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Emergency radiological testing at Colonia, NJ school after rare brain cancer concerns
WOODBRIDGE — A consultant will be testing the grounds at Colonia High School amid concerns that the school is linked to a high rate of rare brain cancers.
Federal and state agencies, meanwhile, are starting their own investigation.
Township Council approved the emergency contract with T&M Associates at Tuesday night's meeting. Altogether, it will cost $221,350.
Council's resolution states T&M environmentalists will conduct "Radiological Assessments" at CHS. This involves leaving radon canisters at the school for 14 days. These canisters do not pose a risk to students and only test radon levels in the air.
Additionally, T&M will work with Cabrera Services Inc., a company that specializes in radiological and environmental remediation.
They will "utilize state-of-the-art technology to acquire real-time radiation measurements throughout the interior and exterior of the building in conjunction with an intensive survey that will encompass all 28 acres that constitute the property of Colonia High School."
Mayor John McCormac told New Jersey 101.5 the testing is set to begin on the morning of Saturday, April 9.
"I'll be confident with what our consultants come up with and we'll share that with the state," McCormac said. "They will decide what they want to do. They may do other testing. They may just rely on what we give them. And together we'll figure out the next course of action."
The mayor said this means it will take some time for the results to come in. However, the testing marks a major development for what was once a single man's mission to help his family and community.
New Jersey 101.5 first broke the story last week of Al Lupiano's dive into more than 60 cases of rare brain tumors among CHS graduates and former staff.
The number of possibly related tumors has now grown to more than 90 people, according to Lupiano.
Lupiano, his wife Michele, and his sister Angela all graduated from Colonia High School. And all three developed rare forms of brain cancers.
Since Angela's death in February, Lupiano has dedicated himself to finding a link between the school and rare brain cancers. His background in environmental work, including as an EPA emergency responder handling radioactive material, has given him greater insight into the situation.
Lupiano and McCormac became quick partners after concerned residents reached out to the mayor's office.
Lupiano told New Jersey 101.5 he's pleased with what he called "the first big step into providing answers."
"But, I am also torn between hoping we find nothing, meaning the problem no longer exists, and also wanting to find something, meaning we can prevent any more having to suffer," Lupiano said.
"I truly want to find a link to our health issues, but I also know what the ramifications of a finding are. If we detect an environmental hazard, it means the problem still exists, and potentially countless more may have been exposed. For the sake of our children, I pray that this is not the case."
Environmental agencies involved
Together, Lupiano and McCormac have been in contact with numerous high-level agencies.
"There is a lot of bureaucracy at the federal and state level, but we're dealing with that," McCormac said. "We had a call two days ago with everybody and it seemed to go well."
The call included the CDC, the EPA, the state Department of Health, the state Department of Environmental Protection, Governor Phil Murphy's office, the Woodbridge Board of Education, and the consultants. U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J 6th District, who is known for his environmental advocacy, led the call.
An EPA Region 2 office spokesman confirmed they are aware of the situation.
"EPA has received information about the community's concerns related to Colonia High School," Region 2 spokesperson Elías Rodríguez said. "We take those concerns seriously and will communicate with both the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Department of Health as they investigate the matter."
State agencies are also working with the federal Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, according to a joint statement from the state DOH and DEP provided by DEP spokesperson Caryn Shinske.
"Our agencies are aware of the concerns raised by local residents, particularly as they relate to Colonia High School, and are partnering with Mayor McCormac and Woodbridge Township to better understand the issue and determine whether any relevant environmental exposure concerns are present at the site. The Departments stand ready to assist Woodbridge in reviewing any environmental data it collects to determine appropriate next steps."
The full statement is available at the end of this article.
News spreads about Colonia High School
Local officials are prioritizing the investigation. Lupiano's questions have gained national coverage and some Woodbridge residents are worried.
"People are concerned, naturally, with what seems to be a significant number of cases of brain-related cancers and tumors from people who have been to the school," McCormac said.
McCormac and Woodbridge schools Superintendent Joseph Massimino released a joint statement last week.
"We have requested that the agencies move quickly to conduct any necessary research and verification of data so we can efficiently coordinate and facilitate any actions that will assist in the evaluation of the information and implementation of any environmental impact studies," they said.
Woodbridge Township has created a section on its website dedicated to Colonia High School Health Information. Among the available links are reports regarding a radioactive rock found at the school in 1997.
While Lupiano believes ionizing radiation may be responsible for the possible cancer cluster, it's unlikely that the rock is related.
Radiation physicist William Csaszar with the state DEP's Bureau of Environmental Radiation found the rock "posed no health threat to any students or faculty," according to a report.
"Mr. Csaszar gave the analogy that one would get more radiation from sun bathing than from being near the rock," the report said.
The full joint statement from the state DEP and DOH is below.
"Ensuring the continued protection of public health is a core principle of both the New Jersey Department of Health and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Our agencies are aware of the concerns raised by local residents, particularly as they relate to Colonia High School, and are partnering with Mayor McCormac and Woodbridge Township to better understand the issue and determine whether any relevant environmental exposure concerns are present at the site. The Departments stand ready to assist Woodbridge in reviewing any environmental data it collects to determine appropriate next steps."
The Department of Health will work with the federal Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to provide an assessment of the potential health effects. If there are any potential environmental exposure pathways identified and a need for further environmental sampling, the state Health Department will work cooperatively with ATSDR to conduct a public health assessment and evaluate the potential for health effects. We thank Mayor McCormac and the local residents for raising these concerns and we ask for patience as we pursue the science to try to identify answers."
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| 2022-04-06T19:55:02
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Spectacular air show to return to Atlantic City
The skies above AC will be filled with military and civilian high-performance aircraft and helicopters from across the country in Aug. as the Atlantic City Air Show returns.
Organizers said that 500,000 people attended last year’s event on the beach in AC. In a statement, promoters said:
“Visitors flock to our destination for this iconic event every year, and they look forward to cheering as the planes dip and dive over the Atlantic Ocean. We couldn’t be more honored to power the Atlantic City Airshow this year and are excited to work alongside the Greater Atlantic City Chamber to put on a fantastic show.”
Flying in Atlantic City for the first time in five years is the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet “Rhino” East Coast Demo Team, which consists of pilots, weapon systems officers (WSOs) and maintenance crew.
Michael Chait, president of the AC Chamber of Commerce said, “It’s incredible to have the Navy’s Rhino Demo Team fly in the A.C. Airshow, As one of only nine airshows that the ‘Rhinos’ will be in this year, we feel very honored to have them fly in Atlantic City’s.”
The U.S.A.F. Thunderbirds and the U.S. Army Parachute Team – aka the Golden Knights – will also take to the A.C. skies again, and more military and civilian acts will be announced at a later date.
The “A Salute to Those Who Serve” airshow will take place on Aug. 24, starting at 11 AM; there is no rain date.
For more information, visit the AC Chamber of Commerce’s website.
Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.
You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now:
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Wait, is that real? New NJ ‘disinformation portal’ helps vet info
TRENTON – The state this week launched a new disinformation portal meant to help people identify and vet truth-obscuring, manufactured information.
The state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness said foreign adversaries of the United States such as China, Russia and Iran, as well as extremist groups, engage in such psychological operations to sow discord.
The announcement didn't cite a particular example but did say there has been an “onslaught of activity from these entities who have recently sought to and capitalized on spreading disinformation,” presumably in connection with the war in Ukraine and other opportunities.
“In an age where the public has become increasingly dependent on online forums and social media platforms to stay informed, we all have a higher responsibility to scrutinize the information we’re consuming,” said Laurie Doran, director of the state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.
The site includes checklists for screening information, such as urging people to reference legitimate organizations and fact-check claims from competing sources.
It says indicators to identify misleading postings include accounts that lack personal information or have a username that contains numbers, hashtags or emojis; include more than 100 posts a day; post through the day and night; and use more than one language, a default profile picture and misspellings.
The site also provides reports with details on how to spot deepfakes, which are synthetic media that use artificial intelligence to generate realistic-looking video, images and audio.
“The reality is no one platform or agency has the manpower or means to track and dispel the amount of disinformation being circulated,” said Eric Tysarczyk, the NJOHSP deputy director. “With this portal, we’re now equipping the public with the tools needed to decipher the information for themselves.”
Michael Symons is the Statehouse bureau chief for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at michael.symons@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.
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| 2022-04-06T19:55:11
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Who has Gov. Murphy help or hurt the most in NJ?
What do you think of the job Phil Murphy is doing as governor?
After winning reelection five months ago, a clear majority of New Jersey residents now give him a thumbs up, according to a just-released survey.
Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Poll, said the latest numbers indicate Phil Murphy has a 55% approval and 35% disapproval rating after his approval dipped to 50% during the re-election campaign.
In 2020, when the pandemic started to spread, the governor’s approval rating topped 70%.
There is still a significant segment of the public questioning what the governor has been able to accomplish.
“For example, just 30% said he had major accomplishments to point to, 42% say he’s had minor accomplishments, but about 1 in 4 say he has real accomplishments so far,” Murray said.
Murray said as a point of comparison, “if we go back eight years ago to Gov. Christie, when he started his second term only 10% said he had no accomplishments at that point.”
The poll finds Murphy gets positive ratings from 86% of Democrats, 51% of independents, and 17% of Republicans,
New Jersey’s biggest issue
Property taxpayers are the least enthused by Murphy, with 13% saying his policies have helped while 46% say his policies have hurt them.
Murray said when respondents were asked about how the governor’s agenda has impacted the middle class, 27% say they've been helped while 38% say Murphy has hurt them.
Respondents also give Murphy low marks when it comes to helping the business community.
Many businesses are struggling
The poll finds 29% of residents think businesses have been helped by the governor, while 38% say he has had a negative impact on businesses.
He said the main group that people feel has been helped by the Murphy administration is lower wage earners, with 37% saying that he has helped the poor.
The poll also finds 26% of respondents think Murphy’s policies have helped wealthy residents while 21% believe they have hurt them, and 20% say the governor has helped transit riders, while 17% believe they’ve been hurt.
The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone from March 31 to April 4, with 802 New Jersey adults. The question results in this release have a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.
David Matthau is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at david.matthau@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.
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| 2022-04-06T19:55:17
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3-year-old receives ‘birthday wish’ for a new heart, undergoes 14-hour surgery
CINCINNATI (WLWT) - A young Cincinnati Bengals superfan got a fantastic present in time for his fourth birthday - a new heart.
Sammy Jones, also known as “Superman Sammy,” recently underwent a 14-hour surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
“That’s what he asked for his birthday. We asked him back in March what he wanted for his birthday, and he said a new heart,” Sammy’s mother, Kortney Sink, said.
Sammy was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, causing the left side of his heart not to work.
“He had his first surgery at a day old, his second surgery at three months old, and then his third surgery at three years old,” Sink said.
Sammy’s parents thought he’d be good after his third surgery. He even started playing soccer, but his heart began to fail last fall.
After months spent in the hospital waiting, Sammy’s birthday wish came early.
“Couldn’t believe it. It’s been six months of waiting,” Sammy’s father, Garland Jones, said.
Sammy’s medical journey has been shared on social media, and several Cincinnati residents have bonded with him through his love of the Bengals.
“Thank you to the Bengals for an awesome season because it gave my son something to look forward to,” Garland Jones said.
Now, “Superman Sammy” has something else to look forward to – a new healthy heart.
“We hope he can do all he wants to do. He wants to play football and basketball. He wants to do all that stuff. And I’m just hoping and praying, he’s able to do all that stuff that he loves to do,” Sink said.
Sammy’s parents said they would have to stay within 40 miles of the hospital for three to six months, and since they live 70 miles away, they’ll be staying at a Ronald McDonald House.
Copyright 2022 WLWT via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:01:59
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Body cam video shows 18-year-old’s claim of flirting with cop to avoid DUI was a lie
DENVER (KUSA) - An 18-year-old woman claimed she got out of a DUI when a deputy asked her on a date.
The woman’s side of the story went viral on social media, but police body camera footage showed what she claimed isn’t true.
Footage from Jefferson County Deputy Tyler Stahl’s body camera shows what happened last weekend just outside Denver.
The footage shows Stahl introducing himself to the driver and telling her he pulled her over because she was swerving.
“She said she was on her phone. She said that she was upset because her boyfriend broke up with her,” Stahl said. “Throughout my entire interaction, she would start crying and get more choked up the more she was talking about it.”
Stahl ended up letting the 18-year-old off with a warning, saying he didn’t believe she was impaired.
After the woman left the traffic stop, she shared a video on social media that was reposted and got tens of thousands of views (WARNING: Link contains explicit language) claiming she got out of a DUI by lying about getting broken up with. She also said she blew a “3.8″ blood alcohol content on a breathalyzer (0.4 is potentially lethal).
She claimed the officer gave her his phone number and asked her out on a date, and they planned to meet for lunch the next day.
Stahl said he is grateful for the body camera footage because without it, it could have been the 18-year-old’s word against his.
“I believe in transparency, like I said, I love the body cameras,” Stahl said. “It was selfish. I’m just disappointed. I genuinely think that she probably feels bad, and she’s going to have to live with this for a while, and that’s probably consequence enough.”
Copyright 2022 KUSA via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:02:09
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FDA warns of raw oysters potentially contaminated with norovirus
(Gray News) – The Food and Drug Administration is working with Canadian food and health agencies to investigate a multi-state outbreak of norovirus illnesses linked to raw oysters from British Columbia.
The oysters were distributed to restaurants and retailers in at least 13 states, the FDA confirmed.
These states include:
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- New Jersey
- Nevada
- New York
- Oregon
- Texas
- Washington
The FDA says oysters can cause illness if eaten raw, particularly in people with compromised immune systems.
Food contaminated with norovirus may also look, smell and taste normal.
Norovirus can infect people of all ages, and the most common symptoms of infection are diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain. Additional symptoms can include fever, headache and body ache.
These symptoms will usually develop 12 to 48 hours after exposure to the virus. People typically recover from norovirus in one to three days.
To protect yourself from norovirus infection, the FDA urges you to avoid eating raw oysters in any of the locations listed above. If you have any of the products, the agency recommends throwing them away or returning them to the distributor.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. CNN Newsource contributed to this report.
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| 2022-04-06T20:02:11
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Fed signals more aggressive steps to fight inflation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials are signaling that they will take an aggressive approach to fighting high inflation in the coming months — actions that will make borrowing sharply more expensive for consumers and businesses and heighten risks to the economy.
In minutes from their policy meeting three weeks ago released Wednesday, Fed officials said that half-point interest rate hikes, rather than traditional quarter-point increase, “could be appropriate” multiple times this year.
At last month’s meeting, many of the Fed policymakers favored a half-point increase, the minutes said, but held off then because of the uncertainties created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Instead, the Fed raised its key short-term rate by a quarter-point and signaled that it planned to continue raising rates well into next year.
The minutes said the Fed is also moving closer to rapidly shrinking its huge $9 trillion stockpile of bonds in the coming months, a move that would contribute to higher borrowing costs. The policymakers said they would likely cut their holdings by about $95 billion a month — nearly double the pace they implemented five years ago, when they last shrank their balance sheet.
The plan to quickly draw down their bond holdings marks the latest move by Fed officials to accelerate their inflation-fighting efforts. Prices are surging at the fastest pace in four decades, and officials in recent speeches have expressed increasing concern about getting inflation under control.
Many economists have said they worry that the Fed has waited too long to start raising rates and could be forced to respond so aggressively as to trigger a recession. Indeed, economists at Deutsche Bank predict that the economy will tumble into a recession late next year, noting that the Fed, “finding itself now well behind the curve, has given clear signals that it is shifting to a more aggressive tightening mode.”
The stock market sold off when the minutes were released Wednesday but later recovered most of its losses. Still, the S&P 500 was down nearly 0.8% in afternoon trading after a sharp drop on Tuesday.
Financial markets now expect much steeper rate hikes this year than Fed officials had signaled as recently as their meeting in mid-March. Just three weeks ago, the policymakers projected that the Fed’s benchmark rate would remain below 2% by the end of this year and 2.8% at the end of 2023, up from its current level below 0.5%.
But Wall Street now forecasts that the Fed’s rate will reach 2.6% by year’s end, with further rate hikes next year. That would require three half-point increases this year.
Higher rates from the Fed will heighten borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and corporate loans. By doing so, the Fed hopes to cool economic growth and rising wages enough to rein in high inflation, which has caused hardships for millions of households and poses a severe political threat to President Joe Biden.
Chair Jerome Powell opened the door two weeks ago to increasing rates by as much as a half-point at upcoming meetings, rather than by a traditional quarter-point. The Fed hasn’t carried out any half-point rate increases since 2000. Lael Brainard, a key member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, and other officials have also made clear that they envision such sharp increases. Most economists now expect the Fed to raise rates by a half-point at both its May and June meetings.
In a speech Tuesday, Brainard underscored the Fed’s increasing aggressiveness by saying that the central bank’s bond holdings will “shrink considerably more rapidly” over “a much shorter period” than the last time the Fed reduced its balance sheet, from 2017-2019. At that time, the balance sheet was about $4.5 trillion. Now, it’s twice as large.
After the pandemic hammered the economy two years ago, the Fed bought trillions in Treasury and mortgage bonds, with the goal of lowering longer-term borrowing rates. It also cut its short-term benchmark rate to near zero.
As a sign of how fast the Fed is reversing course, the last time the Fed bought bonds, there was a three-year gap between when it stopped its purchases, in 2014, and when it began reducing the balance sheet, in 2017. Now, that shift is likely to happen in as few as three months.
Brainard’s remarks caused a sharp rise in the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury note, a key rate that influences mortgage rates, business loans and other borrowing costs. On Wednesday, that rate reached 2.6%, up from 2.3% just a week earlier, a sharp increase for that rate. A month ago, it was just 1.7%.
Shorter-term bond yields have jumped even higher, in some cases to above the 10-year yield, a pattern that has in the past been seen as a sign of an impending recession. Fed officials say, however, that shorter-term bond market trends aren’t flashing the same warning signals.
The Fed will reduce its balance sheet by allowing some of its Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities to mature without reinvesting the proceeds, which it has done for the past two years.
What kind of impact this will have on interest rates is highly uncertain. Powell said at a news conference after last month’s meeting that the reduction in bond holdings would be equivalent to another rate hike. Economists estimate that reducing the Fed’s balance sheet by $1 trillion a year would be equal to anywhere from one to three additional quarter-point increases in the Fed’s benchmark short-term rate.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who preceded Powell as Fed chair, suggested during a congressional hearing Wednesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would likely keep escalating inflation in the coming months.
“The sanctions we’ve placed on Russia are pushing up the price of energy,” Yellen said. “When energy prices are going up, the price of wheat and corn that Russia and Ukraine produce are going up, and metals that play an important industrial role are going up.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:02:12
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AG Garland, Commerce Sec. Raimondo test positive for COVID-19
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland has tested positive for COVID-19 and will quarantine at home for five days, the Justice Department said Wednesday.
Garland is the second Cabinet official to announce a positive test result on Wednesday. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo also tested positive for the virus using an at-home antigen test.
The announcement from the Justice Department comes hours after Garland held a news conference in Washington, standing side-by-side with the deputy attorney general, FBI director and other Justice Department officials.
The Justice Department says Garland asked to be tested “after learning that he may have been exposed to the virus.” Officials say he is not experiencing symptoms, is fully vaccinated and has received a booster.
The Justice Department said Garland would isolate at his home for at least five days and work remotely. The department said it would also conduct contact tracing in line with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Raimondo’s office said she was experiencing “mild symptoms” and was sharing the news “out of an abundance of transparency.”
Both Garland and Raimondo attended the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington last weekend. The virus is beginning to spike in the nation’s capital, hitting not only Cabinet officials but also members of Congress, staffers in the White House and members of the media.
Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, have also announced they tested positive for the virus. Both had attended the dinner.
Other members of Congress including Reps. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Scott Peters of California, both Democrats, have also said they tested positive.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:02:19
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Judge acquits man of misdemeanors in Capitol riot trial
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday acquitted a New Mexico man of misdemeanor charges that he illegally entered the U.S. Capitol and engaged in disorderly conduct after he walked into the building during last year’s riot.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden issued the verdict from the bench after hearing testimony without a jury in the case against Matthew Martin. McFadden, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump, acquitted Martin of all four counts for which he was charged.
Martin did not dispute that he joined hundreds of other people in entering the Capitol building during the riot. The judge said Martin’s actions were “about as minimal and non-serious” as anyone who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Martin is the third Capitol riot defendant whose case has been resolved by a trial. He is the first of the three to be acquitted of all charges that he faced,
Martin, whose bench trial started Tuesday, testified that a police officer waved him into the building after the riot erupted. A prosecutor dismissed that testimony as “nonsense.”
The judge, however, said video shows two police officers standing near the Rotunda doors and allowing people to enter as Martin approached the doors. One of the officers appeared to lean back before Martin placed a hand on the officer’s shoulder as a possible sign of gratitude, the judge said.
McFadden described Martin’s testimony as “largely credible.” The judge said it was not unreasonable for him to assume that officers allowed him to enter the Capitol, even though alarms were blaring and broken glass was strewn about the floor.
The first two Capitol riot trials ended with convictions, although McFadden acquitted one of those defendants of a disorderly conduct charge after a bench trial last month. A fourth trial is being held this week in Washington, D.C., for a former Virginia police officer charged in the attack.
Martin was charged with four misdemeanor counts: entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
The judge said Martin appeared to be a “silent observer of the actions of others.” McFadden didn’t find any evidence that Martin joined others in shouting and chanting inside the Capitol or that he intended to disrupt Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
Dozens of Capitol riot defendants have pleaded guilty and been sentenced, but Martin is the first to testify at a trial. His acquittal could embolden others to gamble on a bench trial, although McFadden so far is the only judge to preside over one and decide a case.
Martin said he “went with the flow” as he approached the Capitol and testified that he saw a police officer wave him into the building. Martin remained inside the Capitol for about 10 minutes after entering the building through the Rotunda doors, according to prosecutors.
Martin said he “enjoyed the day” of the riot.
“It was a magical day in many ways,” he testified on Tuesday before adding, “I know some bad things happened.”
“You understand that police officers died?” Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano asked Martin.
At least nine people died in the riot or its aftermath. More than 100 police officers were injured. One officer died after he collapsed hours after being sprayed with bear spray and other officers who tried to quell the riot died by suicide in the months following the attack.
Prosecutors said Martin, an engineer, worked for a government contractor at the National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and held a top-secret security clearance on Jan. 6. Martin said he actually worked at a different facility in Los Alamos.
Defense attorney Dan Cron said Martin saw another person shake a police officer’s hand after entering the Capitol. Martin placed his hand on an officer’s shoulder “as a gesture of thanks and of good will,” Cron said.
“It was a very loud scene there. There was a lot going on there to try to process,” Cron told the judge.
Martin wasn’t accused of engaging in any violence or destruction.
“The whole time he’s in there he’s just standing there,” Cron said.
Romano, the Justice Department prosecutor, said Martin joined the mob in crowding police officers who were trying to disperse the crowd. The prosecutor said Martin knew that he wasn’t allowed to be in the Capitol.
“The idea that he thought he had permission to do that is nonsense,” Romano said.
Other riot defendants have also claimed police waved them in or said they could enter, but it is unclear how that testimony will be viewed by the courts.
McFadden presided over a bench trial last month for Cuoy Griffin, a county official in New Mexico who helped found a group called Cowboys for Trump. The judge on March 22 convicted Griffin of illegally entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds but acquitted him of engaging in disorderly conduct.
On March 8, a jury decided the first Capitol riot trial by convicting a Texas man, Guy Reffitt, of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun. Jurors also convicted Reffitt of obstructing Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote, interfering with police officers who were guarding the Capitol and threatening his two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement.
Meanwhile, a jury trial started Tuesday for a former police officer from Virginia who is charged with storming the Capitol with a fellow officer.
A federal prosecutor said former Rocky Mount police officer Thomas Robertson stormed the Capitol because he believed the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Trump and he wanted to interfere with the certification of the Electoral College vote.
The other former officer, Jacob Fracker, pleaded guilty to a riot-related charge and could be a key witness for prosecutors. Robertson’s trial resumed Wednesday with testimony from a Metropolitan Police Department officer who supervised other officers during the riot.
More than 770 people have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. Over 240 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors, and over 140 of them have been sentenced.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/06/man-who-testified-his-capitol-riot-trial-awaits-verdict/
| 2022-04-06T20:02:29
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/06/man-who-testified-his-capitol-riot-trial-awaits-verdict/
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Police: At least 5 gunmen involved in Sacramento shooting
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Police believe at least five shooters were involved in the mass shooting in downtown Sacramento last weekend and that it was gang-related violence.
The Sacramento police department said Wednesday there was a gunfight between at least two groups of men.
Six people were killed in the bloodshed and 12 were wounded. The injured include two brothers who have been taken into custody in connection with the massacre.
No one has been charged with homicide yet.
At least two people remain hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Authorities credit evidence and tips provided by the public with their break in the investigation.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A man arrested in connection with the Sacramento shooting that killed six people was freed from prison weeks before and last year was rejected for earlier release after prosecutors argued he “clearly has little regard for human life,” documents show.
Smiley Martin, 27, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun. Hours before Sunday’s attack, Martin posted a live Facebook video of himself brandishing a handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
Police were trying to determine if a stolen handgun found at the crime scene was used in the massacre. It had been converted to a weapon capable of automatic gunfire.
Detectives also were trying to determine whether the gun Martin brandished in the video was used, according to the official, who was briefed on the investigation but was not authorized to publicly discuss details and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Martin and his brother were among those wounded when gunfire erupted about a block from the state Capitol at about 2 a.m. Sunday as bars closed and patrons filled the streets. More than 100 shots were unleashed in rapid-fire succession as hundreds of people scrambled for safety. Investigators were trying to determine if a street fight outside a nightclub may have sparked the shooting.
The Sacramento County coroner identified the three women killed as Johntaya Alexander, 21; Melinda Davis, 57; and Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21. The three men killed were Sergio Harris, 38; Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; and De’vazia Turner, 29.
Eleven people were wounded, in addition to Smiley Martin, 27, who remained hospitalized and will be booked on the charges when his condition improves enough for him to be jailed, a police statement said.
His brother, Dandrae Martin, 26, was arrested Monday as a “related suspect” on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and being a convict carrying a loaded gun. He made a brief appearance on the gun possession charge Tuesday in Sacramento Superior Court.
Investigators believe both brothers had stolen guns and are trying to determine how they got them, the law enforcement official told the AP.
A 31-year-old man who was seen carrying a handgun immediately after the shooting was arrested Tuesday on a weapons charge. Police said they don’t believe his gun was used in the crime.
Smiley Martin has a criminal history dating to 2013. He was released on probation from state prison in February after serving about half of a 10-year sentence for punching a girlfriend, dragging her from her home by her hair and whipping her with a belt, prosecutors have said.
Martin might have been released sooner, but a Parole Board rejected his bid for early release in May after prosecutors said the 2017 felony assault along with convictions for possessing an assault weapon and thefts posed “a significant, unreasonable risk of safety to the community.”
Martin “clearly has little regard for human life and the law,” and has displayed a pattern of criminal behavior from the time he was 18, a Sacramento County deputy district attorney wrote in a letter last year to the Board of Parole Hearings.
It wasn’t clear if Smiley Martin had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Dandrae Martin, who was held without bail, was freed from an Arizona prison in 2020 after serving just over 18 months for violating probation in separate cases involving marijuana possession and aggravated assault.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg told reporters Wednesday he had “serious questions” about why the brothers “were out on the streets.”
“And those questions need to be answered and they will be answered over the days ahead,” Steinberg said.
Defense lawyer Linda Parisi said an effort to seek Dandrae Martin’s release on bail will depend on whether prosecutors bring stiffer charges.
“If it turns out that the evidence demonstrates that this was mere presence at a scene that certainly argues more for a release,” Parisi said. “If it shows some more aggressive conduct then it would argue against it. But we don’t know that yet.”
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This version corrects that Smiley Martin served about half of a 10-year prison sentence, not about two years of the term.
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Balsamo reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio, Brian Melley and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Don Thompson in Sacramento, Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and News Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York City contributed to this story.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/06/police-least-5-gunmen-involved-sacramento-shooting/
| 2022-04-06T20:02:38
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Woman celebrates 108th birthday, shares her secret to longevity
GLOBE, Ariz. (3TV/CBS 5/Gray News) – Carmen Slough celebrated her 108th birthday this week with friends and family.
She was born in Douglas, Arizona, but has lived in the Globe-Miami area her entire life and is well-known. Slough owned a clothing store in downtown Globe for 49 years.
“We didn’t have paved streets,” Slough told AZFamily, remembering the early days of Globe. “There was still a few people who got around on horseback.”
Slough lived through the Spanish Flu when she was just 4 years old, but she remembers it like it was yesterday.
“I was old enough to know that something was wrong,” she said. “There was a lot of people in the area that did pass away from the flu at that time.”
At the age of 106, another virus — this time COVID-19 — turned her world upside down.
Slough admits it affected her, saying, “The isolation was really, really bad for me because I was used to being a part of the community.”
Slough’s late husband was a WWI veteran, and her siblings fought in WWII.
“I remember the people that we lost and the valor of our local boys that served overseas,” said Slough.
Her 86-year-old son, Bob, relies on his mom’s recollection and calls her “a wonder.”
Slough says staying active is the secret to longevity.
“I don’t believe in just sitting down and giving up, I believe in going out in the sunshine, picking weeds, and working in the garden,” Slough said.
She has a little brother, the only surviving sibling in her family of nine, who’s 98 years old.
Copyright 2022 AZFamily via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/06/woman-celebrates-108-years-young-shares-her-secret-longevity/
| 2022-04-06T20:02:47
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/06/woman-celebrates-108-years-young-shares-her-secret-longevity/
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Yellen: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will have ‘enormous economic repercussions’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned a House panel Wednesday that Russia’s aggression in Eastern Europe will have “enormous economic repercussions in Ukraine and beyond.” She added that the rising price of energy, metal, wheat and corn that Russia and Ukraine produce “is going to escalate inflationary pressures as well.”
Russia’s invasion “including the atrocities committed against innocent Ukrainians in Bucha, are reprehensible, represent an unacceptable affront to the rules-based global order, and will have enormous economic repercussions for the world,” she told the House Financial Services Committee.
Her remarks were part of her annual testimony on the state of the international financial system.
WARNING: Videos contain graphic content.
Along with touching on the need for food and energy security and debt sustainability globally, Yellen called on Congress to provide support to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank organizations, which have provided grants and humanitarian funds financing to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.
“Globally,” she said, “spillovers from the crisis are heightening economic vulnerabilities in many countries that are already facing higher debt burdens and limited policy options as they recover from COVID-19.”
“The sanctions we’ve placed on Russia are pushing up the price of energy. It’s a price that’s important to pay to punish Russia for what it’s doing in Ukraine,” she added, drawing on how the conflict is impacting Americans at home.
Inflation has reached 40-year highs as an inflation metric closely monitored by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.4% in February compared with a year ago, the largest year-over-year rise since January 1982.
The United States and Western allies have imposed an avalanche of sanctions against Russia in the first weeks of the war and administration officials in recent days have put more focus on closing loopholes that Russia might try to use to circumvent them.
On Wednesday morning, the U.S. announced more sanctions, this time targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters and toughening penalties against Russian banks in retaliation for “war crimes” in Ukraine.
“Treasury is committed to holding Russia accountable for its actions so it cannot benefit from the international financial system,” Yellen said.
Lawmakers also questioned Yellen on China and the threat of an invasion of Taiwan as the U.S. and its allies continue to impose sanctions on Russia. She said the U.S. is prepared to impose sanctions against China if Beijing moves aggressively toward Taiwan, as some fear it might.
“I believe we’ve shown that we can in the case of Russia,” she said. “I think you should not doubt our ability to resolve to do the same in other situations.”
She was also asked about Russia’s involvement in the G20 summit, which is set to take place in Indonesia later this year.
“I’ve made clear to my colleagues in Indonesia that we will not be participating in a number of meetings” at the annual summit where Russia would be involved, Yellen said. The Indonesian government has it would hold the G-20 Summit impartially, resisting calls to exclude Russia.
President Joe Biden has said he would like to kick Russia out of the G20.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/06/yellen-russias-invasion-ukraine-will-have-enormous-economic-repercussions/
| 2022-04-06T20:02:59
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/06/yellen-russias-invasion-ukraine-will-have-enormous-economic-repercussions/
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Brett Luna
Created: April 06, 2022 12:32 PM
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. – Scientists at Los Alamos National Lab are currently working on ways to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it underground, to potentially be converted into carbon-neutral fuel.
The U.S. Department of Energy has looked into and worked on developing this type of technology to make it a reality for 20 years when LANL pioneered the concept of capturing CO2 directly from the air. Scientists have been creating methods to store that CO2 safely underground.
"There are a number of different kind of reservoirs that you can put CO2 into and many of them exist in this area," said George Guthrie Jr., an earth and environmental scientist at LANL. "Some of them are known as saline reservoirs and they're porous rocks underground that currently contain saltwater. You can remove that saltwater and replace it with CO2, which allows you to store the CO2 underground for long periods of time."
So far, the research has mainly looked at ways to separate the CO2 molecules from other molecules, like nitrogen.
"In the case of a power plant you have CO2 present in about 10 to 15%," Guthrie Jr. said. "In the case of the atmosphere, it's present in much less than 1% and, in both of those cases, you have to remove CO2 from mixtures with other gasses to make this work."
You could also take that CO2 and combine it with hydrogen that you'd make from another source, like solar. This means you could produce a carbon-neutral liquid fuel that could be used in cars as a possibly cost-effective way to burn gas while also not emitting extra CO2 in the process.
Copyright 2022 - KOB-TV LLC, A Hubbard Broadcasting Company
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https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/lanl-scientists-eye-ways-to-capture-store-atmospheric-co2/6438851/?cat=500
| 2022-04-06T20:12:32
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https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/lanl-scientists-eye-ways-to-capture-store-atmospheric-co2/6438851/?cat=500
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Griffin Rushton
Created: April 06, 2022 12:46 PM
SANTA FE, N.M. – This year, the Santa Fe Opera is teaming up with the UNM Music Prep School for a unique summer camp.
“We tend to have come to have kids come out of this camp and be able to say, down the line, hey, I sang opera, I created an opera, I created an ostinato,” co-director Charles Gamble said.
Over the course of a week, a group of students – in third through sixth grade – will work with professionals to write and perform their own, original opera.
Gamble says it could be a single, 10-minute story or a series of operatic sketches. Students will decide the plot, characters, music, set design and everything else it takes to put a show together.
"It's gonna go fast, you know, but that's the that's our mission,” he says.
Gamble says students do not need any music, theater or writing experience because that’s not the point.
"It's really going to be focused on creating a safe, supportive space for students to not only create but create collaboratively," he said.
The opera is offering two different sessions this summer:
Opera representatives say there are up to 20 spots in each session that parents can register their kids for online.
Copyright 2022 - KOB-TV LLC, A Hubbard Broadcasting Company
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https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/unm-santa-fe-opera-organizes-summer-camp-for-children/6438863/?cat=500
| 2022-04-06T20:12:38
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https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/unm-santa-fe-opera-organizes-summer-camp-for-children/6438863/?cat=500
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Jonathan Fjeld
Created: April 06, 2022 11:17 AM
EL PASO, TEXAS – The U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector is reminding people that, while New Mexico law allows recreational marijuana use, federal law does not.
Border Patrol issued a statement Tuesday reiterating how, under federal law, marijuana is still classified as a prohibited drug. Agents plan to continue enforcing the law against anyone found to be possessing marijuana at a checkpoint, including in New Mexico.
Border Patrol agents have drug enforcement authority under Title 21 of the U.S. Code.
The U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector includes New Mexico and two Texas counties in the El Paso area, including El Paso.
Copyright 2022 - KOB-TV LLC, A Hubbard Broadcasting Company
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https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/us-border-patrol-warns-marijuana-possession-remains-illegal-at-all-checkpoints-/6438763/?cat=500
| 2022-04-06T20:12:45
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https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/us-border-patrol-warns-marijuana-possession-remains-illegal-at-all-checkpoints-/6438763/?cat=500
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Michael Kunzelman
Updated: April 06, 2022 01:55 PM
Created: April 06, 2022 01:17 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday acquitted a New Mexico man of misdemeanor charges that he illegally entered the U.S. Capitol and engaged in disorderly conduct after he walked into the building during last year’s riot.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden issued the verdict from the bench after hearing testimony without a jury in the case against Matthew Martin. McFadden, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump, acquitted Martin of all four counts for which he was charged.
Martin did not dispute that he joined hundreds of other people in entering the Capitol building during the riot. The judge said Martin’s actions were “about as minimal and non-serious” as anyone who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Martin is the third Capitol riot defendant whose case has been resolved by a trial. He is the first of the three to be acquitted of all charges that he faced,
Martin, whose bench trial started Tuesday, testified that a police officer waved him into the building after the riot erupted. A prosecutor dismissed that testimony as “nonsense.”
The judge, however, said video shows two police officers standing near the Rotunda doors and allowing people to enter as Martin approached the doors. One of the officers appeared to lean back before Martin placed a hand on the officer's shoulder as a possible sign of gratitude, the judge said.
McFadden described Martin's testimony as “largely credible." The judge said it was not unreasonable for him to assume that officers allowed him to enter the Capitol, even though alarms were blaring and broken glass was strewn about the floor.
The first two Capitol riot trials ended with convictions, although McFadden acquitted one of those defendants of a disorderly conduct charge after a bench trial last month. A fourth trial is being held this week in Washington, D.C., for a former Virginia police officer charged in the attack.
Martin was charged with four misdemeanor counts: entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Matthew Martin and his lawyer speak outside the courthouse after his acquittal. Martin wants his job back. pic.twitter.com/QwYD7RhOMs
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) April 6, 2022
The judge said Martin appeared to be a “silent observer of the actions of others." McFadden didn't find any evidence that Martin joined others in shouting and chanting inside the Capitol or that he intended to disrupt Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
Dozens of Capitol riot defendants have pleaded guilty and been sentenced, but Martin is the first to testify at a trial. His acquittal could embolden others to gamble on a bench trial, although McFadden so far is the only judge to preside over one and decide a case.
Martin said he “went with the flow” as he approached the Capitol and testified that he saw a police officer wave him into the building. Martin remained inside the Capitol for about 10 minutes after entering the building through the Rotunda doors, according to prosecutors.
Martin said he “enjoyed the day” of the riot.
“It was a magical day in many ways,” he testified on Tuesday before adding, “I know some bad things happened.”
“You understand that police officers died?” Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano asked Martin.
At least nine people died in the riot or its aftermath. More than 100 police officers were injured. One officer died after he collapsed hours after being sprayed with bear spray and other officers who tried to quell the riot died by suicide in the months following the attack.
Prosecutors said Martin, an engineer, worked for a government contractor at the National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and held a top-secret security clearance on Jan. 6. Martin said he actually worked at a different facility in Los Alamos.
Defense attorney Dan Cron said Martin saw another person shake a police officer’s hand after entering the Capitol. Martin placed his hand on an officer’s shoulder “as a gesture of thanks and of good will,” Cron said.
“It was a very loud scene there. There was a lot going on there to try to process,” Cron told the judge.
Martin wasn’t accused of engaging in any violence or destruction.
“The whole time he’s in there he’s just standing there,” Cron said.
Romano, the Justice Department prosecutor, said Martin joined the mob in crowding police officers who were trying to disperse the crowd. The prosecutor said Martin knew that he wasn’t allowed to be in the Capitol.
“The idea that he thought he had permission to do that is nonsense,” Romano said.
Other riot defendants have also claimed police waved them in or said they could enter, but it is unclear how that testimony will be viewed by the courts.
McFadden presided over a bench trial last month for Cuoy Griffin, a county official in New Mexico who helped found a group called Cowboys for Trump. The judge on March 22 convicted Griffin of illegally entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds but acquitted him of engaging in disorderly conduct.
On March 8, a jury decided the first Capitol riot trial by convicting a Texas man, Guy Reffitt, of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun. Jurors also convicted Reffitt of obstructing Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote, interfering with police officers who were guarding the Capitol and threatening his two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement.
Meanwhile, a jury trial started Tuesday for a former police officer from Virginia who is charged with storming the Capitol with a fellow officer.
A federal prosecutor said former Rocky Mount police officer Thomas Robertson stormed the Capitol because he believed the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Trump and he wanted to interfere with the certification of the Electoral College vote.
The other former officer, Jacob Fracker, pleaded guilty to a riot-related charge and could be a key witness for prosecutors. Robertson’s trial resumed Wednesday with testimony from a Metropolitan Police Department officer who supervised other officers during the riot.
More than 770 people have been charged with riot-related federal crimes. Over 240 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors, and over 140 of them have been sentenced.
(Copyright 2022 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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| 2022-04-06T20:12:51
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https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/judge-acquits-man-of-misdemeanors-in-capitol-riot-trial/6438880/?cat=500
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HOUSTON – Sunday sales of beer and light wine has been a hot topic for the City of Houston for the past few months, and after it resurfaced at Tuesday night’s board meeting, the board voted 3-1 to move forward with the next step in amending the ordinance.
The issue, which was brought before the board by Jonathan McDaniel in December 2021, and failed to move forward during the February 2022 meeting, was once again brought forward by McDaniel.
“I am here tonight representing the citizens and business owners of the City of Houston, who want our ordinance amended to allow the sale of beer and light wine on Sundays,” he said. “We are proposing that convenience stores, grocery stores and restaurants be allowed to sell beer and light wine from 12:30 p.m. until regular shut off time.”
He gave the reasoning behind the request as well.
“We believe this is a huge step towards more economic development, city-wide revenue increases and an increase in jobs throughout Houston. To continue to grow our city, we must think of new and inventive ways to bring consumers into our city, Sunday sales are part of that. We are losing a massive amount of revenue and customers to other cities that already have Sunday sales in place. The influx of seasonal workers that once flourished within our city on Sundays, are now slowly drifting to other cities who have Sunday sales already in place, to do their shopping. Weekly social events, such as Mudslangers, bring in high amounts of customers on Saturday, but deters those same customers from our city on Sundays, because of the lack of alcohol sales. I am sure that many of you already know that Pittsboro and Bruce just recently approved the sale of alcohol. Pittsboro alone has taken away tens of thousands of dollars from our economy, and hundreds of customers that spent their money right here in Houston, and that’s just on alcohol alone, not to mention the amount of money they spent elsewhere while in our city. This amending will allow us to regain an overall majority of those customers back, by offering what those cities do not, Sunday sales. I am asking everyone please set aside their personal preferences and differences for once and please think about the economic growth and development of Houston. I love our city, and that’s a fact, this is my hometown, and I can’t express that enough, how much I love our city, and I want to see it grow and flourish even more, and for it to be allowed to attract new people, with new ideas, that will only stimulate our city even more. Our city has many tools and opportunities placed within its grasp to allow us to further succeed in business and economic development. Do we ignore our city’s potential growth? Do we set aside what the overall majority clearly wants? Do we keep everything just like it is because only a few resists change, or do we take ahold of the opportunities and economic developments that have been bestowed upon us, and work together to increase our city on all fronts and start moving Houston forward?”
There were some in the crowd against the proposal, and they voiced their opposition.
“I just want to say, I love [McDaniel] and I love Houston, I love all of y’all, I just am against it because I see alcohol from a different perspective,” said Randy Rinehart, pastor of Parkway Baptist Church. “I see the destruction it brings. I see the problems it causes. I am against anything that increases the sale and consumption of alcohol in the City of Houston, and I love Houston. There are some who are against it and some who are for it, and y’all represent all of us, but there was a reason why it wasn’t in your original ordinance, there was a reason why.”
Others argued that people could simply purchase their alcohol on Saturday instead of allowing it to be sold on Sunday.
While those for the move argued that the money it would potentially bring in justified the amendment.
Ward 4 Alderlady Willie McKinney made a motion to move forward with the process of amending the of ordinance to allow for the sale of beer and light wine on Sundays at convenience stores, grocery stores and restaurants.
Ward 3 Alderman Matt Callahan seconded the motion.
McKinney, Callahan and Alderman At Large Barry Springer voted in favor of the motion, and Ward 2 Alderlady Shenia K. Jones voted against it.
Ward 1 Alderman John Fred Lancaster recused himself during voting due to a conflict of interests.
The motion carried 3-1.
The next step involves advertising the potential change of an ordinance and then holding a public hearing.
Following that, the board may choose to either approve or reject the amendment at the next regularly scheduled meeting.
It was also noted that liquor can only be sold on Sunday with special permission from the State of Mississippi, and this amendment was only for beer and light wine.
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https://www.djournal.com/chickasaw/sunday-sales-resurface-houston-moving-forward-with-amendment-process/article_ed722331-6e34-5895-b832-76c575b44fed.html
| 2022-04-06T20:22:56
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https://www.djournal.com/chickasaw/sunday-sales-resurface-houston-moving-forward-with-amendment-process/article_ed722331-6e34-5895-b832-76c575b44fed.html
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https://www.djournal.com/news/crime-law-enforcement/tupelo-police-respond-to-reported-robbery-at-community-bank-in-downtown-tupelo/article_62efd422-7456-5041-9f41-129cfee0c819.html
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TODAY'S OBITUARIES
Joe Dalton Brock, Union County
Larry Coleman, Holly Springs
John Holmes, Ripley/Ashland
Bernice Pickens - Ford, Houston
Larry Long, Iuka
Loretta Jean Sipes, Booneville
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MEMO
Larry Long
IUKA - Larry Long, 74, passed away on April 6, 2022, at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by Patterson Memorial Chapel.
MEMO
Larry Coleman
HOLLY SPRINGS - Larry Coleman, 69, passed away Sunday, April 3, 2022, at his home in Lake Center. GRAVESIDE. Services will be on Saturday April 9, 2022 1:00 p.m. at Soul Cemetery 813 Musgray Road Holly Springs. Visitation will be on Friday April 8, 2022 4:00- 6:00 at Serenity Autry Funeral Chapel Holly Springs . Serenity Autry Funeral Home of Holly Springs is in charge of services .
MEMO
Bernice Pickens-Ford
HOUSTON - Bernice Pickens-Ford, 67, passed away on April 5, 2022, at NMMC in Tupelo. Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by Williams Memorial Funeral Home.
MEMO
Loretta Jean Sipes
BOONEVILLE - Loretta Jean Sipes, 78, passed away Wednesday, April 6, 2022, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Booneville. Services will be on Thursday, April 7, 2022 at 2 pm at Kesler Funeral Home - Booneville Chapel. Visitation will be on Thursday from 12-2 pm at Kesler Funeral Home - Booneville Chapel. Burial will follow at Forked Oak Cemetery. Condolences to the family may be made online at www.keslerfuneralhome.com.
MEMO
Joe Dalton Brock
UNION COUNTY - Joe Dalton Brock, 67, passed away Monday, April 4, 2022, at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, TN. Services will be on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at 2PM at West Tallahachie Baptist Church. Visitation will be on 10AM until time of service. Burial will follow at Enterprise Cemetery.
MEMO, PHOTO, FISHING ICON, BORDER, RIPLEY LOGO
John Holmes
RIPLEY/ASHLAND - John Holmes, 49, resident of Ashland, passed away unexpectedly of natural causes, Sunday, April 3, 2022, at his residence.
Services honoring the life of Mr. Holmes will be 12 noon, Thursday, April 7, 2022, in the Heritage Chapel of Ripley Funeral Home with Bro. Ricky and Sister Jennie Barnett officiating. Burial will follow in the Wiers Chapel Cemetery in Tippah County.
Mr. Holmes was born March 25, 1973, in Tippah County to the late Clarence Jr. and Annie Turner Holmes. He received his education from the Tippah County Public School System. He was employed for many years with TCI in Ashland as a machine operator as long as his health allowed.
A Christian and member of Fanning the Flame Ministry, Mr. Holmes enjoyed fishing, canoeing and dancing. A devoted family man, Mr. Holmes shared much of his time with his daughter Addie as a stay home dad, taking care of his chickens and watching his favorite television show Yellowstone.
In addition to his wife Michelle Holmes, memories will be shared by six daughters, Nicole Jones (Andrew) of Tiplersville, Kristen Holmes of Jonesboro, AR, Laken Holmes of Dyess, AR, Breanna Bryant (Brittney) of Ashland, Cori Holmes of Blue Mountain and Addie Bryant of Asland, two sons Patton Holmes of Ripley, Bryson Roberson (Tonya) of Ashland, one sister Patricia Huffins of Ripley, two brothers, Terry Holmes (Carol) of Bay St. Louis, Joe Holmes of Dyess, AR, six grandchildren, Elizabeth, Johnathan, Aiden, Dallas, Adrian and Emery.
He is also preceded in death by one brother Mark Holmes.
Ripley Funeral Home invites you to share memories with the Holmes Family at www.ripleyfuneralhome.com
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https://www.djournal.com/obituaries/obits-thursday-april-7-2022/article_66f7e1ad-03a3-5b86-b039-659f1f674f16.html
| 2022-04-06T20:23:08
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https://www.djournal.com/obituaries/obits-thursday-april-7-2022/article_66f7e1ad-03a3-5b86-b039-659f1f674f16.html
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Have you heard the old saying, what comes around goes around? This adage definitely applies to hummingbirds. Hummingbirds have begun their spring migration in full force. You possibly have seen your first hummingbird of the year by now.
Hummingbirds arrive in Mississippi during March as the red buckeyes and azaleas are blooming. Normally in November, they head south to spend the winter in Central and South America.
Hummingbirds are a preferred wildlife species for many Mississippi homeowners to view. With a basic understanding of hummingbirds and their habitat requirements you can create a haven for these energetic creatures.
The Mississippi State University Extension Service Publications “Attracting Hummingbirds to Mississippi Gardens”, “Keeping Hummingbirds Coming Back for More”, and “Attract Hummingbirds with Colorful Plants” are sources for this article.
As with all types of wildlife, proper habitat should be maintained in order to see hummingbirds. Good habitat will provide the food, water, and shelter needed for hummingbirds to flourish.
Food
Hummingbirds have extremely high energy requirements. Their fast metabolisms result from the fact that their wings beat an amazing 50-70 times a second! Hummingbirds get their energy from the nectar of brightly colored red, white, scarlet, and orange flowers. They generally must take in 50% of their body weight in flower nectar each day.
Hummingbirds meet their protein requirements by eating spiders and soft-bodied insects. These delicacies can be supplied by refraining from using insecticides near their favorite flowering plants.
Planting brightly colored flowering plants is the first step to attracting hummingbirds to your landscape. Planting a large group of flowering plants can be helpful in attracting hummingbirds. Scattering plantings can help accommodate more of these very territorial birds.
Common trees and shrubs to plant include azaleas, red buckeyes, lantanas, and mimosas. Vines that can be planted include trumpet creeper, crossvine, Virginia creeper, coral honeysuckle, and morning glories. Perennials that can be planted include four-o-clocks, hostas, bee balms, and cannas. Annual plants that can be planted include petunias, impatiens, and red salvia. A complete list of preferred plants can be found in the MSU Extension Service Publication “Attracting Hummingbirds to Mississippi Gardens.
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https://www.djournal.com/pontotoc/provide-food-and-flowers-for-our-flying-jewels-from-the-south/article_9b125a16-aaba-52e0-ba22-be735cea3602.html
| 2022-04-06T20:23:14
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https://www.djournal.com/pontotoc/provide-food-and-flowers-for-our-flying-jewels-from-the-south/article_9b125a16-aaba-52e0-ba22-be735cea3602.html
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Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
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https://www.djournal.com/sentinel/news/miss-tippah-county-usa-ava-palmer-competed-in-miss-mississippi-usa-competition/article_cb2a437e-37f7-5670-aad5-970b381a2776.html
| 2022-04-06T20:23:20
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https://www.djournal.com/sentinel/news/miss-tippah-county-usa-ava-palmer-competed-in-miss-mississippi-usa-competition/article_cb2a437e-37f7-5670-aad5-970b381a2776.html
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OXFORD – It took a couple of years, but Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin thinks the Rebels are finally starting to cement themselves in the defensive trenches.
Ole Miss has made a conscious effort in recent recruiting classes to fortify its defensive line.
That was apparent through the most recent high school signing class – Germantown defensive tackle Zxavian Harris is a four-star recruit and a load at 6-foot-8, 335 pounds – and in the transfer portal, where the Rebels signed a pair of heralded four-star players in Georgia Tech junior defensive end Jared Ivey and Auburn junior defensive tackle J.J. Pegues.
Ivey started 13 games in his Yellow Jackets career and had 1.5 sacks last season. Pegues, who attended Oxford High School, had 16 tackles in 2021, including two for loss.
Combined with the play of junior defensive end Cedric Johnson (6.5 sacks in 2021), the return of defensive tackles senior K.D. Hill, junior Isaiah Iton, junior Jamond Gordon, redshirt freshman Tywone Malone and senior defensive end Tavius Robinson, the Kiffin feels the team is nearer to the desired depth he wanted when he took the job.
In the last three seasons, the Rebels have added 13 defensive linemen through traditional signing classes or the portal.
“I think up front, we've finally have gotten it close to where we wanted to be when we got here. I think it’s no secret, we haven’t felt like there’s been a lot of quality players in the front, where we could rotate and play guys, and the draft has definitely showed that as well,” Kiffin said. “So I think we’re on that way with a lot of different transfers and guys coming in where hopefully we’ll be deeper.”
Robinson, who is partially practicing but sporting a black jersey as he fully recovers from offseason surgery to clean up his knee, said there is a different energy within the defensive line group this spring. There is more buy-in, he said, as players have been together longer now. The new faces don’t hurt, either.
“We’re growing, and it’s good. The way everyone’s really bought in now, we’re locked in as a unit, you see it. Now, everyone runs to the ball, and it’s like you stand out if you don’t follow the standard we have,” Robinson said. “We’re getting to the point we need to be at. We’re bought in as a unit, for sure.”
Additional depth also means more battles for playing time. That’s not a bad thing, according to Robinson. When asked what his initial thoughts were when the Rebels brought in new defensive linemen through the portal, Robinson’s reaction was one of excitement. Iron sharpens iron.
“It’s all good. It’s competition. It makes each other better. Like, me and Ivey, we’re working every day after practice. We’re talking outside of practice,” Robinson said. “We’re both the same height, we’re kind of the same build. So it’s like we’re working off each other, and we make each other better. So it’s all love for sure.”
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/college/ole-miss/ole-miss-defensive-line-getting-close-to-desired-depth/article_e63386ca-99b0-522c-a6dc-924857d81240.html
| 2022-04-06T20:23:26
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/college/ole-miss/ole-miss-defensive-line-getting-close-to-desired-depth/article_e63386ca-99b0-522c-a6dc-924857d81240.html
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INDIANAPOLIS — Chris Staab said he thought the gunshots that were heard in his eastside neighborhood the other night were fired next door to his house.
“Officers were sitting at a site eight blocks away and they turned it over to dispatch saying they heard the shots but couldn’t tell where they came from until all of a sudden neighbors started calling in and 15 shots were fired that night and were found in the 10th and Rural location,” he said.
Staab’s neighborhood will be in the center of a five square mile area where IMPD will be launching an audio gunshot detector pilot program this spring.
Three vendors answered the city’s call for such technology that will be tested simultaneously.
“When we get the detection of a gunshot, we will also have a higher chance of a lead generating from that. So, we will have a picture of a vehicle fleeing the scene or a suspect running by a camera,” said IMPD Commander Matt Thomas, who eventually sees the gunshot detector system as part of a layered technology response to Indianapolis gun violence to include license plate readers.
“When a vehicle is traveling down the road, a photograph is taken of the vehicle and license plate. The license plate number is entered into a database which our investigators can then access for a period of 30 days.”
Thomas said the National Policing Institute will be paying for 25 LPRs on IMPD’s Southwest District in Haughville while the department determines locations for up to 200 more readers citywide.
IMPD and the City will also enhance the public safety camera system.
“We expect that’s going to double our views we have in the city provided that we’re at 250 now we expect to be closer to 500,” said Thomas.
Mayor Joe Hogsett has committed $9 million over the next three years to enhance IMPD’s technology.
Upgraded systems will also require additional spending and staffing.
The City is currently evaluating vendor proposals to determine which systems will be purchased and installed.
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https://fox59.com/indiana-news/impd-to-launch-gunshot-detection-pilot-program/
| 2022-04-06T20:33:43
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https://fox59.com/indiana-news/impd-to-launch-gunshot-detection-pilot-program/
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April 6 is National Assistive Technology Awareness Day. Easterseals Crossroads has an assistive technology division dedicated to increasing awareness to assistive technology devices and services.
In the video above, you can see some examples of assistive technology.
If you’d like to more, click here.
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https://fox59.com/indy-now/assistive-technology-tools/
| 2022-04-06T20:33:49
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https://fox59.com/indy-now/assistive-technology-tools/
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INDIANAPOLIS — Today is National Walking Day! Have you been up and moving yet?
No need to worry if you haven’t, we chatted with Stephanie from Hancock Health about the perfect walking technique.
INDIANAPOLIS — Today is National Walking Day! Have you been up and moving yet?
No need to worry if you haven’t, we chatted with Stephanie from Hancock Health about the perfect walking technique.
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https://fox59.com/indy-now/living-your-best-life-national-walking-day-with-hancock-health/
| 2022-04-06T20:33:56
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https://fox59.com/indy-now/living-your-best-life-national-walking-day-with-hancock-health/
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INDIANAPOLIS — You could go with ham or lamb for Easter — or maybe something even fancier.
Moody’s Butcher shop joined us Wednesday to talk about meat options for Easter, including “the Wagyu beef of pork,” otherwise known as Berkshire pork.
They also brought along a surprise guest — one who appreciates beef not making the menu.
Let’s get social: follow your friends at Indy Now
Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for behind-the-scenes fun, the latest on what’s happening in central Indiana, information about the local businesses featured on the show, and much more.
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https://fox59.com/indy-now/moodys-butcher-shop-talks-easter-meats-including-the-wagyu-beef-of-pork/
| 2022-04-06T20:34:02
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https://fox59.com/indy-now/moodys-butcher-shop-talks-easter-meats-including-the-wagyu-beef-of-pork/
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INDIANAPOLIS — An afternoon tea party doesn’t have to be expensive or only accessible across seas! Tina’s Traditional brings amazing teas and scones right to the Hoosier State.
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https://fox59.com/indy-now/try-with-afternoon-tea-challenge-with-tina-jesson-with-tinas-traditional/
| 2022-04-06T20:34:09
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https://fox59.com/indy-now/try-with-afternoon-tea-challenge-with-tina-jesson-with-tinas-traditional/
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WHITESTOWN, Ind. — Two young men and a juvenile are under arrest after police said they robbed a Whitestown Verizon store at gunpoint Tuesday and fled into Indianapolis with police on their tail.
Antwuan Morris, 22; Donte Woodard, 21, and an unidentified 17-year-old all face felony charges of robbery, theft, intimidation and pointing a firearm, criminal confinement and resisting arrest.
According to the Whitestown Police Department, Boone County Communications Center was notified of an armed robbery that had just occurred at the Verizon store on Whitestown Parkway at approximately 4 p.m.
Police said the suspects entered the store and stole numerous phones at gunpoint from a safe. The phones were said to total over $12,000 in value.
Indiana State Police and Whitestown officers located the suspects’ silver vehicle heading southbound on Interstate 65 into Indianapolis. A short vehicle pursuit ensued with the silver vehicle crashing and the suspects fleeing on foot. Two of the suspects were caught initially and a perimeter was set up as officers searched and eventually found the third.
Police said no officers or suspects were injured during the apprehension.
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https://fox59.com/news/indycrime/3-caught-in-whitestown-verizon-armed-robbery/
| 2022-04-06T20:34:15
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https://fox59.com/news/indycrime/3-caught-in-whitestown-verizon-armed-robbery/
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INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana mother speaks out after filing a lawsuit against the Indiana Department of Child Services following her son’s murder.
Hayley Kelly, the mother of Nakota Kelly, seeks damages for wrongful death and negligence, according to the tort claim.
Court records claim the 10-year-old boy predicted he would be killed by his father if he went to visit him at his apartment building.
The victim’s mother believes the DCS failed to take those claims serious and shares responsibility for the death.
According to the complaint, Nakota was on a court-ordered visitation weekend with his father. Police were called to an address on West Lake South Drive for a welfare check on July 19, 2020.
Despite extensive search efforts in the summer of 2020, the boy’s body was never recovered and a funeral has never been held. Police did, however, discover enough evidence to convince them Nakota was dead, including “blood spatter, blood smears and brain matter” in a bathroom.
“I want to be able to put my son to rest,” said Hayley Kelly. “Not having a body and not having a place to go, it’s unthinkable.”
Police claim Nakota’s father, Anthony Dibiah, confessed to suffocating his son to death inside his apartment before disposing of the child’s body.
According to court documents, Dibiah called at least two people to inform them he’d killed his son. He was eventually arrested in Missouri. A jury trial is scheduled for May 23, according to online court records.
Prior to the killing, Nakota expressed trepidation about visiting his father, telling his mother, “Oh, I’m dead. Don’t expect me to come home.” When his mother asked him about the comment, Nakota said his father had been angry at him for hanging up during a phone call. “My dad is going to kill me,” the boy told his mother.
“What’s a kid supposed to do other than say he’s going to kill me? And guess what? He killed him,” said attorney Robert Turner.
Attorney Robert Turner and Nakota’s mother both insist she reported the conversation to a DCS employee. Hayley said DCS told her his weekend visit with his father would proceed as scheduled “because it was by Court Order,” according to the tort claim.
“Defendant DCS never mentioned or addressed the matter of Nakota’s fear or safety in the July 16, 2020, telephone call,” Kelly said.
Around 2 p.m. on July 19, Kelly received a text message from Dibiah that said, “Sometimes I hear voices. My son is in Heaven.” She immediately tried to report the text message to DCS, although she had to leave a voicemail instead. She received a call back the next day in which she informed the DCS employee that her son was dead.
“This should have been prevented by the exercise of a little authority to order supervised visitation,” said Turner.
“I think if they just listened to Nakota, they would have been able to stop it,” said Kelly.
In the tort claim, Kelly said she believed DCS failed to protect her son and breached in its duty of care. Had the agency taken action, she believes her son would still be alive, calling his death “both foreseeable and preventable.”
Kelly seeks damages for “loss of services, loss of love and companionship, funeral and burial expenses, costs associated with uninsured debts/expenses of the child, psychological and psychiatric counselling services, estate administration expenses and fees, attorney fees and for all other just and proper relief in the premises,” according to the tort claim.
She also wants DCS to change how they investigate cases like her son’s.
“I hope they’ll look further into investigations and listen to the child. When the child says they’re scared, listen,” said Kelly.
Hayley also claims she reported her son had been abused by his father on multiple occasions prior to the killing. Dating back to 2017, Nakota claimed he did not feel safe at his dad’s home because he would hit and yell at him.
A spokesperson for the DCS said they have no comment on the case.
The suspect is scheduled to go to trial for murder next month.
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https://fox59.com/news/mother-speaks-out-after-filing-a-lawsuit-against-dcs-following-her-sons-murder/
| 2022-04-06T20:34:21
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https://fox59.com/news/mother-speaks-out-after-filing-a-lawsuit-against-dcs-following-her-sons-murder/
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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A wind energy company was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay more than $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed over the past decade at its wind farms in eight states, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act during a Tuesday court appearance in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was charged criminally in the deaths of nine eagles at three of its wind farms in Wyoming and New Mexico.
In addition to those deaths, ESI acknowledged the deaths of golden and bald eagles at 50 wind farms affiliated with ESI and NextEra since 2012. The birds died in eight states, prosecutors said: Wyoming, California, New Mexico, North Dakota, Colorado, Michigan, Arizona and Illinois.
The birds are killed when they fly into the blades of wind turbines. Some ESI turbines killed multiple eagles and because the carcasses are not always found, officials said the number killed was likely higher than the 150 birds cited by prosecutors in court documents.
NextEra’s plea deal comes amid a push by President Joe Biden for more renewable energy from wind, solar and other sources to help reduce climate changing emissions. It also follows a renewed commitment by federal wildlife officials under Biden to enforce protections for eagles and other birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, after criminal prosecutions were halted under former President Donald Trump.
It’s illegal to kill or harm eagles under federal law.
The bald eagle — the U.S. national symbol — was removed from protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2007, following a dramatic recovery from widespread decimation due to harmful pesticides and other problems. Wildlife officials say more than 300,000 bald eagles now occupy the U.S., not including Alaska.
Golden eagles have not fared as well, with populations considered stable but under pressure from wind farms, collisions with vehicles, illegal shootings and poisoning from lead ammunition. There are an estimated 31,800 golden eagles in the Western U.S., according to a study released last week by leading eagle researchers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other entities.
More than 2,000 golden eagles are killed annually due to human causes, or about 60% of all deaths, the researchers said. The study concluded that golden eagle deaths “will likely increase in the future” because of wind energy development and other human activities.
Companies historically have been able to avoid prosecution under the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty if they take steps to avoid bird deaths and seek permits for those that occur. ESI did not seek such a permit, authorities said.
The company was warned prior to building the wind farms in New Mexico and Wyoming that they would kill birds, but it proceeded anyway and at times ignored advice from federal wildlife officials about how to minimize the deaths, according to court documents.
“For more than a decade, ESI has violated (wildlife) laws, taking eagles without obtaining or even seeking the necessary permit,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division in a statement.
ESI agreed under a plea deal to spend up to $27 million during its five-year probationary period on measures to prevent future eagle deaths. That includes shutting down turbines at times when eagles are more likely to be present.
Despite those measures, wildlife officials anticipate that some eagles still could die. When that happens, the company will pay $29,623 per dead eagle, under the agreement.
NextEra President Rebecca Kujawa said collisions of birds with wind turbines are unavoidable accidents that should not be criminalized. She said the Juno Beach, Florida-based company —which bills itself as the world’s largest utility company by market value — is committed to reducing damage to wildlife from its projects.
“We disagree with the government’s underlying enforcement activity,” Kujawa said in a statement. “Building any structure, driving any vehicle, or flying any airplane carries with it a possibility that accidental eagle and other bird collisions may occur.”
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https://fox59.com/news/national-world/wind-energy-company-kills-150-eagles-in-us-pleads-guilty/
| 2022-04-06T20:34:28
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https://fox59.com/news/national-world/wind-energy-company-kills-150-eagles-in-us-pleads-guilty/
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https://www.unionleader.com/nashua-vfw-post-483-to-celebrate-loyalty-day/article_8ad29f77-4ef5-5eca-a560-464080fb52d8.html
| 2022-04-06T20:35:33
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https://www.unionleader.com/nashua-vfw-post-483-to-celebrate-loyalty-day/article_8ad29f77-4ef5-5eca-a560-464080fb52d8.html
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Awards and a Golden Girls script are displayed during an auction preview of "Property from the Life and Career of Betty White" at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., April 5, 2022. Picture taken April 5, 2022. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci
A ring is displayed during an auction preview of "Property from the Life and Career of Betty White" at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., April 5, 2022. Picture taken April 5, 2022. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci
Awards and a Golden Girls script are displayed during an auction preview of "Property from the Life and Career of Betty White" at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., April 5, 2022. Picture taken April 5, 2022. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci
AUDE GUERRUCCI
A ring is displayed during an auction preview of "Property from the Life and Career of Betty White" at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., April 5, 2022. Picture taken April 5, 2022. REUTERS/Aude Guerrucci
BEVERLY HILLS -- Personal items that once belonged to the iconic comedic actress Betty White, including a gold watch from her mother, are set to go up for auction in September.
Awards, paintings, scripts, jewelry and red carpet outfits from the homes of "The Golden Girls" actress were put on display at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills on Tuesday.
White died at age 99 on Dec. 31.
“This is an auction representing an incredible life and career. It’s a lifestyle auction," said Martin Nolan, the executive director of Julien's Auctions.
"All these items came from her home in Brentwood or her residence in Carmel in northern California, where she lived with her husband Allen Ludden," he added.
The most personal item, according to Nolan, is a "14-carat gold watch that was gifted to Betty Dec. 25, 1940 with the initials T.C.W. which, of course, is Tess White, Betty’s mom."
White started her career in radio in the late 1930s and by 1939 had made her TV debut. By 1952, White had her own television series "Life with Elizabeth" and went on to have iconic roles in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Golden Girls."
She was one of the first recipients of a star on the Walk of Fame in 1960. A smaller replica, given to the recipient when they are awarded the star, is up for auction.
There are also numerous paintings of animals and paintings by animals.
“Pets were her thing. She said that she liked to keep her job in show business so that she could support her business with animals," Nolan said.
Up for auction are three paintings by Koko, a gorilla who communicated using sign language.
Nolan values the entire collection at $1 million to $2 million. The auction will take place Sept. 23-25 in Beverly Hills.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/actress-betty-whites-personal-belongings-to-go-under-the-hammer/article_972bbb06-1db1-5d83-b64b-1b058bb00c09.html
| 2022-04-06T20:35:39
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A dual-armed robot picks up a banana and peels it without squashing the fruit inside during a demonstration in this handout image taken December 2, 2021 and released by ISI (Kuniyoshi) Lab., School of Info. Sci & Tech., The University of Tokyo, Japan. Picture taken December 2, 2021. ISI (Kuniyoshi) Lab., School of Info. Sci & Tech., The University of Tokyo/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.
TOKYO -- Robots in Japan are found on factory floors carrying out simple tasks or delivering food to restaurant patrons but researchers have now unveiled a robot capable of executing the delicate task of peeling a banana without squashing the fruit inside.
While the dual-armed machine is only successful 57% of the time, banana peeling points to a future where machines undertake more subtle operations than moving metal parts or delivering coffee.
Video from researchers at the University of Tokyo showed the robot pick up and peel a banana with both hands in about three minutes.
Researchers Heecheol Kim, Yoshiyuki Ohmura and Yasuo Kuniyoshi trained the robot using a "deep imitation learning" process where they demonstrated the banana-peeling action hundreds of times to produce sufficient data for the robot to learn the actions and replicate it.
In this case, the banana reached its success rate after more than 13 hours of training.
While still undergoing more testing, Kuniyoshi believes his robot training method can teach robots to do different simple "human" tasks.
He hopes the better-trained robots can alleviate Japan's labor shortage problems, for example at bento lunch box or food processing factories that are highly dependent on human labor.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/japanese-robot-can-peel-bananas-cleanly-most-of-the-time/article_aa4dbe6d-6163-5cab-bf8c-10d66f49e835.html
| 2022-04-06T20:35:45
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/japanese-robot-can-peel-bananas-cleanly-most-of-the-time/article_aa4dbe6d-6163-5cab-bf8c-10d66f49e835.html
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SANTIAGO -- Scientists in Chile say they have unearthed a rare cemetery with well-preserved bones of ancient flying reptiles that roamed the Andean country's Atacama desert more than 100 million years ago.
The remains belong to pterosaurs, scientists determined, flying creatures that lived alongside dinosaurs that had a long wingspan and fed by filtering water through long thin teeth, similar to flamingos.
The group of scientists, led by Jhonatan Alarcon, an investigator at the University of Chile, have been searching for pterosaurs for years, but this discovery surpassed their hopes.
"This has global relevance because these types of findings are relatively rare," Alarcon said. "Almost everywhere in the world, the pterosaur remains that are found are isolated."
The discovery of this rare cemetery will allow scientists to study the pterosaur's habits, not just its anatomy, he said.
"We could determine how groups of these animals were composed, if they raised their babies or not," he added.
Another unexpected surprise was how well-preserved the bones scientists discovered were.
"Most pterosaur bones that are found are flattened, broken," said David Rubilar, head of paleontology at Chile's Museum of National History. "Nevertheless we were able to recover preserved three-dimensional bones from this site."
This well help scientists better understand pterosaur anatomy.
The find was made 40.39 miles away from another site where other pterosaur remains were found. This discovery supports scientists' hypothesis that pterosaurs were once widespread in northern Chile.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/scientists-discover-ancient-cemetery-of-flying-reptiles-in-chiles-atacama-desert/article_af77792f-5938-5dcc-a722-c41ce58fcb6c.html
| 2022-04-06T20:35:51
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/back_page/scientists-discover-ancient-cemetery-of-flying-reptiles-in-chiles-atacama-desert/article_af77792f-5938-5dcc-a722-c41ce58fcb6c.html
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WASHINGTON -- Oil executives defended themselves in Congress on Wednesday from charges by lawmakers that they are gouging Americans with high fuel prices, saying that they are boosting energy output and no one company sets the price of gasoline.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations grilled companies on why gasoline prices remain elevated even though prices have dropped for crude oil.
U.S. gasoline prices have surged since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February and after Western countries slapped sanctions on Moscow's energy exports. Pump prices hit a record, before inflation, of $4.33 a gallon on March 11, and since then have slipped about 4% to $4.16 a gallon, according to the AAA motorist group.
In the same time frame, U.S. gasoline futures have fallen more than 7% to $3.07 a gallon as international crude prices have dropped more steeply, more than 9%, to about $102.11 a barrel.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine "has further reduced the world’s oil supply as more and more companies are unwilling to buy Russian oil -- and rightly so," said Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat and chair of the subcommittee. But "If the price of gas is driven by the global market, why is the price of oil coming down but the price at the pump is still near record highs?
DeGette questioned the billions of dollars in profits earned by the companies, and cited $30 billion in taxpayer subsidies they receive as a reason they should help lower gasoline prices.
Executives from Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., BP America, Shell USA, Devon Energy Corp. and Pioneer Natural Resources Co. testified virtually, despite DeGette's invitations to do so in person.
Chevron's Chief Executive Mike Wirth said fuel prices are set by market dynamics that companies have little control over.
"Changes in the price of crude oil do not always result in immediate changes at the pump," Wirth said, adding that "it frequently takes more time for competition among retail stations to bring prices back down at the pump."
President Joe Biden has been struggling to control rising consumer prices at the pumps and at grocery stores, a vulnerability for his fellow Democrats as they seek to maintain razor-thin majorities in both chambers of Congress in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Washington's sanctions on Moscow include a U.S. ban on Russian energy imports. Biden has said higher fuel prices result partially from Russia's invasion. Last week, he urged oil companies to boost output and service American families instead of investors, and announced a record release of crude oil from strategic reserves.
Republicans, including Rep. Morgan Griffith, blamed for high pump prices on Biden's policies, including a decision to revoke a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline that would have imported crude from Canada once completed, which could have taken several years.
"It is impossible to generate confidence or invest in production today when future production is clearly being blocked by this administration," Griffith said.
Democrats have noted that oil companies have thousands of leases to drill on public lands that they are sitting on.
Wirth restated Chevron's plans to boost capital expenditure this year by 50%, with about half going to increasing oil and gas output and half to renewable fuels and lower-carbon energy.
Gretchen Watkins, president of Shell USA, said her company neither controls nor owns the 13,000 gas stations that carry its brand. "Each of these independent businesses is responsible for setting the local retail price of gasoline."
Exxon, the top U.S. oil company, on Monday said first-quarter results could top a seven-year quarterly record. Other oil company earnings could also surge after Russia's invasion pushed up energy prices.
"No single company sets the price of oil or gasoline," said Darren Woods, chairman and CEO of Exxon. "The market establishes the price based on available supply, and the demand for that supply."
Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield said it would take time to rev up the company's production in the Permian Basin, citing worker and supply chain shortages and the decommissioning of many rigs and hydraulic fracturing fleets when prices were low in 2020.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/u-s-lawmakers-slam-big-oil-for-high-gasoline-prices/article_1958101a-7918-5d16-9462-fcb0444395cf.html
| 2022-04-06T20:35:58
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/u-s-lawmakers-slam-big-oil-for-high-gasoline-prices/article_1958101a-7918-5d16-9462-fcb0444395cf.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/wmur-anchor-tom-griffith-plans-to-retire-in-june/article_cb705d82-d37b-5329-9bc3-125e2e2fe78e.html
| 2022-04-06T20:36:04
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/wmur-anchor-tom-griffith-plans-to-retire-in-june/article_cb705d82-d37b-5329-9bc3-125e2e2fe78e.html
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A paralegal working on the defense of an alleged Manchester drug dealer's girlfriend was arrested by Manchester police Wednesday and charged with witness tampering in the high-stakes drug trafficking case.
Zoe Murphy, who was the subject of a news profile last month in the Union Leader, said the state is trying to deny her ability to mount a defense.
The paralegal's mother said police made the move because her son's work threatens the success of their case.
"They know he's ripping the case apart and some of them are going to lose their jobs," Glenda Brown told a reporter via telephone.
Her son is Sean Brown, 48, a former drug dealer who operates his own paralegal consulting business and is outspoken when it comes to issues of police and racial bias.
Just last month, prosecutors dropped charges of pellet gun possession and reckless conduct against Brown. Brown said police brought the charges because he was uppity and did not know his place as a Black man.
He is also the victim in a May 2021 attempted murder case in downtown Manchester.
Brown assists in the defense of Murphy, 39, who lives in Bow. She faces a single drug conspiracy charge. Her boyfriend, Marcus Cherry, 43, faces multiple drug trafficking charges, including running a drug enterprise. Given previous drug-trafficking convictions, Cherry faces the possibility of life in prison.
Murphy has refused the offer of a public-provided defense attorney and said she will defend herself in court. She is waiting on a judge's answer to her request for funds to pay for the paralegal services of Brown and for a private investigator.
"They're totally trying to make me unable to defend myself. It's not fair," she said about Brown's arrest.
The prosecutor in the case, Senior Assistant Attorney General Jesse O'Neill, confirmed that police arrested Brown on Monday morning in Manchester. He said the charges involved felony witness tampering in the Cherry-Murphy case. He said details would be provided in an affidavit.
"I want to make it clear, it is not my intent to ever interfere with anybody's defense," O'Neill said.
When police find probable cause that a crime is committed, they present it to a judge who then issues a warrant, O'Neill said.
Brown's mother said she was able to briefly speak to her son when he called from the police station. A bail bondsman initially told her she would have to come up with only $40 to have him released. But then her son called to tell her they were jailing him because the case was "hot" and they wanted him off the streets.
"What kind of crazy is this?" she said.
Police confirmed he is being held in preventive detention.
Brown and Murphy are not lawyers, so they are under no ethical obligations to avoid speaking about the case.
Murphy said the case hinges on the testimony of Justin Oliver, 39, who is mentioned in court papers as a co-conspirator. He has a lengthy criminal record and is currently in jail facing federal weapons-possession charges.
According to his arrest papers, Oliver had a drugs, a handgun, a handgun silencer, a 31-round magazine and a 15-round magazine when pulled arrested last August by Manchester police.
He is on his third lawyer and scheduled to go to trial in June.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/police-arrest-outspoken-paralegal-charge-him-with-witness-tampering/article_76fd8bd0-3265-58a1-9fc3-d3df377f9669.html
| 2022-04-06T20:36:10
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/police-arrest-outspoken-paralegal-charge-him-with-witness-tampering/article_76fd8bd0-3265-58a1-9fc3-d3df377f9669.html
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Enough evidence exists for a jury to consider the wrongful termination case of a former Hillsborough County prosecutor, who claims he was fired for refusing Manchester police demands for a tough sentence or trial in the overdose death of a toddler, a judge has ruled.
The ruling involves a wrongful discharge lawsuit brought by former Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Donald Topham, who handled several high-profile prosecutions in Hillsborough County in 2019. Topham has sued both the county and former County Attorney Michael Conlon.
In effect, the order of Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Will Delker means a trial can go forward.
Conlon, a single-term Democrat with no prosecutorial experience, fired Topham in 2019 after Manchester police publicly criticized the Hillsborough County Attorney for a plea bargain that called for a 10-year prison sentence for the father of a 20-month old boy who died from a cocaine overdose.
According to the 11-page order, Conlon fired Topham just days after then-Police Chief Carlo Capano called Conlon and complained about the plea bargain. Also, Conlon's office lacked policies addressing other issues raised at Topham's termination, and Conlon told others in his office that he wouldn't have fired Topham if not for police complaints.
"The circumstances of (Topham)'s termination present several questions of material fact that prevent the Court from finding, as a matter of law, that the defendants were not motivated by the desire to retaliate against (Topham) for entering into the pleas against the wishes of the Manchester Police Department," wrote Judge Delker.
It will be up to a jury, he said, to weigh the evidence in the case.
Delker also said a jury will consider the public policy benefits of prosecutorial discretion and the independence of a prosecutor's office.
Then-Chief Capano had wanted a 20-year minimum or a trial for Joshua Garvey. Topham has said the plea bargain was in line with those of similar child-overdose cases, and the case would be difficult to prove if it went to trial. When modifications are factored in, Garvey was sentenced to five years in state prison after completion of a two-year residential drug treatment program.
On Wednesday, Topham said he could not comment on the ruling because the case is pending. Jury selection is scheduled for July.
The Union Leader emailed copies of Delker's order to both the Manchester Police Department and the current Hillsborough County Attorney John Coughlin, a Republican, asking questions about the independence of the office and its relations with Manchester police.
Neither email was acknowledged.
Former Attorney General Gordon MacDonald, now the chief justice of the N.H. Supreme Court, had cited the Garvey case as one of three reasons for taking over the prosecutorial functions of Conlon's office in 2019. He eventually returned control of the office to Conlon, who lost re-election in 2020.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/wrongful-discharge-suit-of-hillsborough-county-prosecutor-can-go-forward-judge-rules/article_fca8ca01-c7ed-54bf-a3d5-e7b0f9266106.html
| 2022-04-06T20:36:16
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/wrongful-discharge-suit-of-hillsborough-county-prosecutor-can-go-forward-judge-rules/article_fca8ca01-c7ed-54bf-a3d5-e7b0f9266106.html
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Q: How do I paint a bookcase so it looks professionally done?
A: A fresh coat of paint magically transforms a bookcase -- or almost any kind of furniture. But it's magic that even novices can master if they know a few details about how paint works.
You can prepare intermittently, but set aside time so you can paint without interruption. Water-based paint, which dominates the market, starts to dry almost as soon as it's applied. The finished paint job will look a lot better if you avoid painting over sections that have started to dry.
To work efficiently, first set up a work area. If you don't have a garage or other place to paint, or if you have a built-in bookcase, clear away nearby clutter and spread a dropcloth to protect your flooring. Use a stepladder if you can't easily reach the top. And set up a staging area for the paint and tools. (Consolidating the mess on a big piece of cardboard minimizes dribbles across the dropcloth.)
Remove any hardware, such as shelf supports and door hinges, and label the parts.
Then prepare the surfaces for paint. If you're starting with a new bookcase that's never been painted or varnished, you probably just need to vacuum or dust thoroughly. A previously finished bookcase might also just need that. But if it has grimy fingerprints, oily deposits or mysterious gunk, then you need to wash the finish. Moisten a cloth in warm water mixed with a little bit of hand dishwashing soap. (For especially oily deposits, use a TSP-type cleaner or a degreaser, such as Simple Green's all-purpose cleaner.) When no more grime comes off, go over the surface again with a clean cloth moistened with plain water.
A word of caution: If the bookcase is made of particleboard, a category that includes medium-density fiberboard (MDF), be careful to wring out the cleaning and rinsing cloths thoroughly, and immediately dry the surface with another cloth. You need to clean the finish but keep the particleboard dry. Particleboard swells if it gets wet, and the distortion doesn't revert when it dries out.
Once surface is dry, inspect the finish. If paint or varnish is cracked or flaking off in numerous areas, you might need to remove it, probably with a chemical stripper, which greatly increases the amount of work and mess. But if just a patch or two is loose, scrape off the chips, then lightly sand to round over the sharp edges where the paint came off. Go over the whole surface with 120- or 180-grit sandpaper until it's evenly dull. The idea is to scuff it up, so paint sticks better, not to remove the old finish. (If your bookcase is from before 1978, first test for lead, and skip sanding if lead is found.)
Then, in many cases, you'll prime. You definitely need a primer for a new bookcase that's never been painted or varnished. Water-based primer works well on natural wood, but use a solvent-based primer for particleboard, because a water-based primer can cause the fibers to swell. Also prime if you are switching from a clear finish to paint, switching from oil-based paint to water-based paint, or making a dramatic color change. A primer might not be necessary if you are sticking with the same type of paint or are making only a slight color change. If in doubt, prime. Use a primer labeled as suitable for slick surfaces if you are going over a finish such as polyurethane or lacquer.
Wait the recommended time, then lightly sand again, this time with a finer grit, maybe 220. The idea here is to knock off any bits of paint that stick out. Wipe off the sanding debris. Then apply the topcoat paint. Wait the suggested time, then apply a second coat.
For both primer and topcoats, the process is similar. Paint from the innermost areas to the outermost, so you don't have to reach over wet paint to get to the next section. By using both a small roller of about one inch in diameter and a 112-inch angled brush, you can achieve a surface that's nearly as flat and blemish-free as if you sprayed the paint.
Open the can and thoroughly stir the contents. Pour some of the paint into a tray sized for this type of roller. Use the brush to paint inside corners and edges, and use the roller to spread paint over the flat areas. You can leave the rolled areas as-is (paints generally flatten as they dry), or you can immediately brush over the area with the nearly dry brush to level the paint. But places where you go over partially dried paint will show, as will places where you overlap dry paint with wet paint, so work in manageable areas, ideally in sections that span the whole length of the board. Once you go over an area one time to smooth out the paint, move on to the next section. Resist the temptation to go back to touch up bare spots; leave those for the second coat.
It's not necessary to wash tools between coats, provided you apply the additional layers in the next day or two. Wrap the brush and roller in plastic to keep the paint from drying out. Covering the opened paint can with a plastic bag while you are painting also helps keep the paint at the right consistency.
Water-based paint dries to the touch fairly quickly, but it continues to cure over the next 30 days or so. During that time, two newly painted surfaces that touch will probably bond, causing the paint on one surface to peel off when the two are pulled apart, something the paint industry calls "blocking." So feel free to reinstall your hardware soon after the paint is dry, but wait as long as you can to close any doors, or they will probably stick.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/how-to-paint-a-bookcase-like-a-pro/article_0190722b-5daa-53e5-84f8-b0c8564a7180.html
| 2022-04-06T20:36:22
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/how-to-paint-a-bookcase-like-a-pro/article_0190722b-5daa-53e5-84f8-b0c8564a7180.html
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United States Air Force Senior Airman Brian Kolfage Jr., a triple amputee who lost both his legs and an arm while serving his second deployment in Iraq in 2004, attends the Veterans Day parade on 5th Avenue in New York in 2014. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
NEW YORK -- A decorated Air Force veteran accused of defrauding donors in a fundraising campaign to help former President Donald Trump build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border has agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and three tax charges.
The Department of Justice revealed their plea agreement with Brian Kolfage, who led the "We Build the Wall" campaign, in a filing on Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Kolfage is expected to formally enter his plea on April 21 before U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres. His lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The government had in August 2020 charged Kolfage, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and two other defendants over We Build the Wall.
Kolfage, of Miramar Beach, Fla., created the private campaign in December 2018, 14 years after losing his legs and his right hand in a rocket attack in Iraq. He became steeped in conservative politics after returning from that country.
Prosecutors said Kolfage told prospective donors he would "not take a penny" as he raised more than $25 million, yet took more than $350,000 and spent money on a boat, a luxury SUV, a golf cart, jewelry and cosmetic surgery, among other expenses.
The wire fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum 20-year prison term. The tax charges, originally filed in Florida, include filing false tax returns and wire fraud.
A separate money laundering conspiracy charge is not part of Kolfage's plea agreement, according to Wednesday's letter.
Torres dismissed the indictment against Bannon last May, after Bannon received a presidential pardon in the final hours of Trump's presidency.
Kolfage's co-defendant Andrew Badolato is also expected to enter a guilty plea on April 21, court records show.
The final defendant, Timothy Shea, had agreed in principle to also plead guilty but changed his mind, prosecutors said last week.
"Mr. Shea is exercising his constitutional right to a fair trial," his lawyer John Meringolo said in an email on Wednesday.
The cases are U.S. v Kolfage et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-cr-00412; and U.S. v Kolfage in the same court, No. 22-cr-00201.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/leader-of-campaign-to-fund-trumps-border-wall-to-plead-guilty/article_d3e3642b-db1c-5b67-8c2f-b2e711ca0d93.html
| 2022-04-06T20:36:28
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/leader-of-campaign-to-fund-trumps-border-wall-to-plead-guilty/article_d3e3642b-db1c-5b67-8c2f-b2e711ca0d93.html
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WASHINGTON -- The United States targeted Russian banks and elites with a new round of sanctions on Wednesday, including banning Americans from investing in Russia, in response to what President Joe Biden condemned as "major war crimes" by Russian forces in Ukraine.
The new sanctions hit Russia's Sberbank, which holds one-third of Russia's total banking assets, and Alfabank, the country's fourth largest financial institution, U.S. officials said. But energy transactions were exempted from the latest measures, they said.
The United States is also sanctioning Russian President Vladimir Putin's two adult daughters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's wife and daughter, and senior members of Russia's security council, the officials said.
"There's nothing less happening than major war crimes," Biden said in a speech to labor leaders, referring to the Ukrainian town of Bucha retaken from Russian forces where civilians were found shot at close range.
"Responsible nations have to come together to hold these perpetrators accountable," he said. "And together with our allies and our partners, we're going to keep raising economic costs and ratchet up the pain for Putin."
Russia, which says it launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, denies targeting civilians and said images of the deaths were a "monstrous forgery" staged by the West.
Wednesday's "full blocking sanctions" will freeze the two major banks' assets "touching the U.S financial system," the White House said in a statement.
Britain also froze Sberbank's assets, and said it would ban imports of Russian coal by the end of this year in the latest installment of sanctions coordinated with the United States and other Western allies to "starve Putin's war machine."
Sberbank and Alfabank said the new sanctions would not have a significant impact on their operations.
The White House also said Biden was signing an executive order to prohibit "new investment in Russia by U.S. persons wherever located, which will further isolate Russia from the global economy." This will include a ban on venture capital and mergers, officials said.
'Soviet-style' living standards
By cutting off Russia's largest banks, the United States is "dramatically escalating" the financial shock on Russia, a senior administration official told reporters.
"The reality is the country is descending into economic and financial and technological isolation," the official said. "And at this rate, it will go back to Soviet-style living standards from the 1980s."
White House Economic Council Director Brian Deese said that, according to estimates, the Russian economy will contract by 10% to 15% in 2022 and that inflation in Russia is running at 200%.
Daniel Fried, a former State Department coordinator for sanctions policy in the Obama administration, said the latest package "basically makes Sberbank untouchable." But he added: "What is missing is what are we going to do on oil and gas," Russia's most lucrative exports.
In the latest in a series of law enforcement actions against Russia, the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday charged Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeyev with violating sanctions imposed on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine, saying he provided financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said authorities had also disrupted a type of global malicious computer network known as a "botnet" controlled by a Russian military intelligence agency.
In addition, Garland announced the department is cooperating with prosecutors in Europe to start collecting evidence of possible war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.
Seeking to further ratchet up pressure on Putin, the United States is also imposing full blocking sanctions on what the White House called "critical major Russian state-owned enterprises," which it said would damage the Kremlin's ability to fund its war effort.
Those entities included United Aircraft and United Shipbuilding, Deese said.
Among those sanctioned on Wednesday were Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and former prime minister and one of Putin's closest allies. Others included Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko.
Medvedev said earlier on Wednesday, in a post on the Telegram social media network, that Moscow will fight attempts to seize Russian property abroad in courts around the world.
The U.S. government took action amid mounting accusations of war crimes by Russia in Ukraine.
Grim images emerging from Bucha include a mass grave and bodies of people shot at close range, prompting calls for tougher action against Moscow and an international investigation.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said the killings were part of a deliberate Russian campaign to commit atrocities.
Neither Blinken nor Russia provided evidence to support the assertions. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Alex Alper, Nandita Bose; additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Doina Chiacu and David Shepardson; editing by Heather Timmons, Howard Goller, Mark Porter and Jonathan Oatis)
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/u-s-sanctions-russias-sberbank-putins-daughters-bans-investment/article_95369868-c62d-5669-8390-735f3be4f020.html
| 2022-04-06T20:36:34
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/politics/u-s-sanctions-russias-sberbank-putins-daughters-bans-investment/article_95369868-c62d-5669-8390-735f3be4f020.html
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David Sedaris: Happy-Go-Lucky | Little, Brown and Company; May 31, 2022
North Carolinians—or at least those of us who enjoy seeing our state through the twisted lens of Sedarian humor—may rejoice: David Sedaris’s latest essay collection, Happy-Go-Lucky, has much more of the Old North State in it.
Happy-Go-Lucky starts with Sedaris and his sister Lisa visiting a Winston-Salem gun range. In following essays, he shares his and his partner Hugh’s fight to restore their Emerald Isle beach house (wonderfully named the Sea Section) after Hurricane Florence and the family’s time spent in their father’s North Carolina nursing home.
In these new essays, Sedaris continues on themes he began to explore in Calypso, namely his father’s aging, his own aging, and the business of maintaining a beach house on a hurricane-plagued piece of coastline. He also spends ample time being concerned for young people and meditating on the nature of comedy, writing, and performance. Oh, and dental work.
If those topics don’t sound like cause for rejoicing, well, fair. But if you’re a devotee of Sedaris’s work, I think you’ll enjoy this collection. He approaches each of these challenges with his characteristic witty ire, but a few of the essays did leave me thinking about more somber topics like the mortality of my parents and the horror of training children to deal with school shootings.
As always, Sedaris is often shockingly candid. He shares his phobia of looking at his own teeth (this checks out: have you ever seen a photo of him smiling with them visible?), a touch of regret about the last words he said to his father, and the immensely uncomfortable tension of being the subject of at least one youth’s sexual awakening. Just a heads up, the most uncomfortably frank essay investigates his father’s consistent sexual comments about his daughters and one daughter’s accusations of sexual abuse.
Sedaris has often relied on the alternate insight and obliviousness of children to highlight the comedy of everyday life. (Well, he uses them to highlight the comedy of his everyday life, which I’ll admit has a higher level of inherent humor than I can find in my own.) Earlier collections focused almost entirely on Sedaris’s own childhood, but he spends a good amount of time in Happy-Go-Lucky focusing on other children, through exercises such as imagining what it might be like to be a child in a time of school shootings. It works well to highlight the whole uneasy aging thing.
Sedaris is often thoughtful, attacking uncomfortable topics in a darkly funny way. But at least one essay, the one about his father’s death, made me feel the way Bo Burnham’s Inside or Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette did: that I’d fallen prey to a bait and switch where I did not get the laughs I thought I would.
Other essays even take a similar path to some of Burnham’s more poignant moments in Inside. Sedaris considers, for example, the fact that he gets to profit off of his own trauma as long as he can frame it in a way that makes people laugh. Sedaris describes both the freedom that can come from turning trauma into comedy gold and into actual revenue and the necessity of an actual audience for what he does. (Zoom just doesn’t cut it some days, does it?)
He doesn’t linger in this place of self-reflection (indulgence?) for too long, though. He also arrives at a different conclusion than many of us when we reflect on varying levels of emotional exploitation in our own careers: Sedaris likes his job. He likes it when you and I are there to laugh at the trials of his childhood. I found myself touched by his gratitude that we continue to support him in that line of work.
And then, there’s the book cover: on it, a small child smiles while leaning on the arm of a truly grotesque clown who’s holding a small white dog—a poodle maybe? As uncomfortable as the artwork might be, it’s fitting for this collection. If you or I sat down and drew a clown face right now, we’d all probably do similar versions of exaggerated features. Double those to get the scope of this clown’s raggedy face, and trim the mouth down to three painted-on teeth in a Joker smile.
I probably wouldn’t allow this snapshot in my house in any form other than as a necessary attachment to Sedaris’s essays, but I couldn’t imagine a better representation of them. Children watch or attack or ignore Sedaris throughout the collection. He uses their innocence to highlight the creeping horror of confronting his own mortality or, more hauntingly, that of the kindergarteners across the country practicing active-shooter drills.
If you’re looking to be entertained by another round of lightly self-effacing elitism and Sedarian “can he really say that?”—well, he did, and in just another month or so, Happy-Go-Lucky can be yours to have and to hold.
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| 2022-04-06T20:41:09
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A still from 'What We Leave Behind' | Photo courtesy of Full Frame Documentary Festival
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival | Thursday, Apr. 7–Sunday, Apr. 10, 2022
Due to the perpetual bummer that is COVID-19, the 25th annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is being held online again this year, April 7-10. But don’t fret: festival organizers have figured out the best possible techniques for watching the films at home on your TV (why not a viewing party?) or on your small-screen device, if you must.
The best way to proceed is via the Full Frame website, which has step-by-step instructions and a thorough FAQ on purchasing tickets and setting up your viewing experience. This year’s festival features 37 titles from 18 countries—22 feature films and 15 shorts. The festival is also hosting several online filmmaker Q&A sessions. Organizers have also announced a plan to present a handful of in-person documentary screenings at Durham Central Park at the end of August.
To watch now, though, browse the full listings at the Full Frame website, and read up on this sampling that suggests the typical breadth of awesomeness at Full Frame’s annual festival.
Among the buzziest of this year’s docs, Stay Prayed Up profiles legendary North Carolina gospel group The Branchettes and singer Lena Mae Perry, celebrating her 50th year as the bandleader. Early reactions suggest this is the film for those of us seeking dramatic renewal of hope. Watch for a special screening event at the Carolina Theatre in May.
Grand Jury prize winner at Sundance, The Exiles follows the 30-year journey of three exiled Chinese dissidents from the Tiananmen Square massacre. Also in frame: notoriously rowdy filmmaker Christine Choy, the documentarian who first profiled the escapees just after the tragic events in 1989. Debut directors Violet Columbus and Ben Klein unknot a very twisty story.
Another big winner at Sundance, this harrowing documentary chronicles the story of now-imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and his mission to find those who poisoned him in 2020. Navalny is square in the middle of the global conversation right now, and it’s one of several films in this year’s lineup to address issues around the war in Ukraine.
Director Jon-Sesrie Goff offers a sustained meditation on the American South through a collage of history, memory, and the tensions in between. Told in flittering scenes of personal narrative, the film observes the Gullah community in South Carolina, stewards of land originally deeded to freed slaves, and their experience with recent hate crimes and gradual gentrification.
First-time feature director Reid Davenport shot the entirety of this remarkable film from his particular physical vantage point as a wheelchair-using documentarian. Toggling between the experimental and the vérité, Davenport delivers a first-person perspective on “spectacle, (in)visibility, and the corrosive legacy of the Freak Show.”
In 1956, Gabor Szilasi arrived by boat from Hungary to his new adopted home in Canada. He’s been taking pictures of everyday life ever since. Filmmaker Joannie Lafrenière follows the 94-year-old photographer as he applies his fiercely humanist philosophy to everything he sees, from Montreal to Budapest and back again. This year’s fest is light on feel-good films, but this is one of them.
Another documentary with alarming relevance just now, Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes features never-before-seen footage filmed during and just after the infamous 1986 disaster. Director James Jones also rooted out additional material from archival news reports, defunct Russian studios, and Soviet propaganda films. Word is that Jones finished his film and got out of Ukraine just before war was declared.
Filmmaker Iliana Sosa’s film is a kind of DIY cinematic ode to her grandfather, Julián, who regularly visits his daughters and their children in El Paso from his home in rural Mexico. Julián has been making that bus trip for decades, nurturing family ties over the border. Sosa’s lyrical, artful film is a reminder that all a talented filmmaker really needs is a story and a camera.
This intriguing feature doc from director Tomasz Wolski depicts the back-room dealings behind a series of violent protests in communist Poland circa 1970, when authorities cracked down on starving workers. Wolski combines archival telephone recordings with stop-motion animation to imagine the conflict from behind the closed doors of the oppressors—angry little men in power, playing with life and death.
Fresh from its world premiere at SXSW, director Jessica Edwards’s new film is being billed as the first feature documentary about the rise of women’s skateboarding. Skate Dreams follows the stories of several women, from the sport’s 1980s pioneers to recent Olympic contenders around the world. There aren’t many rules in documentary filmmaking, but everyone knows this one: skateboarding movies always look cool as hell.
Support independent local journalism. Join the INDY Press Club to help us keep fearless watchdog reporting and essential arts and culture coverage viable in the Triangle.
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| 2022-04-06T20:41:15
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https://indyweek.com/culture/screen/ten-films-full-frame-2022/
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On a Sunday in late February, as diners were beginning to warm up again to indoor dining and most restaurants were celebrating one of their busiest weekends in two years, Acme Food & Beverage Co. turned 24 years old to the tune of a silent, empty dining room.
The Carrboro restaurant’s birthday came three days after its front-of-house team announced the end of their three-month strike, with all but one of the 19 striking workers permanently vacating their serving, hosting, and bartending positions.
The strike was brought on by what employees describe as the “willful ignorance of upper management” in addressing sexual harassment allegations they had raised against Acme’s owner, Kevin Callaghan.
During a time of dramatic upheaval in the labor sector—Starbucks workers are currently organizing in more than 150 locations across the country; just last week, employees at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island succeeded in forming the company’s first union—the strike at Acme stands out as unusual for a number of reasons.
“It’s hard not to see that this is something of an anomalous strike,” says Gunther Peck, a Duke University associate professor of history who teaches courses on organized labor. “There’s no wage demand. There’s no union recognition demand.”
Unlike labor movements in recent headlines, the strike at Acme involved a single, independent restaurant in a small college town, with a social-media-centric strategy of organizing that reflected its generation of striking workers, nearly all of whom were under the age of 25. And their chief demand—that Callaghan, Acme’s founder and chef-owner, would not set foot again in his own business—raised questions about what justice looks like in a strike unable to be settled through simple policy change.
It was also an abnormally tight-lipped strike, as employees declined to go into detail to others or the INDY on their allegations. Strike organizer Madison Burns says this was primarily because harassment is hard to enumerate; it can be difficult to convey the impact of a comment, a look, or a lingering touch, she says.
“Sexual misconduct and harassment has a much broader definition than people realize,” Burns wrote in a reply to one Instagram commenter’s request for specifics. “Our coworkers were made to feel very uncomfortable by a man, who is their boss, who is more than twice their age, on nearly every occasion he was in the restaurant. That’s plenty of detail if you ask me.”
Shortly before the strike, employees say, a breaking point came after working a wine dinner in mid-November. According to Burns, Callaghan, 55, had spent the night making inappropriate remarks and being touchy-feely. A few workers expressed their discomfort to Alison Hinks, a recently hired bar manager.
“She was really concerned so she brought it to management’s attention, and she was threatened with her job if she didn’t stop speaking out for us,” says Burns, who started working as a server at Acme in May 2021. “So she quit, and that’s when we decided we should strike.”
In an email to the INDY, Acme’s legal representation wrote that allegations of inappropriate behavior by Callaghan at the wine dinner were false and denied that he had threatened Hinks’s job; after Hinks reported that Callaghan “had engaged in ‘inappropriate sexual language and advancements,’” they wrote, the restaurant requested that she give them time to gather facts, and she subsequently resigned without notice. Hinks declined an interview for this story.
On November 26, several hours before the striking employees set off to deliver their notice, Callaghan used the restaurant’s scheduling app to dispatch a letter to the entire Acme team.
The letter opens with Callaghan asserting that he thought he was “on the right side of things”—or, at least, that’s what he’d “told himself.”
“You think that because you go to marches, host fundraisers, and sign petitions, that you then align with certain goals and beliefs,” Callaghan wrote. “So, it’s incredibly humiliating to find myself complicit in the same power dynamics that I’ve claimed to disavow for my entire adult life.”
Callaghan went on to state he would be removing himself from any involvement in restaurant service for several months; in the meantime, he would be talking with a therapist and Acme’s management team would work to create a new framework for conducting conversations about harassment.
“There is no excuse for my actions,” Callaghan concluded. “I am very sorry.”
The strikers found Callaghan’s apology insincere.
“[It seemed like Acme] knew something was up and were trying to quickly take the wind out of our sails,” says 22-year-old striker Drew Ehrler. “The timing of it felt like too little too late. It just gave this feeling like nothing’s been internalized, very glib.”
Later that day, as planned, the strikers submitted their notice and Acme shifted back to the take-out-only model it had implemented earlier in the pandemic.
After receiving the workers’ demands, the restaurant hired Raleigh attorney Bridget Blinn-Spears as legal representation and Chapel Hill employment law practice Noble Law Firm to conduct an HR audit. With help from the grassroots labor campaign Fight for $15, the strikers brought their own counsel on board, who represented them pro bono.
The strikers’ first demand: that Callaghan “not be allowed to return to the premises.” The notice also called for the appointment of an official human resources officer. Zoë Dehmer—the chief culture officer for Acme’s leadership team and the manager who employees say functioned as Acme’s de facto HR director—had recently gotten out of a six-year romantic relationship with Callaghan. Dehmer, 29, says she started dating Callaghan after being promoted from a front-of-house position to management in 2015. In an email, Dehmer wrote that though they lived together, she and Callaghan kept their personal lives removed from the business during the time.
“I don’t know where they got the idea I was the de facto HR person,” Dehmer wrote. “In Acme’s handbook, which they all signed during onboarding, the policy is clear that employees were welcome to go to any manager to raise concerns.”
The strike notice explained that Dehmer’s involvement with Callaghan “contributed to the inability of victims to come forward against Kevin.”
Twenty-year-old striker Abbey Chewning, who started working at Acme in August 2021, says she was originally drawn to the restaurant because she believed its status as a beloved, critically acclaimed Carrboro institution implied a healthy workplace. But once Chewning learned of Dehmer’s history with Kevin, she says, “there wasn’t a lot we felt like we could do to rectify the issues we were facing.”
Former employee Coco Wilder, who worked at Acme between 2018 and 2019, echoes this sentiment.
“Kevin and Zoë as a unit were impenetrable,” Wilder says. “She was posting pictures of their international vacations together—I’m not going to go to her with an issue against her boyfriend, boss, and owner of the restaurant.”
The notice went on to demand a “formal apology” from Callaghan and upper management—one posted publicly with an acknowledgment of Callaghan’s alleged behavior, not just his position of power—as well as a framework to encourage more diversity in the restaurant staff.
The negotiation was frustrating at first, strikers say, then began to feel futile.
In February, employees received a draft of Callaghan’s apology that Acme representatives said would ultimately be released to the public. Workers were then asked to sign a contract stating that they wouldn’t release the apology or discuss it in detail, Burns says, which Acme also denies. According to the restaurant’s counsel, Acme “requested and received assurances that any drafts would be kept confidential until the apology was finalized and released.”
Ultimately, Burns maintains, it was a document that “didn’t inspire any confidence that if we went back we would experience different treatment.” After the HR audit was concluded, Acme presented the results to the striking workers’ counsel on an “attorneys’ eyes only basis.”
The investigation did not find any instances of Callaghan’s behavior that would constitute a legal claim for sexual harassment, according to Acme, though it did “describe employees being uncomfortable with comments made by Callaghan.”
Speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, five former employees who worked at Acme for three to 10 years, as long ago as 2005—including one who claims to have submitted a testimony to the HR audit—corroborated Callaghan’s history of harassment. Some expressed guilt at not speaking up about the alleged behavior. Acme maintains that management “received no other complaints related to Mr. Callaghan prior to those made to Ms. Hinks.”
Acme also informed the striking workers—who were largely made up of front-of-house staff—that in rehiring employees, the restaurant would be reinstating its pre-pandemic shift availability policy, in which servers and bartenders must have the availability to work a minimum of 15 shifts a month. This, according to Acme, was to ensure that employees have a “deep knowledge of the menu and ingredients,” though some employees—who had previously been hired to work only a few shifts a week—interpreted it as a more direct message from Acme: We don’t want you back.
By the end of January, some advancements had been made: Acme agreed to mandate sexual harassment and diversity training for employees and management, as well as implement a new anti-bullying policy.
And in negotiating their chief demand, Burns says the strikers were willing to compromise; if Callaghan had agreed to take a lengthy furlough and limit his presence during service hours upon his return, that would have been enough. Instead, lawyers offered a 30-day leave of absence from Callaghan.
Several months into this back-and-forth, the restaurant was still posting brightly lit photos of cornbread and wedge salads on Instagram, and most of the workers had moved on and gotten new jobs. Though no demands had been met in full, workers decided it was time to call it. On February 17, they ended the strike.
When Wilder heard that her successors had gone on strike, she says she was supportive but dubious about how it would play out.
“I was like, that’s gonna be hard, their first demand being that Kevin was not going to set foot on the premises,” says Wilder. “Acme is inseparable from Kevin.”
This particular facet of the strike is part of what makes it so unique, explains Peck.
“It’s unusual for a particularly bad foreman to literally cause a strike,” he says. “Usually it’s company policy, or that all the foremen are doing something wrong.”
It’s also unconventional to use a strike as a grievance procedure, according to Peck. When there’s just “one bad apple creating a toxic work environment,” it’s usually a simple fix—the company fires them. It can even be an easy way for a company to look heroic, Peck says.
“But this isn’t a company—there’s the rub. It’s an individual who owns the damn restaurant.”
But Peck stresses that the demand is important, despite the fact that it’s tricky to meet it in full.
“In terms of getting a story that’s compelling about something that sometimes would be gray in policy terms, to say it’s gray doesn’t mean it’s not impactful.”
They’ve raised difficult workplace questions, Peck says, and that’s a good thing. In Chewning’s words, “When the owner of the restaurant is the biggest issue, it’s like, what are we gonna do? Fire him from his place of business?”
From the outside, the answer may have been straightforward: quit and find another place to work. This is ultimately what most of the strikers did, but not before making a full-court press to change working conditions—not just for themselves but for future employees.
“The employees insisted that the food being served and the efficacy of the restaurant are inseparable from how they’re being treated,” Peck says. “They were figuring it out as they went, so I admire the chutzpah—the courage and the risks that they’ve taken.”
Wilder also applauds the strikers’ ability to both see an issue and act on it.
“It’s a very brave thing to do. They’re new blood, and that may mean that they’re not taken as seriously, but it also means they’re able to identify a problem and take a stand,” Wilder says, in reference to the number of recent hires that were involved in the strike. “In the ‘business as usual’ climate I worked in, I don’t think it would’ve happened.”
This, the strikers say, is part of what enabled them to organize as a collective.
They all started at Acme around the same time and quickly became good friends. Most were in their early twenties, and though Acme’s front-of-house had always been fairly youthful, this new batch was also from a new generation.
And even if the collective’s demands weren’t ultimately met, they say they still feel accomplished in what they set out to do: have their voices heard—if not by Callaghan or management, then by the community.
According to Chewning, the workers didn’t originally intend to go public with the strike. But after almost a month had passed and Acme hadn’t responded to their demands, they took their grievances to the digital realm. They decided to go Gen Z on ’em.
They created an Instagram account,@acmeonstrike, which quickly accumulated more than 700 followers. The strike hashtag—#damngoodstrike—was a sardonic nod to Acme’s business leadership team, Damn Good Food, which is owned by Callaghan and works jointly with Plum Southern Food in Durham, Atlas Bar in Carrboro, and Lumina Theater in Chapel Hill.
“They pivoted really quickly to something called community unionism, where you’re not focused simply on the immediate demand, but you reach and seek out a broader public,” Peck says. “It shows the ingenuity of a younger group on strike.”
The strikers created graphics (complete with their own “Acme on strike!” logo) that stated their demands, a timeline of events, and any updates, and posted them on Instagram alongside captions that provided nuance, addressed commenters’ questions, and cited their role models; one post ends with a quote from Lech Walesa, a trailblazing labor activist who organized his first strike at age 27 and later served as the president of Poland.
Burns has Walesa beat by a few years: she’s 24, the same age as the restaurant she strove to organize.
“Social media has become a really powerful information-spreading tool,” Burns says. “It was a way to get information to folks who maybe aren’t plugged into activist networks otherwise.”
Beyond Instagram, the workers also filmed videos of themselves explaining the strike and its larger context and cut them with B-roll from a rally they held in early January; the videos were then featured on Fight for $15’s TikTok account, which has 100,000 followers.
Sharing social media posts via direct message is straightforward—even reflexive—and allowed the strikers to swiftly mobilize their own community. Online visibility likely played a large role in raising the strikers’ funds to almost $10,000, and also allowed reporters to easily contact strikers for interviews, enabling their story to be shared on other platforms.
The strikers went public with the hopes that it would compel Acme to start talking. But the rally, which attracted Carrboro Town Council member Danny Nowell and more than 50 other supporters, was ultimately what drove the restaurant to start taking them seriously.
That being said, there was a driving force behind those high turnout numbers: they’d promoted the rally on Instagram.
On February 25, Acme posted a note from Callaghan on its website stating that management had been approached with “complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct” in November and immediately took action to investigate the claims. Callaghan wrote that even though the investigation came back clean, he feels he has fallen short in creating an environment where employees feel comfortable and is working to mitigate similar situations in the future.
The restaurant linked the note in a Facebook post and, for several days, in its Instagram bio. The note is not visible on Acme’s site unless users enter specific search terms.
Now that the strike is done, Burns is channeling her energy into forming a Chapel Hill–Carrboro Workers Coalition, which she says will provide workers with a support system and a place to discuss organizing and workplace treatment.
The former strikers held a “victory rally” to promote the new coalition on February 27, huddling under the pavilion at Carrboro Town Commons while rain poured down around them.
At the rally, Council Member Nowell briefly applauded the workers for their efforts, a sign-up sheet for the coalition was passed around, and then the crowd, mostly made up of former strikers and former employees, dispersed one by one. Perhaps due to poor weather and a last-minute venue change, turnout was low, but Burns has taken to the Acme strike Instagram to further promote the coalition, which had its first meeting on March 28. Ten people attended.
In a phone call, Nowell, who also spoke at the mid-strike rally in January, declared that he doesn’t plan on returning to Acme.
“It’s a real shame. I was really looking forward to eating at an organized Acme that had met these demands,” Nowell said. “But under these circumstances, I’ve had my last meal there—I’m not going to be crossing the picket line. Without the workers, there is no Acme.”
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| 2022-04-06T20:41:22
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The Dead Tongues: Dust | ★★★★ | Psychic Hotline; Apr. 1
For over a decade, Ryan Gustafson has been crafting affectionate roots rock, sharing deeply personal lyrics with a mystical folk hue. Gustafson’s work with The Dead Tongues has become a reliable source of entrancing tunes, and while sometimes formulaic, it’s a formula that works: Gustafson digs deep into his heart and churns out timeless tracks like clockwork.
With The Dead Tongues’ latest album, Dust, Gustafson found himself struggling to push forward as a musician. Like for many of us, the pandemic made Gustafson reevaluate his identity. Instead of tossing out his old notebooks, he used them as inspiration for this stellar fifth record.
While many familiar tropes are explored on Dust, we also find Gustafson at his most adventurous. The record opens with “Pawnshop Dollar Bills” a hypnotic track that nods to classic American jam bands, chooglin’ on with eight minutes of dynamic rustic ruckus. “Pawnshop …” is downtempo but packed full of intricacies, a pervasive theme in this record. While it’s easy to tune out to Dust, an album full of sparse and subdued songs, you’ll find that it’s packed full of brilliant musical moments if you give it your full attention.
“Through the Glass” is an upbeat jaunt with mandolin flourishes from Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse) and harmonies from Alexandra Sauser-Monnig (Mountain Man). It’s a track that follows the fleeting nature of life and the joy found in its minutiae, a theme found frequently throughout the album. The titular track stands out with Gustafson’s harmonica hanging over the mix, lurking like a specter of his pining and desperation. “Little Lies” brings bright pedal steel and upbeat percussion to contemplative lyricism.
Dust is a record that feels like a natural progression for Gustafson. There’s a fine balance between rich production and humble arrangements, all anchored with lyrics that traverse a universal struggle to belong—and to find the balance between the person you were and the person you’ve become.
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https://indyweek.com/music/reviews/the-dead-tongues-dust-review/
| 2022-04-06T20:41:28
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John Foley | Courtesy Photo
How do you feel like your approach to music and the industry has changed and adapted throughout the pandemic?
I haven’t been playing live shows since COVID started. The plan was to move to a bigger city right as COVID hit and then that obviously changed everything. I shifted to Twitch on New Year’s Eve 2020 and started doing live streams two to three times a week.
I might have done that without COVID, because after playing with a band for so long, I wanted to be more self-reliant. [Twitch] made me focus more on a solo act and work on guitar more. There was already a trend toward musicians going digital, and I think COVID expedited things when no one could play for a year. I was thinking how can I make money when my regular revenue streams are gone? What are some new income streams I can put in? How can I connect with people online?
You’re obviously never going to match the energy of an in-person show, but Twitch is really cool because if I was doing this kind of set in-person it would be a restaurant bar, 3 hours cover set and stream from 2-4ish hours, but you can connect with people a lot more on Twitch because you have the chat and can talk to people on-on-one. Whereas if you are doing the same set in a bar or restaurant you can make more money, but no one is really interacting with you that much. Music is growing and Twitch has been making a point to growing their music section.
How does Twitch work for an artist?
The monetization is either subscriptions and for affiliates – you are a streamer and when you reach a certain bench mark you are an affiliate and that’s when you can start monetizing. But it’s really easy to get there. As an affiliate you get half of the subs—so it’s 5 dollars and you get $2.50 and twitch takes the other half. Once you get to partner—that’s 75 average viewers—you can renegotiate and have a personalized deal.
As an affiliate you get money from subs and bits, which is Twitch currency. Each bit is one penny. You can take donations so I have my Venmo linked because it’s direct and you get all of it. In my experience as a small streamer, and this is generally true for most streamers, the money comes in waves. You get the subs and your regulars will donate a little bit every show but there is usually one person who will drop a ton of money randomly. There are raids where when your stream ends you can automatically send all your people to somebody else's stream, it’s a cool way to connect with other people and grow your audience. You can also get money when somebody buys gift subs, which are when you buy subs and give them to other people.
How do you feel your music style and inspiration for writing has developed throughout the pandemic?
I’ve definitely focused more on solo acoustic stuff. I write all my songs with just me and a guitar. The next album I’m working on is more of an acoustic, stripped-down album. There will be full instrumentation on it, but it is more folk singer songwriter than pop rock. It’s stripped back and I’m more self-sufficient as an artist. It’s one thing to have to wrangle a band together, but when you can’t see other people theTe biggest issue is becoming more self-reliant.
The next album is more introspective. All of my music is a bit angsty, but whereas Spirits was existential and feeling lost in life, the next album is more my personal struggles with mental health and stuff like that. A lot of the songs come from when I was really depressed in college and I never thought would show those songs to anybody – they were just my therapy. Now that I’ve gotten out of that, I looked back on those songs and decided to build an album out of them. A little less than half of the album will be older songs from that dark place and the other half is more recent stuff, but it’s all in that same kind of tone.
What are your future plans?
On Twitch you have a song list and you put up every song you know and people can request from it. I’ve gotten that to about 150 songs. I’ll definitely start playing restaurants and bars again because the money is better than Twitch, but i'll keep streaming on Twitch as well. I would also love to do solo acoustic show and play with some other people for an actual show. I have gotten a lot better at finger picking and I have a stomp pad for percussion. I’m excited to build up a set where I can give a quality show where it’s just me and from there I can start working with other people.
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| 2022-04-06T20:41:34
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Two weeks ago for print, Jasmine Gallup wrote about how the Triangle’s housing crisis, in Orange County specifically, is displacing residents as landlords increase rents. Reader Rob LaVelle suggests we here at the INDY take a look at our own culpability in contributing to the Triangle’s housing crisis over the years. LaVelle writes:
Thanks for your reporting on the ongoing housing crisis here in the triangle. It did a good job of showing the impact of scarce housing on our citizens. It fell short, however, in shedding light on why we are in this predicament—which is really hard to do with this complex issue. Your article fell into the easy trap of implicitly blaming out-of-towners for our self inflicted wounds.
A great follow up article would be to investigate all the ways local governments have limited supply and slow-walked development over the past 30 years. Relevant to your reporting is the fact that Carrboro built more multi-unit housing in the 1980’s than it did in the 30 years since. “Progressive” nimby citizens of a “progressive” town set the stage for the replacement we are experiencing. That would be an interesting article to read!
An even more interesting article would be to search through the Indy archives of the last 30 years and analyze its role in creating or reflecting the anti development nimbyism that afflicts us. Serious analysis from your newspaper has been sadly lacking over the past decades.
A few guiding thoughts:
• Scarce and valuable products will end up being owned by rich people.
• Displacement is fueled by not building sufficient housing in a hot market.
• “Progressives” have been reluctant to engage seriously [on] housing supply issues.
So … How has Indy reporting added fuel to the housing crisis?
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https://indyweek.com/news/Letters-to-the-Editor/backtalk-indy-role-creating-nimbyism/
| 2022-04-06T20:41:40
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Citizenship Information Workshop to be held Thursday
Published 2:02 pm Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Join the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM), the Welcome Center of Austin, and Austin Adult Learning at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday for a workshop on the citizenship process.
The workshop will take place in Room C100 at the East Campus of Riverland Community College in Austin. Hear stories from others about their experience in becoming a citizen and learn how ILCM can assist you in your journey to citizenship. Welcome Center staff will be there to assist anyone interested in making a screening appointment.
This event is open to the public and information will be shared in English and Spanish.
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https://www.austindailyherald.com/2022/04/citizenship-information-workshop-to-be-held-thursday/
| 2022-04-06T20:41:44
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Donna Frederick | Photo by Brett Villena
Donna Frederick has lived in her dark brick home in the Colonial Village subdivision for nearly 20 years.
Frederick retired last year after owning and operating the now-closed Playhouse Toy Store on Ninth Street after more than a dozen years. She enjoys puttering around in the wooden garden plots in her front yard before sitting down with a cup of tea on her home’s screened-in front porch.
She used to enjoy the shade afforded by the massive oak, magnolia, and pine trees that were on her neighbor’s property next door. But in February, developers who purchased the lot knocked down the house and garage before cutting down the hardwood trees.
Those trees were lost under an initiative Durham City Council members approved several years ago with the goal of increasing density to keep up with demand for more housing. In 2019, council members, by a 6-1 vote, amended the city’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) in hopes of undoing decades-old vestiges of discrimination that have prevented generations of African Americans from owning homes and amassing wealth.
The update, known as Expanding Housing Choices (EHC), amends zoning rules in neighborhoods near downtown to allow for higher density, which city and county planners believe is key to stabilizing housing prices as the city grows.
But now, some community members think the city’s EHC plan has had the unintended effect of fueling gentrification and displacement that’s taking place in neighborhoods that had “naturally occurring affordable homes,” also known as “NOAH.”
Nate Baker, an urban planner who serves on Durham’s planning commission, described the EHC as a “missed opportunity” during its formative stages that could have enabled the city to retain its affordable housing stock.
“The EHC does the opposite of that,” Baker told the INDY last week. “It spurs additional gentrification and displacement, to a certain extent.”
But city council member Jillian Johnson this week told the INDY she has not seen evidence of gentrification as a consequence of the EHC initiative. She pointed to a late 2020 letter presented to the city council that reported 50 related permit applications have been submitted to the City County Planning Department.
“I do not believe this volume is enough to have been a driver of gentrification,” Johnson said in an email. “Developers do not need EHC to build expensive single-family homes on less than two acres of land. They could do that before EHC and can do it now.”
Among the trees felled by the developer next to Frederick’s property was a giant oak that stood in her former neighbor’s front yard, along with a massive magnolia and several pine trees. Soon after the oak tree was knocked down, Frederick posed beside the fallen hardwood. Frederick stands at about 5 feet, 4 inches. The top of the trunk reached her chest.
“That’s how wide it was,” Frederick told the INDY. “It was a huge oak. You couldn’t get your arms around it.”
A building permit filed with the Durham Planning Department in January shows that the developer, Hayes Barton Homes, is using a small lot plan to build four two-story, single-family homes on the land, which covers less than two acres. The building permit application, which has been approved by the city, also shows plans for the replanting of two trees on each lot.
“These are not start-up homes for most people,” Frederick told the INDY. “The developer says the homes will sell for $350,000.”
For Frederick, living on a fixed income and facing the prospect of higher property taxes is one thing. But she points to a bundle of issues with the ongoing construction related to affordability, health, environmental impact, and the city ordinance that allows builders to construct homes on less than two acres of land without input from community members.
Now, with the absence of trees that shaded her home for decades, Frederick wonders what the impact will be when the weather warms up, especially during the summer months.
As the INDY previously reported, the absence of tree canopies in low-income communities leads to higher temperatures that fuel high utility costs and a higher incidence of health-related issues.
While standing in her yard last month, Frederick points to how the land slopes downward onto East Club Boulevard. She thinks that without the trees’ root systems to hold water from heavy rainfall, combined with the impervious surfaces that are a feature of home construction, stormwater runoff and sedimentation will flow into the nearby Ellerbe Creek.
Frederick also thinks that developers are taking advantage of what she describes as “a loophole” in the city ordinance that exempts them from having to hear neighbors’ concerns if they are building on plots of land that are less than two acres.
In an email to the INDY, Bo Dobrzenski, an assistant manager with the city-county planning department, says that state law exempts from the subdivision construction review process privately owned tracts of land “whose entire area is no greater than two acres [divided] into not more than three lots.”
Dobrzenski added that Durham’s UDO “mandates this exemption.”
“There is no site plan review or preliminary plat submittal required for a subdivision of less than six new lots,” Dobrzenski said.
The planning department official also noted that the exemptions have been in place statewide and locally “for many years.”
As for the wholesale tree removal that took place on the Colonial Village property, Dobrzenski says the city’s UDO also “does not require tree coverage for projects that are less than two acres.”
Allen Wells, the founder and owner of Hayes Barton Homes in Raleigh, last week told the INDY that he’s “trying to do the right thing and build affordable housing because there’s a great need, and I’ve done nothing but get grief.”
“No good deed goes unpunished,” he adds.
Wells says his company did everything the city required in order for him to receive a building permit.
“I did all of the things that I’m required by law to do,” he says.
“It’s not illegal, but it is unethical,” Frederick says.
She thinks the builder will replace the hardwoods that stood for decades next door with landscaping trees—crepe myrtle, perhaps.
“The builder says they are going to replant trees and hedges, but hedges aren’t trees,” she says.
She pointed to the nearly half dozen young cherry trees in black plastic buckets that she intends to plant this spring, and lamented the loss of hardwoods that stood for decades next door.
“That was tree shade for my home,” she says. “It will take 20 years to get that back.”
“The city is encouraging multiple-density units. I get it,” Frederick says. “I get that $350,000 is the average price of a house in Durham. There’s one right up the street selling for $700,000. The problem is that the people who live here have to move out of the [town] where they work.”
Frederick wants the city council to intervene and require developers of small residential projects to seek input from neighborhood residents in the same manner as if they are working on a large development.
According to records filed on August 4 with the county register of deeds, Durham’s Weitz Real Estate purchased the home next to Frederick’s from former owner Ronald Dexter Cates, who could not be immediately reached for comment.
Frederick says she contacted the new owner of the home, and Tyler Weitz visited with her the next day.
Frederick says Weitz walked the lot with her and seemed to understand her concern about preserving the tree canopy in the neighborhood. Frederick says Weitz told her the plan was to build two homes on the lot and preserve the magnolia, oak, and pine trees on the property.
Last week, Weitz told the INDY that Frederick contacted him after the house was removed, and says he thinks Frederick’s “critiques were quite fair,” and he apologized to her “for the lack of notice about my plans.”
But on November 12 of last year, Tyler Weitz sold the property to Hayes Barton Homes for $316,000, according to records filed with Durham County’s register of deeds office.
Frederick says the new developer, who specializes in custom-built homes, “decided to build four houses with no trees.”
“Those of us who live in the community wondered, ‘How can he knock down trees, and without us having a say-so?’” Frederick told the INDY.
Frederick says she understands that Durham leaders have determined to increase the Bull City’s housing stock “by any means necessary.”
“You can’t stop gentrification,” she says. “But the city is saying one thing and doing nothing. It’s unfortunate. It’s not a builders’ problem. It’s a North Carolina General Assembly problem. There’s no incentive for builders to build $100,000 homes.”
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Follow Durham Staff Writer Thomasi McDonald on Twitter or send an email to tmcdonald@indyweek.com.
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https://indyweek.com/news/durham/durham-development-tree-canopy/
| 2022-04-06T20:41:46
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https://indyweek.com/news/durham/durham-development-tree-canopy/
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Drennan powers LP softball team past Hurricanes
Published 9:21 am Wednesday, April 6, 2022
The Lyle-Pacelli softball team beat Houston 12-1 in five innings as it opened its season on the road Tuesday.
Avari Drennan struck out 11 to get the win in the circle for LP (1-0 overall) and she also went four-for-five with three RBIs.
LP pitching: Avari Drennan (W) 7 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 R, 0 ER, 11 K
LP hitting: McKenzie Schaefer, 2-for-5, 2 RBIs, 4 SB, R; Lisandra Ortiz, 0-for-4, R, HBP; Sarah Douglas, 0-for-4, R, BB; Alana Rogne, 1-for-5, double, RBI, 2 R; Drennan, 4-for-6, 3 RBIs, SB, 2 R; Lilly Hurricane, 4-for-5, R, SB; Bella McMahan, 0-for-4, R, SB; Kearah Schaefer, 2-for-3, RBI, BB, 5 SB, 2 R; Hailee Schaefer, 1-for-4, R, 2 RBIs, SB
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https://www.austindailyherald.com/2022/04/drennan-powers-lp-softball-team-past-hurricanes/
| 2022-04-06T20:41:50
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https://www.austindailyherald.com/2022/04/drennan-powers-lp-softball-team-past-hurricanes/
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More than 1,900 shooting incidents have taken place in Durham since the start of 2020.
They’ve left more than 650 wounded and nearly 90 dead.
“Folks are asking for help,” said council member Leonardo Williams at a recent Durham City Council meeting. “They’re saying, ‘Just do something more, please.’”
That “something more” may be ShotSpotter, a controversial gunfire detection system that the council blocked in June 2019 and September 2020. Now, the council is one step closer to setting aside $197,500 for a year-long pilot of ShotSpotter.
A majority of the council voted last month to move forward with a budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year that would include money for ShotSpotter. The council must vote on the budget before June 30, but during public comment at a council meeting last week, several Durhamites showed up—either in person or via Zoom—to oppose funding for the technology.
ShotSpotter uses microphones placed around a city. When the microphones sense gunfire, police are notified and dispatched. By improving police response times and sending officers to scenes that might otherwise go unreported, ShotSpotter could save lives, proponents say.
Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton, arguably the council’s most ardent supporter of ShotSpotter, said that last year in Wilmington, two police officers received awards for saving lives after responding to ShotSpotter alerts. (Only one incident involved gunfire; in the other, someone had sustained injuries breaking a window.)
“This is about when someone needs help,” Middleton said. If someone is hurt, even “in the middle of the night, someone will come and see about you.”
But does ShotSpotter work? The MacArthur Justice Center found that in Chicago, 88.7 percent of ShotSpotter alerts were “dead ends”—incidents in which no gun was actually involved.
“What ShotSpotter is effective at is manufacturing consent for increased policing,” council member Jillian Johnson said in an interview. “It increases the number of times that police are called.”
Naana Ewool, who is involved with Durham Beyond Policing, a coalition that advocates for “community-led safety and wellness,” says most cities place microphones only in small areas...or in certain neighborhoods. “And those neighborhoods are often the ones that are majority Black and brown, with a higher number of folks being criminalized.”
“Police who arrive on the scene often escalate situations and introduce violence, so folks are more likely to get injured or killed,” Ewool said. “There’s public health research that shows that regardless of the type of interaction, the more interaction folks have with police, the worse their health outcomes are.”
Danette Wilkins, a health professional and resident of Durham’s Cleveland-Holloway community who works for Johns Hopkins University, implored the council to reject ShotSpotter. She cited a report by the City of Chicago that says “the very presence of this technology is changing the way Chicago Police Department members interact with members of Chicago’s communities.”
Opponents think the $197,500 would be better spent elsewhere.
In general, “we need gun control, we need housing guarantees, we need a living wage,” Johnson said. “That’s how you end gun violence.”
Johnson said the city can “invest as much as we can into prevention and intervention techniques,” like the violence intervention program Bull City United and the We Are the Ones Fund.
Middleton says these reforms and ShotSpotter are not mutually exclusive: “I think the people reject the zero-sum game. It’s not either/or.”
He resisted comparisons to Chicago and Charlotte, which canceled its contract with ShotSpotter in 2016. “I have to govern based on data from Durham,” he said. “But we don’t have that, and so I really want this to be a pilot in the truest sense.”
In an interview, Ralph A. Clark, president and CEO of ShotSpotter, said the technology bridges “a fairly significant public safety gap.” He pointed out that “80 to 90 percent of gun fired events go unreported. So that means guns are fired, there’s no call to 911, which means there is no police response.”
In Oakland, California, Clark said, ShotSpotter technology has saved more than 100 gunshot wound victims. The company also says its sensors detection rate is 97 percent.
Clark added: “It’s very confusing to me to see people have a negative reaction to the idea that police are able to respond to incidents of gunfire.”
Williams agreed. “Give us a chance to try this,” he said. “If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, we’re going to try something else.”
Council member Javiera Caballero, who would prefer that the city fund other violence-reduction efforts, says officials will have six months to collect the data about the gunfire detection technology. After that, the city has to pay for ShotSpotter.
She doesn’t think Durhamites have had enough of a chance to hear about the technology, but she expects it to be funded when the council votes on the budget.
Opponents want the city to keep searching for solutions.
“Communities are dealing with so much grief and so much fear because of gun violence,” Ewool said. “Just offering them something—anything—isn’t fair. People deserve things that are going to provide real solutions and real healing.”
This story was produced through a partnership between the INDY and 9th Street Journal, which is published by journalism students at Duke University’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy.
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| 2022-04-06T20:41:52
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Volunteers work to rebuild the University of Mosul’s Central Library. The library reopened in February after ISIS fighters destroyed it in 2015. | Photo Courtesy of UNC Media Hub
A couple of years ago, University of Mosul student Nora Al Jadoue wanted to leave Iraq. At the same time, UNC sophomore Eden Yousif wasn’t sure she would ever get to see Iraq.
But thanks to an innovative virtual exchange program between the University of Mosul, UNC-Chapel Hill, and UNC-Greensboro, students are developing new understandings of Iraq and the United States. Despite being over 6,000 miles apart, students in Iraq and North Carolina have found they have much to share with one another and plenty to learn on their weekly Zoom calls.
“We just don’t hate anybody that we don’t know,” said Heba Ezzuldein, a University of Mosul student. “And I think this is really helping in developing a lot of things. Because I think it’s important to share with different people from different languages and different cultures.”
The Islamic State controlled Mosul from 2014 until 2017, during which thousands of civilians were killed, schools were closed, and ancient artifacts and historical sites were destroyed.
“Although Mosul has been at war a lot and has only just got liberated and is still healing, at the same time, if you actually get in touch with the young people here, you will see amazing talents and true accomplishments,” Al Jadoue said. “If you asked me two years ago, I would totally tell you that I want to leave Iraq and never go back and that I don’t have a future here.”
But her classes at the University of Mosul have inspired her to stay. She said her peers push her to be the best version of herself.
“Every week I get surprised more and more about the young generation’s ideas,” she said.
“Mosul is so alive”
Yousif grew up in Goldsboro, in an Iraqi family. She said it was hard to hear stereotypes about Iraq in her hometown.
“I just wanted people to know that there’s so much life there, and people are happy there, and it’s not it’s not some desolate country,” Yousif said.
Yousif has never been to Iraq but is now planning her first visit because of the exchange. For a long time, Yousif said her family assumed it wasn’t safe to go back to Iraq. But one of the Iraqi students helped her family realize that it was time to plan their first trip together.
“He said, ‘Mosul is so alive. There’s no reason you can’t come,’” Yousif said. “I immediately told my grandpa and I said, ‘We want to visit.’ And he said, ‘That’s great. I’ll go with you.’”
Students meet on Saturday mornings for the exchange, which is part of the University of Mosul’s peace-building initiative, one of the first academic peace studies programs in the Middle East. Hijran Al-Salihi, assistant professor in the philosophy department at the University of Mosul, said the peace program prepares students to tackle the problems present in the city of Mosul and Iraq more broadly.
“Security can’t be established with weapons only,” Al-Salihi said.
Noor Ghazi, professor of the practice in UNC-Chapel Hill’s Peace, War, and Defense Department and a lecturer at UNC-Greensboro, Durham Technical Community College, and the University of Mosul, facilitates the exchange, which began in her class on modern conflicts in Iraqi history in spring 2021.
Yousif and UNC sophomore Jasper Schutt were in the class together and have been working on expanding the exchange ever since. Schutt said he believes American students have a responsibility to speak to people whose lives have been affected by the U.S. government.
U.S. forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 on the pretense of destroying Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction and ending Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship. There were no weapons of mass destruction. To date, over 180,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a direct result of the U.S. invasion.
“This is something that could be really transformative for a lot of American students,” Schutt said. “There’s a certain responsibility on the part of American students as well, because this is a region of the world—a country specifically—that people shouldn’t be allowed to just speak about in stereotypes.”
Ghazi said the exchange has been eye-opening for American students.
“I tell students, ‘Look at things from different perspectives. There’s always another side to the story,’” Ghazi said.
One Saturday morning, a UNC student asked the Iraqi students what brings them hope. Al Jadoue shared how excited she was about the reopening of the university’s Central Library. In 2015, ISIS fighters burned thousands of items from the library, which housed over a million books, maps, and manuscripts dating back centuries. The loss was immeasurable.
On February 19, after a reconstruction project facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme and the Iraqi government, the library reopened. A slogan, “The Word ‘Impossible’ Does Not Exist in Our Dictionary,” is written on the left wall of the library’s entrance. The university describes the library as a “symbol of triumph of humanitarianism, civilization and peace over terrorism.”
“One of the latest accomplishments that has been in the city was today—it was the opening of the Central Library. Our university is supposed to be one of the biggest libraries in the Middle East, and yeah, we’re actually proud of it,” Al Jadoue said.
Al-Salihi said students and professors worked to clear the rubble of the Central Library and save what was left of the books after ISIS was driven out of the city. Universities across Iraq and the world sent books and resources to Mosul.
“I hope we can invest in this great dream of ours, which was absent for so long by the smoke of wars and was wrapped at some times in the black flags of ISIS. The steps are slow, but this is how we grow a tree, with patience,” Al-Salihi said.
“All I thought about
was my education”
Ghazi grew up in Baghdad but was forced to flee Iraq for Syria in 2006 due to a civil war between Sunnis and Shias. Ghazi’s family—she has a Sunni father and a Shia mother—was in danger of being targeted by both groups. Sunnis and Shias have long clashed over their different visions for the future of Iraq, and the 2003 U.S. invasion of the country exacerbated the sectarian violence.
“Death in Baghdad was just a norm,” Ghazi said. “Every time my dad left the house, we said our last goodbyes because we just didn’t know.”
During difficult years in Syria, Ghazi struggled to understand her identity. Her family was uneasy when they were approved to move to the United States as refugees.
“This is the country that invaded Iraq—do we go there?” Ghazi said.
But the family had nowhere else to go.
They arrived in High Point in 2008, which brought on a whole new identity crisis for Ghazi. She eventually stopped covering her hair after Americans made vicious, racist comments.
“What is my identity? If people here think I’m a terrorist and people back there think I’m a traitor, who am I?” she said. “All I thought about was my education.”
Education was refuge for Ghazi. Little by little, her English improved. She went on to receive her master’s degree in peace and conflict studies from UNC-Greensboro. She married and had a daughter.
But she still dreamed of Iraq. In 2018, she visited Baghdad with her husband for the first time since leaving on her 16th birthday.
Upon her return to Iraq, Ghazi was shocked by what she saw.
“I did not feel home. It was not the same. My parents are not there. My siblings are not there. I’m not there—I’m not there as me when I left,” Ghazi said.
Ghazi visited Mosul shortly after the Islamic State was driven out of the city. Mosul is located on the banks of the Tigris River in a region often referred to as the cradle of civilization. Thousands of years ago, ancient Mesopotamians developed the first systems of writing, agriculture, and cities in the region. But ISIS had destroyed much of the area’s cultural heritage.
“I felt like an entire civilization was being just dissolved right before my eyes,” Ghazi said.
When she arrived back in Baghdad, she sat down with her husband.
“I looked at my husband and I said, ‘Let’s go home.’ And he said, ‘We are home.’ I said, ‘No. This is not home for me anymore,’” Ghazi said.
Ghazi’s experiences led her to begin working on a book and a documentary. The documentary, The Mother of Two Springs, is about life in Mosul under ISIS. She has worked closely with faculty members at the University of Mosul to produce the documentary and begin the implementation of a master’s program in peace studies at the school.
Ghazi always knew she wanted to help Iraqis after she finished her education. She realized the best way for her to help was to become an educator herself, since the education she received under Saddam Hussein’s regime was so restrictive. Teaching peace comes naturally to Ghazi.
“When I heard of the word ‘peace,’ I jumped in right away without even asking,” Ghazi said. “The more we can work with youth on education, the better outcome we can have in the future.”
From Mosul, Al-Salihi said he has a lot of hope for the city.
“There is hope since I enter my classroom and talk with freedom with my students around topics used to be considered taboo and impossible to talk about. Today there is a space for the youth to speak with freedom and rationality,” Al-Salihi said. “There is hope after we broke many of the religious, social, and political taboos in our societies which ruled our societies and framed our thoughts in the past.”
This story was originally published by UNC Media Hub.
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| 2022-04-06T20:41:58
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In a historic matchup, UNC’s men’s basketball team toppled its archrival Duke in the NCAA tournament’s Final Four game in New Orleans on Saturday night. As is their custom—and with the days of COVID anxiety largely behind them—elated students and fans flooded Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street for pole climbing, fireworks, and other raucous victory celebrations. The Tar Heels went on to fall to Kansas in the national championship game on Monday, marking the end of an extraordinary first season for head coach Hubert Davis.
Photo by Brett Villena
Photo by Brett Villena
Photo by Brett Villena
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| 2022-04-06T20:42:04
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On Saturday night, I found myself rushing Franklin Street for the first time.
I’ve never run to Franklin Street before, much less late at night with a stomach full of strawberry and mango margaritas.
If I’m being honest, I’ve never found sports to be extraordinarily riveting, but my roommate decided to host a watch party for the game and I knew I’d regret not paying attention to the Tar Heels taking on the Blue Devils in the Final Four.
The game against Duke was tantalizingly close. I may not pay much attention to sports, but I am aware of the age-old rivalry. I found myself on the edge of my seat in the living room of my apartment—tight fists formed in my lap creating nail-shaped indentations on my palms, biting my bottom lip right up until the last second. The score remained interlocked. I sat glued with my eyes to the screen—afraid that I’d miss something if I looked away even for a moment—confidence faltering slightly when Armando Bacot limped off the floor with an ankle injury. With less than 25 seconds, Caleb Love scored a three-pointer.
The clock ran out and it was time: 81 to 77. Eighteen lead changes and 12 ties. The Heels came out on top in a historic upset against Duke. My roommate and I ran out the door, through the shortcut in the woods and onto Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and into a sea of ice blue. Cars honked, people cheered and chanted.
When I transferred to UNC from Wake Technical Community College in the fall of 2020, I was under the impression that school pride would happen naturally. I bought the sweatshirts, baseball caps, and pins and waited for it to overtake me. At times, there were sparks, like when I attended the UNC-Florida State football game last fall or when I walk around the beautiful campus and study under my favorite tree—but never a full-fledged flame.
Flash forward almost two years. I’ll be graduating in December. I thought it was too late for me and that my college experience was just simply going to be different.
But as I ran uphill to join the crowd of thousands of students on Franklin on Saturday night, I was fueled by something I hadn’t felt before. A sense of belonging. A sense of pride.
There it was. That feeling I’ve been missing. I didn’t see any familiar faces as I looked around at other students holding up signs, popping champagne, and congratulating one another as fireworks went off above us, but we were connected on a fundamental level. The feelings rushed over me as it hit me that I go here. This is my team and we won.
I’ve come away from this weekend with a different perspective and a lot of school spirit. I was able to run on Saturday night for the girl who transferred into UNC in the fall of 2020 without friends. I ran for the girl who attended college through her computer screen for nearly two years, unable to form lasting connections with her classmates because of the isolation that has accompanied the pandemic.
I’ll be chasing the high from Saturday night for years to come. I mean, where else am I going to get splashed by champagne from multiple directions?
At the end of the day, I’m thankful that I’m a Tar Heel. I’m proud to sport my college’s apparel and be able to say that my basketball team beat Duke in the Final Four and advanced to the national championship.
And as for finally rushing Franklin Street, if there was ever a time to do it, Saturday night was that time. Let me tell you, it was one hell of a way to catch up on my college experiences.
Brooke Dougherty is a fourth-year student at UNC-Chapel Hill and an INDY Week intern.
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| 2022-04-06T20:42:11
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Graphic by Jon Fuller
It’s overtime. Six seconds left on the clock. The NC State University women’s basketball team trails Connecticut by three points. That’s when forward Jakia Brown-Turner made her move.
With a clean pass from senior guard Raina Perez, Brown-Turner got a good look at the basket, and she didn’t waste it. In one fluid move, Brown-Turner sent the basketball swishing through the net, prompting an explosion of celebration from her teammates and sending the game into a hard-fought double overtime.
It was a tough game for NC State, who were hoping to win it all this year after they broke into the Elite Eight. In the end, it was anyone’s game, thanks to the driving force of veteran Elissa Cunane and the talent of young sophomore Diamond Johnson. It simply wasn’t enough to overcome the Huskies.
Still, as the NC State men’s basketball program endures a slow, seemingly unending decline, the top-seeded women’s team is giving Wolfpack fans something to root for. In 2018, while the men were losing in the ACC quarterfinals, the women were making a run to the Sweet 16. They hope to stay on the rise.
There’s a lot of energy around the women’s team, as there always is around a team that’s winning. But despite their success, the players continue to be undervalued, underwatched, and unfairly treated.
A gender equality scandal in the NCAA
The differences between the men’s and women’s tournaments got a lot of attention last year as they played at the same time in two COVID bubbles: the men in Indianapolis and the women in San Antonio. Women’s players and coaches shared videos of their accommodations, which fell far short of the men’s. While male players were treated to a fully equipped weight room, buffet, and a shower of gifts, the women had a mostly empty workout room, prepackaged meals, and paltry gift bags.
“You could really compare amenities on a one-to-one basis, and that put into stark contrast how little the women’s tournament was cared about,” says Lindsay Gibbs, author of Power Plays, a newsletter about sexism in sports.
“Because the NCAA makes the majority of its money off the men’s tournament … all of its focus and energy was on the men’s tournament. The women’s tournament had to jump through hoops just to get approval [to play].”
This year, things haven’t changed much. The NCAA has made some cosmetic changes, including offering better perks to women, expanding the tournament from 64 to 68 teams, and allowing teams to use “March Madness” branding, but there are still systemic inequities.
“All of these [changes] are positive, I don’t want to diminish them,” Gibbs says. “But ultimately, I think there’s a lot more structural issues within the NCAA. There’s a long way to go. They solved the easiest problems to solve, but the real work is systemic, as it always is.”
Who’s watching?
In Raleigh, the conversation about basketball revolves around the men’s tournament: Who’s going to win? Would Duke beat out UNC? Wolfpack fans didn’t have much to cheer about this year. The former championship men’s team didn’t even qualify for the postseason—unsurprising, given they’ve failed to get into the tournament for the past four years and ended the regular season with an 11-21 record, the worst since 1993.
For most Pack fans, watching the tournament is an exercise in futility and has been for the past 30 years. Nostalgic alumni dream of the Pack’s glory days—the 1980s under Coach Jim Valvano, when a team of greats came from behind to win it all. Frustrated State fans console themselves with the fact that, well, at least the women’s team is doing well.
The fan conversation reflects the historic disparity between media coverage of men’s and women’s sports. In the world of television, men’s sports are the focus of 95 percent of stories, while women’s sports are the focus of just 5 percent, according to a 2019 study by the University of Southern California and Purdue University.
The study found similar disparities in social media posts and sports newsletters, which covered women only 9-10 percent of the time.
“Men’s sports—especially the ‘Big Three’ of basketball, football, and baseball—still receive the lion’s share of the coverage, whether in-season or out of season,” researchers state. “When a women’s sports story does appear, it is usually a case of ‘one and done,’ a single women’s sports story obscured by a cluster of men’s stories that precede it, follow it, and are longer in length.”
That pattern is especially apparent during the NCAA tournament. During a three-week span in 2019, ESPN’s SportsCenter ran 27 stories on the men’s tournament, for a total airtime of two hours and 13 minutes, according to the study. The women’s tournament was the focus of just two stories, for a total of three minutes and 43 seconds of coverage.
A nationwide sample of local TV stations found that stations aired 56 stories on the men’s tournament, for an hour and 14 minutes, compared to eight stories on the women’s, for only three minutes and 16 seconds.
Newspaper coverage is equally biased. In one week during last year’s Final Four, men received nearly twice the amount of newspaper coverage as women, according to an analysis done by Gibbs. Overall, men’s sports got 86.6 percent of coverage, while women’s sports got 13.4 percent of coverage.
Despite the lack of media coverage, the NC State women’s basketball team has a strong fan following. In the women’s league, NC State home games were among the top 10 most attended games during the 2021-22 season. In the men’s league, NC State ranked 27th in attendance.
The NC State women’s team also has no problem filling Reynolds Coliseum, which seats 5,500. On average, 85 percent of seats were filled during the women’s games, while only 61 percent of the seats at PNC Arena were filled during men’s games (although PNC is much bigger than Reynolds, seating more than 19,000).
During the Pack’s home games last month, “Reynolds [Coliseum] was absolutely packed, it was deafeningly loud,” Gibbs says. “The fans really love this team, they really support this team, and as a North Carolinian, it was thrilling to see.”
Camille Hobby, a junior who plays center for the team, echoed those sentiments in a pre–Sweet 16 press conference. She went on to say women’s games should get more airtime.
“We’ve seen in the past that when women’s games are on TV, people watch them. So more games need to be on TV. Not ESPN+, but ESPN,” she said. “Have us on there and give us a chance to perform and show that we’re great. That we’re some of the best athletes that there are, that there can be.”
Hobby said that the NCAA is doing a better job of being inclusive, but the changes they made are just the first step.
“Sometimes women’s sports don’t get the same respect as men’s,” she said. “This is a step, but I think there could still be more things in the future for us.”
Players Jakia Brown-Turner and Elissa Cunane also said that while the treatment of female athletes is improving, they expect even greater things in the future.
“The buzz around women’s basketball is growing, and it’s because people realize that we are full of talent,” Cunane said during a March 25 press conference. “I think in the future everyone just continuing to speak out and stand up for themselves is going to help us continue to move forward.”
A cycle of devaluation
When it comes to the women’s tournament, the NCAA has created what Gibbs calls “a cycle of devaluation.” Because the organization invests less money in women’s basketball, it makes less money from the sport. It then becomes easy to justify investing even less money in the future.
“[The women’s tournament] is not where the NCAA makes its money, because the NCAA has decided not to turn it into a money-making property,” Gibbs says. “[It has decided] not to give it the investment it deserves.”
Last year, the women’s championship game drew about 4.1 million viewers, an increase of 9 percent over the 2019 championship. The men’s championship game drew about 16.9 million viewers, a decrease of 8 percent from 2019. So while the men’s tournament did get more views, interest is decreasing, while interest in the women’s game is rising steadily.
In addition, while the men’s tournament drew four times the viewers as the women’s, its broadcasting contract is worth 20 times as much. The broadcast rights for the men’s tournament sold for $850 million last year, compared to the rights for the women’s tournament, which sold for $42 million.
“The proportions that we’re looking at are just completely out of whack,” Gibbs says. “Four million viewers for any television network is a lot these days. Just because it’s not 16 million doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. It’s been really sad to see this go on for so long.”
Sports media professionals estimate that the women’s basketball tournament alone will be worth $81 million to $112 million per year, starting in 2025, the first year after the NCAA’s current contract with ESPN expires.
“A new eight-year, $909 million [broadcasting] deal would be worth an average of about $114 million per year; a 10-year, $1.2 billion agreement would average $118 million per year,” states a gender equity analysis conducted by consulting firm Desser Sports Media.
The NCAA commissioned the report following last year’s gender inequity scandal, and the results were far from favorable. In addition to devaluing women’s basketball, the structure of the broadcasting contract discourages sponsorships and ads for the women’s tournament.
That lack of money at the top also trickles down, ultimately discouraging colleges and universities from investing in women’s basketball programs.
When a men’s basketball team makes the tournament, their college’s conference gets a payout from the NCAA. The more games the team wins, the bigger that payout is. Women’s teams, on the other hand, get nothing.
“So of course schools are gonna want to pour more money into their men’s programs than their women’s programs, because it makes them so much more money if their men’s team makes it to the tournament,” Gibbs says.
“These kinds of issues, that stem from the NCAA internally, devaluing and deprioritizing women’s basketball, these are the decisions that really trickle down and impact everything.”
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Follow Staff Writer Jasmine Gallup on Twitter or send an email to jgallup@indyweek.com.
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| 2022-04-06T20:42:17
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Which bar stool is best?
Whether you have a breakfast bar or a bar height table, the right bar stools bring it all together. Most buyers are searching for comfortable and practical stools that also look great.
Choosing a bar stool of the right height is essential, so don’t get confused with smaller counter stools. Ball & Cast Bar Height Swivel Stools are sturdy with comfortable seats and backs, so they’re ideal for many buyers.
What to know before you buy a bar stool
Height
The average height for a bar stool is 28-30 inches. This measurement is the seat height, rather than the height at the tallest part of the stool if it has a back. Bar height tables and other surfaces measure approximately 42 inches, so stools of this height allow you comfortably tuck yourself in at a counter or high-top table. That said, you will find some bars of a non-standard height, or what you think is a bar height island or breakfast bar might be counter height. There are other stools of better heights for these surfaces. If you aren’t sure of the height of your bar, measure it before buying stools.
Back and arms
Some bar stools are backless, while others have backs and arms or just backs. Many people don’t find backless stools comfortable for long periods. As such, they aren’t ideal if your bar height table or island is your main eating area and you might spend long meal times sitting there. If you choose a stool with arms, check that the arms will fit under your bar top, as it gets annoying if you can’t tuck your stool in all the way.
Style
You’ll find a huge range of stool styles, so consider your existing decor or what style you’re going for if you’re redecorating. No matter how good a bar stool looks, it will appear out of place if it doesn’t fit with your decorative style. For instance, if you choose a rustic stool for a room with a sleek, modern decorative style, it will just look odd. It’s possible to combine different styles within one room, but it requires careful consideration and the styles must make sense together.
What to look for in a quality bar stool
Swivel seat
It’s easier to hop on and off your stool if it has a swivel seat. Attempting to tuck in a tall stool while you’re sitting on it can be tricky.
Color choices
It’s nice to have a range of choices of color and finish so you can find something that works with your existing furniture.
Footrest
Bar stools should have a footrest, so your feet aren’t left dangling uncomfortably. Check the footrest height to check it will be comfortable, especially if you’re particularly short or tall.
How much you can expect to spend on bar stools
You can pay anywhere from $25-$50 for a basic stool to $250-$500 for an elaborate one. They’re often sold in pairs or sets of four, so consider the price per stool rather than the overall price.
Bar stool FAQ
What’s the difference between a counter stool and a bar stool?
A. Average counter height is 36 inches, so counter stools measure roughly 24 to 26 inches to let you comfortably sit at a counter. The standard bar height is 42 inches, so you need a taller 28-30 inch bar stool for sitting at a bar or bar height table. It’s worth noting that breakfast bars and kitchen islands with areas designed for seating may be at either standard counter height or bar height, so measure before buying so you don’t get the wrong type of stool.
Do bar stools have to match your other furniture?
A. They don’t have to match other furniture unless you want them to, but going for a mismatched look is trickier to get right. Say you have a bar table with a mahogany finish, light pine bar stools would look like they were unintentionally mismatched and you hadn’t thought much about your furniture choices. Bar stools with black legs and bright mustard or dark green velvet seats, on the other hand, wouldn’t match a mahogany table but would create a cohesive look that appears well-thought-out. So, consider how your chosen stools will look with the rest of the furniture in the room.
What’s the best bar stool to buy?
Top bar stool
Ball & Cast Bar Height Swivel Stools
What you need to know: Comfortable and durable, these stools are a sturdy choice for any bar.
What you’ll love: You can choose from five finishes: black, white, cappuccino, cherry and oak. The comfy faux leather seats are padded on all finishes, while some versions have padded backs and others have open backs.
What you should consider: Assembly is time-consuming, especially for those without much DIY know-how.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top bar stool for the money
Leopard Products Modern Bar Stools
What you need to know: With padded faux leather seats, these stools are comfortable and have a contemporary design.
What you’ll love: The stools are height adjustable, so you can use them at bar height and counter height surfaces. There’s a choice of 12 color options, including black, mint green and wine red.
What you should consider: While they’re good for the price, they feel slightly flimsy compared to more expensive stools.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Powell Company Big and Tall Bar Stool
What you need to know: This attractive stool has a comfortable padded seat, and a copper stamped back.
What you’ll love: It’s wider and roomier than average bar stools, which is great for people who often feel constricted by them. It has a durable reinforced metal frame. The seat swivels 360 degrees.
What you should consider: It only comes in one color, so it may not go with all decor styles.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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| 2022-04-06T20:42:25
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Which tabletop patio heater is best?
A tabletop patio heater is a great backyard feature, especially when it comes to entertaining small groups or hanging out in a small space. Compact and portable, it’s great for parties, casual social gatherings or family time out in the backyard on a cool day or night.
Check out the Fire Sense Propane Tabletop Patio Heater for a gas-powered heater with practical settings and reliable safety functions.
What to know before you buy a tabletop patio heater
Heat coverage
A tabletop patio heater can offer 360-degree warmth. It helps you feel warmer faster than larger units, though the radius for heat coverage is smaller. A tabletop patio heater provides about 5-10 feet of warmth in all directions.
Shape and style
Some of these heaters stand vertically like little table lamps, while others stand horizontally and look more like small fireplaces or mini fire pits. The shape and style you go with depends on available surface area, as well as what kind of heat coverage you’re interested in. A horizontal heater provides more heat on the sides, while a vertical one offers more rounded heat.
Heat source
There are four primary heat sources available. They include:
- Electric: This method is usually quiet and doesn’t produce fuel emissions but can use up a fair amount of electricity, utilizing a cord that needs to be plugged into an outlet. It offers a good amount of heat.
- Gas: A propane gas-powered heater uses less energy and isn’t dependent on an electrical outlet, though the gas tank will have to be replaced regularly. It also provides a decent amount of heat.
- Liquid fuel: This type of fuel is made from renewable materials. The fuel is non-toxic and odor-free but generally doesn’t provide as much warmth as electric or gas-powered heaters. It’s primarily used for ambience.
- Gel fuel: Similar to liquid fuel heaters, gel-fueled heaters are more about the look than they are about serious warmth. Ambience is the primary function.
What to look for in a quality tabletop patio heater
Shut-off tilt valve
A quality gas or electric heater should feature a valve that automatically shuts off the gas or power if the unit tips over, preventing a fire. A good gas heater should also automatically shut off the gas if the flame goes out unexpectedly.
Long electrical cord
Electric tabletop heaters should come with a long cord to make it a breeze to plug the unit in anywhere on the patio. The cord should be highly durable and able to withstand its designated outdoor use.
Heat shield
A heat shield helps to deflect flames or extreme heat so those seated around the heater don’t get burned or hurt. In most cases, the guard comes built in around the top where the most heat generates.
How much you can expect to spend on a tabletop patio heater
Tabletop patio heaters cost $100-$200, which is significantly less than their full-size, freestanding counterparts.
Tabletop patio heater FAQ
How much smaller is a tabletop patio heater when compared to a full-size one?
A. A tabletop patio heater is around 20-40 inches tall, while a freestanding full-size patio heater can stand 30-100 inches tall.
How long can a tabletop heater run?
A. A propane gas heater can last from seven to 30 hours. An electric heater can last for as long as it’s plugged in, but keep in mind, it will be consuming energy during that time.
Are electric heaters compatible with extension cords?
A. An electric patio heater generally should not be plugged into an extension cord, as it can become a fire hazard.
What’s the best tabletop patio heater to buy?
Top tabletop patio heater
Fire Sense Propane Tabletop Patio Heater
What you need to know: Available in hammered bronze or stainless steel, this tabletop heater is powered by a 1-pound LPG propane tank, weighs 14 pounds and stands 34 inches tall.
What you’ll love: It features adjustable heat settings as well as a shut-off tilt valve and oxygen depletion sensor for safety. There’s a heat screen guard on top and a weighted base to keep it in place.
What you should consider: The propane canister isn’t included and can run out quickly. It can be difficult to light.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top tabletop patio heater for the money
Bali Outdoors Gas Tabletop Heater
What you need to know: This hammered bronze tabletop heater is powered by a 1-pound propane gas tank, weighs 14 pounds and stands 34 inches tall.
What you’ll love: It offers 360-degree heat and looks stylish with its hammered bronze design. It’s easy to assemble.
What you should consider: Propane isn’t included. It’s difficult to light and shut off.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Hampton Bay Rectangular Cement Tabletop Gas Fire Pit
What you need to know: This faux wood portable tabletop fire pit is powered by a 1-pound gas tank, measuring 6.69 inches in height and 17.1 inches in width.
What you’ll love: It’s very stylish and comes with decorative lava rocks. It’s rust-resistant and water-resistant. It’s easy to set up and mounts easily to a patio table’s umbrella hole. Even though it looks decorative, it provides a fair amount of warmth, even on windy days.
What you should consider: It doesn’t come with a heat shield.
Where to buy: Sold by Home Depot
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Emily Verona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:42:29
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Which towel sets are best?
While you can buy individual towels, it’s more cost-effective to invest in towel sets. It’s also an easy way to make sure you have coordinating accessories in your bathroom — particularly those that complement the overarching color scheme.
Towel sets come with up to eight pieces, including washcloths, hand towels, bath towels or bath sheets. The Enchante Home Incanto 4-Piece Turkish Towel Set includes plush towels that stay fluffy no matter how often you wash them.
What to know before you buy a towel set
Types of bathroom towels
There are four main types of bathroom towels, and depending on the towel set, it may include one or more of these.
- Washcloths: These towels are approximately 13 by 13 inches. They’re used for cleaning your face and body, but sometimes, they’re only used decoratively in bathrooms.
- Hand towels: Hand towels measure up to 20 by 30 inches. More often than not, they’re hung on a towel bar or ring near the sink.
- Bath towels: Bath towels range from 20 by 40 to 32 by 58 inches. They’re usually used as body towels, and some people use them to wrap wet hair.
- Bath sheets: The largest bathroom towels are bath sheets, which can be as large as 40 by 72 inches. Many people prefer them over bath towels because they’re easier to wrap about the body.
Bath towel colors
It’s not a stretch to say there are dozens, if not hundreds of colors for towel sets. As far as choosing the best color for your bathroom, it’s a matter of matching other decor. Towels can coordinate with the dominant color, or they can complement accent colors around the bathroom.
White towels remain a perennial favorite because they’re versatile and have a crisp, clean appearance. Neutral colors are a close second, particularly ivory, beige, tan and gray. Jewel-toned towels add a bold touch to bathrooms with rich, luxurious colors. Pastel towel sets give bathrooms a light, airy ambiance.
What to look for in a quality towel set
Grams per square meter
Towel weight is measured in grams per square meter. The higher the GSM, the better the towel’s quality. As far as bathroom towels are concerned, it’s best to opt for ones with 400 GSM or above. The most luxurious towels, including hotel-quality sets, range from 600 to 900 GSM.
Loop style
Most towels are available in single- and double-loop styles. Single-loop towels are thinner and dry quickly, whereas double-loop towels are thicker and can take a few hours to dry. There are also loop-free towels that resemble dense, low-pile carpets. They’re ultra-soft and cozy, but they’re nowhere near as absorbent as single- and double-loop towels.
Coordinating collections
Certain towel sets are part of coordinating collections with other bathroom accessories, including shower curtains, bath mats, soap dispensers or trash baskets. Some collections feature patterns, such as florals or stripes, whereas other collections have only one color. While you can purchase the entire bathroom collection — towels and all — it can be expensive. To offset the cost, you can buy the towel set and coordinate it with more affordable bathroom accessories in the same color family.
How much you can expect to spend on a towel set
Basic towel sets with four or fewer pieces usually cost $30 and below. Quality sets, including those manufactured by popular brands, run from $40-$100. Luxury towel sets with fine construction or details range from $125-$250.
Towel set FAQ
How often should I wash towels?
A. At the very least, wash your towels once a week. If you’re sick, you should wash them every other day to minimize the risk for reinfection or spreading germs. Washcloths and hand towels should be washed more often than bath towels and sheets — ideally twice a week.
How long will towel sets last?
A. Generally speaking, a quality towel set can last up to five years or longer. Low-quality sets may not last more than a couple years. If you’re not sure whether it’s time to replace towels, key indicators include threadbare areas, unraveling seams and rough texture.
What’s the best towel set to buy?
Top towel set
Enchante Home Incanto 4-Piece Turkish Towel Set
What you need to know: This luxurious towel set promises a high level of absorbency with ultra-plush construction.
What you’ll love: The set includes four 28- by 54-inch bath towels that come in five neutral colors. They are made with fine Turkish cotton and become progressively softer with washing. The textured design gives the otherwise simple towels a bit of character.
What you should consider: A few buyers said that the seams fray over time.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s
Top towel set for the money
American Soft Linen 3-Piece Towel Set
What you need to know: If you need a basic bath towel set for one person, this three-piece set is a top choice.
What you’ll love: The high-pile towels are absorbent and dry quickly once they’re hung. They’re vat-dyed, which means they’re less likely to fade. Because they have double-edged stitching, they won’t fray. The towels come in 16 colors, including jewel tones.
What you should consider: The towels shed more than expected, including in the dryer.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Utopia Towels 8-Piece Towel Set
What you need to know: This deluxe towel set is suitable for main and guest bathrooms alike.
What you’ll love: The set, which includes four 13- by 13-inch washcloths, is durable and withstands repeated washing and drying. It’s available in eight colors that match virtually any color scheme. Unlike other plush and fluffy towels, these don’t produce much lint.
What you should consider: Some people said the towels unravel or become thin after a couple months.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Sian Babish writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:42:30
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Which ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine is best?
Keeping jewelry clean can enhance its beauty, increase its life and make your favorite pieces sparkle. If you haven’t cleaned your jewelry in a while, you may be surprised by the dramatic difference an ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine can make in that old heirloom piece or beloved bracelet.
For an ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine that gets the job done but doesn’t break the bank, Magnasonic Professional Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner is a quality choice.
What to know before you buy an ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine
Capacity
If you only have a few pieces of jewelry to clean, this may not be something you have to pay much attention to, but if you have a good amount or want to also clean glasses, small metal devices like fountain pen parts or even coins, as some ultrasonic cleaners are designed to do, be sure to get one with a tray big enough to fit all your items comfortably.
Frequency
Most commercially available machines range from 25 kHz and 40 kHz, with the higher end of the spectrum being best for large jewelry collections or older pieces with a lot of dirt. Note that higher-frequency machines are more likely to cause pitting and other damage in softer items like pearls, jet, coral and amber, so separate out any jewelry that contains them. If in doubt, wash by hand instead.
Solution required
Some ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machines work in conjunction with a special solution you have to buy from the company, while others operate with plain water. Be sure to check the requirements for the machine you’re considering so you can factor in the expense of buying the special cleaning solution if necessary.
What to look for in a quality ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine
Proper tank depth
This is related to capacity, but not synonymous with it. A tank can be broad but shallow, making bigger items, like glasses, hard to fit. Some ultrasonic cleaners state on their websites that you can clean items as far-ranging as combs, electric shaver heads, razor blades, waterproof watches, printer heads and rubber stamps, to name a few. If you’re looking to use your machine this way, pay close attention to its tank size, and particularly its depth.
Sound
Jewelry cleaning machines can be whisper-quiet or they may produce an intrusive hum. Look in the ratings for customer comments on the machine’s decibel level so you can gauge if it’s got a noise level you can live with.
Suggested cleaning time
Some machines get the job done quickly, while others require a longer run. If you’re looking to clean a ring or bracelet on the go while you’re on your way out the door, it can be annoying to have to sit through a longer cleaning cycle, so be sure the machine you’re considering has a quick-run setting.
How much you can expect to spend on an ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine
Standard home machines tend to run from $30-$70, with more professional-grade machines costing upwards of $200.
Ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine FAQ
How do I know which pieces of jewelry I can clean in my ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine?
A. If you’re unsure about the metal or stones in your jewelry (which can often be the case with heirloom pieces or vintage finds), your best bet is to avoid putting them into the ultrasonic machine. Soft items like tortoiseshell and coral, as well as heat-treated gems like star sapphires, may be damaged by the machine’s action.
What care is required for an ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine?
A. While you’ll want to follow the care instructions included with your machine, the key to extending the life of your machine is to wipe it down and dry the interior thoroughly after each use. Because the interior of most machines is made of metal, it can pit and rust over time when exposed to too much moisture consistently, so keep it dry between uses.
What’s the best ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine to buy?
Top ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine
Magnasonic Professional Ultrasonic Jewelry Cleaner
What you need to know: One of the go-to brands in ultrasonic jewelry cleaners, this dependable, effective machine will give you years of service.
What you’ll love: With its five preset cleaning cycles ranging in length from 90 seconds to 480 seconds, this device gives you the option to do an in-depth clean or a quick brightener when you’re in a hurry.
What you should consider: For best results, clean only a few pieces of jewelry at a time.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine for the money
UKOKE 3800S Professional Jewelry Ultrasonic Cleaning Machine
What you need to know: This is a sturdy machine that will get your favorite jewelry and other small pieces clean.
What you’ll love: It’s compact yet effective, getting rings, bracelets and other hard jewelry clean in a short cleaning cycle.
What you should consider: It runs pretty loudly, so if you’re sensitive to sounds, this machine’s operation may feel loud to you.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
CREWORKS Ultrasonic Cleaner with Heater and Timer
What you need to know: This commercial-grade machine offers more cleaning power than the average device designed for home use.
What you’ll love: Three ultrasonic transducers and a heating element provide a deep clean, and the expanded interior size lets you clean bigger items with plenty of room to spare.
What you should consider: This is more expensive than the average home-use machine, so opt for this one only if you have a lot of items to clean.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Maria E. Andreu writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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| 2022-04-06T20:42:32
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Which purple comforter is best?
Every day should start and end wrapped up in a fluffy comforter. With the right material and filling, you’ll feel like you’re floating in a cloud. And what better way to create a soothing dreamscape than with the ethereal color purple? With the right hue, this regal color can make you feel like royalty in your bed chambers or add a pop of jazzy spontaneity to your modern interior.
Whatever your design scheme, the cozy Litanika Purple Marble Comforter will elevate your bedroom with its beautiful, modern take on purple.
What to know before you buy a purple comforter
Benefits of purple
Purple is a luxurious color. Loved by nobility for centuries, it plays to both masculine and feminine sensibilities. Purple especially thrives when paired with lush materials and fabrics, making a comforter a no-brainer for this sumptuous hue.
Purple inspires creativity, and if you modulate the shade, you can transform your bedroom’s mood. Take lavender, for example, which has calming properties. Or a deep violet, which evokes a sense of mystery and seduction. Whichever tone you choose will depend on your design scheme and how you want to feel in your bedroom.
Styling purple
Purple can be tricky. Getting the right tone for your bedroom depends on your light quality and decor.
Modern design schemes such as minimalism, mid-century modern and contemporary cheer crave bright purples, from saturated to pastel tones. But make sure your decor can handle this color, especially on a swath as large as your bed. Brighter purples can be quite loud.
Vintage and classical decors should look to deeper purples, which play nicely with warm metal accents, aged woods and lots of ornamentation. If you’re worried about taking too much light out of your bedroom, opt for a deep-purple pattern on a lighter background.
Comforter vs. duvet
Comforters and duvets are often confused. Though they contain similar fillings and perform the same function, they’re two different kinds of bedding.
- A duvet consists of two pieces: a stuffed insert and a duvet cover. Not all duvet inserts are quilted, which can affect their stuffing distribution. These are typically more expensive at outset. One benefit of a duvet is that you don’t have to wash the insert — only the cover. And you can swap the cover out depending on your design whims.
- A comforter is a single piece of quilted bedding without a cover. This means you have to wash the whole thing (and you really should). They’re cheaper and quilted, so you have a little more control over comfort and temperature.
What to look for in a quality purple comforter
Filling
- Down: Down is the premium comforter filling. Taken from the soft underbellies of geese and ducks, it’s the warmest stuffing you can get. And it fluffs the best. Depending on your comforter’s stitch, down can make a great all-season comforter. But it really thrives as a cold-climate layer. This filling is typically the most expensive.
- Synthetic down alternative: These fillings are made from synthetic fibers. They simulate the properties of down and other natural fillers while providing a hypoallergenic substitute. Common synthetics are polyester and rayon, but more advanced fibers such as lyocell make for impressively lightweight, breathable comforters.
- Natural down alternative: Usually either wool or cotton, natural down alternatives are a more sustainable, less cruel means of stuffing your comforter. Wool is a denser and warmer filler with moisture-wicking properties to help hot sleepers. And cotton is often used as a lightweight alternative to wool for cool, all-season comforters.
Fill measurements
Fill is measured in two ways that determine how fluffy and warm your comforter is:
- Fill power: Fill power measures how much volume a single ounce of filling takes up. Denoted in the hundreds, the higher the number, the fluffier your comforter will be.
- Fill weight: Fill weight measures how heavy the stuffing in your comforter is. While a higher number can generally mean a warmer comforter, what matters more is the fill weight in relation to the fill power. Look for high fill powers with modest fill weights. This means lots of stuffing with ample air pockets between fibers to trap and release body heat for a warm, yet breathable comforter.
Stitch
The stitch of your comforter determines the filling distribution and is an important consideration for hot and cold sleepers.
- Sewn-through stitch: This method of quilting sews the two layers of fabric together in squares to create pockets of stuffing. With this design, the filling tends to accumulate toward the center of the pocket, leaving cold, flat spots along the seams. While this can be frustrating in frigid temperatures, a sewn-through stitch improves a comforter in warmer climates.
- Baffle-box stitch: With this method, instead of sewing the top and bottom layer together directly, an extra vertical piece of fabric is added between each pocket to create a box. This allows even distribution of filler throughout and eliminates dead spots. Perfect for cold sleepers and temperate climates, those who overheat will want to pay attention to the filling to avoid waking up drenched in sweat.
How much you can expect to spend on a purple comforter
You can get a good down-alternative comforter on a budget for anywhere between $30-$60. But if you’re looking for premium fabric or quality filler, expect to pay $80-$300.
Purple comforter FAQ
Should I use a cover with my comforter?
A. A cover can help protect your comforter from spills and sweat, which will extend its lifespan. While it isn’t necessary, you might feel a little cleaner with this easy-to-wash barrier. And you can swap it out whenever you want to change your color scheme.
How do I wash my comforter?
A. The secret to washing your comforter is successive rinse cycles. And yes, you can even do this with down. Just make sure you put your machine on delicate, use warm or cold water instead of hot, and only a little bit of detergent. When the first load is done, send it through for another rinse cycle or two. This will help to spin out extra moisture and get rid of stubborn suds.
What’s the best purple comforter to buy?
Top purple comforter
Litanika Purple Marble Comforter
What you need to know: You can put a contemporary spin on the ancient hue with this purple marble comforter that will add texture and class to modern bedrooms.
What you’ll love: This down-alternative comforter has a fluffy microfiber fill designed for all-season use and easy machine washing. It’s lightweight, so you won’t smother yourself during the warmer months. And duvet loops let you add a thick cover should the temperature plummet.
What you should consider: Some find this comforter too cool for cold climates.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top purple comforter for the money
Homelike Moment Lightweight Down-Alternative Comforter
What you need to know: This bright purple reversible comforter is a great budget option for kids rooms.
What you’ll love: This lightweight down-alternative comforter can flip between lilac and plum purple. Its polyester microfiber fill will keep you warm year-round without overheating. And with duvet hooks at each corner, this comforter can be paired with a cover to change the color and keep it clean.
What you should consider: Though it’s made for year-round use, this might be a little too lightweight for colder climates without a thick duvet cover.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Madison Park Hampton 7-Piece Queen Comforter Set
What you need to know: A modern take on purple decor, this luxurious ruched-striped comforter comes with a matching bed set to deck out your pad with a little royal flair.
What you’ll love: Replete with a comforter, two shams, a bed skirt and three decorative pillows, this set has your remodel or move-in covered. It’s filled with plush, soft polyester that’s lightweight enough for all-season use, yet warm enough for the winter.
What you should consider: Some feel it runs a little small.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s
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Karl Daum writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:42:38
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Which twin comforter set is best?
There’s nothing better for a good night’s sleep than having soft sheets, a warm comforter and matching pillow shams, but it can be quite expensive if you buy all those items separately. To save money, opt for a comforter set instead.
The best twin-size comforter set is the Lacoste Meribel Twin/TwinXL Cotton Bedding Set. It includes the comforter and one sham, has an attractive multicolor striped design and is made from ultra-soft cotton.
What to know before you buy a twin comforter set
What’s included
Twin comforter sets can include a variety of items. The basics that all comforter sets include are the comforter and one pillow sham, with some sets including an extra sham. The rest of the possible inclusions are one or two pillowcases, a fitted and flat sheet and a bed skirt. It’s important to note that the number of items included in a set has less effect on the overall cost than the quality of said items.
Types of toppers
“Comforter set” is occasionally used as a catch-all term for any bedding set with a topper — other toppers being either a duvet or a quilt.
- Comforters have a thick layer of filling, making them heavy and warm. That said, they also come in lightly or extra-heavy filled versions for less or greater warmth, respectively.
- Duvets are really two pieces: the duvet and a duvet cover that’s removed for washing. They’re usually much fluffier than a comforter, and a duvet is filled with goose down or down alternative.
- Quilts are also filled, but here the similarities end. They’re thin and usually made by stitching multiple pieces of fabric together in endless arrays of designs rather than using a simple shell material.
What to look for in a quality twin comforter set
External materials
Comforter sets are typically constructed of the same external material for each included piece, with the two most common being cotton and microfiber.
- Cotton is soft, warm and breathable. There are many types of cotton, including the popular Egyptian cotton, each with its own unique positive and negative twists. It can be expensive, so it’s sometimes mixed with synthetics like polyester.
- Microfiber is a type of weave made from synthetic fibers such as polyester. Due to the tiny fiber lengths, it becomes far softer than standard length synthetic fibers. However, it has breathability issues.
Fill material
The topper may be stuffed with either natural or synthetic down.
- Natural down comes from either ducks or geese. It’s lightweight, even when stuffed to the max, and naturally warm.
- Synthetic down can be made from a variety of materials, though polyester and gel fibers are most common. It may be a little heavier and isn’t quite as warm, but it’s better for those with allergies.
How much you can expect to spend on a twin comforter set
Twin comforter sets cost roughly $50-$100, though there are a surprising amount of quality sets for $30-$50. Higher-end sets come in around $150 or a bit more.
Twin comforter set FAQ
How do I clean a twin comforter set?
A. The specifics depend on what’s included in your set and how it’s constructed. Generally speaking, wash any sheets and shams that may be included separately from your comforter, which should always be washed alone. The sheets and shams should be machine-washable and -dryable, but there are exceptions. The comforter might be machine-washable, but a fair few require dry cleaning. Of the machine-washable comforters, it’s a toss-up if they’ll be safe to machine-dry. The exact instructions for everything included should be located on each piece’s tag.
Do I really need a pillow sham?
A. No. Pillow shams are just a way to spice up the look of your bed and bedroom and increase the value of a comforter set. Many people prefer not to use them for various reasons, including disliking the look or wanting to limit how much bedding they need to wash. Having a set of matching pillowcases for your regular sleep pillows is more than enough.
What’s the best twin comforter set to buy?
Top twin comforter set
Lacoste Meribel Twin/TwinXL Cotton Bedding Set
What you need to know: This set is beautiful and comes from a top brand.
What you’ll love: The design is a striking mix of colors mixed into solid and striped sections, and it’s reversible so you never have to worry about which side is up. It’s made of cotton with a brushed twill weave and a thread count of 220.
What you should consider: It’s expensive — more so considering it only includes the comforter and one pillow sham. Some consumers had issues with the fill clumping after a wash.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Wayfair
Top twin comforter set for the money
Amazon Basics Ultra-Soft Micromink Sherpa Comforter Bed Set
What you need to know: This set somehow feels softer when you factor in the price.
What you’ll love: This set includes the comforter plus one pillow sham and it comes in more than 20 designs. It’s reversible with a patterned micromink side and a white fluffed-up sherpa fleece side. Box stitching on the comforter keeps the fill in place.
What you should consider: Some consumers received colors that didn’t match the images. Others received dirty comforters or shams with rips in the body or tearing seams.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Elegant Comfort Six-Piece Bed-In-A-Bag Comforter Set
What you need to know: This set throws in some sheets with the comforter and sham.
What you’ll love: This set includes the comforter, a pillow sham and a pillowcase, a fitted and flat sheet and a bed skirt. The fitted sheet has pockets near the top on both sides for keeping your phone and others goods nearby. It comes in nine colors.
What you should consider: Some consumers were unhappy with the thickness of the sheets. Others reported rips after machine-washing, and it shouldn’t be machine-dried at all.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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| 2022-04-06T20:42:45
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Which rustic shower curtain is best?
From the country cottage to the backwoods hunting lodge, rustic homes are all about authentic, humble living. Redecorating your house to look like a log cabin may prove a tall order, but there are other clever ways to evoke this down-to-earth aesthetic. One overlooked accent that’s affordable and easy to change up is your shower curtain.
With the right design, you can soften the look of any modern bathroom. The Lush Decor Button Shower Curtain is the best shower curtain to complete your rustic sanctuary.
What to know before you buy a rustic shower curtain
Aesthetics of rustic decor
Rustic decor is all about creativity, especially because it’s inspired by frontier and country living. After all, living off the land meant making the most of what you could find. For this reason, you will see a lot of natural materials in rustic homes, such as raw-finish woods, wrought or cast-iron, animal skins and knits or canvas.
Rustic bathrooms
You don’t have to turn your bathroom into an old-fashioned outhouse to get a more rustic vibe. But looking to the past can be a great source of inspiration. Consider the big picture and the finer details when shopping for your bathroom. Antiques capture the generational qualities of rustic furniture and old-fashioned toiletries, such as ivory safety razors and horsehair brushes, really enhance the farmhouse aesthetic.
Rustic qualities in a shower curtain
A shower curtain can feel rustic in a few ways. If you want something a little more subtle, look for materials that enhance the aesthetic without overdoing it. A billowy linen curtain with large buttons can evoke the homespun feel of rustic decor.
If you want to take a more obvious approach, shower curtains with prints are your best bet. These can simulate the appearance of slatted wooden doors or depict nature scenes that remind guests of life out in the country.
Solid color vs. patterned
Achieving that rustic look with your shower curtain can also be a matter of color modulation. While beige feels like a no-brainer, rust oranges or reds and sage greens pair beautifully with rustic materials. If you’re after patterns, look for vintage floral motifs.
What to look for in a quality rustic shower curtain
Material
Shower curtains are made from any number of materials. Whichever one you choose will have different durability, feel and cost.
- Cotton is thick, luxurious and looks natural in a rustic home. You’ll need a liner because it’s not waterproof. This material is also the most expensive.
- Vinyl is the cheapest option. Made from PVC or non-toxic EVA, this plastic option is completely waterproof. However, it won’t last as long as fabrics.
- Polyester offers the best of both worlds. It’s water-resistant but textured like cotton. However, you’ll be hard-pressed to find one that looks completely natural, like cotton.
Size
Shower curtains come in many sizes, so make sure you find one that’s right for your tub or shower.
- Standard: The typical shower curtain is approximately 72 inches by 72 inches. This size will cover one long edge of the standard bathtub.
- Extra-wide: For freestanding bathtubs, such as a claw-foot, you need an extra-wide shower curtain. These extend up to 180 inches to wrap around any additionally exposed sides.
- Extra-long: Contemporary buildings with high ceilings can place your shower curtain up higher, which reduces splash coverage. Extra-long curtains add another foot or two to account for tall showers.
- Narrow: If you have a stall shower, a standard shower curtain will bunch up. Narrow curtains halve the width to about 36 inches, so you don’t have to sacrifice precious space in an already-small bathroom.
Installation
Shower curtains have small reinforced holes, or grommets, sewn into their top quarter-panel. If your grommets are big enough, you can slide the curtain directly onto the rod. This is the easiest method but can lead to bunching. On the other hand, shower hooks may be a little more difficult to install, but they let you pull your curtain completely taught. They’re also a fun opportunity for some decorative flair.
How much you can expect to spend on a rustic shower curtain
Vinyl shower curtains are the best budget option and usually cost $5-$20. If you want something a little more substantial, you can find a quality polyester curtain for $25-$60, or a premium cotton one for $80-$120.
Rustic shower curtain FAQ
How do I care for my shower curtain?
A. Most shower curtains are machine-wash friendly. For cotton and polyester, you’ll want to do this once a month. Vinyl is a little easier to care for since you can just spray and wipe it down with a household cleaner. In addition to washing, make sure to ventilate your bathroom after showering to air out any excess moisture.
Do I need a shower curtain liner?
A. Liners provide a protective barrier from mold, mildew and soap scum. Cotton will need a liner because it’s not water-resistant. Liners will also boost the longevity of your vinyl or polyester curtain.
What’s the best rustic shower curtain to buy?
Top rustic shower curtain
Lush Decor Button Shower Curtain
What you need to know: The pleated, duo-tone construction of this shower curtain gives it a homemade look.
What you’ll love: With two canvas-colored panels separated by ivory buttons, this shower curtain looks almost handmade. The curtain is made from a sturdy, soft cotton-linen blend for a spa-like feel every time you shower.
What you should consider: It only comes in 72 inches by 72 inches.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top rustic shower curtain for the money
Gibelle Rustic Wood Shower Curtain
What you need to know: If you’ve ever wanted a sliding barn door in your bathroom, but renovation is out of the question, this curtain is the next best thing.
What you’ll love: Gibelle offers a range of faux-wood-door prints to bring that quintessentially rustic look of weathered wood into your bathroom. Each is made from polyester and attaches to your curtain rod via hooks. These curtains also have an array of sizes from narrow to extra-long and extra-wide.
What you should consider: This curtain might be a little too busy if you already have a well-decorated bathroom.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Simple Comfort Abigail Traditional Hydrangea Floral-Print Shower Curtain
What you need to know: When it comes to country-home style, you can’t go wrong with a traditional floral print.
What you’ll love: The hydrangeas are colored in a subtle palette, similar to prairie dresses and hand-crafted tapestries. The polyester-cotton blend is also available as window dressing to match around the house.
What you should consider: You will need a liner with this curtain. It’s also only available in standard sizing.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Karl Daum writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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https://fox59.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/shower-accessories-br/best-rustic-shower-curtain/
| 2022-04-06T20:42:51
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https://fox59.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/shower-accessories-br/best-rustic-shower-curtain/
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Which Yaktrax are best?
Whether you’re enjoying a snowy hike in the mountains or simply walking to and from work in icy conditions, you’re going to need a pair of Yaktrax to prevent you from slipping. These innovative accessories use steel cleats attached to a rubber webbing that wraps around the outside of your boots. They offer a level of stability that regular shoes cannot.
The best pair are the Yaktrax Pro Traction Cleats which are great for ice and packed snow. With this set, you can safely walk, run or work in wet and icy conditions.
What to know before you buy Yaktrax
Ice cleats throughout history
The earliest version of ice cleats can be found in Sweden around 800 A.D. The Vikings used cleats strapped to their shoes for added traction while exploring ancient Scandinavia. In the area of Maine, the first settlers to America used metal ice cleats to navigate the icy terrain. In the 1800s, log runners put spikes on their boots to run across wet logs floating down the river. Today’s ice cleats can be traced back to two British mountain climbers who developed the wraparound strap system with cleats on the bottom.
Yaktrax cleat types
There are three designations for Yaktrax straps: Walk, Run and Pro. Each style incorporates different types of cleats for different uses. The Pro straps use shaped-edge steel coils. The durable rubber webbing crisscrosses on the base of the shoe with steel coils that wrap around them. This provides great all-around security while walking and jogging on snow and ice. The Run straps use spike plates with small steel spikes. This gives you more flexibility while running. The Walk series utilizes the same wraparound rubber webbing as the Pro, but there are rotating diamond-shaped beads on the bottom.
Yaktrax uses
Hiking is one of the most common outdoor activities to use Yaktrax. While most hiking is done in the summer, some enjoy winter hiking. In this case, you’ll need a set of spiked cleats to prevent you from falling when you encounter icy surfaces. Yaktrax also works on everyday shoes like sneakers and formal shoes. This way you can safely walk home from work without the fear of slipping. Some Yaktrax even attach to ski boots so you can wear them on the slopes.
What to look for in quality Yaktrax
Performance strap
On the lower end of the quality spectrum, you’ll find boot spikes that use rubber webbing only. This means it wraps around the base of the shoe then moves up over the nose. While this is fairly secure, you can expect it to slip and slide in the worst conditions. The performance strap that Yaktrax uses on its Pro and Run cleats is a Velcro strap that goes over the shoe’s nose. This helps keep the cleats from slipping out of place when they get overly saturated with water and snow.
Replaceable plates
Cleats can only take some much abuse. Harsh temperatures, hard ice and the occasional walk across concrete all contribute to their wear and tear. For Yaktrax’s Run cleats they come with a pair of replaceable plates. There are two plates on each shoe and each plate has three steel spikes on them. Once the spikes wear down and become too rounded to hold their traction, you can replace them with a fresh pair without having to buy a full set of Yaktrax.
Diamond grip spikes
Another innovative part of Yaktrax products is their Diamond Grip system. Many spike users complain that it’s difficult to walk on concrete, rock or dirt surfaces while they’re strapped to your shoes. Yaktrax has solved this issue with their Diamond Grip spikes which rotate as you walk. Each spike is wrapped around a wire so it swivels as it hits the surface. The sharp edges still provide plenty of footing so you can safely transition from rock to ice.
How much you can expect to spend on Yaktrax
Yaktrax cost between $29-$37.
Yaktrax FAQ
Do you need to order a size up for Yaktrax to fit your boots?
A. Yaktrax are designed to fit over the top of your boots. Pay attention to the sizing chart, as it will list which standard shoe sizes the cleats are made for.
Which Yaktrax are the longest lasting?
A. Some reviewers say the Runner Yaktrax are the most durable because they are designed with more flexibility and performance features.
What are the best Yaktrax to buy?
Top Yaktrax
What you need to know: These all-around cleats let you safely walk or run on ice and rock without the need for spikes.
What you’ll love: They come with rounded coil cleats that have a shaped edge for added traction. Each coil is wrapped around durable rubber webbing that crisscrosses on the bottom of your shoe. It comes with a performance strap on top for the most secure fit even in the worst conditions.
What you should consider: They may become damaged if you walk on concrete.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Yaktrax for the money
What you need to know: These performance-focused cleats are meant for running on snow and ice.
What you’ll love: They come with a flexible, yet sturdy rubber frame that wraps up to the base of the shoe’s tongue. There’s a performance strap and two Velcro straps that go over the top of the shoe. The 3-millimeter shoe spikes are enough to keep your toe traction alongside the steel coil on the heel. The spike plates are replaceable.
What you should consider: Some reviewers said they are sized small.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Yaktrax Diamond Grip All-Surface Traction Cleats
What you need to know: The Diamond Grip cleats have an all-purpose function with high-quality diamond-shaped tips.
What you’ll love: The cleats are made for safe ice walking thanks to the Diamond Beads, tough rubber slings and zinc-coated grommets. Each bead moves separately to help prevent snow from accumulating between the webbing. They come in five sizes from small to XXL.
What you should consider: Some reviewers said the cable holding the beads can become rusty.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan Beliles writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:42:58
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Which Tracfones are best?
Tracfone is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator that operates nationwide. It doesn’t require contracts and has multiple prepaid phone plans available. Plus, it’s compatible with many smartphones, iPhones and basic phones. If you’re looking for a great prepaid device to use anywhere in the country, check out the Tracfone Apple iPhone 7 4G LTE Prepaid Smartphone.
What to know before you buy a Tracfone
Locked vs. unlocked
An unlocked cell phone does not need a specific carrier or phone plan to work. However, Tracfone has a strict unlock policy, so most devices are locked until activated. You can unlock one of their devices by using the associated code or contacting the company by phone.
Certain devices unlock automatically after a certain period. For instance, Apple phones activated on the Tracfone service will unlock two months after activation. Military personnel who are currently deployed can request the company unlock their device at any time.
If you find a device online that’s already unlocked, it might not work as intended or have reduced functionality.
Network and coverage
Tracfone is compatible with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. The service you get depends mainly on the carrier. For example, Verizon provides the most coverage and works across the country. Meanwhile, AT&T and T-Mobile generally offer the fastest download speeds.
Also, the company now has 5G coverage enabled for certain modern phones. This is included in any of their phone service plans.
Compatible phones
Tracfone has a keep-your-own-phone policy, meaning you can use your current phone when setting up the service. The following devices are compatible:
- T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon phones
- Global System for Mobile Communications unlocked phones
- Certain phones that use Code Division Multiple Access Technology
The company also sells various discount devices that work on their network, including iPhones and other smartphones such as Samsung and LG devices. They also sell non-smartphones and flip phones for those who want something basic and functional.
What to look for in a quality Tracfone device
Phone plan
Tracfone offers multiple phone plans, none of which require a contract. Plans include:
- Smartphone $199 Plan: 365 days of unlimited talk and text with 12 gigabytes of data each month.
- Smartphone $125 Plan: 365 days with 1,500 minutes, 1,500 texts and 1.5GB each month.
- Smartphone $50 Plan: 90-day plan with 750 minutes, 1,500 texts and 2GB of data a month.
- Smartphone $30 Plan: 30-day plan with unlimited text and talk plus 3GB of data each month.
For an additional cost, there are also add-on services, such as the global calling card that lets you make calls across the world for as little as 1 cent per minute. Other add-ons include more texts, minutes and data.
SIM card
When you purchase a phone or sign up for service, you receive a SIM card with a new phone number on it. Unlike most other cellular companies, you can’t transfer an existing Tracfone SIM card to another device.
Data
Tracfone offers unlimited data rollover. So, if you don’t use all the available data in one month, it gets automatically added to the next month’s plan. However, there are no data-only plans, meaning you’ll need to purchase minutes and texts to get data on your device.
Auto-refill service
While you can purchase a monthly plan every month, you also have the option to sign up for auto-refill. With this service, you can keep your phone constantly active without having to set up payments manually. Another incentive of auto-refill is that it also gives consumers a 5% to 10% monthly discount on their current plan. You can set up the service through your account.
Phone storage
As with any other mobile device, the storage in your phone varies. For casual users who don’t intend to download many apps or games, 5GB should be enough. However, if you use your phone extensively or want to have a lot of pictures, videos or games on it, you’ll need anywhere from 10GB to 50GB of storage space.
If your space runs out, you can clear the device’s cache or delete unnecessary apps. You can also upload images and videos to the Cloud and delete the ones taking up space on your phone. Alternatively, most Tracfone devices let you increase your phone’s storage by inserting a microSD card into the device.
Prepaid cards
Since it’s a prepaid service, Tracfone offers prepaid cards that specify the allowances and limitations of the plan. You can purchase these cards on the company’s website or at a local store. Some prepaid cards only add data or minutes to an existing plan, while others serve as the full plan.
How much you can expect to spend on Tracfone
The cheapest unlimited talk and text plan starts at $20 a month and goes up from there. There are also sometimes promo codes available to decrease costs. If you set up the auto-refill service, you can save more money on an existing plan.
Tracfone FAQ
How do you set up a Tracfone?
A. Once you have a compatible device, use the company’s online activation system. From there, follow the steps to activate and set it up. You’ll need the red activation card that comes with the phone or plan. And you’ll need to agree to the Terms and Conditions. Once that’s done, you can start using the phone right away.
Can you transfer minutes to a different phone?
A. If you’re switching from one smartphone to another, you can also roll any remaining minutes, texts or data into the new one. However, you cannot transfer minutes when switching from a smartphone to a non-smartphone.
What’s the best Tracfone to buy?
Top Tracfone
Tracfone Apple iPhone 7 4G LTE Prepaid Smartphone
What you need to know: This locked iPhone comes with 32GB phone storage and has a fast operating system, making it ideal for mobile gamers, work use and more.
What you’ll love: It features a 4.7-inch Retina HD display that’s great for taking photos, which you can easily store on the device. This sleek, black phone comes with a SIM card and is easy to set up.
What you should consider: Since it’s an Apple product, it’s not compatible with most Android apps.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Tracfone for the money
Motorola TracFone Moto E6 4G LTE Prepaid Smartphone
What you need to know: Offering either 16GB or 32GB of storage, this smartphone is best for Android users.
What you’ll love: It has a long battery life and Max Vision HD+ Display, meaning you can use it for hours taking pictures, playing mobile games and more. It operates on Verizon’s CDMA networks and comes with a SIM card.
What you should consider: The phone isn’t as fast as other devices. It’s also not constructed with high-quality materials.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
TracFone Carrier-Locked LG Stylo 4 4G LTE Prepaid Smartphone
What you need to know: This smartphone comes at a discounted price and offers competitive storage, good audio and a crisp display.
What you’ll love: This prepaid device comes with 16GB of storage, an HD display, SIM card and phone manual. It’s also compatible with MicroSD memory cards up to 2TB.
What you should consider: It takes a long time to reach full charge.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Angela Watson writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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https://fox59.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/cell-phones-accessories-br/best-tracfone/
| 2022-04-06T20:43:05
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https://fox59.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/cell-phones-accessories-br/best-tracfone/
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Which Intel processor is best?
The central processing unit is one of the most crucial components of a computer. It tells all the other PC bits and pieces how and when to execute instructions. It works with the RAM and graphics card to keep the device running smoothly.
The CPU fits into the motherboard, and gamers generally choose Intel or AMD. If you prefer the former, then the Intel Core i9-10900K Desktop Processor 10 Cores is an excellent choice. It has 10 cores with a maximum clock speed of 5.3 gigahertz.
What to know before you buy an Intel processor
Compatibility with your motherboard
The motherboard in a computer is the base to which all the components connect. The CPU slots into a dedicated space and must therefore be compatible. For example, Intel CPUs will only work when placed into an Intel-compatible motherboard. It is impossible to use an Intel CPU with an AMD-compatible motherboard as the pins and sockets of the CPU are different.
Correct chipset
You must make sure that you use an Intel motherboard with an Intel CPU, but another crucial aspect is the chipset. As technology evolves, CPUs and motherboards use different connection points that aren’t backward compatible. So, for example, you can’t use an Intel 300 Series CPU on a 200 Series motherboard.
Number of cores for what you need
There’s an extensive range of Intel CPUs to choose from, so you must get the right one for your needs. For example, for playing video games or creating digital content, more cores are great for a smoother experience. But you don’t need many cores for general browsing or streaming. The more cores a CPU has, the faster and harder it can work. At the top of Intel’s range are the X-Series and the i9 with 18 and eight cores, respectively.
What to look for in a quality Intel processor
The clock speed is everything
The most straightforward measure of a processor’s performance is clock speed. Measured in gigahertz, it is the equivalent of a vehicle’s top speed measured in miles per hour. The higher the clock speed, the faster it can execute multiple instructions. A clock speed between 4.8 gigahertz and 5.3 gigahertz is more than enough for gaming and content creation.
Hyper-threading
If overclocking is too daunting for you, look for a good-quality Intel processor that features hyper-threading. The technology lets single cores in the CPU handle two or more tasks simultaneously. Hyper-threading is great for multitasking, as it splits physical cores into several virtual ones, taking the load off the entire system.
Overclocking
While some CPUs already have blazingly fast clock speeds, there is always the potential to squeeze a little more out of their processing power. For example, you can overclock a CPU to work faster than Intel recommends through special software. However, it won’t harm the processor if done correctly, and some CPU makers even consider it a selling point.
How much you can expect to spend on an Intel processor
The average price of an Intel processor will depend on the number of cores and the clock speed. Core i7 or i5 chips can retail for $200-$250, while faster and more powerful Core i9 chips can retail for $400-$500.
Intel processor FAQ
Can you put an Intel PC processor in a laptop?
A. No, as the component are vastly different. For example, a CPU for a laptop is much thinner and smaller than a desktop CPU, and the motherboard sockets are incompatible.
Is thermal paste essential?
A. Yes, as without it, the CPU will burn out in minutes. Thermal paste is a thin layer of heat-resistant liquid filling the air gaps between the CPU and the heatsink. The paste squeezes the air out, which would otherwise prevent the CPU from cooling.
What’s the best Intel processor to buy?
Top Intel processor
Intel Core i9-10900K Desktop Processor 10 Cores
What you need to know: Few Intel processors can keep up with the 10900K, as it uses some of the latest available technology.
What you’ll love: What makes this CPU so powerful is that it has a maximum clock speed 5.3 gigahertz through 10 cores. It is compatible with Intel 400 Series chipsets and uses the LGA 1200 socket type. It employs Intel’s Hyper-threading technology to make things run smoother and access files faster with compatible Intel Optane memory.
What you should consider: The base clock speed is set to 3.7 gigahertz, and you can only reach the 5.3 gigahertz through overclocking software.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Intel processor for the money
Intel Core i7-10700F Desktop Processor 8 Cores
What you need to know: This CPU is perfect if you want to balance an affordable component with power and speed.
What you’ll love: With eight cores able to handle 16 tasks simultaneously, this i7 CPU has a base clock speed of 2.9 gigahertz. If you need extra computing power, it can be overclocked to 4.8 gigahertz. It is compatible with Intel 400 series chipset motherboards and includes a cooler.
What you should consider: The CPU can only be used with an external graphics card, as it doesn’t have graphical capabilities.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Intel Core i7-12700KF Desktop Processor 12 (8P+4E) Cores
What you need to know: This CPU divides the workload between Performance and Efficient cores to get the most out of processes.
What you’ll love: Compatible with 600 Series motherboards, this CPU has a maximum clock speed of 5.0 gigahertz when overclocked from the base speed of 3.8 gigahertz. In addition, it is compatible with DDR5 memory and has eight Performance cores for light working and execution. Furthermore, it engages the four efficient cores for hyper-threading when more power is needed.
What you should consider: The price tag might be a bit steep, but it is excellent value for money.
Where to buy: Sold by B&H Photo
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Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:43:12
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Which 4K monitors are best?
As technology gets better, you naturally want to keep up with the trends. Especially for video games, the best visual quality will provide an immersive experience. The only way to do that, however, is to upgrade your hardware for 4K content.
To get the best all-around experience, the Asus ROG Strix 43-Inch Monitor is a great option. Not only does it support 4K, but it also has a refresh rate of 120 hertz and uses AMD’s FreeSync 2 to reduce any screen tearing.
What to know before you buy a 4K monitor
Make sure your hardware is compatible
It’s great if you have a monitor that can display 4K content, but you won’t get very far if your computer’s hardware isn’t compatible. If you’re going to use the monitor on your computer, you must have a graphics card for 4K gaming. The Xbox One S and One X supports 4K gaming, so you shouldn’t have any problems with gaming consoles.
The size of the monitor
Everybody wants to play on the biggest screen available, but that isn’t always practical. The screen’s size will seemingly enhance your experience, but it doesn’t mean that it will make you a better gamer. Consider what the ideal size would be, and keep in mind things like desk space, mounting options, and most importantly, the price.
The refresh rate will smooth out gameplay
A 4K monitor is the easiest way to increase your gaming enjoyment, but it won’t necessarily be the smoothest if the refresh rate can’t keep up. The refresh rate determines how fast the monitor can display each frame. Most popular titles can be played at 60 frames per second or 60 hertz, and your monitor would need to exceed that to maximize its full potential.
What to look for in a quality 4K monitor
Connectivity to your monitor
There are several connections methods that you can use to connect your monitor to your computer. The standard HDMI cable is widely used, but a good-quality monitor will also accommodate a DisplayPort. Other connections that you should look out for include USB ports and a headphones jack.
G-Sync and FreeSync for reduced screen tearing
Artifacts and screen tearing are unfortunately something that every gamer has to deal with. It happens when the monitor can’t keep up with the game’s frame rate, causing ugly lines and stuttering. Having a high refresh rate helps to reduce it, but many good-quality monitors will incorporate Nvidia’s G-Sync or AMD’s FreeSync technology. This added system, built into the monitor, greatly reduces the occurrence of screen tearing.
High Dynamic Range for better color production
4K monitors produce amazing visuals, but that can be made even more impressive if the monitor has High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology. This allows the monitor to produce lifelike colors, which are often more vibrant and clear when compared to other monitors.
How much you can expect to spend on a 4K monitor
The average price of a 4K monitor is dependent on the functions and the screen size. An entry-level monitor can retail for $100-$200, while a large monitor packed with features can retail for $600-$1,000.
4K monitor FAQ
Is it worth getting an ultrawide monitor?
A. That will depend on what you want to use the monitor for. If you don’t have enough space on your desk for two monitors, then an ultrawide might be for you. Keep in mind that most games don’t support ultrawide monitors, and you’ll see thick black strips on either side as it compensates for the aspect ratio.
Can you mount a 4K monitor?
A. Most monitors, including 4K models, can be mounted as long as they are compatible with the VESA mounting system. Special brackets are made to line up with the mounting holes at the back, which allows the monitor to be affixed to a wall or placed on a monitor stand.
What’s the best 4K monitor to buy?
Top 4K monitor
Asus ROG Strix XG438Q 43-Inch Gaming Monitor
What you need to know: This monitor has a mammoth 43-inch display, which will show you the most intricate of details.
What you’ll love: ASUS is well-known for making gaming peripherals, and this 4K monitor is proof of its dedication. It has a refresh rate of 120 hertz, one DisplayPort connection, three HDMI ports, a headphones jack and two USB ports. The monitor has an aspect ratio of 16:9, built-in HDR and is compatible with AMD’s FreeSync 2.
What you should consider: The screen’s size might be too large for most computer gamers and would be better suited for console players.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top 4K monitor for the money
Samsung UE57 Series 28-Inch 4K UHD
What you need to know: This monitor has been optimized for those who work from home or enjoy video games on a computer.
What you’ll love: This 4K monitor from Samsung has a maximum resolution of 3840 x 2160, has a one-millisecond response time and is compatible with AMD graphics cards that use FreeSync. For those working from home, the monitor features a split-screen function and has two HDMI ports and one DisplayPort.
What you should consider: This monitor has a refresh rate of 60 hertz, which is perfect for gaming. Higher frame rates could stutter.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Asus TUF Gaming VG289Q1A 28-inch HDR Monitor
What you need to know: This 28-inch monitor is the perfect companion for computer gamers as it produces smooth visuals at an affordable price.
What you’ll love: With a maximum resolution of 3840 x 2160, this 4K monitor supports AMD’s FreeSync technology, has HDR for a better color spectrum and the display makes use of In-Plane Switching (IPS). It has two HDMI connections and one DisplayPort connection.
What you should consider: While most video games support 60 frames per second, this monitor has a refresh rate of only 60 hertz. That means 4K content on streaming services with a higher frame rate might stutter or tear.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:43:18
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Which Samsung laptops are best?
There are so many laptops to choose from today. And with the varying hardware and price points, it can be tricky to sift through your options. Computer electronics companies like Samsung now offer more laptops than ever, which is excellent for budget-conscious buyers and tech enthusiasts alike. However, it may be daunting for those who don’t know what they’re looking for in a laptop.
No matter what activities you’ll use it for, the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro Laptop is a safe bet that offers impressive hardware and tons of storage space.
What to know before you buy a Samsung laptop
Use
How you plan to use your Samsung laptop will determine which one may work best for you. Some users primarily use the internet and don’t require high-performing hardware to complete their tasks. Other people may need top-notch processing power for gaming, video editing or audio production.
Samsung Chromebooks vs. notebooks
If you don’t need performance hardware in your laptop, a Chromebook is an excellent option. Samsung’s Chromebooks are a series of affordable, net-based laptop options. While most Samsung laptops include a Windows operating system, Chromebooks have the simplified, internet-oriented Chrome OS. These laptops don’t work as well for performance tasks compared to Samsung’s other high-end notebooks.
Other features
While design isn’t usually the first priority for most buyers, Samsung laptops also come in various styles. You can find them in a range of colors and sizes, and the overall size of a laptop may affect other factors, like its screen, keyboard and hardware orientation. High-performing laptops are usually bigger than budget-friendly netbook options.
What to look for in a quality Samsung laptop
Screen
Samsung’s laptops often vary in screen size. Common screen sizes for Samsung’s laptops range from 13 inches to 16 inches, but most buyers who do editing and other visually-intensive tasks prefer larger screens. You can find several Samsung laptops featuring a two-in-one configuration, meaning they have a touchscreen, and you can use them as a tablet in addition to a laptop.
Processor
The most important piece of hardware in a computer is its processor or its central processing unit (CPU.) A CPU is much like the computer’s brain, which manages all the tasks you perform on your laptop and allocates the hardware needed to fulfill those tasks. Intel and AMD make processors. A processor’s overall speed is measured in gigahertz, with higher numbers representing faster CPUs.
Random access memory
A computer’s random access memory (RAM) refers to the temporary storage that remains in the background while you perform various activities. RAM comes in increments of 2 gigabytes, and computers with more RAM will perform more quickly.
Battery life
Laptop battery life is important to many buyers, especially those who plan to take their computers on the go. Most laptop batteries last between 6-18 hours on a single charge. However, it’s also worth noting that some laptops may not live as long since battery life depends on usage and age.
Storage
Another important aspect of a good Samsung laptop is its storage capacity. Those working with large files should consider laptops with 256GB or 512GB of storage. However, if you have a laptop that saves files on the internet, like the Chromebook, you may not need as much space. In this instance, you may be able to make use of laptops with as little as 64GB.
How much you can expect to spend on a Samsung laptop
Samsung laptops vary in price depending on size, storage and additional features. The company’s cheapest laptops cost as low as $120. However, most Samsung laptops will range from $300-$1,600.
Samsung laptop FAQ
Do Samsung laptops have good battery life?
A. Samsung’s laptops have a wide range of battery life options, lasting from 8 hours to as many as 18. Most batteries tend to top out at around 17-18 hours, so you can expect your Samsung laptop to keep up with the industry standard.
Are Samsung laptops good for gaming?
A. While you can use some Samsung laptops for gaming, it might be worth upgrading to brands with dedicated gaming laptops such as Asus, Acer, Alienware or Razer. Most of Samsung’s laptops include integrated graphics chipsets, which is a step down in performance from graphics cards.
What’s the best Samsung laptop to buy?
Top Samsung laptop
Samsung Galaxy Book Pro Laptop With Windows 11 15.6-Inch Screen
What you need to know: This powerful laptop comes with a vivid 15.6-inch AMOLED screen and powerful hardware that’s suitable for an array of high-performance tasks.
What you’ll love: This Samsung laptop includes an Intel i7 processor and 16GB of RAM for smooth performance. It also has around 17 hours of battery life and includes 512GB of SSD storage, making it great for those dealing in large files and working on the go.
What you should consider: This laptop doesn’t include a touchscreen.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Samsung laptop for the money
Samsung Chromebook 4 With Chrome OS and 15.6-Inch Screen
What you need to know: This laptop is perfect for users who only intend on using a few applications and the internet. It features a sleek, lightweight design, a touchscreen and Chrome OS.
What you’ll love: With 6GB of RAM and 64GB of memory, this computer is perfect for web use and simple tasks. It has a battery life of up to 10 hours per charge and you can use voice commands through Google Assistant.
What you should consider: This laptop isn’t as fast as some of Samsung’s other laptops and doesn’t have very much storage.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Samsung Galaxy 2-in-1 Chromebook With Chrome OS and 13.3-Inch Screen
What you need to know: This Samsung laptop is a high-end two-in-one Chromebook offering fingerprint security, a stylus and a responsive touchscreen.
What you’ll love: It includes a 13.3-inch screen that’s unmatched at this price point. It also includes 256GB of storage. Its two-in-one design lets users fold a full 180 degrees and use the touchscreen at the preferred angle. Buyers can buy this laptop in red or gray.
What you should consider: This laptop only includes about eight hours of battery life.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Peter McGuthrie writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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Which Toshiba Dynabook laptop is best?
There are countless lines of laptops available today with fancy marketing, flashy designs, novel hardware and exorbitant prices. Dynabook (formerly Toshiba) laptops are not among them. Instead of the cutting edge of design and innovative features, Dynabook laptops occupy a very utilitarian space. They sport relatively Spartan designs and straightforward yet often high-powered configurations.
The best one overall is the Toshiba Dynabook Tecra A50-J because it’s equipped with some of the most capable hardware currently available and costs less than comparable models from other manufacturers.
What to know before you buy a Toshiba Dynabook laptop
They’re meant for school and business use
They certainly won’t win any awards for style and you won’t find any outfitted with gaming-grade graphics cards. There aren’t even a ton of different configurations to choose from. Instead, Dynabook produces a relatively small family of laptops that are equipped with highly efficient, recently released hardware. Since they’re not particularly fancy, you can expect to get somewhat better value than you’d get with a razor-thin gaming laptop.
They offer a great price-to-performance ratio
With most laptops, you’ll have to make a significant investment to get components like 32 gigabytes of RAM or a terabyte of solid-state storage. That’s decidedly not true of Dynabook laptops. Case in point, the highest-performing Dynabook model boasts exactly those storage and memory specs, yet it costs considerably less than options from brands like Lenovo and Dell with similar hardware.
You can upgrade the storage and RAM
Nonupgradeable laptops with permanently installed solid-state drives and RAM are increasingly common, to the dismay of power users. Refreshingly, Dynabook laptops eschew that recent trend as part of their utilitarian approach. While a larger SSD and more RAM might not seem like much, they can be the difference between extending your laptop’s life by a half-decade or having to replace it entirely just a few years after purchase.
What to look for in a quality Toshiba Dynabook laptop
Central processing unit capability
Laptop CPUs come in a couple of different flavors, and the majority of Dynabook laptops are built around Intel processors. The Core CPU family is the most common Intel line, and laptop Core CPUs are somewhat similar to the desktop versions. In particular, pay attention to laptops with Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, which feature quad-core designs or better and are ideal for running Windows 10 and 11 smoothly with no hiccups or slowdowns.
There are Dynabook laptops equipped with the more economical yet significantly less powerful Celeron family of CPUs. Celeron CPUs are almost all built with a dual-core architecture and lack the high Turbo clock speeds of more powerful Core CPUs. Celeron processors use less electricity and therefore deliver longer battery lives, but they’re also not suitable for heavy workloads and can even bog down during simple browsing.
To save money, look for a model with a 10th-generation Core i3 CPU or newer. The i3-1005G1, for example, has similar power usage to Celeron CPUs but offers considerably better performance at a similar price.
System memory capacity
Technically, you can run Windows with as little as 2GB of system memory, but you should never attempt that unless you want to pull your hair out in frustration. It’s just not feasible, especially in today’s world of complex apps and ad-heavy webpages. Similarly, while some people may be patient enough to use a laptop with 4GB of RAM, it’s still not recommended. These days, the generally accepted minimum amount of system memory is 8GB, and you’ll notice a significant performance difference between that and anything less.
Enough storage space
Again, it’s highly recommended to go above and beyond Microsoft’s recommended size for your system drive. You could theoretically load Windows 10 on a 64GB drive, but it would likely be agonizingly slow and would certainly fill up after adding a few common applications. For the most part, 128GB is considered the minimum for running Windows 10 or 11.
How much you can expect to spend on a Toshiba Dynabook laptop
The most affordable Toshiba Dynabook laptops worth buying cost about $500. At the top end, their best ultralight and high-powered models will set you back just shy of $1,500.
Toshiba Dynabook laptop FAQ
Can you upgrade a Dynabook’s Wi-Fi card?
A. You can by using a specialized internal Wi-Fi radio that uses a plug format called the M.2 key. However, all new Dynabook laptops come with Wi-Fi 6 technology, so you won’t need to upgrade that for quite some time.
Do Dynabook laptops have a lot of ports?
A. Yes, most Dynabook laptops have more ports than a majority of the competition. That includes two to three USB Type-A ports (some of which are capable of 10-gigabit-per-second transmission) and a USB-C port that supports the Power Delivery protocol. Most also sport an HDMI output and some even have a VGA port for legacy monitors.
What’s the best Toshiba Dynabook laptop to buy?
Top Toshiba Dynabook laptop
What you need to know: This no-nonsense laptop has more ports than nearly every other laptop on the market, and better hardware, too.
What you’ll love: Did you know that someone still produces laptops with DVD drives in 2022? It’s true, and this Tecra A50-J is one of the last such notebook PCs (possibly ever). In addition, it’s got plenty of USB ports, full-size and microSD card readers, HDMI and VGA video outputs and a wired Ethernet jack. Aside from its impressive connectivity options, it boasts an advanced Intel CPU with a powerful integrated GPU, a 1TB NVMe solid-state drive and 32GB of RAM.
What you should consider: It’s not stylish, nor particularly cheap — but for the hardware it has, it’s actually a fantastic deal.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Toshiba Dynabook laptop for the money
Toshiba Dynabook Satellite Pro C50-H
What you need to know: The base model version of one of Dynabook’s premium laptops, it delivers impressive performance at a low price.
What you’ll love: The Intel Core i3-1005G1 won’t win any bench mark competitions, but it will provide a relatively smooth Windows experience without sucking a ton of battery power or costing you a fortune. In terms of ports, it’s got one Type-C, two 10-gigabit Type-As, an Ethernet jack, HDMI output and combination headphone/microphone jack.
What you should consider: The CPU should run Windows 10 and 11 fine, but its middling performance will make high-level multitasking difficult.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
What you need to know: This interesting variant is about as light as a laptop gets while still delivering impressive performance.
What you’ll love: It’s outfitted with an 11th-generation Intel Core i7 that has a great GPU embedded and plenty of high-speed RAM connected. However, the most impressive thing about this high-end laptop is that it weighs less than 2 pounds, which is quite an impressive feat. Its 13.3-inch screen sports a Full HD resolution, which at that size is about as crisp as you could possibly need.
What you should consider: It’s one of the most expensive options in Toshiba’s Dynabook laptop lineup.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Chris Thomas writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:43:32
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Which smartwatches under $50 are best?
Smartwatches have exploded in popularity over the last few years. By having everything on your mobile phone available from your wrist, you can go about your day without ever having to remove it from your pocket.
These small devices are great for tracking activities and keeping on top of a healthy lifestyle, but they tend to be relatively pricey. Thankfully, there are some excellent models on the market for under $50, and the Donerton Smart Watch and Fitness Tracker is a great place to start.
What to know before you buy a smartwatch under $50
They have fewer features than other smartwatches
While more affordable smartwatches look like their brand-name counterparts, they often have fewer features. That doesn’t mean that they are necessarily inferior, but just be aware that you won’t get the same Samsung or Apple smartwatch capabilities in a smartwatch under $50.
Functionality is determined by supported apps
Your under-$50 smartwatch will still be packed with a lot of standard features, but some functionalities will be determined by which apps and processes they support. For example, more specialized apps like Nike Run Club and Garmin Connect might not be supported. It might also not be possible to use music apps like Spotify or Deezer.
Battery life and charging options
One of the biggest differences between affordable smartwatches and expensive ones is the battery life. Brand names use high-quality components and large-capacity batteries, so you might find that an affordable smartwatch doesn’t last as long. But with that said, the battery capacity is often tied to the number of functions the smartwatch uses. If the device has fewer features, a smaller battery is perfect. Most smartwatches charge through wireless or magnetic connections that should be included in the packaging.
What to look for in a quality smartwatch under $50
Large touchscreen for selections
You would be hard-pressed to find a smartwatch that doesn’t have a touchscreen. Without having to fiddle with buttons and knobs, a touchscreen makes it easy to select what you want. A good-quality smartwatch will have a large enough screen so that you don’t select options by mistake.
Compatible with multiple operating systems
To get the most out of your smartwatch, you should pair it with your mobile device. Luckily, this is one of the standard features that can be found across affordable and expensive models. Through the Bluetooth connection, you can see who is calling you, view any text messages and change music volume. However, the smartwatch must be compatible with your mobile device’s operating system for this to work. A good-quality smartwatch under $50 will be compatible with both Android and iOS devices.
Feature-packed for a better experience
Don’t think that just because the smartwatch is under $50 that you’ll get only one or two functions. It’s great if third-party apps are supported, but the built-in functions of an affordable smartwatch are often more than what you need. Built-in functions often include activity trackers, a heart rate monitor or a step counter. There are also built-in apps that can track your sleeping patterns and alert you if you have been sedentary for too long.
How much you can expect to spend on a smartwatch under $50
Basic smartwatches with a few features can retail for $20-$30. If you are looking for a smartwatch that is under $50 that can track your fitness routine and monitor your sleep, there are options available for $40-$45.
Smartwatch under $50 FAQ
What does IP68 waterproof mean?
A. The rating is a standard international rating to denote the waterproof capabilities of a device. In this case, IP68 means that the device is certified to be resistant to water at a maximum depth of 5 feet.
Can you change the watch face on a smartwatch under $50?
A. Yes, but that will largely depend on the smartwatch’s software. There are several models that allow you to design your own watch face or download creations from other people.
What’s the best smartwatch under $50 to buy?
Top smartwatch under $50
Donerton Smart Watch and Fitness Tracker
What you need to know: This smartwatch is perfect for those who want to track their fitness activities and heart rate.
What you’ll love: Made to the same design specifications as the Apple Watch, this smartwatch has a built-in heart rate monitor and an automatic sleep tracker that analyzes your sleeping patterns. It also has a fitness and activity tracker that supports eight sports. Connecting the device to your mobile phone will display any incoming calls, messages and social media notifications. It has a 1.4-inch color touchscreen and an IP68 waterproof rating.
What you should consider: You can cancel incoming phone calls, but you can’t answer and talk through the smartwatch.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top smartwatch under $50 for the money
Sudugo Smartwatch with Touchscreen
What you need to know: Experience superior activity tracking with this smartwatch that boasts 24 sport modes.
What you’ll love: Connecting this smartwatch to your phone, you’ll receive notifications of incoming calls, messages or in-app alerts. It has a 1.69-inch TFT LCD touchscreen and features a heart rate monitor and a sleep tracker. The battery takes 1.5 hours to charge and gives you about five days of power. It is compatible with iOS and Android devices.
What you should consider: You must connect the smartwatch to your mobile device through the dedicated GloryFit app.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
What you need to know: This rose gold smartwatch is stylish, sleek and packed with fitness features.
What you’ll love: Featuring a 1.3-inch round touchscreen, this smartwatch has a gold frame and a pastel pink strap. It features a variety of activity trackers like a pedometer, calories burned and distance run, but it also has a heart rate monitor and sleeping analysis functions. It is paired to a mobile device through Bluetooth in order to see notifications of incoming calls and messages. The smartwatch has a battery life of seven days and takes two hours to recharge. It comes with a magnetic charger and is rated as IP68 waterproof.
What you should consider: You can respond to any messages or incoming calls from this smartwatch.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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Which Dyna-Glo grills are best?
Flipping burgers, turning sausages and charring steaks in the backyard on a warm summer day is a quintessential activity for homeowners. With so many brands available, it can be challenging to pick a quality grill. Dyna-Glo grills stand among the better options, no matter what power source or size profile you need.
The best Dyna-Glo grill is the Dyna-Glo Signature Series Barrel Charcoal Grill And Side Firebox. It offers plenty of cooking space and can serve as a smoker for your next 12-hour brisket cooking session.
What to know before you buy a Dyna-Glo grill
Charcoal Dyna-Glo grills
Charcoal is the classical grill fuel type. It imparts a unique flavor to your food based on a given charcoal’s wood source that can’t be replicated with special techniques on non-charcoal grills. It takes time to prepare charcoal for grilling and much longer to get up to your intended temperature once prepared. It requires more cleaning than gas grills. It’s the cheapest type of grill but has the most expensive fuel type.
Gas Dyna-Glo grills
Gas Dyna-Glo grills are fueled by either propane or natural gas. Both sources heat faster and more evenly than charcoal, plus both fuels are cheaper. However, the grills have a higher entry cost.
- Propane grills are more common than natural grills. Propane is more expensive but requires no special hookups — just hook up your bottle and grill. Some propane grills can be converted to use natural gas.
- Natural grills are less common as they require a home with a natural gas line. Installation can be expensive as most homeowners don’t have the experience to safely install them on their own. However, they are the cheapest to own in the long term.
What to look for in a quality Dyna-Glo grill
British Thermal Units
The most common measure of a Dyna-Glo gas grill’s heating ability is given in BTUs. The higher the BTUs, the hotter the grill can get. Some have 10,000 or less, others can have up to or more than 100,000.
Cooking surface area
The cooking surface area is given in square inches. A higher surface area can feed more people at once, but requires more fuel to heat, so it’s recommended to buy a grill with just enough area to feed your family. One person requires 75-100 square inches. Dyna-Glo grills can have cooking surface areas between 300-800 square inches.
Side tables
Side tables don’t seem like a necessity until you try grilling without one or two. Imagine holding plates of raw and cooked food while opening and closing a grill top and using various accessories to move raw, cooking and cooked food between those plates and the grill with only two hands.
How much you can expect to spend on a Dyna-Glo grill
The most basic Dyna-Glo grills typically cost $150-$200. More involved or larger grills usually cost $250-$350. The very best usually cost $350-$550.
Dyna-Glo grill FAQ
How good a brand is Dyna-Glo?
A. Dyna-Glo is an old brand — they’ve been manufacturing grills for over 100 years. Their warranties usually last about five years, with their grills tending to last roughly that length of time or longer with good maintenance. They do have some issues with rusting across the brand. When all is said and done, Dyna-Glo is a good-quality midrange grill brand.
How do I clean my Dyna-Glo grill?
A. There are a few steps to keeping a Dyno-Glo grill clean. The simplest is to let your grill run at maximum temperature for a few minutes after you’re done cooking to turn any food remnants to ash. Then let the grill completely cool before finely cleaning the grill grates. If the grates aren’t removable, scrub them in the grate with a bristle brush. If they are removable, you can let them soak in a solution of warm water and dish soap before wiping them clean and thoroughly drying them. You’ll also need to remove and empty out any drip pans and ash traps, giving those a good scrub too if they seem like they need it.
What’s the best Dyna-Glo grill to buy?
Top Dyna-Glo grill
Dyna-Glo Signature Series Barrel Charcoal Grill and Side Firebox
What you need to know: This top model serves as both a grill and a smoker.
What you’ll love: It has 730 square inches of cooking space. It has porcelain-enameled cook grates and a removable side ash pan, both of which make cleaning easy. It has cool-touch handles and an analog temperature gauge. Amazon offers expert assembly and a cover for an extra fee.
What you should consider: Some consumers had issues with smoke leaking out, which can greatly affect cooking effectiveness depending on the leak’s severity.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Top Dyna-Glo grill for the money
Dyna-Glo Three-Burner Open Cart Propane Gas Grill
What you need to know: This low-cost option is perfect for small families.
What you’ll love: It has a 139-square-inch cooking rack. It has wheels and weighs 47.4 pounds for moderately easy repositioning. It has a porcelain coating over most of its sections and a removable grease cup for easy cleaning. It has two side tables. It’s available in three colors.
What you should consider: Some consumers felt the construction was flimsy. It doesn’t offer enough cooking space to service a family-and-friends gathering.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Worth checking out
Dyna-Glo Heavy-Duty Stainless Charcoal Grill
What you need to know: This pick is perfect for serious grill masters and large families.
What you’ll love: The charcoal tray and flue are adjustable for fine-tuning heat levels. It has a temperature gauge. It has three porcelain-enameled cooking grates and 686 total square inches of cooking space. It has two side tables and an underbody wire storage rack.
What you should consider: Some consumers had durability issues, including easily dented lids, and a few reported buildups of rust.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:43:45
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Which Fitbit is best?
Keeping fit is a mammoth task if you don’t know where to start or how to keep track of your workouts. Some mobile devices can do that for you, but they aren’t as reliable as a dedicated gadget on your wrist.
That is where Fitbit comes in, as it has taken many years of research and development to produce the perfect workout partners. The Fitbit Versa 3 is an excellent option if you are looking for a comfortable device with a large color screen.
What to know before you buy a Fitbit
Decide between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch
There is a rather significant difference between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch. While both can tell you how far you’ve run or worked out, a fitness tracker is limited on what it can display on the screen. On the other hand, a smartwatch has a much larger screen to take calls, read messages and emails, and change music through a Bluetooth connection. The built-in functions of a fitness tracker are also less than a smartwatch.
The Fitbit app is for viewing your health and fitness stats
Most of your health data can be viewed on your wrist, but it only shows you a fraction of the available information. To see an in-depth analysis of your routine, how many calories you burned and keep track of it, you must download the Fitbit app. The mobile application is available for iOS and Android phones, and it also allows you to link up with other Fitbit users in your community.
Google owns Fitbit
If you are concerned about your data and private information, it is good to know that technology giant Google owns Fitbit. In 2021, the acquisition was completed, allowing Google to incorporate its WearOS operating system into many Fitbit devices. The substantial financial backing might produce better models, but for those trying to steer clear of Big Tech as much as possible, it could be a deal-breaker.
What to look for in a quality Fitbit
Notifications and making calls
Health stats are important, but you also don’t want to miss urgent phone calls or messages. Depending on which Fitbit you get, you will have the ability to make and answer calls from your wrist. This is great, as you don’t have to take your phone out of your pocket. At a glance, you can also view social media notifications, check up on emails and read a few text messages. Typically, these features are reserved for smartwatches.
Listening and controlling music
Controlling your breathing while running or lifting weights can help you keep a rhythm, but it’s not the only thing that you want to hear. Music can be a great motivator for getting the blood flowing, but you don’t want to stop to change your tunes. A good-quality Fitbit allows you to change the music on a paired mobile phone and earbuds. Some Fitbit models also allow you to listen to offline music when you aren’t connected to the internet.
Medical features for a healthier life
The steps tracking and calorie counting are great, but the best features of a Fitbit are medical-related. Again, it depends on the model, but plenty of Fitbit devices can measure your blood oxygen saturation, skin temperature, heart rate and sleep cycle. These metrics are all critically important for a healthy life.
How much you can expect to spend on a Fitbit
The average price of a Fitbit will depend on whether it is a smartwatch or a fitness tracker. Entry-level models can retail for $100-$150, while devices with more functions and abilities retail for $200-$250.
Fitbit FAQ
Are Fitbit devices waterproof?
A. Yes, the entire range of Fitbit trackers and smartwatches are waterproof, rated for 5ATM, or 164 feet.
Some fitness trackers can measure your blood pressure — what about Fitbit?
A. There are currently no Fitbit devices that can measure your blood pressure. The only blood-related function they have is to measure your blood oxygen levels.
What’s the best Fitbit to buy?
Top Fitbit
What you need to know: This smartwatch is a popular choice for athletes and those who want to see their health status at a glance.
What you’ll love: The Versa 3 has a built-in GPS so you can easily keep track of where you are or how far you have run, hiked or biked. The Active Zone Minutes measures your heart rate to figure out your routine’s effort. It can also measure your blood oxygen levels, use virtual assistants to get quick updates on the news and use the Bluetooth connection to take phone calls.
What you should consider: The Versa 3 recently swapped over to a new band, meaning that older versions aren’t compatible or interchangeable.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Fitbit for the money
What you need to know: This fitness tracker is much thinner than a smartwatch, making it the perfect device for someone who enjoys a smaller screen.
What you’ll love: Featuring a slim band that won’t get in the way, the Inspire features a heart rate monitor, calorie counter, and tracking of activities such as steps, distance run, and active minutes. In addition, it has a built-in sleep monitor, is waterproof and has a battery that can last for five days.
What you should consider: Some users have indicated that the Inspire can lose battery power faster than other models.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Fitbit Sense Advanced Smartwatch
What you need to know: For all the bells and whistles, the Sense smartwatch comes very close to being a powerful personal trainer on your wrist.
What you’ll love: Including the usual trackers for hiking, running or exercising, this smartwatch comes with a built-in Electrodermal Activity scanner. This measures your body’s response to stress and keeps track of your skin temperature. It also has a heart scanner for atrial fibrillation, which alerts you to low or high heart rates. The Sense comes with a built-in GPS and a rechargeable battery that lasts for six days. Additionally, it is compatible with virtual assistants.
What you should consider: It is a bit more expensive than most Fitbit models, but it is still great value for what you get.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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https://fox59.com/reviews/br/sports-fitness-br/fitness-gear-br/best-fitbit/
| 2022-04-06T20:43:52
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Which Asics wrestling shoes are best?
You probably already know that good footwork is crucial if you’re a wrestler. Although it can be taught, some athletes are naturally gifted with great footwork. Either way, you could have the best footwork in the world, but if you don’t have good wrestling shoes, you won’t perform at your best.
To show off your skills on the wrestling mat, you need reliable shoes. Asics has plenty of excellent wrestling shoes, like the Asics Men’s Dan Gable EVO 2 Wrestling Shoes, which customers love for their comfort, durability and stylish design.
What to know before you buy Asics wrestling shoes
Size
As with all athletic or running shoes, they need to fit securely and feel comfortable. It’s in your best interest to wear shoes that fit you well; otherwise, you won’t perform well, and it increases the chances of injury.
As a rule of thumb, you want to leave some space in the toe box to prevent forceful impacts affecting your toes as you stride or lunge. However, be sure you don’t get shoes that are too big, as they can make you more prone to tripping and falling.
Lightweight
Wrestling is a sport that requires participants to stay on their toes. Often, you’ll need to make quick movements, so you want to wear shoes that are as lightweight as possible so you can move with agility. Most wrestling shoes are manufactured with this in mind, so it’s up to you to determine what’s comfortable, as some shoes may feel lighter to you than others.
Breathable
If your feet feel hot and moist during your wrestling match, you’re going to feel uncomfortable, and it may negatively affect your performance. Look for lightweight shoes with breathable mesh uppers that allow for efficient air ventilation so your feet remain cool and dry for more extended periods.
What to look for in quality Asics wrestling shoes
Traction
Your wrestling shoes should be comfortable, but you need plenty of traction and grip. Most wrestling shoes have durable rubber outsoles that provide traction on the mat so you don’t accidentally slip as you move. Doing so can cost you the match and potentially lead to injury.
Sole style
Wrestling shoes have either a unisole or a split sole. One piece of sole running from the heel to the toe area is a unisole, while a split sole has two distinct sections. Unisoles provide better grip and traction, but they’re not as flexible as split soles. However, it’s worth noting that split sole wrestling shoes are usually more expensive.
Color
Asics wrestling shoes are available in many colors, so it’s up to you to choose something that suits your style and personality. They’re often available in double colors, such as white with orange or black with green. You can also get a pair that matches your school or league’s uniform.
How much you can expect to spend on Asics wrestling shoes
You can find solid Asics wrestling shoes for $50-$100. However, if you want something more durable with superior traction, you can expect to pay $100-$160.
Asics wrestling shoes FAQ
Is there any distinction between wrestling shoes for men and women?
A. Some wrestling shoes have a more traditionally feminine color than others, but in terms of functionality, there’s no difference. Usually, they’re not marketed as men’s or women’s shoes, but if you see such a distinction in the description, they can most likely be worn by anyone, regardless of gender.
What are wrestling shoes made of?
A. Wrestling shoes are usually made with synthetic leather material and have a mesh upper. The outsole is rubber, while the midsole contains cushioning for additional support and comfort.
What are the best Asics wrestling shoes to buy?
Top Asics wrestling shoes
Asics Men’s Dan Gable EVO 2 Wrestling Shoes
What you need to know: These shoes have a stylish look and are engineered with the latest technology to provide superior performance on the mat, regardless of skill level.
What you’ll love: These provide excellent stability and help keep your feet cool and dry, thanks to a comfortable mesh insole. They have a high-quality sock liner and responsive cushioning for optimal bounce after strategic movements.
What you should consider: They run small, so buying one size up is advisable.
Where to buy: Sold by Dick’s Sporting Goods
Top Asics wrestling shoes for the money
Asics Men’s Matflex 6 Wrestling Shoes
What you need to know: These shoes offer terrific support, and although they’re the most budget-friendly option, they’re suitable for both beginners and experienced wrestlers.
What you’ll love: They have a breathable mesh upper for keeping your feet cool, and a rubber outsole with traction pads provides superior grip on the mat. They have a secure fit, and like other Asics wrestling shoes, they feature California Lasting technology for extra stability.
What you should consider: They have a narrow fit, making them uncomfortable for those with wide feet.
Where to buy: Sold by Dick’s Sporting Goods
Worth checking out
Asics Men’s Aggressor 4 Wrestling Shoes
What you need to know: If you’re a wrestler looking for a shoe that offers more traction and durability, these shoes are worth a look.
What you’ll love: These shoes are durable, have a comfortable fit and a form-fitting upper, along with a single-layer mesh tongue for maximum breathability. The Duosole outsole provides excellent grip and traction, and the locked-down fit offers greater stability and flexibility as you move.
What you should consider: Some customers report that they’re stiff out of the box and not as durable as they used to be.
Where to buy: Sold by Dick’s Sporting Goods
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Kevin Luna writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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https://fox59.com/reviews/br/sports-fitness-br/footwear-br/best-asics-wrestling-shoes/
| 2022-04-06T20:43:58
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Which budget snowboard bindings are best?
There are three basic pieces of snowboarding equipment you need in order to hit the slopes: the board, the boots and the bindings. People put a lot of thought into choosing a snowboard based on their skill level, style of riding and even the board’s graphics. The boots are also a big decision based on fit, comfort and riding style.
Bindings are often an afterthought, even though they’re essential for connecting boots to board. If you’re in the market for budget snowboard bindings, these Salomon Rhythm Men’s Snowboard Bindings are a great option. They’re designed by snowboarders to give riders a solid connection to their board.
What to know before you buy budget snowboard bindings
Different bindings work well for different riding styles, just like choosing your board and boots.
Freestyle
Freestyle riders spend their time in the park, often performing tricks. They play in the halfpipe, go off jumps and grind along rails. This riding style calls for more flexible boots and bindings, which can give more spring in the jumps and help cushion the landings.
Freeride
Freeride boarders enjoy both speed and challenging terrain. They need an instant response from their board, which they get from stiffer boots and bindings.
All-mountain
All-mountain riders split the difference between freestyle and freeride. They’ll go anywhere and try anything, so their bindings fall in between the extremes of freestyle and freeride. They’re not too soft or too stiff.
Budget-friendly equipment
If you’re looking for budget-friendly equipment, most all-mountain equipment falls into a more affordable price range. Dedicated freestyle and freeride equipment is for more advanced riders and often comes at a higher price.
Beginners or just casual boarders will be able to find affordable all-mountain boards, boots and bindings. With this type of equipment, you should be able to go anywhere on the mountain. However, you. may not be able to perform at the same high levels as advanced riders with this generalized equipment.
What to look for in quality budget snowboard bindings
First, you’ll need bindings that fit your boots. Check the manufacturer’s sizing chart for information on what kind of bindings you’ll need. Next, make sure your bindings will attach to your board. The baseplate of your binding will attach, or bolt, to your board in different bolt patterns depending on the manufacturer. You’ll want to make sure the bolt pattern on your board accommodates the bolts on your binding.
You’ll most likely choose between one of three binding types:
- Strap bindings are the most common binding. These bindings feature a fixed highback and straps that ratchet down across the top of the boot. These bindings prioritize performance and control at the expense of convenience, as strapping the boots into the bindings can be awkward and time-consuming, especially with gloves on.
- Speed-entry/rear-entry bindings use a highback that folds back for easy access, letting you step into the binding and strap it down easily. They are usually heavier than strap bindings and less performance-oriented.
- You may also come across step-in bindings, which click in the same way as you would with skis. These are rare on snowboards, and you probably won’t find them in the budget category.
How much you can expect to spend on budget snowboard bindings
Budget snowboard bindings for adults start at around $90. Mid-level bindings go for around $150-$250, and higher-end bindings for more advanced riders can cost up to $600 and more.
Budget snowboard bindings FAQ
How do I fit boots and bindings?
A. First, find a pair of comfortable snowboarding boots that fit well. Next, find a binding that grips the boot securely. You should still be able to flex your boot when it’s in the binding, but it shouldn’t shift or wobble. There shouldn’t be a lot of excess strap dangling from the binding, and the boot shouldn’t extend over the binding too far.
Should female snowboarders wear women’s bindings?
A. Manufacturers do make bindings meant specifically for women. However, every foot is different, and your goal should be to find the binding that best fits your boot. Whether that’s a men’s binding or a women’s binding really depends on your foot.
What are the best budget snowboard bindings to buy?
Top budget snowboard bindings
Salomon Rhythm Men’s Snowboard Bindings
What you need to know: These mid-stiffness, rear entry bindings are priced just at the border between budget and mid-level.
What you’ll love: Although labeled on Amazon as a men’s binding, Salomon also classifies their binding as unisex. Installation is easy with the included hardware, and it comes in nine different colors.
What you should consider: The price is on the higher side for budget snowboard bindings.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top budget snowboard bindings for the money
Salomon Pact Men’s Snowboard Bindings
What you need to know: It’s hard to find a better price for a solid all-mountain snowboard binding.
What you’ll love: The binding uses a zone baseplate pattern that works with most boards. And the adjustable forward lean and medium flex makes this a nice all-around board for a mix of riding styles.
What you should consider: Most reviewers said that you get what you pay for with this binding.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
System LUX Women’s Rear-Entry Flow Style Snowboard Bindings
What you need to know: These quality snowboard bindings for women are a great value for the price.
What you’ll love: The rear-entry style bindings make them easy to put on and off. It has forward lean and sliding strap adjustments, which you can fine-tune to your boot and riding style. The high-density dampening pads at the heel and toe reduce chatter and shock while giving a cushioned ride.
What you should consider: The binding hole pattern is suitable for most boards but often won’t fit in non-channel style Burton boards.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Michael Ray writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:44:05
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Which Adidas soccer ball is best?
Soccer is the most popular sport worldwide, and a big reason is that all you really need to play is a ball. However, if you’re a serious player looking to improve your dribbling and shooting skills, any old ball just won’t cut it.
If you want a high-quality ball for training sessions and in-game use, Adidas has many terrific options, no matter what your skill level is. The Adidas Conext21 League Soccer Ball, for example, is an affordable and durable FIFA-quality certified ball that offers superior touch control.
What to know before you buy an Adidas soccer ball?
Size
A standard soccer ball is a size five and is suitable for anybody over the age of 12. However, smaller ones are available for children and are usually branded as youth or junior balls. A youth ball is a size four and designed for children between the ages of 8-12, while a youth ball is a size three and designed for those under 8 years old.
There are also “mini balls” which aren’t meant for gameplay and are often considered novelty items. However, a mini ball is sometimes used in leagues where children under four participate.
Type
Outdoor game balls are the most common, but variations of the sport use different balls. For example, beach soccer balls are much lighter and softer, and indoor balls don’t bounce as much as a regular outdoor ball.
League standards
It isn’t a huge consideration if you want a personal training ball, but some leagues have specific game requirements if you’re looking for a ball to use in games.
American high school competitions require approval from the National Federation of High School Associations. All professional-level competitions require approval from the Federation Internationale de Football Association, more commonly referred to as FIFA.
What to look for in a quality Adidas soccer ball?
Surface cover
A soccer ball is made of leather and usually has a surface covered in polyurethane or polyvinyl carbonate since leather doesn’t offer much moisture protection. PU material allows for better touch control but isn’t as durable as PVC material.
Bladder
The bladder holds air in and is made from either latex or butyl. Latex bladders offer more responsiveness when kicked, so they’re commonly used for professional-level competitions. However, latex doesn’t hold air in as well as butyl does, so it’s not always the desired option. Butyl is more durable, but they’re deformed much easier and faster than balls that have latex bladders.
Design
If you’re going to invest in a soccer ball, there’s a good chance you want it to have a stylish design. A typical soccer ball used to sport a design with 20 hexagons and five pentagons stitched together, but these days you can find balls featuring all kinds of patterns. Some leagues have rules regarding specific patterns, but it’s best to choose a ball with a design and color you like if you want a practice ball.
In addition, some Adidas balls have unique designs inspired by famous players, so you can support your favorite player while honing your skills at the same time.
How much you can expect to spend on an Adidas soccer ball
You can find a training ball for as low as $15, but a game-quality ball costs anywhere between $20-$60. A ball with advanced construction and premium designs can cost over $150.
Adidas soccer ball FAQ
What makes a ball high quality?
A. The highest quality balls are made with synthetic leather, have polyurethane covers and meet FIFA’s standards for circumference, weight, bounce and water absorption.
Is it necessary to wash a soccer ball?
A. No, but it’s a good idea to wipe it down after a game or practice since debris can stick to it. It doesn’t make a huge difference, but you can control a ball with minimal dirt on its surface more easily.
What’s the best Adidas soccer ball to buy?
Top Adidas soccer ball
Adidas Conext21 League Soccer Ball
What you need to know: This ball meets the standards for circumference, weight, and bounce, so it’s FIFA quality certified and suitable for all competitions.
What you’ll love: You’ll get a better touch on the ball and be able to control it more easily, thanks to its seamless surface and minimal water absorption. It’s ideal for training sessions but durable enough for games as well.
What you should consider: It’s only available in one color style.
Where to buy: Sold by Dick’s Sporting Goods
Top Adidas soccer ball for the money
Adidas Starlancer V Club Soccer Ball
What you need to know: It’s a durable training ball that’s perfect for recreational use and is a bargain at its low price point.
What you’ll love: Its machine-stitched construction provides superior durability and better touch control. It’s built to withstand several hours of shooting and dribbling drills without losing its shape, thanks to its butyl bladder for optimal air retention.
What you should consider: It comes with two stickers that leave behind residue that can be hard to remove once the stickers are peeled off.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Dick’s Sporting Goods
Worth checking out
What you need to know: It’s the perfect ball for Lionel Messi fans as it has an FC Barcelona color scheme and a design inspired by the prolific Argentinian forward.
What you’ll love: This ball looks fantastic and has a durable TPU cover making it ideal for training and games. It holds air well, and its smooth surface allows for a softer touch. Also, it’s available in a lavish royal gold color and design.
What you should consider: It’s suitable for training and games, but it’s not as durable as other balls.
Where to buy: Sold by Dick’s Sporting Goods
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Kevin Luna writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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https://fox59.com/reviews/br/sports-fitness-br/soccer-br/best-adidas-soccer-ball/
| 2022-04-06T20:44:12
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Which travel toilet is best?
If you are engaged in an activity, such as camping, that doesn’t have access to modern bathroom facilities, it can cause a little stress. You never know when nature will call, and you want to be prepared when it does. This is why there are travel toilets.
A well-built travel toilet has an odor seal and is large enough to accommodate both you and your needs. The SereneLife Outdoor Portable Toilet is a perfect example of a top-notch portable toilet. It is flushable, has a dedicated 5.3-gallon waste tank and features splash-free emptying.
What to know before you buy a travel toilet
Who can benefit from a travel toilet
If you love camping or boating, you would obviously benefit from owning a travel toilet. Hunters, construction workers, long-haul truckers or people who do a lot of traveling by car or van also should consider a travel toilet. If you have a child you are potty training, a family member who has trouble with stairs or you are having work done on your home, a quality travel toilet will come in handy. Some people simply find using a public toilet an unacceptable option. For these people, a travel toilet can be a suitable alternative.
There are two types of travel toilets
The two types of travel toilets are flushing and non-flushing
- Flushing: If you want the closest experience to being at home, a flushable portable toilet is the way to go. These models have two sections: a fresh water tank and a waste tank. When you activate the mechanism that releases fresh water into the bowl, it flushes the waste down into the waste tank. This lower tank can be sealed to prevent unpleasant odors from escaping. When it is full, you dump the waste and clean the toilet.
- Nonflushing: A nonflushing portable toilet is best for emergencies or for people on a tight budget. It is little more than a bucket (often with a sealable lid) with a seat on top. Some higher-end models feature a removable waste bucket that accepts a waste liner to make cleaning effortless.
What to look for in a quality travel toilet
Size
There are two aspects of size. First, you want a portable toilet that is large enough for the biggest person who will use it. Second, you want a waste area that is large enough to contain all of the waste until you get to a dump station.
Odor trapping capabilities
A portable toilet needs an airtight seal to keep the offensive odors locked away. However, if there isn’t a pressure relief valve on the waste tank, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise when you remove the seal.
Lightweight but durable
A portable toilet needs to be lightweight so you can travel with it. A portable toilet also must be strong enough to support your full weight while using. If you go for the lightest weight model, it might not be very durable. If you go for a heavy-duty build, the toilet might be difficult to transport. Look for a balance.
Tank level indicator
If you want to know how much waste is in your toilet without opening it up and peeking or lifting it to see how heavy it is, get a model with a tank level indicator.
Easy emptying
At some point, you will need to empty your portable toilet. You want a system that is easy to use and protects you from backsplash.
Extras
Each manufacturer has its own little incentives. It could be anything from an onboard toilet paper roll holder to a built-in handle. Don’t be seduced by bells and whistles. Put functionality and reliability at the top of your criteria list.
How much you can expect to spend on a travel toilet
If you want something more than a bucket, prices for travel toilets start at around $40. While it is possible to spend $400 or more on a high-end model, most people will find what they need for around $150.
Travel toilet FAQ
Where do I empty my portable toilet?
A. As long as you have a model that does not use chemicals, you can empty your portable toilet in the wilderness as long as the 6-inch hole you dig to bury the waste is at least 100 feet away from trails, camps and any water sources. If your toilet uses chemicals, however, it needs to be emptied at a designated location, such as a dump station at a campsite.
How do I clean a portable toilet?
A. A portable toilet with a dedicated waste tank will have a drain. When it is time to empty the toilet, open the drain and dump the waste. Once all the solid matter is gone, you can fill the waste tank with water to rinse it out as needed. A model without a dedicated waste tank can usually be fitted with a toilet waste bag to make cleaning up as easy as taking out the trash. For a deep cleaning, you will need to refer to your owner’s manual, as some models can not tolerate abrasive cleaning solutions.
What’s the best travel toilet to buy?
Top travel toilet
SereneLife Outdoor Portable Toilet
What you need to know: This flushable portable toilet has a waste tank with a double-seal to help keep odors to a minimum.
What you’ll love: The fresh water tank holds 3.2 gallons of water. It can provide up to 50 flushes. The large waste tank has a capacity of 5.3 gallons. This portable toilet features a splash-free, rotating pour spout that makes emptying a breeze.
What you should consider: While this portable toilet may be easy to empty, you still have to clean it. And that can sometimes be challenging.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top travel toilet for the money
PLAYBERG Portable Travel Toilet for Camping and Hiking
What you need to know: This is an affordable, no-frills portable toilet that is a step up from using a bucket.
What you’ll love: This model accepts 8-gallon toilet waste bags, so there is no cleanup needed. It is extremely lightweight, only 5.5 pounds and equipped with a built-in toilet paper roll holder. The waste bucket has a removable lid that seals in odor.
What you should consider: The removable waste bucket is smaller than expected.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Worth checking out
What you need to know: This portable toilet has a lot of convenient features that make it easy to use and clean.
What you’ll love: This portable toilet is flushable, and it has a sealable waste tank to keep odors from leaking out. The toilet features a built-in handle, which makes it easy to transport, and a large drain opening for simplified emptying and cleaning.
What you should consider: In changing temperatures (or elevations), pressure can build up in the waste tank and cause a little burping, which can be messy if you’re not expecting it.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Allen Foster writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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https://fox59.com/reviews/br/travel-br/travel-essentials-br/best-travel-toilet-2/
| 2022-04-06T20:44:19
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HOUSTON, Texas -- A popular restaurant in Northwest Houston is bringing a taste of Old World Greece to the Lone Star State.
Maria Stefanakis and Ari Varoutsos first opened Athena's in 2020. Despite the challenges of opening a new restaurant at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Athena's quickly began to develop a reputation as a neighborhood spot where you're treated like family.
"People who have been to Greece, they say, Mr. Ari, this is better than Greece!" said Varoutsos.
For Stefanakis, it was a lifelong dream to open a Greek restaurant. She first immigrated to the U.S. from Greece in 1974 and began to work in restaurants. She ran a barbecue spot before deciding to open Athena's, where she serves the Greek dishes she grew up cooking with her mother and grandmother.
"My recipes are my grandmom's," said Stefanakis. "If I cook, especially my spanikopita, I feel for my grandmom. I'm very proud because I came to the United States almost speaking no English, and now I own my own business. I love this country because its made me a success."
To check out Athena's online, visit athenasgreekkitchen.com.
Athena's: A Taste of Old World Greece!
LOCALISH
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https://abc11.com/athenas-greek-food-restaurant-houston/11690274/
| 2022-04-06T20:47:18
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The Gophers football program has lost one of its incoming transfers.
Chris Smith, a defensive tackle from Harvard, committed to Minnesota on Jan. 20 but flipped his decision to Notre Dame on Wednesday, he announced on Twitter.
“After exploring further options, I’ve decided to finish my college career at the University of Notre Dame,” Smith wrote.
Smith, an all-Ivy League defensive tackle last season, was one of Minnesota’s three incoming defensive line transfers for the 2022 season, but he had yet to arrive at the U while he finished classes at Harvard this spring.
Darnell Jefferies (Clemson) and Lorenza Surgers (Vanderbilt) are enrolled at the U and are expected to plug into defensive coordinator Joe Rossi’s scheme during spring practices.
The loss of Smith could mean Minnesota goes looking in the NCAA transfer portal for another seasoned veteran to add to the D-line.
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| 2022-04-06T20:50:57
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ANDRIIVKA, Ukraine — The mayor of the besieged port city of Mariupol put the number of civilians killed there at more than 5,000 Wednesday, as Ukraine collected evidence of Russian atrocities on the ruined outskirts of Kyiv and braced for what could become a climactic battle for control of the country’s industrial east.
Ukrainian authorities continued gathering up the dead in shattered towns outside the capital amid telltale signs Moscow’s troops killed civilians indiscriminately before retreating over the past several days.
In other developments, the U.S. and its Western allies moved to impose new sanctions against the Kremlin over what they branded war crimes.
And Russia completed the pullout of all of its estimated 24,000 or more troops from the Kyiv and Chernihiv areas in the north, sending them into Belarus or Russia to resupply and reorganize, a U.S. defense official speaking on condition of anonymity said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Moscow is now marshaling reinforcements and trying to push deeper into the country’s east, where the Kremlin has said its goal is to “liberate” the Donbas, Ukraine’s mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland.
“The fate of our land and of our people is being decided. We know what we are fighting for. And we will do everything to win,” Zelenskyy said, six weeks into the war.
Ukrainian authorities urged people living in the Donbas to evacuate now, ahead of an impending Russian offensive, while there is still time.
“Later, people will come under fire,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, “and we won’t be able to do anything to help them.”
A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence estimates, said it will take Russia’s battle-damaged forces as much as a month to regroup for a major push on eastern Ukraine.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said that of the more than 5,000 civilians killed during weeks of Russian bombardment and street fighting, 210 were children. He said Russian forces bombed hospitals, including one where 50 people burned to death.
Boichenko said more than 90% of the city’s infrastructure has been destroyed. The attacks on the strategic southern city on the Sea of Azov have cut off food, water, fuel and medicine and pulverized homes and businesses.
British defense officials said 160,000 people remained trapped in the city, which had a prewar population of 430,000. A humanitarian relief convoy accompanied by the Red Cross has been trying for days without success to get into the city.
Capturing Mariupol would allow Russia to secure a continuous land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.
In the north, Ukrainian authorities said the bodies of least 410 civilians have been found in towns around Kyiv, victims of what Zelenskyy has portrayed as a Russian campaign of murder, rape, dismemberment and torture. Some victims had apparently been shot at close range. Some were found with their hands bound.
At a cemetery in the town of Bucha, workers began to load more than 60 bodies apparently collected over the past few days into a grocery shipping truck for transport to a facility for further investigation.
More bodies were yet to be collected in Bucha. The Associated Press saw two in a house in a silent neighborhood. From time to time there was the muffled boom of workers clearing the town of mines and other unexploded ordnance.
Police said they found at least 20 bodies in the Makariv area west of Kyiv. In the village of Andriivka, residents said the Russians arrived in early March and took locals’ phones. Some people were detained, then released. Others met unknown fates. Some described sheltering for weeks in cellars normally used for storing vegetables for winter.
The soldiers were gone, and Russian armored personnel carriers, a tank and other vehicles sat destroyed on both ends of the road running through the village. Several buildings were reduced to mounds of bricks and corrugated metal. Residents struggled without heat, electricity or cooking gas.
“First we were scared, now we are hysterical,” said Valentyna Klymenko, 64. She said she, her husband and two neighbors weathered the siege by sleeping on stacks of potatoes covered with a mattress and blankets. “We didn’t cry at first. Now we are crying.”
To the north of the village, in the town of Borodyanka, rescue workers combed through the rubble of apartment blocks, looking for bodies. Mine-disposal units worked nearby.
The Kremlin has insisted its troops have committed no war crimes, charging that the images out of Bucha were staged by the Ukrainians.
Thwarted in their efforts to swiftly take the capital, increasing numbers of President Vladimir Putin’s troops, along with mercenaries, have been reported moving into the Donbas.
At least five people were killed by Russian shelling Wednesday in the Donbas’ Donetsk region, according to Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko, who urged civilians to leave for safer areas.
In the Luhansk region of the Donbas, Russian bombardment set fire to at least 10 multi-story buildings and a mall in the town of Sievierodonetsk, the regional governor reported. There was no immediate word on deaths or injuries.
Russian forces also attacked a fuel depot and a factory in the Dnipropetrovsk region, just west of the Donbas, authorities said.
Ukrainian forces have been fighting Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas since 2014. Ahead of its Feb. 24 invasion, Moscow recognized the Luhansk and Donetsk regions as independent states.
In reaction to the alleged atrocities outside Kyiv, the U.S. announced sanctions against Putin’s two adult daughters and said it is toughening penalties against Russian banks. Britain banned investment in Russia and pledged to end its dependence on Russian coal and oil by the end of the year.
The European Union is also expected to take additional punitive measures, including an embargo on coal.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, the aid group Doctors without Borders said its staff witnessed an attack Monday on a cancer hospital in the southern city of Mykolaiv. The group said it was the third known strike in recent days on a hospital in the port city, whose capture is key to giving Russia control of the Black Sea coast.
It said it had no overall death toll, but its team saw one body.
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Oleksandr Stashevskyi and Cara Anna in Bucha, Ukraine, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Ukraine, and Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has charged a Russian oligarch linked to the Kremlin with violating U.S. government sanctions, and disrupted a cybercrime operation that was launched by a Russian military intelligence agency, officials said Wednesday.
The actions came as the Justice Department said it was accelerating efforts to track down illicit Russian assets and as U.S. prosecutors helped European counterparts gather evidence on potential war crimes committed by Russia during its war on Ukraine.
FBI and Justice Department officials announced the moves on the same day that the U.S. separately revealed sanctions against the two adult daughters of Russian President Vladimir Putin and sanctions that blocked two key Russian banks.
“We have our eyes on every yacht and jet. We have our eyes on every piece of art and real estate purchased with dirty money and on every bitcoin wallet filled with proceeds of theft and other crimes,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said, adding that “our goal is to ensure that sanctioned Russian oligarchs and cyber criminals will not find safe haven.”
The indictment against Konstantin Malofeyev, a Russian media baron and founder of Russian Orthodox news channel Tsargrad TV, is the first of an oligarch since Russia’s war with Ukraine began in February. Malofeyev has trumpeted the invasion as a “holy war” and has supported Russia-aligned separatist groups in Ukraine.
He was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2014 for financing Russians promoting separatism in Crimea. Though those sanctions barred him from doing business with U.S. citizens, prosecutors say Malofeyev evaded those restrictions by hiring an American television producer to work for him in television networks in Russia and Greece and enlisted his help in trying to acquire a TV network in Bulgaria. It was all part of an effort to spread pro-Russia propaganda throughout Europe, the Justice Department said.
Jack Hanick, a former CNBC and Fox News employee, was arrested last month for his work as a television producer for Malofeyev. That case is pending.
Malofeyev is not in custody and is believed to be in Russia. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer to speak on his behalf. The two sanctions charges each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The Justice Department said it is seeking the seizure of a $10 million investment that Malofeyev had illegally transferred to a business associate in Greece.
Federal authorities also announced that they had taken down a botnet — a network of hijacked computers typically used for malicious activity — that was controlled by the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU. The botnet, which in this case involved thousands of infected network hardware devices, was dismantled before it could do harm, said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Wednesday’s announcements came two days after U.S. officials seized a huge yacht in Spain belonging to a Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, with close ties to Russian President Putin.
After the war began, the Justice Department set up a task force to enforce sanctions against Russian oligarchs and target ill-gotten proceeds.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that Justice Department prosecutors were also helping international efforts to uncover potential war crimes committed by Russia. U.S. officials have met with European prosecutors to develop a plan for gathering evidence, he said.
“We have seen the dead bodies of civilians, some with bound hands, scattered in the streets. We have seen the mass graves. We have seen the bombed hospital, theater, and residential apartment buildings,” Garland said. “The world sees what is happening in Ukraine. The Justice Department sees what is happening in Ukraine.
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Though the Wild are still licking their wounds after Tuesday’s humbling loss to the Predators in Nashville, that doesn’t take away from how impressive they have been offensively this season.
Long known as a group that lulls opposing teams to sleep with a style of play that dates back to the franchise’s original coach Jacques Lemaire, the Wild are among the top scoring teams in the NHL this season under coach Dean Evason. Their average of 3.61 goals per game trails only the Florida Panthers (4.16), Toronto Maple Leafs (3.83) and Colorado Avalanche (3.79) for the league lead.
Plus, the Wild (43-21-5, 91 points) have a half-dozen 20-goal scorers this season, a new franchise record that displays how prolific the offense has been throughout the lineup.
“We play a style of game that allows everybody to get involved in the offensive structure,” Evason said. “I think our organization has done a nice job of identifying that that’s something we needed, and we’re fortunate to have it for the most part this season.”
While young star Kirill Kaprizov and his team-high 40 goals have no doubt been the catalyst, the Wild look the part of a Stanley Cup contender because of how much depth scoring they have on the roster.
The Wild also have Ryan Hartman with 27 goals, Kevin Fiala with 23, Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek with 21 each, and Marcus Foligno with 20. If rookie Matt Boldy had gotten called up to the NHL sooner, he almost surely would reach the 20-goal mark, as well.
“It makes us more dangerous,” said Eriksson Ek, who has hit a career-high for goals this season. “For us to have more players come up and score some goals and make some plays, it’s important, and it makes the whole team harder to defend, for sure.”
The goals have been a nice reward for Eriksson Ek and Foligno, in particular, because they typically have been tasked with shutting down the opposing team’s best line. Asked about his scoring prowess this season, Foligno joked that he owes a lot of it to his teammates, adding, “There’s definitely some backdoor tap-ins.”
“It’s great to have that, and that’s what we need going forward,” said Foligno, who like Eriksson Ek, has reached a new career high for goals. “We’re a team that has four lines that can roll, and everyone can play offensive and defensive.”
That trust up and down the lineup has probably been the biggest reason for the depth scoring this season. Everyone is getting a chance to score, because at any given moment, the coaching staff feels comfortable sending anyone over the boards.
“We don’t ask anyone just to be goal-scorers,” Evason said. “I think we see some teams where they’re pulling people off because they don’t trust their offensive guys to play defense against the top line. We don’t do that. We’ve never done that from the start.
“Hopefully it empowers the group to either play offense, or play defense, whichever it is. I know as an ex-player, I wouldn’t want to be pulled off of a situation on the ice because the coaching staff feels I can’t get the job done. I want them to feel that they can get the job done. That’s what we try to do as a coaching staff.”
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| 2022-04-06T20:51:22
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PORTLAND, Ore. — The pandemic affected kids and school so much. When schools shut down, it was a huge adjustment to go remote, for students, parents and teachers. Then when students and teachers returned the classroom, that was a whole new challenge. Through it all, teachers have tried to really reach kids. We want to inspire you to nominate those great teachers who have enthusiasm and creativity in how they make an impact, for the OnPoint Educator of the Year award.
NOMINATE: Click here to nominate a teacher (applies to teachers in Oregon as well as Clark and Skamania counties in Washington)
One year ago, it was the surprise of a lifetime for Travis Rooke-Ley who was sitting in his classroom alone, staring at a computer screen.
"I thought I was about to get interviewed to win the award itself when in fact, I had already won," he said. "So, in that moment it was amazing."
Two people walked into his eighth-grade classroom at Beaverton's Whitford Middle School holding a huge check with Travis' name on it.
"We're very proud to present you with the Educator of the Year Award. You are our winner!" they said.
Rooke-Ley, who teaches journalism/newspaper and math, had just won a year's worth of home mortgage payments from OnPoint Community Credit Union.
"I'm just extremely grateful. And for someone my age that loves to travel and loves to try new things and experience new things, that's been really nice! There's no one more proud than my parents," Rooke-Ley said, laughing, as we caught up now in 2022.
He and his two other fellow winners earned this. Rooke-Ley won the award for middle school teacher. Most nominations for this award come from students. It's high praise for being creative in how you inspire kids to learn.
"I think our natural inclination in a difficult time is to lessen expectations for students," Rooke-Ley said. "And I think they really need structure and accountability in times like that. And so I've just really stuck to my guns in that way and made sure to provide them with the structure they need, provide them with clear direction and what's expected of them and hold them accountable.
"It's clear they've missed the communication aspect of things when school went remote. So the biggest focus this year for me has been on integrating them back into the classroom, giving them opportunities to get up in the room and present, you know, communicate with their classmates and work in smaller groups," Rooke-Ley said.
If you know of an Oregon or southwest Washington teacher who's going above and beyond, nominate them for the OnPoint Educator of the Year award. You have until Tuesday April 12. Three winners are chosen, one each from elementary, middle and high school, who will have their rent or mortgage paid for a year and money for their school.
"It would be super easy for a lot of us (teachers) who have 'canned curriculums' that we could teach, to just show up every day and pass out a worksheet and be on our way," Rooke-Ley said. "But I'm sure every student or parent can think of teachers who don't do that, and teachers who their kids talk about in a really positive way every day when they get home from school. So in whatever way is comfortable or makes sense to you guys, let those people know."
To nominate a teacher, click on this link. This applies to teachers in all of Oregon and Clark and Skamania counties in Washington. OnPoint will reveal the winners in late May.
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/education/nominate-on-point-educator-of-the-year-award/283-a52bd7d1-044b-4aa7-8850-dd3c8cec8897
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WASHINGTON — While many Americans are trying to move on with their lives after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. health officials are debating the best way to use vaccines to stay ahead of the coronavirus.
A panel of U.S. vaccine experts was meeting Wednesday to discuss key questions for future COVID-19 booster campaigns. The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisers won’t make any binding decisions, but they could help shape the government’s approach for years to come.
FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks told reporters last week that it wouldn't be surprising if the agency authorized another booster dose in the fall to protect most Americans against the latest coronavirus mutations. He opened Wednesday's meeting by cautioning that waning vaccine protection, new variants and colder weather later this year could raise the risk of more surges.
“All that taken together makes us conclude that a general discussion of booster vaccination against COVID-19 is warranted at this time so that we can potentially intervene," Marks said.
Some of the key questions for the panel:
HOW SHOULD THE U.S. DECIDE WHEN TO LAUNCH FUTURE ROUNDS OF BOOSTER SHOTS? WHO SHOULD GET THEM?
The panel heard presentations from government health officials and independent researchers that underscored the challenges of predicting what the virus will do.
Trevor Bedford, a disease modeler with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, said a major new strain like omicron could emerge anywhere from every 1.5 years to once a decade, based on currently available data. Given that unpredictability, researchers will need methods to quickly determine whether current vaccines work against emerging variants.
Last week, the FDA authorized an extra Pfizer or Moderna shot for anyone 50 or older and for some younger people with severely weakened immune systems. It’s an effort to get ahead of another possible surge.
Only about half of Americans eligible for a third shot have gotten one. And some independent experts disagree about the need for even that additional protection in healthy individuals, due to limited evidence of the benefit or how long it might last.
The FDA has based many booster decisions on data from the Israeli government, which began offering a fourth dose to people 60 and older in January.
Early data on that effort published this week showed that the fourth dose significantly lowered rates of severe disease. But protection against any infection faded fast, with little evidence of a benefit for people who received a fourth dose after several weeks.
The last U.S. wave was driven by the omicron variant. During that surge, two vaccine doses were nearly 80% effective against needing a breathing machine or death — and a booster pushed that protection to 94%, federal scientists have reported.
COVID-19 cases have dropped to low levels in the U.S., but health officials are warily watching an omicron sibling that now accounts for most cases.
WHAT'S THE PROCESS FOR UPDATING VACCINES TO ADDRESS NEW VARIANTS?
All the COVID-19 vaccines now used in the U.S. are based on the original coronavirus version that emerged in late 2019. Updating the vaccines will be a complex task, requiring coordination between the FDA, manufacturers and global health authorities.
In response to panel questions, a representative for the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority laid out the narrow window that manufacturers would face to reformulate, study and mass produce an updated vaccine by September.
“If you’re not on your way to a clinical trial by the beginning of May I think it’s going to be very difficult to have enough product across manufacturers to meet demand,” said Robert Johnson, deputy assistant secretary of BARDA.
The timeline for updating annual flu vaccines offers one possible model, and the FDA panel was expected to discuss the strengths and weakness of adopting such an approach.
Twice a year, World Health Organization experts recommend updates to flu vaccines to target emerging strains. The FDA then brings those recommendations to its own vaccine panel, which votes on whether they make sense for the U.S., setting the stage for manufacturers to tweak their shots and begin mass production.
But COVID-19 hasn’t yet fallen into a predictable pattern like the flu. And vaccine manufacturers will likely need more time to conduct additional studies of their COVID-19 vaccines, which don’t have the same decades-long record of safety and effectiveness as flu shots.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials are signaling that they will take an aggressive approach to fighting high inflation in the coming months — actions that will make borrowing sharply more expensive for consumers and businesses and heighten risks to the economy.
In minutes from their policy meeting three weeks ago released Wednesday, Fed officials said that half-point interest rate hikes, rather than traditional quarter-point increase, “could be appropriate” multiple times this year.
At last month's meeting, many of the Fed policymakers favored a half-point increase, the minutes said, but held off then because of the uncertainties created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Instead, the Fed raised its key short-term rate by a quarter-point and signaled that it planned to continue raising rates well into next year.
The minutes said the Fed is also moving closer to rapidly shrinking its huge $9 trillion stockpile of bonds in the coming months, a move that would contribute to higher borrowing costs. The policymakers said they would likely cut their holdings by about $95 billion a month — nearly double the pace they implemented five years ago, when they last shrank their balance sheet.
The plan to quickly draw down their bond holdings marks the latest move by Fed officials to accelerate their inflation-fighting efforts. Prices are surging at the fastest pace in four decades, and officials in recent speeches have expressed increasing concern about getting inflation under control.
Many economists have said they worry that the Fed has waited too long to start raising rates and could be forced to respond so aggressively as to trigger a recession. Indeed, economists at Deutsche Bank predict that the economy will tumble into a recession late next year, noting that the Fed, “finding itself now well behind the curve, has given clear signals that it is shifting to a more aggressive tightening mode.”
The stock market sold off when the minutes were released Wednesday but later recovered most of its losses. Still, the S&P 500 was down nearly 0.8% in afternoon trading after a sharp drop on Tuesday.
Financial markets now expect much steeper rate hikes this year than Fed officials had signaled as recently as their meeting in mid-March. Just three weeks ago, the policymakers projected that the Fed's benchmark rate would remain below 2% by the end of this year and 2.8% at the end of 2023, up from its current level below 0.5%.
But Wall Street now forecasts that the Fed's rate will reach 2.6% by year's end, with further rate hikes next year. That would require three half-point increases this year.
Higher rates from the Fed will heighten borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and corporate loans. By doing so, the Fed hopes to cool economic growth and rising wages enough to rein in high inflation, which has caused hardships for millions of households and poses a severe political threat to President Joe Biden.
Chair Jerome Powell opened the door two weeks ago to increasing rates by as much as a half-point at upcoming meetings, rather than by a traditional quarter-point. The Fed hasn't carried out any half-point rate increases since 2000. Lael Brainard, a key member of the Fed's Board of Governors, and other officials have also made clear that they envision such sharp increases. Most economists now expect the Fed to raise rates by a half-point at both its May and June meetings.
In a speech Tuesday, Brainard underscored the Fed's increasing aggressiveness by saying that the central bank's bond holdings will “shrink considerably more rapidly” over “a much shorter period" than the last time the Fed reduced its balance sheet, from 2017-2019. At that time, the balance sheet was about $4.5 trillion. Now, it's twice as large.
After the pandemic hammered the economy two years ago, the Fed bought trillions in Treasury and mortgage bonds, with the goal of lowering longer-term borrowing rates. It also cut its short-term benchmark rate to near zero.
As a sign of how fast the Fed is reversing course, the last time the Fed bought bonds, there was a three-year gap between when it stopped its purchases, in 2014, and when it began reducing the balance sheet, in 2017. Now, that shift is likely to happen in as few as three months.
Brainard's remarks caused a sharp rise in the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury note, a key rate that influences mortgage rates, business loans and other borrowing costs. On Wednesday, that rate reached 2.6%, up from 2.3% just a week earlier, a sharp increase for that rate. A month ago, it was just 1.7%.
Shorter-term bond yields have jumped even higher, in some cases to above the 10-year yield, a pattern that has in the past been seen as a sign of an impending recession. Fed officials say, however, that shorter-term bond market trends aren't flashing the same warning signals.
The Fed will reduce its balance sheet by allowing some of its Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities to mature without reinvesting the proceeds, which it has done for the past two years.
What kind of impact this will have on interest rates is highly uncertain. Powell said at a news conference after last month's meeting that the reduction in bond holdings would be equivalent to another rate hike. Economists estimate that reducing the Fed's balance sheet by $1 trillion a year would be equal to anywhere from one to three additional quarter-point increases in the Fed's benchmark short-term rate.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who preceded Powell as Fed chair, suggested during a congressional hearing Wednesday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine would likely keep escalating inflation in the coming months.
“The sanctions we’ve placed on Russia are pushing up the price of energy," Yellen said. “When energy prices are going up, the price of wheat and corn that Russia and Ukraine produce are going up, and metals that play an important industrial role are going up.”
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AUGUSTA, Ga. — We're just a few hours away now from the 2022 Masters Tournament and the biggest storyline is obviously Tiger Woods.
Just 14 months after what was a catastrophic leg injury suffered in a car accident in Los Angeles, Tiger Woods plans to tee it up at Augusta National on Thursday morning.
Longtime golf writer and golf author Bob Harig joined the Locked On Today podcast on Wednesday for a special episode, to get his insight ahead of golf's most iconic tournament.
SUBSCRIBE: The Locked On Today podcast hosted by Peter Bukowski gets you caught up every morning on the biggest stories in sports without taking up your free time.
Harig said the fact that Tiger Woods is set to play on Thursday still defies all logic and belief.
"It’s still hard to wrap your head around the idea that Tiger is playing in the Masters and Phil Mickelson is not," Harig said. "As recently as six weeks ago, Tiger was really downplaying the idea of his comeback, talking like it was going to be awhile…But now we’re talking about a golf course that’s one of the toughest walks in golf. We’re not talking about any flat golf course that might be hard enough to deal with.”
After the scandal a little over a decade ago that rocked Tiger Woods as a figure, he made his return to tournament golf at Augusta. Why does Tiger feel so safe and comfortable here?
“It was puzzling then, it’s puzzling now. It’s not the place you come back to without any sort of seasoning. You want to ease your way into it, chip off some of the rust and get used to being inside the ropes again…I think it’s clear that he loves the place, he wants to be here. This is the 25th anniversary of his first Masters win in 1997. It’s because it’s the Masters that he made the effort. He’s won here five times, he’s contended six or seven other times. Going forward, it’s going to be one of the places he truly has a chance to win still.”
What are reasonable expectations for Tiger?
“I think a reasonable expectation is to make the cut," Harig said. "It’s only 91 players, the field is smaller than most tournaments. There’s 15-20 players who are probably not competitive at this level. That knocks the field down to 70-75 guys and the top 50 and ties make it. He doesn’t have to beat that many guys to make the cut…Can he contend? We’re getting into territory that defies belief there, but of course I didn’t think he would be here. What do I know?”
No Phil Mickelson at Augusta
One name that is not in Augusta this week and very notably, is Phil Mickelson. Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship, becoming the oldest major champion in golf history.
Over the past year, there’s been heavy rumblings about a potential rival golf league and there’s been one that Greg Norman is the commissioner of, back by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, working to throw huge sums at players to sign on and essentially guaranteed money in tournaments.
This led players including Phil Mickelson wondering why there’s not more guaranteed money for TOUR players. And he spoke out about it. But, in the process, Mickelson made controversial statements about the Saudi-backed aspect about it and disparaging remarks about the PGA Tour. Now, Mickelson hasn’t played in two months and hasn’t spoken publicly since February.
Locked On Today host Peter Bukowski asked Harig, is there 3% or 5% of Tiger Woods that is relishing the fact that Phil Mickelson isn’t here?
“Probably. Maybe more, maybe 10%. I don’t think Tiger wishes any ill-will on Phil Mickelson, I think they’re past that point," Harig said. "I think Tiger was genuinely happy for him when he won the PGA Championship last summer. But the issues that are hurting Phil right now, Tiger’s clearly on the other side of. If you could give him truth serum, I would say Tiger is very upset with what Phil was doing and he doesn’t agree with it and he might even be defiant about it. Tiger clearly took the side of the PGA Tour in that flap and Phil was looking out for other possibilities, very lucrative ones, and in the process it got him in a lot of trouble.”
What does it take to have success at the Masters?
“The biggest stat to look at in this tournament is greens in regulation," Harig said. "It usually doesn’t relate in a regular tournament. A guy might hit 10 greens a day or 9 but of those he makes a bunch of birdies. It doesn’t work quite as well here. If you’re missing a lot of greens, you’re going to make some bogeys. So hit a lot of greens, get some birdies, make out with par when you can. If you can hit the par 5’s in two and get some easy two-putt birdies, now you’re saying something. Tiger mastered that pretty well in 2019.”
Who has the best shot this week?
The field this week is obviously one of the best in the world and it features a number of top players who have contended but not yet won this year. That includes Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka and others.
“I think a lot of them have a shot and it’s pretty wide open. We seemingly have a lot of parity right now," Harig said. "Jon Rahm was No. 1 two weeks ago and he hasn’t won since the U.S. Open. Scottie Scheffler just won three tournaments in seven weeks to move to No. 1…Collin Morikawa won a major last year, hasn’t won this year. Patrick Cantlay was the FedEx Cup champion and hasn’t won yet this year. I happen to like Justin Thomas, who also hasn’t won yet this year. He’s a great ball-striker, hits a lot of greens. The weather isn’t going to be great, more rain and then Thursday and Friday it cools off a bit, it’s going to be cold on Saturday. I think he’s a guy that can handle that.”
What about Rory?
It's been a storyline for years how Rory McIlroy needs just a Masters win to complete the iconic major grand slam, but he hasn't been able to do it. Why is that and what needs to happen for him this week?
“Rory McIlroy is a guy we haven’t even mentioned yet, who should be in contention,' Harig said. "But he hasn’t hit enough greens here over the years. He’s almost been too aggressive. He needs to dial that back, take his pars and get his birdies where he can get them. Those pins tempt him and when you’re missing the greens, you’re really agonizing to make a par.”
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NEW YORK — A man who moved into his daughter’s college dorm and charmed her schoolmates with stories about his wisdom was convicted Wednesday of charges that he exploited the close-knit group, using threats and violence to enrich himself with millions of dollars.
Lawrence Ray, 62, was convicted at a trial where weeks of testimony chronicled his psychologically manipulative relationship with young people he met in fall 2010 at Sarah Lawrence College, a small New York liberal arts school. Ray moved into his daughter’s dorm after finishing a prison stint for a securities fraud conviction.
Sentencing was set for Sept. 16 on charges including racketeering, conspiracy, forced labor, sex trafficking and obstruction of justice. Ray, who stood with his arms at his side and faced the Manhattan jury as guilty verdicts were returned on 15 counts, could face up to life in prison.
After the verdict was read, Ray was returned to custody, where he had been since his early 2020 arrest.
His lawyers declined comment outside court and did not immediately return email messages seeking comment.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Ray had changed “a group of friends who had their whole lives ahead of them.”
“For the next decade, he used violence, threats, and psychological abuse to try to control and destroy their lives,” Williams said. “He exploited them. He terrorized them. He tortured them. Let me be very clear. Larry Ray is a predator. An evil man who did evil things. Today’s verdict finally brings him to justice.”
Jurors concluded deliberations less than a day after receiving the case following a monthlong trial that featured testimony from numerous victims who usually referred to Ray just as “Larry.” Some testified that Ray had made them believe they had poisoned or otherwise harmed him and they needed to pay him back.
One woman testified that she became a sex worker to try to pay reparations to Ray after becoming convinced that she had poisoned him. She said that, over four years, she gave Ray $2.5 million in installments that averaged between $10,000 and $50,000 per week.
Ray’s lawyers maintained he was victimized by former friends who fabricated their stories.
Ray did not testify. Twice, the trial was interrupted as he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance for undisclosed illnesses.
Several students testified that they were drawn into Ray’s world as he told them stories of his past influence in New York City politics, including his role in ruining the career of former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik after serving as the best man at his wedding years earlier. Ray had, in fact, been a figure in the corruption investigation that derailed Kerik’s nomination to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Some of the students agreed to live with Ray in the summer of 2011 at his Manhattan one-bedroom apartment, where his sinister side emerged as he started to claim that the students had poisoned and harmed him or his property.
To make amends, they testified, they did what he asked, including turning over money. One man said he gave Ray over $100,000.
Prosecutors said the money was never enough. Through threats and violence and videotaped “confessions,” Ray tightened his hold on the young people, including forcing them to to landscaping and other work at the Pinehurst, North Carolina home of his stepfather for weeks in 2013, they said.
The abuse culminated in October 2018 when Ray for hours repeatedly abused the woman who gave him her proceeds from sex work, forcing her to be tied naked to a chair while he berated her, choked her with a leash and made her fear for her life by putting a bag over her head, prosecutors said.
Ray carried out his crimes with help from his daughter and Isabella Pollok, a woman who has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, prosecutors said. Her trial is set for later this year. The daughter has not been charged.
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| 2022-04-06T20:55:19
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12-year-old child shot 9 times in Colorado fighting for his life, family says
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV/Gray News) - A 12-year-old boy among four people shot in Colorado on Saturday continues to fight for his life, according to family.
The shooting happened Saturday evening in Colorado Springs. A total of four people, including the 12-year-old, were shot.
“I received a phone call that my brother had been shot,” a family member of the boy told KKTV. “All I could think of was... I just started screaming, ‘No... just please... no.’”
The family members of two brothers who were shot said their lives have been turned upside down in the past few days.
“He is in critical condition,” the family member said. “My 12-year-old brother, he got shot 9 times. [In the] face, the neck, the leg, and everywhere. Just everywhere. He’s in so much pain.”
According to the Colorado Springs Police Department, the suspect fired several shots into a home just after 6 p.m. Saturday.
The suspect has been identified as 18-year-old Estevan Pacheco. Police add that someone in the home returned fire and Pacheco fled the scene.
Police then believe someone who knows the victim at the first shooting followed Pacheco and a few blocks away.
Police learned Pacheco opened fire again, hitting several people in the truck that was following him including the 12-year-old boy and his brother, before Pacheco was run over by the truck.
Family members say hearing about what happened to their loved ones is devastating.
“I just couldn’t imagine it,” the family member said. “It did not seem real to me. It’s unbelievable. I was screaming and yelling and just angry. I remember it was just a nightmare. It’s the worst thing that could ever happen.”
The boy’s family also said they had reached out to police a few weeks before this shooting asking for something to be done about the violence in the area. As of Tuesday night, Pacheco was in the El Paso County Jail on a $50,000 bond facing charges including attempted murder.
Click here to donate to a GoFundMe set up to benefit the family.
Copyright 2022 KKTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:57:12
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18-year-old speeding 151 mph before hitting SUV, killing 6 people, authorities say
A Palm Beach County man is under arrest after authorities said he was speeding at 151 miles per hour and rear-ended a vehicle, killing all six people inside.
Noah Galle, 18, was arrested Wednesday on six counts of vehicular homicide for the Jan. 22 wreck.
According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Galle was driving a 2019 BMW M5 "at a high rate of speed" around 11 p.m. in the 14000 block of U.S. Highway 441. He rear-ended a 2018 Nissan Rogue that had six people inside.
The impact caused the Rogue to head into a grass and dirt median where it flipped and rolled over before landing upside-down in the median.
PBSO said five people inside the Nissan Rogue were pronounced dead at the scene, while a sixth was taken to Delray Medical Center and passed away.
Authorities said the victims were all local farmworkers who had just left work before they were hit. There were "no marks of any braking" on Galle's part, the sheriff's office said.
Galle suffered minor injuries in the crash.
The sheriff's office said Wednesday that toxicology tests did not show any drugs or alcohol in Galle's system at the time of the wreck.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/06/18-year-old-speeding-151-mph-before-hitting-suv-killing-6-people-authorities-say/
| 2022-04-06T20:57:18
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3-year-old receives ‘birthday wish’ for a new heart, undergoes 14-hour surgery
CINCINNATI (WLWT) - A young Cincinnati Bengals superfan got a fantastic present in time for his fourth birthday - a new heart.
Sammy Jones, also known as “Superman Sammy,” recently underwent a 14-hour surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
“That’s what he asked for his birthday. We asked him back in March what he wanted for his birthday, and he said a new heart,” Sammy’s mother, Kortney Sink, said.
Sammy was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, causing the left side of his heart not to work.
“He had his first surgery at a day old, his second surgery at three months old, and then his third surgery at three years old,” Sink said.
Sammy’s parents thought he’d be good after his third surgery. He even started playing soccer, but his heart began to fail last fall.
After months spent in the hospital waiting, Sammy’s birthday wish came early.
“Couldn’t believe it. It’s been six months of waiting,” Sammy’s father, Garland Jones, said.
Sammy’s medical journey has been shared on social media, and several Cincinnati residents have bonded with him through his love of the Bengals.
“Thank you to the Bengals for an awesome season because it gave my son something to look forward to,” Garland Jones said.
Now, “Superman Sammy” has something else to look forward to – a new healthy heart.
“We hope he can do all he wants to do. He wants to play football and basketball. He wants to do all that stuff. And I’m just hoping and praying, he’s able to do all that stuff that he loves to do,” Sink said.
Sammy’s parents said they would have to stay within 40 miles of the hospital for three to six months, and since they live 70 miles away, they’ll be staying at a Ronald McDonald House.
Copyright 2022 WLWT via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/06/3-year-old-receives-birthday-wish-new-heart-undergoes-14-hour-surgery/
| 2022-04-06T20:57:24
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Airfare prices expected to continue soaring
Heads up if you’re looking to travel this summer. Tickets to fly the friendly skies are going up.
Experts said domestic airfare increased 40% since the start of 2022, and prices are expected to get even higher next month.
According to the travel booking website Hopper, domestic airfare has increased 40% since January.
"Might cut back a little bit not go as far," said traveler Steve Spearman.
"It'll be uncomfortable for people I'm sure," said traveler Max Chyovotov.
"That will keep me from traveling probably," said traveler Lisa Harris.
And prices will continue to climb another 10% next month.
"Higher demand this year than previous years because of the pent up COVID demand. And the second is higher jet fuel prices. Jet fuel this year is 75% more expensive than it was this time last year," said Haely Berg with Hopper.
Right now, the cost of a domestic round trip is averaging $330, 7% higher than 2019. For international trips, you're looking at little more than $800.
Despite the new trend, there’s still some ways you can save. Experts said planning ahead and knowing when to book is key.
"You can buy a basic economy ticket and save money," said Laura Reece with Reece Worldwide Travel. "If you want to get from point A to point B that works."
Reece recommends booking six weeks to three months in advance for domestic flights and three to eight months ahead for international trips
"You want to give yourself some lead time those last-minute tickets are going to cost you a lot more," Reece said.
Reece also advises shopping around and being flexible with your travel dates.
"Sometimes if you work with a travel agent you can pay monthly which is really nice. Sometimes working with an all inclusive agency you can prepay that and not have a big bill when you come home," Reece said.
Experts said it’s not a bad idea to protect your investment by paying those few extra dollars for travel insurance. While it may seem like a big expense up front it could help you save in the event your flight gets canceled.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-06T20:57:33
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Body cam video shows 18-year-old’s claim of flirting with cop to avoid DUI was a lie
DENVER (KUSA) - An 18-year-old woman claimed she got out of a DUI when a deputy asked her on a date.
The woman’s side of the story went viral on social media, but police body camera footage showed what she claimed isn’t true.
Footage from Jefferson County Deputy Tyler Stahl’s body camera shows what happened last weekend just outside Denver.
The footage shows Stahl introducing himself to the driver and telling her he pulled her over because she was swerving.
“She said she was on her phone. She said that she was upset because her boyfriend broke up with her,” Stahl said. “Throughout my entire interaction, she would start crying and get more choked up the more she was talking about it.”
Stahl ended up letting the 18-year-old off with a warning, saying he didn’t believe she was impaired.
After the woman left the traffic stop, she shared a video on social media that was reposted and got tens of thousands of views (WARNING: Link contains explicit language) claiming she got out of a DUI by lying about getting broken up with. She also said she blew a “3.8″ blood alcohol content on a breathalyzer (0.4 is potentially lethal).
She claimed the officer gave her his phone number and asked her out on a date, and they planned to meet for lunch the next day.
Stahl said he is grateful for the body camera footage because without it, it could have been the 18-year-old’s word against his.
“I believe in transparency, like I said, I love the body cameras,” Stahl said. “It was selfish. I’m just disappointed. I genuinely think that she probably feels bad, and she’s going to have to live with this for a while, and that’s probably consequence enough.”
Copyright 2022 KUSA via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:57:39
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Graduates benefit from federal student loan moratorium extension
People paying back federal student loans are set to get a few extra months of relief.
The president’s announcement to extend the federal student loan moratorium from May to the end of August is welcome news for Christine Sylvain.
“No one wants to start out in life with a huge amount of debt,” she said.
Sylvain is the executive director of Path to College.
The organization is committed to helping low-income, high-achieving Palm Beach County students graduate from college debt-free.
Her own challenges with student debt are a driving force.
“A lot of people with student loans have seen them balloon with interest rates,” she said.
Even through scholarships propelled Sylvain through her undergraduate career, financing the last year of her master’s program at NYU was met with challenges.
“I thought just to do my last year I’m going to take out a loan,” she said.
Twelve years later, she is still paying off one year’s worth of student loans.
“Even when I went to refinance my house, I had to explain why my debt to income ratio seemed high” she said, “and it’s because I had this student loan debt, which had ballooned in my mid-20s—it doesn’t look good.”
Sylvain says the pause on federal student loan payments is met with a sigh of relief.
“It’s really helpful to people who could use a leg up,” she said.
The federal student loan moratorium was set to expire May 1.
It has now been extended to Aug. 31.
President Joe Biden says the four-month delay will help millions of borrowers bounce back from pandemic setbacks.
Balances on student loans have been effectively frozen for more than two years now, with no payments required.
“I think it’s great they’re not letting the loan interest accrue, so I think that was a necessary step,” said Sylvain.
However, financial advisor Tammy Trenta is wary this extension foreshadows potential plans the president may have to cancel some student loan debt altogether.
“I think just having all of the student loans evaporate,” said Trenta, “it’s more of a Band-Aid, it doesn’t really solve the issue.”
The moratorium doesn’t apply to borrowers with privately held loans.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-06T20:57:49
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House debates contempt for Scavino, Navarro in Jan. 6 probe
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House moved Wednesday to hold former Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in contempt of Congress as a new round of partisan fighting erupted over the House committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Lawmakers argued over a resolution, that if approved later in the day as expected, would send contempt charges against Navarro and Scavino to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack recommended the charges after the two men refused for months to comply with subpoenas.
The debate on the House floor was raw as Republicans stood by former President Donald Trump and charged that Democrats were trying to politicize the attack on the Capitol by his supporters.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy accused the Jan. 6 committee of “criminalizing dissent,” defended Scavino as a “good man” and lobbed harsh criticism at members of the committee, some by name. “Let’s be honest, this is a political show trial,” McCarthy said.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, among the nine members of the Jan. 6 panel, noted that the committee has two Republicans, including Liz Cheney of Wyoming. “Today the minority leader gave the game away as he boiled over with rage,” Raskin said.
While pursuing contempt charges may not yield any new information for the Jan. 6 committee — any prosecutions could drag for months or years — the vote Wednesday was the latest attempt to show that witnesses will suffer consequences if they don’t cooperate or at least appear for questioning. It’s all part of an effort to claw back legislative authority that eroded during the Trump era, when congressional subpoenas were often flouted and ignored.
Raskin and other Democrats said Scavino and Navarro are among just a handful of individuals who have rebuffed the committee’s requests and subpoenas for information. The panel has interviewed more than 800 witnesses so far.
Scavino has “refused to testify before Congress about what he knows about the most dangerous and sweeping assault on the United States Congress since the War of 1812,” Raskin said.
The committee says Scavino helped promote Trump’s false claims of a stolen election and was with him the day of the attack on the Capitol. As a result, he may have “materials relevant to his videotaping and tweeting” messages that day.
A lawyer for Scavino did not return multiple messages from the AP seeking comment.
Navarro, 72, a former White House trade adviser, was subpoenaed in early February over his promotion of false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election that the committee believes contributed to the attack.
Navarro cited executive privilege when declining to testify, saying the committee “should negotiate this matter with President Trump.” He added, “If he waived the privilege, I will be happy to comply.”
But the Biden administration has already waived executive privilege for Navarro, Scavino and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying it was not justified or in the national interest for them to withhold their testimony.
Executive privilege was developed to protect a president’s ability to obtain candid counsel from his advisers without fear of immediate public disclosure, but it has limits. Courts have traditionally left questions of whether to invoke executive privilege up to the current White House occupant. The Supreme Court earlier this year rejected a bid by Trump to withhold documents from the committee.
The vote Wednesday will be the third time the panel has sent contempt charges to the House floor. The first two referrals, sent late last year, were for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump ally Steve Bannon.
The contempt referral against Bannon resulted in an indictment, with a trial set to start in July. The Justice Department has been slower to decide whether to prosecute Meadows, much to the frustration of the committee.
“It’s the committee’s hope that they will present it to a grand jury,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chairman, told reporters Tuesday. “Obviously, the Meadows case is still outstanding. We don’t really know where that is, other than we’ve done our work.”
He added, “The firewall goes up from our standpoint, and DOJ uses its systems to take it from there.”
Lawmakers are interviewing dozens of individuals a week as they inch closer to public hearings in late spring. In the last week alone, the committee interviewed Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. Both were key White House advisers who had substantial access to the former president.
Thompson suggested more witnesses could still be held in contempt in the weeks ahead even as the committee looks to wrap up the investigative portion of their work in the next two months.
A conviction for contempt of Congress carries a fine of up to $100,000 and up to a year in prison.
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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Review underway after gun goes off at Port St. Lucie police headquarters
An internal affairs review is underway after a gun went off inside the Port St. Lucie Police Department headquarters.
Fortunately, no one was hurt.
On March 30, a sergeant admitted to negligently discharging his firearm inside the Port St. Lucie Police Department, causing a window to shatter.
Port St. Lucie Police Chief John Bolduc said Sgt. Aaron Martin was preparing to go to the range the next day.
"He unloaded his gun and was practicing drawing it. What he failed to do was take the round out of the chamber," Bolduc said.
No one was injured, and there was no damage to any vehicles outside.
"God bless him for facing the right direction in his office. He had the door closed and everything," Bolduc said.
Sgt. Martin is a 20-year law enforcement veteran and husband of the current city mayor.
The chief said there’s no formal investigation in this specific case, but in situations where there is an accidental discharge, they will take the reports that were filed and run them through an internal affairs review.
"What we’ve been doing and have done in the past is supervisors counseling. That’s the very lowest corrective action we have," Bolduc said.
The chief said they also look to see if any policies were broken or if the department didn’t provide the officer enough training.
"Typically when we’re handling firearms, when we’re doing it for training purposes, we clear the weapon then we have someone else check the weapon so there are two sets of eyes," Bolduc said.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-06T20:58:02
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South Florida barber forms bond with boy with autism
For all of the people who help you day to day, to keep going back to your barber, you build a certain level of trust.
That is especially true for one Palm Beach County boy and the man who cuts his hair.
There’s more to it than just a simple haircut.
“It’s about putting smiles on face,” said Terry Francisco at Terry’s Hair Studio in Riviera Beach. “You see the interaction.” Apart from the perfect grooming, Terry values even what his clippers can’t touch.
“That’s what it’s all about, relationships man,” said Francisco.
It’s about the moments of levity and the bonds he makes.
“They become friends,” said Francisco.
Friends who have kept coming for more than two decades. Including one on the younger side.
6-year-old Xavier is WPTV’s Keli Ferguson’s son. A few years ago, he had a tough time sitting in the chair.
“And then everything made sense,” said Ferguson.
Having just been diagnosed with autism at the time, Keli wondered how she could ever get her son comfortable as he deals with anxiety and sensory sensitivities.
“His therapist walked us through Xavier getting his haircut,” said Ferguson. “He’s able to get through the process because he has a good relationship with Terry.”
Now every few weeks, it’s no big deal.
The laughs and bonds Terry shares with his other clients, Xavier gets that too.
“I think for me what’s so special about coming here is the community knows what’s going on and they don’t every make us feel shamed,” said Ferguson.
A quick cut with a reward and proof that a little off on the sides doesn’t have to be short on connection.
“I’m appreciative for their relationship,” said Ferguson.
Terry has at least two other clients that come into his shop who are also on the autism spectrum.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/06/south-florida-barber-forms-bond-with-boy-with-autism/
| 2022-04-06T20:58:08
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West Palm man returns from trip to help Ukrainian refugees
A West Palm Beach man is now back home after a remarkable trip to help refugees at the Ukrainian border.
SPECIAL SECTION: Latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine-Conflict
Aaron Jackson tried to put into words his trip to help Ukraine.
"It's one of the most devastating things I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot," Jackson said.
He experienced it for six weeks, starting with his first day on Feb. 28 at a massive shelter.
Jackson worked with the organization Planting Peace to help those who fled the Russian invasion and searched for housing.
"You just start with one. You find somebody, and you start there and help them and once you get them into housing and you move on to the next and you move on to the next," Jackson said.
He said the frightened families fled with only the items they could carry, unsure of their future.
"We would find housing that would be a hotel or Airbnb, any type of housing we could find, a short-term rental," Jackson said.
He believes he helped as many as 130 families to safety including their pets.
While not many can not do what Jackson did, he said there is something most people can do.
"Monetary contributions are the best way to go, that way charities can buy stuff on the ground and quickly move in whatever it is they are trying to do," Jackson said.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-06T20:58:14
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Yellen: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will have ‘enormous economic repercussions’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned a House panel Wednesday that Russia’s aggression in Eastern Europe will have “enormous economic repercussions in Ukraine and beyond.” She added that the rising price of energy, metal, wheat and corn that Russia and Ukraine produce “is going to escalate inflationary pressures as well.”
Russia’s invasion “including the atrocities committed against innocent Ukrainians in Bucha, are reprehensible, represent an unacceptable affront to the rules-based global order, and will have enormous economic repercussions for the world,” she told the House Financial Services Committee.
Her remarks were part of her annual testimony on the state of the international financial system.
WARNING: Videos contain graphic content.
Along with touching on the need for food and energy security and debt sustainability globally, Yellen called on Congress to provide support to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank organizations, which have provided grants and humanitarian funds financing to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.
“Globally,” she said, “spillovers from the crisis are heightening economic vulnerabilities in many countries that are already facing higher debt burdens and limited policy options as they recover from COVID-19.”
“The sanctions we’ve placed on Russia are pushing up the price of energy. It’s a price that’s important to pay to punish Russia for what it’s doing in Ukraine,” she added, drawing on how the conflict is impacting Americans at home.
Inflation has reached 40-year highs as an inflation metric closely monitored by the Federal Reserve jumped 6.4% in February compared with a year ago, the largest year-over-year rise since January 1982.
The United States and Western allies have imposed an avalanche of sanctions against Russia in the first weeks of the war and administration officials in recent days have put more focus on closing loopholes that Russia might try to use to circumvent them.
On Wednesday morning, the U.S. announced more sanctions, this time targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters and toughening penalties against Russian banks in retaliation for “war crimes” in Ukraine.
“Treasury is committed to holding Russia accountable for its actions so it cannot benefit from the international financial system,” Yellen said.
Lawmakers also questioned Yellen on China and the threat of an invasion of Taiwan as the U.S. and its allies continue to impose sanctions on Russia. She said the U.S. is prepared to impose sanctions against China if Beijing moves aggressively toward Taiwan, as some fear it might.
“I believe we’ve shown that we can in the case of Russia,” she said. “I think you should not doubt our ability to resolve to do the same in other situations.”
She was also asked about Russia’s involvement in the G-20 summit, which is set to take place in Indonesia later this year.
The Indonesian government has said it would hold the G-20 Summit impartially, resisting calls to exclude Russia.
“I’ve made clear to my colleagues in Indonesia that we will not be participating in a number of meetings” at the annual summit where Russia would be involved, Yellen said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified later in the day that Yellen was referring to ministerial-level meetings and that the U.S. would not boycott the summit in its entirety.
“It shouldn’t be business as usual,” she said.
President Joe Biden has said he would like to kick Russia out of the G-20.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T20:58:20
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Man, woman who were arrested in Virginia are indicted in Brockton fatal shooting
BROCKTON — A man and a woman have been indicted in connection with the March fatal shooting of a 24-year-old Boston man in Brockton, prosecutors said.
A Plymouth County grand jury returned indictments charging Brendan Fernandes, 33, of Brockton, with murder, illegal possession of a firearm and illegal possession of ammunition, and Destiny A. Fontes Silie, 25, of Warwick, Rhode Island, with accessory after the fact of murder.
The charges stem from a March 15, 2022, incident in Brockton.
More:Couple arrested in Virginia, charged in connection with fatal Brockton shooting
Police responded about 4:44 p.m. that afternoon to multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting in the area of 401 East St. First responders found a male victim suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
The victim, later identified as 24-year-old Brima Koroma, was taken by ambulance to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital, where he died.
"As a result of the investigation, detectives sought and obtained an arrest warrant for Fernandes and Silie," the Plymouth County district attorney's office said in a written statement. "The pair were last seen driving away from the shooting scene together in a blue sedan."
On March 16, the DA's office said Virginia State Police stopped the blue sedan in Chesterfield, Virginia, and Fernandes and Silie were arrested.
"The pair are going through the rendition process in Virginia and have a status date there on April 14, before they will be returned to Brockton where they will be arraigned on the charges," the DA's office said.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Jeremy Beth Kusmin and Samantha Mullin and was investigated by Massachusetts State Police and Brockton police.
Enterprise senior reporter Cody Shepard can be reached by email at cshepard@enterprisenews.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @cshepard_ENT. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today.
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https://www.enterprisenews.com/story/news/courts/2022/04/06/brockton-fatal-shooting-march-east-street-victim-brima-koroma-indictment-brendan-fernandes/9470050002/
| 2022-04-06T20:59:49
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12-year-old child shot 9 times in Colorado fighting for his life, family says
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV/Gray News) - A 12-year-old boy among four people shot in Colorado on Saturday continues to fight for his life, according to family.
The shooting happened Saturday evening in Colorado Springs. A total of four people, including the 12-year-old, were shot.
“I received a phone call that my brother had been shot,” a family member of the boy told KKTV. “All I could think of was... I just started screaming, ‘No... just please... no.’”
The family members of two brothers who were shot said their lives have been turned upside down in the past few days.
“He is in critical condition,” the family member said. “My 12-year-old brother, he got shot 9 times. [In the] face, the neck, the leg, and everywhere. Just everywhere. He’s in so much pain.”
According to the Colorado Springs Police Department, the suspect fired several shots into a home just after 6 p.m. Saturday.
The suspect has been identified as 18-year-old Estevan Pacheco. Police add that someone in the home returned fire and Pacheco fled the scene.
Police then believe someone who knows the victim at the first shooting followed Pacheco and a few blocks away.
Police learned Pacheco opened fire again, hitting several people in the truck that was following him including the 12-year-old boy and his brother, before Pacheco was run over by the truck.
Family members say hearing about what happened to their loved ones is devastating.
“I just couldn’t imagine it,” the family member said. “It did not seem real to me. It’s unbelievable. I was screaming and yelling and just angry. I remember it was just a nightmare. It’s the worst thing that could ever happen.”
The boy’s family also said they had reached out to police a few weeks before this shooting asking for something to be done about the violence in the area. As of Tuesday night, Pacheco was in the El Paso County Jail on a $50,000 bond facing charges including attempted murder.
Click here to donate to a GoFundMe set up to benefit the family.
Copyright 2022 KKTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/06/12-year-old-child-shot-9-times-colorado-fighting-his-life-family-says/
| 2022-04-06T21:11:06
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3-year-old receives ‘birthday wish’ for a new heart, undergoes 14-hour surgery
CINCINNATI (WLWT) - A young Cincinnati Bengals superfan got a fantastic present in time for his fourth birthday - a new heart.
Sammy Jones, also known as “Superman Sammy,” recently underwent a 14-hour surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
“That’s what he asked for his birthday. We asked him back in March what he wanted for his birthday, and he said a new heart,” Sammy’s mother, Kortney Sink, said.
Sammy was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, causing the left side of his heart not to work.
“He had his first surgery at a day old, his second surgery at three months old, and then his third surgery at three years old,” Sink said.
Sammy’s parents thought he’d be good after his third surgery. He even started playing soccer, but his heart began to fail last fall.
After months spent in the hospital waiting, Sammy’s birthday wish came early.
“Couldn’t believe it. It’s been six months of waiting,” Sammy’s father, Garland Jones, said.
Sammy’s medical journey has been shared on social media, and several Cincinnati residents have bonded with him through his love of the Bengals.
“Thank you to the Bengals for an awesome season because it gave my son something to look forward to,” Garland Jones said.
Now, “Superman Sammy” has something else to look forward to – a new healthy heart.
“We hope he can do all he wants to do. He wants to play football and basketball. He wants to do all that stuff. And I’m just hoping and praying, he’s able to do all that stuff that he loves to do,” Sink said.
Sammy’s parents said they would have to stay within 40 miles of the hospital for three to six months, and since they live 70 miles away, they’ll be staying at a Ronald McDonald House.
Copyright 2022 WLWT via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-06T21:11:13
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