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Amazon seeks to overturn union win, says vote was tainted
(AP) - Amazon is seeking to overturn the historic union victory at one of its New York City warehouses, arguing in a legal filing Friday that union organizers and the National Labor Relations Board acted in a way that tainted the results. It now wants to redo the election.
The e-commerce giant listed 25 objections in the filing obtained by The Associated Press, accusing organizers with the nascent Amazon Labor Union of intimidating workers to vote for the union, a claim an attorney representing the group has called “patently absurd.”
“The employees have spoken,” Eric Milner, the attorney, said Thursday in a statement after Amazon’s initial planned objections were made public in another legal filing. “Amazon is choosing to ignore that, and instead engage in stalling tactics to avoid the inevitable — coming to the bargaining table and negotiating for a contract” on behalf of the workers, he said.
Warehouse workers in Staten Island cast 2,654 votes — or about 55% — in favor of a union, giving the fledgling group enough support to pull off a victory last Friday.
In one objection, Amazon said organizers “intentionally created hostile confrontations in front of eligible voters,” by interrupting the mandatory meetings it held to persuade its employees to reject the union drive. In a filing released last week, the company disclosed it spent about $4.2 million last year on labor consultants.
In another objection, Amazon targeted organizers’ distribution of cannabis to workers, saying the labor board “cannot condone such a practice as a legitimate method of obtaining support for a labor organization.” New York legalized the recreational use of marijuana last year for those over 21.
The company had initially signaled it planned to challenge the election results based on a lawsuit the NLRB filed in March in which the board sought to force Amazon to reinstate a fired employee who was involved in the union drive.
The company pointed to the lawsuit in one of its objections filed Friday, saying the regional NLRB office that brought the suit “failed to protect the integrity and neutrality of its procedures,” and had created an impression of support for the union by seeking reinstatement for the former employee, Gerald Bryson.
“Based on the evidence we’ve seen so far, as set out in our objections, we believe that the actions of the NLRB and the ALU improperly suppressed and influenced the vote, and we think the election should be conducted again so that a fair and broadly representative vote can be had,” Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement.
Bryson was fired in the early days of the pandemic after leading a protest calling for the company to do more to protect workers against COVID-19. While off the job during the protest, Bryson got into a dispute with another worker and was later fired for violating Amazon’s vulgar-language policy, according to his attorney Frank Kearl.
The NLRB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its spokesperson, Kayla Blado, has previously said the independent agency has been authorized by Congress to enforce the National Labor Relations Act.
“All NLRB enforcement actions against Amazon have been consistent with that Congressional mandate,” she said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/amazon-seeks-overturn-union-win-says-vote-was-tainted/
| 2022-04-09T03:53:56
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/amazon-seeks-overturn-union-win-says-vote-was-tainted/
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Pair arrested in possession of drugs, stolen vehicles and neglected animals, police say
Published: Apr. 8, 2022 at 10:24 PM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
APOPKA, Fla. (Gray News) - Police in Florida said a tip led them to help rescue several neglected animals along with the arrest of two people.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said deputies in Apopka found 10 guns, one of which was stolen, over a pound of marijuana, three stolen vehicles, and 17 animals that were being mistreated when checking out a recent drug tip.
Deputies took two people into custody. The items and animals were recovered, according to police.
The sheriff’s office didn’t immediately release the identification of the two arrested.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/pair-arrested-possession-drugs-stolen-vehicles-neglected-animals-police-say/
| 2022-04-09T03:54:05
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/pair-arrested-possession-drugs-stolen-vehicles-neglected-animals-police-say/
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Police: Teen dies after boys shoot at each other while wearing body armor
BELLEVIEW, Fla. (Gray News) - A Florida teenager is dead and two others have been arrested after police said the boys took turns shooting at each other while wearing body armor.
The Belleview Police Department responded to a call of a shooting over the weekend at a house and found 16-year-old Christopher Leroy Broad Jr. shot inside of the home. He was transported to a hospital but died from his injuries.
Police said through their investigation they found 17-year-old Joshua Vining and Broad were taking turns shooting at each other while wearing a vest that contained a form of body armor. BPD Sgt. Michael Miley said Broad Jr. died after he was hit by a bullet fired by Vining, according to the evidence found.
On Thursday, police arrested Vining and 17-year-old Colton Whitler.
Vining was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm and Whitler was charged with providing false information to law enforcement, according to Belleview police.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/police-teen-dies-after-boys-shoot-each-other-while-wearing-body-armor/
| 2022-04-09T03:54:13
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/police-teen-dies-after-boys-shoot-each-other-while-wearing-body-armor/
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Vehicle collides with food truck in Austin, Texas; 11 hurt
Published: Apr. 8, 2022 at 10:54 PM EDT|Updated: 58 minutes ago
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eleven people were injured in a “major collision” Friday night in Austin, Texas, involving pedestrians and two vehicles, one of which hit a food truck, authorities said.
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services tweeted that two of the victims sustained potential life-threatening injuries. Seven others sustained non-life-threatening injuries requiring medical evaluation. The other two didn’t require hospitalization.
The collision occurred in a popular area near downtown Austin where there are frequently several food carts stationed.
Austin is the Texas state capital and home to the flagship campus of the University of Texas.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/vehicle-collides-with-food-truck-austin-texas-11-hurt/
| 2022-04-09T03:54:19
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/vehicle-collides-with-food-truck-austin-texas-11-hurt/
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Police: Teen dies after boys shoot at each other while wearing body armor
BELLEVIEW, Fla. (Gray News) - A Florida teenager is dead and two others have been arrested after police said the boys took turns shooting at each other while wearing body armor.
The Belleview Police Department responded to a call of a shooting over the weekend at a house and found 16-year-old Christopher Leroy Broad Jr. shot inside of the home. He was transported to a hospital but died from his injuries.
Police said through their investigation they found 17-year-old Joshua Vining and Broad were taking turns shooting at each other while wearing a vest that contained a form of body armor. BPD Sgt. Michael Miley said Broad Jr. died after he was hit by a bullet fired by Vining, according to the evidence found.
On Thursday, police arrested Vining and 17-year-old Colton Whitler.
Vining was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm and Whitler was charged with providing false information to law enforcement, according to Belleview police.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/09/police-teen-dies-after-boys-shoot-each-other-while-wearing-body-armor/
| 2022-04-09T04:12:17
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/09/police-teen-dies-after-boys-shoot-each-other-while-wearing-body-armor/
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Vehicle collides with food truck in Austin, Texas; 11 hurt
Published: Apr. 8, 2022 at 10:54 PM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Eleven people were injured in a “major collision” Friday night in Austin, Texas, involving pedestrians and two vehicles, one of which hit a food truck, authorities said.
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services tweeted that two of the victims sustained potential life-threatening injuries. Seven others sustained non-life-threatening injuries requiring medical evaluation. The other two didn’t require hospitalization.
The collision occurred in a popular area near downtown Austin where there are frequently several food carts stationed.
Austin is the Texas state capital and home to the flagship campus of the University of Texas.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/09/vehicle-collides-with-food-truck-austin-texas-11-hurt/
| 2022-04-09T04:12:24
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/09/vehicle-collides-with-food-truck-austin-texas-11-hurt/
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Woman who went horseback riding at DuPuis park missing
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a 59-year-old woman who went horseback riding on the 40 miles of trails in DuPuis Park in Port Mayaca on Friday afternoon but didn't return back to camp.
Brigitte Reket contacted a friend via cellphone and said she was lost in the large reserve area near Kanner Highway but then her phone disconnected, the sheriff's office said in a Facebook page.
MCSO has multiple units, as well as Air 1 searching for the woman. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office air support and multiple Department of Fish & Wildlife officers are also assisting.
DFW and South Florida Water Management District run the nearly 22,000-acres DuPuis Wildlife and Environmental Area in northwestern Palm Beach and southwestern Martin counties. It adjoins the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area to the east.
The property was formerly the White Belt Ranch, a working livestock ranch owned by the late John G. DuPuis.
An equestrian center at Gate 3 has horse barns, paddocks, campsites, restrooms with showers, a dump station, and a trailhead marking the beginning of equestrian trails.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/09/woman-who-went-horseback-riding-dupuis-park-missing/
| 2022-04-09T04:12:31
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AUGUSTA, Ga. – Sergio Garcia exhaled deeply as he stepped off Augusta National’s finishing hole on Friday afternoon.
“It just felt like I just came out of 10 rounds with Canelo,” he later said, referencing champion boxer Canelo Alvarez.
A cool wind whipped constantly, amplified by frequent gusts of 25-30 mph, throughout the latter portion of this second round at the 86th Masters. And it blew several notables both from contention and, in the cases of Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, out of the tournament.
But when it came to Scottie Scheffler, he was unbattered. When the dust settled after 36 holes around one of golf’s most hallowed grounds, Scheffler stood in the clearing, having fought his way to a stranglehold on the leaderboard and nearing a major knockout.
And it’s not even Saturday yet.
Full-field scores from the 86th Masters Tournament
“I definitely I feel like I was in a fight today,” said Scheffler, whose 5-under 67 pushed him to 8 under, five strokes clear of the field. “I guess, you know, the only thing I would say to that is maybe I just performed a little bit better.”
No one in Masters history has led by more at the halfway mark, while five players have previously held such 36-hole leads.
Four of the five, including Spieth and Jack Nicklaus, went on to win. Harry Cooper, in 1936, finished second.
“I've prepared for a long time to be in moments like this and to win golf tournaments,” Scheffler said. “I couldn't ask for anything more after 36 holes. … But I'm still quite a long way to go. It's nice to build up a little bit of a lead, but I'm not really going to be thinking about it tonight or anything. You know, I've put myself in position to play well and to win this golf tournament; and going into tomorrow, I'm just going to approach it like I did today and just be committed to my shots and hope for the best.”
Two back entering his late-Friday tee time, Scheffler went bogey-birdie-bogey out of the gates before finding his groove with a few momentum-building par saves. He later rolled in an 8-footer at the par-4 seventh and backed that up with a stress-free birdie at the par-5 eighth.
“I thought even par was going to be a really good score,” Scheffler said. “Really, the only thing that went through my head before today's round was I just wanted to get off to a decent start. … In my opinion, the way the wind was blowing, if I was 1 over through five holes around this golf course – really even six where that pin was today – that's a pretty good start.”
On the second nine, Scheffler showcased an ability to hit any shot, even in blustery conditions. He smartly used the humps at No. 11 to avoid disaster and instead set up a straightforward up-and-down par – or, as Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, said, “a nice birdie.” He judged the wind nicely on No. 12, knocking his tee ball to 12 feet and sinking the putt. He caught a mud ball and missed the 13th green 40 yards right, but recovered beautifully and converted the short birdie.
He didn’t even consider going at the flag at No. 15, playing to a long-right miss and carding yet another birdie on a par-5. Finally, he used the slope and drained a 5-foot birdie at the par-3 16th hole.
Scheffler nearly had an eighth birdie, too, at No. 18, threading the trees with his second from the pine straw before missing the 12-footer.
“One of my goals coming into today with the way the wind was, Teddy and I talked about it, we are just going to try to play this golf course like Bernhard Langer does and just kind of plot your way around,” Scheffler said.
Methodical like Bernhard Langer, tough like Cal Ripken Jr.
As a standout for Highland Park High in Dallas, Scheffler won three consecutive state individual titles, equaling Spieth’s prep feat. Only Spieth didn’t win any of his on a bum ankle.
A week prior to his second win, Scheffler had sprained his left ankle playing basketball after stepping on, of all things, an acorn. With the foot flared out, he still won by three shots.
Scheffler’s feet, in more ways than one, are firmly planted on the ground these days. In boasting three wins in his past six starts, newly minted status as world No. 1 and the mindset that none of that really matters, Scheffler has proven himself steadfast.
This weekend at Augusta National, he can strengthen that persona while also showing that he looks good in green.
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/2022-masters-lead-large-road-long-scottie-scheffler-plays-world-no-1
| 2022-04-09T04:13:32
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/2022-masters-lead-large-road-long-scottie-scheffler-plays-world-no-1
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World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler came into Masters week with the second-best odds to win the year's first major.
But now, he holds both the world ranking's and PointsBet sportsbook's No. 1 spot as he currently sits alone atop the leaderboard halfway through the tournament.
Scheffler's odds (courtesy of PointsBet) went from +1400 to start the week to +110 following Round 2 after grabbing a record-tying, five-stroke lead at Augusta National.
He is currently the favorite over defending champion Hideki Matsuyama, who after a second-round 69 is +1100 (+5000 to start the week) with Dustin Johnson (T-6) and Cam Smith (T-6). Matsuyama is looking to become the fourth-ever player to repeat as Masters champion and the first since Tiger Woods in 2002.
Meanwhile, Jon Rahm who was the betting favorite at +1100 coming into this week, is now listed at +6000 — with Matthew Fitzpatrick — for the field's 10th-best odds. The Spaniard is T-23 at 2 over through two days.
Just a few spots down on the betting slip is Woods, who made the cut at 1 over and sits T-19, nine shots off Scheffler's 8-under lead. Woods' odds are 14th in the field at +9000. Coming into the week, he was +8000. The Big Cat, however, still is listed a better chance to win over many players who are in front of him on the leaderboard.
Here is a look at notable odds to win the 86th Masters Tournament heading into the weekend:
Full-field scores from the 86th Masters Tournament
Scottie Scheffler: +110
Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama: +1100
Shane Lowry: +1300
Justin Thomas: +1600
Sungjae Im: +2000
Collin Morikawa: +2500
Will Zalatoris: +3500
Corey Conners: +4000
Joaquin Niemann, Patrick Cantlay: +4000
Harold Varner III: +5000
Charl Schwartzel: +6000
Jon Rahm, Matthew Fitzpatrick: +6600
Kevin Na, Rory McIlroy: +8000
Tiger Woods: +9000
Danny Willett: +12500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout: +15000
Webb Simpson, J.J. Spaun, Daniel Berger: +20000
Tony Finau, Tyrrell Hatton, Kevin Kisner: +25000
View full odds here.
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https://www.golfchannel.com/news/2022-masters-scottie-scheffler-betting-favorite-halfway-tiger-woods-12th-best-odds
| 2022-04-09T04:13:38
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NEW ALBANY - Ethan Conlee threw a shutout against Pontotoc to give New Albany the 5-0 win and take a sweep over the Warriors in 2-4A baseball.
Conlee worked 6.2 innings, allowed three hits with four walks while striking out 10 Warriors. He faced 27 batters while throwing 116 pitches with 67 for strikes.
Jacob Brooks came on in relief after a 2-out walk to get the called-strike final out to send the Bulldogs into celebration mode.
"My breaking stuff worked for me and my teammates made some great plays behind me, had cold air so the ball wasn't flying as well except to right field, so that helped me too," Conlee said.
Another key element in the win was the 3-run first inning for the Bulldogs that staked Conlee to the lead for the remainder of the contest.
New Albany got three consecutive walks with one out to load the bases and Cole Roberts delivered in the clutch with his fielders choice groundout to score Micah Reed.
Next man up for the Bulldogs was John Stacks and he came through with a huge 2-RBI single for the 3-0 lead.
"That was big, get some runs, get some confidence and they kinda laid down after we got ahead of them," Conlee said. "That helped a lot."
Conlee was crisp on the mound over the first three innings, striking out two batters in each of the first two innings and picking up his fifth victim during the third inning.
"Hey, that guy on the hill was number one reason for the win," New Albany coach Buddy Hall said. "He did what he needed to do, filled it up, stayed ahead most of the night and that's what you want to do."
New Albany capped off their scoring for the night in the fourth inning as they plated two more runs for a 5-0 lead.
Roberts led off the inning with a single and later scored on an error.
Josh Paul drew a walk and later scored on a throwing error to the plate following an infield single by Silas McKinney.
"We got some opportunities with some base hits, some good base running and some walks from their guys and it was just a good team effort," Hall said. "I think that scoring in the first inning was a big momentum swing, especially after Monday night, to jump on them early.
"I think that helped us a lot, gave our guys a lot of confidence, you know, glad we could maintain it."
Conlee ran into a bit of trouble in the fourth as Pontotoc's Brice Deaton ripped a liner into the alley in left, but was tagged out at third as he went in standing up and overran the bag.
Jon Robert Carnes followed with another well hit ball over the New Albany right fielder's head that resulted in a stand-up double, but Conlee got out of the jam with a strikeout while yielding no runs.
Carnes was the hard luck loser in the contest despite surrendering only three hits and walking four while striking out seven.
New Albany closes out the 2-4A division play next week with a two game series with North Pontotoc.
New Albany is 3-5 in division while North Pontotoc is 4-4. The Bulldogs are 13-8 overall.
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https://www.djournal.com/new-albany/sports/new-albany-sports/conlees-shutout-gives-bulldogs-series-sweep-over-warriors/article_6f1884d3-8ae6-514e-971c-dffb70907a11.html
| 2022-04-09T04:33:04
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https://www.djournal.com/new-albany/sports/new-albany-sports/conlees-shutout-gives-bulldogs-series-sweep-over-warriors/article_6f1884d3-8ae6-514e-971c-dffb70907a11.html
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STARKVILLE – It appeared these struggles were behind Mississippi State, at least in the present.
Jackson Fristoe was finding his groove late in games. Brooks Auger was his dominant self. And suddenly, KC Hunt was sending down hitters in crucial situations following a pristine Friday night start from Preston Johnson.
Any pitching doubts were put aside as No. 19 LSU was down to its final strike, trailing 2-1.
No runners were on. Fristoe was cruising. Nine-hole hitter Hayden Travinski was the Tigers’ last hope.
Then, a walk to turned the lineup card over. Moments later, LSU was on its way to a 5-2 victory.
“It’s just frustrating,” Chris Lemonis said.
Mississippi State wasted a strong outing from a pitcher in Johnson who wasn’t a starter to open the season, let alone the Friday night guy. With Landon Sims suffering a season-ending elbow injury and Cade Smith rolling in his Sunday role, Johnson was thrust into the Friday slot.
He provided quality starts, but Johnson hadn’t been the alpha arm needed on Friday nights in the SEC. That was until 107 pitches into Friday’s start against LSU when he completed his outing in the sixth with 10th strikeouts. He allowed just one run.
“I thought it was his best start,” Lemonis said. “I though he was really good and competed.”
Hunt wasn’t supposed to be in this role, either. He opened the season as the Saturday starter, but an injury set him back.
He moved to MSU’s bullpen as he eased back in with low-pressure situations. That changed on Friday.
Hunt came in with MSU up 2-1 in the seventh. His fastball was humming. Though LSU made solid contact, the balls found MSU’s fielders en route to two scoreless frames from Hunt in his best outing of the season.
Fristoe turned his early-season struggles around and pitched a clutch performance in a series-salvaging win Sunday at Arkansas. But the mentality he built in those crucial situations disappeared.
With it, so did MSU’s hopes for a win. Fristoe allowed the walk and a hit-by-pitch to score on a single following a wild pitch. Auger allowed a two-run home run to follow.
Johnson has been in tense situations late in games. He has seen the focus it takes to close out a victory. He expressed confidence in his fellow pitchers being better than the hitters in a loaded LSU offense, but Johnson knows it’s often between the ears that affects late-game situations rather than arms.
“It’s a lot,” Johnson said. “You’re playing in front of (11,893 fans). Any little thing — whether it happens the day before you get to the field, something that happened at the field or just something in the moment. There’s so many variables. The pressure just sometimes wins.”
First inning
Scoreless frame after Johnson pitches around some problems.
Second inning
Clean top half for Johnson. State leaves a couple runners on base as the inning ends on a deep fly from RJ Yeager.
Third inning
That was a brilliant sequence between Preston Johnson and Logan Tanner — capped off by a high heater to end the inning. With a runner on second, Tanner was pounding the dirt for a low pitch... perhaps to throw off LSU. Very much not the pitch that was thrown.
MSU leaves a runner at third. Still scoreless through three.
Fourth inning
LSU strikes first with a sacrifice fly. Looks like Brad Cumbest might have had a play at home, but he bobbled the ball after he caught it and didn't make a throw home.
State strands another pair of runners.
Fifth inning
Johnson continues to impress tonight. He tosses another scoreless frame.
Luke Hancock stays hot. His two-run single beats the shift and gives MSU its first lead tonight.
Sixth inning
Huge inning from Johnson to keep the momentum on State's side. He ends the inning with a strikeout, and that'll likely do it for Johnson after 107 pitches. He allows one run and strikes out 10 in six innings.
State can't add any insurance runs.
Seventh inning
KC Hunt is in for MSU. He works around a leadoff walk to keep MSU in front.
State manifests a threat but can't execute. Logan Tanner goes down swinging with the bases loaded. It's still 2-1, MSU.
Eighth inning
Hunt tosses another scoreless inning. MSU can't add another run.
Ninth inning
Jackson Fristoe in to close it. He allows two runs, and LSU retakes the lead on a two-out rally. Tigers were down to their final strike.
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/college/mississippi-state/the-pressure-just-sometimes-wins-lsu-stuns-mississippi-state-to-take-series-opener/article_98a7d2b1-28cb-5b1d-b892-440049b661fd.html
| 2022-04-09T04:33:10
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/college/mississippi-state/the-pressure-just-sometimes-wins-lsu-stuns-mississippi-state-to-take-series-opener/article_98a7d2b1-28cb-5b1d-b892-440049b661fd.html
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OXFORD – No. 9 Ole Miss was only able to muster four hits in its opener against Alabama on Friday night, as the Crimson Tide took down the Rebels 7-4 at Swayze Field. It is the second loss in a row for the Rebels (19-10, 4-6 SEC), who fell to Southern Miss on Tuesday.
Senior outfielder Kevin Graham — playing in his first game in a month after undergoing surgery on a fractured wrist — hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Friday marked the third start in the career of Tupelo native Hunter Elliott, who got off to a rough start and was only able to make it through three innings. He surrendered a hit on the first pitch of the game and hit a pair of batters to load the bases in the first.
Alabama (19-12, 5-5) would be able to score just one run, however, as Elliott struck out Andrew Pinckney to end the inning.
Senior first baseman Tim Elko gave the Rebels the lead in the bottom of the inning with a bases-loaded single. The Crimson Tide took the lead back in the third with two outs, however, as a pop fly fell into no-man's land between sophomore shortstop Jacob Gonzalez, senior third baseman Justin Bench and centerfielder T.J. McCants with runners on second and third. McCants was unable to make a diving catch, giving Alabama a 3-2 lead.
"I think both of them called it, but neither one of them caught it. I don’t know. I’ll have to look on video. Could it have been caught? I don’t know. Sometimes the ball goes where you can’t catch it. But those are the plays we’re talking about. We have to make plays," Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. "We don’t make enough plays to get off the field, we’re not just talking about a groundball to the second baseman. We’re talking about, somebody’s got to make a play to help you get off the field. We tend to not make some of those plays. We’re not pitching well enough to survive that.”
Junior pitcher Dylan DeLucia entered the game in relief of Elliott in the fourth and was charged with four earned runs in his one inning of work. Sophomore pitcher Josh Mallitz pitched 4 2-3 innings and did not surrender a run. He also struck out seven batters.
“We’re just trying to win this game. We’re not trying to say, ‘This is the starter.’ And this is what we tried to explain several times. There’s not really a rotation," Bianco said. "Uncharted waters. We’re just trying to win a baseball game.”
The Rebels and Crimson Tide continue their series Saturday at 2 p.m. The starter for the game is still undetermined, Bianco said.
Pregame:
OXFORD — Senior outfielder Kevin Graham will play for the first time in a month Friday as No. 9 Ole Miss hosts Alabama at Swayze Field. Follow along on our Facebook page and with beat reporter Michael Katz on Twitter.
Here is today's starting lineup. Freshman Hunter Elliott will get the start on the mound.
1. 3B Justin Bench
2. RF Calvin Harris
3. SS Jacob Gonzalez
4. 1B Tim Elko
5. LF Kevin Graham
6. CF T.J. McCants
7. DH Hayden Leatherwood
8. 2B Peyton Chatagnier
9. C Hayden Dunhurst
First inning:
Elliott allowed a single on the first pitch of the game and hit the second batter. After striking out a batter, he loaded the bases with another hit by pitch. A run scored on a groundout, but that was all the damage the Crimson Tide would be able to do. Senior first baseman Tim Elko gave the Rebels the lead in the bottom of the inning with a bases loaded single. Ole Miss leads 2-1.
Second inning:
Elliott struck out the first two batters of the inning and retired the side in order. The Rebels failed to score any runs. It's still 2-1.
Third inning:
With runners on second and third, a fly ball fell between a host of Ole Miss defenders, and sophomore center fielder T.J. McCants was unable to make the catch. Two runs score, and Alabama leads 3-2.
Fourth inning:
Junior Dylan DeLucia entered the game in relief of Elliott and gave up a leadoff double. Two runs would score making it 5-2.
Fifth inning:
Sophomore Josh Mallitz entered the game for DeLucia with a runner on third. Two runs scored (charged to DeLucia), and the Crimson Tide leads 7-2.
Ninth inning:
Graham launched a two-run home run to cut into the Crimson Tide's lead. It's 7-4.
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/college/ole-miss/rebels-bats-stifled-in-series-opening-loss-to-alabama/article_23d98c4a-6462-58b9-a0e4-f3327b2024d5.html
| 2022-04-09T04:33:16
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/college/ole-miss/rebels-bats-stifled-in-series-opening-loss-to-alabama/article_23d98c4a-6462-58b9-a0e4-f3327b2024d5.html
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11 people were injured in a "major collision" Friday night in Austin, Texas, involving pedestrians and two vehicles, one of which hit a food truck, authorities said.
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services tweeted that two of the victims sustained potential life-threatening injuries. Seven others sustained non-life-threatening injuries requiring medical evaluation. The other two didn't require hospitalization.
The collision occurred in a popular area near downtown Austin where there are frequently several food carts stationed.
Austin is the Texas state capital and home to the flagship campus of the University of Texas.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/vehicle-collides-with-food-truck-in-austin-texas-11-hurt/3638338/
| 2022-04-09T04:33:38
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/vehicle-collides-with-food-truck-in-austin-texas-11-hurt/3638338/
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JOHNSON COUNTY — It’s a struggle that communities across the United States are dealing with: overdoses and overdose deaths.
Johnson County is no exception.
Since January first of this year, the county has seen 11 overdose deaths, with nine testing positive for Fentanyl, according to Johnson County Coroner Michael Pruitt.
Six more deaths are pending toxicology reports. Pruitt said it's suspected half of those, too, will test positive for Fentanyl.
“It’s an uphill battle right now, the way I see it,” Pruitt said.
“Fentanyl has really become the predominant drug in Indiana and it’s even more lethal because it’s showing up in supplies where people aren't expecting to be using Fentanyl,” said Douglas Huntsinger, Indiana Executive Director for Drug Prevention, Treatment and Enforcement.
RELATED | Advocate issues overdose warning after Marion County sees increase over weekend
Huntsinger continued, “All across our state we are seeing a rise in overdoses and overdose deaths, and that’s largely attributed to the fact that people are unintentionally taking Fentanyl.”
This week, the DEA warned of an “increase in mass-overdose events involving deadly Fentanyl.”
The DEA defines a mass-overdose event as when three or more overdoses occur at the same place or close in time. The agency reported it has happened already in at least seven U.S. cities.
“I would hope that people will listen more from that federal government authority that the situation is very dire,” said Executive Director of Overdose Lifeline Justin Phillips.
Phillip’s organization is one of several working to ensure resources are easily accessible in hopes of curbing the trend. Two of those resources are available through NaloxBoxes, which house both Naloxone kits and Fentanyl test strips.
Pruitt says education and information sharing, too, are important in this fight.
“People have to talk, and if people aren’t talking and paying attention to what’s going on with these types of things, then we’re never going to make any progress on this,” Pruitt said.
Johnson County is implementing several new resources when it comes to stopping overdoses in the community, including a newly formed overdose fatality review board and installing "Community Aide Boxes." The boxes will include lifesaving tools like Naloxone.
As for how many boxes and where they will be located, the Johnson County Health Department said it is in the assessment phase to determine answers to those questions.
Health leaders in Johnson County say they are looking into putting these boxes in government buildings, as well as hotels and motels. The health department is in the process of ordering supplies.
More Resources
If you or someone you know is dealing with a substance use-related emergency, call 911.
For more information on a recovery organization near you, visit the Indiana Recovery Network website.
You can call 211 for help 24/7 in Indiana. You can also call the Indiana Addiction Hotline at 1-800-622-HELP (4357).
To find where you can get Naloxone near you, click here.
To learn more about NaloxBoxes, click here.
To view more resources from NextLevel Recovery Indiana, click here to visit its website.
Learn More
Click here to learn more about substance use disorders.
Here is substance use disorder-related data from the state.
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https://www.wrtv.com/news/public-safety/its-an-uphill-battle-leaders-say-overdoses-across-indiana-on-the-rise
| 2022-04-09T04:49:49
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BOISE, Idaho — The new Idaho law prohibiting an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected is on hold, under an order the Idaho Supreme Court issued Friday.
The court issued a stay on implementation of Senate Bill 1309 to give lawyers for the State of Idaho and for those challenging the law to prepare briefs for expected arguments.
SB 1309 would allow some family members to sue an abortion provider for no less than $20,000 in civil damages in cases where an abortion is performed or attempted after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Gov. Brad Little signed the legislation on March 23, but in his transmittal letter to the Legislature, he said he believed the civil enforcement mechanism "will in short order be proven both unconstitutional and unwise."
A lawsuit filed March 30 on behalf of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest and a Valley County doctor asked the Idaho Supreme Court to review the law before April 22, when it was scheduled to take effect. The state filed a motion asking the court to reconsider an order to expedite the case, and allow more time. Planned Parenthood agreed to allow more time if the court blocked implementation of the law pending further court action.
The court on Friday issued that stay. The court also set a deadline of April 28 for the state to submit its brief to the court, and ordered Planned Parenthood to file a reply brief no later than 14 days after the state submits its brief. That means the court will likely not hear oral arguments until the middle of May, at the earliest.
"We are thrilled that abortion will remain accessible in the state for now, but our fight to ensure that Idahoans can fully access their constitutionally protected rights is far from over. Anti-abortion lawmakers have made clear that they will stop at nothing to control our lies, our bodies, and our futures," said Rebecca Gibron, interim CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai'i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky. "We look forward to our day in court."
Senate Bill 1309 is blocked from taking effect until after the court rules on Planned Parenthood's lawsuit.
Watch more Idaho politics:
See all of our latest political coverage in our YouTube playlist:
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/idaho-supreme-court-puts-a-stay-on-new-abortion-law-senate-1309-planned-parenthood/277-10144489-a2ea-4d28-bd7a-a61f462b4ccf
| 2022-04-09T04:50:55
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/idaho-supreme-court-puts-a-stay-on-new-abortion-law-senate-1309-planned-parenthood/277-10144489-a2ea-4d28-bd7a-a61f462b4ccf
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Amazon is seeking to overturn the historic union victory at one of its New York City warehouses, arguing in a legal filing Friday that union organizers and the National Labor Relations Board acted in a way that tainted the results. It now wants to redo the election.
The e-commerce giant listed 25 objections in the filing obtained by The Associated Press, accusing organizers with the nascent Amazon Labor Union of intimidating workers to vote for the union, a claim an attorney representing the group has called “patently absurd.”
“The employees have spoken,” Eric Milner, the attorney, said in a statement Thursday after Amazon's initial planned objections were made public in another legal filing.
“Amazon is choosing to ignore that, and instead engage in stalling tactics to avoid the inevitable — coming to the bargaining table and negotiating for a contract” on behalf of the workers, he said.
Warehouse workers in Staten Island cast 2,654 votes — or about 55% — in favor of a union, giving the fledgling group enough support to pull off a victory last Friday.
In one objection, Amazon said organizers “intentionally created hostile confrontations in front of eligible voters,” by interrupting the mandatory meetings the company held to persuade its employees to reject the union drive. In a filing released earlier this month, the company disclosed it spent about $4.2 million last year on labor consultants.
In another objection, Amazon targeted organizers’ distribution of cannabis to workers, saying the labor board “cannot condone such a practice as a legitimate method of obtaining support for a labor organization." New York legalized the recreational use of marijuana last year for those over 21. Milner, the attorney representing the union, said Amazon is grasping at straws.
Distributing cannabis “is no different than distributing free t-shirts and it certainly did not act to interfere with the election," he said.
The company also accused organizers of improperly polling workers.
The retailer had initially signaled it planned to challenge the election results because of a lawsuit the NLRB filed in March, in which the board sought to force Amazon to reinstate a fired employee who was involved in the union drive.
Amazon pointed to the lawsuit in one of its objections filed Friday, saying the regional NLRB office that brought the suit “failed to protect the integrity and neutrality of its procedures,” and had created an impression of support for the union by seeking reinstatement for the former employee, Gerald Bryson.
“Based on the evidence we’ve seen so far, as set out in our objections, we believe that the actions of the NLRB and the ALU improperly suppressed and influenced the vote, and we think the election should be conducted again so that a fair and broadly representative vote can be had," Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement Friday.
Bryson was fired in the early days of the pandemic after leading a protest calling for the company to do more to protect workers against COVID-19. While off the job during the protest, Bryson got into a dispute with another worker and was later fired for violating Amazon’s vulgar-language policy, according to his attorney Frank Kearl.
The NLRB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its spokesperson, Kayla Blado, previously said the independent agency is authorized by Congress to enforce the National Labor Relations Act.
“All NLRB enforcement actions against Amazon have been consistent with that Congressional mandate,” she said.
In other objections, Amazon targeted how the labor agency conducted the election. It said the agency failed to control media presence around the voting area and didn't have enough staff and equipment, which the company says created long lines and “discouraged many employees from voting in subsequent polling sessions.”
Meanwhile, both Amazon and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a union that spearheaded a separate union drive in Bessemer, Alabama, have filed objections to that election. The final outcome of the union vote in Alabama is still up in the air with 416 outstanding challenged ballots in the balance. Initial results show the union down by 118 votes, with the majority of Amazon warehouse workers rejecting a bid to form unionize.
RWDSU, which filed more than 20 objections, said in its filing Thursday that its objections are “grounds to set the election aside.”
A hearing to review the challenged ballots is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/nation-world/amazon-files-overturn-staten-island-union-election/507-88afeb46-08d6-4837-8aeb-ed2f9b4b2fa2
| 2022-04-09T04:51:01
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/nation-world/amazon-files-overturn-staten-island-union-election/507-88afeb46-08d6-4837-8aeb-ed2f9b4b2fa2
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More than half-dozen teams in the NFC are in some phase of a rebuilding project, overhauling their rosters to get younger and cheaper.
That means the teams with upper-echelon quarterbacks — Green Bay, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Arizona and the Los Angeles Rams — should all be able to lock up their division with little resistance if they can keep their rosters relatively healthy, and stack up wins in the regular season.
Take a look at the key additions and departures from every NFC team, analyzing what teams improved the most, and which ones remain stagnant. We also break down the top four position needs for each team heading into the NFL draft.
NFC EAST
Dallas Cowboys
Additions: The Cowboys retained defensive end Damarcus Lawrence by restructuring his deal, placed the franchise tag on Dalton Schultz and re-signed receiver Michael Gallup and safeties Malik Hooker and Jayron Kearse. The Cowboys also added linebacker Dante Fowler and receiver James Washington.
Departures: Dallas lost two members of the starting offensive line in La’el Collins (Bengals) and Connor Williams (Dolphins) and two wide receivers, Amari Cooper (Browns via trade) and Cedrick Wilson Jr. (Dolphins). Pass rusher Randy Gregory (Broncos), safety Keanu Neal (Buccaneers) and kicker Greg Zuerlein (Jets) also left as free agents.
Top Needs: Edge, S, WR, OL
New York Giants
Additions: Tyrod Taylor was signed to a two-year deal worth a base of $11 million to replace Mike Glennon as Daniel Jones’ backup heading into Jones’ important fourth season. Tight end Ricky Seals-Jones was signed to replace Evan Engram, who joined the Jaguars. And guards Mark Glowinski and Jon Feliciano were added to fortify the offensive line.
Departures: Starting free safety Logan Ryan signed with the Buccaneers, leaving a glaring hole in the Giants defense. Jabrill Peppers joined the Patriots and linebacker Lorenzo Carter signed with the Falcons. Offensive lineman Will Hernandez signed with the Cardinals, while Nate Solder, Billy Prince and Matt Skura remain free agents.
Top Needs: OT, Edge, S, LB
Philadelphia Eagles
Additions: The Eagles re-signed center Jason Kelce, defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, safety Anthony Harris and pass rusher Derek Barnett, and added pass rusher Haason Reddick, linebacker Kyzir White and receiver Zach Pascal, who has started 44 games in his first four seasons.
Departures: Linebackers Genard Avery (Steelers) and Alex Singleton (Broncos) signed elsewhere, and reserve defensive tackle Hassan Ridgeway joined the 49ers. Two members of the Eagles starting secondary — cornerback Steven Nelson and safety Rodney McLeod — remain free agents.
Top Needs: CB, Edge, S, OL
Washington Commanders
Additions: Washington traded for Carson Wentz, hoping he’s an upgrade over Ryan Fitzpatrick and Taylor Heinicke. Washington signed offensive guard Andrew Norwell, and re-signed tailback J.D. McKissic, offensive tackle Cornelius Lucas and safety Bobby McCain.
Departures: The Commanders must find two new starting guards because Brandon Scherff signed with the Giants, and Ereck Flowers was released. Washington’s usually deep defensive line was thinned out because Matthew Ioannidis (Panthers) and Tim Settle (Bills) left as free agents. Safety Landon Collins was released so Washington could avoid paying him his bloated contract.
Top Needs: WR, CB, S, TE
NFC NORTH
Chicago Bears
Additions: The Bears signed receivers Byron Pringle and Equanimeous St. Brown to help ease the departure of Allen Robinson (Rams), Damiere Byrd (Falcons) and Jakeem Grant (Browns). Defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad, defensive tackle Justin Jones and linebacker Nicholas Morrow were signed to add some bite to the Bears defense.
Departures: The Bears traded Khalil Mack to the Chargers, and must find replacements for linebackers Danny Trevathan, Alex Ogletree and Bruce Irvin, and defensive linemen Eddie Goldman and Akiem Hicks, who are all still free agents. Three starting offensive linemen — Jason Peters, James Daniels (Steelers) and Germain Ifedi (Falcons) — need to be replaced. Tight ends Jimmy Graham and Jesse James remain free agent.
Top Needs: OT, WR, Edge, RB
Detroit Lions
Additions: Detroit added receiver D.J. Clark, re-signed receivers Josh Reynolds and Kalif Raymond, and added tight end Garrett Griffin, who started nine of the 20 games he played in his four seasons with the Saints. The Lions also added linebackers Chris Board and Jarrad Davis.
Departures: Pass rusher Trey Flowers was released and remains a free agent. Linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin signed with the Texans, safety Dean Marlowe and receiver KhaDarel Hodge signed with the Falcons.
Top Needs: Edge, QB, S, WR
Green Bay Packers
Additions: The Packers retained Aaron Rodgers, signing him to a three-year, $150 million extension, and re-signed linebacker Preston Smith to a four-year extension worth $52.5 million, and linebacker DeVondre Campbell. Green Bay also re-signed cornerback Rasul Douglas and added defensive tackle Jarran Reed and punter Pat O’Donnell.
Departures: Pro Bowl receiver Davante Adams was traded to the Raiders, and receivers Equanimeous St. Brown (Bears), and Marquez Valdes-Scantling (Chiefs) left as free agents. So did linebacker Za’Darius Smith (Viking), and offensive lineman Billy Turner (Broncos) and Lucas Patrick (Bears). Defensive lineman Tyler Lancaster remains a free agent.
Top Needs: WR, Edge, OT, DL
Minnesota Vikings
Additions: Linebacker Za’Darius Smith signed a three-year deal worth a base of $42 million. Linebacker Jordan Hicks, defensive lineman Harrison Phillips and offensive linemen Jesse Davis and Chris Reed joined the Vikings. Cornerback Patrick Peterson and backup quarterback Sean Mannion also re-signed.
Departures: Linebacker Nick Vigil signed with the Cardinals, tight end Tyler Conklin joined the Jets, safety Xavier Woods joined the Panthers, and defensive tackle Michael Pierce joined the Ravens. Linebacker Anthony Barr, defensive end Everson Griffen, defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson and cornerback Mackensie Alexander are still free agents.
Top Needs: S, DT, CB, TE
NFC SOUTH
Atlanta Falcons
Additions: Receiver Calvin Ridley is suspended for the 2022 season for allegedly gambling on NFL games, and the Falcons added Demiere Byrd, KhaDarel Hodge and Auden Tate to fill out a thin receiver unit. Marcus Mariota signed a two-year deal that will have him viewed as the Falcons’ bridge quarterback. Cordarrelle Patterson was re-signed and Atlanta added tailback Damien Williams.
Departures: Quarterback Matt Ryan was traded to the Colts for a 2022 third-round pick, ending his 14-year tenure with the Falcons. Receiver Russell Gage signed with Tampa Bay, linebacker Dante Fowler joined the Cowboys, tight end Hayden Hurst signed with the Bengals, linebacker Foye Oluokun signed with the Jaguars, and safety Duron Harmon joined the Raiders.
Top Needs: QB, Edge, WR, S
Carolina Panthers
Additions: The Panthers signed offensive guard Austin Corbett to a three-year, $29 million deal, and added center Bradley Bozeman to replace Matt Paradis, who remains a free agent. Carolina also added safety Xavier Woods, cornerback Rashaan Melvin, defensive linemen Matthew Ioannidis and Marquis Haynes, linebackers Damien Wilson and Cory Littleton, and tailback D’Onta Foreman.
Departures: Defensive tackle DaQuan Jones signed with the Bills, and linebackers Jermaine Carter Jr. (Chiefs) and Haason Reddick (Eagles) left as free agents. Cornerbacks Stephen Gilmore and A.J. Bouye are still free agents.
Top Needs: QB, OT, OL, CB
New Orleans Saints
Additions: Jameis Winston, whose season ended prematurely because of a knee injury, was re-signed to a two-year deal worth $28 million, and the Saints also added veteran quarterback Andy Dalton. Safety Marcus Maye was signed to a three-year deal worth $28.5 million to replace Marcus Williams, who joined the Ravens.
Departures: Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead signed with the Dolphins. Williams signed with the Ravens and his fellow starting safety Malcolm Jenkins retired. Tailback Ty Montgomery signed with the Patriots. Tight end Garrett Griffin joined the Lions, and starting inside linebacker Kwon Alexander remains a free agent.
Top Needs: OT, WR, QB, LB
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Additions: Future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady unretired, committing to play one more season for new coach Todd Bowles, who replaced the abruptly retired Bruce Arians. Chris Goodwin signed a three-year, $60 million deal, but is coming back from a season-ending knee injury. That explains why the Buccaneers added receiver Russell Gage to fill out the receiver unit. Safety Logan Ryan and Keanu Neal were added to improve Tampa Bay’s secondary. And tailbacks Leonard Fournette and Giovani Bernard re-signed.
Departures: The Buccaneers acquired guard Shaq Mason from the Patriots to address the retirement of Ali Marpet, and Alex Cappa’s departure to Cincinnati. Ronald Jones signed with the Chiefs, and safety Jordan Whitehead joined the Jets. Tight end O.J. Howard signed with Buffalo and Rob Gronkowski hasn’t decided if he’ll play in 2022. Veteran defenders Jason Pierre-Paul, Ndamukong Suh, Kevin Minter and Richard Sherman remain free agents.
Top Needs: OG, CB, S, DT
NFC WEST
Arizona Cardinals
Additions: The Cardinals re-signed tailback James Connor, and tight ends Zach Ertz and Maxx Williams, keeping things somewhat consistent on offense. Arizona also added cornerback Jeff Gladney, a 2020 first-round pick, signing the troubled cornerback to a two-year, $6.5 million deal, and added offensive guard Will Hernandez and linebacker Nick Vigil.
Departures: Receiver Christian Kirk signed with the Jaguars, tailback Chase Edmonds signed with Miami, and A.J. Green remains a free agent. Four key defenders — Chandler Jones (Raiders), Jordan Hicks (Vikings), Jordan Phillips (Bills) and Malcolm Butler (Patriots) — left Arizona, and defensive tackle Corey Peters and cornerback Robert Alford remain free agents.
Top Needs: CB, Edge, WR, RB
Los Angeles Rams
Additions: The Super Bowl champs got a three-year, $129 million extension done with Matthew Stafford, and signed receiver Allen Robinson to a three-year deal worth $46.5 million to enhance his receiver unit. The Rams also added Pro Bowl linebacker Bobby Wagner.
Departures: Elite pass rusher Von Miller signed with Buffalo. Offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth retired, offensive guard Austin Corbett and punter Johnny Hekker signed with the Panthers, and receiver Robert Woods got traded to the Titans for a 2023 sixth-round pick. Receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and tailback Sony Michel remain free agents.
Top Needs: OT, S, Edge, CB
San Francisco 49ers
Additions: The 49ers signed Charvarius Ward, who started 43 games for the Chiefs the past four seasons, seemingly moving on from Josh Norman and Jason Verrett, who remain free agents. And San Francisco added safety George Odum and receiver and return specialist Ray-Ray McCloud.
Departures: Offensive guard Laken Tomlinson joined the Jets and offensive tackle Tom Compton signed with the Broncos. Tailback Raheem Mostert and receiver Trent Sherfield signed with the Dolphins, and receiver Richie James Jr. signed with the Giants. On defense D.J. Jones (Broncos), Arden Key (Jaguars) and Kentavius Street (Saints) all left as free agents.
Top Needs: OG, WR, CB, LB
Seattle Seahawks
Additions: The Seahawks acquired quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant, and defensive tackle Shelby Harris from the Broncos in the trade that sent Denver quarterback Russell Wilson. Seattle also signed defensive linemen Quinton Jefferson, linebacker Uchenna Nwosu and cornerback Artie Burns, and re-signed tailback Rashaad Penny, tight end Will Dissly and offensive lineman Kyle Fuller.
Departures: Replacing Wilson, a Super Bowl champion and nine-time Pro Bowler, won’t be easy. And neither will replacing linebacker Bobby Wagner, who joined the Rams after being waived. Defensive end Carlos Dunlap remains a free agent. Tight end Gerald Everett joined the Chargers and offensive tackles Duane Brown and Brandon Shell are still free agents.
Top Needs: OT, QB, Edge, CB
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https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/08/nfc-offseason-moves-summary-2022-nfl-draft-primer/
| 2022-04-09T04:51:10
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https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/08/nfc-offseason-moves-summary-2022-nfl-draft-primer/
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JESSE ALEXANDER GLASSMAN
Jesse Alexander Glassman will become a bar mitzvah on May 28, 2022 at Temple Solel.
He is the son of Sammy Glassman-Utsunomiya of Phoenix and David Glassman of Phoenix; and stepson of Kyu Utsunomiya of Phoenix.
Grandparents are Marlys and Larry Lazarus of Paradise Valley and Marsha and Daniel Glassman of Phoenix.
For his mitzvah project, Jesse volunteers with various organizations including Special Olympics, The JoyBus Diner and helps neighbors with various tasks.
A student at Massanutten Military Academy, Jesse loves all things athletic including soccer and basketball. He especially loves watching and getting signatures from the Phoenix Suns! He also enjoys playing video games and spending time with friends and family.
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https://www.jewishaz.com/milestones/milestones---bar-mitzvah/article_2740b8bc-b76e-11ec-8a1f-1b44bdd0b241.html
| 2022-04-09T04:51:39
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https://www.jewishaz.com/milestones/milestones---bar-mitzvah/article_2740b8bc-b76e-11ec-8a1f-1b44bdd0b241.html
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As Jews we are often told that the world must not be allowed to forget the Holocaust. We often say “Never Forget” as a way of emphasizing its importance for Jews and for the whole world. I certainly agree with that, but keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive isn’t enough. The problem is not just that the memory of the Holocaust might fade with time; the real issue is that the Holocaust itself might be hijacked for political purposes and that its meaning and significance could be lost forever.
Consider the deplorable use of the Holocaust by right-wing politicians during the pandemic, who often framed their frustration with mask and vaccination requirements as a struggle against Nazism. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican representative from Georgia, said that people “don’t need your medical brownshirts showing up at their door ordering vaccinations. You can’t force people to be part of the human experiment.”
She is clearly trying to steal the Holocaust to elevate her personal concerns about vaccines and masks, and this leads her to claim that U.S. officials are as oppressive as the Nazi brownshirts, and reasonable health measures are just as violent as the medical experiments of Nazi doctors like Josef Mengele.
This is, of course, insulting to all the Jews who suffered during the Holocaust. The insensitivity of it is staggering. But what I am focusing on here is the way it confuses ignorant people about the meaning of the Holocaust. Our health care workers are not Josef Mengele. The Holocaust should not be used to score cheap political points. This is insulting, but it is also dangerous.
The Dallas Human Rights and Holocaust Museum reports that one elected official in Idaho, complaining that the governor was requiring non-essential workers to stay at home, claimed that during the Holocaust, “nonessential workers got put on a train.” But Jews were not “put on a train” because they were nonessential workers. This would be laughable if it were not so serious.
They were put on a train because they were Jews, and they were being sent to forced labor and extermination camps because they were Jews. They were not just being asked to stay at home briefly to keep a virus from spreading. This is a truly contemptible use of the Holocaust, and it also represents a crude attempt to capitalize on the respected place that the Holocaust has in history for selfish purposes. Not only was this an insult to all the Jews who were slaughtered by the Nazis, it misses the point.
The right-wing commentator Glenn Beck has compared the decision of Facebook and Twitter to ban hate speech on their platforms with Nazis putting Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. Beck said, “This is like the Germans with the Jews behind the wall. They would put them in the ghetto. Well, this is the digital ghetto. You can talk all you want, Jews. You do whatever you want behind the wall. Well, that’s not meaningful and that’s where we are.”
This makes me so angry, I can barely contain myself. Beck implies that the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto had complete freedom within the ghetto.
Everything was fine there. The only problem is that their speech was not allowed beyond the walls. But the Warsaw ghetto was hellish. And in the end, those who did not die of starvation or illness in the ghetto were killed or sent to concentration camps. This rant of Beck’s is a travesty and a false analogy. The Jews of the Warsaw ghetto were being systematically prepared for extermination. They weren’t just losing their privileges on some social media sites because they were spreading hatred and lies. They were the victim of hatred and lies.
We have every right to be offended by this political use of the Holocaust. But, more than anything, we should be concerned that over time the Holocaust could become a meaningless metaphor for anything unpleasant. We must not allow the Holocaust to be transformed into a metaphor to be thrown around whenever it suits someone’s political purposes. We should continue to say “Never Again,” but we have a new challenge: We need to work tirelessly to clarify what it is that we must not forget. The Holocaust is not a metaphor. It is history, and we have to fight to keep its historical significance.
Solomon D. Stevens has a Ph.D. from Boston College. His publications include “Religion, Politics, and the Law” (co-authored with Peter Schotten) and “Challenges to Peace in the Middle East.” This piece originally appeared in Baltimore Jewish Times — a Jewish News-affiliated publication.
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https://www.jewishaz.com/opinion/the-holocaust-is-not-a-metaphor/article_94f93c72-b781-11ec-b220-cf08c40d6d30.html
| 2022-04-09T04:51:45
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https://www.jewishaz.com/opinion/the-holocaust-is-not-a-metaphor/article_94f93c72-b781-11ec-b220-cf08c40d6d30.html
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Everitt knocks in three Runs in 7-5 loss vs. Rutgers
LINCOLN, Neb. (Press Release) - Nebraska dropped its series opener vs. Rutgers, falling 7-5 at Hawks Field on Friday night. The Huskers (12-16, 4-3 Big Ten) scored five runs on six hits with no errors, while the Scarlet Knights (23-6, 6-1 Big Ten) had seven runs on 10 hits and an error. Shay Schanaman dropped to 2-4 on the season after allowing seven runs on nine hits and striking out seven in six innings. Chandler Benson tossed the next two innings, allowing only one hit and striking out a pair, while Corbin Hawkins pitched the final inning.
Brice Matthews extended his on-base streak to 22 games after posting his seventh multi-hit game of the year. Matthews went 2-for-4 with a walk and a team-high three runs. Colby Gomes tallied two hits, while Cam Chick had an RBI triple and Griffin Everitt posted a three-RBI double. Ryan Lasko led off the game with a solo homer to right to give the Scarlet Knights a quick one-run lead. Two consecutive walks to Matthews and Chick put two runners on with no outs, before Matthews advanced to third on a flyout and raced home on a wild pitch to tie the game in the first.
Two more walks loaded the bases for the Big Red with one out, but the Huskers couldn’t break the tie. Rutgers added a run in the third off a pair of singles to go ahead 2-1 after three. A two-run homer to center off the bat of Nick Cimillo stretched the lead to 4-1 for the Scarlet Knights. Nebraska got one of the runs back in the bottom of the fifth after Chick ripped an RBI triple to the wall in right, scoring Matthews to make it a two-run game. The Scarlet Knights tacked on three runs on four hits in the sixth, expanding the lead to 7-2.
Mike Nyisztor’s RBI double to center, followed by a Lasko’s two-run homer to right center gave Rutgers the five-run advantage. The Huskers had runners on first and third with one out in the bottom of the seventh after Gomes roped a single to left and Cervantes drew a walk, but the Big Red couldn’t cut into the deficit after RU drew a strikeout and groundout to end the inning.
Gomes led off the ninth with a single through the left side and Matthews lined a one-out single down the left field line to put two runners on for the Huskers. Chick loaded the bases after being hit by the pitch before Everitt smacked an 0-2 pitch down the left field line to clear the bases for a three-RBI double to make it a two-run game.
With the tying run at the plate, Rutgers’ Dale Stanavich struck out Garrett Anglim to end the Husker rally and clinch the Friday night win for the Scarlet Knights. Nebraska and Rutgers continue the series tomorrow at Hawks Field. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on BTN, with first pitch set for 3:17 p.m.
Copyright 2022 KOLN. All rights reserved.
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/09/everitt-knocks-three-runs-7-5-loss-vs-rutgers/
| 2022-04-09T04:57:12
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/09/everitt-knocks-three-runs-7-5-loss-vs-rutgers/
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Stars take down Lancers. 8-1
Published: Apr. 8, 2022 at 11:02 PM CDT|Updated: 53 minutes ago
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - The Lincoln stars took down their rival the Omaha Lancers on Friday, 8-1, at the Ice Box.
The Stars went into the third period up 5-0 after scoring four goals in the second period. Three late goals in the third period propelled Lincoln to a huge win at home. Dalton Norris and Lucas Wahlin closed the game out for the score scoring the last two goals. Aidan Thompson finished with two goals as well.
Wahlin has now scored a goal in nine straight games. The Stars move to 34-18 this season.
Copyright 2022 KOLN. All rights reserved.
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/09/stars-take-down-lancers-8-1/
| 2022-04-09T04:57:16
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/09/stars-take-down-lancers-8-1/
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After months of lawsuits, heated debate, and anticipation, Arizona has now awarded its “social equity” cannabis dispensary licenses in a random drawing.
Twenty-six applicants hit the jackpot. The value of a license, the last of 169 that the state will award, is in the millions. And odds of winning were slim: Any given applicant could submit just two tickets into a lottery pool of 1,301.
Many of these applicants worked with big-time cannabis companies and investors to go through the complicated, expensive application process to enter the drawing. And an initial survey of the results shows that these companies won big: The majority of winners, according to Phoenix New Times' initial review, are applications backed by major cannabis companies or investors.
Still, each company or entity that applied had to be 51 percent owned by an individual who met the state’s social equity requirements. The program, which is meant to give back to communities harmed by the drug war, was open to people who fit a series of requirements, including income level, past pot charges, and ZIP code.
Despite weeks of anticipation, the scene of the drawing Friday felt oddly undramatic.
The drawing took place in a plain conference room at the Arizona Department of Health Services building in downtown Phoenix. A dozen or so reporters and videographers milled about, alongside ADHS staff and at least one social equity applicant who had asked to watch in person. On a table at the back of the room was a monitor.
Two partners of the accounting firm Henry+Horne were tasked with managing the drawing. At 1 p.m., after a brief introduction, one of the men hit a button on the computer screen, and the 26 winners were tabulated. There was little fanfare aside from cautious applause from the audience.
Now, all eyes will be on the winners.
At this point, we know that most of the winning applications — more than two-thirds, by New Times’ count — were backed by cannabis companies that already have dispensary licenses or other investors. This is hardly a surprise, given that such investors backed the majority of applicants in the pool.
In February, a New Times analysis found that almost 60 percent of the 1,500 or so applications had ties to corporate sponsors. That percentage may have changed slightly during the department’s review of the applications, during which about 200 applications were eliminated. In the end, 1,301 applications made it into the drawing.
Here’s our breakdown of the 26 winners:
Five applications tied to two shell companies based in Wyoming — whose ownership is still unknown — were selected in the drawing.
Those two shell companies, Helping Handz, LLC and Investing In the Future, LLC, both registered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, backed 204 applications in the lottery. Their precise relationship with these applicants is unknown.
Some of Arizona’s biggest cannabis companies — all of whom aggressively canvassed to partner with and sponsor social equity applicants — scored big on Friday, too.
Four applicants who partnered with Mohave Cannabis Co., a multi-state pot company founded in Arizona, secured licenses. Applicants with Mint Dispensary, another big cannabis company in the state, won two licenses. Another three licenses went to applicants who partnered with Copperstate Farms, also known as Sol Flower, which claims to be the biggest cannabis provider in the state.
One license went to an applicant who partnered with Social Partners, LLC — the company at the center of New Times’ investigation into social equity licenses.
One contract that Social Partners, LLC, offered an applicant was described as “deeply predatory” by experts. It created a third-party management company to siphon out the profits generated by the dispensary, leaving the social equity applicant with nothing unless they sold their shares. It’s not clear whether all applicants that worked with Social Partners, LLC, signed such an agreement.
Finally, one application — Arizona Tree Equity 2, LLC — is linked to Giving Tree Dispensary, a cannabis company based in Phoenix.
By our count, that’s 18 applications tied to investors — leaving eight that are independent, at least based on what can be gleaned from public records.
One, A.M.Y. Investments, is owned by two women in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Another lists its place of business as a family owned taqueria in Phoenix. One lists its place of business as a P.O. Box in Bylas, Arizona, an unincorporated community on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation.
You can see the full list of winners on the ADHS website here.
It’s clear that Friday meant a major win for some of Arizona’s biggest cannabis companies, some of which already have control of multiple dispensary licenses. What it will mean for the applicants that partnered with them is more of an unknown.
“We are very excited for our new partners to get started in the industry,” Curtis Devine, owner of Mohave Cannabis Co., wrote in an email to New Times after the drawing. “We’re having meetings over the weekend to get things moving in order to meet the state’s deadlines.”
Mohave has, in the past, declined to share details of its contracts with applicants, due to nondisclosure agreements. Devine has previously said that they are “in line” with the goals of the program.
Celeste Rodriguez, a longtime critic of the program and a partner of cannabis firm Acre 41, said she was “disappointed,” though hardly unsurprised, by the results of the drawing. For nearly a year, Rodriguez has been warning that the loose program rules would ensure that licenses quickly fell into the hands of major cannabis players.
“But this will not deter us from continuing our fight to make sure that those who truly deserve social equity and justice receive the relief they so desperately need,” she said, adding that she felt the state was not serving “the best interest of those adversely affected by marijuana laws.”
Now, though, the licenses are in the hands of these 26 applicants, who will be charged with building up a business. Many have predicted that the licenses will quickly change hands. Winners could also face zoning issues and all the bureaucratic challenges of getting a brick-and-mortar dispensary running within a regulated industry.
For the winners, at least, it's just the beginning.
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https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/marijuana/arizona-awards-26-social-equity-cannabis-dispensary-licenses-13391498
| 2022-04-09T04:58:57
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https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/marijuana/arizona-awards-26-social-equity-cannabis-dispensary-licenses-13391498
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But this week, Jewish students at ASU feel out of control and powerless as the campus prepares to host a public speaker who calls Jewish people “neo-Nazis.” Student fees are paying for the event, which will put nearly 10 grand into the speaker's pocket.
Controversy over the symposium has erupted, with Jewish and Muslim students debating where to draw the line between free speech and hate speech. The event lands ASU in the middle, as it strives to promote robust debate but faces allegations of hypocrisy.
Anti-Semitic propaganda is nothing new to ASU.
Similar campaigns ran twice in 2020, with posters reading "Hitler was right," "unity of our blood," and other anti-Semitic slogans posted all over campus by the Goyim Defense League, a network of internet troll and conspiracy theorists.
At the time, ASU President Michael Crow said in an official statement, " Arizona State University has a long history of opposing anti-Semitic rhetoric and acts of intimidation whether they occur on our campuses or in the community. We reject and will not accept anti-Semitism or hateful rhetoric of any kind.”
This week, Jewish groups both on and off campus are asking ASU not to break that promise as the university prepares to host a speaker who makes Jewish students and faculty members say they're scared.
Two Palestinian culture clubs at the university jointly invited Mohammed El-Kurd, a Palestinian activist and poet who's described by Jews and gentiles alike as a “known anti-Semite,” to speak to students this Sunday.
ASU’s Undergraduate Student Government approved nearly $10,000 last week to pay El-Kurd’s speaker fee. The sum comes from a programming fee of $25 per semester paid by all students.
“Student fees should never be used to fund hate speech,” said Liora Rez, founder of New York City-based watchdog group StopAntisemitism.
Jewish students like Elizabeth Gofman, a third-year dietetics major and ASU’s Israel on Campus Coalition fellow, are helping to pay El-Kurd without any say in the matter.
“Knowing that my dollars are funding somebody coming to tell my people why we shouldn't exist, it’s heartbreaking,” Gofman said.
El-Kurd’s activism has long been colored by anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, and profanity.
Last May, he responded to a tweet about Holocaust education from Jewish author Ben Freeman, who is also gay, saying, “SHUT THE FUCK UP MY GOD YOU ARE SO DELUDED.”
SHUT THE FUCK UP MY GOD YOU ARE SO DELUDED. YOU ARE KILLING MURDERING BOMBING ETHNICALLY CLEANSING COLONIZING LYNCHING KRISTALLNACHTING US IN REAL TIME CURRENTLY RIGHT NOW AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO MAKE HOLOCAUST ANALOGIES WHERE DO YOU GET THE GULL WHERE DO YOU GET THE AUDACITY https://t.co/kZPwNZTB1y
— Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd) May 12, 2021
El-Kurd also tweeted in June that Jewish Israelites are “terrorists” and “genocidal.”
He even likened Israeli Jews to Nazis, a harmful analogy that devalues the lives of the 6 million Jewish people who were exterminated in the Holocaust.
During Israel’s 11-day conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip in May, El-Kurd asserted that Zionists have an “unquenchable thirst for Palestinian blood.”
To add a splash of racism to the anti-Semitism, in March he tweeted, “‘Ancestral homeland?’ Then explain why y’all can’t walk around Jerusalem without getting sunburnt?”
When King David conquered Jerusalem in 1000 B.C., he established it as the capital of the Jewish kingdom.
“I’m disappointed in the university as a Jewish student,” Gofman said. “It’s hard knowing somebody is coming to my campus, my home away from home, telling me I deserve to die because of where my ancestors are from. It's very, very scary.”
In his debut poetry collection Rifqa, El-Kurd peddled the dangerous, totally fabricated trope that Israeli soldiers “harvest organs of the martyred [Palestinians to] feed their warriors our own.”
“It’s hard knowing somebody is coming to my campus, my home away from home, telling me I deserve to die because of where my ancestors are from." — Elizabeth Gofman
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That memoir also contains beautiful words that touched the hearts of Palestinian-Americans at ASU and beyond.
That’s the case for Nora Abooji, a fourth-year student studying political science and Arabic. She holds a leadership role in Students for Justice in Palestine, one of the two student organizations that invited El-Kurd to speak.
“Rifqa is incredibly important to me because he is able to express himself and the story of his life, one of oppression, into a book of poetry,” she said. “He channeled his pain into written form.”
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is intensely personal for El-Kurd.
Israeli forces expelled him from his home in the volatile neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, which prompted him to move to the United States.
“I am a Palestinian-American,” Abooji said. “I have the privilege of not living under the violence of Israelis.”
Still, El-Kurd employs a “wholesale demonization” of Jewish people, according to the New York City-based Anti-Defamation League, “especially using language historically wielded against Jewish communities.”
Rez’s group, StopAntisemitism, sent a letter to Crow on Wednesday demanding the university intervene. In the letter, she expressed concern that El-Kurd is “monetarily incentivized to speak at college campuses nationwide while spewing his anti-Jewish hatred.”
ASU took no action.
“As a public university, ASU adheres to the First Amendment and strives to ensure the fullest degree of intellectual freedom and free expression,” university spokesperson Jerry Gonzalez told Phoenix New Times. “All individuals and groups on campus have the right to express their opinions, whatever those opinions may be, as long as they do not violate the student code of conduct, student organization policies, and do not infringe on another student’s individual rights.”
Gonzalez assured that university staff, including ASU police, would be present to “support and promote a safe environment where the free exchange of ideas can take place,” but declined to elaborate.
But members of campus Jewish groups said they find little appropriate about the university's tolerance of such ideas, and feel the symposium flies in the face of that code of conduct.
“We strongly condemn the use of undergraduate student government funding to host a blatantly anti-Semitic speaker,” stated a release from a consortium of Jewish and pro-Israel groups on campus, including Hillel Jewish Student Center and Chabad at ASU.
But for Abooji, the Muslim student, this opposition is silencing Palestinian voices on campus.
“The excruciating pressure put on this speaker has not ever been applied to any other student group,” she said.
El-Kurd’s disgust at Israel and disregard for Jewish opinions toes the line between chauvinism and activism, Muslim students believe.
“There’s a difference between being loud and obnoxious and being anti-Semitic or a bigot,” Abooji said. “I would never want to minimize the words he said that hurt people in the ASU community, but he is still an important figure to Palestine even if I don’t agree with everything he said.”
Jewish students don’t try to refute the free speech argument.
They do, however, feel voiceless and sense hypocrisy.
“Free speech is a beautiful thing, but the Jewish community was not involved in the conversation of whether or not this constitutes hate speech,” said Gofman. “It’s very frustrating as a Jewish student, especially when we have leadership telling us that ASU will never stand for anti-Semitism."
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https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/jewish-groups-decry-arizona-state-university-speaker-known-anti-semite-mohammed-el-kurd-13390934
| 2022-04-09T04:58:59
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https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/jewish-groups-decry-arizona-state-university-speaker-known-anti-semite-mohammed-el-kurd-13390934
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SPRINGDALE, Ark. — Saturday, April 9, at 7 a.m. around 1,500 runners will fill downtown Springdale for the 46th annual Hogeye Marathon. Among the thousands of runners is a woman from Pittsburgh who's planning on running her 544th marathon.
Marie Bartoletti is 64-year-old is a stroke survivor. She took the opportunity to run on the Hogeye Marathon over another one out of state. This will be her 27th year running marathons.
"My first marathon was in 1995,” said Bartoletti.
The Pittsburgh Marathon was her first marathon. She completed it after several other small running competitions.
"I did 5k,” said Bartoletti. “It's hard to do."
However, it made her want to run more.
"I did one last week,” Bartoletti said. “And two marathons in a row, Saturday and Sunday."
As of now, she has completed 543 marathons running 14,226 race miles, which is the equivalent of running more than halfway around the world.
The Hogeye will be her 544th. She's a pacer, meaning, she regularly runs marathons on a set time. She'll run the Hogeye in five hours. Bartoletti will be easy to spot because she’ll be outdoors with bunny ears.
“It makes me feel good," Bartoletti said
That's why she kept running, even after her stroke in 2015.
"6 years ago, on Thanksgiving Day," said Bartoletti.
Her doctor says if she wasn't in such good health, she would not be alive. So, she keeps running.
"223 marathons since the stroke,” said Bartoletti.
The Hogeye Marathon will start on Emma Avenue and take runners past the city's five major parks and will include a portion of the Lake Fayetteville trail.
The course will be run primarily on Springdale streets, but sections will run through Johnson and Fayetteville, and a small portion of the 26.2-mile course will take place on the Razorback Greenway.
“The only road going to be closed all day is Emma Ave.,” said Holmes. “From Spring St. all the way up to about Shiloh will be closed all day.”
Organizers also say, to expect about 10-minute delays as they work to get runners throughout the course.
The Hogeye Marathon is asking for donations for those impacted by last week’s EF-3 tornado.
“We’re collecting old running shoes,” said Holmes. “Shoes gently worn, clothes and shoes for tornado victims.”
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/community/64-year-old-stroke-survivor-the-hogeye-marathon-544th-marathon/527-40262582-f40c-42c2-b0c9-2f006cc0fa70
| 2022-04-09T05:03:30
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/community/64-year-old-stroke-survivor-the-hogeye-marathon-544th-marathon/527-40262582-f40c-42c2-b0c9-2f006cc0fa70
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Amazon is seeking to overturn the historic union victory at one of its New York City warehouses, arguing in a legal filing Friday that union organizers and the National Labor Relations Board acted in a way that tainted the results. It now wants to redo the election.
The e-commerce giant listed 25 objections in the filing obtained by The Associated Press, accusing organizers with the nascent Amazon Labor Union of intimidating workers to vote for the union, a claim an attorney representing the group has called “patently absurd.”
“The employees have spoken,” Eric Milner, the attorney, said in a statement Thursday after Amazon's initial planned objections were made public in another legal filing.
“Amazon is choosing to ignore that, and instead engage in stalling tactics to avoid the inevitable — coming to the bargaining table and negotiating for a contract” on behalf of the workers, he said.
Warehouse workers in Staten Island cast 2,654 votes — or about 55% — in favor of a union, giving the fledgling group enough support to pull off a victory last Friday.
In one objection, Amazon said organizers “intentionally created hostile confrontations in front of eligible voters,” by interrupting the mandatory meetings the company held to persuade its employees to reject the union drive. In a filing released earlier this month, the company disclosed it spent about $4.2 million last year on labor consultants.
In another objection, Amazon targeted organizers’ distribution of cannabis to workers, saying the labor board “cannot condone such a practice as a legitimate method of obtaining support for a labor organization." New York legalized the recreational use of marijuana last year for those over 21. Milner, the attorney representing the union, said Amazon is grasping at straws.
Distributing cannabis “is no different than distributing free t-shirts and it certainly did not act to interfere with the election," he said.
The company also accused organizers of improperly polling workers.
The retailer had initially signaled it planned to challenge the election results because of a lawsuit the NLRB filed in March, in which the board sought to force Amazon to reinstate a fired employee who was involved in the union drive.
Amazon pointed to the lawsuit in one of its objections filed Friday, saying the regional NLRB office that brought the suit “failed to protect the integrity and neutrality of its procedures,” and had created an impression of support for the union by seeking reinstatement for the former employee, Gerald Bryson.
“Based on the evidence we’ve seen so far, as set out in our objections, we believe that the actions of the NLRB and the ALU improperly suppressed and influenced the vote, and we think the election should be conducted again so that a fair and broadly representative vote can be had," Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement Friday.
Bryson was fired in the early days of the pandemic after leading a protest calling for the company to do more to protect workers against COVID-19. While off the job during the protest, Bryson got into a dispute with another worker and was later fired for violating Amazon’s vulgar-language policy, according to his attorney Frank Kearl.
The NLRB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its spokesperson, Kayla Blado, previously said the independent agency is authorized by Congress to enforce the National Labor Relations Act.
“All NLRB enforcement actions against Amazon have been consistent with that Congressional mandate,” she said.
In other objections, Amazon targeted how the labor agency conducted the election. It said the agency failed to control media presence around the voting area and didn't have enough staff and equipment, which the company says created long lines and “discouraged many employees from voting in subsequent polling sessions.”
Meanwhile, both Amazon and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a union that spearheaded a separate union drive in Bessemer, Alabama, have filed objections to that election. The final outcome of the union vote in Alabama is still up in the air with 416 outstanding challenged ballots in the balance. Initial results show the union down by 118 votes, with the majority of Amazon warehouse workers rejecting a bid to form unionize.
RWDSU, which filed more than 20 objections, said in its filing Thursday that its objections are “grounds to set the election aside.”
A hearing to review the challenged ballots is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/nation-world/amazon-files-overturn-staten-island-union-election/507-88afeb46-08d6-4837-8aeb-ed2f9b4b2fa2
| 2022-04-09T05:03:36
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/nation-world/amazon-files-overturn-staten-island-union-election/507-88afeb46-08d6-4837-8aeb-ed2f9b4b2fa2
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — An international organization formed to identify the dead and missing from the 1990s Balkan conflicts is preparing to send a team of forensics experts to Ukraine as the death toll mounts more than six weeks into the war caused by Russia's invasion.
Authorities in Kyiv have reached out to the International Commission on Missing Persons to help put names to bodies that might otherwise remain anonymous amid the fog of war.
A team made up of a forensic pathologist, forensic archeologist and an expert on collecting DNA samples from bodies and from families to cross-match, is expected to travel to Ukraine early next week, Director-General Kathryne Bomberger told The Associated Press on Friday.
They will help identify the dead, but also document how they died — information that can feed into war crimes investigations in the future. The organization's laboratory in an office block on a busy street in The Hague will build a central database cataloging evidence and the identities of the missing.
“Having this centralized capability is absolutely critical because you have to look at this as an investigation into a gigantic crime scene that is taking place across Ukraine," Bomberger said.
The team will have plenty of work to do when it deploys to Bucha, where images of bodies lying in the streets after Russian forces withdrew shocked the world.
Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said Thursday on Ukrainian television that at least three sites of mass shootings of civilians during the Russian occupation have been found. Fedoruk said hundreds have been killed and investigators are finding bodies in yards, parks and city squares.
Vladyslav Atroshenko, the mayor of Chernihiv, said about 700 military personnel and civilians have been killed in the northern city during the war, and that 70 of the bodies remain unidentified, Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform reported.
The commission, known by its acronym ICMP, already has a working relationship with the prosecution office of the International Criminal Court and other crime-fighting agencies like Interpol and Europol to share evidence. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan already has opened an investigation in Ukraine.
“We want to make sure that we work together with the Ukrainian authorities to properly excavate these crime scene sites to identify the mortal remains so that evidence can be provided in the future for criminal trial purposes, not only potentially to the ICC, but also potentially within domestic courts in Ukraine," Bomberger said.
The organization is at the forefront of using new technology in their painstaking work to identify bodies from even the smallest samples.
“We have implemented a new extraction technique, which allows us to extract more DNA from smaller or more damaged fragments of bone sample,” said DNA Laboratory manager Kieren Hill. “This is quite a unique method in terms of its application into the missing person’s context.”
On Friday, lab staff in white clothes covered with blue plastic overalls, hair nets and gloves were meticulously working on other cases, grasping small shards of bone in pliers and grinding away their surfaces in search of DNA.
The ICMP has an online portal where people in Ukraine can anonymously report locations of bodies, and will help family members of the missing to provide DNA samples to help identify them.
The commission was established to trace the dead from the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Its sterile, high-tech laboratories are a world away from the muddy mass graves where the organization's experts first rose to prominence among the decomposing dead of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys.
They helped put names to bodies that in some cases were torn apart and spread across multiple mass graves as Bosnian Serb forces buried and then re-buried the dead in an effort to cover traces of their genocidal attempt to wipe out Srebrenica's Bosniaks.
The commission made sure they failed to cover their tracks. Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic and his political master, Radovan Karadzic, are now serving life sentences for crimes including genocide. Both men were convicted in part thanks to evidence gathered by the ICMP.
Funded by voluntary contributions from governments, the organization has since helped national governments put names to thousands more people whose anonymous remains were recovered from sites including over 3,000 mass and clandestine graves.
It has worked at crime scenes and disaster sites around the world, including Syria, Libya and Iraq. The organization also helped to identify victims swept away by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and extracted DNA from bone samples of 250 people killed when Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana in 2005.
Ukraine could prove to be one of its biggest challenges yet, as the organization works together with Ukrainian authorities to investigate and build cases amid an ongoing war.
“So ensuring that this process moves in accordance with proper investigations, that these sites are properly documented, the proper chain of custody is obtained, will be a challenge," Bomberger said. "I think under the circumstances while there’s an active conflict.”
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/forensics-team-ukraine-identify-dead/507-a3922a5b-54d1-44e4-bbb7-b783380d6ef3
| 2022-04-09T05:03:42
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/forensics-team-ukraine-identify-dead/507-a3922a5b-54d1-44e4-bbb7-b783380d6ef3
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SPRINGDALE, Ark — The family of a Springdale tornado survivor said someone was using their photos of devastation to try and make money.
When the EF-3 tornado hit Wednesday, March 30th, Karrie Stout’s house was in the eye of the storm. She says thankful she and her son were able to walk away untouched, though their home is a total loss.
“I don’t know how, it’s just awesome, I’m just so thankful,” Stout said.
Unfortunately, her brother was caught outside in the storm. Karrie said he came to warn her about the storm, but was caught in the twister and landed near her home.
After landing, a tree fell on his face. His injuries put him in critical condition at the hospital.
As of Friday, his sister says he’s significantly improved and could be going home soon.
“It’s a miracle, by the grace of God. My brother got dropped off. He heard the sound and come to warn me,” Karrie said.
With the good news of her brother’s release, Karrie is still concerned with moving past the tornado.
To help relieve financial pain, she started a GoFundMe page to help raise funds for a new home and to help her brother. She posted photos and an account of her experience during the tornado.
Soon after making the page and posting it to Facebook, she said someone in Fayetteville used her photos to create their own GoFundMe but this fund was a scam. The people in Fayetteville were pretending to be tornado survivors.
“Somebody showed me it and asked me if it was my house on it and I said yeah. But the people that created it, they said that they were hacked and that somebody did it on their Facebook, he deleted everything,” Karrie said.
She adds the page creator wrote that he and his family made it out of the storm alive and they were doing fine. Karrie says this adds frustration to an already difficult week.
“I told myself I wouldn’t cry…it’s really hurtful.”
With that pain, Karrie wants to send a message to the scammers, as she continues to piece together her next steps.
“To the people that made the fundraiser, shame on you. It’s just not right to try to take other people’s losses and try to make again for yourself.”
She adds her family is doing their best to save for their new home. If you’d like to donate, Karrie provide the GoFundMe page she organized herself.
And if you suspect an imposter or fake GoFundMe report the page to GoFundMe officials.
To donate to the family, click here. To donate to David Stout's medical needs, click here.
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/special-reports/springdale-tornado/gofundme-imposters-pretend-tornado-survivors/527-5b4f1b24-eac2-48f4-a514-0885bef84db3
| 2022-04-09T05:03:48
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/special-reports/springdale-tornado/gofundme-imposters-pretend-tornado-survivors/527-5b4f1b24-eac2-48f4-a514-0885bef84db3
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Posted: Apr 8, 2022 / 11:19 PM EDT Updated: Apr 8, 2022 / 11:19 PM EDT SHARE Close Modal Suggest a Correction Your name(required) Your email(required) Report a typo or grammatical error(required) Submit Δ Suggest a Correction
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https://fox59.com/hoosier-lottery/daily-3-daily-4-evening-drawing-april-8-2022/
| 2022-04-09T05:08:47
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https://fox59.com/hoosier-lottery/daily-3-daily-4-evening-drawing-april-8-2022/
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Jackson, COVID and a retirement show Congress’ partisan path
WASHINGTON (AP) — A milestone Supreme Court confirmation that endured a flawed process. The collapse of a bipartisan compromise for more pandemic funds. The departure of a stalwart of the dwindling band of moderate House Republicans.
Party-line fights on Capitol Hill are as old as the republic, and they routinely escalate as elections approach. Yet three events from a notable week illustrate how Congress’ near- and long-term paths point toward intensifying partisanship.
THE SENATE’S SUPREME COURT BATTLE
Democrats rejoiced Thursday when the Senate by 53-47 confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black female justice. They crowed about a bipartisan stamp of approval from the trio of Republicans who supported it: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah.
Yet by historical standards, the three opposition party votes were paltry and underscored the recent trend of Supreme Court confirmations becoming loyalty tests on party ideology. That’s a departure from a decades-long norm when senators might dislike a nominee’s judicial philosophy but defer to a president’s pick, barring a disqualifying revelation.
Murkowski said her support for Jackson was partly “rejection of the corrosive politicization” of how both parties consider Supreme Court nominations, which “is growing worse and more detached from reality by the year.”
Republicans said they would treat Jackson respectfully, and many did. Their questions and criticisms of her were pointed and partisan, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying “the Senate views itself as a co-partner in this process” with the president.
Yet some potential 2024 GOP presidential contenders seemed to use Jackson’s confirmation to woo hard-right support. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., misleadingly accused her of being unusually lenient on child pornography offenders. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., suggested she might have defended Nazis at the Nuremburg trials after World War II.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said some Republicans “went overboard, as far as I’m concerned, to the extreme,” reflecting “the reality of politics on Capitol Hill.” Cotton was “fundamentally unfair, but that is his tradition,” said Durbin.
SUPREME COURT BATTLES PAST
Senate approval of high court nominees by voice vote, without bothering to hold roll calls, was standard for most of the 20th Century. Conservative Antonin Scalia sailed into the Supreme Court by 98-0 in 1986, while liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg won 96-3 approval seven years later.
There were bitter fights. Democrats blocked conservative Robert Bork’s nomination in 1987 and unsuccessfully opposed Clarence Thomas’ ascension in 1991 after he was accused of sexual harassment.
Hard feelings intensified in early 2016. McConnell, then majority leader, blocked the Senate from even considering President Barack Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland to replace the deceased Scalia. McConnell cited the upcoming presidential election nearly nine months away, infuriating Democrats.
Donald Trump was elected and ultimately filled three vacancies over near-unanimous Democratic opposition.
They opposed Brett Kavanaugh after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman decades earlier. They voted solidly against Amy Coney Barrett after Trump and McConnell rushed through her nomination when a vacancy occurred just weeks before Election Day 2020, a sprint Democrats called hypocritical.
COVID SPENDING FIGHT, TRANSFORMED
Senators from both parties agreed to a $10 billion COVID-19 package Monday that President Joe Biden wants for more therapeutics, vaccines and tests. With BA.2, the new omicron variant, washing across the country, it seemed poised for congressional approval.
Hours later, bargainers led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, seemed blindsided when their compromise was derailed. Republicans wanted to add an extension of an expiring crackdown on migrants crossing the Mexican border that Trump imposed in 2020, citing the pandemic’s public health threat.
Many Republicans were skeptical that more COVID-19 money was necessary. But their demand for an immigration amendment transformed a fight over how much more to spend on a disease that’s killed 980,000 Americans into a battle over border security, tailor-made for upcoming GOP political campaigns.
Immigration divides Democrats, and Republicans believe the issue can further solidify their chances of winning congressional control in November’s elections. Playing defense, Schumer postponed debate on the COVID-19 bill.
Democrats deserved some blame for being outmaneuvered. House Democrats shot down a $15 billion agreement in March, rejecting compromise budget savings to pay for it.
And in glaringly tone-deaf political timing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week, just as bargainers were finalizing their latest compromise, that the Trump-era immigration curbs would lapse on May 23.
That gave Republicans an irresistible political gift to pursue.
A MODERATE’S FAREWELL
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., announced his retirement Tuesday. He’s the fourth of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year to say they won’t seek reelection.
Upton attributed his departure to running in a new district, but that didn’t stop Trump from proclaiming: “UPTON QUITS! 4 down and 6 to go.” The House impeached Trump over his incitement of supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but the GOP-run Senate acquitted him.
Now in his 18th term, Upton’s departure subtracts another moderate from a GOP that’s shifted rightward in recent years, particularly when it comes to showing fealty to Trump.
The pro-business Upton, 68, was a driving force on one law spurring pharmaceutical development and has worked with Democrats on legislation affecting energy and the auto industry. His work across the aisle and his affability placed him in the ever-smaller group of Republicans who draw Democrats’ praise.
“To him, bipartisan and compromise are not forbidden words,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.
PARTY DIFFERENCES, THEN AND NOW
Pitched battles are now habitual over bills financing federal agencies and extending the government’s borrowing authority. When those disputes are resolved and federal shutdowns and defaults averted, lawmakers hail as triumphs what is their most rudimentary task — keeping government functioning.
Despite the divisions over COVID-19 money and Jackson, there has also been cooperation.
Congress overwhelmingly voted Thursday to ban Russian oil and downgrade trade relations with that country following its invasion of Ukraine. There’s progress on bipartisan trade and technology legislation, and a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure measure became law last year.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Soon after the invasion began, a hashtag war slogan popped up everywhere in Russia: "We don't leave ours behind." But many were.
In Irpin, on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, two Russian soldiers killed in battle lay on a street corner, covered with a sheet of metal, legs poking out. A third lay a few feet away near a burned-out armored personnel carrier, a lower leg gnawed by dogs. A fourth lay further along the road, the victim of a mine.
In Moshchun, a once-idyllic hamlet northwest of Kyiv, another Russian soldier died badly inside a dimly lit kitchen, lying on a bench with a gruesome groin wound. Ten others were scattered about, several on the fringes of a forest.
While countless bodies have been abandoned on the battlefield, many more have found their way back to their families, but Russia's overall death toll, though staggering, remains elusive. At home, the Kremlin has clamped down on news of military casualties, apparently wary of how a nation's grief could turn volatile. In 2015, Putin signed a decree declaring all military deaths a state secret, and last year Russia criminalized statements discrediting the military.
NATO estimates that Russia has lost 7,000 to 15,000 troops during the six-week war, a startling number, while Ukraine puts the toll at 18,600. Those figures rival, if not exceed, the 14,453 lost during the Soviet Union's roughly 10-year war in Afghanistan and the 11,000 Russian service members who died in the two Chechen wars.
Russia puts the official military death toll of the Ukrainian campaign at 1,351, and state television does not dwell on this figure. With Russia now apparently girding for a grueling war of attrition and analysts predicting that Moscow will keep plowing in massive numbers of troops and material, the media in the Russian towns and cities that have lost the largest number of their sons are strangely quiet.
Dozens from the Russian town of Aleysk, in the Altai region, reportedly died in the first days of the war in fighting near the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. After news reached families, there was only one cryptic reference on the local community online news page: "Dear military family members! We kindly ask you not to allow people to gather in one place, not to succumb to provocative information."
A similar notice on the eternal memory page for Chelyabinsk - another Russian city with significant casualties - warned against fake information "created with the aim of whipping up hysteria." People must not share news of deaths, it added, claiming that "Nazis from Ukraine" were trying to "collect information about our soldiers for the subsequent development of fake information."
Vadim Kolodiy, a 19-year-old gunner from the 136th Reconnaissance Battalion based in Naro-Fominsk outside Moscow, died after he was attacked and trapped in his armored personnel carrier, the Russian military told his mother, Tatyana, last month, but she never received his body.
"I am hysterical. Vadim didn't even have a chance to escape. He burned inside," she wrote on social media. "The first week was like darkness. Pain, tears. I could not sleep or eat." She said she felt anger at men in their 30s and 40s out drinking beer, while "children" in their late teens and early 20s were dead.
A few weeks after Kolodiy's reported death, charred remains thought to be his were analyzed in a laboratory in Rostov, but the DNA did not match.
"No one is looking for these children," Tatyana said. "No one cares about them. How many of these children, husbands, are there? How much pain had this all brought?"
Nikita Deryabin's widow, Anya Deryabina, buried her husband last month, but still does not have a feeling of closure. Deryabin, 25, of Chelyabinsk had adored his wife and three young children. A sniper who loved the military, he was sent on a "training exercise," only to be killed in battle March 8.
"I still can't realize or believe that this is true," Deryabina said in written answers to questions because she said she could not speak without crying. At night, she dreams of him, feeling he is still with her. "Every day I talk to him. Every day I ask him what for and why.
"My brain refuses to accept the information that Nikitka is dead," she said, using a diminutive nickname. "I am still waiting for him to call, to come back."
Some bereaved family members want Russia to redouble its military campaign in Ukraine so, they say, that their boys will not have died in vain.
Gulnara Valiyeva, 43, whose son Yevgeny was killed with his German shepherd service dog in Hostomel, near Kyiv, called on social media for Russia to keep fighting "to the end." She buried him, and is begging the military to let her have the female Belgian shepherd pup he was training before he left, so that she can keep part of him.
But there are also flashes of dissent. "People are saying that their relatives are sent (to Ukraine.) What the f--- is this about? For what?" commented Olga Filippova on March 11, under Valiyeva's online post about her son's memorial.
Ukraine has about 7,000 unclaimed Russian corpses in morgues and refrigerated rail cars, according to Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to the head of Ukraine's presidential administration. He said his government's figure of 18,600 Russian dead was based on Ukrainian reports from the battlefield and intercepted Russian military communications.
Ukraine tried to return the bodies of 3,000 Russian service members on the third day of the war, he said. "They said, 'We don't believe in such quantities. We don't have this number. We're not ready to accept them.' " Ukraine proposed an exchange several times, he said, but "they won't discuss this at all yet."
So Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs set up a website and Telegram channel where Russians can search photos of the dead and prisoners of war, or fill out an online form seeking information about family members.
Russia's Ministry of Defense did not respond to requests for comment.
Yevheni Velichko, the 32-year-old mayor of Voznesensk, a southern Ukrainian town, asked residents to collect Russian corpses after a two-day battle "so that we can send these guys back to their mothers and wives."
"Russian or not Russian, we treated the bodies with dignity," he said, adding that they were sent to Kyiv.
In nearby Bashtanka village, Mayor Oleksandr Beregovyi said dead Russians were buried in mass graves after their documents were collected.
Keir Giles of the London-based think tank Chatham House said the difference between Western and Russian military attitudes about their war dead was "night and day . . . in exactly the same way as their attitude to civilian casualties and collateral damage is utterly unrecognizable from how Western militaries operate."
Russia had planned a swift operation in Ukraine, similar to what it had planned in its wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya, but then got bogged down. "And then Russia pivots from the clever way to the brute force way of winning wars," Giles said, and casualties mount on both sides.
In Chechnya, Russian officials had expected swift triumph. The storming of the capital, Grozny, in 1994 was a catastrophe, with soldiers in armored vehicles getting lost and lacking air support and working radios. But Russia's media at the time was free, and civil society was blossoming. News programs aired footage of Russian soldiers burning alive in armored vehicles. Horrified parents of soldiers simply went to Chechnya and took their sons home.
The Soldiers' Mothers Committee, then led by Valentina Melnikova, was a focal point for protests and anger. In December last year, as Russia's military massed near Ukraine, her phone was ringing off the hook again, although she is long retired, Melnikova recently told Russian YouTube interviewer Ekaterina Gordeyeva.
Melnikova declined interview requests from The Post, saying that it was dangerous for her or the organization to speak, because of the law against discrediting the military.
Before the Feb. 24 invasion, she gave parents the same advice as she did in the 1990s: Either go and collect their sons from the army and hide them somewhere safe, or tell them to run away, she said in the YouTube interview, the only one she has granted. Not one parent did so, she said.
After the invasion, "I felt like I was back in 1995. It was a terrible feeling," she said. "It was like Grozny again, when around 2,500 dead soldiers lay on the streets for a month, half-eaten by animals." She said she believes Ukraine's list is fairly accurate because it lists names from identity documents.
"But since our army does not collect the bodies of the dead and don't always pick up the wounded, there can be many discrepancies," she said, referring to Russia's figures. "It's cheaper to report them as 'missing in action.'"
Sergei Krivenko, director of the rights group "Citizen Army Law," said Russians were sensitive about deaths of conscripts. Putin has said that conscripts have not been sent to Ukraine, but some have been. Losses among volunteers or "contract" soldiers in Ukraine, however, are less shocking.
"The mentality is that you're paid for this and if you are sent to a military operation and you die, it's your choice," Krivenko said. "A soldier is just a tool to do a job. . . . The main task is to destroy the enemy, and how many losses we take is a secondary issue."
Krivenko said he doubted the mounting Russian deaths would spark enough popular discontent to threaten Putin.
"Propaganda is shouting constantly that we are defeating fascists in Ukraine. So as long as the number of dead doesn't increase one-hundred-fold, I do not think there will be any instability," he said.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/military/russias-war-dead-bely-its-slogan-that-no-one-is-left-behind/article_22c992bf-ef48-55c9-b4ea-383ca0801875.html
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A 59-year-old Manchester man had gotten out of his vehicle to help at the scene of a crash in the median on the Everett Turnpike in Merrimack when he was struck by another vehicle.
State police have made an arrest in the case of a driver who struck a Good Samaritan who had stopped to help at a crash scene early Friday morning on the F.E. Everett Turnpike in Merrimack, leaving the Good Samaritan with life-threatening injuries.
The victim, a 59-year-old man from Manchester, had pulled over on the right side of the southbound turnpike and gotten out of his vehicle to help at the scene of a motor vehicle crash in the center median that was blocking the left lane, according to a news release.
As the man was walking toward the crash scene, he was struck by a vehicle that entered the grass shoulder off the right side of the highway, state police said.
The victim was transported first to Elliot Hospital and then to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston with life-threatening injuries.
Police said the vehicle, which left the roadway and struck the pedestrian in the grass median, left the scene without stopping.
Late Friday, state police announced that Jose Enrique Cruz Vasquez, 30, of Manchester, was arrested. Police believe he is the driver of the car that struck the man.
State police said in a press release that Vasquez "was taken into custody at the New Hampshire State Police Troop B Barracks without incident." He is charged with reckless conduct with a deadly weapon and conduct after an accident. He will be arraigned at Hillsborough County Superior Court on Monday.
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/manchester-man-arrested-charged-in-case-of-striking-good-samaritan-on-everett-turnpike/article_92df8af0-b66e-5dab-ba67-d9a13f14a068.html
| 2022-04-09T05:16:20
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https://www.unionleader.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-500-rent-increase-in-two-years-isnt-right/article_98985e91-7660-58d3-805d-8c9ccfc17993.html
| 2022-04-09T05:16:26
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Boston Bruins center Charlie Coyle and defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) celebrate the game-winning goal as a dejected Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov skates by during overtime of Friday's game at Amalie Arena in Tampa.
Charlie Coyle scored 3:37 into overtime to lift the visiting Boston Bruins to a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday.
Jake DeBrusk initially set up Coyle at the doorstep but the puck squirted behind the net. DeBrusk, however, made a play with his body on Tampa Bay's Brayden Point, allowing Coyle to regain possession and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy for his 16th goal of the season and second in overtime.
DeBrusk also scored his seventh goal in his last seven games for the Bruins (45-21-5, 95 points), who improved to 18-4-1 in their last 23 contests and moved into sole possession of third place in the Atlantic Division. Boston won three of the four games in the season series against Tampa Bay.
Linus Ullmark finished with 28 saves to win his sixth straight start for the Bruins, who saw star David Pastrnak miss his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. Defenseman Hampus Lindholm also sat out with a lower-body injury.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored a goal and Vasilevskiy turned aside 35 shots for the Lightning (43-20-8, 94 points), who have lost a season-high four in a row (0-2-2).
Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov saw their respective eight- and six-game point streaks come to a halt.
Defenseman Erik Cernak nearly gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead midway into the third period, however his shot from the right circle caromed off the post.
The Bruins drew first blood 47 seconds into the second period after Cernak failed to clear the puck. Brad Marchand alertly fed DeBrusk, who backhanded the puck between the pads of Vasilevskiy for his 22nd goal of the season.
Tampa Bay answered at 3:28 of the second period after Corey Perry fed Bellemare in front of the net. Bellemare unleashed a blast over the glove of Ullmark for his eighth goal of the season and first since March 3.
Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli's shot from the slot caromed off the post to keep the game scoreless with 1:53 remaining in the first period.
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https://www.unionleader.com/sports/bruins/bruins-win-in-ot-send-lightning-to-fourth-straight-loss/article_d3476829-68a7-55db-911a-78738f34c30c.html
| 2022-04-09T05:16:32
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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – After beating rival Toledo by a score of 5-3 on Wednesday night the Walleye extracted their revenge at the Coliseum on Friday, topping Fort Wayne 6-2 in front of 7,526 fans.
The Komets got a pair of goal from Matt Alvaro in the first period, but trailed 3-2 after 20 minutes of action.
Toledo added three goals in the second period on the way to the 6-2 win. Brandon Hawkins, who played for the Komets last year, had two goals on the night for the Walleye.
Sam Harvey allowed 5 goals on 12 shots in 24:31 minutes of action before being replaced by Jordan Papirny.
The Komets have just four regular season games remaining. They’re back in action Saturday and Sunday with a pair of road games at Kalamazoo.
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https://www.wane.com/sports/komets/komets-crushed-by-walleye/
| 2022-04-09T05:22:45
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DAYTON, Ohio – The Fort Wayne TinCaps rallied late, but lost their 2022 opener to the Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds affiliate), 6-5, on Friday night at Day Air Ballpark.
After trailing 3-0 and then 6-1, the ‘Caps responded with a run in the eighth and then four in the ninth, but with the bases loaded, the Dragons eventually escaped.
Dayton jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, scoring one run in the first and two in the second inning. Dragons second basemen Jose Torres drove in two of the three runs with a single and double in the first and third, respectively.
The TinCaps’ dominant bullpen performance kept them in the game. Felix Minjarez entered the game midway through the bottom of the third inning and pitched a scoreless inning and two-thirds, recording all five of his outs via strikeouts.
In relief of Minjarez, Fort Recovery High School (OH) alum Nick Thwaits shined in his TinCaps debut back in the Buckeye State. Thwaits went a scoreless two innings with four strikeouts of his own. As a pair, Minjarez and Thwaits fanned nine of the 12 batters they faced.
Fort Wayne’s first run of the game came in the eighth inning on a Ripken Reyes solo home run. Reyes pulled the first pitch he saw in the top of the eighth inning, also the first pitch thrown by reliever Myles Gayman, and sent it beyond the right-field foul pole to make the score 3-1 at the time.
A pair of errors and a Nick Quintana double extended the Dayton lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, but once again the bullpen came up big. Right-handed pitcher Mason Fox entered with runners on second and third base and no outs. The Gardner-Webb product struck out all three batters he retired, only allowing Elly De La Cruz to reach on an error.
The TinCaps were not deterred by the deficit. Angel Solarte walked with one out and Olivier Basabe singled with two outs to make it first and third with score still 6-1. At that point Dragons’ reliever Donovan Benoit walked Ripken Reyes, Corey Rosier and Robert Hassell III to score two runs. Manuel Cachutt came in for Benoit and dealt out two more walks plus a wild pitch to score two more runs.
Starting pitcher Connor Phillips picked up the win for the Dragons with five scoreless innings, while Manuel Cachutt earned a save for Dayton.
Next Game: Saturday, April 9 @ Dayton (1:05 p.m.)
- Fort Wayne Probable Starter: RHP Ryan Bergert
- Dayton Probable Starter: RHP James Marinan
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https://www.wane.com/sports/tincaps/late-rally-falls-short-at-tincaps-drop-season-opener/
| 2022-04-09T05:22:51
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Jackson, COVID and a retirement show Congress’ partisan path
WASHINGTON (AP) — A milestone Supreme Court confirmation that endured a flawed process. The collapse of a bipartisan compromise for more pandemic funds. The departure of a stalwart of the dwindling band of moderate House Republicans.
Party-line fights on Capitol Hill are as old as the republic, and they routinely escalate as elections approach. Yet three events from a notable week illustrate how Congress’ near- and long-term paths point toward intensifying partisanship.
THE SENATE’S SUPREME COURT BATTLE
Democrats rejoiced Thursday when the Senate by 53-47 confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black female justice. They crowed about a bipartisan stamp of approval from the trio of Republicans who supported it: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah.
Yet by historical standards, the three opposition party votes were paltry and underscored the recent trend of Supreme Court confirmations becoming loyalty tests on party ideology. That’s a departure from a decades-long norm when senators might dislike a nominee’s judicial philosophy but defer to a president’s pick, barring a disqualifying revelation.
Murkowski said her support for Jackson was partly “rejection of the corrosive politicization” of how both parties consider Supreme Court nominations, which “is growing worse and more detached from reality by the year.”
Republicans said they would treat Jackson respectfully, and many did. Their questions and criticisms of her were pointed and partisan, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying “the Senate views itself as a co-partner in this process” with the president.
Yet some potential 2024 GOP presidential contenders seemed to use Jackson’s confirmation to woo hard-right support. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., misleadingly accused her of being unusually lenient on child pornography offenders. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., suggested she might have defended Nazis at the Nuremburg trials after World War II.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said some Republicans “went overboard, as far as I’m concerned, to the extreme,” reflecting “the reality of politics on Capitol Hill.” Cotton was “fundamentally unfair, but that is his tradition,” said Durbin.
SUPREME COURT BATTLES PAST
Senate approval of high court nominees by voice vote, without bothering to hold roll calls, was standard for most of the 20th Century. Conservative Antonin Scalia sailed into the Supreme Court by 98-0 in 1986, while liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg won 96-3 approval seven years later.
There were bitter fights. Democrats blocked conservative Robert Bork’s nomination in 1987 and unsuccessfully opposed Clarence Thomas’ ascension in 1991 after he was accused of sexual harassment.
Hard feelings intensified in early 2016. McConnell, then majority leader, blocked the Senate from even considering President Barack Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland to replace the deceased Scalia. McConnell cited the upcoming presidential election nearly nine months away, infuriating Democrats.
Donald Trump was elected and ultimately filled three vacancies over near-unanimous Democratic opposition.
They opposed Brett Kavanaugh after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman decades earlier. They voted solidly against Amy Coney Barrett after Trump and McConnell rushed through her nomination when a vacancy occurred just weeks before Election Day 2020, a sprint Democrats called hypocritical.
COVID SPENDING FIGHT, TRANSFORMED
Senators from both parties agreed to a $10 billion COVID-19 package Monday that President Joe Biden wants for more therapeutics, vaccines and tests. With BA.2, the new omicron variant, washing across the country, it seemed poised for congressional approval.
Hours later, bargainers led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, seemed blindsided when their compromise was derailed. Republicans wanted to add an extension of an expiring crackdown on migrants crossing the Mexican border that Trump imposed in 2020, citing the pandemic’s public health threat.
Many Republicans were skeptical that more COVID-19 money was necessary. But their demand for an immigration amendment transformed a fight over how much more to spend on a disease that’s killed 980,000 Americans into a battle over border security, tailor-made for upcoming GOP political campaigns.
Immigration divides Democrats, and Republicans believe the issue can further solidify their chances of winning congressional control in November’s elections. Playing defense, Schumer postponed debate on the COVID-19 bill.
Democrats deserved some blame for being outmaneuvered. House Democrats shot down a $15 billion agreement in March, rejecting compromise budget savings to pay for it.
And in glaringly tone-deaf political timing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week, just as bargainers were finalizing their latest compromise, that the Trump-era immigration curbs would lapse on May 23.
That gave Republicans an irresistible political gift to pursue.
A MODERATE’S FAREWELL
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., announced his retirement Tuesday. He’s the fourth of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year to say they won’t seek reelection.
Upton attributed his departure to running in a new district, but that didn’t stop Trump from proclaiming: “UPTON QUITS! 4 down and 6 to go.” The House impeached Trump over his incitement of supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but the GOP-run Senate acquitted him.
Now in his 18th term, Upton’s departure subtracts another moderate from a GOP that’s shifted rightward in recent years, particularly when it comes to showing fealty to Trump.
The pro-business Upton, 68, was a driving force on one law spurring pharmaceutical development and has worked with Democrats on legislation affecting energy and the auto industry. His work across the aisle and his affability placed him in the ever-smaller group of Republicans who draw Democrats’ praise.
“To him, bipartisan and compromise are not forbidden words,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.
PARTY DIFFERENCES, THEN AND NOW
Pitched battles are now habitual over bills financing federal agencies and extending the government’s borrowing authority. When those disputes are resolved and federal shutdowns and defaults averted, lawmakers hail as triumphs what is their most rudimentary task — keeping government functioning.
Despite the divisions over COVID-19 money and Jackson, there has also been cooperation.
Congress overwhelmingly voted Thursday to ban Russian oil and downgrade trade relations with that country following its invasion of Ukraine. There’s progress on bipartisan trade and technology legislation, and a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure measure became law last year.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-09T05:29:35
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Jackson, COVID and a retirement show Congress’ partisan path
WASHINGTON (AP) — A milestone Supreme Court confirmation that endured a flawed process. The collapse of a bipartisan compromise for more pandemic funds. The departure of a stalwart of the dwindling band of moderate House Republicans.
Party-line fights on Capitol Hill are as old as the republic, and they routinely escalate as elections approach. Yet three events from a notable week illustrate how Congress’ near- and long-term paths point toward intensifying partisanship.
THE SENATE’S SUPREME COURT BATTLE
Democrats rejoiced Thursday when the Senate by 53-47 confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black female justice. They crowed about a bipartisan stamp of approval from the trio of Republicans who supported it: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah.
Yet by historical standards, the three opposition party votes were paltry and underscored the recent trend of Supreme Court confirmations becoming loyalty tests on party ideology. That’s a departure from a decades-long norm when senators might dislike a nominee’s judicial philosophy but defer to a president’s pick, barring a disqualifying revelation.
Murkowski said her support for Jackson was partly “rejection of the corrosive politicization” of how both parties consider Supreme Court nominations, which “is growing worse and more detached from reality by the year.”
Republicans said they would treat Jackson respectfully, and many did. Their questions and criticisms of her were pointed and partisan, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying “the Senate views itself as a co-partner in this process” with the president.
Yet some potential 2024 GOP presidential contenders seemed to use Jackson’s confirmation to woo hard-right support. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., misleadingly accused her of being unusually lenient on child pornography offenders. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., suggested she might have defended Nazis at the Nuremburg trials after World War II.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said some Republicans “went overboard, as far as I’m concerned, to the extreme,” reflecting “the reality of politics on Capitol Hill.” Cotton was “fundamentally unfair, but that is his tradition,” said Durbin.
SUPREME COURT BATTLES PAST
Senate approval of high court nominees by voice vote, without bothering to hold roll calls, was standard for most of the 20th Century. Conservative Antonin Scalia sailed into the Supreme Court by 98-0 in 1986, while liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg won 96-3 approval seven years later.
There were bitter fights. Democrats blocked conservative Robert Bork’s nomination in 1987 and unsuccessfully opposed Clarence Thomas’ ascension in 1991 after he was accused of sexual harassment.
Hard feelings intensified in early 2016. McConnell, then majority leader, blocked the Senate from even considering President Barack Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland to replace the deceased Scalia. McConnell cited the upcoming presidential election nearly nine months away, infuriating Democrats.
Donald Trump was elected and ultimately filled three vacancies over near-unanimous Democratic opposition.
They opposed Brett Kavanaugh after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman decades earlier. They voted solidly against Amy Coney Barrett after Trump and McConnell rushed through her nomination when a vacancy occurred just weeks before Election Day 2020, a sprint Democrats called hypocritical.
COVID SPENDING FIGHT, TRANSFORMED
Senators from both parties agreed to a $10 billion COVID-19 package Monday that President Joe Biden wants for more therapeutics, vaccines and tests. With BA.2, the new omicron variant, washing across the country, it seemed poised for congressional approval.
Hours later, bargainers led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, seemed blindsided when their compromise was derailed. Republicans wanted to add an extension of an expiring crackdown on migrants crossing the Mexican border that Trump imposed in 2020, citing the pandemic’s public health threat.
Many Republicans were skeptical that more COVID-19 money was necessary. But their demand for an immigration amendment transformed a fight over how much more to spend on a disease that’s killed 980,000 Americans into a battle over border security, tailor-made for upcoming GOP political campaigns.
Immigration divides Democrats, and Republicans believe the issue can further solidify their chances of winning congressional control in November’s elections. Playing defense, Schumer postponed debate on the COVID-19 bill.
Democrats deserved some blame for being outmaneuvered. House Democrats shot down a $15 billion agreement in March, rejecting compromise budget savings to pay for it.
And in glaringly tone-deaf political timing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week, just as bargainers were finalizing their latest compromise, that the Trump-era immigration curbs would lapse on May 23.
That gave Republicans an irresistible political gift to pursue.
A MODERATE’S FAREWELL
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., announced his retirement Tuesday. He’s the fourth of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year to say they won’t seek reelection.
Upton attributed his departure to running in a new district, but that didn’t stop Trump from proclaiming: “UPTON QUITS! 4 down and 6 to go.” The House impeached Trump over his incitement of supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but the GOP-run Senate acquitted him.
Now in his 18th term, Upton’s departure subtracts another moderate from a GOP that’s shifted rightward in recent years, particularly when it comes to showing fealty to Trump.
The pro-business Upton, 68, was a driving force on one law spurring pharmaceutical development and has worked with Democrats on legislation affecting energy and the auto industry. His work across the aisle and his affability placed him in the ever-smaller group of Republicans who draw Democrats’ praise.
“To him, bipartisan and compromise are not forbidden words,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.
PARTY DIFFERENCES, THEN AND NOW
Pitched battles are now habitual over bills financing federal agencies and extending the government’s borrowing authority. When those disputes are resolved and federal shutdowns and defaults averted, lawmakers hail as triumphs what is their most rudimentary task — keeping government functioning.
Despite the divisions over COVID-19 money and Jackson, there has also been cooperation.
Congress overwhelmingly voted Thursday to ban Russian oil and downgrade trade relations with that country following its invasion of Ukraine. There’s progress on bipartisan trade and technology legislation, and a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure measure became law last year.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-09T05:45:51
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Vehicle catches fire on I-95 in Jupiter
Published: Apr. 9, 2022 at 12:16 AM EDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
A vehicle rolled over and caught fire on southbound Interstate 95 on Friday morning.
Palm Beach county Fire Rescue responded to a two-vehicle crash at 10:40 a.m.
The occupants of the vehicle on fire were able to get out before the flames erupted. Three patients were transported to the hospital.
PBFR posted video of the fire on Facebook.
Scripps Only Content 2022
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| 2022-04-09T05:45:53
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Rookies no more: Young pair leads Bruins to a playoff spot
Published 10:25 pm Friday, April 8, 2022
The Austin Bruins chased some old ghosts out of Riverside Arena when they earned their way back into the postseason after a two-year drought with a 3-0 win over the Aberdeen Wings Friday.
The Bruins barely missed the playoffs last year and they would have made the playoffs in the 2019-2020 season, but COVID-19 put a premature end to that season.
Austin was led by a pair of rookies in the win as Anthony Menghini scored two goals and Klayton Knapp scored his second shutout of the season.
Menhini and Knapp have been crucial to Austin’s postseason push throughout the last month.
“You can’t say enough about Knapper and what he’s done and back there. He’s playing good hockey and we’re excited for him,” Austin head coach Steve Howard said. “Anthony’s been scoring some huge goals for us lately.”
After taking a 1-0 lead on a power play goal by Jens Richards, the Bruins (29-23-2-3 overall) turned a negative into a positive when Menghini took a clean swipe from Aberdeen before gliding through for a shorthanded goal that made it 2-0 Austin.
Menghini, who is from Brainerd, has been a huge addition for the Bruins as he now has 18 goals and nine assists in just 35 games.
“We’ve all been working hard in practice and it’s been a lot of fun,” Menghini said. “It’s great to get to the playoffs.”
Knapp was sturdy between the pipes all night as he finished with 25 saves. He is now 15-13-0-1 overall on the season.
“You have to stay focused back there,” Knapp said. “What a great team game. Guys came back hard to find and block shots. We were able to get three past their goalie, who had a really good game of his own.”
Austin (30-22-3-2 overall) has three games remaining in the regular season and it will have home ice advantage in the first round of the NAHL Central Division Playoffs if it can win two of those games. The Bruins currently trail third place Aberdeen by two points and their final three regular season games are against each other.
If they meet in the playoffs, which is very probable, the Wings and Bruins will be very familiar with each other.
“I mean obviously punching their ticket was with the motivation for tonight but now we look ahead to we’ve got to win two of the next three to get to second seed and be at home,” Howard said. “ We’re probably going to see these guys a lot and we may end up seeing them in 11 out of 10 games.”
Howard has led the Bruins to the playoffs before and he wants the team thinking bigger this time around. The team hit a slump while dealing with injuries for a month-long stretch earlier this season, but he feels the Bruins are back on their feet now.
“We have to stay focused on the task at hand and you know it’s not just about making playoffs,” Howard said. “It’s now about winning games and trying to get back to the Robertson Cup. It’s been quite a bit of time since the Austin Bruins have been in the Robertson. I”ve been here five years and haven’t made it.”
SCORING SUMMARY
Aberdeen 0 0 0 — 0
Austin 2 1 0 — 3
First period
(A) Jens Richards (power play) (Sutter Muzzatti, Alex Trombley) 12:01
(A) Anthony Menghini (short handed) (Nick Catalano, Liam Whitehouse) 15:50
Second period
(A) Menghini (power play) (Carson Riddle, Catalano) (power play) 8:28
Third period
No scoring
Shots: Austin — 26; Aberdeen — 25
Power plays: Austin — 2-for-3; Aberdeen — 2-for-3
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https://www.austindailyherald.com/2022/04/rookies-no-more-young-pair-leads-bruins-to-a-playoff-spot/
| 2022-04-09T05:58:24
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JACKSONVILLE — Offensive struggles started after a spring-break trip to Gulf Shores and followed top seed Alexandria all the way to the championship round of the Calhoun County softball tournament. Then the Valley Cubs erupted.
A day after falling into the elimination bracket with a loss to Piedmont, Alexandria beat Piedmont 14-4 and 12-2 in Friday’s championship round on Jacksonville State’s University Field to clinch its fourth consecutive county title.
The county title was Alexandria’s 11th under Brian Hess, who also coached the Valley Cubs to state titles in 2004 and 2014.
Piedmont put the Valley Cubs (30-7) in the elimination bracket with a 3-2 victory Thursday at Calhoun County Sports Complex. Before the championship round, Alexandria scored a combined six runs in victories over Oxford, Pleasant Valley and White Plains.
Hess held a postgame practice after a 2-0 victory over Oxford on Monday. He gave Class 5A’s top-ranked team a spirited postgame talk following the loss to Piedmont on Thursday and another before Friday’s games.
“We had a long talk just about heart and communication, and, honestly, I talked to them about their legacy,” Hess said. “What kind of legacy do they want to leave here?”
Alexandria pitcher and repeat tournament most valuable player Rylee Gattis called Hess’ talks “very driven.”
“It was very much for us to get our heads on straight and for us to focus,” she said. “They knew we weren’t playing like we have been. We’re not the team we’ve been the last couple of weeks.
“Today, I think we proved we’re back to ourselves.”
Alexandria, the #CalhounSoftball22 champion. pic.twitter.com/W0lnSZwBAj
— Joe Medley (@jmedley_star) April 9, 2022
After an anxious elimination-bracket final with White Plains in Friday’s first game, Alexandria came out swinging against Piedmont.
The Valley Cubs set the tone with two-run home runs from Ashley Phillips and Christian Hess in the first inning of Friday’s first game with Piedmont.
The Valley Cubs added three runs in the third inning … one on an error and two on RBI singles from Addie Jennings and Pressley Slaton.
Gattis and twin sister Chloe Gattis had run-scoring hits in the fourth, and the Valley Cubs’ five-run fifth featured Brenlee Sparks’ RBI double, Rylee Gattis’ RBI single and Chloe Gattis’ two-run double.
Armoni Perry had a big game for Piedmont (14-9), crushing a two-run home run in the second inning and a two-run double in the fourth inning.
Alexandria opened the “if” game against Piedmont with RBI singles from Phillips and Jennings in the top of the first inning,
Piedmont, ranked No. 8 in 3A and making what’s believed to be the program’s first appearance in the county finals in the fast-pitch era, tied it on Savannah Smith’s sacrifice bunt and Emily Farmer’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning.
Phillips keyed a six-run Alexandria second with a two-run triple, and the Valley Cubs led the rest of the way. Chloe Gattis added a two-run double in Alexandria’s three-run fifth, and Jill Cockrell’s sacrifice followed Sparks’ triple in the seventh.
“It wasn’t really anything that snapped us back,” Rylee Gattis said. “We just had our heads on today and said, we’re getting this done.”
Piedmont hopes to build on a county breakthrough, which comes 11 months after the Bulldogs made the state tournament for the first time in the fast-pitch era. The Bulldogs beat Alexandria and No. 2 seed White Plains on Thursday.
“It’s something we talk about every year, that we want to try to make strides, try to do a little bit better than we did the year before and keep the program in an upward direction,” Piedmont coach Rachel Smith said. “I talked to my girls that they were able to accomplish that.
“Credit to Alexandria. They’re a great ballclub. Gattis is a great player. They did what they had to do to beat us twice today, but this is something we can build on for the future, definitely.”
Alexandria 1, White Plains 0: Slaton scored from third base on a double steal in the bottom of the seventh inning for the lone run of the elimination-bracket final, sending Alexandria to the championship round.
Slaton walked to reach base, took second base on pinch hitter Sparks’ sacrifice bunt and moved to third on Cockrell’s grounder plus a White Plains error.
Cockrell’s steal attempt drew a throw from freshman catcher Callie Richardson, and Slaton scored.
Rylee Gattis pitched the complete game for the win, allowing two walks and two hits with 10 strikeouts.
White Plains’ Leighton Arnold also pitched a complete game, twice working out of jams when Alexandria got three runners on base.
The Valley Cubs nearly loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning, but White Plains shortstop Callyn Martin faked a throw to first base on Cockrell’s grounder then threw to third base, catching Slaton off of the bag.
Arnold retired the next two batters.
Alexandria loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, but Arnold struck out the next two batters.
Arnold allowed three hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
All-tournament team:
Alexandria: Rylee Gattis (MVP), Chloe Gattis (offensive MVP), Jill Cockrell, Ashley Phillips, Christian Hess.
Piedmont: Emily Farmer (defensive MVP), Savannah Smith, Jenna Calvert, Cayla Brothers.
Pleasant Valley: Lily Henry, Macey Roper.
White Plains: Leighton Arnold, Callyn Martin.
Oxford: Berkley Mooney, Ashlyn Burns.
Ohatchee: Kylee Barnes, Alanah Fitch.
Jacksonville: Kaitlyn Hamm.
Weaver: Taylor Lawrence.
2022 Calhoun County softball tournament
At Calhoun County Sports Complex, JSU
Seedings/records
1. Alexandria: 30-7
2. White Plains: 23-6
3. Piedmont: 14-9
4. Pleasant Valley: 18-13-1
5. Weaver: 13-11
6. Jacksonville: 17-17-1
7. Ohatchee: 12-14-1
8. Oxford: 8-12-2
9. Jacksonville Christian: 7-5
10. Saks: 5-23-1
11. Wellborn: 3-11
12. Anniston: 2-8
13, Faith Christian: 0-13
Schedule
Monday
At Calhoun County Sports Complex
(Double elimination)
No. 7 Ohatchee 10, No. 10 Saks 2
No. 6 Jacksonville 8, No. 11 Wellborn 5
No. 4 Pleasant Valley 16, No. 13 Faith Christian 0
No. 5 Weaver 12, No. 12 Anniston 1
No. 8 Oxford 14, No. 9 Jacksonville Christian 0
Winners’ bracket
No. 1 Alexandria 2, Oxford 0
No. 2 White Plains 8, Ohatchee 0
No. 3 Piedmont 9, Jacksonville 4
Pleasant Valley 8, Weaver 2
Elimination bracket
Anniston 8, Faith Christian 4
Ohatchee 16, Anniston 1
Weaver 9, Saks 2
Oxford 11, Wellborn 0
Jacksonville 9, Jacksonville Christian 0
Thursday
At Calhoun County Sports Complex
Winners’ bracket semifinals
Piedmont 4, White Plains 3
Alexandria 3, Pleasant Valley 2
Piedmont 3, Alexandria 2
Elimination bracket
Ohatchee 5, Jacksonville 0
Oxford 10, Weaver 2
Pleasant Valley 3, Ohatchee 2
White Plains 5, Oxford 2
White Plains 7, Pleasant Valley 2
Friday
At JSU
Elimination-bracket final
Alexandria 1, White Plains 0
Championship
Alexandria 14, Piedmont 4
Alexandria 12, Piedmont 2
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| 2022-04-09T06:00:36
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Jae-Taj Morris went 4-for-4 with two doubles, three runs, one RBI and one stolen base to lead Jacksonville to a 10-4 win over Cleburne County on Friday.
Nick Salmon got the win on the mound, allowed one run (unearned) on three hits and one walk over four innings pitched. He had six strikeouts. At the plate, Salmon went 1-for-2 with two RBIs.
Other top performers for Jacksonville:
—Kody Willingham, 2-for-3, three runs, one RBI, two stolen bases.
—Jim Ogle, 3-for-4, three RBIs, stolen base.
—Jackson Bonner, 1-for-3, one run.
—Drew Pridgen, 2-for-3, one run.
Top performers for Cleburne County:
—Matthew Brown, 1-for-4, one run.
—Kannon Robertson, 2-for-4, one RBI.
—Brody Gaines, 1-for-3, one run.
—Brennan Jarrell, 1-for-2.
Oxford 10, Pell City 6: The Yellow Jackets rallied from behind with five runs in the top of the fifth inning to down the Panthers on Friday.
Hayes Harrison, who went 1-for-3 at the plate, came on to pitch the final three innings, earning the save. He allowed three hits and no walks over three scoreless innings and finished with three strikeouts.
Peyton Watts led the way for Oxford at the plate, finishing 3-for-5 with four runs and one RBI. Miguel Mitchell was 2-for-4 with a double, one run and two RBIs.
Other top performers for Oxford.
—Carter Johnson, 2-for-4, two RBIs.
—Tide Gann, 1-for-3, one run.
—Forrest Heacock, 1-for-3.
—Hudson Gilman, 1-for-1.
—Sam Robertson, one run, one RBI.
—RJ Brooks, one RBI.
—Chance Griner, one run.
Donoho 11, Victory Christian 1: Slade Haney went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the Falcons past the Lions on Friday.
The win improved Donoho’s record to 12-3 this season.
Will Folsom got the win on the mound, allowing one earned run on four hits and two walks over five innings pitched. He finished with five strikeouts.
Other top performers for Donoho:
—Nic Thompson, 2-for-3, three runs.
—Lucas Elliott, 1-for-4, three runs, one RBI.
—Judson Billings, 2-for-4, three RBIs.
—Blake Sewell, 1-for-1, two runs.
—Peyton Webb, 1-for-2, one run, two RBIs.
—Conner Goodson, 1-for-1, one run, one RBI.
Alexandria sweeps Moody: The Valley Cubs took all three games in a Class 5A, Area 11 series against Moody this week. Alexandria won at Moody on Monday 6-4 before sweeping the Devils at home 8-7 and 3-2 Thursday.
Alexandria was led by Aiden Brunner, who finished the three-game set 3-for-7 with three runs and four RBIs. He had a home run in Game 2, and drove in the game-winning run with a single in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Other top performers for Alexandria over the three-game series:
—Austin West, 4-for-11, one RBI, one stolen base.
—Sam Wade, 4-for-9, two runs, one RBI, one stolen base.
—Samuel Henegar, 4-for-10, double, two runs, one RBI.
—Ian Cartwright, 5-for-11, two runs, two RBIs.
—Aaron Johnson, 2-for-7, one run, two RBIs.
—Van Hall, 1-for-2, three runs, one stolen base.
—Jake Upton, 1-for-3, two RBIs.
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https://www.annistonstar.com/sports/high_school/prep-baseball-roundup-morris-leads-jacksonville-past-cleburne-county/article_6f1f36d6-b7b9-11ec-80f7-5bf05a02103f.html
| 2022-04-09T06:00:42
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JACKSONVILLE — On Saturday at 1 p.m. the Jacksonville State Gamecocks host the program’s first public spring scrimmage since 2018 after the last three were canceled by a severe weather threat, a global pandemic and a football season delayed to the spring.
Even the 2018 game was a weird one considering it took place in the aftermath of the March 19 tornado.
So to say the Gamecocks are excited to get back to normal is an understatement.
Of course, this will also be the fans first chance to see what the Gamecocks will look like under new coach Rich Rodriguez.
After observing the team’s practices for the last several weeks, here’s five things I’m excited to watch on Saturday:
1. Quarterback competition
Let’s not beat around the bush. Even when there isn’t a competition the quarterbacks are almost always the main attraction during a scrimmage, and that should be the case Saturday.
The two front-runners for the job include redshirt senior Zion Webb, who was named an Ohio Valley Conference first-team passer after throwing for 1,777 yards in the 2021 spring season. He also rushed for 399 yards and five touchdowns.
Webb missed all of last season while recovering from an ACL injury, but that doesn’t seem to be bothering him this spring. His athleticism has been on full display throughout the spring, and in last Saturday’s scrimmage he was clocked as the fastest guy on the field, running 20.98 mph.
His main competition is sophomore Matthew Caldwell, who completed 17 of 38 passes in the fall for 163 yards and one interception. Caldwell also carried the ball five times for 27 yards and one touchdown. Experience might be on Webb’s side in this one, but it is the sophomore who has dazzled with his arm in recent practices, suggesting this one might be far from over.
2. The tempo
Rodriguez has a reputation for pushing the pace, and he’s lived up to that since his first practice in Jacksonville. Players at just about every position have commented on the change during the spring.
The speed didn’t just push the players physically, as several commented that the increased tempo kept them on their toes mentally as well. Some, like sophomore receiver P.J. Wells, were surprised how a faster offense led to busier, more productive practices.
“Most definitely a culture shock,” Wells said March 31. “Just with us coming out and everything is back-to-back-to-back and there is no wasted time, no wasted movement in any way form or fashion. So I feel there was definitely an adjustment to that.”
3. Defensive domination
Rodriguez said it typically takes the offense a little longer to adjust to his system and that’s certainly been the case this spring.
The defense has been ahead from the start and that’s shone up on the scoreboard all spring long. The coaches award points after each rep, and on March 29, the defense won almost two-thirds of the reps.
Things have been a lot more competitive since Rodriguez challenged his entire offense following that lopsided practice, but the offensive unit remains at least a step behind.
4. Hard-hitting defensive backs
The defensive backs in particular have shined this spring, regularly recording interceptions in practice.
That’s not to say they haven’t made their fair share of mistakes. Wide receivers and tight ends have beaten them on plenty of routes, but the secondary has closed on the ball extremely well, forcing more than its fair share of dropped passes.
If there are any 50-50 balls thrown up Saturday, bet on the defensive backs to win most of those plays like they’ve done all spring.
5. Other skill players
Rodriguez has challenged his receivers to step up as blockers at times this spring. At the same time, the running backs and tight ends have seen plenty of snaps lined up out wide. In fact, both Webb and Caldwell appear to look for their backs and tight ends in the passing game almost as often as they look for their receivers.
Last season, Jacksonville State receivers caught 132 passes for 1,641 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Meanwhile, running backs and tight ends combined to catch 63 passes for 671 yards and three touchdowns.
Depending on which athletes are in, it’s certainly possible the Gamecocks passing game could almost be position agnostic at times this fall. If practice is any indication, non-receivers should certainly finish the season with more receiving touchdowns than last year’s group.
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https://www.annistonstar.com/sports/jsu-football-five-reasons-to-be-excited-for-rich-rods-first-spring-game/article_902646e0-b7b3-11ec-964f-9ba3a6a34d25.html
| 2022-04-09T06:00:48
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https://www.annistonstar.com/sports/jsu-football-five-reasons-to-be-excited-for-rich-rods-first-spring-game/article_902646e0-b7b3-11ec-964f-9ba3a6a34d25.html
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FAYETTEVILLE — Sylacauga pitcher Lani Varner struck out her first batter on Friday afternoon, and the junior never looked back as she proceeded to strike out 11 of the 23 opposing batters she faced in the Aggies’ 15-3, six-inning victory at Fayetteville.
“She is a workhorse,” Sylacauga coach Chad Wilkinson said. “She wants to be in that circle. She wants the ball in her hand, and she does a great job for us. She really does.”
Varner also recorded nine strikeouts in a 4-1 win over Childersburg on Thursday, and she has 106 this season alone.
Of course, her pitching wasn’t the only thing that went right for the Aggies (12-12). Seven different girls recorded at least one hit. The Aggies finished with 12 total hits and five forced errors.
“It gives me way more confidence, and I feel like they have my back,” said Varner of the offensive display. “And I feel like I don’t have to worry about it all being on me.”
That consistent firepower gave Sylacauga an 11-3 lead headed into the bottom of the fifth inning. Fayetteville (12-9) then responded with three hits, to double the team’s current total, in the bottom of the inning, but the Wolves were unable to bring anyone home with the bases loaded.
The Aggies added two more runs to take a 10-run lead before junior Mason Porch hit her first home run in almost a year to extend Sylacauga’s lead by two more.
“Pure happiness like you have so much support behind you, and you just feel like you are coming home to a family,” said Porch describing the moment she jumped on home plate in front of her cheering teammates.
In the sixth inning, Fayetteville pitcher Scarlett Nichols recorded the Wolves' seventh hit to start the rally. Eighth-grader Taylor Hammonds joined her one out later with a hit of her own, but the Wolves were again unable to bring in runners.
The loss ends Fayetteville’s best winning streak of the season at four, although the Wolves were able to lock up the top seed in the area tournament with a 4-3 victory over Vincent on Thursday night.
The victory extends Sylacauga’s winning streak to three, which is quite the turnaround since the Aggies dropped six of their seven previous games.
“Right now, we are seeing the ball better, we’re hitting the ball,” Wilkinson said. “That is the one thing we were lacking in the last couple of weeks, and when you get the whole lineup that is energized and want to hit and they get in there, and they do their job and get runners on base and drive them in, it is a beautiful thing to watch.”
What to know
— Porch finished with a game-high four RBIs. She also recorded two hits, the home run and a double, and she scored twice as well. The junior also forced one error in the fourth inning, allowing two of her teammates to cross home plate.
— Sylacauga leadoff hitter Raegan Wills finished with a game-high three hits, two for double. She also recorded two RBIs and scored a game-high three runs. Wills also forced an error in the fourth inning and walked once. Teammates Brighton Clary (two hits, two walks and one error) and Baylee Harwell (two hits, one walk, one error) also finished with a perfect on-base percentage.
— Kathryn Holley got the Wolves on the board when she drove in Hammonds despite facing two outs. Holley then stole her way to third, where Maggie Brooks drove her in with a double. Junior Natalie Liner then swapped places with Brooks with a double of her own that likely would have cleared the fence had it flown 18 inches higher.
— Liner was the only Wolf to record multiple hits. She finished with two and walked in her only other plate appearance.
Who said
— Fayetteville coach Chris Sherbert on locking up the area’s top seed: “We are excited about it. I think it has been a long time since we’ve been able to host the area tournament, but like I told the girls. We’ve really accomplished nothing. Hosting the area tournament doesn’t get you to regionals. And that was why I was disappointed. We play these games, we play up like we did tonight to get you ready for regionals. I said ‘hey we’re not ready for regionals, but the good news is we don’t have to be. We still got five weeks.’”
— Wilkinson on Porch’s home run: “Coming down here I was telling myself if we don’t hit some home runs here tonight or at least one, I’m going to be disappointed because the girls are swinging the bats a little better this week and hopefully can carry over to next week when we got two big region games against Clay Central and Shelby County. So hopefully, our momentum and our hitting will carry over to those two big ball games.”
— Porch on Varner’s dominance inside the circle: “You can count on her. No matter what. She is literally the best.”
Up Next
— Sylacauga hosts Childersburg on Monday at 5 p.m.
— Fayetteville travels to Central Coosa County on Monday at 6 p.m.
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https://www.annistonstar.com/the_daily_home/dh_sports/sylacauga-overwhelms-fayetteville-with-dominant-pitching-consistent-offense/article_6459c48e-b7b2-11ec-860b-276ed7692a82.html
| 2022-04-09T06:00:54
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https://www.annistonstar.com/the_daily_home/dh_sports/sylacauga-overwhelms-fayetteville-with-dominant-pitching-consistent-offense/article_6459c48e-b7b2-11ec-860b-276ed7692a82.html
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SALTILLO – Brant Smith thought it was a routine fly ball, and so did most everyone else.
But it turned out to be a grand slam, and it lifted New Hope to a 7-4 win over No. 6-ranked Saltillo on a frigid Friday night. The win pulls the Trojans (20-2, 5-1) into a tie for first with the Tigers (17-5, 5-1) in Division 1-5A.
New Hope was trailing 4-2 in the sixth when Smith stepped to the plate with one out. He lifted a 1-2 pitch high in the air down the right field line.
“I was just hoping it was going to stay fair, maybe get down and score a couple of runs, or maybe a sac fly, get a run home,” Smith said.
When the ball cleared the foul pole 300 feet away, he was as surprised as anyone, including his coach, Lee Boyd.
“I actually thought it was a routine fly ball off the bat,” Boyd said. “Ball getting out of the yard never even crossed my mind.”
It was the only time all night New Hope loaded the bases. Saltillo, on the other hand, loaded them five times but capitalized just once. That was in the third, when Daniel Meeks slapped a two-run double to tie the game 2-2.
In the four other bases-loaded situations, Saltillo hitters flew out twice and struck out twice. The Tigers stranded 17 runners.
“Ball in play scores runs, and we did not do that tonight,” Saltillo coach Eric Reynolds said.
After Meeks tied it in the third, Saltillo pulled ahead when a botched pickoff attempt allowed a run to score. An RBI double by Drake Douglas in the fourth made it 4-2.
New Hope starter Austin Minichino was chased after three innings, but Dawson Lofton (4-1) threw four strong innings of relief. He allowed one run on four hits, struck out five and worked around six walks.
He got a strikeout looking with the bases loaded to end the game.
Minichino and Lofton threw nearly 200 pitches combined.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever won a baseball game where I’ve had both my pitchers hit close to the 100-pitch mark. Nine times out of 10 you lose a ballgame like that,” Boyd said.
Ben Webb (2-3) took the loss. He allowed six runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Extra Bases
Big Inning: New Hope loaded the bags in the sixth with a single and two hit-by-pitches.
Big Stat: Saltillo had eight hits, but just one over the final three innings.
Coach Speak: “Playing small ball, using our speed, forcing people into mistakes is our game. When you’re not doing that, you’re going to get beat.” – Reynolds
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/trojans-make-tigers-pay-for-missed-chances/article_ef5b54db-6b36-569c-b781-a7a639581a6e.html
| 2022-04-09T06:04:21
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https://www.djournal.com/sports/trojans-make-tigers-pay-for-missed-chances/article_ef5b54db-6b36-569c-b781-a7a639581a6e.html
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It's time to get loud because Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are one step closer to marriage!
Almost two decades after the superstars called it quits, the "On the Floor" singer and the Argo director are once again engaged, she confirmed via her On the JLo newsletter on April 8. In a video message sent to her fans, a tearful Lopez showed off her gorgeous green ring, saying, "You're perfect."
Lopez, 52, and Affleck, 49, were previously set to tie the knot in the early aughts. However, after a highly-publicized romance, the pair called off their wedding and later ended their first engagement in January 2004.
Following their split, the duo went on to have separate relationships, with Lopez welcoming twins Emme and Max with ex-husband Marc Anthony and Affleck welcoming three kids--Violet, Seraphina and Samuel--with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
Though they went their separate ways, Lopez and Affleck remained on friendly terms and publicly supported each other over the years. Then in May, after Lopez's breakup with Alex Rodriguez, the Grammy nominee and the Oscar winner started time together again, even enjoying a getaway to Montana.
Jennifer Lopez Through The Years
From that point on, Lopez and Affleck became inseparable, even bonding with each other's families. "Jennifer has made a big effort to get to know Ben's kids and welcome them into her home and her life," a source told E! News in August. "They have spent a lot of time getting to know each other and letting the kids have fun and bond."
The insider also shared that Lopez and Affleck were embracing "fun things that they can all do together" when they both have their kids with them.
A separate source told E! News last summer that the couple was fully committed to each other but not ready to get engaged just yet. "They are both very secure within their relationship and Ben worships her," the insider said. "It's truly meant to be and everyone around them thinks they are a perfect match."
All that was missing was the ring, until now.
Over the past year, they've attended major Hollywood events by each other's sides, partying at both the 2022 Super Bowl and 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards, where J.Lo received the Icon honor. Affleck watched on from the crowd along with her 14-year-old daughter Emme, making for a super sweet moment.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/jennifer-lopez-and-ben-affleck-are-engaged/3638359/
| 2022-04-09T06:05:13
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/jennifer-lopez-and-ben-affleck-are-engaged/3638359/
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Tommy Lopez
Created: April 08, 2022 10:23 PM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico has passed new protections for Native children, providing more assurance they can remain within tribal communities if their parents cannot take care of them.
There are federal protections for these issues, but many had feared they could come to an end because of legal challenges from non-Native families. Now, New Mexico has passed a law that would keep these protections in the state even if the federal rules go away.
Many gathered at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque Friday to celebrate the passage, including 14-year-old Than Povi Baca. After her mother was murdered, she was adopted on the Santa Clara Pueblo. She said the federal protections, solidified now on the state level with the Indian Family Protection Act, are the reason for her success story.
"I wouldn't be in my community, my pueblo," she said. "I wouldn't have met my real uncles and aunties."
Advocates said the new state law actually protects Native families more than the federal version.
"[It] allows for tribes to get involved at any point during an adoption or placement process," said Angel Charley, the executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women.
Jacqueline Yalch, president of the New Mexico Tribal Indian Child Welfare Consortium, said the current rules aren't always followed even now, and this new action from the state will really help hundreds of children a year.
"They are our children. The community wants to help support these children and raise their children," Yalch said. "Give them the opportunity that they have that tribal right to."
The federal protections – the Indian Child Welfare Act – is facing multiple challenges right now, including in Texas. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments, although there's no date set yet.
Copyright 2022 - KOB-TV LLC, A Hubbard Broadcasting Company
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https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/advocates-celebrate-new-protections-for-native-children-in-new-mexico/6441194/?cat=500
| 2022-04-09T06:07:11
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https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/advocates-celebrate-new-protections-for-native-children-in-new-mexico/6441194/?cat=500
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Chase Golightly
Updated: April 08, 2022 10:10 PM
Created: April 08, 2022 09:41 PM
SANTA FE, N.M. — A wildfire burning northwest of Las Vegas continues to tear through the Santa Fe National Forest.
The Hermits Peak Fire started burning Wednesday afternoon. It started as a prescribed burn that got out of control due to the wind.
Julie Anne Overton with the Santa Fe National Forest says about 100 firefighters are battling the fire. However, the location of it is making it harder for those crews.
"It's a very challenging situation,” Overton said. “That's why we are relying on aviation resources to a great deal."
This isn’t the only prescribed burn turned wildfire this week in New Mexico. It happened in Chaves County with the Overflow Fire near Roswell.
These fires are bringing back troubling memories of the devastating Cerro Grande Fire in 2000. Hundreds of homes were destroyed with about 50,000 acres burned because of a National Park Service prescribed burn that went wrong because of wind and drought conditions in Los Alamos. The federal agency came to New Mexico after that disaster apologizing and promising nothing like Cerro Grande would happen again.
These new fires have many asking, did we learn our lesson with prescribed burns?
Overton says crews follow a set of criteria before starting a controlled burn.
"From the national weather service before we do a prescribed burn, we get a spot forecast and it is very specific to that site and everything was well within the prescription window," Overton said.
Overton added that on the day of the burn, erratic wind happened and spread the embers creating the wildfire.
When KOB 4 asked if that criteria should be readjusted, Overton said, "This work is critically important, but it's also there is an element of risk."
Overton also said that 99% of these prescribed burns are successful and it’s very rare for one to turn into a wildfire.
Copyright 2022 - KOB-TV LLC, A Hubbard Broadcasting Company
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https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/hermits-peak-fire-nearly-400-acres-in-size-0-contained/6441164/?cat=500
| 2022-04-09T06:07:18
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https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/hermits-peak-fire-nearly-400-acres-in-size-0-contained/6441164/?cat=500
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Once again we have arrived at the “front door” of Holy Week: the week between Palm Sunday and Easter. This week is observed with special solemnity as a time of devotion regarding the “Passion of Jesus Christ.” Sufferings our Lord endured for our redemption from the agony in the garden until His death on Calvary. Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again to give us all a future in heaven.
During this week, Jesus will triumphantly enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Passion Sunday). Jesus will cleanse the Temple, casting out the merchants and money changers operating in the temple. Jesus will go to the Mount of Olives, a place associated with Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
Jesus, on Holy Wednesday, “Good Wednesday” or “Spy Wednesday,” would be anointed with spikenard during a meal (St. Matthew 26:6-13). Spikenard will be used to prepare Jesus' body for burial. This is also traditionally thought of as the day Judas conspired with local authorities to betray Jesus.
Jesus would engage in the Passover and Last Supper on Maundy Thursday. This day is believed to be the day when Jesus celebrated his final Passover with His disciples.
The trial, crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus would take place on Good Friday. Early Friday, Judas — so overcome with remorse for his actions — would hang himself. Jesus would endure the shame of false accusations, condemnation, mockery, beatings and abandonment. After multiple unlawful trials, He would be sentenced to death by one of the most horrible and disgraceful methods known at that time: crucifixion.
On Holy Saturday, Jesus is in the borrowed tomb. American Author Max Lucado shares, "Jesus is silent on Saturday. The women have anointed his body and placed it in Joseph’s tomb. The cadaver of Christ is as mute as the stone which guards it. He spoke much on Friday. He will liberate the slaves of death on Sunday. But on Saturday, Jesus is silent.
So is God. He made himself heard on Friday. He tore the curtains of the temple, opened the graves of the dead, rocked the earth, blocked the sun of the sky and sacrificed the Son of Heaven. Earth heard much of God on Friday. Nothing on Saturday. Jesus is silent. God is silent. Saturday is silent."
This day signifies Jesus' descent to the underworld. “Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 4:5-6.)
The late comedian Rodney Dangerfield referring to Holy Week might have stated, “Jesus Christ, I’ll tell you he might have said, ‘You are talking about your rough week, I’ll tell you Holy Week was rough for me, oh boy, I’ll tell you rough!’”
But praise God, Jesus Christ did it and endured it for us!
Embrace the love of God.
I’m just saying!
Peace with justice, be blessed real, real good, attend worship (in whatever way possible for you), families matter and be safe!
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/acrossindiana/michael-c-carson-praise-god-and-jesus-christ-as-we-approach-holy-week/article_79b5bed2-b69f-11ec-a057-fb810a9bf6e3.html
| 2022-04-09T06:17:24
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/acrossindiana/michael-c-carson-praise-god-and-jesus-christ-as-we-approach-holy-week/article_79b5bed2-b69f-11ec-a057-fb810a9bf6e3.html
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Abigail Nicole Anderson, sentenced in Howard Superior IV for theft, to 15 months, with 180 days executed and 276 days suspended to supervised probation, with 135 actual days and 270 days of jail time credit served. The defendant was also ordered to pay all court costs and fees.
Abigail Nicole Anderson, sentenced in Howard Superior IV for dealing methamphetamine, to four years, with two years on in-home detention and two years suspended to supervised probation. The sentence will run consecutively with another unrelated case. The defendant was also required to attend, pay for and complete a drug and alcohol program, as well as pay all other court costs and fees.
Steven L. Barnett, sentenced in Howard Superior IV for petition to revoke, to 92 days executed, with time satisfied but a probation extension of six months, with 46 actual days and 92 days of jail time credit served. The defendant was also required to attend, pay for and complete a drug and alcohol program.
Timothy Johnson, sentenced in Howard Superior IV for domestic battery, to 18 months suspended to supervised probation, with 88 actual days and 176 days of jail time credit served. The defendant was also ordered to have no contact with the victim in the case, as well as pay for and complete a men’s non-violence class and all other court costs and fees.
Timothy Johnson, sentenced in Howard Superior IV for invasion of privacy, to one year suspended to supervised probation. The sentence will run concurrently with another case. The defendant was also ordered to have no contact with the victim in the case, as well as pay all court costs and fees.
Leslie Nicole Marr, sentenced in Howard Superior IV for dealing methamphetamine, to six years, with four years executed and two years suspended to supervised probation. The sentence will run consecutively with another unrelated case. The defendant was also ordered to attend, pay for and complete a drug and alcohol program and pay restitution. After completing three years of the sentence, the defendant will then be recommended to be placed in a clinically appropriate substance abuse treatment program.
Helen Martin, sentenced in Howard Superior Court IV for murder, to 65 years, with 45 years executed and 20 years suspended to supervised probation, with 664 actual days and 885 days of jail time credit served. The defendant was also ordered to pay restitution and all over court costs and fees.
Zachary Leland Miller, sentenced in Howard County Superior Court IV for dealing methamphetamine and an amended charge of carrying a handgun without a license, to 17 ½ years, with 12 years executed and 5 ½ years suspended to supervised probation on the charge of dealing methamphetamine and five years executed on the amended charge of carrying a handgun without a license. The sentences will run concurrently. The defendant has 463 actual days and 617 days of jail time credit served. The defendant was also ordered to pay for and complete a drug and alcohol program, as well as pay all other court costs and fees. The court has the right to recommend purposeful incarceration (RWI) and modify the sentence upon successful completion of the drug and alcohol program.
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/area-sentencings-april-9-2022/article_f3b749fe-b752-11ec-bd9f-03bf1b3c2fcd.html
| 2022-04-09T06:17:30
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/area-sentencings-april-9-2022/article_f3b749fe-b752-11ec-bd9f-03bf1b3c2fcd.html
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2 local farming families honored with the Hoosier Homestead Award
INDIANAPOLIS — At the Indiana Statehouse this past week, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) Director Bruce Kettler presented 69 families, including two local families, with a Hoosier Homestead Award in recognition of their commitment to Indiana agriculture.
“I always look forward to engaging with Indiana’s historic farming families during the Hoosier Homestead Award ceremonies,” Crouch said. “The longstanding values, dedication and resiliency these families will ensure their farm and family’s legacy live on for many generations.”
To be named a Hoosier Homestead, farms must be owned by the same family for more than 100 consecutive years and consist of more than 20 acres. If fewer than 20 acres, the farm must produce more than $1,000 of agricultural products per year. Indiana farms may qualify for three honors: Centennial Award for 100 years of ownership, Sesquicentennial Award for 150 years of ownership and the Bicentennial Award for 200 years of ownership.
Since the program’s inception in 1976, nearly 6,000 families have received the Hoosier Homestead Award. Many past awardees can be identified by the sign displayed in front of the family farm or field.
“It is hard to put into words the value these farming families have provided to their communities, our state and the Indiana agricultural industry since the formation of their farms,” Kettler said. “It is my utmost pleasure to honor these longstanding families for their dedication to providing the feed, food and fuel necessary to sustain our state.”
Below is a list of the local Hoosier Homestead Award recipients honored during the spring 2022 ceremony:
Howard County: Kingseed, sesquicentennial, in operation since 1848.
Miami County: Yoars, sesquicentennial, in operation since 1870.
Duke Energy supports economic development in Indiana with nearly $120,000 in grants
PLAINFIELD — Duke Energy is awarding nearly $120,000 in strategic grants to 26 economic development groups to spur new jobs and investment across the state of Indiana.
“Duke Energy is working hand in hand with our local and regional economic development partners to accelerate growth and job creation in the communities we serve,” said Erin Schneider, director of economic development for Duke Energy Indiana. “We’re proud to support these organizations, each of which plays a critical role in marketing Indiana’s communities to attract businesses and enhance the quality of life for our customers.”
The funding is through Duke Energy’s Partnership Program, which supports organizations that increase awareness of a community or region’s economic development strategies and product availability. This may include tours and special events to promote business sites and communities; marketing campaigns and promotional materials; and website development and updates.
Since the program was established in 2017, Duke Energy has contributed nearly $600,000 in grant funding to organizations that are helping create vibrant economies in Indiana.
To qualify for program consideration, each applicant submitted a plan that would have a direct impact on their community’s economic growth. These awards help local and regional economic development organizations fund marketing and strategic efforts in the communities they serve. Amounts varied depending on the size and scope of the project.
This year, grants were awarded to the following organizations:
Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance – $5,000.
Community First Bank of Indiana hires Josh Baker as commercial loan officer
Robb Blume, president and CEO of Community First Bank of Indiana (CFB), is pleased to announce the hiring of Josh Baker as vice president, commercial loan officer.
Josh originally joined Community First Bank in 2018 and, after serving as a director of finance in the electric industry for the past two years, returned to community banking once again in March. He began his banking career in 2005 and has spent the past 10 years serving commercial clients across Indiana.
Bob Hickman, chief credit officer at Community First Bank, said, “We are pleased to welcome Josh Baker back to the CFB family. Josh is an experienced commercial lender who excels at problem-solving and providing business lending solutions that benefit both the customer and the bank. We are pleased that he has decided to resume his banking career after spending time working in private industry.”
Josh graduated from Ball State University with a degree in finance/corporate financial management. He is passionate about serving his local community and has been involved with Habitat for Humanity, United Way, Marion Community School of the Arts, Family Service Society, Inc., Grant County Economic Growth Council and more.
Josh and his wife, Jessica, have four children ages 5-14, and he takes pride in watching and coaching his kids’ extracurricular activities, is an avid baseball fan and enjoys being active outdoors.
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/business-briefs-april-9-2022/article_99284d52-b68b-11ec-bd5e-6fadc9778c9e.html
| 2022-04-09T06:17:36
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/business-briefs-april-9-2022/article_99284d52-b68b-11ec-bd5e-6fadc9778c9e.html
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Today
Greentown Historical Society open, 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and Mondays or by appointment, 103 E. Main St., Greentown, call 765-628-3800.
Sunday
VFW bingo, noon to 4 p.m., 920 N. Washington St., kitchen open.
Monday
Greentown Historical Society open, 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and Mondays or by appointment, 103 E. Main St., Greentown, call 765-628-3800.
VFW bingo, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., 920 N. Washington St., kitchen open.
Tuesday
Al-Anon, 7-8 p.m., Faith Presbyterian Church, 1608 Kirk Row, enter through door 1.
Thursday
Al-Anon, 1-2 p.m., Faith Presbyterian Church, 1608 Kirk Row, enter through door 1.
Card Classes, 10-11 a.m., Greentown Public Library, 421 S. Harrison St., Greentown, this once-a-month class provides the materials to create beautiful and useful cards, call 765-628-3534 to register.
Crafter Work: Canning Jar Craft, 6-8 p.m., Library Community Room, Greentown Public Library, 421 S. Harrison St., Greentown, call 765-628-3534 to register.
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/calendar-april-9-2022/article_491b746c-b76a-11ec-828b-b7a3a354c47d.html
| 2022-04-09T06:17:43
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/calendar-april-9-2022/article_491b746c-b76a-11ec-828b-b7a3a354c47d.html
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Brennan, Thomas, services are noon today at St. Patrick Catholic Church, 1229 N. Washington St., Kokomo.
Hight, Sue, services are noon today at Columbian Club of Kokomo, 1631 Foxfire Lane, Kokomo.
Morphew, Robert, services are 1 p.m. today at Stout & Son Funeral Home, 200 E. Main St., Russiaville.
Babcock, Robert, services are 2 p.m. today at Galveston Cemetery.
Harris, Joyce, services are 2 p.m. today at Ellers Mortuary 3400 S. Webster St. Kokomo.
Rassner, Daniel, services are 3 p.m. today at Flowers-Leedy Funeral Home, 105 W. Third St., Peru.
Clark, Kenneth, services are 3 p.m. Sunday at Jerome Christian Church, 9535 County Road E. 100 S, Greentown.
Myers, Calvin, services are 10:30 a.m. Monday at Galveston First Baptist Church, 207 S. Sycamore St., Galveston.
Packard, Thelma, services are 2 p.m. Monday at Sunset Memory Garden Funeral Home, 2097 W. Alto Road, Kokomo.
Duncan, Glenna, services are noon Tuesday at The First Christian Church, 854 N. 300 West, Kokomo.
Wade, Riley, services are 2 p.m. Tuesday at Murray Weaver Funeral Home in Galveston.
Mumaw, Phyllis, services are noon Wednesday at Shirley & Stout Funeral Home, 1315 W. Lincoln Road, Kokomo.
Ginda, Paul, services are 2 p.m. Wednesday at Shirley & Stout Funeral Home, 1315 W. Lincoln Road, Kokomo.
Eaton, Janice, services are noon April 16 at Stout & Son Funeral Home, 44 Michigan St., Burlington.
Cobb, Beulah, services are 2 p.m. April 20 at Mast-Hensler Cemetery, 3828 600 East, Kokomo.
Janes, Robert Henry, services are 11:30 a.m. April 21 at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 3155 S. 200 West, Kokomo.
Snyder, Richard, services are April 23 at Spruce Creek Presbyterian Church, Port Orange, Florida.
Lancaster, Dixie, services are 2 p.m. May 7 at Bennett Switch Community Church.
Tudor, William, services are 2 p.m. May 8 at the American Legion Post 6, 2604 S. Lafountain St., Kokomo.
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Editor’s note: Area faith-based institutions should send their event submissions at least two weeks before the event to Kokomo Tribune Religion Calendar, 300 N. Union St., P.O. Box 9014, Kokomo, IN 46901, or email ktnews@kokomotribune.com. The deadline is noon Wednesday. Be sure to include details of your event and the church’s street address and phone number.
Kokomo Zion United Methodist Church
Kokomo Zion United Methodist Church will host a concert for Holy Week featuring Matt Gerhard. The concert will take a musical journey through Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.
The concert begins at 3 p.m. Sunday at the church, 5051 E. 400 North, Kokomo.
First EPC Kokomo
Join First Evangelical Presbyterian Church for Holy Week services in the sanctuary at 2000 W. Jefferson St. The services will also be live-streamed on Facebook at www.facebook.com/firstepckokomo.
April 10: Palm Sunday worship at 9:30 a.m. with special brass ensemble.
April 14: Maundy Thursday services at 7 p.m., celebrated with Communion.
April 15: Community Good Friday Service at noon, joined by Wayman Chapel.
April 17: Easter worship celebration at 9:30 a.m. with hand bells, choir and presentation of student Bibles.
New Beginnings Christian Fellowship
“Being Faithful in Dark, Doubt-Filled Times” will be the theme at 10 a.m. Palm Sunday at the church, 1900 S. Berkley Road. It is based on Luke 19:28-40.
There will also be online worship at New Beginnings Christian Fellowship Facebook page.
For more information or to request prayer, contact Pastor Jeff Russell at 765-776-0868.
Curtisville Christian Church
At 10:15 a.m. Sunday, Minister James Snapp Jr. will deliver the sermon “Your King is Coming,” from the Gospel of John, Chapter 12. Following the worship service, there will be a short play, “Saint Kentigern’s Easter,” in the fellowship hall.
Curtisville Christian Church meets at 737 N. 600 East in eastern Tipton County. Visit the website at www.curtisvillecc.com to see current sermons, sermons from the past year and other spiritual resources. For more information, to request prayer or to request a Bible, call 765-623-4400.
Second Missionary Baptist Church
Second Missionary Baptist Church will host its Good Friday service, “Homegoing Celebration of Jesus Christ” and “Lead Me to Calvary,” at 7 p.m. Friday. It will be held virtually at smbchurch.com, Facebook or YouTube.
Then, the church’s Resurrection Sunday service will take place at 11 a.m. Sunday, April 17. It will be held at Studebaker Park behind the Carver Community Center, at 1030 N. Purdum St., Kokomo. Following the service will be an “Eggstravaganza” with prices and games for youth 12 and under.
Second MBC is located at 818 N. Apperson Way, Kokomo. For more information, call the church office at 765-452-8214, or The Rev. Dr. William J. Smith Jr. at 765-452-8215.
Church Women United
The State Assembly of Indiana Church Women United was held Saturday, March 26, at the Trinity Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Indianapolis. Joyce Ancil and Peggy Hollingsworth represented the Greater Kokomo Church Women United. The Rev. Chiyona Bourne, a Chaplain with IU Health and the immediate past associate pastor at Kokomo’s Grace United Methodist Church, was the keynote speaker, addressing the topic of “Spirituality, Women’s Issues and Sustainability.” The afternoon speaker was Ethel Brewer-McCane of Indianapolis sharing “Voices from the Past” with dramatizations of three women from African American history.
Since its founding in 1941, Church Women United has been bringing together women from across the country and from many religious denominations to “Agree to differ, unite to serve, resolve to love.” Lenten Bible study sessions, educational community forums and an annual award for Human Rights are highlights of the local CWU year. For further information about CWU, contact local President Janelle Riggs.
Galveston First Baptist Church
Galveston First Baptist Church is hosting an Easter Egg Hunt at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 16, at the Galveston Community Center, 101 S. Park Road, Galveston.
The age groups are 1-3 years old and 4-8 years old. There will also be activities and photo opportunities for the children.
For more information, contact the church office between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday at 574-699-6243 for more information.
First Christian Church
First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), located on the corner of Sycamore and Malfalfa in Kokomo, invites all to its Easter celebration April 17. “Sonrise” worship begins at 7:30 a.m., followed by brunch from 8 to 9 a.m. and another worship service at 9:30 a.m. There will be surprise “Holy Easter Eggs” for all, with special activities for the kids. For more information, call the church office at 765-457-4491.
First Friends Meeting of KokomoFirst Friends Meeting of Kokomo will host a Bible study series on the Book of Hebrews led by the Rev. Dr. Michael C. Carson. The series will kick off at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28, and will continue at the same time every Thursday in May in the church’s Fellowship Hall at 1801 W. Zartman Road. All are welcome to attend.Fairfield Christian ChurchFairfield Christian Church, 1476 E. 400 South, Oakford, will host a yard sale and bake sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 29. A wide variety of household items, clothing, toys and other goods will be available.St. Joan of Arc and St. Patrick Catholic churchesAnyone interested in learning more about the Catholic faith is invited to weekly information sessions at St. Joan of Arc and St. Patrick Catholic Churches. On Mondays, sessions are in the St. Patrick Parish Hall, 1204 N. Armstrong St. On Wednesdays, sessions are in the downstairs terrace at St. Joan of Arc, 3155 S. 200 West (Dixon Road). Both sessions are from 6 to 8 p.m. and dinner is provided. There is no cost and no commitment. For more information, contact Chad Grube at 765-626-7005 or cgrube@parish.dol-in.org.Bon Air Church of the NazareneBon Air Church of the Nazarene hosts a coffee club at 9 a.m. every Monday. “No pressure, just fellowship.” The coffee club meets at the church, 2419 N. Locke St., Kokomo. Attendees should enter through the northeast door. Call 765-438-0225 for more information.
Christ The King Anglican ChurchChrist The King Anglican Church is offering a prayer and pastoral conversation ministry from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday mornings at Big Ben Coffee, 2130 W. Jefferson St., Kokomo. There is no cost or obligation. If you would like prayer but can’t be there at that time, contact Fr. Michael Henry at 765-513-7549 or by email at frmichaelhenry@yahoo.com.
Worship is held at the church at 10:30 a.m. Sunday in the chapel at Christ Lutheran, 3401 S. Dixon Road, Kokomo.
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Ivy Tech to host career fair April 14
More than 70 employers will be represented April 14 at a career fair at Ivy Tech.
The career fair is open to Ivy Tech and Indiana University Kokomo students and alumni, as well as community members looking for part-time and full-time work.
All participating employers have openings, according to a news release.
Attendees are encouraged to bring 10-12 copies of their resume, dress professionally and come with a prepared elevator speech and questions for employers.
Representatives from WorkOne will be available to answer questions about Workfore Ready Grants, and admissions officers from Ivy Tech and IUK will be available to discuss options for college, certificates and degrees.
The career fair is from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Hingst Hall.
KHS class of ‘71 to celebrate 50th reunion this summer
The Kokomo High School class of 1971 will have its 50th reunion June 24-25.
The reunion begins Friday, June 24, at a Kokomo Jackrabbits game in the upper party deck. Tickets will be available for pickup at the table. Class members should prepay for tickets ($35).
A golf outing is scheduled for the morning of June 25. Time, place and cost are to be determined.
A reunion dinner will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at VFW Post 1152, 920 N. Washington St. Cost is $25 per ticket.
Invitations with complete reunion information have been sent out. If you are a class member and did not receive an invite, contact David Sedam at david.a.sedam@gmail.com or at 765-480-7735.
Contact information is sought on 43 members of the KHS class of 1971. A complete list of names can be found online at kokomotribune.com. Those with information about classmates should contact Sedam.
Deborah Abney
Mary Allred
Mark Bless
Laura Broadley Stillabower
Keith Carmeida
Robert Cline
Deborah Cooper
Gary Cooper
Cathy Crispen Pinson
Mark Elmore
Randall Falkenberg
Norman Frey
Kathy Goughnour
Karen Guest Shanks
Daniel Harris
Kurt Hartman
Helen Valdez Perez
Mary Hubbs Early
Ron Huffman
Karlene Jones
Joseph Kanable
Eugene Mason
Linda McClish
Charles Miller Jr.
Daniel Ondrick
Linda Peacock Beigh
Robert Pruitt
Kathy Roberts
Lucinda Roberts
Rosemary Roberts
Debbie Shelby Croddy
Janet Smith Sweezy
Pattie Stahl Mateos
Charles Thomas
John Thomas
Richard Turley Jr.
Vicki Vaughn
Kathryn Victor Delon
Sandra Webb
Gary Whittaker
Addie Woodard Settapa
Vera Woods
Taylor Elementary kindergarten, pre-K roundup planned for April, May
Taylor Elementary School will have kindergarten and Tiny Titans Preschool enrollment days on April 13 and May 19.
Appointments are available from 4 to 6 p.m. each day. Call 765-453-3800 to schedule an appointment.
Parents should visit the Taylor Community School website (www.taylor.k12.in.us) and complete the new student enrollment prior to coming. Children should also attend so they can meet teachers and participate in activities.
To attend kindergarten, students must be 5 years old on or before Oct. 1, 2022. Pre-K kids must be 4 on or before Aug. 1, 2022. Preschoolers must be 3 on or before Aug 1, 2022, and must be potty-trained.
Parents will need to bring the child’s official birth certificate, proof of immunizations, social security card and proof of residency.
A $50 registration fee is also due to secure your child’s spot in the Tiny Titans Preschool program, as limited space is available. For questions or more information, call Taylor Elementary School at 765-453-3800.
Area schools receive Teachers in Residency grants
Three area school districts received grant funding from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to host student-teachers for a full school year.
Western, Maconaquah and Tipton school corporations each received $30,000 through the Teacher Residency Grant Pilot Program.
The program pairs student teachers with school corporations. The yearlong teacher experiences are paid, and students teach alongside a mentor teacher.
School corporations receive $15,000 per resident teacher it hosts. The three area school corporations will host two student-teachers apiece.
Funding covers student-teacher and mentor-teacher stipends.
Student-teachers will come from Indiana University Kokomo, the local postsecondary institution partner for the program.
Spring constellations, new astronomical phenomenon to be discussed at IUK Observatory
A free open house at the Indiana University Kokomo Observatory will offer the opportunity catch one last glimpse of winter constellations, as well as emerging spring constellations.
The open house is from 8 to 10 p.m. Sunday and will feature Patrick Motl, professor of physics, who will discuss odd radio circles, a newly discovered astronomical phenomenon.
Five odd radio circles (ORC), or regions of radio emission on scales much larger than the galaxy they are centered on, have been discovered in the past year. Motl will discuss the observations of ORCs and possible explanations for them.
Following the professor’s discussion, attendees can look at the stars.
The Observatory is at 2660 S. Washington St. Admission and parking are free.
Youth artwork on display this month at Tipton County Library
TIPTON — Youth art will be on display all month at the Tipton County Library.
The Friends of the Tipton County Library’s long-running event celebrates youth art with an exhibition that features artwork from students in grades kindergarten through fifth.
Tipton Elementary School students have submitted 150 pieces of art for the exhibition that will be up through April 29.
The public is invited to a reception at 6:30 p.m. April 21, where the Best of Show from each grade will be announced.
Peru native helps Manchester capture esports championship
James Walsh, of Peru, was part of Manchester University’s third consecutive Great Lakes Esports Conference Championship.
The university’s Esports Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team defeated No. 1 seed Valparaiso University — the only team to defeat Manchester in conference play — in the finals April 2.
Walsh led Manchester to a 2-0 victory over Trine University in a first-round matchup.
Ivy Tech honored with marketing award
Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo was awarded a 2021 Paragon Award from the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations for its successful campus transformation fundraising campaign.
Ivy Tech raised $3 million following a $40 million state appropriation that, combined, helped renovate the campus.
More than 250 donors from throughout the Ivy Tech Kokomo Service Area — individuals, families, businesses, civic organizations and governmental units — came together in support of the campaign, which wrapped up last year.
Ivy Tech’s award honors its development and marketing teams.
NCMPR’s Paragon Awards recognize outstanding achievement in design and communication at community and technical colleges. The 2021 Paragon Awards drew 1,719 entries from 232 colleges across the country and was judged by nearly 70 professionals from the marketing and public relations industry.
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More than a year after an extensive study on hospital prices in the United States, Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, and Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, sent a not-so-subtle threat in the form of letters to state insurers and hospitals.
Their message was clear: Find a way to lower your prices to get Indiana to the national average by 2025, or the General Assembly will do what it needs to do to get there.
“Studies continue to show health care prices in Indiana remain some of the highest in the nation, and it’s time for that to change,” Bray said in a Jan. 4 statement. “We understand the health care industry and its pricing structures are complicated, but that’s not an excuse to ignore the problem and let prices grow — at a rate significantly higher than inflation — at the expense of hardworking Hoosiers and business owners.
“It’s time for leaders in our medical community to come together and work in tandem to lower costs for Hoosiers, and I stand ready as a lawmaker to assist however I may be able.”
The letters and statements were a rare move for state legislators and signaled that the Statehouse is serious about addressing the issue. The General Assembly has passed bills that have done away with surprise billing and forced the implementation of price transparency as ways to save patients money, but the December letter signaled that legislators were willing to do more if needed.
As for a possible fix to state health care prices? It’s currently unknown what it will entail. Hospitals and insurers were expected to announce April 1 what their steps will be to lowering prices and get the state’s health care costs more aligned with the national average.
What should be done — by either the private companies or the state government — varies by who you ask.
PRICES IN INDIANA
The letters and statements from Bray and Huston come a little more than a year after RAND, a nonprofit think tank, published in September 2020 its study “Nationwide Evaluation of Health Care Prices Paid by Private Health Plans.”
As previously reported by CNHI News Indiana, the comprehensive study found that Indiana had the sixth-highest health care costs in the country, with Indiana employers and insurance companies paying 304% more than Medicare prices to the state’s hospitals, which is higher than the national average of 247%.
The study looked at prices collected from 2016-2018 in all but one state (Maryland), receiving data from 40.2 million outpatient and 750,000 inpatient claims and both in-network and out-of-network claims from 3,112 hospitals across the country. Its aim: to help employers become better informed health services purchasers in the future.
The study was in partnership with the Employers’ Forum of Indiana, a coalition of state employers. Part four of the RAND study is set to be released in May.
Gloria Sachdev, president and CEO of the Employers’ Forum of Indiana and vice chairwoman of Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare, told CNHI News Indiana that the nonprofit has seen an increasing number of its members express concern over rising health care costs in Indiana.
Health care prices, she said, have gotten to a point that’s unsustainable for both employers and their employees.
“We’re on an unsustainable track,” Sachdev said. “There’s no reason why Indiana’s hospital prices should be higher than the national average.”
MONOPOLY POWER
RAND researchers suggested employers begin offering a narrow hospital network or even a tiered network to employees in exchange for lower premiums and hospital costs as a way to lower general health care costs for both them and their employees. However, an economics professor at Ball State University has another theory that he thinks will lower prices: anti-trust legislation.
Michael Hicks, a professor of economics and director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State, has written extensively about hospital’s market power in Indiana, which has grown more concentrated after years of acquisitions. He has previously said there’s no more concentrated industry in Indiana than the hospital industry except for the utilities industry.
In a January Substack article, Hicks used IU Health — the state’s largest hospital network with 16 locations throughout the state — as a prime example of monopoly power.
In 2020, despite technically being a nonprofit, IU Health earned a $1.2 billion profit and has nearly $9 billion in cash and investments as of last September. Since it’s a nonprofit, it also largely avoids paying taxes on its revenue.
“This sprawling firm could give away all its healthcare services for free through all of 2022, pay all its bills and employees and would still finish the year with more savings than the entire State of Indiana’s Rainy Day Fund, which is now at record levels,” Hicks wrote.
Part of the reason IU Health has been able to accrue so much money is its regional monopoly, Hicks said. Monopolies or heavily concentrated markets tend to sell goods at a more expensive rate than markets where there’s true competition.
It’s no different in health care, Hicks contended, citing the difference in childbirth cost between IU Health in Delaware County — between $19,488 and $21,305 — and nearby Madison County, where there are two competing hospital systems — between $2,671 and $7,380.
“Indiana’s hospital systems are the modern equivalent of gilded-age robber barons,” Hicks wrote.
Monopoly power doesn’t just affect how much consumers pay. It also can negatively affect patient safety, according to Mercy Hylton, a pediatric emergency physician and a member of Physicians for Patient Protection.
In a March op-ed, she said giving the Indiana hospital industry free rein over cost reductions will likely lead to cost-cutting measures in staff and salaries, which could lead to less quality care for patients.
“To protect profits, we can expect healthcare corporations to focus on cutting labor costs by slashing employee salaries that are already lower than national averages and cutting more corners on already inadequate staffing,” Hylton wrote.
A physician herself, Hylton said she has seen the hospital systems wield their power to get physicians to sign non-compete clauses in employment contracts and make it harder and harder for independent physicians to operate.
Hylton, too, supports the state enforcing antitrust laws, as well as price transparency laws with stringent enforcement.
“The root cause of a lot of the other symptoms in our health care systems is the corporatization of health care,” Hylton said.
Hylton believes there are many ways the state legislature could lower prices for patients, improve quality of care and improve workplace conditions for health care employees. This includes promoting true competition among hospitals by enforcing antitrust laws and banning non-compete clauses; scrutinizing non-inflated, true market values of the “community benefits” claimed by “nonprofit” health systems; banning in- and out-of-network distinctions for acute care; and enforcing clear distinctions between whether or not a patient is seeing a nurse practitioner or a physician.
CALL AND RESPONSE
In what was a reaction to ongoing criticism over prices, IU Health announced last December at a price transparency meeting it would institute a four-year price freeze for all commercial payers, i.e. the insurance companies that offer health plans, chiefly through employers. The meeting was the first to be held after a bill passed last year mandating the state hospitals and insurers hold an annual public forum over pricing.
“We actually feel like what we’re doing will drive the prices down in Indiana,” Jennifer Alvey, IU Health senior vice president and chief financial officer, said at the forum. “That’s why we think the program’s really elegant.”
IU Health’s announcement drew some light praise from Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare, though the organization criticized the state’s other hospital systems for not acknowledging the pricing problem.
But what the forum and letter sent by Bray and Huston show is that pressure can work.
For the Employers’ Forum and Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare, the want is simple: A state that has a cost of living 9% below the national average shouldn’t have some of the highest health care costs.
“I’m hopeful that we can get it done,” Sachdev said about lowering prices.
HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY RESPONDS
On March 31, the state’s hospital systems and largest insurance trade association responded to Bray and Hustson’s demands in letters collectively totaling more than 50 pages.
All the letters agreed that it is beneficial for the state to work on making health care more affordable and praised recent efforts on price transparency and the banning of “surprise billing.”
But when it came to reasons for the state’s high costs, many of the organizations pointed fingers at each other and some at the state itself.
“It’s crucial to consider that hospital prices are just one part of the overall cost equation — and what matters most to employers and individuals alike is the final cost they pay,” Bryan Mills, president and CEO of Community Health Network, wrote, citing a recent study authored by Kaufman Strategic Advisors that found claims paid to physicians and hospitals rose at a rate lower than the cost of prescription drugs and the price of insurance premiums.
“The Kaufman study concluded that Indiana is not a high-cost outlier for medical services, and demonstrated that ranking states by unit prices and comparing those prices to government-set rates such as Medicare can paint an inaccurate picture of Indiana care costs. In short, we suggest that it’s counterproductive to set specific pricing targets based on measures that don’t accurately reflect the costs paid by patients and employers.”
The Insurance Institute of Indiana placed some of the blame on prescription drug companies and even state lawmakers.
“Calling on the insurance and hospital industries to reduce the cost of healthcare in Indiana, while a start, was an incomplete assignment,” Marty Wood, president of the Insurance Institute of Indiana, wrote. “Without question there are numerous other stakeholders who must be challenged to do their part … If the goal of the General Assembly is to truly reduce healthcare costs, then it is imperative the legislature re-evaluate its own role as a stakeholder. For more than three decades the insurance industry has seen its cost control policies limited and even prohibited by statute. Unnecessary and inefficient regulatory reporting requirements have been implemented. At the same time, coverages have been mandated and expanded without seriously looking at the levels in which these actions drive up overall costs.”
IU Health said it is not “realistic” to believe the state can lower health care costs but believes it is possible to slow it so it is more in line with the growth of the economy. The state’s largest hospital system encouraged the state to invest more in public health, noting that the state ranks near dead last in most major health metrics compared to other states in the U.S.
“Given this research, we would be remiss not to draw attention to the fact that Indiana’s woeful investment in public health relative to national benchmarks only exacerbates the cost of care when the population seeking care is in poorer health than the rest of the nation,” Dennis Murphy, president and CEO of IU Health, and Sephanie Motter, president of IU Health Plans at IU Health, wrote.
It’s unclear whether any of the responses to the legislative leaders were “viable plans” as called for in the state officials’ December letter, though Bray said he was “encouraged” by the responses.
“I look forward to continuing this discussion in the coming weeks as we process the information provided so we can identify solutions that will lower the cost of health care for all Hoosiers,” he said in a statement.
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LONG BEACH, Calif. — The best drive of Colton Herta’s life, according to his boss, wasn’t even a win.
Herta finished fourth in the IndyCar season-opener, a race Andretti said his young driver easily would have won if not for a fueling error made by his team. Instead, Herta was forced to conserve gas around the streets of downtown St. Petersburg to salvage his day.
“I don’t know how he even finished the race,” Andretti said Friday. “The mileage he had to make, and still hold on to fourth, that had to be one of the best drives ever for him. Oh, my God. He would have won that race, easy.”
And its been mistakes, Andretti said, that sent Andretti Autosport into the Long Beach Grand Prix winless through the first two races of the season. Team Penske swept the first two races while the Andretti group attempted to address the hiccups that have slowed them at the start of this season.
It will take an error-free run Sunday for an Andretti driver to win Long Beach for a fourth consecutive year. Herta, who is from nearby Valencia and considers Long Beach his home race, won last year while Alexander Rossi won in 2018 and 2019.
“I’m frustrated because we’ve had competitive cars but we’re shooting ourselves in the foot, which is exactly what we said we can’t do,” Andretti said. “We can’t be making mistakes if we want to win the championship. Believe me, we’re on it, but how do you tell somebody not to make a mistake? Some guys you need to push, and some guys you don’t need to worry about, it’s such a weird thing to try to manage.”
Herta spun off course in Friday’s only practice session, which was led by Simon Pagenaud. Pato O’Ward, Jimmie Johnson and Rinus VeeKay hit the wall, Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon both spun and Tatiana Calderon and Dalton Kellett both went off course.
The weekend opened on a sour note for Andretti when the team learned Friday morning that rookie Devlin DeFrancesco had been penalized for his role in a crash last month at Texas. DeFrancesco will drop six spots on the starting grid Sunday because of the penalty, which the rookie said “I expected to receive the penalty, we’ll do our best to overcome it.”
But the team owner was furious with the penalty, which he found “harsh” and wasn’t sure was even warranted. Drivers were critical of DeFrancesco after the penalty was announced as a rookie who has been too aggressive on track.
Graham Rahal, who was collected in a three-car crash with Helio Castroneves and DeFrancesco, said he told the young driver to calm down.
“I had a sponsor dinner the night before the race and they said ‘Is there anybody you’re worried about?’ and I said ‘Devlin,’” Rahal said. “Because he’s crazy. You can just tell, some people have blinders and they are just super aggressive. Aggressive is fine at some places, but aggressive is not OK at Texas.”
Andretti bristled at the notion DeFrancesco needs to back it down a bit on the track — especially after only two races.
“He’s fine. I don’t want him to not be aggressive,” Andretti said. “I want him to keep doing what he’s doing. He’s doing a good job in my opinion.”
Andretti also said he’s still evaluating Rossi, who is in the final year of his contract with the team. He holds an exclusive negotiating window with Rossi but said the driver is also evaluating the team and may not even want a new contract with Andretti.
He’s had a rough start with a poor strategy call at St. Pete and then a mechanical problem knocked him out at Texas after only 11 laps.
“We’ve really let him down the last two races,” Andretti said. “I still think he can win a bunch of races. We’re evaluating and nobody can talk to him right now, so we just need to wait it out and both of us need to see. He might not want to be here anymore, and we have to see how he continues to go.”
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Kokomo forward Johnny Griffin Jr. scores off a spin move inside to pull the BobKats even with the Medora Timberjacks at 95-95 with 1:05 left Friday night at Memorial Gym. Medora scored the game’s final six points to beat Kokomo 101-95.
Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
top storyeditor's pick
BobKats unable to overcome big halftime deficit
BRYAN GASKINS
Kokomo Tribune
The Kokomo BobKats outscored the Medora Timberjacks by 18 points in the second half of their game Friday night at Memorial Gym.
It wasn’t enough to overcome a lethargic first half.
Medora outworked Kokomo in building a 53-29 halftime lead. Kokomo rallied in the second half to pull even at 95-all with 1:05 remaining, but the Timberjacks scored the final six points to take a 101-95 win and end Kokomo’s two-game winning streak.
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Kokomo forward Johnny Griffin Jr. scores off a spin move inside to pull the BobKats even with the Medora Timberjacks at 95-95 with 1:05 left Friday night at Memorial Gym. Medora scored the game’s final six points to beat Kokomo 101-95.
Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
4-7-22 - The Kokomo BobKats scramble with a rebound as they host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Devin Harris dunks the ball but comes down hard on his back as Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Larry Plummer drives by Malik Cook-Stroupe as Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Alan Arnett draws a foul from Kevin Douglas as Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
BobKats vs Timberjacks
1 of 44
Kokomo forward Johnny Griffin Jr. scores off a spin move inside to pull the BobKats even with the Medora Timberjacks at 95-95 with 1:05 left Friday night at Memorial Gym. Medora scored the game’s final six points to beat Kokomo 101-95.
Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
4-7-22 - The Kokomo BobKats scramble with a rebound as they host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Devin Harris dunks the ball but comes down hard on his back as Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Larry Plummer drives by Malik Cook-Stroupe as Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Alan Arnett draws a foul from Kevin Douglas as Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
4-7-22 - Kokomo BobKats host the Medora Timberjacks on Friday night. - Tim Bath | Kokomo Tribune
Tim Bath
“When you come out flat, you let a team get going and you dig a [24]-point hole, it’s hard to come back in the game,” Kokomo coach Cliff Levingston said. “The guys fought hard to get back in it, but we can’t wait until the second half to start fighting. We have to fight from the beginning.”
The BobKats (3-7) played with intensity in the second half. They made 26 of 46 shots (56.5%) and took five steals in the final 24 minutes after making just 10 of 38 shots (26.3%) and grabbing no steals in the first half.
“The second half, that’s normally how we play basketball. We are the aggressors,” Levingston said. “That’s the kind of team I want to see start the game. We started off flat. It was flat and stale from the beginning — in the locker room, everything.”
Medora (4-6) had its way in the first half as it grabbed a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter and maintained it for the rest of the half. The Timberjacks held a 27-16 advantage at the close of the first quarter, then whipped the BobKats in the second quarter to build their 53-29 halftime lead.
Led by point guard Larry Plummer and wing Alan Arnett, Kokomo responded with a dominant third quarter. Fueled by a 10-0 run to start the quarter, the BobKats outscored the Timberjacks 38-20 in the quarter to draw within 73-67. Plummer scored 14 points in the quarter and Arnett scored 11.
“I was hoping to get it by 10 at the end of the third quarter, but we had it within six,” Levingston said.
The teams largely traded baskets for most of the fourth quarter. Kokomo had its chance in the final 90 seconds. After Derek Hawthorne hit a 3-pointer to bring the BobKats within 95-93 at 1:39, the Timberjacks committed a turnover and Kokomo’s Johnny Griffin Jr. scored on a nice spin move inside to knot the score at 1:05 — the first time Kokomo wasn’t behind since it was 4-4.
On Medora’s next possession, Plummer came up with a steal off a deflection. He quickly attacked the basket for the potential go-ahead basket, but he missed and Medora raced the other way. Marquell Carter scored inside for a 97-95 lead at :44. After Kokomo’s Michael Tillman missed a 3-pointer at :20, Medora’s Lattrell Love hit one of two free throws for a 98-95 lead at :15.
Kokomo had a chance to draw even, but Hawthorne missed a 3-pointer at :09. Medora’s Kevin Douglas hit one of two free throws to ice the win.
Levingston thought the BobKats rushed things after pulling even.
“It’s a learning thing,” he said. “I could have called a timeout; looking back on it, I should have, but I didn’t. I leave that up to my point guards to make good decisions down the stretch.”
Arnett led Kokomo with 25 points, six rebounds and three assists. Hawthorne had 20 points and four assists, Plummer had 19 points and six assists, Calvin Giles Jr. grabbed seven rebounds and Tremont Moore had six boards.
Malik Cook-Stroupe led Medora with 27 points.
Kokomo hosts the Kentucky Enforcers tonight. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. It’s military appreciation night with free admission to those presenting a military ID.
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/sports/bobkats-unable-to-overcome-big-halftime-deficit/article_096289ec-b787-11ec-b12a-474385e72664.html
| 2022-04-09T06:18:20
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/sports/bobkats-unable-to-overcome-big-halftime-deficit/article_096289ec-b787-11ec-b12a-474385e72664.html
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AUGUSTA, Ga. — The wind roaring through the Georgia pines gave Tiger Woods and so many others all they could handle Friday in the Masters.
And then Scottie Scheffler made it feel even tougher.
In his debut as the new No. 1 player in the world, Scheffler looked the part. He was bogey-free over the final 15 holes for a 5-under 67, tying the Masters record by building a five-shot lead going into the weekend.
Only four other players in Masters history have led by five shots after 36 holes, most recently Jordan Spieth in 2015. All of them went on to win.
“I put myself in position, where I’m in position to win this golf tournament. I couldn’t ask for anything more after 36 holes,” Scheffler said. “My game feels like it’s in a good spot. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing and not overthink things.”
Scheffler, the 25-year-old Texas Longhorn, has won three of his last five starts on the PGA Tour and doesn’t appear to be overwhelmed by the stage of Augusta National.
He was at 8-under 136, five shots clear of defending champion Hideki Matsuyama (69), former champion Charl Schwartzel (69), former British Open champion Shane Lowry (68) and 18-hole leader Sungjae Im (74).
Woods was nine shots behind, a daunting task even on two good legs.
Despite four bogeys after five holes, Woods patched together a 74 and made it to the weekend in his first 72-hole event since the November 2020 Masters.
“Hey, I made the cut. I got a chance going into the weekend,” Woods said. “I think it’s going to be the golf course that Augusta National wants. It’s going to be quicker, drier, faster. It’s going to be a great test.”
Former Masters champion Dustin Johnson (73) led a group at 2-under 142, while the bunch another shot behind included two-time major champion Collin Morikawa and former PGA champion Justin Thomas, whose 67 matched Scheffler for low round of the day.
Two hours after the start of a glorious and calm spring day in Augusta, the wind arrived with a blast and players held on for dear life. Scheffler could see sand blow out of the bunkers. Flags were ripping. Scores were soaring.
“Felt like I went 10 rounds with Canelo,” Sergio Garcia said of champion fighter Canelo Alvarez. That was after a hard-earned 74.
Jordan Spieth hit two into Rae’s Creek and took triple bogey on the par-3 12th. At least this was on a Friday, though he wound up missing the cut when he made double bogey on the 18th. Adam Scott was trying to stay in the mix until he had a wedge spin back into the water on the par-5 15th, hit the next over the green and took triple bogey.
Scheffler had no such troubles, even if it didn’t feel that way.
“Definitely felt like I was in a fight,” Scheffler said.
Scheffler got his mistakes out of he way early and began to seize control with two birdies right before making the turn. After a tough par save from right of the 11th green, he added two birdies from 12 feet on the par-3 12th and a tough pitch from well right on the par-5 13th.
By then, the wind began to subside in the late afternoon and Scheffler began to pull away with two more birdies that made him a clear and difficult target on the weekend.
And to think only two months ago he still didn’t have a PGA Tour victory.
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/sports/scheffler-builds-5-shot-masters-lead-as-tiger-makes-weekend/article_95728c76-b79f-11ec-94e1-6f4f876fa86c.html
| 2022-04-09T06:18:26
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/sports/scheffler-builds-5-shot-masters-lead-as-tiger-makes-weekend/article_95728c76-b79f-11ec-94e1-6f4f876fa86c.html
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Jackson, COVID and a retirement show Congress’ partisan path
WASHINGTON (AP) — A milestone Supreme Court confirmation that endured a flawed process. The collapse of a bipartisan compromise for more pandemic funds. The departure of a stalwart of the dwindling band of moderate House Republicans.
Party-line fights on Capitol Hill are as old as the republic, and they routinely escalate as elections approach. Yet three events from a notable week illustrate how Congress’ near- and long-term paths point toward intensifying partisanship.
THE SENATE’S SUPREME COURT BATTLE
Democrats rejoiced Thursday when the Senate by 53-47 confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black female justice. They crowed about a bipartisan stamp of approval from the trio of Republicans who supported it: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah.
Yet by historical standards, the three opposition party votes were paltry and underscored the recent trend of Supreme Court confirmations becoming loyalty tests on party ideology. That’s a departure from a decades-long norm when senators might dislike a nominee’s judicial philosophy but defer to a president’s pick, barring a disqualifying revelation.
Murkowski said her support for Jackson was partly “rejection of the corrosive politicization” of how both parties consider Supreme Court nominations, which “is growing worse and more detached from reality by the year.”
Republicans said they would treat Jackson respectfully, and many did. Their questions and criticisms of her were pointed and partisan, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying “the Senate views itself as a co-partner in this process” with the president.
Yet some potential 2024 GOP presidential contenders seemed to use Jackson’s confirmation to woo hard-right support. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., misleadingly accused her of being unusually lenient on child pornography offenders. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., suggested she might have defended Nazis at the Nuremburg trials after World War II.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said some Republicans “went overboard, as far as I’m concerned, to the extreme,” reflecting “the reality of politics on Capitol Hill.” Cotton was “fundamentally unfair, but that is his tradition,” said Durbin.
SUPREME COURT BATTLES PAST
Senate approval of high court nominees by voice vote, without bothering to hold roll calls, was standard for most of the 20th Century. Conservative Antonin Scalia sailed into the Supreme Court by 98-0 in 1986, while liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg won 96-3 approval seven years later.
There were bitter fights. Democrats blocked conservative Robert Bork’s nomination in 1987 and unsuccessfully opposed Clarence Thomas’ ascension in 1991 after he was accused of sexual harassment.
Hard feelings intensified in early 2016. McConnell, then majority leader, blocked the Senate from even considering President Barack Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland to replace the deceased Scalia. McConnell cited the upcoming presidential election nearly nine months away, infuriating Democrats.
Donald Trump was elected and ultimately filled three vacancies over near-unanimous Democratic opposition.
They opposed Brett Kavanaugh after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman decades earlier. They voted solidly against Amy Coney Barrett after Trump and McConnell rushed through her nomination when a vacancy occurred just weeks before Election Day 2020, a sprint Democrats called hypocritical.
COVID SPENDING FIGHT, TRANSFORMED
Senators from both parties agreed to a $10 billion COVID-19 package Monday that President Joe Biden wants for more therapeutics, vaccines and tests. With BA.2, the new omicron variant, washing across the country, it seemed poised for congressional approval.
Hours later, bargainers led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, seemed blindsided when their compromise was derailed. Republicans wanted to add an extension of an expiring crackdown on migrants crossing the Mexican border that Trump imposed in 2020, citing the pandemic’s public health threat.
Many Republicans were skeptical that more COVID-19 money was necessary. But their demand for an immigration amendment transformed a fight over how much more to spend on a disease that’s killed 980,000 Americans into a battle over border security, tailor-made for upcoming GOP political campaigns.
Immigration divides Democrats, and Republicans believe the issue can further solidify their chances of winning congressional control in November’s elections. Playing defense, Schumer postponed debate on the COVID-19 bill.
Democrats deserved some blame for being outmaneuvered. House Democrats shot down a $15 billion agreement in March, rejecting compromise budget savings to pay for it.
And in glaringly tone-deaf political timing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week, just as bargainers were finalizing their latest compromise, that the Trump-era immigration curbs would lapse on May 23.
That gave Republicans an irresistible political gift to pursue.
A MODERATE’S FAREWELL
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., announced his retirement Tuesday. He’s the fourth of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year to say they won’t seek reelection.
Upton attributed his departure to running in a new district, but that didn’t stop Trump from proclaiming: “UPTON QUITS! 4 down and 6 to go.” The House impeached Trump over his incitement of supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but the GOP-run Senate acquitted him.
Now in his 18th term, Upton’s departure subtracts another moderate from a GOP that’s shifted rightward in recent years, particularly when it comes to showing fealty to Trump.
The pro-business Upton, 68, was a driving force on one law spurring pharmaceutical development and has worked with Democrats on legislation affecting energy and the auto industry. His work across the aisle and his affability placed him in the ever-smaller group of Republicans who draw Democrats’ praise.
“To him, bipartisan and compromise are not forbidden words,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.
PARTY DIFFERENCES, THEN AND NOW
Pitched battles are now habitual over bills financing federal agencies and extending the government’s borrowing authority. When those disputes are resolved and federal shutdowns and defaults averted, lawmakers hail as triumphs what is their most rudimentary task — keeping government functioning.
Despite the divisions over COVID-19 money and Jackson, there has also been cooperation.
Congress overwhelmingly voted Thursday to ban Russian oil and downgrade trade relations with that country following its invasion of Ukraine. There’s progress on bipartisan trade and technology legislation, and a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure measure became law last year.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/09/jackson-covid-retirement-show-congress-partisan-path/
| 2022-04-09T06:28:46
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PORTLAND, Ore. — Amid spiking gun violence and an ongoing homelessness crisis, KGW's Pat Dooris sat down with Mayor Ted Wheeler for a one-on-one interview to find out what he plans to do about these problems in the city of Portland, along with his take on the future of downtown.
There have been more than 100 injury shootings and more than two-dozen homicides in Portland so far this year. At this rate, 2022 is on track to be the city's deadliest year on record.
To start off the interview, Dooris asked the mayor what he thinks about the rate at which shootings are happening.
"There's no question we're experiencing an epidemic of gun violence and homicides in this city," Wheeler replied. "And its not unique to Portland, but I really don't care what's happening elsewhere."
He said he's concerned about the escalation in gun violence, but that the city has taken "solid steps in recent months" to prevent shootings, namely the launch of the Portland Police Bureau's Focused Intervention Team.
"That's 22 officers, sergeants and lieutenants who focus on investigative follow-up. Importantly, we also have tighter relationships with both the district attorney as well as our federal partners to make sure people who engage in these activities are prosecuted," Wheeler added.
He said he expects gun violence to continue increasing in the summer months, as it typically does.
"My team and I will be monitoring [gun violence] and if we need to add additional officers to the Focused Intervention Team, I'll be prepared to do so," he said.
Dooris mentioned that he's been critical in the past of Mayor Wheeler not showing up at big murder scenes.
Wheeler defended himself, saying "I have gone to those scenes — as recently as what ... two, three weeks ago I was in Dawson Park. I do go. I don't go to all of them, but I do go. And the reason I don't go to all of them is once the scene is secured, that is a live, investigative crime scene. And having an elected official tooling around there isn't necessarily the best thing for the investigative follow-up.
"But I have attended. I've spoken to family members, I've spoken to people who have been directly impacted and I have always put out the word that if family members want talk to me, I am always available and a number of them have taken me up on that."
Dooris then moved on to the topic of homelessness. He asked how the mayor's use of executive orders to address issues related to homelessness has been working out.
"I think its going really well," Wheeler replied. "The first emergency directive I passed was to remove people from high-crash corridors where it isn't safe to pitch tents."
He said the city will go back and ensure the cleared campsites are being maintained with people kept away.
He also mentioned plans for sanctioned and managed campsites for homeless people, which have been in the works since summer 2021 and are planned to open later this year.
RELATED: Mayor Ted Wheeler issues emergency declaration to centralize Portland's homelessness services
"The third, and probably the most important and least talked about, was to create a war room," Wheeler said. "To create a street services coordination center where all city bureaus come together, talk about hot spots, where we need to intervene, clean up, remediate and connect people with services. And that is already in the works. That's launching next week, and that'll have a huge impact just in terms of how city addresses homeless issues."
Dooris then asked the mayor if he was satisfied with the pace of recovery for downtown Portland, which has struggled to bounce back from 2020's racial justice protests and the pandemic.
"I'd like it to be faster, to be honest. I wish there were more people coming downtown more quickly. That includes city employees. But I understand the reluctance to do that," Wheeler said. "On other hand, I've been downtown the past several days. It's been busy, foot traffic is picking up, it's still hard to find a parking place in downtown."
Wheeler mentioned the return of big events like the Winter Lights Festival and said he's "confident we're on the road to recovery."
Dooris' last question to the mayor was, why not bring city employees back earlier?
"They're unionized, so this isn't a decision I get to make as mayor," he replied. "This is a negotiation we have with our collective bargain units. We have a scaled approach for people to return to the city of Portland. I've also offered ideas to incentivize employees to come back earlier and in larger numbers."
He said it's important for people to see that the city of Portland is confident and hopeful the future of the city, adding that will encourage the private sector to do the same.
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/mayor-ted-wheeler-gun-violence-homelessness/283-c68dda55-2c88-40f4-9db2-d9894c70b7a5
| 2022-04-09T06:29:08
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/mayor-ted-wheeler-gun-violence-homelessness/283-c68dda55-2c88-40f4-9db2-d9894c70b7a5
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — An international organization formed to identify the dead and missing from the 1990s Balkan conflicts is preparing to send a team of forensics experts to Ukraine as the death toll mounts more than six weeks into the war caused by Russia's invasion.
Authorities in Kyiv have reached out to the International Commission on Missing Persons to help put names to bodies that might otherwise remain anonymous amid the fog of war.
A team made up of a forensic pathologist, forensic archeologist and an expert on collecting DNA samples from bodies and from families to cross-match, is expected to travel to Ukraine early next week, Director-General Kathryne Bomberger told The Associated Press on Friday.
They will help identify the dead, but also document how they died — information that can feed into war crimes investigations in the future. The organization's laboratory in an office block on a busy street in The Hague will build a central database cataloging evidence and the identities of the missing.
“Having this centralized capability is absolutely critical because you have to look at this as an investigation into a gigantic crime scene that is taking place across Ukraine," Bomberger said.
The team will have plenty of work to do when it deploys to Bucha, where images of bodies lying in the streets after Russian forces withdrew shocked the world.
Bucha Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said Thursday on Ukrainian television that at least three sites of mass shootings of civilians during the Russian occupation have been found. Fedoruk said hundreds have been killed and investigators are finding bodies in yards, parks and city squares.
Vladyslav Atroshenko, the mayor of Chernihiv, said about 700 military personnel and civilians have been killed in the northern city during the war, and that 70 of the bodies remain unidentified, Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform reported.
The commission, known by its acronym ICMP, already has a working relationship with the prosecution office of the International Criminal Court and other crime-fighting agencies like Interpol and Europol to share evidence. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan already has opened an investigation in Ukraine.
“We want to make sure that we work together with the Ukrainian authorities to properly excavate these crime scene sites to identify the mortal remains so that evidence can be provided in the future for criminal trial purposes, not only potentially to the ICC, but also potentially within domestic courts in Ukraine," Bomberger said.
The organization is at the forefront of using new technology in their painstaking work to identify bodies from even the smallest samples.
“We have implemented a new extraction technique, which allows us to extract more DNA from smaller or more damaged fragments of bone sample,” said DNA Laboratory manager Kieren Hill. “This is quite a unique method in terms of its application into the missing person’s context.”
On Friday, lab staff in white clothes covered with blue plastic overalls, hair nets and gloves were meticulously working on other cases, grasping small shards of bone in pliers and grinding away their surfaces in search of DNA.
The ICMP has an online portal where people in Ukraine can anonymously report locations of bodies, and will help family members of the missing to provide DNA samples to help identify them.
The commission was established to trace the dead from the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Its sterile, high-tech laboratories are a world away from the muddy mass graves where the organization's experts first rose to prominence among the decomposing dead of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys.
They helped put names to bodies that in some cases were torn apart and spread across multiple mass graves as Bosnian Serb forces buried and then re-buried the dead in an effort to cover traces of their genocidal attempt to wipe out Srebrenica's Bosniaks.
The commission made sure they failed to cover their tracks. Bosnian Serb military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic and his political master, Radovan Karadzic, are now serving life sentences for crimes including genocide. Both men were convicted in part thanks to evidence gathered by the ICMP.
Funded by voluntary contributions from governments, the organization has since helped national governments put names to thousands more people whose anonymous remains were recovered from sites including over 3,000 mass and clandestine graves.
It has worked at crime scenes and disaster sites around the world, including Syria, Libya and Iraq. The organization also helped to identify victims swept away by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and extracted DNA from bone samples of 250 people killed when Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana in 2005.
Ukraine could prove to be one of its biggest challenges yet, as the organization works together with Ukrainian authorities to investigate and build cases amid an ongoing war.
“So ensuring that this process moves in accordance with proper investigations, that these sites are properly documented, the proper chain of custody is obtained, will be a challenge," Bomberger said. "I think under the circumstances while there’s an active conflict.”
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/forensics-team-ukraine-identify-dead/507-a3922a5b-54d1-44e4-bbb7-b783380d6ef3
| 2022-04-09T06:29:14
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants a tough global response to Russia after its forces fired a missile at a crowded train station, killing at least 52 people.
Zelenskyy's voice rose in anger during his nightly address late Friday, when he said the strike on the Kramatorsk train station, where 4,000 people were trying to flee a looming Russian offensive in the east, amounted to another war crime.
Dozens of people were severely injured in the strike, and the dead included children.
Photos taken after the attack showed corpses covered with tarpaulins, and the remnants of a rocket painted with the words “For the children" in Russian. The Russian phrasing seemed to suggest the missile was sent to avenge the loss or subjugation of children, although its exact meaning remained unclear.
The strike seemed to shock world leaders.
“There are almost no words for it,” European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters during a visit to Ukraine. “The cynical behavior (by Russia) has almost no benchmark anymore.”
The attack came as workers elsewhere in the country unearthed bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, where graphic evidence of dozens of killings emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.
“Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the tribunal that must be held,” Zelenskyy said.
After failing to take Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance, Russian forces have now set their sights on the eastern Donbas region, the mostly Russian-speaking, industrial area where Moscow-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and control some places.
Although the train station is in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in the Donbas, Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack. So did the region’s Moscow-backed separatists, who work closely with Russian troops.
Western experts, however, dismissed Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov's assertion that Russian forces “do not use” that type of missile. A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, said Russia’s forces have used the missile — and that given the strike’s location and impact, it was likely Russia’s.
Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, added that only Russia would have reason to target railway infrastructure in the Donbas, as it is critical for the Ukrainian military's efforts to reinforce its units.
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 suggested Russia specifically chose the missile type because Ukraine also possesses them.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace denounced the attack as a war crime, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “completely unacceptable.”
Ukrainian authorities and Western officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of atrocities in the war that began with a Feb. 24 invasion. More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions more have been displaced. Some of the grisliest evidence 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 church under spitting rain, lining up black body bags in rows in the mud. About 67 people were buried there, according to a statement from Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova's office.
Zelenskyy cited communications intercepted by the Ukrainian security service as evidence of Russian war crimes, in an excerpted interview with CBS' “60 Minutes” that aired Friday.
“There are (Russian) soldiers talking with their parents about what they stole and who they abducted. There are recordings of (Russian) prisoners of war who admitted to killing people,” he said. “There are pilots in prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. There are also investigations being conducted based on the remains of the dead.”
Zelenskyy's comments echo reporting from German news magazine Der Spiegel saying Germany's foreign intelligence agency had intercepted Russian military radio traffic in which soldiers may have discussed civilian killings in Bucha. The weekly also reported that the recordings indicated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group was involved in atrocities there.
German government officials would not confirm or deny the report, but two former German ministers filed a war crimes complaint Thursday. Russia has denied that its military was involved in war crimes.
Elsewhere, in anticipation of intensified attacks by Russian forces, hundreds of Ukrainians fled villages that were either under fire or occupied in the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson.
Ukrainian officials have almost daily pleaded with Western powers to send more arms, and to further punish Russia with sanctions, exclusion of Russian banks from the global financial system and a total EU embargo on Russian gas and oil.
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.
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that the Pentagon believes some of Russia's 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 said the U.S. believes Russia has lost between 15% and 20% of its combat power overall 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.
In Kharkiv, Lidiya Mezhiritska stood in the wreckage of her home after overnight missile strikes turned it to rubble.
“The ‘Russian world,’ they say,” she said, wryly invoking Putin’s nationalist justification for invading Ukraine. “People, children, old people, women are dying. I don’t have a machine gun. I would definitely go (fight), regardless of age.”
___
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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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/russia-ukraine-war-saturday/507-0de54067-0efa-4b01-bf32-cc7232e302f1
| 2022-04-09T06:29:20
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/russia-ukraine-war-saturday/507-0de54067-0efa-4b01-bf32-cc7232e302f1
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MUSTANG — Norman High hit three home runs, including a grand slam from Connor Goodson in a run-rule win over Durant on Friday.
Harrison Smith hit the second pitch of the day on a line drive over the left field wall to set up a four-hit, three-run first inning for the Tigers. Norman High turned a double play to get out of the bottom of the inning before exploding for nine runs in the top of the second.
Durant walked three straight batters to load the bases up with two outs before Goodson stepped up and hit the first pitch over the centerfield wall. On the next at-bat, Ben Huntley joined the Tigers’ home run party with a solo homer into left field.
By the time the side was retired, the Tigers led 12-0. Norman High put two more across in the top of the third to end the game in a 14-0 run-rule win.
Norman High started Tyler Wilkins on the mound and he allowed two hits and no runs in the first two innings. Robbie Jones pitched the final inning and struck out one batter, while allowing no hits and no walks.
Clayton Moore and Huntley each finished with two hits and two RBI. The Tigers finished with 13 hits and no errors while Durant had two hits and two errors.
Norman High (16-5) will face Mustang again on Saturday at home at 5 p.m.
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https://www.normantranscript.com/sports/norman-high-baseball-tigers-hit-three-homers-in-win-over-durant/article_68e496dc-b7b7-11ec-9261-67ec2bb70519.html
| 2022-04-09T06:39:52
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Edmond Memorial put the pressure on Norman High girls and didn’t let up Friday.
The wind favored the Bulldogs in the first half and they immediately used it to their advantage with a possession-heavy offensive attack. By keeping the ball away from the Tigers, they were able to get a few looks early, but none of them resulted in a threatening shot, and the game stayed tied for the first 20 minutes of the game.
The Bulldogs broke the tie in the 20th minute on a cross to the near-side post that Addy Johnson was able to deflect past the goalie for a spectacular goal.
“I felt it wasn’t the team we’ve had the last seven games,” NHS head coach Kevin Chesley said. “They were a bit more passive, maybe not as aggressive as they have been. I think when you play kind of inferior competition you sort of just naturally lessen and then when you go against a team that’s better than you expect, better than you’ve been playing, it’s hard to step up to that level.”
The Tigers outscored their first two district opponents 22-2. But the offense struggled to connect offensively and Norman High had to force the attempts it could get in the first half, eventually falling 4-1 to snap a seven-game winning streak.
Less than three minutes after her first goal, Johnson got the ball on the left wing and put one low into the back of the net. NHS goalkeeper Harper Schindler made seven saves in the first half alone, but it wasn’t enough to slow down a relentless Bulldog attack.
Johnson snuck one into the goal with under three minutes to secure a first-half hat trick.
Edmond Memorial got a quick goal from Avery Mask to start the second half, but the Tigers’ offense slowly started to find its rhythm again late in the game. Norman High forwards Kaylyn Simmons, Aniya Facen and Jane Lockhart each had opportunities to give the Tigers the first goal of the game, but Taylor Hapgood continued to come up with big saves in big moments.
“I just told them, one thing I love about them is they played through fouls,” Chesley said. “Sometimes it can be frustrating because they get fouled, but we still have an advantage because they keep going, and then they don’t have the advantage anymore. It’s a little frustrating, but they don’t stop. I think there was a little bit of frustration as we got further along and we didn’t get the shots we wanted.
With the clock ticking inside two minutes to go and NHS still scoreless, Kaylyn Simmons got a through ball and made a quick move around a defender before firing the ball into the back of the net.
“I just told them, every goal matters, even that last goal at the end of time,” Chesley said. “It’s important in district, but it’s also important that we didn’t quit. If we can score there with two minutes left, we’re gonna keep fighting.”
The loss likely won’t be the deciding factor in the Tigers’ playoff chances this season, but it was a good test after playing some weaker competition over the last few weeks. With games against Southmoore, Edmond Deer Creek and Yukon on the horizon, Norman High will have plenty of opportunities to make up for the loss in the coming weeks.
“Those are all gonna be tough matches, and those are gonna determine whether we make the playoffs or not,” Chesley said.
• NHS boys dominate second half to hold off Bulldogs: Norman High was lucky to enter the first half with a tie game after Edmond Memorial got a free kick at the top of the box in the final minute.
The shot was blocked by the Tigers’ wall and the two teams closed out a back-and-forth first half scoreless. With the wind at their back in the second half the Tigers started to put pressure on the Bulldogs’ back line.
Diego Leal found himself one-on-one with the keeper, but couldn’t put the goal away. But with just under 24 minutes left in the game, Leal got a through ball and made a move to get by a defender at the top of the box.
Once again, Leal was one-on-one with the keeper, but this time he pulled the ball back and made a move to the middle before passing the ball calmly into the back of an open net. Already trailing by a goal late, Edmond Memorial put itself in a bigger hole when one of its players was sent off the pitch with a red card.
Four minutes later, an Edmond Memorial defender popped the ball up in the air in the box while attempting to clear it. Norman High’s Dylan Garn jumped and spun as he volleyed the ball just inside the left post to give the Tigers a commanding lead in the 74th minute.
The Tigers held on to win 2-0 and improve to 2-0 in district play. They’ll face Southmoore on the road at 8 p.m.
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https://www.normantranscript.com/sports/norman-high-soccer-bulldogs-pressure-tigers-early-in-4-1-win/article_25b6280a-b7b5-11ec-a475-63b370678112.html
| 2022-04-09T06:39:58
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https://www.normantranscript.com/sports/norman-high-soccer-bulldogs-pressure-tigers-early-in-4-1-win/article_25b6280a-b7b5-11ec-a475-63b370678112.html
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Mikayla Parks was honored for a memorable career with a place on the Oklahoma Coaches Association 2022 All-State girls basketball team.
A three-year starter coming into her senior season, Parks helped Norman High win state championships in 2019 and 2021. The playmaking combo-guard is committed to play at Kansas State next season.
Parks missed the first 18 games of the 2021-22 season after an ACL injury that she received during the offseason. She made her return in the Crosstown Clash and went on to average 10 points per game during her senior season.
The large schools will play the All-State game at Jenks High School on Thursday, July 28 at 8:30 p.m.
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https://www.normantranscript.com/sports/norman-north-basketball-parks-named-to-all-state-team/article_1453f5de-b7a5-11ec-b5eb-e330e228c369.html
| 2022-04-09T06:40:04
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https://www.normantranscript.com/sports/norman-north-basketball-parks-named-to-all-state-team/article_1453f5de-b7a5-11ec-b5eb-e330e228c369.html
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When Oklahoma and Oklahoma State met in Tulsa last month, it took a two-run performance in the ninth inning for the Sooners to clinch a comeback win.
That’s exactly what the Sooners needed Friday, as they trailed 7-6 heading into the ninth inning in Stillwater.
Peyton Graham got it started with a double down the infield line, and Blake Robertson followed it with a double of his own to bring Graham home as the tying run. A few moments later, Sebastian Orduno’s single to centerfield brought Kendall Pettis home to give the Sooners a one-point lead.
All they needed to do was hold the lead in the bottom of the inning.
Outside of OSU’s Zach Ehrhard’s single, Trevin Michael did his part to strikeout two Oklahoma State batters. Ehrhard then tried to steal second base before the Sooners caught him.
It took a video review to confirm the call but it went in the Sooners’ favor, sealing OU’s 8-7 win to open the three-game Bedlam series with a victory.
The Sooners took a brief one-run lead in the top of the fifth, as Cade Horton scored off an OSU error and Robertson scored Jackson Nicklaus on an RBI single.
Oklahoma State took control of the game in the bottom of the fifth frame, however, scoring four runs to take a 7-4 run.
Nicklaus got things back in the Sooners’ direction in the bottom of the seventh inning, hitting an RBI single that scored Wallace Clark. Nicklaus was eventually brought home off an RBI single from Jimmy Crooks that cut the OSU lead to 7-6.
Nicklaus finished with two runs, two hits and an RBI. Robertson added a team-high three hits and three RBIs, while Graham finished with two hits and two runs. The Sooners outhit the Cowboys 12-10.
Jake Bennett pitched five innings for the Sooners, throwing nine strikeouts while surrendering eight hits and seven runs. Carter Campbell earned the win on the mound in two innings pitched.
The Sooners improve to 18-10 on the season and will look to clinch the series at 8 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
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https://www.normantranscript.com/sports/ou-baseball-sooners-stun-cowboys-clinch-comeback-victory/article_bcc0e2a2-b7b1-11ec-a3f8-f31dada89aa3.html
| 2022-04-09T06:40:11
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GRAPHIC: Ukraine seeks tough reply after missile kills 52 at station
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants a tough global response to Russia after its forces fired a missile at a crowded train station, killing at least 52 people.
Zelenskyy’s voice rose in anger during his nightly address late Friday, when he said the strike on the Kramatorsk train station, where 4,000 people were trying to flee a looming Russian offensive in the east, amounted to another war crime.
Russia denied it was responsible for the strike. Among those killed were children, and dozens of people were severely injured.
Photos taken after the attack showed corpses covered with tarpaulins, and the remnants of a rocket painted with the words “For the children” in Russian. The Russian phrasing seemed to suggest the missile was sent to avenge the loss or subjugation of children, although its exact meaning remained unclear.
WARNING: Videos may contain graphic content.
The strike seemed to shock world leaders.
“There are almost no words for it,” European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters during a visit to Ukraine. “The cynical behavior (by Russia) has almost no benchmark anymore.”
The attack came as workers elsewhere in the country unearthed bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, where graphic evidence of dozens of killings emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.
“Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the tribunal that must be held,” Zelenskyy said.
He said efforts would be taken “to establish every minute of who did what, who gave what orders, where the missile came from, who transported it, who gave the command and how this strike was agreed to.”
After failing to take Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance, Russian forces have now set their sights on the eastern Donbas region, the mostly Russian-speaking, industrial area where Moscow-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and control some places.
Although the train station is in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in the Donbas, Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack. So did the region’s Moscow-backed separatists, who work closely with Russian troops.
Western experts, however, dismissed Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s assertion that Russian forces “do not use” that type of missile. A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, said Russia’s forces have used the missile — and that given the strike’s location and impact, it was likely Russia’s.
Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, added that only Russia would have reason to target railway infrastructure in the Donbas, as it is critical for the Ukrainian military’s efforts to reinforce its units.
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 suggested Russia specifically chose the missile type because Ukraine also possesses them.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace denounced the attack as a war crime, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “completely unacceptable.”
Ukrainian authorities and Western officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of atrocities in the war that began with a Feb. 24 invasion. More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions more have been displaced. Some of the grisliest evidence 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 church under spitting rain, lining up black body bags in rows in the mud. About 67 people were buried there, according to a statement from Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova’s office.
Zelenskyy cited communications intercepted by the Ukrainian security service as evidence of Russian war crimes, in an excerpted interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Friday.
“There are (Russian) soldiers talking with their parents about what they stole and who they abducted. There are recordings of (Russian) prisoners of war who admitted to killing people,” he said. “There are pilots in prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. There are also investigations being conducted based on the remains of the dead.”
Zelenskyy’s comments echo reporting from German news magazine Der Spiegel saying Germany’s foreign intelligence agency had intercepted Russian military radio traffic in which soldiers may have discussed civilian killings in Bucha. The weekly also reported that the recordings indicated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group was involved in atrocities there.
German government officials would not confirm or deny the report, but two former German ministers filed a war crimes complaint Thursday. Russia has denied that its military was involved in war crimes.
Elsewhere, in anticipation of intensified attacks by Russian forces, hundreds of Ukrainians fled villages that were either under fire or occupied in the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson.
Ukrainian officials have almost daily pleaded with Western powers to send more arms, and to further punish Russia with sanctions, exclusion of Russian banks from the global financial system and a total EU embargo on Russian gas and oil.
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.
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that the Pentagon believes some of Russia’s 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 said the U.S. believes Russia has lost between 15% and 20% of its combat power overall 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.
In Kharkiv, Lidiya Mezhiritska stood in the wreckage of her home after overnight missile strikes turned it to rubble.
“The ‘Russian world,’ they say,” she said, wryly invoking Putin’s nationalist justification for invading Ukraine. “People, children, old people, women are dying. I don’t have a machine gun. I would definitely go (fight), regardless of age.”
___
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.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraineCopyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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| 2022-04-09T06:41:53
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GRAPHIC: Ukraine seeks tough reply after missile kills 52 at station
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants a tough global response to Russia after its forces fired a missile at a crowded train station, killing at least 52 people.
Zelenskyy’s voice rose in anger during his nightly address late Friday, when he said the strike on the Kramatorsk train station, where 4,000 people were trying to flee a looming Russian offensive in the east, amounted to another war crime.
Russia denied it was responsible for the strike. Among those killed were children, and dozens of people were severely injured.
Photos taken after the attack showed corpses covered with tarpaulins, and the remnants of a rocket painted with the words “For the children” in Russian. The Russian phrasing seemed to suggest the missile was sent to avenge the loss or subjugation of children, although its exact meaning remained unclear.
WARNING: Videos may contain graphic content.
The strike seemed to shock world leaders.
“There are almost no words for it,” European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters during a visit to Ukraine. “The cynical behavior (by Russia) has almost no benchmark anymore.”
The attack came as workers elsewhere in the country unearthed bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, where graphic evidence of dozens of killings emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.
“Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the tribunal that must be held,” Zelenskyy said.
He said efforts would be taken “to establish every minute of who did what, who gave what orders, where the missile came from, who transported it, who gave the command and how this strike was agreed to.”
After failing to take Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance, Russian forces have now set their sights on the eastern Donbas region, the mostly Russian-speaking, industrial area where Moscow-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and control some places.
Although the train station is in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in the Donbas, Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack. So did the region’s Moscow-backed separatists, who work closely with Russian troops.
Western experts, however, dismissed Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s assertion that Russian forces “do not use” that type of missile. A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, said Russia’s forces have used the missile — and that given the strike’s location and impact, it was likely Russia’s.
Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, added that only Russia would have reason to target railway infrastructure in the Donbas, as it is critical for the Ukrainian military’s efforts to reinforce its units.
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 suggested Russia specifically chose the missile type because Ukraine also possesses them.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace denounced the attack as a war crime, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “completely unacceptable.”
Ukrainian authorities and Western officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of atrocities in the war that began with a Feb. 24 invasion. More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions more have been displaced. Some of the grisliest evidence 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 church under spitting rain, lining up black body bags in rows in the mud. About 67 people were buried there, according to a statement from Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova’s office.
Zelenskyy cited communications intercepted by the Ukrainian security service as evidence of Russian war crimes, in an excerpted interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Friday.
“There are (Russian) soldiers talking with their parents about what they stole and who they abducted. There are recordings of (Russian) prisoners of war who admitted to killing people,” he said. “There are pilots in prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. There are also investigations being conducted based on the remains of the dead.”
Zelenskyy’s comments echo reporting from German news magazine Der Spiegel saying Germany’s foreign intelligence agency had intercepted Russian military radio traffic in which soldiers may have discussed civilian killings in Bucha. The weekly also reported that the recordings indicated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group was involved in atrocities there.
German government officials would not confirm or deny the report, but two former German ministers filed a war crimes complaint Thursday. Russia has denied that its military was involved in war crimes.
Elsewhere, in anticipation of intensified attacks by Russian forces, hundreds of Ukrainians fled villages that were either under fire or occupied in the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson.
Ukrainian officials have almost daily pleaded with Western powers to send more arms, and to further punish Russia with sanctions, exclusion of Russian banks from the global financial system and a total EU embargo on Russian gas and oil.
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.
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that the Pentagon believes some of Russia’s 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 said the U.S. believes Russia has lost between 15% and 20% of its combat power overall 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.
In Kharkiv, Lidiya Mezhiritska stood in the wreckage of her home after overnight missile strikes turned it to rubble.
“The ‘Russian world,’ they say,” she said, wryly invoking Putin’s nationalist justification for invading Ukraine. “People, children, old people, women are dying. I don’t have a machine gun. I would definitely go (fight), regardless of age.”
___
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.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraineCopyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/graphic-ukraine-seeks-tough-reply-after-missile-kills-52-station/
| 2022-04-09T07:00:53
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/graphic-ukraine-seeks-tough-reply-after-missile-kills-52-station/
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants a tough global response to Russia after its forces fired a missile at a crowded train station, killing at least 52 people.
Zelenskyy's voice rose in anger during his nightly address late Friday, when he said the strike on the Kramatorsk train station, where 4,000 people were trying to flee a looming Russian offensive in the east, amounted to another war crime.
Dozens of people were severely injured in the strike, and the dead included children.
Photos taken after the attack showed corpses covered with tarpaulins, and the remnants of a rocket painted with the words “For the children" in Russian. The Russian phrasing seemed to suggest the missile was sent to avenge the loss or subjugation of children, although its exact meaning remained unclear.
The strike seemed to shock world leaders.
“There are almost no words for it,” European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters during a visit to Ukraine. “The cynical behavior (by Russia) has almost no benchmark anymore.”
The attack came as workers elsewhere in the country unearthed bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, where graphic evidence of dozens of killings emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.
“Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the tribunal that must be held,” Zelenskyy said.
After failing to take Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance, Russian forces have now set their sights on the eastern Donbas region, the mostly Russian-speaking, industrial area where Moscow-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and control some places.
Although the train station is in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in the Donbas, Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack. So did the region’s Moscow-backed separatists, who work closely with Russian troops.
Western experts, however, dismissed Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov's assertion that Russian forces “do not use” that type of missile. A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, said Russia’s forces have used the missile — and that given the strike’s location and impact, it was likely Russia’s.
Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, added that only Russia would have reason to target railway infrastructure in the Donbas, as it is critical for the Ukrainian military's efforts to reinforce its units.
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 suggested Russia specifically chose the missile type because Ukraine also possesses them.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace denounced the attack as a war crime, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “completely unacceptable.”
Ukrainian authorities and Western officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of atrocities in the war that began with a Feb. 24 invasion. More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions more have been displaced. Some of the grisliest evidence 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 church under spitting rain, lining up black body bags in rows in the mud. About 67 people were buried there, according to a statement from Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova's office.
Zelenskyy cited communications intercepted by the Ukrainian security service as evidence of Russian war crimes, in an excerpted interview with CBS' “60 Minutes” that aired Friday.
“There are (Russian) soldiers talking with their parents about what they stole and who they abducted. There are recordings of (Russian) prisoners of war who admitted to killing people,” he said. “There are pilots in prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. There are also investigations being conducted based on the remains of the dead.”
Zelenskyy's comments echo reporting from German news magazine Der Spiegel saying Germany's foreign intelligence agency had intercepted Russian military radio traffic in which soldiers may have discussed civilian killings in Bucha. The weekly also reported that the recordings indicated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group was involved in atrocities there.
German government officials would not confirm or deny the report, but two former German ministers filed a war crimes complaint Thursday. Russia has denied that its military was involved in war crimes.
Elsewhere, in anticipation of intensified attacks by Russian forces, hundreds of Ukrainians fled villages that were either under fire or occupied in the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson.
Ukrainian officials have almost daily pleaded with Western powers to send more arms, and to further punish Russia with sanctions, exclusion of Russian banks from the global financial system and a total EU embargo on Russian gas and oil.
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.
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that the Pentagon believes some of Russia's 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 said the U.S. believes Russia has lost between 15% and 20% of its combat power overall 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.
In Kharkiv, Lidiya Mezhiritska stood in the wreckage of her home after overnight missile strikes turned it to rubble.
“The ‘Russian world,’ they say,” she said, wryly invoking Putin’s nationalist justification for invading Ukraine. “People, children, old people, women are dying. I don’t have a machine gun. I would definitely go (fight), regardless of age.”
___
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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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/russia-ukraine-war-saturday/507-0de54067-0efa-4b01-bf32-cc7232e302f1
| 2022-04-09T07:05:13
| 1
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https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/nation-world/ukraine/russia-ukraine-war-saturday/507-0de54067-0efa-4b01-bf32-cc7232e302f1
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GRAPHIC: Ukraine seeks tough reply after missile kills 52 at station
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants a tough global response to Russia after its forces fired a missile at a crowded train station, killing at least 52 people.
Zelenskyy’s voice rose in anger during his nightly address late Friday, when he said the strike on the Kramatorsk train station, where 4,000 people were trying to flee a looming Russian offensive in the east, amounted to another war crime.
Russia denied it was responsible for the strike. Among those killed were children, and dozens of people were severely injured.
Photos taken after the attack showed corpses covered with tarpaulins, and the remnants of a rocket painted with the words “For the children” in Russian. The Russian phrasing seemed to suggest the missile was sent to avenge the loss or subjugation of children, although its exact meaning remained unclear.
WARNING: Videos may contain graphic content.
The strike seemed to shock world leaders.
“There are almost no words for it,” European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters during a visit to Ukraine. “The cynical behavior (by Russia) has almost no benchmark anymore.”
The attack came as workers elsewhere in the country unearthed bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, where graphic evidence of dozens of killings emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.
“Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the tribunal that must be held,” Zelenskyy said.
He said efforts would be taken “to establish every minute of who did what, who gave what orders, where the missile came from, who transported it, who gave the command and how this strike was agreed to.”
After failing to take Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance, Russian forces have now set their sights on the eastern Donbas region, the mostly Russian-speaking, industrial area where Moscow-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and control some places.
Although the train station is in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in the Donbas, Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack. So did the region’s Moscow-backed separatists, who work closely with Russian troops.
Western experts, however, dismissed Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s assertion that Russian forces “do not use” that type of missile. A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, said Russia’s forces have used the missile — and that given the strike’s location and impact, it was likely Russia’s.
Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, added that only Russia would have reason to target railway infrastructure in the Donbas, as it is critical for the Ukrainian military’s efforts to reinforce its units.
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 suggested Russia specifically chose the missile type because Ukraine also possesses them.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace denounced the attack as a war crime, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “completely unacceptable.”
Ukrainian authorities and Western officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of atrocities in the war that began with a Feb. 24 invasion. More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions more have been displaced. Some of the grisliest evidence 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 church under spitting rain, lining up black body bags in rows in the mud. About 67 people were buried there, according to a statement from Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova’s office.
Zelenskyy cited communications intercepted by the Ukrainian security service as evidence of Russian war crimes, in an excerpted interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Friday.
“There are (Russian) soldiers talking with their parents about what they stole and who they abducted. There are recordings of (Russian) prisoners of war who admitted to killing people,” he said. “There are pilots in prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. There are also investigations being conducted based on the remains of the dead.”
Zelenskyy’s comments echo reporting from German news magazine Der Spiegel saying Germany’s foreign intelligence agency had intercepted Russian military radio traffic in which soldiers may have discussed civilian killings in Bucha. The weekly also reported that the recordings indicated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group was involved in atrocities there.
German government officials would not confirm or deny the report, but two former German ministers filed a war crimes complaint Thursday. Russia has denied that its military was involved in war crimes.
Elsewhere, in anticipation of intensified attacks by Russian forces, hundreds of Ukrainians fled villages that were either under fire or occupied in the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson.
Ukrainian officials have almost daily pleaded with Western powers to send more arms, and to further punish Russia with sanctions, exclusion of Russian banks from the global financial system and a total EU embargo on Russian gas and oil.
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.
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that the Pentagon believes some of Russia’s 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 said the U.S. believes Russia has lost between 15% and 20% of its combat power overall 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.
In Kharkiv, Lidiya Mezhiritska stood in the wreckage of her home after overnight missile strikes turned it to rubble.
“The ‘Russian world,’ they say,” she said, wryly invoking Putin’s nationalist justification for invading Ukraine. “People, children, old people, women are dying. I don’t have a machine gun. I would definitely go (fight), regardless of age.”
___
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.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraineCopyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/09/graphic-ukraine-seeks-tough-reply-after-missile-kills-52-station/
| 2022-04-09T07:20:46
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/09/graphic-ukraine-seeks-tough-reply-after-missile-kills-52-station/
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Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot jury ends 4th day of deliberations
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — The jury in the trial of four men accused of scheming to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ended its fourth day of deliberations Thursday and said it wants to look at evidence related to an explosive when it resumes its work.
The jury gave no signal to the judge that it’s struggling to reach decisions about the defendants: Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta.
When jurors return for more deliberations Friday, they said they want to look at pennies that, according to the government, were used during the demonstration of a homemade explosive while the men trained in September 2020.
“We will have that for you,” U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said, adding that they can look at any evidence that was introduced during 13 days of testimony.
Earlier in the week, the jury asked for a definition of “weapon.” Jonker said it’s something that could be used to “injure, kill or destroy someone or something.”
The jury is considering 10 charges in the case: one against Caserta, two against Fox, three against Croft and four against Harris. The men all face the main charge of a kidnapping conspiracy; the other counts are related to explosives and a firearm.
A conviction on any count must be unanimous.
“We can all see you’re hard at work,” Jonker told the jury. “It can be an exhausting way to spend spring break. We know that because that room is not huge. It gets smaller each time you come back and spend more time looking through everything. We appreciate your diligence.”
The evidence included testimony from undercover agents, a crucial informant and two men who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and pointed a finger at the others. Prosecutors said the group was steeped in anti-government extremism and angry over Whitmer’s COVID-19 restrictions.
The men trained with a crudely built “shoot house” to replicate her vacation home in September 2020, according to testimony.
Defense lawyers, however, said any scheme was the creation of government agents who were embedded in the group and manipulated the men.
Croft is from Bear, Delaware, while the others are from Michigan.
Whitmer, a Democrat, 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.
___
Find AP’s full coverage of the Whitmer kidnap plot trial at: https://apnews.com/hub/whitmer-kidnap-plot-trial
___
White reported from Detroit.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wistv.com/2022/04/07/4th-day-deliberations-starts-gov-whitmer-kidnap-plot/
| 2022-04-09T07:37:17
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https://www.wistv.com/2022/04/07/4th-day-deliberations-starts-gov-whitmer-kidnap-plot/
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Charleston County admonishes Sheriff’s Office for ‘unauthorized’ contract
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A Charleston County governmental department said the county sheriff failed to follow the rules when she hired a consulting company to produce a report.
In January, Sheriff Kristen Graziano signed a contract with Vanessa Gongora of Mila Consulting, LLC for a total of $15,285 worth of services.
The intention was for the company to assess the Sheriff’s Office’s current communication with Limited English Proficient individuals and produce a final report for the language access plan.
But in a letter dated March 8, 2022, Barrett Tolbert, the director of the county’s Contracts and Procurement Department, stated Graziano failed to follow the rules.
“[The] consulting agreement... did not receive the required authorization from the Procurement Department,” Tolbert wrote. “The agreement was inappropriately signed, contracts and agreements are only signed by the Director of Contracts & Procurement and the County Administrator.”
The letter is addressed to Chief Ameed Sad with the Sheriff’s Office.
Procurement policy requires any contracts with a county agency worth more than $10,000 to require at least three qualified suppliers to be considered.
Tolbert goes on to write, “This procurement does not meet the criteria for Sole source/Non-competitive procurement, and two additional quotes for services should have been obtained to complete the process.”
A request to interview Tolbert was denied.
Instead, Live 5 News was directed to the county’s procurement ordinance (Sec. 2-151) which states the procurement policy “is to provide for the fair and equitable treatment of all persons involved in public purchasing by the county, to maximize the purchasing value of public funds in procurement, and to provide safeguards for maintaining a procurement system of quality and integrity.”
In the contract, the Sheriff’s Office agreed to pay $4,995 per contract phase, which are listed as March 31, July 30, and Aug 31, 2022. The agreement also included expense reimbursements for travel, meals, postage and copying.
Spending transparency reports also show Camila Consulting, LLC (the previous name of Mila Consulting according to the State secretary’s website) received $4,995 in consulting fees in November 2021, before the contract took effect.
Per regulation, the county requested written determination as to the facts and circumstances surrounding the act, corrective action being taken, action against the individual committing the act, and documentation that the price paid is fair and reasonable.
If proven unreasonable, the individual committing the act may be held “pecuniarily liable for the difference.”
The Sheriff’s Office had until March 24 to provide this documentation. Sherrif’s Office spokesman Andrew Knapp says no documentation was submitted to the procurement office in response to the letter.
The agency released the following statement Thursday:
This contract did not go through the county procurement process as the funds came directly from the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office budget. CCSO routinely submits to the process when a contract would call for a commitment of funds directly from Charleston County’s budget. This contract remains in effect and fulfills the need to begin addressing issues related to underserved minority communities. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs that receive federal funds. The Sheriff’s Office receives federal grant funding and is committed to providing equal access to its law enforcement services to all community members. This effort will help identify ways in which we can do better and fully comply with Title VI.
County spokesperson Kelsey Barlow states there is no further investigation.
You can find the county’s procurement ordinance here.
Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wistv.com/2022/04/07/charleston-county-admonishes-sheriffs-office-unauthorized-contract/
| 2022-04-09T07:37:23
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https://www.wistv.com/2022/04/07/charleston-county-admonishes-sheriffs-office-unauthorized-contract/
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Donald Trump Jr. texted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows two days after the 2020 presidential election with strategies for overturning the result if Trump's father lost, CNN reported Friday.
The text was sent two days before Joe Biden was declared the winner, according to CNN. It reportedly laid out strategies that then-President Donald Trump's team pursued in the following months as they disseminated misinformation about election fraud and pressured state and federal officials to assist in that effort.
The cable news network reported that Trump Jr.'s text made “specific reference to filing lawsuits and advocating recounts to prevent certain swing states from certifying their results.” It also suggested that if those measures didn't work, lawmakers in Congress could dismiss the electoral results and vote to keep President Trump in office.
Trump Jr.’s lawyer Alan S. Futerfas, in a statement Friday to CNN, said: “After the election, Don received numerous messages from supporters and others. Given the date, this message likely originated from someone else and was forwarded.”
CNN said the Trump Jr. text had been obtained by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. In the last week, the committee has interviewed former President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. Their virtual testimonies are the closest lawmakers have gotten to the former president.
Separately on Friday, Ali Alexander, a conservative activist who helped found the “Stop the Steal” movement, said he had received a subpoena to provide testimony to a federal grand jury as part of the Justice Department’s wide investigation into the insurrection.
In a statement through his attorney, Alexander said the subpoena was seeking information about the “Save America Rally” that was held at the Ellipse — hosted by the pro-Trump nonprofit organization called Women for America First — which thousands had attended before a surge of Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“I don’t believe I have information that will be useful to them but I’m cooperating as best I can further reiterating that I’m not a target because I did nothing wrong,” he said.
Alexander voluntarily appeared for hours in December before the House panel investigating the insurrection, providing congressional investigators with a slew of documents and information about his communications with lawmakers.
In court documents, Alexander’s lawyers have said he told congressional investigators that he remembers having “a few phone conversations” with Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and had exchanged some text messages with Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., in the run-up to the Jan. 6 rallies.
“I did nothing wrong and I am not in possession of evidence that anyone else had plans to commit unlawful acts,” Alexander said. "I denounce anyone who planned to subvert my permitted event and the other permitted events of that day on Capitol grounds to stage any counterproductive activities.”
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/cnn-trump-jr-text-shows-ideas-to-overturn-2020-election/3638385/
| 2022-04-09T07:37:27
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/cnn-trump-jr-text-shows-ideas-to-overturn-2020-election/3638385/
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Forecasters predict above-average hurricane season
(CNN) - Experts are warning to be prepared for an above-average hurricane season this year.
The Tropical Meteorology Project team at Colorado State University released its Atlantic basin hurricane forecast Thursday.
Forecasters are predicting 19 named storms this season, which is five more than normal, and nine are expected to become hurricanes.
According to CSU, four of those hurricanes are predicted to be major hurricanes, reaching category three or higher.
Scientists say the increased activity is largely due to the natural phenomenon known as La Niña.
It creates colder than average ocean temperatures at the equator, which inhibits winds that prevent hurricanes from forming, making them more likely to develop.
Forecasters also say advances in satellite technology have enabled them to detect weaker storms they previously wouldn’t have known about – one reason we see more storms being named.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wistv.com/2022/04/07/forecasters-predict-above-average-hurricane-season/
| 2022-04-09T07:37:29
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https://www.wistv.com/2022/04/07/forecasters-predict-above-average-hurricane-season/
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A milestone Supreme Court confirmation that endured a flawed process. The collapse of a bipartisan compromise for more pandemic funds. The departure of a stalwart of the dwindling band of moderate House Republicans.
Party-line fights on Capitol Hill are as old as the republic, and they routinely escalate as elections approach. Yet three events from a notable week illustrate how Congress' near- and long-term paths point toward intensifying partisanship.
Democrats rejoiced Thursday when the Senate by 53-47 confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black female justice. They crowed about a bipartisan stamp of approval from the trio of Republicans who supported it: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah.
Yet by historical standards, the three opposition party votes were paltry and underscored the recent trend of Supreme Court confirmations becoming loyalty tests on party ideology. That's a departure from a decades-long norm when senators might dislike a nominee’s judicial philosophy but defer to a president's pick, barring a disqualifying revelation.
Murkowski said her support for Jackson was partly “rejection of the corrosive politicization" of how both parties consider Supreme Court nominations, which "is growing worse and more detached from reality by the year.”
Republicans said they would treat Jackson respectfully, and many did. Their questions and criticisms of her were pointed and partisan, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying “the Senate views itself as a co-partner in this process” with the president.
Yet some potential 2024 GOP presidential contenders seemed to use Jackson’s confirmation to woo hard-right support. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., misleadingly accused her of being unusually lenient on child pornography offenders. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., suggested she might have defended Nazis at the Nuremburg trials after World War II.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said some Republicans “went overboard, as far as I’m concerned, to the extreme,” reflecting “the reality of politics on Capitol Hill.” Cotton was “fundamentally unfair, but that is his tradition,” said Durbin.
Senate approval of high court nominees by voice vote, without bothering to hold roll calls, was standard for most of the 20th Century. Conservative Antonin Scalia sailed into the Supreme Court by 98-0 in 1986, while liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg won 96-3 approval seven years later.
There were bitter fights. Democrats blocked conservative Robert Bork’s nomination in 1987 and unsuccessfully opposed Clarence Thomas’ ascension in 1991 after he was accused of sexual harassment.
Hard feelings intensified in early 2016. McConnell, then majority leader, blocked the Senate from even considering President Barack Obama's pick of Merrick Garland to replace the deceased Scalia. McConnell cited the upcoming presidential election nearly nine months away, infuriating Democrats.
Donald Trump was elected and ultimately filled three vacancies over near-unanimous Democratic opposition.
They opposed Brett Kavanaugh after he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman decades earlier. They voted solidly against Amy Coney Barrett after Trump and McConnell rushed through her nomination when a vacancy occurred just weeks before Election Day 2020, a sprint Democrats called hypocritical.
Senators from both parties agreed to a $10 billion COVID-19 package Monday that President Joe Biden wants for more therapeutics, vaccines and tests. With BA.2, the new omicron variant, washing across the country, it seemed poised for congressional approval.
Hours later, bargainers led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, seemed blindsided when their compromise was derailed. Republicans wanted to add an extension of an expiring crackdown on migrants crossing the Mexican border that Trump imposed in 2020, citing the pandemic’s public health threat.
Many Republicans were skeptical that more COVID-19 money was necessary. But their demand for an immigration amendment transformed a fight over how much more to spend on a disease that's killed 980,000 Americans into a battle over border security, tailor-made for upcoming GOP political campaigns.
Immigration divides Democrats, and Republicans believe the issue can further solidify their chances of winning congressional control in November’s elections. Playing defense, Schumer postponed debate on the COVID-19 bill.
Democrats deserved some blame for being outmaneuvered. House Democrats shot down a $15 billion agreement in March, rejecting compromise budget savings to pay for it.
And in glaringly tone-deaf political timing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week, just as bargainers were finalizing their latest compromise, that the Trump-era immigration curbs would lapse on May 23.
That gave Republicans an irresistible political gift to pursue.
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., announced his retirement Tuesday. He's the fourth of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year to say they won't seek reelection.
Upton attributed his departure to running in a new district, but that didn't stop Trump from proclaiming: "UPTON QUITS! 4 down and 6 to go.” The House impeached Trump over his incitement of supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but the GOP-run Senate acquitted him.
Now in his 18th term, Upton's departure subtracts another moderate from a GOP that's shifted rightward in recent years, particularly when it comes to showing fealty to Trump.
The pro-business Upton, 68, was a driving force on one law spurring pharmaceutical development and has worked with Democrats on legislation affecting energy and the auto industry. His work across the aisle and his affability placed him in the ever-smaller group of Republicans who draw Democrats' praise.
“To him, bipartisan and compromise are not forbidden words," said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.
Pitched battles are now habitual over bills financing federal agencies and extending the government’s borrowing authority. When those disputes are resolved and federal shutdowns and defaults averted, lawmakers hail as triumphs what is their most rudimentary task — keeping government functioning.
Despite the divisions over COVID-19 money and Jackson, there has also been cooperation.
Congress overwhelmingly voted Thursday to ban Russian oil and downgrade trade relations with that country following its invasion of Ukraine. There’s progress on bipartisan trade and technology legislation, and a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure measure became law last year.
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/jackson-covid-and-a-retirement-show-congress-partisan-path/3638404/
| 2022-04-09T07:37:34
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants a tough global response to Russia after its forces fired a missile at a crowded train station, killing at least 52 people.
Zelenskyy's voice rose in anger during his nightly address late Friday, when he said the strike on the Kramatorsk train station, where 4,000 people were trying to flee a looming Russian offensive in the east, amounted to another war crime.
Russia denied it was responsible for the strike. Among those killed were five children, and dozens of people were severely injured.
Photos taken after the attack showed corpses covered with tarpaulins, and the remnants of a rocket painted with the words “For the children" in Russian. The Russian phrasing seemed to suggest the missile was sent to avenge the loss or subjugation of children, although its exact meaning remained unclear.
The strike seemed to shock world leaders.
“There are almost no words for it,” European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters during a visit to Ukraine. “The cynical behavior (by Russia) has almost no benchmark anymore.”
The attack came as workers elsewhere in the country unearthed bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, where graphic evidence of dozens of killingsemerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.
U.S. & World
“Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the tribunal that must be held,” Zelenskyy said.
He said efforts would be taken “to establish every minute of who did what, who gave what orders, where the missile came from, who transported it, who gave the command and how this strike was agreed to.”
After failing to take Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance, Russian forces have now set their sights on the eastern Donbas region, the mostly Russian-speaking, industrial area where Moscow-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and control some places.
Although the train station is in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in the Donbas, Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack. So did the region’s Moscow-backed separatists, who work closely with Russian troops.
Western experts, however, dismissed Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov's assertion that Russian forces “do not use” that type of missile. A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, said Russia’s forces have used the missile — and that given the strike’s location and impact, it was likely Russia’s.
Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, added that only Russia would have reason to target railway infrastructure in the Donbas, as it is critical for the Ukrainian military's efforts to reinforce its units.
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 suggested Russia specifically chose the missile type because Ukraine also possesses them.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace denounced the attack as a war crime, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “completely unacceptable.”
Ukrainian authorities and Western officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of atrocities in the war that began with a Feb. 24 invasion. More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions more have been displaced. Some of the grisliest evidence 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 claimedthat the scenes in Bucha were staged.
On Friday, workers pulled corpses from a mass grave near a church under spitting rain, lining up black body bags in rows in the mud. About 67 people were buried there, according to a statement from Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova's office.
Zelenskyy cited communications intercepted by the Ukrainian security service as evidence of Russian war crimes, in an excerpted interview with CBS' “60 Minutes” that aired Friday.
“There are (Russian) soldiers talking with their parents about what they stole and who they abducted. There are recordings of (Russian) prisoners of war who admitted to killing people,” he said. “There are pilots in prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. There are also investigations being conducted based on the remains of the dead.”
Zelenskyy's comments echo reporting from German news magazine Der Spiegel saying Germany's foreign intelligence agency had intercepted Russian military radio traffic in which soldiersmay have discussed civilian killings in Bucha. The weekly also reported that the recordings indicated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group was involved in atrocities there.
German government officials would not confirm or deny the report, but two former German ministers filed a war crimes complaint Thursday. Russia has denied that its military was involved in war crimes.
Elsewhere, in anticipation of intensified attacks by Russian forces, hundreds of Ukrainians fled villages that were either under fire or occupied in the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson.
Ukrainian officials have almost daily pleaded with Western powers to send more arms, and to further punishRussia with sanctions,exclusion of Russian banks from the global financial system and a total EU embargo on Russian gas and oil.
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.
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that the Pentagon believes some of Russia's 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 said the U.S. believes Russia has lost between 15% and 20% of its combat power overall 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.
In Kharkiv, Lidiya Mezhiritska stood in the wreckage of her home after overnight missile strikes turned it to rubble.
“The ‘Russian world,’ they say,” she said, wryly invoking Putin’s nationalist justification for invading Ukraine. “People, children, old people, women are dying. I don’t have a machine gun. I would definitely go (fight), regardless of age.”
___
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.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/ukraine-seeks-tough-reply-after-missile-kills-52-at-station/3638388/
| 2022-04-09T07:37:40
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Pelosi positive for COVID-19, was at White House with Biden
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tested positive for COVID-19, a day after appearing unmasked at a White House event with President Joe Biden.
Pelosi, D-Calif., received a positive test result for COVID-19 and is currently asymptomatic, her spokesman Drew Hammill said Thursday in a tweet. He said she had tested negative earlier in the week.
“The Speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided,” Hammill said. Pelosi, he said, will “quarantine consistent with CDC guidance, and encourages everyone to get vaccinated, boosted and test regularly.”
The White House said Biden and Pelosi had only “brief interactions over the course of the last two days” and that the president was not considered a close contact of the speaker by CDC guidance — sustained unmasked contact within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes over a 24-hour period.
“Last night as a part of his regular testing cadence, the President tested negative,” the White House said in a statement. “He will continue to be tested regularly. The President wishes Speaker Pelosi a speedy recovery.”
The 82-year-old Democratic leader’s announcement came ahead of her weekly press appearance on Capitol Hill, which was abruptly called off. The House is set to start a two-week spring recess.
Pelosi also postponed a planned congressional delegation trip to Asia she was scheduled to lead.
Washington has experienced a rush of new COVID-19 cases as restrictions have lifted and more events and gatherings are happening across Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced positive tests. The officials were among more than a dozen attendees of the Saturday night Gridiron Club dinner to test positive for the virus. Pelosi did not attend the dinner, her spokesman said.
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also announced Thursday that she tested positive for COVID-19 and would “work at home while following isolation protocols.”
Several lawmakers have announced positive test results and are isolating, including Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Collins’ office announced she had tested positive late Thursday, shortly after the Senate voted to confirm Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The CDC says people vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 are much less likely to suffer adverse outcomes, including serious illness and death, from the virus compared to those who are unvaccinated.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has faced a flurry of questions in recent days about the COVID-19 protocols surrounding Biden, as more members of the administration and others in Washington have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Psaki said Biden planned to continue with his public schedule despite the uptick in cases, including hosting large events, such as one on Friday celebrating Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
“The most important message we’re sending to the public is that we have steps in place that we can take to continue to address it, and even as we’re continuing to fight COVID we can, for the most part, return to our normal routines,” she said Thursday.
Asked whether there was a concern that the Friday event could be a “super-spreader” for the virus, like President Donald Trump’s Rose Garden ceremony announcing the nomination of now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Psaki emphasized that the risks from the virus are now much lower now because of vaccinations and treatments.
“At that point in time, vaccines were unavailable, people were not vaccinated, it certainly puts us in a different space,” Psaki said.
Biden has not been identified as a close contact by the White House Medical unit, despite being photographed hugging and kissing Pelosi, because they did not spend more than 15 minutes in close proximity over a 24 period — the CDC’s standard.
Psaki said if he was ever identified as a close contact Biden would follow the CDC’s guidance, including wearing a mask when around other people. “If he is in close contact, that is exactly what he will do,” she told reporters.
Psaki also defended Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision not to wear a mask in the Senate chamber while presiding over the Jackson vote, despite being identified as a close-contact of a staff member who tested positive for COVID-19.
CDC guidance recommends close-contacts who are fully vaccinated wear a tight-fitting mask when around other people.
“I know that she was alone kind of on the dais for most of that, but of course she’s been wearing a mask otherwise,” said Psaki.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wistv.com/2022/04/07/pelosi-tests-positive-covid/
| 2022-04-09T07:37:38
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Walmart offering new truck drivers up to $110K starting pay
NEW YORK (AP) - Walmart workers who once unloaded trucks now have a chance to drive them.
The nation’s largest retailer has launched a training program that gives employees who work in its distribution or fulfillment centers a chance to become certified Walmart truck drivers through a 12-week program taught by the company’s established drivers.
Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, also said it is raising pay for its 12,000 truck drivers. The starting range for new drivers will now be between $95,000 and $110,000, according to Walmart spokeswoman Anne Hatfield. The retailer said that $87,500 had been the average that new truck drivers could make in their first year.
The moves announced Thursday come as the pandemic has made trucker shortages more severe as demand to move freight reaches historic highs. The American Trucking Associations, a large industry trade group, estimates that the nation is short about 80,000 drivers.
Walmart said about 20 workers in Dallas and Dover, Delaware, have earned their commercial driver’s licenses. About 400 to 800 workers in the company’s supply-chain network are expected to complete the truck-driving program this year, Hatfield said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wistv.com/2022/04/07/walmart-offering-new-truck-drivers-up-110k-starting-pay/
| 2022-04-09T07:37:47
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GRAPHIC: Ukraine seeks tough reply after missile kills 52 at station
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants a tough global response to Russia after its forces fired a missile at a crowded train station, killing at least 52 people.
Zelenskyy’s voice rose in anger during his nightly address late Friday, when he said the strike on the Kramatorsk train station, where 4,000 people were trying to flee a looming Russian offensive in the east, amounted to another war crime.
Russia denied it was responsible for the strike. Among those killed were children, and dozens of people were severely injured.
Photos taken after the attack showed corpses covered with tarpaulins, and the remnants of a rocket painted with the words “For the children” in Russian. The Russian phrasing seemed to suggest the missile was sent to avenge the loss or subjugation of children, although its exact meaning remained unclear.
WARNING: Videos may contain graphic content.
The strike seemed to shock world leaders.
“There are almost no words for it,” European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters during a visit to Ukraine. “The cynical behavior (by Russia) has almost no benchmark anymore.”
The attack came as workers elsewhere in the country unearthed bodies from a mass grave in Bucha, a town near Kyiv, where graphic evidence of dozens of killings emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.
“Like the massacres in Bucha, like many other Russian war crimes, the missile attack on Kramatorsk should be one of the charges at the tribunal that must be held,” Zelenskyy said.
He said efforts would be taken “to establish every minute of who did what, who gave what orders, where the missile came from, who transported it, who gave the command and how this strike was agreed to.”
After failing to take Kyiv in the face of stiff resistance, Russian forces have now set their sights on the eastern Donbas region, the mostly Russian-speaking, industrial area where Moscow-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years and control some places.
Although the train station is in Ukrainian government-controlled territory in the Donbas, Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack. So did the region’s Moscow-backed separatists, who work closely with Russian troops.
Western experts, however, dismissed Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s assertion that Russian forces “do not use” that type of missile. A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence, said Russia’s forces have used the missile — and that given the strike’s location and impact, it was likely Russia’s.
Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, added that only Russia would have reason to target railway infrastructure in the Donbas, as it is critical for the Ukrainian military’s efforts to reinforce its units.
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 suggested Russia specifically chose the missile type because Ukraine also possesses them.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace denounced the attack as a war crime, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “completely unacceptable.”
Ukrainian authorities and Western officials have repeatedly accused Russian forces of atrocities in the war that began with a Feb. 24 invasion. More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions more have been displaced. Some of the grisliest evidence 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 church under spitting rain, lining up black body bags in rows in the mud. About 67 people were buried there, according to a statement from Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova’s office.
Zelenskyy cited communications intercepted by the Ukrainian security service as evidence of Russian war crimes, in an excerpted interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired Friday.
“There are (Russian) soldiers talking with their parents about what they stole and who they abducted. There are recordings of (Russian) prisoners of war who admitted to killing people,” he said. “There are pilots in prison who had maps with civilian targets to bomb. There are also investigations being conducted based on the remains of the dead.”
Zelenskyy’s comments echo reporting from German news magazine Der Spiegel saying Germany’s foreign intelligence agency had intercepted Russian military radio traffic in which soldiers may have discussed civilian killings in Bucha. The weekly also reported that the recordings indicated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group was involved in atrocities there.
German government officials would not confirm or deny the report, but two former German ministers filed a war crimes complaint Thursday. Russia has denied that its military was involved in war crimes.
Elsewhere, in anticipation of intensified attacks by Russian forces, hundreds of Ukrainians fled villages that were either under fire or occupied in the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson.
Ukrainian officials have almost daily pleaded with Western powers to send more arms, and to further punish Russia with sanctions, exclusion of Russian banks from the global financial system and a total EU embargo on Russian gas and oil.
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.
A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that the Pentagon believes some of Russia’s 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 said the U.S. believes Russia has lost between 15% and 20% of its combat power overall 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.
In Kharkiv, Lidiya Mezhiritska stood in the wreckage of her home after overnight missile strikes turned it to rubble.
“The ‘Russian world,’ they say,” she said, wryly invoking Putin’s nationalist justification for invading Ukraine. “People, children, old people, women are dying. I don’t have a machine gun. I would definitely go (fight), regardless of age.”
___
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.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraineCopyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/09/graphic-ukraine-seeks-tough-reply-after-missile-kills-52-station/
| 2022-04-09T08:00:19
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CORVALLIS, Ore. — We'd all like the pandemic to be over — but health experts will tell you that COVID-19 is not going away. As we move into the next phase of the pandemic, those tracking how prevalent the virus is in our communities may rely even more on what's getting flushed down the drain.
Wastewater samples are collected at treatment facilities in about 40 locations across Oregon, then sent to Oregon State University to be tested a couple of times a week. Experts say it's a low-cost and accurate read on how much COVID is in a community.
"With a single sample, we can monitor the health of an entire community — which is very powerful, and very cost-effective," said Tyler Radniecki, a professor at OSU leading the sewer surveillance program.
Throughout the pandemic, data from these samples reflected the bumps and surges of the virus. Current data on the Oregon Health Authority's COVID wastewater monitoring dashboard shows most communities are seeing a plateau in the amount of COVID present.
"The waste water treatment plants in these communities, they collect a sample over a day, they filter it, and then they mail it to us," Radniecki explained. "Once we get it in the mail, we then extract the virus off of that filter, and at that point we can quantify the concentration of the virus in the wastewater, and also run it through our sequencing facility in order to determine what variants are present."
It's been one month since the state dropped most COVID protocols. Masks are now more of a suggestion, and the virus isn't as front and center. Radniecki says tracking the virus through wastewater is perhaps the best way to monitor how COVID-19 behaves moving forward.
"Wastewater is extremely reliable," he said. "More reliable oftentimes than case counts. This type of surveillance is very passive, so you as an individual do not have to do anything. You can go out and live your normal life and you are still contributing to our samples."
The Oregon Health Authority announced that the wastewater monitoring program is sticking around. OSU and Radniecki's team will monitor wastewater until 2023.
"It just gives you a better sense of what is happening in your community," Radniecki said. "Early warnings for potential future waves that can be very important. If it dies down over the summer, for instance, what is going to happen by next fall?"
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/wastewater-monitoring-covid-19-osu-sample-sewer/283-88bc9fc0-0320-4da5-89bd-c33d54568be3
| 2022-04-09T08:02:39
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/wastewater-monitoring-covid-19-osu-sample-sewer/283-88bc9fc0-0320-4da5-89bd-c33d54568be3
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HILLSBORO, Ore. — Baseball fans welcomed back the Hillsboro Hops on Friday at Ron Tonkin Field. It was the Minor League Baseball team’s opening day and the start of their new, 132-game season.
“It's real exciting!” said baseball fan Benjamin Davis, 13. “We get to see good, high-level baseball players.”
In the past, the Hops played a 76-game season starting in June. Now that the team is the Arizona Diamondbacks’ High-A affiliate, they'll play from April to September.
“It's tremendous,” said Hops President and General Manager K.L. Wombacher. “We’re gonna have a lot of baseball, a lot of pro athletes on the field — we’re excited to get going, tonight.”
Fans were equally excited, especially those who'd missed games amid pandemic restrictions.
“We didn't spend much time here the past two years," said Pat Culligan. "So we're ready!” .
The night was extra special for Hillsboro's own Ben Petrick. His daughters threw out and caught the opening pitch, and the team retired his No. 6 jersey.
Petrick, a 1995 graduate of Glencoe High School, played Major League Baseball with the Colorado Rockies and Detroit Tigers before developing early-onset Parkinson's disease. He later coached for the Hops.
“We gotta honor Ben,” said Wombacher. “He'll be the first Hop to ever have his jersey retired.”
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/hillsboro-hops-minor-league-baseball-high-a-season-opening-day/283-0b6da5a1-3041-4e02-98ac-ff4d9876ca16
| 2022-04-09T08:02:45
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https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/hillsboro-hops-minor-league-baseball-high-a-season-opening-day/283-0b6da5a1-3041-4e02-98ac-ff4d9876ca16
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Accused shooter in Lady Gaga dog theft mistakenly freed
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A gunman accused of shooting and seriously wounding Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stealing her two French bulldogs was mistakenly released from jail and is being sought, authorities said Friday.
James Howard Jackson, 19, was facing an attempted murder charge when he was released from Los Angeles County’s jail on Wednesday “due to a clerical error,” the county Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
The Major Crimes Bureau is working on finding him, the statement said.
Jackson is one of five people arrested in connection with the Feb. 24, 2021, attack in Hollywood. Prosecutors said Jackson and two other alleged gang members had driven around looking for expensive French bulldogs to steal, then spotted, tailed and robbed Ryan Fischer as he walked Lady Gaga’s dogs near Sunset Boulevard.
During a violent struggle, Fischer was hit, choked and then shot in an attack captured by the doorbell camera of a nearby home.
The camera recorded the dog walker screaming “Oh, my God! I’ve been shot!” and “Help me!” and “I’m bleeding out from my chest!”
Fischer lost part of a lung.
“While I’m deeply concerned at the events that led to his release, I’m confident law enforcement will rectify the error,” Fischer said in a statement obtained by KABC-TV. “I ask for Mr. Jackson to turn himself over to the authorities, so resolution to the crime committed against me runs its course, whatever the courts determine that outcome to be.”
The pop star’s dogs were returned two days later by a woman who claimed she had found them tied to a pole and asked about Lady Gaga’s offer of a $500,000 reward if the dogs were returned “no questions asked.” The singer was in Rome at the time filming a movie.
She’s charged with receiving stolen property and the father of another suspect is charged with helping him avoid arrest.
Jackson already had been charged in the attack and had pleaded not guilty when the county district attorney’s office filed a superceding indictment Tuesday charging him with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a robbery and assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
The move was done “to speed up the legal process” and Jackson was arraigned Wednesday under a new case number, the DA’s office said in a statement.
“Mr. Jackson was subsequently released from custody by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. We are unsure as to why they did so,” the statement said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/09/accused-shooter-lady-gaga-dog-theft-mistakenly-freed/
| 2022-04-09T08:32:10
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PARENTS’ GUIDE TO THE MOVIES
‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’
• RATED: PG (Game-based sequel levels up the positive messages; peril.)
• APPROPRIATE AGE: 8
• PARENTS NEED TO KNOW: “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” continues the Sega video game-based film series. The sequel depicts Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) as a tween who’s determined to build a reputation as a hero in his community. Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) are now acting as his parents, trying to rein him in. With Jim Carrey also back as the silly but hilariously evil Dr. Robotnik, the movie’s cartoonish violence clearly isn’t real, and most of the constant peril is unlikely to have a lasting impact on kids. But near drownings and real-life machinery that flies through the air could be scary. Sonic’s childish outlook and humor (get ready for fart jokes) help make him more relatable to kids — so when he learns important social emotional and life skills (like teamwork and personal responsibility), they might, too. Law enforcement officers use Tasers instead of guns. Mai Tais and champagne flow freely at a Hawaiian wedding, and when one character is under intense pressure, she chugs from the bottle. The same stressed-out character angrily calls someone an “a-hole,” and Robotnik tosses out comical insults.
• RATING: 4 stars (out of 5) - CommonSenseMedia.org
LIST-MANIA
Top streaming shows
Below are all the most popular series available to stream online, according to info from Reelgood.com.
1. “Julia,” HBO Max
2. “Moon Knight,” Disney+
3. “Halo,” Paramount+
4. “Bridgerton,” Netflix
5. “The Dropout,” Hulu
6. “The Girl From Plainville,” Hulu
7. “Slow Horses,” Apple TV+
8. “Minx,” HBO Max
9. “WeCrashed,” Apple TV+
10. “Killing Eve,” Hulu, Amazon, AMC+
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
By Chuck Sheppard
The Continuing Crisis: Christopher Whetstone, 41, was arrested March 29 after authorities carrying out a search warrant at his home in Temecula, California, found two rocket launchers and a practice grenade in a trash can, National Public Radio reported. He was charged with grand theft, although it’s unclear whether the charges are related to the discarded heavy artillery items. Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Edward Soto said narcotics and a bazooka also were found in the home, which is adjacent to a middle school.
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/features/stuff-we-like-saturday-april-9-2022/article_38922f84-b73b-11ec-9c1f-5fe02283704c.html
| 2022-04-09T08:36:31
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/news/features/stuff-we-like-saturday-april-9-2022/article_38922f84-b73b-11ec-9c1f-5fe02283704c.html
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It’s almost time. This year’s Indiana wild turkey hunting season is set to begin in a few short weeks.
The special youth only season will be held April 23-24. Then the door swings wide open for the regular season April 27 and runs until May 15. Wild turkeys are one of Indiana’s greatest conservation success stories and can be hunted in all of our state’s 92 counties.
If you have never helped a beginning hunter start climbing the learning curve, you are missing one of the most enjoyable aspects of this springtime activity. Turkey hunting is tailor made to introduce beginners and children. The weather can be comfortable, the smell of new spring growth is pleasing to the nose and the sound of a turkey gobbling can add excitement to those first few outings. Unlike deer hunting, which is more of a waiting game, springtime turkey hunting can provide more action and activity.
There is something special about this bird and the rituals woven into hunting them. They can grant a newcomer instant success or dance a seasoned hunter around the woods like a high school prom. That’s part of the allure. However, the same degree of difficulty making turkey hunting so attractive also can prevent some folks from staying with it. This is where a mentor can make a huge difference.
Each season I have the honor of taking someone new. Honestly, I enjoy that more than going it alone. Don’t ever believe you have to be an expert hunter either. People who claim to be masters are usually just bragging. Even the most serious hunters will unintentionally find ways to screw things up.
First is to teach the beginner common practices like pre-season scouting. After all, you can’t collect a bird if they are not where you are hunting. Your job is to instill the seeds of patience and confidence.
If you decide to be a mentor to a beginner, regardless of age or gender, here are a few things to consider.
First off, if taking a child, make sure they have completed the required Hunter Ed Course. Indiana does offer an “apprentice license” for those unavailable to attend the course. Next, well before you actually take to the woods, have some conversations with your beginner. Talk about walking quietly in the woods, not slamming the truck door and only talking above a whisper. Also stress the importance of sitting still and making slow, deliberate movements only when necessary.
If possible, it never hurts to watch a few turkey hunting videos. Explain that these videos are usually a condensed version of a hunt that could have actually taken days to film. Explain the videos make it look easy but they can still offer teaching points. Explaining the screen action will help. Point out the birds body language, timing of the shot and calling techniques.
While you’re at it, when watching these videos, take time to practice the usual sitting position for most turkey hunts. Plopping down on the ground against a tree with your knees raised becomes second nature to a veteran hunter but remember this is all new to the first timer. This may seem silly but it does help when taking to the woods for the first time with the beginner in tow.
If your rookie is already familiar with safe firearms handling then you are ahead of the game. If not take time to familiarize them. For children and small-framed females a .20 gauge or .410 bore shotgun works perfectly, especially with some of the new tungsten super shot loads.
Take time to practice before heading out. Do not use specialized turkey loads. Instead, feed the gun with light target loads. This is not the time to subject your beginner to the heavier recoil of turkey loads. Sure, the gun should be patterned with the loads they will actually be hunting with, but you do it instead.
Make sure your hunter has comfortable clothing that fits. The more comfortable they are the longer they will want to stay in the woods. Plan ahead on the clothing worn. Let’s face it, a camouflaged T-shirt won’t cut it if it’s 45 degrees and misting rain. Also make sure they have a comfortable seat cushion. It’s impossible to sit still when your backside is screaming.
During the hunt try not to do everything yourself. Let the rookie participate as much as possible. Calling is a great example. Don’t be afraid to let them scratch out a few calls occasionally. Make them feel like they are an active partner. But the most important aspect of any hunting adventure is to have fun!
City of Firsts Bassmasters
Kokomo’s City of Firsts Bassmasters recently kicked off their summer tournament season when the group traveled to West Boggs Lake. Joe Allen and Raymond Franks swept the event taking first place with five largemouth bass totaling 12 pounds, 11 ounces. They also had the event’s “big bass” honor with a fish tipping the scales at three pounds, nine ounces. Second place went to Tyler and Nick Teeters with four fish weighing seven pounds, 12 ounces. Cody Oliver, fishing solo, rounded out third place with two fish dropping the scales at four pounds, seven ounces. The club’s next tournament is scheduled on Lake Lemon.
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/sports/martino-turkey-season-is-great-for-new-hunters/article_9ff326b6-b5d7-11ec-8049-a7bd00afc28b.html
| 2022-04-09T08:36:37
| 0
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https://www.kokomotribune.com/sports/martino-turkey-season-is-great-for-new-hunters/article_9ff326b6-b5d7-11ec-8049-a7bd00afc28b.html
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Accused shooter in Lady Gaga dog theft mistakenly freed
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A gunman accused of shooting and seriously wounding Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stealing her two French bulldogs was mistakenly released from jail and is being sought, authorities said Friday.
James Howard Jackson, 19, was facing an attempted murder charge when he was released from Los Angeles County’s jail on Wednesday “due to a clerical error,” the county Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
The Major Crimes Bureau is working on finding him, the statement said.
Jackson is one of five people arrested in connection with the Feb. 24, 2021, attack in Hollywood. Prosecutors said Jackson and two other alleged gang members had driven around looking for expensive French bulldogs to steal, then spotted, tailed and robbed Ryan Fischer as he walked Lady Gaga’s dogs near Sunset Boulevard.
During a violent struggle, Fischer was hit, choked and then shot in an attack captured by the doorbell camera of a nearby home.
The camera recorded the dog walker screaming “Oh, my God! I’ve been shot!” and “Help me!” and “I’m bleeding out from my chest!”
Fischer lost part of a lung.
“While I’m deeply concerned at the events that led to his release, I’m confident law enforcement will rectify the error,” Fischer said in a statement obtained by KABC-TV. “I ask for Mr. Jackson to turn himself over to the authorities, so resolution to the crime committed against me runs its course, whatever the courts determine that outcome to be.”
The pop star’s dogs were returned two days later by a woman who claimed she had found them tied to a pole and asked about Lady Gaga’s offer of a $500,000 reward if the dogs were returned “no questions asked.” The singer was in Rome at the time filming a movie.
She’s charged with receiving stolen property and the father of another suspect is charged with helping him avoid arrest.
Jackson already had been charged in the attack and had pleaded not guilty when the county district attorney’s office filed a superceding indictment Tuesday charging him with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a robbery and assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
The move was done “to speed up the legal process” and Jackson was arraigned Wednesday under a new case number, the DA’s office said in a statement.
“Mr. Jackson was subsequently released from custody by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. We are unsure as to why they did so,” the statement said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/09/accused-shooter-lady-gaga-dog-theft-mistakenly-freed/
| 2022-04-09T08:51:41
| 0
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https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/09/accused-shooter-lady-gaga-dog-theft-mistakenly-freed/
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The products and services mentioned below were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Don't Waste Your Money may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.
Taking a vacation to the beach or lounging poolside close to home can be part of summer’s fun. But shopping for a new bathing suit is often stressful.
Finding a swimsuit that fits and complements your figure can be a challenge. Also, choosing one that looks good and doesn’t break your budget adds difficulty.
We turned to Amazon’s “Customers’ Most Loved” section to give you a head start. The online retail giant has an entire storefront with curated products with at least a four-star rating and more than 1,000 reviews.
We scoured the “Customer’s Most Loved” section for budget-friendly swimsuits with flattering fits. Following are our top ten favorites.
Fancyskin High-Waisted Ruffled Top Bathing Suit
This flattering two-piece suit is available in more than 30 colors and designs. Sizes range from small (4-6) to XXL (20-22). It has a flounce tankini top and high-waisted ruched bikini bottom, offering tummy control and coverage. It’s available on Amazon starting at $19.99.
CUPSHE V-Neck Ruffled Lace Up Monokini
With more than 18,000 ratings and an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars, this one-piece is a No. 1 best-selling swimsuit on Amazon. Reviewers called it forgiving but not too “momish,” slimming and super cute.
One reviewer even said, “I think those birds or mice or whatever from Cinderella created it just for me. And you.”
It comes in more than 20 colors and sizes XS-XXL. Get this bathing suit for about $30 on Amazon.
Zando Tummy Control Swim Dress
This one-piece swim dress has a flirty mesh yoke and a slimming design. The cut of the swimsuit conceals common problem areas, and the built-in boy shorts add a level of comfort. With more than 40 colors and patterns available and sizes ranging from 2-22, there’s something for every taste. Shop this swimsuit for $18.99-$32.99 on Amazon.
Tutorutor High-Waisted Plus Size Two-Piece
This eye-catching two-piece swimsuit has a high waist, playful peplum and flattering ruffle. The push-up cups and full coverage bottom enhances curves in all the right places. You can choose between more than a dozen patterns in sizes Large-4X. Get it on Amazon for about $37.
SouqFone Ruffled Flounce Top with High Waisted Bottom
More than 25,000 Amazon shoppers love this flattering swimsuit. With an average of 4.4 out of 5 stars, it delivers the appeal of a two-piece with added, confidence-boosting coverage. This suit comes in two dozen designs and sizes S (4-6) through XXXL (22-24). Buy this swimsuit on Amazon for about $30 (a 5% coupon is currently available).
W YOU DI AN Plus Size Front Cross Backless Bathing Suit
With a ruched design, padded cups and tummy control, this swimsuit is elegant, contouring and attractive for all body shapes. You can cross the wide straps in the front or back for different looks.
“Absolutely beautiful,” wrote one reviewer.
“I LOVE THIS BATHING SUIT!” wrote another. “It fits perfect, it’s flattering, and I don’t get a wedgie when I walk.”
Get this swimsuit for about $34 on Amazon.
Tempt Me High Neck Ruched Monokini
Think a one-piece can’t be sexy? Think again! This monokini has mesh covering the plunging neckline and deep back, an attention-grabbing bow design at the bustline and flattering ruching near the midsection. Sizes range from XS-24 Plus and there are more than 40 colors and patterns to choose from. Check out this swimsuit, starting at about $20 on Amazon.
Aleumdr Blouson T-Back Tankini with Shorts
A strappy T-back and blouson-cut top paired with comfy boy shorts make this tankini sporty, fashionable and attractive. There are more than 30 color and pattern options to choose from and sizes range from Small-XXL. Buy this swimsuit for about $34 on Amazon (a 20% coupon is currently available).
Hilor One-Piece Shirred Tank
The shirring near the midsection of this swimsuit helps create a smoother silhouette. One reviewer said it is “flattering and keeps everything tucked away,” while another called the suit “very comfy, well made and so slimming!” Shop this style for about $34 on Amazon.
Yonique Blouson Tankini
The blouson-cut top of this two-piece bathing suit is flattering for any body shape. With adjustable shoulder straps and soft sewn-in bra cups, you can have comfort, style and support. This swimsuit comes in two dozen pretty styles. Sizes range from 0-22. Get it on Amazon for about $37.
No matter which of these striking swimsuits you prefer, several stunning options could flatter any figure. Whether you wear your bathing suit on vacation, to a pool party or even in your own backyard, you’ll feel cool and confident without spending a small fortune.
This story originally appeared on Don't Waste Your Money. Checkout Don't Waste Your Money for product reviews and other great ideas to save and make money.
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https://www.wmar2news.com/10-flattering-swimsuits-you-can-buy-40-less
| 2022-04-09T08:58:15
| 0
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https://www.wmar2news.com/10-flattering-swimsuits-you-can-buy-40-less
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https://finance-commerce.com/2022/04/april-9-2022-digital-edition/
| 2022-04-09T09:07:09
| 0
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https://finance-commerce.com/2022/04/april-9-2022-digital-edition/
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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – An early morning accident sent two drivers to the hospital early Saturday morning on the northeast side of Fort Wayne.
Police tell us the crash happened at the intersection of Flutter and Wheelock Rd.
The call came in around 1:20 a.m. Saturday morning.
All drivers were taken to the hospital.
There condition is unknown at this time.
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https://www.wane.com/news/drivers-taken-to-hospital-in-early-morning-crash/
| 2022-04-09T09:16:29
| 1
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https://www.wane.com/news/drivers-taken-to-hospital-in-early-morning-crash/
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The products and services mentioned below were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Don't Waste Your Money may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.
Taking a vacation to the beach or lounging poolside close to home can be part of summer’s fun. But shopping for a new bathing suit is often stressful.
Finding a swimsuit that fits and complements your figure can be a challenge. Also, choosing one that looks good and doesn’t break your budget adds difficulty.
We turned to Amazon’s “Customers’ Most Loved” section to give you a head start. The online retail giant has an entire storefront with curated products with at least a four-star rating and more than 1,000 reviews.
We scoured the “Customer’s Most Loved” section for budget-friendly swimsuits with flattering fits. Following are our top ten favorites.
Fancyskin High-Waisted Ruffled Top Bathing Suit
This flattering two-piece suit is available in more than 30 colors and designs. Sizes range from small (4-6) to XXL (20-22). It has a flounce tankini top and high-waisted ruched bikini bottom, offering tummy control and coverage. It’s available on Amazon starting at $19.99.
CUPSHE V-Neck Ruffled Lace Up Monokini
With more than 18,000 ratings and an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars, this one-piece is a No. 1 best-selling swimsuit on Amazon. Reviewers called it forgiving but not too “momish,” slimming and super cute.
One reviewer even said, “I think those birds or mice or whatever from Cinderella created it just for me. And you.”
It comes in more than 20 colors and sizes XS-XXL. Get this bathing suit for about $30 on Amazon.
Zando Tummy Control Swim Dress
This one-piece swim dress has a flirty mesh yoke and a slimming design. The cut of the swimsuit conceals common problem areas, and the built-in boy shorts add a level of comfort. With more than 40 colors and patterns available and sizes ranging from 2-22, there’s something for every taste. Shop this swimsuit for $18.99-$32.99 on Amazon.
Tutorutor High-Waisted Plus Size Two-Piece
This eye-catching two-piece swimsuit has a high waist, playful peplum and flattering ruffle. The push-up cups and full coverage bottom enhances curves in all the right places. You can choose between more than a dozen patterns in sizes Large-4X. Get it on Amazon for about $37.
SouqFone Ruffled Flounce Top with High Waisted Bottom
More than 25,000 Amazon shoppers love this flattering swimsuit. With an average of 4.4 out of 5 stars, it delivers the appeal of a two-piece with added, confidence-boosting coverage. This suit comes in two dozen designs and sizes S (4-6) through XXXL (22-24). Buy this swimsuit on Amazon for about $30 (a 5% coupon is currently available).
W YOU DI AN Plus Size Front Cross Backless Bathing Suit
With a ruched design, padded cups and tummy control, this swimsuit is elegant, contouring and attractive for all body shapes. You can cross the wide straps in the front or back for different looks.
“Absolutely beautiful,” wrote one reviewer.
“I LOVE THIS BATHING SUIT!” wrote another. “It fits perfect, it’s flattering, and I don’t get a wedgie when I walk.”
Get this swimsuit for about $34 on Amazon.
Tempt Me High Neck Ruched Monokini
Think a one-piece can’t be sexy? Think again! This monokini has mesh covering the plunging neckline and deep back, an attention-grabbing bow design at the bustline and flattering ruching near the midsection. Sizes range from XS-24 Plus and there are more than 40 colors and patterns to choose from. Check out this swimsuit, starting at about $20 on Amazon.
Aleumdr Blouson T-Back Tankini with Shorts
A strappy T-back and blouson-cut top paired with comfy boy shorts make this tankini sporty, fashionable and attractive. There are more than 30 color and pattern options to choose from and sizes range from Small-XXL. Buy this swimsuit for about $34 on Amazon (a 20% coupon is currently available).
Hilor One-Piece Shirred Tank
The shirring near the midsection of this swimsuit helps create a smoother silhouette. One reviewer said it is “flattering and keeps everything tucked away,” while another called the suit “very comfy, well made and so slimming!” Shop this style for about $34 on Amazon.
Yonique Blouson Tankini
The blouson-cut top of this two-piece bathing suit is flattering for any body shape. With adjustable shoulder straps and soft sewn-in bra cups, you can have comfort, style and support. This swimsuit comes in two dozen pretty styles. Sizes range from 0-22. Get it on Amazon for about $37.
No matter which of these striking swimsuits you prefer, several stunning options could flatter any figure. Whether you wear your bathing suit on vacation, to a pool party or even in your own backyard, you’ll feel cool and confident without spending a small fortune.
This story originally appeared on Don't Waste Your Money. Checkout Don't Waste Your Money for product reviews and other great ideas to save and make money.
|
https://www.wrtv.com/10-flattering-swimsuits-you-can-buy-40-less
| 2022-04-09T09:25:11
| 0
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https://www.wrtv.com/10-flattering-swimsuits-you-can-buy-40-less
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Accused shooter in Lady Gaga dog theft mistakenly freed
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A gunman accused of shooting and seriously wounding Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stealing her two French bulldogs was mistakenly released from jail and is being sought, authorities said Friday.
James Howard Jackson, 19, was facing an attempted murder charge when he was released from Los Angeles County’s jail on Wednesday “due to a clerical error,” the county Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
The Major Crimes Bureau is working on finding him, the statement said.
Jackson is one of five people arrested in connection with the Feb. 24, 2021, attack in Hollywood. Prosecutors said Jackson and two other alleged gang members had driven around looking for expensive French bulldogs to steal, then spotted, tailed and robbed Ryan Fischer as he walked Lady Gaga’s dogs near Sunset Boulevard.
During a violent struggle, Fischer was hit, choked and then shot in an attack captured by the doorbell camera of a nearby home.
The camera recorded the dog walker screaming “Oh, my God! I’ve been shot!” and “Help me!” and “I’m bleeding out from my chest!”
Fischer lost part of a lung.
“While I’m deeply concerned at the events that led to his release, I’m confident law enforcement will rectify the error,” Fischer said in a statement obtained by KABC-TV. “I ask for Mr. Jackson to turn himself over to the authorities, so resolution to the crime committed against me runs its course, whatever the courts determine that outcome to be.”
The pop star’s dogs were returned two days later by a woman who claimed she had found them tied to a pole and asked about Lady Gaga’s offer of a $500,000 reward if the dogs were returned “no questions asked.” The singer was in Rome at the time filming a movie.
She’s charged with receiving stolen property and the father of another suspect is charged with helping him avoid arrest.
Jackson already had been charged in the attack and had pleaded not guilty when the county district attorney’s office filed a superceding indictment Tuesday charging him with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a robbery and assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
The move was done “to speed up the legal process” and Jackson was arraigned Wednesday under a new case number, the DA’s office said in a statement.
“Mr. Jackson was subsequently released from custody by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. We are unsure as to why they did so,” the statement said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/09/accused-shooter-lady-gaga-dog-theft-mistakenly-freed/
| 2022-04-09T09:31:52
| 1
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https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/09/accused-shooter-lady-gaga-dog-theft-mistakenly-freed/
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Down to its last strike, here's how Kings Mountain persevered, kept pace in Big South 3A
BELMONT — Wyatt Davis has never been one lacking in confidence. Trotting to the mound in a tied game, the bases loaded and none out in the seventh, the Kings Mountain pitcher was one in a select few with faith he would navigate the Mountaineers out of trouble.
“Throw strikes, trust my stuff. I know what I’ve been working on all year is going to work when I need it, “ Davis said. “I know if I can throw a strike, my defense will back me up. That’s all the confidence you need, especially when you have such great guys working with and beside you.”
Down to their final strike earlier in the seventh, a Peyton Fisher double allowed the Mountaineers to tie South Point at 1-all. And now with his team in a jam, it was Davis’ time to shine.
The Mountaineers’ junior pitcher struck out two batters and earned a force out on another, getting his team out of a messy situation. Such would come in handy moments later, Kings Mountain scoring four runs in the eighth to claim a gritty 5-1 win over the Red Raiders.
“This was a big game for us. South Point is a really good team,” said Kings Mountain baseball coach Brad Melton. “South Point hits the ball well, has really good pitching. (Matthew Walker) came and pitched his butt off. But this was a big game for where we want and need to be.”
Coming into Friday night, Kings Mountain and rival Crest were tied atop Big South 3A with one loss apiece. South Point found itself two games back of the conference’s co-leaders, needing a win to keep slim hopes of a league championship alive.
And it didn’t take Brad Melton long to take notice.
“South Point fans are mighty loyal, as seen by this crowd (Friday night),” he said. “But (Kings Mountain) people travel too. So this had the feel of a big game, and it delivered.”
Following a Cooper Ray RBI base hit in the first, those clad in South Point red, black and white were feeling pretty good about their chances to nudge back into the title race. However, the game would settle into a pitchers’ duel, South Point’s Walker and Charlie Melton of Kings Mountain matching each other for the better part of seven innings.
Walker went six innings, allowing no runs on three hits. He struck out six. As for Charlie Melton, he allowed one run on six hits in 5.2 innings of work, striking out seven and walking one.
With a runner on second and his team down to its final out, Fisher’s drive to center field caromed off the heel of a South Point player’s glove to bring Jacob Hamrick home for the game-tying run. In the bottom of the frame, Fisher again found himself in the midst of the action.
Pitching in relief of Charlie Melton, Fisher issued two walks and plunked a batter in the seventh. With the game hanging in the balance, Brad Melton turned to Davis hoping he could stop the South Point rally.
Retiring the next three batters in order, an emotional Davis celebrated with teammates on his way to the Kings Mountain dugout. “Knowing I had done what I needed to and helped my team get to where it needed to be, that was everything for me,” he added.
Four errors in the eighth allowed Kings Mountain to run away with the contest, Davis ending his two innings of relief work allowing no runs on one hit. He struck out five.
“We stuck around, hung around until something good happened. That’s how it’s been lately for us,” Brad Melton said.
South Point actually outhit Crest, 7-4. Jake Beaty and Came Ashe each had two hits apiece for the Red Raiders.
Kings Mountain is now tied atop Big South 3A with Crest. Both teams are now 7-1 in the league. South Point is now three games off the pace at 4-4 against conference competition.
Baseball
Friday, April 8
Bessemer City 19, Thomas Jefferson 5: Jashawn Thomas was 2-for-2 with four RBIs and a run scored, while Caleb Summey was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and four runs in a win over Thomas Jefferson. Blake Splawn was 2-for-5 with a run scored, Nik Ellis was 2-for-2 with an RBI and three runs scored, while Zack Badger had a hit, four RBIs and a run scored in a winning effort.
Bunker Hill 2, West Lincoln 1: Noah Gantt was 3-for-3 while Jacob English was 2-for-3 with an RBI in a losing effort for the Rebels. Noah Huss allowed two runs on six hits, striking out five in a complete game effort.
Carolina International at Piedmont Community Charter: No score reported.
Clover 10, Nation Ford 8
Crest 2, North Gaston 1: Connor Gantt had two hits, including a walk-off base hit as the Chargers scored a measure of revenge over North Gaston. Clayton Brown and Brayden Blaylock also had a hit in the Crest win.
Colby Humphries went the distance, allowing two hits in a winning effort.
Forestview 9, Hunter Huss 3: Tripp Dow was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, while Cooper Botts was also 3-for-4 with a double, adding an RBI in a win over Huss. Ethan Bray (triple, three runs) and Jesse Osborne (run, RBI) each finished 2-for-3 for the Jaguars.
Edward Roberts was 3-for-5 with a run scored for Huss, with Zack Kimmel adding two hits and a run of his own. The Huskies’ Benjamin Kimmel had a double and an RBI as well.
Hickory 5, North Lincoln 4: A five-run fourth inning did North Lincoln in on Friday, the Knights losing on the road. Josh Fox had a double and an RBI, while Landon Reeves, Matt Heavner and Trace Dlugolenski each had an RBI base hit.
Lincolnton 6, Bandys 4: Garrett Hedgepeth, Easton Dellinger, Caden Smith and Sam Carpenter each played key roles in the Wolves’ win over Bandys.
Lincoln Charter 8, Langtree Charter 7 (8 innings): Tyler Steele’s base hit with the bases loaded in the eighth allowed Lincoln Charter to walk off with a win over Langtree Charter. Mason Smith was 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored, while Nick Sumiguit and Donovan Davis had two hits of their own. Matt Cipriano and Dylan Verdi also hit home runs for the Eagles in a winning effort.
Pine Lake Prep 8, Mountain Island Charter 6: Tiger Coffin had a double, two RBIs and scored a run, while Cole Hart added a double, RBI and a run of his own in a loss to Pine Lake Prep.
Stuart Cramer 5, Ashbrook 0: Mason Price struck out nine in six innings of work, in addition to going 3-for-3 at the plate in a win over Ashbrook. Mason Craig was also 2-for-4 with two RBIs, a run and stolen base.
Thursday, April 7
Burns 11, Highland Tech 3: Burns chopped out 11 hits as it improved to 13-1 overall and 8-0 in Southern Piedmont 1A/2A play. Ben Mauney was 3-for-4 with a double, triple and three RBIs. Colby Putnam was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, Josh Powell was 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and two runs scored, along with Joseph Webb going 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Kendall Hale had a hit and an RBI, while Trey Costner had a double for Highland Tech.
Concord Academy 4, Gaston Day 3: Brett Pressley and Jason Johnson each had two hits, including a double and an RBI in a loss to Concord Academy.
East Gaston 8, Cherryville 5: The Warriors needed nine innings to earn its second win over Cherryville in as many days. Logan and Parker Agosta, as well as Jaxon Cogdill had two hits apiece for East Gaston, which moved to 11-4 and 9-1 in Southern Piedmont 1A/2A competition.
East Lincoln 15, Statesville 1: Gavin Houser was 2-for-3 with five RBIs, with Evan Matile and Nate Borchardt earning two hits of their own in a win over Statesville. Garett Michell and Seth Haigler had a hit, two RBIs and two runs scored, with Isaac Armstrong and Landon Burns also part of the East Lincoln hit parade.
Aiden Perkins earned his first varsity win for the Mustangs, striking out five in three innings of work.
Metrolina Christian 11, Gaston Christian 1: Chase Stewart was 2-for-3 with a solo home run for the Eagles in a loss to Metrolina Christian.
Shelby 7, Freedom 1
Stuart Cramer 15, Ashbrook 6: Julian Hall had a triple, home run and three RBIs to lead his team to a win over Ashbrook. Mason Price was 2-for-2 as well, scoring three runs in the process. Carter Jessen earned the win in relief, going five innings and striking out seven Green Wave batters.
Wednesday, April 6
Burns 10, Highland Tech 0: Joseph Webb struck out seven in three innings of work on the mound, allowing one hit. He also hit a solo home run for the Bulldogs in a 10-0 win over Highland Tech. Webb was one of four Burns players with two hits in the contest, joined by Ben Mauney — who hit a three-run homer in the second — along with Cody Mosteller and Reid Stroupe.
Clover 9, Nation Ford 2
East Gaston 6, Cherryville 0: Parker Agosta struck out 11 in six innings of work, as East Gaston shut out Cherryville in Southern Piedmont 1A/2A competition. Logan Agosta, Liam Brady and Dylan Howell
East Lincoln 10, Hickory 3: Seth Haigler was 3-for-3 with two RBIs, two stolen bases and a run scored in a win over Hickory. Trey Spees was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, with Graham Smiley hitting a two-run homer in the sixth. Nate Borchardt had a hit and two RBIs, while Garrett Michel had a hit and scored two runs for the Mustangs.
Carson Dahle struck out seven in 5.1 innings of relief work.
Forestview 11, Hunter Huss 0: Tripp Dow threw a no-hitter, striking out 14 and walking one in five innings of work to lead Forestview to a win over Huss.
Austin Parker was 3-for-4 with a double and three runs scored, with Jesse Osborne and Landon Jenkins each earning two hits in the contest.
Kings Mountain 9, South Point 1: Kings Mountain scored each of its runs in the first three innings, defeating South Point in the first leg of a key Big South 3A series. Zane Brockman went six innings, allowing one run on three hits and struck out seven. Jack Toney was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, while Charlie Melton was 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI in the contest. Kenton Moore also had a triple, three RBIs and a run scored for the Mountaineers.
Lincoln Charter 8, Langtree Charter 0: Donovan Davis was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, whiloe Matt Cipriano was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs as the Eagles defeated Langtree Charter.
Pine Lake Prep 2, Mountain Island Charter 0: The Raptors managed only three hits in a loss to Pine Lake Prep.
Shelby 19, Ashbrook 1
West Lincoln 12, Maiden 8: Evan Hartsoe, Noah Gantt and Noah Huss had two hits apiece, with Landon Jenkins earning a hit and three RBIs for the Rebels in a win. Jacob English added a double and two RBIs in the West Lincoln victory.
Monday, April 4
Bradford Prep 7, Piedmont Community Charter 5
Burns 6, Patton 4: Colby Putnam was 2-dfor-4 with a double and three RBIs, while Cody Mosteller added two hits and an RBI of his own to help the Bulldogs to a non-conference win over Patton. Joseph Webb also had a double and an RBI for Burns.
Clover 8, Nation Ford 3
Lincolnton 5, Newton-Conover 1
Metrolina Christian 22, Gaston Day 0: The Spartans had three hits in a loss to Metrolina Christian.
North Gaston 2, Crest 1
North Lincoln 14, Statesville 1: Bobby Ellis pitched six innings, allowing one run on one hit and struck out eight in a win over Statesville. Maddux Walker was 4-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs. Landon Reeves was 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Timmy Schafer was 2-for-4 with a triple and three runs scored. Matt Heavner finished with a double, triple and two RBIs, with Jack Weuderman earning two hits and two RBIs. Nate Lykins also hit a home run in a winning effort.
Softball
Friday, April 8
West Lincoln 15, Bunker Hill 0: Harlie Burton hurled a no-hitter, striking out five in three innings of work in a win over Bunker Hill.Chloe Norman was 2-for-2 with a double, two RBIs and two runs, while Etta Godfrey was 2-for-2 with three RBIs and two runs scored for the Lady Rebels. Seven other West Lincoln batters had a hit in the win.
Clover 4, Fort Mill 1
Bandys 11, Lincolnton 5
Bessemer City 7, Thomas Jefferson 5: Sara Duncan, Faith Dawson and Caitlin Duncan had two hits apiece, while Erin Moss earned the win in the circle.
Kings Mountain 15, Hunter Huss 0: Game being played at Kings Mountain due to unplayable field conditions at Hunter Huss. Andrea Melton (double, RBI, two runs) and Alayna Patrick (double, two RBIs) each had two hits to lead the Lady Mountaineers.
Lincoln Charter at Langtree Charter: No score reported.
Mountain Island Charter 4, Pine Lake Prep 3
North Gaston 9, Forestview 3: Megan Towery was 3-for-3 with a home run, two RBIs and three runs scored, while Elissa RIch was 3-for-5 with two doubles, an RBI and three runs scored to lead North Gaston past Forestview. Caroline Allred (double, two runs), Payton Propst (RBI) and Alaina Love had two hits apiece for the Lady Wildcats.
North Lincoln 10, Hickory 1
Stuart Cramer 14, South Point 2: Andrea Detweiler was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs, while Braley Hamilton (two RBIs, three runs) and Addison Marr (two doubles, RBI, run) led the Storm to victory. Payton Conroy also hit a home run to go with four RBIs for the Storm.
Thursday, April 7
Burns 12, Highland Tech 2: Peyton Cook was 3-for-3 with a double, home run and three RBIs, while Jaycee Bivins, Sayge Strange and Hunter Morgan had two hits and RBIs in a win over Highland Tech. Strange also struck out 13.
Emma Ghorley was 2-for-3 with a home run, while Elizabeth Johnson was also 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI for Highland Tech.
Crest 17, Ashbrook 0: Aidan Ledbetter and Riley Parker pitched Crest to a shutout win on Thursday. Ella Shope had three hits, while Alexis Shope and Parker had two hits. Sara Rose Warlick and Taylor Black also earned a hit apiece.
East Gaston at Cherryville: Postponed until April 28.
East Lincoln 23, Statesville 1: Betsy Eatmon hit two home runs and had two doubles on her way to eight RBIs in a dominant East Lincoln win. Hannah Cox also had four hits and three RBIs; Morgan Summey was 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs; Bailey Hardin was 3-for-5 with a double, home run and an RBI; Taliyah Thomas had two doubles, a triple and two RBIs; while Val Lohr and Emilee Phuntek had two hits apiece.
Leah Correll allowed one run on one hit for East Lincoln.
Metrolina Christian 12, Gaston Christian 7
Wednesday, April 6
Ashbrook 21, Hunter Huss 6
Burns 3, Highland Tech 2: Peyton Cook was 2-for-3 with a double, with Meah Ivie earning a triple and an RBI in a Burns win. Sayge Strange had a double and a run scored, in addition to striking out 17 in a complete game effort. She allowed two runs on four hits.
Emma Ghorley had a double and a run scored for Highland Tech in a losing cause.
Cherryville 11, East Gaston 0
Crest 5, Kings Mountain 0: Aidan Ledbetter allowed no runs on one hit and struck out 12 to lead Crest past Kings Mountain. Riley Parker had a triple and three RBIs, with Alexis Shope adding two hits of her own. Reese Gettys, Molly Beam and Makenzie Clark also earned a hit apiece.
East Lincoln 12, Hickory 0: Leah Correll allowed no runs on one hit and struck out seven in a win over Hickory.
Taliyah Thomas was 3-for-4 with two home runs, a double and seven RBIs for the Lady Mustangs. Taniyah Thomas was 4-for-4 with three runs scored, while Madison Currence and Betsy Eatmon had two hits apiece, the latter hitting a home run.
Newton-Conover at Lincolnton: Game postponed due to unplayable field conditions.
Queen’s Grant 20, Piedmont Community Charter 1
Stuart Cramer 5, Forestview 3: Three early runs helped the Storm to a roaring start, tacking on runs in the second and fourth to claim a win at Forestview. Payton Conroy had a home run and three RBIs in the contest, with Hadley Womack earning two doubles and scoring twice. Andrea Detweiler also was 2-for-4 in the game with two runs scored. Emma Donaldson struck out seven in a complete game effort.
Carson Upton was 2-for-3 with an RBI, with Blair Riley going 2-for-4 with a double for Forestview.
West Lincoln 6, Maiden 4: Farrah Richardson was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs, while Gracie Elmore was 3-for-4 with a double to lead the Lady Rebels past Maiden. Carolina Robinson was 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs, with Chloe Norman going 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Monday, April 4
Bessemer City 18, Hunter Huss 3: MaKenzie Harris and Riley Royer each went 2-for-2, with Megan Sliney and Erin Moss each earning a hit of their own in a win over Huss. Moss also picked up the win inside the circle.
North Gaston 10, South Point 0: Elissa Rich hurled a no-hitter, striking out 13 and walking one in a five-inning victory over South Point. Gracie Nichols was 2-for-3 with two doubles and four RBIs, while Caroline Allred was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Alaina Love had two hits and an RBI, Madison Sipe was 2-for-3 with two RBIs while Madison Sipe was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.
North Lincoln 25, Statesville 0: Lilly Stump hit three home runs as part of an 8-RBI night to lead North Lincoln to a big win. Olivia Quilla was 4-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. Clara Grace Dellinger was 3-for-3 with two doubles and two RBIs; Ellie Huss was 3-for-4 with three doubles and three RBIs; Ellie Rinkus was 3-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs and three runs scored; Tessa Hunt was 3-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored; with Skyla Morrison going 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Aubrie Cada added two doubles and an RBI.
Piedmont Community Charter 18, Langtree Charter 3
Stuart Cramer 8, East Gaston 1: Madison Lee was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored, while Hadley Womack was 2-for-4 with two runs as the Storm downed East Gaston. Emma Donadson had a hit and two RBIs, along with striking out five in four innings of work.
West Caldwell 2, Lincolnton 0
You can reach Joe Hughes at 704-914-8138, email jhughes@gastongazette.com and follow on Twitter @JoeLHughesII.
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https://www.gastongazette.com/story/sports/high-school/2022/04/09/kings-mountain-baseball-perseveres-keeps-pace-big-south-3-a/7270700001/
| 2022-04-09T09:38:13
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https://www.gastongazette.com/story/sports/high-school/2022/04/09/kings-mountain-baseball-perseveres-keeps-pace-big-south-3-a/7270700001/
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Accused shooter in Lady Gaga dog theft mistakenly freed
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A gunman accused of shooting and seriously wounding Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stealing her two French bulldogs was mistakenly released from jail and is being sought, authorities said Friday.
James Howard Jackson, 19, was facing an attempted murder charge when he was released from Los Angeles County’s jail on Wednesday “due to a clerical error,” the county Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
The Major Crimes Bureau is working on finding him, the statement said.
Jackson is one of five people arrested in connection with the Feb. 24, 2021, attack in Hollywood. Prosecutors said Jackson and two other alleged gang members had driven around looking for expensive French bulldogs to steal, then spotted, tailed and robbed Ryan Fischer as he walked Lady Gaga’s dogs near Sunset Boulevard.
During a violent struggle, Fischer was hit, choked and then shot in an attack captured by the doorbell camera of a nearby home.
The camera recorded the dog walker screaming “Oh, my God! I’ve been shot!” and “Help me!” and “I’m bleeding out from my chest!”
Fischer lost part of a lung.
“While I’m deeply concerned at the events that led to his release, I’m confident law enforcement will rectify the error,” Fischer said in a statement obtained by KABC-TV. “I ask for Mr. Jackson to turn himself over to the authorities, so resolution to the crime committed against me runs its course, whatever the courts determine that outcome to be.”
The pop star’s dogs were returned two days later by a woman who claimed she had found them tied to a pole and asked about Lady Gaga’s offer of a $500,000 reward if the dogs were returned “no questions asked.” The singer was in Rome at the time filming a movie.
She’s charged with receiving stolen property and the father of another suspect is charged with helping him avoid arrest.
Jackson already had been charged in the attack and had pleaded not guilty when the county district attorney’s office filed a superceding indictment Tuesday charging him with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a robbery and assault with a semiautomatic firearm.
The move was done “to speed up the legal process” and Jackson was arraigned Wednesday under a new case number, the DA’s office said in a statement.
“Mr. Jackson was subsequently released from custody by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. We are unsure as to why they did so,” the statement said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/09/accused-shooter-lady-gaga-dog-theft-mistakenly-freed/
| 2022-04-09T09:44:37
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https://www.kttc.com/2022/04/09/accused-shooter-lady-gaga-dog-theft-mistakenly-freed/
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A favorite tavern in Long Branch, NJ is closing after 40 years
A favorite spot for many in Monmouth County is closing this weekend after decades of service to the Shore.
This may be just a "see ya later" instead of "goodbye," however.
Almost 40 years to the day, a former school teacher sold his first pub and headed to the beach.
He had three small kids at the time but dedicated himself to building a place where old friends could come and where new friends would be made.
That has got to be the goal of any bar owner, right?
Apparently, he also joked that he had no other choice but to buy a pub because it’s the only way he would be allowed to sing for people.
Very smart. Have a built-in audience.
This bar owner was said to have a personality larger than life.
Do you know those who just seem to have an "it factor" that attracts others to them? That was this guy.
The bar stayed in the family as the owner made his son Randy a partner.
The two were a dynamic duo. Working closely with family isn't always easy, but they made it happen and managed to be best friends.
Original owner Ron passed away in 2010.
His son Randy and Randy's wife went all-in with the business.
They were there so much that it's said their 10-year-old son practically grew up at the bar.
He became an attraction at the bar and patrons would look forward to seeing the young man. Randy's wife said on Facebook that it's because of the love and loyalty of their customers that makes leaving their place behind bittersweet.
The beloved Ron's West End Tavern in Long Branch is closing. The owners said on Facebook:
I’m not sure if this is where the road ends for Ron’s West End Pub, but our family felt it was time to not say goodbye, but perhaps, see ya later.
Ron's will be open through Saturday, April 2, and on April 3 it's their “It’s not goodbye, but see ya Later” party from 2-6 pm.
Thanks to the owners and staff of Ron's West End Tavern for over 40 years of great drinks and even better memories. Hopefully, we will "see ya later."
Long Branch is a great beach town, but so are these.
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https://nj1015.com/a-favorite-tavern-in-long-branch-nj-is-closing-after-40-years/
| 2022-04-09T09:45:43
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https://nj1015.com/a-favorite-tavern-in-long-branch-nj-is-closing-after-40-years/
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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 lanes 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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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/21-drivers-stopped-for-failing-to-comply-with-move-over-law/article_ab5daeae-c020-57da-9235-50517f4c6253.html
| 2022-04-09T10:16:01
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https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/21-drivers-stopped-for-failing-to-comply-with-move-over-law/article_ab5daeae-c020-57da-9235-50517f4c6253.html
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THE SEA-EAGLE has landed — in Nova Scotia.
In late February, I drove to Georgetown, Maine, to see if I could spot the Steller’s sea-eagle (shown both with a hyphen and without on equally authoritative websites) where it had been hanging out since late December. I didn’t. There hadn’t been a sighting for a few days. And then of course there was one the day after I was there. That’s OK, this bird has been great fun to follow on Facebook.
His last sighting in Maine was on March 5 before he (or she, no one knows) showed up the other day in a field in Nova Scotia. The woman who discovered the sea-eagle was looking at a couple of bald eagles through her binoculars when “whoa!” she saw the giant sea-eagle. When word got out, you could almost feel the Maine Steller’s Sea-Eagle Facebook page list like a whale watching boat when everyone moves from port side when a whale is sighted starboard as the page’s followers started requesting to join the Nova Scotia: Steller’s Sea Eagle (they don’t hyphenate it …) page.
Some think the bird is on its way home to Russia (although not even halfway there). I predict it is going to end up back in Maine by winter. Or at least that’s what I hope. I have been to Nova Scotia several times and while it is beautiful, I don’t think I will be driving there to try to see the bird, but who knows.
Wood frogs freeze and thaw
New Hampshire Public Radio listeners who caught “Something Wild” on March 25 may have learned something like I did: The winter survival method for wood frogs is to freeze. According to the segment by Dave Anderson (Forest Society) and Chris Martin (N.H. Audubon), the first ice crystals signal the frog’s physiology to start pushing water away from its core (where the organs are) and everything outside that freezes and stays that way all winter. While I feel like that happens to me, it is a phenomenon that is unique to the frog and quite incredible. Apparently glucose and urine mix and produce a sort of antifreeze. When temperatures warm up and the frog thaws — which takes about a day — it is good to go about the business of procreating.
Bluebirds really are triggers of happiness
In the first 20 years of living where I do, I had only seen bluebirds once. Ten years later, a small flock is here year-round. I am not sure of a bird that makes people happier than a bluebird.
Visitors will say “don’t tell my wife/husband/friend that you have bluebirds, she will be so jealous.” Postings on bird sites on Facebook show bluebirds that people are just thrilled to capture on camera. Comments reveal that everyone is just captivated by these beautiful little birds.
They are interesting. Stories abound of birds that relentlessly pound themselves into someone’s house window or car side mirror — while occasionally the stories are of robins or cardinals, the culprits are usually bluebirds.
The bluebirds at my place systematically line up on the top rail of the pipe panels that fence in my horses; the dark blue dust-coated panels are covered with bird droppings. They also love the horse run-in shed and they survey their kingdom often from the peak of our three-story barn. I am going to have to postpone retirement by several years just to be sure I have enough savings to keep the bluebirds in mealworms but they are worth every penny.
Robins do not really announce spring is here
Starting sometime in mid to late February, comments start coming on Facebook that someone has seen a robin so spring must be very close. But if you are very observant and spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter in this part of New England, you will know that robins are pretty much here all winter long.
They may start to get a little more visible either when the temperatures start to warm up or they get hungry enough to seek out things they find tasty besides the worms and insects they prefer that aren’t around yet. But they are here, lurking in protected areas. And while not necessarily the harbingers of spring that they are made out to be, they do get much more active when the ground is clear and thawed and they are pulling up worms and gathering nesting material.
Squirrels are smart; very smart
We all knew that, right? As I write this, outside my window is a squirrel sitting right on top of the “squirrel baffle” that I thought would keep my black oil sunflower seed supply for birds only. No such luck. But I caught a short program about squirrels on “Nature” the other night that gave me new admiration for these little creatures we think of mostly as pests. According to the show, researchers found that squirrel brains grow larger in the fall in order to remember later the locations of thousands of acorns and other food they cached.
Now where did I put my keys?
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Cheryl Kimball lives north of Rochester. Email her at naturetalksck@gmail.com.
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https://www.unionleader.com/nh/outdoors/cheryl-kimball-nature-talks-some-nature-tidbits-ive-learned-lately/article_9b704fa8-b267-566d-961f-933ffd30bff1.html
| 2022-04-09T10:16:07
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https://www.unionleader.com/nh/outdoors/cheryl-kimball-nature-talks-some-nature-tidbits-ive-learned-lately/article_9b704fa8-b267-566d-961f-933ffd30bff1.html
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This is New Hampshire Audubon’s Rare Bird Alert for Monday, April 4.
A snowy owl was seen in coastal Seabrook, and one was seen in coastal Rye, both on April 3.
Three black vultures were seen flying over Nashua on April 2; two were seen over Manchester on March 30; and two were seen over Westmoreland on March 30.
A rough-legged hawk was reported from Wolfeboro on March 31.
A northern shrike was seen along Ossipee Mountain Road in Moultonborough on April 1 and 2, and one was seen at the Ines and Fredrick Yeatt’s Wildlife Sanctuary in Warren on April 2.
There was an adult lesser blacked gull and an unconfirmed sighting of a cackling goose at Horseshoe Pond in Concord on April 1.
Two Iceland gulls and a Glaucous gull were seen at the Exeter Wastewater Treatment Plant several times during the past week. There is no vehicle access. If you visit, please park in the spaces located in front of the gate and walk in.
Four Bonaparte’s gulls were seen at Horseshoe Pond in Concord on March 31; five were seen flying over Sandwich on April 1; and one was seen in Exeter on April 1.
An American oystercatcher was seen along the coast in North Hampton on March 31.
A dunlin was seen along Airport Road in Swanzey on April 1.
A greater yellowlegs was seen at Horseshoe Pond in Concord on March 31 and April 1, and one was seen in coastal Rye on April 2.
Fifteen Wilson’s snipe were seen in fields at West Portsmouth Street in Concord on April 2, and nine piping plovers were seen at Hampton Beach on April 3.
A snow goose was seen at Horseshoe Pond in Concord on April 2.
A male Barrow’s goldeneye was seen at the Errol Dam on the Androscoggin River on several days during the past week, and was last reported on April 2.
Two blue-winged teal were seen at the Exeter Wastewater Treatment Plant on March 31; three were seen along River Road in Walpole on March 30; two were seen at the Grant Brook outlet area in Lyme on April 1; and one was seen at Bedell Bridge State Park in Haverhill on the Connecticut River on April 3.
A “Eurasian” green-winged teal was seen in Hampton on April 3.
A ruddy duck was seen at the Exeter Wastewater Treatment Plant during the past week and was last reported on April 3.
A red-necked grebe was seen in Center Harbor on April 4.
At least four great egrets were seen along the coast during the past week, and a snowy egret was seen in coastal Rye on March 31.
A Lapland longspur was seen at Hampton Beach State Park on April 3.
Three snow buntings were seen at Hampton Beach State Park on March 30, and one was seen there on April 3.
A white-crowned sparrow was seen in Greenland on March 29.
Three northern rough-winged swallows were seen at Horseshoe Pond in Merrimack on April 2.
A Virginia rail was reported from the marsh along Borthwick Avenue in Portsmouth on April 3.
Two evening grosbeaks were seen in Errol on April 1.
A common redpoll was seen in Jefferson on March 30.
A pine warbler was reported from Hancock on March 31, and two were reported from Hollis on April 4.
Two black-backed woodpeckers were seen near Little Cherry Pond in Pondicherry National Wildlife Refuge in Jefferson on April 3.
Small numbers of a few early returning migrants were reported during the past week, including: gadwall, northern shoveler, Northern pintail, lesser scaup, osprey, tree swallow, eastern phoebe, killdeer, American woodcock, Wilson’s snipe, fish crow, rusty blackbird, brown-headed cowbird, field sparrow, and fox sparrow.
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This listing can be seen in its entirety at www.nhaudubon.org.
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https://www.unionleader.com/nh/outdoors/rare-bird-alert/article_f21f71b3-80da-5264-975e-78f71ee85340.html
| 2022-04-09T10:16:13
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https://www.unionleader.com/nh/outdoors/rare-bird-alert/article_f21f71b3-80da-5264-975e-78f71ee85340.html
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Gunnar Henderson had an idea. He and Joey Ortiz were working in the batting cage this offseason, the kind of run-of-the-mill process that can become monotonous even to a 20-year-old early in his professional baseball career.
“Hey, Joey,” Henderson prompted. “You wanna play a game of horse off the tee?”
Ortiz didn’t need to be pressed, setting off a friendly competition between the Orioles infield prospects. That’s the nature of their relationship: They’re friends, but they’re also teammates pushing each other toward the next level, with an eye toward Baltimore.
For now, they’re at Double-A Bowie, part of a stacked infield. During pregame warmups before the Baysox’s season opener at Prince George’s Stadium on Friday, Henderson, Ortiz and Jordan Westburg trotted out to third, short and second to field grounders. In the future — an ever-nearing future — that trio could trot out together at Camden Yards.
As the Orioles began the season their season in Florida against the Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore’s faces of the future began their season in Bowie. They haven’t shied away from those lofty expectations, either — the idea that they could be the saviors for a franchise mired in 100-loss seasons during its steady rebuild from the ground up.
“If we can all come up at the same time, that goal of winning the World Series, the last game of the season, is next up,” said Westburg, 23, a first-round pick in the 2020 MLB draft. “You don’t want to look at it right now because we’re at opening day in Double-A. There’s no reason to put that pressure on ourselves or start thinking about that. But ultimately, and as we start to get there, that’s gotta be our No. 1 focus.”
Before executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias arrived, Baltimore’s farm system was devoid of much middle infield talent. Adam Hall, a second-round draft pick in 2017, looks at the crop of prospects around him now and is amazed.
Hall, 22, who started in center field Friday despite his middle infield experience, is the 27th-best prospect in Baltimore’s organization, according to Baseball America. Around him in Bowie are more top players in Ortiz (No. 16), Westburg (No. 6) and Henderson (No. 4).
That influx of talent to the farm system in recent years adds pressure on them all. There are only so many positions along the infield, which prompted Hall’s bump to the outfield Friday. Henderson started at short, Ortiz at second and Westburg at third. But those players will all rotate, which Westburg considers a benefit.
“We all have different skill sets,” Westburg said. “We all realize that. We understand that all we can do to make each other better is push each other in practice, try to set the bar high.”
To Westburg, the 20-year-old Henderson is the “young buck” of the group, still gaining experience on the fly. But Henderson might also have the most power between them all. The 23-year-old Ortiz could be the best defender of the group, making plays Westburg admitted he wouldn’t in the same position. And Westburg, despite a few swings and misses, believes his ability to spray the ball to all fields sets him apart.
It’s those different skills that help them remain friends during a push to the big leagues. They’re all hoping for an infield spot — and only one of them can play shortstop — but that versatility could land them at Oriole Park together.
The Bowie coaches lean into that competition, though, even beyond what Henderson and Ortiz do on their own in the batting cage two to three times a week.
During spring training, the prospects competed for who could have the highest exit velocity on batted balls. They participated in a home run derby using Plyo Balls — a sand-filled ball made with a PVC shell. A foam ball machine threw overly exaggerated breaking pitches to them.
“The infield guys, we’re around each other every day, and it’s great to have that bond,” Ortiz said. “The main thing I always say: Gunnar and Westburg are so good, it’s definitely nice to be able to compete with them, because it only makes me better.”
In a video conference with reporters Thursday, Elias said he believed Baltimore was “close to getting back into the fight.” As he looks around the minors, the prospects cultivated through three 100-loss seasons in four years are nearing the big leagues. Once they arrive, he hopes they’ll be ready to make an immediate impact.
That will be learned down the line, when those players prove themselves and earn those expected call-ups. But at least for now, even if those highly touted infield prospects are playing in Bowie rather than Baltimore, their minds can’t help but wander to the horizon — and what they might accomplish once there.
“We all know we can win a championship together,” Henderson said. “We all have the right mindset going into each game and each season. I feel like the group that’s coming up, we have an excellent chance to turn this thing around and bring a championship back to the Orioles.”
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https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/09/the-future-of-the-orioles-infield-is-in-double-a-bowie-and-they-already-have-championship-aspirations/
| 2022-04-09T10:25:53
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https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/09/the-future-of-the-orioles-infield-is-in-double-a-bowie-and-they-already-have-championship-aspirations/
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In the wake of the trade that cost him two of his high-leverage reliever, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was not shy about his intentions with right-hander Jorge López.
“You’re gonna see Jorge López pitch in big spots,” Hyde said earlier this week after Baltimore dealt Tanner Scott and Cole Sulser to the Miami Marlins.
It did not take Hyde long to show he meant that statement, calling on López to face the heart of the Tampa Bay Rays’ order in the eighth inning of Friday’s season-opening 2-1 loss. Although López allowed the go-ahead run to score, he showed why Hyde trusted him in that spot. The average velocity on each of his three pitches Friday was about 3 mph above his marks in 2021, a season spent mostly as a struggling starter. His sinker averaged 98.5 mph and got up to 99.3 mph, according to Baseball Savant.
“His fastball velocity has really jumped, and so now he’s sitting 98, 99,” Hyde said afterward. “He’s now a weapon against right-handed and left-handed hitters. He’s always had a starter mix, obviously, but now the velo is really ticked up, the changeup’s gotten better, the breaking ball you saw got better, and the confidence is there.
“Lopie’s going to be pitching in the big part of games.”
Hyde doesn’t have many other options for that type of role, with Dillon Tate and Paul Fry the only other pitchers in his bullpen with at least two years of major league service time. But López’s stuff is dynamic, and as Hyde noted, his confidence has also improved with the change in role.
“I like the challenge,” López said. “I feel like it’s a big opportunity, just to be here already and have another opportunity, another opening day.
“That opportunity, even with what happened last year, it’s completely what I wanted. I just want to keep going and get better.”
Acquired on waivers from the Kansas City Royals in 2020, López, 29, spent much of last year in Baltimore’s rotation, frequently running into difficulties in the middle innings. He showed potential late in the season as a reliever, only for a sprained right ankle to spoil the showcase after eight outings as he ended the year with a 6.07 ERA.
Now, he might be Hyde’s go-to reliever in the biggest spot of games whenever they come. Friday, that was with a runner on first and no outs in the eighth. López issued an eight-pitch walk to Ji-Man Choi before Randy Arozarena raced to first to beat out an infield single that loaded the bases; the ball had an exit velocity of 49.9 mph and an expected batting average of .230, according to Baseball Savant. With the bases loaded, López got a grounder from Brandon Lowe (Maryland) for a fielder’s choice at home, but Francisco Mejía was able to get a changeup airborne for a game-winning sacrifice fly. Another walk followed to reload the bases, though Fry left them that way to keep López’s ERA clean.
Early in spring training, Hyde said the Orioles were considering stretching López out to once again serve as a length option, but the possibility of him in short relief proved too intriguing not to give an extended look. Thrust into the backend of Baltimore’s bullpen, López is already looking forward to the chance to improve on Friday’s performance.
It matches how Hyde described his attitude after last year’s switch to relief, with López coming into his office each day saying he was available to pitch that night.
“It’s good to have the opportunity,” López said. “I never had that before, and it’s good to jump in and have that kind of opportunity to just keep going with my mentality of attacking the hitters, just try to keep the game close, and that’s my job. Everything else, I can’t control. I just can control what I can control, and my next step is just keep going forward.”
The Orioles’ hope is that more pitchers challenge López for those opportunities. Before Tate allowed a leadoff single in the eighth and gave way to López, he, Bryan Baker and Cionel Pérez combined to retire nine straight Rays. Baker and Pérez, like López, were waiver claims, and both were making their team debuts.
“I told them, all you guys are going to be in big spots, different leverage spots, just because I need to find out who can do what and what part of the game that they’re most comfortable in,” Hyde said. “Really happy with how Baker threw the ball. Cionel Pérez was outstanding. We’re really encouraged by that. I thought Tate was really good in the seventh, and Lopie had good stuff in the eighth.
“These guys are going to continue to get opportunity.”
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https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/09/thrust-into-new-role-orioles-jorge-lpez-embracing-reliever-mentality-i-like-the-challenge/
| 2022-04-09T10:25:57
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https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/09/thrust-into-new-role-orioles-jorge-lpez-embracing-reliever-mentality-i-like-the-challenge/
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Gracious living can be yours in this customized pool home
Beautiful curb appeal is just the beginning of the details that make this half-million-dollar custom-built estate in Palm Coast a standout on the market.
The endless updates in this split-plan home’s nearly 2,350 square feet of interior living space is attracting potential buyers wanting something extra special.
“With all the upgrades that were done, it's easy to love this amazing home and want to entertain your family and friends,’’ said Carmella Fowkes. “After spending time in it, you can't wait to make it your own.”
Fowkes, who co-listed this beauty with fellow Coldwell Banker Premier Properties Realtor Kevin Bosse, gushed about how the layout and interior design make for an ideal living space.
“The dining room has plenty of room for gatherings,’’ she added. “And that’s just the start.”
The spacious great room, with double French doors opening onto the lanai, is ideal for family living and entertaining, while the cook's kitchen is a standout with 42-inch cabinets, stainless-steel appliances, quartz countertops, a breakfast bar and island.
The king-sized owner's suite has French doors leading out to the pool deck, a designer walk-in closet and a beautifully updated bathroom. The remaining bedrooms are on the opposite side of the home, across from a large, updated bathroom.
The fully fenced backyard, which is beautifully landscaped with tropical plants and fruit trees, holds an appealing storage shed with a ramp for easy access.
Enjoying the Florida lifestyle will be a breeze with the party-sized sundeck, the custom-built propane fire pit and the 14-foot-by-28-foot salt-water pool with solar and electric heat.
“When you sit in the lanai and look around, you’ll feel like you’re on vacation,’’ Fowkes exclaimed. “It’s a life you can’t wait to start enjoying.”
ADDRESS: 27 Post View Drive, Palm Coast
TOTAL LIVING SQUARE FEET: 2,349
LOT SIZE: 160 feet by 125 feet
BEDROOMS: 3
BATHROOMS: 2
STORIES: 1
YEAR BUILT: 2006
PRICE: $500,000
CONTACT: Carmella Fowkes or Kevin Bosse, Coldwell Banker Premier Properties, 386-237-9602 or 386-283-8089
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https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/lifestyle/real-estate/2022/04/09/market-real-estate-luxury-sis-yours-customized-pool-home/9467788002/
| 2022-04-09T10:52:53
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https://www.news-journalonline.com/story/lifestyle/real-estate/2022/04/09/market-real-estate-luxury-sis-yours-customized-pool-home/9467788002/
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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Two South Bend police officers were injured when a man armed with two screwdrivers attacked them.
Police say one officer was diagnosed with a broken cheekbone at a hospital after his face was cut, and the other suffered a minor hand injury. Police say the suspect was arrested and charged with four counts of resisting arrest and battery against a police officer.
The South Bend Tribune reports the incident happened around 4:30 a.m. Thursday at a gas station near downtown South Bend after a store employee reported a man was trespassing on the property.
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https://www.wane.com/news/indiana/man-armed-with-screwdrivers-attacks-2-south-bend-officers/
| 2022-04-09T10:56:28
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https://www.wane.com/news/indiana/man-armed-with-screwdrivers-attacks-2-south-bend-officers/
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