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RNC votes to withdraw from Commission on Presidential Debates
WASHINGTON - The Republican National Committee unanimously voted to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates.
The RNC clarified that it is not moving away from the presidential debate format, but is rather objecting to the CPD's control over the process. The CPD has organized presidential and vice presidential debates for more than 30 years. RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel made the announcement in a statement Thursday.
"Debates are an important part of the democratic process, and the RNC is committed to free and fair debates," McDaniel said in the statement. "The Commission on Presidential Debates is biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates including hosting debates before voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for candidates on the debate stage."
"Today, the RNC voted to withdraw from the biased CPD, and we are going to find newer, better debate platforms to ensure that future nominees are not forced to go through the biased CPD in order to make their case to the American people," she added.
The RNC went on to list a number of complaints with how the CPD handled previous elections, such as not hosting the first debate in 2020 until 26 states had already begun early voting.
The RNC also complained that a majority of the CPD's board members had publicly disparaged former President Donald Trump prior to the debates.
Former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign made many of the same complaints during the 2020 election.
The CPD has yet to respond to the RNC vote, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has confirmed to Fox News Digital that it will not be commenting on the move.
The RNC telegraphed its departure from the CPD in January when it announced it would require Republican presidential candidates to agree not to appear in a CPD-organized debate. Thursday's announcement sets that decision in stone.
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This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates on Foxnews.com. | https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/rnc-votes-to-withdraw-from-commission-on-presidential-debates | 2022-04-15T10:41:55 | 1 | https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/rnc-votes-to-withdraw-from-commission-on-presidential-debates |
Space weather alert: G2 geomagnetic storm watch in effect, auroras possible
Hey, northerners! You might get a treat in the night sky starting April 14 after a significant solar flare sent a coronal mass ejection towards Earth.
A G2 geomagnetic storm watch is in effect for Earth Thursday after a significant solar flare erupted from a location on the sun’s surface previously believed to be inactive.
The flare was rated a C1-class eruption, which normally results in little to no consequences for Earth, according to NASA.
But the area on the sun that produced the flare did create a full-halo coronal mass ejection (CME) that headed straight for Earth on April 11, according to Earthsky.org.
The geomagnetic storm as a result of the CME should be a moderate storm on NOAA’s space weather scale and will likely results in little to no impact on Earth’s infrastructure.
Such a G2-level storm could result in some transformer damage depending on how long storms last and may require spacecraft operations to enact corrective actions on orientation, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Fortunately, the storm is expected to downgrade from G2 to a G1-level storm on April 15, NOAA predicts.
What is a CME?
Every 11 years, the sun completes a solar cycle in which mass amounts of radiation and plasma are emitted in the form of solar storms.
During this cycle, large eruptions of immense energy containing the power of several nuclear bombs explode from the surface of the sun, ripple through space and inevitably strike Earth. These are CMEs. Traveling at over a million miles per hour, the ejected mass of protons and electrons can cross the 93-million-mile distance from the sun to the Earth in a matter of days.
Because the area of space between the Earth and the sun is so vast, there are many CMEs that don’t actually reach our home planet.
But every now and then, this massive explosion of energy does hit our planet, resulting in a geomagnetic storm which usually manifests into auroral lights typically seen near the north and south poles.
Similar to how hurricanes are ranked by categories, The U.S. Space Weather Center (SWPC) ranks solar storms on a scale of "G1 Minor" to "G5 Extreme," with a G5 storm being the most dangerous.
Have we experienced CMEs before?
Earth has been experiencing space storms throughout its history. Scientific data from ice samples taken from the arctic show evidence of massive geomagnetic storms as early as 774 A.D. In 1859, the Carrington Event, named after British astronomer Richard Carrington, caused mass terror when it obliterated the entire global telegraph system. Auroras were visible as far south as Colombia in what is considered the largest recorded account of a solar storm to hit Earth.
Telegraph operators reported receiving electric shocks when touching their instruments as telegraph paper reportedly caught fire from the shortages.
Because the Carrington Event occurred when humans were still early in their technological journey, the damage was minimal. However, experts say if a Carrington-style event were to occur today, with our reliance on technology, the effects could be devastating.
On March 10, 1989, astronomers witnessed a huge CME emanating from the sun which released a billion-ton cloud of gas, according to NASA.
"It was like the energy of thousands of nuclear bombs exploding at the same time," NASA said.
That ball of energy started heading toward Earth at a million miles an hour and collided with the planet’s magnetic field on March 12, 1989.
"The violence of this 'geomagnetic storm' caused spectacular 'northern lights' that could be seen as far south as Florida and Cuba," according to NASA.
But the beautiful light show wasn’t the only unusual thing that occurred. Power was knocked out for the entire province of Quebec, Canada, and lasted for 12 hours.
What to expect after April 14 storm
FILE - Earth is experiencing an ongoing geomagnetic storm that started on June 22, 2015 due to the arrival of an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection, or CME, from a minor flare on June 20, 2015. (Courtesy of Christian Begeman via NASA)
Don’t expect massive power outages this week, but do expect to see beautiful northern lights.
People living in the northernmost states can potentially catch some mesmerizing aurora borealis - weather permitting of course, according to Earthsky.org.
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Austin Williams contributed to this report. This story was reported out of Los Angeles. | https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/space-weather-alert-g2-geomagnetic-storm-watch-in-effect-auroras-possible | 2022-04-15T10:42:02 | 0 | https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/space-weather-alert-g2-geomagnetic-storm-watch-in-effect-auroras-possible |
Watch: Ukrainian police rescue elderly man's puppy from rubble
Video shared by police in Ukraine shows the heartwarming moment when rescuers pulled a whimpering puppy from a pile of debris, then handed him off to a thankful owner badly injured by Russian shelling.
RELATED: Animal rescue group works to save pets from Ukraine war zone, and reunite them with owners
In the video, taken by Donetsk Regional Police in the village of Mykhailivka, rescuers used their hands to dig through the ruins after hearing a puppy whining. After about 30 seconds of digging, the puppy emerged and seemed to be OK.
The puppy’s owner, a 77-year-old man police say was "nearly killed" by the Russian attack, is also seen in the video thanking the rescuers for bringing his buddy back.
(Video still courtesy Donetsk Regional Police)
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service (SES) had reported on April 11 that shelling had damaged 30 houses in the Mikhailivka Pokrovsky district of Donetsk.
Russia invaded on Feb. 24 and has lost potentially thousands of fighters. The conflict has killed untold numbers of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions more to flee.
Advertisement | https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/watch-ukrainian-police-rescue-elderly-mans-puppy-from-rubble | 2022-04-15T10:42:08 | 1 | https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/watch-ukrainian-police-rescue-elderly-mans-puppy-from-rubble |
Who was Patrick Lyoya? Everything we know about the man shot and killed by a Grand Rapids police officer
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (FOX 2) - The family of Patrick Lyoya is in deep mourning after the 26-year-old man was shot in the back of the head by a Grand Rapids police officer on April 4.
During a press conference on Thursday, Peter and Dorcas Lyoya spoke about their oldest son and everything they had done to give him opportunities.
Peter told the Associated Press he and his family escaped from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2014 and immigrated to the United States. He said he was trying to escape violence but now fears they came here to die.
MORE: Patrick Lyoya was shot in head by Grand Rapids Police officer
Patrick was 26, the oldest of Peter and Dorcas' six children. Peter said moving to the U.S. was supposed to bring peace and safety.
"I knew that if you met the police officer in America, that you would be safe. What is making me cry more is that my son has been killed by a police officer," Peter said during Thursday's press conference.
The Lyoya family spoke through an interpreter on Thursday. Dorcas fought to speak as emotions overtook her multiple times and said they thought they escaped an unsafe area where there was war in Congo.
"I’m really deeply hurt and wounded," she said. "I thought I came to a safe land. I need justice for my son."
Patrick, who has two young children of his own, worked at an auto parts factory in Grand Rapids and would visit his siblings in Lansing on weekends, his dad said.
Peter asked for justice for his son and for the police to release the officer's name. He said Patrick's brothers and sisters want to know who killed him and would like to see his picture so they can know "this is the person that took our beloved one."
The traffic stop was tense from the start. Video shows Lyoya getting out of the car before the officer approached. He ordered Lyoya to get back in the vehicle, but the man declined and asked why he was being pulled over.
The officer told him it was because of an issue with the license plate on the car. Then he asked Lyoya if he spoke English and demanded his driver's license. The foot chase began soon after, video shows.
Patrick Lyoya shot to death by Grand Rapids Police - here's what the video showed
Prosecutor Chris Becker will decide whether any charges are warranted but said the public shouldn't expect a quick decision. While the videos "are an important piece of evidence, they are not all of the evidence," he added.
Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom released four videos on Wednesday, nine days after Patrick was killed. The four videos were from the dashcam from the responding officer's car, the officer's bodycam, doorbell camera from a neighbor's home, and a cell phone video shot by a passenger in the car that Lyoya was driving.
The cell phone video was by far the most graphic and showed the struggle between the two men.
The officer's body camera was turned off before the shooting, which happens when a button is pushed for three seconds, Winstrom said. He said it appears it was deactivated unintentionally due to body pressure during the struggle, but he would not discuss any officer statements about it.
"That will come out once the investigation's complete," Winstrom said on Wednesday.
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The officer who shot Lyoya has not yet been named. | https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/who-was-patrick-lyoya-shot-killed-grand-rapids-police | 2022-04-15T10:42:14 | 1 | https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/who-was-patrick-lyoya-shot-killed-grand-rapids-police |
INDIANAPOLIS – We’ve all heard that you’re supposed to inspect and likely change your air filter in your furnace at the recommended times. So what is the first step? First thing is to turn down your thermostat so the furnace turns off. Then to make sure it won’t turn back on while changing the filter, turn off the furnace. There is generally a switch located on the furnace. If you can’t find that, you can always turn off the breaker for the furnace.
The next step is to locate the filter on the furnace. It’s generally behind a metal flap near the bottom of the furnace. Most filter holders are labeled and even have arrows drawn on them to show the direction of airflow, which is key to know when replacing the filter. Open the flap, read the dimensions of the filter already inside. Go to the store or order that same size replacement filter online. Make sure the quality of filter is one the manufacturer recommends.
Then slide out the old filter and slide in a new one, in the direction indicated by the arrows. The arrows on the filter will line up with the airflow of the cold air return and furnace. Most of the time, all you have to do is put the new one in, the same way the old one was taken out. After replacing the filter, turn your furnace back on.
How often should you change filter?
The next question most homeowners have is how often should you change your filter? That depends on the type and size of the furnace and filter.
“For a larger 4 or 5 inch filter, you should probably change it every 5 or 6 months. For a one inch pleated filter, probably every 3 months and your standard one inch filter, we would suggest changing those out once a month,” said Ed Kittle, operations manager for Howald Heating AC and Plumbing.
What happens when you DON’T change your filter?
How important are filters? Here is an example of what happened when someone didn’t use a filter at all. The heat exchanger out of a 3-year-old furnace was destroyed. The coil was completely plugged up, creating multiple cracks. That’s an extreme case, but the same thing can happen with clogged air filters. A furnace needs to be able to intake air and breathe or it will quickly overheat and become damaged.
Don’t forget about the humidifier pad
Now that you know the importance of filters, have you ever had this happen when checking yours?
My filter wasn’t even a month old, but when I went down to the basement one morning, I noticed there was water all around the furnace and the filter was soaking wet. The reason had nothing to do with the furnace or the filter, but the humidifier pad, which also needs to be checked regularly. It had become brittle and was so crusty from hard water that the pad had collapsed inside its plastic frame. That allowed the water to pour down into the cold air return. It should have been slowly dripping onto the humidifier pad to deliver humidity to the entire house.
The cold air return is connected to the air filter, so it was sucking up air into the filter and a lot of water. That meant there was a ruined filter and a ruined humidifier pad all at once. The moral of the story, check the humidifier pad often if you have one.
To get to the humidifier pad, open the lid. They are all different. Mine was held on by a bolt, which you just turn. Sometimes they require a screwdriver. Mine was rusted on, but eventually I got it removed. Most owners manuals show which type of replacement honeycomb style pads will work for your specific filter. If you don’t have the manual, just google the model number of your humidifier, to find the correct replacement pads.
Follow the instructions to remove the pad and put a new one in. It’s generally just a matter of removing the top plastic bracket to slide out the old pad and slide a new one in. Put the plastic top piece back on, after sliding in the pad. The plastic bracket is generally connected to the water tube that feeds the honeycomb filter. Then reinstall in the humidifier lid or housing and tighten.
You can also have a furnace technician do most of this for you in a matter of minutes when they are already servicing your furnace. It’s highly recommended to get a semi annual service to prevent problems. Those plans will generally cover the service on your furnace and your exterior air conditioning. Shop around for a reputable company that also have good prices. | https://fox59.com/morning-news/home-zone/home-zone-common-furnace-problems-you-can-fix/ | 2022-04-15T10:43:09 | 1 | https://fox59.com/morning-news/home-zone/home-zone-common-furnace-problems-you-can-fix/ |
INDIANAPOLIS — Food insecurity is an issue for nearly 1 million Hoosiers, while thousands more live in food deserts with lack of access to fresh and nutritious foods.
FOX59 and CBS4 is answering the call with its spring Pack the Pantries food drive. We are once again teaming up with Midwest Food Bank and Gleaners Food Bank to raise money to help put food on the table for Hoosier families.
The effort kicked off at 6 p.m. on Thursday and will continue for a full 24 hours.
As of 5:45 a.m. Friday, $3.391.56 has been raised.
YOU can donate in one of several ways.
Via the following websites:
Text a gift to:
- Midwest: text @MFBINDY to 52014
- Gleaners: text GIVE to 317-593-2400
A donation of just $1 provides about 5 meals. A $10 gift provides 50 meals and $25 covers 125 meals.
Pack the Pantries is sponsored by Financial Center First Credit Union. | https://fox59.com/morning-news/pack-the-pantries/pack-the-pantries-drive-underway/ | 2022-04-15T10:43:15 | 1 | https://fox59.com/morning-news/pack-the-pantries/pack-the-pantries-drive-underway/ |
Skies are clear and temperatures are cool to begin our Friday morning, as rain showers skirt across the northern 1/3 of the state. Expect a bright sunrise for downtown, while temperatures hover in the lower 40s. Be sure to grab a coat for the morning rush and bus stop!
Clouds will be on the increase through the day, as winds remain breezy from the southwest. Although sunshine will become more limited through the afternoon, temperatures will continue to warm through the day, as highs reach the middle 60s. Be sure to enjoy the warmth, as chillier air returns for this upcoming weekend.
Tonight, spotty showers and pockets of steadier rain will fall across the state, as a cold front slides through the region. This will bring a wind shift and a return to cooler conditions in the overnight as rain pushes into Ohio by sunrise.
This weekend brings dry conditions both days but a chillier air mass for Easter celebrations. We should enjoy a decent amount of sunshine on Saturday but breezy conditions (northwest 10-20 mph), as highs reach the middle to upper 50s.
Skies will clear overnight Saturday, as lows dip into the lower 30s. This could result in patchy frost on Sunday morning at sunrise (7:04 a.m.), as sweaters and coats will be needed for Easter Sunday mass. The sunshine will be welcomed but clouds should increase on Sunday throughout the day, keeping temperatures from warming too much, as highs reach the lower 50s.
Rain returns on Monday and the cooler flow from the weekend will keep things chilly through midweek. | https://fox59.com/weather/evening-showers-bring-cooler-flow-to-easter-weekend/ | 2022-04-15T10:43:21 | 0 | https://fox59.com/weather/evening-showers-bring-cooler-flow-to-easter-weekend/ |
Dear Annie: I grew up in an extremely abusive household with a functioning (mean, abusive) alcoholic for a mother. Because of the poor examples I had as a child, I ended up becoming a functioning addict in an abusive relationship of my own. Over the years, I found my way into recovery and therapy, which led to me making some drastic changes in myself. I’m now in a healthy relationship and have turned my life around. I have forgiven people who have never asked for, nor deserved, my forgiveness; I had to in order to heal.
The problem is that my mother continues to deny any responsibility for her own actions. If she took accountability for her actions, it would mean she’s wrong, and she’s NEVER wrong. It’s making it really hard to forgive her, which makes it hard to start the healing process. On one hand, I want to cut all contact, but in my heart, I keep hoping she’ll change and, beyond that, she’s my mom. What should I do?! -- Trying to Heal
Dear Trying to Heal: It is incredibly difficult to forgive someone who isn’t sorry. But, as you seem to know, it is essential to your own healing.
Your mother may never change. It’s up to you to decide the effect her behavior will have on your life. Do you want to hold onto your anger, or do you want peace?
Follow the advice of Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh: “Forgiveness is difficult; even if you want to forgive, you cannot. If he or she has made you suffer so, so many times, even after you have warned him or her, it’s difficult to forgive. But if you can understand the suffering, the deep suffering in him or her, and see that they have been the number one victim of their own suffering, the situation becomes different: you can forgive more easily.”
Dear Annie: I’m a mother to three beautiful children. I didn’t get enough credits to graduate high school, which has messed up a lot in my life. I don’t drive yet, and it makes life a lot more difficult when I need to go to the doctor or get groceries. I’m at a loss on how I can turn my life around and be a better mother and a functioning member of society.
Everything leads back to money and transportation. I want to get out of this cycle of going nowhere. I feel the weight of so much on my shoulders, and I don’t know which approach to take. Should I get my GED, then get a job, then worry about a car? I just don’t want to get ahead of myself and get a car and have more financials to worry about before getting my GED and a stable job.
I just wanna be a role model for my children and feel a lot better about myself. Everyone around me tells me just be happy with life the way it is. But truthfully, I don’t wanna be the mom that has to choose between feeding my kids and buying them school clothes. -- Feeling Stuck and Lost
Dear Stuck and Lost: Firstly, kudos to you for taking the initiative to better your and your children’s lives. You sound like a wonderful mother and are setting a great example for them.
I think you are absolutely right to pursue completing your high school credits first. With that done, you’ll have one thing off your plate and more opportunities when you enter the job market. Once you’ve found a job, try saving up little by little for the kids’ expenses and for car payments, whenever you are able to make them. In the meantime, try to make the most of public transit and other affordable options.
It takes time and planning to gain financial security, but it sounds like you’re well on your way. Be proud of yourself for how far you’ve come and continue to go for yourself and your family.
View prior ‘Dear Annie’ columns
“How Can I Forgive My Cheating Partner?” is out now! Annie Lane’s second anthology -- featuring favorite columns on marriage, infidelity, communication and reconciliation -- is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit Creators Publishing for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2022 CREATORS.COM | https://www.al.com/life/2022/04/dear-annie-its-hard-to-forgive-someone-who-isnt-sorry-for-their-actions.html | 2022-04-15T10:52:36 | 1 | https://www.al.com/life/2022/04/dear-annie-its-hard-to-forgive-someone-who-isnt-sorry-for-their-actions.html |
From today’s Down in Alabama podcast:
- controversy swirling around the Prichard Water Works.
- a delay of the third-grade reading requirement.
- the USFL season opener.
- Auburn’s gymnastics success.
The “Down in Alabama” podcast is short and free. Listen to it by clicking on the player above or subscribe by looking for “Down in Alabama” on the device of your choosing. Get this and other AL.com newsletters here.
You can find “Down in Alabama” in these places: | https://www.al.com/news/2022/04/alleged-corruption-reading-football-and-gymnastics-down-in-alabama.html | 2022-04-15T10:52:42 | 1 | https://www.al.com/news/2022/04/alleged-corruption-reading-football-and-gymnastics-down-in-alabama.html |
At his introductory press conference after Tyreek Hill joined the Miami Dolphins in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs last month, the former West Alabama standout said he’d probably have to arrange a race with one of his new teammates to demonstrate “The Cheetah” was now the fastest in Miami.
That did not come as a surprise to the player that Hill singled out to race – wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.
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“I already knew this was coming, soon as I seen it,” Hill said during an appearance on the latest episode of the “I Am Athlete” podcast. “I’m literally in the middle of workouts. My trainer comes: ‘Man, y’all just got Tyreek Hill.’ … I said, ‘I know he’s going to try to race. Let me get on these legs real quick.’ Hit the legs.
“I already knew that was coming.”
Waddle said another new Dolphin, free-agent running back Raheem Mostert, probably would want to line up for a who’s-the-fastest race, too.
In 2021, Miami’s offense averaged gaining 4.8 yards per play. Only three NFL teams were less productive on a per-snap basis.
RELATED: JAYLEN WADDLE TO TUA TAGOVAILOA’S DOUBTERS: ‘Y’ALL TRIPPING’
Waddle thinks the new speed will give the Dolphins’ offense a turbo boost.
“One thing you can’t coach – speed,” Waddle said. “It’s unmatched. You ain’t really got no answer for that. You can try to game plan for it, so I feel like it’s going to open up everything from in the backfield, running game, passing game, play-action. I’m excited. It’s going to be a learning experience, but I think it’s going to be fun. …
“Obviously, we got to work to get that stamp of being one of them high-powered offenses. I feel like with who we got, if we put it together, we should be all right. We just got to work.”
Waddle joined the Dolphins from Alabama as the sixth player picked in the 2021 NFL Draft and set an NFL rookie record with 104 receptions. Waddle had 1,015 receiving yards and caught six touchdown passes for Miami.
Hill had even better stats for the Chiefs in 2021, when he caught 111 passes for 1,239 yards and nine touchdowns.
In six seasons with Kansas City, Hill received six Pro Bowl invitations and made first-team All-Pro three times. During his NFL career, Hill has caught 479 passes for 6,630 yards with 56 touchdowns.
“I think I’m going to learn a lot,” Waddle said about playing with Hill. “He’s been in the league – what? – going on seven years. Had tremendous success. I think he’s a six-time Pro Bowler, like, been in the Pro Bowl every year. I can learn a lot from him. I know he’s going to be willing to teach it.”
One thing that Waddle hopes to pick up from Hill is his knack for YAC – yards after catch.
“I think my average was like 9.5, or something like that, a catch,” Waddle said. “I got to show some YAC. I got to be YAC-crazy out there. I had 9.5, so that’s definitely something I know I got to show. I ain’t going to talk too much about it. I just got to go out there and show it.”
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1. | https://www.al.com/sports/2022/04/dolphins-jaylen-waddle-expects-boost-from-speed.html | 2022-04-15T10:52:49 | 1 | https://www.al.com/sports/2022/04/dolphins-jaylen-waddle-expects-boost-from-speed.html |
BOSTON (AP) — Jacky Hunt-Broersma runs like a woman possessed. And in a way, she is: The amputee athlete is trying to run at least 102 marathons in 102 days.
Last month, a little more than two-thirds toward her goal of setting a new world record for back-to-back marathons, the South Africa native posted something on Twitter that got people talking.
“The first thing I did after my run today was take off my leg. Felt so good,” she tweeted. “Marathon 69 done. 31 marathons to go.”
That was last month, and she’s still running — covering the classic 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) marathon distance day in, day out, rain or shine, occasionally on a treadmill but mostly on roads and trails near her home in Gilbert, Arizona. If her streak remains intact heading into the Boston Marathon on April 18, it’ll be marathon No. 92.
Unlike the 30,000 others running the storied course, Hunt-Broersma, 46, will have done a marathon the day before. Somehow, she’ll have to rally body and soul to run another the day after. And another after that. And then eight more.
All on a carbon-fiber blade that’s been her left leg ever since she lost the real thing below the knee to a rare cancer.
“You make peace with pain,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think my pain threshold is probably quite high at the moment. It’s one step at a time.”
Boston is the only certified marathon she’s including in her quest. The others she’s running on one of two loops near her home or indoors on a treadmill — a monotonous machine many runners derisively call the “dreadmill.”
In 2001, while she and her Dutch husband were living in the Netherlands, Hunt-Broersma was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer more typically seen in children. Overnight, a golf ball-sized bulge appeared on an old scar that had become tender. A biopsy confirmed the worst, and within weeks, her leg was amputated below the knee.
“The biggest struggle was accepting that part of my body was gone,” she said. (She’s since made peace with that: A favorite T-shirt reads, “A Zombie Chewed It Off.”)
Until five years ago, she wasn’t at all athletic, but getting started was expensive. Carbon-fiber blades designed for running cost around $10,000 and aren’t covered by health insurance. Survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three spectators and wounded 260 others, ran into the same problem when they sought to reclaim their lives.
“Running really changed my life,” she said. “It helped me accept myself as an amputee. It gave me a sense of freedom. I fell in love with the process of pushing my body further just to see what I could do.”
Subsequent marathons led to ultrarunning over extended distances, including a 100-mile (160-kilometer) race. So when Hunt-Broersma learned that Alyssa Amos Clark,a nondisabledrunner from Bennington, Vermont, covered the marathon distance 95 days in a row in 2000, an idea was born: She’d do 100. That plan got foiled this week when British runner Kate Jayden completed 101 marathons in as many days, so Hunt-Broersma has a new goal: “Now I’m going for at least 102.”
“I hoped it would inspire a lot of people to get out of their comfort zone and push a little bit farther,” she said.
She worried her stump would become raw and painful, and the first two weeks were rough. Since then, though, she’s gotten into a sustainable rhythm, taking care to ice and massage the stump. When it became swollen, she switched to a running prosthesis with a little more room.
But there have been mental challenges as well on the road to 102, which began on Jan. 17. On a recent outing, Hunt-Broersma — who’s been averaging a little over five hours per marathon — felt near collapse at 15 miles (24 kilometers) and burst into tears. Suddenly the entire odyssey was in doubt.
“I had a total emotional breakdown. I was like, ‘I just can’t do this. What was I thinking?’” she said. “The trick for me is just to break it down into little goals. Just get to the next mile. And then the next one.”
Her support team is her husband and their two young children, but she’s also gained a large social media following.
This week, after logging marathon No. 85, well-wishers offered virtual applause. “You just seem to eat marathons for breakfast,” one person tweeted. “In such bleak times, thank you for serving as an inspiration,” commented another.
As she nears the end of her epic quest, Hunt-Broersma hopes she inspires a singular thought in others, regardless of their own physical challenges:
“You’re stronger than you think — and you’re capable of so much more.” | https://www.cbs42.com/news/international/woman-with-one-leg-attempting-to-run-102-marathons-in-102-days/ | 2022-04-15T11:01:04 | 0 | https://www.cbs42.com/news/international/woman-with-one-leg-attempting-to-run-102-marathons-in-102-days/ |
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Trevonne Smith is only 9 years old, but he knew exactly what to do when he saw a car fire raging out of control Wednesday in Chapel Hill.
He called 911.
"I didn't know somebody was in the car," he said. "I didn't know that -- just that the car was on fire."
Chapel Hill first responders pulled a body from the car that was on fire Wednesday at the Sagebrook Apartments off Dickens Court.
Investigators have not identified that person or released much more other than the 911 tapes.
The only thing that remained at the scene Thursday was broken glass and a used fire extinguisher where the car had been parked with its hood up.
Trevonne was on the playground across the street when he saw what was happening.
His mom couldn't be prouder.
"He has older brothers, and he always wants to be the big brother -- to be the helpful one," she said. "He knows the situation. If there's an emergency, he knows who to call."
Chapel Hill Police said anyone with information should call 911 or their department at (919) 968-2760. Callers who want to remain anonymous can call Chapel Hill-Carrboro UNC Crimestoppers at (919) 942-7515.
9-year-old boy calls 911 after seeing car fire raging in Chapel Hill
By Josh Chapin
Copyright © 2022 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved. | https://abc11.com/car-fire-chapel-hill-9-year-old-calls-911-call/11749353/ | 2022-04-15T11:04:50 | 0 | https://abc11.com/car-fire-chapel-hill-9-year-old-calls-911-call/11749353/ |
Wanting to help others during times of severe need, Natalie Bonthius said she has worked toward her goal of becoming an ER doctor since she was a teenager, going on to complete college and enroll in the University of Central Florida’s medical school.
By the summer of 2020, her last year in medical school was off to a promising start. She received exemplary reviews from her supervisors after a month-long clinical rotation at Orlando Regional Medical Center, which seemed to bode well for her upcoming residency applications.
But Bonthius’ hopes for an emergency medicine residency following graduation were soon dashed, as she was not accepted to any of the programs where she applied, which she attributes to a mediocre evaluation submitted by an ORMC doctor on her behalf.
And when she sought help from UCF medical school leaders, they told her the matter was out of their control, with one associate dean disparaging her in an email to colleagues and another refusing to discuss the matter with her, according to records Bonthius obtained through a records request.
Bonthius, 25, is now suing ORMC and the doctor over the evaluation, which ranked Bonthius in the bottom third of students who had rotated through the hospital. The letter contains “false and defamatory statements” that hurt her reputation and her chances of obtaining an emergency medicine residency, the suit alleges.
“It’s really, really strange. It’s a letter that really stands out,” Bonthius said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel this week.
While Bonthius said she doesn’t know why the ORMC doctors reviewed her performance poorly in the letter to residency programs after giving her high marks in evaluations they submitted to the school, she has a guess: They may have confused her with another student with similar features who rotated through the department at the same time, around the outset of the pandemic, when nearly everyone was wearing face masks.
Orlando Health, UCF and Jay Ladde, the ORMC doctor who signed Bonthius’ letter, did not respond to questions from the Sentinel about the matter, though the hospital and the university provided generic statements about their programs.
Not being accepted to an emergency medicine program was “devastating,” said Bonthius, who grew up in Iowa and was recruited to attend UCF’s medical school. She has spent the past year in limbo as a medical school graduate unable to work as a doctor, reapplying for residencies.
‘It carries so much weight’
Residencies are an essential part of most doctors’ career paths, providing additional training in specialty areas ranging from dermatology to neurosurgery. Applying for residencies is a highly competitive process that takes place during the last year of medical school.
Often, doctors-to-be apply to dozens of programs in their chosen specialty at hospitals and practices across the country, which will then offer interviews to their top candidates. Then, students and programs rank each other through a process known as “The Match,” which determines where new doctors will complete their residencies based on mutual preference.
Most medical school graduates who apply for residencies receive offers, but each year, some do not. In 2021, when Bonthius graduated, more than 42,500 applicants vied for just over 38,000 spots in programs across the country.
Bonthius sought to continue her medical training in an emergency department where she also could dabble in wilderness medicine, a specialty area that interested her, and applied to 60 programs, including ORMC.
But a few weeks into the application process, she began to sense something was amiss. While many of Bonthius’ peers received a dozen or more invitations to interview with programs where they applied, just eight programs asked her for interviews.
Still, she said, she didn’t despair.
“The interviews I did have went very well for me,” Bonthius said.
And the previous summer, her supervisors at ORMC had given her top marks, prompting her to ask them for a letter of recommendation she could submit as part of her residency applications. Ladde, the doctor who signed the letter, had indicated she met or exceeded expectations and “performed at a high level” during her stint at the hospital in a review he submitted to UCF, copies filed with Bonthius’ lawsuit show.
But in March 2021, just over a month before UCF’s graduation, Bonthius learned she had not been selected by any of the residency programs where she applied, a result she said she initially assumed was the result of “legitimate weaknesses” in her application.
Bonthius had waived the right to see the letter ORMC wrote on her behalf before submitting it to prospective residency programs. But about a week after Bonthius learned she was not selected for a residency, an ORMC employee emailed a copy to her, apparently by mistake.
The next day, Bonthius wrote to UCF’s medical school leaders, pointing out inconsistencies between the letter submitted to residency programs where she had applied and the verbal and written feedback she had received during her rotation.
She told them she believed that she had received an evaluation intended for another woman and attached a photo of the other student, who has similarly colored hair and eyes.
One particular line in the ORMC evaluation stood out, Bonthius said. The evaluation said she would “need a supportive program where she can relax; at times, she seemed to have been trying too hard which may not have been optimal for interactions.” That sounded a lot like the other student, Bonthius said, who was “noticeably nervous,” during her rotation.
“As a result of this mistake, I did not match in emergency medicine,” Bonthius wrote.
In a court hearing last January, an attorney representing Orlando Health argued that the letter represented the opinions of a group of ORMC doctors whose names appear at the top of the document, including Ladde, who signed the evaluation because he’s the program director.
Young also contended the evaluation wasn’t particularly damning, aside from rating Bonthius in the bottom third of students who had rotated through the department. The letter noted that her level of medical knowledge was higher than expected for a student.
“We don’t claim anything negative,” Young said. “We don’t say that she’s unprofessional. We don’t say that she was insubordinate. We don’t say that she had unexcused absences. We don’t say anything like that.”
Kena Lewis, a spokesperson for Orlando Health, which operates ORMC, did not answer questions emailed from the Sentinel about the letter and lawsuit. Instead, she forwarded a statement from Mario Madruga, the designated institutional official for graduate medical education at Orlando Health, saying the hospital’s emergency medicine residency program is “one of the best in the country.”
“Given this reputation, Orlando Health’s emergency medicine residency program attracts the best and brightest medical students from across the country,” Madruga said in the statement. “Consequently, only top performing students are accepted.”
Grievance, appeal denied
After Bonthius saw the recommendation letter last March, she contacted UCF’s College of Medicine for help, writing in a letter that she believed ORMC had committed a “serious error” by submitting an evaluation intended for another student. But, she said, she received little help.
The day after Bonthius contacted several medical school leaders, Richard Peppler, an associate dean in UCF’s College of Medicine, wrote back saying he was “sorry to hear about your situation” but Ladde had confirmed the information included in Bonthius’ letter was correct.
Peppler wrote an email that same week to two other College of Medicine faculty members, describing Bonthius as a “bull.”
The school wouldn’t have advised her to go for an emergency medicine residency because she had received “C” grades in a couple of clinical experiences during her third year of school and average or below-average scores on two key exams, he wrote in the message, which Bonthius obtained through a public records request.
Bonthius filed a grievance against Ladde based on the school’s “student mistreatment and abuse” policy. After Peppler denied the grievance, Bonthius appealed to College of Medicine Dean Deborah German and met with her to explain her case.
The day before Bonthius’ graduation last May, German denied the appeal, writing that the college didn’t have any authority over the letter, which was “not part of your UCF record and issued by a separate organization through a residency program that is not part of UCF.”
Breaking News
UCF’s College of Medicine didn’t respond to questions from the Sentinel about Bonthius’ letter.
Wendy Sarubbi, a spokesperson for the college, sent a statement saying that fourth-year medical students can choose to take courses at programs throughout the country and, echoing German’s response to Bonthius, added that letters of recommendation given by their supervisors “are written independently of the UCF College of Medicine.”
But Bonthius kept trying, completing another rotation at Osceola Regional Medical Center in the month before graduation and using an evaluation written by an Osceola doctor to reapply to residencies this year. She moved to Salt Lake City, where she’s started a business that offers wilderness medicine training.
Her persistence paid off: She was offered a spot at her top-choice program in Southern California, where she’ll start this summer.
Many students who reapply to residencies, Bonthius said, “are not successful,” and she worried that using a letter from her second rotation would be a red flag to programs where she applied.
“It was a very, very scary year for me,” she said.
anmartin@orlandosentinel.com | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-ucf-medical-student-lawsuit-20220415-k3zvfy773fhypaws5gjqywfsuu-story.html | 2022-04-15T11:08:58 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/os-ne-ucf-medical-student-lawsuit-20220415-k3zvfy773fhypaws5gjqywfsuu-story.html |
While many churchgoing Central Floridians will rise on Easter morning and shuffle into pews, others will awake particularly early to gather on the shore of Orlando’s Lake Cane at sunrise.
Hundreds of community members will once again gather for an annual tradition dubbed “Eat, Pray, Swim” at Lucky’s Lake Swim, an open-water swim that dates back to 1989. This “only in Florida” sort of ritual has a history that spans at least a decade.
“We brought a band together to have some music and we did a little service,” said Tom Welch, a local pastor who delivers the Easter sermon and swims in the lake regularly. “The unique part is that we have the lake swim afterward, it’s a real community-building event. You’ve got families there with kids running around. There’s Easter treats and pancakes.”
The event has evolved and grown since its inception in 2010 or 2011, now attracting as many as 300 guests for a morning of lakefront worship, swimming and pancakes. In the name of giving back, the offering will raise money for the Edgewood Children’s Ranch.
Since Lucky Meisenheimer opened his lake swim more than 30 years ago, the open-water swimming destination has proven itself as a place for the community to come together, regardless of background.
“We don’t care what country you came from, we don’t care what your religion is. We’ve had billionaires swimming, we’ve had homeless people swimming,” he said. “We’ve got Special Olympians, we’ve had Olympians. Regardless of what our backgrounds are or the diverse backgrounds that we have, everybody is welcome.”
Many swimmers from near and far remember their first one-kilometer swim across the lake and back, an occasion commemorated by their name written on the “wall of fame.” Meisenheimer estimates there are now 15,000 names on his walls.
Travel Unraveled
This summer, Lucky’s Lake Swim will host the first Special Olympics USA Games open-water swimming event, plus stand-up paddleboarding. The June games will draw thousands of athletes to Orlando and Lake Cane.
In addition to hosting open-water swimmers each morning Monday-Saturday, Lucky’s Lake Swim gives back to the lake and other nearby waters through the nonprofit Lake Cane Restoration Society.
“We’re using our best practices to clean up algae, get the water quality up and mitigate some of the runoff issues that most lakes in Central Florida have,” Welch said. “Part of it is education and telling people what plants you should and shouldn’t use near the lake, what kind of fertilizer you should and shouldn’t use, and also education about water quality.”
What visitors can expect on Easter Sunday is a special setting for a church service and an opportunity to celebrate the holiday in a unique way.
“We’re singing as we’re gathered there on the lawn. People bring lawn chairs and blankets and engage in some of the traditional liturgies of Easter,” Welch said. “The swim is totally optional, and it’s just kind of a bonus.”
If you go
“Eat, Pray, Swim” begins at 6:58 a.m. April 17 at 6645 Lake Cane Drive in Orlando. The event is free and open to the public with a lake swim and pancake breakfast following the service. Guests are asked to bring lawn chairs and blankets. Proceeds from the event benefit Edgewood Children’s Ranch. For more information, visit lakecane.com or luckyslakeswim.com.
Find me @PConnPie on Twitter and Instagram or send me an email: pconnolly@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun things, follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/central-florida-explorer/os-et-easter-orlando-eat-pray-swim-luckys-lake-20220415-g6gf3owkarewnkdpyp43leuhjm-story.html | 2022-04-15T11:09:04 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/central-florida-explorer/os-et-easter-orlando-eat-pray-swim-luckys-lake-20220415-g6gf3owkarewnkdpyp43leuhjm-story.html |
While you were sleeping, we compiled the biggest stories of the day in one place. Each story has a quick and easy summary, so you're prepared for whatever the day brings. Just click on the links if you want to know more!
1. Gov. DeSantis signs controversial 15-week abortion ban
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the 15-week abortion ban into law at a church in Kissimmee on Thursday.
It does not allow for exemptions in cases where pregnancies were caused by rape, incest or human trafficking.
The move comes amid a growing conservative push to restrict abortion ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could limit access to the procedure nationwide.
2. Loggerhead Marinelife Center's hospital staff resigns
All staff workers in the veterinary hospital section of the Loggerhead Marinelife Center have either left or given their two week or a month notice and none will be there by early May.
And once again, there are no turtles at the site’s 26 pools that house the sea animals.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which determines when and if Loggerhead Marinelife Center can take in more turtles, told Contact 5 that Loggerhead will not be able to take in more turtles until water quality and staffing issues are addressed.
3. Elon Musk makes offer to buy Twitter
Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter just days after it was reported he would no longer join the social media company's board of directors.
According to a filing on Thursday morning, Musk is offering to buy 100% of the company for $54.20 per share in cash. He currently owns just more than 9% of its stock and is the largest shareholder.
The cash deal offer also comes one day after a Twitter shareholder sued Musk, accusing the billionaire of illegally delaying the disclosure of his big stake in Twitter so he could buy more shares at lower prices.
4. Russia loses warship, says will increase attacks on Kyiv
Russia’s Defense Ministry is promising to ramp up missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukraine’s alleged military “diversions on the Russian territory.”
The threat of intensified attacks on Kyiv came Friday after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in a border region of Russia. Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia.
However, they claimed their forces struck a key Russian warship with missiles on Thursday. The guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, sank while being towed to port after suffering heavy damage.
The circumstances remain in dispute. Moscow acknowledged a fire on board the ship but not any attack.
5. Things to do in South Florida and the Treasure Coast this weekend
Egg-citing Easter Egg-travaganzas, an iconic ‘80s Rock band, and a familiar WPTV comedian. There are plenty of fun events you can experience this weekend here is this week's "5 Fun Things to do This Weekend List."
Sunday, of course, is Easter and many kids would like to hunt for candy and possibly meet the Easter Bunny. While the 'Bunny' is certainly on the moves, we have a lost of his planned stops at the link above.
After 20 years of hosting The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on WPTV this philanthropist, best-selling author, and automotive collector will deliver family-friendly standup at the Kravis Center on Sunday, April 17.
Today's Forecast
Warm, sticky weekend with a couple inland storms around
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On This Day In History
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson, age 28, becomes the first African American player in Major League Baseball when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Remember, you can join Mike Trim and Ashleigh Walters every weekday on WPTV NewsChannel 5 beginning at 4:30 a.m. And you can always watch the latest news from WPTV anytime on your favorite streaming device. Just search for "WPTV." | https://www.wptv.com/about-us/as-seen-on/5-things-to-know-on-friday-april-15-2022 | 2022-04-15T11:12:32 | 1 | https://www.wptv.com/about-us/as-seen-on/5-things-to-know-on-friday-april-15-2022 |
California’s state government is considering a bill that likely wouldn’t meet much resistance from many full-time workers.
Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, of Bell Gardens, and Assemblymember Evan Low, of San Jose, both Democrats, have introduced legislation meant to improve the work-life balance of millions of Californians. Bill AB-2932 seeks to amend part of the California Labor Code, formally changing the workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours.
Under the proposed legislation, workers would earn the same wages despite working eight fewer hours each week. The law would mean any time worked after the 32-hour mark has been met in a week must be compensated at a rate no lower than one-and-a-half times the regular pay rate.
Aimed at larger workplaces, only California companies with more than 500 employees are the ones that will have to comply if the bill passes. Also, the bill would not apply to workers covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
Garcia told the Los Angeles Times that the departure of employees during the pandemic, widely referred to as the Great Resignation, spurred the idea of the bill.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 47.4 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021. By December 2021, there were 58 unemployed workers for every 100 job openings in the United States.
Garcia and other proponents of the bill state that many people left their jobs searching for a better quality of life.
“We’ve had a five-day workweek since the Industrial Revolution,” Garcia told the Los Angeles Times, “but we’ve had a lot of progress in society, and we’ve had a lot of advancements. I think the pandemic right now allows us the opportunity to rethink things, to reimagine things.”
Not everyone is in favor of the idea. For instance, the California Chamber of Commerce argued that the change would increase hiring costs and kill jobs in California.
Supporters of the bill point to case studies in Iceland and at companies such as Kickstarter indicating that reducing the shorter workweek would increase both productivity and profits.
Last year, U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, a Democrat from California, introduced a similar bill at the federal level.
“After a nearly two-year-long pandemic that forced millions of people to explore remote work options, it’s safe to say that we can’t — and shouldn’t — simply go back to normal, because normal wasn’t working,” Takano said after the bill was introduced. “People were spending more time at work, less time with loved ones, their health and well-being was worsening, and all the while, their pay has remained stagnant. This is a serious problem.”
AB-2932 is currently under review by California’s Labor and Employment Committee. The federal bill, H.R. 4728, is still awaiting a vote in the House Education and Labor Committee.
This story originally appeared on Don't Waste Your Money. Checkout Don't Waste Your Money for product reviews and other great ideas to save and make money. | https://www.wptv.com/california-bill-4-day-workweek | 2022-04-15T11:12:32 | 1 | https://www.wptv.com/california-bill-4-day-workweek |
Food delivery soared during the pandemic shutdowns, and now many of us don't want to give it up. After all, what's easier than sitting on your couch and ordering dinner, then having it show up a half-hour later?
Unfortunately, some people have discovered one shortcoming: restaurants closing early due to staffing shortages, but not alerting their apps or delivery drivers.
Orders online, then wait and wait and wait
Josh Stinson now visits his nearby Subway store in person when he wants his favorite sub sandwich. He says he no longer trusts online ordering after a bad experience.
"I ordered some sandwiches from the Subway app," he said. "They use DoorDash to deliver it."
His Subway receipt shows his 8 p.m. order was "in the works," with a delivery time of 8:41 pm that evening. But he waited and waited and waited.
"They took my order, they took my money, and then about 40 minutes later I get a call from the driver saying they are not open, so there was nothing the driver could do," he said.
Worse, the $30 he spent for two subs and sides was gone, and he found it would take a lot of effort to get it refunded.
"I came into the store on Monday and asked about getting my money back," Stinson said, "but they told me I had to contact corporate, and there was nothing they can do at the store."
Online forums fill with complaints about early closings
It's not just Subway facing this complaint. As Reddit forums are filled with posts about fast food restaurants closing early, and no food waiting for the driver at pickup time.
When you open up a delivery app, you should see all the restaurants near you, along with if they are open or closed or closing soon.
But Stinson says some employees told him that if a franchise closes early, the app might still take an order.
"They told me if they don't log out of their registers, it can accept orders even if they are not even open," he said.
We sent multiple emails and made several calls to Subway's corporate headquarters, but never received a call or message back. The franchise owner did not return our call either.
DoorDash states that if a restaurant is closed, it will pay half the driver's pay for his time lost, but customer refunds are up to the restaurant.
With most restaurants facing staffing shortages, early closings are a lot more common than before.
So you may want to:
- Check closing times before ordering.
- If it is almost closing time, you may want to call.
Stinson says he'll be more careful in the future, and you should too, so you don't waste your money. | https://www.wptv.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/food-ordering-surprise-app-takes-order-but-restaurant-is-closed | 2022-04-15T11:12:34 | 1 | https://www.wptv.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/food-ordering-surprise-app-takes-order-but-restaurant-is-closed |
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — This morning, temperatures in the low-mid 70s and some spotty showers for the morning commute. This afternoon, highs in the mid 80s, showers and storms lining up along the seabreeze then pushing inland by late-afternoon.
For the weekend, highs in the mid 80. Partly sunny and some inland showers and storms possible.
MORE WEATHER: Radar | Alerts | 7-Day Forecast | Hourly Forecast
Monday, scattered showers, and storms ahead of a weak cool front. Highs in the mid 80s.
Tuesday, some showers in the morning, then clearing skies throughout the afternoon. Highs in the low 80s.
Wednesday & Thursday, breezy with less humidity. Highs in the low 80s and only a slim chance of an isolated shower. | https://www.wptv.com/weather/warm-sticky-weekend-with-a-couple-inland-storms-around | 2022-04-15T11:12:34 | 0 | https://www.wptv.com/weather/warm-sticky-weekend-with-a-couple-inland-storms-around |
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares fell in muted trading as most world markets were closed for Good Friday and other holidays.
Benchmarks declined in Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai. Sydney, Manila, Bangkok and Hong Kong were among Asian markets observing holidays on Friday. U.S. and European markets also were closed.
After markets closed, China’s central bank freed up extra money for lending to support the slowing economy by cutting the amount of reserves commercial banks are required to hold.
The move added about 500 billion yuan ($85 billion) to the pool for lending, a relatively modest sum compared with the size of China’s economy.
Shutdowns in major Chinese cities due to coronavirus outbreaks and thewar in Ukrainehave been weighing on sentiment.
“The Russia-Ukraine conflict inflation effects are now more meaningful than direct military developments in a market sense. These consequences have fabricated an uncertain environment that could keep investors wary,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
“It should be a quiet session given the Good Friday holidays,” he added.
The head of the International Monetary Fund warned Thursday that Russia’s war against Ukraine was darkening the outlook for most countries and reaffirmed the danger high inflation presents to the global economy.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.3% to finish at 27,093.19. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.8% to 2,696.06. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.5% to 3,211.24.
Investors again turned their attention to the drama surrounding Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk and Twitter. Musk offered to buy the social media company for $54.20 a share, two weeks after revealing he’d accumulated a 9% stake.
Musk has criticized Twitter for not living up to free speech principles and said, in a regulatory filing, that it needs to be transformed as a private company. Twitter’s stock fell 1.7% at $45.08 Thursday, well below Musk’s offering price.
Markets had a mixed bag of economic data to review following several hot inflation reports earlier in the week. The U.S. Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.5% in March, boosted by higher prices for gasoline, as consumers continue to spend despite high inflation.
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits ticked up last week, according to the Labor Department, but remained at a historically low level. The data reflect a robust U.S. labor market with near record-high job openings and few layoffs.
Inflation remains at its highest levels in 40 years in the U.S. and that has economists and analysts closely watching how consumers react to higher prices on everything from food to clothing and gasoline.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added $2.70 to $106.95 a barrel on Thursday, closing nearly 11% higher for the week. Brent crude, the international standard, gained $2.92 to $111.70 a barrel. Markets were closed Friday.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 126.45 Japanese yen from 125.87 yen. It is hovering at 20-year highs. The euro cost $1.0817, down from $1.0829.
___
AP Business Writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed.
___
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/asian-shares-fall-trading-muted-with-good-friday-holidays/ | 2022-04-15T11:16:16 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/asian-shares-fall-trading-muted-with-good-friday-holidays/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Friday he plans to nominate Michael Barr, the dean of the University of Michigan’s public policy school, to be the Federal Reserve’s vice chairman of supervision.
The selection of Barr comes after Biden’s first choice for the Fed post, Sarah Bloom Raskin, withdrew her nomination a month ago in the face of opposition from Republicans and one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Raskin’s critics had argued that she would apply the Fed’s regulatory authority to climate change and possibly discourage banks from lending to energy companies.
But with Barr, Biden noted the importance of politics in a Friday statement that said his nominee had previously cleared the Senate on a bipartisan basis.
“Michael brings the expertise and experience necessary for this important position at a critical time for our economy and families across the country,” Biden said.
The Democratic president said that Barr “has spent his career protecting consumers, and during his time at Treasury, played a critical role in creating both the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the position for which I am nominating him.”
Barr is the dean of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. He was an assistant Treasury secretary for financial institutions during the Obama administration who helped design the 2010 Dodd-Frank regulations after the devastating 2008 financial crisis.
Barr, a Rhodes Scholar who clerked for Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court, also served during the Clinton administration at the White House, the Treasury Department and the State Department.
Despite those credentials, some liberal critics last year blocked Barr’s candidacy to become the Biden administration’s comptroller of the currency, a position that is responsible for regulating national banks. These critics viewed with suspicion Barr’s role on the advisory boards of the financial firms Lending Club and Ripple Labs. They also asserted that he had helped dilute proposals for stricter bank regulations during the Obama administration.
But Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Democratic chairman of the Banking Committee, voiced full support for Barr.
“Michael Barr understands the importance of this role at this critical time in our economic recovery,” Brown said. “I strongly urge my Republican colleagues to abandon their old playbook of personal attacks and demagoguery and put Americans and their pocketbooks first.”
Others offer strong praise for Barr and say he appears well suited for the Fed position.
David Dworkin, president of the National Housing Conference, which advocates for affordable housing, suggested that Barr’s understanding of Wall Street gives him the right mix of “centrist expertise and progressive policy views’’ to win confirmation in a closely divided Senate.
Barr would be joining the Fed at an especially challenging and high-risk period for the central bank and the economy.
The Fed is set to raise interest rates aggressively in the coming months to try to reduce persistently high inflation. Yet it will be extraordinarily difficult for Fed Chair Jerome Powell — who is awaiting Senate confirmation for a second term — to slow inflation by raising borrowing costs without also weakening the economy and perhaps even causing a recession.
“This is about landing a very complicated plane on the runway smoothly,” Dworkin said. “It’s very hard to do.” | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/biden-picks-michael-barr-for-feds-bank-regulation-post/ | 2022-04-15T11:16:23 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/biden-picks-michael-barr-for-feds-bank-regulation-post/ |
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Updated: Apr 15, 2022 / 05:58 AM EDT | https://www.wric.com/community/showcase-richmond/erickson-senior-living-3/ | 2022-04-15T11:16:30 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/community/showcase-richmond/erickson-senior-living-3/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is hoping to stir up some “egg-citement” when the Easter Egg Roll returns on Monday after a two-year, coronavirus-induced hiatus.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden expect to welcome some 30,000 kids and their adult chaperones for the egg roll, an egg hunt and other activities.
The first lady, who is a teacher, is calling it the “Egg-ucation Roll,” aides said, and is turning the South Lawn into a school community with a variety of educational stations.
It’s the first Easter Egg Roll to be hosted by the Bidens, who are expected to address the crowd and join in some of the activities, although rain was in Monday’s weather forecast.
The COVID-19 pandemic led the White House to cancel the event in 2020 and 2021.
Besides the egg roll and hunt, the all-day event will include a schoolhouse activity area, a reading nook, a talent show, a place to teach children how farmers supply food, a photo-taking station, a physical “egg-ucation” zone with an obstacle course and other exercise stations, and a “cafetorium” where children and their families will learn to make and eat treats.
The “egg-stravaganza” will get a celebrity splash through the participation of “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, singer Ciara and actor-singer Kristin Chenoweth.
More than two dozen costumed characters will roam the grounds, including Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, the Racing Presidents mascots for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball, Rosita and Cookie Monster from “Sesame Street” and Snoopy and Charlie Brown, among others.
Military families will be among the 30,000 participants, including crew members of the USS Delaware and their families. The first lady serves as sponsor of the nuclear attack submarine, which the president commissioned during a ceremony this month in Wilmington, Delaware.
Members of the general public received their tickets through an online lottery.
The egg roll will be the largest event to date at the Biden White House and will unfold in five waves beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 6:30 p.m.
Resumption of this Easter tradition is a sign that the White House is opening up again, despite a recent spurt of COVID-19 cases among members of the Cabinet, the White House staff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband and members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Some of those cases stemmed from the return this month of the Gridiron Club’s spring dinner.
Self-guided, public tours of the executive mansion are set to resume on Friday in a limited fashion, after they also were halted in 2020 because of the pandemic.
The White House Easter Egg Roll dates to 1878. | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/easter-egg-roll-returns-after-2-year-covid-induced-hiatus/ | 2022-04-15T11:16:36 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/easter-egg-roll-returns-after-2-year-covid-induced-hiatus/ |
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Reps. Lucy McBath and Carolyn Bourdeaux flipped two longtime Republican congressional districts in Atlanta’s northern suburbs by running against then-President Donald Trump and his divisive brand of politics.
But as they fight to keep their House seats this year, they’re competing against each other.
After new congressional maps approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature made McBath’s district more conservative, she decided to compete for Bourdeaux’s seat. That’s pitting two colleagues from the same party against one another ahead of Georgia’s May 24 primary.
The race is an uncomfortable development for Democrats who would prefer to celebrate the inroads they’ve made in Georgia, culminating with Joe Biden becoming his party’s first presidential candidate to take the state in 28 years. Rather than building on that success, which was driven in part by support in Atlanta’s suburbs, the primary is pitting two rising of the party’s stars against each other.
Bourdeaux, who has referred to McBath as a “sister” and previously campaigned alongside her, said in a recent interview that she was “pretty shocked” by the primary challenge.
“If the shoe were on the other foot, it would not have crossed my mind in a million years to go over to the sixth (district) and run against her,” Bourdeaux said, lamenting that McBath was devoting resources to defeating her in the primary that could instead be directed at Republicans.
McBath said her push to remain in Congress is “about my work to honor my son,” not her primary opponent. Her 17-year old son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a white man who was angry over the loud music the Black teenager and his friends had been playing in their car, spurring McBath into becoming a gun safety activist.
“To keep that promise to my son and my family and my community, I have just refused to let Brian Kemp and the NRA gun lobby and the Republican Party decide who represents our communities in Georgia,” McBath said in an interview, referring to the state’s Republican governor and new maps state lawmakers drew based on the 2020 census.
She added: “I’ve had many people say to me, ’I think you’re making the right decision. It’s a difficult decision, of course, but I think it’s the right decision.’”
The contest is one of five major incumbent-on-incumbent House primary races that will unfold around the country this summer. They include Democratic Reps. Andy Levin and Haley Stevens in suburban Detroit; Republican Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney in the northern half of West Virginia; and Illinois congressional colleagues from both parties — Republicans Mary Miller and Rodney Davis and Democrats Marie Newman and Sean Casten.
For some of these contenders, trying to unseat a colleague is just a political reality that comes along with the once-a-decade redistricting process. In Michigan, Levin and Stevens each said they still considered the other a friend despite now competing for a new seat drawn by an independent commission.
“When something unfortunate like this happens, to me, it’s nothing personal,” said Levin, who opted to forgo competing in a newly drawn battleground district to instead challenge Stevens in a safely Democratic one.
Stevens said that, during a recent vote on the House floor, she pulled Levin aside to discuss a bill they’d been working on. Later, she said, it hit her that, ”‘Holy smokes. I’m in this primary with him and, no matter what happens, we’re not gonna be colleagues.’”
The race in Georgia is especially stinging because it will stunt one of two nascent, promising political careers.
McBath won a House seat in 2018 from a suburban district that was held by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich for two decades. The former Delta flight attendant is known nationally as a fierce gun safety advocate.
The same year, Bourdeaux came within a few hundred votes of unseating a Republican in the adjacent district, before ultimately winning the seat in 2020. A former public policy professor and Georgia Senate budget director, Bourdeaux has worked on transportation and infrastructure issues. She was among a small group of House Democrats who urged passage last year of a bipartisan infrastructure law before agreement was reached on a larger Democratic social policy package.
Bourdeaux’s redrawn district includes wealthy suburbs in Gwinnett County that have grown increasingly diverse in recent years. It has large Black, Hispanic and Asian populations. A stretch of Buford Highway that runs through the area has become a major draw for its breadth of ethnic restaurants.
The district is heavily Democratic, so the winner of the primary is expected to prevail in the general election.
The two have stayed fairly even in the money race. As of the end of last year, McBath had raised slightly more than $3 million, compared with Bourdeaux’s nearly $2.4 million.
Bourdeaux has been endorsed by some top Gwinnett County Democratic leaders, while Everytown for Gun Safety, where McBath once worked, has runs ads on her behalf. “Protect Our Future,” a new Democratic super PAC backed by a cryptocurrency billionaire, has also vowed to spend big to boost McBath, prompting calls from Bourdeaux’s campaign that her opponent should “disavow” funding from the group.
Jovanny Emery Sierra, a 27-year-old technologist at a medical company from Duluth, voted for Bourdeaux in the 2020 general election but is now volunteering for McBath. He said he was alienated by Bourdeaux seeming to prioritize the infrastructure legislation rather than a larger, White House-backed social spending and public works bill known as Build Back Better that eventually collapsed.
“It just felt like a slap in the face,” he said.
Others who live in the district say they feel anguished that McBath or Bourdeaux will be left without a congressional seat.
“We have two great, caring people that are Democrats, but through this gerrymandering at the state Legislature, they just cut them up and dilute the democratic process,” said Jim Shealey, 72. Shealey said he hadn’t decided whom to vote for in May.
Still, Julie Pierce, 65, said McBath’s decision to challenge Bourdeaux “leaves me squeamish.”
Pierce said she’s always thought highly of McBath, but she sees Bourdeaux out campaigning much harder.
“If you’re going to parachute in, for crying out loud, parachute in and date me,” Pierce said of McBath. “Don’t take me for granted.”
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Weissert reported from Washington. | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/from-sister-to-rival-dem-rising-stars-fight-for-ga-seat/ | 2022-04-15T11:16:42 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/from-sister-to-rival-dem-rising-stars-fight-for-ga-seat/ |
Firefighters took advantage of a brief break in the weather but gusty winds were expected to return Friday to southern New Mexico where a wildfire has claimed two lives and charred more than 200 homes.
The fire has forced the evacuation of about 5,000 people in the mountain community of Ruidoso, where the remains of a couple were found near a burned home as they tried to flee.
New Mexico State Police confirmed the blaze killed the two people after it started Tuesday from a windblown, downed power line. Their names have not been released.
Thousands of customers in the area remain without power, and Ruidoso schools have been closed until next week.
“We’ve had students who’ve lost their homes. We have to support them on Tuesday” when school resumes, said high school English teacher Sara Ames Brown. She said Thursday she was with students when they were evacuated by bus, with flames visible in the forest outside as they drove away.
Fire crews used a break in what had been a steady stream of relentless gusts to make headway against the flames on Thursday.
Incident Commander Dave Bales said the strategy was “attack while we can,” noting that winds were expected to pick up again Friday.
“We’re trying to keep this fire as small as possible, especially because it’s right in the community,” he said. “We’ve had a loss of a lot of structures so our crews are right there on the fire front going as direct as possible.”
The fire moved into a more densely populated area on Ruidoso’s northeastern side Wednesday afternoon, prompting more evacuations. Laura Rabon, a spokesperson for the Lincoln National Forest, interrupted a fire briefing and told people to get in their cars and leave after the flames jumped a road where crews were trying to hold the line.
Crews kept the flames from pushing further into the village on Wednesday, and Rabon said that progress continued Thursday as helicopters dropped water and ground crews secured lines on the east and south sides. They also put out hot spots in the neighborhoods where the flames raced through earlier this week.
The fire has torched an estimated 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) of forest and grass, and the strong winds that battered the area have left behind toppled trees and down power lines. Due to the power outage, the school district’s servers were down and email wasn’t working.
Six new large fires were reported Wednesday: three in Texas, two in Colorado and one in Oklahoma. In all, wildland firefighters and support personnel were trying to contain 11 large fires that have charred more than 40 square miles (103 square kilometers) in five states.
The National Interagency Fire Center reported Thursday that since the start of the year, 18,550 wildfires have burned about 1,250 square miles (3,237 square kilometers). That’s well above the 10-year average of 12,290 wildfires and 835 square miles (2162.64 square kilometers) burned.
Hotter and drier weather coupled with decades of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the number of acres burned by wildfires, fire scientists say. The problem is exacerbated by a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.
Elsewhere in New Mexico, wildfires were burning northwest of Ruidoso, along the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque, in mountains northwest of the community of Las Vegas and in grasslands along the Pecos River near the town of Roswell.
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Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Davenport from Phoenix.
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Cedar Attanasio contributed reporting from Santa Fe. Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/2-dead-more-than-200-homes-charred-in-new-mexico-wildfire/ | 2022-04-15T11:16:49 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/2-dead-more-than-200-homes-charred-in-new-mexico-wildfire/ |
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli security forces entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem before dawn on Friday as thousands of Palestinians were gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan, setting off clashes that medics said wounded at least 67 Palestinians.
Israel said its forces entered to remove rocks and stones that had been gathered in anticipation of violence. The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalem’s Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.
Videos circulating online showed Palestinians hurling rocks and fireworks and police firing tear gas and stun grenades on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque. Others showed worshippers barricading themselves inside the mosque itself amid what appeared to be clouds of tear gas.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it evacuated 67 people to hospitals who had been wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades, or beaten with batons. The endowment said one of the guards at the site was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.
The Israeli police said three officers were wounded from “massive stone-throwing,” with two evacuated from the scene for treatment.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said dozens of masked men carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags marched to the compound early Friday and gathered stones.
“Police were forced to enter the grounds to disperse the crowd and remove the stones and rocks, in order to prevent further violence,” it tweeted.
The police said they waited until prayers were over and the crowds started to disperse. In a statement, it said crowds started hurling rocks in the direction of the Western Wall, a nearby Jewish holy site, forcing them to act. They said they did not enter the mosque itself.
Palestinians view any large deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a major provocation.
Israel’s national security minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel had “no interest” in violence at the holy site but that police were forced to confront “violent elements” that confronted them with stones and metal bars.
He said Israel was committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike. Police said Friday’s noon prayers at the mosque — when tens of thousands of people were expected — would take place as usual.
The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on a hilltop in Jerusalem’s Old City that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity. It has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicenter of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
Tensions have soared in recent weeks following a series of attacks by Palestinians that killed 14 people inside Israel. Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations across the occupied West Bank, setting off clashes with Palestinians.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 17-year-old died early Friday from wounds suffered during clashes with Israeli forces in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, the day before.
At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in the recent wave of violence, according to an Associated Press count, many of whom had carried out attacks or were involved in the clashes, but also an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appears to have been killed by mistake.
Weeks of protests and clashes in Jerusalem during Ramadan last year eventually ignited an 11-day war with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
Israel had lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try and calm tensions ahead of Ramadan, but the attacks and the military raids have brought about another cycle of unrest.
Hamas condemned what it said were “brutal attacks” on worshippers at Al-Aqsa by Israeli forces, saying Israel would bear “all the consequences.” It called on all Palestinians to “stand by our people in Jerusalem.”
Earlier this week, Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza had called on Palestinians to camp out at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.
Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years nationalist and religious Jews have visited the site in large numbers with police escorts.
Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to Al-Aqsa and other major holy sites, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future independent state including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured during the war nearly 55 years ago. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/clashes-erupt-at-jerusalem-holy-site-20-palestinians-hurt/ | 2022-04-15T11:16:55 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/clashes-erupt-at-jerusalem-holy-site-20-palestinians-hurt/ |
DETROIT (AP) — The fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya in Michigan raises questions about why a traffic stop turned into a foot chase and vigorous tussle before the motorist was killed by a police officer while facing the ground.
Lyoya, a 26-year-old Black man, was shot in the head in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on April 4. The city’s new police chief took the unusual step of releasing videos of the violent confrontation over objections of the prosecutor, who will ultimately decide whether the white officer should be charged.
“It is an unjustifiable use of deadly force because the police escalated a traffic stop into an execution,” said Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Lyoya’s family.
State police are handling the investigation. Here’s a look at key considerations:
NECESSARY FORCE?
Video showed Lyoya emerging from a car and refusing the officer’s command to get back inside, then briefly running away in the residential neighborhood. The officer is heard saying he stopped the car because the license plate didn’t match the vehicle.
The pair wrestled as the officer repeatedly demanded that Lyoya give up. Before shooting Lyoya on the ground, the officer loudly claimed that the man had possession of his police Taser.
“Beyond the videos, I think the biggest factors will be the condition of the Taser and what, if anything, the motorist was trying to do with it,” said Seth Stoughton, a professor at University of South Carolina School of Law and expert on the use of force.
He testified for prosecutors at the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis officer who was convicted of killing George Floyd.
“If the Taser only held the cartridge that had already been discharged, that means it could only be used to ‘drive stun,’ which hurts but doesn’t have any real risk of incapacitating an officer. … Whether the Taser could realistically be used to disable the officer is hugely important,” Stoughton said.
WHY CHASE LYOYA?
Pursuits on foot can be dangerous, and in recent years more police departments have adopted chase policies. Grand Rapids does not have one, but it’s “something that is addressed in training,” spokeswoman Jennifer Kalczuk said.
David Carter, a criminal justice professor at Michigan State University and former police officer, said he could sense fear, frustration and exhaustion in the officer’s voice on the videos, three things that could have affected his decisions.
“There were times when he could have just let him go,” said Carter, who noted that lowering the heat during conflicts involving police is preferred. “Unless we know specifically that this person poses a threat to public safety, we’ll get him later.”
But Richard Convertino, a Detroit-area defense lawyer who has represented police officers, said pursuing people is a cop’s job.
“What if he turned out to be a fugitive? Then you’d be questioned with, ‘Why didn’t you chase him?’” Convertino said. “A person not complying directly with something as routine as a traffic stop could indicate something is very wrong. Combativeness is very unusual.”
WHAT DID THE OFFICER BELIEVE?
An officer’s state of mind is a key factor for a prosecutor and a jury.
“If the prosecutor concludes that the officer reasonably — but mistakenly — thought that (Lyoya) presented an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm when, in fact, he did not, they may be limited or precluded from bringing certain charges,” Stoughton said.
In 2019, Convertino argued that a Michigan trooper feared for his safety when he fired a Taser from his patrol car at an unarmed Detroit teen who was joyriding on an all-terrain vehicle. Damon Grimes, 15, crashed and died. Mark Bessner was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
“These things can go from zero to 90 in a millisecond,” Convertino said Thursday, referring to sudden conflicts between police and the public. “This officer may have felt, ‘I’m getting overwhelmed. I’m exhausted. He might overpower me. He has my Taser.’”
Convertino said release of the videos could put “remarkable community pressure” on the Kent County prosecutor to charge the officer.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The prosecutor, Chris Becker, said the public shouldn’t expect a quick decision.
While the videos “are an important piece of evidence, they are not all of the evidence,” he said. “Our office has never made, and will not make, a decision based on partial evidence.”
Lyoya’s family, refugees from Congo, wants the officer charged.
“That was my beloved son. You know how you love your firstborn son,” his mother, Dorcas, said through an interpreter.
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AP reporter Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this story. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/explainer-state-of-mind-a-key-in-patrick-lyoyas-shooting/ | 2022-04-15T11:17:02 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/explainer-state-of-mind-a-key-in-patrick-lyoyas-shooting/ |
PARIS (AP) — As she cooks lunch and talks politics, Jewish voter Sarah Gutmann has a nasty feeling — of would-be French president Marine Le Pen invading the privacy of her home, reaching directly into her life and the plates of chicken and kosher sausages that she is frying for her husband and their eldest son.
That’s because the far-right candidate wants to outlaw ritual slaughter if elected next Sunday. And that could directly impact how Gutmann feeds her family and exercises her religious freedom. She and her husband, Benjamin, say they would have to think about leaving France if a far-right government interfered with observant Jews’ kosher diets. Their fear is that under Le Pen, targeting ritually slaughtered meats could be just the start of steps to make French Jews and Muslims feel unwelcome.
“Attacking the way we eat impinges on our privacy and that is very serious,” Gutmann said as she busied herself in the kitchen of their Paris home.
“The intention is to target minority populations that bother her and send a message to voters who are against these minorities: ’Vote for me, because I will attack them and perhaps, with time, make them leave.'”
Muslim shopper Hayat Ettabet said her family might be forced to illegally slaughter at home to stay within their religious rules, bleeding out animals “in the bathroom, back to the way it was.”
Le Pen says all animals should be stunned before slaughter, and frames the issue as one of animal welfare. That’s unacceptable to observant Jews and Muslims who believe stunning causes unnecessary animal suffering and that their ritual slaughters for kosher and halal meats are more humane.
With the largest populations of Muslims and Jews in western Europe, the issue has major potential repercussions for France and could hit communities elsewhere that buy French meat exports. The issue is one of the many fault lines between Le Pen and incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and the starkly different visions of France they are presenting for next Sunday’s election runoff vote. It is expected to be far closer than in 2017, when the centrist Macron beat Le Pen by a landslide.
“We have never been so close to having an extreme-right regime,” Gutmann said. “The alarm bell is ringing.”
Le Pen’s France would be more inwardly focused, with far fewer immigrants and fewer rights for those already here, less tolerance for non-Christian traditions, and less tightly bound to the European Union and the outside world.
Macron is largely promising the opposite as he seeks a second five-year term. Macron zeroed in on Le Pen’s proposals for ending slaughter without stunning to emphasize their political differences. He said he doesn’t want “a France that prevents Muslims or Jews from eating as their religion prescribes.”
Le Pen says she doesn’t want that either. But alarmed Jews and Muslims find her hard to believe. Le Pen is not opposed to other practices deemed cruel by animal welfare campaigners, such as bullfighting or — most notably — hunting, a tradition deeply anchored in rural France where she is trawling for votes. So her focus on kosher and halal meats smacks of hypocrisy to Jews and Muslims who see an attack disguised as animal welfare.
Le Pen says the meats could instead be imported. But that also makes no sense to critics, because it seems to run counter to Le Pen’s general France-first rule that the country should produce more things itself and import less.
Her camp has also flip-flopped. Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s No. 2 who is heading their National Rally party while she seeks the presidency, said in March that they want an outright ban on kosher and halal meats, both imported and from domestically slaughtered animals.
Jewish leaders responded in a statement that the “detestable” proposition would force large numbers of Jews and Muslims to leave.
But Le Pen and Macron are both now modulating their positions on issues important to voters who didn’t support them in round one of the election, seeking to amass the votes they will need to win round two. Macron, most notably, has softened his plan to increase the retirement age to 65. Le Pen is trying to appear more inclusive.
“I’m not at all going to get rid of halal and kosher butcher shops,” she said this week. She said meat from animals that have been knocked out electrically might prove to be an acceptable halal alternative to some Muslims. But if not, “importing this meat would be authorized, obviously.”
“What we want is to truly stop this animal suffering, very intense, that is the consequence of slaughter without stunning,” Le Pen said.
Slovenia, Denmark and Sweden, as well as non-EU members Switzerland, Iceland and Norway, have done away with religious exemptions, meaning kosher and halal meat must be imported. So, too, have the Flanders and Wallonia regions of Belgium. The bans there are being challenged in the European Court of Human Rights by Yohan Benizri, a vice president of the European Jewish Congress.
He says outlawing religious slaughter makes Jews feel “we’re not part of European culture” and “portrays us as some form of savages.”
Because France exports kosher meats, banning its production “will have a devastating effect” on Jewish communities elsewhere, he said.
“It’s going to be a devastating signal as well because — again — we would be seen as not welcome in the European Union,” Benizri said.
As her son finished lunch, Sarah Gutmann said the most worrying aspect of a Le Pen-pushed law on the issue would be if it was met by general indifference.
“Then, really, I will be very, very scared,” she said. “If I see an unjust law go through and no one reacts, then we’ll say to ourselves that we really are in danger.”
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Associated Press journalists Nicolas Garriga in Paris and Elaine Ganley in Vernon, France, contributed.
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Follow AP’s coverage of France’s presidential election at https://apnews.com/hub/french-election-2022 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/in-frances-election-a-meaty-issue-unites-jews-and-muslims/ | 2022-04-15T11:17:09 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/in-frances-election-a-meaty-issue-unites-jews-and-muslims/ |
BOSTON (AP) — Jacky Hunt-Broersma runs like a woman possessed. And in a way, she is: The amputee athlete is trying to run at least 102 marathons in 102 days.
Last month, a little more than two-thirds toward her goal of setting a new world record for back-to-back marathons, the South Africa native posted something on Twitter that got people talking.
“The first thing I did after my run today was take off my leg. Felt so good,” she tweeted. “Marathon 69 done. 31 marathons to go.”
That was last month, and she’s still running — covering the classic 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) marathon distance day in, day out, rain or shine, occasionally on a treadmill but mostly on roads and trails near her home in Gilbert, Arizona. If her streak remains intact heading into the Boston Marathon on April 18, it’ll be marathon No. 92.
Unlike the 30,000 others running the storied course, Hunt-Broersma, 46, will have done a marathon the day before. Somehow, she’ll have to rally body and soul to run another the day after. And another after that. And then eight more.
All on a carbon-fiber blade that’s been her left leg ever since she lost the real thing below the knee to a rare cancer.
“You make peace with pain,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think my pain threshold is probably quite high at the moment. It’s one step at a time.”
Boston is the only certified marathon she’s including in her quest. The others she’s running on one of two loops near her home or indoors on a treadmill — a monotonous machine many runners derisively call the “dreadmill.”
In 2001, while she and her Dutch husband were living in the Netherlands, Hunt-Broersma was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer more typically seen in children. Overnight, a golf ball-sized bulge appeared on an old scar that had become tender. A biopsy confirmed the worst, and within weeks, her leg was amputated below the knee.
“The biggest struggle was accepting that part of my body was gone,” she said. (She’s since made peace with that: A favorite T-shirt reads, “A Zombie Chewed It Off.”)
Until five years ago, she wasn’t at all athletic, but getting started was expensive. Carbon-fiber blades designed for running cost around $10,000 and aren’t covered by health insurance. Survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three spectators and wounded 260 others, ran into the same problem when they sought to reclaim their lives.
“Running really changed my life,” she said. “It helped me accept myself as an amputee. It gave me a sense of freedom. I fell in love with the process of pushing my body further just to see what I could do.”
Subsequent marathons led to ultrarunning over extended distances, including a 100-mile (160-kilometer) race. So when Hunt-Broersma learned that Alyssa Amos Clark, a nondisabled runner from Bennington, Vermont, covered the marathon distance 95 days in a row in 2000, an idea was born: She’d do 100. That plan got foiled this week when British runner Kate Jayden completed 101 marathons in as many days, so Hunt-Broersma has a new goal: “Now I’m going for at least 102.”
“I hoped it would inspire a lot of people to get out of their comfort zone and push a little bit farther,” she said.
She worried her stump would become raw and painful, and the first two weeks were rough. Since then, though, she’s gotten into a sustainable rhythm, taking care to ice and massage the stump. When it became swollen, she switched to a running prosthesis with a little more room.
But there have been mental challenges as well on the road to 102, which began on Jan. 17. On a recent outing, Hunt-Broersma — who’s been averaging a little over five hours per marathon — felt near collapse at 15 miles (24 kilometers) and burst into tears. Suddenly the entire odyssey was in doubt.
“I had a total emotional breakdown. I was like, ‘I just can’t do this. What was I thinking?’” she said. “The trick for me is just to break it down into little goals. Just get to the next mile. And then the next one.”
Her support team is her husband and their two young children, but she’s also gained a large social media following.
This week, after logging marathon No. 85, well-wishers offered virtual applause. “You just seem to eat marathons for breakfast,” one person tweeted. “In such bleak times, thank you for serving as an inspiration,” commented another.
As she nears the end of her epic quest, Hunt-Broersma hopes she inspires a singular thought in others, regardless of their own physical challenges:
“You’re stronger than you think — and you’re capable of so much more.” | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/jackys-quest-1-woman-1-leg-102-marathons-in-102-days/ | 2022-04-15T11:17:15 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/jackys-quest-1-woman-1-leg-102-marathons-in-102-days/ |
MOSCOW — Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up “the scale of missile attacks” on Kyiv in response to Ukraine’s “diversions on the Russian territory.”
The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the country’s regions on the border with Ukraine, in which seven people sustained injuries.
According to Russian officials, some 100 residential buildings were damaged in Thursday’s attack on the Klimovo village in the Bryansk region. The Defense Ministry said that the Russian forces in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region shut down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that was allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.
Authorities in another border region, Belgorod, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Russian military’s damaged Black Sea flagship sinks
— As Russia loses key ship, Zelenskyy praises nation’s resolve
— Russian legislator and 2 aides criminally charged in US
— UN says Ukraine war threatens to devastate many poor nations
— The AP Interview: UN food chief says Mariupol is starving
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukrainefor more coverage
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
LONDON — Britain’s defense ministry says the loss of Russia’s naval flagship will likely force Moscow to change the way its naval forces operate in the Black Sea.
The Moskva sank after being damaged in disputed circumstances. Ukraine says it struck the vessel with missiles, while Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack.
In an update posted Friday on social media, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said the Soviet-era ship, which returned to operational service last year after a major refit, “served a key role as both a command vessel and air defence node.”
It said the sinking “means Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russia’s Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March. Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea.”
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KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians on Thursday they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians “gave us a maximum of five.”
In his late-night video address, Zelenskyy called it “an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on Feb. 24 made the most important decision of their life — to fight.”
Zelenskyy gave an extensive and almost poetic listing of the many ways in which Ukrainians have helped to fend off the Russian troops, including “those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it’s to the bottom” of the sea. It was his only reference to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which sank while being towed to port.
Zelenskyy said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country.
“But they didn’t know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want,” Zelenskyy said.
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OTTAWA, Ontario — Canada is sending soldiers to Poland to help with the care, co-ordination and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, including some who will come to Canada.
More than 2.6 million Ukrainians have fled into Poland since the first Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on Feb. 24 and over 2 million more have fled into other surrounding countries.
Defense Minister Anita Anand announced the deployment of up to 150 troops Thursday, saying the majority of the deployed troops will head to reception centers across Poland to help care for and register Ukrainian refugees.
Another group is being sent to help coordinate international aid efforts.
Canada has deployed hundreds of additional troops to eastern Europe since Russia’s invasion as the NATO military alliance seeks to both support Ukraine and prevent the conflict from expanding into a broader war.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The head of the U.N. World Food Program said people are being “starved to death” in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol and he predicted the country’s humanitarian crisis is likely to worsen as Russia intensifies its assault in the coming weeks.
WFP executive director David Beasley also warned in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press in Kyiv that Russia’s invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilizing nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere.
The war that began Feb. 24 was “devastating the people in Ukraine,” Beasley said, lamenting the lack of access faced by the WFP and other aid organizations in trying to reach those in need amid the conflict.
The fluid nature of the conflict, which has seen fighting shift away from areas around the capital and toward eastern Ukraine, has made it especially difficult to reach hungry Ukrainians.
The WFP is trying to put food supplies now in areas that could be caught up in the fighting, but Beasley acknowledged that there are “a lot of complexities” as the situation rapidly evolves. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/live-updates-russia-ukraine-war-4/ | 2022-04-15T11:17:22 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/live-updates-russia-ukraine-war-4/ |
LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have visited Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on their first joint visit to the U.K. since they gave up formal royal roles and moved to the U.S. more than two years ago.
The couple’s office says they visited the 95-year-old queen, Harry’s grandmother, Thursday on their way to the Netherlands to attend the Invictus Games. Harry is a founder and patron of the international sports competition for wounded military veterans.
Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior working royals and moved to North America in 2020, citing the unbearable pressure of their roles and racist attitudes of the British media.
The couple, also known as the duke and duchess of Sussex, lost their taxpayer-funded police guard when they walked away, and Harry is suing the British government for refusing to let him pay for his own police security on his visits to the U.K. His lawyers say Harry wants to bring his children — Archie, who is almost 3, and 10-month-old Lilibet — to visit his home country but that it is too risky without police protection.
Harry and Meghan are expected to attend a reception in The Hague on Friday for the Invictus Games, which run from Saturday to April 22.
The visit to the queen came on Maundy Thursday, a day in the week before Easter that the queen for decades marked by distributing silver coins known as “Maundy money” to pensioners at a church service. This year the queen, who has been experiencing mobility issues in recent months and came down with COVID-19 in February, did not attend. She was represented by her eldest son, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla.
The monarch also is expected to miss the royal family’s Easter Sunday church service. She has continued to perform royal duties, including virtual audiences with politicians and diplomats. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/prince-harry-meghan-make-surprise-visit-to-queen-at-windsor/ | 2022-04-15T11:17:29 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/prince-harry-meghan-make-surprise-visit-to-queen-at-windsor/ |
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The logjam of trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border finally began breaking Thursday after nearly a week as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott eased off his latest dramatic action over immigration that has gridlocked some of the world’s busiest trade ports and taken a mounting economic toll.
“There is a sense of urgency now to reach deals that did not exist before,” Abbott said.
The two-term Republican governor, who for days has allowed commercial trucks to backup for miles into Mexico after requiring them to stop for additional inspections in Texas, lifted that order for bridges in El Paso and other cities after announcing a new security agreement with the neighboring Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahulia.
The rollbacks come as Abbott has faced intensifying pressure over the policy he rushed into place April 6 as part of an ongoing fight with the Biden administration over the flow of migrants and drugs. Inspection orders remain in other parts along Texas’ 1,200-mile border, including the busy Rio Grande Valley, but Mexican trade leaders were optimistic those would also end soon.
The deal with Gov. María Campos Galván of Chihuahua, who joined Abbott for the announcement in the Texas Capitol, set in motion the biggest relief yet for traffic that has snarled the Texas-Mexico border and raised warnings of higher prices for U.S. shoppers and spare grocery store shelves.
“People like me who buy millions of dollars of produce a week are starting to curb their purchases toward other regions of the country,” said Brent Erenwert, CEO of Brothers Produce in Houston, which relies heavily on imports from Mexico.
The inspections ordered by Abbott came in response to the Biden administration announcing last month it would wind down a public health law that has limited asylum-seekers in the name of preventing the spread of COVID-19. When that happens, the number of migrants coming to the U.S. is expected to increase.
It was the second consecutive day Abbott has lifted inspections at some bridges, starting Wednesday with Laredo, which was the busiest U.S. port of entry for trucks last year. Traffic coming into the Texas at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, where more produce crosses than any other land port in the U.S., has also resumed after a dayslong protest by Mexican truckers came to an end.
One custom agency based in Mexico, the Association of Customs Agents of Reynosa, on Thursday put the losses at the Pharr-Reynosa bridge at $7 million a day.
The agreements between Abbott and Mexico’s governors have varied.
Across from Laredo, Nuevo Leon Gov. Samuel García had told Abbott his state would put in place checkpoints and policing. For Chihuahua, Galvan provided a security plan she said was in the “implementation stage” and includes agreements to share intelligence captured by security cameras and other technology. Later Thursday, Abbott also announced a similar agreement with the Mexican governor of Coahulia.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican who has urged Abbott to walk back the inspections order, said Thursday one major agricultural company told him that 100 trucks sent to Mexico for deliveries have been unable to come back across because of the congestion.
He questioned what the holdout achieved, and in the case of Abbott’s agreement with Nuevo Leon, said it did not appear substantive.
“They’re just basically going to leave it up in good faith,” Miller said. “There’s no enforcement, no reckoning on that if they don’t.”
The White House, the Mexican government, trade groups and reeling businesses have bashed the extra inspections as redundant and a new burden on an already fragile supply chain.
Abbott’s border inspections come at a time when U.S. supply chains are already overwhelmed. A surge in demand from customers — the result of a surprisingly fast recovery from the devastating coronavirus recession of 2020 — caught businesses by surprise and led to bottlenecks at factories, ports and freight yards. It’s also pushed up prices, contributing to the highest inflation in 40 years.
COVID-related factory shutdowns in China and the rocketing cost of shipping goods across the Pacific Ocean have many companies looking to Mexico, where there’s no ocean to cross and there’s relief from the political and trade disputes between Washington and Beijing.
“A lot of companies, right now, they’re looking at Mexico as a way to bypass ocean dependency,’’ said Bindiya Vakil, CEO of the supply chain consultancy Resilnc. “If I’m one of those companies, I’m looking at this new regulation on the Texas border and I’m really concerned because this means additional delays, and that was supposed to be my solution — to go to Mexico and avoid the ocean altogether.’’
The U.S.-Mexico border is crucial to the U.S. economy. The United States last year imported $390.7 billion worth of goods from Mexico, second only to China.
But as the inspections taper off in Texas, Abbott says he will continue putting migrants on buses and sending them to Washington, D.C., calling it a message to President Joe Biden. “If he’s not going to come to the border, we’re going to take the border to him,” Abbott said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protections Commissioner Chris Magnus said Thursday that Abbott was moving migrants without “adequately coordinating” with the federal government. The first bus arrived Wednesday, and Abbott said more are on the way.
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Associated Press reporters Paul Wiseman in Martinsburg, West Virginia, Maria Verza in Mexico City and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/texas-moves-to-ease-border-gridlock-over-sense-of-urgency/ | 2022-04-15T11:17:35 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/texas-moves-to-ease-border-gridlock-over-sense-of-urgency/ |
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Unbroken by a Russian blockade and relentless bombardment, the key port of Mariupol is still holding out, a symbol of staunch Ukrainian resistance that has thwarted the Kremlin’s invasion plans.
More than six weeks after the Russian siege began, Ukrainian troops are continuing to fight the vastly superior Russian forces in ferocious battles amid the ruins of what once was a bustling city on the Sea of Azov coast.
The city’s mayor says that an estimated 120,000 people remain in the city, of Mariupol’s pre-war population of about 450,000.
The Ukrainians’ fight against all odds has scuttled Moscow’s designs, tying up significant Russian forces and delaying the start of a planned Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine’s industrial heartland, Donbas. The Kremlin hopes that an attack in the east could reverse the battlefield fortunes for Russia after a humiliating failure of its attempt to quickly storm the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Mariupol has been a key objective for Russia since the start of its invasion on Feb. 24. Capturing the city would allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014 and deprive Ukraine of a major port and prized industrial assets.
The giant Azovstal steel mill and other industrial plants have been heavily damaged by the ferocious Russian bombardment that has flattened much of Mariupol, indiscriminately hitting homes, hospitals and other public buildings and killing thousands.
The victims include about 300 people killed in last month’s Russian airstrike on the Mariupol Drama Theater that was being used as a shelter and had the word “CHILDREN” printed in Russian in huge white letters on the pavement outside to ward off aerial attack.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told The Associated Press that at least 21,000 people were killed in Mariupol with bodies “carpeted through the streets.” He said that the Russians deployed mobile cremation equipment to Mariupol to methodically dispose of the victims’ bodies in order to hide the evidence of the massacre and prevent international organizations from documenting “the horror the Russian army is responsible for.”
The discovery of hundreds of bodies of civilians apparently executed by Russian forces in Kyiv’s suburbs after the Russian retreat from the area has fueled global outrage and accusations from Ukrainians and the West that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine.
Moscow has deployed fighters from Chechnya, known for their ferocity, to wage street battles in Mariupol. Chechnya’s Moscow-backed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has repeatedly boasted on his messaging app channel about defeating Ukrainians in Mariupol, but the fight has continued.
Boychenko said that several Ukrainian units are still fighting the Russians in Mariupol, including the 36th Marine Brigade, the Azov Regiment, some Interior Ministry troops and border guards.
The Azov Regiment, a seasoned volunteer force that is widely considered one of the country’s most capable units, is defending the mammoth Azovstal steel plant that covers an area of nearly 11 square kilometers (over 4.2 square miles). It has taken advantage of the plant’s sprawling network of concrete buildings and underground facilities to repel continuous Russian attacks.
The 36th Marine Brigade was maintaining defensive positions at the Azovmash and Zavod Ilyicha factories until it ran out of supplies and ammunition and made a desperate attempt to break through the Russian blockade earlier this week.
In a post on the brigade’s Facebook page, one of its officers described the unit’s heroic resistance, saying that “for more than a month, the marines have been fighting without replenishing amunition, food and water supplies.” “The wounded accounted for nearly a half of the brigade’s strength, but those who still had their limbs and were capable of walking reported back to duty,” the post said.
Boychenko said that some of the marines managed to join the Azov regiment, while others were captured by the Russians. He didn’t give any numbers.
The Russian military said Thursday that a total of 1,160 Ukrainian marines surrendered this week, a claim that couldn’t be independently verified.
As the Ukrainian troops continue to offer fierce resistance in Mariupol, fears have grown that the exasperated Russians could resort to chemical weapons to deal with the remaining pockets of resistance at the Azovstal plant and other areas of the city.
Eduard Basurin, a Russia-allied separatist official in eastern Ukraine, appeared to call for that Monday, telling Russian state TV that the Russia-backed forces should block all the exits out of the factory and then “use chemical troops to smoke them out of there.” He later said that no chemical weapons were used.
The Azov Regiment claimed Monday, without providing evidence, that a drone had dropped a poisonous substance on its positions but inflicted no serious injuries. A Ukrainian defense official said the attack possibly involved phosphorus munitions.
Ukrainian authorities have said that the Russians have blocked humanitarian convoys from reaching Mariupol, keeping it without food, water and power since the siege started. The Russian troops have turned back buses sent to evacuate residents, but about 150,000 have been able to flee the city in their own vehicles.
Boychenko said that at least 33,500, and, possibly, up to 50,000 Mariupol residents have been taken to “filtration camps” in the separatist-controlled east before being forcibly sent to distant, economically depressed areas in Russia.
Mariupol has seen communications cut since the start of the siege, and as the Russians moved to capture sections of the city they launched radio broadcasts to brainwash the population.
“They unleashed propaganda, telling people that Kyiv and other cities have been captured and they have been abandoned,” Boychenko said.
The continuing fighting in Mariupol has forced the Russian military to keep a significant number of troops in the city, delaying the start of the planned new offensive in eastern Ukraine.
“As long as the street fighting is going on, Russia can’t remove troops from Mariupol and deploy them to other areas, including Donbas,” Oleh Zhdanov, an independent military expert, told the AP.
“The Ukrainian troops in Mariupol are still fulfilling their main task by diverting the Russian forces from other areas. Mariupol remains a major symbol of the Ukrainian resistance.”
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/ukraines-port-of-mariupol-holds-out-against-all-odds/ | 2022-04-15T11:17:42 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/ukraines-port-of-mariupol-holds-out-against-all-odds/ |
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China said its military staged exercises Friday to reinforce its threat to use force to bring Taiwan under its control, as U.S. lawmakers visiting Taiwan made a pointed and public declaration of their support for the self-governing island democracy while issuing a warning to China.
The six lawmakers met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday morning and were also scheduled to meet with the island’s defense minister.
The military drills conducted by the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command in areas opposite Taiwan were “a countermeasure to the recent negative actions of the U.S., including the visit of a delegation of lawmakers to Taiwan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said.
China would “continue to take strong measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Zhao added.
China is against any official exchanges between Taiwan’s government and other foreign governments because it claims Taiwan is part of its national territory and not an independent country. China and Taiwan split after a civil war in 1949.
The Eastern Theater Command described the exercises in a statement as “a necessary action based on the present security situation in the Taiwan Strait and the need to safeguard national sovereignty.”
“Taiwan is a sacred and inalienable part of Chinese territory. There is no room for any foreign interference on the Taiwan issue,” the statement said.
As part of the delegation of visiting U.S. lawmakers, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey gave a speech Friday praising Taiwan’s democracy and its global status as a manufacturer of semi-conductor chips used in everything from cars to smartphones, and warned of consequences if that status were jeopardized.
“It is a country of global significance, of global consequence, of global impact, and therefore it should be understood the security of Taiwan has a global impact for those who would wish it ill,” said Menendez, the head of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, in a speech at Taiwan’s Presidential Office.
He emphasized that “we seek no conflict with China as I believe Taiwan seeks no conflict with China.”
The delegation, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, also includes Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Sen. Robert Portman of Ohio, Sen. Benjamin Sasse of Nebraska and Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas.
Tsai said she welcomed their visit and hoped it would help to further deepen US-Taiwan cooperation.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has proven that democracies must bolster their alliances and collectively we can defend ourselves from the threats posed by authoritarian nations that seek to disrupt regional peace,” said Tsai.
The U.S. is the democratic island’s biggest unofficial ally and has stepped up weapons sales to Taiwan in past years. By law, the U.S. is bound to help Taiwan with arms that are defensive in nature. However, the question of whether the U.S. would intervene in the case of a military invasion by China remains open. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/us-lawmakers-signal-support-for-taiwan-in-visit/ | 2022-04-15T11:17:48 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/us-lawmakers-signal-support-for-taiwan-in-visit/ |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A day after Moscow suffered a stinging symbolic defeat with the loss of the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, Russia’s Defense Ministry promised Friday to ramp up missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukraine’s alleged military “diversions on the Russian territory.”
The threat of intensified attacks on Kyiv came after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes on Bryansk, a region that borders Ukraine. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling Thursday.
Kyiv has gradually displayed some signs of pre-war life after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreated to focus on a concentrated assault in eastern Ukraine, leaving evidence of possible war crimes in their wake. A renewed bombardment could return the capital’s residents to sheltering in subway stations and the steady wail of air raid sirens.
Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia, and the reports by Russian authorities could not be independently verified. However, Ukrainian officials claimed their forces struck a key Russian warship with missiles on Thursday. If true, the claim would represent an important victory.
The guided-missile cruiser Moskva, named for the Russian capital, sank while being towed to port Thursday after suffering heavy damage under circumstances that remained in dispute. Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack. U.S. and other Western officials could not confirm what caused the blaze.
The Moskva had the capacity to carry 16 long-range cruise missiles, and its removal reduces Russia’s firepower in the Black Sea. If Ukrainian forces took out the vessel, the Moskva likely represents the largest warship to be sunk in combat since the Falklands War. A British submarine torpedoed an Argentine navy cruiser called the ARA General Belgrano during the 1982 conflict, killing over 300 sailors on board.
The Russian warship’s loss in an invasion already widely seen as a historic blunder also was a symbolic defeat for Moscow as its troops regroup for an offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from the Kyiv region and much of the north.
In his nightly address Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the people of his country should be proud of having survived 50 days under attack when the Russian invaders “gave us a maximum of five.”
Zelenskyy did not mention the Moskva by name, but while listing the ways Ukraine has defended against the onslaught, mentioned “those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it’s to the bottom” of the sea. It was his only reference to the Moskva.
News about the flagship overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where Moscow’s forces have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war — at a horrific cost to civilians.
Dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders in Mariupol are holding out against a siege that has trapped well over 100,000 civilians in desperate need of food, water and heating. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that people were being “starved to death” in the besieged city.
Mariupol’s mayor said this week that more than 10,000 civilians had died and the death toll could surpass 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials have said they expect to find evidence of atrocities committed against civilians like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv once the Russians withdrew.
The Mariupol City Council said Friday that locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies that were buried in residential courtyards and not allowing any new burials “of people killed by them.”
“Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown,” the council said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Mariupol’s capture is critical for Russia because it would allow its forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive.
Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine. Russia has recognized the independenceof two rebel-held areas of the region.
Although it’s not certain when Russia will launch the full-scale campaign, a regional Ukrainian official said Friday that seven people died and 27 were injured after Russian forces opened fire on buses carrying civilians in the village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are working to establish the circumstances of the attack, Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesman for the regional prosecutor’s office, told Ukraine’s Suspilne news website.
Chubenko said that Ukrainian authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected “violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.” The claims of an attack on civilian buses could not be independently verified.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday that Russian strikes in the Kharkiv region “liquidated a squad of mercenaries from a Polish private military company” of up to 30 people and “liberated” an iron and steel factor in Mariupol from “Ukrainian nationalists.” The claims could not be independently verified.
On Thursday, the Defense Ministry explained the damage to Russia’s Black Sea flagship by a fire had caused ammunition stowed on board to detonate. In addition to the cruise missiles, the warship also had air-defense missiles and other guns.
The ministry did not say what might have caused the blaze but reported that the “main missile weapons” were not damaged and the crew, which usually numbers about 500, abandoned the vessel. It wasn’t clear if there were any casualties.
Maksym Marchenko, the governor of Ukraine’s Black Sea region of Odesa, said Ukrainian forces struck the Moskva with two Neptune missiles and caused “serious damage.” The Neptune is an anti-ship missile that was recently developed by Ukraine based on an earlier Soviet design.
The missile’s launchers are mounted on trucks stationed near the coast, and, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, can hit targets up to 280 kilometers (175 miles) away. That would have put the Moskva within range, based on where the ship was when the fire began.
Launched as the Slava in 1979, the cruiser saw service in the Cold War and during conflicts in Georgia and Syria, and helped conduct peacetime scientific research with the United States. During the Cold War, it carried nuclear weapons.
British defense officials said the Moskva’s loss would likely force Moscow to change how its naval forces operate in the Black Sea. In a social media post Friday, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said the ship, which returned to operational service last year after a major refit, “served a key role as both a command vessel and air defense node.”
Other Russian ships in the northern Black Sea moved farther south after the Moskva incident, a senior U.S. defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal military assessments.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and has lsuffered thousands of military casualties. The conflict has killed untold numbers of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions more to flee.
It has also further inflated prices at grocery stores and gasoline pumps, while dragging on the global economy. The head of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday that the war helped push the organization to downgrade economic forecasts for 143 countries.
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Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/zelenskyy-hails-ukrainians-resolve-50-days-into-invasion/ | 2022-04-15T11:17:56 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/zelenskyy-hails-ukrainians-resolve-50-days-into-invasion/ |
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — One of Oakland’s all-time greats is still waiting for the number retirement ceremony he was promised.
Right-hander Dave Stewart, now 65, found out in August 2019 the club planned to retire his No. 34 jersey, then it didn’t happen during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season or last year.
The former World Series MVP and four-time 20-game winner posted on his Twitter account this week some apparent frustration with his hometown team.
“I have no idea what the A’s are doing. At this point they can just retire the number with no celebration as far as I’m concerned,” Stewart wrote. “Come to the park and it will be on display with the other retired numbers. If you find out something before I do, please let me know?”
The A’s said they plan to announce next week during the club’s season-opening homestand a date to honor Stewart but hadn’t done so previously because the schedule was in flux with the lockout. Oakland also wants to bring in some other former players to help celebrate.
The A’s also plan to honor the 1972 World Series team and commemorate the club’s 20-game winning streak from 2002.
Stewart spent two stints with the A’s, also wearing No. 35 in his second time with the team in 1995. Rollie Fingers also wore 34 and it is one of five retired numbers by the A’s, along with Dennis Eckersley, Rickey Henderson, Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson. Stewart will be the sixth.
Over a 16-year big league career with five clubs, “Stew” had a 168-129 record and 3.95 ERA with 19 saves over 523 appearances and 348 starts.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/tag/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/dave-stewart-still-waiting-for-number-to-be-retired-by-as/ | 2022-04-15T11:18:03 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/dave-stewart-still-waiting-for-number-to-be-retired-by-as/ |
NAYTAHWAUSH, Minn. (AP) — Authorities have released dashcam video showing a sheriff’s deputy in northwestern Minnesota shooting and wounding a woman.
Minnesota Public Radio reported Thursday that Mahnomen County. Sheriff Josh Guenther said he released the video of the March 13 incident near Naytahwaush in response to social media posts accusing Deputy Dakota Czerny of attempted murder.
The incident began when Czerny tried to make a traffic stop and the vehicle fled. A pursuit ensued and Czerny forced the vehicle off the road.
The video shows Czerny handcuffing someone outside the vehicle. Another person standing next to the vehicle, later identified as 20-year-old Shequoya Basswood, appears to point a handgun at the deputy. He tells her to drop the gun and then shoots her. Basswood was hit several times but survived.
Basswood told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that she was trying to remove the gun from her shirt when Czerny shot her.
State investigators are reviewing the incident. | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/authorities-release-video-of-deputy-shooting-in-nw-minnesota/ | 2022-04-15T11:19:15 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/authorities-release-video-of-deputy-shooting-in-nw-minnesota/ |
Nothing adds to the excitement of a sports match more than laying some bets. And then again, nothing is more frustrating than looking for the best online sportsbooks when the game is about to start.
So, we decided to narrow down your choice to the top online sportsbooks that provide the hottest, most competitive odds right now.
Each online betting site featured in this article has been thoroughly vetted for bonuses, sports market coverage, horse racing options, and most importantly — the value of odds on display.
Let’s get started and see what they all have to offer.
Best Sportsbooks Online:
- Bovada: Best online sportsbook overall
- BetOnline: Best for sports market variety
- MyBookie: Best for proposition betting
- EveryGame: Best for sports bonuses
- SportsBetting.ag: Best esports betting options
1. Bovada – Best Sports Betting Site Overall
Pros:
- 30+ sports betting markets
- Prop builder for creating easy proposition bets
- Up to $750 sports bonus
- All-around gambling site with casino and poker room
- Robust racebook with 30+ global racetracks
Cons:
- Dual betting lines not suitable for sharps
- Lacks reload bonuses
Bovada has been a go-to destination for sports bettors for over a decade. This online sportsbook provides a full-blown gambling experience for all your betting desires with an all-out casino with slots and live dealer games, a poker room, horse racing, and of course — exceptional sports coverage.
Sports Bonuses & Free Bets: 4.7/5
Bovada offers two welcome bonuses for both regular and crypto deposits; both featuring low playthrough requirements that’ll give you a real chance of cashing out your bonus winnings.
The most valuable deposit match bonus is Bovada’s Bitcoin sports welcome offer, providing a 75% up to $750 match bonus when you deposit using any of the available cryptocurrencies.
This promotion comes with a much lower wagering requirement compared to most online sports betting sites; just 5x on sports and horses. You can claim this welcome bonus by using the code BTCSWB750 on your first deposit.
Bovada’s non-crypto sports welcome bonus provides a 50% match up to $250 with a 5x rollover on sports and horses. This one is redeemable by selecting the promotion when making your first deposit.
Bovada also offers a Reward Points loyalty program for ongoing players that consists of six different status tiers, from Rookie to Hall of Fame.
As you bet on sports or engage in other activities at the casino, you will collect points that can be exchanged for bonus cash later on. The higher your tier level, the lower the exchange rate from points to cash.
Finally, if you refer friends to the site, you can score up to $200 in bonus funds, with an additional $75 if they deposit using Bitcoin. Other than that, we didn’t find as many reload bonuses as we expected, but the sheer value and low playthrough of the welcome bonus are just unmatched.
Banking Options: 4.7/5
This online sports betting site provides the most common deposit methods like credit cards and cryptocurrencies, in addition to Zelle, MatchPay, and vouchers.
Withdrawal options include check by courier and several cryptocurrencies, including BitcoinCash and Litecoin. When payouts are claimed via Bitcoin, the winnings are usually delivered within an hour or less, which is much quicker than most sports betting sites.
Sports Market Range: 4.9/5
Bovada offers over 30 sports markets to wager on, covering all the major leagues and sports like the NFL, NHL, boxing, college football, and soccer, in addition to less popular betting options like beach volleyball, and badminton.
There are also non-sport options, including random current events, politics, and entertainment award shows. They even have dedicated sections for Star Wars and Marvel fans, so yeah, you could say Bovada goes all-out to satisfy literally all types of bettors.
This highly rated online sports betting site also features a dedicated “Horses” section on their site to bet on 30+ race tracks worldwide.
The single thing we didn’t like here was the dual lines that sports sharps might come across, preventing them from making quick profits. But then again, nearly all top online sportsbooks protect themselves this way. Other than that, the betting odds are great and valuable.
Prop Bet Options: 5/5
One of the primary reasons we ranked Bovada as the best online betting site is because of its dedicated props builder feature, in addition to offering more prop options than most other betting sites online.
With this organized props builder, you will get a full breakdown of all proposition bets available and add each of your choices to your betting slip within seconds. While many sportsbooks offer just a handful of props, here you will find dozens of them, sometimes surpassing 200 options for a single game.
Misc: 5/5
Bovada’s casino section sports over 200 games with over 120 slots and 30 live dealer tables. In addition, they have a poker room with anonymous seating for both cash games and tournaments alike.
The poker tournament options include Jackpot Sit-and-Go, Turbo, Knockouts, and GTD (guaranteed) Tournaments up to $1.5 million.
2. BetOnline – Best Range of Betting Markets of any Online Sportsbook
Pros:
- Over 30 betting markets
- Operating for nearly 20 years
- 19 banking options
- Early betting lines
- Good esports coverage
Cons:
- Prop bet section is confusing and lacks organization
- Credit card fees for deposits
Considered one of the best sportsbooks in the sports betting world currently available, BetOnline launched its sports betting website in 2004. This online sportsbook offers nearly 20 different banking methods, many sports and activities to bet on (often with early lines), and many options for props.
Both the browser and mobile site are easy to navigate with a sharp user interface, and they even have a handy “live” button on their mobile site to check out the in-progress events quickly.
Sports Bonuses & Free Bets: 4.8/5
BetOnline welcomes new players with a 50% sports welcome bonus for up to $1,000 on the first-ever deposit with a rollover of 10x. To claim this bonus, enter the promo code BOL1000 in the cashier when making your deposit.
This online sports betting site also features a crypto sports welcome promo worth 100% up to $1,000 with a 14x playthrough. Enter the code CRYPTO100 and deposit with any of the available cryptocurrencies to claim it.
There’s also a 25% sports reload bonus on every deposit of $50 or more with a match up to $250. To claim this bonus, enter LIFEBONUS during the deposit process.
And when you deposit a minimum of $20 and use the code CRYPTO35, you’ll get a 35% crypto reload bonus for up to $350.
Banking Options: 4.5/5
Bovada offers over a dozen banking methods for depositing funds, including credit cards, wire transfers, Money Orders, Bitcoin, and many other crypto options.
Unfortunately, they do charge processing fees (7.5%) for credit card deposits, so you’re definitely better off depositing crypto.
You can withdraw your winnings via check by mail, money orders, a wire transfer, and 10 different cryptocurrencies. When you use bitcoin, there are no withdrawal fees.
Sports Market Range: 5/5
With over 30 sports markets to bet on, in addition to a racebook, casino, and poker room — BetOnline is the best online sportsbook for market variety. Whether betting on a mainstream NFL game or a snooker competition, BetOnline provides you with a seemingly endless amount of sports betting options.
What’s more, sports bettors can enjoy betting on international sports, like basketball in Turkey or Argentina. They also offer nearly all the leagues of professional sports, such as AHL hockey, in addition to some of the most unique non-sporting futures bets we’ve seen, like if Will Smith will be at future Oscars along with betting on the New York Lottery.
The eSports coverage is also up to scratch, and you’ll have the chance to lay some bets on the world’s most popular competitive games.
Prop Bet Options: 4/5
BetOnline does offer a props builder, but it is not as well-organized as the ones offered by other online sportsbooks. You can find their builder under “Player Props” in their sports menu.
That said, BetOnline offers more props than the average online sports betting website, but a few more options would boost this impressive site even more. Nonetheless, the usual player and game props like over/under, first point, rebounds (NBA), are all available.
Misc: 5/5
In addition to a near-perfect sportsbook, BetOnline features a casino with over 350 games — just enough to feed your gambling appetite for quite a while. They also have a poker room with an option to download software, available on iOS, PC, and Android, with multiple daily tourneys for some card action.
On another note, sports betting fans will surely appreciate the number of contests BetOnline has for major events, like predicting a UFC card outcome, the March Madness bracket, and the Super Bowl Props Predictor contest. Whatever the time of year — there will be something exciting to bet on.
3. MyBookie – Best Sportsbook for Prop Betting
Pros:
- Innovative prop builder app built into the website
- 10% welcome bonus with 1x playthrough
- A multitude of prop bets on nearly every game
- Odds boosts
Cons:
- Some promotions have higher rollover requirements
- Higher minimum deposit for non-bitcoin users
MyBookie has been active since 2014, and sports bettors flock here primarily because of its vast online sports betting market and prop bet options. In addition, you’ll get to claim a 1x wagering requirement welcome bonus, which is super-valuable.
Sports Bonuses & Free Bets: 4.9/5
New users can claim a 50% sports bonus for up to $1,000 with a 10x rollover. To claim this offer, enter the code MYB50 when depositing for the first time.
If you want to skip the wagering requirements, you can claim a 10% bonus up to $200 with a 1x playthrough requirement by entering the code 200CASH. While 10% isn’t the most valuable match bonus — the extremely low rollover makes it a haven if you’re willing to deposit a bigger amount.
Active players can use the code MYB25 to claim a 25% reload bonus of up to $500 with a 5x playthrough. Other bonus offers include an 8% rebate on horse races for existing customers, and a 200% referral bonus up to $200.
Banking Options: 4.5/5
This online sportsbook offers 8 deposit methods, including credit cards, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Money Gram. We recommend using Bitcoin here as you can get started for as low as $20. If you rely on credit cards, you’ll need to lay down at least $45.
MyBookie’s withdrawal options include eCheck, wire transfers, and cryptocurrencies. Keep in mind that crypto withdrawals might take up to three days, which is on the lower end of processing times.
Sports Market Range: 4.8
Aside from all the major and common leagues like the NBA and NFL, you can place bets on rare sports leagues like the Finnish Elite ice hockey, and even future castings in movies. The odds for all events are fairly competitive as well, and the overall market coverage is perfectly suitable whether you’re looking to bet on popular or niche sports.
There’s also a dedicated horse racing tab, which probably features the highest number of horse tracks out of all other online betting sites on our list — over 50 options worldwide.
Prop Bet Options: 5/5
Many online sportsbooks are starting to offer a dedicated props builder, but only a few feature the innovation and style of MyBookie’s. To locate their builder, click “Applications” in their sports menu on the left side when you log in to navigate to a dedicated page with their built-in app.
This application makes it a breeze for sports bettors to build a props ticket across all markets on a single page.
Misc: 4/5
Gamblers can enjoy a variety of casino games here, including slots with progressive jackpots and live dealers. However, they do not have as wide a variety of live dealer games as the other online sportsbooks mentioned above.
MyBookie also offers a few sports contests, including a weekly Survivor Contest where the winner takes home $100,000.
4. Everygame – Best Bonuses of all Online Sports Betting Sites
Pros:
- Up to $750 sports welcome package
- First-ever online sportsbook
- Competitive odds with overnight lines
- Ongoing bonuses and promotions for sports
Cons:
- Website is a bit glitchy
- Slim entertainment betting options
Everygame initially launched in 1996 as Intertops, and they rebranded to Everygame in late 2021. Not only are they the longest-running online sportsbook, but they also feature some of the best betting odds and reload promotions out of all other online bookmakers.
Sports Bonuses & Free Bets: 5/5
Everygame offers several bonuses and promotions with fair wagering requirements, starting with a 100% welcome bonus up to $250 that you get to claim three times. This bonus arrives with 4x wagering requirements, which is one of the lowest you’ll find.
To claim this offer use the bonus code 3XBOOST250 when opening your betting account and making your first deposit.
Besides the welcome bonus, Everygame also offers ongoing sports bonuses and promotions throughout the year, often centered on major sporting events, with excellent wagering requirements and value.
Sports bettors that follow the NCAA basketball leagues can enjoy the $600 Extra Hoops Parlays promotion, where you can win up to 12 times more on four-fold parlays. In addition, this bookmaker offers risk-free bets on certain leagues.
As each major sport approaches its current season, Everygame releases more of these types of promotions and bonuses with low playthrough terms, so there is always extra fun to look forward to here.
Banking Options: 4.5/5
Everygame offers 9 deposit options, including all the major credit cards, Bitcoin and Litecoin, among other crypto options.
You can get a payout via check by courier, bank transfer, or crypto. The withdrawal time for cryptocurrencies ranges from instant to a day, which — you guessed it — is the quickest time frame on our list of online sports betting sites.
Come to think about it, more banking options would definitely come in handy here.
Sports Market Range: 4/5
Beyond all the major sports and leagues, you will find some niche sports here as well, including darts and cricket.
Aside from major award shows and a few special activities, like betting on the daily close of the Dow Jones, there are not a lot of entertainment options. But they help make up for their slim betting markets by offering some very competitive odds.
If you’re looking for something entirely unusual, we suggest you give Everygame’s stock market betting a shot. This isn’t trading per se, but rather cold betting on specific events.
Prop Bet Options: 3.5/5
This gambling site does not have a fancy props builder like the one at MyBookie, nor do they offer a lot of prop bet variety. However, they do offer a handful of propositions with good odds for many regular-season games.
Misc: 4/5
Everygame has a few sports betting contests, including a monthly $500 Odds Hunter Present. If you enjoy parlays, you should know that each month Everygame rewards the player who had the highest total odds on a single winning parlay ticket with $500 — no string attached. If you’re the type to mix 10+ lines on a single ticket, this is where you do it.
Besides sports betting, Everygame also offers two gambling halls, Casino Red and Casino Classic, with just under 300 casino games in both, including 120+ slots and five tables with live dealers.
Their poker room consists of Omaha and Texas Hold’em variations for cash games and tournaments. The tournament options include wipeout, sit-and-go, bounty tourneys, and a weekly $10,000 GTD, among others.
The one minor quibble we had is that Everygame’s website is glitchy on rare occasions, most commonly during peak hours.
5. SportsBetting.ag: Best eSports Betting Options of all Sportsbooks Online
Pros:
- Odds for 10+ competitive games
- Around 20 banking options
- Up to $1,000 sports welcome bonus
- Stellar casino with over 30 live dealers
Cons:
- Confusing user interface and outdated design
- High minimum deposit
Launched in 2003, this established brand is a popular destination for esports betting enthusiasts and those looking for an all-around gambling platform.
While Sportsbetting.ag’s website is a bit outdated and lacks some organizing, many players prefer to conduct their online betting via the mobile site, which has a friendly user interface that runs smoothly.
Sports Bonuses & Free Bets: 4.3/5
Similar to Everygame — Sportsbetting.ag also relies on offering a long list of promotions with fair terms to attract new customers.
If you deposit $55 or more and use the bonus code SB1000, you stand to claim a 50% sports deposit match up to $1,000 with a modest rollover of 10x. When depositing crypto for the first time, you can claim a 100% sports crypto bonus of up to $1,000 with a 14x rollover by using the code 100CRYPTO.
Once you exhaust these promotions, there’s a 25% reload bonus up to $250 with a 6x rollover, but a minimum deposit of $55 is required. This is good for every additional deposit you make, and you can claim this incentive by entering the code FORLIFE.
Other sports promotions include a $25 risk-free bet, $100 overtime insurance, and reduced NHL juice. The single thing that prevented Sportsbetting.ag from achieving the perfect score here was the high minimum deposit of $55 to claim the welcome bonus.
Banking Options: 5/5
Sportsbetting.ag features around 20 banking methods, with every chance that your preferred one is among the many. For deposits, they accept wire transfers, eChecks, money orders, all the major credit cards, and over a dozen different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and even Shiba Inu.
Payout options include check by courier, wire transfer, Person to Person, and 12 different cryptos, including Litecoin and Cardano.
There are fees on withdrawals for non-crypto users, which vary depending on the method used. Cryptocurrencies are fee-free; even better, if you use Bitcoin to claim your winnings, you will see the funds within just 24 hours.
Sports Market Range: 4/5
This sports betting site doesn’t cover as many sports and events as Bovada or BetOnline, but there’s still plenty to choose from — especially if you’re a recreational bettor.
All the major international sports and leagues are included, as well as some niche sports and activities, such as pool and lacrosse. Additionally, Sportsbetting.ag offers a racebook with all the major tracks and races.
They also offer odds for entertainment events, like awards shows and the Dow Jones. This sportsbook is also one of the few betting sites that allow you to predict the US national average on gas prices.
Prop Bet Options: 4/5
You will find this bookmaker’s prop builder in the top left corner of the site, labeled as “Player Props.” Sportsbetting.ag offers plenty of props for most of the major sports, like football, soccer, hockey, and basketball.
However, they lack consistent prop offerings for some other mainstream sports that many other online sports betting sites provide, like tennis, boxing, and MMA.
Misc: 5/5
Like Bovada, this sports betting site is also a one-stop shop for players. Their additional offerings are quite impressive, including two casino rooms (Casino Red and Black) with a combined over 400 games, consisting of 300-something slots and 34 live dealer tables. They also have specialty games and a poker room.
But what really makes this bookmaker stand out even more — as far as online sports betting goes — is that they offer additional useful tools for players, which is very unique for the sports betting industry.
Sportsbetting.ag offers built-in sportsbook apps that are very beneficial for bettors. These include an odds calculator, sportsbook schedule, sports betting news, and a plethora of betting guides and rules. This section is located in the bottom left-hand corner of their online sportsbook.
How We Ranked the Best Online Betting Sites
Sports Bonuses & Free Bets:
We rate online sportsbook bonuses and promotions by weighing the total number offered and their value. If a sportsbook offers numerous bonuses with high rollover requirements — we do not recommend them. We only consider online sports betting sites that not only provide bonuses for new and active players but also give you an honest chance at meeting the terms.
Banking Options:
We understand that while most bettors are accustomed to using cryptocurrency when gambling at sportsbooks, many appreciate a wide range of regular options, too. So, we rated these sports betting sites on both the number of methods available and other factors, like payout speed.
Sports Market Range:
We studied the markets offered outside of the major ones that all online sports betting sites offer. This includes entertainment options and less popular sports like badminton and snooker. With that, we made sure that all of our recommended online betting sites have enough variety to suit most bettors’ needs.
Prop Bet Offerings:
We understand that many bettors love placing prop wagers, and some sports betting sites are better than others. We only chose the top betting sites that offered a good range of props, as well as a number of options available for each sport or game.
Additional Offerings:
Some gamblers only bet on sports, but we also thought about the others who may need a change of scenery. That said, all of our featured online sports betting sites provide an online casino section you can visit to play slots or table games like blackjack and baccarat.
Guide to the Best Sports Betting Sites
Are Online Sportsbooks Safe?
Online sports betting sites holding a license, boasting all necessary precautions like SSL encryption, and providing fair odds are safe. We used all of those and many other benchmarks to assess the betting sites before featuring them in this article.
What is Proposition Betting?
Props betting is when you make a side wager of a game or event that has nothing to do with the outcome (which team or participant wins). There are hundreds of different types of propositions.
The NFL Super Bowl is the reason these types of wagers are vastly popular, with the first one being made ahead of the Super Bowl XX (1986) on if William “The Refrigerator” Perry would score a touchdown (he did).
What are the Most Popular Prop Bets?
Popular props include which football team will throw the first interception, whether a certain basketball player will go over or under a set number of points, or which team will score the first goal in an NHL game.
The Super Bowl is the most popular sporting event of the year, and this also rings true for prop betting. During this NFL event, there are many fun options available, like betting on the coin toss, what color of sporting drink will be poured on the winning coach, and even options for betting on the halftime performance.
Who Sets the Point-Spread in Online Sportsbooks?
Setting the odds is a complicated process that involves a team of odds compilers and, usually, a head oddsmaker for each sport.
The head oddsmaker is in charge of deciding the final odds of a game or sporting event, and they do this by using elaborate formulas and computer algorithms.
However, there is even more to it. Oddsmakers also know when and in what direction to shift a line based on how the majority of the public is betting.
How do I Choose the Best Sportsbook For Me?
You will need to follow a set of criteria to narrow down the sportsbook perfectly suitable to your needs.
First off, you don’t want a sportsbook that features nonsense odds, so you’ve got to pay the utmost attention to that. Next, you must ensure the sportsbook in question is licensed by a reputable gambling commission.
Based on your preferences, you need to look for a sports betting site with up to scratch sports coverage. If you want to bet on esports, for example, you’ll go with Sportsbetting.ag. If you want an all-in-one experience and serious in-depth sports coverage, you go with Bovada.
Besides these, you will need to follow other criteria like banking options, mobile sports betting experience, as well as brand reputation. If it seems too intimidating, simply choose a sportsbook from our list as we’ve assigned “best for” categories to help you narrow down your most suitable option.
How to Sign Up at Top Online Betting Sites
Since Bovada ranked at the top of our online sportsbook reviews, we are going to take you through the process of joining this sportsbook.
Step 1: Open Bovada.lv
- Click the red “Join” button located in the upper right corner of the site.
- Fill out the registration form; make sure to enter your correct details
- Accept the terms and click “Register”
Step 2: Verify Your Phone Number
- You should receive an SMS code from Bovada within seconds
- Open your phone’s message inbox and enter the 4-digit code on the website
- Once you confirm your number, you should enter a 4-digit PIN that you will use for future deposits
Step 3: Claim a Bonus & Deposit
- Click on your profile icon in the top right corner and hit “Deposit”
- Choose any of the available banking methods
- Fill in your banking details and select a bonus or enter a code
- Enter the amount you wish to deposit and click “Deposit”
- Your funds will arrive within a minute or so, and now you can start betting online
The Best Online Sportsbooks: Final Verdict
The number of online betting sites is beyond count, which is precisely why we’ve put this roundup review together — to help you find the best online sportsbooks without having to spend your time and money.
Our top choice is Bovada; a sportsbook featuring fantastic odds, 30+ sports to bet on, intuitive UI and prop builder, as well as a casino section and a dedicated poker platform. It’s an all-in-one gambling site designed for players of all shapes and sizes.
Some of the few good runners-up include BetOnline and MyBookie, but you can’t go wrong with either of our recommendations, so feel free to make a choice based on your needs.
DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for entertainment purposes only. Gambling comes with its fair share of risks and it’s important to recognize that when using online gambling sites.
While we review different gambling sites, you should check with local laws in your area before gambling online. Also, all gambling sites and our guides are rated 18+ only. We may receive compensation from the sites we recommended in our guides, but our reviews remain independent and reader-supported.
If you have a gambling addiction problem or anyone you know does, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700. In addition, the following free gambling addiction resources can be of help:
- http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/
- http://www.ncpgambling.org/
- http://www.gamblingtherapy.org/
“The news and editorial staffs of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Twincities.com had no role in this post’s preparation.” | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/best-online-sportsbooks/ | 2022-04-15T11:19:21 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/best-online-sportsbooks/ |
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A decommissioned World War II-era destroyer docked near downtown Buffalo in New York was taking on water and listing perilously on Thursday.
Crews were working to keep the USS The Sullivans from sinking at its berth at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, where it had been open for tours. Part of the leaning vessel’s deck had dipped below the waterline by midday.
“We’ve got a committed group down here. We’re not going to give up the ship and failure is not an option,” said park president Paul Marzello.
Marzello said they believe there was a breach on the right side of the hull Wednesday night. He said crews trying to stabilize the 79-year-old vessel are pumping out up to 13,000 gallons (49,210 liters) a minute.
“I think we’ve seen the worst, but I don’t know,” he said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo native, tweeted that state agencies were on site and ready “to help revive this treasure and symbol of perseverance.”
The USS The Sullivans, a National Historic Landmark, was named in honor of the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa. The brothers were killed in action when the USS Juneau was sunk by the Japanese in the South Pacific during World War II.
More than $1 million was raised last year to repair the ship’s breached hull. Crews paused work over the winter and were to resume repairs Monday, Marzello said.
The USS The Sullivans is one of four decommissioned Naval vessels at the park. | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/crews-work-to-save-wwii-destroyer-taking-on-water-in-buffalo/ | 2022-04-15T11:19:28 | 1 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/crews-work-to-save-wwii-destroyer-taking-on-water-in-buffalo/ |
Just east of St. Paul’s Harriet Island Regional Park, an Edina-based developer plans to replace vacant warehouses with at least two new residential buildings along Water Street and Plato Boulevard, a project dubbed Farwell Yards.
Buhl Investors plans 221 units of housing in a new market-rate, mixed residential-commercial building at 150 Water St., as well as 56 to 70 affordable apartments at 115 Plato Boulevard, which sits to the south. On Friday, the St. Paul Planning Commission will review an application from the developer to rezone both properties from “transitional industrial” to “T3 traditional neighborhood,” which would allow 55 feet of building height instead of 50.
The rezoning also would reduce pressure to secure commercial leases on the ground level. In traditional neighborhood zoning districts, unlike “IT” districts, the first floor of a mixed-use building does not need to consist of 50 percent or more non-residential uses. A third property, 102 Water St., would retain its current transitional industrial zoning.
The existing site spans two long-vacant warehouse buildings, a garage with metal pole-barn structures and a vacant varnish plant, which would all be demolished.
A recent staff report to the Planning Commission’s zoning committee noted there is no longer any sanitary sewer capacity in the area west of Wabasha Street, south of the river and north of the bluffs. The city’s Planning and Economic Development and Public Works sewer utility division analyzed upgrade options and are entering a preliminary design phase.
“Permitting for the Farwell Yards construction projects will depend on the progress of these sewer upgrades,” reads the staff report. Otherwise, the rezonings have already won the support of city staff and the zoning committee.
There’s still work to be done, said Buhl spokesman Blois Olson, “assembling the parcels, getting the retail, making sure we get the sewer done. The sewer is critical.”
Buhl Investors has been visible in St. Paul and the east metro.
Peter Deanovic and Buhl Investors purchased the ACVR Warehouse at 106 Water St. in 2019, and despite rent increases, have largely managed to retain many of the artists who have called the old Farwell, Ozmun, Kirk & Co. warehouse their working home.
Buhl Investors, which redeveloped the historic Soap Factory building in Minneapolis, is also adding 125 affordable apartments to historic Amber Union, formerly known as the TIES Building, on the southwest corner of Larpenteur and Snelling Avenue in Falcon Heights.
The 1940s-era Art Deco-style building was used as the headquarters for the Farmers Grain Union Terminal Association, or “GTA,” and its successors for over five decades. The company is now known as CHS Inc., based in Inver Grove Heights. | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/edina-developer-plans-two-residential-buildings-east-of-st-pauls-harriet-island/ | 2022-04-15T11:19:34 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/edina-developer-plans-two-residential-buildings-east-of-st-pauls-harriet-island/ |
By LUIS ANDRES HENAO, HOLLY MEYER and PETER ORSI
Easter’s message of renewal will be especially poignant this year for four U.S. congregations rebounding from disasters.
Their churches were destroyed by a tornado in Kentucky, gutted by a blaze in New York City, shattered when Hurricane Ida hit the Louisiana coast, and filled with smoke and ash by the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history. For the pastors, Easter’s promise of hope couldn’t be more timely.
KENTUCKY
Members of Mayfield First United Methodist Church won’t be celebrating Easter in their 100-year-old sanctuary. They can’t.
A Dec. 10 tornado ripped apart their stately building as it carved a deadly path through the western Kentucky community of about 10,000 people. A demolition crew tore down the rest.
Instead, on Easter Sunday, members will walk into their temporary home, Christ United Methodist Church, to mark the holy day.
“That’s going to be tough,” said the Rev. Joey Reed. He rode out the storm at Mayfield First, wondering if he would live to officiate his daughter’s wedding.
Reed started ministering soon after, encouraging his roughly 100 church members to pivot from suffering to servanthood. Congregants walked through the disaster zone assessing needs, passing out gift cards, helping residents rescue belongings.
“The example of Jesus Christ is the suffering servant,” he said. “When we turn away from our own difficulties … we are able to let go of our own pain for a minute and focus on our neighbor.”
Only in recent weeks – after performing his daughter’s wedding, escaping to a cabin with his wife, mourning the death of their cat – did Reed realize he was still carrying around trauma from the storm.
But there has been hope amid the despair, like the pieces of the church’s baptismal font rescued from a landfill. “We are all about finding those bright spots,” Reed said.
NEW YORK CITY
The Middle Collegiate Church gospel choir swayed to the beat of a live band during a joyful rehearsal at a synagogue that has become their new home.
“It’s Passover and our Jewish friends are exercising the most radical hospitality,” said the Rev. Jacqui Lewis, the church’s senior minister.
Her church was gutted by a fire on Dec. 5, 2020, a grim coda to year of pandemic-related challenges. As the church rebuilds, its congregants were recently welcomed to gather in-person at the East End Temple.
“It was very clear when the tragedy fell on Middle Collegiate Church that we needed to live out our values, open our doors,” said Rabbi Joshua Stanton, who will offer prayer during the church’s Easter celebration.
On Palm Sunday, the choir belted out hymns in preparation for Easter.
“It feels like a miracle, going through the fire and the pandemic worldwide, all that we’ve gone through… to now have a place to call home,” said Joy Lau, a member of the Jerriese Johnson gospel choir.
The multicultural congregation aspires to “take-it-to-the-streets activism.” Members have provided meals to people with AIDS, worked on storm recovery, demonstrated for racial justice and for LGBTQ and women’s rights.
The church’s belfry housed New York’s Liberty Bell, which tolled to mark the country’s birth in 1776 and has rung in remembrance of the 9/11 terror attacks. The bell and the skeletal façade were the only parts of the sanctuary to survive.
Amid the grief of losing their church, Lewis asks parishioners to “worship God with joy” and embrace Easter’s promise of hope.
“For Middle, this is a time of resurrection,” she said.
LOUISIANA
The windows at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic church were blown out, and its ceiling, sacristy and vestibule crumbled after Hurricane Ida blasted ashore in August, hitting the small fishing community of Point-aux-Chenes, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of New Orleans.
Since then, its pastor, the Rev. Rajasekar Karumelnathan, has celebrated Mass in the rectory and under a tent in the parking lot. Attendance dwindled after the storm: from about 80 people who used to attend Sunday services to about 15 now.
Celebrating Christmas under the ruins was especially emotional for the congregation, the pastor said. But he expects a lighter mood for their first, post-Ida Easter service, with its promise of eternal life.
“We have lots of hope,” he said. “Easter strengthens us.”
Parishioner Teddy Neal, who lives a half mile from the church, is still rebuilding his storm-damaged home. He would love to see his church and home restored.
“I see Easter as a new beginning,” said Neal, a truck driver. “I’m pretty much humbled, where it doesn’t matter what the conditions are — as long as I’m present with Jesus during the Eucharist.”
COLORADO
At the charred remains of Bill and Jackie Stephens’ home in Superior, where they raised four kids and made countless memories over 22 years, the daffodils are blooming again.
When he looks at the green shoots and yellow blossoms, Bill Stephens sees rebirth. He also feels grief anew: for the house, the incinerated photos, the beloved yard.
“As a pastor I see this and go, this is an Easter illustration. It’s life out of the death,” Stephens said. “In some ways it’s beautiful, and in other ways it’s the reminder of, dang, we lost a lot.”
The lead pastor at Ascent Community Church in neighboring Louisville and his loved ones are one of 26 families in the congregation who lost their homes Dec. 30 in a wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed 1,084 residences in Denver-area suburbs.
The church itself, a cavernous space inside a former Sam’s Club, was largely spared. The flames wrapped around the building, scorching trees and shrubs. But ash and smoke seeped in through skylights and ventilation shafts, coating everything in sooty charcoal.
Volunteers hauled out everything that wasn’t nailed down to be washed before a building-wide deep clean. Ascent returned in February after two months of worshipping in a hotel ballroom.
In the early days, police used Ascent’s parking lot as a staging area for displaced residents. Thousands showed up and were met by church members, therapy dogs and meals.
Stephens said suffering his own loss positioned him to minister to others. While he stresses that there’s still a long road to recovery, he sees special meaning in Christ’s resurrection this year.
“That Jesus conquered the grave, conquered the sin … and breathed life on Easter Sunday,” Stephens said, “there’s something really powerful about thinking about ours as just a minor version of that.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/for-churches-hit-by-disasters-easter-brings-promise-of-hope/ | 2022-04-15T11:19:40 | 1 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/for-churches-hit-by-disasters-easter-brings-promise-of-hope/ |
Jordan Montgomery said he felt no soreness or stiffness in his left knee when he threw his bullpen Wednesday, so the Yankees left-hander is expecting to make his scheduled start Friday in Baltimore.
“Feeling good, getting better every day,” Montgomery said before Thursday night’s series finale against the Blue Jays at the Stadium. “Pitching I feel nothing. So it’s a blessing.”
Montgomery was hit in the back/side of his left knee in Sunday night’s loss to the Red Sox.
“It’s like a pitcher’s nightmare, but honestly, I’d rather be in my leg than above the hips,” Montgomery said with a laugh.
“I got hit last year against the Astros, I got hit against the Pirates, and they should just call me a pinata,” he continued. “I’ve had worse (like in) Houston last year.”
Still, the knee was swollen and that caused some stiffness, so the Yankees sent him for an MRI and CT scan.
“They just wanted to kind of check on everything and stuff like that. I think Charlie Morton got hit (last year in the playoffs) and then ended up breaking his leg.” Montgomery said. “Yeah, kind of just make sure that didn’t happen.”
Montgomery got hit in the first inning, but managed to stay in the game and complete 3.1 innings. He allowed three earned runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out four.
() | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/jordan-montgomery-feeling-good-getting-better-every-day-after-taking-comebacker-to-knee/ | 2022-04-15T11:19:46 | 1 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/jordan-montgomery-feeling-good-getting-better-every-day-after-taking-comebacker-to-knee/ |
The Saints postponed Thursday night’s game against Indianapolis because of freezing temperatures and high winds in St. Paul. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader May 25 at CHS Field. First pitch is scheduled for 5:07 p.m.
Fans that had tickets for Thursday’s game will receive a ticket voucher equal to the price of the ticket in their account that can be used for any other regular season game in 2022. Those fans that don’t have an online account can exchange their tickets in person at the box office.
The Saints’ next game is scheduled for Friday against Indianapolis at 6:37 p.m. at CHS Field.
The Twins on Thursday added two players to the Saints roster, right-handed pitchers Jake Petricka and Tyler Bashlor, each reinstated from the development list and added to the roster. | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/saints-postpone-thursday-nights-game/ | 2022-04-15T11:19:52 | 1 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/14/saints-postpone-thursday-nights-game/ |
Two people were found dead in an apartment once firefighters extinguished a raging blaze at a Chinatown building early Friday, officials said.
Firefighters responding to a call at the Mulberry Street building around 3:45 a.m. encountered heavy flames on the fifth floor, the deputy assistant chief, John Sarrocco, said.
Both victims were found in an apartment. Their identities weren't immediately clear.
Four other civilians were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, as were two firefighters.
The investigation into the fire is ongoing.
Copyright NBC New York | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/2-dead-in-chinatown-apartment-blaze-6-hurt/3647711/ | 2022-04-15T11:35:15 | 0 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/2-dead-in-chinatown-apartment-blaze-6-hurt/3647711/ |
The White House is hoping to stir up some “egg-citement” when the Easter Egg Roll returns on Monday after a two-year, coronavirus-induced hiatus.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden expect to welcome some 30,000 kids and their adult chaperones for the egg roll, an egg hunt and other activities.
The first lady, who is a teacher, is calling it the “Egg-ucation Roll," aides said, and is turning the South Lawn into a school community with a variety of educational stations.
It's the first Easter Egg Roll to be hosted by the Bidens, who are expected to address the crowd and join in some of the activities, although rain was in Monday's weather forecast.
The COVID-19 pandemic led the White House to cancel the event in 2020 and 2021.
Besides the egg roll and hunt, the all-day event will include a schoolhouse activity area, a reading nook, a talent show, a place to teach children how farmers supply food, a photo-taking station, a physical “egg-ucation” zone with an obstacle course and other exercise stations, and a “cafetorium” where children and their families will learn to make and eat treats.
The “egg-stravaganza” will get a celebrity splash through the participation of “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, singer Ciara and actor-singer Kristin Chenoweth.
U.S. & World
More than two dozen costumed characters will roam the grounds, including Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat, the Racing Presidents mascots for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball, Rosita and Cookie Monster from “Sesame Street” and Snoopy and Charlie Brown, among others.
Military families will be among the 30,000 participants, including crew members of the USS Delaware and their families. The first lady serves as sponsor of the nuclear attack submarine, which the president commissioned during a ceremony this month in Wilmington, Delaware.
Members of the general public received their tickets through an online lottery.
The egg roll will be the largest event to date at the Biden White House and will unfold in five waves beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 6:30 p.m.
Resumption of this Easter tradition is a sign that the White House is opening up again, despite a recent spurt of COVID-19 cases among members of the Cabinet, the White House staff, Vice President Kamala Harris' husband and members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Some of those cases stemmed from the return this month of the Gridiron Club's spring dinner.
Self-guided, public tours of the executive mansion are set to resume on Friday in a limited fashion, after they also were halted in 2020 because of the pandemic.
The White House Easter Egg Roll dates to 1878. | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/easter-egg-roll-returns-after-2-year-covid-induced-hiatus/3647682/ | 2022-04-15T11:35:22 | 0 | https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/easter-egg-roll-returns-after-2-year-covid-induced-hiatus/3647682/ |
KYIV, Ukraine — Unbroken by a Russian blockade and relentless bombardment, the key port of Mariupol is still holding out, a symbol of staunch Ukrainian resistance that has thwarted the Kremlin's invasion plans.
More than six weeks after the Russian siege began, Ukrainian troops are continuing to fight the vastly superior Russian forces in ferocious battles amid the ruins of what once was a bustling city on the Sea of Azov coast.
The Ukrainians' fight against all odds has scuttled Moscow's designs, tying up significant Russian forces and delaying the start of a planned Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine's industrial heartland, Donbas. The Kremlin hopes that an attack in the east could reverse the battlefield fortunes for Russia after a humiliating failure of its attempt to quickly storm the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Mariupol has been a key objective for Russia since the start of its invasion on Feb. 24. Capturing the city would allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014 and deprive Ukraine of a major port and prized industrial assets.
The giant Azovstal steel mill and other industrial plants have been heavily damaged by the ferocious Russian bombardment that has flattened much of Mariupol, indiscriminately hitting homes, hospitals and other public buildings and killing thousands.
The victims include about 300 people killed in last month's Russian airstrike on the Mariupol Drama Theater that was being used as a shelter and had the word “CHILDREN” printed in Russian in huge white letters on the pavement outside to ward off aerial attack.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told The Associated Press that at least 21,000 people were killed in Mariupol with bodies “carpeted through the streets.” He said that the Russians deployed mobile cremation equipment to Mariupol to methodically dispose of the victims' bodies in order to hide the evidence of the massacre and prevent international organizations from documenting "the horror the Russian army is responsible for.”
The discovery of hundreds of bodies of civilians apparently executed by Russian forces in Kyiv's suburbs after the Russian retreat from the area has fueled global outrage and accusations from Ukrainians and the West that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine.
Moscow has deployed fighters from Chechnya, known for their ferocity, to wage street battles in Mariupol. Chechnya’s Moscow-backed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has repeatedly boasted on his messaging app channel about defeating Ukrainians in Mariupol, but the fight has continued.
Boychenko said that several Ukrainian units are still fighting the Russians in Mariupol, including the 36th Marine Brigade, the Azov Regiment, some Interior Ministry troops and border guards.
The Azov Regiment, a seasoned volunteer force that is widely considered one of the country’s most capable units, is defending the mammoth Azovstal steel plant that covers an area of nearly 11 square kilometers (over 4.2 square miles). It has taken advantage of the plant's sprawling network of concrete buildings and underground facilities to repel continuous Russian attacks.
The 36th Marine Brigade was maintaining defensive positions at the Azovmash and Zavod Ilyicha factories until it ran out of supplies and ammunition and made a desperate attempt to break through the Russian blockade earlier this week.
In a post on the brigade's Facebook page, one of its officers described the unit's heroic resistance, saying that “for more than a month, the marines have been fighting without replenishing amunition, food and water supplies.” “The wounded accounted for nearly a half of the brigade's strength, but those who still had their limbs and were capable of walking reported back to duty," the post said.
Boychenko said that some of the marines managed to join the Azov regiment, while others were captured by the Russians. He didn't give any numbers.
The Russian military said Thursday that a total of 1,160 Ukrainian marines surrendered this week, a claim that couldn't be independently verified.
As the Ukrainian troops continue to offer fierce resistance in Mariupol, fears have grown that the exasperated Russians could resort to chemical weapons to deal with the remaining pockets of resistance at the Azovstal plant and other areas of the city.
Eduard Basurin, a Russia-allied separatist official in eastern Ukraine, appeared to call for that Monday, telling Russian state TV that the Russia-backed forces should block all the exits out of the factory and then "use chemical troops to smoke them out of there.” He later said that no chemical weapons were used.
The Azov Regiment claimed Monday, without providing evidence, that a drone had dropped a poisonous substance on its positions but inflicted no serious injuries. A Ukrainian defense official said the attack possibly involved phosphorus munitions.
Boychenko said that an estimated 120,000 of Mariupol's pre-war population of about 450,000 remain in the city.
Ukrainian authorities have said that the Russians have blocked humanitarian convoys from reaching Mariupol, keeping it without food, water and power since the siege started. The Russian troops have turned back buses sent to evacuate residents, but about 150,000 have been able to flee the city in their own vehicles.
Boychenko said that at least 33,500, and, possibly, up to 50,000 Mariupol residents have been taken to “filtration camps” in the separatist-controlled east before being forcibly sent to distant, economically depressed areas in Russia.
Mariupol has seen communications cut since the start of the siege, and as the Russians moved to capture sections of the city they launched radio broadcasts to brainwash the population.
“They unleashed propaganda, telling people that Kyiv and other cities have been captured and they have been abandoned,” Boychenko said.
The continuing fighting in Mariupol has forced the Russian military to keep a significant number of troops in the city, delaying the start of the planned new offensive in eastern Ukraine.
“As long as the street fighting is going on, Russia can't remove troops from Mariupol and deploy them to other areas, including Donbas,” Oleh Zhdanov, an independent military expert, told the AP.
“The Ukrainian troops in Mariupol are still fulfilling their main task by diverting the Russian forces from other areas. Mariupol remains a major symbol of the Ukrainian resistance." | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/mariupol-ukraine-war/507-8311964e-0af6-4ae3-8a85-f35ff45e34a4 | 2022-04-15T11:38:36 | 1 | https://www.kgw.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/mariupol-ukraine-war/507-8311964e-0af6-4ae3-8a85-f35ff45e34a4 |
A damaged Russian warship sinks as it was being towed to a Black Sea port. Are the sanctions imposed on Russia working? Elon Musk launches a hostile $43 billion takeover attempt of Twitter.
Copyright 2022 NPR
A damaged Russian warship sinks as it was being towed to a Black Sea port. Are the sanctions imposed on Russia working? Elon Musk launches a hostile $43 billion takeover attempt of Twitter.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.mainepublic.org/2022-04-15/news-brief-moskva-sinks-impact-of-sanctions-musks-twitter-bid | 2022-04-15T11:38:44 | 1 | https://www.mainepublic.org/2022-04-15/news-brief-moskva-sinks-impact-of-sanctions-musks-twitter-bid |
They spent three years combing Louisiana's swampy woods with drones, cameras and audio recorders. They've got grainy photos and eyewitness accounts. The bird hasn't been definitively seen since 1944.
Copyright 2022 NPR
They spent three years combing Louisiana's swampy woods with drones, cameras and audio recorders. They've got grainy photos and eyewitness accounts. The bird hasn't been definitively seen since 1944.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.mainepublic.org/2022-04-15/the-ivory-billed-woodpecker-is-not-extinct-researchers-claim | 2022-04-15T11:38:50 | 1 | https://www.mainepublic.org/2022-04-15/the-ivory-billed-woodpecker-is-not-extinct-researchers-claim |
After Russia's lead warship in the Black Sea sank, NPR's Leila Fadel speaks to retired Adm. James Foggo about the impact on Russian dominance in the Black Sea and the war in Ukraine.
Copyright 2022 NPR
After Russia's lead warship in the Black Sea sank, NPR's Leila Fadel speaks to retired Adm. James Foggo about the impact on Russian dominance in the Black Sea and the war in Ukraine.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.mainepublic.org/2022-04-15/the-pentagon-cant-confirm-yet-how-the-russian-ship-moskva-was-destroyed | 2022-04-15T11:38:56 | 1 | https://www.mainepublic.org/2022-04-15/the-pentagon-cant-confirm-yet-how-the-russian-ship-moskva-was-destroyed |
Countries in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia are counting more cases of vaccine-derived polio. Researchers are developing a new vaccine to try to end the spread of the wild type of virus.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Countries in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia are counting more cases of vaccine-derived polio. Researchers are developing a new vaccine to try to end the spread of the wild type of virus.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.mainepublic.org/2022-04-15/the-world-health-organization-approves-a-new-polio-vaccine-for-emergency-use | 2022-04-15T11:39:02 | 1 | https://www.mainepublic.org/2022-04-15/the-world-health-organization-approves-a-new-polio-vaccine-for-emergency-use |
Nearly two years after George Floyd's murder under the knee of a police officer, his brother Terrence Floyd is still fighting for justice and police reform.
"[Police reform] is changing, but it's not changing at a rapid pace," says Terrence. "But it's changing. Nothing in the physical form will change until you change your mindset."
And in the fight to get justice for his brother's murder, Terrence has turned to the unlikeliest corners to do just that: NFTs — or non-fungible tokens. An NFT is a piece of code that renders itself as art and that has a unique "bar code," or token, on the blockchain, a decentralized record-keeping system with a shared public record. Owning an NFT is a bit like owning the original of a collectible such as a baseball card.
Terrence Floyd, founder of the nonprofit We Are Floyd Org — an organization creating initiatives to help communities deal with mental health issues, poverty and social injustice — is working with Confront Art to release 9,000 NFTs on mintNFT.com in honor of Justice Day, which is April 15.
The proceeds from the project will go to three charities: the Breonna Taylor Foundation, the John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation and We Are Floyd Org.
In addition, the charity campaign will partner with the families of the late Rep. John Lewis, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, along with participation from Grammy Award-winning singer and former TV host Dionne Warwick.
I am excited to announce the charity NFT project #SEEINJUSTICE with @ConfrontArt to support and raise funds for @wearefloyd_, the Breonna Taylor Foundation, and John Lewis Foundation. This will be available on @mintnftofficial on 4/15. Okay…goodnight 🥰
— Dionne Warwick (@dionnewarwick) April 4, 2022
"I certainly support this project," says Warwick. "There are many people I know that this will benefit. And it will be something that's an approachable way for people to get involved."
Its goal is to inspire others to co-create artwork
As the campaign gears up for its launch, organizers say they're aiming to celebrate and support diverse emerging NFT artists and their work while also helping the charities.
"We are constantly looking for innovative ways to support artists and charities," said Confront Art co-founders Andrew Cohen and Lindsay Eshelman in a news release. "We are excited to bring together entertainment legends and emerging artists alike for a major movement for social justice and charity in the metaverse."
"I hope that this message will reach enough people to have them participate in this — and that is vitally important," Warwick says of the NFT charity campaign. "We must raise these funds."
According to the organizers, the NFT campaign is an extension of Confront Art's "SEEINJUSTICE" series, which debuted sculptures of Lewis, Taylor and Floyd by artist Chris Carnabuci.
The sculptures were installed in New York City's Union Square last year in the wake of the country's racial unrest in the summer of 2020.
"My brother's death was a catalyst for change," Terrence Floyd said in a news release. "[However], we cannot let that change and that momentum slow."
A racial divide in the country
With the U.S. approaching the two-year anniversary of Floyd's murder, his brother said in the news release that there's still tension and division among Americans when it comes to racial injustice:
There is still a huge divide in this country. ... If we can start on a community level, creating educational opportunities and safe spaces for the youth to gather and learn, then we can create change and hope where there once was a void."
In February, a federal jury found three former Minneapolis police officers, Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao, guilty of violating Floyd's civil rights.
The three each faced federal civil rights charges over their conduct on May 25, 2020, when they joined Derek Chauvin in holding 46-year-old Floyd to the ground for about nine minutes as they kept bystanders away.
All three were charged with willfully and without due process depriving Floyd of his right to liberty. The statutory maximum sentence for violating Floyd's civil rights resulting in his death is life in prison.
A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
Since Floyd's murder, a series of high-profile judicial decisions have been made in other police brutality cases involving Black people.
In mid-February, Kim Potter, the former police officer convicted of manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright, was sentenced to two years in state custody, with 16 months to be served in prison and the rest on supervised release.
And in March, former Louisville, Ky., police officer Brett Hankinson, who was involved in the deadly raid on 26-year-old Breonna Taylor's apartment, was found not guilty. Hankinson was the only officer involved in the raid to face charges.
As the country continues to tackle the issue of racial equity, Warwick emphasizes that individuals need to be on the same page in order to fight injustice.
"Conversations, I think, are truly the key," says Warwick. "Getting [people] to be able to understand, first of all, each other, is important."
NFTs are a gift that will last over time
Hype surrounding cryptocurrency and NFTs is on the rise. From drawings to photos and even music, much of the hype is simply about the concept of using tech to sell art digitally.
"Remember those days [when] people would line up for the newest Nike Air Jordan sneakers at the physical store? This is the new digital equivalent," Katie Haun, a general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, told NPR last year.
"It's everything that brings together culture, and it's also a bet on the future of e-commerce," Haun added.
But when it comes to NFTs, some are on the fence regarding the safety, viability and ethics of cryptocurrency.
"For people who participate in the NFT space as purchasers (and even issuers), there needs to be a fairly healthy dose of diligence," says Tim Nielsen, an attorney and the founder of Cloutchain, a fan engagement and social platform.
Nielsen says though there's some skepticism surrounding NFTs and cryptocurrency when it comes to philanthropy, the benefits outweigh the risks.
"One interesting thing about blockchain technology is that the transactions are all publicly traceable," he says. "These are risks that have some counterbalances and positives."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-04-15/9-000-digital-art-nfts-are-being-released-to-raise-funds-in-george-floyds-memory | 2022-04-15T11:39:08 | 1 | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-04-15/9-000-digital-art-nfts-are-being-released-to-raise-funds-in-george-floyds-memory |
Federal agencies are beginning to hand out billions of dollars in infrastructure spending, the largest investment ever made in the country's water system. Much of it will go to improving pipes, drains and stormwater systems. But some scientists and urban planners are pushing to fund projects that are better adapted to the changing climate.
Instead of just gray infrastructure, supporters say the answer is green.
Green infrastructure, whether it's large rain gardens or plants along a street median, has the same purpose as big storm sewers: to manage large amounts of water that can build up during heavy rains. Plants and soil absorb and slow runoff from rainstorms, while a stormwater drain captures water that runs down a street gutter and diverts it underground into pipes.
On a hotter planet, storms are getting more intense, and rainfall is often heavier. Flooding is on the rise in many cities. Stormwater systems are being increasingly overwhelmed by extreme rainfall. In the Northeast, the heaviest storms produce 55% more rain today compared to 1958. Last year, dozens of people drowned there when the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded basements, streets and cars.
Still, most cities face major backlogs in maintaining the aging gray infrastructure they already have, amounting to billions of dollars nationwide. In the rush to secure federal funding to fill that void, some worry that green infrastructure will be left by the wayside.
"What good is a pristine road that's flooded?" says Marccus Hendricks, assistant professor of urban studies and planning at the University of Maryland. "Elevating the priority of green infrastructure and stormwater systems is critical."
How rain gardens help stormwater systems in storms
Downtown Oakland, like a lot of major cities, is mostly a hardscape of concrete. Still, on one block, the sidewalk is lined with a long strip of native California plants.
"I feel so great looking at this," says Joshua Bradt, a project manager for the San Francisco Estuary Partnership. "I love that the plants are alive. They seem to be thriving."
Bradt helped bring this rain garden to life, part of a $4 million dollar project to add green infrastructure to a major thoroughfare in the east San Francisco Bay Area.
When rain storms hit, the water is funneled into the rain garden from the street and sidewalk. As it soaks into the soil, it prevents that water from rushing to the stormwater drain on the corner.
In big storms, that alleviates the pressure on the stormwater system, since those drains and pipes can only handle so much water at once based on their size. When storm drains are overwhelmed, water pools in the street and can inundate buildings.
Bradt says even small rain gardens can make a difference in slowing the runoff that causes flooding. They also have the added benefit of filtering runoff to improve water quality.
Cities struggle to get green infrastructure built
Green infrastructure can also help when it's not raining. Summer heat waves are often more dangerous in cities, because concrete absorbs and radiates heat in what's known as the "urban heat island" effect. Plants and parks can provide much needed cooling.
"If they were on every corner, it would make a tremendous difference," Bradt says. "The reality is that a lot of city departments are already overwhelmed, and this is a hard ask."
While both gray and green infrastructure require upfront funding for construction, green infrastructure also requires ongoing maintenance to keep the plants healthy and clean up litter. Even if cities can secure funds to build the projects, maintenance generally isn't included. They face adding that to their annual budget, which can turn out to be a hurdle for doing green infrastructure.
In addition, the most cost-effective time to build green infrastructure projects is when cities are already doing road or construction work. But because the projects are often managed by different departments, coordination doesn't happen.
"It's becoming more standardized and definitely more accepted," Bradt says. "However, I will say there just is not yet a mass movement towards this, because of how institutionalized and siloed infrastructure management and investment is."
Bigger storms are already overwhelming cities
Whether cities spend on gray or green infrastructure, a hotter climate is adding huge costs to their budgets.
"Our challenge with climate change is that we're seeing these big events," says Lauren McPhillips, a water engineering professor at Penn State University. "We're seeing massive amounts of water that we need to be able to control."
Across the U.S., millions of miles of pipes and stormwater infrastructure stretch below city streets. Most are decades-old, designed for the storms of last century.
Even today, cities lack updated rainfall data that reflects how storms are getting more intense. That means they're still building new projects without climate change in mind.
Federal officials with the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration say the agency hopes to begin the process of creating new rainfall forecasts next year. Still, that information isn't likely to be ready in time for cities to use it for the new wave of federally funded infrastructure projects.
Planning for heavier downpours means building larger stormwater systems, but replacing miles of pipes and upsizing existing infrastructure is far more expensive than cities can afford. Experts say green infrastructure can reduce the need to replace as much gray infrastructure. If rain gardens absorb some of the runoff, stormwater pipes don't need to be as large.
That makes green infrastructure potentially more cost-effective. A New York City study looked at using a combination of gray and green infrastructure in one neighborhood in Queens and found that using gray infrastructure alone would be twice as expensive.
Still, a handful of rain gardens won't be enough to prevent flooding, experts warn.
"The challenge is that we need this at scale," McPhillips says. "And especially in these older cities that have built out a lot of hard surface and have gotten rid of the ability for soils to naturally soak in rain, we have a lot to get back to correct for those issues."
Flooding is especially problematic in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, which generally have fewer parks and where the infrastructure is often more neglected
"The fact that the majority of communities of color lack sufficient green space compared to their white majority counterparts – that is still a problem," says Fushcia-Ann Hoover, who works on green infrastructure at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "And so I think that green infrastructure does provide a possible solution."
As infrastructure spending begins, green projects could be just a "stepchild"
Over the next five years, the Environmental Protection Agency will give states more than $11 billion for water infrastructure projects through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. In March, the EPA released guidance encouraging those funds be used in disadvantaged communities and that states take climate change into account.
"Most cities think about the green and the gray separately, but really the power is integrating these two things," says Radhika Fox, assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Water.
Still, under guidance from Congress, only 10 percent of the funding must be spent on green infrastructure or water efficiency projects. The last time the government provided a big infusion of infrastructure funds in 2009 the requirement was for 20 percent of projects to be green.
The EPA also emphasized that states have discretion and flexibility to spend the funds as they see fit. The Biden Administration has already gotten pushback from Republicans about encouraging states to consider climate change in spending infrastructure dollars. In February, top Republicans sent a letter encouraging states to ignore similar guidance from the Department of Transportation.
"It does put states in the driver's seat in terms of identifying and working with communities within their borders to find infrastructure projects," Fox says.
The need to repair and upgrade gray infrastructure may take priority over green projects in many communities. In 2020, municipal utilities faced a funding shortfall of $8.5 billion, according to a study from the Water Environment Federation.
"Stormwater systems, green infrastructure and other systems that are tied to the climate crisis have been a stepchild to the types of systems we pay attention to," Hendricks says.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-04-15/green-infrastructure-helps-cities-with-climate-change-so-why-isnt-there-more-of-it | 2022-04-15T11:39:14 | 1 | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-04-15/green-infrastructure-helps-cities-with-climate-change-so-why-isnt-there-more-of-it |
The neurologist said Pam Stevens' cognitive impairment couldn't be treated. After suffering a stroke in 2014, the 85-year-old wasn't responding to medication. She and her husband, Pete Stevens, were told to give up hope.
"On two separate occasions, over a two-year period, the neurologist said there was nothing we could do," said Pete Stevens. "He said 'just take her home and be prepared that she's gonna die.'"
But he refused to accept that grim prognosis. He was willing to try anything — including an experimental video game therapy — to restore Pam's brain.
Combating cognitive decline
After a referral from her psychiatrist, the Stevenses finally made it to Sarah Shizuko Morimoto and her lab at the University of Utah. Morimoto's work focuses on cognitive disorders, especially those related to aging brains such as geriatric depression and mental decline.
"My interest has always been in the intersection between mood and cognition, so how you think affects how you feel," said Morimoto. "I started thinking 'could we enhance the functioning of brain circuits through our eyes instead of our ears?'"
Enter Neurogrow: Morimoto's gardening video game is designed to target and enhance the functioning of neural circuitry. Their hope is that an aging brain, when exposed to the program, would eventually respond better to medication like anti-depressants.
Video games distract, amuse, and inspire. But Morimoto's research asks the question: Can they heal?
More like exercise than play
Neurogrow isn't a blockbuster video game like Call of Duty or Animal Crossing. It has a rudimentary design that eschews cutting-edge graphics and elaborate storytelling for tasks that challenge an aging brain's memory or reaction time. Someone playing Neurogrow might be presented with a specific color flower and be challenged to water it with the correct watering can before time runs out. For a brain unaffected by cognitive impairment, this task would most likely prove easy, but the memorization and timing can be demanding for patients like Pam Stevens.
"When you want a certain part of the brain activated," says Morimoto, "you use something similar to problems in a game. When someone solves a problem, a certain part of the brain lights up. So we started there and gamified those tasks."
According to Morimoto, her team's games aren't supposed to hook you. In fact, Neurogrow isn't much fun at all.
"My games are designed to do something completely different to your brain," she said. "They are not designed so that you want to keep playing or spend more money on it. The things we are asking patients to do are pretty hard and pretty boring, which is exactly the thing that's so hard for them."
It's more exercise regimen than play. When Pete Stevens would drive Pam home after her Neurogrow sessions, he noticed how much it exhausted her.
"There were times when we would not be even a mile away from Morimoto's office, and she'd be asleep in the car," he said. "Other times, she'd make it home but then sleep for four hours. It was an emotional and physical drain."
Very few people thought this would work. They said that there was no way I was going to be able to make a game and get older patients to play it.
But Pam's hard work paid off. After completing several sessions over four months, Pete and her doctors noticed positive changes in Pam's behavior; She was more social, more conversational, and Pete even mentioned that Pam was reading a book on dialectical behavior therapy before our interview call.
Other researchers thought Morimoto was out of her mind. Video games as a treatment for depression? Unheard of, especially in the elderly, whose brains have gone through normal deterioration as a part of aging.
"Very few people thought this would work," said Morimoto. "They said that there was no way I was going to be able to make a game and get older patients to play it."
But the federal government thought otherwise. Morimoto and her team received a $7.5 million grant from the National Mental Health Institute to conduct clinical trials for Neurogrow.
FDA approval for a video game
Neurogrow isn't the only game that claims to treat brain health. EndeavorRx is a video game designed to treat ADHD in children. It looks like a cross between the popular app Subway Surfers and Mario Kart. Developed by Akili Interactive, it became the first-ever video game to receive FDA approval for ADHD treatment in 2020.
While FDA approval seems like the ultimate stamp of approval for a medical product, some researchers are skeptical. Speaking to The Washington Post, Russell Barkley, a clinical psychologist and researcher, called the game a "marketing ploy."
"The effects [of the game] just don't generalize," Barkley said. "You get better at playing the game and anything similar to playing the game."
Rather than improve, for instance, a student's test scores or reading comprehension, these critics say a child using EndeavorRx would only get better at playing games similar to it like the aforementioned Subway Surfers or Temple Run.
But Eddie Martucci, CEO of Akili Interactive, says he can point to tangible results.
"I think the reason there is skepticism, and there's a good reason for it, is that people have been burned by marketing gimmicks, especially in digital health and neuroscience," said Martucci.
"Over time, skepticism has dramatically decreased as we continue to research and show data."
It's not easy deciphering whether or not games like Neurogrow or EndeavorRx work or have long-term benefits. Researchers aren't always keen to divulge their findings, especially if it would reveal game mechanics that could be copied. But without outside verification, it's hard to tell if so-called medical video games have merit.
"We don't get to see the research surrounding it," said Anthony Bean, a clinical psychologist and video game researcher. "Sometimes the data looks muddled when we can see it, but we're also really in the dark with a convenient sample that they have created to verify their game."
But Neurogrow patients like Pam Stevens aren't waiting on independent researchers to give the thumbs up. Neither are investors — Akili Interactive went public and merged with Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp., injecting the EndeavorRx developer with about $412 million in gross proceeds.
Keller Gordon is a columnist for Join The Game. Find him on Twitter: @kelbot_
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-04-15/researchers-explore-an-unlikely-treatment-for-cognitive-disorders-video-games | 2022-04-15T11:39:21 | 0 | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-04-15/researchers-explore-an-unlikely-treatment-for-cognitive-disorders-video-games |
The decision to leave home is not an easy one. Olena Khalina was in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv when the war started. Russian planes dropped bombs right outside her home.
"The sound is something ..." Khalina trails off. "I even cannot find the word. Because it's like super low, and super noisy, and your house is just trembling."
In the Passover story, the Hebrew people leave Egypt with almost no notice. The unleavened matzo symbolizes the fact that bread didn't even have time to rise. Khalina found out about a bus out of town two days before it was leaving. But still, she says, it's impossible to prepare.
"Home is your friends. Home is your family. Home is your job," Khalina says. "But everything that you can take with you is just a backpack or a suitcase. And you should put all your home in it? So it's impossible. And you are leaving everything that is valuable for you."
Khalina is now in Prague, Czech Republic, adjusting to a new country, taking classes, and working. She's also checking in with friends who've fled elsewhere and some who've stayed behind in Ukraine. For Passover, she's traveling to Berlin, to spend the holiday with Ukrainian friends who have landed there.
Jewish refugees are celebrating a holiday about fleeing an abusive military leader while being refugees themselves
Across Europe and across the world, Ukrainian refugees will attend Passover Seders starting tonight. And they'll tell the story of wandering while they're refugees themselves.
There are large Seders planned by refugee groups like HIAS and Jewish groups like Hillel International, as well as countless individuals heeding the Passover call to let all who are hungry come and eat.
The symbolism is not lost on Julia Gris, rabbi of temple Shirat ha-Yam in the Ukrainian city of Odessa. She was in the city of Lviv when the war started and crossed over into Poland on foot, waiting 40 hours at the border in freezing temperatures. Gris is now staying with a congregation in Oldenburg, Germany.
Like Khalina, Gris feels uprooted. "When all your life in one small suitcase," she explains. "Where you have key from the home, but don't have a home anymore. I would not wish to anybody to feel this."
But Gris says Passover is still a time for celebration — whether in a synagogue, a private home or a refugee camp. She'll attend a Seder there in Germany. And she'll lead another Seder via Zoom with the Rabbi of Kyiv for Ukrainians refugees scattered across the world or who may still be sheltering back home. So that together they can stop, tell the ancient story of Passover and step out of time, even if just for a few minutes.
New symbolic foods join the traditional Seder plate items this year
"To eat matzo and bitter herbs, and drink four cups of wine," says Rabbi Gris. "And of course we will share our dreams to better times."
At many Seders, these traditional symbols will be joined by new ones, to draw clear parallels between pharaoh's army and Russian forces: olive branches for peace, beets and sunflowers for Ukraine itself.
Boris and Victoria Fikhtman were away from their native Odessa vacationing in the Carpathian Mountains when the war started in late February. They were unable to return home, so they traveled to Hungary and then to Romania before finally finding refuge in Chișinău, Moldova, through the organization World Jewish Relief. It took several weeks for them to reunite with their 3-year-old daughter, who'd been staying with her grandparents back in Odessa.
The Fikhtmans say their usual Passover celebration in Odessa took place in a five-star hotel, with hundreds of people from the local Jewish community. They're not sure exactly what this year will look like — for Passover, or the days to follow. But they're happy to have been welcomed and to be safe.
"Next year in Jerusalem" is the last line of the traditional Seder. Jerusalem is more than a physical place — it's an idea. The idea that all things will be restored.
From Germany to the Czech Republic to Moldova, these refugees are grateful to everyone who's welcomed them. But these countries are not home, nor are they the promised land. And when asked how they'll end this year's Seder, Olena Khalina, Rabbi Julia Gris and Boris and Victoria Fikhtman said the same thing: next year in Ukraine. In a free, peaceful Ukraine.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-04-15/ukrainian-jews-displaced-by-war-find-passover-especially-poignant-this-year | 2022-04-15T11:39:27 | 1 | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-04-15/ukrainian-jews-displaced-by-war-find-passover-especially-poignant-this-year |
There's great news for curious lookie-loos: Public tours of the White House will resume as early as Friday.
Officials announced that the free tours will initially be available from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, excluding federal holidays. Rules for visiting the presidential work-live manse remain the same. According to the White House:
Public tour requests are scheduled on a first come, first served basis and must be submitted through a Member of Congress and their Congressional Tour Coordinator. Constituents may reach your Member of Congress and Congressional Tour Coordinator through the U.S. House of Representative's Switchboard at 202-225-3121, the U.S. Senate Switchboard at 202-224-3121, or online at www.congress.gov/members.
Would-be visitors will also have to get the timing just right. Requests must be submitted 21 days to three months in advance of the desired visit.
The People's House has been periodically closed to the public through part of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, those who are lucky enough to book a slot can get an IRL look into several rooms in the East Wing of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, including the Blue Room, Red Room and Green Room; the State Dining Room; the China Room; and a view of the White House Rose Garden.
The Secret Service can also be a part of the experience. In addition to keeping an eye on the valuables, it's available to answer questions about the history and architecture of each room.
Here's a bit of what visitors can expect to see:
Blue Room
The Blue Room wasn't a thing until 1837, when President Martin Van Buren — the eighth president of the U.S. — introduced the color blue into the decorating scheme.
Before that, there had been a bit of a kerfuffle over how the large oval room, which later became the inspiration for the design of the Oval Office, should be decorated.
Apparently, President James Monroe wanted to deck out the room in a French Empire style and placed an order for a suite of French mahogany furniture through the American firm Russell and La Farge, with offices in Le Havre, France, according to White House records.
"However, the firm shipped gilded furniture instead, asserting that 'mahogany is not generally admitted into the furniture of a Salon, even at private gentlemen's houses.' "
Red Room
The Red Room was mostly yellow until 1845, when President James K. Polk and first lady Sarah Polk added red- and green-covered rocking chairs, ottomans, armchairs and lounges. That's when it went from being called the Washington Parlor to the Red Room.
In March 1877, it became the scene of President-elect Rutherford B. Hayes' historic swearing-in, which in some ways paralleled the Electoral College vote count of Jan. 6, 2021.
The White House Historical Association states on its website:
"Political tensions ran high after his bitterly contested election over Samuel J. Tilden, so Hayes secretly took the Oath of Office at the White House. Inauguration Day fell on a Sunday that year, and this swearing-in avoided a 24-hour delay in the transfer of power and any perceived danger of a coup."
Green Room
John Quincy Adams, the United States' sixth president, came up with the idea of calling this room the Green Drawing Room sometime between 1825 and 1829, according to the White House.
"The inspiration for the name may have come from Thomas Jefferson's use of the space as a dining room, when he covered the floor with a green-colored canvas for protection."
During its most recent renovation, then-first lady Melania Trump added a portrait of former first lady Edith Roosevelt, wife of President Theodore Roosevelt.
State Dining Room
The State Dining Room has been through some wild makeovers, growing from an intimate space to a cavernous hall that can seat up to 140 guests.
While today's version, most recently revamped by then-first lady Michelle Obama, is calming and elegant, with ivory walls and a muted blue rug, earlier versions included intricate wall paintings and walls in "many shades and textures of yellow and highlighted in silver," according to the White House Historical Association.
President Theodore Roosevelt expanded the dining room and added some personal touches that were very on-brand for the outdoorsman: He hung "a large moose head above the fireplace and placed other game trophies on the natural oak panels," states the association's website.
China Room
This room is entirely dedicated to holding and displaying china used by dozens of U.S. presidents. It was first called the Presidential Collection Room, but in 1917, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, President Woodrow Wilson's second wife, decided to display the growing collection of White House china throughout the room.
The Associated Press reported that first lady Mamie Eisenhower "was instrumental in locating the personal china of Presidents Johnson, Taft, Harding, Coolidge and Hoover to complete the collection."
White House Rose Garden
Yes, it's called the Rose Garden, but countless other blooms are to be found, depending on the season.
While the garden was established in 1913, it was President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy who in 1961 decided to breathe new life into the space.
The White House Historical Association states that the couple was inspired after a state visit to France, England and Austria: "The President had noted that the White House had no garden equal in quality or attractiveness to the gardens that he had seen and in which he had been entertained in Europe. There he had recognized the importance of gardens surrounding an official residence and their appeal to the sensibilities of all people."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-04-15/white-house-tours-are-back | 2022-04-15T11:39:33 | 0 | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-04-15/white-house-tours-are-back |
Spring wildfire season has arrived in Maine, and there have already been almost 50 smaller wildfires this year. Fire dangers will increase as the weather warms. As Wildfire Awareness Week approaches, we'll learn about the causes of increased wildfires in recent years and the links to climate change. We'll also discuss the state's newly implemented free burn permits.
Panelists:
Chief Ken Brilliant, Fire Chief and Emergency Management Agency Director, Brunswick Fire Department
Col. Robby Gross, Chief Forest Ranger, Maine Forest Service
Erin Lane, fire ecologist, U.S. Forest Service; coordinator, USDA Northeast Climate Hub | https://www.mainepublic.org/show/maine-calling/2022-04-15/maine-wildfires-on-the-rise-linked-to-climate-change-and-other-causes | 2022-04-15T11:39:39 | 1 | https://www.mainepublic.org/show/maine-calling/2022-04-15/maine-wildfires-on-the-rise-linked-to-climate-change-and-other-causes |
HOULKA—The New Houlka Board of Aldermen decided not to opt out of the state’s medical marijuana program during their meeting Tuesday, April 5, at Houlka City Hall.
Attendees were: Mayor David Huffman, Alder Lady Kimberly Murphree, Aldermen Dustin Eaton, K. C. Gates, Brad Vance, and Jerry Turner, City Clerk Janie Tutor, and Attorney Kevin Howe.
Also attending the board meeting was Patsy Gregory/CDF. (Chickasaw Development Foundation)
The meeting called to order by Mayor David Huffman at 6:30 p.m.
Aldermen took care of the following items of business. All votes were unanimous unless otherwise noted.
Aldermen:
—Discussed opting out of the medical marijuana business, but took no vote to do so.
Under the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act, state law currently allows medical marijuana to be sold, distributed or cultivated inside Houlka town limits.
The town presently does not have a business that sells medical marijuana.
According to published reports, the State Legislature passed the medical marijuana legislation in January and Gov. Tate Reeves signed it into law.
The legislation allows people with specific medical conditions to get certified by a licensed physician, nurse practicioner or optometrist to get medical cannabis.
If a city or county votes to opt out, residents will be allowed to collect signatures and petition for a referendum to opt back into the program.
—Designated Mayor Huffman (under the direction of the Board of Aldermen) to oversee and administer the Interlocal Agreement between the Town of New Houlka and Chickasaw County, Mississippi.
Under the agreement, Chickasaw County supervisors have agreed to donate $10,000 for construction of a basketball goal in Houlka for use by the general public. No matching funds are required from the town. No location has yet been chosen for the goal, town officials said.
—Heard a Police Department report indicating the new police truck has lights, cage, and other equipment installed. Stripes will be ready within the next two weeks.
—Said the Houlka Volunteer Fire Department has received the Bovay Foundation grant and Fire Chief Derek Earp is currently getting quotes on equipped turn-out suits.
—Heard from CDF Executive Director Patsy Gregory, who discussed CDF’s plans and New Houlka’s involvement. No motion was made.
—Approved a motion to change the employment of Deputy Clerk Deven Moore to full-time and to give him a raise of $1.50 per hour.
—Approved a motion to change the town’s pest control service from Terminix to Pickens Pest Control, Inc. after getting quotes on both companies.
—Approved the agenda as is.
—Approved the minutes of March 1, 2022.
—Approved paying all claims on the April 2022 docket.
—Heard a routine maintenance and water department report.
—Approved a motion to change the time of the board meeting from 6:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
—Approved a motion to recess until the regular board meeting on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. | https://www.djournal.com/chickasaw/houlka-to-stay-with-state-medical-marijuana-program/article_0dd76611-e704-5c90-9cff-92e5b650f132.html | 2022-04-15T11:45:29 | 1 | https://www.djournal.com/chickasaw/houlka-to-stay-with-state-medical-marijuana-program/article_0dd76611-e704-5c90-9cff-92e5b650f132.html |
Food delivery soared during the pandemic shutdowns, and now many of us don't want to give it up. After all, what's easier than sitting on your couch and ordering dinner, then having it show up a half-hour later?
Unfortunately, some people have discovered one shortcoming: restaurants closing early due to staffing shortages, but not alerting their apps or delivery drivers.
Orders online, then wait and wait and wait
Josh Stinson now visits his nearby Subway store in person when he wants his favorite sub sandwich. He says he no longer trusts online ordering after a bad experience.
"I ordered some sandwiches from the Subway app," he said. "They use DoorDash to deliver it."
His Subway receipt shows his 8 p.m. order was "in the works," with a delivery time of 8:41 pm that evening. But he waited and waited and waited.
"They took my order, they took my money, and then about 40 minutes later I get a call from the driver saying they are not open, so there was nothing the driver could do," he said.
Worse, the $30 he spent for two subs and sides was gone, and he found it would take a lot of effort to get it refunded.
"I came into the store on Monday and asked about getting my money back," Stinson said, "but they told me I had to contact corporate, and there was nothing they can do at the store."
Online forums fill with complaints about early closings
It's not just Subway facing this complaint. As Reddit forums are filled with posts about fast food restaurants closing early, and no food waiting for the driver at pickup time.
When you open up a delivery app, you should see all the restaurants near you, along with if they are open or closed or closing soon.
But Stinson says some employees told him that if a franchise closes early, the app might still take an order.
"They told me if they don't log out of their registers, it can accept orders even if they are not even open," he said.
We sent multiple emails and made several calls to Subway's corporate headquarters, but never received a call or message back. The franchise owner did not return our call either.
DoorDash states that if a restaurant is closed, it will pay half the driver's pay for his time lost, but customer refunds are up to the restaurant.
With most restaurants facing staffing shortages, early closings are a lot more common than before.
So you may want to:
- Check closing times before ordering.
- If it is almost closing time, you may want to call.
Stinson says he'll be more careful in the future, and you should too, so you don't waste your money. | https://www.wmar2news.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/food-ordering-surprise-app-takes-order-but-restaurant-is-closed | 2022-04-15T11:45:29 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/food-ordering-surprise-app-takes-order-but-restaurant-is-closed |
BALTIMORE COUNTY — Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski introduced his $4.8 billion budget proposal.
It includes hiring bonuses and recruitment incentives for county police officers.
The proposal also seeks to increase access to public transportation and use about $45 million for parks and recreation. In addition, it includes the largest ever increase in funding for public schools.
Olszewski's proposed education budget is $1.7 billion. That's an increase of $91 million. $96 million would be used for new and renovated school buildings.
The county council still has to review and approve the budget proposal. You can look at the entire proposal here. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/baltimore-county-budget-proposal-includes-largest-funding-for-public-schools | 2022-04-15T11:45:35 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/baltimore-county-budget-proposal-includes-largest-funding-for-public-schools |
BALTIMORE — The price of gas in Maryland is expected to jump this weekend.
As of Friday morning, AAA reports the average price of regular gas in Maryland is about $3.68 and $4.60 for diesel.
Meanwhile, the state's pause on collecting gas tax at the pump ends Saturday night.
As of midnight Sunday morning, the gas tax holiday is officially over.
Many people might prepare by filling up their tanks for the weekend on Friday, to make sure they can take advantage of the tax break while they still can.
The expression every penny counts holds true at the pump. Gas prices shot up across the country after Russia attacked Ukraine at the end of February.
The average price of regular gas in Maryland reached a high of $4.30 cents on March 11th but many gas stations in the area were well above average.
Maryland became the first state in the country to give drivers a break on rising gas prices with a gas tax holiday. It allowed drivers to save 36 cents a gallon on gas but only for a period of 30 days.
Now, the time for that savings is almost up.
It was good while it lasted for some drivers but others wished it could have lasted a while longer.
An effort to extend the gas tax holiday failed to pass the General Assembly on Monday.
Baltimore resident Evelyn Cavanaugh said “I think they need to reconsider the decisions they're making, and also reconsider the effect on families, you know, the ordinary citizens. That's exactly what I think in kind words.”
District 34A Delegate Steve Johnson said “we want to give the public relief. however, it is costing our transportation fund that takes care of highway projects and bridge projects $100 million a month.”
With the gas tax holiday ending, some people might opt for regular instead of premium gas if their car doesn't require high octane.
AAA also recommends slowing down as every five miles faster that people drive over 60 miles per hour is like spending an extra 15 cents a gallon on gas. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/gas-prices-expected-to-jump-as-gas-tax-holiday-ends | 2022-04-15T11:45:41 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/gas-prices-expected-to-jump-as-gas-tax-holiday-ends |
BALTIMORE (WMAR) — Community groups continue to test the water quality of the Back River three weeks after the state took control of the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
Blue Water Baltimore’s harbor waterkeeper said the latest results from their in-house lab showed bacteria levels 180 times higher than Maryland's recreational limit.
“We are deeply concerned about the implications for public health, and we are working with MDE to collect more information about the source of the high bacteria levels,” said Alice Volpitta.
“It’s really hard to put into words just how discouraging it is. You think it’s going in the right direction and we’re being told it’s going in the right direction and that clearly indicates that it’s not,” said Desiree Greaver, project manager with the Back River Restoration Committee.
Mid-March, the Back River Restoration Committee and Blue Water Baltimore found elevated levels of bacteria, as well as floating solids, in the water by the plant’s discharge pipe.
It prompted a state inspection, which found discharge violations, as well as operational and mechanic issues as the plant; such as broken or malfunctioning equipment.
The Maryland Department of the Environment put the Maryland Environmental Service, which is responsible for state-owned plants, in charge of the Back River WWTP.
MDE said the sample is not raw sewage and it could be connected to discharges from past operations and current maintenance activities. The strong odor in both samples is similar to nutrient rich, oxygen-depleted marsh mud.
MDE is seeking to review those samples, saying water quality can deteriorate due to pollution caused by runoff after storm events, trash, debris, or sewage, including sewage overflows.
“While water quality issues can be caused by a range of factors, the Department’s review of WWTP discharge monitoring records show some recent elevated levels of bacteria and solids in recent days. However, they do NOT appear to be at levels that would explain the reported levels for the river. The Department notes that intense and increased maintenance activities at the plant could lead to temporary or sporadic increases in solids in its discharge,” an MDE spokesman wrote in a statement.
The Department is planning to conduct a field study, collect more sediment samples in the river and compare them to the material in the WWTP to better understand and determine the source of the issue.
“Had we not gone out Tuesday, would anyone have let us know what was happening? And I honestly think the answer is no. I honestly think they would never have let anyone know what was going on and we would have been putting our health at risk because they’re not telling us. They’re putting our health at risk actually,” said Greaver.
Greaver went back out Thursday morning to collect more samples after the alarming results. Those results are expected mid-Friday. She wants there to be monitoring mechanisms in place to let people know when the water isn’t safe, especially as it’s getting warmer and people will want to be out on the water.
“We have so many people that could get sick from this. We have people that live on the water. People want to be out on the water. They want to kayak. They want to fish. They want to jet ski. At this rate, we can’t be out there and we have nothing in place to notify residents of water safety,” said Greaver.
Maryland’s most recent water quality assessment report describes historic water quality concerns for Back River, for such issues as suspended solids, low dissolved oxygen, pesticide and PCBs in Back River.
MDE oversees a program in which beaches across the state are monitored for water quality during the summer swimming season and advisories are made public when needed. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/water-quality-concerns-continue-at-the-back-river | 2022-04-15T11:45:47 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/water-quality-concerns-continue-at-the-back-river |
(The Hill) — A man charged in connection to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 who claimed to be following former President Trump’s orders when he entered the building was found guilty on several charges by a jury Thursday.
Dustin Thompson, 38, of Ohio, was found guilty on six charges, including disorderly conduct, theft of government property and obstruction of an official proceeding, according to the Justice Department.
Thompson was among a mob of pro-Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol last year in an attempt to overturn certification of the 2020 election, which they claim was stolen.
During his trial, Thompson asserted he was following “presidential orders” when he went to the Capitol, citing a speech Trump gave in Washington, D.C., earlier in the day, CNN reported. Thompson testified that he felt like he “had to do something to gain his respect, his approval.”
“Besides being ordered by the President to go to the Capitol, I don’t know what I was thinking,” Thompson told the jury, according to CNN. “I was caught up in the moment.”
Other Jan. 6 defendants have also argued that they were encouraged by the former president to breach the Capitol as part of an effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump’s actions leading up to and during the riot are the subject of an investigation by the House Jan. 6 Select Committee.
At his speech before the riot, Trump told supporters to “fight like hell” for him, though the former president has said he meant for rallygoers to do so peacefully.
Ahead of his trial, Thompson had requested the court subpoena Trump to testify in his case.
In the request, his lawyer wrote the former president “orchestrated a carefully crafted plot to call into question the integrity of the 2020 presidential election” and allegedly deceived Thompson into “believing that American democracy was at stake if Congress was permitted to certify the election results.”
According to the Justice Department indictment, Thompson traveled to D.C. from Ohio with his friend, Robert Lyon, to attend the rally. Thompson was pictured inside the Capitol building with a bottle of bourbon and a coat rack that he stole.
Around 6 p.m., law enforcement agents confronted Lyon and Thompson at a nearby intersection while the pair were waiting for an Uber.
Agents instructed Thompson to put the coat rack he had with him down, which Thompson did. When agents moved to detain the pair, Thompson fled.
Lyon did not attempt to flee and complied with the law enforcement agents. Thompson was later arrested on Jan. 25, 2021, in Ohio.
More than 770 people have been charged in connection to the Jan. 6 riot, while more than 250 have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/jan-6-rioter-who-sought-trumps-approval-convicted/ | 2022-04-15T11:46:42 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/jan-6-rioter-who-sought-trumps-approval-convicted/ |
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — She helped him with his costume. Her classmates did, too. Stitch by stitch, the senior at Magic City Acceptance Academy helped her history teacher become a Mardi Gras queen. The occasion was a drag show fundraiser to help the school’s history quiz bowl team attend a competition in Washington, D.C. The fundraiser was a student idea, the school’s principal said, and was successful. The quiz bowl team will head to D.C. next week.
“It was a fun thing,” the senior at MCAA said, although it’s hard for her to remember it that way now. Because now, in the shadow of an Alabama election, she said that the fun event has been “weaponized” in a television advertisement by Tim James, a Republican candidate for governor. The advertisement, which incorrectly labels MCAA as “the first transgender public school in the South,” includes images of the fundraiser the senior had worked to make a success. The images showed staff and students, including the senior, their faces visible.
“I hope he’s ashamed”
The senior at MCAA, who CBS 42 has chosen not to identify by name, was one of the students visible in the ad. She said when she realized she was pictured, her heart sank.
“I didn’t process it immediately,” she said. “My initial reaction was to laugh because it’s such a ridiculous concept to attack a school that’s purpose is to avoid bullying people for something they can’t control.”
The senior, who identifies as queer, said Magic City Acceptance School is one of the best places she’s ever been. The public charter school, which labels itself as an LGBTQ-affirming learning environment, opened last year and serves students from all backgrounds. Transgender students make up less than 10% of the school’s student population, its principal said, and the majority of pupils at MCAA are not members of the LGBTQ community.
The senior wanted to attend MCAA because she’d been bullied at her previous school.
“I was facing a lot of ostracization, bullying, and just meanness directed at me and my friends,” she said. “I became desensitized to it because of how bad it was.”
One afternoon at her previous school, she was waiting to be picked up when a group of boys who had never been friendly threw a noose at her.
“You can go home and use this later,” she remembers them saying.
So when she heard about the opportunity to attend Magic City Acceptance Academy, she hopped on the opportunity. She hoped she’d be able to feel safe without needing to isolate herself.
She got that at MCAA.
“The first day I came here, I went home and cried because of how fantastic it was,” she said.
But now, the senior feels her school has been violated.
Since the release of Tim James’ gubernatorial ad, Magic City Acceptance Academy has increased security. The decision was a prudent one. On one occasion, a car drove by the school and its occupants yelled slurs at students outside the school. On another, a woman approached the school, filming its exterior, with a person waiting in a car nearby. When students noticed her, she ran away.
The senior was there for the second incident. She and her friends were eating lunch outside when the woman approached the school.
“While security was running after her, I pushed my friends to go inside,” she said. “It was a serious situation that could’ve ended in violence.”
She said before Tim James’ ad aired, she’d never felt unsafe at MCAA. Now, while she’s glad the school has increased security, she worried that “there’s still a threat of people coming around.” Her safe place has changed forever.
The senior said she wants the ad to be taken down.
“It’s misinformation, and it’s deplorable to act like being part of a minority group is some shameful thing,” she said. “It’s straight-up lying, and it’s embarrassing for him.”
She said that the advertisement stokes hatred and resentment and that she’s worried it could lead to violence against minorities.
“I hope to God it doesn’t turn violent,” she said, “but I am genuinely afraid that it will.”
At 18, this is the first election cycle in which the senior will be able to vote. She said she won’t be voting for Tim James, and he is unfit to be governor.
She has a message for James.
“I hope he’s ashamed of himself,” she said. “I hope he can learn from this experience. I hope he puts any amount of effort into educating himself, and I hope he can learn to stop attacking people for the sole reason that they are different than him.”
A mother’s story
The senior’s mom is an attorney, Kimberly Fasking. Three of her children attend MCAA.
When she saw the ad, she was sickened.
“I was beyond livid,” Fasking said. “As bad as the ad was — endangering the students and the faculty and staff — they’re specifically targeting my child.”
Like her daughter, she said the ad should be taken down.
“It’s disgusting and it’s ignorant and it’s hateful,” Fasking said. “Mr. James puts himself out there as a Christian, but this is certainly not anything that I think Jesus would approve of. I don’t remember him taunting and mocking people. I don’t remember those stories in the Bible.”
Fasking reached out to the James campaign to demand they pull the ad. In response, the James campaign “obscured” Fasking’s daughter but has continued to run the ads.
In a statement released to media outlets regarding the original ad, Tim James’ campaign doubled down on its claims.
“The principal said that the TV ad scared the children,” the statement said. “What should scare mothers and fathers of these children is what the faculty is doing by presenting this ungodly display through the drag show to which the children were subjected.”
Asked for comment on Fasking’s demands regarding the ad, Elizabeth Jordan, communications director for James, sent a 1,000-word response including a list of questions for Fasking, which can be read in full below.
Kimberly Fasking said the campaign’s response is a reflection of exactly who they are.
“They’re really excellent at being horribly hateful, disgusting people,” she said. “They want to play a semantic game about whether it was actually a cease and desist. Call it whatever you want. I sent them a letter demanding they stop using my child’s image in their hate ad.”
While they’ve obscured Fasking’s daughter’s image, the Tim James campaign has doubled down on their attacks. There’s now another video advertisement, titled “Exploitation,” and radio ads featuring MCAA.
Fasking hopes voters don’t fall for the ad when they head to the polls on May 24.
“Somebody with this much hate in his heart is not fit to lead the state of Alabama,” she said. “He doesn’t want these teachers around my children? I don’t want him around my children.”
In its response to questions about Fasking’s concerns, the James campaign said that if Fasking was “truly concerned about her child, she would remove her from the Magic City Acceptance Academy period.”
“My mom brought me to Magic City Acceptance Academy because she was concerned about me,” the senior said. “If they were concerned about children, they wouldn’t be attacking them. My mother is concerned about me. That’s why she’s keeping me in the school. To keep me safe from other people who, like the Tim James campaign, want me to stay quiet or just stop existing.”
The senior said she hopes that transgender people at MCAA and Alabama are able to stay safe and stay strong through the turmoil the ad has brought about.
“A trans person is a person, and they deserve to be able to live happily and freely,” she said. “They shouldn’t let bigots and attackers of children force them to live authentically or live in fear.” | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/jesus-would-not-approve-targeted-by-an-alabama-political-ad-queer-student-and-mother-share-their-story/ | 2022-04-15T11:46:48 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/jesus-would-not-approve-targeted-by-an-alabama-political-ad-queer-student-and-mother-share-their-story/ |
Detroit Red Wings (29-35-10, fifth in the Atlantic) vs. New York Rangers (48-21-6, second in the Metropolitan)
New York; Saturday, 12:30 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Red Wings visit New York after the Rangers shut out Philadelphia 4-0. Alexandar Georgiev earned the victory in the net for New York after recording 28 saves.
The Rangers are 32-10-2 against conference opponents. New York leads the Eastern Conference with 5.2 assists per game, led by Artemi Panarin averaging 1.0.
The Red Wings are 19-18-5 in conference games. Detroit averages 9.2 penalty minutes per game, the sixth-most in the Eastern Conference. Givani Smith leads the team serving 108 total minutes.
In their last meeting on March 30, New York won 5-4.
TOP PERFORMERS: Panarin has 89 total points for the Rangers, 22 goals and 67 assists. Chris Kreider has six goals over the last 10 games for New York.
Moritz Seider leads the Red Wings with 41 total assists and has 47 points. Jakub Vrana has five goals and three assists over the last 10 games for Detroit.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 7-2-1, averaging 3.3 goals, 5.5 assists, 3.1 penalties and 7.3 penalty minutes while giving up 2.1 goals per game with a .911 save percentage.
Red Wings: 3-4-3, averaging 2.7 goals, 4.3 assists, four penalties and nine penalty minutes while giving up 3.6 goals per game with a .901 save percentage.
INJURIES: Rangers: Tyler Motte: out (upper body).
Red Wings: Givani Smith: out (undisclosed).
------
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. | https://abc7ny.com/sports/new-york-hosts-detroit-after-shutout-victory/11750277/?src=rss | 2022-04-15T11:48:54 | 1 | https://abc7ny.com/sports/new-york-hosts-detroit-after-shutout-victory/11750277/?src=rss |
International celebrities are coming to RI for a chance to win a Portuguese Music Award
Southeastern New England has an abundance of Portuguese culture, from culinary delicacies to the musical styles of fado and pimba.
The International Portuguese Music Awards will celebrate outstanding achievements by artists of Portuguese ancestry at its 10th anniversary show, which makes its Providence debut April 23 at the Providence Performing Arts Center.
Actress Daniela Ruah, who is best known for starring in CBS’ "NCIS: Los Angeles," and Ricardo Farias, host of the late-night talk show "De Cá P’ra Lá" on RTP Açores, will co-host the event.
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Thirteen awards will be up for grabs in categories that include rock, rap and fado. French multi-instrumentalist Cordeone leads the field of nominees with three: Best World Music Performance, for the song “Vamos Ser Felizes”; and both Best Fado Performance and Song Of The Year, for “Bem Estar Interdito.”
While most identified with the accordion, Cordeone also plays piano, classical guitar, Portuguese guitar, drums, bass and Brazilian percussion instruments. During his career, he’s collaborated with the likes of Jah Mason, Turbulence, Big Joe Turner, Michael Pipoquinha, Mario Canonge and Samson Schmidt.
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Other categories include Music Video Of The Year, Best Instrumental Performance, Best Traditional Performance, Best Dance Performance, Best Rap/Hip-Hop Performance, Best Rock Performance and Best "Musica Popular" Performance. While each act has Portuguese roots, nominees hail from nine countries: Canada, Switzerland, Brazil, Cape Verde, Spain, France, Malaysia, the United States and, of course, Portugal.
One standout category is Best New Talent, which is between two nominees: Boston’s Giuliana Amaral and K45, from Stoughton, Massachusetts. Both nominees will perform live, with the panel of judges scattered in the audience. The winner, who will be announced later in the show, will receive a $2,000 cash prize and studio time with the Toronto-based boutique arts and entertainment company MDC Music.
"Our label and management company develops young new artists to help them realize their dreams,” Manuel Da Costa, president of MDC Media Group, said in a press release. “Helping this year’s winner along in their musical journey is something we are very proud to be a part of, and we can’t wait to see this year’s up and coming talent."
In addition to Amaral and K45, soul artist Aurea, “Musica Popular" legend Jorge Ferreira, multi-platinum recording artist Paulo Gonzo, pop duo Calema and Portuguese rock icons Xutos e Pontapés and Delfins will perform.
A sold-out afterparty will follow the awards show at 10 p.m. in the Providence Performing Arts Center’s grand lobby. DJ Melo Musik will be spinning music all night long to celebrate the winners and everyone involved in the ceremony.
If you go ...
What: International Portuguese Music Awards
When: April 23, 7 p.m.
Where: Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset St., Providence
Tickets: $43-$254
Info: ipmaawards.com., (401) 421-2787 | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/04/15/international-portuguese-music-awards-providence-debut-providence-performing-arts-center/9525771002/ | 2022-04-15T11:52:06 | 0 | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/04/15/international-portuguese-music-awards-providence-debut-providence-performing-arts-center/9525771002/ |
Dear Abby: Widow's friend unsettled when mystery man appears
Dear Abby,
A friend of mine lost her husband a couple of years ago. I didn't think she was looking for love or companionship, but all of a sudden she has met a younger man, and I'm concerned. I have observed several red flags, but I'm not sure if I should say something.
She owns a home in a big city and another smaller, very nice one with a view of the lake in a resort town three hours away. This man has posted on his main Facebook page a picture of "his" new cabin. (I don't have any details regarding who else was there.) I looked at his Facebook pictures and saw one of his daughter, who looks to be around 13, along with several pictures of a woman I assume to be his beautiful significant other posing with him and his daughter.
On my friend's birthday, he showed up at her door with a huge bouquet, balloons and all. She called a mutual friend about the flowers and was all giddy. This scenario makes me suspect he's a predator who may start asking her for money. What, if anything, should I do?
— Friend Seeing Signs
If it were me, I'd ask my friend how SHE enjoyed the family party at her lake house — and whether she has seen what this new man in her life has posted about it on his FB. Then, I would tell her how seeing his claim that the place is "his" made you do a double-take. After that, I would simply listen.
Dear Abby,
My mother-in-law, "Gladys," was never a particularly good mother as her kids were growing up. We don't get along very well. She interjects herself into every aspect of my family's life, especially when some sort of crisis happens. Most recently, it concerned the death of my wife's father's second wife. Gladys actually parked her truck in front of ours to prevent us from going over there to give him emotional support.
When she acts like this, my wife refuses to stand up to her. This woman has more than once come between me and my family. How should I confront her and my wife about this? I feel like Gladys had her chance, but now it is my place to call the shots. Please tell me if I am being unreasonable.
— Husband and Dad in Georgia
I don't think you are being unreasonable. I do think you need to have a serious, private conversation with your wife. You both need to learn how to set firm boundaries for her mother. If you need help doing that, consult a marriage counselor. A marriage in which one spouse feels sidelined is headed for trouble.
Dear Readers,
At sundown, the first night of Passover begins. This major Jewish holiday celebrates the most momentous event in Jewish history — the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Happy Passover to my readers who observe this important holiday.
— Love, Abby
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.providencejournal.com/story/lifestyle/advice/2022/04/15/widows-friend-unsettled-when-mystery-man-appears-dear-abby/7229415001/ | 2022-04-15T11:52:12 | 1 | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/lifestyle/advice/2022/04/15/widows-friend-unsettled-when-mystery-man-appears-dear-abby/7229415001/ |
One woman's amazing effort to help coastal communities defend themselves from rising seas
Conley Zani likes to say she lives in a little Shangri-La. Her mystical piece of paradise — otherwise known as Common Fence Point — is a peninsula in Portsmouth that juts out into Narragansett Bay on the northernmost tip of Aquidneck Island. An unassuming road leads you under a small red bridge into the community of nearly 700 homes and panoramic views.
Conley and her family have lived in Common Fence Point since 2009. She loves it so much that she volunteers as the president of the neighborhood’s improvement association and even teaches Zumba at the community center. In recent years, Conley’s volunteer work has taken on an environmental dimension, as she and a group of neighbors work to preserve and protect their coastal oasis.
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“Our number-one issue is how can we be resilient,” said Conley, whose house sits just 15 feet above sea level. “It’s a wonderful thing in the summer with the water access. But, when these hurricanes come through, we’re the ones going underwater.”
Since 2019, the Common Fence Point Association has been a committed partner of Pam Rubinoff of the Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island. Pam is known as the coastal resiliency guru. For the last 25 years, she has been laser-focused on educating constituencies across the state (and around the globe) on the impacts of climate change and sea level rise, empowering them to protect their own communities.
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“A key thing for me has been linking the science with the policy, the tools with the people,” said Pam.
The data can feel quite ominous. The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council projects that sea levels for our state will rise by a foot, to 1.6 feet over the next 30 years. (By comparison, local sea levels rose by a foot over the last 100 years). And, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that high tide flood days have increased by up to 150% in the Northeast since the year 2000.
But when it comes to protecting Rhode Island’s 400 miles of coastline — and inland areas prone to flooding — one size definitely does not fit all.
“When you’re talking about solutions, you really have to balance the social, environmental and economic issues,” said Pam. “I do not go into a community and say, ‘Here are your solutions.’ I help facilitate a conversation so they can start to identify what are the best options. I help them coordinate amongst themselves and then collaborate.”
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At Common Fence Point, that meant identifying leaders, like Conley, who would champion resiliency efforts and spread the word to the rest of the neighborhood. With Pam’s help, they’ve applied for grants to plant native grasses on specific sites to stabilize the shoreline and reduce erosion. The grasses also help filter stormwater runoff into the Bay.
Pam was also instrumental in helping the community create "preparedness kits" full of educational materials, emergency checklists, flashlights and other items so residents can be ready to act fast in the event of a major storm or massive flood. They have distributed about 180 kits so far.
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“Pam is trying to set us up for success,” said Conley. “She’s so good at sharing knowledge and empowering communities at being resilient and sustaining these best practices. She’s not coming in and doing it for us. She's trying to create leaders here on the ground to take on this work and get excited about it.”
Translating climate data into an action plan for RI's coastal communities
From the micro to the macro, Pam’s talent lies in translating scientific data into actionable items. In 2007, she and her colleagues were instrumental in establishing Rhode Island’s policy on sea level rise. By bringing the latest research on climate change and its impact on coastal areas to state leaders, they were able to provide guidance in the creation of a policy framework to address those issues.
“She has really deep expertise in all of these interdisciplinary areas,” said Austin Becker, chair of the Department of Marine Affairs at URI. “She can talk to the oceanographers. She can talk to the city planners. She can talk to the public in a meeting. She can talk to the social scientists in their own language. That’s a really important skill to have for somebody who’s dealing with really complex issues.”
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Austin adds that his onetime mentor is also a “terrific convener of people” and an excellent listener. “She helps different members of the community voice their concerns and their priorities so that those can be effectively considered in the development of policy and planning.”
Raising awareness about the increase in intensity and frequency of storms and extreme high tides led to the 2015 launch of MyCoast: Rhode Island, a program in which volunteers submit photos and reports of flooding and the impacts of storms. Since its inception, hundreds of volunteers from across the state have submitted more than 2,200 pictures and 2,100 reports of damage.
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“We’re using it as an expanding tool to get neighborhoods and businesses more engaged in what’s going on,” she said. “The idea is not to give them fear but awareness, so they can understand what they can begin to do.”
Protecting Providence from climate threats
While Pam has worked extensively with communities from South County to East Bay, she’s also focused on the state’s largest city, Providence.
“Our capital city is very vulnerable,” she said. City government was already working on several projects, but business and civic leaders weren’t at the table. In order to build a more resilient Providence, she knew these key stakeholders had to get involved. In 2019, Pam — and Curt Spalding from Brown University — organized a forum where they laid out the city’s vulnerabilities. Prominent developer Arnold "Buff " Chace Jr. was among the attendees.
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“It was an eye-opener,” he said. Buff clearly remembered the devastation that followed Hurricane Carol in 1954. His father’s hotel had been flooded. A decade later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier, which is still used to protect the city from hurricanes and extreme high tides. But, with rising sea levels, it may not be enough.
“The problem isn’t going away,” he said. “So, are we going to be prepared, or aren’t we? If the hurricane barrier fails, what's the cost?”
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Soon after the forum, Buff became a founding member of the Providence Resilience Partnership. Pam co-wrote the 127-page Towards a Resilient Providence report for the group, outlining historical data and how climate change projections could affect different parts of the city. “Pam’s leadership has been an important component in getting us this far,” he said.
Buff plans to transition from his work as managing partner of Cornish Associates to focus full-time on these issues.
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“It’s about trying to help the community survive and thrive," he said. "With the threat confronting us, how can we meet the threat and improve? How can we increase dialogue? Environment, social justice, equity. I look at it as an opportunity to deal with those issues and solve them. You have to look at it holistically.”
This is just another example of how Pam’s approach — of outreach and education — is effective at creating practical, long-term strategies to help communities weather the effects of climate change.
“Taking the time to build your capacity — people, financial and policy framework — is really important,” she said. “Because, after a storm, when you’re rebuilding, you have to have things in place so you can do things right.”
A 'lightbulb moment' during Peace Corps work in Thailand
Pam’s childhood in Baltimore, Maryland, and on New York’s Long Island Sound fostered her love of the ocean and shores. In 1976, she became one of four women in the coastal engineering program at the University of Delaware. Years later she received her master's degree at URI in marine affairs. (“I did my thesis on sea level rise in southern Rhode Island. You see a theme,” she said with a chuckle.)
In between she worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New England and joined the Peace Corps in 1982. She wanted to see the world and get more hands-on experience. Pam spent 2½ years as a water resource engineer in Thailand.
“It was a huge lightbulb moment for me,” she remembered. “It was so humbling. I learned a tremendous amount, not only from my Thai colleagues but from the villagers.”
That’s when she knew that, rather than sit behind a desk, she would dedicate her life to “linking the technical aspects with community needs.”
On her first day of work at the Coastal Resources Center, she was on a plane to Ecuador. Because of the center’s long-standing partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development, Pam spent years traveling around the world assisting local communities with their resiliency efforts. She even learned Spanish along the way.
Now she’s focused fully on the Ocean State.
“I think we’re going slow, but we’re still moving in a positive direction,” she said. “I get frustrated a little, because this all takes very long. But when you look at it, and you look at the trajectory, we’ve come a long way in 15 years.”
With her eye keenly set on the future, Pam continues to engage and empower communities to build a more resilient state.
“She is a champion for people who live on the coast, who love the coast, who visit the coast,” said Austin. “We need more Pams to help us figure out how to get through this.”
— Patricia Andreu, a freelance journalist living in Providence, writes Women In Action, a periodic column. Reach her at WomenInActionRI@outlook.com and follow her on Twitter: @ri_women. | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/columns/2022/04/15/pam-rubinoff-helps-rhode-island-coastal-flooding-fight-rising-seas-climate-change/6898199001/ | 2022-04-15T11:52:19 | 1 | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/columns/2022/04/15/pam-rubinoff-helps-rhode-island-coastal-flooding-fight-rising-seas-climate-change/6898199001/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ed Buck told his neighbors that the steady stream of young Black men leaving his West Hollywood apartment were social work clients. What really happened behind closed doors, which he referred to as the “gates of hell,” was far more sinister.
The men did not need Buck’s help — they needed to be saved from him, said federal prosecutors in Los Angeles said. Some barely escaped with their lives. Two men didn’t.
Buck, 67, a wealthy gay white donor to Democratic, LGBTQ and animal rights causes, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court to 30 years in federal prison for injecting two men with lethal doses of methamphetamine as part of a fetish that turned fatal.
Prosecutors, who sought a life term, said Buck had such disregard for life that even after the two deaths in his apartment, he did not stop paying men to come to his home and injecting them with walloping doses of methamphetamine. One man overdosed twice in the course of a week.
“This defendant preyed upon vulnerable victims — men who were drug-dependent and often without homes — to feed an obsession that led to death and misery,” United States Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison said. “Mr. Buck continues to pose a clear danger to society.”
Buck was convicted in July of distribution of methamphetamine resulting in the deaths of Gemmel Moore in 2017 and Timothy Dean in 2019. He was also convicted of four counts of meth distribution, two counts of enticing men to travel across state lines for prostitution and a count of maintaining a drug den.
Buck managed to avoid arrest for more than two years after Moore’s death and family and community members led by political strategist Jasmyne Cannick complained that he escaped prosecution because of wealth, political ties and race. He donated more than $500,000 since 2000 to mainly Democratic causes.
Moore’s mother, LaTisha Nixon, joined Cannick and several other friends and family members of the deceased to ask the judge for the maximum sentence. Nixon, a certified nursing assistant who said she had prayed with and comforted countless dying people, broke down as she thought of the way her oldest child died.
“All I can think about is how my son died naked on a mattress with no love around him,” Nixon said. “No one to hold his hand or tell him good things.”
Defense lawyer Mark Werksman sought a 10-year term — half of the mandatory minimum of 20 years Buck faced and well below the 25 years recommended by the probation department. He said Buck’s sexual abuse as a child and health problems that led to his drug addiction were mitigating factors.
He said prosecutors had cast Buck as a “sociopathic syringe-wielding sexual predator and sexual deviant who preys on homeless drug-addicted male prostitutes and kills them by recklessly overdosing them on methamphetamine.”
“But there’s a second Ed Buck, a redeemable, a worthy, a valuable Ed Buck who deserves this court’s compassion and mercy,” Werksman said.
Buck made his first public remarks since his arrest in September 2019, apologizing for “my part in the tragic deaths” of Moore and Dean, whom he said were friends he loved. In a husky voice, he said he had not caused their deaths but expressed condolences to their families — something they said he never did after their deaths.
Buck, who worked as a model and then made a small fortune selling an Arizona company he rescued from bankruptcy, said he tried to live a good life devoted to political causes that would make his world a better place.
His political activism began with efforts in 1987 to recall Republican Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham, who was ultimately convicted in an impeachment trial and kicked out of office. Buck said he started an AIDS information organization in the 1980s, marched for gay and human rights and championed a ban on fur sales in West Hollywood.
“Look at the good I have done and the good I may still do and not the horrible caricature that the government painted me as a meth-fueled ax killer,” Buck said. “That’s not who I am.”
Judge Christina Snyder said the case was one of the most difficult and tragic ones she had presided over. She said Buck’s “horrific crimes” were reprehensible and more than just an accident.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Norell objected to the 30-year sentence, arguing that the mandatory minimum sentences for each death add up to 40 years.
“He is effectively getting one kill and one kill 50% off,” Norell said.
Family members of Dean and Moore said they were disappointed he didn’t get a life sentence but were happy Buck was going away for a long time. They said his apology had come too late to seem sincere.
“That’s not love when you kill someone,” said Dean’s sister, Joann Campbell. “That was just something he was saying … to get some sympathy from the judge. But I don’t believe and buy any of it.”
Even after Dean’s death, Buck remained undeterred, Norell said. Holed up in a hotel to avoid the police, he injected Dane Brown with back-to-back “slams” of methamphetamine.
Brown, who was homeless, later moved into Buck’s apartment, where he was injected with meth most days and often several times a day.
On Sept. 4, 2019, after Buck shot him up three times with back-to-back doses, Brown was hospitalized for overdosing. He had five times the meth in his system that Moore and Dean had when they died, prosecutors said.
Brown returned less than a week later and Buck injected him three times with meth. Brown said he was overdosing again. He was exhausted and weak but Buck wouldn’t call an ambulance.
“I can’t run, I can’t move and it’s like all my energy was being sapped out,” Brown recalled Thursday outside court.
That’s when he heard the voice of his late mother tell him to get up.
“At that last moment, right when I was giving up and closed my eyes, I heard the voice,” Brown said. “It’s like she lit a fire and told me to get out and get out now.”
Brown managed to get himself to a nearby gas station and was taken to the hospital. It was that incident that finally led to Buck’s arrest.
If he hadn’t made it out of Buck’s apartment, Brown said he would have died there like Moore and Dean. | https://www.wfla.com/news/crime/wealthy-democratic-party-donor-gets-30-years-in-prison-for-fetish-deaths/ | 2022-04-15T11:52:19 | 1 | https://www.wfla.com/news/crime/wealthy-democratic-party-donor-gets-30-years-in-prison-for-fetish-deaths/ |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A day after Moscow suffered a stinging symbolic defeat with the loss of the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, Russia’s Defense Ministry promised Friday to ramp up missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukraine’s alleged military “diversions on the Russian territory.”
The threat of intensified attacks on Kyiv came after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in Bryansk, a region that borders Ukraine, and wounding seven people. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling Thursday.
Life in Kyiv has been gradually returning to some normalcy after Russia failed to capture the capital and withdrew its troops in northern Ukraine to focus on a concentrated assault in the country’s east. A renewed bombardment could return the city’s residents to sheltering in subway stations and the steady wail of air raid sirens.
Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia, and the reports by Russian authorities could not be independently verified. However, Ukrainian officials claimed their forces struck a key Russian warship with missiles on Thursday. If true, the claim would represent an important victory.
The guided-missile cruiser Moskva, named for the Russian capital, sank while being towed to port after suffering heavy damage under circumstances that remained in dispute. Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack. U.S. and other Western officials could not confirm what caused the blaze.
The Moskva had the capacity to carry 16 long-range cruise missiles, and its removal reduces Russia’s firepower in the Black Sea. The warship’s loss in an invasion already widely seen as a historic blunder also was a symbolic defeat for Moscow as its troops regroup for an offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north.
During the first days of the war, the crew of the Moskva reportedly called on Ukrainian soldiers stationed on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender in a standoff. A widely circulated recording featured a Ukrainian soldier saying in response: “Russian warship, go (expletive) yourself.”
The Associated Press could not independently verify the Snake Island incident, but Ukraine and its supporters consider it an iconic moment of defiance. The country recently unveiled a postage stamp commemorating it.
If Ukraine hit the Moskva with missiles, the cruiser likely represents the largest warship to be sunk in combat since the 1982 Falklands War, which saw a similar-sized cruiser called the ARA General Belgrano torpedoed by a British submarine, killing over 300 sailors on board.
In his nightly address Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the invaders “gave us a maximum of five.”
Listing the ways Ukraine has defended against the onslaught, Zelenskyy mentioned “those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it’s to the bottom” of the sea. It was his only reference to the Moskva.
News about the flagship overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where Moscow’s forces have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war — at a horrific cost to civilians.
Dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders in Mariupol are holding out against a siege that has trapped well over 100,000 civilians in desperate need of food, water and heating. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, told AP in an interview Thursday that people are being “starved to death” in the besieged city.
Mariupol’s mayor said this week that more than 10,000 civilians had died and the death toll could surpass 20,000.
Mariupol’s capture is critical for Russia because it would allow its forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive.
The Russian military continues to move helicopters and other equipment into place for such an effort, according to a senior U.S. defense official, and it is likely to add more ground combat units soon. But it’s still unclear when Russia might launch a full-scale campaign in the Donbas.
Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukraine in the region since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea. Russia has recognized the independence of the rebel regions in the Donbas.
Maksym Marchenko, governor of the Odesa region, said Ukrainian forces struck the Moskva with two Neptune missiles and caused “serious damage.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said ammunition on board detonated as a result of a fire, without saying what caused the blaze. It said the “main missile weapons” were not damaged and that the crew, usually numbering about 500, abandoned the vessel. It wasn’t clear if there were any casualties. In addition to the cruise missiles, the warship also had air-defense missiles and other guns.
The Neptune is an anti-ship missile that was recently developed by Ukraine based on an earlier Soviet design. The launchers are mounted on trucks stationed near the coast, and, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, can hit targets up to 280 kilometers (175 miles) away. That would have put the Moskva within range, based on where the ship was when the fire began.
Launched as the Slava in 1979, the cruiser saw service in the Cold War and during conflicts in Georgia and Syria, and helped conduct peacetime scientific research with the United States. During the Cold War, it carried nuclear weapons.
British defense officials said the Moskva’s loss would likely force Moscow to change the way its naval forces operate in the Black Sea. In a social media post Friday, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said the ship, which returned to operational service last year after a major refit, “served a key role as both a command vessel and air defense node.”
The sinking “means Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russia’s Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March. Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea,” the British ministry said.
On Thursday, other Russian ships in the northern Black Sea moved farther south after the Moskva incident, said a senior U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal military assessments.
While the U.S. was not able to confirm Ukraine’s claims of striking the warship, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan called it “a big blow to Russia.”
“They’ve had to kind of choose between two stories: One story is that it was just incompetence, and the other was that they came under attack, and neither is a particularly good outcome for them,” Sullivan told the Economic Club of Washington.
Russia invaded Feb. 24 and has lost potentially thousands of fighters. The conflict has killed untold numbers of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions more to flee.
It has also further inflated prices at grocery stores and gasoline pumps, while dragging on the global economy. The head of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday that the war helped push the organization to downgrade economic forecasts for 143 countries.
___
Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wfla.com/news/international/russia-loses-warship-says-it-will-increase-attacks-on-kyiv/ | 2022-04-15T11:52:25 | 0 | https://www.wfla.com/news/international/russia-loses-warship-says-it-will-increase-attacks-on-kyiv/ |
A new Buddy in Providence: How Amy Russo's rescue dog is repaying her with friendship
I’m struggling to write this week’s column. Not for a lack of ideas, but because of the 30-pound furball in my lap, slumped over my right arm, snoring as I work.
He appears when I’m writing, anytime a particularly important interviewee calls, and when I tune into the paper’s virtual morning meetings, his face obstructing half my screen.
He rests his head on the keyboard of my laptop to let me know it’s time to stop work, often only 30 minutes after my day has begun. Last week, he went so far as to sever my charging cable. Unbeknownst to him, Staples had four more in stock. He has since attempted to sever another, though I caught him in time. He later resorted to disemboweling a stuffed duck toy.
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Buddy lived somewhere on Cape Cod before he made his way to Providence. That’s when he was known as Ironman. Seeing as he’s neither a Doberman nor a Great Dane, I ditched the moniker for something a little more fitting. A name that you’d call your pal.
Our journeys to one another were long and convoluted — his filled with foster homes and mine filled with adoption inquiries.
If you haven’t yet adopted, or if you haven’t adopted during the pandemic, know this: It’s complicated. For weeks, every day began and ended with endless scrolls on Petfinder, a popular site for scouting out rescue dogs in need of their “furever” homes, as shelters call them.
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Much like searching for an apartment or a new car, the user inputs the size, age and location of their preferred pet. Those with more specific criteria can search by house training status and whether the canine in question is good with kids.
But that’s only half the battle. Find the dog you want, and your next hurdle is securing it. Don’t be surprised if you’re asked for a list of references, medical histories of every past pet, a home visit, and guarantees of a fenced-in yard. One might imagine that adopting a child is easier.
At first came the denials. Oscar, a Yorkipoo (that’s a Yorkie crossed with a miniature poodle) had serious allergies and needed special care. Finnegan, a one-eyed Shih Tzu mix, lived in Massachusetts and couldn’t be adopted out of state.
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In the end, however, I was fortunate. Little Buddy had been passed around between foster families, and at the point of his adoption, he had no options left. Now that we've spent three weeks together, I can’t imagine why.
Not only is he talented at spotting squirrels and investigating packages on the porch, he comforted me through COVID, and through being dumped after having proclaimed in the pages of one of America’s oldest newspapers to have found the “love of my life.” Hindsight isn’t as valuable when it comes to the printed word.
Now that we’ve made it through the brunt of the tough stuff, our days are spent reveling in the joy of little things — weekend drives to the coast, meeting neighbors on walks, the way he snores at night, and rolls onto his back, elongates his neck and stretches his legs each morning.
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New to RI:Getting in tune with my adopted state by playing 'Little Rhody'
Now, reader, this column has come to an end. I had a spectacular finishing line, however, exercising his editorial authority and use of pudgy paws, Buddy deleted it.
Providence Journal staff writer Amy Russo, a transplanted New Yorker, is looking for new ways to experience her adopted state. If you have suggestions for this column, email her at amrusso@providencejournal.com. | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/04/15/amy-russo-rescue-dog-repaying-her-with-friendship-amys-rhode/7275164001/ | 2022-04-15T11:52:31 | 1 | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/04/15/amy-russo-rescue-dog-repaying-her-with-friendship-amys-rhode/7275164001/ |
LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have visited Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on their first joint visit to the U.K. since they gave up formal royal roles and moved to the U.S. more than two years ago.
The couple’s office says they visited the 95-year-old queen, Harry’s grandmother, Thursday on their way to the Netherlands to attend the Invictus Games. Harry is a founder and patron of the international sports competition for wounded military veterans.
Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior working royals and moved to North America in 2020, citing the unbearable pressure of their roles and racist attitudes of the British media.
The couple, also known as the duke and duchess of Sussex, lost their taxpayer-funded police guard when they walked away, and Harry is suing the British government for refusing to let him pay for his own police security on his visits to the U.K. His lawyers say Harry wants to bring his children — Archie, who is almost 3, and 10-month-old Lilibet — to visit his home country but that it is too risky without police protection.
Harry and Meghan are expected to attend a reception in The Hague on Friday for the Invictus Games, which run from Saturday to April 22.
The visit to the queen came on Maundy Thursday, a day in the week before Easter that the queen for decades marked by distributing silver coins known as “Maundy money” to pensioners at a church service. This year the queen, who has been experiencing mobility issues in recent months and came down with COVID-19 in February, did not attend. She was represented by her eldest son, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla.
The monarch also is expected to miss the royal family’s Easter Sunday church service. She has continued to perform royal duties, including virtual audiences with politicians and diplomats. | https://www.wfla.com/news/world/prince-harry-meghan-make-surprise-visit-to-queen-at-windsor/ | 2022-04-15T11:52:31 | 1 | https://www.wfla.com/news/world/prince-harry-meghan-make-surprise-visit-to-queen-at-windsor/ |
What to do if you or your pet were around the rabid racoon found in East Providence park
The Rhode Island Department of Health is alerting the public after a racoon found last week at East Providence's Bold Point Park tested positive for rabies.
Rabies is a fatal disease, and anyone who might have come into contact with the racoon should contact the Health Department. Rabies treatment must be started as soon as possible after exposure, according to the Health Department.
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Responding to a report of a wounded racoon last Friday, the Wildlife Clinic of Rhode Island captured the animal, euthanized it and had it tested for rabies at the Health Department's laboratory.
People should also contact the Health Department if their pet might have had contact with the racoon.
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The Health Department's Center for Acute Infectious Disease Epidemiology at 401-222-2577 (Monday through Friday 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM) or 401-276-8046 after hours for treatment guidance.
State Veterinarian Dr. Scott Marshall says people should never touch wild animals.
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jperry@providencejournal.com
(401) 277-7614
On Twitter: @jgregoryperry
Be the first to know. | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/04/15/rabid-racoon-found-east-providence-rhode-island-health-alert/7329875001/ | 2022-04-15T11:52:37 | 1 | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/04/15/rabid-racoon-found-east-providence-rhode-island-health-alert/7329875001/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — The average salary in the major leagues rebounded to $4.4 million on opening day, boosted by a frenzy of free agent signings before and after the 99-day lockout, according to a study of baseball contracts by The Associated Press.
New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer set a season record at $43.3 million, topping the previous mark established last year by Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer at $38 million. Scherzer earns more than all the current players on the Baltimore Orioles combined.
The average of $4,414,184 was up 5.9% from the $4,167,164 at the start of last season and just below the record of $4,451,508 set in 2017, before the salary slide that angered players during the labor contract that expired last December.
Major League Baseball projects opening-day payrolls at about $4.5 billion, up almost 10% from the previous high of approximately $4.1 billion.
This year’s average would have been higher had active rosters not been expanded from 26 to 28 through May 1 following the shortened spring training. Factoring out the added players who are at the $700,000 minimum or close to it, the average would have been a record $4.62 million.
In addition, this year’s final average will be boosted by the new labor contract’s $50 million bonus pool for lower-salaried players not yet eligible for arbitration. Adding that figure and dropping the added 60 players, the average would be $4.68 million.
The average salary declines over the course of a season as higher-paid veterans are released and replaced by lower-salaried players.
The Los Angeles Dodgers top the major leagues at nearly $285 million, up from $241 million at the start of last season.
The Mets are second at $266 million in their second season under owner Steven Cohen, up from $186 million last year and $154 million in 2019, the last full season under the Wilpon and Katz families.
The New York Yankees are third at just under $237 million, followed by Philadelphia ($224 million) and San Diego and Boston ($212 million each).
World Series champion Atlanta is eighth at $184 million, and AL champion Houston is 10th at $174 million.
Oakland, which traded several stars after the lockout, is last at $48 million, down from $83 million last opening day and the Athletics’ lowest for a full season since 2008.
Other low payrolls are Baltimore ($58 million), Cleveland ($60 million), Pittsburgh ($62 million), and Miami (just under $80 million).
The Orioles totaled $38 million for their current players, with just over $20 million going toward the final season of the seven-year contract of first baseman Chris Davis, who retired after years of injuries and three straight sub-.200 batting averages.
Scherzer was followed at the top of the salary list by Angels outfielder Mike Trout at $37.1 million, Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon at $36.6 million, Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole at $36 million. Minnesota shortstop Carlos Correa at $35.1 million and San Diego third baseman Manny Machado at $34 million.
Thirteen players earn $30 million or more, 48 earn at least $20 million and 133 at least $10 million. More than half the players, 514, earn at least $1 million.
After several years of widening, payroll disparity among players decreased slightly.
The 50 highest-paid players are getting 30.3% of salaries, down from 33.4% at the start of last season but still above the 28.6% in 2017. The 100 highest-paid are receiving 48.9%, down from 52.4% last year but above the 42.5% in 2017.
Of 975 players on opening day active rosters, injured lists, the restricted list and the bereavement list, 461 (47%) had salaries under $1 million, up from 46% last year. The minimum was raised from $570,500 to $700,000; 57 earned the minimum and 375 were below $730,000.
The median salary — the point at which an equal number of players are above and below — rose by $50,000 to $1.2 million, down from $1.4 million in 2019 and well below the $1.65 million record high at the start of 2015.
The AP’s figures include salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses and other guaranteed income. For some players, parts of deferred money are discounted to reflect current values. For the 23 players remaining eligible for salary arbitration, the midpoints of the player requests and team offers were used.
Luxury tax payrolls computed by Major League Baseball are different, using average annual values of contracts on 40-man rosters plus about $18 million per team for benefits and extended benefits and a 1/30 share of the pre-arbitration bonus pool.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wfla.com/sports/mlb-average-salary-up-5-9-after-lockout-report/ | 2022-04-15T11:52:37 | 1 | https://www.wfla.com/sports/mlb-average-salary-up-5-9-after-lockout-report/ |
(NBC News) — As Jackie Robinson prepared to take the field as the first Black player in modern baseball history on Opening Day 75 years ago this Friday, an Associated Press reporter asked if he had any butterflies in his stomach.
“Not a one,” Robinson replied, with a grin. “I wish I could say I did because then maybe I’d have an alibi if I don’t do so good. But I won’t be able to use that as an alibi.”
Two years earlier, in 1945, Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey signed Robinson to a minor league contract, after Robinson played a single season in the Negro Leagues. After a stellar year with the team’s top minor league team in Montreal, where he led the International League with a .349 batting average, Robinson was promoted to the Dodgers as a 28-year-old rookie in 1947.
Read the full story on NBCNews.com. | https://www.wfla.com/sports/what-happened-the-day-jackie-robinson-made-his-major-league-debut/ | 2022-04-15T11:52:43 | 1 | https://www.wfla.com/sports/what-happened-the-day-jackie-robinson-made-his-major-league-debut/ |
2022 All-State Rhode Island High School Sports Awards will be on June 21 at Veterans Memorial Auditorium
The 2022 All-State Rhode Island High School Sports Awards, presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island, will be held live on Tuesday, June 21, at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The show honors more than 200 high school athletes from across Rhode Island, as well as awarding players of the year for more than 20 sports. It will also include several major awards, including overall Girls Player of the Year, Boys Player of the Year, Team of the Year, Coach of the Year and Courage Award.
Learn more on the program and see which athletes have already been named nominees on the show’s website here:
All State Rhode Island High School Sports Awards
Athletes must register for the event here:
All-State Rhode Island High School Sports Awards: Nominated Athletes and Coaches
Nominated athletes will receive one free ticket for their admittance to the show. Additional tickets may be purchased online.:
All-State Rhode Island High School Sports Awards Show
The All-State Rhode Island Sports Awards is part of the USA Today High School Sports Awards program, the largest high school sports recognition program in the country. | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/sports/high-school/sports-awards/2022/04/15/2022-all-state-rhode-island-high-school-sports-awards-june-21-veterans-memorial-auditorium/7306004001/ | 2022-04-15T11:53:13 | 1 | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/sports/high-school/sports-awards/2022/04/15/2022-all-state-rhode-island-high-school-sports-awards-june-21-veterans-memorial-auditorium/7306004001/ |
Best place for a hike and osprey spotting? Try the Great Swamp in South Kingstown
- Access: Off Route 138 in West Kingston, head west on Liberty Road at a sign for Great Swamp. Follow the road for a couple of miles past the DEM maintenance buildings and a shooting range to a barred gateway.
- Parking: Available in a large lot.
- Dogs: Allowed, but must be leashed.
- Difficulty: Easy, mostly flat roads.
SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Two ospreys took flight from their nest on top of a power line tower and soared high into the clouds above Great Swamp.
With wings spread wide, they caught the wind and rose almost out of sight before swooping down across the water, hunting.
On earlier hikes, I’ve seen the ospreys spot prey, dive feet first into the water and emerge with a fish hooked in their talons before flying back to their nest. But on this walk at midday, the ospreys just soared and glided majestically high above the swamp.
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I found the ospreys at the far end of a loop trail in the Great Swamp Management Area, which is managed by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. Along the way, the trail also passes the remains of a World War II-era seaplane hangar, signs of beaver activity and dense stands of oak and maple trees mixed with tall holly trees.
From a trailhead off Great Neck Road, several friends and I set out to see the ospreys on my first group hike since before the pandemic. It felt good to share stories and listen to what caught the interest of my fellow hikers as we walked along.
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A popular spot for busy beavers in Rhode Island
We started out on a raised gravel road through a swampy area lined with green brier vines, bushes and small trees. At one point, a 12-inch garter snake slithered across our path and into the brush. Farther on, we spotted gnawed tree stumps where beavers had been at work. The beavers had also tried to clog drains under the road with sticks and mud to back up large pools of water where they live.
Off in the distance, we heard the rumble of Amtrak trains on tracks that run west of the preserve, a counterpoint to the natural world around us.
The road soon reached a fork with a stone marker with a small name plate honoring Dr. John Mulleedy, a late hiking club leader. We went left and passed several shiny, green-leafed holly trees, which stood out from other trees that have yet to open their leaves. After passing under a string of power transmission lines, we noted a large field overgrown with bushes on the right. I learned later that it had been cleared of trees and allowed to fill in with shrubs to create a natural habitat for cottontail rabbits, which at one time faced extinction.
Nature spotlight: Ospreys are making their return to RI
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We walked to another fork with a stone pillar and plate marked for George McCahey, another prominent hiker. The left fork heads down to the northern lip of Worden Pond, a 1,000-acre natural glacial lake. In the past, I’ve tried to take a side path off that road to Stoney Point, but was turned back by dense mountain laurel, brier bushes and a bog. You can also see the remains of a cement foundation for a seaplane hangar along that road, as well as a short channel that was dug to enter the secluded cove.
But we passed up that walk and stayed right on the road to stick to our mission: to see if the ospreys had returned on their annual migration after spending the winter in Central and South America.
We hiked up a short hill to the highest point (182 feet) of the 3,349-acre preserve and then walked down the other side by a field. The road led to the southern tip of the Great Swamp, which the state acquired in 1950.
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Along the path, a walker was sitting by a telephone pole in a natural stone chair, peering through binoculars and searching the swamp. He reported that he had spotted an osprey, and we continued on to try to get a good look.
The road runs across the top of a mile-long dike that circles half the swamp and was built in the 1950s to create a wildlife marsh. Along the curving impoundment, jungle-like growth and the headwaters of the Pawcatuck River, including Chickasheen Brook, lie to the west. The expansive 138-acre swamp is to the east.
We passed a water depth gauge just off the bank and a circular steel and aluminum structure that may have included an underground gate to control the water levels. I’ve seen DEM workers driving along the impoundment to patrol the area in the past.
Just off the path, several ducks swam in the shallow water.
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The trail took us under a long, straight line of transmission towers that carry power lines over the swamp and stretch far to the northeast and southwest. Two rows of rotted pilings in the water once supported a boardwalk that ran out to the power lines in the swamp, but the wood is long gone.
We spotted the remains of an old osprey nest, built of sticks, twigs and grasses, on a tower about 50 yards offshore and a bulky nest on a tower south of the dike.
But the real attraction was on top of another tower 150 yards offshore, where we spotted two ospreys in a large, 3-foot nest in the middle of a horizontal plank on top of the towers. The ospreys return each spring to breed and they stay until August.
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While we watched, the fish-eating hawks took off and flew high over the west side of the swamp, staying far away from us. We could see that the ospreys have dark brown feathers on their back, and white below. The head is white with a dark face stripe. They can weigh 3 to 4 pounds and their wingspan can reach up to 6 feet.
Ospreys have rebounded in RI after facing extinction
The ospreys once faced extinction, and from 1940 to 1970 the number of active nests between New York City and Boston decreased by 85%. A count in Rhode Island in 1967 found only two nests.
But after ospreys were placed on the endangered species list and DDT and other pesticides were banned, their population grew, and reports show that there are now more than 150 nests in the state.
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I’ve seen osprey nests on hikes at Osamequin Nature Preserve in Barrington and Napatree Point in Westerly. Other hikers have recently reported that ospreys have returned to nests on the Narrow River. For a webcam view of an osprey on its nest, go to narrowriver.org/ospreycam.
After studying the flight of the two ospreys, we continued along the dike, which bent to the north. All the land in and around the swamp was once inhabited by Native Americans. The site of the Great Swamp Massacre, where fighters from several colonies killed many Narragansetts in December 1675 during King Philip’s War, is just to the west on the other side of the railroad tracks.
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We continued along the dike and walked carefully around two turtles sunning on the dry path. Just off the bank, we inspected several large beaver lodges built of branches, twigs and mud. A number of wood duck boxes stood on posts in the water.
We also noted two tube-like canisters near the top of telephone poles that lined the dike and wondered if they might be bat boxes.
The road led to the end of the swamp and ran up a short hill, under the power lines and to the junction where we had noted the Mulleedy marker on the way in. We passed a solo hiker in an orange vest who said he had been to the Saugatucket River that morning and watched ospreys spearing herring. He was now headed for a look at the ospreys at Great Swamp.
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From there, it was just a short walk to where we had parked.
In all, we hiked 4.5 miles for a little over two hours.
There are many unique sightings on the trails in Rhode Island. But one of the most fascinating is the ospreys and their nests at Great Swamp.
It’s always encouraging to me that they return every spring. And it seems to me that if they can make the long flight back every April, I should be able to take a short walk to revisit them every year.
Rhode Island Hiking Trail Tip
During hunting season, all users of state management areas are required to wear a minimum of 200 square inches of solid fluorescent orange, such as a hat or vest, from April 16 to May 31. Violators are subject to a $100 fine.
Walking RI:A hiker's guide to rediscovering your state (and yourself)
John Kostrzewa, a former assistant managing editor at The Providence Journal, welcomes email at johnekostrzewa@gmail.com. | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/sports/outdoors/2022/04/15/hiking-walking-rhode-island-the-great-swamp-south-kingstown-osprey-bird-watching/9525693002/ | 2022-04-15T11:53:25 | 0 | https://www.providencejournal.com/story/sports/outdoors/2022/04/15/hiking-walking-rhode-island-the-great-swamp-south-kingstown-osprey-bird-watching/9525693002/ |
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Boston Celtics fans say team could win it all, as playoffs begin this weekend
Karl Volker's shop in Downtown Crossing sells T-shirts, mugs and other souvenirs emblazoned with some of Boston's best-known brands: Harvard University, the Patriots, the Red Sox and the Bruins.
But these days, the hottest items come in green and white — the colors of the Boston Celtics. "The biggest is the Boston shirt with the shamrock on it," Volker said.
The Celtics are headed into the playoffs Sunday against the Nets as one of the hottest teams in basketball. They finished the season in second place in the Eastern Conference. And some analysts and fans believe they could win their first championship since 2008.
The enthusiasm is hard to miss. Attendance at TD Garden, where the Celtics play, has exceeded levels before the pandemic. And everyone from local residents to foreign tourists are scooping up Celtics gear, Volker said, giving local merchants a big lift.
"I think it's psychology," Volker said. "If the team is winning, then the tide lifts all boats."
The Celtics are among the most storied franchises in pro sports. Seventeen banners hang from the Garden's rafters.
But since Larry Bird and the Big Three in the mid-'80s, the C's have yet to equal the kind of dominance of the Patriots or the Red Sox. They claimed just one NBA title in the past 35 years.
But after a sluggish start to this season, the team roared to the front of the pack with the league's best defense, led by guard Marcus Smart and stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
The second-half turnaround was so good — vaulting the team from 11th to second place — it ranked as the best of any team in NBA history.
"Beating teams on the road — and dominating from wire to wire — which is what they've done almost 20 times this season," said Boston journalist Dart Adams as he stood outside TD Garden. "These are things that teams that win championships do."
But for Boston to fully embrace the Celtics, some say they’ll need to vanquish the rival Brooklyn Nets this weekend.
Nets fans chanted "we want Boston" after the team beat Cleveland earlier this week, securing their first-round playoff match with Boston.
"Well be careful what you wish for,” a TNT announcer responded.
Boston is considered a four-point favorite in early betting, meaning they'll have to win by more than four points for betters to cash in.
And some think the two teams could be in the early stages of building a new basketball rivalry.
That's because the Nets feature former Celtics star Kyrie Irving, who has become an arch-nemesis for Boston ever since moving to Brooklyn as a free agent in 2019.
Adams, the sports analyst, recalls Irving insulting local fans by stomping on the Celtics' leprechaun logo after the Nets beat Boston in a playoff game last year. Irving and the Nets went on to end the C's season that year.
"Because after Kyrie Irving stepped on the logo, a lot of people who don't live in his region don't understand the significance of that," Adams said. "I think it's important for the fandom to see the Celtics humiliate — possibly eradicate — the Brooklyn Nets."
Now many Boston residents, like Sebastian Atryzek, think it's time for the Celtics to bring home another title. Atryzek is already counting on the players to match slugger David Ortiz's triumphs for the Red Sox against the hated New York Yankees.
"We're down by three. Grand Slam!" Atryzek said. "I'm just giving that as an example of what we're about to do."
Another Celtics die-hard is South Boston native Mike Greenwood. Sitting on a bench in Boston Common in a green-and-white Celtics hat, Greenwood said he isn't sure these Celtics can overcome the best in the NBA yet.
But he has hope.
"Boston fans are tired of not winning basketball," he said. "We really are. I can't see how they're going to not bring us to the championships."
Greenwood said he quit drinking, so he doesn’t watch the basketball games at the bars like he once did.
But at his daily Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, he said, everybody is talking about the Celtics.
This segment aired on April 15, 2022. Audio will be available soon. | https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/04/15/boston-celtics-playoffs-nets-td-garden-kyrie | 2022-04-15T11:56:27 | 0 | https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/04/15/boston-celtics-playoffs-nets-td-garden-kyrie |
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Mass. addiction treatment faces a staffing 'crisis.' Rep. Clark says this program will help
Workplace shortages are affecting several industries, including addiction treatment.
In western Massachusetts, Dr. Ruth Potee says a shortage of workers — especially nurses — is delaying the opening of at least one planned addiction treatment facility. Potee is director of addiction services at Behavioral Health Network.
"Some of it is licensing requirements but we don't have enough nurses to staff it, and it's a crisis because we can't open without those nurses," Potee says. "So the timing of this is terrible, there's a massive opioid overdose crisis and there's not the workforce to really manage it."
A federal government initiative called the Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Loan Repayment Program (STAR LRP) seeks to address the shortage by offering loan repayment to workers in addiction treatment.
Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark helped bring the program to life. She joins WBUR's Morning Edition host Deborah Becker to discuss.
This segment aired on April 15, 2022. Audio will be available soon. | https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/04/15/clark-star-program-addiction-treatment-staffing-massachusetts | 2022-04-15T11:56:33 | 1 | https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/04/15/clark-star-program-addiction-treatment-staffing-massachusetts |
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Easter Egg Roll returns after 2-year, COVID-induced hiatus
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is hoping to stir up some “egg-citement” when the Easter Egg Roll returns on Monday after a two-year, coronavirus-induced hiatus.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden expect to welcome some 30,000 kids and their adult chaperones for the egg roll, an egg hunt and other activities.
The first lady, who is a teacher, is calling it the “Egg-ucation Roll,” aides said, and is turning the South Lawn into a school community with a variety of educational stations.
It’s the first Easter Egg Roll to be hosted by the Bidens, who are expected to address the crowd and join in some of the activities, although rain was in Monday’s weather forecast.
The COVID-19 pandemic led the White House to cancel the event in 2020 and 2021.
Besides the egg roll and hunt, the all-day event will include a schoolhouse activity area, a reading nook, a talent show, a place to teach children how farmers supply food, a photo-taking station, a physical “egg-ucation” zone with an obstacle course and other exercise stations, and a “cafetorium” where children and their families will learn to make and eat treats.
The “egg-stravaganza” will get a celebrity splash through the participation of “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, singer Ciara and actor-singer Kristin Chenoweth.
More than two dozen costumed characters will roam the grounds, including Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, the Racing Presidents mascots for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball, Rosita and Cookie Monster from “Sesame Street” and Snoopy and Charlie Brown, among others.
Military families will be among the 30,000 participants, including crew members of the USS Delaware and their families. The first lady serves as sponsor of the nuclear attack submarine, which the president commissioned during a ceremony this month in Wilmington, Delaware.
Members of the general public received their tickets through an online lottery.
The egg roll will be the largest event to date at the Biden White House and will unfold in five waves beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 6:30 p.m.
Resumption of this Easter tradition is a sign that the White House is opening up again, despite a recent spurt of COVID-19 cases among members of the Cabinet, the White House staff, Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband and members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Some of those cases stemmed from the return this month of the Gridiron Club’s spring dinner.
Self-guided, public tours of the executive mansion are set to resume on Friday in a limited fashion, after they also were halted in 2020 because of the pandemic.
The White House Easter Egg Roll dates to 1878.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/15/easter-egg-roll-returns-after-2-year-covid-induced-hiatus/ | 2022-04-15T11:57:27 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/15/easter-egg-roll-returns-after-2-year-covid-induced-hiatus/ |
Prince Harry, Meghan make surprise visit to queen at Windsor
LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have visited Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on their first joint visit to the U.K. since they gave up formal royal roles and moved to the U.S. more than two years ago.
The couple’s office says they visited the 95-year-old queen, Harry’s grandmother, Thursday on their way to the Netherlands to attend the Invictus Games. Harry is a founder and patron of the international sports competition for wounded military veterans.
Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior working royals and moved to North America in 2020, citing the unbearable pressure of their roles and racist attitudes of the British media.
The couple, also known as the duke and duchess of Sussex, lost their taxpayer-funded police guard when they walked away, and Harry is suing the British government for refusing to let him pay for his own police security on his visits to the U.K. His lawyers say Harry wants to bring his children — Archie, who is almost 3, and 10-month-old Lilibet — to visit his home country but that it is too risky without police protection.
Harry and Meghan are expected to attend a reception in The Hague on Friday for the Invictus Games, which run from Saturday to April 22.
The visit to the queen came on Maundy Thursday, a day in the week before Easter that the queen for decades marked by distributing silver coins known as “Maundy money” to pensioners at a church service. This year the queen, who has been experiencing mobility issues in recent months and came down with COVID-19 in February, did not attend. She was represented by her eldest son, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla.
The monarch also is expected to miss the royal family’s Easter Sunday church service. She has continued to perform royal duties, including virtual audiences with politicians and diplomats.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/15/prince-harry-meghan-make-surprise-visit-queen-windsor/ | 2022-04-15T11:57:33 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/15/prince-harry-meghan-make-surprise-visit-queen-windsor/ |
Two men rescued after truck is swept away by flood waters in Alabama
Published: Apr. 15, 2022 at 7:41 AM EDT|Updated: 16 minutes ago
LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ala. (WAFF/Gray News) - Two men had to be rescued after their truck was swept from the roadway by flood waters on Thursday in Alabama.
Deputies with the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and volunteer firefighters responded to a 911 call and made contact with the men who were sitting on the hood of their truck, WAFF reported. The truck had been swept away by flood waters.
The Morgan County Rescue Squad arrived, and a trained swift water rescue diver stabilized the vehicle with a tow line. The men were then assisted to safety.
The vehicle was removed from the water by the towing company.
Copyright 2022 WAFF via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/15/two-men-rescued-after-truck-is-swept-away-by-flood-waters-alabama/ | 2022-04-15T11:57:39 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/15/two-men-rescued-after-truck-is-swept-away-by-flood-waters-alabama/ |
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of shareholders of AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV).
To receive updates on the lawsuit, fill out the form:
https://claimyourloss.com/securities/abbvie-inc-loss-submission-form/?id=25976&from=4
The lawsuit seeks to recover losses for shareholders who purchased AbbVie between April 30, 2021 and August 31, 2021.
Shareholders interested in acting as a lead plaintiff representing the class of wronged shareholders have until June 6, 2022 to petition the court. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
According to a filed complaint, AbbVie Inc. issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) safety concerns about Pfizer Inc.'s drug Xeljanz extended to Abbvie's drug Rinvoq and to other Janus kinase enzyme inhibitor drugs; (2) as a result, it was likely that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would require additional safety warnings for Rinvoq and would delay the approval of additional treatment indications for Rinvoq; and (3) therefore, defendants' statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects lacked a reasonable basis.
Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
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SOURCE Jakubowitz Law | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/abbv-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-abbvie-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-june-6-2022/ | 2022-04-15T11:57:46 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/abbv-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-abbvie-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-june-6-2022/ |
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of shareholders of Acutus Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFIB).
To receive updates on the lawsuit, fill out the form:
https://claimyourloss.com/securities/acutus-medical-inc-loss-submission-form/?id=25954&from=4
This lawsuit is on behalf of all purchasers of Acutus common stock between May 13, 2021 and November 11, 2021, inclusive.
Shareholders interested in acting as a lead plaintiff representing the class of wronged shareholders have until April 18, 2022 to petition the court. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
According to a filed complaint, Acutus Medical, Inc. issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (a) a material percentage of the Company's AcQMap imaging and mapping systems under evaluation had been randomly installed at sites with little, if any, consideration given to whether the healthcare providers at the selected locations were likely to adopt, or desire, the Company's products; (b) a material percentage of the AcQMap systems under evaluation had been installed in locations where the Company did not possess the infrastructure necessary to appropriately educate, train, and support medical service providers on the system's operations; (c) as a result of (a) and (b) above, defendants were in the process of designing a strategic plan to terminate and relocate approximately 20% of then-existing AcQMap systems evaluation arrangements; (d) the Company's management discussion and analysis was materially false and misleading and failed to disclose that the termination and relocation of approximately 20% of existing AcQMap systems evaluation arrangements was reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company's 2021 financial results; and (e) the Company's risk factor discussions were materially false and misleading and made reference to potential risks without disclosing that such risks were then-existing or adequately describing the specific nature of the risks then facing the Company.
Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
JAKUBOWITZ LAW
1140 Avenue of the Americas
9th Floor
New York, New York 10036
T: (212) 867-4490
F: (212) 537-5887
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SOURCE Jakubowitz Law | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/afib-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-acutus-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-april-18-2022/ | 2022-04-15T11:57:53 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/afib-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-acutus-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-april-18-2022/ |
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of shareholders of Affirm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFRM).
To receive updates on the lawsuit, fill out the form:
https://claimyourloss.com/securities/affirm-holdings-inc-loss-submission-form/?id=25962&from=4
This lawsuit is on behalf of all investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Affirm Holdings, Inc. securities on February 10, 2022 after the Company sent a Tweet concerning its Second Quarter 2022 financial results at approximately 1:15 p.m. EST.
Shareholders interested in acting as a lead plaintiff representing the class of wronged shareholders have until April 29, 2022 to petition the court. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff
(i) Affirm's "buy now, pay-later" service facilitated excessive consumer debt, regulatory arbitrage, and data harvesting; (ii) the foregoing subjected Affirm to a heightened risk of regulatory scrutiny and enforcement action; (iii) Affirm maintained inadequate disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting; (iv) accordingly, Affirm's tweet for its second quarter 2022 financial results contained selected metrics that made it appear that the Company had performed better than it actually did; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
JAKUBOWITZ LAW
1140 Avenue of the Americas
9th Floor
New York, New York 10036
T: (212) 867-4490
F: (212) 537-5887
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SOURCE Jakubowitz Law | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/afrm-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-affirm-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-april-29-2022/ | 2022-04-15T11:58:01 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/afrm-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-affirm-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-april-29-2022/ |
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of shareholders of C3.ai, Inc. (NYSE: AI).
To receive updates on the lawsuit, fill out the form:
https://claimyourloss.com/securities/c3-ai-inc-loss-submission-form/?id=25964&from=4
This lawsuit is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired: (a) C3.ai Class A common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the documents issued in connection with the Company's initial public offering conducted on or about December 9, 2020; and/or (b) C3.ai securities between December 9, 2020 and February 15, 2022, both dates inclusive.
Shareholders interested in acting as a lead plaintiff representing the class of wronged shareholders have until May 3, 2022 to petition the court. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
According to a filed complaint, C3.ai, Inc. issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) C3.ai's partnership with Baker Hughes was deteriorating; (ii) C3.ai was employing a flawed accounting methodology to conceal the deterioration of its Baker Hughes partnership; (iii) C3.ai faced challenges in product adoption and significant salesforce turnover; (iv) the Company overstated, inter alia, the extent of its investment in technology, description of its customers, its total addressable market, the pace of its market growth, and the scale of alliances with its major business partners; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
JAKUBOWITZ LAW
1140 Avenue of the Americas
9th Floor
New York, New York 10036
T: (212) 867-4490
F: (212) 537-5887
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SOURCE Jakubowitz Law | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/ai-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-c3ai-inc-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-may-3-2022/ | 2022-04-15T11:58:09 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/ai-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-c3ai-inc-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-may-3-2022/ |
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of shareholders of Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKBA).
To receive updates on the lawsuit, fill out the form:
https://claimyourloss.com/securities/akebia-therapeutics-inc-loss-submission-form/?id=25967&from=4
The lawsuit seeks to recover losses for shareholders who purchased Akebia between June 28, 2018 and September 2, 2020.
Shareholders interested in acting as a lead plaintiff representing the class of wronged shareholders have until May 13, 2022 to petition the court. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
According to a filed complaint, Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the Company's lead investigational product candidate, vadadustat, was not as safe in treating non-dialysis dependent chronic kidney disease patients with anemia as defendants had represented; (ii) as a result, defendants overstated the clinical prospects of a Phase 3 clinical program for vadadustat; (iii) accordingly, defendants also overstated vadadustat's overall commercial and regulatory prospects; and (iv) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
JAKUBOWITZ LAW
1140 Avenue of the Americas
9th Floor
New York, New York 10036
T: (212) 867-4490
F: (212) 537-5887
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SOURCE Jakubowitz Law | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/akba-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-akebia-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-may-13-2022/ | 2022-04-15T11:58:15 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/akba-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-akebia-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-may-13-2022/ |
LOS ANGELES, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The non-fungible token (NFT) market is changing the way some big companies and major products get exposure. And, Apocalyptic Apes is a unique collection of 8,800 post-apocalypse themed chimp NFTs on the Ethereum platform. They're available on the company's website, and OpenSea, the world's first and largest NFT marketplace.
As a member of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Apocalyptic Apes' founder, Bill Starkov, goes by Fity.eth (BAYC #4487). He also holds other BAYC and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) numbers. The BAYC is an elite NFT project where hundreds of sports personalities and celebrities such as Madonna and Tom Brady are members.
"NFTs are about community building. It's like a club where like-minded people can exchange ideas and realize new opportunities. We're changing how communities are formed, sustained and operated," Fity.eth says.
Apocalyptic Ape NFTs quickly sell out. They're focused on the planet's future and ape portraits depict what a post-apocalyptic world will look like in an era where food is scarce and the air is difficult to breathe.
Fity.eth's team collaborates and partners with companies such as Golden State Hemp and Other World, Inc. – companies that replace plastics with hemp and other biodegradable material – to build a better and safer world. It also collaborates with CLICK, a brand that's partnered with Mike Tyson's 2.0 spray.
Down the road, Apocalyptic Apes may introduce ApeCoin into its ecosystem. ApeCoin is a utility token empowering a decentralized community building at the forefront of web3.
Fity's apocalyptic collection holders include soccer celebrity, John Terry; American media personality, Paris Hilton; NBA superstar, Michael Carter Williams; and many more.
The Queen Ape collection launches on April 28, 2022.
About Bill Starkov
Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Starkov was raised in Los Angeles. He's provided casting services for hundreds of different media outlets and worked with top international brands. He invests in and builds high end residential and commercial real estate and has used his community build skills to bring a community to apocalyptic apes.
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SOURCE Apocalyptic Apes | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/apocalyptic-apes-bringing-web-20-web-30-one-nft-time/ | 2022-04-15T11:58:23 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/apocalyptic-apes-bringing-web-20-web-30-one-nft-time/ |
The Houston trial law firm will be awarding scholarships to six law students from schools in Texas, Louisiana, and Utah.
HOUSTON, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Arnold & Itkin LLP recently announced that they will be awarding $45,000 in scholarships to 6 law students at schools throughout Texas, Louisiana, and Utah. The scholarships include three (3) $10,000 scholarships and three (3) $5,000 scholarships to be awarded to either 1L or 2L law students.
The scholarships will go to students attending the following schools:
- University of Texas ($10,000)
- Baylor University ($10,000)
- South Texas College of Law ($10,000)
- Southern University Law Center ($5,000)
- Louisiana State University ($5,000)
- Brigham Young University ($5,000)
Arnold & Itkin expressed that the scholarships were a way to "invest into the next cohort of plaintiffs' attorneys." To learn more, please visit www.arnolditkin.com/academic-scholarship/.
Media Contact: Alexis Santillan, asantillan@arnolditkin.com
About Arnold & Itkin LLP
Arnold & Itkin is a trial law firm in Houston that exclusively represents plaintiffs. Founded in 2004, the firm has won cases against household names like Johnson & Johnson, BP, Shell, and numerous others. The total amount from their verdicts and settlements exceed $10 billion, including a record-setting $222 million verdict last year for a woman who lost her husband in a plant accident. The firm is also involved in various charitable causes in the Houston region, most notably The Monarch School & Institute, which is a school for learners with neurological differences.
Learn more about Arnold & Itkin at www.arnolditkin.com.
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SOURCE Arnold & Itkin LLP | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/arnold-amp-itkin-llp-awarding-45000-scholarships-6-law-schools/ | 2022-04-15T11:58:30 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/arnold-amp-itkin-llp-awarding-45000-scholarships-6-law-schools/ |
BEIJING, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bairong Inc ("Bairong" or "the Company", 6608.HK), a leading independent AI-powered technology platform in China, announced that the Company has been granted a new patent for its smart method and system for marketing strategy generation, an industry-leading solution designed to help financial institutions address challenges in precision marketing and enable them to engage their customers with high accuracy and personalized strategies.
Bairong's precision marketing solution is a three-layer strategy ecosystem, with cloud-based SaaS fintech and smart analytics platforms serving as the foundation that grants technological capacities to Bairong's services and strategy outputs. Bairong's service matrix is built on four pillars, which consist of operational diagnostics, system implementation, smart analytics, and customer operations. The top layer — strategy outputs — offers systematic solutions based on the information filtered through the two lower layers, delivering optimized and fine-tuned strategy as well as actionable implementation plans.
A pioneering innovation capable of elevating customer experiences and boosting conversion rate and sales, the one-stop solution, which is built on Bairong's unmatched smart analytics ability, harnesses AI and cloud-based technology to provide multi-dimensional customer insights, holistic diagnostic tools as well as a package of bespoke and targeted services, empowering the financial sector to accelerate toward digital transformation.
The purpose-built solution helps financial institutions quickly shift to a customer-oriented strategy in establishing a full life-cycle customer management system incorporated with predictive analytical tools that cut through the complexity of targeting customers, helping them acquire new customers, boost high-value customer retention, reduce customer attrition.
Customers are the most strategic resources for financial institutions, with customer management sitting at the core of their business operations. However, their long-standing reliance on the product-oriented marketing strategy has hindered their ability to stay ahead of diverse customer demands and expectations in the digital age, which require real-time responses and differentiated marketing approaches. With its expertise in AI and cloud computing, Bairong has been spearheading the development of a strategy-driven precision marketing solution that can help users to seize new opportunities in what author Brett King calls, the era of "Bank 4.0."
As financial institutions are adopting the multi-channel approach in order to maximize customer reach, Bairong has built a unified and diversified marketing system integrated online and offline channels. The closed-loop system features data collection, analysis, decision-making, precise delivery, interaction, and dynamic feedback, creating a one-stop marketing hub that helps users to refine the management for different customer groups.
With a human-centric design, Bairong's solution is able to provide a personalized service experience for every customer. The Company leverages marketing engines to optimize the tagging system for customers, products and services, which, coupled with a smart decision-making capability based on expert rules and data models, can enable financial institutions to significantly increase labor efficiency in terms of customer acquisition, product recommendation, and service delivery. It can also establish multi-dimensional customer classification that pinpoints the needs of an individual, providing targeted services and comprehensively enhancing customer experience.
Digitized banking and financial services have become the norm in the Bank 4.0 era, but a lack of engagement in the non-human interaction that automated services provide often leads to confusion and low satisfaction rates. Bairong precision marketing solution tackles this pain point by offering powerful tools featuring highly intelligent robotic technologies that can deliver the customer experience on a par with human assistants, allowing financial institutions to refocus on expediting digitalization while simplifying complex service procedures and improving customer loyalty.
Looking forward, Bairong will continue to sharpen its focus on innovation and product optimization and develop a holistic solution integrated with software, strategy, models, and data, joining forces with its business partners and clients to drive the digital transformation of finance.
About Bairong Inc.
Founded in March 2014, Bairong is a leading independent AI-powered technology platform in China serving more than 5,700 financial services provider clients. Bairong was the largest independent financial big data analytics solutions provider in China. Adhering to the mission of empowering every financial services provider in China with smart and comprehensive data analytics, Bairong has built a cloud-native technology platform that supports the full business cycle of FSP clients, including smart analytics, decision-making support, smart consumer operation and wealth management solutions, enabling them to improve risk management ability, promote user activity and operational efficiency. Bairong also provides precision marketing and insurance distribution services that enable FSP clients to reach and serve their target customers more effectively.
For more information, please visit Bairong.
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SOURCE Bairong Inc | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/bairongs-new-precision-marketing-solution-empowers-financial-institutions-make-data-driven-decisions-delivering-streamlined-personalized-customer-experience/ | 2022-04-15T11:58:37 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/bairongs-new-precision-marketing-solution-empowers-financial-institutions-make-data-driven-decisions-delivering-streamlined-personalized-customer-experience/ |
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of shareholders of Butterfly Network, Inc. f/k/a Longview Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: BFLY).
To receive updates on the lawsuit, fill out the form:
https://claimyourloss.com/securities/butterfly-network-inc-f-k-a-longview-acquisition-corp-loss-submission-form/?id=25955&from=4
This lawsuit is one behalf of: (a) all persons or entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Butterfly securities between February 16, 2021 and November 15, 2021, both dates inclusive and/or (b) all holders of Butterfly common stock as of the record date for the special meeting of shareholders held on February 12, 2021 to consider approval of the merger between Longview Acquisition Corp. and Butterfly.
Shareholders interested in acting as a lead plaintiff representing the class of wronged shareholders have until April 18, 2022 to petition the court. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
According to a filed complaint, Butterfly Network, Inc. f/k/a Longview Acquisition Corp. issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Butterfly had overstated its post-merger business and financial prospects; (ii) notwithstanding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Butterfly's financial projections failed to take into account the pandemic's broad consequences, which included healthcare logistical challenges, and medical personnel fatigue; (iii) accordingly, Butterfly's gross margin levels and revenue projections were less sustainable than the Company had represented; (iv) all the foregoing was reasonably likely to have a material negative impact on Butterfly's business and financial condition; and (v) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
JAKUBOWITZ LAW
1140 Avenue of the Americas
9th Floor
New York, New York 10036
T: (212) 867-4490
F: (212) 537-5887
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SOURCE Jakubowitz Law | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/bfly-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-butterfly-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-april-18-2022/ | 2022-04-15T11:58:44 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/bfly-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-butterfly-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-april-18-2022/ |
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of shareholders of Cabaletta Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ: CABA).
To receive updates on the lawsuit, fill out the form:
https://claimyourloss.com/securities/cabaletta-bio-inc-loss-submission-form/?id=25961&from=4
This lawsuit is on behalf of persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired: (a) Cabaletta common stock pursuant and/or traceable to documents issued in connection with the Company's initial public offering conducted on or about October 24, 2019; and/or (b) Cabaletta securities between October 24, 2019 and December 13, 2021, both dates inclusive.
Shareholders interested in acting as a lead plaintiff representing the class of wronged shareholders have until April 29, 2022 to petition the court. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
According to a filed complaint, Cabaletta Bio, Inc. issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) top-line data of the Phase 1 Clinical Trial indicated that Cabaletta's lead product candidate, DSG3-CAART, had, among other things, worsened certain participants' disease activity scores and necessitated additional systemic medication to improve disease activity after DSG3-CAART infusion; (ii) accordingly, DSG3-CAART was not as effective as the Company had represented to investors; (iii) therefore, the Company had overstated DSG3-CAART's clinical and/or commercial prospects; and (iv) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
JAKUBOWITZ LAW
1140 Avenue of the Americas
9th Floor
New York, New York 10036
T: (212) 867-4490
F: (212) 537-5887
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SOURCE Jakubowitz Law | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/caba-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-cabaletta-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-april-29-2022/ | 2022-04-15T11:58:54 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/caba-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-cabaletta-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-april-29-2022/ |
Book Authored by Founding Director of The Betty Ford Center, John Schwarzlose, to be Released in June 2022 by 4th Dimension Publishing, LLC
LOS ANGELES, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Camp Betty is a historical memoir told by John Schwarzlose, the first and only CEO of The Betty Ford Center, who shared in the groundbreaking to the worldwide credibility of the gold standard in substance use recovery treatment. Camp Betty is a profound reflection on how the world's first Addiction Hospital changed lives for the better. It is to be published by 4th Dimension Publishing in June of 2022.
Camp Betty tells the story of how The Betty Ford Center came to be, told with great love and accuracy by the man who stood by Betty Ford in support of her legacy, and implemented her vision with a cast of hundreds of influential people.
The book features fond and grateful memories from Robin Williams, Marlee Matlin, Ali McGraw, Elizabeth Taylor, Mary Tyler Moore, Pat Summerall, Mickey Mantle, and more.
It also features over 50 historical photos from the groundbreaking for The Betty Ford Center through its 25th anniversary, depicting many of the influencers along the way, such as Leonard and Nikki Firestone, Bob and Delores Hope, and Ambassador Walter and Leonore Annenberg, to name a few.
Schwarzlose also details how The Betty Ford Center became the gold standard in recovery treatment, with a team of highly qualified and dedicated professionals such as Jim West, MD, medical director at The Betty Ford Center; Joseph Cruse, MD, former president of Eisenhower Medical Center Medical Staff and personal physician to Betty Ford; and other notable medical doctors, psychiatrists, and theological leaders.
Photos and memories reflect Betty Ford's worldwide influence on destigmatizing addiction treatment, with US Presidents, First Ladies, California leaders, and foreign leaders all looking to the Betty Ford Center for standards in care, and perspective and advice on public health support.
The book will be release in hardcover for $44.99 and softcover for $32.99, with expected release date of June 15, 2022. Pre sales are now available at 4dphd.com.
For more information about this news release contact Kristin Witzenburg, president of 4th Dimension Publishing, LLC at kristin@4dphd.com.
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SOURCE 4th Dimension Publishing | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/camp-betty-how-first-lady-betty-ford-betty-ford-center-transformed-addiction-recovery/ | 2022-04-15T11:59:00 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/camp-betty-how-first-lady-betty-ford-betty-ford-center-transformed-addiction-recovery/ |
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of shareholders of Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CELH).
To receive updates on the lawsuit, fill out the form:
The lawsuit seeks to recover losses for shareholders who purchased Celsius between August 12, 2021 and March 1, 2022.
Shareholders interested in acting as a lead plaintiff representing the class of wronged shareholders have until May 16, 2022 to petition the court. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
According to a filed complaint, Celsius Holdings, Inc. issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) the Company had improperly recorded expenses for non-cash share-based compensation for second and third quarters of 2021; (2) as a result, the Company's financial statements for those periods would be restated, including to report a net loss for the third quarter of 2021; (3) there was a material weakness in Celsius's internal controls over financial reporting; and (4) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
JAKUBOWITZ LAW
1140 Avenue of the Americas
9th Floor
New York, New York 10036
T: (212) 867-4490
F: (212) 537-5887
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SOURCE Jakubowitz Law | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/celh-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-celsius-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-may-16-2022/ | 2022-04-15T11:59:08 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/celh-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-celsius-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-may-16-2022/ |
GUANGHZOU, China, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 131st Canton Fair formally raises its curtain to the public on April 15, 2022. Chinese home appliance manufacturer Changhong has established a presence at the exhibition with its full series of products, including a lineup of environmentally responsible, 5G-enabled home appliances as well as the M8-series TV, the Eva model air conditioner, and the Space Pro refrigerator and washing machine.
Changhong will host several new product launches and live streaming events, in addition to displaying its product lineups in several VR exhibition halls and virtual exhibition venues, enabling interested buyers to get a full and detailed run-down on each product and on the product's features. Being an online event, all exhibits and exhibitors will be available 24 hours per day. Buyers can view products, engage in negotiations and order products at any time from any time zone, removing time and geographical restrictions.
Changhong has utilized its understanding of the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and 5G to product R&D and production to produce trend-setting products that improve the user experience, such as the M8-series smart TV, the first-of-its-kind air conditioner Eva model that can respond to voice commands in multiple languages without needing to be connected to an online device, and the Space Pro refrigerator and washing machine, both of which are equipped with the world's leading ultra-thin technologies.
Despite the various uncertainties worldwide, Changhong's business outside its home market of China remains resilient. In 2021, the manufacturer's overseas business broke all previous records, with ex-China home appliance sales revenue climbing by more than 10% year-over-year, while sales of CHiQ branded products jumped some 20%.
Changhong has further optimized both its online and offline sales channels and is accelerating the establishment of additional channels in overseas markets as well as creating product portfolios customized to the audience demographic on leading e-commerce platforms worldwide.
As of the end of 2021, Changhong's CHiQ, with richer and more competitive product lineups, is now featured on over 20 countries/regions and 40 e-commerce platforms. Its e-commerce business recorded a year-on-year increase of more than 40% in sales revenue. CHiQ-branded TVs and refrigerators have been leaders among the best-selling products on Amazon's European platform, as well as on the platforms of Southeast Asia-based Shopee and Lazada.
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SOURCE Changhong | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/chinese-home-appliance-manufacturer-changhong-brings-full-lineup-products-online-edition-131st-canton-fair/ | 2022-04-15T11:59:15 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/prnewswire/2022/04/15/chinese-home-appliance-manufacturer-changhong-brings-full-lineup-products-online-edition-131st-canton-fair/ |