is proving to be a fun and engaging way to allow our state's community members to support and interact with law enforcement in a positive manner," the association shared on its website.
The contests generate thousands of votes on a daily basis. Anyone can vote HERE through July 31.
From cop cars rushing through blizzards to vehicles on the Grand Ole Opry stage, here are this year's nominees.
Best Looking State Patrol Cars In (Almost) Every State
The Definitive List of The Oddest, Strangest and Downright Filthy Town Names In Every State
The Best Reviews From People Who Had The Worst Time Visiting The White House | https://nj1015.com/ixp/341/p/best-police-cars/ | 2023-07-31T01:31:57 | 0 | https://nj1015.com/ixp/341/p/best-police-cars/ |
Amid a wave of incidents involving fans at concerts throwing objects at artists, it happened again this weekend.
This time to rapper Cardi B, who returned the favor.
A video from her performance in Las Vegas on Saturday shows someone in the crowd, close to the stage, throwing a drink at Cardi. The rapper then throws her microphone back at the person.
Security got involved, and the rapper reportedly continued with her set.
So far, no charges have been filed against the person who threw the drink at Cardi or against Cardi for throwing her microphone.
Cardi later posted on socialmedia a video where she says, “not the girl who threw the water yelling she’s sorry after.”
This comes after an alarming string of incidents where people keep throwing things on stage, sometimes even hurting performers.
In June, Pop star Bebe Rexha was hit by a cellphone in the face during a show in New York, forcing her to stop the music. The strike left the singer with a black eyeand in need of stitches.
Also in June, country artist Kelsea Ballerini was hit in the face by an object. She too stopped her set before returning with a message to fans.
This month, Harry Styles was also hit in the eye with an object while performing in Vienna, and rapper Drake was hit in the arm by a phone thrown during his concert in Chicago.
SEE MORE: Why do fans keep throwing things at artists during concerts?
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kgun9.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her | 2023-07-31T01:32:46 | 0 | https://www.kgun9.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her |
Music streaming is through the roof this year.
With acts from all over the world taking over the charts and doing so in record fashion.
American music acts are on the list of chart-topping hits from Miley Cyrus, whose single "Flowers" reached one billion streams faster than any song in Spotifyhistory in 2023. To SZA's smash hit "Kill Bill," which has also amassed more than a billion streams this year.
Luminate, one of the leaders in global entertainment data and research, says global streams have already topped one trillion this year.
The fastest climb to a trillion streams since the inception of music streaming reached just three months into the year, a full month faster than last year. And with that growth comes an increasing interest in non-English-language music.
Luminate’s report found nearly 40% of music listeners in the U.S. enjoy music in languages other than English.
Spanish and K-pop are leading the surge in global pop music.
"They both have incredibly loyal and passionate fan bases, and that really creates an environment where fans are always on the lookout for new music," said Jaime Marconette.
Marconette is Luminate’s senior director of music insights and industry relations.
When asked if English-speaking artists are losing their global appeal, Marconette said what we're seeing is most likely due to the increase of people speaking other languages other than English in the country.
"I think that's a fair question, but I think that's a really complicated answer because I don't know if they're losing their appeal," said Marconette. "But I think that what we're seeing is probably a bit of a rise of native languages, or languages that are specific to certain regions, or even diasporas as they move to other countries, starting to grow."
SEE MORE: Why are Mexican Corridos gaining popularity on the music charts?
Latin megastar Bad Bunny’s "Un Verano Sin Ti," which dropped in the Spring of 2022, continues to dominate Luminate’s mid-year top album chart in 2023.
When it comes to both physical and digital sales, K-pop is as pop as it gets.
"The number one source of discovery for K-pop fans here in the U.S. is video and then also audio streaming services; you know, these K-pop fans are also 76% more likely to stream music than the average listener," said Marconette.
Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, and Arabic have all emerged as popular languages for non-anglophonic music.
The cultural melting pot that is the U.S. is also helping the rise of non-English music.
"But one of the things that we're seeing is that changing population demographics is definitely making the import of music from other countries easier," said Marconette.
Content platforms like YouTube and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram also bring the world’s music to U.S. listeners and make it easier for people to share new songs.
"There are really no borders; there are really no geographical barriers," said Marconette. "We're finding that fans in other countries are very easily able to access all sorts of music; you know, really, the world's music library is essentially available."
While it's safe to say English-speaking music will always be around, American music executives are certainly paying attention to the shift. That means they're scoping out international talent more than ever.
"Understanding population changes, you know, those sorts of things together can really guide the way for, you know, music to cross borders, whether, you know, internationally or coming into the U.S. as well," said Marconette.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kgun9.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time | 2023-07-31T01:32:53 | 0 | https://www.kgun9.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time |
TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Shireen Behzadi got her classroom ready at Catalina Foothills High School, dusting off book shelves and hanging up posters. It was all in preparation for her tenth and twelfth grade students to come back to her classroom at Catalina Foothills High School.
“I love getting interested in what they’re doing, and they keep me young me because I have to learn all their lingo,” Behzadi said with a laugh.
She’s excited to see them, but sad to see that some teachers aren’t coming back this year.
“I have, probably in the last five or seven years, just seen people out and out go for something else,” she said.
She said those teachers are leaving for opportunities in higher education or are changing districts.
“Some is for the money, others, they’re unhappy with the workload,” she said about her former co-workers.
The Catalaina Foothills Unified School District said teachers with no experience start at 50 thousand dollars. They also raised their pay for teachers coming back from over five percent to over nine percent.
“This district has been very good about giving us raises to stay,” Behzadi said.
However, she also has to take on more roles outside of her regular teaching hours to earn some extra cash.
“I’m living a year off of a ten month salary contract and making it stretch over the summer and so for a lot of people, for families, teaching is not the profession that you go into to make a ton of money,” she said.
Governor Hobbs’ survey asks about pay, benefits and affordable housing near schools. It also asks about issues like class size, facilities, professional opportunities and whether teachers are considering leaving.
The district said they put out their own surveys asking about retention.
While Behzadi doesn’t think the education system is changing as fast as it could, she said she feels supported by her district.
“This is a place that feels like home,” she said. | https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/governor-hobbs-puts-out-survey-to-keep-teachers-in-education | 2023-07-31T01:32:59 | 0 | https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/governor-hobbs-puts-out-survey-to-keep-teachers-in-education |
Many dog waste removal services across the United States feature similar names — take, for instance, the Poop Scoop Troop in Iowa, Poop Scoopin’ Boogie in Tennessee and Pet Scoop in Colorado.
Pooper Trooper, which was founded in 1989 in Lynnwood, Wash., is suing the start-up Scoop Troop for trademark infringement, unfair competition and false advertising. Pooper Trooper is requesting that Scoop Troop, which was founded in September 2020 in Spokane Valley, Wash., change its name and pay back the profits it accrued as a result of its name. The lawsuit was filed July 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Scoop Troop’s owners did not respond to requests for comment from The Washington Post. An attorney representing Pooper Trooper declined to comment.
Uncollected dog poop has long stirred controversy and neighborhood arguments worldwide. An Iowa man sued his city last year, claiming officials retaliated against him after he complained that his neighbor didn’t pick up poop. A Virginia woman was charged with robbery in March 2019 after unclaimed dog feces started an altercation that ended with one woman stealing the other woman’s phone. Cities and apartment buildings have used DNA testing in recent years to identify dog droppings.
Waste removal services have helped solve that problem. They pick up poop at homes, neighborhoods, parks and businesses for a fee and sometimes install waste stations in parks. But two of those companies are in disagreement.
Pooper Trooper’s founder began working full time in 2003, gathering poop with a rake and a bucket and visiting homes in his green Ford Ranger, according to Pooper Trooper’s website. He expanded the business across Washington and by selling online products. The Pooper Trooper name was trademarked in September 2006.
Scoop Troop offers services in Idaho and Spokane, Wash., and recently expanded to the Seattle area. Scoop Troop’s trademark request was denied last September after a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiner ruled that its name sounded similar to PoopScoop Troopers, a company in Woodbridge, Va.
In April, Pooper Trooper sent a cease-and-desist letter to Scoop Troop, which in May rejected Pooper Trooper’s requests to change its name and denied the infringement allegations, according to the lawsuit.
Earlier this month, one of Scoop Troop’s owners told the Spokane Journal of Business that the company had more than 1,500 customers and was projected to make about $1.4 million this year.
Pooper Trooper believes that success is partly due to Scoop Troop’s name.
“The acts of Scoop Troop have caused and, unless restrained by this Court, will continue to cause serious and irreparable harm to Pooper Trooper,” the lawsuit states. | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/30/pooper-trooper-scoop-troop-lawsuit/ | 2023-07-31T01:32:59 | 0 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/30/pooper-trooper-scoop-troop-lawsuit/ |
WASHINGTON, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Teamsters Union was served legal notice today that Yellow Corp. is ceasing operations and filing for bankruptcy.
"Today's news is unfortunate but not surprising. Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself despite billions of dollars in worker concessions and hundreds of millions in bailout funding from the federal government. This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien.
The Teamsters are committed to ensuring members are protected and notified with all the latest information. The International is putting infrastructure in place to help affected members get the assistance they need to find good union jobs throughout freight and other industries.
The situation is developing. Additional details are forthcoming.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
Contact:
Daniel Moskowitz, (770) 262-4971
dmoskowitz@teamster.org
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-notified-that-yellow-corp-operating-companies-have-closed/ | 2023-07-31T01:32:59 | 0 | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-notified-that-yellow-corp-operating-companies-have-closed/ |
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings have given outside linebacker Danielle Hunter a hefty pay raise, paving the way for the team’s best pass rusher to participate in practice after a months-long contract stalemate.
Hunter reported to training camp last week on schedule after skipping the offseason program and mandatory minicamp, but he has yet to join his teammates on the field. Head coach Kevin O’Connell said Saturday that Hunter has been “in the building” and that they’ve been in “daily dialogue” about his physical and mental preparation.
“Danielle Hunter is a very special player, and as soon as we can get him out here, you guys will see him out here,” O’Connell said.
Hunter’s previous contract called for a $4.9 million base salary. According to NFL Network, he’ll make $17 million guaranteed this year with an opportunity to earn an additional $3 million in incentives. Hunter will still hit the free agent market after the season, unless he and the team strike a deal on an extension in the meantime.
Hunter’s presence will be vital for a Vikings defense that has been one of the NFL’s worst over the past three years. They allowed the second-most yards and the fourth-most points in the league in 2022, despite decent production by their primary edge rushers. Hunter had 10 1/2 sacks, Za’Darius Smith had 10 sacks and backups D.J. Wonnum and Patrick Jones had four sacks apiece.
Smith was since traded to Cleveland in a cost-cutting move, leaving Hunter as the only proven pass rusher on the roster. Marcus Davenport was signed as a free agent to push for a starting spot, but this remains one of the biggest questions surrounding the team this season.
“I think Danielle’s a phenomenal player,” said defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who was hired to replace the fired Ed Donatell. “I look forward to working with him.”
Under Donatell, Hunter often found himself as a standup rusher in a three-point stance. The Vikings with Flores are aiming to get back to turning Hunter loose with his hand in the ground more often.
“Veteran players, they’ve seen a lot of defense, coverages, fronts, stunts. I think terminology will probably be the one thing that’s a little bit different, maybe, but some of it, there’s some crossover from some things he’s heard in the past so I don’t think it’ll take long for him to get up to speed,” Flores said. “At the end of the day, we’re telling him to go get the quarterback. There’s really not much to that. So I think he’ll be just fine.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/2023/07/30/vikings-danielle-hunter-contract/eb3028e0-2f34-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html | 2023-07-31T01:33:00 | 0 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/2023/07/30/vikings-danielle-hunter-contract/eb3028e0-2f34-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html |
LAS VEGAS — Kelsey Plum scored 28 points, Chelsea Gray added 27 points and eight assists, and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Dallas Wings 104-91 on Sunday to improve to 23-2.
Alysha Clark scored 12 points and tied her career high of four 3-pointers on four attempts.
Wilson made a driving layup 40 seconds into the game for the first basket and the Aces led the rest of the way. Plum made two free throws to extend the lead to 79-61 late in the third quarter but Crystal Dangerfield and Arike Ogunbowale made back-to-back 3-pointers in a 15-0 run, capped when Dangerfield hit a pull-up jumper that pulled Dallas within three points with 8 1/2 minutes to go.
Dallas (14-11) lost for just the second time since Natasha Howard made two last-second free throws to beat the Aces about three weeks ago.
Teaira McCowan scored a season-high 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds — eight offensive — for the Wings. Satou Sabally scored 19 points, Howard added 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Kalani Brown had 10 points.
Ogunbowale, the WNBA’s third-leading scorer with 21.9 points per game, had 14 points but made just 6 of 18 shots.
The Aces made 32 of 64 from the field, shot 52% (13 of 25) from 3-point range, hit 27 of 28 (96.4%) from the free throw line, and committed just eight turnovers.
Dallas, which has lost two of three games to the Aces this season — they play the fourth and final time this season on Aug. 8 — is the only team in the WNBA to beat Las Vegas, New York and Connecticut, the top-three teams in the standings. The Wings are four games behind the third-place Sun and nine back of the league-leading Aces.
Las Vegas, which averages a league-high 94.1 points, topped the 100-point plateau for the second consecutive game and the sixth time this season.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wnba/2023/07/30/wings-aces-wnba/826f36da-2f3d-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html | 2023-07-31T01:33:00 | 1 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wnba/2023/07/30/wings-aces-wnba/826f36da-2f3d-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html |
TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Anyone who regularly attended basketball games in the last four decades at McKale Center in Tucson could expect to see more than just one performance.
Fans could of course expect to see the Arizona Wildcats basketball team play, but if they ever needed that extra spark late in a game, there was a sixth man fan named the “Ooh Aah Man” perfect for the job.
“He would pick the right moment. He knew when the crowd needed to get off their asses,” said Tom Duddleston, a longtime Sports Information Director at Arizona. “He had a good sense of when it would work.”
Joe Cavaleri, better known as “Ooh Aah Man,” recently died at 71 after receiving a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 2010. The legendary superfan became well known at University of Arizona sporting events starting in 1979.
Born in New York in 1952, Cavaleri moved to Tucson in the 1970s. He was famous for leading crowd chants throughout the 1990s, starting at an Arizona baseball game in 1979, when his chants to the crowd were followed by the team rallying back from a deficit to win. From there, he became a regular at Wildcats sporting events, especially during basketball season.
“He was Arizona’s. He was unique to them. He was the rally guy,” said Steve Rivera, a longtime sportswriter in Tucson. “If Arizona needed a jolt on the court, he’d come out and give them that jolt.”
His popularity skyrocketed into more than just chanting. At basketball games, it became a tradition for him to come onto the court during a timeout, taking off articles of clothing that revealed his “Ooh Aah” T-shirt to hype up the crowd. Adding to the intrigue, no one could predict when the Ooh Aah Man would come out – he decided when he wanted to get the crowd going.
“He was like a Superman coming out of the phone booth at the right time,” said Javier Morales, another longtime Tucson sportswriter.
Even Arizona players and coaches grew aware of his impact and looked forward to his appearances.
Wildcats legend Steve Kerr was very fond of the Ooh Aah Man, and the two shared some memorable interactions.
During a game late in the 1987 basketball season against a tough Oregon State opponent, the Arizona Daily Star reported, the Ooh Aah man appeared at midcourt, removing layers of clothing to hype up the crowd. Kerr was injured at the time, so he saw the Ooh Aah Man and joined him to help him spell “A-R-I-Z-O-N-A.” The crowd became energized, and the Wildcats ultimately came back from a deficit to win that game.
The next season, in 1988, the Wildcats brought the Ooh Aah Man to the Final Four in Kansas City. At the time, the NCAA allowed each school complementary travel for 12 cheerleaders, and Caveleri was always one of the 12.
At the Final Four, another interaction involving Caveleri and Kerr occurred at a Kansas City hotel following a loss to Oklahoma where Kerr had shot 2 for 13 from the field. Javier Morales mentioned in the Arizona Daily Star that Kerr saw the Ooh Aah Man on the balcony directly below him and asked if he was going to jump, to which the Ooh Aah Man replied in a joking manner, “No, are you?”
Not only did basketball players love the Ooh Aah Man, but so did Arizona’s baseball players. After Arizona once beat Hawaii to clinch a spot in the Men’s College World Series, Wildcats players Clark Crist, Terry Francona and Wes Clements raised Cavaleri onto their shoulders and carried him throughout the infield, feeling that his cheers that night gave them the boost they needed to win.
That same night, Wildcats fans started a fundraising campaign to pay for Cavaleri’s trip to the College World Series.
Cavaleri’s presence at Arizona games for over 30 years culminated in him being honored at the halftime of his last basketball game in 2013. He blew kisses to the Tucson crowd as he walked off the court one final time. Cavaleri had encountered health issues, including Parkinson’s, which prevented him from attending Arizona sporting events after 2013.
His love of sports in combination with how funny people say he was, helped create the Ooh Aah Man persona.
“There is no doubt that he was an eye-attracter because he was so funny,” Rivera said. “There’s no question Arizona fans loved him.”
His humor was something that stood out, and those who knew him raved about it. Greg Hansen, a local sports columnist, recalled a funny interaction with the Ooh Aah Man in a recent article. Cavaleri once got an email from an Arizona fan who called him a “middle-aged clown.” He responded to Hansen with a grin on his face, saying, “I’m not middle-aged, I’m 60 with a busted back and torn up knee.”
In addition to being a well-known superfan, Cavaleri was also a bartender and disk jockey at a local Tucson restaurant called the Solarium, as well as other popular spots such as Bum Steer and Carlos Murphy’s, expanding his recognition beyond just sports.
To this day, Cavaleri’s Ooh Aah Man legacy lives on as one of the most popular fans the collegiate sports world has ever witnessed.
As Hansen said in a recent article, “The most recognizable man in the 50-year history of McKale Center is Lute Olson, but you might not get an argument if you said Joe Cavaleri, the Ooh Aah Man, was No. 2.”
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
- Download our free app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, Alexa, and mobile devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Youtube | https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/remembering-ooh-ahh-man-the-wildcats-legendary-sports-fan | 2023-07-31T01:33:05 | 1 | https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/remembering-ooh-ahh-man-the-wildcats-legendary-sports-fan |
SUZHOU, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Transcenta Holding Limited ("Transcenta") (HKEX: 06628), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully-integrated capabilities in discovery, research, development and manufacturing of antibody-based therapeutics, announces that it has received approval from China Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) to initiate Phase II clinical trial of TST002(Blosozumab). This study aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of TST002(Blosozumab) after single and multiple intravenous administrations in patients with reduced bone mineral density.
Osteoporosis is a significant health concern for the middle-aged and elderly population in China. It is estimated that by 2050, the number of osteoporosis patients will reach 120 million. Compared with RANKL mAbs, sclerostin mAbs successfully achieve the dual goal of preventing bone loss and rebuilding the bone. Evenity (Romosozumab) of Amgen is the only anti-sclerostin antibody drug that has been approved by the FDA in the United States. Up to the present, there was no anti-sclerostin antibody drug approved in China.
In May 2023, Transcenta presented Phase I unblinded data, which showed that the overall safety and tolerability of TST002 (Blosozumab) in all dose cohorts is favorable. On the efficacy side, all dose cohorts from 200-1,200 mg have shown a clinically meaningful increase in lumbar spine BMD on Day 85 (D85) after a single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab) and comparable to those of Blosozumab single dose study at the similar dose levels. The average increase of lumbar spine BMD at Day 85 (D85) from baseline ranged from 3.52% to 6.20% across dose cohorts, all exceeding the least significant difference (2.77%). The increase of lumbar spine BMD in the placebo group was only 0.30% even with optimal calcium and vitamin D supplemental treatment. In addition, encouraging BMD increase in total hip from 1.30% to 2.24% across dose cohorts were observed after single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab). In comparison, the mean percent change in lumbar spine BMD from baseline to month 12 was 5.4% after one year of Denosumab treatment.1
"We are excited to have received the clearance to move forward from CDE. Our Phase II will assess several regimens of TST002 (Blosozumab) with reduced dosing frequency, bringing us closer to our Phase III. We look forward to fully exploring the differentiated profile of TST002 to address the unmet medical need of the large patient population who suffers from osteoporosis," said Dr. Caroline Germa, Transcenta's Executive Vice President, Global Medicine Development and Chief Medical Officer.
Reference:
1 https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/105/3/e255/5607536
About TST002 (Blosozumab)
TST002 (Blosozumab) is a humanized anti-sclerostin monoclonal antibody as a drug candidate for osteoporosis and other bone loss diseases. It has a dual effect possessing both anabolic and anti-resorptive effects, which stimulates bone formation and inhibits bone absorption, resulting in fast increase in bone mineral density and bone strength. Blocking sclerostin activity in human treated with anti-sclerostin antibody or with naturally occurring genetic deletion has been shown to be an effective approach in increasing bone mineral density (BMD) and reducing bone fracture. Currently there is no approved anti-sclerostin antibody therapy in China yet although Romosozumab from Amgen has been approved in the United States, Europe and Japan.
About Transcenta Holding Limited
Transcenta (HKEX: 06628) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully integrated capabilities in antibody-based biotherapeutics discovery, research, development and manufacturing.
Transcenta has established global footprint, with Headquarters and Discovery, Clinical and Translational Research Center in Suzhou, Process and Product Development Center and Manufacturing Facility in Hangzhou, and Clinical Development Centers in Princeton, US and in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou of China, and External Partnering Center in Boston and Los Angeles, US. Transcenta has also initiated the construction of the Group Headquarters and the second high-end biopharmaceutical facility with ICB as its core technology in Suzhou Industrial Park. Transcenta is developing 13 therapeutic antibody molecules for oncology and selected non-oncology indications including bone and kidney disorders.
For more information, please visit www.transcenta.com and https://www.linkedin.com/company/transcenta.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Transcenta, are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Transcenta does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.
These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Transcenta with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Transcenta's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Transcenta's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.
Transcenta, the Directors and the employees of Transcenta assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialize or turn out to be incorrect.
View original content:
SOURCE Transcenta Holding Limited | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ | 2023-07-31T01:33:06 | 1 | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ |
LAS VEGAS — Kelsey Plum scored 28 points, Chelsea Gray added 27 points and eight assists, and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Dallas Wings 104-91 on Sunday to improve to 23-2.
Alysha Clark scored 12 points and tied her career high of four 3-pointers on four attempts.
Dallas (14-11) lost for just the second time since Natasha Howard made two last-second free throws to beat the Aces about three weeks ago.
Teaira McCowan scored a season-high 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds — eight offensive — for the Wings. Satou Sabally scored 19 points, Howard added 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Kalani Brown had 10 points.
LIBERTY 87, SPARKS 79
LOS ANGELES — Breanna Stewart scored 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Jonquel Jones added 13 points and 13 boards and New York never trailed against Los Angeles.
Marine Johannes made 5 of 7 from 3-point range and finished with 15 points for the Liberty (19-6). Sabrina Ionescu added 14 points, six rebounds and five assists and Courtney Vandersloot scored eight points with nine assists and six rebounds.
New York, which played its seventh game in 12 days, is off to the best 25-game start in franchise history. The Liberty have won five of their last six.
Dearica Hamby scored 21 points, Jordin Canada added 17 and Azurá Stevens 13 for Los Angeles (9-16), which has lost nine of its last 11.
LYNX 87, SUN 83
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Kayla McBride hit four 3-pointers and finished with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, Lindsay Allen added 16 points and six assists, and Minnesota beat Connecticut.
Aerial Powers scored 14 points, Jessica Shepard had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Dorka Juhász added 11 points for the Lynx.
Minnesota (13-13) has won three games in a row — including an 88-83 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading New York Liberty on Friday. Connecticut (18-7), which had its three-game win streak snapped, is a half-game behind New York in the standings.
Alyssa Thomas had 17 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists — her fourth triple-double of the season — for the Sun. DeWanna Bonner scored 31 points and DiJonai Carrington 11.
STORM 85, FEVER 62
INDIANAPOLIS — Jewell Loyd scored 26 points with eight assists, and Jordan Horston made 7 of 11 from the field and finished with 15 points to help Seattle beat Indiana.
Seattle (6-19), which snapped a franchise-record 10-game losing streak with a 97-74 win Friday over the Chicago Sky, has won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Indiana (6-19) has lost four games in a row and 12 of its last 13 to fall into a tie with the Storm for last in the WNBA standings — a half-game behind the Phoenix Mercury.
Loyd made 4 of 6 from the field, 3 of 4 from 3-point range, and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the first half and had 15 points and four assists as the Storm took a 47-27 lead into halftime. Indiana went scoreless for six-plus minutes in the second quarter as Seattle scored 15 points to open its biggest lead of the game at 44-19 with 2:32 left in the first half.
DREAM 80, MYSTICS 73
COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — Allisha Gray tied her career high with 27 points, and Nia Coffey had a season-high 16 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two blocks to help Atlanta beat Washington.
Gray made 8 of 11 from the field, 3 of 6 from 3-point range and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line. Rhyne Howard added 11 points, five rebounds, five steals and two blocks and Cheyenne Parker also scored 11 for Atlanta (14-11).
Washington (12-13) has lost three games in a row and five of its last six. Regular starters Elena Delle Donne (ankle), Ariel Atkins (ankle) and Shakira Austin (hip) as well as reserve Kristi Toliver (plantar fasciitis) did not play for the Mystics.
Brittney Sykes had 25 points and season-high six steals and Tianna Hawkins added 17 points and 10 rebounds — her second double-double this season — for the Mystics.
SKY 104, MERCURY 85
CHICAGO — Kahleah Copper scored 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting, Marina Mabrey hit four 3-pointers and finished with 23 points and Chicago beat Phoenix.
Courtney Williams made 9 of 13 from the field, scored 19 points and had nine assists and Alanna Smith added 10 points for Chicago (10-15). Robyn Parks, a 31-year-old rookie who went undrafted out of VCU in 2014, hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points — both career highs.
Mabrey and Copper hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cap a 9-0 run that made it 20-8 midway through the first quarter. Phoenix, which led for just 43 seconds, twice trimmed its deficit to six points but got no closer. Williams hit a 3-pointer that made it 64-53 with 8:34 left in the third quarter and the Sky led by double figures the rest of the way.
Diana Taurasi, who missed the Mercury’s last three games (quad/toe), hit five 3-pointers and scored 24 points.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wnba/2023/07/30/wnba-capsules/e26e3c0c-2f3d-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html | 2023-07-31T01:33:07 | 1 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wnba/2023/07/30/wnba-capsules/e26e3c0c-2f3d-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html |
LAKE LANIER, Ga. (KGUN/CNN) — After decades of spooky tales haunting it, Lake Lanier is claiming the life of a man after he was electrified.
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office confirms 24-year-old Thomas Milner, jumped into the lakelate Thursday evening from his family’s dock near Dove Trail and was electrocuted when he entered the water.
Investigators say a family friend remembers Milner screaming for help. This same friend told the investigations team they tried to get him out with a ladder, but couldn't.
That's when deputies report one of Milner's neighbors took a boat out to reach him. The neighbor said he felt a burning sensation upon getting in the water, but didn't realize it was an electrical shock at first.
The sheriff's office confirms Milner's neighbor then swam back to shore, turned off a power box near the dock and then went back to get Milner.
According to bystanders, Milner's uncle tried giving him CPR until emergency crews got there. Those same EMTs then rushed the 24-year-old to a hospital where he died Friday from his injuries.
CNN noted it is unclear why the water was electrified, and the investigation remains ongoing.
——-
Caleb Fernández is a digital content producer for KGUN 9. After earning his bachelor's degree from Penn State in Advertising/Public Relations, Caleb went to New York where he learned production assistance, photography and art direction. Share your story ideas and important issues with Caleb by emailing caleb.fernandez@kgun9.com or by connecting on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. | https://www.kgun9.com/news/national/man-electrocuted-after-jumping-into-haunted-lake | 2023-07-31T01:33:11 | 1 | https://www.kgun9.com/news/national/man-electrocuted-after-jumping-into-haunted-lake |
CRONKITE (CNN) — An online petition to stop a Yuma waste company’s proposal to start managing hazardous materials has received more than 4,300 signatures just weeks before Yuma County officials are scheduled to vote on a special use permit for the company.
If the Yuma County Board of Supervisors approves the permit at its Aug. 7 meeting, it would allow A.A. Sydcol, an environmental services company based in Yuma County, to process hazardous material.
Many Yuma residents want to stop the county from approving the proposal, saying they’re worried about toxic chemicals potentially contaminating their air, land and water – especially with Yuma Palms Mall, agricultural fields and a housing subdivision so close to the property.
Yumans say it doesn’t help that the city has developed a reputation over the years as a dumping ground, particularly for California.
Supervisor Jonathan Lines said he’s well aware of the community’s concerns.
“I’ve heard probably 150 different residents of Yuma express their concerns, primarily that Yuma has become a dumping ground for California waste,” Lines said. “And that’s not how we want to be known.”
However, Lines also said he wants to learn more from both sides: “First and foremost, I’d like to hear (Sydcol’s) side of the story.”
Sydcol has requested the county allow it to handle and store hazardous waste on a 4.75-acre parcel of land that now houses a solid waste transfer facility, according to the special permit request, which it applied for on Jan. 7.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in September 2022 approved a permit to allow the company to handle and store hazardous waste. And the Yuma County Planning and Zoning Commission has given initial approval for the special use permit, but the Yuma County Board of Supervisors will make the final decision.
Some of the waste would come from California, and it would include chemicals such as acetone, butanone and methanol – all flammable liquids – and benzene, an explosion hazard, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Yuma County resident John Adriatico, who started the petition July 7, said hundreds of thousands of gallons of hazardous materials will come into Yuma, with much of it produced in California.
“Nobody in Yuma County is going to benefit from this – only the owner of Sydcol, Charles Templer, a California resident,” Adriatico said. “And I want to make the people of Yuma County aware that we’re not the place, that there’s something here that’s threatening our health.”
According to the ADEQ draft permit, the facility would have a maximum limit of 176,660 gallons of hazardous waste.
Templer said the company is hesitant to put a percentage on how much waste will come from California if the county approves the special use permit.
He added that although non-hazardous waste from California currently makes up “a good percentage” of the company’s business, if the permit were approved, much of the hazardous waste would come from local sources.
“We already receive some non-regulated waste from a Yuma military base, and we expect that to go way up when we can receive the hazardous (materials),” Templer said in a phone interview.
“We’re looking at hopefully being able to receive waste from the large generators in Yuma, including the military bases, city of Yuma, Yuma County. So we are not accepting it currently. Can’t speak with certainty, but the anticipation is the waste will be – a large percentage will be locally generated.”
Templer also said the company could eventually accept waste from other states in addition to California and Arizona because the Department of Defense approved Sydcol as a waste facility for military use.
The Yuma Planning and Zoning Commission approved a special use permit at an April 25 meeting. But it met with community resistance at the meeting, according to a news report from KYMA.
It met with more resistance from Yuma residents on June 5, when the board of supervisors met to vote on the issue. Sydcol requested the decision be pushed back to Aug. 7 to allow the company to address community concerns, KYMA reported.
Although the zoning commission said the proposed development would not materially affect or endanger public health and safety, it did acknowledge the potential dangers of a catastrophic toxic release. Such a disaster could contaminate water supplies, irrigation and sewage systems and would require a shutdown of these facilities, according to a staff report to the commission.
The zoning commission, citing the 2030 Yuma County Comprehensive Plan, said Yuma County is in a high-risk area for earthquakes. A quake could cause structural damage to a hazardous waste facility, possibly resulting in multiple toxic releases and “catastrophic response problems,” according to the report.
The area also is at high risk for liquefaction – a process where soil turns to liquid due to ground shaking from an earthquake, the report read.
The majority of land parcels surrounding the facility are being used for industrial means: junk yards, an auto repair shop and a waste and recycling business. These would not be affected by the facility’s daily operations, according to the report. But the parcels to the north of the facility are designated as “prime farmland” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There are also several residences to the east, southeast and south of the facility, all of which would be affected if there were a release of hazardous materials.
Yuma provides agriculture for much of the United States and is known as the winter vegetable capital of the world.
According to Visit Yuma, roughly 90% of all leafy vegetables grown in the United States from November through March are grown in and around Yuma.
The city also overlooks the Colorado River, a water source for 40 million Americans and Mexicans, according to the Utah Department of Natural Resources.
If there were a disaster at the facility, firefighters would likely respond first. Rural Metro Fire and city of Yuma fire departments have publicly come out against the approval of the permit, KYMA reported. The facility is within the six-minute response time for Rural Metro, which would be three miles away, according to the zoning commission’s staff report.
“This is the wrong location. If something happens – a release, an exposure or worse – the city of Yuma Fire Department will almost certainly be asked to protect the public from dangers that will be present,” Yuma Fire Marshal Kayla Franklin said in a statement. “Responding to a hazardous materials incident is inherently challenging, and even more so within a densely populated area.”
Sydcol has been operating in the city of Yuma since 2005 but moved to its current location in Yuma County in 2018, Templer said. Yuma County is home to more than 200,000 residents, according to Census Reporter.
As it operates now, Sydcol takes in non-hazardous waste in small containers, accumulates them into larger loads and sends them to local landfills, Templer said in a July 14 radio interview.
In 2011, the company agreed to pay a $30,000 fine for “hazardous waste violations,” according to a statement from ADEQ. An employee was burning materials in an open metal pan to conduct an “open flame ignitability” test, which wasn’t the proper procedure, the statement read.
Authorities mailed public notices to properties within 300 feet of the hazardous waste facility, the city of Yuma and relevant agencies and stakeholders, according to the zoning commission’s report. But the March report noted that staff had not received comments from residents in the notification area.
Now, community members at large have organized.
Yuma residents gathered at Lute’s Casino to plan their objections earlier this month.
“Lute’s Casino was packed and the turnout exceeded our expectations,” Adriatico said.
Adriatico said he will submit the petition to the board on Aug. 7. Signers implore the board to vote down Sydcol’s permit request and insist that no hazardous materials should ever be transported to, stored or processed in Yuma County.
Adriatico, a resident of Wellton in Yuma County, said he works for the state as a developmental disability support coordinator. He’s never organized a campaign like this before but was moved to action when he heard about Sydcol’s proposal on the news. When he realized there wasn’t an organized effort to stop it, he created the petition.
“I decided to create a Facebook group and a petition because the one thing I was really afraid of (was), will this sneak past the people of Yuma if we’re not united? And I thought that was a very real possibility,” Adriatico said.
He called on Yumans to reach out to the board of supervisors and let their voices be heard.
Kaitlin Burreson, 27, is a lifelong Yuma resident and has worked for Yuma County since 2014. She began the Instagram awareness page, @actionableyumacounty, on the issue after the supervisors’ meeting in June.
“It has been really nice to see the community come together and care about something that could potentially have such a negative impact on Yuma County because we are a smaller city or county within Arizona,” Burreson said. “Lately there have been a lot of other waste issues, not just this one, that California has brought.”
Lines, the Yuma County supervisor, said the board has a lot to consider.
“We don’t want to put into risk any of our agricultural base, which is who we are primarily,” he said. “And then, talking with Rural Metro and Yuma Fire Department, they’ve expressed concerns. And if the professionals are expressing concerns, I have to take that into serious consideration.”
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
- Download our free app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, Alexa, and mobile devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Youtube | https://www.kgun9.com/news/state/were-not-the-place-yuma-county-residents-fight-hazardous-waste-permit | 2023-07-31T01:33:17 | 1 | https://www.kgun9.com/news/state/were-not-the-place-yuma-county-residents-fight-hazardous-waste-permit |
PHEONIX (CNN) — On a lot behind Del Rio Elementary School, the Chino Valley Unified School District is nearing completion on 10 tiny houses that the district hopes will soon be filled with its teachers.
Chino Valley Superintendent John Scholl said the 375-square-foot studio-style units are meant as “a reasonably priced alternative to traditional housing” in an area where he said the cost of a typical home goes for about $450,000 and has been steadily rising – while teacher salaries have not.
“Some of the things that we’ve heard is, you know, pay teachers more so they can afford a house. We’d love to do that,” Scholl said. “That would be our primary thing that we’d like to do. There’s just not the funding to do that.”
So Chino Valley is trying tiny houses as an inducement for teachers. The district is not alone. From tiny houses to alternative teacher certification programs to hiring teachers from overseas, school districts around Arizona are scrambling for ways to attract teachers to a state that offers some of the lowest salaries in the nation.
Window Rock Unified School District Superintendent Shannon Goodsell said the biggest challenge just 10 years ago was finding people to fill positions like special education and math teachers. Now, he said, it’s finding teachers at all.
A survey by the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association said that in 2017 there were 1,328 teacher vacancies at schools around the state at the start of that school year. The number had more than doubled, to 2,890 vacancies, as of a January 2023 survey by ASPAA.
And not all teacher jobs are filled by certified teachers in Arizona: ASPAA reported that as of January 2023, more than 5,000 teachers did not meet standard teacher requirements.
Everybody agrees that the reason for the shortfall is fairly obvious: Arizona ranks well below other states, including neighboring states, in teacher pay.
Elementary school teachers in Arizona earned an average of $50,134 in 2022, the lowest pay in the country, according to a report by the Center for the Future of Arizona. It said the national average for elementary school teachers was $55,335.
In every neighboring state, grade school teachers are paid more, from $57,553 in Colorado to $83,059 in California, the highest in the country, the center said.
“The surrounding states are paying more than we are and we lose good teachers in surrounding states,” said Arizona Schools Superintendent Tom Horne. “We can’t afford to keep doing that.”
Education advocates say it’s past time for state and local officials to step up and increase teacher pay already, pointing to surveys that have found higher pay is popular with voters.
“Being a working teacher was supposed to be a way to access the American dream,” said Beth Lewis, director of Save Our Schools Arizona. “You’re supposed to be able to be a teacher and have a family and be able to live and be able to afford rent and be able to afford groceries and not have to have three other side jobs.”
Lewis thinks that offering tiny houses to teachers, instead of higher pay, is “horrific.”
“What about teachers with families?” she asked. “It’s not like anybody’s trying to ask for a luxurious mansion. It’s just, can we have a three-bedroom home and be able to afford air conditioning?”
Arizona Education Association President Marisol Garcia said Chino Valley’s tiny houses offer “just reeks of the gold rush and company towns, where not only do you work for your employer, but you live for your employer.”
Scholl acknowledged that the tiny houses are not for everyone, but they will provide “an option for those that want to take it.” The houses – at 375 square feet, well below the 600-square-foot upper limit for a tiny house – will have a bathroom, kitchen and bedroom and rent for $550 a month.
“It’s not meant to be permanent, it’s meant to be transitional. So something to get people into the community,” Scholl said. “Hopefully they can establish themselves here and maybe save them money so that they can afford a home.”
The $1.5 million project is being funded with a $500,000 grant from the Arizona Department of Education, with the balance financed by the district.
Despite the ongoing challenges and “Band-Aid” solutions, educators like Lewis and Goodsell said they still remain passionate and even hopeful for the future of education in Arizona.
“The art of teaching is a passion that comes from within. I believe, just like ministerial work, that teaching is a calling,” Goodsell said. “And it is an opportunity for us as adults to give back to those who gave so much to us.
“It is our opportunity to contribute and to have our voices heard for future generations, so that we can all be successful,” he said.
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
- Download our free app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, Alexa, and mobile devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Youtube | https://www.kgun9.com/news/state/with-pay-lagging-arizona-school-districts-try-other-enticements-to-get-teachers | 2023-07-31T01:33:23 | 0 | https://www.kgun9.com/news/state/with-pay-lagging-arizona-school-districts-try-other-enticements-to-get-teachers |
TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — We might have gotten some rain this week, but that doesn’t mean the highs have gone below triple digits!
Hopefully you brought out some sunscreen today because we got to a high of about 105 degrees in Tucson.
Some places in the Tucson metro area barely escaped the triple digits, but places like Avra Valley hit that high of 105 degrees.
However, in some places in Cochise County, we saw a lot of those upper nineties.
Luckily the Tucson metro area saw some cloud coverage that you could see above the Catalinas and especially on Mount Bigelow.
Rain came down from Northern Arizona and hit some areas of Southern Arizona not too long ago. The East Side of Tucson even got a few sprinkles!
We're only going to be seeing that rain until tomorrow and it'll mostly be gone by Tuesday. That's what's really helping our temperatures cool down to about 89 degrees when we hit 9 P.M. in Tucson. In the early morning hours we will be hitting 74 degrees.
However, tomorrow we're going to be getting up to 99 degrees in Tucson. Not quite the triple digits, but after tomorrow the temperature is going to just keep going up from there. Tomorrow is when we're going to see some thunderstorms in Southern Arizona, so don't forget your umbrellas.
In Sierra Vista it's going to heat up after tomorrow, reaching 99 on both days of next weekend.
MORE WEATHER
WEATHER STATS AND FACTS | https://www.kgun9.com/weather/tucson-weather-includes-more-rain-but-its-not-lasting-long | 2023-07-31T01:33:29 | 1 | https://www.kgun9.com/weather/tucson-weather-includes-more-rain-but-its-not-lasting-long |
(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.wfla.com/news/animals/in-search-of-the-wonderfully-weird-giants-lurking-in-earths-rivers/ | 2023-07-31T01:33:53 | 1 | https://www.wfla.com/news/animals/in-search-of-the-wonderfully-weird-giants-lurking-in-earths-rivers/ |
Amid a wave of incidents involving fans at concerts throwing objects at artists, it happened again this weekend.
This time to rapper Cardi B, who returned the favor.
A video from her performance in Las Vegas on Saturday shows someone in the crowd, close to the stage, throwing a drink at Cardi. The rapper then throws her microphone back at the person.
Security got involved, and the rapper reportedly continued with her set.
So far, no charges have been filed against the person who threw the drink at Cardi or against Cardi for throwing her microphone.
Cardi later posted on socialmedia a video where she says, “not the girl who threw the water yelling she’s sorry after.”
This comes after an alarming string of incidents where people keep throwing things on stage, sometimes even hurting performers.
In June, Pop star Bebe Rexha was hit by a cellphone in the face during a show in New York, forcing her to stop the music. The strike left the singer with a black eyeand in need of stitches.
Also in June, country artist Kelsea Ballerini was hit in the face by an object. She too stopped her set before returning with a message to fans.
This month, Harry Styles was also hit in the eye with an object while performing in Vienna, and rapper Drake was hit in the arm by a phone thrown during his concert in Chicago.
SEE MORE: Why do fans keep throwing things at artists during concerts?
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.wtvr.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her | 2023-07-31T01:33:53 | 0 | https://www.wtvr.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her |
Hillary Zinks owns and operates Zinks Town in Albuquerque. The business offers a succulent bar where you create a spiritual piece of art with a succulent plant.
Jasmine Sisneros, left, and her niece Julianne Sisneros, from Albuquerque, create pieces of art with a succulent plant at Zinks Town in Albuquerque, Wednesday.
Dried flowers used to add to potted succulents at Zinks Town in Albuquerque. The business offers a succulent bar where you create a spiritual piece of art with a succulent plant.
A map showing where some of the customers at Zinks Town have come from, including the Czech Republic. The business offers a succulent bar where you create a spiritual piece of art with a succulent plant.
Hillary Zinks owns and operates Zinks Town in Albuquerque. The business offers a succulent bar where you create a spiritual piece of art with a succulent plant.
Eddie Moore / Journal
Julianne Sisneros, from Albuquerque, creates a piece of art with a succulent plant at Zinks Town in Albuquerque, Wednesday.
Eddie Moore / Journal
A pair of fake women’s boots turned into a pot for succulents at Zinks Town in Albuquerque.
Eddie Moore / Journal
Jasmine Sisneros, left, and her niece Julianne Sisneros, from Albuquerque, create pieces of art with a succulent plant at Zinks Town in Albuquerque, Wednesday.
Eddie Moore / Journal
Dried flowers used to add to potted succulents at Zinks Town in Albuquerque. The business offers a succulent bar where you create a spiritual piece of art with a succulent plant.
Eddie Moore / Journal
A map showing where some of the customers at Zinks Town have come from, including the Czech Republic. The business offers a succulent bar where you create a spiritual piece of art with a succulent plant.
The hardest decision for most customers at Zinks Town is which pot to choose. A medusa head? A miniature bathtub? Or a small, round pot whose mint color could coordinate with a plant?
Before choosing a pot, customers pick a succulent, something with overflowing bubble-shaped leaves, a tall twisting cactus, or even a tiny succulent with violet tinged leaves. After pot selection, the customers settle in at tables covered in a layer of faux grass. A pink-aproned employee plays a singing bowl or hits a note on a steel-tongued drum to start the magic. Then for the thing that makes the succulent bar more than a plant nursery — the magic — customers make a wish or manifestation that can grow with the plant they pot. | https://www.abqjournal.com/business/from-seedling-to-big-idea-planting-wishes-at-the-succulent-bar/article_4d62e0e8-2756-11ee-a63d-7f50e331ccef.html | 2023-07-31T01:33:53 | 0 | https://www.abqjournal.com/business/from-seedling-to-big-idea-planting-wishes-at-the-succulent-bar/article_4d62e0e8-2756-11ee-a63d-7f50e331ccef.html |
MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A man was attacked by a shark on the north end of Anna Maria Island on Sunday, according to the West Manatee Fire Rescue District.
A man in his early 20s was allegedly bitten in the lower leg by a shark near Bean Point.
Someone close to the victim applied a tourniquet for his bleeding.
The man was transported by Manatee County EMS as a trauma alert, according to the rescue crew.
His current condition is unknown. The circumstances leading up to the shark bite are unclear.
This is a developing story. Stay up to date on the latest from News Channel 8 on-air and on the go with the free WFLA News Channel 8 mobile app. | https://www.wfla.com/news/local-news/manatee-county/man-attacked-by-shark-near-bean-point-on-anna-maria-island/ | 2023-07-31T01:33:54 | 1 | https://www.wfla.com/news/local-news/manatee-county/man-attacked-by-shark-near-bean-point-on-anna-maria-island/ |
Music streaming is through the roof this year.
With acts from all over the world taking over the charts and doing so in record fashion.
American music acts are on the list of chart-topping hits from Miley Cyrus, whose single "Flowers" reached one billion streams faster than any song in Spotifyhistory in 2023. To SZA's smash hit "Kill Bill," which has also amassed more than a billion streams this year.
Luminate, one of the leaders in global entertainment data and research, says global streams have already topped one trillion this year.
The fastest climb to a trillion streams since the inception of music streaming reached just three months into the year, a full month faster than last year. And with that growth comes an increasing interest in non-English-language music.
Luminate’s report found nearly 40% of music listeners in the U.S. enjoy music in languages other than English.
Spanish and K-pop are leading the surge in global pop music.
"They both have incredibly loyal and passionate fan bases, and that really creates an environment where fans are always on the lookout for new music," said Jaime Marconette.
Marconette is Luminate’s senior director of music insights and industry relations.
When asked if English-speaking artists are losing their global appeal, Marconette said what we're seeing is most likely due to the increase of people speaking other languages other than English in the country.
"I think that's a fair question, but I think that's a really complicated answer because I don't know if they're losing their appeal," said Marconette. "But I think that what we're seeing is probably a bit of a rise of native languages, or languages that are specific to certain regions, or even diasporas as they move to other countries, starting to grow."
SEE MORE: Why are Mexican Corridos gaining popularity on the music charts?
Latin megastar Bad Bunny’s "Un Verano Sin Ti," which dropped in the Spring of 2022, continues to dominate Luminate’s mid-year top album chart in 2023.
When it comes to both physical and digital sales, K-pop is as pop as it gets.
"The number one source of discovery for K-pop fans here in the U.S. is video and then also audio streaming services; you know, these K-pop fans are also 76% more likely to stream music than the average listener," said Marconette.
Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, and Arabic have all emerged as popular languages for non-anglophonic music.
The cultural melting pot that is the U.S. is also helping the rise of non-English music.
"But one of the things that we're seeing is that changing population demographics is definitely making the import of music from other countries easier," said Marconette.
Content platforms like YouTube and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram also bring the world’s music to U.S. listeners and make it easier for people to share new songs.
"There are really no borders; there are really no geographical barriers," said Marconette. "We're finding that fans in other countries are very easily able to access all sorts of music; you know, really, the world's music library is essentially available."
While it's safe to say English-speaking music will always be around, American music executives are certainly paying attention to the shift. That means they're scoping out international talent more than ever.
"Understanding population changes, you know, those sorts of things together can really guide the way for, you know, music to cross borders, whether, you know, internationally or coming into the U.S. as well," said Marconette.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.wtvr.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time | 2023-07-31T01:33:54 | 1 | https://www.wtvr.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time |
(NewsNation) — While questions remain about a mystery company buying 52,000 acres of land near an Air Force base, a congressman says farmers in the area are being targeted in a lawsuit.
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., has been speaking out over the past five years about the $800 million in land acquisitions by Flannery Associates near Travis Air Force Base in Northern California.
In an interview with NewsNation, Garamendi said he’s been in contact with the families of farmers who handed over their land to Flannery. He said they didn’t want to sell in the first place.
Since no California laws require them to sell, the land was bargained for by both parties at a much higher price. But now, Flannery is suing those families for $510 million, accusing them of conspiring together to inflate the value of the land.
“It’s a suit designed to force the farmers to lawyer up, spend tens of thousands of dollars on lawyering and maybe at the end of the day, bankrupt themselves,” Garamendi said. “In fact, that has happened to at least one family that I know of and I’ve heard rumors that another family simply said we can’t afford the lawyers.”
NewsNation reviewed a copy of the lawsuit. Attorneys for Flannery said they believe “this is a simple case about a group of wealthy landowners who saw an opportunity to conspire, collude, price fix and illegally overcharge Flannery.”
But Garamendi said there was no viable economic reason to justify spending several times more than what the land is worth in the first place.
The suit comes as companies with ties to China have been ramping up efforts to buy American farmland in recent years.
Public records show “Flannery Associates” has invested more than $800 million on more than 50,000 acres of land surrounding the Travis Air Force Base since 2018.
Legal representation for Flannery said the group is controlled by U.S. citizens, with 97% of its capital coming from U.S.-based investors. But after eight months of investigation, federal officials can’t confirm or deny this to be true and have not been able to determine exactly who is backing the company.
The Air Force’s Foreign Investment Risk Review office is currently investigating Flannery Associates. Garamendi said there are valid concerns that Flannery’s land acquisitions could be tied to foreign enemies.
“The fact they chose to buy all three sides of the Travis Air Force Base even raises immediate questions about national security,” Garamendi said. “So, is this Chinese money? We don’t know, but we do know that the Chinese money was being used in North Dakota and we have a very deep suspicion, given the amount of money, given the lack of attention to values, that they simply want to acquire all of this land.”
NewsNation investigated the now thwarted deal with a Chinese-owned company in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Last year, 300 acres of farmland were purchased near the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota by Chinese-owned Fufeng – a deal that raised red flags about potential spying.
After pushback from the community, the city council ultimately voted to end the project, citing national security risks.
Garamendi said local residents near Travis Air Force Base are riled up, just like the residents in Grand Forks, due to how critical the area is for the U.S. military.
“Travis Air Force Base is absolutely essential. It is the gateway to the Pacific,” Garamendi said, later adding, “A good deal of the munitions that are going to Ukraine also passed through Travis Air Force Base.”
China has been buying up American farmland for years. Nearly 384,000 acres of agricultural land in the U.S. is controlled by China, and the rate at which they are purchasing land is growing, the USDA reports.
Chinese ownership of American farmland has increased 55% in the past five years, with almost 75% of it located in the South and about 16% on the West Coast. | https://www.wfla.com/news/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ | 2023-07-31T01:33:55 | 0 | https://www.wfla.com/news/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ |
(AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit Donald Trump filed against CNN in which the former U.S. president claimed that references in news articles or by the network’s hosts to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election as “the Big Lie” were tantamount to comparing him to Adolf Hitler.
Trump had been seeking punitive damages of $475 million in the federal lawsuit filed last October in South Florida, claiming the references hurt his reputation and political career. Trump is a candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination in what is his third run for the presidency as a major-party candidate.
U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal, who was appointed by Trump, said Friday in his ruling that the former president’s defamation claims failed because the references were opinions and not factual statements. Moreover, it was a stretch to believe that, in viewers’ minds, that phrase would connect Trump’s efforts challenging the 2020 election results to Nazi propaganda or Hitler’s genocidal and authoritarian regime, the judge said.
“CNN’s use of the phrase ‘the Big Lie’ in connection with Trump’s election challenges does not give rise to a plausible inference that Trump advocates the persecution and genocide of Jews or any other group of people,” the judge wrote in his decision.
Email messages seeking comment were sent to Trump’s attorneys in South Florida and Washington. CNN declined to comment on Sunday. | https://www.wfla.com/news/politics/ap-politics/donald-trumps-defamation-lawsuit-against-cnn-over-the-big-lie-dismissed-in-florida/ | 2023-07-31T01:33:58 | 1 | https://www.wfla.com/news/politics/ap-politics/donald-trumps-defamation-lawsuit-against-cnn-over-the-big-lie-dismissed-in-florida/ |
POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Two people were arrested Sunday after at least one shot was fired at a Dollar General in Winter Haven.
A confrontation between an ex-boyfriend and a new boyfriend arose at the store, located on Highway 17 across from the Florida Garden Motel.
The new boyfriend suffered injuries and was arrested on an outstanding warrant.
The accused shooter was also arrested.
This is a developing story. Stay up to date on the latest from News Channel 8 on-air and on the go with the free WFLA News Channel 8 mobile app. | https://www.wfla.com/news/polk-county/2-arrested-in-winter-haven-parking-lot-shooting/ | 2023-07-31T01:33:59 | 0 | https://www.wfla.com/news/polk-county/2-arrested-in-winter-haven-parking-lot-shooting/ |
Arlington police investigating vandalism to vehicles, including racist graffiti
ARLINGTON, Texas - Police are looking for those responsible for racist vandalism that happened in south Arlington.
A number of cars were spray-painted overnight Friday, with one car having the letters KKK and other racist words painted on it.
Those who woke up to the discovery said they consider it a hate crime.
Arlington police said their investigators have determined that these incidents are connected and were likely committed by the same suspects.
They added there is no evidence that any of the victims’ vehicles were targeted and there are multiple races, genders, and ages among the victims.
One victim said whoever is behind this should go to jail.
Saturday morning, several people woke up to find spray paint on their cars.
"I saw a big ol’ smiley face on the truck. And I’m like what is that?" Sedgwick Smith recalled.
Smith soon realized it wasn’t a smiley face.
"It was written on there, ‘KKK’ and a bunch more racist words at the tailgate of the truck," he said.
His brother’s Corvette was also vandalized.
"I couldn’t believe, we’ve lived here so long. We haven’t had nothing like that happen to us," Smith said.
Smith wasn’t the only one in south Arlington waking up to this discovery.
Arlington police said a total of 17 cars were tagged with "racist and vulgar graffiti" overnight Friday.
That included one on East Timberview Lane, two on Safari Trail, two on Moorhead Court, and one on Four Winds Drive.
Police believe the vandalism took place Friday night.
Jesse Rubio said his mom’s car was one of them.
"She was in disbelief," Rubio said.
Rubio caught the people in the act from his home security camera.
The video shows what appears to be a white car pull up and stop in front of a white truck.
A couple of people climbed out of the car, before it drove away.
"They tagged the truck and kept honking the horn, making a huge scene," Rubio said.
Smith said he considers this is a hate crime.
"We know all our neighbors. I don’t see a reason why someone would do us like that," he said. "They need to go to jail." | https://www.fox4news.com/news/arlington-racist-graffiti-vehicle-spray-painted | 2023-07-31T01:34:06 | 1 | https://www.fox4news.com/news/arlington-racist-graffiti-vehicle-spray-painted |
No evidence of gunfire, explosive device found at Hulen Mall, fire department says
FORT WORTH, Texas - The Fort Worth Fire Department said it has found no evidence of shots fired or an explosive device at Hulen Mall on Sunday.
Calls started coming in to fire and police dispatch just before 5:30 p.m. about an active shooter and bomb threat.
Fire crews and officers responded to the scene and the mall was evacuated as a precaution.
Authorities began searching for any victims or threats, but couldn’t find any, according to the fire department.
As of 7 p.m., the Fort Worth Fire Department said it has found no gunshot victims on scene or explosive devices in the mall. Two explosive canine units swept the mall, along with other bomb/arson teams with the fire department.
Fire investigators said they believe when people reported hearing gunshots, what they actually heard were slamming doors as people fled the area.
Police and fire crews will remain on scene to continue their investigation. | https://www.fox4news.com/news/hulen-mall-bomb-threat | 2023-07-31T01:34:12 | 0 | https://www.fox4news.com/news/hulen-mall-bomb-threat |
At 24, Alberto Rodriguez has grandparents younger than Joe Biden. But he’s more interested in the 80-year-old president’s accomplishments than his age.
“People as young as me, we’re all focusing on our day-to-day lives and he has done things to help us through that,” Rodriguez, a cook at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, said of Biden’s support among young voters. Rodriguez pointed specifically to federal COVID-19 relief payments and government spending increases on infrastructure and other social programs.
Voters like him were a key piece of Biden’s winning 2020 coalition, which included majorities of young people as well as college graduates, women, urban and suburban voters and Black Americans. Maintaining their support will be critical in closely contested states such as Nevada, where even small declines could prove consequential to Biden’s reelection bid.
His 2024 campaign plans to emphasize messages that could especially resonate with young people in the coming weeks as the anniversary of the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act approaches in mid-August. That legislation includes provisions that the White House will embrace to argue that Biden has done more than any other president to combat climate change.
Such efforts, however, could collide with Biden’s personal reality — like when he recalled that, while attending a St. Patrick’s Day parade at age 14, he appeared in a photo with President Harry S. Truman.
“Purely by accident — I assume it was an accident — the photographer from the newspaper got a picture of me making eye contact with Harry Truman,” Biden said to chuckles last week at the Truman Civil Rights Symposium in Washington.
In 2020, 61% of voters under age 30 — and 55% of those between 30 and 44 — supported Biden, according to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of the electorate.
It’s an age group with which Republicans hope to make inroads. Former President Donald Trump, who is the early front-runner in the GOP presidential primary and is only 3 1/2 years younger than Biden, said Friday, “We are hitting the young person’s market like nobody’s ever seen before.”
Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for Biden’s campaign, referred to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement in arguing that “young people are acutely impacted by the issues front and center in this election, driven by the extreme MAGA agenda.” He said that included inaction on climate change, gun violence and student debt.
“We will meet younger Americans where they are and turn their energy into action,” Munoz said in a statement.
That might not defuse questions about age, though, when it comes to Biden or Trump.
“There’s a frustration and exhaustion that they feel with the rematch,” Terrance Woodbury, co-founder & CEO of the Democratic polling firm HIT Strategies, said of young voters.
“That’s more of a problem than either of those two candidates individually, is that a system can just keep reproducing,” Woodbury added. “And I think a lot of people just find that untenable.”
An April poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that just 25% of Democrats under 45 said they would definitely support Biden in a general election, compared with 56% of older Democrats. A majority of Democrats across age groups said they would probably support him as the party’s nominee, however.
Biden’s campaign is relying heavily on the Democratic National Committee, which during last year’s midterms, hired campus organizers in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and other battleground states and offered weekly youth coordinating meetings to encourage in-class contacts and “dormstorms.” The DNC sees young people as some of the most critical voters it will need to reach in 2024 and promises “significant investments” to mobilize them. Plans are underway to expand on its work last cycle, including trainings it held on how best to turn out voters.
The Republican National Committee is trying to use Biden’s age against him, posting online videos of Biden seeming frail or making verbal gaffes, such as when he declared in June “God save the queen,” nearly nine months after the death of England’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Rodriguez shrugged off online attacks, “People can make all the hit pieces and memes and TikToks all they want.”
A starker contrast might be between the president and rising Democrats such as 46-year-old California Rep. Ro Khanna and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, 41, one of Biden’s primary rivals in 2020. Neither seriously entertained running for the White House in 2024 and have backed Biden’s reelection.
“The only thing that really matters is your ability to do the job,” Buttigieg, who was 37 when he launched his 2020 presidential bid, said recently on CNN. Khanna told Fox News Channel that age will “obviously” be a 2024 factor, but suggested that Biden’s staff “overprotects” him and “the more he’s out there, the better.”
Other top young Democrats have lined up to back Biden. Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, who was elected to Congress last year at 26, is on the Biden campaign’s advisory board, as is Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, 44. New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, 33, recently endorsed Biden.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a progressive who says strong turnout among young voters helped him win a runoff election this spring, said Biden’s policies transcend his age. Johnson noted that the president’s work “around climate justice speaks not just to this generation, but generations to come.”
“The excitement that I believe that we’re going to have is going to speak to the incredible work and organizing that we are committed to doing as a party,” said Johnson, 47. “And we’re looking forward to working with the president over the course of his next four years.”
Still, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, acknowledged that even the president’s supporters understand how demanding the White House can be.
“People worry about Joe Biden. They worry like you would worry about a beloved father or grandfather,” said Weingarten, 65. “What you normally hear from Democrats is this sense of, ‘OK, I just want him to be OK.’ And you’re hearing just the consternation of, ’This is a hard job.’”
Biden said he “took a hard look” at his age while deciding to seek a second term. But he’s also tried to suggest his age and experience are assets rather than liabilities by joking repeatedly about them. That’s a departure from 2020, when Biden called himself a “transition candidate” and pledged to be a “bridge” to younger Democrats.
Santiago Mayer, the founder of Voters of Tomorrow, which has 20-plus chapters nationwide and works to increase political engagement among young voters, argues that Biden is not defying his past promise by running for reelection, but keeping it.
“He just needs more time,” said Mayer, who graduated from California State University at Long Beach in May. “I think the second term is a very important part of that pledge. He’s building a progressive future for young people and he can’t actually pass the baton until that’s done.”
One key policy piece of Biden’s efforts to appeal to young voters, providing student debt relief, was recently struck down by the Supreme Court. The White House has launched a new effort, but it will take longer.
“Of course it’s going to dampen some of that because people are disappointed,” Weingarten said of the ruling’s effect on enthusiasm for Biden. But she said the decision could also motivate young Biden supporters anxious show their support for the president’s alternative plan.
“It is also about the fight,” Weingarten said “not just about the results.” | https://www.wfla.com/nextstar-news-wire/joe-biden-the-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-will-his-age-matter/ | 2023-07-31T01:34:13 | 0 | https://www.wfla.com/nextstar-news-wire/joe-biden-the-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-will-his-age-matter/ |
Dallas non-profit holds Back 2 School Sneaker Festival for kids in need
DALLAS - A local non-profit is helping kids get ready for the school year with new shoes.
Pasos for Oak Cliff was born out of two things: education and a love for sneakers.
"Alejandra, which is my girlfriend, my co-founder, and myself, we’re huge sneakerheads. If you don't know what that means, it’s just somebody who loves shoes. We're both educators," said Jesse Acosta, co-founder of Pasos for Oak Cliff.
The non-profit is combating inequities in education.
"My first year as a teacher, I noticed that kids with worn-out shoes were just more likely to get bullied, sort of be more shy, maybe miss class a little more often," Acosta said. "And when the pandemic hit, we - Alejandra and I - we were just looking for ways to sort of help kids.
They aren’t just providing sneakers, but also scholarships and summer programs.
"We blended literacy, math, sneaker design, and this year, we added the component which is filmmaking. We took those four topics, we put it up together, and you get the sneaker engineering program," Acosta said.
About 700 to 800 people showed up to their sneaker festival on Saturday.
"We hosted, not our first back to school shoe drive, but our first Back to School Sneaker Festival," Acosta said. "And the goal was to serve 1,000 residents, and we got pretty close to the goal."
They identified kids by partnering with elementary schools who were struggling with basic needs like backpacks, school supplies, and specifically shoes.
"Usually, the way we give out the shoes is by, so my co-founder, Alejandra, and I, we select the shoes we're going to give to their kids," he explained. "Usually, we'll put them in this bag and the kids don't know what they're getting until they get that bag and they open it up."
From the start, the co-founder said what began as a one-time project quickly grew to a full non-profit with families asking if another fundraiser for shoes would happen again.
"We wanted to give out 50 pairs of shoes with that, and within the first week, we had fundraised about $3,000 in 2020," he added.
Acosta has stepped away from teaching full-time to focus on the non-profit.
"The intent was never to become as big as we are now," Acosta said. "So we did another fundraiser and then, from there, it's just pretty much been I don't know, it's been a blessing. And it's just really, really organic and it's been a lot of community support."
The next event will be on the non-profit's birthday, with a fundraiser on August 25 at Four Corners Brewing. | https://www.fox4news.com/news/pasos-for-oak-cliff-back-2-school-sneaker-festival | 2023-07-31T01:34:18 | 1 | https://www.fox4news.com/news/pasos-for-oak-cliff-back-2-school-sneaker-festival |
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — First-round draft pick Calijah Kancey of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was carted off the practice field Sunday with what coach Todd Bowles described as a right calf strain.
“We’ll get an MRI and see where it’s at,” said Bowles, who did not speculate on the severity of the injury suffered when the defensive tackle made a sharp turn during a training camp drill.
Kancey was the 19th overall pick in the draft and is expected to be an immediate starter after drawing comparisons in college to another former Pitt standout, three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald.
The injury occurred on the fourth day of camp with the Bucs.
“He’s adapting to the scheme, mentally, and then he was adding his physical part to it,” Bowles said. “He was putting it together quicker than normal rookies do. Hopefully it’s not that bad and he can get back.”
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was also carted off the field on Thursday with a calf strain. Bengals coach Zac Taylor has said that Burrow will be out “several weeks.” | https://www.wfla.com/sports/buccaneers/buccaneers-1st-round-pick-calijah-kancey-strains-right-calf-during-training-camp-drill/ | 2023-07-31T01:34:19 | 1 | https://www.wfla.com/sports/buccaneers/buccaneers-1st-round-pick-calijah-kancey-strains-right-calf-during-training-camp-drill/ |
Rangers acquire starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery and reliever Chris Stratton from the Cardinals
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - The AL West-leading Texas Rangers continued to load up on pitching by acquiring left-hander Jordan Montgomery and reliever Chris Stratton from the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.
The deal came a few hours after the Rangers announced the acquisition of three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer from the New York Mets. Also on Sunday, the Rangers placed ace Nathan Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm strain, retroactive to July 27.
MORE: Texas Rangers News
The Rangers sent left-hander John King, minor league infielder Tommy Saggese and Double-A right-hander T.K. Roby to the Cardinals. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Rangers designated right-hander Joe Barlow for assignment.
Montgomery is 6-9 with a 3.42 ERA in 21 starts for last-place St. Louis, with 108 strikeouts against 35 walks. He can become a free agent after this season.
Stratton is 1-1 with a 4.36 ERA and one save in 42 relief appearances, with 59 strikeouts and 17 walks. | https://www.fox4news.com/sports/rangers-cardinals-trade-jordan-montgomery-chris-stratton | 2023-07-31T01:34:24 | 0 | https://www.fox4news.com/sports/rangers-cardinals-trade-jordan-montgomery-chris-stratton |
MUNCIE, Ind. (WXIN) — A street party in Muncie, Indiana, turned into the scene of a deadly shooting early Sunday morning.
One man died and nearly two dozen others were injured. Of those wounded, 19 were treated at Ball Memorial Hospital’s emergency room, and four were taken to other hospitals. Thirteen victims remained hospitalized in stable condition Sunday afternoon.
After the mass shooting, police announced that there was no further danger to the general public.
”Stranger comes up and decides to take it personal on somebody he knows in the crowd,” said one anonymous man who claimed his nephew was the block party’s disc jockey. “And you can’t fight against an AR. He let loose in the crowd. Everywhere in the crowd.”
The Delaware County coroner identified the deceased victim as 30-year-old Joseph Bonner. There’s no indication if Bonner played an active role in the shooting, whether any other victims are suspected of firing guns, or if any firearms were recovered.
A witness at IU/Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie described a scene of emergency department chaos with more than 100 people descending on the facility — many of whom were victims that were taken to the hospital by private vehicles.
Officers from several agencies — including a Muncie-based FBI agent — secured the crime scene and collected evidence while doctors and nurses treated the wounded from the mass casualty event.
By midday, detectives were still walking the debris-strewn street and parking lot with brown bags filled with collected evidence. A tow truck was also seen hauling away a bullet-riddled red Buick that appeared to have crashed during an attempt to leave the scene.
The Muncie Homecoming Festival committee said the street party where the shooting happened was not part of the official MHF celebration going on this week.
Muncie Parks Superintendent Carl Malone told Nexstar’s WXIN he chaired a neighborhood crime watch meeting last Thursday, and residents expressed fear that this weekend could turn volatile.
”We was a little concerned about violence that we thought might happen,” said Malone, who described Muncie Homecoming as a city-wide welcome home celebration held once every four years for former residents and family members to reconnect with their hometown. ”You had a lot of people congregating in one area, just hanging out and wanting to be part of the neighborhood activities. And then, at that point at time, it got into late night, and when you get into late nights, you usually have some sort of curfew violations, alcohol, guns and drugs seem to be a problem.”
Malone said Muncie has not had a community-wide gun violence initiative since 2015.
”We’ve always had concerns about this area and teenagers involved with handguns,” said Malone, whose niece attended the party. ”She just got out of surgery. She’s doing well. She’s whole. And then my godson was being treated out at Ball Hospital.”
Malone said he will meet with the city’s police leadership Monday morning to review the shooting and plans for keeping Muncie streets safe the rest of the summer.
”The mayor knows my push for gun violence, the lack of gun violence education, the lack of gun violence awareness, the lack of how to report gun violence in and out of our homes,” Malone said. “There’s a way to report crime, there’s a way to report guns, and we just have to report guns in and out of our backpacks and homes.”
Muncie is about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis. The city is home to about 65,000 people. | https://cbs4indy.com/news/national-world/1-dead-23-wounded-after-street-party-shooting-in-indiana/ | 2023-07-31T01:34:25 | 0 | https://cbs4indy.com/news/national-world/1-dead-23-wounded-after-street-party-shooting-in-indiana/ |
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Ronde Barber never doubted he’d wind up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The undersized cornerback’s journey included some of the most memorable plays in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history, as well as several trips to Canton in which he resisted the temptation to step foot in the building where he’ll be enshrined as part of a class of nine 2023 inductees.
Barber, 48, played much of his career in the shadow of twin brother Tiki, who garnered far more attention as a star running back for the New York Giants.
That is until Ronde turned himself into a household name with a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown that sealed the 2002 NFC championship game and propelled the once hapless Bucs to their first Super Bowl appearance.
“It took a long time to get where I am, but I truly believed I was going to get there,” Barber said, looking back on a 16-year career in which he set an NFL mark for consecutive starts by a defensive back and never missed a game because of injury.
“I’ve been (to Canton) five times. I’ve never gone through the Hall,” he added. “I was purposely waiting until I had my opportunity to go in.”
Barber becomes the fourth member from a defense that dominated the league in the late 1990s and early 2000s to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch. He struggled early, only to persevere and become every bit as important to Tampa Bay’s success as the others.
“We wouldn’t have been as great without him,” Brooks said.
“He’s the best nickel corner who’s ever played. It ain’t even close,” Sapp offered. “That only begins to tell the story.”
Barber, a self-described perfectionist, blossomed in the Tampa 2 defensive scheme Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy brought to the Bucs in the mid-1990s. He excelled outside in base formations and revolutionized the nickel role when he moved inside to cover slot receivers and disrupt opposing offenses as a run-stopper and pass rusher.
Barber especially had a knack for delivering when the Bucs seemed to need him most, fully embracing opportunities to step up and help himself, Brooks, Sapp and Lynch change the perception of a franchise once referred to as the “Yucks.”
“I wanted to be that guy,” Barber said.
“Most teams used their third-best corner in nickel. Ronde was our best, and the best to ever do what he did,” Sapp noted. “Nobody else was versatile enough, durable enough to play at that level outside and inside. He wasn’t a big guy, but he wasn’t afraid of anything. He wanted perfection and prepared to do anything necessary to help us win.”
A three-time, first-team All-Pro, Barber is the only player in NFL history with at least 40 interceptions (47) and 25 sacks (28). He scored 14 non-offensive touchdowns, fourth most all time behind Devin Hester and Hall of Famers Deion Sanders and Rod Woodson.
After appearing in just one game — and playing poorly — as a rookie, the 1997 third-round draft pick out of Virginia appeared in 240 consecutive games over the final 15 years of his career. He started the last 215, the longest-ever streak by a defensive back.
“I never wanted to see anybody else do my job,” Barber said.
“He worked hard to perfect that position. He knew what it took to earn that job,” Brooks, who had a streak of 208 consecutive starts at linebacker, said. “When we got on the field it was going to take something drastic to get us out of there.”
For all his accomplishments, including the long interception return against the Philadelphia Eagles that clinched Tampa Bay’s first trip to the Super Bowl, Barber may be most proud of his streak of consecutive games played.
He appreciates the impressive numbers he compiled, as well as winning a Super Bowl. But there’s just something about defying the odds of not missing a game in 15 years.
Especially for a guy who appeared much smaller than his listed playing size of 5-foot-10, 184 pounds.
“With perseverance and hard work, really dedication to doing things uncommon … you can be special,” Barber said. “There was a lot that went into that, and I’m glad it’s now being appreciated.”
Barber, Sapp and Brooks also think it’s pretty cool that long after their playing careers have ended, the Tampa 2 defense lives on.
Numerous teams have adopted variations of the scheme, though without the level of success the Bucs enjoyed in their defensive heyday.
“That’s because it’s not the system, it’s the players in the system,” Brooks said. “Ronde, with his ability, allowed our defense to expand to all areas of the field. That’s hard to duplicate.”
Pittsburgh’s defense was nicknamed the “Steel Curtain” in the 1970s. Minnesota’s defense was once known as the “Purple People Eaters.”
The Bucs Hall of Famers take pride that the scheme they flourished in carries the name of the city wherever it’s implemented.
“We compared favorably to everybody over the years,” said Barber, who will be inducted on Aug. 5, along with DeMarcus Ware, Darrelle Revis, Joe Thomas, Zach Thomas, Joe Klecko, Chuck Howley, Don Coryell and Ken Riley.
Tiki, a six-time 1,000-yard rusher who ran for 10,449 yards and scored 67 TDs over 10 seasons with the Giants, will present Ronde to the Hall.
“Telling him was one of the highlights of my life,” said Ronde, who hopes one day Tiki will be enshrined in Canton, too. “He said, ’Now that you’re in, I’m in.'” | https://www.wfla.com/sports/buccaneers/hall-of-famer-ronde-barber-emerged-from-shadow-of-twin-brother-tiki-to-make-name-for-himself/ | 2023-07-31T01:34:25 | 1 | https://www.wfla.com/sports/buccaneers/hall-of-famer-ronde-barber-emerged-from-shadow-of-twin-brother-tiki-to-make-name-for-himself/ |
Sanchez and Snell lead Padres to 5-3 win over Rangers for 3-game sweep
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Gary Sanchez homered twice, Juan Soto doubled in Fernando Tatis Jr. from first base and left-hander Blake Snell had another strong start for the San Diego Padres, who beat the struggling Texas Rangers 5-3 on Sunday for a three-game sweep.
Hours earlier, Texas announced the acquisition of Max Scherzer from the New York Mets and obtained left-hander Jordan Montgomery from the St. Louis Cardinals. The AL West leaders then lost for the seventh time in nine games while keeping a one-game lead over the Houston Astros, who lost 8-2 to Tampa Bay.
Josh Hader retired Josh Jung with the bases loaded in the ninth inning for his 25th save in 29 chances.
Padres second baseman Ha-Seong Kim exited with an apparent right shoulder injury after sliding headfirst into home plate on Xander Bogaerts' sacrifice fly in the third.
The disappointing Padres, who reached the NL Championship Series last season and then bulked up their payroll to about $250 million, must decide by Tuesday's trade deadline whether they'll be buyers or sellers. They came into Sunday buried in fourth place in the NL West, nine games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, and 5 1/2 games out of the third wild-card spot.
The Padres' three-game winning streak matches their season best. It came after two dismal losses to Pittsburgh, which at the time was last in the NL Central. It was just their second three-game sweep of the season.
Snell (8-8), who has been mentioned as a trade possibility, along with Hader, lowered his big league-leading ERA to 2.50 by holding the Rangers to an unearned run and four hits in five innings. He struck out nine and walked four. The only run he allowed came on his throwing error in the fourth.
Sanchez homered leading off the fourth against Jose Leclerc (0-2) for a 2-1 lead and connected again with two outs in the fifth off Brock Burke for a 4-1 lead. He has 12 this season.
Tatis reached on a fielder's choice in the fourth and scored on Soto's opposite-field double into the corner in left.
The Rangers pulled to 4-3 on Marcus Semien's two-run single off Nick Martinez in the sixth.
MORE: Texas Rangers News
Tatis hit an RBI single in the eighth.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: Placed RHP Nathan Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Thursday, with a right forearm strain and recalled right-hander Grant Anderson from Triple-A Round Rock.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Hadn't announced their starter for Tuesday night's opener of a three-game home series against the Chicago White Sox.
Padres: RHP Seth Lugo (4-5, 3.62 ERA) is scheduled to start Monday night in the opener of a series at Colorado, which will counter with LHP Austin Gomber (8-8, 5.83). | https://www.fox4news.com/sports/texas-rangers-san-diego-padres-july-30 | 2023-07-31T01:34:30 | 0 | https://www.fox4news.com/sports/texas-rangers-san-diego-padres-july-30 |
At 24, Alberto Rodriguez has grandparents younger than Joe Biden. But he’s more interested in the 80-year-old president’s accomplishments than his age.
“People as young as me, we’re all focusing on our day-to-day lives and he has done things to help us through that,” Rodriguez, a cook at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, said of Biden’s support among young voters. Rodriguez pointed specifically to federal COVID-19 relief payments and government spending increases on infrastructure and other social programs.
Voters like him were a key piece of Biden’s winning 2020 coalition, which included majorities of young people as well as college graduates, women, urban and suburban voters and Black Americans. Maintaining their support will be critical in closely contested states such as Nevada, where even small declines could prove consequential to Biden’s reelection bid.
His 2024 campaign plans to emphasize messages that could especially resonate with young people in the coming weeks as the anniversary of the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act approaches in mid-August. That legislation includes provisions that the White House will embrace to argue that Biden has done more than any other president to combat climate change.
Such efforts, however, could collide with Biden’s personal reality — like when he recalled that, while attending a St. Patrick’s Day parade at age 14, he appeared in a photo with President Harry S. Truman.
“Purely by accident — I assume it was an accident — the photographer from the newspaper got a picture of me making eye contact with Harry Truman,” Biden said to chuckles last week at the Truman Civil Rights Symposium in Washington.
In 2020, 61% of voters under age 30 — and 55% of those between 30 and 44 — supported Biden, according to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of the electorate.
It’s an age group with which Republicans hope to make inroads. Former President Donald Trump, who is the early front-runner in the GOP presidential primary and is only 3 1/2 years younger than Biden, said Friday, “We are hitting the young person’s market like nobody’s ever seen before.”
Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for Biden’s campaign, referred to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement in arguing that “young people are acutely impacted by the issues front and center in this election, driven by the extreme MAGA agenda.” He said that included inaction on climate change, gun violence and student debt.
“We will meet younger Americans where they are and turn their energy into action,” Munoz said in a statement.
That might not defuse questions about age, though, when it comes to Biden or Trump.
“There’s a frustration and exhaustion that they feel with the rematch,” Terrance Woodbury, co-founder & CEO of the Democratic polling firm HIT Strategies, said of young voters.
“That’s more of a problem than either of those two candidates individually, is that a system can just keep reproducing,” Woodbury added. “And I think a lot of people just find that untenable.”
An April poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that just 25% of Democrats under 45 said they would definitely support Biden in a general election, compared with 56% of older Democrats. A majority of Democrats across age groups said they would probably support him as the party’s nominee, however.
Biden’s campaign is relying heavily on the Democratic National Committee, which during last year’s midterms, hired campus organizers in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and other battleground states and offered weekly youth coordinating meetings to encourage in-class contacts and “dormstorms.” The DNC sees young people as some of the most critical voters it will need to reach in 2024 and promises “significant investments” to mobilize them. Plans are underway to expand on its work last cycle, including trainings it held on how best to turn out voters.
The Republican National Committee is trying to use Biden’s age against him, posting online videos of Biden seeming frail or making verbal gaffes, such as when he declared in June “God save the queen,” nearly nine months after the death of England’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Rodriguez shrugged off online attacks, “People can make all the hit pieces and memes and TikToks all they want.”
A starker contrast might be between the president and rising Democrats such as 46-year-old California Rep. Ro Khanna and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, 41, one of Biden’s primary rivals in 2020. Neither seriously entertained running for the White House in 2024 and have backed Biden’s reelection.
“The only thing that really matters is your ability to do the job,” Buttigieg, who was 37 when he launched his 2020 presidential bid, said recently on CNN. Khanna told Fox News Channel that age will “obviously” be a 2024 factor, but suggested that Biden’s staff “overprotects” him and “the more he’s out there, the better.”
Other top young Democrats have lined up to back Biden. Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, who was elected to Congress last year at 26, is on the Biden campaign’s advisory board, as is Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, 44. New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, 33, recently endorsed Biden.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a progressive who says strong turnout among young voters helped him win a runoff election this spring, said Biden’s policies transcend his age. Johnson noted that the president’s work “around climate justice speaks not just to this generation, but generations to come.”
“The excitement that I believe that we’re going to have is going to speak to the incredible work and organizing that we are committed to doing as a party,” said Johnson, 47. “And we’re looking forward to working with the president over the course of his next four years.”
Still, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, acknowledged that even the president’s supporters understand how demanding the White House can be.
“People worry about Joe Biden. They worry like you would worry about a beloved father or grandfather,” said Weingarten, 65. “What you normally hear from Democrats is this sense of, ‘OK, I just want him to be OK.’ And you’re hearing just the consternation of, ’This is a hard job.’”
Biden said he “took a hard look” at his age while deciding to seek a second term. But he’s also tried to suggest his age and experience are assets rather than liabilities by joking repeatedly about them. That’s a departure from 2020, when Biden called himself a “transition candidate” and pledged to be a “bridge” to younger Democrats.
Santiago Mayer, the founder of Voters of Tomorrow, which has 20-plus chapters nationwide and works to increase political engagement among young voters, argues that Biden is not defying his past promise by running for reelection, but keeping it.
“He just needs more time,” said Mayer, who graduated from California State University at Long Beach in May. “I think the second term is a very important part of that pledge. He’s building a progressive future for young people and he can’t actually pass the baton until that’s done.”
One key policy piece of Biden’s efforts to appeal to young voters, providing student debt relief, was recently struck down by the Supreme Court. The White House has launched a new effort, but it will take longer.
“Of course it’s going to dampen some of that because people are disappointed,” Weingarten said of the ruling’s effect on enthusiasm for Biden. But she said the decision could also motivate young Biden supporters anxious show their support for the president’s alternative plan.
“It is also about the fight,” Weingarten said “not just about the results.” | https://cbs4indy.com/news/national-world/joe-biden-the-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-will-his-age-matter/ | 2023-07-31T01:34:31 | 1 | https://cbs4indy.com/news/national-world/joe-biden-the-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-will-his-age-matter/ |
(NewsNation) — While questions remain about a mystery company buying 52,000 acres of land near an Air Force base, a congressman says farmers in the area are being targeted in a lawsuit.
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., has been speaking out over the past five years about the $800 million in land acquisitions by Flannery Associates near Travis Air Force Base in Northern California.
In an interview with NewsNation, Garamendi said he’s been in contact with the families of farmers who handed over their land to Flannery. He said they didn’t want to sell in the first place.
Since no California laws require them to sell, the land was bargained for by both parties at a much higher price. But now, Flannery is suing those families for $510 million, accusing them of conspiring together to inflate the value of the land.
“It’s a suit designed to force the farmers to lawyer up, spend tens of thousands of dollars on lawyering and maybe at the end of the day, bankrupt themselves,” Garamendi said. “In fact, that has happened to at least one family that I know of and I’ve heard rumors that another family simply said we can’t afford the lawyers.”
NewsNation reviewed a copy of the lawsuit. Attorneys for Flannery said they believe “this is a simple case about a group of wealthy landowners who saw an opportunity to conspire, collude, price fix and illegally overcharge Flannery.”
But Garamendi said there was no viable economic reason to justify spending several times more than what the land is worth in the first place.
The suit comes as companies with ties to China have been ramping up efforts to buy American farmland in recent years.
Public records show “Flannery Associates” has invested more than $800 million on more than 50,000 acres of land surrounding the Travis Air Force Base since 2018.
Legal representation for Flannery said the group is controlled by U.S. citizens, with 97% of its capital coming from U.S.-based investors. But after eight months of investigation, federal officials can’t confirm or deny this to be true and have not been able to determine exactly who is backing the company.
The Air Force’s Foreign Investment Risk Review office is currently investigating Flannery Associates. Garamendi said there are valid concerns that Flannery’s land acquisitions could be tied to foreign enemies.
“The fact they chose to buy all three sides of the Travis Air Force Base even raises immediate questions about national security,” Garamendi said. “So, is this Chinese money? We don’t know, but we do know that the Chinese money was being used in North Dakota and we have a very deep suspicion, given the amount of money, given the lack of attention to values, that they simply want to acquire all of this land.”
NewsNation investigated the now thwarted deal with a Chinese-owned company in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Last year, 300 acres of farmland were purchased near the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota by Chinese-owned Fufeng – a deal that raised red flags about potential spying.
After pushback from the community, the city council ultimately voted to end the project, citing national security risks.
Garamendi said local residents near Travis Air Force Base are riled up, just like the residents in Grand Forks, due to how critical the area is for the U.S. military.
“Travis Air Force Base is absolutely essential. It is the gateway to the Pacific,” Garamendi said, later adding, “A good deal of the munitions that are going to Ukraine also passed through Travis Air Force Base.”
China has been buying up American farmland for years. Nearly 384,000 acres of agricultural land in the U.S. is controlled by China, and the rate at which they are purchasing land is growing, the USDA reports.
Chinese ownership of American farmland has increased 55% in the past five years, with almost 75% of it located in the South and about 16% on the West Coast. | https://cbs4indy.com/news/national-world/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ | 2023-07-31T01:34:37 | 0 | https://cbs4indy.com/news/national-world/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ |
WESTFIELD – As it turns out, an ankle isn’t the only physical issue that’s keeping Jonathan Taylor off the practice field.
A back injury contributed to the Indianapolis Colts’ disgruntled running back being placed on the physically unable to perform list (PUP) at the start of training camp last Tuesday, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
The type and severity of the back injury isn’t known.
However, the manner with which Taylor sustained the injury could lead to a change in his status. The Colts are considering placing him on the non-football injury list (NFI) since it occurred while Taylor was working out away from the team prior to camp, the source revealed.
That would represent a more strident stance by the team.
A player on PUP is paid once the regular season begins. That’s not the case with an individual on NFI. Since the injury was sustained away while working out on his own, the team wouldn’t be required to pay a player if and until he was medically cleared and added to the active roster.
After the Colts ended their offseason work in mid-June, they preferred Taylor remain in Indy while completing his rehab from surgery in January on his right ankle. His rehab forced him to miss all of the on-field work.
But Taylor opted to prepare for training camp by working out with his associates in Arizona.
The bottom line: the Colts clearly were aware of the ankle situation, but Taylor never mentioned a back injury until he reported to Grand Park Sports Complex for his pre-camp physical.
Until that time, the team fully expected Taylor to be full-go for camp.
The back injury is the latest complication in what’s been a tumultuous summer for the team’s featured back.
Taylor’s in the final year of his rookie contract that will pay him $4.3 million this season, but is seeking an extension. The team informed Taylor and his agent, Malki Kawa, it would not be extending an offer until the end of the upcoming season, and Taylor subsequently requested a trade.
Jim Irsay and Taylor met for nearly an hour Saturday evening in the owner’s luxury bus that was parked adjacent to the practice fields, and one of the overriding messages to Taylor was no trade would be made.
In a response to FOX59/CBS4 Saturday night, Irsay said, “We will not trade Jonathan Taylor. That is a certainty. Not now or not in October.
“That is the bottom line.’’
Taylor, 24, arguably is the team’s best player and top playmaker on offense.
The 2020 second-round pick rushed for 1,169 yards as a rookie, then unleashed the best season by a Colts’ running back in team history in ’21 with a league-leading and franchise-record 1,811 yards.
Taylor’s production slipped last season – 861 yards – by a high sprain to his right ankle that limited him to 11 games and a dysfunctional offense. | https://cbs4indy.com/sports/colts/indianapolis-colts-considering-placing-running-back-jonathan-taylor-on-non-football-injury-list-with-back-issue/ | 2023-07-31T01:34:43 | 1 | https://cbs4indy.com/sports/colts/indianapolis-colts-considering-placing-running-back-jonathan-taylor-on-non-football-injury-list-with-back-issue/ |
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jewell Loyd scored 26 points with eight assists, Jordan Horston made 7 of 11 from the field and finished with 15 points to help the Seattle Storm beat the Indiana Fever, 85-62, on Sunday.
Seattle (6-19), which snapped a franchise-record 10-game losing streak with a 97-74 win Friday over the Chicago Sky, has won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Indiana (6-19) has lost four games in a row and 12 of its last 13 to fall into a tie with the Storm for last in the WNBA standings — a half-game behind the Phoenix Mercury.
Loyd made 4 of 6 from the field, 3 of 4 from 3-point range, and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line in the first half and had 15 points and four assists as the Storm took a 47-27 lead into halftime. Indiana went scoreless for six-plus minutes in the second quarter as Seattle scored 15 points to open its biggest lead of the game at 44-19 with 2:32 left in the first half.
Kelsey Mitchell hit a 3-pointer to cap a 9-2 spurt that trimmed Indiana’s deficit to 57-51 late in the third quarter, but Loyd answered with a three-point play and then hit two free throws and the Fever trailed by double figures throughout the fourth.
The Storm had 23 assists on 31 made field goals and shot 53.4% from the field, made 12 of 24 from behind the arc and hit 11 of 13 from the free-throw line. Indiana was 25-of-66 (38%) shooting and made just 4 of 16 from 3-point range.
Mitchell hit three 3s and led the Fever with 19 points. Aliyah Boston added 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. | https://cbs4indy.com/sports/jewell-loyd-scores-26-as-seattle-storm-cruise-by-indiana-fever/ | 2023-07-31T01:34:49 | 1 | https://cbs4indy.com/sports/jewell-loyd-scores-26-as-seattle-storm-cruise-by-indiana-fever/ |
RENTON — How much do running backs matter?
The Seahawks may find out the answer to the question that has been one of the biggest topics of the NFL offseason far quicker than they would have liked.
For the last two practices, including Sunday’s at the VMAC, the Seahawks had just four running backs on hand with the top two players on the depth chart — second-year vet Kenneth Walker III and rookie Zach Charbonnet — out with injuries. Walker is dealing with a groin issue and has not practiced since the first day of camp Wednesday and Charbonnet has pain in his shoulder and has not practiced since Thursday.
Of Walker, coach Pete Carroll said: “He’s got a little groin thing that kind of bothered him getting into camp here so we’re just keeping him quiet for a bit.”
Carroll seemed to indicate the team isn’t too worried about Walker, saying “because it’s a groin we’ve got to make sure. He doesn’t feel bad. It’s not a terrible injury or anything like that. We just don’t want to aggravate it now and make it something that lingers throughout camp.”
As for Charbonnet, Carroll said: “He’s got a little shoulder thing that we’re checking out right now. Take some time to figure it out. … It just kind of creeped up on him. He didn’t get hit or anything like that. All the sudden he started to feel something — checking him out and being really cautious right now.’’
Since it’s just July 30 and the Seahawks don’t play a regular-season game until Sept. 10, any concern over the injuries might be much ado about nothing.
Still, as Carroll said, “We would love to have those guys (practicing). We’d love to have them back out there. But they’re not ready to go.’’
For now, each is out indefinitely, even if they may miss only a week or two. It might not be that long, especially if nothing of concern is revealed in the tests on Charbonnet’s shoulder.
Walker was taken in the second round in 2022 and emerged as only the second rookie in Seahawks history to rush for more than 1,000 yards, assuming the starting role when Rashaad Penny suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the fifth game of the year.
Charbonnet, a UCLA product, was taken in the second round last April, 52nd overall.
That was a pick some questioned given the presence of Walker and the increasingly popular idea that productive running backs can just as often be found in later rounds.
The Seahawks countered that with, the way they want to play offensively, they need to assure they have good depth, noting the injuries that have roiled the position the past few years. Chris Carson was forced to retire a year ago because of a neck issue, and Penny played just 28 games in his last four years.
Even for as durable as Walker was last season he also missed two games — the opener against Denver after dealing with a hernia issue in camp, and a late-season loss to Carolina with an ankle injury.
With Walker and Charbonnet out, fourth-year player DeeJay Dallas and rookie seventh-round pick Kenny McIntosh got the snaps with the starting offense with Dallas typically the starter in the two-minute/goal-line packages.
The only other two running backs on the roster are free-agent signee Bryant Koback of Toledo and Wayne Taulapapa, who was the leading rusher last season for the Washington Huskies after spending four years at Virginia. Taulapapa was a tryout player during the team’s rookie minicamp in May and was signed on Friday to add depth after the team learned of the issues with Walker and Charbonnet.
Koback spent last season on Minnesota’s practice squad before being signed by the Seahawks after the draft.
As Carroll said, the player who may benefit the most for now is McIntosh, noting that the team knows a lot about Dallas, who has played in 44 games the past three years with two starts.
“We’re getting a lot of information on him,’’ Carroll said of McIntosh. “We don’t need much on DeeJay. We know him. But for Kenny McIntosh this is really important.’’
The Seahawks weren’t necessarily intending to take another running back in the draft before their pick came at 237 overall and McIntosh was still available.
McIntosh led national champ Georgia in rushing in 2022 with 829 yards and 10 touchdowns and was expected to go in the middle rounds. But a slower-than-expected 4.62 40 time at the NFL combine helped contribute to his fall
Since McIntosh arrived last May, the Seahawks felt he has played faster than that reported time, and maybe even faster through the first four days of camp than he did in the spring.
“He looks really quick out there,’’ Carroll said, adding that McIntosh has dropped about 10 pounds since the spring (he’s listed at 204).
“He’s probably been one of the highlights,’’ Carroll said. “… He’s in great shape and he’s just razor sharp. He’s been explosive and innovative with his running and his cuts. He’s caught the ball really well.’’
Even if the team knows Dallas well, he showed up with a different look this fall that could make the team decide to use him in different ways.
Carroll said Dallas, who is listed at 214, is “a little bigger than he’s been,’’ saying he’s weighing “230 right now. I like him running with power and being physical as a different kind of guy for us. We’re going to see how that works for him.’’
What the Seahawks hope is that Walker and Charbonnet will provide the kind of week-in and week-out 1-2 punch the team has tried for most of Carroll’s tenure to assemble, but too often seen go awry because of injuries. | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/seahawks-could-find-out-if-running-backs-matter-as-the-position-has-been-hit-with-injuries/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_seahawks | 2023-07-31T01:36:12 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/seahawks-could-find-out-if-running-backs-matter-as-the-position-has-been-hit-with-injuries/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_seahawks |
Amid a wave of incidents involving fans at concerts throwing objects at artists, it happened again this weekend.
This time to rapper Cardi B, who returned the favor.
A video from her performance in Las Vegas on Saturday shows someone in the crowd, close to the stage, throwing a drink at Cardi. The rapper then throws her microphone back at the person.
Security got involved, and the rapper reportedly continued with her set.
So far, no charges have been filed against the person who threw the drink at Cardi or against Cardi for throwing her microphone.
Cardi later posted on socialmedia a video where she says, “not the girl who threw the water yelling she’s sorry after.”
This comes after an alarming string of incidents where people keep throwing things on stage, sometimes even hurting performers.
In June, Pop star Bebe Rexha was hit by a cellphone in the face during a show in New York, forcing her to stop the music. The strike left the singer with a black eyeand in need of stitches.
Also in June, country artist Kelsea Ballerini was hit in the face by an object. She too stopped her set before returning with a message to fans.
This month, Harry Styles was also hit in the eye with an object while performing in Vienna, and rapper Drake was hit in the arm by a phone thrown during his concert in Chicago.
SEE MORE: Why do fans keep throwing things at artists during concerts?
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.abc15.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her | 2023-07-31T01:36:14 | 0 | https://www.abc15.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her |
Countdown to Kickoff: Saint Francis Wolves
Last season, the Wolves ended their 25-game losing streak.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - The thrill of a victory is exhilarating. Saint Francis lost 25 straight games until early last season when the Wolves earned their first win in two years. It is why head coach James Langham installed the positive mindset. Langham believes this will lead to a winning mentality.
Langham said, “We know we can do it, we know what it takes. We know what it is like to lose and it hurts. We also know how it feels when we win, that joy, that absolute thrill you get from it. I think for us the work we have put in over the past year.”
“Last season we had a lot of games that we could have competed more or even won. If we would have just kept competing for the whole game just keep it 100 percent,” said senior quarterback/safety Cooper Lieffers.
The Wolves have seven seniors returning. But there is no shortage of playing time with only 19 players. The question is if the offense finds its identity. St. Francis scored in the double digits twice. In the final five games, the defense gave up an average of 32 points a game.
“The goals for this season to proceed from what we have done from last year. Where you can learn from it and start something new, said senior defensive end/running back Josh Aurilio said. “And hopefully by the time we all leave that we can hand it off to the younger generation and bring in more kids.”
“We have a good set of guys, we have a good team. We all connect pretty well and I think we can work really well together,” said senior wideout/linebacker Joey Calhoun.
The Wolves look to snap another winless streak. Saint Francis has not won its season opener in five years and open the season versus Lake Weir. They do not play an opponent with a winning record until the beginning of October.
Langham said, “Winning our first game in two and a half years was huge for us understanding for the boys that they can do this. You know it is not a fallacy. It’s tangible, it’s there you did it now there is no excuse to not do it.”
It does not matter how you win the game. This pack of Wolves cares that they earned it.
Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
Copyright 2023 WCJB. All rights reserved. | https://www.wcjb.com/2023/07/31/countdown-kickoff-saint-francis-wolves/ | 2023-07-31T01:36:14 | 1 | https://www.wcjb.com/2023/07/31/countdown-kickoff-saint-francis-wolves/ |
Music streaming is through the roof this year.
With acts from all over the world taking over the charts and doing so in record fashion.
American music acts are on the list of chart-topping hits from Miley Cyrus, whose single "Flowers" reached one billion streams faster than any song in Spotifyhistory in 2023. To SZA's smash hit "Kill Bill," which has also amassed more than a billion streams this year.
Luminate, one of the leaders in global entertainment data and research, says global streams have already topped one trillion this year.
The fastest climb to a trillion streams since the inception of music streaming reached just three months into the year, a full month faster than last year. And with that growth comes an increasing interest in non-English-language music.
Luminate’s report found nearly 40% of music listeners in the U.S. enjoy music in languages other than English.
Spanish and K-pop are leading the surge in global pop music.
"They both have incredibly loyal and passionate fan bases, and that really creates an environment where fans are always on the lookout for new music," said Jaime Marconette.
Marconette is Luminate’s senior director of music insights and industry relations.
When asked if English-speaking artists are losing their global appeal, Marconette said what we're seeing is most likely due to the increase of people speaking other languages other than English in the country.
"I think that's a fair question, but I think that's a really complicated answer because I don't know if they're losing their appeal," said Marconette. "But I think that what we're seeing is probably a bit of a rise of native languages, or languages that are specific to certain regions, or even diasporas as they move to other countries, starting to grow."
SEE MORE: Why are Mexican Corridos gaining popularity on the music charts?
Latin megastar Bad Bunny’s "Un Verano Sin Ti," which dropped in the Spring of 2022, continues to dominate Luminate’s mid-year top album chart in 2023.
When it comes to both physical and digital sales, K-pop is as pop as it gets.
"The number one source of discovery for K-pop fans here in the U.S. is video and then also audio streaming services; you know, these K-pop fans are also 76% more likely to stream music than the average listener," said Marconette.
Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, and Arabic have all emerged as popular languages for non-anglophonic music.
The cultural melting pot that is the U.S. is also helping the rise of non-English music.
"But one of the things that we're seeing is that changing population demographics is definitely making the import of music from other countries easier," said Marconette.
Content platforms like YouTube and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram also bring the world’s music to U.S. listeners and make it easier for people to share new songs.
"There are really no borders; there are really no geographical barriers," said Marconette. "We're finding that fans in other countries are very easily able to access all sorts of music; you know, really, the world's music library is essentially available."
While it's safe to say English-speaking music will always be around, American music executives are certainly paying attention to the shift. That means they're scoping out international talent more than ever.
"Understanding population changes, you know, those sorts of things together can really guide the way for, you know, music to cross borders, whether, you know, internationally or coming into the U.S. as well," said Marconette.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.abc15.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time | 2023-07-31T01:36:20 | 0 | https://www.abc15.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time |
WASHINGTON, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Teamsters Union was served legal notice today that Yellow Corp. is ceasing operations and filing for bankruptcy.
"Today's news is unfortunate but not surprising. Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself despite billions of dollars in worker concessions and hundreds of millions in bailout funding from the federal government. This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien.
The Teamsters are committed to ensuring members are protected and notified with all the latest information. The International is putting infrastructure in place to help affected members get the assistance they need to find good union jobs throughout freight and other industries.
The situation is developing. Additional details are forthcoming.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
Contact:
Daniel Moskowitz, (770) 262-4971
dmoskowitz@teamster.org
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-notified-that-yellow-corp-operating-companies-have-closed/ | 2023-07-31T01:36:20 | 0 | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-notified-that-yellow-corp-operating-companies-have-closed/ |
SUZHOU, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Transcenta Holding Limited ("Transcenta") (HKEX: 06628), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully-integrated capabilities in discovery, research, development and manufacturing of antibody-based therapeutics, announces that it has received approval from China Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) to initiate Phase II clinical trial of TST002(Blosozumab). This study aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of TST002(Blosozumab) after single and multiple intravenous administrations in patients with reduced bone mineral density.
Osteoporosis is a significant health concern for the middle-aged and elderly population in China. It is estimated that by 2050, the number of osteoporosis patients will reach 120 million. Compared with RANKL mAbs, sclerostin mAbs successfully achieve the dual goal of preventing bone loss and rebuilding the bone. Evenity (Romosozumab) of Amgen is the only anti-sclerostin antibody drug that has been approved by the FDA in the United States. Up to the present, there was no anti-sclerostin antibody drug approved in China.
In May 2023, Transcenta presented Phase I unblinded data, which showed that the overall safety and tolerability of TST002 (Blosozumab) in all dose cohorts is favorable. On the efficacy side, all dose cohorts from 200-1,200 mg have shown a clinically meaningful increase in lumbar spine BMD on Day 85 (D85) after a single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab) and comparable to those of Blosozumab single dose study at the similar dose levels. The average increase of lumbar spine BMD at Day 85 (D85) from baseline ranged from 3.52% to 6.20% across dose cohorts, all exceeding the least significant difference (2.77%). The increase of lumbar spine BMD in the placebo group was only 0.30% even with optimal calcium and vitamin D supplemental treatment. In addition, encouraging BMD increase in total hip from 1.30% to 2.24% across dose cohorts were observed after single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab). In comparison, the mean percent change in lumbar spine BMD from baseline to month 12 was 5.4% after one year of Denosumab treatment.1
"We are excited to have received the clearance to move forward from CDE. Our Phase II will assess several regimens of TST002 (Blosozumab) with reduced dosing frequency, bringing us closer to our Phase III. We look forward to fully exploring the differentiated profile of TST002 to address the unmet medical need of the large patient population who suffers from osteoporosis," said Dr. Caroline Germa, Transcenta's Executive Vice President, Global Medicine Development and Chief Medical Officer.
Reference:
1 https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/105/3/e255/5607536
About TST002 (Blosozumab)
TST002 (Blosozumab) is a humanized anti-sclerostin monoclonal antibody as a drug candidate for osteoporosis and other bone loss diseases. It has a dual effect possessing both anabolic and anti-resorptive effects, which stimulates bone formation and inhibits bone absorption, resulting in fast increase in bone mineral density and bone strength. Blocking sclerostin activity in human treated with anti-sclerostin antibody or with naturally occurring genetic deletion has been shown to be an effective approach in increasing bone mineral density (BMD) and reducing bone fracture. Currently there is no approved anti-sclerostin antibody therapy in China yet although Romosozumab from Amgen has been approved in the United States, Europe and Japan.
About Transcenta Holding Limited
Transcenta (HKEX: 06628) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully integrated capabilities in antibody-based biotherapeutics discovery, research, development and manufacturing.
Transcenta has established global footprint, with Headquarters and Discovery, Clinical and Translational Research Center in Suzhou, Process and Product Development Center and Manufacturing Facility in Hangzhou, and Clinical Development Centers in Princeton, US and in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou of China, and External Partnering Center in Boston and Los Angeles, US. Transcenta has also initiated the construction of the Group Headquarters and the second high-end biopharmaceutical facility with ICB as its core technology in Suzhou Industrial Park. Transcenta is developing 13 therapeutic antibody molecules for oncology and selected non-oncology indications including bone and kidney disorders.
For more information, please visit www.transcenta.com and https://www.linkedin.com/company/transcenta.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Transcenta, are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Transcenta does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.
These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Transcenta with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Transcenta's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Transcenta's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.
Transcenta, the Directors and the employees of Transcenta assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialize or turn out to be incorrect.
View original content:
SOURCE Transcenta Holding Limited | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ | 2023-07-31T01:36:26 | 1 | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ |
Amid a wave of incidents involving fans at concerts throwing objects at artists, it happened again this weekend.
This time to rapper Cardi B, who returned the favor.
A video from her performance in Las Vegas on Saturday shows someone in the crowd, close to the stage, throwing a drink at Cardi. The rapper then throws her microphone back at the person.
Security got involved, and the rapper reportedly continued with her set.
So far, no charges have been filed against the person who threw the drink at Cardi or against Cardi for throwing her microphone.
Cardi later posted on socialmedia a video where she says, “not the girl who threw the water yelling she’s sorry after.”
This comes after an alarming string of incidents where people keep throwing things on stage, sometimes even hurting performers.
In June, Pop star Bebe Rexha was hit by a cellphone in the face during a show in New York, forcing her to stop the music. The strike left the singer with a black eyeand in need of stitches.
Also in June, country artist Kelsea Ballerini was hit in the face by an object. She too stopped her set before returning with a message to fans.
This month, Harry Styles was also hit in the eye with an object while performing in Vienna, and rapper Drake was hit in the arm by a phone thrown during his concert in Chicago.
SEE MORE: Why do fans keep throwing things at artists during concerts?
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kxxv.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her | 2023-07-31T01:36:38 | 0 | https://www.kxxv.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her |
LINCOLNTON, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A driver is wanted by Lincolnton Police after what they say “appears to be an intentional assault with a vehicle”.
Officers say the assault happened at the Walmart at 306 North Generals Boulevard around 1:17 p.m. on Sunday, July 30. Six migrant workers were hit by a vehicle and were taken to Atrium Health Lincolnton for non-life-threatening injuries.
According to authorities, an older mid-size SUV with a luggage rack was caught on camera hitting the victims. The driver of the SUV is described as an older white man.
Police say they are investigating the “why” behind the assault.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Lincolnton Police Department at 704-736-8900. Detective M. Diallo is the lead detective in this case. | https://www.qcnews.com/news/u-s/north-carolina/lincoln-county/lincolnton/man-wanted-by-police-after-intentionally-hitting-6-migrant-workers-with-car-in-lincolnton-pd/ | 2023-07-31T01:36:38 | 1 | https://www.qcnews.com/news/u-s/north-carolina/lincoln-county/lincolnton/man-wanted-by-police-after-intentionally-hitting-6-migrant-workers-with-car-in-lincolnton-pd/ |
MUNCIE, Ind. (WXIN) — A street party in Muncie, Indiana, turned into the scene of a deadly shooting early Sunday morning.
One man died and nearly two dozen others were injured. Of those wounded, 19 were treated at Ball Memorial Hospital’s emergency room, and four were taken to other hospitals. Thirteen victims remained hospitalized in stable condition Sunday afternoon.
After the mass shooting, police announced that there was no further danger to the general public.
”Stranger comes up and decides to take it personal on somebody he knows in the crowd,” said one anonymous man who claimed his nephew was the block party’s disc jockey. “And you can’t fight against an AR. He let loose in the crowd. Everywhere in the crowd.”
The Delaware County coroner identified the deceased victim as 30-year-old Joseph Bonner. There’s no indication if Bonner played an active role in the shooting, whether any other victims are suspected of firing guns, or if any firearms were recovered.
A witness at IU/Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie described a scene of emergency department chaos with more than 100 people descending on the facility — many of whom were victims that were taken to the hospital by private vehicles.
Officers from several agencies — including a Muncie-based FBI agent — secured the crime scene and collected evidence while doctors and nurses treated the wounded from the mass casualty event.
By midday, detectives were still walking the debris-strewn street and parking lot with brown bags filled with collected evidence. A tow truck was also seen hauling away a bullet-riddled red Buick that appeared to have crashed during an attempt to leave the scene.
The Muncie Homecoming Festival committee said the street party where the shooting happened was not part of the official MHF celebration going on this week.
Muncie Parks Superintendent Carl Malone told Nexstar’s WXIN he chaired a neighborhood crime watch meeting last Thursday, and residents expressed fear that this weekend could turn volatile.
”We was a little concerned about violence that we thought might happen,” said Malone, who described Muncie Homecoming as a city-wide welcome home celebration held once every four years for former residents and family members to reconnect with their hometown. ”You had a lot of people congregating in one area, just hanging out and wanting to be part of the neighborhood activities. And then, at that point at time, it got into late night, and when you get into late nights, you usually have some sort of curfew violations, alcohol, guns and drugs seem to be a problem.”
Malone said Muncie has not had a community-wide gun violence initiative since 2015.
”We’ve always had concerns about this area and teenagers involved with handguns,” said Malone, whose niece attended the party. ”She just got out of surgery. She’s doing well. She’s whole. And then my godson was being treated out at Ball Hospital.”
Malone said he will meet with the city’s police leadership Monday morning to review the shooting and plans for keeping Muncie streets safe the rest of the summer.
”The mayor knows my push for gun violence, the lack of gun violence education, the lack of gun violence awareness, the lack of how to report gun violence in and out of our homes,” Malone said. “There’s a way to report crime, there’s a way to report guns, and we just have to report guns in and out of our backpacks and homes.”
Muncie is about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis. The city is home to about 65,000 people. | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/1-dead-23-wounded-after-street-party-shooting-in-indiana/ | 2023-07-31T01:36:44 | 0 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/1-dead-23-wounded-after-street-party-shooting-in-indiana/ |
Music streaming is through the roof this year.
With acts from all over the world taking over the charts and doing so in record fashion.
American music acts are on the list of chart-topping hits from Miley Cyrus, whose single "Flowers" reached one billion streams faster than any song in Spotifyhistory in 2023. To SZA's smash hit "Kill Bill," which has also amassed more than a billion streams this year.
Luminate, one of the leaders in global entertainment data and research, says global streams have already topped one trillion this year.
The fastest climb to a trillion streams since the inception of music streaming reached just three months into the year, a full month faster than last year. And with that growth comes an increasing interest in non-English-language music.
Luminate’s report found nearly 40% of music listeners in the U.S. enjoy music in languages other than English.
Spanish and K-pop are leading the surge in global pop music.
"They both have incredibly loyal and passionate fan bases, and that really creates an environment where fans are always on the lookout for new music," said Jaime Marconette.
Marconette is Luminate’s senior director of music insights and industry relations.
When asked if English-speaking artists are losing their global appeal, Marconette said what we're seeing is most likely due to the increase of people speaking other languages other than English in the country.
"I think that's a fair question, but I think that's a really complicated answer because I don't know if they're losing their appeal," said Marconette. "But I think that what we're seeing is probably a bit of a rise of native languages, or languages that are specific to certain regions, or even diasporas as they move to other countries, starting to grow."
SEE MORE: Why are Mexican Corridos gaining popularity on the music charts?
Latin megastar Bad Bunny’s "Un Verano Sin Ti," which dropped in the Spring of 2022, continues to dominate Luminate’s mid-year top album chart in 2023.
When it comes to both physical and digital sales, K-pop is as pop as it gets.
"The number one source of discovery for K-pop fans here in the U.S. is video and then also audio streaming services; you know, these K-pop fans are also 76% more likely to stream music than the average listener," said Marconette.
Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, and Arabic have all emerged as popular languages for non-anglophonic music.
The cultural melting pot that is the U.S. is also helping the rise of non-English music.
"But one of the things that we're seeing is that changing population demographics is definitely making the import of music from other countries easier," said Marconette.
Content platforms like YouTube and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram also bring the world’s music to U.S. listeners and make it easier for people to share new songs.
"There are really no borders; there are really no geographical barriers," said Marconette. "We're finding that fans in other countries are very easily able to access all sorts of music; you know, really, the world's music library is essentially available."
While it's safe to say English-speaking music will always be around, American music executives are certainly paying attention to the shift. That means they're scoping out international talent more than ever.
"Understanding population changes, you know, those sorts of things together can really guide the way for, you know, music to cross borders, whether, you know, internationally or coming into the U.S. as well," said Marconette.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kxxv.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time | 2023-07-31T01:36:44 | 0 | https://www.kxxv.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time |
NEW YORK (AP) — Six straight days of 12-hour driving. Single digit paychecks. The complaints come from workers in vastly different industries: UPS delivery drivers and Hollywood actors and writers.
But they point to an underlying factor driving a surge of labor unrest: The cost to workers whose jobs have changed drastically as companies scramble to meet customer expectations for speed and convenience in industries transformed by technology.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated those changes, pushing retailers to shift online and intensifying the streaming competition among entertainment companies. Now, from the picket lines, workers are trying to give consumers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to produce a show that can be binged any time or get dog food delivered to their doorstep with a phone swipe.
Overworked and underpaid employees is an enduring complaint across industries — from delivery drivers to Starbucks baristas and airline pilots — where surges in consumer demand have collided with persistent labor shortages. Workers are pushing back against forced overtime, punishing schedules or company reliance on lower-paid, part-time or contract forces.
At issue for Hollywood screenwriters and actors staging their first simultaneous strikes in 40 years is the way streaming has upended entertainment economics, slashing pay and forcing showrunners to produce content faster with smaller teams.
“This seems to happen to many places when the tech companies come in. Who are we crushing? It doesn’t matter,” said Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, a screenwriter and showrunner on the negotiating team for the Writers Guild of America, whose members have been on strike since May. Earlier this month, the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists joined the writers’ union on the picket line.
Actors and writers have long relied on residuals, or long-term payments, for reruns and other airings of films and televisions shows. But reruns aren’t a thing on streaming services, where series and films simply land and stay with no easy way, such as box office returns or ratings, to determine their popularity.
Consequently, whatever residuals streaming companies do pay often amount to a pittance, and screenwriters have been sharing tales of receiving single digit checks.
Adam Shapiro, an actor known for the Netflix hit “Never Have I Ever,” said many actors were initially content to accept lower pay for the plethora of roles that streaming suddenly offered. But the need for a more sustainable compensation model gained urgency when it became clear streaming is not a sideshow, but rather the future of the business, he said.
“Over the past 10 years, we realized: ‘Oh, that’s now how Hollywood works. Everything is streaming,’” Shapiro said during a recent union event.
Shapiro, who has been acting for 25 years, said he agreed to a contract offering 20% of his normal rate for “Never Have I Ever” because it seemed like “a great opportunity, and it’s going to be all over the world. And it was. It really was. Unfortunately, we’re all starting to realize that if we keep doing this we’re not going to be able to pay our bills.”
Then there’s the rising use of “mini rooms,” in which a handful of writers are hired to work only during pre-production, sometimes for a series that may take a year to be greenlit, or never get picked up at all.
Sanchez-Witzel, co-creator of the recently released Netflix series “Survival of the Thickest,” said television shows traditionally hire robust writing teams for the duration of production. But Netflix refused to allow her to keep her team of five writers past pre-production, forcing round-the-clock work on rewrites with just one other writer.
“It’s not sustainable and I’ll never do that again,” she said.
Sanchez-Witzel said she was struck by the similarities between her experience and those of UPS drivers, some of whom joined the WGA for protests as they threatened their own potentially crippling strike. UPS and the Teamsters last week reached a tentative contract staving off the strike.
Jeffrey Palmerino, a full-time UPS driver near Albany, New York, said forced overtime emerged as a top issue during the pandemic as drivers coped with a crush of orders on par with the holiday season. Drivers never knew what time they would get home or if they could count on two days off each week, while 14-hour days in trucks without air conditioning became the norm.
“It was basically like Christmas on steroids for two straight years. A lot of us were forced to work six days a week, and that is not any way to live your life,” said Palmerino, a Teamsters shop steward.
Along with pay raises and air conditioning, the Teamsters won concessions that Palmerino hopes will ease overwork. UPS agreed to end forced overtime on days off and eliminate a lower-paid category of drivers who work shifts that include weekends, converting them to full-time drivers. Union members have yet to ratify the deal.
The Teamsters and labor activists hailed the tentative deal as a game-changer that would pressure other companies facing labor unrest to raise their standards. But similar outcomes are far from certain in industries lacking the sheer economic indispensability of UPS or the clout of its 340,000-member union.
Efforts to organize at Starbucks and Amazon stalled as both companies aggressively fought against unionization.
Still, labor protests will likely gain momentum following the UPS contract, said Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of the Worker Institute at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, which released a report this year that found the number of labor strikes rose 52% in 2022.
“The whole idea that consumer convenience is above everything broke down during the pandemic. We started to think, ‘I’m at home ordering, but there is actually a worker who has to go the grocery store, who has to cook this for me so that I can be comfortable,’” Campos-Medina said.
___
Associated Press video journalist Leslie Ambriz contributed from Los Angeles. | https://www.kxxv.com/news/customers-want-instant-gratification-workers-say-its-pushing-them-to-the-brink | 2023-07-31T01:36:46 | 0 | https://www.kxxv.com/news/customers-want-instant-gratification-workers-say-its-pushing-them-to-the-brink |
At 24, Alberto Rodriguez has grandparents younger than Joe Biden. But he’s more interested in the 80-year-old president’s accomplishments than his age.
“People as young as me, we’re all focusing on our day-to-day lives and he has done things to help us through that,” Rodriguez, a cook at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, said of Biden’s support among young voters. Rodriguez pointed specifically to federal COVID-19 relief payments and government spending increases on infrastructure and other social programs.
Voters like him were a key piece of Biden’s winning 2020 coalition, which included majorities of young people as well as college graduates, women, urban and suburban voters and Black Americans. Maintaining their support will be critical in closely contested states such as Nevada, where even small declines could prove consequential to Biden’s reelection bid.
His 2024 campaign plans to emphasize messages that could especially resonate with young people in the coming weeks as the anniversary of the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act approaches in mid-August. That legislation includes provisions that the White House will embrace to argue that Biden has done more than any other president to combat climate change.
Such efforts, however, could collide with Biden’s personal reality — like when he recalled that, while attending a St. Patrick’s Day parade at age 14, he appeared in a photo with President Harry S. Truman.
“Purely by accident — I assume it was an accident — the photographer from the newspaper got a picture of me making eye contact with Harry Truman,” Biden said to chuckles last week at the Truman Civil Rights Symposium in Washington.
In 2020, 61% of voters under age 30 — and 55% of those between 30 and 44 — supported Biden, according to AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of the electorate.
It’s an age group with which Republicans hope to make inroads. Former President Donald Trump, who is the early front-runner in the GOP presidential primary and is only 3 1/2 years younger than Biden, said Friday, “We are hitting the young person’s market like nobody’s ever seen before.”
Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for Biden’s campaign, referred to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement in arguing that “young people are acutely impacted by the issues front and center in this election, driven by the extreme MAGA agenda.” He said that included inaction on climate change, gun violence and student debt.
“We will meet younger Americans where they are and turn their energy into action,” Munoz said in a statement.
That might not defuse questions about age, though, when it comes to Biden or Trump.
“There’s a frustration and exhaustion that they feel with the rematch,” Terrance Woodbury, co-founder & CEO of the Democratic polling firm HIT Strategies, said of young voters.
“That’s more of a problem than either of those two candidates individually, is that a system can just keep reproducing,” Woodbury added. “And I think a lot of people just find that untenable.”
An April poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that just 25% of Democrats under 45 said they would definitely support Biden in a general election, compared with 56% of older Democrats. A majority of Democrats across age groups said they would probably support him as the party’s nominee, however.
Biden’s campaign is relying heavily on the Democratic National Committee, which during last year’s midterms, hired campus organizers in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and other battleground states and offered weekly youth coordinating meetings to encourage in-class contacts and “dormstorms.” The DNC sees young people as some of the most critical voters it will need to reach in 2024 and promises “significant investments” to mobilize them. Plans are underway to expand on its work last cycle, including trainings it held on how best to turn out voters.
The Republican National Committee is trying to use Biden’s age against him, posting online videos of Biden seeming frail or making verbal gaffes, such as when he declared in June “God save the queen,” nearly nine months after the death of England’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Rodriguez shrugged off online attacks, “People can make all the hit pieces and memes and TikToks all they want.”
A starker contrast might be between the president and rising Democrats such as 46-year-old California Rep. Ro Khanna and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, 41, one of Biden’s primary rivals in 2020. Neither seriously entertained running for the White House in 2024 and have backed Biden’s reelection.
“The only thing that really matters is your ability to do the job,” Buttigieg, who was 37 when he launched his 2020 presidential bid, said recently on CNN. Khanna told Fox News Channel that age will “obviously” be a 2024 factor, but suggested that Biden’s staff “overprotects” him and “the more he’s out there, the better.”
Other top young Democrats have lined up to back Biden. Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, who was elected to Congress last year at 26, is on the Biden campaign’s advisory board, as is Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, 44. New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, 33, recently endorsed Biden.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a progressive who says strong turnout among young voters helped him win a runoff election this spring, said Biden’s policies transcend his age. Johnson noted that the president’s work “around climate justice speaks not just to this generation, but generations to come.”
“The excitement that I believe that we’re going to have is going to speak to the incredible work and organizing that we are committed to doing as a party,” said Johnson, 47. “And we’re looking forward to working with the president over the course of his next four years.”
Still, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, acknowledged that even the president’s supporters understand how demanding the White House can be.
“People worry about Joe Biden. They worry like you would worry about a beloved father or grandfather,” said Weingarten, 65. “What you normally hear from Democrats is this sense of, ‘OK, I just want him to be OK.’ And you’re hearing just the consternation of, ’This is a hard job.’”
Biden said he “took a hard look” at his age while deciding to seek a second term. But he’s also tried to suggest his age and experience are assets rather than liabilities by joking repeatedly about them. That’s a departure from 2020, when Biden called himself a “transition candidate” and pledged to be a “bridge” to younger Democrats.
Santiago Mayer, the founder of Voters of Tomorrow, which has 20-plus chapters nationwide and works to increase political engagement among young voters, argues that Biden is not defying his past promise by running for reelection, but keeping it.
“He just needs more time,” said Mayer, who graduated from California State University at Long Beach in May. “I think the second term is a very important part of that pledge. He’s building a progressive future for young people and he can’t actually pass the baton until that’s done.”
One key policy piece of Biden’s efforts to appeal to young voters, providing student debt relief, was recently struck down by the Supreme Court. The White House has launched a new effort, but it will take longer.
“Of course it’s going to dampen some of that because people are disappointed,” Weingarten said of the ruling’s effect on enthusiasm for Biden. But she said the decision could also motivate young Biden supporters anxious show their support for the president’s alternative plan.
“It is also about the fight,” Weingarten said “not just about the results.” | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/joe-biden-the-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-will-his-age-matter/ | 2023-07-31T01:36:46 | 1 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/joe-biden-the-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-will-his-age-matter/ |
(NewsNation) — While questions remain about a mystery company buying 52,000 acres of land near an Air Force base, a congressman says farmers in the area are being targeted in a lawsuit.
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., has been speaking out over the past five years about the $800 million in land acquisitions by Flannery Associates near Travis Air Force Base in Northern California.
In an interview with NewsNation, Garamendi said he’s been in contact with the families of farmers who handed over their land to Flannery. He said they didn’t want to sell in the first place.
Since no California laws require them to sell, the land was bargained for by both parties at a much higher price. But now, Flannery is suing those families for $510 million, accusing them of conspiring together to inflate the value of the land.
“It’s a suit designed to force the farmers to lawyer up, spend tens of thousands of dollars on lawyering and maybe at the end of the day, bankrupt themselves,” Garamendi said. “In fact, that has happened to at least one family that I know of and I’ve heard rumors that another family simply said we can’t afford the lawyers.”
NewsNation reviewed a copy of the lawsuit. Attorneys for Flannery said they believe “this is a simple case about a group of wealthy landowners who saw an opportunity to conspire, collude, price fix and illegally overcharge Flannery.”
But Garamendi said there was no viable economic reason to justify spending several times more than what the land is worth in the first place.
The suit comes as companies with ties to China have been ramping up efforts to buy American farmland in recent years.
Public records show “Flannery Associates” has invested more than $800 million on more than 50,000 acres of land surrounding the Travis Air Force Base since 2018.
Legal representation for Flannery said the group is controlled by U.S. citizens, with 97% of its capital coming from U.S.-based investors. But after eight months of investigation, federal officials can’t confirm or deny this to be true and have not been able to determine exactly who is backing the company.
The Air Force’s Foreign Investment Risk Review office is currently investigating Flannery Associates. Garamendi said there are valid concerns that Flannery’s land acquisitions could be tied to foreign enemies.
“The fact they chose to buy all three sides of the Travis Air Force Base even raises immediate questions about national security,” Garamendi said. “So, is this Chinese money? We don’t know, but we do know that the Chinese money was being used in North Dakota and we have a very deep suspicion, given the amount of money, given the lack of attention to values, that they simply want to acquire all of this land.”
NewsNation investigated the now thwarted deal with a Chinese-owned company in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Last year, 300 acres of farmland were purchased near the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota by Chinese-owned Fufeng – a deal that raised red flags about potential spying.
After pushback from the community, the city council ultimately voted to end the project, citing national security risks.
Garamendi said local residents near Travis Air Force Base are riled up, just like the residents in Grand Forks, due to how critical the area is for the U.S. military.
“Travis Air Force Base is absolutely essential. It is the gateway to the Pacific,” Garamendi said, later adding, “A good deal of the munitions that are going to Ukraine also passed through Travis Air Force Base.”
China has been buying up American farmland for years. Nearly 384,000 acres of agricultural land in the U.S. is controlled by China, and the rate at which they are purchasing land is growing, the USDA reports.
Chinese ownership of American farmland has increased 55% in the past five years, with almost 75% of it located in the South and about 16% on the West Coast. | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ | 2023-07-31T01:36:48 | 0 | https://www.qcnews.com/nexstar-media-wire/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ |
GRAY, Maine — For the first time, Gray-New Gloucester Little League won the Maine State Little League Championship Sunday afternoon.
A 12-0 win over Augusta also punched the team's ticket into the New England Regional tournament and now the boys from Maine have a chance to advance to the Little League World Series.
According to the team's Facebook page, Kayden Oliver pitched a no-hitter in the championship win. Caleb Barker and Mason Amergian each hit a home run as well.
Many community members made the trip north to Herman to watch their local little league squad win the state title. On the way home, the boys were surprised by a championship parade that featured local fire trucks.
After a few days off, Gray-New Gloucester will head to Bristol, Connecticut for the regional tournament. The team is slated to face the New Hampshire state champions Saturday, August 5, at 1 p.m. in the opening game. State champions from Massachusetts and Vermont are also in the tournament field. The regional games will be aired on ESPN and ESPN+.
The little league's Facebook account also posted a way for community members to help the team raise money for the trip to Connecticut this week. | https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/sports/local-sports/gray-new-gloucester-little-league-wins-the-maine-state-championship-heads-to-regionals/97-55cac540-39ef-47c3-be61-3febe64d2cf6 | 2023-07-31T01:37:08 | 1 | https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/sports/local-sports/gray-new-gloucester-little-league-wins-the-maine-state-championship-heads-to-regionals/97-55cac540-39ef-47c3-be61-3febe64d2cf6 |
WASHINGTON, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Teamsters Union was served legal notice today that Yellow Corp. is ceasing operations and filing for bankruptcy.
"Today's news is unfortunate but not surprising. Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself despite billions of dollars in worker concessions and hundreds of millions in bailout funding from the federal government. This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien.
The Teamsters are committed to ensuring members are protected and notified with all the latest information. The International is putting infrastructure in place to help affected members get the assistance they need to find good union jobs throughout freight and other industries.
The situation is developing. Additional details are forthcoming.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
Contact:
Daniel Moskowitz, (770) 262-4971
dmoskowitz@teamster.org
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-notified-that-yellow-corp-operating-companies-have-closed/ | 2023-07-31T01:37:44 | 1 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-notified-that-yellow-corp-operating-companies-have-closed/ |
SUZHOU, China, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Transcenta Holding Limited ("Transcenta") (HKEX: 06628), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully-integrated capabilities in discovery, research, development and manufacturing of antibody-based therapeutics, announces that it has received approval from China Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) to initiate Phase II clinical trial of TST002(Blosozumab). This study aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of TST002(Blosozumab) after single and multiple intravenous administrations in patients with reduced bone mineral density.
Osteoporosis is a significant health concern for the middle-aged and elderly population in China. It is estimated that by 2050, the number of osteoporosis patients will reach 120 million. Compared with RANKL mAbs, sclerostin mAbs successfully achieve the dual goal of preventing bone loss and rebuilding the bone. Evenity (Romosozumab) of Amgen is the only anti-sclerostin antibody drug that has been approved by the FDA in the United States. Up to the present, there was no anti-sclerostin antibody drug approved in China.
In May 2023, Transcenta presented Phase I unblinded data, which showed that the overall safety and tolerability of TST002 (Blosozumab) in all dose cohorts is favorable. On the efficacy side, all dose cohorts from 200-1,200 mg have shown a clinically meaningful increase in lumbar spine BMD on Day 85 (D85) after a single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab) and comparable to those of Blosozumab single dose study at the similar dose levels. The average increase of lumbar spine BMD at Day 85 (D85) from baseline ranged from 3.52% to 6.20% across dose cohorts, all exceeding the least significant difference (2.77%). The increase of lumbar spine BMD in the placebo group was only 0.30% even with optimal calcium and vitamin D supplemental treatment. In addition, encouraging BMD increase in total hip from 1.30% to 2.24% across dose cohorts were observed after single dose of TST002 (Blosozumab). In comparison, the mean percent change in lumbar spine BMD from baseline to month 12 was 5.4% after one year of Denosumab treatment.1
"We are excited to have received the clearance to move forward from CDE. Our Phase II will assess several regimens of TST002 (Blosozumab) with reduced dosing frequency, bringing us closer to our Phase III. We look forward to fully exploring the differentiated profile of TST002 to address the unmet medical need of the large patient population who suffers from osteoporosis," said Dr. Caroline Germa, Transcenta's Executive Vice President, Global Medicine Development and Chief Medical Officer.
Reference:
1 https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/105/3/e255/5607536
About TST002 (Blosozumab)
TST002 (Blosozumab) is a humanized anti-sclerostin monoclonal antibody as a drug candidate for osteoporosis and other bone loss diseases. It has a dual effect possessing both anabolic and anti-resorptive effects, which stimulates bone formation and inhibits bone absorption, resulting in fast increase in bone mineral density and bone strength. Blocking sclerostin activity in human treated with anti-sclerostin antibody or with naturally occurring genetic deletion has been shown to be an effective approach in increasing bone mineral density (BMD) and reducing bone fracture. Currently there is no approved anti-sclerostin antibody therapy in China yet although Romosozumab from Amgen has been approved in the United States, Europe and Japan.
About Transcenta Holding Limited
Transcenta (HKEX: 06628) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with fully integrated capabilities in antibody-based biotherapeutics discovery, research, development and manufacturing.
Transcenta has established global footprint, with Headquarters and Discovery, Clinical and Translational Research Center in Suzhou, Process and Product Development Center and Manufacturing Facility in Hangzhou, and Clinical Development Centers in Princeton, US and in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou of China, and External Partnering Center in Boston and Los Angeles, US. Transcenta has also initiated the construction of the Group Headquarters and the second high-end biopharmaceutical facility with ICB as its core technology in Suzhou Industrial Park. Transcenta is developing 13 therapeutic antibody molecules for oncology and selected non-oncology indications including bone and kidney disorders.
For more information, please visit www.transcenta.com and https://www.linkedin.com/company/transcenta.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Transcenta, are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Transcenta does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.
These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Transcenta with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Transcenta's control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Transcenta's competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.
Transcenta, the Directors and the employees of Transcenta assume (a) no obligation to correct or update the forward-looking statements contained in this site; and (b) no liability in the event that any of the forward-looking statements does not materialize or turn out to be incorrect.
View original content:
SOURCE Transcenta Holding Limited | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ | 2023-07-31T01:37:50 | 0 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/transcenta-anti-sclerostin-monoclonal-antibody-tst002-blosozumab-received-approval-china-cde-initiate-phase-ii-clinical-trial-patients-with-reduced-bone-mineral-density/ |
We are still running a bit below normal to normal temperature-wise for July, despite that brief heat surge.
Rainfall is thankfully running closer to normal to above normal.
____________________________________
After that brief surge of 91-96 with heat indices 103-113 for one day, we are back to the pattern of temperatures being held under control.
In that surge to that heat, we saw some storms, then bigger storms with the transition back to the cooler weather.
Thursday-Saturday morning rainfall totaled 0.50-5.51" per gauges over the area.
Doppler radar estimates show the scope of the rainfall July 27-29:
_____________________________________
A narrow EF0 tornado was confirmed in Cass County from early Saturday morning.
We will see if brief EF0 is confirmed southeast of Morocco per NWS Chicago.
______________________________________
Sporadic strong to severe gusts occurred Friday night-early Saturday morning.
The highest measured gust was 75 mph at Athens, followed by 74 mph at the Grissom Air Reserve Base. There is evidence of 70-80 mph downburst southeast of Rensselaer.
Measured t'storm wind gusts Friday night-early Saturday morning:
______________________________________
Isolated strong to severe gusts also occurred with storms Friday morning & again Friday early evening (northeast).
A gust of 60 mph was measured at the Rochester-Fulton County Airport Friday evening, while a gust of 45 mph was measured on the southeast side of Lafayette & 56 mph 6 W Pine Village Friday morning.
______________________________________
Tonight looks crisp & cool with lows 52-56. Some patchy fog could develop.
Monday looks good with low humidity & 81-85 (dew points 50s).
After 50s Tuesday morning, 81-85 is likely Tuesday with sun, followed by 58-62 Wednesday morning.
The main corridor of severe weather with flooding rainfall will run from Nebraska & Kansas to Missouri to Tennessee to Georgia. There, +5" rainfall may occur over the next 10 days.
My thoughts are that much of our area will see 1.25" or less totals for 10-day rainfall. A few places may see more, but the widespread heavier rainfall, again, is tending to set up just southwest of our area.
Here, a few scattered showers & t'showers are possible Wednesday PM with higher humidity & 83-87, followed by some showers & storms Thursday & Friday with humid to muggy highs of 84-88.
______________________________________
After a cooler, less humid next weekend, some showers & storms are possible Monday-Tuesday of next week with warm humid to muggy 80s.
Parameters suggest MARGINAL RISK of severe Monday.
_______________________________________
After that, showers & storms will be possible off & on August 10-13 with SLIGHT RISK parameters for severe weather. Higher parameters are suggested Nebraska to northern Illinois with more ENHANCED RISK scenarios.
Just prior to that point, we may have another random, but brief surge of intense heat with 90s to 100 & heat indices to +110.
The rounds of storms will tend to occur on the periphery of the heat dome:
_______________________________________
That active Nebraska-Iowa to Ohio storm track with the heavy rainfall & severe weather risk:
_______________________________________
After that, we tend to cool off & the rain shuts off, but not before potentially dumping good, heavy amounts over the area.
So, cool north half of U.S., intense heat South & Texas to puts active storm/rainfall track over our area for this time period.
Again, brief surge of heat from the south look to briefly hit our area amidst overall bit below normal temperatures. | https://www.wlfi.com/news/july-30-9-pm-weather-forecast-update-some-more-showers-tstorms-ahead-with-temperatures-held/article_3c64de22-2ee0-11ee-a580-d7ec592398d0.html | 2023-07-31T01:38:15 | 1 | https://www.wlfi.com/news/july-30-9-pm-weather-forecast-update-some-more-showers-tstorms-ahead-with-temperatures-held/article_3c64de22-2ee0-11ee-a580-d7ec592398d0.html |
It looks like the end of the road for one of the nation's largest freight carriers.
Yellow, a trucking company that just three years ago took a $700 million federal pandemic loan, has reportedly shut down after laying off employees at all locations. The company is expected to file for bankruptcy as soon as Monday, according to industry experts, following a recent exodus of customers amid union strife and on top of years of financial troubles.
With 30,000 jobs at stake, it would be the largest trucking bankruptcy in the history of the U.S., experts said. The company, formerly known as YRC Worldwide, is the third largest less-than-truckload carrier by revenue, behind FedEx and Old Dominion. LTL companies move pallet-sized shipments — smaller than a container, but bigger than a parcel.
Yellow has not publicly announced any plans for bankruptcy or a potential shutdown.
Here's what we know.
Employees are told to prepare for a company shutdown
The Wall Street Journal reported that Yellow shut down on Sunday afternoon, citing internal notices sent to customers and employees.
According to the industry outlet FreightWaves, which also obtained internal documents, Yellow says it plans to issue a public statement on Monday about "the state of the company and the operation."
NPR has not independently confirmed the shutdown and Yellow has not responded to NPR's requests for comment.
Yellow laid off an unknown number of its employees on Friday, reported FreightWaves, citing a memo sent to staff informing them that the company is "shutting down its regular operations" and "laying off employees at all of its locations."
Meanwhile, Teamsters, who represent Yellow's 22,000 unionized workers, advised Yellow employees to "prepare for the worst."
"Yellow appears to be headed to a complete shutdown within the next few days," said Teamsters National Freight Director John Murphy in a Friday memo shared with NPR. He advised drivers to collect their belongings so that they don't get caught up in bankruptcy liquidation.
The Teamsters union declined to comment about a potential bankruptcy or shutdown.
A strike threat delivered a final blow to cash-poor Yellow
Reports of a shutdown come days after a Teamsters strike at the company was averted. A week ago, a pension fund agreed to extend health benefits for workers at two Yellow operating companies after the carrier missed its $50 million benefits payment to the fund on July 15, the union said.
While the extension held off a July 24 strike, the threat of a walkout that could disrupt operations prompted a wave of Yellow customers to bolt.
"The Teamsters actions induced a high level of variability and uncertainty in the market for Yellow's customers. The market abhors variability and uncertainty," wrote Mike Regan, co-founder of TranzAct Technologies, which manages transportation services for retailers. "Consequently, Yellow lost substantial and much needed volume."
After the strike threat, Yellow's freight volumes fell 80% within the span of a week, according to Jack Atkins, a managing director at the financial services firm Stephens who researches the transportation sector.
At the same time, he said, Yellow's cries that it was running out of cash during union negotiation attempts scared off customers. Since then, customers haven't returned.
"Both sides bear fault," Atkins said. "Once that freight left, there was nothing left to really restructure," he added. "It was really too late to save the company."
The company has been at risk of bankruptcy for years
Animus between Yellow and Teamsters has grown in recent months, after the trucking carrier tried to restructure its operations this spring as a cost-saving measure that would allow it to refinance its debt. In June, Yellow sued the union for blocking the restructuring plan it said was "essential to the company's survival." The Teamsters in turn called the lawsuit "baseless," instead blaming Yellow for "decades of gross mismanagement," that included its alleged exhaustion of the $700 million bailout loan.
The company reported a net income of $21.8 million last year. Yellow has $1.3 billion in loan debt due in fall 2024, $729 million of which is owed to the federal government, according to the company's latest quarterly report.
Yellow received a $700 million loan from the government in 2020 as part of a COVID-19 rescue package. In return, the Treasury Department took a 30% stake in the company's shares, which have since plummeted to less than a dollar apiece as of Friday.
In June, a congressional probe found that the Treasury Department's disbursement of the loan was a mistake; the freight company — whose customers included the Department of Defense — did not actually meet the standards to qualify for the business loan because its survival was not "critical to maintaining national security."
"Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Yellow was a financially struggling company that had a long-term non-investment grade (i.e., junk) rating and previous close calls with bankruptcy over the years. The pandemic did not cause Yellow's longstanding problems, nor is the Treasury's loan to the company likely to solve those problems," the Congressional Oversight Commission report read.
A world without Yellow
An end to the Nashville-based company would mean the loss of 30,000 jobs. And Atkins doesn't expect the federal government to come to the rescue this time.
While there may be some slight disruptions, the analyst anticipates other freight carriers will have some capacity to absorb Yellow's business because of the dent in freight volumes.
"This is not going to create a supply-chain crisis," he said.
Retailers and manufacturers are likely to see higher shipping rates if the company folds, he said. Yellow is known for its low shipping rates compared to its rivals.
Atkins visited the Yellow terminal in Little Rock, Ark., on Sunday to find all gates chained up, a sign of ceased operations.
"They've been in wind-down mode, clearing the network out of all the remaining freight," he said. "This is the end."
NPR's Camila Domonoske contributed to this story.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wlrn.org/npr-breaking-news/2023-07-30/the-yellow-trucking-company-meltdown-explained | 2023-07-31T01:38:15 | 1 | https://www.wlrn.org/npr-breaking-news/2023-07-30/the-yellow-trucking-company-meltdown-explained |
(CNN) — An 8-year-old was left with minor injuries after being attacked by a cougar in Washington’s Olympic National Park on Saturday evening, park officials said.
The child was camping with their mother at Lake Angeles, in the Heart O’ the Hills area south of Port Angeles when the cougar attacked, according to a news release from the National Park Service.
The feline predator “casually abandoned its attack after being yelled and screamed at by the child’s mother,” the park service said.
Park personnel were notified about the attack at 6:30 p.m. and quickly responded, the release said.
The child experienced “minor injuries” and was taken to the hospital for further evaluation. Park staff escorted the family back to the trailhead, says the release.
Staff evacuated all campers in the Lake Angeles area and closed the Lake Angeles and Heather Park areas until further notice.
“Due to the extreme nature of this incident, we are closing the Lake Angeles area and several trails in the vicinity,” said Olympic National Park wildlife biologist Tom Kay in the news release. “Out of an abundance of caution, the Lake Angeles Trail, Heather Park Trail, Switchback Trail, and the entire Klahhane Ridge Trail are closed until further notice.”
On Saturday at 5:00 a.m., park law enforcement and “wildlife personnel specializing in cougar tracking” were sent to the animal’s last known location, the release added. If they locate the cougar, they will euthanize it and perform a necropsy, according to the release.
“This may provide clues as to why the animal attacked since cougars are rarely seen and attacks on humans are extraordinarily rare,” the park service said.
Washington is home to around 1,900 to 2,100 adult cougars, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. The department notes that the animals – also called panthers, pumas, and mountain lions – are elusive and rarely interact with humans.
“A person is one thousand times more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a cougar,” according to the department. “But as Washington’s human population grows, and more and more people are recreating outdoors, the chance of observing or encountering cougars may increase.”
All of Olympic National Park is considered “cougar territory,” the park service said. The agency urged visitors to avoid hiking or jogging alone, stay alert to their surroundings, and make lots of noise if they do encounter a cougar.
The Lake Angeles campground is about 100 miles west of Seattle.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wlfi.com/news/national/8-year-old-survives-extraordinarily-rare-cougar-attack-near-washington-s-lake-angeles/article_1794c9df-a0d1-5728-b412-bc26dce54e66.html | 2023-07-31T01:38:21 | 0 | https://www.wlfi.com/news/national/8-year-old-survives-extraordinarily-rare-cougar-attack-near-washington-s-lake-angeles/article_1794c9df-a0d1-5728-b412-bc26dce54e66.html |
Amid a wave of incidents involving fans at concerts throwing objects at artists, it happened again this weekend.
This time to rapper Cardi B, who returned the favor.
A video from her performance in Las Vegas on Saturday shows someone in the crowd, close to the stage, throwing a drink at Cardi. The rapper then throws her microphone back at the person.
Security got involved, and the rapper reportedly continued with her set.
So far, no charges have been filed against the person who threw the drink at Cardi or against Cardi for throwing her microphone.
Cardi later posted on socialmedia a video where she says, “not the girl who threw the water yelling she’s sorry after.”
This comes after an alarming string of incidents where people keep throwing things on stage, sometimes even hurting performers.
In June, Pop star Bebe Rexha was hit by a cellphone in the face during a show in New York, forcing her to stop the music. The strike left the singer with a black eyeand in need of stitches.
Also in June, country artist Kelsea Ballerini was hit in the face by an object. She too stopped her set before returning with a message to fans.
This month, Harry Styles was also hit in the eye with an object while performing in Vienna, and rapper Drake was hit in the arm by a phone thrown during his concert in Chicago.
SEE MORE: Why do fans keep throwing things at artists during concerts?
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kxlf.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her | 2023-07-31T01:38:58 | 0 | https://www.kxlf.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her |
Music streaming is through the roof this year.
With acts from all over the world taking over the charts and doing so in record fashion.
American music acts are on the list of chart-topping hits from Miley Cyrus, whose single "Flowers" reached one billion streams faster than any song in Spotifyhistory in 2023. To SZA's smash hit "Kill Bill," which has also amassed more than a billion streams this year.
Luminate, one of the leaders in global entertainment data and research, says global streams have already topped one trillion this year.
The fastest climb to a trillion streams since the inception of music streaming reached just three months into the year, a full month faster than last year. And with that growth comes an increasing interest in non-English-language music.
Luminate’s report found nearly 40% of music listeners in the U.S. enjoy music in languages other than English.
Spanish and K-pop are leading the surge in global pop music.
"They both have incredibly loyal and passionate fan bases, and that really creates an environment where fans are always on the lookout for new music," said Jaime Marconette.
Marconette is Luminate’s senior director of music insights and industry relations.
When asked if English-speaking artists are losing their global appeal, Marconette said what we're seeing is most likely due to the increase of people speaking other languages other than English in the country.
"I think that's a fair question, but I think that's a really complicated answer because I don't know if they're losing their appeal," said Marconette. "But I think that what we're seeing is probably a bit of a rise of native languages, or languages that are specific to certain regions, or even diasporas as they move to other countries, starting to grow."
SEE MORE: Why are Mexican Corridos gaining popularity on the music charts?
Latin megastar Bad Bunny’s "Un Verano Sin Ti," which dropped in the Spring of 2022, continues to dominate Luminate’s mid-year top album chart in 2023.
When it comes to both physical and digital sales, K-pop is as pop as it gets.
"The number one source of discovery for K-pop fans here in the U.S. is video and then also audio streaming services; you know, these K-pop fans are also 76% more likely to stream music than the average listener," said Marconette.
Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Italian, German, and Arabic have all emerged as popular languages for non-anglophonic music.
The cultural melting pot that is the U.S. is also helping the rise of non-English music.
"But one of the things that we're seeing is that changing population demographics is definitely making the import of music from other countries easier," said Marconette.
Content platforms like YouTube and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram also bring the world’s music to U.S. listeners and make it easier for people to share new songs.
"There are really no borders; there are really no geographical barriers," said Marconette. "We're finding that fans in other countries are very easily able to access all sorts of music; you know, really, the world's music library is essentially available."
While it's safe to say English-speaking music will always be around, American music executives are certainly paying attention to the shift. That means they're scoping out international talent more than ever.
"Understanding population changes, you know, those sorts of things together can really guide the way for, you know, music to cross borders, whether, you know, internationally or coming into the U.S. as well," said Marconette.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.kxlf.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time | 2023-07-31T01:39:04 | 1 | https://www.kxlf.com/music-streams-for-2023-hit-1-trillion-in-record-time |
McBride scores 18, Allen adds 16 and the Lynx beat the Sun 87-83 for their 3rd straight win
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Kayla McBride hit four 3-pointers and finished with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, Lindsay Allen added 16 points and six assists, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun 87-83 on Sunday.
Aerial Powers scored 14 points, Jessica Shepard had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Dorka Juhász added 11 points for the Lynx.
Minnesota (13-13) has won three games in a row — including an 88-83 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading New York Liberty on Friday. Connecticut (18-7), which had its three-game win streak snapped, is a half-game behind New York in the standings.
Alyssa Thomas had 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists — her fourth triple-double of the season — for the Sun. DeWanna Bonner scored 31 points and DiJonai Carrington 11.
Bonner made a layup to get Connecticut within a point before McBride made 1 of 2 from the free throw line to make it 85-83 with 11.1 seconds to go. Juhász blocked a potential go-ahead 3 by Bonner before Shepard made two foul shots to cap the scoring.
Napheesa Collier, Minnesota’s leader with 21.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game, missed her second consecutive game with an ankle injury. Rachel Banham (thumb) and Emily Engstler (shoulder) — who signed a seven-day contract with the Lynx on Friday and then left their win over New York later the same night following a collision with the Liberty’s Kayla Thornton while diving for a loose ball — did not play.
McBride made back-to-back 3s before Jessica Shepard scored Minnesota’s final six points in a 12-3 run that gave the Lynx a nine-point lead with 9.4 seconds left in the third quarter. Natisha Hiedeman hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Sun’s deficit to 68-62 going into the fourth. | https://www.kaaltv.com/sports/state-sports/mcbride-scores-18-allen-adds-16-and-the-lynx-beat-the-sun-87-83-for-their-3rd-straight-win/ | 2023-07-31T01:39:06 | 0 | https://www.kaaltv.com/sports/state-sports/mcbride-scores-18-allen-adds-16-and-the-lynx-beat-the-sun-87-83-for-their-3rd-straight-win/ |
Vikings end stalemate with Danielle Hunter by giving edge rusher a big pay raise
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings have given outside linebacker Danielle Hunter a hefty pay raise, paving the way for the team’s best pass rusher to participate in practice after a months-long contract stalemate.
The Vikings announced Sunday on their website that they reached a new deal with Hunter, the three-time Pro Bowl pick with 71 sacks who will turn 29 in three months.
Hunter reported to training camp last week on schedule after skipping the offseason program and mandatory minicamp, but he has yet to join his teammates on the field. Head coach Kevin O’Connell said Saturday that Hunter has been “in the building” and that they’ve been in “daily dialogue” about his physical and mental preparation.
“Danielle Hunter is a very special player, and as soon as we can get him out here, you guys will see him out here,” O’Connell said.
Hunter’s previous contract called for a $4.9 million base salary. According to NFL Network, he’ll make $17 million guaranteed this year with an opportunity to earn an additional $3 million in incentives. Hunter will still hit the free agent market after the season unless he and the team strike a deal on an extension in the meantime.
Hunter’s presence will be vital for a Vikings defense that has been one of the NFL’s worst over the past three years. They allowed the second-most yards and the fourth-most points in the league in 2022, despite decent production by their primary edge rushers. Hunter had 10 1/2 sacks, Za’Darius Smith had 10 sacks, and backups D.J. Wonnum and Patrick Jones had four sacks apiece.
Smith was since traded to Cleveland in a cost-cutting move, leaving Hunter as the only proven pass rusher on the roster. Marcus Davenport was signed as a free agent to push for a starting spot, but this remains one of the biggest questions surrounding the team this season.
“I think Danielle’s a phenomenal player,” said defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who was hired to replace the fired Ed Donatell. “I look forward to working with him.”
Under Donatell, Hunter often found himself as a standup rusher in a three-point stance. The Vikings with Flores are aiming to get back to turning Hunter loose with his hand in the ground more often.
“Veteran players, they’ve seen a lot of defense, coverages, fronts, stunts. I think terminology will probably be the one thing that’s a little bit different, maybe, but some of it, there’s some crossover from some things he’s heard in the past so I don’t think it’ll take long for him to get up to speed,” Flores said. “At the end of the day, we’re telling him to go get the quarterback. There’s really not much to that. So I think he’ll be just fine.” | https://www.kaaltv.com/sports/state-sports/vikings-end-stalemate-with-danielle-hunter-by-giving-edge-rusher-a-big-pay-raise/ | 2023-07-31T01:39:12 | 1 | https://www.kaaltv.com/sports/state-sports/vikings-end-stalemate-with-danielle-hunter-by-giving-edge-rusher-a-big-pay-raise/ |
Yarbrough’s strong start and Fermin’s homer help Royals sweep Twins 2-1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Freddy Fermin hit a homer, Maikel Garcia had an RBI double, Ryan Yarbrough gave up one run over seven innings and the Kansas City Royals completed a sweep of the Minnesota Twins 2-1 on Sunday.
It’s the first sweep by the Royals since last September, which was also against Minnesota.
“You see it every day, these guys work, come out and play hard and to be rewarded with some wins is something that’s really nice to see,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Especially going into an off day, these guys deserve it.”
Yarbrough (4-5) had his best start of the season going seven innings, allowing one earned run and giving up seven hits while fanning five. It’s his third quality start of July and he lowered his ERA to 2.19 in the month of July with 15 strikeouts and just two walks.
“I think Freddy called a great ball game and we had some good back and forth between innings of what we’re trying to do,” Yarbrough said. “We had a good game plan and made really good adjustments as we went.”
Fermin hit a 420-foot homer to left field in the second inning to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. He has a team-high six-game hitting streak. Kansas City scored first in every game of the series.
“The home run was on an 0-2 splitter, and Freddy has been doing a great job of staying on the off-speed stuff,” Quatraro said. “Just to be in a position to stay back and hit that … that can be tough.”
Matt Wallner tied the game in the third with a 445-foot homer to right field, which was his fifth on the season.
The Royals took back the lead for good in the third with Garcia’s double, scoring Nicky Lopez.
Kenta Maeda (2-6) went five innings and gave up two earned runs on four hits and struck out seven. It’s the first time in over a month that the Twins lost a game he started.
“As a whole, it was a good outing for him. He found himself when he needed,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “His stuff was good. He gave us a chance to win the game.”
Carlos Hernandez shut down the Twins in the ninth for the first save of his career.
The win marks the first time this season Kansas City has won three games in a row.
“It’s been a bit of a tough go and you don’t get many opportunities to sweep teams so you want to take full advantage there,” Yarbrough said. “I was just trying to keep us in the ball game personally and go deep. This is just something to really build off of.”
This is the fourth time Minnesota has been swept since June 8.
“There are a lot of things we need to do better,” Baldelli said. “We’ve mixed some really good baseball in with some really bad baseball and it has evened out to being not good enough. Hopefully, we can recapture that a little bit of that going to St. Louis.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
The Twins placed OF/1B Alex Kiriloff on the 10-day IL (right shoulder inflammation) and reinstated LHP Caleb Thielbar off the 15-day IL.
UP NEXT
Twins: RHP Pablo Lopez (5-6) will start the first of three games at St. Louis on Tuesday.
Royals: RHP Zach Greinke (1-11) takes the mound as Kansas City hosts the Mets on Tuesday for a three-game series. | https://www.kaaltv.com/sports/state-sports/yarbroughs-strong-start-and-fermins-homer-help-royals-sweep-twins-2-1/ | 2023-07-31T01:39:18 | 0 | https://www.kaaltv.com/sports/state-sports/yarbroughs-strong-start-and-fermins-homer-help-royals-sweep-twins-2-1/ |
What a great week we had traveling to and from Colorado, with a delightful 3 days spent in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
Good friend Susan spends a month in Beaver Creek each year and invited Carol and I for a visit.
We decided to drive and see the sights both coming and going. We made a few stops along the way in Kansas. We stopped in Hesston and went to the Dyck arboretum.
We just drove around and looked because it was 98 degrees. Then we went to the town of Lindsborg, Kansas.
This town was settled by Swedish immigrants in 1869. 30% of the current residents are of Swedish descent. There are Dala horses all over town. The local Swedish gift store, makes and paints even more to sell.
The Dala horse is a traditional painted wooden statue of a horse that originated in the provide of Dalarna, Sweden. I thought I might pick one up to bring home, but they were a bit pricey, so I opted for socks with Dala horses on them! The downtown was delightful, with a myriad of quaint shops in the downtown. Our last stop in Kansas was in Goodland at the world’s largest easel with a replica of Van Goh’s sunflower painting
—since Kansas is the sunflower state. Of course, we did stop at a couple of restaurants and one hotel along the way.
We entered Colorado and made it through Denver. We were going to stop at the Denver Botanical Garden, but it was 99 degrees so we didn’t think it was a good day to tour a garden. Interestingly enough, it was hotter in Denver than Little Rock that day.
We soon saw the mountains as we left Denver.
We were excited to head into them, and the scenery was breathtaking. I was not quite as excited once we were deep into the mountain ranges, since there were quite a few steep inclines and a lot of traffic. As a first-timer, it was a bit harrowing. Those that knew the terrain were flying by, but not us. We were both happy when we arrived in Beaver Creek. The first afternoon we went up to Beaver Creek Village
and got the lay of the land and had dinner. The weather was cool and delightful.
The vistas will take your breath away. The next day we went for a walk, and then drove into town to see more of the local towns. It was much warmer than we expected with highs in the mid to upper 80’s, but no humidity—but no air conditioning in most of the shops. That evening we had an amazing dinner at Mirabelle.
Thursday was a full day in Vail, Colorado starting with a tour of the
Betty Ford Alpine Garden,
then we attended The Chef in the Garden lecture/demonstration.
We had a great food lecture from chef Pollyanna who showed us how to make ahi tuna poke. She also gave us many helpful cooking techniques, and we got to sample the dish.
Afterwards, we walked the gardens a little more
and then had a wonderful lunch at Sweet Basil,
then explored more of Vail.
Everywhere you looked at both Beaver Creek
and Vail,
there were wonderful displays of seasonal color.
When we sadly left Beaver Creek,
we drove to Aspen and walked around and ate lunch, before beginning the drive home. We went a different route out of Aspen. We took Independence Pass on Highway 82.
While this is a photo from the past, today the route is still narrow with sharp drop-offs and windy roads
—but well-paved. Once again, I took it slow. We stopped at the top at the Continental Divide
and walked around a bit before finishing the drive down.
We made it as far as Trinidad, Colorado before calling it quits for the day. Dinner was interesting with singing waiters! Before we left Colorado on Saturday, we stopped in at a local nursery,
then cut through the tip of New Mexico, the top of Texas before getting into Oklahoma where we stopped at another nursery
and spent the night in Shawnee before getting home by noon today.
We drove close to 2000 miles and traveled through 6 states and two time zones. We saw a lot of sites. One thing I expected to see in Colorado were lots of wild animals. Luckily we could pretend.
We saw only two chipmunks until our last two hours in Colorado when we saw a few mule deer and pronghorns. We also saw a field of bison or buffalo but they were being commercially raised. In Oklahoma we saw more pronghorns and deer. The weather in Colorado was lovely, but warmer than we expected. It did cool down some at night, but we never wore a jacket. We took warmer clothing than we needed, so we did get a bit warm at times, but there was little humidity so it felt great (a lot better than it does at home right now!). Each day we were there it clouded up and we had a few raindrops and some lightening, but we never got wet. It is beautiful country and quite diverse. We packed a lot in a week. We had a great time and made lots of new memories and developed deeper friendships. We also met a lot of fun people along the way. Traveling by car is great if you have the time. You see so much more of our great country. | https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/jul/30/colorado-vacation/ | 2023-07-31T01:39:38 | 1 | https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/jul/30/colorado-vacation/ |
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents will meet Sunday to authorize the university to negotiate a potential settlement with Kathleen McElroy, a Black University of Texas at Austin journalism professor, who turned down a position at A&M after the university changed her job offer under pressure from conservative groups.
McElroy’s botched hiring led to the resignation of multiple administrators, including the university president last week. It’s not clear whether McElroy, who said she felt judged because of her race and gender, has filed claims against A&M, but if the board gives its approval the university could enter a settlement discussion with the UT professor, who has since hired legal counsel.
The Board of Regents also plans to appoint an interim president for A&M, according to an agenda for the July 30 special meeting, which is open to the public.
On July 20, M. Katherine Banks resigned as president of the university following the public backlash over the failed hiring of McElroy. Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp named Mark A. Welsh III, dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service, as acting president following Banks’ departure. Sharp recommended appointing Welsh in the interim until the board can do a national search for a new president.
A&M celebrated the hiring of McElroy earlier this year to revive the university’s journalism program as a tenure-track professor. But following outcries from conservative groups and alumni, McElroy was presented with a succession of different offer letters that promised a less lucrative role at A&M. McElroy turned down the final offer, which was a one-year contract that could be terminated at any time.
McElroy told The Texas Tribune on Friday that negotiations “are still ongoing” and declined further comment.
The Board of Regents will consult with A&M System attorneys, likely in executive session or otherwise behind closed doors, to discuss the possibility of settling with McElroy over the failed hiring.
In addition to Banks’ resignation, two deans at the university announced their plans to step down from their administrative roles at A&M in the wake of the mishandled hiring. The case has deflated morale among A&M faculty members, who previously expressed distrust with the administration over what they said was a lack of transparency in the decision-making process.
This story comes from The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans - and engages with them - about public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues. | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/education/texas-am-hiring-controvery-katherine-banks-kathleen-mcelroy/285-0c3e06ae-e644-4998-98ff-c365e236bb2a | 2023-07-31T01:39:38 | 1 | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/education/texas-am-hiring-controvery-katherine-banks-kathleen-mcelroy/285-0c3e06ae-e644-4998-98ff-c365e236bb2a |
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety is helping the Austin Police Department investigate at least four illegal street takeover events that happened in Austin late Saturday night.
Multiple takeover events were reported across town Saturday night into Sunday morning.
KVUE's media partners at the Austin American-Statesman reported car meetup and takeover events at 8601 Research Blvd., 9900 S. IH-35, the 400 block of Center Ridge Drive and at the intersection of Barton Springs Road and South Lamar Boulevard.
Texas DPS confirmed to KVUE that troopers were called to help investigate the incident on Research Boulevard Saturday night. At around 9:30 p.m., Texas DPS received reports from APD of approximately 100 cars gathered in a Target parking lot.
As troopers arrived, they observed a vehicle leaving and attempted to stop it. According to DPS, that driver took off and crashed into another vehicle at Payton Gin Road and Ohlen Road . All three people who were in those two vehicles were taken to a local hospital.
Austin police confirmed to KVUE that investigators were keeping an eye on the situation in South Austin Saturday night but have not provided any additional details about these incidents.
In recent months, local investigators have stepped up efforts to crack down on street takeovers and illegal street racing events. Similar incidents in February led to more than two dozen arrests by APD and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Gov. Greg Abbott announced the creation of a statewide Street Takeover Task Force shortly after.
After the end of the regular legislative session, Abbott also signed two bills into law that aim to help law enforcement crack down on takeovers. House Bill 1442 provides law enforcement and prosecutors more tools to pursue organized street racing and takeover events in Texas. House Bill 2899 allows for the immediate removal and impoundment of a vehicle involved in a takeover event.
In response to the incidents, Gov. Abbott praised the response from DPS.
"DPS will be deployed as needed to every city--including Austin--to do everything possible to maintain safety," he wrote on Twitter on Sunday. | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/local/multiple-street-takeover-events-reported-in-austin-overnight/269-4501acbc-0275-451c-a023-3c1bc2e01cc1 | 2023-07-31T01:39:44 | 1 | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/local/multiple-street-takeover-events-reported-in-austin-overnight/269-4501acbc-0275-451c-a023-3c1bc2e01cc1 |
FRANKFURT, Germany — Adidas said Friday that it is releasing a second batch of high-end Yeezy sneakers after cutting ties with rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, as the German sportswear brand seeks to unload the unsold shoes while donating to groups fighting antisemitism.
The online sale, to start Wednesday through Adidas smartphone apps and its website, follows an earlier set of sales in May. Models that will be available include the Yeezy Boost 350 V2, 500, and 700 as well as the Yeezy Slide and Foam RNR.
The company cut ties with Ye in October after he made antisemitic and other offensive remarks online and in interviews. That left Adidas holding 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) worth of unsold Yeezys and searching for a responsible way to dispose of them.
Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said in May that selling the popular sneakers and donating some of the profits was the best solution to deal with the unsold inventory and make a difference. He said the company spoke with nongovernmental organizations and groups that were harmed by Ye’s comments and actions.
Part of the profits from the sales of the Yeezy shoes will go to the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change, run by social justice advocate Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd.
Shoes sold directly by Adidas in North America will include blue square pins established by Robert Kraft's Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism as a symbol of solidarity in rejecting antisemitism, the company said.
The Anti-Defamation League calls the sale “a thoughtful and caring resolution” for the unsold merchandise and that “any attempt to turn the consequences of (Ye's) actions into something that ultimately benefits society and the people he has hurt is most welcome.”
Adidas declined to give details on numbers of shoes that would be released for sale and how much of the proceeds would be donated. Asked if Ye would receive royalties from the sales, the company would only say that “we will honor our contractual obligations and enforce our rights but will not share any more details."
The company said Monday that the first sale of Yeezy shoes helped its preliminary second-quarter financial results and contributed to it raising its outlook for the year — from a high single-digit decline in revenue to a mid-single digit decline.
That would still amount to an operating loss of 450 million euros (more than $494 million) this year, instead of a loss of 700 million euros.
Adidas, which reports its earnings for the first half of the year on Thursday, said it expected future Yeezy sales to further boost its results.
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, or visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
►Sign up for the WHAS11 newsletter: "WHAS Up Kentuckiana." Get the latest headlines and videos from around Kentuckiana delivered daily to your inbox. | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/nation-world/adidas-yeezy-sneakers-sale/417-5df9aa09-e135-4871-a1c4-1de427a74802 | 2023-07-31T01:39:50 | 1 | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/nation-world/adidas-yeezy-sneakers-sale/417-5df9aa09-e135-4871-a1c4-1de427a74802 |
Compared with the devil, angels carry more credence in America.
Angels even get more credence than, well, hell. More than astrology, reincarnation, and the belief that physical things can have spiritual energies.
In fact, about 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they believe in angels, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
“People are yearning for something greater than themselves — beyond their own understanding,” said Jack Grogger, a chaplain for the Los Angeles Angels and a longtime Southern California fire captain who has aided many people in their gravest moments.
That search for something bigger, he said, can take on many forms, from following a religion to crafting a self-driven purpose to believing in, of course, angels.
“For a lot of people, angels are a lot safer to worship,” said Grogger, who also pastors a nondenominational church in Orange, California, and is a chaplain for the NHL's Anaheim Ducks.
People turn to angels for comfort, he said. They are familiar, regularly showing up in pop culture as well as in the Bible. Comparably, worshipping Jesus is far more involved; when Grogger preaches about angels it is with the context that they are part of God's kingdom.
American's belief in angels (69%) is about on par with belief in heaven and the power of prayer, but bested by belief in God or a higher power (79%). Fewer U.S. adults believe in the devil or Satan (56%), astrology (34%), reincarnation (34%), and that physical things can have spiritual energies, such as plants, rivers or crystals (42%).
The widespread acceptance of angels shown in the AP-NORC poll makes sense to Susan Garrett, an angel expert and New Testament professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Kentucky. It tracks with historical surveys, she said, adding that the U.S. remains a faith-filled country even as more Americans reject organized religion.
But if the devil is in the details, so are people’s understandings of angels.
“They’re very malleable,” Garrett said of angels. “You can have any one of a number of quite different worldviews in terms of your understanding of how the cosmos is arranged, whether there’s spirit beings, whether there’s life after death, whether there’s a God … and still find a place for angels in that worldview.”
Talk of angels, Garrett said, is often also about something else, like the ways God interacts with the world and other hard-to-articulate ideas.
The large number of U.S. adults who say they believe in angels includes 84% of those with a religious affiliation — 94% of evangelical Protestants, 81% of mainline Protestants and 82% of Catholics — and 33% of those without one. And of those angel-believing religiously unaffiliated, that includes 2% of atheists, 25% of agnostics and 50% of those identified as “nothing in particular.”
The broad acceptance is what fascinates San Francisco-based witch and author Devin Hunter: Angels show up independently in different religions and traditions, making them part of the fabric that unites humanity.
“We’re all getting to the same conclusion,” said Hunter, who spent 16 years as a professional medium, and started communicating as a child with what he believed were angels.
Hunter estimates that a belief in angels applies to about half of those practicing modern witchcraft today, and for some who don't believe, their rejection is often rooted in the religious trauma they experienced growing up.
“Angels become a very big deal" for long-time practitioners who've made occultism their primary focus, said Hunter, an angel-loving occultist. “We cannot escape them in any way, shape or form.”
Jennifer Goodwin of Oviedo, Florida, also is among the roughly seven in 10 U.S. adults who say they believe in angels. She isn’t sure if God exists and rejects the afterlife dichotomy of heaven and hell, but the recent deaths of her parents solidified her views on these celestial beings.
Goodwin believes her parents are still keeping an eye on the family — not in any physical way or as a supernatural apparition, but that they manifest in those moments when she feels a general sense of comfort.
“I think that they are around us, but it’s in a way that we can’t understand,” Goodwin said. “I don’t know what else to call it except an angel.”
Angels mean different things to different people, and the idea of loved ones becoming heavenly angels after death is neither an unusual belief nor a universally held one.
In his reading of Scripture as an evangelical Protestant, Grogger said he believes angels are something else entirely — they have never been human and are on another level in heaven's hierarchy. “We are higher than angels,” he said. “We do not become an angel.”
Angels do interact with humans though, said Grogger, but what "that looks like we’re not 100% sure.” They worship God who created this angelic legion of unknown numbers, he said, adding that evangelicals often attribute the demonic forces in the world to the angels who fell from heaven when the devil rebelled.
The Western ideas about angels can be traced through the Bible — and to the worldviews of its monotheistic authors, Garrett said. Those beliefs have changed and developed for millennia, influenced by cultures, theologians and even the ancient polytheistic beliefs that came before the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, she said.
“There are sort of lines of continuity from the Bible that you can trace all the way up to the New Age movement,” said Susan Garrett, who wrote “No Ordinary Angel: Celestial Spirits and Christian Claims about Jesus.”
The angels in the Bible do God's bidding, and angelic violence is one part of their job description, said Esther Hamori, author of the upcoming book, “God's Monsters: Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible.”
“The angels of the Bible are just as likely to assassinate individuals and slaughter entire populations as they are to offer help and protect and deliver,” said Hamori. She doesn't believe in these angels, but studies them as a Hebrew Bible professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York where she teaches a popular “Monster Heaven” class.
“They’re just God’s obedient soldiers doing the task at hand, and sometimes that task is in human beings' best interests, and sometimes it’s not," she said.
The perception that angels act angelic and look like the idyllic, winged figurines atop Christmas trees could be attributed to an early centuries belief that people are assigned one good angel and one bad — or have a good and bad spirit to guide them, Garrett said.
This idea shows up on the shoulders of cartoon characters and is likely what Abraham Lincoln was alluding to in his famous appeal for unity when he referenced “the better angels of our nature” in his first inaugural address, she said.
“It’s also tied in with ideas about guardian angels, which again, very ancient views that got developed over the centuries,” Garrett said.
For Sheila Avery of Chicago, angels are protectors, capable of keeping someone from harm. Avery, who belongs to a nondenominational church, credits them with those moments like when a person’s plans fall through, but ultimately it saves them from being in the thick of an unexpected disaster.
“They turn on the news and a terrible tragedy happened at that particular place,” Avery said, suggesting it was an “angel that was probably watching over them.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/nation-world/poll-about-7-in-10-americans-believe-in-angels/507-abff1d00-b0a5-4235-880b-ab6e805d48e5 | 2023-07-31T01:39:56 | 0 | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/news/nation-world/poll-about-7-in-10-americans-believe-in-angels/507-abff1d00-b0a5-4235-880b-ab6e805d48e5 |
HOUSTON — The MLB trade deadline is looming, but if you’re hoping for the Houston Astros to make a run at a starting pitcher, you may be out of luck.
According to the team’s general manager, Dana Brown, the Astros are not in the market for a starter. He made the comments on the Astros’ pregame show Sunday, though he did go on to say if the right deal was made available, he may jump on it.
The comments come a day after the team the Astros are chasing in the AL West – the Texas Rangers – made a deal with the New York Mets to bring three-time Cy Young Award-winner Max Scherzer to Arlington. Later Sunday, Texas added another starting pitcher in Jordan Montgomery via a deal with St. Louis.
Houston’s been hurting for starting pitching with Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers out for the season. José Urquidy, who’s been on the injured list since the beginning of May, is set to return to the team in the coming days. Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier, two starters from last year’s World Series-winning team, have struggled recently. Rookies Hunter Brown, J.P. France and Brandon Bielak round out the current rotation.
Speculation had popped up recently that the team was interested in trying to bring back Justin Verlander, the other three-time Cy Young Award winner who had been on the Mets' roster. That speculation picked up more steam after the Scherzer deal, as the Rangers had apparently also expressed interest in Verlander and the Mets are apparently making deals.
The team has already made one trade before the deadline. Houston brought relief pitcher Kendall Graveman back to town, sending minor-league catcher Korey Lee to Chicago in a deal with the White Sox. Graveman made his first 2023 Astros appearance in Sunday’s loss to Tampa Bay, pitching one scoreless inning.
The trade deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday Houston time. | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/sports/mlb/astros-trade-deadline-starting-pitching/285-d95dd722-f760-4f6c-b8c6-e772fc96331a | 2023-07-31T01:40:02 | 0 | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/sports/mlb/astros-trade-deadline-starting-pitching/285-d95dd722-f760-4f6c-b8c6-e772fc96331a |
ARLINGTON, Texas — The scuffling Texas Rangers placed ace Nathan Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list Sunday with a right forearm strain and recalled right-hander Grant Anderson from Triple-A Round Rock.
The move was made retroactive to July 27. Eovaldi and manager Bruce Bochy both said they expect the right-hander to be ready to go when he's eligible to come off the IL.
Eovaldi had an MRI recently and threw a bullpen when the AL West leaders were in Houston, “and toward the end of it it, it just didn't feel right," he said Sunday. The All-Star described it as “an achy feeling that just doesn't feel normal" on the outside of his elbow.
He last made a start on July 18 against Tampa Bay and had his next start pushed back twice. At one point he thought he'd start Sunday against the San Diego Padres.
Instead, he landed on the IL.
“I kind of expected it,” Eovaldi said. “We ended up throwing another bullpen when we were in Houston and it just didn't feel as good as I was hoping for. Where we are, the timing of the season and everything like that, we feel like this isn't something I needed to be grinding through or battling through. We'll take the time, whether it be a week or two, go from there and be ready for the postseason and the end of the season.”
Eovaldi (11-3, 2.69 ERA) will be evaluated by the team's medical staff after the Rangers return to Texas following this series. The Rangers had lost six of eight games. | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/sports/mlb/texas-rangers-put-nathan-eovaldi-on-15-day-il-right-forearm-strain/287-9a4450a2-aba1-41d4-8ed1-d45166500321 | 2023-07-31T01:40:08 | 0 | https://www.myfoxzone.com/article/sports/mlb/texas-rangers-put-nathan-eovaldi-on-15-day-il-right-forearm-strain/287-9a4450a2-aba1-41d4-8ed1-d45166500321 |