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NEW YORK, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognized for relentlessly pursuing innovative audience engagement solutions, Resulticks is now redefining the space with a laser focus on creating Connected Experiences for brands and their audiences through its flagship product RESUL.
Addressing this next leap in the product's evolution, Dakshen Ram, Co-Founder and Chief Product and Innovation Officer of Resulticks said, "RESUL began ten years ago as an omnichannel stack with the aim of moving clients steadily toward digital transformation. Now, recalibrating what audience engagement really means, we have created the definitive solution to deliver end-to-end Connected Experiences—real-time, contextual, everywhere, anytime, and across the phygital spectrum."
Connected Experiences reimagines how businesses can engage with their audiences. Brands will be able to leverage non-conventional channels for data consolidation and communications. The shift will also incorporate new channels of communication including IoT interfaces such as digital billboards, smart devices, and facial recognition devices, enabling organizations to facilitate customer engagement across the physical and digital landscape.
Operating at native latency, businesses will be able to deliver entirely hyper-personalized journeys at scale that are not only attributable but most importantly are limited only by end-point processing capabilities and speeds.
Ram also noted that there is a marked gap between what audiences expect in terms of real-time engagement and what is being served to them today. The interpretation of real-time often has been understandably subjective. "But from the audience's perspective," he said, "it's time to move the needle from real-time engagement to right-now engagement, which means effortlessly syncing with audiences traversing spaces, channels, devices, and IoT interfaces."
Commenting on edge computing and serverless infrastructure supported by the WebAssembly framework, Ram added, "Our next major release RESUL 5.5 slated for release in Q4 of 2023 as well as our work on a generative AI core will further equip brands to chart audience journeys leveraging the flexibility offered by technology rather than being bound by its limitations. This commitment to a connected experience framework is set to usher in, for brands, an era of audience engagement that is instant, creative, and attributable like never before."
About Resulticks
Resulticks is a global leader in real-time audience engagement solutions that deliver top-line growth for brands through connected experiences. Outcomes-focused and enabled by its proprietary cookie-independent identity resolution technology, Resulticks equips brands to make a transformational leap to true 360o customer engagement. With its AI-powered, audience-centric approach it is changing how brands worldwide reach, acquire, and retain satisfied customers. Resulticks Solution Inc. is headquartered in New York City.
Media Contact:
Name: Sneha Subramanian
Email: ssneha@resulticks.com
Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2165938/Connected_Experiences_PR_Banner.jpg
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2165967/RESULTICKS_Logo.jpg
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SOURCE Resulticks | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/resulticks-carves-out-new-niche-audience-engagement-connected-experiences-powered-by-resul/ | 2023-07-31T17:56:27 | 0 | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/resulticks-carves-out-new-niche-audience-engagement-connected-experiences-powered-by-resul/ |
SAN FRANCISCO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Dental of California and affiliates today announced that Mike Castro will retire as its chief executive officer (CEO) Dec. 31, 2023 and become chairman of the board of Delta Dental of California effective Jan. 1, 2024. Sarah Chavarria, current president of Delta Dental of California, will succeed Mr. Castro to become president and CEO Jan. 1, 2024.
Mr. Castro has led the company as CEO of Delta Dental since 2019. During his two decades with the company, he has held a variety of leadership roles, including serving as chief financial officer for 14 years.
"It has been a privilege to lead our business," said Mike Castro, chief executive officer of Delta Dental of California. "Over the years, many people have asked how I want to define my legacy at Delta Dental. The simple answer has always been the same: to leave the company better than I found it, and in better hands. I'm proud to say we're a stronger company than we were five years ago, and we have a deep bench of exceptional leaders to help us continue to capitalize on our position of strength thanks to the team."
Sarah Chavarria was promoted to president in 2022 and has led the organization's Operations, Technology, People, Growth, Marketing and Communication divisions. She began her career at Delta Dental as chief people officer and later expanded her leadership to include oversight of the other teams.
"I want to thank Mike for his support, exceptional leadership and dedication to Delta Dental, which have laid the foundation for a successful future," said Sarah Chavarria, president of Delta Dental of California. "We will continue our partnership when he moves into his new role as chairman of the board. Together, we will ensure our customers, providers and employees remain at the forefront of our business and that we stay focused on our purpose to improve health by providing access to quality care for our more than 45 million members."
About Delta Dental of California
Since 1955, Delta Dental of California has offered comprehensive, high quality oral health care coverage to millions of enrollees and built the strongest network of dental providers in the country. The Delta Dental of California enterprise includes its affiliates Delta Dental Insurance Company, Delta Dental of Pennsylvania, Delta Dental of New York, Inc., as well as the national DeltaCare USA network, and provides dental benefits to more than 45 million people across 15 states and the District of Columbia*. All are members of the Delta Dental Plans Association based in Oak Brook, Illinois, the not-for-profit national association that through a national network of Delta Dental companies collectively covers millions of people nationwide. For more information about Delta Dental of California, please visit www.deltadentalins.com
*Delta Dental of California's operating areas encompass Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and District of Columbia.
For media inquiries, contact:
Tom Sarris
Director, Corporate Communications
Delta Dental of California
tsarris@delta.org
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SOURCE Delta Dental of California | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/mike-castro-retire-ceo-become-chairman-board-delta-dental-california-president-sarah-chavarria-named-successor/ | 2023-07-31T17:56:27 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/mike-castro-retire-ceo-become-chairman-board-delta-dental-california-president-sarah-chavarria-named-successor/ |
The Douglas County Board of Commissioners are pleased to announce that Douglas County was awarded an Oregon Heritage - Veterans and War Memorial grant from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to renovate the 52-year-old Douglas County War Memorial, located at the Douglas County Courthouse in Roseburg. The grant, in the amount of $58,919, requires a 20% match in funding/donations which will come from the county, the local veteran’s community, military organizations and in-kind donations. The total renovation project is expected to begin this summer and is projected to take about a year to complete. The total cost of the renovation is estimated at $80,000.
Douglas County is partnering with the Douglas County Veterans Forum (DCVF) (a federally recognized 501 (c) (3) organization (non-profit partner) and the Douglas County Veterans Advisory Committee (DCVAC) to facilitate the renovation project. The project includes refurbishing and replacing bronze plaques containing the names of fallen Douglas County wartime heroes; refurbishing and updating the aging memorial grounds, base, concrete and wall; adding a new Purple Heart Memorial; adding new bronze gold star and blue star plaques; adding two new flag poles to the front of the courthouse in order to properly display the United States, Oregon and POW/MIA flags and beautifying the grounds around the memorial.
The memorial proudly resides on the well-kept grounds of the Douglas County Courthouse, on the lawn near the front entrance under the beautiful canopy of our 125-year-old Courthouse Heritage Elm Tree. The memorial was originally built in 1971 to honorably display a list of Douglas County casualties of war. Over the years, the memorial has been added to with plaques containing names of fallen wartime individuals and new battles/conflicts. The memorial underwent a small restoration project in 2007, but several repair items were able not to be completed due to budget constraints. The memorial has experienced continued disrepair, deterioration, and erosion from the elements over the years that desperately need to be addressed.
“The primary goal of this restoration project is to preserve the integrity of our war memorial site, so it remains beautiful, reverent, and accessible for future generations. Our county motto, "We Honor Veterans," stands as a testament to our commitment and ongoing support for our local veterans and in honoring those who have given all in service to our country. The restoration project allows us to continue to provide an impactful historical point of interest that honors our fallen wartime heroes, reaffirms our sincere gratitude for their ultimate sacrifice and reminds our community that they will never be forgotten,” stated Commissioner Tim Freeman.
The project came to fruition via a concern presented at a DCVAC meeting in late 2022. It was then discussed at several DCVF meetings and voted on at the January 17 meeting. Members of DCVF motioned and voted unanimously to have the DCVF provide support for the project. The proposal was brought before the DCVAC Board and the DCBOC for their support. Both boards tendered their full support and commitment to the restoration project. The project is being managed by the Douglas County Building Facilities Department, with help from a cadre of dedicated local veterans led by veteran and purple heart recipient Rick Sciapiti, the DCVF and the DCVAC.
“The Douglas County Forum is pleased to provide support for the upgrade to the Douglas County War Memorial. This Memorial is a tribute to Douglas County Veterans who lost their lives while serving this country. We owe a big thank you to Rick Sciapiti for his vision and drive to see this project through. He enlisted the help of many organizations both in and outside of the veteran’s community, as well as state and county governments to see this project through. When he approached our County Commissioners, they were eager to help with this project. The Commissioners continue to support and honor all veterans and particularly those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.” said Gwen Best, President of the Douglas County Veterans Forum.
The Oregon Heritage - Veterans and War Memorial grant is one of a variety of the $13 million in grants offered annually by OPRD to support outdoor recreation, historic preservation, conservation, and more. The Veterans and War Memorial grant is available to local governments for building and restoring veteran's and war memorials.
"The 250 names on the Douglas County War Memorial represent unequaled courage, strength, and sacrifice. Securing that their sacrifice will always be remembered begins right here where they grew up. It’s an honor to be a part with so many other people working on the upgrade and restoration of the Douglas County War Memorial site," remarked Rick Sciapiti. | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/douglas-county-receives-grant-for-war-memorial/article_32b720e0-2efb-11ee-9189-c36378caba9a.html | 2023-07-31T17:56:29 | 1 | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/douglas-county-receives-grant-for-war-memorial/article_32b720e0-2efb-11ee-9189-c36378caba9a.html |
Fishtrap Road (Coquille) will be closed to all traffic from Mile Post 1.8 to Mile Post 3.1 to allow for pavement repair operations. The closure will be August 7th to August 11th, 7am to 7pm daily.
Emergency vehicles will be accommodated during the closure. All others, please chose an alternative route during this time. | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/fishtrap-road-in-coquille-will-be-closed-august-7th---11th-7am-to-7pm/article_3d1ce8a0-2efe-11ee-b92f-df571348566a.html | 2023-07-31T17:56:33 | 0 | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/fishtrap-road-in-coquille-will-be-closed-august-7th---11th-7am-to-7pm/article_3d1ce8a0-2efe-11ee-b92f-df571348566a.html |
Mr. Carr is President and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, which operate under the Momentus Capital Brand
ARLINGTON, Va. and SAN DIEGO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For all of us at Momentus Capital, 2022 was a year to remember. Working in cities and communities across the country, we put over $760 million into the hands of entrepreneurs, developers, and other local leaders. In addition, lenders utilized our Ventures Lending Technologies' suite of products to deploy more than $20 billion in financing to their clients. These numbers represent the highest level of investment in the history of our family of organizations.
But beyond these headline figures, what do these numbers represent? What do these dollars actually support? When I get asked this question, three things come to mind:
First and foremost, our work supports people. The people that we invest in are pursuing their own dreams for themselves and their communities. Most are small business owners and community real estate developers, but no matter their line of work, I see them the same way: as builders. In many cases, these folks are the folks that the traditional financial sector has left behind. Through their businesses, projects, and community leadership, they are building a better future for themselves and those around them – and we are proud to support their vision.
Second, our work advances a culture that puts the voices of these leaders at the center of what we do. Local voices shape our priorities, our projects, and our strategies. One of the reasons I admire our staff so deeply is because they are committed to this culture. We adopted our four Core Values – being visionary, invested, collaborative, and intentionally inclusive – to strengthen this culture. We build authentic relationships with our colleagues, our partners, and the community leaders we support. As we do, we strive to always actively listen to how they describe their own wants, needs, and vision.
Finally and most importantly, our work supports communities. Strengthening and supporting communities is the reason we exist. We are committed to the idea that the people of every community in America deserve to live, work, play, and dream without being constrained by a lack of capital, a lack of knowledge, a lack of power. Every bit of capital we provide is about directing power – economic, social, and cultural – to communities with dreams, assets, and aspirations that outstrip the power our current system has allowed them.
We do the work we do so that people, cultures, and communities across this country can thrive. As you can see in our Annual Report, we did a lot last year in the service of this goal. As with every year, our achievements are thanks to the expertise and dedication of our incredible staff. I am grateful for their commitment to our mission and proud of the way they approach this work. As the "first generation" of Momentus Capital employees, they are advancing the work while helping us to build a new type of organization, shaping the day-to-day environment of our organization. Every day, I feel lucky and honored to work with this team.
Of course, the real work is ahead of us, not behind. We are on a multi-year journey to build an integrated financial services organization that puts purpose over profit. Working together with partners, we will redefine how capital flows into underestimated communities so that everyone has access to the resources they need to thrive. The result? An economic system that respects and uplifts all peoples' right to achieve the dreams they have for themselves, their communities, and generations to come.
Thank you, as always, for your interest and support.
To read our full FY2022 Annual Report, please click here.
About Momentus Capital
The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations refers to the combined operations of Capital Impact Partners, CDC Small Business Finance, Momentus Direct Capital, Momentus Securities, and Ventures Lending Technologies. While each organization under the Momentus Capital brand still operates as a separate entity, their clients will now have access to more resources and products.
The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations is transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people access to the capital and opportunities they deserve. We are working to reinvent traditional financial systems that have failed to address systemic issues of inequality, economic empowerment, and the widening racial wealth gap by offering a continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital to help local leaders build inclusive and equitable communities and create generational wealth. This includes a comprehensive package of loan products, impact investment opportunities, training and business advising programs, and technology services that advance locally-led solutions.
Leveraging 80 years of combined experience, nearly $3 billion in assets, and strong community engagement, we have delivered $23 billion in financing, created and preserved 250,000 jobs, and served 12,000 small businesses and five million people across their history.
With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and San Diego, California, Momentus Capital operates nationally with a focus on larger urban areas and cities in Arizona, California, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Texas, and the Washington metro area.
Learn more at momentuscap.org.
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SOURCE Momentus Capital | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/momentus-capital-annual-report-fy2022-ellis-carr-creating-access-capital-opportunities-all/ | 2023-07-31T17:56:34 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/momentus-capital-annual-report-fy2022-ellis-carr-creating-access-capital-opportunities-all/ |
Do you want to listen to lots of live Oldtime Music and Fiddling? Well, come to Winchester Bay and join the Oregon Oldtime Fiddlers as we host our 15th Annual “Fiddle at the Beach”event.
The gathering begins on Thursday, August 17, and concludes on Sunday, August 20. The festivities will be held at the Winchester Bay Community Center located at 635 Broadway in Winchester Bay. Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be filled with open jams all day long. So feel free to bring your acoustic stringed instrument and join the music! An evening stage show will begin each evening at 6 p.m.
Friday will be Contest Night with this year's theme of “Sea to Shining Sea-Across America.” Performers often wear costumes adding humor and frivolity to their chosen song. The festivities will conclude Sunday morning with our Gospel Show which begins at 9 a.m. and concludes once all signed up musicians have played their song, typically around 11.
This event is hosted by District 5 which is the Southern/Central Coastal region of the Oregon Oldtime Fiddlers. This is their biggest event of the year, and musicians from all the different districts in Oregon attend, so there is always a wide variety of tunes, instruments and skill levels.
Admission is free! Cookies and coffee provided. They are happy to be playing “live” music once again and hope you will join in the efforts to keep “Oldtime” Music and Fiddling alive and well.
The Oregon Oldtime Fiddlers Association is a non-profit 501C organization which was founded in 1964 with the sole purpose of “preserving, promoting and perpetuating old-time music and old-time fiddling”. If you enjoy “Old Time” music please join us at this very fun, musical event. For more information call Dawn at 541-347-4561 or Mapril at 541-572-5532. | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/oldtime-fiddlers-returning-to-winchester-bay/article_763fb45e-2efa-11ee-8ac7-5be4355fc984.html | 2023-07-31T17:56:35 | 0 | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/oldtime-fiddlers-returning-to-winchester-bay/article_763fb45e-2efa-11ee-8ac7-5be4355fc984.html |
A while ago, I had the opportunity to spend some time in Washington D.C. Although most of what I did was work, I did end up with a few hours to look around. I went through the Capitol Building and saw historic chambers used for the Supreme Court and the early House of Representatives. I also sat in the Senate Chamber. While listening to the debate, I looked at the ancient desks and thought of the multitudes of issues that have been argued over them.
I also found a lot of other things in our Nation’s capitol. Weather was marginal, people were often very abrupt and prices were out of this world. It was good to get home.
We are truly blessed to live on the Oregon Coast where our surroundings are beautiful, our weather is wonderful year round, and the people you meet on the street actually talk to you. If we love this community, we must work to keep it and improve it for tomorrow. We work, often as volunteers. Volunteers addressing issues that we feel are important. What needs do you see? Let me encourage you to find your answer and do something. Your willingness to step up, simply because it’s the right thing to do, will determine how outstanding Oregon’s Bay Area can be.
What do you expect this area to be in ten years? Your expectations are important, because seldom do you exceed them. You don’t get what you want, you get what you expect. So let’s expect greatness and figure out what we need, and how to apply it, to get there. One key is to be an active member in your Chamber. With like minded people, looking to make something happen, we find opportunities and solutions for today and tomorrow. In this pandemic world it is even more critical that we work together to enable our community to thrive, once again. Give me a call and I’ll set you up.
Remember our business is helping your business. And like us on Facebook. | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/the-chamber-minute-good-to-be-home/article_bc2ecf58-2efb-11ee-8c5e-83b8ea0cdc41.html | 2023-07-31T17:56:35 | 0 | https://theworldlink.com/news/local/the-chamber-minute-good-to-be-home/article_bc2ecf58-2efb-11ee-8c5e-83b8ea0cdc41.html |
Award Recognizes Exemplary Commitment to Transportation Safety
BRUSLY, La., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM), a national organization whose members include the most senior fire officials in the United States, is delighted to honor ExxonMobil with the esteemed Norman Y. Mineta Excellence in Transportation Safety Award.
The ExxonMobil organization is recognized for having one of the safest years in Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company's (EMPCo) history and their industry-leading safety preparations for the upcoming buildout of a network of CO2 and H2 pipelines. By empowering personnel to identify and strengthen critical safeguards to mitigate risk in potential consequence areas, ExxonMobil takes on the challenge of emerging fuels pipelines and storage facilities while maintaining exceptional safety standards.
The Norman Y. Mineta Excellence in Transportation Safety Award is an honor awarded to individuals or organizations who have shown a significant and lasting contribution to product, material and human safety. Named after its first recipient, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, the award recognizes achievements in transportation safety standards that exceed the minimum requirements.
"The way ExxonMobil engages with fire fighters is a great example of how companies and first responders should work together to yield the highest level of public safety and awareness," said Chief Butch Browning, NASFM Executive Director.
"It is an honor to receive this award on behalf of ExxonMobil. We are proud that our focus on safety and operational excellence is recognized by one of our most important stakeholders, first responders," said Steve Yatauro, ExxonMobil Pipeline Company President.
Since 2005, 11 organizations or individuals have received the Norman Y. Mineta Excellence in Transportation Safety Award. ExxonMobil's recognition marks the first award since Former NASFM Presidents and State Fire Marshal Bill Degnan in 2016.
The award was presented to EMPCo VP of Operations Saul Flota at the NASFM Annual Conference on July 31, 2023, in Wilmington, North Carolina.
For more information, visit the NASFM website at firemarshals.org.
About the National Association of State Fire Marshalls:
The principal membership of NASFM comprises the senior fire officials in the United States and their top deputies. The primary mission of NASFM is to protect human life, property and the environment from fire and related hazards. A secondary mission of NASFM is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of State Fire Marshals' operations.
CONTACT:
Philip Oakes
Chief of Operations and Training
phil@browning.red
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SOURCE National Association of State Fire Marshals | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/nasfm-recognizes-exxonmobil-with-norman-y-mineta-excellence-transportation-safety-award/ | 2023-07-31T17:56:40 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/nasfm-recognizes-exxonmobil-with-norman-y-mineta-excellence-transportation-safety-award/ |
New Contract Protecting Nearly 8,000 Workers Overwhelmingly Approved
WASHINGTON, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Teamsters have overwhelmingly ratified a new national contract at TForce Freight by 81 percent. The five-year master agreement provides members with significant improvements to wages and benefits, and safeguards against subcontracting and technology.
"Teamsters at TForce have set a powerful example for how to take on the employer and win a strong agreement. Over the next five years, TForce workers will continue to establish better standards for freight under this contract, including the most lucrative economic package in the industry and vital protections for technology, pension, health care, and safety," said Sean M. O'Brien, Teamsters General President and Chair of the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC).
The agreement will go into effect August 1, 2023, and expire July 31, 2028. Contract highlights include:
- Wage Increases: The highest wage increases in the history of the national contract. Full-time local cartage and clerks will receive increases of $4.50 per hour over the life of the agreement. Road drivers will receive industry-leading increases to their current mileage rate over the length of the deal, starting at $0.7557 in August 2023 and increasing to $0.8257 by January 2028. The agreement eliminates split wage increases and two-tier wages.
- Health, Welfare, and Pension Contributions: TForce is required to increase its contributions to health, welfare, and pension plans. These contributions will provide vital support for members' health care and retirement needs.
- Technology Safeguards: The agreement includes provisions to safeguard members' rights and well-being from invasive technology. It prevents discipline from cameras and prohibits the use of robots, driverless vehicles, drones, or other technology to move freight or replace drivers, clerks, or dockworkers.
- Additional Holiday: Martin Luther King Day has been added as a paid holiday.
- Safety: All newly purchased equipment and vehicles must have air conditioning.
- Discretionary Days and Vacation: Starting January 1, 2024, two additional discretionary days will be added to the contractual floor, increasing the minimum number of paid days from four to six. There will be no blackout dates.
- Work Rule Protections: Shuttle and drayage work will not count towards the guarantee covered under the agreement. Road drivers will only perform road work and cannot work the docks except for the current mini-hub operations. TForce must have approval from the Teamsters for any other expansion of mini-hub operations.
- Protections Against Subcontracting: Road drivers would be protected against subcontracting. Penalties have been put in place to ensure rail and subcontracting come back into the bargaining unit.
"Our members at TForce have spoken loud and clear, and they overwhelmingly agree this new contract will deliver massive economic gains and non-economic improvements," said John A. Murphy, Teamsters National Freight Director and TNFINC Co-Chair. "The entire union thanks our lead negotiators Kris Taylor and Ed Thompson and the full negotiating team for their efforts to bargain an industry-defining agreement. Most of all, we thank the tireless and dedicated rank-and-filers who served on the negotiating committee to improve the lives of their fellow Teamsters at TForce."
Teamsters voted in-person last week and ballots were counted on Sunday. The agreement covers approximately 7,800 Teamsters at 126 local unions throughout the U.S.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
Contact:
Daniel Moskowitz, (770) 262-4971
dmoskowitz@teamster.org
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SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-tforce-freight-ratify-national-agreement/ | 2023-07-31T17:56:40 | 0 | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-tforce-freight-ratify-national-agreement/ |
WASHINGTON, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) President, Carole Fisher has attracted publicity for her role hosting the popular podcast series – "The Girlfriends". Produced by NOVEL for iHeartRadio, the thrilling nine-part series, led by Fisher, uncovers the horrific backstory of Gail Katz's death, the systems that failed her and all the girlfriends that brought her justice.
THE GIRLFRIENDS explores the bonds of friendship, female solidarity, empowerment, and bringing justice to all people who suffer at the hands of abuse and domestic violence. Since its release on July 10, The Girlfriends has achieved success – currently ranking at #1 in Canada, the United Kingdom and United States on Apple Podcasts.
"This is more than just being another binge-worthy true crime podcast series. It's about raising awareness around the horrors of abuse, especially domestic and sexual violence," said Carole Fisher, NPHI President. "It has been a privilege and an honor to speak up on behalf of Gail Katz, and so many other women who are victims of domestic violence. Together, we must do more to elevate the voices of those in danger."
NOVEL collaborated with the leading global charity NOMORE.org dedicated to ending domestic violence and sexual assault by increasing awareness, inspiring action, and fueling culture change. NPHI maintains close links to these related issues through its engagement with Healthsperien LLC and applauds Carole Fisher for her continued commitment to social impact and raising awareness on the issues of domestic violence against women.
"I am extremely pleased to hear of the success of this podcast, and I support its greater goal in raising awareness around the pervasiveness of domestic violence," said Tom Koutsoumpas, NPHI CEO. "Carole's entire lifework has been centered around helping and speaking out for others and her participation in this podcast highlights her never-ending commitment to creating social impact and change where it is rightly needed."
Carole, who is employed directly by the renowned DC Policy Firm, Healthsperien LLC, has presided over the day-to-day operations of NPHI since January 2021. In this capacity, she brings a wealth of expertise that has helped NPHI grow exponentially and evolve with the ever-changing hospice landscape. Prior to her time at Healthsperien and NPHI, she served as a highly regarded C-suite leader, including a long-time engagement as the CEO of Nathan Adelson Hospice in her hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada.
You can find The Girlfriends on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
About Carole Fisher: Ms. Fisher serves as President for the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). Utilizing her previous experiences and deep familiarity with not-for-profit community-based hospice and palliative healthcare, she is charged with leading a wide range of activities for NPHI. With an emphasis on developing strategic partnerships, meaningful collaborations and transformational innovations, Ms. Fisher provides support for NPHI members leading complex organizations.
Ms. Fisher spends her time working between her homes in Las Vegas, Nevada and Covington, Louisiana. She frequently travels to Washington D.C. for policy-related initiatives.
You can find Carole on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram under @CaroleAFisher.
The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) is a membership organization comprising 100+ not-for-profit, community-integrated hospice and palliative care providers dedicated to ensuring patients and their families have access to care that reflects their individual goals, values, and preferences. Representing providers from 37 states and the District of Columbia, NPHI and its members help design more innovative and effective models of care, advocate for comprehensive and community-integrated care customized to meet each person's unique needs, and build collaboration between national thought leaders, decision-makers, and other healthcare stakeholders to improve hospice care. Learn more at hospiceinnovations.org.
Press Contact:
Matt Wilkinson
Communications Manager, NPHI
+1 (801) 615-4207
mwilkinson@hospiceinnovations.org
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SOURCE National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/nphi-president-carole-fisher-hosts-trending-true-crime-podcast-girlfriends/ | 2023-07-31T17:56:48 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/nphi-president-carole-fisher-hosts-trending-true-crime-podcast-girlfriends/ |
Partnership Will Enable OneValley to Provide Up to 1.1M Entrepreneurial Users with Algorithmic-Driven Web Content Scored for Reliability and Personalized to Help Them Grow Their Business
VIENNA, Va., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Seekr, a revolutionary artificial intelligence company specializing in transparent content evaluation, announced today it has entered into a strategic partnership with OneValley, a Silicon Valley-based global entrepreneurship platform that powers many of the world's top innovation, entrepreneurial and non-profit ecosystems. The partnership integrates Seekr's groundbreaking search capabilities into OneValley's information-sharing platform, enabling 1.1 million entrepreneurial users supported by OneValley to access algorithmic-driven news that is personalized and scored for reliability.
"The OneValley platform is already a treasure trove of high-value information for entrepreneurs, providing guidance and insights on everything from ideation and launch to growth and scaling. Seekr's content evaluation capabilities amplify that value proposition, taking the platform to the next level," said Rob Clark, President and Chief Technology Officer at Seekr. "Our technology enables the OneValley platform to identify relevant information, regardless of whether it lives on the platform or on the broader internet, score it for reliability, curate it so that it's tailored to the unique needs and interests of each individual entrepreneur, and finally serve it up to the entrepreneur on-demand."
"As OneValley continues to expand worldwide, this unique partnership with Seekr will provide our customers with the knowledge they need to win in their markets," said Nikhil Sinha, CEO of OneValley. "We further expect that usage on the platform will continue to grow and enhance the life cycle growth from startup to big business."
Seekr's AI-powered search and evaluation technology will be fully integrated into OneValley's online consumer platform, Passport, and its enterprise platform, PassportOS. The technology will enable every OneValley user to generate a bespoke flow of news and other relevant content tailored to meet their unique individual interests and needs.
Under the terms of the agreement, the platform will also feature a stream of real-time news and relevant information powered by Seekr. Additionally, Seekr will provide OneValley with a dynamic competitive analysis tool that provides entrepreneurs and startups with insights into competitor movements and a fuller understanding of how market trends are moving over time.
For further information, visit www.seekr.com.
About Seekr Technologies Inc.
Seekr is a privately held artificial intelligence company that specializes in transparent content evaluation and objective ratings. Its AI technology is designed to rate all content, both authentic content created by humans, and synthetic, machine-generated content. Seekr empowers user choice and control by streamlining access to reliable information. The centerpiece of Seekr's technology is an independent search engine that is powered by proprietary AI and employs natural language processing (NLP) to generate a Seekr Score and Political Lean Indicator. Seekr is committed to building a web that people can trust by giving everyone access to technology that makes it easy to find reliable content in context.
Media Contact:
Ed Patru, EVP Communications
(202) 360-7063
epatru@seekr.com
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SOURCE Seekr Technologies | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/onevalley-seekr-announce-strategic-content-partnership/ | 2023-07-31T17:56:55 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/onevalley-seekr-announce-strategic-content-partnership/ |
NEW YORK, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognized for relentlessly pursuing innovative audience engagement solutions, Resulticks is now redefining the space with a laser focus on creating Connected Experiences for brands and their audiences through its flagship product RESUL.
Addressing this next leap in the product's evolution, Dakshen Ram, Co-Founder and Chief Product and Innovation Officer of Resulticks said, "RESUL began ten years ago as an omnichannel stack with the aim of moving clients steadily toward digital transformation. Now, recalibrating what audience engagement really means, we have created the definitive solution to deliver end-to-end Connected Experiences—real-time, contextual, everywhere, anytime, and across the phygital spectrum."
Connected Experiences reimagines how businesses can engage with their audiences. Brands will be able to leverage non-conventional channels for data consolidation and communications. The shift will also incorporate new channels of communication including IoT interfaces such as digital billboards, smart devices, and facial recognition devices, enabling organizations to facilitate customer engagement across the physical and digital landscape.
Operating at native latency, businesses will be able to deliver entirely hyper-personalized journeys at scale that are not only attributable but most importantly are limited only by end-point processing capabilities and speeds.
Ram also noted that there is a marked gap between what audiences expect in terms of real-time engagement and what is being served to them today. The interpretation of real-time often has been understandably subjective. "But from the audience's perspective," he said, "it's time to move the needle from real-time engagement to right-now engagement, which means effortlessly syncing with audiences traversing spaces, channels, devices, and IoT interfaces."
Commenting on edge computing and serverless infrastructure supported by the WebAssembly framework, Ram added, "Our next major release RESUL 5.5 slated for release in Q4 of 2023 as well as our work on a generative AI core will further equip brands to chart audience journeys leveraging the flexibility offered by technology rather than being bound by its limitations. This commitment to a connected experience framework is set to usher in, for brands, an era of audience engagement that is instant, creative, and attributable like never before."
About Resulticks
Resulticks is a global leader in real-time audience engagement solutions that deliver top-line growth for brands through connected experiences. Outcomes-focused and enabled by its proprietary cookie-independent identity resolution technology, Resulticks equips brands to make a transformational leap to true 360o customer engagement. With its AI-powered, audience-centric approach it is changing how brands worldwide reach, acquire, and retain satisfied customers. Resulticks Solution Inc. is headquartered in New York City.
Media Contact:
Name: Sneha Subramanian
Email: ssneha@resulticks.com
Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2165938/Connected_Experiences_PR_Banner.jpg
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2165967/RESULTICKS_Logo.jpg
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SOURCE Resulticks | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/resulticks-carves-out-new-niche-audience-engagement-connected-experiences-powered-by-resul/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:01 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/resulticks-carves-out-new-niche-audience-engagement-connected-experiences-powered-by-resul/ |
Catena Media provides exclusive sports betting content to AL.com, including picks, analysis, tools and sportsbook offers to help bettors get in on the action. Please wager responsibly.
The Syracuse Orange had a shockingly good 2022 season, giving the squad an opportunity to notch consecutive winning campaigns for the first time since 2013.
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2023 Syracuse football odds preview, season outlook
Expectations weren’t high for the Orange last season but after a 6-0 start highlighted by a win against No. 15 N.C. State, hope began to grow. Syracuse reached the 14th spot in the AP Poll, the school’s first ranking since 2019 and the best ranking since 2018.
But, following the victory over the Wolfpack, Syracuse won just one of its final seven games and the season ended on a low note, as the Orange suffered a 28-20 Pinstripe Bowl loss to Minnesota.
The ups and downs of 2022 have Orange fans feeling unsure of what to expect in 2023. Another grueling ACC schedule is ahead, but one thing to feel optimistic about is the return of QB Garrett Shrader.
Last year, the 22-year-old threw for 2,640 yards and 17 touchdowns, along with 453 rushing yards.
Sack leader Caleb Okechukwu and leading tackler Marlowe Wax are a pair of foundational pieces returning to a defense that allowed only 22 points per game.
College football Bet365 bonus code: Syracuse under 6.5 wins (-145 or better)
Taking the Orange to earn seven or more wins comes with +125 odds, but they weren’t enough to convince us it’s a worthy wager.
Syracuse’s start to the 2022 season was inspiring but quickly spoiled once ACC play began. The Orange lost consecutive games to Clemson, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Florida State, and Wake Forest.
While that portion of the schedule was no cakewalk, winning tough games is a necessity to hit seven wins, especially considering another difficult stretch is ahead when the Orange square off with Army, Clemson, North Carolina, and Florida State in consecutive weeks. Plus, the last two games are arguably the most challenging and will be played on the road.
The ACC schedule makers have once again shown no mercy to Syracuse, and it will cause the team to fall short of the seven-win mark.
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BetMGM bonus code for Syracuse: Orange to win the ACC Championship (+8000 or better)
In head coach Dino Babers’ seven years with the Orange, he went above .500 only once before 2022. Three consecutive seasons of sub-.500 football followed that excellent campaign, and that same is on track to happen after Syracuse’s stunning 2022 showing.
Since joining the ACC in 2013, Syracuse has yet to appear in a conference championship game, let alone win it all. The Orange claiming ACC supremacy would be one of the most unexpected storylines of the 2023 college football season.
The ACC is also home to three of the top 10 players with the shortest odds to win the Heisman. The Orange don’t have enough high-level players to keep pace with the conference’s upper echelon.
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If you or a loved one has questions or needs to talk to a professional about gambling, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit 1800gambler.net for more information. | https://www.al.com/betting/2023/07/2023-syracuse-odds-preview-bets-bonus-codes-get-up-to-3750-in-bonuses-for-orange-football.html | 2023-07-31T17:57:05 | 0 | https://www.al.com/betting/2023/07/2023-syracuse-odds-preview-bets-bonus-codes-get-up-to-3750-in-bonuses-for-orange-football.html |
8-year-old survives cougar attack in Washington state national park
PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) — An 8-year-old child survived a cougar attack with minor injuries while camping in Olympic National Park in Washington state over the weekend.
“The cougar casually abandoned its attack after being yelled and screamed at by the child’s mother,” the National Park Service said in a statement. After being assessed by park personnel, the child, who was not identified, went to a hospital for further evaluation.
Rangers shut down the campsite and surrounding areas following the Saturday attack. Park law enforcement and cougar specialists began looking for the animal on Sunday at Lake Angeles. If located, the cougar will be euthanized and officials hope a necropsy will provide clues as to why it attacked.
Cougars are rarely seen and attacks on humans are extremely rare, park officials said. The lethal removal of the cougar is in line with the park’s protocol for wildlife observations, interactions and attacks.
The entirety of the 1,562-square-mile park located about 60 miles east of Seattle is consider cougar territory.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/31/8-year-old-survives-cougar-attack-washington-state-national-park/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:05 | 1 | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/31/8-year-old-survives-cougar-attack-washington-state-national-park/ |
New Contract Protecting Nearly 8,000 Workers Overwhelmingly Approved
WASHINGTON, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Teamsters have overwhelmingly ratified a new national contract at TForce Freight by 81 percent. The five-year master agreement provides members with significant improvements to wages and benefits, and safeguards against subcontracting and technology.
"Teamsters at TForce have set a powerful example for how to take on the employer and win a strong agreement. Over the next five years, TForce workers will continue to establish better standards for freight under this contract, including the most lucrative economic package in the industry and vital protections for technology, pension, health care, and safety," said Sean M. O'Brien, Teamsters General President and Chair of the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee (TNFINC).
The agreement will go into effect August 1, 2023, and expire July 31, 2028. Contract highlights include:
- Wage Increases: The highest wage increases in the history of the national contract. Full-time local cartage and clerks will receive increases of $4.50 per hour over the life of the agreement. Road drivers will receive industry-leading increases to their current mileage rate over the length of the deal, starting at $0.7557 in August 2023 and increasing to $0.8257 by January 2028. The agreement eliminates split wage increases and two-tier wages.
- Health, Welfare, and Pension Contributions: TForce is required to increase its contributions to health, welfare, and pension plans. These contributions will provide vital support for members' health care and retirement needs.
- Technology Safeguards: The agreement includes provisions to safeguard members' rights and well-being from invasive technology. It prevents discipline from cameras and prohibits the use of robots, driverless vehicles, drones, or other technology to move freight or replace drivers, clerks, or dockworkers.
- Additional Holiday: Martin Luther King Day has been added as a paid holiday.
- Safety: All newly purchased equipment and vehicles must have air conditioning.
- Discretionary Days and Vacation: Starting January 1, 2024, two additional discretionary days will be added to the contractual floor, increasing the minimum number of paid days from four to six. There will be no blackout dates.
- Work Rule Protections: Shuttle and drayage work will not count towards the guarantee covered under the agreement. Road drivers will only perform road work and cannot work the docks except for the current mini-hub operations. TForce must have approval from the Teamsters for any other expansion of mini-hub operations.
- Protections Against Subcontracting: Road drivers would be protected against subcontracting. Penalties have been put in place to ensure rail and subcontracting come back into the bargaining unit.
"Our members at TForce have spoken loud and clear, and they overwhelmingly agree this new contract will deliver massive economic gains and non-economic improvements," said John A. Murphy, Teamsters National Freight Director and TNFINC Co-Chair. "The entire union thanks our lead negotiators Kris Taylor and Ed Thompson and the full negotiating team for their efforts to bargain an industry-defining agreement. Most of all, we thank the tireless and dedicated rank-and-filers who served on the negotiating committee to improve the lives of their fellow Teamsters at TForce."
Teamsters voted in-person last week and ballots were counted on Sunday. The agreement covers approximately 7,800 Teamsters at 126 local unions throughout the U.S.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.
Contact:
Daniel Moskowitz, (770) 262-4971
dmoskowitz@teamster.org
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SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-tforce-freight-ratify-national-agreement/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:08 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/teamsters-tforce-freight-ratify-national-agreement/ |
DEAR ABBY: I’m 26, and I have never been in a long-term relationship. I have used dating apps and have dated several times, but nothing seems to stick after the third date. This year, I have put myself out there more by going to Meetup groups and to religious services.
When I browse Instagram or Facebook, I see content that makes me feel guilty and disappointed. It’s depressing to see people I know getting engaged or married. When I was in high school, most of my classmates went to prom, while I stayed at home.
I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll never find a good quality life partner or if I’m meant to be single forever. I’m afraid there may be something wrong with me. What can I do to move forward? -- UNCOUPLED IN MINNESOTA
DEAR UNCOUPLED: You may be focusing too much on your goal and not enough on enjoying the experience. Dating is a sifting process. It can be tedious and depressing, and it doesn’t always result in meeting Prince Charming.
Because you haven’t yet met The One doesn’t mean the alternative is winding up in a convent. Move forward by teaching yourself to enjoy the present, and you may find you have better luck.
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. | https://www.al.com/life/2023/07/dear-abby-unmatched-26-year-old-is-ready-to-throw-in-the-dating-towel.html | 2023-07-31T17:57:11 | 0 | https://www.al.com/life/2023/07/dear-abby-unmatched-26-year-old-is-ready-to-throw-in-the-dating-towel.html |
Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens dies from cancer at 70
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural phenomenon through films and TV shows, has died.
Reubens died Sunday night after a six-year struggle with cancer that he did not make public, his publicist said in a statement.
“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” Reubens said in a statement released with the announcement of his death. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”
The character with his too-tight gray suit, white chunky loafers and red bow tie was best known for the film “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and the TV series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
Herman created Pee-wee when he was part of the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings in the late 1970s. The live “Pee-wee Herman Show” debuted at a Los Angeles theater in 1981 and was a success with both kids during matinees and adults at a midnight show. HBO would air the show as a special.
Reubens took Pee-wee to the big screen in 1985′s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The film, in which Pee-wee’s cherished bike is stolen, was said to be loosely based on Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist classic, “The Bicycle Thief.” The film, directed by Tim Burton and co-written by Phil Hartman of “Saturday Night Live,” sent Pee-wee on a nationwide escapade. The movie was a success, grossing $40 million, and continued to spawn a cult following for its oddball whimsy.
A sequel followed three years later in the less well-received “Big Top Pee-wee,” in which Pee-wee seeks to join a circus. Reubens’ character wouldn’t get another movie starring role until 2016′s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,” for Netflix. Judd Apatow produced Pee-wee’s big-screen revival.
His television series, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” ran for five seasons, earned 22 Emmys and attracted not only children but adults to Saturday-morning TV.
Both silly and subversive and championing nonconformity, the Pee-wee universe was a trippy place, populated by things such as a talking armchair and a friendly pterodactyl. The host, who is fond of secret words and loves fruit salad so much he once married it, is prone to lines like, “I know you are, but what am I?” and “Why don’t you take a picture; it’ll last longer?” The act was a hit because it worked on multiple levels, even though Reubens insists that wasn’t the plan.
“It’s for kids,” Reubens told The Associated Press in 2010. “People have tried to get me for years to go, ‘It wasn’t really for kids, right?’ Even the original show was for kids. I always censored myself to have it be kid-friendly.
“The whole thing has been just a gut feeling from the beginning,” Reubens told the AP. “That’s all it ever is and I think always ever be. Much as people want me to dissect it and explain it, I can’t. One, I don’t know, and two, I don’t want to know, and three, I feel like I’ll hex myself if I know.”
___
Associated Press Writer Alicia Rancilio and Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/31/paul-reubens-best-known-pee-wee-herman-dies-age-70/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:11 | 1 | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/31/paul-reubens-best-known-pee-wee-herman-dies-age-70/ |
Marlins vs. Phillies Predictions & Picks: Odds, Moneyline, Spread - July 31
Monday's contest that pits the Miami Marlins (57-49) against the Philadelphia Phillies (56-49) at LoanDepot park is expected to be a close matchup based on our computer prediction, which projects a final score of 5-4 in favor of the Marlins. Game time is at 6:40 PM ET on July 31.
This contest's pitching matchup is set, as the Marlins will send Edward Cabrera (5-6) to the mound, while Taijuan Walker (11-4) will answer the bell for the Phillies.
Marlins vs. Phillies Game Info & Odds
- When: Monday, July 31, 2023 at 6:40 PM ET
- Where: LoanDepot park in Miami, Florida
- How to Watch on TV: BSFL
- Live Stream: Watch this game on Fubo!
Bet on this matchup with BetMGM Sportsbook and use bonus code "GNPLAY" for special offers!
Marlins vs. Phillies Score Prediction
Our prediction for this matchup is Marlins 5, Phillies 4.
Total Prediction for Marlins vs. Phillies
- Total Prediction: Over 8.5 runs
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Read More About This Game
Marlins Performance Insights
- The Marlins have played as the favorite in seven of their past 10 games and won three of those contests.
- When it comes to hitting the over, Miami and its opponents are 4-6-0 in its last 10 games with a total.
- There has not been a spread set for any of the Marlins' last 10 games.
- The Marlins have won 32, or 65.3%, of the 49 games they've played as favorites this season.
- Miami has a record of 33-21 in games when sportsbooks favor them by at least -110 on the moneyline.
- The oddsmakers' moneyline implies a 52.4% chance of a victory for the Marlins.
- Miami is among the lowest-scoring teams in the majors, ranking 26th with just 436 total runs (4.1 per game) this season.
- The Marlins' 4.14 team ERA ranks 14th across all league pitching staffs.
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Marlins Schedule
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/sports/betting/2023/07/31/marlins-phillies-mlb-picks-predictions/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:14 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/sports/betting/2023/07/31/marlins-phillies-mlb-picks-predictions/ |
Big Time Rush’s Carlos, Kendall, James and Logan are all set to perform in Pelham at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre Aug. 1, 2023 for the band’s “Can’t Get Enough” tour.
Special guests Max and Jax will also make an appearance during Tuesday’s show in Alabama.
Those who are looking for last minute tickets to see Big Time Rush can still find them primarily through Ticketmaster/Live Nation. However, more seating options can be found through official resale sites such as Vivid Seats, SeatGeek and StubHub.
These sites carry resale tickets that have already been claimed through Ticketmaster, providing fans more seating options that would otherwise not be available through the popular ticket seller site. It also allows for fans to find better deals on tickets if available.
SeatGeek in particular will let the buyer know if the seller is actually offering a fair price for their tickets or not.
However, those who purchase tickets through Vivid Seats can save $20 on ticket orders over $200 with the promo code ‘AL20′ at checkout. This promo code will work for any tickets purchased through Vivid Seats.
More about Big Time Rush
According to Live Nation, Big Time Rush became an overnight sensation in November 2009 when the scripted TV show of the same name launched on Nickelodeon. The show focused on the Hollywood adventures of four hockey players from Minnesota after they were selected to form a boy band.
Later, Carlos, Kendall, James, and Logan came to life as a band off the screen releasing three full length albums and performing across the globe. As the show concluded in July 2013 and after four years of recording music and touring as a band, they went their separate ways, but remained close friends through the years.
After 7 years, in an effort to bring joy to their fans during quarantine around the world, the members of Big Time Rush decided to appear together as a group to send a message of love and togetherness. This was soon followed by a socially distant performance of an acoustic version of their smash hit, “Worldwide”.
These appearances resulted in hysteria amongst their fans and in the media, followed by BTR receiving 10+ million streams in 2020 alone. Four seasons of the TV show were added to Netflix in March 2021 and have appeared in the Netflix “Top 10″ trending titles. | https://www.al.com/life/2023/07/how-to-get-last-minute-tickets-to-see-big-time-rush-in-pelham-aug-1.html | 2023-07-31T17:57:17 | 1 | https://www.al.com/life/2023/07/how-to-get-last-minute-tickets-to-see-big-time-rush-in-pelham-aug-1.html |
Several people hurt following multi-vehicle crash in Barron County
BARRON COUNTY, Wis. (WEAU) - Several people are hurt following a multi-vehicle crash in Barron County Saturday.
According to information from the Barron County Sheriff’s Department, on July 29, 2023, at 9:47 p.m., authorities received a report of a multiple vehicle crash on Hwy 48 between Rice Lake and Cumberland. Authorities responded to the scene.
The Barron County Sheriff’s Department says investigation shows a single-occupied truck was slowing to turn left into a driveway when a SUV occupied by three juveniles rear-ended the truck. The truck was pushed into oncoming traffic hitting another truck that was occupied by an adult male and juvenile male. That truck was pushed off the roadway down an embankment into a garage.
According to information from the Barron County Sheriff’s Office, one juvenile from the SUV was taken via Life Link to Mayo in Eau Claire with non-life-threatening injuries. Three others were taken to area hospitals with injuries and three were treated and released at the scene.
The Barron County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the crash.
Copyright 2023 WEAU. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/31/several-people-hurt-following-multi-vehicle-crash-barron-county/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:18 | 0 | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/31/several-people-hurt-following-multi-vehicle-crash-barron-county/ |
MLB Probable Starting Pitchers Tonight: Monday, July 31
Monday's MLB schedule features a slew of intriguing pitching matchups, and we've got all of the probable pitchers listed below. Top billing goes to the bout between the Orioles and the Blue Jays, who will be sending Kyle Gibson and Chris Bassitt to the mound, respectively.
Read on to find the probable pitcher matchups for every game on the schedule for July 31.
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Today's Probable Starting Pitchers
Phillies at Marlins Probable Pitchers
The Philadelphia Phillies will send Taijuan Walker (11-4) to the bump as they face the Marlins, who will look to Edward Cabrera (5-6) for the game between the teams Monday.
Vegas Odds for Phillies at Marlins
- MIA Odds to Win: -110
- PHI Odds to Win: -110
- Total: 8.5 runs
- Sign up with BetMGM Sportsbook, and new depositors can use bonus code "GNPLAY" for special offers!
Live Stream Phillies at Marlins
- Game Time: 6:40 PM ET
- Streaming: BSFL (regional restrictions may apply)
- Watch for free: Sign up today for a free trial to Fubo.
Brewers at Nationals Probable Pitchers
The Milwaukee Brewers will send Corbin Burnes (9-6) to the mound as they face the Nationals, who will counter with Jake Irvin (3-5) for the matchup between the clubs Monday.
Vegas Odds for Brewers at Nationals
- MIL Odds to Win: -210
- WSH Odds to Win: +170
- Total: 8.5 runs
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Live Stream Brewers at Nationals
- Game Time: 7:05 PM ET
- Streaming: MASN2 (regional restrictions may apply)
- Watch for free: Sign up today for a free trial to Fubo.
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Rays at Yankees Probable Pitchers
The Tampa Bay Rays will send Tyler Glasnow (4-3) to the hill as they face the Yankees, who will give the start to Domingo German (5-7) when the clubs face off Monday.
Vegas Odds for Rays at Yankees
- TB Odds to Win: -145
- NYY Odds to Win: +120
- Total: 8.5 runs
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Live Stream Rays at Yankees
- Game Time: 7:05 PM ET
- Streaming: MLB Network (regional restrictions may apply)
- Watch for free: Sign up today for a free trial to Fubo.
Orioles at Blue Jays Probable Pitchers
The Baltimore Orioles will send Gibson (9-6) to the mound as they play the Blue Jays, who will counter with Bassitt (10-5) when the teams play Monday.
Vegas Odds for Orioles at Blue Jays
- TOR Odds to Win: -130
- BAL Odds to Win: +110
- Total: 9 runs
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Live Stream Orioles at Blue Jays
- Game Time: 7:07 PM ET
- Streaming: MLB Network (regional restrictions may apply)
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Angels at Braves Probable Pitchers
The Los Angeles Angels will send Griffin Canning (6-4) to the bump as they face the Braves, who will look to Charlie Morton (10-8) for the game between the teams Monday.
Vegas Odds for Angels at Braves
- ATL Odds to Win: -225
- LAA Odds to Win: +180
- Total: 9.5 runs
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Live Stream Angels at Braves
- Game Time: 7:20 PM ET
- Streaming: BSSO (regional restrictions may apply)
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Reds at Cubs Probable Pitchers
The Cincinnati Reds will send Andrew Abbott (6-2) to the mound as they face the Cubs, who will counter with Marcus Stroman (10-7) when the clubs play Monday.
Vegas Odds for Reds at Cubs
- CHC Odds to Win: -120
- CIN Odds to Win: +100
- Total: 8 runs
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Live Stream Reds at Cubs
- Game Time: 8:05 PM ET
- Streaming: MARQ (regional restrictions may apply)
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Guardians at Astros Probable Pitchers
The Cleveland Guardians will send Noah Syndergaard (1-4) to the bump as they play the Astros, who will look to J.P. France (6-3) when the clubs face off Monday.
Vegas Odds for Guardians at Astros
- HOU Odds to Win: -175
- CLE Odds to Win: +145
- Total: 9 runs
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Live Stream Guardians at Astros
- Game Time: 8:10 PM ET
- Streaming: SportsNet SW (regional restrictions may apply)
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Padres at Rockies Probable Pitchers
The San Diego Padres will send Seth Lugo (4-5) to the mound as they play the Rockies, who will hand the ball to Austin Gomber (8-8) for the matchup between the teams Monday.
Vegas Odds for Padres at Rockies
- SD Odds to Win: -200
- COL Odds to Win: +165
- Total: 11.5 runs
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Live Stream Padres at Rockies
- Game Time: 8:40 PM ET
- Streaming: SportsNet RM (regional restrictions may apply)
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Red Sox at Mariners Probable Pitchers
The Boston Red Sox will send Nick Pivetta (7-5) to the mound as they play the Mariners, who will give the start to George Kirby (9-8) for the game between the teams Monday.
Vegas Odds for Red Sox at Mariners
- SEA Odds to Win: -135
- BOS Odds to Win: +110
- Total: 7.5 runs
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Live Stream Red Sox at Mariners
- Game Time: 9:40 PM ET
- Streaming: ROOT Sports NW (regional restrictions may apply)
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Diamondbacks at Giants Probable Pitchers
The Arizona Diamondbacks will send Ryne Nelson (6-5) to the mound as they take on the Giants, who will look to Alex Cobb (6-3) when the clubs meet Monday.
Vegas Odds for Diamondbacks at Giants
- SF Odds to Win: -150
- ARI Odds to Win: +125
- Total: 8 runs
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Live Stream Diamondbacks at Giants
- Game Time: 9:45 PM ET
- Streaming: NBCS-BA (regional restrictions may apply)
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© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/sports/betting/2023/07/31/mlb-probable-starting-pitchers/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:20 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/sports/betting/2023/07/31/mlb-probable-starting-pitchers/ |
Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens died Sunday at the age of 70 after a private battle with cancer.
“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” Reubens wrote in a statement posted to Instagram after his death. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”
Reubens started his career in the 1970s, but it wasn’t untule 1980 when he launched “The Pee-wee Herman Show.” As Pee-wee Herman, Reubens’ live show sold out for ran for months, and he landed a special at HBO.
In 1985, he teamed with Tim Burton on “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” the character’s feature film debut. Reubens followed that up three years later, “Big Top Pee-wee.”
“Last night we said farewell to Paul Reubens, an iconic American actor, comedian, writer and producer whose beloved character Pee-wee Herman delighted generations of children and adults with his positivity, whimsy and belief in the importance of kindness,” wrote Reubens’ estate in the caption. “Paul bravely and privately fought cancer for years with his trademark tenacity and wit. A gifted and prolific talent, he will forever live in the comedy pantheon and in our hearts as a treasured friend and man of remarkable character and generosity of spirit.”
Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily. | https://www.al.com/life/2023/07/paul-reubens-pee-wee-herman-actor-dead-at-70-of-cancer-apologizes-in-statement-released-after-death.html | 2023-07-31T17:57:23 | 1 | https://www.al.com/life/2023/07/paul-reubens-pee-wee-herman-actor-dead-at-70-of-cancer-apologizes-in-statement-released-after-death.html |
Vice President to travel to Wisconsin on Thursday
Published: Jul. 31, 2023 at 11:57 AM CDT|Updated: 58 minutes ago
WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) - Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 3.
In a release from the Office of The Vice President, it said Harris will highlight the administration’s “efforts to invest in high-speed internet, boost domestic manufacturing, and create jobs”.
Joining Harris in Kenosha will be Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Following her trip to Kenosha, the Vice President will travel to Milwaukee where she’s expected to speak at two campaign receptions.
Copyright 2023 WSAW. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/31/vice-president-travel-wisconsin-thursday/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:24 | 1 | https://www.weau.com/2023/07/31/vice-president-travel-wisconsin-thursday/ |
A motorcyclist was killed in a two-vehicle crash Sunday evening in east Alabama.
Alabama State Troopers identified the fatality victim as Marcus T. Raney Jr. He was 48 and lived in Piedmont.
The wreck happened at 6:52 p.m. on U.S. 279, less than a mile west of Piedmont in Calhoun County, said Trooper Cp. Reginal King.
Raney was driving a 2011 Harley Davidson that struck a Nissan Frontier driven by 28-year-old Hannah Bagwell, also of Piedmont.
Raney was pronounced dead on the scene.
Bagwell was airlifted to UAB Hospital. | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/48-year-old-motorcyclist-killed-in-weekend-east-alabama-crash.html | 2023-07-31T17:57:29 | 1 | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/48-year-old-motorcyclist-killed-in-weekend-east-alabama-crash.html |
How to Watch the Brewers vs. Nationals Game: Streaming & TV Channel Info for July 31
Christian Yelich and the Milwaukee Brewers take on Joey Meneses and the Washington Nationals on Monday at 7:05 PM ET.
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Brewers vs. Nationals Live Stream, TV Channel and Game Info:
- Date: Monday, July 31, 2023
- Time: 7:05 PM ET
- TV Channel: MASN2
- Location: Washington D.C.
- Venue: Nationals Park
- Live Stream: Watch this game on Fubo!
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Explore More About This Game
Brewers Batting & Pitching Performance
- The Brewers rank 22nd in MLB action with 111 total home runs.
- Milwaukee's .378 slugging percentage is the third-lowest average in baseball.
- The Brewers' .233 batting average ranks 26th in MLB.
- Milwaukee ranks 24th in runs scored with 441 (4.2 per game).
- The Brewers are 24th in MLB with an on-base percentage of .312.
- The Brewers strike out 9.1 times per game to rank 23rd in the majors.
- The pitching staff for Milwaukee has a collective 8.6 K/9, which ranks 18th in the majors.
- Milwaukee has the 12th-ranked team ERA among all MLB pitching staffs (4.07).
- Pitchers for the Brewers combine for the No. 5-ranked WHIP in the majors (1.241).
Brewers Probable Starting Pitcher
- Corbin Burnes will try to grab his 10th win when he gets the start for the Brewers, his 22nd of the season. He is 9-6 with a 3.46 ERA and 131 strikeouts through 127 1/3 innings pitched.
- The righty's most recent appearance was on Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds, when he tossed six innings, surrendering two earned runs while giving up three hits.
- Burnes is aiming to record his sixth straight quality start in this outing.
- Burnes will aim to go five or more innings for his 20th straight start. He's averaging 6.1 frames per outing.
- In five of his appearances this season he did not surrender an earned run.
Brewers Schedule
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© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/sports/betting/2023/07/31/brewers-vs-nationals-mlb-live-stream-tv/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:30 | 0 | https://www.weau.com/sports/betting/2023/07/31/brewers-vs-nationals-mlb-live-stream-tv/ |
More than 600,000 Medicare recipients are being notified their personal information was potentially exposed in a data breach.
Letters from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are alerting 612,000 beneficiaries of a May data breach involving Progress Software’s MOVEit Transfer Software operated by Maximus Federal Services Inc., a Medicare contractor.
The compromised information could potentially include name, Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, date of birth, mailing address, telephone number and email address, Medicare Beneficiary Identifier or Health Insurance Claim Number, driver’s license number, medical history and notes, healthcare provider and prescription information, health insurance claims and policy/subscriber information and health benefits and enrollment information.
READ MORE: Social Security increase: Here’s the latest COLA estimate for 2024
Beneficiaries whose information was compromised are being offered 24 months of free credit monitoring from Experian. It’s also recommended Medicare recipients who are notified apply for a free credit report to check for discrepancies. If there are issues, it’s recommended you file a police report with local law enforcement and file a complaint with the FTC by contacting them on the web at www.ftc.gov/idtheft, by phone at 1-877-IDTHEFT (1-877-438-4338), or by mail at Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Response Center, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580.
Beneficiaries should continue to use their existing Medicare card unless they receive further notifications, the agency said. | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/600000-medicare-beneficiaries-data-exposed-in-cyber-breach-what-to-do-now.html | 2023-07-31T17:57:36 | 0 | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/600000-medicare-beneficiaries-data-exposed-in-cyber-breach-what-to-do-now.html |
Brewers vs. Nationals: Odds, spread, over/under - July 31
Corbin Burnes will toe the rubber for the Milwaukee Brewers (57-49) on Monday, July 31 against the Washington Nationals (44-62), who will answer with Jake Irvin. The first pitch will be thrown at 7:05 PM ET at Nationals Park.
Oddsmakers list the Brewers as -210 favorites on the moneyline, while giving the underdog Nationals +170 moneyline odds. An 8.5-run total is set for this contest.
Brewers vs. Nationals Time and TV Channel
- Date: Monday, July 31, 2023
- Time: 7:05 PM ET
- TV: MASN2
- Location: Washington D.C.
- Venue: Nationals Park
- Probable Pitchers: Burnes - MIL (9-6, 3.46 ERA) vs Irvin - WSH (3-5, 5.09 ERA)
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Brewers vs. Nationals Betting Odds, Run Line and Total
Here's a look at the odds, run line and over/under for this matchup across multiple sportsbooks.
If you're wanting to wager on the Brewers and Nationals matchup but would like some help getting started, here's a quick primer. Betting the moneyline, run line, and total are some of the most common ways to make bets. A moneyline bet means that you think one of the teams -- say, the Brewers (-210) -- will win the game. Pretty simple, right? If you bet $10 with those odds, and they wind up winning, you'd get $14.76 back in your pocket.
And that's not all. There are lots of other ways to bet, as well. For example, you can wager on player props (will Carlos Santana get a hit?), parlays (combining picks from different games to multiply your potential winnings), and more. Visit the BetMGM website and app for additional info on the many different ways you can wager on games.
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Explore More About This Game
Brewers vs. Nationals Betting Trends and Insights
- The Brewers have been favorites in 49 games this season and won 29 (59.2%) of those contests.
- The Brewers have gone 2-2 when they have played as moneyline favorites with odds of -210 or shorter (50% winning percentage).
- The oddsmakers' moneyline implies a 67.7% chance of a victory for Milwaukee.
- The Brewers have a 2-1 record across the three games they were a moneyline favorite in their last 10 matchups.
- In its last 10 outings, Milwaukee and its opponents combined to go over the total four times (all 10 games had set totals).
- The Nationals have come away with 38 wins in the 94 contests they have been listed as the underdogs in this season.
- The Nationals have a win-loss record of 12-15 when favored by +170 or worse by sportsbooks this year.
- In seven games as underdogs over the last 10 matchups, the Nationals have a record of 4-3.
- In the last 10 games with a total, Washington and its opponents have combined to hit the over four times.
Brewers vs. Nationals Player Props
Check out all the player prop markets available for this game, including betting on players to get a hit, go deep, or pick up a bunch of strikeouts. Head to BetMGM for the latest odds available for the , and place your bets. New depositors can use bonus code "GNPLAY" for special offers!
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Brewers Futures Odds
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© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/sports/betting/2023/07/31/brewers-vs-nationals-mlb-odds-over-under/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:36 | 1 | https://www.weau.com/sports/betting/2023/07/31/brewers-vs-nationals-mlb-odds-over-under/ |
Birmingham construction firm Robins & Morton has celebrated the ribbon cutting of a $100 million Florida medical center.
AdventHealth’s new four-story, 153,000-square-foot AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway Hospital has 100 private rooms. Located in Palm Coast in northeastern Florida, it also boasts an emergency department, full-service imaging, five operating suites, endoscopy services, and heart catheterization and outpatient labs.
HuntonBrady served as the architect for the project, while Robins & Morton was the construction manager.
The hospital will augment the only other area hospital, AdventHealth Palm Coast, in a county that has grown more than 29% since 2010.
“We are excited to complete this project that will provide additional healthcare options for the Flagler and St. Johns County communities,” Robins & Morton Operations Manager Angel Colon said. “We’re grateful to our longtime partner AdventHealth for the opportunity to deliver this exceptional facility that will leave a lasting impact for residents.”
Construction began in September 2021. | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/birminghams-robins-morton-completes-100-million-florida-hospital.html | 2023-07-31T17:57:42 | 1 | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/birminghams-robins-morton-completes-100-million-florida-hospital.html |
MLB Probable Starting Pitchers Tonight: Monday, July 31
Monday's MLB schedule features a slew of intriguing pitching matchups, and we've got all of the probable pitchers listed below. Top billing goes to the bout between the Orioles and the Blue Jays, who will be sending Kyle Gibson and Chris Bassitt to the mound, respectively.
Read on to find the probable pitcher matchups for every game on the schedule for July 31.
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Today's Probable Starting Pitchers
Phillies at Marlins Probable Pitchers
The Philadelphia Phillies will send Taijuan Walker (11-4) to the bump as they face the Marlins, who will look to Edward Cabrera (5-6) for the game between the teams Monday.
Vegas Odds for Phillies at Marlins
- MIA Odds to Win: -110
- PHI Odds to Win: -110
- Total: 8.5 runs
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Live Stream Phillies at Marlins
- Game Time: 6:40 PM ET
- Streaming: BSFL (regional restrictions may apply)
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Brewers at Nationals Probable Pitchers
The Milwaukee Brewers will send Corbin Burnes (9-6) to the mound as they face the Nationals, who will counter with Jake Irvin (3-5) for the matchup between the clubs Monday.
Vegas Odds for Brewers at Nationals
- MIL Odds to Win: -210
- WSH Odds to Win: +170
- Total: 8.5 runs
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Live Stream Brewers at Nationals
- Game Time: 7:05 PM ET
- Streaming: MASN2 (regional restrictions may apply)
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Rays at Yankees Probable Pitchers
The Tampa Bay Rays will send Tyler Glasnow (4-3) to the hill as they face the Yankees, who will give the start to Domingo German (5-7) when the clubs face off Monday.
Vegas Odds for Rays at Yankees
- TB Odds to Win: -145
- NYY Odds to Win: +120
- Total: 8.5 runs
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Live Stream Rays at Yankees
- Game Time: 7:05 PM ET
- Streaming: MLB Network (regional restrictions may apply)
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Orioles at Blue Jays Probable Pitchers
The Baltimore Orioles will send Gibson (9-6) to the mound as they play the Blue Jays, who will counter with Bassitt (10-5) when the teams play Monday.
Vegas Odds for Orioles at Blue Jays
- TOR Odds to Win: -130
- BAL Odds to Win: +110
- Total: 9 runs
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Live Stream Orioles at Blue Jays
- Game Time: 7:07 PM ET
- Streaming: MLB Network (regional restrictions may apply)
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Angels at Braves Probable Pitchers
The Los Angeles Angels will send Griffin Canning (6-4) to the bump as they face the Braves, who will look to Charlie Morton (10-8) for the game between the teams Monday.
Vegas Odds for Angels at Braves
- ATL Odds to Win: -225
- LAA Odds to Win: +180
- Total: 9.5 runs
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Live Stream Angels at Braves
- Game Time: 7:20 PM ET
- Streaming: BSSO (regional restrictions may apply)
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Reds at Cubs Probable Pitchers
The Cincinnati Reds will send Andrew Abbott (6-2) to the mound as they face the Cubs, who will counter with Marcus Stroman (10-7) when the clubs play Monday.
Vegas Odds for Reds at Cubs
- CHC Odds to Win: -120
- CIN Odds to Win: +100
- Total: 8 runs
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Live Stream Reds at Cubs
- Game Time: 8:05 PM ET
- Streaming: MARQ (regional restrictions may apply)
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Guardians at Astros Probable Pitchers
The Cleveland Guardians will send Noah Syndergaard (1-4) to the bump as they play the Astros, who will look to J.P. France (6-3) when the clubs face off Monday.
Vegas Odds for Guardians at Astros
- HOU Odds to Win: -175
- CLE Odds to Win: +145
- Total: 9 runs
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Live Stream Guardians at Astros
- Game Time: 8:10 PM ET
- Streaming: SportsNet SW (regional restrictions may apply)
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Padres at Rockies Probable Pitchers
The San Diego Padres will send Seth Lugo (4-5) to the mound as they play the Rockies, who will hand the ball to Austin Gomber (8-8) for the matchup between the teams Monday.
Vegas Odds for Padres at Rockies
- SD Odds to Win: -200
- COL Odds to Win: +165
- Total: 11.5 runs
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Live Stream Padres at Rockies
- Game Time: 8:40 PM ET
- Streaming: SportsNet RM (regional restrictions may apply)
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Red Sox at Mariners Probable Pitchers
The Boston Red Sox will send Nick Pivetta (7-5) to the mound as they play the Mariners, who will give the start to George Kirby (9-8) for the game between the teams Monday.
Vegas Odds for Red Sox at Mariners
- SEA Odds to Win: -135
- BOS Odds to Win: +110
- Total: 7.5 runs
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Live Stream Red Sox at Mariners
- Game Time: 9:40 PM ET
- Streaming: ROOT Sports NW (regional restrictions may apply)
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Diamondbacks at Giants Probable Pitchers
The Arizona Diamondbacks will send Ryne Nelson (6-5) to the mound as they take on the Giants, who will look to Alex Cobb (6-3) when the clubs meet Monday.
Vegas Odds for Diamondbacks at Giants
- SF Odds to Win: -150
- ARI Odds to Win: +125
- Total: 8 runs
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Live Stream Diamondbacks at Giants
- Game Time: 9:45 PM ET
- Streaming: NBCS-BA (regional restrictions may apply)
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© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | https://www.weau.com/sports/betting/2023/07/31/mlb-probable-starting-pitchers/ | 2023-07-31T17:57:42 | 0 | https://www.weau.com/sports/betting/2023/07/31/mlb-probable-starting-pitchers/ |
Two clinic owners in Alabama and the ACLU filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to prevent prosecutions of people who provide information or assistance to women who want to travel out of state to get abortions.
Alabama law prohibits doctors and others from performing abortions. The two plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Dr. Yashica Robinson and Robin Marty, used to run abortion clinics but now provide other health services to women, including prenatal and sexual health care. Both women said they were afraid to provide information about abortion clinics located in states where the procedure is legal because of statements made by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.
In a 2022 radio interview, Marshall said organizations that fund abortions out of state could potentially face legal scrutiny, according to the complaint.
“There’s nothing about that law that restricts any individual from driving across state lines and seeking an abortion in another place,” Marshall said. “However, I would say that if an individual held themselves out as an entity or a group that is using funds that they are able to raise to be able to facilitate those visits, then that’s something that we’re going to look at closely.”
The speculation about prosecution has centered on an 1896 criminal conspiracy law. It makes it illegal to conspire in Alabama to commit a crime in another state. However, the plaintiffs say the law doesn’t apply to abortion if it is legal in the state where it is performed.
Robinson and Marty said Marshall’s statements have had a chilling effect that prevents them from providing care and advice to patients. This violates their obligations to patients and their First Amendment right to free speech, according to the lawsuit.
“Plaintiffs and their staff know that patients expect to be able to trust their health care providers to give them counseling and information about all risks, benefits and alternatives, as well as information about how they can access the care they need,” the lawsuit said. “It is devastating for Plaintiffs to have to withhold vital information and support, putting their patients’ health and safety at risk, exacerbating the confusion and distress their patients are already experiencing, and contributing to potentially dangerous delays in accessing health care.”
In addition to the attorney general, the lawsuit names all of Alabama’s local district attorneys as defendants.
Robinson is an obstetrician-gynecologist who practices in Huntsville and is the medical director of the Alabama Women’s Center. She said the threat of legal action prevents her from advising patients about which clinics best fit their medical needs if they do plan to get an abortion in another state. She said before the ban, she provided medical records to out-of-state facilities and spoke with doctors about medically-complex patients, aspects of medical care she now longer feels able to provide.
“Tragically, banning abortion in Alabama seems to not have been enough, and those in power want to muzzle providers like me to prevent us from sharing information with our pregnant patients about the options they have, including abortion care in states where it is legal, and supporting our patients in accessing that care,” Robinson said in a press release from the ACLU of Alabama.
Marty, the other plaintiff in the lawsuit, owns the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa.
“When we cannot share information with patients about all of their options during pregnancy, including those options that are legal and available outside Alabama, the physician-patient relationship is put in jeopardy and our patients are harmed,” Marty said in an ALCU press release. “Alabama is our home, and we won’t leave or stop fighting until everyone in our state is able to access the care they need.”
A spokesman for the Alabama Attorney General’s Office has not yet responded to requests for comment.
The ACLU complaint was filed on the same day as a similar lawsuit by the Yellowhammer Fund, an organization that provided funding for abortions in Alabama before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Both lawsuits say that people should not be prosecuted for providing advice or assistance to someone seeking an abortion outside of Alabama. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Montgomery by attorneys with the ACLU and ACLU of Alabama.
“The attorney general’s threat to prosecute people for assisting and supporting Alabamians in seeking out-of-state abortion care is as dangerous as it is blatantly unconstitutional,” said Meagan Burrows, staff attorney for the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “When Marshall threatens criminal liability for anyone who facilitates interstate travel for legal abortion care, his purpose is clear: to extend Alabama’s abortion ban across state lines and discourage and burden the free movement of Alabamians.”
People who provide abortions in Alabama could face up to 99 years in prison. Violation of criminal conspiracy laws can also be prosecuted as felonies, according to the Alabama Code. | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/lawsuit-seeks-to-prevent-prosecutions-for-helping-arrange-abortions-outside-alabama.html | 2023-07-31T17:57:48 | 1 | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/lawsuit-seeks-to-prevent-prosecutions-for-helping-arrange-abortions-outside-alabama.html |
Hank Aaron and Billy Williams grew up playing for Ed Tucker’s Mobile Black Bears.
Satchel Paige first played baseball in Mobile, during the 1920s. Willie McCovey played ball on a Mobile playground, learning how to pitch and play first base. Ozzie Smith was born in the Port City.
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No city the size of Mobile can even come close to claiming five homegrown Major League Baseball Hall of Famers. And to celebrate the city’s lineage with America’s Pastime, all five will be honored with statues dedicated to them at Hero Plaza in downtown Mobile.
But a looming question remains on the fate of the plaza: Who is going to build it?
The Mobile City Council will consider on Tuesday at $148,914 contract with Volkert Inc. to continue with project management duties and engineering while the city seeks out a bidder who can construct it.
Jason Johnson, a spokesman for Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, said last week that the city is waiting on a second round of bids after the initial one produced only one interested bidder. That bidder, Johnson said, came back with a price that “a bit over” of what the city was seeking.
“It’s in a bit of a lull until that bid comes back,” said Johnson, referring to the plaza’s construction at the western edge of the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center along Water Street. “We’re getting there. As soon as (the bidding gets completed) the work will start as quickly as it can.”
Statues under construction
Work is already happening on 9-foot-tall statues of all five baseball Hall of Famers. In addition to the MLB Hall of Famers, a statue of Mobile’s only National Football League Hall of Famer – Robert Brazile Jr. – will also be part of the plaza once it opens sometime next year.
Mobile has a unique history with professional baseball, and one that no other city its size can share. Only New York City and Los Angeles can claim more native residents enshrined in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
The five Hall of Famers from Mobile include:
- Aaron, who played primarily for the Braves organization from 1954-1976, and who was enshrined into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1982.
- McCovey, who played primarily for the Giants from 1959-1980, and who was inducted in 1989.
- Paige, who played in the Negro Leagues and in MLB from 1927-1965, and who was inducted in 1971.
- Williams, who played primarily for the Cubs from 1965-1976, and who was inducted in 1987.
- Smith, who played primarily for the Cardinals from 1978-1996, and who was inducted in 2002.
Brett Grill, the sculptor hired to make the structures, is working on the statues at his studio in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was hired in March 2022. The project’s price-tag is “not to exceed” $1.18 million.
“We’ve worked with the architects for almost a year now and we have plans for the park that everyone is really pleased with and that will really honor these athletes in a way they deserve to be honored,” Grill told AL.com last week.
He said the park will be designed to expand, which means additional statues or other features could be installed.
“There are certainly other athletes from Mobile who are in different sports, hall of fames, who have yet to be unearthed,” Grill said.
Shifting timeline
Grill said the timeline for his project has shifted. He said the original goal was to have the statues installed and the plaza completed by the end of this year, with an opening in the spring of 2024. He said the new timeline calls for the plaza to open sometime next year.
The plaza’s concept was unveiled in March 2022, with Aaron’s widow, Billye, in attendance.
“The sculptures are going to be done in the first quarter of next year and will be sitting around and waiting for the (plaza) to be constructed for them,” he said.
Grill said there are talks about bringing at least one of the statues to Mobile early for some sort of showcase or preview “to just continue to keep the park on the radar of the public.”
The plaza is part of an appropriation OK’d by the Mobile City Council last year to develop the park. The money comes from the city’s tax-increment financing (TIF) funds that are dedicated to redeveloping downtown Mobile. TIF funds in Alabama are utilized by local governments to promote economic development within a geographically defined area. As development occurs within a TIF – and as property values increase – the revenues generated from the extra property taxes are collected and set aside in the city’s TIF fund to pay for other public infrastructure improvements.
The city, as of last year, said approximately $12 million remains in the city’s TIF fund.
The project is also backed with some private financing. A $150,000 donation was committed last year by Canadian-based Canfor Southern Pine, which has its U.S. headquarters in Mobile. | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/mobile-seeks-contractor-to-build-plaza-dedicated-to-baseball-hall-of-famers.html | 2023-07-31T17:57:54 | 0 | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/mobile-seeks-contractor-to-build-plaza-dedicated-to-baseball-hall-of-famers.html |
A 2021 murder charge against a 51-year-old Pelham man has been dismissed under the state’s Stand Your Ground law.
Charles William Hatcher was charged with murder in the shooting death of 43-year-old Tracy Lee Killingsworth on Hatcher’s property on Aug. 31, 2021. He is also charged with attempted murder in the wounding of Krystal Smith, who was shot three times in the face.
After a lengthy hearing in June, Shelby County Circuit Judge Lara Alvis on Friday dismissed the murder charge against Hatcher. The attempted murder charge was not dropped, however, and that trial is set to take place in August.
Hatcher had been held in the Shelby County Jail since September 2021, but was released Saturday after posting $20,000 bond on the attempted murder charge.
The shooting happened about 1:30 p.m. that Tuesday at Hatcher’s residence in the 700 block of Highway 72. Authorities received two different 911 calls about the shooting. Multiple rounds were fired.
Killingsworth was pronounced dead on the scene. Smith ran to another residence off County Road 35 to get help. She was critically injured but survived and testified at Hatcher’s immunity hearing last month.
Alabama is a Stand Your Ground state, which says a person is justified in using physical force on another person in order to defend himself or herself or a third person from what he or she reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of unlawful physical force by that other person.
Hatcher is represented by attorneys Jeremy Crowley and Scott Boudreaux. Assistant district attorneys Brooke Grigsby and Matthew Kimbrough are prosecuting the case.
The deadly shooting happened on Hatcher’s property in Pelham, which he inherited from his family and on which he has lived for more than 40 years.
That property has one main trailer where Hatcher lives, and other structures including a stand-alone garage where Hatcher worked as a mechanic.
According to Alvis’s order, there was a separate trailer where Killingsworth and Smith had lived for a period of time but were no longer living there when the shooting happened.
Prosecutors contended that Hatcher should be prosecuted because they were lawfully on the property.
Alvis, however, disagreed.
In her order, the judge wrote that Killingsworth and Smith were allegedly on the property that day to finish removing their belongings, which she said alone showed they were no longer living there.
Additionally, Alvis wrote, they went to the property in a four-door sedan without room to place any belongings. In that vehicle, she noted, there was a large semi-automatic weapon in a case, and a second gun.
Alvis said in her order that Hatcher had made multiple attempts to cut off all communication with Killingsworth and Smith. He kept his gate closed, and “wanted to be left alone,” Alvis wrote.
“They were not lawfully on his property,’’ she said.
A person is prohibited from immunity if they are involved in illegal activity at the time of the alleged crime, and Smith claimed that Hatcher used methamphetamine, but the judge said there was no evidence of drug use, except for medical proof that both victims had high levels of amphetamine in their system the day they trespassed.
“They drove onto his property and were armed,’’ Alvis wrote. “Tracy Lee Killingsworth approached Hatcher and physically attacked him.”
“The defendant remembers deciding to use deadly force when he was being strangled by Killingsworth,’’ she wrote, noting there was physical evidence on Hatcher of strangulation.
Alvis’s order does not say why the attempted murder was not dismissed, but she did lower Hatcher’s bond and ordered him not to leave the state. | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/murder-charge-against-pelham-man-dismissed-under-alabama-stand-your-ground-law.html | 2023-07-31T17:58:00 | 0 | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/murder-charge-against-pelham-man-dismissed-under-alabama-stand-your-ground-law.html |
Alabama state Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, is continuing to improve in a hospital in South Korea after suffering a cardiac arrest there last week, his son Tyler Melson reported.
Tyler Melson created a public Facebook page to provide updates on Sen. Melson, who was on a recruiting trip to South Korea when he fell ill.
“More good news to report over the past 24 hours,” Tyler Melson posted Monday on Facebook . “Repeat echocardiogram (an ultrasound to look at the structure and function of the heart) shows continued improvement of the heart’s strength and ability to pump. This is another big milestone and we praise God for His continual blessing over the situation.”
Sen. Melson remains on a ventalator but doctors are discussing when to wean him off, Tyler Melson wrote.
“There is no rush to do this,” he posted. “However, we remain hopeful and confident that the Lord will see us through this step in His perfect timing.”
On Sunday, Tyler Melson reported that his father was successfully taken off EMCO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) and remained very stable. EMCO is the process of pumping blood to a heart-lung machine that removes carbon dioxide and sends oxygen-filled blood back to tissues in the body, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“His improvement so far has been miraculous and we are certain that it is due to all the prayer he has received,” Tyler Melson wrote Sunday. “Please continue to pray as there are many more milestones that we will have to reach.”
Heart arrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat, apparently caused the cardiac arrest, Tyler Melson wrote on Facebook.
Melson was elected to the state Senate in 2014. He is a retired anesthesiologist and a medical researcher. He is perhaps best known at the State House for sponsoring the bill lawmakers passed in 2021 to legal medical marijuana in Alabama. | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/sen-tim-melsons-family-reports-his-condition-improving-in-south-korean-hospital.html | 2023-07-31T17:58:06 | 0 | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/sen-tim-melsons-family-reports-his-condition-improving-in-south-korean-hospital.html |
The Department of Education has released a website for new the new income-driven student loan repayment plan known as SAVE, or Saving on a Valuable Education.
The website, still in its beta version, was released Monday, The Hill reported. The full version is expected in August but those who use the beta site will not have to resubmit information. A demonstration of the new site is available here.
READ MORE: Student loan debt: 44% of borrowers will restart payments with new servicer
“A beta version of the updated (income-driven repayment (IDR)) application is now available and includes the option to enroll in the new SAVE Plan — the most affordable repayment plan yet,” the department noted on its site.
The SAVE plan replaces the Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment, or REPAYE, plan. Under SAVE, the income exemption for payments will increase from 150% above the poverty line to 225%, meaning, as The Hill explains, that a single person earning less than $32,800 would have $0 monthly payments.
Also, people who make their regular monthly payments will not have to pay additional unpaid interest. That means that if $70 of interest accrues on your balance each month, but your payment is set at $50, you will not be charged the remaining $20. Spousal income for borrowers who are married and filed separately will not be factored into borrower’s income.
Anyone enrolled in REPAYE will automatically be rolled into SAVE. | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/student-loan-debt-beta-website-launched-for-save-income-driven-repayment-plan.html | 2023-07-31T17:58:12 | 0 | https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/student-loan-debt-beta-website-launched-for-save-income-driven-repayment-plan.html |
Longtime educator Clarence Sutton was named Huntsville City Schools superintendent in June, replacing Christie Finley, who retired after five years in the position.
No stranger to the school district, Sutton was promoted to chief of staff last December. He previously served as deputy superintendent of learning supports, a role he was still filling when he was named interim superintendent during the search process.
He was one of 20 applicants for the position.
A 29-year educator, Sutton touted his experience turning around troubled schools during his career during his interview for the position. His career included time as a teacher, assistant principal and principal. He served in the Tuscaloosa school district before coming to Huntsville.
He recently participated in a question-and-answer session with the Lede. | https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2023/07/longtime-educator-tackling-huntsville-city-schools-toughest-challenges.html | 2023-07-31T17:58:18 | 1 | https://www.al.com/news/huntsville/2023/07/longtime-educator-tackling-huntsville-city-schools-toughest-challenges.html |
South Alabama’s run of local football recruiting success continued on Monday with the commitment of Vigor High School all-around standout Jerrian Graham.
Graham (6-foot-2, 190 pounds) is the fifth Coastal Alabama player to commit to the Jaguars for their 2024 recruiting class. He joins St. Paul’s offensive lineman Asher Hale, Mary G. Montgomery quarterback Jared Hollins, Foley offensive lineman Logan Joellenbeck and Theodore defensive lineman Kevin Norwood in that group.
Graham announced his commitment via Twitter:
Graham chose Kane Wommack’s South Alabama program from a final two that also included Arkansas State. He also has scholarship offers from UAB, North Alabama, Samford, Troy, Jacksonville State, Louisiana, Southern Miss, Tulane and Georgia State, among other schools.
RELATED: Vigor ATH Jerrian Graham focusing on state title, weighing college decision
Graham has played running back, wide receiver, quarterback and defensive back during his Vigor career, but is expected to be a pass-catcher at the next level. He also stars in track & field, winning the Class 5A state championship in the 100-meter dash this past May.
Graham gives South Alabama 12 commitments for its 2024 class, and a second in two days after James Clemens High School defensive end Nathan Jennings pledged to the Jaguars on Sunday. The early signing period for high school players begins in late December.
South Alabama 2024 football commitments (12)
Will Felton, LB, 6-2, 215, Pelham/Pelham HS
Amarion Fortenberry, DB, 6-0, 170, Columbia, Miss./Columbia HS
Charles Gurley, CB, 6-2, 180, New Orleans, La./St. Augustine HS
Jerrian Graham, WR/ATH, 6-2, 190, Prichard/Vigor HS
Asher Hale, OL, 6-5, 300, Mobile/St. Paul’s Episcopal School
Jared Hollins, QB, 6-4, 185, Mobile/Mary G. Montgomery HS
Nathan Jennings, DE, 6-4, 240, Madison/James Clemens HS
Logan Joellenbeck, OL, 6-6, 330, Foley/Foley HS
Jamauri McClure, RB, 5-10, 185, Goshen/Goshen HS
Kevin Norwood, DT, 6-3, 290, Mobile/Theodore HS
Parker Shattuck, LB, 6-2, 215, LaGrange, Ga./LaGrange HS
Achilles Wood, DE, 6-4, 250, Decatur/Austin HS | https://www.al.com/sports/2023/07/vigor-high-school-2024-standout-jerrian-graham-commits-to-south-alabama.html | 2023-07-31T17:58:24 | 0 | https://www.al.com/sports/2023/07/vigor-high-school-2024-standout-jerrian-graham-commits-to-south-alabama.html |
Dabo Swinney gets pumped for wins, and, apparently, magic tricks.
The Clemson coach showed just how versatile he can be last week at the ACC Football Kickoff, putting on display card tricks.
While it may have taken a minute to set up the trick, it appears the wait was worth it for ACC Network’s Kelsey Riggs.
RELATED: Swinney asked about Clemson’s national relevancy: ‘I guess we stink’
Swinney, for his part, was as excited to pull off the trick as he would have been as his team just scored the winning touchdown, exclaiming, “Let’s go!”
“He got me,” Riggs said, laughing. “I don’t know how he did it.”
Check out the video below:
Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily. | https://www.al.com/sports/2023/07/watch-dabo-swinney-wow-with-magic-trick-at-acc-kickoff.html | 2023-07-31T17:58:30 | 1 | https://www.al.com/sports/2023/07/watch-dabo-swinney-wow-with-magic-trick-at-acc-kickoff.html |
Lee Hodges, on the heels of his first PGA win, took a call from someone who knows a little something about winning.
The former Alabama standout golfer, who shot a 67 in the final round for a wire-to-wire title at the 3M Open and his first tour victory, got a call from Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
Saban’s congratulatory call came with the usual pleasantries, including Hodges telling Saban to ‘get after it” this upcoming football season.
Hodges, who started the day with a five-stroke lead on J.T. Poston, was up by three entering the par-5 last hole on his 65th career start. After Poston’s go-for-broke approach yielded a triple bogey, Hodges tapped in a short putt for his third birdie of the round.
The 28-year-old Alabama native hugged and hoisted his wife, Savannah, in celebration after she hustled out to the green to greet him. Then Jay Seawell, Hodges’ college coach at Alabama, surprised him with a special appearance and a milkshake in hand. Not bad for a guy from the small town of Ardmore.
Hodges shot a 63 on Thursday, a 64 on Friday and a 66 on Saturday to take a commanding lead into the final round at the TPC Twin Cities course in Blaine on a former sod farm in suburban Minneapolis. He had two eagles and two bogeys on Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.al.com/sports/2023/07/watch-lee-hodges-take-call-from-nick-saban-after-pga-tour-win.html | 2023-07-31T17:58:36 | 1 | https://www.al.com/sports/2023/07/watch-lee-hodges-take-call-from-nick-saban-after-pga-tour-win.html |
How the Eagles’ Jordan Davis got in better shape: ‘Greater power comes great responsibility’
Davis has seen his offseason efforts at improving his conditioning help, as the second-year defensive tackle prepares for a larger role with the Eagles.
When Jordan Davis looks at his reflection, he likes the face looking back at him.
The Eagles defensive tackle spent his offseason trying to improve his conditioning in preparation for a bigger role up front this year. The 2022 first-round pick said he spent the summer “moving,” whether it was going for walks or riding a stationary bike to go along with his weight-lifting regimen in an effort to improve his endurance.
The numbers on Davis’ scale aren’t reading much differently — he’s still around 340 pounds dating back to last year — but he’s noticed a more defined jawline.
“That’s all I worry about, it’s just how I look in the mirror every day,” Davis said Sunday. “My face slims up, I’m like, ‘Alright!’ I look a little bit more handsome. That’s a little motivating, too. You want to look good, feel good, play good. And be healthy for life, too, so that’s all it really takes.”
A year removed from the Eagles drafting him 13th overall, Davis went into his first NFL offseason with the expectation to see a significant uptick in playing time from his rookie season when he played just 26% of the team’s defensive snaps.
Early in his first year, the former Georgia standout offered solid run support for a defense that struggled to contain opposing offenses’ ground games without him. Just as his playing time started to increase, Davis suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 7 that sidelined him four games and seemingly hindered him even after his return. His injury facilitated the Eagles signing veteran nose tackle Linval Joseph to stand in for Davis as the space-eating interior lineman of the group.
This year, Davis figures to be the anchor at the heart of the Eagles defensive front and have the opportunity to show that he’s explosive and stout enough to be an impact player.
“Going into this offseason, I understood I’d be in a bigger role,” Davis said. “With that, greater power comes great responsibility. I’m just going to do whatever it takes, whatever I can do to help the team, whatever package I’m on, just be conditioned and be ready for that call.”
Davis has been running almost exclusively with the first-team defense during training camp, often playing alongside veteran defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. Davis has even been a main fixture in the Eagles’ even fronts after spending the overwhelming majority of his rookie season confined to the nose tackle in odd fronts.
It’s still early and the first padded practice Tuesday will certainly be a better indicator for the Eagles’ linemen on both sides, but Davis has gotten into the backfield a few times in the first week of camp and impressed his teammates.
“He’s healthy,” Cox said last week. “Last year, I think he really started to ramp up and then he got hurt as a rookie. I think that kind of affected him. ... Now he’s healthy and he’s flying around and you can feel his presence.”
Physical appearance aside, Davis said he has noticed a difference early in camp stringing plays together without getting tired.
“It’s like, you go five plays and you’re like ‘Dang, five plays. That’s pretty cool,’” Davis said. “Obviously as we go further along the summer, there’s going to be more plays, I’ll get more conditioned. That’s just how it is, you can condition all you want in the offseason, but until like 600 pounds is pushing on you, that’s like real football [stuff.]”
Davis’ ability to impact the run game should come easy, but the bigger question lies in how he eventually rushes the passer. He was typically off the field for known-passing situations in college and just 52% of his snaps last year came on passing plays according to Pro Football Focus.
He’ll need to develop as a rusher to realize the potential that made him a first-round pick, something new defensive coordinator Sean Desai said his physical traits should make a real possibility.
Desai said he believes Davis will be able to develop into a disruptive rusher because of his physical traits.
“I think all those guys can be impactful pass rushers,” Desai said. “We’ve just got to find those roles, and it’s our job to get them in those roles to do it. Yeah, I think we’ve got a lot of guys that can be impactful pass rushers.”
“You see him. Go find another human being that looks like him,” Desai added when asked more specifically about Davis. “So I think that part of it. There are not many people built like that. He’s strong. He’s fast. He’s quick. He’s powerful. It’s about putting it all together.” | https://www.inquirer.com/eagles/eagles-jordan-davis-weight-training-camp-20230731.html | 2023-07-31T17:58:57 | 1 | https://www.inquirer.com/eagles/eagles-jordan-davis-weight-training-camp-20230731.html |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural phenomenon through films and TV shows, has died.
Reubens died Sunday night after a six-year struggle with cancer that he did not make public, his publicist said in a statement.
“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” Reubens said in a statement released with the announcement of his death. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”
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The character with his too-tight gray suit, white chunky loafers and red bow tie was best known for the film “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and the TV series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
Herman created Pee-wee when he was part of the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings in the late 1970s. The live “Pee-wee Herman Show” debuted at a Los Angeles theater in 1981 and was a success with both kids during matinees and adults at a midnight show. HBO would air the show as a special.
Reubens took Pee-wee to the big screen in 1985′s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The film, in which Pee-wee’s cherished bike is stolen, was said to be loosely based on Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist classic, “The Bicycle Thief.” The film, directed by Tim Burton and co-written by Phil Hartman of “Saturday Night Live,” sent Pee-wee on a nationwide escapade. The movie was a success, grossing $40 million, and continued to spawn a cult following for its oddball whimsy.
A sequel followed three years later in the less well-received “Big Top Pee-wee,” in which Pee-wee seeks to join a circus. Reubens’ character wouldn’t get another movie starring role until 2016′s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,” for Netflix. Judd Apatow produced Pee-wee’s big-screen revival.
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His television series, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” ran for five seasons, earned 22 Emmys and attracted not only children but adults to Saturday-morning TV.
Both silly and subversive and championing nonconformity, the Pee-wee universe was a trippy place, populated by things such as a talking armchair and a friendly pterodactyl. The host, who is fond of secret words and loves fruit salad so much he once married it, is prone to lines like, “I know you are, but what am I?” and “Why don’t you take a picture; it’ll last longer?” The act was a hit because it worked on multiple levels, even though Reubens insists that wasn’t the plan.
“It’s for kids,” Reubens told The Associated Press in 2010. “People have tried to get me for years to go, ‘It wasn’t really for kids, right?’ Even the original show was for kids. I always censored myself to have it be kid-friendly.
“The whole thing has been just a gut feeling from the beginning,” Reubens told the AP. “That’s all it ever is and I think always ever be. Much as people want me to dissect it and explain it, I can’t. One, I don’t know, and two, I don’t want to know, and three, I feel like I’ll hex myself if I know.”
___
Associated Press Writer Alicia Rancilio and Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/arts/paul-reubens-comic-actor-behind-pee-wee-herman-character-has-died/ | 2023-07-31T17:58:57 | 1 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/arts/paul-reubens-comic-actor-behind-pee-wee-herman-character-has-died/ |
BlackStar Film Festival will showcase a film by Philly’s Imran Siddiquee
Siddiquee’s The Difference Between Us is an ode to queer people of color in Philadelphia.
One of the first challenging things Imran Siddiquee shared with their parents was that they weren’t going to be an engineer.
Another was that they are queer.
Siddiquee grew up in Springfield, Illinois in a family of Bengali immigrants. Throughout their life, they always found themself at the intersection of marginalized experiences in America: immigration, race and ethnicity, and queerness. The Philadelphia resident has published numerous essays on race and gender in publications like The Atlantic, but growing up, Siddiquee never saw anyone like them — and never saw their lived reality depicted in film or literature. So they set out to create one themself.
The Difference Between Us, a short film written and directed by Siddiquee and produced by Tshay Williams, will be debuting on Aug. 5 at this year’s BlackStar Film Festival, which will be taking place Aug. 2 through Aug. 6. The film follows an undocumented immigrant from Bangladesh who immigrates to Philadelphia to escape something from her past. When she finds a room in an apartment to sublet, she finds herself dreaming about her roommate — and the life she could have.
“I don’t think anyone has read me stories about the experiences of queer Muslims who are also immigrants and also undocumented,” said Siddiquee. “So I hope that it reaches those folks.”
Much of the inspiration for the film came from Siddiquee’s personal experiences, including when they first moved to Philadelphia from San Francisco eight years ago, in the midst of a tense presidential campaign. From Trump signs around their South Philly neighborhood to protests at the airport over the “Muslim ban,” Siddiquee witnessed the impact the politics at the time had on people of color and immigrants, especially those who were undocumented. It was that context that informed the film they wrote.
But The Difference Between Us is ultimately a queer romance, written for people of color.
The move to Philadelphia also introduced Siddiquee to the Philly South Asian Collective, a group dedicated to creating space for the South Asian diaspora and that organizes around intersectional feminist issues. It was in that group that Siddiquee, not fully out yet, met other South Asians who were also queer.
“I just remember this kind of joy, and for me, a new feeling of being seen,” Siddiquee recalled.
At the time, Siddiquee was still struggling with their parents’ acceptance of their identity — and there were, and are to this day, other folks they knew who don’t feel safe enough to come out.
“A big part of the story was affirming that sometimes it isn’t safe,” Siddiquee said. “Sometimes you don’t have support from the people you want it from the most, but you can find it in other places and other communities.”
“I just remember this kind of joy, and for me, a new feeling of being seen.”
Another personal experience Siddiquee drew upon as they wrote the film was the history of their family, Bangladeshi people of all genders, and queer folks of color. As they learned more, for example, about what their grandmother had to do during the civil war between East and West Pakistan — which led to the creation of Bangladesh — “I started to find that the stories I was told about what one gender can do and another gender can’t do were not rooted in reality, even within my own family.”
Philadelphians may recognize some shots in the film as well. Siddiquee and the film’s cinematographer, Nausheen Dadabhoy, shot some scenes in Upper Darby, where there is a significant Bangladeshi population. And the apartment that the film revolves around was built inside a West Philly home.
“One of the things I’m very aware of is there’s a huge filmmaking community here, but there’s still room for a lot more resources to come to filmmakers of colors in Philly,” Siddiquee said. “I wanted to set it here and make it here for that reason.” | https://www.inquirer.com/entertainment/movies/blackstar-film-festival-difference-between-us-imran-siddiquee-queer-immigration-20230731.html | 2023-07-31T17:59:03 | 0 | https://www.inquirer.com/entertainment/movies/blackstar-film-festival-difference-between-us-imran-siddiquee-queer-immigration-20230731.html |
This column is from Trendlines, my business newsletter that covers the forces shaping the economy in Boston and beyond. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail on Mondays and Fridays, sign up here.
They say breaking up is hard to do, but the mood at General Electric has brightened as the yearslong dismantling of the famed conglomerate nears completion.
The Boston-based company’s stock is on a tear, surging 77 percent this year to rank among the biggest gainers in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
The latest: GE reported second-quarter earnings last week that blew past Wall Street estimates. Jet engine sales have taken off as airlines respond to a travel boom, and demand for wind turbines is improving.
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“In the first half alone, earnings have now surpassed our full-year 2022 results,” GE chief executive Larry Culp said on a conference call with analysts.
The backstory: Culp had already made his name as a superstar CEO when he was tapped five years ago as the first outsider to run GE since its founding in 1892. The company’s future was in doubt and its stock was in a tailspin.
Culp accelerated the split-up of a company whose businesses once ranged from industrial equipment to appliances to finance to broadcast television. The final big step — the spinoff to shareholders of GE’s power and renewable energy business — is set for early next year.
Wall Street has warmed to the prospect of GE as a “pure play” on the aviation industry. Culp has also restored investors’ confidence by cutting debt and increasing cash flow.
“The guy is excellent in the role,” said Joshua Aguilar, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar.
While GE’s stock is no longer a screaming buy after climbing from a May 2020 low of $34 to $114 on Friday, Aguilar said, Culp has positioned the company for longer-term success.How did he pull GE out of its nosedive?Culp stuck with three basic principles:
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Keep it simple: The CEO understood that while a conglomerate could provide financial stability through diversification, it is unwieldy to manage and hard for investors to understand.
It was a counterintuitive decision; before GE, Culp ran Danaher, a much smaller company that was considered a model of a successful conglomerate.
Prior to Culp’s arrival, GE was already much smaller than in 1999, when its market value peaked at more than half a billion dollars. Gone were NBCUniversal, the plastics business, and most of GE Capital.
But Culp sped up the divestitures, completing the sale of GE’s lighting, aircraft leasing, and oil and gas businesses. He made sure Chicago-based GE Healthcare got its finances in order, sold its biopharma division to Danaher, and cleared the way for a December 2022 spinoff that was announced under his predecessor, John Flannery.
Culp also made a call his predecessors would not or could not: spin off the money-losing power and renewable energy business. Called GE Vernova, with a small headquarters staff in Cambridge, the company will begin trading separately early next year.
What’s left of the company Culp took over, renamed GE Aerospace, builds and services aircraft engines and related systems for the commercial and military markets. GE Aerospace will be run out of Indianapolis, with Culp at the helm and its plant in Lynn the company’s biggest presence in Massachusetts.
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Deliver the deliverables: Culp crystalized GE’s strategy, but he still needed to execute it.
He used billions of dollars in proceeds from asset sales to lighten the company’s heavy debt load. The company cut expenses and boosted productivity.And Culp steered both GE and Wall Street to watch one measure of performance above all others: free cash flow. That’s the amount of cash available after operating expenses to cover outlays such as debt payments and dividends.In the second quarter, GE’s free cash flow more than doubled to $415 million. Net debt has fallen to $24 billion from $135 billion in 2017.
Sweat the small stuff: Culp is a true believer in kaizen, the Japanese philosophy centered around an unrelenting improvement in business practices.
He’s as comfortable walking the factory floor as he is in the C-suite — maybe more comfortable. His attention to small improvements contrasts with previous GE CEOs’ penchant for bold moves like acquisitions.
Next chapter: GE Aerospace’s future is brighter but not guaranteed. To keep the support of investors, the company will need to “beat and raise,” said Peter Cohan, an associate professor of management practice at Babson College.
That means regularly exceeding analysts’ financial forecasts and lifting the company’s earnings guidance, he said. But aviation has its ups and downs, and the business could hit turbulence like it did after 9/11 and during the worst of the pandemic.
“It’s an upcycle now,” Cohan said. “It does feel good, but curb your enthusiasm.”
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The late Jack Welch, pride of the North Shore, built GE into the country’s most valuable company in the 1990s through skillful management and ruthless cost controls. Jeff Immelt, a GE lifer who succeeded Welch, took the blame for GE’s fall from grace, but we should remember he had to deal with the aftershocks of 9/11 and the Great Recession.
The story isn’t finished, but Culp seems to have secured his legacy as the leader who killed off the old GE in order to create a new one.
Larry Edelman can be reached at larry.edelman@globe.com. Follow him @GlobeNewsEd. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/business/larry-culp-brings-ge-back-brink/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:03 | 1 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/business/larry-culp-brings-ge-back-brink/ |
John Fetterman casts Senate votes in a hoodie and shorts, misses his family, and other takeaways from his NYT interview
The Pennsylvania senator doesn’t understand the fascination with him, either.
As he settles into life in Washington, D.C., U.S. Sen. John Fetterman continues to open up about his health and how he’s adjusting to his new job.
Fetterman, who suffered a stroke days before Pennsylvania’s primary last year, returned to the Senate a little over three months ago after being hospitalized for clinical depression.
Recently, Pennsylvania’s junior senator sat down with sat down with the New York Times. Here are six takeaways from his Q&A.
Fetterman is talking with reporters
Fetterman is taking questions from reporters in the U.S. Capitol hallways, using an iPad’s voice-to-text feature as an aid for the auditory processing disorder from his stroke.
When he returned to Capitol Hill in April, his chief of staff told The Inquirer that Fetterman wanted to engage more with his colleagues and reporters, and they’d figure out a system to make sure he could do that.
» READ MORE: Inside John Fetterman’s hopeful first week back in the Senate after his treatment for depression
Fetterman had been closely guarded from the press for over a year as he continued to recover from his May 2022 stroke that kept him off the campaign trail for three months in last year’s election and then quietly battled severe depression.
Now, Fetterman will talk with reporters and has started inviting them to his office for off-the-record conversations, the New York Times reported.
Fetterman really misses his family, but won’t have them move
Fetterman said being apart from his wife and three kids, who still live in Braddock in western Pennsylvania, is “the worst part of the job” of being a U.S. senator. But they won’t move to join him in Washington for the remainder of his six-year term, he added.
“That would be disrupting their lives,” Fetterman told the New York Times. “I can’t do that to them.”
Being away from his family was one of the catalysts to his worsening clinical depression and hospitalization that kept him out of the U.S. Senate for six weeks.
Fetterman doesn’t understand the fascination
For Fetterman, the national interest in him — inspiring hundreds of articles — doesn’t make sense.
“I don’t get it. I’ll never understand it,” Fetterman said. “In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray’s character says something like, ‘You think I’m arrogant? No, I don’t even like me.’ That’s me. I don’t even like me. That’s the truth.”
» READ MORE: A look at John Fetterman's health journey, from his stroke to his hospitalization for depression
Despite the media obsession with the burly senator, Fetterman remains the less popular of Pennsylvania’s two senators. According to a Quinnipiac University poll from June, Fetterman has only a 39% approval rating and a 50% disapproval rating, with 10% of participants who didn’t have an opinion. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) had a 44% positive job approval rating, with 32% of respondents who disapprove of him and 24% who had no opinion.
Casey is up for reelection in 2024.
How Fetterman votes in his signature sweatshirt and shorts
Fetterman told the New York Times that he recently realized he didn’t need to be in a suit to vote from the threshold of the U.S. Senate chamber.
“I’ve been able to reduce my suit time by about 75%,” Fetterman said.
Male senators are required to wear a suit and tie when they’re on the Senate floor. But Fetterman’s newfound loophole lets him stay in his comfy clothes while casting his voice votes from the threshold of the chamber.
Fetterman’s signature Carhartt hoodie and gym shorts are part of his political brand — and part of the reason why some Pennsylvanians have said they relate to him.
Fetterman backs Joe Biden, but still sees Trump’s strength in Pa.
Fetterman said he’s confident that President Joe Biden can serve another term, despite concerns about his age. If elected to a second term, Biden would be 86 by the end of 2028.
“I’ve spent enough time around him,” Fetterman said, who appeared with Biden in Philadelphia in June after the I-95 bridge collapse. “He’s sharp, he’s aware, he is absolutely up to the task.”
But he still sees former President Donald Trump’s strength in Pennsylvania. Trump hosted a rally in Erie on Saturday, and maintains a dominating lead in Republican primary polls.
“You’re still seeing Trump signs everywhere in Pennsylvania,” Fetterman said. “You have to respect his strength in all of that. Trump would be very competitive in Pennsylvania.”
However, Fetterman thinks Trump would need to over perform to win in the state.
“I think there’s a hard ceiling in Pennsylvania he can’t get past,” he added.
Fetterman still mixes up words
In addition to his spot in mainstream media as a left-wing darling, he’s a consistent target of right-wing media outlets criticizing him as unable to do his job post-stroke.
He still occasionally mixes up words, which he did in his latest sitdown interview with the New York Times.
“We can fight for things that are meaningful. That we should have no hungry. Hanger. Hangry. Hanger. Hangry,” Fetterman said, before laughing.
“Fox News will go crazy if that makes your story,” he added. | https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/john-fetterman-interview-health-family-senate-20230731.html | 2023-07-31T17:59:14 | 0 | https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/john-fetterman-interview-health-family-senate-20230731.html |
HARTFORD, Conn. — Dennis J. Hernandez, the troubled older brother of the late NFL player Aaron Hernandez, was charged in a federal courtroom on Friday with new counts of threatening and stalking, after authorities say he threatened to shoot up the University of Connecticut and kill three people in another state.
Hernandez was ordered to be held in custody after his appearance Friday in a Hartford courtroom. The new charges come less than two weeks after he was arrested on July 18 on state charges of second-degree threatening, second-degree breach of peace, and second-degree failure to appear in court.
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The 37-year-old, who is also known as “DJ” and Jonathan, had sent threatening messages through Facebook Messenger, including messages about carrying out a shooting at UConn, where he was previously a quarterback, wide receiver, and two-time team captain in the mid-2000s.
“I would recommend remaining away from there because when I go I’m taking down everything. And don’t give a f--- who gets caught in the crossfire. I’ve died for years now and now it’s others people turn,” Hernandez wrote in one of the messages shared by the US Attorney’s Office in Connecticut. “I’m prepared to give my life. So if I don’t get to see you on the outside know I love you always. Not all shootings are bad I’m realizing. Some are necessary for change to happen.”
On July 7, around the time Hernandez sent these messages, his vehicle was allegedly identified on UConn’s Storrs campus. Hernandez also reportedly traveled to Brown University in Providence, R.I., this month, to “map the schools out,” to allegedly carry out a mass shooting.
Hernandez worked as a quarterbacks coach at Brown for one season during the 2011-12 academic year. He also coached high school football in Southington, Conn., in 2010, and in Ledyard, Conn., in 2017. In 2018, he resigned from coaching to pursue a career in writing.
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Related to these these new charges, Hernandez made a number of public Facebook posts that threatened to harm or kill three individuals who live outside of Connecticut on July 18 and 19, according to federal authorities. In a text message to one of the victims, Hernandez wrote, “We’re taking lives if s--- isn’t paid up. It’s been years in planning just taking notes, names and locations.
“They talked their way into this and it’s almost point game. I know we don’t play in my family. If we have to take lives or buildings we will,” continued Hernandez. “So just letting you know so you can be prepared for a media circus one way or another.”
It’s unclear where the people Hernandez threatened are located.
Charges of transmitting interstate communications containing a threat to injure, and interstate stalking, each carry a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. These new charges come after a string of recent incidents with police.
During his arrest at a home in Bristol, Conn., on July 18, police said he threatened to kill officers and then urged them to shoot him at his home. He was tasered, which was captured on police body cam footage, and later transported to a local hospital for evaluation. Two unidentified children, 12 and 5, were in the home and safely evacuated during Hernandez’s standoff with police. His relationship to the children has not yet been identified.
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During the evaluation, Hernandez allegedly made multiple threats to kill “anyone who profited off of his brother Aaron,” but did not specifically name any people.
Hernandez’s brother and former New England Patriots tight end, Aaron Hernandez, killed himself in 2017 in a prison cell while serving a murder sentence. Aaron Hernandez was convicted of killing Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional football player, and was found not guilty in a double homicide in Boston. The court proceedings received intense media coverage.
In 2018, Dennis Hernandez published a memoir titled, “The Truth About Aaron: My Journey to Understand My Brother.” Hernandez, who is three years older than the late star football player, chronicled how his life was flipped upside-down by his brother’s demise and wrote, “I was guilty by association — guilty of being his brother.”
Hernandez’s failure to appear charge earlier this month stemmed from a missed a court appearance in New Britain Superior Court on July 7 after he was scheduled to go before a judge for his arrest in March when he allegedly took an Uber to ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn., and threw a brick onto the property. Attached to the brick, the Associated Press reported at the time, was a note that said it was time the company realized the effect the “media has on all family members.” An anonymous complaint to Bristol police also reported being concerned about Hernandez, who had allegedly said he wanted to destroy property at the Connecticut Capitol.
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Hernandez is expected back in state court Tuesday and in federal court Aug. 11. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Neeraj N. Patel.
Hernandez is still under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bristol Police Department since being detained in state custody in Connecticut.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/metro/aaron-hernandezs-brother-now-faces-new-federal-charges/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:14 | 1 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/metro/aaron-hernandezs-brother-now-faces-new-federal-charges/ |
Authorities are investigating what caused a banner plane to crash into the ocean at Hampton, N.H., on Saturday.
Around noon, the single-engine Piper PA-18 landed on the water near Hampton Beach “during a banner tow operation,” Federal Aviation Administration officials said.
The FAA posted a preliminary report that said the “aircraft crashed in the ocean for unknown reasons.”
The pilot, who was the only person on board, was not injured, Hampton Fire Chief Michael McMahon said Monday.
“He was quite fortunate,” McMahon said.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
The plane landed about 30 yards offshore behind the Sea Shell performance complex on Ocean Boulevard, officials said.
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Video shot by witnesses showed the plane gradually getting closer to the water, as it were trying to land, before flipping forward when the wheels and nose hit the water. Lifeguards swam to the plane to rescue the pilot, and the plane was later dragged onto the beach.
McMahon praised the New Hampshire State Beach Patrol for their rescue efforts.
“They did a terrific job,” he said.
FAA records show that the plane is registered to Eugene F. Gray of North Hampton, N.H. Gray could not immediately be reached for comment.
On Monday, a banner plane crashed into the ocean in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The pilot was being treated at a hospital, according to local media reports.
Emily Sweeney can be reached at emily.sweeney@globe.com. Follow her @emilysweeney and on Instagram @emilysweeney22. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/metro/hampton-beach-plane-crash-under-investigation/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:15 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/metro/hampton-beach-plane-crash-under-investigation/ |
ROCHESTER, N.H. — While he aims to shake off a sluggish stretch of his presidential campaign, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a broad set of economic priorities Monday to reverse the trajectory of what he called a nation “in decline.”
DeSantis, who’s polling in a distant second place behind former president Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, unveiled his 10-point economic agenda with an hourlong event at Prep Partners Group, a warehousing and logistics company.
He railed against President Biden’s administration, Congress, and corporations that promote socially conscious business practices.
”The elites in this country have failed,” he said, framing his remarks as a declaration of economic independence from failed leaders and their policies.
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”We are a nation with an economy, not the other way around,” he added. “We are citizens in a republic. We are not cogs in a global economic empire.”
While he stuck to the topic and insisted that the reporters do the same with their questions, DeSantis included hallmarks of his socially conservative messaging. He spoke out against corporate training programs on diversity, equity, and inclusion; vowed to combat environment, social, and governance criteria in investing; and he called for changes in student loan rules to pressure universities to change their course offerings.
Schools have been running up the tab with easy-to-get student loans, so universities themselves should be held responsible for the student debt accumulated by their pupils, he said. Those financial pressures will prod the schools to think twice about their “ideological” programs, he said.
DeSantis said student loans should be eligible for discharge through bankruptcy, but he reiterated his opposition to federal student loan forgiveness.
”It’s wrong to say that a truck driver should have to pay off the debt of somebody that got a degree in gender studies,” he said.
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Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/metro/in-nh-desantis-tries-to-revive-campaign-focuses-on-economic-priorities/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:21 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/metro/in-nh-desantis-tries-to-revive-campaign-focuses-on-economic-priorities/ |
LINCOLNTON, N.C. (AP) — Six migrant workers who were intentionally hit by an SUV in a Walmart parking lot in North Carolina have been released from the hospital, police said on Monday.
The workers were rammed by a vehicle outside a Walmart in Lincolnton on Sunday in what appears to have been an intentional assault, but Maj. Brian Greene, interim chief of the Lincolnton Police Department, said the driver's motives are still under investigation. The victims were treated at a local hospital for their injuries, and all were released late Sunday, Greene told The Associated Press.
Police are asking the public for help identifying the driver and the vehicle, described as an older model black sport utility vehicle with a luggage rack.
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The migrant workers had arrived at the Walmart parking lot late Sunday morning from Knob Creek Orchard in Lawndale, where they tend to the farmland. Greene said the workers make the same trip once a week and use a shaded lawn at the bottom of the parking lot as their regular meeting place to board buses. They were standing under trees Sunday when the SUV pulled up next to the bus.
“It turns right in front of the bus and appears like it’s almost going to park,” Greene said, describing security footage of the incident. “And then it appears to accelerate at the last minute, jumping the curb, hitting the individuals and the trees and going through the area into the other side of the parking lot and exits the same way it came.” | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/nation/migrant-workers-struck-north-carolina/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:27 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/nation/migrant-workers-struck-north-carolina/ |
Mount Washington in New Hampshire this month set a new record for July rainfall, logging nearly 17 inches of rain on the peak for the entire month, according to scientists.
In a statement Sunday, the Mount Washington Observatory said weather observer Alexis George had measured 0.56 inches of precipitation on the mountain at 7:45 p.m., and that another measure was taken overnight, totaling 16.91 inches of precipitation for the month of July.
That’s a record, folks; the prior one was set more than two decades ago.
“This surpasses the previous record of 16.85 inches set in July of 1996 and is 7.98 inches higher than average precipitation for the month,” the observatory said.
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Temperatures, meanwhile, were cold on the mountain over the weekend.
“Temperatures on the summit plummeted to the mid-30s last night and are expected to remain below seasonal averages through the mid week,” the statement said. “If climbing into the White Mountains, expect conditions akin to Fall rather than summer. This includes cooler temperatures, slightly elevated winds, and wind chills that are below freezing.”
Heavy rains on July 16 hit some parts of the state hard — damaging roads, flooding basements, and even causing a sinkhole, as some of the state waterways have reached record highs. The central part of the state including Manchester and towns in the Lakes Region and Epsom were all impacted.
And on Friday, the weather service confirmed a tornado touched down in southwest New Hampshire.
The twister first touched down in North Swanzey, then it lifted briefly and touched down again near the border of Keene and Marlboro, before skipping eastward along Route 101 to Dublin, where it toppled several hundred large healthy trees, forecasters reported Friday evening. The tornado traveled a 13-mile path.
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The damage in Dublin, N.H. included broken windows, siding and shingles ripped off of structures, and trees fallen on cars and buildings, according to the report.
On Sunday, the observatory also tweeted about the July milestone:
Last night, weather observer Alexis George measured 0.61 inches of precipitation. This gave the summit a total of 16.91 inches of precipitation measured this month. This surpasses the previous record of 16.85 inches set in July of 1996 and is 7.98 inches higher than average. pic.twitter.com/ifwtU5sDpk
— Mount Washington Observatory (MWO) (@MWObs) July 30, 2023
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/science/nearly-17-inches-rain-fell-mount-washington-july-setting-record-month/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:37 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/science/nearly-17-inches-rain-fell-mount-washington-july-setting-record-month/ |
BAYREUTH – Two years after the debut of the Bayreuth Festival’s first female conductor, Nathalie Stutzmann became the second to lead a Richard Wagner opera in the Festpielhaus' famous covered pit.
The 58-year-old former contralto, fresh off her first season as Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director, drew a luminous performance of “Tannhäuser” on Friday night in a revival of the Tobias Kratzer 2019 production — the one featuring the title character in a clown suit and a murder in a Burger King parking lot.
“It’s good news to be second,” Stutzmann said. "It proves that things are moving.”
Launched by Richard Wagner in 1876 and currently run by great-granddaughter Katharina Wagner, the festival broke its conductor gender barrier when Oksana Lyniv led a new staging of “Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)” in 2021. The 45-year-old returned this summer to preside over the Dmitri Tcherniakov production for the third straight year.
“They are very highly accepted,” Katharina Wagner said. “I hope that this question would disappear with time, that we are just talking about good conductors and not female and male conductors anymore.”
Stutzmann’s year so far has also included debuts with the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, where she provoked the orchestra when she alleged in a New York Times interview that musicians were bored playing while not being able to see onstage activity. The orchestra criticized her in a statement, prompting Stutzmann to apologize.
At Bayreuth, conductors must adjust to a pit Richard Wagner designed to keep the orchestra hidden from the audience, arranged in nine rows that descend toward the stage: violins in the first two, followed by violas, cellos, double basses, woodwinds, brass and percussion. The instrumental sound mixes with voices before traveling out to 30 rows of seats and three tiers of boxes.
“I had done a lot of research, so I knew the experience would be new and unexpected and tricky,” Stutzmann said in a response to an emailed question. “We hear the sound completely different from what the audience hears, that’s why we have to rely on our assistants. ... You hardly hear the singers on stage and they sound always late even when we are perfectly together!”
Stutzmann’s performance, using the original Dresden score, featured unusual clarity when the overture slowed and the volume lowered during a pilgrims’ chorus repeat in the overture. She was greeted with boisterous applause and foot-stomping during 14 minutes of curtain calls.
Stutzmann has been invited back to conduct the 2024 revival of the sold-out “Tannhäuser” staging, notorious for the director adding the drag queen Le Gateau Chocolat and dwarf actor Manni Laudenbach, who combine with the title character and the goddess Venus to form a counterculture clique Richard Wagner never could have envisioned for a work that premiered in 1845.
During an interview in New York before heading to Germany, Stutzmann said “Tannhäuser” was the perfect vehicle for her Bayreuth debut, given her quarter-century as a contralto and the opera’s full title, which translates to “Tannhäuser and the Minstrels' Contest at Wartburg.”
She winked.
“It’s a singer competition, after all,” she said with a laugh. | https://www.wsls.com/entertainment/2023/07/31/nathalie-stutzmann-become-second-woman-to-conduct-at-bayreuth-2-years-after-gender-barrier-broken/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:41 | 1 | https://www.wsls.com/entertainment/2023/07/31/nathalie-stutzmann-become-second-woman-to-conduct-at-bayreuth-2-years-after-gender-barrier-broken/ |
8-year-old survives cougar attack in Washington state national park
PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) — An 8-year-old child survived a cougar attack with minor injuries while camping in Olympic National Park in Washington state over the weekend.
“The cougar casually abandoned its attack after being yelled and screamed at by the child’s mother,” the National Park Service said in a statement. After being assessed by park personnel, the child, who was not identified, went to a hospital for further evaluation.
Rangers shut down the campsite and surrounding areas following the Saturday attack. Park law enforcement and cougar specialists began looking for the animal on Sunday at Lake Angeles. If located, the cougar will be euthanized and officials hope a necropsy will provide clues as to why it attacked.
Cougars are rarely seen and attacks on humans are extremely rare, park officials said. The lethal removal of the cougar is in line with the park’s protocol for wildlife observations, interactions and attacks.
The entirety of the 1,562-square-mile park located about 60 miles east of Seattle is consider cougar territory.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/31/8-year-old-survives-cougar-attack-washington-state-national-park/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:41 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/31/8-year-old-survives-cougar-attack-washington-state-national-park/ |
Arrest made in St. Armands Circle shooting
Published: Jul. 31, 2023 at 1:49 PM EDT|Updated: 10 minutes ago
SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - The Sarasota Police Department has arrested a juvenile in connection with a shooting that happened near St. Armands Circle last week.
The shooting happened shortly before 1 a.m. on Monday, July 24, near the intersection of Jackson Drive and South Washington Drive, Sarasota. Two adult victims were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
A 15-year-old is facing a felony charge of Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon.
The investigation is ongoing and detectives are working to determine if others were involved in this shooting. This was an isolated incident and the public is not believed to be in any danger.
This case remains active and ongoing.
Copyright 2023 WWSB. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/31/arrest-made-st-armands-circle-shooting/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:42 | 0 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/31/arrest-made-st-armands-circle-shooting/ |
LOS ANGELES – Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural phenomenon through films and TV shows, has died.
Reubens died Sunday night after a six-year struggle with cancer that he did not make public, his publicist said in a statement.
“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” Reubens said in a statement released with the announcement of his death. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”
The character with his too-tight gray suit, white chunky loafers and red bow tie was best known for the film “Pee-wee's Big Adventure” and the TV series “Pee-wee's Playhouse.”
Herman created Pee-wee when he was part of the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings in the late 1970s. The live “Pee-wee Herman Show” debuted at a Los Angeles theater in 1981 and was a success with both kids during matinees and adults at a midnight show. HBO would air the show as a special.
Reubens took Pee-wee to the big screen in 1985’s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The film, in which Pee-wee’s cherished bike is stolen, was said to be loosely based on Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist classic, “The Bicycle Thief.” The film, directed by Tim Burton and co-written by Phil Hartman of “Saturday Night Live,” sent Pee-wee on a nationwide escapade. The movie was a success, grossing $40 million, and continued to spawn a cult following for its oddball whimsy.
A sequel followed three years later in the less well-received “Big Top Pee-wee,” in which Pee-wee seeks to join a circus. Reubens’ character wouldn’t get another movie starring role until 2016’s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,” for Netflix. Judd Apatow produced Pee-wee’s big-screen revival.
His television series, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” ran for five seasons, earned 22 Emmys and attracted not only children but adults to Saturday-morning TV.
Both silly and subversive and championing nonconformity, the Pee-wee universe was a trippy place, populated by things such as a talking armchair and a friendly pterodactyl. The host, who is fond of secret words and loves fruit salad so much he once married it, is prone to lines like, “I know you are, but what am I?” and “Why don’t you take a picture; it’ll last longer?” The act was a hit because it worked on multiple levels, even though Reubens insists that wasn’t the plan.
“It’s for kids,” Reubens told The Associated Press in 2010. “People have tried to get me for years to go, ‘It wasn’t really for kids, right?’ Even the original show was for kids. I always censored myself to have it be kid-friendly.
“The whole thing has been just a gut feeling from the beginning," Reubens told the AP. "That’s all it ever is and I think always ever be. Much as people want me to dissect it and explain it, I can’t. One, I don’t know, and two, I don’t want to know, and three, I feel like I’ll hex myself if I know.”
___
Associated Press Writer Alicia Rancilio and Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report. | https://www.wsls.com/entertainment/2023/07/31/pee-wee-herman-actor-paul-reubens-dies-from-cancer-at-70/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:42 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/entertainment/2023/07/31/pee-wee-herman-actor-paul-reubens-dies-from-cancer-at-70/ |
Home-field advantage usually is just that — except in the Women’s World Cup. Of the first eight WWC champions, only the US in 1999 captured the title in its backyard.
New Zealand continued the trend, going out in the first round Sunday. But Australia maintained host-country hopes with a 4-0 rout of Canada Monday. Having the nation behind them certainly motivated the Matildas, but just as crucial were the tactics of coach Tony Gustavsson.
The Aussies approached this game as if it were a final. And it was a win-or-go-home (stay-home, in this case) situation. The basis of the Aussie strategy was simple: take the initiative. That meant not hesitating to go forward, as well not shying away from increasing the physicality.
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On the first of two Hayley Raso goals, Australia received some help, as Canada’s Vanessa Gilles succumbed to a defender’s nightmare — failing to execute an offside trap, then scuffing a clearance directly to Raso.
Still, Canada remained in contention late in the half following a lengthy VAR review that disallowed an Aussie goal for offside. Though the score remained 1-0 — Australia’s Ellie Carpenter was charged with interfering with goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan and Kadeisha Buchanan — the sequence turned out to be significant.
Before Carpenter’s offside offense, she had run through a Jayde Riviere tackle, and could have been cautioned. Despite those two violations involving Carpenter, referee Stephanie Frappart allowed play to continue, finally calling off the goal, though that did not help Riviere, who made it to halftime, then was replaced.
But the fact that Carpenter, a defender, was involved in the attack told much of the story. As part of Gustavsson’s plans, Carpenter bombed forward, creating havoc. The idea was for the Aussies to force the issue, pressure the Canada back line, set the tone. By being proactive, Australia earned its breaks, capitalizing on Canada playing a high line defensively, generally keeping Sheridan busy, and getting the benefit of the doubt from the referee.
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Canada paid for being conservative. Coach Bev Priestman did not counter until far too late, sending Gilles (coincidentally, Carpenter’s back-line partner at Olympique Lyon) into the offense while trailing by three goals well into the second half.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out Australia needed to push the tempo. But Gustavsson had to sell the idea, get his team to play with conviction, and also maintain some balance between defense and offense. Going into the game, the Aussies were facing a crisis in confidence, after losing leading scorer Sam Kerr to an injury in a pre-tournament training session, then having two players sustain concussions in practice last week. Somehow, Gustavsson kept things together.
Experience helps, no doubt. Gustavsson has guided the best female players in the world for many years, at Tyreso FF in Sweden, and with the US national team from 2015-19. His résumé alone gives Gustavsson an edge, but he was not taking any chances in this WWC, adding former Sweden national teamer Jens Fjellstrom to the coaching staff. Credibility counts at the highest levels, but a coach’s strategies have to pay off, and Gustavsson’s have.
As the WWC has progressed, there are signs of players pushing the limits of physical play. Australia was not the first. Colombia’s hard-charging style seemed to surprise South Korea (2-0) and Germany (2-1), and has the Cafeteras on the verge of winning Group H. Colombia gave warning it was going to be hyped up, knocking out Ireland’s Denise O’Sullivan in the early minutes of a pre-WWC closed-door scrimmage that the Irish decided to call off for the purposes of self-preservation.
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Forward Linda Caicedo has inspired the Colombians with highlight-reel goals. But a key to success has been the defending of Daniela Arias, whose forearm felled Alexandra Popp in the first half of the Germany game, and goalkeeper Catalina Perez, who competed for the New England Mutiny in Ludlow in 2019 before moving to Italy’s Serie A.
Colombia entered the tournament ranked No. 25, but has defeated two teams rated higher, and now can win the group with at least a draw against Morocco.
The reward is a likely Round of 16 date with Brazil, a rematch of the Copa America Femenil final, a 1-0 Brazil win that included the stoppage-time ejection of Colombia coach Nelson Arias. That is why Arias has been sitting in the stands, while son Mario coaches the team on the sidelines.
WWC referees seem to be rewarding roughhouse tactics and overly aggressive defensive play. There is a line between aggressive and reckless defending, and drawing it is the responsibility of the referee. That became a problem late in China’s 1-0 win over Haiti, when three late non-calls went against the Haitians. A penalty kick was rescinded following a VAR review; a possible penalty kick was not checked by VAR; and another penalty-area incident finished with Haiti’s Kethna Louis down. In all three cases, Haiti had been pressuring the China defense, which held out at a numerical disadvantage since the 29th minute, and finally appeared to be weakening.
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As the tournament progresses, the rah-rah approach only goes so far, though. Teams advancing to the final rounds will need to show they can protect their turf, but balance that with skillful play.
Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at frankdellapa@gmail.com. | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/sports/aggressive-play-seems-be-paying-off-womens-world-cup/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:43 | 0 | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/31/sports/aggressive-play-seems-be-paying-off-womens-world-cup/ |
As Jett Lawrence continues his perfect season of Pro Motocross finishes, signs remain that the field is beginning to close the competitive gap. At Washougal, Dylan Ferrandis and Aaron Plessinger led the opening laps of both motos and Chase Sexton closed in on Lawrence in the middle to late stages of those races.
Ultimately the NBC Sports SuperMotocross Power Rankings looks at the results, however, and when the checkers waved over Round 8 of the Motocross season, Round 25 of SuperMotocross, Lawrence accumulated another pair of moto wins and remains undefeated through 16 rounds.
Even Lawrence does not know how much he has remaining in his personal reserves at the end of a race because he has not been challenged to the finish line since Sexton pressured him throughout Moto 2 of the season opener at Fox Raceway.
With a sweep of second-place in both Washougal motos, Sexton kept his perfect season of podium finishes alive. He was third in the RedBud Nationals in Moto 2, but every other result has been as the runner-up to his teammate Lawrence. It doesn’t matter who it is, if the same rider is beating you week in and week out, the hunger to win intensifies.
MORE: Jett Lawrence comes from behind at Washougal
Ferrandis is still trying to determine how to close the gap on the Honda riders. Returning from injuries sustained in Supercross, Ferrandis swept the podium in the first two rounds in four motos and has not finished worse than seventh. On a few occasions, his effort was hindered by slow starts, but even when he’s been ahead of Lawrence and Sexton he has not been able to keep them at bay.
Plessinger has also been plagued by inconsistency during the season. For the third time in 2023, he failed to finish in the top five in a moto at Washougal when he crossed under the checkers seventh. In Moto 1. He rebounded to pace the field for the first three laps of Moto 2, which is the furthest into a moto anyone has denied Lawrence the lead since a guest appearance by Ken Roczen in Round 21 at High Point. With three Motocross rounds remaining and a 70-point lead over the next active rider in SuperMotocross points, the second seeding is relatively safe.
Slotting into fifth-place in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings, Garrett Marchbanks remains the hottest privateer in the field. He bounded up the SMX World Championship points standings by three positions to 17th last week despite three riders, (Shane McElrath, Colt Nichols and Josh Hill), returning to action in the last two rounds. The goal when he joined the 450 class was simply to crack the top 20 and earn an automatic invitation to the SMX playoffs features. A top-15 seeding is now in reach.
250 Rankings
Sitting on the overall podium at RedBud, Justin Cooper sounded like he was all but ready to concede the championship after getting hurt and failing to mount up for either moto the previous week. He’d lost too many points by missing the round. But he did not concede and since that weekend has stood on the podium in all but one moto. He won the second moto at Spring Creek two rounds ago and led late in Moto 2 at Washougal before getting overtaken by Haiden Deegan. Suddenly there is an identifiable path to the 250 Motocross championship if Cooper gets a little help from the points leaders.
Deegan became the first 250 rider to sweep a weekend when he took the checkers in both motos at Washougal. One week after Hunter Lawrence made a statement that he was in control of the season by finishing first and second in the two Spring Creek motos, Deegan’s response was even louder, and it is heating up the rivalry between the two riders. If the rookie can withstand the pressure, he is going to take the points’ battle to the end.
RJ Hampshire had a consistent weekend at Washougal with a pair of top-fives in the motos and a fourth-place finish overall. His season has not always shown that same consistency and Thunder Valley in Round 20 of SuperMotocross was a low point, but other than that ninth-place overall result, he has swept the top-five when the motos have been added together.
Jo Shimoda is quietly putting together a great season. Since returning from a practice injury during the Supercross season, he has swept the top 10. Most of these have been top-five overall finishes and last week’s seventh was only the fourth time in 2023 that he failed to finish that well in 12 rounds. Shimoda needs better starts if he wants to contend for podiums.
Finishing fifth in front of his hometown crowd at Washougal, Levi Kitchen scored his fourth top-five in the last six Motocross rounds. A moto win and second-place overall finish at Red Bud four rounds ago highlights what this rider can do when he’s at his peak. Now he needs to level out his valleys.
Last week’s fourth in Moto 2 was the first time all season that Lawrence failed to stand on the podium in a race in which he saw the checkers. Is Lawrence losing control of the season? Deegan would like to think so after shaving 10 points off his lead last week. He is now only three points behind Lawrence. That is the difference between finishing first and second in a single moto, but Lawrence has been much more consistent overall – with the notable exceptions of a crash in Moto 2 at RedBud and mechanical issue in Moto 1 at Southwick.
* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner in Supercross and overall winner in Motocross. It awards 90 points for each Moto, Heat and Triple Crown win. The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of starters in the field until the last place rider in each event receives three points, (five in fields of 22 riders). The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days.
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 24 SPRING CREEK: Chase Sexton closes competitive gap
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 23 SOUTHWICK: Halfway home and Jett Lawrence is still undefeated
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 21 HIGH POINT: Lawrence brothers still perfect in overall finishes
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 20 THUNDER VALLEY: Lawrence brothers dominance continues
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 19 HANGTOWN: Jett Lawrence pulls away from the field
POWER RANKINGS AFTER MX OPENER AT FOX RACEWAY: Jett Lawrence debuts in first place
POWER RANKINGS AFTER SX FINALE AT SALT LAKE CITY: Chase Sexton ends with win
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 15 AT NASHVILLE: Eli Tomac back on top
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 14 AT NEW JERSEY: The top 20 settle in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 13 AT ATLANTA: Justin Barcia leapfrogs the Big 3
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 12 AT GLENDALE: Eli Tomac gains momentum
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 11 AT SEATTLE: Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac overtake Chase Sexton
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 10 AT DETROIT: Chase Sexton narrowly leads Webb
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 8 AT DAYTONA: Chase Sexton unseats Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 7 AT ARLINGTON: Jason Anderson narrowly trails Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 6 AT OAKLAND: Perfect night keeps Eli Tomac first
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 5 AT TAMPA: Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb close in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 4 AT HOUSTON: Eli Tomac rebounds from A2 crash, retakes lead
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 3 AT ANAHEIM 2: Consistency makes Ken Roczen king
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 2 AT SAN DIEGO: Ken Roczen moves up, Chase Sexton falls
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1 AT ANAHEIM 1: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence gain an early advantage | https://www.nbcsports.com/motor-sports/news/2023-supermotocross-power-rankings-after-washougal-haiden-deegan-improves-two-spots-in-250s | 2023-07-31T17:59:45 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/motor-sports/news/2023-supermotocross-power-rankings-after-washougal-haiden-deegan-improves-two-spots-in-250s |
Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens dies from cancer at 70
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural phenomenon through films and TV shows, has died.
Reubens died Sunday night after a six-year struggle with cancer that he did not make public, his publicist said in a statement.
“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” Reubens said in a statement released with the announcement of his death. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”
The character with his too-tight gray suit, white chunky loafers and red bow tie was best known for the film “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and the TV series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
Herman created Pee-wee when he was part of the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings in the late 1970s. The live “Pee-wee Herman Show” debuted at a Los Angeles theater in 1981 and was a success with both kids during matinees and adults at a midnight show. HBO would air the show as a special.
Reubens took Pee-wee to the big screen in 1985′s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The film, in which Pee-wee’s cherished bike is stolen, was said to be loosely based on Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist classic, “The Bicycle Thief.” The film, directed by Tim Burton and co-written by Phil Hartman of “Saturday Night Live,” sent Pee-wee on a nationwide escapade. The movie was a success, grossing $40 million, and continued to spawn a cult following for its oddball whimsy.
A sequel followed three years later in the less well-received “Big Top Pee-wee,” in which Pee-wee seeks to join a circus. Reubens’ character wouldn’t get another movie starring role until 2016′s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,” for Netflix. Judd Apatow produced Pee-wee’s big-screen revival.
His television series, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” ran for five seasons, earned 22 Emmys and attracted not only children but adults to Saturday-morning TV.
Both silly and subversive and championing nonconformity, the Pee-wee universe was a trippy place, populated by things such as a talking armchair and a friendly pterodactyl. The host, who is fond of secret words and loves fruit salad so much he once married it, is prone to lines like, “I know you are, but what am I?” and “Why don’t you take a picture; it’ll last longer?” The act was a hit because it worked on multiple levels, even though Reubens insists that wasn’t the plan.
“It’s for kids,” Reubens told The Associated Press in 2010. “People have tried to get me for years to go, ‘It wasn’t really for kids, right?’ Even the original show was for kids. I always censored myself to have it be kid-friendly.
“The whole thing has been just a gut feeling from the beginning,” Reubens told the AP. “That’s all it ever is and I think always ever be. Much as people want me to dissect it and explain it, I can’t. One, I don’t know, and two, I don’t want to know, and three, I feel like I’ll hex myself if I know.”
___
Associated Press Writer Alicia Rancilio and Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/31/paul-reubens-best-known-pee-wee-herman-dies-age-70/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:48 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2023/07/31/paul-reubens-best-known-pee-wee-herman-dies-age-70/ |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs will implement safety measures for its September meet including new track surface maintenance equipment and additional monitoring and equine care following 12 horse deaths before and after the Kentucky Derby that spurred suspension of its spring meet.
Racing is scheduled to resume Sept. 14 and run through Oct. 1 at the historic track, which paused racing operations on June 7 to conduct an internal safety review following the spate of horse deaths from racing or training injuries. Seven died in the days leading up to the 149th Derby on May 6, including two in races preceding the premier event.
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority recommended suspending the remainder of the meet, which moved to Ellis Park in western Kentucky. Training continued at Churchill Downs during the investigation, and a release on Monday stated that while industry experts found no issues with the racing surfaces, the track invested in new maintenance equipment. It will also double the frequency of surface testing among infrastructure upgrades.
Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen said the track’s commitment to safety “remains paramount” in the release and added, “our participants, fans and the public can be assured that we will continue to investigate, evaluate and improve upon every policy and protocol.”
The announcement comes days after Carstanjen said racing would resume this fall with no changes and called the deaths “a series of unfortunate circumstances” in an earnings call with CDI investors.
Churchill Downs veterinarians will receive additional resources for specialized horse care and to assist in pre-race inspections and entry screening, the release added. The track will work with HISA and industry experts to predict at-risk horses through advanced analytic techniques.
A safety management committee including horsemen, track employees and veterinarians will also be created.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wsls.com/news/2023/07/31/churchill-downs-to-improve-track-maintenance-veterinary-resources-for-fall-meet-after-horse-deaths/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:49 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/news/2023/07/31/churchill-downs-to-improve-track-maintenance-veterinary-resources-for-fall-meet-after-horse-deaths/ |
JERUSALEM – Israel's Supreme Court said Monday that a full panel of 15 justices would hear petitions in September against a contentious law that was passed last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and which has spurred mass protests.
The law was one of a series of proposed changes to Israel's judiciary put forward by Netanyahu's government earlier this year that seek to curb the power of the Supreme Court. The judicial overhaul plan has been met with months of sustained mass protest against the legislation and drawn criticism from the White House.
Critics of the overhaul say that the package of laws would concentrate power in the hands of the ruling coalition and erode the system of checks and balances between branches of government. Proponents say the measures are necessary to limit the power of unelected judges who they say are overly activist.
Netanyahu and his allies passed a law last week that removes the high court's ability to annul government decisions considered “unreasonable.” The “reasonableness standard” was implemented by the Supreme Court earlier this year to thwart the appointment of a Netanyahu ally as interior minister after he had recently pleaded guilty to tax offenses.
The court said the hearing concerning the law striking down the “reasonableness standard” would take place on Sept. 12 with a full bench of 15 justices. The Supreme Court typically hears cases with smaller panels of justices, but appears to have opted for a full complement of judges because of the highly delicate nature of the matter.
The Netanyahu administration's push to overhaul the judiciary has deeply divided an already highly polarized country and sparked the longest sustained protests in the country's history.
Netanyahu and his allies took office in December after the country's fifth election in under four years, most of them referendums on the longtime leader's fitness to serve while on trial for corruption. | https://www.wsls.com/news/2023/07/31/israels-full-high-court-to-hear-petitions-against-judiciary-law-in-september-that-spurred-protests/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:49 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/news/2023/07/31/israels-full-high-court-to-hear-petitions-against-judiciary-law-in-september-that-spurred-protests/ |
8-year-old survives cougar attack in Washington state national park
PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) — An 8-year-old child survived a cougar attack with minor injuries while camping in Olympic National Park in Washington state over the weekend.
“The cougar casually abandoned its attack after being yelled and screamed at by the child’s mother,” the National Park Service said in a statement. After being assessed by park personnel, the child, who was not identified, went to a hospital for further evaluation.
Rangers shut down the campsite and surrounding areas following the Saturday attack. Park law enforcement and cougar specialists began looking for the animal on Sunday at Lake Angeles. If located, the cougar will be euthanized and officials hope a necropsy will provide clues as to why it attacked.
Cougars are rarely seen and attacks on humans are extremely rare, park officials said. The lethal removal of the cougar is in line with the park’s protocol for wildlife observations, interactions and attacks.
The entirety of the 1,562-square-mile park located about 60 miles east of Seattle is consider cougar territory.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/31/8-year-old-survives-cougar-attack-washington-state-national-park/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:49 | 0 | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/31/8-year-old-survives-cougar-attack-washington-state-national-park/ |
Changes to pet food and specialty pet food packaging will provide consistency and transparency
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pet owners will soon find updated packaging and labels when shopping for pet food and specialty pet food products, including treats and supplements -- the first major update in more than 40 years. The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) approved the new suggested labeling guidelines that include standardized nutrition information, clear ingredient statements, and storage and handling instructions. The modern design and updated information will ensure consistency and transparency, so consumers can easily make more informed buying decisions for their pets.
The passage of the revised Model Regulations for Pet Food and Specialty Pet Food sets a new standard for pet food manufacturers and distributors to follow. Feed regulatory professionals across the United States and Canada worked cooperatively with consumers and professionals within the pet food industry on a strategic course to ensure pet food labels provide a more comprehensive view of the product.
"The feedback we received from both consumers and industry advisors throughout this process was an important part of our collaboration to make improvements. We sought public comment to learn more about how pet food label changes would enhance transparency and provide clearer information in a consumer-friendly format. New packaging and labels will be well-defined and easy to understand. And that's good news for all of us, from pet owners and manufacturers to pets themselves," said Austin Therrell, executive director of AAFCO.
Major Label Changes
As states begin the rulemaking process of adopting and enforcing the Model Regulations for Pet Food and Specialty Pet Food, AAFCO recommends a transition period of six years for manufacturers to fully incorporate the label and packaging changes to their products. Pet owners will see some changes before that date, but all packaging should be consistent by the end of the six-year period. Below is a snapshot of what to expect from label updates in four key areas:
- Nutrition Facts Box – Updated to resemble human-food labeling more closely.
- Intended Use Statement – Updated to new location on the lower-third of the front display panel to help consumers easily identify the purpose of the pet food.
- Ingredient Statement – Updated to clarify the use of consistent terminology and allow parentheticals and common or usual names for vitamins.
- Handling and Storage Instructions (optional) – Updated and standardized with optional icons for greater consistency.
About Pet Food Label Modernization (PFLM)
AAFCO and its key stakeholders have worked together since 2015, to develop the revised Pet Food Model Regulations. Multiple rounds of consumer research were conducted to understand how pet food labels can better communicate important information. AAFCO used the feedback from consumers and industry officials to develop this new update and to support uniform state implementation of the new regulations. This initiative has been a key example of the benefit of industry and consumer collaboration to solve challenges and make improvements to pet food labels. For more information about PFLM, visit http://www.aafco.org/pflm.
About AAFCO
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has been guiding state, federal and international feed regulators with ingredient definitions, label standards and laboratory standards for more than 110 years, while supporting the health and safety of people and animals. Its members are charged by their state or federal laws to regulate the manufacture, sale and distribution of animal feeds and feed ingredients. Learn more at aafco.org.
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SOURCE The Association of American Feed Control Officials | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/aafco-membership-approves-new-model-pet-food-specialty-pet-food-regulations/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:49 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/aafco-membership-approves-new-model-pet-food-specialty-pet-food-regulations/ |
DES MOINES, Iowa – Another day, another billion dollar lottery jackpot.
At least, that's how it seems ahead of Tuesday night's Mega Millions drawing for an estimated $1.05 billion top prize.
It's a huge sum of money, but such giant jackpots have become far more common, with five prizes topping $1 billion since 2021 — and one jackpot reaching $2.04 billion in 2022.
The massive prizes are due in part to chance, but it's not all happenstance. Rising interest rates coupled with changes to the odds of winning are also big reasons the prizes grow so large.
HOW DO INTEREST RATES INCREASE JACKPOTS?
Nearly all jackpot winners opt for a lump sum payout, which for Tuesday night's drawing would be an estimated $527.9 million. The lump sum is the cash that a winner has actually won. The highlighted $1.05 billion prize is for a sole winner who is paid through an annuity, which is funded by that lump sum and will be doled out annually over 30 years.
That's where the higher interest rate becomes a factor, because the higher the interest rate, the larger the annuity can grow over three decades. The U.S. is in the midst of a remarkable run of interest rate increases, with the Federal Reserve raising a key rate 11 times in 17 months, and that higher rate enables a roughly $500 million lump sum prize to be advertised as a jackpot of about twice that size.
HOW DOES THE ANNUITY WORK?
A winner who chooses the annuity option would receive an initial payment and then 29 annual payments that rise by 5% each year. Opting for an annuity has some tax advantages, as less of the winnings would be taxed at the top federal income tax rate of 37%. It also could be an option for winners who don't trust themselves to manage so much money all at once.
If lottery winners die before 30 years, the future payments would go to their beneficiaries.
WHY DO WINNERS SNUB THE ANNUITY OPTION?
The annuities pay out big money, but not nearly as big as taking the lump sum.
For example, a sole winner of Tuesday night's Mega Millions could choose a lump sum of an estimated $527.9 million or an initial annuity payment of about $15.8 million. Of course, those annuity payments would continue for decades and gradually increase until the final check paid about $65.1 million, according to lottery officials.
In both cases, the winnings would be subject to federal taxes, and many states also tax lottery winnings.
Given all that, nearly all jackpot winners think they could make more money by investing the money themselves, or they simply want the biggest initial payout possible.
WHAT ABOUT THE ODDS OF WINNING?
That's another factor that has created so many huge prizes for those who match all six numbers.
In 2015, the Powerball odds were changed from 1 in 175.2 million to 1 in 292.2 million. Mega Millions took a similar action in 2019 by lengthening the game's odds from 1 in 258.9 million to 1 in 302.6 million.
For lottery officials, the hope was that by making it harder to win jackpots, the prizes would roll over for weeks and create truly massive pots of money that would in turn generate higher sales.
The result is that all of the billion dollar jackpots have come after the changes in the odds.
HOW LONG UNTIL THERE IS A WINNER?
Luck remains a big factor, as the odds of any ticket being a winner never changes. However, the more people who play Mega Millions, the more of the potential 302.6 million number combinations are covered.
For the last Mega Millions drawing on Friday night, 20.1% of possible number combinations were purchased. Typically, the larger the jackpot grows, the more people buy tickets and the more potential combinations are covered.
Tuesday night's drawing will be the 30th since the last jackpot winner. That is inching closer to the longest Mega Millions jackpot drought, which reached 37 drawings from Sept. 18, 2020, to Jan. 22, 2021.
The longest jackpot run was for a Powerball prize that stretched over 41 drawings and ended with a record $2.04 billion prize on Nov. 7, 2022.
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The top federal tax bracket has been corrected to 37%. | https://www.wsls.com/news/national/2023/07/31/105-billion-mega-million-jackpot-is-among-a-surge-in-huge-payouts-due-to-more-than-just-luck/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:50 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/news/national/2023/07/31/105-billion-mega-million-jackpot-is-among-a-surge-in-huge-payouts-due-to-more-than-just-luck/ |
Pee-wee Herman actor Paul Reubens dies from cancer at 70
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural phenomenon through films and TV shows, has died.
Reubens died Sunday night after a six-year struggle with cancer that he did not make public, his publicist said in a statement.
“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” Reubens said in a statement released with the announcement of his death. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”
The character with his too-tight gray suit, white chunky loafers and red bow tie was best known for the film “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and the TV series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
Herman created Pee-wee when he was part of the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings in the late 1970s. The live “Pee-wee Herman Show” debuted at a Los Angeles theater in 1981 and was a success with both kids during matinees and adults at a midnight show. HBO would air the show as a special.
Reubens took Pee-wee to the big screen in 1985′s “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The film, in which Pee-wee’s cherished bike is stolen, was said to be loosely based on Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist classic, “The Bicycle Thief.” The film, directed by Tim Burton and co-written by Phil Hartman of “Saturday Night Live,” sent Pee-wee on a nationwide escapade. The movie was a success, grossing $40 million, and continued to spawn a cult following for its oddball whimsy.
A sequel followed three years later in the less well-received “Big Top Pee-wee,” in which Pee-wee seeks to join a circus. Reubens’ character wouldn’t get another movie starring role until 2016′s Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,” for Netflix. Judd Apatow produced Pee-wee’s big-screen revival.
His television series, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” ran for five seasons, earned 22 Emmys and attracted not only children but adults to Saturday-morning TV.
Both silly and subversive and championing nonconformity, the Pee-wee universe was a trippy place, populated by things such as a talking armchair and a friendly pterodactyl. The host, who is fond of secret words and loves fruit salad so much he once married it, is prone to lines like, “I know you are, but what am I?” and “Why don’t you take a picture; it’ll last longer?” The act was a hit because it worked on multiple levels, even though Reubens insists that wasn’t the plan.
“It’s for kids,” Reubens told The Associated Press in 2010. “People have tried to get me for years to go, ‘It wasn’t really for kids, right?’ Even the original show was for kids. I always censored myself to have it be kid-friendly.
“The whole thing has been just a gut feeling from the beginning,” Reubens told the AP. “That’s all it ever is and I think always ever be. Much as people want me to dissect it and explain it, I can’t. One, I don’t know, and two, I don’t want to know, and three, I feel like I’ll hex myself if I know.”
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Associated Press Writer Alicia Rancilio and Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/31/paul-reubens-best-known-pee-wee-herman-dies-age-70/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:54 | 1 | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/31/paul-reubens-best-known-pee-wee-herman-dies-age-70/ |
Clippers reserve wing Amir Coffey was arrested on misdemeanor possession of a firearm in a car where he was a passenger over the weekend, a story broken by TMZ Sports.
Coffey was a passenger in a car pulled over in Hollywood for speeding around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, according to the report. Police smelled marijuana as they approached the car and searched the vehicle, finding a loaded gun that Coffey admitted was his, according to the report.
Coffey was booked into jail on the misdemeanor charge and released four hours later on his own recognizance. He will have a court date on the charge in August.
“We’re aware of a legal situation involving Amir Coffey and are looking into it,” the Clippers said in a statement to NBC Sports.
Coffey originally signed with the Clippers as a two-way player after going undrafted in 2019. He has since developed into a solid depth piece on the wing and signed a three-year, $11 million contract with the team before last season. His minutes can fluctuate depending on the health of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and the addition of James Harden in a trade — if it happens — would impact those minutes as well. While the Clippers have plenty of depth on the wing with Terance Mann, Norman Powell, Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris and Robert Covington, Coffey provides needed youth and athleticism for a Clippers team with title aspirations this season. | https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/clippers-amir-coffey-arrested-on-misdemeanor-gun-charge | 2023-07-31T17:59:55 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/clippers-amir-coffey-arrested-on-misdemeanor-gun-charge |
Two stabbed in downtown Tucson
Published: Jul. 31, 2023 at 10:26 AM MST|Updated: 8 minutes ago
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - At least two people were stabbed in downtown Tucson early Monday, July 31.
The Tucson Police Department confirmed at least one person was detained near Interstate 10 and Cushing Street.
The TPD said the victims were transported to a local hospital with unknown injuries.
Be sure to subscribe to the 13 News YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@13newskold
Copyright 2023 13 News. All rights reserved. | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/31/two-stabbed-downtown-tucson/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:55 | 0 | https://www.kold.com/2023/07/31/two-stabbed-downtown-tucson/ |
Multifamily Lender Strives to Leverage Strong Performance to Attract Top Boston Talent
BOSTON, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arbor Realty Trust (NYSE:ABR) announces a new and larger office location at 501 Boylston St., a historically significant Class A property close to Copley Square in Boston's lively Back Bay neighborhood.
Arbor, which has 15 offices in cities across the United States, moved its 88-member Boston team from 1 Lincoln St. in expectation of the team's expansion and growth, and with the recognition that Boston's thriving economy and talent pool is also creating opportunities in our core business of multifamily lending. Boston has had 8.5% annual rent growth through April 2023 and is presently the third-tightest multifamily rental market in the United States, our proprietary research reveals.
This past Friday, Arbor Realty Trust reported an outstanding second quarter and a dividend increase to $0.43, reflecting a 12th increase in the last 14 quarters.
Join Us - Arbor is Hiring in Boston and Nationally
Are you interested in a career in multifamily lending? Arbor is hiring in Boston and at many other locations. Advance your career at a firm that encourages entrepreneurial drive, collaborative spirit, and the quest for excellence.
Browse our current job openings.
About Arbor
Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ABR) is a nationwide real estate investment trust and direct lender, providing loan origination and servicing for multifamily, single-family rental (SFR) portfolios, and other diverse commercial real estate assets. Headquartered in Uniondale, New York, Arbor manages a multibillion-dollar servicing portfolio, specializing in government-sponsored enterprise products. Arbor is a leading Fannie Mae DUS® lender, Freddie Mac Optigo® Seller/Servicer, and an approved FHA Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) lender. Arbor's product platform also includes bridge, CMBS, mezzanine, and preferred equity loans. Arbor is rated by Standard and Poor's and Fitch. In June 2023, Arbor was added to the S&P SmallCap 600® index. Arbor is committed to building on its reputation for service, quality, and customized solutions with an unparalleled dedication to providing our clients excellence over the entire life of a loan.
CONTACT: press@arbor.com
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SOURCE Arbor Realty Trust | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/arbor-realty-trust-expands-presence-boston-opening-office-historically-significant-building/ | 2023-07-31T17:59:55 | 0 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/arbor-realty-trust-expands-presence-boston-opening-office-historically-significant-building/ |
Changes to pet food and specialty pet food packaging will provide consistency and transparency
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pet owners will soon find updated packaging and labels when shopping for pet food and specialty pet food products, including treats and supplements -- the first major update in more than 40 years. The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) approved the new suggested labeling guidelines that include standardized nutrition information, clear ingredient statements, and storage and handling instructions. The modern design and updated information will ensure consistency and transparency, so consumers can easily make more informed buying decisions for their pets.
The passage of the revised Model Regulations for Pet Food and Specialty Pet Food sets a new standard for pet food manufacturers and distributors to follow. Feed regulatory professionals across the United States and Canada worked cooperatively with consumers and professionals within the pet food industry on a strategic course to ensure pet food labels provide a more comprehensive view of the product.
"The feedback we received from both consumers and industry advisors throughout this process was an important part of our collaboration to make improvements. We sought public comment to learn more about how pet food label changes would enhance transparency and provide clearer information in a consumer-friendly format. New packaging and labels will be well-defined and easy to understand. And that's good news for all of us, from pet owners and manufacturers to pets themselves," said Austin Therrell, executive director of AAFCO.
Major Label Changes
As states begin the rulemaking process of adopting and enforcing the Model Regulations for Pet Food and Specialty Pet Food, AAFCO recommends a transition period of six years for manufacturers to fully incorporate the label and packaging changes to their products. Pet owners will see some changes before that date, but all packaging should be consistent by the end of the six-year period. Below is a snapshot of what to expect from label updates in four key areas:
- Nutrition Facts Box – Updated to resemble human-food labeling more closely.
- Intended Use Statement – Updated to new location on the lower-third of the front display panel to help consumers easily identify the purpose of the pet food.
- Ingredient Statement – Updated to clarify the use of consistent terminology and allow parentheticals and common or usual names for vitamins.
- Handling and Storage Instructions (optional) – Updated and standardized with optional icons for greater consistency.
About Pet Food Label Modernization (PFLM)
AAFCO and its key stakeholders have worked together since 2015, to develop the revised Pet Food Model Regulations. Multiple rounds of consumer research were conducted to understand how pet food labels can better communicate important information. AAFCO used the feedback from consumers and industry officials to develop this new update and to support uniform state implementation of the new regulations. This initiative has been a key example of the benefit of industry and consumer collaboration to solve challenges and make improvements to pet food labels. For more information about PFLM, visit http://www.aafco.org/pflm.
About AAFCO
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has been guiding state, federal and international feed regulators with ingredient definitions, label standards and laboratory standards for more than 110 years, while supporting the health and safety of people and animals. Its members are charged by their state or federal laws to regulate the manufacture, sale and distribution of animal feeds and feed ingredients. Learn more at aafco.org.
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Broncos wide receiver Tim Patrick was carted off the field Monday with a left leg injury almost a year after he tore his right ACL at training camp.
There was no immediate word on the nature or extent of Patrick's injury, but it appeared to be a serious setback for the 29-year-old who was embarking on a comeback after missing all of last season.
Patrick was participating in a 7-on-7 drill with the Broncos in full pads for the first time and his left leg buckled as he pushed off to run a route. He yelled out in pain and threw his helmet as coach Sean Payton, quarterback Russell Wilson and receiver Courtland Sutton were among the first to rush over to him.
He was helped onto a cart and taken inside the team's headquarters as the crowd of some 3,000 fans fell silent.
Patrick was the team's No. 1 receiver going into last season when he tore his right ACL in a noncontact drill on Aug. 2.
He was a projected starter again this summer even in a crowded wide receiver room that also features Jerry Jeudy, Sutton, rookie Marvin Mims Jr., Brandon Johnson, Marquez Callaway and Lil'Jordan Humphrey, among others.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://www.wsls.com/sports/2023/07/31/broncos-receiver-tim-patrick-carted-off-field-with-right-leg-injury/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:01 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/sports/2023/07/31/broncos-receiver-tim-patrick-carted-off-field-with-right-leg-injury/ |
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE American: BRBS), the holding company of Blue Ridge Bank, National Association ("Blue Ridge Bank" or the "Bank") and BRB Financial Group, Inc. ("BRB Financial Group"), announced today financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023.
For the second quarter of 2023, the Company reported net loss from continuing operations of $19.5 million, or $1.03 per diluted common share, compared to net income from continuing operations of $1.6 million, or $0.09 per diluted common share, for the first quarter of 2023, and net income from continuing operations of $1.1 million, or $0.06 per diluted common share, for the second quarter of 2022.
A Message From Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. President and CEO, G. William "Billy" Beale:
"The net loss for the quarter was driven primarily by higher provision expense and the associated reversal of interest income related to loans that were placed on nonaccrual during the quarter. This group of loans, totaling $58.1 million at quarter-end, were sourced by a former lender, and is best described as specialty finance that we deemed to be not in keeping with our desired risk profile. I don't believe this asset quality matter is pervasive within our loan portfolio, and excluding these loans, measures of asset quality were generally stable as compared to the prior quarter.
Having recently joined the organization in May 2023, I am pleased to have found Blue Ridge to be a quality bank providing exceptional service to its customers. My foremost priority, and that of our team, is to remain focused on our regulatory remediation efforts, as we continue to work diligently to bring the Bank's fintech policies, procedures, and operations into conformity with regulatory directives. At the same time, we want to re-energize the core banking franchise by attracting new customers from within our footprint, while supporting our fintech partners that continue to gain momentum."
Q2 2023 Highlights
(Comparisons for Second Quarter 2023 are relative to First Quarter 2023 unless otherwise noted)
Formal Written Agreement:
- As previously disclosed, Blue Ridge Bank entered into a formal written agreement (the "Agreement") with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") on August 29, 2022. The Agreement principally concerns the Bank's fintech line of business and requires the Bank to continue enhancing its controls for assessing and managing the third-party, BSA/AML, and IT risks stemming from its fintech partnerships. A complete copy of the Agreement was filed as an exhibit to the Company's Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on September 1, 2022 and can be accessed on the SEC's website (www.sec.gov) and the Company's website (www.mybrb.com). The Company continues to actively work to bring the Bank's fintech policies, procedures, and operations into conformity with OCC directives. The Company reports that, although work is progressing, many aspects of the Agreement require considerable time for completion, implementation, validation, and sustainability. Remediation costs related to regulatory matters were $2.4 million in the second quarter of 2023 compared to $1.1 million in the prior quarter.
Asset Quality:
- Nonperforming loans totaled $86.1 million, or 2.68% of total assets, compared to $30.7 million, or 0.92% of total assets, at the prior quarter-end. The increase reflects the migration of a group of specialty finance loans to nonaccrual status during the quarter. These loans had a 1.79% impact on the nonperforming loans to total assets ratio for the second quarter.
- The Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $20.5 million, compared to $3.7 million last quarter. Net loan charge-offs were $8.0 million in the quarter, representing an annualized net charge-off rate of 1.29% of average loans, compared to $1.1 million, representing an annualized net charge-off rate of 0.17% of average loans, for the prior quarter. Net loan charge-offs in the quarter were primarily attributable to one loan.
- The allowance for credit losses ("ACL") as a percentage of total loans held for investment was 1.76% at quarter-end, compared to 1.22% at the prior quarter-end. Specific reserves associated with the aforementioned specialty finance loans totaled $14.1 million at June 30, 2023.
Capital:
- As previously announced, on July 12, 2023, the Board of Directors determined to forego the declaration and payment of a cash dividend on the Company's common stock in the third quarter of 2023. The decision was based on the desire to preserve capital and available cash.
- The ratio of tangible stockholders' equity to tangible total assets was 6.3%1, compared to 6.8%1 at the prior quarter-end. Tangible book value per common share was $10.551, compared to $11.931 at the prior quarter-end.
- For the quarter ended June 30, 2023, the Bank's tier 1 leverage ratio, tier 1 risk-based capital ratio, common equity tier 1 capital ratio, and total risk-based capital ratio were 7.86%, 9.27%, 9.27%, and 10.77%, respectively, compared to 8.50%, 10.06%, 10.06%, and 11.12%, respectively, at the prior quarter-end. Capital ratios at quarter-end were within regulatory guidelines to categorize the Bank as well capitalized.
Net Interest Income / Net Interest Margin:
- Net interest income was $20.4 million, a decline of $7.0 million from the prior quarter, primarily reflecting the reversal of $4.7 million in interest income, related to the aforementioned group of specialty finance loans, and higher funding costs. These impacts were partially offset by increasing loan yields in the quarter, which increased 5 basis points excluding the effect of the interest income reversal.
- Net interest margin was 2.67% compared to 3.58% for the prior quarter. The reversal of interest income noted above had an approximate negative 60 basis points impact on second quarter net interest margin.
- Cost of deposits and total cost of funds were 2.21% and 2.49%, respectively, compared to 1.74% and 2.11%, respectively, for the prior quarter. Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta ("FHLB") and Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond ("FRB") advances were $284.1 million at June 30, 2023, compared to $239.1 million at the prior quarter-end. Deposit costs and overall funding costs increased during the second quarter of 2023 due primarily to the impact of higher average balances of wholesale funding secured in late first quarter in response to then market events, as well as interest rates on deposits that adjust with changes in federal funds rates.
Balance Sheet:
- Total deposit balances declined $148.0 million, or 5.4%, from the prior quarter-end, due primarily to a decrease of $93.8 million in wholesale funding, primarily time deposits and interest-bearing demand balances. Excluding wholesale funding, total deposits during the second quarter of 2023 declined by 2.1% from the prior quarter-end.
- Deposits related to fintech relationships were $708 million at June 30, 2023, compared to $716 million at the prior quarter-end. These deposits represented 27.1% of total deposits at June 30, 2023, compared to 25.9% of total deposits at the prior quarter-end. Excluding wholesale funding, deposits related to fintech relationships represented 30.1% and 29.8% of total deposits at June 30, 2023 and March 31, 2023, respectively.
- Loans held for investment, excluding Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") loans, were $2.45 billion, essentially level with the prior quarter-end.
- The held for investment loan to deposit ratio measured 94.1% at quarter-end, compared to 89.0% at the prior quarter-end. The increase was primarily due to the reduction in wholesale deposits.
Noninterest Income / Noninterest Expense:
- Noninterest income was $9.7 million, compared to $7.3 million for the prior quarter, due primarily to fair value adjustments to mortgage servicing rights ("MSRs"), reported in residential mortgage banking income, which were a positive $0.8 million, compared to a negative $2.1 million in the prior quarter.
- Noninterest expense was $34.1 million, compared to $28.8 million for the prior quarter. Increased expenses primarily reflected higher other contractual services, legal, regulatory remediation, and FDIC insurance costs, partially offset by lower salaries and employee benefits costs. Higher other contractual services expense was primarily due to outsourced BSA/AML compliance services as the Bank continues to augment its compliance staff, while higher legal expense was primarily attributable to corporate, employee benefit plans, and other employment matters. Higher FDIC insurance cost relative to the prior quarter was primarily due to balance sheet growth, while lower salaries and employee benefits cost was primarily due to continued headcount reduction in the mortgage division. During the quarter, the Company sold its wholesale mortgage business operating as LenderSelect Mortgage Group.
Income Statement:
Net Interest Income
Net interest income was $20.4 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $27.4 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $24.1 million for the second quarter of 2022. Relative to both the prior quarter and year-ago periods, net interest income declined due to a lower net interest margin resulting primarily from the aforementioned reversal of interest income related to the specialty finance loans moved to nonaccrual status during the second quarter of 2023, the impact of higher interest rates on the Company's deposits and overall funding costs, and actions taken to add balance sheet liquidity following the market events of March 2023. Relative to the prior year period, these developments were partially offset by an increase in average interest-earning asset balances, and relative to both prior periods, higher loan yields.
Total interest income was $39.0 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $43.1 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $26.2 million for the second quarter of 2022. The decline relative to the prior quarter reflects the aforementioned reversal of interest income related to loans placed on nonaccrual status during the second quarter of 2023. The increase relative to the prior year reflects higher average balances of and yields on interest-earning asset balances, partially offset by the reversal of interest income on loans moved to nonaccrual status during the second quarter of 2023, and lower income from purchase accounting adjustments. The yield on average loans held for investment, excluding PPP loans, was 5.54% for the second quarter of 2023, compared to 6.24% for the first quarter of 2023, and 4.97% for the second quarter of 2022. The reversal of interest income noted above had an approximate negative 75 basis points impact on the yield on average loans held for investment, excluding PPP loans, for the second quarter of 2023.
Total interest expense was $18.6 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $15.7 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $2.2 million for the second quarter of 2022. The increase relative to the prior quarter and the year-ago period reflects higher deposit costs and overall funding costs due to higher market interest rates and a shift in the mix of average interest-bearing liabilities, primarily to higher cost wholesale funding sources.
Average balances of interest-earning assets increased $3.6 million, or 0.1%, to $3.06 billion, in the second quarter of 2023, relative to the prior quarter, and increased by $582.0 million, or 23.5%, from the year-ago period. Relative to the prior quarter, average interest-earning asset balances were relatively flat, reflecting a slight decline in average total securities and loans held for investment balances, offset by higher average balances of loans held for sale and interest-earning deposits in other banks. Relative to the prior year-ago period, average interest-earning asset balances increased due primarily to higher balances of loans held for investment and interest-earning deposits at other banks, partially offset by lower average securities balances.
Average balances of interest-bearing liabilities increased $177.1 million, or 8.2%, to $2.35 billion, in the second quarter of 2023, relative to the prior quarter, and increased $719.3 million, or 44.2%, relative to the year-ago period. Relative to the prior quarter, the increase reflected higher average interest-bearing deposits, primarily higher average wholesale time deposits, partially offset by lower average FHLB borrowings. Relative to the prior year, the increase reflected higher average interest-bearing deposits and higher average FHLB borrowings.
Cost of funds was 2.49% for the second quarter of 2023, compared to 2.11% for the first quarter of 2023, and 0.36% for the second quarter of 2022, while cost of deposits was 2.21%, 1.74%, and 0.26%, for the same respective periods. Higher deposit costs and overall funding costs reflect the impact of higher market interest rates, higher average balances and related interest costs of FHLB borrowings, and a shift in the mix of funding, including an increase in higher cost time deposits, which includes an increase in wholesale funding average balances and a decline in average noninterest-bearing deposits.
Net interest margin was 2.67% for the second quarter of 2023, compared to 3.58% for the first quarter of 2023, and 3.89% for the second quarter of 2022. The decline in net interest margin relative to both prior periods primarily reflects the aforementioned reversal of interest income related to loans placed on nonaccrual status during the second quarter of 2023, the impact of higher interest rates on funding costs, and less benefit from purchase accounting adjustments. These declines were partially offset by higher yields on loans, excluding the reversal of interest income.
Provision for Credit Losses
The Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $20.5 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $3.7 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $7.5 million for the second quarter of 2022. Relative to both prior periods, the increase in provision is primarily attributable to specific reserves and charge-offs on the aforementioned group of specialty finance loans.
Noninterest Income
Noninterest income was $9.7 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $7.3 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $10.2 million for the second quarter of 2022. Relative to the prior quarter, the increase reflected higher residential mortgage banking income, primarily due to the aforementioned fair value adjustments to MSRs, and, to a lesser extent, higher bank and purchase card income, partially offset by lower other noninterest income and negative fair value adjustments of other equity investments. Relative to the year-ago period, the decline reflected lower residential mortgage banking income, partially offset by higher other noninterest income and higher gain on sale of government guaranteed loans.
Noninterest Expense
Noninterest expense was $34.1 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $28.8 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $25.3 million for the second quarter of 2022. Relative to the prior quarter and year-ago period, the increase primarily reflects higher other contractual services, legal, regulatory remediation, and FDIC insurance costs, partially offset by lower salaries and employee benefits costs.
Balance Sheet:
Loans
Loans held for investment, excluding PPP loans, were $2.45 billion at June 30, 2023, compared to $2.45 billion at March 31, 2023, and $2.05 billion at June 30, 2022. Loan balances were flat with the prior quarter level, while the Company selectively replaced the amortization of balances with higher yielding loans. The increase in loan balances relative to the year ago period reflected the high level of growth, particularly in the second half of 2022.
Deposits
Total deposits were $2.61 billion at June 30, 2023, a decline of $148.0 million, or 5.4%, from the prior quarter-end, and an increase of $277.4 million, or 11.9%, from the year-ago period. Relative to the prior quarter, the decrease reflected a decline in wholesale funding, primarily time deposits, and, to a lesser extent, declines in other deposit types. Relative to the year-ago period, the increase reflected higher wholesale funding balances, interest-bearing demand and money market deposits, partially offset by lower noninterest-bearing demand deposits. Noninterest-bearing deposits declined 3.1% and 26.7% relative to the prior quarter and year-ago periods, respectively, and represented 22.0%, 21.5%, and 33.6% of total deposits at June 30, 2023, March 31, 2023, and June 30, 2022, respectively. The change from the year-ago period was primarily due to certain fintech-related balances shifting to interest-bearing accounts.
The held for investment loan to deposit ratio was 94.1% at June 30, 2023, compared to 89.0% at the prior quarter-end, and 88.4% at the year-ago period-end. The increase on a linked quarter basis was due primarily to lower wholesale funding at second quarter-end 2023, while the increase from the year-ago period end was due to second half 2022 loan growth.
Fintech Business:
Interest and fee income related to fintech partnerships represented approximately $3.4 million, $2.9 million, and $1.8 million of total revenue for the Company for the second quarter of 2023, the first quarter of 2023, and the second quarter of 2022, respectively.
Deposits related to fintech relationships were $708 million at June 30, 2023, compared to $716 million at the prior quarter-end. These deposits represented 27.1% of total deposits at June 30, 2023, compared to 25.9% of total deposits at the prior quarter-end. Included in deposits related to fintech relationships were assets managed by BRB Financial Group's trust division of $37.2 million as of June 30, 2023.
Other Matters:
On May 15, 2023, the Company sold its wholesale mortgage business operating as LenderSelect Mortgage Group ("LSMG") to a third-party for $250 thousand in cash. The Company recorded a loss on the sale of LSMG of $553 thousand, which is reported in other noninterest income in the consolidated statements of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023.
In the first quarter of 2022, the Company sold its majority interest in MoneyWise Payroll Solutions, Inc. ("MoneyWise") to the holder of the minority interest in MoneyWise. Income statement amounts related to MoneyWise are reported as discontinued operations for all periods presented.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures:
The accounting and reporting policies of the Company conform to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and prevailing practices in the banking industry. However, management uses certain non-GAAP measures to supplement the evaluation of the Company's performance. Management believes presentations of these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplemental information that is essential to a proper understanding of the operating results of the Company's core businesses. These non-GAAP disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for operating results determined in accordance with GAAP, nor are they necessarily comparable to non-GAAP performance measures that may be presented by other companies. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP measures are included at the end of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This release of the Company contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent plans, estimates, objectives, goals, guidelines, expectations, intentions, projections, and statements of the Company's beliefs concerning future events, business plans, objectives, expected operating results and the assumptions upon which those statements are based. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate, or imply future results, performance or achievements, and are typically identified with words such as "may," "could," "should," "will," "would," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "aim," "intend," "plan," or words or phases of similar meaning. The Company cautions that the forward-looking statements are based largely on its expectations and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that are subject to change based on factors which are, in many instances, beyond the Company's control. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause the Company's financial performance to differ materially from that expressed in such forward-looking statements: (i) the strength of the United States economy in general and the strength of the local economies in which it conducts operations; (ii) changes in the level of the Company's nonperforming assets and charge-offs; (iii) management of risks inherent in the Company's real estate loan portfolio, and the risk of a prolonged downturn in the real estate market, which could impair the value of collateral and the ability to sell collateral upon any foreclosure; (iv) the effects of, and changes in, trade, monetary, and fiscal policies and laws, including interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve, inflation, interest rate, market, and monetary fluctuations; (v) changes in consumer spending and savings habits; (vi) the Company's ability to identify, attract, and retain experienced management, relationship managers, and support personnel, particularly in a competitive labor environment; (vii) technological and social media changes impacting the Company, the Bank, and the financial services industry in general; (viii) changing bank regulatory conditions, laws, regulations, policies, or programs, whether arising as new legislation or regulatory initiatives, that could lead to restrictions on activities of banks generally, or the Bank in particular, more restrictive regulatory capital requirements, increased costs, including deposit insurance premiums, increased regulations, prohibition of certain income producing activities, or changes in the secondary market for loans and other products; (ix) the impact of changes in financial services policies, laws and regulations, including laws, regulations and policies concerning taxes, banking, securities and insurance, and the application thereof by regulatory bodies; (x) the Company's involvement, from time to time, in legal proceedings and examination and remedial actions by regulators; (xi) the impact of, and the ability to comply with, the terms of the formal written agreement between the Bank and the OCC; (xii) the impact of changes in laws, regulations, and policies affecting the real estate industry; (xiii) the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted from time to time by bank regulatory agencies, the SEC, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or other accounting standards setting bodies; (xiv) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the adverse impact on our business and operations and on the Company's customers which may result, among other things, in increased delinquencies, defaults, foreclosures and losses on loans; (xv) the occurrence of significant natural disasters, including severe weather conditions, floods, health related issues, and other catastrophic events; (xvi) geopolitical conditions, including acts or threats of terrorism and/or military conflicts, or actions taken by the U.S. or other governments in response to acts or threats of terrorism and/or military conflicts, which could impact business and economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad; (xvii) the timely development of competitive new products and services and the acceptance of these products and services by new and existing customers; (xviii) the willingness of users to substitute competitors' products and services for the Company's products and services; (xix) the Company's inability to successfully manage growth or implement its growth strategy; (xx) reputational risk and potential adverse reactions of the Company's customers, suppliers, employees or other business partners; (xxi) the effect of acquisitions the Company may make, including, without limitation, disruption of employee or customer relationships, and the failure to achieve the expected revenue growth and/or expense savings from such acquisitions; (xxii) the Company's participation in the PPP established by the U.S. government and its administration of the loans and processing fees earned under the program; (xxiii) the Company's involvement, from time to time, in legal proceedings, and examination and remedial actions by regulators; (xxiv) the Company's potential exposure to fraud, negligence, computer theft, and cyber-crime; (xxv) the Bank's ability to effectively manage its fintech partnerships, and the abilities of those fintech companies to perform as expected; (xxvi) the Bank's ability to pay dividends to the Company; and (xxvii) other risks and factors identified in the "Risk Factors" sections and elsewhere in documents the Company files from time to time with the SEC.
1 Non-GAAP financial measure. Further information can be found at the end of this press release.
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SOURCE Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/blue-ridge-bankshares-inc-announces-second-quarter-2023-results/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:01 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/blue-ridge-bankshares-inc-announces-second-quarter-2023-results/ |
Multifamily Lender Strives to Leverage Strong Performance to Attract Top Boston Talent
BOSTON, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arbor Realty Trust (NYSE:ABR) announces a new and larger office location at 501 Boylston St., a historically significant Class A property close to Copley Square in Boston's lively Back Bay neighborhood.
Arbor, which has 15 offices in cities across the United States, moved its 88-member Boston team from 1 Lincoln St. in expectation of the team's expansion and growth, and with the recognition that Boston's thriving economy and talent pool is also creating opportunities in our core business of multifamily lending. Boston has had 8.5% annual rent growth through April 2023 and is presently the third-tightest multifamily rental market in the United States, our proprietary research reveals.
This past Friday, Arbor Realty Trust reported an outstanding second quarter and a dividend increase to $0.43, reflecting a 12th increase in the last 14 quarters.
Join Us - Arbor is Hiring in Boston and Nationally
Are you interested in a career in multifamily lending? Arbor is hiring in Boston and at many other locations. Advance your career at a firm that encourages entrepreneurial drive, collaborative spirit, and the quest for excellence.
Browse our current job openings.
About Arbor
Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ABR) is a nationwide real estate investment trust and direct lender, providing loan origination and servicing for multifamily, single-family rental (SFR) portfolios, and other diverse commercial real estate assets. Headquartered in Uniondale, New York, Arbor manages a multibillion-dollar servicing portfolio, specializing in government-sponsored enterprise products. Arbor is a leading Fannie Mae DUS® lender, Freddie Mac Optigo® Seller/Servicer, and an approved FHA Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) lender. Arbor's product platform also includes bridge, CMBS, mezzanine, and preferred equity loans. Arbor is rated by Standard and Poor's and Fitch. In June 2023, Arbor was added to the S&P SmallCap 600® index. Arbor is committed to building on its reputation for service, quality, and customized solutions with an unparalleled dedication to providing our clients excellence over the entire life of a loan.
CONTACT: press@arbor.com
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SOURCE Arbor Realty Trust | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/arbor-realty-trust-expands-presence-boston-opening-office-historically-significant-building/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:04 | 0 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/arbor-realty-trust-expands-presence-boston-opening-office-historically-significant-building/ |
The Saints lost guard Trai Turner for the season to a quadriceps injury and another guard went down with a similar injury on Monday.
Head coach Dennis Allen doesn’t think Andrus Peat’s injury is quite as severe as the one that Turner suffered, but he said that Peat was still being evaluated after leaving practice.
“One injury to note is Andrus Peat, he is a quad, we’ll take a look at that and see where he’s at. Other than that we made it out pretty healthy,” Allen said, via John Sigler of USAToday.com.
Peat has missed time with a variety of injuries over his eight seasons in New Orleans and has started 90 of the 95 games he’s played while healthy. | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/andrus-peat-leaves-saints-practice-with-quad-injury | 2023-07-31T18:00:05 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/andrus-peat-leaves-saints-practice-with-quad-injury |
Maine’s Biggest Lottery Jackpot Win
The country is abuzz with excitement as the Mega Millions jackpot soars to astonishing heights yet again, crossing the $1 billion mark. Since April, no one has managed to snag the grand prize. Now, at an estimated $1.05 billion, the pot is tantalizingly close to breaking even more all-time records. With the next drawing scheduled for Tuesday, hopes are soaring that Maine could witness another billionaire being made overnight!
As the anticipation builds, Maine folks local and from away are eagerly snapping up tickets, hoping to be the next lucky one to walk away with the fortune.
Let's take a moment to reminisce about Maine's biggest lottery jackpot, which happened earlier this year. On January 13th, a historic jackpot of $1.35 billion was claimed in the Mega Millions game. The staggering prize was won by a single ticket holder in our Pine Tree State, who chose to remain anonymous.
The winning ticket was sold at Hometown Gas & Grill in Lebanon, which was also awarded $50,000 for being the fortunate retailer.
With Maine already having experienced such an extraordinary windfall earlier in the year, the upcoming $1.05 billion jackpot is sparking dreams of a repeat occurrence. Could the next billionaire be a Mainer, again? That could snag you a whole lot of lobster rolls!
If you were the lucky winner, would you choose to remain anonymous or embrace your newfound wealth and flaunt it with pride?
Whether the next billionaire is made in Maine or not, one thing's for sure – this Mega Millions jackpot is capturing the hearts and imaginations of many, as they dare to dream big and hope for a life-changing surprise. | https://1019therock.com/maines-biggest-lottery-jackpot-win/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:08 | 1 | https://1019therock.com/maines-biggest-lottery-jackpot-win/ |
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida coach Billy Napier opened fall practice talking to his team about expectations — internal ones, anyway.
The once-mighty Gators are mostly an afterthought in the Southeastern Conference these days. Coming off consecutive 6-7 seasons — one in former coach Dan Mullen’s final season and the other in Napier’s inaugural campaign — Florida was picked to finish fifth in the Eastern Division in the league’s annual preseason media poll.
That's one spot above last.
It was the lowest preseason prognostication for the Gators since also coming in fifth in 2015, former coach Jim McElwain’s first season. Florida responding by winning the East that year. Could it happen again? It would be an unbelievable long shot considering Napier pretty much has an overhauled roster after losing quarterback Anthony Richardson and 14 other starters.
“I really feel like we’re going to shock a lot of people this year as far as the standard is so low right now,” cornerback Jaydon Hill said. “It blows my mind a little bit. But then again, we’ve just got to win games. It just comes down to winning.”
Florida hasn’t won nearly enough for a fanbase that grew accustomed to it under legends Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer. Although the Gators have enjoyed pockets of success since, they have yet to put it all together in terms of recruiting talent, developing players and building a consistent contender.
Napier had a detailed plan when he took over in November 2021, but it didn’t account for having to navigate a burgeoning transfer portal or a constantly changing name, image and likeness landscape.
So Napier sounds more like a coach entering their first year rather than one expecting the kind of second-year jumps that helped vault Spurrier and Meyer to stardom. He’s implemented several team-building exercises, including moving players into on-campus dorms for the opening week of training camp and rooming them with guys from other position groups.
They’ll eat every meal in an old-school dining hall — no phones allowed — and work on developing leadership as much as perfecting concepts, formations and plays.
“I think it’s important that we connect and try to create crossover relationships in all parts of what we do,” Napier said. “It’s absolutely important to what we do.”
Adding another layer to his unification efforts, Napier has a get-to-know-your-teammate initiative that requires players to be able to provide names and hometowns on the spot for 10 colleagues pictured.
“It’s one thing to know the guy’s first name, but it’s another thing to know his first and last name, where he’s from, part of his story, and I think with time we’ll get to that place,” Napier said. “But it’s about agreeing that there’s an expectation, and then, ‘Hey, if you can do better, you can do better.’ I think that’s the key to the drill. That’s where we’re at as a team.”
It’s a far cry from having to tamp down expectations of making the College Football Playoff or winning championships. No one’s ruled those out in Gainesville, but most would agree they seem more plausible down the road.
Florida returns seven starters from last year’s team and has a number of transfers to work into the mix. Quite possibly the main reason for Florida’s humble preseason forecast is because the team appears locked into starting former Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz, who completed 60% of his passes for 5,405 yards, with 38 touchdowns and 26 interceptions, in four years with the Badgers.
Florida lost four-star QB recruit Jaden Rashada in a failed NIL deal in January, leaving Mertz and former Ohio State backup Jack Miller to compete for the starting job. All signs point to Mertz taking the first snap when the Gators open the season at Utah on Aug. 31.
Although Napier appears to have Florida on the path back to national relevancy; the team’s 2024 recruiting class is ranked third behind Georgia and Ohio State, according to 247sports.com. In the meantime, the only expectations he’s focused on are the internal ones.
“The expectation we’re going to establish for each other ... should be much higher than any outside narrative or outside opinion,” Napier said. “If I’m walking around the building each day, if I’m living life and I’m most concerned with not letting the people down that are going to be in this team meeting in a couple hours, that’s the most important piece.”
___
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the AP Top 25 newsletter here: https://link.apnews.com/join/6nr/morning-wire-newsletter-footer-internal-ads | https://www.wsls.com/sports/2023/07/31/florida-enters-year-2-under-billy-napier-amid-lowest-expectations-in-nearly-a-decade/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:08 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/sports/2023/07/31/florida-enters-year-2-under-billy-napier-amid-lowest-expectations-in-nearly-a-decade/ |
GENEVA, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fractal, a shipping company developed to enhance global energy security, reiterates its unwavering commitment to strict adherence to international law and rigorous safety standards. The company diligently monitors the global price of crude and faithfully abides by the rules established by the price cap mechanism. This dedication to ethical business practices and full compliance, including adhering to the price cap regulations set by the EU, US, and other international regulatory bodies, reinforces Fractal's responsible approach in the energy sector.
"Our mission at Fractal is not just to ensure the smooth transportation of goods globally, but also to uphold the highest standards of safety, compliance, and respect for international law," stated Mathieu Philippe, Chief Executive Officer and Ultimate Beneficial Owner of Fractal. "We are proud to contribute to the world's energy security while adhering to the legal boundaries and fostering sustainable practices in the shipping industry."
Fractal's expertise lies in efficiently transporting crude oil and petroleum products worldwide, serving a diverse and global clientele with a primary focus on customers seeking reliable access to energy products. Each client relationship is built on the foundation of mutual respect for international law, further emphasizing Fractal's commitment to responsible and transparent business conduct.
To ensure the utmost level of compliance, Fractal has implemented a robust "Know Your Customer" process, enhancing its ability to meet regulatory requirements and maintain the highest ethical standards. Additionally, the company strictly adheres to international sanctions and compliance regimes, including in operations involving trade with Russia crude, in pursuit of conducting business responsibly and ethically.
Fractal's fleet consistently meets the industry's most stringent safety standards. Every vessel in the fleet undergoes regular inspections under the Ship Inspection Report Programme (SIRE), guaranteeing compliance and top-notch maintenance.
Every vessel in our fleet is certified by world-renowned certification bodies, members of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), such as DNV, BV, Lloyd's Register, ABS, NKK. Additionally, our ships are insured by prominent international groups of P&I clubs, including the West of England and American Club. This is a testament to our commitment to maintaining not only regulatory compliance but also the highest safety standards.
"At Fractal, safety, compliance, and respect for international law are at the core of everything we do. Our strategic and efficient shipping operations differentiate us in the global shipping industry, and we are steadfast in our commitment to contributing to the world's economy responsibly," said Mathieu Philippe.
About Fractal:
Fractal is an international shipper with a focus on the global transportation of crude oil and petroleum products. The company is dedicated to upholding the principles of international law, safety, and compliance while contributing to the world's energy security. Fractal's commitment to ethical business practices and safety sets it apart in the global shipping industry.
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SOURCE Fractal | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/fractal-reaffirms-its-commitment-ethical-business-practices-compliance-safety-global-shipping-industry/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:08 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/fractal-reaffirms-its-commitment-ethical-business-practices-compliance-safety-global-shipping-industry/ |
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE American: BRBS), the holding company of Blue Ridge Bank, National Association ("Blue Ridge Bank" or the "Bank") and BRB Financial Group, Inc. ("BRB Financial Group"), announced today financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023.
For the second quarter of 2023, the Company reported net loss from continuing operations of $19.5 million, or $1.03 per diluted common share, compared to net income from continuing operations of $1.6 million, or $0.09 per diluted common share, for the first quarter of 2023, and net income from continuing operations of $1.1 million, or $0.06 per diluted common share, for the second quarter of 2022.
A Message From Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. President and CEO, G. William "Billy" Beale:
"The net loss for the quarter was driven primarily by higher provision expense and the associated reversal of interest income related to loans that were placed on nonaccrual during the quarter. This group of loans, totaling $58.1 million at quarter-end, were sourced by a former lender, and is best described as specialty finance that we deemed to be not in keeping with our desired risk profile. I don't believe this asset quality matter is pervasive within our loan portfolio, and excluding these loans, measures of asset quality were generally stable as compared to the prior quarter.
Having recently joined the organization in May 2023, I am pleased to have found Blue Ridge to be a quality bank providing exceptional service to its customers. My foremost priority, and that of our team, is to remain focused on our regulatory remediation efforts, as we continue to work diligently to bring the Bank's fintech policies, procedures, and operations into conformity with regulatory directives. At the same time, we want to re-energize the core banking franchise by attracting new customers from within our footprint, while supporting our fintech partners that continue to gain momentum."
Q2 2023 Highlights
(Comparisons for Second Quarter 2023 are relative to First Quarter 2023 unless otherwise noted)
Formal Written Agreement:
- As previously disclosed, Blue Ridge Bank entered into a formal written agreement (the "Agreement") with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") on August 29, 2022. The Agreement principally concerns the Bank's fintech line of business and requires the Bank to continue enhancing its controls for assessing and managing the third-party, BSA/AML, and IT risks stemming from its fintech partnerships. A complete copy of the Agreement was filed as an exhibit to the Company's Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on September 1, 2022 and can be accessed on the SEC's website (www.sec.gov) and the Company's website (www.mybrb.com). The Company continues to actively work to bring the Bank's fintech policies, procedures, and operations into conformity with OCC directives. The Company reports that, although work is progressing, many aspects of the Agreement require considerable time for completion, implementation, validation, and sustainability. Remediation costs related to regulatory matters were $2.4 million in the second quarter of 2023 compared to $1.1 million in the prior quarter.
Asset Quality:
- Nonperforming loans totaled $86.1 million, or 2.68% of total assets, compared to $30.7 million, or 0.92% of total assets, at the prior quarter-end. The increase reflects the migration of a group of specialty finance loans to nonaccrual status during the quarter. These loans had a 1.79% impact on the nonperforming loans to total assets ratio for the second quarter.
- The Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $20.5 million, compared to $3.7 million last quarter. Net loan charge-offs were $8.0 million in the quarter, representing an annualized net charge-off rate of 1.29% of average loans, compared to $1.1 million, representing an annualized net charge-off rate of 0.17% of average loans, for the prior quarter. Net loan charge-offs in the quarter were primarily attributable to one loan.
- The allowance for credit losses ("ACL") as a percentage of total loans held for investment was 1.76% at quarter-end, compared to 1.22% at the prior quarter-end. Specific reserves associated with the aforementioned specialty finance loans totaled $14.1 million at June 30, 2023.
Capital:
- As previously announced, on July 12, 2023, the Board of Directors determined to forego the declaration and payment of a cash dividend on the Company's common stock in the third quarter of 2023. The decision was based on the desire to preserve capital and available cash.
- The ratio of tangible stockholders' equity to tangible total assets was 6.3%1, compared to 6.8%1 at the prior quarter-end. Tangible book value per common share was $10.551, compared to $11.931 at the prior quarter-end.
- For the quarter ended June 30, 2023, the Bank's tier 1 leverage ratio, tier 1 risk-based capital ratio, common equity tier 1 capital ratio, and total risk-based capital ratio were 7.86%, 9.27%, 9.27%, and 10.77%, respectively, compared to 8.50%, 10.06%, 10.06%, and 11.12%, respectively, at the prior quarter-end. Capital ratios at quarter-end were within regulatory guidelines to categorize the Bank as well capitalized.
Net Interest Income / Net Interest Margin:
- Net interest income was $20.4 million, a decline of $7.0 million from the prior quarter, primarily reflecting the reversal of $4.7 million in interest income, related to the aforementioned group of specialty finance loans, and higher funding costs. These impacts were partially offset by increasing loan yields in the quarter, which increased 5 basis points excluding the effect of the interest income reversal.
- Net interest margin was 2.67% compared to 3.58% for the prior quarter. The reversal of interest income noted above had an approximate negative 60 basis points impact on second quarter net interest margin.
- Cost of deposits and total cost of funds were 2.21% and 2.49%, respectively, compared to 1.74% and 2.11%, respectively, for the prior quarter. Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta ("FHLB") and Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond ("FRB") advances were $284.1 million at June 30, 2023, compared to $239.1 million at the prior quarter-end. Deposit costs and overall funding costs increased during the second quarter of 2023 due primarily to the impact of higher average balances of wholesale funding secured in late first quarter in response to then market events, as well as interest rates on deposits that adjust with changes in federal funds rates.
Balance Sheet:
- Total deposit balances declined $148.0 million, or 5.4%, from the prior quarter-end, due primarily to a decrease of $93.8 million in wholesale funding, primarily time deposits and interest-bearing demand balances. Excluding wholesale funding, total deposits during the second quarter of 2023 declined by 2.1% from the prior quarter-end.
- Deposits related to fintech relationships were $708 million at June 30, 2023, compared to $716 million at the prior quarter-end. These deposits represented 27.1% of total deposits at June 30, 2023, compared to 25.9% of total deposits at the prior quarter-end. Excluding wholesale funding, deposits related to fintech relationships represented 30.1% and 29.8% of total deposits at June 30, 2023 and March 31, 2023, respectively.
- Loans held for investment, excluding Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP") loans, were $2.45 billion, essentially level with the prior quarter-end.
- The held for investment loan to deposit ratio measured 94.1% at quarter-end, compared to 89.0% at the prior quarter-end. The increase was primarily due to the reduction in wholesale deposits.
Noninterest Income / Noninterest Expense:
- Noninterest income was $9.7 million, compared to $7.3 million for the prior quarter, due primarily to fair value adjustments to mortgage servicing rights ("MSRs"), reported in residential mortgage banking income, which were a positive $0.8 million, compared to a negative $2.1 million in the prior quarter.
- Noninterest expense was $34.1 million, compared to $28.8 million for the prior quarter. Increased expenses primarily reflected higher other contractual services, legal, regulatory remediation, and FDIC insurance costs, partially offset by lower salaries and employee benefits costs. Higher other contractual services expense was primarily due to outsourced BSA/AML compliance services as the Bank continues to augment its compliance staff, while higher legal expense was primarily attributable to corporate, employee benefit plans, and other employment matters. Higher FDIC insurance cost relative to the prior quarter was primarily due to balance sheet growth, while lower salaries and employee benefits cost was primarily due to continued headcount reduction in the mortgage division. During the quarter, the Company sold its wholesale mortgage business operating as LenderSelect Mortgage Group.
Income Statement:
Net Interest Income
Net interest income was $20.4 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $27.4 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $24.1 million for the second quarter of 2022. Relative to both the prior quarter and year-ago periods, net interest income declined due to a lower net interest margin resulting primarily from the aforementioned reversal of interest income related to the specialty finance loans moved to nonaccrual status during the second quarter of 2023, the impact of higher interest rates on the Company's deposits and overall funding costs, and actions taken to add balance sheet liquidity following the market events of March 2023. Relative to the prior year period, these developments were partially offset by an increase in average interest-earning asset balances, and relative to both prior periods, higher loan yields.
Total interest income was $39.0 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $43.1 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $26.2 million for the second quarter of 2022. The decline relative to the prior quarter reflects the aforementioned reversal of interest income related to loans placed on nonaccrual status during the second quarter of 2023. The increase relative to the prior year reflects higher average balances of and yields on interest-earning asset balances, partially offset by the reversal of interest income on loans moved to nonaccrual status during the second quarter of 2023, and lower income from purchase accounting adjustments. The yield on average loans held for investment, excluding PPP loans, was 5.54% for the second quarter of 2023, compared to 6.24% for the first quarter of 2023, and 4.97% for the second quarter of 2022. The reversal of interest income noted above had an approximate negative 75 basis points impact on the yield on average loans held for investment, excluding PPP loans, for the second quarter of 2023.
Total interest expense was $18.6 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $15.7 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $2.2 million for the second quarter of 2022. The increase relative to the prior quarter and the year-ago period reflects higher deposit costs and overall funding costs due to higher market interest rates and a shift in the mix of average interest-bearing liabilities, primarily to higher cost wholesale funding sources.
Average balances of interest-earning assets increased $3.6 million, or 0.1%, to $3.06 billion, in the second quarter of 2023, relative to the prior quarter, and increased by $582.0 million, or 23.5%, from the year-ago period. Relative to the prior quarter, average interest-earning asset balances were relatively flat, reflecting a slight decline in average total securities and loans held for investment balances, offset by higher average balances of loans held for sale and interest-earning deposits in other banks. Relative to the prior year-ago period, average interest-earning asset balances increased due primarily to higher balances of loans held for investment and interest-earning deposits at other banks, partially offset by lower average securities balances.
Average balances of interest-bearing liabilities increased $177.1 million, or 8.2%, to $2.35 billion, in the second quarter of 2023, relative to the prior quarter, and increased $719.3 million, or 44.2%, relative to the year-ago period. Relative to the prior quarter, the increase reflected higher average interest-bearing deposits, primarily higher average wholesale time deposits, partially offset by lower average FHLB borrowings. Relative to the prior year, the increase reflected higher average interest-bearing deposits and higher average FHLB borrowings.
Cost of funds was 2.49% for the second quarter of 2023, compared to 2.11% for the first quarter of 2023, and 0.36% for the second quarter of 2022, while cost of deposits was 2.21%, 1.74%, and 0.26%, for the same respective periods. Higher deposit costs and overall funding costs reflect the impact of higher market interest rates, higher average balances and related interest costs of FHLB borrowings, and a shift in the mix of funding, including an increase in higher cost time deposits, which includes an increase in wholesale funding average balances and a decline in average noninterest-bearing deposits.
Net interest margin was 2.67% for the second quarter of 2023, compared to 3.58% for the first quarter of 2023, and 3.89% for the second quarter of 2022. The decline in net interest margin relative to both prior periods primarily reflects the aforementioned reversal of interest income related to loans placed on nonaccrual status during the second quarter of 2023, the impact of higher interest rates on funding costs, and less benefit from purchase accounting adjustments. These declines were partially offset by higher yields on loans, excluding the reversal of interest income.
Provision for Credit Losses
The Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $20.5 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $3.7 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $7.5 million for the second quarter of 2022. Relative to both prior periods, the increase in provision is primarily attributable to specific reserves and charge-offs on the aforementioned group of specialty finance loans.
Noninterest Income
Noninterest income was $9.7 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $7.3 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $10.2 million for the second quarter of 2022. Relative to the prior quarter, the increase reflected higher residential mortgage banking income, primarily due to the aforementioned fair value adjustments to MSRs, and, to a lesser extent, higher bank and purchase card income, partially offset by lower other noninterest income and negative fair value adjustments of other equity investments. Relative to the year-ago period, the decline reflected lower residential mortgage banking income, partially offset by higher other noninterest income and higher gain on sale of government guaranteed loans.
Noninterest Expense
Noninterest expense was $34.1 million for the second quarter of 2023, compared to $28.8 million for the first quarter of 2023, and $25.3 million for the second quarter of 2022. Relative to the prior quarter and year-ago period, the increase primarily reflects higher other contractual services, legal, regulatory remediation, and FDIC insurance costs, partially offset by lower salaries and employee benefits costs.
Balance Sheet:
Loans
Loans held for investment, excluding PPP loans, were $2.45 billion at June 30, 2023, compared to $2.45 billion at March 31, 2023, and $2.05 billion at June 30, 2022. Loan balances were flat with the prior quarter level, while the Company selectively replaced the amortization of balances with higher yielding loans. The increase in loan balances relative to the year ago period reflected the high level of growth, particularly in the second half of 2022.
Deposits
Total deposits were $2.61 billion at June 30, 2023, a decline of $148.0 million, or 5.4%, from the prior quarter-end, and an increase of $277.4 million, or 11.9%, from the year-ago period. Relative to the prior quarter, the decrease reflected a decline in wholesale funding, primarily time deposits, and, to a lesser extent, declines in other deposit types. Relative to the year-ago period, the increase reflected higher wholesale funding balances, interest-bearing demand and money market deposits, partially offset by lower noninterest-bearing demand deposits. Noninterest-bearing deposits declined 3.1% and 26.7% relative to the prior quarter and year-ago periods, respectively, and represented 22.0%, 21.5%, and 33.6% of total deposits at June 30, 2023, March 31, 2023, and June 30, 2022, respectively. The change from the year-ago period was primarily due to certain fintech-related balances shifting to interest-bearing accounts.
The held for investment loan to deposit ratio was 94.1% at June 30, 2023, compared to 89.0% at the prior quarter-end, and 88.4% at the year-ago period-end. The increase on a linked quarter basis was due primarily to lower wholesale funding at second quarter-end 2023, while the increase from the year-ago period end was due to second half 2022 loan growth.
Fintech Business:
Interest and fee income related to fintech partnerships represented approximately $3.4 million, $2.9 million, and $1.8 million of total revenue for the Company for the second quarter of 2023, the first quarter of 2023, and the second quarter of 2022, respectively.
Deposits related to fintech relationships were $708 million at June 30, 2023, compared to $716 million at the prior quarter-end. These deposits represented 27.1% of total deposits at June 30, 2023, compared to 25.9% of total deposits at the prior quarter-end. Included in deposits related to fintech relationships were assets managed by BRB Financial Group's trust division of $37.2 million as of June 30, 2023.
Other Matters:
On May 15, 2023, the Company sold its wholesale mortgage business operating as LenderSelect Mortgage Group ("LSMG") to a third-party for $250 thousand in cash. The Company recorded a loss on the sale of LSMG of $553 thousand, which is reported in other noninterest income in the consolidated statements of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023.
In the first quarter of 2022, the Company sold its majority interest in MoneyWise Payroll Solutions, Inc. ("MoneyWise") to the holder of the minority interest in MoneyWise. Income statement amounts related to MoneyWise are reported as discontinued operations for all periods presented.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures:
The accounting and reporting policies of the Company conform to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and prevailing practices in the banking industry. However, management uses certain non-GAAP measures to supplement the evaluation of the Company's performance. Management believes presentations of these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplemental information that is essential to a proper understanding of the operating results of the Company's core businesses. These non-GAAP disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for operating results determined in accordance with GAAP, nor are they necessarily comparable to non-GAAP performance measures that may be presented by other companies. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP measures are included at the end of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This release of the Company contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent plans, estimates, objectives, goals, guidelines, expectations, intentions, projections, and statements of the Company's beliefs concerning future events, business plans, objectives, expected operating results and the assumptions upon which those statements are based. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate, or imply future results, performance or achievements, and are typically identified with words such as "may," "could," "should," "will," "would," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "aim," "intend," "plan," or words or phases of similar meaning. The Company cautions that the forward-looking statements are based largely on its expectations and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that are subject to change based on factors which are, in many instances, beyond the Company's control. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause the Company's financial performance to differ materially from that expressed in such forward-looking statements: (i) the strength of the United States economy in general and the strength of the local economies in which it conducts operations; (ii) changes in the level of the Company's nonperforming assets and charge-offs; (iii) management of risks inherent in the Company's real estate loan portfolio, and the risk of a prolonged downturn in the real estate market, which could impair the value of collateral and the ability to sell collateral upon any foreclosure; (iv) the effects of, and changes in, trade, monetary, and fiscal policies and laws, including interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve, inflation, interest rate, market, and monetary fluctuations; (v) changes in consumer spending and savings habits; (vi) the Company's ability to identify, attract, and retain experienced management, relationship managers, and support personnel, particularly in a competitive labor environment; (vii) technological and social media changes impacting the Company, the Bank, and the financial services industry in general; (viii) changing bank regulatory conditions, laws, regulations, policies, or programs, whether arising as new legislation or regulatory initiatives, that could lead to restrictions on activities of banks generally, or the Bank in particular, more restrictive regulatory capital requirements, increased costs, including deposit insurance premiums, increased regulations, prohibition of certain income producing activities, or changes in the secondary market for loans and other products; (ix) the impact of changes in financial services policies, laws and regulations, including laws, regulations and policies concerning taxes, banking, securities and insurance, and the application thereof by regulatory bodies; (x) the Company's involvement, from time to time, in legal proceedings and examination and remedial actions by regulators; (xi) the impact of, and the ability to comply with, the terms of the formal written agreement between the Bank and the OCC; (xii) the impact of changes in laws, regulations, and policies affecting the real estate industry; (xiii) the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted from time to time by bank regulatory agencies, the SEC, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or other accounting standards setting bodies; (xiv) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the adverse impact on our business and operations and on the Company's customers which may result, among other things, in increased delinquencies, defaults, foreclosures and losses on loans; (xv) the occurrence of significant natural disasters, including severe weather conditions, floods, health related issues, and other catastrophic events; (xvi) geopolitical conditions, including acts or threats of terrorism and/or military conflicts, or actions taken by the U.S. or other governments in response to acts or threats of terrorism and/or military conflicts, which could impact business and economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad; (xvii) the timely development of competitive new products and services and the acceptance of these products and services by new and existing customers; (xviii) the willingness of users to substitute competitors' products and services for the Company's products and services; (xix) the Company's inability to successfully manage growth or implement its growth strategy; (xx) reputational risk and potential adverse reactions of the Company's customers, suppliers, employees or other business partners; (xxi) the effect of acquisitions the Company may make, including, without limitation, disruption of employee or customer relationships, and the failure to achieve the expected revenue growth and/or expense savings from such acquisitions; (xxii) the Company's participation in the PPP established by the U.S. government and its administration of the loans and processing fees earned under the program; (xxiii) the Company's involvement, from time to time, in legal proceedings, and examination and remedial actions by regulators; (xxiv) the Company's potential exposure to fraud, negligence, computer theft, and cyber-crime; (xxv) the Bank's ability to effectively manage its fintech partnerships, and the abilities of those fintech companies to perform as expected; (xxvi) the Bank's ability to pay dividends to the Company; and (xxvii) other risks and factors identified in the "Risk Factors" sections and elsewhere in documents the Company files from time to time with the SEC.
1 Non-GAAP financial measure. Further information can be found at the end of this press release.
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SOURCE Blue Ridge Bankshares, Inc. | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/blue-ridge-bankshares-inc-announces-second-quarter-2023-results/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:09 | 0 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/blue-ridge-bankshares-inc-announces-second-quarter-2023-results/ |
The New York Mets are paying Texas $35.51 million over the next 14 months as part of the Max Scherzer trade, leaving the Rangers in effect responsible for $22.5 million owed to the three-time Cy Young Award winner, according to details of the deal obtained by The Associated Press.
New York, just 50-55 despite a record-high payroll, has cut costs by nearly $26 million in pay and luxury tax this year by getting rid of Scherzer and reliever David Robertson ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline. The Mets have offloaded just over $13.5 million in salary, resulting in an additional tax saving of about $12.15 million.
Texas acquired Scherzer on Sunday for minor league infielder Luisangel Acuña, a brother of Atlanta All-Star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Scherzer’s cost to the Rangers is $10 million this year and $12.5 million in 2024.
The Rangers assumed responsibility for the 39-year-old right-hander’s salary on Monday, when he was owed $58.01 million for the remainder of a $130 million, three-year contract he agreed to before the 2022 season.
Of the $14.67 million left of Scherzer's $43.33 million salary for this season's final 64 days, the Mets will pay Texas $4.67 million in four installments of $1.16 million on Aug. 15 and 31 and Sept. 15 and 30.
Scherzer gets a $43.33 million salary next season in the final year of the deal. The Mets will pay the Rangers $30.83 million in 12 installments of $2.56 million on the 15th and final day of each month from April 2024 through September 2024.
New York’s payroll rose to a projected $365 million after it acquired reliever Trevor Gott from Seattle on July 3, and the Mets’ luxury tax payroll increased to about $385 million. That was on track for a tax of about $95 million.
When the Mets traded Robertson to Miami last week, the Marlins assumed $3.54 million remaining of Robertson’s $10 million salary.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wsls.com/sports/2023/07/31/scherzer-costs-texas-225m-with-mets-to-pay-rangers-just-over-355m-through-2024/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:14 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/sports/2023/07/31/scherzer-costs-texas-225m-with-mets-to-pay-rangers-just-over-355m-through-2024/ |
As extreme heat events are expected to increase in the coming years due to man-made climate change, the costs associated with a warming globe are expected to skyrocket.
This will be especially evident in Texas, according to Ray Perryman, CEO of economic research company the Perryman Group.
According to his analysis, the state's gross product is expected to decline by about $9.5 billion this summer due to extreme heat.
Almost $2 billion of the losses will come from reductions in real estate, while another $1.8 billion is expected to be lost in the insurance sector.
Agriculture is also expected to be hit with major losses, losing 5.7% of its annual revenue.
SEE MORE: Advocates rush to help those living with homelessness in record heat
But these losses, Perryman warns, could just be the tip of the iceberg. An average summer temperature increase of 1 degree would result in over $396 billion in losses by 2050.
"Extreme weather events such as heat waves cost the economy billions. Over a long period of time, persistent temperature increases will have even larger and more profound economic consequences," Perryman writes.
Perryman is not the only one warning of climate change's costs. Last month,the Center for American Progress issued a report suggesting extreme heat has caused health care costs to go up $1 billion per year in the U.S.
The group said heat-related illnesses are responsible for 235,000 emergency department visits and more than 56,000 hospital admissions annually.
The reports come as data from the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization released last week indicates that July 2023 will go down as the hottest month ever recorded in human history.
The U.N. said July has already recorded the hottest three-week period, the three hottest days on record, and the highest-ever sea-surface temperatures for this time of year.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.ksby.com/extreme-heat-expected-to-be-costly-especially-in-texas | 2023-07-31T18:00:15 | 1 | https://www.ksby.com/extreme-heat-expected-to-be-costly-especially-in-texas |
ANAHEIM, Calif., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hybribio (300639.SZ) exhibited live at the 75th ADLM (former AACC) Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo, July 25-27, at Anaheim Convention Center, California, USA. This event attracted 958 exhibitors and over 70,000 attendees worldwide from different areas of clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science.
At the booth No.1482, Hybribio (300639.SZ) featured cervical cancer HPV diagnostic solutions, which include Hybribio 14 High-risk HPV with 16/18 Genotyping Real-time PCR Kit, 21 HPV GenoArray Diagnostic Kit, 37 HPV GenoArray Diagnostic Kit, 13 High-risk HPV Real-time PCR Kit, 23 HPV Genotyping Real-time PCR Kit, 14 High-Risk HPV E6/E7 mRNA Real-time PCR Kit (PCR with Fluorescent Probe), and SOX1 and PAX1 Methylation Real-time PCR Kit. Hybribio presented its successful experience in cervical cancer prevention and control in China to global attendees, aiming to unite experts in different aspects (clinical laboratories, hospitals, research institutes, enterprises, etc.) to promote the global elimination of cervical cancer. Moreover, all HPV detection kits manufactured by Hybribio are CE-certified and have been exported to more than 20 countries around the world.
Being the top HPV DNA test manufacturer in China, Hybribio (300639.SZ) not only has the biggest Chinese market share (over 40%) of HPV testing kits but also contributes greatly to the movement of eliminating cervical cancer. In the past two decades, Hybribio has taken up 40 % of national breast-cervical cancer screening projects and provided more than 50 million HPV DNA tests for females in China (2003-2023). Furthermore, Hybribio established the China HPV database with the Ministry of Health P. R. China in 2009, monitoring the long-term evolution of Human Papillomavirus infection and cervical cancer in China.
The booth highlighted 14 High-risk HPV with 16/18 Genotyping Real-time PCR Kit, which successfully obtained the first clinical screening license approved in China, with a high sensitivity and specificity of 93.6% and 88.46%, respectively. The negative predictive value using this kit with a 3-year follow-up is 99.84% which means that this kit is explicitly suitable for cervical cancer primary screening, co-screening with pap smear and ASC-US triage. Moreover, Hybribio HPV testing reagents have achieved a 100% coincident rate in the WHO HPV external quality assessment for seven consecutive times from 2011 to 2022.
For laboratory automated instrument, the fully Automated Sample Preparation Liquid System (HB-IEX96A) integrates functions including de-capping and re-capping, barcode scanning, tube loading, pipetting, nucleic acid extraction and PCR plate liquid transferring, which is able to achieve a one-step workflow and enhance laboratory efficiency by reducing human errors. The in-booth demonstration of this instrument drew many visitors' attention, attributed to its wide applicability, powerful functions and excellent design. With this fully Automated Sample Preparation Liquid System (HB-IEX96A), it could alleviate laboratory labor burden and improve testing efficiency significantly for a large-scale screening project.
The year 2023 is the 20th anniversary of Hybribio Biotech. Hybribio has been adhering to its original aspiration of taking care of maternity and child health in the past two decades. In Molecular diagnostics, Hybribio has developed a series of nucleic acid diagnostics kits for reproductive health infections, neonatal and prenatal genetic diseases, respiratory tract infections and cancer markers. By 2023, one billion people have benefited from using Hybribio's products and services. Meanwhile, Hybribio is constantly expanding its product line in different areas. Apart from molecular diagnostic assays and automated instruments, Hybribio also develops a variety of laboratory consumables, including pipette tips, PCR consumables, deep-well place, tip comb and sample tubes.
Upcoming Event
Hybribio (300639.SZ) is going to attend MEDICA 2023 at Dusseldorf, Germany, 13-16 November 2023. Hybribio is looking forward to meeting you in person at MEDICA 2023, where Hybribio will feature more cutting-edge diagnostics solutions and high-throughput automated instruments.
About Hybribio
Founded in 2003, Hybribio (300639.SZ) is a leading nucleic acid test supplier and manufacturer who specializes in in-vitro diagnostic products with a fully integrated one-step operation chain from R&D, manufacturing, and sales & marketing to after-sales technical support services. Hybribio provides products including, but not limited to, HPV testing, reproductive health, genetic diseases, methylation, respiratory tract infection, pharmacogenetics and instrumentation.
For more information, please visit: www.hybribio.com
CONTACT: Qiyu Lin, qylin@hybribio.cn
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SOURCE Guangdong Hybribio Biotech Co.,Ltd. | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/hybribio-showcased-cutting-edge-cervical-cancer-hpv-diagnostic-solutions-adlm-2023/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:15 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/hybribio-showcased-cutting-edge-cervical-cancer-hpv-diagnostic-solutions-adlm-2023/ |
Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto is a true-story, Coen brothers-esque caper about a California desert town that tried to revive its economy by turning to legal cannabis sales.
Copyright 2023 Fresh Air
Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto is a true-story, Coen brothers-esque caper about a California desert town that tried to revive its economy by turning to legal cannabis sales.
Copyright 2023 Fresh Air | https://www.wvasfm.org/arts/2023-07-31/dreamtown-podcast-examines-how-legal-marijuana-transformed-one-small-town | 2023-07-31T18:00:15 | 0 | https://www.wvasfm.org/arts/2023-07-31/dreamtown-podcast-examines-how-legal-marijuana-transformed-one-small-town |
The Colts are running short on available running backs.
According to multiple reports, Zack Moss broke a bone in his arm in Monday’s practice. He is expected to miss six weeks as he recovers from the injury.
The injury comes after a weekend spent monitoring where things stand with starting running back Jonathan Taylor. Taylor is in the market for a new contract and has asked for a trade that Colts owner Jim Irsay said the team will not make. There was also word that the team is considering moving Taylor, who has not been practicing, to the non-football injury list, but Taylor denied that he is dealing with a back injury suffered while away from the team.
Taylor is currently on the physically unable to perform list, but a move to NFI would open the door to the Colts not paying him.
Moss joined the Colts in a trade with the Bills last season. He played eight games after the deal and ran 76 times for 365 yards and a touchdown. | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/colts-lose-rb-zack-moss-to-broken-arm | 2023-07-31T18:00:16 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/colts-lose-rb-zack-moss-to-broken-arm |
GENEVA, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fractal, a shipping company developed to enhance global energy security, reiterates its unwavering commitment to strict adherence to international law and rigorous safety standards. The company diligently monitors the global price of crude and faithfully abides by the rules established by the price cap mechanism. This dedication to ethical business practices and full compliance, including adhering to the price cap regulations set by the EU, US, and other international regulatory bodies, reinforces Fractal's responsible approach in the energy sector.
"Our mission at Fractal is not just to ensure the smooth transportation of goods globally, but also to uphold the highest standards of safety, compliance, and respect for international law," stated Mathieu Philippe, Chief Executive Officer and Ultimate Beneficial Owner of Fractal. "We are proud to contribute to the world's energy security while adhering to the legal boundaries and fostering sustainable practices in the shipping industry."
Fractal's expertise lies in efficiently transporting crude oil and petroleum products worldwide, serving a diverse and global clientele with a primary focus on customers seeking reliable access to energy products. Each client relationship is built on the foundation of mutual respect for international law, further emphasizing Fractal's commitment to responsible and transparent business conduct.
To ensure the utmost level of compliance, Fractal has implemented a robust "Know Your Customer" process, enhancing its ability to meet regulatory requirements and maintain the highest ethical standards. Additionally, the company strictly adheres to international sanctions and compliance regimes, including in operations involving trade with Russia crude, in pursuit of conducting business responsibly and ethically.
Fractal's fleet consistently meets the industry's most stringent safety standards. Every vessel in the fleet undergoes regular inspections under the Ship Inspection Report Programme (SIRE), guaranteeing compliance and top-notch maintenance.
Every vessel in our fleet is certified by world-renowned certification bodies, members of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), such as DNV, BV, Lloyd's Register, ABS, NKK. Additionally, our ships are insured by prominent international groups of P&I clubs, including the West of England and American Club. This is a testament to our commitment to maintaining not only regulatory compliance but also the highest safety standards.
"At Fractal, safety, compliance, and respect for international law are at the core of everything we do. Our strategic and efficient shipping operations differentiate us in the global shipping industry, and we are steadfast in our commitment to contributing to the world's economy responsibly," said Mathieu Philippe.
About Fractal:
Fractal is an international shipper with a focus on the global transportation of crude oil and petroleum products. The company is dedicated to upholding the principles of international law, safety, and compliance while contributing to the world's energy security. Fractal's commitment to ethical business practices and safety sets it apart in the global shipping industry.
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SOURCE Fractal | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/fractal-reaffirms-its-commitment-ethical-business-practices-compliance-safety-global-shipping-industry/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:16 | 1 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/fractal-reaffirms-its-commitment-ethical-business-practices-compliance-safety-global-shipping-industry/ |
SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco prosecutor's office began laying out its case Monday against a tech consultant charged with murder in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee, who was found bleeding on a deserted city street in April.
In the preliminary hearing, a judge will decide if there's enough evidence to go to trial.
Prosecutors have provided no motive and released little information in a case that has drawn outsized media attention, partly due to Lee's status in the tech world. Lee created Cash App, a mobile payment service, and was the chief product officer of the cryptocurrency MobileCoin.
Nima Momeni, 38, has been in jail since his arrest April 13. He has pleaded not guilty, and he faces 26 years to life if convicted.
That came more than a week after Lee, 43, was found bleeding in a deserted part of downtown San Francisco early April 4. Lee was rushed to a hospital, where he died.
In making a motion to keep Momeni detained in jail without bail, prosecutors argued that he planned the attack, drove Lee to a secluded spot and stabbed him three times after a dispute related to Momeni’s younger sister.
Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai said at a May hearing that Momeni used a knife that was part of a unique kitchen set belonging to his sister. Analysis showed Momeni’s DNA on the weapon's handle and Lee’s DNA on the bloody blade, Talai said.
Police recovered a knife with a 4-inch (10-centimeter) blade at the scene.
Momeni has hired two new lawyers, Saam Zangeneh and Bradford Cohen, both based in Florida. His first attorney, Paula Canny, withdrew in late May, citing a conflict of interest that she declined to disclose.
In arguing for bail, Canny said that Momeni was not a flight risk and would not leave the two people he loves most, his sister and mother. She said Momeni needs to fight the charges or face deportation to Iran, a country that his mother fled when the children were younger to escape a violent husband.
An unnamed friend of Lee told homicide investigators they had been hanging out and drinking with Momeni’s sister the day before the stabbing, prosecutors said in their motion to deny bail.
The friend said Momeni later questioned Lee about whether his sister was doing drugs or otherwise engaging in inappropriate behavior and Lee said she had not.
Surveillance video showed Lee later entering the posh Millennium Tower downtown, where Momeni’s sister Khazar lives with her husband, prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon Dino Elyassnia. Video footage then showed Lee and Momeni leaving the building together shortly after 2 a.m. and driving off in Momeni’s car.
Lee was found shortly after 2:30 a.m. in the Rincon Hill neighborhood, which has tech offices and condominiums but little activity in the early morning hours. | https://www.wsls.com/tech/2023/07/31/san-francisco-prosecutors-to-lay-out-murder-case-against-consultant-in-death-of-cash-apps-bob-lee/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:21 | 0 | https://www.wsls.com/tech/2023/07/31/san-francisco-prosecutors-to-lay-out-murder-case-against-consultant-in-death-of-cash-apps-bob-lee/ |
After months of warnings from tech executives about the dangers of artificial intelligence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has a new list of concerns.
The agency has issued a stark warning to Americans about cybercriminals using AI tools, like ChatGPT, to create malicious code and launch attacks that had previously required much more effort.
The agency detailed its concerns on a phone call with journalists and explained that AI chatbots have been used to help criminals carry out various types of illicit activity. One FBI official said bad actors are using it as a tool to supplement criminal activities by utilizing things like AI voice generators to impersonate trusted individuals in order to defraud people.
The bottom line is there are fewer people, less expertise, and less time needed for a lot of these threats, ultimately lowering the barrier for entry, according to officials. Furthermore, the agency said it is working with private companies to identify synthetically generated content online that's made with the help of AI.
SEE MORE: Cybersecurity firm finds compromised ChatGPT accounts on dark web
It's not the first time an alarm has been sounded about the potential threats of AI. Cybersecurity firm Group-IB reported that more than 26,000 compromised ChatGPT accounts were detected on the dark web in may and were being offered for sale. According to the firm, more employers are using tools like ChatGPT to optimize their work, but entries into the chatbot could include sensitive or proprietary information that could be exploited by hackers.
However, some companies have been wary to jumping on the chatbot train. Apple has already restricted employees from using ChatGPT. Other companies, like Verizon and JPMorgan Chase, have taken similar measures.
SEE MORE: Musk, tech leaders call for pause on 'out-of-control' AI race
Earlier this month, President Joe Biden hosted seven major tech companies at the White House to discuss ways to protect the public from the potential harms of AI. The companies — Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI — all made voluntary commitments to ensure their products are safe for consumers prior to launch.
One of those promises is a commitment to internal and external security testing—meaning allowing third-party, independent experts to review AI cybersecurity.
"I think that's a very important step," said Dr. Arati Prabhakar, lead science adviser to the president. "There are other fields where that happens [where] it's been very helpful, but I think it's going to be very constructive for AI."
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | https://www.ksby.com/fbi-warns-of-hackers-using-artificial-intelligence-to-create-malware | 2023-07-31T18:00:21 | 1 | https://www.ksby.com/fbi-warns-of-hackers-using-artificial-intelligence-to-create-malware |
Leanne Morgan remembers the moment she realized she could make it in comedy: She was at a party, telling jokes, and a woman "peepeed on the couch."
"That was a 'God' moment for me ... " Morgan says. "I thought, 'OK, I can make it in stand-up.'"
Morgan took a roundabout route to professional comedy: She was a young mother living in Bean Station, Tenn., in the 1990s — and she started selling jewelry in women's houses two or three nights a week as a way to make a bit of extra money.
"It was like Mary Kay and Tupperware, those kinds of companies," Morgan says. "Somebody makes a dip, or a pan of brownies, and then I would schlep that big case of jewelry and put all that jewelry out on a kitchen table."
Morgan was supposed to be talking up the jewelry, but instead she found herself making her customers laugh with stories about breastfeeding and hemorrhoids.
Morgan was 32 with three young children at home when she started performing stand-up in clubs on the weekend. Every few years, someone from Hollywood would call to offer her a sitcom deal — but each time the deal would fall through.
In 2018, she nearly gave up, but she decided to make one more push. She hired two brothers in Plano, Texas, to help promote her material on social media. One clip, in which she joked about going to a Def Leppard/Journey concert with her husband, went viral.
"That [video] blew up, and I started selling out all over the United States," Morgan says. "People would see those videos ... and start calling comedy clubs and ask them to book me."
Now 57 with three grown children and two grandchildren, Morgan has her own self-produced Netflix special, Leanne Morgan: I'm Every Woman. In it, she makes fun of everyday life, from marriage and motherhood to menopause and dating apps.
"It took me a long time to find my audience ... but I always knew they were out there," she says. "I think Hollywood forgets us, and I think a lot of comedians that are cool and edgy and all of that, just forget about my demographic and I think we're the best. I think we're the people that make decisions to go buy tickets and want to get out and have a good time."
Interview highlights
On connecting to her audience
I'm nurturing. If I make fun, it's of myself, it's not of anybody else. I'm not confrontational. And so I think people find comfort with me. ... I was in LA doing The Comedy Store, which was a dream of mine, and it was all these edgy comedians that were getting up and talking about all kinds of stuff. And then I got up and talked about how somebody made me a meatloaf at my children's school the day that I got my IUD replaced. And young people came out of The Comedy Store and said, "Can I hug you?" I think that even though ... in my mind I'd have a chip on my shoulder over the years and think, Oh, I'm not edgy enough there. I'm not a cool kid in the business in the industry and all that, I do think that people were enjoying what I did.
On calling herself the "Mrs. Maisel of Appalachia"
Comedy is hard. ... It's a hard business. I resonated with that character because she was fearless and she had those babies and her husband was a ding dong. My husband's not a ding dong, but she overcame so much and kept going and men would say, "Oh, women aren't funny," and all that kind of stuff, and trying to sabotage her. I've been through all that. When young people ask me, "Do you think I should do stand-up?" I don't want to squash somebody's dreams. But it's hard for me as a mother not to say, "Listen, you're going to be driving in a car for 300 miles to make $50 and you won't have a hotel room." I mean, it's a hard, hard business. But when I saw that series, I thought, that's what I did: I had three babies. I was in the Appalachian Mountains. I didn't have a comedy club near me, and I just had to pave out another way than the traditional way that people do stand-up. And I did. I don't know how, but I did.
On the four television sitcom deals over the years that fell through
I would be devastated at the time. But those little nuggets would give me the encouragement to keep going. For one thing, because I was in Knoxville. ... I was not living in LA or New York. I was raising these children and I got to raise them in Knoxville, Tennessee, and they became who they're supposed to be. If I'd have gone to LA, they probably wouldn't be who they are. And I would be devastated [when the series fell through], but then it always kept me encouraged, like, I've got something. I know I'm not crazy. I can do this.
On ignoring her ex-husband when he advised her to get rid of her Tennessee accent
[He] said to me, "Your accent and your diction, you need diction lessons. People are making fun of me. People think you're stupid." And I remember at the time, I don't know how I had the sense to think, "No, you're wrong." And I didn't change anything. I could have. I had pretty low self-esteem and was pretty beat down at the time, but I felt like ... you're not going to change me. This is who I am. And I think now, going forward, 40 years later, that is what has made this happen for me, is I am who I am. .... I'm authentic. I feel like at my age now, it's like this is who I am. You either like it or you don't. It's OK if you don't. ... I do find humor in hard things, but I think a lot of comedians do. That's how we cope.
Lauren Krenzel and Seth Kelley produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
Copyright 2023 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.wvasfm.org/arts/arts/2023-07-31/leanne-morgan-the-mrs-maisel-of-appalachia-jokes-about-motherhood-and-menopause | 2023-07-31T18:00:21 | 0 | https://www.wvasfm.org/arts/arts/2023-07-31/leanne-morgan-the-mrs-maisel-of-appalachia-jokes-about-motherhood-and-menopause |
SAN FRANCISCO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Dental of California and affiliates today announced that Mike Castro will retire as its chief executive officer (CEO) Dec. 31, 2023 and become chairman of the board of Delta Dental of California effective Jan. 1, 2024. Sarah Chavarria, current president of Delta Dental of California, will succeed Mr. Castro to become president and CEO Jan. 1, 2024.
Mr. Castro has led the company as CEO of Delta Dental since 2019. During his two decades with the company, he has held a variety of leadership roles, including serving as chief financial officer for 14 years.
"It has been a privilege to lead our business," said Mike Castro, chief executive officer of Delta Dental of California. "Over the years, many people have asked how I want to define my legacy at Delta Dental. The simple answer has always been the same: to leave the company better than I found it, and in better hands. I'm proud to say we're a stronger company than we were five years ago, and we have a deep bench of exceptional leaders to help us continue to capitalize on our position of strength thanks to the team."
Sarah Chavarria was promoted to president in 2022 and has led the organization's Operations, Technology, People, Growth, Marketing and Communication divisions. She began her career at Delta Dental as chief people officer and later expanded her leadership to include oversight of the other teams.
"I want to thank Mike for his support, exceptional leadership and dedication to Delta Dental, which have laid the foundation for a successful future," said Sarah Chavarria, president of Delta Dental of California. "We will continue our partnership when he moves into his new role as chairman of the board. Together, we will ensure our customers, providers and employees remain at the forefront of our business and that we stay focused on our purpose to improve health by providing access to quality care for our more than 45 million members."
About Delta Dental of California
Since 1955, Delta Dental of California has offered comprehensive, high quality oral health care coverage to millions of enrollees and built the strongest network of dental providers in the country. The Delta Dental of California enterprise includes its affiliates Delta Dental Insurance Company, Delta Dental of Pennsylvania, Delta Dental of New York, Inc., as well as the national DeltaCare USA network, and provides dental benefits to more than 45 million people across 15 states and the District of Columbia*. All are members of the Delta Dental Plans Association based in Oak Brook, Illinois, the not-for-profit national association that through a national network of Delta Dental companies collectively covers millions of people nationwide. For more information about Delta Dental of California, please visit www.deltadentalins.com
*Delta Dental of California's operating areas encompass Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and District of Columbia.
For media inquiries, contact:
Tom Sarris
Director, Corporate Communications
Delta Dental of California
tsarris@delta.org
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SOURCE Delta Dental of California | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/mike-castro-retire-ceo-become-chairman-board-delta-dental-california-president-sarah-chavarria-named-successor/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:21 | 0 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/mike-castro-retire-ceo-become-chairman-board-delta-dental-california-president-sarah-chavarria-named-successor/ |
ANAHEIM, Calif., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hybribio (300639.SZ) exhibited live at the 75th ADLM (former AACC) Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo, July 25-27, at Anaheim Convention Center, California, USA. This event attracted 958 exhibitors and over 70,000 attendees worldwide from different areas of clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science.
At the booth No.1482, Hybribio (300639.SZ) featured cervical cancer HPV diagnostic solutions, which include Hybribio 14 High-risk HPV with 16/18 Genotyping Real-time PCR Kit, 21 HPV GenoArray Diagnostic Kit, 37 HPV GenoArray Diagnostic Kit, 13 High-risk HPV Real-time PCR Kit, 23 HPV Genotyping Real-time PCR Kit, 14 High-Risk HPV E6/E7 mRNA Real-time PCR Kit (PCR with Fluorescent Probe), and SOX1 and PAX1 Methylation Real-time PCR Kit. Hybribio presented its successful experience in cervical cancer prevention and control in China to global attendees, aiming to unite experts in different aspects (clinical laboratories, hospitals, research institutes, enterprises, etc.) to promote the global elimination of cervical cancer. Moreover, all HPV detection kits manufactured by Hybribio are CE-certified and have been exported to more than 20 countries around the world.
Being the top HPV DNA test manufacturer in China, Hybribio (300639.SZ) not only has the biggest Chinese market share (over 40%) of HPV testing kits but also contributes greatly to the movement of eliminating cervical cancer. In the past two decades, Hybribio has taken up 40 % of national breast-cervical cancer screening projects and provided more than 50 million HPV DNA tests for females in China (2003-2023). Furthermore, Hybribio established the China HPV database with the Ministry of Health P. R. China in 2009, monitoring the long-term evolution of Human Papillomavirus infection and cervical cancer in China.
The booth highlighted 14 High-risk HPV with 16/18 Genotyping Real-time PCR Kit, which successfully obtained the first clinical screening license approved in China, with a high sensitivity and specificity of 93.6% and 88.46%, respectively. The negative predictive value using this kit with a 3-year follow-up is 99.84% which means that this kit is explicitly suitable for cervical cancer primary screening, co-screening with pap smear and ASC-US triage. Moreover, Hybribio HPV testing reagents have achieved a 100% coincident rate in the WHO HPV external quality assessment for seven consecutive times from 2011 to 2022.
For laboratory automated instrument, the fully Automated Sample Preparation Liquid System (HB-IEX96A) integrates functions including de-capping and re-capping, barcode scanning, tube loading, pipetting, nucleic acid extraction and PCR plate liquid transferring, which is able to achieve a one-step workflow and enhance laboratory efficiency by reducing human errors. The in-booth demonstration of this instrument drew many visitors' attention, attributed to its wide applicability, powerful functions and excellent design. With this fully Automated Sample Preparation Liquid System (HB-IEX96A), it could alleviate laboratory labor burden and improve testing efficiency significantly for a large-scale screening project.
The year 2023 is the 20th anniversary of Hybribio Biotech. Hybribio has been adhering to its original aspiration of taking care of maternity and child health in the past two decades. In Molecular diagnostics, Hybribio has developed a series of nucleic acid diagnostics kits for reproductive health infections, neonatal and prenatal genetic diseases, respiratory tract infections and cancer markers. By 2023, one billion people have benefited from using Hybribio's products and services. Meanwhile, Hybribio is constantly expanding its product line in different areas. Apart from molecular diagnostic assays and automated instruments, Hybribio also develops a variety of laboratory consumables, including pipette tips, PCR consumables, deep-well place, tip comb and sample tubes.
Upcoming Event
Hybribio (300639.SZ) is going to attend MEDICA 2023 at Dusseldorf, Germany, 13-16 November 2023. Hybribio is looking forward to meeting you in person at MEDICA 2023, where Hybribio will feature more cutting-edge diagnostics solutions and high-throughput automated instruments.
About Hybribio
Founded in 2003, Hybribio (300639.SZ) is a leading nucleic acid test supplier and manufacturer who specializes in in-vitro diagnostic products with a fully integrated one-step operation chain from R&D, manufacturing, and sales & marketing to after-sales technical support services. Hybribio provides products including, but not limited to, HPV testing, reproductive health, genetic diseases, methylation, respiratory tract infection, pharmacogenetics and instrumentation.
For more information, please visit: www.hybribio.com
CONTACT: Qiyu Lin, qylin@hybribio.cn
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SOURCE Guangdong Hybribio Biotech Co.,Ltd. | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/hybribio-showcased-cutting-edge-cervical-cancer-hpv-diagnostic-solutions-adlm-2023/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:22 | 1 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/hybribio-showcased-cutting-edge-cervical-cancer-hpv-diagnostic-solutions-adlm-2023/ |
Jim Harbaugh thinks Michigan has one of the most talented teams in college football history this year.
Harbaugh told Bruce Feldman of TheAthletic.com that Michigan can have more players picked in next year’s NFL draft than any college team has had in any draft. The all-time record is 17, set by Texas in a 12-round draft in 1984. Georgia had 15 players drafted in 2022, the most ever for a seven-round draft.
“I think we’ll have 20 guys picked in the next NFL draft],” Harbaugh said. “I bet we break that [draft] record. [Georgia] had 15 that year.”
For one team — any team — to have 20 players picked in one draft is extremely unlikely. But Harbaugh, who’s currently facing a four-game NCAA suspension, is eager to talk up his team, and he believes he may have his best team at Michigan yet. | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/jim-harbaugh-predicts-michigan-will-have-a-record-20-players-picked-in-the-2024-nfl-draft | 2023-07-31T18:00:26 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/jim-harbaugh-predicts-michigan-will-have-a-record-20-players-picked-in-the-2024-nfl-draft |
On Saturday, champion swimmer Katie Ledecky won her 16th gold medal in the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Ledecky is already a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, but this particular swim made history, because she’s now won more individual world swimming gold medals than anyone else — including Michael Phelps.
Ledecky’s record-breaking 16th individual win was in her best event, the 800-meter freestyle, with a time of 8:08.87. She beat the second-place swimmer, Li Bingjie of China, by 4.44 seconds.
She also enters the history books as the first swimmer to win six consecutive world championships in the same event. But it’s the fact that she overtook Phelps’ record that has people talking.
“It’s special,” she told CNN. “I really didn’t even know I was going to achieve that until people started telling me. It’s cool … I’m happy with that swim. I wanted it to be a little better, but I’ll take it. I’m really pleased with how the week went.”
Ledecky tied Phelps’ record on July 25 when she won her 15th gold medal at the world championships, in the 1,500 freestyle. She also took silver medals in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4-by-200-meter free relay that day.
MORE: Simone Biles returns to gymnastics competition after 2-year break
What’s next for this superstar athlete? She’ll be going for gold at the Summer Olympics next summer, which is happening in Paris. On the Olympic gold medal count, Phelps’ record will be harder to beat: He has 23 of them, the most of anyone who’s competed. Four other Olympians (American swimmer Mark Spitz, Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, and American runner Carl Lewis and Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi) have nine gold medals each. So, if Ledecky wins three or more gold medals, she’ll come in second place behind Phelps.
No doubt she will train hard to do it. While she was happy about Saturday’s award-winning race, she also acknowledged her drive to do even better.
“I’m just always trying to think of new ways to improve,” she told the Associated Press. “I kind of wanted to be better than I was tonight.”
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories. | https://www.ksby.com/katie-ledecky-breaks-michael-phelps-record-for-world-championship-wins | 2023-07-31T18:00:27 | 1 | https://www.ksby.com/katie-ledecky-breaks-michael-phelps-record-for-world-championship-wins |
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Another day, another billion dollar lottery jackpot.
At least, that’s how it seems ahead of Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing for an estimated $1.05 billion top prize.
It’s a huge sum of money, but such giant jackpots have become far more common, with five prizes topping $1 billion since 2021 — and one jackpot reaching $2.04 billion in 2022.
The massive prizes are due in part to chance, but it’s not all happenstance. Rising interest rates coupled with changes to the odds of winning are also big reasons the prizes grow so large.
HOW DO INTEREST RATES INCREASE JACKPOTS?
Nearly all jackpot winners opt for a lump sum payout, which for Tuesday night’s drawing would be an estimated $527.9 million. The lump sum is the cash that a winner has actually won. The highlighted $1.05 billion prize is for a sole winner who is paid through an annuity, which is funded by that lump sum and will be doled out annually over 30 years.
That’s where the higher interest rate becomes a factor, because the higher the interest rate, the larger the annuity can grow over three decades. The U.S. is in the midst of a remarkable run of interest rate increases, with the Federal Reserve raising a key rate 11 times in 17 months, and that higher rate enables a roughly $500 million lump sum prize to be advertised as a jackpot of about twice that size.
HOW DOES THE ANNUITY WORK?
A winner who chooses the annuity option would receive an initial payment and then 29 annual payments that rise by 5% each year. Opting for an annuity has some tax advantages, as less of the winnings would be taxed at the top federal income tax rate of 37%. It also could be an option for winners who don’t trust themselves to manage so much money all at once.
If lottery winners die before 30 years, the future payments would go to their beneficiaries.
WHY DO WINNERS SNUB THE ANNUITY OPTION?
The annuities pay out big money, but not nearly as big as taking the lump sum.
For example, a sole winner of Tuesday night’s Mega Millions could choose a lump sum of an estimated $527.9 million or an initial annuity payment of about $15.8 million. Of course, those annuity payments would continue for decades and gradually increase until the final check paid about $65.1 million, according to lottery officials.
In both cases, the winnings would be subject to federal taxes, and many states also tax lottery winnings.
Given all that, nearly all jackpot winners think they could make more money by investing the money themselves, or they simply want the biggest initial payout possible.
WHAT ABOUT THE ODDS OF WINNING?
That’s another factor that has created so many huge prizes for those who match all six numbers.
In 2015, the Powerball odds were changed from 1 in 175.2 million to 1 in 292.2 million. Mega Millions took a similar action in 2019 by lengthening the game’s odds from 1 in 258.9 million to 1 in 302.6 million.
For lottery officials, the hope was that by making it harder to win jackpots, the prizes would roll over for weeks and create truly massive pots of money that would in turn generate higher sales.
The result is that all of the billion dollar jackpots have come after the changes in the odds.
HOW LONG UNTIL THERE IS A WINNER?
Luck remains a big factor, as the odds of any ticket being a winner never changes. However, the more people who play Mega Millions, the more of the potential 302.6 million number combinations are covered.
For the last Mega Millions drawing on Friday night, 20.1% of possible number combinations were purchased. Typically, the larger the jackpot grows, the more people buy tickets and the more potential combinations are covered.
Tuesday night’s drawing will be the 30th since the last jackpot winner. That is inching closer to the longest Mega Millions jackpot drought, which reached 37 drawings from Sept. 18, 2020, to Jan. 22, 2021.
The longest jackpot run was for a Powerball prize that stretched over 41 drawings and ended with a record $2.04 billion prize on Nov. 7, 2022.
___
The top federal tax bracket has been corrected to 37%. | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/1-05-billion-mega-million-jackpot-is-among-a-surge-in-huge-payouts-due-to-more-than-just-luck/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business | 2023-07-31T18:00:28 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/1-05-billion-mega-million-jackpot-is-among-a-surge-in-huge-payouts-due-to-more-than-just-luck/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business |
Mr. Carr is President and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, which operate under the Momentus Capital Brand
ARLINGTON, Va. and SAN DIEGO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For all of us at Momentus Capital, 2022 was a year to remember. Working in cities and communities across the country, we put over $760 million into the hands of entrepreneurs, developers, and other local leaders. In addition, lenders utilized our Ventures Lending Technologies' suite of products to deploy more than $20 billion in financing to their clients. These numbers represent the highest level of investment in the history of our family of organizations.
But beyond these headline figures, what do these numbers represent? What do these dollars actually support? When I get asked this question, three things come to mind:
First and foremost, our work supports people. The people that we invest in are pursuing their own dreams for themselves and their communities. Most are small business owners and community real estate developers, but no matter their line of work, I see them the same way: as builders. In many cases, these folks are the folks that the traditional financial sector has left behind. Through their businesses, projects, and community leadership, they are building a better future for themselves and those around them – and we are proud to support their vision.
Second, our work advances a culture that puts the voices of these leaders at the center of what we do. Local voices shape our priorities, our projects, and our strategies. One of the reasons I admire our staff so deeply is because they are committed to this culture. We adopted our four Core Values – being visionary, invested, collaborative, and intentionally inclusive – to strengthen this culture. We build authentic relationships with our colleagues, our partners, and the community leaders we support. As we do, we strive to always actively listen to how they describe their own wants, needs, and vision.
Finally and most importantly, our work supports communities. Strengthening and supporting communities is the reason we exist. We are committed to the idea that the people of every community in America deserve to live, work, play, and dream without being constrained by a lack of capital, a lack of knowledge, a lack of power. Every bit of capital we provide is about directing power – economic, social, and cultural – to communities with dreams, assets, and aspirations that outstrip the power our current system has allowed them.
We do the work we do so that people, cultures, and communities across this country can thrive. As you can see in our Annual Report, we did a lot last year in the service of this goal. As with every year, our achievements are thanks to the expertise and dedication of our incredible staff. I am grateful for their commitment to our mission and proud of the way they approach this work. As the "first generation" of Momentus Capital employees, they are advancing the work while helping us to build a new type of organization, shaping the day-to-day environment of our organization. Every day, I feel lucky and honored to work with this team.
Of course, the real work is ahead of us, not behind. We are on a multi-year journey to build an integrated financial services organization that puts purpose over profit. Working together with partners, we will redefine how capital flows into underestimated communities so that everyone has access to the resources they need to thrive. The result? An economic system that respects and uplifts all peoples' right to achieve the dreams they have for themselves, their communities, and generations to come.
Thank you, as always, for your interest and support.
To read our full FY2022 Annual Report, please click here.
About Momentus Capital
The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations refers to the combined operations of Capital Impact Partners, CDC Small Business Finance, Momentus Direct Capital, Momentus Securities, and Ventures Lending Technologies. While each organization under the Momentus Capital brand still operates as a separate entity, their clients will now have access to more resources and products.
The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations is transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people access to the capital and opportunities they deserve. We are working to reinvent traditional financial systems that have failed to address systemic issues of inequality, economic empowerment, and the widening racial wealth gap by offering a continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital to help local leaders build inclusive and equitable communities and create generational wealth. This includes a comprehensive package of loan products, impact investment opportunities, training and business advising programs, and technology services that advance locally-led solutions.
Leveraging 80 years of combined experience, nearly $3 billion in assets, and strong community engagement, we have delivered $23 billion in financing, created and preserved 250,000 jobs, and served 12,000 small businesses and five million people across their history.
With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and San Diego, California, Momentus Capital operates nationally with a focus on larger urban areas and cities in Arizona, California, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Texas, and the Washington metro area.
Learn more at momentuscap.org.
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SOURCE Momentus Capital | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/momentus-capital-annual-report-fy2022-ellis-carr-creating-access-capital-opportunities-all/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:28 | 0 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/momentus-capital-annual-report-fy2022-ellis-carr-creating-access-capital-opportunities-all/ |
SAN FRANCISCO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Dental of California and affiliates today announced that Mike Castro will retire as its chief executive officer (CEO) Dec. 31, 2023 and become chairman of the board of Delta Dental of California effective Jan. 1, 2024. Sarah Chavarria, current president of Delta Dental of California, will succeed Mr. Castro to become president and CEO Jan. 1, 2024.
Mr. Castro has led the company as CEO of Delta Dental since 2019. During his two decades with the company, he has held a variety of leadership roles, including serving as chief financial officer for 14 years.
"It has been a privilege to lead our business," said Mike Castro, chief executive officer of Delta Dental of California. "Over the years, many people have asked how I want to define my legacy at Delta Dental. The simple answer has always been the same: to leave the company better than I found it, and in better hands. I'm proud to say we're a stronger company than we were five years ago, and we have a deep bench of exceptional leaders to help us continue to capitalize on our position of strength thanks to the team."
Sarah Chavarria was promoted to president in 2022 and has led the organization's Operations, Technology, People, Growth, Marketing and Communication divisions. She began her career at Delta Dental as chief people officer and later expanded her leadership to include oversight of the other teams.
"I want to thank Mike for his support, exceptional leadership and dedication to Delta Dental, which have laid the foundation for a successful future," said Sarah Chavarria, president of Delta Dental of California. "We will continue our partnership when he moves into his new role as chairman of the board. Together, we will ensure our customers, providers and employees remain at the forefront of our business and that we stay focused on our purpose to improve health by providing access to quality care for our more than 45 million members."
About Delta Dental of California
Since 1955, Delta Dental of California has offered comprehensive, high quality oral health care coverage to millions of enrollees and built the strongest network of dental providers in the country. The Delta Dental of California enterprise includes its affiliates Delta Dental Insurance Company, Delta Dental of Pennsylvania, Delta Dental of New York, Inc., as well as the national DeltaCare USA network, and provides dental benefits to more than 45 million people across 15 states and the District of Columbia*. All are members of the Delta Dental Plans Association based in Oak Brook, Illinois, the not-for-profit national association that through a national network of Delta Dental companies collectively covers millions of people nationwide. For more information about Delta Dental of California, please visit www.deltadentalins.com
*Delta Dental of California's operating areas encompass Alabama, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and District of Columbia.
For media inquiries, contact:
Tom Sarris
Director, Corporate Communications
Delta Dental of California
tsarris@delta.org
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SOURCE Delta Dental of California | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/mike-castro-retire-ceo-become-chairman-board-delta-dental-california-president-sarah-chavarria-named-successor/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:29 | 1 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/mike-castro-retire-ceo-become-chairman-board-delta-dental-california-president-sarah-chavarria-named-successor/ |
When a mysterious object showed up on a beach in Western Australia earlier this month, authorities and the public were left scratching their heads about what it was and where it came from.
For more than two weeks, people speculated about what this metallic cylinder could be and where it came from. Many questioned (with varying levels of sincerity) if it was from outer space and could be proof of alien life.
Others wondered if the debris could be from the Malaysian Airlines plane that vanished in 2014.
However, the Australian Space Agency quickly debunked some of the more out there theories, and determined the object was from another country’s space program.
MORE: Scientists discover a two-faced dwarf star
We have concluded the object located on a beach near Jurien Bay in Western Australia is most likely debris from an expended third-stage of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
The PSLV is a medium-lift launch vehicle operated by @isro.
[More in comments] pic.twitter.com/ivF9Je1Qqy
— Australian Space Agency (@AusSpaceAgency) July 31, 2023
“We have concluded the object located on a beach near Jurian Bay in Western Australia is most likely debris from an expended third-stage of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle […] operated by @isro (Indian Space Research Organization),” the agency shared on its official Twitter account.
The New York Times reported India did launch a rocket intended to go to the moon a few days before the object was found on the remote Australian beach.
The Australian Space Agency disclosed it has now placed the discovered item in storage and plans to work with ISRO to determine what’s next.
A 1968 United Nations agreement outlines guidelines for nations that “requires States Parties [to] return any ‘foreign’ space objects discovered in their territory to their owners and that they notify the [U.N.] Secretary-General of any such discovered objects.”
According to space archeologist Alice Gorman, discoveries such as this will likely become more common with more launches from organizations such as SpaceX and other national space programs.
“There are so many more launches than there used to be that it is likely we’re going to see more fuel tanks and other components ending up on Earth,” Gorman told ABC News Australia.
However, she assured the general public not to worry about stuff falling from space. This latest piece of space debris washed up to the shore from the ocean, and public risk is minimal now.
“Nobody has to walk around looking above their heads in fear that a piece of space junk is going to fall on them and decimate them,” Gorman concluded.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories. | https://www.ksby.com/mysterious-object-ended-up-on-beach | 2023-07-31T18:00:33 | 1 | https://www.ksby.com/mysterious-object-ended-up-on-beach |
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Native American tribes in Oklahoma will get to keep their existing agreements on how they share money from tobacco sales with the state.
The Oklahoma House voted on Monday to override Gov. Kevin Stitt’s veto of a bill that extends agreements on selling tobacco for another year. In a bipartisan vote during a special session, the Republican-controlled House met the two-thirds vote needed to override. The Senate overrode the governor’s veto last week.
As a result, any tribe with an existing agreement on tobacco sales can opt to extend the terms of that agreement until Dec. 31, 2024. Leaders from several of the state’s most powerful tribes were in the gallery for Monday’s vote.
The override is the latest development in an ongoing dispute between the Republican governor and several Oklahoma-based tribes. Stitt, himself a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has said he wants to adjust the compact language to make sure tribes don’t expand where they sell tobacco as a result of a landmark 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that determined the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s historical reservation still existed.
Since that decision, lower courts have determined the reservations of several other Native American tribes, including the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole, are still intact.
The current tobacco compacts, which allow the state and tribes to evenly split the tax revenue on the sale of tobacco on tribal land, generate tens of millions of dollars each year in revenue for both the state and tribes.
Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat said last week he wants to give the governor more time to renegotiate the terms of the deal and has been openly critical of Stitt’s disputes with the tribes. Treat, a Republican, also said he would consider changing state law to give the Legislature a greater role in compact negotiations if the governor doesn’t negotiate in good faith. | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/native-american-tribes-in-oklahoma-will-keep-tobacco-deals-as-lawmakers-override-governors-veto/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business | 2023-07-31T18:00:33 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/native-american-tribes-in-oklahoma-will-keep-tobacco-deals-as-lawmakers-override-governors-veto/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business |
The moon will seem extra big and bright and thus be quite a sight this August, with a sturgeon supermoon visible on Tuesday and then a rare blue supermoon coming at the end of the month.
Two of the four supermoon events of 2023 will take place in August, with the first happening on Tuesday. On Aug. 30 there will be a blue supermoon, which won't happen again until 2032. Here's what you need to know so you can catch this summer's lunar double feature.
What is a supermoon?
A perigean full moon, better known as a supermoon, happens when the moon is full during its closest orbits to Earth. This gives its appearance an extra pop, making it look up to 8% bigger and 16% brighter than a typical full moon, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac.
According to NASA, the moon's typical orbit ranges between 226,000 and 251,000 miles from Earth, but variances can bring it a bit closer or farther away. Only the closest three or four approaches each year qualify as supermoons. The last one was on July 3.
Up first is the sturgeon supermoon on Tuesday
The sturgeon moon got its name from Native American tribes that found that the giant sturgeon from the Great Lakes were "most readily caught" at this time of the summer, according to Farmer's Almanac. It's also known as a green corn moon, grain moon, flying up moon, harvest moon, ricing moon, black cherries moon and the mountain shadow moon.
This spectacle will hit peak illumination at 2:32 p.m. ET. "That evening, look toward the southeast after sunset to catch a glimpse of the Sturgeon Moon rising," Farmer's Almanac says.
A sturgeon, for non-anglers, is an enormous fish with roots in the Jurassic period that spends its life — up to 150 years — in both fresh and saltwater. The white sturgeon is the largest freshwater fish in North America, reaching as long as 20 feet and nearly 2,000 pounds, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. But most of the sturgeon inhabiting the Great Lakes measure about 6 feet in length and weigh approximately 200 pounds.
The second show is a rare blue supermoon
While a supermoon references the moon's orbit in relation to Earth, a blue moon has to do with frequency, referring to when there's a second full moon in a single calendar month, NASA says. It's also used to describe the third of four full moons in an astrological season.
The moon takes 27.3 days to orbit the Earth, but because of how the sun's light hits the satellite, it takes 29.5 days to complete its lunar cycle from one new moon to the next.
The term "once in a blue moon" is an idiom used to describe a rare but nonetheless recurring event. But according to NASA they're not actually all that rare, recurring every two-and-a-half years or so.
A blue supermoon, however, happens far less frequently. According to the website Time and Date, the last blue supermoon was in December 2009, and the next one won't be until August 2032.
This year's blue supermoon will peak at 9:36 p.m. ET on Aug. 30, Farmer's Almanac says, but you can use their moonrise calculator to see when it will be visible in your area.
The end of August supermoon will be the biggest and brightest of 2023 because the moon will be "exceptionally close" to Earth at 222,043 miles, nearly 17,000 miles closer than average.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.wdiy.org/npr-news/2023-07-31/if-you-miss-augusts-super-blue-moon-youll-have-to-wait-9-years-for-your-next-chance | 2023-07-31T18:00:34 | 0 | https://www.wdiy.org/npr-news/2023-07-31/if-you-miss-augusts-super-blue-moon-youll-have-to-wait-9-years-for-your-next-chance |
Award Recognizes Exemplary Commitment to Transportation Safety
BRUSLY, La., July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM), a national organization whose members include the most senior fire officials in the United States, is delighted to honor ExxonMobil with the esteemed Norman Y. Mineta Excellence in Transportation Safety Award.
The ExxonMobil organization is recognized for having one of the safest years in Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company's (EMPCo) history and their industry-leading safety preparations for the upcoming buildout of a network of CO2 and H2 pipelines. By empowering personnel to identify and strengthen critical safeguards to mitigate risk in potential consequence areas, ExxonMobil takes on the challenge of emerging fuels pipelines and storage facilities while maintaining exceptional safety standards.
The Norman Y. Mineta Excellence in Transportation Safety Award is an honor awarded to individuals or organizations who have shown a significant and lasting contribution to product, material and human safety. Named after its first recipient, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, the award recognizes achievements in transportation safety standards that exceed the minimum requirements.
"The way ExxonMobil engages with fire fighters is a great example of how companies and first responders should work together to yield the highest level of public safety and awareness," said Chief Butch Browning, NASFM Executive Director.
"It is an honor to receive this award on behalf of ExxonMobil. We are proud that our focus on safety and operational excellence is recognized by one of our most important stakeholders, first responders," said Steve Yatauro, ExxonMobil Pipeline Company President.
Since 2005, 11 organizations or individuals have received the Norman Y. Mineta Excellence in Transportation Safety Award. ExxonMobil's recognition marks the first award since Former NASFM Presidents and State Fire Marshal Bill Degnan in 2016.
The award was presented to EMPCo VP of Operations Saul Flota at the NASFM Annual Conference on July 31, 2023, in Wilmington, North Carolina.
For more information, visit the NASFM website at firemarshals.org.
About the National Association of State Fire Marshalls:
The principal membership of NASFM comprises the senior fire officials in the United States and their top deputies. The primary mission of NASFM is to protect human life, property and the environment from fire and related hazards. A secondary mission of NASFM is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of State Fire Marshals' operations.
CONTACT:
Philip Oakes
Chief of Operations and Training
phil@browning.red
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SOURCE National Association of State Fire Marshals | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/nasfm-recognizes-exxonmobil-with-norman-y-mineta-excellence-transportation-safety-award/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:35 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/nasfm-recognizes-exxonmobil-with-norman-y-mineta-excellence-transportation-safety-award/ |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco prosecutor’s office began laying out its case Monday against a tech consultant charged with murder in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee, who was found bleeding on a deserted city street in April.
In the preliminary hearing, a judge will decide if there’s enough evidence to go to trial.
Prosecutors have provided no motive and released little information in a case that has drawn outsized media attention, partly due to Lee’s status in the tech world. Lee created Cash App, a mobile payment service, and was the chief product officer of the cryptocurrency MobileCoin.
Nima Momeni, 38, has been in jail since his arrest April 13. He has pleaded not guilty, and he faces 26 years to life if convicted.
That came more than a week after Lee, 43, was found bleeding in a deserted part of downtown San Francisco early April 4. Lee was rushed to a hospital, where he died.
In making a motion to keep Momeni detained in jail without bail, prosecutors argued that he planned the attack, drove Lee to a secluded spot and stabbed him three times after a dispute related to Momeni’s younger sister.
Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai said at a May hearing that Momeni used a knife that was part of a unique kitchen set belonging to his sister. Analysis showed Momeni’s DNA on the weapon’s handle and Lee’s DNA on the bloody blade, Talai said.
Police recovered a knife with a 4-inch (10-centimeter) blade at the scene.
Momeni has hired two new lawyers, Saam Zangeneh and Bradford Cohen, both based in Florida. His first attorney, Paula Canny, withdrew in late May, citing a conflict of interest that she declined to disclose.
In arguing for bail, Canny said that Momeni was not a flight risk and would not leave the two people he loves most, his sister and mother. She said Momeni needs to fight the charges or face deportation to Iran, a country that his mother fled when the children were younger to escape a violent husband.
An unnamed friend of Lee told homicide investigators they had been hanging out and drinking with Momeni’s sister the day before the stabbing, prosecutors said in their motion to deny bail.
The friend said Momeni later questioned Lee about whether his sister was doing drugs or otherwise engaging in inappropriate behavior and Lee said she had not.
Surveillance video showed Lee later entering the posh Millennium Tower downtown, where Momeni’s sister Khazar lives with her husband, prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon Dino Elyassnia. Video footage then showed Lee and Momeni leaving the building together shortly after 2 a.m. and driving off in Momeni’s car.
Lee was found shortly after 2:30 a.m. in the Rincon Hill neighborhood, which has tech offices and condominiums but little activity in the early morning hours. | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/san-francisco-prosecutors-to-lay-out-murder-case-against-consultant-in-death-of-cash-apps-bob-lee/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business | 2023-07-31T18:00:35 | 1 | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/san-francisco-prosecutors-to-lay-out-murder-case-against-consultant-in-death-of-cash-apps-bob-lee/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business |
The hold in has become a popular alternative to the holdout, since it entails no financial repercussions for the player. But there continues to be real value in the player not being with the team.
Absence places pressure on the front office to get the deal done, as evidenced by perhaps too-candid comments from 49ers G.M. John Lynch as to the lingering holdout of defensive end Nick Bosa.
“We have to strike the right mix of urgency,” Lynch said, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area. “I don’t like this, not having one of our best players here. But I also understand it, understand we’re going to have to exhibit some patience that this whole thing will work out.”
Lynch also said he has no concerns about getting a deal done.
The question is when? In a deadline-driven business, when is the last moment for a fifth-year superstar to show up and sign a deal?
The two sides need to have an agreement as to when the clock strikes twelve, and then they need to work toward getting a deal done before the bell tolls for Bosa.
Would it be better if they could get it done now? Yes. But if either side moves toward the bottom-line position too quickly, they’ll get squeezed north (or south) of that number. | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/john-lynch-doesnt-like-not-having-nick-bosa-in-camp | 2023-07-31T18:00:36 | 1 | https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/john-lynch-doesnt-like-not-having-nick-bosa-in-camp |
Mr. Carr is President and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, which operate under the Momentus Capital Brand
ARLINGTON, Va. and SAN DIEGO, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- For all of us at Momentus Capital, 2022 was a year to remember. Working in cities and communities across the country, we put over $760 million into the hands of entrepreneurs, developers, and other local leaders. In addition, lenders utilized our Ventures Lending Technologies' suite of products to deploy more than $20 billion in financing to their clients. These numbers represent the highest level of investment in the history of our family of organizations.
But beyond these headline figures, what do these numbers represent? What do these dollars actually support? When I get asked this question, three things come to mind:
First and foremost, our work supports people. The people that we invest in are pursuing their own dreams for themselves and their communities. Most are small business owners and community real estate developers, but no matter their line of work, I see them the same way: as builders. In many cases, these folks are the folks that the traditional financial sector has left behind. Through their businesses, projects, and community leadership, they are building a better future for themselves and those around them – and we are proud to support their vision.
Second, our work advances a culture that puts the voices of these leaders at the center of what we do. Local voices shape our priorities, our projects, and our strategies. One of the reasons I admire our staff so deeply is because they are committed to this culture. We adopted our four Core Values – being visionary, invested, collaborative, and intentionally inclusive – to strengthen this culture. We build authentic relationships with our colleagues, our partners, and the community leaders we support. As we do, we strive to always actively listen to how they describe their own wants, needs, and vision.
Finally and most importantly, our work supports communities. Strengthening and supporting communities is the reason we exist. We are committed to the idea that the people of every community in America deserve to live, work, play, and dream without being constrained by a lack of capital, a lack of knowledge, a lack of power. Every bit of capital we provide is about directing power – economic, social, and cultural – to communities with dreams, assets, and aspirations that outstrip the power our current system has allowed them.
We do the work we do so that people, cultures, and communities across this country can thrive. As you can see in our Annual Report, we did a lot last year in the service of this goal. As with every year, our achievements are thanks to the expertise and dedication of our incredible staff. I am grateful for their commitment to our mission and proud of the way they approach this work. As the "first generation" of Momentus Capital employees, they are advancing the work while helping us to build a new type of organization, shaping the day-to-day environment of our organization. Every day, I feel lucky and honored to work with this team.
Of course, the real work is ahead of us, not behind. We are on a multi-year journey to build an integrated financial services organization that puts purpose over profit. Working together with partners, we will redefine how capital flows into underestimated communities so that everyone has access to the resources they need to thrive. The result? An economic system that respects and uplifts all peoples' right to achieve the dreams they have for themselves, their communities, and generations to come.
Thank you, as always, for your interest and support.
To read our full FY2022 Annual Report, please click here.
About Momentus Capital
The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations refers to the combined operations of Capital Impact Partners, CDC Small Business Finance, Momentus Direct Capital, Momentus Securities, and Ventures Lending Technologies. While each organization under the Momentus Capital brand still operates as a separate entity, their clients will now have access to more resources and products.
The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations is transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people access to the capital and opportunities they deserve. We are working to reinvent traditional financial systems that have failed to address systemic issues of inequality, economic empowerment, and the widening racial wealth gap by offering a continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital to help local leaders build inclusive and equitable communities and create generational wealth. This includes a comprehensive package of loan products, impact investment opportunities, training and business advising programs, and technology services that advance locally-led solutions.
Leveraging 80 years of combined experience, nearly $3 billion in assets, and strong community engagement, we have delivered $23 billion in financing, created and preserved 250,000 jobs, and served 12,000 small businesses and five million people across their history.
With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and San Diego, California, Momentus Capital operates nationally with a focus on larger urban areas and cities in Arizona, California, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Texas, and the Washington metro area.
Learn more at momentuscap.org.
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SOURCE Momentus Capital | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/momentus-capital-annual-report-fy2022-ellis-carr-creating-access-capital-opportunities-all/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:36 | 0 | https://www.kold.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/momentus-capital-annual-report-fy2022-ellis-carr-creating-access-capital-opportunities-all/ |
MEXICO CITY — An American nurse and her daughter have been abducted in Haiti, in the latest kidnapping episode to draw international notice, as a resurgence of violence grips the capital, Port-au-Prince.
In a brief statement Saturday, El Roi Haiti, a faith-focused humanitarian organization, identified the woman as Alix Dorsainvil, the group’s community nurse and the wife of the group’s director. She and her child were taken from El Roi’s campus near the capital Thursday, according to the statement.
No further details have been made public.
“We are aware of reports of the kidnapping of two U.S. citizens in Haiti,” a U.S. State Department official told The New York Times by email, adding that U.S. officials were working with their Haitian counterparts and declining to comment further on the matter.
Kidnappings in recent years had become a part of daily life in Port-au-Prince, where gangs have taken over many parts of the city. But recently the capital experienced a sharp decline in abductions, according to a report in early July from CARDH, a Haitian human rights group.
The reason: Violence was being met with violence. In a vigilante campaign known as “bwa kale,” civilians took up arms to reclaim some areas of the capital from gangs that have inflicted terror on them for nearly two years.
With the government overpowered and unable to protect its citizens, the movement began to round up and kill presumed gang members in gruesome executions — sometimes chopping off their limbs, other times dousing them with gasoline and burning them alive.
As vigilantism rose, gang violence appeared to subside.
“Fear has changed sides,” the CARDH report said.
But since the document came out, terror seems to have changed sides once more. In recent weeks, local groups have documented a spike in kidnappings and killings of civilians. Between May and mid-July, at least 40 people were abducted and 75 killed. The case of Dorsainvil and her child, among others, might signal the end of Haiti’s brief period of respite.
Tensions soared last week when dozens of Haitians sought refuge in front of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, attempting to flee the violence caused by the Kraze Baryè gang, a group that has been responsible for several high-profile kidnappings since June, including that of a famous radio host and her husband, the former head of Haiti’s electoral council.
Soon after, agents of the national police used tear gas to disperse the group of residents.
“The authorities are abandoning the population,” said Pierre Espérance, executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network, which last week called Vitel’Homme Innocent, the leader of Kraze Baryè, “the protégé” of high-ranking officers at the Haitian police, including its acting director general. “The gangs are protected by the state authorities and many members of the police force.”
On July 20, CARDH predicted a rise in violence if better security measures were not adopted. The group cited, among other reasons, the weakening of the “bwa kale” movement and the gangs’ need to make up income lost after the earlier drop in kidnappings. (According to rights groups, relatives of victims are often asked to pay up to $1 million in ransom.)
On Thursday, the State Department ordered nonemergency embassy personnel and their families to evacuate; it also advised all U.S. citizens in Haiti to leave “as soon as possible.”
To help address Haiti’s security challenge, the government of Kenya confirmed Saturday the possibility of leading a multinational force to the Caribbean country.
The plan would be to deploy a contingent of roughly 1,000 police officers to help train and assist Haitian police to restore normalcy and “protect strategic installations,” Kenya’s foreign minister, Alfred Mutua, said in a statement.
Jean Victor Généus, Haitian foreign minister, welcomed the proposal. “Haiti appreciates this demonstration of African solidarity,” he tweeted Monday, adding that the government will evaluate Kenya’s plan in the coming weeks.
Another kidnapping case drew worldwide attention in 2021, when 17 missionaries, mostly Americans, and their family members were abducted as they were leaving an orphanage in Port-au-Prince. Five hostages were released soon after; the rest managed to escape months later.
“The gangs do whatever they want, whenever they want,” Espérance said. “No one is safe, whether foreigner or Haitian.” | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/tide-of-terror-shifts-in-haiti-as-u-s-nurse-and-her-child-are-abducted/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_world | 2023-07-31T18:00:39 | 0 | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/tide-of-terror-shifts-in-haiti-as-u-s-nurse-and-her-child-are-abducted/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_world |
It’s a universal conundrum: You want to look stylish and put-together. But you don’t want to spend more than 10 minutes figuring out your outfit. What to do? Try outfit sandwiching.
What’s that?
“It’s basically a style hack to make getting dressed easier,” says Heather Pollard, a stylist and founder of The Swanky Boho. “It’s a way to streamline your outfit — an easy formula to follow that makes you look put together.”
And that formula works just like it sounds: as you choose your outfit, think: bread on bottom, filling in the middle and bread on top.
“You’ve got two elements going on that relate to elements of design,” Pollard says. “That could be color, proportion, pattern or texture. You take one of those elements and repeat it on top and bottom. Then you contrast it in the middle.”
The easiest way to follow the sandwich dressing rule is with the element of color. Don’t stray beyond your chosen two colors, and balance them so the outfit looks cohesive.
“You might pair a toffee-colored tank top with a different color pant, and then toffee-colored shoes,” says Hallie Abrams, a stylist and founder of The Wardrobe Consultant.
In the outfit pictured below, the model’s racerback tank and Birkenstock sandals work as the bread, while the utility pants fill in the middle with a different color. Even when she adds the blazer (which matches the pants), her look will be cohesive.
MORE: I’ve worn these white sneakers everywhere for the past two years
Buy the Maeve Cropped Racerback Tank at Anthropologie for $28; the Relaxed Utility Pants at Anthropologie for $148 and the Birkenstock Arizona Big Buckle Sandals at Anthropologie for $160.
Another option is to start with a solid color dress, which grounds the outfit. Then add another color through accessories like a necklace, purse, scarf or shoes. In the photo below, the model pulls together a simple mini dress with black platform heels and a black handbag.
Buy the Out From Under ’90s Tank Top Mini Dress at Urban Outfitters for $29; the Melissa Party Platform Heel at Urban Outfitters for $139 and the UO Lizzie Mini Duffle Bag at Urban Outfitters for $39 (currently on sale for $29).
“A belt is another way to do a sort of reverse sandwich,” Abrams says. “If you’re wearing a column of color, you’ll wear a belt of a different color in the middle.” She adds that this works well for people who tend to gravitate toward neutral colors. It’s a way to add interest without being overwhelmed — it’s merely a pop of color.
“Sandwich dressing is very often for those who are a little pattern-averse, too,” Abrams says. You might use patterns or prints as the glue of an outfit, but surround it with two solids that match one of its colors.
The model below has paired a floral patterned skirt with a fitted T-shirt, which is the neutral eggshell color of the skirt’s flowers. The matching neutral sandals work with the shirt to ground the skirt and bring the outfit together.
MORE: This top-selling women’s blazer on Amazon is a must-have for the office
Buy the Reformation Arie Silk Skirt at Shopbop for $198; the LNA Fitted Rib Crew Tee at Shopbop for $75 (currently on sale for $45) and the Schutz Mindy Pin Heels at Shopbop for $148 (currently on sale for $103.60).
“If you want to take the sandwich rule to the next level, you can use it to plan multiple outfits for one day,” Pollard says. If you are going to work and then out on a date, she says, plan your base colors to make switching outfits easy. “Say you wear a black blazer, skinny black pants and a bright blue cami under the jacket,” she says. “For your date, keep the cami but ditch the jacket and trade out the pants for a short black skirt.”
The model below might be dressed for a casual Friday at work. But if she was heading out for a date later, she could keep the pretty pink blouse and pink sandals but swap out the jeans for a solid skirt in a different color, or a patterned skirt that includes some pink.
Buy this Dobby Top at JustFab (price varies based on membership but is $8.74 for VIP members); these Reagan High Rise Wide Leg Button Jeans for $11.74 (for VIP members) and this Lana Espadrille Sandal at JustFab for $8.74 (for VIP members).
You can also use the outfit sandwich rule to play with proportion. “So, maybe you would pair a big-volume, fuzzy sweater with platform sandals or thick-soled Converse sneakers,” Pollard says. “Then, add skinny jeans or a pencil skirt in the middle.” In that case, two of your elements are out of proportion, while the other is not.
The model below has one oversized element, and the other two are not. She’s wearing a long, draping sweater blazer, but she’s paired it with a fitted tank and slim shorts.
Buy the Juliette Collarless Sweater-Blazer at J Crew for $158; the High-rise Suit Short at J Crew for $118 and the FormKnit High-Neck Cutaway Tank Top at J Crew for $39.50 (currently on sale for $19.99).
Sandwich dressing is also a great way to incorporate the latest trends. For example, Abrams says, right now a lot of people are carrying crocheted raffia bags or sandals. “So you could wear a brightly-colored, printed cotton dress, then add a raffia sandal and a matching woven raffia bag,” she says. In this example, you are grounding a print with two solid-colored accessories. And you are sandwiching with texture as well.
The model below is already wearing two woven elements —a crocheted top and skirt — so adding woven sandals would be overkill. But if she was wearing the crocheted top with a cotton skirt, a nice raffia sandal would balance out the textures beautifully.
As is, she is already pulling off a sandwich outfit — just with color (black hat and black shoes with off-white in the middle).
Buy the Crochet Mini Skirt at Gap for $29.99; the Crochet Tank Top at Gap for $39; the Nylon Bucket Hat at Gap for $29.95 (currently on sale for $14) and the Strappy Lace-Up Sandals at Gap for $44.95.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories. | https://www.ksby.com/outfit-sandwiching-trend-lets-you-simplify-getting-dressed | 2023-07-31T18:00:40 | 0 | https://www.ksby.com/outfit-sandwiching-trend-lets-you-simplify-getting-dressed |
Leanne Morgan remembers the moment she realized she could make it in comedy: She was at a party, telling jokes, and a woman "peepeed on the couch."
"That was a 'God' moment for me ... " Morgan says. "I thought, 'OK, I can make it in stand-up.'"
Morgan took a roundabout route to professional comedy: She was a young mother living in Bean Station, Tenn., in the 1990s — and she started selling jewelry in women's houses two or three nights a week as a way to make a bit of extra money.
"It was like Mary Kay and Tupperware, those kinds of companies," Morgan says. "Somebody makes a dip, or a pan of brownies, and then I would schlep that big case of jewelry and put all that jewelry out on a kitchen table."
Morgan was supposed to be talking up the jewelry, but instead she found herself making her customers laugh with stories about breastfeeding and hemorrhoids.
Morgan was 32 with three young children at home when she started performing stand-up in clubs on the weekend. Every few years, someone from Hollywood would call to offer her a sitcom deal — but each time the deal would fall through.
In 2018, she nearly gave up, but she decided to make one more push. She hired two brothers in Plano, Texas, to help promote her material on social media. One clip, in which she joked about going to a Def Leppard/Journey concert with her husband, went viral.
"That [video] blew up, and I started selling out all over the United States," Morgan says. "People would see those videos ... and start calling comedy clubs and ask them to book me."
Now 57 with three grown children and two grandchildren, Morgan has her own self-produced Netflix special, Leanne Morgan: I'm Every Woman. In it, she makes fun of everyday life, from marriage and motherhood to menopause and dating apps.
"It took me a long time to find my audience ... but I always knew they were out there," she says. "I think Hollywood forgets us, and I think a lot of comedians that are cool and edgy and all of that, just forget about my demographic and I think we're the best. I think we're the people that make decisions to go buy tickets and want to get out and have a good time."
Interview highlights
On connecting to her audience
I'm nurturing. If I make fun, it's of myself, it's not of anybody else. I'm not confrontational. And so I think people find comfort with me. ... I was in LA doing The Comedy Store, which was a dream of mine, and it was all these edgy comedians that were getting up and talking about all kinds of stuff. And then I got up and talked about how somebody made me a meatloaf at my children's school the day that I got my IUD replaced. And young people came out of The Comedy Store and said, "Can I hug you?" I think that even though ... in my mind I'd have a chip on my shoulder over the years and think, Oh, I'm not edgy enough there. I'm not a cool kid in the business in the industry and all that, I do think that people were enjoying what I did.
On calling herself the "Mrs. Maisel of Appalachia"
Comedy is hard. ... It's a hard business. I resonated with that character because she was fearless and she had those babies and her husband was a ding dong. My husband's not a ding dong, but she overcame so much and kept going and men would say, "Oh, women aren't funny," and all that kind of stuff, and trying to sabotage her. I've been through all that. When young people ask me, "Do you think I should do stand-up?" I don't want to squash somebody's dreams. But it's hard for me as a mother not to say, "Listen, you're going to be driving in a car for 300 miles to make $50 and you won't have a hotel room." I mean, it's a hard, hard business. But when I saw that series, I thought, that's what I did: I had three babies. I was in the Appalachian Mountains. I didn't have a comedy club near me, and I just had to pave out another way than the traditional way that people do stand-up. And I did. I don't know how, but I did.
On the four television sitcom deals over the years that fell through
I would be devastated at the time. But those little nuggets would give me the encouragement to keep going. For one thing, because I was in Knoxville. ... I was not living in LA or New York. I was raising these children and I got to raise them in Knoxville, Tennessee, and they became who they're supposed to be. If I'd have gone to LA, they probably wouldn't be who they are. And I would be devastated [when the series fell through], but then it always kept me encouraged, like, I've got something. I know I'm not crazy. I can do this.
On ignoring her ex-husband when he advised her to get rid of her Tennessee accent
[He] said to me, "Your accent and your diction, you need diction lessons. People are making fun of me. People think you're stupid." And I remember at the time, I don't know how I had the sense to think, "No, you're wrong." And I didn't change anything. I could have. I had pretty low self-esteem and was pretty beat down at the time, but I felt like ... you're not going to change me. This is who I am. And I think now, going forward, 40 years later, that is what has made this happen for me, is I am who I am. .... I'm authentic. I feel like at my age now, it's like this is who I am. You either like it or you don't. It's OK if you don't. ... I do find humor in hard things, but I think a lot of comedians do. That's how we cope.
Lauren Krenzel and Seth Kelley produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
Copyright 2023 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air. | https://www.wdiy.org/2023-07-31/leanne-morgan-the-mrs-maisel-of-appalachia-jokes-about-motherhood-and-menopause | 2023-07-31T18:00:40 | 0 | https://www.wdiy.org/2023-07-31/leanne-morgan-the-mrs-maisel-of-appalachia-jokes-about-motherhood-and-menopause |
WASHINGTON, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) President, Carole Fisher has attracted publicity for her role hosting the popular podcast series – "The Girlfriends". Produced by NOVEL for iHeartRadio, the thrilling nine-part series, led by Fisher, uncovers the horrific backstory of Gail Katz's death, the systems that failed her and all the girlfriends that brought her justice.
THE GIRLFRIENDS explores the bonds of friendship, female solidarity, empowerment, and bringing justice to all people who suffer at the hands of abuse and domestic violence. Since its release on July 10, The Girlfriends has achieved success – currently ranking at #1 in Canada, the United Kingdom and United States on Apple Podcasts.
"This is more than just being another binge-worthy true crime podcast series. It's about raising awareness around the horrors of abuse, especially domestic and sexual violence," said Carole Fisher, NPHI President. "It has been a privilege and an honor to speak up on behalf of Gail Katz, and so many other women who are victims of domestic violence. Together, we must do more to elevate the voices of those in danger."
NOVEL collaborated with the leading global charity NOMORE.org dedicated to ending domestic violence and sexual assault by increasing awareness, inspiring action, and fueling culture change. NPHI maintains close links to these related issues through its engagement with Healthsperien LLC and applauds Carole Fisher for her continued commitment to social impact and raising awareness on the issues of domestic violence against women.
"I am extremely pleased to hear of the success of this podcast, and I support its greater goal in raising awareness around the pervasiveness of domestic violence," said Tom Koutsoumpas, NPHI CEO. "Carole's entire lifework has been centered around helping and speaking out for others and her participation in this podcast highlights her never-ending commitment to creating social impact and change where it is rightly needed."
Carole, who is employed directly by the renowned DC Policy Firm, Healthsperien LLC, has presided over the day-to-day operations of NPHI since January 2021. In this capacity, she brings a wealth of expertise that has helped NPHI grow exponentially and evolve with the ever-changing hospice landscape. Prior to her time at Healthsperien and NPHI, she served as a highly regarded C-suite leader, including a long-time engagement as the CEO of Nathan Adelson Hospice in her hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada.
You can find The Girlfriends on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
About Carole Fisher: Ms. Fisher serves as President for the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI). Utilizing her previous experiences and deep familiarity with not-for-profit community-based hospice and palliative healthcare, she is charged with leading a wide range of activities for NPHI. With an emphasis on developing strategic partnerships, meaningful collaborations and transformational innovations, Ms. Fisher provides support for NPHI members leading complex organizations.
Ms. Fisher spends her time working between her homes in Las Vegas, Nevada and Covington, Louisiana. She frequently travels to Washington D.C. for policy-related initiatives.
You can find Carole on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram under @CaroleAFisher.
The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) is a membership organization comprising 100+ not-for-profit, community-integrated hospice and palliative care providers dedicated to ensuring patients and their families have access to care that reflects their individual goals, values, and preferences. Representing providers from 37 states and the District of Columbia, NPHI and its members help design more innovative and effective models of care, advocate for comprehensive and community-integrated care customized to meet each person's unique needs, and build collaboration between national thought leaders, decision-makers, and other healthcare stakeholders to improve hospice care. Learn more at hospiceinnovations.org.
Press Contact:
Matt Wilkinson
Communications Manager, NPHI
+1 (801) 615-4207
mwilkinson@hospiceinnovations.org
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SOURCE National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/nphi-president-carole-fisher-hosts-trending-true-crime-podcast-girlfriends/ | 2023-07-31T18:00:41 | 1 | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/31/nphi-president-carole-fisher-hosts-trending-true-crime-podcast-girlfriends/ |