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https://finance-commerce.com/2022/04/top-transactions-1900-lake-estate-draws-6-5-million/
| 2022-04-08T21:50:42
| 1
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https://finance-commerce.com/2022/04/top-transactions-1900-lake-estate-draws-6-5-million/
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Stay Work Play is now accepting nominations for its 13th annual Rising Stars Awards.
An initiative of Stay Work Play, in partnership with New Hampshire Public Radio, the Rising Stars Awards celebrate and recognize New Hampshire’s remarkable young people (40 and under) and the businesses that go the extra mile to recruit and retain them.
New to the awards this year are the Changemaker of the Year Award and Artist of the Year Award.
“The Artist of the Year Award honors a young person who, through their creative efforts, is making their community a more vibrant place,” said Stay Work Play Executive Director Will Stewart. “The Changemaker of the Year Award honors a young Granite Stater who, through their actions, has worked to make New Hampshire, or their corner of it, a better place.”
The five other Rising Stars Awards categories include: College Student of the Year Award, Coolest Employer for Young People Award, Entrepreneur of the Year Award, High School Student of the Year Award and Young Person of the Year Award.
Judging panels for each category will select winners for six of the award categories. The Coolest Company for Young People will be determined via online voting.
Winners will be celebrated at the Rising Stars Awards celebratory event at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Bank of New Hampshire Stage in Concord.
The 2022 Rising Stars Awards is sponsored by Eversource with additional support from Northeast Delta Dental and McLane Middleton.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/nominations-open-for-stay-work-play-rising-stars-awards/article_fc650c8d-acdc-5bbf-a03f-b4be6df5c875.html
| 2022-04-08T21:53:59
| 0
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/nominations-open-for-stay-work-play-rising-stars-awards/article_fc650c8d-acdc-5bbf-a03f-b4be6df5c875.html
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Employees at six more Starbucks coffee shops in upstate New York voted to unionize Thursday and Friday, delivering a string of wins for the nascent organization effort at one of America’s most ubiquitous coffee retailers.
Workers United, a labor union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, announced Thursday afternoon that two stores in Rochester, N.Y., and another in Buffalo had voted in its favor. Then on Friday afternoon the National Labor Relations Board confirmed that workers at three more coffee shops, in Ithaca, N.Y., voted overwhelmingly to form a union, bringing the number of unionized company-owned stores to 16 out of almost 9,000. The board is also tallying results from a store in Overland Park, Kan.
The vote was close at one of the Rochester stores, with the union winning 13-11, while the other five stores favored the union by significant margins, according to vote counts confirmed by the NLRB. A Starbucks spokesman noted that turnout was relatively low in Thursday’s elections, however, with only about half of eligible voters participating for one of the stores.
The elections come at a time when organized labor is asserting itself as a combination of strong corporate profits, inflation, worker shortages and pandemic-inflicted hardship has given unions additional leverage.
Labor unions are hoping to capture the moment to expand their reach after decades of retrenchment. They have been pressing hard on contract negotiations, winning back long-lost benefits for their members amid a rash of strikes. And they are moving aggressively to organize nonunion shops. There have been 641 petitions filed with the National Labor Relations Board in 2022 as of Friday, the fastest pace of new petitions since 2008, according an analysis of NLRB data.
A union election last week on New York’s Staten Island culminated in the first successful union drive at an Amazon warehouse, and organizers have filed dozens of petitions to unionize Starbucks coffee shops in at least 25 states.
Starbucks spokespeople and executives have said the company respects workers’ right to organize but doesn’t believe a union is necessary.
In response to a request for comment on Thursday’s union votes, Starbucks spokesman Reggie Borges said: “The priority of (CEO Howard Schultz) and our leaders is to focus on culture: the renewal and a reimagination of Starbucks. We are listening and creating that future with all of our partners. This is the core work ahead and we are excited about the possibility and future.”
In an earlier public letter, Rossann Williams, the company’s executive vice president for North America, promised to bargain in good faith. “Our hope is that union representatives also come to the table with mutual good faith, respect and positive intent,” Williams wrote.
The Seattle-based company’s progressive image has long set it apart from others in the food service industry, and it has sought to burnish its wage and benefits packages over the past year as the union effort has gathered steam. In October the company announced that it would raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour by the summer of 2022, while giving a 5% raise to those with two or more years of service.
Starbucks has responded to the worker unrest by reshaping its corporate finances, as longtime chief executive Howard Schultz returns to the job on an interim basis. It announced Monday that it would suspend stock buybacks and allow the company to “invest more profit into our people and our stores.”
Union organizers, meanwhile, have accused the company of running a pressure campaign to prevent employees from organizing. The National Labor Relations Board recently brought a case against the company for allegedly retaliating against an employee who sought to organize her coffee shop in Phoenix.
The employee, Laila Dalton, was later fired after recording a conversation with a manager and publicizing it. A Starbucks spokesman said Dalton was terminated after admitting to recording multiple conversations that she wasn’t a part of, and without the consent of those interested parties.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/starbucks-workers-vote-to-unionize-6-more-stores-pushing-total-to-16/article_cbbb838f-174b-5fb4-8ac4-32689b281604.html
| 2022-04-08T21:54:05
| 0
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/starbucks-workers-vote-to-unionize-6-more-stores-pushing-total-to-16/article_cbbb838f-174b-5fb4-8ac4-32689b281604.html
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Gas has jumped to an average of $4.25 a gallon here in Detroit, and the Toyota Prius Prime plug-in is ready for prime time. I plugged it into my home 240-volt wall charger and filled my battery with 25 miles of charge in two hours at a cost of $1.50. When the battery was spent after a day chasing errands, the gas engine kicked in with another 640 miles of range at my disposal at 54 mpg. Enough to drive nonstop to New York City to visit my son if necessary.
The last time gas hit $4 a gallon in 2008, the Prius hybrid was all the rage. Sales soared to 158,884 units a year on their way to a record 234,228 by 2013. All the cool kids had one. So morally righteous were owners that the Japanese hatchback gained the nickname “Pious.”
Today, despite soaring gas prices, the Prius is all but forgotten despite the addition of a plug-in model in 2013. Green elites have moved on to other shiny toys. Pols shame Americans for not buying electric vehicles. Leo drives a Polestar 2 and Stephen Colbert brags he never has to visit the gas pump in his Tesla. Model 3 is the new Pious.
But for Americans tired of shelling out $60 each time they fill up their Toyota Camry, the Prius is an appealing bargain.
Indeed, my loaded, top-trim Limited tester clocked in at $35,000 — that magical, affordable number that Tesla’s Model 3 sedan once promised but never delivered.
Prime presents itself in a package as instantly recognizable as a Tesla: Angular profile, split-rear window, vertical running lights. That, and my tester was as bright blue as a newly-dyed Easter egg.
I flung it around Oakland County, the Prius’s compact, stiffened chassis much-improved over the first-gen’s pasta noodle.
But you won’t mistake it for a Tesla. I floored Pious out of a stoplight and the front-wheel-drive electric motor briefly woke up as if startled, then settled into a slow trot. When the gas engine kicks in, it drones on like John Kerry at a Davos climate change conference. Prime offers a POWER sport mode to complement NORMAL and ECO, but I couldn’t tell the difference.
As satisfying as its gas price-defying range is, however, it comes at a cost if you want quick, two-hour recharges. A 240-volt Juicebox charger plus installation could set you back $2,000 in a 1970s-vintage-house like mine.
Better to plug in to a standard 120-volt wall socket for 5½ hours every night. That’s because a comparably-equipped $25K Corolla compact hatchback also comes in Easter egg blue and also answers your gas budget woes with 35 mpg. Prius Prime, EPA tells us, gets a whopping 54 mpg. Let’s do the math. If you’re traveling an average of 15,000 miles a year, that means Prime will save you a whopping $640 annually with petrol at $4.25 a gallon.
Here comes the “but” you’ve been waiting for.
Gas prices would have to continue at $4.25 a gallon for nearly 16 years before you would recoup the costs of your Prime premium over the Corolla. What if you only (improbably) used the Prime on electric charge? EPA says you’d get 113 MPGe and save $1,061 — in which case gas prices would have to continue at $4.25 a gallon for nine years before you would recoup the costs of your Prime premium over the Corolla. Qualify for the federal $4,500 tax credit and payback is in five years.
That’s a lotta math, which is why battery-powered vehicles remain a market niche. Last year, Prius only sold 60,000 units. Prius faithful enjoy a unique driving environment.
Prius beat Tesla to market by remodeling the vehicle dashboard. It removed the instrument display behind the steering wheel, then relocated it at the base of the windshield with digital graphics so you can watch the powertrain transition from electric to gas power. Redundantly, Prime offers a head-up display for 2022. I barely noticed it was there. The Toyota’s signature stubby, dash-mounted shifter frees up console space for a smartphone charging pad.
If it’s an Android smartphone like mine, however, it is useless for navigation on the Prime Limited’s big 12-inch screen, which doesn’t offer Android Auto. That’s a drag as disappointing as the Prius’s lethargic acceleration.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/transportation/auto-review-gas-above-4-no-fear-113-mpge-toyota-prius-prime-is-here/article_51636bf9-8d8c-55ad-a382-85415e6dd4ce.html
| 2022-04-08T21:54:11
| 1
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/transportation/auto-review-gas-above-4-no-fear-113-mpge-toyota-prius-prime-is-here/article_51636bf9-8d8c-55ad-a382-85415e6dd4ce.html
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I purchased a 2019 Toyota RAV4 XLE with 10,400 miles on it in October 2020. It came with a remote start feature on the key fob that I used last winter.
I went to use it this winter, and it did not work. I come to find out I have to pay for it. Apparently, I had it on a “free trial” for a period of time, but if I want to keep using it, now I have to pay a monthly fee. Nobody told me this when I bought the car.
Have you ever heard of this? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Isn’t it like having brakes but having to pay extra to use them?
— Phil
Welcome to the Subscription Age, Phil.
If you haven’t already noticed, every company, from Peloton to Alaska Airlines to Coca-Cola, has figured out that it’s more lucrative to charge you a monthly fee forever than to just sell you something once. So, expect to see more of this.
Toyota, hoping to get on the subscription bandwagon, decided to make its Toyota Remote Connect plan a subscription service.
That “plan” includes services that use the car’s built-in modem — things like checking the status of the doors and windows from an app, emergency calling services and remote start.
But here’s what owners figured out: You don’t need the car’s modem to use remote start. You can use your key fob.
Unfortunately, Toyota programmed the system so that however a remote start is requested, the system first checks to see if you have a paid-up subscription. If not, it tells you to get lost. How did this go over with customers? Well, kind of like how it went over with you, Phil. They’re ticked off.
Toyota says they are surprised by the customer reaction, and that they’re “reviewing” the plan. But there’s no guarantee they’ll change it.
So if you really want the remote start, Phil, you’ll have to fork over the monthly fee, and buy the whole Remote Connect plan.
I’m not a big fan of subscriptions for the same reason that companies love them. They’re relatively small monthly payments, charged automatically to your credit card. And when a fee is automatic and small enough, you forget about it, and you keep paying whether you use the service or not. See also: my gym membership.
So my suggestion is to resist, if you can live without it, Phil. And let Toyota know you’re disappointed. If we don’t put up a fight, before we know it, we’ll be putting a quarter in the dashboard every time we want to recline our seats.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/transportation/car-talk-time-to-resist-the-subscription-bandwagon/article_59795f6a-c39c-55a7-8140-b059d16c5f9e.html
| 2022-04-08T21:54:17
| 0
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/transportation/car-talk-time-to-resist-the-subscription-bandwagon/article_59795f6a-c39c-55a7-8140-b059d16c5f9e.html
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A judge has refused to set any bail for Sean Brown, the paralegal charged with witness tampering in a high stakes case involving drug trafficking in Manchester.
The ruling means that Brown, 45, will remain in jail on preventive detention until trial or if his lawyer can convince Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Amy Messer to change her mind at a future hearing.
Brown faces three charges of witness tampering involving Zoe Murphy, the girlfriend of alleged drug enterprise leader Marcus Cherry.
Brown has a lengthy criminal record, most involving drug crimes. But none of his New Hampshire felony convictions involve violent crime, according to online court records. In her ruling, Messer wrote that prosecutors have shown that Brown is a danger to the public.
"Who has he ever harmed?" said his mother, Glenda Brown, in a telephone call. "He's not a danger to anyone and they know it."
She said prosecutors are jailing her son to prevent him from helping Murphy.
According to police filings, Brown worked as a paralegal for Murphy while quarterbacking Cherry's efforts to influence the decisions that his girlfriend makes when it comes to Cherry's case.
Murphy has no criminal record, and she would make a star witness if she testifies against Cherry, something both Brown and Cherry have acknowledged in their recorded telephone conversations.
Until recently, Murphy had opted to defend herself, and she spoke to Cherry about being his co-defendant. On Thursday, she told a reporter she was going to accept a public defender.
Cherry faces 10 charges involving the distribution of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine in the Manchester area. If convicted of the most serious charges, he could end up in prison for life. Murphy faces only a single charge.
Messer also prohibited Brown from having any contact with Murphy and Cherry, who has been in Valley Street jail since November. Brown is next due in court in June for a routine conference on the status of his case.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/judge-orders-paralegal-in-drug-case-held-without-bail/article_8b6640ba-e13a-5089-be2c-5005751218c7.html
| 2022-04-08T21:54:23
| 0
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/courts/judge-orders-paralegal-in-drug-case-held-without-bail/article_8b6640ba-e13a-5089-be2c-5005751218c7.html
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When Gov. Chris Sununu announced that everything was shutting down back in March, 2020, Shanna Large-Reusch remembers her first thought was, “Please don’t close the liquor stores.”
That response might seem counter-intuitive for someone who works in the treatment field -- Large-Reusch is director of substance use disorders at Riverbend Community Mental Health Center in Concord. But she feared what would happen to her clients if the pandemic shuttered state liquor stores.
“Do you want to see a lot of people in withdrawal and dying because they can’t get their alcohol?” she said. “I want my clients to be able to get something so they don’t die and they can engage with us.”
The state kept the liquor stores open, and liquor sales went through the roof.
Throughout the crisis, The Doorway, the state’s “hub-and-spoke” program for substance use disorders, continued to connect residents with treatment and recovery services.
The fact that the treatment community was able to continue providing services in such unprecedented circumstances is a testament to “the resilience of the people we serve and our providers,” says Jaime Powers, director of the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Services at the state Department of Health and Human Services, which runs The Doorway in 10 locations statewide.
Life has been difficult for everyone over the past two years, but for those with substance issues, it was even tougher, Powers said.
“One of the things we always said to people leaving treatment was: ‘Get connected, go to meetings, don’t isolate,’” she said. “And now all of a sudden, all of those very healthy things we typically told people to do, everyone was saying, ‘Don’t do that. Stay away from people.’”
Those struggling with substance abuse have been “the loneliest of the lonely” during the pandemic, said Large-Reusch, from Riverbend, which runs The Doorway in Concord.
“Ninety-nine percent of our clients have mental health diagnoses as well -- and the other one percent are lying to themselves,” she said.
“People use substances to find relief, to numb, sometimes to feel wanted,” she said. “And now you’ve basically locked them up in their houses and exacerbated that depression that they might have had .…”
Add the political divisiveness, explosion of conspiracy theories and uncertainty over COVID-19. “The call had to be very strong to just keep using,” Large-Reusch said.
Creativity under stress
Powers said New Hampshire’s 10 Doorway hubs “did this amazing pivot” to offer remote services when the pandemic struck.
“It’s more incredible that they were able to do that, given that they’re all hospital-based,” Powers said. “And the hospitals were certainly not focused on the Doorways, and rightly so.”
Many people who need services don’t have reliable phone or computer access, Powers said. So Doorway staff got creative, designating unused office space for evaluation and intake where clients could have access to a computer and phone, sometimes communicating with a care coordinator in an adjacent office.
That’s what they did at The Doorway in Concord, Large-Reusch said.
“Most of our clients don’t have the ability to get on a Zoom and they don’t have phone time,” she said. Places where clients used to be able to use public Wi-Fi, like coffee and doughnut shops, she said, “weren’t letting people inside.”
They tried using telehealth at first, but it wasn’t ideal, she said.
“The opposite of addiction is connection,” Large-Reusch said. “We need to connect with our clients. They need to see us.”
So, “We pivoted,” she said.
They would put a client in one office, and connect them with Doorway personnel in a different room via computer. That way, if someone needed in-person help, she said, “We were able to get to them very quickly.”
Peter Fifield, director of the Doorway operated by Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, said the number of clients coming in dropped after the crisis began, but that doesn’t mean people were not using.
“Recovery is hard in general,” he said. “Things like pandemics, I don’t think, make for fertile ground for recovery because things are just fundamentally harder."
It’s important for those new to recovery to make new friends, Fifield said, “because your old friends are the ones you used with.” But as the pandemic made everyone more isolated, he said, connecting with new people could feel impossible.
The Dover Doorway building is across the street from the main hospital, and Fifield said they also used technology to connect people and keep them safe.
“We could have a clinician in one room assessing the person and then we’d Zoom up to our psychiatrist,” he said. “The person would leave with everything they needed, and we’d clean up the room.”
They even set up a quarantine space where clients who had some symptoms could still come in to be evaluated, he said.
Happy to hold steady
Fatal overdose numbers have plateaued in New Hampshire in recent years, with 416 deaths projected for 2021.
That’s either encouraging -- overdoses are not increasing here as they are elsewhere -- or discouraging: Although the state has invested more than $100 million in federal funds to create The Doorway, the number of people dying from drugs has not declined.
Large-Reusch from Riverbend prefers to think of it as a win. “To us, that kind of means that we’re doing what we need to be doing,” she said.
“We would love for no one to ever overdose again," she said. But she said, “As long as the number stays similar, we feel like we’re doing the work we need to be doing.”
As someone who has spent her career in the treatment field, DHHS’s Powers said, “I’ve always said my goal is to have to shut my own doors.”
“The reality is that that is unlikely to ever happen,” she said.
But there are more resources available today and it’s making a difference, providers say.
New Hampshire’s “robust” recovery community, Powers said, is critical to the effort.
“Somebody who has had a substance use disorder, most likely their social group is built around that substance,” she said. “So having that new pro-social group and having it ready and waiting is going to go a long way toward lowering those numbers.”
Powers said more must be done on the prevention side to really change things. “It’s a whole lot easier to stop something from happening than to reverse it once it has happened,” she said.
Workforce also continues to be an issue in New Hampshire, and finding treatment beds “can still be challenging,” she said.
But not everyone needs a 28-day residential program, which used to be the norm, Powers said. Individuals who have family support may benefit more from outpatient or partial hospitalization programs, she said.
Hard cases, more to come
With things opening up, Large-Reusch said, her Doorway is now serving clients with “a higher level of need than we’ve seen before.”
She expects caseloads to increase. “It kind of terrifies me to think what all these economic changes are going to do to my clients as well,” she said.
“Because if we thought it was hard before COVID to find housing and now there’s no housing to be found even for people that have the money to do it, what kind of strain is that going to put on people?” she asked.
Some point out that users manage to find the money to buy drugs. “Yes, they probably can, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not maybe doing more illegal things to get more money,” Large-Reusch said.
In her view, one policy change that would make a difference for such individuals is decriminalization of drug crimes.
“That allows people to get into recovery, maintain recovery and then get a job that can help support that recovery,” Large-Reusch said. “Because the jobs that people who have felony records get are not jobs they can fully function on and support families.”
Fifield from the Dover Doorway agreed..
“It’s funny because we call substance use a chronic medical condition,” he said. “But we treat it like a crime.”
“That’s like if someone with diabetes, if they go to the doctor to get treatment, they get arrested for eating a Snickers," he said.
Still what gives Fifield hope, he said, is many people's “willingness and readiness to see this differently.”
No one is immune
New Hampshire now has diversion programs and drug courts that try to get people into treatment and healthy activities instead of jail, he said. Policymakers are embracing some harm reduction programs, such as safe syringe programs. Hospitals are using social workers and recovery coaches to connect overdose patients with the Doorway.
Fifield said he sees more compassion across the board. “Maybe it got personal for them,” he said.
Some people might be surprised at who seeks help for substance use disorders, Fifield said. “People think that they are ‘other’ and when you ‘other,’ you can set yourself apart from them and treat them in a certain way,” he said.
But in truth, he said, “They’re just like you and me. Substance use disorder does not discriminate. We’re all just a little bit away from knowing someone, or being that someone yourself.”
Riverbend's Large-Reusch said it's her clients who give her hope.
“I love my clients because these are spectacular people with skills of survival that I will never have,” she said. “And if they can gain some time in recovery, what they can do to give back to the community and to the world is just incredible.”
She thinks of a recent client, a man in his early 60s who was addicted to heroin and spent time in jail and then in the hospital. After he was discharged, he spent a rainy night sleeping in a Dumpster before he found his way to the Doorway, where the staff gave him warm, dry socks and some coffee. "He was just happy to be inside," Large-Reusch said.
“And we have helped him,” she said, choking up.
The Doorway staff connected the man with sober housing and got him into medication-assisted treatment. The last time Large-Reusch saw him, he had gained weight -- and confidence, she said.
“He’s just opened up and really blossomed,” she said.
“That’s just one story of a million that we have here.”
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/health/through-pandemic-and-economic-hardship-the-doorway-is-still-open/article_fcce21ff-91c9-50fa-904a-ace174c845b4.html
| 2022-04-08T21:54:30
| 1
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/health/through-pandemic-and-economic-hardship-the-doorway-is-still-open/article_fcce21ff-91c9-50fa-904a-ace174c845b4.html
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/83-year-old-wrong-way-driver-causes-five-car-wreck-on-everett-turnpike-in-nashua/article_b29732da-0d8d-5073-a74c-e21d1e960f8a.html
| 2022-04-08T21:54:36
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State police troopers pulled over 21 vehicles that did not move over for emergency vehicles during an enforcement operation that took place earlier this week on southern New Hampshire highways, New Hampshire State Police said.
The saturation patrol, which ran from 5 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday, also involved enforcement of commercial motor vehicle laws. According to a news release, the effort was designed to identify drivers who failed to move over for emergency vehicles as required by the state's Move Over Law.
Police said they made 116 motor vehicle stops, 21 for failing to move over. Eight commercial vehicles were placed out of service, either for equipment violations or hours of service violations. One driver was arrested for aggravated DUI. In total, troopers ticketed 26 drivers.
"The New Hampshire State Police would like to remind the motoring public when approaching stationary vehicles on the side of the road which display ... flashing lights, to move out of the land adjacent to the emergency or maintenance vehicle," reads a statement issued by state police.
If the lane is blocked, drivers should reduce speed and give a wide berth to the emergency vehicle.
The enforcement action took place in Windham on I-93 and Merrimack on the Everett turnpike.
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| 2022-04-08T21:54:42
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1-year-old boy dies after 'targeted' shooting in West Palm Beach
A 1-year-old boy has died after he was shot in the chest Thursday evening in West Palm Beach, police said.
A West Palm Beach Police Department spokesman initially reported the child was 4 months old. However, police later clarified to WPTV on Friday that the boy was actually 16 months old.
The child passed away around 7 a.m. Friday after undergoing surgery overnight at a local hospital, police said.
Investigators said the boy, along with his mother and father, both 20 years old, were sitting in a vehicle just before 6 p.m. Thursday in an alleyway south of Fourth Street and west of Douglass Avenue when at least one shooter approached the car and opened fire.
"The driver of the car, the 20-year-old man, immediately drove the wounded woman and the child to a nearby hospital," West Palm Beach police public information officer Mike Jachles said.
The boy — who was sitting in the back seat of the car — was struck in the chest, his aunt said.
The child's mother was grazed by a bullet and taken to a hospital, where police said she was treated and later released. The man in the car was not hurt.
The gunman fled the scene and has not been captured.
West Palm Beach police are now offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case.
"Our detectives are determined to find the person or persons responsible for the killing of an innocent 16-month-old baby," Jachles said. "No words can describe what that family must be going through."
Jachles said the shooting was a targeted attack. However, no other details about a possible motive have been released.
"There is no threat to the neighborhood per se. This was targeted," Jachles said. "This was not a random attack. These people, or someone in the vehicle, was targeted."
Back in February, West Palm Beach police announced the arrests of 18 people who authorities said are connected to the "4th Street Gang," which mainly operates in an alleyway between Third and Fourth streets adjacent to Tamarind and Douglass avenues, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Jachles on Friday would not confirm if the deadly shooting of the 1-year-old boy has any ties to gang activity.
"There was a drug and gun bust of the '4th Street Gang' that was done a couple months ago. Any connections to the investigation, that will all be part of what detectives would keep close to the vest right now as part of the investigation," Jachles said. "So that would be just speculation at this point."
WATCH NEWS CONFERENCE:
West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James released the following statement Friday about the deadly shooting, calling it a "heinous act":
"I was saddened to learn of the baby's tragic death and the injuries to his mother which resulted from last night's targeted shooting. My thoughts and prayers are with their family at this time. The murder of an innocent child is incomprehensible... There is simply too much gun violence throughout our country. It is unfortunate that the state has tied the hands of municipalities from taking any further action against gunmakers."
Anyone with information that can help investigators is asked to call the West Palm Beach Police Department at 561-822-1900 or Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 800-458-TIPS.
The identities and photos of the 1-year-old boy and his 20-year-old mother were provided to WPTV earlier on Friday by a family member. However, since then, the victims' family has invoked Marcy's Law and wishes to keep their identities private. Therefor, out of respect for the victims and their family, WPTV is no longer identifying the child and his mother.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-08T21:55:38
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Cornell Museum in Delray Beach to remain closed
There's more drama for Delray Beach residents concerning Old School Square.
This time it involves the Cornell Museum on the property at the center of the city.
Since the termination of the lease with the non-profit organization, Old School Square, and the city, the museum's doors remain closed.
"Now there’s nothing,” said Mary Kay Birch, Delray Beach resident. “There are no concerts, the museum is closed, there’s no plays going on. That’s sad."
At the city commission meeting Tuesday, commissioners discussed a potential partnership which would have the Boca Raton Museum of Art run the Cornell Museum for the next six months for $125,000. However, the proposal was rejected 3 to 2.
Commissioner Ryan Boylston voted no. He said his vote stems from the termination of the lease with Old School Square and the lack of public input.
"It wasn’t a 'no' it was a 'not yet,'" said Boylston. "Since the termination of Old School Square back in August, we have not held one public workshop or one public meeting to discuss a plan, a vision, a budget."
Commissioner Juli Casale said it’s another missed opportunity for the city.
"The Boca Museum has provided seven decades of cultural and artistic programming to people from around the world," said Casale. "This is disappointing. Art and culture are a big part of our city. It’s a shame."
Residents now feeling frustrated, just wanting a decision to be made.
"To me it makes no sense, this building is sitting here," said Birch. "The next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to tear it down. Now it’s just a waiting game to see what happens."
The public will get their chance to comment on Old School Square and the future of the museum at a workshop on May 17. In the meantime, the heart of Delray Beach remains closed.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-08T21:55:45
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Future of Palm Beach International Raceway uncertain
The future of the Palm Beach International Raceway remains up in the air after the county's zoning commission pumped the breaks — at least for now — on a redevelopment plan.
For many, the raceway is a staple in the county, and some feel their fight to save it is picking up speed after a key vote this week.
Showing his support, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw penned a new letter Friday, writing that if the Palm Beach International Raceway is lost, it could mean an increase in drag racing on neighborhood streets, which could cost lives.
"I have a lot of memories there," said Madelyn Marconi.
Marconi has been going to the raceway for 25 years and has launched a campaign to save it.
"Some of those people out there are the nicest people you'd ever meet in your entire life. They'd do anything for you, so right now I want to do everything I can for them," Marconi said.
Now she has more hope after the Palm Beach County Zoning Commission voted 7-0, declining plans to turn the raceway into an industrial park.
Portman Industrial wants to redevelop the space into four warehouse buildings, which the company said will bring in 1,500 new jobs.
But Thursday, the commission raised concerns about impacts to the environment and traffic safety.
"I think you're going to have issues out there with that amount of trucks entering the highway," said resident Mark Beatty.
Marconi and other supporters also spoke publicly at the meeting, opposing the redevelopment plans.
"We want more than anything for it to stay a raceway. I would personally help the owners bring it back up to speed and be the old moroso it used to be," Marconi said.
The owners have a contract to sell the raceway, and Portman's plans aren't done just yet.
Up next, the Board of County Commissioners now has to vote on the redevelopment plan to approve or reject the industrial park.
That vote is set for April 28.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-08T21:55:51
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German Shepherd shot in face adopted by Jupiter police officer
A German Shepherd that was shot in the face is improving from her injury and will now have a new loving owner.
“She was in recovery for well over five to six weeks, before she was feeling good enough to meet her new owner,” said Lauree Simmons, president and founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue.
That new owner is Officer Craig Yochum from the Jupiter Police Department. He heard about what happened to Empress and decided to adopt her.
“I figured, I have a German Shepherd who is about the same age that she probably get along pretty well with him,” said Yochum.
Empress arrived at Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Loxahatchee at the beginning of March.
WFLX was told somehow, she got loose and ended up on someone’s doorstep in Wellington with a gunshot wound under her eye.
The veterinary radiologist believes Empress was likely shot with a 40 or 45 high caliber bullet, possibly from close range, and the fragments nearly missed her vital organs.
Empress may still need more surgery but caretakers at Big Dog Ranch Rescue hope she'll make a full recovery and won't need it.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is investigating this case.
“All we can do is be here for them,” said Simmons. “Try to save as many as we can.”
Empress will now join the thousands of dogs adopted after their time and care here at Big Dog Ranch Rescue.
“What a better home to go to. I’ve devoted my life to helping people. Now unfortunately with my line of work, you’re getting into police work and law enforcement, you go to calls like this,” said Yochum. “Hopefully now, she’s going to a place where I can keep her safe.”
No one has been arrested in Empress' case and there is still a $13,000 reward through PBSO for anyone who may have information that may led to an arrest.
The public is invited to share in the celebration of the 50,000 Rescue Dog at the Celebrity Chefs for Canines event in Delray Beach on April 24 at 5:30 p.m. This ticketed event features cocktails, chef tasting stations, seated dinner, luxury auction and live entertainment. All proceeds support the lifesaving work of Big Dog Ranch Rescue.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-08T21:55:58
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Justin Bieber offering a month of free online therapy to fans
Published: Apr. 8, 2022 at 4:43 PM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
(CNN) - Justin Bieber wants you to find inner peace and is willing to pay to help you do it.
The pop star is partnering with online therapy company BetterHelp to offer a free month of service to his fans.
Bieber, 28, has been candid about his own mental health issues and says offering free therapy to fans is a “real blessing.”
He’s also giving members of his road crew free access to licensed therapists for 18 months.
The Grammy winner is currently on the first leg of the biggest tour of his career, The Justice Tour.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-08T21:56:05
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Life expectancy continues to drop in US since start of pandemic, study finds
(CNN) - A recent study found that life expectancy in the U.S. has continued to drop since the start of the pandemic.
Researchers from the University of Colorado and the Urban Institute analyzed data from several statistical agencies and found that in 2021 life expectancy fell nearly half a year to 76.6 years.
Previously, a similar study found life expectancy dipped by almost two years in 2020.
In the decade before the coronavirus pandemic, life expectancy overall didn’t change much. But more than 900,000 Americans have died from COVID in the past two years.
Researchers from this most recent study also found life expectancy is more than five years less in the U.S. compared to other similar nations.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/08/life-expectancy-continues-drop-us-since-start-pandemic-study-finds/
| 2022-04-08T21:56:13
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Man charged after setting fire to home, killing woman and baby, police say
WALDORF, Md. (Gray News) - A man in Maryland was charged with arson and murder after he deliberately set a house on fire, killing a woman and a baby, according to police.
The Charles County Sheriff’s Office said Vincent Anthony Fisher II, 46, was charged Thursday with first-degree arson and murder.
According to the sheriff’s office, first responders were called to a home in Waldorf (about 30 miles south of Washington, D.C.) on March 31 for a report of an altercation and a fire. After the fire was extinguished, investigators found Rashawn Cline, 27, and her daughter, Dashawn Cline, 1, dead inside the home.
The victims were the daughter and the granddaughter of Fisher’s girlfriend.
During the investigation, officials determined the fire was deliberately set, and the medical examiner ruled the deaths as homicides as a result of the fire.
Fisher, who also lived at the residence, was identified as the suspect and was immediately arrested. He was also charged with assaulting another resident of the house during an altercation that happened just before the fire was set, the sheriff’s office said.
Fisher is being held at the Charles County Detention Center and was denied bond.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-08T21:56:21
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Owl rescued after getting tangled up in barbed wire fence
Published: Apr. 8, 2022 at 4:31 PM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. (Gray News) – Animal rescue groups in Colorado saved an owl that was stuck in a barbed wire fence this week.
The Arapahoe County Government said in a Facebook post Friday that the great horned owl got tangled up in the fence while “out and about fighting the Colorado winds this week.”
Residents called Arapahoe County Animal Services, and with the help of the Birds of Prey Foundation, rescuers were able to get the owl loose.
The owl is now recovering at a medical care facility.
Arapahoe County is located just outside of Denver.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-08T21:56:27
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Pushback grows from Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' law
More than 200 medical professionals stepped out of an annual convention in Orlando on Friday for a rally to protest Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law.
"These laws cause harm not only in the jurisdictions but will affect our patients wherever we're practicing," Dr. Carl Streed said.
RELATED: Los Angeles County bans official travel to Florida over controversial 'Don't Say Gay' law
Streed, along with his colleagues, talked over Zoom about the law that seems to have America talking, and at least these doctors concerned.
"The reason us as physicians are concerned about this is anytime there is a law regulating any marginalized group of people, it causes direct harm. It causes direct harm in the moment, and it causes harm long term," Streed said.
The doctors said they need to keep talking, especially if it's not happening in schools.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday he remains unmoved and unapologetic.
"In Florida, we are leading the way in supporting the rights of parents and the well-being of our children," DeSantis said.
The governor has been a fierce defender of what he calls the Parental Rights In Education law and has no problem pushing back on his detractors.
Political analyst Brian Crowley, who has covered Florida politics for more than 30 years, shared his thoughts.
"Ron DeSantis is one of the most aggressive governors we've ever had in this state when it comes to politics," Crowley said.
He and many political insiders believe Florida’s governor is looking to win over national Republicans with a 2024 run at the White House.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-08T21:56:36
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The Chicago White Sox lost pitcher Lucas Giolito to an injury and then lost a lead on opening day, falling to the Detroit Tigers 5-4 on Friday at Comerica Park.
Javier Báez drove in Austin Meadows with a single with two outs in the ninth, handing the Sox a tough loss to start the season.
The Tigers scored two in the eighth to tie the game at 3. Andrew Vaughn hit a solo home run in the ninth to put the Sox ahead again, but Eric Haase tied the game with a homer in the bottom of the ninth. Meadows reached on a two-out triple.
Báez hit a fly to right that hit the wall just above AJ Polllock’s glove.
The Sox faced adversity in the form of several injuries to key players in 2021 and found a way to win the American League Central.
This season began with another setback when Giolito left with abdominal tightness on his left side. The right-hander is being further evaluated, according to the team.
Giolito allowed one hit, struck out six and walked two in four scoreless innings. He exited after throwing 61 pitches.
Giolito, starting opening day for the third straight season, struck out one in the first, two in the second and three in the third. He twice fanned Báez.
Bennett Sousa replaced Giolito and pitched a 1-2-3 fifth in his big-league debut. Giolito left with a 3-0 lead.
Eloy Jiménez knocked in José Abreu with a two-out single to center in the first. The Sox scored two more with two outs in the second. Jake Burger doubled and scored on a Pollock single. Luis Robert followed with an RBI double.
Pollock had three hits in his Sox debut.
The first two batters reached against Sox reliever Kyle Crick in the sixth. Báez hit a long fly to left, which Jiménez tracked down for the first out.
Jeimer Candelario’s RBI single against reliever Kendall Graveman made it 3-1.
On Miguel Cabrera chopper to short, the Sox got a force at second, but Josh Harrison’s throw to first was wide of the bag. Instead of a run scoring on the sequence, Candelario was called for interference for his slide into second, resulting in an inning-ending double play.
The Tigers tied the game with two runs in the eighth. They loaded the bases with two outs against reliever Aaron Bummer. Miguel Cabrera hit a bloop single to center against closer Liam Hendriks. Two runs scored to tie the score.
Vaughn broke the tie with his first hit of the season, homering to left on a one-out slider.
But the Tigers got to Hendriks in the bottom of the ninth, wrapping up a wild opener.
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| 2022-04-08T21:58:15
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The Chicago Bears are still at the point at which they can add a player at almost any position and, at the minimum, get needed depth for the offseason roster.
General manager Ryan Poles still needs to add frontline players at a handful of positions and has an opportunity to find immediate help with two second-round pick and and a third-rounder on Day 2 of the draft in three weeks.
Joining the mix Friday after the first week of the voluntary offseason program are cornerback Tavon Young and tight end Ryan Griffin, a pair of veterans at positions of need. Young projects as a nickel cornerback, which loomed as one of the more pressing needs on the roster. Griffin enters the mix with Cole Kmet and Jesper Horsted. Both received one-year contracts.
Young and Griffin bring the roster to 59 players, the lowest number in the league, according to spotrac.com. That leaves Poles with 31 spots to fill. The Bears remain active in the secondary free-agent market, hosting veteran linebacker Anthony Hitchens on a visit to Halas Hall on Thursday, per a league source.
To complete the roster, Poles has six draft picks and then will add a combination of veteran free agents and undrafted rookies to reach the 90-man limit, likely by early May. Even if the Bears add 15 undrafted rookies, which would be a high number, that would leave them with close to nine spots for veterans and street free agents, most of whom will sign one-year deals for the minimum or close to it.
Young, 28, is an interesting signing for one year at $1.365 million. The question for with is health. He appeared in all 17 games last season for the Baltimore Ravens but missed 15 games in 2020 with a torn ACL in his left knee after missing the entire 2019 season with a neck injury. Young also missed the entire 2017 season with a torn ACL in his left knee.
He was a crafty slot cornerback in his prime for the Ravens and was credited with one interception, 35 tackles, two sacks and four tackles for a loss last season. Young participated in 51% of the snaps in 2021 but had five games in which he was on the field for fewer than 40% of the plays.
The Ravens released Young on March 9 in a cost- and cap-savings move. They expressed interest in bringing him back on a deal close to the minimum. Ravens GM Eric DeCosta said earlier this week that he is “definitely concerned” with his team’s depth in the secondary. Poles probably feels the same way considering the Bears don’t have a clear starter opposite cornerback Jaylon Johnson, need competition at strong safety and will have to add options at nickel if they are interested in upgrading over Duke Shelley, who was below average in the role last season.
Young could become part of the solution at nickel cornerback, but the Bears likely will need more depth and competition because counting on him to remain available weekly would be risky.
The New York Jets released Griffin after signing C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Conklin in free agency. Griffin, 32, who is receiving a one-year, $2.25 million contract, played in 14 games last season, catching 27 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns. He ended the season on injured reserve with a knee injury. He was a core special teams player for the Jets.
The Bears’ interest in Hitchens is natural considering he played for coach Matt Eberflus with the Dallas Cowboys and was with the Kansas City Chiefs, Poles’ former team. The Bears signed Nicholas Morrow to start alongside Roquan Smith, and Hitchens would be a veteran possibility for the strong-side spot with the ability to back up at the other positions.
Poles still has to address the secondary, offensive line and wide receiver, but he’s working through it with the market settled down. What the Bears can offer players who aren’t getting the money they had hoped for on the open market is a chance to compete for playing time, especially at positions that are thin.
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| 2022-04-08T21:58:21
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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 Major League Baseball.
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 brought him to 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 New York 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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By ADAM SCHRECK and CARA ANNA
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A missile hit a train station in eastern Ukraine where thousands had gathered Friday, killing at least 52 and wounding dozens more in an attack on a crowd of mostly women and children trying to flee a new, looming Russian offensive, Ukrainian authorities said.
The attack that some denounced as yet another war crime in the 6-week-old conflict came as workers unearthed bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, a town near Ukraine’s capital where dozens of killings have been documented after a Russian pullout.
Photos from the station in Kramatorsk showed the dead covered with tarps, and the remnants of a rocket with the words “For the children” painted on it in Russian. About 4,000 civilians had been in and around the station, heeding calls to leave before fighting intensifies in the Donbas region, the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other leaders accused Russia’s military of deliberately attacking the station. Russia, in turn, blamed Ukraine, saying it doesn’t use the kind of missile that hit the station — a contention experts dismissed.
“Without the strength or courage to stand up to us on the battlefield, (Russian troops) are cynically destroying the civilian population,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “This is an evil without limits. And if it is not punished, then it will never stop.”
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional governor of Donetsk, in the Donbas, said 52 people were killed, including five children, and many dozens more were wounded.
“There are many people in a serious condition, without arms or legs,” Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko said. Even with 30 to 40 surgeons working to treat them, the local hospital was struggling to cope, he said.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace denounced the attack as a war crime, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “completely unacceptable.”
“There are almost no words for it,” European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is on a visit to Ukraine, told reporters. “The cynical behavior (by Russia) has almost no benchmark anymore.”
Ukrainian authorities and Western officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of atrocities in the war that began with Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24. More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions more have been displaced. Some of the most startling evidence of atrocities has been found in towns around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, from which Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops pulled back in recent days.
In Bucha, Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk has said investigators found at least three sites of mass shootings of civilians and were still finding bodies in yards, parks and city squares — 90% of whom were shot.
Russia has falsely claimed that the scenes in Bucha were staged.
On Friday, workers pulled corpses from a mass grave near a town church under spitting rain, lining up black body bags in rows in the mud.
About 67 people were buried in the grave, according to a statement from Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova’s office, which is investigating those deaths and other mass casualties involving civilians as possible war crimes.
In his nightly video address Thursday, Zelenskyy warned that more horrors could yet be revealed. Already, he said, atrocities worse than the ones in Bucha had surfaced in Borodyanka, another settlement outside the capital. Twenty-six bodies were found there Thursday.
“And what will happen when the world learns the whole truth about what the Russian troops did in Mariupol?” Zelenskyy said, referring to the besieged southern port that has seen some of the greatest suffering during Russia’s invasion.
The killings around Kyiv were revealed when Russian forces pulled back after failing to take the capital in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance. Russian troops have now set their sights on the Donbas, the mostly Russian-speaking, industrial region in eastern Ukraine where Moscow-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and control some areas.
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that the Pentagon believes some of the retreating units were so badly damaged they are “for all intents and purposes eradicated.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal military assessments.
The official did not say how many units sustained such extensive damage. Overall, the official said the U.S. believes Russia has lost between 15% and 20% of its combat power since the war began. While some combat units are withdrawing to be resupplied in Russia, Moscow has added thousands of troops around Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, he said.
The train station hit in Friday’s missile strike is in Ukrainian government-controlled territory, but Russia insisted it wasn’t behind the attack. Its Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of carrying it out, in a statement carried by state news agency RIA Novosti. So did the region’s Moscow-backed separatists, who work closely with Russian regular troops.
Experts, refuting Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s assertion that Russian forces “do not use” that type of missile, say Russia has used it during the war. One analyst added that only Russia would have reason to target railway infrastructure in the Donbas.
“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.
Bronk pointed to other occasions when Russian authorities have tried to deflect blame by claiming their forces no longer use an older weapon “to kind of muddy the waters and try and create doubt.” He also suggested that Russia specifically chose the missile type because the Ukrainian army also has it.
A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, also said Russia’s forces have used the missile — and that given the strike’s location and impact, it was “likely” one of theirs, though they could not formally attribute it to Moscow.
The strikes comes as Russia is concentrating equipment and troops and increasing shelling and bombing ahead of an expected onslaught, said Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region in the Donbas.
“We sense the end of preparations for that massive breakthrough, for that great battle which will happen here around us,” he said in a televised address.
Ukrainian officials have pleaded with Western powers to send more arms — and further punish Russia with sanctions — to stop the offensive.
NATO nations agreed Thursday to increase their supply of weapons, and Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced on a trip to Ukraine on Friday that his country has donated its Soviet-era S-300 air defense system to Ukraine. Zelenskyy had appealed for S-300s to help the country “close the skies” to Russian warplanes and missiles.
American and Slovak officials said the U.S. will then deploy a Patriot missile system to Slovakia.
Heger accompanied von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to Kyiv, part of efforts to signal the EU’s support for Ukraine. After meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday, von der Leyen provided the Ukrainian president with a questionnaire that is a first step for applying for EU membership.
In anticipation of intensified attacks by Russian forces elsewhere, hundreds of Ukrainians fled villages that were either under attack or occupied in the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson.
“They are waiting for a big battle,” said Marina Morozova, who had fled Kherson with her husband. Kherson was the first major city to fall to the Russians and is the scene of continued fighting.
Morozova, 69, said only Russian television and radio was available there. The Russians handed out humanitarian aid, she said, and filmed the distribution.
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Anna reported from Bucha, Ukraine. Robert Burns in Washington, Jill Lawless and Danica Kirka in London 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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Welcome to the Ravens’ free-agency tracker, which will be updated throughout the offseason as the roster takes shape.
With the NFL’s new league year beginning March 16 at 4 p.m., teams can officially announce signings and trades. Here’s a rundown of who the Ravens have signed thus far and who’s still on the open market:
Free-agent additions
Inside linebacker Josh Bynes: Bynes has agreed to terms to return to the Ravens, the team announced. The 32-year-old started 12 games last season, recording 76 tackles, two sacks and four pass breakups in his third stint with the team after being signed as an undrafted free agent in 2011. The veteran adds some stability behind 2020 first-round pick Patrick Queen and 2020 third-round pick Malik Harrison, who is cross training at outside linebacker. Veteran linebackers L.J. Fort and Otaro Alaka remain unsigned.
Defensive tackle Michael Pierce: The former Ravens starter is returning to Baltimore on a three-year deal, the team announced. The deal is worth $16.5 million, according to NFL Network. The Minnesota Vikings released Pierce earlier this week after he made just eight starts in two seasons. Pierce, 29, signed a three-year, $27 million deal with the Vikings but opted out of the 2020 season because of COVID-19 concerns and then missed nine games in 2021 with tricep and elbow injuries.
Safety Marcus Williams: The former New Orleans Saints star finalized a five-year, $70 million deal, giving a talented Ravens secondary one of the top playmakers on the open market. Williams’ contract is worth $14 million annually, the seventh most among NFL safeties, and includes $37 million guaranteed, according to ESPN.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Williams, 25, has been one of the NFL’s best safeties since arriving in New Orleans in 2017. Over five seasons with the Saints, he had 15 interceptions and 38 passes defended.
Offensive tackle Morgan Moses: The Ravens signed Moses to a three-year, $15 million deal, stabilizing a position of need along their offensive line. In the 6-foot-6, 318-pound Moses, the Ravens have acquired an imposing veteran who almost landed on their free-agency radar last year.
Moses, 31, has been one of the NFL’s most durable linemen since Washington drafted him out of Virginia in the third round in 2014.
Outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith: The Minnesota Vikings and Smith agreed to terms on a three-year, $42 million contract Tuesday, less than a week after a deal to rejoin the Ravens fell through.
Smith, who spent the past three seasons with the Green Bay Packers, has incentives to earn up to $47 million over the life of the deal. The Ravens’ initial deal with Smith, which fell apart Thursday, was reportedly worth $35 million over four years, with a maximum value of $50 million.
The 29-year-old Smith was a Pro Bowl pick in 2019 and 2020 with a combined 26 sacks in 32 games, but he had a major back injury last season and appeared in only one game for the NFC North champions.
With defensive end Danielle Hunter returning after a torn pectoral muscle limited him to seven games in 2021, the Vikings have a pair of proven pass-rushers to lean on in the attempt to prop up a defense that has lagged badly over the last two years. Assistant head coach Mike Pettine was Smith’s defensive coordinator with the Packers in 2019 and 2020.
Free-agent losses
Cornerback Tavon Young: Young is signing a one-year deal with the Chicago Bears, according to multiple reports. A 2016 fourth-round pick, Young was released by the Ravens in a cost-cutting move March 9. After an injury-plagued six years in Baltimore, Young entered the offseason as a potential salary cap casualty. He would’ve had a $9.3 million cap hit next season, and his release saves $6 million in cap space.
In February 2019, less than two years after Young tore the ACL in his left knee and missed the 2017 season, the Ravens signed him to a three-year, $25.8 million extension that briefly made him the NFL’s highest-paid slot cornerback. That August, the Oxon Hill native had an impressive training camp derailed by a season-ending neck injury. A year later, Young suffered another torn left ACL in a Week 2 game against the Houston Texans.
Young, 27, appeared in all 17 games last season, starting seven, but he played just over half of the Ravens’ defensive snaps. He was mostly solid in coverage, allowing a passer rating of 85.1, and had two sacks. Still, injuries kept him from recapturing the form that he flashed early in his career. A beloved teammate, he leaves Baltimore having played in 50 career games and missed 47.
Cornerback Chris Westry: Westry has signed a one-year deal with the Carolina Panthers, the team announced.
The 6-foot-4 Westry impressed in his first Ravens training camp last year and made the team’s season-opening 53-man roster. But injuries limited the third-year corner to six games (two starts) last year, and the Ravens did not offer him a restricted-free-agent tender this offseason.
Westry’s departure leaves the Ravens with just six cornerbacks on their 90-man roster: Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters, Iman Marshall, Robert Jackson, Kevon Seymour and Kevin Toliver. Only Humphrey and Peters, both recovering from season-ending injuries, have started more than two games over the past two years.
Defensive tackle Justin Ellis: Ellis has signed a one-year deal with the New York Giants, the team announced Wednesday.
The 6-foot-2, 350-pound Ellis, known as “Jelly,” played in 34 games and started eight over his two-plus years in Baltimore. He had 18 tackles and one quarterback hit in 17 games last season, playing 35% of the Ravens’ defensive snaps and helping them maintain one of the NFL’s staunchest run defenses.
In New York, the 31-year-old Ellis will reunite with former Ravens defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale, who now has the same position on the Giants’ staff. Ellis’ signing comes two days after another former Ravens defensive lineman, Jihad Ward, also joined the Giants.
Ellis’ departure is the first of potentially three along the Ravens’ defensive line this offseason. Calais Campbell and Brandon Williams are also free agents.
Inside linebacker Chris Board: The Detroit Lions have agreed to terms with Board on a one-year deal, according to NFL Network. Board, 26, had 94 tackles, 2 ½ sacks and two forced fumbles in 63 games with the Ravens playing mostly on special teams.
Quarterback Josh Johnson: Johnson has signed with the Denver Broncos, he announced on Twitter. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Johnson, 35, signed off the New York Jets’ practice squad in December as starter Lamar Jackson recovered from an ankle injury, made a surprise start in Week 16 after backup Tyler Huntley tested positive for the coronavirus. In Johnson’s first start since 2018, he went 28-for-40 for 304 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in a blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Denver is the 14th NFL franchise that Johnson has played for in his NFL career. He finished 2021 with 638 passing yards, five touchdowns, two interceptions and 67.1% accuracy.
Center Bradley Bozeman: Bozeman, a consistent starter along the Ravens’ offensive line who developed into one of the NFL’s better centers last season, has agreed to a one-year deal with the Panthers, Carolina announced. Terms of the deal were not announced.
Cornerback Anthony Averett: Averett has signed with the Las Vegas Raiders, according to his agency, Athletes First. The Athletic reported that it’s a one-year deal worth $4.5 million.
A 2018 fourth-round pick, Averett entered free agency coming off the best season of his career. He allowed a passer rating of just 77.5 in coverage, according to Pro Football Reference, and had three interceptions and 11 pass defenses after combining for zero and 11, respectively, over his first three seasons.
Averett missed the Ravens’ final three games with a fractured rib, but he still finished the season as one of the NFL’s most targeted cornerbacks. According to Sports Info Solutions, quarterbacks went after him 90 times last year, fifth most in the league.
Averett was limited to 30 games over his first three years in Baltimore, struggling at times as a reserve cornerback and making a limited impact on special teams. But he impressed in training camp last year, when former defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale said Averett had All-Pro talent. Amid an injruy-plagued season, the 5-foot-11 Averett emerged as the team’s most reliable cornerback.
He’s the second cornerback to leave Baltimore this season, after the Ravens released nickelback Tavon Young last week.
Tight end Eric Tomlinson: After 23 games in Baltimore, the 29-year-old Tomlinson reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with the Denver Broncos. Originally signed to the Ravens’ practice squad in 2020, the 6-6, 263-pound Tomlinson played 26% of the offensive snaps while receiving Pro Football Focus’ second-highest run-blocking grade among 70 qualifying tight ends.
Still unsigned
Running back: Latavius Murray, Devonta Freeman
Wide receiver: Sammy Watkins
Tight end/fullback: Patrick Ricard
Offensive line: OT David Sharpe
Defensive line: Calais Campbell, Brandon Williams
Outside linebacker: Justin Houston, Pernell McPhee
Inside linebacker: L.J. Fort, Otaro Alaka
Cornerback: Jimmy Smith, Khalil Dorsey
Safety: DeShon Elliott
Other notable moves
- Quarterback Joe Flacco, the former Super Bowl Most Valuable Player who played 11 seasons with the Ravens, is returning to the New York Jets on a one-year deal worth $3.5 million, according to ESPN. Flacco, a New Jersey native who will back up 2020 No. 2 overall draft pick Zach Wilson, has started five games for the Jets over the past two seasons.
- Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, a former Maryland star who spent half a season with the Ravens in 2020 after being acquired from the Minnesota Vikings, was traded to the Indianapolis Colts for cornerback Rock Ya-Sin. Ngakoue, 26, had 10 sacks with the Raiders last season after signing a two-year, $26 million deal.
- Tight end Hayden Hurst, the Ravens’ No. 25 overall pick in the 2018 draft, has agreed to a one-year deal with the Cincinnati Bengals, according to his agency EnterSports Management. The deal is worth $3.5 million with another $1 million that can be reached with incentives, according to Pro Football Network. Hurst caught 82 passes for 792 yards and nine touchdowns in two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons after being acquired for a second-round pick.
- Long snapper Morgan Cox, who spent 11 years with the Ravens as part of the special teams’ so-called “Wolfpack” alongside kicker Justin Tucker and punter Sam Koch, agreed to a one-year extension with the Tennessee Titans.
- Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who was traded from the Ravens to the Kansas City Chiefs last offseason for a package of draft picks, was designated with the franchise tag, which is worth $16.6 million. Brown, 25, is expected to receive a long-term contract extension from Kansas City before the July 15 deadline.
- Tight end Maxx Williams, a second-round pick by the Ravens in 2015, re-signed to a one-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals, according to NFL Network.
- Wide receiver Breshad Perriman, a first-round pick by the Ravens in 2015, is returning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a one-year deal, according to ESPN.
- Cornerback Darious Williams, who played three games with the Ravens in 2018 after signing as an undrafted free agent and won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams this past season, is signing a three-year, $30 million deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars that includes $18 million fully guaranteed, according to NFL Network.
- Quarterback Tyrod Taylor, a sixth-round pick by the Ravens in 2011 who spent for seasons as Flacco’s backup, is expected to sign a two-year, $11 million deal with a max value of $17 million with the New York Giants, according to NFL Network.
- The Miami Dolphins signed former San Francisco 49ers running back Raheem Mostert to a one-year deal worth $3.25 million, according to ESPN. Mostert played seven games with the Ravens during his rookie season in 2015, mostly on special teams, after going undrafted out of Purdue.
Key dates
March 27-30: Annual league meeting, The Breakers, Palm Beach, Florida.
April 4: Clubs that hired a new head coach after the end of the 2021 regular season may begin offseason workout programs.
April 18: Clubs with returning head coaches may begin offseason workout programs.
April 22: Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets.
April 28-30: NFL draft, Las Vegas.
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By JOHN FLESHER and ED WHITE
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A jury on Friday acquitted two men of all charges in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer but couldn’t reach verdicts against the two alleged leaders, a stunning defeat for the government after a weekslong trial that centered on a remarkable FBI sting operation just before the 2020 election.
Whitmer did not immediately comment on the outcome, though her chief of staff was critical, saying Americans are “living through the normalization of political violence.”
The result was announced on the fifth day of deliberations, a few hours after the jury said it has been struggling to find unanimity on the charges in the 10-count indictment. The judge told the panel to keep working, but jurors emerged again after lunch to say they still were deadlocked on some counts.
Daniel Harris, 24, and Brandon Caserta, 33, were found not guilty of conspiracy. In addition, Harris was acquitted of charges related to explosives and a gun.
The jury could not reach verdicts for Adam Fox, 38, and Barry Croft Jr., 46, which means the government can put them on trial again for two conspiracy charges. Croft also faces a separate explosives charge. They’ll remain in custody.
No juror spoke publicly about the mixed result.
“Obviously we’re disappointed with the outcome. … We have two defendants that are awaiting trial and we’ll get back to work on that,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge said.
Harris and Caserta embraced their lawyers when U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said they were free after 18 months in jail awaiting trial. Family members moments earlier gasped and cried with joy when the verdicts were read.
Their arrests in Michigan came amid upheaval in the U.S.; The year had started with pandemic lockdowns then shifted to armed Capitol protests over COVID-19 restrictions ordered by Whitmer and other governors. By late May, anger over racial injustice and the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police erupted into demonstrations in cities nationwide.
In a Grand Rapids courtroom, during 13 days of testimony, prosecutors offered evidence from undercover agents, a crucial informant and two men who pleaded guilty to the plot. Jurors also read and heard secretly recorded conversations, violent social media posts and chat messages.
Ty Garbin, who pleaded guilty and is serving a six-year prison sentence, said the plan was to get Whitmer and cause enough chaos to trigger a civil war before the election , keeping Joe Biden from winning the presidency.
Garbin and Kaleb Franks, who also pleaded guilty and testified for the government, were among the six who were arrested in October 2020 amid talk of raising $4,000 for an explosive to blow up a bridge and stymie any police response to a kidnapping, according to trial testimony.
Prosecutors said the group was steeped in anti-government extremism and furious over Whitmer’s pandemic restrictions. There was evidence of a crudely built “shoot house” to practice going in and out of her vacation home, and a night ride by Croft, Fox and covert operatives to check the property.
But defense lawyers portrayed the men as credulous weekend warriors, often stoned on marijuana and prone to big, wild talk. They said FBI agents and informants tricked and cajoled the men into targeting the governor.
During closing arguments a week ago, Fox’s attorney, Christopher Gibbons, said the plan was “utter nonsense,” and he pleaded with jurors to be the “firewall” against the government.
Harris was the only defendant to testify in his own defense, repeatedly telling jurors “absolutely not” when asked if he had targeted the governor.
“I think what the FBI did is unconscionable,” Caserta’s attorney, Michael Hills, said outside court. “And I think the jury just sent them a message loud and clear that these tactics — we’re not going to condone what they’ve done here.”
Gibbons said the acquittals of Harris and Caserta demonstrated some serious shortcomings in the government’s case.
“We’ll be ready for another trial. … We’ll eventually get what we wanted out of this, which is the truth and the justice I think Adam is entitled to,” Gibbons said.
Meanwhile, Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist said the “outcome is disappointing.” Whitmer’s office released a tough reaction from the governor’s chief of staff, JoAnne Huls.
“The plot to kidnap and kill a governor may seem like an anomaly. But we must be honest about what it really is: The result of violent, divisive rhetoric that is all too common across our country,” Huls said. “There must be accountability and consequences for those who commit heinous crimes. Without accountability, extremists will be emboldened.”
Deliberations resumed earlier Friday with a court employee handing jurors a large plastic bag containing pennies, known as evidence exhibit 291. The pennies were requested before jurors went home Thursday.
Pennies taped to a commercial-grade firework were intended to act like shrapnel against Whitmer’s security team, according to the government.
The trial covered 20 days since March 8, including jury selection, evidence, final arguments and jury deliberations. Croft is from Bear, Delaware, while the others are from Michigan.
Whitmer, a Democrat, wasn’t a trial witness and didn’t attend. She rarely talks publicly about the plot, though she referred to “surprises” during her term that seemed like “something out of fiction” when she filed for reelection on March 17.
She has blamed former President Donald Trump for fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn right-wing extremists like those charged in the case.
The pool of 50-plus juror candidates were drawn from a 22-county region of western Michigan that is largely rural, Republican and conservative.
A jury of six women and six men heard the case, as well as four alternates. Little is known about them. Citing privacy, Jonker ordered that they be only identified by numbers. Two jurors were dismissed during the trial because of illness.
The jury pool was drawn from a 22-county region in western and northern Michigan that is largely rural, Republican and conservative. Several people were dismissed after saying they had strong feelings about Whitmer — positive or negative — or the government.
Matthew Schneider, a former U.S. attorney in Detroit, believes prosecutors “could have done a better job” of learning about the backgrounds and personal views of some jurors who were called up near the end of the all-day selection process.
“The government had laid out its case. The jury didn’t believe it,” Schneider said of the verdict.
Separately, authorities in state court are prosecuting eight men who are accused of aiding the group that was on trial in federal court.
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Find AP’s full coverage of the Whitmer kidnap plot trial at: https://apnews.com/hub/whitmer-kidnap-plot-trial
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White reported from Detroit. Associated Press reporters Sara Burnett in Chicago; David Eggert in Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Mike Householder in Detroit contributed to this report.
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Felonies
The following people were booked into the Lee County-Tupelo Adult Jail in connection with felony charges ending Friday at 11 a.m.
Eric Coe, 34, of Memphis, Tennessee, was arrested by the Tupelo Police Department, aggravated domestic violence, public intoxication.
Johnny P. Howard, 62, of St. Petersburg, Florida, was arrested by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, two counts of possession of methamphetamine.
Okira McCoy, 32, of Tupelo, was arrested by the Tupelo Police Department, possession of a Schedule II drug.
Conny Joe Rogers, 65, of Wedowee, Alabama, was arrested by the Tupelo Police Department, possession of methamphetamine.
Tyler Lee Shaw, 30, of Lineville, Alabama, was arrested by the Tupelo Police Department, possession of methamphetamine.
Lee County Sheriff's Office
The following reports were filed Friday by the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
A Highway 6 Plantersville woman said her ex-boyfriend showed up uninvited at 7 a.m. and started banging on the window. Her father walked out and told the 36-year-old suspect to leave.
A County Road 51 Palmetto woman has a court order preventing a female relative from being in her property without a police escort. The suspect showed up at 9 a.m. taking pictures. She was still there when deputies arrived.
A Drive 984 Tupelo woman called 911 saying there was an aggressive pit bull on the property. When deputies arrived, there was no dog and no caller. When contacted by phone, the woman said the dog was not aggressive but she wanted it picked up because she feared the landlord would shoot it if the dog returned.
A man went to his ex-wife’s Highway 348 Guntown house to get a lawnmower and his handgun. She had agreed to the exchange but when he arrived, she refused to give him the items. The deputy told him he would need a court order to get the items legally.
A Highway 371 Richmond man was walking down the state highway when a black and white pit bull ran out and bit him on the thigh. He went home to check the severity of the wound before confronting the dog’s owner. The owner said the dog was up to date on its shots, and she would have someone come get the dog.
A County Road 1349 Tupelo woman noticed her wallet missing Monday evening. She thought her child had misplaced it. Thursday evening, she got a notification on her phone that her credit card had just been used at the Auburn Road Dollar General. The security cameras showed a bearded white male she did not recognize made a $27.49 purchase.
Tupelo Police Department
The following reports were filed Friday by the Tupelo Police Department.
A West Jackson Street woman said a female who lives across the street walks up to her apartment and talks to the door, usually while she is not there. She has doorbell camera videos of the woman calling them evil doers, witches and saying, “I know y’all taking pictures of me.” The suspect once left a note – that looked like it was written by a child – on the door. She has called 911 five times. They have tried to get the woman’s name, but she will not tell them.
A Chesterville Road woman said her city-issued garbage can was missing or stolen.
A Milford Street woman was on the computer when she got a flashing message that her computer and cell phone had been hacked. The called the number on the alert and talked to a man. Another alert kept popping up. She called that “FCC Security Line” and a female asked if her Capital One card ended in a 4 or a 5. She aid it was a 5 and gave the female her entire credit card number. The female said $3,000 had been charged to her account, but she couldn’t dispute it unless she went to the mall to JC Penny-Sephora and got six gift cards with $500 on each. She was told if she didn’t, the police would come get her. After she got the cards, she called the female, gave her the numbers. The female then told her to shred the cards and receipts. It was only then that she realized she had been scammed.
A Trace Avenue woman was contacted by the National Magazine Exchange, who said she won $520,000 but she needed to pay a processing fee to get the prize. She sent them $23.23 via the phone. When she started to question the caller, they hung up on her. She called her bank and canceled her debit card before calling 911 to report the fraud.
A woman said a male Chipotle employee got mad at her, throwing his cap and uniform at her, hitting her in the face. She said the employee was then fired and left before police arrived.
A woman said her car was towed by Tupelo Wrecker last week because of a civil issue over ownership. She went to get her car and was told it had already been released to someone else. She said she has the paperwork showing the car is hers.
Anyone with information on any of these crimes is urged to call the Lee County Sheriff's Office at 841-9041, the Tupelo Police Department at 841-6491 or Crime Stoppers of Northeast Mississippi at (800) 773-TIPS or download the P3 Tip App and leave an anonymous tip that way.
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https://www.djournal.com/news/crime-law-enforcement/crime-reports-saturday-april-9-2022/article_b0e6ed3c-6ff8-5a71-b61b-74c0e4a66a37.html
| 2022-04-08T22:02:03
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https://www.djournal.com/news/crime-law-enforcement/crime-reports-saturday-april-9-2022/article_b0e6ed3c-6ff8-5a71-b61b-74c0e4a66a37.html
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Spring greetings to everyone from the Town Square Post Office and Museum.
Recent visitors include Linda Gregory Jones of Pontotoc; Connie and Scottie Albrite of Pontotoc with friends Mike and Linda Sims of Nokesville, Virginia; Michael Tackett of Greenville, Miss.; Claude Jones of Pontotoc; Dorothy Cox; Mary Crane; Bobby Bigham of Pontotoc; and John Boswell of San Antonio, Texas.
John Boswell had sent information on his family history and genealogy dating back to Joseph Boswell (born 1786 in North Carolina) and Lucy Ann Griffin (born 1790 in Virginia). Their son, James William Boswell (born in 1810 North Carolina) and married Elizabeth Graddy (born 1817 in Georgia). Elder James Boswell was pastor to several small Baptist Churches in North Mississippi.
Most of the information contained in the booklet is concerning Joseph Leader Boswell (born Nov. 20, 1836, in DeKalb County, Georgia). He married Mary Martha Middleton (born in 1839 in Pontotoc County, Miss.) Joseph L. Boswell served during the Civil War, enlisting at Popular Springs, Mississippi and serving in Vicksburg, Franklin, Nashville, and Ft. Donelson. He also was held twice as a prisoner of war at Camp Douglas, Illinois.
Mr. Boswell is seeking any information on the Boswell and Middleton families. From his records, most of the local history occurred in Northern Pontotoc County before Union County was formed. Some of his family is buried in the Liberty Cemetery in Union County. After the war, the family moved to Texas. John said that he was enjoying his trip visiting the local military parks and historical places. He was very complimentary of the museum.
Thank you to the Pontotoc Rotary Club for the generous donation to the museum. It is most appreciated!
A very Happy Birthday is sent to Judge Fred Wicker for April 7. He will celebrate his 98th Birthday. Congratulations!
Everyone have a blessed week and be thankful for the many blessings we have in these United States. Prayers especially for the people of Ukraine, others suffering around the world, and our country also.
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https://www.djournal.com/pontotoc/museum-news/article_96507681-0980-56d3-92c5-697c23d0d21d.html
| 2022-04-08T22:02:09
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https://www.djournal.com/pontotoc/museum-news/article_96507681-0980-56d3-92c5-697c23d0d21d.html
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https://www.djournal.com/pontotoc/woodland-news/article_c1ebacc9-aad2-50bd-89bd-237d1ad9fe80.html
| 2022-04-08T22:02:15
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https://www.djournal.com/pontotoc/woodland-news/article_c1ebacc9-aad2-50bd-89bd-237d1ad9fe80.html
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SAN FRANCISCO • As Benito Luna-Herrera teaches his seventh-grade social studies classes, he is on alert for signs of inner turmoil. And there is so much of it these days.
One of his 12-year-old students felt her world was falling apart. Distance learning had upended her friendships. Things with her boyfriend were verging on violent. Her home life was stressful. "I'm just done with it," the girl told Luna-Herrera during the pandemic, and shared a detailed plan to kill herself.
Another student was typically a big jokester and full of confidence. But one day she told him she didn't want to live anymore. She, too, had a plan in place to end her life.
Luna-Herrera is just one teacher, in one Southern California middle school, but stories of students in distress are increasingly common around the country. The silver lining is that special training helped him know what to look for and how to respond when he saw the signs of a mental emergency.
Since the pandemic started, experts have warned of a mental health crisis facing American children. That is now playing out at schools in the form of increased childhood depression, anxiety, panic attacks, eating disorders, fights and thoughts of suicide at alarming levels, according to interviews with teachers, administrators, education officials and mental health experts.
In low-income areas, where adverse childhood experiences were high before the pandemic, the crisis is even more acute and compounded by a shortage of school staff and mental health professionals.
Luna-Herrera, who teaches in a high poverty area of the Mojave Desert, is among a small but growing number of California teachers to take a course called Youth Mental Health First Aid. It teaches adults how to spot warning signs of mental health risks and substance abuse in children, and how to prevent a tragedy.
The California Department of Education funds the program for any school district requesting it, and the pandemic has accelerated moves to make such courses a requirement. The training program is operated by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing and available in every state.
"I don't want to read about another teenager where there were warning signs and we looked the other way," said Sen. Anthony Portantino, author of a bill that would require all California middle and high schools to train at least 75% of employees in behavioral health. "Teachers and school staff are on the front lines of a crisis, and need to be trained to spot students who are suffering."
Experts say while childhood depression and anxiety had been on the rise for years, the pandemic's unrelenting stress and grief amplified the problems, particularly for those already experiencing mental health issues who were cut off from counselors and other school resources during distance learning.
For children, the issues with distance learning were not just academic, said Sharon Hoover, professor of child psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and co-director of the National Center for School Mental Health.
Child abuse and and neglect increased during the pandemic, according to Hoover. For children in troubled homes, with alcoholic or abusive parents, distance learning meant they had no escape. Those who lacked technology or had spotty internet connections were isolated even more than their peers and fell further behind academically and socially.
Many children bounced back after the extended isolation, but for others it will take longer, and mental health problems often lag a stressor.
"We can't assume that 'OK we're back in school, it's been a few months and now everyone should be back to normal.' That is not the case," said Hoover.
Returning to school after months of isolation intensified the anxiety for some children. Teachers say students have greater difficulty focusing, concentrating, sitting still and many need to relearn how to socialize and resolve conflicts face-to-face after prolonged immersion in screens.
Kids expected to pick up where they left off but some found friendships, and their ability to cope with social stress, had changed. Educators say they also see a concerning increase in apathy — about grades, how students treat each other and themselves — and a lot less empathy.
"I have never seen kids be so mean to each other in my life," said Terrin Musbach, who trains teachers in mental health awareness and other social-emotional programs at the Del Norte Unified School District, a high-poverty district in rural Northern California. "There's more school violence, there's more vaping, there's more substance abuse, there's more sexual activity, there's more suicide ideation, there's more of every single behavior that we would be worried about in kids."
Many states have mandated teacher training on suicide prevention over the last decade and the pandemic prompted some to broaden the scope to include mental health awareness and supporting behavioral health needs.
But school districts nationwide also say they need more psychologists and counselors. The Hopeful Futures Campaign, a coalition of national mental health organizations, last month published a report that found most states are struggling with mental health support in schools. Only Idaho and the District of Columbia exceed the nationally recommended ratio of one psychologist per 500 students.
In some states, including West Virginia, Missouri, Texas and Georgia, there is only one school psychologist for over 4,000 students, the report says. Similarly, few states meet the goal of one counselor per 250 students.
President Joe Biden has proposed $1 billion in new federal funding to help schools hire more counselors and psychologists and bolster suicide prevention programs. That followed a rare pubic advisory in December from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on "the urgent need to address the nation's youth mental health crisis."
In early 2021, emergency room visits in the U.S. for suspected suicide attempts were 51% higher for adolescent girls and 4% higher for adolescent boys compared to the same period in 2019, according to research cited in the advisory.
Since California began offering the Youth Mental Health First Aid course in 2014, more than 8,000 teachers, administrators and school staff have been trained, said Monica Nepomuceno, who oversees mental health programming at the California Department of Education.
She said much more needs to be done in the country's largest state, which employs over 600,000 K-12 staff at schools.
The course helps distinguish typical adolescent ways of dealing with stress — slamming doors, crying, bursts of anger — from warning signs of mental distress, which can be blatant or subtle.
Red flags include when a child talks about dying or suicide, but can be more nuanced like: "I can't do this anymore," or "I'm tired of this," said Tramaine El-Amin, a spokesperson for the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. More than 550,000 K-12 educators across the country have taken the Youth Mental Health First Aid course since it launched in 2012, she said.
Changes in behavior could be cause for concern — a child who stops a sport or activity they were passionate about without replacing it with another one; a typically put together child who starts to look regularly unkempt; a student whose grades plummet or who stops handing in homework; a child who eats lunch alone and has stopped palling around with their friends.
After noticing something might be wrong, the course teaches the next step is to ask the student without pressuring or casting judgment and letting them know you care and want to help.
"Sometimes an adult can ask a question that causes more harm than good," said Luna-Herrera, the social studies teacher at California City Middle School, a two-hour drive into the desert from Los Angeles.
He took the course in spring 2021 and two weeks later put it to use. It was during distance learning and a student had failed to show up for online tutoring but he spotted her chatting online on the school's distance learning platform, having a heated dispute with her then-boyfriend. Luna reached out to her privately.
"I asked her if she was OK," he said. Little by little, the girl told Luna-Herrera about problems with friends and her boyfriend and problems at home that left her feeling alone and desperately unanchored.
The course tells adults to ask open-ended questions that keep the conversation going, and not to project themselves into an adolescent's problems with comments like: "You'll be fine; It's not that bad; I went through that; Try to ignore it." What might seem trivial to an adult can feel overwhelming for a young person, and failure to recognize that can be a conversation stopper.
The 12-year old told Luna-Herrera she had considered hurting herself. "Is that a recurring thought?" he asked, recalling how his heart started racing as she revealed her suicide plan.
Like CPR first-aid training, the course teaches how to handle a crisis: Raise the alarm and get expert help. Do not leave a person contemplating suicide alone. As Luna-Herrera continued talking to the girl, he texted his school superintendent, who got the principal on the line, they called 911 and police rushed to the home, where they spoke to the girl and her mother, who was startled and unaware.
"He absolutely saved that child's life," said Mojave Unified Superintendent Katherine Aguirre, who oversees the district of about 3,000 students, the majority of whom are Latino and Black children from economically disadvantaged families.
Aguirre recognized the need for behavioral heath training early in the pandemic and through the Department of Education trained all of her employees, from teachers to yard supervisors and cafeteria workers.
"It's about awareness. And that Sandy Hook promise: If you see something, say something," she said.
That did not happen with 14-year-old Taya Bruell.
Taya was a bright, precocious student who had started struggling with mental health issues at about 11, according to her father, Harry Bruell. At the time, the family lived in Boulder, Colorado where Taya was hospitalized at one point for psychiatric care but kept up the trappings of a model student: She got straight As, was co-leader of her high school writing club and in her spare time taught senior citizens to use computers.
For a literature class, Taya was assigned to keep a journal. In it, she drew a disturbing portrait that showed self-harm and wrote about how much she hated her body and was hearing voices she wanted to silence.
Her teacher read the assignment and wrote: "Taya, very thorough journal. I loved reading the entries. A+"
Three months later in February 2016, Taya killed herself. After her death, Taya's parents discovered the journal in her room and brought it to the school, where they learned Taya's teacher had not informed the school counselor or administrators of what she had seen. They don't blame the teacher but will always wonder what if she had not ignored the signs of danger.
"I don't think the teacher wanted to hurt our daughter. I think she had no idea what to do when she read those stark warning signs in Taya's journal," said her father, who has since relocated with the family to Santa Barbara, California.
He believes legislation to require teacher training in behavioral health will save lives. "It teaches you to raise the alarm, and not just walk away, which is what happened to Taya."
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https://www.djournal.com/print-features/with-students-in-turmoil-us-teachers-train-in-mental-health/article_273e385d-0e30-5f0f-a580-c65fa17cd00b.html
| 2022-04-08T22:02:21
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https://www.djournal.com/print-features/with-students-in-turmoil-us-teachers-train-in-mental-health/article_273e385d-0e30-5f0f-a580-c65fa17cd00b.html
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STARKVILLE — New Mississippi State women's basketball head coach Sam Purcell has the final piece of his first staff in place. MSU is hiring Murriel Page as an assistant coach, a source confirmed to the Daily Journal.
Page will joins assistant Gabe Lazo and Corry Irvin on Purcell's bench this upcoming season.
Page spent the previous two seasons at Georgia Tech on Nell Fortner's staff. A native of Louin, Mississippi, Page helped guide the Yellow Jackets to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances — including a Sweet 16 run in 2021.
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Prior to Georgia Tech, Page spent three years as an assistant at Central Michigan and seven at her alma mater Florida.
She was an SEC star in her playing career, earning all-SEC first team, All-American, Naismith Player of the Year finalist honors. Page continued her basketball career playing in the WNBA with the Washington Mystics and being selected third overall in the 1998 WNBA Draft.
Page played for 11 seasons in the WNBA before being named to the Mystics' hall of fame. She also spent time with the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury.
Purcell has finished assembling his staff after returning to Starkville full-time. He was hired as MSU's head coach March 12 but spent the following weeks finishing a Final Four run as an assistant at Louisville.
STEFAN KRAJISNIK is the Mississippi State athletics reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at stefan.krajisnik@djournal.com.
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/college/mississippi-state/mississippi-state-to-hire-murriel-page-round-out-sam-purcells-womens-basketball-staff/article_8ed97267-e5e6-5bcd-9383-d4d0773517a5.html
| 2022-04-08T22:02:27
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/college/mississippi-state/mississippi-state-to-hire-murriel-page-round-out-sam-purcells-womens-basketball-staff/article_8ed97267-e5e6-5bcd-9383-d4d0773517a5.html
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People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/college/ole-miss/veteran-kicker-commits-to-ole-miss/article_c8970c01-bef0-5717-b75f-6f51d6aae06a.html
| 2022-04-08T22:02:33
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/college/ole-miss/veteran-kicker-commits-to-ole-miss/article_c8970c01-bef0-5717-b75f-6f51d6aae06a.html
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CUMBERLAND — Police say they have identified and plan to present charges against four juveniles suspected of setting fire to, stealing, smashing in and spray-painting property at Lions Park over the weekend.
Cumberland police said in a news release Thursday that it had received "numerous" tips from the community, which helped them identify the suspects.
"The CMPD Criminal Investigations Division began eliciting tips from our community and shared images on social media platforms in order to identify these four subjects. Over the next 36 hours, many members of the Cumberland and Hancock County communities submitted possible names and other identifying information of the potential suspects," the Cumberland Metropolitan Police Department said in a release. "These identifications were made possible by the tips of our community."
So far, three of the four have been interviewed by police. Those juveniles and their parents are cooperating with detectives. The fourth has been identified, but their parents declined an interview on their child's behalf, police said.
The suspected vandalism happened overnight Saturday into Sunday after park hours, according to the Cumberland Metropolitan Police Department.
"The damage was extensive and will have an impact on a community resource that (is) widely used," the department said in a Facebook post on Monday.
Ben Lipps, Cumberland town manager said the park will remain open despite the widespread damages.
Cumberland said the town has record of the following damages:
- The Buck Creek Trail mural was sprayed with graffiti
- A tennis net was set on fire, which resulted in damage to a tennis court
- A playground slide was set on fire
- An electrical panel for a shelter was smashed to the point it shorted out, leaving live wires exposed
- A drinking fountain was partially removed and then broken off
- Shelters and picnic tables were covered in graffiti
- Several signs were covered in graffiti and some were stolen
- A bulletin board was smashed in
- Decorative signage was spray-painted
- Some grills were knocked out of the ground
- A significant amount of playground equipment was spray-painted
Lipps said the town was still working to find out how much the damages will cost to repair. It was roughly estimated to be around $20,000 based on conversations with electricians, plumbers, artists and playground vendors.
"The council and myself — we're obviously angry. All this stuff represents an investment in the community," Lipps said. "It's just really disappointing. It's something we want to prevent in the future."
Lipps added that some of the property damaged was community-donated. The mural was funded in part by community contributions.
Police said the investigation is ongoing, but detectives plan to present charges to the Hancock County Prosecutor's Office and the Hancock County Probation Department, which handles juvenile matters, for review.
Police urged anyone with information to call the department directly or reach Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana. Cumberland police can be reached at 317-894-3525 and Crime Stoppers can be reached at 317-262-TIPS.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/crime/cumberland-police-id-juvenile-suspects-in-lions-park-vandalism
| 2022-04-08T22:04:01
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/crime/cumberland-police-id-juvenile-suspects-in-lions-park-vandalism
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PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon lawmakers passed massive back-to-back investment packages in the state's mental and behavioral health system in the 2021 and 2022 legislative session, leveraging state general funds and federal dollars for a combined total of $1.25 billion.
Lawmakers have described the investments as "historic" and the beginning of an effort to turn around a neglected system.
Oregon state Senator Kate Lieber (D-Portland) and Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Portland) are co-leaders of the Oregon Legislature's Joint Budget Committee, and they helped lead the way to pass both packages.
The two lawmakers joined this week's episode of KGW's Straight Talk to discuss how the money will be invested and the difference they think it could make for Oregonians struggling with mental health and addiction issues.
Improvements to a neglected system
Lieber said she's seen first-hand that Oregon hasn't been able to provide mental health services to people who needed them.
She served as a federal prosecutor and spent eight years on the psychiatric security review board, which has jurisdiction over people with mental health issues in the state hospital. She also served on the board of a nonprofit that worked with people who are homeless.
"The state right now is not good, but we have made a big swing in trying to make sure we get services to people who need them when they're ready for them," she said.
Nosse represents inner Southeast Portland, and he said he's also gotten a first-hand look at the need in his neighborhood.
"Unfortunately, my constituents are seeing the mental health challenges that our state, our city, our county are experiencing every day pretty much as they drive around," he said. "It's a very pressing issue for my voters."
Both lawmakers said the historic investment represents just the beginning of an effort to improve a system that has been neglected since the 1990s.
Nosse pointed to the closure of large institutions for people with mental illness in the nineties and a subsequent lack of follow-up to provide adequate community-based housing and mental health services.
"This is the first time we've made the kind of investments we should have made a long time ago when we began a process of de-institutionalizing and having people with mental illness be in the community again," he said.
Slow but widespread impact
Lieber called for the state to take a three-legged stool approach that includes investing in substance use treatment, mental health treatment and housing.
"This investment package is really the start," she said. "My hope is we look back on this time and say 'this is the time that we started to make progress within our systems.' And if we get it right, we're going to make progress in our criminal justice system. We are going to make progress in homelessness, we are going to make progress quite frankly in our child welfare system. It touches everything."
RELATED: Straight Talk: Oregon leaders call Intel's $20 billion expansion in Ohio a 'wake-up call' for Oregon
Both Nosse and Lieber asked for citizens' patience as the funding begins to flow to the programs, and assured voters that investment of more than a billion dollars will make a difference.
"Senator Lieber and I, and a lot of our colleagues, are watching how that investment is rolling out, and please know that it might not happen fast enough for you, but things are in the works and we are paying attention," Nosse said. "We believe the investments we have made are going to show up at some point and make a difference."
Future federal help needed
Lieber said it's going to take government, nonprofits and Oregonians working together to make sure the behavioral health system works to help those who need it — and the state will also need help in the future from the federal government.
"It's going to take the federal government because that is really going to be where we need to access the funding," she said. "We are not going to be able to do this alone. But it's going to take time."
Lieber and Nosse also discussed specific areas where the $1.25 billion will be invested, systems in place to make sure the money works the way it's supposed to, and how they'll measure success.
"Straight Talk" airs Friday at 7pm, Saturday and Sunday at 6:30pm.
"Straight Talk" is also available as a podcast.
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https://www.kgw.com/article/entertainment/television/programs/straight-talk/straight-125-billion-investment-oregon-behavioral-health-system-historic/283-e81b49d7-8b4c-4705-9b87-61b5e6a3f046
| 2022-04-08T22:11:26
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https://www.kgw.com/article/entertainment/television/programs/straight-talk/straight-125-billion-investment-oregon-behavioral-health-system-historic/283-e81b49d7-8b4c-4705-9b87-61b5e6a3f046
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PORTLAND, Ore. — A man was shot on Naito Parkway under the Burnside Bridge in downtown Portland shortly before noon Friday. He was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) reported.
Sergeant Kevin Allen, public information officer for PPB, told KGW that a person was detained.
Naito Parkway is closed from Northwest Couch Street to Southwest Ash Street.
Friday's shooting happened a few blocks away from a fatal shooting Thursday night, which happened just after 10 p.m. near the intersection of West Burnside Street and Northwest 6th Avenue. Responding officers on Thursday night attempted first aid but the victim died at the scene.
PPB has not said whether the two shootings are related.
Coming off a record-high number of shootings in 2021, gun violence has continued to surge in Portland. There have been more than 100 injury shootings and more than two dozen homicides in the city so far this year.
At this rate, 2022 is on track to be Portland's deadliest year on record. In many cases, there have been no arrests.
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/crime/man-shot-seriously-injured-downtown-portland/283-5e3105a7-6e9f-4a4b-9e50-ef8a6f8e33fa
| 2022-04-08T22:11:32
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/crime/man-shot-seriously-injured-downtown-portland/283-5e3105a7-6e9f-4a4b-9e50-ef8a6f8e33fa
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Many people in the past turned to cubic zirconia or moissanite to get jewelry that looks similar to a natural diamond at a lower price. But in the last few years, the cost of synthetic or laboratory-grown diamonds has decreased significantly, according to the International Gem Society, making them one of the most popular alternatives to natural diamonds.
VERIFY viewer Mary sent us an email asking if there is a way to tell the difference between synthetic and natural diamonds.
THE QUESTION
Is there a way to tell the difference between synthetic and natural diamonds?
THE SOURCES
- Gemological Institute of America (GIA)
- International Gem Society (IGS)
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- ALTR, synthetic diamond maker
- Mike Fried, diamond industry expert and CEO of The Diamond Pro
- James Shigley, Ph.D., distinguished research fellow at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA)
THE ANSWER
Yes, there is a way to tell the difference between synthetic and natural diamonds. But it’s nearly impossible to see with the naked eye.
WHAT WE FOUND
Natural diamonds are formed under high temperature and pressure conditions that exist about 100 miles beneath the earth’s surface, according to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), a nonprofit institute dedicated to research and education in the field of gemology and the jewelry arts. Synthetic diamonds, on the other hand, are created relatively quickly in a laboratory or a factory, but share nearly all of the same characteristics as natural diamonds.
“Lab-grown diamonds have the same chemical composition and really the same physical properties as natural diamonds,” explained James Shigley, a distinguished research fellow at GIA.
Diamond industry expert Mike Fried told VERIFY it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a natural diamond and a synthetic diamond with the naked eye. But Fried and Shigley say specialized tools, such as a gem testing device that uses fluorescence spectroscopy rather than UV light, can help reputable jewelers and trained gemologists tell the two apart.
“All diamonds are pretty much the same, but there are some very minute differences that you can't see with the eye,” said Fried. “It would require sophisticated equipment in a laboratory to detect the difference between the two.”
Shigley says the GIA also has a special report service in which a manufacturer or a jeweler can send in a parcel or a package of natural or synthetic diamonds that can be tested in-house by GIA gemologists.
“We will go through them and separate out the ones that are natural and the ones that are lab-grown, and we return them separately so you know what you’re dealing with,” Shigley explained.
So how can you tell if you’re buying a natural or synthetic diamond?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that any gem material produced in a laboratory be described in a way that “leaves no doubt that it was not produced naturally,” according to the GIA. Synthetic diamond manufacturer ALTR also says the “industry is bound by law and ethics to disclose whether a diamond is lab-grown or earth-mined” on its website.
More from VERIFY: Why it’s hard to tell if a diamond was mined in Russia
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/verify/science-verify/natural-synthetic-lab-grown-created-diamonds-differences-similarities-fact-check/536-24ae4fc6-7f4a-4b8b-a857-83c365f95faf
| 2022-04-08T22:11:35
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SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. — Long-time country music star Joe Nichols is coming to the Cherokee Casino & Hotel in Siloam Springs.
Nichols will perform at the SEVEN Bar at the hotel on Thursday, April 21. The free show starts at 8 p.m.
The Rogers native has received three Grammy nominations, a CMA award and an ACM trophy. He's known for his hits “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off,” “Brokenheartsville,” “Gimme That Girl,” “Sunny and 75” and “The Impossible.”
In the past, Nichols has opened for Garth Brooks and duetted with legend Dolly Parton.
Click here for more information on the upcoming show.
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/entertainment/events/arkansas-native-joe-nichols-performing-at-cherokee-casino/527-73d9d426-ffe6-4c66-bd06-7d747aec7403
| 2022-04-08T22:14:46
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/entertainment/events/arkansas-native-joe-nichols-performing-at-cherokee-casino/527-73d9d426-ffe6-4c66-bd06-7d747aec7403
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LOS ANGELES — The motion picture academy on Friday banned Will Smith from attending the Oscars or any other academy event for 10 years following his slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards.
Smith pre-emptively resigned from the academy last week during the run-up to Friday's meeting and said he would accept any punishment the academy handed down.
Here is the full letter sent by the Academy to its members:
"Open Letter to Our Academy Family
The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year; however, those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior we saw Mr. Smith exhibit on stage.
During our telecast, we did not adequately address the situation in the room. For this, we are sorry. This was an opportunity for us to set an example for our guests, viewers and our Academy family around the world, and we fell short — unprepared for the unprecedented.
Today, the Board of Governors convened a meeting to discuss how best to respond to Will Smith's actions at the Oscars, in addition to accepting his resignation. The Board has decided, for a period of 10 years from April 8, 2022, Mr. Smith shall not be permitted to attend any Academy events or programs, in person or virtually, including but not limited to the Academy Awards.
We want to express our deep gratitude to Mr. Rock for maintaining his composure under extraordinary circumstances. We also want to thank our hosts, nominees, presenters and winners for their poise and grace during our telecast.
This action we are taking today in response to Will Smith's behavior is a step toward a larger goal of protecting the safety of our performers and guests, and restoring trust in the Academy. We also hope this can begin a time of healing and restoration for all involved and impacted.
Thank you,
David Rubin
President
Dawn Hudson
CEO"
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/entertainment/events/oscars/letter-from-the-academy-on-will-smith-punishment-oscars-slap/507-165bb4ef-fc66-443a-9661-746bbda54499
| 2022-04-08T22:14:52
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/entertainment/events/oscars/letter-from-the-academy-on-will-smith-punishment-oscars-slap/507-165bb4ef-fc66-443a-9661-746bbda54499
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ROGERS, Ark. — Rogers High School is hosting an Out of the Darkness Campus Walk benefiting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
The event will be on Saturday, April 9, with the opening ceremonies beginning at 2 p.m. This event will be free to students, faculty, staff, and families from all schools involved. To register, click here.
There will be food, music, games, giveaways and Evac flying in a helicopter.
For more information, contact Keri book by emailing keri.book@rpsar.net.
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/community/rogers-high-school-suicide-prevention-walk/527-99874d0e-78dc-483e-8ac6-a4112382ef8f
| 2022-04-08T22:14:58
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/community/rogers-high-school-suicide-prevention-walk/527-99874d0e-78dc-483e-8ac6-a4112382ef8f
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The City of Fayetteville is now piloting the new Veo “Cosmo” electric scooter.
The "Cosmo" is a sit-down e-scooter that, like the current electric scooters, can be ridden anywhere bicycles are allowed. This includes streets and paved trails with an up to 15 mph speed limit.
This new version of e-scooter has a lower center of gravity and bigger wheels giving it more stability than the stand-up scooters.
You must be at least 16 years old to ride and must obey the same traffic laws as drivers when on the roadways.
To learn more, including rules for riding and parking, click here.
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HOW TO ADD THE 5NEWS APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KFSM in the Channel Store.
For Fire TV, search for "KFSM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com.
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/community/sit-down-e-scooters-piloted-fayetteville/527-94043570-b141-44c1-964f-44d7dcae8d09
| 2022-04-08T22:15:04
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/community/sit-down-e-scooters-piloted-fayetteville/527-94043570-b141-44c1-964f-44d7dcae8d09
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ARKANSAS, USA — Vehicles are finally rolling off assembly lines in Arkansas.
Envirotech Vehicles, the only automobile manufacturer operating in the state, held an event Thursday (April 7) at its facility in Osceola to commemorate its first transportation vehicle being completed.
The Corona, Calif., based company acquired a 580,000-square-foot building from the city in February. When it’s fully operational, the plant could employ up to 800 workers. The company plans to invest $80 million in Arkansas during the next five years.
“As the only auto manufacturer in the state, we are honored to be leaders in the future of Arkansas’s transportation industry. Today’s event is a great reminder that, as our company continues to progress through this new journey, we are thankful for all of the support we have received from community and business leaders across the state who believe in our expertise and mission. Our facility will not only do great things for our Company but also the local economy in Mississippi County and surrounding areas as we provide more jobs and more revenue generation for the state,” Envirotech Vehicles CEO Phillip Oldridge said.
To read more, visit Talk Business & Politics.
DOWNLOAD THE 5NEWS APP
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ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KFSM in the Channel Store.
For Fire TV, search for "KFSM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com.
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/state/envirotech-completes-first-vehicle-arkansas/527-c20e2a9b-d02d-4e9f-abef-6207827d3f33
| 2022-04-08T22:15:10
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/state/envirotech-completes-first-vehicle-arkansas/527-c20e2a9b-d02d-4e9f-abef-6207827d3f33
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Though COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to fall worldwide, medical experts and public health agencies continue to identify new variants of the virus.
BA.2, a subvariant of omicron that experts believe is more contagious than the original BA.1, became dominant in the U.S. in late March.
More recently, some people have expressed concerns online about a potential new coronavirus variant called XE, with one Twitter user claiming that it was found in the United Kingdom and “could be the most transmissible variant yet.” Another person said XE combines BA.1, the original version of omicron, and omicron subvariant BA.2.
THE QUESTION
Is there a new coronavirus subvariant called XE?
THE SOURCES
- The World Health Organization (WHO)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- United Kingdom Health Security Agency
- Saralyn Mark, M.D., former senior medical advisor to the White House and American Medical Women's Association COVID-19 Lead
THE ANSWER
Yes, there is a new coronavirus subvariant called XE. It combines the BA.1 and BA.2 versions of omicron.
WHAT WE FOUND
Viruses like the one that causes COVID-19 mutate as they replicate. People can be infected with different strains of a virus at the same time and sometimes they combine during replication, Saralyn Mark, M.D., former senior medical advisor to the White House and American Medical Women's Association COVID-19 Lead, explained.
In its weekly epidemiological update released on March 29, the World Health Organization (WHO) said XE is a recombinant variant, or combination, of the BA.1 and BA.2 versions of omicron. It was first detected in the United Kingdom on Jan. 19.
The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in an update on March 25 that 637 cases of XE had been confirmed in the country so far. During the first week of April, more than 333,000 people total had tested positive for COVID-19 in the UK, the agency reported on April 8.
A “small number” of XE cases have been detected in the US, where the new subvariant is considered “another lineage of omicron and not a new variant of interest or concern,” a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told VERIFY.
Is XE more contagious than other COVID-19 strains?
Early data show the XE subvariant may be about 10% more transmissible than BA.2, but it’s too early to know exactly how contagious it is, the WHO and other experts say. According to UKHSA, the data “cannot yet be interpreted as an estimate of growth advantage” for the XE subvariant.
If XE is 10% more transmissible than BA.2, that would make it “one of the most transmissible viruses in the world,” Mark said.
Medical experts don’t have enough evidence yet to draw conclusions about severity or vaccine effectiveness either. But the CDC expects the XE subvariant to behave similarly to BA.2 because they share the same spike protein.
Some medical experts believe BA.2 is about 50% more contagious than BA.1. But vaccines provide the same level of protection against severe illness and hospitalization of BA.2 compared to other variants.
How common are recombinant variants?
Recombinant variants “are not an unusual occurrence, particularly when there are several variants in circulation, and several have been identified over the course of the pandemic to date,” Professor Susan Hopkins, chief medical advisor with UKHSA, said.
Another recombinant variant identified during the pandemic is a combination of the delta and omicron variants that some have called “deltacron.” Delta-omicron recombinant cases are “exceedingly rare” in the United States, the CDC previously told VERIFY.
Most recombinant variants “die off relatively quickly,” Hopkins said. It’s unclear right now if this will happen with the XE subvariant.
Though immunity to BA.1 and BA.2 currently remains high due to COVID-19 vaccines and natural infection, it could wane over time and allow a new subvariant like XE to take hold in the US, Mark said.
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/verify/coronavirus-verify/new-covid-subvariant-xe-combines-omicron-ba1-ba2/536-f8cea186-9c15-497b-889a-2499c4d249fb
| 2022-04-08T22:15:16
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/verify/coronavirus-verify/new-covid-subvariant-xe-combines-omicron-ba1-ba2/536-f8cea186-9c15-497b-889a-2499c4d249fb
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Many people in the past turned to cubic zirconia or moissanite to get jewelry that looks similar to a natural diamond at a lower price. But in the last few years, the cost of synthetic or laboratory-grown diamonds has decreased significantly, according to the International Gem Society, making them one of the most popular alternatives to natural diamonds.
VERIFY viewer Mary sent us an email asking if there is a way to tell the difference between synthetic and natural diamonds.
THE QUESTION
Is there a way to tell the difference between synthetic and natural diamonds?
THE SOURCES
- Gemological Institute of America (GIA)
- International Gem Society (IGS)
- Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- ALTR, synthetic diamond maker
- Mike Fried, diamond industry expert and CEO of The Diamond Pro
- James Shigley, Ph.D., distinguished research fellow at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA)
THE ANSWER
Yes, there is a way to tell the difference between synthetic and natural diamonds. But it’s nearly impossible to see with the naked eye.
WHAT WE FOUND
Natural diamonds are formed under high temperature and pressure conditions that exist about 100 miles beneath the earth’s surface, according to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), a nonprofit institute dedicated to research and education in the field of gemology and the jewelry arts. Synthetic diamonds, on the other hand, are created relatively quickly in a laboratory or a factory, but share nearly all of the same characteristics as natural diamonds.
“Lab-grown diamonds have the same chemical composition and really the same physical properties as natural diamonds,” explained James Shigley, a distinguished research fellow at GIA.
Diamond industry expert Mike Fried told VERIFY it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a natural diamond and a synthetic diamond with the naked eye. But Fried and Shigley say specialized tools, such as a gem testing device that uses fluorescence spectroscopy rather than UV light, can help reputable jewelers and trained gemologists tell the two apart.
“All diamonds are pretty much the same, but there are some very minute differences that you can't see with the eye,” said Fried. “It would require sophisticated equipment in a laboratory to detect the difference between the two.”
Shigley says the GIA also has a special report service in which a manufacturer or a jeweler can send in a parcel or a package of natural or synthetic diamonds that can be tested in-house by GIA gemologists.
“We will go through them and separate out the ones that are natural and the ones that are lab-grown, and we return them separately so you know what you’re dealing with,” Shigley explained.
So how can you tell if you’re buying a natural or synthetic diamond?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that any gem material produced in a laboratory be described in a way that “leaves no doubt that it was not produced naturally,” according to the GIA. Synthetic diamond manufacturer ALTR also says the “industry is bound by law and ethics to disclose whether a diamond is lab-grown or earth-mined” on its website.
More from VERIFY: Why it’s hard to tell if a diamond was mined in Russia
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/verify/science-verify/natural-synthetic-lab-grown-created-diamonds-differences-similarities-fact-check/536-24ae4fc6-7f4a-4b8b-a857-83c365f95faf
| 2022-04-08T22:15:22
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/verify/science-verify/natural-synthetic-lab-grown-created-diamonds-differences-similarities-fact-check/536-24ae4fc6-7f4a-4b8b-a857-83c365f95faf
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In a manner of speaking, it’s good to see Marmion senior Anthony Kuceba actually kicking back and enjoying himself.
As he described it to me, it’s his way “to take my foot off the gas.”
Kuceba has put together quite a resume at Marmion. It includes impressive academic, athletic and extracurricular achievements as well as standout charitable work and service to his school and community.
It’s why the Chicago Bears recently named Kuceba their fourth of nine Community High School All-Star award winners. The players are being honored from March through May for making a positive impact in their community.
The NFL team, working in conjunction with Athletico Physical Therapy, also presented a $500 donation to the charitable organization of the player’s choice. For Kuceba, that was Region C of Special Olympics Illinois.
It’s not surprising to those who know him well that, even in stepping back, Kuceba remains a young man on the go.
In his final season of high school, Kuceba has taken up a new sport — lacrosse.
In previous springs, he competed in volleyball and track, all while maintaining his main focus on football.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Kuceba said of lacrosse. “Really, it’s because a lot of my friends are doing it. It allows me to take my foot off the gas.
“By that, I mean I don’t need to be the best and push like I do in football. It’s like soccer with a stick or hockey on turf or grass.”
Understood.
It’s probably not a bad training alternative for football, either.
Kuceba played defensive back on the varsity for three seasons and added duties at wide receiver and running back in his final two seasons for the Cadets, earning all-conference honors those two years.
He’s going to take it to the next level too.
Kuceba has committed to NCAA Division III Washington in St. Louis, which is a member of the CCIW. Plenty of his road games will be closer to his Aurora home for his parents, Tom and Jennifer, and younger sister, Mia, than his home games.
Last season, Kuceba also handled punting duties for the Cadets and filled in as an emergency quarterback for one game.
“He just is a busy, busy man and so multifaceted with so much energy and positivity,” Marmion coach Dan Thorpe said.
Kuceba immediately came to mind earlier this school year when Thorpe received an email from the Bears seeking nominations for the award from high school coaches.
An Illinois State Scholar, Kuceba is the student council vice president and leader of Marmion’s pep club who will graduate in the top 10% of his class with a 4.55 GPA. He’s also involved in the school’s JROTC, outreach ministry, youth football camps and Special Olympics.
“I’ve done some sort of community service since middle school, and my mother has probably been the biggest influence when it comes to that,” Kuceba said. “That and my experience at Marmion, which has helped me realize and appreciate the opportunities they give us.
“I just love working with Special Olympics, interacting with those athletes and seeing what they get out of it working with events like track and field, powerlifting and golf. It’s easily my favorite thing to do.”
Kuceba plans to take part in Washington’s ROTC program, which requires a military commitment of 4-5 years after graduation. He’s still not sure if he will pursue a degree in law or business.
The jury is still out among members of the coaching staff whether he will play defense or offense for Washington, which is coming off a 7-4 season that included a 7-2 finish in the CCIW behind North Central College and Wheaton.
“I just want to play,” Kuceba said. “I’d prefer whatever gets me on the field as fast as possible.”
Thorpe feels the Washington staff can’t go wrong with Kuceba, who was a captain for the Cadets.
No surprise there, huh?
“Anthony’s just a great team player,” Thorpe said. “He blocks his butt off and he caught the ball whenever it was thrown to him.
“His positivity and work ethic are impressive. It might be raining, but Anthony will be the guy who says, ‘We need rain.’”
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https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/08/column-marmions-anthony-kuceba-recognized-for-play-on-football-field-and-community-service-the-twist-hes-taken-up-lacrosse-too/
| 2022-04-08T22:19:59
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A marijuana dealer “snapped” and repeatedly fired shots at a 52-year-old man last month in St. Paul, according to attempted murder charges filed this week.
Damion Lashawn Willis, 34, of Eagan, has been charged in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree attempted murder in connection with the March 15 shooting in the St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff area.
Willis, a three-time convicted felon, was arrested on a warrant Wednesday and made an initial court appearance Thursday. He remained jailed Friday in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Officers were called to an apartment building at 394 Eichenwald St. around 9:30 p.m. on a shooting report and found a critically wounded man inside. He was taken by medics to Regions Hospital with at least eight gunshot wounds to his abdomen and lower extremities, according to the criminal complaint.
A neighbor told officers she had looked out a window and saw a light blue minivan pull up. She said she then heard gunshots, looked outside and saw the minivan leave. She went outside and found the injured man walking up a driveway.
Two days later, while at the hospital, the man told an investigator that he had been shot by his “weed dealer,” who was later identified as Willis, the complaint read.
He said he was sitting in the dealer’s minivan when the dealer got a phone call. He said the dealer “snapped, pulled out a gun, and started shooting,” the complaint read.
The man said he believes the dealer thought he was a “snitch” because of the way the dealer had been talking on the phone, the complaint read. The man allowed investigators to look at his phone and retrieve the dealer’s phone number and said he’d be able to identify the dealer if he saw him.
Phone data place Willis’ phone in the area of the apartment building at the time of the shooting, according to the complaint.
On March 29, the man, “with no hesitation and 100 percent certainty,” identified Willis from a photo lineup as the shooter, the complaint read.
Willis’ girlfriend has a minivan registered to her that is believed to be the one used in the shooting, the complaint said.
Willis’ three previous felony convictions were for simple robbery in 2009, fifth-degree drug sales (marijuana) in 2010 and being felon in possession of a firearm in 2014, for which he was sentenced to 60 months in prison.
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| 2022-04-08T22:20:05
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Josh Donaldson singled up the middle in the bottom of the 11th inning as the Yankees rallied for the third time Friday and then finally walked off a 6-5 11-inning win over the Red Sox on Opening Day in Yankee Stadium.
In the bottom of the 10th, DJ LeMahieu was hit by a pitch and the Red Sox intentionally walked Aaron Hicks to load the bases with Marwin Gonzalez as the ghost runner on third. Torres pinch hit for Kyle Higashioka against Ryan Brasier, bringing in the tying run on a sacrifice fly to center field. Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out after a 10-pitch at-bat to end the inning still tied.
Kiner-Falefa was on second base as the ghost runner in the 11th when Donaldson, playing in his first game as a Yankee, took a 90-mile an hour cutter from Red Sox reliever Kutter Crawford for the win.
It was the Yankees’ first lead of the day, having been put in an early hole by starter Gerrit Cole.
Xander Bogaerts singled off Michael King with an out in the top of the 10th inning, to bring in the ghost runner on a short looper to left field and give the Red Sox their third and final lead of the day after hammering Gerrit Cole early.
Judge lined a hanging slider to the left-field corner with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The Red Sox intentionally walked Anthony Rizzo to face Giancarlo Stanton, and the Bombers’ chances to win in the ninth were foiled by former Mets reliever Hansel Robles, who got Stanton swinging on an 87-mile an hour slider.
Cole picked up where he left off, unfortunately for the Yankees. The ace, who was chased off the mound by the Red Sox in last October’s Wild Card game, came out and got hit hard in the first game of the 2022 season. Cole did not record an out before giving up three runs in the first inning, including a two-run home run to Rafael Devers.
It immediately brought back memories of his disastrous start last October when the Red Sox chased him after completing just two innings.
Friday, he allowed those three runs on four hits. He walked one — leadoff hitter Enrique Hernandez on four pitches — and struck out three. Cole got 11 swings and misses, but not one on his fastball.
The Red Sox left a mark on Cole 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.
Cole did get through four innings — and the Yankees’ bats took him off the hook — but it was not the tone the Bombers needed their $324 million man to set on Friday. The American League East is shaping up to be a heavyweight slugfest between the Blue Jays, Rays, Red Sox and Yankees. The Bombers start the season with 10 straight division games — seven against the Red Sox and Blue Jays, who they will likely be battling for a playoff spot again this year.
Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run shot and Giancarlo Stanton picked up his fifth career Opening Day home run (fourth as a Yankee) to let Cole leave with the game tied at 3-3.
Clay Holmes gave up a go-ahead RBI-single to Alex Verdugo in the sixth to give the Red Sox the 4-3 lead, but DJ LeMahieu tied it with his first homer of the season.
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| 2022-04-08T22:20:11
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By STEVE KARNOWSKI
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Legislature rushed through $1 million in emergency funding Thursday to bolster the fight against bird flu, a highly contagious disease that has cost the state’s turkey farmers more than 1 million birds.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Torrey Westrom, of Elbow Lake, pointed out before the unanimous vote in the Senate and the 129-1 vote in the House that the number of Minnesota farms and birds affected by the highly pathogenic form of bird flu has doubled in less than a week.
Minnesota is the top turkey producing state, with nearly 700 farms that raise about 40 million birds per year. According to an update on Thursday from the Board of Animal Health, the virus had infected 19 commercial turkey farms and two backyard flocks in 11 Minnesota counties with a combined 1,017,568 birds.
Across the U.S., the outbreak is the biggest since 2015, when producers had to kill more than 50 million birds to keep the virus from spreading. Cases have been reported in 24 states this year, with Iowa the hardest hit. The number of chickens and turkeys killed in the past two months has climbed to more than 24 million. Zoos across North America are moving their birds indoors and away from people and wildlife to protect them.
Rep. John Burkel, a former turkey farmer from Badger, recounted how his farm in Roseau County was struck in 2015. That outbreak required euthanizing 9 million birds statewide.
“The virus is different this time, and the need and the urgency is greater,” Burkel said.
Rep. Dave Baker, of Willmar, who represents one of the hardest hit areas of Minnesota, said the cold weather and worker shortages are making it harder this time for producers to euthanize infected flocks because the foaming machines used to suffocate the birds don’t work as well.
The bill, which Gov. Tim Walz is expected to sign soon, is meant to buy time by putting an extra $1 million into an emergency account at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to supplement the $400,000 currently there. It will help pay for testing materials, equipment and personnel. Lawmakers are expected to field requests for more money later.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says bird flu poses little risk to the general public and that poultry remains safe to eat as long as it’s properly cooked.
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This story was first published April 7, 2022. It was updated April 8, 2022, to correct that the vote was unanimous in the Senate and 129-1 in the House.
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| 2022-04-08T22:20:17
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The St. Paul school board will decide again next week whether to make face masks optional as long as coronavirus case rates are low.
The board on March 22 voted 3-2 – with two board members absent – to keep the mask mandate in place, rejecting the superintendent’s recommendation to drop it.
In a statement posted soon after on the district’s website, the board said it expected cases to rise after spring break – contradicting the district’s health and wellness director. The board also said it considered that vaccination rates were relatively low for people of color.
“Finally, the Board acknowledges that a full complement of board members to weigh in on the impact of the resolution would better serve SPPS in future deliberations,” the statement read.
On Tuesday, the board will take another vote on the mask resolution.
When they do, they’ll have little information to test their theory about cases rising after spring break, which was this week. But it’s been nearly two months since the district has reported more than 13 new cases involving students, staff and visitors in a single day.
Of the nation’s 500 largest school districts, just 23 – including St. Paul and Minneapolis – still require masks, according to the website Burbio.
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| 2022-04-08T22:20:23
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In a surprise move, 89.3 The Current has rehired Barb Abney, a DJ the Minnesota Public Radio station fired in January 2015.
Abney was one of four hires the station announced Friday on its website. She’ll join WNXP Nashville’s Ayisha Jaffer, Parkway Theater talent buyer and KYMN vet Jessica Paxton, and Go 95.3’s Chaz Kangas at the station.
The Current isn’t wasting any time getting Abney back on its airwaves. She co-hosted her final morning show at her current job at KFAI Friday morning and she starts at The Current on Saturday evening as the new host of the station’s popular all-request Radio Free Current.
“I’m thrilled to be at the helm of Radio Free Current,” Abney said. “I’ve already had the opportunity to connect with some of my old and new coworkers … I think my first show will basically be asking: ‘What did I miss? What are the tunes or bands the audience thinks I may have missed since my departure in 2015?’ ”
A veteran of Cincinnati’s late WOXY.com and a native of rural Ohio, Abney took a job with The Current in 2006 as the midday host. She established herself as a prominent personality on the station as well as in the local music community and claimed a strong online listenership that included fans who had followed her from WOXY.com.
In 2015, The Current fired Abney just days after the station wrapped a 10-day celebration of its 10th anniversary, complete with a series of sold-out concerts and other special events that saw Abney as a high-profile participant. At the time, a station publicist said the move was “a programming decision made by The Current’s management.”
Soon after, angry listeners took to social media to defend Abney, with many claiming they canceled their MPR membership in protest. The station’s publicist followed up with further comment: “Decisions like this are always tough. Barb has meant a lot to The Current and its listeners and has contributed so much over the years … We understand that some listeners and members are upset and we are listening.”
A month later, the then-new station Go 96.3 hired Abney as the morning DJ.
At the time, Northern Lights Broadcasting had just retired the former K-TWIN signal in favor of a new “modern music” format it called Go 96.3. But the station struggled to find an audience. That October, Go fired longtime radio vets Jason Nagel and Brian “BT” Turner and showed Abney the door 10 months later. In late 2020, Northern Lights sold the station to the California-based Christian media ministry Educational Media Foundation, which relaunched it as a contemporary worship music station dubbed Air 1.
In July 2017, Abney landed a job co-hosting the 8 to 10 a.m. shift at KFAI, a mostly volunteer-run community station. She held the position with various co-hosts through Friday morning.
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| 2022-04-08T22:20:29
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By KIM CHANDLER
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Ninth grader Harleigh Walker, 15, spends her time after school like many girls her age: doing homework, listening to Taylor Swift, collecting records and hanging out with friends.
But this year, her spring break also included trying to persuade members of the state House and Senate to reject legislation banning gender-affirming medications for transgender kids like her under 19.
She was unsuccessful. On Thursday, Alabama lawmakers passed the measure, and Gov. Kay Ivey signed it into law on Friday, meaning Harleigh’s doctor would face prison time if she continued to prescribe her testosterone-blocking drugs.
“Honestly, I’m a little scared now,” Harleigh said Thursday after learning the bill had passed. “But we’re still going to fight, no matter what.”
She said she is holding out hope the bill will be blocked by a court.
Alabama is among multiple states with Republican-controlled legislatures that have advanced bills not only to block medical treatment but to ban transgender children from using school restrooms or playing on sports teams that don’t correspond with their sex at birth. The Alabama medication bill is one of the most far-reaching: It would put doctors in prison for up to 10 years for prescribing puberty blockers or hormonal treatment to trans kids under 19.
“I believe very strongly that if the Good Lord made you a boy, you are a boy, and if he made you a girl, you are a girl,” said Ivey, who faces a May primary with conservative opponents trying to outflank her on her right. “We should especially protect our children from these radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable stage in life. Instead, let us all focus on helping them to properly develop into the adults God intended them to be.”
Ivey also signed a separate measure that requires students to use bathrooms that align with their original birth certificate and prohibits instruction of gender and sexual identity in kindergarten through fifth grades.
Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, a national advocacy group for the LGBTQ community, called the new laws “breathtakingly cruel and cowardly” and “the single most anti-transgender legislative package in history.” Groups on Friday vowed to quickly file a lawsuit challenging the measures in court.
Oakley and other opponents say transgender health is being used as a deliberate political wedge issue to motivate a voting base — in the same way they say bills about critical race theory have been employed. Critical race theory is a way of thinking about America’s history through the lens of racism. Numerous Republican-controlled legislatures have proposed bills to block its teaching in public schools.
The measures have prompted swift backlash from medical experts, Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, the U.S. Department of Justice and the families of trans youth. Last month, the Justice department sent a letter to all 50 state attorneys general, warning them that blocking transgender and nonbinary youth from receiving gender-affirming care could be an infringement of federal constitutional protections.
“My child is not a political tool. This is not a fair fight to pick on vulnerable children,” said Vanessa Finney Tate, the mother of a 13-year-old trans boy in Birmingham, Alabama, after testifying at a public legislative hearing on bill that would block students from using bathrooms corresponding to their gender.
Harleigh’s father, Jeff Walker notes that many of the same Alabama lawmakers who supported the ban on gender-affirming medical treatment recently argued, ‘It’s your body and your choice’ regarding coronavirus vaccinations. He said the family is now scrambling to find another state where it can continue Harleigh’s medical care.
“We just don’t want people meddling in our medical care,” he said.
Medical groups including The American Academy of Pediatrics have publicly opposed efforts to outlaw gender-affirming care.
“Gender-affirming care benefits the health and psychological functioning of transgender and gender-diverse youth,” the Endocrine Society said in a statement. “When an individual’s gender identity is not respected and they cannot access medical care, it can result in higher psychological problem scores and can raise the person’s risk of committing suicide or other acts of self-harm.”
The organization notes that only reversible puberty blockers are recommended for younger adolescents, while older adolescents might qualify for hormone therapy.
Harleigh received the medication — which stops her from going through male puberty — only after consulting with a team of doctors for years. She said it’s “weird” to see lawmakers with no medical experience call her medication “child abuse,” when six doctors have agreed she should have it.
Angus, a 16-year-old trans teen who requested that his last name not be used because of the bullying he has received in his north Alabama town, said he knew at puberty that the mirror reflected “a body that wasn’t my own.”
After coming out to his mother, he began slowly testing the waters: dressing as a man, changing his name. Only after years of talking to a team of doctors, was he able to recently get medications to stop his periods. The next step, which he is eager to start, would be a small dose of testosterone.
“I have been waiting for seven years to finally become a man, the man that I’ve always known I am,” Angus said.
He said bills to block such treatments are harming, not protecting trans youth.
“The government is saying, ‘Oh, parents are abusing their children by letting them transition,’” he said. “Actually, it’s more child abuse to not let them transition if they come out. What these bills really are doing is putting trans youth lives at risk because these suicide rates will spike exponentially. And a lot of families will lose their children.”
Similar bans are moving forward in other states.
In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate as abuse reports of gender-confirming care for kids. And a law in Arkansas bans gender-affirming medications. That law has been blocked by a court, however.
Trans youth in many red states say they feel attacked, angry, betrayed and scared by the wave of legislation aimed at them.
“It feels like a back-stab,” Harleigh said. “I’ve lived in this state my whole life. For them to just say, ‘Well, you know what, this is an issue that’s really popular on my side of the aisle so I’m just going to raise it up and support it because it’ll help me win my election’ — It just hurts to see them do that.”
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| 2022-04-08T22:20:35
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Pending notice: Patricia Weldon, 66
Published 1:05 pm Friday, April 8, 2022
Dec. 7, 1955 – March 27, 2022
BROWNSDALE, Minn. – Patricia Weldon, 66, Brownsdale, Minn., died Sunday, March 27, in her home.
A celebration of life will be from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, July 31, at Izaak Walton Cabin in Austin, Minn. Memorials are preferred to Rachel’s Hope.
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https://www.austindailyherald.com/2022/04/pending-notice-patricia-weldon-66/
| 2022-04-08T22:24:28
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A recently conducted poll found that most adult Americans have a negative view of the youth and attribute kids’ faults to a lack of moral foundation. Only 37% believe that today’s children will grow up to make our country a better place. When asked what first comes to mind when they think of today’s teenagers, Americans use adjectives such as rude and irresponsible, while younger children are viewed as lacking discipline and spoiled.
Americans are also out of step with the Presidential agenda, this survey said that funding for childcare programs ranked second from last out of 12 ways of helping children! The top item on the list was improving education. So, what is the problem? Improving the quality of education nor government funding will solve the problems of a lack of moral foundation in today’s youth. The problems are spiritual problems by nature. Christians should be ready to pass out the cup and bread to those who are in need, but never at the expense of the Gospel!
The moral fabric of our nation will never change if the Gospel is not central to our attempts at change. A group in Philadelphia decided to enlist volunteers for social programs. So, who came to help? The room was full of politicians, Hollywood elites, and the press. What fruit did it bare? The murder rate is still two per day, the bars and strip clubs are keeping the same hours, and nothing has changed. The great social action that was initiated without Christ and the Gospel, failed miserably. Brothers and sisters please understand, social programs will always fail without the Gospel. A changed heart is the starting point for all social good and it all starts with Jesus Christ.
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| 2022-04-08T22:27:32
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David was a self-employed businessman; a logger and sawmill owner. He was in his mid-fifties when he was admitted to Hospice with terminal cancer. I expected David to be rugged, strong, reserved and self-reliant, the Clint Eastwood type. Boy was I wrong, as I frequently am when I form preconceived ideas about people, mere figments of my imagination.
When I knocked on the door for my first visit David invited me in, shook my hand and introduced himself. David was about five feet eight inches tall, medium built, muscular, and was dressed in dark blue uniform type pants and a white tee-shirt. His hand shake was firm and enthusiastic. I found him to be rugged but gentle, strong but humble and giving God the credit for everything good in his life. Tears filled his eyes as he talked about his family and friends, about God’s love for him and his love for God. He was animated when sharing his vision of Heaven and how thankful he was that he would be going there.
Over the next few weeks David shared freely about many things, but one thing in particular made an indelible, sobering mark upon my conscience. One day David’s typically exuberant expression suddenly paled as he looked me in the eyes, as if to say, “Pay attention. I’m about to tell you something really important”. He then reflected: “Sometimes you might be working and out of nowhere the thought comes to you, ‘I wonder how old Jim is doing. I haven’t seen him for a long time. I should drive around the ridge to see him.’ But you put it off. A couple of weeks go by and again you think, ‘I wonder how Jim’s doing. I really need to stop and see him.’ But you get busy and again you put it off. A few more weeks go by and you run into Jim in town. You look each other in the eye and you both feel that something’s come between you and it’s not anything either of you did, it’s what you didn’t do.”
While driving between hospice home visits one day, I tuned-in to a local Christian radio station that was airing a weekly broadcast by Dr. David Jeremiah. It was the first of a two-part series on procrastination. Dr. Jeremiah quoted a poem by Charles Town; which took me back to those wonderful conversations with David a few years earlier. As you read and reflect on the poem you’ll understand why: “Around the corner I have a friend, in this great city that has no end. Yet days go by and weeks rush on, and before I know it a year is gone. And I never see my old friend’s face, for life is a swift and terrible race. He knows I like him just as well as in the days when I rang his bell, and he rang mine. We were younger then. And now we are busy and tired men; tired with playing a foolish game; tired with trying to make a name. Tomorrow, I say, I’ll call on Jim, just to show him that I’m thinking of him. Tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes, and the distance between us grows and grows. Around the corner yet miles away, here’s a telegram, ‘Jim died today’. And that’s what we get and deserve in the end, around the corner a vanished friend.”
“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin,” (James 4:17).
Loren Hardin is a social worker with SOMC-Hospice and can be reached at 740-357-6091 or at [email protected] You can order Loren’s book, “Straight Paths: Insights for living from those who have finished the course” at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
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| 2022-04-08T22:27:39
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Each year the week before Easter we find ourselves perched, if you will, on the Mount of Olives looking toward the Holy City of Jerusalem, trying to imagine the view in Jesus day. More than 2000 years have passed but the view is still there. Oh, generations have come and gone, a modern city rises around temple mount where Herod’s Temple once stood, but it’s still there… the Holy city. Luke captures the moment best I think, “When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem… “(from Jericho headed westward, from a depth of 1412 ft. below sea level… the lowest place on earth… headed literally up… to 2,532 ft. above sea level to Jerusalem)
Dr. Luke continues… “And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His
disciples, saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’ So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” You see, Jesus was coming and they weren’t ready! The stones Jesus spoke of would fall at the hands of Roman General Titus and his army in 70AD. The stones are still there, piled around the sides of the old temple walls, I’ve seen them.
In his commentary on Luke, Darrell L. Bock writes.. “The nation is missing its moment. Peace with God is not possible for those who reject Jesus. Though this rejection produces Jesus’ tragic death, the national consequences of the people’s blindness are even more tragic and staggering…What follows is a “searing oracle of doom” …national sin will pay its price in judgment on covenant unfaithfulness… Israel’s house will be desolate. A first-century Auschwitz awaits it. Unlike the twentieth-century version, where repulsive ethnic hatred brought death, the Jewish nation of the first century brought catastrophe on itself…By rejecting him, Israel has chosen the way of judgment. It has missed the day and the moment.”
As one writer said, you can see Jesus and yet never see him! The truth is, you can hear Jesus and not hear what he says! And in the case of many in Jerusalem, you can walk close with Jesus and yet not even know him! Biblically and historically we can have a really good idea what those observing this moment in time thought they knew…. But what about Jesus? Have you ever considered just what Jesus thought? He gazed upon the most religious place on earth, yet he knew religion is not enough. Have you ever considered just what Jesus saw? The multitudes of people, their hearts, their souls… Jesus saw those who would miss him! But quickly give some thought with me to just what Jesus knew… He knew this was why he came!!!
They may not have known, but we here and now know exactly why the Father let His Son hang on the cross and why Jesus chose not to escape it. It’s almost as if Jesus could hear the tearful praises of future believers singing: My sin—O, the bliss of this glorious tho’t—My sin—not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! You see, you were always on His mind!
This writer’s opinion is their own and not the opinion of this newspaper
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| 2022-04-08T22:27:45
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PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth Lady Trojans did their damage at the plate early, and used a strong pitching and defensive performance, to remain unbeaten in Ohio Valley Conference softball play on Thursday.
The Lady Trojans (4-1, 2-0 OVC) scored a pair of runs in the second and eight more in the third — besting visiting Gallia Academy (1-2, 1-1 OVC) 10-1 in a full seven innings.
Portsmouth collected 12 hits at the plate in the home win — including multi-hit days by senior Olivia Ramey, juniors Katie Born and Sydney Johnson, and sophomore Emily Cheatham.
“We started having some really good at-bats. Didn’t start the best in the first, but the middle of the lineup and bottom of the lineup got on base — think we started picking out better pitches,” Portsmouth coach Kristin Bradshaw said, afterwards. “They see that when they’re patient, they have a better chance of getting on base and getting hits.”
An RBI-double by Born put the Lady Trojans on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second, scoring sophomore Ayonna Carr, who reached on an error to start the inning.
Born finished with a team-high three RBI in the home win.
Johnson doubled Portsmouth’s lead with an RBI-double of her own, scoring Born from second — with one out in the second.
In the home half of the third, the Lady Trojans sent 12 batters to the plate and scored eight runs.
Born drove in a pair with her second double in as many innings with one out in the third.
Johnson and senior Kyndal Kearns then had one-out RBI singles to make it 6-1.
This was part of a stretch that included seven straight Portsmouth batters reaching base before an out was even recorded.
Cheatham drove in sophomore Madison Ankrom — who walked following Born’s second double — to extend the lead to 7-1.
Ramey joined the double party, scoring Johnson and Kearns to put Portsmouth ahead 9-1.
Senior Madison Perry drove in a run in Cheatham with an RBI-sacrifice fly to right field as the final Portsmouth run of the inning — and ultimately the game.
Lady Trojans senior Faith Phillips earned the win in the circle, pitching a complete game while allowing no earned runs and just five hits.
“Faith threw all seven innings, did a great job of keeping the ball down like we talked about before the game. Hit her spots really well today,” Bradshaw said. “They maybe hit a good ball three or four times, other than that it was routine ground balls and fly balls to the outfield. Lot of credit to her tonight.”
Portsmouth traveled to Rock Hill on Friday — before hosting OVC contenders Ironton and Fairland next Monday and Wednesday.
“We just have to stay consistent. One-through-nine in our lineup are all great hitters. Picking out pitches, not chasing up there,” Bradshaw said, of their stretch ahead. “And the more games we see, the more at-bats we get, we’re getting a lot better. Next week’s a huge week so hope we can keep going up.”
***
BOX SCORE
Gallia Academy 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 5 1
Portsmouth 0 2 8 0 0 0 X — 10 12 2
Gallia Academy batting
J. Harrison 2-4
G. Truance 1-3
B. Cemini 2-3
E. Hammons 0-2, BB
A. Hammons 0-2, BB
Portsmouth batting
Emily Cheatham 2-4, R, RBI
Olivia Ramey 3-4, R, 2RBI
Madison Perry 1-3, R, RBI
Olivia Dickerson 1-4
Ayonna Carr 0-3, 2R, BB
Katie Born 2-3, 2R, 3RBI
Madison Ankrom 0-2, R, BB
Sydney Johnson 2-3, R, 2RBI
Kyndal Kearns 1-3, R, RBI
Pitching
B. Barnette (GA) 5.2IP, 9H, 4ER, 0BB, 7K
T. Mathie (GA) 0.1IP, 3H, 5ER, 2BB, 1K
Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
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https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74434/lady-trojans-top-blue-angels-prepare-for-key-ovc-stretch
| 2022-04-08T22:27:52
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MINFORD — For the 2nd time in two seasons, the South Webster Jeeps baseball team claimed a road victory at defending league champion Minford.
The Jeeps scored a pair of unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings — edging the Falcons 3-2 in a complete seven innings under the lights at the Falcons’ Nest.
Junior Isaiah Ruth delivered the go-ahead knock with an RBI single in the top of the fourth — scoring senior Trae Zimmerman from second after Zimmerman reached and advanced on a Minford error.
“That was a huge knock by Isaiah (Ruth) to get the score in our favor,” SW coach Ryan McClintic said, afterwards. “He is a baseball-only guy that has worked his tail off in the off-season to improve his game.”
For the last four innings with a 3-2 lead, Jeeps junior pitcher Robert Martin and the SW defense pitched a shutout to secure the SOC II win.
Martin went the distance, allowing five hits, two earned runs, and striking out nine Falcons in the winning effort.
“It was another gutsy performance on the mound for Robert Martin tonight. He battled through some control issues all night long and didn’t have his best stuff. But he made big pitch after big pitch when it mattered most,” McClintic said. “I love the way he competes for us every time he takes the bump, he’s a true gamer.”
Freshman JD Matiz tied the game in the bottom of the second at 1-1 with an RBI single, scoring senior Branson Alley.
Carson Cronin gave Minford a 2-1 lead with an RBI bunt single, scoring senior Jacob Lewis as the go-ahead run.
Two out hitting gave the Jeeps an early lead in the top of the first. Martin singled to lead the rally before senior Cam Carpenter doubled in the right-center gap, scoring Martin from first base.
South Webster (3-5, 1-4 SOC II) hosts Northwest on Friday, while Minford (3-4, 3-2 SOC II) next hosts Eastern on Monday (April 11) in SOC II play.
“Both pitchers really threw the ball well tonight. Hats off to Minford, they have a very good team and are going to win a lot of games,” McClintic said. “We knew coming in that it was going to be a dogfight and that proved to be true. I’m proud of our guys for being locked in throughout.”
***
BOX SCORE
South Webster 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 — 3 4 1
Minford 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 — 2 5 2
South Webster hitting
Robert Martin 2-3, R
Cam Carpenter 1-3, RBI
Isaaih Ruth 1-3, RBI
Trae Zimmerman R
Connor Bender R
Minford hitting
Carson Cronin 1-4, RBI
Aodhan Queen 1-3
Branson Alley 1-3
Jacob Lewis 1-2, R
JD Matiz 1-3, RBI
Pitching
Robert Martin (SW) 7IP, 2ER, 1BB, 5H, 9K (W)
Cole Borland (M) 7IP, 2ER, 0BB, 4H, 11K (L)
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
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| 2022-04-08T22:27:59
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PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth Trojans (4-1, 2-0 OVC) earned a 9-1 home win over South Point (1-3, 0-2 OVC) to remain unbeaten in Ohio Valley Conference play on Thursday.
After a scoreless two-and-a-half innings, Portsmouth broke through at the plate — scoring six runs in the bottom of the third and three combined in the fourth and fifth.
Senior leadoff hitter Drew Roe led Portsmouth with three RBI on a pair of hits and a walk. Daewin Spence, Amari Harmon, Zach Roth, Vinnie Lonardo, and Dariyonne Bryant each drove in a run for the Trojans in the victory.
Junior Tyler Duncan went the distance on the mound, allowing two hits and no earned runs — while striking out eight Pointer batters.
Portsmouth will host Ironton on Monday in OVC play.
***
BOX SCORE
South Point 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 1 2 0
Portsmouth 0 0 6 1 2 0 X — 9 11 3
Portsmouth hitting
Drew Roe 2-3, R, 3RBI, BB
Tyler Duncan 2-4, R
Daewin Spence 2-2, 2R, RBI, BB
Amari Harmon 0-1, R, RBI, BB
Zach Roth 0-3, R, 2RBI
Nathaniel Berry 0-4
Vinnie Lonardo 1-2, RBI, BB
Deandre Berry 1-1
Dariyonne Bryant 1-2, RBI
Jake Carter 0-2
Donovan Carr 2-4, 2R
Portsmouth pitching
Tyler Duncan (P) 7IP 2H, 0ER, 2BB, 8K (W)
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
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| 2022-04-08T22:28:05
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PORTSMOUTH — The Clay Panthers (3-2, 3-1 SOC I) earned an 11-0 home win over East (1-6, 1-3 SOC I) in Southern Ohio Conference Division I play on Thursday.
Panthers junior Drew Zuefle allowed no hits on the mound for Clay, issuing just two walks in five innings of shutout baseball.
Senior Mitchell King had a multi-hit day for the Panthers, going 2-of-3 and driving a pair of runs.
Senior Carson Porginski, sophomore Evan Balestra, and Zuefle all had an RBI in the win
Clay hosts Western on Friday, while East travels to Symmes Valley.
***
BOX SCORE
East 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 5
Clay 1 8 2 0 X — 11 9 2
East hitting
Zander Cooke 0-1, BB
Leviticus Justice 0-1, BB
Clay hitting
Carson Porginski 1-3, 2R, RBI
Malachi Loper 1-3, 2R
Evan Balestra 0-1, RBI, BB
Mitchell King 2-3, R, 2RBI
Gaige Shorter 0-2, R
Drew Zuefle 1-1, R, RBI
Breylen Holsinger 1-1
Isaiah Whitt 1-2, R
Hayden Moore 0-1, R
Damone Sparks 1-1
Brandon Malone 1-1, 2R
Charlie Swartz 0-1
Pitching
Landehn Pernell (E) 4IP, 9H, 5ER, 3BB, 6K (L)
Drew Zuefle (C) 5IP, 0H, 0ER, 2BB, 8K (W)
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
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| 2022-04-08T22:28:12
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LUCASVILLE — The Valley Lady Indians (3-2, 3-1 SOC II) won their third-straight game on Thursday — defeating visiting Eastern 11-1 in five innings in SOC II play.
Freshman Braxtyn Holbrook drove in a game-high three RBI for the Lady Indians on a pair of hits.
Holbrook, sophomores Emilie Johnson, Karsyn Davis, Addalyn Conaway, junior Madison Montgomery, and senior Lexi Whitt all had multi-hit days for Valley.
Johnson earned the win in the circle, allowing five hits and no earned runs — while striking out six Lady Eagles.
Valley hosts unbeaten Portsmouth West in SOC II play on Friday.
***
BOX SCORE
Eastern 0 0 0 1 0 — 1 5 5
Valley 4 3 2 1 1 — 11 14 4
Valley hitting
Emilie Johnson 2-4, 4R
Taylor Cunningham 1-3, 2R, BB
Karsyn Davis 2-4, R, RBI
Addalyn Conaway 2-4, R, RBI
Madison Montgomery 2-4, R, RBI
Lexi Whitt 2-4, R, 2RBI
Braxtyn Holbrook 2-3, 3RBI
Camry Carpenter 0-2
Cassidy Montgomery 0-1
Olivia Hilton 1-2, R
Valley pitching
Emilie Johnson (V) 5IP, 5H, 0ER, 0BB, 6K (W)
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
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https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/74452/lady-indians-win-third-straight
| 2022-04-08T22:28:18
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SOUTH WEBSTER — Sometimes, especially for the Clay Panthers on Thursday, it is indeed all about how you start.
Although, the Panthers put together — time and again at non-league South Webster in a makeup matchup — defensive finishes.
The end result is that despite the cool afternoon, the Panther softballers are red-hot out of the April gate.
That’s because Clay kept its early undefeated 2022 record intact against the Jeeps, thanks to a five-run initial at-bat —as the Panthers pushed out to a 7-1 advantage before fending off South Webster 7-4 on a wind-driven day in Jeep Country.
That’s correct Clay fans — your Panthers are perfect through five games, as fellow Division IV rival South Webster was arguably their toughest test to date.
That’s despite the Jeeps’ now 1-5 start, and before Clay plays defending Southern Ohio Conference Division I and Division IV district champion Notre Dame.
Perhaps the 5-0 opening is even a surprise to Clay coach Jason Gearhart, given the Panthers’ personnel and inexperience level.
His daughter, senior second baseman Jacy Gearhart, had a team-high three hits on the day —which included a fourth-inning RBI-single for the 7-1 cushion, closely followed by a fifth-inning double.
“That’s an excellent South Webster team that plays a tougher schedule than us. We’re a young and very inexperienced team, but we’ve been practicing hard. We actually have some players who haven’t played in two or three years for four years. I know my daughter (Jacy Gearhart) hadn’t played since eighth grade, our center-fielder Kyleigh Oliver hasn’t played since seventh grade, and our third baseman (Amadea Everman) and shortstop (Sarah Cassidy) had never played those positions before,” said Coach Gearhart. “They are all inexperienced, but this is the hardest-practicing team I’ve ever had. We’re grinders. And that was a grinding win right there. I’m not going to lie to you, I was nervous coming into this. This South Webster team is for real and is definitely a top-four team in our district (in Division IV).”
For the Jeeps, which play well upwards in their schedule as a member of the SOC II, three of their five losses are by three runs or less — to three clubs with an impressive combined tally of 17-1.
Those would be undefeated West (7-0) 4-2 and Clay (5-0) 7-4 —sandwiched around an epic 6-5 nine-inning loss against defending Division III regional champion Wheelersburg.
“It’s something we’re telling the girls all the time. You have to play all seven innings, start the game strong and finish the entire game. You can’t just play part of it. It has to be all the way through,” said SWHS coach Andy Messer. “Those are three games you mentioned that we could have won, and we should have won, but we haven’t. That’s really the only way I know how to put it.”
The difference on Thursday was simple but two-fold —for the Panthers put the Jeeps into a 5-0 deficit a mere eight batters in.
Clay then scored twice more on three hits in the fourth for a 7-1 lead, as South Webster scored singular earned runs in innings three, five, six and finally seven.
However, the Jeeps —despite outhitting the Panthers for a 14-9 count —left 14 runners stranded, including exactly a dozen in scoring position.
In fact, in the seventh, after Makayla Raynard’s one-out double down the third-base line —and back-to-back singles by Rylee McGraw and Riley Raynard including McGraw’s which crossed Makayla Raynard —the Jeeps had the bases loaded, given Panther pitcher Preslee Lutz’s intentional walk to Bri Claxon.
That meant clearing the bases would have forged a 7-7 tie, with a grand-slam home run resulting in a South Webster walkoff win.
But Lutz, first facing freshman Lauren Kaltenbach, induced her to hit into a 5-2 fielder’s choice for the second out.
Finally, with the sacks still full, Lutz got pitching counterpart Skylar Zimmerman to pop out to third base to end the game.
“We didn’t cash in when we needed to. We got hits, but not timely hits,” said Messer. “We left runners stranded and that will hurt you every time. Especially when we dug ourselves in a hole early. Take away five first-inning runs and we win this 4-2. Skylar (Zimmerman) came in and pitched outstanding.”
That Zimmerman did, going the final six and two-thirds frames — and only allowing the two earned third-inning runs.
She didn’t hit nor walk a batter, scattered six hits, struck out seven, and faced the Panthers precisely three times through.
But Zimmerman came in — because the Panthers chased the senior McGraw out.
Clay batted around in the opening inning, as McGraw pitched to seven Panthers before Messer made the circle change.
The first five reached base —with Shea Edgington and Lutz getting hit by pitches, sandwiched around a Gearhart single and a Jordyn Mathias RBI-double which brought in Edgington.
Kyleigh Oliver ended the first five on-base beginning with a single to plate Gearhart, as Morgan McCoy drew a one-out walk with the bases loaded to bring in Mathias.
Zimmerman replaced McGraw, but the final two tallies were charged to the latter —as Mathias scored on a Kate Fife RBI-fielder’s choice, and Oliver slid safely in on a wild pitch.
Coach Gearhart hailed his Panthers’ opening at-bat.
“Getting that early momentum is really important, We’ve been really slow starters this year. We’ve been behind against New Boston and Green, and we’ve pretty much had to come from behind in every game,” said the coach. “To do what we did in the first inning today and knock their pitcher out like that, it was big for us.”
For Messer, he didn’t know why McGraw was off her usual solid pitching game.
“I don’t actually know. For Rylee to do what she has previously done for us, that’s definitely different tonight. She just didn’t have her best stuff by hitting a couple batters with a walk, but everybody goes through that. It just wasn’t her night in the circle,” he said. “You just never what pitcher you’re going to have. It’s all about what night it is for them. You just have to hope and pray it’s their night.”
Which for the Panthers it was —and it helped with a pair of fourth-inning insurance markers.
Fife singled to shallow left-center behind the shortstop Claxon to lead off, followed by Cassidy collecting an infield single on a bunt.
Edgington made it 6-1 with a 4-3 RBI-groundout to plate Fife, before Gearhart hammered a single to to cross Cassidy.
All 11 runs in the contest wereindeed earned —as Oliver went 2-for-4, and Luz led off the seventh with a single.
In the circle, Lutz faced 39 Jeeps —giving up two walks before the seventh-inning intentional to the all-around exceller Claxon.
Lutz struck out eight, as Makayla Raynard and Bella Claxon cranked out 3-for-4 performances —including a pair of doubles by Raynard.
Zimmerman scored twice, including on Bella Claxon’s RBI-single in the fifth.
Bri Claxon and Kaltenbach both had two hits, and alas would have been the six and seventh South Webster markers had they scored.
But, sometimes, especially for the Panthers on Thursday —it was indeed all about how they started.
And, so far, it’s a fast 5-0 opening for Clay.
“I love this team. If you would have told me we were going to start 5-0 this year, with all the starters we graduated, I would have never ever thought that. But these girls are really trying hard. They practice, they cheer loud, they never sit down and they all get along,” said Coach Gearhart. “South Webster is a very good team, is going to be a force in Division IV, but we proved today we can probably play with anybody.”
* * *
Clay 500 200 0 — 7 9 3
South Webster 001 011 1 — 4 14 2
CHS: Preslee Lutz 7IP, 4R, 4ER, 14H, 0HB, 2BB, 1IBB, 8K, 39BF
SWHS: Rylee McGraw 1/3IP, 5R, 5ER, 3H, 2HB, 1BB, 1K, 7BF; Skylar Zimmerman 6 2/3 IP, 2R, 2ER, 6H, 0HB, 0BB, 7K. 27BF
W —Preslee Lutz; L — Rylee McGraw
Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @paulboggssports © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
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| 2022-04-08T22:28:25
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LUCASVILLE — The Valley Indians got the sticks going early — besting Eastern 12-0 in five innings in SOC II play.
Valley scored nine runs in the bottom of the first inning and another three in the bottom of the third, while three Indian pitchers combined for the shutout on the hill.
The Indians combined for 12 hits as a team, with multi-hit days by freshman Tate Queen and senior Chase Morrow. Queen drove in a game-high three RBI with an RBI single and double in the first.
Senior Carter Nickel, junior Chris Queen, and freshman Jaekyn Ridout combined for the shutout, with the win going to Nickel as the starter. The trio combined to allow only two hits and strikeout eight Eagle batters.
Valley (4-0, 4-0 SOC II) will host Portsmouth West on Friday in SOC II play.
***
BOX SCORE
Eastern 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 2 0
Valley 9 0 3 0 — 12 11 0
Valley hitting
George Arnett 1-2, 2R, BB
JR Holbrook 0-1
Chase Morrow 2-2, 2R
Levi Stewart 0-1
Tate Queen 2-4, R, 3RBI
Chris Queen 0-2
Carter Nickel 1-1, R
Landon Jones 1-1, 2R, RBI, BB
Jace Copley 1-3, R
Hunter Edwards 1-2, R, RBI, BB
Colt Buckle 1-2, R, RBI, BB
Jaekyn Ridout 1-2, R, RBI
Valley pitching
Carter Nickel (V) 2IP, 1H, 0ER, 4K (W)
Jaekyn Ridout (V) 2IP, 1H, 0ER, 3BB, 1K
Chris Queen (V) 1IP, 0H, 0ER, 3K
© 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
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| 2022-04-08T22:28:32
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Future Farmers of America work to prepare ready-made meals for Ukraine
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) -For the Future Farmers of America, service is one of their key pillars. This week, thousands of students from across the state have descended to Lincoln and are taking time between their events to try to make a difference.
The fifth floor of Pinnacle Bank Arena was buzzing Friday as hundreds of FFA students lent their hands to a large-scale service project that will bring tens of thousands of ready-made meals to Ukraine and beyond.
“It’s something that can kind of keep us all with our community and it makes us all one and be able to help out and that’s what we love to do,” said Amanda Sellen, Norfolk FFA.
Hundreds of future farmers of America spent Friday morning packing 100,000 meals for people in Ukraine.
“So we all have that want for service, and that want to service, and so that’s why I think they did it here so we can do that,” said Carleigh Tietz, Norfolk FFA.
When students arrive, they train and are assigned to an assembly line where they fill bags, weigh them, seal them and box them up to be shipped off.
“Many hands make light work,” said Tristen Buss, Norfolk FFA. “I mean there’s so many people here and we feel very strongly about volunteering and this type of thing we can all work together and meet new people and its just a lot of fun”
This is done in partnership with Mercy Meals, a nonprofit out of Norfolk. Each of these bags are six meals, filled with rice, soy, veggies and flavoring. The partnership with FFA has been long-standing.
“We accept clothing, shoes, medical supplies, hygiene supplies, school kits and then we sort, we pack, we label,” said Kathy Carter, Mercy Meals. “And Orphan Grain Train will ship that all over the world to meet humanitarian needs.”
While the event was only a few hours long, students said it’s one of the most interactive ways to meet other FFA members across the state.
“The more happy we are then the better just around emotional feeling and I just feel like we wanna create an environment where everyone is happy,” said Eric Gonzalez, Perkin County FFA.
After students were done with the bags, they box up all the meals, which are put onto pallets and wrapped on site. They will be shipped to Ukraine in the coming days.
Copyright 2022 KOLN. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-08T22:29:08
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Kentucky governor vetoes proposed 15-week abortion ban
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a Republican-backed measure on Friday that would ban abortions in Kentucky after 15 weeks of pregnancy and regulate the dispensing of abortion pills.
The governor raised doubts about the constitutionality of the bill and criticized it for not including exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.
State lawmakers will have a chance to override the veto when they reconvene next week for the final two days of this year’s 60-day legislative session. The abortion measure won overwhelming support in the GOP-dominated legislature.
The proposal reflects the latest attempt by Kentucky lawmakers to put more restrictions and conditions on abortion since the GOP took complete control of the legislature after the 2016 election.
The proposed 15-week ban is modeled after a Mississippi law under review by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could dramatically limit abortion rights. By taking the preemptive action, the bill’s supporters say that Kentucky’s stricter ban would be in place if the Mississippi law is upheld.
Kentucky law currently bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Beshear on Friday condemned the bill for failing to exclude pregnancies caused by rape or incest.
“Rape and incest are violent crimes,” the governor said in his veto message. “Victims of these crimes should have options, not be further scarred through a process that exposes them to more harm from their rapists or that treats them like offenders themselves.”
Beshear, a former state attorney general, also said the bill is “likely unconstitutional,” noting that similar laws elsewhere were struck down by the Supreme Court. He pointed to provisions in the Kentucky bill requiring doctors performing nonsurgical procedures to maintain hospital admitting privileges in “geographical proximity” to where the procedures are performed.
“The Supreme Court has ruled such requirements unconstitutional as it makes it impossible for women, including a child who is a victim of rape or incest, to obtain a procedure in certain areas of the state,” the governor said.
Opponents of the Kentucky bill say its restrictions are so onerous that no abortion clinic could comply.
The bill also would set regulations for the dispensing of abortion pills. It would require women to be examined in person by a doctor before receiving the medication.
That part of the bill is part of a nationwide push by anti-abortion groups to limit the ability of physicians to prescribe abortion pills by telemedicine, and comes in response to the increased use of pills rather than surgery to terminate early pregnancies.
About half of all abortions performed in Kentucky are the result of medication procedures.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-08T22:29:14
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Life expectancy continues to drop in US since start of pandemic, study finds
(CNN) - A recent study found that life expectancy in the U.S. has continued to drop since the start of the pandemic.
Researchers from the University of Colorado and the Urban Institute analyzed data from several statistical agencies and found that in 2021 life expectancy fell nearly half a year to 76.6 years.
Previously, a similar study found life expectancy dipped by almost two years in 2020.
In the decade before the coronavirus pandemic, life expectancy overall didn’t change much. But more than 900,000 Americans have died from COVID in the past two years.
Researchers from this most recent study also found life expectancy is more than five years less in the U.S. compared to other similar nations.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/08/life-expectancy-continues-drop-us-since-start-pandemic-study-finds/
| 2022-04-08T22:29:22
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Nebraska Legislature has moment of silence for Elwood fire chief
LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) - The state Legislature took a moment during its session on Friday to remember the Elwood fire chief who was killed in a head-on crash while responding to a fire in central Nebraska.
State Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha informed the Unicameral of the death of Darren Krull, chief of the Elwood Volunteer Fire Department, who is also the nephew of State Sen. Tom Briese of Albion. Krull died in a head-on crash on Highway 283 on Thursday.
“I’d like you to keep Sen. Briese, his nephew, and their family in your thoughts and prayers,” he said before yielding the rest of his time to State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln.
Pansing Brooks noted that LB-717, introduced by State Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln and coming up on final read Tuesday, pays compensation to families of those killed in the line of duty.
“When we had the previous discussion, people were saying, ‘Oh, it’s political. Oh, they’re doing this because it’s so political.’ It’s not political. It’s about a man’s life that he gave for his community. And fortunately for Sen. Briese’s family, the bill says that any deaths occurring in 2022 will get $250,000 rather than the $50,000. ... So I just want people to realize when you talk about things and disparage efforts that some of us make on behalf of people and say it’s political — it’s not political. It’s about people. It’s not about party; it’s about lives.”
Pansing Brooks then called for a moment of silence on the Unicameral floor.
Copyright 2022 WOWT. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-08T22:29:32
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An internship often helps students answer the question of, “Is this what I really want to do?” before they enter their career field.
For Indiana University Kokomo students Nicole Sharp and Erica Bolinger, their internships with CASA of Howard County have helped solidify what direction they want to go upon graduating with a degree in criminal justice.
The two have spent this semester as court-appointed special advocates, representing children in the court system. Each was assigned a child after completing the mandatory 30-day training and being sworn in during an official ceremony at the Howard County Courthouse.
Advocates meet with their child monthly, talk to people in the child’s life, such as parents and family members, and file case reports concerning the child. They also appear in the courtroom during proceedings. Their job is to make sure the child’s best interest is at the forefront of any decision.
“You feel like you’re their voice for them,” Sharp said.
The Tri-Central grad came into the internship with an interest in juvenile probation. After advocating for the 13-year-old assigned to her, the criminal justice major is now leaning more toward the social work field.
Sharp wants to work with either the Department of Child Services or CASA after graduation.
“It’s definitely what I want to do,” she said. “I feel my heart is with DCS and CASA and making an impact in a child’s life.”
Bolinger, originally from Auburn, intends to go the juvenile probation route but has found her experience with CASA beneficial.
“It really makes you realize … there are people living a different lifestyle,” she said. “It’s disheartening to know what they’ve had to go through.”
The IUK student said learning about the different lived experiences of children who are in the court system will help her better relate to the kids she will work with in the future.
“I felt like it was a good way to step inside the system,” Bolinger said. “I’ve always cared for kids. I felt like this was a good step in that direction.”
“It’s the most experience to the field that you’ll get before working in the field,” added Kelly Fisher, criminal justice lecturer at IUK. Fisher also serves as a CASA of Howard County board member.
Bolinger said the internship can be stressful, though she admits she’s hard on herself.
“But it’s rewarding that you’re having a good impact,” she said. “I didn’t know how much impact we have on the child and the case.”
Bolinger and Sharp are the first interns for CASA of Howard County. Fisher said staff are singing their praises.
“They love them, they love them so much,” she said. “People have been very happy with the work they’ve been doing.”
Fisher said CASA will offer both students contract positions after completing their internships.
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/casa-internship-helps-iuk-students-find-their-path/article_b6b335c8-b765-11ec-b913-63604b6febe5.html
| 2022-04-08T22:32:10
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/casa-internship-helps-iuk-students-find-their-path/article_b6b335c8-b765-11ec-b913-63604b6febe5.html
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Jasmine Gibson
Political Party: Republican
Previous related work experience/political offices held:
I am running for office for the first time, and I am excited. Currently, I work for Lancaster County Treasurer as a Title Clerk. May 18th will be my sixth anniversary there. I have taken payments, processed titles, new registrations, and renewals during that time. I’ve done daily balancing and helped with the office balancing; I’ve audited titles and processed dealer titles. I quickly learned the new system that we got over two years ago, and I was then able to show coworkers some of its capabilities. Before that, I managed a storage facility. In my twenties, I worked for a temporary agency. Because of my skills and ability to learn quickly, I was always offered a position as soon as one ended. During that time, I was able to work in many different industries. I enjoyed learning how businesses ran and absorbed all of the information that I could. I then applied what I learned to my next position. During that time, I also prepared taxes part-time.
Why are you running for office?
As I have mentioned, I am currently a Title Clerk for Lancaster County Treasurer. My time with the County has taught me so much. I’ve been able to help and serve so many people, including our dealerships. While assisting people, I have listened to their ideas, complaints, and suggestions. By listening, I’ve been able to formulate ideas that will improve our current processes, provide better experiences for our citizens, and decrease wait times. I decided to run because I enjoy and care about what I do. I also know that running for County Treasurer is the only way that much-needed changes will be implemented. Our community needs and deserves someone who knows what the position entails, has experience in it, and isn’t running just to be in office somewhere for anything that they can. Most people who remember me assisting them will tell you that I’m knowledgeable, efficient, hardworking, and passionate about my job. If elected, I will apply my expertise, let my work ethic guide me, and continue striving for the betterment of our community.
What will be your top issue to tackle if elected?
There are so many issues to tackle. Some of the issues are: keeping the line inside the building, adding additional locations (whether that means an actual building or providing kiosks so that the primary area is not congested), adding staff, putting the handicap desk back in the front of the building, working hand in hand with dealerships (realizing that having a good process that involves them will be beneficial to the public), employee retention, keeping a single line so that the people who were waiting first are served first, training based on efficiency as well as knowledge, and true transparency (letting the public and employees know of changes and being honest with them about my intentions). Given my interoffice experience, I’ve got ideas for all of my priorities. These are ideas that I know will work and be beneficial to Lancaster County’s citizens.
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https://www.1011now.com/page/jasmine-gibson/
| 2022-04-08T22:33:30
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https://www.1011now.com/page/jasmine-gibson/
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Joe Nigro, Incumbent
Political Party: Democrat
Previous related work experience/political offices held:
I have worked in the Lancaster County Public Defender’s Office for 38 years. I was elected as the Lancaster County Public Defender in 2014, and I was re-elected in 2018.
Why are you running for office?
I am running for re-election as the Lancaster County Public Defender to continue the tradition of our office providing excellent legal representation for the poor, and to continue to work on on reforming the criminal justice system to make it work better and more fairly, while at the same time increasing community safety. Under my leadership, we added social workers to our staff to better serve our many clients with mental health and substance abuse issues.
What will be your top issue to tackle if elected?
My top priority is ending mass incarceration. We can achieve this while at the same time ending racism in the criminal justice system, and reducing the number of people with mental health issues in the system. To do this we need to end the failed War on Drugs, and instead treat substance abuse as a health problem instead of a criminal one. We need to end the cash bail system which punishes poverty. We need to increase mental health services. We need to expand our diversion programs and our problem solving courts, including establishing a mental health court.
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https://www.1011now.com/page/joe-nigro/
| 2022-04-08T22:33:37
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https://www.1011now.com/page/joe-nigro/
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Tracy Refior
Political Party: Republican
Previous related work experience/political offices held:
I ran for Airport Authority in 2021 and wasn’t successful for that bid. I’ve been a Financial Advisor for nearly 30yrs and small business owner.
Why are you running for office?
I’m running for Lancaster County Treasurer because I think the people deserve better. I want to bring Transparency, efficiency, and professionalism back to this county office.
What will be your top issue to tackle if elected?
Top issue to tackle is total Transparency and making the DMV run more efficiently. As the custodial of county funds, the elected treasurer works for the people not the other way around.
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https://www.1011now.com/page/tracy-refior/
| 2022-04-08T22:33:46
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https://www.1011now.com/page/tracy-refior/
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Beautiful weekend ahead; Showers and storms likely next week
Highs in the 40s and 50s this weekend
ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – After gray skies and wet weather dominated the region this week, quiet and warm conditions are expected for the upcoming weekend!
Highs Saturday will be in the upper 40s nearing 50°. Winds will be out of the northwest around 5-15 mph with mostly sunny skies. Temperatures Saturday night will stay steady in the middle and lower 30s. Warm temperatures will continue on Sunday with highs in the middle 50s. Winds will shift to the southeast which should lead to nice conditions through the afternoon. Showers will stay well to the northwest of our area but clouds will build into the region through the afternoon. Winds will gust to around 25-30 mph at times Sunday.
Showers and storms come back into the forecast next week. We’re tracking a weather-maker impacting the area Tuesday through Wednesday. We’ll keep an eye out for storms Wednesday.
Temperatures will fall back to the middle and lower 40s by Thursday and Friday of next week.
Enjoy the weather this weekend!
Nick
Copyright 2022 KTTC. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/beautiful-weekend-ahead-showers-storms-likely-next-week/
| 2022-04-08T22:43:18
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/beautiful-weekend-ahead-showers-storms-likely-next-week/
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Eagles Cancer Telethon reflect on Pat Lund’s impact
ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – Not only did Pat Lund give back to the community through high school sports reporting, but also through The Eagles Cancer Telethon. Pat participated in the Telethon every year he was with KTTC.
Telethon executive director Teresa Chapman says Pat was passionate about the telethon’s mission.
“I had the pleasure of being up on stage with him, and getting his perspective on the telethon and his passion for it and his joy for volunteering,” she said.
Pat connected to the community members who helped put on the Telethon.
“He made it about the people, about the story, and he let you know that he cared,” she said.
Chapman felt a little nervous while on stage at the Telethon, but she said with Pat by her side, she felt more comfortable.
“He made you laugh, and he made me comfortable. For somebody that is a non-professional and to step on stage with people that know what they’re doing,” she said.
Pat brought so much to the Telethon from his infectious laugh, his playful jokes and his compassion for his community.
“He brought his personality that was larger than life, and he brought passion. He brought dedication, and he brought a heart. Pat will be remembered, and he’ll be remembered by us,” Chapman said.
RELATED STORY: Current, former KTTC employees remember Pat Lund
Copyright 2022 KTTC. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/eagles-cancer-telethon-reflect-pat-lunds-impact/
| 2022-04-08T22:43:20
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/eagles-cancer-telethon-reflect-pat-lunds-impact/
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Evers vetoes more than 40 Republican-backed bills
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed more than 40 Republican authored bills, while he signed a bipartisan measure that provides funding for the construction of a new juvenile prison in Milwaukee
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed more than 40 Republican authored bills Friday including a package overhauling election administration, while he signed a bipartisan measure that provides funding for the construction of a new juvenile prison in Milwaukee.
The 43 vetoes spanned a wide expanse of bills passed in this election year, measures that Republicans knew were doomed to fail but that give them — and Evers — something to campaign on. Republicans don't have enough votes to override his vetoes.
Among the bills Evers vetoed were measures that would have prohibited schools from requiring students to wear masks and required employers to accept proof of natural immunity from COVID-19 rather than vaccination.
He also vetoed bills that would have allowed holders of concealed carry permits to have firearms in vehicles on school grounds and in churches located on the grounds of a private school. He also vetoed a measure that would have allowed anyone with a concealed carry license from any state to go armed in Wisconsin. Currently, only people with licenses from states that conduct background checks on applicants can carry concealed guns in Wisconsin.
Evers vetoed a bill that would have permitted classes on the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution to count for diversity or ethnic studies requirements at the University of Wisconsin. Another bill he vetoed would have forced UW System schools to use objective criteria for admissions. The measure would outlaw criteria based on race, national origin or religion.
Another bill he vetoed would have allowed students to sue University of Wisconsin professors and others who interfere with free speech rights on campus. The measure was designed to clear the way for conservative speakers on campus.
And he vetoed a measure that would have prohibited governmental agencies from requiring employees to attend training courses about topics related to systemic racism.
He also vetoed a package of bills that would have made it harder to vote. Republicans offered them in the wake of President Joe Biden narrowly winning Wisconsin over Donald Trump in 2020.
Evers vetoed a number of bills increasing penalties for crimes, including retail theft, as well as a measure that would have enshrined police’s ability to use no-knock warrants in state law. The national debate over no-knock warrants, which allow police to storm residences without any warning, has been growing in recent years.
Evers vetoed a bill that would have made damaging statues and other government property of historical significance a felony punishable by up to three-and-a-years in prison. That came after protesters tore down the statue of a Civil War hero outside the state Capitol in the summer of 2020 and damaged another one.
He also vetoed a raft of bills that would have directed how to spend millions of dollars from the federal government that was awarded as part of the coronavirus relief package. Currently, Evers has the discretion to decide how to spend the money. He said in his veto messages that he objected to the Legislature getting involved and that he has already earmarked much of the money for public safety and other initiatives.
One of 35 bills Evers signed was a bipartisan proposal that would authorize borrowing $42 million to build a new youth prison in Milwaukee County, the latest step in a years-long effort to close the troubled Lincoln Hills juvenile prison in northern Wisconsin and the Copper Lake prison for girls.
Four years ago, the Legislature voted to close the prison but lawmakers never came through with the money for a replacement facility. Its exact location has yet to be determined.
“For years, legislators have been talking about closing Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake as a juvenile facility while simultaneously delaying and obstructing plans to do so,” Evers said in a statement heralding enactment of the new law.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/evers-vetoes-more-than-40-republican-backed-bills/
| 2022-04-08T22:43:26
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/evers-vetoes-more-than-40-republican-backed-bills/
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Governor Walz signs $1 million bird flu relief bill
MINNESOTA (KTTC) – The Minnesota Legislature rushed through $1 million in emergency funding to bolster the fight against bird flu, a highly contagious disease that has cost the state’s turkey farmers more than 1 million birds. Governor Tim Walz signed the bill Friday.
The number of Minnesota farms and birds affected by the highly pathogenic form of bird flu has doubled in less than a week.
Minnesota is the top turkey producing state, with nearly 700 farms that raise about 40 million birds per year. According to an update Thursday from the Board of Animal Health, the virus had infected 19 commercial turkey farms and two backyard flocks in 11 Minnesota counties with a combined 1,017,568 birds.
Across the U.S., the outbreak is the biggest since 2015, when producers had to kill more than 50 million birds to keep the virus from spreading. Cases have been reported in 24 states this year, with Iowa the hardest hit. The number of chickens and turkeys
The bill is meant to buy time by putting an extra $1 million into an emergency account at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to supplement the 400,000 currently there.
It will help pay for testing materials, equipment and personnel. Lawmakers are expected to field requests for more money later.
Copyright 2022 KTTC. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/governor-walz-signs-1-million-bird-flu-relief-bill/
| 2022-04-08T22:43:37
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/governor-walz-signs-1-million-bird-flu-relief-bill/
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Kentucky governor vetoes proposed 15-week abortion ban
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a Republican-backed measure on Friday that would ban abortions in Kentucky after 15 weeks of pregnancy and regulate the dispensing of abortion pills.
The governor raised doubts about the constitutionality of the bill and criticized it for not including exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.
State lawmakers will have a chance to override the veto when they reconvene next week for the final two days of this year’s 60-day legislative session. The abortion measure won overwhelming support in the GOP-dominated legislature.
The proposal reflects the latest attempt by Kentucky lawmakers to put more restrictions and conditions on abortion since the GOP took complete control of the legislature after the 2016 election.
The proposed 15-week ban is modeled after a Mississippi law under review by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could dramatically limit abortion rights. By taking the preemptive action, the bill’s supporters say that Kentucky’s stricter ban would be in place if the Mississippi law is upheld.
Kentucky law currently bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Beshear on Friday condemned the bill for failing to exclude pregnancies caused by rape or incest.
“Rape and incest are violent crimes,” the governor said in his veto message. “Victims of these crimes should have options, not be further scarred through a process that exposes them to more harm from their rapists or that treats them like offenders themselves.”
Beshear, a former state attorney general, also said the bill is “likely unconstitutional,” noting that similar laws elsewhere were struck down by the Supreme Court. He pointed to provisions in the Kentucky bill requiring doctors performing nonsurgical procedures to maintain hospital admitting privileges in “geographical proximity” to where the procedures are performed.
“The Supreme Court has ruled such requirements unconstitutional as it makes it impossible for women, including a child who is a victim of rape or incest, to obtain a procedure in certain areas of the state,” the governor said.
Opponents of the Kentucky bill say its restrictions are so onerous that no abortion clinic could comply.
The bill also would set regulations for the dispensing of abortion pills. It would require women to be examined in person by a doctor before receiving the medication.
That part of the bill is part of a nationwide push by anti-abortion groups to limit the ability of physicians to prescribe abortion pills by telemedicine, and comes in response to the increased use of pills rather than surgery to terminate early pregnancies.
About half of all abortions performed in Kentucky are the result of medication procedures.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/kentucky-governor-vetoes-proposed-15-week-abortion-ban/
| 2022-04-08T22:43:43
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/kentucky-governor-vetoes-proposed-15-week-abortion-ban/
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FORT WAYNE Ind. (WANE)- The Fort Wayne Fire Department is investigating a fire at a two-story house in Northeast Fort Wayne.
Crews were called to the house on the intersection of Oakhurst Dr. and Montavilla Dr. just after 5 p.m. on Friday.
Two fire trucks were seen at location of the fire. Smoke was seen coming out of the second floor of the home.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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https://www.wane.com/news/fwfd-investigating-house-fire-near-northeast-fw/
| 2022-04-08T22:43:50
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https://www.wane.com/news/fwfd-investigating-house-fire-near-northeast-fw/
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Life expectancy continues to drop in US since start of pandemic, study finds
(CNN) - A recent study found that life expectancy in the U.S. has continued to drop since the start of the pandemic.
Researchers from the University of Colorado and the Urban Institute analyzed data from several statistical agencies and found that in 2021 life expectancy fell nearly half a year to 76.6 years.
Previously, a similar study found life expectancy dipped by almost two years in 2020.
In the decade before the coronavirus pandemic, life expectancy overall didn’t change much. But more than 900,000 Americans have died from COVID in the past two years.
Researchers from this most recent study also found life expectancy is more than five years less in the U.S. compared to other similar nations.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/life-expectancy-continues-drop-us-since-start-pandemic-study-finds/
| 2022-04-08T22:43:52
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/life-expectancy-continues-drop-us-since-start-pandemic-study-finds/
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Police: Couple facing charges after 3 children go missing for weeks
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3/Gray News) - A Missouri-area prosecutor has charged a mother and her wife in the disappearance of three children.
KY3 reports Brittany Barnes and Ceairah Beverly have been charged with three counts of interference with custody or removed from the state.
Investigators said Barnes told Beverly’s mother, their legal guardian, she was taking the children to a court appearance on March 23. However, they never showed up to that appearance.
The children, Ryder Green, 10, Resean Green, 9, and Ramello Green, 8, have not been seen since. Police said they believed the women took them to Arizona.
Investigators said they contacted Barnes’s mother, and she initially told them the women and the kids were in Arizona. However, she later changed her story and said she would not cooperate with the investigation.
A children’s food stamp card was used at a Walmart in Queen Creek, Arizona, according to police.
The FBI has since been called to help work the case, and authorities urged anyone with further information to contact the Springfield Police Department at 417-864-1810.
Copyright 2022 KY3 via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/police-couple-facing-charges-after-3-children-go-missing-weeks/
| 2022-04-08T22:43:59
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/08/police-couple-facing-charges-after-3-children-go-missing-weeks/
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AUGUSTA, Ga. – There have been 209 players on the PGA Tour this season that have recorded enough rounds to qualify for the strokes gained: total statistic, the metric that compares a player’s score to the field average.
Charl Schwartzel is ranked 209th.
The 2011 Masters champion has – statistically – been the worst performer on Tour this season. In 23 rounds, he has averaged more than 2.78 strokes lost to the field per round – more than a half-stroke worse than Jonas Blixt.
“I haven’t felt like I’ve played as badly as my results, though,” Schwartzel said Friday.
And he was speaking Friday at Augusta National not because he was playing poorly again, not because he was on his way to another missed cut – but because he shot 69 in windy conditions and was an early clubhouse leader at the Masters, at 3-under 141. By day's end, he was T-2 and three shots back, but in much better position than he can recall.
Full-field scores from the 86th Masters Tournament
Schwartzel’s recent results stand on their own; down to 172nd in the world, he is about to play on the weekend for the first time since late January. But to hear him after his second round, he didn’t sound panicked by his slump.
“I’ve been working on it the whole season,” he said.
Schwartzel said he’s worked to tighten up his swing, to make his hands more passive through the hitting area. Through two rounds he has missed only six fairways and hit at least 12 greens each day.
“I must be honest,” he said, “these are two of the best ball-striking rounds I’ve had in a very long time.”
Searching for a solution, Schwartzel took two weeks off heading into the year’s first major. He cued up old footage of his Masters victory in 2011, the year Rory McIlroy blew a four-shot lead on the final day and turned the second nine into a shootout. Schwartzel birdied the final four holes to win the Masters, his first of two Tour titles.
Re-watching the coverage, studying his old swing, Schwartzel’s confidence somehow grew.
“I could win this tournament because I was starting to hit it very good and just looked at the old footage, and it’s still there,” he said.
What stuck out the most in those clips?
“Putting on the green jacket at the end,” he said.
Whipping winds this weekend will determine whether these opening 36 holes were a fluke, or whether he’s stumbled upon a swing key. The next two days will be the ultimate stress-test for a gifted player who hasn’t won anywhere since March 2016.
For now, he’s pleased with progress, however small.
“My mind is too active,” he said, “and I really worked hard on staying in the present and trying to execute a golf shot and not worry about what can go wrong, because I’ve been playing too much golf thinking of what can go wrong.”
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/2022-masters-inspired-highlights-masters-win-charl-schwartzel-goes-worst-first
| 2022-04-08T22:47:54
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/2022-masters-inspired-highlights-masters-win-charl-schwartzel-goes-worst-first
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Make way for ducklings!
“Duck Dynasty” star Justin Martin and his wife, Brittany, took to social media April 7 to share some good news: The couple is expecting twins in October!
“Duck Dynasty” is a hit A&E reality TV series centered on a Louisiana family, the Robertsons, who own a multi-million-dollar sporting empire called Duck Commander, which specializes in duck hunting materials. Martin’s connection to the Robertsons and to “Duck Dynasty” is a deep one — he’s the general manager at Duck Commander.
Based on the photos Justin Martin has shared on Facebook — like this shot of the couple holding a haul after a hunt — it’s clear that both new parents are invested in the duck business:
The happy announcement came after what Martin called a tough few years, writing in an Instagram post that the area he calls home was hit hard by a hurricane in 2020. Just months after that ordeal, Martin’s father died.
“If you’ve followed along, you know our family has gone through a ton since 2020,” Martin wrote in an Instagram post announcing the pregnancy. “Little ones, we have prayed for you and soon enough we will get to pray with you. We are scared to death, excited beyond words and ready for this path God has chosen. Martin, Party of 4!”
The sweet caption was posted alongside a photo of twin onesies and a wooden letter board reading “Prayed for 1, blessed with 2.”
The couple also posted a video to TikTok capturing the moment — and Brittany Martin’s shocked face — when they learned they were having twins. “When there’s two instead of one…..,” Justin Martin captioned the video.
@jmartinduckman Well, looks like one may be a little more mischievous than the other one. #twins #newparents ⬠original sound – jmartinduckman
The Martins started dating in 2013, according to Country Music Nation. A season four episode of “Duck Dynasty” even showed castmates Uncle Si, Jase, Jep and Godwin helping Justin Martin get ready for his very first date with Brittany (née Brugman).
The pair wed in 2015. The twins will be the couple’s first children.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
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https://www.wrtv.com/duck-dynasty-star-justin-martin-is-expecting-twins
| 2022-04-08T22:48:11
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https://www.wrtv.com/duck-dynasty-star-justin-martin-is-expecting-twins
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PERU, Ind. (AP) — An inmate at a northern Indiana prison has been convicted in a 2020 attack on a correctional officer who was slashed in the face with a razor blade, leaving him with a permanent scar.
A Miami County jury found 67-year-old Raul Sotelo guilty Thursday of attempted murder, battery with bodily injury to a public safety officer and other charges in the July 1, 2020, attack.
The Kokomo Tribune reports Sotelo attacked the correctional officer with a razor blade wrapped with cardboard, slashing the left side of his face. The officer's wound left him with a permanent 5-inch-long scar.
Sotelo’s sentencing is scheduled for May 4.
TOP STORIES: IUPUI commencement ceremony subject of uproar as some students won't be able to walk | Gainbridge concertgoers say they were denied access to rescheduled Elton John show; told tickets invalid | Meteor likely cause of mysterious explosion-like noise that rattled parts of Indiana, AMS says | Carvana building demolished to clear way for construction of new I-465 interchange | Apple to pay $14.8M to iCloud subscribers over breached contract
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/crime/indiana-inmate-convicted-in-razor-blade-attack-on-officer
| 2022-04-08T22:48:17
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/crime/indiana-inmate-convicted-in-razor-blade-attack-on-officer
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INDIANAPOLIS — Progress is being made at Lakeside Pointe at Nora apartments on the north side.
The once problematic apartment complex has faced hundreds of housing code violations and a lawsuit.
New management took over in March.
Residents said they're finally seeing a positive change at the complex thanks to new management and they have seen crews working hard to fix emergency repairs.
"A lot of great changes," resident Daniela Mendez said. "They have been fixing up the apartments. I've seen some units that they are repairing new units, the carpet floors and everything."
"They're putting in new toilets and sinks the whole nine yards," resident Stephanie Hunt said.
Mendez and Hunt say within 30 days of new property owners, they've received major safety upgrades.
"A lot," Hunt said. "They've fixed the fence, they've trimmed the trees down, fixed around the lake, and they fixed the road."
Fences wrap around unsafe burned buildings. The attorney representing new management says they are ready to start demolition on a unit that burned in December and charred clubhouse, but are waiting on approved permits from the city.
The city says it will expedite demolition permits after receiving more information from the management group. The property group's representing attorney said the city is looking for future plans of proposed demo sites.
Plumbing and maintenance crews are on-site fixing hot water heaters, leaks and more.
This work is paying off. The Marion County Health Department said as of Friday, all emergency violations at Lakeside Pointe have been brought into compliance and are no longer pending in court.
"I feel great. I feel safer now," Mendez said.
WRTV asked residents how they felt before the changes began.
"Everything was just chaos," said Mendez.
Now, residents are hopeful this once-troubled complex is making a change for the better.
"It's good. A lot of my friends are wanting to move in here now since it's getting better," said Hunt.
There are still non-emergency violation cases, but the health department says it continues to see progress.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/emergency-violations-now-in-compliance-at-lakeside-pointe-at-nora-apartments
| 2022-04-08T22:48:23
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/emergency-violations-now-in-compliance-at-lakeside-pointe-at-nora-apartments
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INDIANAPOLIS — The empty parking spaces and the empty offices give a glimpse into the future of the pyramids.
President at Caris Financial Holdings and Senior Managing Director at American Senior Benefits Cary Hughes' company has worked inside the pyramids for the last five years.
“We have gone through COVID-19 and businesses coming and going," Hughes said. "A cafeteria was there for years, then it disappeared, then it disappeared again,” Hughes said.
The Pyramids have been an Indianapolis staple since the 1970s and now they are getting a makeover.
The project is spearheaded by a Hoosier-born and raised Brent Benge and his company KennMar. Benge is the President and CEO of KennMar.
“We want to make sure that we maintain the architectural design of the pyramids,” Benge said.
While maintaining the architectural design, Benge sees a lot of potential face lifts that would serve the buildings well.
“What we do plan to do is keep the facade and add some better entrances and really bring in the common amenities of the 21st century,” Benge said.
Among the improvements include a gym and new lobby areas.
“We don’t have a lot of services for our employees,” Hughes said. "A cafeteria is a big deal, some kind of restaurant would be great."
Hughes also said he loves the idea of the gym being added.
The pandemic impacted a lot of the businesses inside of the Pyramids, according to Hughes.
“The companies couldn’t sustain so one by one they disappeared,” Hughes said.
That is where Benge and the redevelopment come in. He plans to start the work in late May.
“From the timeline standpoint we hope to have the bulk of this done by the end of this year,” Benge said.
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| 2022-04-08T22:48:29
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The new head of Yemen's internationally recognized government says the council he leads will work to end the country's grinding civil war. The remarks came in the first televised address by Rashad al-Alimi on Friday.
He thanked his government's backers —Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — which have been helping Yemeni government forces fight the Iran-backed Houthi rebels for years. Al-Alimi's speech comes as both sides trade accusations of breaking a week-old cease-fire. Yemen's exiled president stepped aside and transferred his powers to the presidential council on Thursday.
The announcement came as international efforts to end the 8-year civil war with a two-month truce.
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| 2022-04-08T22:48:35
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On a cold, cloudy, rainy day, the last source of power you might turn to is solar. But, that could soon change.
“We’re working on developing new solar systems that will capture light on days where there is little or no sun,” Phil Boudjouk, a professor of chemistry at North Dakota State University, said.
A team of researchers at North Dakota State University recently received a multi-million dollar federal research award to solve that problem, by developing new materials that can absorb solar energy in low light conditions.
“Our base material is silicone and we are trying to make new combinations of silicone with other elements on the periodic table,” Boudjouk said. “The sun is the source of all of our energy. And when it shines on silicone, if the silicone is properly affixed, you can have energy converted from the sun to electrical energy and then we can plugin and use it.”
Boudjouk and the rest of the team are testing all sorts of combinations to see what could work best. These new materials are tested under different light conditions to see how much electricity they generate.
“It’s going to be about efficiency and if you can go so far from a cloudy day, can you operate at night when it’s just moonlight,” he explained.
The more energy created with solar, the more energy to go around.
A report published in September 2021 by the U.S. Department of Energy estimates solar could account for as much as 40 percent of the U.S. electricity supply by 2035.
“Solar is part of a 21st century grid,” Gregory Whetstone, the president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy, said. “The solar sector has been booming, the technology has continued to improve, cost has continued to go down.”
Whetstone said solar is just one tool in the renewable energy toolbox, and adding elements like energy storage to solar can help make it an even more attractive option.
“When you add energy storage to the mix, it really presents a tremendous opportunity to have that energy there when we need it,” he said.
“I think an important part of this though, long term, is that there be a battery system,” Boudjouk said. “You can have some of it siphoned off into a battery so that even at night, pitch black, you can access the energy that originally came from the sun.”
While the team’s research is primarily for the Department of Defense, Boudjouk expects to see commercial success within a decade for those days that are a little less bright.
“If we’re successful, it should have a big impact in the consumer market,” he said.
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| 2022-04-08T22:48:41
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DETROIT, Mich. (WXYZ) — A 4-year-old boy has a new best friend after losing his old one.
After going with his mother to run errands in March, Leo's stuffed puppy was gone.
“I called every store, nothing," Emily Sudekum said. "We went back up to Meijer. We went through the whole store and went through the stuffed animal section because they thought he might be there. And then we called 7-Eleven, went back up there. No luck at all,” said Emily.
“He was emotional for two days. He was crying. He wouldn’t sleep. He wouldn't do nothing,” Sudekum said.
Desperate to cheer up Leo, Sudekum posted in community Facebook group— asking if anyone had seen her son’s beloved missing stuffed animal. At first, no luck. But then, Sudekum said a woman reached out.
“She was like, ‘hey, my kids have one that they would love to give to your son,’ And so thankfully, she was amazing, and she actually showed up like three hours later at my house with the stuffed animal,” Sudekum said. “She drove the puppy all the way to my house and her two kids actually gave it to him.”
Sudekum said Leo was filled with joy.
“His whole face just lit up. He was super excited, you know, like he was snuggling," Sudekum said.
This story was originally reported by Alexandra Bahou on wxyz.com.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/simple-act-of-kindness-brings-joy-to-4-year-old-who-lost-favorite-stuffed-animal
| 2022-04-08T22:48:48
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Transgender kids and their parents say they feel attacked by a wave of Republican-sponsored legislation and policies aimed at trans youth.
Bills have been introduced to ban gender-affirming care and block transgender children from using school restrooms or playing on sports teams that don't match their sex at birth. Proponents say the measures are about protecting children and preserving the integrity of girls' sports.
Opponents argue that they target already vulnerable children for the sake of scoring political points.
Ninth grader Harleigh Walker, 15, said “Honestly, I’m a little scared now,” she said Thursday after learning the bill had passed. ”But we’re still going to fight no matter what.”
Alabama is among the states with a Republican-controlled legislature advancing these bills.
Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign said, “In one breathtakingly cruel and cowardly day, the Alabama legislature passed the single most anti-transgender legislative package in history.”
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| 2022-04-08T22:48:54
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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Video from Madison County Community News Network shows the Indiana State Police SWAT Team tearing through an Anderson home, looking for a suspected fugitive. They said they used the BEARCAT (Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck) after attempting to get 47-year-old Barry Willis to come out of the house for four hours Wednesday.
“It was something you see on TV,” Sharla Davis, a neighbor, said. “I didn’t think I would see it in person!”
Davis owns and operates a daycare across from the house located at 1324 Menifee Street. She had a business full of children as the standoff was taking place.
“I’m just glad it’s over and I’m glad they removed him so I can be safe right here in my daycare area,” Davis said. “Other than that, thank you police!”
ISP said the person who lived in the house was able to get out safely during this ordeal. FOX59 spoke with that man today who said he only knew Willis for a short time and thought he would help him out prior to the standoff by giving him a place to sleep.
While he did not want to go on camera, we asked him if he had anything he wanted to say to the public. He replied, “Be careful who you let in your house.”
After the person got out safely and was cooperating with police, ISP said Willis had barricaded himself in the house.
So, a perimeter was set up and the SWAT Team came in. ISP said negotiators and SWAT tried to make contact with Willis over a PA system, then used the BEARCAT to send gas into the residence.
They said all tools they used did not bring Willis out until teargas was deployed into the home. Then, Willis surrendered but not before a huge hole was torn in the side of the house.
Mark Nicholson, an Indiana criminal defense and personal injury attorney, said if law enforcement damages your property, the first thing to do is bring any evidence to an attorney.
“Document everything and then contact a lawyer who has experience in this area to help guide you through the process because there is a short deadline,” Nicholson said.
According to the state’s notice of tort claim, a claimant has 270 days from the damage to file the correct paperwork.
“If you wait too long and you’re past the statute of limitations, it’s going to be less likely that an attorney will want to get involved in a case,” Nicholson said. “Or, if you don’t have any documentation, it’s going to be less likely that the attorney’s going to get involved.”
Nicholson said the entity that ends up getting the bill for the damage depends on whether law enforcement was justified in their actions.
“One scenario is if the police are justified in their intrusion and their damage and their arrest, then it could be on the homeowner to take care of the damage,” Nicholson said. “Then it is the police, which is the government, taxpayers, that would pay for the damage.”
Nicholson said law enforcement actions can fall under qualified immunity.
“It’s sometimes hard getting around this barrier of holding the police and the government accountable when they have this qualified immunity that kind of prevents them from being personally sued and things of that nature,” Nicholson said. “Anytime the police are accused of any kind of misconduct or harming someone either personally or physically, violating their constitutional rights, they do kind of have this cloak of immunity.”
Nicholson said he would also caution against “making the situation worse” by “getting in the police officer’s face.”
“Even though you may be right, that doesn’t mean you’ve got to get in the police officer’s face and tell them that what they’re doing is wrong and things like that because what I’ve seen happen then is the police will say, ‘whoa, this is disorderly conduct, or you’re resisting arrest,’ and you’ve just kind of made your situation worse. Sometimes it’s best if you can sit back and document the best you can and then get with an attorney.”
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| 2022-04-08T22:49:07
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INDIANAPOLIS — As innocent lives continue to be lost in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hoosiers are helping both here at home and close to the war.
Major Mike McKee, the Emergency Disaster Services Director for the Salvation Army Indiana Division, has been in Romania since late March. McKee is working with refugees as they flee Ukraine.
”We want them to know that they are in a safe place, and there’s people that care about them,” McKee said.
He will be stationed in Bucharest, Romania until early May to help the thousands of people flowing through the city. He said they’re either staying put or heading further into Europe.
”They’re just wonderful people, it breaks our hearts,” McKee said.
He is working with two other Salvation Army volunteers, one from Czech Republic and one from Norway. McKee estimates they have already helped more than 1,500 families in just more than two weeks.
”There is food, new clothing, new shoes, things like that for them,” he said.
As the groups pass through, McKee said he almost never sees any men. Most stayed back for the war.
”Some of them have contact, some of them don’t have contact,” McKee said. “But even the ones who have had contact, they’re scared.”
McKee and his team hand out food vouchers to the families and educate them on the dangers of human trafficking. He said these women and children are prime targets for traffickers.
”Once you go with someone and you relinquish your passport to them, you’re done, they have you,” McKee said.
Back at home, local non-profit Mission to Ukraine is working to help the families they serve in Ukraine. Executive Director Steve Boles said they have had an office in Ukraine for 25 years. Primarily they help mothers in crisis and children with special needs, but since the war they have switched to humanitarian efforts.
”I’m not exaggerating when I say it is literally tons of food and medicine we’re shipping in,” Boles said.
Boles said the donations from people in Indianapolis and beyond have been very helpful.
”Whether its finances or items on the needs list we have, both have been provided very graciously by people here in the Midwest,” Boles said.
As war continues, both Hoosiers know how important their jobs are. McKee said sometimes it is as simple as giving a treat to a family pet.
”That usually not only makes them smile but makes everyone in the line smile,” he said.
If you would like to donate to the Salvation Army efforts in Ukraine and the surrounding countries, you can go to its website or text “UKRAINE” to 52000.
Boles said you can help Mission to Ukraine by checking out its website to see where to donate or what items the organization needs.
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| 2022-04-08T22:49:13
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INDIANAPOLIS — At Midwest Food Bank, feeding 90,000 Hoosiers every month is no easy task.
“I’ve always said it takes a community to feed and care for a community,” said Executive Director John Whitaker.
Thanks to a local donor, Whitaker says they were just getting started on incorporating $100,000 worth of eggs to help serve clients.
“For the first two months of this year, we were rolling with those eggs coming in. People were really excited and happy,” he said.
However, those plans would come to an unexpected pause.
Due to the Avian Flu, limited eggs are being produced, causing the food bank’s supplier to temporarily suspend supply for the time being.
“We don’t really have a big plan B other than try to find another source of protein,” said Whitaker.
“There’s a lot of cases going on right now, nationwide, and the virus is active, and it’s having a big impact on the poultry industry,” said Denise Derrer Spears, Indiana State Board of Animal Health.
Officials are continuing to monitor cases closely in Indiana, so far confirming six cases. Those cases were mostly contained to the southern parts of the state, on turkey farms, within Dubois and Greene counties.
Right now, confirmation is pending on a possible case, on a duck farm, in Elkhart County.
Derrer Spears says results could take a couple of days to confirm.
“Because of the diagnosis, and this is not the first case we’ve had in Indiana, we’re proceeding with our response as if it will come back as confirmed positive,” she said.
The state says it’s “cautiously optimistic” as numbers remain low in Indiana, but higher around the country.
“There are 24 states now with cases, and it’s totaled nationally, over 150,” said Derrer Spears.
In the meantime, Midwest Food Bank is looking into other options, but is calling on the community’s help as the cost for alternatives are expected to be higher.
“Now, we have to go to pork, or beef, or another alternative or even canned meats, which are even more expensive,” Whitaker said. “People, daily, count on that meal coming from us to supply them with that protein source.”
To help Midwest Food Bank, you can donate online.
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| 2022-04-08T22:49:19
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INDIANAPOLIS — With the busy summer months right around the corner, IMPD is working with local bar owners to prevent any outbreaks of violence in downtown’s bar district.
The area has seen numerous incidents of fighting and shootings over the years.
In January of this year, police were called to the 200 block of S. Meridian Street for a report of a fight inside a bar. Officers say the fight moved outside, and one person fired shots in a parking lot.
Last summer, a shootout in the bar district sent bullets flying in to nearby car and apartment windows. At the time, witnesses reported to IMPD that they saw at least two, maybe three, men shooting at each other in a parking lot.
“We do want people to go there but again we want them to go there in a safe manner,” Downtown Indy Inc. President Sherry Seiwert said.
Seiwert said at least two new establishments will be moving in to the area in the near future. With summer approaching Seiwert said everyone needs to focus on making the area safer and keeping the business coming.
“If people don’t feel comfortable and safe and wanting to go out and enjoy themselves, we will lose those patrons,” Seiwert said.
With that in mind, IMPD said it has increased its communication with local bar owners and managers.
“We’ve met with many of the bars and are getting good responses back from those bar owners as well as the bar managers,” Capt. Scott Hessong said. “Because they want a safe environment as well.”
The department uses numerous officers in an off-duty capacity to patrol the district Thursday through Sunday. Capt. Hessong says his officers have taken 26 guns off the street so far and believes their revised approach is working.
“We’re trying to tackle this more as a team environment to make sure that again people can come downtown, have fun, but also be safe at the same time,” Capt. Hessong said.
Recently, Marion County officials have cracked down on two bars in the district. Taps and Dolls recently had its liquor license revoked and Tiki Bob’s had its liquor license renewed for only one year.
IMPD, along with Downtown Indy Inc. said it hopes the crackdown will help solve some of the problems the area has seen.
“If we can improve upon the activity that occurs there, the negative activity, then those resources could be utilized somewhere else,” Seiwert said.
IMPD will continue to have bi-weekly meetings with bar owners to make sure everyone is on the same page and knows what is expected.
The department said it will continue to adjust the number of patrols in the bar district depending on crowd sizes and special events.
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| 2022-04-08T22:49:25
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LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ind. — A Lawrence County woman faces charges after police said she stripped down in the street and spat on another woman.
The Lawrence County Police Department said the arrest comes after two boys found Dara Hagemier lying completely naked in the middle of the road while driving home Tuesday. When one of the boys told her to get out of the road, court documents state she told him that she was going to rape him.
The boys called their mother, who arrived at the scene to find her still naked in the middle of the road. A probable cause affidavit states Hagemier told the boys’ mother to undress and join her in the road to dance. She also reportedly made another comment about the boys in front of their mother.
At some point, the mother reached down to get Hagemier up or move her. In response, the document states Hagemier spat on her. The woman said she never touched or put hands on Hagemier.
When police arrived, it was dark outside with no streetlights. This area is a hillcrest, and Hagemier would have not been visible while lying in the roadway, the document details. Police said she would have been in extreme danger of being hit by a vehicle if it was traveling at the speed limit or faster.
One of the officers who responded, Sergeant Brandon Blackwell, said he immediately recognized Hagemier from numerous interactions with her over his law enforcement career. At the time, she was on parole for battery with bodily injury to a public safety officer.
The document states the officer saw Hagemier dancing before walking out of the road into the grass. The officer said at that time, Hagemier was clothed but was unsteady on her feet.
Hagemier said she used to live in a house in the area that burnt and claimed she lived at the address of the yard she was in, the officer said. The document states she was speaking rapidly and was making jerky, involuntary movements.
While talking with the mother, the document states, Sgt. Blackwell learned the family has been having issues with Hagemier in the last couple of days. During this conversation, two other officers on the scene put Hagemier into custody. She told the officers she was going to go in the house, so they detained her to prevent that from happening, per the document.
Hagemier was taken to the Lawrence County Security Center on preliminary charges of battery by bodily waste and public intoxication. The document states the officer requested a review of charges for public nudity as he didn’t witness her in this state during his time on the scene.
Hagemier appeared in court Friday for the initial hearing. During the hearing, the court found that she was not understanding and appointed a public defender to represent her. A pretrial conference is set for June 29.
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https://fox59.com/news/lawrence-county-police-arrest-woman-found-dancing-naked-in-the-street/
| 2022-04-08T22:49:31
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INDIANAPOLIS — A piemaker with a shop in Indianapolis emerged victorious after a pie face-off with a Key West opponent on CBS’s The Talk.
Clarissa Morley, owner of Pots & Pans Pie Co. in Indy, put her Hoosier Pie to the test against a Key Lime Pie from Kermit’s Key West Key Lime Shoppe. The Indiana versus Flordia pie showdown took place on The Talk’s Food Face-Off that aired on Friday.
Clarissa’s pie in the challenge is her take on a classic: Indiana’s unofficial state pie Hoosier Pie, which is also known as Sugar Cream Pie. Clarissa amended the recipe to include a creme brulee finish atop the pie, which ended up being the winning factor as the judges called her pie “magical.”
Clarissa began her pie business at a local farmer’s market in 2016. Her pies proved so popular that by 2018, she opened a brick-and-mortar location of Pots & Pans Pie Co. while still in her 20’s. Try these delicious pies for yourself by visiting Pots & Pans Pie Co. located at 4915 N College Ave.
Pots & Pans Pie Co. also offers “take and bake pies.”
“Our pies are better when you take them home to share with your family,” Clarissa said.
Watch CBS’s The Talk or catch the Food Face-Off in the video above.
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| 2022-04-08T22:49:37
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BALTIMORE — "I am trying to manufacture an app and I am running a studio expanding my podcast."
All that and Gregory Simmons is only 18 and still a student at City High School.
Simmons got involved with Heartsmiles. A non-profit started by Joni Holifield for young people born out of the Freddie Grey unrest in Baltimore in 2015.
"As a person who lifted themselves out of absolute poverty, I felt as though it was my absolute duty to give back," Holifield said. "Instead of me screaming, fussing, and crying about 'where are the mentors' and 'nobody telling these kids', I decided to become the person that I thought we needed."
And it's Heartsmiles partnership with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program that will take this young entrepreneur’s sense of business to the next level.
"The goal is to help them grow their business and basically ultimately become a resource to the community providing mentorship, providing more business opportunities being able to hire more people which benefits the city," Chanel White said.
White runs the program that started back in 2017 that's helping people like Gregory make connections with business owners like Andrea Scott.
The program is with the Youthworks program, a program Scott participated in when she was a teenager. Now she's in the business of finance, mentoring young people like Gregory.
"We're dealing with credit. We're dealing with his budgeting and he's an entrepreneur so I'm working with him on his business budget, so when he goes to do his studio budget, he won't go over budget," Scott explained.
"Looking at Andrea and Gregs story, it allows youth to get access to number one professionals that may be in the industry that they hope to join one day," White said.
An example of how they pay it forward? What Gregory learns from Andrea, he takes back to Heartsmiles and shares it in their peer to peer mentoring sessions.
"It trains you," he explained. "It develops you and it grooms you to bring forth this professionalism and these great tools that you need in life to be successful."
The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program could use more partners like Heartsmiles and Scott's Brownstone Tax and Financial services to join their team. Gregory says that's important because the need for positive outlets for kids in Baltimore is critical.
"For a child being bored in this city is dangerous, you can fall into any type of traps into the hands of the wrong people," Gregory said. "Having a lighthouse like this, Heartsmiles, Youthworks, programs like that they really help the youth of Baltimore. Pretty much every single one of the youth of Baltimore needs something like that."
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https://www.wmar2news.com/goodtoknow/local-nonprofit-working-to-help-youth-grow-their-own-businesses-in-baltimore
| 2022-04-08T22:49:40
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TAMPA, Florida — Good news, there's still 161 games remaining in the season.
The bad news, the Baltimore Orioles lost their season-opener Friday afternoon, 2-1, to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Francisco Mejia's sacrifice fly scored Ji-Man Choi in the bottom of the eighth inning for the eventual game-winner.
Tampa scored first on Brandon's Lowe's RBI sacrifice fly in the third inning. The Orioles tied the game in the sixth on Anthony Santander's solo home run.
The Orioles had their opportunities, leaving the bases loaded in the first inning. Tampa Bay left the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth.
Orioles' starting pitcher John Means went four innings, allowing one run on six hits with five strikeouts.
The Orioles (0-1) take on the Rays at 1 p.m. Saturday.
They play their home opener on Monday at 3 p.m. against the Milwaukee Brewers.
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| 2022-04-08T22:49:46
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BALTIMORE COUNTY — Baltimore County Police released a photo of a car involved in striking a 15-year-old after stepping off an MTA bus early Thursday.
Police said that around 5 a.m., at the intersection of Liberty Road and Old Court Road, that a teen was crossing Liberty Road after she got off the bus and was then struck by a silver Chevrolet Malibu.
The girl is still in critical condition, according to police.
Police said the four-door Malibu is between a 2013 and 2015 with a moon roof, dark-tinted windows and an unidentifiable round sticker on the passenger rear window.
The car also has damage to the passenger side front quarter panel and the outer grill is also missing in the area of the fog lamp.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of this vehicle is asked to immediately contact police at 410-887-5396.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/police-release-photo-of-chevrolet-malibu-involved-in-hitting-15-year-old-in-baltimore-county
| 2022-04-08T22:49:52
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On a cold, cloudy, rainy day, the last source of power you might turn to is solar. But, that could soon change.
“We’re working on developing new solar systems that will capture light on days where there is little or no sun,” Phil Boudjouk, a professor of chemistry at North Dakota State University, said.
A team of researchers at North Dakota State University recently received a multi-million dollar federal research award to solve that problem, by developing new materials that can absorb solar energy in low light conditions.
“Our base material is silicone and we are trying to make new combinations of silicone with other elements on the periodic table,” Boudjouk said. “The sun is the source of all of our energy. And when it shines on silicone, if the silicone is properly affixed, you can have energy converted from the sun to electrical energy and then we can plugin and use it.”
Boudjouk and the rest of the team are testing all sorts of combinations to see what could work best. These new materials are tested under different light conditions to see how much electricity they generate.
“It’s going to be about efficiency and if you can go so far from a cloudy day, can you operate at night when it’s just moonlight,” he explained.
The more energy created with solar, the more energy to go around.
A report published in September 2021 by the U.S. Department of Energy estimates solar could account for as much as 40 percent of the U.S. electricity supply by 2035.
“Solar is part of a 21st century grid,” Gregory Whetstone, the president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy, said. “The solar sector has been booming, the technology has continued to improve, cost has continued to go down.”
Whetstone said solar is just one tool in the renewable energy toolbox, and adding elements like energy storage to solar can help make it an even more attractive option.
“When you add energy storage to the mix, it really presents a tremendous opportunity to have that energy there when we need it,” he said.
“I think an important part of this though, long term, is that there be a battery system,” Boudjouk said. “You can have some of it siphoned off into a battery so that even at night, pitch black, you can access the energy that originally came from the sun.”
While the team’s research is primarily for the Department of Defense, Boudjouk expects to see commercial success within a decade for those days that are a little less bright.
“If we’re successful, it should have a big impact in the consumer market,” he said.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/researchers-develop-solar-panels-that-operate-with-less-light-on-cloudy-days
| 2022-04-08T22:49:58
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https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/researchers-develop-solar-panels-that-operate-with-less-light-on-cloudy-days
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AUGUSTA, Ga. – When he won the 2020 Masters, Dustin Johnson hammered his patented fade off the tee and ranked among the driving-distance leaders.
It’s a different strategy this time – out of necessity.
Uncomfortable with his driver, Johnson has mostly been relying on 3-wood off the tee to keep him in play around Augusta National. It’s working so far – he’s at 2-under 142, one shot off the halfway lead – but he still was heading to the tournament practice area for a second straight day of post-round driver work.
Full-field scores from the 86th Masters Tournament
“I’m just trying to keep it between the trees so I can hit it on the green,” he said with a smirk.
Through two rounds, he’s averaging just 279 yards off the tee; during his Masters win in 2020, he averaged 306.6.
It’s a familiar issue for Johnson, who had one of the worst driving seasons of his career in 2021 and has been searching for a fix that will allow him to aim down the left side and hit his usual power fade. He said the issue was more with his swing than his equipment.
“I’m not swinging it as well as I’m swinging everything else,” he said. “I feel really comfortable with all the other clubs in my bag, just maybe not quite as comfortable as I usually am with the driver.
“Usually, I won’t hit a 3-wood until I absolutely have to, but for some reason right now, I’m just struggling a little with the driver.”
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/2022-masters-uncomfortable-his-driver-dustin-johnson-still-contention-second-green-jacket
| 2022-04-08T22:51:32
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/2022-masters-uncomfortable-his-driver-dustin-johnson-still-contention-second-green-jacket
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AUGUSTA, Ga. – His Masters chances dwindling, again, Rory McIlroy flared his approach 50 yards right on the par-4 11th hole.
After the heavy rain the past few days, did a mud ball get him?
“I wish,” he said later, laughing. “It was a muddy mind.”
The wayward approach left him a dicey pitch back toward the green, then he three-putted from 16 feet for a demoralizing double bogey. Just like that, he was 3 over par for the day, 4 over for the tournament – not just losing touch with the leaders, but also squarely on the cut line with the treacherous 12th hole to play.
Full-field scores from the 86th Masters Tournament
It looked like another disappointing Masters performance ... but then he regrouped.
McIlroy could have done without the dropped shots, of course, but in a way, he was thankful not to have the honor on the 12th tee with the wind gusting.
In the group ahead, Jordan Spieth had rinsed two shots and walked off with triple.
“So that wasn’t a great visual,” McIlroy said.
And then in their group, Koepka had stepped up and – after the wind died – launched his tee shot into the back bushes.
“I just needed to hit the green on 12,” McIlroy said. “I just needed to make par on 12.”
He did, without stress. “And that was a nice reset. I played the next few holes really well after that.”
McIlroy played 2 under to the house to salvage not just a second consecutive 1-over 73, but also his latest bid to complete the career Grand Slam. At the halfway point he’s outside the top 20, but just five shots off the lead.
“I still feel like I’m right there,” he said. “You go out tomorrow and you play a decent front nine, and all of a sudden you’re right in the thick of things.
“I’m in a decent position. I’d like to be a couple of shots better at least, but I’m still right there.”
After missing the cut last week at the Valero Texas Open, McIlroy returned to South Florida for a few days of practice. Having battled windy conditions in at least four events this year, he decided to experiment with a lower-spinning ball. He was so pleased with the early returns that he put it in play for the year’s first major – and the switch has been “really beneficial.”
“I think the wind magnified some of the characteristics that that ball had,” he said, “and I’d just had enough of chipping 6-irons 160 yards. I wanted to feel like I could make full swings with a 7-iron and still hit the same shot. It’s helped this week.”
The wind gusted to 25 mph Friday at Augusta National, and similar conditions (plus cooler temperatures) are expected over the weekend. Throughout his career McIlroy has had a better record in track meets than par-fests, but he’s relishing the unique challenge of this Masters.
“This is what major-championship golf is all about,” he said. “It’s not easy, and it’s not supposed to be easy. The conditions look pretty similar tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to that.”
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/rory-mcilroy-im-still-right-there-masters-hunt-despite-consecutive-71s
| 2022-04-08T22:51:38
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/rory-mcilroy-im-still-right-there-masters-hunt-despite-consecutive-71s
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AUGUSTA, Ga. – As Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa and Billy Horschel were being added to the first-tee standard Friday morning at Augusta National Golf Club, a pair of 20-somethings turned away from the rope line and started walking aimlessly toward the 10th hole. Presumably, at their first Masters Tournament, the two patrons soon were impeded by some volunteers holding ropes and clearing a pathway for the day’s first group, a twosome, which was making the turn.
“Is this a tee box?” one of the guys asked his buddy.
“Yeah, I think so,” the other responded. “There are some golfers coming over here soon.”
He was partially right. While 6-foot-5 Stewart Hagestad, outfitted impeccably with gear from the pro shop, was quickly striding into view, Hagestad’s playing competitor was already standing on the tee, just a few feet away from the patrons. They didn’t notice, of course, but dressed head to toe in all black – save for the large Scottish flags printed on his shoes – and donning a barely zipped rain jacket and left rain glove was 64-year-old Sandy Lyle.
To be fair, neither guy was likely born when Lyle won this prestigious tournament in 1988, clipping Mark Calcavecchia with a birdie at the last. And to no one’s surprise, once Lyle yanked his drive into the tallest tree on the left, the ball clanking down into the rough just 173 yards from the tee, the pair felt little inclination to follow the veteran Scot down the fairway.
While it wasn’t always pretty, Friday’s man in black still managed, however, to play a few hits.
A day earlier, Lyle had carded a sloppy 10-over 82, his round lowlighted by a quadruple-bogey at the par-3 12th that didn’t include a water ball. But he found something with his swing on a chilly Friday morning, getting less underneath the ball and more down line with his three-quarter action, and began his second round with five consecutive pars.
Lyle bogeyed on a handful of occasions, the byproduct of hitting 3-woods and long-irons into greens, but he also missed only two fairways and flashed some scrambling brilliance.
With Amen Corner already bustling in anticipation for the day, Lyle elicited the day’s first roar at the par-4 11th hole, where he needed two chips but converted his second for a gritty par save. After the ball, which was marked with a free-handed black circle, disappeared into the cup, Lyle turned to the crowd and quickly raised his club-holding hand in the air.
A few holes later, Lyle notched his third and final birdie of the week, draining a 24-footer with the flatstick from off the back of the putting surface. Two of those three birdies were non-putts, as he capped Thursday’s round with a chip-in.
Lyle couldn’t replicate that finishing magic on Friday, running out of gas and closing with three straight bogeys, but he did get it in the clubhouse with a 4-over 76, a round that was better than Xander Schauffele, Abraham Ancer and Gary Woodland.
Full-field scores from the 86th Masters Tournament
When he stepped on the green podium in front of a few reporters afterward, Lyle, surprisingly still wearing that loose-fitting rain jacket despite perfect conditions, seemed conflicted, a mix of both happy and grumpy. Though he had performed well – by his current standards – he was also 14 over, ahead of just a few others, and hadn’t accomplished his main objective of earning a Saturday tee time.
“I'm not just going out there to make the crowd clap,” Lyle clapped back. “I want to for my own momentum make the cut. That's my challenge. I know I'm not going to challenge the winners out here. It would have to be a complete freak. … I don't think it's going to ever annoy the big boys when they can hit the ball so far. But making the cut is my challenge at the moment, and to keep smiling as best you can and entertain the crowd.”
As he continued to speak, however, reality started to slip in. Lyle still possesses nerve and a game that won’t always flunk a test as stern as Augusta National, but it's also clear he's lost a few steps. He hasn’t made a Masters cut since 2014 and has missed out on 10 of the past 12 weekends at Augusta National.
Entering this week, one prominent betting site ranked each of the 91 competitors by their odds of winning; Lyle came in last at No. 91.
“I'm not 21 anymore, and the clubhead speed is going down rapidly…” started Lyle, who averaged just 256 yards off the tee Friday, more than 30 below the field average. He was consistently 50 yards or more behind Hagestad, which partly explained why Lyle wasn’t too chatty with the three-time Walker Cupper on Friday – he was rarely near him.
Two mornings prior, Gary Player had proclaimed, “One day there will be a man of 60 winning a major championship.” He likely didn’t have Lyle in mind. When it comes to Lyle, who reached triple-digits in major-championship appearances this week, he finally revealed what many were expecting: He’s probably done after No. 101.
“I think probably,” he continued, “next year might be the end of the Lyle attack on the golf course.”
Lyle logged his first major start, at the 1974 Open Championship, when he was 16 years old. There were two cuts that week at Royal Lytham, and he missed the second one with a messy finish.
“My heart was coming out of my chest for the first opening tee shot … I was just thump, thump, thump, thump and thinking, ‘My God, I hope it's going to get better or get easier,’” Lyle said. “The feelings of nerves and trying to control your emotions and your hands and your putting; not easy when you are 16.”
Neither is giving up when you’re 65.
Lyle remembers Fuzzy Zoeller raising his hand and calling it quits one year at the Champions Dinner. He recalls that others, such as Charles Coody and Tommy Aaron, “went on a bit longer and maybe they shouldn't have gone as far as they did, but that was their choice.”
Lyle’s sons, Stuart and James, are expected to attend next year’s Masters, making it an ideal curtain call for Lyle.
“We're going to be full family,” he said, “so I think it will be the end of the day.”
Until then, Lyle will compete on PGA Tour Champions. He joked that he’s planning on hitting the gym more often, so that he can hit it a little farther when he shows up here next April. He may need to lengthen his suspenders a bit, but oh how badly he’d love to notch just one more made cut and make his Augusta goodbye worth watching.
Maybe even those two patrons from Friday will tune in.
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/sandy-lyle-likely-fading-black-next-years-masters-tournament
| 2022-04-08T22:51:44
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/sandy-lyle-likely-fading-black-next-years-masters-tournament
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Bubba Golf and Augusta National's pine straw is a match made in heaven.
In Round 2 of the Masters, Bubba Watson found himself in the par-4 18th's pine straw after pulling his tee shot. And like we've seen before, it did not phase the 2012 and '14 Masters champion. Watson whacked his approach shot uphill, through the trees and placed it just a few feet from the hole en route to a closing birdie.
Full-field scores from the 86th Masters Tournament
Of course, it was reminiscent of Watson's shot in '12, which came on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff after Watson's drive landed in the pine straw right of the 10th fairway, 163 yards from the flag. Watson then famously took out a 52-degree gap wedge and rope-hooked his shot to within 15 feet of the hole. Two putts later, Watson was a folk hero and a first-time major champ.
Friday's shot, however, was better than the one 10 years ago, in Watson's mind.
"Physical shot, yes. Nobody in the world would have tried that shot that I tried. There's nobody on the planet that would have tried it. We can sit here and they can tell me they would try it. There's nobody that would have tried it. I don't believe could have pulled it off," Watson said, following his second straight 1-over 73.
"It was like a piece of a branch about that big had fell on the ground, and my ball was sitting on top of it, and then leaves were – two leaves behind it I couldn't move, and then two leaves touching that I couldn't move, so I had a gap way up in the trees. I was, like, 'I'm going to hit wedge as hard as I can.'"
Watson had 171 yards to the hole, according to the Masters' website. He said he hit a pitching wedge and his ball shot perfectly through the gap, going farther than he anticipated. Watson was hoping to make no worse than double bogey – and survive the cut. He made birdie instead and is still in the mix at 2 over par.
"I'll be honest, not that you want to know, but that was the best shot I've ever hit at Augusta National," he said, "that one right there."
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/watch-bubba-watson-again-hits-spectacular-shot-augusta-nationals-pine-straw
| 2022-04-08T22:51:50
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/watch-bubba-watson-again-hits-spectacular-shot-augusta-nationals-pine-straw
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EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Solving the nation’s immigration challenges won’t be easy and ultimately require decisive action by Congress, a border lawmaker says.
Proof of that is that neither stepped up border wall construction during the Trump administration nor the application of a public health order to swiftly expel newly arrived migrants have slowed down migration, said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas.
“We have 1,900 miles of wall. That has not stopped, curbed or deterred migration. We’ve now had almost three years of Title 42. That has not stopped curbed or deterred migration,” she said.
Migrant encounters are already at historical levels and the Biden administration is bracing for the arrival of up to 18,000 a day – half a million per month – once Title 42 authority expires May 23.
Escobar said she has not been briefed yet on how the Biden administration intends to process migrants at ports of entry or elsewhere along the border after that date.
But she criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for saying he’ll bus arriving migrants to Washington, D.C., have state troopers inspect trucks coming from Mexico to screen for migrant smuggling and have National Guardsmen conduct defensive exercises and boat blockades on the Rio Grande.
“It’s incredible we have a governor who treats vulnerable people this way,” Escobar said in a Thursday Zoom call with reporters. “If a person is a soldier or a migrant, he doesn’t care. For him, they represent an opportunity to advance his politics of hate and cruelty. He’s not focused on solutions or on working with Congress to really help Texans; he’s focused on winning (re-election) at any cost.”
The congresswoman opined Abbott’s announced actions don’t strike her as legal and will invite lawsuits.
“I don’t know if he’s really going to do what he says – I don’t think so. But if he wants to go through with this treatment of vulnerable people, I think someone will take him to court,” she said.
Abbott this week said he’s taking those actions to protect Texans.
“The Biden administration’s open border policies have paved the way for dangerous cartels and deadly drugs to pour into the United States, and this crisis will only be made worse by ending Title 42 expulsions,” Abbott said Tuesday.
Escobar said migrants enter the country without authorization because their legal pathways are limited.
“We should not be surprised that when you limit legal pathways that there will be an increase in irregular migration,” she said. “I absolutely am concerned about the increasing numbers of vulnerable migrants who are arriving not just in El Paso, but across the Southern border. Unfortunately, Congress and federal government administrations … have failed to strategically and thoughtfully address this growing trend.”
She said the House has passed or introduced bills to improve migrant processing, legalize immigrants brought into the country without authorization when they were children, and provide a path to citizenship for 11 million unauthorized migrants who’ve been in the U.S. for several years. Most of those bills remain stuck in the Senate.
“The idea there’s one quick fix couldn’t be further from the truth,” Escobar said. “There will have to be a number of pieces of legislation we will have to pass.”
In the meantime, she called for the Biden administration to shore up migrant processing capabilities through the hiring of civilians to do clerical work that will free up U.S. Border Patrol agents and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to return to their posts at ports of entry and on the vast stretches of U.S.-Mexico border. She is also advocating allowing migrants to apply for U.S. asylum from their home country.
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https://www.cenlanow.com/border-report-tour/abbott-using-migrants-to-advance-politics-of-hate-and-cruelty-congresswoman-says/
| 2022-04-08T22:58:15
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https://www.cenlanow.com/border-report-tour/abbott-using-migrants-to-advance-politics-of-hate-and-cruelty-congresswoman-says/
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SABINE PARISH, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Two men were arrested Thursday after narcotics team officers served a search warrant, resulting in multiple drug charges.
Jose Valdez of Zwolle and Larry Collier of Many are charged with three counts of distribution of methamphetamines following an investigation by the Sabine Parish Tactical Narcotics Team. The FBI executed a search warrant early Thursday morning. Officers say illegal narcotics, firearms, and ammunition were found during the search.
The investigation was a joint effort between the FBI, Desoto Parish Sheriff’s Office, Many Police Department, and Zwolle Police Department.
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https://www.cenlanow.com/crime/investigation-leads-to-meth-charges-in-sabine-parish/
| 2022-04-08T22:58:22
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https://www.cenlanow.com/crime/investigation-leads-to-meth-charges-in-sabine-parish/
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