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Norman officials considered Thursday making the city of festivals even more festival-friendly with pandemic recovery funds for long-standing events.
City council members met Thursday to discuss a program that would waive fees for special events as an effort to help festivals recover from cancellations and limited capacity during COVID-19.
With a surplus in the budget for the remainder of the fiscal year due to strong sales tax revenue, council members and city staff discussed using a portion of those extra funds to assist organizers of Norman fixtures like the Medieval Fair and Norman Music Fest in their recovery process.
Ward 7 Stephen Holman said he anticipates the council will further discuss the proposed program at a study session at a later date.
Budget surplus funds roll back at the end of each fiscal year in June. In order to allocate the surplus to a program running beyond June, funds would need to be set up in a separate account, Ward 4 Lee Hall said.
Holman said the NMF board asked for a waiver of $4,212.25 this year, and if that’s the largest request, he suggested putting $50,000 into an account set aside to help festivals affected by the pandemic.
City clerk Brenda Hall said many costs are involved to put on special events, some of which organizers aren’t charged for, such as additional staff time for police and fire departments. Events that take place on the streets of Norman have different fees than ones at parks.
“Medieval Fair has a pretty big bill every year because there’s quite a bit of damage to the park after they leave every year from vendors coming in and out and big trailers and all of that, so the [cost for organizers] varies by event,” Hall said.
Fees can be legally waived through council action, as the code prohibits the issue of permits without organizers first covering the costs for barricades and other fees. Permitting for events is $25.
Holman said the city could help festivals get back on their feet if they allocated a small portion of surplus funds to fee removal, which would theoretically be a low cost.
Holman said they could develop a one-time program for 2022 and retroactively reimburse events like the Medieval Fair that already took place or extend it into future years.
Hall said Norman Music Festival pays a larger lists of fees due to the number of streets impacted and the frequency of shifts during the downtown festival. She mentioned a number of 5K races and festivals that take place on the streets get parade permits requiring traffic control and onsite police presence.
Ward 2 Lauren Schueler favored the idea but said she would like to see some data behind how it would specifically help event budgets.
Councilmember Matt Peacock piggybacked off Schueler’s comments, acknowledging a difference in impact and fees between larger festivals like the music festival and a race route.
Holman said he didn’t consider game days on Campus Corner for a program of this kind.
“I know there was limited capacity in 2020, but it was still pretty busy on campus corner that year, and it was very busy this past fall, so I was really thinking about the festivals that had to close down for the last couple years and are just trying to get going again,” Holman said.
Peacock said $5,000 is a large sum for a board like the music festival, which operates on volunteers and provides a free festival. He said waiving fees and covering costs would help expedite recovery from past cancellations.
Hall supports the good faith gesture but said drafting criteria would not be easy with many details and comparisons to consider, such as what qualifies as a festival.
“I think we’d have to have a lot more information to address what that could look like,” Lee said. “I’m most interested in focusing on how we might be able to have a recovery type effort and then how to make it equitable.”
Councilmember Brandi Studley entertained the idea of a multi-year program and said it will take time for some of the city’s events to build back up to a pre-pandemic level, but that they bring value that people have missed during their absence or limited format.
“We saw what the medieval fair did last weekend, and I couldn’t even get anywhere near it because it was so packed,” Studley said.
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https://www.normantranscript.com/news/local_news/council-discusses-temporary-fee-waiver-for-special-events/article_dc1c60b4-b6de-11ec-bc48-ab2b2e2f18ec.html
| 2022-04-08T15:10:01
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https://www.normantranscript.com/news/local_news/council-discusses-temporary-fee-waiver-for-special-events/article_dc1c60b4-b6de-11ec-bc48-ab2b2e2f18ec.html
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The Moore Chamber of Commerce announced the completion of its Leadership Moore Class XXIV.
After seven months and nine interactive sessions, 17 individuals who work or live in the Moore public school district graduated last Tuesday evening, March 29, at Nosh Restaurant in Moore.
The Leadership Moore program began in 1998 and is designed to expose existing and emerging community leaders to the issues that face the Moore and surrounding area while simultaneously strengthening skills through professional development, civic engagement, and observing leadership in its application and practices.
Rep. Mark McBride, Sen. Darrell Weaver, Leadership Moore committee co-chair Brianna Wall, and Moore Chamber President/CEO Kim Brown presented the graduates with a plaque, pin, and a citation.
The class attended nine interactive sessions over a seven month period, covering a variety of topics including professional leadership, education, city and state government, health care, Moore history and economic development.
Class members also volunteered at a nonprofit partner, The Sharing Tree, for part of a day. New for this year, class members were able to tour Tinker Air Force Base, including the new air control tower.
The 2021-2022 Leadership Moore graduates are Kelly Arnold, Moore Chamber of Commerce, Joe Ely, Moore Norman Technology Center, Thomas Fowler, The Sparrow Project, Marcia Gallant, MA+ Architecture, Blake Green, Moore Police Department, Carolyn Hetrick, Toft and Hetrick DDS, Jim Jennings, Clear View Insurance Services, Kyle Johnson, Moore Police Department, Vona Karns, Moore Public Library, Kylah McNabb, Vesta Strategic Solutions, Cheryl Patterson, Moore Chamber of Commerce, Terri Perez, Oklahoma City Community College, Meghan Perry, Norman regional Health System, Jenna Seeley, Moore Public Schools Foundation, Kyle Williams, Moore Norman Technology Center, Sarah Williams, Farmers Insurance and Brian Woodring, First United Bank.
The Moore Chamber thanks this session’s sponsors including Armstrong Bank (Governing Bodies), BancFirst (Orientation/Social), Eide Bailly (Moore Experience), First United Bank (Team Building), Moore Norman Technology Center (Education), Norman Regional Health System (Heart of Moore), Oklahoma Electric Cooperative (Graduation), Tinker Federal Credit Union (Tinker Air Force Base).
Co-chairs of the 2021-22 program were Brianna Wall, Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, and Tish Norman, T.N.T. Print, both graduates of Leadership Moore.
Applications for the 2022-23 class will be available in July. For more information about the Leadership Moore program or the Moore Chamber of Commerce, please contact Kim Brown, president/CEO, at 405-794-3400.
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https://www.normantranscript.com/news/local_news/moore-chamber-announces-completion-of-leadership-moore-class/article_5291d9ee-b5f5-11ec-bad1-7bf9c8023f28.html
| 2022-04-08T15:10:07
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https://www.normantranscript.com/news/local_news/moore-chamber-announces-completion-of-leadership-moore-class/article_5291d9ee-b5f5-11ec-bad1-7bf9c8023f28.html
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If you went to the City of Norman website and read about the Water Reclamation Facility, you’d be told: The Mission of the Facility is “to produce highly treated reclaimed water at the lowest cost to our customers.”
Reading on ... “the vsion is to produce a water product so future generations may enjoy a quality of life they deserve.”
And then goals: “... to protect aquatic life; to be good stewards of funding resources; to promote and educate the public about wastewater treatment.”
The website invites educational tours to communicate to customers “how we treat wastewater.” Sounds a little bureaucratic — but not to me.
I’d visited the facility on two previous occasions and was curious about a couple of things.
Utilities Director Chris Mattingly graciously invited me to visit again. My conversations with Chris and Manager Steve Hardemen were most interesting.
My earlier visits were indeed an education. I had arrived with preconceived notions about a smelly environment, aromas wafting from the water being treated and the chemicals used in the process. That’s not what I found.
Instead, I noticed the smelly process was mostly contained, and the treatment process was mostly organic: microbes literally eat stuff. A final process exposes treated water to ultraviolet light, which kills remaining bacteria and microbes.
Water entering the Canadian River is so pure that fish come to the drainage channel to spawn. and I know from previous visits that technicians working there are invested in the “cost reduction” thing, having learned about how some electronic gear was switched out for more modern equipment (cheaper to operate) on the advice of those technicians.
So looking at those visions and goals, I knew they weren’t just words — personnel at the facility take them seriously.
As to my curiosity, Part 1: On a previous visit, I’d learned about a federally-funded pilot project to treat water to such purity as to make it potable, and to channel that water back into Lake Thunderbird to replenish Norman’s principal water supply. I wanted to catch up on that project, which is nearing completion.
To get technical, there are two “Biological Nutrient Removal Basins” in operation at the facility. One involves cycling of influents through anaerobic/anoxic zones to remove nitrogen and phosphorous. Another process is the “Aerobic Granular Sludge Process,” which uses granules to attract and remove nitrogen and phosphorous.
This is a very superficial description of highly sophisticated processes. Suffice to say, both processes are highly instrumented. As the pilot project winds down, instrumentation vans will be removed from the facility, results analyzed and a report written.
It’s not a given that potable water will flow to Thunderbird anytime soon, but the potential exists. Of course, all municipalities drawing water from the lake would have to agree, and that’s far from certain.
Curiosity: Part 2: Last time I visited Water Reclamation, technicians impressed on me the need to expand and upgrade the onsite laboratory facilities. As you might guess, ensuring water purity (enough for fish to spawn) requires a series of tests, some involving high heat.
It seems that equipment now in use — in the tests themselves, and in the venting of heat — is borderline inadequate and needs to be replaced. Replacement equipment to meet state-of-the-art standards requires additional space.
I asked about the status of a laboratory upgrade; Chris Mattingly replied that it was in the budget — for next year. He agrees that the lab must be improved, but must carefully manage the Industrial Funds he’s responsible for. I’ll ask again about the lab this time next year.
Another subject came up as Chris, Steve and I were discussing water reclamation. It seems that Norman is cooperating with the University of Oklahoma on projects to investigate natural wetland processes in the treatment of effluents.
I contacted Project Director Dr. Bob Nairn at the university for more information, and found that I have a lot to learn about this research, intended to answer the question: “Can constructed wetlands address Indirect Potable Reuse and stormwater treatment needs, thereby facilitating both water supply augmentation and water quality improvement of impaired water bodies?” Exciting! More to come.
In getting off the stage, allow me to refer back to my opening paragraph, the part about “educating the public.” Steve and his crew are ready to conduct educational tours to show off the Water Reclamation Facility and demonstrate “how we treat wastewater.”
My advice: go see for yourself. It’s well worth your time.
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https://www.normantranscript.com/opinion/column-see-water-reclamation-facility-for-yourself/article_bb81b73a-b6bd-11ec-98f4-37ccef40d176.html
| 2022-04-08T15:10:14
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https://www.normantranscript.com/opinion/column-see-water-reclamation-facility-for-yourself/article_bb81b73a-b6bd-11ec-98f4-37ccef40d176.html
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A WEEK AFTER streaming director Richard Linklater’s nostalgia-fest “Apollo 10 1/2,” Netflix debuts another coming-of-age musical.
“Metal Lords” improvises on very familiar elements. Enrolled in a present-day high school filled with kids who prefer pop, Justin Bieber and harmless boy bands from South Korea, two high-school students try to live out their headbanging dreams by forming a heavy metal band.
Guitarist Hunter (Adrian Greensmith) knows every metal riff by heart. When he enlists his friend Kevin (Jaeden Martell) to play drums, they realize that they’ll need a competent bassist to realize their Black Sabbath dreams. Kevin suggests they recruit Emily (Isis Hainsworth), who doesn’t exactly look the part but is a virtuoso on the classical cello. As in movies of this sort, they must unite their disparate parts in time for the battle of the bands.
If this all sounds a tad familiar, it’s a little like “School of Rock” and is not dissimilar to the recent Peacock comedy “We Are Lady Parts,” where teenage Muslim girls from London break every cultural stereotype by forming a punk band.
• Netflix also imports the Spanish ballet melodrama “Dancing on Glass.” Not unlike the recent series “Tiny Pretty Things,” it begins with the suicide of a student dancer — in this case, the lead of a company about to perform “Giselle.” This sparks a desperate search and intense competition for her replacement.
• Another Netflix import, the period comedy “Dirty Lines,” is set in 1987 as Holland undergoes tumultuous changes due to immigration and emerging technology. Needing extra money, Marly (Joy Delima), a studious psychology major, goes to work for two entrepreneurial brothers who discover that fortunes can be made creating Europe’s first phone-sex business.
Marly records breathy monologues on cassettes that can be accessed by dozens of randy callers at a time. As money flows in, the brothers buy more sophisticated equipment and hire more freelance phone vixens.
Despite its sordid setting, “Lines” offers an amusing satire on the differences between men’s and women’s attitudes toward wealth, propriety and the notion of arousal. The production makes the most of ’80s hair and makeup, as well changing culture attitudes regarding wealth.
• “Great Performances: Now Hear This” (9 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) returns for a third four-episode season. Scott Yoo, a celebrated violinist and chief conductor of the Mexico City Philharmonic, will showcase American composers, including Amy Beach, Florence Price and Aaron Copeland, as well as new voices Sergio Assad and Reena Esmail. “Hear” airs every Friday in April.
• Other returning series include “Woke” (Hulu), “iCarly” (Paramount+) and “The Black Lady Sketch Show” (HBO and HBO Max).
Other highlights
• Coverage of the second round of the 2022 Masters golf tournament (8 p.m., ESPN).
• A Mickey Mouse watch-wearing “symbologist” takes on religious conspiracies against the splendid scenery of Paris and Rome in two adaptations of Dan Brown thrillers, “The Da Vinci Code” (6 p.m., BBC America, TV-14) and “Angels and Demons” (9:30 p.m., BBC America, TV-14), from 2006 and 2009. Despite clunky exposition, both movies sparked a tourist boom in their day and may appeal to the armchair traveler.
• TCM celebrates the baseball season with the 1951 fantasy “Angels in the Outfield” (8 p.m., TV-G) and the 1988 romantic comedy “Bull Durham) (10 p.m.).
• A bold-faced name won’t own up to his gray hair on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
Cult choice
A journalist (Joaquin Phoenix) forms a close bond with the young son of his estranged sister in the 2021 road movie “C’mon C’mon” (9 p.m., Showtime), directed by Mike Mills (“Beginners,” “20th Century Women”).
Series notes
Half-baked service on “Undercover Boss” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) ... Cooper’s blackmailer may be involved with an ongoing case on “The Blacklist” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14) ... “WWE Friday Night SmackDown” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-PG) ... Dog fitness tools on “Shark Tank” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) ... Keeping things in the present tense on “Charmed” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14).
Suspicions fall on a departed friend on “Magnum P.I.” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) ... “Dateline” (9 p.m., NBC) ... “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC) ... Blake’s family meeting muddies the waters on “Dynasty” (9 p.m. CW, TV-PG).
Late night
Chris Wallace and Wilmer Valderrama are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) ... Jimmy Fallon welcomes Cody Johnson on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC).
Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni and Rachel Dratch visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) ... Adam Devine, Neve Campbell and Japanese Breakfast are scheduled to appear on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
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https://www.unionleader.com/coming-of-age-as-metal-lords/article_b41b4801-1e0e-5d68-8957-bdc53ece1a63.html
| 2022-04-08T15:10:35
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https://www.unionleader.com/coming-of-age-as-metal-lords/article_b41b4801-1e0e-5d68-8957-bdc53ece1a63.html
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KOKOMO — Despite the several rounds of pandemic relief, aimed to give small businesses a boost during the hardest parts of the pandemic, some entrepreneurial Hoosiers are still struggling.
Kisha Scott, of Kokomo, finds herself in this situation.
Scott's business, For Everyone Hair and Beauty Care LLC, has high-end products that she sells at discount, purchasing the items through wholesalers. She believes the products are what people want because of her experience setting up shop at different events.
"I sell a lot of my stuff at those events in Kokomo," Scott said. "People always buy something and compliment me on the variety of items I have."
However, Scott continues running into a problem: getting people to come to her actual shop. At this time, her living room in the front of her house is serving as the storefront.
"It's hard for people to actually give me a chance. The people who do come here, they love it and they come back."
Lori Dukes, economic development manager for Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance, said they have a lot to offer people like Scott.
"These resources are here. The opportunity is here," Dukes said. "Everything you're looking to try and accomplish, you're looking at a building full of everyone to accomplish those goals alongside of you."
Housed in the Inventrek Technology Park, Dukes said anyone who comes to the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance will have a slew of resources at their disposal. From tenants with offices, to a co-working space called the Shared Drive and Purdue Polytechnic @ Kokomo, Dukes said their building is teeming with ideas and knowledge that can help those looking to or have already started a small business.
Duke said they focus heavily on empowering small businesses because we've seen first-hand how important they are to the economy.
When major supply chain issues impacted consumers, some small companies and start-ups worked to fill the need.
"Our biggest contribution not only locally, but from a state perspective and even across the country is how we continue to encourage the development of small businesses and entrepreneurs," Dukes said.
You can learn more about the resources Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance offers by visiting their website and reaching out to them.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/howard-county/kokomo/small-business-owners-in-kokomo-still-struggling-despite-pandemic-relief
| 2022-04-08T15:10:35
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/howard-county/kokomo/small-business-owners-in-kokomo-still-struggling-despite-pandemic-relief
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A 59-year-old Manchester man had gotten out of his vehicle to help at the scene of a crash in the median on the Everett Turnpike in Merrimack when he was struck by another vehicle.
State police are asking for the public's help to find the driver who struck a Good Samaritan who had stopped to help at a crash scene early Friday morning on the F.E. Everett Turnpike in Merrimack, leaving him with life-threatening injuries.
The victim, a 59-year-old man from Manchester, had pulled over on the right side of the southbound turnpike and gotten out of his vehicle to help at the scene of a motor vehicle crash in the center median that was blocking the left lane, according to a news release. As the man was walking toward the crash scene, he was struck by a vehicle that entered the grass shoulder off the right side of the highway, state police said.
The victim was transported first to Elliot Hospital and then to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston with life-threatening injuries.
Police said the vehicle, which left the roadway and struck the pedestrian in the grass median, left the scene without stopping.
Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed the incident, passed the scene with a dash camera, or observed a vehicle with front-end damage and a broken passenger-side headlight, to contact Trooper Luan Sanchez at 603-227-0114, or by email: Luan.G.Sanches@dos.nh.gov.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/good-samaritan-struck-by-vehicle-on-everett-turnpike/article_92df8af0-b66e-5dab-ba67-d9a13f14a068.html
| 2022-04-08T15:10:41
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/good-samaritan-struck-by-vehicle-on-everett-turnpike/article_92df8af0-b66e-5dab-ba67-d9a13f14a068.html
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Ferrero U.S.A. is voluntarily recalling two Kinder chocolate products because they may be contaminated with salmonella.
The voluntary recall is for two products in the U.S.
Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.
The products are being recalled because they were made in a facility where salmonella was detected, the FDA said. There have been no reports of illnesses in the U.S.
The recall is being done out of an "abundance of caution" after reports of salmonella cases in Europe by people who consumed products made in the same facility, the FDA said.
The Associated Press reported that European health officials are investigating the "rapidly evolving" salmonella outbreak in 134 children linked to the chocolate Easter products. The affected European products have been recalled in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and the U.K.
AP said the first case was detected in Britain in January, with children under 10 affected the most. Officials said the epidemic has been characterized “by an unusually high proportion of children being hospitalized."
No other Kinder products produced for the U.S. market are included in this recall.
Consumers who have purchased the affected product should not eat the product and may contact the Ferrero customer service line Monday - Friday 9am-6pm EST at 1-800-688-3552 or via https://www.ferreronorthamerica.com/contact-US-residents for product refund.
This story was first reported by Emily McCain at WFTS in Tampa, Fla.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/ferrero-recalls-2-kinder-chocolate-products-over-salmonella-concerns
| 2022-04-08T15:10:41
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/ferrero-recalls-2-kinder-chocolate-products-over-salmonella-concerns
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A SpaceX rocket ship will take four men on the first private mission to the International Space Station Friday.
Liftoff is scheduled for 11:17 a.m. ET from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.
The private astronauts were approved by NASA.
The team is scheduled to arrive at the ISS on Saturday and will be led by NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria.
Real estate tycoon Larry Connor, CEO of Mavrik Corp, Mark Pathy and a businessman from Israel Eytan Stibbe will also be on the flight.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule will dock on the ISS about 250 miles above Earth.
The astronauts will spend eight days in space to conduct eight days of science and biomedical research.
The mission is part of a partnership with Axiom, SpaceX and NASA.
Axiom helps customers book flights with NASA and hopes to make private flights a regular occurrence.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/first-private-astronaut-mission-will-launch-to-iss-friday
| 2022-04-08T15:10:47
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/first-private-astronaut-mission-will-launch-to-iss-friday
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International outrage is growing as more atrocities from Russia's war in Ukraine are laid bare.
"There's nothing less happening than major war crimes," U.S. President Joe Biden said. "Responsible nations have to come together to hold these perpetrators accountable."
After images of tortured civilians strewn in the streets in the liberated Kyiv suburb of Bucha caught the world's attention, Ukrainian officials say Russia has started using mobile crematoriums to destroy evidence of war crimes. Mariupol's mayor is calling it the new Auschwitz.
Potential witnesses are being identified through filtration camps, according to a security officer who spoke with Newsy.
"There are several Russian filtration camps, and the biggest is near Mariupol city," said Vasyl Popatenko, a Ukrainian security officer. "All people who want to leave, evacuate from the cities, they should move through this camp, and there are Russian officers, they're searching for Ukrainian soldiers, for the families of our soldiers, local governments and other activists who support Ukraine."
Popatenko says Russia is also kidnapping civilians as pawns to use in prisoner exchanges.
Those who stay face more heavy fighting and Russian airstrikes. Most of the 160,000 remaining residents have no heat, medicine, water or means of communication, according to the British Defense Ministry.
A Red Cross convoy spent five days trying to reach the besieged city but said security conditions on the ground made it impossible to enter.
More abductions are happening in the southern city of Kherson.
"I know for sure that people who have been kidnapped and then later on they are released maybe one or two days later, and some have been released three weeks later, they surely have physical injuries," said Igor Kolykhaev, mayor of Kherson.
Bombardment continues in Mykolaiv. Doctors Without Borders says it witnessed explosions around an oncology hospital and at a nearby children's hospital. It suspects Russian forces used illegal cluster bombs.
"Unfortunately, we cannot know what they are doing with people on the occupied territories, but we can only think that the situation is the same as it was in Bucha and other cities in Kyiv region," Popatenko said.
The security officer says members of Russia's internal security service, the FSB, are operating in southern cities, searching for people who oppose Russia and their families.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians are continuing to seek military support.
"There is no guarantee that they're gonna be stopped here in Ukraine if you don't help us," said Wladimir Klitschko, member of the Kyiv Territorial Defense and brother of Kyiv's mayor. "If we fail here in Ukraine, you're gonna fail too guys, because this imperialistic ambitions are bigger than you think."
The Pentagon warns that Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk could see violence intensify, and as Russian troops prioritize the area, civilians are forced to flee.
Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/mobile-crematoriums-filtration-camps-among-russian-war-crime-claims
| 2022-04-08T15:10:53
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/mobile-crematoriums-filtration-camps-among-russian-war-crime-claims
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Tyrannosaurus rex: Arguably one of the most popular dinosaurs and most terrifying predators to ever walk the Earth— at least from the shoulders up.
Since the dawn of entertainment, the mighty T. rex has been revered for its big teeth and mocked for some lackluster limbs.
So why exactly did this 40-foot-long, 12-foot tall carnivore have arms spanning closer to just 3-feet?
Some 65 million years after its demise, one paleontologist may have finally cracked the code. The evolutionary reason for those tiny arms may be to protect themselves from their own kind.
A new study in a peer-reviewed paleontology journal surmised T. rex likely evolved its small arms so that its forelimbs, which were vulnerable to injury, infection, and amputation, could survive feeding frenzies with its fellow predators.
So when T. rex and his buddies shared a meal, those shockingly small arms would avoid getting bitten off. Over time, the short arms were selected. Remember high school biology?
But like most theories about T. rex's little limbs, it's hard to prove. So the mystery remains.
Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/new-insight-into-tyrannosaurus-rexs-tiny-arms
| 2022-04-08T15:11:00
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/new-insight-into-tyrannosaurus-rexs-tiny-arms
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities say nearly a dozen people were rescued after a power outage left them stranded on a ride at Universal Studios Hollywood.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department said crews were called to the park's Transformers ride around 3:45 p.m. Thursday after 11 people got stuck on the indoor ride.
The Los Angeles Times reports the riders were freed by 6 p.m. and no one was hurt.
According to the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles, the power outage also affected the Harry Potter ride.
The park said in a statement that it experienced a “brief power dip” that resulted in “exiting guests from some attractions.”
Power has since been restored.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/power-outage-strands-people-on-transformers-ride-universal-studios-hollywood
| 2022-04-08T15:11:06
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/power-outage-strands-people-on-transformers-ride-universal-studios-hollywood
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The United Nations says prices for world food commodities like grains and vegetable oils have reached their highest levels ever because of Russia's war in Ukraine.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said Friday that its Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices for a basket of commodities, averaged 159.3 points last month, up 12.6% from February.
As it is, the February index was the highest level since its 1990 inception. FAO says the war in Ukraine was largely responsible for the 17.1% rise in prices for grains, including wheat.
The biggest price increases were for vegetable oils: that price index rose 23.2%,
Ukraine is the number 1 exporter of sunflower oil, followed by Russia.
Russia and Ukraine together account for around 30% and 20% of global wheat and corn exports, respectively.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/russia-ukraine-conflict/food-prices-soaring-due-to-war-in-ukraine-un-says
| 2022-04-08T15:11:12
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/russia-ukraine-conflict/food-prices-soaring-due-to-war-in-ukraine-un-says
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SAN DIEGO — A team of UC San Diego scientists is sending tumors into space as part of the Axiom Space inaugural commercial flight, using a SpaceX rocket to travel to the International Space Station.
“If you can’t solve the problem on earth, see if you can solve it in space," said Dr. Catriona Jamieson, who took several members of the team to Cape Canaveral, Florida to witness Friday's launch.
Jamieson is part of an effort to study cancer. She says space is a useful place to do research because of the harsh environment.
“This compresses the timeframe," she said in an interview Thursday with ABC 10News in San Diego.
"So in one month, we see the aging in cancer stem cells or our normal stem cells that we see in a one-month period that we would see in a 10-year period on earth.”
The Axiom Space crew will transport the needed elements to the ISS, including the cancerous tumors.
The ISS astronauts will conduct the experiments according to Jamieson's team's instructions, while the scientists can watch in real-time back on Earth. Some of Jamieson's postdoctoral researchers at UCSD developed the techniques to be able to do the experiments.
“You create this little network where everyone knows what they’re doing and everyone contributes to this impossible experiment," said Jessica Pham, a deputy lab manager.
“I never could have ever imagined I’d be part of something this amazing and so incredible in such a historic moment," said Dr. Luisa Ladel.
The team hopes to learn how to grow cancer cells in space, as well as whether they can stop the cells from replicating. This could have significant implications for the ability to develop new medicines and treatments on Earth, as well as for helping keep astronauts safe as space travel becomes more common.
“This is a dream worth chasing. Making humanity healthier," said Jamieson.
The launch is scheduled for Friday morning, with early weather indications looking promising for launch time. The experiments for Jamieson's team are scheduled for next week.
This story was first reported by Jeff Lasky at KGTV in San Diego, Calif.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/scientists-sending-tumors-to-iss-to-study-cancer-in-space
| 2022-04-08T15:11:18
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With new cars in short supply, and used cars selling for a premium, millions of drivers now spend thousands of dollars for extended warranties for their car.
But many learn that the warranties sometimes don't pay when you need them most.
Ashley Ziegler opened the hood of her Ford Explorer that she says she has babied since buying it new in 2017.
"I just had the oil changed," she said, while pulling the dipstick to show it's covered with clean oil.
But that apparently wasn't enough for her extended warranty company.
Despite paying over $3,000 for protection for up to 100,000 miles, she had to shell out almost $5,000 more for a repair to a failed turbocharger.
"They denied the entire claim," she said. "They said there was not enough proof of oil changes because we don't always have the oil changes done at the dealership."
She had taken it to various shops for oil changes.
"They came back and said that's not good enough and we need every single receipt for every single oil purchase and filter purchase from 2017," she said.
Her story is not unusual. If you check the Better Business Bureau's report on many extended warranty companies, many customers state that their claims were denied.
What to ask before you buy
A report in the car blog The Drive says before you buy an extended warranty, find out:
- What does it exclude? Many will not cover worn suspension parts, interior parts, and other items that commonly fail.
- What things can void the warranty?
- What maintenance is absolutely required?
- What if you don't have it serviced at the dealership? (This should not be an issue, due to a federal law called the Magnuson Moss Act, that says servicing your car at an independent shop cannot void a warranty)
Ziegler's dealership said it was unable to convince the warranty company to pay for the repair.
"Since she was unable to produce satisfactory records, they declined to cover her repairs," a spokesperson said.
The warranty company has not provided a comment about Ziegler's situation.
However, the dealership said the warranty company will cover future issues that don't require oil change evidence.
Ziegler is still out over $4,000 for a turbocharger replacement.
"I think it's a bunch of junk," she said, "because I have been paying for an extended warranty since I've owned the car, expecting they would cover the cost if something goes wrong with the car."
So read the fine print, so you don't waste your money.
_______________________
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/the-major-catch-with-many-extended-auto-warranties
| 2022-04-08T15:11:24
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/the-major-catch-with-many-extended-auto-warranties
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Walmart is trying to entice truckers by paying them as much as $110,000 during their first year of work.
In a statement, Walmart leaders wrote that drivers who already work for the company “can earn even more, based on factors like tenure and location.”
The starting range would begin at $95,000, which is still a jump from the average Walmart driver salary of $87,500.
Walmart said, “the average salary for a long haul driver is $56,491 a year.”
The company’s new private fleet develop program will have “established drivers” teach new drivers for 12 weeks.
Walmart is also paying for supply chain associates in Dallas, Texas and Dover, Delaware to earn their commercial driver’s license so they can become truck drivers.
If you want to apply for a truck driver position at Walmart, you can apply here.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/walmart-offering-truck-drivers-up-to-110-000-per-year
| 2022-04-08T15:11:30
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The products and services mentioned below were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Simplemost may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.
While no one wants pests in their garden, one insect it’s impossible not to love is the butterfly. Not only are they beautiful, but they are actually quite beneficial to your outdoor space.
According to Butterfly Conservation, a U.K. nonprofit, butterflies provide both pollination and pest control and are indicators of a healthy environment and healthy ecosystem. To attract them to your garden, however, you’ll need the right kind of flowers, as they have specific needs. The U.S. Forest System says butterflies prefer brightly colored flowers with a landing platform that are open during the day. Butterflies have good vision but a weak sense of smell and, unlike bees, can see the color red.
If you want butterflies in your garden, but would rather avoid the time-consuming task of figuring out what to plant, you can instead purchase flower-seeded mats that are already full of seeds for flowers that attract these beautiful creatures. Amazon currently has a two-pack of seeded mats that are priced at $16.13 for the pair.
The mats work by simply unrolling them and planting the entire mat in your yard or garden and continuing to water as the flowers grow. They can be cut to any shape to use anywhere you need them, so, while they come as a set of two, you can actually get more out of them if you want to cover even smaller areas. The mats grow a colorful blend of annuals and perennials.
The mats come with a 60-day return policy and 100% satisfaction guarantee, so if they do not lead to blooming flowers, you can get your money back, according to the seller.
The mats have more than 300 ratings from Amazon users so far, with 60% of them being at least a 4-star grade and nearly half of them being a perfect 5 stars. Pleased reviewers have said the seeds begin to sprout in as little as four days, and the mats ship quickly and are easy to use.
One reviewer recommends putting chicken wire on top of the mat so birds won’t pick at your seed bed. That particular buyer was also thrilled with the speed at which the flowers grew.
“Following the instructions, within a couple days the seeds started to sprout despite the fact a robin got in my yard and tried to scatter and tear up the paper with the seeds in it,” that Amazon user wrote. “Next time, I will cover it until it grows but for now I am anxious to see what kind of flowers are going to bloom.”
There is a notable chunk of negative reviews, however, including some customers who say the mats simply didn’t work. Keep in mind that it depends on your soil, how frequently (or infrequently) you water them, where you live and the climate there, so there are a variety of factors that may affect flower growth.
If attracting butterflies isn’t on your wishlist, you can buy mats that grow other flowers instead, including one from the same brand that will fill your yard with sunflowers. Priced the same as the butterfly mats, the sunflower mats grow blossoms in red, copper, gold, yellow and rust hues.
Other similar seed mats available on Amazon include this 7-foot pre-seeded flower mat that grows English lavender. Priced at $20, it has more than 5,000 seeds, with germination occurring in 10-20 days. Satisfaction is also guaranteed by the seller on that one.
Have you ever worked with a seed mat to grow plants in your yard?
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
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https://www.wrtv.com/seeded-mats-grow-flowers-attract-butterflies
| 2022-04-08T15:11:36
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After dropping their first four division games, the Smithville Seminoles are slowly starting to piece things together with the regular season coming to an end in two weeks.
Last week, the Noles made a significant change to pick up a pair of division wins against Tremont to move to 2-4 in their division. So, what was this change…fewer errors.
In their first four division losses, Smithville nearly outhit all of their opponents, and their pitching numbers were fairly decent as well, but errors were ultimately the deciding factor as the Noles finished the four games with a total of 25 errors. However, last week, the Noles looked to have turned over a new leaf as they cut their mistakes down to five in the back-to-back wins over Tremont.
Not only did the Noles limit their errors in last week's wins, but their pitching also looked flawless. In Tuesday’s win, Peyton Nanney pitched a shutout, only allowing three hits all game and finishing with 13 strikeouts in the 11-0 win.
Colton Malone also had himself a nice day pitching on Friday as he threw a no-hitter through four innings with seven strikeouts, while Carson Spann came in and threw a strikeout to finish off the win.
The Noles have two more division games left against TCPS, who they lost both games to last year, but if Smithville continues to limit its errors and lean on its strong pitching, they can turn things around to finish off the season strong.
In the world of 3A softball, the Hatley Lady Tigers are currently dominating with a 14-2 record and a perfect 4-0 record in the division. Hatley matched up against another powerhouse in its division, Amory, last Tuesday and Friday.
The last time these two teams met was in the Monroe County Tournament where the Lady Tigers were stunned after a walkoff hit got Amory the win and also ended Hatley’s 12-game winning streak. You could tell that the Lady Tigers had a chip on their shoulders heading into these two games, while Amory was determined to hand Hatley its first division loss.
I attended Tuesday’s meeting at Hatley, while Melissa went to Friday’s game in Amory. Both games were super competitive between the two rivals, and Hatley came away as the winner in both games.
The Lady Tigers found themselves with big leads in the two games, but the Lady Panthers made strong pushes midway through the battle to cut into the lead. Ultimately, Hatley managed to hold on to stay perfect.
Now that Amory is out of the way, for now, the Lady Tigers have four more division games to play. They will have to get through Nettleton and Noxubee County if they plan to close the regular season out with a perfect record in their division.
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https://www.djournal.com/monroe/sports/noles-starting-to-turn-things-around-while-lady-tigers-continue-to-shine/article_1a9358dc-18f0-52b6-9810-4805c41624d5.html
| 2022-04-08T15:12:53
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New Albany lifted their way to a second place finish as Saturday's MHSAA State Powerlifting Championships in Jackson. The Bulldogs wrapped up their day of competition with a total of 26 points while South Pike took first place with 40 points.
New Albany had four lifters to medal out of 11 competing in a talented Class 4A pool of lifters.
"Proud of the success NAHS powerlifting team has seen the past couple years," New Albany coach Cody Stubblefield said. "The Boys won North Half this year for the first time and finished second at State for the second year in a row.
"The work ethic and dedication our lifters have displayed is the reason for this success. Coach Collin Stubblefield and the other football coaches do a tremendous job with our athletes in the weight room."
Zac Clay was the Top Dog for New Albany as he won his second gold medal in as many years by taking first in the 123 class. Clay posted a total of 930 which was well above the second place total of 860 by Stevie Hicks of North Pontotoc.
Clay won the squat in his class with a top lift of 380 while the next best lift was 315. He also took the top bench with a top lift of 195 as the second best total was 175.
"Zac Clay led the Bulldogs this year with his second State Championship. Last year he won the 114lb class," Stubblefield said. "This year he won the 123lb class."
Milton Regalado was the silver medalist in the 308+ class with his total lifts of 1430. Regalado's 310 in the bench was the top for his weight class.
Cameron Knox took silver in the 198 class and Jareil Bowling grabbed bronze. Knox finished with a 1395 total while Bowling was close behind with 1380.
The Bulldogs had two lifters that narrowly missed the medal podium as Peyton Rodgers was fourth in the 220 with a 1275 mark and Zane Chapman was fourth in the 181 class with a final total of 1215.
Fifth place lifters for the Bulldogs included DJ Robinson in the 148 class at 970 and Gavin Crumpton lifted a total of 1200 in the 165 class.
Kody Atkinson totaled 1130 to place seventh in the 165 class while Michael Hernandez came in seventh in the 308+ class at 1080.
Jayden Hicks lifted a total of 1045 to place eighth in the 242 class.
McLellen strikes gold in final competition
Bryce McLellen had a golden performance in his last 2A state competition as he won the 275 class handily and helped lead East Union to a fourth place finish in team competition. East Union had a total of 22 points.
The fourth place finish was quite remarkable considering the Urchins had not competed in over two years.
"Bryce McClellan was our one member that had competed before," East Union coach Brandon Cherry said. "He has worked very hard putting himself in that position over the years.
"Having him was key for our younger guys to watch as to how you approach training and meets. It gave them a model of behavior that 'if you want to be a state champion here is how it’s done.'”
McLellen dominated his 275 class with his final total of 1410 which was well ahead of Velma Jackson's Dee Griffin and his 1345. McLellen excelled in the squat as he obliterated his competition with a top lift of 645. Griffin was 80 points behind at 565.
East Union had three other lifters to medal besides McLellen in the 2A competition.
"We have been two years removed from having a powerlifting team at East Union," Cherry said. "Due to Covid and coaching turnover we haven’t had the time to invest into it.
"This season we started out with 11 guys that had never competed in a meet and finished fourth in the state for 2A. We had four medalists and three more that got top five and pointed for our team. I’m proud of our guys the way they bought in and worked.
"I’m excited to see the carryover in other sports that I know will come. And I believe next year we will be in contention to push for a team state title."
Second place lifters who took silver for the Urchins were Drew Godin in the 123 with a total of 790 and Jordan Mears in the 242 class with his total of 1255. Godin won the squat in his class with a top lift of 320.
Brandon Moses won bronze in the 173 class with his final of 1125. Moses won the squat with a best lift of 500.
A trio of Urchins pointed with fifth place finishes which included Hayden Frazier in the 198 class at 1045, Devon Hervey in the 220 class with 1180 and Preston Jackson in the 242 class at 1130.
Briar Carr placed seventh in the 220 class with a total of 1030 while Charlie Hazel was eighth in the 148 class with his 870 total.
James and Kizer place fourth
Two others Union County lifters placed fourth in the powerlifting competition.
Aiden James took fourth in the 1A meet in the 114 class with his total of 570 while Joe Kizer of Myrtle was fourth in 2A competition in the 148 class with a total of 970. Kizer had the top squat in his class at 425.
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https://www.djournal.com/new-albany/sports/east-union/bulldogs-take-second-mclellen-and-clay-grab-gold/article_2a41edd7-120f-587d-9e21-feb1884c49aa.html
| 2022-04-08T15:12:59
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https://www.djournal.com/new-albany/sports/east-union/bulldogs-take-second-mclellen-and-clay-grab-gold/article_2a41edd7-120f-587d-9e21-feb1884c49aa.html
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WASHINGTON • Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will join a Supreme Court that is both more diverse than ever and more conservative than it's been since the 1930s.
She's likely to be on the losing end of a bunch of important cases, including examinations of the role of race in college admissions and voting rights that the high court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, will take up next term.
Jackson, 51, is the first Black woman confirmed to the Supreme Court following Thursday's 53-47 vote by the Senate. She won't join the court for several months, until Justice Stephen Breyer retires once the court wraps up its work for the summer — including its verdict on whether to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion rights.
When Jackson takes the bench as a justice for the first time, in October, she will be one of four women and two Black justices — both high court firsts.
And the nine-member court as a whole will be younger than it's been for nearly 30 years, when Breyer, now 83, came on board.
Among the younger justices are three appointees of former President Donald Trump, and the court's historic diversity won't obscure its conservative tilt.
In Breyer's final term, the conservative justices already have left their mark even before deciding major cases on abortion, guns, religion and climate change. By 5-4 or 6-3 votes, they allowed an unusual Texas law to remain in effect that bans abortions after roughly six weeks; stopped the Biden administration from requiring large employers to have a workforce that is vaccinated against COVID-19 or be masked and tested; and left in place redrawn Alabama congressional districts that a lower court with two Trump appointees found shortchanged Black voters in violation of federal law.
Jackson's replacement of Breyer, for whom she once worked as a law clerk, won't alter that Supreme Court math.
"She's just going to be swimming against the tide every day. That's a lot to take on," said Robin Walker Sterling, a Northwestern University law professor.
But Jackson's presence could make a difference in the perspective she brings and how she expresses herself in her opinions, said Payvand Ahdout, a University of Virginia law professor.
Jackson, who was raised in Miami, may see the high court's cases about race "from the lens of being a Black woman who grew up in the South. She has an opportunity early on to show how representation matters," Ahdout said.
During her Senate confirmation hearings, Jackson pledged to sit out the court's consideration of Harvard's admissions program, since she is a member of its board of overseers. But the court could split off a second case involving a challenge to the University of North Carolina's admissions process, which might allow her to weigh in on the issue.
"Historically, the court goes to some length to try to get as much participation as possible. So I wouldn't be surprised to see the two dealt with separately," said Ahdout, who was a clerk to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg the last time the court dealt with race in college admissions, in 2016. Just seven justices took part in that case, because Justice Antonin Scalia died before it was decided and Justice Elena Kagan had been involved as a Justice Department official before joining the court.
For now, Jackson might not have much to do. She remains a judge on the federal appeals court in Washington, but she stepped away from cases there when President Joe Biden nominated her to the Supreme Court in February and will continue to do so, a White House official said.
That could reduce the number of times Jackson has to recuse herself from any of her old cases that later make their way to the Supreme Court.
Breyer said in January that he would retire once his successor had been confirmed, but not before the end of the term. With a bare Senate majority, Democrats didn't want to risk waiting until the summer for confirmation hearings and a vote.
That leaves Jackson in a situation that is "unprecedented in modern times," said Marin Levy, a Duke University law professor who studies the federal judiciary.
Most new justices begin work a few days after they are confirmed, Levy said. Justice Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in to the court just a few hours after his tumultuous Senate vote.
Jackson could spend time arranging for her clerks and other staff for the Supreme Court, and closing down her current office.
But she won't have to find new housing or upend the lives of her husband and children. Her new workplace is less than a mile from the court of appeals.
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https://www.djournal.com/print-features/jackson-will-join-more-diverse-and-conservative-high-court/article_3626c844-b047-58e2-a151-56496ce1e7ff.html
| 2022-04-08T15:13:05
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PORT ST. LUCIE — Moments before Jacob deGrom took the hill for his spring debut against the Astros on March 22 at Clover Park, Max Scherzer challenged him to throw a first-pitch curveball.
DeGrom, certainly not one to back away from a pitching dare, hurled the pitch he throws only .3% of the time, according to Baseball Savant. His 80 mph first-pitch curveball to the Astros’ Lewin Brinson that opened the second inning sailed into the zone for a strike. DeGrom immediately glanced at the Mets dugout, caught Scherzer’s reaction, and started to laugh.
If that in-game interaction between deGrom and Scherzer is any indication, the two aces will be challenging and trying to out-pitch one another all year. Put two of the best pitchers in baseball in the same clubhouse, two pitchers who’ve been embarrassing NL East hitters for the better part of the past decade, and the expectations are limitless. Once they both get fully healthy, that is. The two closed out spring training with injuries — Scherzer was dealing with hamstring tightness, but is expected to make his first turn through the rotation; deGrom has been shut down up to four weeks with a stress reaction in his right scapula. Still, in some ways, Scherzer and deGrom have already made each other better.
“I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve been around him and already learning from him, picking his brain,” deGrom said of Scherzer. “He’s been in this game a long time and he’s going to be a Hall of Famer, so anytime you can be around guys like that … I’m looking forward to competing with him this entire year.”
Scherzer and deGrom will spend over half of the year in the same clubhouse, with the same goal, on the same team. Scherzer, the perennial Cy Young candidate who threw two no-hitters in 2015 and has recorded at least 230 strikeouts every year since 2012 (not counting 2020′s pandemic-shortened season), will be taking a backseat to deGrom, the Mets’ longtime ace. Seriously, let that sink in.
While the Mets’ signing of Scherzer this past offseason may still be hard to believe for fans who have watched downfall after downfall and waited 36 years for a championship in Queens, the multi-Cy Young winners are past that sense of disbelief. Now, they’re sharing notes.
EARLY INTERACTIONS
It wasn’t until April 28, 2017 — a thrilling nightcap on Scherzer’s turf at Nationals Park — that deGrom and Scherzer would go toe-to-toe for the first time in their careers. This wasn’t a typical Scherzer start, as the Nationals ace gave up five earned runs on nine hits, including a pair of home runs to Travis d’Arnaud, across six innings. Even though the Mets gave Scherzer his second loss of the season that night, the right-hander still managed to finish that 2017 season going 16-6 with a 2.51 ERA. And, oh yeah, his third career Cy Young award.
DeGrom notched his first win of the season after d’Arnaud and the Mets gave him run support in the Amazins 7-5 win over the Nationals in that late April game. From the other dugout, Scherzer watched as deGrom struck out 12 batters across 112 pitches and seven innings. DeGrom finished eighth in NL Cy Young votes that year, but his April 28 start was a sign of better things to come.
Though deGrom and Scherzer have always been cutthroat competitors, they started being friendly after Kevin Long, the former Mets hitting coach, was hired by the Nationals for the same role before the 2018 season. Seeing the two aces interact now that they’re on the same team — laughing and throwing good-humored jabs — it’s easy to forget they spent a handful of years glaring at each other from opposing dugouts.
“Things really got amped up when Kevin Long came from the Mets to the Nationals,” Scherzer said. “Major trash talker. He likes to get both of us riled up against each other. Knows how to play both sides of the fence really well. So, because of K. Long, we’ve had some interactions behind the scenes.”
Scherzer and deGrom have started against each other six times, with the Mets and Nationals each winning three games in the aces’ matchups. Scherzer has a 2-2 record in those games; deGrom is 2-1.
“We were always just competing against each other,” Scherzer said. “That’s the fun part in this. I love competing against him because I actually respect the way he plays the game, does everything, carries himself on and off the field. You carry yourself like that, you earn the respect, so it makes it fun to compete against him.”
ANOTHER MULTI-CY ROTATION
For the first time since 2008, the Mets rotation will feature multiple Cy Young winners this season. The last multi-Cy Young winners to take the mound in the same season in Queens were Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana. Martinez had three Cy Youngs and Santana had two, much like the menacing duo of Scherzer and deGrom in 2022.
But pitching alongside some of the most elite arms in the game is nothing new for Scherzer. Just last season, after he was traded from the Nationals to the Dodgers, Scherzer joined three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw. In all, the 2021 Dodgers rotation featured four Cy Young winners, which set a record for a team in a single season.
Scherzer also pitched alongside two-time Cy Young winner and decorated veteran right-hander Justin Verlander with the Detroit Tigers, where Scherzer was considered “the other pitcher.” He has also pitched alongside three-time All-Star and 2019 World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg with the Nationals.
“I’ve been so lucky my whole career,” Scherzer said. “I’ve been pitching with great pitchers my whole career. I’ve been pitching with the best. Every stop I’ve been, I’ve gotten to check off another name that I’ve played with. That’s honestly one of the favorite parts of my career is getting to play with the best in the game.
“It’s kind of only fitting that I get to pitch with Jake now. That was a big reason why I wanted to come here. I’ve competed against him for so long, I know how great he is that, alright, now let’s compare notes.”
Scherzer is the seventh multi-Cy Young winner to pitch for the Amazins. The Mets have already had six such pitchers in franchise history — Tom Seaver, Tom Glavine, Bret Saberhagen, Martinez, Santana and deGrom — two more than any other team.
INTENSE VS. CAREFREE
There is at least one difference in approach when the multi-Cy Young winners are preparing for a start. To say Scherzer is intense is like saying the Mets love drama. Even when Scherzer is warming up during a bullpen, he’s extremely fierce. Last week, as Scherzer threw a batch of warmup pitches to James McCann ahead of a simulated game, Scherzer barked instructions at McCann and yelled at least one curse word after nearly every pitch.
Scherzer shouted at McCann: “Put the glove in the middle of your body, and your d–k on the corner of the strike zone!”
When deGrom warms up, he’s pretty relaxed, smiling, and joking around. Even during a live batting practice session, in which deGrom is facing his own teammates, his carefree attitude is part of the package. Still, it’s not as if deGrom is “taking it easy” in these live BP sessions. Mets batters were completely flummoxed by deGrom’s triple-digit fastballs and the movement on his sliders. DeGrom, at times, stood on the mound smiling into his glove.
But when another jersey is in the batter’s box, that’s when deGrom’s smile fades. He’s all business, all grit, all intense, all the time.
“Jake is just as intense as Max, but he can go back and forth,” said Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner. “Whereas Max is a little bit intense all the time. But when Jake is working, he is one of the most intense guys I’ve ever seen.”
Scherzer stuck around the park that March afternoon to watch deGrom make his first start in over eight months. Scherzer’s excitement was evident as the eight-time All-Star leaned against the dugout railing and watched deGrom retire five of the seven batters he faced. Scherzer, at 37 years old, will enter his 15th season in the big leagues while deGrom, at age 33, will pitch in his ninth.
The achievements of Scherzer and deGrom in the Mets’ 2022 season will directly correlate to the team’s potential success. While fans may attempt to curb their expectations after years of getting burned and disappointed, it will be far more effortless to get excited for the pitching clinic that will take over Citi Field this season, and beyond.
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In 2020, most festivals and fairs were canceled; museums were closed for a time. In 2021, we didn’t publish our annual spring arts guide because the pandemic was still disrupting our seasonal celebrations. And in 2022? As the world emerges from the pandemic, it takes time for life — and especially, big events — to get back to “normal.” Rather than a light switch turned on or off, think of it more like a sunrise: It moves slowly, but the sun — and its light — is something to be savored when it arrives.
Here, we have listed some of the events that are on, and some that are still off, as well as details about events at some local museums.
If you’d like an event or place included in the online version of our list, email Molly Guthrey at mguthrey@pioneerpress.com.
‘Shipwreck Adventures’ at the Minnesota Children’s Museum
Ongoing: Shipwreck Adventures, a new permanent exhibit at the Minnesota Children’s Museum, made its opening splash in April. The “sunken ship” at the center of the exhibit is based on the J.S. Seaverns, which sank in Lake Superior in 1884. Museum visitors can also explore “cliffs and coves” that mimic the North Shore, and examine the “shoreline canopy” of oversized plants inspired by the flora found along the lake’s northern shores. There’s also pretend scuba gear, a dive site, a pilot house with a working steering wheel and more.
Details: 10 W. Seventh St., downtown St. Paul. Museum general admission is $14.95 per person for ages 1 and up (museum members get in free; household memberships start at $139). Mcm.org.
Spring 2022 St. Paul Art Crawl
Starting April 22-24: The St. Paul Art Crawl is once again a sprawl! Just like last fall, the St. Paul Art Collective announced that the spring “crawl” will consist of a series of events over four weekends to give the public the opportunity to meet artists in each of St. Paul’s arts districts. As usual, this spring and fall tradition includes open art studios, live music, dance, performances and interactive demonstrations.
Details: April 22-24, Harriet Island Arts District and Cathedral Hill Arts District; April 29-May 1, West Seventh Arts District; April 30, a pop-up event from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Sunset Dance Art, 750 Laurel Ave., St. Paul; May 6-8, Raymond Arts District; May 13-15, Lowertown Arts District. Hours for each weekend: 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays; noon to 8 p.m. on Saturdays; and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. All events are free and open to the public. Info: View some extended hours, a directory and more details at Stpaulartcollective.org.
Art in Bloom
April 28-May 1: This spring, fortunately, we get to smell the flowers again at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia): For the first time in two years, the annual celebration that pairs flowers with art is back on site and in person.
In addition to a preview party and a presentation by former Mia curator Lisa Dickinson Michaux about floral themes in art, there will be free guided tours of the floral-and-artwork displays (both in person and virtually), live floral demonstrations by Bachman’s and a May Day family event with singing, dancing, storytelling and making May Day headpieces with flowers and ribbons.
Mia’s most popular event is presented by the Friends of the Institute and 2022 marks the Friends’ 100th anniversary. In honor of the centennial, the four-day flower festival will coincide with the opening of a new, free exhibit, “Floral Affair: A Bouquet for the Friends’ Centennial,” which revisits art featured in past Art in Bloom events and runs through Aug. 14 in the Cargill Gallery.
Also: This year’s signature floral work of art is a gift of the Friends: “Still Life with Dahlias, Zinnias, Hollyhocks and Plums,” an oil painting by 19th century French painter Eugene Delacroix, has been in a private collection until now.
Details: 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis; free admission to view the art and floral arrangements. Prices for ticketed events vary. New.artsmia.org/art-in-bloom/art-in-bloom-2022.
Kickoff to Summer at the Fair
May 26-30: After a wildly popular debut in 2021, this “sampler” of the Minnesota State Fair is back for 2022. More good news about this preview of the 2022 Minnesota State Fair: There are still tickets available for all time slots.
Details: Times and dates: 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 26, and Friday, May 27; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 28, and Sunday, May 29; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, May 30 (Memorial Day). Tickets: Admission is $12.50 per person (fees and tax included); children 4 and younger get in free and do not require a ticket. The cost of food and beverages as well as activities are not included in the ticket price. Mnstatefair.org/kickoff-to-summer.
Flint Hills Family Festival
June 3-4 (Family Days): Since 2001, this festival has welcomed school groups and families to downtown St. Paul to show children the power of the arts. This year, the festival is back fully in person, with low-cost indoor performances, free outdoor entertainment, art-making activities and more.
Highlights this year: The majority of the events will be in downtown St. Paul in and around the Ordway, Landmark Center and Rice Park. There will be more than 50 free outdoor performances from more than 300 artists, including Squonk Opera’s “Hand to Hand” (giant puppet hands) and the stilt walking “Chicks on Sticks.” Activities will include face painting and balloon artists, a free dance party on Friday, June 3 (featuring Nunnabove), and food trucks as well as a beer garden.
Details: School Days begin May 31 and run through June 4. Family Days: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 3; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 4. Free outdoor events; $5 for performances inside the Ordway and Landmark Center. Ordway.org/festival.
Art-A-Whirl
May 20-22: Held throughout Northeast Minneapolis on the third weekend in May, this annual open studio tour is a way for the public to connect with local artists, watch demonstrations or try interactive activities, listen to live music and enjoy local restaurants and breweries. Held virtually in 2020 and both online and in person in 2021, it’s back to mostly in person for 2022 — but the robust platform that was built up for the artists because of the pandemic means that the public can go online to view and shop the art of Northeast Minneapolis year-round.
Details: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, May 20; noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 22. Art-A-Whirl is free and open to the public. Shop the art online right now, and get info about artists, galleries and food and beverage partners who will have in-person events and open studios, at Nemaa.org/art-a-whirl.
Art in the Hollow
June 4: Art in the Hollow, a one-day arts festival held in St. Paul’s Swede Hollow Park, is back in 2022, giving the public an excuse to explore this “hidden” park on the city’s East Side and support local artists, makers, performers and more.
Details: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 4. Admission is free. Parking and access to the park will be available through St. Paul Brewing, 688 Minnehaha Ave. E., St. Paul. Info at Artinthehollow.org.
St. Anthony Park Arts Festival
June 4: This free event at Como and Carter avenues is back, raising money for the beautiful Carnegie branch library at the heart of the St. Anthony Park neighborhood of St. Paul. The festival features juried artists, food, live music, a plant sale, art activities and “one of the best used-book sales in the metro area.”
Details: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 4; Admission is free. Anchored at Como and Carter avenues in St. Paul, the festival is set around the shops of St. Anthony Park and the grounds of the St. Anthony Park Branch Library, 2245 Como Avenue, St. Paul; Sapfest.org.
Deutsche Tage
June 11-12: Deutsche Tag (“German Days”), a cultural event, is held on the grounds of the Germanic-American Institute on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. Along with German beer, brats and polka, look for special programming related to the theme, “Fairy Tales: Medieval to Modern.” German folk wear or fairy tale attire is encouraged.
Details: Noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 12. Admission is free. Traditional German food and beer will be available for purchase from a variety of vendors. A $5 wristband will be required to purchase alcohol. Germanic-American Institute Haus and grounds, 301 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Gai-mn.org.
Northern Spark
June 11-12: Northern Spark is a late-night, participatory arts festival that lights up the Twin Cities in early summer. Northern Spark 2022 is taking place in-person along University Ave in St. Paul from 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, to 2 a.m. on Sunday, June 12. For the first time since 2017, a closing event will follow from 2 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. on Raspberry Island in downtown St. Paul. Art projects will include performance, art-making and sound and sculpture installation, all responding to the theme, “What the World Needs Now.”
Info: More details will be released later in April. 2022.northernspark.org.
Twin Cities Pride Festival
June 25-26: The 50th annual Twin Cities Pride Festival, a free celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, will be held at Loring Park in Minneapolis and will feature vendors, food courts, a beer garden and music stages. Highlight: The Twin Cities LGBTQ+ Pride March Honoring Ashley Rukes — formerly the parade — will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 26, starting at Seventh and Hennepin.
Info: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both Saturday, June 25, and Sunday, June 26, at Loring Park in Minneapolis. Free. Tcpride.org.
Uptown Art Fair
Aug. 5-7: Head to the intersection of West Lake Street and Hennepin Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis on the first weekend of August to experience this juried arts festival. The crowds will be good practice for the Minnesota State Fair, since organizers claim it’s the second-most attended event in Minnesota after the Great Minnesota Get-Together.
Details: Noon to 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 5; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 7. Free. Uptownartfair.com.
Minnesota Scottish Fair Street Party
Aug. 5-6: The event known as the Minnesota Scottish Fair and Highland Games recently announced that this year, the Scottish get-together will happen as the 2022 Minnesota Scottish Fair Street Party. “Please join us as we close down Prior Avenue at the Celtic Junction Arts Center in St. Paul to celebrate all things Scottish on Saturday, August 6th with a Friday night Ceilidh to kick things off!” the Facebook post announced on March 26. “Save the date and be on the lookout for pre-sale ticket information and more details in the coming months.” Facebook.com/MNScottishFair.
Powderhorn Art Fair
Aug 6-7: The Powderhorn Art Fair, an artsy and eclectic event, is anchored at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis. It’s back in person this year — but, after the success of virtual fairs during the pandemic, artists can opt to show and sell their work virtually as well as in-person.
Details: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday, Aug. 6, and Sunday, Aug. 7. Powderhornartfair.com.
Irish Fair of Minnesota
Aug. 12-14: The annual three-day celebration of all things Irish — music, dance, culture, sports, food and beverage — is coming to Harriet Island in downtown St. Paul in 2022.
Details: 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 12; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 13; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 14. Tickets on sale now at Tickets.irishfair.com/tickets. Early bird pricing — daily tickets for $12 for youth ages 13 to 17 and $15 for adults, or weekend passes at $30 for youth and $35 for adults — ends July 31. Irishfair.com.
Minnesota State Fair
Aug. 25-Sept. 5: In light of the continuing financial and planning obstacles posed by the pandemic, the State Fair board raised full-price general admission by $1 and reduced operating hours for the 2022 State Fair (opening one hour later and closing one hour earlier).
Details: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 25, through Sunday, Sept. 4, and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Labor Day, Sept. 5. $17 admission for those ages 13-64; $15 for ages 5-12 and 65 and older. Those under 4 are admitted free. Mnstatefair.org.
Not happening in 2022
- Grand Old Day: The daylong parade and celebration typically held the first Sunday in June in St. Paul, won’t happen in 2022, but the new board of the Grand Avenue Business Association hopes to revive the single-day festival in 2023.
- Festival of Nations: This multicultural celebration in St. Paul, featuring two days of student-only events that wrap with a weekend open to the public, will not happen in 2022 because of “the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the unpredictable nature of new COVID-19 variants,” a message on the festival’s website states.
- Cinco de Mayo — West Side St. Paul: On St. Paul’s West Side, the annual Cinco de Mayo parade is on hold again this year, the third year in a row that the May gathering has been waylaid by the pandemic and related organizational challenges. However, the St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation, which produces this event as well as the St. Paul Winter Carnival, plans to use its social media to spotlight individual businesses from May 1 to May 9. Info at Cincodemayosaintpaul.com.
- Dragon Festival: The Dragon Festival, usually held annually in Phalen Park in St. Paul, will not be held in 2022 because of “ongoing challenges caused by Covid-19,” according to the festival’s website.
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TAMPA — Aaron Judge wants to leave a mark. A former Rookie of the Year and considered one of the game’s bright stars, the Yankee slugger looks around his workplace and sees the shortcomings. All around Yankee Stadium, Judge sees reminders of what he is not.
“It’s been frustrating. Over the years and especially when you’re at Yankee Stadium, you’re looking around and you don’t see division championships or [banners saying you] made it to the playoffs this year. You see World Series championship banners everywhere,” Judge said. “And to be here from [2016] on and still not have a banner up that I contributed to, it is tough. It’s frustrating.
“It’s also motivation every single year to go out there and make this year special, to give it everything on the field every single year,” Judge continued. “So for this team, I think the big thing is just staying consistent, more consistent. We don’t have the highs, have the lows, and this team just stays even keel April through October.
“We’re gonna be dangerous.”
It’s not just Judge. The Yankees not only haven’t won a World Series in 12 years, they haven’t been in one in that span. The closest they came was when Judge was becoming an everyday player back in 2017, when the Bombers lost to the Astros in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. That was the year of the “Baby Bombers” — Judge, Gary Sanchez and Luis Severino were the young stars that season and were supposed to be the foundation of a dynasty in the making.
But the foundation cracked. They have won just one AL East title in the last four years. The Bombers finally gave up on Sanchez and traded him to the Twins this month. Severino has pitched just 27.1 innings over the last three seasons because of injuries.
And Judge entered this lockout-shortened spring training without knowing where his future is. In his final year of team control, the soon-to-be 30 year old has said he’d like to play out his career in pinstripes. He said he’d be honored to be named the Bombers’ latest captain, which many have suggested. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said there will be talks about a contract extension “soon” with the player who has been the face of the franchise for the last five years, but with just over two weeks to go to Opening Day, there was no firm deal.
Instead, Judge is just one of the question marks that hang over this team. Though they have a payroll that is projected to be in the top three of baseball this season, the Yankees are predicted by industry experts to be in a tight battle in the stacked AL East.
“The Blue Jays have added to their rotation; that lineup is as good as any in baseball and they should have made the playoffs last year but playing in three parks [because of strict Canadian COVID travel restrictions] played against them. Toronto is the team I worry about the most,” one American League executive said. “The Red Sox got better. Just adding [manager] Alex Cora back last year made them more dangerous. They get some bullpen help and they could win the division. The Rays are always going to find a way to be there too. They seem to have had the Yankees chasing them the last few years.”
For a team that went out and spent big bucks to bring in ace Gerrit Cole in his prime to add to a roster that features super sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Judge, the Yankees didn’t act like a team looking to get over the hump this winter. In need of a shortstop in a year with an unbelievable free agent market for shortstops, they made a deal that brought them a Gold Glove third baseman in Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who isn’t as proven at the position as superstars Carlos Correa, Trevor Story (who went to their rivals in Boston) or Corey Seager.
Steinbrenner makes a point every year to say that his family puts the Yankees in a position to win. This spring was no different in Steibrenner’s optimism.
“I think they have what it takes. This is a championship caliber team. I think the trade that (GM Brian Cashman) made was a great trade,” Steinbrenner said of the deal to acquire Kiner-Falefa to play shortstop, third baseman Josh Donaldson and catcher Ben Rortvedt.
“We’re gonna miss the guys that moved on. I think we addressed one or two of the needs that we had. But look, this team’s got a lot of experience. It’s a veteran team. They have a lot of heart. And I think we’re gonna see great things for sure.”
But the clubhouse isn’t a vacuum. They’ve seen the Blue Jays add Kevin Gausman and Yusei Kikuchi and trade for Matt Chapman. They watched as the Red Sox went out and signed Story. Last October, after the Yankees were bounced in the Wild Card game, manager Aaron Boone talked about how the other teams are “catching up” to the Yankees.
The worry heading into 2022, however, is that they have passed the Bombers by.
Cole, who has six years left on his $324 million deal, said it may not be as straightforward an answer.
“We definitely have upgraded and [Cashman] sometimes has to get creative as opposed to more straightforward, but that’s what makes him good,” Cole said. “And that’s what I think in baseball, you want to be able to win a bunch of different ways. I assume you probably want to try to build a championship quality team in more ways than one.”
Cole was defiant when asked about the Yankees window to win a championship.
“I picked this place because the window to win a World Series in my mind was the entire length of the contract,” Cole said. “So that’s how I feel about that.”
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Gerrit Cole has had six months and two days to think about it. The Yankees’ ace didn’t brood that whole time, but didn’t forget about the Red Sox chasing him in the third inning of the American League Wild Card. He tried to use it as motivation this winter, use it to get himself up and go to the gym, to work on his routine and pitches.
Friday, Cole doesn’t want to bring the negativity of getting hit hard by the Red Sox into the 2022 season. He has a chance to turn the page and the narrative when he takes the mound on Opening Day at Yankee Stadium.
“I mean, it’s a pretty formidable opponent,” Cole said at a rain-drenched workout day at the Stadium Thursday. “I just kind of see it as two stags locking up in the forest. Somebody’s going to break an antler every once in a while and nobody’s certainly going to back down.”
The Red Sox left a mark on the Yankees $324-million ace last season. Including the two innings he completed in the Wild Card Game loss, Cole allowed 15 earned runs over 24 innings pitched against the Red Sox for an ugly bruise of a 5.63 ERA. The lasting image of Cole’s 2021 season was him leaving the mound at Fenway with his head down as the Red Sox fans taunted him after giving up two home runs and leaving two runners on.
“For a little bit, it’s a sour taste in your mouth. It’s just a frustrating game,” Cole said of losing to the Red Sox last October. “In this sport, you have to take the good with the bad and as a competitor, when you lose, it kind of eats at you. So, I think there’s a part of me that always carries along the scars that we get when we fall short of what we’re trying to accomplish. But at the same time, if it doesn’t kill you, it’ll make you stronger.”
The Yankees will get a quick test of that.
Not only will Cole face the team that beat him up last season, but they dive right into this lockout-delayed season facing their division rival Red Sox and then the Blue Jays, the scrappy young team that pushed the Yankees to the final week of the 2021 season. The Red Sox and Blue Jays went out this winter and invested in improvements. The Red Sox signed Trevor Story and the Blue Jays traded for Matt Chapman and signed pitcher Kevin Gausman.
The Yankees, who went into the winter needing a shortstop, did not go as big in the winter. They re-signed first baseman Anthony Rizzo and made a big trade for Josh Donaldson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
“There’s no better barometer of how you’re playing than when you’re facing the best competition,”Cole said. ‘So in that sense, there’ll be a lot of truth as to what we need to do better or not, as the season goes on. And I think just overall, us players are always up for a challenge. So the first seven games whether in the division or not, doesn’t change our goal, we want to come out and play well.”
They have to, really. As the old baseball saying goes, you cannot win a World Series in April, but you can lose it. The Yankees will be tested right away and despite the lack of big offseason spending, Cole felt confident this is a winning team.
“We have the guys in the room to do it,” Cole said. “The guys in the front office and coaching staff prepare us to go out and get anything that you seemingly need to push it over the line. We’re all kind of connected in our same goal and we have a much more versatile team that allows us to win different types of ball games.
“It’s nice to blow a team out, but that’s not going to happen on a nightly basis as we’ve seen, proven time and time again,” he continued. “So there’s going to be situations where you need to win ugly, you’re going to need to win tight. You’re going to need to win with a defensive play. You’re gonna need to win with speed, an extra 90 feet. And so I think that as a group, we’re much more prepared to handle the different array of challenges that the game can throw at us.”
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The Orioles finalized their season-opening roster Thursday, matching the 28-player group manager Brandon Hyde outlined a day earlier. It, of course, did not include catcher Adley Rutschman, baseball’s top prospect who suffered a right tricep strain just as major league spring training was getting underway.
After a multiweek shutdown period, Rutschman, 24, has progressed to hitting and throwing, but while other teams will have their young stars make their major league debuts in coming days, the Orioles will have to await Rutschman’s arrival. But executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias indicated Thursday they might not wait long once Rutschman returns to full health.
“My point of view is that he came into this camp with an inside track to make the team, and then unfortunately, he was having to be removed from the camp because he had a flare-up at the exact worst moment possible,” Elias said on a video call. “As soon as he kind of returns to being a full-activity version of himself, and we understand that his timing’s back, I think he’s gonna pick right back up where he left off, which was with a very clear shot to impact this team.”
Across 123 games between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk, Rutschman showed why he was the first overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft, batting .285/.397/.502 with 23 home runs. He entered camp as a nonroster invitee positioned to potentially be Baltimore’s starting catcher, though the question lingered over whether the Orioles would carry him even if he proved worthy of that spot.
Major League Baseball’s free-agency structure will allow the Orioles to potentially secure an extra full season of team control over Rutschman if he spends at least two weeks off the major league roster this year, which seems likely with the state of his progression. The league’s new collective bargaining agreement does allow a player who earned less than a full year of service time in his first season to be credited with one if he finishes in the top two of either the American League or National League Rookie of the Year voting.
Whenever he arrives, Rutschman will have the capability of doing that, though he’ll have to contend with a large class of other prospects who will spend the full season in the majors. With the new CBA also providing teams who have top prospects on their season-opening rosters the potential to earn extra picks, many of the players trailing Rutschman — and in the eyes of some publications, in front of him — in prospect rankings will open the year in the big leagues. Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., drafted one pick after Rutschman in 2019, made the Kansas City Royals. Drafted first overall the next year, first baseman Spencer Torkelson broke camp with the Detroit Tigers. Outfielder Julio Rodríguez, second only to Rutschman in Baseball America’s prospect rankings, is set to debut for the Seattle Mariners.
But the Orioles likely won’t have Rutschman until late April at the earliest. Elias said earlier this week the catcher will play in minor league games sometime this month, but the organization is being understandably cautious with the face of its rebuild. But once he’s healthy and his timing against live pitching returns, Rutschman will be an Oriole.
“It really stinks that that happened, but could have been worse,” Elias said. “He’s doing well and he was here working out today and things continue to be on a smooth upward path, but we still have some benchmarks to check before sending him out to an affiliate.”
Bradish set to join Norfolk; Hall to be slow-played
After a four-inning simulated outing Thursday at the Orioles’ Twin Lakes Park complex in Sarasota, Florida, right-hander Kyle Bradish will make his next outing with Triple-A Norfolk, Elias said.
Bradish, Baltimore’s third-ranked pitching prospect, threw four scoreless innings with the Orioles this spring, pitching effectively in a pair of two-inning stints against lineups of New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies regulars.
Viewed as the top arm in the four-pitcher return the Orioles received from the Los Angeles Angels for starter Dylan Bundy in December 2019, Bradish, 25, did not allow a run in three starts with Double-A Bowie last year before struggling midseason at Norfolk. But he ended his stint there with five five-inning starts in which he had a 1.80 ERA.
Although Bradish is heading to an affiliate, Elias said the Orioles will have left-hander DL Hall continue his work in Sarasota. Ranked between top overall pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez and Bradish among Baltimore’s minor league arms, Hall, 23, pitched 31 2/3 innings in Double-A last year before being shut down with a small stress fracture in his pitching elbow. In his seven previous starts, he had a 3.13 ERA and struck out more than a third of opposing batters.
Hall made only one appearance this spring, following Bradish against the Phillies and striking out two batters while his fastball touched 100 mph in a scoreless inning. But the Orioles want to build him up progressively so that he’s available to pitch in their rotation at the end of the season as they manage his workload, with hopes of getting him into a four-to-five inning range before he either returns to Bowie or briefly joins a lower affiliate in the minors.
“This is a little bit more of a medically tinged build-up and also much more mindful of where his innings total is going to land for him this year,” Elias said. “We’re trying to get in a position where we’re not having to shut down artificially in September or something like that, so that will be a little bit longer, but he’s looking terrific and feeling healthy.”
Baumann in the bullpen
Hyde indicated Wednesday the Orioles are considering many pitchers to start their fifth game of the year, but Elias said Thursday it won’t be No. 11 prospect Mike Baumann.
Baumann, 26, is one of eight Orioles on their first season-opening roster, having debuted last September with a handful of relief appearances. He’ll continue to work out of Baltimore’s bullpen for the start of this season, Elias said, working as a long reliever and possibly being deployed for shorter stints if needed.
Baumann’s fastball averaged 93.6 mph during his major league stint, according to Baseball Savant, but he got that pitch up to about 98 mph and was sitting at 96 mph in two Grapefruit League outings. That velocity is more in line with what he showed in 2019, when he shared the organization’s minor league Pitcher of the Year honor with Rodriguez. At the Orioles’ alternate site in 2020, he suffered a flexor strain in his right elbow, which slowed his start to the 2021 campaign.
In the latter of his appearances this spring, Baumann entered with the bases loaded and left them that way in retiring seven of eight Minnesota Twins he faced. Hyde said afterward he was the highlight of the game, coming off an appearance in which the Yankees tagged him for a pair of home runs.
“His spring stats were a little uneven, but to see his arm action and velocity return coming off of the alt site injury in 2020, finally, was a big development for us,” Elias said. “It’s time to go for him. He’s 26 1/2 or something like that, but he’s ready to do this in the major leagues, and he’s very upfront about that, and we’re ready to kind of give him the ball in the major leagues and see where it goes. He may be somebody that becomes a starter for us long term, but he’s also somebody that has the stuff to be effective out of the ’pen.”
McCoy traded for cash
The Orioles traded minor league shortstop Mason McCoy to the Mariners for cash considerations Thursday. McCoy, 27, was their sixth-round pick in 2017. A career .267/.331/.376 minor league hitter, McCoy was on Norfolk’s opening day roster but had yet to appear in a game this year for the Tides.
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Baseball is always shattering records.
One, though, can never be broken. Jackie Robinson will forever be the first Black man to play in the MLB.
Robinson’s astounding prowess on the diamond was matched by his ability to keep his cool despite the hideous racism he faced. “True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson,” by Kostya Kennedy, chronicles Robinson’s life on and off the field.
This publishes Tuesday, just before Friday’s 75th anniversary of Robinson starting for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. So much has been written about Robinson and those heady yet fraught days when he broke the entrenched racial barrier that a new angle was needed.
It concentrates on four years for Robinson: 1946, playing in the minors for the Montreal Royals; 1949, winning MVP for the Brooklyn Dodgers; 1956 his final season and 1972, when he died at 53.
The deeply researched volume stresses what baseball fans noticed instantly — his stance. How he held the bat and his pigeon-toed gait would be copied by kids playing in streets and on fields around the country.
The book is a testament to how he conducted himself — when few people would have the self-control he mustered — and puts Robinson’s life into context.
“In those crucial years in the middle of the twentieth century, America — relieved, proud, post-traumatized — was moving headlong past World War II and at the same time trying to lurch forward, out of the grips of its worst and grimmest sin, to find a way to bend the arc of its own moral history toward justice,” Kennedy writes. “The experience of the war was material both to appetite for change and the resistance to it.”
The modern civil rights movement had yet to begin. When Robinson took the field, Martin Luther King Jr., was only 18. Sure, baseball was America’s pastime, but it could get pretty ugly, depending on who was playing and who was in the ballpark.
Before players had all kinds of protective gear, Robinson’s cap had “a lining of thick cloth and fiberglass, a minimal defense against the pitches that came toward his head, thrown with intent.”
Throughout the book, as Kennedy details some memorable games, he recounts pitchers who took aim at Robinson, other players who used their cleats to draw blood and how he was denied basic services when the team traveled. Robinson could not stay in some hotels with the team, could not eat in the same restaurants.
Before Branch Rickey signed him for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson spent a year with the Montreal Royals. Before that, Robinson became UCLA’s first athlete to letter in four sports — baseball, basketball, football and track.
As a UCLA senior, in the fall of 1940, he met Rachel, a freshman. They were together until his death in 1972, and truly a team onto themselves, which the book explains.
Over the decades, Rachel was his partner in every aspect, working with him for civil rights, raising money for causes and rearing their children. They endured so much together and publicly, no matter how angry or scared, they presented themselves as utterly composed.
As dignified as they were, and as important to bringing about change, what the world saw first was Robinson on the field. In motion, he was magic.
“Of all the attributes that attended Jackie Robinson’s play on the baseball diamond — and there were many — none stood out so magnificently, at the time or in memory, in legend and in fact, as the way that he ran the bases. Nothing else he did as a ballplayer quite so profoundly impacted both the games that he played and, it must be said, the lives of those who saw him play. Robinson could change a game with a feint.”
Kennedy goes into detail about the kids who grew up going to Ebbets Field, and who decades after seeing Robinson play still talked about him reverentially. ACLU boss Ira Glasser was one of those Brooklyn kids. Kennedy’s research has him explaining the old neighborhoods, when you could buy whitefish in one store, comics at another and get a 15-cent haircut.
The tangents remind us of the times. Even those who don’t understand the allure of baseball, need to know the importance of this man.
In his rookie year in 1947, Robinson led the National League in stolen bases. By ‘49, he did so for all of baseball. He regularly stole second, third and even home.
“No one in the league got thrown out more than Robinson did,” Kennedy writes. “‘Don’t worry if you get caught,’ Branch Rickey said. And Jackie did not worry. High volume was part of the strategy.”
He played in games where kids climbed to rooftops that overlooked ballparks, where people crowded outside, as he continued to steal bases and hit consistently. Rickey called him “the best since Ty Cobb.”
Fans, of course, knew. Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine recalls a kid handing him six items to sign. Why? The kid planned to trade Erskine’s six for one Jackie Robinson autograph.
Off the field, Robinson continued to say what was on his mind. On July 18, 1949, he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee about Paul Robeson. While opposed to Robeson’s leftist views, Robinson explained that as a baseball player he didn’t like becoming embroiled in politics.
“You can put me down as an expert on being a colored American, with thirty years of experience at it,” Robinson stated. “And just like any other colored person with sense enough to look around him and understand what he sees, I know that life in these United States can be mighty tough for people who are a little different from the majority — in their skin color or the way they worship their God or the way they spell their name.”
As he later wrote to President Eisenhower: “We want to enjoy now the rights we feel we are entitled to as Americans.”
Robinson’s final hit of his Dodgers’ career came in Game Six of the 1956 World Series against the Yankees. The next day, the Yankees won the series. When he returned to Ebbets Field, Robinson cleared out his gear. Although traded to the Giants, it didn’t much matter. Robinson had decided to leave on his terms. He took a post as vice president overseeing personnel at Chock Full o’Nuts.
When Robinson left baseball, he continued on the national stage as a beacon of leadership and spoke forcefully, quietly and effectively about racism. After teammate and friend Gil Hodges’ 1972 death, Robinson had been openly critical of how MLB, even 15 years after his final game, had no Black managers.
He attended the Old-Timers Day in 1972 in Los Angeles, where the respect for him was palpable. Robinson quietly, forcefully pushed for what is right.
As the Rev. Jesse Jackson said eulogizing Robinson, “He didn’t integrate baseball for himself. He infiltrated baseball for all of us, seeking and looking for more oxygen for Black survival, and looking for new possibility.”
And the great No. 42 continues to remind us. Visitors to his gravesite at Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills Cemetery can see his epitaph: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
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| 2022-04-08T15:14:28
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The mother of a 3-year-old boy who died of a fentanyl overdose at a West St. Paul apartment — where authorities allege she used the drug and where it was sold — has been charged with manslaughter.
Queenetta Jeanette McDaniel, 34, of Maplewood, was charged Wednesday in Dakota County District Court with second-degree manslaughter in connection with her son’s death in 2020.
A warrant was issued Wednesday for McDaniel’s arrest. She was arrested Thursday and booked into the Dakota County jail, where she remains in lieu of $250,000 bail. A court hearing is scheduled for Friday, according to jail records.
West St. Paul police and medical responders were called the the apartment around 7:45 a.m. Dec. 7, 2020, on a report that a 3-year-old child was not breathing.
McDaniel told police that she had been asleep with the boy on the couch. She said she woke up to use the bathroom and, when she returned to the couch, realized that he was not breathing and appeared to have vomited, according to the criminal complaint.
McDaniel told police the boy had been conscious and apparently well at approximately 11 p.m. the previous night before going to sleep.
The boy was transported to Children’s Hospital by ambulance, where a short time later he was pronounced dead at age 3 years and eight months.
Police suspected McDaniel was under the influence of drugs because of her behavior at the scene and at the hospital, according to the complaint. Several hours later, investigators collected a sample of McDaniel’s blood, and fentanyl and a metabolite of fentanyl were found during a toxicology analysis.
Investigators were told that the apartment in West St. Paul belonged to McDaniel’s friend and that she and her son had been staying there the previous two days. Investigators then soon learned from drug task force officers that a resident of the apartment was suspected of selling illegal drugs, including fentanyl, out of the home, the complaint alleges.
The Ramsey County medical examiner’s office ruled the boy died of a fentanyl overdose. The complaint does not say how the boy ingested the drug.
Witnesses told investigators that McDaniel was a heavy and habitual user of illicit drugs, including fentanyl, at the time of her son’s death, the complaint said.
“(McDaniel) had reportedly been using drugs while she and the (boy) had been staying at the apartment in West St. Paul, including smoking fentanyl with at least one witness,” the complaint read.
Police searched the apartment and recovered numerous pieces of drug paraphernalia in a bedroom and bathroom, the complaint said.
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| 2022-04-08T15:14:34
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The committee writing new K-12 math standards for Minnesota schools is looking to add even more cultural references for its second draft, despite overwhelming criticism of its first.
Seven of the 11 anchor standards in the most recent version include references to “cultural perspectives,” “historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities” or both, according to materials from Thursday’s meeting of the state-appointed standards review committee.
Despite that emphasis, Minnesota math classes still are going to focus on math, said May Vang, a committee member and math coach at a metro charter school.
Public comments the committee received on its first draft in February indicate “there’s fear that half of our curriculum will be about historical contributions or Native American math,” Vang said during a committee meeting Thursday.
But once the committee agrees on the hundreds of specific, grade-level benchmarks within the anchor standards, she said, it will be clear what they really expect students to learn.
“It’s misleading because we see it in so many multiple places” in the anchor standards, she said. “I think once we write the benchmarks, it’ll be clearer.”
Sara VanDerWerf, math specialist for the Minnesota Department of Education, agreed the new benchmarks should look a lot like what schools are working with today. Unlike the anchor standards, she said, the benchmarks released later this year should reflect a “revision” of the benchmarks already being taught in schools, not a “complete rewrite.”
Additions figure to fall into six areas where a Bemidji researcher found cultural differences in the application of math, VanDerWerf said: counting, locating, measuring, designing, playing and explaining.
STATE LAW
Since 2007, state law has required the Minnesota Department of Education to “include the contributions of Minnesota American Indian tribes and communities” in its standards for all subject areas. This is the first time the math standards have been updated since that law took effect.
The vast majority of parents, teachers and others who submitted public comment on the committee’s first draft complained that the tribal and cultural references seemed out of place in math.
Jane Harstad, director of the Indian Education office with the education department, disagrees. She said it’s good for American Indian students to see themselves in the curriculum, but the content benefits other students, too.
“All students in Minnesota should know the history and the contributions from the tribal nations that existed here long before Minnesota was a state,” she said.
Harstad said she understands teachers will need help with unfamiliar standards. To aid in standards implementation, the department is hiring two people with expertise in indigenous education.
The committee plans to publish its second draft, with hundreds of specific learning benchmarks, on May 16.
Schools likely will be expected to implement the standards in fall 2027.
LANGUAGE ARTS APPROACH
The math committee’s first draft contained 20 anchor standards, five of which referenced the state’s American Indian tribes.
A document the committee was working with on Thursday showed just 11 anchor standards, six of which reference the Dakota and Anishinaabe tribes; a seventh refers to “cultural perspectives.”
Vang said state standards for science refer to tribal communities in just one of its anchor standards, but for English language arts, those references appear throughout. The math committee is taking the language arts approach.
She said the group wrote the tribal and cultural references into anchor standards wherever they could “definitely see this in my classroom.”
The language appears in anchor standards titled number sense, proportional reasoning, patterns and relationships, measurement, geometry, data sciences, and financial literacy.
Although there are more tribal references in the latest document, the new wording gives them less prominence relative to other cultures.
The first draft repeatedly asked students to apply concepts to examples found in “historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities and in other communities.”
The latest version rearranges that line to say “in various cultures, especially in historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities.”
The group is moving from 20 anchor standards to 11 because they felt computer science and the eight mathematical practices found in the Common Core – the standards adopted by 41 states – should be embedded throughout the document rather than getting their own anchor standards.
Here are the 11 anchor standards the state’s K-12 math standards committee is proposing, according to a working copy presented during a meeting Thursday. Shown in bold are words the committee highlighted as complying with a 2007 state law requiring standards to reflect the contributions of Minnesota’s American Indian tribes. The final anchor standards, along with hundreds of specific learning benchmarks, will be released in May:
- NUMBER SENSE: Determine quantities, relationships between quantities and number systems and their representations, in various cultures, especially in historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities; relate to the properties of operations; assess reasonableness of the results.
- FLUENCY: Select and apply procedures accurately, efficiently, and flexibly to solve mathematical and real-world problems; explaining one’s solution pathway. Analyze results, evaluate progress, and check answers. Transfer procedures to different problems and contexts; and recognize when one is more strategic to apply than another.
- PROPORTIONAL REASONING: Represent proportional relationships in mathematical and real world situations, using graphs, diagrams, tables, symbols and verbal descriptions, in various cultures, especially in historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities.
- EQUIVALENCE & RELATIONAL THINKING: Use concepts and properties of equivalence and relational thinking to represent and compare numerical expressions, algebraic expressions, or equations.
- PATTERNS AND RELATIONSHIPS: Represent and connect mathematical patterns and relationships using verbal descriptions, generalizations, tables and graphs. Use representations to solve mathematical and real world situations, in various cultures, especially in historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities.
- MEASUREMENT: Investigate measurement using a variety of tools, units, systems, processes and techniques, in various cultures, especially in historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities. Explain and reason with attributes, estimations, and formulas. Justify decisions and consider the reasonableness of results.
- GEOMETRY: Analyze characteristics of geometric shapes to make mathematical arguments and justifications about geometric relationships. Use visualizations and geometric modeling to solve problems, in various cultures, especially in historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities.
- SPATIAL REASONING: Develop mental images and spatial sense of quantity, shape, location, and orientation to make estimates, distinguish patterns, and reason with relationships. Apply concepts and properties of space, tools of representation, processes of reasoning and communicate solutions.
- DATA SCIENCES: Identify, formulate and investigate statistical questions by collecting data considering cultural perspectives, analyzing and interpreting data and communicating the results.
- CHANCE & UNCERTAINTY: Apply and explain the concepts of probability to interpret data and make informed decisions to solve mathematical and real world problems.
- FINANCIAL LITERACY: Explore and analyze financial problems using appropriate technology tools. Apply mathematical concepts to make informed decisions about how to earn, track, save, borrow, share and invest money, while considering a range of acceptable solutions as well as constraints which may affect individual and generational wealth, in various cultures, especially in historical and contemporary Dakota and Anishinaabe communities.
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| 2022-04-08T15:14:41
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Max Scherzer anticipated that his hamstring tightness would take just a few days to clear up, and this is Mets fans’ first lesson that they should have no reason to doubt him.
Scherzer passed all of his tests on Thursday, including fielding drills on the outfield grass at Nationals Park, that convinced the team to let him make his Mets debut on Friday, as planned, against his former team.
“I knew it wasn’t a major injury,” Scherzer said. “I’ve done this a couple of times—had an idea of what it was. You gotta hit your check points as you go through the rehabs, as you’re leading up to the start, and I was able to do that. So I was able to tell Buck (Showalter), ‘Hey look, I’m good to go.’”
The veteran right-hander felt his hamstring tighten up one week ago while running at Clover Park. He was scratched from his Saturday start—less than a day after Jacob deGrom learned he would be shut down from throwing for up to four weeks. While Mets fans panicked, believing they may have lost both of their aces just a week before Opening Day, Scherzer and the club maintained that this was just a “hiccup” and there was hardly anything for which to worry.
As long as Scherzer both makes it through his outing and recovers well from his first start of the season, he should be back on his regular schedule of pitching every fifth day.
Scherzer could not guarantee or predict how many innings he would go on Friday, but he stretched out to 90 pitches in his latest Grapefruit League outing. Mets manager Buck Showalter said Scherzer is “ready to go” as long as the team needs him to, but the Nationals offense must cooperate by keeping his pitch count low.
“This is one of those things you just gotta get in the game and manage the game,” Scherzer said. “I can’t tell you how many pitches I’m going to throw. You just manage what you got. Give it everything that you got and give it everything to try to win.”
The underlying theme of Friday night’s game is that Scherzer for the first time will be pitching against the team that he called home for six-plus years from 2015 to the first half of the 2021 season. Scherzer was traded to the Dodgers last July, two years after winning the 2019 World Series with the Nationals.
There is still a lot of love for Scherzer in the Nation’s Capital. Pictures and memories of the three-time Cy Young award winner are still displayed on the walls within the confines of Nationals Park. On Wednesday, the right-hander went to the visitor’s clubhouse for the first time since 2010, when he came to Nationals Park as a member of the Tigers.
“Just going to be a crazy, wild atmosphere,” Scherzer said of his Friday night start. “This was going to happen at some point. It was weird when I had that Dodgers uniform on, too. So, you get used to it, used to playing for another team. You go out there and just compete and have fun.
“A lot of good memories here. There always will be good memories here. But nothing lasts forever. As my baseball journey goes on, I’m here in New York and excited about what the future holds.”
Juan Soto, Scherzer’s teammate for four years, told reporters on Wednesday: “He’s going to try to strike me out, and I will try my best to not strike out because I know he wants that really bad.” Scherzer, in response, said: “Yeah, he doesn’t do that much.” (As in, strikeout.)
Showalter does not anticipate any extra adrenaline for Scherzer because his first start as a Met just happens to be against the team with which he won a ring. In case fans have not yet noticed, Scherzer’s maniacal mound presence doesn’t exactly need a catalyst.
“I don’t think there’s some situation that puts Max in a different adrenaline standpoint,” Showalter said. “He’s a self-starter. I know they’re going to honor him before the game. Nice gesture. Max is looking forward to competing.”
As a reminder, Friday night’s Mets-Nationals game will be exclusively aired on Apple TV Plus, so fans must have or download the app in order to watch. The game will be broadcasted by Melanie Newman, Chris Young and Hannah Keyser. The subscription is free for all fans at least through the first half of the regular season.
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| 2022-04-08T15:14:47
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Minnesota U.S. Rep. Angie Craig has COVID-19, she announced Thursday, adding to a list of Washington Democrats who have tested positive for the coronavirus since spending time together maskless.
Craig, who is vaccinated and boosted, said on Twitter that she is “experiencing mild symptoms” and is isolating herself.
Craig, who represents the 2nd District south of the Twin Cities, said she got tested after learning “several of my colleagues” tested positive earlier in the week.
Craig’s announcement followed news earlier in the day that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had tested positive. On Tuesday, Craig and Pelosi were together in the East Room of the White House, where they were among a group huddling around President Joe Biden as he signed a health care executive order. Also in that group: U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Vice President Kamala Harris, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., and former President Barack Obama.
A string of positive cases that has included Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro of Texas and Adam B. Schiff of California has been suspected of being tied to a recent black-tie affair among journalists and politicians at the Gridiron Club in Washington. Craig, however, didn’t attend that event, her office said.
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| 2022-04-08T15:14:53
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Jesse Werling, the man fatally shot by police in Roseville on Tuesday after authorities say he shot and wounded an officer, was accused of stealing a rifle from his mother’s apartment last month.
Roseville police told North Hudson, Wis., police at the time there was an alert out for Werling due to mental health cautions related to resisting police and danger.
It wasn’t clear Thursday whether the rifle 53-year-old Werling allegedly took was the same weapon he fired at officers and homes during Tuesday’s shootout with police.
The March 9 theft report is among a trail of documents that shows Werling’s struggles over the years, including a civil commitment for mental illness and a criminal damage to property charge in Washington County after an incident in Stillwater.
RIFLE FOUND AT SHOOTING SCENE
Officers were called to the 2900 block of West Owasso Boulevard, where Werling’s father owns a home, on Tuesday night. Werling was firing multiple rounds when they arrived, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
As officers were setting up a perimeter, Werling shot and wounded Roseville officer Ryan Duxbury. Roseville Police Chief Erika Scheider has said the officer was struck in the face and was in stable condition. Duxbury, a Roseville officer of three years, remained hospitalized as of Thursday. (A GoFundMe account has been established to support Duxbury and his longtime girlfriend.)
Werling fired more than 100 rounds at officers and homes, and the incident lasted for about an hour, Scheider said Wednesday.
Roseville officers Bryan Anderson and Boua Chang shot and and struck Werling, who died at Regions Hospital, according to the BCA. Both officers are on administrative leave, which is standard in a case involving deadly force.
Crime scene personnel recovered a .22-caliber scoped lever-action rifle from near where Werling was shot, according to the BCA.
A BCA spokesperson said she couldn’t provide information about whether the weapon was the rifle that Werling’s mother reported stolen due to the active investigation and because analysis on evidence remains underway.
Portions of the incident were captured on body cameras and squad cameras. When the BCA completes its investigation, they will provide information to prosecutors to review and determine whether charges should be filed.
CIVIL COMMITMENT PETITIONS
Roseville police have a record of “several mental health-related incidents” involving Werling, according to Scheider.
Minnesota court records show Werling was the subject of two petitions for civil commitment for mental illness. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was manic at the time of a 2019 court filing, which said he was suffering “from paranoia and delusional beliefs.”
In 2019, he had recently jumped out of a moving car when his father tried to take him to a hospital, was aggressive to hospital staff, exposed himself to neighborhood children, filmed and threatened neighbors, and hurled projectiles at emergency responders who were helping someone else, according to a judge’s summary of the case.
“He explains his behaviors as those of a bright and creative mind, but the behaviors and symptoms actually exceed such a description and pose a danger to himself and others,” the court document continued. He was civilly committed to receive mental health treatment and medication.
When a civil commitment case was initiated in 2018, Werling agreed to voluntary treatment.
DISORDERLY CONDUCT ARREST
In 2015, Werling was arrested for domestic disorderly conduct against his former wife in western Wisconsin. She reported he called in the middle of the night and started yelling about their divorce, which he filed for in 2012. On the phone, Werling was “in a rage,” said “he could just snap” and threatened he would “take you all to the underworld,” according to a report from a St. Croix County sheriff’s deputy.
His ex-wife said she feared for the safety of herself and their two children, who were teenagers at the time. She woke them up and they all left in case Werling showed up. He called the next morning to apologize, the report said.
The district attorney requested that Werling not possess firearms as a condition of his bond. Werling told a judge during a 2016 hearing that he didn’t have guns, though he said his father did and they were locked up, according to a court transcript.
Werling was found guilty of disorderly conduct due to a no-contest plea.
FELONY CASE
Werling had a pending felony case against him in Washington County.
In December 2020, he was living in a Stillwater home owned by his father when a woman who lived on his block called 911 and said he repeatedly kicked a door to her home, according to a criminal complaint charging Werling with criminal damage to property and her petition for a harassment restraining order against him.
“I do not feel safe in my home if I know he is nearby,” the neighbor wrote in the petition. “This incident was completely filled with rage, and erratic. How can we predict when his next violent outburst will be? The police advised us to not let our children play outside because this man is dangerous.”
She wrote that Werling was taken away for a 72-hour mental health hold after the incident at her door. A judge issued the restraining order.
THEFT REPORT ON MISSING RIFLE
Last month, around 2:30 a.m. on March 9, Werling showed up outside his mother’s North Hudson apartment building, telling her it was an emergency. Werling’s mother, Susan Bacholke, told an officer that when her son got inside he “was delusional and not making sense, but did not appear to have an emergency,” the police report read.
She said that she listened him talk for about 45 minutes before he left. Later that day, she noticed that her gun cabinet had been pried open and that he had stolen a Browning .22-caliber rifle with a scope, according to the theft report filed around 7:30 p.m. the same day.
She told the officer she suspected he took it while she had been in the bathroom. She said her son had mental health issues, including PTSD “due to a bad divorce five to six years earlier,” the report read.
She said he was staying on Owasso Boulevard in Roseville. The officer called Roseville police for mutual aid and was told that they had multiple previous contacts with Werling and that there was “an alert on his name for mental health cautions relating to resisting police and danger,” the police report read.
The Roseville officer said that based on the alert, “he did not feel comfortable approaching the residence if it was believed he was in possession of a rifle with a scope,” the report read.
The North Hudson officer then called Werling’s cellphone number but it went straight to voicemail, which was full so a message could not be left.
“I will compile an attempt to locate for Werling and the firearm with a caution indicator due to his untreated mental health concerns,” the officer wrote.
Two days later, the officer called Werling’s mother, who said she did not want to pursue theft charges against her son.
“She stated she was working with his father to recover the firearm and calm him down,” a supplemental police report read.
Werling’s parents couldn’t be reached and other relatives declined to comment.
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| 2022-04-08T15:14:59
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A screening of a never-before-seen 1992 Prince concert at Glam Slam, with live accompaniment by the New Power Generation, and a live performance from Revolution bassist BrownMark and members of Mazarati are among the newly announced attractions at Celebration, a four-day festival of all things Prince planned June 2 through 5.
Tickets are $399 general admission and $899 VIP and are on sale now at paisleypark.com. Most events take place at Paisley Park, Prince’s former studio and home in Chanhassen.
Celebration opens on the evening on June 2 with the dedication of a new Prince mural in downtown Minneapolis on Ramp A, across the street from First Avenue. A private party will follow at W Minneapolis – The Foshay with music from Prince’s DJ Lenka Paris, signature cocktails, a photo booth and opportunities for socializing with other attendees and dancing.
Prince’s first wife Mayte Garcia, longtime photographer Randee St. Nicholas, frequent collaborator Jill Jones, actress Carmen Electra and Paisley Park Studios engineer Tom Garneau will participate in a series of onstage panels on June 3 at 4 at Paisley Park. BrownMark will perform the evening of June 3 with members of Mazarati, a short-lived Prince spinoff group that scored a minor hit with “100 MPH.” The 1992 concert recorded at Prince’s former Glam Slam nightclub follows on the night of June 4.
There will also be food trucks outside of Paisley Park and access to exhibits inside the building.
VIP ticketholders get several additional perks, including access to a private VIP lounge and a commemorative gift on opening night, admission to a “real music by real musicians experience,” a listening session with unreleased Prince music and an exclusive brunch June 5 at the Dakota with a performance from local gospel group the Steeles.
Modeled after a similar festival Prince held three times at Paisley Park in the early ’00s, the annual Celebration debuted in April 2017 and attracted fans from around the world. The fourth Celebration was initially scheduled for April 2020, but was canceled due to the pandemic.
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| 2022-04-08T15:15:05
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The Orioles are in talks with right-hander Matt Harvey, likely setting up a return to the organization for the starter on a minor league deal, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said Thursday.
Elias acknowledged the “very unique situation” surrounding Harvey, who testified at the trial of former Los Angeles Angels communications director Eric Kay in February. Kay was found guilty of two felony counts and faces a minimum of 20 years in prison for distributing drugs to Tyler Skaggs, which led to the Angels pitcher’s overdose death in 2019.
In Harvey’s testimony, the 33-year-old detailed his own experience using drugs. Cocaine was his drug of choice, Harvey said, and he continued to use the drug after he signed with the Angels in 2019. He also shared Percocet pills with Skaggs when Skaggs asked if Harvey had either Percocet or oxycodone.
Skaggs, 27, was found dead July 1, 2019, the day after the team had traveled from Los Angeles and before the start of a series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said Skaggs had choked to death on his vomit, and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone were in his system.
Harvey could be facing a suspension of at least 60 days due to a violation of MLB’s drug policy for drug distribution, according to ESPN. MLB said in February that they would conduct a review of the matter after the trial was completed, and that process is ongoing.
At the trial, Harvey said he believed his testimony would threaten his career.
“Obviously, he’s in the situation he’s in right now because of off-the-field things,” Elias said. “But getting to know him last year, understanding his approach to what’s gone on, our point of view is that this was something that shouldn’t prevent him from having another chance with this organization, especially with the way he conducted himself last year.”
Harvey had a 3.60 ERA in his first seven starts, setting up a tantalizing return to Citi Field to face the New York Mets on May 12, but he allowed seven runs that day against his former team to kick off a stretch of 11 starts in which he had an 11.20 ERA. He pitched better after the All-Star break but finished the season with a 6.27 ERA across 127 2/3 innings, second most behind left-hander John Means, in 28 starts.
Elias acknowledged the stat line “wasn’t the prettiest,” but there are other factors he considers when approaching a deal for Harvey.
“He did a lot to help us last year,” Elias said. “The innings that he threw, the luck that he had, and I think most importantly for us, the pro and the teammate that he was in helping us get through a very difficult season was something that we wanted back. We feel he might provide us depth and he might be able to help us and he was in the process of kind of unlocking some things, coming off an injury.”
Having Harvey in the system might be a security blanket of sorts. Baltimore has seen breakthroughs from Means and right-hander Tyler Wells, but Elias is waiting to see consistency from his other young arms. The fifth starter role isn’t set in stone.
That could open room for a pitcher with Harvey’s experience — and his ability to chew innings. There remains the uncertainty of a looming suspension for Harvey, but his presence in the organization supplies another long option.
“We’ll see where it goes,” Elias said. “But it is true we’re talking to him.”
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NFL coaches Steve Wilks and Ray Horton levied damning allegations of discriminatory hiring practices against the Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans on Thursday as co-plaintiffs in coach Brian Flores’ amended complaint in U.S. District Court.
Horton, 61, the Titans’ defensive coordinator in 2014-15, alleges he was subjected to a “sham” interview for Tennessee’s head coaching vacancy simply to satisfy the Rooney Rule in Jan. 2016.
The lawsuit quotes Mike Mularkey, the white coach who landed the job, admitting in an obscure podcast interview from 2020 that the Titans circumvented the NFL’s rule requiring interviews of minority candidates during a “fake hiring process.”
The Titans “[t]old me I was going to be the head coach in 2016, before they went through the Rooney Rule,” the lawsuit quotes Mularkey in the podcast. “And so I sat there knowing I was the head coach in 2016, as they went through this fake hiring process knowing, knowing a lot of the coaches that they were interviewing, knowing how much they prepared to go through those interviews, knowing that everything they could do and they had no chance to get that job.
“And actually, the GM Jon Robinson, he was in an interview with me. He had no idea why he is interviewing me, that I have a job already,” Mularkey continued. “I regret it, [be]cause I pride myself and my kids first to do the right thing, and I always said that to the players. And here I am the head guy not doing it, and I regretted it since then. It was the wrong thing to do. I am sorry I did that, but it was not the way to do that. Should have been interviewed like everybody else and got hired [be]cause of the interview not early on.”
Horton said in a statement through the Wigdor LLP law firm that he is “proud to stand with Coach Flores and Coach Wilks in combatting the systemic discrimination which has plagued the NFL for far too long.
“When I learned from Coach Mularkey’s statements that my head coach interview with the Titans was a sham, I was devastated and humiliated,” Horton said. “By joining this case, I am hoping to turn that experience into a positive and make lasting change and create true equal opportunity in the future.”
Wilks, 52, fired by the Cardinals after only one season as head coach in 2018, alleges that he was hired as a “bridge coach” and not given a meaningful chance to succeed.
The amended complaint points out how Cardinals GM Steve Keim, who is white, has kept his job and received a contract extension despite poor personnel decisions and a D.U.I. conviction.
It also points out that Wilks was replaced by a white coach, Kliff Kingsbury, who had no prior NFL coach experience. And it alleges that Wilks urged Keim during the 2018 NFL Draft to trade up and select quarterback Josh Allen.
Instead, Keim traded up to draft quarterback Josh Rosen, which the lawsuit calls “one of the great draft gaffes of all time.” Wilks was fired after that one season. Keim was allowed to stay on and select quarterback Kyler Murray No. 1 overall the very next year.
“When Coach Flores filed this action, I knew I owed it to myself, and to all Black NFL coaches and aspiring coaches, to stand with him,” Wilks said in a statement. “Black coaches and candidates should have exactly the same ability to become employed, and remain employed, as white coaches and candidates. That is not currently the case.”
Flores’ lawsuit now shines the light on the NFL and six specific franchises: the Giants, Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Cardinals and Titans.
The amended complaint notes the existence of more evidence to Flores’ tanking allegations against the Dolphins.
The complaint makes reference to a Dec. 4, 2019, memo that Flores allegedly wrote to memorialize owner Stephen Ross’ alleged desire to have Miami lose games and sent to GM Chris Grier, CEO Tom Garfinkel and senior VP Brandon Shore.
“I continue to be humbled by the outpouring of support in connection with my claims against the NFL and applaud Steve Wilks and Ray Horton for standing up against systemic race discrimination,” Flores said in a statement. “Their claims are the unfortunate reality of the problems facing Black coaches in the NFL which our collective hope in this case is to end once and for all.”
The new version of Flores’ lawsuit also calls out the NFL’s new “diversity advisory committee” as an empty gesture by the NFL that “does not in any way demonstrate a true commitment to change, oversight and accountability.”
Experts have concerns that the NFL will be able to use language in Flores’ Dolphins contract to protect the revelations of this lawsuit in closed arbitration. It’s also difficult to prove a common damage in a class action filing. Wilks’ and Horton’s testimonials, however, undoubtedly are meaningful in furthering Flores’ cause.
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"Hey Hey Rise Up" features Pink Floyd members David Gilmour and Nick Mason, with vocals from Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the band BoomBox. Roger Waters, who left the band in the 1980s, is not involved.
The track features Khlyvnyuk singing a patriotic Ukrainian song from a clip he recorded in front of Kyiv's St. Sophia Cathedral and posted on social media.
Gilmour, who performed with BoomBox in London in 2015, said the video was "a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music."
After Russia's invasion, Khlyvnyuk cut short a tour of the U.S. to return to Ukraine and join a territorial defense unit.
Gilmour said he spoke to Khlyvnyuk, who was recovering in a hospital from a mortar shrapnel injury, while he was writing the song. He said: "I played him a little bit of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing. We both hope to do something together in person in the future."
The song is being released Friday and the band says proceeds will go to the Ukraine Humanitarian Relief Fund.
"We want to express our support for Ukraine, and in that way show that most of the world thinks that it is totally wrong for a superpower to invade the independent democratic country that Ukraine has become," Gilmour said.
Pink Floyd was founded in London in the mid-1960s and helped forge the U.K. psychedelic scene before releasing influential 1970s albums including "The Dark Side of the Moon," "Wish You Were Here" and "The Wall."
Original member Waters quit in 1985, and the remaining members of Pink Floyd last recorded together for the 1994 album "The Division Bell." After keyboard player Richard Wright died in 2008, Gilmour said he doubted Pink Floyd would perform together again.
"Hey Hey Rise Up" also features Guy Pratt on bass and Nitin Sawhney on keyboards.
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https://abc11.com/pink-floyd-new-song-release-ukraine-humanitarian-relief-fund/11724146/
| 2022-04-08T15:21:02
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Peak hummingbird migration is typically in April—and Hoosiers are starting to see the signs!
According to hummingbirdcentral.com, several hummingbirds have already been sighted in Indiana.
The website has received reports of hummingbirds in Bargersville, Evansville, Frankfort, Freetown, Jasper and Nashville so far.
The earliest reported sighting on the website involved Ruby-throated hummingbirds on March 28 in Bargersville, Freetown and Jasper.
“Ruby-throated hummingbird sighted,” one Hoosier reported from Frankfort on April 4. “It seemed a bit early, but it was at some early blooming flowers as I sat out enjoying the sun.”
A separate hummingbird-tracking website, hummingbird-guide.com, reported even earlier sightings in South Bend (March 17) and Fort Wayne (March 31).
Hummingbirds spend the winter in Central America before heading north to the U.S. The migration begins in February and extends into April as they move further north.
Interested in attracting hummingbirds?
They feed on nectar, so planting flowers is one way to draw them in. Picking a variety of plants that bloom in different points of the summer will attract them at different times.
You can also consider a hummingbird feeder. A simple mixture of four parts water to one part sugar will work. Clean out your feeder every three or four days, especially during peak migration.
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https://fox59.com/indiana-news/hoosiers-report-hummingbird-sightings-as-peak-migration-begins/
| 2022-04-08T15:23:07
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Food blogger Kylee Scales shows viewers how to add some vegetables to their diet with a spring tart.
Kylee says the key is making sure to include a wide spectrum of flavors, from sweet to savory.
The puff pastry that serves as the base is versatile and could even be used for pizza!
Learn more at Kylee’s Kitchen.
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| 2022-04-08T15:23:13
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INDIANAPOLIS — Stress from daily life can sometimes put you in an overwhelming position. Elyssa Smith is a local time strategist who founded created the Facebook group “Stress Less Lounge”. For more information on the group, you can visit the page here. To book a consultation with Elyssa, you can find her schedule here.
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| 2022-04-08T15:23:19
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INDIANAPOLIS — Easter is just around the corner! Check out these trendy, new toys on the market that could make for great gifts in your child’s Easter Basket. For more from James, visit thetoyinsider.com.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Easter is just around the corner! Check out these trendy, new toys on the market that could make for great gifts in your child’s Easter Basket. For more from James, visit thetoyinsider.com.
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https://fox59.com/morning-news/new-spring-toys-trending-this-easter/
| 2022-04-08T15:23:25
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INDIANAPOLIS — The most action-packed motorsports experience in the world returns to Indianapolis. Monster Jam is this weekend at Lucas Oil Stadium.
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INDIANAPOLIS — The most action-packed motorsports experience in the world returns to Indianapolis. Monster Jam is this weekend at Lucas Oil Stadium.
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Mark you calendar and dust off those solar eclipse glasses!
We’re two years away from a solar eclipse that will be visible across much of the country, including Indiana.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, blocking sunlight. The brief moment when the moon completely obscures the sun is called the totality.
NASA said the eclipse will block the sun on April 8, 2024. It won’t be visible across the entire United States like the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017. The path of the totality, when the moon completely blocks the sun, will largely cover the eastern half of the country.
The maximum duration of the totality is predicted to be 4 minutes and 27 seconds in Torreon, Mexico. According to GreatAmericanEclipse.com, the total eclipse will be visible in Indianapolis at 3:06 p.m. ET on April 8, 2024.
The totality will last 3 minutes and 46 seconds for Indianapolis. The length and visibility will vary depending on location. The totality will last 3 minutes and 2 seconds in Evansville (totality at 2:02 p.m. CT), for example, and 2 minutes and 57 seconds in Terre Haute (totality at 3:04 p.m. ET). Bloomington, Muncie and Richmond are other Indiana cities in the path.
Some notable Midwestern cities in the path include Akron, Dayton, Cleveland and Toledo. Major Midwestern cities close to the path include Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.
Several states will be able to see the eclipse:
- Arkansas
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- New Hampshire
- New York
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Vermont
According to Forbes, about 32 million Americans live in the path of the totality, making this even larger than the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017. About 12 million people lived in the path of the earlier solar event.
The April 2024 eclipse will pass through parts of Mexico before coming to the U.S. and continuing through eastern parts of Canada.
Yes, you can view the eclipse, but you shouldn’t look directly at it except for the narrow window of the totality. Special solar eclipse glasses should be worn the rest of the time.
You should also expect sales of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” to surge once again in a couple years.
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| 2022-04-08T15:23:38
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(NEXSTAR) – More than 100,000 Murphy-style beds have been recalled in the U.S. after one of them fell on a 79-year-old woman who later died.
The Bestar Wall Beds, which were also sold in Canada, were found to pose “serious impact and crushing hazards,” according a safety recall issued by the Consumer Safety Product Commission. The recall affects approximately 129,000 wall beds in the U.S.
The beds were sold at online retailers including Amazon.com, Costco.com, Cymax.com and Wayfair.com between June 2014 and March 2022. A full list of the recalled models — of which there are nearly two dozen — is available at Bestar.com.
In a safety notice Bestar is sending to consumers, the company warned of beds “suddenly” coming loose from the wall if “installation instructions are not followed.”
“If the wall mounting screws are not properly installed to the wall structure (wood studs, metal studs, or masonry), or if ‘hollow wall’ anchors have been used, then the wall bed can suddenly detach from the wall and fall, resulting in serious injury or death,” the company wrote in the letter.
Bestar had received over 60 reports of injuries caused by the beds detaching from walls. In 2018, a 79-year-old woman died after suffering a spine injury when a Bestar Wall Bed fell on her, according to the CSPC.
Bestar is contacting consumers who purchased the recalled models. In the meantime, Bestar and the CSPC are urging customers to refrain from using the beds until they can be reinstalled by a professional. Bestar is also arranging to reimburse customers whose wall beds require reinstallation.
More information can be found at the CSPC and Bestar websites. Consumers can also contact Bestar at 888-912-8458 or email the company at Bestar8577@stericycle.com.
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The unprecedented, experimental program to feed starving manatees in Florida is ending, but the greater issue is the polluted water that causes the marine mammals to run out of their natural seagrass forage.
Wildlife officials said Thursday that more than 202,000 pounds (91,600 kilograms) of lettuce has been fed to manatees at a power plant on Florida’s east coast where the animals gather in cold months because of the warm water discharge. Most of the cost was through donations from around the world.
With summer’s onset, that effort is ending but probably will resume next winter. Many manatees are still stressed from chronic malnutrition that won’t disappear just because of warmer weather.
Yet, during an online news conference Thursday, officials said the feeding program — again, never done before with wild animals like manatees — was generally a success.
“Going into this, we had no idea how it would work and if it would work,” said Ron Mezich, one of the main Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials involved in the project. “We haven’t had discussions about next winter yet.”
Last winter, a record 1,100 manatees died largely from starvation because water pollution from agricultural, septic tank, urban runoff and other sources has diminished their main winter food source along Florida’s east coast, especially the Indian River Lagoon that stretches from Cape Canaveral to the south.
So far this year, Florida officials have confirmed 479 manatee deaths, compared with more than 600 last year at this same time. Both are well above the five-year average of 287 manatee deaths in the time period.
There are only an estimated 7,520 of the animals in the wild today, according to the state wildlife commission.
Manatees are gentle round-tailed giants, sometimes known as sea cows, and weigh as much as 1,200 pounds (550 kilograms) and live as long as 65 years or so. Manatees are Florida’s official state marine mammal and are closely related to elephants.
Although the feeding program is seen as a success, many manatees are still debilitated from malnutrition and won’t immediately recover, officials said.
“They are still in trouble,” said Martine deWit, a marine mammal veterinarian with the FWC. “It does not mean they are getting better.”
Dozens of distressed manatees have been rescued and taken to places like SeaWorld in Orlando, zoos and aquariums in Florida and elsewhere around the country. As of Thursday, there were more than 80 manatees in care at 14 facilities, almost all suffering from starvation.
This is an unprecedented effort to save a threatened species that has long had difficulty coexisting with humans, from the pollution problem to boat strikes.
“We’re all going to keep working to see what we can do better,” said Teresa Calleson with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Aside from the feeding, there is an effort to restore the seagrass beds. Since 2009 about 58% of the seagrass has been lost in the Indian River Lagoon, state estimates show.
State lawmakers appropriated about $8 million for restoration efforts, including access to natural springs and planting new seagrass. This will take years, however, and some political will.
“What’s going to solve the problem is restoring the Indian River Lagoon,” said Tom Reinert, FWC spokesman for the manatee program.
Officials ask anyone who sees a distressed or dying manatee to call the FWC hotline at 888-404-3922.
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| 2022-04-08T15:23:50
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(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden is set to mark the historic confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to reach the Supreme Court Friday.
Jackson, a 51-year-old appeals court judge with nine years of experience on the federal bench, was confirmed 53-47 by the Senate Thursday, mostly along party lines.
“We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America,” Biden said in a tweet Thursday after posing for a selfie with the justice-in-waiting. “She will be an incredible Justice, and I was honored to share this moment with her.”
NewsNation will live stream Biden’s and Jackson’s remarks in the player above.
In her confirmation, Jackson made history by becoming the third Black justice and only the sixth woman in the court’s more than 200-year history. Jackson will take her seat when Justice Stephen Breyer retires this summer.
Jackson would be the current court’s second Black justice — Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, is the other — and just the third in history. Jackson would replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Breyer. Biden nominated Jackson in February.
The 51-year-old federal appeals court judge would join two other women, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, on the liberal side of the current 6-3 conservative court. With Justice Amy Coney Barrett sitting at the other end of the bench, four of the nine justices would be women for the first time in history.
While the vote was far from the overwhelming bipartisan confirmations for Breyer and other justices in decades past, it was still a significant bipartisan accomplishment for Biden in the narrow 50-50 Senate after GOP senators aggressively worked to paint Jackson as too liberal and soft on crime.
Before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, Jackson said her life was shaped by her parents’ experiences with racial segregation and civil rights laws that were enacted a decade before she was born.
With her parents and family sitting behind her, she told the panel that her “path was clearer” than theirs as a Black American. Jackson attended Harvard University, served as a public defender, worked at a private law firm and was appointed to the U.S. Sentencing Commission in addition to her nine years on the federal bench.
“I have been a judge for nearly a decade now, and I take that responsibility and my duty to be independent very seriously,” Jackson said. “I decide cases from a neutral posture. I evaluate the facts, and I interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me, without fear or favor, consistent with my judicial oath.”
Once sworn in, Jackson would be the second-youngest member of the court after Barrett, 50. She would join a court on which no one is yet 75, the first time that has happened in nearly 30 years.
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ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KTVI) – Last week the world learned that Deidre Pujols was undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor while her husband, Major League Baseball star Albert Pujols, was at spring training. Then Albert revealed that he filed for divorce after 22-years of marriage.
Now, Deidre is sharing some insight into how her family is rooting for the Cardinals on Opening Day.
Albert Pujols will be in the starting lineup for the St. Louis Cardinals against the Pittsburgh Pirates when he begins his final big league season Thursday in what should be an emotional return to Busch Stadium.
The 42-year-old Pujols is on a farewell tour. He joins Adam Wainwright pitching to Yadier Molina for what could be the final time as those two players also ponder retirement after 2022.
Deidre Pujols shared this message with her Instagram followers:
“Today I am excited to celebrate what will be an incredible baseball experience for our family, baseball fans and for the story of baseball as we watch Albert start the 2022 season reunited with the St. Louis Cardinals where it all began for our family years ago. I had a great conversation with Albert this morning, we talked about today’s events and all that will happen, we prayed together to set the energy for the day and he is excited as are all of us.
He has been one of the most disciplined athletes of his sport that I have ever known and how God has used his life on and off the field has always blown my mind! I am really happy he gets one more year to play the game!
Despite the most recent surge of media attention about our personal lives, I would never miss out on an opportunity to send love, and blessings to someone who I have spent a majority of my life with and will forever be connected. Our children will be there to support him and if I was able I would have also been there to celebrate this special event.
However, I will be there in spirit and watching from home as I continue my recovery from surgery. Thank you to all the fans who have watched and supported his historic career, we will probably never see anyone do what Albert has done in this game again in our lifetime.”
@deidrepujolsadventures Instagram
A brain tumor was discovered in the backside of Deidre Pujols’ head in October. She delayed the procedure but eventually went through with it a week ago.
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| 2022-04-08T15:24:02
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ROME (AP) — Prices for food commodities like grains and vegetable oils reached their highest levels ever last month largely because of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the “massive supply disruptions” it is causing, threatening millions of people in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere with hunger and malnourishment, the United Nations said Friday.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said its Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices for a basket of commodities, averaged 159.3 points last month, up 12.6% from February. As it is, the February index was the highest level since its inception in 1990.
FAO said the war in Ukraine was largely responsible for the 17.1% rise in the price of grains, including wheat and others like oats, barley and corn. Together, Russia and Ukraine account for around 30% and 20% of global wheat and corn exports, respectively.
While predictable given February’s steep rise, “this is really remarkable,” said Josef Schmidhuber, deputy director of FAO’s markets and trade division. “Clearly, these very high prices for food require urgent action.”
The biggest price increases were for vegetable oils: that price index rose 23.2%, driven by higher quotations for sunflower seed oil that is used for cooking. Ukraine is the world’s leading exporter of sunflower oil, and Russia is No. 2.
“There is, of course, a massive supply disruption, and that massive supply disruption from the Black Sea region has fueled prices for vegetable oil,” Schmidhuber told reporters in Geneva.
He said he couldn’t calculate how much the war was to blame for the record food prices, noting that poor weather conditions in the United States and China also were blamed for crop concerns. But he said “logistical factors” were playing a big role.
“Essentially, there are no exports through the Black Sea, and exports through the Baltics is practically also coming to an end,” he said.
Soaring food prices and disruption to supplies coming from Russia and Ukraine have threatened food shortages in countries in the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia where many people already were not getting enough to eat.
Those nations rely on affordable supplies of wheat and other grains from the Black Sea region to feed millions of people who subsist on subsidized bread and bargain noodles, and they now face the possibility of further political instability.
Other large grain producers like the United States, Canada, France, Australia and Argentina are being closely watched to see if they can quickly ramp up production to fill in the gaps, but farmers face issues like climbing fuel and fertilizer costs exacerbated by the war, drought and supply chain disruptions.
In the Sahel region of Central and West Africa, the disruptions from the war have added to an already precarious food situation caused by COVID-19, conflicts, poor weather and other structural problems, said Sib Ollo, senior researcher for the World Food Program for West and Central Africa in Dakar, Senegal.
“There is a sharp deterioration of the food and nutrition security in the region,” he told reporters, saying 6 million children are malnourished and nearly 16 million people in urban areas are at risk of food insecurity.
Farmers, he said, were particularly worried that they would not be able to access fertilizers produced in the Black Sea region. Russia is a leading global exporter.
“The cost of fertilizers has increased by almost 30% in many places of this region due to the supply disruption that we see provoked by a crisis in Ukraine,” he said.
The World Food Program has appealed for $777 million to meet the needs of 22 million people in the Sahel region and Nigeria over six months, he said.
To address the needs of food-importing countries, the FAO was developing a proposal for a mechanism to alleviate the import costs for the poorest countries, Schmidhuber said. The proposal calls for eligible countries to commit to added investments in their own agricultural productivity to obtain import credits to help soften the blow.
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https://fox59.com/ukraine-crisis/food-prices-soar-to-record-levels-due-to-ukraine-war-disruptions/
| 2022-04-08T15:24:08
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April 8, 1947, in The Star: The original chapter of the Anniston Girls Hi-Y Club has chosen as its name the Virginia Ordway Chapter. Miss Ordway has been faculty adviser of the girls Hi-Y Club since it was first organized at Anniston High School about nine years ago. Also this date: Mrs. Lucien Lentz, the former Carleton Sterne, is representing the YMCA Program Committee in efforts to get together men and women interested in forming a local drama group. Mrs. Lentz said dramatic ability is not a prerequisite for a person to join the group. Anyone interested in any phase of a play’s production is invited to attend an organizational meeting tomorrow night.
April 8, 1997, in The Star: Removal of the stucco concrete façade from the English Village store on Noble Street two days ago was the second installment of a full restoration to the front of the building at 1118 Noble St. The first phase began last year when the metal part of the façade came down. English Village is the first of two buildings in Anniston’s central business district to be taken over since Dec. 1 by the Main Street redevelopment program, and the first to be scheduled for a facelift. Main Street also owns what for many years was known as the Top Dollar store at 1024 Noble, which for years before that was the address of Woolworth’s. The building has been vacant since Top Dollar moved out in November 1995. Exactly when the two buildings might return to private ownership is not clear.
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https://www.annistonstar.com/features/look-back-to-downtown-renovation-1997/article_3cba0f44-b6de-11ec-ab5a-2facede8c8af.html
| 2022-04-08T15:31:04
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The City of Talladega will host its first Talladega Walk of Fame Induction Ceremony and Block Party in nearly nine years Friday, April 22 (from 5-9 pm) at Davey Allison Memorial Park.
The event will help kick off Talladega Superspeedway’s tripleheader weekend, culminating on Sunday, April 24 with the GEICO 500.
Clint Bowyer, the NASCAR on FOX analyst and two-time Talladega Superspeedway winner, will be inducted into the Talladega Walk of Fame. Highlights will include the induction ceremony (near start of festivities), music, food trucks, inflatables, and vendor booths. Also scheduled to be a part of the festivities will be an original Davey Allison Ford Thunderbird. Admission is free.
“I am looking forward to joining the historic group of so many greats of our sport in the Talladega Walk of Fame,” said Bowyer, a 10-time NASCAR Cup Series winner. “I am humbled to say the least. I watched Davey race on television as a youngster and always had the utmost respect for him. It will be an honor for sure. I have always loved going to Talladega Superspeedway, but this trip will be extra special.”
Since its first induction in downtown Talladega in 1995, the Talladega Walk of Fame at Davey Allison Park has saluted NASCAR’s greatest names and paid tribute to one of racing’s brightest stars – the late, great NASCAR Hall of Famer and Alabama native, Davey Allison. The Walk of Fame has welcomed thousands of tourists and race fans over the years. For nearly two decades several drivers were inducted each year until 2013.That tradition is being brought back to life this year - and for the future.
“This is the 35th anniversary of Davey Allison’s first career NASCAR Cup Series win, coming at Talladega Superspeedway in spring of 1987. It is time to revive the park named in his honor,” said City Manager Seddrick Hill Sr., who spearheaded the effort to add new drivers to the Walk of Fame. “I am calling upon citizens, businesses and industry to join us in making this event a great success. Thus far, Talladega Bottling Works, The Greater Talladega and Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce, RK Allen, First Bank of Alabama, Talladega Superspeedway, and a number of individual volunteers have contributed time and resources to this important initiative.
“Clint Bowyer’s induction and celebration will attract community members and race fans from near and far. This will restore pride in our community, honor an outstanding driver, and increase tourism,” added Hill, who plans to induct drivers biannually during each of the race weekends at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.
“Clint Bowyer has been a great friend to NASCAR, and especially Talladega Superspeedway over the years,” said Speedway President Brian Crichton. “With his constant smile and wit, Clint has always showcased a special interest for our iconic venue, as well as our local community. Davey, an Alabama native, felt the same way about the track and our region. Clint is definitely the perfect NASCAR legend to help bring back the tradition of the Talladega Walk of Fame at Davey Allison Memorial Park.”
Bowyer's two NASCAR Cup Series wins at Talladega Superspeedway took place in 2010 and 2011. The Kansas native was the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Runnerup and the 2008 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion for car owner Richard Childress. Bowyer helped create one of Talladega Superspeedway’s fan-favorite and nationally known events - “The Big One on the Blvd” - and has served as an analyst for FOX Sports‘ NASCAR Cup Series coverage since February of 2021.
The first inductees of the Talladega Walk of Fame at Davey Allison Memorial Park were members of the famed “Alabama Gang” with legends Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison, Red Farmer and Neil Bonnett. They were inducted by decree of the board.
The rest of the driver inductee list also reads like a “Who’s Who” of NASCAR greats. They include former Talladega Superspeedway winners’ Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Darrell Waltrip, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Buddy Baker, David Pearson, Harry Gant, Terry Labonte and Brad Keselowski. Others include Bobby Hamilton, Ricky Rudd, Kyle Petty, Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman, Speedy Thompson, Morgan Shepherd, Kasey Kahne, Benny Parsons, Alan Kulwicki, Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Lee Petty, Tim Flock, Fireball Roberts, Buck Baker, Joe Weatherly, Red Byron, Bobby Isaac, Fred Lorenzen, Fonty Flock, Herb Thomas, Rex White, Jack Smith, Bill Rexford and Jim Paschal.
In the park, Davey Allison is remembered with a large marble monument, while drivers inducted into the Talladega Walk of Fame have bronze plaques placed around the park, accessible by walkways that form the shape of the mammoth 31-degree banked Talladega Superspeedway. For additional information, visit the city of Talladega website at www.talladega.com. Prospective sponsors and donors for the Talladega Walk of Fame at Davey Allison Memorial Park may email Mary Sood at msood@talladega.com for more information.
Talladega Superspeedway’s weekend continues with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 23 at Noon CDT with the General Tire 200 for the ARCA Menards Series, followed by the Ag-Pro 300 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series at 3 p.m. CDT. The Sunday GEICO 500 gets the green flag at 2 p.m. CDT. For more information, logo onto www.talladegasuperspeedway.com.
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https://www.annistonstar.com/news/bowyer-to-be-inducted-into-talladega-walk-of-fame/article_7dfd472c-b748-11ec-a7c6-37050c9c389a.html
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LINCOLN — Aubrey Kemp felt disrespected by Lincoln on Thursday. The sophomore made the Golden Bears pay as he hit a three-run home run to lead St. Clair County past Lincoln 5-3.
“It made me very mad that they intentionally walked the batter in front of me with two outs,” Kemp said. “They thought that I couldn’t hit, so I had to let them know that I still could hit. It was an outside fastball and I live in the opposite field.”
St. Clair County head coach Steven Nuss said Kemp has delivered big hits throughout the season for the Saints.
“He has been a guy that has come up with a lot of timely hits for us this year,” Nuss said. “When his approach is good he’s a tough out.”
Lincoln head coach Matt Collier said uncharacteristic mistakes led to the big inning for the Saints. Lincoln committed two errors before Kemp delivered a two-out home run.
“We didn’t play our best game defensively which is different for us,” Collier said. “Throughout the year that has been our strength. We have played great defense all year and I think (Thursday) we made four errors. In the inning that they hit the three-run bomb which was the difference in the game, we booted two balls. We should have been out of that inning. Once you do things like that against a good team like St. Clair they are going to take advantage of it eventually. We just didn’t play our best game today.”
The win moves the Saints (12-10,4-1) closer to clinching a playoff berth. If St. Clair County wins next week’s series against Class 5A, Area 11 foe Alexandria they will clinch the area title as well as host the first round of the playoffs.
“It (the win) puts us in a good spot,” Nuss said. “We have done everything that we needed to this point to get there. We will see how it works out for us.“
Lincoln’s road to the postseason got harder with the series loss to the Saints. The Golden Bears will have to win next week’s series against Moody as well as get help from other teams in the area to clinch a playoff berth.
What to know
—Jayce Mickens earned the complete-game win for the Saints. The junior recorded seven strikeouts against the Golden Bears.
— Danny Diego was the losing pitcher for the Golden Bears.
-- Griffin Wilson was responsible for both runs for Lincoln. Wilson hit a single to score Brayden Watson and Kaene Newell.
-Jackson Lindsey went 1-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs for the Saints.
Who said
—Nuss on the performance of Mickens:
“He threw it really well. “He’s a basketball guy so he got out here a little later. We have been worried about his pitch count for a while. We feel like this is the first week that he has been well enough to go the distance as far as arm strength. He did a fantastic job of throwing strikes and competing. He did a heck of a job.”
—Collier on the area race for the postseason:
“We have a highly competitive area. We have Moody, St. Clair, and Alexandria. We can all beat each other; it’s whoever plays the best that day. In the first series against Alexandria, we played better as we won two out of three. We did not play our best baseball in this series. Hopefully, we can get it turned around and get some momentum going into Moody. Hopefully, we can win those games and find a way into the playoffs.”
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https://www.annistonstar.com/the_st_clair_times/kemps-3-run-homer-leads-st-clair-county-past-area-foe-lincoln/article_19248e7a-b74b-11ec-9601-5b5d7456557a.html
| 2022-04-08T15:31:16
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Elwood Fire Chief killed in crash while responding to fire
ARAPAHOE Neb. (KNOP) - The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating a deadly crash that occurred on Highway 283 Thursday afternoon, during response to the large fire southeast of Elwood. Both vehicles involved were assisting in the fire response.
The crash occurred at approximately 5:10 p.m., when a Ford Expedition, driven by Phelps County Emergency Manager Justin Norris, with passenger Darren Krull, Chief of the Elwood Volunteer Fire Department, was struck head on by a truck hauling water, approximately eight miles north of Arapahoe on Highway 283.
NSP said Chief Krull, 54, of Elwood, passed away at the scene. Norris, 40, of Holdrege, was transported to the hospital in Cambridge with life-threatening injuries. He was then transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney in stable condition. He has since been transferred to a hospital in Omaha. He remains in stable condition as of Friday morning.
According to NSP, the driver of the water truck, Andries Van Aswegan, 28, of Arapahoe, was not injured in the crash. The fire and smoke in the area had created zero-visibility conditions on the roadway at the time of the crash.
“Our hearts are with all involved in this tragic crash, as well as those affected by the fire,” said Colonel John Bolduc, Superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol. “Please keep the firefighters, farmers, emergency managers, law enforcement officers, volunteers, and all others involved in this fire response in your thoughts today.”
The crash remains under investigation.
Region 17 Emergency Manager Roger Powell said 26 departments worked together to fight the fire in high wind conditions. They were able to contain the fire early Friday morning but several small fires remain. Highways are back open and evacuation orders have been lifted. Rural homes and outbuildings were destroyed in the fire.
Copyright 2022 KNOP. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-08T15:34:51
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Lady A will be performing at the Nebraska State Fair
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - Miss Nebraska 2021 had the honor of revealing the final concert coming to this year’s Nebraska State Fair.
Lady A with Priscilla Block will be performing Saturday, Sept. 3, as part of the Nebraska Lottery Concert Series. The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. at the Anderson Sports Field. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
Over the course of their decade-plus career, Lady A has become one of the 21st century’s premier vocal groups, blending deeply felt emotions with classic country sounds.
As a country-radio staple, the trio has amassed record-breaking success ushering in 10 No. 1 hits with more than 18 million album units and 34 million tracks sold and nearly 5 billion digital streams.
Lady A - Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood and Hillary Scott - earned the biggest first week streams of their career with their critically acclaimed No. 1 album OCEAN that has been touted as “the finest album of the band’s career” (Nashville Scene).
Known for their 9X Platinum hit “Need You Now” which is the highest certified song by a country group, they have earned ACM and CMA “Vocal Group of the Year” trophies three years in a row and countless other honors including seven GRAMMY awards, Billboard Music Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Teen Choice Awards and a Tony Award nod.
For more information visit www.ladyamusic.com.
Lady A will be joined by Priscilla Block, whose hit song “Just About Over You” hit number 1 on iTunes in 2020. Pegged as a 2021 Artist to Watch by Amazon Music, PANDORA, Spotify, CMT and more, Priscilla found fame through TikTok and her streaming has topped 250 million views and rising.
Concert tickets go on sale at 2 p.m. Friday, April 8, at statefair.org and will include gate admission. Tickets will cost $49 for general admission and $69 for the pit.
Here’s a rundown of the concerts coming to the fair:
Monday’s concert announcement was the Happy Together Tour.
Tuesday’s concert announcement was Los Tucanes De Tijuana.
Wednesday’s concert announcement was Brantley Gilbert.
Thursday’s concert announcement was Jeff Dunham.
With a theme of “Nothing More Nebraskan,” the 2022 Nebraska State Fair will be Aug. 26-Sept. 5 at Fonner Park in Grand Island.
For more information, visit statefair.org.
Copyright 2022 KSNB. All rights reserved.
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Man killed estranged wife, son, former daughter-in-law before taking his own life in Mississippi, sheriff says
JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX/Gray News) - A father is accused of killing his estranged wife, their son and the son’s ex-wife before turning the gun himself, authorities said Friday.
The alleged murder-suicide happened Thursday between 7:30 and 8 p.m. local time at a home in the Latimer community, WLOX reported.
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell said deputies responded to a 911 call after receiving a report of a shooting. When the deputy arrived, he heard a single gunshot from the house, Ezell said.
That final shot is believed to have been the one fired by 64-year-old Thomas Griswold that ended his life.
Investigators said they believe he shot his estranged wife 64-year-old Veronica Griswold, their 36-year-old son Bjorn Griswold, and Bjorn’s ex-wife Jillian Pavolini, 39.
Copyright 2022 WLOX via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/08/man-killed-estranged-wife-son-former-daughter-in-law-before-taking-his-own-life-mississippi-sheriff-says/
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Mass shooting suspect served less time due to California law
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A suspect arrested in connection with last weekend’s mass shooting outside bars in Sacramento served less than half his 10-year sentence because of voter-approved changes to state law that lessened the punishment for his felony convictions and provided a chance for earlier release.
Smiley Allen Martin was freed in February after serving time for punching a girlfriend, dragging her from her home by her hair and whipping her with a belt, according to court and prison records.
Those count as nonviolent offenses under California law, which considers only about two dozen crimes to be violent felonies — such as murder, rape, arson and kidnapping.
Martin, 27, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun. He is among the 12 people wounded during Sunday’s shooting, which killed six others.
Police have said the violence was a shootout between rival gangs in which at least five people fired weapons, including Martin’s brother, Dandrae Martin, who also was arrested. No one has yet been charged with homicide in the shooting.
Smiley Martin typically would have remained behind bars until at least May after serving a minimum of half his time for his previous arrest in 2017, but prison officials evidently used a very expansive approach to applying lockup time credits to his sentence, said Gregory Totten, chief executive officer of the California District Attorneys Association and a former Ventura County district attorney.
“They’ve been given very broad authority to early release folks and to give them additional credit and all kinds of considerations for purposes of reducing the length of sentence that somebody serves,” Totten said.
Corrections officials did not dispute that Martin was among thousands of inmates who received additional credits that sped up their releases under state law. But the officials said their policy prohibits disclosing what prison time credits Martin received.
They cited credits through Proposition 57, the 2016 ballot measure that aimed to give most of the state’s felons a chance of earlier release. Credits were also broadly authorized in California to lower the prison population during the pandemic.
Proposition 57 credits include good behavior while behind bars, though corrections officials declined to release Martin’s disciplinary report. Good conduct credit is supposed to be reserved for inmates who follow all the rules and complete their assigned duties.
The state “has implemented various credit-earning opportunities to incentivize good behavior and program participation for incarcerated individuals, including those created in furtherance of Proposition 57— which was overwhelmingly approved by voters,” state corrections spokesperson Vicky Waters said in a statement.
Supporters of the credits, including former Gov. Jerry Brown, who pushed for Proposition 57, have said it’s important to give inmates a second chance. The opportunity for earlier release encourages inmates to participate in education and other rehabilitative programs and helps to reduce mass incarceration.
“The most recent reforms in California are seeking to change a culture that has been churning out recidivism problems for generations,” said Will Matthews, spokesperson for the Californians for Safety and Justice group, which backed the changes. “The question we need to be asking ourselves is, how are we engaging in behavior change?”
Under Proposition 57, credits are granted for completing rehabilitative or educational programs, self-help and volunteer public service activities, earning a high school diploma or higher education degree and performing a heroic act. Officials added credits during the coronavirus pandemic, including 12 weeks of credit that applied to most inmates.
Martin was denied parole in May 2021 under California’s process for nonviolent offenders to get earlier parole, after a letter was sent from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said they objected to his parole based on his lengthy criminal record and asserted that Martin “clearly has little regard for human life and the law.”
Six months after he turned 18, Martin was caught in January 2013 with an assault rifle and two fully loaded 25-bullet magazines, prosecutors said. Months later, he pushed aside a Walmart clerk to steal computers worth $2,800, they said. In 2016, he was arrested as a parolee at large. And less than six months after that was the assault that sent him back to prison.
It’s not clear if Martin has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.
Martin pleaded no contest and was sent to prison on charges of corporal injury and assault likely to cause great bodily injury in January 2018 under a plea deal in which charges of kidnapping — considered a violent felony — and intimidating a witness or victim were dismissed.
The sentencing judge awarded Martin 508 days of credits for time he spent in Sacramento County jail before his conviction, based on a California law that allows judges to double the actual time in jail, which in Martin’s case was 254 days.
Martin also had “a variety of additional post-sentencing credits,” which corrections department spokesperson Dana Simas said were awarded for time served while awaiting transfer to state prison from county jail.
Before Proposition 57, he would have qualified for 20% “good time” credits — meaning he could reduce his time served by one-fifth — but corrections officials used their authority under the ballot measure to bump those to 50%. Pending regulations opposed by most of the state’s district attorneys would further increase good time credits to two-thirds of a sentence for such repeat offenders.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, a progressive Democrat who formerly led the state Senate, was among those upset when he learned of Martin’s record.
“If people have a history of committing violent acts, and they have not shown a propensity or willingness to change, I don’t think they should be out on the streets,” he said at an event where officials requested more than $3 billion from the state to expand crime prevention programs.
Republican state Sen. Jim Nielsen, who once headed the state parole board, said “good time” credits are generally awarded automatically, without inmates having to do anything to earn them.
“It gives them enormous opportunity to free up beds,” said Nielsen, an opponent of earlier releases.
The state has relied on such efforts, particularly its powers under Proposition 57, to keep the prison population below the level required by a panel of federal judges who ruled that inmate crowding had led to unconstitutionally poor conditions.
Martin was released to the supervision of the Sacramento County Probation Department in February. County probation officials wouldn’t provide the terms, saying their records are not public documents.
Without discussing Martin’s case, Karen Pank, executive director of the Chief Probation Officers of California, said generally someone coming out of prison on Post Release Community Supervision with an extensive and violent criminal history would likely have been treated on a “high-risk” caseload.
That would subject him to more intensive supervision, including a requirement that he check in with his probation officer more frequently and in person, although individualized determinations on risks and needs would be made and treatment and services would continue to be offered.
Hours before Sunday’s shootout, Martin posted a live Facebook video of himself brandishing a handgun, a law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to public discuss details of the shooting investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pank said if there is evidence of a felon in possession of a firearm, that can be grounds for a violation, which may result in time in jail. However, it’s unlikely anyone from law enforcement could have acted in time even if they had seen the video.
“The big if is would they have known about it,” said Totten. But in this case, “it didn’t matter — it was so close to the time” of the shooting.
___
Associated Press writers Adam Beam, Stefanie Dazio and Michael Balsamo contributed to this story. Dazio reported from Los Angeles and Balsamo from Washington, D.C.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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United Equity
Phone: (402) 805-9195
Sell Your House Fast In Nebraska!
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We buy houses in Lincoln and other parts of NE, in any condition and for a fair price. Check Out How Our Process Works. Ryan and Daniel are ready to give you a fair offer for your house. Sell your Lincoln house fast. We’re ready to give you a full, all-cash offer.
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Do You Need To Sell Your House in Lincoln, NE?
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Unlike when you sell through the traditional real estate market, we’ll know very quickly if we can help you. Plus, you don’t have to wait to see if the buyer can get financing. United Equity is ready to buy right now!
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| 2022-04-08T15:35:17
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How did COVID-19 change the way kids take part in extracurriculars?
When Brad Thompson took his kids to an air show at the Grissom Air Reserve Base nearly three years ago, he thought he was mostly going for himself. He’d done work at the base before, but he didn’t think his kids would actually be that interested.
As soon as they arrived at the northern Indiana base near Peru, his daughter Mariquita Thompson was drawn to the plane displays. Thompson and his daughter, who was about 12 at the time, didn’t even watch the air show. They spent the whole day looking at the planes.
“I really didn’t know because she had never said anything about it before, but once she got up there and started looking at all these gigantic planes, she said, ‘You know, I’m really interested in this stuff,’” he said. “It was really exciting to see her find an interest, especially one outside of school.”
That day, Mariquita met some representatives from Monroe County’s Civil Air Patrol, a civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. Now, at 14, she is a cadet staff sergeant with the group.
More on COVID-19:Monroe County, state shifting approach to testing, vaccination as cases stay low
Although it’s a small group — about 10 members ages 12-18 — they’re doing big things. Cadets build and shoot bottle rockets, learn to fly drones and fly planes themselves, among other STEM activities.
But when COVID-19 hit, the group moved online. Instead of flying planes, they sat through hour-long lectures over Microsoft Teams.
Before COVID-19, the group had about 10 cadets, recalled Thompson, an adult member of the group. When they switched online, the group was cut in half.
“To try and keep the younger person interested, they’re not going to join Teams every Thursday just to sit through a lecture,” Thompson said. “So they don’t go to the meetings, they lose interest and we just kind of lose them.”
After-school activities, whether they’re sponsored by schools or not, play a vital role in youth development. They provide a space to make friends who share interests, receive mentoring from adults and learn skills they can apply in real-life situations.
More on K-12 schools:IU law students teach fifth graders about law through hands-on mock trial
Children’s participation in extracurriculars dropped significantly when COVID-19 hit, especially when social distancing was mandated, according to a 2021 study from the Journal of Child and Family Studies.
The Civil Air Patrol has always relied on word of mouth to recruit cadets, Thompson said. Kids tell their friends in school about what they’re interested in, but when schools shut down, the organization struggled.
After schools went back to regular classroom instruction, allowing the group to meet in person, the patrol gained back some members. But the group is still working to recruit more, as the level of participation isn't what they'd like it to be, Thompson said.
4-H also seeing an impact
Small groups like the Civil Air Patrol aren’t the only ones reeling from the pandemic. Even massive organizations, such as Monroe County 4-H, have felt the effects. Clint Deck, the county’s 4-H youth development educator, has seen it himself.
4-H participation has been slowly declining over the past decade, Deck said, but COVID-19 exacerbated the problem.
“I would estimate that if the pandemic never happened, we would have about 750 kids in the program,” he said. “We currently have about 500.”
Mariquita has also been involved in 4-H for eight years. When she showed goats the year before COVID-19, the goat barn was overflowing at the Monroe County 4-H Fair, Thompson said. When she returned in 2021 after the fair was canceled in 2020, the goat barn was half empty.
4-H is the largest youth-serving organization in America, according to the Purdue Extension's 4-H website. If kids are involved in 4-H for as long as they’re eligible, they could be in the program for 13 years.
And once they're in, Deck said, participants are unlikely to leave. As someone who grew up doing 4-H in Monroe County, Deck works with many of the same adult volunteers that he did when he was young.
“Everybody just loves it because it’s just such a good community,” Deck said. “Parents, especially if they have kids with a 10-year age gap, they can be 4-H parents for 25 years. So a lot of them just decide, ‘I’m going to be a volunteer.’”
A common misunderstanding about 4-H is that it only involves the animal shows, which take a lot of time and effort, Deck said. But there are many other opportunities, such as cooking and crafting, that don’t require as much commitment.
“In the past, 4-H was always one of those things where you could always squeeze it in around whatever else you were doing,” Deck said. “The ironic thing is that it still is that way.”
Still, fewer kids are willing to commit to 4-H now, he said. Other activities, such as school sports, require more time than they once did. As a result, many families only want their children participating in one or two extracurricular activities, he said.
“If you’re going to be a basketball player, you almost have to do travel basketball, too, if you want to be really good,” he said. “Or if you’re going do band, you kind of have to do all seasons of band. Even cheerleading and gymnastics, there are teams that go throughout the whole year.”
4-H also often relies on word of mouth, Deck said, but he is also working to recruit through social media and newsletters.
Ultimately, Deck said he hopes more kids will get involved with 4-H regardless of their commitment level, because the outcome is the same.
“Kids spend up to 13 years in the program thinking they’re just, like, having fun,” he said, “but they’re becoming well-rounded adults by the end of it.”
Contact Herald-Times reporter Christine Stephenson at cstephenson@heraldt.com.
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Both sides win, lose in lawsuit over Hoosier National Forest Houston South project
The Monroe County commissioners and the U.S. Forest Service, facing off in Indiana's southern district court, each can claim partial victory after Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt issued a summary judgment on March 30.
The civil lawsuit was filed May 13, 2020, by the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, Monroe County Environmental Commission, Dr. Paul David Simcox, Hoosier Environmental Council and the Indiana Forest Alliance concerning a proposed forest management project on about 13,000 acres of Hoosier National Forest land in Jackson and Lawrence counties.
Previous:Monroe County's legal fees are rising in a suit over the U.S. Forest Service's logging plans
Besides the Forest Service, other defendants in the case are Michael Chaveas, forest supervisor for Hoosier National Forest; Michelle Paduani, district ranger; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; David Bernhart, USFWS secretary; and Aurelia Skipwith, USFWS director.
The Houston South Vegetation Management and Restoration project would include logging, timber sales, prescribed burns and use of herbicides and other practices on land within the watershed of Lake Monroe, which is the primary drinking water source for Bloomington and surrounding communities. Work on the project was expected to take place over a 10- to 15-year period.
Walton Pratt granted in favor of the Forest Service on the claim alleging violation of the Endangered Species Act, with the claim dismissed. The judge also granted in favor of the defendants on the claim that the Forest Service did not consider reasonable alternatives in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, with the claim dismissed.
Walton Pratt granted in favor of the plaintiffs on the claim that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to fully evaluate the environmental effects to Lake Monroe. The judge remanded the project back to the Forest Service for further analysis.
Previous:Houston South project gets OK
Chaveas, forest supervisor, said the Forest Service is reviewing the court's order and considering the next steps, stating: "The actions to be implemented under the Houston South Restoration project are critical for the long-term benefit, diversity and resilience of our public forests and the habitats they provide for wildlife. A healthy and resilient forest buffer is essential for sustaining high water quality for Lake Monroe. Every action we conduct on the National Forest is performed with water quality protection measures in place that are closely monitored and have been proven effective, including a full suite of best management practices.
"The Houston South decision also includes a range of projects with the primary purpose of protecting and improving water quality, such as repair of poorly maintained roads and trails and currently eroded areas, as well as improving poorly sized or located culverts, all of which are currently contributing to sediment deposition in streams and erosion in the watershed and which would be addressed through implementation of the Houston South project," he said. "Many conservation-minded organizations are eager to see this project implemented in the coming years."
A news release from the Indiana Forest Alliance stated that the plaintiffs are "pleased" with the ruling.
Julie Thomas, president of the Monroe County commissioners, said, “We are encouraged by the court’s decision to uphold our claim against the U.S. Forest Service. By remanding this back to the Forest Service, the court has recognized the potentially deleterious impact of the Houston South plan on the water supply of more than 120,000 residents.”
Plaintiff David Simcox said, “This ruling sends a clear message to the USFS that it must expand the scope and detail in its environmental analysis. The government must consider the downstream effects of its projects.”
The Indiana Forest Alliance release also stated the plaintiffs are concerned about the claims where the judge ruled in favor of the Forest Service.
“We are concerned that the Forest Service will view the dismissal of these claims as a green light for doing lax analysis of alternatives to other projects in the HNF, no matter how massive their impacts are or what they will do to animals that are in dire straits," said Jeff Stant, executive director of the IFA. "We are discussing options for next steps with our legal counsel and the other plaintiffs.”
Contact Carol Kugler at ckugler@heraldt.com, 812-331-4359 or @ckugler on Twitter.
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Staffing, safety and funding issues to close Shalom Center on weekends
Staffing issues, safety concerns cited as reasons for change
Stating next month, Bloomington's Shalom Center, a day shelter and meal source for unhoused people, won't be open on weekends.
The Rev. Forrest Gilmore said a combination of factors — funding, hiring challenges and an increase in problem-causing guests who congregate at the southside center — led to the decision. Gilmore is executive director of Beacon, Shalom's parent organization. The center provides services such as hot meals, laundry, mail pickup and referrals to people experiencing poverty and homelessness.
Unlike 2019, when the city, county and social service agencies contributed money to keep the center at 620 S. Walnut St. open on weekends, Gilmore doesn't want donations to fund Saturdays and Sundays this time around.
He couldn't be reached for comment. But in a recent letter to churches and organizations that support the Shalom Center, Gilmore announced what he called the "sad but important news" and explained.
Previous:A Valentine's Day surprise: Bloomington's homeless get care packages from IU fraternity
"When this program was started back in 2017, it was developed as a financial partnership amongst several key stakeholders in the community, but over time that partnership changed a bit, leaving us without all the funding we needed to keep going," he wrote.
Safety concerns make hiring difficult
He said the day shelter, open from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., has struggled to hire people to work on weekends. Also playing a part, Gilmore's notification letter said, was concern about staff safety.
"We've also seen increasing level of behavioral challenges that have made us feel that the current staffing and training needs cannot be met at the current funding levels," he wrote.
"Pointedly, we have seen more threats and dangerous behavior directed at our staff and felt we did not currently have the resources to make the weekend services as safe as we need them to be."
A review of Bloomington Police Department incident reports from the Shalom Center over the past six months shows seven theft calls, five calls for physical altercations, two trespass complaints, two threats and several disturbance calls involving public intoxication and people wanted on warrants.
The police aren't always called, and even when they are, sometimes they don't make a report when issues get resolved.
Earlier:Housing with onsite care for disabled homeless coming to Bloomington area
Will weekend hours return?
The center started staying open on weekends in the fall of 2017, after a city task force on safety, civility and justice recommended extending hours to the weekends. The underlying reason was to better manage issues arising from an increasing number of people experiencing homelessness and addiction in Bloomington.
Gilmore said weekend hours may be reinstated in the future.
"This shift hurts, but we do think it's in the best interest of our work in the near future," the letter states. "We anticipate returning to daytime weekend services at some point down the road when we feel we can do so effectively and safely."
He said with the pandemic waning, the time is right to recalibrate Beacon and its focus. "It feels like an important time to get back to the basics of our work and to do so with excellence. This change allows us to bolster our staffing in Phil's Kitchen and the Shalom Center during the week plus maintain our street outreach program."
He encourages people to direct their charitable dollars to the Solidarity Sleepout to fund Friend's Place at www.givebutter.com/sleepout2022.
Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com, 812-331-4362 or 812-318-5967.
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https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2022/04/08/shalom-center-closes-weekends-due-staffing-safety-funding-issues/9495193002/
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(NEXSTAR)– It may feel in some parts of the United States that the coronavirus pandemic is in the rearview mirror, but new cases have spiked this week in some of the country’s most populous areas, showing we aren’t yet done with COVID-19.
Cases are up roughly 60% in New York City and have doubled in Washington, D.C., according to an analysis from The New York Times. The Times notes new cases are increasing in Colorado, Vermont, Rhode Island, Alaska, and New York.
This comes following two months of case declines. The average number of daily cases in the U.S. is hovering around 30,000 after a height of more than 800,000 in January. According to New York Times stats, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have all declined nationwide over the last two weeks. Hospitalizations are now at the lowest point they’ve been since the first few weeks of the pandemic.
The increase in the Northeast is being blamed on the BA.2 subvariant. Last month, WHO confirmed it was now the dominant variant around the world. At one point in March, it accounted for 75% of coronavirus cases globally.
This week, the World Health Organization said its tracking an omicron variant that’s a recombination of BA.2 and BA.1. According to the Associated Press, this variant could be slightly more transmissible than previous mutations.
Globally, WHO confirmed the COVID situation is much improved over earlier this year. In its latest pandemic report, WHO said 9 million cases were reported over the last week, a 16% weekly decline, and more than 26,000 new deaths from COVID-19. The U.N. health agency said confirmed coronavirus infections were down in all regions of the world.
The agency has continued to warn countries not to drop their COVID-19 protocols too quickly and predicted that future variants could spread easily if surveillance and testing systems are shelved.
In the meantime, the CDC advises everyone stay up to date on their COVID vaccine. Whether or not you’re “up to date” depends on your age, health conditions, the type of COVID shot you got, and how long it’s been since your last dose.
As long as the virus continued to circulate, it will continue to spawn new variants – some of which could prove more contagious, more immune-evasive, or more deadly.
“The virus will pick up pockets of susceptibility and will survive in those pockets for months and months until another pocket of susceptibility opens up,” Dr. Michael Ryan, a WHO executive director, said in March. “This is how viruses work. They establish themselves within a community and they’ll move quickly to the next community if it’s unprotected.”
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
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It's Your Business: Sustaining southern Indiana's defense and agricultural economies
In February, Indiana was chosen as the newest site for a federal program that will help private landowners and organizations around military bases by providing resources to improve, protect and preserve their land. More than 3.5 million acres in southern Indiana, from Edinburgh to Jasper, and from Madison to Vincennes, are now part of the Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape.
The Sentinel Landscapes Partnership was established in 2013 through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense and Department of the Interior. The purpose of the program is to connect landowners within the landscape boundary to state and federal programs for opportunities that will help them sustainably run their land in ways that also support the military bases near them.
More:A military program will help protect 3.5M acres of southern Indiana and aid landowners
The Southern Indiana Sentinel Landscape is one of 10 in the country and aims to be a win-win initiative for the military, agriculture and the environment. Naval Support Activity Crane, Atterbury-Muscatatuck Training Center, Indiana Air Range Complex and Lake Glendora Test Facility all fall within the landscape and will be enhanced by the designation. In addition, this part of the state is home to six state parks, seven state forests, nine state fish and wildlife areas, 39 state-dedicated nature preserves, one national forest and three national wildlife refuges.
This unique partnership is a great achievement for southern Indiana. Millions of federal dollars and partner resources are expected to target Indiana for this project. Landowners in this part of the state will have access to tools that will not only help better serve Indiana’s military installations but also protect and enhance what they own.
More:Clean those birdfeeders: There are several diseases that can infect songbirds
Although the primary objective of the program is to preserve and protect the missions of the included military bases, it will provide opportunities for environmental protection as well. Beside federal partners, state agencies, including the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and conservation organizations could increase support for the parks and forests as well as wildlife in the area.
Radius Indiana is a proud partner to the defense and agriculture economies. We are grateful to be a part of opportunities that grow our region and support those who live and work here. We look forward to seeing the achievements and accomplishments that grow from this partnership in our part of the state.
Matt Craig is director of Crane Community Support for Radius Indiana.
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https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/local/2022/04/08/southern-indiana-sentinel-landscape-bolster-defense-agriculture/9468764002/
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BATON ROUGE, La. (WGMB) – There’s a pest that is harmless to plants, but potentially harmful to humans and animals — and it’s in many states that enjoy warmer weather.
Native to Southeast Asia, hammerhead worms have an affinity for hot, humid locations. In the U.S., they are known to thrive in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas, according to the Texas Invasive Species Institute’s (TISI) website.
They can also be found in greenhouses or places with “hot, humid environments,” the TISI says.
So where did hammerhead worms come from, and how did they end up in the U.S.?
Assistant Professor Nathan P. Lord, Ph.D. at Louisiana State University, said the worms may have made their way to the States is in the soil of ornamental plants. These worms hitchhiked to the USA and now can be found across areas that mimic their native climate.
They can also be a bit dangerous.
For starters, earthworms should be on alert because hammerhead worms consider them prey. But humans and pets should be wary, too.
“They actually produce a pretty nasty neurotoxin for paralyzing the earthworm prey, so there is certainly the potential for people and pets to be harmed if eaten or touched,” said Lord.
Those who spot hammerhead worms, or otherwise come into contact with one, are advised to put on a pair of gloves, refrain from touching them with bare skin, and, of course, avoid eating them. The TISI says anyone who handles a hammerhead flatworm should wash their hands with hot soapy water, rinse in alcohol and/or use hand disinfectant.
If you see one of these worms and have the urge to kill it, take a moment and consider your options: According to the TISI, you shouldn’t try to chop up the hammerhead worms, as this will only result in more hammerhead worms.
“Reproduction seems to be primarily achieved through fragmentation: a small rear portion of the worm will pinch off, and ‘stay behind’ as the worm moves forward,” the TISI writes.
“Within about 10 days, the head begins to form and this may happen a few times a month.”
Lord explained that “specialized cells” allow the worms to regenerate parts of their bodies, or “sometimes even entire new bodies from a small piece of the original worm.”
Both Lord and Dr. Blake Layton, of Mississippi State University, recommend putting salt on the hammerhead worms. The worms may also dry out if left in the bright sun for a period of time.
If all else fails, “squishing them is likely to do enough damage to kill them,” Lord said.
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Column: Getting old doesn't make you mean, you were already mean to start with
An elderly relative lay dying at Columbus Regional Hospital.
She had never had children of her own and, in her later years, I came forward to help her — running errands, visiting, listening to myriad complaints about her world and the people in it.
I had received a call at the office, telling me her heart condition had deteriorated. Doctors could do no more for her and she had been moved to a holding room until she could be placed in a nursing home.
She was old and frail — just a wisp of the woman who once sat smoking L& M Menthol 100s and sipping on a Canadian Club highball each afternoon at her kitchen table.
Today, she lay in a hospital bed, cranked up slightly to elevate her head — hooked up to hoses — her nose clamped to the plastic prongs of an oxygen tube — her eyes closed. As I entered the room, she looked so peaceful I assumed at first I was too late to say goodbye.
I edged my way around the foot of her bed and quietly sat down in the visitor’s chair on the far side.
“Damn, you are fat,” a weak crackle of a voice cut through the silence. “How the hell much do you weigh?”
Evidently, she had watched me inch my way around the bed and had just enough air left in her lungs to breathe a final, insensitive evaluation of me. Then her eyes slowly went shut.
She died the way she lived — mean-spirited, self-centered and judgmental. No phony deathbed conversions for her — no attempt to try to cut in line ahead of those on their way to paradise that day. I admired her for that.
I was in my early 50s and my relative was in her mid-70s — about the age I am now.
As a teenager, I once heard my father describe her as “mean as a snake.” I thought he was a bit harsh at the time. To me she was just fun — a woman who did as she pleased, had a mind of her own and loved a party.
In reality, my dad’s comment had been right on target. Whether by some mysterious genetic inheritance or some childhood emotional trauma, she had been “mean as a snake” her whole life.
Family members said she was spoiled by her alcoholic father, who had damaged the lives of her older siblings, then sobered up somewhat and tried to make amends by having no rules on her whatsoever.
Other times — in her young adult years — her hurtful comments and vengeful attitudes were passed off as “strengths of character” — a willingness to tell the unfettered truth about people and situations — an honesty that, while hurtful, was admirable.
Finally, she grew old and the world stepped forward to give her the “hall pass to respectability” so often awarded to those of us in our dotage who are “mean as snakes.” Overlook her. It’s not the way she is. She is just old and has lost her filter.
I am sure I awarded my relative that excuse during her later years — often out of embarrassment about the way she had always been. She had not been much kinder or considerate of others at 40 than she was at 70. Mean old people likely were mean young people.
I am now 76 with no fear of being labeled an “ageist” when I say getting old doesn’t turn loving people hateful or considerate people mean.
Of course, the truth is many old folks lose their filters a bit. Although I have never had much of a filter at any age, I guess this column shows I have lost what little I had.
That woman was indeed mean as a snake.
Bud Herron is a retired editor and newspaper publisher who lives in Columbus. He served as publisher of The Republic from 1998 to 2007.
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CHICAGO (WGN) — In 2017, Frank Spiro and John Onieal had just arrived in Chicago.
They were part of the first class at the Second City Film School, the only school in the world devoted exclusively to the study and production of comedy, becoming random roommates in an apartment.
“Frank and I both moved to Chicago, which we consider the mecca of comedy,” Onieal said. “It was an exciting opportunity for us to study comedy and also learn how to put comedy on screen, how to write for that, how to direct for that how to produce for that.”
As roommates and classmates, they began to collaborate on scripts.
“John and Frank like to be in-person, in the same room, riff off of each other. It’s like improv,” said Mariano DiMarco, a screenwriting instructor at the Second City Film School. “It’s just like improv. You riff off each other. You listen and you respond.”
It was in the DiMarco film-writing class that Onieal developed an idea for a TV series called “Bridesman.”
He co-wrote the script with Sprio, and now “Bridesman” has been produced as the first original scripted series from Grindr, the popular queer social-networking app. It seems like an odd pairing: a hook-up app with a comedy series, but it’s being touted as a new way to engage the app’s 27 million users.
“First and foremost, it’s no secret that scripted original content is one of the world’s greatest aphrodisiacs,” Spiro said. “So I think it only a natural fit to partner with Grindr.”
“Bridesman” is the story of a single gay man who returns to his hometown to be in his childhood friend’s wedding party — the lone “bridesman” among the bridesmaids. Onieal describes the main character, played by Jimmy Fowlie, as “gay and awful.” Fowlie’s character spends the six episodes trying to undermine the whole affair.
“He loves his best friend so much that he thinks he needs to save her from this boring life of marriage and monogamy so he goes to save her from that, and the reality is he learns a lot about how relationships are recognized and how they can be different and appreciated, and friendship is one of those relationships,” Onieal said.
The series consists of six roughly 10-minute episodes, each one fast-paced and packed with jokes.
“I think our approach to writing comedy is really about taking advantage of opportunities, because that’s what screenwriting is. It’s you giving yourself opportunities to take advantage of. Every line of dialogue, every action is an opportunity,” Spiro said.
The show launched on Grindr and YouTube this week, and so far the series has logged more than 1 million views.
“I think the way that it’s delivered is just meeting people where they are, meeting people where their eyeballs are, which is Grindr,” Onieal said. “People are spending more time on their phones. They’re taking in content on their phones and this is just a great opportunity for everybody to get to see our voice, our story, our jokes, right where their eyes are.”
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Column: Indiana University dean makes case against graduate students unionizing
Recently, some of our graduate students who work part-time in academic positions have advocated partnering with the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America to form a union.
Indiana University believes a graduate student employee union is not in the interests of our graduate students or of our state. We are not anti-union — we work productively with AFSCME and CWA, who represent some IU staff — but unionization is counterproductive to addressing the critical needs of our students. This is most effectively and successfully accomplished through their faculty advisors, academic departments and schools.
Previous:Indiana University refuses union election demands from graduate workers
IU’s graduate student employees are first and foremost graduate students. They are at IU for an education. Paid academic work is a key part of that education for some, but it is only a part. That is why student academic appointments are part-time, so that work is balanced with other academic activities like attending class, conducting research and writing dissertations.
Our more than 10,000 graduate students work closely with faculty and with each other. In fact, many of our graduate students come to IU because of the opportunity to work with particular faculty or in a specific department or lab. The relationships among graduate students and with their faculty advisors are often the most important and enduring in their professional lives.
Injecting a union into these relationships would create the antithesis of why students pursue their graduate degrees — changing the focus from full-time education to part-time work. In essence, it would alter their status from students to employees.
The approximately one-fourth of our graduate students who work in part-time academic positions benefit from an expanded educational experience, working closely with their academic mentors in teaching undergraduate classes and supporting critical initiatives within their home departments and schools.
IU invests on average about $51,000 per student academic appointee in the form of stipends, tuition, fee waivers, insurance and other benefits — for part-time, 10-month positions. That is before a recently approved 5% stipend increase takes effect — the result of the university‘s commitment to listening and acting to support the needs of our graduate students. Our university, schools and academic departments are dedicated to maintaining open and active dialogue with IU’s graduate students to ensure that their evolving needs are addressed.
We are concerned that graduate student employees advocating for unionization would be harmed by a reclassification from student to part-time employee. Among the harmful impacts would be the elimination of academic freedom protections and insurance coverage and tuition waivers that are available only to staff employees who work full-time.
In our view, this does not serve our students. A union for graduate student employees will only be an obstruction as we work together to create opportunities for all of our students and the state we are privileged to serve.
James C. Wimbush is dean of The University Graduate School; vice president for diversity, equity, and multicultural affairs; and Johnson Chair for Diversity and Leadership at Indiana University.
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ROME (AP) — Prices for food commodities like grains and vegetable oils reached their highest levels ever last month largely because of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the “massive supply disruptions” it is causing, threatening millions of people in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere with hunger and malnourishment, the United Nations said Friday.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said its Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in international prices for a basket of commodities, averaged 159.3 points last month, up 12.6% from February. As it is, the February index was the highest level since its inception in 1990.
FAO said the war in Ukraine was largely responsible for the 17.1% rise in the price of grains, including wheat and others like oats, barley and corn. Together, Russia and Ukraine account for around 30% and 20% of global wheat and corn exports, respectively.
While predictable given February’s steep rise, “this is really remarkable,” said Josef Schmidhuber, deputy director of FAO’s markets and trade division. “Clearly, these very high prices for food require urgent action.”
The biggest price increases were for vegetable oils: that price index rose 23.2%, driven by higher quotations for sunflower seed oil that is used for cooking. Ukraine is the world’s leading exporter of sunflower oil, and Russia is No. 2.
“There is, of course, a massive supply disruption, and that massive supply disruption from the Black Sea region has fueled prices for vegetable oil,” Schmidhuber told reporters in Geneva.
He said he couldn’t calculate how much the war was to blame for the record food prices, noting that poor weather conditions in the United States and China also were blamed for crop concerns. But he said “logistical factors” were playing a big role.
“Essentially, there are no exports through the Black Sea, and exports through the Baltics is practically also coming to an end,” he said.
Soaring food prices and disruption to supplies coming from Russia and Ukraine have threatened food shortages in countries in the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia where many people already were not getting enough to eat.
Those nations rely on affordable supplies of wheat and other grains from the Black Sea region to feed millions of people who subsist on subsidized bread and bargain noodles, and they now face the possibility of further political instability.
Other large grain producers like the United States, Canada, France, Australia and Argentina are being closely watched to see if they can quickly ramp up production to fill in the gaps, but farmers face issues like climbing fuel and fertilizer costs exacerbated by the war, as well as drought and supply-chain disruptions.
In the Sahel region of Central and West Africa, the disruptions from the war have added to an already precarious food situation caused by COVID-19, conflicts, poor weather and other structural problems, said Sib Ollo, senior researcher for the World Food Program for West and Central Africa in Dakar, Senegal.
“There is a sharp deterioration of the food and nutrition security in the region,” he told reporters, saying six million children are malnourished and nearly 16 million people in urban areas are at risk of food insecurity.
Farmers, he said, were particularly worried that they would not be able to access fertilizers produced in the Black Sea region. Russia is a leading global exporter.
“The cost of fertilizers has increased by almost 30% in many places of this region due to the supply disruption that we see provoked by a crisis in Ukraine,” he said.
The World Food Program has appealed for $777 million to meet the needs of 22 million people in the Sahel region and Nigeria over six months, he said.
To address the needs of food-importing countries, the FAO was developing a proposal for a mechanism to alleviate the import costs for the poorest countries, Schmidhuber said. The proposal calls for eligible countries to commit to added investments in their own agricultural productivity to obtain import credits to help soften the blow.
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IU's D-Line struggled in 2021. Hoosiers hope a new coach, new players bring new results.
Paul Randolph believes in hands-on teaching. Even though it's been 25 years since his Canadian Football League career ended and his coaching career began, Indiana's new defensive line coach still believes in showing more than telling.
At the age of 55, he just can't quite handle as many reps these days, especially at the grueling position he coaches. But he believes a coach should be able to do what he's asking for to show what it looks like.
"I'll try to show you," Randolph said. "I'm not as young as I used to be, but I'll show you what running to the football looks like. I'll show you once or twice what coming out of your stance looks like, hips, hands and feet, things of that nature, technique-wise. Then just running to the ball, chasing the ball, high energy, that's what we want to be about, fanatical effort."
Hoosiers For Good:IU athletes net nearly half a million dollars in first wave of charitable NIL deals
From QBs to RBs to WRs:IU's offense is basically starting from scratch. After 2021, that's not a bad thing.
Chad Wilt joined coaching staff
The high-energy approach obviously fits in well on the staff of the perpetually amped-up Tom Allen and his newly-hired, equally-wired defensive coordinator Chad Wilt. The Hoosiers are hopeful it sparks a defensive line that has experienced significant turnover in the offseason like many others on Indiana's roster after its disappointing 2-10 campaign in 2021.
The Hoosiers treat the Bull position, their stand-up defensive end who has both pass-rush and pass-coverage responsibilities, as a separate position from the defensive line with its own coach, Kasey Teegardin. Of the three positions Randolph will oversee, two will have new starters this season.
Ryder Anderson, Weston Kramer transferred
Gone are defensive end Ryder Anderson and defensive tackle Weston Kramer transferred in last season to use their extra COVID-waiver year. They were two of the most productive defensive players on the roster in a year when the Hoosiers struggled to create the same kind of havoc they've been known for under Allen. Anderson finished second on the team in both sacks (3.5) and tackles for loss (8.5) behind linebacker Micah McFadden. Kramer was third in sacks with 2.0 and fourth in tackles for loss with 5.0.
The Hoosiers return a handful of other linemen including starting defensive tackle Demarcus Elliott and veteran defensive tackle Sio Nofoagatoto'a, but they also hit the transfer portal hard looking for more size. They got much bigger in the middle, landing Ole Miss transfers Patrick Lucas (6-3, 320 pounds) and LeDarrius Cox (6-4, 319). They also landed fifth-year senior California transfer JH Tevis, a 6-4, 281-pounder who started the past two years for the Golden Bears at defensive end.
Like many positions on IU's roster, it's almost like a reset. Randolph says he sees a group that has bought in so far.
"The maturity in the room, for me, is really exciting," Randolph said. "Then, their work ethic. Once you take everything we do in the classroom, we go out on the field, and they are executing at a high level."
The coaching staff has been particularly impressed with Tevis, who has quickly turned into one of the leaders of the group.
Tevis spent four years at Cal, taking a redshirt as a freshman, so he has his degree already. He would have stayed in Berkeley, but he wanted to pursue masters of business administration degree while still playing, and that wasn't possible for him at Cal. The school offers the program, but he said he couldn't get in as a recent graduate even though he was twice named to the Pac-12 Academic Honor roll.
"At Cal you get in during your undergrad years and you do the first two years of prerequisites," Tevis said. "But it's super-competitive. About one guy a year gets in on the football team. If you don't get in the undergrad program, you need a certain amount of years of work experience outside of college and then you can come back and get your MBA. Obviously, that's not possible for me."
More newcomers:IU LB Myles Jackson brings 'off the charts' energy after UCLA transfer
Tevis circled Indiana as a possible destination because of the Kelley School of Business even before Tom Allen reached out, and he liked the coach's style as well. Since he arrived, Allen has been touting him as one of the best leaders among the program's newcomers, and Randolph agrees.
"He's played a lot of football," Randolph said when asked what's impressed him about Tevis. "His knowledge on and off the field. The way he carries himself as a leader. He's been leading long enough to where he understands when it's time to get on his teammates, but also when it's time to build them back up."
Tevis says similar things about Randolph, which is why he believes this rebuilt line has a chance to come together quickly.
"Coach Randolph, you kind of forget that he's a new guy around here," Tevis said. "The chemistry we have with him as a coach is already strong. He has the plays and techniques already down. It seems like he's adjusted really fast.
"Something I've really appreciated coach Randolph for is he's upbeat and he's really positive. He's hard on you when he needs to be, but he also has that side to him where he can say, you had a bad rep, let's dust it off and move on to the next one. That's really important for a player."
Follow Herald-Times IU Insider Dustin Dopirak on Twitter at @DustinDopirak or email him at DDopirak@gannett.com.
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(NEXSTAR) – Two years into the pandemic, the housing market remains as hot as ever. But if you’ve been waiting for the right moment to put your house on the market, the most opportune time is nearly here.
While there isn’t an exact, perfect date to list your house, recent reports from Realtor.com and Zillow show April is the prime time to do it.
According to a Realtor.com analysis, sellers will find the strongest demand from buyers willing to pay a higher price during the week of April 10-16. To determine this, the company evaluated data from the last three years to find when home prices were high, there was a lot of demand, the competition wasn’t as fierce with other sellers, and homes sold quickly.
“Sellers listing in mid-April can expect to find relatively high buyer interest, coupled with limited competition from other sellers, that equates to fast-selling homes at top dollar,” says Danielle Hale, the chief economist for Realtor.com.
If that range isn’t specific enough for you, a Zillow analysis found a Thursday during the second half of April – this year, that’s April 21 or 28 – is the most opportune time based on home sales from 2021. Zillow estimates that homes listed during the final two weeks of the month will sell for 2.8% more than the typical home.
Additionally, the analysis found homes listed on any Thursday – a time when potential buyers are planning weekend showings – could sell for roughly $1,100 more than when listed on another day.
There are also some areas where April isn’t the best time to list, Zillow found. Sellers in eight U.S. metro areas – Philadelphia, Miami, Atlanta, Phoenix, St. Louis, Charlotte, San Antonio, and Cincinnati – for example, may have a better financial return by listing in early May.
Already have your home on the market, or won’t be listing until after April? Zillow economist Nicole Bachaud says you shouldn’t be too concerned. Because of the limited inventory the U.S. housing market is experiencing, you’re likely to get a quick sale almost any time of the year.
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| 2022-04-08T15:44:28
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(NEXSTAR) – More than 100,000 Murphy-style beds have been recalled in the U.S. after one of them fell on a 79-year-old woman who later died.
The Bestar Wall Beds, which were also sold in Canada, were found to pose “serious impact and crushing hazards,” according a safety recall issued by the Consumer Safety Product Commission. The recall affects approximately 129,000 wall beds in the U.S.
The beds were sold at online retailers including Amazon.com, Costco.com, Cymax.com and Wayfair.com between June 2014 and March 2022. A full list of the recalled models — of which there are nearly two dozen — is available at Bestar.com.
In a safety notice Bestar is sending to consumers, the company warned of beds “suddenly” coming loose from the wall if “installation instructions are not followed.”
“If the wall mounting screws are not properly installed to the wall structure (wood studs, metal studs, or masonry), or if ‘hollow wall’ anchors have been used, then the wall bed can suddenly detach from the wall and fall, resulting in serious injury or death,” the company wrote in the letter.
Bestar had received over 60 reports of injuries caused by the beds detaching from walls. In 2018, a 79-year-old woman died after suffering a spine injury when a Bestar Wall Bed fell on her, according to the CSPC.
Bestar is contacting consumers who purchased the recalled models. In the meantime, Bestar and the CSPC are urging customers to refrain from using the beds until they can be reinstalled by a professional. Bestar is also arranging to reimburse customers whose wall beds require reinstallation.
More information can be found at the CSPC and Bestar websites. Consumers can also contact Bestar at 888-912-8458 or email the company at Bestar8577@stericycle.com.
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| 2022-04-08T15:44:34
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(KTVX) – As the U.S. deals with a nationwide shortage of truck drivers, Walmart has announced that the company will be offering their long-haul drivers a salary of up to $110,000 per year.
In a press release, the company said the latest investment not only gives first-year truck drivers the ability to make up to $110,000 but also gives drivers who have been with Walmart the opportunity to earn even more.
The average salary for a long-haul driver is $63,433 (base salary plus additional pay) per year, but “most likely” ranges between $28,000 and $149,000 annually, according to a Glassdoor study.
In raising its truckers’ salaries, Walmart is now on the same playing field as Sysco, which also advertises that its employees can make up to $110,000 a year.
Walmart also announced the launch of the first Walmart Private Fleet Development Program, a 12-week program where supply-chain associates in the Dallas, Texas, and Dover, Delaware, areas earned their commercial driver’s license (CDL) and became full-fledged Private Fleet Walmart drivers.
Last October, the American Trucking Association (AHA) announced that the current driver shortage had left the trucking industry “short” by 80,000 drivers — a worrying new record, according to the ATA.
The ATA said that trucking will need to recruit nearly one million new drivers in order to keep up with demand for freight.
“Because [there] are a number of factors driving the shortage, we have to take a number of different approaches,” said Bob Costello, the chief economist for the ATA, in a press release issued in Oct. 2021. “The industry is raising pay at five times the historic average, but this isn’t just a pay issue. We have an aging workforce, a workforce that is overwhelmingly male, and finding ways to address those issues is key to narrowing the shortage.”
More information on Walmart’s program, including a list of requirements for potential drivers, can be found at the company’s Careers portal.
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| 2022-04-08T15:44:40
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Fans gather for Twins home opener in Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (KTTC) – The Minnesota Twins open at home Friday after weather pushed the game from Thursday to Friday. The Twins take on the Seattle Mariners, first pitch is 3:10 p.m.
Before the big game, fans were able to get to Target Field early Friday morning from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. for a free breakfast. Cars drove by to pick up their food, and others walked or biked to the stadium. Fans were given hot dogs, soda, salted nut rolls, Twins swag, and of course ice cream bars. Even though it was in the 30s... only in Minnesota.
Fans we spoke with say they are just happy to be back in person, interacting with other fans. This is the first home opener at Target Field since 2019 without any COVID-19 restrictions.
Tickets to the game are still available, starting at $15 a ticket.
You can also get tickets at the box office.
Copyright 2022 KTTC. All rights reserved.
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Man killed estranged wife, son, former daughter-in-law before taking his own life in Mississippi, sheriff says
JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WLOX/Gray News) - A father is accused of killing his estranged wife, their son and the son’s ex-wife before turning the gun himself, authorities said Friday.
The alleged murder-suicide happened Thursday between 7:30 and 8 p.m. local time at a home in the Latimer community, WLOX reported.
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell said deputies responded to a 911 call after receiving a report of a shooting. When the deputy arrived, he heard a single gunshot from the house, Ezell said.
That final shot is believed to have been the one fired by 64-year-old Thomas Griswold that ended his life.
Investigators said they believe he shot his estranged wife 64-year-old Veronica Griswold, their 36-year-old son Bjorn Griswold, and Bjorn’s ex-wife Jillian Pavolini, 39.
Copyright 2022 WLOX via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/man-killed-estranged-wife-son-former-daughter-in-law-before-taking-his-own-life-mississippi-sheriff-says/
| 2022-04-08T15:45:35
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Mass shooting suspect served less time due to California law
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A suspect arrested in connection with last weekend’s mass shooting outside bars in Sacramento served less than half his 10-year sentence because of voter-approved changes to state law that lessened the punishment for his felony convictions and provided a chance for earlier release.
Smiley Allen Martin was freed in February after serving time for punching a girlfriend, dragging her from her home by her hair and whipping her with a belt, according to court and prison records.
Those count as nonviolent offenses under California law, which considers only about two dozen crimes to be violent felonies — such as murder, rape, arson and kidnapping.
Martin, 27, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun. He is among the 12 people wounded during Sunday’s shooting, which killed six others.
Police have said the violence was a shootout between rival gangs in which at least five people fired weapons, including Martin’s brother, Dandrae Martin, who also was arrested. No one has yet been charged with homicide in the shooting.
Smiley Martin typically would have remained behind bars until at least May after serving a minimum of half his time for his previous arrest in 2017, but prison officials evidently used a very expansive approach to applying lockup time credits to his sentence, said Gregory Totten, chief executive officer of the California District Attorneys Association and a former Ventura County district attorney.
“They’ve been given very broad authority to early release folks and to give them additional credit and all kinds of considerations for purposes of reducing the length of sentence that somebody serves,” Totten said.
Corrections officials did not dispute that Martin was among thousands of inmates who received additional credits that sped up their releases under state law. But the officials said their policy prohibits disclosing what prison time credits Martin received.
They cited credits through Proposition 57, the 2016 ballot measure that aimed to give most of the state’s felons a chance of earlier release. Credits were also broadly authorized in California to lower the prison population during the pandemic.
Proposition 57 credits include good behavior while behind bars, though corrections officials declined to release Martin’s disciplinary report. Good conduct credit is supposed to be reserved for inmates who follow all the rules and complete their assigned duties.
The state “has implemented various credit-earning opportunities to incentivize good behavior and program participation for incarcerated individuals, including those created in furtherance of Proposition 57— which was overwhelmingly approved by voters,” state corrections spokesperson Vicky Waters said in a statement.
Supporters of the credits, including former Gov. Jerry Brown, who pushed for Proposition 57, have said it’s important to give inmates a second chance. The opportunity for earlier release encourages inmates to participate in education and other rehabilitative programs and helps to reduce mass incarceration.
“The most recent reforms in California are seeking to change a culture that has been churning out recidivism problems for generations,” said Will Matthews, spokesperson for the Californians for Safety and Justice group, which backed the changes. “The question we need to be asking ourselves is, how are we engaging in behavior change?”
Under Proposition 57, credits are granted for completing rehabilitative or educational programs, self-help and volunteer public service activities, earning a high school diploma or higher education degree and performing a heroic act. Officials added credits during the coronavirus pandemic, including 12 weeks of credit that applied to most inmates.
Martin was denied parole in May 2021 under California’s process for nonviolent offenders to get earlier parole, after a letter was sent from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said they objected to his parole based on his lengthy criminal record and asserted that Martin “clearly has little regard for human life and the law.”
Six months after he turned 18, Martin was caught in January 2013 with an assault rifle and two fully loaded 25-bullet magazines, prosecutors said. Months later, he pushed aside a Walmart clerk to steal computers worth $2,800, they said. In 2016, he was arrested as a parolee at large. And less than six months after that was the assault that sent him back to prison.
It’s not clear if Martin has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.
Martin pleaded no contest and was sent to prison on charges of corporal injury and assault likely to cause great bodily injury in January 2018 under a plea deal in which charges of kidnapping — considered a violent felony — and intimidating a witness or victim were dismissed.
The sentencing judge awarded Martin 508 days of credits for time he spent in Sacramento County jail before his conviction, based on a California law that allows judges to double the actual time in jail, which in Martin’s case was 254 days.
Martin also had “a variety of additional post-sentencing credits,” which corrections department spokesperson Dana Simas said were awarded for time served while awaiting transfer to state prison from county jail.
Before Proposition 57, he would have qualified for 20% “good time” credits — meaning he could reduce his time served by one-fifth — but corrections officials used their authority under the ballot measure to bump those to 50%. Pending regulations opposed by most of the state’s district attorneys would further increase good time credits to two-thirds of a sentence for such repeat offenders.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, a progressive Democrat who formerly led the state Senate, was among those upset when he learned of Martin’s record.
“If people have a history of committing violent acts, and they have not shown a propensity or willingness to change, I don’t think they should be out on the streets,” he said at an event where officials requested more than $3 billion from the state to expand crime prevention programs.
Republican state Sen. Jim Nielsen, who once headed the state parole board, said “good time” credits are generally awarded automatically, without inmates having to do anything to earn them.
“It gives them enormous opportunity to free up beds,” said Nielsen, an opponent of earlier releases.
The state has relied on such efforts, particularly its powers under Proposition 57, to keep the prison population below the level required by a panel of federal judges who ruled that inmate crowding had led to unconstitutionally poor conditions.
Martin was released to the supervision of the Sacramento County Probation Department in February. County probation officials wouldn’t provide the terms, saying their records are not public documents.
Without discussing Martin’s case, Karen Pank, executive director of the Chief Probation Officers of California, said generally someone coming out of prison on Post Release Community Supervision with an extensive and violent criminal history would likely have been treated on a “high-risk” caseload.
That would subject him to more intensive supervision, including a requirement that he check in with his probation officer more frequently and in person, although individualized determinations on risks and needs would be made and treatment and services would continue to be offered.
Hours before Sunday’s shootout, Martin posted a live Facebook video of himself brandishing a handgun, a law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to public discuss details of the shooting investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pank said if there is evidence of a felon in possession of a firearm, that can be grounds for a violation, which may result in time in jail. However, it’s unlikely anyone from law enforcement could have acted in time even if they had seen the video.
“The big if is would they have known about it,” said Totten. But in this case, “it didn’t matter — it was so close to the time” of the shooting.
___
Associated Press writers Adam Beam, Stefanie Dazio and Michael Balsamo contributed to this story. Dazio reported from Los Angeles and Balsamo from Washington, D.C.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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North America to experience total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024
Published: Apr. 8, 2022 at 10:38 AM CDT|Updated: 7 minutes ago
(Gray News) - A total solar eclipse will cross North America two years from today on April 8, 2024.
With a total solar eclipse, the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, completely blocking the face of the sun.
NASA says 13 U.S. states will be within the path of totality: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Parts of Mexico and Canada will also be within the path of totality.
For exact times on when the eclipse will occur in each area, visit NASA’s website.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-08T15:45:38
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Pat Lund, former KTTC sports director, passes away
Published: Apr. 8, 2022 at 10:32 AM CDT|Updated: 12 minutes ago
ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – After a long battle with an illness, former KTTC sports director Pat Lund has passed away, according to his family.
Lund retired from KTTC in 2020 after 30 years of covering sports in southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa. His impact and legacy reached thousands of high school athletes, their families and communities big and small.
Funeral services haven’t been announced yet.
KTTC will have more on Pat’s legacy on air and online.
Copyright 2022 KTTC. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-08T15:45:45
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LVIV, Ukraine — A woman on the verge of giving birth with her leg flayed open by shrapnel. A shockwave that shattered the glass and ceramic lining of a room with medical waste. A nurse who suffered a concussion.
This is what the Ukrainian doctors remember of the Russian airstrike that destroyed the Mariupol maternity hospital where they once worked. And these memories are now all they have from a day they wish they could forget: Russian soldiers purged the evidence from their phones when they fled Mariupol.
“With just one blow, there was simply nothing, no children’s clinic, it was simply blown away, ” said Dr. Lyudmila Mykhailenko, the acting director at Hospital No. 3 in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The sprawling courtyard of the hospital complex was — and remains — “one continuous shell crater.”
Three doctors and a paramedic spoke with The Associated Press to offer new details from a March 9 airstrike that happened when communications were all but severed, and to counter fresh Russian misinformation. They left the city separately in private cars, as have thousands from Mariupol in recent weeks, and are now scattered in other towns around Ukraine and in Poland.
Their testimony, along with AP reporting, AP footage from the scene and interviews with munitions experts who analyzed the size of the shell crater, directly contradicts Russian claims that there was no airstrike. Russian officials have repeatedly tried to sow doubt about atrocities in Mariupol, the shattered city in eastern Ukraine that is a key Russian military objective. In particular, Russia has made great efforts to falsely blame the death and destruction in the city on Ukrainian shelling.
Two of the three doctors, like most who passed through Russian checkpoints on the way out of Mariupol, said their cell phones were searched and videos and photos of the city were deleted. People with what was considered suspect imagery or who lacked documents were separated out, but it’s not clear what ultimately happened to them.
“I had lists on my phone, I had photos, I had everything, but we were strongly told to delete all of this,” said Mykhailenko, who spoke for two hours with hardly any interruptions with a fierce determination to describe the attack and her narrow escape. “The trash bin was deleted. … We had dashcam footage of everything that was going on in the city, but they made us delete that as well.”
Most recently, a Russian government-linked Twitter account shared an interview last week with Mariana Vishegirskaya, one of the women in the maternity hospital. Vishegirskaya, wearing polka dot pajamas and looking dazed, emerged almost unscathed from the hospital airstrike.
In the latest interview, the new mother said the hospital was not hit by an airstrike last month. She described the explosions as a pair of shells that struck nearby, saying she heard no airplanes. She left vague who could be responsible.
She said fellow survivors from the basement agreed when they discussed it in the moments afterward.
“They did not hear it either. They said that it was a shell that flew in from somewhere else. That is, it did not come from the sky,” she said in the interview.
Vishegirskaya is now in Russia-controlled territory, but it’s not clear exactly where or under what conditions the interview was filmed.
However, a team of Associated Press journalists working on the ground in Mariupol nearby documented the sound of the plane, then the twin explosions. One of the explosions blasted a crater more than two stories deep in the courtyard — consistent with an airstrike using a 500-kilogram bomb and considerably stronger than artillery crossfire, according to two munitions experts consulted by The Associated Press.
Joseph Bermudez, an imagery analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the size of the hole and the visible effects of impact on the surrounding buildings leave no doubt it was an airstrike.
The attack on the Mariupol hospital was one of at least 37 Russian strikes on medical facilities across Ukraine recorded by The Associated Press. Over the course of the war, every hospital in the city has been struck at least once by shells or airstrikes — the first was just four days after fighting began. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said Wednesday that 50 people had burned to death in Russian strikes on hospitals in the city.
Before the attack, it was a relatively quiet day at the Mariupol hospital.
Dr. Yana Frantsusova was sorting medical waste in a room in another building at the hospital compound when the tiles and glass around her shattered. It was about 2:45 p.m. She started to run, but the shockwave slammed the door shut in her face.
“I ran out with difficulty, and all of us, all people from my department, all the nurses, doctors who were there, everyone was already on the floor,” she said. “Then another explosion occurred.”
Frantsusova had survived an airstrike once already, on a house near hers, and this felt the same — an intense shockwave followed by utter destruction. She and her team of medics got up from the floor to take in the injured and those able to walk.
Among the pregnant women in the gravest danger, “one was already giving birth, at the moment when she was brought to us,” she said. Another had an open wound to her thigh. A third was in a state of shellshock, with shrapnel gashes in both legs.
The AP journalists filmed two large plumes of smoke in the distance in the direction of the airstrike. It then took them about 25 minutes to arrive at the scene.
By then, it was chaos. Paramedics raced up the stairs to bring down anyone who couldn’t make it on their own feet. Children and expectant fathers stumbled out the doors to an apocalyptic scene of blackened trees, smoldering earth and a crater big enough to swallow a truck.
Vishegirskaya was already outside, hugging a blanket around her shoulders. When an AP journalist with a camera asked how she was, she answered “Fine,” then went off to try and retrieve her belongings from the hospital. In the interview with Russian media, she falsely said she told AP journalists she did not want to be filmed.
Sergei Chernobrivets, a paramedic who was on the scene that day, described the injuries to multiple women. He said he wasn’t in a position to determine the source of the explosions, but he confirmed the extensive damage to the hospital compound.
Dr. Yulia Kucheruk, one of the maternity ward’s physicians, said a nurse suffered a concussion and another medical worker was shellshocked. There was no point staying behind to try and retrieve usable medical supplies, she added, because “it was all trashed, in chaos.” Kucheruk spoke only briefly about a day that remains painful to revisit.
Several women were transferred to another hospital, including Vishegirskaya and a woman with a fractured pelvis who died along with her unborn child the same day. Vishegirskaya gave birth the next day to a girl.
By then, the Russian misinformation campaign was in full swing. The country’s embassy in the United Kingdom shared the AP’s photos of Vishegirskaya and another woman wounded on a stretcher, placing the word “FAKE” over the images and claiming that Vishegirskaya had posed in both in “realistic makeup.” The misinformation was repeated by Russian ambassadors in other parts of the world.
Russia blames Ukrainian shelling for attacks on hospitals, including the one on the maternity ward in Mariupol, although their story of the violence that day has shifted over time.
Twisting the truth about war crimes is a deliberate Russian tactic, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Monday, just three days after Vishegirskaya’s interview was released in Russian media.
“They have already launched a campaign of fakes to hide their guilt of mass killing of civilians in Mariupol,” he said.
The hospital was struck again on March 17, and four or five of the patients lining the corridors were killed, Mykhailenko said. With no one to fetch the bodies, they were buried on the hospital grounds.
Days later, in despair and with a leg ailment increasingly making it hard for her to run from shelling, she and her family packed up what little they had left and piled into the car.
At the first checkpoint, her phone was wiped. At the second, their belongings were searched and their sole knife was seized. They picked their way through a minefield where a car had blown up the previous day. More than two weeks later, they made it to safety in Poland.
On March 24, Kucheruk also drove out and headed for western Ukraine. She passed through 20 Russian checkpoints, including one where her cell phone was searched and its contents deleted.
Now the bulk of Mariupol’s doctors have fled, and the city is left without a single fully functioning hospital. They have lost the lives and the careers that they had built, and can only hope against hope to one day return to their destroyed city.
“All your life turned into a pile of ruins in one instant, everything that was dear to you, everything you were trying to do, everything you were trying to achieve,” Mykhailenko said. “Everything got canceled simply because some guy threw this bomb after another bastard gave this order.”
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Susie Blann and Vasilisa Stepanenko in Lviv, Ukraine, contributed.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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The Miami Dolphins brought in a former first-round pick who hasn’t played in the NFL since 2018 for a workout on Friday.
Reuben Foster, a former Alabama standout the San Francisco 49ers selected with the 31st pick in the 2017 NFL draft, worked out with the Dolphins on Friday morning, according to a league source.
Foster’s career was cut short because of a troublesome knee injury he suffered in May of 2019, which led to him losing feelings in his toes.
He’s finally healthy, and has been working to resume his NFL career. A thorough physical could determine whether the Dolphins offer him a minimum-salary contract, giving the 28-year-old an opportunity to train with the team this offseason, and possibly compete during training camp for a spot on the roster.
Coming out of college at Alabama, Foster was named a unanimous All-American and won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker in 2016. But he also had a troublesome history with the law because of marijuana possession, and a domestic violence charge that was eventually dropped.
In 10 games as a rookie in 2017, Foster led the 49ers with seven tackles for loss and finished second on the team with 72 total tackles.
He had 29 tackles in six games for the 49ers in 2019 before being arrested on domestic violence charges, and was subsequently released.
Prosecutors in Florida dismissed the misdemeanor domestic violence battery charges that stem from an alleged altercation he had with his former girlfriend in a Tampa hotel that November, the night before a game.
New Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel was part of the 49ers organization as an offensive assistant during the 2018 season, so he has some familiarity with Foster, who spent the 2019 season on Washington’s roster.
Foster worked out with the New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns last season, but wasn’t signed.
If the Dolphins sign Foster, he’d be competing with Elandon Roberts, Jerome Baker, Duke Riley, Calvin Munson and Sam Eguavoen for a role as one of Miami’s inside linebackers.
Even though the Dolphins re-signed all the defensive free agents, linebacker happens to be a position of need for Miami considering the unit’s lack of depth, and the absence of players with playmaking ability.
The Dolphins moved Baker, the team’s leading tackler the past three seasons, to outside linebacker late last year, which opened the door for Jaelan Phillips, the team’s 2021 first-round pick, to be used strictly as a pass rusher. If both Baker and Phillips remain in those roles, Miami would need to find a starting caliber player to be paired with Roberts as an inside linebacker in Miami’s hybrid scheme.
When healthy and in his prime, Foster, who is 6-foot, 230 pounds, was known for his physicality and his sideline-to-sideline range. But he lacked technique, struggled to stack and shed blockers, and had a history of suffering concussions.
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The Miami Dolphins filled their punter vacancy on Friday by signing veteran Thomas Morstead, according to a league source.
Mostead, 36, a longtime New Orleans Saints punter, visited Dolphins facilities on Wednesday before deciding to join the team on Friday.
Signing the veteran gives Miami one fewer team need going into the late April draft. Before pursuing Morstead, it was conceivable the Dolphins were set to use one of their four draft picks, with two in the seventh round, on a college punting prospect.
Morstead spent the first 12 of his 13 NFL seasons in New Orleans, where he was teammates with Dolphins’ free-agent left tackle acquisition Terron Armstead. Morstead is a one-time Pro Bowl selection, in 2012, while winning a Super Bowl that took place in South Florida as a member of the 2009 Saints.
Then a rookie for New Orleans, Morstead can be largely credited for turning the momentum in the Saints’ favor against the Indianapolis Colts at Hard Rock Stadium with his famous onside kick to start the second half. Trailing 10-6 at the time, the Saints went on to win the Super Bowl, 31-17.
He split time in 2021 between the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets, playing in seven games with each for a total of 14. Despite the two teams facing the Dolphins a combined three times last season, he did not punt against Miami.
Morstead owns a career average of 46.6 yards on his punts.
The signing means the Dolphins are moving on from Michael Palardy, a Margate native and St. Thomas Aquinas High alum, as punter. Palardy struggled early in the season but found his groove in the second half. He posted a 44.7 yards-per-punt average, and he and gunner Mack Hollins combined to down multiple balls in close to opponents’ goal lines.
Hollins, also a wide receiver, was signed by the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason. Dolphins free-agent acquisitions of cornerback Keion Crossen and wide receiver Trent Sherfield can fill that void.
Morstead becomes the new oldest player on Miami’s roster, surpassing defensive tackle John Jenkins, 32, who re-signed with the team on Thursday.
On Friday, the Dolphins also brought in linebacker Reuben Foster for a workout.
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| 2022-04-08T16:01:58
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The Gophers athletics department said Friday it intends to provide student-athletes with financial support for academic success starting this fall.
An NCAA rule change in August 2020, spurred by federal court rulings, now permits this compensation, which has been calculated to be up to $5,980 per year. An ESPN story Wednesday said 22 of 130 FBS-level schools had plans to make these payments this year but did not include the U.
“I am pleased that the University of Minnesota is able to offer education-related financial support to our student-athletes,” Minnesota Athletics Director Mark Coyle said in a statement. “… We continue to look for ways to enhance the student-athlete experience and how best to prepare them for life during and after college. While we are still finalizing these plans in detail, we know providing education-related financial support is another step in the process of supporting our student-athletes.”
ESPN listed the 22 schools with plans in place for this year and only one Big Ten school was included: Wisconsin. Others in this group were Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa State, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Miami, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State. Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Texas Tech and Washington.
The ESPN story also said 20 schools shared they will not make the bonus payments this academic year but plan to make them in the future. Minnesota appears to have been placed in this group.
Minnesota had a 96 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), which tied South Carolina to lead all Power Five conference public schools, according to a report in December 2021. The U’s student-athletes had a school-record cumulative grade-point averages of 3.44 in the past school year.
“Our student-athletes continue to excel at a high level on and off the field and have set recent records with regard to GPA, Academic Progress Rate, Graduation Success Rate, Academic All-Big Ten honorees, Big Ten Distinguished Scholars and Academic All-Americans,” Coyle added in his statement.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A suspect arrested in connection with last weekend’s mass shooting outside bars in Sacramento served less than half his 10-year sentence because of voter-approved changes to state law that lessened the punishment for his felony convictions and provided a chance for earlier release.
Smiley Allen Martin was freed in February after serving time for punching a girlfriend, dragging her from her home by her hair and whipping her with a belt, according to court and prison records.
Those count as nonviolent offenses under California law, which considers only about two dozen crimes to be violent felonies — such as murder, rape, arson and kidnapping.
Martin, 27, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a machine gun. He is among the 12 people wounded during Sunday’s shooting, which killed six others.
Police have said the violence was a shootout between rival gangs in which at least five people fired weapons, including Martin’s brother, Dandrae Martin, who also was arrested. No one has yet been charged with homicide in the shooting.
Smiley Martin typically would have remained behind bars until at least May after serving a minimum of half his time for his previous arrest in 2017, but prison officials evidently used a very expansive approach to applying lockup time credits to his sentence, said Gregory Totten, chief executive officer of the California District Attorneys Association and a former Ventura County district attorney.
“They’ve been given very broad authority to early release folks and to give them additional credit and all kinds of considerations for purposes of reducing the length of sentence that somebody serves,” Totten said.
Corrections officials did not dispute that Martin was among thousands of inmates who received additional credits that sped up their releases under state law. But the officials said their policy prohibits disclosing what prison time credits Martin received.
They cited credits through Proposition 57, the 2016 ballot measure that aimed to give most of the state’s felons a chance of earlier release. Credits were also broadly authorized in California to lower the prison population during the pandemic.
Proposition 57 credits include good behavior while behind bars, though corrections officials declined to release Martin’s disciplinary report. Good conduct credit is supposed to be reserved for inmates who follow all the rules and complete their assigned duties.
The state “has implemented various credit-earning opportunities to incentivize good behavior and program participation for incarcerated individuals, including those created in furtherance of Proposition 57— which was overwhelmingly approved by voters,” state corrections spokesperson Vicky Waters said in a statement.
Supporters of the credits, including former Gov. Jerry Brown, who pushed for Proposition 57, have said it’s important to give inmates a second chance. The opportunity for earlier release encourages inmates to participate in education and other rehabilitative programs and helps to reduce mass incarceration.
“The most recent reforms in California are seeking to change a culture that has been churning out recidivism problems for generations,” said Will Matthews, spokesperson for the Californians for Safety and Justice group, which backed the changes. “The question we need to be asking ourselves is, how are we engaging in behavior change?”
Under Proposition 57, credits are granted for completing rehabilitative or educational programs, self-help and volunteer public service activities, earning a high school diploma or higher education degree and performing a heroic act. Officials added credits during the coronavirus pandemic, including 12 weeks of credit that applied to most inmates.
Martin was denied parole in May 2021 under California’s process for nonviolent offenders to get earlier parole, after a letter was sent from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said they objected to his parole based on his lengthy criminal record and asserted that Martin “clearly has little regard for human life and the law.”
Six months after he turned 18, Martin was caught in January 2013 with an assault rifle and two fully loaded 25-bullet magazines, prosecutors said. Months later, he pushed aside a Walmart clerk to steal computers worth $2,800, they said. In 2016, he was arrested as a parolee at large. And less than six months after that was the assault that sent him back to prison.
It’s not clear if Martin has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.
Martin pleaded no contest and was sent to prison on charges of corporal injury and assault likely to cause great bodily injury in January 2018 under a plea deal in which charges of kidnapping — considered a violent felony — and intimidating a witness or victim were dismissed.
The sentencing judge awarded Martin 508 days of credits for time he spent in Sacramento County jail before his conviction, based on a California law that allows judges to double the actual time in jail, which in Martin’s case was 254 days.
Martin also had “a variety of additional post-sentencing credits,” which corrections department spokesperson Dana Simas said were awarded for time served while awaiting transfer to state prison from county jail.
Before Proposition 57, he would have qualified for 20% “good time” credits — meaning he could reduce his time served by one-fifth — but corrections officials used their authority under the ballot measure to bump those to 50%. Pending regulations opposed by most of the state’s district attorneys would further increase good time credits to two-thirds of a sentence for such repeat offenders.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, a progressive Democrat who formerly led the state Senate, was among those upset when he learned of Martin’s record.
“If people have a history of committing violent acts, and they have not shown a propensity or willingness to change, I don’t think they should be out on the streets,” he said at an event where officials requested more than $3 billion from the state to expand crime prevention programs.
Republican state Sen. Jim Nielsen, who once headed the state parole board, said “good time” credits are generally awarded automatically, without inmates having to do anything to earn them.
“It gives them enormous opportunity to free up beds,” said Nielsen, an opponent of earlier releases.
The state has relied on such efforts, particularly its powers under Proposition 57, to keep the prison population below the level required by a panel of federal judges who ruled that inmate crowding had led to unconstitutionally poor conditions.
Martin was released to the supervision of the Sacramento County Probation Department in February. County probation officials wouldn’t provide the terms, saying their records are not public documents.
Without discussing Martin’s case, Karen Pank, executive director of the Chief Probation Officers of California, said generally someone coming out of prison on Post Release Community Supervision with an extensive and violent criminal history would likely have been treated on a “high-risk” caseload.
That would subject him to more intensive supervision, including a requirement that he check in with his probation officer more frequently and in person, although individualized determinations on risks and needs would be made and treatment and services would continue to be offered.
Hours before Sunday’s shootout, Martin posted a live Facebook video of himself brandishing a handgun, a law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to public discuss details of the shooting investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pank said if there is evidence of a felon in possession of a firearm, that can be grounds for a violation, which may result in time in jail. However, it’s unlikely anyone from law enforcement could have acted in time even if they had seen the video.
“The big if is would they have known about it,” said Totten. But in this case, “it didn’t matter — it was so close to the time” of the shooting.
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Associated Press writers Adam Beam, Stefanie Dazio and Michael Balsamo contributed to this story. Dazio reported from Los Angeles and Balsamo from Washington, D.C.
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KYIV, Ukraine — A missile hit a crowded train station in eastern Ukraine that was an evacuation point for civilians, killing dozens of people Friday, Ukrainian authorities said while warning they expected to find more evidence of possible war crimes in parts of the country previously held by Russian troops.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said thousands of people were waiting to board trains at the station when the missile struck. Photos from the scene showed bodies covered with tarps on the ground and the remannts of a rocket with the words “For the children” painted on it in Russian.
The Russian Defense Ministry denied attacking the station in Kramatorsk, a city in the eastern Donetsk region, but Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian leaders accused Russia’s military of deliberately targeting a location where only civilians were assembled.
“The inhuman Russians are not changing their methods. Without the strength or courage to stand up to us on the battlefield, they are cynically destroying the civilian population,” the president said on social media. “This is an evil without limits. And if it is not punished, then it will never stop.”
The regional governor of Donetsk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said that 39 people were killed and 87 wounded. The office of Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said about 4,000 civilians were in and around the station, most of them women and children heeding calls to leave the area before Russia launches a full-scale offensive.
“The people just wanted to get away for evacuation,” Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said while visiting Bucha, a town north of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, where journalists and returning Ukrainians discovered scores of bodies on streets and in mass graves after Russian troops withdrew.
Venediktova spoke as workers pulled corpses from a mass grave near a church under spitting rain. Black body bags were laid out in rows in the mud. None of the dead were Russians, she said. Most of them had been shot. The prosecutor general’s office is investigating the deaths, and other mass casualites involving civilians, as possible war crimes.
After failing to take Ukraine’s capital and withdrawing from northern Ukraine, Russia has shifted its focus to the Donbas, a mostly Russian-speaking, industrial region in eastern Ukraine where Moscow-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and control some areas. The train station is located in government-controlled territory.
Ukrainian officials warned residents this week to leave as soon as possible for safer parts of the country and said they and Russia had agreed to establish multiple evacuation routes in the east.
One analyst said only Russia would have a reason to attack civilian railway infrastructure in the Donbas, and that Ukraine would not deliberately kill its own civilians in “a war of survival.”
“The Ukrainian military is desperately trying to reinforce units in the area … and the railway stations in that area in Ukrainian-held territory are critical for movement of equipment and people,” said Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
Elsewhere in the Donbas, the governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said Russia was concentrating equipment and troops and increasing shelling and bombing to aid their advance.
“We sense the end of preparations for that massive breakthrough, for that great battle which will happen here around us, in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions,” he said in a televised address.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said horrors worse than the ones in Bucha already had surfaced in Borodyanka, another settlement outside the capital.
“And what will happen when the world learns the whole truth about what the Russian troops did in Mariupol?” Zelenskyy said late Thursday, referring to the besieged southern port that has seen some of the greatest suffering during Russia’s invasion. “There, on every street, is what the world saw in Bucha and other towns in the Kyiv region….The same cruelty. The same terrible crimes.”
The prosecutor general also expressed concern about the death toll in Borodyanka, where the process of retrieving bodies from shelled and collapsed buildings has just begun. Twenty-six bodies were found Thursday from the ruins of just two buildings, Venediktova said.
“We don’t know what’s under these houses,” she said, estimating it could take two weeks to find out.
Spurred by reports that Russian forces committed atrocities in areas surrounding the capital, NATO nations agreed to increase their supply of arms after Ukraine’s foreign minister pleaded for weapons from the alliance and other sympathetic countries to help face down an expected offensive in the east.
Ukrainian and several Western leaders have blamed the massacres on Moscow’s troops. The weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported Germany’s foreign intelligence agency intercepted radio messages among Russian soldiers discussing killings of civilians. Russia has falsely claimed that the scenes in Bucha were staged.
In a rare acknowledgment of the war’s cost to Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged to British broadcaster Sky News on Thursday that the country has suffered significant military causalities, calling it a “tragedy.”
On Friday he told reporters that his reference to troop losses was based on the most recent Russian Defense Ministry numbers, which reported March 25 that 1,351 Russian troops had been killed in Ukraine. NATO has estimated Russia’s casualties to be several times higher.
In anticipation of intensified attacks by Russian forces, hundreds of Ukrainians fled villages in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions that were either under attack or occupied.
Marina Morozova and her husband fled from Kherson, the first major city to fall to the Russians.
“They are waiting for a big battle. We saw shells that did not explode. It was horrifying,” she said.
Morozova, 69, said only Russian television and radio was available. The Russians handed out humanitarian aid, she said, and filmed the distribution.also
The United Nations estimates that more than 4.3 million people have fled Ukraine since the war began and that more than 12 million people are stranded in areas under attack.
On Thursday, a day after Russian forces began shelling their village in the southern Mykolaiv region, Sergei Dubovienko, 52, drove north in his small blue Lada with his wife and mother-in-law to Bashtanka, where they sought shelter in a church.
“They started destroying the houses and everything” in Pavlo-Marianovka, he said. “Then the tanks appeared from the forest. We thought that in the morning there would be shelling again, so I decided to leave.”
Two top European Union officials and the prime minister of Slovakia traveled to Kyiv on Friday, looking to shore up the EU’s support for Ukraine. Prime Minister Eduard Heger said he, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell brought trade and humanitarian aid proposals for Zelenskyy and his government.
Heger also announced that his country has donated its Soviet-era S-300 air defense system to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy had mentioned the S-300s by name when he spoke to U.S. lawmakers by video in March, appealing for anti-air systems that would allow Ukraine to “close the skies” to Russian warplanes and missiles.
Western nations have stepped up sanctions against Russia following the reports of atrocities near Kyiv. A day after the United States imposed sanctions on President Vladimir Putin’s two adult daughters, the European Union and Britain followed suit Friday.
The U.S. Congress voted to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and ban the importation of its oil, while the EU approved an embargo on coal imports. The U.N. General Assembly, meanwhile, voted to suspend Russia from the world organization’s leading human rights body.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the U.N. vote demonstrated how “Putin’s war has made Russia an international pariah.”
“The signs of people being raped, tortured, executed — in some cases having their bodies desecrated — are an outrage to our common humanity,” Biden said.
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Anna reported from Bucha, Ukraine. Andrea Rosa in Chernihiv, 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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Nearly six years after a 5-year-old girl waiting for her school bus was sexually assaulted, St. Paul police said Friday they’ve made an arrest in the case.
Police had DNA evidence that was collected at the time of the rape in the North End in 2016, but no match initially showed up in periodic searches through a national database, which is updated as samples are collected.
In December, investigators received information from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that there had been a match and there was suspect information, according to police.
That DNA information and further investigation led police to a 19-year-old. He was 13 in 2016.
Law enforcement agencies were looking for him for several months, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman.
POLICE SAY HE CONFESSED
The St. Clair County, Ill., sheriff’s department, U.S. Marshals and FBI found the man in Cahokia Heights, Ill., which is near St. Louis, and arrested him Monday. The girl’s mother said he wasn’t someone she or her family knew.
St. Paul police investigators went to Illinois and interviewed the man, who confessed to the 2016 sexual assault of the girl, police said in a Friday statement. They collected DNA from him on Thursday to confirm that the evidence matches. He is jailed in St. Clair County, awaiting extradition to Minnesota.
The Ramsey County attorney’s office filed a juvenile delinquency petition Friday alleging first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping.
Under Minnesota law, someone under the age of 14 can’t be charged with a crime.
“As a result, we have filed a delinquency petition and will not be able to pursue adult certification proceedings,” according to a statement from the Ramsey County attorney’s office. “Bear in mind, however, that filing a delinquency petition in this matter does allow the court to order a lifetime registration as a sex offender should there be an adjudication in juvenile court.”
St. Paul police are looking into whether the suspect could be connected to other unsolved sexual assaults, according to Linders.
GIRL’S MOTHER INFORMED HER OF ARREST
The girl’s mother told her there’s been an arrest.
“She’s been dealing with this half her life and he was out there living his life,” said the woman, who the Pioneer Press is not naming to avoid identifying the girl.
The girl is now 11 and is still receiving therapy, her mother said.
“It’s hindered her growth a lot,” she said of the assault. “This kid used to think she could fly and now she doesn’t. He broke something in her spirit.”
St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell said the case “is an example of why we never give up or stop working on behalf of victims.”
“I am beyond grateful for the exhaustive investigative work by dozens and dozens of dedicated law enforcement professionals who kept working and working and working,” he said in a statement. “They poured their hearts and souls into the case, carried its weight in their minds, on their backs and in their hearts for 2,166 days — and persevered. Hopefully, justice can be served, and this can be another step towards healing for the little girl and her family.”
BUS DRIVER FOUND GIRL AFTER ASSAULT
On the morning of May 2, 2016, the girl’s mother dropped her off at her school bus stop in the area of St. Paul’s Park Street and Cook Avenue.
Sometime after, a male approached and told her, “Come with me,” the girl’s mother said in 2016. The girl said, “no,” but he grabbed her hand and led her away.
The male brought her up an alley, and the girl says he took her into a yard. The girl reported he hit her in the face over and over again.
When the girl returned to the street, a school bus driver found her with her pants and underwear around her ankle. She was bleeding from the nose and mouth and crying so much that she could not initially tell police officers what happened. She was taken to a hospital, where she was examined and it was determined she had been sexually assaulted.
Since then, St. Paul police, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, FBI and Ramsey County attorney’s office worked to identify a suspect, according to police.
“We are grateful for the diligent work of the St. Paul Police Department for pursuing every lead, including the DNA evidence that led to this individual,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said. “I especially want to call out the work of my staff attorneys who worked closely with police investigators every step of the way and were able to bring forward the delinquency petition to seek accountability to the fullest extent of the law, and closure for our victim and community.”
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Young people are in demand in robust Brockton-area youth jobs market
BROCKTON — With unemployment rates for the young at a near-70 year low, many early-career jobseekers in the Brockton area are enjoying their options.
That big picture tracks with the experience of Rhiannon Sulik, a 23-year-old budtender at Green Heart marijuana dispensary on North Montello.
"I was able to hold back for a second and choose the best options," said Sulik, who studied interior architecture at UMass-Dartmouth but had a bad experience with her first job in that field.
The Fall River resident said she has a great job that she enjoys at Green Heart. Not even the recent theft of her car from the dispensary lot by joyriders who trashed the vehicle and broke a tie rod seems to have dampened her enthusiasm.
"The interview process was really easy," she said in a Tuesday phone interview. "That environment is so much more pleasant to be in. It's very positive to be in."
Now back to the stats. Let's start at the national level, then work down to the state and local picture.
According to figures released April 1 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in March, with the economy adding 431,000 jobs. The jobless rate for people aged 16 to 19 stood at 10%. That's the lowest since September 1953, according to historical BLS numbers.
An employment gap
Drill down to that same figure for Black or African American jobseekers and the unemployment rate for 16-19 year-olds jumps to 22.9%. For historical perspective, in June 2021, Black or African American unemployment hit 9.9%, its lowest recorded mark since 1972.
Green Heart opens in Brockton:'The average mom-and-pop' pot shop
For Massachusetts, the most recent available numbers are from February. They show a seasonally adjusted Bay State unemployment rate at 4.7%.
What's happening in the Brockton area?
In Brockton and surrounding towns, the most recent numbers are from January. These preliminary figures show an unemployment rate of 6%. That's down 2.6% since January 2021. That figure is for Avon, the three Bridgewaters, Brockton, Easton, Hanson and Whitman.
Where to start
As young people seek either year-round or summer jobs, the Brockton area has resources to help. Perhaps the single best place to start is the Greater Brockton Workforce Board, which operates out of a repurposed bank across from City Hall.
Monday marked the first day all staff were back in the building, said Jason Hunter, director of operations for the workforce development organization. He's stoked to have in-person learning, mentoring and jobs starting to become the norm again.
Real estate report:$13 million multi-family property in Plymouth
"The trend is people leaving their houses," said Hunter, when asked what he sees in the Workforce Board's 10-community region. "We're focused on getting people back through the door."
In addition to its resources for older workers, the board offers services for job seekers ages 14 to 24. They include skills workshops on resume-writing and interviewing, academic support, career counseling and job referrals.
Hunter said that around Brockton, whether you're young or old, the biggest single set of career opportunities is in health care. That doesn't just mean nursing. Hospitals and other health-care facilities need coders, maintenance workers, janitorial staff and more.
"For Brockton as a region, you're really talking about health care," Hunter said.
As spring takes hold, the Workforce Board is rolling out new initiatives, including one that literally rolls. Students in the automotive program at Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School took their wrenches to a BAT bus, repurposing it into a mobile youth services hotspot. It's still in the soft-launch phase, but expect to see it around the area soon.
"We own a bus," Hunter said with a smile.
Sulik, for her part, is starting to meld her design background with her new retail skills. She said she's working with the owners of Green Heart on a Fall River location, helping with both design and training to be a manager.
Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on Twitter at @HelmsNews. Thank you, subscribers. You make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Brockton Enterprise.
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Liam Hendriks knows not to get too caught up in preseason projections, whether your team is picked to finish first or near the bottom of the division standings.
“Projections, that’s all they are, projections,” the Chicago White Sox closer told the Tribune this week in Glendale, Ariz. “They’re not going to be as clear and as crisp as we are going to put forward. It can go any number of ways.
“Last year, look at the projections, we were meant to be in a dog fight with Minnesota, and it just didn’t happen. In Oakland (where Hendriks pitched from 2016-20), we were always picked to be the third or fourth in the division. It didn’t happen.”
The Sox lived up to the predictions last season, winning the American League Central. But the Twins started slowly and never recovered, finishing last. And the Athletics made the playoffs in each of Hendriks’ last three years with the team.
“You can overplay what the projections are, you can underplay them,” Hendriks said. “Our goal at the start of this year is to go out there and play our game. Who gives a crap what the projections say? We’re going to define our own future, not someone who is sitting behind a computer.”
Forget the prognosticators. The Sox have high expectations of their own after playoff appearances in 2020 and 2021. The season begins Friday against the Tigers at Comerica Park (12:10 p.m., NBCSCH).
“We have one goal in mind,” starter Lucas Giolito said Thursday. “Obviously last year we came up well short, learned a lot from that experience in that first-round exit in the playoffs. But we know how good we are. We know, learning from last year throughout the course of the year, certain things that need to be improved to take that next step and that’s it, that’s the goal.”
The Sox faced numerous injuries in 2021, including playing portions of the season without outfielders Luis Robert and Eloy Jiménez and catcher Yasmani Grandal. Injuries became an issue during spring training the last couple of weeks, with starter Lance Lynn possibly out eight weeks (right knee surgery to repair a torn tendon) and Garrett Crochet lost for the season (Tommy John surgery).
Third baseman Yoán Moncada went on the injured list Thursday with a Grade 1 right oblique strain.
“I started feeling it two, three days ago,” Moncada said through an interpreter. “I think it was (Tuesday), before the last (Cactus League) game. I was in the cage and I felt something the last two swings I did. That’s when it started.
“I told them that if I was feeling better by (Friday) I would be able to play. But then they said there’s no need to rush it, that it’s better to prevent something worse from happening. I think that’s a smart thing to do too.”
The Sox recalled infielder Jake Burger from Triple-A Charlotte, and he likely will start opening day at third. They also recalled reliever Matt Foster from Charlotte and placed Ryan Burr on the injured list with a right shoulder strain.
“Last year we took some big hits and we were able to overcome them,” Giolito said. “This year, same thing, next man up. We have depth.”
General manager Rick Hahn knows the Sox won’t be the only team facing these issues.
“Given the unique offseason and shortened spring, the first six to eight weeks are going to be challenging throughout baseball as teams get their sea legs under them, get used to being out there on a regular basis,” Hahn said. “That’s part of the reason Major League Baseball) allowed the expanded rosters and part of the reason we’re carrying extra arms early in the season.
“But none of that should take away from any of the optimism we all feel about this team.”
The Sox return almost all of their starting lineup and are hoping to get full seasons from Jiménez (who played in 55 games last season), Robert (68) and Grandal (93). Robert could be in the American League MVP discussion, an award first baseman José Abreu won in 2020. Abreu led the team in homers and RBIs last season.
Shortstop Tim Anderson, who said he has to sit the first two games after an appeal of a suspension handed down at the end of 2021, is one of the game’s top hitters and Grandal is one of the most productive hitting catchers. Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets contributed as rookies last season.
Giolito is at the top of the rotation. Dylan Cease made big strides and Michael Kopech moves back into the rotation after spending last season mostly in the bullpen. Dallas Keuchel is the veteran of the group, while Vince Velasquez and Reynaldo López might be called on while Lynn is injured.
Hendriks and Aaron Bummer are among the returning members of the bullpen.
New faces include reliever Kendall Graveman and second baseman Josh Harrison via free agency and outfielder AJ Pollock from a trade. Veteran infielder/outfielder Leury García also returned on a three-year deal. Reliever Joe Kelly, another free-agent signing, is on the injured list as he recovers from a right biceps nerve injury.
“Nobody is talking about last year,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “Everybody is talking about a tougher division, tougher challenge, but we want to be a part of it.
“I think the guys we added, can’t give our front office enough credit. Kendall and Josh are real good adds. (Reliever Bennett) Sousa looked good in spring training. … (Reliever Kyle) Crick is now on our pitching staff. There’s a lot here that was here (last season) that’s hungry, and there’s some good guys that joined us.”
The Sox lost their opening-round series the last two years (wild-card series to the A’s in 2020 and the ALDS to the Houston Astros last season). The goal is to take that next step.
“Our first goal is to win the AL Central,” Hahn said. “Then we have higher aspirations after that to achieve. Our main focus right now is on that first goal, but we’re going to be tested. Perhaps because we’re the hunted because we’re the incumbent. We’re the ones who won last year.
“Certainly throughout the game the respect and expectations of this team are high. But we’re going to be challenged. All four other teams are stronger, especially whether it’s due to additions or simply being healthier than they were a year ago. We’re going to be tested. We’re ready for it, but it’s going to be a fun summer.”
Sox finalize roster
Among Friday’s moves, the Sox selected the contracts of pitchers Tanner Banks and Kyle Crick. They designated outfielder Micker Adolfo for assignment and outrighted catcher Seby Zavala to Charlotte.
Here’s the breakdown of the season-opening roster and injured list:
- RHP (10): Dylan Cease, Kyle Crick, Matt Foster, Lucas Giolito, Kendall Graveman, Liam Hendriks, Michael Kopech, Reynaldo López, José Ruiz and Vince Velasquez.
- LHP (4): Tanner Banks, Aaron Bummer, Dallas Keuchel and Bennett Sousa.
- C (2): Yasmani Grandal and Reese McGuire.
- INF (7): José Abreu, Tim Anderson, Jake Burger, Josh Harrison, Leury García, Danny Mendick and Gavin Sheets.
- OF (5): Adam Engel, Eloy Jiménez, AJ Pollock, Luis Robert and Andrew Vaughn.
- IL (7): Ryan Burr, Garrett Crochet, Joe Kelly, Lance Lynn, Yermín Mercedes, Yoán Moncada and Jonathan Stiever (60-day).
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The Yankees got extra innings to work with after the rainout on Thursday, but it wasn’t enough. The team had an extra 24 hours to try and lock up Aaron Judge, but the face of the franchise will play this season on a year-deal.
GM Brian Cashman confirmed Friday that the Yankees and Judge failed to reach an agreement on an extension. Cashman said that the Yankees offered a seven-year deal starting in 2023 at $30.5 million per year, and Judge turned it down. Judge is set to make somewhere between $17 million and $21 million in arbitration this year, so it would have been an eight-year deal in total.
“The intent on both parties would be to stay here,” Cashman said. “He’s been a great Yankee. Our hope is at some point we’ll find that common ground.”
That common ground will now have to come in the offseason.
“This was the deadline,” Judge said before Cashman spoke. “I don’t want to be a distraction during the year. We have so many things to focus on, and a lot of good things happening, so I don’t want this to be a distraction for the team all year.”
The slugger, who initially set the Opening Day deadline for negotiations, still doesn’t have any set contract for this season, because he and the team were $4 million off when they traded numbers to try and avoid arbitration. Because of the owners’ lockout, the arbitration process will go into the season.
While Judge has professed his desire to remain with the Yankees for his entire career, one teammate signaled a warning.
“When it comes to the business side of it, there’s no secret,” Anthony Rizzo said. “Freddie Freeman isn’t a Brave anymore. There’s no loyalty in this game.”
That is the last thing Judge wants on his mind once the season opens.
“Today’s the deadline, so either we’ll be talking about an extension or no extension, then we’ll be done with it and on to baseball,” he said. “To be going down this route with the Yankees is something special. I know I’m here through this year, my last arbitration year, and that’s what I’m going to focus on. I’ve got one year to play, and contract extension stuff is nice, but I’ve got bigger things to focus on.”
Like a matchup against the Bombers’ biggest rivals, which Judge said he was pumped up for. “I slept great. … I’m excited, this is like the first day of school.”
The 29-year-old is coming off one of his most complete years in the big leagues.
The three-time All-Star slashed .287/.373/.544 with a .916 OPS, 39 homers and 93 RBI in 148 games in 2021. According to Baseball Savant, Judge was among the league leaders in average exit velocity (95.8 miles per hour), max exit velo (119) and hard-hit percentage (58.4%). He led the Yankees in WAR (5.4).
Overall, his six years in the big leagues have been exceptional, averaging .276/.386/.553 and a .940 OPS. He was the 2017 Rookie of the Year, runner-up to Jose Altuve in that same season and a Home Run Derby champion.
One major league executive suggested a five-year, $185 year deal would be a good one for Judge. He used comps from Alex Bregman and George Springer for a contract guideline. Bregman signed a five-year $100-million extension with the Astros in his age-25 season. Springer signed a six-year, $150 million deal with the Blue Jays after the 2020 season, when he was 31.
Judge had previously said that he wants to stay in New York.
“If it comes to it, maybe but like I said before, I want to play here,” Judge has said. “I want to finish my career here. There’s no better place to play. So I’m hoping we don’t get to that but if we do, I think I’ll be ready for it.”
With Matthew Roberson
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Jonathan Fjeld
Created: April 08, 2022 07:30 AM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The pandemic has been tough on the service industry as layoffs and closures over the last two years have made it tough to rehire staff – but one restaurant has done things a little differently.
The Shop Breakfast and Lunch, in Nob Hill, has expanded retirement benefits despite holding off on indoor dining.
"It was always like, 'What do you guys want to do?'" said Israel Rivera, the owner of The Shop.
With every change, such as capacity limits changing or other changes implemented as cases spiked, Rivera went to his staff at The Shop to talk things over.
"The fact that we got two really good cooks who had both have like management experience, and they wanted to come work here and we're like, 'We'll do whatever we can to pay you like the best wage you can find'," Rivera said. "And so we've somehow been able to do that wow, only doing takeout and while trying to be as safe as possible."
Only takeout, even as other businesses opened up indoor dining because that's what his staff wanted.
"Cooks don't get as well-taken care of as they should and that's just kind of a truth of the industry," Rivera stated. "We know that they're the backbone of our company, so we want them to do well as we grow."
This meant offering retirement benefits, as his restaurant also matches a portion of their contribution, even as the pandemic has put a strain on the industry.
"I think people deserve a living wage. I think people deserve more than that and we try as best to give them that," Rivera said. "I'm not trying to make the company money, without them also getting a piece of that – so this was like a small step in that direction."
Now, after almost two years of no indoor dining, customers no longer have to take their food to go.
"We could tell that they were getting anxious to open up and were ready to go," Rivera said. "For us, it was more about, 'Okay, well we have to be ready. We have to have the right staff, we have to have the right product and all that,' so everything is just kind of like coming together now."
Rivera, a former cook, found it hard to plan for the future. Now, as an owner, he is offering his staff a desired sense of hope and security for the future.
Copyright 2022 - KOB-TV LLC, A Hubbard Broadcasting Company
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Steve Stucker
Created: April 08, 2022 07:07 AM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Friday is expected to be 'Best of the Rest' as sunny skies and some breeze will remain as temperatures will be nicely seasonal.
Sunny skies will be consistent throughout the state with some light breezes and warming conditions. Saturday will be more of the same before the winds and temperatures kick up again Sunday.
Steve Stucker has the full forecast. Click the video above to view his full forecast with Radar and Kukula, plus the Parade of Pets featured animal.
Copyright 2022 - KOB-TV LLC, A Hubbard Broadcasting Company
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BALTIMORE — Someone has been rescued after falling in the Inner Harbor at the Fells Point pier, reports Baltimore's fire union IAFF Local 734.
🌊WATER RESCUE🌊
— Baltimore Firefighters IAFF Local 734 (@BCFDL734) April 8, 2022
Thames St & S Broadway 21231#FellsPoint @FellsPoint@Zeke_Cohen#BMORESBravest rescued 1 person from the harbor. #BCFDEMS evaluating for injuries. pic.twitter.com/7BnxGTawwj
The water rescue happened at Thames Street and Broadway.
The fire union says one person was rescued from the water and is being evaluated for injuries.
Stay with us for any updates.
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A new passed bill banning untraceable firearms, also known as ghost guns, will go into law without Governor Larry Hogan's signature.
Introduced earlier this year in the Maryland General Assembly, the new law prohibits anyone from buying, selling or transferring an unfinished firearm frame or receiver that's missing a serial number.
Hogan called the law "a positive step as we seek to stem the tide of violent crime," but said "it does nothing to penalize those who actually pull the trigger on firearms."
RELATED: Leaders join in call for Hogan to sign bill banning ghost guns
To achieve that accountability, Hogan for years now has called on state lawmakers to pass the Violent Firearms Offender Act (HB 423/SB 396), which he claims would toughen penalties for offenders who use and illegally possess firearms to commit crimes, as well as those supplying them.
The Governor is also calling on the State Legislature to finally pass the Judicial Transparency Act (SB 392), which has already unanimously passed the Senate but stalled in the House of Delegates. That measure would publish and track the sentences imposed by judges for violent crime convictions.
As the 2022 session comes to a close, Hogan is challenging lawmakers to at least hold votes on the two bills so their constituents know where they stand on those policies.
"At the very least, I ask you to give the victims and their families a vote, so that legislators can explain to their constituents where they stand on this issue,” said Hogan.
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As drivers face higher gas prices, gas station owners say higher oil prices are impacting their bottom line.
On the side of I-80, one of the country's longest highways, in Burns, Wyoming, drivers will find the Antelope Truck Stop.
It's a place where drivers can fill up with gas and grab snacks, which is what someone might expect from a gas station. The surprise comes when people realize it's also a place to try authentic Indian food in the heart of cowboy country.
Gurnam Singh says his livelihood relies on the drivers passing by— on their way to somewhere else.
"We (are) on the highway," he said. "Pretty much all my business is gas and diesel."
Despite major brand names on gas stations, many are owned by a person or a family, sometimes by people who moved to the United States in search of an opportunity.
“We come, we immigrants, we work," Singh said. "I tell everyone we can make every dream come true."
He moved from India to New York City when he was a teenager. Fifteen years ago, bought a truck stop and moved his family west.
Although the number of dollars per gallon going into gas pumps this year has been higher, Singh says making money can become harder when gas prices rise.
"It’s not like a truck stop or gas station makes a lot of money," Singh says.
Singh buys fuel at a wholesale price, then must decide how many cents he will charge on top of that to drivers.
More than half of the price of gas is determined by the cost of crude oil, which is why the cost per barrel is mentioned so often.
Even though the price Singh pays goes up, he says there is only so much he can charge per gallon because drivers will go find a lower price.
“I think inflation has affected us just like it has everybody else," said Grier Bailey, executive director of the Colorado Wyoming Petroleum Marketers Association.
The group lobbies for gas stations and convenience stores.
Bailey said gas station owners usually only break even on fuel and rely on what else they sell to make a profit.
"Your inside stuff is, essentially, how you make money," Bailey said. "You draw them in, then whether it’s a lottery, or whether it’s energy drinks or nicotine to whatever degree people use that.”
Singh is trying to take the higher gas prices in stride.
"It just like we’re living life, we get sick, we get cold, we don’t want to work, we want to work. It’s the same thing— prices go up and down," Singh said.
The fact he was able to build a successful business more than 11,000 miles away from where he grew up in India gives him hope that today's struggles are only temporary.
“Just we have to have the motivation to keep going, wake up do work, do whatever you want to do," he said. "America has so many opportunities."
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The Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will meet Friday to discuss possible sanctions against actor Will Smith.
The meeting was initially set for later this month, but Academy President David Rubin announced Wednesday that it would be moved up to Friday.
"Following Mr. Smith's resignation of his Academy membership on Friday, April 1, suspension or expulsion are no longer a possibility, and the legally prescribed timetable no longer applies," Rubin said in a statement. "It is in the best interest of all involved for this to be handled in a timely fashion."
Last week, Smith announced that he was resigning from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences amid their investigation into the incident.
In a statement, Smith said, "The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all those in attendance, and global audiences at home.”
Smith slapped Rock after the comedian made a joke about the actor’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, saying her shaved head looked like the buzzcut sported by Demi Moore in “G.I. Jane.”
Pinkett Smith went public about her struggle with hair loss due to alopecia last year.
After the slap, Smith walked back to his seat, sat down, and then yelled at the comedian twice to “keep my wife’s name out of your (expletive) mouth.”
An hour later, Smith won his first Academy Award for his portrayal in the film "King Richard."
Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here.
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CHICAGO — It’s springtime, and the birds are chirping as they begin to build their nests.
Researchers say the hands-on clock is turning back, though it happens like clockwork each year. Many species of birds are nesting and laying eggs much earlier than a century ago.
Locked inside a 650 square-foot vault at the field museum in Chicago is a treasure trove of potential ecological data.
Everything is organized by taxonomy. Drawers line the walls containing 21,000 sets of eggs or clutches - how many eggs an individual female will lay at a time. In total, the archive contains more than 300,000 eggshells.
“We've got eggs of a whole bunch of different species of birds,” said John Bates, an evolutionary biologist and curator of birds at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. “The eggs around you here were collected from the 1870s to about the 1920s,” he said.
He’s also the first author of a new study published in the Journal of Animal Ecology that analyzed egg nesting.
By comparing contemporary observations with eggs preserved in museum collections, scientists discovered that a third of their bird species have shifted when they lay eggs.
“Birds in the Chicago region are laying their eggs as much as 25 days earlier than they were 140 years ago,” said Bates.
Researchers found the correlations by overlaying the shifting in nesting with carbon dioxide measurements in the atmosphere over that time - tracking changes in the earth’s climate.
“We always talk about climate change as being so important to humans, but it's really important to biodiversity too,” said Bates.
Twenty-five days may not seem like much – but the impact could be far-reaching. These changes in nesting dates might result in birds competing for food and resources that they never had before.
It could cause a ripple effect across the ecosystem, impacting species' survival.
“This study is just a really small example of some of the things that are clearly happening out there in a very small part of the world.”
The research also highlights the importance of museum collections in providing baseline data for understanding and forecasting future ecological trends.
“We've really only scratched the surface of the kinds of things we can actually look at,” said Bates.
There are about 5 million eggs in all the world's collections.
“The people that collected these eggs in 1897 had no idea about the kind of study that they're being used for now in 2022,” he said.
But egg collecting fell out of favor in the 1920s, and 30’s, which Bates says makes comparisons to modern eggs more challenging.
“There are about 10,800 species of birds, and we actually don't even know what the eggs look like. They're not cataloged anywhere for probably about 30% of those species.”
Besides serving as a warning about climate change, Bates says the study highlights the importance of monitoring birds, insects, and microbes moving forward.
“We're seeing, as a result of the COVID pandemic, what can happen on a global basis with viruses that have been around for millions of years. And so, we can't divorce ourselves from the ecosystems around us,” said Bates.
It’s a reminder that even the smallest changes can have far-reaching impacts.
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Ferrero U.S.A. is voluntarily recalling two Kinder chocolate products because they may be contaminated with salmonella.
The voluntary recall is for two products in the U.S.
Salmonella is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.
The products are being recalled because they were made in a facility where salmonella was detected, the FDA said. There have been no reports of illnesses in the U.S.
The recall is being done out of an "abundance of caution" after reports of salmonella cases in Europe by people who consumed products made in the same facility, the FDA said.
The Associated Press reported that European health officials are investigating the "rapidly evolving" salmonella outbreak in 134 children linked to the chocolate Easter products. The affected European products have been recalled in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and the U.K.
AP said the first case was detected in Britain in January, with children under 10 affected the most. Officials said the epidemic has been characterized “by an unusually high proportion of children being hospitalized."
No other Kinder products produced for the U.S. market are included in this recall.
Consumers who have purchased the affected product should not eat the product and may contact the Ferrero customer service line Monday - Friday 9am-6pm EST at 1-800-688-3552 or via https://www.ferreronorthamerica.com/contact-US-residents for product refund.
This story was first reported by Emily McCain at WFTS in Tampa, Fla.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/ferrero-recalls-2-kinder-chocolate-products-over-salmonella-concerns
| 2022-04-08T16:05:35
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JERUSALEM (AP) — A third Israeli has died following the attack by a Palestinian man who opened fire into a crowded bar in central Tel Aviv.
Two other people were instantly killed in the Thursday evening shooting. It occurred in an area packed with people in bars and restaurants.
Israeli security forces say the attacker was tracked down following an overnight manhunt and killed in an exchange of fire.
"Every murderer knows we will find them, everyone who helps a terrorist should know that they will pay a heavy price," Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said.
It was the fourth deadly attack in Israel by Palestinians in less than three weeks and came amid heightened tensions around the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Tens of thousands attended Friday prayers in Jerusalem, with no immediate reports of unrest.
The U.S. condemned the attacks, calling them "senseless terrorism and violence".
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https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/israeli-forces-kill-palestinian-attacker-third-victim-dies
| 2022-04-08T16:05:41
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Betty White fans will have a chance to own a memento from her career.
Julien's Auctions is putting 1,500 of White’s treasured possessions on the auction block this fall.
The mementos include everything from her award show gowns to her jewelry, home furnishings and even her Golden Girls director's chair.
The collection includes certificates for her 21 Emmy nominations.
Rare photos of her personal life and work on behalf of animal rights will also be up for auction.
The auction will run from September 23 to September 25.
Fans will be able to place their bids online.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/mementos-from-betty-white-will-be-up-for-auction-this-fall
| 2022-04-08T16:05:47
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities say nearly a dozen people were rescued after a power outage left them stranded on a ride at Universal Studios Hollywood.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department said crews were called to the park's Transformers ride around 3:45 p.m. Thursday after 11 people got stuck on the indoor ride.
The Los Angeles Times reports the riders were freed by 6 p.m. and no one was hurt.
According to the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles, the power outage also affected the Harry Potter ride.
The park said in a statement that it experienced a “brief power dip” that resulted in “exiting guests from some attractions.”
Power has since been restored.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/power-outage-strands-people-on-transformers-ride-universal-studios-hollywood
| 2022-04-08T16:05:53
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BOSTON — In between driving shifts, James Little is sitting outside a hamburger joint in Phoenix grabbing a quick bite to eat before firing back up one of the 14 different ride-sharing apps he works for.
"I love what I'm doing. This is the best job in the world," Little said.
The 40-year-old travels to different cities across the country making a living off the gig economy. But high gas prices are hitting his profits hard right now. It's a problem Uber and Lyft drivers across the country are grappling with.
"I gotta have gas to make my car run to make money," he said.
Erin Hatton is a professor at the University of Buffalo. Her research is centered around the gig economy.
"I think the effects are huge for so many of these workers," Hatton said during a recent Zoom interview.
She says there are two types of App Sharing workers. Those who are trying to make a living and those who are doing it on the side and can sit out high gas prices for a bit.
Either way, there’s not a big sense of community for drivers.
"Since they’re not in a workplace they don’t have a group of workers to talk to, to commiserate with," Hatton explained.
It’s hard to track how many RideShare drivers have left their jobs this year. Since most are independent contractors. But they make up a huge section of the labor force. About 57 million people are working in the gig economy.
"If you’re trying to make a living you have to contend with gas prices, skyrocketing," Hatton added.
But there may be another reason why many rideshare drivers are reconsidering their line of work. As tax-filing deadlines approach, many workers who may be filing for the first time are realizing just how much they owe.
"After tax time when you’re responsible for the employer and employee share of taxes. In addition to the wear and tear on your car. So the true cost of this line of work becomes clearer and clearer," Hatton said.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/rideshare-drivers-struggling-to-navigate-high-gas-prices
| 2022-04-08T16:05:59
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BELOIT, Kan. — The United States has a growing shortage of veterinarians, especially in the most rural communities. The problem is predicted to get worse if we don’t catch up with the need.
The bond between human and animal is a special one. It’s why we want our animals to receive the best care.
Dr. Anna Hickert, otherwise known as Dr. Red works at Solomon Valley Veterinary Hospital in Beloit, Kansas.
It's a rural community, about a two-hour drive from Manhattan, Kansas in one direction and about a two-hour drive to Wichita in another direction.
“My entire life goal for the first 25 years of my life was to become a veterinarian. Become a veterinarian," Dr. Red said.
Some say the community of Beloit is lucky to have this clinic because, like many rural communities across the country, it’s the only option for miles.
“We have people that make 40, 50 hour-and-a-half minute drives just to come and see us," Dr. Red said.
She didn’t land here by accident.
“I knew from the get-go that where I wanted to end up long term was in a rural practice, in rural America, basically giving back and serving the people that got me to where I am today," Dr. Red said.
She’s just one person who's gone through Kansas State University’s Veterinary training program for rural Kansas.
“This program is quintessential to finding people that have the drive and have the desire and giving them the financial resources to come and plant roots in a rural area and start to grow and become a part of the community," Dr. Red said.
Here is how the program works. Participants receive $20,000 annually to support tuition for four years.
Once they earn their degree, each student is required to work at a full-time veterinary practice in a Kansas county with fewer than 35,000 residents.
For each year they work in rural Kansas, $20,000 of their loan is forgiven.
Dr. Brad White, a professor with the university, points out that while the program has been active for 15 years, the state is now discussing growing it.
“This program is funded by the state of Kansas and the state of Kansas provides funding that goes to those students for a scholarship as they go through school," White said. “The legislature has recently considered expanding the program and making it applicable to potentially a broader area or a greater number of students as they go through the program.”
Due to its success, White feels on a larger scale, it could really help fix the shortage of veterinarians throughout the country.
“Over 90% of those graduates are still practicing in the rural community. Almost 80% of them are still practicing in the same practice they started in after leaving vet school," White said. “But it’s not just Kansas. There are large parts of the US that we see some of the same needs present.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states we already have a veterinarian shortage in the range of 3,000 to 5,000 and veterinary jobs are expected to grow 17% by 2030. Not only is Rachel Miner a student in the program, but this second-generation veterinarian has also experienced this shortage firsthand.
“The rural community, it means more to me," Miner said. “The summer before I started vet school, so this would have been June of 2019, my dad was injured in a very serious accident so he was unable to practice at our clinic. And he is the only practitioner at our clinic. We potentially could have lost our business and everyone in the community stood by us and vets from the area came and they worked for free to keep our clinic afloat.”
Like Dr. Red, without their clinics, lives would be lost.
“There’s not a hospital where they can go and check in and start the primary care. We are the doctor and the nurse in this situation,' Miner said.
Whether it’s for a family pet or livestock in the agriculture industry, these veterinarians and technicians are the backbones of these rural communities.
“That’s how you keep these rural communities strong, that’s how you keep them alive and growing," Dr. Red said.
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With new cars in short supply, and used cars selling for a premium, millions of drivers now spend thousands of dollars for extended warranties for their car.
But many learn that the warranties sometimes don't pay when you need them most.
Ashley Ziegler opened the hood of her Ford Explorer that she says she has babied since buying it new in 2017.
"I just had the oil changed," she said, while pulling the dipstick to show it's covered with clean oil.
But that apparently wasn't enough for her extended warranty company.
Despite paying over $3,000 for protection for up to 100,000 miles, she had to shell out almost $5,000 more for a repair to a failed turbocharger.
"They denied the entire claim," she said. "They said there was not enough proof of oil changes because we don't always have the oil changes done at the dealership."
She had taken it to various shops for oil changes.
"They came back and said that's not good enough and we need every single receipt for every single oil purchase and filter purchase from 2017," she said.
Her story is not unusual. If you check the Better Business Bureau's report on many extended warranty companies, many customers state that their claims were denied.
What to ask before you buy
A report in the car blog The Drive says before you buy an extended warranty, find out:
- What does it exclude? Many will not cover worn suspension parts, interior parts, and other items that commonly fail.
- What things can void the warranty?
- What maintenance is absolutely required?
- What if you don't have it serviced at the dealership? (This should not be an issue, due to a federal law called the Magnuson Moss Act, that says servicing your car at an independent shop cannot void a warranty)
Ziegler's dealership said it was unable to convince the warranty company to pay for the repair.
"Since she was unable to produce satisfactory records, they declined to cover her repairs," a spokesperson said.
The warranty company has not provided a comment about Ziegler's situation.
However, the dealership said the warranty company will cover future issues that don't require oil change evidence.
Ziegler is still out over $4,000 for a turbocharger replacement.
"I think it's a bunch of junk," she said, "because I have been paying for an extended warranty since I've owned the car, expecting they would cover the cost if something goes wrong with the car."
So read the fine print, so you don't waste your money.
_______________________
Don't Waste Your Money" is a registered trademark of Scripps Media, Inc. ("Scripps").
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For more consumer news and money saving advice, go to www.dontwasteyourmoney.com
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https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/the-major-catch-with-many-extended-auto-warranties
| 2022-04-08T16:06:11
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Walmart is trying to entice truckers by paying them as much as $110,000 during their first year of work.
In a statement, Walmart leaders wrote that drivers who already work for the company “can earn even more, based on factors like tenure and location.”
The starting range would begin at $95,000, which is still a jump from the average Walmart driver salary of $87,500.
Walmart said, “the average salary for a long haul driver is $56,491 a year.”
The company’s new private fleet develop program will have “established drivers” teach new drivers for 12 weeks.
Walmart is also paying for supply chain associates in Dallas, Texas and Dover, Delaware to earn their commercial driver’s license so they can become truck drivers.
If you want to apply for a truck driver position at Walmart, you can apply here.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/walmart-offering-truck-drivers-up-to-110-000-per-year
| 2022-04-08T16:06:18
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The products and services mentioned below were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Simplemost may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.
While no one wants pests in their garden, one insect it’s impossible not to love is the butterfly. Not only are they beautiful, but they are actually quite beneficial to your outdoor space.
According to Butterfly Conservation, a U.K. nonprofit, butterflies provide both pollination and pest control and are indicators of a healthy environment and healthy ecosystem. To attract them to your garden, however, you’ll need the right kind of flowers, as they have specific needs. The U.S. Forest System says butterflies prefer brightly colored flowers with a landing platform that are open during the day. Butterflies have good vision but a weak sense of smell and, unlike bees, can see the color red.
If you want butterflies in your garden, but would rather avoid the time-consuming task of figuring out what to plant, you can instead purchase flower-seeded mats that are already full of seeds for flowers that attract these beautiful creatures. Amazon currently has a two-pack of seeded mats that are priced at $16.13 for the pair.
The mats work by simply unrolling them and planting the entire mat in your yard or garden and continuing to water as the flowers grow. They can be cut to any shape to use anywhere you need them, so, while they come as a set of two, you can actually get more out of them if you want to cover even smaller areas. The mats grow a colorful blend of annuals and perennials.
The mats come with a 60-day return policy and 100% satisfaction guarantee, so if they do not lead to blooming flowers, you can get your money back, according to the seller.
The mats have more than 300 ratings from Amazon users so far, with 60% of them being at least a 4-star grade and nearly half of them being a perfect 5 stars. Pleased reviewers have said the seeds begin to sprout in as little as four days, and the mats ship quickly and are easy to use.
One reviewer recommends putting chicken wire on top of the mat so birds won’t pick at your seed bed. That particular buyer was also thrilled with the speed at which the flowers grew.
“Following the instructions, within a couple days the seeds started to sprout despite the fact a robin got in my yard and tried to scatter and tear up the paper with the seeds in it,” that Amazon user wrote. “Next time, I will cover it until it grows but for now I am anxious to see what kind of flowers are going to bloom.”
There is a notable chunk of negative reviews, however, including some customers who say the mats simply didn’t work. Keep in mind that it depends on your soil, how frequently (or infrequently) you water them, where you live and the climate there, so there are a variety of factors that may affect flower growth.
If attracting butterflies isn’t on your wishlist, you can buy mats that grow other flowers instead, including one from the same brand that will fill your yard with sunflowers. Priced the same as the butterfly mats, the sunflower mats grow blossoms in red, copper, gold, yellow and rust hues.
Other similar seed mats available on Amazon include this 7-foot pre-seeded flower mat that grows English lavender. Priced at $20, it has more than 5,000 seeds, with germination occurring in 10-20 days. Satisfaction is also guaranteed by the seller on that one.
Have you ever worked with a seed mat to grow plants in your yard?
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/seeded-mats-grow-flowers-attract-butterflies
| 2022-04-08T16:06:24
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