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https://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-nws-ricin-sentencing-20220331-bui4mqa7lrchxanj5yznr4mnfq-story.html
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An Upper Macungie Township man was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Boston for obstructing an investigation into his efforts to acquire the deadly toxin ricin.
Ishtiaq Ali Saaem, a Bangladeshi national, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to three years of probation, six months of which will be served on home confinement.
Ali Saaem was also ordered to pay a fine of $5,500.
Saaem, 37, was living in Boston and working as the director of advanced research at a biotechnology firm in June 2015 when he bought 100 packets of castor bean seeds online, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston.
Inspired by his viewing of the TV series “Breaking Bad,” about a high school chemistry professor who begins cooking methamphetamine, Saaem planned to cook up an undetectable poison in his kitchen, prosecutors said.
After telling investigators the beans were for decorative purposes — and that he accidentally ordered 100 packets instead of one — Saaem searched the internet for tasteless poisons that could be made at home, according to court records.
During subsequent meetings with law enforcement, Saaem said his interest in buying castor beans related to an interest in gardening. He also made misleading statements about his knowledge of ricin.
Saaem pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice last April.
Saaem “showed callous disregard for public safety and federal authority,” U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins said in a statement. “This prosecution sends a clear message that the attempted procurement of deadly weapons or toxins will be taken as a direct threat against the safety and security of American communities. Thanks to the swift action by authorities, no one was harmed.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kriss Basil prosecuted the case.
“Today’s sentence should be a warning to others that you can’t obstruct a federal investigation and get away with it,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston division.
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The 2021-22 boys basketball season just ended and already thoughts turn to next year.
The start of any high school season actually begins in the summer and this year the big news is the varsity basketball summer league is going inside to Whitehall High School.
“We were offered the gyms by Bob Hartman [Whitehall’s athletic director] and we accepted because at least 70% of the time last year we had to go inside to play our games,” said longtime summer basketball league and tournament director Glen Klein. “We have schools that have to travel a long distance to get here, schools like Pocono Mountain East, Reading, Quakertown and Warren Hills in New Jersey. So, when you’re coming that far, a decision has to be made early in the day. And even if there was just a 50% chance of rain I’d go inside because you didn’t want to take a chance. Sometimes it rained, sometimes it didn’t, but the coaches and kids needed to know early. So this makes it a lot easier.”
While the varsity league will be at Whitehall, the JV league will still be at Cedar Beach every Tuesday and Thursday night starting May 17.
Klein said the JV games will start at 5 p.m. and finish at 8 and the varsity games will be played at 6, 7 and 8 p.m.
“We’re going to stagger the schedule so if a kid is double-rostered that kid can play a 5 o’clock JV game at Cedar Beach and a 7 o’clock varsity game at Whitehall,” Klein said. “Or if he’s playing a JV game at 6, he will play a varsity game at 8 at Whitehall. Everything will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays so the coaches can have their weekends. I’ll miss Cedar Beach and I’m a big advocate of playing outside in the summer, but we’re doing this to keep things as simple as possible and the coaches like playing games indoors because that’s where they play in the winter.”
The league used to be called the Cedar Beach Summer Basketball League but now that the varsity league is no longer being held at the west Allentown park, Klein is not sure what the league will be called.
He said that 22 teams have committed to the league’s big-school division including newcomers Executive Education Charter and Muhlenberg Township, while eight would be in the small-school division. The JV league at the moment has 12 teams.
The Cedar Beach Basketball Showcase, a four-day double-elimination tournament, will remain at Cedar Beach. The tournament is set for June 23-26. Parkland won last year’s big-school title, beating Northampton in the championship game. Southern Lehigh beat Roberto Clemente for the tournament’s small-school crown.
The A-Town Throwdown tournament will also return this summer with its four-day event to run from July 28-31. Reading won last year’s boys title, beating Lincoln from the Philadelphia Public League in the finals, which were forced indoors to Muhlenberg College.
Scholar-athletes
The Lehigh Valley Senior All-Star Basketball Classic Sunday at Northampton Community College featured a lot of memorable moments that included top players from the past and present.
Perhaps the biggest winners were Freedom’s Kailey Turpening and Southern Lehigh’s Noah Denton who were selected as local basketball’s premier scholar-athletes and awarded $2000 in scholarships.
“It’s exciting and I feel really honored,” Turpening said. “It’s really difficult being a three-sport athlete but my parents and friends and other family have supported me all the way through. It’s not just me who accomplished this, but I had a lot of help.”
Turpening said she has been playing basketball literally since she could walk.
“My first steps were on a basketball court,” she said. “My dad [Steve[ owns In The Zone and I have been surrounded by basketball my entire life,” she said. “I grew up loving it. It has been in my heart forever.”
Turpening, a 1,000-point scorer, said she will be attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona, Florida, and will continue her career there at the Division II level.
“I will miss Lehigh Valley basketball since I played at Freedom for six years,” she said. ”But I am excited about my new career.”
Denton, however, is done with organized basketball as he pursues a career in the medical profession. He’s headed to the University of Pittsburgh’s honors college where he will major in pre-med.
“I will miss basketball and I didn’t think I’d miss it this much, but getting to play again in the all-star game with former teammates like Matt Tankred was a lot of fun,” said Denton. “I wish I could have one more year of high school.”
Denton said the scholar-athlete is a reward for his hard work.
“This really represents the hard work I put in over the years,” Denton said. “I enjoyed basketball, but I realize basketball can only take you so far. The things that you do in high school can help set you up your career after high school and that’s why I worked hard to attain my goals.”
Officials work state finals
No Lehigh Valley teams made it to Hershey for the state championships but District 11 officials Jack Keiter, Rod Strobl, and Johnny Hymans worked the 5A boys championship game between Imhotep Charter and New Castle. Imhotep won 54-39.
“We were honored to be selected and it was great to be on the floor with officials you are comfortable with,” Keiter said. “We were on the same page all game long. Evaluators said we were the best crew of the first two days of the finals. We had fun and enjoyed the experience.”
It was the second state title game for all three officials. All three worked previous championship games more than a decade ago when the finals were at Penn State — Keiter in 2010, Hymans had a girls title game in 2011, and Strobl worked a boys final in 2008.
We rely on the support of our subscribers to fund our journalism. If you’re not already signed up, we hope you will consider subscribing. Already a print subscriber? If you haven’t already, please activate your digital access.
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CLEARWATER, Fla. — Luis Severino was on the field Thursday playing catch like he usually would be on the day after a bullpen session. That is a good sign for the right-hander, who had his second spring training start pushed back because of general arm soreness.
“He’s really encouraged by what he was coming in with today and just going out to throw and normal catch play and in line for Saturday so kind of waiting for this morning,” Aaron Boone said. “It’s what we hope for at this point.”
Severino is scheduled to start Saturday against the Braves for his final outing of spring training.
Severino has been through the gamut with injuries over the past three years, beginning with shoulder inflammation that transformed into a lat tear. He had Tommy John surgery in March 2020 and a rehab that was stalled by a groin injury and shoulder issue.
CATCHING UP
Ben Rortvedt has progressed to hitting tossed baseballs Wednesday, meaning he is moving toward full swing and eventually playing in games. The catcher, who came to the Yankees with a strained right oblique in a trade earlier this spring, however, seems likely to begin the regular season on the injured list.
The Yankees will have to make some hard decisions to replace him because they do not have another catcher on their 40-man roster, which is full. They have catchers Rob Brantly, Max McDowell and David Freitas, who started against the Phillies Thursday, in camp.
“Some of that depends on where we determine Ben is. Is he going to need a week or two? ... Obviously you have to create a roster spot,” the Yankee manager said. “So, there’ll be a lot of things that kind of factor in.”
Brantly was with the Yankees last season. The 32-year-old veteran has played 133 games in the big leagues with the Marlins, White Sox, Phillies, Giants and Yankees. McDowell — a Brewers’ 13th-round pick in 2015 — played 45 games in Triple-A with the Yankees in 2021 and is earning the reputation of being an excellent defensive catcher. Freitas, who started Thursday, has played 59 games in the big leagues with the Braves, Mariners and Brewers.
THE ASTERISK
GM Brian Cashman told The Athletic he thinks the Yankees’ World Series drought — its been 12 years since the Bombers have been in one — should have an asterisk on it because the 2017 Astros cheated.
The Yankees have Marwin Gonzalez, a member of that Astros’ 2017 team, in camp, but Boone said within the clubhouse that scandal is ancient history they don’t need to rehash.
“I love the vibe of where guys are from that level of focus and we’re trying to go win a championship and that’s that’s our focus,” Boone said. “And I don’t see any issue.”
The Yankees have long been sore about the Astros, who electronically stole signs and relayed them in real-time to batters. The Astros beat the Yankees in Game 7 of the 2017 American League Championship Series.
That Astros team also beat the Dodgers and Red Sox in the 2017 playoffs, both who have since gone on to win a World Series. The Yankees had Robinson Chirinos, who was on the 2017 Astros team, on their roster last season and said they were interested in bringing in Carlos Correa as a free agent this year.
RELIEF
In his first game back from a pinched nerve in his neck, lefty reliever Joely Rodriguez looked back to normal Thursday.
“I was anxious to see and I thought he’s pretty sharp too. The lefty he got out to finish there was good,” Boone said of Joely. “I don’t think the velocity is all the way back there but it seemed like it was 92-93 [mph], which was probably in line. I thought it was a really good slider to finish off his outing for the strikeout. I thought he threw the ball well through a couple of good change ups in there also.
“So it’s good to see him be fairly sharp out there.”
Rodriguez raised flags in his last spring training outing when his velocity dipped. He was then diagnosed with a pinched nerve.
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LEBANON, PA. — A Pennsylvania police officer was killed and two others injured Thursday during a shooting that occurred while responding to a domestic disturbance call, Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello said.
Police officers went to a home in the city at about 3:30 p.m. for the disturbance call. Nearly an hour later gunfire broke out and officers radioed in they were hit, Capello said at a brief news conference.
All three officers were taken to hospitals. One of them has been pronounced dead. A second was in critical condition, but stable, and a third was in stable condition, Capello said.
“This is an extremely difficult moment for everyone,” Capello said.
The suspect, a 34-year-old man from Lebanon, was killed in the shooting, Lebanon Police Chief Todd Breiner said.
“As one can imagine, it’s clearly a traumatic event,” Breiner said. “Our guys are strong, but we’re human and we have families.”
The slain officer’s name is being withheld pending notification of extended family members.
Police did not release further details.
This story will be updated.
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In all of two minutes and 47 seconds, Allentown City Council killed a controversial ordinance that would have imposed a list of requirements that could have eliminated many contractors from doing work for the city.
Known as the “responsible contractor ordinance,” council was slated to add an amendment to the measure at the Thursday night meeting which would have eliminated an apprenticeship requirement.
Council never discussed the amendment or the entire ordinance and instead, a motion was made to kill the entire ordinance, which passed in a 6-0 vote.
“It took us two minutes and 47 seconds. Justice was done today,’’ council president Cynthia Mota said after the meeting.
Mota said the bill would not come before council again unless a council member decides to sponsor it again.
The ordinance would have created stricter requirements for construction contractors, which could have meant many contractors would no longer qualify to work on city projects. According to a Finance Department analysis of 42 bids the city received on 17 recent construction projects before the ordinance passed, 25 contractors would no longer be eligible to work with the city under the new ordinance.
The measure, originally sponsored by Councilman Josh Siegel, would have impacted contractors and subcontractors performing work valued at more than $200,000.
The most controversial part of the ordinance required contractors to have a registered apprenticeship program. Advocates said the requirement would foster workforce development and better working conditions in Allentown, but opponents said the ordinance unfairly favors unions. Most unionized contractors have the required apprenticeship program, but only some nonunion shops do.
The amendment council was slated to discuss Thursday was one brought my city Councilman Ed Zucal which would have scraped the apprenticeship program requirement.
During a February council meeting, the ordinance gained preliminary approval in a 4-3 vote and generated pushback from several dozen contractors arguing for and against the measure.
Why the measure was killed and done without discussion was because “it was poorly written and unfair to contractors,’’ said Mota.
“It was pretty much a slap in the face to a lot of people who have worked for the city for years. They have done extraordinary work. This was the right thing to do,’’ she said.
In the audience Thursday night were several members of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Eastern Pennsylvania, an organization that represents non-union workers. Speaking about the council’s decision to kill the ordinance, member Chris Peirson said after the meeting, “I am very pleased.’’
Mota added that dismissing the ordinance was a victory or the city and one that shows,
“Things are going to get better. No doubt about it.”
Charles Malinchak is a freelance writer for The Morning Call.
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Cade Cunningham swung his arm in a circle to celebrate the Saddiq Bey bomb. And as a frustrated group of 76ers walked back to the bench for a desperation timeout while trailing by double digits with less than two minutes to play, the Pistons’ public-address announcer unleashed his textbook “DEEE-TROOOIT!”
The Sixers messed around with the lowly Pistons and then fumbled away the game in the fourth quarter, losing, 102-94, Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena.
The Pistons entered Thursday with just 20 wins, but have recently been putting scares into superior teams. Thursday night, they hung around all game until outscoring the Sixers, 29-15, in the final period.
A Braxton Key three-pointer followed by a Killian Hayes floater got Detroit within 85-84 with less than seven minutes to play, before a Cunningham layup gave the gave the Pistons their first lead of the game. Back-to-back three-pointers by Isaiah Livers and Bey snapped an 87-87 tie, giving Detroit a 93-87 lead about a minute later, igniting what had been a tepid home crowd while their team trailed for the bulk of the night.
Then the avalanche continued. When Olynyk got free for a breakaway layup, their lead had suddenly ballooned to 10 points. Then came the big shot by Bey, the former Villanova star, to put his team up 102-89 with less than two minutes to play.
Sixers star Joel Embiid scored 37 points on 11-of-19 from the field and 14-of-16 from the free-throw line and added 15 rebounds, but had seven turnovers. Harden added 18 points on 4-of-15 shooting, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists and quickly returned to the game after a painful fall. But the Sixers were sloppy with the ball, committing 15 turnovers that the Pistons parlayed into 16 points.
Cunningham, a contender for Rookie of the Year, was an impressive 12-of-20 from the field to finish with 27 points. Bey, the former Villanova star, added 20 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds.
The third consecutive loss is another hit to the Sixers’ playoff positioning. They entered Thursday in third place in the Eastern Conference standings, two games back of the first-place Miami Heat and one game behind the second-place Milwaukee Bucks. They next play a home-road back-to-back against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday and at the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday.
Flat start, awful finish
Both teams started cold offensively, spending the bulk of the first quarter shooting under 40%. What helped the Sixers build an 8-point lead: They went 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, while the Pistons did not attempt a shot from the stripe. Detroit also went 2-of-10 from the three-point arc in the period.
The Sixers’ shooting struggles dipped to 10-of-26 from the floor in the second quarter, helping the Pistons stay within striking distance when Kelly Olynyk hit two free throws to cut the Sixers’ lead to 36-35 with less than seven to play in the frame. But the Sixers answered with a 9-4 spurt to push their advantage back up to 47-39 on a Tobias Harris deep shot.
That foreshadowed the Sixers’ disastrous finish.
Bench struggles
A shaky Sixers bench unit struggled again Thursday, scoring just 8 points to Detroit’s 39 from its reserves.
Despite Rivers extending his rotation to 10 players, the Sixers bench were outscored 21-0 in the first half on 0-for-5 shooting. The only stats the reserves totaled before the break were one rebound by Shake Milton, one steal apiece by Georges Niang and Danny Green, and one block by DeAndre Jordan.
The Sixers’ reserves finally broke their scoring drought when Milton drained a three late in the third quarter. Milton finished with 3 assists and 2 rebounds in 19 minutes.
After Paul Millsap was the Sixers’ backup center in Tuesday’s loss to Milwaukee, Jordan was back in that role against the Pistons. The Sixers also went small, with Niang at center, for a stretch in the second quarter.
Furkan Korkmaz got his first game action since playing 11 minutes in last Friday’s win over the Clippers. He played five minutes and went 0-for-1 from the floor.
Olynyk (12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) and Hayes (10 points on 5-of-8 shooting) were the Pistons’ primary bench contributors.
Braxton Key minutes
Key, a rookie who spent most of the season with the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats and was on a 10-day contract with the Sixers earlier this season, got playing time while on a 10-day contract with the Pistons.
He initially struggled against his former team, starting 1-of-6 from the floor, including a missed point-blank layup late in the third quarter. But he nailed a corner three-pointer about midway through the final period that cut the Sixers’ lead to 85-82. He also pulled down 4 rebounds to go with his 6 points in 16 minutes.
After his pregame warm-ups, Key chatted on the floor with Blue Coats assistant general manager Jameer Nelson, who made the trip to Detroit.
Gina Mizell is a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Today’s Lehigh Valley sports schedule and last night’s scores.
To report your school’s scores and stats, please complete this SPORTS SCORES FORM
FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE
Baseball and Softball
Catasauqua at Palisades 4 p.m.
Salisbury at Wilson 4 p.m.
Northern Lehigh at Pen Argyl 4 p.m.
Northwestern at Notre Dame G.P. 4 p.m.
Southern Lehigh at Bangor 4:15 p.m.
Moravian Academy at Saucon Valley 4:15 p.m.
Boys Tennis
Notre Dame Green Pond at Southern Lehigh 4 p.m.
TUESDAY SCORES
Boys Tennis
Pennridge 5, Quakertown 2
Max Arkans (Q) def. Tyler Parry (P0, 6-0, 6-2
Lance Parker (P) def. Darian Sawodski, 7-6 (4), 7-5
Isaaac Hartzell (P) def. Justin Kwityn, 6-4, 6-0
Doubles
Isaac Snyder/Will Robinson (Q) def. Jordan Ea/Josh Wurz, 6-3, 6-4
Kyle Motts/Carter Patterson (P) def. Ben Cole/Lucas Schwartz, 6-4, 6-4
Liam Rowling/Bailey Bishop (P) def. Josh Einolf/Dylan Aponte, 6-2, 6-0
Brendan Shwoak/Jonah Rabick (P) def. Gabe Roman/John Cressman, 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 (TB)
THURSDAY’S SCORES
Baseball
Lehighton 7, Pen Argyl 3
Pennridge 4, Upper Perkiomen 2
Liberty 14, Northampton 4
Emmaus 10, Dieruff 0
Methacton 8, Cheltenham 1
Southern Lehigh 17, Moravian Academy 0
Softball
Stroudsburg 13, East Stroudsburg North 1
Bethlehem Catholic 10, Central Catholic 0
Girls Lacrosse
Upper Perkiomen 20, Pottstown 0
Easton 10, Southern Lehigh 9
Freedom 15, Central Catholic 9
Boys Tennis
Northampton 4, Pen Argyl 1
Central Catholic 6. Easton 1
Boys Lacrosse
Easton 12, Southern Lehigh 4
Boys Track and Field
Northampton 101, East Stroudsburg South 48
Girls Track and Field
Northampton 120, East Stroudsburg South 30
Boys Volleyball
Southern Lehigh def. Kutztown 3-0 (25-8, 25-10, 25-13)
* GIVE US YOUR RESULTS
Coaches and scorekeepers can help ensure their student-athletes are recognized by promptly reporting scores, stats and summaries by using a form that can be found at themorningcall.com/submitascore
Have questions? Email sports@mcall.com
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Dear Amy: I met “Shari” through other friends. We got along well, and always had a great time. I thought we had an amazing bond.
However, once the pandemic hit, I started to see a different side of her.
She is very anti-vaxx and has refused to acknowledge the seriousness of the pandemic. She has ramped up the anti-vaxx posts on social media.
I did send her a message about one post, stating that it wasn’t true, and she sent a tirade back at me, rehashing a number of points about COVID-19 and the vaccine that are all untrue.
I don’t make friends easily. I have serious trust issues, but I don’t see being able to maintain a friendship with someone who is so diametrically opposed to my values and views.
I am willing to accept her being against vaccinations, but she is posting pure falsehoods, and is argumentative when called out with facts, stating that anyone who disagrees with her or counters her arguments is brainwashed by the government and media.
I keep thinking that once we get past the pandemic, maybe things will be better.
I try not to bring it up, but when I see some of the posts, and when we are together with other friends, it comes up.
I put my head down and keep quiet, but this is eating me up.
My challenge is – how do I end the friendship? I am afraid to end it, as we are part of a group of friends, and if I need to pull my friendship away from her, I will lose those friends, who are my only friends right now.
But I wonder if being alone would be better than this.
– Stuck
Dear Stuck: You see this as an “all or nothing” situation, where because of this person’s behavior, all of your other friendships are at risk, but she is not in charge of your other relationships. You are.
You should completely disengage from her on social media. She is not reasonable and does not want to engage in an exchange of ideas, so remove your access to her on this platform. Quietly “hide,” “block,” or “unfriend.”
Change the channel.
There is no need to abruptly end the friendship by declaring it to be over.
You simply need to back away from the relationship. Detach from her.
Don’t gossip about her with others. If she asks you why you are distant, you can truthfully tell her that you’ve become exhausted by her declarations and tirades, which run counter to your own values.
Dear Amy: My mother-in-law is a smoker. Her own house is permeated with the smell of cigarettes. Even though I don’t like it, I can handle this when we’re visiting.
I know it is her house and she has the right to do what she wants when she’s at home, but I cannot stand it when she lights up at our place.
We have a balcony, and I am fine with her smoking on the balcony if she wants to, but – please – not in our townhouse.
My husband doesn’t want to say anything to her, but I do.
Do you have any ideas?
– Puffed-Out
Dear Puffed-Out: Smoking anywhere indoors has become so rare that at this point it is almost taboo.
Many rental units and condo associations ban smoking – even inside units – because of the risks associated with second-hand smoke. You should check to see if there are any rules within your townhouse development, and if even smoking on a balcony is permitted (balconies are sometimes considered “common areas”).
If smoking is banned inside units where you live, you should notify your mother-in-law.
Otherwise, even if your husband won’t say anything to his mother, you should.
Keep your tone neutral, and simply say: “I hope you won’t mind standing outside to smoke.”
If she says, “Why yes, I do mind,” you’ll have to say – “Well, smoke really bothers me, so I’d appreciate it if you could do that for me.”
Dear Amy: The writer signing her question: “Just Say: Get Well Soon!” said she had shared the fact that she was getting surgery on Facebook, but she didn’t like the fact that one friend queried her about the details.
Thank you for pointing out the obvious: When you post personal news on social media, you don’t get to control how people respond!
– Aggravated
Dear Aggravated: My own life without a personal Facebook presence (I maintain a professional page) has been a little less colorful, but a lot less aggravating.
Got a question for Amy? Enter it here and we’ll send it to her.
Sign up here to receive the Ask Amy newsletter to get advice e-mailed to your inbox every morning, and for a limited time — get the book "Ask Amy: Essential Wisdom from America’s Favorite Advice Columnist" for $5.
©2021 Amy Dickinson.
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General Daily Insight for April 1, 2022
New beginnings can soothe our old wounds. The bold Aries New Moon gives us a fresh start to the month at 2:24 am EDT. The Moon then moves to sextile powerful Mars in Aquarius, sparking our drive to be creative with our everyday actions, while Luna sextile steadfast Saturn lends us the strength to commit to our innovations. Finally, the Moon conjoins The Wounded Healer, asteroid Chiron, encouraging us to move forward from our past emotional wounds. Let the healing in!
Aries
March 21-April 19
They're playing your song, Aries! You're no stranger to the power of being creative and thinking quickly on your feet, and today you can use your innate boldness to your benefit. You have cosmic permission to work energetically on your own or lead a team confidently, and you can find great success when you're being creative and original. Don't try to imitate when it's your turn to step up, because your best, most genuine self perfectly fits the energy of the day.
Taurus
April 20-May 20
Your stamina could be put to the test today. The tasks that you have to complete before the day is done may be piling up, even if you don't feel your peppiest. Whether you didn't get enough sleep last night or you're just not feeling it, don't try to do more than you're able. Overcommitting is an easy trap to fall into, and saying no won't make you a bad person. Being honest about what you can accomplish should make things easier for everyone.
Gemini
May 21-June 20
You can get by with a little help from your friends. An upcoming trip or project might be looming overwhelmingly in your mind, and asking a friend for advice or even calling someone up for their companionship can help. Once you hear yourself explaining your circumstances to another person, there's a good chance that you'll realize it's not as scary as you think. There's really no need to travel fast today, so if you want to go far, take time to go together!
Cancer
June 21-July 22
Now is not the time to let anyone hold you back! While you've likely got enough momentum to make a good-sized dent in the tasks that you have before you, you may also want to keep a few of your plans a secret. Letting everyone know your business could end up delaying you, and your plans are too good to share with everyone. Make sure that the most important business stays on a need-to-know basis. Not everyone needs to know!
Leo
July 23-August 22
Nature is calling your name! It may not feel like the right time to take a spontaneous break, but adventure is out there, even if it's only a little jaunt. Your routine may be creating stagnancy for you, and your heart probably wants to break out of the mold today. Whether you feel led to plan a trip on foreign shores or to drive out on a simple day trip, take some friends and catch up. Breathe the fresh air -- you deserve it!
Virgo
August 23-September 22
Transformation often doesn't happen overnight. You may feel a new burst of momentum toward improving your health or breaking a bad habit, but you could still feel like you aren't seeing enough of a result for your efforts. Progress is much easier said than done, and often, we don't immediately see the end product that we're dreaming of. Use your meticulous skills to figure out a plan of action, and once you're in a rhythm, you might not even notice the good habits naturally forming.
Libra
September 23-October 22
Creativity is currently at your doorstep, asking you to let it in! You have an opportunity to express yourself creatively now, and it's a bonus if you make something meaningful for someone that you love. Whether you want to get a jump on crafting a friend's birthday card DIYing a toy for a beloved pet, use your unique skills to tangibly show your appreciation of someone special in your life. You have a lot of love to give, and it should be fun!
Scorpio
October 23-November 21
Everyday life can be a chore sometimes, but it can also be comforting. Your routine is likely to go by faster and with fewer bumps in the road today, making productivity a smooth process. It may not be shiny and exciting, but your routine is reliable, and you could be coming out of a hectic time, making you particularly thankful that life is going back to normal. Don't be afraid to romanticize your daily life -- consider adding a fun treat to your day!
Sagittarius
November 22-December 21
It's time to let the sunshine in, literally and metaphorically. This is a great time to have fun, express yourself, and connect with your friends. A video chat with someone who really gets you might be all you need to fill the day with laughter and intrigue. However, you can be prone to distraction. If there's something that absolutely needs to get done, don't wait until the last second. Go ahead and get it out of the way early for future you!
Capricorn
December 22-January 19
Home is where your heart is, and your surroundings should reflect that. That room that you've been hesitating to clean or that decorating that you've been procrastinating? It's time to get into them. Even if you only have a few minutes to spare, reevaluating and refreshing the energy flow in your home can make all the difference in your mood. It's an atmosphere that you spend quite a bit of time in, so it's worth it to make it comfortable.
Aquarius
January 20-February 18
The electricity of today is palpable -- for better or for worse. You may be feeling extra excitable, and without providing an outlet for that energy, you could end up feeling anxious. Going for a run, cleaning your house, or just dancing in your room can help you release any jitters. Impatience could cause you to make mistakes that force you to go back and redo what you've already done, so take your time with decisions. Channel that energy and watch it carry you higher!
Pisces
February 19-March 20
An emotionally charged day might be in store for you. A loved one might be the cause of these strong feelings -- you can be their shoulder to cry on, the person celebrating a win with them, or someone who can laugh and cry as they tell you everything that's happened since they last saw you. Try not to attach yourself too strongly to your feelings! Just let them flow through you and be present for your friend. Your emotional intelligence can serve you well.
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The severe weather that rolled through the Lehigh Valley on Thursday shattered the area’s all-time rainfall record for March 31.
In the end, it wasn’t even close.
Allentown recorded 1.80 inches of precipitation on Thursday as severe thunderstorms unleashed torrential rain, sparking a flash flood warning just after 9 p.m. That topped the old record of 1.43 inches from 2017, and was 1.68 inches above normal rainfall for the date.
Around the same time, strong winds and a possible tornado reportedly toppled trees and damaged homes in central Bucks County near Perkasie and Bedminster Township.
A tornado warning was issued around 9:50 p.m., but the National Weather Service will need to send a survey team to determine whether the damage was from straight line winds or a twister that may have briefly touched down.
The weather service says scattered showers will continue Friday morning across the region, with an environment also favorable for small hail and/or graupel. Additionally, we’re likely to see widespread wind gusts around 30-40 mph during portions of the afternoon and early evening hours.
Attention will then turn to an active and unsettled week expected next week, with multiple periods of rain possible.
Temperatures should make it into the mid to upper 50s Monday, and the weather service says Tuesday “may even turn out as the pick of the week” with highs in the low to mid 60s are expected.
Things will change by mid-week, and the NWS forecast discussion notes that “deterministic guidance is in good agreement on periods of rain from Tuesday night through at least Thursday, though it will not be raining the entire time.”
Forecasters say temperatures are likely to be tricky through the end of the week, but are likely to be in the mid to upper 50s.
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As freshmen, the Jim Thorpe Class of 2022 girls basketball team won its first 26 games. This was a school record for consecutive victories.
As seniors, they won a school-record 28 games and won the first three PIAA state playoff games in school history.
Today, The Morning Call honors the Olympians as the 2021-22 Team of the Year.
“Everyone said we had potential as freshmen,” said senior forward Olivia Smelas. “But going into high school we didn’t know what to expect — being so young and playing all these great teams in our league. So, we had to step up to have a great year like we did, and then to carry it over to our last three years it’s all been amazing.”
Jim Thorpe became the first team in the area to produce three 1,000-point career scorers in the same class — Skyler Searfoss (1,178), Leila Hurley (1,459) and Smelas (1,252), who were all four-year starters. Classmate Leah Snisky joined her classmates as a starter as a sophomore while junior forward Makenzie Yuhas also joined the starting lineup in her sophomore season. Junior Hailey Smelas was the first player off the bench.
Coach Nadia Gauronsky, who took over the program before last season, said it was important for the team to buy into playing as a team.
“After all their success as freshmen and sophomores it may have been tough to hear that you have to do a little bit more or sacrifice a little bit more,” Gauronsky said. “Especially with so much emphasis on individual accolades. But my mentality for them has always been none of your individual accolades will mean anything if the team isn’t successful. Truly, if your team isn’t successful what does it matter?”
The Olympians compiled a 96-15 record the last four seasons while winning its first two Schuylkill League titles. They also made the program’s first four trips to a District 11 championship game before breaking through with its first title this season.
Add the first three trips to the PIAA state tournament to their resumes and reaching the Class 4A final four this season before a respectful 57-44 loss to powerful Archbishop Wood in the semifinals and that’s quite a haul for the Class of 2022.
“We knew when we came into high school we could do something great if we all stuck together,” said Hurley, who made 138 3-point field goals in her career. “We’ve been working together to get better since we were little kids. It’s been a dream for us to have this kind of success and we made it come to reality.”
So how long have the foursome been playing basketball together?
“Since second grade in the little O’s program,” said Smelas, the only Jim Thorpe player to snatch 1,000 rebounds in her career. “That was sponsored by the booster club. Then we kept playing through AAU and high school.”
For Hurley and Olivia Smelas it will continue at Kutztown University the next four seasons.
“I’m very excited to still be teammates with Leila,” Smelas said. “She’s been one of my best friends since third grade. To grow up with her and then experience my next level with her just feels great.”
“Olivia has always been there for me,” Hurley said. “When she told me she was going to Kutztown too it was like, we have to be roommates if we’re going to make this work.”
Searfoss will attend Holy Family University and Snisky will play at the next level at Georgian Court University.
“It was a great run and a great four years,” Snisky said. “It’s the end of an era and we’ve left quite a legacy.”
“Besides all the community support we’ve also gotten support from all the local schools,” Gauronsky said. “All the public school teams were standing with us. With the district defining borders this team has been pretty successful because they are all neighbors. And neighbors help each other in life. That’s what these small schools do.”
Jim Thorpe had to scale two mountains to attain this season’s success. First it had to beat an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference team in the District 11 championship game after failing to do just that the last three seasons.
Then it had to get past a Dunmore team that dealt them their only regular-season loss this season.
The Olympians beat Central Catholic 42-11 in the district final and Dunmore 40-39 in the PIAA quarterfinals on Searfoss’ clutch shot from the paint with two seconds to go in the game.
“The kids set their goals in the beginning of the season so we worked hard to achieve them,” Gauronsky said. “We focused on the things we needed to focus on. Some games were challenging for us but we grinded those wins out. The kids always had their eyes on the prize, so to speak, and that’s what we did.”
Tom Mugavero is a freelancer for The Morning Call.
The Morning Call 2021-22 All-Area Team
FIRST TEAM
F — Vataijah Davis, Pocono Mountain West Jr.
G — Leila Hurley, Jim Thorpe Sr.
F — Grace Lesko, Northampton Jr.
G — Kelly Leszcynski, Nazareth
G — Brianna Moore, Palmerton Sr.
F — Julia Roth, Central Catholic Sr.
G — Skyler Searfoss, Jim Thorpe Sr.
F — Paige Sevrain, Northwestern Jr.
F — Olivia Smelas, Jim Thorpe Sr.
G — Sara Tamoun, Easton Sr.
SECOND TEAM
G — Cici Hernandez, Bethlehem Catholic So.
G — Hailey Miller, Lehighton, Sr.
G — Emma Nielbell, Northern Lehigh Sr.
F — Brielle Reidinger, Wilson Sr.
F — Madi Siggins, Parkland So.
F — Ayne’ Staton, Easton Jr.
G — Kailey Turpening, Freedom Sr.
G — Shaylynn Waiters, Executive Education Sr.
G — Keyara Walters, Bethlehem Catholic Sr.
G — Talia Zurinskas, Parkland So.
HONORABLE MENTION
Bangor — Kaylee Holland, Sr. McCormick Karner, Sr. Avery Nelson Fr.; Bethlehem Catholic — Kendra Rigo, Jr., Akasha Santos, So., Cydney Stanton, Sr.; Catasauqua — Lailey Polanco, So., Sophia Becker, So.; Central Catholic — Molly Driscoll, So., Hanna Hoeing, Sr., Madi Szoke, Jr.; Dieruff — Jaydalise Cartagena, Sr.; Easton — Evalyse Cole, So., Kierra Smith, Sr., Makenna Zimmerman, Sr.; East Stroudsburg South — Kania Day, Sr., Layla Hernandez, So., Laneice Williams, Sr.; Emmaus — Paige Inman, Jr., Kameron Watkins, Sr.; Executive Education — Aubrey Pollard, So., T’nyah Riggins, Sr.; Freedom — Cianna Feliciano. Sr., Keturah Stewart, Jr.; Jim Thorpe — Leah Snisky, Sr., Mackenzie Yuhas, Jr.; Lehighton — Aaliyah Fisher, Sr., Charli McHugh, So.; Liberty — Tamia Bruce, Sr., Layla Orth, Jr., Emma Pukszyn, So.; Moravian Academy — Sofia Ettle, Jr.; Northern Lehigh — Katelynn Barthold, Fr.; Northwestern Lehigh — Brook Balliet, Fr., Cara Thomas, Fr.; Notre Dame GP — Carly Campbell, So., Raegan Cooper, Sr., Anna Micklos, Sr.; Palmerton — Megan Matsko, So., Bethie Morgan, Jr., Raegan Nemeth, Sr.; Parkland — Delaney Chilcote, Fr., Zoe Wilkinson, Sr.; Pen Argyl — Jill Morro, Jr., Ellie Wallbillich. So.; Pleasant Valley — Samantha Merklin, Sr., Aryn Stivala, So.; Pocono Mountain East — Anayah Williams, Jr.; Pocono Mountain West — Jayda Bowen, Sr., Alyssa Ford, So.; Quakertown — Katie Catalano, Jr., Carolyn Sipprell, Jr.; Salisbury — Quinn Wittman, Sr.; Saucon Valley — Allison Cort, Jr.; Southern Lehigh — Ashley Meinhold, Sr.; Stroudsburg — Kendal Card, Jr., Mckayla Strunk, Fr.; Tamaqua — Serena Jones, Sr., McKenna Meckes, Sr., Trenyce Wingler, Sr.; Whitehall — Olivia Hines, Sr., Ella Laky, Sr.; Wilson — Keyearah Volious, Jr.
Final Standings
EPC
(Overall, conference, division)
West Division
Northampton 23-7, 14-2, 9-1
Central Catholic 21-7, 13-3, 7-3
Parkland 19-9, 11-5, 7-3 — Won Class 6A District 11 title.
Whitehall 7-15, 7-9, 4-6
Emmaus 12-12, 8-8, 3-7
Allen 0-22, 0-16, 0-10
East Division
Easton 27-3, 16-0, 10-0
Bethlehem Catholic 19-8, 12-4, 7-3 — Won Eastern Pennsylvania Conference and Class 5A District 11 titles.
Nazareth 17-10, 10-6, 6-4
Freedom 11-12, 7-9, 4-6
Liberty 11-13, 5-10, 3-7
Dieruff 4-18, 1-15, 0-10
North Division
Pocono Mountain West 17-6, 14-2, 10-0
East Stroudsburg South 11-12, 8-8, 6-4
Pleasant Valley 11-12, 8-8, 5-5
Stroudsburg 7-15, 5-11, 5-5
Pocono Mountain East 6-15, 5-11, 4-6
East Stroudsburg North 1-21, 0-16, 0-10
Colonial League
(overall, league, division)
West Division
Palmerton 24-3, 18-0, 12-0 — Won Class 3A District 11 title.
Northwestern Lehigh 21-5, 16-2, 10-2 — Won Colonial League title.
Northern Lehigh 12-11, 10-8, 6-6
Catasauqua 8-14, 6-12, 5-7
Moravian Academy 9-14, 5-13, 5-7
Southern Lehigh 5-17, 5-13, 3-9
Salisbury 3-19, 2-16, 1-11
East Division
Bangor 19-9, 13-4, 7-3
Wilson 16-9, 11-6, 7-3
Notre Dame 14-9, 12-5, 7-3
Pen Argyl 13-11, 10-7, 6-4
Saucon Valley 6-16, 4-13, 2-8
Palisades 2-19, 1-16, 0-10
Others
Jim Thorpe 28-2 — Won Schuylkill League and Class 4A District 11 titles.
EEACS 16-9
Lehighton 12-13
Quakertown 8-14
Tamaqua 8-14
Lincoln 6-14
Notre Dame ES 3-14
Top 10 rankings
Jim Thorpe (28-2)
Bethlehem Catholic (19-8)
Parkland (19-9)
Easton (27-3)
Northampton (23-7)
Central Catholic (21-7)
Nazareth (17-10)
Pocono Mountain West (17-6)
Lehighton (12-13)
Northwestern Lehigh (21-5)
Top 10 scorers
Vataijah Davis, Pocono Mountain West Jr. 23.8
Brielle Reidinger, Wilson Sr. 20.2
Emma Niebell, Northern Lehigh Sr. 16.7
Grace Lesko, Northampton, Jr. 16.2
Shaylynn Waiters, EEACS Sr. 16.0
Paige Sevrain, Northwestern Lehigh Jr. 15.0
Brianna Moore, Palmerton Sr. 14.9
Jill Morro, Pen Argyl Jr. 14.8
Carolyn Sipprell, Quakertown Jr. 14.7
Talia Zurinskas, Parkland So. 14.5
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Celebrate the warmer weather with refreshing cocktails and mouthwatering eats during a Sip and Snack into Spring Cocktail Trail, 1-5 p.m. Saturday, May 7, in downtown Allentown.
Presented by the Downtown Allentown Business Alliance, the 21-and-over event will feature cocktail samples at a dozen Center City Allentown businesses — from shops such as grocery store Radish Republic and men’s fashion retailer Assembly88 to restaurants such as Bell Hall and Brü Daddy’s Brewing Co.
For $35, you can sample a specialty drink at all participating businesses, which also include Allentown Brew Works, Americus Hotel, Blended by Brü Daddy’s, Frutta Bowls, Strata, Split Pine Axe Throwing & VR, Sports & Social Allentown and Sterner Stems.
More than half of the participants also will provide snacks.
Guests will check in the day of the event on the ArtsWalk, 27 N. Seventh St. (across from Blended).
Your ticket gains you admission to the trail along with a 3.5-ounce commemorative tasting glass. To register, visit downtownallentown.ticketleap.com/sip-and-snack-into-spring-cocktail-trail.
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As Russia invaded Ukraine and millions of people fled the horror of war, Alexis Slavish knew she had to do something to help.
The Bethlehem resident with deep ties to Ukraine understood refugees would need assistance — immediately and on a massive scale — and it’s why she was among the first of a growing list of Lehigh Valley residents to sign up on the website Ukraine Take Shelter, which connects refugees with potential hosts around the world.
From living room couches to spare bedrooms, the site connects those offering a safe haven in the midst of a massive humanitarian crisis as Ukrainians scramble to begin new lives.
“The war in Ukraine has affected me very deeply,” Slavish said. “I’m American born and raised, but I have 100% Ukrainian roots. Both sets of grandparents emigrated. My mother is from Lviv and my father was a decorated war hero who served in World War II. Never in my lifetime did I think we’d be encountering something of this magnitude and these horrific events and what refugees are having to endure.”
As millions poured over the borders of their war-ravaged homeland, Slavish hung Ukrainian flags and tied blue and yellow ribbons around her property in northeast Bethlehem to show support. Signs in the windows of her home also direct neighbors and passersby to the website of Saint Mary Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Allentown, which is collecting supplies and medications to ship overseas.
“I’ve donated monetarily, through our church, and ordered medical supplies the church is collecting,” said Slavish. “Whatever I can do to help. I’m in a good position to be able to help and take refugees in. I realize it’s going to be a while before the immigration process and what they have to go through to be able to come here, and I wanted to put my name on a list.”
‘America must also do its part’
More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country since the Feb. 24 invasion, including about 2.3 million to Poland, according to the United Nations. Last week, President Joe Biden announced the U.S. would welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others fleeing Russia’s aggression, noting that officials expect many will choose to remain in Europe, close to family and their homes.
“In particular, we are working to expand and develop new programs with a focus on welcoming Ukrainians who have family members in the U.S.,” according to a fact sheet from the Biden administration. “The U.S. and the European Union are also coordinating closely to ensure that these efforts, and other forms of humanitarian admission or transfers, are complementary and provide much-needed support to Ukraine’s neighbors.”
Biden has also pledged $1 billion in new funding towards humanitarian aid for food, shelter, clean water, medical supplies and other forms of assistance, as well as $320 million in democracy and human rights funding to Ukraine and its neighbors.
However, some lawmakers, including a handful from the Lehigh Valley, have argued the U.S. should raise the cap on refugees. U.S. representatives Susan Wild, D-7th District; Matt Cartwright, D-8th District, and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-1st District, all signed a letter sent to Biden last week, urging the administration to do more.
“Refugees who have fled Ukraine are currently housed in temporary shelters throughout European countries including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania, many with no idea where they will go or what their lives will look like in the coming months and years,” according to the letter signed by more than 60 members of Congress. “For example, reporting has indicated that cities in Poland are struggling to house and feed these refugees, in which two Ukrainians enter Poland every three seconds, and the millions of Ukrainian refugees who have already arrived in Poland would create the country’s second-largest city.
“Indeed, these countries face immense burdens as a result, with Europe facing its worse refugee crisis since World War II. The burden of sheltering and settling refugees cannot fall solely on European countries. America must also do its part.”
For now, it remains to be seen if the U.S. will leave Ukrainian families scattered around the world, or if they will be welcomed expeditiously, and with open arms.
“Congressman Cartwright and his office are carefully monitoring the administration’s work to publish and commence the program, which we hope can move very quickly,” a spokesperson said via email Wednesday.
Cartwright’s office specifically highlighted part of the letter calling for the expedited relocation of Ukrainians with pending immigrant visa applications by creating a program similar to the Haitian Family Reunification Program from 2014, or the program created for Iraqi and Syrian beneficiaries of I-130 petitions in 2016.
Wild’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment on whether she has made any further recommendations, or taken any actions to help expedite the refugee referral process or facilitate resettlement.
In the interim, Allentown resident Abdullahi Hamid waits and worries about the process to try and bring relatives to live with him in the Lehigh Valley.
Hamid said his brother, sister-in-law and niece fled Kyiv several weeks ago when the Russian invasion began. They crossed the border into Moldova and later ended up in Germany, but they are finding the process of leaving Europe a lot harder than they expected.
“They are having so many problems and I want them to come and stay with me,” said Hamid, who posted about his brother’s plight on Ukraine Take Shelter, noting he has a three-bedroom home on the city’s east side and “they can stay with me as long as they want.”
Hamid said he has “tried calling D.C.” and understands there are significant barriers to the formal refugee process. He hopes the government will speed up and simplify procedures for refugees to get to the U.S., and said what he wants most is the opportunity to be reunited with his family.
‘I feel like we have a lot to share’
With listings growing by the day, potential Lehigh Valley hosts are offering what they can by using Ukraine Take Shelter to enter a description of available accommodations and resources available such as childcare, transportation and first aid.
John and Christine Hong listed a private bath and bedrooms in their Palmer Township home, believing that the most basic of needs — a safe, clean place for a family ripped apart by the crisis — is the least they can offer.
“We don’t have any personal or direct relationship with the Ukraine or anything. But I feel like we have such a sort of privileged existence,” said John Hong, a trauma surgeon at Lehigh Valley Health Network. “In the United States, we are sort of removed from all the hardships that people around the world have. I feel like we have a lot to share, and it’s not our duty, but it would be the right thing to share some of the things that we have just living in the United States under comfortable circumstances.”
The Hongs say this is not just a European crisis, but an international crisis where volunteers and technology can meet the moment and have a lasting impact.
“There are so many great translation apps, that it’s not as big of a stumbling block as it may have been even 10 years ago,” said Christine Hong. “With our cell phones, we can speak into it and have it come out Ukrainian; they can speak into it and have it come out English. With technology, language barriers are so much easier to get past.”
Similarly, Cary Moritz is “offering peace, safety and more” for Ukrainian refugees at her home in Upper Milford Township “because sitting by and watching what’s going on is not adequate for me,” she said.
“From my perspective, a response to suffering like this needs to be compassionate action — obviously, compassion, but it needs to turn into compassionate action, not just sitting by and watching it happen,” she said, adding her grandparents were from Ukraine. " … I don’t know how many will actually make it to America. But if I didn’t try, then I will feel really horrible.”
For several weeks, Moritz has reserved “a smattering” of Airbnbs in Ukraine to provide income for the local owners, but still wants to do more. She posted the ad on Ukraine Take Shelter in mid-March, as soon as she heard about the site.
“It’s the need to do more than charity — it’s kind of an overwhelming guide of righteous behavior,” Moritz said. “It’s easy for people to give money when they can, and I think that’s extraordinary and laudable, but if I’m in a position to do a little bit more, I’m going to try.”
The site, also available through a mobile app, could also work as a tool to empower refugees, many of whom have limited choices, she said.
“Because they can actually take the matter into their own hands,” Moritz said. “It’s not that they’re being placed somewhere. They actually have a choice of where to go.”
Although he has no direct connections to Ukraine, Christopher DiGeorge said he and his family decided to open their North Whitehall Township home because it’s the right thing to do. His ad on Ukraine Take Shelter offers a private bedroom with its own bathroom for a mother and child.
“We decided to do it because we felt that everybody in the United States needs to step up to the plate to support the people of Ukraine,” he said. “People need to be aware of that this is not the same sort of thing that’s happened in the past. This is a magnitude different type of aggression, and it has to be stopped.
“I thought that the least we could do would be to offer any space we had to folks that eventually work their way to United States.”
Biden’s announcement capping refugees at 100,000 in the U.S. was “really kind of disappointing,” DiGeorge said, noting that it “seems like an awfully low number relative to the millions of millions of people that are going eventually need housing.”
Another reason he’s opening his home, he explained, is out of respect for the Ukrainian people, and the example they’ve set in defending their country, adding “we can all learn a valuable lesson about how hard people will fight to actually be made free.”
But there’s still more work to be done, he argued, especially at the federal level.
Latest Lehigh Valley News
“I’d like to see our government do more than it’s done,” DiGeorge said. “I think our government could do a lot more; I think it needs to do a lot more. I think that everybody who values their freedom has to pay close attention to what’s happening.”
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When I started my restaurant business, there were many things I did not know. I was in my 20s with a dream, tons of energy, a desire to be successful and an immense lack of experience as a business owner. Every possible mistake I could make when it came to running a restaurant company, I did, plus more.
What I did possess however, was the desire to keep getting better and better at my trade. As time went on, I kept seeking knowledge, I kept wanting to improve, and kept researching the industry, our processes, and how we wanted to continue to be better at what we do.
I remember one time, during our first year of operation, we had an extremely angry customer; her food took longer than usual on a busy Friday night. She came up to my face and screamed, “You should be ashamed of yourself as a restaurant owner, you will not last!” (Most customers will not give you that kind of feedback; they just don’t come back).
I took that feedback as a gift, even though my spirit was broken inside after the harsh comment, knowing we were giving it our all. I used it as an inspiration to fuel our drive to make the restaurant business work. At the time, I lacked the necessary experience as a 20-something year old in charge of a new venture. After regaining composure, my wife and I vouched for continuous improvement and never looked back.
One of the things that helped us gain momentum during that crucial startup time was asking ourselves two very important question consistently. To this day, we continue to ask ourselves these very important questions, two questions I consider to be a curse and a blessing for every entrepreneur who have achieve some level of success in their entrepreneurial journey:
- What more can we do?
- How can we do it better?
When you constantly ask yourself, what more can I do, you are forever getting out of your comfort zone looking for new ways to accomplish more and achieve more. It is part of an entrepreneur DNA, always expanding your level of capacity as a professional, your mind is always working (a curse).
Those of you who have been living the entrepreneurial life for a while understand that when you are running your own business, there is never off time, there is never “I get home and call it a day.” There is always a situation that needs to be addressed and resolved; even when you go away on vacation, you are never off, the mind is always thinking (at least those entrepreneurs that are truly committed to their craft) of ways to take on more capacity to keep the business moving forward (a blessing).
How can we do it better? It doesn’t matter what your industry is, committed entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to make things better and perfect their craft.
My father-in-law, Richard Reppert, a commercial ceiling and drywall contractor business owner for close to 50 years who is extremely good at what he does, every time we go inside any indoor structure together, I cannot help but notice him looking up and immediately checking out the ceiling with careful detail in his eye.
It doesn’t matter where we are, if we go into a building, he’s immediately looking up to check out the craftmanship.
Same when I visit any restaurant, I cannot help but notice the execution of the team. Is the staff using hospitality when dealing with the guests, do they greet the guests as soon they walk into their doors? Sometimes I feel like getting up and doing it myself even though I’m a guest myself (a curse). I wonder:
- Is the bathroom clean?
- Do they see that table needs help?
- Is the food fresh?
As an entrepreneur who cares, you instantly reflect on those experiences and look for ways to improve your own operations and deliver a better product or service (a blessing).
As you continue through your journey as an entrepreneur, always remember it is a lifestyle. For those of you who are thinking about taking the entrepreneurial path, let me make you aware, it will take you a tremendous amount of effort, mentally, physically, and emotionally.
The long hours, the blending of your personal and professional life — there is no “off” switch.
You will soon realize you have never worked that hard in your entire life as you are trying to get your company up and running in the early years (first three to five years). When things get rough, and it will, consistently ask yourself those two questions:
- What more can we do?
- How can we do it better?
You will be surprised at how resourceful your mind can get to help you move forward as an entrepreneur.
Eventually, if you can conquer the startup phase, people will say you are lucky. Let me just remind you there is nothing lucky about your efforts.
Personally, I don’t believe in luck. I believe in hard work, preparation and determination in order to take advantage when the opportunity presents itself, the ability to execute better than anyone else.
Much success.
Latest Business
Juan Martinez is owner of Don Juan Mex Grill, which has five locations in the Lehigh Valley. He can be reached at juan@donjuanmexgrill.com.
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BREWS, CLUES, AND RUNNING SHOES SCAVENGER HUNT: Teams of 2 to 4 compete in a series of challenges, noon, Saturday. It’s part-race, part-trivia, part-photo hunt and part-challenge. There is no set course but you can expect to go between 5 and 7 miles, by foot or public transportation. Registration is $50 as of Friday. Teams consist of 2 to 4 members, all 21 or older. Check in (at a location in Bethlehem) is 11-11:45 a.m., with a 15-minute briefing to follow. The course closes at 3;30 p.m. and the after party begins. 61 W. Lehigh St., Bethlehem. runlehighvalley.com/
VIETNAM VETERANS — MEMORIES OF WAR: Local Vietnam veterans return to Easton’s Sigal Museum John R. Austen Auditorium for the second year 1-3 p.m. Saturday. They will recount their experiences in the war and discuss memorabilia. Veterans will describe a day in the life of a soldier in Southeast Asia. Members of Vietnam Veterans of America Lehigh Valley Chapter 415 will be on hand to answer questions, and share memories and stories. Donation, $5. Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society members admitted free. Sigal Museum, 342 Northampton St., Easton. 610-253-1222. sigalmuseum.org/
IN MOTION: Muhlenberg College’s Theatre & Dance Department presents seven original works by seven celebrated choreographers in its “In Motion” concert, with performances at 8 p.m., Friday, and 2 and 8 p.m., Saturday in the college’s Empie Theatre. The performance includes “Running Spirits,” a piece by Fredrick Earl Mosley, this season’s Baker Artist-in-Residence. “In Motion” also features works by six Muhlenberg dance faculty: Heidi Cruz-Austin, Karen Dearborn, Megan Flynn, Natalie Gotter, Randall Anthony Smith, and Robyn Watson. Tickets, $15; youth, campus and LVAIC, and students, faculty and staff of Muhlenberg and other LVAIC colleges, $8. Empie Theatre, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, 2400 Chew St., Allentown. muhlenberg.edu/academics/theatre-dance/onstage/inmotion/
TRIBUTE TO THE BIG BANDS: The Allentown Band kicks off Jazz Appreciation Month at 3 p.m. Sunday by performing the music of Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Harry James, Hoagy Carmichael, and more. Featured vocalist will be Chet Brown, with Allentown Band members Steve Reisteter, clarinet and Greg Seifert, trumpet, featured instrumental soloists. The Parkland High School Jazz Ensemble also will take part. Free. Springhouse Middle School, 1200 Springhouse Road, Allentown. allentownband.com.
AMERICA: The folk-rock group with six gold or platinum albums and numerous hits over 50 years takes the stage for its golden anniversary tour at Penn’s Peak at 8 p.m. Saturday. America’s founding members Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell (and the late Dan Peek) racked up the hits, especially in the 1970s, with “A Horse With No Name,” “Ventura Highway,” “Tin Man,” “Daisy Jane” and “Sister Golden Hair” just some of them. Tickets, $44-$52. Penn’s Peak, 325 Maury Road, Jim Thorpe. 866-605-PEAK. pennspeak.com/
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Two girls died Friday morning after a fire in a Hellertown home, borough police said.
Just before 1 a.m., officers responded to 630 Linden St. for a report of a structure fire, according to a news release from Hellertown police. When they arrived, the home was engulfed in flames.
A man, 36, and a woman, 42, were able to get out of the home, but the two girls,. ages 10 and 15, were trapped on the second floor, police said. Firefighters got the girls out of the home, and they were taken to local hospitals for treatment, but later died, police said.
Officials did not release the names of any of the residents.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by borough police, the Dewey Fire Company’s fire marshal and the state police fire marshal.
Morning Call reporter Molly Bilinski can be reached at mbilinski@mcall.com.
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Bob Hines knows the first the thing that he wants to do after riding a rocket into space.
“Once that engine cuts off, I want to unstrap and go look out the window,” Hines said. “That was part of what drove me to be a pilot. I love seeing things from a new perspective. And this is kind of the ultimate part of that: getting to look outside and see the Earth ... this wonderful creation that we get to live on — seeing it from a new perspective and the beauty that it displays every day.”
Hines, 47, a graduate of Crestwood High School in Luzerne County, and three other members of SpaceX Crew-4, are scheduled to travel to the International Space Station after launching from Kennedy Space Center as early as April 20.
His NASA biography says Hines, who was born in North Carolina, lived in State College, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, Mountaintop and Hershey/Harrisburg while growing up. His mother still lives in Harrisburg.
To prepare for his first space flight, Hines trained five years with NASA after earning a master’s degree in aerospace engineering and piloting fighter and experimental planes for more than 20 years.
Hines wanted to be pilot since he was 2 or 3, which motivated him in school.
To students back at Crestwood, he said it’s not necessary to focus on a career early or even grasp how specific lessons will help in the future.
“The important thing you’re learning is how to learn. Putting the effort in. Doing that is what really enables you to achieve great things later on,” he said Thursday during a telephone interview.
Eventually, Hines said, young people will find what they care about.
“If you’re passionate about it, you’ll naturally want to be good at it and continue to learn,” he said.
During his mission, Hines is scheduled to take a space walk to replace brackets for new solar power arrays, part of ongoing maintenance that keeps the space station in orbit.
Astronauts and cosmonauts have been living in the International Space Station since 2000, and plans call to keep it in service through 2030.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, however, disrupted relations between nations that operate the space station.
The director of the Russian space agency, replying to sanctions placed against his country, said the station might go into uncontrolled orbit without Russia’s cooperation.
But on Wednesday, U.S. astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov. A contingent from the United States met Vande Hei, who set an American record by spending 355 days in space, at the landing site in Kazakhstan.
“We all understand the importance of the partnership, even in really, really tough times,” Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said Thursday when asked about the war during a video news conference.
Hines, a lieutenant colonel who flew 76 combat missions, said any conflict that devolves into violence is a tragedy.
“My heart goes out to all of those that are involved,” he said.
But he said the station in space has functioned despite conflicts on Earth.
“One of the great things about the space station and the space program in general is that over history, we have been above the fray, literally and figuratively,” he said.
Hines, who learned to speak Russian as part of his training, said Russians and Americans rely on each other to operate the space station.
“I see us as a beacon of hope for what we can do when we all have a common goal,” he said.
Hines, nicknamed Farmer since his Air Force days, said when he in combat, he only could call his family once a week for 15 minutes.
Keeping in touch with his wife, Kelli, and their three daughters should be easier from the space station.
“We’re able to call our families pretty often; and then we get, roughly once a week, the opportunity to have a videoconference with our families back home, which I think is really, really important,” Hines said.
So that they don’t miss a video chat, Hines wants his daughters to carry an iPad with them when they’re doing other things, but “hopefully not swimming.”
Hines expects to spend 144 days aboard the space station.
During his stay, he’ll help with more than 200 experiments. For example, astronauts will raise food hydroponically, or in water, and aeroponically, in mist. By growing plants aboard the space station, the crew develops techniques that will allow space travelers to go to Mars or on other years-long missions.
Most of their food, however, gets shipped to the space station. Along with staples, NASA lets astronauts chose from a menu of 250 items.
Hines’ favorite are brownies.
“I am one of the rare astronauts that is not a health food junkie,” he said.
He will have ample time to work off calories.
Astronauts exercise 2½ hours a day to counteract the bone density decrease that befalls people in space.
Although objects in space are weightless, astronauts can do weightlifting exercises on an invention of NASA, which creates resistance with vacuum tubes.
On their journey, the crew will fly in a new Dragon space capsule made by SpaceX and nicknamed Freedom.
Kjell Lindgren, a physician and Air Force Academy graduate who was on the space station in 2015, is spacecraft commander, while Hines is the pilot.
The mission specialists are Jessica Watkins of NASA and Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian from the European Space Agency.
Cristoforetti is making her second trip to the space station. While she is the only woman among the European agency’s astronauts, her popularity is credited with helping to spur interest. For the next class of astronauts in Europe, more than 20,000 people applied, and one-fourth of them were women.
Watkins, who has a doctorate in geology and hopes to someday pick up a rock from the moon, will be the first Black woman to reside on the space station.
“Growing up, it was important to me to have role models,” Watkins said during a news conference Thursday, “so to the extent that I’m able to do that, I am honored and grateful for the opportunity to return the favor.”
Hines called flying into space a boyhood dream and hopes his crew’s trip will inspire young people to extend their boundaries even if they fall short.
“Failure,” said Hines, quoting a friend, “is the launchpad for success.”
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Northampton and Whitehall met in a classic District 11 6A championship game last June and even though both programs lost key players from their 2021 squads they remain among the area’s elite.
Both the Konkrete Kids and Zephyrs remained unbeaten with wins on Thursday in games played before the thunderstorms rolled in.
Northampton’s Emma Fraley tossed a 5-hitter and struck out eight without a walk in a 4-1 win over Liberty and Whitehall got two hits apiece from four different players in a 10-5 victory over Easton in Eastern Pennsylvania Conference softball.
In improving to 3-0, the Zephyrs got a big day from Kate Yadush who went 2-for-2 with a double, two walks and three RBIs. Madison Lasko had two hits, including a home run and drove in three runs and Emma Bonshak had two hits and scored two runs. Winning pitcher Kassandra Aquino scattered six hits in the pitching circle and had two hits herself at the plate and knocked in a run.
In beating Liberty, Northampton had just three hits, two by Lily Stuhldreher who also scored two runs. Kaitlyn Renson had an RBI double as the K-Kids improved to 2-0.
Elsewhere in softball:
Freedom 14, Allen 1
Julia Griffith had three hits, including a home run, and knocked in three runs and Brianna Cole and Madelin Cooper had three RBIs apiece as the Patriots posted a 5-inning EPC win. Madison Glick had two hits and two RBIs, Julia Heineman doubled and scored a pair of runs while Taylor Pavolko added a triple as Freedom bounced back from a 15-13 season-opening loss to Bethlehem Catholic.
Baseball
Freedom 11, Allen 4
The Patriots and first-year coach John Bisco III stayed unbeaten as Ryan Endrick had two hits and three RBIs and Andres Squarez had two hits and two RBIs. Reed Coon and Kevin Kullman combined on a 6-hitter. Kullman worked 1⅓ innings in relief and struck out three.
Liberty 14, Northampton 4
The Hurricanes bounced back from a nine-error performance in an 8-3 loss to Nazareth with just one miscue and also collected 11 hits. Ayden Zabala hit a pair of home runs, including a first-inning grand slam and a two-run shot in the fifth, and Jacob Scheirer hit a two-run home run and had five RBIs overall. JC Spinosa added two runs, two hits, and two RBIs. Zabala was also the winning pitcher, scatttering eight hits and striking out five in five innings.
Emmaus 10, Dieruff 0
Colin Wilson had two hits, including a double, and knocked in three runs and Zach McEllroy had three hits, including a double as the Green Hornets improved to 4-0, 3-0 in the EPC. Tyler LePage contributed to Emmaus’ 15-hit attack with a pair of doubles, Anthony Viola had two hits including a triple and Alex Pion and Ryan Latchford combined on a 5-hitter. Latchford recorded three strikeouts in his two innings on the mound.
Saucon Valley 7, Pen Argyl 3
One day after being no-hitted by Southern Lehigh’s Matt Tankred in their season opener, the Panthers collected six hits in getting their first win of the spring. Jacob Albert had two hits and Ron Werkheiser tripled and knocked in two runs and Cole Hubert knocked in three runs. As a starting pitcher, Albert allowed just two hits in six innings and struck out eight in getting the win.
We rely on the support of our subscribers to fund our journalism. If you’re not already signed up, we hope you will consider subscribing. Already a print subscriber? If you haven’t already, please activate your digital access.
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America’s employers extended a streak of robust hiring in March, adding 431,000 jobs in a sign of the economy’s resilience in the face of a still-destructive pandemic and the highest inflation in 40 years.
The Labor Department’s report Friday showed that last month’s job growth helped reduce the unemployment rate to 3.6%, the lowest level since the pandemic erupted two years ago.
Despite the inflation surge, persistent supply bottlenecks, the damaging effects of COVID-19 and now a war in Europe, employers have added at least 400,000 jobs for 11 straight months.
Inflation may be starting to weaken consumer spending, the main driver of the economy. Americans increased their spending by just 0.2% in February, down from a much larger gain in January.
Still, the job market has continued to rebound with unexpected speed from the coronavirus recession. Job openings are at a near-record level, and applications for unemployment benefits have dropped to near their lowest point since 1969.
The still-solid U.S. job market reflects a robust rebound from the brief but devastating coronavirus recession, which wiped out 22 million jobs in March and April 2020 as businesses shut down or cut hours and Americans stayed home to avoid infection.
But the recovery has been swift. Fueled by generous federal aid, savings amassed during the pandemic and ultra-low borrowing rates engineered by the Federal Reserve, U.S. consumers have spent so fast that many factories, warehouses, shipping companies and ports have failed to keep pace with their customer demand. Supply chains have snarled, forcing up prices.
As the pandemic has eased, consumers have been broadening their spending beyond goods to services, such as health care, travel and entertainment, which they had long avoided during the worst of the pandemic. The result: Chronically high inflation is causing hardships for many lower-income households that face sharp price increases for such necessities as food, gasoline and rent.
It’s unclear whether the economy can maintain its momentum of the past year. The government relief checks are gone. The Fed raised its benchmark short-term interest rate two weeks ago and will likely keep raising it well into next year. Those rate hikes will result in more expensive loans for many consumers and businesses.
Inflation has also eroded consumers’ spending power: Hourly pay, adjusted for higher consumer prices, fell 2.6% in February from a year earlier — the 11th straight month in which inflation has outpaced year-over-year wage growth. According to AAA, average gasoline prices, at $4.23 a gallon, are up a dizzying 47% from a year ago.
Squeezed by inflation, some consumers are paring their spending. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that consumer spending rose just 0.2%% in February — and fell 0.4% when adjusted for inflation — down from a 2.7% increase in January.
Still, the job market has kept hurtling ahead. Employers posted a near-record 11.3 million positions in February. Nearly 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs, a sign of confidence that they could find something better.
Even so, so many jobs were lost in 2020 that the economy still remains more than 2 million shy of the number it had just before the pandemic struck. Over the past year, employers have added an average of 556,000 jobs a month. At that pace — no guarantee to continue — the nation would recover all the jobs lost to the pandemic by June. (That still wouldn’t include all the additional hiring that would have been done over the past two years under normal circumstances.)
Brighter job prospects are beginning to draw back into the labor force people who had remained on the sidelines because of health concerns, difficulty finding or affording daycare, generous unemployment benefits that have now expired or other reasons.
Latest Business
Over the past year, 3.6 million people have joined the U.S. labor force, meaning they now either have a job or are looking for one. But their ranks are still nearly 600,000 short of where they stood in February 2020, just before the pandemic slammed into the economy.
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LOS ANGELES — Oscars producer Will Packer said Los Angeles police were ready to arrest Will Smith after Smith slapped Chris Rock on the Academy Awards stage.
“They were saying, you know, this is battery, was a word they used in that moment,” Packer said in a clip released by ABC News Thursday night of an interview he gave to “Good Morning America.” “They said we will go get him. We are prepared. We’re prepared to get him right now. You can press charges, we can arrest him. They were laying out the options.”
But Packer said Rock was “very dismissive” of the idea.
“He was like, ‘No, no, no, I’m fine,” Packer said. “And even to the point where I said, ‘Rock, let them finish.’ The LAPD officers finished laying out what his options were and they said, ‘Would you like us to take any action?’ And he said no.”
The LAPD said in a statement after Sunday night’s ceremony that they were aware of the incident, and that Rock had declined to file a police report. The department declined comment Thursday on Packer’s interview.
In the longer version on “Good Morning America,” Parker said he initially believed the slap was an orchestrated bit. “I thought it was part of something that Chris and Will were doing on their own. I thought it was a bit. I wasn’t concerned at all.”
Packer said he went up to Rock after the incident. “I said, ‘Did he really hit you?’” the producer asked Rock. “And he looked at me and he goes, ‘Yeah, I just took a punch from Muhammad Ali,’ as only Chris can. He was immediately in joke mode, but you could tell that he was very much still in shock.”
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences met Wednesday to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Smith for violations against the group’s standards of conduct. Smith could be suspended, expelled or otherwise sanctioned.
The academy said in a statement that “Mr. Smith’s actions at the 94th Oscars were a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television.”
Without giving specifics, the academy said Smith was asked to leave the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre, but refused to do so.
Smith strode from his front row seat on to the stage and slapped Rock after a joke Rock made about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, when he was on stage to present the Oscar for best documentary.
On Monday, Smith issued an apology to Rock, the academy and to viewers, saying “I was out of line and I was wrong.”
The academy said Smith has the opportunity to defend himself in a written response before the board meets again on April 18.
Latest Entertainment
Rock publicly addressed the incident for the first time, but only briefly, at the beginning of a standup show Wednesday night in Boston, where he was greeted by a thunderous standing ovation. He said “I’m still kind of processing what happened.”
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NEW YORK — Labor organizers always knew it would be tough to convince Amazon workers to unionize. But a surprisingly strong early showing in a New York election and a still-uncertain outcome in an Alabama election are giving them hope.
In Staten Island, New York, 1,518 warehouse workers have so far voted “yes” to forming a union while 1,154 have voted “no,” according to an early tally Thursday evening by the National Labor Relations Board, which is overseeing both elections. Ballots continue to be counted Friday morning.
Meanwhile, Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, appear to have rejected a union bid but outstanding challenged ballots could change the outcome. The votes were 993-to-875 against the union. A hearing to review 416 challenged ballots is expected to begin in the next few days.
If a majority of Amazon workers ultimately votes yes in either Staten Island or Bessemer, it would mark the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the company’s history. Organizers have faced an uphill battle against the nation’s second-largest private employer, which is making every effort to keep unions out.
The union campaigns come at a time of widespread labor unrest at many corporations. Workers at more than 140 Starbucks locations around the country, for instance, have requested union elections and several of them have already been successful.
John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, said the early vote counts in New York have been “shocking.” The nascent Amazon Labor Union, which is leading the charge on Staten Island, has no backing from an established union and is powered by former and current warehouse workers.
“I don’t think that many people thought that the Amazon Labor Union had much of a chance of winning at all,” Logan said. “And I think we’re likely to see more of those (approaches) going forward.”
After a crushing defeat last year in Bessemer, when a majority of workers voted against forming a union, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union got a second chance to organize another campaign when the NLRB ordered a do-over after determining that Amazon tainted the first election.
Though RWDSU is currently lagging in the latest election, Logan said the early results were still remarkable because the union has made a good effort narrowing its margin from last year.
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU, said on Thursday that the union would be filing objections to how Amazon handled the election in Bessemer but declined to specify. He also took the opportunity to lash out at current labor laws, which he believes are rigged against unions and favor corporations.
“It should not be so difficult to organize a union in the United States,” he said.
Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee who has been leading the ALU in its fight on Staten Island, remains hopeful of victory.
“To be leading in Day One and be up a couple hundred against a trillion dollar company, this is the best feeling in the world,” Smalls said after the conclusion of Thursday’s counting.
Amazon has pushed back hard in the lead-up to both elections. The retail giant held mandatory meetings, where workers were told unions are a bad idea. The company also launched an anti-union website targeting workers and placed English and Spanish posters across the Staten Island facility urging them to reject the union. In Bessemer, Amazon has made some changes to but still kept a controversial U.S. Postal Service mailbox that was key in the NLRB’s decision to invalidate last year’s vote.
In a filing released on Thursday, Amazon disclosed it spent about $4.2 million last year on labor consultants, which organizers say the retailer routinely solicits to persuade workers not to unionize. It’s unclear how much it spent on such services in 2022.
Both labor fights faced unique challenges. Alabama, for instance, is a right-to-work state that prohibits a company and a union from signing a contract that requires workers to pay dues to the union that represents them.
The union landscape in Alabama is also starkly different from New York. Last year, union members accounted for 22.2% of wage and salary workers in New York, ranked only behind Hawaii, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s more than double the national average of 10.3%. In Alabama, it’s 5.9%.
The mostly Black workforce at the Amazon facility, which opened in 2020, mirrors the Bessemer population of more than 70% Black residents, according to the latest U.S. Census data.
Pro-union workers say they want better working conditions, longer breaks and higher wages. Regular full-time employees at the Bessemer facility earn at least $15.80 an hour, higher than the estimated $14.55 per hour on average in the city. That figure is based on an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual median household income for Bessemer of $30,284, which could include more than one worker.
The ALU said they don’t have a demographic breakdown of the warehouse workers on Staten Island and Amazon declined to provide the information to The Associated Press, citing the union vote. Internal records leaked to The New York Times from 2019 showed more than 60% of the hourly associates at the facility were Black or Latino, while most of managers were white or Asian.
Amazon workers there are seeking longer breaks, paid time off for injured employees and an hourly wage of $30, up from a minimum of just over $18 per hour offered by the company. The estimated average wage for the borough is $41 per hour, according to a similar U.S. Census Bureau analysis of Staten Island’s $85,381 median household income.
A spokesperson for Amazon said the company invests in wages and benefits, such as health care, 401(k) plans and a prepaid college tuition program to help grow workers’ careers.
“As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”
Latest Nation/World
Associated Press staff writers Tali Arbel and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York contributed to this report.
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DETROIT — New vehicles sold in the United States will have to travel an average of at least 40 miles per gallon of gasoline in 2026 under new rules unveiled Friday by the government.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said its fuel economy requirements will undo a rollback of standards enacted under President Donald Trump. The new requirements increase gas mileage by 8% per year for model years 2024 and 2025 and 10% in the 2026 model year.
For the current model year, standards enacted under Trump require the fleet of new vehicles to get just over 24 miles per gallon in real-world driving.
Agency officials say the requirements are the maximum that the industry can achieve over the time period and will reduce gasoline consumption by more than 220 billion gallons over the life of vehicles, compared with the Trump standards.
Trump’s administration rolled back fuel economy requirements so they rose 1.5% per year, which environmental groups said was inadequate to limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change.
But the new standards won’t immediately match those adopted through 2025 under President Barack Obama. NHTSA officials said they will equal the Obama standards by 2025 and slightly exceed them for the 2026 model year.
The Obama-era standards automatically adjusted for changes in the type of vehicles people are buying. When they were enacted in 2012, 51% of new vehicle sales were cars and 49% SUVs and trucks. Last year, 77% of new vehicle sales were SUVs and trucks, which generally are less efficient than cars.
Some environmental groups said the new requirements from NHTSA under President Joe Biden don’t go far enough to fight global warming.
“Climate change has gotten much worse, but these rules only require automakers to reduce gas-guzzling slightly more than they agreed to cut nine years ago,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Center at the Center for Biological Diversity.
He said the final rule is about 2 mpg short of the strongest alternative that NHTSA considered.
Officials said that under the new standards, owners would save about $1,400 in gasoline costs during the lifetime of a 2029 model year vehicle. Carbon dioxide emissions would drop by 2.5 billion metric tons by 2050 under the standards, the NHTSA said.
The agency did not give figures for how much the standards would increase the cost of vehicles. Auto dealers say more stringent requirements drive up prices and push people out of an already expensive new-car market.
Latest Nation/World
The NHTSA sets fuel economy requirements, while the Environmental Protection Agency develops limits on greenhouse gas emissions. NHTSA officials said their requirements nearly match rules adopted in December by the EPA, so automakers don’t have to comply with two rules.
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LINCOLN, NEB. — Harry’s Wonder Bar is a trusted old dive in Nebraska’s capital, frequented by office clerks, construction workers and graduate students alike: the sort of wood-paneled place with a pool table in the back where phones generally stay in pockets, second fiddle to casual conversation, and beer mugs come frosted regardless of the season.
As a half-dozen or so happy hour patrons gathered at the bar on a recent afternoon, most had something remarkable in common: Everybody seemed to know somebody who had earned a significant raise, or multiple raises, in the past year — and many, if not all, had received a jump in pay themselves.
That included the bartender on the early-evening shift, Nikki Paulk, an easygoing woman with a flash of pink hair. “I’m in hot demand, baby,” she said, mentioning “desperate” employers with a burst of a grin. “I’ve worked at like six bars in the last six months because I just keep getting better offers I can’t turn down.”
The unemployment rate in Nebraska was 2.1% in February, tied with Utah for the lowest in the nation and near the lowest on record for any state. In several counties, unemployment is below 1%. Even taking into account adults who have left the workforce, the share of the population 16 and older employed in Nebraska is around 68%, the nation’s highest figure.
After decades of wage and income stagnation, the seesaw of power between managers and their workers looks to at least temporarily be tilting in the direction of labor, with employers in competition for workers instead of the other way around. Unemployment in states including Indiana, Kansas, Montana and Oklahoma is almost as low as in Nebraska, testing the benefits and potential costs of an economy with exceptionally tight labor markets.
Paulk, 35, graduated from college with a graphic design degree during the Great Recession, when jobs were scarce. She remembers working 60-hour weeks near minimum wage in Illinois, “being excited to find a quarter” that could go toward laundry. In 2013, she moved to Nebraska and took a job in medical data entry for $12 an hour.
She started bartending in 2018, and since then, she says, her overall pay has more than doubled to $25 (and sometimes $30) an hour, including tips.
The nationwide jobless rate in February was 3.8%, nearly back to prepandemic levels that were the lowest in a half-century. The particularly low unemployment in Nebraska is partly attributable to its higher-than-average high school graduation rate, and the dominant role of industries like manufacturing and agriculture that are less volatile than the service or energy sectors during downturns. Even at the peak of COVID-19 lockdowns in the spring of 2020, the state unemployment rate was 7.4%, half the national number.
Yet the labor market in Nebraska may also be a harbinger for the country at large. Most economists expect overall unemployment to continue ticking downward this year. Job openings are near record highs, and jobless rates in January were lower than a year earlier in 388 of the 389 metropolitan areas evaluated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Many business analysts contend that if labor remains scarce, wages will grow too rapidly and employers will continually pass on that increased expense to consumers. At least for now, evidence of such a spiral is sparse: Federal Reserve data shows that median annual pay increases are well within the range — 3% to 7% — that prevailed from the 1980s until the 2007-09 recession.
The Fed, still concerned, has begun raising interest rates to cool off the economy and tame inflationary pressures. Supply chain challenges that arose during the pandemic have persisted, and the war in Ukraine is further complicating the outlook for inflation as well as overall economic growth. Consumer spending remains buoyant, yet surveys reflect dour economic sentiment among the public.
In the meantime, even as price increases nag household budgets, burying the value of some new wage gains, a noticeable mass of employees and job seekers are gaining more leverage regarding benefits and conditions.
During a virtual summit about the local economy held in February by the nonprofit group Leadership Lincoln, Eric Thompson, the director of the Bureau of Business Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, argued that the labor market might be simply rebalancing.
“Obviously, it’s still always better to be the employer than the worker, or at least usually it is,” he said. But the current environment does enable some employees to switch jobs or more easily vie for higher-level positions. Local employers are dropping degree requirements for a range of midlevel and entry roles.
Many fast-food restaurants, struggling to staff locations near the $9 minimum wage in the state, have begun to offer starting wages of $14. Evidence of automation is just as rampant as Help Wanted signs: Some pharmacies dotting the main roads and highways appear to have more self-checkout kiosks than employees at a given hour.
Thompson said such moves were not necessarily ominous for the working class but rather a reflection of the need for businesses to adapt while workers find jobs that can “maximize their skills and potential.”
Tony Goins, a former senior vice president at JPMorgan Chase who was appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts in 2019 as director of Nebraska’s Department of Economic Development, said the tight labor market could prompt managers to become more flexible and innovative.
“At the end of the day, the market is dictating that I have to pay employees more money,” said Goins, a small-business owner himself with a cigar lounge in Lincoln. “So, I mean, how are you going to offset that?” To stay competitive in hiring, he said, managers need to improve culture, leadership, employee retention and recruiting.
He spoke of his son, an assistant men’s basketball coach at Boston College — a position that he says requires continued outreach as well as the dual promise of “the chance to play for a winning program” and gaining personal development. “That’s not what CEOs are used to,” he said.
Businesses aiming to grow have begun to offer incentives beyond pay. The Japanese company Kawasaki Motors is spending $200 million to expand the 2.4-million-square-foot site in northern Lincoln where it makes Jet Skis, all-terrain vehicles and rail cars. It is increasing its 2,400-member workforce by more than 500 employees, with jobs primarily in fabrication, welding and assembly.
The company is becoming more flexible about hiring and work styles in order to pull it off. “It used to take a couple of weeks to get hired at Kawasaki,” said Bryan Seck, its chief talent management strategist in Lincoln. “Now, it’s down to four hours.”
With the knowledge that many parents remain on the sidelines of the workforce because of child care duties, Kawasaki recently created a 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift tailored for those who need to retrieve children from school and day care in the early afternoon. Starting wages are $18.10 an hour, Seck said, with benefits including health care and a 401(k) plan.
In addition to increasing wages to retain employees, Todd Heyne, the chief construction officer at Allo Communications, a cable company based in Lincoln, said management decided that easing in-person work requirements could expand the pool of available workers. That led the company to allow many of its customer service representatives and technical support employees to train and work farther afield as it prepares to expand beyond Nebraska and Colorado.
Not all problem-solving is easy. The added labor costs come on top of supply chain pressures that have increased the price of crucial materials like fiber optic cable by as much as 30%. Vendors are often charging 20% more for their contracted tasks. As a result, the company has taken steps like hiring its own trucking staff.
In the end, “combined with some automation efficiencies, our team will see sizable wage increases with less rudimentary work,” Heyne said, reducing manual paperwork, centralizing back-end systems and doing more to fix customers’ network issues remotely. So despite the cost challenges, “I’ve never been more optimistic about where we’re sitting, our position in the market, how we compete against our competitors, and our technology,” he added. “Which is strange.”
For many, the opportunity of this economic moment is tinged with worry. They include Ashlee Bridger, a 30-year-old student at the Lincoln campus of Southeast Community College who works in administration for the nearby firm Huffman Engineering after being recruited from a job fair.
Bridger left her job as a nurse to pursue a career in human resources because she felt confident enough to bet on herself: “Of course, it was a risk. Leaving any career is.” But in the current job market, she said, “I knew I would be able to work my way up easier.”
She has also had a series of life milestones fall into place. She will graduate in May with an associate degree and will start bachelor’s degree work in the fall at Nebraska Wesleyan University. The managers at Huffman have told her that she is welcome to continue working there when her schedule allows, and that they would like to hire her in a more senior role after she completes her studies.
Last year, she got married in the summer, then moved with her husband into a newly built house in Lincoln in August. Though they feel financially stable, she half-joked that they were lucky the home was mostly built before lumber prices soared. With prices up across the board now, “I’m more cautious about my spending,” she said.
Paulk, the bartender at Harry’s thriving off better pay, has friends and customers who are upset about recent inflation. “But it’s something controlled out of our hands anyway,” she said with a shrug.
“All I know,” she added, “is now I’m not broke anymore — it’s great. Life is good.”
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WASHINGTON — At 12:01 a.m. Eastern time, precisely 72 years after enumerators began knocking on the doors of some 46 million American houses and apartments, the federal government made public what they learned: the ages, incomes, addresses, ancestry and a trove of other facts about the 150.7 million people who were counted in the 1950 census.
Those millions of census forms, painstakingly filled out by hand in ink, were posted online by the National Archives and Records Administration, which by law has kept them private until now. The records, searchable by name and address, offer an intimate look at a nation on the cusp of the modern era — for the merely curious, a glimpse of the life parents or grandparents led, but for historians and genealogists, a once-in-a-decade bonanza of secrets unveiled.
“This is the Super Bowl and the Olympics combined, and it’s only every 10 years — it’s awesome stuff,” said Matt Menashes, the executive director of the National Genealogical Society. “What’s so great about these points of data is that it helps you paint a picture — not just relationships, but what society was like.”
The last release of similar data was in 2012, when the National Archives made details of the 1940 census public. The government has imposed a 72-year ban on the release of census records since 1952, when the Census Bureau turned over to the National Archives all the data it had collected since the first census in 1790.
The searchable data being released includes not just census forms, but also counts of Native Americans who were tallied on separate Indian Reservation Schedules.
The broad outlines of the 1950 census results have long been public, of course, reflecting the burst of economic and population expansion in a nation flush with optimism after victory in World War II. The United States had grown by nearly 15% in just one decade, and nearly 1 in 10 people lived in New York. Nevada, with just 160,000 residents, was the least populous state.
The baby boom was in full swing: 3.6 million children were born that year, some 18,000 more than in 2020, when the nation’s population was more than twice as large. The average family earned $3,300 — about $38,800 in 2022 dollars.
It was a time when gasoline cost 18 cents a gallon. Interstate highways were but a gleam in future President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s eye. Milton Berle’s “Texaco Star Theater” was such a runaway television hit that movie houses closed for lack of business during its Tuesday evening time slot, even though fewer than 1 in 10 households owned a television.
About 140,000 census-takers, or enumerators, fanned out across the country that April for what would be the last complete house-to-house canvass; the next census in 1960 was conducted largely by mail.
Compared to the nine questions asked in the 2020 head count, the 1950 list was exhaustive — up to 38 questions, from mundane queries about age, sex and race to deeper dives into people’s occupations, incomes, military status, education and ancestry. Married women were asked how many children they had borne, and children born between January and April of 1950 were tallied on special “infant cards” — another 17 questions long.
The infant cards were not retained. But answers from the census forms were coded onto punch cards and tabulated, for the first time, on a UNIVAC I computer, 16,000 pounds and 5,000 vacuum tubes of calculating muscle. Then the census forms were photographed, transferred to nearly 6,400 microfilm rolls and shipped to the National Archives for a 72-year rest.
The rolls contain only the front side of the census forms. The reverse, which held answers to a litany of questions about the condition of places where respondents lived, were not preserved.
The images being released Friday are digitized versions of the microfilm records that have been scanned with special optical character recognition software to locate and translate handwritten names and addresses into searchable text. Mistakes are inevitable, and the National Archives is asking those who view the forms to report errors.
Leading genealogical groups, however, are not waiting for corrections to trickle in. The for-profit genealogical firm Ancestry.com plans to immediately download and scan the census forms using its own character-recognition software. Then Family Search, a nonprofit group sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, intends to marshal volunteers to inspect and correct the results, a process that is likely to take several months.
“We have about 400,000 volunteers that index records all the time,” said David E. Rencher, chief genealogical officer at Family Search. “For a project like this, where we rally the community, we’ll get a bump, probably several hundred thousand, just to do this.”
That army is but one indicator of the national fascination with tracing family histories, a passion that Menashes traces to the 1977 television miniseries “Roots,” which explored the journey from enslavement to freedom of the ancestors of author Alex Haley. The program dovetailed with the dawn of the computer era and with it, the ability to search literally billions of genealogical records online.
Experts in the field call genealogical records an important window on history. But deep down, they say, the records scratch an itch among most people to learn about their predecessors, uncover surprises and locate the occasional black sheep.
“Everybody has a natural curiosity about family history,” Rencher said. “It doesn’t mean you want to become a family historian. But there needs to be a place where you can go when you’re curious and say, ‘I wonder what my family was doing in 1950?’”
Taneya Koonce, president of the Nashville, Tennessee, chapter of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society, said she would be online early Friday looking for records of her grandparents, who lived in North Carolina. But she said the 1950 records are likely to be of special interest to many African Americans because they help document the great migration of Black families from the rural South to the industrial cities of the North.
“The census is such an important foundational body of information to have when you’re doing family history,” she said. “You can explore what was going on in the neighborhood at the time, how much income the family was bringing in, where a person was born.”
Menashes said the records would provide his first look at his parents, who were young children in New York City in 1950. “For me, it’s interesting, first of all, to know their addresses,” he said. “New York’s archives have this wonderful imagery of streetscapes in the ‘40s and ‘50s. It’s amazing to be able to connect an address to what a place looked like.”
And Rencher, who was adopted, said he will try to fill in blank spots about his birth family in Pennsylvania.
“There are still things about the 1950s that are a mystery to me,” he said. “I have a half-sibling out there somewhere. Who knows?”
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Friday made a historic apology to Indigenous Peoples for the “deplorable” abuses they suffered in Canada’s Catholic-run residential schools and said he hoped to visit Canada in late July to deliver the apology in person to survivors of the church’s misguided missionary zeal.
Francis begged forgiveness during an audience with dozens of members of the Metis, Inuit and First Nations communities who came to Rome seeking a papal apology and a commitment from the Catholic Church to repair the damage. The first pope from the Americas said he hoped to visit Canada around the Feast of St. Anna, which falls on July 26.
More than 150,000 native children in Canada were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools from the 19th century until the 1970s in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their homes and culture. The aim was to Christianize and assimilate them into mainstream society, which previous Canadian governments considered superior.
The Canadian government has admitted that physical and sexual abuse was rampant at the schools, with students beaten for speaking their native languages. That legacy of that abuse and isolation from family has been cited by Indigenous leaders as a root cause of the epidemic rates of alcohol and drug addiction now on Canadian reservations.
After hearing their stories all week, Francis told the Indigenous that the colonial project ripped children from their families, cutting off roots, traditions and culture and provoking inter-generational trauma that is still being felt today. He said it was a “counter-witness” to the same Gospel that the residential school system purported to uphold.
“For the deplorable conduct of those members of the Catholic Church, I ask forgiveness of the Lord,” Francis said. “And I want to tell you from my heart, that I am greatly pained. And I unite myself with the Canadian bishops in apologizing.”
The trip to Rome by the Indigenous was years in the making but gained momentum last year after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves outside some of the residential schools in Canada. The three groups of Indigenous met separately with Francis over several hours this week, telling him their stories, culminating with Friday’s audience.
Francis spoke in Italian and the Indigenous read his remarks in English translations. The president of the Metis National Council, Cassidy Caron, said the Metis elder sitting next her burst into tears upon hearing what she said was a long-overdue apology.
“The pope’s words today were historic, to be sure. They were necessary, and I appreciate them deeply,” Caron told reporters in St. Peter’s Square. “And I now look forward to the pope’s visit to Canada, where he can offer those sincere words of apology directly to our survivors and their families, whose acceptance and healing ultimately matters most.”
The spiritual adviser of the Assembly of First Nations’ delegation, Elder Fred Kelley, echoed the sentiment.
“Today is a day that we’ve been waiting for. And certainly one that will be uplifted in our history,” he said. “It’s a historical first step, however, only a first step.”
He and other Indigenous leaders said there was far more for the church to do on the path of reconciliation, but that for now Indigenous leaders insisted on being involved in organizing the papal visit to make sure Francis stops in places that hold spiritual importance to their people.
Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, thanked Francis for addressing all the issues the Indigenous had brought to him. “And he did so in a way that really showed his empathy towards the indigenous people of Canada,” he said.
Nearly three-quarters of Canada’s 130 residential schools were run by Catholic missionary congregations.
Last May, the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation announced the discovery of 215 gravesites near Kamloops, British Columbia, that were found using ground-penetrating radar. It was Canada’s largest Indigenous residential school and the discovery of the graves was the first of numerous, similar grim sites across the country.
Even before the grave sites were discovered, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission specifically called for a papal apology to be delivered on Canadian soil for the church’s role in the abuses.
In addition, as part of a settlement of a lawsuit involving the Canadian government, churches and the approximately 90,000 surviving students, Canada paid reparations that amounted to billions of dollars being transferred to Indigenous communities. The Catholic Church, for its part, has paid over $50 million and now intends to add $30 million more over the next five years.
Francis said he felt shame for the role that Catholic educators had played in the harm, “in the abuse and disrespect for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values,” he said. “It is evident that the contents of the faith cannot be transmitted in a way that is extraneous to the faith itself.”
“It is chilling to think of determined efforts to instill a sense of inferiority, to rob people of their cultural identity, to sever their roots, and to consider all the personal and social effects that this continues to entail: unresolved traumas that have become inter-generational traumas,” he said.
After the papal apology, the audience continued with joyous performances of Indigenous prayers by drummers, dancers and fiddlers that Francis watched, applauded and gave a thumbs up to. The Indigenous then presented him with gifts, including snowshoes.
Francis’ apology went far beyond what Pope Benedict XVI had offered in 2009 when an Assembly of First Nations delegation visited. At the time, Benedict only expressed his “sorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the church.” But he did not apologize.
The Argentine pope is no stranger to offering apologies for his own errors and for what he himself has termed the “crimes” of the institutional church. Most significantly, during a 2015 visit to Bolivia, he apologized for the sins, crimes and offenses committed by the church against Indigenous Peoples during the colonial-era conquest of the Americas.
He made clear those same colonial crimes occurred far more recently in Canada at the Catholic-run residential schools.
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“Your identity and culture has been wounded, many families separated, many children have become victims of this homogenization action, supported by the idea that progress occurs through ideological colonization, according to programs studied at the table rather than respecting the lives of peoples,” he said.
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KYIV, UKRAINE — Talks to stop the fighting in Ukraine resumed Friday, as another attempt to rescue civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol broke down and Russia accused the Ukrainians of launching a cross-border helicopter attack on an oil depot.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said the alleged airstrike by a pair of helicopter gunships caused multiple fires and injured two people. A Kremlin spokesman said the incident on Russia’s territory could undermine the negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives.
“Certainly, this is not something that can be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for the continuation of the talks,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied when asked if the strike could be viewed as an escalation of the war in Ukraine.
It was not immediately possible to verify the claim that Ukrainian helicopters targeted the oil depot or several nearby businesses in Belgorod also reported hit. Russia has reported shelling from Ukraine before, including an incident last week that killed a military chaplain, but not an incursion of its airspace.
Asked if Ukraine had fired on the depot, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in Warsaw that he could “neither confirm nor nor reject the claim that Ukraine was involved in this simply because I do not possess all the military information.”
The latest negotiations, taking place by video link, follow a meeting in Turkey on Tuesday where Ukraine reiterated its willingness to abandon a bid to join NATO and offered proposals to have its neutral military status guaranteed by a range of foreign countries.
The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, wrote on social media that Moscow’s positions on retaining control of the Crimean Peninsula and expanding the territory in eastern Ukraine held by Russia-backed separatists “are unchanged.”
The International Committee for the Red Cross said complex logistics were still being worked out for the operation to get emergency aid into Mariupol and civilians out of the city, which has suffered weeks of heavy fighting with dwindling water, food and medical supplies.
“We are running out of adjectives to describe the horrors that residents in Mariupol have suffered,” ICRC spokesperson Ewan Watson said Friday during a U.N. briefing in Geneva. “The situation is horrendous and deteriorating, and it’s now a humanitarian imperative that people be allowed to leave and aid supplies be allowed in.”
He said the group had sent three vehicles toward Mariupol and a frontline between Ukrainian and Russian forces but two trucks carrying supplies for the city were not accompanying them. Dozens of buses organized by Ukrainian authorities to take people out also had not started approaching the dividing line, Watson said.
City authorities said a little while later that the Russians were blocking access to Mariupol and it was too dangerous for people to leave it on their own.
“We do not see a real desire on the part of the Russians and their satellites to provide an opportunity for Mariupol residents to evacuate to territory controlled by Ukraine,” Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
He said Russian forces “are categorically not allowing any humanitarian cargo, even in small amounts, into the city”
On Thursday, Russian forces blocked a 45-bus convoy attempting to evacuate people from Mariupol after the Russian military agreed to a limited cease-fire in the area, and only 631 people were able to leave in private cars, the Ukrainian government said.
Russian forces also seized 14 tons of food and medical supplies trying to make it to Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.
The city has been the scene of some of the worst suffering of the war. Tens of thousands of residents managed to leave in the past few weeks through humanitarian corridors, reducing the population from a prewar 430,000 to an estimated 100,000 by last week. But continued Russian attacks have repeatedly thwarted aid and evacuation missions.
In the past few days, the Kremlin, in a seeming shift in its war aims, said that its “main goal” now is gaining complete control of the Donbas, where Mariupol is located. The Donbas is the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial region of eastern Ukraine where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014 and have declared two areas as independent republics.
Western officials said there were growing indications Russia was using its talk of de-escalation in Ukraine as cover to regroup, resupply and redeploy its forces for a stepped-up offensive in the east.
Russian forces have subjected both Chernihiv, a besieged city in northern Ukraine, and the capital of Kyiv to continued air and ground-launched missile strikes despite Moscow saying Tuesday it planned to reduce military activity in those areas.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces have retaken the villages of Sloboda and Lukashivka, south of Chernihiv and along one of the main supply routes between the city and Kyiv, according to Britain’s Defense Ministry.
Ukraine has also continued to make successful but limited counterattacks to the east and northeast of Kyiv, the ministry said.
Hours later, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram early Friday that the fire at the oil depot “occurred as a result of an airstrike from two helicopters of the armed forces of Ukraine, which entered the territory of Russia at a low altitude.”
The depot run by Russian energy giant Rosneft is located about 21 miles north of the Ukraine-Russia border.
Separately, Ukraine’s state power company, Energoatom, said Russian troops pulled out of the heavily contaminated Chernobyl nuclear site in northern Ukraine early Friday after receiving “significant doses” of radiation from digging trenches in the exclusion zone around the closed plant.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said it could not independently confirm the exposure claim. Energoatom gave no details on the condition of the soldiers and did not say how many were affected. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.
The agency, which is the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, said it had been informed by Ukraine that Russian forces at Chernobyl had transferred control of the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster to the Ukrainians in writing.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi wrote on Twitter that he would visit the decommissioned plant as soon as possible and his agency’s “assistance and support” mission to Chernobyl “will be the first in a series of such nuclear safety and security missions to Ukraine.”
Grossi was in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Friday for talks with senior officials about nuclear issues in Ukraine. Nine of Ukraine’s 15 operational reactors are currently in use, including two at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya facility, the agency said.
Russian forces seized the Chernobyl site soon after invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, raising fears they would cause damage or disruption that could spread radiation. The workforce there oversees the safe storage of spent fuel rods and the concrete-entombed ruins of the reactor that exploded in 1986.
Five weeks and one day into a conflict that has left thousands dead and driven more than 4 million refugees from Ukraine, there seemed little faith that the two sides would find agreement on their respective demands any time soon.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said conditions weren’t yet “ripe” for a cease-fire and he wasn’t ready for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy until the negotiators do more work, Italian Premier Mario Draghi said after a Thursday telephone conversation with the Russian leader.
In his nightly video address late Thursday, Zelenskyy doubted Moscow’s willingness to end the conflict. He warned that Russian withdrawals in the country’s north and center were just a military tactic to build up strength for new attacks in the southeast.
“We know their intentions,” Zelenskyy said. “We know that they are moving away from those areas where we hit them in order to focus on other, very important ones where it may be difficult for us.”
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Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
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A Pennsylvania task force devoted to protecting and improving the lives of children born to mothers and families struggling with drug addiction held its first meeting this week.
It will focus on things including making sure the foster care system adequately protects children from harm stemming from addiction while avoiding unnecessary separations of children and parents, helping pregnant women recover from addiction, and helping parents who have struggled with addiction safely raise their children.
Another key goal is to improve supports that can help children who were exposed to substances prior to birth to thrive and reach their full potential.
The task force is obligated by law to finish its work within a year.
Cathleen Palm, a veteran advocate for Pennsylvania children, said it’s critical lawmakers and other Pennsylvanians pay attention to the effort. Otherwise, she said, long-needed improvements to serve the best interests of Pennsylvania children might lose out to other priorities.
The 11-member task force includes two members who have first-hand experience with dealing with the foster care system as the result of addiction or children who have been impacted.
They are Robin Adams of Tioga County, whose adopted son was exposed to illegal drugs before birth, and April Lee of Philadelphia, who is recovering from addiction, and who for a time lost her children to the child welfare system.
Members of the task force were appointed by Gov. Tom Wolf and state lawmakers.
They include Meg Smith, the acting state secretary of human services; Jennifer Smith, the state secretary of drug and alcohol programs; Dr. Denise Johnson, the state physician general; Dr. Sheryl Ryan, a pediatrician at Penn State Children’s Hospital; and Dr. Kim Costello, a neonatologist with St. Luke’s University Health Network.
Palm said after six years of focus on the opioid addiction crisis and the impact on children, Pennsylvania still lacks clear data on things like how often babies are separated from their mothers at birth because of addiction and, for those who remain with their mothers, how often they end up needing abuse-related medical care or die.
Pennsylvania lawmakers created the task force following a six-year push by advocates including Palm, the founder of the Berks County-based Center for Children’s Justice.
People who want to obtain more information or interact with the task force can email RA-pw@2taskforce.pa.gov.
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A police lieutenant killed on duty in Pennsylvania was one month away from retirement when a man suspected of breaking into a family member’s home opened fire on responding officers, authorities said Friday.
Lebanon City Police Lt. William Lebo and three other uniformed officers were met with immediate gunfire when they entered the home on Forest Street, Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf said at a news conference.
Two other officers were injured and remain hospitalized. The suspect, 34-year-old Travis Shaud of Lebanon, was also killed in the exchange of gunfire.
Graf said Shaud had a record of domestic assaults as well as mental health issues.
“Family attempts to intervene, to provide assistance, were met with his utter resistance,” she said.
Shaud had previously lived in the home but not for some years, she said. A man listed as a co-owner of the home declined comment when reached by phone early Friday.
Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello said the injured officers are Ryan Adams, 34, and Derek Underkoffler, 32, both with seven years on the force. Lebo, 63, had planned to retire May 1 after 40 years with the department.
A family member arrived home after work Thursday and realized Shaud had broken into the rear of his home, so he called police, Graf said.
“When police attempted to enter the residence, four officers encountered immediate gunfire,” Graf said. Shaud used a gun from the home to shoot at police, Graf said.
Officers returned fire and Shaud was pronounced dead at the scene.
A Shaud family friend, Susan Schott, told the Lebanon Daily News the Forest Street home was Travis Shaud’s childhood home.
“Travis was a wonderful person when he was OK,” Schott told the paper. “But as soon as I heard the address I knew what happened.”
Authorities have not said who shot who and did not take questions about what Graf called an ongoing investigation at news conferences Thursday and Friday.
“As one can imagine, it’s clearly a traumatic event,” Lebanon Police Chief Todd Breiner said Thursday night. “Our guys are strong, but we’re human and we have families.”
Lebanon resident Angelo Gonzalez, 17, was working at a pizzeria down the road from the shooting when he said he saw “cop car after cop car flying down the street.”
“Then we heard something and weren’t sure what it was and the street filled up with cops and ambulance in a matter of 15 min,” Gonzalez said in a text message.
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James Largay’s recent opinion piece (The Morning Call, March 26) focused on the value of government “conduct[ing] itself with regard to the feelings of the governed . . .” Largay then attempts to demonstrate how Biden, Hillary Clinton and Obama failed in that regard.
Conspicuously absent is the president between Obama and Biden. Donald Trump twice failed to win the popular vote, losing by 3 million in the first election and 7 million in the 2020 election.
Trump and the Republican Party do not try to expand their base to win — they do everything they can to prevent anyone not in their base from voting.
Trump and the Republican Party have tried to maintain a hold on power by ignoring the will of the people and spreading baseless lies about the 2020 election. Trump called people chanting Nazi slogans, “very fine people.” By not mentioning Trump, it seems the writer cares little about the “feelings of the governed” — he just wanted to bash Democrats.
Alan Canner
Allentown
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Every year American citizens, companies and especially our own government give billions of dollars to charities that are supposed to benefit poor and suffering people in other countries all over the world, now including aid to Ukraine.
I only have one question for everyone to ask themselves: When do you ever hear about these foreign countries sending charity to help poor and suffering people in America? The answer is never.
They say “charity begins at home,” so before anyone donates to a charity to help suffering people in another country please stop for just a moment and think hard. If even a portion of the money that is sent in charity to other countries was donated to help the poor and suffering people here in America we wouldn’t have the problems we have in America today like the homeless families, children and veterans starving in our streets.
Sadly common sense and logic seem to be endangered species these days.
Michael Walter
North Whitehall Township
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CLEARWATER — Mike King may have to thank a division rival for his spot on the roster. King said that his development last year, which had Aaron Boone all but saying King will make the Opening Day roster, was spurred on by former teammate Corey Kluber.
Kluber, who is now with the American League East rival Rays, taught King how to throw his “slider.”
It is categorized a slider, but it’s more of a hybrid so unique that scouts call it a “Kluber Ball.”
Kluber suggested it to King because he felt the Yankees’ young right-hander was similar to himself. King laughs when asked if the pitches are as similar.
“If it’s a carbon copy of Corey’s, it would be electric,” King said. “But honestly, anything close to it is what I’m looking for. He’s got two Cy Youngs because of that pitch. He can locate it wherever he wants. Just getting the command of it is huge.”
It made a noticeable difference in King’s performances.
“I think it’s going to be an important pitch for him,” Boone said. “When he’s got that, he’s pretty tough. If he can command that with what his heater and his two-seamer is, he’s pretty tough. I think it’s a real important pitch for him.”
And the friendship and mentorship King developed with the two-time Cy Young winner was just as big.
“Corey Kluber was huge for me,” King said. “He had confidence in me.”
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Unilever U.S. has announced that it is recalling some Suave brand antiperspirants due to “slightly elevated” levels of a cancer-causing chemical.
New Jersey-based Unilever said an internal review showed slightly elevated levels of benzene in some product samples. While benzene is not an ingredient in any of the recalled products, the review showed that unexpected levels of benzene came from the propellant that sprays the product out of the can.
The recall, announced this week by the Food and Drug Administration, includes all lots of Suave 24-Hour Protection Aerosol Antiperspirant Powder and Suave 24-Hour Protection Aerosol Antiperspirant Fresh with expiration dates through September 2023. The recall covers:
- Suave 24-Hour Protection Aerosol Antiperspirant Powder scent 4 oz. and 6 oz. cans UPC codes 079400751508 and 079400784902. Expiration date through September 2023.
- Suave 24-Hour Protection Aerosol Antiperspirant Fresh scent 6 oz. cans UPC code 079400785503. Expiration date through September 2023.
“While benzene is not an ingredient in any of the recalled products, the review showed that unexpected levels of benzene came from the propellant that sprays the product out of the can,” said a Unilever news release. “No other Unilever or Suave products are in the scope of this recall.”
Benzene is classified as a human carcinogen. Exposure to benzene can occur by inhalation, orally, and through the skin; it can result in cancers including leukemia and blood cancer of the bone marrow and blood disorders which can be life threatening.
According to Unilever’s news release, benzene is ubiquitous in the environment. Humans around the world have daily exposures to it indoors and outdoors from multiple sources. Based on an independent health hazard evaluation, daily exposure to benzene in the recalled products at the levels detected in testing would not be expected to cause adverse health consequences.
Retailers have been notified to remove the products from the store. Consumers who have the product are advised to throw it away.
Unilever will also offer reimbursement for consumers who have purchased products impacted by this recall.
Consumers with questions regarding this recall can contact Unilever by calling (866) 204-9756, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST. Visit www.suaverecall.comExternal Link Disclaimer for more information.
Latest Lehigh Valley News
Adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of this product may be reported to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail or by fax.
- Complete and submit the report Online
- Regular Mail or Fax: Download form or call 1- 800-332-1088 to request a reporting form, then complete and return to the address on the pre-addressed form, or submit by fax to 1-800-FDA-0178
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The man accused of opening fire outside a cigar shop after being asked to wear a face mask, then shooting at police during a standoff, died after being found unresponsive Friday morning in his cell at Lehigh County Jail, officials said.
Adam Zaborowski, 37, died at St. Luke’s Hospital in Allentown at 7:26 a.m., about 50 minutes after staff found him and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The Lehigh County District Attorney’s office and the Lehigh County Coroner’s office are investigating the death.
On July 31, 2020, police say, Zaborowski entered Cigars International in Bethlehem Township and was asked to leave because he wasn’t wearing a mask. Zaborowski was offered the chance to select his purchase and go outside to wait for it to be delivered, according to witnesses. Zaborowski ignored the offer, walked around the store, took two cigars and left, police say.
A store worker followed Zaborowski outside and told him he would need to pay for the items. That’s when police say Zaborowski went to his pickup truck, reached inside and pulled out a handgun. Police said he fired three shots — two at the store worker and another into the air. No one was injured.
Authorities learned that Zaborowski was holed up in his Slatington home. But when police assembled there the following day, Zaborowski allegedly refused to surrender.
Zaborowski had been stockpiling weapons and supplies over fears and stress fueled by the pandemic, according to his attorney, John Waldron. He allegedly fired dozens of rounds at police with an AK-47 rifle. The weapon was equipped with an illegal bump stock that allowed it to be fired rapidly, authorities said.
Latest Police & Courts
One police officer was injured in the shootout, and Zaborowski surrendered after being hit by police gunfire. District Attorney Jim Martin ruled the officers were justified in firing on Zaborowski.
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Sonny Sasso was well known in the high school wrestling circuit long before his first varsity match three years ago.
He was the younger brother of Sammy Sasso, Nazareth’s greatest wrestler and the storied program’s career wins, pins and takedown leader.
Sonny Sasso never let any unfair comparisons become distractions in his process to become the best wrestler he could be.
His work ethic, like his brother’s, is now legendary. His determination, like his brother’s, is unrivaled.
“I’m sure when [Sonny] was younger that he was under that shadow a little bit,” Nazareth coach Dave Crowell said. “He’s come out to be his own man, and that’s not always easy to do when you have an older sibling who is noteworthy. He’s his own man. It’s really good to see.”
The junior 189-pounder joined his older brother in March in accomplishing the most difficult task for a Pennsylvania wrestler: He became a PIAA champion.
Sonny Sasso wrecked the competition this season, winning 33 of his 47 matches by pin. Eight other victories were by bonus points. His most impressive victory came after he gave up two first-period takedowns in the state semifinals to fellow unbeaten Mac Stout of Mount Lebanon before dominating the final two periods for a 9-6 win. He finished up with a 5-0 victory of Central Bucks East’s Quinn Collins in the final.
For his dominance, leadership and work ethic, Sasso is The Morning Call all-area Class 3A wrestler of the year.
“He’s a guy who has put in an incredible amount of work and he’s turned into a great wrestler,” Crowell said. “That’s to his credit for sure.”
Sasso still gets pre-match pep talks from his older brother, a three-time NCAA medalist at Ohio State. The conversations have gotten shorter because he’s matured into an elite-level high school wrestler.
“I’ve just grown so much as a wrestler,” Sonny Sasso said. “Everything that he preaches to me, I got it down for the most part. He didn’t say anything but to just go be Sonny Sasso for six minutes and go make it happen.
“Everything he’s been preaching to me for the last 16 years of my life, now I’m trying to do to my teammates.”
Sasso, like his brother, is not the loudest voice the Blue Eagles room. But the eyes of every teammate know where to look when it comes to preparation.
There are no breaks at practice. There are no light workouts. There is one speed all the time.
“What he does, he does it hard,” Crowell said. “He doesn’t accept OK. He’s the hardest worker in our room. He sets the pace. He’s the model, the way I think kids should approach practice and competition.
“Some people are competitors in competition. He’s a competitor to prepare himself for competition. That’s what takes him to that next level. He’s got some talent, too.”
Unlike his brother, Sasso dedicates part of his year to being the starting quarterback on Nazareth’s football team. Wrestling takes a back seat while he plays for coach Tom Falzone, but the mentality is unchanged.
Sasso’s approach began to take shape after losing in the district final as a middle schooler. He realized that in order to be the best he could be he had to work as hard as he could.
“I did not wake up one morning and everything was going to be like that,” he said. “It took a lot of time. I’ve gotten a lot better, the best I’ve ever been by far.
“For eight, nine months a year it’s wrestling. The rest is football. For those eight, nine months, I work a lot harder than everybody else, I tell you that. I believe I’m the hardest worker in this arena. I come from the hardest training regimen in the country. I’ve got everything going for me. There was no reason I wasn’t able to [win a state title] as long as I did all I did in the practice room.
“I train like every practice is my last. It paid off.”
Sasso also has perspective. He acknowledges that high school wrestling in that important in the grand scheme of life.
The son of Rob and Lorraine Sasso is digesting all the lesson being presented to him by Crowell and his staff and preparing to use them in the future stages of his life.
He’ll be expected next season to equal his brother’s two state titles. He’ll be expected to pin most of his opponents. He’ll be expected to win every match.
Those external expectations, however, won’t seep into Sasso’s psyche.
“This wrestling thing, especially in high school, ain’t that big of a deal,” Sasso said. “You lose a couple matches; you win a couple. All in all, I’ve gotten way more out of this sport than winning wrestling matches.
“I try to keep that in the back of my head, the bigger picture. That what my coaches preach. That’s what Nazareth’s program is about.”
Right now, Sonny Sasso is the role model for that program.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com
We rely on the support of our subscribers to fund our journalism. If you’re not already signed up, we hope you will consider subscribing. Already a print subscriber? If you haven’t already, please activate your digital access.
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My wife and I got married eight months ago. Whatever I suggest for the apartment — a paint color, a bathroom fixture — my wife immediately dismisses. For example, the living room couch she wanted was too huge for the space: a really awkward, uncomfortable fit. She kept ignoring objective facts about spatial relations — even after I pulled out a measuring tape and drew a schematic of the room. It occurred to me that her wanting it her way and ignoring my ideas are patterns in our relationship. This feels pretty bad.
— The Husband
There are those of us with special abilities in certain areas. Personally, I have a multi-decade track record in two areas: as a writer and as an automotive moron. (Lift your hood and I’ll identify all the parts: “There’s that round thingie and a bunch of intestine-esque tube-y thingies...”)
Hiring me to write something (ideally for dump trucks of money) suggests you have fabulous taste and superior intelligence. Hiring me to fix your car suggests you lack the mental firepower to pick your nose without assistance.
Men and women, in general, have different spatial abilities — in line with the sexual divisions of labor in the ancestral hunter-gatherer world: male hunters tracking and killing animals and female gatherers doing the “grocery shopping” 2 million-ish years before grocery stores.
Psychologists Irwin Silverman and Marion Eals find that women, across cultures, are vastly better than men — even 60 or 70% better — at “object location.” This is the ability to remember an array of objects in a setting, as well as their placement (relative to the other objects) — basically by pulling up a mental snapshot: “Those nice berries by the cliff; poison ivy near the river — by the dead tree where I found those yummo beetle appetizers.”
Men, on the other hand, are significantly better at “mental rotation”: turning a 3-D object around in their mind and predicting how the object would fit in a certain space — or hurtle through it. This skill allows the outfielder to catch the pop fly, but for Joe Loincloth, being ace at aiming his spear meant his family might dine on wildebeest mignon instead of mealymouthed excuses.
Granted, your wife — like most people — is probably not clued in to the wonders of evolved sex differences in spatial ability. However, you mention that her unwillingness to listen to you is a pattern in various areas of your relationship. And that’s a major problem.
Being ignored — especially by those who matter most to us — takes a bite out of our dignity. Contrast that with somebody giving us their attention — their full attention (meaning listening like we’re about to tip them off on tomorrow’s winning lotto numbers). They’re telling us they respect us. Whatever we have to say is important for them to hear.
That kind of listening doesn’t just come from the ears. Psychologist Carl Rogers, who used it with his therapy clients, described it as “active listening” and explained: “I hear the words, the thoughts, the feeling tones, the personal meaning, even the meaning that is below the conscious intent of the speaker.”
Listening deeply like this starts with setting aside the impulse to “win” — to hammer another person with what you believe. Admittedly, that can be a highly successful tactic — if you’re looking to persuade someone to bolt themselves even more tightly to their position.
Listening is a vital element of a healthy relationship — one in which spouses accept each other’s “influence,” explains marriage researcher John Gottman. This means each spouse makes the other a “partner” in their decision-making: respecting and honoring them and their opinions and feelings. For a marriage to thrive, spouses have to “share the driver’s seat.”
For your marriage to have a chance at thriving, your wife needs to see the benefit in acting as a “we” instead of pressing forward as a “me” (with a large piece of husband-shaped luggage). The direct approach — telling her she needs to change — is likely to be a fail, coming off as a threat to her getting her way and thus triggering not change but rebellion. Instead, tell her how you feel. (For example: hurt, disrespected, and embarrassed that your opinions seem of no interest to her.)
This should evoke her empathy — meaning make her feel bad that you feel bad — which could motivate her to take steps to change (which, by the way, would involve time, practice, and setbacks). Ultimately, she knows being a marital bully is way out of line — assuming her wedding vows didn’t include: “I promise to love, honor, support, blah, blah, blah — uh, providing my husband shuts his complainy yap about having to scale the Couch Alps whenever he wants to grab a beer out of the fridge.”
Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave., #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or email AdviceAmy@aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com). Follow her on Twitter @amyalkon. Order her latest “science-help” book, “Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence.”
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A tornado toppled trees and damaged homes in central Bucks County on Thursday night, the National Weather Service confirmed.
“The storm survey team has determined that a tornado occurred generally in the area of the [Route] 113/313 intersection. Further details including rating and path length will be available later today,” said a tweet posted by NWS Mount Holly early Friday afternoon.
Videos posted to Twitter by Ray Leichner, a drone pilot for EPAWA Weather Consulting, showed uprooted trees and structural damage from the twister that touched down in Perkasie just before 10 p.m.
Last summer, tornadoes caused heavy damage throughout Bucks County, including near Solebury and in Bensalem.
In the Bensalem/Trevose area on July 29, 2021, an EF3 tornado had peak winds up to 140 mph. The most intense damage occurred at car dealerships and an adjacent mobile home park. It was the first EF3 tornado ever recorded in Bucks County, and the first in Pennsylvania since 2004.
The same storm system spawned eight other tornadoes that day, including an EF2 tornado near New Hope, Bucks County, which crossed the Delaware River into Mercer County, with peak winds up to 115 mph.
An EF1 tornado also touched down in Plumstead Township, Bucks County, with peak winds up to 90 mph.
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Just because a report is issued by a group with an official-sounding name, like the American Legislative Exchange Council, doesn’t mean its report is truthful or unbiased.
For example, the article “Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf ranks near bottom of ‘economic freedom’ scorecard; Republicans dominate top of list” (The Morning Call, March 26) The American Legislative Exchange Council is funded by corporations, not legislators, lobbying for legislation that keeps high prices for medical care and prescriptions, defunds unions, removes funding from public schools, allows pollution, and takes away voting rights.
Those are not our American values, and their reporting is worthless.
Dianne Wall-Gillikin
North Whitehall Township
Follow @McallOpinion on Twitter and The Morning Call on Facebook.
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Fans of Big Macs, Chicken McNuggets and Egg McMuffins will soon have a new restaurant to be “lovin’ it” in Upper Saucon Township.
A new McDonald’s eatery, featuring a two-lane drive-thru, self-ordering kiosks and seating capacity for 42 customers, is expected to open in mid-April at 6690 Short Drive, according to franchise owner James McIntyre.
The newly constructed restaurant will operate next to a new Wawa gas station and convenience store at the southwest corner of Route 309 and Passer Road.
A few homes, the former Truly Fine home furnishings store and the former Peppercorn Pub-turned apartment building were razed to make way for the new development.
The restaurant’s opening day will be announced on the business’ Facebook page, and the first 50 customers will receive a free Big Mac every week for a year, McIntyre said.
The new eatery will be the fifth area McDonald’s for McIntyre and his wife, Karen, who together operate under the Jamren McDonald’s business name. The couple also owns McDonald’s locations in Hellertown, Easton, Quakertown and Milford Township.
“I’m a second-generation McDonald’s operator,” James said. “My dad was in it before me. I started in 1996, and then I bought my first restaurant in 2008.”
The McIntyre family aims to support local communities, schools and charities through cooperative fundraising efforts.
At their newest restaurant, just north of Coopersburg, they’re already planning several fundraisers and partnerships, including a Southern Lehigh High School men’s lacrosse fundraiser, 4-8 p.m. April 27, where 20% of all sales go to the team; a National Superhero Day event, April 28, where local firefighters, police officers, EMTs, teachers and veterans receive a free combo meal; a Southern Lehigh Cross Country Booster Club fundraiser, 4-8 p.m. May 23, where 20% of all profits benefit the club; a Saucon Valley Youth Lacrosse fundraiser, 4-8 p.m. June 14, where 20% of sales go to the program; and a food drive partnership with Betty Lou’s Pantry, a ministry of Southern Lehigh area churches, where customers who bring in a designated food item will receive a free food item from McDonald’s.
“We are eager to work with Southern Lehigh School District, their teams, and organizations,” the McIntyres said in a press release last year. “We want to work with local organizations and become a partner in what they do in the community.”
Jamren McDonald’s, in coordination with the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and Southern Lehigh Chamber of Commerce, broke ground on the new eatery in November.
Construction took about four months, and the restaurant has been hosting open interviews for approximately 60 full- and part-time positions on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Hellertown and Quakertown locations.
New roadside signage is expected to be installed on Monday, and open interviews for prospective employees may switch to the new Upper Saucon restaurant beginning next week, McIntyre said. An announcement regarding upcoming hiring events will be made on the business’ Facebook page.
The Upper Saucon McDonald’s, which will be open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, also will host a ribbon-cutting celebration with the Southern Lehigh Chamber of Commerce 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 26.
The ceremony will begin at 11:25 a.m., and the Southern Lehigh High School Marching Band is set to perform.
Additionally, the new McDonald’s restaurant is planning to offer $3 Big Macs during Southern Lehigh Restaurant Week, April 24-30.
“We love working with Jim and his team in other communities across the Lehigh Valley and have seen the tremendous impact he has had for various organizations through their fundraising efforts and partnerships,” said Jessica O’Donnell, executive vice president of Affiliated Chambers and Northern Tier for the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber. “Naturally we are excited to be bringing this community-centric organization into another close-knit municipality to see the dynamics grow and prosper.”
Latest Restaurants
McDonald’s, founded by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1940 in San Bernardino, California, is the world’s leading global foodservice retailer with more than 39,000 locations in 119 countries, including more than two dozen locations throughout the Lehigh Valley region. Approximately 93% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local business owners.
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WASHINGTON — Lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol are increasingly going public with critical statements, court filings and more to deliver a blunt message to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice.
President Donald Trump and his allies likely committed crimes, they say. And it’s up to you to do something about it.
“Attorney General Garland, do your job so we can do ours,” prodded Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia.
“We are upholding our responsibility. The Department of Justice must do the same,” echoed Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
Their rhetoric, focused this week on two contempt of Congress referrals approved by the committee, is just the latest example of the pressure campaign the lawmakers are waging. It reflects a stark reality: While they can investigate Jan. 6 and issue subpoenas to gather information, only the Justice Department can bring criminal charges.
Committee members see the case they are building against Trump and his allies as a once-in-a-generation circumstance. If it’s not fully prosecuted, they say, it could set a dangerous precedent that threatens the foundations of American democracy.
The lawmakers seem nearly certain to send a criminal referral to the Justice Department once their work is through.
It all puts Garland, who has spent his tenure trying to shield the Justice Department from political pressure, in a precarious spot. Any criminal charges related to Jan. 6 would trigger a firestorm, thrusting prosecutors back into the partisan crossfire that proved so damaging during the Trump-Russia influence investigation and an email probe of Hillary Clinton.
Garland has given no public indication about whether prosecutors might be considering a case against the former president. He has, though, vowed to hold accountable “all January 6th perpetrators, at any level” and has said that would include those who were “present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.”
It’s already the largest criminal prosecution in the department’s history — for rioters who entered the Capitol building on Jan. 6 as well as members of extremist groups who are accused of planning the attack. More than 750 people have been charged with federal crimes. Over 220 riot defendants have pleaded guilty, more than 100 have been sentenced and at least 90 others have trial dates.
Parts of the department’s investigation have overlapped with the committee’s. One example is in late January when Justice announced it had opened a probe into a fake slate of electors who falsely tried to declare Trump the winner of the 2020 election in seven swing states that Joe Biden won. Three days later, lawmakers subpoenaed more than a dozen people involved in the effort.
But the Jan. 6 committee wants more. Their message was amplified this week when a federal judge in California — District Judge David Carter, a Bill Clinton appointee — wrote that it is “more likely than not” that Trump himself committed crimes in his attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election.
The practical effect of that ruling was to order the release of more than 100 emails from Trump adviser John Eastman to the Jan. 6 Committee. But lawmakers zeroed in on a particular passage in the judge’s opinion that characterized Jan. 6 as a “coup.”
“Dr. Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history. Their campaign was not confined to the ivory tower—it was a coup in search of a legal theory,” Carter wrote.
But experts caution that Carter’s opinion was only in a civil case and does not meet the longstanding charging policy the Justice Department is required to meet. Justin Danilewitz, a Philadelphia-based attorney and former federal prosecutor, noted the department faces a higher burden of proof in court to show that presidential immunity should not apply. And he said the legal advice Trump received from Eastman “undermines an inference of corrupt or deceitful intent.”
The department will be guided by the evidence and law, he said, “but the social and political ramifications of a decision of this kind will not be far from the minds of Attorney General Garland and his staff.”
“A decision to bring or not bring criminal charges will have significant ripple effects,” he added.
Taylor Budowich, a Trump spokesperson, called the judge’s ruling an “absurd and baseless ruling by a Clinton-appointed Judge in California.” He called the House committee’s investigation a “circus of partisanship.”
Another point of friction with the Justice Department is the effort to enforce subpoenas through contempt of Congress charges.
The House approved a contempt referral against former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in December after he ceased cooperating with the Jan. 6 panel. While an earlier contempt referral against former Trump adviser Steve Bannon resulted in an indictment, the Department of Justice has been slower to decide whether to prosecute Meadows.
“The Department of Justice is entrusted with defending our Constitution,” Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican committee chair, said at a hearing this week. “Department leadership should not apply any doctrine of immunity that might block Congress from fully uncovering and addressing the causes of the January 6 attack.”
A decision to pursue the contempt charges against Meadows would have to come from career prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington before senior Justice Department officials would weigh in and decide how to proceed.
Bringing a case against Meadows would be more challenging for prosecutors than the case against Bannon, in large part because Bannon wasn’t a White House official during the insurrection.
The Justice Department has long maintained that senior aides generally cannot be forced to testify if a president invokes executive privilege, as Trump has done. And bringing charges could risk undermining the longstanding principle that lets the executive branch of the government keep most discussions private.
While the majority of committee members have turned up the pressure on Garland, one member, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, has not gone as far.
“I feel strongly that we restore the tradition of respect for the independence of the law enforcement function,” Raskin told reporters this week. “That was one of the things that got trashed during the Trump period. And so I think that Congress and the president should let the Department of Justice and attorney general do their job.”
Latest Nation/World
“Attorney General Garland is my constituent,” Raskin added, “and I don’t beat up on my constituents.”
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WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that it is ending a policy that limited asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The use of public health powers had been widely criticized by Democrats and immigration advocates as an excuse for the United States to shirk its obligations to provide haven to people fleeing persecution. The policy went into effect under President Donald Trump in March 2020. Since then, migrants trying to enter the U.S. have been expelled more than 1.7 million times.
The policy, known as the Title 42 authority, named for a 1944 public health law to prevent communicable disease, will end on paper, but it will not take effect until May 23, to allow border officials time to prepare. The Associated Press first reported the change earlier this week.
The policy was increasingly hard to justify scientifically as restrictions ended across the U.S.
The federal order says efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to provide vaccines to migrants at the border will step up in the next two months.
“After considering current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19 (such as highly effective vaccines and therapeutics), the CDC director has determined that an order suspending the right to introduce migrants into the United States is no longer necessary,” the CDC said in a statement.
The decision is expected to draw more migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border. Even before it was officially announced, more than a dozen migrants excitedly ran out of their dormitory at the Good Samaritan shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, asking about it.
DHS said this week that about 7,100 migrants were coming daily, compared with an average of about 5,900 a day in February — on pace to match or exceed highs from last year, 2019 and other peak periods. But border officials said they are planning for as many as 18,000 arrivals daily, and that seems certain to cause challenges for border-region Democrats in tight reelection races — with some warning that the Biden administration is unprepared to handle the situation.
Homeland Security said it created a Southwest Border Coordinating Center to respond to any sharp increases, with MaryAnn Tierney, a regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as interim leader and a Border Patrol official as deputy.
Officials also are working on additional ground and air transportation options and tents to house the expected influx, and the Border Patrol has already hired on civilians.
Instead of conducting patrols and uncovering smuggling activity, its agents spend about 40% of their time caring for people already in custody and administrative tasks that are unrelated to border security.
The agency hoped to free up agents to go back into the field by hiring civilians for jobs such as making sure that microwaved burritos are served properly, checking holding cells and the time-consuming work of collecting information for immigration court papers.
Still, administration officials acknowledged the fixes are only temporary measures.
“The Biden-Harris administration is committed to pursuing every avenue within our authority to secure our borders, enforce our laws, and stay true to our values,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “Yet a long-term solution can only come from comprehensive legislation that brings lasting reform to a fundamentally broken system.”
The limits went into place in March 2020 under the Trump administration as coronavirus cases soared. While officials said at the time that it was a way to keep COVID-19 out of the United States, there always has been criticism that the restrictions were used as an excuse to seal the border to migrants unwanted by then-President Donald Trump. It was perhaps the broadest of Trump’s actions to restrict crossings and crack down on migrants.
CDC officials lifted part of the order last month, ending the limits for children traveling to the border alone. In August, U.S. border authorities began testing children traveling alone in their busiest areas: Positives fell to 6% in the first week of March from a high of nearly 20% in early February.
Latest Nation/World
Asylum limits have been applied unevenly by nationality, depending largely on costs and diplomatic relations with home countries. Many migrants have been spared from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and, more recently, Ukraine. Homeland Security officials wrote border authorities this month that Ukrainians may be exempt, saying Russia’s invasion “created a humanitarian crisis.”
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Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, is in advanced talks with MSNBC to join the network after she leaves the Biden administration, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.
Psaki could leave the White House as soon as next month, one of the people said.
While the details of her role are still being discussed, the negotiations have centered on an arrangement in which she could host shows both for MSNBC and for Peacock, the streaming platform of MSNBC’s parent, NBCUniversal. Psaki could also make regular appearances on other MSNBC shows as well as on NBC News, the people said.
Although a deal is not yet finalized and could still fall apart, Psaki is now only talking with NBCUniversal officials, the two people said. CNN had also been pursuing bringing Psaki aboard, one of them said.
Axios earlier reported the news of Psaki’s discussions with NBC.
In a statement, the White House said, “We don’t have anything to confirm about Jen’s length of planned service or any consideration about future plans. Jen is here and working hard every day on behalf of the president to get you the answers to the questions that you have, and that’s where her focus is.”
Psaki joined the Biden administration as the president’s first press secretary. She had previously worked as White House communications director during the Obama administration and had been the chief spokesperson for John Kerry when he was secretary of state.
Psaki revived the daily White House briefing, a tradition that mostly fell by the wayside in the Trump years, and has won praise for her adroit, if sometimes evasive, handling of reporters’ questions.
Her spiky exchanges with Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy are often shared widely on social media platforms. On TikTok, the phrase “Psaki Bomb” is invoked by liberals who enjoy seeing her rebukes to Doocy’s queries.
Earlier this year, NBC also hired Vice President Kamala Harris’ former spokesperson, Symone D. Sanders, to host a show for MSNBC and Peacock.
Latest Nation/World
c.2021 The New York Times Company
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The United States will open its return to the World Cup against the winner of a European playoff among Ukraine, Wales and Scotland, then face England and Iran in high-profile rematches of games played during tournaments of the past quarter-century.
The 15th-ranked Americans were drawn Friday to start against the European playoff winner on Nov. 21, the tournament’s opening day in Qatar. The U.S. plays No. 5 England on Nov. 25 and closes the group stage against No. 21 Iran on Nov. 29.
“It’s a good group,” U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter said.
No. 39 Scotland hosts 27th-ranked Ukraine in June in a playoff delayed from March because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. A few days later, the winner goes to No. 18 Wales, which advanced last week with a 2-1 win over Austria.
“Three strong teams,” Berhalter said. “Two pretty similar with Wales and Scotland and then one different with Ukraine. So we’re going to have to be preparing for all three.”
European club matches are scheduled for Nov. 12 and 13, so Nov. 15 is likely the first day Berhalter will have his entire roster available ahead of the opener.
“That’s the negative, is that you have very little time to prepare,” Berhalter said. “Guys will come over. They will have been playing on the weekend, and we’ll get them literally a week before the World Cup, and that’s a challenge. On the positive side, if we advance, you get a little bit more rest as you head into the next phase.”
If the U.S. advances, it would play in the round of 16 on Dec. 3 or 4 against Ecuador, Netherlands, Qatar or Senegal.
In the group stage of the 1950 World Cup, the U.S. famously upset England 1-0 at Belo Horizonte, Brazil, behind Joe Gaetjens’ 38th-minute goal. The Americans opened the 2010 tournament with a 1-1 draw against the Three Lions in South Africa. Steven Gerrard put England ahead in the fourth minute at Rustenberg, but Clint Dempsey tied the score in the 40th when his 25-yard shot skipped off the grass twice and bounced in off Robert Green’s hand.
“With England, it’s always an exciting game. There’s always a lot of attention around that game,” Berhalter said. “We’re familiar with a lot of their players.”
Iran upset the U.S. 2-1 at the 1998 World Cup in France, eliminating the Americans after their second game of the tournament. Hamid Estili scored in the 40th minute and Mehdi Mahdavikia in the 84th at Lyon, and current U.S. men’s national team general manager Brian McBride scored in the 87th.
This year’s World Cup is the first to be moved from its traditional June/July period, a shift to get away from the summer heat in the desert. As a result, the tournament will be played in the middle of European club seasons and overlap with the NFL and college football seasons in the U.S.
Since losing to Germany in the 2002 quarterfinals, the U.S. was eliminated in the group stage in 2006 and the round of 16 in 2010, both times by Ghana, and the Americans exited the 2014 tournament with an extra-time loss to Belgium in the round of 16. The U.S. failed to qualify for the 2018 tournament.
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When Will Smith slapped Chris Rock over an Oscars ceremony punchline, other comedians felt the sting.
“I know Chris and I know what it’s like to be on a stage in front of an audience that doesn’t like your material,” said stand-up comedian Judy Gold. “But to be physically assaulted, that’s a whole other thing. It felt like every comedian was smacked across the face. It really felt like that.”
Smith’s act comes during a stressful time for comedy. While boundaries for humor constantly shift — think George Carlin’s 1972 monologue on seven so-called “dirty words” banned by TV — comics say they have felt increased pushback from audiences and society. Comedy great Dave Chappelle drew sharp criticism last year for what some deemed anti-transgender humor in his Netflix special “The Closer.” Kathy Griffin’s career was derailed in 2017 when she was photographed holding a mock-up of former President Donald Trump’s head.
Some comedians expressed concern that Smith’s behavior might embolden other displeased audience members.
“No one went up to Chris Rock and said, ‘Are you OK?’” Sheryl Underwood, co-host of “The Talk,” said on the show Tuesday. “I’m going to say this as a comic, I am afraid now to get on a stage, because in my third show, when everyone’s been drinking, if you don’t like my joke, do you now believe that you can get up and slap me? There’s got to be accountability quicker.”
Griffin tweeted that “now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theaters.”
“Which is the worst crime here?” veteran comedian Gilbert Gottfried said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Chris Rock being physically assaulted? Or Chris Rock making a joke? That’s it, pure and simple. He made a joke.”
Dean Obeidallah, a lawyer and stand-up comic who hosts a show on the SiriusXM Progress channel, said there is never “a place for a violent response to a joke” but doubted there would be copycat behavior. In his time in comedy clubs, he’s seen yelling, screaming and, once, a glass thrown at somebody. But he’s never seen a punch thrown, nor a comedian slapped.
“If someone were to strike a comedian, they’re going to be prosecuted criminally. They don’t have the privilege that Will Smith has,” Obeidallah said.
The Los Angeles Police Department said Sunday that it was aware of the incident, but Rock had declined to file a police report. Smith stayed through the rest of the ceremony Sunday and received the best-actor Oscar.
Gold said she’s been confronted but never struck, and she knows other female comedians have faced difficult circumstances. “People have been getting on stage, people have thrown things,” she said.
Comedian-actor Yamaneika Saunders calls Smith’s behavior upsetting and Sunday a sad day for “two beloved Black men in entertainment.” She also views what happened through the lens of a “Black woman in comedy.’’
“I’m constantly being threatened....by some man who doesn’t like some (expletive) I said about being a woman, some white guy who doesn’t like some (expletive) I said about being Black,” she said.
Insult humor isn’t new to high-profile ceremonies, which call on comics to liven up what can be tedious events. Ricky Gervais made a meal of celebrities at successive Golden Globe ceremonies, and they grin — or grimace — and bear it. The most famous bad sport: Trump at the 2011 White House correspondents’ dinner, where he sat stone-faced during then-President Barack Obama’s extended ribbing of him.
Rock wasn’t the first to tweak Smith or wife Jada Pinkett Smith at Sunday’s Oscars. Ceremony co-host Regina Hall made what appeared to be a veiled joke about their marriage in trying, unsuccessfully, to draw Smith into a comedy bit.
Rock’s wisecrack was targeted at Pinkett Smith. “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it,” the comedian said to Pinkett Smith, whose close-shaven head looked similar to Demi Moore’s in the 1997 movie. Whether Rock was aware that she has a hair-loss condition, alopecia, is unknown, but Smith reacted with the smack and an angry warning to “keep my wife’s name out your (expletive) mouth!”
A tearful Smith later accepted the top acting award for “King Richard,” his somewhat remorseful speech eliciting a standing ovation from the Dolby Theatre crowd. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has since condemned Smith’s attack and said it’s reviewing the matter.
Whatever the result, his actions indelibly marred the ceremony and ignited discussions about violence, toxic masculinity and the advantages of fame. Smith, who’d conspicuously left Rock out of his remarks Sunday, apologized to the comic and decried “violence in all of its forms” in a statement the next day issued by his publicist and posted on Instagram.
Pinkett Smith’s first public comment came in an Instagram post in which she said, “This is a season for healing and I’m here for it.” Rock referred briefly to the slap at a comedy show Wednesday in Boston, saying he was “still kind of processing what happened.” He appeared to become emotional as the audience gave him several standing ovations.
Whatever pushback comedians may encounter on stage, verbal or physical, they have to guard against censoring themselves to avoid it — and they will, said Obeidallah: “They shouldn’t change, and there’s nothing about this that tells me that they will change.”
They can’t because their role goes beyond providing laughs, as comedians see it.
“We are the truth tellers. We speak truth to power,” said Gold, author of the 2020 book, “Yes, I Can Say That: When They Come for the Comedians, We Are All in Trouble.”
Gottfried cites a favorite Carlin quote — “It’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately” — and can’t resist serving up a punchline.
“If Will Smith is reading this, dear God, please don’t come to my shows,” he said.
AP Television Writer Lynn Elber reported from Los Angeles, AP Media Writer David Bauder from New York.
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NORFOLK, VA. — COVID-19 hospitalization numbers have plunged to their lowest levels since the early days of the pandemic, offering a much needed break to health care workers and patients alike following the omicron surge.
The number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus has fallen more than 90% in more than two months, and some hospitals are going days without a single COVID-19 patient in the ICU for the first time since early 2020.
The freed up beds are expected to help U.S. hospitals retain exhausted staff, treat non-COVID-19 patients more quickly and cut down on inflated costs. More family members can visit loved ones. And doctors hope to see a correction to the slide in pediatric visits, yearly checkups and cancer screenings.
“We should all be smiling that the number of people sitting in the hospital right now with COVID, and people in intensive care units with COVID, are at this low point,” said University of South Florida epidemiologist Jason Salemi.
But, he said, the nation “paid a steep price to get to this stage. ... A lot of people got sick and a lot of people died.”
The average number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the last week nationwide dropped to 11,860, the lowest since 2020 and a steep decline from the peak of more than 145,000 set in mid-January. The previous low was 12,041 last June, before the delta variant took hold. The optimistic trend is also clear in ICU patient numbers, which have dipped to fewer than 2,000, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“We’re beginning to be able to take a breath,” said Dr. Jeffrey Weinstein, the patient safety officer for the Kettering Health hospital system in western Ohio.
COVID-19 patients had filled 30% of Kettering Health’s nearly 1,600 hospital beds back in January, Weinstein said. Kettering’s eight hospitals now average two to three COVID-19 admissions a day — and sometimes zero.
And while Salemi agreed this is a good time for an exhausted health care system to take a breath, he warned that the public health community needs to keep an eye on the BA.2 subvariant of omicron. It’s driving increases in hospitalizations in Britain, and is now estimated to make up more than half of U.S. infections.
“We’re probably under-detecting true infections now more than at any other time during the pandemic,” Salemi said.
For now at least, many hospitals are noting the low numbers.
In California on Thursday, UC Davis Health tweeted that its intensive care unit had no COVID-19 patients for two consecutive days for the first time in two years.
“The first COVID-19 patient to arrive in our ICU did so in February 2020, and the unit treated at least one positive individual every day since, for at least 761 consecutive days,” the hospital system said.
Toby Marsh, the chief nursing and patient care services officer, said in a statement that they hope the numbers “are indicative of a sustained change.”
In Philadelphia, patients are spending less time in the Temple University Health System because there are no longer backlogs for MRIs, CT scans and lab tests, said Dr. Tony Reed, the chief medical officer.
Temple Health’s three hospitals had six adult COVID-19 patients on Thursday, likely its lowest patient count since March 2020, Reed said.
During the omicron surge, patients waited as long as 22 hours for a routine MRI, which is normally done within 12 hours. Longer waits affected those who came in with trouble walking — and in a lot of pain — for example, because of a herniated disc pinching their sciatic nerve.
“Nobody wants to stay in the hospital a day longer than they have to,” Reed said.
The emptying of beds is also helping patients in rural areas, said Jay Anderson, the chief operating officer for Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. During the surges, the hospital faced challenges accepting people from community hospitals who needed elevated care for brain tumors, advanced cancer and stroke. That burden is now being lifted.
Visitors also will return in higher numbers, starting Tuesday. Ohio State will no longer restrict patients to two designated guests, who could only stop by separately.
“Patients heal better when they have access to their family and loved ones,” Anderson said.
Doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists are also getting a much needed break in some areas.
In Colorado, Dr. Michelle Barron said the consistently low COVID-19 hospitalizations prompted smiles among staff, even as she double-checks the numbers to make sure they’re actually correct.
“I had one of these moments like, oh this is amazing,” said Barron, medical director of infection prevention and control at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. “It feels unreal.”
UCHealth loosened some restrictions, including dropping testing requirements for anyone who entered a facility. And while that produced some anxiety among staffers, Barron says the numbers haven’t spiked.
“I think some people have started to take vacations and not feel guilty,” she said. “I had spring break with my kids and it was a level of happiness where I went, oh my god, this is actually normal.”
The omicron surge had stretched staff at work — but also at home, said Dr. Mike Hooper, chief medical officer for Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in southeastern Virginia.
“It was stressful to be at the store ... to visit your family,” Hooper said. “We’re all hoping that some ‘return to normalcy’ will help people deal with the inherent stresses of being part of the health care team.”
But just because hospitalizations are down does not mean hospitals are empty, said Dr. Frank Johnson, chief medical officer for St. Luke’s Health System in Idaho.
Some measures — like wearing masks in certain settings — will remain in place.
“I don’t know when we may go back to old practices regarding mask wearing in our clinical areas,” Johnson said. “We’ve seen some benefits of that in terms of reduction in the number of other viral infections.”
In the meantime, the public health community is keeping an eye on the BA.2 subvariant of omicron.
Salemi, the University of South Florida epidemiologist, said the increase in at-home testing means that more results are not being included in official coronavirus case counts. Therefore, wastewater surveillance will be the early warning signal to watch, he said.
“BA.2 is here,” he said. “We don’t have to look that far in the rear-view mirror to know things can change very rapidly. We saw what happened with delta. We saw what happened with omicron.... We don’t want to wait until we see a lot of people hospitalized before we take action.”
Latest Nation/World
Kruesi reported from Nashville, Tennessee. AP Medical writer Carla K. Johnson in Washington state contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden marked Transgender Day of Visibility on Thursday by denouncing “hateful bills” being passed at the state level as the White House played host to “Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider, the first openly transgender winner on the popular quiz show.
Schneider met with second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who joined Rachel Levine, the assistant health secretary and the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the Senate, for a conversation with transgender kids and their parents.
Schneider used the moment in the Washington spotlight to speak out against bills affecting transgender people.
“They’re really scary and some of them in particular that are denying medical services to trans youth, those are, those are lifesaving medical treatments,” Schneider told reporters. “These bills will cause the deaths of children and that’s really sad to me and it’s really frightening.”
Biden, in a brief video message, said that “the onslaught of anti-transgender state laws attacking you and your families is simply wrong.” The president said his administration “is standing up for you against all these hateful bills. And we’re committed to advancing transgender equality in the classroom, on the playing field, at work, in our military and our housing and health care systems.”
The administration announced several actions to make the federal government more inclusive for transgender people and said the Health and Human Services Department will be the first agency to fly a trans pride flag.. The steps come as Republican leaders have advanced state measures targeting transgender people as part of a broader push to stoke culture wars heading into a critical election season.
The administration said the federal government will become more inclusive for transgender people, including through the use of a new “X” gender marker on U.S. passport applications, beginning on April 11, and new Transportation Security Administration scanners that are gender-neutral.
It is working to expand the availability of the “X” gender marker to airlines and federal travel programs and will make it easier for transgender people to change their gender information in Social Security Administration records.
Visitors to the White House complex soon will also be able to choose an “X” gender marker option in the White House Worker and Visitor Entry System, which is used to conduct screening background checks.
At airports, changes will be made to screening scanners along with the introduction of the use of an “X” for travelers going through Precheck who do not identify as male or female. Transportation Security Administration agents will receive new instructions on how to make screening procedures less invasive and will work with airlines to promote acceptance of the “X” gender marker.
“Jeopardy!” star Schneider spoke of “being a trans person out there that isn’t monstrous and isn’t threatening and is just a normal person, like we all are,” and said “the more that people like me can be seen, the harder it is to sustain the myths that are ... kind of driving a lot of this hate and fear.”
In his video, Biden said there is work still to be done to end “the epidemic of violence against transgender women of color and girls of color” and to ensure that transgender seniors “can age with dignity.” He called anew on Congress to pass the Equality Act to help transgender people around the world “live free from discrimination and violence.”
Biden tried to reassure any transgender person who is struggling, telling them to remember that “you’re not alone.”
“You’re so brave. You belong. And we have your back,” Biden said.
The administration’s actions follow recent steps at the state level to limit activity by transgender people. At least 10 states have banned transgender athletes from participating in sports at all levels in a way that is consistent with their gender identity.
In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is seeking reelection, has ordered the state’s child welfare agency to probe reports of gender-confirming care for kids as abuse.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who is running for reelection and considering a 2024 presidential bid, on Monday signed into law a measure that bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. The law has drawn intense national scrutiny from critics who argue it marginalizes LGBTQ people. Republicans and advocates of the law argue that discussion of these topics should be between parents and their children.
Latest Nation/World
Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, and Colleen Long and Ben Fox contributed to this report.
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At the height of the pandemic lockdowns in May 2020, more than one-third of U.S. workers were doing their jobs at least partly from home, shifting perceptions of workplace flexibility. Ever since, the share of workers telecommuting because of COVID-19 has steadily declined, falling to 22.7% of the workforce in February 2021 and 10% last month, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Now those numbers appear likely to dip lower. Many employers have heightened their calls for workers to come to the office in recent weeks, with companies including Goldman Sachs, Meta, Microsoft and Chevron asking some employees back, even as COVID case counts begin to climb again in some areas and mask mandates drop.
“You see now lots of companies, big and small, starting to put stakes in the ground saying we want our people back in the office,” said Mark Ein, chair of Kastle Systems, a building security firm whose tracker placed U.S. office occupancy at 40% last month.
But return-to-office plans have been met with skepticism from people who say working from home improves productivity and mental health. Some workers of color said telecommuting enabled them to avoid insensitive comments they faced in the office.
“When I’m in a room that’s not as diverse, they automatically think of me as the secretary,” said Eleanore Fernandez, 50, an arts employee in the Bay Area who switched to working remotely during the pandemic.
Some employers are reopening their workplaces but making commitments to long-term flexibility. AppDirect, a software company with 850 employees worldwide, called its return-to-office plan Janus — for the Roman god of transitions and beginnings — to signal that the next phase of on-site work will not look like pre-pandemic times. Employees are not required to come back if they prefer to stay home.
“We’re not saying that in office is better or working at home is better — we’re leaving it to be a choice,” said Deb Tenenbaum, AppDirect’s head of human resources.
Tenenbaum joined the company just before the pandemic and said she was excited by the prospect of building relationships and learning more about colleagues through in-person meetings.
“Maybe how tall they are,” she said jokingly.
Latest Nation/World
c.2021 The New York Times Company
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HONOLULU — The late Native Hawaiian hula teacher Edith Kanaka’ole is among five women who will be individually featured on U.S. quarters next year as part of a program that depicts notable women on the coins.
The U.S. Mint said Wednesday the other side of each quarter will show George Washington.
It described Kanaka’ole, who died in 1978, as a composer, chanter, dancer, teacher and entertainer.
“Her moʻolelo, or stories, served to rescue aspects of Hawaiian history, customs and traditions that were disappearing due to the cultural bigotry of the time,” it said in a news release.
The Edith Kanaka’ole Foundation in Hilo, which was established in 1990 to perpetuate her and her husband Luka Kanaka’ole’s teachings, said she has been recognized as “the preeminent practitioner of modern Hawaiian culture and language.”
The U.S. Mint said the other four women to appear on the coin next year were: Bessie Coleman, the first African American and first Native American woman pilot; Eleanor Roosevelt, first lady and author; Jovita Idár, the Mexican American journalist and activist; and Maria Tallchief, who was America’s first prima ballerina.
This year, the program is issuing coins featuring five other women, including poet Maya Angelou and astronaut Sally Ride.
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DETROIT — In the long debate over whether Black Americans should be granted reparations for the atrocity and injustices of slavery and racism, California took a big step this week toward becoming the first U.S. state to make some form of restitution a reality.
The state’s reparations task force tackled the divisive issue of which Black residents should be eligible — it narrowly decided in favor of limiting compensation to the descendants of free and enslaved Black people who were in the U.S. in the 19th century.
Whether Tuesday’s vote by the task force spurs other states and cities to advance their own proposals, and whether they adopt California’s still controversial standard for who would benefit, remains to be seen. Some veteran reparations advocates disagree strongly with proposals to limiting eligibility to only Black people who can prove they have enslaved ancestors, while excluding those who cannot and leaving out victims of other historic injustices, such as redlining and mass incarceration.
Still, one advocate noted California’s move is a step that could lend momentum to stalled reparation proposals elsewhere in the U.S.
“It’s precipitated a debate and it will influence communities,” said Ron Daniels, president of The Institute of the Black World 21st Century and administrator of the National African American Reparations Commission, an advocacy group of scholars and activists.
As to whether others will adopt the same approach to eligibility, Daniels said: “That’s to be decided. ... We think that ultimately a more expansive definition will prevail.”
The commission headed by Daniels has taken a position that limiting reparations to slave descendants, or to Americans whose ancestors were free Blacks living during the time of slavery, ignores the effects of racism that persisted for more than a century after emancipation.
“There are always going to be criteria” for reparations, Daniels said. “The problem is the harms have been so gross that almost no Black person is not eligible in some form or another.”
Although there is still debate among historians about when exactly the practice began, chattel slavery in what would become the U.S. dates back to 1619 when about 20 enslaved Africans were brought to Jamestown, Virginia — then a British colony. Over the next two centuries, more than 300,000 men, women and children were forcibly taken from Africa to work on plantations in southern colonies and later the Southern states, according to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and maintained by Rice University.
Slavery in the U.S. officially ended in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment. Union Army General William Sherman promised compensation to freed slaves in the form of land and mules to farm it — hence the phrase “40 acres and a mule” — after the North’s victory over the South in the Civil War. But President Andrew Johnson took away the offer.
More than 120 years later, then-Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, first introduced H.R. 40, a bill that would create a federal commission to study reparations and make proposals. Conyers reintroduced it in every congressional session until he resigned in 2017. As a candidate, President Joe Biden said he supported creating the commission, but has yet to formally back it as commander-in-chief. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, is currently the lead sponsor of the House bill.
Getting governmental leaders to openly consider slavery reparations has been daunting and taken decades. But progress has been made at both the state and local levels, particularly since the national reckoning on racial injustice that was sparked after the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
In Michigan, legislative proposals submitted earlier this year in the House of Representatives call for $1.5 billion in federal dollars to be placed in a racial equity and reparations fund within the state’s treasury. The funds would be issued to various state departments and agencies to provide grants, loans and other economic assistance for businesses and economic developments that promote the Black community.
The bills have yet to receive a hearing in the House.
Last year, Evanston, Illinois, — the first U.S. city to find a source of funding for reparations — began giving eligible Black residents $25,000 housing grants for down payments, repairs or existing mortgages. The program is meant to atone for the history of racial redlining and housing discrimination. Recipients were selected randomly from among the applicants, Black residents who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969.
And in Providence, Rhode Island, the mayor announced a city commission on reparations in February that will look to atone for the city’s role in slavery and systemic racism, as well as the mistreatment of Native Americans.
For Anita Belle, a grassroots activist in Detroit, where residents in the mostly Black city voted in November to create a city reparations commission, getting to this point in the pursuit of reparations is cause for celebration. But what happens next is worrisome, especially when it comes to who gets what and how much, she said.
“I am happy for all of us who have been doing the groundwork for all these years,” said Belle, founder of the Reparations Labor Union. “We are somewhat afraid that these people who have jumped on the bandwagon are actually there to sabotage it and make reparations $12.62, if that. There will be those saboteurs — people who look like us, but have hidden agendas.”
“You have some of that fear in California where the scope for reparations was narrowed to the people who can prove they were enslaved,” she added. “The people of California will be like ‘why am I paying reparations for someone who was enslaved in Mississippi?’”
In California, the task force is taking the next step with economists to determine the cost of compensating more than 2 million Black residents, although all of them would not be eligible. Following slavery abolition, Black migration to California happened primarily in the immediate decades after World War II, with newly arrived African Americans settling in cities like Oakland, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The Black population there rose from just under a half-million residents, or 4.4% of the population, in 1950 to 1.4 million residents, or 7% of the population, by 1970. Decades later, the 2020 census recorded 2.1 million Black residents in California, or about 5.3% of the state’s population.
While proposals and who would be eligible appear to vary, they still are types of reparations, according to Rashawn Ray, senior fellow of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution.
“California chose to focus on enslavement of Black people,” Ray said. “In Evanston, it’s redlining and housing segregation. Both are issues that need restitution to them based on what the wrong is.”
But, Ray added, “Federal reparations — without a doubt and hands-down — that’s what we need. What is happening in California should be happening in Congress.”
As a former alderman for the city of Evanston, Illinois, and a longtime reparations advocate, Robin Rue Simmons said reaching consensus on eligibility can be tough because policymakers should be as expansive and inclusive as possible, while also identifying specific harms that they’re seeking to address.
The big step taken by California could help spur action on reparations proposals in other cities and states, Simmons said, and perhaps add pressure for the federal government to act, which she sees as critical.
She doesn’t expect California’s lineage-based eligibility standard to become the norm.
“I don’t think any community should think that another has figured it out for them,” Simmons said, “because every community is going to have their own priorities and their specific history.”
Latest Nation/World
Bynum reported from Savannah, Ga. AP writers Janie Har in San Francisco and Michael Schneider in Orlando contributed to this story.
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BELGRADE, SERBIA — Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who has fostered close ties with Russia and refused to impose sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, is expected to extend his almost 10-year grip on power in the Balkan country when it holds national elections on Sunday.
Polls predict that Vucic, a populist who has boasted about his personal ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, will win another five-year term as president. His right-wing Serbian Progressive Party also is expected to continue to dominate the country’s parliament.
But polls indicated a close local government race in the capital, Belgrade. A loss for Vucic’s party there could undermine his increasingly autocratic rule.
Most political parties taking part in the presidential, general and municipal elections lean right, reflecting the conservative stands prevalent among Serbia’s 6.5 million voters. But a new Green-left coalition campaigning on the need to tackle long-neglected environmental problems also is fielding candidates.
Opposition party officials say Russia’s war in Ukraine has only strengthened Vucic’s dominance of Serbian politics and the mainstream media. Soon after Russian tanks entered Ukraine, the president’s election slogan changed to “Peace. Stability. Vucic.”
“The war has diverted public attention from what is happening in Serbia and of course, with media support, enabled Vucic to blame the crisis for everything that is wrong in Serbia,” Dragan Djilas, a leader of the biggest opposition coalition United Serbia, said in an interview.
“Articles are published here every day about how a kilogram of bread costs 9 euros in Italy and Germany, how they have no fuel, how they will have food stamps and how great we are,” Djilas said. “People are scared, and it always suits the authorities because people say, ‘Let’s not change anything now.’”
Serbia, a traditional Russian ally, has rejected calls from the European Union and the United States to join in sanctions against Moscow, citing national interests. The country’s representative to the United Nations did vote in favor of a resolution condemning Moscow’s attack on Ukraine as a violation of international law.
Despite the Serbian government saying it is seeking EU membership, Vucic and his allies have refrained from condemning Russia over the invasion, a possible sign they want to avoid alienating pro-Russia voters ahead of Sunday’s election.
Much of the pro-Russia sentiments among Serbs comes from their hatred of NATO; the Western military alliance bombed the country in 1999 to stop a bloody Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence for Kosovo, a Serbian province at the time.
Former Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that imposing sanctions on Russia would be tantamount to “political suicide” because Moscow has blocked U.N. membership for Kosovo which declared independence in 2008.
“If we are ready to give up Kosovo, then we can impose sanctions on Russia,” Dacic said. “But if we are not ready, then we cannot.”
Thousands of people in Serbia have turned out for pro-Putin rallies during the five-week invasion, waving Russian flags and displaying the letter Z - a symbol seen on Russian military vehicles in Ukraine. The support for Moscow makes Serbia somewhat of an outlier in Europe.
Opposition officials said that despite Vucic’s almost full control of the media and the pro-Russian narrative that has been created leading up to the elections, they expect a good result on Sunday.
“As far as we are concerned, the situation in Ukraine was very clear. It is about Russian aggression, and we immediately condemned it,” Dobrica Veselinovic, who is running for mayor of Belgrade as the candidate of the environmentalist We Must coalition.
Election polls predict Vucic will win the presidential election outright on Sunday. If he does not receive more that 50% of the vote, he would face an unpredictable runoff in two weeks, likely against opposition candidate Zdravko Ponos, a Western-educated former army general.
The election for National Assembly lawmakers was not scheduled until 2024, but Vucic called an early vote after criticism from the EU that Serbia’s 2020 election had not been free and fair. The opposition boycotted that election.
“I don’t see any difference between these elections and those two years ago,” political analyst Slobodan Stupar said. “A parliament will be formed in which Vucic will have fewer lawmakers than now. He will be able to tell Europe, ‘Yes, we are a democratic country. See how many enemies I have in parliament.’”
Latest Nation/World
Associated Press Writer Jovana Gec contributed.
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HARRISBURG — Conor Lamb is accusing rival John Fetterman in Pennsylvania’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary of skipping candidate forums to avoid talking about a 2013 incident when, shotgun in hand, he confronted a Black man because he suspected the man was involved in gunfire nearby.
The accusation more directly inserts issues of race into a campaign that could hinge on which candidate appeals to Black voters. It might also damage Fetterman and his party with a key voting bloc whose support would be important should he become the Democratic candidate in the general election in November.
The accusation marks a sharp escalation in tone between candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s May 17 Senate primary election. The contest to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey represents perhaps the Democrats’ best opportunity to pick up a seat in the closely divided Senate.
Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, announced Thursday that he would not attend Sunday’s debate at Muhlenberg College with Lamb and fellow Democrat, Malcolm Kenyatta. He has insisted he isn’t skipping forums for any such reason, and has repeatedly maintained that he was acting as a mayor concerned for public safety and confronted the man, not knowing his race.
Fetterman has spoken before of how he believed he had heard gunfire while outside his home in the small town of Braddock when he was mayor in 2013. He has said he pursued a mask- and goggle-wearing man he saw running nearby, covered head to toe in the cold January weather, pulling out a shotgun until police arrived.
The man — Christopher Miyares, who is Black — was unarmed and said in a TV interview afterward that he had been jogging when Fetterman, who is white, pulled up in his pickup and pointed the shotgun at him. Fetterman has denied pointing the shotgun at Miyares and said it wasn’t loaded.
On Thursday night, Lamb, a third-term congressman, took to Twitter to raise the episode, which has bubbled just below the surface of a primary campaign that previously had been relatively cordial.
“We all know why John Fetterman isn’t coming to the debate on Sunday,” Lamb wrote. “He doesn’t want to talk about the fact that he chased down an unarmed Black man and held him at gunpoint. That’s the elephant in the room. And we have to talk about it.”
Kenyatta, who is Black, said in an interview that Fetterman “needs to leave the candidate protection program and actually publicly debate his record.”
Fetterman has missed several forums, including one hosted by a predominantly Black church in Philadelphia. He has previously denied avoiding forums for anything other than legitimate scheduling conflicts or unforeseen family circumstances.
His campaign pointed out Friday that it has agreed to join three televised debates in coming weeks and that Fetterman has joined numerous other forums.
A Franklin & Marshall College poll in February found that Fetterman appeared to have an early lead in the Democratic primary, but many voters are undecided.
Fetterman’s campaign suggested that Lamb, who is white, is raising the encounter now because he isn’t breaking through with voters.
“The people of Braddock understand that, as the town’s mayor and chief law enforcement officer, John was acting to keep his community safe,” Rebecca Katz, an adviser to Fetterman’s campaign, said in an email.
Braddock — a town that is about 70% Black — reelected Fetterman 10 months later “because they know this incident had nothing to do with race,” Katz said.
Meanwhile, Fetterman and Miyares have each accused the other of lying.
Fetterman said he didn’t know Miyares’ race when he got into his pickup truck to pursue him. He also has suggested that Miyares was involved in something untoward that he was running away from.
Police never charged Fetterman or Miyares in the matter.
In a letter to The Philadelphia Inquirer last year, Miyares — writing from state prison, where he is serving time in an unrelated case — insisted that Fetterman knew he was Black and not only pointed the shotgun at him, but also loaded it.
The subject has shadowed the campaign trail. A political action committee that supports Black candidates, including Kenyatta, raised it early last year and used it in advertisements on radio stations popular with Black listeners.
Republicans also have used it to attack Fetterman. But until Thursday night, a Democratic rival had not used it in such a public way to go after Fetterman.
Kenyatta and Lamb warn that the episode remains a liability for Fetterman, especially if he wins the primary.
“That’s a huge problem when we’re picking our nominee for the biggest race in the country,” Lamb wrote on Twitter.
Kenyatta, a state lawmaker, said the situation could have ended badly for Miyares as a Black man and that an apology from Fetterman would show people that he understands he may have made a mistake.
“For years now, John has failed to apologize for his vigilante behavior and he doesn’t even own the fact that what he did was dangerous and wrong,” Kenyatta said.
Latest Pennsylvania News
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A former manager of a True Value Hardware store in Lehigh County stole more than $160,000 from the business during a period stretching more than three years, police say.
Damian Vansuch, 51, of Lower Macungie Township, faces felony charges of theft and receiving stolen property, according to a news release from state police. He was arraigned Tuesday by District Judge Jacob Hammond and released on $20,000 bail.
Vansuch was manager of the True Value store on Route 873 in North Whitehall Township when he stole $163,223.41 between December 2015 and January 2019, according to police. The theft, which was reported in February 2019, was discovered during an audit by the store owner.
Vansuch, who was manager at the time, stole cash from store bank deposits, police said.
A telephone message seeking comment with Vansuch’s attorney listed on court documents, Cameron Deane of Bensalem, Bucks County, was not returned.
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The Parkland High School girls basketball team was mired in a three-game losing streak and its record dropped to 8-7 in the third week of January.
So what did the team do at the next practice? Well, they played a game of dodgeball, of course. That was one of the many ways fourth-year Trojans coach Ed Ohlson kept his girls loose as the team tried to find its way in what was turning into a disappointing season.
Soon after, Parkland beat two teams — Northampton and Central Catholic — that had defeated the Trojans earlier in the season. They went on to win seven straight games. Then, in the Class 6A District 11 tournament, they came back from second-half, double-digit deficits against Easton and Northampton to claim the school’s fourth district title and first in eight seasons.
Parkland finished at 19-9, winning 11 of its final 13 games.
Today, The Morning Call names Ohlson as the 2021-22 girls basketball coach of the year. Ohlson was also named a boys coach of the year at Northampton by The Morning Call in 2008 when he shared the honor with the late Todd Rothrock of Liberty.
“We were just not in sync,” Ohlson said of the malaise the team was in. “Everybody on the team is good friends but I told them to be a good team we needed to share the ball more and give 100% at all times. We just needed to focus a little more. Then we beat two pretty good teams and the girls were thinking, ‘Hey, maybe we are a good team.’ We took off after that.”
“His actions were never negative,” said Amanda Wolf, an assistant at Parkland for 13 seasons including the last four as Ohlson’s varsity assistant. “Instead of bashing the team we played dodgeball the next day. He knew how to keep the team super loose and brought some fun back to the game.”
Ohlson, a native of Long Island, came to the area when his job as a technology project manager at Dun & Bradstreet was relocated in 1988. He and his wife, Diane, have three children — Kristin Johns, Kevin and Ed.
“My favorite thing I’ve learned from Coach Ohlson are in-game situations,” said Wolf, a starting senior guard on the Parkland team that won the school’s only state title in 2006. “He’s so quick on his feet it’s like he has everything in his back pocket. He’s so reactive. And there’s never panic. Everybody stayed calm during the rough patch and we stayed a steady course as we began to win again.”
The team was fairly young with a freshman point guard in Delaney Chilcote. Its top scorers were sophomores Talia Zurinskas (14.5 ppg and a school-record 64 3-pointers) and Madie Siggins (12.1). Parkland’s leading rebounder was senior Zoe Wilkinson. Classmates Paige Spang, Jesse Schmitt and Mo Olenwine shared the fifth starting spot.
A prelude to the district comebacks came in a regular-season game at Emmaus.
“It was a packed house and we were down by 14 or 15 points,” Ohlson said. “We changed defenses, hit a couple shots, but were still down by 12 after the third quarter. But they kept pushing and pushing and we ended up winning by 13. That set the tone where nothing is impossible.”
The Trojans beat two more teams that had beaten them earlier in the season when district play began. They took revenge on a 53-36 loss to beat Pocono Mountain West 41-38. Then they beat Easton — who they lost to 46-23 on Jan. 22 — 44-40 in the semifinals when they came back from a 12-point deficit late in the third quarter.
Then the comeback of comebacks — and the shot of the year — for the Trojans gave them the District 11 championship with a 30-29 victory over Northampton. Parkland trailed 19-2 to start the game and 23-8 early in the second half.
Olenwine, whose season was marred by an illness that limited her playing time, would hit one of the biggest clutch buckets in Trojans history — a 3-pointer from the wing — with 46 seconds left for the final basket of the game.
Ohlson had set up the same play three times but it had broken down one way or the other each time. In a timeout, Ohlson pleaded with Olenwine to ‘just shoot the ball’ when she got it on the wing.
“After all Mo went though, I was really happy for her, ” said Ohlson, whose team followed that game with just its second PIAA win in 15 seasons. “She came to every practice and would write things on the bulletin board before games. Then we she got the go-ahead to play she cut into Paige and Jesse’s playing time and they did not say one word about it. They were just happy to see their friend playing again.”
Ohlson also pointed out assistant coaches Wolf and Chad Werkheiser for their contributions.
“Chad worked with the bigs and Amanda with the guards and I’d be between them putting in my two cents,” Ohlson said. “They are tremendous coaches in their own right. This is a team award. We’re not talking if the players don’t do their part.”
It was Ohlson, however, who steered the team to a championship with his forget about what just happened and always look ahead mantra that the team eventually took to heart.
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Dante Mahaffey in late November was working on his cardio in the fitness room underneath the bleachers at Montford E. Illick Stadium, a short walk up the hill from Saucon Valley High School.
Jared Rohn was in street clothes in the youth wrestling practice room providing instruction to two female members of the Panthers wrestling team.
Several other teammates were in the training room located in between getting treatment for injuries.
This was two weeks before Saucon Valley’s season started.
Head coach Chad Shirk’s biggest headache from the start of preseason workouts was walking into those three areas to find out who was not going to be able to practice each day.
Injuries ravaged the Panthers roster.
By the District 11 Class 2A team tournament championship match in early February, a prominent starter left the program and Saucon Valley forfeited three bouts because the injury report remained lengthy and lost 50-5 to Notre Dame-Green Pond.
A week later, the Panthers were healthier than at any previous point in the season --- and state champions.
“It probably was one of the most remarkable turnarounds any team has ever had at the state tournament,” Shirk said. “If you look back at it, 99.9% of the state thought there was no chance in heck we could win that match or keep it close.
“The 0.1% were the kids on that team. They were the ones who believed in themselves.”
Saucon Valley’s first state team title was followed by second-place finishes in the team standings at the District 11, Southeast Regional and PIAA individual tournaments. Shirk left Hershey’s Giant Center with a school-record six state medalists.
Notre Dame-GP, meanwhile, rebounded from the team state final loss to capture the team titles at the three individual postseason events and crown two state champions among its five medalists.
For being the state’s two most dominant teams from the start, Saucon Valley and Notre Dame-GP are The Morning Call all-area 2A teams of the year.
Saucon Valley and Notre Dame-GP were preseason state Nos. 1-2 in every poll. That never wavered the next three months no matter the obstacles the two teams faced.
The Panthers, despite a reduced lineup, finished 10th in the team standings at the Beast of the East tournament at the University of Delaware and fourth 10 days later at the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic.
Shirk’s club won the Colonial League team title when the Crusaders opted to send nine JVs to compete.
Notre Dame-GP, which had all 13 starters compete in at least 35 matches, was seventh at Beast of the East, third at Powerade and fourth at Escape the Rock.
Coach Matt Veres’ club went toe to toe with 3A team state champion Bethlehem Catholic in a January nonleague dual meet that had eight matches decided by three points or fewer or in sudden victory.
Through the character-building losses in the national tournaments and the duals against Bethlehem Catholic, Saucon Valley and Blair Academy (N.J.), the Crusaders stayed the course thanks to its leaders: state medalists Brandan Chletsos, Holden Garcia and Evan Maag.
“When you see a guy struggle then come back in the room the next day,” Veres said, “and he’s hungry, that’s leadership. They don’t have to say anything. The younger guys see that.
“For [Chletsos] to win [a state title], for Holden to win a state title, and win the team title [at individual states], that’s what we strove for. You’ll remember the state tournament your senior year, how you go out on your terms, what you can control. They made some great memories.”
The Panthers also peaked at the right time, reversing two earlier losses to the Crusaders, and then having a stellar individual postseason.
Mahaffey, Ryan Crookham, Ty Csencsits and Liam Scrivanich returned from injuries to play key roles. So, too, did the four freshmen at the bottom of the lineup (Cole Hubert, Aiden Grogg, Jackson Albert and Hector Mateo. Those four all wrestled at least 39 matches and came up with pivotal wins for Shirk’s club.
“The adversity we had all year with injuries,” Shirk said, “we had to take it to a whole other level when trying to piece things together and do right for the kids at practice and still try to win.
“The four freshmen on the biggest stage, you never know what can happen with any freshman. These guys turned some heads. Those kids were fighting like crazy.
“What made [winning the state team title] more remarkable was that Notre Dame was completely loaded top to bottom. To beat them on the biggest stage when no one came close to them at the state team tournament and after our two losses during the season, what the kids did was incredible.”
Saucon Valley will be recognized for its record-setting season at the Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ April 8 game at PPL Center then honored three days later at the state capitol in Harrisburg.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com
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JUPITER, FLA. — New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom will miss major time because of inflammation in his shoulder area, a huge blow to a team that heavily invested in making a deep run this season.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner won’t throw for up to four weeks and there is no timetable for his return, the Mets announced Friday.
“He’s disappointed. We’re disappointed. Everybody is sharing in the disappointment right now. Nobody’s immune to that,” Mets general manager Billy Eppler said in Jupiter, where New York was playing St. Louis.
The Mets said an MRI earlier in the day showed a stress reaction on his right scapula that caused inflammation. The 33-year-old deGrom first experienced the tightness while playing catch Thursday.
DeGrom missed the second half of last season with an elbow injury.
“I think the good news is here there is nothing structurally wrong here, as far as the rotator cuff or anything like that is concerned. We are dealing with a bone issue and when you are dealing with bone, they calcify. The healing characteristics will take of themselves, so I think that’s a positive that we walk away with,” Eppler said.
DeGrom had been set to start the season opener Thursday in Washington. The Mets had considered their rotation a major strong suit this season after signing three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer and trading for All-Star Chris Bassitt.
After getting off to a sensational start last year, deGrom didn’t pitch after July 7 because of a sprained elbow. He was 7-2 with a 1.08 ERA in 15 outings, but New York collapsed without him to finish 77-85 after leading the NL East for 103 days.
DeGrom reported to camp healthy this year and had permitted one run over five innings in Grapefruit League games, striking out 10. The right-hander’s most recent outing was Sunday against the Cardinals.
Earlier in camp, deGrom said he plans to opt out of his contract after this season and become a free agent.
Scherzer is scheduled to throw seven innings and fewer than 100 pitches against Mets minor leaguers in a simulated game Saturday. James McCann will catch Scherzer. The remainder of the major club has a scheduled off day.
If all goes well in the simulated game, Scherzer would be available to pitch opening day on five days of rest, manager Buck Showalter said.
“He would be comfortable, yes,” Showalter said before deGrom’s diagnosis was announced.
“We’ll see how tomorrow goes,” he said.
Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker comprise the remainder of the Mets rotation.
Showalter designed the spring rotation to give each pitcher five days of rest before their first regular season appearance.
If deGrom isn’t ready for opening day, projecting the rotation might not be as simple as moving each pitcher up one day.
“I’d really like to stay away from changing four guys’ plans that were carefully scripted to begin the season with an extra days’ rest going in,” Showalter said.
Right-hander Tylor Megill or left-hander David Peterson are the most likely options to join the Mets rotation. Megill went 4-6 with a 4.52 ERA in 18 starts last year -- his lone major league season. In 25 appearances, 24 starts, across the past two seasons, Peterson is 8-8 with a 4.64 ERA.
When healthy, deGrom has been dominant. A four-time All-Star, he won the NL Cy Young in 2018 and 2019.
His 99.2 mph average velocity for fastballs last season was second in the majors behind Emmanuel Clase’s 100.7 mph for hurlers with at least 1,000 pitches, according to MLB Statcast.
“We’re going to do everything we can to support him every which way that we can, Jake’s a resilient person. With time, things heal. This is another situation where time will have him healed and we’ll get him back on the field,” Eppler said.
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LAKELAND, Fla. — The closed-door meetings and bag packing have begun. Less than a week away from Opening Day, the Yankees are whittling down their camp roster and starting to get their big league team in shape.
“We met on it and had a pretty significant conversation on it with a lot of people yesterday. I mean, I think one of the things is deciding between 15 and 16 pitchers initially. Who it is and their makeup could affect that a little bit,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before Friday’s 6-2 win over the Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. “I just feel like it’ll hopefully declare itself a little bit more over these next few days. But I think the biggest thing is, what is the makeup of the 28 pitcher and position player wise, and then that may affect the last spot or two.”
The Yankees have 13 pitchers that are locked into roster spots. That includes Albert Abreu, who Boone said Friday is on the team.
“Albert’s out of options and coupled with coming off what he did last year, I feel like he’s doing good here for us so far this spring,” Boone said.
They are deciding on those last few spots whether it be another versatile veteran pitcher like a Manny Banuelos, who can pitch in relief or spot start, or one of their young prospects like Deivi Garcia or Clarke Schmidt.
They also need to make a decision on a backup catcher since Ben Rortvedt, the catcher they acquired in a trade with the Twins, is not going to be ready to break camp. Boone would not tip his hand on which way the Yankees are leaning. The Yankees do not have another catcher on their 40-man roster, which is full. They have Rob Brantly, Max McDowell and David Freitas in camp.
They also will have either a three-man bench (with 16 pitchers) or four. That includes DJ LeMahieu, who technically does not have a position. Tim Locastro is here on the roster, but the Yankees have been impressed by Ender Inciarte, who also has a lefty bat. Marwin Gonzalez’s versatility in the infield and outfield seems to give him an edge on a bench spot.
“Giancarlo (Stanton), that’s a fourth outfielder, and then that extra guy can be a guy that plays everywhere,” Boone said, seeming to indicate Gonzalez. “I mean, it’s not ideal and we may end up going that way. But we’ll see.”
RORTVEDT UPDATE
It’s become pretty clear that catcher Ben Rortvedt, who came to the Yankees with a strained oblique, will not be ready for Opening Day. Boone admitted that it is likely that he will start the season with minor league rehab games.
Rortvedt said that he is trying to go slow and smart.
“I’m making strides. Today I felt a lot better than the last live (batting practice) so I feel good,” Rortvedt said. “I hit (tossed balls) the other day and kind of still going day by day, kind of reading the body, but catching wise I feel good and just trying to slowly work in the swing. Still trying to be smart about it so it doesn’t linger. Not bad. We just don’t want any setbacks so we’re trying to really give it time.”
SEVY STARTING
Luis Severino said he is ready to throw about 60 pitches Saturday, which will be his last spring training start. The right-hander, who has made just 10 appearances over the last three years because of injuries, had been pushed back after feeling soreness in his right arm after his previous start.
It was actually a good thing for Severino to go through this spring in a way.
“I know I’m going to have some ups and downs, so it’s good to know how to treat it and so when it happens again I’ll be able to do it,” Severino said.
MONTGOMERY COMING UP SHORT?
Jordan Montgomery threw four simulated innings back at the Yankees complex Friday. The lefty, who is expected to pitch the third game of the season, may pitch on short rest to get one more appearance this spring.
“We’ll also kind of weigh that too: Is it worth bringing him back just to get out there? Or is it better just to go to the next one? So we’ll kind of weigh that out over the next couple days,” Boone said. “But he potentially gets into another game, short one.”
REASSIGNED
The Yankees reassigned right-hander Matt Bowman, utility man Phillip Evans, infielder Ronald Guzmán, outfielder Ryan LaMarre, infielder José Peraza and righthander Ryan Weber to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
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LAKELAND, Fla. — Kyle Higashioka just knows it when he sees it. The Yankees catcher tries to simulate pitch situations they will need to execute in the regular season. He challenges pitchers to make tough pitches. Early in spring, those pitches usually miss the mark. Friday, Gerrit Cole made those pitches, worked his way out of some trouble and his catcher came away feeling confident that they are ready for Opening Day on Thursday.
“Like a perfectly done fastball down and away, or land like a backdoor slider or just little specific things that I’ll ask him to do and I know I’m going to need that in the season. A lot of times when they’re not sharp it’s those things that don’t happen,” Higashioka said. “But then I really know when he’s good to go, because I’ll see him execute those pitches and stuff.
“He looks good to me.”
Cole has pitched just five innings in spring training games this year. He made just two starts during this owners’ lockout-shortened spring training. The right-hander chose to go with his normal start to spring training ramp up and do two live batting practices instead of one and then jump into spring training games.
He threw 64 pitches Friday with his velocity in the normal 96-97 range. He allowed a run on two hits and two walks. He struck out five. He included five cutters, which is a new pitch for him this spring.
“I think it looks pretty good,” Higashioka said.
Usually starters like to get up to 75-80 and then have one last tune up in spring before the real games start. Aside from not being stretched out for that normal workload the first few turns through the rotation, Cole doesn’t see that much of a difference.
“Outside of going three in the first outing, it’s really the same progression that I’ve done for like 10 years,” Cole said.
But the last outing, which was initially jeopardized by thunderstorms that hung over the area overnight, was important to face another team. While they discussed having him stay back in Tampa and do another live batting practice, Cole pushed to play.
“It’s just wanting to get the adrenaline going a little bit, because you just end up putting, more force on the ball and you want your tissues and everything to get adapted to that” Cole said. “So that was important and being able to go back out after the third was helpful as well.”
Riley Greene ripped a triple over Joey Gallo’s head for a triple to the center field wall. He then walked Spencer Torkleson and Tucker Barnhart to load the bases. Cole struck out Akil Baddoo and coaxed a pop up out of Victor Reyes. Javier Baez scorched a ball to third, which DJ LeMahieu couldn’t hold on to, allowing Greene to score.
At that point Aaron Boone went out to get Cole. Prospect Ron Marinaccio finished off the inning and Cole came back out for the fourth.
“So I got four ups, I got the pitch count to 64. A lot of good stuff, good fastball command, both sides of plate top bottom. Good slider in the strike zone, good change up put a couple good swings on some good pitches,” Cole said. “The changeup to the left-hander that he drove for the triple it’s a good pitch, especially after a high fastball. Torkelson laid off some fastballs just off the corner …Tucker Barnhart did a good job. So we had a little bit of stuff to work out of and had some good success. We got beat a couple of times and responded well.”
Cole is coming off an erratic 2021 season, which ended with him getting hammered in the American League Wild Card Game by the Red Sox.
Cole came out early in 2021 as the best pitcher in the league and then became the poster boy for pitchers using illegal sticky stuff on the balls in June when MLB decided to enforce their own rules more stringently. He adjusted and regained control of his season, only to catch COVID after the All-Star break. He got back on track and then whether it was a tight hamstring or the workload (181.1 innings pitched after just 91 in 2020), Cole went into that Wild Card game with a 6.35 ERA over his last four starts.
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NEW YORK — A U.S. judge refused to throw out Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking conviction Friday, despite a juror’s failure to disclose before the trial began that he’d been a victim of childhood sexual abuse.
Maxwell, a British socialite, was convicted in December of helping the millionaire Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse several teenage girls.
U.S. Judge Alison J. Nathan declined to order a new trial weeks after questioning the juror under oath in a New York courtroom about why he failed to disclose his personal history as an abuse survivor on a questionnaire during the jury selection process.
The juror had said he “skimmed way too fast” through the questionnaire and did not intentionally give the wrong answer to a question about sex abuse.
“I didn’t lie in order to get on this jury,” he said.
In her opinion, Nathan said the juror’s failure to disclose his prior sexual abuse during the jury selection process was highly unfortunate, but not deliberate.
The judge also concluded the juror “harbored no bias toward the defendant and could serve as a fair and impartial juror.”
Had the juror answered the questions correctly, Maxwell’s lawyers had said they potentially could have objected to the man’s presence on the jury on the grounds that he might not be fair to a person accused of a similar crime.
The U.S. attorney’s office declined comment Friday. Messages were left with Maxwell’s attorneys.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted of sex trafficking and other charges after a monthlong trial that featured testimony from four women who said she played a role in setting them up for abuse by Epstein.
Epstein killed himself in August 2019 as he awaited trial at a federal jail in New York on related sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell says she’s innocent.
After the trial’s conclusion, the juror, identified in court papers only as Juror No. 50, gave interviews with several media outlets describing deliberations, and disclosing that he’d been abused as a child. He said he persuaded some fellow jurors that a victim’s imperfect memory of abuse doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
Potential jurors in the case had been were required to fill out a 50-page questionnaire including a question that asked: “Have you or a friend or family member ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or sexual assault?”
The juror checked “No.”
The juror said in one of the interviews that he didn’t remember being asked that question, which was No. 48 on the form.
Defense lawyers for Maxwell asked the judge to immediately order a new trial, but she said she could not do so without questioning the juror.
After Nathan questioned the juror in early March, lawyers on both sides submitted written arguments. Prosecutors said the juror made an “honest mistake” and that it was “crystal clear” that Maxwell received a fair trial.
Maxwell’s lawyers disagreed.
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“Excusing Juror 50′s false answers because he believes his concealed history of sexual abuse did not affect his ability to serve as a fair and impartial juror does not satisfy the appearance of justice,” they argued. “Only a new trial would.”
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After missing the last World Cup four years ago, the U.S. men’s soccer team got a warm welcome back to the world’s biggest stage Friday at the group stage draw.
The Americans were drawn into Group B with England, Iran and the winner of an upcoming European playoff bracket involving Wales, Scotland and Ukraine.
The U.S. will start with the playoff winner on Nov. 21, the tournament’s opening day; play England on Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving; and face Iran on Nov. 29. All three games will kick off at 2 p.m. ET, a boon for fans and U.S. TV broadcasters Fox and Telemundo.
The clash with England naturally will get the most attention, since England’s Premier League is the most popular soccer league on English-language television and English expats have long had vast influence over American soccer. (Having the game on Black Friday, when many fans will be off work and able to flock to bars, won’t hurt either.)
“I think that’s a game that always has a lot of attention around it because of England and their fans and their established place in soccer,” U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter said in a news conference after the draw. The remark immediately went viral for invoking “soccer,” a word abhorred by the English, even though they invented it.
“For sure, this is an opportunity for us to show what we’re made of,” Berhalter said. “They have a good team, but so do we. We have a young team, we have an athletic team, we have a team that doesn’t have a lot of fear.”
Rivals and friends
For all the Three Lions’ dominance of the culture here, they’ve never beaten the Americans in a World Cup. In 1950, Philadelphia’s Walter Bahr led a 1-0 U.S. upset win in Belo Horizonte, Brazil; and in 2010, Clint Dempsey helped the Americans earn a 1-1 tie in Rustenburg, South Africa. (The U.S. women also are undefeated vs. England in World Cups, with wins in 2003 and 2019.)
Coincidentally, the draw took place on what would have been Bahr’s 95th birthday. And the Americans’ current biggest star also is from eastern Pennsylvania: Hershey’s Christian Pulisic. He’s already had some banter with English teammates at Chelsea, including Mason Mount.
“To be in this position now and having a big game playing England in a World Cup, it just makes me smile,” Pulisic said. “I’m just excited for it. I think we all are and just counting down the days, really.”
Berhalter has been friends with England manager Gareth Southgate for a few years, and they were able to spend some time together at the draw.
“I picked his brain early on at the end of 2018, as soon as I got hired,” Berhalter said. “I met with him and we talked at length, and we stayed in touch ever since then. I consider him an excellent coach, and I have a lot of respect for what he’s done with the program.”
Southgate returned the compliment when he spoke to reporters in Doha: “It was fate that would happen. They’re a nation whose football is improving hugely, with a number of players around Europe.”
Beyond the field
The Iran game undoubtedly will be politically charged. When the nations met in 1998, then-U.S. Soccer Federation president Robert Contiguglia called it “the mother of all games.”
Berhalter was one of the last players cut from the 1998 team. He still recalls watching the game from home and hopes peace will prevail in Qatar as it did that night in Lyon, France.
“Coming off of political tension between the two countries and the governments, it was a way to say, ‘Us on the soccer field, we’re still friends,’” Berhalter said. “If we were friends back in ‘98, 24 years later, I don’t see it any differently. We have a ton of respect for Iran and their team, and we don’t see them as rivals — we see them as colleagues and two teams that are competing in the World Cup and trying to do well for their country.”
Berhalter also said he’s rooting for Ukraine to get through the playoffs.
“If Ukraine makes it there, it’s a wonderful accomplishment,” he said. “If the people of Ukraine can get some hope by their team playing in the World Cup, it’s amazing, and I think it will be more of a celebration … We’re all pulling for Ukraine. We’re all behind them We’re all supporting them, and we hope that the situation resolves as soon as possible.
What to know about Qatar
All eight stadiums that will host games are located in and around Qatar’s main city, Doha, with the longest travel time between any two venues around an hour. Geographically, the nation is smaller than the state of Connecticut.
The compact scale will be great for the hundreds of thousands of fans and media who flock to Qatar in November and, of course, for the competing teams, too. The tournament was moved to late autumn because of Qatar’s searing summer heat.
But the spectacle will be clouded by many controversies, from years of allegations of human rights abuses to long-standing claims — including by the U.S. Department of Justice — that Qatar bribed its way to the hosting rights when they were awarded in 2010.
There also are concerns over a lack of hotel room capacity in Qatar, which World Cup organizers have acknowledged. Only around 90,000 rooms are likely to be made available to the public, a number that the Associated Press pointed out last December is nearly the same as the total number of fans from the United States who went to Russia in 2018 — a tournament the U.S. wasn’t even in.
Games will kick off at 5 a.m., 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Eastern time in the first two rounds of the group stage, then at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for the group stage finales. Fox and Telemundo will spread the games across their over-the-air networks and cable channels FS1 and Universo.
Highlights from the other groups
Let’s start with the other Concacaf teams. Mexico was drawn with Argentina, a perennial World Cup nemesis and a star-studded team led by Lionel Messi. El Tri will open its campaign against Poland, led by striker Robert Lewandowski, and also play Saudi Arabia.
Canada is in its first men’s World Cup since 1986, and unfortunately will face long odds of advancing. The Canucks were drawn with Belgium, one of the title favorites, 2018 finalist Croatia and Morocco.
If Costa Rica wins its intercontinental playoff game against New Zealand in June, it will have the toughest draw of any Concacaf team: Spain, Germany and Japan. That Spain-Germany clash, set for Nov. 27 (a Sunday), will be one of the most-anticipated games of any group.
Union fans will have an eye on Group G, because that’s where Olivier Mbaizo’s Cameroon landed. The Indomitable Lions were drawn with Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland, which means Mbaizo could play against Neymar. Perhaps he’ll ask Union teammate José Andrés Martínez for advice, since Martínez played against Neymar in last year’s Copa América.
Host Qatar’s first-ever men’s World Cup game will come against Ecuador, and its biggest game will come against the Netherlands. But the other team in Group A, Senegal, could be the most intriguing — the reigning African champions with stars including forward Sadio Mané and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
Other games to highlight include France-Denmark in Group D and Portugal-Uruguay in Group H, with Cristiano Ronaldo likely to face Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani in the last World Cup for all three.
The full draw
You’ll see that three spots on the table below have multiple teams in them. Along with the European playoffs, the two intercontinental matchups are set to be one-game playoff matchups in June.
The European playoff will see Scotland host Ukraine first, in a game that was postponed because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The winner will then play at Wales. The dates of both games are still to be determined.
In the intercontinental playoffs, the United Arab Emirates will play Australia on June 7 to be Asia’s representative, then the winner will play Peru on June 13. The next day, Costa Rica will play New Zealand. All three of those games will take place in Qatar.
Jonathan Tannenwald is a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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As someone headed to Villanova in the fall, Notre Dame-Green Pond senior Collin Quintano has a vested interest in Saturday’s Final Four games.
“Oh yeah, I can’t wait,” he said.
But Quintano also couldn’t wait for the one scheduled meeting this spring between his Crusaders baseball team and Northwestern Lehigh. The Tigers won both of last year’s contests between the Colonial League rivals, 11-1 during the regular season and 13-3 in the league championship game.
“They got us twice last year and all of us wanted revenge,” Quintano said. “We all had this one on our mind. We wanted to get them back this year.”
Quintano did his part in getting payback. He had two hits, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, and then came on in relief in the top of the seventh inning with the tying run at the plate and got a strikeout to finish off an 8-5 Notre Dame win over Northwestern.
The victory, earned in blustery conditions, allowed the Crusaders to improve to 3-0 both in the league and overall. The Tigers, under first-year coach Chad Cooperman, fell to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in the league.
It was a back-and-forth game with Notre Dame scoring three runs in the bottom of the third to take a 4-1 lead and Northwestern answering with four in the fourth to go in front 5-4.
The Crusaders, though, closed the door the rest of the way behind senior pitcher Conner Rex, who worked 6⅔ innings before he reached his pitch count limit at 101.
“There should have been no reason Conner Rex had to come out of that game, but he probably had to throw an extra 20-some pitches because of our errors,” Notre Dame coach Mike Bedics said. “He was done, but it never should have gotten to that point. We’re going to have to play a lot better baseball if we want to be playing into June.”
Notre Dame made four errors and Northwestern Lehigh had three. Of the game’s 13 runs, just two were earned.
But the Crusaders showed resiliency in getting the lead back after giving it up.
Down 5-4 entering the bottom of the fifth, Notre Dame got started when Quintano was hit by a pitch. With two out, Jackson Shollenberger reached on an error at shortstop that allowed Quintano to score. The go-ahead run came on an RBI single by Nicholas Buchman.
Then in the sixth, Collin Brandon singled ahead of Quintano’s two-out, two-run home run to left.
“I wasn’t thinking home run with my approach, I was just trying to stay up the middle,” Quintano said. “But he hung a curveball and I luckily got a piece of it.”
Despite a win in a game that was circled on some calendars, Quintano said it’s important not to get too high or low.
“We’re at a perfect spot right now with our pitching with Ben Moyzan and Conner Rex and with our hitting we’re putting the ball in the right spots,” he said. “We had some errors today, but we can clean it up at practice.”
It’s a senior-laden team with a handful of guys still remaining from 2019 when the program made the state finals. Most of the seniors are going to play in college.
“We’re just trying to get to a point where we’re playing good baseball,” Bedics said. “To this point we haven’t had a lot of days on the field where we can work defensively. Offensively, we’re doing OK because we can swing every day, but some days we can’t get on the field. But we’ll get there and get more work in. We’ve got a good group of kids who work hard.”
Cooperman also believes he has a good team. It’s just a matter of putting a complete effort together.
“We’re about two or three plays away per game from being a really good baseball team,” he said. “That’ll come as they grow and mature. We’ve been struggling late in games and we’re looking for somebody to step up and be a go-to guy whether that’s offensively or defensively.”
Both teams are back in action Monday. Notre Dame travels to Saucon Valley and Northwestern hosts Cooperman’s alma mater, Salisbury.
In other local baseball games:
Southern Lehigh 11, Bangor 2
The Spartans got 16 hits, including four from Matt Tankred, who pitched a no-hitter on Wednesday. The senior was one of four players to drive in two more runs or more. Will Woodring had three hits and three RBIs and Christian Pickell had three hits and drove in two runs for Southern Lehigh, which improved to 4-0.
Pen Argyl 9, Northern Lehigh 3
The Green Knights got a home run and four RBIs from Reid Holden and three hits, an RBI and a run scored from George Pultz in getting their first win of the season after three losses.
Pocono Mountain East 8, Pleasant Valley 6
The Cardinals rallied from a 4-0 deficit with four runs in the third and four more in the sixth to post an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference win over host Pleasant Valley. Julian Lopez had a double, triple and knocked in five runs for the Cardinals who got 6⅔ innings from Adam Horvath before he hit the pitch count limit at 100. It was Pocono East’s first win of the season while the Bears lost for the first time after two wins.
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LOS ANGELES — Will Smith resigned Friday from the motion picture academy following his Oscars night slap of Chris Rock and said he would accept any further punishment the organization imposed.
Smith in a statement released Friday afternoon said he will “fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct. My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable.”
Film academy president David Rubin said Smith’s resignation was accepted. “We will continue to move forward with our disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, in advance of our next scheduled board meeting on April 18.”
“I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work,” his statement said. “I am heartbroken. I want to put the focus back on those who deserve attention for their achievements and allow the Academy to get back to the incredible work it does to support creativity and artistry in film.
“Change takes time and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason,” Smith concluded in the statement.
The resignation came two days after the academy’s leadership board met to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Smith for violations against the group’s standards of conduct.
On Sunday, Smith strode from his front-row Dolby Theatre seat on to the stage and smacked Rock, who had made a joke at the expense of Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Moments later, he went on to win the best actor award for his role in “King Richard.”
Rock, who was about to present Oscar for best documentary, declined to file charges when asked by police. He has only briefly addressed the attack publicly, saying at one comedy concert in Boston this week that he was still “kind of processing what happened.”
Smith stunned Rock, the theater crowd and viewers at home when he took the stage after Rock joked: “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”
Pinkett Smith, who has spoken publicly about her hair loss condition, alopecia, had a closely shaved head similar to that of Demi Moore in the original movie.
After Smith’s attack, he returned to his seat and angrily twice shouted at Rock to “get my wife’s name out your (expletive) mouth.” When Smith took the stage again less than hour later to accept his Oscar, he tearfully apologized to the academy but notably omitted any mention of Rock.
The fallout was immediate and intense. Smith had supporters for coming to his wife’s defense, but he was widely condemned for responding with violence and for marring both his long-sought Oscar victory and overshadowing the night’s other winners.
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LOS ANGELES — Will Smith resigned Friday from the motion picture academy following his Oscars night slap of Chris Rock and said he would accept any further punishment the organization imposed.
Smith in a statement released Friday afternoon said he will “fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct. My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable.”
Film academy president David Rubin said Smith’s resignation was accepted. “We will continue to move forward with our disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, in advance of our next scheduled board meeting on April 18.”
Smith loses voting privileges with his resignation. But there are other, less tangible benefits to being part of the academy, Hollywood’s most prestigious organization: It bestows industry credibility on its members. It’s invitation only, and with a once-a-year membership review.
“I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work,” Smith’s statement said. “I am heartbroken. I want to put the focus back on those who deserve attention for their achievements and allow the Academy to get back to the incredible work it does to support creativity and artistry in film.
“Change takes time and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason,” Smith concluded in the statement.
The resignation came two days after the academy’s leadership board met to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Smith for violations against the group’s standards of conduct. Those proceedings could have resulted in suspension or expulsion, and it was not immediately clear what additional punishment he could face.
Had he been expelled, Smith would have joined a small group of men removed from the academy: Harvey Weinstein, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby and the actor Carmine Caridi, who was kicked out for sharing awards screeners.
On Sunday, Smith strode from his front-row Dolby Theatre seat on to the stage and smacked Rock, who had made a joke at the expense of Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. Moments later, he went on to win the best actor award for his role in “King Richard.”
Rock, who was about to present Oscar for best documentary, declined to file charges when asked by police. He has only briefly addressed the attack publicly, saying at one comedy concert in Boston this week that he was still “kind of processing what happened.”
Smith stunned Rock, the theater crowd and viewers at home when he took the stage after Rock joked: “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”
Pinkett Smith, who has spoken publicly about her hair loss condition, alopecia, had a closely shaved head similar to that of Demi Moore in the original movie.
After Smith’s attack, he returned to his seat and angrily twice shouted at Rock to “get my wife’s name out your (expletive) mouth.” When Smith took the stage again less than hour later to accept his Oscar, he tearfully apologized to the academy but notably omitted any mention of Rock.
The fallout was immediate and intense. Smith had supporters for coming to his wife’s defense, but he was widely condemned for responding with violence and for marring both his long-sought Oscar victory and overshadowing the night’s other winners.
That included Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, director of the winning documentary, “Summer of Soul,” and the film’s producers. They claimed their awards in the unsettled moments following Smith’s attack and outburst, when the room’s attention was shattered.
Before the disruption, the ceremony had represented a reset from the pandemic-constrained versions of the past two years. It was back in its home theater, boasted a trio of well-received female hosts — Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes — and had tallied several breakthrough winners.
Latest Nation/World
Among them were “West Side Story” star Ariana DeBose, the first Afro-Latina and openly LGBTQ actor to win in the category of best supporting actress, and Troy Kotsur of “CODA,” the first deaf male actor to win the supporting actor prize. The night ended with “CODA” being crowned best picture, a landmark achievement for a streaming service and for a film with a largely deaf cast.
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Perhaps it’s because Larry Miller, arguably the greatest basketball player ever to come out of the Lehigh Valley played there. Or maybe it’s because Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player ever, played there. Whatever the reason, the University of North Carolina men’s basketball team has always been popular with a large number of area basketball fans.
But there is a contingent from Bangor that may not be rooting for the Tar Heels when they meet Duke in a much-anticipated Final Four game Saturday night in New Orleans.
That’s because in 2009, members of the Slaters boys basketball team got to visit with Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski, his coaching staff, and his 2009-2010 team.
The Blue Devils went on to win a national championship that year and earned a few new fans from the Slate Belt along the way.
The visit to Durham, New Carolina, by the Bangor team was the result of something bad turning into something quite good.
Matt Carey, a talented junior point guard for the Slaters that season, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease the previous spring.
As Carey began aggressive chemo treatment, someone contacted Dream Come True on his behalf. Dream Come True’s mission is to promote the lives of seriously, chronically and/or terminally ill children.
Carey’s dream turned into something that could be shared by others.
“Rayann Vasko, the executive director of Dream Come True, told me that she had never heard of someone being so unselfish when being offered a dream,” Holland said in a 2009 Morning Calls story. “It was such an unselfish act. Usually, the patients want something for themselves ... a Disney trip … something big. Matt wanted something for others. He wanted to do something for the guys who helped him.”
Carey’s dream was for Coach K to come to Bangor.
That didn’t happen, but after Holland contacted his friend, then Duke assistant Chris Collins, something even better unfolded. Bangor, as a team, traveled to Duke and got to spend a day with the Blue Devils and Coach K as they prepared for what proved to be a national championship season.
“The whole thing was amazing and we all still talk about it a lot,” Holland said earlier this week. “We showed up at their practice facility and all of a sudden [Krzyzewski] walks out and is standing alongside of me. He remembered coming to Bangor to recruit Billy [McCaffrey, the former Allentown Central Catholic star who won a national title at Duke] because Central played a game at Bangor in 1988-89, the year after I graduated. We had a long conversation about Billy because Billy and I were friends and still are.”
Holland remembered that Bangor practiced first and then got to have a meal before they were allowed to watch a Blue Devils practice.
“I’ve seen a lot of practices before, but this was something to see,” Holland said. “Just Krzyzewski’s charisma, his demeanor, his command of the team, was impressive. He was all in on the practice, but then he’d turn around and say something individually to one of the players or a businessman who was attending the practice, something he observed. It was a great lesson for me. You can talk about team all you want, but until you see a practice that was so team-oriented as theirs, you really don’t know what it’s like. It was really memorable.”
Clearly, it resonated because 13 years later, the Bangor players remember what they saw and how they felt about it.”
“He was very personable and when he spoke he made you feel like you could accomplish anything,” former Slaters player Ben Ammerman said. “I always remember that Seth Curry was talking trash about Steph a little bit. I definitely think the level of intensity in our practices went up after seeing how they practiced.”
“I was most impressed by how he commanded excellence silently,” Scott LaValva, another former Bangor player said. “He really didn’t speak much at all during the practice from what I remember, and despite that, there a higher level of intensity throughout every drill than I’d ever seen before. Then when he did have something to say, he spoke plainly and powerfully, not sugarcoating something if it wasn’t done to his standard. I was too young to notice at the time, but in hindsight, there were so many leadership lessons learned that day.”
Assistant coach Greg Hartman also remembered the practice and the intensity of it.
“I was taken by how when Coach K stopped practice to point out something, everyone, including the managers, would stop what they were doing and turned to look at Coach K,” Hartman said.
Mark Panczer, Bangor’s assistant athletic director and an assistant coach in 2009, said he was a UNC fan but now also roots for Duke. He was impressed with not only Krzyzewski, but also the Duke assistants.
“They were all great, especially Wojo,” Panczer said referring to former Blue Devils assistant Steve Wojciechowski. “Our team saw leadership at its highest level.
Dream Come True also equipped the Bangor team with new sweatsuits to be worn at its Duke practice. They were presented by Coach K.
“Before he handed out the sweatsuits, we all got chills because he said as he was giving them to us: ‘You are filling them with mind, body and spirit; you are representing Bangor, ” then-assistant coach Mark Schiavone said.
While Bangor didn’t win a Colonial League championship that year, Holland said his program was better from that day forward.
“Our future success was a direct result from that visit,” he said.
Whether Krzyweski’s career ends with another national championship or a loss to UNC, his career will be talked about for as long as they play college basketball.
Holland, who played for a Philly legend in Speedy Morris at La Salle, will forever treasure the experience, including the respect the Duke players showed after their practice.
“I played in college and I remember what it was like after a 3-hour practice and the last thing you want to do is hang around and talk to some high school team from Pennsylvania,” Holland said. “Every single one of them stayed until every picture was taken and every autograph was signed. I’m talking about an hour after practice ended and they were still interacting with our kids and shooting around with them.”
It all starts with Krzyweski and his approach to basketball and life.
“Everybody talks about his wins and national championships and he’s arguably the best to ever do it, but after meeting him and talking with him, his legacy is his class and character,” Holland said. “The way he treated Matt Carey and our team that day, he’s a genuine person. You can’t fake that. In his speech to our team he said that when Chris Collins told him about Matt Carey’s story and how his dream was to meet him, he said he actually got goosebumps. Now, all these years later, just re-living that day gives me goosebumps, too.”
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Today’s Lehigh Valley sports schedule and last night’s scores.
To report your school’s scores and stats, please complete this SPORTS SCORES FORM
SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE
Softball
Catasauqua at Saucon Valley 11 a.m.
Wilson at Bangor 12 p.m.
East Stroudsburg North at Nazareth 4 p.m.
Stroudsburg at Liberty 4 p.m.
Pocono Mountain East at Bethlehem Catholic 4 p.m.
Pleas. Valley at Freedom 4 p.m.
Pocono Mountain West at Easton 4 p.m.
East Stroudsburg South at Dieruff 4 p.m.
Allen at Parkland 4 p.m.
Whitehall at Emmaus 4 p.m.
Northampton at Central Catholic 4 p.m.
Baseball
East Stroudsburg North at Nazareth 4 p.m.
Stroudsburg at Liberty 4 p.m.
Pocono Mountain East at Bethlehem Catholic 4 p.m.
Pleas. Valley at Freedom 4 p.m.
Pocono Mountain West at Easton 4 p.m.
East Stroudsburg South at Dieruff 4 p.m.
Allen at Parkland 4 p.m.
Whitehall at Emmaus 4 p.m.
Northampton at Central Catholic 4 p.m.
Wilson at Bangor 3 p.m.
FRIDAY’S SCORES
Baseball
Pen Argyl 9, Northern Lehigh 3
Notre Dame Green Pond 8, Northwestern 5
Southern Lehigh 10, Bangor 2
Palmerton 5, Jim Thorpe 4
Pocono Mountain West 8, East Stroudsburg South 5
Palisades 15, Catasauqua 2
Softball
Fleetwood 17, Lehighton 2
Northwestern 14, Notre Dame Green Pond 6
Schuylkill Haven 10, Jim Thorpe 6
Shenandoah Valley 13, Panther Valley 9
Northern Lehigh 13, Pen Argyl 10
Boys Tennis
East Stroudsburg South 3, Pocono Mountain East 2
Blue Mountain 4, Lehighton 1
Liberty 6, Pleasant Valley 0
Southern Lehigh 3, Notre Dame Green Pond 2
Boys Volleyball
Whitehall def. Pocono Mountain West (25-5, 25-6, 25-6)
Southern Lehigh def. Dieruff (25-14, 25-11)
Northampton def. Freedom (25-14, 25-27, 25-19, 19-25, 15-9)
Girls Lacrosse
Nazareth 12, Northwestern Lehigh 7
Boys Lacrosse
Nazareth 8, Northwestern Lehigh 4
* SEND US YOUR SCORES
Coaches and scorekeepers can help ensure their student-athletes are recognized by promptly reporting scores, stats and summaries by using a form that can be found at themorningcall.com/submitascore
Have questions? Email sports@mcall.com
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Republicans Lisa Scheller and Kevin Dellicker squared off Friday evening on topics ranging from Russia and China to education and abortion in the first debate of their campaigns for the chance to challenge two-term Democratic incumbent Congresswoman Susan Wild this November.
Both business owners, Scheller and Dellicker told a standing-room-only crowd at Northampton Community College that they would bring unflinchingly conservative politics to Washington if given the opportunity to run for the Lehigh Valley’s 7th Congressional District seat, which Scheller described as ground zero in the effort return control of the U.S. House of Representatives to the Republican party.
While both espoused America-first positions on foreign policy and said they’d push for energy independence by unlocking fossil fuel reserves in Pennsylvania and elsewhere on home soil, the candidates stood apart in their focus on future opponents. While Scheller used her time to criticize President Joe Biden and Wild’s policy positions, Dellicker suggested Scheller has put her business before national interests when it comes to trade with China.
Dellicker, a Heidelberg Township resident who announced his candidacy in July, cast himself as an underdog candidate who can win without endorsements or influence. He owns an IT firm and has a 25-year record of service in the Army and Air National Guard.
“I’ve acquired a lot of relevant experience on issues that are important to us like safe communities, with jobs and strong families,” he said. “I also want to prove that a guy from New Tripoli, who’s authentic and who has a strong conservative message can still win any election in the Lehigh Valley.”
Scheller is chairperson and president of Silberline Manufacturing Co., a Schuylkill County pigment maker founded by her grandparents in 1945. A former Lehigh County commissioner chairperson, Scheller received former President Donald Trump’s endorsement before the 2020 Republican primary. She ran against Wild but lost.
“I’ve always been a part of the solution, whether it’s cutting taxes, saving taxpayers millions, whether it is providing a quality education for our disadvantaged youth, or whether it’s helping addicts in recovery, get back into the workforce,” Scheller said, noting that Friday was the 40th anniversary of the start of her own recovery from heroin addiction.
Moderator Terry Tracy of the Philadelphia think tank Broad + Liberty began the debate with questions on foreign policy, with both candidates saying they support arming and training Ukrainian troops in their fight to repel Russia’s invasion but would not support a no-fly zone because of the risk of direct conflict with Russia.
Tracy asked the candidates if they support additional tariffs on China given the mixed success of former President Donald Trump’s trade deal with the Asian nation.
Scheller said she supported Trump’s tariffs and would support additional measures to ensure American businesses can compete.
“I believe that we should have free enterprise, but it has to be on a level playing field. So when China isn’t playing on a level playing field, we should push back and we will push back and I will be the candidate who knows how to push back,” Scheller said.
Dellicker questioned Scheller’s company’s investments in China, alleging that she had not in-fact supported the tariffs but lobbied against them.
“We cannot continue to invest money in China to partner with them in business as usual, and just look the other way when they’re acting the way that they do,” he said.
Scheller highlighted her company’s investments in its Pennsylvania workforce and its Schuylkill County plant. Dellicker, citing news reports, criticized Scheller for shrinking her company’s domestic workforce and increasing its foreign workforce.
On education, both said they would work to limit federal policy that binds local officials and educators on decisions about curriculum and pandemic-related school closings. Tracy asked the candidates to explain their views on critical race theory, an academic concept examining how racism has shaped public policy that has become shorthand to encompass any lesson on race.
Scheller said she believes the curriculum on racism is teaching children to hate America and to be divided by race and that she would ban critical race theory.
“We need to protect the American Dream by bringing Americans together not by dividing us,” she said.
Dellicker agreed, calling it a dangerous ideology in which he sees parallels to “The Communist Manifesto,” and stating that it exposes people who oppose certain policies to charges of racism without examining the reasons for their opposition
“That type of ideology, I agree has no place in our public schools,” Dellicker said. “I also think we have to seriously take a look at our entire federal education system and ask the question, how we can have things come from on high at the federal government and be pushed all the way down to you serve local control and parents at the local level.”
Perhaps the starkest difference in positions between Dellicker and Scheller came on the topic of abortion. Asked whether they would vote to allow abortions in cases where the health but not the life of a mother was in jeopardy or in cases of rape or incest, Scheller said she would while Dellicker said he would not.
Asked to expound on their positions, Dellicker said he would vote for a bill that allowed those exceptions for abortion if it was the best compromise that Congress could pass.
“I would vote to protect life period, and I will vote to protect the best legislation that I can to protect life,” Dellicker said.
Scheller said she would never support legislation that codified the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision and would prioritize redirecting funding for organizations that offer abortion to provide resources for mothers.
“We need to stop paying for abortions with taxpayer funds by putting our Hyde amendment back in and we need to create a culture of life within this country,” Scheller said.
Dellicker called for additional debates in Lehigh and Monroe counties and on television before the primary election May 17.
Morning Call reporter Peter Hall can be reached at 610-820-6581 or peter.hall@mcall.com.
Latest Pennsylvania News
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Dear Amy: When I was pregnant with my first child, I was diagnosed with a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum.
It causes debilitating nausea, uncontrollable vomiting and dehydration, and in severe cases, can be life-threatening.
During the course of my pregnancy, I had to go to the ER eight times, and was admitted to the hospital for four days at one point.
HG also led to other pregnancy complications, and I delivered my son by emergency C-section 10 weeks early.
It was by far the most difficult thing either my husband or I have ever been through.
I am now pregnant with my second child, and thankfully am enjoying a normal pregnancy.
The problem is that my mother-in-law has taken my good health now as a “sign” that I was never really sick the first time.
She has expressed that my first pregnancy distress was really a psychological issue because I was “so afraid I wouldn’t have a healthy baby.”
I’m not sure why she says things like this, and it really upsets me when she raises the topic.
My husband says I need to learn that her opinions just don’t matter, but I’m still upset.
Any advice on how to gracefully shut her down?
– Not “All in My Head”
Dear Not: Because of her lack of compassion toward you, your mother-in-law has surrendered her privilege to know about or discuss your health. Your health – past or present – should be off the table.
If she raises her theory about your first pregnancy again, you can say, “I’m going to have to interrupt you mid-thought. Let’s not discuss my health, OK?”
Your husband is right: His mother’s opinions about your health struggles don’t matter, and your behavior will demonstrate that from here on out, it is not up for discussion.
Dear Amy: I have a family member who lives in another state but has a second home in my state.
They come to their second home but are never willing to come see my family.
I have tried to meet them, given them ideas to get together, and have even offered to meet halfway so they don’t have to drive so far.
They are never willing to come to see us or drive to our house.
In six years, we have seen them once.
It has gotten so bad that I just assume I will never see them.
The worst part is, they send us messages saying, “We will be in your state for the next week and would love to see you,” but they always make excuses.
My children always ask when they will see this family member’s kids (their cousins), and I am honestly tired of telling my kids that they have canceled on us.
What should I do?
– Tired of Trying
Dear Tired: It sounds as if it is something of a journey for your family member to travel to their second home, and that you live some distance from this home.
They obviously are not willing to extend their journey to visit you.
The next time they message you that they will be in your state, you should be honest and say, “We really want to see you, and the kids are eager to get together, but we never seem to make it work. What are your suggestions?”
They may ask for you to drive to their home. They may hedge or make a plan and then cancel.
I agree with your sentiment that if these family members really wanted to see you and the kids, they would work harder to make it happen.
It is a tough realization that your family values are different from theirs, but if you’ve exhausted every reasonable effort to see them, you will have to accept it.
Dear Amy: I enjoyed your “Best of” column devoted to the occasional challenges faced by short people.
Years ago, our firm hired a super-duper Mr. Fix It guy.
He had a series of conference phone calls, and always sounded very tough and gruff.
I pictured a John Wayne or General Patton type of guy.
I met him in person one day, and he was short and petite, but with a booming voice.
I said to him, “You sound much taller on the phone.”
He laughed and responded, “No this is the tallest I have ever been!”
It was great.
– A Reader
Dear Reader: What strikes me is that any person outside of what might be considered the “norm” (whatever that currently is), seems to need a great comeback line.
That’s unfortunate.
Got a question for Amy? Enter it here and we’ll send it to her.
Sign up here to receive the Ask Amy newsletter to get advice e-mailed to your inbox every morning, and for a limited time — get the book "Ask Amy: Essential Wisdom from America’s Favorite Advice Columnist" for $5.
©2021 Amy Dickinson.
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General Daily Insight for April 2, 2022
Saying what's on our hearts can heal us today, even if it's painful. Communicative Mercury conjoins healing Chiron in passionate Aries, allowing us to express our raw thoughts. With the emotional Moon squaring destructive Pluto afterward, an emotional fallout may follow this cathartic moment. Once the Moon moves into gentle Taurus, emotions will likely temper. Finally, the headstrong Sun conjoins Mercury in Aries at 7:11 pm EDT, helping us think clearly about where our passions lie. If it matters to you, then it's important!
Aries
March 21-April 19
There is great power in your words today. Your image may be hurt if you go too far, especially if you do so in a very public domain. Chiming in on a social media post that you disagree with might be tempting, but your fiery feelings could cause you to take your comeback a step further than it needs to go. You're trying to get a point across to another human being, not attacking an enemy. Take a deep breath before you express any criticism.
Taurus
April 20-May 20
It might be difficult to explain your thoughts with clarity. Your emotions could overwhelm you while you're trying to tell a story, or you might explain yourself in a weaving and winding way that's hard to understand. This doesn't mean that you should keep your mouth shut! Instead, make an effort to see things from the other person's perspective when you're trying to communicate. Putting yourself in their shoes can help you choose the words that will make the most sense.
Gemini
May 21-June 20
A friend could hit a nerve by accident right now. You may feel like they just aren't listening to you as you share your feelings, or their response might sting you in a way that you weren't expecting. Instead of acting defensive, take a moment to try and think through what they meant by what they said, and let them know how you're feeling. A real friend should take the time to explain what they meant and absolve some of the hurt.
Cancer
June 21-July 22
The approval of others might be elusive. You may be proud of a recent accomplishment or just trying to be optimistic about life, but someone could still rain on your parade. While this might be purposeful, they may simply be in a world of their own and not thinking of how their reaction will affect you. Try to understand that they're living their own life and don't let them dim your light! Their perception of you is something you have very little control over.
Leo
July 23-August 22
Minor annoyances may try to spoil your good mood. It may seem like no matter how hard you try, someone or something creates a new problem to replace the one you just solved. Knowing this going into today will help prepare you to roll with the punches and keep your plans flexible, as they could be subject to more than one change. Loosen up your shoulders, stretch your neck, and get ready to overcome any of the little challenges life might throw your way.
Virgo
August 23-September 22
Negative thoughts may cloud your mind, but they shouldn't shut you down right now. Doubt has the potential to creep in and create problems that weren't there before, muddying your way forward. You might experience a setback that leads to the onset of these concerns, or someone in your life may tear apart a plan of yours that you thought was bulletproof. Give yourself five minutes to complain, but then dust yourself off and get back up! That's half the battle, and you're no quitter.
Libra
September 23-October 22
Too many cooks in the kitchen can spoil the meal at the moment. You might be receiving input from several different sources, and each one thinks that they know what's best for you. It can be overwhelming to try to sift through all of this information, so remind yourself that you don't have to take everyone's advice -- especially if people are contradicting each other. Do your best to tune in to your inner voice and let any distracting chatter fade into the background.
Scorpio
October 23-November 21
Words said in anger are difficult to take back -- particularly today. You may have a moment where things feel like they're boiling over, leading you to believe that someone has to shoulder the blame for this situation. In reality, it's likely a combination of different factors that led to the current issue, and putting all the blame on one person isn't realistic or fair. Breathe through the initial anger and remind yourself that revenge only adds to the hurt, it doesn't take it away.
Sagittarius
November 22-December 21
A lack of planning could come back to haunt you at this time. Organization and paying attention to detail are key, because your main pitfalls likely come from a shaky foundation. Spontaneity is often a good thing, but you may forget about an important meeting or lose something that you regularly need if you're playing it by ear. Making a list of little reminders and making sure that your essentials are on your person before you leave can make all the difference.
Capricorn
December 22-January 19
A negative thought is no place to linger. Right now, you could get lost in your own head, spiraling into potential scary scenarios that may never happen. Although it's good to be prepared, sometimes preparation can slip into fear-mongering. There's no point in filling yourself with fear before you even get started. Stay occupied today, even if you're not planning to work or see anyone else, because your busy hands and mind can help you avoid falling into an imaginary disaster.
Aquarius
January 20-February 18
Something may currently be holding you back from fully expressing yourself. This is likely something internal, such as a worry that you're burdening others with your problems or that you can't trust them with your real feelings. Knowing the difference between fear and intuition will help you to know with whom to share your innermost thoughts, and you can always journal about things you're truly too afraid to say. Repressing your worries can weigh you down, so try to get things off of your chest!
Pisces
February 19-March 20
Someone might try to throw you off your rhythm today. You may have a certain way that you like to do your tasks, and someone in your life could be trying to take the reins by bossing you around or stepping in to do things according to their own vision. Even if they mean well, try to find a compromise. Doing things completely their way may cause you to feel untrue to yourself. Your vision is just as worthy as theirs!
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The recent hard freezes have destroyed most magnolia blooms for this year. The buds will appear brown and drop off. This damage will also affect most plants where the buds were swollen, ready to burst and showing color. Tightly closed buds or those yet to emerge should be OK.
While not related to plants or growing, outdoor furniture is as much of a part of the garden, It can add to the beauty of the landscape, provide additional space for living and provide a comfortable spot to enjoy the out of doors.
However, like almost everything else, outdoor furniture requires some care or maintenance. So, when I received an email with story ideas from an outdoor furniture company (at OnBuy Garden Furniture Sets) — one about cleaning outdoor furniture caught my eye. Here is a quick guide, combining their advice and my experiences, on the best ways to take care of your outdoor furniture:
General Preparation and Prevention: The best care is to prevent dirt and damage in the first place. This is easily accomplished by storing the furniture indoors during the colder months and/or using quality furniture covers.
This was brought home after several cheap grill covers didn’t make it through a single season. I bought two resin lounge chairs last year and ordered two covers at the same time. The covers were midrange, not the cheapest, but not the most. They fit snugly and had Velcro straps to anchor the covers to the lounges. I contacted the vendor to be sure that these particular covers would fit my furniture.
The result: my furniture emerged clean, unweathered and undamaged this spring.
Many furniture pieces have fabric, cushions, pillows, seats, umbrellas. When you start putting out the furniture, remove any covers or material that can be placed in the washer. Wash according to fabric tags. Pay particular to drying instructions as throwing them in the dryer may cause shrinkage. If not sure, perhaps you can put the still damp material back on the cleaned furniture and allow it to dry in place.
If the fabric is not removable, use a damp cloth (warm water and mild dish soap) to spot clean as needed. There are some commercial cleaners but I have not used them so I can only suggest that you carefully follow package instructions.
Next, use a brush or rag to dislodge any leaves, cobwebs or moss. Hose the furniture to remove any dust or loose dirt but do not pressure wash. Be sure to clean underneath. Spiders, mice and other creatures may have wintered over under the furniture. In particular, look for the egg masses of insects like the stink bug or the spotted lanternfly. Make sure to remove and destroy any eggs found.
At this point, methods diverge according to the type of surface you are cleaning.
Glass Tabletops: These surfaces accumulate debris often so cleaning them is an oft-repeated task. Like the windows in your home, glass tabletops can be cleaned with any good window cleaner or vinegar. First wipe the surface with a dry cloth to remove loose dirt before spraying the top and wiping it dry. Covering the tabletop with an outdoor tablecloth will keep the surface clean between uses but must be securely anchored. I prefer the beauty of the glass so I just add wiping the table down before using it.
Aluminum Furniture: Spraying with water and wiping down does a good job for simple dirt. If you need more power, use a mild soap and water mixture, followed by a thorough rinse.
Use cloths or sponges and nonabrasive cleaners to avoid scratching. There are specific cleaners on the market for cleaning aluminum but I have not used them. Oxidation is sometimes a problem as aluminum ages. Use a 50:50 mixture of vinegar and water to clear spot areas and then use a wax coating to protect the entire piece.
Iron /Metal Furniture: Durable and beautiful, iron furniture requires regular care. Immediately coat new or newly painted furniture with a metal protectant spray. At least once a year, wash the furniture with mild detergent and water, rinse and allow to dry. Look for any chips, scratches or rusty spots. Clear rust with light sanding, repair any gaps in paint and after allowing surfaces to dry, reapply the metal preservative spray.
Plastic Furniture: New or stored plastic will usually need only a quick rinse or gentle wash before using. Remove stubborn stains with a mild paste of baking soda or vinegar mixed with water to make a paste. Wipe down large areas but for strong stains, use baking soda and a wet sponge to lightly scrub the area. Be sure to rinse down the furniture and allow it to dry before use. There are also specific cleaners for cleaning outdoor furniture and I have had some success with those white scrubbing sponges that disintegrate with use.
Resin Wicker Furniture: This furniture is easy to care for. It is resistant to weather and UV rays. Use a damp cloth and soapy water to wipe down and address stains. Brush the underside to remove webs, leaves and other debris. There is often a metal frame under the resin so check for rust and treat with a wax or metal protector.
Teak Furniture: If you are buying teak furniture please take the time to research if the teak is plantation grown. Forest harvested teak is not renewable or environmentally friendly. Old or new, teak is a durable product for outdoor furniture that requires little care. It resists mold and, unprotected, ages to a silvery tone. The original color can be restored with a stain protector but check for color restoring on the package. Protect furniture with either a cover or a paint-on varnish or sealant. Use very fine sandpaper to lightly sand stains but be sure to sand in the direction of the grain and apply varnish.
Cleaning can be done with a mild detergent and water or a product specifically formulated for teak. If you don’t like a varnish or sealant, teak oil can be used. Apply teak oil after cleaning and air drying the wood; treat every six months if the furniture remains outdoors all year.
Sue Kittek is a freelance garden columnist, writer, and lecturer. Send questions to Garden Keeper at grdnkpr@gmail.com or mail: Garden Keeper, The Morning Call, PO Box 1260, Allentown, PA 18105.
Week in Your Garden
Planting: Start seeds for Baby’s breath, cosmos and zinnias. Direct sow: Chinese cabbage, endive, escarole, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, head and leaf lettuce. Also sow beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, peas, radishes, spinach and turnips. Continue planting seeds for transplanting for Balsam bachelor buttons, calendula, cockscomb, gaillardia, marigold, morning glory, nasturtium, cantaloupe, melon and Swiss chard.
When the soil warms, plant bare-root trees and shrubs. Make sure the soil is dry enough to work — Don’t dig or plant in mud. Follow your schedule for starting seeds.
Seasonal: Visit nurseries when they open for inspiration as well as new plants. Shop for summer bulbs as well. Apply a top dressing of compost to lawns and beds. Move indoor plants into brighter light and start regular watering. Rake back winter mulches. Spring and summer mulch should be two to three inches deep and applied a few inches away from foundations, tree trunks and other plants. Fluff mulch and add more if necessary. Calculate the amount of spring mulch needed then order or buy it. Test soil for new beds, Retest soil in poorly performing areas or those that haven’t been tested in the last 3-5 years. Cut back ornamental grasses. Divide when you see new green growth. Prune and divide perennials that bloom in late summer or fall. Examine trees and shrubs. Note damaged limbs as candidates for pruning. Please check proper pruning information for each plant and prune as needed and recommended. Check for heaved plants, particularly when soil temperatures are fluctuating between freezing and thawing. Keep amaryllis greens warm and watered in a sunny area if you plan on keeping them until next year. Discard paperwhites after blooming. If you use corn gluten-based weed control in the garden, start applying this month and establish a schedule for reapplication, usually at four to six-week intervals
Lawn: Clear lawns of winter debris. Begin broadleaf weed control now through mid-May. Plan and order sod for installation in mid-April through May. Apply preemergent crabgrass control in the next few weeks. Fill in holes and low spots in lawn and seed. Seed or overseed lawns now until mid-May.
Chores: Mark off beds, new plantings, plants that are late to break dormancy in the spring, and delicate plants. Water any recent plantings any time the ground isn’t frozen and we experience a week with less than an inch of rain. Fix damaged screens and garden hoses. Note damaged caulking around doors and windows. Provide deer, rabbit and groundhog protection for vulnerable plants. Reapply taste or scent deterrents. Clean and fill bird feeders regularly. Clean up spilled seed and empty hulls. Dump, scrub and refill birdbaths at least once a week. Use a heater to provide water during freezing weather. Clear gutters and direct rainwater runoff away from house foundations.
Tools, equipment, and supplies: Store winter equipment and replace or repair as needed.
Check spring/summer equipment — repair or replace damaged or worn-out tools. Check power tools and mowers and send for service if needed.
Safety: Use pet, child and plant-safe melting products if possible.
Store garden chemicals indoors away from pets and children. Discard outdated ones at local chemical collection events. Photograph storm damage before clearing or repairing for insurance claims and file promptly. Anytime you are outside and the temperatures are about 50°F or warmer watch for tick bites. Use an insect repellent containing Deet on the skin. Apply a permethrin product to clothing. Wear light-colored clothing, long sleeves, hats and long pants when working in the garden. Stay hydrated. Drink water or other non-caffeinated, nonalcoholic beverages. Even in cold weather, apply sunscreen, wear hats and limit exposure to sun. Wear closed-toe shoes and gloves; use eye protection; and use ear protection when using any loud power tools.
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Farming isn’t just a point of pride in Somerset County, and throughout Pennsylvania.
For many farmers, it’s part of a legacy handed down for a century or more from one generation to the next.
But for those who might spend eight hours a day by themselves on tractors, it can also be a lonely job — turning that same legacy into a heavy burden for those who strive every day to keep family farms operating, Somerset County Farm Bureau President Dennis Hutchison said.
“For farmers, so many factors are out of their control — the weather, commodity prices, workforce issues and the supply chain,” he said, “and it’s a lot to deal with. When you operate a dairy farm, it’s not like you can just step away from it all. Their cows need milked three times a day.”
For most farmers, it’s a way of life — a private one when it comes to recognizing and facing their stresses, he added.
That’s why reason local agriculture advocates and the state Department of Agriculture gathered with mental health professionals to promote new partnerships — and explore future options – to ensure mentally struggling farmers and their families can get the help they need on their terms.
That included the debut of a 24/7 AgriStress Helpline that farmers can call to share their anxieties with health care professionals — or that loved ones can call to begin getting them the help they need.
Through the Farm and Ranch Stress network and the Harrisburg-based Center For Dairy Excellence, efforts are also underway to market mental health awareness to the industry, roll out suicide prevention courses in the farm community and offer “Question Persuade and Refer” training to family members to help them identify issues before they get even worse.
“In the farming industry ... we have a tendency to talk about the business side — but not the personal side. We have to continue working to engage directly with the farm community to encourage them to speak up and step up when they see someone in need,” Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said.
Studies show suicide rates are six times higher among U.S. farmers than the national average.
For the first time in Pennsylvania, $500,000 was dedicated to introduce programming dedicated to farmer stress and suicide, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network.
Hutchison said ideas are turning into action to open up opportunities that the county, the farm bureau, mental health agencies and others can begin to promote locally.
The biggest challenge will be helping farmers realize it’s OK to accept help, President Commissioner Gerald Walker said.
“For farmers, it has always been — you do your job. You don’t talk about your feelings,” said Walker, himself a former farmer. “We have to clear that fog that surrounds the stigma of mental health.”
Part of that involves showing farmers that trying to manage stress or depression on the job without support only makes their daily tasks even harder, said Department of Agriculture rural agriculture council director Mark Critz, who served as the 12th District’s congressman a decade ago.
St. Thomas Lutheran Church Pastor Nila Cogan understands the stresses farm families can face — and how easily it can become part of everyday life.
Cogan is the daughter of a dairy farmer and for years, she and her husband operated an expansive greenhouse and produce farm.
“The stress that comes with it — the whole family gets involved,” she said.
Now a farm bureau member, she praised the fact that efforts are also being introduced to help farmers’ families and the local mental health community.
That training would enable support staff within Bedford-Somerset Development and Behavioral Health Services to better understand how to manage those “unique stressors” farmers deal with, said Tom Bender, the agency’s the director of Crisis Intervention.
The Somerset County commissioners said 911 staff could also take the training.
Hutchison praised former Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and other personalities for working to show the world that “it’s OK” to be depressed or face mental health hurdles.
But he also noted options need to be tailored to those who still aren’t ready to step out into the spotlight.
Many farmers will be more likely to embrace help if it doesn’t mean “parking their pickup truck outside a mental health office,” he said.
He suggested expanded telehealth services that could put farmers in front of physicians or counselors from the privacy of their homes – and on their time.
Redding agreed that more should be done.
Latest Pennsylvania News
“We need to continue to talk about how wee can continue to advance this conversation,” he said. ”Our farmers and agricultural community serve Pennsylvanians every day by providing the food and products we rely on, and we must be there to support them in times of need.”
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Spring has sprung, and a blossoming business in downtown Easton is helping bring the beauty of nature inside.
Trading Post Depot, offering hand-crafted wooden furniture, opened about two weeks ago at 401 Northampton St. (former Gallery on Fourth space).
The showroom is a second location of the business, which originated in 2005 in Spring City, Chester County, and has become known for one-of-a-kind, live-edge creations, including bars, desks, islands, mantels, shelves and one of its most popular offerings, farmhouse-style tables. Live-edge slabs are also available for your own projects.
“Most people come to us for custom orders,” owner Ed DiLello said. “They can, of course, choose something from the showroom floor, but they’ll usually point to a table or another piece that they like and say they want it in a certain length or width.”
DiLello’s father, a master craftsman who heads operations in Spring City, makes the furniture by hand using techniques that he’s fine-tuned over decades in the trade.
Custom orders typically take 4-8 weeks to complete, DiLello said, and pricing varies based on the desired size and wood type.
A variety of wood, including maple, walnut, ash and oak, is sourced from Pennsylvania, with each slab featuring a unique wood grain pattern.
Resin’s often used to create unique tabletop designs around the live-edge wood, and industrial metal bases are forged off-site at another fabricator, DiLello said. The shop also sells Amish-made wooden chairs.
The one-of-a-kind, rustic tables become great conversation pieces as they are “both works of art and truly functional furniture,” according to a message on the business’ website.
Trading Post Depot’s Easton location is open 4-8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays and by appointment Monday through Wednesday. Info: 610-216-2806; tradingpostdepot.com.
Expanding chains
About five miles northwest of downtown Easton, two popular chains are planning to open their first Lehigh Valley locations at a Lower Nazareth Township shopping center.
Crumbl Cookies, a cookie shop chain featuring a rotating menu of more than 200 flavors inspired by cakes, candies, pies, and other desserts, and Club Pilates, a boutique Pilates studio specializing in reformer fusion classes for people of all ages and fitness levels, are coming soon to the Northampton Crossings, at Routes 248 and 33.
The companies’ new outposts will occupy newly divided spaces that previously housed a Catherines women’s clothing store in a building that’s also home to a Starbucks cafe, according to Harrison Lyss, managing director of real estate operations for National Realty & Development Corp., Northampton Crossings’ owner.
Representatives for both chains did not immediately return messages seeking a tentative opening date, but Lyss noted that the spaces are under construction and he expects the new tenants will be open in either the third or fourth quarters of this year.
Crumbl, the fastest-growing cookie company in the nation, was founded in 2017 when cousins Jason McGowan (CEO) and Sawyer Hemsley (COO) opened their first Crumbl store in Logan, Utah, while Hemsley was attending Utah State University, according to a company description.
Since its founding, the company has grown to more than 400 locations nationwide, including nine others in Pennsylvania. The closest locations to the Lehigh Valley are in Bucks and Montgomery counties.
As Crumbl continued to grow, so did its flavor offerings. The company’s award-winning milk chocolate chip cookie has always been on the menu with its chilled pink sugar cookie becoming a semi-permanent menu item soon after.
Crumbl then introduced its rotating menu concept, with the frequency and timing of the menu evolving until its iconic four flavor weekly rotation was established in December 2018.
Menu highlights include cookies that are served warm such as iced oatmeal, triple chocolate chip and peanut butter featuring Snickers; chilled cookies such as Key lime pie. Info: crumblcookies.com.
Club Pilates, the largest Pilates brand and studio network worldwide, offers low-impact, full-body workouts with a variety of classes that “challenge your mind as well as your body,” according to the company’s website.
At more than 650 studios spanning four continents, the reformer-based group Pilates classes are complemented by other apparatus, including TRX springboards, EXO chairs and BOSU balls, designed to build strength, mobility and stability.
Individuals can choose from a variety of group class membership packages, including four- and eight-packs, unlimited, annual and passport (for individuals planning to work out at multiple studios). Info: clubpilates.com.
Staying on the topic of chains, a new McDonald’s eatery, featuring a two-lane drive-thru, self-ordering kiosks and seating capacity for 42 customers, is expected to open in mid-April at 6690 Short Drive in Upper Saucon Township, according to franchise owner James McIntyre.
The newly constructed restaurant will operate next to a new Wawa gas station and convenience store at the southwest corner of Route 309 and Passer Road.
A few homes, the former Truly Fine home furnishings store and the former Peppercorn Pub-turned apartment building were razed to make way for the development.
The restaurant’s opening day will be announced on the business’ Facebook page, and the first 50 customers will receive a free Big Mac every week for a year, McIntyre said.
The new eatery will be the fifth area McDonald’s for McIntyre and his wife, Karen, who together operate under the Jamren McDonald’s business name. The couple also owns McDonald’s locations in Hellertown, Easton, Quakertown and Milford Township.
“I’m a second-generation McDonald’s operator,” James said. “My dad was in it before me. I started in 1996, and then I bought my first restaurant in 2008.”
At their Upper Saucon McDonald’s, the McIntyres plan to hold a ribbon-cutting celebration with the Southern Lehigh Chamber of Commerce 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 26. The Southern Lehigh High School Marching Band is set to perform just prior to the 11:45 a.m. ribbon cutting.
Closing notes
As I reported Wednesday, an Allentown landmark restaurant has shared heartbreaking news with its customers.
The Brass Rail, an iconic eatery where generations of families have gathered for pot roast sandwiches, cheesesteaks, hot dogs and spaghetti, will close June 4.
In 2020, brother and sister co-owners Mark Sorrentino and Pam Ray signed an agreement of sale for the 3015 Lehigh St. property with a developer. Royal Farms, a Baltimore-based convenience store and gas stain chain, filed sketch plans last summer to open a new location at the Brass Rail site.
“This was a very difficult decision,” Sorrentino wrote in a message posted on the restaurant’s door. “We want to express our gratitude to all of our loyal customers for your patronage over the past 91 years, as well as our wonderful family of employees.”
When Sorrentino and Ray signed the agreement, they were planning to move the longstanding business to an undetermined location. However, those plans changed over the past year due to a “number of factors,” Sorrentino said.
“It’s very difficult to operate a business in today’s environment,” he explained. “It’s the shortage of staff, the rise in prices of everything, the cost of either renting or buying property; everything is through the roof. So, we decided it would be best at this point to take a step back and try to figure out if there’s something in the future for us.”
Sorrentino is still planning to serve up eats at an Allentown Fair stand at the end of summer, but he cautions it may be The Brass Rail’s final appearance at the event. He’s also “keeping options open” for possible future ventures.
“I’m not ruling out any possibilities — whether it’s a food truck or another location or maybe it just won’t work,” he said. “It’s an extremely difficult decision, being a third-generation operator of a family restaurant that’s been in business for 91 years. It’s also a matter of our loyal customers and employees, who are like a second family to me.”
The Brass Rail was founded in 1931 by Mark’s grandfather, Philip Sorrentino. The business began as an Allentown hamburger and hot dog stand before increasing success led to its expansion at 1137 Hamilton St. in 1933. The downtown Allentown spot closed in 2001, 40 years after the Lehigh Street location opened. Info: brassrailrestaurant.com.
I’ll finish with a couple of other closing notes: First, in downtown Bethlehem, Back Door Bakeshop, a popular take-out cafe and bakeshop, last weekend closed its brick-and-mortar location after nine years of business at 92 E. Broad St.
Back Door has gone back to its origins as a wholesale business, according to a message on the business’ website. It will continue to provide baked goods at Scholl Orchards in Bethlehem, as well as at local festivals and community events.
“This is all very bittersweet for us, and we hope you understand that it wasn’t an easy decision,” partners Gail Lehman and Dina Hall stated on the business’ Facebook page. “The most important thing is that we’ve missed too much time with our family, and we’re looking forward to making up for that lost time.”
Back Door, known for its scones, cookies, cinnamon rolls and other baked goods, was established in 2009 at 1422 Center St. in Bethlehem. Operations moved about a mile south to a larger city space at the corner of East Broad and Center streets in 2013. Info: backdoorbakeshop.com.
Lastly, religious store Abundant Graces closed Saturday, April 2, after 20 years of business at 3348 Easton Ave. in Bethlehem Township.
“I’m going to be 73 in a month or so and I was praying for years, ‘Show us how we’re going to end this,’” co-owner Terri O’Connell told The Morning Call earlier this year. “Are we going to go forever, until 90?”
God’s answer, she said, was the pending expiration of the lease on the Easton Avenue store, where O’Connell and partner Laura Smith have provided customers — individuals and churches — with books, rosaries, jewelry, statues, vestments, music, communion wafers and more.
The building owners plan to update and sell the building. O’Connell and Smith didn’t want to relocate.
Latest Retail Watch
Retail Watch, appearing every weekend, keeps track of retail and restaurant news in the Lehigh Valley. Contact Ryan Kneller at 610-820-6597 or retailwatch@mcall.com.
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Northampton County native Richard C. Fuisz has enjoyed watching Hulu’s miniseries “The Dropout.”
But Fuisz doesn’t need to watch it; he lived the story.
For awhile, disgraced CEO Elizabeth Holmes who is played by Allentown’s Amanda Seyfried, and Holmes’ company, Theranos, were seen as the next big thing in health care.
The Silicon Valley blood-testing startup in the early 2000s, with Holmes as a young, aggressive CEO planned to shake up the industry. With its equipment, Holmes said it would make blood testing less expensive and more accessible, using small amounts of blood obtained via a finger prick, rather than collecting a vial or vials of blood.
However, the claims were proven to be false, and during a decade-and-a-half of struggle, lawsuits and federal-government sanctions, Theranos was dissolved. Holmes was convicted Jan. 3 on four counts of fraud and faces 20 years in prison when she’s sentenced in September.
Holmes’ story — starting Theranos after dropping out of Stanford University, only to be brought to trial — led to a podcast, documentary and, most recently “The Dropout,” that began airing March 3 on the subscription-streaming service.
Fuisz, 82, served as a key source in former Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou’s investigation, stories and subsequent book “Bad Blood,” which exposed flaws in Holmes’ technology.
“I knew it was fraudulent ,” Fuisz said this week by phone. Fuisz grew up in Lower Nazareth Township and graduated in 1958 from Bethlehem Catholic High School before leaving the area for college, medical school, the military and more in a highly varied career.
“Thank God when I went to Bethlehem Catholic; you learned morality from the nuns,” Fuisz said. “You knew what was right and wrong. That’s the atrocious part of this.”
Actor William H. Macy portrays Fuisz in the Hulu series. Fuisz said he never met Macy but none of the actors did with any of the other parts they portrayed. “So the actors played their roles as the producers wanted them to play,” he said.
“It’s all good, but is Macy a dead-on? No,” Fuisz said.
Longtime connection to Holmes, her family
Fuisz, 82, who lives in Franklin, Tennessee, said he knew Holmes and her family while the families were neighbors living in Washington. His ex-wife Lorraine, and Holmes’ mom, Noel, traveled together.
With a varied background — physician, medical inventor and undercover CIA agent — Fuisz was among those who questioned Holmes’ deduction about diluting one drop of a person’s blood from a finger stick to be able to conduct medical tests instead of drawing a vial or vials of blood. He said blood obtained in that method doesn’t provide “pure blood” for conducting tests.
In 2011, Holmes and Theranos sued Fuisz, alleging that Fuisz had misappropriated a Theranos patent and used that information to file a separate patent involving the data collection of the blood. He said the federal lawsuit was settled without advantage to either party, but Fuisz, who owns more than 200 patents, admitted he was hurt.
The Hulu series he said, “tends to portray me as vindictive, and that’s true. But they don’t give the motive,” which he said was the harm Holmes caused him and his family. “That’s why I went after her [later, via Carreyou]. She was basically saying our family had stolen the patent from her.”
Fuisz was credited in the book “Bad Blood” with connecting the author, Carreyou, with the former medical director of Theranos, who exposed Theranos’ fraudulent blood testing system. Before the book, Carreyou wrote a series of Journal articles revealing the Theranos fraud and intimidation tactics.
The back story
Fuisz, the youngest of three boys by Anton and Margaret Fuisz, grew up the son of a shopkeeper. Anton Fuisz owned and ran Purity Food Market on East Fourth Street in south Bethlehem.
Fuisz and his older brother, Robert, who died in 2017, graduated from Bethlehem Catholic High School before attending Georgetown University for undergraduate and medical degrees. After medical school, Fuisz was trained at Harvard Medical School’s Cambridge Hospital. He served as a physician and lieutenant commander in the Navy, and was stationed at the White House during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.
The brothers were no strangers to entertainment. They created an NBC reality show “Lifeline” in the 1970s and a series of CBS documentaries called “The Body Human,” which aired from 1977 to 1984. Both TV series received critical acclaim, according to a 1992 Morning Call story.
Fuisz said he started even earlier in film while in the service, playing a doctor in medical movies for the Department of Defense. He estimated doing about 400 films.
Fuisz called the “The Dropout” “very accurate” and said Macy played him well. He said the miniseries portrays him as more excitable than he really is and that he has more hair than Macy’s character.
He also thinks he comes off “a little goofy” with how Macy portrayed him.
“But I’m fine. When you’re into your 80s, you don’t give a damn; you don’t have to please anybody,” Fuisz said.
Fuisz, who occasionally visits the Valley, evidently did not lose his moral upbringing. The Morning Call reached out to Fuisz through an email to his company, Fuisz Technologies. He emailed back his telephone number with a signature line: “Deo Soli Gloria,” Latin for “God’s glory alone.”
Theranos’ troubles also strike Allentown
Holmes and Theranos had at least one other tie to the Valley.
While the company was still considered viable in health care, it began scouting for locations to open retail storefronts for its testing.
In March 2016, Theranos signed a lease to open a testing center in Allentown’s Village West Shopping Center. That July, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hit the company with major sanctions over serious problems it found at the company’s testing lab. Theranos later that year announced it would shut down all its blood testing centers.
That left Cedar Crest Associates, which was leasing the 2,200 square feet at Village West on Tilghman Street, holding the bag on a 10-year rental contract worth more than $855,000. A lawsuit filed in 2016 by Cedar Crest Associates sought the balance of payments on the lease.
However, the case was “withdrawn without prejudice” by early 2017, according to a document in Lehigh County Court. While that means the case is not dismissed, it is the last document filed in connection with the lawsuit.
Latest Entertainment
Morning Call journalist Anthony Salamone can be reached at asalamone@mcall.com.
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This isn’t exactly Bronx Zoo material, but it will do.
Since January, Yankees brass knew their TV outlet, the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network, was hiring Carlos Beltran as one of its new analysts. Standard operating procedure includes a network getting the blessing of team brass before it signs a new voice.
Previously Beltran, who played for seven teams including the Mets, Astros and Yankees (he also worked in the Bombers front office), was also named in a report filed by commissioner Rob Manfred as mastermind of the Astros 2017 cheating scandal. Yet when YES suits stated their intentions to hire Beltran, Brian Cashman, the veteran GM, gave his blessing. It was Beltran who was reluctant about taking the gig, which will have him appearing in 36 telecasts. When he was told TV could be a bridge back to baseball, he decided to take the job.
Beltran has already participated in a 45-minute “rehearsal” game with YES play-by-play voice Michael Kay. A well-embedded mole said Beltran deserved a solid “B” for his initial effort. “He said some very interesting things,” the insider said. Everything seemed copacetic. Then Thursday came, with Cashman telling The Athletic he was tired of his organization being hammered for not making a World Series appearance since 2009.
Cashman blamed the Astros sign-stealing scandal for the Yankees losing the 2017 ALCS in seven games and not making it into the Fall Classic.
“The only thing that stopped us was so illegal and horrific,” Cashman said, “so I get offended when I start hearing we haven’t been to the World Series since ‘09…The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off.”
Yet, unless he had a change of heart, this didn’t stop Cashman from signing off on Beltran. While Cashman has bigger fish to fry, it’s reasonable to wonder how much attention he will be paying to Beltran’s booth stylings, including his take on the 2017 sign-stealing caper. It’s ironic — funny too — that Beltran, a symbol of something “so illegal and horrific,” will be prominently featured in the aggrieved organization’s broadcast booth.
Cashman won’t have to wait long to figure out where Beltran is coming from.
Monday might as well be named “Carlos Beltran Day,” only on YES. At noon, YES will air an hour-long special edition of Center Stage featuring Beltran and Kay. That will lead right into a Yankees-Phillies spring training tilt with Beltran in the analyst role. Monday evening, the Beltran Center Stage will air again on YES.
No doubt Beltran will use the YES airtime to answer questions about his role in the cheating scandal. (We believe his bitterness and anger over how he was scapegoated has not totally subsided.) And once the season starts, we wonder how Cashman will react to whatever Beltran has to say. Like if the Aaron Judge contract issue lingers. Or first/second-guessing Aaron Boone’s moves.
The YES booth gives Beltran the opportunity, despite Cashman harping on 2017, to become a fan favorite, a sympathetic figure. Beltran’s mere presence will bring a double dose of controversy to the proceedings.
At least that’s the signal we’re getting.
GET ME GUS!
Monday night it’s down to three — Jim Nantz, Grant Hill, Bill Raftery.
Those voices will call the men’s basketball championship on TBS.
As usual it’s taken a small army of yakkers to reach the final game. All came to the microphones with good intentions. Some got suspect results. Yet among all these voices there was not a Gus Johnson to be found. No out-of-the-blue contender to challenge the man who thrilled the Free World, often catching tournament lightning in a microphone.
Read this as a not-so-subtle hint of our belief Fox’s Gus Johnson belongs on the CBS/Turner roster of Final Four preachers.
In a time where there’s little to no network exclusivity, there should be a spot for Johnson. On the current roster, Nantz has the big event voice that is synonymous with the tournament. Johnson has the same type of gravitas. He also takes a back seat to no one when it comes to vocally building the drama inside the quick developing storyline of a game.
And when Johnson decides to go nuts, it’s timed properly. He’s not calling a first half three-pointer as if it was a regulation ending buzzer-beater. Those mortgage company commercials Johnson does that air during the tournament are not enough.
No one is saying Johnson should be penciled in as the lead voice. But next season he needs to be there. Bring Johnson back to March Madness.
ONLY ON YES...AND TBS, APPLE, AMAZON, ESPN AND FOX
In the years when the Yankees, Mets and other MLB teams transitioned from “free” TV to cable, baseball was still the national pastime, a popular sport worth paying for.
Now that has changed. Most baseball talk and analysis is about how to fix it.
So as the Yankees take 21 Friday night games from WPIX-TV, selling them to the Amazon streaming service, there are some questions:
1) When the masses realize the change, that’s when the chaos begins. Will they make the effort to access Amazon Prime, especially if they are already souring on baseball?
2) Will fans even know where to find a Yankee game this season?
The catchphrase “Only on YES” could become obsolete.
For this season, on any given night or day, the Bombers could appear on YES, Amazon, Apple TV+, Peacock, ESPN, FS1, Fox (Ch. 5), TBS (new Tuesday night game of the week) and MLBN. Figuring out where the game is airing could require the kind of heavy lifting that fans, already frustrated by MLB’s shenanigans, can do without.
Yet for cats like Hal Steinbrenner, it’s just another way to put more money in their pockets.
OUR ONLY HOPE
It has become clear the only mouth who can slow down WFAN Gasbag Craig Carton’s stream-of-consciousness view of the world is his “partner” Evan Roberts.
Just wondering if Roberts will be able to sustain this reverse momentum?
Hopefully he can. His stuff has a humorous quality. Like when Roberts told Carton: “I can’t push back on every dumb thing he [Carton] comes up with.”
Keep trying, please!
AROUND THE DIAL
In case anyone wonders what the genesis of this Yankees-Amazon deal is, it may help to know that Amazon already owns 15% of the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network. The Yankees own 26% of YES. ... All we can say is FAN’s Brandon (Tiki &) Tierney spending time talking about the jerseys he owns, specifying his Knicks “shoot-around” shirts, is scintillating radio. ... Much credit to all the radio Gasbags who tried making hours of talk about the NFL’s new overtime rule interesting. Do you believe in coasting?
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DUDE OF THE WEEK: LOS ANGELES DODGERS
For a great display of compassion. The club re-signed Andrew Toles, a former player who hasn’t played since 2018 and has been homeless, to a contract that allows him access to mental health services and health insurance. Toles is determined to bounce back in the game of life. The Dodgers are giving him a big assist.
DWEEB OF THE WEEK: LEON ROSE
For continuing to boycott the media. His team staggers down the stretch eliminated from the playoffs. His “star,” Julius Randle, denies Craig Carton’s “unconfirmed rumor” that he wants out of the Drecka. Yet the Knicks prez still stays mum, hanging coach Tom Thibodeau out to dry as the team’s mouthpiece.
DOUBLE TALK
What Kyrie Irving said: “It’s more accountability on our end to finish out regulation with more resolve.”
What Kyrie Irving meant to say: “We can’t close out a game.”
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Pennsylvania is facing major crossroads around transportation, employment and planning for climate change.elves and our children by investing in electrical vehicle transportation, individual, public and
Now there is a generational opportunity to reinvigorate the middle class, create good-paying, union jobs and build a more sustainable economy for ourscommercial.
The economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt by working families across Pennsylvania. At the same time, climate change is becoming a reality we are all forced to confront, as severe weather events destroy homes, flood our roads and threaten our agricultural sector.
Our energy infrastructure is also shifting, and with it we must ensure we invest in sectors that replace the jobs that are going away.
The transportation sector of our economy is the largest source of climate pollution. But we have an opportunity to use Pennsylvania’s highly skilled union workforce to modernize this industry, creating good-paying jobs in the process.
Pennsylvania, for centuries a leader in manufacturing, is a hotbed for transportation innovation. In the Lehigh Valley, a Mack truck facility in Lower Macungie is at the vanguard of efforts to popularize the use of electric trash trucks.
In Western Pennsylvania, engineers at Carnegie Mellon University are working on vehicle electrification. And Wabtec, a major Pennsylvania manufacturer, recently announced a $100 million deal to build battery-powered locomotives in Erie for the Union Pacific Railroad.
These investments are critical for both our economy and our planet and are coming not a moment too soon. Anyone who saw the seemingly endless procession of car commercials touting electric vehicles during this year’s Super Bowl must realize electric cars are poised to become massively popular with the mainstream American consumer.
Yet despite these advancements, Pennsylvania is lagging the nation in building the charging infrastructure to power electric vehicles — with fewer charging stations than the national average, adjusted for population.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that President Biden signed last year takes the first step in making the necessary investments to get this game-changing industry off the ground.
The act includes $172 million over five years to build out Pennsylvania’s electric vehicle charging network, with more funding set aside for clean school buses and green public transit.
But this investment won’t help us make the transition to clean electric cars fast enough to meet the emissions reduction targets scientists say are necessary to avert a climate disaster. The portion of the infrastructure package devoted to electric vehicles would meet as little as 15% of President Biden’s own goals.
That is why it is essential that Congress swiftly pass the rest of President Biden’s climate agenda.
The president’s plan would help make electric vehicles more affordable for working families while rebuilding our manufacturing sector by providing special incentives for cars and batteries built in the United States with union labor.
It would also turbocharge upgrades to our electric grid and charging infrastructure, creating more jobs and ensuring electric vehicles become viable options for families, logistics companies and municipal fleets.
These investments would help create half a million jobs over a five-year period, according to a report by the Electrification Coalition and Securing America’s Future Energy. And they would allow us to drastically improve air quality, helping to reduce harmful nitrogen oxides in our air by more than 25% over the next decade.
Improving our air quality will help to limit the impacts of asthma and other respiratory and heart conditions in our children and seniors, particularly in low-income and Black and brown communities, which often are disproportionately impacted by pollution.
Now is the time to make sure that the United States, and Pennsylvania, lead the world in electric vehicles.
We have a president who is standing alongside us, a strong union workforce that is ready to lead and the potential of billions of dollars to help drive innovation and lay the groundwork for a successful transformation of the transportation sector.
Congress must work with the president to get his landmark agenda over the finish line so we can put people to work.
Molly Parzen is executive director of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. Rick Bloomingdale is former president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.
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The six people killed in Monday’s 80-vehicle pileup on Interstate 81 included four men and two women whose ages range from 40 to 70, Schuylkill County Deputy Coroner Albert Barnes said Friday.
He said the victims, in four different vehicles, were burned beyond recognition.
“All of the decedents were found in the group of vehicles that were on fire,” Barnes said.
Barnes said the names of those killed will be released by state police as soon as a positive identity is made and families are notified.
“Right now we’re 99.8 percent sure, but we want to be 100 percent sure,” he said. “We expect all identifications and notifications to be made in the near future.”
The accident began during a snow squall, which state police have said was “definitely a contributing factor.” Their investigation continues.
Barnes said two victims, a man and woman, were in a box truck that was one of the first vehicles involved in the crash. They were from Montgomery County, he said.
Also killed was a man in a tractor-trailer, a man and woman in a car and another man in a car. Other than the two from Montgomery County, the deceased are thought to be from out of state.
The first victim was pronounced dead around 5 p.m. and the sixth victim around 11 p.m. Monday.
Because of the condition of the bodies, Barnes said, “You could not tell gender, hair color or ethnicity. Everybody was Doe and at that point; we didn’t know John or Jane.”
Barnes and Deputy Coroner Erin Cuff said after firefighters extinguished the flames, the large amount of water used turned to ice, making the recovery of victims even more difficult. As darkness fell, that added to the challenge.
Barnes said the remains were brought to the coroner’s facilities at the Simon Kramer Cancer Institute, where personnel searched for identifying items such as tattoos and wedding bands.
Barnes said fingerprints were impossible because of the damage from the fire.
“There was nothing,” he said.
He said the coroner’s office worked with state police to document which vehicle each of the deceased was found in, then tried to determine the type of vehicle, who it was registered to and even who may have been driving.
“We’re trying to be on the same page as the state police,” he said. “It’s a joint investigation.”
Barnes and Cuff said Monday’s scene is one they will never forget.
Cuff recalled one of the victims had a cross in his hand.
“It made me wonder if he was alive when the fire started and knew he was going to die,” he said.
Barnes credited everyone who responded that day — police, firefighters and EMS — for working together in getting the victims out of their burned vehicles, helping those injured and assisting those not hurt get off the highway.
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Nazareth lost several close bouts in each of its three dual meets against Bethlehem Catholic in the EPC, District 11 and PIAA Class 3A team finals.
It also lost standout 172-pounder Noah Okamoto to shoulder surgery in the second of those three meetings.
Then, inexplicably, the Blue Eagles won the team titles at the district, Northeast Regional and PIAA individual tournaments.
Coach Dave Crowell each week found fewer words to explain how that reversal transpired.
“To wrestle one great tournament is, well you know what is going to happen next week,” Crowell said. “And then you wrestle at regionals better than [at districts]. Then, I’m going, ‘Oh, gosh.’
“Thursday [at states] wasn’t a great round for us. It was OK. Then, gosh, [Friday and Saturday] was … not to put down any other teams I’ve coached, one of the greatest performances by a team in a state tournament.”
This analysis comes from a coaching legendary with 569 career dual-meet wins --- sixth most in PIAA history --- 24 state championship wrestlers, which is second most; and 100 district champions in his three Lehigh Valley stops, so he has perspective.
Friday night’s blood round at states was the epitome of Nazareth’s improbable run. Nine of the Blue Eagles’ 11 state qualifiers were involved. Six of them won, including all three in head-to-head matchups with Golden Hawks.
Friday night’s blood round at states was the highlight of Nazareth’s improbable run and proof of the program’s team-first mantra. Nine of the Blue Eagles’ 11 state qualifiers were involved. Six of them won, including all three in head-to-head matchups with Golden Hawks.
Bethlehem Catholic’s talent level to win league, district and state team tournament titles and wreck the other 13 schools not named Nazareth or 2A state team tournament runner-up Notre Dame-Green Pond in dual meets is so ridiculous, consider this:
--- Golden Hawks coach Jeff Karam believed freshman 106-pounder Shane McFillin would have been a 3A state medalist … except the state champion in that weight class also was a freshman in the Bethlehem Catholic room.
--- Returning starter Charlie Pavis lost his preseason wrestle-off to freshman Cole Campbell, then beat him in the Tony Iasiello Memorial Christmas City Classic final, then lost another wrestle-off to Campbell who later won state silver at 113 pounds.
--- Freshman Marco Frinzi was 10-0 this season, but couldn’t crack the lineup because brother Dante, a four-time state qualifier, was at the same weight.
--- Freshman Charlie Scanlan won 20 matches as the 145-pound starter, but could not make the individual postseason lineup.
“People say, ‘Man, we’re a year away,’” Karam said. “We arrived early.”
Nazareth and Bethlehem Catholic, the state’s two best teams by a comfortable margin, are The Morning Call’s all-area 3A wrestling teams of the year.
“I love wrestling Nazareth,” Karam added. “It’s going to be a great match every time because they’re just a great team.”
Bethlehem Catholic crowned seven individual district champions and Nazareth added five. The combined 12 by the two programs were the most in any class in one season in District 11 history.
They combined for 21 state qualifiers. The numbers these two programs produced this season was ridiculous.
Not much figures to change next season.
Karam graduates one starter and has 17 returnees with considerable varsity experience.
Crowell loses five starters but has several promising incoming freshmen who figure to plug in at least a few of those holes.
Good luck EPC, District 11 and the rest of the state in 3A.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com
We rely on the support of our subscribers to fund our journalism. If you’re not already signed up, we hope you will consider subscribing. Already a print subscriber? If you haven’t already, please activate your digital access.
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Wondering how much that home in your neighborhood recently sold for? The Morning Call lists all real estate transactions in the Lehigh Valley during the last 30 days.
The table below shows deed transfers reordered in Lehigh and Northampton counties during that time. The information is provided on a weekly basis by the recorder of deeds office in each county.
The properties are not identified as commercial, residential, or vacant land.
Check back every week to see the latest list.
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An online fundraiser for the family of two girls who died after being trapped in a fire at a Hellertown home early Friday has raised nearly $80,000 in just 24 hours.
The fundraiser, “Help the Kaufman Family,” has raised more than $78,000 from 905 donations as of 10 a.m. Saturday. The fundraiser already had exceeded its $10,000 goal shortly after being launched.
The two girls — Brianna Baer, 15, and Abigail Kaufman, 10 — were trapped on the second floor of the house on the 600 block of Linden Avenue in the fire. The girls were rescued from the home by firefighters, but later died from their injuries, police said.
Damien Kaufman, 36, and his wife, Jennifer, 42, were able to get out of the home.
“They need our help in the coming days,” according to the GoFundMe’s description. “The money will help them with hospital bills, repair bills, and more incidentals. Please consider making a donation to help them through this tragic time. Our community loves them and they need our support now more than ever.”
The Morning Call has reached out to the fundraiser’s organizer for comment.
Several borough businesses have started collecting donations for the family. Salon Mia, 401 Main St., is collecting gift cards for the family.
No further details were available on the fire as of Saturday morning. In a news release Friday evening, borough police said the fire began in a southeast first-floor bedroom, but the cause has not been determined.
Autopsies are scheduled for Monday to determine the cause and manner of the deaths of the two girls.
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Russia’s assault on Ukraine and its veiled threats of using nuclear arms have policymakers, past and present, thinking the unthinkable: How should the West respond to a Russian battlefield explosion of a nuclear bomb?
The default U.S. policy answer, say some architects of the post-Cold War nuclear order, is with discipline and restraint. That could entail stepping up sanctions and isolation for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Rose Gottemoeller, deputy secretary-general of NATO from 2016 to 2019.
But no one can count on calm minds to prevail in such a moment, and real life seldom goes to plan. World leaders would be angry, affronted, fearful. Miscommunication and confusion could be rife. Hackers could add to the chaos. Demands would be great for tough retaliation — the kind that can be done with nuclear-loaded missiles capable of moving faster than the speed of sound.
When military and civilian officials and experts have war-gamed Russian-U.S. nuclear tensions in the past, the tabletop exercises sometimes end with nuclear missiles arcing across continents and oceans, striking the capitals of Europe and North America, killing millions within hours, said Olga Oliker, program director for Europe and Central Asia at the International Crisis Group.
“And, you know, soon enough, you’ve just had a global thermonuclear war,” Oliker said.
It’s a scenario officials hope to avoid, even if Russia targets Ukraine with a nuclear bomb.
Gottemoeller, a chief U.S. nuclear negotiator with Russia for the Obama administration, said that the outlines that President Joe Biden has provided so far of his nuclear policy stick with those of past administrations in using atomic weapons only in “extreme circumstances.”
“And a single Russian nuclear use demonstration strike, or -- as horrific as it would be -- a nuclear use in Ukraine, I do not think would rise to that level” of demanding a U.S. nuclear response, said Gottemoeller, now a lecturer at Stanford University.
For former Sen. Sam Nunn, a Georgia Democrat who over nearly a quarter-century in Congress helped shape global nuclear policy, the option of Western nuclear use has to remain on the table.
“That’s what the doctrine of mutual assured destruction has been about for a long, long time,” said Nunn, now strategic adviser to the Nuclear Threat Initiative security organization, which he co-founded.
“If President Putin were to use nuclear weapons, or any other country uses nuclear weapons first, not in response to a nuclear attack, not in response to an existential threat to their own country ... that leader should assume that they are putting the world in the high risk of a nuclear war, and nuclear exchange,” Nunn said.
For U.S. officials and world leaders, discussions of how to respond to a limited nuclear attack are no longer theoretical. In the first hours and days of Russia’s invasion, Putin referenced Russia’s nuclear arsenal. He warned Western countries to stay out of the conflict, saying he was putting his nuclear forces on heightened alert.
Any country that interfered with Russia’s invasion would face consequences “such as you have never seen, in your entire history,” Putin declared.
How to respond to any use by Russia of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons was among the issues discussed by Biden and other Western leaders when they met in Europe in late March. Three NATO members — the United States, Britain and France — have nuclear weapons.
One overarching concern is that by casting some nuclear weapons as tactical weapons to be used in battle, Russia could break the nearly eight-decade global taboo against using a nuclear weapon against another country. Even comparatively small tactical nuclear weapons approach the strength of the atomic bomb the United States dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in World War II.
Gottemoeller and Nunn praise Biden’s restraint in the face of Putin’s implicit nuclear warnings at the outset of the war. Biden made no known move to raise the U.S. nuclear alert status. The U.S. also postponed a routine Minuteman III test launch last month to avoid escalating tensions.
But in the short term and long, the world appears more at risk of a nuclear conflict as a result of Putin’s bungled invasion and nuclear threats, according to arms control experts and negotiators.
The weaknesses that Russia’s invasion exposed in its conventional military forces may leave Putin feeling even more compelled in the future to threaten nuclear use as his best weapon against the far-stronger United States and NATO.
While Gottemoeller argued that Ukraine’s surrendering of its Soviet nuclear arsenal in 1994 opened the door for three decades of international integration and growth, she said some governments may take a different lesson from nuclear Russia’s invasion of non-nuclear Ukraine — that they need nuclear bombs as a matter of survival.
Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute, said the nuclear danger is going up.
“And we can tell which pathways would cause that risk to go up further. And certainly direct conflict with Russia from forces based in NATO countries is one pathway to a nuclear war,” Lewis said.
Gottemoeller took heart in Putin grumbling publicly late last month about “cancel culture.” That suggested he was vulnerable to world condemnation over his Ukraine invasion, and worse to come if he broke the post-World War II taboo on nuclear attack, she said.
Detonating a nuclear bomb in a country Putin sought dominion over, one next to his own, wouldn’t be rational, Nunn said. But he said neither was Putin’s announcement of heightened nuclear alert,.
As a young congressional aide during the Cuban missile crisis, Nunn witnessed U.S. officers and pilots in Europe standing by for orders to launch nuclear weapons on the Soviet Union. The danger today isn’t yet as great as in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles on Cuba raised the threat of nuclear war with the U.S., he said.
But the risk of intentional nuclear escalation now is high enough to make a cease-fire in Ukraine crucial, Nunn said. The modern threat of cyberattacks adds to the risk of a mistaken launch. And it’s not clear how vulnerable U.S. and, especially, Russian systems are to such hacking attempts, he said.
Putin “has been very reckless in his saber rattling with nuclear weapons,” Nunn said. “And that I think has made everything more dangerous, including a blunder.”
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I have a very different view of the empty area that was once Bethlehem Steel’s tower.
I spy some wildflowers in that area. It is an area returning to its roots. Its “weeds” are holding the soil in place, so it doesn’t blow around as much.
Rain is allowed to soak into the soil, returning the water to the underground aquifers. It is quite alive with all sorts of bugs, birds, bees and other living things, who help to restore the balance to the ground and area.
It is hardly “barren” but indeed quite alive if you take the time to look much more closely at the “weeds.”
Paul Zalewski
Bethlehem Township
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A potentially serious tickborne virus has been identified in several counties across Pennsylvania, prompting state officials to urge residents to take protective measures.
Deer tick virus, or DTV, a type of Powassan virus that can cause encephalitis or meningitis, has been identified in ticks in some commonwealth counties, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
“The weather is getting nicer and more people are going out and enjoying trails near their hometowns, but they should also be aware that DTV is increasing in tick populations,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “They should plan now on how to protect themselves so they can avoid health complications in the future.”
While Powassan virus disease is rare, reported cases have increased in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s primarily spread to people by infected ticks, and it does not spread through coughing, sneezing or touching.
So far, the virus has been detected in 15 counties, according to state data. High levels of the virus have been found in Wyoming, Centre and Clearfield counties.
As of late March, there were no known positives of deer tick virus in Lehigh or Northampton counties, according to state DEP spokesperson Colleen Connolly. However, officials have found the virus in nearby Monroe and Schuylkill counties.
To find out more about commonwealth ticks and the risk of DTV, The Morning Call spoke to Muhlenberg College biology professor Marten Edwards.
What is a tick?
There are five common ticks in Pennsylvania, Edwards said, and they aren’t classified as insects.
“They are actually more related to spiders,” he said. “They have eight legs and cannot jump or fly. The only food they will ever consume is blood.”
Early stage ticks feed on small animals, while adults feed on deer.
“They need to feed to grow from the larva to the nymph stage and then take another meal to get to the adult stage,” he explained. “Adult females will take a big blood meal to produce a batch of eggs. If a tick feeds on an infected animal and then later feeds on a person, it can transmit the infection from the animal to a person.”
Which tick carries DTV?
Only one species of ticks is responsible for almost all tick-borne diseases across the state, Edwards said, the black-legged tick, also known as a deer tick.
“These are the ones that transmit Lyme Disease,” he said. “Black-legged ticks prefer wooded areas to grassy areas. Dog ticks are much larger and more common in grassy areas, and they do not transmit Lyme Disease.”
What is a tick’s purpose?
Some animals, like opossums, eat ticks, Edwards said.
“But this is more a way of getting rid of them than a snack,” he said. “I would imagine ticks are not very nutritious, and their role in nature is a parasite.”
What do ticks do?
Ticks have a lifespan of at least two years, Edwards said. Asked what they do, he said “Most of the time, not much.”
“They spend most of the time hanging below the leaf litter, close to the moist soil,” he said. “When they are not looking for a blood meal, which only happens three times in their life, they seem to be pretty lazy.”
Where can ticks be found in the Lehigh Valley?
It depends on the species, Edwards said, but black-legged ticks prefer wooded habitats.
“You may encounter them on a hike in the woods or in your garden,” he said. “You are less likely to find them on mowed lawns. They do not live indoors. Once in a while, a pet can bring ticks inside but [they] generally will not survive very long away from moisture. They will never breed inside the house.”
What can residents do?
Residents who enjoy hikes in the woods should stay on the trail, because ticks prefer leafy undergrowth, he said.
“Take a shower as soon as you get home, which gives you a chance to do a good tick check and hopefully wash them down the drain before they latch on,” he said. “Many repellents work for ticks, so use that, especially on your shoes and pant legs.”
If residents are often outdoors, they should consider treating their shoes and clothing with permethrin, a chemical that kills ticks, he added.
“If you feel unexpectedly ill [flu-like symptoms], tell your health care provider that you may have been exposed to a tick bite,” Edwards said. “Many tick-borne diseases start out with flu-like symptoms and respond well to early treatments.”
How do you know so much about ticks?
For the past decade, Edwards has been working with Muhlenberg College students to study tick populations in the Lehigh Valley. Each year, they test tick DNA to find out which microbes they are carrying.
“We have a lot of ticks in our area, and a large portion of them carry the bacteria that cause Lyme Disease,” Edwards said. “It has never been more important to avoid tick bites in our area.”
Morning Call reporter Molly Bilinski can be reached at mbilinski@mcall.com.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommended precautions from the Department of Environmental Protection for anyone venturing outdoors include:
- Apply tick repellents containing permethrin to clothing, and EPA-registered insect repellents such as DEET to exposed skin before entering the outdoors. Reapply as needed according to product label instructions.
- Wear light-colored outer clothing and tuck shirts into pants, and pants into socks.
- Walk in the centers of trails, and avoid wooded and brushy areas with low-growing vegetation and tall grasses that may harbor ticks.
- After returning home, remove all clothing, take a shower, and place clothing into the dryer on high heat to kill any lingering ticks. Examine gear, such as backpacks, for ticks.
- Conduct a full-body tick check using a hand or full length mirror, including hidden areas such as the scalp, ears, armpits, belly button and between the legs.
- Check over any pets exposed to likely tick habitats each time they return indoors.
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Sometimes Brian Cashman, one of the best talkers to ever hold a job like his in New York sports and maybe the best of all time, talks too much. That is what happened this week with an interview he gave to The Athletic’s Andy McCullough in which he seemed to blame the Houston Astros for everything bad that has happened to the Yankees over the past five years except all the strikeouts. Cashman is the Yankees. He is supposed to be better than this, in a bigtime job like this, but came up sounding like a smalltimer.
I like Cash. Pretty much everybody in this business likes Cash, because he never hides, is never afraid to answer questions. It means he’s the opposite of all the executives who work for James Dolan at Madison Square Garden, ones you can’t find without a search warrant.
But he looked bad and sounded bad the other day, and made you want to yell at him to stop worrying about the Astros of 2017, and start worrying about the Red Sox and Blue Jays and Rays, unless the Astros have suddenly moved to the American League East without them telling anybody.
Here is just part of what he said to McCullough:
“The only thing that stopped [us] was something that was so illegal and horrific. So I get offended when I start hearing we haven’t been to the World Series since ‘09. Because I’m like, ‘Well, I think we actually did it the right way.’ Pulled it down, brought it back up. Drafted well, traded well, developed well, signed well. The only thing that derailed us was a cheating circumstance that threw us off.”
As one baseball executive said to me after reading the things Cashman said, “You want people to stop talking about how you haven’t been there since 2009? How about going back to the World Series? You know who did that last year? The Astros did.”
But it was Cashman’s choice to relitigate the past, and to focus on the Astros and their sign-stealing. He has a right to still be angry about that, of course. And the right to wonder if the Yankees would have managed to win the ‘17 American League Championship Series if the Astros hadn’t been stealing signs. But what never comes up with this narrative, and this familiar Yankee lament, is this:
After taking a three games to two lead in that series, the Yankees went back to Minute Maid Park in Houston and scored a grand total of one run in Games 6 and 7. Somebody has to explain to me what sign stealing had to do with Cashman’s hitters producing a single run in 18 innings, when they were one win away from the Series. Unless he thought that one run should have stood up in Game 6. Unless he thinks that the Astros got all seven runs of theirs that night, behind Justin Verlander, because they knew what pitches were coming. Then Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers Jr. shut out the Yankees in Game 7. It would seem that those two anemic performances “derailed” the Yankees a lot more than the “cheating circumstance” did.
“People are like ‘Oh, we haven’t been to a World Series ...’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I don’t think that’s as true a statement as it could be,’” Cashman said to McCullough.
As a matter of fact, it is as true a statement as one could be. The Yankees haven’t been back to the World Series since 2009. They couldn’t get past the Red Sox in 2018 and the Astros got them again in 2019, though you know Cash and his fans think that Jose Altuve buzzed the Astros into the World Series that time. And, by the way, whether the Yankees got derailed or not in 2017, what was holding them back in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when the Rays beat them in five games? What was derailing them last season in a Wild Card game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, when their $324 million ace, Gerrit Cole, couldn’t get out of the third inning?
The Red Sox not only won a World Series in 2018, they came within two ALCS victories of making it back last season, one in which they weren’t supposed to be anywhere near as good as Brian Cashman’s Yankees, who actually have now gone the last 12 seasons without making it to the Series. The longest the Yankees have gone without making the Series in 100 years is 14 seasons, between 1982 and 1995, right before Joe Torre got to town and Derek Jeter ran out to shortstop one April day in 1996.
They have now won one World Series since 2000.
You know what was more damaging in 2017 than the Astros’ sign stealing. The fact that the Astros were the ones who got Verlander at the trade deadline that season and the Yankees did not.
“The fans, they’re fanatics for a reason,” Cashman said in The Athletic. “They don’t really care about how it all adds up. They just want to be the last team standing. As do we. But my job, and our front office’s job, is to find a way within the current restrictions that we have, and the options that are available: ‘OK, what can we come up with that solves these problems, as fast as possible?’”
We are going to find out all about that starting Thursday afternoon against the Red Sox at the Stadium. Do the Yankees have a chance to change a narrative about which Cashman has clearly been obsessing? You bet, even in a division as stacked as the AL East appears to be this season. We are about to find out if the Yankees have enough starting pitching, at long last. If they can bash their way to the top of the division with a lineup that is still as right-handed as the ‘22 Yankees, and if this is finally the year when Aaron Hicks, an absolute darling of the analytics department up on 161st, is the center fielder that the Yankees have been looking for since Bernie Williams.
We are also about to discover if Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo can turn out to be the left-handed, difference-making bats that we were told they were going to be when Cashman traded for both of them last summer.
Cashman referenced “current restrictions” in that interview. Well, you can sure say that Yankee fans can’t see those restrictions bothering Boss Steve Cohen over there on the other side of Baseball New York, who is taking a full swing with his Mets, starting with the hiring of Buck Showalter and following that up with his signing of Max Scherzer; who is making the kind of noise that George Steinbrenner once made.
Yankee fans don’t want to hear about what the Yankees didn’t do five years ago. They want to know what their team is going to do now. Want to know if Cashman has finally built them a team that can get back to your basic Fall Classic for the first time since, well, you know.
They want to know if this is the year when Cashman’s Yankees feel like the Yankees again.
THE BIG WORRY WITH DEGROM, GIANNIS IS THE NBA’S MVP & BAKER IS STILL WORTH A LOOK ...
I worry sometimes that we might already have seen the best of Jacob deGrom.
And hope that I’m wrong about that.
There is no better columnist out there right now than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at Substack.
It is worth mentioning again that even in a season when men’s college basketball actually produced a real Cinderella team in Saint Peter’s, the teams who made it to New Orleans had a combined total of 61 Final Four appearances, and 16 national titles.
And with all that, the best game I saw in either tournament, men or women, was the UConn women against NC State, double overtime in Bridgeport, Conn.
Not just the best game I saw this season.
One of the best tournament games I’ve ever seen.
Featuring my favorite college player on the planet, Paige Bueckers of UConn.
As soon as I heard Tiger might play the Masters — following all the general overwroughtness about Coach K — I actually found myself worrying about my old friend Jim Nantz.
All is forgiven with Deshaun Watson and the only way Colin Kaepernick gets close to a game it’s as an honorary captain of the Blue and Maize spring football game at Michigan, and only because Kap’s old coach, Jim Harbaugh, invited him.
Chris Rock, unsurprisingly, was the coolest guy in the room.
My pal Barry Stanton says that on a night when Will Smith chose to channel the overprotective Richard Williams, he really should have been channeling someone else he once played in the movies:
Muhammad Ali.
Seven hours of missing calls at the White House — that’s like a lot, right?
If you’re the Miami Dolphins, are you sure about Tua?
Giannis is the best player in the NBA, he’s the MVP in the NBA.
Any other boxes that need to be checked?
Coming into the weekend, you know how many teams had better records than the Knicks?
Eighteen.
I know it’s open season on Baker Mayfield, but he’s better than more than a few quarterbacks who have starting jobs right now.
Seriously, this guy wouldn’t make the Panthers at least a little bit better?
Finally today:
Happy birthday this week to our youngest son, Zach, as he’s about to turn 30.
He was the point guard in the family, and a pretty great right back in soccer, made every single team on which he ever played better.
More than that, he is kind and good and brave, and makes our family better every time we’re lucky enough to be together.
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Your paper’s opinion piece on Women’s History Month (The Morning Call, March 25) saluted the brave women of Ukraine. Fifteen percent of that country’s military is female, and 7,000 of those women serve in the country’s Air Force alone.
Moreover, an estimated 80,000 Ukrainian mothers-to-be — targeted by Russia and deprived of adequate prenatal care — are scheduled to give birth in the next three months. If the children they are struggling to bear survive, they will replace some or possibly all of the Ukrainians slaughtered in this appalling war.
May it be so. And may mothers all over Russia learn the truth about a war that is killing their children, too, and rise up to remove Vladimir Putin from power.
Brenda Bortz
Allentown
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The prevalence of COVID-19 in the U.K. has reached record levels, with about 1 in 13 people estimated to be infected with the virus in the past week, according to the latest figures from Britain’s official statistics agency.
Some 4.9 million people were estimated to have the coronavirus in the week ending March 26, up from 4.3 million recorded in the previous week, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. The latest surge is driven by the more transmissible omicron variant BA.2, which is the dominant variant across the U.K.
Hospitalizations and death rates are again rising, although the number of people dying with COVID-19 is still relatively low compared with earlier this year. Nonetheless, the latest estimates suggest that the steep climb in new infections since late February, when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson scrapped all remaining coronavirus restrictions in England, has continued well into March.
The figures came on the same day the government ended free rapid COVID-19 tests for most people in England, under Johnson’s “living with COVID” plan. People who do not have health conditions that make them more vulnerable to the virus now need to pay for tests to find out if they are infected.
“The government’s ‘living with COVID’ strategy of removing any mitigations, isolation, free testing and a considerable slice of our surveillance amounts to nothing more than ignoring this virus going forwards,” said Stephen Griffin, associate professor at the University of Leeds’ medical school.
“Such unchecked prevalence endangers the protection afforded by our vaccines,” he said. “Our vaccines are excellent, but they are not silver bullets and ought not to be left to bear the brunt of COVID in isolation.”
More than 67% of people 12 years old and above in the U.K. have been vaccinated and had their booster or a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Beginning Saturday, parents can also book a low-dose vaccine for children between 5 to 12 years old in England.
James Naismith, a biology professor at the University of Oxford, said he believed that except for those who are completely shielded or not susceptible to the virus, most people in the country would likely be infected with the BA.2 variant by the summer.
Latest Coronavirus
“This is literally living with the virus by being infected with it,” he said.
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After consoling Will Smith after Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, Denzel Washington has now spoken publicly about what happened at last Sunday’s awards show.
Washington attended author and bishop T.D. Jakes’ leadership summit on Saturday morning for a discussion about his career and faith when Jakes asked him about what happened between Smith and Rock at the Oscars.
“Well, there’s a saying, ‘When the devil ignores you, then you know you’re doing something wrong.’ The devil goes, ‘Oh no, leave him alone, he’s my favorite.’ Conversely, when the devil comes at you, maybe it’s because he’s trying to do something right. And for whatever reason the devil got ahold of that circumstance that night,” Washington told Jakes on stage.
Washington was seen speaking to Smith, along with Tyler Perry and Smith’s publicist, during the commercial breaks at the Oscars after Smith slapped Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith. During his acceptance speech for best actor, Smith thanked Washington and said that Washington told him, “At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the devil comes for you.”
“Fortunately there were people there. Not just me, but others, Tyler Perry, came immediately right over there with me. [Said] some prayers. I don’t wanna say what we talked about, but there but for the grace of God go any of us. Who are we to condemn? I don’t know all the ins and outs of the situation, but I know the only solution was prayer, the way I see it,” Washington said on Saturday.
Smith’s public fallout over the slap has turned into the biggest crisis of his career. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences launched an investigation into the assault this week, and on Friday Smith resigned from the Academy’s membership.
“The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all those in attendance, and global audiences at home,” Smith said in a statement Friday. “I betrayed the trust of the Academy. I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work. I am heartbroken.”
At his first stand-up show since the slap, Rock spoke about the incident in Boston, saying that he’s still “processing what happened” and will fully discuss it at a later time.
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“I don’t have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend,” Rock said at Wednesday night’s show. “I’m still kind of processing what happened. So, at some point I’ll talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.”
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Elton John credits teenage AIDS victim Ryan White and his family with saving his life.
The singer told the crowd at his concert at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Friday that spending time around White’s family caused him to make changes in his life. White was from Indiana.
“I knew that my lifestyle was crazy and out of order. And six months later, I got sober and clean and have been ever since,” John said.
He said White’s family was the catalyst for him to change.
“I cannot thank them enough, because without them, I’d probably be dead,” the singer said, WTHR-TV reported.
White died in Indianapolis at age 18 on April 8, 1990. He had contracted HIV years earlier through a tainted blood transfusion. His mother, Jeanne White-Ginder continues to share a close relationship with John, who acknowledged her presence at the concert.
“I love you so much,” John said. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me. This song is for you.”
He then began playing “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.”
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An 81-year-old jazz giant and a 15-year-old rock singer were the first to perform tributes to Joni Mitchell on Friday night.
Such was the diversity of artists honoring a most diverse artist, Mitchell, a Canadian-turned-Californian, folkie-turned-rocker-turned-jazz explorer who was honored as the 2022 MusiCares Person of the year by the Recording Academy two days before the Grammy Awards.
Herbie Hancock played a jazz piano rendition of music from Mitchell’s 1976 album “Hejira” that was followed by a rocking version of 1974′s “Help Me” from Violet Grohl, the teenage daughter of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, to open the tribute concert in a ballroom at the MGM Grand Las Vegas.
Mitchell, sitting at the front table, brought out the teenager in many of the older entertainers.
“When I first heard Joni Mitchell it was 1968 and I was 15 years old,” Cyndi Lauper, now 68, said. “I had never heard anyone sing so intimately about what it was like to be a young woman navigating this world.”
Lauper recited several of Mitchell’s lines that moved her most, before launching into “Magdalene Laundry” while playing mountain dulcimer.
“I don’t know how you do what you do, I just know I need it like food,” Meryl Streep said in a video message played for Mitchell and the crowd. “Ever since we were both young girls. We didn’t know each other, but you sang me into being. You sang my life.”
Seven years after a brain aneurysm that left her temporarily unable to walk or speak, Mitchell, 78, was delighted to be in Las Vegas and out at a major public event for the first time since the pandemic began.
“I had the best margarita that I’ve ever had at our hotel,” she told The Associated Press as she walked into the gala.
Mitchell is a presenter and a nominee for best historical album at Sunday’s Grammys. She says she’s always found herself in the genres and categories that don’t make the Grammy telecast.
“I usually win the behind-the-curtain awards,” she said with a laugh.
Inside, sitting a table with Hancock and director Cameron Crowe, Mitchell often appeared near tears as a parade of artists praised her before giving their takes on her songs.
“Not unlike people who lived in the time of Shakespeare, and of Beethoven, we are living in the time of Joni Mitchell, and it shows tonight,” said Brandi Carlile, who sang a version of “Woodstock” that began as a quiet ballad before the house band kicked in and Stephen Stills — who played on the most famous version of the 1970 song with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young — joined her for an electric guitar solo.
In a new approach to this year’s MusiCares tribute, organizers appointed Carlile, who is up for five Grammys on Sunday, and Jon Batiste, who is up for 11, as music directors to coordinate the artists and their approaches to the difficult, genre-bending songs of Mitchell’s five-decade career.
“We helped shepherd artists to their Joni songs, the ones that their souls connected to,” Carlile told the AP. “This isn’t easy music. This is complicated, brilliant music that is really hard to interpret.”
Before singing one of those esoteric songs, “The Jungle Line” from 1975′s “The Hissing of the Summer Lawns,” Beck said “preparing for this event I feel like I’ve been in Joni school.”
John Legend gave a surprise performance, singing and playing solo piano on Mitchell’s “River” on a spinning stage in the middle of the room as the crowd of 2,400 was finishing their spinning dessert, an edible Grammy trophy on a turntable.
“Everybody was splendid, it just kept getting better and better and better,” Mitchell said in a brief acceptance speech near the concert’s end. “I can retire now and just let other people do it.”
But she showed she’s not quite done yet.
Carlile and Batiste brought most of the night’s performers back to the stage for a sing-along of “The Circle Game” and “Big Yellow Taxi.”
Mitchell eventually made her way to the mic to join them, delivering the famous baritone ending of the latter song.
“Put up a parking lot,” she sang, to laughs and whoops from the crowd.
The MusiCares Person of the Year is a career achievement award handed out for a combination of inspiring artistic accomplishments and philanthropy. The gala handing it out raises funds for the programs of MusiCares, the Recording Academy charity that provides health and welfare services to musicians in need.
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Past honorees include Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton and Aerosmith.
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The ban on asylum-seekers at the U.S-Mexico border on public health grounds was imposed by a president who wanted to restrict immigration entirely. It will soon be ended by a president who is facing increasing pressure from within his own party to welcome immigrants.
The path ahead for President Joe Biden looks far from smooth. With the end of the ban on May 23, he faces an expected increase in migration at the border under a system incapable of managing such large migrant flows and buckling under a backlog of more than 1.7 million asylum cases.
Republicans are already eager to assign Biden blame for the expected images of thousands of people likely to be crammed into temporary border facilities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that it would lift the asylum ban, known as Title 42, next month. The ban had become increasingly hard to justify as pandemic restrictions ended around the country.
Many Democrats and immigration advocates viewed it as nothing more than an excuse for the United States to avoid its moral and legal obligation to offer safe haven to asylum-seekers at the border.
By delaying the end of Title 42 for nearly two months, Biden appeared to be seeking a political balance between liberals who want the policy scrapped and moderates who have joined Republicans in supporting continued restrictions. He may end up satisfying neither.
The expected influx of migrants could create a political damaging crisis for Biden with the the November midterm elections approaching. That debate will probably hinge more on partisanship than facts.
American attitudes on immigration are based on perception, not reality, said René D. Flores, a sociology professor at the University of Chicago who studies public opinion and immigration.
“It’s not about deciding what is the most sensible immigration policy,” he said. “It’s about managing public perception.”
The president has already faced withering criticism from both Democrats and Republicans over how he has managed immigration. Republicans say his push to repeal Trump-era restrictions has led to an increase in illegal crossings. Democrats have criticized the administration’s continued use of a policy that forces migrants back to Mexico to wait out their claims, even though that policy was reinstated by the Supreme Court.
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll last year found that most Americans disapproved of how Biden had handled a sharp increase in migrant children and an influx of Haitian migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Approval of his other efforts on larger immigration policy fell short of other top issues.
Ryan Enos, a professor of government at Harvard University, doubted that the end of Title 42 would shift public opinion much, especially when views about immigration have become so polarized.
“Any issue besides the economy is going to be a marginal issue,” he said.
The seven-week gap between Friday’s order and the expiration of the asylum ban late next month is meant to allow officials time to increase staffing at the border, including erecting tents for an expected influx of asylum-seekers. It also allows for government officials to vaccinate more migrants at the border.
But in the interim, it creates a policy muddle. Nearly all migrants seeking to cross into the U.S. will be turned away under a health authority that American officials say is no longer necessary. It also gives opponents of ending Title 42 plenty of time to sue.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said Biden was refusing to listen to Americans and had “chosen to jeopardize the safety and security of those very Americans he swore to protect and defend by ending Title 42 expulsions.”
He said Texas must now “take even more unprecedented action to keep our communities safe by using any and all constitutional powers to protect its own territory.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said the decision “confirms that President Biden has abdicated his responsibilities and is actively working to make the border crisis worse. From Day One of his administration, he has failed to protect our nation’s security and to secure the border.”
From the other side, Biden faces criticism for waiting so long to act.
“The continued use of this policy — even for the next two months — is indefensible and unjustified,” said Efrén Olivares, the deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Immigrant Justice Project.
The Title 42 restrictions went into place in March 2020 under the Trump administration as coronavirus cases soared. While officials said at the time that it was a way to keep COVID-19 out of the United States, there always has been criticism that the restrictions were used as an excuse to seal the border to migrants that Trump did not want to let in anyway.
It was perhaps the broadest of President Donald Trump’s actions to restrict crossings and crack down on migrants, and he instituted the policy over the objections of CDC officials, the AP reported. The health order has caused migrants to be expelled from the United States more than 1.7 million times since March 2020 without a chance for them to request asylum.
Biden came into office promising a return to more “humane” immigration policies after the Trump administration, which separated thousands of children from their parents at the border. But Trump dramatically changed how the U.S. system functions, shrinking the number of asylum-seekers allowed into the U.S. and adding restrictions that caused the backlog of immigration court cases to explode.
Biden undid many of Trump’s policies and raised asylum caps, but some of his attempts have been stopped by courts, including the effort to end the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forces migrants to wait in Mexico for their asylum cases to play out. The Supreme Court reinstated that policy, and there are thousands of people now in Mexico waiting for a chance to seek asylum.
Administration officials acknowledge there is likely to be a large influx at the border when the ban lifts, including Ukrainians displaced by the war with Russia. The U.S. government is erecting tents, bolstering agents, hiring more civilians and working to reduce the existing case backlog.
Jessica Bolter, an associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, estimates the hardest hit spots could be Del Rio, Texas and Yuma, Arizona — locations that are already overwhelmed.
“We were always going to see a significant spike in border crossings,” she said. “To some degree, the administration doesn’t have a ton of options.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday that a long-term solution “can only come from comprehensive legislation that brings lasting reform to a fundamentally broken system.”
Biden knows prospects for Democrats and Republicans to come together on such a deal are remote.
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More than 3,000 people lined the street in front of a funeral home Saturday to honor a Lebanon City police officer who was killed in the line of duty.
They solemnly watched as a procession of 70 emergency vehicles from across the state escorted the body of Lieutenant William Lebo who was killed Thursday while responding to a burglary at a home in the 1100 block of Forest Street in Lebanon.
Emotion flowed through the crowd of people as bystanders observed the procession. Officers stood at attention outside Christman’s Funeral Home, and after the procession had concluded, comforted one another through tearful hugs.
The procession began at 10:30 a.m. at the Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown and followed I-78 before peeling off onto State Route 501. It then followed Route 422 westbound to Christman’s Funeral Home in Lebanon City, where police officers of many different departments from across the state gathered to remember his sacrifice.
“All of our first responders and our community members coming together. It was truly emotional and humbling to see how important law enforcement is to a community,” Mayor Sherry Capello said. “I’m so proud of them. They do an awesome job. We’re all family, we’re strong and we will get through this together,” Capello said.
©2022 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit pennlive.com.
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True to the egalitarian allure of the restaurant chain itself, Lisa Hurwitz’s documentary “The Automat” is both a touching farewell and a fond hello-again for those old enough to remember the salisbury steak, creamed spinach and peach pie behind those little windows of nickel-fed discovery.
The documentary, several years and many Kickstarter donors in the making, tells the story of a 20th Century dining phenomenon particular to New York City and Philadelphia: the Horn & Hardart restaurants popularly known, especially in New York, as the Automat.
The first opened in 1902; the last closed in 1991. For decades, especially the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40s and early ‘50s, the Automats helped define two great American cities’ affordable and small-d democratic dining options, with a novel Mechanical Age premise — no waitstaff, no need for new arrivals to America to struggle with the language. Just a massive vending machine scenario, offering customers a great wall of a la carte options most folks could afford.
The Automats didn’t look cheap, however. They were gussied up in a disarmingly swank atmosphere of marble tabletops, chrome and brass trim, and glass, glass, glass, plus high ceilings. Over the century, millions of immigrants with a few coins surveyed the tiny see-through compartments for what looked good. The baked goods and other items came fresh from a centralized commissary, supplying dozens of Automats with, we learn, up to 2,400 pies baked per hour.
Along with the immigrants, the average office worker found a lunch or dinner home at the Automat. So did countless swells in furs, before or after a play or a movie. Virtually all races and walks of life walked through the front door. For Colin Powell, the future U.S. Secretary of State interviewed here, the Horn & Hardart diners was where his South Bronx family ate out when eating out was a rarity.
The place was “sparkling,” Powell says in the film. The Times Square Automat he remembered best attracted a broad clientele of “a beautiful diversity that didn’t exist in most of the rest of the country.”
In “The Automat” Mel Brooks takes the role of Horn & Hardart Enthusiast-in-Chief. Brooks’ participation in Hurwitz’s project led to the filmmaker snagging a lot of other prime gets. (Several key subjects, such as Powell, Carl Reiner and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, are no longer with us; Hurwitz began work on her film in 2013.)
The high ceilings, the Carrara marble — for not much cash you got a lot of “panache,” Brooks says, choosing the word as if he were searching for just the right piece of Automat pie.
Starbucks executive chairman Howard Schultz, another interviewee, recalls his childhood Automat encounters as being a key influence on the coffee empire he’d eventually create. The “theater” of it, the sense of “discovery,” stuck with him, even if the ancestral link between the Automat and Starbucks may be puzzling to some.
Younger viewers might find themselves squinting a little to see what Automat aficionados saw so clearly, and remember with such love. Hurwitz does a good job covering the bases of how the Automats flourished, and why, with the post-World War II and Eisenhower era emphasis on interstate highways and fleeing to the suburbs, the Automat slid gradually, then quickly, into disfavor. Several longtime Horn & Hardart executives and executive’s offspring speak from the heart, often in quietly anguished tones, about what the company founders did to foster loyalty (unionization efforts, unsuccessful, notwithstanding). In the end, the Automat’s initial and longstanding appeal as a gleaming, ultra-modern taste of the future became a remnant of yesterday.
The documentary has a few limitations. It could’ve used a few more movie clips, though rights to some key Automat scenes in Hollywood movies (such as the 1937 screwball “Easy Living”) might’ve broken the modest production budget. “That Touch of Mink,” the Cary Grant/Doris Day vehicle with its early scenes shot in a Manhattan Automat, came out in 1962, not 1952. The musical score by Hummie Mann threatens to drown the movie in good cheer or familiar sentiment at various points.
But when Brooks sings the love song he wrote for the documentary, all is forgiven. “There Was Nothing Like the Coffee at the Automat” takes a nice poke at Starbucks in Brooks’ lyric “You have to understand, they/Had no latte grande.” Elsewhere, Reiner reminisces in footage cross-cut with Brooks’ own memories of writing for “Your Show of Shows” and noshing with Reiner at the Automat between sessions. Reiner favored the chocolate pudding pie, available only in winter. “We waited patiently all year for it,” he says. “That was the best pie.”
Like the movie palaces built in the post-World War I era, the Automat offered unexpected elegance at popular prices. But you couldn’t get chicken pot pie or chocolate pudding pie at The Roxy.
Director Lisa Hurwitz discusses “The Automat” in person following the 7:30 p.m. Saturday April 2 screening at the Landmark Renaissance Place in Highland Park. The documentary continues its run this week at the Renaissance Place; the AMC River East; and the AMC Streets of Woodfield in Schaumburg.
‘The Automat’ — 3 stars
No MPAA rating.
Running time: 1:19
How to watch: Now playing at the Landmark Renaissance Place in Highland Park; AMC River East; and AMC Streets of Woodfield in Schaumburg. Streaming premiere: June 2.
Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
Twitter @phillipstribune
Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here.
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TAMPA — Luis Severino just had to be himself. After missing most of the last three years with injuries, he thought he had to throw harder to prove he was still an elite starter. So he tried to ramp everything up and ended up being slowed down by soreness.
Saturday, Severino stayed within himself and that was all he and the Yankees needed.
“Every time they give me the ball, that’s what I tried to do, throw hard,” Severino said after throwing four scoreless innings against the Braves at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “And I noticed the last couple of days I don’t need to throw 100, 99 or 98 miles an hour,” Severino said. “If I can control the zone and go 94, 95 to 97, for five [or] six innings and get people out, that’ll be more safe for me.
“I am saving my arm, not trying to overthrow.”
That had also Severino looking more like the pitcher that the Yankees had in 2018 before his journey through injuries began. Severino allowed one hit, struck out three in the Yankees’ 10-0 win over the defending World Series champions. He threw 57 pitches with his fastball touching 98 and averaging just over 96 mph.
Severino had a scare when he got hit hard in his last outing and then woke up with what he described as “soreness” and “tightness” in his “whole arm” the next morning. The Yankees pushed back his routine and Severino had time to realize that this is part of the routine of a healthy pitcher.
“I haven’t pitched for such a long time that every time I feel something I’m worried because I don’t know what’s gonna be next,” Severino said. “So many injuries with my shoulder, my elbow, groin and everything. If I feel something I go to the trainer right away to try to fix it, quick.
“But working out tomorrow and even right now. feels very comfortable.”
That comes from Severino staying within himself.
“I think just the mindset of not needing to try and throw 100 like it’ll be there I think it just felt like he didn’t have to effort his way through those innings as much and he just kind of focused on executing pitches and staying in the delivery and the velo was still there,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said. “So I think it’s just a comfort for him knowing that he doesn’t have to stand on every pitch.”
This will have him going into the regular season with a sense of comfort. The Yankees feel more confident too.
“I think we want to see him come back tomorrow and just see what that recovery process looks like, but I think that definitely what we had been seeing going into the games is now starting to translate into the games, all his side work and he’s building on it,” Blake said. “He’s an accomplished pitcher ... we know what Severino looks like. So it’s just a matter of him continuing to own that and repeat it, but definitely feel a lot better.”
Severino is penciled in to start the second game of the season against the Red Sox in the Bronx. The Yankees had lefty Nestor Cortes, who is their fifth starter, piggy-backing off Severino’s start Saturday. With an off day in that first week, the Yankees could use Cortes in the same role next Saturday to give them depth — or he was lined up to make the start in the worst case scenario that Severino did not come out of this ready for the season.
Cortes could be used in this role because the Yankees will likely bring back Opening Day starter Gerrit Cole on regular rest before using him against the Blue Jays on April 13.
The Yankees were being cautious with Severino. They are waiting to see him on Sunday morning to make sure he feels good, but Severino could already tell his body felt better that it had the last time.
And this last spring training outing gave him the reassurance he needed.
“Yes 100%, yes,” Severino said when asked if he needed that outing. “For me and going through everything I went through, it is more of a mind game right now. Being comfortable. I know my body’s good now, I know that I can control my fastball. I control all my pitches. And the next day I wake up and be good.”
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TAMPA — The Yankees are on board. After finally breaking out the PitchCom system, which transmits encrypted signs electronically from catcher to pitcher, they are true believers.
“I loved it,” left-hander Nestor Cortes said after using it for two innings in the Yankees’ 10-0 win over the Braves at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “For a guy like me who has a bunch of pitches, I didn’t have to go through a whole bunch of signs. I could catch the ball, hear the call and then go. I loved it.”
MLB gave the sets, which have a wrist band with nine programmable buttons for the catchers and a speaker that slides into the pitcher’s hat, to all the teams to try out this spring. The Yankees had been hesitant at first to try it out, but after an initial meeting this week they got enthusiastic buy-in from the pitchers.
“I think it helped them speed up the pace of play a little bit which is encouraging,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said. “I think it was well-received by the group, which I wasn’t sure about because you know baseball guys and tradition.”
The Yankees initially tested it out Saturday morning in a live batting practice with Deivi Garcia and catcher David Freitas. With Aaron Boone and Blake watching they were impressed. Luis Severino and Cortes volunteered to try it out in the game.
Boone said he stuck the device in his own hat to test it out during Garcia’s throwing session and found “it didn’t bother you being in your hat. It wasn’t uncomfortable.”
“I think [Cortes] got really comfortable with it.”
While it’s not approved yet for regular-season use, Cortes said he would be comfortable using it in a real game if it comes into play. Boone said he’d like more time to see what happens and make sure that it’s not exploitable. Blake wants to get as much experience with it as he can over the next few days.
“If they allowed it, I could see us heading in that direction. We’re gonna try and ram it in as many situations as possible right now for the next three, four days,” Blake said. “I’d say positive reinforcement from the guys just based on the live BP and the game so far.”
HIGASHIOKA HOMERS AGAIN
Kyle Higashioka crushed his MLB-leading seventh home run this spring on Saturday. The catcher has always had pop in his bat, but is hoping to show that more consistently this season.
“We’re seeing him use the whole field with power. And not that we haven’t seen him go the other way, or to the middle of the field on occasion, but I feel like that’s gone to another level,” Boone said. “Higgy cares a lot about hitting and works really hard at it.”
Higashioka is a career .183/.234/.385 hitter with 20 career home runs and a .619 OPs in 139 games over parts of five seasons in the big leagues. That is in part because of sporadic play in the majors, but he’s admitted this spring he’s working on becoming a more consistent hitter. He will certainly get the chance now that the Yankees traded away Gary Sanchez. While Higashioka wouldn’t assume it, Boone confirmed he’s the starting catcher and going to get plenty of opportunities this year.
So, he hopes he’s saving some of this for back in the Bronx.
“Come on now, let’s bring some of those north now,” Boone joked about Higashioka’s seventh homer. “He’s in a good spot. He’s confident.”
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Parts of downtown Allentown were hit with a power outage Saturday morning, according to city officials.
The city’s Police and Fire departments were on the scene in the 600 block of North 7th Street, in the area of Little Apple Market, according to a Facebook post from the city.
A reverse 911 call was sent for the area, where police said electrical lines were down.
Mayor Matt Tuerk posted a message updating the situation around midday.
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TAMPA — The Yankees had been looking for a backup catcher for most of spring training. They found him Saturday night when they acquired Jose Trevino from the Rangers. The Bombers sent right-hander Albert Abreu and left-hander Robert Ahlstrom back to Texas.
The 29-year-old Trevino is a .245/.270/.364 career hitter over parts of four years in the big leagues. Last year, he started a career-high 89 games for the Rangers, hitting .239 with five homers and 30 RBI. He will back up Kyle Higashioka, who took over the starting catching job when the Yankees traded Gary Sanchez to the Twins last month. The Bombers got Ben Rortvedt, a highly-touted young catcher, back in that trade, but he has been battling a strained oblique and will not be ready for the regular season.
The 26-year-old Abreu made 28 relief appearances for the Yankees in 2021, pitching to a 5.15 ERA in 36.2 innings pitched. Ahlstrom was the Yankees’ seventh round pick in last year’s draft.
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This was a nice bounce-back game for the 76ers.
They followed up Thursday’s dismal performance against the Detroit Pistons with Saturday’s scintillating 144-114 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
The blowout win at the Wells Fargo Center improved the Sixers’ record to 47-30 and snapped their three-game skid. They’re on the brink of clinching their fifth straight postseason berth. The Cleveland Cavaliers’ 119-101 victory over the New York Knicks denied the Sixers the opportunity to clinch on Saturday. One has to assume the Sixers could clinch the playoff nod with a win over the Cavs on Sunday evening at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
As of Saturday afternoon, the fourth-place Sixers were two games behind the first-place Miami with five games remaining.
They broke the game open in the third quarter, outscoring the Hornets, 45-27. The 45 points tied for the second-most points the Sixers have posted in a quarter this season. They had a season-high 47 in the third quarter vs. the Orlando Magic on Jan. 19.
The Sixers went into the fourth quarter with commanding, 103-80, advantage. They went on to lead by as many as 35 points.
James Harden said the Sixers’ pace the was the difference in the third quarter.
“I’m not the fastest guy, so I try to advance the ball as much as I can,” he said. “Tyrese [Maxey] and Tobias [Harris] allow our playmakers to push the tempo a little more ... because of that, we got the shots that we really wanted.
“We have to do that more consistently.”
The Sixers also benefitted from shooting 60.9 % from the field Saturday, including making 21 of 43 three-point shots. The 21 makes tied a franchise record. And the shooting percentage was aided by their 38 assists on 53 baskets.
“We know how good we can be,” Joel Embiid said. “It’s all about doing it every single night. I had a lot of fun playing tonight, and that’s the way we should be playing every night, just sharing the ball, moving, playing with pace, pushing the ball in transition.
“Our defense was pretty good. So we shouldn’t be doing this after a bad loss. We should do it every night.”
The Sixers lacked ball movement and struggled to make stop in Thursday’s 102-94 road loss to the struggling Pistons.
On Saturday, Embiid finished with 29 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists while sitting out the fourth quarter. Harris added 23 points while making 5 of 9 three-pointers. Harden had 12 points, a game-high 13 assists, and nine rebounds in just three quarters of action. Matisse Thybulle (12 points and 3 steals) joined Embiid and Harden as starters to sit out the fourth quarter.
Maxey (19 points) and reserves Georges Niang (10) and Shake Milton (10) were the Sixers’ other double-digit scorers.
But Harden, who took 10 shots (made four), appeared back in his comfort zone, being more of a distributor than someone hunting for his own shot. The Sixers wanted him to be more aggressive in regard to looking for his own shot recently. Harden, who’s overcoming left hamstring soreness, kind of struggled in that role.
Harden was more of the distributor in a lot of the games in which the Sixers had success.
“It makes my job a lot easier when [Maxey] and Tobias are aggressive,” Harden said. “We know what Joe’s going to go every night. But when Tyrese and Tobias are aggressive and they’re efficient and being aggressive and attacking the rim and knocking down shots, you know I get the rest. I’ll take whatever the rest is.
“Like I said, it’s possession by possession, game by game. Some games I need to be a little more aggressive. But with all that said, I think when all of us are playing well together and on the same page, we got a very, very good chance to win.”
Harden’s play
It’s no secret that Harden’s numbers were in decline over the last six games, especially in fourth quarters. Doc Rivers addressed that before the game.
“I just think our pace is slower, you know,” he said. “We gotta get back to playing at the pace we were playing at the beginning. We’ve had a couple of sprinkle-in games where we do that. But there are things that we can do.
“But his numbers are not going to be like his numbers in Houston, because he’s playing with a pretty good player [in MVP candidate Joel Embiid].. So those types of numbers I would never compare him to or anybody to.”
Rivers had mentioned having a similar situation when he coached the Boston Celtics to the 2008 NBA title. Back then, future Hall of Famers Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett had their numbers take a bit of a hit while playing together.
“Everyone was getting on Ray and Kevin at the beginning of the year, saying they’re not scoring the same,” Rivers said. “I said, ‘Well, yeah, they have to split the ball between three guys now.
“With James, he’s probably getting used to that a little bit as well.”
But, for Harden, it’s not just about sacrificing his game . The perennial All-NBA selection has been struggling to produce in the clutch. He made just 4 of 18 shots in the fourth quarters of his previous six games.
He scored two points on 1-for-2 shooting against the Hornets in the first quarter Saturday. However, he went on miss three of four shots in the second quarter and had just 5 points at intermission.
Harden started to find his groove in the third quarter with seven points on 2-for-4 shooting, including a three and a pair of free throws. But he was at his best as a facilitator, dishing out six assists and was a plus-21 in the quarter.
Miles Bridges paced the Hornets (40-38) with 20 points and five rebounds. They’ve lost two of their last three games after winning seven of eight.
Keith Pompey is a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer
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NEW ORLEANS — Kansas and Villanova waged a 3-point shooting contest at the Final Four with one of them racing out to a big lead in the opening minutes and the other spending the rest of the night trying in vain to catch up.
It all may sound familiar to basketball fans.
But in a rematch of a rout by the Wildcats four years ago in San Antonio, it was the Jayhawks who joyously walked off the court with the win this time at the final buzzer Saturday night. David McCormack muscled his way for 25 points, Ochai Agbaji was nearly perfect from the field and finished with 21, and the lone No. 1 seed to reach the national semifinals rolled to an 81-65 victory.
“This is what we were planning to do that season,” said Agbaji, who was 6 of 7 from beyond the arc. “Everyone that was on that team, this is for them and they know it just as much as us.”
Now, the Jayhawks (33-6) hope to follow a familiar pattern against Duke or North Carolina on Monday night. The last three times the Jayhawks and Wildcats have met in the tournament, the winner has gone on to win it all.
Playing without injured guard Justin Moore, Villanova (31-7) watched as Kansas scored the game’s first 10 points and eventually built a 19-point cushion. And despite big nights from Collin Gillespie, Brandon Slater and Jermaine Samuels, the short-handed and undersized Wildcats never made it all the way back.
Gillespie, playing in his 156th and final game for the Wildcats, hit five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points, while Slater hit four 3s and had 16 points. Samuels finished with 13 points in the final game of his career.
Each team finished with 13 3-pointers, and the 26 made shots from beyond the arc set a record for a Final Four game, topping the 25 that the same two teams made in 2018 at the Alamodome.
Unlike that night, though, it was the Jayhawks who pounced on Villanova at the start, trying to run ragged a team whose depth problems were only compounded by the loss of Moore, who tore his Achilles tendon in the regional finals.
The Jayhawks applied pressure the moment Villanova inbounded the ball. They unleashed traps in half-court, something they rarely did in the regular season. And they twice picked the pocket of Gillespie, the two-time Big East player of the year, leading to easy baskets and a 10-0 lead before some of the 70,000-plus fans had even found their seats.
“We got off to such a great start in large part because of how we shot the ball,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
Whenever Agbaji, the Big 12 player of the year, wasn’t enjoying the soft rims of the Superdome to knock down 3s, the 6-foot-10, 250-pound McCormack was having his way with the undersized Wildcats in the paint.
The Jayhawks’ lead soon stretched to 15 midway through the first half before Jay Wright finally called timeout.
His counterpart could probably relate: In a game that Self has been loath to rewatch, the Wildcats raced to a 22-4 lead out of the gates four years ago and cruised to a Final Four blowout en route to their third national title.
“This is legit revenge for 2018,” tweeted the Mavericks’ Jalen Brunson, who had a big role for Villanova that night.
Daniels and Gillespie did everything they could to rewrite the finish.
Daniels, the New Orleans native who began his career down the road at Tulane, kept making hustle plays around the basket, and Gillespie, the blue-collar kid from Philadelphia, was able to knock down a couple of contested 3s.
The Jayhawks still led 50-34 early in the second half when Wright went to a smaller lineup and ramped up the pressure on defense. The result was three consecutive turnovers, and quick 3-pointers by Slater and Antoine -- the seldom-used guard who absorbed many of Moore’s minutes -- that allowed Villanova to trim the lead to single digits.
McCormack finally made them pay for going small with a rim-rattling dunk that gave Kansas control again with 10:25 to play.
The Wildcats had one last run in them, getting a three-point play from Samuels to close within 64-58 with just over 6 minutes left. But McCormack once more answered for Kansa, and Braun followed his own bucket with a deep fadeaway 3 as the shot-clock expired, giving the Jayhawks plenty of breathing room down the stretch.
Dave Skretta is a reporter for the Associated Press.
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Today’s Lehigh Valley sports schedule and last night’s scores.
To report your school’s scores and stats, please complete this SPORTS SCORES FORM
SUNDAY’S SCHEDULE
No events scheduled
SATURDAY’S SCORES
Softball
Stroudsburg 5. Liberty 0
Stroudsburg 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 - 5
Liberty 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0
Stroudsburg: L. Guthy: 2-3; Liberty: Molly Devers 1-3.
Jim Thorpe 6, Shenandoah Valley 4
Bethlehem Catholic 4, Pocono Mountain East 0
Freedom 14, Allen 1
Tamaqua 6, Palmerton 0
Baseball
Northampton 2, Central Catholic 0
Dieruff 5, East Stroudsburg South 4
Lehighton 8, Catasauqua 2
Emmaus 8, Whitehall 4
Boys Tennis
Nazareth 7, Pleasant Valley 0
Lehighton 3, Blue Mountain 2
Liberty 7, East Stroudsburg North 0
Liberty 5, Notre Dame Green Pond 0
Girls Track and Field
Emmaus 107.67, Hazleton 42.33
Boys Track and Field
Emmaus 112, Hazleton 38
Girls Lacrosse
Nazareth 15, Liberty 7
* SEND US YOUR SCORES
Coaches and scorekeepers can help ensure their student-athletes are recognized by promptly reporting scores, stats and summaries by using a form that can be found at themorningcall.com/submitascore
Have questions? Email sports@mcall.com
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Dear Amy: Seven months ago, my-in-laws took my not-quite five-year-old child for an overnight, and broke the one rule that my spouse and I set for our child’s time with them: NOT to ride their ATV.
We do not feel it is safe, particularly on public roads.
We reminded them of this rule as they were leaving for the outing.
Immediately upon their return, our child spontaneously shared that they had ridden the ATV, including on the roads.
My in-laws did not apologize, nor acknowledge wrongdoing. They believe it is safe and within their rights to make that decision.
An additional concern I have is that they have unsecured firearms in their home and refuse to get a gun safe to lock their weapons.
I believe that two matters show very poor judgment on their part, and that my young child is not safe in their care.
I don’t feel that my in-laws are trustworthy, they don’t respect us as the parents, and they have poor judgment in regard to safety.
My spouse is more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt, despite these and other differences.
Your take?
– Concerned Parent
Dear Concerned: My take is that these grandparents should not have your child on their property without you or your spouse being physically present.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s 2018 annual ATV report on deaths and injuries (the most recent statistics) finds “there were 81,800 ATV-related emergency department-treated injuries reported in 2018. More than a quarter of those injuries were sustained by children under 16 years old, the highest of any age group.”
The report goes on to say: “Even if a locality allows people to drive off-road vehicles on paved public roads, ATVs are not designed for that purpose. ATVs can be unwieldy on paved surfaces, and the risk of collision with a car, truck, or other vehicle is significantly higher, increasing a rider’s chances of injury or death.”
Each year in the U.S., nearly 350 children under 17 gain access to a gun and unintentionally kill or injure themselves or someone else, according to Everytown.org. Nearly 77 percent of the incidents happen inside the home.
Not only do your in-laws exhibit extremely poor judgment regarding the safety of your child (or any child), but they obviously don’t respect your very reasonable requirements.
Their behavior also puts your young child in the terrible position of doing things they are not supposed to do, and then risking rebuke by the grandparents when the child tells you about it.
Please, educate your child about gun safety!
The NRA’s guidelines for young children are simple:
“Stop! Don’t touch. Run away. Tell an adult.” (Eddieeagle.nra.org)
I live in a rural area where many people own both ATVs and guns. But NO responsible person who cares about children will risk a child’s safety.
And no wise grandparent who wants to spend time with a grandchild will openly defy that child’s parents.
Dear Amy: I was just reading your “Best of” column from 2012 that addresses political differences between friends.
Part of your response to writer (“Fed Up”) was: “Sophisticated people living in a country devoted to free speech should be able to tolerate different – or even offensive – perspectives without wanting to leave the country....”
Even though this advice is 10 years old, it’s still (if not more) relevant today.
I wrote it down on my calendar so I can see it every day and hopefully be able to quote it without botching it up.
Thank you!
– Grateful
Dear Grateful: I have to admit that when I was reviewing columns from 10 years ago, I was a little surprised that the political divide referenced even existed.
And then I remembered, as I often do, my own early childhood in the turbulent ‘60s and ‘70s.
Now I wonder if turbulence might be the norm, while periods of calm and relative solidarity are rare.
I believe we should all value our freedom to disagree loudly and to protest robustly. There are many places in the world where this is not possible.
Dear Amy: I appreciated your compassion toward “Well Read,” the grieving widow who was so offended when her fellow book club members confronted her over her erratic behavior.
After hearing her out, “What is going on with you?” was the perfect question to ask her.
I hope she will see a doctor for a medical evaluation.
– Concerned
Dear Concerned: It is tough to be on the receiving end of an intervention; I hope she can see past her hurt feelings and get help.
Got a question for Amy? Enter it here and we’ll send it to her.
Sign up here to receive the Ask Amy newsletter to get advice e-mailed to your inbox every morning, and for a limited time — get the book "Ask Amy: Essential Wisdom from America’s Favorite Advice Columnist" for $5.
©2021 Amy Dickinson.
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General Daily Insight for April 3, 2022
A vibrant change is in the cards. We only have one aspect on the charts today -- the luxurious Moon conjoins with revolutionary Uranus in Taurus at 1:47 pm EDT. Our feelings and actions can be erratic under this influence, and we may be tempted to make changes or criticisms where they're not actually needed. Having a discerning eye when it comes to knowing what needs our attention is paramount. After all, if it isn't broken, don't try to fix it!
Aries
March 21-April 19
A readjustment of your finances could be in order. Your pay may have fluctuated since you last balanced your checkbook, or you might need to add a new expense that tips the scales in a way that creates problems. Overspending can be a dangerous pitfall, especially when emotional shopping is involved, so be diligent about the ways you're spending your money. Distracting yourself and avoiding any impulse buys may be all you need to do to make a good decision.
Taurus
April 20-May 20
So many thoughts, so little time! Each and every possible scenario may be spiraling through your mind as you daydream about the future, but this day could slip away from you if you're unaware of what's going on around you. Being present can be difficult with so many thoughts bouncing around in your mind, but try to tap back into reality so that you can take hold of the opportunities right in front of you. A little bit of focus will go a long way!
Gemini
May 21-June 20
Your feelings may go on a journey before the day is done. Mood swings can be hard to recognize while you're inside them in real time, and it's not a bad thing to feel your feelings! Give your emotions space to be acknowledged and felt -- but you may want to take a step back and ask yourself if you're making an informed decision or an emotional one before you give your final answer. You're in control of your emotions, not the other way around.
Cancer
June 21-July 22
You might wake up just the same as you were yesterday, while the people around you seem more inclined to act unpredictably. Behavior that you've come to expect from the people in your life could be thrown out the window! Someone in your life may throw you an emotional curveball that you never thought would come from them. Do your best to catch this curveball when it comes, but if it knocks you off balance, just recover as best you can and keep moving forward.
Leo
July 23-August 22
Public drama can rear its head under the current energy. You may not be a part of the drama that plays out, but you're likely to witness an unusual event if you're out and about. Whether it's a public emotional meltdown or a long line at the restaurant causing flaming temperaments, remaining steady under pressure will be your friend. Do what you can to make the situation calmer, and then let it go. At least you'll have a great story to tell later!
Virgo
August 23-September 22
The freedom bug might unexpectedly bite you sometime today. You could find yourself itching for a break from monotony, and although you may not be able to drop everything and leave town, your schedule can probably handle a small break from your usual activities. Think of something you've been wanting to do -- then do it! It's time to stop putting off those invigorating moments that you feel yourself being pulled toward. Life is short, and it's good to honor spontaneous times like these.
Libra
September 23-October 22
An old grudge may fade from your mind very soon. A past hurt that you've been trying to heal for some time can finally begin to leave the front of your mind, and not a moment too soon! This emotional burden may have been wearing you down for a while. Let some of its tension dissolve at last. It could even be a conversation with the person who hurt you that gives you some peace. Be open to soothing your soul!
Scorpio
October 23-November 21
Someone close to you could surprise you, and you may not know how to feel about it. You might not be someone who likes surprises, and when hearing something that you weren't expecting, your knee-jerk reaction may not be a positive one. Before you jump to conclusions, try to understand where they're coming from. You could have shocked people in the past by revealing something about yourself, and you likely would have wanted to be accepted then. Try to extend the same to them now.
Sagittarius
November 22-December 21
Your routine is unlikely to go as planned today. The store might be out of the groceries you need, or someone that you have a standing appointment with may need to reschedule at the last second. These last-minute changes can be frustrating or disappointing, but if you do your best to expect some adjustments, you'll be able to flow with them accordingly. It should be easier for you to roll with the punches rather than try and force things to be what they normally are.
Capricorn
December 22-January 19
Someone may try to get you out of your comfort zone, no matter how much you want to stick to what you know. A peer could push you to step outside of what you're used to and try something that you're a novice at. Although you may be afraid to look like a fool when you start, remind yourself that people are rarely great at something they've just begun to learn! Give yourself some freedom to make mistakes while you're learning.
Aquarius
January 20-February 18
Someone in your family may make a decision that surprises you. You might not have been expecting them to tell you about a recent endeavor of theirs, especially if it sounds like an out-of-character for them to tell you about. They could be progressing past old habits or letting go of hard-held beliefs that are now outdated. Even though you may be shocked to hear what they have to say, keep an open mind. We're all constantly evolving, even your most steadfast family member!
Pisces
February 19-March 20
You might be inclined to break away from the crowd today. Others could make it clear to you which way is the more tried-and-true path, but you may still prefer the road less traveled. When your intuition calls you away from what seems like the safe option, nothing anyone says is likely to change your mind. This can be a great thing for your pioneering spirit! Your inner sense is letting you know where you're supposed to end up, and that's a beautiful thing.
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NEW ORLEANS — Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s remarkable career came to thrilling and sudden close Saturday night after Caleb Love made a key 3-pointer and three late free throws to lift archrival North Carolina to a thrill-a-minute 81-77 victory over the Blue Devils.
This was the 258th, most consequential and maybe, just maybe, the best meeting between the teams, whose arenas are separated by 11 miles down in Tobacco Road.
The eighth-seeded Tar Heels (29-9), of all teams, pinned the 368th and final loss on the 75-year-old Coach K exactly four weeks after they ruined the going-away party in his final home game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
That loss hurt. This one stopped the coach’s last-gasp, storybook run one win away from a title game.
When it was over, after playing through the nip-and-tuck stretch run without a timeout, Krzyzewski walked calmly to halfcourt and shook the hand of North Carolina rookie coach Hubert Davis.
So instead of Krzyzewski going for his sixth title Monday, the Tar Heels will try to win their seventh. Their opponent: Kansas, which beat Villanova 81-65 in the undercard.
“Dwelling on the two wins against Duke doesn’t help us against Kansas,” Davis said.
Maybe not, but what a game. It featured 18 lead changes and 12 ties.
It featured another breakout performance from Love, whose 28 points after an 0-for-4 start were one more than what he put up in the second half of a win last week against UCLA in the Sweet 16.
“It means everything to me,” Love said of his key 3 with 25 seconds left.
At around the 2-minute mark, the teams traded three straight 3s. Wendell Moore Jr.’s 3-pointer with 1:19 left ended the flurry and gave Duke a 74-73 lead. It was the last lead of Krzyzewski’s career.
R.J. Davis, who finished with 18 points, came back with two free throws, then after Duke’s Mark Williams, in foul trouble all night, missed a pair from the line, North Carolina worked the ball around the perimeter.
Tar Heels guard Leaky Black set a pick — make that threw a block — on Trevor Keels to free up Love, who drained a 3 for a four-point lead and what felt like massive breathing room.
Love made three more free throws down the stretch, and it was over. Krzyzewski walked off the Superdome floor hand in hand with his wife, Mickie.
Hubert Davis was crying again, much as he did last weekend when North Carolina punched its ticket to its record 21st Final Four.
“I felt like over the last two or three years , North Carolina wasn’t relevant,” said Davis, who replaced the Hall of Famer Roy Williams. “North Carolina should never be irrelevant. It should be front and center with the spotlight on them.”
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Freshman Paolo Banchero led the Blue Devils with 20 points, and Keels had 19. Another freshman, A.J. Griffin, never really got untracked, finishing with only six points.
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The six-year-old girl looked into her mother’s bedroom that morning and said, “Mommy is still asleep.”
The tragic innocence of it still pains Lisa Schantz, the little girl’s grandmother, more than a year later.
The girl had seen 23-year-old Nelissa “Nellie” Schantz, who was seated on the edge of her bed, upright yet slumped, with one foot on the floor — the position in which she had died after using drugs that included fentanyl.
Nelissa had been on the Honor Roll and played basketball at Minersville High School before becoming a mother. She liked shopping and worked as a truck driver.
Lisa Schantz’s sadness over the loss of her daughter on Nov. 30, 2020, is deepened by knowing illicit fentanyl — a manmade drug that suppresses breathing and other central nervous system functions — has continued to kill huge numbers of people.
In the Lehigh Valley region, which includes Lehigh, Northampton, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks, Schuylkill, Carbon and Monroe counties, fentanyl was involved in at least 682 deaths in 2021, according to data collected by The Morning Call in the absence of timely government information.
The newspaper’s figures, put together using Right-to-Know requests and interviews with coroners and staffers, showed fentanyl was involved in more than 68% of the 994 drug deaths in the eight counties in 2021. It is likely that some county figures will increase as more information becomes available.
“It is very hurtful. It is very sad,” Lisa Schantz said of the toll since her family’s tragedy. “She was an awesome daughter, and sister, and Mom. And then she got caught up in the drugs.”
Fentanyl’s ultra-deadly nature has been known for years. Authorities say much of it comes from China, via Mexico.
Dan Buglio, first deputy coroner in Lehigh County, said those who die from it sometimes are found with the needle still in their arm or hand or stuck into the flesh between their toes.
“Right where they left it. It is almost as if time has stopped,” Buglio said of those cases. “It instantly causes respiratory distress. I mean, it goes into your bloodstream. You lose your breath.”
Of the 196 drug deaths in Lehigh County during 2021, 157 — or more than 80% — involved fentanyl, according to the Lehigh County coroner’s office. In Northampton County, 61 of the 86 drug deaths in 2021, or more than 70%, involved fentanyl, according to Coroner Zachary Lysek.
‘Incredibly dangerous’
Government officials, lawmakers and prosecutors have plotted ways to push back against the flow of fentanyl into their communities, and still the deaths continue.
Traffickers and dealers selling heroin, methamphetamine and even marijuana mix fentanyl into their products to increase their volume and potency.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the state’s top law enforcement officer and a Democratic candidate for governor, said the mixing with heroin, often done without the knowledge of the drug user, is “incredibly dangerous.”
In Bucks County, where there were 177 drug overdose deaths in 2021, at least 119 involved fentanyl.
“They cut it with fentanyl and they can double their supply,” said coroner Meredith Buck. “They don’t care that they are killing people, they just want more money.”
Her office does an autopsy, which costs about $2,500, on just about every drug death in part to help with potential prosecution. Her staff has the heartbreaking task of dealing with families of victims.
“They are not bad people,” she said of the victims.
Buglio, who has worked in the Lehigh County Coroner’s office for 23 years, said staff members carry naloxone, a medicine that can save a person overdosing on fentanyl via a spray of mist into a nostril.
But overdose scenes, he said, show naloxone is not always the answer. Investigators have found unused naloxone doses, evidence of improperly used naloxone doses, and witnesses who said naloxone was used and didn’t work.
Buglio said he knows that government “from federal to municipal” is working on the fentanyl problem. But his only answer to the question of “Are they doing enough?” was to state his belief that in Lehigh County, officials are doing everything they can.
At the state and federal levels, data on overdose death totals often becomes publicly available much more slowly than at the county level.
For instance, on Thursday, the online state overdose death “dashboard” of the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs showed 143 drug deaths in Lehigh and 51 in Northampton during 2021, or 88 fewer than reported to The Morning Call by coroners.
At the same time, the DDAP-referenced dashboard showed 4,317 overdose deaths in Pennsylvania for 2021, while at the same time a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website showed 5,538 Pennsylvania drug overdose deaths in its latest reporting period, the 12 months ending in October.
The state agency has said the federal data is only estimated, while the state numbers are confirmed.
The Morning Call compiled the regional 2021 fentanyl-related deaths to illustrate the continued urgency of the fentanyl problem.
‘Stop the flow’
In Berks County, where there were at least 88 fentanyl-related deaths last year, District Attorney John Adams said “poor sharing of data” between police departments, municipalities and other agencies is hindering the fight against fentanyl.
Beyond that, Adams said, the ultimate push to stop fentanyl must happen at the national level.
“The only way to combat this from an enforcement angle is to somehow stop the flow from the two main sources: Mexico and China,” Adams said.
Shapiro’s office, asked whether the flow of people across the U.S. border from Mexico was a factor in Pennsylvania’s fentanyl situation, said in a statement, “The flow of drugs through our border, through our ports and points of entry is a major problem, and we’ve called for increased efforts and better technology to keep up with the drugs of today.”
The office added, “This response needs to be as sophisticated as the traffickers seeking to push this poison in our communities.”
Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said a substantial number of people who overdose in Lehigh County live elsewhere and come to Allentown to get drugs.
He, too, said “more interdiction” is needed to stop the flow of fentanyl into the state and nation.
Legislative proposals
In Harrisburg, several bills intended to address the fentanyl problem include one sponsored by Republican Sen. Mike Regan of York County.
It would set up a tiered system of mandatory minimum penalties for drug crimes involving fentanyl.
“This is profit-driven,” Regan said of fentanyl distribution by traffickers. “They are increasing their amounts with a much cheaper substance.”
Another bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Jim Struzzi of Indiana County, calls for removal of personal-use fentanyl test strips from the state’s definition of illegal drug paraphernalia.
Neither bill has advanced beyond committee level.
“It is cheap. It is readily available. And people don’t know it is being used,” Struzzi said of illicit drug users’ ingestion of fentanyl.
Lisa Schantz said she and Nelissa talked about fentanyl and how deadly it was.
“I kept saying, ‘Nellie, I don’t want to bury a child,’” Lisa Schantz recalled. “She said, ‘Mom, I know.’”
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Morning Call Capitol correspondent Ford Turner can be reached at fturner@mcall.com
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The bound and gagged body of Marise Ann Chiverella was still warm to the touch when police arrived at the refuse-strewn stripping hole in Hazle Township, Luzerne County, on the afternoon of March 18, 1964.
It had only been a few hours since the 9-year-old third grader from Hazleton had been beaten, raped and strangled with her own shoelaces, and the killer had carelessly left behind two pieces of irrefutable evidence — a pubic hair and a semen stain on Chiverella’s blouse.
Yet decades would pass before the technology needed to unmask the brutal murderer was finally invented.
Last month, Pennsylvania State Police identified him as James Paul Forte, a bartender who died suddenly at work at the age of 38 on May 16, 1980.
The reveal was too late to bring Forte to justice, but it made headlines across the country and created a local wave of excitement about clearing cold cases. Within days, troopers began a crowdfunding effort to work another cold case, the Luzerne Foundation launched a cold-case fund and some lawmakers began calling for additional state funding to help clear unsolved murders.
Across the country, the emerging field of investigative genetic genealogy — the practice of using direct-to-consumer DNA databases to identify victims and perpetrators of violent crimes — is quickly being adopted by law enforcement agencies that have been long stymied by cold-case investigations. And as DNA testing techniques have grown more advanced, degraded and contaminated forensic evidence once thought to be lost to time can now be enriched and analyzed, opening the door to solving decades-old cases like the Chiverella murder.
“It’s a great time to be an investigator right now — as long as they have the resources to use it,” Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce said. “I could very easily see law enforcement agencies — at least the bigger ones — in the near future employing genealogists ... (to) narrow down the universe of population from everybody on earth or in the country or in the state to, now, maybe only 200 people.”
But while law enforcement has seized on the technique, the practice remains controversial and has raised privacy concerns along with calls for increased regulation.
“It’s kind of like the Wild West,” said Kyle L. Kreider, professor of political science at Wilkes University. “Certainly, people want the police to solve cold cases, so there is an interest in having the state able to do that. But we might need to slow down here a little bit.”
New techniques
Investigative genetic genealogy isn’t exactly a new science in and of itself. It’s simply a new technique for putting crime-scene DNA to work.
Police investigating crimes like murder or rape generally enter genetic profiles obtained from crime scenes to the FBI-maintained Combined DNA Index System — which contains more than 19 million profiles of convicted criminals and arrestees as well as forensic profiles — in an effort to identify offenders.
But if the trail goes cold via that route, forensic genealogy can give investigators another avenue to pursue.
By entering a genetic profile to commercial websites like GEDmatch or FamilyTreeDNA, investigators can seek out imperfect matches and identify an offender’s relatives who have voluntarily submitted their genetic material for genealogical purposes.
The police can then zero in on the offender by studying the family tree and requesting exclusionary DNA samples from willing members.
The technique received widespread attention in April 2018, when authorities in California solved the Golden State Killer case and charged Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. with murdering 13 people and committing nearly 50 rapes.
Troopers used the same procedure and the same service — GEDmatch — to identify Forte as Chiverella’s killer earlier this year.
The controversy comes into play because there are few laws regulating privacy on the commercial databases and many of the genetic testing sites have varying policies about data sharing.
“There are very legitimate privacy concerns here,” Kreider said. “I think the vast majority of people who submit their data to these consumer databases are not thinking about it. They’re not reading the fine print. They’re just looking for some private information about their family.”
Some of the largest commercial DNA testing sites do require police to get a warrant to search their databases.
Ancestry.com says it “insist(s) on a court order or search warrant as the minimum level of due process before we will review our ability to comply” with a law enforcement request for access. The site 23andMe similarly requires a valid court order, subpoena or search warrant to allow access and furthermore vows to notify affected users so that they can try to quash a subpoena.
But other sites, such as FamilyTreeDNA, allow police access in certain cases, such as to identify human remains or the perpetrator of a murder, sex assault or kidnapping. GEDmatch is open to investigators of violent crimes but also allows users to “opt-out” of having their DNA compared to profiles the police enter in their hunt for violent criminals.
“The one thing that concerns me is that even these companies that say they’re protecting data, it’s usually an ‘opt-out,’ meaning the default is when you submit your data to those companies you’re waiving your rights and they can share that with the police,” Kreider said.
Privacy watchdogs note that while the Constitution contains protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, genetic databases potentially give the government access to data containing information about everything from race and eye color to familial connections and the chances of developing certain illnesses.
“There are reasons why we don’t allow the police to search every single home,” Kreider said. “We require that the government has some sort of individualized suspicion. When you’re uploading a genetic profile into a database of 12 million or 15 million, it’s like a fishing expedition. The concern is, how much power do we want to give the government? What’s the next step?”
Split opinions
Public opinion on the issue appears split.
In a February 2020 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 48% of respondents said it was acceptable for DNA companies to share genetic data with law enforcement to help solve crimes. Another 33% said it was unacceptable and 18% said they were unsure.
Most consumers also appear to be concerned about the privacy involved in genetic testing. A survey by Consumer Reports published in October 2020 showed that 44% of respondents were either moderately or extremely concerned about how genetic testing companies protect privacy, while another 38% were either somewhat or slightly concerned.
But many of the respondents also had a flawed understanding of the laws regarding privacy. For instance, more than half incorrectly said they believed the results of commercial genetic tests were protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which applies only to health care providers and health insurance companies. A full 60% incorrectly said they thought their genetic information could not legally be shared with other companies.
In fact, there is no federal law prohibiting companies from sharing genetic information with third parties, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute.
However, some states have taken steps to regulate the industry. Maryland enacted what the Innocence Project termed a “historic law” last year that requires law enforcement to get judicial approval prior to employing genetic genealogy.
Also last year, California, Utah and Arizona all enacted legislation requiring consumers’ express consent for disclosure of their genetic data as well as requiring companies to delete DNA profiles from the databases upon request.
The issue has also arisen in Pennsylvania. In January, state Rep. Emily Kinkead, D-Allegheny, introduced the Genetic Materials Privacy and Compensation Act, which would require companies to compensate people whose genetic data is used for profit. In addition to codifying that individuals have “inherent ownership rights” in their genetic material, the act would require DNA testing companies to prominently disclose what data is being collected, for what purpose and with whom it will be shared.
The legislation would require genetic testing companies to destroy genetic material at users’ request and would also bar them from providing DNA data to law enforcement “without a warrant or the explicit, affirmative permission of the individual providing the genetic material.”
Kinkead said the legislation “is just keeping the laws in line with the Constitution” as technology evolves and that it ensures people’s Fourth Amendment rights are protected.
“I think it’s fantastic that police were able to solve the Golden State Killer case. I think it’s great that the (Chiverella) case was able to be solved after how many decades,” Kinkead said. “But at the same time, we have a Bill of Rights. We have constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure, and just because companies are doing these kinds of tests does not mean that that’s a way the police get to go around people’s privacy rights.”
The bill, which has 17 co-sponsors, has been referred to the House Consumer Affairs Committee.
Sanguedolce said he doesn’t expect such a law to have a major impact on working cold cases in Luzerne County because investigators here already get search warrants or consent when collecting DNA samples.
“We always take the more careful course in getting a search warrant unless we have that express consent, because the last thing you want to do is come up with the answer and then find out approaching trial that you’re not going to be able to use the evidence,” he said. “When in doubt, we always get one.”
Saying he has “no sympathy” for killers who are identified by police with probable cause who search commercial databases, Sanguedolce also said he supports requiring police to get search warrants when conducting such investigations.
“Even though I — technically, in my role as district attorney — am the government that’s trying to get into people’s privacy, I believe that people’s privacy should be protected,” Sanguedolce said. “I think (the police) should have access to solve a crime, but not just generally to review whatever they want.”
State police spokesman Cpl. Brent Miller said the organization had not reviewed and could not comment on Kinkead’s bill, but he noted troopers have “successfully solved crimes in the past using this type of technology,” including a 1987 homicide in Adams County that was cleared last summer.
Funding cases
As the debate over privacy continues, police across the country are moving forward with investigative genetic genealogy, which the Journal of Law and the Biosciences reported has already led to the identification of more than 150 suspects.
Shortly after state police announced the Chiverella case had been solved, troopers cited the high cost of cold-case DNA work and started a crowdfunding effort to raise money for testing of the remains of “Baby Boy John Doe,” an infant whose body was found in the West Side Landfill in Larksville, Luzerne County, on Aug. 6, 1980. Two days later, state police announced they had raised the $5,000 needed to retain Texas-based Othram Inc., a laboratory specializing in recovering and analyzing trace amounts of DNA.
On the heels of that success, the Luzerne Foundation launched a permanent “Closing Cases” fund to help solve other cold cases, including the death of a “Jane Doe” found on Alden Mountain in Newport Township on Nov. 17, 2012.
David Pedri, the foundation’s president and chief executive, said the fund is “performing well” and that he expects the foundation will soon be able to fully fund the genetic testing.
“We just saw a need in the community so we offered to step up,” said Pedri, a former prosecutor. “It takes an incredible amount of time and effort and some clear understanding of science and its principles by incredibly well-trained scientists and lab technicians. That’s why I applaud state police and the DA’s office for taking the necessary steps to closing these cases out, even though it’s a long road and it could be expensive.”
State Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, said she is advocating for increased funding to allow Pennsylvania State Police to work more cold cases.
“While I think it was really fabulous that everybody donated and supported the effort on that little baby boy, it’s a core function of state government for us to do criminal investigations and I don’t think we should be relying on philanthropy or the public to fund those investigations. It should be included in our state budget,” said Baker, who in January voted in favor of legislation to allow police to collect and submit DNA samples of missing or unidentified people and share them via a secure database with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
Gov. Tom Wolf signed that bill into law on Feb. 3.
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“We do have a significant backlog of cold cases,” Baker said. “I think we owe it to the families — we owe it to law enforcement — to support their ability to investigate and put missing persons at the top of their priority list.”
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