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(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://pix11.com/news/us-world-news/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ | 2023-07-31T03:04:41 | 0 | https://pix11.com/news/us-world-news/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ |
BALTIMORE — Adam Frazier hit a three-run homer as part of a seven-run first inning for Baltimore, and the Orioles went on to a 9-3 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday night.
Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson hit consecutive singles to start the bottom of the first, and Anthony Santander followed with an RBI double. Ryan O’Hearn then doubled home two more runs.
After a walk to Austin Hays, Frazier hit a drive to right field that gave the Orioles a six-run lead after six batters. Rutschman added an RBI single to make it 7-0.
Severino gave the Yankees a couple of scoreless innings after that but was pulled in the fourth after a run-scoring double by Henderson and an RBI single by O’Hearn made it 9-2.
Severino allowed nine runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings as his ERA rose to 7.49.
Orioles starter Dean Kremer couldn’t make it through five innings, so Mike Baumann (8-0) was credited with the win. After Baltimore’s big first inning, Kremer retired Kyle Higashioka on a bases-loaded grounder for the third out of the second.
Jake Bauers homered leading off the third for New York, then hit an RBI double in the fourth. Harrison Bader hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 9-3.
Rutschman had three hits and a walk.
Anthony Rizzo had five of New York’s 18 strikeouts at the plate.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Star slugger Aaron Judge had the night off after homering Saturday in his second game back from a toe injury.
UP NEXT
The Yankees return home to face Tampa Bay on Monday night. Domingo Germán (5-7) starts for New York against Tyler Glasnow (4-3).
The Orioles play at Toronto, with Baltimore’s Kyle Gibson (9-6) up against Chris Bassitt (10-5).
___
Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister
___ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/2023/07/30/orioles-yankees-adam-frazier/68d4ca4e-2f49-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html | 2023-07-31T03:04:41 | 1 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/2023/07/30/orioles-yankees-adam-frazier/68d4ca4e-2f49-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html |
BEIJING, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- President Xi Jinping visited the site of a section of an ancient road system known as "Shudao" in Guangyuan on July 25, which winds its way through rugged mountains and ancient trees. There, Xi learned about efforts surrounding ecological conservation.
This visit marks Xi's attention to China's ecological development, which has achieved remarkable progress over the past 10 years, said experts.
Witnessing the government's recent remarks on ecology, they believed that the country's road of building a Beautiful China has demonstrated the nation's wisdom in balancing the needs of economic development and improving the environment.
Before heading to Sichuan, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered a speech at a national conference on ecological and environmental protection held from July 17 to 18.
Xi said that the country's ecological conservation has undergone a historic, transformative and comprehensive changes both in theory and practice, with significant strides made in building a Beautiful China.
Noting that China's economy and society have entered a stage of high-quality development marked by accelerated progress in promoting green and low-carbon growth, Xi called for higher standards, a broader perspective and stronger efforts in planning and advancing ecological and environmental protection on the new journey, as well as writing a new chapter of ecological conservation in the new era.
Xi stressed the need to properly handle the relationships between high-quality development and high-level protection, between tackling major challenges and coordinating governance, between natural recovery and human-assisted restoration, between external constraints and internal driving forces, as well as between "dual carbon" commitments and self-determined actions.
Xi said that the country's ecological conservation has undergone historical, transformative and comprehensive changes both in theory and practice, with significant strides made in building a Beautiful China.
This conference again showed us how importance the central government attaches to ecological protection, an official from environment protection bureau in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Friday. He said during the past 10 years, ecological protection has become an increasingly important indictor in evaluating government's performance in his city, which was famous for coal production.
"Although planting trees costs more in Inner Mongolia than in other parts of China due to lack of water and dry weather, we learned in the past 10 years that making our city greener brings more benefits than leaving the mountains bare. The city becomes more beautiful, residents are happy, and more tourists visit; also we saw less sandstorms," the official said.
During a press conference on Thursday, Huang Runqiu, China's minister of ecology and environment, highlighted China's achievement on ecological protection over recent years.
From 2013 to 2022, China's average PM2.5 concentration decreased by 57 percent and the number of heavily polluted days decreased by 93 percent, while the nation's GDP doubled during the same period, Huang said. This made China the country with the fastest improvement in air quality worldwide. Specifically, in Beijing, the average PM2.5 concentration decreased from 89.5 micrograms per cubic meter in 2013 to 30 micrograms per cubic meter in 2022, and the number of heavily polluted days decreased from 58 to only 3, said Huang. The United Nations Environment Agency praised this achievement as the "Beijing Miracle."
Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times that "China has engaged in a sustained top-down efforts for many years to enhance ecological protection. The central and local governments march together toward the same goal, with continuous environmental policies. Moreover, the country has demonstrated its wisdom in how to balance ecological development and maintain fast economic growth at the same time."
Perfect balance
We should protect nature and preserve the environment like we protect our eyes, and endeavor to foster a new relationship where man and nature can both prosper and live in harmony, President Xi once said.
Xi has given important instructions on the rational utilization and friendly protection of the ecological environment during his numerous visits to the frontlines of ecological protection, such as to the Maanshan forest farm in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Qilian Mountains, the Shandan Horse Ranch in Gansu, an ecological wetland of the Dianchi Lake in Kunming, and many other places.
In June 2022, Xi visited Yibin, Sichuan Province, where the Jinsha and Minjiang rivers converge into the Yangtze River. He noted that sound ecological conservation along the Yangtze River basin is the precondition for advancing high-quality development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
The Yellow River and the Yangtze River are the mother rivers of the Chinese nation. The protection of the mother rivers is a crucial project concerning the great rejuvenation and sustainable development of the Chinese nation, Xi said at the time.
From June 5 to 6 this year, accompanied by officials from Inner Mongolia, Xi was on a fact-finding mission at a nature reserve, a modern agricultural demonstration park, a forest farm and a water resources department in the city of Bayannur.
On June 6, Xi presided over a symposium in Bayannur on strengthening the comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promoting the construction of crucial ecological projects, including the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program.
Xi, who was then the Party Chief of Zhejiang, put forward the famous "two mountains" concept - clear waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets comparable to the gold and silver of legend - in August 2005 during his visit to Anji county.
Nowadays, residents in the county has sought out ways to make a living that they enjoy, with many becoming businessmen, running their own hostels, shops and tourism companies, thanks to the improved natural environment.
Pan Chunlin, a former miner, who now runs a hostel after local mines were shut down, explained the transformation to the Global Times "My annual income is now hundreds of times higher than before. Today, I can earn in a day what I used to make in one year".
Following the development approach referred to as the "two mountains" concept, in the past decade, Anji has modeled itself into a place known for its beautiful ecology and prosperous green industries, which have completely changed the villagers' lives, Jin Peihua, head of the "Two Mountains" Concept Research Institute affiliated with Huzhou University, said.
Global bellwether
Apart from domestic efforts, China is also making efforts in unifying a global effort on ecological preservation.
The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, was convened in Kunming, Yunnan Province in 2021.
As the first global conference convened by the United Nations on the topic of ecological civilization, a philosophy proposed by China, it offered a platform for countries to find common ground on "Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth."
During an official trip to Zimbabwe in 2015, Xi visited a local wildlife sanctuary, where he fed an orphaned elephant. He reiterated China's commitment to wildlife protection and pledged to help Zimbabwe do so by donating equipment and exchanging experience with China.
Recalling Xi's explanation of China's initiatives to breed giant pandas and expand protected areas, Roxy Danckwerts, the founder of the sanctuary, said, "I thought that was very significant that he is making such big strides in his own country."
Bradley Blankenship, a Prague-based American journalist, columnist and political commentator, recently spent a week in Beijing. Speaking with the Global Times, he said that "I must admit that based on the antiquated view of China that many Americans have and discuss publicly, I expected the city to be smoggy and congested. To the contrary, it has beautiful blue skies.
"China has been successful in beautifying Beijing, as well as other cities and towns, by transitioning from coal power to gas, establishing emission standards for coal-fired stations, implementing tougher standards for other industries such as steel and cement and seeking high-quality development with a high-quality ecological environment. These achievements have been so successful that Beijing now stands as an example for mega-cities around the globe, particularly those in the Global South," Blankenship said.
During a visit to Guizhou in June, Manasa R. Tagicakibau, Fiji's Ambassador to China, said China is "so advanced" when it comes to ecological civilization. "You look at the development that's been achieved by Guizhou authorities together with the local people, ethnic minorities and the population at large, in terms of developing the area to make this mountainous area a very safe and harmonious and happy place to live in. I'm impressed."
The ambassador said Guizhou shares a lot of similarities to some of the mountainous regions in Fiji, but there is a lot to be done in Fiji in terms of accessibility and this is an area that Fiji can learn from China.
However, some Western countries, so-called pioneering initiatives on environment protection, take a laissez-afire attitude in face of environment disasters. Recently, Chinese scientists used scientific methods to assess it and concluded that, as of Wednesday, the carbon dioxide emissions from Canadian wildfires have reached approximately 1 billion tons, which has already developed into a global environmental event.
It is worth mentioning that the forest area in China is approximately 2.31 million square kilometers, which is roughly two-thirds of that in Canada. However, the average annual emission of carbon dioxide caused by forest fires in China from 2000-21 was approximately 15 million tons, only 0.2 percent of the global forest fire emissions, demonstrating China's responsible role as a major country, experts noted.
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SOURCE Global Times | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/global-times-xis-footsteps-sichuan-demonstrate-chinas-wisdom-balancing-economic-devt-ecological-protection/ | 2023-07-31T03:04:43 | 1 | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/global-times-xis-footsteps-sichuan-demonstrate-chinas-wisdom-balancing-economic-devt-ecological-protection/ |
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Los Angeles Angels reacquired slugger C.J. Cron and outfielder Randal Grichuk in a trade with the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, bolstering their injury-plagued roster with more veteran depth as they fight for a playoff spot.
The Angels (55-51) are desperate to end their MLB-worst streaks of seven consecutive losing seasons and eight consecutive non-playoff seasons, but their efforts have been endangered by injuries that have seriously compromised their big league depth.
Los Angeles has a major league-leading 17 players on its injured lists after outfielder Taylor Ward joined the group Sunday before an extra-inning victory in Toronto. Ward was moved to the 60-day injured list later in the day, effectively ending his regular season, with facial fractures after Toronto’s Alek Manoah hit him in the face with a fastball on Saturday.
The 33-year-old Cron spent his first four major league seasons with Los Angeles, hitting 59 of his 186 career homers before getting traded to Tampa Bay in early 2018 for prospect Luis Rengifo, who is still a valuable contributor to the Angels. Cron is batting .260 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs this season for the Rockies as their power-hitting first baseman.
Grichuk was selected by the Angels one pick before Mike Trout in the 2009 draft. Los Angeles traded him to St. Louis before he reached the majors and began a 10-year career with the Cardinals, Toronto and Colorado.
Grichuk is batting .308 with an .861 OPS in 64 games this season for the Rockies. His positional flexibility in the outfield will be valuable for the Angels in the injury absences of Trout, Ward and Jo Adell, leaving Mickey Moniak and Hunter Renfroe as the only healthy outfielders on Los Angeles’ 40-man roster.
Grichuk is making just over $10.3 million this season, while Cron is earning $7.25 million. The moves continue the Rockies’ teardown for the final two months of what’s almost certain to be their fifth consecutive losing season.
The 20-year-old Albright is 11-8 with a 5.36 ERA in three seasons in the low minors. The 21-year-old Madden, a fourth-round pick in 2022, is 2-6 with a 5.46 ERA in 14 starts for Low-A Inland Empire this season.
The Angels have traded a significant amount of minor league talent in recent weeks in their determined effort to make the playoffs during the final season of Shohei Ohtani’s contract.
Los Angeles has acquired six veteran major leaguers — slugger Mike Moustakas, right-handed starter Lucas Giolito, reliever Reynaldo López and infielder Eduardo Escobar along with Cron and Grichuk — in four separate trades since late June.
Trout has been out since July 3 with a broken hand, and third baseman Anthony Rendon was sidelined one day later with a bone bruise after fouling a ball off his shin. Trout and Rendon are making roughly $75 million combined this season.
Ward and veteran infielder Gio Urshela are likely out for the season, while infielder Brandon Drury, rookie catcher Logan O’Hoppe and rookie shortstop Zach Neto have all missed significant time.
Los Angeles is in third place in the AL West, five games behind Texas. The Angels are four games behind Toronto for the final AL wild card, but the Red Sox and Yankees are also between them.
___ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/2023/07/30/rockies-angels-trade-cron-grichuk/cdfa79f8-2f41-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html | 2023-07-31T03:04:43 | 1 | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/2023/07/30/rockies-angels-trade-cron-grichuk/cdfa79f8-2f41-11ee-85dd-5c3c97d6acda_story.html |
NEW YORK, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Last Fortress: Underground, a grounding-breaking game set in an apocalyptic bunker, has announced a new and exciting collaboration with the hugely successful superhero TV series, The Boys. This collaboration is set to commence on July 31, offering players a chance to immerse themselves in an action-packed journey alongside these unforgettable heroes.
In this unique collaboration, players will team up with Butcher, Hughie, and Starlight, delving into uncharted territories, unlocking captivating storylines, and battling the relentless zombie horde side by side! Unleash their powers and prepare to explore the outer world with The Boys, as they strive to uncover the truth behind the mysterious zombie surge.
As players embark on this exhilarating quest, exciting rewards await! Take part in the electrifying collaboration to seize exclusive decorations, including the highly coveted "Forerunner Motorcycle" Army Skin, The Boys Emotes, Avatar Frame, Message Frame, Medal, and Nameplate. Furthermore, brace themselves for the unprecedented release of the collab hero skin and the collab fortress skin, adding a touch of uniqueness to their Last Fortress experience.
Whether people are returning players or someone new to the game, now is the perfect time to check out Last Fortress: Underground. Prepare themselves for an unparalleled gaming experience. Don't miss out on the chance to be part of this epic collaboration!
Download Last Fortress now from the App Store or Google Play, and gear up to face the zombie apocalypse hand in hand with the legendary characters of The Boys.
Download Last Fortress:
App Store/Google Play: https://lastfortress.onelink.me/dWAs/cgt9bmhr
Official Website: https://last-fortress.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/LastFortress/100063571239541/
Discord: https://discord.gg/W2yQUz7jWG
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SOURCE Last Fortress: Underground | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/last-fortress-underground-embarks-an-epic-collaboration-with-boys/ | 2023-07-31T03:04:43 | 0 | https://www.cleveland19.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/last-fortress-underground-embarks-an-epic-collaboration-with-boys/ |
(KRON) — An early morning blaze was extinguished early Sunday at a condemned home on Bradley Street, according to the Fremont Fire Department.
Fire officials said the two-alarm fire, which broke out just before 6 a.m., started outside of the two-story home and spread to the attic. No injuries were reported.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation. | https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/crews-contain-early-morning-house-fire-in-fremont/ | 2023-07-31T03:05:14 | 1 | https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/crews-contain-early-morning-house-fire-in-fremont/ |
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – A woman was arrested after allegedly crashing into a Johnson City taproom Saturday morning.
A release from the Johnson City Police Department (JCPD) states that shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday a crash was reported at the Johnson City Brewing Tap Room on S Roan St. in downtown Johnson City.
The JCPD reports EMS informed investigators that a Jeep Cherokee had driven in the wrong lane on S Roan St. before crashing into the tap room building.
The driver was identified as Brittney Lacey of Johnson City. The JCPD reports that an investigation revealed she was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Lacey was charged with driving under the influence 6th offense and simple possession.
The JCPD reports that Lacey was arrested and is being held pending a bond hearing. She is scheduled to appear in court Monday. | https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/jcpd-driver-charged-after-crashing-into-johnson-city-brewing-co/ | 2023-07-31T03:05:14 | 1 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/jcpd-driver-charged-after-crashing-into-johnson-city-brewing-co/ |
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.wjhl.com/news/national/joe-biden-the-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-will-his-age-matter/ | 2023-07-31T03:05:20 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/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.wjhl.com/news/national/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ | 2023-07-31T03:05:26 | 0 | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ |
The Storm Team 11 Forecast calls for partly cloudy skies with a few stray storms this evening. Partly cloudy skies are forecast for tonight with a low of 63 degrees.
Mostly sunny skies are forecast for Monday with a high of 86 degrees.
Fair skies are forecast for Monday night with a low near 59 degrees.
Tuesday will be mostly sunny with a high of 84 degrees.
Partly cloudy skies are forecast for Wednesday with a 30% chance of a few pop-up showers and thunderstorms. The high will be 87 degrees.
Wednesday night there will be an increased chance of rain with more widespread showers. The low will be 62 degrees.
Thursday will be partly cloudy skies with a 40% chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms. The high will be 83 degrees.
Scattered showers continue into Friday with a 30% chance of storms. The high will be 85 degrees.
Saturday will be partly cloudy with a 30% chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms. The high will be 88 degrees.
And for next Sunday, a 40% chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms with a high of 88 degrees. | https://www.wjhl.com/wjhl-weather/partly-cloudy-skies-tomorrow-with-temperatures-back-in-the-upper-80s/ | 2023-07-31T03:05:32 | 1 | https://www.wjhl.com/wjhl-weather/partly-cloudy-skies-tomorrow-with-temperatures-back-in-the-upper-80s/ |
Flames could be seen pouring from an apartment building on North Courtland Street in East Stroudsburg Sunday afternoon. The fire happened across the street from East Stroudsburg High School South.
"It did start in the rear of the structure," said Acme Hose Company No. 1 Chief Nate Black.
Chief Black said five families are displaced. He tells 69 News the building is severely damaged.
"I would guess at this point it's probably a total loss, but it's definitely severe damage," said Chief Black.
According to the Chief, there were people inside the building when the fire happened. He said everyone made it out.
"There were no civilian injuries, no firefighter injuries that I'm aware of at this time," said Chief Black.
Multiple fire departments from Monroe County were brought in.
"We all work very well together throughout the fire services as a whole and in Monroe County we all work very well together to get the job done," said Chief Black.
A State Police Fire Marshal is investigating the fire.
"We'll assist the residents any way as possible. Again, the American Red Cross is taking the lead on that," said Chief Black.
The Chief said the fire department is assisting the State Police Fire Marshal with the investigation. According to the Stroudsburg Fire Department, no neighboring buildings were damaged. | https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/poconos-coal/fire-tears-through-apartment-building-in-east-stroudsburg/article_e7737412-2ef5-11ee-a14e-9b69dcbfac84.html | 2023-07-31T03:06:37 | 1 | https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/poconos-coal/fire-tears-through-apartment-building-in-east-stroudsburg/article_e7737412-2ef5-11ee-a14e-9b69dcbfac84.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.kivitv.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her | 2023-07-31T03:06:37 | 0 | https://www.kivitv.com/cardi-b-throws-microphone-at-concertgoer-after-they-throw-drink-at-her |
July keeps sizzling as Phoenix hits another 110-degree day and wildfires spread in California
PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix sizzled through its 31st consecutive day of at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) and other parts of the country grappled Sunday with record temperatures after a week that saw significant portions of the U.S. population subject to extreme heat.
The National Weather Service said Phoenix climbed to a high of 111 F (43.8 Celsius) before the day was through.
July has been so steamy thus far that scientists calculate it will be the hottest month ever recorded and likely the warmest human civilization has seen. The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday proclaimed July beyond record-smashing.
The historic heat began blasting the lower Southwest U.S. in late June, stretching from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert.
On Sunday, a massive wildfire burning out of control in California’s Mojave National Preserve spread rapidly amid erratic winds, while firefighters reported progress against another major blaze to the south that prompted evacuations.
The York Fire that erupted Friday near the remote Caruthers Canyon area of the preserve sent up a huge plume of smoke visible nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) away across the state line in Nevada.
Flames 20 feet (6 meters) high in some spots have charred more than 110 square miles (284 square kilometers) of desert scrub, juniper and Joshua tree woodland, according to a Sunday update.
“The dry fuel acts as a ready ignition source, and when paired with those weather conditions it resulted in long-distance fire run and high flames, leading to extreme fire behavior,” authorities said. No structures were threatened, but there was also no containment.
To the southwest, the Bonny Fire was holding steady at about 3.4 square miles (8.8 square kilometers) in rugged hills of Riverside County. More than 1,300 people were ordered to evacuate their homes Saturday near the remote community of Aguanga, California.
Triple-digit heat was expected in parts of the central San Joaquin Valley through Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
And in Burbank, California, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, the summer heat may have been responsible for some unusual behavior in the animal kingdom: Police in the city responded to a report of a bear sighting in a residential neighborhood and found the animal sitting in a Jacuzzi behind one of the homes.
As climate change brings hotter and longer heat waves, record temperatures across the U.S. have killed dozens of people, and the poorest Americans suffer the most. Air conditioning, once a luxury, is now a matter of survival.
Last year, all 86 heat-related deaths indoors were in uncooled environments.
“To explain it fairly simply: Heat kills,” said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor who researches heat and health. “Once the heat wave starts, mortality starts in about 24 hours.”
It’s the poorest and people of color, from Kansas City to Detroit to New York City and beyond, who are far more likely to face grueling heat without air conditioning, according to a Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metro areas.
Back in Phoenix, slight relief may be on the way as expected seasonal thunderstorms could drop temperatures Monday and Tuesday.
“It should be around 108 degrees, so we break that 110 streak,” meteorologist Tom Frieders said. “Increasing cloud cover will put temperatures in a downward trend.”
The relief could be short-lived, however. Highs are expected to creep back to 110 F (43.3 C) Wednesday with temperatures reaching 115 F (46.1 C) by the end of the week.
Phoenix has also sweated through a record 16 consecutive nights when the lows temperature didn’t dip below 90 F (32.2 C), making it hard for people to cool off after sunset.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas continues to flirt with its hottest July ever. The city is closing in on its 2010 record for the average of the high and low each day for July, which stands at 96.2 F (35.5 C).
The extreme heat is also hitting the eastern U.S, as soaring temperatures moved from the Midwest into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where some places recorded their warmest days so far this year.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wcjb.com/2023/07/31/july-keeps-sizzling-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-wildfires-spread-california/ | 2023-07-31T03:06:54 | 1 | https://www.wcjb.com/2023/07/31/july-keeps-sizzling-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-wildfires-spread-california/ |
With TCL's latest intelligent algorithm, the enhanced picture quality elevates the experience of movie watching, game play and more
HONG KONG, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TCL, a leading consumer electronics brand and the world's top two TV brand, is reiterating its display advancement to drive more immersive entertainment experiences for users around the world.
On the successful launches of TCL's all-new QD-Mini LED TVs and QLED TVs, a superior line up of 4K TV's delivering high and precise contrast, stunning brightness, vivid colours and better uniformity, TCL is committed to the development of its AiPQ Processor 3.0, offering next-level picture performance.
AiPQ Processor 3.0 Enhances the Viewing Experience for Movie and TV Lovers
For true film buffs, any time of day is the perfect time to lose yourself in an engrossing, feature-length production. Whether indulging by staying up late or unwinding on a lazy sunny afternoon, the AiPQ Processor 3.0's Ai-Contrast feature intelligently reproduces reality by dynamically optimizing the contrast ratio, analyzing brightness and darkness levels to perfectly balance light and shadows – ensuring the intensity of a scene is upheld whether watching during the day or night. To ensure you never miss a detail of the drama unfolding on your screen, Ai-Clarity analyses the image according to its original resolution, reproducing the final image with precise noise reduction for crystal clear visuals, meaning every detail of an intense film scene is captured. For fans of the fantasy genre, where out-of-this-world colour palettes really bring the story to life, Ai-Colour transforms and strengthens the screen colour gamut, independently rendering different colours to ensure expression is optimized for a truly immersive experience.
For those who prefer to unwind by transporting themselves to other worlds via nature documentaries, Ai-Colour perceives images in the same way the naked eye does by recreating micro colour details seen in the real world. It achieves this by automatically tuning, correcting and enhancing multiple specs including colour temperature, saturation and contrast, to deliver a life-like rendered image with a natural, artistic touch. Thanks to this precise algorithm, wildlife shows have never looked so good, making the viewer feel truly surrounded by nature. What's more, Ai-HDR intelligently decodes multiple HDR formats from HDR 10, to HDR10+ and more, allowing you to TV content exactly as the director intended, with enhanced organic colours and a wider range of brightness and darkness highlights.
Keeping up to Speed – The Benefits of Ai for Sports Viewing and Gaming
For those who never want to miss a moment of the action, Ai-Motion elevates the experience of watching sports by intuitively detecting fast moving objects according to their size and position on the screen, calculating motion in terms of refresh rate and frame number. Be the first to spot the foul or notice if the ball was out thanks to Ai-Clarity's crystal-clear visuals that allow you to enjoy up to 4K experience with content of lower resolutions, so you can capture every pivotal moment.
Gamers will also appreciate Ai-Motion's ability to convert low frame images to high frames, restoring silky-smooth visuals without any blurring or tearing for uninterrupted game play. Further enhancing the gaming experience, Ai-Contrast helps you see more in the dark, unveiling enemies hidden in the shadows during game play.
The outstanding AiPQ Processor 3.0 can be found in the latest select TCL QD-Mini LED TVs now available to purchase across global markets, allowing customers all over the world to discover the benefits of intelligent multi-dimensional optimization.
About TCL Electronics
TCL Electronics (1070.HK) is a fast-growing consumer electronics company and a leader in the global television industry. Founded in 1981, it now operates in more than 160 markets around the world. TCL specializes in the research, development, and manufacturing of consumer electronics products ranging from TVs, audio, and smart home appliances. Visit the TCL website at https://www.tcl.com.
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SOURCE TCL Electronics | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/enjoy-smartly-enhanced-entertainment-with-tcl-aipq-processor-30-its-latest-qd-mini-led-tvs/ | 2023-07-31T03:07:00 | 1 | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/enjoy-smartly-enhanced-entertainment-with-tcl-aipq-processor-30-its-latest-qd-mini-led-tvs/ |
BEIJING, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- President Xi Jinping visited the site of a section of an ancient road system known as "Shudao" in Guangyuan on July 25, which winds its way through rugged mountains and ancient trees. There, Xi learned about efforts surrounding ecological conservation.
This visit marks Xi's attention to China's ecological development, which has achieved remarkable progress over the past 10 years, said experts.
Witnessing the government's recent remarks on ecology, they believed that the country's road of building a Beautiful China has demonstrated the nation's wisdom in balancing the needs of economic development and improving the environment.
Before heading to Sichuan, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered a speech at a national conference on ecological and environmental protection held from July 17 to 18.
Xi said that the country's ecological conservation has undergone a historic, transformative and comprehensive changes both in theory and practice, with significant strides made in building a Beautiful China.
Noting that China's economy and society have entered a stage of high-quality development marked by accelerated progress in promoting green and low-carbon growth, Xi called for higher standards, a broader perspective and stronger efforts in planning and advancing ecological and environmental protection on the new journey, as well as writing a new chapter of ecological conservation in the new era.
Xi stressed the need to properly handle the relationships between high-quality development and high-level protection, between tackling major challenges and coordinating governance, between natural recovery and human-assisted restoration, between external constraints and internal driving forces, as well as between "dual carbon" commitments and self-determined actions.
Xi said that the country's ecological conservation has undergone historical, transformative and comprehensive changes both in theory and practice, with significant strides made in building a Beautiful China.
This conference again showed us how importance the central government attaches to ecological protection, an official from environment protection bureau in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Friday. He said during the past 10 years, ecological protection has become an increasingly important indictor in evaluating government's performance in his city, which was famous for coal production.
"Although planting trees costs more in Inner Mongolia than in other parts of China due to lack of water and dry weather, we learned in the past 10 years that making our city greener brings more benefits than leaving the mountains bare. The city becomes more beautiful, residents are happy, and more tourists visit; also we saw less sandstorms," the official said.
During a press conference on Thursday, Huang Runqiu, China's minister of ecology and environment, highlighted China's achievement on ecological protection over recent years.
From 2013 to 2022, China's average PM2.5 concentration decreased by 57 percent and the number of heavily polluted days decreased by 93 percent, while the nation's GDP doubled during the same period, Huang said. This made China the country with the fastest improvement in air quality worldwide. Specifically, in Beijing, the average PM2.5 concentration decreased from 89.5 micrograms per cubic meter in 2013 to 30 micrograms per cubic meter in 2022, and the number of heavily polluted days decreased from 58 to only 3, said Huang. The United Nations Environment Agency praised this achievement as the "Beijing Miracle."
Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times that "China has engaged in a sustained top-down efforts for many years to enhance ecological protection. The central and local governments march together toward the same goal, with continuous environmental policies. Moreover, the country has demonstrated its wisdom in how to balance ecological development and maintain fast economic growth at the same time."
Perfect balance
We should protect nature and preserve the environment like we protect our eyes, and endeavor to foster a new relationship where man and nature can both prosper and live in harmony, President Xi once said.
Xi has given important instructions on the rational utilization and friendly protection of the ecological environment during his numerous visits to the frontlines of ecological protection, such as to the Maanshan forest farm in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Qilian Mountains, the Shandan Horse Ranch in Gansu, an ecological wetland of the Dianchi Lake in Kunming, and many other places.
In June 2022, Xi visited Yibin, Sichuan Province, where the Jinsha and Minjiang rivers converge into the Yangtze River. He noted that sound ecological conservation along the Yangtze River basin is the precondition for advancing high-quality development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
The Yellow River and the Yangtze River are the mother rivers of the Chinese nation. The protection of the mother rivers is a crucial project concerning the great rejuvenation and sustainable development of the Chinese nation, Xi said at the time.
From June 5 to 6 this year, accompanied by officials from Inner Mongolia, Xi was on a fact-finding mission at a nature reserve, a modern agricultural demonstration park, a forest farm and a water resources department in the city of Bayannur.
On June 6, Xi presided over a symposium in Bayannur on strengthening the comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promoting the construction of crucial ecological projects, including the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program.
Xi, who was then the Party Chief of Zhejiang, put forward the famous "two mountains" concept - clear waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets comparable to the gold and silver of legend - in August 2005 during his visit to Anji county.
Nowadays, residents in the county has sought out ways to make a living that they enjoy, with many becoming businessmen, running their own hostels, shops and tourism companies, thanks to the improved natural environment.
Pan Chunlin, a former miner, who now runs a hostel after local mines were shut down, explained the transformation to the Global Times "My annual income is now hundreds of times higher than before. Today, I can earn in a day what I used to make in one year".
Following the development approach referred to as the "two mountains" concept, in the past decade, Anji has modeled itself into a place known for its beautiful ecology and prosperous green industries, which have completely changed the villagers' lives, Jin Peihua, head of the "Two Mountains" Concept Research Institute affiliated with Huzhou University, said.
Global bellwether
Apart from domestic efforts, China is also making efforts in unifying a global effort on ecological preservation.
The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, was convened in Kunming, Yunnan Province in 2021.
As the first global conference convened by the United Nations on the topic of ecological civilization, a philosophy proposed by China, it offered a platform for countries to find common ground on "Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth."
During an official trip to Zimbabwe in 2015, Xi visited a local wildlife sanctuary, where he fed an orphaned elephant. He reiterated China's commitment to wildlife protection and pledged to help Zimbabwe do so by donating equipment and exchanging experience with China.
Recalling Xi's explanation of China's initiatives to breed giant pandas and expand protected areas, Roxy Danckwerts, the founder of the sanctuary, said, "I thought that was very significant that he is making such big strides in his own country."
Bradley Blankenship, a Prague-based American journalist, columnist and political commentator, recently spent a week in Beijing. Speaking with the Global Times, he said that "I must admit that based on the antiquated view of China that many Americans have and discuss publicly, I expected the city to be smoggy and congested. To the contrary, it has beautiful blue skies.
"China has been successful in beautifying Beijing, as well as other cities and towns, by transitioning from coal power to gas, establishing emission standards for coal-fired stations, implementing tougher standards for other industries such as steel and cement and seeking high-quality development with a high-quality ecological environment. These achievements have been so successful that Beijing now stands as an example for mega-cities around the globe, particularly those in the Global South," Blankenship said.
During a visit to Guizhou in June, Manasa R. Tagicakibau, Fiji's Ambassador to China, said China is "so advanced" when it comes to ecological civilization. "You look at the development that's been achieved by Guizhou authorities together with the local people, ethnic minorities and the population at large, in terms of developing the area to make this mountainous area a very safe and harmonious and happy place to live in. I'm impressed."
The ambassador said Guizhou shares a lot of similarities to some of the mountainous regions in Fiji, but there is a lot to be done in Fiji in terms of accessibility and this is an area that Fiji can learn from China.
However, some Western countries, so-called pioneering initiatives on environment protection, take a laissez-afire attitude in face of environment disasters. Recently, Chinese scientists used scientific methods to assess it and concluded that, as of Wednesday, the carbon dioxide emissions from Canadian wildfires have reached approximately 1 billion tons, which has already developed into a global environmental event.
It is worth mentioning that the forest area in China is approximately 2.31 million square kilometers, which is roughly two-thirds of that in Canada. However, the average annual emission of carbon dioxide caused by forest fires in China from 2000-21 was approximately 15 million tons, only 0.2 percent of the global forest fire emissions, demonstrating China's responsible role as a major country, experts noted.
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SOURCE Global Times | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/global-times-xis-footsteps-sichuan-demonstrate-chinas-wisdom-balancing-economic-devt-ecological-protection/ | 2023-07-31T03:07:07 | 1 | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/global-times-xis-footsteps-sichuan-demonstrate-chinas-wisdom-balancing-economic-devt-ecological-protection/ |
CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department is looking for the public’s help in finding an elderly woman who went missing from the Portage Park neighborhood early Sunday morning.
Police said 83-year-old Jean Manzella was last seen in the 5100 block of West Roscoe Street around 3 a.m., and is considered endangered.
Manzella was last seen wearing a black coat with a yellow top and yellow bottoms. She is described as being around five feet tall and weighing around 110 pounds with brown eyes and blonde, shoulder-length hair.
If you or someone you know has information that can help police find Manzella, CPD encourages you to reach out to Area Five SVU detectives at 312-746-6554. | https://wgntv.com/missing/cpd-searching-for-endangered-missing-elderly-woman-from-portage-park/ | 2023-07-31T03:07:09 | 1 | https://wgntv.com/missing/cpd-searching-for-endangered-missing-elderly-woman-from-portage-park/ |
July keeps sizzling as Phoenix hits another 110-degree day and wildfires spread in California
PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix sizzled through its 31st consecutive day of at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) and other parts of the country grappled Sunday with record temperatures after a week that saw significant portions of the U.S. population subject to extreme heat.
The National Weather Service said Phoenix climbed to a high of 111 F (43.8 Celsius) before the day was through.
July has been so steamy thus far that scientists calculate it will be the hottest month ever recorded and likely the warmest human civilization has seen. The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday proclaimed July beyond record-smashing.
The historic heat began blasting the lower Southwest U.S. in late June, stretching from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert.
On Sunday, a massive wildfire burning out of control in California’s Mojave National Preserve spread rapidly amid erratic winds, while firefighters reported progress against another major blaze to the south that prompted evacuations.
The York Fire that erupted Friday near the remote Caruthers Canyon area of the preserve sent up a huge plume of smoke visible nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) away across the state line in Nevada.
Flames 20 feet (6 meters) high in some spots have charred more than 110 square miles (284 square kilometers) of desert scrub, juniper and Joshua tree woodland, according to a Sunday update.
“The dry fuel acts as a ready ignition source, and when paired with those weather conditions it resulted in long-distance fire run and high flames, leading to extreme fire behavior,” authorities said. No structures were threatened, but there was also no containment.
To the southwest, the Bonny Fire was holding steady at about 3.4 square miles (8.8 square kilometers) in rugged hills of Riverside County. More than 1,300 people were ordered to evacuate their homes Saturday near the remote community of Aguanga, California.
Triple-digit heat was expected in parts of the central San Joaquin Valley through Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
And in Burbank, California, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, the summer heat may have been responsible for some unusual behavior in the animal kingdom: Police in the city responded to a report of a bear sighting in a residential neighborhood and found the animal sitting in a Jacuzzi behind one of the homes.
As climate change brings hotter and longer heat waves, record temperatures across the U.S. have killed dozens of people, and the poorest Americans suffer the most. Air conditioning, once a luxury, is now a matter of survival.
Last year, all 86 heat-related deaths indoors were in uncooled environments.
“To explain it fairly simply: Heat kills,” said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor who researches heat and health. “Once the heat wave starts, mortality starts in about 24 hours.”
It’s the poorest and people of color, from Kansas City to Detroit to New York City and beyond, who are far more likely to face grueling heat without air conditioning, according to a Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metro areas.
Back in Phoenix, slight relief may be on the way as expected seasonal thunderstorms could drop temperatures Monday and Tuesday.
“It should be around 108 degrees, so we break that 110 streak,” meteorologist Tom Frieders said. “Increasing cloud cover will put temperatures in a downward trend.”
The relief could be short-lived, however. Highs are expected to creep back to 110 F (43.3 C) Wednesday with temperatures reaching 115 F (46.1 C) by the end of the week.
Phoenix has also sweated through a record 16 consecutive nights when the lows temperature didn’t dip below 90 F (32.2 C), making it hard for people to cool off after sunset.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas continues to flirt with its hottest July ever. The city is closing in on its 2010 record for the average of the high and low each day for July, which stands at 96.2 F (35.5 C).
The extreme heat is also hitting the eastern U.S, as soaring temperatures moved from the Midwest into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where some places recorded their warmest days so far this year.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kswo.com/2023/07/31/july-keeps-sizzling-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-wildfires-spread-california/ | 2023-07-31T03:07:09 | 0 | https://www.kswo.com/2023/07/31/july-keeps-sizzling-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-wildfires-spread-california/ |
NEW YORK, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Last Fortress: Underground, a grounding-breaking game set in an apocalyptic bunker, has announced a new and exciting collaboration with the hugely successful superhero TV series, The Boys. This collaboration is set to commence on July 31, offering players a chance to immerse themselves in an action-packed journey alongside these unforgettable heroes.
In this unique collaboration, players will team up with Butcher, Hughie, and Starlight, delving into uncharted territories, unlocking captivating storylines, and battling the relentless zombie horde side by side! Unleash their powers and prepare to explore the outer world with The Boys, as they strive to uncover the truth behind the mysterious zombie surge.
As players embark on this exhilarating quest, exciting rewards await! Take part in the electrifying collaboration to seize exclusive decorations, including the highly coveted "Forerunner Motorcycle" Army Skin, The Boys Emotes, Avatar Frame, Message Frame, Medal, and Nameplate. Furthermore, brace themselves for the unprecedented release of the collab hero skin and the collab fortress skin, adding a touch of uniqueness to their Last Fortress experience.
Whether people are returning players or someone new to the game, now is the perfect time to check out Last Fortress: Underground. Prepare themselves for an unparalleled gaming experience. Don't miss out on the chance to be part of this epic collaboration!
Download Last Fortress now from the App Store or Google Play, and gear up to face the zombie apocalypse hand in hand with the legendary characters of The Boys.
Download Last Fortress:
App Store/Google Play: https://lastfortress.onelink.me/dWAs/cgt9bmhr
Official Website: https://last-fortress.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/LastFortress/100063571239541/
Discord: https://discord.gg/W2yQUz7jWG
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SOURCE Last Fortress: Underground | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/last-fortress-underground-embarks-an-epic-collaboration-with-boys/ | 2023-07-31T03:07:14 | 1 | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/last-fortress-underground-embarks-an-epic-collaboration-with-boys/ |
CHICAGO — A woman is in critical condition after two people were shot in a road rage incident on Lake Shore Drive Sunday evening, according to the Chicago Police Department.
Police said a 37-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man were driving northbound in the 2200 block of South Lake Shore Drive around 8:08 p.m. when a 2015 Nissan sedan cut them off in traffic.
The victims beeped at the driver of the Nissan sedan, who then pulled up alongside the victim’s vehicle and someone inside the Nissan opened fire.
The 37-year-old woman was shot in the neck and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition. The 26-year-old man was grazed in the back by a bullet and refused medical attention on scene.
Police have no in custody.
If you or someone you know has information that could help police make a breakthrough in the investigation of this incident, anonymous tips can be filed online with CPD at cpdtip.com. | https://wgntv.com/news/chicagocrime/2-shot-1-critically-in-road-rage-incident-on-lake-shore-drive/ | 2023-07-31T03:07:15 | 1 | https://wgntv.com/news/chicagocrime/2-shot-1-critically-in-road-rage-incident-on-lake-shore-drive/ |
Dream vs. Aces Prediction & Picks: Line, Spread, Over/Under - August 1
The Las Vegas Aces (23-2) will try to build on a seven-game winning stretch when hosting the Atlanta Dream (14-11) on Tuesday, August 1, 2023 at Michelob ULTRA Arena. This game is at 10:00 PM ET on BSSE.
The game has no line set.
Rep your team with officially licensed Dream gear! Head to Fanatics to find jerseys, shirts, and much more.
Dream vs. Aces Game Info & Odds
- When: Tuesday, August 1, 2023 at 10:00 PM ET
- Where: Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
- TV: BSSE
Check out the latest odds and place your bets on the Aces or Dream with BetMGM Sportsbook. Use our link for the best new user offer, no promo code required!
Dream vs. Aces Score Prediction
Prediction: Aces 90 Dream 76
Spread & Total Prediction for Dream vs. Aces
- Computer Predicted Spread: Las Vegas (-14)
- Computer Predicted Total: 166.3
Dream vs. Aces Spread & Total Insights
- Atlanta's record against the spread is 13-10-0.
- This year, 12 of Atlanta's 24 games have hit the over.
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Dream Performance Insights
- The Dream are fourth in the WNBA in points scored (84.8 per game) and ninth in points allowed (84.6).
- On the glass, Atlanta is third-best in the WNBA in rebounds (36.8 per game). It is ninth in rebounds allowed (35.8 per game).
- In 2023, the Dream are second-worst in the league in turnovers committed (14.5 per game) and sixth in turnovers forced (13.2).
- In 2023 the Dream are fifth in the league in 3-point makes (7.2 per game) and third-best in 3-point percentage (35.9%).
- Defensively, the Dream are fourth in the league in 3-pointers allowed per game at 7.4. They are second-best in 3-point percentage conceded at 32.6%.
- In 2023, Atlanta has attempted 70.9% percent of its shots from inside the arc, and 29.1% percent from beyond it. In terms of made shots, 76.0% of Atlanta's buckets have been 2-pointers, and 24.0% have been 3-pointers.
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© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.wcjb.com/sports/betting/2023/08/01/dream-aces-wnba-picks-predictions/ | 2023-07-31T03:07:20 | 1 | https://www.wcjb.com/sports/betting/2023/08/01/dream-aces-wnba-picks-predictions/ |
(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://wgntv.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ | 2023-07-31T03:07:21 | 1 | https://wgntv.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/mystery-group-buying-land-near-air-force-base-is-suing-farmers-congressman-says/ |
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Subscribe Now | https://wgntv.com/weather/weather-blog/almanac-for-july-31-2023/ | 2023-07-31T03:07:27 | 0 | https://wgntv.com/weather/weather-blog/almanac-for-july-31-2023/ |
RENTON — After the Seahawks gave Devon Witherspoon limited reps Friday as he shook off the rust after a two-day holdout, the team’s first pick in the 2023 NFL draft got lots of work Sunday.
Witherspoon, the fifth overall pick out of Illinois, was used often and in a variety of ways — on the outside at left cornerback, in the slot at nickel, and in the dime, or six-defensive back formations.
Which all raises the question — where will he line up when the Seahawks open the season Sept. 10 against the Rams?
Coach Pete Carroll says that’s a query without an answer.
“We’re not settling on that yet,’’ Carroll said. “But we are preparing him to do both (play inside and outside).’’
What doesn’t seem in doubt is that the Seahawks will find some way to get him on the field regularly.
Some might wonder why the Seahawks don’t have a specific spot for Witherspoon given the hefty investment the team made in him. He is their highest draft pick since taking Aaron Curry fourth in 2009.
Carroll said it’s a testament to the strength of the cornerback position, a spot that has only risen in value as the league has increasingly turned toward the pass.
“Here’s really what we’re thinking,’’ Carroll said after Sunday’s practice. “What we’re thinking is we’ve got good depth at corner and we have a chance to work some different combinations. … We’re just trying to find the right combination and see what’s most competitive.’’
That’s actually something Carroll has said since the spring, when the Seahawks began using Witherspoon at the nickel spot during minicamp.
At the time, it was easy to wonder if that was just a couple-day thing to get some info on how he’d look inside.
As camp has opened and Michael Jackson on the right side and Tre Brown on the left have continued to play well — and with the knowledge that Riq Woolen, the starter last year on the right side — will be back eventually, the thought that Witherspoon could indeed play inside has seemed to gain some currency.
Jackson and Brown have taken turns making plays throughout the first four days of camp, each showing no signs of being easily dislodged from their starting roles.
Brown, a third-year player out of Oklahoma who emerged as a starter midway through the 2021 season before suffering a knee injury that lingered into last season, had maybe the best day of anyone Sunday. At one point he broke up a pass from Geno Smith to DK Metcalf in the back of the end zone, and a few minutes later making a juggling interception in the end zone of a Smith pass intended for Will Dissly.
“He had a great day today,’’ Carroll said. “He was all over the place.’’
Jackson and Brown appeared to get every first-team rep as the outside corners, with Witherspoon often working on the left side with the second team. The thought when he was drafted was that Witherspoon would take over the left side to pair with Woolen on the right.
The Seahawks have never used that combination on the field as Woolen suffered cartilage damage in his knee in May and had arthroscopic surgery and has yet to practice. At the time, Carroll said the injury was “a four-to-six-week type of deal.’’
That seemed to indicate he’d be ready for the start of camp. Woolen remains on the Physically Unable to Perform list and Carroll said Sunday it’s unclear when he will be back.
Carroll said Woolen, who tied for the NFL lead in interceptions as a rookie with six, is “really close to being back out.’’ But in a follow-up, Carroll said “it’s not within a couple days but within a couple weeks for sure” that he’ll be back.
That means Jackson and Brown likely will continue to man the outside corner spots with the team figuring out where best to use Witherspoon, while also mixing in Coby Bryant. Bryant, a fourth-round pick a year ago, was the starting nickel last season and typically worked there with the first defense Sunday, playing alongside Witherspoon inside when they went to a six-defensive back alignment.
Playing inside meant Witherspoon lined up a few times across from fellow first-round pick Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a receiver taken 20th overall out of Ohio State.
Smith-Njigba, continuing a strong start to camp, got the better of Witherspoon on one play, when he caught a slant pass for a TD from Smith despite some tight coverage from Witherspoon.
“He was real close on a really good play,’’ Carroll said. “He and Jaxon went at it on a play on the goal line today, which was cool. He’s (Witherspoon) going to get more comfortable and more sure of himself in the next couple of days. Gotta get a couple of days out here with us. But he’s gonna do really well.’’
Notes
— Smith-Njigba also had an impressive TD catch when he tapped his toes down just inbounds in the back of the end zone. “I can’t imagine him not being part of the mix right from the beginning,’’ Carroll said. “… He’s hitting it off really well with Geno right now.’’
— Rookie Olu Oluwatimi got all the reps with the first team at center as the Seahawks continued their rotation there. Veteran free-agent signee Evan Brown worked with the first team for the third and first practices and Oluwatimi the second and fourth. Carroll said Oluwatimi is playing through a wrist injury, as well. For now, Carroll said the rotation will continue with no ETA on when a decision needs to be made on a starter.
— Starting left guard Damien Lewis sat out practice because of illness, Carroll said. That had Phil Haynes — who usually plays on the right side — working with the starters on the left side and third-year vet Jake Curhan working at right guard. Rookie Anthony Bradford, a fourth-round pick out of LSU, has worked solely with the second-team offense so far.
— Free-agent signee Devin Bush, who has consistently worked with the starting defense at weakside linebacker alongside Bobby Wagner in the middle, had one of the day’s highlight plays with a leaping interception in the end zone of a pass intended for Tyler Lockett thrown by Smith. That was one of three picks thrown on the day by Smith, another coming on the final play by Quandre Diggs of a pass intended for Metcalf, though there appeared to be some miscommunication as well.
— Wagner turned in his own highlight-reel play when he lined up in man coverage against running back DeeJay Dallas, who was split wide left and ran a slant-and-go down the sideline to the end zone. Wagner stayed with Dallas step-for-step and got his arm up just at the last second to break up the pass. Wagner also moved quickly to chase down Metcalf on a reverse, holding the play to a gain of just a yard or two. “He’s moving really, really well,’’ said Carroll of Wagner, who turned 33 in June. “He looks like the guy that we’ve always known.’’
— Tight end Noah Fant was activated off the PUP list Sunday. He did little in practice as Carroll said the team will ease him back following a procedure on his knee. But Carroll said Fant got a lot of work in the walk-through. | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/top-pick-devon-witherspoon-was-all-over-the-field-at-seahawks-practice/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_seahawks | 2023-07-31T03:07:34 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/top-pick-devon-witherspoon-was-all-over-the-field-at-seahawks-practice/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_seahawks |
BRIGHTON, Iowa (AP) — You-pick farms are struggling through heat, drought and haze as customers cancel picking appointments and crops across Iowa refuse to grow.
These farms offer visitors the chance to harvest their own produce straight from the tree, bush or ground.
But this summer marks Iowa’s third year in a row of drought. And that is hurting farmers who grow water-intensive crops like blueberries and strawberries that are particularly sensitive to heat and drought, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reported.
Kim Anderson told The Gazette that her well started faltering during last summer’s heat and drought at her 5-acre Blueberry Bottom Farm near Brighton in southeastern Iowa.
Many of her blueberry bushes became parched. And recently, for the first time in the farm’s five-season history, she had to cancel a day of picking appointments because there weren’t enough ripe berries.
“I just never anticipated something like this, that the well wouldn’t have enough water,” she said.
Similarly, Dean Henry told The Gazette that these are the worst conditions he has seen in his 56 years of operating the Berry Patch Farm in Nevada in central Iowa.
Henry said the Iowa Department of Natural Resources restricted his well water usage from 20 acres a day to 1 acre a day. But his strawberry plants need lots of water.
This year, his entire crop failed.
The heat has affected customers too. Some you-pick farms reported a decrease in customer visits, according to The Gazette. If people do come, they aren’t staying as long as normal to take in the entertainment at the farms, like picnic tables or games.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires also caused Iowa skies to grow hazy and air quality to be poor several times this summer. Customers canceled their appointments on especially hazy days, Anderson said. | https://fox59.com/business/ap-business/ap-you-pick-farms-lose-customers-and-crops-through-heat-drought-and-haze-in-iowa/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:17 | 1 | https://fox59.com/business/ap-business/ap-you-pick-farms-lose-customers-and-crops-through-heat-drought-and-haze-in-iowa/ |
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KRQE) – New Mexico State University was awarded a $20 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture.
The grant is to create a five-year program that will help train Hispanic students to become the next generation of agricultural leaders.
“It comes down to helping Hispanic students learn the skills they’ll need to enter the workforce in ag-related careers,” said Clint Löest, a grant co-director and animal science professor in NMSU’s College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences.
The program will reach students beginning in high school and offer continuous support as they progress through college and eventually into federal employment.
“By providing unique experiential learning possibilities such as internships, educational tours, leadership conferences and professional development seminars, this program is designed to increase opportunities for Hispanic students to pursue studies in agricultural sciences or related fields in hopes of establishing a federal employment pipeline,” said Shannon Norris-Parish, an assistant NMSU professor.
As part of the grant, the university will work with other schools to create pathways for students to enter the agricultural, natural resources, and human sciences workforce after completing college. | https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/20-million-given-to-nmsu-as-agricultural-grant-for-hispanic-students/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:17 | 0 | https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/20-million-given-to-nmsu-as-agricultural-grant-for-hispanic-students/ |
BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) — Details are limited, but a SWAT response was triggered in the South Valley.
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said there is a barricaded subject, so the SWAT team was sent to the scene. Prosperity Avenue between Kinney Street and Axtell Street is closed off. | https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/bernalillo-county-officials-close-off-road-during-swat-response/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:23 | 0 | https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/bernalillo-county-officials-close-off-road-during-swat-response/ |
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://fox59.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-as-regional-and-global-powers-decry-nigers-coup-the-countrys-future-remains-uncertain/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:23 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-as-regional-and-global-powers-decry-nigers-coup-the-countrys-future-remains-uncertain/ |
DENVER (AP) — As Denver neared triple-digit temperatures, Ben Gallegos sat shirtless on his porch swatting flies off his legs and spritzing himself with a misting fan to try to get through the heat. Gallegos, like many in the nation’s poorest neighborhoods, doesn’t have air conditioning.
The 68-year-old covers his windows with mattress foam to insulate against the heat and sleeps in the concrete basement. He knows high temperatures can cause heat stroke and death, and his lung condition makes him more susceptible. But the retired brick layer, who survives on about $1,000 a month largely from Social Security, says air conditioning is out of reach.
“Take me about 12 years to save up for something like that,” he said. “If it’s hard to breathe, I’ll get down to emergency.”
As climate change fans hotter and longer heat waves, breaking record temperatures across the U.S. and leaving dozens dead, the poorest Americans suffer the hottest days with the fewest defenses. Air conditioning, once a luxury, is now a matter of survival.
As Phoenix weathered its 27th consecutive day above 110 degrees (43 Celsius) Wednesday, the nine who died indoors didn’t have functioning air conditioning, or it was turned off. Last year, all 86 heat-related deaths indoors were in uncooled environments.
“To explain it fairly simply: Heat kills,” said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor who researches heat and health. “Once the heat wave starts, mortality starts in about 24 hours.”
It’s the poorest and people of color, from Kansas City to Detroit to New York City and beyond, who are far more likely to face grueling heat without air conditioning, according to a Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metros.
“The temperature differences … between lower-income neighborhoods, neighborhoods of color and their wealthier, whiter counterparts have pretty severe consequences,” said Cate Mingoya-LaFortune of Groundwork USA, an environmental justice organization. “There are these really big consequences like death. … But there’s also ambient misery.”
Some have window units that can offer respite, but “in the dead of heat, it don’t do nothing,” said Melody Clark, who stopped Friday to get food at a nonprofit in Kansas City, Kansas, as temperatures soared to 101, and high humidity made it feel like 109. When the central air conditioning at her rental house went on the fritz, her landlord installed a window unit. But it doesn’t do much during the day.
So the 45-year-old wets her hair, cooks outside on a propane grill and keeps the lights off indoors. She’s taken the bus to the library to cool off. At night she flips the box unit on, hauling her bed into the room where it’s located to sleep.
As far as her two teenagers, she said: “They aren’t little bitty. We aren’t dying in the heat. … They don’t complain.”
While billions in federal funding have been allocated to subsidize utility costs and the installation of cooling systems, experts say they often only support a fraction of the most vulnerable families and some still require prohibitive upfront costs. Installing a centralized heat pump system for heating and cooling can easily reach $25,000.
President Joe Biden announced steps on Thursday to defend against extreme heat, highlighting the expansion of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which funnels money through states to help poorer households pay utility bills.
While the program is critical, said Michelle Graff, who studies the subsidy at Cleveland State University, only about 16% of the nation’s eligible population is actually reached. Nearly half of states don’t offer the federal dollars for summer cooling.
“So people are engaging in coping mechanisms, like they’re turning on their air conditioners later and leaving their homes hotter,” Graff said.
While frigid temperatures and high heating bills birthed the term “heat or eat,” she said, “we can now transition to AC or eat, where people are going to have to make difficult decisions.”
As temperatures rise, so does the cost of cooling. And temperatures are already hotter in America’s low-income neighborhoods like Gallegos’ Denver suburb of Globeville, where people live along stretches of asphalt and concrete that hold heat like a cast-iron skillet. Surface temperatures there can be roughly 8 degrees hotter than in Denver’s wealthier neighborhoods, where a sea of vegetation cools the area, according to the environmental advocacy group American Forests.
This disparity plays out nationwide. Researchers at the University of San Diego analyzed 1,056 counties and in over 70%, the poorest areas and those with higher Black, Hispanic and Asian populations were significantly hotter.
About one in 10 U.S. households have no air conditioning, a disparity compounded for marginalized groups, according to a study by the Brookings Institution. Less than 4% of Detroit’s white households don’t have air conditioning; it’s 15% for Black households.
At noon on Friday, Katrice Sullivan sat on the porch of her rented house on Detroit’s westside. It was hot and muggy, but even steamier inside the house. Even if she had air conditioning, Sullivan said she’d choose her moments to run it to keep her electricity bill down.
The 37-year-old factory worker pours water on her head, freezes towels to put around her neck, and sits in her car with the air conditioner on. “Some people here spend every dollar for food, so air conditioning is something they can’t afford,” she said.
Shannon Lewis, 38, lived in her Detroit home for nearly 20 years without air conditioning. Lewis’s bedroom was the only place with a window unit, so she’d squeeze her teenager, 8-year-old and 3-year-old-twins into her queen-size bed to sleep, eat meals and watch television.
“So it was like cool in one room and a heat stroke in another,” Lewis said. For the first time, Lewis now has air conditioning through a local non-profit, she said. “We don’t have to sleep or eat in the same room, we are able to come out, sit at the dining room table, eat like a family.”
After at least 54 died during a 2021 heat wave, mostly elderly people without air conditioning, in the Portland area, Oregon passed a law prohibiting landlords from placing blanket bans on air conditioning units. By and large, however, states don’t have laws requiring landlords to provide cooling.
In the federal Inflation Reduction Act, billions were set aside for tax credits and rebates to help families install energy-efficient cooling systems, but some of those are yet to be available. For people like Gallegos, who doesn’t pay taxes, the available credits are worthless.
The law also offers rebates, the kind of state and federal point-of-sale discounts that Amanda Morian has looked into for her 640-square-foot home.
Morian, who has a 13-week-old baby susceptible to hot weather, is desperate to keep her house in Denver’s Globeville suburb cool. She bought thermal curtains, ceiling fans and runs a window unit. At night she tries to do skin-to-skin touch to regulate the baby’s body temperature. When the back door opens in the afternoon, she said, the indoor temperature jumps a degree.
“All of those are just to take the edge off, it’s not enough to actually make it cool. It’s enough to keep us from dying,” she said.
She got estimates from four different companies for installing a cooling system, but every project was between $20,000 and $25,000, she said. Even with subsidies she can’t afford it.
“I’m finding that you have to afford the project in the first place and then it’s like having a bonus coupon to take $5,000 off of the sticker price,” she said.
Lucy Molina, a single mom in Commerce City, one of Denver’s poorest areas, said her home has reached 107 degrees without air conditioning. Nearby, Molina’s two teenage children slurped popsicles to cool off, lingering in front of the open freezer.
For Molina, who bustled around her kitchen on a recent day when temperatures reached 99 degrees outdoors, it’s hard to see any path to a cooling respite.
“We’re just too poor,” she said.
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Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Kansas, and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed to this report.
——
Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. | https://fox59.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-record-heat-waves-illuminate-plight-of-poorest-americans-who-suffer-without-air-conditioning/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:29 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-record-heat-waves-illuminate-plight-of-poorest-americans-who-suffer-without-air-conditioning/ |
BELEN, N.M. (KRQE) — A six-year-old boy’s lemonade stand was robbed last week in Belen while he was trying to raise money for a good cause. After news spread about the theft, the community stepped up and rallied around him.
“This is what our community is about and not the negative, you know, stealing, and that’s what I want to bring awareness to Belen, ’cause there are good people here,” explained Randy Gettings.
Six-year-old Connor Brock had a goal: raise $250 dollars to donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as part of their “Lemonade Stand in July” challenge.
His parents were also raising money for Connor’s benefit: “Connor has autism level two, and we’ve used the lemonade stand not only to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital but also to teach Connor responsibility, to recognize the one dollar bill, the president on it, how to count money,” stated Abbegale Brock, Connor’s mother. She wanted to teach him about things like empathy and compassion.
That all came to a halt when thieves stole the money Connor raised and cleared out his lemonade stand.
“I was just dumbfounded because we wasn’t gone long, you know. To get something to eat, and it didn’t make any sense. It was items that you wouldn’t even think anyone would take,” Brock recalled.
Brock said she had to explain to Connor what had happened: “I just told him somebody else must have needed it more than we did.”
This weekend, Connor found himself back in business when two different motorcycle groups rallied dozens of bikers Saturday and Sunday to help take life’s lemons—and make lemonade.
“We heard the unfortunate situation that happened to him last week, and we just wanted to stand behind him and come show some support and just let him know that we’re here, and we got his back,” said Marcos Jaramillo, president of Moose Riders Belen 1680.
Cup after cup, from Saturday to Sunday, donations came pouring in.
“I contacted all my folks, and we put it out there four days ago. Four days ago, we put this out there, and I believe we had over 56 bikes show up this morning,” said Andrew Witham, with Rogue Biker Life, “If you’re not a part of the solution, you’re definitely a part of the problem, and if we can help in any way shape or form, we’re going to.”
Folks at Connor’s lemonade stand this weekend are standing behind the boy.
“As a biker community, what we’re saying as bikers is, we’re going to be there,” explained Toby Gutierrez, owner of Rogue Biker, “If you’re going to come out and do this, you can expect to see us.”
An anonymous donation of lemonade jars for Connor was also dropped off at the Belen Police Department, and Brock said the New Mexico Gas Company donated money and built him a new lemonade stand to use. | https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/biker-groups-community-show-support-for-6-year-old-belen-boy-after-thieves-targeted-lemonade-stand/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:29 | 0 | https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/biker-groups-community-show-support-for-6-year-old-belen-boy-after-thieves-targeted-lemonade-stand/ |
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.
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Associated Press video journalist Leslie Ambriz contributed from Los Angeles. | https://fox59.com/news/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-consumer-demand-for-speed-and-convenience-drives-labor-unrest-among-workers-in-hollywood-and-at-ups/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:35 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-consumer-demand-for-speed-and-convenience-drives-labor-unrest-among-workers-in-hollywood-and-at-ups/ |
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The man accused of shooting and killing an Alamogordo police officer will make an appearance in court.
Police claimed Dominic De La O shot and killed Officer Anthony Ferguson during a pursuit on July 15 after Ferguson tried to pull him over.
According to investigators, Ferguson was running after De La O when he shot Ferguson in the face.
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This is not the first time De La O has been in trouble with the law. Last August, he was charged with aggravated fleeing. In January, he was involved in another police shooting and injured.
Prosecutors fought to keep De La O locked up in his other cases but were not successful. His detention hearing is set for Monday in Otero County at 8 in the morning. | https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/man-accused-of-killing-alamogordo-officer-to-appear-in-court/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:35 | 1 | https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/man-accused-of-killing-alamogordo-officer-to-appear-in-court/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — A week later, the “Barbenheimer” boom has not abated.
Seven days after Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” conspired to set box office records, the two films held unusually strongly in theaters. “Barbie” took in a massive $93 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. “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 oveseas.
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. “Opppenheimer,” $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.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP | https://fox59.com/news/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:41 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-the-barbie-bonanza-continues-at-the-box-office-oppenheimer-holds-the-no-2-spot/ |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Shawn Steik and his wife were forced from a long-term motel room onto the streets of Anchorage after their rent shot up to $800 a month. Now they live in a tent encampment by a train depot, and as an Alaska winter looms they are growing desperate and fearful of what lies ahead.
A proposal last week by Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson to buy one-way plane tickets out of Alaska’s biggest city for its homeless residents gave Steik a much-needed glimmer of hope. He would move to the relative warmth of Seattle.
“I heard it’s probably warmer than this place,” said Steik, who is Aleut.
But the mayor’s unfunded idea also came under immediate attack as a Band-Aid solution glossing over the tremendous, and still unaddressed, crisis facing Anchorage as a swelling homeless population struggles to survive in a unique and extreme environment. Frigid temperatures stalk the homeless in the winter and bears infiltrate homeless encampments in the summer.
A record eight people died of exposure while living outside last winter and this year promises to be worse after the city closed an arena that housed 500 people during the winter months. Bickering between the city’s liberal assembly and its conservative mayor about how to address the crisis, and a lack of state funding, have further stymied efforts to find a solution.
With winter fast approaching in Alaska, it’s “past time for state and local leaders to address the underlying causes of homelessness — airplane tickets are a distraction, not a solution,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska said in a statement to The Associated Press.
About 43% of Anchorage’s more than 3,000 unsheltered residents are Alaska Natives, and Bronson’s proposal also drew harsh criticism from those who called it culturally insensitive.
“The reality is there is no place to send these people because this is their land. Any policy that we make has to pay credence to that simple fact. This is Dena’ina land, this is Native land,” said Christopher Constant, chair of the Anchorage Assembly. “And so we cannot be supporting policies that would take people and displace them from their home, even if their home is not what you or I would call home.”
Bronson’s airfare proposal caps a turbulent few years as Anchorage, like many cities in the U.S. West, struggles to deal with a burgeoning homeless population.
In May, the city shut down the 500-bed homeless shelter in the city’s arena so it could once more be used for concerts and hockey games after neighbors complained about open drug use, trespassing, violence and litter. A plan to build a large shelter and navigation center fell through when Bronson approved a contract without approval from the Anchorage Assembly.
That leaves a gaping hole in the city’s ability to house the thousands of homeless people who have to contend with temperatures well below zero for days at a time and unrelenting winds blasting off Cook Inlet. At the end of June, Anchorage was estimated to have a little more than 3,150 homeless people, according to the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness. Last week, there were only 614 beds at shelters citywide, with no vacancies.
New tent cities have sprung up across Anchorage this summer: on a slope facing the city’s historic railroad depot, on a busy road near the Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson and near soup kitchens and shelters downtown.
Assembly members are slated to consider a winter stop-gap option in August falling far short of the need: a large, warmed, tent-like structure for 150 people.
Summer brings its own challenges: hungry bears last year roamed a city-owned campground where homeless people were resettled after the arena closed. Wildlife officials killed four bears after they broke into tents.
Bronson said he prefers to spend a few hundred dollars per person for a plane ticket rather than spending about $100 daily to shelter and feed them. He said he doesn’t care where they want to go; his job is to “make sure they don’t die on Anchorage streets.”
It’s not clear if his proposal will move forward. There is not yet a plan or a funding source.
Dr. Ted Mala, an Inupiaq who in 1990 became the first Alaska Native to serve as the state’s health commissioner, said Anchorage should be working with social workers and law enforcement to discover people’s individual reasons for homelessness and connect them with resources.
Buying the unsheltered a ticket to another city is a political game that’s been around for years. A number of U.S. cities struggling with homelessness, including San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, have also offered bus or plane tickets to homeless residents.
“People are not pawns, they’re human beings,” Mala said.
The mayor’s proposal, while focused on warmer cities, also would fund tickets to other Alaska locations for those who want them.
Clarita Clark became homeless after her medical team wanted her to move from Point Hope to Anchorage for cancer treatment because Anchorage is warmer. The medical facility wouldn’t allow her husband to stay with her, so they pitched a tent in a sprawling camp to stay together.
Having recently found the body of a dead teenager who overdosed in a portable toilet, Clark yearns to return to the Chukchi Sea coastal village of Point Hope, where her three grandchildren live.
“I got a family that loves me,” she said, adding she would use the ticket and seek treatment closer to home.
Danny Parish also is leaving Alaska, but for another reason: He’s fed up.
Parish is selling his home of 29 years because it sits directly across the street from Sullivan Arena. Bad acts by some homeless people — including harassment, throwing vodka bottles in his yard, poisoning his dog and using his driveway as a toilet — made his life “a holy hell,” he said.
Parish is convinced the arena will be used again this winter since there isn’t another plan.
He, too, hopes to move to the contiguous U.S. — Oregon, for starters — but not before asking Anchorage leaders for his own plane ticket out.
“If they’re going to give them to everybody else,” Parish said, “then they need to give me one.” | https://fox59.com/news/health/ap-health/ap-anchorage-homeless-face-cold-and-bears-a-plan-to-offer-one-way-airfare-out-reveals-a-bigger-crisis/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:48 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/health/ap-health/ap-anchorage-homeless-face-cold-and-bears-a-plan-to-offer-one-way-airfare-out-reveals-a-bigger-crisis/ |
BEIRUT (AP) — Fighting raged Sunday in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp near the southern port city of Sidon, killing at least five people and wounding seven, Palestinian officials said.
UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, put the death toll at six, and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said two children were among those wounded.
The Palestinian officials, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the fighting broke out after an unknown gunman tried to kill Islamist militant Mahmoud Khalil, killing a companion of his instead.
Later, Islamist militants shot and killed a Palestinian military general from the Fatah group and three escorts as they were walking through a parking lot, another Palestinian official told AP.
Ein el-Hilweh is notorious for its lawlessness and violence is not uncommon. The U.N. says about 55,000 people live in the camp, which was established in 1948 to house Palestinians displaced by Israeli forces during the establishment of Israel.
On Sunday, factions blazed away with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers and lobbed hand grenades in the camp as ambulances zoomed through its narrow streets to take the wounded to the hospital.
The fighting stopped for several hours in the morning, though state media said there was still sporadic sniper fire, but fighting erupted again after the killing of the Palestinian general and his escorts.
Some residents in Sidon neighborhoods near the camp fled their homes as stray bullets hit buildings and shattered windows and storefronts. The public Sidon General Hospital evacuated its staff and patients.
The Lebanese army said in a statement that a mortar shell hit a military barracks outside the camp and wounded one soldier, whose condition is stable. Military commandos deployed near the camp’s entrances as clashes continued into the night.
UNRWA said two of its schools that serve some 2,000 students were damaged in the fighting. It said it suspended all its operations in Ein el-Hilweh.
Fatah in a statement condemned the killing of its security official, saying the attack was part of a “bloody scheme that targets the security and stability of our camps.” It vowed to hold the “perpetrators accountable.”
In Ramallah, the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement decrying violence in a camp for Palestinian refugees.
“No one is allowed to intimidate our people and tamper with their security,” it said. “We support what the Lebanese government is doing to impose law and order, and we affirm our commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty, including the Palestinian refugee camps, and maintaining security and the rule of law.”
Late in the day, the factions said in a joint statement that they had agreed to a ceasefire during a mediation meeting hosted by the Lebanese Shiite Amal movement and militant Hezbollah group in Sidon. But local media said fighting continued. A spokesperson from the Palestinian militant group Hamas told AP that the groups were working to implement the truce.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned the clashes. “We call on the Palestinian leadership to cooperate with the army to control the security situation and hand over those meddling with security to the Lebanese authorities,” Mikati said in his statement.
Palestinian factions in the camp for years have cracked down on militant Islamist groups and fugitives seeking shelter in the camp’s overcrowded neighborhoods. In 2017, Palestinian factions engaged in almost a week of fierce clashes with a militant organization affiliated with the extremist Islamic State group.
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Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-1-killed-6-wounded-in-overnight-clashes-in-crowded-palestinian-refugee-camp-in-lebanon/ | 2023-07-31T03:08:55 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-1-killed-6-wounded-in-overnight-clashes-in-crowded-palestinian-refugee-camp-in-lebanon/ |
MOSCOW (AP) — Ten people — including three children — died after high winds tore through central Russia, emergency services and a local official reported Sunday.
Eight of the dead were part of a group of tourists camping close to Lake Yalchik in the Mari-El region when the storm hit Saturday, Russia’s emergencies ministry said.
The strong winds caused a large number of trees to fall in the area, including where the group’s tents had been pitched on a stretch of wild beach inside the Mariy Chodra National Park, regional leader Yuri Zaitsev wrote on social media. He said that three children were among the dead. Russia’s investigative committee has opened a criminal case to determine whether unsafe or sub-standard services provided by the park’s management company contributed to the deaths.
Across the wider Volga Federal District, 76 people were injured in the storm, with thousands of households losing power, emergency services said. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-9-die-including-3-children-as-strong-winds-hit-tourist-camp-in-central-russia-officials-say/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:01 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-9-die-including-3-children-as-strong-winds-hit-tourist-camp-in-central-russia-officials-say/ |
(NerdWallet) – Inflation has rattled nearly every aspect of Americans’ finances, including vacation budgets. But one major travel cost isn’t just lower than it was last year — it’s even lower than pre-pandemic.
June 2023 airfares are 18.9% lower than what they were in June 2022, according to July 2023 consumer price index data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Considering that booming demand — alongside other factors like high jet fuel costs — led to record-high airfares last summer, it’s not surprising to see prices normalize. Not only have air travel costs come back down to earth from 2022’s highs, they’re even lower than pre-pandemic prices.
According to BLS data, June 2023 airfares are down 1.33% from what they were in 2019, when airfares were already trending lower. Relative to what prices were a decade ago, they’re even cheaper.
Pandemic aside, airfares have been trending cheaper
Before the pandemic, airfares had steadily been trending downward since 2014, save for a small bump in 2019. In 2020, prices dropped sharply with the onset of the pandemic, with June 2020 airfares averaging 27% lower than June 2019 airfares.
But as travel returned, so did higher prices. June 2021 airfares spiked 25% over the prior year, and airfares rose 34% more between June 2021 and June 2022.
If you take a long-term view, those increases aren’t necessarily as big as they seem. In fact, in June 2022, airfares averaged just 0.4% more than in 2014.
Here’s a look at how airfares have changed relative to prices in 2014, using June prices from BLS inflation data:
In 2023, airfares are 19% lower than a decade ago.
Compare that with something like the cost of milk, which is up 9% over that same period, according to BLS data. Hotel prices are up 28%. Admission to movies, theaters and concerts is up 33%.
If airfares are lower, why do they feel so high?
Over the past decade, prices for most items have increased. But if airfares are down 19%, why do they feel so expensive?
For starters, not every route is necessarily cheaper. Data from travel booking app Hopper indicates airfares to Europe this summer are averaging nearly $1,200 per ticket, the highest prices in the past six years. That’s perhaps a response to people who might usually book a low-cost domestic flight finally taking extravagant bucket list trips.
And given recent major flight cancellations on airlines including United and Southwest, more travelers might opt for more expensive direct flights to reduce risk of flight disruptions.
Hayley Berg, Hopper’s lead economist, has her own theories as to why people feel like airfares are higher, including recency bias, shorter booking windows and unbundling.
Recency bias
Berg pointed to how many people traveled for this summer’s major holidays.
For example, Fourth of July weekend set records for U.S. air travel, with more than 2.884 million people passing through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints on the Friday before July 4, according to TSA checkpoint data. That topped the previous record of 2.882 million people flying on the Sunday after Thanksgiving 2019.
“A lot of times, we anchor the cost of travel to our most recent trips,” Berg says. “For many, that meant July Fourth and Memorial Day. It’s always expensive to travel on those weekends.”
Shorter booking windows
Airfares typically get more expensive the closer they’re booked to departure, and Berg says people are booking trips later than usual — perhaps a holdover from those pandemic times when people intentionally booked last minute given the extreme uncertainty.
Berg recommends typically booking one to two months in advance for domestic travel and three to four months ahead for most international travel.
“Now, people are searching for travel three weeks later than they did pre-pandemic, and they’re subsequently booking later,” she says. “If I’m booking a trip today that I intend to take two weeks from now, it’s going to be expensive because it’s always more expensive to book at the last minute.”
Unbundling
Then there’s unbundling, where airlines advertise lower fares, often in the form of basic economy seats that offer few frills. But low base fares typically entail upcharges in the form of ancillary fees to check bags or to guarantee a window seat or early boarding.
“On the whole, unbundling is a good thing because you’re not paying a premium for things you may not necessarily want,” Berg says. “I don’t care if I’m in the middle seat if it means I save $100.”
Berg acknowledges that it can be painful when you search for a flight that has a low advertised price but doesn’t turn out to be that cheap.
“It feels like death by a thousand cuts when you add in all those fees,” she says. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/airfares-are-back-to-normal-so-why-do-they-feel-so-high/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:02 | 0 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/airfares-are-back-to-normal-so-why-do-they-feel-so-high/ |
KHAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up at a political rally in a former stronghold of militants in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least 44 people and wounding nearly 200 in an attack that a senior leader said was meant to weaken Pakistani Islamists.
The Bajur district near the Afghan border was a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban — a close ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban government — before the Pakistani army drove the militants out of the area. Supporters of hardline Pakistani cleric and political party leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, whose Jamiat Ulema Islam generally supports regional Islamists, were meeting in Bajur in a hall close to a market outside the district capital. Party officials said Rehman was not at the rally but organizers added tents because so many supporters showed up, and party volunteers with batons were helping control the crowd.
Officials were announcing the arrival of Abdul Rasheed, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam party, when the bomb went off in one of Pakistan’s bloodiest attacks in recent years.
Provincial police said in a statement that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives vest close to the stage where several senior leaders of the party were sitting. It said initial investigations suggested the Islamic State group — which operates in Afghanistan and is an enemy of the Afghan Taliban — could be behind the attack, and officers were still investigating.
“There was dust and smoke around, and I was under some injured people from where I could hardly stand up, only to see chaos and some scattered limbs,” said Adam Khan, 45, who was knocked to the ground by the blast around 4 p.m. and hit by splinters in his leg and both hands.
The Pakistan Taliban, or TTP, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press that the bombing was aimed at setting Islamists against each other. Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that “such crimes cannot be justified in any way.”
The Afghan Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan in mid-August 2021 emboldened the TTP. They unilaterally ended a cease-fire agreement with the Pakistani government in November, and have stepped up attacks across the country.
The bombing came hours before the arrival of Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Islamabad, where he was to participate in an event to mark a decade of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, a sprawling package under which Beijing has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan.
In recent months, China has helped Pakistan avoid a default on sovereign payments. However, some Chinese nationals have also been targeted by militants in northwestern Pakistan and elsewhere.
Feroz Jamal, the provincial information minister, told The Associated Press that so far 44 people had been “martyred” and nearly 200 wounded in the bombing.
The bombing was one of the four worst attacks in the northwest since 2014, when 147 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. In January, 74 people were killed in a bombing at a mosque in Peshawar. n February, more than 100 people, mostly policemen, died in a bombing at a mosque inside a high-security compound housing Peshawar police headquarters.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi condemned the attack and asked officials to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the bereaved families. Sharif later, in a phone call to Rehman, the head of the JUI, conveyed his condolences to him and assured him that those who orchestrated the attack would be punished.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad also condemned the attack. In a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, it expressed its condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims killed in the attack..
Maulana Ziaullah, the local chief of Rehman’s party, was among the dead. JUI leaders Rasheed and former lawmaker Maulana Jamaluddin were also on the stage but escaped unhurt.
Rasheed, the regional chief of the party, said the attack was an attempt to remove JUI from the field before parliamentary elections in November, but he said such tactics would not work. The bombing drew nationwide condemnation, with the ruling and opposition parties extending condolences to the families of those who died in the attack.
Rehman is considered to be a pro-Taliban cleric and his political party is part of the coalition government in Islamabad. Meetings are being organized across the country to mobilize supporters for the upcoming elections.
“Many of our fellows lost their lives and many more wounded in this incident. I will ask the federal and provincial administrations to fully investigate this incident and provide due compensation and medical facilities to the affected ones,” Rasheed said.
Mohammad Wali, another attendant at the rally, said he was listening to a speaker address the crowd when the huge explosion temporarily deafened him.
“I was near the water dispenser to fetch a glass of water when the bomb exploded, throwing me to the ground,” he said. “We came to the meeting with enthusiasm but ended up at the hospital seeing crying, wounded people and sobbing relatives taking the bodies of their loved ones.”
___
Riaz Khan reported from Peshawar. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmad contributed from Islamabad. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-a-bomb-at-a-political-rally-in-northwest-pakistan-kills-10-people-and-wounds-more-than-50/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:07 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-a-bomb-at-a-political-rally-in-northwest-pakistan-kills-10-people-and-wounds-more-than-50/ |
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The man who was found dead Saturday evening in a canal in Sanger has been identified by the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies say around 7:00 p.m. they responded to a canal near Newmark and Annadale Avenues where they found and recovered a dead man’s body.
The sheriff’s office has identified the man as 49-year-old James Cunningham of Fresno.
Deputies say no foul play is suspected. | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/identified-man-found-dead-in-sanger-canal/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:08 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/identified-man-found-dead-in-sanger-canal/ |
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — African leaders have left two days of meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin with little to show for their requests to resume a deal that kept grain flowing from Ukraine and to find a path to end the war there.
Putin in a press conference late Saturday following the Russia-Africa summit said Russia’s termination of the grain deal earlier this month caused a rise in grain prices that benefits Russian companies. He added that Moscow would share some of those revenues with the “poorest nations.”
That commitment, with no details, follows Putin’s promise to start shipping 25,000 to 50,000 tons of grain for free to each of six African nations in the next three to four months — an amount dwarfed by the 725,000 tons shipped by the U.N. World Food Program to several hungry countries, African and otherwise, under the grain deal. Russia plans to send the free grain to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Eritrea and Central African Republic.
Fewer than 20 of Africa’s 54 heads of state or government attended the Russia summit, while 43 attended the previous gathering in 2019, reflecting concerns over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine even as Moscow seeks more allies on the African continent of 1.3 billion people. Putin praised Africa as a rising center of power in the world, while the Kremlin blamed “outrageous” Western pressure for discouraging some African countries from showing up.
The presidents of Egypt and South Africa were among the most outspoken on the need to resume the grain deal.
“We would like the Black Sea initiative to be implemented and that the Black Sea should be open,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said. “We are not here to plead for donations for the African continent.”
African leaders also called clearly for peace.
“This war must end and it can only end on the basis of justice and reason,” said the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat. “The disturbances that it causes in the supply of energy and grain must cease immediately” for the benefit of all, especially Africans.
Putin said Russia would analyze African leaders’ peace proposal for Ukraine, whose details have not been publicly shared. But the Russian leader asked: “Why do you ask us to pause fire? We can’t pause fire while we’re being attacked.”
The next significant step in peace efforts instead appears to be a Ukrainian-organized peace summit hosted by Saudi Arabia in August. Russia is not invited.
Africa’s nations make up the largest voting bloc at the United Nations and have been more divided than any other region on General Assembly resolutions criticizing Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Delegations at the summit in St. Petersburg roamed exhibits of weapons, a reminder of Russia’s role as the top arms supplier to the African continent.
But African nations need more concrete results from such meetings, the AU Commission head told the summit.
“The trade balance between Russia and Africa, very unbalanced in favor of the first party, must be improved,” Mahamat said. At the first Russia-Africa Summit in 2019, Putin vowed to double Russia’s trade with the continent within five years. Instead, it has stalled at around $18 billion a year.
In addition, “the strengthening of cooperation on peace and security and the fight against terrorism calls for more deeds and fewer declarations of intent,” Mahamat said, while he and other African leaders were rushing to respond to a coup in Niger that could upend the regional response to a growing threat from Islamic extremist groups.
Putin in his remarks on Saturday also downplayed his absence from the BRICS economic summit in South Africa next month amid a controversy over an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court. His presence there, Putin said, is not “more important than my presence here, in Russia.” | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-african-leaders-leave-russia-summit-without-grain-deal-or-a-path-to-end-the-war-in-ukraine/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:13 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-african-leaders-leave-russia-summit-without-grain-deal-or-a-path-to-end-the-war-in-ukraine/ |
AUSTIN (KXAN) — It’s no surprise that the summer heat can do significant damage to your vehicle. But as cities around the country continue to break temperature records and endure long heat waves, some car technicians are finding unusual vehicle issues.
Doc Watson, a national training manager with Bosch Diagnostics, said typical summertime issues include dead car batteries and flat tires. However, he said technicians in Texas and along the West Coast have also been recording more unusual vehicle complications due to the extensive heat waves.
In Texas, Arizona and California, technicians are reporting an emergence of “brake fade” cases in cars. When the temperature outside tops 100 degrees for extended periods of time, temperatures under the hood of vehicles during the summer can reach up to 230 degrees.
Brake fluids inside the cylinder under the hood of the car can absorb moisture, as the heat causes that moisture to expand within the fluid. When that happens, stepping on the brake pedal can feel “mushy.” That means the vehicle owner will need to take the car in for maintenance.
Both heat and humidity can add extra wear and tear to the windshield wiper blades, which have a typical lifespan between 12 and 18 months.
“People don’t stop to think about wiper blades — they don’t need them until it rains, right?” Watson said. “You’re driving around in 112-degree temperature, you’ve got heat reflecting off the glass, and that causes the rubber components of a wiper blade to break down.”
The plastic parts of the blades can also suffer.
“With these extreme temperatures that you guys are seeing, it’s the plastic breaking down off the wiper blade itself, and people not realizing that that’s happened until it’s too late,” he said. “The wiper blade breaks and then you’ve got this metal arm scratching the glass.”
Watson recommended car owners keep a checklist of key vehicle parts to monitor during the summer months. Those include:
- Car batteries: Traditionally, car batteries last between three and five years. Amid excessive heat spells, temperatures under the hood of a vehicle reach up to 230 degrees, which can lead to battery fluid evaporations and dead batteries. Watson suggests car owners have their batteries tested by a technician during the summer to get a condition status.
- Tires: Low tire pressure is exacerbated by hot asphalt on roadways. Watson encouraged car owners to purchase a tire pressure gauge and to test their vehicle’s tire pressure early in the morning while it’s still cool to ensure an accurate reading.
- Engine overflow tank: During the summer months, cooling an engine is critical. Watson said when car owners check underneath the hood, they’ll find a plastic overflow tank with a graduated scale. If it looks low, he suggested adding antifreeze to aid your engine.
- Wiper blades: Check wiper blades during dry spells (and before rain storms) to make sure they’re properly working and not deteriorating. If they show signs of wear and tear, replace them and make sure they’re upgraded every 12-18 months.
- Oil changes: Most newer vehicles require an oil change every 5,000 to 7,000 miles. However, remote starting a vehicle and running the air conditioning works the engine without adding any mileage to the vehicle. As a result, Watson suggested not waiting until you hit that 5,000 to 7,000-mile range if you often use remote start on your vehicle during the summer or winter months.
“People aren’t changing oil regularly like they think they are,” he said. “People need to pay more attention to them because these engines will go many miles — 200,000, 300,000 miles — as long as they’re maintained correctly. That’s big with this extreme heat.” | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/the-weird-car-issues-mechanics-are-seeing-during-heat-waves/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:14 | 1 | https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/the-weird-car-issues-mechanics-are-seeing-during-heat-waves/ |
BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The Central African Republic went to the polls Sunday in a highly anticipated vote on a new constitution, which would remove presidential term limits.
President Faustin Archange Touadera wants to extend presidential terms from five to seven years and remove the previous two-term limit, enabling him to run again in 2025.
The new constitution would replace the one adopted at Touadera’s inauguration in 2016, when the country was in a civil war and 80% of it was not under state control. If the new constitution is passed, it could entrench the ruling party’s power indefinitely, analysts say.
“This referendum basically confirms the fears of authoritarian drift (in CAR),” said Enrica Picco, Central Africa project director with the International Crisis Group. The new constitution would weaken checks on the executive by opposition parties, closing the space for Central Africans to participate in democratic decision-making, she said.
The proposed changes also would lift requirements that executive decisions be debated by the legislative and permit Central Africans with dual nationalities to vote.
The mineral-rich but impoverished nation has faced intercommunal fighting since 2013, when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power and forced then-President Francois Bozize from office. Mostly Christian militias later fought back, also targeting civilians in the streets. The United Nations, which has a peacekeeping mission in the country, estimates the fighting had killed thousands and displaced over a million people, one fifth of the country’s population.
When Touadera won re-election in 2020, barely a third of Central Africans made it to the polls, largely due to threats of violence by rebel groups. Touadera’s government has relied on support from UN peacekeepers, soldiers from neighboring Rwanda and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to keep rebels out of the capital Bangui.
“Now that there is peace … the time has come for us to take action,” said Fidel Gouandjika, a presidential advisor.
Opposition groups accuse the ruling party of making a draft of the new constitution publicly available too late for people to make informed decisions, less than three weeks before the referendum, said Picco.
Together with opposition parties they are calling on Central Africans to vote against the proposed constitution, or abstain from the referendum.
“Touadera wants to see himself as an emperor, and he wants to make our country what he wants, not what Central Africans want,” said former Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-constitutional-referendum-to-remove-presidential-term-limits-divides-central-african-republic/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:20 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-constitutional-referendum-to-remove-presidential-term-limits-divides-central-african-republic/ |
July keeps sizzling as Phoenix hits another 110-degree day and wildfires spread in California
PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix sizzled through its 31st consecutive day of at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) and other parts of the country grappled Sunday with record temperatures after a week that saw significant portions of the U.S. population subject to extreme heat.
The National Weather Service said Phoenix climbed to a high of 111 F (43.8 Celsius) before the day was through.
July has been so steamy thus far that scientists calculate it will be the hottest month ever recorded and likely the warmest human civilization has seen. The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday proclaimed July beyond record-smashing.
The historic heat began blasting the lower Southwest U.S. in late June, stretching from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert.
On Sunday, a massive wildfire burning out of control in California’s Mojave National Preserve spread rapidly amid erratic winds, while firefighters reported progress against another major blaze to the south that prompted evacuations.
The York Fire that erupted Friday near the remote Caruthers Canyon area of the preserve sent up a huge plume of smoke visible nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) away across the state line in Nevada.
Flames 20 feet (6 meters) high in some spots have charred more than 110 square miles (284 square kilometers) of desert scrub, juniper and Joshua tree woodland, according to a Sunday update.
“The dry fuel acts as a ready ignition source, and when paired with those weather conditions it resulted in long-distance fire run and high flames, leading to extreme fire behavior,” authorities said. No structures were threatened, but there was also no containment.
To the southwest, the Bonny Fire was holding steady at about 3.4 square miles (8.8 square kilometers) in rugged hills of Riverside County. More than 1,300 people were ordered to evacuate their homes Saturday near the remote community of Aguanga, California.
Triple-digit heat was expected in parts of the central San Joaquin Valley through Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
And in Burbank, California, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, the summer heat may have been responsible for some unusual behavior in the animal kingdom: Police in the city responded to a report of a bear sighting in a residential neighborhood and found the animal sitting in a Jacuzzi behind one of the homes.
As climate change brings hotter and longer heat waves, record temperatures across the U.S. have killed dozens of people, and the poorest Americans suffer the most. Air conditioning, once a luxury, is now a matter of survival.
Last year, all 86 heat-related deaths indoors were in uncooled environments.
“To explain it fairly simply: Heat kills,” said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor who researches heat and health. “Once the heat wave starts, mortality starts in about 24 hours.”
It’s the poorest and people of color, from Kansas City to Detroit to New York City and beyond, who are far more likely to face grueling heat without air conditioning, according to a Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metro areas.
Back in Phoenix, slight relief may be on the way as expected seasonal thunderstorms could drop temperatures Monday and Tuesday.
“It should be around 108 degrees, so we break that 110 streak,” meteorologist Tom Frieders said. “Increasing cloud cover will put temperatures in a downward trend.”
The relief could be short-lived, however. Highs are expected to creep back to 110 F (43.3 C) Wednesday with temperatures reaching 115 F (46.1 C) by the end of the week.
Phoenix has also sweated through a record 16 consecutive nights when the lows temperature didn’t dip below 90 F (32.2 C), making it hard for people to cool off after sunset.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas continues to flirt with its hottest July ever. The city is closing in on its 2010 record for the average of the high and low each day for July, which stands at 96.2 F (35.5 C).
The extreme heat is also hitting the eastern U.S, as soaring temperatures moved from the Midwest into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where some places recorded their warmest days so far this year.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/31/july-keeps-sizzling-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-wildfires-spread-california/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:22 | 0 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/2023/07/31/july-keeps-sizzling-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-wildfires-spread-california/ |
HELSINKI (AP) — Denmark’s foreign minister said Sunday the government will seek to make it illegal to desecrate the Quran or other religious holy books in front of foreign embassies in the Nordic country.
Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in an interview with the Danish public broadcaster DR that the burning of holy scriptures “only serves the purpose of creating division in a world that actually needs unity.”
“That is why we have decided in the government that we will look at how, in very special situations, we can put an end to mockery of other countries, which is in direct conflict with Danish interests and the safety of the Danes,” he said.
A recent string of public Quran desecrations by a handful of anti-Islam activists in Denmark and neighboring Sweden have sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries.
Løkke Rasmussen said the Cabinet of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is determined to find “a legal tool” to prohibit such acts without compromising freedom of expression, but he acknowledged that would not be easy.
“There must be room for religious criticism, and we have no thoughts of reintroducing a blasphemy clause,” he told DR. “But when you stand up in front of a foreign embassy and burn a Quran or burn the Torah scroll in front of the Israeli embassy, it serves no other purpose than to mock.”
His comments followed a statement issued late Sunday by the Danish government saying freedom of expression is one of the most important values in Danish society.
But, it added, the descreation of the Muslim holy book in Denmark has resulted in the nation being viewed in many places around the world “as a country that facilitates insult and denigration of the cultures, religions, and traditions of other countries.”
The government repeated its condemnation of such descecrations, say they are “deeply offensive and reckless acts committed by few individuals” and “do not represent the values the Danish society is built on.”
In Sweden, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Sunday on Instagram that his government is analyzing the legal situation regarding desecration of the Quran and other holy books, given the animosity such acts are stirring up against Sweden.
“We are in the most serious security policy situation since the Second World War,” Kristersson said.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has called an emergency remote meeting Monday to discuss the Quran burnings in Sweden and Denmark. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-denmark-seeks-to-legally-prevent-burnings-of-quran-or-other-religious-scriptures/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:27 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-denmark-seeks-to-legally-prevent-burnings-of-quran-or-other-religious-scriptures/ |
With TCL's latest intelligent algorithm, the enhanced picture quality elevates the experience of movie watching, game play and more
HONG KONG, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TCL, a leading consumer electronics brand and the world's top two TV brand, is reiterating its display advancement to drive more immersive entertainment experiences for users around the world.
On the successful launches of TCL's all-new QD-Mini LED TVs and QLED TVs, a superior line up of 4K TV's delivering high and precise contrast, stunning brightness, vivid colours and better uniformity, TCL is committed to the development of its AiPQ Processor 3.0, offering next-level picture performance.
AiPQ Processor 3.0 Enhances the Viewing Experience for Movie and TV Lovers
For true film buffs, any time of day is the perfect time to lose yourself in an engrossing, feature-length production. Whether indulging by staying up late or unwinding on a lazy sunny afternoon, the AiPQ Processor 3.0's Ai-Contrast feature intelligently reproduces reality by dynamically optimizing the contrast ratio, analyzing brightness and darkness levels to perfectly balance light and shadows – ensuring the intensity of a scene is upheld whether watching during the day or night. To ensure you never miss a detail of the drama unfolding on your screen, Ai-Clarity analyses the image according to its original resolution, reproducing the final image with precise noise reduction for crystal clear visuals, meaning every detail of an intense film scene is captured. For fans of the fantasy genre, where out-of-this-world colour palettes really bring the story to life, Ai-Colour transforms and strengthens the screen colour gamut, independently rendering different colours to ensure expression is optimized for a truly immersive experience.
For those who prefer to unwind by transporting themselves to other worlds via nature documentaries, Ai-Colour perceives images in the same way the naked eye does by recreating micro colour details seen in the real world. It achieves this by automatically tuning, correcting and enhancing multiple specs including colour temperature, saturation and contrast, to deliver a life-like rendered image with a natural, artistic touch. Thanks to this precise algorithm, wildlife shows have never looked so good, making the viewer feel truly surrounded by nature. What's more, Ai-HDR intelligently decodes multiple HDR formats from HDR 10, to HDR10+ and more, allowing you to TV content exactly as the director intended, with enhanced organic colours and a wider range of brightness and darkness highlights.
Keeping up to Speed – The Benefits of Ai for Sports Viewing and Gaming
For those who never want to miss a moment of the action, Ai-Motion elevates the experience of watching sports by intuitively detecting fast moving objects according to their size and position on the screen, calculating motion in terms of refresh rate and frame number. Be the first to spot the foul or notice if the ball was out thanks to Ai-Clarity's crystal-clear visuals that allow you to enjoy up to 4K experience with content of lower resolutions, so you can capture every pivotal moment.
Gamers will also appreciate Ai-Motion's ability to convert low frame images to high frames, restoring silky-smooth visuals without any blurring or tearing for uninterrupted game play. Further enhancing the gaming experience, Ai-Contrast helps you see more in the dark, unveiling enemies hidden in the shadows during game play.
The outstanding AiPQ Processor 3.0 can be found in the latest select TCL QD-Mini LED TVs now available to purchase across global markets, allowing customers all over the world to discover the benefits of intelligent multi-dimensional optimization.
About TCL Electronics
TCL Electronics (1070.HK) is a fast-growing consumer electronics company and a leader in the global television industry. Founded in 1981, it now operates in more than 160 markets around the world. TCL specializes in the research, development, and manufacturing of consumer electronics products ranging from TVs, audio, and smart home appliances. Visit the TCL website at https://www.tcl.com.
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SOURCE TCL Electronics | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/enjoy-smartly-enhanced-entertainment-with-tcl-aipq-processor-30-its-latest-qd-mini-led-tvs/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:28 | 0 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/enjoy-smartly-enhanced-entertainment-with-tcl-aipq-processor-30-its-latest-qd-mini-led-tvs/ |
BEIJING (AP) — The French finance minister said Sunday he pressed Chinese leaders to open their markets wider to foreign companies and lobbied for investment in France’s electric car industry, as the European Union’s second-largest economy followed Washington in reviving post-COVID economic talks amid tension over Beijing’s surging trade surpluses.
Bruno Le Maire also defended Paris’s controls on foreign access to technology after authorities said two Chinese citizens are under investigation for what news reports say is possible smuggling of French-made processor chips with military uses to China and Russia.
Le Maire met Saturday with Vice Premier He Lifeng, Beijing’s top envoy on economic issues. He followed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who visited Beijing on July 9-10 as part of U.S. efforts to revive frosty relations with China.
Chinese officials gave Le Maire and Yellen a warm welcome as part of efforts to reverse an economic slump by reviving foreign investor interest. But Beijing has given no indication of possible changes in technology and other policies that its trading partners say violate Chinese market-opening commitments.
Officials of the 27-nation European Union are trying to narrow a trade deficit with China that swelled to 396 billion euros ($432 billion) last year. Le Maire cited cosmetics, aerospace and agriculture as possible areas for more French exports.
“There is a need to improve access to the Chinese market. I think that it was at the core of our discussions,” Le Maire said in an interview at the French Embassy. “We want to have a stronger economic relationship between Europe and China, between France and China, which means to get access for all European goods.”
Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government has looked to Europe as an alternative market and source of technology since Washington tightened controls on access to U.S. processor chips and other high-tech goods and hiked tariffs on imports from China in a feud over its industry development ambitions.
Le Maire and Chinese officials pledged to cooperate on climate change, financing for developing countries and nuclear power. They announced plans to set up a group to settle a dispute over access to China’s market for cosmetics, a major French export.
Le Maire also lobbied for investment from China’s fast-growing electric car industry. He was due to fly to the southern city of Shenzhen to meet Wang Chuanfu, founder of BYD Auto, one of the world’s biggest electric vehicle producers. BYD Auto and other Chinese brands are starting to sell in developed markets including Europe and Japan. Chinese battery supplier CATL has set up a factory in Germany to supply automaker BMW.
“We want China to make investments in France in electric vehicles,” Le Maire said. “In the climate transition, there is a place for Chinese investment in France, which allows us to reinforce our economic relations and also speed up action against global warming.”
The talks were overshadowed by Russia’s war against Ukraine and complaints China might be helping Moscow evade Western sanctions, but Le Maire said he didn’t discuss the war with Chinese officials. However, he said it was in Beijing’s interest to end the 17-month-old war. President Emmanuel Macron’s security adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, said this month China was delivering “military equipment” to Russia but gave no details.
“I want to make very clear that we want this war to go to an end as soon as possible,” Le Maire said. “Indeed, (it is) in the interest of China, it is in the interests of the global growth to have peace as soon as possible.”
Le Maire also defended French controls on technology exports and foreign investment in high-tech industry. French authorities are investigating two Chinese citizens associated with chip producer Ommic who the newspaper Le Parisien said face possible charges of exporting chips to a Chinese armaments maker using forged documents.
French counter-espionage officials believe a Chinese investor who bought control of Ommic in 2018 was trying to transfer chip manufacturing technology to China, according to the newspaper. The ruling Communist Party is trying to develop its own chip industry, but Washington has blocked access to advanced manufacturing tools and persuaded allies Japan and the Netherlands to impose their own restrictions.
Chinese authorities complain their companies are unfairly targeted by restrictions on access to foreign technology. They have warned curbs on access to semiconductors will disrupt smartphone and other industries.
“Everybody can understand that France wants to protect its key technologies,” Le Maire said. “We don’t want any foreign country to get access to those French sovereign technologies.” | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-frances-le-maire-presses-china-on-market-access-and-lobbies-for-electric-car-investment/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:33 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-frances-le-maire-presses-china-on-market-access-and-lobbies-for-electric-car-investment/ |
BEIJING, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- President Xi Jinping visited the site of a section of an ancient road system known as "Shudao" in Guangyuan on July 25, which winds its way through rugged mountains and ancient trees. There, Xi learned about efforts surrounding ecological conservation.
This visit marks Xi's attention to China's ecological development, which has achieved remarkable progress over the past 10 years, said experts.
Witnessing the government's recent remarks on ecology, they believed that the country's road of building a Beautiful China has demonstrated the nation's wisdom in balancing the needs of economic development and improving the environment.
Before heading to Sichuan, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered a speech at a national conference on ecological and environmental protection held from July 17 to 18.
Xi said that the country's ecological conservation has undergone a historic, transformative and comprehensive changes both in theory and practice, with significant strides made in building a Beautiful China.
Noting that China's economy and society have entered a stage of high-quality development marked by accelerated progress in promoting green and low-carbon growth, Xi called for higher standards, a broader perspective and stronger efforts in planning and advancing ecological and environmental protection on the new journey, as well as writing a new chapter of ecological conservation in the new era.
Xi stressed the need to properly handle the relationships between high-quality development and high-level protection, between tackling major challenges and coordinating governance, between natural recovery and human-assisted restoration, between external constraints and internal driving forces, as well as between "dual carbon" commitments and self-determined actions.
Xi said that the country's ecological conservation has undergone historical, transformative and comprehensive changes both in theory and practice, with significant strides made in building a Beautiful China.
This conference again showed us how importance the central government attaches to ecological protection, an official from environment protection bureau in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Friday. He said during the past 10 years, ecological protection has become an increasingly important indictor in evaluating government's performance in his city, which was famous for coal production.
"Although planting trees costs more in Inner Mongolia than in other parts of China due to lack of water and dry weather, we learned in the past 10 years that making our city greener brings more benefits than leaving the mountains bare. The city becomes more beautiful, residents are happy, and more tourists visit; also we saw less sandstorms," the official said.
During a press conference on Thursday, Huang Runqiu, China's minister of ecology and environment, highlighted China's achievement on ecological protection over recent years.
From 2013 to 2022, China's average PM2.5 concentration decreased by 57 percent and the number of heavily polluted days decreased by 93 percent, while the nation's GDP doubled during the same period, Huang said. This made China the country with the fastest improvement in air quality worldwide. Specifically, in Beijing, the average PM2.5 concentration decreased from 89.5 micrograms per cubic meter in 2013 to 30 micrograms per cubic meter in 2022, and the number of heavily polluted days decreased from 58 to only 3, said Huang. The United Nations Environment Agency praised this achievement as the "Beijing Miracle."
Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times that "China has engaged in a sustained top-down efforts for many years to enhance ecological protection. The central and local governments march together toward the same goal, with continuous environmental policies. Moreover, the country has demonstrated its wisdom in how to balance ecological development and maintain fast economic growth at the same time."
Perfect balance
We should protect nature and preserve the environment like we protect our eyes, and endeavor to foster a new relationship where man and nature can both prosper and live in harmony, President Xi once said.
Xi has given important instructions on the rational utilization and friendly protection of the ecological environment during his numerous visits to the frontlines of ecological protection, such as to the Maanshan forest farm in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Qilian Mountains, the Shandan Horse Ranch in Gansu, an ecological wetland of the Dianchi Lake in Kunming, and many other places.
In June 2022, Xi visited Yibin, Sichuan Province, where the Jinsha and Minjiang rivers converge into the Yangtze River. He noted that sound ecological conservation along the Yangtze River basin is the precondition for advancing high-quality development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.
The Yellow River and the Yangtze River are the mother rivers of the Chinese nation. The protection of the mother rivers is a crucial project concerning the great rejuvenation and sustainable development of the Chinese nation, Xi said at the time.
From June 5 to 6 this year, accompanied by officials from Inner Mongolia, Xi was on a fact-finding mission at a nature reserve, a modern agricultural demonstration park, a forest farm and a water resources department in the city of Bayannur.
On June 6, Xi presided over a symposium in Bayannur on strengthening the comprehensive prevention and control of desertification and promoting the construction of crucial ecological projects, including the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program.
Xi, who was then the Party Chief of Zhejiang, put forward the famous "two mountains" concept - clear waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets comparable to the gold and silver of legend - in August 2005 during his visit to Anji county.
Nowadays, residents in the county has sought out ways to make a living that they enjoy, with many becoming businessmen, running their own hostels, shops and tourism companies, thanks to the improved natural environment.
Pan Chunlin, a former miner, who now runs a hostel after local mines were shut down, explained the transformation to the Global Times "My annual income is now hundreds of times higher than before. Today, I can earn in a day what I used to make in one year".
Following the development approach referred to as the "two mountains" concept, in the past decade, Anji has modeled itself into a place known for its beautiful ecology and prosperous green industries, which have completely changed the villagers' lives, Jin Peihua, head of the "Two Mountains" Concept Research Institute affiliated with Huzhou University, said.
Global bellwether
Apart from domestic efforts, China is also making efforts in unifying a global effort on ecological preservation.
The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, known as COP15, was convened in Kunming, Yunnan Province in 2021.
As the first global conference convened by the United Nations on the topic of ecological civilization, a philosophy proposed by China, it offered a platform for countries to find common ground on "Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth."
During an official trip to Zimbabwe in 2015, Xi visited a local wildlife sanctuary, where he fed an orphaned elephant. He reiterated China's commitment to wildlife protection and pledged to help Zimbabwe do so by donating equipment and exchanging experience with China.
Recalling Xi's explanation of China's initiatives to breed giant pandas and expand protected areas, Roxy Danckwerts, the founder of the sanctuary, said, "I thought that was very significant that he is making such big strides in his own country."
Bradley Blankenship, a Prague-based American journalist, columnist and political commentator, recently spent a week in Beijing. Speaking with the Global Times, he said that "I must admit that based on the antiquated view of China that many Americans have and discuss publicly, I expected the city to be smoggy and congested. To the contrary, it has beautiful blue skies.
"China has been successful in beautifying Beijing, as well as other cities and towns, by transitioning from coal power to gas, establishing emission standards for coal-fired stations, implementing tougher standards for other industries such as steel and cement and seeking high-quality development with a high-quality ecological environment. These achievements have been so successful that Beijing now stands as an example for mega-cities around the globe, particularly those in the Global South," Blankenship said.
During a visit to Guizhou in June, Manasa R. Tagicakibau, Fiji's Ambassador to China, said China is "so advanced" when it comes to ecological civilization. "You look at the development that's been achieved by Guizhou authorities together with the local people, ethnic minorities and the population at large, in terms of developing the area to make this mountainous area a very safe and harmonious and happy place to live in. I'm impressed."
The ambassador said Guizhou shares a lot of similarities to some of the mountainous regions in Fiji, but there is a lot to be done in Fiji in terms of accessibility and this is an area that Fiji can learn from China.
However, some Western countries, so-called pioneering initiatives on environment protection, take a laissez-afire attitude in face of environment disasters. Recently, Chinese scientists used scientific methods to assess it and concluded that, as of Wednesday, the carbon dioxide emissions from Canadian wildfires have reached approximately 1 billion tons, which has already developed into a global environmental event.
It is worth mentioning that the forest area in China is approximately 2.31 million square kilometers, which is roughly two-thirds of that in Canada. However, the average annual emission of carbon dioxide caused by forest fires in China from 2000-21 was approximately 15 million tons, only 0.2 percent of the global forest fire emissions, demonstrating China's responsible role as a major country, experts noted.
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SOURCE Global Times | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/global-times-xis-footsteps-sichuan-demonstrate-chinas-wisdom-balancing-economic-devt-ecological-protection/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:35 | 0 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/global-times-xis-footsteps-sichuan-demonstrate-chinas-wisdom-balancing-economic-devt-ecological-protection/ |
SANTA MARIA DE JESUS, Guatemala (AP) — Presidential candidate Bernardo Arévalo stood before a few hundred residents of this small Indigenous community on the slopes of the Agua Volcano and told them they could be the seeds of a brighter, more corruption-free spring in Guatemala.
The metaphor fits neatly with his political party, the Seed Movement, and allows the 64-year-old academic and former diplomat to riff on themes of renewal and growth.
But it also alludes to Guatemala’s “democratic spring,” considered a more inclusive period in the country’s history during the presidency in the 1940s and early 1950s of his late father, Juan José Arévalo.
Bernardo Arévalo won just 11% of the vote in the presidential election’s first round June 25, but it was enough to give him the surprise second slot in the Aug. 20 runoff ballot. He will face Sandra Torres, a conservative and former first lady who was the leading vote-getter in the first round and is making her third bid for the presidency.
Arévalo’s recent speech in Santa Maria de Jesus was similar to those he has given in Guatemala’s capital, but the imagery could be especially important in rural Indigenous communities as he seeks to rapidly expand his largely urban, youthful base before the runoff.
He won in Guatemala City and other important cities, including Sacatepequez and Quetzaltenango. It remains to be seen whether he can convince people in rural communities that he can address their daily problems.
The delayed certification of the first round results shortened the already small window that Arévalo has to reintroduce himself to much of the country as his opponents rush to paint their own negative picture.
“Do you feel what is happening?” Arévalo told the crowd in Santa Maria de Jesus. “The new spring is arriving, that’s what you feel, and you all are the seeds of that new spring.”
“A new spring that is going to bring us well-being, the water we lack, the education they owe us, the health that they have denied us thanks to those corrupt contracts that serve few,” Arévalo said, standing in front of an old, damaged Roman Catholic church, in a wide-brimmed hat and untucked shirt against the tropical heat.
Among those listening was Juana Orón, a 67-year-old homemaker of the Kaqchikel people. She is one of the older voters who remember hearing about Arévalo’s father, one of only two leftist presidents in Guatemala’s democratic era.
The elder Arévalo, who governed from 1945 to 1951, is credited with establishing key social programs that remain in place today, including Guatemala’s labor code and social security. Guatemala’s democratic spring was cut short in 1954 by the CIA-backed overthrow of his successor, President Jacobo Arbenz.
Under Juan José Arévalo, the state advocated for rights for Indigenous peoples and others beyond the country’s small elite.
“I remember I was little and (my parents) said he had done good things,” said Orón whose first language as a child was Kaqchikel. If his father was good, Arévalo could be a good president, too, she said.
Opponents have tried to frame Arévalo’s candidacy as a step toward some of the region’s more notorious leftist regimes, such as Cuba and Nicaragua. They warn that the progressive candidate will bring expropriations, abortion and same-sex marriage to the conservative country.
Arévalo has been the election’s surprise.
In the days before the June 25 vote, he was polling below 3% and trailing at least seven of the other 21 candidates. But his anti-corruption message resonated in the country where gains against corruption have been erased and the justice system reoriented to pursue the prosecutors and judges who formerly led that fight.
In the month since that initial result, the Attorney General’s Office announced an investigation into his party and had a judge suspend its legal status until the Constitutional Court stepped in to block that move.
In Santa Maria de Jesus, people wanted to compare Arévalo in person to what they were hearing about him. Some handed him flowers, posed for photos or reached out to touch him as he made his way through the throng.
Arévalo pushed back against attempts to frame him as a left-wing radical — he has said private property rights are not up for discussion — and pounded the issue of corruption.
“Let us work, let us get ahead on our own effort, let’s get rid of the corrupt once and for all,” he said.
For Francisco Jiménez, a political scientist at Rafael Landivar University, Arévalo will need concrete proposals to make inroads with the base of Torres, who has spent two decades assembling it.
“He will have to make governing proposals with a social agenda, where the people see that he is going to have an impact on their lives and communities,” Jiménez said. “The other part is continuing to present himself as the different model. That has been his success, someone totally different from the other candidates.”
Evangelical churches in Guatemala have painted Arévalo as an existential threat to the family.
Gladys Sunun, a 35-year-old Kaqchikel vendor from an evangelical family, said she came to hear Arévalo for herself. She said she had heard that Arévalo would convert Guatemala into another Cuba or Nicaragua, but left feeling that might not be true, though she wants to investigate more.
“He came to tell us not to worry,” she said. “It sounds real, but we don’t know.”
Her sister July Sunun said she wanted to hear more about Arévalo’s positions on gender ideology. “As a mother I’m afraid, because we’ve grown up with a Christian background. I don’t want to marry my daughter with another woman,” she said.
July Sunun acknowledged that Arévalo said he would respect the identities and decisions of the people, “but what he hasn’t said is that he won’t allow (same-sex marriage) to happen here.” | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-guatemala-presidential-candidate-rushes-to-expand-base-beyond-urban-youth/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:40 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-guatemala-presidential-candidate-rushes-to-expand-base-beyond-urban-youth/ |
NEW YORK, July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Last Fortress: Underground, a grounding-breaking game set in an apocalyptic bunker, has announced a new and exciting collaboration with the hugely successful superhero TV series, The Boys. This collaboration is set to commence on July 31, offering players a chance to immerse themselves in an action-packed journey alongside these unforgettable heroes.
In this unique collaboration, players will team up with Butcher, Hughie, and Starlight, delving into uncharted territories, unlocking captivating storylines, and battling the relentless zombie horde side by side! Unleash their powers and prepare to explore the outer world with The Boys, as they strive to uncover the truth behind the mysterious zombie surge.
As players embark on this exhilarating quest, exciting rewards await! Take part in the electrifying collaboration to seize exclusive decorations, including the highly coveted "Forerunner Motorcycle" Army Skin, The Boys Emotes, Avatar Frame, Message Frame, Medal, and Nameplate. Furthermore, brace themselves for the unprecedented release of the collab hero skin and the collab fortress skin, adding a touch of uniqueness to their Last Fortress experience.
Whether people are returning players or someone new to the game, now is the perfect time to check out Last Fortress: Underground. Prepare themselves for an unparalleled gaming experience. Don't miss out on the chance to be part of this epic collaboration!
Download Last Fortress now from the App Store or Google Play, and gear up to face the zombie apocalypse hand in hand with the legendary characters of The Boys.
Download Last Fortress:
App Store/Google Play: https://lastfortress.onelink.me/dWAs/cgt9bmhr
Official Website: https://last-fortress.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/LastFortress/100063571239541/
Discord: https://discord.gg/W2yQUz7jWG
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SOURCE Last Fortress: Underground | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/last-fortress-underground-embarks-an-epic-collaboration-with-boys/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:42 | 0 | https://www.valleynewslive.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/last-fortress-underground-embarks-an-epic-collaboration-with-boys/ |
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Salvage crews started towing a burning cargo ship loaded with thousands of cars to a temporary anchorage location off the northern Dutch coast on Sunday after smoke pouring from the stricken vessel eased, authorities said.
On Saturday night, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management had said the Fremantle Highway was unlikely to be moved because of a southeasterly wind blowing smoke from the days-old fire over tugboats.
But that changed Sunday.
“The smoke from the cargo ship subsided considerably this afternoon and the salvage combination Multraship/Smit Salvage immediately made use of this,” the ministry said in a statement referring to two salvage companies involved in the operation.
The ship was being slowly towed by two tugs to a temporary anchor point about 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of the Dutch islands of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland.
Experts are continuously monitoring the ship’s stability and a specialized boat used to clean up oil is nearby in case there is a spill, the ministry added.
The salvage teams ultimately want to tow the stricken ship to a port but it is not yet clear where or when that will happen.
The crews on Saturday attached a second towing cable to the ship, which was transporting 3,783 new vehicles, including 498 electric vehicles, from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore.
The ship has been burning since Tuesday. Firefighters decided not to douse the flames with water for fear of making the nearly 200-meter (219-yard) ship unstable as it floats close to North Sea shipping lanes and a world-renowned migratory bird habitat.
One crew member died and others were injured after the fire broke out. The crew was evacuated in the early hours of Wednesday.
The cause of the fire has not been determined. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-high-winds-stall-efforts-to-tow-a-burning-cargo-ship-packed-with-cars-off-northern-dutch-coast/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:47 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-high-winds-stall-efforts-to-tow-a-burning-cargo-ship-packed-with-cars-off-northern-dutch-coast/ |
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia will host a Ukrainian-organized peace summit in early August seeking to find a way to start negotiations over Russia’s war on the country, officials said Sunday.
The summit will be held in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, said one official, who spoke early Sunday on condition of anonymity as no authorization had been given to publicly discuss the summit. Russia was not invited, the official added.
Hours later, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, confirmed the talks would be held in Saudi Arabia, without naming Jeddah as the location.
“The Ukrainian Peace Formula contains 10 fundamental points, the implementation of which will not only ensure peace for Ukraine, but also create mechanisms to counter future conflicts in the world,” Yermak said in a statement. “We are deeply convinced that the Ukrainian peace plan should be taken as a basis, because the war is taking place on our land.”
Yermak;s statement described the 10 points as being “discussed individually and in groups with representatives of more than 50 countries on an almost weekly basis.”
Previously, Ukraine has described the 10-point peace formula as including the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Other peace plans have been floated amid the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin just finished meetings in St. Petersburg with African leaders about their own proposed plan. China and Pope Francis also been working separately on their own. No details of those plans have been released.
Saudi Arabia did not acknowledge the upcoming summit Sunday and did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Those taking part in the summit will include Ukraine, Brazil, India, South Africa and several other countries, the official who spoke to AP said. A high-level official from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration also is expected to attend the event, which is being planned by Kyiv, the official said.
Details remain in flux and the official did not offer dates for the talks, nor did Yermak.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the summit citing “diplomats involved in the discussion,” said the talks would take place Aug. 5 and 6, with some 30 countries attending. News of the summit comes after U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan visited the kingdom Thursday.
The official who spoke to AP said the summit would be the next step after talks that took place in Copenhagen in June.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended an Arab League summit in Jeddah in May to press those nations to back Kyiv.
Arab nations largely have remained neutral since Russia launched the war on Ukraine in February 2022, in part over their military and economic ties to Moscow.
Saudi Arabia also has maintained a close relationship with Russia as part of the OPEC+ group. The organization’s oil production cuts, even as Moscow’s war on Ukraine boosted energy prices, have angered Biden and American lawmakers.
But hosting such talks also help raise the profile of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has sought to reach a détente with Iran and push for a peace in the kingdom’s yearslong war in Yemen.
Ties remain strained between Riyadh and the West over the 2018 killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, which U.S. intelligence agencies say was ordered by Prince Mohammed.
For Ukraine, the talks coincide with its efforts to beef up its security posture.
Yermak also said Sunday that Ukraine will begin talks with the United States next week on a bilateral agreement on security guarantees. He said the talks stem from a declaration by leaders of the Group of 7 nations earlier this month laying the groundwork for each nation to negotiate agreements to help Ukraine bolster its military.
Yermak said Ukraine is looking for “specific and long-term commitments that will ensure Ukraine’s ability to win now and deter Russian aggression in the future.”
U.S. officials had not confirmed the negotiations.
___
Madhani reported from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Associated Press writer Andrew Katell in New York contributed to this report. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-official-tells-ap-that-saudi-arabia-will-host-ukrainian-organized-peace-summit-in-august/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:53 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-official-tells-ap-that-saudi-arabia-will-host-ukrainian-organized-peace-summit-in-august/ |
Ukraine brought the war far from the front line into the heart of Russia again Sunday in drone penetrations that Russian authorities said damaged two office buildings a few miles (kilometers) from the Kremlin and a pig breeding complex on the countries’ border.
The attacks, which Ukraine didn’t acknowledge in keeping with its security policy, reflected a pattern of more frequent and deeper cross-border strikes the Kyiv government has launched since starting a counteroffensive against Russian forces in June. A precursor and the most dramatic of the strikes happenned in May on the Kremlin itself, the seat of power in the capital, Moscow.
Sunday’s was the fourth such strike on the capital region this month and the third this week, showing Moscow’s vulnerability as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month.
The Russian Defense Ministry said three drones targeted the city in an “attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime.” Air defenses shot down one drone in Odintsovo in the surrounding Moscow region, while two others were jammed and crashed into the Moscow City business district.
Photos and video showed that a drone had ripped off part of the facade of a modern skyscraper, IQ-Quarter, located 7.2 kms (4.5 miles) from the Kremlin. When the drone hit, sparks, flames and smoke spewed from the building, with debris falling on the sidewalk and street. Windows were blown out, and metal window frames were mangled. A security guard was injured, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials. Russia’s Ria-Novosti news agency reported the building’s tenants included several government agencies.
Flights were temporarily suspended at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, and the airspace over Moscow and the outlying regions was temporarily closed.
President Vladimir Putin, who was in his hometown of St. Petersburg at the time of the attempted attacks for meetings with African leaders and a naval celebration, was briefed, his spokesman said.
Ukrainian officials didn’t acknowledge the attacks but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address: “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia — to its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.”
A Ukrainian air force spokesman also didn’t claim responsibility but said the Russian people were seeing the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“All of the people who think the war ‘doesn’t concern them’ — it’s already touching them,” spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told journalists Sunday.
“There’s already a certain mood in Russia: that something is flying in, and loudly,” he said. “There’s no discussion of peace or calm in the Russian interior any more. They got what they wanted.”
Ihnat also referenced an early Sunday drone attack on Crimea, Ukrainian territory which Russia occupied and illegally annexed in 2014. The Russian Defense Ministry announced it had shot down 16 Ukrainian drones and neutralized eight others through electronic jamming. No casualties were reported.
Zelenskyy has vowed to take back all land Russian forces have occupied, including Crimea, and his efforts have been strengthened by the receipt and deployment of increasingly advanced Western weapons.
In the earlier attacks on Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported shooting down a Ukrainian drone outside the city on Friday. Four days earlier, two drones struck the Russian capital, one of them falling in the center of the city near the Defense Ministry’s headquarters along the Moscow River about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the Kremlin. The other drone hit an office building in southern Moscow, gutting several upper floors.
In another attack on July 4, the Russian military said air defenses downed four drones on Moscow’s outskirts and jammed a fifth that was forced down.
Russia has also blamed Ukrainian forces for attacking border areas, and on Sunday, the governor of one such region, Bryansk, said a Ukrainian strike damaged a pig breeding complex and injured three people.
In Ukraine, the air force reported Sunday it had destroyed four Russian drones above the Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Information on the attacks could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike late Saturday killed two people and wounded 20 in the city of Sumy in northeast Ukraine. A four-story vocational college building was hit, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said. Local authorities said that dormitories and teaching buildings were damaged in the blast and a fire that followed.
While the attacks continued on the war front, so did the war of words. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, issued his latest nuclear war threat in a Telegram post Sunday. In it, he claimed Russian forces were preventing a nuclear war. He contended that if Ukraine, with NATO countries’ support, succeeded in its counteroffensive, including if “they seized part of our land,” then Russia would “go for the use of nuclear weapons.” Western leaders have repeatedly warned of the dangers of making such statements.
___
Associated Press writer Andrew Katell in New York contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-overnight-drone-attack-on-moscow-injures-1-prompts-temporary-airport-closure/ | 2023-07-31T03:09:59 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-overnight-drone-attack-on-moscow-injures-1-prompts-temporary-airport-closure/ |
CAIRO (AP) — Palestinian factions met Sunday in Egypt to discuss reconciliation efforts as violence in the occupied West Bank surged between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The main groups, Hamas and Fatah, have been split since 2007 and repeated reconciliation attempts having failed, so expectations for the one-day meeting were low.
Participants at the closed-door meeting gave no indication of what was discussed. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who initiated the session in the Egyptian city of el-Alamein on the Mediterranean Sea, said at its conclusion only that the meeting was a “first and significant step” in efforts to end the long-running division.
It came amid soaring violence in the West Bank, where Abbas and his Fatah group are based and exert limited self-rule. Israel has been staging near-nightly raids in Palestinian areas of the territory in what it says is an attempt to stamp out militancy, especially in areas where Abbas’ security forces have less of a foothold.
Those raids have led to some of the worst fighting in nearly two decades in the West Bank. Palestinians also say the Israeli raids undermine their own security forces and weaken their leadership.
The meeting in Egypt was chaired by Abbas, presenting the aging and longtime Palestinian leader with a chance to portray an image of control and statesmanship to both Palestinians and the international community at a time when he is deeply unpopular at home and his room for maneuver is constrained by the Israeli incursions.
The meeting was attended by other Palestinian leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, the militant group that rules the Gaza Strip. Fatah and Hamas have been rivals since Hamas violently routed forces loyal to Abbas in Gaza in 2007, taking over the impoverished coastal enclave. Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on the territory.
For Hamas, joining the meeting was an opportunity to show Gazans that it is making an effort to mend the rift, even if nothing changes as a result.
Another key group playing a central role in the fighting with Israel, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, boycotted the gathering to protest the detentions by the Palestinian Authority of its members, said to the group’s leader, Ziyad al-Nakhala.
Egypt has for years acted as a mediator in trying to end the infighting between Palestinian factions. It also helped broker truces in multiple rounds of fighting between Israel and Hamas. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-palestinian-factions-meet-in-egypt-to-try-to-reconcile-as-violence-surges-in-the-west-bank/ | 2023-07-31T03:10:05 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-palestinian-factions-meet-in-egypt-to-try-to-reconcile-as-violence-surges-in-the-west-bank/ |
PAVLIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — The summer winds carried the smell of burned grain across the southern Ukrainian steppe and away from the shards of three Russian cruise missiles that struck the unassuming metal hangars.
The agricultural company Ivushka applied for accreditation to export grain this year, but the strike in mid-July destroyed a large portion of the stock, days after Russia abandoned the grain deal that would have allowed the shipments across the Black Sea without fear of attack.
Men shirtless and barefoot, with blackened soles from ash, swept unburnt grain into piles and awaited the loader, whose driver deftly steered around twisted metal shrapnel, bits of missile and craters despite his shattered windshield.
They hoped to beat the next rain to rescue what was left of the crop. According to the Odesa Regional Prosecutor’s Office, Russia struck the facility July 21 with three Kalibr- and Onyx-class cruise missiles.
“We don’t have a clue why they did it,” explained Olha Romanova, the head of Ivushka. Romanova, who worked in the debris alongside the others, wore a red headscarf and an exhausted expression and was too frazzled to even estimate her losses.
She cannot comprehend why the Russians targeted Ivushka, as there are no nearby military facilities and the frontlines are far from the village in the Odesa region.
“They spent so much money on us,” she said, puzzled. The missiles that ruined the silos are worth millions of dollars — far more than the crop they destroyed.
But Ivushka wasn’t the only target in Odesa. The main port also was struck, leaving Black Sea shipping companies that relied upon the grain deal to keep them safe and food supplies flowing to the world at a standstill.
The Black Sea handled about 95% of Ukrainian grain exports before Russia’s invasion and the U.N.-brokered initiative allowed Ukraine to ship much of what farmers harvested in 2021 and 2022, said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
Ukraine, a major supplier of corn, wheat, barley and vegetable oil, shipped 32.9 million metric tons (36.2 million U.S. tons) of grain under the nearly yearlong deal designed to ease a global food crisis. It has been able to export an additional 2 million to 2.5 million metric tons (2.2 to 2.7 million U.S. tons) monthly by the Danube River, road and rail through Europe.
Those are now the only routes to ship grain, but have stirred divisions among nearby European countries and generated higher costs to be absorbed by Ukrainian farmers, said Glauber, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Russian missiles strikes against the Danube port last Monday also raised questions about how much longer that route will remain viable.
That’s a disincentive to keep planting fields already threatened by missiles and strewn with explosive mines. Corn and wheat production in agriculture-dependent Ukraine is down nearly 40% this year from prewar levels, analysts say.
From the first of July last year until June 30 this year, Ukraine exported 68 million tons of grain, according to data from Mykola Horbachov, the president of the Ukrainian Grain Association. Ukrainian farmers shipped 11.2 million tons via railways, 5.5 million tons by road transport and around 18 million tons through Danube ports. Additionally, nearly half of the total exported grain, 33 million tons, was delivered through seaports under the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Ihor Osmachko, the general director of Agroprosperis Group, was unsurprised by Russia’s withdrawal from the deal leading to its collapse. His company had never considered it a reliable or permanent solution during wartime.
He said Russians frequently stymied the deal, even while it was functioning, by delaying ship inspections until the cargos were sent back, leading to $30 million in losses for his company alone. Now, they are once again forced to pay to reroute 100,000 tons of grain trapped in ports that are no longer safe, Osmachko said.
“We have been preparing for this whole time,” Osmachko said. “We haven’t stopped. We are moving forward.”
Osmachko estimated around 80% to 90% of the approximately 3.2 million tons of grain Agroprosperis exported to China, Europe and African countries during the past year went through the grain corridor.
“The most significant problem today is the cost of logistics,” explained Mykola Horbachov, president of the Ukrainian Grain Association. Before the war, farmers paid approximately $20 to $25 per ton to transport grain to the Odesa ports. Now, logistics costs have tripled as they are forced to pay more than $100 to transport a single ton via alternative routes through the Danube port to Constanta, Romania.
“If we were to go on the Danube with the grain corridor closed, practically all our production would be unprofitable,” Osmachko said.
The Danube ports can’t handle the same volume as seaports. The most Agroprosperis has sent through this route is 75,000 tons per month, compared with a monthly average of 250,000 tons through Black Sea ports.
The Ukrainian harvest this year is the lowest in a decade, according to a July report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Horbachov said shipping costs to export around the world and uncertainty about the length of the war will last could quickly make new planting unprofitable for Ukrainian farmers.
Ukraine currently produces three times more grain than it consumes, while global prices will inevitably rise if the country’s exports decrease.
“I think you’re looking at a diminished Ukraine for at least the next couple of years and maybe longer,” said Glauber, the former U.S. agricultural official. “That’s something the rest of the world just needs to make up.”
The war from all sides poses risks for Agroprosperis.
In the Sumy region on the Russian border, farmers harvest their crops wearing body armor. Sometimes they must stop their combines in the middle of the wheat fields to pick up shrapnel from Russian projectiles.
“It can get tough at times,” Osmachko acknowledged. “But there are responsibilities — some have duties on the front. Some must grow food and ensure the country’s and world’s security.”
___
Volodymyr Yurchuk in Lviv, Ukraine, and Courtney Bonnell in London contributed.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-russian-missile-attacks-leave-few-options-for-ukrainian-farmers-looking-to-export-grain/ | 2023-07-31T03:10:11 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-russian-missile-attacks-leave-few-options-for-ukrainian-farmers-looking-to-export-grain/ |
Updated July 30, 2023 at 10:09 PM ET
It's 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, is shutting down, according to the Teamsters union, which represents the company's 22,000 unionized workers.
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's poised to 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 were told to prepare for a company shutdown
The Teamsters union, which had been locked in contentious negotiations for a new contract with Yellow, said it received a legal notice that Yellow is ceasing operations and filing for bankruptcy, according to a news release posted Sunday night.
"Today's news is unfortunate but not surprising," said Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien. "This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry."
The union's announcement comes hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that Yellow shut down on Sunday afternoon, citing internal notices sent to customers and employees.
Yellow says it will issue a public statement on Monday about "the state of the company and the operation," according to the industry outlet FreightWaves, which also obtained internal documents.
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."
The same day, Teamsters had 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.
A strike threat delivered the final blow to cash-poor Yellow
The shutdown comes just 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. After fleeing to rival carriers like FedEx and ABF Freight, customers didn't return.
"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, with each party blaming one another for the company's problems.
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.
In its Sunday statement, the Teamsters union said it's working to help "affected members get the assistance they need to find good union jobs throughout freight and other industries."
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 a recent 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/npr-breaking-news/2023-07-30/the-yellow-trucking-company-meltdown-explained | 2023-07-31T03:10:15 | 1 | https://www.wlrn.org/npr-breaking-news/npr-breaking-news/2023-07-30/the-yellow-trucking-company-meltdown-explained |
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish government researchers said Sunday they had identified 357 foreign fighters who went missing during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the conflict that foreshadowed World War II.
Researchers confirmed the names of 212 fighters from Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, according to a statement from the government Sunday. Some 102 are of German origin, 70 Austrian and 40 Dutch. It gave no information on how many people of other nationalities had been identified.
The identified combatants fought within the International Brigades, military units set up by the Communist International to fight against General Francisco Franco’s fascist forces. Some 40,000 foreign men and women joined up as volunteers, fighting alongside the forces of the democratic Second Spanish Republic and against the rise of fascism in Europe in late 1930s.
The findings are based on a year of research in records held in documentary archives in Spain and Russia. Researchers combed through the daily lists of casualties and missing soldiers compiled by officers in the International Brigades.
The names of private soldiers were frequently omitted from the lists, making the research process more difficult. These lists are held in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, in Moscow. Researchers also dipped into the main archives on the Spanish Civil War located in Spain.
By cross-referencing documents, researchers were also able to identify the likely area where the soldiers died or were badly wounded. It is an important step toward locating their remains inside mass graves scattered across the country.
This research provides “very valuable information that gives us the opportunity to contact the families of the missing combatants and, in the future, to intervene in the mass graves that have been located,” said Alfons Aragoneses, head of the project.
All those identified were part of the Thälmann Brigade, a Communist unit made up largely of anti-Nazi Germans. The battalion was active on the Ebro River front in northeastern Spain between March and September 1938, the site of the longest and deadliest battle of the war.
The research is ongoing and it is funded by Catalan regional government, with the aim of contributing to the country’s historical memory. The second phase of the project will try to identify missing militiamen from Great Britain, Ireland, Canada and the United States. The final step would require opening the graves in search of bodies.
Historians estimate nearly 10,000 foreign volunteers died in combat on Spanish soil during the war. How many are still unidentified, buried inside graves, remains unknown.
The Spanish Civil War served as a testing ground for Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy prior to World War II. This triggered an international outcry to try to save the Republic’s democratic government, which eventually succumbed to Franco in 1939. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-spain-identifies-212-german-austrian-and-dutch-fighters-who-went-missing-during-spanish-civil-war/ | 2023-07-31T03:10:18 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-spain-identifies-212-german-austrian-and-dutch-fighters-who-went-missing-during-spanish-civil-war/ |
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Several thousand people briefly took to the streets across the Gaza Strip on Sunday to protest chronic power outages and difficult living conditions, providing a rare public show of discontent with the territory’s Hamas government. Hamas security forces quickly dispersed the gatherings.
Marches took place in Gaza City, the southern town of Khan Younis and other locations, chanting “what a shame” and in one place burning Hamas flags, before police moved in and broke up the protests.
Police destroyed mobile phones of people who were filming in Khan Younis, and witnesses said there were several arrests. Dozens of young supporters and opponents of Hamas briefly faced off, throwing stones at one another.
The demonstrations were organized by a grassroots online movement called “alvirus alsakher,” or “the mocking virus.” It was not immediately known who is behind the movement.
Hamas rules Gaza with an iron fist, barring most demonstrations and quickly stamping out public displays of dissent.
The Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a crippling blockade on the territory. Israel says the closure is needed to prevent Hamas, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, from building up its military capabilities.
The closure has devastated Gaza’s economy, sent unemployment skyrocketing and led to frequent power outages. During the current heat wave, people have been receiving four to six hours of power a day due to heavy demand.
“Where is the electricity and where is the gas?” the crowds shouted in Khan Younis. “What a shame. What a shame.”
Protesters also criticized Hamas for deducting a roughly $15 fee from monthly $100 stipends given to Gaza’s poorest families by the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar.
There was no immediate comment from the Hamas authorities. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-thousands-take-to-streets-in-gaza-in-rare-public-display-of-discontent-with-hamas/ | 2023-07-31T03:10:24 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-thousands-take-to-streets-in-gaza-in-rare-public-display-of-discontent-with-hamas/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — When viewed through a wide lens, renters across the U.S. finally appear to be getting some relief, thanks in part to the biggest apartment construction boom in decades.
Median rent rose just 0.5% in June, year over year, after falling in May for the first time since the pandemic hit the U.S. Some economists project U.S. rents will be down modestly this year after soaring nearly 25% over the past four years.
A closer look, however, shows the trend will likely be little comfort for many U.S. renters who’ve had to put an increasing share of their income toward their monthly payment. Renters in cities such as Cincinnati and Indianapolis are still getting hit with increases of 5% or more. Much of the new construction is located in just a few metro areas, and many of the new units are luxury apartments, which rent for well north of $2,000.
Median U.S. rent has risen to $2,029 this June from $1,629 in June 2019, according to rental listings company Rent, which tracks rents in 50 of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Demand for apartments exploded during the pandemic as people who could work remotely sought more space or decided to relocate to another part of the country.
The steep rent increases have left tenants like Melissa Lombana, a high school teacher who lives in the South Florida city of Miramar, with progressively less income to spend on other needs.
The rent on her one-bedroom apartment jumped 13% last year to $1,700. It climbed another 6% to $1,800 this month when she renewed her lease.
“Even the $1,700 was a stretch for me,” said Lombana, 43, who supplements her teaching income with a side job doing educational testing. “In a year, I will not be able to afford living here at all.”
Lombana’s rent is now gobbling up nearly half her monthly income. That puts her in a category referred to as “cost-burdened” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, denoting households that pay 30% or more of their income toward rent. Last year, the average rent-to-income ratio per household rose to 30%. This March, it was 29.6%.
Lombana hasn’t had any luck finding a more affordable apartment. While South Florida is one of the metropolitan areas seeing a rise in apartment construction, the units are mostly high-end and not a viable option.
That scenario is playing out across the nation. Developers are rushing to complete projects that were green-lit during the pandemic-era surge in demand for rentals or left in limbo by delays in supplies of fixtures and building materials. Nearly 1.1 million apartments are currently under construction, according to the commercial real estate tracker CoStar, a pace not seen since the 1970s.
Increasing the supply of apartments tends to moderate rent increases over time and can give tenants more options on where to live. But more than 40% of the new rentals to be completed this year will be concentrated in about 10 high job growth metropolitan areas, including Austin, Nashville, Denver, Atlanta and New York, according to Marcus & Millichap. In many areas, the boost to overall inventory will be barely noticeable.
Even within metros where there’ll be a notable increase in available apartments, such as Nashville, most of it will be in the luxury category, where rents average $2,270, nationally. Some 70% of the new rental inventory will be the luxury class, said Jay Lybik, national director of multifamily analytics at CoStar.
That will leave most tenants unlikely to see a big enough reduction in rent to make a difference, industry experts and economists say.
“I think we’re in a period of rent flattening for 12 or 18 months, but it’s certainly not a big rent decline,” said Hessam Nadji, CEO of commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap.
“We’re building a multi-decade record number of units,” Nadji said. “It’s going to cause some softening and some pockets of overbuilding, but it’s not going to fundamentally resolve the housing shortage or the affordability problem for renters across the U.S.”
The surge in rents has made it difficult for workers to keep up with inflation despite solid wage gains the past few years and exacerbated a long-term trend. Between 1999 and 2022, U.S. rents soared 135%, while income grew 77%, according to data from Moody’s Analytics.
Realtor.com is forecasting that rents will drop an average of 0.9% this year. But while down nationally, rents are still rising in many markets around the country, especially those where hiring remains robust.
In the New York metro area, the median rent climbed 4.7% in June from a year earlier to $2,899, according to Realtor.com. In the Midwest, rents surged 5.6% in the Cincinnati metro area to $1,188, and 6.9% to $1,350 in the Indianapolis metro area.
The current spike in apartment construction alone isn’t going to be enough to address how costly renting has become for many Americans.
“For the rest of the 2020s rents will continue to grow because millennials are such a big generation and we’re very much in the hole in terms of building housing for that generation,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin. “It will take many good years of new construction to build adequate housing for millennials.”
The bigger challenge is building more work force housing, because the cost of land, labor and navigating the government approval process incentivize developers to put up luxury apartments buildings.
Expanding the supply of modestly priced rentals would help alleviate the strain from so many new apartments targeting renters with high incomes, “although additional subsidies will be needed to make housing affordable to households with the lowest incomes,” researchers at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies wrote in a recent report.
Despite the overall pullback in U.S. rents, Joey Di Girolamo, in Pembroke Pines, Florida, worries that he’ll face more sharp rent increases in coming years.
Last year, the web designer left a two-bedroom, two-bath townhome he rented for $2,200 a month to avoid a $600 a month increase. This year, his rent went up by $200, a nearly 10% jump.
“That blew me away,” said Di Girolamo, 50. “I’m just kind of dreading what it’s going to be like next year, but especially 3 or 4 years from now.” | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-a-boom-in-apartment-construction-is-helping-to-curb-rents-but-not-all-renters-will-benefit/ | 2023-07-31T03:10:30 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-a-boom-in-apartment-construction-is-helping-to-curb-rents-but-not-all-renters-will-benefit/ |
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The discovery of four dead women in a drainage ditch just outside Atlantic City was shocking news in 2006.
International media flocked to the seaside gambling resort. More than 100 detectives and prosecutors were assigned to investigate. Casino guests worried about safety, and the victims’ fellow sex workers began carrying hidden knives.
But as the years passed, the public’s attention and fear faded, and the case of the “Eastbound Strangler” – so named for the direction the victims’ heads were facing – remained unsolved.
The arrest earlier this month of a man charged with killing three women whose remains were found on a Long Island beach in 2010 has breathed fresh life into another long-dormant case with obvious parallels; the Gilgo Beach serial killings involve a total of 11 victims, most of whom were young, female sex workers. Yet the recent breakthrough, and the rekindling of public interest, only highlights a painful truth: Many similar cases – like the one in Atlantic City — remain open.
The FBI would not say how many killings of sex workers in the U.S. remain unsolved. Media accounts and statements from local authorities show a long trail of open cases, from nine women whose bodies were found along highways in Massachusetts, to 11 found dead in New Mexico, and eight more found amid the crawfish farms and swamps of southern Louisiana. The killings of other sex workers in Chicago, New Haven, Connecticut and Ohio, among other places, also remain mysteries.
From the days of London’s Jack The Ripper in the 1880s, serial killers, particularly those preying on sex workers, have often gotten away with it, in part because their victims were easy targets living on the margins of society.
Gary Ridgway, the so-called Green River killer convicted of 49 killings in Washington state, said at during a 2003 court hearing in which he pleaded guilty that he chose sex workers as victims because he knew they would not be missed quickly, if at all.
“I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught,” he said.
Two women were out for an afternoon walk near Atlantic City in November 2006 when they found a body in a ditch. They called police, who quickly found three others nearby.
The $15-a-night motel in Egg Harbor Township behind which the four bodies were found is long gone. It was torn down in an attempt to clear a seedy area known for crime, drugs and disturbances – and the murders of Barbara Breidor, 42, Molly Jean Dilts, 20, Kim Raffo, 35, and Tracy Ann Roberts, 23.
Because it is near the ocean, like Gilgo Beach, the location has prompted much speculation by amateur detectives about a single killer, but some other online sleuths have pointed out that oceanside areas are often the remotest locations after hours on the densely packed East Coast. Gilgo Beach is about 3.5 hours drive from Atlantic City.
Gone in New Jersey are the four small wooden crosses someone erected on the site, along with the folded-up paper note bearing a Biblical quote promising justice that someone left there on one of the anniversaries of the discovery of the bodies.
For families left behind, each new day without word in the case of their loved one brings fresh pain.
“I kind of lost hope that anyone was even searching for the killer anymore,” said Joyce Roberts, whose daughter Tracy Ann was one of the four Atlantic City-area victims. “The first six months, the prosecutor did get on the phone with me and told me they were working on it.
“Then it just fell off the radar,” she said. “It was like nobody cared anymore.”
That is a sentiment echoed by Phoenix Calida, a former sex worker from Chicago who now advocates for them through the Sex Workers Outreach Project.
“Police departments often refer to it as an ‘NHI’ case: No humans involved,” she said. ”You feel like the only way you’ll be remembered is when they catch the serial killer who killed you, and then they’ll make five movies about him and no one will remember your name.”
Massachusetts State Police are investigating “nine unsolved homicides possibly committed by the same person,” said David Procopio, a spokesperson for the agency. He said two additional missing persons cases may be homicides related to the other nine.
Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said the New Mexico cases remain actively investigated, with “multiple detectives” working them. The 11 victims were all involved in drugs and prostitution, police said.
A reward of $100,000 has been offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case, which involved two victims who were just 15 years old.
Despite the decade-long efforts of a local, state and federal task force, Louisiana has at least eight unsolved apparent homicide cases involving sex workers between the ages of 17 and 30. Their bodies were found in marshy areas in Jennings, a small town in the area known as Cajun Country, between 2005 and 2009.
Prosecutors in New York’s Suffolk County investigating the Gilgo Beach cases have been in touch with multiple law enforcement agencies, but District Attorney Ray Tierney would not say which ones.
“Everything is being examined and looked at, and this is an active investigation,” said Anthony Carter, Suffolk County’s deputy police commissioner. He would not say if his agency was investigating any connection between Heuermann and the Atlantic City murders.
Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds said the four cases from the drainage ditch outside Atlantic City remain active, with detectives assigned to them, but would not say how many. He declined comment on the Long Island case “as we are not involved.”
Joyce Roberts, the victim’s mother, said no one from law enforcement has called her since the arrest was made in the Long Island cases.
Police in Las Vegas, where Heuermann owns a time share, said they are investigating whether Heuermann may be involved in cases involving the killings of sex workers there.
In the months immediately after the bodies’ discovery near Atlantic City, the local prosecutor’s office and a dozen other law enforcement agencies had 140 people assigned to the cases, Ted Housel, who was prosecutor at the time, said in 2008. By the first anniversary, the total had fallen to 85, and those investigators were also working other cases.
Calida, the former sex worker from Chicago, said women involved the sex trade are frequently robbed by people who know they’re carrying cash, and are sometimes coerced into sexual activity by police in return for not being arrested.
She said an attacker “knows you can’t or won’t report it. You’re an easy target and they know it.”
Three of her friends who were also sex workers in Chicago also turned up dead.
“You see someone, you become friends with them and then one day they’re suddenly just not there,” she said. “We’d all go out asking around and looking for them, and then a few days later a body would be found. There’s always this specific fear that it’s a serial killer. Sometimes we never even get a body back to bury. And we wonder: Will law enforcement take it seriously because it’s ‘just another sex worker?’”
___
AP writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque; Steve LeBlanc in Boston; Julie Walker and Robert Bumsted in Suffolk County, New York; Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this story.
Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-breakthrough-in-long-island-serial-killings-shines-light-on-the-many-unsolved-murders-of-sex-workers/ | 2023-07-31T03:10:36 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-breakthrough-in-long-island-serial-killings-shines-light-on-the-many-unsolved-murders-of-sex-workers/ |
Updated July 30, 2023 at 10:09 PM ET
It's 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, is shutting down, according to the Teamsters union, which represents the company's 22,000 unionized workers.
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's poised to 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 were told to prepare for a company shutdown
The Teamsters union, which had been locked in contentious negotiations for a new contract with Yellow, said it received a legal notice that Yellow is ceasing operations and filing for bankruptcy, according to a news release posted Sunday night.
"Today's news is unfortunate but not surprising," said Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien. "This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry."
The union's announcement comes hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that Yellow shut down on Sunday afternoon, citing internal notices sent to customers and employees.
Yellow says it will issue a public statement on Monday about "the state of the company and the operation," according to the industry outlet FreightWaves, which also obtained internal documents.
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."
The same day, Teamsters had 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.
A strike threat delivered the final blow to cash-poor Yellow
The shutdown comes just 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. After fleeing to rival carriers like FedEx and ABF Freight, customers didn't return.
"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, with each party blaming one another for the company's problems.
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.
In its Sunday statement, the Teamsters union said it's working to help "affected members get the assistance they need to find good union jobs throughout freight and other industries."
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 a recent 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/business-education/2023-07-30/the-yellow-trucking-company-meltdown-explained | 2023-07-31T03:10:42 | 1 | https://www.apr.org/business-education/business-education/2023-07-30/the-yellow-trucking-company-meltdown-explained |
MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) — A massive wildfire burning out of control in California’s Mojave National Preserve was spreading rapidly amid erratic winds, while firefighters reported progress against another major blaze to the southwest that prompted evacuations.
The York Fire that erupted Friday near the remote Caruthers Canyon area of the vast wildland preserve crossed the state line into Nevada on Sunday and sent smoke further east into the Las Vegas Valley.
Wind-driven flames 20 feet (6 meters) high in some spots charred more than 110 square miles (284 square kilometers) of desert scrub, juniper and Joshua tree woodland, according to an incident update. There was zero containment.
“The dry fuel acts as a ready ignition source, and when paired with those weather conditions it resulted in long-distance fire run and high flames, leading to extreme fire behavior,” the update said. No structures were threatened.
To the southwest, the Bonny Fire was holding steady at about 3.4 square miles (8.8 square kilometers) in rugged hills of Riverside County. More than 1,300 people were ordered to evacuate their homes Saturday near the community of Aguanga that is home to horse ranches and wineries.
Gusty winds and the chance of thunderstorms into Monday will heighten the risk of renewed growth, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a statement.
One firefighter was injured in the blaze, which was 5% contained. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-erratic-winds-challenge-firefighters-battling-two-major-california-blazes/ | 2023-07-31T03:10:43 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-erratic-winds-challenge-firefighters-battling-two-major-california-blazes/ |
PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix sizzled through its 31st consecutive day of at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) and other parts of the country grappled Sunday with record temperatures after a week that saw significant portions of the U.S. population subject to extreme heat.
The National Weather Service said Phoenix climbed to a high of 111 F (43.8 Celsius) before the day was through.
July has been so steamy thus far that scientists calculate it will be the hottest month ever recorded and likely the warmest human civilization has seen. The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday proclaimed July beyond record-smashing.
The historic heat began blasting the lower Southwest U.S. in late June, stretching from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert.
On Sunday, a massive wildfire burning out of control in California’s Mojave National Preserve spread rapidly amid erratic winds, while firefighters reported progress against another major blaze to the south that prompted evacuations.
The York Fire that erupted Friday near the remote Caruthers Canyon area of the preserve sent up a huge plume of smoke visible nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) away across the state line in Nevada.
Flames 20 feet (6 meters) high in some spots have charred more than 110 square miles (284 square kilometers) of desert scrub, juniper and Joshua tree woodland, according to a Sunday update.
“The dry fuel acts as a ready ignition source, and when paired with those weather conditions it resulted in long-distance fire run and high flames, leading to extreme fire behavior,” authorities said. No structures were threatened, but there was also no containment.
To the southwest, the Bonny Fire was holding steady at about 3.4 square miles (8.8 square kilometers) in rugged hills of Riverside County. More than 1,300 people were ordered to evacuate their homes Saturday near the remote community of Aguanga, California.
Triple-digit heat was expected in parts of the central San Joaquin Valley through Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
And in Burbank, California, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, the summer heat may have been responsible for some unusual behavior in the animal kingdom: Police in the city responded to a report of a bear sighting in a residential neighborhood and found the animal sitting in a Jacuzzi behind one of the homes.
As climate change brings hotter and longer heat waves, record temperatures across the U.S. have killed dozens of people, and the poorest Americans suffer the most. Air conditioning, once a luxury, is now a matter of survival.
Last year, all 86 heat-related deaths indoors were in uncooled environments.
“To explain it fairly simply: Heat kills,” said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor who researches heat and health. “Once the heat wave starts, mortality starts in about 24 hours.”
It’s the poorest and people of color, from Kansas City to Detroit to New York City and beyond, who are far more likely to face grueling heat without air conditioning, according to a Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metro areas.
Back in Phoenix, slight relief may be on the way as expected seasonal thunderstorms could drop temperatures Monday and Tuesday.
“It should be around 108 degrees, so we break that 110 streak,” meteorologist Tom Frieders said. “Increasing cloud cover will put temperatures in a downward trend.”
The relief could be short-lived, however. Highs are expected to creep back to 110 F (43.3 C) Wednesday with temperatures reaching 115 F (46.1 C) by the end of the week.
Phoenix has also sweated through a record 16 consecutive nights when the lows temperature didn’t dip below 90 F (32.2 C), making it hard for people to cool off after sunset.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas continues to flirt with its hottest July ever. The city is closing in on its 2010 record for the average of the high and low each day for July, which stands at 96.2 F (35.5 C).
The extreme heat is also hitting the eastern U.S, as soaring temperatures moved from the Midwest into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where some places recorded their warmest days so far this year. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-july-keeps-sizzling-as-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-and-wildfires-spread-in-california/ | 2023-07-31T03:10:49 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-july-keeps-sizzling-as-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-and-wildfires-spread-in-california/ |
MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — A “mass shooting” at a large party in Indiana early Sunday morning left one person dead, police said. A hospital said 19 people were being treated for injuries at its facility.
Muncie police responded to multiple reports of gunfire on the city’s east side just after 1 a.m., The Star Press reported. Police said in a news release that there was no active threat to the community and that “multiple” victims were injured, including some critically.
“Due to the number of victims and nature of the incident, multiple agencies were contacted to assist,” Muncie Deputy Police Chief Melissa Criswell said in a statement sent to The Star Press.
Many police officers from the nearby town of Eaton were among those who provided assistance, according to a post on the department’s Facebook page. Eaton Police Chief Jay Turner called the incident a “mass shooting.”
Police did not say how many people were injured, but officials at Indiana University Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie told The Associated Press that 19 victims were treated in their emergency department for injuries related to the shooting, and 13 remained at the hospital in stabilized condition Sunday morning. Criswell said some victims sustained critical injuries and were transferred by medical helicopter to other facilities.
Delaware County Coroner Gavin Greene identified the man who died as 30-year-old Joseph E. Bonner III, The Star Press reported. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-one-person-is-dead-and-multiple-were-wounded-in-indiana-shooting-police-say/ | 2023-07-31T03:10:55 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-one-person-is-dead-and-multiple-were-wounded-in-indiana-shooting-police-say/ |
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Voting rights activists are returning to court to fight Alabama’s redrawn congressional districts, saying state Republicans failed to follow federal court orders to create a district that is fair to Black voters.
Plaintiffs in the high-profile redistricting case filed a written objection Friday to oppose Alabama’s new redistricting plan. They accused state Republicans of flouting a judicial mandate to create a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it” and enacting a map that continues to discriminate against Black voters in the state.
A special three-judge panel in 2022 blocked use of the the state’s existing districts and said any new congressional map should include two districts where “Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority” or something close. That panel’s decision was appealed by the state but upheld in June in a surprise ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, which concurred that having only one Black-majority district out of seven — in a state where more than one in four residents is Black — likely violated federal law.
The plaintiffs in the case, represented by the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and other groups, asked the three-judge panel to step in and draw new lines for the state.
“Alabama’s new congressional map ignores this court’s preliminary injunction order and instead perpetuates the Voting Rights Act violation that was the very reason that the Legislature redrew the map,” lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the case wrote.
The new map enacted by the Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature maintained one-majority Black district but boosted the percentage of Black voters in the majority-white 2nd Congressional District, now represented by Republican Rep. Barry Moore, from about 30% to 39.9%
Lawyers representing plaintiffs in the case wrote Friday that the revamped district “does not provide Black voters a realistic opportunity to elect their preferred candidates in any but the most extreme situations.” They accused state Republicans of ignoring the courts’ directive to prioritize a district that would stay under GOP control “pleasing national leaders whose objective is to maintain the Republican Party’s slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.”
Alabama has maintained the new plan complies with the Voting Rights Act, and state leaders are wagering that the panel will accept their proposal or that the state will prevail in a second round of appeals to the Supreme Court. Republicans argued that the map meets the court’s directive and draws compact districts that comply with redistricting guidelines.
The state must file its defense of the map by Aug. 4. The three judges have scheduled an Aug. 14 hearing in the case as the fight over the map shifts back to federal court.
The outcome could have consequences across the country as the case again weighs the requirements of the Voting Rights Act in redistricting. It could also impact the partisan leanings of one Alabama congressional district in the 2024 elections with control of the U.S House of Representatives at stake.
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in a statement that Alabama’s new map is a “brazen defiance” of the courts.
“The result is a shameful display that would have made George Wallace—another Alabama governor who defied the courts—proud,” Holder said in a statement. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-plaintiffs-in-voting-rights-case-urge-judges-to-toss-alabamas-new-congressional-map/ | 2023-07-31T03:11:01 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-plaintiffs-in-voting-rights-case-urge-judges-to-toss-alabamas-new-congressional-map/ |
A woman from New Hampshire who works for a nonprofit organization in Haiti and her young daughter have been reported as kidnapped as the U.S. State Department issued a “do not travel advisory” in the country and ordered nonemergency personnel to leave there amid growing security concerns.
Alix Dorsainvil, a nurse for El Roi Haiti, and her daughter were kidnapped on Thursday, the organization said in a statement Saturday. El Roi, which runs a school and ministry in Port au Prince, said the two were taken from campus. Dorsainvil is the wife of the program’s director, Sandro Dorsainvil.
“Alix is a deeply compassionate and loving person who considers Haiti her home and the Haitian people her friends and family,” El Roi president and co-founder Jason Brown said in the statement. “Alix has worked tirelessly as our school and community nurse to bring relief to those who are suffering as she loves and serves the people of Haiti in the name of Jesus.”
A State Department spokesperson said in a statement Saturday is it “aware of reports of the kidnapping of two U.S. citizens in Haiti,” adding, “We are in regular contact with Haitian authorities and will continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners.”
In its advisory Thursday, the department said that “kidnapping is widespread, and victims regularly include U.S. citizens.”
It said kidnappings often involve ransom negotiations and U.S. citizen victims have been physically harmed.
Earlier this month, the National Human Rights Defense Network issued a report warning about an upsurge in killings and kidnappings and the U.N. Security Council met to discuss Haiti’s worsening situation.
WMUR-TV reported that Dorsainvil is from Middleton, New Hampshire, and went to Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, which has a program to support nursing education in Haiti.
“It doesn’t surprise me that Alex chose to get involved in this type of service work,” Regis College president Toni Hays told the station. “She was amazing. She was passionate, she was compassionate.” | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-us-mother-daughter-reported-kidnapped-in-haiti-people-warned-not-to-travel-there/ | 2023-07-31T03:11:07 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-us-mother-daughter-reported-kidnapped-in-haiti-people-warned-not-to-travel-there/ |
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.”
___
AP polling director Emily Swanson in Washington contributed to this report. | https://fox59.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-joe-biden-americas-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-to-win-again-will-his-age-matter/ | 2023-07-31T03:11:13 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-joe-biden-americas-oldest-sitting-president-needs-young-voters-to-win-again-will-his-age-matter/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — At a moment of growing legal peril, Donald Trump ramped up his calls for his GOP rivals to drop out of the 2024 presidential race as he threatened to go after Republican members of Congress who fail to focus on investigating Democratic President Joe Biden.
Trump also urged a halt to Ukrainian military aid until the White House cooperates with congressional investigations into Biden and his family.
“Every dollar spent attacking me by Republicans is a dollar given straight to the Biden campaign,” Trump said at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night.
The former president and GOP front-runner said it was time for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others he dismissed as “clowns” to clear the field, accusing them of “wasting hundreds of millions of dollars that Republicans should be using to build a massive vote-gathering operation” to take on Biden in November.
The comments came two days after federal prosecutors unveiled new criminal charges against Trump as part of the case that accuses him of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and refusing to turn them over to investigators. The superseding indictment unsealed Thursday alleges that Trump and two staffers sought to delete surveillance at the club in an effort to obstruct the Justice Department’s investigation.
The case is just one of Trump’s mounting legal challenges. His team is currently bracing for additional possible indictments, which could happen as soon as this coming week, related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election brought by prosecutors in both Washington and Georgia. Trump already faces criminal charges in New York over hush money payments made to women who accused him of sexual encounters during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Nevertheless, Trump remains the dominant early figure for the Republican nomination and has only seen his lead grow as the charges have mounted and as his rivals have struggled to respond. Their challenge was on display at a GOP gathering in Iowa Friday night, where they largely declined to go after Trump directly. The only one who did — accusing Trump of “running to stay out of prison” — was booed as he left the stage.
In the meantime, Trump has embraced his legal woes, turning them into the core message of his bid to return to the White House as he accuses Biden of using the Justice Department to maim his chief political rival. The White House has said repeatedly that the president has had no involvement in the cases.
At rallies, Trump has tried to frame the charges, which come with serious threats of jail time, as an attack not just on him, but those who support him.
“They’re not indicting me, they’re indicting you. I just happen to be standing in the way,” he said in Erie, adding, “Every time the radical left Democrats, Marxists, communists and fascists indict me, I consider it actually a great badge of honor…. Because I’m being indicted for you.”
But the investigations are also sucking up enormous resources that are being diverted from the nuts and bolts of the campaign. The Washington Post first reported Saturday that Trump’s political action committee, Save America, will report Monday that it spent more than $40 million on legal fees during the first half of 2023 defending Trump and all of the current and former aides whose lawyers it is paying. The total is more than the campaign raised during the second quarter of the year.
“In order to combat these heinous actions by Joe Biden’s cronies and to protect these innocent people from financial ruin and prevent their lives from being completely destroyed, the leadership PAC contributed to their legal fees to ensure they have representation against unlawful harassment,” said Trump’s spokesman Steven Cheung.
At the rally, in a former Democratic stronghold that Trump flipped in 2016, but Biden won narrowly in 2020, Trump also threatened Republicans in Congress who refuse to go along with efforts to impeach Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said this past week that Republican lawmakers may consider an impeachment inquiry into the president over unproven claims of financial misconduct.
Trump, who was impeached twice while in office, said Saturday that, “The biggest complaint that I get is that the Republicans find out this information and then they do nothing about it.”
“Any Republican that doesn’t act on Democrat fraud should be immediately primaries and get out — out!” he told the crowd to loud applause. “They have to play tough and … if they’re not willing to do it, we got a lot of good, tough Republicans around … and they’re going to get my endorsement every singe time.”
Trump, during the 2022 midterm elections, made it his mission to punish those who had voted in favor of his second impeachment. He succeeded in unseating most who had by backing primary challengers.
At the rally, Trump also called on Republican members of Congress to halt the authorization of additional military support to Ukraine, which has been mired in a war fighting Russia’s invasion, until the Biden administration cooperates with Republican investigations into Biden and his family’s business dealings — words that echoed the call that lead to his first impeachment.
“He’s dragging into a global conflict on behalf of the very same country, Ukraine, that apparently paid his family all of these millions of dollars,” Trump alleged. “In light of this information,” Congress, he said, “should refuse to authorize a single additional payment of our depleted stockpiles … the weapons stockpiles to Ukraine until the FBI, DOJ and IRS hand over every scrap of evidence they have on the Biden crime family’s corrupt business dealings.”
House Republicans have been investigating the Biden family’s finances, particularly payments Hunter, the president’s son, received from Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that became tangled in the first impeachment of Trump.
An unnamed confidential FBI informant claimed that Burisma company officials in 2015 and 2016 sought to pay the Bidens $5 million each in return for their help ousting a Ukrainian prosecutor who was purportedly investigating the company. But a Justice Department review in 2020, while Trump was president, was closed eight months later with insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.
Trump’s first impeachment by the House resulted in charges that he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to dig up dirt on the Bidens while threatening to withhold military aid. Trump was later acquitted by the Senate. | https://fox59.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-trump-amid-legal-perils-calls-on-gop-to-rally-around-him-as-he-threatens-primary-challenges/ | 2023-07-31T03:11:20 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-trump-amid-legal-perils-calls-on-gop-to-rally-around-him-as-he-threatens-primary-challenges/ |
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — With less than a month to go until the first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 campaign, seven candidates say they have met qualifications for a spot on stage in Milwaukee.
But that also means that about half the broad GOP field is running short on time to make the cut.
To qualify for the Aug. 23 debate, candidates needed to satisfy polling and donor requirements set by the Republican National Committee: at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls, between July 1 and Aug. 21, and a minimum of 40,000 donors, with 200 in 20 or more states.
A look at who’s in, who’s (maybe) out and who’s still working on making it:
DONALD TRUMP
The current front-runner long ago satisfied the polling and donor thresholds. But he is considering boycotting and holding a competing event.
Campaign advisers have said the former president has not made a final decision about the debate. One noted that “it’s pretty clear,” based on Trump’s public and private statements, that he is unlikely to appear with the other candidates.
“If you’re leading by a lot, what’s the purpose of doing it?” Trump asked on Newsmax.
In the meantime, aides have discussed potential alternative programming if Trump opts for a rival event. One option Trump has floated is an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who now has a program on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.
RON DESANTIS
The Florida governor has long been seen as Trump’s top rival, finishing a distant second to him in a series of polls in early-voting states, as well as national polls, and raising an impressive amount of money.
But DeSantis’ campaign has struggled in recent weeks to live up to the sky-high expectations that awaited him when he entered the race. He let go of more than one-third of his staff as federal filings showed his campaign was burning through cash at an unsustainable rate.
If Trump is absent, DeSantis may be the top target on stage at the debate.
TIM SCOTT
The South Carolina senator has been looking for a breakout moment. The first debate could be his chance.
A prolific fundraiser, Scott enters the summer with $21 million cash on hand.
In one debate-approved poll in Iowa, Scott joined Trump and DeSantis in reaching double digits. The senator has focused much of his campaign resources on the leadoff GOP voting state, which is dominated by white evangelical voters.
NIKKI HALEY
She has blitzed early-voting states with campaign events, walking crowds through her electoral successes ousting a longtime incumbent South Carolina lawmaker, then becoming the state’s first woman and first minority governor. Also serving as Trump’s U.N. ambassador for about two years, Haley frequently cites her international experience, arguing about the threat China poses to the United States.
The only woman in the GOP race, Haley has said transgender students competing in sports is “the women’s issue of our time” and has drawn praise from a leading anti-abortion group, which called her “uniquely gifted at communicating from a pro-life woman’s perspective.”
Bringing in $15.6 million since the start of her campaign, Haley’s campaign says she has “well over 40,000 unique donors” and has satisfied the debate polling requirements.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY
The biotech entrepreneur and author of “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam” is an audience favorite at multicandidate events and has polled well despite not being nationally known when he entered the race.
Ramaswamy’s campaign says he met the donor threshold earlier this year. He recently rolled out “Vivek’s Kitchen Cabinet” to boost his donor numbers even more, by letting fundraisers keep 10% of what they bring in for his campaign.
CHRIS CHRISTIE
The former New Jersey governor opened his campaign by portraying himself as the only candidate ready to take on Trump. Christie called on the former president to “show up at the debates and defend his record.”
Christie will be on that stage, even if Trump isn’t, telling CNN this month that he surpassed “40,000 unique donors in just 35 days.” He also has met the polling requirements.
DOUG BURGUM
Burgum, a wealthy former software entrepreneur now in his second term as North Dakota’s governor, has been using his fortune to boost his campaign.
He announced a program this month to give away $20 gift cards — “Biden Relief Cards,” as a critique of President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy — to as many as 50,000 people in exchange for $1 donations. Critics have questioned whether the offer violated campaign finance law.
Within about a week of launching that effort, Burgum announced he had surpassed the donor threshold. Ad blitzes in the early-voting states also helped him meet the polling requirements.
MIKE PENCE
Trump’s vice president has met the polling threshold but has yet to amass a sufficient number of donors, raising the possibility that he might not qualify for the party’s first debate.
Pence and his advisers have expressed confidence he will do so, noting that most other Republican hopefuls took a month or two of being active candidates to meet the mark. Pence entered the race on June 7, the same day as Burgum and one day after Christie.
“We’re making incredible progress toward that goal. We’re not there yet,” Pence told CNN in a recent interview. “We will make it. I will see you at that debate stage.”
ASA HUTCHINSON
According to his campaign, the former two-term Arkansas governor has met the polling requirements but is working on satisfying the donor threshold. As of Wednesday, Hutchinson marked more than 11,000 unique donors.
Hutchinson is running in the mold of an old-school Republican and has differentiated himself from many of his GOP rivals in his willingness to criticize Trump. He has posted pleas on Twitter for $1 donations to help secure his slot.
FRANCIS SUAREZ
The Miami mayor has been one of the more creative candidates in his efforts to boost his donor numbers. He offered up a chance to see Argentine soccer legend Lionel Messi’s debut as a player for Inter Miami, saying donors who gave $1 would be entered in a chance to get front-row tickets.
Still shy of the donor threshold, he took a page from Burgum’s playbook by offering a $20 “Bidenomics Relief Card” in return for $1 donations. A super political action committee supporting Suarez launched a sweepstakes for a chance at up to $15,000 in tuition, in exchange for a $1 donation to Suarez’s campaign.
Suarez’s campaign did not return a message seeking details on his number of donors or qualifying polls.
LARRY ELDER
The conservative radio host wrote in an op-ed that the RNC “has rigged the rules of the game by instituting a set of criteria that is so onerous and poorly designed that only establishment-backed and billionaire candidates are guaranteed to be on stage.”
His campaign last week declined to detail its number of donors, saying only that there had been “a strong increase the last few weeks.” He has not met the polling requirements.
PERRY JOHNSON
Johnson, a wealthy but largely unknown businessman from Michigan, said in a recent social media post that he had notched 23,000 donors and was “confident” he would make the debate stage. He added that all donors were “eligible to attend my free concert in Iowa featuring” country duo Big & Rich next month.
Johnson, who has reached 1% in one qualifying poll, has also offered to give copies of his book “Two Cents to Save America” to anyone who donated to his campaign.
WILL HURD
The former Texas congressman — the last candidate to enter the race, on June 22 — has said repeatedly that he would not pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee, a stance that would keep him off the stage even if he had the qualifying donor and polling numbers.
___
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP | https://fox59.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-whos-in-whos-out-a-look-at-which-candidates-have-qualified-for-the-1st-gop-presidential-debate/ | 2023-07-31T03:11:27 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-whos-in-whos-out-a-look-at-which-candidates-have-qualified-for-the-1st-gop-presidential-debate/ |
Rare Beauty products by Selena Gomez are going viral
Since its debut in 2019, Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty company has taken the makeup industry by storm, mostly by dominating social media. The brand offers tinted moisturizer, bronzer, highlighter, setting powder, blush and other facial products; eye makeup such as eyeshadow, mascara and eyebrow pencils; products to enhance the lips, including lipstick, lip liner, lip oil and more. We researched the trendiest, most popular products from this celebrity-owned beauty brand worth adding to your makeup routine.
Shop this article: Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush, Rare Beauty Liquid Touch Brightening Concealer, and Rare Beauty Perfect Strokes Universal Volumizing Mascara
About Rare Beauty
Selena Gomez’s vision for Rare Beauty breaks down unrealistic standards of perfection in the makeup industry. The brand’s mission is to help wearers celebrate the rarity that is their individuality, the main objective being “to create a safe, welcoming space in beauty — and beyond — that supports mental well-being across age, gender identity, sexual orientation, rare, cultural background, physical or mental ability and perspective,” according to the Rare Beauty site.
Rare Beauty products are cruelty-free, meaning they were developed without experimentation on animals. Depending on the product type, they’re also ophthalmologist- and/or dermatologist-tested. Many of the products have noncomedogenic ingredients that won’t clog or block pores, and there are various options for sensitive skin. Rare Beauty has a selection of vegan products, as well. They’re a skin-friendly, self-aware brand that wants to make the world a better place.
Top Rare Beauty products, according to customers
Rare Beauty Kind Words Matte Lipstick
This buttery matte lipstick comes in 10 pigment-rich shades ranging from natural to bold. Suitable for sensitive skin, the creamy formula lasts all day while keeping lips soft and moisturized throughout wear.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Kind Words Matte Lip Liner
This creamy, waterproof lip liner defines and shapes the lips while staying put all day — it’s perfect for outlining the lips or coloring them in. The lightweight formula keeps the lips feeling soft and won’t smudge. It features a built-in sharpener and comes in the same 10 shades as the Kind Words Matte Lipstick for effortless color matching.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush
This lush liquid blush is Rare Beauty’s top-seller, having received Allure’s Best of Beauty award in 2022. The lightweight, buildable formula gives you a soft flush of color with long-lasting pigments for all-day wear. It’s suitable for sensitive skin and has 13 beautiful matte and dewy finishes.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Liquid Touch Brightening Concealer
This medium-coverage concealer hides blemishes, dark circles, redness and fine lines while evening out skin texture. It’s made with botanical ingredients that soothe and nourish the skin. The creamy formula is lightweight, buildable and sweat-resistant, with 48 shades to match virtually every skin tone.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Liquid Touch Weightless Foundation
This liquid foundation feels like a serum with a layerable, medium-coverage formula and a blend of botanical ingredients that soothe and nourish the skin. It’s best used with normal and combination skin types, available in 48 shades that accommodate nearly every skin tone.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Positive Light Liquid Luminizer
This silky liquid highlighter feels like a second skin, creating a dewy, healthy-looking glow with superfine, light-catching pearls. Botanical ingredients have a soothing and nourishing effect on the skin. It layers well over makeup and provides all-day coverage with seven luminous shades.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Warm Wishes Effortless Bronzer Stick
This cream bronzer gives you a sun-kissed glow and adds gentle warmth to the skin with its natural finish. The formula is buildable, water-resistant and won’t clog your pores. It features Rare Beauty’s signature botanical ingredients for a calming and hydrating effect on the skin. The brand sells seven natural-looking shades, and the stick application makes it easy to use.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Always an Optimist Soft Radiance Setting Powder
This loose setting powder smooths skin texture, blurring the look of pores and controlling shine for a radiant yet natural finish. It helps makeup stay in place all day and is especially useful for those who struggle with oily skin. The container has a locking sifter for keeping the application process and storage mess-free. This setting powder comes in five sheer shades.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Perfect Strokes Universal Volumizing Mascara
This volumizing mascara was created for all lash types, featuring castor oil that conditions and nourishes your lashes. The unique curvy brush design combines long bristles that add length and short bristles for increasing volume. It’s an ultra-black, buildable, water-resistant formula that performs well all day. This mascara is safe for those with sensitive eyes and contact lenses.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Positive Light Under Eye Brightener
If you struggle with dark circles or discoloration under the eyes, this liquid brightener will visibly brighten and smooth out the under-eye area for a refreshed look. The lightweight formula is enriched by hydrating white peony and vitamin E extracts. It’s easy to blend and layer using your fingertip, with six shades covering various skin tones.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Positive Light Tinted Moisturizer
This tinted moisturizer blurs and evens skin tone while minimizing the look of pores and fine lines. It offers glowy, light to medium coverage, with a hydrating formula containing vitamin E and SPF 20 broad-spectrum sunscreen. The long-lasting moisturizer is nongreasy and comes in 24 flexible shades.
Sold by Sephora
Rare Beauty Always an Optimist 4-In-1 Mist
This unique facial mist contains a layer of water-based active ingredients and another with nourishing oils that work together to hydrate, prime and set the skin. The refreshing mist boosts the foundation’s performance, and the natural, radiant finish won’t feel greasy. Suitable for sensitive skin, this versatile product comes in 0.12- and 2.87-fluid-ounce bottles.
Sold by Sephora
Worth checking out
- With a glossy finish and gentle plumping effect on the lips, the Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Tinted Lip Oil is a beauty-lover favorite.
- If you prefer using a powder highlighter, the Rare Beauty Positive Light Silky Touch Highlighter is an excellent option for a soft, natural-looking glow.
- The award-winning Rare Beauty Stay Vulnerable Melting Blush offers a natural satin finish with a subtle blurring effect.
- The Rare Beauty Perfect Strokes Longwear Gel Eyeliner is a waterproof product that will stay in place — even on the waterline — with a built-in sharpener for precise application.
- The waterproof Rare Beauty Brow Harmony Precision Pencil is another stellar pick among fans for fuller-looking, more defined brows.
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Amy Evans writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/makeup-palettes-sets-br/these-are-the-most-popular-rare-beauty-products/ | 2023-07-31T03:11:33 | 1 | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/makeup-palettes-sets-br/these-are-the-most-popular-rare-beauty-products/ |
Bouldering equipment for beginners
Bouldering is gaining in popularity throughout the world. It’s an exciting and rewarding way to strengthen your muscles, increase flexibility and improve coordination. It lets you explore new locations and meet new people. Though it may seem intimidating when starting out, one of the best aspects of bouldering is the minimal equipment required. By investing in a few core pieces of climbing gear, you can tackle your next adventure and work your way up a challenging route.
Shop this article: La Sportiva Men’s TarantuLace Climbing Shoe, Black Diamond Circuit Crash Pad and Sukoa Chalk Bag
Bouldering vs. rope climbing: what’s the difference?
There are a few main differences between bouldering and traditional rock climbing. Most importantly, bouldering doesn’t require the use of any ropes since most routes are less than 15 feet in height. If you do happen to fall, you land on either a cushioned gym floor or a crash pad in outdoor situations. Traditional climbing requires the use of ropes, a harness, carabiners and often a partner to help belay while you make your ascent.
Bouldering also often uses different techniques and climbing moves compared to big wall climbs. It can be a great way for beginner climbers to build up their stamina and endurance before attempting longer routes or “boulder problems.”
Bouldering tips to get started
Here are five tips for bouldering.
- Know the scales: Most bouldering routes have a rating that corresponds to their difficulty. The two most common grading scales are V-scale and Font scale. V-scale is the system most commonly used in the United States and grades the difficulty on a scale of V0 to V16. While V0 is usually considered the easiest, you may sometimes encounter a route rated as VB, meaning it is for beginners.
- Start slow: As with most new sports or athletic activities, it’s always a good idea to start off slow and work your way up as you gain strength and experience. While it may seem tempting to tackle a hard boulder problem right out of the gate, overdoing it can lead to an increased risk of injury.
- It’s fine to fall: Always take all safety precautions seriously and always use proper safety gear, such as a crash pad when bouldering outdoors. However, the occasional fall while attempting a climb is only natural. As long as you have the proper safety equipment, each fall can be a learning experience, helping you improve your climbing abilities.
- Practice different moves: Don’t get stuck climbing in one style. Trying out different moves and varying your grip can help improve your skills. This is especially important for beginners starting out in a gym setting before transitioning to outdoor climbs.
- Legs are important: It may seem like bouldering is all about arm strength for beginners, but that isn’t the case. Your legs and core muscles are equally important. Your legs can help tightly grip footholds and push your body upwards without relying solely on arm strength.
Beginner bouldering gear
The three main pieces of gear you need to start bouldering are climbing shoes, a crash pad and a chalk bag to keep your hands dry. Besides the big three, there are several accessories that can improve your bouldering experience.
Best climbing shoes
La Sportiva Men’s TarantuLace Climbing Shoe
These bouldering shoes are perfect for both beginner and intermediate climbers. The high-traction Frixion sole means you can grip the rock face with confidence. The quick-lacing system provides a comfortable fit.
Sold by Amazon
Scarpa Origin Women’s Climbing Shoe
These women’s climbing shoes are a great beginner option. They use a flat last and heel system that reduces pressure and tension so they aren’t painful on your feet after a full day spent bouldering.
Sold by Backcountry
Best crash pads
Black Diamond Circuit Crash Pad
This crash pad is great for transporting to your favorite bouldering spot without being too heavy or bulky. The closed-cell PE foam is ideal for cushioning falls from various heights. It has backpack straps and easy-to-carry handles.
Sold by Amazon
This protective crash pad features 5 inches of padding and can even serve as a comfortable chair when not in use. You can choose between several fun colors.
Sold by Amazon
Best chalk bags and chalk
This budget-friendly chalk bag is great for beginners. It features two built-in pockets, letting you store important items while bouldering. The main compartment uses water-resistant materials. It’s spacious enough to accommodate larger hands.
Sold by Amazon
This simple chalk bag with a drawstring closure makes it easy to access your chalk with one hand. It is also available in several color options.
Sold by Amazon
This non-toxic chalk prevents any type of moisture from interfering with your climb, keeping your hands dry and your mind focused.
Sold by Amazon
Best climbing accessories
Using climbing tape can be helpful when getting your fingers and hands used to rough rock surfaces. This tape uses durable cotton and can prevent painful scrapes and scratches while building up callouses.
Sold by Amazon
Metolius Simulator 3D Training Board
An at-home training board can help you practice your grips on days when the weather isn’t cooperating, and you can’t make it to the gym. This Metolius model can be installed above your door frame and features a variety of holds in different sizes.
Sold by Amazon
PETZL Unisex Boreo Climbing Helmet
Not all people who boulder choose to wear a helmet, but they can help prevent a serious head injury in the event of an unexpected fall. This helmet has ventilation holes for breathability and sports a soft, comfortable headband.
Sold by Backcountry
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Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/camping-outdoors-br/gear-br/beginners-guide-to-bouldering-equipment-what-you-need-to-get-started/ | 2023-07-31T03:11:40 | 0 | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/camping-outdoors-br/gear-br/beginners-guide-to-bouldering-equipment-what-you-need-to-get-started/ |
Which product helps prevent thigh chafing best?
Do you find your sense of style forever or athletic endeavors in conflict with the possibility of uncomfortable thigh chafing? You’re not alone. Sometimes a great outfit can be rendered completely unusable because you know your thighs will be left feeling red and raw after a little while. The same goes for people who do a lot of running or swimming. Fortunately, you no longer have to choose between what you want to do or wear and the toll it will take on your skin. There are creams, clothes and even creative accessories designed to soothe skin and prevent thigh chafing so you can live your life comfortably.
Shop this article: Monistat Care Chafing Relief Powder Gel, Body Glide Skin Glide Anti-Friction Cream and Undersummers by CarrieRae Women’s Shortlette
What causes thigh chafing?
The friction produced between the thighs when they rub together causes thigh chafing. It can make the skin red and cause irritation or even pain. Chafing, in general, is often considered an athlete concern, but it can be especially problematic for anyone during seasons when skirts and dresses are popular. Long pants usually lessen friction by providing a barrier of fabric between your thighs, which is why it’s often less of a problem when temperatures drop. Though inconvenient and uncomfortable, you can address thigh chafing and lessen or prevent it in a variety of ways.
What solutions are available?
These days, there are a few preventative measures you can take to avoid thigh chafing. There are rub-in creams or roll-on palms designed to do the trick, but if you’d prefer something wearable, there are shorts and bands that serve the same purpose.
Best rub-in thigh chafing preventatives
Monistat Care Chafing Relief Powder Gel
This is a non-greasy, fragrance-free formula that’s gentle on sensitive skin and combines the best of lotion and powder care. It protects skin, relieves irritation and is reliable for everyday use. It can be used for thigh chafing as well as underarm or breast chafing.
Sold by Amazon
Body Glide Skin Glide Anti-Friction Cream
This hypoallergenic hydrating cream doesn’t leave a greasy residue and creates a smooth barrier that protects sensitive skin. It won’t clog pores and washes off easily in the bath or shower. The cream prevents thigh chafing in both humid and dry climates.
Sold by Amazon
Though Aquaphor is mostly used for cracked skin, chapped lips and even tattoo care, it also makes for an excellent thigh chafing preventative. It’s incredibly nourishing for sensitive skin and it’s fragrance-free. A little goes a long way, and so a large jar like this one will last a while.
Sold by Amazon
Chamois Butt’r Original Anti-Chafe Cream
This anti-chafe cream is great for athletes or anyone experiencing uncomfortable thigh chafing. It’s gluten-free, paraben-free and has no artificial fragrances or colors in it. It also rubs into the skin smoothly and evenly.
Sold by Amazon
Blue Steel Sports Anti-Chafe Cream
This anti-chafing cream is called a “sports” cream but is made for anyone and includes natural tea tree oil. It’s water/sweat resistant, making it great for those planning on swimming or even just walking around on a hot day. It’s not greasy and won’t stain your clothes either.
Sold by Amazon
Best stick/roll-on thigh chafing preventatives
Vaseline All Over Body Balm Jelly Stick
This anti-friction jelly stick really nourishes dry skin. It can prevent chafing before it happens or soothes skin already sore from it. You can even use it on chapped lips or dry, cracked hands.
KT Tape KT Performance+ Anti-Chafing Stick
Here is a gel stick that is sweat-resistant, water-resistant and made to last up to 24 hours. It’s not sticky and holds up in both humid and dry climates. There are no sulfates, parabens, petroleum or dyes included in this formula.
Sold by Amazon
Zone Naturals Chub Rub All Natural Anti-Chafing Stick
This anti-chafing stick is made with all-natural ingredients that include coconut oil, Shea butter and aloe. It helps to protect and hydrate skin with the bonus of being paraben-free and fragrance-free.
Sold by Amazon
Squirrel’s Nut Butter All Natural Anti Chafe Salve Stick Applicator
Here is a salve popular with men and women for dry/sensitive skin. It’s in stick applicator form and great at preventing thigh chafing but can also be used for eczema, dry skin, diaper rash, razor burn and tattoo recovery.
Sold by Amazon
This anti-friction stick is designed specifically for thighs but you can use it anywhere to prevent chafing. It is made with aloe, pomegranate seed extract, Vitamin E and other natural ingredients. It’s sulfate, aluminum, paraben and phthalates-free.
Sold by Ulta Beauty
Best wearable thigh chafing preventatives
Hanes Men’s Comfort Flex Fit Total Support Pouch 3-Pack
Available in long leg or regular leg sizes, this package comes with three comfortable and breathable boxer briefs in assorted colors. They are made from a polyester/spandex blend and won’t ride up the thigh even after going through the washing machine.
Sold by Amazon
Wirarpa Women’s Anti Chafing Cotton Underwear
This set of three comes available in several color combinations and provides a comfortable fit for chafe-free thighs. The underwear is made from a cotton/spandex blend and it’s machine washable (though you should hang dry).
Sold by Amazon
Bandelettes Patented Trademarked Original Elastic Anti-Chafing Thigh Bands
Available in several colors and styles, this set of nylon/spandex blend bands is perfect for those who want their thighs protected but don’t want to wear long underwear or shorts beneath their clothes. They look delicate and flirty but are hand-wash only and line dry.
Sold by Amazon
Undersummers by CarrieRae Women’s Shortlette
This stretchy polyester/spandex shortlette protects thighs without causing extra friction that can be painful to the skin. It doesn’t ride up and comes in three colors (ecru, beige and black).
Sold by Amazon
Chicky Chaps Stretch-Mesh Breathable Thigh Bands
These mesh and lace thigh bands clip onto underwear to not fall and come in seven colors and styles. They aren’t the most durable chafe preventative, but if you’re looking for something sexier that looks like lingerie, these bands fit the bill. They are hand-wash only and line dry.
Sold by Amazon
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Emily Verona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers.
Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/medical-supplies-equipment-br/15-products-that-help-prevent-thigh-chafing/ | 2023-07-31T03:11:47 | 1 | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/medical-supplies-equipment-br/15-products-that-help-prevent-thigh-chafing/ |
Smart thermostats
Smart thermostats save you time, money and energy by creating heating and cooling schedules and monitoring your usage. You can even make adjustments from your phone. But these aren’t the only features of smart thermostats.
Shop this article: Honeywell Home Wi-Fi Thermostat, Ecobee SmartSensor Two-Pack and Nest Thermostat Wall Plate
How does a smart thermostat work?
Smart thermostats use Wi-Fi connectivity to connect to your smart home network. They can also connect to your smartphone, laptop, tablet or smartwatch. This lets you use those devices to monitor, make adjustments to and set schedules for the temperature in your home. This is usually through a smart thermostat’s companion app. They can also adjust temperatures with algorithms that track your routines, lifestyle and the weather.
For example, a smart thermostat can learn that you come home at 5 p.m. every day. It can then adjust your heating, ventilation and air conditioning system to ensure your home is at a comfortable temperature when you arrive. Some smart thermostats can also turn off your heat or AC when you depart each day.
How can a smart thermostat save me money?
Some manufacturers claim their smart thermostats can save you up to 25% on utility bills. This is partly accomplished by improving your heating, ventilation and AC system’s performance and reducing energy consumption. Another way is by letting you monitor and make adjustments to temperature settings remotely. If you forget to turn off your heat before leaving, for example, you could use your smart thermostat’s companion app to turn it off without returning. Being able to set schedules and take advantage of algorithmic learning also helps.
Many smart thermostats, such as the Nest Learning Thermostat or Honeywell Home Wi-Fi Thermostat, also generate reports on energy usage and heating and cooling patterns. By reviewing your usage data you can make informed decisions about how you consume energy.
What do I need to consider when choosing a smart thermostat?
Existing heating, ventilation and AC system
The smart thermostat you buy must be compatible with your home’s existing heating, ventilation and AC system. Many popular smart thermostat models include compatibility checkers on their websites. Smart thermostats also often require a C-wire, enabling the continuous flow of power to the thermostat. This is necessary for features like Wi-Fi connectivity and touch screens. Some thermostat ports aren’t equipped with C-wires because many older thermostats don’t need them.
If you don’t have a C-wire, you can hire an electrician to install one. You can also choose a smart thermostat designed to work without a C-wire, such as the Emerson Sensi. Alternatively, you can buy a C-wire adapter to install near your heating, ventilation and AC system’s control board.
Compatibility with your existing smart home system
If you already have smart home devices, select a smart thermostat that is compatible with your system. If you use Apple HomeKit, for example, select a model you can control from the platform such as the Carrier Cor or the Hive. For an IFTTT smart home system, consider the Google Nest Learning Thermostat.
What you need to buy to go with your smart thermostat
These sensors work with the Ecobee Smart Thermostat to detect motion to adjust the temperature in rooms that are in use.
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Match your Nest Thermostat to the other design elements of your living space. Wall plates come in a variety of colors including white, silver, black and bronze.
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Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/home-br/heating-cooling-air-quality-br/how-do-smart-thermostats-work/ | 2023-07-31T03:11:54 | 0 | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/home-br/heating-cooling-air-quality-br/how-do-smart-thermostats-work/ |
Heart of Louisiana: Coushatta Harvard
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - It never happened before in the history of Harvard University. But a Louisiana student who is a member of the Coushatta Indian tribe, was determined to convince the ivy league school to let him study his native language for college credit.
Eli Langley has fond memories of playing in the woods near his home,
“Just going outside and being amongst the trees. Our word for forest is ih-to-hi-o. It means within the trees or amongst the trees,” Eli Langley said.
From the time he was in seventh grade, Eli wanted to go to Harvard.
“I remember telling people, I’m going to Harvard. And of course a lot of people said no Indian kid from Elton is going to Harvard. That’s just not going to happen,” Langley said.
Eli is a Coushatta Indian. He grew up near the Coushatta reservation in the small town of Elton, Louisiana. His great-grandfather, Jackson Langley, had been chief of the Coushatta tribe. His grandparents spoke Koasati, the tribal language.
“My grandmother, Loris Langley, my apple. She used to always tell me when I was a little kid, an Indian who can’t speak his language is no Indian at all. I remember feeling shame at times because I just such a strong instinct to want to preserve this and to continue to speak it,” Langley said.
When he was a child, Eli’s parents started a Coushatta heritage project. They met with tribal elders who spoke Koasati, created an alphabet and a written language. In high school, Eli enrolled in a summer immersion program and he learned to speak Koasati. What is the state of the Koasati language today?
“There’s probably about 200 speakers,” said Langley.
Are they old? Are they young? Is it a mix?
“I think the last first speaker that spoke it growing is totally fluent is about 33,” Langley said.
Eli made it to Harvard, but he hit a major obstacle. He was determined to use his Koasati language to fulfill his second language requirement at Harvard, but the rules didn’t allow that.
“A language like Koasati has no university, no professor, no nothing. There’s no Koasati studies. I mean, it’s a small endangered language,” Langley said.
After three semesters and constant denials, he took a year off from college.
“At what point are we going to say a language is a language? And Harvard does not get to decide which languages are relevant and worthy of study,” said Langley.
The university eventually changed its position. Eli proved he could speak, write, and translate the native language of his ancestors. He got the credits and he graduated in the spring of 2021.
“My name is Eli Langley. I’m very happy to be here today. Harvard College, it was the first time a Native American tribal language had been recognized for credit in Harvard’s 400 year history,” said Langley.
So it really changed the culture you think?
“It’s different now. Native kids that that go to Harvard College can learn their own language for credit and not have to learn a European language or other language instead,” Langley said.
Eli Langley hopes his experience will help empower future Native American students to embrace and preserve their own languages and heritage.
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Copyright 2023 WAFB. All rights reserved. | https://www.wafb.com/2023/07/31/heart-louisiana-coushatta-harvard/ | 2023-07-31T03:11:55 | 0 | https://www.wafb.com/2023/07/31/heart-louisiana-coushatta-harvard/ |
NEW YORK — When federal investigators arrived at a meat and poultry warehouse on Allen Street in Chinatown in April 2022, they found what might have been New York City’s best-fed rat population.
Rodents had been feasting on more than 43,000 pounds of meat and poultry inside the warehouse of Ya Feng Trading as if it were an endless buffet.
Rodent droppings littered the facility, including on and around containers of meat. Nesting materials and a dead mouse were found in a walk-in cooler. As one investigator spoke to the warehouse’s owner, four 12-inch rodents scurried into a nearby cooler; minutes later, a rat ran up the investigator’s leg, according to court papers.
The stomach-turning scene led to a federal lawsuit in which Manhattan prosecutors accused the company of violating laws governing the storage and inspection of meat and poultry. The suit was settled Friday.
While one official said that the meat was definitely being offered for sale “for human consumption,” he could not say who the company’s customers were or whether any of the meat in the warehouse was actually sold.
The details of the case, made public Friday, immediately entered the pantheon of New York City rat tales. There was the time in 2020 when a man fell through a sidewalk in the Bronx and into a pit teeming with rats, and many New Yorkers have stories of rats making unwelcome appearances from behind apartment walls or emerging from plumbing fixtures. This year, Mayor Eric Adams appointed the city’s first rat czar to confront the long-running rodent problem.
Perhaps most famous was Pizza Rat, a large brown rat that went viral after video emerged showing it dragging a large slice of pizza down the stairs to an L line station in Manhattan in 2015.
But it was Meat Rats — and several instances of selling misbranded chicken gizzards, pork spareribs and other meat — that put an end to Ya Feng, which ceased operations at the end of 2022. The lawsuit accused the company; its owner and president, Linmin Yang; and the warehouse manager, Kong Ping Ni, of violating the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act.
To resolve the lawsuit, the company and the two men signed an agreement, known as a consent decree, barring them from any work or business involving meat and poultry that would be regulated by those laws. It was approved Friday by Valerie Caproni, a U.S. District Court judge.
The consent decree was announced by Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, whose office brought the lawsuit.
After the 2022 inspections, Yang signed a statement, according to court papers, admitting that the company “has a serious rodent issue.” But at the same time, he acknowledged — despite his awareness of the problems — that he continued to offer the 43,000-plus pounds of meat and poultry for sale. Later that month, he voluntarily destroyed all of it.
Reached by phone Saturday, Yang said in Mandarin that he had no time to speak to a reporter and abruptly ended the call. Ni could not be reached for comment. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/a-federal-food-safety-case-reveals-latest-new-york-city-rat-horror-story/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-31T03:11:55 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/a-federal-food-safety-case-reveals-latest-new-york-city-rat-horror-story/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
Make your own pasta at home
Making pasta by hand looks impressive, but the truth is, homemade pasta is surprisingly simple to create. You can get started with just three ingredients you likely already have in your kitchen. Even if the only tools you have are a rolling pin and a chef’s knife, you can feed your family and friends a satisfying and delicious meal made entirely from scratch. All you’ll need is a recipe, a couple of hours, and just a little bit of practice.
Shop this article: Fox Run Polished Marble Rolling Pin with Wooden Cradle, Spring Chef Bench Scraper and OXO Good Grips 3-in-1 Egg Separator
Is homemade pasta better?
You won’t just get a sense of accomplishment from making your own pasta — it tastes better, too. Fresh pasta has a more tender texture and a more pronounced eggy flavor than commercial-dried pasta. The pasta’s springiness holds up equally well, whether it goes into lasagna or straight onto the plate with some butter. You can even try making pasta dough with unusual ingredients like spinach or saffron for an extra-special meal.
How to get started making pasta
Hamilton Beach Stack & Snap Food Processor
Making the pasta dough
There are as many fresh pasta recipes as there are people who make pasta, but to get started, it’s best to stick with a simple pasta dough that uses just a few ingredients: unbleached all-purpose flour, eggs, and a bit of salt.
If you want, you can use semolina durum flour, which is a more authentic pasta flour with a higher protein content and a coarser texture that helps sauces stick. However, if all-purpose flour is all you have in your pantry, it’ll turn into wonderful pasta.
Place 10 ounces of flour on a clean work surface and make a well. Add two eggs plus four egg yolks to the well and gently start incorporating the flour using a fork, gradually scraping in flour from the sides of the well. Switch to a bench scraper when it becomes too difficult to use a fork and mix until it’s fully combined by scraping and folding over the dough, turning it 45 degrees each time.
Kneading and rolling the pasta dough
You’ll know the dough is ready for kneading when it stops sticking to your hands and holds its shape when rolled into a ball. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it’s smooth and satiny, then shape it into a ball. Let it rest, wrapped in plastic wrap, for 30 to 60 minutes to let gluten develop.
Use the bench scraper to cut the ball into four equal portions and cover them with a towel to keep them from drying out. Working with one portion at a time, roll out the dough into an oblong shape between a quarter-inch and half-inch thick.
Making pasta by hand vs. using a stand mixer
If your arms aren’t up to the task of all that kneading, you can use a powerful food processor or a stand mixer. Simply place all the ingredients in the work bowl and run the machine (using a dough hook if you’re using a stand mixer) until a large, smooth ball forms.
How to shape homemade pasta
CucinaPro Pasta Maker Deluxe Set
Making pasta shapes with a pasta machine
Roll out your dough by hand or use a pasta maker. Some pasta machines can create extruded shapes like penne, while others deliver smooth sheets and strands of lasagna or fettuccine. Following the manufacturer’s instructions for the type of pasta you want to make, feed your rolled-out dough between the rollers until it reaches the right thickness.
At this point, you can trim it by hand to make filled pasta or lasagna or run it through the pasta machine to cut it into strands. As the cut pasta strands emerge from the machine, carefully catch them, dust them with flour, shape them into nests, and keep them covered until you’re ready to cook or dry them.
A stand mixer offers another advantage here: after you’ve whipped up a batch of pasta dough in the bowl, use the mixer’s pasta-making attachment to roll out, cut, or shape pasta.
How to make filled pasta
For filled pasta, make sure your filling is relatively dry so you can seal up your pasta and avoid leaking or soggy dough. Avoid the temptation to overload your pasta — follow your recipe’s guidance for the amount of filling to use in each pasta shape.
Depending on the type of stuffed pasta you’re making, you can use a pasta stamp, a pastry wheel, biscuit cutters, or even a chef’s knife to create rounds or squares. Seal the pasta by brushing the edges with a little water, then using gentle pressure to close the shapes. Make sure the filling is fully enclosed and that no air is trapped inside.
How to cook homemade pasta
Weston Bamboo Pasta Drying Rack
Cooking fresh pasta
Homemade pasta cooks very quickly — depending on the shape, it will need only two to four minutes in boiling water, and slightly longer for stuffed pasta. Salt your cooking water generously to amplify your pasta’s flavor, especially if your dough recipe doesn’t call for salt. Serve it immediately.
How to dry fresh pasta
Alternatively, you can dry your uncooked pasta to serve at a future date. Leaving egg-based food out in the open can feel counterintuitive, but when properly dried and stored, there should be no moisture remaining to encourage bacteria.
Toss the pasta shapes in flour, then lay the strands in a single layer on a drying rack or on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let the pasta dry uncovered and away from heat and sunlight, or use a food dehydrator for more consistency, especially if it’s a humid day. When the pasta snaps instead of bending, it’s ready for storage. Keep it in a dry, airtight container in your pantry or freezer.
FAQ
Q. How long does homemade pasta last?
A. Homemade pasta has a much shorter shelf life than commercially made pasta. Uncooked pasta can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for just one day. Properly dried homemade pasta can be stored in your pantry for up to six weeks. Alternatively, before you cut your pasta shapes, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and freeze it for up to one month.
Q. What sauces go with homemade pasta?
A. How you serve your pasta may come down to personal preference, but the shape of the pasta is a contributing factor. Pair fettuccine or tagliatelle with a homemade alfredo sauce or pesto. Wider pasta like pappardelle is great with slow-simmered meat sauces. You can also highlight the flavor of your fresh pasta (especially ravioli) by simply tossing it in browned butter and high-quality Parmesan.
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Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/utensils-gadgets-br/how-to-make-homemade-pasta/ | 2023-07-31T03:12:01 | 0 | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/utensils-gadgets-br/how-to-make-homemade-pasta/ |
RYE, N.H. — Two days after former President Donald Trump used a demeaning nickname to describe Ron DeSantis to a packed hall of Iowa Republican activists, DeSantis pointedly invoked the federal indictment against his chief rival, saying that if Trump had “drained the swamp like he promised,” then he probably “wouldn’t be in the mess that he’s in right now.”
Speaking to reporters Sunday after a campaign event in New Hampshire, DeSantis, the governor of Florida, added that Trump’s use of “juvenile insults” served as a reminder of “why there are so many millions of voters who will never vote for him going forward.”
DeSantis has generally not used Trump’s legal troubles against him, and has instead focused on criticizing the Biden administration for what he terms the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement.
But as DeSantis seeks to reset his ailing campaign by cutting staff and organizing more informal events in the face of a fundraising shortfall, his comments suggest he may be taking a less timid approach against the man who leads him in national polls by a wide margin. Even allies have said that his campaign has lacked a coherent message about why voters should choose him over Trump.
Part of the shift may also be a result of how DeSantis has changed his campaign tactics in the past week. Whereas he previously engaged with voters in more controlled environments, and kept the press at arm’s length, he is now regularly taking questions from both everyday Americans and reporters — meaning that he will be asked more often about Trump, who is dominating the Republican primary race.
DeSantis’ campaign reboot took him on a bus tour through rural Iowa last week. On Friday, he and a dozen other Republican presidential candidates, including the former president, took turns addressing a dinner hosted by the Republican Party of Iowa. With DeSantis ensconced in a hospitality suite not far from the main stage, Trump mockingly referred to his rival as “DeSanctis” (short for “DeSanctimonious”) and bragged about his lead in the polls.
On Sunday, DeSantis appeared at a barbecue in Rye, co-hosted by former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who served as an ambassador in the Trump administration. Brown, who is staying neutral in the race for now, is hosting similar events for several Republican candidates, although Trump’s camp has not yet reached out about attending, Brown said.
As is his normal practice, DeSantis did not mention Trump in his stump speech. But in a question-and-answer session afterward, one voter asked the governor, “Given Trump’s stronghold on what seems to be a majority of the party, what’s your strategy to show Trump supporters that you’re a better alternative?”
DeSantis responded by saying he believed many Republicans were open to nominating someone other than Trump.
“I think with me, you know, I’m the candidate that’s more likely to beat Biden,” he said. “I’m more reliable on policy. I think you’ve seen my record in Florida, and I’m much more likely to actually get all this stuff done.”
“We ended the presidency with Fauci running the government,” DeSantis continued, referring to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s former top infectious disease expert, who is deeply unpopular with Republican voters. “That’s not draining the swamp.”
Hank Bivins, the voter who asked the question, said the response left him somewhat underwhelmed.
“He has to differentiate himself more,” said Bivins, 53, who is still undecided. “He’s going to have to fine-tune that answer.”
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, accused DeSantis of being “nothing more than an off-brand, bootleg version of America First.”
“No matter how much time he spends cosplaying as President Trump, he will never be him or achieve a hundredth of what was achieved during the Trump administration,” Cheung said in a statement.
A recent University of New Hampshire poll showed Trump leading the field in the state with 37% of the vote, followed by DeSantis with 23%.
But Brown said DeSantis was doing the right things to close the gap, saying that of all the candidates in the race, only field workers representing DeSantis had knocked on his door so far.
And he said that DeSantis had improved noticeably as a retail politician since he last saw the governor campaign in New Hampshire in June.
“I see him today and he’s way better,” Brown said. “And he’s connecting better.” | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/desantis-jabs-at-trumps-legal-trouble-as-he-resets-his-campaign/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-31T03:12:01 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/desantis-jabs-at-trumps-legal-trouble-as-he-resets-his-campaign/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
July keeps sizzling as Phoenix hits another 110-degree day and wildfires spread in California
PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix sizzled through its 31st consecutive day of at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) and other parts of the country grappled Sunday with record temperatures after a week that saw significant portions of the U.S. population subject to extreme heat.
The National Weather Service said Phoenix climbed to a high of 111 F (43.8 Celsius) before the day was through.
July has been so steamy thus far that scientists calculate it will be the hottest month ever recorded and likely the warmest human civilization has seen. The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday proclaimed July beyond record-smashing.
The historic heat began blasting the lower Southwest U.S. in late June, stretching from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert.
On Sunday, a massive wildfire burning out of control in California’s Mojave National Preserve spread rapidly amid erratic winds, while firefighters reported progress against another major blaze to the south that prompted evacuations.
The York Fire that erupted Friday near the remote Caruthers Canyon area of the preserve sent up a huge plume of smoke visible nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) away across the state line in Nevada.
Flames 20 feet (6 meters) high in some spots have charred more than 110 square miles (284 square kilometers) of desert scrub, juniper and Joshua tree woodland, according to a Sunday update.
“The dry fuel acts as a ready ignition source, and when paired with those weather conditions it resulted in long-distance fire run and high flames, leading to extreme fire behavior,” authorities said. No structures were threatened, but there was also no containment.
To the southwest, the Bonny Fire was holding steady at about 3.4 square miles (8.8 square kilometers) in rugged hills of Riverside County. More than 1,300 people were ordered to evacuate their homes Saturday near the remote community of Aguanga, California.
Triple-digit heat was expected in parts of the central San Joaquin Valley through Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
And in Burbank, California, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, the summer heat may have been responsible for some unusual behavior in the animal kingdom: Police in the city responded to a report of a bear sighting in a residential neighborhood and found the animal sitting in a Jacuzzi behind one of the homes.
As climate change brings hotter and longer heat waves, record temperatures across the U.S. have killed dozens of people, and the poorest Americans suffer the most. Air conditioning, once a luxury, is now a matter of survival.
Last year, all 86 heat-related deaths indoors were in uncooled environments.
“To explain it fairly simply: Heat kills,” said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor who researches heat and health. “Once the heat wave starts, mortality starts in about 24 hours.”
It’s the poorest and people of color, from Kansas City to Detroit to New York City and beyond, who are far more likely to face grueling heat without air conditioning, according to a Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metro areas.
Back in Phoenix, slight relief may be on the way as expected seasonal thunderstorms could drop temperatures Monday and Tuesday.
“It should be around 108 degrees, so we break that 110 streak,” meteorologist Tom Frieders said. “Increasing cloud cover will put temperatures in a downward trend.”
The relief could be short-lived, however. Highs are expected to creep back to 110 F (43.3 C) Wednesday with temperatures reaching 115 F (46.1 C) by the end of the week.
Phoenix has also sweated through a record 16 consecutive nights when the lows temperature didn’t dip below 90 F (32.2 C), making it hard for people to cool off after sunset.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas continues to flirt with its hottest July ever. The city is closing in on its 2010 record for the average of the high and low each day for July, which stands at 96.2 F (35.5 C).
The extreme heat is also hitting the eastern U.S, as soaring temperatures moved from the Midwest into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where some places recorded their warmest days so far this year.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wafb.com/2023/07/31/july-keeps-sizzling-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-wildfires-spread-california/ | 2023-07-31T03:12:01 | 1 | https://www.wafb.com/2023/07/31/july-keeps-sizzling-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-wildfires-spread-california/ |
HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court rejected a government-requested ban on broadcasting or distributing the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong," in a landmark decision that rejected a challenge to freedom of expression in the city.
The song was written during mass protests against the government in the Chinese territory in 2019 and its lyrics call for democracy and liberty. The song has since been mistakenly played at several international sporting events instead of China’s national anthem, “March of the Volunteers.”
Judge Anthony Chan on Friday refused to grant the ban, which would have targeted anyone who uses the song to advocate for the separation of Hong Kong from China. In seeking the court order, the government also sought to ban actions that use the song to incite others to commit secession and to insult the national anthem, including such acts carried out online.
Critics had said a ban would have a far-reaching impact on the city's freedoms of expression and information, which have become increasingly threadbare under Beijing's crackdown on the city's pro-democracy movement.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997 and was promised it could keep its Western-style civil liberties intact for 50 years after the handover. But a Beijing-imposed National Security Law and other changes since the 2019 protests have shrunk the openness and freedoms that were once hallmarks of the city.
Chan said the court considered whether an injunction would provide any greater deterrence than existing criminal law, and its potential chilling effect.
“I am unable to see a solid basis for believing that the invocation of the civil jurisdiction can assist in the enforcement of the law in question,” Chan said in the ruling.
The city's secretary for justice sought the injunction last month after the song was mistakenly played as the city’s anthem at international events. And a mix-up in an ice hockey competition in February resulted in the city's top sports body reprimanding the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Association, which appealed for forgiveness for what it called an “independent and unfortunate” event.
The Hong Kong government has tried to push Google to display China’s national anthem as the top result in searches for the city’s anthem instead of the song but to no avail.
Google told the government to present a court order proving the song violated local laws before it could be removed, according to Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong. The government therefore decided to deal with the matter by legal means, he said in an interview with a local broadcaster.
Google did not reply to a request for comment on its earlier exchanges with officials.
The government said the lyrics contain a slogan that could constitute a call for secession. The song was already banned at schools.
The government said it respected freedoms protected by the city's constitution “but freedom of speech is not absolute."
“The application pursues the legitimate aim of safeguarding national security and is necessary, reasonable, legitimate, and consistent with the Bill of Rights,” it said in a statement last month.
The 2019 protests were sparked by a proposed extradition law which would have allowed Hong Kong criminal suspects to be sent to the mainland for trial. The government withdrew the bill, but the protesters widened their demands to include direct elections for the city’s leaders and police accountability.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/ap-top-news/2023/07/28/hong-kong-court-rejects-government-requested-ban-on-protest-song-glory-to-hong-kong | 2023-07-31T03:12:04 | 0 | https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/ap-top-news/2023/07/28/hong-kong-court-rejects-government-requested-ban-on-protest-song-glory-to-hong-kong |
Become a lawn master
Knowing how to plant a new lawn is a useful skill to have, no matter if you’re moving into a new house, sprucing up your current one, or you just want to develop your green thumb. A lush green lawn is often the first thing people notice about your home, and well-manicured grass can greatly increase the value of your property. With a few personal touches, you can make it your own.
While it may seem like a daunting task at first, planting or renovating your lawn is relatively simple when broken down into a few easy-to-follow steps.
Shop this article: Tillers, Fertilizers and Lawn Rollers
Sod vs. seed
First, you must decide whether you want to use grass seed or sod on your lawn.
Let’s start with sod, as grass seed is relatively self-explanatory. Sod, also known as instant lawn or turf grass, is rolled grass that offers several benefits over grass seed. The most obvious is that it’s much faster to establish and gives the look of a finished lawn instantly. In addition, quality sod has few or no weed seeds present, which can save major headaches (and backaches) down the road. Also, because it’s heartier than young grass, sod can be installed nearly any time of year, so long as the ground isn’t frozen or exposed to extreme heat. However, it’s not without disadvantages.
Due to its convenience, sod is initially more expensive than grass seed and requires labor to install. Your grass choices are restricted as well, because most sod farmers grow their products in full sun. That means if your lawn is shaded by houses or large trees, sod may not thrive as well as seed designed for those environments. Shade blend sod is available in some areas, but it’s not always easy to find.
By contrast, grass seed is simpler, cheaper, less labor-intensive at the onset, and offers more choice when it comes to grass variety. It requires more consistent maintenance, though, and the chance for weed contamination is higher. Perhaps the most notable drawback is this method has a defined window for success, as extreme temperatures can lead to patchy results or complete seed failure.
How to prepare lawn for new grass
No matter which method you choose to grow your new lawn, the initial preparation is relatively consistent. Follow these steps:
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First, remove debris and any existing vegetation, i.e. weeds and grass. You can do this physically, with a flame torch, using a home remedy, or with a non-selective herbicide. If you use chemicals, remember to wait for the compounds to become inert before planting (check product labels for this info).
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Repeat the first step, till the soil, and check it again to make sure all remaining seeds are gone. Doing this will ensure a weed-free lawn in the long term.
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Once the area is free of vegetation, you are ready to plant.
How to plant a lawn with sod
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Till the first two inches of soil with a tiller or rake. If needed, add seeding soil to the top of your existing soil.
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Level soil. Any dips or bumps could stay there for years and can look unsightly.
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If you do not use seeding soil (these generally have starter fertilizer mixed in), apply a starter fertilizer, water, and till in.
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Roll out sod. Keep edges snug against each other but don’t overlap them.
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Use a lawn roller to smooth out and firm the sod, connecting it with the ground below and facilitating root contact. Keep sod moist for the first two weeks after application to further assist root growth.
How to plant a lawn with seed
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Till the first two inches of soil with a tiller or rake. If needed, add seeding soil to the top of your existing soil.
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Level soil. Any dips or bumps could stay there for years and can look unsightly.
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If you do not use seeding soil (these generally have starter fertilizer mixed in), apply a starter fertilizer, water, and till in.
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Divide your seed into two equal portions. Spread one half going one direction, with the other half going at a right angle in the other direction. This crisscross pattern guarantees even coverage across your lawn. For higher accuracy, use a drop spreader.
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Tamp seed down with a lawn roller. For added protection, cover the seeds with 1/4 inch of peat moss or compost. This prevents the seeds from washing away, stops birds from eating them, and also holds in moisture.
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Gently soak the soil about six inches deep after seeding, and keep the seeds moist until grass has germinated. This should take approximately two weeks. Continue to lightly water three to four times a day until the grass is about a half-inch high, then maintain as normal.
How to take care of new grass
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A watering rule of thumb: Once the grass is high enough to mow, water at approximately one inch per week.
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Water your lawn early in the morning. Doing it at night keeps the water stagnant, which raises the risk for mold and fungus, and watering midday increases evaporation risk. In addition, water deeply and infrequently as opposed to lightly and more often, as this improves root health.
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Keep your mower blades sharp, and don’t cut more than a third of the grass blade at a time to prevent shocking the grass.
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Fertilize every four to six weeks with lawn fertilizer.
Lawn care shopping list
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Planting a new lawn is incredibly rewarding, but it takes a toll on your hands. Invest in some high-quality gardening gloves to stay safe from thorns, sharp sticks, sunlight, and abrasions.
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A sturdy rake or cultivator will help you till your lawn before planting. This is a necessary step to remove unwanted vegetation, loosen up dirt, and aerate the soil.
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A lawn roller is the most efficient way to both tamp down new grass seeds and secure sod to the soil below. Fill your lawn roller with water if more weight is needed to finish the job. Choose between tow models that hook up to powered equipment or simple push/pull versions.
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Drop spreaders are extremely helpful in evenly distributing grass seed over an area. Available in rolling and handheld versions, these spreaders are adjustable for different drop rates. Great for grass seed or fertilizer!
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Fertilizer is necessary to keep a lawn healthy and full. Lawn fertilizers are typically rich in nitrogen, which is very water-soluble and promotes green, leafy growth.
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Your lawn won’t survive without water, and an adjustable rotating sprinkler helps it stay irrigated at the seedling stage as well as when it’s fully developed. Interested in even more control? Consider a multi-zone irrigation controller.
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Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/lawn-garden-br/lawn-care-br/how-to-plant-a-new-lawn/ | 2023-07-31T03:12:08 | 0 | https://fox59.com/reviews/br/lawn-garden-br/lawn-care-br/how-to-plant-a-new-lawn/ |
PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix sizzled through its 31st consecutive day of at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) and other parts of the country grappled Sunday with record temperatures after a week that saw significant portions of the U.S. population subject to extreme heat.
The National Weather Service said Phoenix climbed to a high of 111 F (43.8 Celsius) before the day was through.
July has been so steamy thus far that scientists calculate it will be the hottest month ever recorded and likely the warmest human civilization has seen. The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday proclaimed July beyond record-smashing.
The historic heat began blasting the lower Southwest U.S. in late June, stretching from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert.
On Sunday, a massive wildfire burning out of control in California’s Mojave National Preserve spread rapidly amid erratic winds, while firefighters reported progress against another major blaze to the south that prompted evacuations.
The York Fire that erupted Friday near the remote Caruthers Canyon area of the preserve sent up a huge plume of smoke visible nearly 100 miles (160 kilometers) away across the state line in Nevada.
Flames 20 feet (6 meters) high in some spots have charred more than 110 square miles (284 square kilometers) of desert scrub, juniper and Joshua tree woodland, according to a Sunday update.
“The dry fuel acts as a ready ignition source, and when paired with those weather conditions it resulted in long-distance fire run and high flames, leading to extreme fire behavior,” authorities said. No structures were threatened, but there was also no containment.
To the southwest, the Bonny Fire was holding steady at about 3.4 square miles (8.8 square kilometers) in rugged hills of Riverside County. More than 1,300 people were ordered to evacuate their homes Saturday near the remote community of Aguanga, California.
Triple-digit heat was expected in parts of the central San Joaquin Valley through Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
And in Burbank, California, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, the summer heat may have been responsible for some unusual behavior in the animal kingdom: Police in the city responded to a report of a bear sighting in a residential neighborhood and found the animal sitting in a Jacuzzi behind one of the homes.
As climate change brings hotter and longer heat waves, record temperatures across the U.S. have killed dozens of people, and the poorest Americans suffer the most. Air conditioning, once a luxury, is now a matter of survival.
Last year, all 86 heat-related deaths indoors were in uncooled environments.
“To explain it fairly simply: Heat kills,” said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington professor who researches heat and health. “Once the heat wave starts, mortality starts in about 24 hours.”
It’s the poorest and people of color, from Kansas City to Detroit to New York City and beyond, who are far more likely to face grueling heat without air conditioning, according to a Boston University analysis of 115 U.S. metro areas.
Back in Phoenix, slight relief may be on the way as expected seasonal thunderstorms could drop temperatures Monday and Tuesday.
“It should be around 108 degrees, so we break that 110 streak,” meteorologist Tom Frieders said. “Increasing cloud cover will put temperatures in a downward trend.”
The relief could be short-lived, however. Highs are expected to creep back to 110 F (43.3 C) Wednesday with temperatures reaching 115 F (46.1 C) by the end of the week.
Phoenix has also sweated through a record 16 consecutive nights when the lows temperature didn’t dip below 90 F (32.2 C), making it hard for people to cool off after sunset.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas continues to flirt with its hottest July ever. The city is closing in on its 2010 record for the average of the high and low each day for July, which stands at 96.2 F (35.5 C).
The extreme heat is also hitting the eastern U.S, as soaring temperatures moved from the Midwest into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where some places recorded their warmest days so far this year. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/july-keeps-sizzling-as-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-and-wildfires-spread-in-california/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-31T03:12:08 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/july-keeps-sizzling-as-phoenix-hits-another-110-degree-day-and-wildfires-spread-in-california/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
BEIJING (AP) — Typhoon Doksuri made landfall in China after bringing deadly landslides to the Philippines.
The storm plowed into the eastern province of Fujian on Friday morning after bringing heavy rains and gale-force winds to parts of Taiwan, especially the Penghu island group, also known as the Pescadores.
In the Philippines, a week of stormy weather across the main island of Luzon caused 39 deaths, including 26 killed in the capsizing of a passenger ship. At least 13 people were reported killed earlier due to Doksuri’s onslaught, mostly due to landslides, flooding and toppled trees, and thousands were displaced, disaster response officials said. More than 20 others remained missing, including four coast guard personnel whose boat overturned while on a rescue mission in hard-hit Cagayan province, disaster response officials said Friday.
The storm caused widespread power outages and agricultural damage in the archipelagic country and prompted the suspension of work, classes and sea travel at the height of the onslaught, officials said, adding they were monitoring another approaching storm.
China has upped its typhoon preparedness through text messaging and notices on social media. In Fujian, more than 400,000 people had been moved to safety, hundreds of ships returned to ports and transportation suspended. Businesses and summer school classes were also ordered suspended and the public was urged to stay indoors. In the city of Quanzhou, the roof of a sports stadium was partially torn off, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
After hitting the coast, most typhoons tend to lose strength while moving into the mountainous interior of southeastern China, although they sometimes linger over areas, dropping heavy rain.
___
AP reporter Jim Gomez contributed from Manila, Philippines.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/ap-top-news/2023/07/28/typhoon-doksuri-makes-landfall-in-china-after-bringing-deadly-landslides-to-philippines | 2023-07-31T03:12:10 | 0 | https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/ap-top-news/2023/07/28/typhoon-doksuri-makes-landfall-in-china-after-bringing-deadly-landslides-to-philippines |
A Colorado police officer was found guilty of two misdemeanors Friday after facing charges for putting a handcuffed woman in a patrol car that was parked on active railroad tracks and then struck by a freight train.
The Fort Lupton police officer, Jordan Steinke, is one of two officers facing criminal charges after Yareni Rios-Gonzalez, 21, was pulled over on the night of Sept. 16, 2022, and then struck by the train while trapped in the police car.
Rios-Gonzalez was stopped by police after a road rage incident involving a handgun, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said last year.
A Platteville Police Department officer parked his patrol vehicle on the railroad tracks after he pulled Rios-Gonzalez over, the bureau said.
Two Fort Lupton police officers, including Steinke, helped him with the traffic stop, which took place near Platteville, a city about 38 miles northeast of Denver.
The Fort Lupton Police Department released body and dashboard camera video that showed officers detaining Rios-Gonzalez on a dark, remote road. In the footage, a railroad crossing sign can be seen next to a patrol car.
Officers are heard in the video shouting commands at Rios-Gonzalez, who gets out of her car and puts her hands up. She is put in handcuffs and repeatedly asks why she was being arrested.
An officer says that she would tell Rios-Gonzalez “in a second” and places her in the patrol car. Officers are shown searching her car and talking about the traffic stop when a train horn starts to sound.
The horn gets louder and an officer shouts an expletive and repeatedly says, “Oh my God,” just before the car is struck. After the crash, the police searched for the patrol car, which was hurled off the track and left in a mangled wreck.
The car rolled at least twice and traveled about a half-mile, according to a lawsuit filed by Rios-Gonzalez. She suffered “severe head trauma” and “serious bodily injury,” according to court records.
The Weld County district attorney’s office filed charges in November against Steinke and the officer who pulled Rios-Gonzalez over, Pablo Vazquez. It was not immediately clear whether Vazquez and Steinke were still employed as police officers.
A lawyer for Steinke declined to comment. The Fort Lupton Police Department declined to comment, and the Platteville Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Vazquez’s lawyer declined to comment Sunday about the pending case.
District Court Judge Timothy Kerns found Steinke guilty of third-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
The judge said Steinke was found not guilty of reckless attempted manslaughter because prosecutors failed to prove she acted knowingly, 9News, a local news channel, reported.
“While she was consciously aware, she did not take the substantial step creating the risk,” Kerns said. “She did not park the vehicle on the tracks. She was randomly assigned the duty to cuff and detain given the roles required by the high-risk stop.”
Rios-Gonzalez’s lawyer, Chris Ponce, said his client thought the verdict was a “just outcome.”
Ponce is representing Rios-Gonzalez in a civil suit against the Platteville and Fort Lupton police departments and the officers involved in the response.
Ponce said Rios-Gonzalez was still struggling with the physical, cognitive and emotional effects from being hit and “being handcuffed in a patrol car with nowhere to go, locked and staring out the window at a freight train coming right at her.”
“That image, it’s something that I think is haunting her on a daily basis,” he said.
Prosecutors had accused Rios-Gonzalez of pointing a handgun during the road rage incident. She pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge this month, Ponce said.
She received an unsupervised deferred sentence, which means that the case against her can be dismissed and expunged from her record if she follows conditions set by the court, he said. | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/officer-convicted-after-train-hits-patrol-car-with-handcuffed-woman-inside/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world | 2023-07-31T03:12:14 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/officer-convicted-after-train-hits-patrol-car-with-handcuffed-woman-inside/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
Tips and tricks for protecting your home from the elements
If you like learning new skills and having a to-do list that never ends, there’s no better investment than purchasing a home. But becoming a homeowner isn’t just the biggest financial commitment you’ll ever make, it’s also a pledge to take care of something, for better or worse, as long as you both shall live. Or at least until you decide it’s time to move.
Along with the bills, repairs, and perpetual upkeep, one of the biggest tasks you face as a homeowner is your never-ending battle with Mother Nature. Just when you think you’ve reshingled your last roof and can rest easy when it comes to leaks, you find a small pond in the basement after the latest storm. This list will walk you through everything you need to know in order to best protect your home from the elements.
But first, it’s important to review your insurance policy so you are aware of what is and isn’t covered. Your homeowner’s insurance policy might not cover floods and damage caused by the elements. Take a few minutes, read over your policy, call your agent and make the needed changes to get the peace of mind you deserve.
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What are the elements?
It’s not just water — which causes mold and rot — that you have to worry about. Wind, snow, hail, cold and heat can also do substantial damage to your home. Here are just a few examples of the havoc the elements can wreak on your home.
Wind
A gentle breeze is refreshing, but a gale-force wind? Anything over 50 or 60 mph can be devastating. From hurling projectiles and prying loose shingles to stripping away siding and shearing off the entire roof, strong winds can dismantle a house in a matter of minutes.
Snow
It’s pristine, and it twinkles as if infused by magic. Snow is beautiful. But it’s also heavy. On average, a square foot of snow weighs a little over 12 pounds. If you have a house that’s 2,000 square feet and it snows 12 inches, that’s roughly an extra 24,000 pounds — 12 tons — on your roof. See how this could cause a little trouble? Especially if the snow is resting on large tree branches or that evergreen that’s already leaning toward your house.
Hail
Hail is Mother Nature’s mischievous child. They enjoy causing trouble. Got cracked shingles? Divots in the lawn? Broken windows? Dents in your car? Damaged outdoor furniture? You’ve got hail!
Cold
Cold is the silent destroyer of homes. If you’ve ever had a pipe burst, you already know this. But beyond that, cold can create ice dams in your gutters that force water beneath your shingles, thereby ruining the items under your roof. And if water gets into any tiny crack, be it in your driveway or your foundation, it will expand when it freezes, turning that tiny crack into a crevasse.
Heat
Excessive moist heat can warp hardwood floors and accelerate deterioration in other areas, such as your attic and roof. Excessive dry heat can suck the moisture out of the ground, making it shrink and taking away some much-needed support from your home’s foundation.
Best strategies for keeping your home safe
Indeed, the elements can be devastating to your home. Thankfully, there are a number of quick and easy things you can do to protect it from the elements. Following is a list of the best (and most effortless) strategies.
Strategy 1: Bring items inside
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Lawn chairs, watering cans, bicycles, scooters, patio umbrellas, and other loose items that you keep outside need to be brought inside before a storm. After all, the wind can turn anything that’s not fastened down into a destructive projectile.
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Strategy 2: Close the curtains
If anything flies into your window during a storm, having your blinds drawn and your drapes closed can help block some of the broken glass and other debris from entering your home.
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Strategy 3: Use your garage
If you don’t want dings in your car, put your vehicle in the garage before all hail breaks loose — along with anything else that could be damaged should the sky begin to pelt ice at your property. If your garage is full of clutter, however, this might not be as simple as it is supposed to be. Take time to organize and store your tools before the storm, and you could be thanking yourself later.
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Strategy 4: Rake the roof
When snow piles up on your house, it can get beneath your shingles as it melts, damaging your roof. When it’s safe to do so, grab a roof rake and clear your roof so melting snow can flow away without much damage. Note: always leave a thin layer of snow on your roof, because too much scraping could damage your shingles.
Strategy 5: Seal your driveway
Those tiny cracks in your driveway become bigger cracks when they fill with water which then freezes. Be proactive and seal your driveway — or at the very least, fill those cracks in with gravel — before winter arrives.
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Strategy 6: Run a dehumidifier
All that humidity in the summer can really mess with the wood in your house. It can also make everything feel quite sticky. To remedy the situation (and save your hardwood floors), turn on a dehumidifier and let it work its magic.
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Strategy 7: Use a sprinkler
During those hot, rainless periods of summer when the ground dries up and pulls away from your house, weakening its foundation, don’t fret. Instead, turn on your sprinkler and put some moisture back into the soil. Don’t add too much, though, because excess water near your home’s foundation has a way of seeping into your basement or crawlspace.
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Extra tips for protecting your home from weather damage
The following tips involve a little more than a quick fix, but they are much cheaper than full-blown repairs.
Anchor down your large items
If you have a storage shed, a grill, trash cans, or any large item that doesn’t have a permanent foundation or isn’t securely fastened, anchor it down. You can use straps, anchors, or bolts. In strong winds, this will help minimize dangerous projectiles. In a flood, it will help keep your valuables from drifting away.
Remove trees that pose a threat
Rain can make the ground soggy, allowing trees to lean. Once tilted, wet snow or strong winds can be all it takes to topple even the mightiest oak. Consider having any trees within striking distance of your home taken down before the next storm.
Bring in the reinforcements
A home is only as safe as its weakest spots. If you live in an area prone to severe weather, you need to do something about those spots. Get a professional out to reinforce your garage door, and consider installing storm shutters over your windows and glass doors.
The elements can be brutal on your home. From minor inconveniences to major repairs, Mother Nature really knows how to dish out the damage. But you aren’t helpless. Your best defense is a strong offense. Stay vigilant, smart, and proactive, and your home will be able to weather any storm.
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TORONTO (AP) — Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward was placed on the 10-day injured list with facial fractures on Sunday, a day after he was hit by a 91 mph pitch from Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah.
Ward was taken to a Toronto hospital after being struck in the fifth inning of Saturday’s 6-1 loss. He was released from hospital Saturday evening.
Before Sunday’s game, Angels manager Phil Nevin said Ward did not have vision damage. Surgery is an option for Ward, but no decision has been made. It was not clear when Ward would be able to return to California. The Angels play a three-game series at Atlanta this week before returning home Thursday to host Seattle.
To replace Ward, the Angels selected the contract of infielder Kevin Padlo from Triple-A Salt Lake.
Batting with the bases loaded, Ward was hit by a 2-0 pitch from Manoah. The ball appeared to strike Ward next to his next left eye, knocking off his batting helmet.
Plate umpire Andy Fletcher motioned to the Angels’ dugout for the trainer as Ward went down, blood running down his face. Angels staff rushed to the plate and held a towel to Ward’s face. After a couple of minutes, Ward got to his feet and left the field on a cart. His left eye appeared to be swollen shut.
A six-year veteran who has spent his entire career with the Angels, Ward is batting .253 with 14 home runs and 47 RBI in 97 games.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-angels-outfielder-taylor-ward-placed-on-il-with-facial-fractures-after-being-hit-in-head/ | 2023-07-31T03:12:20 | 0 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-angels-outfielder-taylor-ward-placed-on-il-with-facial-fractures-after-being-hit-in-head/ |
FUKUOKA, Japan (AP) — Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh should be a star at next year’s Paris Olympics, and she showed why Sunday on the closing day of the swimming world championships in Japan.
The 16-year-old McIntosh won her second gold of the event, taking the 400-meter individual medley after winning the 200 butterfly gold on Friday.
That made up for a slow start for the young Canadian, who finished fourth in the 400 free, where she held the world record until Australia’s Ariarne Titmus took it back. She also took bronze in the 200 free, at least getting a medal.
“Going into tonight I just wanted to see how hard I could push myself,” McIntosh said.
She did just that. Her time of 4 minutes, 27.11 seconds was the third fastest ever, not far off her world record of 4:25.87. She was also the defending world champion. American Katie Grimes took the silver in 4:31.41, with Jenna Forrester of Australia picking up the bronze in 4:32.30.
“It was definitely motivating,” McIntosh said of her first few days. “I try to turn everything that goes wrong into motivation somehow.”
Asked about Paris, she replied: “Right now I’m just thinking about a little break.”
McIntosh should be joined by other young stars in Paris like 21-year-old Frenchman Leon Marchand and Australia’s 22-year-old Kaylee McKeown. Marchand and McKeown each won three individual golds.
The Americans also closed fast.
After winning only four gold medals during the first seven days, they picked up three on the eighth and final day for a total of seven golds and 38 overall. The gold total is still their lowest in a worlds going back for around 20 years. They won only eight in the 2015 worlds.
Australia finished with 13 gold and 20 overall, and China had five gold and 16 overall.
“This is the cherry on top,” said American Regan Smith, part of the winning 4×100 women’s medley relay. “I love racing with these girls and I love relays so much and brining home a gold in the last event for Team USA means so much to me and all of us.”
The Americans finished in 3:52.08, followed by Australia (3:53.37) and Canada (3:54.12).
The United States also won the men’s 4×100 medley in 3:27.20, ahead of China (3:29.00) and Australia (3:29.62), and added another gold with Hunter Armstrong in the 50-meter backstroke (24.05).
Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden made history with her victory in the women’s 50-meter freestyle. The gold gave Sjostrom 21 medals in individual races in the world championships, surpassing Michael Phelps who had 20.
Sjostrom, who set the world record in the semifinals on Saturday, powered home in the final 25 meters for the win, clocking 23.62. Shayna Jack of Australia picked up the silver in 24.10, while Zhang Yufei of China earned the bronze in 24.15.
Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania set a world record on the way to winning gold in the women’s 50-meter breaststroke in 29.16. She equaled the old world mark of 29.30 the night before in the semifinals.
Meilutyte grabbed the early lead and was never challenged. American Lilly King claimed the silver in 29.94, while Benedetta Pilato of Italy picked up the bronze in 30.04. She shared the old record of 29.30 with Meilutyte.
Ahmed Hafnaoui of Tunisia added the men’s 1,500-meter free gold to the 800 free he won earlier in the worlds, prevailing in an epic battle with American Bobby Finke that went down to the wire.
The 20-year-old Hafnaoui, the defending 400 free Olympic champion, captured the gold in 14:31.54, with Finke clocking 14:31.59 for silver. Sam Short of Australia rounded out the podium with the bronze in 14:37.28.
The mark was just off the world record by Sun Yang of China, 14:31.02, set in 2012. Sun has been suspended for a doping violation.
“Bobby (Finke) is so fast at the end of the race. he pushed us to do the 14.31,” Hafnaoui said. “It was so close to the world record. I mean I enjoyed the race and thanks Bobby for pushing me.”
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-canadian-summer-mcintosh-16-gets-second-gold-medal-at-swimming-worlds-in-japan/ | 2023-07-31T03:12:26 | 0 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-canadian-summer-mcintosh-16-gets-second-gold-medal-at-swimming-worlds-in-japan/ |
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Chris Buescher was already in good position to qualify for NASCAR’s playoffs.
Now, even something remarkable over the last four races of the regular season won’t keep him out.
Buescher pulled away on a restart with three laps to go to win at Richmond Raceway on Sunday and snag one of the final spots in NASCAR’s playoff field.
Buescher led 88 laps and was ahead by nearly 6 seconds when a caution came out with under 10 laps to go. That erased his lead over Virginia native Denny Hamlin, who was booed by his hometown crowd before the race.
But Hamlin got a poor final restart and Buescher easily pulled away for his first Cup Series win of the season, third of his career.
“I knew that last restart was going to be tough, but I knew we had the speed in this thing,” Buescher said.
He and RFK Racing teammate Brad Keselowski led a combined 190 of the 400 laps in their Fords. Keselowski, now a part owner of the team, led 102 laps on the 0.75-mile oval.
Buescher started 26th and had to drive through the field for the win that locked him into the 16-driver playoff field. Buescher became the 13th race winner this year and there are three playoff spots up for grabs over the next month.
It was the 139th Cup win for primary team owner Jack Roush, second since Keselowski joined the ownership group.
Ford now has 723 wins in NASCAR’s top Cup Series.
“Everybody at RFK Racing who has worked so hard to get us to this point,” said Buescher.
Hamlin, winner last week at Pocono, finished second in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Kyle Busch was third in a Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, followed by the Fords of Joey Logano from Team Penske and Ryan Preece of Stewart-Haas Racing.
“One win is good, but you get three or four or five and then you feel a lot better,” Keselowski said. “It sure beats not having any at all, but we want to keep going. It’s nice to have one car locked in the playoffs. We need to get both cars locked in the playoffs. We have a good points gap, but we want wins and this is where we need to be.”
Keselowski, despite being winless this season, is still mathematically in contention for the playoffs.
The race was slowed just three times by caution flags, with the final yellow 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.
“I got a bad restart,” Hamlin said. “I had to recover too much ground from what I lost on the front stretch. Almost got to the outside, and then in turn four, almost got to the outside again, and then in turn one, I was like ‘I’m just going to ship it in there and try to get to the outside one more time’ and I just carried way too much speed and locked up the left front tires.”
LARSON-HAMLIN
Kyle Larson, angered last week when Hamlin caused him to hit the wall while leading while Hamlin went on to win, was running a few laps down when he nudged Hamlin out of the way with 70 laps to go during Sunday’s race.
Larson, who won at Richmond in April, finished 19th.
“I think he was having a frustrating day,” Hamlin said. “It’s all good.”
SCORCHER
With temperatures in the mid-80s, it was about 15 degrees cooler than Saturday, when the temperature approached 100 and the heat index was at least 105.
Nevertheless, points leader Martin Truex Jr. still struggled.
“It was definitely really, really hot,” he said. “It felt longer than 400 laps. I’ll be honest, when we got to the end of stage two —– I thought there was no way. I thought that was the checkered flag. It just felt really, really long.”
Truex finished seventh.
CLEAN RACE
All 36 cars that started the race were still running at the end.
UP NEXT
The series moves to Michigan where Kevin Harvick, winless so far in this his final season, is the defending champion.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-chris-buescher-wins-at-richmond-and-secures-spot-in-nascar-playoffs/ | 2023-07-31T03:12:34 | 1 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-chris-buescher-wins-at-richmond-and-secures-spot-in-nascar-playoffs/ |
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The fight itself didn’t match the hype, but Terence Crawford’s performance exceeded it.
He knocked down Errol Spence Jr. three times Saturday night before finally ending the fight at 2:32 of the ninth round on a technical knockout to cement himself as one of the greatest welterweights in history.
The fight, the most-anticipated boxing match in several years, made Crawford the first undisputed champion in the 147-pound division in the four-belt era that began in 2004.
Crawford (40-0, 31 knockouts) already owned the WBO belt, and took the WBC, WBA and IBF titles from Spence (28-1). Crawford also ran his KO streak to 11 matches, the second-longest active stretch.
Crawford, 35, has won titles at super lightweight and lightweight in addition to welterweight, capturing the latter after moving up in 2018. The Omaha, Nebraska, fighter became the first male boxer to become the undisputed champion in two divisions in the four-belt era.
“I only dreamed of being a world champion,” Crawford said. “I’m an over-achiever. Nobody believed in me when I was coming up, but I made everybody a believer. I want to thank Spence and his team because without him none of this would have been possible.”
A big fight night on the Strip still brings out the stars, with recording artist Andre 3000 of Outkast, NBA star Damian Lillard and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones at T-Mobile Arena. They were among the celebrities that also included former boxing champions such as Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.
Eminem introduced Crawford and his song “Lose Yourself” played as he walked into the ring before a sellout crowd of 19,990 at T-Mobile Arena.
Spence was the aggressor early on, but Crawford sent him to the floor with a right hand with 20 seconds left in the second round. Then Crawford went after Spence, but time ran out before he could finish him off.
Crawford, a minus-154 favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, then took control of the fight, landing several major blows, often on counters. But Crawford also picked his spots to go after Spence, his punching power taking a heavy toll.
“He was just better tonight,” Spence said. “I make no excuses. He was throwing a harder jab. He was timing with his jab, and he had his timing down on point.”
In the seventh round, Crawford knocked down Spence twice — with a short right at 1:02 and with another right with just a second left.
The fight was essentially over at that point, though Crawford backed off in the eighth round. He came roaring back in the ninth to end it for sure.
Crawford didn’t waste the chance to gloat afterward, directly responding to his critics.
“They said I wasn’t good enough and I couldn’t beat these welterweights,” Crawford said. “I just kept my head to the sky and kept praying to God that I would get the opportunity to show the world how great Terence Crawford is. Tonight, I believe I showed how great I am.”
Spence, however, said he would be up for a rematch, but wants to move up to the 154-pound division.
“We’ve got to do it again,” Spence said. “I would be a lot better.”
Crawford said he would have no problem moving up a weight class.
“I’m in the hurt business,” Crawford said. “Forty-seven is kind of hard for me, too. I was already talking about moving up in weight and challenging (champion Jermell) Charlo.”
The 33-year-old Spence, who lives in DeSoto, Texas, won the IBF title in 2017, claimed the WBC championship in 2019 and took the WBA championship last year.
In the co-main event, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz (25-2-1) of Mexico beat Chicago resident Giovanni Cabrera (21-1) by split decision in a WBC and WBA lightweight match. Judges Benoit Roussel (114-113) and Don Trella (115-112) scored the fight in favor of Cruz, and Glenn Feldman gave Cabrera the fight by a 114-113 score. Cruz had a point deducted because of a head butt.
Also, Alexandro Santiago (28-3-5) of Mexico won the vacant WBC bantamweight title with a 115-113, 116-112, 116-12 decision over Nonito Donaire (42-8), who lives in Las Vegas.
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AP boxing: https://apnews.com/hub/boxing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-crawford-unifies-welterweight-division-with-9th-round-tko-in-dominant-performance-over-spence/ | 2023-07-31T03:12:40 | 0 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-crawford-unifies-welterweight-division-with-9th-round-tko-in-dominant-performance-over-spence/ |
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Dalvin Cook got an up-close view of Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets while watching practice from the sideline Sunday.
The free agent running back has to see if he’ll spend the rest of training camp in their backfield — or elsewhere.
Cook spent Sunday meeting with the Jets as he ponders the next stop of his playing career. The four-time Pro Bowl selection was released by the Vikings on June 8 for salary cap savings, according to a person familiar with Minnesota’s decision.
The Jets are the first team Cook has officially visited as a free agent, with his hometown Miami Dolphins also among possible suitors. New York also must consider whether to make him an offer before he leaves the team’s practice facility.
Cook, who turns 28 on Aug. 10, was greeted by chants of “Dal-vin Cooook! Sign that contract!” from fans in the stands as he walked onto the field. He later responded to the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, with a green heart emoji.
Several Jets players, including Rodgers, greeted Cook and he spent a few moments chatting with owner Woody Johnson.
“He’s a good young man, a very good young man,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “We didn’t interact too much. There’s a lot of stuff going on, especially when it’s open to the public. But it was good to say hello.”
Cook has talked up the Jets in TV interviews in recent days, telling NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on Friday they “are right at the top of the list” and the odds of him signing with them were “pretty high.”
“It’s a unique situation because I think they’re building something special over there,” Cook told “Good Morning Football” during the interview. “When you look at it, you always want to be around a great QB, you always want to be around somebody you can pick his brain and just learn from. A-Rod is a four-time MVP. So, just being around a guy like that you can learn a lot more and just develop as a player.
“That’s what I’m looking to do.”
He reiterated those comments Saturday during an interview with ESPN, saying he thinks “the coaching staff, I think everything about what they got going on, just says winning.”
But Cook, a former Florida State star, also said in the interview he was interested in the Dolphins and it would be “a Cinderella story” to play for his hometown team.
He was the guest of the Jets on Sunday, though. And now they have to wait to see if they offer Cook a deal and he accepts — or explores his options.
Both sides have expressed interest, and the Jets wanted Cook to take a physical to be sure his surgically repaired shoulder is healthy.
“That’s pretty much it,” Saleh said. “Call it a meet and greet.”
Cook, who has run for at least 1,000 yards in each of the past four seasons, was scheduled to count more than $14.1 million against the Vikings’ salary cap before he was released. He’s third on Minnesota’s career rushing list with 5,993 yards in six seasons.
With the Jets, Cook could give New York some insurance in the backfield with Breece Hall working his way back from a knee injury that cut short a promising rookie season. New York also has Michael Carter, Zonovan Knight, Damarea Crockett, fifth-round draft pick Israel Abanikanda and undrafted free agent Travis Dye at the position.
NOTES: Saleh said WR Garrett Wilson has a lower right ankle injury and the Jets are being cautious by holding him out of practice. Wilson appeared to have a slight limp and his right ankle was wrapped. … WR Corey Davis remains out with an illness, but Saleh said he could return to practice Monday. … WR Randall Cobb was activated from the physically unable to perform list and participated in practice. … Saleh said the starters aren’t expected to play Thursday night in the Hall of Fame game against Cleveland in Canton, Ohio. Among those players who will play include QB Zach Wilson and OT Mekhi Becton.
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AP Pro Football Writers Dave Campbell and Rob Maaddi contributed.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-dalvin-cook-visits-with-the-jets-and-watches-practice-as-he-considers-his-options/ | 2023-07-31T03:12:47 | 1 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-dalvin-cook-visits-with-the-jets-and-watches-practice-as-he-considers-his-options/ |
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Frank Clark has reunited with Russell Wilson in Denver and now the outside linebacker has former teammate Patrick Mahomes in his sights instead.
The 30-year-old outside linebacker signed with Denver after being jettisoned by the Kansas City Chiefs in a cost-cutting move this offseason and the Broncos are counting on him to add some oomph to their pass rush.
Still in the AFC West, Clark gets two opportunities at beating his former team this season, something the Broncos haven’t done since 2015. Their 15-game skid against the Chiefs is the fourth longest by one team to a single opponent in NFL history.
Unlike his reunion with Wilson, revenge and rivalry aren’t top of mind for Clark as he embraces his fresh start in the Rocky Mountains.
“I wouldn’t call it a rivalry. A rivalry is competitive,” Clark interjected in his first public comments since signing a one-year, $5.5 million deal with Denver last month. “I’m (with) the Broncos now. I’ve been on the other side. We didn’t call it a rivalry then.”
And before anyone around Denver can call it that the Broncos will have to beat Mahomes, something they have a better shot at doing with Clark on their side.
The Chiefs parted ways with Clark just a year after signing him to a two-year, $30 million extension. The Broncos haven’t had a fearsome pass rush since trading Von Miller two years ago. And with Baron Browning sidelined by a knee injury and Randy Gregory coming off an injury-filled debut season in Denver, first-year head coach Sean Payton eagerly welcomed the veteran with 58 1/2 sacks.
Clark had 23 1/2 sacks in four seasons in Kansas City and another 10 1/2 in the playoffs, helping the Chiefs go 10-2 in the postseason and make three trips to the Super Bowl.
“What we did in Kansas City was special,” Clark said. “Four-year run, two Super Bowl (rings), three AFC titles. It was fun, but at the end of the day all good things come to an end.”
Bad things, too, he hopes. Such as Denver’s 15-game skid to the Chiefs.
One thing Clark insists isn’t nearing the finish line in his proclivity for getting after the passer even though his five sacks in 2022 and two-game suspension for gun possession incidents a year earlier meant an end to his three-year run as a Pro Bowler.
“I wouldn’t say it was the end” in Kansas City last season, Clark said. “It’s never the end when you get the job finished.”
Now he aims to help the Broncos and Wilson bounce back in 2023.
“He’s still dangerous. Don’t get it twisted,” Clark said of Wilson, whom he played with in Seattle from 2015-18. “Russ is a veteran. He’s a guy that’s won on multiple levels. … I was a part of Seahawks teams that were successful; I was a part of teams where we didn’t make the playoffs. But it was the same Russ.
“So don’t think a bad season’s going to shake a guy like Russ,” Clark added. “Naw, bro, we start fresh every year. Every summer’s a fresh start.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-ex-chiefs-linebacker-frank-clark-reunites-with-russell-wilson-in-denver/ | 2023-07-31T03:12:53 | 1 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-ex-chiefs-linebacker-frank-clark-reunites-with-russell-wilson-in-denver/ |
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Justin Gaethje knocked out Dustin Poirier with a head kick one minute into the second round to win the main event lightweight bout at UFC 291 on Saturday night.
The third-ranked Gaethje (26-4) celebrated his victory by climbing to the top of the Octagon fence and doing a backflip off it. His perfectly timed headshot helped him avenge a loss to Poirier in 2018 when he suffered a fourth-round technical knockout via strikes.
“This chance at redemption was amazing,” Gaethje said. “It drove me to work harder to be ready.”
It was Gaethje’s 20th win by knockout or TKO and his seventh victory in his last nine fights. He also scored his first knockout win since UFC 249 in 2020.
“I was surprised by myself and how good I fought,” Gaethje said.
Second-ranked Poirier (29-8) entered the rematch between the two former interim lightweight champions as a minus-152 favorite according to FanDuel. He matched Gaethje blow for blow in the first round – earning a 10-9 advantage on two of three scorecards – before being quickly dispatched in the second.
The decisive high kick from one former champ caught the other by surprise because it wasn’t a move that he expected to see from Gaethje.
“I thought I had four more rounds,” Poirier said. “I didn’t know I had two more minutes.”
With the victory, Gaethje earned a BMF belt – the second UFC fighter to be awarded that belt.
Beating Poirier opens the door for Gaethje to have a potential title bout against the winner of Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira, who are set to square off at UFC 294 in October.
Gaethje’s BMF win over Poirier headlined five main card bouts.
Alex Pereira defeated Jan Blachowicz by split decision in a light heavyweight bout billed as the co-main event for his eighth win in his last nine fights.
Pereira (8-2), ranked second as a middleweight, made his debut in the light heavyweight division at UFC 291 after losing the middleweight title belt via knockout to Israel Adesanya at UFC 287 in April. Blachowicz (29-10-1) did not make the transition in weight class a smooth one for the former champion.
He weathered early takedowns in the first two rounds and rallied in the third round.
Derrick Lewis earned a record 14th knockout win over Marcos Rogerio de Lima just 33 seconds into the first round of the heavyweight bout. The No.10-ranked Lewis (27-11) scored an immediate takedown with a flying knee and pummeled 15th-ranked Rogerio de Lima (21-10-1) with repeated punches to score the early finish. He celebrated snapping a three-fight slide by stripping off his shorts and dancing around the Octagon.
“The win means a lot to me,” Lewis said. “I had a lot of pressure on me coming into this fight and I just wanted to prove to everyone I’m still one of the best fighters in the world.”
Bobby Green beat Tony Ferguson by submission via choke with six seconds left in the third round of the lightweight bout. Green (30-14-1) dominated the final two rounds to earn his second career submission, scoring takedowns in both rounds while raining repeated blows that left his opponent battered. He denied Ferguson (26-9) a shot at earning his first UFC victory since 2019, sending the 39-year-old fighter home with his sixth straight loss.
Kevin Holland made quick work of Michael Chiesa to win the welterweight bout. Holland (25-9) beat the 12th-ranked Chiesa — fighting for the first time following a two-year hiatus — by submission at 2:39 in the first round. He used his length and striking abilities to trap Chiesa (18-7) in a D’arce choke, forcing a quick tap out.
Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, Jazz coach Will Hardy, and former Jazz stars Deron Williams and Karl Malone were among those in attendance at the second UFC pay-per-view event in 11 months in the Beehive State.
UFC reported a live gate of $6.5 million, breaking the previous venue record set at UFC 278 in August 2022. A sellout crowd of 18,467 was in attendance.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-gaethje-knocks-out-poirier-in-second-round-to-win-ufc-291-lightweight-bout/ | 2023-07-31T03:12:58 | 1 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-gaethje-knocks-out-poirier-in-second-round-to-win-ufc-291-lightweight-bout/ |
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers is sticking by his offensive coordinator and firing his hardest throw of the summer at Sean Payton.
The Jets quarterback was bothered by critical comments Payton, the Denver Broncos’ head coach, recently made about offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. Payton told USA Today for a story published Thursday that Hackett’s 15-game stint with the Broncos last season ”was one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL.″
Payton also said there were “20 dirty hands” around Russell Wilson’s career-worst season, and took some shots at the Jets — Hackett’s new team where he and Rodgers are reunited after enjoying success together in Green Bay.
“It made me feel bad that someone who has accomplished a lot in the league is that insecure that they have to take another man down to set themselves up for some sort of easy fall if it doesn’t go well for that team this year,” Rodgers told NFL Network on Sunday. “I think it was way out of line, inappropriate, and I think he needs to keep my coaches’ names out of his mouth.”
Rodgers, acquired by New York in April from Green Bay, said Hackett is “arguably my favorite coach I’ve ever had in the NFL.” The pair was together for two of Rodgers’ four NFL MVP awards in 2020 and 2021 with the Packers.
During the interview with USA Today’s Jarrett Bell, Payton also criticized the Jets being the latest NFL team “trying to win the offseason” — something he said the Broncos under Hackett tried to do and were “embarrassed.”
Jets coach Robert Saleh said Thursday “Hackett’s doing a phenomenal job here” when asked about Payton’s comments. He also said the Jets are just focused on themselves, but recognizes “there’s a lot of people that are hatin’ on us and a lot of people looking for us to fail.”
Payton on Friday said he regretted his comments in which he disparaged Hackett, and said he would reach out to Hackett and Saleh “at the right time” to do so.
“Listen, I had one of those moments where I still had my Fox hat on and not my coaching hat,” said Payton, who’s returning to the sideline this season after a year’s sabbatical during which he worked as a studio football analyst for Fox Sports following a 15-year stint with the New Orleans Saints.
Rodgers told NFL Network he thought Payton’s initial comments “were very surprising, for a coach to do that to another coach.”
Meanwhile, the back-and-forth made the Jets’ matchup in Denver in Week 5 on Oct. 8 a bit juicier. Payton acknowledged Friday his comments “certainly will bring more interest to the game when we play them, but that seems like years from now.”
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AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Stapleton in Englewood, Colorado, contributed.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-jets-aaron-rodgers-defends-nathaniel-hackett-and-fires-back-at-the-broncos-sean-payton/ | 2023-07-31T03:13:04 | 1 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-jets-aaron-rodgers-defends-nathaniel-hackett-and-fires-back-at-the-broncos-sean-payton/ |
Police have arrested Dequann Whyte-Cohen, 31, of Dorchester in connection with a deadly shooting last week in Jamaica Plain, according to a statement Sunday from the Boston Police Department.
Whyte-Cohen was arrested on Hyde Park Avenue in Jamaica Plain just before noon Sunday on a murder warrant issued in the West Roxbury division of Boston Municipal Court in connection with the homicide of Dante Webb, 45, of Jamaica Plain, police said .
Whyte-Cohen is scheduled to be arraigned in that courthouse on Monday. It was unclear Sunday night whether he had retained an attorney to represent him.
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Webb was pronounced dead at a local hospital on July 18 after he was found suffering from gunshot wounds on Forest Hills Street shortly after 1:30 a.m., police said.
The investigation is ongoing.
Gia Orsino can be reached at gia.orsino@globe.com. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/30/metro/dorchester-man-arrested-connection-with-fatal-jamaica-plain-shooting/ | 2023-07-31T03:13:04 | 1 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/30/metro/dorchester-man-arrested-connection-with-fatal-jamaica-plain-shooting/ |
FUKUOKA, Japan (AP) — The American swim team has had a so-so meet at the world championships in Japan. Meanwhile, Australia and China have been pouring it on.
The American gold-medal count at the worlds is the lowest in at least two decades, although the overall medal count of gold, silver and bronze, is similar to most years.
After winning only four gold medals during the first seven days, they picked up three on Sunday — the eighth and final day — for a total of seven golds and 38 overall. The gold total is still their lowest in a worlds going back as least 20 years. They won only eight in the 2015 worlds.
Australia finished with 13 gold and 20 overall, and China had five gold and 16 overall.
“Obviously, we’d like to win more gold medals and I think we will,” American coach Bob Bowman said going into Sunday’s final day.
The slight predicament for Bowman is that two of the swimmers he coaches at Arizona State University, Leon Marchand of France and Hungary’s Hubert Kos, have won four gold medals. Marchand has three, and he’s sure to be a star at next year’s Paris Olympics, and Kos has one.
That’s the same gold-medal total for the entire American team through seven of eight days — four gold. The average for the Americans over the last nine championships has been about 15 golds.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, two of the first three questions Bowman fielded were about Marchand and Kos, from French and Hungarian news outlets.
“If you look at swimming, every coach on the U.S. team is coaching a foreign swimmer, an international swimmer. There’s always that dynamic,” said Bowman, who has legendary status for helping Michael Phelps win 23 Olympic gold medals.”
Bowman was cautious about taking credit for Kos, who came to Arizona State late last year. He went from being a good individual medley swimmer to a world champion a few days ago in the 200-meter backstroke.
“I think it’s just the Bob Bowman effect,” said Kos, son of an American father and Hungarian mother. ”That’s as simple as it is.”
He said Bowman had a “magic” touch.
Bowman played down his role.
“He (Kos) had an excellent coach at home for 10 years before me,” Bowman said. “He deserved the credit for this. I just helped a little bit at the end.”
Bowman compared Marchand to Phelps. But can he produce and endure the pressure, particularly with the Olympics in his home country?
“It remains to be seen what he can do next year. It’s going to be a lot of expectations,” Bowman said. “But I feel like he’s done a very good rehearsal this year and last year. They’ve been good preparations for what will happen next year and we’ll try to carry that over to Paris.”
Swimming is an individual sport, separate from team sports like soccer. It would be unthinkable for the coach of Real Madrid to be also coaching Barcelona players on the side. But it’s normal in swimming, and Bowman said he was “ethically” comfortable with it.
“I mean, the bottom line is I get paid to coach these guys at ASU,” he said. “I’m representing my country for the love of my country and happy to do that. I don’t think there’s an ethical question. It’s not a zero-sum. I’m not taking away from the U.S. guys.”
He said he was interested in coaching the Americans at next year’s Olympics, but suggested any decision was still pending.
“I don’t think we know yet,” he said. “I have to go through this week, get home, think about what the scenarios look (like) and then we’ll decide. I always want to do. But we’ll see how it goes.”
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-legendary-coach-bob-bowman-keeps-turning-out-winning-swimmers-and-not-just-americans/ | 2023-07-31T03:13:10 | 0 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-legendary-coach-bob-bowman-keeps-turning-out-winning-swimmers-and-not-just-americans/ |
The New England Revolution will host LIGA MX side Atlas Fútbol Club in the Leagues Cup 2023 Round of 32 on Thursday at Gillette Stadium (time TBA).
Bruce Arena’s side, which has lost only once in its last 11 matches in all competitions, are coming off a 5-1 shellacking of another LIGA MX squad, Athletic San Luis, last Wednesday at Gillette. Forward Giacomo Vrioni scored a hat trick while Gustavo Bou notched a goal and two assists for the victors.
That win gave the Revolution four points in the East 4 bracket, good for second place and a trip to the Cup’s knockout stages. It’s a continuation of the Revolution’s strong play, as they currently own the second-best record in all of Major League Soccer at 12-4-7, good for second place behind Eastern Conference leaders FC Cincinnati (15-2-6, 51 points).
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New England holds a 9-2-1 record against LIGA MX clubs all-time, including a 1-0 victory in their previous meeting with Atlas FC during the 2008 SuperLiga. But Atlas are coming off back-to-back 1-0 wins over Revolution rivals New York City FC and Toronto FC, and have allowed just one goal in five matches this season in all competitions.
Atlas are led by midfielder and captain Aldo Rocha, who scored the winner against NYCFC and has two goals across all competitions this season.
The winner of Thursday’s matchup will advance to take on the winner of the all LIGA MX battle between Pumas and Querétaro, which will also be played Thursday. No date has been set yet for the Round of 16 matches.
Tickets go on sale Monday on Revolutionsoccer.net. Season members will automatically receive their tickets for Thursday’s match unless they previously opted out of Leagues Cup earlier this season. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/30/sports/revolution-host-atlas-leagues-cup-round-32/ | 2023-07-31T03:13:11 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/30/sports/revolution-host-atlas-leagues-cup-round-32/ |
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.”
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AP Women’s World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-megan-rapinoe-adjusts-to-new-role-at-womens-world-cup-while-still-savoring-final-days-in-spotlight/ | 2023-07-31T03:13:17 | 1 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-megan-rapinoe-adjusts-to-new-role-at-womens-world-cup-while-still-savoring-final-days-in-spotlight/ |
The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that Ukrainian forces had fired at least three drones at Moscow, the latest in a wave of attacks in Russia demonstrating that few places are off limits after more than 17 months of war.
One drone was destroyed in Odintsovo, outside Moscow, the Defense Ministry said, adding that two others struck commercial buildings in the capital after being intercepted by Russian air defenses. There were no injuries, Moscow’s mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app, but video footage from Russian state media showed blown-out windows and twisted beams in one of Moscow’s premier skyscrapers.
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Ukraine does not typically claim responsibility for attacks in Russia, in an effort to maintain a military advantage and an element of surprise. However, senior Ukrainian officials said last week that recent drone attacks on Moscow were orchestrated by Ukraine.
In his evening address Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not explicitly mention the strikes in Moscow but noted that “gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia,” including military and “symbolic” centers.
“This is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” said Zelenskyy, who previously promised “retaliation” after two weeks of nonstop Russian bombardment on Odesa, a city on the Black Sea that is both vital to Ukraine’s economy and of great cultural and historical significance.
Ukraine has also been accused of using drones to attack Russian-occupied Crimea — with Moscow claiming on Sunday that a new wave was launched overnight — and oil facilities and military air bases deep inside Russia.
The attacks in Moscow, though they have become more frequent, have so far caused no deaths. They have also been far less extensive than the drone and missile strikes that Russian forces conduct nightly across Ukraine, often hitting civilian areas.
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The first drone attacks on Moscow, on the Kremlin compound, came in early May, an assault that U.S. officials said was most likely carried out by one of Ukraine’s special military or intelligence units. They were followed by attacks at the end of that month on a high-end Moscow neighborhood.
This month there have been at least three drone attacks on Moscow, some coming within blocks of striking military facilities central to the war effort.
The attacks have upended the assumption of people in Moscow, about 500 miles from Ukraine, that the fighting would never touch them.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/30/world/russia-says-2-drones-hit-buildings-moscow-latest-wave-attacks/ | 2023-07-31T03:13:17 | 1 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/30/world/russia-says-2-drones-hit-buildings-moscow-latest-wave-attacks/ |
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.
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Ellen McIntyre is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
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AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-new-zealand-out-of-womens-world-cup-following-0-0-draw-with-switzerland-as-swiss-advance/ | 2023-07-31T03:13:23 | 0 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-new-zealand-out-of-womens-world-cup-following-0-0-draw-with-switzerland-as-swiss-advance/ |
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.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-no-2-pick-stroud-competes-with-mills-for-starting-qb-job-with-houston-texans/ | 2023-07-31T03:13:30 | 0 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-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.
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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.
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Zach Allen is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
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AP Women’s World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-norway-moves-into-the-knockout-round-at-womens-world-cup-with-6-0-rout-over-the-philippines/ | 2023-07-31T03:13:36 | 0 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-norway-moves-into-the-knockout-round-at-womens-world-cup-with-6-0-rout-over-the-philippines/ |
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The surprising Texas Rangers are going all-in with Max Scherzer just when they need a big boost the most.
The AL West leaders acquired the three-time Cy Young Award winner from the New York Mets in a blockbuster trade announced Sunday, right about the time Texas placed ace Nathan Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list with a strained right forearm.
News of the agreement broke Saturday night while the Rangers were losing for the sixth time in eight games, trimming their lead over second-place Houston to one game.
Texas didn’t stop there, either. The team also landed left-handed starter Jordan Montgomery, right-handed reliever Chris Stratton and international bonus pool money from the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday for left-hander John King, minor league infielder Tommy Saggese and minor league right-hander T.K. Roby.
Texas manager Bruce Bochy said Scherzer will make his Rangers debut Thursday when he starts at home against the Chicago White Sox.
“It’s great. We’re pumped about it. We’re getting an experienced guy with a tremendous resume,” Bochy said before the Rangers tried to avoid a sweep in San Diego.
Bochy said the message to his players before Tuesday’s trade deadline is: “Hey, we mean business. We’re here to win. And it’s always a great message when a team does something like this.”
Rangers general manager Chris Young, a former big league pitcher, was excited as well.
“Obviously, Max’s pedigree is a future Hall of Fame pitcher and the winner that he is is a perfect fit for what we need right now,” Young said. “You can never have enough starting pitching and to add someone of Max’s caliber is a great addition to our club. We landed the player we feel like is going to help us get where we want to go this year.”
Texas has emerged from six consecutive losing seasons to lead the AL West all but one day in Bochy’s first season in charge. Bochy won three World Series championships from 2010-14 as manager of the San Francisco Giants.
While hoping his absence won’t go beyond 15 days, Eovaldi, an All-Star this season who won a World Series title with the Boston Red Sox in 2018, was happy to hear of the acquisition of Scherzer.
“Adding him not only to this rotation for this year but also for next year, is a huge pickup,” Eovaldi said. “He brings that experience. He’s accomplished everything. What he’s going to be able to do for the guys, the energy, and you see how he goes out there and competes on the mound, and then just that extra experience for the postseason as well.
“We’ve got more guys that have experienced it and been through it, and the more guys you have with everything that he’s been able to accomplish, the better it is for the whole rotation and the team itself,” Eovaldi added.
Eovaldi joins two other Rangers All-Stars on the IL, catcher Jonah Heim and shortstop Corey Seager.
The trade netted the Mets one of Texas’ top prospects in infielder Luisangel Acuña, the younger brother of Atlanta star Ronald Acuña Jr. New York said he will be optioned to Double-A Binghamton.
Scherzer waived his no-trade clause to complete the deal, and the Mets will send cash to Texas. The pitcher also agreed to opt in on the final year of his contract in 2024 at $43.3 million, according to reports that said the Mets were paying about $35 million of the remaining $58 million on the right-hander’s contract.
The 39-year-old Scherzer joins another former Mets ace in Texas: injured right-hander Jacob deGrom. However, the two-time Cy Young Award winner had Tommy John surgery last month that could sideline him through the end of next season.
Scherzer (9-4) was leading the Mets in wins but had his highest ERA (4.01) since 2011 with Detroit. The eight-time All-Star started Friday at home against Washington, allowing one run over seven innings in a 5-1 New York victory.
With 210 career wins, Scherzer is third among active pitchers behind Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke.
The Mets, one of baseball’s biggest disappointments, unloaded Scherzer just days after sending closer David Robertson to Miami for two minor leaguers Thursday night.
New York began the season with the highest payroll in baseball at a record $355 million but started Sunday 18 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East and seven games back in the wild-card race with a string of teams to catch.
“We just couldn’t get the consistency clicking,” general manager Billy Eppler said.
The next question is what the Mets will do with Verlander, another three-time Cy Young Award winner signed through next season. There should be plenty of suitors for the 40-year-old right-hander, who earned his 250th career win Sunday against Washington.
The Rangers made the first notable move of this trading season by getting once-dominant closer Aroldis Chapman from Kansas City in June. Chapman has stayed in a setup role with Will Smith handling most of the closing duties.
Now, Texas has bolstered its rotation.
The 21-year-old Acuña was batting .315 with seven homers, 51 RBIs and an .830 OPS in 84 games with Double-A Frisco this season. He also had 25 doubles and was leading the Texas League in stolen bases (42) and runs (68).
Acuña was the third-ranked prospect in Texas’ farm system and No. 44 overall in the majors, according to MLB Pipeline.
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Dixon reported from Texas.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-rangers-get-scherzer-from-mets-in-all-in-blockbuster-from-surprise-al-west-leaders/ | 2023-07-31T03:13:43 | 0 | https://fox59.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-rangers-get-scherzer-from-mets-in-all-in-blockbuster-from-surprise-al-west-leaders/ |
Updated July 30, 2023 at 10:09 PM ET
It's 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, is shutting down, according to the Teamsters union, which represents the company's 22,000 unionized workers.
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's poised to 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 were told to prepare for a company shutdown
The Teamsters union, which had been locked in contentious negotiations for a new contract with Yellow, said it received a legal notice that Yellow is ceasing operations and filing for bankruptcy, according to a news release posted Sunday night.
"Today's news is unfortunate but not surprising," said Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien. "This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry."
The union's announcement comes hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that Yellow shut down on Sunday afternoon, citing internal notices sent to customers and employees.
Yellow says it will issue a public statement on Monday about "the state of the company and the operation," according to the industry outlet FreightWaves, which also obtained internal documents.
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."
The same day, Teamsters had 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.
A strike threat delivered the final blow to cash-poor Yellow
The shutdown comes just 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. After fleeing to rival carriers like FedEx and ABF Freight, customers didn't return.
"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, with each party blaming one another for the company's problems.
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.
In its Sunday statement, the Teamsters union said it's working to help "affected members get the assistance they need to find good union jobs throughout freight and other industries."
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 a recent 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.ijpr.org/npr-news/npr-news/2023-07-30/the-yellow-trucking-company-meltdown-explained | 2023-07-31T03:13:44 | 1 | https://www.ijpr.org/npr-news/npr-news/2023-07-30/the-yellow-trucking-company-meltdown-explained |