text string | url string | crawl_date timestamp[ns, tz=UTC] | source_domain string | group string | id string | in_blocksbin int64 | in_noblocksbin int64 | tag string | minhash_count string |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NEW YORK (AP) — Reporter Joshua Goodman traveled with his family to the Chautauqua Institution in western New York for a peaceful week away from the news. Instead, the news found him.
Goodman, an Associated Press correspondent for Latin America based in Miami, was attending a lecture by author Salman Rushdie on Friday when Rushdie was stabbed onstage.
The journalist said goodbye to his wife and asked her to pick up their two children before he began to work, equipped only with his mobile phone. He dictated words, took photos and sent video that told the world someone had attacked Rushdie, whose 1988 book “The Satanic Verses” was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims and led Iran’s then-leader to issue an edict calling for the author’s death.
It was a remarkable example of being in the right place at the right time to witness an unexpected event.
“It was very surreal is the only way you’d describe it,” Goodman said. “This was the last place you’d expect something like this.”
The institution is more than a century old, located over an hour away from the closest major city of Buffalo, N.Y. It is known for its summer retreats where visitors come for spiritual reflection and education. Goodman was one of 13 family members who rented a house on the grounds for the week. He left his computer behind and ignored emails.
Goodman, 46, learned to sail. On Thursday night, he and his family roasted marshmallows while watching a full moon rise over Lake Chautauqua.
Rushdie’s interview, advertised as focusing on the importance of persecuted writers having a place to work, was one of the week’s highlights. Goodman arrived at the outdoor amphitheater just as it was about to begin.
The threats against Rushdie — a $3 million bounty was placed on his head and he spent years in hiding — had not been forgotten. Some audience members joked nervously about not wanting to be in the front row. But there was very little security at a location where many families don’t even lock their doors at night, Goodman said.
Rushdie was seated and was being introduced when his attacker climbed onstage and began assaulting him. From his vantage point, Goodman said he wasn’t sure if Rushdie was being punched or stabbed, until he could see what appeared to be blood.
“There was a moment of shock,” he said. “Everyone in the audience was sitting in disbelief.”
When an officer with a police dog and others rushed toward the stage, Goodman realized what was happening and switched into reporter mode. He quickly sent an email to several of his editors at AP about what was happening and headed toward the stage himself.
Goodman lingered to take pictures and interview witnesses despite the institute’s staff saying he and all the audience members had to leave, he said. Goodman had covered protests before while stationed in Latin America, so scenes of violence were not foreign to him, but never in such a bucolic setting.
The AP sent an alert to its members about the news at 11:06 a.m. Eastern, followed by the first story six minutes later.
It was only after an hour of work that Goodman had the chance to reflect on what he said was one of the worst things he’d ever seen. “It was so callous and deliberate,” he said.
Goodman said he was sad for his children who, like many, are affected by bad news in the world. He had hoped for a week’s reprieve, and they had enjoyed their time in summer camp.
“I don’t take any satisfaction in witnessing tragedy,” he said. “I do take satisfaction in informing others.” | https://www.wpri.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/by-chance-ap-reporter-on-scene-to-witness-rushdie-attack/ | 2022-08-13T17:51:05Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/by-chance-ap-reporter-on-scene-to-witness-rushdie-attack/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Troy Kotsur, who made history as the first deaf man to win an Academy Award, has been honored with a key to his Arizona hometown.
Kotsur, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in March, was given the key Thursday in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, the city said in a statement.
“It is such a special honor to receive the key to the City of Mesa, the place where I was born and raised, and will always consider home,” Kotsur said during a ceremony.
Mesa Mayor John Giles called Kotsur a “remarkable example of dedication and commitment.”
Kotsur won just about every major acting prize for his role as a father and fisherman in “CODA.” He still resides in Mesa and gave a shoutout to the city in his Oscars acceptance speech.
Kotsur’s family has deep roots in the city. His father was the police chief. One of his two brothers is a deputy fire chief. His grandfather was also a police officer.
For his next project, the actor will play the coach of a football team from the California School for the Deaf for a Disney+ series. Kotsur will be an executive producer. | https://www.wpri.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/oscar-winner-troy-kotsur-awarded-key-to-arizona-hometown/ | 2022-08-13T17:51:27Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/oscar-winner-troy-kotsur-awarded-key-to-arizona-hometown/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
What is the difference between a squid and an octopus?
Octopuses and squid are close cousins with much in common.
Both groups are remarkably brainy molluscs, especially compared to their relatives including snails, clams and slugs. They have complex nervous systems which, among other things, intricately controls their colour-changing skin.
A recent study of Humboldt squid suggested they have a simple language of patterns displayed across their bodies. Another piece of research on oval squid in Japan has recently shown that, just like octopuses, squid can also match their body colour to their surroundings to hide from predators.
There are, however, plenty of differences between octopuses and squid. To tell them apart, all you need to do is count their numerous appendages. Octopuses have eight arms with sensitive suckers arranged all the way to the tip. Meanwhile, squid have eight arms plus an additional pair of limbs with suckers just at the ends. These are tentacles that they shoot out, like a chameleon’s tongue, to grab and drag in prey.
There are around 300 species of octopuses, and a similar number of squid which occupy different ocean habitats. Most octopuses live close to the seabed, with a few exceptions like blanket octopuses and argonauts. Usually, they’re solitary and often thoroughly antisocial (in aquariums they tend to eat each other).
The exceptions are two locations in Australia, nicknamed Octopolis and Octlantis, where octopuses have been found living rather awkwardly together in close neighbourhoods. In contrast, squid swim through open seas, often in coordinated shoals.
Octopuses and squid also differ in the way they produce offspring. For octopuses, male-female pairs mate at arm’s length. The female then lays her eggs in a safe spot on the seabed and watches over them until they hatch. Squid mate in groups and leave their eggs to fend for themselves, stuck to seaweed, rocks and corals.
Read more:
- How many hearts does an octopus have?
- Everything you wanted to know about the giant squid
- How do squid survive extreme water pressure in the deep sea?
- Everything you wanted to know about cuttlefish
Asked by: Andrew White, Hull
To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don't forget to include your name and location)
Authors
Sponsored Deals
Subscription offer
- Subscribe and try your first 3 issues for just £5.
- After your introductory period you will pay just £22.99 every 6 issues by Direct Debit.
- Receive every issue delivered direct to your door with FREE UK delivery. | https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/difference-between-squid-and-octopus/ | 2022-08-13T17:51:48Z | sciencefocus.com | control | https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/difference-between-squid-and-octopus/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
What is a Shoebill stork?
At times vilified for its supposedly menacing demeanour, the shoebill stork deserves better.
Yes, it’s a solitary loner that picks off its prey one at a time. Yes, it has an enormous, shoe-shaped beak that can kill a baby croc or wrangle a lungfish. And yes, its stare is somewhat intense – think Paddington Bear meets Vinnie Jones.
It also doesn’t help that the bird is physically intimidating. This freshwater swamp specialist from eastern Africa stands over a metre tall, has a wingspan of up to 75cm, and its sharp, clog-shaped bill grows up to 24cm long.
It’s also slow, purposeful and utterly relentless. Shoebills are stealth predators. They can stand motionless for hours, before attacking, shaking, crushing and then swallowing their prey, and yet, this relative of the pelican is so much more than some villainous caricature.
For one thing, it poos on its own legs. Not so scary now, eh? Known as urohidrosis, it’s a messy but deliberate habit that helps the bird to stay cool.
The shoebill is similarly nonconformist in the air, where it has one of the slowest flapping rates of any bird. It takes just 150 beats per minute to keep this impressive animal aloft.
Read more:
Asked by: Adam Jarrett, Ipswich
To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don't forget to include your name and location)
Authors
Sponsored Deals
Subscription offer
- Subscribe and try your first 3 issues for just £5.
- After your introductory period you will pay just £22.99 every 6 issues by Direct Debit.
- Receive every issue delivered direct to your door with FREE UK delivery. | https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/shoebill-stork/ | 2022-08-13T17:51:54Z | sciencefocus.com | control | https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/shoebill-stork/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Anne Heche remains on life support and under evaluation for organ donation after a car crash that led to her brain death, a representative for the actor said Friday.
Under current California law, death can be determined by the loss of all brain function and in accordance with accepted medical standards.
While Heche is legally dead, she’s on life support and “her heart is still beating” so that the nonprofit organization OneLegacy can determine if she can be a donor, spokeswoman Holly Baird said in a statement.
The process, which involves assessing which organs are viable and finding an appropriate recipient, could take from one day to several days, Baird told The Associated Press.
In the U.S., most organ transplants are done after the donor has been declared brain-dead.
The actor suffered a “severe anoxic brain injury,” caused by a lack of oxygen, when her car crashed into a Los Angeles area home Aug. 5 and fire erupted, according to a statement released Thursday that said she wasn’t expected to survive.
She’s been hospitalized at a Los Angeles burn center.
“This is a sad day. I’m sending Anne’s children, family and friends all of my love,” Ellen DeGeneres said Friday on Twitter amid reports of Heche’s dire condition. They were a couple from 1997 to 2000.
Detectives investigating the crash said narcotics were found in a blood sample taken from Heche, though toxicology tests still had to be performed to differentiate them from drugs she was given for her injuries, Los Angeles police said.
A native of Ohio, Heche first came to prominence on the NBC soap opera “Another World” from 1987 to 1991. She won a Daytime Emmy Award for the role of twins Marley and Vicky.
In the late 1990s she became one of the hottest actors in Hollywood, a constant on magazine covers and in big-budget films. In 1997 alone, she played opposite Johnny Depp as his wife in “Donnie Brasco” and Tommy Lee Jones in “Volcano” and was part of the ensemble cast in the original “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
The following year, she starred with Harrison Ford in “Six Days, Seven Nights” and appeared with Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix in “Return to Paradise.” | https://www.wpri.com/news/anne-heche-remains-on-life-support-for-donor-evaluation/ | 2022-08-13T17:52:01Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/anne-heche-remains-on-life-support-for-donor-evaluation/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona began moving in shipping containers to close a 1,000-foot gap in the border wall near the southern Arizona farming community of Yuma on Friday, with officials saying they were acting to stop migrants after repeated, unfulfilled promises from the Biden administration to block off the area.
The move by Arizona comes without explicit permission on federal land, with state contractors starting to move in 60-foot-long (18.3-meter-long) shipping containers and stacking two of the 9-foot-tall (2.7-meter-tall) containers on top of each other early Friday. They plan to complete the job within days, and the containers will be topped with 4 feet (1.2 meters) of razor wire, said Katie Ratlief, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s deputy chief of staff.
The state plans to fill three gaps in the border wall constructed during former President Donald Trump’s tenure in the coming weeks totaling 3,000 feet (914.4 meters).
“The federal government has committed to doing this, but we cannot wait for their action,” Ratlief said.
John Mennell, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the agency had just learned of Arizona’s action and “is not prepared to comment at this time.”
The move is the latest pushback by a Republican-led border state to what they contend is inaction by Democratic President Joe Biden on immigration. It was immediately prompted by the announcement of the end of the “Remain in Mexico” program that was announced this week, Ducey’s top lawyer, Annie Foster said. That program required asylum-seekers to return to Mexico and await a court date, although thousands of migrants who make it into the country were not returned.
Arizona has been sending two to three buses of asylum seekers from Yuma to Washington over the last three months to make a political statement as the number of arriving migrants overwhelmed local resources. Ducey began the program in May and has said everyone on the bus trips are going voluntarily to the capital with intended final destinations in East Coast cities.
Texas also is busing migrants to the East, and the mayors of New York and Washington sought federal help last month to deal with the influx, a request that brought a gleeful response from Republicans who say the pleas are evidence the U.S. is in an immigration crisis.
As of Aug. 11, the state of Arizona had sent 1,425 asylum seekers to Washington, according to the governor’s office.
Ducey is using $6 million for the project out of $335 million the Legislature authorized in June to construct virtual or physical fencing along the border with Mexico.
Ducey, who co-chairs the Republican Governors Association, and other GOP politicians have tapped into border security as a potent political foil in an election year. He packed a signing letter for the budget with criticism of Biden.
“Arizona will not sit idly by as the Biden administration fails to do its job and safeguard our state and nation from the clear and present danger of an unsecure border,” Ducey’s letter said.
The Biden Administration announced late last month that it had authorized completion of the Trump-funded U.S.-Mexico border wall near Yuma. The area has become one of the busiest corridors for illegal crossings, and they planned to fill in four wide gaps. Arizona officials said they did not know why there was a discrepancy between the three gaps they identified and the federal government’s plans.
Biden had pledged during his campaign to cease all future wall construction, but the administration later agreed to some barriers, citing safety. The Department of Homeland Security planned work to close four wide gaps in the wall near Yuma to better protect migrants who can slip down a slope or drown walking through a low section of the Colorado River.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas authorized completion of the project near the Morelos Dam in July, a move officials said reflected the administration’s “priority to deploy modern, effective border measures and also improving safety and security along the Southwest Border.”
Arizona points to a rising number of migrants coming into the state and accompanying drug smuggling as a major reason for their action. Agents stopped migrants more than 160,000 times from January through June in the Yuma sector, nearly quadruple from the same period last year. The only other Border Patrol sectors with more traffic were Del Rio and Rio Grande Valley in South Texas.
Despite the federal promise to fill in the gaps, Arizona officials said no action had been taken to actually close the gaps. The federal government apparently put the project out to bid this week, but that may takes weeks or months.
Foster said he decided to act even if the federal government later objects.
“At this point, we are closing that gap and we’ll figure out the consequences as we move forward,” Foster said at a briefing for reporters. “But bottom line is that the federal government has a duty to protect the states — that’s part of the contract, that’s part of the constitution. They failed to do that.” | https://www.wpri.com/news/breaking-news/ap-top-news/arizona-wont-wait-for-feds-starts-filling-border-wall-gaps/ | 2022-08-13T17:52:08Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/breaking-news/ap-top-news/arizona-wont-wait-for-feds-starts-filling-border-wall-gaps/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Choosing the best Eve Lom skin care solution
Established in 1985, Eve Lom is an established brand that emphasizes performance and natural solutions to boost skin hydration and health. It blends the British spa experience and tradition with nature and scientific research for an innovative approach to skin care. On Dermstore, there is an assortment of Eve Lom products like moisturizers and face masks specially formulated to rejuvenate and renew skin.
Type
Eve Lom first launched with its iconic cleanser, used by celebrities and beauty gurus. Since then, the brand has branched out into the following options, which can be found on Dermstore:
- Facial cleansers: These can clear the skin of any impurities, as well as remove excess oil, waterproof makeup and dirt. They can also exfoliate and tone the skin, leaving it smooth, soft and with a healthy glow.
- Moisturizers: Designed for overnight and daytime use, Eve Lom’s moisturizers use high-grade ingredients to bring back your skin’s natural glow. They also leave the skin feeling rejuvenated and hydrated.
- Face masks: The face masks give you a spa-like experience that strengthens the skin’s natural barrier and promotes an even complexion. They can even help with overstressed or dull skin.
- Peels: Exfoliating peel pads leave the skin refreshed, clean and healthy.
- Serums: Made for the sensitive skin of the face, particularly around the eyes and mouth, Eve Lom’s serums can revitalize the skin and leave it looking youthful.
- Other skin care treatments: On Dermstore, there are also special treatments for the eyes, lips and neck.
Form factor
Similar to other skin care companies, Eve Lom utilizes a myriad of formats for its solutions and treatments. These include:
- Balms and creams — lotions and other moisturizers for the lips, face and eyes.
- Ampoules — small glass capsules with liquid in them.
- Clays — thicker treatments to tone the skin.
- Fluids — this includes oil- and water-based balms, serums and other moisturizers.
- Foams and gels — foaming skin care solutions and gel for the face.
- Mists — gentle spray-on moisturizers.
- Pads and wipes — hydrating, toning pads and wipes for the face.
- Cloths — Muslin cloths to clean the face and remove makeup.
Skin type
Eve Lom has options for all different skin types on Dermstore, including:
- Normal
- Oily
- Combination
- Dry
- Mature
- Sensitive
Many of the brand’s moisturizers, toners and other skin care formats are suitable for one or more skin types. For best results, choose one that specifically indicates your skin type.
Targeted areas
Depending on what you need, chances are Eve Lom on Dermstore has a skin care treatment or solution for you. The brand has collections called:
- Moisture and Radiance
- Cleanse
- Brightening
- Rescue
- Time Retreat
These collections can help with the following:
- Visible pores, acne, breakouts and blemishes
- Dry, peeling or dehydrated skin
- Dull, uneven skin tone or pigmentation
- Oil control
- Wrinkles and fine lines
- Sensitivity or redness
SPF content
Many of Eve Lom’s moisturizers, toners and facial treatments contain SPF content. Dermstore puts organizes the brand’s skin care into the following SPF categories:
- SPF 50+
- SPF 30+
- SPF 15+
- Low SPF
According to MedlinePlus, anything with SPF 30 or higher can provide some protection from the sun. Skin care solutions that have SPF content help to reduce the risk of skin cancer. They also fight premature lines, wrinkles and sunspots and help prevent discoloration, redness or other blemishes while ensuring an even skin tone.
Generally, the higher the SPF content, the more protection it can provide. On their own, skin care products don’t necessarily provide enough protection. But when combined with sunscreen and avoiding direct sun exposure, it can help.
Formula
Eve Lom uses a unique blend of high-quality natural ingredients that nourish and hydrate the skin. This includes:
- Chamomile
- Eucalyptus
- Clove oil
- Cocoa butter
- Mineral oil
- Algae extract
- Amino acids
- Beeswax
- Lactic acid
- Honey
- Retinol
- Olive oil
- Other herbal or floral extracts
Many of the brand’s skin care items are free from harmful additives. This includes sulfates, phthalates, sulfates and artificial fragrances.
8 best Eve Lom products on Dermstore
Safe for any skin type, this facial cleanser can hydrate the skin for up to 12 hours after application. It also leaves the skin looking and feeling healthier and smoother within a week.
Sold by Dermstore
Eve Lom Time Retreat Intensive Night Cream
Formulated for nighttime use, this soothing cream can protect the face and hands against free radicals, as well as strengthen the skin barrier. It contains ingredients such as aloe vera and retinol to replenish moisture and fight premature signs of aging.
Sold by Dermstore
This face mask leaves the skin feeling rejuvenated, improves complexion and brings about a healthy glow. It’s also great for alleviating stressed or inflamed skin.
Sold by Dermstore
Eve Lom Daily Protection Broad Spectrum Sunscreen SPF Plus 50
Available in a 1.6 fluid ounce container, this sunscreen is gentle enough for sensitive skin. It contains SPF 50+, which can help prevent wrinkles and redness caused by the sun. It can also protect the skin against harmful pollutants and free radicals.
Sold by Dermstore
Eve Lom Foaming Cream Cleanser
This foaming cleanser hydrates the skin for up to 12 hours and can leave it feeling smoother and rejuvenated within a week.
Sold by Dermstore
Eve Lom Time Retreat Face Treatment
This face treatment contains ingredients such as retinol which can stimulate the production of collagen. It also has microalgae and niacinamide, which lessen the appearance of fine lines and improve the skin’s natural elasticity.
Sold by Dermstore
This four-piece set includes a face cleanser, moisture cream, radiance essence and muslin cloth. As a whole, it’s safe for any skin type and can hydrate, smooth, cleanse, tone and rejuvenate the skin. The moisture cream and essence leave the skin feeling hydrated for up to 72 hours.
Sold by Dermstore
Each of these high-quality muslin cloths gently exfoliates the skin to cleanse it, remove makeup and even improve blood circulation. They work well with everything from moisturizers to serums.
Sold by Dermstore
Want to shop the best products at the best prices? Check out Daily Deals from BestReviews.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Angela Watson writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wpri.com/reviews/the-8-best-eve-lom-products-on-dermstore/ | 2022-08-13T17:54:02Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/reviews/the-8-best-eve-lom-products-on-dermstore/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
TORONTO (AP) — Two-time champion Simona Halep beat Coco Gauff 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Friday to reach the National Bank Open semifinals.
Halep, the 30-year-old from Romania, won the event in Montreal in 2016 and 2018. She will face seventh-seeded Jessica Pegula, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
The 15th-seeded Halep is 4-0 against the Gauff, the 18-year-old American seeded 10th.
In the night session, Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil ousted 12th-seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. On Thursday, Haddad Maia beat top-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland.
In the late match, 14th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic beat Zheng Qinwen of China 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/halep-beats-gauff-6-4-7-6-2-to-reach-toronto-semifinals/ | 2022-08-13T17:54:46Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/halep-beats-gauff-6-4-7-6-2-to-reach-toronto-semifinals/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BOSTON (AP) — The New York Yankees still have a double-digit lead in the AL East and a chance to coast into the postseason.
What they do once they get there could depend on whether closer Clay Holmes can straighten things out in time.
Staked with a lead from Aaron Judge’s 46th homer, the All-Star reliever walked back-to-back batters in the ninth and then gave up a tying single to J.D. Martinez on Friday night. Tommy Pham delivered the walk-off hit in the 10th to lead the last-place Red Sox to a 3-2 victory over the first-place Yankees and send New York to its eighth loss in nine games.
“He struggled with strikes there obviously. That’s a situation we’ve got to get the strike thrown,” Yankees manger Aaron Boone said. “It’s just a matter of getting him locked in mechanically and letting it rip.”
New York pitchers retired 12 straight Boston batters before Holmes walked two with one out in the ninth and then gave up Martinez’s single up the middle. Holmes was 4-0 with an 0.47 ERA and 16 saves in 17 tries on July 7; since then, he is 1-3 with four blown saves while giving up 11 earned runs in 11 innings.
Asked if Holmes would remain as closer, Boone said, “We’ll see.”
“I’ll try to put in him in the best positions to be successful. Some nights that will be the ninth,” Boone said. “But we’ll keep working with him. Got to get him consistent.”
Judge, who had his major league-leading 46th homer and 100th RBI in the third inning, reached base for the fourth time when he was walked to lead off the 10th. But Garrett Whitlock fanned Josh Donaldson and Gleyber Torres to end the threat.
In the bottom half, automatic runner Christian Arroyo took third on a groundout and then stayed there on pinch-hitter Reese McGuire’s bunt single. Pham, a trade deadline acquisition, punched one down the third-base line to spark a celebration in the sold-out crowd — or at least the portion trying to outshout the visiting Yankee fans.
“When they come into town, we expect this. We expect games like that,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, whose team has won its last three games against the Yankees in Boston. “They have an outstanding team, but we’ve played well against them the last three times.”
Cora insisted that he Red Sox, who are in seventh place and four games out in the race for three wild-card spots, still have a chance to make the playoffs.
“I’ve been saying that for a while,” he said. “Not too many people believe me. But I think the people that really matter, they believe it. That’s the people in here.”
Whitlock (3-2) struck out three and walked one in two innings.
Lou Trivino (1-7) allowed two hits and recorded one out for the Yankees, who lost their third straight game.
Judge hit the first pitch of the third inning 429 feet, over the Monster Seats and onto Lansdowne Street; he is on a pace to hit 66 home runs. He also walked twice and was hit by a pitch, reaching base at least three times for the fifth game in a row.
Jose Trevino had two hits, and Anthony Rizzo had a first-inning double to drive in Judge.
FOR STARTERS
Yankees starter Domingo Germán was charged with one run on five hits and two walks, striking out four in six innings.
Nathan Eovaldi dodged the loss when the Red Sox rallied in the ninth. He allowed two runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out three in six innings.
INFIELD SPRY
With Andrew Benintendi on first and Trevino at the plate, Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts let a popup drop, then flipped it to second base for the force out. The decision left Trevino at first instead of Benintendi, a faster runner.
SHORT HOPS
Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson threw out a ceremonial first pitch. … The Red Sox played a highlight video for Benintendi, a member of the 2018 World Series championship team. He had not played in Fenway Park since the Red Sox traded him to Kansas City before the 2021 season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Donaldson shook it off after going over the dugout railing in pursuit of a foul popup. He remained in the game.
Red Sox: Kiké Hernández went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout in a rehab appearance for the Double-A Portland SeaDogs. He batted second and played center field. He could rejoin the Red Sox as soon as Tuesday. … RHP Tyler Danish also appeared for Portland, allowing one run on one hit and two walks in one inning, striking out two.
UP NEXT
Yankees: RHP Frankie Montas (4-9) pitches for New York against Boston’s Kutter Crawford (3-4) in Game 2 of the three-game series.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/judge-hits-homer-no-46-but-red-sox-rally-to-beat-yanks-3-2/ | 2022-08-13T17:55:00Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/judge-hits-homer-no-46-but-red-sox-rally-to-beat-yanks-3-2/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MONTREAL (AP) — Fourth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway routed hometown favorite Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-2 on Friday in the National Bank Open quarterfinals.
“It was one of those days where everything goes in one favor and luckily it was in my favor,” Ruud said after reaching his third Masters 1000 semifinal of the season.
The sixth-seeded Auger-Aliassime, made 21 unforced errors to just eight for Ruud.
”(My) first two matches were good, some positive things,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I never thought it would be ending like this today.”
Ruud will face eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-1 winner over Nick Kyrgios of Australia.
In the night session, Britain’s Daniel Evans beat American Tommy Paul 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta topped British qualifier Jack Draper 7-6 (4), 6-1. | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/ruud-routed-hometown-favorite-auger-aliassime-in-montreal/ | 2022-08-13T17:55:42Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/ruud-routed-hometown-favorite-auger-aliassime-in-montreal/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — J.J. Spaun hopes he’s only getting started on the road to the FedEx Cup finale. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth will have to wait another week.
As for Jason Day, his season is over.
Spaun made a late birdie for a 3-under 67 to take a one-shot lead Friday in the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the opening event in the PGA Tour postseason that no longer has three of its biggest stars for the weekend at the TPC Southwind.
Scheffler, the Masters champion and No. 1 player for the last five months, never quite recovered from what he could only describe as an “out-of-body experience” with his putting in the first round. He had birdie chances on two of the last three holes he couldn’t convert and his 68 was one shot short of making the weekend.
“Obviously, it’s really frustrating coming into the playoffs,” Scheffler said. “I was practicing really hard at home, actually playing really good, and I showed up and had the worst putting day ever. Golf smacks you in the face sometimes.”
McIlroy went from rough to gallery to fringe to bogey on his last hole for a 69 for only his second missed cut of the year. Spieth’s hopes of playing the weekend ended with a tee shot into the water on the par-3 14th that led to a 74.
At least they get to play next week in the BMW Championship, being high enough in the standings not to lose too much sleep over it.
Day opened with a 65 and was hopeful of a big finish to advance into the top 70 who made it to the next playoff event. Instead, the former world No. 1 dropped five shots over the last eight holes, shot 74 and missed the cut by one shot.
Day was among 31 players who started outside the top 70 in the FedEx Cup and missed the cut, meaning their season is over.
Rickie Fowler, who came in at No. 125, ended the back nine (double bogey) and front nine (bogey) poorly and shot 71. He was tied for 33rd, around for two more days but needing to contend to advance.
Spaun was at 11-under 129 and only looking ahead.
He was one shot ahead of Sepp Straka, who birdied his last three holes for a 66, and Troy Merritt, who had a 65. Merritt started at No. 64 in the standings, so this was just what he needed to make sure he would be moving on.
With a clear sky, hot sun and a little more wind, Spaun was as proud of his 67 on Friday as his 64 the day before. Mostly, he feels his game his coming around after going into a lull following his first PGA Tour title at the Valero Texas Open in early April.
“It’s so hard to be consistently good at the highest level. Some guys that do it like that, like Tiger and McIlroy and all those guys. It’s just insane how good they are for so long,” Spaun said. “I did it for a few months and then kind of fell off, but here I am kind of making my way back.”
Straka knows the feeling. He had not made it to the weekend since the Memorial in early June. And then he opened with rounds of 64-66.
“Hadn’t played great coming into this week. Missed a bunch of cuts coming in,” Straka said (in his case, “a bunch” would be six in a row). “But that’s golf. You’re going to have the ebbs and flows and just kind go with it.”
And off he went, especially at the end, when he finished with three straight birdies to get to 10 under.
Tony Finau, coming off two straight victories, had his 11th consecutive round at 68 or lower dating to the final round of the British Open. His 68 on Friday left him three behind.
Spaun didn’t feel as though he had much of a lead — one shot, not to mention 15 players within four shots of the lead and 36 holes still to play.
“It’s anyone’s weekend, and it’s going to mine,” he said playfully.
The first part for so many players was getting to the weekend, and two players who seized on the opportunity were Ryan Palmer and Lucas Glover.
Palmer is at No. 110 in the FedEx Cup, shot 67 and joined Finau, British Open champion Cam Smith (65) and others at 8-under 132.
Glover is No. 121. Even with a bogey on his final hole, his 68 put him four shots out of the lead.
___
More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/straka-shakes-out-of-slump-grabs-early-lead-in-memphis/ | 2022-08-13T17:56:04Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/straka-shakes-out-of-slump-grabs-early-lead-in-memphis/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
For decades, young people have faced major barriers to abortion because of state laws requiring parental involvement in the decision to terminate a pregnancy. But now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization — and the federal right to an abortion is gone — access is even more complex for adolescents.
In states where abortion is heavily restricted, advocates are fighting back: They're shoring up legal support for young women seeking abortion and taking to social media platforms like TikTok to counter misinformation.
As abortion access vanishes, options narrow
"People are scared to even seek information about abortion, because as soon as the decision came out ... there was just chaos on the state level," says Rosann Mariappuram, executive director of Jane's Due Process, a Texas organization that educates young people in Texas on their rights surrounding abortion.
In Texas, this has always been complicated. It's among the 36 states with laws requiring minors seeking abortion to notify or obtain consent from a parent or guardian before receiving treatment, according to reproductive rights advocacy group If/When/How.
Because of legal protections in Roe v. Wade and related Supreme Court decisions, minors have historically been able to avoid involving a parent through a workaround known as a "judicial bypass," in which a judge determines whether the minor "is mature and well informed enough to make this decision on their own," or if the abortion is in the young person's best interest, says attorney Jessica Goldberg, who's If/When/How's senior youth access counsel.
In states where abortion is now banned, this option is gone. "The bypass itself is just the ability to consent to an abortion," says Mariappuram. "But if abortion is gone in your state, there's no path for you ... just like adults who live in a state like Texas, where all the clinics have closed, youth are completely cut off from abortion."
Like many reproductive health organizations in Texas, Jane's Due Process has paused operations due to the threat of prosecution under Texas' abortion ban.
With its direct services paused, Mariappuram's organization has pivoted to making sure pregnant people — and minors, especially — can locate states where abortion remains legal, along with reliable information about their rights and options if they decide to travel out of Texas for care. This has required communication on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok focusing on what someone under 18 who's seeking abortion needs to know.
"We started highlighting states that either have no parental involvement laws and abortion is legal, or have fewer restrictions," she says. "So, for example, if you're in Texas, New Mexico is the closest state that doesn't have a consent law, and is drivable for some youth."
Lawyering up
It's still not clear exactly how Roe's reversal will impact judicial bypasses elsewhere. Because the process was federally protected under Roe, it could come to an end as an option for minors seeking abortion. But Goldberg says the more immediate concern for minors is the glut of new abortion restrictions at the state level that have accumulated since Roe's reversal.
"We're already seeing abortion restrictions that go way beyond what we ever saw while Roe was in place," she says. "We know young people will experience the harm of those restrictions in the way others will — and more so, because of additional practical barriers that they experience."
Texas has been something of a case study for how the Dobbs decision could impact youth access to abortion across the country.
Ten months before the court's decision, Jane's Due Process' work was interrupted by Texas' six-week abortion ban. Most of the organization's clients couldn't obtain a judicial bypass and an abortion before six weeks of pregnancy.
"Losing abortion past six weeks is almost a complete abortion ban," says Mariappuram. The impact is clear in the data reported to Texas' Health and Human Services Commission: The first month the ban was in place, abortion rates dropped by 60% overall. But for teenagers, abortion rates dropped even more steeply — 77% for 16- and 17-year-olds and 91% for those under 16.
Not every state with a parental involvement law has cut off minors' access to abortion altogether since Roe was overturned.
Louisiana's abortion ban has been enjoined pending litigation, with abortion available on and off as the case makes its way through the court system. As of July 29, the ban was back in place, but it could be blocked again because of an appeal filed with the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Keeping up with a shifting legal landscape can have a profound impact on abortion access for young people caught up in the legal system.
When the injunction on Louisiana's ban was lifted, a judicial bypass case was in process, and the young person seeking care ended up having to travel to Florida, says Michelle Erenberg, executive director of Lift Louisiana, which provides legal representation to minors seeking judicial bypasses. "For most of the young people that we work with, going out of state is not going to be an option for them," she says.
Lift operates a helpline that young people seeking a judicial bypass can call or text for assistance within 24 hours. They're then connected with a lawyer who helps them prepare to meet with a judge and to coordinate with an abortion clinic. Lift has been recruiting lawyers on an ongoing basis for this work for the past few years; while the organization offers attorneys a stipend, Erenberg said the majority do the work pro bono. The group is currently building capacity to address other areas where legal representation could be needed as the impact of Roe's reversal unfolds.
"We're recruiting attorneys to represent people that may be criminally prosecuted for either trying to access abortion or having some other pregnancy outcome investigated by law enforcement" or for trying to help someone else obtain an abortion, she says.
An imperfect process
In 2021, Lift's work was disrupted by a law mandating that teens seeking judicial bypasses file in their parish of residence. Previously, they'd had the option of filing in the same location as the clinic where they'd sought care, often Shreveport or New Orleans.
"The change to the law was significant in that now... minors are going to court in their hometown," Erenberg says. That could mean encountering people they knew from their communities, compromisi ng their privacy, or, in particularly smaller parishes, facing judges who hadn't heard judicial bypass cases before.
"It's a whole different level of risk," she says.
In response, Lift has worked to bring attorneys in-person to each parish where a minor has a judicial bypass case, but it isn't always possible, says Erenberg. And even when it is, the process often exposes young people to probing questions about their sex lives and decision-making, and can compound the difficulty teens already encounter when seeking abortion.
In 2021 — around the time SB8 was first introduced in the Texas state legislature — Jane's Due Process launched a podcast, Jane Is Not a Virgin, spotlighting minors' experiences navigating the judicial process.
The podcast's contributors, who had all gone through the judicial bypass process as minors, described appearing in front of a judge for approval to have an abortion as an intimidating and even traumatic experience, akin to "an interrogation" or "a test you have to ace" that induced feelings of shame and even betrayal. "It was so traumatic to have someone who knows absolutely nothing about our lives be determining our entire future," said one of the hosts.
Adult advocates agree, and many argue that minors should simply have the same rights to abortion as adults. "Creating barriers for people that already have so many barriers erected and so many other issues that they're struggling with... it seems like a really unfair thing to put them through," says Erenberg.
It can even affect youth who do have parental support. Mariappuram recalled one judicial bypass case from around the time Texas' six-week abortion ban went into effect. It involved a minor whose parent supported her decision to have an abortion, but was incarcerated.
When Jane's Due Process arranged for an attorney to go to the jail to get a signoff for the abortion, the parent had been placed in administrative segregation and couldn't have visitors. "So then that young person had to go through the whole bypass process, even though she had a parent who did consent," Mariappuram says.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-08-13/long-uncertain-young-peoples-access-to-abortion-is-more-complicated-than-ever | 2022-08-13T17:58:19Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-08-13/long-uncertain-young-peoples-access-to-abortion-is-more-complicated-than-ever | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
I only have one brother. Chinaza is ten years older and so in my earliest memories of him, he was already a teenager. "Leave my room" is a phrase he uttered several times to me.
I remember him as loud but nerdy. He didn't have many friends and he didn't have a date for prom. He was 15 when he left Nigeria for boarding school in the U.K., which would have made me around 5. I was potty-trained but still learning how to read. I hadn't lived long enough for us to have much in common.
We met properly when I was a young adult and he was taking his first steps into a career in private equity. By this time, I was in boarding school in England and he had returned to Lagos to become a full-time "hustler," the name tag given to eager young entrepreneurs in Lagos. In Lagos, it's natural to have more than one job. I have friends who are lawyers by day and make-up artists, wig sellers and DJs in the evenings. Chinaza was no different. In addition to his 9 to 5 private equity job, he and a few friends started a film production company that would go on to produce films for the Nigerian cinema, Netflix and Amazon Prime.
I've always been curious about Chinaza's move to Lagos. How did he hack it after living the soft life abroad? The infrastructure more or less works in England. There's a free health service, constant electricity and a decent public transport system. What I take for granted in London can be a luxury in Lagos.
My curiosity is tinged with self-interest. Every few years, I grow discontent with my predictable life as a writer in London and wonder if I should move back to Lagos, where all the action seems to be happening. Music, film, fashion and art from the city is spreading across the globe. If you're creating anything today, surely Lagos is the place to be.
I worry I no longer have what it takes to cope with the erratic power supply, rising crime rates and endless traffic jams that make up daily life in Lagos. And yet, it's the city that has fed my imagination and the stories I tell as a writer. In Lagos, everything is heightened.
But can I live at that feverish pitch for longer than a 3-week holiday? What does Chinaza think? I want to know.
After talking to Chinaza for an hour, I realize that there are quite a few things about my brother I don't know. I've assumed that Chinaza got his determination from Lagos but listening to him tell his story, it seems that he got some of that grit from coming abroad. At university in America, he was no longer the smartest kid in the room and after his postgraduate degree from the U.K., he didn't get the swishy job he was expected to. His failure to make a success of life abroad didn't dent his confidence but it taught him perseverance.
I do find it interesting that Chinaza doesn't even wonder if race might have been a factor in his failing to get a job after he graduated. On paper at least, he was the perfect for the corporate jobs he applied to. After all, he has two degrees from elite institutions.
The more I listen to him speak about events that are over a decade old, the more I question my brother's interpretation of events. The discourse around structural racism in the early oughts wasn't as nuanced as what we have today. A 2019 study carried out by Oxford University found that "applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds have to send 60% more applications to get a positive response from an employer than white British candidates." Perhaps there was more to why Chinaza didn't get a job than just mere chance.
And yet I find my brother's point of view strangely liberating. He refused to be crushed by failure and instead let the obstacle redirect his path. His confidence shielded him from any long-term effects of passing through a structurally racist hiring system.
When he moved back to Lagos, his psyche was baggage-free. He knew what he had to offer and if you failed to hire him, that was your loss not his. This extreme confidence is typical of Lagosians. Sometimes, I find my own self-confidence eroded by living in London where I am an ethnic minority. I need some of that Lagos mentality. If you doubt my abilities because of my race, that's your problem not mine. I know who I am. I know what I'm capable of. If you don't recognize it, gerrarhere as Lagosians put it — get out of here.
During our conversation, Chinaza narrates a near death experience with a danfo, the ramshackle buses used to transport a large portion of Lagos's population. The blasé manner in which he recounts the story is typical of Lagosians. There's a certain badge of honor to almost dying and then carrying on as if nothing has happened.
Lagosians don't just have a stiff upper lip. Their upper lips are made of concrete. But at what cost? When I hear such stories, I wonder if half the city should be in therapy.
What do I love most about my trips to Lagos? I lose my self-consciousness there. If I stand out, it's for something other than my skin color. Also, my sense of what is possible expands when I am in Lagos. Maybe it's because I've watched my brother build a world class production company with distribution deals on multiple global platforms. There are not that many Black producers in Britain that you can say that about.
After two hours of talking to Chinaza, I still don't know if I should move to Nigeria. My brother isn't an oracle. He can't peer into the future and tell me if I will thrive in Lagos. But our conversation has settled something restless in me. My desire to move to Lagos has always stemmed from a Texas-sized FOMO that I am missing out creatively by living outside of my city of birth. After talking to Chinaza, I'm stumbling toward the realization that creativity is not about geography: It's about belief. Living in Lagos won't make the work I produce more worthwhile. Believing in my craft will. What I need is inside me not outside.
Born in 1991, Chibundu Onuzo grew up in Lagos, moved to the U.K. in 2005 and signed her first book deal at 19. Published in 2012 by Faber, her, first novel, The Spider King's Daughter, won the Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize. Her second novel, Welcome to Lagos, was published in 2017 and her most recent novel, Sankofa, was selected by Reese Witherspoon as her October 2021 book club pick.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-08-13/my-brother-made-it-in-lagos-and-taught-me-lessons-about-my-life-in-london | 2022-08-13T17:58:25Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-08-13/my-brother-made-it-in-lagos-and-taught-me-lessons-about-my-life-in-london | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
REHOBOTH, Mass. (WPRI) — The owner of Anawan Brewing Company in Rehoboth, whose building was destroyed by a fire six months ago, has decided not to re-open.
“It is with careful consideration and deep regret that I must inform you that Anawan Brewing Company will not be opening its doors again. Although an extremely hard one, we have made the difficult decision to not rebuild,” said owner Steffen Johnson on a post on social media.
On Saturday, Feb. 12, around 3 a.m., a massive fire broke out at a commercial building complex on Park Street.
When fire crews arrived on scene, heavy fire could be seen coming from the building. After several hours, the fire department deemed the building a total loss.
“The reasoning behind my decision is in large a combination of many carefully considered factors; the toll mentally, financially, and emotionally is truthfully just too much for me to personally reattempt an opening.”
The property housed sereval other businesses, including Duvally Construction/Heritage Realty, House of Fitness, and a restaurant that was under construction at the time of the fire.
“Although it’s been a long 6 months since we lost everything; I can still recall receiving the early morning phone call from my father informing me there had been a fire in the building that ABC got to call home for such a short time,” Johnson continued.
“To everyone who had faith in me, Dan, and Anawan since the day we announced we were pursuing these dreams, WE THANK YOU!! I have said it in the beginning and I’ll say it in the end, we couldn’t have done ANY of this without the help of each and every one of you.”
You can read Johnson’s full statement here. | https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/se-mass/brewing-company-closes-after-being-destroyed-by-massive-fire/ | 2022-08-13T18:00:15Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/se-mass/brewing-company-closes-after-being-destroyed-by-massive-fire/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LAPD ends investigation into Anne Heche car crash
NEW YORK (AP) — The Los Angeles Police Department has ended its investigation into Anne Heche’s car accident, when the actor crashed into a Los Angeles home on Aug. 5.
Heche is brain dead and on life support, pending evaluation for organ donation.
“As of today, there will be no further investigative efforts made in this case,” the department announced Friday. “Any information or records that have been requested prior to this turn of events will still be collected as they arrive as a matter of formalities and included in the overall case. When a person suspected of a crime expires, we do not present for filing consideration.”
Detectives looking into the crash had said narcotics were found in a blood sample taken from Heche, 53. She has been hospitalized at a Los Angeles burn center.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbko.com/2022/08/13/lapd-ends-investigation-into-anne-heche-car-crash/ | 2022-08-13T18:04:52Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/2022/08/13/lapd-ends-investigation-into-anne-heche-car-crash/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Police: Armed man arrested after trying to enter school; parents confront officers
EL MIRAGE, Ariz. (Arizona’s Family/Gray News) - Officers in Arizona say an armed suspect has been arrested after he tried to enter an elementary school on Friday.
Arizona’s Family reports three parents, including one who had a gun, were also arrested by police after a confrontation with officers during the incident.
According to authorities, school staff at Thompson Ranch Elementary School called 911 around 10:30 a.m. to report a suspicious man trying to get into the building. The building was immediately placed on lockdown.
As officers arrived, police said the suspect ran away towards the river bottom.
El Mirage police and other law enforcement agencies began searching the school and surrounding areas.
A short time later, El Mirage police reported they could not find the man, but they did locate a suspicious package. Children and staff were cleared from the area. A bomb squad was called in to check out the package and deemed it safe.
El Mirage Police Department Lt. Jimmy Chavez initially described the armed suspect as a Black or dark-skinned Hispanic man with a tattoo on his head, wearing a yellow shirt and black shorts.
According to Chavez, parents started showing up after receiving calls from their kids. Chavez said the school was still on lockdown, and officers told parents they wouldn’t be let in the school.
However, officials said some of the parents became confrontational with police, with a few saying they were going to go in to protect their kids.
Chavez said the situation escalated, and three parents were arrested. Police confirmed one of the parents taken into custody had a gun.
Officers reportedly used a stun gun on two parents, and one had to be taken to the hospital. Chavez said all three parents would be charged.
Paul Novak, the school’s safety consultant, said it was necessary to have parents away from the school while police were investigating.
“It really gives the students and staff the best opportunity for safety while the police search for a suspect or deal with a suspect. We don’t want anyone entering that campus except law enforcement at that point,” Novak said.
The Dysart Unified School District had also placed other area schools on lockdown status, but those have all since been lifted.
The El Mirage Police Department did not immediately identify the armed suspect arrested but said the incident remains under investigation.
Copyright 2022 Arizona’s Family via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbko.com/2022/08/13/police-armed-man-arrested-after-trying-enter-school-parents-confront-officers/ | 2022-08-13T18:04:57Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/2022/08/13/police-armed-man-arrested-after-trying-enter-school-parents-confront-officers/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Nevada family fights for stricter laws after daughter killed in wind-blown bounce house
RENO, Nev. - Even though Lizzy Hammond was only nine, her soul had generations of love.
She had just finished the third grade and was already an established volunteer in her community. From a very young age, the Reno, Nevada, child was helping with local food banks, supporting the homeless and numerous charities within her Catholic parish.
Simply put, Lizzy was gregarious.
"She loved everybody, talked to everybody and wasn’t afraid of anybody. She was very outgoing," her father, Mitch Hammond, reminisces.
But what happened to Lizzy on July 14, 2019, was not a freak accident. She died from blunt force trauma to the head when the bounce house she was playing in at a friend’s birthday party took flight in a gust of wind into power lines.
Lizzy’s 4-year-old brother, Danny, was in the bounce house with her.
"Lizzy was his world. He looked up to her," her mother, Lizzy Hammond, reflects.
Danny is still struggling to find his way today after moving up in the birth order to the big brother. His 2-year-old sister, Abby, played in a water bucket next to the inflatable water slide when everything took flight.
Nine-year-old Lizzy Hammond, far right, was killed in 2019 when an inflatable water slide she was playing in at a birthday party took flight into power lines in South Reno, Nevada. (Mitch and Wendy Hammond)
"This is a mom at a party with three kids. I had to pick which kid I go for as the wind picked up," Wendy Hammond said. "My instinct, I was closest to the smallest. And Lizzy always took care of everybody. She always took care of Danny when needed."
While screaming for them to get out, she was knocked over and spun around as the slide took flight while she grabbed her toddler. Soon, the bounce house was moving along the nearby power lines.
Lizzy was rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital as first responders worked to resuscitate her. She was declared dead two days later.
"We had a lot of trauma those months following," Wendy Hammond said. "Not only the trauma of losing your daughter but having two children traumatized by high winds."
‘It happens more than you think’
Fatal incidents involving bouncy castles are not unheard of.
Last year, six children died, and nine others were seriously injured at a school party in the Australian state of Tasmania. The jumping castle was lifted by what local police said was a significant local wind event and fell 33 feet in the air.
In 2019, a 2-year-old Lincoln, Nebraska, boy died after 60 mph wind gusts tore an inflatable jumping pad from its anchors at a pumpkin patch where he and his sister were playing.
"For people to say it’s a freak accident, it really isn’t. The injuries are astronomical," Wendy Hammond said. "It happens more than you think."
BOUNCE HOUSE TRAGEDIES: STUDY FINDS EVEN LIGHT WINDS COULD LEAD TO INFLATABLES TAKING FLIGHT
The first-ever study on wind-related bounce house accidents from the University of Georgia documented 132 cases worldwide from 2000-2021. These mishaps caused at least 479 injuries in adults and juveniles and at least 28 deaths. Researchers caution that their estimates are likely an undercount.
These injuries are on top of an estimated 10,000 emergency room visits in the U.S. yearly because of bounce house-related accidents that regularly result in broken bones, muscle sprains and concussions.
The Hammonds feel their daughter’s death could have been prevented if local, state or federal laws had regulated bounce house entertainment equipment. (Mitch and Wendy Hammond)
Fight for Lizzy’s Law
Lizzy’s parents have been fighting to bring awareness and educate both parents and bounce house operators on safety practices that need to be in place.
They established the Lizzy Hammond Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children and their bounce house safety through education, awareness and volunteer opportunities.
The Hammonds are also working on a legislative bill to regulate bounce house businesses. Nevada is one of 17 states with either no guidelines or exclude inflatables from regulation.
Mitch and Wendy Hammond feel their daughter’s bouncy house death could have been prevented if local, state or federal laws had regulated such entertainment equipment.
Lizzy Hamond was an organ donor. She had a conversation on the topic with her mother a couple of weeks before her death.(Mitch and Wendy Hammond )
"We know that you can’t rid the world of bounce houses. As much as we would like to see that happen, it’s not going to happen," Mitch Hammond said.
When it came to the investigation piece following Lizzy's death, her family said authorities didn’t hold the bounce house owner guilty of anything because there were no laws to govern him.
"And that’s what’s really sad … we lost our precious baby, and this guy didn’t even get a citation," Mitch Hammond said.
"If we could have just had the weight, something on there, to start to give the kids a chance to get out. That’s what this law is about," Wendy Hammond added. "It’s really a matter of weighting these things down."
So now, they fight for Lizzy’s Law.
The COVID-19 pandemic temporally halted their grassroots efforts to present the law to state assemblies, but they are working with a lobbyist to get a motion in order, hopefully.
The hope of Lizzy’s Law would require bounce house businesses to be licensed, bonded and insured, in addition to other strict guidelines similar to 19 different U.S. states’ laws or regulations for commercial bounce houses.
Many, but not all, of the bounce house accidents the researchers logged occurred in states with no regulations governing bounce house use. (Lindsay Robinson/University of Georgia)
In North Carolina, regulations detail precisely how all inflatable or air-supported amusement devices should be operated in the state.
At least one operator is required to be on duty any time the device is inflated. All inflatable or air-supported slides 20 feet or higher should have at least two operators -- one located at the top of the slide and one at the bottom.
In addition, the devices must be anchored according to the manufacturer’s specifications, and detailed guidelines are given on the size and depth of ground stakes. Anchor weights must also meet strict requirements. Wind speed is also outlined specifically to immediately unloaded and deflated when once reached 25 mph.
"How many people have to die in an intersection before any state, locally, would put in a streetlight? Or how many people would die in a vehicle before they enforce the seatbelt law?" Mitch Hammond said. "How many kids have to die before we actually make this a federal law that bounce houses need to have certain minimum guidelines?"
Gift of life
Lizzy was an organ donor. She had a conversation on the topic with her mother a couple of weeks before her death.
"Maybe that’s why God chose that conversation for that day to help us with our decision later. It wasn’t an easy decision," Lizzy’s mom said.
But based on Lizzy’s past in reaching out to society, organ donation would eventually be another way she would eternally help someone else.
Her parents said it was one of the most significant honor walks the hospital had ever seen. Doctors, nurses, military and local police joined Lizzy’s friends and family as her hospital bed was wheeled down the hallway. Donor Network West would harvest her kidneys and liver to help save the lives of three other children.
The Donate Life float for the 2022 Rose Parade is ready for competition at Fiesta Parade Floats on Friday, Dec. 31, 2021 in Irwindale, California. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Lizzy was honored last January on the Donate Life Rose Parade Float. You can learn more about the float and the Donate Life organization at donatelifefloat.org.
The Hammond's mission is to ensure there are zero bounce house accidents, but they say they can’t do it alone. If you would like to contribute to the Lizzy Hammond Foundation, click here to learn more on how to donate. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/lizzys-law-nevada-family-fights-stricter-laws-daughter-killed-wind-blown-bounce-house | 2022-08-13T18:06:29Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/lizzys-law-nevada-family-fights-stricter-laws-daughter-killed-wind-blown-bounce-house | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Peloton cutting over 700 jobs, raising prices on Bike+, Tread
Peloton is laying off 784 employees as the fitness giant looks to cut costs, improve efficiency and create positive cash flow, according to a Friday memo from chief executive officer Barry McCarthy. He emphasized that the company would continue to recruit top talent in key areas of need, such as software engineering.
In addition, the company has announced it will raise prices on its Bike+ and Tread products, significantly reduce its North American retail footprint and eliminate its final mile distribution network.
According to McCarthy, the price of the Peloton Bike+ in the United States will increase by $500 to $2,495, and the price of the Peloton Tread will increase by $800 to $3,495. Meanwhile, the shift from its final mile delivery to its third party logistics partnerships will reduce Peloton's per-product delivery costs by up to 50%.
A Peloton store in Walnut Creek, California, U.S., on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. Peloton Interactive Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on February 8. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Peloton will provide updates on which retail locations will close in the coming months. While the company does not anticipate closing retail locations in calendar 2022, McCarthy said the timing is uncertain as Peloton begins negotiations to exit its store leases.
MEDITATION APP CALM LAYS OFF 20% OF WORKFORCE
The changes come after Peloton previously cut 2,800 jobs globally in February and announced an $800 million restructuring plan.
"These changes are essential if Peloton is ever going to become cash flow positive," McCarthy said. "Cash is oxygen. Oxygen is life. We simply must become self-sustaining on a cash flow basis."
In addition to the various changes, McCarthy said that Peloton will ask its corporate workers to return to the office three days per week starting Sept. 6 with a mandatory deadline starting Nov. 14.
"For those of you who don’t want to return to the office, we respect your choice," McCarthy added. "We hope you choose to stay, but we understand not everyone will."
As of the time of publication, Peloton shares have surged more than 9% during Friday's trading session. However, they are still down more than 60% year to date.
Peloton's latest layoffs follow job cuts last week at companies including Walmart, Oracle and Robinhood.
Other major companies that have either laid off employees or slowed or paused hiring include Meta, Twitter, Microsoft, Spotify, Netflix, Victoria's Secret, 7-Eleven, Coinbase and Redfin.
LINK: Get updates and more on this story at foxbusiness.com. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/peloton-cutting-jobs-raising-prices | 2022-08-13T18:06:41Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/peloton-cutting-jobs-raising-prices | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Salman Rushdie on ventilator after stabbing, may lose an eye
MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) - Salman Rushdie remained hospitalized Saturday after suffering serious injuries in a stabbing attack, which was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for the award-winning author who for more than 30 years has faced death threats for his novel "The Satanic Verses."
Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye, and was on a ventilator and unable to speak, his agent Andrew Wylie said Friday evening. Rushdie was likely to lose the injured eye.
Rushdie's alleged attacker, Hadi Matar, was due in court on Saturday to face attempted murder and assault charges, authorities said. A message was left with his lawyer seeking comment.
Authors, activists and government officials condemned the attack and cited Rushdie's courage for his longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety. Rushdie's fellow author and longtime friend Ian McEwan called him "an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world," and the actor-author Kal Penn cited him as a role model "for an entire generation of artists, especially many of us in the South Asian diaspora toward whom he’s shown incredible warmth."
Matar, 24, was arrested after the attack at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak.
Authorities said Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey. He was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, the mayor of the village, Ali Tehfe, told The Associated Press. Flags of Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah and portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his late predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and slain Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani are visible across the village. The village also boasts a small Christian population.
Book-writer and author Salman Rushdie speaks on November 30, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Michele Tantussi/Getty Images)
Rushdie, a native of India who has since lived in Britain and the U.S., is known for his surreal and satirical prose style, beginning with his Booker Prize-winning novel from 1981, "Midnight's Children," in which he sharply criticized India's then-prime minister, Indira Gandhi.
"The Satanic Verses" drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Rushdie's book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran's Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
Khomeini died the same year he issued the fatwa, which remains in effect. Iran’s current supreme leader, Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasn’t focused on the writer.
Investigators were working to determine whether the assailant, born a decade after "The Satanic Verses" was published, acted alone.
Journalists present in Yaroun, the village where the suspect’s parents emigrated from, were asked to leave Saturday. Hezbollah spokespeople did not respond to the AP’s inquiries about Matar and the attack on Rushdie.
Iran’s theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no rationale for the assault. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed by the AP praised the attack on an author they believe tarnished the Islamic faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country.
An AP reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as the author was being introduced. Dr. Martin Haskell, a physician who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdie’s wounds as "serious but recoverable."
Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. Reese suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile.
A state trooper and a county sheriff’s deputy were assigned to Rushdie’s lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn’t tighter security for the event, given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering more than $3 million to anyone who killed him.
Matar, like other visitors, had obtained a pass to enter the Chautauqua Institution’s 750-acre grounds, said Michael Hill, the institution’s president.
Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the roughly 2,500 people in the audience for Rushdie's appearance.
The assailant ran onto the platform "and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten," Savenor said. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds.
Another spectator, Kathleen James, said the attacker was dressed in black, with a black mask.
Amid gasps, spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater.
The stabbing reverberated from the tranquil town of Chautauqua to the United Nations, which issued a statement expressing U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ horror and stressing that free expression and opinion should not be met with violence.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s attack, which led an evening news bulletin on Iranian state television. From the White House, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan described the attack as "reprehensible" and said the Biden administration wished Rushdie a quick recovery.
After the publication of "The Satanic Verses," often-violent protests erupted across the Muslim world against Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim family and has long identified as a non-believer, once calling himself "a hard-line atheist."
At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 people in Rushdie’s hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the book’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived.
The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall.
In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, "Joseph Anton," about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie used while in hiding. He said during a New York talk the same year the memoir came out that terrorism was really the art of fear.
"The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid," he said.
The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. Visitors don’t pass through metal detectors or undergo bag checks. Most people leave the doors to their century-old cottages unlocked at night.
The center is known for its summertime lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken before.
At an evening vigil, a few hundred residents and visitors gathered for prayer, music and a long moment of silence.
"Hate can’t win," one man shouted.
___
Italie reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report from Beirut. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/salman-rushdie-chautauqua-stabbing-ventilator-lose-eye | 2022-08-13T18:06:47Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/salman-rushdie-chautauqua-stabbing-ventilator-lose-eye | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A letter from top-level doctors and researchers arguing against the effectiveness of indoor mask mandates, along with pushback from health departments, cities and business groups, possibly played a role in a surprise decision not to re-institute the mandate in Los Angeles County last month.
This newspaper obtained a copy of a February 2022 letter signed by doctors from UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine and USC’s Keck School of Medicine sent to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, asking the county to end the mask mandate that was in effect this past winter, claiming the policy did not work.
On July 22, some of the same doctors published their views in an op-ed in the Orange County Register, one of the newspapers in the Southern California News Group. At the time in July, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) was strongly considering reimposing an indoor mask mandate — but on July 29 decided not to do so.
The letter to the Board of Supervisors, part of a campaign to educate the board, was signed by Dr. Jeffrey D. Klausner, clinical professor of medicine, population and public health sciences at USC’s Keck School of Medicine; Neeraj Sood, professor of public policy at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy; James E. Enstrom, retired professor of epidemiology at UCLA; Dr. Noah Kojima, senior resident for internal medicine at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine; Dr. Catherine A. Sarkisian of UCLA’s Geffen School; James E. Moore, II, professor at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering; Dr. Gabe Vorobiof, associate professor of medicine and cardiology at UCLA Geffen School of Medicine; and Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, professor at UCLA’s Anderson School.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who strongly opposed the mask mandate, said she was influenced by the doctors’ letter, as well as views they shared on social media. She said in a public statement that she hasn’t seen empirical data indicating mask mandates decrease COVID-19 transmission. Also playing a factor in her opposition, she said, were decisions by public health departments in Long Beach and Pasadena, which indicated they would not go along with the mandate — and an outcry from business groups.
The cities of El Segundo and Beverly Hills also voted not to align with a mandatory indoor mask requirement.
“I do believe masking is another line of defense in protecting yourself and others,” Barger said. “But as far as mandating: It’s time has come and gone.”
The letter from the group of doctors cites the county’s statistics, and studies in Europe and some U.S. states, showing that after mask mandates were imposed, transmission of COVID-19 did not slow down. It contendes that vaccines and boosters, plus immunity from those who’ve been infected, form a safeguard against high levels of serious illness, and that masks are not necessary in mid-2022, unlike during early stages of the pandemic.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health does not agree, and is continuing to “strongly recommend” people wear close-fitting masks “in most indoor public places,” according to its website. Masks are required on public transportation such as buses, trains, taxis and ride-sharing services and at airports and bus terminals, subways stations, seaports and indoor port terminals; in hospitals, doctor’s offices and any healthcare setting; nursing homes and other adult/senior care facilities; jails, shelters and inside businesses that request it.
Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said the reason she “paused” the mask mandate was because the county’s hospitalization and case numbers were dropping. She has repeatedly stressed at recent press briefings that studies prove masks drive down transmission rates. Ferrer called mask-wearing an easy, sensible step that can protect against virus spread.
But the doctors’ letter made the opposite case. After the L.A. County mask mandate took effect on June 30, 2021, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in the county rose well into December, their letter pointed out. “It is clear from these data that infections continued to increase despite the imposition of the mask mandate suggesting limited or no efficacy of the mask mandate,” the authors concluded.
In an interview on Thursday, Klausner said the mask mandate was followed by a gradual rise in cases, but it’s possible the mandate prevented a much steeper climb. “People might argue it might have risen faster,” he said, but added, “By the naked eye, there was no clear discernible effect of mask use.”
Klausner, along with colleagues who co-authored the op-ed piece in the Orange County Register, mentioned masking studies in North Dakota, the United Kingdom and Finland that found “the same lack of any clear benefit.” One study showed no significant benefit to the mask wearer, while another found a slight benefit, mostly in older adults. A study in Denmark found that wearing a mask produced a rate of infection 3 in 1,000 — lower than a control group that didn’t wear masks. The researchers concluded the difference was not significant. “The researchers could not tell whether the difference was due to chance or due to mask wearing,” said the letter.
However, Dr. Thomas Yadegar, medical director of intensive care at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, said his unit has seen an “obvious” uptick in COVID-19 patients — along with increases in outpatient office visits, emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
“I think masks do work in the correct situations and for the highest-risk populations,” he said on Friday. “When in an indoor setting with a lot of other people, if everyone is wearing a mask, it can decrease the rate of infection.”
It makes sense when transmission of the BA.5 subvariant is high and is infecting more people, to wear a tight-fitting, respirator-type mask indoors, he said.
Despite the possibility of the contagious BA.5 variant slipping past a mask, Dr. Davey Smith, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego, said recently that he still wears a mask when he goes to the grocery store or sees patients.
“What does it matter if it doesn’t work 100% of the time? It’s like going to a buffet where the oysters are bad. Do you eat one oyster or 12 oysters?” he said recently. Eating only one puts you at less risk of becoming sick, just like wearing a KN95 or N95 respirator mask greatly lessens the risk of COVID-19 infection.
But Klausner has not ruled out mask-wearing. “I do believe mask use has a role,” he said. “In the hospital the person has to wear a mask.” When he sees patients that have, or might have, an infectious disease, he always wears a mask, he added.
“The evidence at a population level says it has very little, if any effect. That doesn’t mean it won’t protect some individuals,” he said.
Dr. Bahman Chavoshan, director of respiratory care at St. Mary Medical Center Long Beach, said in a previous interview he believes masking is the key to limiting the spread of infection. But he backed off when asked about imposing mandatory rules, saying educating folks about the importance of masks is a better approach.
In another area mentioned in the letter signed by several doctors, USC’s Klausner also disagrees with the county’s reporting of hospitalizations — a key factor in the CDC community transmission guidelines followed by L.A. County.
A county must have more than 10 new COVID hospitalizations per 100,000 people over a seven-day period to reach the “high” risk level, which Ferrer has said could trigger a sweeping county mask mandate.
The county has been in the “high” category since mid-July and barely missed dropping to “medium” last week, posting a 10.1 per 100,000 residents, just 0.1 too high. On Thursday, the number of daily hospitalizations fell to 1,098 and to 9.9 per 100,000, which dropped the county into the “medium” transmission category, reported Ferrer.
In June, 57% of patients in hospitals in L.A. County were hospitalized for issues other than COVID-19, meaning 43% were hospitalized for complications from the virus, Klausner said. A study he conducted that focused on LAC-USC Medical Center showed that 68% of its hospitalizations were for reasons other than COVID-19, such as heart disease and diabetes. He argued that using this data would have dropped the county into the “medium” level sooner.
“A couple of pieces of the county’s policy is nonsensical,” Klausner said. “If everyone wears a mask the benefits are quite minimal. And the policy based on hospitalization counts are inaccurate.”
When asked if L.A. County Department of Public Health should report hospitalizations differently, Barger responded: “I know of nobody who had this variant (BA.5) who had become deathly ill. It is more contagious, but it is truly becoming less severe.” She added, “If you talk to public health doctors at UCLA and at USC, they’d say (L.A. County Department of) Public Health needs to reset and assess this for what it is.”
Klausner is also opposed to requiring children to wear masks in schools, saying that 70%, or more, of children attending school have been infected or been vaccinated or both, giving them immunity from severe disease.
“If you are concerned about protecting a child against COVID, you will make sure they are up to date on their vaccine. If they develop a runny nose, fever or cough, get them a medical evaluation,” he said.
From July 9 to Aug. 9, 9% of new COVID cases in the county were among school-age children, Ferrer reported earlier this month. She recommends layers of protections for K-12 students returning to school, starting with vaccines and boosters, and keeping home anyone who has symptoms, following isolation protocols, and getting tested. She also urged students and staff to wear a mask while indoors.
About 35% of school-age children ages 5-11 are fully vaccinated in the county, and 79% of children ages 12-17 are fully vaccinated, Ferrer reported.
SCNG Staff Writer Nikie Johnson and City News Service contributed to this article.
Join the Conversation
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions. | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/08/13/doctors-from-usc-ucla-say-mask-mandates-for-covid-19-not-effective-as-mask-debate-goes-on/ | 2022-08-13T18:18:29Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/08/13/doctors-from-usc-ucla-say-mask-mandates-for-covid-19-not-effective-as-mask-debate-goes-on/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NEW YORK (AP) — The Los Angeles Police Department has ended its investigation into Anne Heche’s car accident, when the actor crashed into a Los Angeles home on Aug. 5.
Heche is brain dead and on life support, pending evaluation for organ donation.
“As of today, there will be no further investigative efforts made in this case,” the department announced Friday. “Any information or records that have been requested prior to this turn of events will still be collected as they arrive as a matter of formalities and included in the overall case. When a person suspected of a crime expires, we do not present for filing consideration.”
Detectives looking into the crash had said narcotics were found in a blood sample taken from Heche, 53. She has been hospitalized at a Los Angeles burn center. | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/lapd-ends-investigation-into-anne-heche-car-crash/ | 2022-08-13T18:18:29Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/lapd-ends-investigation-into-anne-heche-car-crash/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
For decades, West Hollywood has been known as a hub of the Russian diaspora. Restaurants and stores offered potato pirogies, marinated mushrooms and an assortment of flavored vodkas. Signs in Cyrillic adorned doctor’s offices, pawnshops and grocery stores where Russian TV channels played music and news. Every May the city has celebrated Russian Arts and Culture month, hosting concerts and exhibitions.
But in the months since the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, West Hollywood has faced a dilemma: How to celebrate Russian culture when Moscow is leveling Ukraine’s cities?
“It turns out the word ‘Russian’ triggers some people,” said Tatyana Rodzinek, West Hollywood’s Russian community programs coordinator during the city’s Russian-Speaking Advisory meeting via Zom on July 19. “It’s not a good idea to cancel any events. Russian culture is still here. But based on the latest experience, it turns out the word ‘Russian’ stops people from attending and participating in the events.”
Since 2001, the city has hosted the Russian Arts and Culture Festival, inviting singers, dancers and vendors who sold Eastern European street food. But this year, worrying that the concert would turn into a political rally, organizers decided to rename West Hollywood’s “Russian Arts and Culture Festival” the “WeHo Fundraiser for Refugees from Ukraine.”
The change has triggered a backlash on both sides, said Rodzinek in an interview. Some guests, vendors and performers criticized event organizers for not distancing themselves enough, while others were frustrated that West Hollywood dropped the word “Russian” from an event the city has hosted for 20 years.
During the July 19 meeting, Russian-Speaking Advisory Board Member Eugene Maysky proposed a motion to rebrand “Russian Arts and Culture Month” as “West Hollywood Arts and Culture Month,” which would promote the “cultural heritage of the Russian-speaking community.”
But Board Member Raisa Aguf argued that the new name and use of the word “Russian” would “irritate someone again.”
Diana Volman, another board member, said, “We should get rid of the trigger words which could make people feel resentful.” Volman said the board should keep the word “festival” but remove the word “Russian.” By removing “Russian,” she said, the city could still host the festival without “reproaching anyone and doing anything that is unpleasant for people to be part of.”
When Aguf suggested naming the event “Festival of Friendship of People of West Hollywood,” Volman said that in light of current events, it would sound like “a spit in the face” to non-Russians.
When five board members finally voted to rename “Russian Arts and Culture Month” as “West Hollywood Arts and Culture Month,” board member Alex Tolocenco disagreed.
“It seems to me that we’re trying to hide and we are ashamed of the fact that we speak Russian,” he said. “We all are immigrants here. We arrived a long time ago. We have nothing to do with Putin’s politics, the war in Ukraine. I’m proud of my Russian culture.”
The dilemma facing the Russian-speaking Advisory Board in West Hollywood is reflects the uneasiness that Russian-speaking immigrants of different ethnic backgrounds have faced since the war broke out.
While the debate in West Hollywood is public, the discussion is also underway in Southern California communities that attracted tens of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants over the years, from Simi Valley, Tarzana and Sherman Oaks, to Newport Coast and Seal Beach. SeeCalifornia.com points out that the U.S. Census in 2010 put the number of Russian-speaking residents in California at 1.1 million.
Gary Rapoport, a real estate agent from Burbank who is not part of the West Hollywood Russian Advisory Board, said the question of identity shifted for him after his native Odesa became a target of intense shelling by Russian troops. Rapoport, who says he is half-Russian and half-Jewish, said that after the war began he started identifying himself as a Ukrainian.
“I developed a dislike for everything Russian, unfortunately,” he said.
He grew up in a Ukrainian city where the Russian language was widely spoken, he said, and he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw Russians attacking his hometown Odesa.
“I felt lost,” he said in Russian. “I couldn’t believe Russians could fight Ukrainians.”
Still, he said, it was Russia’s full responsibility because their government started the bloody war.
“Who chose Putin?” He said. “Russians chose their leader and he is their representative. If they disagreed with his policies, they wouldn’t choose him.”
It was “Russian wives and mothers who allow their husbands and sons to go on and kill Ukrainians,” he argued. “If you were against it, you wouldn’t allow them to go to war.”
But Angela Schmidt, a Huntington Beach-based attorney who grew up in the now war-torn Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, said she wouldn’t link any of her Russian-speaking friends to what is happening in Ukraine.
Schmidt, who is half-Ukrainian and half-Russian, has relatives in Donetsk where fierce fighting is underway. She says the hate between Russians and Ukrainians is artificial.
“I disagree that Russians are being blamed for what’s happening in Ukraine,” she said. ”Russians are not bad, it’s just their leader is terrible.”
Alyona Koolhaas, who moved from Kyiv 22 years ago and now lives in Las Flores in Orange County, said she never felt pressure to identify as a Russian or Ukrainian.
“I’m a Ukrainian, but I have the right to speak Russian,” she said.
Still, taking sides in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has impacted not just individuals but businesses as well.
The Polish National Opera recently dropped the production of Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” in support of Ukraine. Prominent Russian conductor Tugan Sokhiev recently resigned from Bolshoi Theater in Moscow after calls to condemn the war in Ukraine.
The Russian Documentation Center in West Hollywood, which provides notary services, became the “Rush In Documentation Center.” A group that organizes Russian parties and karaoke nights, LA Banda Ru, temporarily put its events on hold during the spring due to the situation in Ukraine — to avoid clashes between their guests.
Paul D’Anieri, professor of political science and public policy, at University of California, Riverside, said the issues the Russian community face are tricky.
“To put it a little bit too simply ‘Russian’ has suddenly become a bad word,” he said.
“A lot of different people and organizations are trying to make it clear that they do not support Russia’s war and imperialism,” he said. “The question is, in doing that, how do you relate to things that are Russian?”
D’Anieri said “there’s an idea that we don’t want to support Russia, and that we don’t want to support Russians who support the war.”
When it comes to Russians who are against the war, D’Anieri said, “Russians living overseas have been put in a position where they are expected to speak out, take a position against the war. … That’s not necessarily a fair position to put individuals in.”
On the other hand, he said, “A lot of friends and colleagues in Ukraine feel very strongly, and actually think there’s good reason to believe this: ‘One reason this war is happening is because Russian people support it.’ And that the Russian people, therefore as a citizenry, are collectively responsible.”
Jared McBride, an adjunct history professor at UCLA, said the city of West Hollywood is facing a unique challenge because it’s one of the few remaining Russian-speaking communities in the region. Over time, as immigrants and their families disperse to other communities, West Hollywood’s Russian-speaking population has dropped to 3,870, about 30% less than in 2000, according to a city study.
“It’s almost a challenge inside of another challenge,” McBride said. “Even without the war, you would wonder, what would be left in 10 or 20 years? There’s nothing to rebrand” with names that don’t mention Russia, “because there’s no one there.”
Regardless of the dwindling population, West Hollywood Russian-Speaking Advisory board member Alex Tolocenco said that the city’s traditional Russian Arts and Culture festival is about arts and culture — and only because politics have changed and public opinion has shifted, “We are ready to hide like mice under the rock.”
Tolocenco argued at the city’s lengthy Russian Advisory Board debate in July that while expats from former Soviet republics had their own culture, it’s hard “to deny that we all are united by the Russian language.” He added that people immigrated to the United States “because they disagreed with the politics of the Soviet Union and communism. Should we call it a festival of refugees of the Soviet Union?”
“We need to respect and honor our traditions and not bend based on today’s politics,” Tolocenco said. “Russian language and Russian traditions will always remain, no matter what. The traditions survived the Tsar, and the Soviet Union, and they will survive Putin. I’m against war, any military action, violence and murder. But I’m for Russian culture and I’m not going to hide.”
But Rodzinek, West Hollywood’s Russian community programs coordinator, said that by renaming the Russian Arts and Culture Month,” the board didn’t necessarily abandon Russian culture. Following this year’s festival, she added, “We noticed this year that opinions became polarized” as other ethnic groups said “Russian culture was not their culture.”
After listening to Tolocenco’s arguments at the Russian Advisory Board in July, Rodzinek said she decided to continue the discussion about rebranding the Russian Arts and Culture Month, and possibly invite a marketing professional to help the board figure out a new name.
When speaking about rebranding, D’Anieri of Riverside UC said, it’s important to keep in mind the interests of another group that’s been mostly impacted by the war: Ukrainians.
“There is an argument that Russians in the United States might make: ‘We just want to be left alone,’ and that’s what Ukrainians may bitterly say: ‘All we wanted was to be left alone.’”
Join the Conversation
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions. | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/08/13/following-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-many-russians-take-deeper-look-at-history-and-identity/ | 2022-08-13T18:18:35Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/08/13/following-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-many-russians-take-deeper-look-at-history-and-identity/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SACRAMENTO – Shortly before the 2016 election, Mike Pence tweeted that “@realDonaldTrump and I commend the FBI for reopening an investigation into (Hillary) Clinton’s personal server because no one is above the law.” And who can forget the GOP crowds chanting “lock her up” in regard to Clinton – a sentiment Trump supported?
I had no problem with the email investigation provided a judge had authorized it and it conformed to legal standards. Truly, no one – not even a potential or actual president – should be above the law. However, the “lock her up” mantra, which pro-Trump crowds directed at other Democrats including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, gave me the creeps.
In banana republics, the new despot tries to lock up the old strongman and rounds up his vanquished supporters. Even accounting for emotions that politicians drum up at rallies, that line was appalling. Americans should never cheer the idea of turning federal law enforcement – whatever its many current flaws and abuses – into a version of the Praetorian Guard.
Last week’s big news is the FBI had executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, as it conducts an investigation into the alleged mishandling of classified documents. The former president and his minions have been all over the media describing the investigation as a political witch-hunt – a concept that, apparently, they no longer find to be entertaining.
“My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” the former president said in a statement. Some of his most-agitated supporters are openly calling for civil war. They are blasting the FBI’s “tyranny.” Suddenly, people who seemed eager to sic federal agents on their political opponents are aghast that the FBI would conduct an investigation of one of their own.
Some conservative rhetoric would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. One popular podcaster, Steven Crowder, warned liberals: “(Y)ou think they’re not gonna come for you?” He didn’t seem concerned about turning the U.S. into a third-world hellhole: “I don’t care if we become Nicaragua at this point. You’ve already rung the bell, you can’t un-ring it.”
But the strangest response, from U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, was to “defund the FBI.” The Never Trump website, The Bulwark, collected assorted tweets and statements from prominent Republican members of Congress and commentators who had savaged leftists for their “defund the police” rhetoric during anti-police-abuse protests – but who now are echoing Greene’s ideas.
“Man Shot in Downtown Memphis Just Off Beale Street. This is What Happens When You Elect ‘Defund the Police’ Democrats,” tweeted conservative columnist Todd Starnes in June. This week he had a somewhat different hot take: “The FBI has been weaponized. Defund and Dismantle.”
Fox News’ Dan Bognino called for widespread firings and accountability at the bureau: “I don’t buy this rank and file crap either. Throw it right in the garbage. I don’t buy it one bit. I was a Secret Service agent, and I was the rank-and-file. Me. And you know what? I saw something I didn’t like, and I left.” At this point, I should start cheering. Conservatives finally are echoing points that my fellow criminal-justice reformers have long made.
Police agencies absolutely need reform. Police unions protect bad actors. District attorneys rarely prosecute those officers even for egregious conduct. Fired cops simply get jobs at other agencies. The “thin blue line” mentality prods officers follow orders rather than hold misbehaving colleagues accountable – as evidenced by the failure of Derek Chauvin’s three colleagues to intervene during George Floyd’s death.
Instead of walking away when their agencies carry out unconstitutional raids or abuse the power of asset forfeiture to confiscate property, police typically go along without complaint. But instead of proposing serious reforms, some progressives trotted out their “defund the police” mantra, which allowed conservatives to easily depict them as advocates for lawlessness.
It was one of the dumbest political mantras I’ve ever heard, but it was based very loosely on a sound idea. Why shouldn’t Americans use the public purse strings to force police departments to improve their operations? When government agencies abuse our constitutional rights, they will do so even more zealously if we give them more money. Ditto for federal police agencies.
Now, suddenly, the Right seems to believe progressives were right – it only took the FBI to target their beloved ex-president to open their eyes. It remains to be seen whether the raid on Trump’s estate is an abuse of power, but the FBI has a history of misusing authority. (So does the IRS, which is poised to receive a huge cash infusion.)
Frankly, it’s hard to believe conservatives who wanted to lock up their political opponents and opposed police-accountability measures are acting out of principle rather than partisanship. Their opponents on the Left are no better, but perhaps this could be a teachable moment for everyone.
Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute and a member of the Southern California News Group editorial board. Write to him at sgreenhut@rstreet.org.
Join the Conversation
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions. | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/08/13/republicans-are-having-a-defund-the-police-moment/ | 2022-08-13T18:18:41Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/08/13/republicans-are-having-a-defund-the-police-moment/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch financial prosecutors say they detained a man suspected of involvement in “concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering” through the virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash.
The 29-year-old man was arrested Aug. 10 in Amsterdam, the financial prosecution service FIOD said in a statement Friday. The suspect’s identity was not released, in line with Dutch privacy regulations.
Mixing services combine various digital assets, including potentially illegally obtained funds and legitimately obtained funds, so the holders of illegally gained assets can obscure the origin of stolen funds.
FIOD’s Financial Advanced Cyber Team launched an investigation into Tornado Cash in June.
The team said in a statement that Tornado Cash “has been used to conceal large-scale criminal money flows, including from (online) thefts of cryptocurrencies.”
It said some of the suspected criminal funds were stolen by hackers with links to North Korea.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions on Tornado Cash, which has allegedly helped to launder more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since its creation in 2019.
At the time, Tom Robinson, co-founder of Elliptic, a blockchain analysis firm, said “it should be noted that there are legitimate uses of mixers such as Tornado, such as to preserve financial privacy.” | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/dutch-arrest-man-linked-to-currency-mixer-tornado-cash/ | 2022-08-13T18:19:02Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/dutch-arrest-man-linked-to-currency-mixer-tornado-cash/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
By her own telling, Mississippi authorities provided Carolyn Bryant Donham with preferential treatment rather than prosecution after her encounter with Emmett Till led to the lynching of the Black teenager in the summer of 1955.
Instead of arresting Donham on a warrant that accused her of kidnapping days after Till’s abduction, an officer passed along word that relatives would take her and her two young sons away from home amid a rising furor over the case, Donham said in a 2008 memoir made public last month. The sheriff would later claim Donham, 21 at the time, could not be located for arrest.
Once her husband and his half-brother were jailed on murder charges in Till’s death, she said in the unpublished manuscript, two men with the sheriff’s office drove her and her sister-in-law to the lockup for a relaxed visit outside their cell and even ferried the women back home. Later, before their murder trial, the men somehow were allowed to attend a family dinner without guards, she said.
“I was shocked! How in the world were they released from jail to come to eat supper with us? I didn’t see who dropped them off or picked them up to return them to jail, but we had a wonderful evening together,” Donham recalled in the memoir, written by her daughter-in-law based on the older woman’s words.
Nearly 70 years later, Donham’s retelling of the days surrounding Till’s abduction and lynching stokes fresh frustration among relatives of Till and activists pushing for Donham’s prosecution, particularly now that a Mississippi grand jury has decided against charging her with kidnapping in his abduction or manslaughter in his death.
For them, the revelations also raise questions about whether Donham, now 88, is still being protected despite what they see as new evidence against her.
___
Carolyn Donham has rarely commented publicly on the Till case, and she has not said anything publicly about the recent decision against new charges. That’s why her memoir — made public by a historian who said he obtained it during an interview years ago — created such a stir when it was released a few weeks ago. The decision not to indict her followed media reports with details of the document, but it’s unclear whether grand jurors considered contents of the autobiography.
In the 99-page memoir, Donham said Till, 14 and visiting relatives in Mississippi from Chicago, walked into the family-owned store where she was minding the counter on Aug. 24, 1955. Neither husband Roy Bryant nor his half-brother, J.W. Milam, were around that day — it was just her and Till, who also went by the family nickname of “Bobo.”
In the account, Donham repeats her testimony from the murder trial that Till grabbed her and made lewd comments. He also whistled, she said, in the only part of her story backed up by Till cousin and witness Wheeler Parker Jr. during an interview with The Associated Press.
Evidence indicated Till was abducted at gunpoint days later by two armed white men, and a woman likely identified the youth for them. While Donham denied in the memoir identifying Till and says she instead tried to help him, she was named in a kidnapping warrant along with Bryant and Milam. Donham was never arrested, despite police knowing where she was located at least part of the time.
For a period, Donham said, she was spirited away with the knowledge of officers and “shuffled” between homes by the Bryant family. Then, with Donham in the courtroom, the two men were tried and acquitted in Till’s murder. The kidnapping charges were dropped later, and no one has been charged or tried since.
Following their acquittal, Bryant and Milam admitted to the abduction and killing in an interview with Look magazine.
In the memoir, Donham said she did not even know there was a warrant for her arrest until an FBI agent told her during a renewed probe decades later.
The warrant sat unknown and unseen in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse until June, when members of the Till family and others found it during a search. At the time of the killing, Donham wrote, “they didn’t even tell me there was a warrant.”
“I was never arrested or charged with anything,” she said.
The nagging question for some is, why not?
___
Keith Beauchamp, a filmmaker and activist who helped find the warrant, believes the decision against indicting Donham lies not with the grand jurors who voted against new charges but with a system that goes back generations.
Mississippi law enforcement, which was all-white at the time of the killing, allowed Donham to avoid justice in a misguided quest to protect “white womanhood,” he said, and that same veil is covering her now.
“Chivalrous impulse allowed this woman to go untouched for 67 years,” said Beauchamp, who released the documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” in 2005 and helped write and produce the upcoming movie “Till,” a drama set to premiere in October.
But in announcing a Leflore County grand jury’s decision not to indict Donham, District Attorney Dewayne Richardson on Tuesday cited neither race nor womanhood or anything else but evidence. Members of the panel were presented with testimony from witnesses who told about the investigation of Till’s killing from 2004 until now, he said in a statement.
“After hearing more than seven hours of testimony from witnesses with direct knowledge about this case and the investigators that investigated this case, the Grand Jury determined that there was not sufficient evidence to indict Donham,” said Richardson, who is Black.
Members of the Till family weren’t pleased with the decision. Yet the Rev. Wheeler Parker of Chicago, a Till cousin who was with the youth the night he was abducted from a family home, sounded a conciliatory tone about the failure to obtain an indictment, a decision which he called “unfortunate, but predictable.”
“The state of Mississippi assured me and my family that they would leave no stone unturned in the fight for justice for my cousin, Emmett. They kept their promise by bringing this latest piece of evidence before the grand jury,” he said.
Expressing appreciation for the prosecutor’s efforts, Parker said one person alone “cannot undo hundreds of years of anti-Black systems that guaranteed those who killed Emmett Till would go unpunished, to this day.”
___
It’s unclear whether a grand jury will ever again hold the fate of Carolyn Donham in its hands.
At least three investigations have ended without charges in less than 20 years, including a Justice Department review that was closed without prosecution in December. Bryant and Milam died decades ago, and other associates believed by some to have been involved also are dead. Donham is the only person known to still face the risk of arrest.
The Till family and others have promised to keep pushing for someone to prosecute Donham, and additional witnesses could still be alive, said Dale Killinger, a retired FBI agent who investigated the Till case in a probe that ended without an indictment on a manslaughter charge in 2007.
“There’s still a possibility that there is other evidence out there,” Killinger said in an interview.
Perhaps, but’s it’s unclear whether anyone with a badge is looking for it. The Justice Department has not given any indication it would reopen the case, and the office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch cited the Justice Department’s decision in saying no prosecution was planned even before Richardson announced the grand jury had decided against charges.
In her memoir, Donham denied doing anything to get Till killed and expressed sorrow for his family’s pain. She portrayed herself as another victim of the horrible crime, as someone who quit trusting strangers and has been hounded by the media for decades.
For some, enough is enough.
“Donham may not have paid the price that some wanted her to pay, but she has suffered for what happened to Till. Anyone who claims otherwise is not being honest with themselves. It is time to let her be,” The Greenwood Commonwealth newspaper in Leflore County said in an editorial after the grand jury decision was announced.
To Ollie Gordon, another one of Till’s cousins, some justice may have been served even without anyone being convicted in the killing.
“Ms. Donham has not gone to jail. But in many ways, I don’t think she’s had a pleasant life. I think each day she wakes up, she has to face the atrocities that have come because of her actions,” Gordon said. | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/troubling-questions-unresolved-in-latest-end-to-till-case/ | 2022-08-13T18:20:03Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/troubling-questions-unresolved-in-latest-end-to-till-case/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(The Hill) – The likelihood of a “megastorm” occurring in California has doubled due to climate change, according to a new study published on Friday.
The study, published in the Science Advances journal, found an increased likelihood of runoff water occurring from harsher storms, creating the threat of debris flows and landslides later, according to a press release from the University of California, Los Angeles.
With every degree that the Earth gets warmer, the likelihood for a “megastorm” increases, too, the study found.
Researchers looked at two different scenarios using present climate models and high-resolution weather modeling. One scenario involved a long series of storms taking place during what scientists predicted climate conditions would be like between 2081 and 2100.
The other scenario predicted what it would be like if those storms took place in the current climate, according to the release.
In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, storms that took place toward the end of the century would see between 200 percent and 400 percent more runoff because of higher precipitation.
“There are localized spots that get over 100 liquid-equivalent inches of water in the month,” UCLA climate scientist and co-author of the research David Swain said in a statement regarding the end-of-the-century scenario.
“On 10,000-foot peaks, which are still somewhat below freezing even with warming, you get 20-foot-plus snow accumulations. But once you get down to South Lake Tahoe level and lower in elevation, it’s all rain. There would be much more runoff.”
The researchers also noted that the state risks a $1 trillion disaster. In addition, parts of major cities like Los Angeles and Sacramento would be underwater if the state endured the kind of flooding that took place during the Great Flood of 1862 in the current climate.
“Modeling extreme weather behavior is crucial to helping all communities understand flood risk even during periods of drought like the one we’re experiencing right now,” Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said in a statement.
“The department will use this report to identify the risks, seek resources, support the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, and help educate all Californians so we can understand the risk of flooding in our communities and be prepared.”
The department contributed some funding toward the study. | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/nexstar-media-wire/climate-change-doubles-likelihood-of-megastorms-extreme-flooding-in-california-study/ | 2022-08-13T18:20:10Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/nexstar-media-wire/climate-change-doubles-likelihood-of-megastorms-extreme-flooding-in-california-study/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(The Hill) – Republicans are coming under fire for their rhetoric over $80 billion in funding for the IRS included a massive climate, tax and health care bill that Democrats in Congress are sending to the White House.
The funding, over 10 years, is intended to help the IRS enforce various provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, which would raise more than $700 billion in new revenue by instituting a 15% corporate minimum tax, taxing stock buy backs and extending a cap on deductions for business losses, in addition to helping the IRS enforce existing tax law. Of the $80 billion, more than half would go to increased enforcement, like audits.
Republicans, who have nursed grievances over the IRS going back to the Obama administration that were inflamed further by fights over former President Trump’s tax returns, have taken aim at the funding, arguing it amounts to creating a new army of IRS agents to go after taxpayers.
But the IRS, Democrats and outside experts all say the new enforcement money will mostly allow the IRS to focus on audits of the wealthy.
“Contrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig in a letter dated Aug. 11.
In an appearance on “Fox and Friends” this week, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) questioned whether the IRS was ready to send in armed units of agents into small Iowa businesses.
“Are they going to have a strike force that goes in with AK-15s already loaded, ready to shoot some small business person in Iowa with these, because I think they’re going after middle class and small business people, because they think that anybody that has pass-through income is a crook, and they aren’t paying their fair share, and we’re going to go after them,” he said.
In using the phrase “pass-through,” Grassley was referring to owners of certain types of companies, like partnerships and sole proprietorships, that allow for income to be reported on the tax returns of their owners. The Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act extends a limitation on the ability of pass-throughs to use losses to write off costs like salaries and interest. The limits were initially set up by the Trump administration’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Democrats said that such views should be considered ridiculous.
“The incendiary conspiracy theories Republicans are pushing about armed IRS agents are increasingly dangerous and out of control,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement.
“High-ranking Republicans, including the former chair of the Finance Committee, are saying shockingly irresponsible things,” he continued, seeming to refer to Grassley’s remarks. “It’s unbelievable that we even need to say this, but there are not going to be 87,000 armed IRS agents going door-to-door with assault weapons. This is funding for answering phone calls and upgrading computer systems. I would hope that House Republicans act responsibly today as the House considers the Inflation Reduction Act.”
Grassley’s office fired back at the statement from Wyden. A Grassley aide said in a statement to The Hill that “Democrats’ partisan bill includes an additional $80 billion to beef up IRS enforcement, including hiring an additional 87,000 IRS employees, which will undoubtedly result in more audits targeting American small businesses — at their expense. Unfortunately, Democrats’ focus is on IRS enforcement rather than providing badly needed tax services. It’s shockingly disingenuous to argue all of these new agents will only be answering phone calls.”
Fact-checking websites have also taken aim at some of the rhetoric and online chatter fueling Republican arguments about the increased tax enforcement budget.
The Poynter Institute, a Florida journalism school and media studies center, called claims that the new funding would militarize the IRS “outlandish.”
“One outlandish claim suggested those new IRS agents might soon be coming to your door armed to the teeth to collect your taxes, if not for a dramatic early morning intervention by ‘Delta Force’ soldiers,” fact-checker Jeff Cercone wrote for the Poynter Institute’s Politifact website about a false news story that came out prior to Grassley’s appearance on “Fox and Friends.”
Democrats have long argued the IRS needed a major funding boost as audit rates and hiring levels dipped over the last decade. They say the lack of audits has benefitted rich taxpayers, a finding buttressed by a report on tax compliance released in May from the Government Accountability Office, the government’s internal watchdog.
The report found that in recent years, “audit rates have dropped for all income levels — with audit rates decreasing the most for taxpayers with incomes of $200,000 or more.”
Findings like this one have caused Democrats to argue for more enforcement at the IRS and to call out Republicans for getting in the way.
“For decades, Republicans have starved the IRS of funding, and now American taxpayers are paying the price,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said in a statement back in February. “The IRS needs greater support to carry out its most essential functions, like processing tax returns, enforcing the tax code, and closing the tax gap. Without resources from Congress to update its woefully out-of-date technology, the agency simply cannot operate at the level American taxpayers expect.”
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly argued against providing more money for the IRS.
“This additional money for the IRS to target all Americans is absolutely wrong. It will target our families, it’s going to target our small businesses, and it’s going to go after them to get them to pay more money,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said back in December 2021 about the Democrats’ unsuccessful Build Back Better legislation, which also proposed an IRS enforcement funding boost.
Experts say it’s not entirely clear how the IRS will actually use its new funding.
The bill’s “language was pretty generic,” former Congressional Budget Office tax analyst Janet Holtzblatt said in an interview. “It doesn’t really get into the specifics about how the money aligns to a particular task. It certainly doesn’t say how many employees there will be, how much will be spent on computers, how much will be spent on rent. But all of that will be covered.”
Republicans have made the argument about 87,000 new tax collectors targeting the middle class by pointing to a Treasury report released in May 2021 that said that $80 billion would allow for 86,852 new full-time employees at the IRS. Experts say they wouldn’t all be auditors.
“They didn’t give details on how they came up with this very precise number,” Janet Holtzblatt said. “But they didn’t ever say that those were all going to be auditors. The report said that part of the new workforce would be customer service reps to help navigate issues.”
Republicans have locked on to the 87,000 figure, sensing a political opportunity.
“I guarantee you citizens in every one of our states, if you ask them, what do they want, they don’t want 87,000 new IRS agents,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said after proposing an amendment to strike the additional funding for the IRS from the Democrats’ bill.
The figure of 87,000 new auditors has also been criticized by fact-checking websites. Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler called it “wildly exaggerated” in giving House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) a rating of “three Pinocchios” for the claim.
Republicans have also said the language in the bill doesn’t mean the IRS will just go after corporations and the wealthy.
“They’re being created to audit you,” Cruz said before pointing to an estimate from Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee that claimed 700,000 of the 1.2 million new audits that could be conducted because of the new funding will fall on taxpayers making $75,000 or less.
But the Treasury Department and the IRS have both made assurances that rich people and corporations, whose audit rates have decreased more sharply in recent years relative to regular Americans, are the intended targets.
The IRS criminal investigation division (IRS-CI), who are federal law enforcement officials like the FBI and U.S. Marshals, told The Hill that they are not going after any one segment of American taxpayers other than people who cheat on their taxes.
The division said in a statement to The Hill that its “special agents are sworn law enforcement agents investigating tax crimes and criminal activities that may include gangs, drug dealers, and other dangerous criminals. In order to carry out their daily duties, such as search warrants and arrests, CI special agents carry firearms. They also receive continuous annual training in order to carry firearms.”
In an interview with The Hill, IRS-CI spokesperson Anny Pachner said that “the IRS Criminal Investigation Division has about 3,000 employees. About 2,100, or roughly 2,000, of those are special agents, federal law enforcement agents. They investigate financial crimes and violations of the U.S. tax code. Our agents go after criminals that are cheating taxpayers and the federal government. That’s their work, to investigate those crimes, make sure they’re stopped, and return the funds back to victims.” | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/nexstar-media-wire/gop-under-fire-for-rhetoric-over-irs/ | 2022-08-13T18:20:18Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/nexstar-media-wire/gop-under-fire-for-rhetoric-over-irs/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(KTLA) — Single heterosexual men are having a hard time on the dating scene.
According to a study by Psychology Today, “younger and middle-aged men are the loneliest they’ve ever been in generations, and it’s probably going to get worse,” and it’s due to a variety of reasons.
Men now make up 62% of dating app users, which reduces their chances of making a match. This means women have plenty of men to choose from, so they’re more likely to ghost someone.
Another reason is healthy relationship standards have changed. The study says women are looking for someone who is emotionally available, a good communicator, and shares similar values.
The third reason is that men need to address a “skills deficit.”
The study claims many young men are not being taught early on how to treat women correctly.
“The problem for men is that emotional connection is the lifeblood of healthy, long-term love,” the study said.
However, all hope is not lost.
While algorithms on dating apps and websites are becoming increasingly more complex, it could lead to greater matches. The study found that the dating app Hinge found that 90% of users rated their first date positively, with 72% indicating wanting a second date through the app’s beta trials.
The author of the study advised that men who are having issues in the dating world should go to therapy to address the “skills gap” in order to connect with a future partner. | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/nexstar-media-wire/single-men-are-the-loneliest-theyve-been-in-generations-study-says/ | 2022-08-13T18:20:38Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/nexstar-media-wire/single-men-are-the-loneliest-theyve-been-in-generations-study-says/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP)– The first day of school is quickly approaching and on the list of things to do for parents is scheduling annual physicals for their children.
This week on 22News InFocus we’ll be discussing what doctors look for when examining your child, and the many services available in our region to help you keep your child healthy.
During the first half hour of the program we’ll be talking with a pediatrician from Baystate Health about physical and mental health, nutrition, and how to start a routine before school starts.
In the second half we’ll be discussing local social service programs offered through United Way that focus on children’s and community health and wellness.
Watch 22News InFocus Sunday at noon. You can also find the entire program here on WWLP.com. | https://www.wwlp.com/news/infocus/infocus-preparing-children-to-go-back-to-school/ | 2022-08-13T18:21:05Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/infocus/infocus-preparing-children-to-go-back-to-school/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in Austria say three people died Saturday when a van carrying 20 people believed to be migrants overturned after evading a police check.
Police in the eastern district of Burgenland, near Vienna, said officers tried to stop the white van at the border with Slovakia early Saturday, but the driver drove off at high speed. Shortly afterward he lost control of the vehicle and it toppled into a ditch.
Two men and a woman were killed in the crash, and at least seven others were seriously injured. Police said four children were among the 20 migrants found inside the van’s cargo section.
The identities and countries of origin for the migrants were not yet known, police said. The driver, believed to be of Russian origin, was arrested, they said.
__
Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration. | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/3-migrants-die-after-smugglers-van-crashes-in-austria/ | 2022-08-13T18:21:12Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/3-migrants-die-after-smugglers-van-crashes-in-austria/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A year after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, prominent Afghan rights activist Sima Samar is still heartbroken over what happened to her country.
Samar, a former minister of women’s affairs and the first chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, left Kabul in July 2021 for the United States on her first trip after the COVID-19 pandemic, never expecting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to flee the country and the Taliban to take power for the second time soon after on Aug. 15.
“I think it’s a sad anniversary for the majority of people of my country,” Samar said, particularly for the women “who don’t have enough food, who do not know what is the tomorrow for them.”
A visiting scholar at the Carr Center for Human Rights at the Kennedy School at Harvard, she has written the first draft of an autobiography and is working on a policy paper on customary law relating to Afghan women. She is also trying to get a Green Card, but she said, “I honestly cannot orient myself, where I am, and what I’m doing.”
She wishes she could go home — but she can’t.
In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, she recalled a Taliban news conference a few days after they took power when they said if people apologized for past actions they would be forgiven.
“And I said, I should be apologizing because I started schools for the people?” said Samar, a member of Afghanistan’s long persecuted Hazara minority. “I should apologize because I started hospitals and clinics in Afghanistan? I should apologize because I tried to stop torture of the Taliban? I should apologize to advocate against the death penalty, including (for) the Taliban leadership?”
“All my life I fought for life as a doctor,” she said. “So I cannot change and support the death penalty. I shouldn’t apologize for those principles of human rights and be punished.”
Samar became an activist as a 23-year-old medical student with an infant son. In 1984, the then-communist government arrested her activist husband, and she never saw him again. She fled to Pakistan with her young son and worked as a doctor for Afghan refugees and started several clinics to care for Afghan women and girls.
Samar remembered the Taliban’s previous rule in the late 1990s, when they largely confined women to their homes, banned television and music, and held public executions. A U.S.-led invasion drove the Taliban from power months after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, which al-Qaida orchestrated from Afghanistan while being sheltered by the Taliban.
After the Taliban’s ouster, Samar returned to Afghanistan, moving into the top women’s rights and human rights positions, and over the next 20 years schools and universities were opened for girls, women entered the workforce and politics and became judges.
But Samar said in an AP interview in April 2021 — four months before the Taliban’s second takeover of the country — that the gains were fragile and human rights activists had many enemies in Afghanistan, from militants and warlords to those who wanted to stifle criticism or challenge their power.
Samar said the Afghan government and leadership, especially Ghani, were mainly responsible for the Taliban sweeping into Kabul and taking power. But she also put blame on Afghans “because we were very divided.”
In every speech and interview she gave nationally and internationally over the years, she said Afghans had to be united and inclusive, and “we have to have the people’s support. Otherwise, we will lose.”
As chair of the Human Rights Commission, she said she repeatedly faced criticism that she was trying to impose Western values on Afghanistan.
“And I kept saying, human rights is not Western values. As a human being, everyone needs to have a shelter … access to education and health services, to security,” she said.
Since their takeover, the Taliban have limited girls’ public education to just six years, restricted women’s work, encouraged them to stay at home, and issued dress codes requiring them to cover their faces.
Samar urged international pressure not only to allow all girls to attend secondary school and university, but to ensure all human rights which are interlinked. And she stressed the importance of education for young boys, who without any schooling, job or skill could be at risk to get involved in opium production, weapons smuggling or in violence.
She also urged the international community to continue humanitarian programs which are critical to save lives, but said they should focus on food-for-work or cash-for-work to end peoples’ total dependency and give them “self-confidence and dignity.”
Samar said Afghan society has changed over the past two decades, with more access to technology, rising education levels among the young and some experience with elections, t even if they weren’t free and fair.
She said such achievements leave the possibility of positive change in the future. “Those are the issues that they (the Taliban) cannot control,” she said. “They would like to, but they cannot do it.”
Samar said she hoped for eventual accountability and justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity. “Otherwise, we feel the culture of impunity everywhere, everywhere — and the invasion of Russia to Ukraine is a repetition of Afghanistan’s case,” she said.
Her hope for Afghan women is that they can “live with dignity rather than being a slave of people.” | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/afghan-rights-leader-heartbroken-after-year-of-taliban-rule/ | 2022-08-13T18:21:18Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/afghan-rights-leader-heartbroken-after-year-of-taliban-rule/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CETINJE, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro declared three days of national mourning Saturday, a day after 10 people, including two children, were killed in a daylight attack by a 34-year-old gunman who police said had recently exhibited a “change in behavior.”
The attacker used a hunting rifle to first shoot to death two children, 8 and 11, and their mother, who lived as tenants in his house in the western city of Cetinje’s Medovina neighborhood. He then walked to the street and randomly shot 13 more people, seven of them fatally. The gunman was shot dead later after a gunbattle with police.
Police investigating the rampage issued a statement Saturday saying it was still unclear what motivated the gunman — identified only by his initials, V.B. But they said people close to the attacker said he had recently started exhibiting a “change in behavior but nothing that indicated he could commit such a crime.” The attacker had an appointment to see a mental health care specialist but went on the rampage prior to it.
The police statement also said the law enforcement officers sent to the scene came under fire from the attacker and responded by firing at him at least 20 times and seriously injuring him.
“It is still being investigated if he died as the result of the serious injury (by police) or as the result of being shot at by a local citizen,” the statement said.
The prosecutor coordinating the investigation, Andrijana Nastic, told journalists Friday that the gunman was killed by a passerby and that a police officer was among the wounded. She said nine of those killed died at the scene and two died at a hospital.
Witnesses of the attack were struggling Saturday to come to terms with the carnage. They described scenes of chaos and horror as the gunman unleashed his fury on innocent people just going about their daily business on a warm summer afternoon.
“You could hear women crying, people shouting in panic that a man has a weapon and is indiscriminately shooting around. I heard gunshots,” said witness Milena Stanojevic. “I’ve seen a lot of crying, tears and sadness and today, silence and disbelief.”
Cetinje, a city of 17,000 people and the seat of Montenegro’s former royal government, is 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, the current capital of the small Balkan nation.
Four of the wounded were transferred to the Clinical Center in Podgorica for surgery and were still in intensive care Saturday, according to its chief neurosurgeon, Dr. Ivan Terzic. Two others suffered less severe injuries and were recovering at a hospital in Cetinje. | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/montenegro-mourns-after-10-are-killed-in-shooting-spree/ | 2022-08-13T18:22:14Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/montenegro-mourns-after-10-are-killed-in-shooting-spree/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines in areas its forces have occupied since invading the country 5 1/2 months ago.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities repeatedly have blocked efforts to provide state-subsidized drugs to people in occupied cities, towns and villages.
“Throughout the entire six months of war, Russia has not (allowed) proper humanitarian corridors so we could provide our own medicines to the patients that need them,” Liashko said, speaking at the Health Ministry in Kyiv late Friday.
“We believe that these actions are being taken with intent by Russia, and we consider them to be crimes against humanity and war crimes that will be documented and will be recognized,” the minister said.
The Ukrainian government has a program that provides medications to people with cancer and chronic health conditions. The destruction of hospitals and infrastructure along with the displacement of an estimated 7 million people inside the country also have interfered with other forms of treatment, according to United Nations and Ukrainian officials.
The war in Ukraine has caused severe disruptions to the country’s state-run health service, which was undergoing major reforms, largely in response to the coronavirus pandemic, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade on Feb. 24.
The World Health Organization said it recorded 445 attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities as of Aug. 11 that directly resulted in 86 deaths and 105 injuries.
But Liashko said the secondary effects were far more severe.
“When roads and bridges have been damaged in areas now controlled by the Ukrainian forces… it is difficult to get someone who had a heart attack or a stroke to the hospital,” he said. “Sometimes, we can’t make it in time, the ambulance can’t get there in time. That’s why war causes many more casualties (than those killed in the fighting). It’s a number that cannot be calculated.” ___ Full coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine ___ Follow Gatopoulos at https://twitter.com/dgatopoulos and Arhirova at https://twitter.com/h_arhirova | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ukrainian-minister-says-russia-blocking-access-to-medicines/ | 2022-08-13T18:22:35Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ukrainian-minister-says-russia-blocking-access-to-medicines/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Tony Gonsolin took a no-hit try into the seventh inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers won their 11th straight game, beating the Kansas City Royals 8-3 Friday night.
Gonsolin (14-1) tied Atlanta’s Kyle Wright for the NL wins lead. The Dodgers, with the best record in the majors, broke open the game on Trayce Thompson’s three-run homer in the eighth.
“Tony was good,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think it helped that this was a very aggressive ballclub. They were aggressive in the zone.”
“I thought in the sixth or seventh inning he hit a wall. The slider started to get up there and he couldn’t get the split to have the depth. I felt he had enough,” he said.
Gonsolin did not allow a baserunner until issuing a one-out walk to Kyle Isbel in the sixth, when the game was still scoreless. He didn’t give up a hit until Vinnie Pasquantino’s one-out single in the seventh.
Overall, Gonsolin permitted two hits in 6 2/3 innings.
“It was pretty solid,” Gonsolin said. “I felt like I was throwing a lot of strikes early with everything, which was nice to see. They were swinging a lot, so I kept the pitch count down. I got some soft contact and the guys made some good plays.”
Josh Staumont (3-2) lost in relief, allowing five runs on four hits and a walk, without recording an out.
Royals starter Daniel Lynch gave up just two hits in five scoreless innings. A high pitch count was his undoing as he threw 105 and walked four.
Lynch escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fifth when he got Trea Turner to foul out, struck out Freddie Freeman and retired Will Smith on a flyball.
The Dodgers scored five times in the seventh after loading the bases with no outs on singles by pinch-hitter Gavin Lux and Thompson and a walk to Mookie Betts. Turner hit a two-run single, Freeman followed with an RBI double, and a wild pitch and Justin Turner’s sacrifice fly made it 5-0.
“I just felt with those guys there was no panic. Two innings later to have that same situation with those hitters, that’s an easy bet to take. Trea came through and opened up the floodgates,” he said.
Trea Turner was relieved to have made amends.
“It felt good,” he said. “The first one was a little frustrating because I felt like I had a pretty good at-bat (in the fifth). I just kept fouling pitches off, but I couldn’t move one forward.”
“It was nice to come through a couple of innings later and get the job done,” he said.
Michael A. Taylor doubled home a run in the Kansas City seventh. Salvador Perez added a two-run homer in the eighth.
TRANSACTIONS
Dodgers C Austin Barnes was placed on the family emergency list. … C Tony Wolters was selected from Triple-A Oklahoma City. … INF Rylan Bannon was designated for assignment.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Dodgers 3B Max Muncy and DH Justin Turner switched prior to Friday’s game, because Muncy was hit in the right hand by a one-hopper that resulted in an infield single and came out of Wednesday’s game. Muncy still hit seventh in the lineup but didn’t play in the field. … LHP Clayton Kershaw, who has been on the 10-day injured list since Aug. 5 with lower back pain, played catch Thursday in Los Angeles and will continue to play catch each day in Kansas City. He got an epidural soon after the injury, and he said Friday that his back is feeling better. He said he doesn’t have a set time to return, but “we’ll definitely have enough time before October.”
UP NEXT
The teams continue the three-game series Saturday evening. The Dodgers will start LHP Andrew Heaney (1-0, 0.64 ERA), while the Royals will hand the ball to RHP Brad Keller (6-12, 4.45 ERA).
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/gonsolin-dodgers-win-11th-in-a-row-break-away-from-royals/ | 2022-08-13T18:23:09Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/gonsolin-dodgers-win-11th-in-a-row-break-away-from-royals/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Updated August 12, 2022 at 11:36 AM ET
Watch out for the shooting stars coming your way.
The most popular meteor shower, known as the Perseids, is about to reach its peak — with up to 100 meteors per hour.
The Perseids are annual and are active between July and September. The warm summer weather makes it easier to be outdoors for viewing, NASA notes.
The Perseids will peak Saturday and be most visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the hours before dawn, but might be seen as early as 10 p.m. A bright, full moon will appear during the shower, which could affect visibility.
This meteor shower is known for what scientists call fireballs, which NASA describes as "larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak."
Here's how to view meteor showers from wherever you're looking up from Earth.
Gather all the details for the specific meteor shower
If you're viewing a meteor shower, you'll want to make sure you know the time of its peak, the radiant point and the phase of the moon, according to EarthSky. Otherwise, you might not get as much from your time outdoors.
The estimate for the meteor shower will always appear in UTC, which means Coordinated Universal Time.
You can convert UTC to your time zone by following the steps from EarthSky here.
The radiant point is not essential to seeing the meteor shower, though it can enhance your viewing. This is the point in the sky where the "shower of meteors seems to proceed," NASA notes.
EarthSky says meteor showers are visible even before their radiant rises to the sky.
And it says that knowing the shower's number of meteors per hour will also give you a clearer sense of how often they appear.
The phase of the moon also affects visibility — a bright moon can severely diminish how well you can see the shower.
Know where to go
Light pollution — the excess of artificial lights in major cities and other industrialized areas — obstructs the view of meteor showers.
To make the most out of your viewing experience, try finding a darkly lit spot away from city lights. The darker your surroundings, the clearer the meteor shower will be.
Find a comfortable spot
When viewing a meteor shower, you'll want to make sure you're in a comfortable position with well-adjusted eyes.
NASA says in about 30 minutes, your eyes can adapt to the dark, which will make the showers much more visible.
Bring a blanket, lawn chair, sleeping bag, warm clothes (for cooler temperatures at night) — anything that could enhance your viewing experience and keep you warm into the later hours of the night and early morning.
Now, sit back, relax and enjoy. No telescopes or binoculars required.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-08-05/get-ready-to-look-up-in-the-night-sky-at-the-perseid-meteor-shower | 2022-08-13T18:26:24Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-08-05/get-ready-to-look-up-in-the-night-sky-at-the-perseid-meteor-shower | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Updated August 6, 2022 at 11:55 AM ET
Washington state U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler has become the latest House Republican to be ousted in a primary after voting to impeach then-President Donald Trump in the wake of the Capitol insurrection.
Herrera Beutler was narrowly edged out of a spot in November's general election by Joe Kent, a Trump-backed opponent, according to a race call by The Associated Press. Kent will face Democrat Marie Perez, who finished atop the primary field. She conceded on
Washington's top-two primary system puts all candidates on one ballot and advances the top two vote-getters to the general election, regardless of party.
Kent emerged from the primary though he and another candidate, Heidi St. John, splintered the far-right vote. The two spent much of the race attacking each other.
While Herrera Beutler failed to advance in the 3rd Congressional District, her fellow Washington state Republican, Dan Newhouse, survived the open primary in the next-door 4th District, despite his own vote to impeach Trump and the former president's endorsement of a conservative challenger in the race.
Newhouse will face Democrat Doug White in November in the solidly GOP district.
Herrera Beutler and Newhouse were two of just 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in early 2021.
A third was also on the Aug. 2 ballot. In Michigan, Rep. Peter Meijer was narrowly defeated by former Trump administration official John Gibbs in that state's Grand Rapids-based 3rd District.
Newhouse and California Rep. David Valadao are the only House Republicans who have sought reelection and gotten past their primaries. Valadao, who represents a Democratic-leaning district, did not face a Trump-backed opponent.
The final pro-impeachment House Republican who's seeking reelection is on the ballot next week. Trump antagonist Rep. Liz Cheney faces long odds in Wyoming.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-08-05/gop-rep-herrera-beutler-who-voted-to-impeach-trump-is-ousted-in-wash-primary | 2022-08-13T18:26:30Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-08-05/gop-rep-herrera-beutler-who-voted-to-impeach-trump-is-ousted-in-wash-primary | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
DETROIT (AP) — Drivers lined up early Tuesday to get free gas in Detroit from a man who spent eight years in prison before he was cleared of four killings.
Davontae Sanford limited the $25,000 offer to women and older men.
“The city had my back, so it’s only right I give back to the city and I give back to the most vulnerable,” Sanford told WJBK-TV.
The Detroit City Council in March agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle Sanford’s claim that police had violated his rights.
Sanford was 15 when he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the fatal shootings of four people in 2007. He later insisted he was innocent and took a plea deal only because he felt helpless and poorly represented by a lawyer.
The case took a strange turn when a hit man, Vincent Smothers, stepped forward and said he was responsible for the killings, not Sanford.
In 2016, the convictions were dropped at the request of Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy, who cited police misconduct, not Smothers’ confession.
Smothers has never been charged in the Runyon Street homicides. He is prison for eight other killings. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/man-exonerated-of-4-killings-offers-free-gas-in-detroit/ | 2022-08-13T18:29:29Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/man-exonerated-of-4-killings-offers-free-gas-in-detroit/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A 26-year-old Los Angeles man was arrested Friday night, Aug. 12 on suspicion of fatally stabbing another man in Pasadena, authorities said.
Officers were called to the 600 block of North Lake Avenue, south of Orange Grove Boulevard, just before 10:55 p.m. and found a man in the street suffering from stab wounds, Pasadena Lt. Keith Gomez said.
The victim, whose identity was withheld pending notification of his relatives, died at the scene, Gonez said.
Nearby, officers found Sadarius Lawson and later suspected he had stabbed the victim, Gomez said.
Lawson was arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of murder, Gomez said. He was being held on $2 million bail, according to inmate records.
Further information, including what led to the stabbing, was not yet known.
Join the Conversation
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions. | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/08/13/man-stabbed-to-death-in-pasadena-suspect-arrested/ | 2022-08-13T18:35:54Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/08/13/man-stabbed-to-death-in-pasadena-suspect-arrested/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Drought Reveals WWII Bomb in Italy’s River Po As Body of Water Experiences Worst Dry Period in 70 Years
An unprecedent dry spout has left the River Po in Italy looking very sandy, as the reduction in water has made large sandbanks visible along the normally lush river.
The River Po, Italy’s longest river, which spans more than 400 miles across the country’s north from west to east, is experiencing the worst drought in 70 years. The unprecedent dry spout has left the river looking very sandy, as the reduction in water has made large sandbanks visible along the normally lush river.
The reduction has also revealed a bomb from World War II.
Lack of snow over the winter and an early, hot summer have caused these conditions and Italy has declared a state of emergency.
Officials say a third of the country’s agriculture producers surround the river.
When at normal levels, the river flows through verdant landscape lined with farms and rice paddies.
Now reports say farmers worry their harvests could be damaged for years as many of their paddies have dried up or become too salty because of the use of aquifers.
All they can do is hope that rain – and a lot of it – falls soon.
Related Stories
Trending on Inside Edition
Trump Invokes Fifth Amendment in New York Civil Fraud Probe as New Details Emerge About FBI Raid at Mar-a-Lago
PoliticsMaverick the Dog Helps Find a Missing Child in North Carolina
AnimalsVideos Show Teens How to Steal Certain Kias And Hyundais With Only a USB Cable, Police Warn Amid Rising Thefts
InvestigativeNew York Man Killed in Freak Accident at a Town Trash Transfer Station
NewsWho Killed Jared Bridegan? 2-Year-Old Girl Is the Only Witness to Dad's Gruesome Murder
Crime | https://www.insideedition.com/drought-reveals-wwii-bomb-in-italys-river-po-as-body-of-water-experiences-worst-dry-period-in-70 | 2022-08-13T18:36:48Z | insideedition.com | control | https://www.insideedition.com/drought-reveals-wwii-bomb-in-italys-river-po-as-body-of-water-experiences-worst-dry-period-in-70 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Scientists Are Trying to Perfect the Flavor of Alcohol-Free Wine As Demand Grows
Researchers in Australia are trying to make it a reality by perfecting the taste of alcohol-free wine.
Imagine drinking all the wine you want with dinner and still being able to drive home.
Researchers in Australia are trying to make it a reality by perfecting the taste of alcohol-free wine.
"They are a lot better than they used to be. now that said, there is a long way to go," wine research scientist Wes Pearson said.
A restaurant in Adelaide has five zero-wines on its menu at the growing requests of customers.
"So people do call up or they'll email to make sure that we do have those options and that actually influences where they will book a venue,” Charlotte Martin, manager of Shobosho, a restaurant that emphasizes Japanese yakitori and grilled food.
Consumer demand is driving this trend according to suppliers, especially among younger generations, who are keen to skip the hangover.
"A third of our consumers would choose low alcohol wine if they could find it and the flavor was at the quality level they expect,” Wolf Blass Chief Supply Office Kerrin Petty said. “So that's really the chase for us to make sure the quality that we're delivering is in line with our consumers' expectation."
Researchers developing zero wine say it’s no easy task, especially when it comes to matching the flavor of its alcoholic counterpart, but they’re determined to get it right.
"That would be the holy grail, to make a shiraz with no alcohol in it that tastes like a traditional shiraz," Pearson said.
Thanks to science, the taste of Australia’s vineyards may soon be replicated sans booze.
Related Stories
Trending on Inside Edition
Trump Invokes Fifth Amendment in New York Civil Fraud Probe as New Details Emerge About FBI Raid at Mar-a-Lago
PoliticsMaverick the Dog Helps Find a Missing Child in North Carolina
AnimalsVideos Show Teens How to Steal Certain Kias And Hyundais With Only a USB Cable, Police Warn Amid Rising Thefts
InvestigativeNew York Man Killed in Freak Accident at a Town Trash Transfer Station
NewsWho Killed Jared Bridegan? 2-Year-Old Girl Is the Only Witness to Dad's Gruesome Murder
Crime | https://www.insideedition.com/scientists-are-trying-to-perfect-the-flavor-of-alcohol-free-wine-as-demand-grows-76354 | 2022-08-13T18:36:54Z | insideedition.com | control | https://www.insideedition.com/scientists-are-trying-to-perfect-the-flavor-of-alcohol-free-wine-as-demand-grows-76354 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Will Scott Peterson Get a New Trial? Lawyers Argue Juror Had Undisclosed Bias
The judge has 90 days to issue a ruling on the retrial.
Over 20 years after he was convicted of killing his pregnant wife and their unborn child, Scott Peterson appeared in court Thursday in a final effort to secure a retrial, claiming jury misconduct led to his conviction in 2004.
The 49-year-old prisoner chuckled and scribbled notes during the proceedings, which took place in California.
The juror at the center of the misconduct claims is Richelle Nice, who gained media attention during the trial for having bright red hair and wearing colorful outfits.
“We wanted to see it all the way through to the end,” Nice told reporters after the verdict.
But in a shocking twist, Nice became pen pals with the convicted killer in prison. She spoke to Inside Edition in 2006 about the puzzling relationship.
“I know it all sounds crazy, because I'm one of the ones who put him away. He wanted to know how I was doing and how the trial affected me,” Nice said.
In one of those letters, Peterson says Nice claimed she had once been beaten by a boyfriend while pregnant. Peterson's attorney says Nice failed to disclose this before the trial and claims it proves she had bias in the case — an allegation Nice denies.
Nice appeared outside court earlier this year.
The judge has 90 days to issue a ruling about whether or not Peterson will get a new trial.
Related Stories
Trending on Inside Edition
Trump Invokes Fifth Amendment in New York Civil Fraud Probe as New Details Emerge About FBI Raid at Mar-a-Lago
PoliticsMaverick the Dog Helps Find a Missing Child in North Carolina
AnimalsVideos Show Teens How to Steal Certain Kias And Hyundais With Only a USB Cable, Police Warn Amid Rising Thefts
InvestigativeNew York Man Killed in Freak Accident at a Town Trash Transfer Station
NewsWho Killed Jared Bridegan? 2-Year-Old Girl Is the Only Witness to Dad's Gruesome Murder
Crime | https://www.insideedition.com/will-scott-peterson-get-a-new-trial-lawyers-argue-juror-had-undisclosed-bias-76376 | 2022-08-13T18:37:01Z | insideedition.com | control | https://www.insideedition.com/will-scott-peterson-get-a-new-trial-lawyers-argue-juror-had-undisclosed-bias-76376 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Personalized Immunotherapy Shows Promise Beyond Cancer
17:23 minutes
CAR T cell therapy, a type of immunotherapy in which a patient’s own immune cells are modified to create a hybrid immune cell that destroys cancer cells, was first developed over a decade ago.
Now, researchers are continuing to find success in treating new types of blood cancers with the therapy, and are working on applying the technology to solid state cancers like those of the pancreas and brain.
Scientists are also at the early stages of testing CAR T cells to treat autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and lupus.
Ira talks with Dr. Carl June, one of the pioneers of CAR T cell therapy, a professor of immunotherapy and director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at the University of Pennsylvania, based in Philadelphia.
Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday.
Carl June is a professor, Immunotherapy and the director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
The transcript of this segment is being processed. It will be available within one week after the show airs.
Shoshannah Buxbaum is a producer for Science Friday. She’s particularly drawn to stories about health, psychology, and the environment. She’s a proud New Jersey native and will happily share her opinions on why the state is deserving of a little more love.
Ira Flatow is the host and executive producer of Science Friday. His green thumb has revived many an office plant at death’s door. | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/car-t-cell-therapy/ | 2022-08-13T18:42:03Z | sciencefriday.com | control | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/car-t-cell-therapy/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Feeling Hopeless About Climate Change? Try Playing These Video Games
11:55 minutes
Five years ago, Stephanie Barish was tired of the public’s attitude about climate change. “Most people at that time were just so negative about climate,” she said. “It was doom and destruction, and I thought, wow, to make positive change, you have to really look at this from a solutions perspective.”
Stephanie is the founder and CEO of Indiecade, an organization that supports indie video game developers and hosts events like the Climate Jam—the goal of which was to change the gloomy public narrative around climate change. So, with the help of organizations like Earth Games, participants around the globe gather every year to make video games about climate change optimism, solutions, and justice.
Teams can also consult with subject matter experts, like Dargan Frierson, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, and also a judge for the Climate Jam. If teams wonder what climate change would look like on a different planet, they can go to him for answers. “We always look for scientific accuracy,” he said. “I think it’s very important to keep things within the realm of possibility, even when you’re looking at fiction.”
This year, the game jam was virtual. Teams had 10 days to make their games, and included submissions like Denial Network, where you play as a group of activists fighting against climate change misinformation. In another game called Change Waker, you play as a cute little sentient blob sailing around an archipelago, helping other sentient blobs solve environmental problems impacting their islands.
The winner of this year’s jam was Row, a sobering, but ultimately hopeful game about learning how to trust your enemy. It’s set in a world where climate change has take its toll: drought and intense rainfall have driven two neighboring cities to violence. And your character ends up in a row boat with your enemy as you both try to survive—and hopefully build a brighter future.
“I think if you just stay in that place of just feeling hopeless, it can often translate into apathy, which I see a lot among people my age, because [climate change] is such a daunting thing,” said Jay McGregor, a film production student at USC and one of the narrative designers on Row. “We’re trying to acknowledge that humans play one of the biggest roles in causing the climate crisis. And at the same time, we also hold the key to solving it.”
SciFri producer D Peterschmidt talks to the participants of this year’s Climate Jam about how they think the narrative around our climate’s future needs to change, and even plays some of Row with Ira.
Row Credits:
Narrative Designers: Jay McGregor, Britney Ngaw
Art Director: Andria Liu
Composer: David Hunter
Software Engineers: Johnathon Slightham, Benn McGregor
Check out the song Dargan wrote about science below.
Read a transcript and the lyrics of the song here.
Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday.
Stephanie Barish is the founder and CEO of Indiecade.
Dargan Frierson is an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington.
Jay McGregor is a film production student at USC.
Ira Flatow is the host and executive producer of Science Friday. His green thumb has revived many an office plant at death’s door.
The transcript is being processed. It will be available the week after the segment airs.
D Peterschmidt is an audio/digital producer and composes music for Science Friday’s podcasts, including Science Diction and Undiscovered. Their D&D character is a clumsy bard named Chip Chap Chopman.
Ira Flatow is the host and executive producer of Science Friday. His green thumb has revived many an office plant at death’s door. | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/climate-change-video-games/ | 2022-08-13T18:42:10Z | sciencefriday.com | control | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/climate-change-video-games/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Analogue Animation: Turning The Pages Of A Flipbook Machine
5:13 minutes
Brooklyn-based artist J.C. Fontanive is a master of the moving image—but in analogue. As an animator, he creates mechanical, perpetual motion ‘flipbooks,’ with help from old clocks and colorful illustrations of flying birds, butterflies, and other scenes from nature.
Fontanive joins Ira to talk about the act of invention, the ‘primal’ language of art, and how to create visceral work in a digital age.
Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday.
J.C. Fontanive is an artist, sculptor, and illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York.
The transcript of this segment is being processed. It will be available within one week after the show airs.
Christie Taylor is a producer for Science Friday. Her day involves diligent research, too many phone calls for an introvert, and asking scientists if they have any audio of that narwhal heartbeat.
Ira Flatow is the host and executive producer of Science Friday. His green thumb has revived many an office plant at death’s door. | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/flipbook-animation-machine/ | 2022-08-13T18:42:16Z | sciencefriday.com | control | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/flipbook-animation-machine/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Some Grasses Can Stop Lead From Spreading In Soil
5:05 minutes
This article is part of The State of Science, a series featuring science stories from public radio stations across the United States. This story, by NPR Midwest Newsroom and The Missouri Independent reporter Niara Savage, was originally published by KCUR.
In parts of the Midwest where lead mining and smelting lasted for over a century, communities are still dealing with toxic waste left behind by the industry.
Lead, a dangerous neurotoxin, persists in the environment, including in water and soil, where it can pose a threat to the health of people living nearby. The risk is especially acute for children, who can unintentionally ingest lead by putting their hands in their mouths and whose brains and bodies are still developing.
It can be spread to other areas, like yards and schools, by rainfall, and can also taint aquifers or vegetables in gardens, making them harmful to consume.
Now researchers are working to limit the impact of lead in the environment on people, and they believe they’ve found a promising solution: Plant life.
Phytostabilization involves moving lead from soil into the roots, stems and leaves of plants to prevent it from spreading and to limit people’s contact with it.
“One of the goals of phytostabilization is to take the site with lead and put it in a stable state, so that the risk is reduced, and the issues related to lead in the soil can be managed,” said Larry Erickson, a professor emeritus at Kansas State University and former director of the university’s Center for Hazardous Substance Research.
His research is focused on using miscanthus grass to stabilize lead in soil.
“One of the benefits of having vegetation in the soil, where the lead is, is that we can have an opportunity for the water to be taken up by the plant that keeps the water from moving in other directions and transporting the lead,” Erickson said.
Stabilizing lead in soil to prevent it from spreading can help avert and alleviate potentially dangerous consequences.
“In the operation of (lead smelters), lead has gone up and out of the smokestack and fallen on soil and there may be lead associated with the soil in terms of a five-mile radius of the shelter,” Erickson said.
Leftover mining waste can cause metal contaminants to spread up to 100 miles along rivers and streams when the lead is washed away by rainfall, Erickson said.
Erickson published the results of his experiments with phytostabilization in 2021. The focus was on Fort Riley, Kansas. Erickson found the root systems of miscanthus grass are complex enough to significantly limit the movement of lead on a contaminated site from rainfall in about two years.
That means lead in soil at a contaminated site can’t spread and flow to other areas and put people at risk of exposure. In an ideal situation, planting miscanthus grass would be paired with remediating the top several inches of contaminated soil to limit the spread of lead.
Researchers have known for decades that exposure to lead can cause irreversible brain damage in children, even at low levels. Children are most at risk because their bodies are still developing.
The Food and Drug Administration recommends children consume no more than 2.2 µg per day of lead from food.
“Unfortunately, a lot of those areas also have higher contamination of soils just by location, near highly trafficked areas, or railroads.”
Another plant-based solution for lead exposure being studied by researchers is biochar, a carbonized substance produced from plant materials with absorption abilities that could have applications for urban farming by reducing the amount of lead taken up by the lettuce planted in it, according to a 2020 experiment led by a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The results of the small study showed that adding biochar to soil reduced the amount of lead taken up by the lettuce planted in it.
Biochar-treated garden soil produced lettuce with just 0.41 µg of lead per serving. Untreated soil produced lettuce with a lead level of 1.22 µg of lead per 85 grams.
Ryley Thomas, the student who led the experiment under the supervision of Michael Kaiser and Jennifer Cooper, professors with the university’s Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, said she designed it to help people who live in food deserts.
“Community Crops Lincoln is a community garden nonprofit organization, and they go into areas that have food deserts, and they tried to create community gardens where people can go and have fresh produce,” Thomas said.
“Unfortunately, a lot of those areas also have higher contamination of soils just by location, near highly trafficked areas, or railroads.”
Kaiser said food deserts are a major problem in Lincoln, Nebraska.
“This means a large distance between people and grocery stores,” he said. “A potential solution would be community crops or urban agriculture.”
Thomas and Kaiser sampled soil near railroads in the state where lead levels are often high. Adding biochar to soil could be a long-term solution for entrapment of lead because it remains in soil for hundreds of years. But they emphasized that the study was small and needs to be repeated before significant implications can be drawn from the results.
In June, Bloomberg Philanthropies awarded Lincoln $400,000 in funding to support a project to turn wood waste into biochar. The city will establish the Lincoln Biochar Initiative by working closely with the Nebraska Forest Service and the University of Nebraska.
“We are looking to build our own biochar plant and then produce about 700 tons of biochar per year,” Kaiser said.
Aside from its absorption properties with implications for lead-tainted soil, biochar also promotes plant growth, carbon sequestration and fertilizer reduction. The facility is set to be fully operational by summer 2023.
The Missouri Independent and the Midwest Newsroom are jointly exploring the issue of high levels of lead in the children in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday.
Niara Savage is a reporting fellow at the NPR Midwest Newsroom and Missouri Independent, based in St. Louis, Missouri.
The transcript of this segment is being processed. It will be available within one week after the show airs.
Rasha Aridi is a producer for Science Friday. She loves stories about weird critters, science adventures, and the intersection of science and history.
Ira Flatow is the host and executive producer of Science Friday. His green thumb has revived many an office plant at death’s door. | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/grass-stop-lead-pollution/ | 2022-08-13T18:42:22Z | sciencefriday.com | control | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/grass-stop-lead-pollution/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A Plan to Cap Insulin Prices May Not Be Helpful
12:14 minutes
30 million people in the U.S. live with diabetes, and access to insulin can be expensive. More than 1 in 5 people with private insurance pay more than $35 a month for this necessary medication. The U.S. Senate has a plan to cap insulin prices for certain diabetics, but critics say this plan would not help make insulin affordable for a majority of people.
Plus, many people have been following the discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, with baited breath. Astronomers may have found the youngest exoplanet we know of. And a deep space hoax of a chorizo slice fooled the astronomy community.
Joining Ira to talk about these stories and other science news of the week is Katherine Wu, staff writer for The Atlantic based in New Haven, Connecticut.
Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday.
Katherine Wu is a staff writer at The Atlantic based in New Haven, Connecticut.
The transcript of this segment is being processed. It will be available within one week after the show airs.
Kathleen Davis is a producer at Science Friday, which means she spends the week brainstorming, researching, and writing, typically in that order. She’s a big fan of stories related to strange animal facts and dystopian technology.
Ira Flatow is the host and executive producer of Science Friday. His green thumb has revived many an office plant at death’s door. | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/insulin-price-cap-plan/ | 2022-08-13T18:42:28Z | sciencefriday.com | control | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/insulin-price-cap-plan/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Frenemies, Lovers, And The Fate Of The Cosmos: Our Galaxy Tells All
16:22 minutes
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is 13.6 billion years old, all-knowing, and a little sassy. It has a rich social life of friends, frenemies, and even love interests—all other galaxies in the local group, including the stunning Andromeda. And the Milky Way is a little disappointed that we’ve stopped telling as many stories about it.
Or at least, that’s how folklorist and astronomer Dr. Moiya McTier imagines the galaxy’s personality when writing her new book, “The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy.” The book stretches from the beginning of the universe to the birth of our planet, and then on to the eventual theoretical end of the cosmos. Along the way, we learn both the science of how stars form and galaxies collide, and the many stories and myths humans have told about these bodies throughout our relatively brief lives.
McTier joins Ira to tell all (on behalf of the Milky Way), and explain the importance of story in scientific knowledge and discovery.
Read an excerpt of “The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy” here.
Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday.
Moiya McTier is an astronomer, folklorist and author of “The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy,” based in New York, New York.
The transcript of this segment is being processed. It will be available within one week after the show airs.
Christie Taylor is a producer for Science Friday. Her day involves diligent research, too many phone calls for an introvert, and asking scientists if they have any audio of that narwhal heartbeat.
Ira Flatow is the host and executive producer of Science Friday. His green thumb has revived many an office plant at death’s door. | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/milkyway-autobiography/ | 2022-08-13T18:42:34Z | sciencefriday.com | control | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/milkyway-autobiography/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
What You Need To Know About Monkeypox
17:22 minutes
Last week, the White House declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency.
Currently there are a little over 9,000 confirmed cases in the United States, and just under 30,000 worldwide. Since the end of May, monkeypox has been spreading in countries where it has not been previously reported.
The virus is mainly spreading within gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men. And because of that there is stigma associated with the outbreak.
Ira talks with Rachel Roper, virologist at the Brody Medical School at East Carolina University, and Perry Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers University School of Public Health, to explain the basics of transmission, answer listener questions, and debunk misinformation about the monkeypox outbreak.
Invest in quality science journalism by making a donation to Science Friday.
Rachel Roper is a virologist and professor of microbiology and immunology at Brody Medical School at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.
Perry Halkitis is the dean of the School of Public Health and director of the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior & Prevention Studies at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey.
The transcript of this segment is being processed. It will be available within one week after the show airs.
Shoshannah Buxbaum is a producer for Science Friday. She’s particularly drawn to stories about health, psychology, and the environment. She’s a proud New Jersey native and will happily share her opinions on why the state is deserving of a little more love.
Ira Flatow is the host and executive producer of Science Friday. His green thumb has revived many an office plant at death’s door. | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/need-to-know-monkeypox/ | 2022-08-13T18:42:40Z | sciencefriday.com | control | https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/need-to-know-monkeypox/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Las Fiestas, Eagleville's longest-running restaurant, still serving up amazing flavor
Las Fiestas is Eagleville's longest-running restaurant. And for a long time, it was the town's only restaurant, which is located at 158 S. Main St.
Juan Nada and his brother, Umberto Nada, opened Las Fiestas Mexican Restaurant in 2003. Since then they've built a loyal following of fans that come to dine there from all over Middle Tennessee. There's a sister location in Chapel Hill at 317 N. Horton Parkway, too.
This little lone ranger of a restaurant didn't even have to be good to make a go of it. But Las Fiestas is great, from the friendly faces to the flavorful food. Yes, another Eagleville restaurant that's worth the short drive from neighboring municipalities.
Nada is purveyor of the plates — in other words, he's head chef and makes certain the food is good for customers. He grew up working with his mother in the kitchen and his recipes are crafted from his experience in the restaurant industry along with his own culinary preferences.
"I love to cook," Nada said.
But first, Las Fiestas is a feast for the eyes. There is one thing you're sure to notice before you even open a menu — brilliantly beautiful artwork. The murals cover the entirety of the restaurant, front to back, featuring artwork by Nashville artist Jose Vera. It's almost like a mini art museum and worth a gander before your meal. I took lots of photos.
You'll get good service, too. I was assured by a couple of the diners that friendliness was the norm, not just because I was there to review the restaurant. Nada was pretty proud of his staff, too.
New food at BNA:A comprehensive list of what's new and what's coming soon
Craving Italian:Sorelles Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria in Eagleville is the real deal
On the menu
We started the meal off with guacamole dip, something different than the queso I order everywhere else. This was a bit different than a typical creamy guac. The avocado was in big chunks and blended with pico de gallo and lots of garlic. By far, it was the best guacamole dip I've ever eaten. It was almost a meal in itself. And I'm glad we ordered it because the salsa was pretty basic, but maybe it was an off day.
First entree we dug into was the fajita nachos that featured shrimp, chicken, steak strips and sauteed onions, peppers and tomatoes smothered in queso. The blend of flavors was good, but I think next time I might order the queso on the side.
Next on our culinary journey at Las Fiestas was Poly Fajitas — poly, from the Greek word for much or many. So we had fajitas with all the meats: shrimp, steak strips, chicken, Mexican chorizo and sausage blended with sauteed onions, peppers and tomatoes.
My lunch date said this was the best fajitas he's ever had, with a perfect blend of spices to pair with the plethora of meats. The chorizo was especially tasty, with a very mild kick on the back end of each bite.
Last on the list was a combo platter of ground beef hard-shell taco, chili relleno, cheese enchilada, rice and beans. The ground beef in the chili relleno was good and greasy, full of flavor with very little heat. The enchilada was pretty good, too, and heated up well as leftovers. But I was disappointed with the taco's bland ground beef. However, that being said, my picky daughter loved it. So you know Las Fiestas has something for even the pickiest of palates.
Dolly & Willie:Country music icons and friends spotted filming at Dollywood
In recent months, Las Fiestas built a bar onto the restaurant with additional seating and lots of liquor, wine and beer. Nada is pretty happy about creating new concoctions and fancy drinks.
What else to know
There's a kids menu that will suit any picky eater, all less than $5. Vegetarians will also find a menu geared to their dietary needs.
Don't miss the dessert menu, which features flan, sopapillas and fried ice cream.
Hours for Las Fiestas are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Lunch specials are served 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The prices are easy on the wallet.
At lunch, the most expensive thing on the menu is the fajitas at $9.49. Most other lunch items are around $8. A quick lunch is $6.25. At dinnertime, nothing costs more than $13. The Poly Fajitas with all the meats, including shrimp, were $11.35 at lunchtime. Our tab was $55, with tax, and included three entrees, two drinks and an large appetizer.
Call 615-274-3322 for to-go orders.
Reach reporter Nancy DeGennaro at degennaro@dnj.com. Keep up with restaurant news by joining Good Eats in the 'Boro (and beyond) on Facebook and follow Murfreesboro Eats on TikTok. | https://www.dnj.com/story/entertainment/dining/2022/08/13/las-fiestas-mexican-restaurant-food-eagleville-murfreesboro-tennessee/10306925002/ | 2022-08-13T18:43:56Z | dnj.com | control | https://www.dnj.com/story/entertainment/dining/2022/08/13/las-fiestas-mexican-restaurant-food-eagleville-murfreesboro-tennessee/10306925002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford adds civic leader to board of directors
Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford announced that Kristin Demos, longtime vice president of brand and retail for Demos Brands, has joined the hospital’s board of directors.
The Middle Tennessee State University graduate is a past president of the Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford Foundation Board and has a rich history of giving back to the community.
Demos has served as campaign and communications director and interim president for the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties, as vice chair of the Linebaugh Library Foundation Board, as secretary of the Leadership Rutherford Board, and as a fundraising chair for the Child Advocacy Center of Rutherford and Cannon Counties.
She is a past president of the Junior League of Murfreesboro and a 2010 graduate of Leadership Rutherford.
“When it comes to making a difference in Rutherford County, Kristin Demos is in a league of her own,” said Gordon Ferguson, president and CEO of Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford. “We are thrilled to welcome such an influential member of the community to our hospital board of directors.”
She is married to Peter Demos, and they have two children, Jamey and Karys. The Demos family is actively involved with World Outreach Church. In her spare time, Demos enjoys traveling and riding horses. | https://www.dnj.com/story/news/2022/08/13/ascension-saint-thomas-rutherford-adds-civic-leader-board-directors/10269655002/ | 2022-08-13T18:44:02Z | dnj.com | control | https://www.dnj.com/story/news/2022/08/13/ascension-saint-thomas-rutherford-adds-civic-leader-board-directors/10269655002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The man suspected of stabbing renowned author Salman Rushdie in western New York is to be arraigned on charges of attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the second degree, the state police said Saturday.
Hadi Matar, 24, is accused of stabbing Rushdie -- whose controversial work has triggered death threats -- at a speaking engagement on Friday, authorities said. CNN has contacted a public defender assigned to Matar but did not receive an immediate response.
The State Police initially reported that Matar was arraigned and remanded without bail to the Chautauqua County Jail but later said he was being arraigned Saturday.
The venue where the attack occurred had rejected previous recommendations to toughen security measures, two sources told CNN.
Rushdie, 75, was stabbed at least twice on stage at the Chautauqua Institution before he was slated to give a lecture, New York state police said Friday. He was airlifted to a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania and underwent surgery, a Pennsylvania police official said.
Later in the day, Rushdie was put on a ventilator and was unable to speak, his agent, Andrew Wylie, told The New York Times. He will likely lose an eye, Wylie said. "The nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged. The news is not good."
A suspect was taken into custody shortly afterward, and authorities are working to determine the motive and the charges, state police said.
Following the attack, questions were raised about the security precautions -- or lack thereof -- at the host institution, which sits in a rural lake resort about 70 miles south of Buffalo, New York.
The institution's leadership had rejected recommendations for basic security measures, including bag checks and metal detectors, fearing that would create a divide between speakers and the audience, according to two sources who spoke with CNN. The leadership also feared that it would change the culture at the institution, the sources said.
The two sources have direct knowledge of the security situation at the Chautauqua Institution and past recommendations and spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
It's unclear whether the recommended measures would have prevented the attack on Rushdie based on the information released about the incident as of Friday evening. Authorities have not disclosed the type of weapon that was used in the attack.
There were no security searches or metal detectors at the event, a person who witnessed the attack told CNN. The witness is not being identified because they expressed concerns for their personal safety.
CNN reached out to the Chautauqua Institution and its leadership for comment but did not receive a response Friday.
Institution president Michael Hill defended his organization's security plans when asked during a news conference Friday whether there would be more precautions at future events.
"We assess for every event what we think the appropriate security level is, and this one was certainly one that we thought was important which is why we had a State Trooper and Sheriff presence there," Hill said. "We will assess for each of the events at the Institution what we think the appropriate level of security is and that's an ongoing process that we work in concert with local law enforcement on."
Also injured Friday was Henry Reese, co-founder of the Pittsburgh nonprofit City of Asylum, who was scheduled to join Rushdie in a discussion, police said. He was taken to a hospital and treated for a facial injury and released.
The world reacts to attack on Salman Rushdie
Reese is on the advisory committee for press freedom group PEN America, which tweeted a message from him late Friday: "Salman Rushdie is one of the great authors of our time and one of the great defenders of freedom of speech and freedom of creative expression."
Reese added, "We revere him and our paramount concern is for his life. The fact that this attack could occur in the United States is indicative of the threats to writers from many governments and from many individuals and organizations. In addition to wishing Salman well as Americans and citizens of the world, we need to re-commit ourselves to defending the values Salman has championed."
Rushdie's writings have garnered several literary prizes, including the Booker Prize for his 1981 book, Midnight's Children. But it was his fourth novel "The Satanic Verses," that drew the greatest scrutiny as some Muslims found the book to be sacrilegious, and its publication in 1988 sparked public demonstrations.
The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who described the book as an insult to Islam and Prophet Mohammed, issued a religious decree, or fatwa, calling for Rushdie's death in 1989.
Authorities were at New Jersey home connected to suspect
The suspect in the attack was identified as Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, New York State Troop Commander Major Eugene J. Staniszewski said Friday evening during a news conference.
The attack occurred around 10:45 a.m. as Rushdie was being introduced, a witness told CNN. A man in a black shirt appeared to be "punching" the author. The witness, who was about 75 feet from the stage, did not hear the attacker say anything or see a weapon.
Another witness, Joyce Lussier, was sitting in the second row when she saw a man who "lurched across the stage and got right to Mr. Rushdie.
"He came in the left side and leapt across the stage and just lunged at him. In, I don't know, two seconds he was across that stage," Lussier said. She heard people screaming and crying and saw people from the audience rushing up to the stage, she said.
Matar, 24, allegedly stabbed Rushdie at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen, state police said. Staff and audience members rushed to the attacker and put him on the ground before a state trooper took him into custody, police said.
On Friday evening, police had blocked off the street to the New Jersey home believed connected to the suspect.
Iran's bounty was never lifted
Rushdie, the son of a successful Muslim businessman in India, was educated in England, first at Rugby School and later at the University of Cambridge where he received a master's degree in history.
After college, he began working as an advertising copywriter in London, before publishing his first novel, "Grimus" in 1975.
In 1989, as a result of the fatwa, Rushdie began a decade under British protection.
Rushdie told CNN in 1999 that the experience taught him "to value even more ... intensely the things that I valued before, such as the art of literature and the freedom of expression and the right to say things that other people don't like.
"It may have been an unpleasant decade, but it was the right fight, you know. It was fighting for the things that I most believe in against things I most dislike, which are bigotry and fanaticism and censorship."
The bounty against Rushdie has never been lifted, though in 1998 the Iranian government sought to distance itself from the fatwa by pledging not to seek to carry it out.
Despite that, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently reaffirmed the religious edict.
In February 2017, on Khamenei's official website, the supreme leader was asked if the "fatwa against Rushdie was still in effect," to which Khamenei confirmed it was, saying, "The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued."
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/suspect-in-salman-rushdie-attack-to-be-arraigned-on-second-degree-attempted-murder-and-assault/article_c2ed0d59-074d-594a-a57c-df4ef21c6b76.html | 2022-08-13T18:52:59Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/suspect-in-salman-rushdie-attack-to-be-arraigned-on-second-degree-attempted-murder-and-assault/article_c2ed0d59-074d-594a-a57c-df4ef21c6b76.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CHICAGO, Aug. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --Gary Perinar, Executive Secretary-Treasurer (EST) of the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council, was unanimously re-elected to another four-year leadership term on Saturday by the union's delegate body. As EST, Perinar oversees operations of a union that represents 52,000 carpenters in 324 counties across Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Eastern Iowa.
Perinar is a third-generation business representative of the union and a 44-year member of Carpenters Local 174 in Joliet. In addition to his leadership role in the Carpenters Union, Perinar is an active civic leader and sits on the boards of both the Illinois Toll Highway Authority and the Chicago Federation of Labor.
"It is the honor of my lifetime to be re-elected to lead the 52,000 hardworking men and women of the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council," said Perinar. "These are exciting times for the labor movement and I look forward to continuing to grow our market share and improve the lives of the members we represent."
The Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council is one of the largest labor unions in North America, with 15 training centers across four states. The Regional Council prides itself on its unparalleled training, safety and productivity, ensuring that union contractors have the highest skilled workforces in order to remain competitive.
Under Perinar's leadership, the Regional Council negotiated a first-of-its-kind 5-year contract with employers, passed historic pension improvements, and extended health insurance eligibility for members who lost work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Perinar was also at the helm during the 2021 merger of the former Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters and St. Louis-Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council to form the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council. Perinar was elected EST of the then-Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters in 2018.
"I am confident that the progress we've made will help build a brighter future for all of our carpenters and the entire construction industry," said Perinar. "I thank our delegates for the confidence they have placed in me. The best is yet to come for our union."
About the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council
The Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council represents 52,000 working men and women in 324 counties across Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Eastern Iowa. The Mid-America Council provides the construction and maintenance industries with productive, competitive and certified professionals, encompassing a wide variety of crafts and skills.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/08/13/gary-perinar-re-elected-leader-52000-member-mid-america-carpenters-regional-council/ | 2022-08-13T18:57:27Z | witn.com | control | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/08/13/gary-perinar-re-elected-leader-52000-member-mid-america-carpenters-regional-council/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
New York City councilman Robert Holden called for the carriage horse that collapsed in Manhattan to be placed in an animal sanctuary.
Ryder, a 14-year-old carriage horse, collapsed on West 38th Street Wednesday. Viral video showed the animal lying in the middle of the roadway in Hell’s Kitchen as his driver whipped him and repeatedly demanded the exhausted animal “get up.”
Holden, who is also pushing for a ban on horse drawn carriages in the city, called on the horse’s owner, Ian McKeever, to let the animal be put to pasture.
“The multiple videos of Ryder collapsing on a hot day in Hell’s Kitchen that have gone viral shocked the entire world and only proved what we all knew about the torturous conditions that carriage horses endure daily in New York City,” said Holden. “Ryder joins a long list of horses who have collapsed or died on our city’s streets. I thank the animal advocacy groups and the thousands of concerned citizens for elevating this horrible story.”
“We look forward to hearing from Ian McKeever that he truly cares for his horse and is willing to let Ryder retire at a sanctuary,” he added.
Holden has also asked Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to investigate possible carriage horse cruelty across the city.
Animal advocates have said they already have a retirement sanctuary lined up for the horse should McKeever allow it.
A veterinary inspection confirmed Ryder had been suffering from Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis, a neurological disease caused from possum droppings. He is recuperating at West Side Livery Stables on West 38th Street. | https://nypost.com/2022/08/13/city-councilman-calls-for-collapsed-carriage-horse-to-go-to-sanctuary/ | 2022-08-13T18:59:04Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/13/city-councilman-calls-for-collapsed-carriage-horse-to-go-to-sanctuary/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Amazin’ infielder Luis Guillorme takes a swing at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: In pro sports, who has the best beards?
A: Well you gotta go with [James] Harden. … You gotta go with [Charlie] Blackmon. There’s a lot of good ones, you know?
Q: Where would yours rank?
A: I’m up there when I let it grow. Like, I think 2020 was the longest I had and it was pretty long. I haven’t gotten it there yet, but I think it was the whole COVID thing — being at home, I let it go for about a year.
Q: What prompted you to shave it off earlier this year?
A: I didn’t start out too hot, so I said, “Ah, let’s just change something, see what happens, just mix it up.”
Q: But then you grew it right back.
A: I don’t like being without a beard. Feel naked. I just don’t like the way I look without it.
Q: When did you first grow a beard?
A: I mean, like full, full beards, probably when I was 18, 19. I could grow some type of facial hair before that, but it wasn’t as much. And in my first three years we couldn’t have a beard in the minor leagues, up until in 2016 is where everything changed, so I was clean shaven those first three years.
Q: How would Buck Showalter look with a beard?
A: I think he can pull it off. I don’t think he’d like it, but I think he can pull it off.
Q: Who would look hideous with a beard?
A: Let’s see … I don’t know about hideous, but I think Vogey [Daniel Vogelbach] with a full, long beard would look pretty interesting. I think it would look good on him, actually, not bad.
Q: How often would you say you trim your beard?
A: Whenever I get a haircut I usually, I wouldn’t say trim it most of the time, but I line it up a little and clean up all the stragglers and make it look a little more presentable. So it’s still long, but it looks shorter just because it’s more well kept.
Q: At one time you had a Fu Manchu.
A: When I was in the minors coming up I’ve had Fu Manchu, I’ve had a goatee, I’ve had the handlebar mustache. … I get bored sometimes and I play around with it.
Q: What would a Little League baseball player have to do to earn the nickname “The Human Highlight Reel”?
A: (Laugh) I don’t know, I think it’s make plays that not a lot of people have seen … be creative with it, maybe.
Q: What’s the most creative play you think you’ve made?
A: I had one in Double-A where it was a ground ball up the middle — you can find it — it’s a ground ball up the middle, I was playing short, man on first, I was going behind second, I passed second base, caught it in between my legs, back to second base … but I’m gonna change my answer. 2019 in Triple-A I was playing second. Slow roller, I came in, came between my legs, barehand backwards to first for the out.
Q: How do you feel emotionally when you make an error?
A: I’m not a fan. I know people see it as I made an error and it might cost the pitcher runs, right? But people talk about it sometimes where you make an error, then you get a ground ball for a double play, you get out of the inning, didn’t matter. The way I look at is when I make an error, I’m making that pitcher throw extra pitches. So if that guy threw an extra five, seven pitches ’cause of me, I might have just taken an inning out of him. And at the same time, you might take money out of that guy ’cause he threw one less inning, or he had to throw to an extra batter. Whatever it is, the way I look at it is I’m making that guy throw more pitches.
Q: It probably ticks you off, am I right?
A: Yes. I’d rather go 0-for-4 than make a stupid error. Errors are gonna happen being aggressive, but dumb errors, I can’t stand ’em.
Q: Describe your on-field mentality.
A: I’m always focused … but I’m not fully serious about everything, I think I’m always relaxed, too. I’m always joking around no matter what the situation is. There’s times to be serious, but I think if you go through a game with just taking everything too serious you’re not gonna enjoy it. You can get mad at the moment, but you gotta flush it. I don’t like showing that I’m mad, it’s gonna happen eventually.
Q: You don’t like showing that you’re mad?
A: I don’t like showing emotions whatsoever out there. … I don’t want people to know whether I’m mad, whether this. I don’t think it looks good, me personally. So I just try to keep it to myself, and then flush it and then just maybe joke around about it. I think that’s the way I deal with stuff like that is I joke about it. When I have bad at-bats, whenever I go 0-for-4, “I’m the best hitter for the other team today,” stuff like that. That’s the way I get through stuff.
Q: What drives you?
A: I think one of the things is I’ve always been the smaller guy. It’s just proving people wrong really. It’s proving that I can do what I do.
Q: What is a criticism you felt was most unfair?
A: I’ve always shown I can hit. Then when I got to the big leagues I didn’t do it right off the bat. I was in a situation I wasn’t playing every day — this is not complaining, it’s just the way it was. It’s a lot harder to perform when you’re not playing every day. And I think in the last two years, especially this year, they gave me a shot, and I’ve shown what I can do. Like I said, I like to prove people wrong.
Q: Was it frustrating?
A: It always is, but at the end of the day, it’s not my call. Whenever they needed me to play I was gonna play, and if I was on the bench I was on the bench ready to come off of it.
Q: Favorite position?
A: At this point it’s second base.
Q: Is there any position you can’t play?
A: I don’t know, I don’t think so. I think I can just go there and figure it out as I go.
Q: How about catcher?
A: I can get it done.
Q: Does Buck know that?
A: I think I’m one of the emergency guys out here. … As long as I don’t have to catch Sugar [Edwin Diaz]. That guy throws way too hard.
Q: What about pitch?
A: I have two innings in the big leagues.
Q: What was that like?
A: The first one was really good, the second one was too cold, I didn’t like it. We were in Chicago last year, it was like 40s, 50s. My ball wasn’t doing what I expected it to do.
Q: Did you pitch growing up at all?
A: A little bit. But the coaches did not like taking me out of the game to put me on the mound.
Q: Why did you like Omar Vizquel so much?
A: I was always known for a defensive guy, it didn’t get much better than him. I just liked the way he played. Plus similar guy, I was always the small guy on the team, that’s what he was.
Q: When did you start wearing No. 13?
A: My whole life. Omar Vizquel wore it. So that’s why I wore it.
Q: If you could face any pitcher in MLB history, who would it be?
A: Randy Johnson, just to see what it looked like. It’s a lefty, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t go my way. It wouldn’t be fun, but it’d be interesting just to see it.
Q: If you could pick the brain of any infielder in MLB history other than Vizquel, who would it be?
A: I do it a lot with [Francisco] Lindor already as it is, doesn’t get much better than that at the moment. But growing up, because of Vizquel, I was a Cleveland Indians fan, that was my team. The other best player that played with him was Roberto Alomar. He was on the second base side. Or playing third base, I’ve done it. We got Eric Chavez that won a couple of Gold Gloves. I talk to him a lot about it from time to time, it’s not my natural position, so I’m lucky enough to have him here.
Q: What have you learned about Lindor as a teammate?
A: I like playing second with him. I think we get along really well. I think we’re similar types of players on the defensive side of it. We both might make a play out of nothing. … We know what each other’s doing at the time so I think that’s why it works well.
Q: What is it like playing behind Max Scherzer?
A: It’s fun. I’d say the same thing about [Jacob] deGrom, they’re two guys that are dominant. So I wouldn’t say it puts more pressure on you, but it makes you be a little more involved in the game ’cause you know they don’t put many balls in play when they’re hitting. So when they do, you want to make that play. When you have [Chris] Bassitt, Cookie [Carlos Carrasco], Taijuan [Walker], they’re contact-oriented guys, you get a lot of ground balls, they keep you involved. With Jake and Max, if you don’t stay in the game you might get lost because they might go four, five, six strikeouts in a row.
Q: Eduardo Escobar.
A: I think he’s one of the guys that keeps this team together. Just jokes all the time, but goes about his business the right way.
Q: Have you gotten a sense for your manager’s sense of humor?
A: It’s sometimes a little sarcastic. It’s a good one, I like it, I think it’s my type of sense of humor.
Q: How much of a difference can he make in terms of games won?
A: There’s times where I try to ask him about one play and then he starts explaining it and then he says, “If we did this in three innings, we might have to do that,” so he’s already thinking two, three innings ahead of it.
Q: Can he be worth like three wins a year, five wins a year?
A: Maybe more, who knows? At the end of the day, it’s just the knowledge he has about the game, the rules, the situation, stuff that might happen, it’s impressive.
Q: Describe Vogelbach.
A: He’s high energy. It looks like he can’t breathe when he’s talking ’cause he’s so excited in the game, just gets going, really communicates well about the game going on. [Tomas] Nido’s up there too, Nido bounces off the walls when he’s not playing.
Q: What is your ideal glove?
A: The glove I have right now. I’ve had the same glove since I was 12 years old, Rawlings — not the same glove, but same model, same size, but different colors. It’s Rawlings 11 ¹/₄, that’s what I like.
Q: But you’ve got a whole bunch of different gloves, don’t you?
A: I do, but they’re all the same. All that varies is the colors.
Q: How many different gloves do you think you have?
A: In my locker right now I probably have five gloves. I only use one. I just have ’em there. You never know what can happen.
Q: How long have you used just this one?
A: Just this year. I switch my gloves every year. … I don’t like ’em getting too soft.
Q: How much fun was your 22-pitch at-bat against Jordan Hicks?
A: I was tired. I don’t know about fun. It was fun after I walked. It wasn’t fun while I was doing it ’cause that guy throws hard, but yeah, it was interesting.
Q: Why don’t you wear a batting glove?
A: 2015 when I was in Savannah [Ga.], I was struggling a little bit, a little bit of a slump.
Q: So you took them off.
A: I had a good day … and then it just kind of went from superstition to, “I’m used to it now.” And I can’t wear batting gloves again.
Q: Describe catching that flying bat in the dugout.
A: I saw it the whole way. A lot of guys get hurt when you start ducking, you don’t know where the bat’s going. So I was literally trying to stop it. But when I went to stop it, it hit my hand and it just reaction closed and I caught it, and just threw it back.
Q: What has been your biggest adversity or obstacle?
A: Personally for me, last year was tough. I had never been hurt in my career, and I spent two months on the injured list [oblique, hamstring]. It was tough for me just to be around the guys not being able to play.
Q: What has been your best baseball moment?
A: As of now, I think it was my first home run, pinch hit off the bench off of Fernando Rodney to tie the game in the eighth inning.
Q: Your worst baseball moment?
A: Cincinnati last year, three errors in the first two innings, two on one play. It’s tough not to think about it like, “Oh, if this ball gets hit to me I gotta make this play, I already messed up.” That was not fun. That was my least favorite moment of all time.
Q: Best practical joke?
A: Well, in Triple-A, ’19, we had an older team, a lot of big leaguers, so we had a lot of fun. One of the things we did as a team was we had one our coaches, and we put eye-black inside of his helmet, he couldn’t tell until he took it off in the middle of the field.
Q: Who are your favorite athletes in other sports?
A: Back in the day my favorite soccer player was Raul from Madrid.
Q: And now?
A: Cristiano.
Q: You played ball in your house in Venezuela as a boy.
A: There were two rooms that my dad knocked out a wall in the middle, and I had a room with four walls and a couch, and I would just throw the ball around the room.
Q: What kind of ball?
A: Tennis balls, rubber balls, any type of little ball that could bounce. Except for a baseball. I got in trouble for that one a couple of times, a couple of holes in the wall, so we stayed away from those.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Chris Farley, Ichiro [Suzuki], Michael Jordan.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Space Jam.” The original one.
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Adam Sandler.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Jennifer Aniston.
Q: Favorite singer/entertainer?
A: Luke Combs.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Octopus.
Q: Best sandwich?
A: The Godfather at Benateri’s.
Q: What do you like best about this team?
A: I think it’s just the way we all get along. I think it’s a really good group of guys. We’re always having fun. We can be down by eight, we can be up by 10, it’s always business but we’re relaxed about it.
Q: Why is that?
A: I think we just know who we are, and how good we really can be.
Q: Visualize for me what this city will look and sound like if the Mets and Yankees play a Subway Series in October.
A: I might have to show up to the field about six hours early so I can get though traffic, it might make it a lot easier for us too, we don’t have to really travel, you can sleep in your own bed. … I think it’d be awesome. | https://nypost.com/2022/08/13/mets-luis-guillorme-on-legendary-beard-creative-fielding-criticism/ | 2022-08-13T18:59:16Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/13/mets-luis-guillorme-on-legendary-beard-creative-fielding-criticism/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Salman Rushdie described his life as “relatively normal” in an interview just two weeks before an assailant stabbed him at an upstate writer’s event.
He made the pronouncement to Germany’s “Stern” magazine, which released a transcript of the interview Saturday.
The interview was conducted in Manhattan, at the office of Rushdie’s agent, and he arrived without bodyguards, the magazine noted.
Rushdie discussed the religious edict issued against him in Iran in 1989.
“A fatwa like that is a serious matter, fortunately the Internet didn’t exist back then. The Iranians had to fax the fatwa to the mosques. That was a long time ago, you know, but now my life is relatively normal again,” he said.
He was attacked Friday on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY. Hadi Matar, 24, has been charged with attempted murder.
Rushie was on a ventilator Friday and was likely to lose an eye, his agent said.
The writer admitted to “Stern” that “we live in scary times.”
“Even if I always tell people: Don’t be afraid. But the bad thing is, death threats have become commonplace. It’s no longer just politicians who get it, but even American teachers who go through certain books in class. Look how many guns there are in America – more guns than people. The very existence of all these weapons is frightening,” he said.
He added “I think many people today live with similar threats as I did then. And the fax machine that was used against me is like a bicycle against a Ferrari compared to the internet.”
Rushdie, 75, said he was frightened that the US “will lose our democracy.”
“Ever since the Supreme Court’s abortion decision, I’ve had serious concerns that the US won’t make it. That the problems are irreparable and the country is falling apart,” he said. | https://nypost.com/2022/08/13/salman-rushdie-said-his-life-was-relatively-normal-in-recent-interview/ | 2022-08-13T18:59:34Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/13/salman-rushdie-said-his-life-was-relatively-normal-in-recent-interview/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Firefighters are tonight (August 13) tackling a fire on Dartford Heath. Crews say they are "working hard" to contain the blaze.
No casualties have been reported. Pictures circulating on social media show a huge plume of smoke billowing into the air near the A2 eastbound.
A spokesperson for Kent Fire and Rescue Service said: "Kent Fire and Rescue Service is currently attending a fire on Dartford Heath. Ten fire engines are at the scene.
Read more: Motorcyclist in critical condition after Seal crash
"Crews are working hard to contain the fire. No casualties have been reported."
Updates will follow when they come in. Scroll down for the latest in the live blog below.
'Keep windows and doors closed'
A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: "Firefighters are currently asking anyone who lives or works nearby to keep windows and doors closed as a precaution due to smoke coming from the incident. Please pass this on to anyone who may not have access to the internet, thank you." | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/live-updates-firefighters-rush-dartford-7461385 | 2022-08-13T19:03:58Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/live-updates-firefighters-rush-dartford-7461385 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A motorcyclist is in critical condition in hospital after he was involved in a crash today (Saturday) in Seal. Now police are appealing for witnesses to the collision to come forward.
At around 8.55am on Saturday (August 13), a silver Hyundai 120 was involved in a collision with a red Suzuki GW250, on the A25 Maidstone Road at the junction with Watery Lane. The motorcyclist, a man in his 60s, sustained life-threatening injuries and was taken to a London hospital where he remains in a critical but stable condition.
Officers from Kent Police's Serious Collision Investigation Unit are appealing to anyone who saw the incident, or who has dashcam footage that could help their enquiries, to contact them. Anyone with information which may assist the investigation is asked to call Kent Police’s appeal line on 01622 604100, quoting reference 13-0424.
Get more weather news from KentLive straight to your inbox for free HERE .
Read next:
Kent weather: Drought officially declared for Kent following weeks of dry conditions
Armed police called to Staplehurst after person seen with a weapon
Police name man charged after Ramsgate crash that killed two and injured others
Hosepipe ban: Folkestone fountains switched off as Kent enters 'the first stage of a drought'
Everything you need to know about the hosepipe ban affecting Kent | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/motorcyclist-critical-condition-after-sealcrash-7461360 | 2022-08-13T19:04:00Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/motorcyclist-critical-condition-after-sealcrash-7461360 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Vice Chancellor of the Bamidele Olumilua Univeristy of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere-Ekiti (BOUESTI) in Ekiti State, Professor Victor Adeoluwa has advised the federal government to honour the agreement it had with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for the union to end the ongoing strike in the interest of the students.
Adeoluwa who spoke during the 2021/2022 matriculation ceremony of 1,850 new students of the university on Friday, lamented the impact of the ongoing strike on the nation’s education sector and the future of the students.
He explained that university would continue to offer qualitative education to its students including exposing them to necessary skills that would be of help to them after graduating from the institution.
According to him, since the upgrade of the institution to university status by the governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi in October 2020, it has been running an uninterrupted academic sessions.
He said, “ I will advise ASUU leadership to continue to dialogue with government and government do the needful with ASUU and implement agreement that are willingly made with trade unions in the country so that our institutions could be what we all desire them to be.”
Advising the new students, the VC said, ” they should focus on the acquisition of those skills so that at the end of the day , it’s going to be an advantage for them in the labour market. We are not expecting them to graduate and begin to look for jobs except they so desire.
“But they will be able to be employers of labour when they graduate. That’s our focus and we are trying to do that for them in four years and by the grace of God, in four years, they would be able to know that they have acquired something very good.”
He explained that the university has zero tolerance for social vices such as cultism, exam malpractices and violence, adding that anyone found culpable would be punished according to the laws of the institution.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
How Workplace Sexual Harassment Forces Many Out Of Their Dream Jobs
Despite several laws prohibiting sexual harassment in Nigeria, many victims are forced to quit their dream jobs while others suffer depression as a result of unsolicited sexual advances from colleagues. FAITH ADEOYE reports.
If you want to keep your job and excel in your career, you need to do as I say,” Janet Abegunde’s boss said to her one fateful day. Miss Abegunde, a 24-year-old accountant who had just gotten her first job in one of the new generation banks, said she fell into depression after her boss sexually harassed her.
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
- Hoodlums Attack Lagos Governor’s Press Crew Bus In Tinubu’s Convoy, Two Injured
- [BREAKING] #EkitiDecides2022: INEC Declares APC’s Biodun Oyebanji Winner Of Guber Poll
Top 10 Business Ideas In Nigeria You Can Start With 100,000 Naira
2023: Kwankwaso Will Not Be Deputy To Obi —NNPP | https://tribuneonlineng.com/strike-fg-should-honour-agreement-with-asuu-in-interest-of-students-vc/ | 2022-08-13T19:23:31Z | tribuneonlineng.com | control | https://tribuneonlineng.com/strike-fg-should-honour-agreement-with-asuu-in-interest-of-students-vc/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The Florida Department of Health Friday released its latest COVID-19 situation report.
The report is from Aug. 5, 2022 through Aug. 11, 2022 and is data on Florida residents.
In Leon County, there are 973 new coronavirus cases with a new case positivity of 21.8%.
(8/5-8/11) Leon County has a known total of 102,596 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Our case positivity rate has decreased to 21.8% with 973 new cases. 60% of eligible people ages 6 months + have received at least one dose of vaccine. The FL Bi-Weekly Report: https://t.co/dffCRAyLq9 pic.twitter.com/5B3RQ6QXyw
— DOHLeon@healthyleonFL (@healthyleonfl) August 12, 2022
Gadsden County has 178 new cases of COVID-19 with a 27.5% new case positivity, Jefferson County had 55 new cases with a 29.1% positivity rate.
Lafayette County has 27 new cases with 17.9% new case positivity, Taylor County had 37 new cases with a 19.9% new case positivity rate, Wakulla County saw 65 new cases with a 16.6% new case positivity.
Madison County had 32 new cases of the virus with a 9.8% new case positivity, Suwannee County had 139 new cases with a 14.5% new case positivity, while Hamilton County had 45 new cases with a 25% new case positivity.
During the reporting period, 135 people ages six months and above in Leon County received at least one dose of the vaccine, 30 in Gadsden County, three in Jefferson County, 12 in Madison County, 10 in Hamilton County, seven in Taylor County, four in Lafayette County, 13 in Wakulla County and 17 in Suwannee County.
Statewide during the reporting period, a total of 54,353 new cases of COVID-19 were identified with a new case positivity of 18.4% and 97 deaths.
A total of 51,980 doses were administered statewide during the reporting period.
The report reflects statewide new case positivity and COVID-19 vaccine doses administered statistics have trended downward since the week of July 8.
08_12_2022 Florida Department of Health Covid19_data_latest by WTXL ABC27 on Scribd | https://www.wtxl.com/news/coronavirus/covid-19-positivity-in-big-bend-remains-high-but-trending-down-in-latest-florida-department-of-health-report | 2022-08-13T19:45:39Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/news/coronavirus/covid-19-positivity-in-big-bend-remains-high-but-trending-down-in-latest-florida-department-of-health-report | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — A slow-moving cold front will slip farther south this evening and tonight. Occasional showers and storms will be present along and ahead of the front, with areas of lingering cloudiness. Evening temps will range from the 80s to the 70s, with all areas getting into the lower 70s for lows. A clearing trend is likely in southern Georgia late tonight and early Sunday, leading to increased amounts of sunshine, while the Big Bend region will still have periods of clouds and a few showers and storms as the front meanders near Apalachee Bay. Highs area-wide will be in the upper 80s to low 90s. It can be less humid Sunday afternoon in inland areas, where nighttime lows can fall below 70° Monday morning, particularly for the I-75 south Georgia region.
--Casanova Nurse, Chief Meteorologist | https://www.wtxl.com/weather/saturday-evening-first-to-know-forecast-08-13-2022 | 2022-08-13T19:45:51Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/weather/saturday-evening-first-to-know-forecast-08-13-2022 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Perkins Appointed by President Biden to the National Museum and Library Services Board of the Institute of Museum and Library Services
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (August 12, 2022)— Allison Perkins, executive director of Reynolda House and Wake Forest University associate provost for Reynolda House and Reynolda Gardens, has been appointed by President Joe Biden to the National Museum and Library Services Board effective today. Perkins is one of 11 professionals named to the national board. An announcement from the White House was distributed today and can be found under the Briefing Room tab at whitehouse.gov.
The National Museum and Library Services Board, established by 20 U.S.C. § 9105a, advises the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on general policies with respect to the duties, powers and authority of IMLS relating to museum, library and information services, as well as the annual selection of National Medals recipients.
“I am honored to have been appointed to the National Museum and Library Services Board,” said Perkins. “I firmly believe in the power of museums and libraries to spark curiosity and a desire for learning. Such community spaces enhance our lives and expand our horizons, heightening our capacity to understand the wider world. I spent the first half of my career as an art museum educator, and this background infuses everything I do as a museum and university administrator. My belief in the power of education is deeply rooted in the ways that museums can support people to learn, imagine and discover personal purpose. I am humbled by the distinct privilege of being asked to serve on the board of an organization that celebrates the impact of museums and libraries.”
Reynolda has received two IMLS grants, both through the Museums for America program. In 2012, the museum received $137,698 for a website redesign, which included rethinking the possibilities of digital engagement with its visitors. Reynolda also received $143,530 in 2016 to develop a free, downloadable mobile audio-visual tour, Reynolda Revealed, to enable visitor engagement with the stories conveyed by its grounds, art collection and archives.
“Throughout my 39-year career, I have worked for several art museums that have been recipients of grants from IMLS that have been crucial in helping the institutions fulfill their mission,” said Perkins. “Reynolda is no exception. I am proud of the pivotal funding that Reynolda has received from IMLS, enabling us to reach strategic goals.”
“Congratulations to Allison Perkins on this appointment. It is a true testament to her exceptional and distinguished career in art museums,” said Dr. Susan R. Wente, President of Wake Forest University. “She is a strong and innovative leader who came to Reynolda 16 years ago. Under her stewardship the museum has increased its visibility nationwide, bringing more attention to its impressive American art collection and engaging diverse audiences through the expansion of its programs and educational opportunities. She brings extensive knowledge and experience to the National Museum and Library Services Board. Her appointment also speaks to the national importance of Reynolda House Museum of American Art.”
A spirited leader and gracious steward of art, Perkins joined the staff of Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as executive director in 2006. She was named Wake Forest University’s associate provost for Reynolda House and Reynolda Gardens in 2015. Reynolda is evolving as a unified destination for visitors of all ages and backgrounds to experience belonging through peaceful contemplation, play, work and learning. Annually, more than 180,000 visitors from North Carolina and beyond visit the historic 1917 estate, which includes the highly regarded art museum, formal gardens and public grounds. Reynolda’s affiliation with Wake Forest University has grown in several stages, and the historic property and school share a grounding in the humanities for the common good. Perkins considers herself an audience advocate and, in her role at Reynolda, she upholds the institution’s mission to connect people with the beauty and complexity of the American story through the integration of art, nature and history.
Perkins spent the first half of her career in art museum education. Prior to joining Reynolda, she was deputy director of education and interpretation at the Baltimore Museum of Art, moving there from her previous role as education director of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth. Perkins received a Bachelor of Arts in art history from Lake Forest College and completed graduate work in art history at the University of Chicago. She is a graduate of the Getty Leadership Institute, an executive training program for senior-level museum professionals.
About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
About Reynolda
Reynolda is set on 170 acres in Winston-Salem, N.C. and comprises Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda Gardens and Reynolda Village Shops and Restaurants. The Museum presents a renowned art collection in a historic and incomparable setting: the original 1917 interiors of Katharine and R. J. Reynolds’s 34,000-square-foot home. Its collection is a chronology of American art and featured exhibitions are offered in the Museum’s Babcock Wing Gallery and historic house bedrooms. The Gardens serve as a 134-acre outdoor horticultural oasis open to the public year-round, complete with colorful formal gardens, nature trails and a greenhouse. In the Village, the estate’s historic buildings are now home to a vibrant mix of boutiques, restaurants, shops and services. Plan your visit at reynolda.org and use the free mobile app Reynolda Revealed to self-tour the estate. | https://www.yesweekly.com/business/perkins-appointed-by-president-biden-to-the-national-museum-and-library-services-board-of-the/article_d6881936-1b1a-11ed-8eb4-03985a2a67c0.html | 2022-08-13T19:46:31Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/business/perkins-appointed-by-president-biden-to-the-national-museum-and-library-services-board-of-the/article_d6881936-1b1a-11ed-8eb4-03985a2a67c0.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Hot Toys Remakes Black Panther (Original Suit) With Newer Detail
With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on the way this fall, Hot Toys brings back the memory of T’Challa with a new Black Panther (Original Suit) figure based on the first film. Featuring the likeness of the late Chadwick Boseman, the figure includes new levels of detail in the suit, enhanced musculature, and more articulated feet for dynamic poses. In addition, he can wield a traditional spear, shield, or carved panther mask.
More specifically, per the product description, “the collectible figure features a T’Challa head sculpt with remarkable likeness, an interchangeable Black Panther masked head, a highly poseable and specialized body to highlight the king’s muscled physique, a newly refined screen-accurate Black Panther’s vibranium weave suit with silver accents and intricate details, iconic accessories including a shield, a spear, a Wakanda warrior mask, and a figure stand.”
RELATED: Ryan Coogler Discusses Making Black Panther 2 Without Chadwick Boseman
Expect the figure to ship about a year from now. He costs $285, the standard price for a basic Hot Toys character. Take a look through the image gallery below for more angles and details on this upgraded Black Panther. Will they be enough to persuade you to buy the new one? Let us know your thoughts in comments below.
Recommended Reading: Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet Book 1
We are also a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This affiliate advertising program also provides a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. | https://www.superherohype.com/movies/517842-hot-toys-remakes-black-panther-original-suit-with-newer-detail | 2022-08-13T19:48:40Z | superherohype.com | control | https://www.superherohype.com/movies/517842-hot-toys-remakes-black-panther-original-suit-with-newer-detail | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Latest Videos
More Videos-
Toronto: Halep shows her speed to beat Pegula in three-set semifinal
2022 Toronto -
Toronto: Pliskova fends off Zheng to book semifinal spot
2022 Toronto -
Toronto: Haddad Maia tops Bencic to make first WTA 1000 semifinal
2022 Toronto -
Toronto: Pegula returns to semifinals with win over Putintseva
2022 Toronto
Latest News
More News-
Halep beats Pegula to make Toronto final, will return to Top 10
2022 Toronto -
Haddad Maia rolls on, will meet Pliskova in Toronto semis
2022 Toronto -
Toronto semifinals preview: Halep set to take on Pegula for first time
2022 Toronto -
Cincinnati draw: Raducanu faces Serena Williams in blockbuster opener
2022 Cincinnati | https://www.wtatennis.com/videos/2742332/toronto-halep-shows-her-speed-to-beat-pegula-in-three-set-semifinal | 2022-08-13T19:53:48Z | wtatennis.com | control | https://www.wtatennis.com/videos/2742332/toronto-halep-shows-her-speed-to-beat-pegula-in-three-set-semifinal | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/saturday-morning-weather-moderate-trade-winds-lots-of-sunshine-morning-showers/article_c4382022-1b1b-11ed-ac6a-67af63bb70e9.html | 2022-08-13T19:58:06Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/saturday-morning-weather-moderate-trade-winds-lots-of-sunshine-morning-showers/article_c4382022-1b1b-11ed-ac6a-67af63bb70e9.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
On Friday afternoon, the F.B.I.'s search warrant for Mar-a-Lago was unsealed, revealing that the government believed evidence of three federal crimes regarding the handling of sensitive material could be found at former president Donald Trump’s opulent Palm Beach, Florida estate.
The search warrant said that a magistrate judge had established “probable cause” for the U.S. Department of Justice to request access to Trump's Mar-a-Lago property and seize documents —including some related to nuclear weapons, the Washington Post reported. The F.B.I. searched the Florida estate on August 8.
Earlier this year, the National Archives had asked the Department of Justice to investigate after saying 15 boxes of records it retrieved from the estate included classified records.
Twitter content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
The warrant cites three statutes, all of which fall under Title 18 of the U.S. Code, which deals with federal crimes and criminal procedure.
Of the three laws listed, Section 793—more commonly known as the Espionage Act—is drawing the most attention. Among other offenses, the Espionage Act includes the unauthorized possession of and refusal to return national defense information. The receipt for materials taken by the F.B.I. following its search revealed that the former president was storing classified material at Mar-a-Lago. According to the New York Times, the F.B.I. seized documents marked as “classified/TS/SCI,” or in other words, one of the highest levels of classification. Conviction under this statute can result in a penalty of up to 10 years in prison per offense.
Another statute cited in the warrant—Section 1519—deals with obstruction, including the destruction or alteration of records related to a federal investigation with “the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation.” Conviction of this offense can result in a penalty of up to 20 years in prison per offense.
The remaining statute mentioned in the warrant—Section 2071—criminalizes the concealment, mutilation or destruction of government documents. Conviction of this penalty can result in a penalty of three years in prison per offense; perhaps more significantly, a conviction also prohibits the guilty party from holding any federal office—including the presidency. Trump has said time and time again that is not a question of if, but of when he will announce his bid for president in 2024.
On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that DOJ had moved to unseal the warrant stating there was “substantial public interest in this matter.” Later that day, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that not only did he "not oppose the release of documents," but that he was "going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents."
On Saturday morning, the New York Times reported that in June, one of Trump's lawyers signed a written statement assuring that all classified materials that had been held at Trump's Florida estate had been returned to the government. Similarly, Trump said on Friday that he had declassified all the Mar-a-Lago material while he was still president—although he provided no documentation to support this claim. Both the signed statement by Trump's lawyer and Trump's claim contradict the findings laid out in the unsealed warrant. | https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/mar-a-lago-warrant-reveals-trump-potential-violations-of-espionage-act-other-crimes | 2022-08-13T19:58:49Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/mar-a-lago-warrant-reveals-trump-potential-violations-of-espionage-act-other-crimes | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Ahead of Wyoming's primary election on Tuesday, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) released her final campaign ad video, which sounds more like a concession speech. Cheney's numbers have been trailing in the polls, likely a symptom of her unrelenting pursuit of former president Donald Trump in the January 6 hearings.
The incumbent has been in office since 2016, and she has served as the sole House representative from Wyoming. A poll from Thursday shows Cheney with 28% support from voters, while 57% support rival Harriet Hageman.
Her final campaign ad focuses on lies circulating since the 2020 election and the importance of upholding American democracy, somewhat reminiscent of her stance in the January 6 hearings. “America cannot remain free if we abandon the truth,” Cheney said. “The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious, it preys on those who love their country, it is a door Donald Trump opened to manipulate Americans to abandon their principles, to sacrifice their freedom, to justify violence, to ignore the rulings of our courts and the rule of law.”
The New York Times pointed out that Trump won 70% of the vote in Wyoming in the 2020 election. Despite this, Cheney has left no room for doubt in her condemnation of the former president's inaction during the Capitol attack in the January 6 investigation, and was one of only 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump a second time. Consequently, Trump has made defeating Cheney a top priority for any and all politicians wanting his coveted alt-right endorsement.
“If the cost of standing up for the Constitution is losing the House seat, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay,” Cheney said earlier this month. | https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/rep-liz-cheney-emphasizes-role-in-jan-6-investigation-and-expected-loss-in-primary | 2022-08-13T19:58:55Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/rep-liz-cheney-emphasizes-role-in-jan-6-investigation-and-expected-loss-in-primary | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The judge may not have said the actual line, but the message was clear: Leave Britney Alone!
Jason Alexander, not the beloved actor best known for playing George Costanza on Seinfeld, but the 40-year-old who was married to Britney Spears for 55 hours in 2004, was convicted of aggravated trespassing and battery in a Ventura County, California court this week, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutors dropped charges of felony stalking and misdemeanor vandalism. Alexander was sentenced to 64 days in jail, which he had already served. He is also forbidden to come within 100 yards of Spears or an unnamed security guard with which he tussled.
In June, Spears, 40, married Sam Asghari, 28, at the home they shared in Thousand Oaks, California. (They have since moved to new digs in Calabasas, California.) Alexander, who befriended Spears in their youth in Louisiana, attempted to bust in on the nuptials while streaming himself over Instagram.
A physical altercation reportedly ensued between him and a security team member. He was taken away in handcuffs, but not before making his way up to Spears’s locked bedroom door, where she was inside making preparations. A door was damaged during the encounter. Luckily, the wedding continued as planned, as did the celebration, which included guests like Madonna, Selena Gomez, and Paris Hilton.
In 2021, Alexander was arrested in Nashville, Tennessee on charges of driving under the influence, unlawful use of drug paraphernalia, and possession or casual exchange of a controlled substance. He also refused to submit himself to a blood alcohol test, which is a civil offense in Tennessee. There was another DUI charge made against him in Louisiana in 2016. In 2015, Alexander spent four months in jail on domestic abuse charges in San Fransisco.
Spears and Alexander had their 2004 impromptu wedding in Las Vegas, a city renown for clear thinking. The bride wore jeans and a baseball cap, and later called the event “really silly,” remarking “after partying, you know, you really don’t think about what you’re doing.” Fair enough. | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/jason-alexander-britney-spears-ex-convicted-after-wedding-disruption | 2022-08-13T19:59:01Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/jason-alexander-britney-spears-ex-convicted-after-wedding-disruption | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Powerful winds hit a beachside music festival near Valencia, Spain early Saturday, causing a stage to partially collapse. CBS News reported the injury toll at 40, and that a man in his early 20s had died.
The Medusa Festival’s Circus of Madness on the Playa de Cullera on the Balearic Sea was entering its fourth of six days on Saturday when bad weather hit in the predawn hours. In addition to significant damage to the stage, reports indicated that large structures at the festival entrance blew down.
“We are completely devastated and appalled by what happened last night,” festival management said in a social media statement. An “unexpected and violent gale” hit the beach just after 4 a.m. triggering the concert promoters “to immediately evacuate the concert area to ensure the safety of the festival goers, staff and artists.”
The remainder of the festival has been canceled.
The festival, also known as Medusa SunBeach, began in 2015, focusing on EDM and trance music, and is known for its elaborate stage design. The event was not held in 2020 or 2021.
Headliners at this year’s festival include American DJ Steve Aoki, Dutch DJ Afrojack, French DJ David Guetta, Australian DJ Timmy Trumpet, and Spanish DJ Wade.
According to the Daily Mail, DJ Miguel Serna, was on stage for a scheduled 3 a.m. set when the storm hit. “It was a tense few minutes, I've never experienced anything like it before. The tragedy happened just at the end of my session on the main stage, just below it, which was the most affected (area). It was a few moments of horror, I am still in shock,” he wrote on his Instagram Stories.
Some of the mayhem was captured on social media. | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/music-festival-in-spain-hit-with-strong-winds-killing-one-and-injuring-many | 2022-08-13T19:59:07Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/music-festival-in-spain-hit-with-strong-winds-killing-one-and-injuring-many | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Lynne Mishele, the Los Angeles woman whose home was set ablaze in the tragic automobile accident last week that ultimately killed Anne Heche, took to Instagram following the news of the actress’s death.
“The news of Anne Heche passing is devastating. Her family and her friends and her children, especially, really have suffered a great loss, and my heart goes out for them,” she said in a short video.
“This entire situation is just tragic and there really are just no words. I’m sending love to everyone involved,” she continued.
Instagram content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
A neighbor who spoke to reporters following the accident said Mishele was “extremely fortunate” that she was in a different room when the crash occurred. The house caught fire “almost immediately” after Heche’s MINI Cooper slammed into it, and drove “almost all the way through.”
Mishele sought medical assistance for minor injuries following the accident.
A previous video from Mishele offered a thank you for “the overwhelming amount of love and compassion and generosity and kindness that people have shown over the past week.” She added that she was “trying to figure out up from down” after “the most insane, traumatic time.”
She ended her message with a shot of her two dogs, who survived the incident. A pet tortoise is also okay, but staying at a friend’s.
Instagram content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Mishele uploaded these videos to her business account, Creative Organization, a service that helps people declutter their homes. (The before & after page is impressive!) Friends of Mishele have also organized a GoFundMe, which has already surpassed its goal. | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/woman-whose-home-was-destroyed-in-anne-heche-accident-offers-condolences | 2022-08-13T19:59:13Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/woman-whose-home-was-destroyed-in-anne-heche-accident-offers-condolences | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LAFAYETTE, LA- LPD was on the scene last night around 8:31 p.m. investigating a major vehicle crash that involved a pedestrian.
The incident occurred at the intersection of Ambassador Caffery and Bonin Road. The victim, Dwayne Higdon,57, of Lafayette was struck by a passing vehicle while trying to remove an injured cat from the roadway.
Higdon was transported to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead. | https://www.katc.com/news/pedestrian-struck-in-a-fatal-one-vehicle-crash | 2022-08-13T20:05:27Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/news/pedestrian-struck-in-a-fatal-one-vehicle-crash | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WASHINGTON — The flagship climate change and health care bill passed by Democrats and soon to be signed by President Joe Biden will bring U.S. taxpayers one step closer to a government-operated electronic free-file tax return system.
It’s something lawmakers and advocates have been seeking for years. For many Americans, it's frustrating that beyond having to pay sometimes hefty tax bills, they also have to shell out additional money for tax preparation programs or preparers because of an increasingly complex U.S. tax system.
“It’s definitely something we should do, and when the IRS is adequately resourced, it’s something that will happen," said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at a June Senate Finance Committee hearing.
And now that the IRS is set to receive nearly $80 billion through the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” the agency has the means to develop new systems to help Americans pay their taxes. The legislation passed Congress on Friday.
Several hurdles stand in the way. Even in a best-case scenario, it will likely take years to get a new, free system up and running. There's also pushback from commercial tax preparation companies, which question whether Americans want the IRS to prepare their taxes.
Perhaps this biggest hurdle is an agreement between the IRS and some commercial tax preparation companies, known as the Free File Alliance, which prevents the federal agency from creating its own free tax return filing system. In short, the IRS agreed not create its own filing system if companies would instead provide free services to taxpayers making $73,000 or less.
This program, though, has been marred with controversy, with commercial firms misrepresenting their services and low taxpayer participation rates.
The Government Accountability Office in April reported that while 70% of taxpayers were eligible for services through the Free File Alliance, only 3% of taxpayers actually use the service. The watchdog recommended the IRS find new free filing options before the Alliance expires in October 2023.
With the funding in the bill, the IRS has an opportunity to create a new system.
Included is a provision that allots $15 million to the IRS to make plans for a free direct e-file tax return system. Those plans would have to be developed within nine months and would include cost estimates for creating and administering a system. They would also require public input.
There are also legislative attempts to move this effort along.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in July resubmitted a bill called the Tax Filing Simplification Act that would require the IRS to create its own free online tax filing service and move away from its partnership with private online tax preparation companies.
“I’ve been pushing for a free tax filing system for years, and now the IRS is on the verge of having significant funding to modernize its IT systems, which means it’s time to develop simplified filing tools laid out in my Tax Filing Simplification Act," Warren told The Associated Press.
“Americans spend too much time and money to file their taxes, and the IRS should adopt these proposals to help millions of Americans file taxes and claim refunds.”
At her Finance Committee appearance, Yellen called for a new system.
"There’s no reason in the world that a modern economy shouldn’t have a system that makes it easy for such a large group of taxpayers to file their returns," she said.
Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said “if the IRS moves forward with a free product, it could save lower-income families the money they used to give to H&R Block or TurboTax.”
“Tax prep companies are notorious for tricking tax filers into paying for services they should be getting for free," Williamson said, “so an IRS free file service would be a very welcome step that would save Americans money.”
In 2019, ProPublica wrote about Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block Inc.'s efforts to mislead taxpayers away from the federally supported free services for which they qualified. And in May, New York Attorney General Letitia James secured a $141 million settlement with Mountain View, California-based Intuit Inc., which had to pay restitution to some taxpayers.
Intuit withdrew from the Alliance in July 2021, stating in a blog post that the company could provide its benefits without the Free File Alliance's limitations. H&R Block withdrew from the partnership in 2020.
“Most Americans don’t want the tax collector to also serve as the tax preparer,” said Derrick L. Plummer, a spokesman for Intuit.
“The IRS already has a core mission that it needs to focus on, and creating a new system would cost billions of taxpayer dollars and jeopardize the financial freedom of millions more,” he said. A spokesperson for H&R Block did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
Ideas for what a government run free-file program might look like are already being studied.
Bruce Sacerdote, a Dartmouth economist, has examined systems in other countries in which taxpayers don't have to enter much data on their electronic forms because the government has already done so.
“The IRS has tremendous amounts of information on wages and dividends,” he said, adding that a government-supported tax filing system “could be a wonderful thing.”
Such systems are used in Germany, Japan and other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries that collaborate to develop policies that promote economic growth.
“As a taxpayer, there could be a great benefit to pre-population,” he said. “Filing taxes is enormously time-consuming. Given all the information the IRS has on taxpayers, they could simply send you a completed return." | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/expanded-irs-free-file-system-one-step-closer-in-dems-bill/article_ff0cdf6a-1b3b-11ed-a660-9bbd72ee61d9.html | 2022-08-13T20:08:16Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/expanded-irs-free-file-system-one-step-closer-in-dems-bill/article_ff0cdf6a-1b3b-11ed-a660-9bbd72ee61d9.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MAYVILLE — The man accused of carrying out a stabbing attack against “Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie has entered a not-guilty plea in a New York court on charges of attempted murder and assault.
An attorney for Hadi Matar, 24, entered the plea on his behalf during an arraignment hearing. Matar appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white face mask. His hands were cuffed in front of him.
Matar is accused of attacking Rushdie on Friday as the author was being introduced at a lecture at the Chautauqua Institute.
Rushdie remained hospitalized Saturday after suffering serious injuries in the stabbing attack, which was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for the award-winning author who for more than 30 years has faced death threats for his novel “The Satanic Verses.”
Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye, and was on a ventilator and unable to speak, his agent Andrew Wylie said Friday evening. Rushdie was likely to lose the injured eye.
Authors, activists and government officials condemned the attack and cited Rushdie's courage for his longtime advocacy of free speech despite the risks to his own safety. Rushdie's fellow author and longtime friend Ian McEwan called him “an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world,” and the actor-author Kal Penn cited him as a role model “for an entire generation of artists, especially many of us in the South Asian diaspora toward whom he’s shown incredible warmth.”
Matar, 24, was arrested after the attack at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak.
Authorities said Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey. He was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, the mayor of the village, Ali Tehfe, told The Associated Press. Flags of Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah and portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his late predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and slain Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani are visible across the village. The village also boasts a small Christian population.
Rushdie, a native of India who has since lived in Britain and the U.S., is known for his surreal and satirical prose style, beginning with his Booker Prize-winning novel from 1981, “Midnight's Children,” in which he sharply criticized India's then-prime minister, Indira Gandhi.
“The Satanic Verses” drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Rushdie's book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran's Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
Khomeini died the same year he issued the fatwa, which remains in effect. Iran’s current supreme leader, Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasn’t focused on the writer.
Investigators were working to determine whether the assailant, born a decade after “The Satanic Verses” was published, acted alone.
Journalists present in Yaroun, the village where the suspect’s parents emigrated from, were asked to leave Saturday. Hezbollah spokespeople did not respond to the AP’s inquiries about Matar and the attack on Rushdie.
Iran’s theocratic government and its state-run media assigned no rationale for the assault. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed by the AP praised the attack on an author they believe tarnished the Islamic faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country.
An AP reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as the author was being introduced. Dr. Martin Haskell, a physician who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdie’s wounds as “serious but recoverable.”
Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. Reese suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile.
A state trooper and a county sheriff’s deputy were assigned to Rushdie’s lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn’t tighter security for the event, given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering more than $3 million to anyone who killed him.
Matar, like other visitors, had obtained a pass to enter the Chautauqua Institution’s 750-acre grounds, said Michael Hill, the institution’s president.
Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the roughly 2,500 people in the audience for Rushdie's appearance.
The assailant ran onto the platform “and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten,” Savenor said. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds.
Another spectator, Kathleen James, said the attacker was dressed in black, with a black mask.
Amid gasps, spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater.
The stabbing reverberated from the tranquil town of Chautauqua to the United Nations, which issued a statement expressing U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ horror and stressing that free expression and opinion should not be met with violence.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s attack, which led an evening news bulletin on Iranian state television. From the White House, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan described the attack as “reprehensible” and said the Biden administration wished Rushdie a quick recovery.
After the publication of “The Satanic Verses,” often-violent protests erupted across the Muslim world against Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim family and has long identified as a non-believer, once calling himself “a hard-line atheist.”
At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 people in Rushdie’s hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the book’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived.
The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall.
In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie used while in hiding. He said during a New York talk the same year the memoir came out that terrorism was really the art of fear.
“The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid,” he said.
The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. Visitors don’t pass through metal detectors or undergo bag checks. Most people leave the doors to their century-old cottages unlocked at night.
The center is known for its summertime lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken before.
At an evening vigil, a few hundred residents and visitors gathered for prayer, music and a long moment of silence.
“Hate can’t win,” one man shouted. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/rushdie-attacker-pleads-not-guilty-to-attempted-murder/article_2966b06e-1b3d-11ed-9801-8769791576d1.html | 2022-08-13T20:08:22Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/rushdie-attacker-pleads-not-guilty-to-attempted-murder/article_2966b06e-1b3d-11ed-9801-8769791576d1.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NEW YORK (AP) — The Los Angeles Police Department has ended its investigation into Anne Heche’s car accident, when the actor crashed into a Los Angeles home on Aug. 5.
Heche is brain dead and on life support, pending evaluation for organ donation.
“As of today, there will be no further investigative efforts made in this case,” the department announced Friday. “Any information or records that have been requested prior to this turn of events will still be collected as they arrive as a matter of formalities and included in the overall case. When a person suspected of a crime expires, we do not present for filing consideration.”
Detectives looking into the crash had said narcotics were found in a blood sample taken from Heche, 53. She has been hospitalized at a Los Angeles burn center. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/entertainment-news/lapd-ends-investigation-into-anne-heche-car-crash/ | 2022-08-13T20:18:35Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/entertainment-news/lapd-ends-investigation-into-anne-heche-car-crash/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — In November 1979, a little over a week after student militants seized control of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 American citizens hostage, President Jimmy Carter issued Executive Order 12170 declaring a national emergency against Iran.
That order remains in effect today, renewed most recently in the weeks before last Thanksgiving by President Joe Biden, who noted then that “our relations with Iran have not yet normalized.”
The Biden administration’s declaration Aug. 4 of a public health emergency on monkeypox frees up federal money and resources to fight a virus that has already infected more than 10,000 people in the United States. But public health emergencies expire every 90 days, unless extended by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Those are different from national emergency declarations, which give presidents broad leeway to make policy and tap federal funds without congressional approval. That’s what activists have clamored for to better fight climate change, but Biden has held off despite energy shortages in much of the world and high gasoline prices at home.
“This is actually the true test of whether President Biden takes the climate crisis seriously,” Karen Orenstein, climate director of Friends of the Earth. “There could not be a more crucial move.”
Presidents have declared 76 national emergencies in the last nearly five decades, and 42 remain in effect, according to a list compiled by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School.
Biden has recently declared emergencies related to hostage-taking and detained U.S. nationals abroad, while extending one on Mali. He’s also issued them on Myanmar and Afghanistan and authorizing sanctions on Russia, Ethiopia and individuals linked to the global illicit drug trade.
Such declarations stem mostly from the National Emergencies Act of 1976, which came after President Richard Nixon issued a series of them, including on currency restrictions and a national postal strike.
The law requires that those declarations automatically end after a year, unless the president orders a renewal. Congress can also end emergencies, but doing so effectively requires a veto-proof two-thirds vote, which has never happened.
“The origin of the law was clearly an attempt to set limits on presidential power,” said Chris Edelson, author of “Emergency Presidential Power: From the Drafting of the Constitution to the War on Terror.” “Before the actions passed, presidents could declare emergencies and no one really knew what it meant. And they stood for decades.”
An emergency declared in 1950 by President Harry S. Truman to combat communism globally in the context of the Korean War was still in effect in the 1970s, before the law.
Emergencies set since it took effect have similar, extended shelf lives, though. President George W. Bush’s emergency three days after the Sept. 11 attacks still stands. President Donald Trump declared COVID-19 a national emergency in 2020 and Biden has extended it through at least February 2023.
Only once has Congress even discussed thwarting emergency declarations, Edelson said. That was in 2019, when 12 Senate Republicans joined Democrats to block Trump’s efforts to declare one on the U.S.-Mexico border and put $6 billion-plus from the military and other federal funds toward building a wall. Trump used a veto to preserve his border emergency declaration until Biden nixed it upon taking office.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., warned during the wall funding fight that allowing Trump to what he wanted might let future Democratic presidents to do similar on the climate. Trump used a veto to keep his border emergency declaration in place until Biden nixed it upon taking office.
“It sets long-term precedents,” Rubio told CNBC in 2019. “Tomorrow, the national security emergency might be climate change, so let’s seize fossil fuel plants or something.”
That prediction hasn’t yet proved prescient. Biden said last month that climate change “is an emergency” but didn’t issue a declaration, which would have let him take major actions meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including limiting offshore drilling and U.S. oil exports.
With Congress approving nearly $375 billion over a decade in climate change-fighting strategies as part of a larger budget package, political pressure on him to do so may dissipate.
The White House hasn’t said whether declaring a national climate emergency is now off the table. But it’s hard to imagine the administration imposing limits on oil and production after prices at the pump hit record highs. They have since fallen steady throughout the summer — a fact the White House has trumpeted.
Still, declaring a national climate emergency could let Biden move to fundamentally remake the U.S. economy in a greener way, a pledge that was a centerpiece of his 2020 presidential campaign. The president also has promised to slash the nation’s carbon emissions in half by 2030 — a goal the budget package’s climate provisions aren’t enough to meet.
“Now more than ever we need to declare a climate emergency,” said Cassidy DiPaola, a spokesperson for the Stop the Oil Profiteering campaign. She said the budget measure, known as the “Inflation Reduction Act,” is “totally packed with handouts to the fossil fuel industry.”
“Our messaging to Biden is saying, ’Hey, you need to fix what the IRA left out and what the IRA sacrificed,” said DiPaola, who added that of the measure, “This is Congress that passed IRA. President Biden has still made all of these climate commitments.”
Delaying a national climate emergency declaration even this long, however, may undermine the core argument that a crisis is at hand.
“The real indicator that this doesn’t really meet the definition of an emergency as intended by the act – even though it’s not clearly defined – is that he waited,” said Edelson, who is also a professor of government at American University in Washington, about climate concerns. “If it’s a real emergency, you act right away.”
Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, countered that conservatives on the Supreme Court and in Congress have repeatedly defied popular opinion on top issues — underscoring Biden’s need to act unilaterally.
“Everyone grants the president can declare an emergency if there is an individual fire or hurricane. But when the entire planet is suffering heatwaves, unprecedented fires are rampant, and oceans are on the verge of flooding American cities, the president can’t declare that an existential climate emergency?,” Green asked. “He clearly has the power and his grandchildren are depending on him to use it.” | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/health/monkeypox-climate-deciding-whats-a-national-emergency/ | 2022-08-13T20:19:36Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/health/monkeypox-climate-deciding-whats-a-national-emergency/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Laboratory tests following a mass die-off of fish in the Oder River detected high levels of salinity but no mercury poisoning its waters, Poland’s environment minister said Saturday as the mystery continued as to what killed tons of fish in Central Europe.
Anna Moskwa, the minister of climate and environment, said analyses of river samples taken in both Poland and Germany revealed elevated salt levels. Comprehensive toxicology studies are still underway in Poland, she said.
She said Poland’s state veterinary authority tested seven species of the dead fish and ruled out mercury as the cause of the die-off but was still waiting for results of other substances. She said test results from Germany had also not shown a high presence of mercury.
The Oder River runs from Czechia to the border between Poland and Germany before flowing into the Baltic Sea. Some German media had suggested that the river have been be poisoned with mercury.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Friday that “huge amounts of chemical waste” were probably dumped intentionally into his country’s second-longest river, causing environmental damage so severe it would take years for the waterway to recover.
On Saturday, Morawiecki vowed to do everything possible to limit the environmental devastation. Poland’s interior minister said a reward of 1 million zlotys ($220,000) would be paid to anyone who helps track down those responsible for polluting the river.
Authorities in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania warned people not to fish or use water from the Szczecin lagoon, as the river’s contaminated water was expected to reach the estuary area on Saturday evening.
“The extent of the fish die-off is shocking. This is a blow to the Oder as a waterway of great ecological value, from which it will presumably not recover for a long time,” said Alex Vogel, the environment minister for Germany’s Brandenburg state, along which the river runs.
The head of Polish waters, Poland’s national water management authority, said Thursday that 10 tons of dead fish had been removed from the river. Hundreds of volunteers were working to help collect dead fish along the German side.
German laboratories said they detected “atypical” levels of “salts” that could be linked to the die-off but wouldn’t fully explain them on their own.
Morawiecki acknowledged that some Polish officials were “sluggish” in reacting after huge numbers of dead fish were seen floating and washing ashore, and said two of them were dismissed.
“For me, however, the most important thing is to deal with this ecological disaster as soon as possible, because nature is our common heritage,” Morawiecki said.
His comments were echoed by Schwedt Mayor Annekathrin Hoppe, whose German town is located next to the Lower Oder Valley National Park. She called the contamination of the river “an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented scale” for the region.
___
Follow all AP stories related to the environment at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/international/high-salinity-found-in-european-river-after-fish-die-off/ | 2022-08-13T20:20:10Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/international/high-salinity-found-in-european-river-after-fish-die-off/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CAIRO (AP) — Libyan authorities said Saturday they found at least 15 migrants dead in the desert on the borders with Sudan, the latest tragedy involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe via perilous journeys through the conflict-wrecked nation.
The Department for Combating Irregular Migration in the southeastern city of Kufra said the migrants were on their way from Sudan to Libya when their vehicle broke down due to lack of fuel.
The agency said nine other migrants survived while two remain missing in the desert. There were women and children among the migrants, but the agency did not elaborate on how many. It also did not reveal causes of the migrants’ death, but said they did not have enough food and water.
It said the migrants were all Sudanese — from a country in turmoil for years. The migrants likely attempted to reach western Libya in efforts to board trafficking boats to Europe.
The agency posted images on Facebook showing bodies purportedly of the dead migrants who were later burned in the desert.
The tragedy was the latest in Libya’s sprawling desert. In June, authorities in Kufra said they found the bodies of 20 migrants who they said died of thirst in the desert after their vehicle broke down close to the border with Chad.
Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
Human traffickers in recent years have benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling in migrants across the country’s lengthy borders with six nations. The migrants are then packed into ill-equipped rubber boats and set off on risky sea voyages. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/international/libya-officials-15-migrants-found-dead-on-border-with-sudan/ | 2022-08-13T20:20:31Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/international/libya-officials-15-migrants-found-dead-on-border-with-sudan/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(NewsNation) — The man who allegedly stabbed Salman Rushdie in the neck and abdomen has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and assault.
Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, was processed and transported to Chautauqua County Jail on Friday. Deadline reports he was remanded without bail, and that charges could be upgraded if Rushdie’s condition gets worse.
Authorities said Matar was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, the mayor of the village, Ali Tehfe, told The Associated Press.
The stabbing happened at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York, where Rushdie was set to give a lecture.
An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storming the stage and begin attacking Rushdie as he was being introduced. The author was then taken or fell to the floor.
According to New York State Police, Rushdie was transported by helicopter to the hospital. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was on a ventilator Friday evening, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in his arm and an eye he was likely to lose.
Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. Reese suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile.
Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses” has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it blasphemous. A year later, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
Khomeini died the same year he issued the fatwa, which remains in effect. Iran’s current supreme leader, Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict.
Iran’s government has long since distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment has lingered. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.
Rushdie dismissed that threat at the time, saying there was “no evidence” of people being interested in the reward. That year, Rushdie published a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie had used while in hiding.
The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, is known for its summertime lecture series. Rushdie has spoken there before.
“Banfield” spoke Friday with Mona Kolko, an eyewitness to the incident.
“People were horrified. It went from the noise of applause, 2,000 people clapping to people shouting, people hollering, people crying. Stunned. Shocked. What is going on here? What happened here? He is hurt. Something terrible is going on, and we are witnessing this horrible moment,” Kolko said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/suspect-in-salman-rushdie-attack-charged-with-attempted-murder-assault/ | 2022-08-13T20:20:57Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/suspect-in-salman-rushdie-attack-charged-with-attempted-murder-assault/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
By her own telling, Mississippi authorities provided Carolyn Bryant Donham with preferential treatment rather than prosecution after her encounter with Emmett Till led to the lynching of the Black teenager in the summer of 1955.
Instead of arresting Donham on a warrant that accused her of kidnapping days after Till’s abduction, an officer passed along word that relatives would take her and her two young sons away from home amid a rising furor over the case, Donham said in a 2008 memoir made public last month. The sheriff would later claim Donham, 21 at the time, could not be located for arrest.
Once her husband and his half-brother were jailed on murder charges in Till’s death, she said in the unpublished manuscript, two men with the sheriff’s office drove her and her sister-in-law to the lockup for a relaxed visit outside their cell and even ferried the women back home. Later, before their murder trial, the men somehow were allowed to attend a family dinner without guards, she said.
“I was shocked! How in the world were they released from jail to come to eat supper with us? I didn’t see who dropped them off or picked them up to return them to jail, but we had a wonderful evening together,” Donham recalled in the memoir, written by her daughter-in-law based on the older woman’s words.
Nearly 70 years later, Donham’s retelling of the days surrounding Till’s abduction and lynching stokes fresh frustration among relatives of Till and activists pushing for Donham’s prosecution, particularly now that a Mississippi grand jury has decided against charging her with kidnapping in his abduction or manslaughter in his death.
For them, the revelations also raise questions about whether Donham, now 88, is still being protected despite what they see as new evidence against her.
___
Carolyn Donham has rarely commented publicly on the Till case, and she has not said anything publicly about the recent decision against new charges. That’s why her memoir — made public by a historian who said he obtained it during an interview years ago — created such a stir when it was released a few weeks ago. The decision not to indict her followed media reports with details of the document, but it’s unclear whether grand jurors considered contents of the autobiography.
In the 99-page memoir, Donham said Till, 14 and visiting relatives in Mississippi from Chicago, walked into the family-owned store where she was minding the counter on Aug. 24, 1955. Neither husband Roy Bryant nor his half-brother, J.W. Milam, were around that day — it was just her and Till, who also went by the family nickname of “Bobo.”
In the account, Donham repeats her testimony from the murder trial that Till grabbed her and made lewd comments. He also whistled, she said, in the only part of her story backed up by Till cousin and witness Wheeler Parker Jr. during an interview with The Associated Press.
Evidence indicated Till was abducted at gunpoint days later by two armed white men, and a woman likely identified the youth for them. While Donham denied in the memoir identifying Till and says she instead tried to help him, she was named in a kidnapping warrant along with Bryant and Milam. Donham was never arrested, despite police knowing where she was located at least part of the time.
For a period, Donham said, she was spirited away with the knowledge of officers and “shuffled” between homes by the Bryant family. Then, with Donham in the courtroom, the two men were tried and acquitted in Till’s murder. The kidnapping charges were dropped later, and no one has been charged or tried since.
Following their acquittal, Bryant and Milam admitted to the abduction and killing in an interview with Look magazine.
In the memoir, Donham said she did not even know there was a warrant for her arrest until an FBI agent told her during a renewed probe decades later.
The warrant sat unknown and unseen in the basement of a Mississippi courthouse until June, when members of the Till family and others found it during a search. At the time of the killing, Donham wrote, “they didn’t even tell me there was a warrant.”
“I was never arrested or charged with anything,” she said.
The nagging question for some is, why not?
___
Keith Beauchamp, a filmmaker and activist who helped find the warrant, believes the decision against indicting Donham lies not with the grand jurors who voted against new charges but with a system that goes back generations.
Mississippi law enforcement, which was all-white at the time of the killing, allowed Donham to avoid justice in a misguided quest to protect “white womanhood,” he said, and that same veil is covering her now.
“Chivalrous impulse allowed this woman to go untouched for 67 years,” said Beauchamp, who released the documentary “The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till” in 2005 and helped write and produce the upcoming movie “Till,” a drama set to premiere in October.
But in announcing a Leflore County grand jury’s decision not to indict Donham, District Attorney Dewayne Richardson on Tuesday cited neither race nor womanhood or anything else but evidence. Members of the panel were presented with testimony from witnesses who told about the investigation of Till’s killing from 2004 until now, he said in a statement.
“After hearing more than seven hours of testimony from witnesses with direct knowledge about this case and the investigators that investigated this case, the Grand Jury determined that there was not sufficient evidence to indict Donham,” said Richardson, who is Black.
Members of the Till family weren’t pleased with the decision. Yet the Rev. Wheeler Parker of Chicago, a Till cousin who was with the youth the night he was abducted from a family home, sounded a conciliatory tone about the failure to obtain an indictment, a decision which he called “unfortunate, but predictable.”
“The state of Mississippi assured me and my family that they would leave no stone unturned in the fight for justice for my cousin, Emmett. They kept their promise by bringing this latest piece of evidence before the grand jury,” he said.
Expressing appreciation for the prosecutor’s efforts, Parker said one person alone “cannot undo hundreds of years of anti-Black systems that guaranteed those who killed Emmett Till would go unpunished, to this day.”
___
It’s unclear whether a grand jury will ever again hold the fate of Carolyn Donham in its hands.
At least three investigations have ended without charges in less than 20 years, including a Justice Department review that was closed without prosecution in December. Bryant and Milam died decades ago, and other associates believed by some to have been involved also are dead. Donham is the only person known to still face the risk of arrest.
The Till family and others have promised to keep pushing for someone to prosecute Donham, and additional witnesses could still be alive, said Dale Killinger, a retired FBI agent who investigated the Till case in a probe that ended without an indictment on a manslaughter charge in 2007.
“There’s still a possibility that there is other evidence out there,” Killinger said in an interview.
Perhaps, but’s it’s unclear whether anyone with a badge is looking for it. The Justice Department has not given any indication it would reopen the case, and the office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch cited the Justice Department’s decision in saying no prosecution was planned even before Richardson announced the grand jury had decided against charges.
In her memoir, Donham denied doing anything to get Till killed and expressed sorrow for his family’s pain. She portrayed herself as another victim of the horrible crime, as someone who quit trusting strangers and has been hounded by the media for decades.
For some, enough is enough.
“Donham may not have paid the price that some wanted her to pay, but she has suffered for what happened to Till. Anyone who claims otherwise is not being honest with themselves. It is time to let her be,” The Greenwood Commonwealth newspaper in Leflore County said in an editorial after the grand jury decision was announced.
To Ollie Gordon, another one of Till’s cousins, some justice may have been served even without anyone being convicted in the killing.
“Ms. Donham has not gone to jail. But in many ways, I don’t think she’s had a pleasant life. I think each day she wakes up, she has to face the atrocities that have come because of her actions,” Gordon said. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national/troubling-questions-unresolved-in-latest-end-to-till-case/ | 2022-08-13T20:21:24Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national/troubling-questions-unresolved-in-latest-end-to-till-case/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Two-time champion Simona Halep advanced to her fourth National Bank Open final after rallying to defeat No.7 Jessica Pegula 2-6, 6-3 6-4 in the semifinals. Toronto is Halep's first final since winning the Melbourne 250 in January and the biggest final for the former No.1 since winning Rome in 2020.
The win assures Halep will return to the Top 10 when the Hologic WTA Tour rankings are updated on Monday. Currently ranked No.15, Halep saw her 373-week reign in the Top 10 end nearly a year ago when she dropped out on Aug. 9, 2021. She can rise as high as No.6 if she wins the title on Sunday.
Halep will face either Karolina Pliskova or Beatriz Haddad Maia in the final. Into her 18th WTA 1000 final, Halep is bidding to win her ninth WTA 1000 title and 24th career title.
SI-MO-NA! SI-MO-NA! 💪
— wta (@WTA) August 13, 2022
🇷🇴 @Simona_Halep comes from a set down to defeat Pegula and reach her 18th WTA 1000 final!#NBO22 pic.twitter.com/NWrJpj220l
Facing Halep for the first time, Pegula raced through the opening set behind her flat baseline game and efficient work at the net. Halep struggled from the baseline, with her reliable backhand breaking down often. But Halep shifted the tide early in the second set. Finding more consistent depth and using more spin to kick the ball out of Pegula's strike zone, Halep broke the American twice to build a 4-1 lead.
"I changed a little bit the tactics," Halep said. "In the first set, it was a little bit too fast. She was hitting super strong and I didn't feel the rhythm. Then I just calmed down and I tried to just push her back a little bit more."
Serving at 4-2, Halep saved four break points to maintain her break lead. The game was decided by mere inches, as Pegula narrowly missed on two break points and missed a stretch volley on a Halep passing shot that may have been drifting wide. Halep closed out the set to force the match into a decider after 80 minutes.
If at first you don't succeed...
— wta (@WTA) August 13, 2022
try, try again 😉@Simona_Halep | #NBO22 pic.twitter.com/b5KphOUftN
Turning point: Halep struck 10 double-faults in the match and served at just 60% but was able to save 12 of 17 break points on the day. Pegula will rue her many missed opportunities. She had multiple break points in three games in the second set and only broke once.
Serving at 1-2 in the final set, Halep fell behind a quick 0-40 but again Pegula could not break through. With the Romanian locking down her baseline game to minimize errors and pressure Pegula with her defense, the American buckled. After failing to convert on four break points in the game, Pegula was broken immediately at love. With a 3-2 lead and the momentum, Halep built a double-break lead before holding off Pegula's comeback attempt to close out the win after 2 hours and 12 minutes.
18 - Simona #Halep is now the player with the joint-most WTA-1000 finals (18, level with Serena Williams) - since 2009. Collection.@WTA @WTA_insider #NBO22 pic.twitter.com/1BzcXQAW6h
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) August 13, 2022
Stat of the day: The victory is Halep's 37th of the season, tying her with Ons Jabeur for the second-most wins on tour. | https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2742322/halep-beats-pegula-to-make-toronto-final-will-return-to-top-10 | 2022-08-13T20:23:34Z | wtatennis.com | control | https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2742322/halep-beats-pegula-to-make-toronto-final-will-return-to-top-10 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Fourteen years after a jury shockingly acquitted R. Kelly in a high-profile child porn case, prosecutors will get a second crack at the disgraced Grammy winner.
The 55-year-old R&B singer is slated to appear in federal court in Chicago on Monday to begin what in many ways is a do-over of his 2008 state trial, where shocking video he took of himself sexually assaulting and urinating on a 14-year-old girl was prosecutors’ “Exhibit 1.”
However, this time around, the victim is expected to testify.
Among the most serious charges R. Kelly faces is conspiracy to obstruct justice by rigging the 2008 trial, including by paying off and threatening the victim to make sure she did not testify.
The fallen “I Believe I Can Fly” singer and icon of ’90s pop stardom was slapped with 30 years in prison in June by a Brooklyn federal judge for a 2021 conviction on charges he sexually abused women and underage girls and boys over the course of decades.
Testimony by the 2008 victim, now in her 30s and referred to in court filings only as “Minor 1,” is expected to be crucial.
Kelly will also be on trial for allegedly enticing four others to have sex with him when they were minors. All are also expected to testify.
More convictions could add decades to Kelly’s Brooklyn sentence, which he is appealing.
Prosecutors at the federal trial in Chicago plan to play the same VHS tape that was prominently exhibited at the 2008 trial. At least three other videos will be entered into evidence.
With Post wires. | https://nypost.com/2022/08/13/r-kelly-headed-back-to-court-14-years-later-for-sex-assault-of-teen-girl/ | 2022-08-13T20:29:53Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/13/r-kelly-headed-back-to-court-14-years-later-for-sex-assault-of-teen-girl/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
DELMAR, Md. – The Town of Delmar recently discovered that 28 of the town’s 264 fire hydrants were no longer working, and now they are in the process of repairing them to restore safety in the community.
The town found that the fire hydrants were not working during a routine hydrant flushing in July. During a flushing, the town releases water from the fire hydrants to ensure water flow is adequate and available to firefighters, residents, and businesses. The issue is alarming to some Delmar neighbors.
“It’s crazy,” says Joy Mitchell, whose daughter lives right by one of the broken hydrants. “The fire hydrants are really important, especially if you have a fire or an emergency or something, and the fire company needs to come put out your house fire.
On Friday, we spoke to Delmar Town Manager Jeff Fleetwood who attributes the failing hydrants to aging infrastructure. The town has fixed 11 of the hydrants in the last two weeks. According to Fleetwood, some require food-grade grease, while others need small parts to be repaired. Two or three fire hydrants cannot be repaired and will need to be replaced by an outsourced vendor. In addition to locating the non-working hydrants, the town has covered them with black plastic bags until they’ve been repaired or replaced.
“All hydrants in the town are mapped, so we know where they’re at,” Fleetwood said. “All hydrants that were bagged are on that map. So that information has been shared with emergency services and also with town staff.”
The Delmar Fire Department was not aware of the broken hydrants before the town notified them after the flushing. However, the fire department says it relies mostly on its engine tanker for water supply and emergency services have not been impacted by the issue.
“What we do is we send out the engine tanker and then we’ll use our tanker,” said Delmar Assistant Fire Chief Joshua Joyner. “So the engine tanker has 3,000 gallons and the tanker has 4,000. So we have a total of 7,000 gallons that are initially coming out of the fire house.”
Fleetwood said the Town of Delmar is working quickly and diligently to restore the remaining 17 fire hydrants. They do not have an exact date for when the project will be completed. | https://www.wboc.com/news/multiple-delmar-fire-hydrants-discovered-not-working/article_0519d9a0-1b26-11ed-8b09-1ff29dbd63c0.html | 2022-08-13T20:30:09Z | wboc.com | control | https://www.wboc.com/news/multiple-delmar-fire-hydrants-discovered-not-working/article_0519d9a0-1b26-11ed-8b09-1ff29dbd63c0.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
OCONEE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – A woman was charged with attempted murder Friday evening after attacking someone with two knives in Seneca.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office arrested Brittny Michelle Lamboy, 35, of Seneca following an investigation of a reported stabbing.
Deputies were dispatched to Mormon Church Road around 5:50 p.m. Upon arrival, investigators found a victim with at least four extensive lacerations.
The victim was transported by paramedics to the hospital for treatment.
Deputies located Lamboy at another address on Mormon Church Road. Based on evidence gathered during the investigation, she was placed under arrest.
Lamboy was booked into the Oconee County Detention Center on a $25,000 bond.
Due to the nature of the crime, deputies will not provide any information regarding the victim or their condition. | https://www.wspa.com/news/crime/woman-accused-of-stabbing-victim-4-times-in-oconee-co/ | 2022-08-13T20:37:46Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/crime/woman-accused-of-stabbing-victim-4-times-in-oconee-co/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(The Hill) – The likelihood of a “megastorm” occurring in California has doubled due to climate change, according to a new study published on Friday.
The study, published in the Science Advances journal, found an increased likelihood of runoff water occurring from harsher storms, creating the threat of debris flows and landslides later, according to a press release from the University of California, Los Angeles.
With every degree that the Earth gets warmer, the likelihood for a “megastorm” increases, too, the study found.
Researchers looked at two different scenarios using present climate models and high-resolution weather modeling. One scenario involved a long series of storms taking place during what scientists predicted climate conditions would be like between 2081 and 2100.
The other scenario predicted what it would be like if those storms took place in the current climate, according to the release.
In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, storms that took place toward the end of the century would see between 200 percent and 400 percent more runoff because of higher precipitation.
“There are localized spots that get over 100 liquid-equivalent inches of water in the month,” UCLA climate scientist and co-author of the research David Swain said in a statement regarding the end-of-the-century scenario.
“On 10,000-foot peaks, which are still somewhat below freezing even with warming, you get 20-foot-plus snow accumulations. But once you get down to South Lake Tahoe level and lower in elevation, it’s all rain. There would be much more runoff.”
The researchers also noted that the state risks a $1 trillion disaster. In addition, parts of major cities like Los Angeles and Sacramento would be underwater if the state endured the kind of flooding that took place during the Great Flood of 1862 in the current climate.
“Modeling extreme weather behavior is crucial to helping all communities understand flood risk even during periods of drought like the one we’re experiencing right now,” Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said in a statement.
“The department will use this report to identify the risks, seek resources, support the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, and help educate all Californians so we can understand the risk of flooding in our communities and be prepared.”
The department contributed some funding toward the study. | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/climate-change-doubles-likelihood-of-megastorms-extreme-flooding-in-california-study/ | 2022-08-13T20:37:58Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/climate-change-doubles-likelihood-of-megastorms-extreme-flooding-in-california-study/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(WREG) — The cloak of dark window tint may not be enough to hide your belongings inside your vehicle. Police say thieves can use cell phone cameras to look through tinted windows.
Police in Memphis, Tennessee, recently warned residents that it doesn’t matter how dark your windows are tinted — when you put a cell phone in camera mode up to the glass, you can see right through.
Employees with Nexstar’s WREG put a cell phone up to the back window of a car as a test, and were able to see everything in the vehicle’s backseat.
Documentation of the “hack” is pretty sparse online, likely due to the potentially illegal nature of peeking through someone’s windows to look at their belongings. Many Reddit users have also taken notice, though most commenters of the /LifeProTips subreddit agreeing it was a shady practice.
With rising advances in mobile technology, phone cameras can do so much more than take pictures. Some features allow users to conduct real-time internet searches of whatever the camera’s pointed at, or translate text instantly. Abilities depend on phone models and app installations, of course.
Memphis police, meanwhile, are urging vehicle owners not to leave anything valuable in their cars, or at least not in view of would-be burglars. The department added that theft from motor vehicles is the top non-violent crime occurring daily in Memphis, with thieves likely looking for purses, valuables or even guns that can be sold on the street for a quick profit.
Police also recommend locking your car doors whenever leaving the vehicle unattended and parking in a well-lit area. If there is a gun in the car, make sure it is safely stored in a locked box. Car alarms can also be useful, as well as cameras around your home, which may catch potential thieves. | https://www.wspa.com/news/thieves-can-use-cell-phones-to-see-whats-inside-your-car-police-warn/ | 2022-08-13T20:38:10Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/thieves-can-use-cell-phones-to-see-whats-inside-your-car-police-warn/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
2 hours ago - Economy & Business
J.K. Rowling gets death threat after calling attack on Rushdie "horrifying"
"Harry Potter" writer J.K. Rowling received a public threat after condemning the attack on British author Salman Rushdie.
The big picture: Multiple authors weighed in on the attack on Rushdie, denouncing any violence against authors and writers.
Driving the news: Rowling said the attack on Rushdie — who was stabbed at an event in New York Friday afternoon and remains hospitalized — was "horrifying."
- "Feeling very sick right now. Let him be ok," she wrote.
- “Don’t worry you are next," replied a user under the name Meer Asif Aziz, who was described as a "student, social activist, political activist and research activist" in his Twitter bio, per Deadline.
- Rowling asked Twitter Support for help. She later said police were involved.
State of play: Other popular authors have weighed in on the attack on Rushdie.
- Stephen King said he hoped Rushdie "is okay." He later tweeted, "What kind of a--hat stabs a writer, anyway? F--er!"
- James Patterson tweeted that he was "shocked" and "deeply saddened by the continued acts of violence in today's world. Tragic events like these are too common these days."
- Ian McEwan, the Booker-prize-winning author, said the “appalling attack" on Rushdie “represents an assault on freedom of thought and speech," The Guardian reports.
- Margaret Atwood, writer of "The Handmaid's Tale," retweeted a number of posts about Rushdie.
- Taslima Nasrin, a writer on women's oppression, said that she thinks "the man who wanted to kill Rushdie for writing Satanic Verses hasn't read Satanic Verses. I think the Islamists who want to kill me for writing books have not read any of my books."
- PEN International, an association of writers, said, "No one should be targeted, let alone attacked, for peacefully expressing their views." | https://www.axios.com/2022/08/13/jk-rowling-salman-rushdie-attack-threat | 2022-08-13T20:44:25Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/2022/08/13/jk-rowling-salman-rushdie-attack-threat | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
1 hour ago - Politics & Policy
Schiff, Maloney ask for security damage assessment on Mar-a-Lago documents
Two high-ranking House members are asking for a national security damage assessment of the documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago, according to a letter sent to the Director of National Intelligence on Saturday.
The big picture: The FBI seized highly sensitive documents in their search of former President Trump's Florida residence on Monday, including some marked as "top secret."
- Trump on Friday afternoon said in a statement that "it was all declassified" and insisted that "they didn't need to 'seize' anything. They could have had it at anytime."
- The Justice Department has rebutted his claims.
What they're saying: "Former President Trump’s conduct has potentially put our national security at grave risk," Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a letter to Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence.
- The unauthorized disclosure of Top Secret information would cause “exceptionally grave damage to the national security.”
- "In addition, at least one report indicates that FBI’s investigation focused in part on highly classified documents “relating to nuclear weapons,” which are among our nation’s most closely guarded secrets," the letter added.
- "If this report is true, it is hard to overstate the national security danger that could emanate from the reckless decision to remove and retain this material."
Details: The FBI removed 11 sets of classified information, including:
- "Various classified/TS/SCI documents" — referring to documents containing "top secret" or "sensitive compartmented information."
- 21 boxes of "miscellaneous confidential documents," "miscellaneous secret documents" or "miscellaneous top secret documents."
- The executive grant of clemency for Trump's associate Roger Stone, "Info re: President of France," a leatherbound box of documents, two binders of photos and a handwritten note.
Go Deeper: Mar-a-Lago search warrant's clues | https://www.axios.com/2022/08/13/trump-mar-a-lago-national-security-assessment | 2022-08-13T20:44:38Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/2022/08/13/trump-mar-a-lago-national-security-assessment | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(The Hill) – Celebrated author Salman Rushdie, who had death threats issued against him in the 1980s, was attacked on stage Friday at an event in New York.
Photos circulating after the incident showed Rushdie being treated on stage after he was reportedly stabbed in the neck, moments before he was scheduled to give a lecture on “redefining the American home” in the 21st Century.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) confirmed Friday afternoon that Rushdie is still alive. Though no other details are known about his condition. It is also unclear what motivations prompted his attacker.
However, Rushdie, a British-American national born in Mumbai, India, became a controversial figure for his written work because of its descriptions Islam and the Prophet Mohammad, garnering backlash from the former Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
But how did Rushdie become a controversial figure? And how did he draw the ire of one of the most prominent Islamic figures in the Middle East?
Rushdie and ‘The Satanic Verses’
“The Satanic Verses,” Rushdie’s fourth novel, caused immediate controversy around the world and among the Muslim community upon its publication in 1988, as many Muslims considered it blasphemous.
There were calls for its immediate ban and the book was burned in multiple demonstrations in the U.K., Pakistan and elsewhere. The book is still banned in a number of countries around the world including Egypt, U.A.E and India.
On February 14, 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie. According to History.com, a fatwa can only be repealed by that same scholar, and Ruhollah Khomeini died in the same year he issued the ruling.
Rushdie wrote about the controversy surrounding his novel in an essay for The New York Review in 1989 and said: “One may not discuss Muhammad as if he were human, with human virtues and weaknesses. One may not discuss the growth of Islam as a historical phenomenon, as an ideology born out of its time. These are the taboos against which ‘The Satanic Verses’ has transgressed.”
What is a fatwa?
A fatwa is issued by a religious scholar and is a legal pronouncement handed out by an Islamic religious leader. A fatwa is, in essence, a ruling under Islamic law, and in rare cases like in Rushdie’s, a fatwa may call for death.
Gordon D. Newby, author of “A Concise Encyclopedia of Islam,” told CNN that getting a fatwa “would be like going to someone who was a combined lawyer-priest and getting an opinion.”
He added that a fatwa is an opinion and that different scholars from different schools of Islamic law might rule differently on the same issue or question.
Attacks on translators and publishers of ‘The Satanic Verses’
Hitoshi Igarashi, a Japanese scholar and translator of Rushdie’s novel was stabbed to death in 1991.
The Italian translator of the novel, Ettore Capriolo, was injured in a stabbing in Milan in 1991. The Norwegian publisher of the book, William Nygaard, survived the assassination attempt when he was shot three times in Oslo in 1993.
Lived in hiding for 10 years
Rushdie, who was living in the U.K. at the time the fatwa was issued, went into hiding for 10 years under an alias. The author was also given 24-hour police protection by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government.
Rushdie wrote about his experience in hiding in his 2012 memoir “Joseph Anton,” which was his alias for a decade.
Rushdie told NPR that the alias was necessary so that he could rent property, because doing so in his own name would be dangerous.
“And I was asked to make it not an Indian name. And so, deprived of one nationality, I retreated into literature — which is, you could say, my other country — and chose this name from the first names of Conrad and Chekhov: Joseph Conrad, Anton Chekhov equals Joseph Anton,” he added.
Almost a decade after the fatwa was first issued, the Iranian government issued a statement saying it would neither “support nor hinder” Rushdie’s assassination. However, some Iranian groups and others have continued to push for his assassination.
Continued death threats
Rushdie has continued to receive threats over his novel, and has been forced to pull out of numerous literary festivals and appearances due to personal safety concerns. In 2012, for instance, he withdrew from India’s biggest literary festival in Jaipur after saying that he feared for his life, the BBC reported.
Move to the US and other works
Rushdie moved to the U.S. in the 2000s and told the Village Voice that Manhattan reminded him of the city where he was born.
“Even the shape of Manhattan island is pretty much the same shape and size as what used to be called Bombay and what is now called South Bombay. The old downtown area,” he said.
Prior to the publication of “The Satanic Verses,” Rushdie had earned a name for himself in the literary world with his second novel “Midnight’s Children,” winning the 1981 Booker Prize for his work. The novel was adapted into a film in 2012.
He’s also written nearly a dozen other novels, as well as children’s books and other works. | https://www.wpri.com/news/national/what-you-need-to-know-about-salman-rushdie-and-the-fatwa-against-him/ | 2022-08-13T20:57:55Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/national/what-you-need-to-know-about-salman-rushdie-and-the-fatwa-against-him/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Collision in Fort Smith Friday claims one life
Accident reconstruction unit works at scene
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Fort Smith Times Record
A person has died of injuries suffered in a Fort Smith collision Friday, according to reports.
Police reported a two-vehicle accident with serious injuries at N. 32 and Kelley Highway about noon Friday.
A tractor-trailer and another vehicle were involved in the collision. The rig overturned and came to rest partially over a drainage culvert.
An accident reconstruction team arrived to investigate what happened.
According to reports, a person injured in the collision died later. Police did not release the identities of those involved in the collision.
Traffic was detoured through the area for several hours. | https://www.swtimes.com/story/news/2022/08/13/person-dies-result-collision-friday-fort-smith/10317308002/ | 2022-08-13T21:01:06Z | swtimes.com | control | https://www.swtimes.com/story/news/2022/08/13/person-dies-result-collision-friday-fort-smith/10317308002/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Having proven dominance in one hemisphere, Haiden Drury will be upping the stakes considerably in the coming days.
The Toppenish graduate will be on Team USA's 10-member Greco-Roman men's squad at the U-20 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, where competition runs Monday through Sunday with Greco-Roman held over the final three days.
Drury will compete in the 63-kilo bracket with qualification rounds starting on Friday.
The sophomore at Utah Valley University has reached the top level of U-20 international competition thanks to a stellar summer, which started with winning the Junior World Team Trials title in Ohio in early June. He won the best-of-three championship final with decisions of 5-3 and 6-3.
A month later, the three-time state champion for the Wildcats competed in the U-20 Pan-American Championships in Oaktepec, Mexico, and easily winning the gold medal in the 63-kilo title, going 5-0 while outscoring opponents 36-2.
Drury's youth resume is filled with Greco-Roman accomplishments, having been a two-time USMC Cadet national champion.
Men's and women's freestyle open the week-long event in Bulgaria on Monday. | https://www.yakimaherald.com/sports/college_sports/haiden-drury-set-to-compete-in-u-20-greco-roman-world-championships/article_d45c8f44-1ac4-11ed-921e-6baba59a0d83.html | 2022-08-13T21:21:59Z | yakimaherald.com | control | https://www.yakimaherald.com/sports/college_sports/haiden-drury-set-to-compete-in-u-20-greco-roman-world-championships/article_d45c8f44-1ac4-11ed-921e-6baba59a0d83.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) participates in drills at the NFL football team's practice facility in Irvine, Calif. Monday, Aug. 8, 2022.
IRVINE — He wanted you to laugh. To scoff. To roll your eyes.
The undersized son and grandson of NFL players, Cooper Kupp knew at age 9 he too was bound for the league.
Never mind his modest stature. Forget about the fact that he had zero college scholarship offers when his final game at Davis High ended. Or that he eventually found a home not at a Division I powerhouse, but at Eastern Washington.
Cooper Kupp hugs his father Craig Kupp as his mother Karen Kupp takes a photograph Feb. 1, 2012 following a ceremony in which Cooper, a standout Davis High School football player, signed a letter of intent to attend Eastern Washington University.
Cooper Kupp of Davis makes a second quarter reception while defended by Chiawana's Charles Joshua Edrington during a drive that lead to the Pirates only touchdown in the first half Friday, Oct. 15, 2010.
Eastern Washington's Cooper Kupp (10) runs past Weber State's Mitch Tulane (37) and Kory Wilson (18) for a 40-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter of the Eagles' 14-13 victory on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, in Cheney, Wash.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, right, high-fives Davis sophomore Marco Vidales (55) during a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash.
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, facing, signs an autograph for Drew Lyons, 12, during a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. Kupp graduated from Davis before becoming a record-breaking receiver at Eastern Washington University.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp warms up on the field before a Thursday Night Football game against the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2019 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Wash.
Rams receiver Cooper Kupp catches a pass during an Oct. 3, 2019 game in Seattle, Wash. Kupp finished with nine receptions for 117 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown catch.
The Kupp men, from the left, Ketner Kupp, Craig Kupp, center, Cooper Kupp, second from the right, and Jake Kupp, far right, pray before eating dinner near Cheney, Wash. Saturday, October 8, 2016.
Eastern Washington vs. Northern Colorado | Oct. 2016
EWU All-America wide receiver Cooper Kupp is greeted by fans before the start of the Northern Colorado Bears game at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. Saturday, October 8, 2016.
Eastern Washington vs. Northern Colorado | Oct. 2016
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) attempts to break away in the open space as Northern Colorado players swarm to stop the All-America during the Big Sky matchup at Roos Field on Saturday, October 8, 2016.
Eastern Washington vs. Northern Colorado | Oct. 2016
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp completes catches a pass as Northern Colorado players swarm to stop the All-America during the Big Sky matchup at Roos Field on Saturday, October 8, 2016.
Eastern Washington vs. Northern Colorado | Oct. 2016
EWU All-America wide receiver Cooper Kupp signs autographs for the youngsters after the Northern Colorado matchup at Roos Field on Saturday, October 8, 2016.
A sign supporting Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp hangs beneath the "Welcome to Yakima, the Palm Springs of Washington" sign Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022 in Yakima, Wash.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, right, catches a pass under pressure from Indianapolis Colts cornerback Quincy Wilson during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, top, leaps over Chicago Bears inside linebacker Danny Trevathan (59) and inside linebacker Roquan Smith (58) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Inglewood, Calif.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) gts away from Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Jamel Dean (35) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, in Tampa, Fla.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) scores on a 70-yaard touchdown reception during the first half of an NFL divisional round playoff football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022, in Tampa, Fla.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) looks for room to run against the San Francisco 49ers during the NFL NFC Championship game, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022 in Inglewood, Calif. The Rams defeated the 49ers 20-17.
Cooper Kupp hugs his father Craig Kupp as his mother Karen Kupp takes a photograph Feb. 1, 2012 following a ceremony in which Cooper, a standout Davis High School football player, signed a letter of intent to attend Eastern Washington University.
Cooper Kupp of Davis makes a second quarter reception while defended by Chiawana's Charles Joshua Edrington during a drive that lead to the Pirates only touchdown in the first half Friday, Oct. 15, 2010.
Eastern Washington's Cooper Kupp (10) runs past Weber State's Mitch Tulane (37) and Kory Wilson (18) for a 40-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter of the Eagles' 14-13 victory on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, in Cheney, Wash.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, right, high-fives Davis sophomore Marco Vidales (55) during a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash.
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, facing, signs an autograph for Drew Lyons, 12, during a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. Kupp graduated from Davis before becoming a record-breaking receiver at Eastern Washington University.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp warms up on the field before a Thursday Night Football game against the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2019 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Wash.
Rams receiver Cooper Kupp catches a pass during an Oct. 3, 2019 game in Seattle, Wash. Kupp finished with nine receptions for 117 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown catch.
The Kupp men, from the left, Ketner Kupp, Craig Kupp, center, Cooper Kupp, second from the right, and Jake Kupp, far right, pray before eating dinner near Cheney, Wash. Saturday, October 8, 2016.
Eastern Washington vs. Northern Colorado | Oct. 2016
EWU All-America wide receiver Cooper Kupp is greeted by fans before the start of the Northern Colorado Bears game at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. Saturday, October 8, 2016.
Eastern Washington vs. Northern Colorado | Oct. 2016
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) attempts to break away in the open space as Northern Colorado players swarm to stop the All-America during the Big Sky matchup at Roos Field on Saturday, October 8, 2016.
Eastern Washington vs. Northern Colorado | Oct. 2016
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp completes catches a pass as Northern Colorado players swarm to stop the All-America during the Big Sky matchup at Roos Field on Saturday, October 8, 2016.
Eastern Washington vs. Northern Colorado | Oct. 2016
EWU All-America wide receiver Cooper Kupp signs autographs for the youngsters after the Northern Colorado matchup at Roos Field on Saturday, October 8, 2016.
A sign supporting Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp hangs beneath the "Welcome to Yakima, the Palm Springs of Washington" sign Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022 in Yakima, Wash.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, right, catches a pass under pressure from Indianapolis Colts cornerback Quincy Wilson during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp runs a drill during NFL football training camp Friday, July 27, 2018, in Irvine, Calif.
Jae C. Hong / Associated Press
Rams vs. Bears | Oct. 2020
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, top, leaps over Chicago Bears inside linebacker Danny Trevathan (59) and inside linebacker Roquan Smith (58) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Inglewood, Calif.
Ashley Landis / Associated Press
Rams vs. Buccaneers | Nov. 2020
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) gts away from Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Jamel Dean (35) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, in Tampa, Fla.
Mark LoMoglio / Associated Press
Rams vs. Buccaneers | Jan. 2022
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) scores on a 70-yaard touchdown reception during the first half of an NFL divisional round playoff football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022, in Tampa, Fla.
Jason Behnken / Associated Press
Rams vs. 49ers | Jan. 2022
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) looks for room to run against the San Francisco 49ers during the NFL NFC Championship game, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022 in Inglewood, Calif. The Rams defeated the 49ers 20-17.
Doug Benc / Associated Press
Kupp was just running a different route. Naturally.
In a post-practice chat this week, he described how his approach has evolved from 2016, when late in a record-breaking college career, he maintained: “I want to set my goals laughably high.”
Back then, he told Spokane-based television news station KREM-TV: “If people aren’t doubting you, if people aren’t saying ‘that’s ridiculous,’ then you’re not setting your goals high enough.”
1 of 9
Super Bowl Football
Los Angeles Rams defensive end Aaron Donald (99) celebrates with wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) after their victory against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022 in Inglewood, CA. The Rams defeated the Bengals 23-30. (AP Photo/Doug Benc)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) the game MVP celebrates a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals after the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. The Los Angeles Rams won 23-20. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) eyes a touchdown pass in the end zone as Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple (20) attempts to tackle during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) pulls in a touchdown catch as Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple (20) defends during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, top, catches a touchdown against Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) catches a touchdown against Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple (20) during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp pulls in a touchdown catch as Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple defends during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) is congratulated by teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) is congratulated by teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Los Angeles Rams defensive end Aaron Donald (99) celebrates with wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) after their victory against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022 in Inglewood, CA. The Rams defeated the Bengals 23-30. (AP Photo/Doug Benc)
Doug Benc
Rams Bengals Super Bowl Football
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) the game MVP celebrates a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals after the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. The Los Angeles Rams won 23-20. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Ted S. Warren
APTOPIX Rams Bengals Super Bowl Football
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) eyes a touchdown pass in the end zone as Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple (20) attempts to tackle during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Matt Rourke
APTOPIX Rams Bengals Super Bowl Football
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) pulls in a touchdown catch as Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple (20) defends during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Tony Gutierrez
APTOPIX Rams Bengals Super Bowl Football
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, top, catches a touchdown against Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Marcio Jose Sanchez
Rams Bengals Super Bowl Football
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) catches a touchdown against Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple (20) during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Marcio Jose Sanchez
Rams Bengals Super Bowl Football
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp pulls in a touchdown catch as Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple defends during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Julio Cortez
Rams Bengals Super Bowl Football
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) is congratulated by teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Marcio Jose Sanchez
Rams Bengals Super Bowl Football
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) is congratulated by teammates after scoring a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Marcio Jose Sanchez
How high, exactly? Super Bowl champion? Super Bowl MVP? NFL Offensive Player of the year? How about a rare receiving triple crown?
Ri·dic·u·lous adj. 1 Deserving ridicule. 2 Becoming the first receiver since Steve Smith Sr. in 2005 to lead the league in regular-season catches (145), yards (1,947) and touchdown catches (16) – and the first to do it while recording a catch percentage better than 70% (75.9%, to be precise) since the league began tracking targets in 1992.
Funny, right? Hilarious, no?
But now people aren’t laughing at the prospect, they’re arguing about those achievements, getting heated on “First Take” as the debate rages: Is Cooper Kupp a top-five WR?!
For what it’s worth – and, if you’re counting at home, it was worth a $78.5 million contract extension, $75 million of which is guaranteed, more than ever before allotted to wide receiver – Kupp votes no.
His top five: Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson, Stefon Diggs, Ja’Marr Chase and Odell Beckham, Jr. “Every single one of those guys is a better athlete than I am,” Kupp said recently on the I AM ATHLETE podcast.
But the 29-year-old father of two isn’t much interested in rankings anyway.
He’s bypassed concrete numbers and goals, even, and he’s chasing something less tangible. Advanced past laughable and, knowing it’s something even he’ll never catch, he’s targeting the impossible – hoping to brush up as close to perfection as it’ll let him.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, facing, signs an autograph for Drew Lyons, 12, during a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. Kupp graduated from Davis before becoming a record-breaking receiver at Eastern Washington University.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, right, high-fives Davis sophomore Marco Vidales (55) during a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash.
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. (MADISON McCORD/Yakima Herald-Republic)
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. (MADISON McCORD/Yakima Herald-Republic)
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash.
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. (MADISON McCORD/Yakima Herald-Republic)
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. (MADISON McCORD/Yakima Herald-Republic)
Photos: Rams' Cooper Kupp honored by Davis Football Boosters
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. (MADISON McCORD/Yakima Herald-Republic)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, facing, signs an autograph for Drew Lyons, 12, during a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. Kupp graduated from Davis before becoming a record-breaking receiver at Eastern Washington University.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, right, high-fives Davis sophomore Marco Vidales (55) during a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash.
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. (MADISON McCORD/Yakima Herald-Republic)
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. (MADISON McCORD/Yakima Herald-Republic)
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash.
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. (MADISON McCORD/Yakima Herald-Republic)
Scenes from a Davis Football Booster Club fundraiser honoring Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, and Davis graduate, Cooper Kupp on Saturday, June 24, 2017, at Birchifield Manor in Yakima, Wash. (MADISON McCORD/Yakima Herald-Republic)
“I used to be really big on goal-setting and writing them down and having it be personal goals, team goals, and having all that stuff set up,” Kupp said. “But I’ve kind of moved to this place now where there’s standards you want to live by and, at the end of the day, I just want to be able to look at film and be better than I was the year before.
“Like, at this level, what are the goals?” he continued, stroking his trademark blond beard. “The goal is to win a Super Bowl. That’s the goal. And we want to keep getting better, keep finding ways to improve and find new creative ways to win in routes.”
There’s a school of thought that Kupp, though talented, is largely a beneficiary of the Rams’ system. That other members of the NFL’s elite receiving corps would put up similarly astounding numbers if they were running the plays he gets to.
But Kupp brings a uniquely creative streak unlike few of his preternaturally gifted NFL peers ever had the opportunity to develop.
He’s so wide open so often not only because of savvy play-calling or Matthew Stafford’s dependable deliveries or his own perfectly executed routes but because of the way Kupp reads the action. Because he’s so adept at being able to see a triangle develop in real time, feeling the defensive players inside, outside and above create a pocket and knowing precisely when to fill that space, like a great drummer hitting his stride live.
That’s a skillset built on a million rehearsals, minimum. Studies he’s undertaken in a backyard football lab built for repetitions based on ideas borne of his experience as a late-bloomer.
“It comes from having to be creative when I was younger and wasn’t as strong or fast as the guys I was playing against,” Kupp said. “Being so undersized and so outmatched that you just gotta find ways to win and put yourself in a position that you can separate still and win and make things hard on a DB.
“That’s where it all comes from, from the roots of where I learned route-running, from those times, trying to find ways to win when everything said I couldn’t. That’s carried over and I just tried to continue to build on that.”
The building continued, of course, the past couple of weeks at the Rams’ training camp at UC Irvine. The NFL’s most prolific receiver warmed up for his team’s championship defense by sharpening all of the skills he’ll need once the regular season starts on Sept. 8 against Buffalo, working to become more detailed and efficient on his breaks, more intentional with each step – and, yes, to further expand his imagination.
“One of the best things about training camp is you go against the same guys over and over again,” Kupp said. “They see you run the same route over and over again, so you have to be creative. How many tools do you have? How many ways can you attack guys that know all these moves and know, when they see something, are gonna anticipate what’s coming? It’s a good time to work on all that stuff.”
So, go ahead. Exclude him from your top five receivers lists if you want.
But if you underestimate Kupp’s on-field artistry, the joke’s on you.
Watch this discussion.Stop watching this discussion.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion. Posting comments is now limited to subscribers only. Become one today or log in using the link below. For additional information on commenting click here.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article. | https://www.yakimaherald.com/sports/professional_sports/yakimas-cooper-kupp-set-apart-by-creativity/article_2751c9c8-1b3b-11ed-ab8d-0f10e3a799a2.html | 2022-08-13T21:22:05Z | yakimaherald.com | control | https://www.yakimaherald.com/sports/professional_sports/yakimas-cooper-kupp-set-apart-by-creativity/article_2751c9c8-1b3b-11ed-ab8d-0f10e3a799a2.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Because of all the publicity about pollinators, especially bees, most people will, at least, tolerate them. Wasps, not so much. Some people’s first thought is spray them, swat them or at least, wave them off. The last two actions are liable to get you stung.
Scientists who study wasps say they need an image makeover. “Wasps are incredibly important to the world’s economy and ecosystems,” says Seirian Summer of the University College of London, a biologist and wasp champion. He says, “Without them, the planet would be pest-ridden to biblical proportions.”
Jeff Hahn, an extension entomologist is our go-to guy to identify bugs. He will give you its Latin name, who it hangs around with and its life history. This is what he has to say about wasps.
Wasp is a general name for social insects in the family Vespidae, usually referred to as vespid wasps. There are also solitary wasps in this group, hermit wasps as it were.
Social wasps are divided into two groups, Yellowjackets and Hornets and Polistinae or Paper Wasps. There are eleven species of Yellowjackets here. We have no true hornets in Minnesota even though one of the Yellowjackets is named a Bald Faced Hornet. And if that isn’t confusing enough, she isn’t bald but has a white face. She is also a very laid-back insect. She will just watch as you pick berries, that is, unless you take a swat at her. Most wasps aren’t as friendly, however. A paper wasp nest can hold thousands of workers all equipped with a nasty weapon. Some wasps nest in trees, some under eaves or even inside buildings. If the nest is remote from human activity, just leave it alone. If you don’t bug them, they won’t bug you. Most of them are like Garbo, they just Vant to be alone. If you must kill them, wait until dark when they are all watching T.V. and resting for the next day’s work. With a ground nesting wasp, start with a gallon or so of soapy boiling water poured into the hole. Go for a wasp spay if this doesn’t work. Spray the whole underside of a paper wasp nest. You may have to do this again as some of the stingers may have been out carousing.
People hate wasps because a few of them sting (only 1.5 percent of them) and because they don’t know how important they are to the ecosystem.
Wasps are not only pollinators they also disperse seeds and kill many garden pests. About 80,000 wasps lay their eggs on or in the body of another insect so that their larvae can eat the host after hatching. Wasps either eat or kill many crop-devouring pests such as white flies, cabbage loopers, and brown marmorated stink bugs. They are nature’s pest controllers.
Professor Summer presented evidence of wasps visiting more than 960 plant species including 164 that depend solely on them for pollination. More than 100 orchid species rely on wasps as pollinators. In fact, some orchids have evolved flowers that look like the backside of girl wasps. Pretty sneaky.
Wasps have a split personality, as larvae they are carnivorous, as adults they switch to the carbohydrates found in nectar, sap and fruit. Their favorite plants are goldenrod, mountain mint, and buttonbush. Other than goldenrod, the other two aren’t native so if you don’t like wasps, don’t plant them. If you are outside, watch your pop bottle as wasps just love the sweet liquid and will fly into the bottle and sting you when you attempt to drink. Your picnic watermelon will also attract them. Best to have your picnic in a screened porch.
Bev Johnson M.G. | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/lifestyle/considering-wasps/article_f9533350-19ae-11ed-9fb8-272e35ccb696.html | 2022-08-13T21:22:36Z | fergusfallsjournal.com | control | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/lifestyle/considering-wasps/article_f9533350-19ae-11ed-9fb8-272e35ccb696.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
I love to read; reading is my hobby. One of the ways that I keep my reading life running smoothly is to always have a list of books that I want to read next. This way when I finish a book, I have plenty of good books waiting for me. To get ideas, I love listening to podcasts about books. Podcasts are made up of audio episodes. You can listen to podcasts by downloading a podcast app. I use the free Pocket Casts app, available for Android and Apple devices. Here are some of my favorite bookish podcasts.
“What Should I Read Next” with host Anne Bogel is a great place to discover books. Each week Anne interviews a new reader about what they’d like to be different in their reading life, three books they liked, one book they didn’t like and what they’re reading now. Then Anne recommends books she thinks they’d enjoy. Bogel examines what elements work – or don’t – in a book and in addition to adding titles to your TBR (To Be Read list), you’ll learn about your reading preferences. Her guests’ reading tastes vary widely, and she recommends books from all genres. I enjoyed her recent special episode, episode 340: “The secret life of an audiobook narrator with Julia Whelan.” Author and audiobook narrator Whelan shared some of her favorite authors to narrate for and discussed her new novel “Thank You for Listening,” which gives you a fictional peek into the world of audiobook narration.
“From the Front Porch” is a podcast from The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. In the summer months, I enjoy doing a puzzle outside while listening to their monthly segments about newly released books and what Bookshelf owner Annie B. Jones has read that month. Annie generally enjoys literary fiction, while Bookshelf staffer Olivia loves mysteries, thrillers fantasy, and children’s books; the podcast features all genres. In their episode about August new releases, Annie shared “Carrie Soto is Back” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I devoured this fast-paced novel about 1980’s tennis star Carrie Soto, who comes out of retirement to defend her record for winning the most slams. Soto is a strong female protagonist who made me care about the play-by-play tennis games.
For a podcast more focused on thrillers and page turners, try “Currently Reading.” Friends Meredith Monday Schwartz and Kaytee Cobb discuss their bookish moment of the week and books they’ve read recently. Meredith loves mysteries and thrillers, while Kaytee reads a lot of social justice nonfiction and fiction by diverse authors. Both are big Louise Penny fans and self-proclaimed “Penny pushers,” who encourage others to read Louise Penny’s mystery novels. This podcast convinced me to give Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series a try and I now count myself as a Penny pusher. This series is set mostly in the small, fictional Canadian town of Three Pines. You grow to know and love the inhabitants of Three Pines, as well as Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Surete du Quebec, who first visits the town in book one, “Still Life,” on a murder investigation. In addition to atmospheric settings, Penny includes delicious food descriptions and I love to read these books during winter months when I’m cozy inside.
For classic lovers and those who love to analyze literature, try “Novel Pairings.” Hosts Sara and Chelsey are former teachers. They make classics accessible and interesting and pair them with contemporary novels to build your TBR. Their recent episode 96: “Must-read books of the summer paired with beach-worthy backlist titles,” made me want to read “Woman of Light” by Kali Fajardo-Anstine. This is a multigenerational, character-driven novel about an Indigenous Chicano family in the 1930s American west. The writing is both lyrical and compelling.
If you have a favorite book podcast, be sure to share the title with me the next time that you’re in the library.
Katelyn Boyer is the Adult Services Librarian at the Fergus Falls Public Library.
Discuss the news on NABUR, a place to have local conversations The Neighborhood Alliance for Better Understanding and Respect ✔ A site just for our local community ✔ Focused on facts, not misinformation ✔ Free for everyone | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/lifestyle/having-a-list/article_dbfbcb1a-19ad-11ed-b4c4-0b634714d322.html | 2022-08-13T21:22:42Z | fergusfallsjournal.com | control | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/lifestyle/having-a-list/article_dbfbcb1a-19ad-11ed-b4c4-0b634714d322.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Offutt Brass is a traveling Air Force band that performs at various communities across America to illustrate the core ethics of service and patriotism while honoring those who have served, past and present.
The United States Air Force Heartland of America Band is a professional organization that presents exciting and uplifting musical programs to inspire patriotism, connect communities with their military and honor our country’s veterans.
The ensemble, known as Offutt Brass, is a brass quintet that performs public concerts and ceremonial support for military and civic events along with providing educational outreach all while representing the core ethics of excellence and precision that define their branch of service.
Staff Sergeant Daniel Thrower is who performs on trumpet with the band and serves as their music director while also being a member of the publicity team. Offutt Brass is comprised of two trumpets, a French horn, trombone, a tuba and a percussionist.
“We plan a wide variety of music to appeal to a lot of emotions,” Thrower explains. “There’s something in there for everybody. We perform American classics, jazz and even a very slow piece that features our tuba player on an operatic aria, which is a huge combination that no one would expect – so there’s a bit of a surprise there.”
The Air Force will be celebrating its 75th anniversary on September 18, 2022, making it a profound time for the band to tour communities while celebrating such a rich history of service and sacrifice.
“Of course, we end our concerts giving a salute to all the armed forces by playing every branch’s song, including the Space Forces interim song,” Thrower mentions. “We go to veterans’ homes where some of these WWII vets struggle so hard to get up and stand for their service song – it is moving.”
The band will be performing a free 75-minute concert on Aug. 19, at 7:00 p.m., at A Center for the Arts, with selections including pieces from prominent American composer Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo” and Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.”
“To honor those who have fallen and given the ultimate sacrifice to protect what we have and the freedoms we enjoy is just an awesome experience every time.”
Discuss the news on NABUR, a place to have local conversations The Neighborhood Alliance for Better Understanding and Respect ✔ A site just for our local community ✔ Focused on facts, not misinformation ✔ Free for everyone | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/news/sounds-of-the-services-offutt-brass-to-perform-in-fergus/article_077a5a46-1a89-11ed-a29d-034170d4002b.html | 2022-08-13T21:22:48Z | fergusfallsjournal.com | control | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/news/sounds-of-the-services-offutt-brass-to-perform-in-fergus/article_077a5a46-1a89-11ed-a29d-034170d4002b.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Food. Where did your mind wander after reading that simple four-letter word? You might have remembered your favorite meal, thought about what you’re cooking for supper, or maybe you jumped to your favorite restaurant. Some of you may have felt frustrated as you’re working to cut back on food and feel like you’re missing out or are trying to fast to lose weight. Regardless of what direction you went with the word food, it is an important component of our lives.
Take a moment to think about what your food experience has been. Do you look forward to your next meal? Is food stressful because of cooking, planning, or expenses? Are you rushing to eat as fast as you can due to your busy schedule? Are mealtimes a moment to relax and catch up with your family’s lives?
We’ve likely all heard the analogy that “food is fuel”. While this is true, food IS fuel, food is also so much more. Food is tradition, culture, celebration, emotions, preferences, fuel and the list goes on. When we eat only to fuel our bodies, we miss out on all those other pieces of what food means to us. Ultimately, this is dissatisfying and we are unable to continue this in the long run.
How do your habits compare to this? Are you eating to survive as it is a necessary part of your life? This would be eating because you’re hungry and need to get calories/fuel in. When we eat to survive, we often end up eating similar foods each day. We might be missing out on important nutrients that our bodies need to function at their best. Eating to survive could mean that you aren’t mindful of the types of foods that you choose. Foods that are high in fat, salt, and sugars are hard on our bodies. According to the USDA 2020-25 Dietary Guidelines, you should be limiting saturated fat, salt and sugars to 15% of your total calories. Based on a 2,000 calories diet, 15% comes out to 300 calories. If this is how you’ve been eating for a long time, you might not notice your body dragging. It is time to make a change.
It’s time to eat to thrive! When we eat to thrive, we are making choices that will fulfill all our needs as an experience. It will also help us to stay healthier by getting in more variety to include important vitamins and minerals. It will keep you more energized, focused, promote overall health, help with your immune system and much more. So, with everything going on in our busy lives, how do we eat to thrive?
When choosing meals and snacks, these are the components of a well-balanced diet that you should look for:
Vegetables: different colors provide different nutrients, so variety is important! All of these can be fresh, frozen, or canned.
USDA recommendations are ~2-4 cups per day
Dark Greens
Red and Orange Vegetables
Beans, Peas, Lentils
Starchy Vegetables
Others
Fruits: all can be fresh, frozen, or canned.
USDA recommendations are ~1.5-2.5 cups per day
Grains: try to make ½ of them whole grains rather than refined grains
USDA recommendations are ~5-10 ounces per day
Dairy: try to choose low fat or fat free versions. Sour cream, cream cheese and cream don’t count as they are low in calcium
USDA recommendations are ~3 cups per day
Protein: meats, poultry, eggs, seafood, nuts, seeds and soy products fit under this category. Look for lean options.
USDA recommendations are ~5-7 ounces per day
It is important to remember while eating to thrive, that it doesn’t mean cutting out all of your favorite foods. It is all about finding a balance. Imagine that you’ve come to a fork in the road. One path leads to your goals, whatever they might be. The other one leads away from your goals. At the intersection there is a double pan balance scale. The more choices you make that are aligned with your goals, the more that scale will tip and send you along the path of your best self and vice versa if your choices are not aligned. There aren’t “cheat days” in eating to thrive. You make choices throughout the day based on where you want to go.
Let us come alongside you at Unity Wellness to help tip the scale towards the you that you want to become!
Discuss the news on NABUR, a place to have local conversations The Neighborhood Alliance for Better Understanding and Respect ✔ A site just for our local community ✔ Focused on facts, not misinformation ✔ Free for everyone | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/opinion/eating-to-thrive/article_86fbd79c-19a6-11ed-9c7d-87e065b491a7.html | 2022-08-13T21:22:54Z | fergusfallsjournal.com | control | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/opinion/eating-to-thrive/article_86fbd79c-19a6-11ed-9c7d-87e065b491a7.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
We’ve all been there and we’re all guilty without question.
But we never got caught, or if we did we paid the ticket and drove along without realizing the potential consequences of our actions.
It’s 7:45 a.m. and you’re running late to work or other activities. The sign on the side of the interstate says “maximum speed 70, minimum 40.”
I can guarantee that if someone was driving 40 mph that they would probably be flattened or driving along the shoulder on most roadways in the area if they were going around that speed.
Our speeds seem to be getting faster and faster lately. I’m not on any kind of soapbox whatsoever, I am as guilty as the rest of you.
When I started to write this, I recalled that many times a week, especially on I-94 outside of Fergus Falls, I would be driving in the 70-75 mph speed range (which is still over the speed limit), but having someone coming around my vehicle to pass me.
Clearly, they were going 10 to 20 mph faster than me to pass so briskly, which would put their speed somewhere around 85 to even 90 mph!
Is this safe? Forget about courteousness. The short answer is absolutely not.
Not even for a second. The Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety states on their website that if a motorist is driving at 80 mph, braking distance is 315 feet, with total stopping distance with reaction time 394 feet.
To put that in better perspective, the length of a football field is about 360 feet.
I always think about it like this, if I get somewhere five minutes after the person who was going around me driving 85 or 90 mph, what would I have missed? Is five minutes worth a tragic accident that could take a life or multiple lives? Hardly not.
These are crazy times we live in and people are stressed out, that is for sure. But we do have a choice to drive responsibly.
Most also don’t realize that even going 10 mph over the posted speed limit can cost a lot.
The Office of Traffic Safety states that, “the cost of a speeding violation will vary by county, but it will typically cost a driver more than $110 with court fees for traveling 10 mph over the limit. Fines double for those speeding 20 mph over the limit and drivers can lose their license for six months for going 100 mph or more.”
If I am five minutes late to an important meeting, yes it may be a little embarrassing, but no one will probably even remember past that day most likely.
If I lose control of my vehicle or someone slams on their brake in front of me and I’m going 85 mph, I am most likely going to have way more problems than being five minutes late to a meeting. | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/opinion/speed/article_f1162732-1a63-11ed-b3cb-3349dbf6584a.html | 2022-08-13T21:23:01Z | fergusfallsjournal.com | control | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/opinion/speed/article_f1162732-1a63-11ed-b3cb-3349dbf6584a.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Life is hard.
There are losses and endings of many kinds: Losses we are born with. Losses we learn to live with. Losses we hide. Losses that scar us. Losses we die with.
There is loss of love. Loss of health. Loss of lifestyle. Loss of life. The end of a career. The end of a marriage. The end of a friendship.
We all (ALL!) go through hard times. We all experience hard things during our journey on this earth.
Death, taxes and hard times. We all have at least three things in common.
I’ve asked myself the obvious question over and over: Why does it have to be this way, loss being so intertwined with life?
I don’t like the answer, but I can only come up with one: It’s how it is supposed to be. Still it most often sucks.
We may feel alone in our own difficulties, but I promise you, everyone you meet is going through, has gone through or is about to go through a hard time. A test in life.
It doesn’t seem right, from many perspectives, but maybe the hard times are opportunities. Maybe they are times we become capable of great growth and intense clarity.
Maybe we didn’t have a choice in the loss of our current situation, but maybe we have a choice and a voice in its ultimate outcome. Maybe we are more in charge than we could possibly imagine.
Embrace the maybe. Cling to the maybe. Make your maybe your possibility and then your reality.
It’s all about perspective. I’ve said this before: each of us gets to choose ours. It comes down to a few questions:
Will I dwell on our one goodbye, or on our many hellos?
Do I live in memory of my pain or the joy we built together?
Am I unlucky because you left this earth, or was I lucky because we got to be here together? Am I a victim or survivor?
Do I let the fire consume me, or do I rise from the ashes?
I can’t control my past, but who will control my future?
When you are living it out in real time, these questions are not only real; they are overwhelming and true. They can be life-defining.
No matter the tragedy, wrong or burden we carry, we have a choice of where, how and when we live it: in the past or in the now. When we relive the past we relive the hurt. Believe me, choosing the alternative to this is more than difficult. But why continue to keep choosing hurt?
Yeah, dumb question if there ever was one. But it takes a committed attitude and choice to make it your reality, and even then it is hard.
Don’t give up on yourself. Each day will get just a little bit easier. I’d like to make this a promise, but I’m not sure I can. Let’s make it a hope and trust in that. Let’s trust in ourselves.
Life is hard. It surely can be.
But life is also good. And, if I am being honest I’ve had some monumentally extraordinary beyond-great things happen in my life.
I’ve also had tragedy.
But I’ve found that my default is to replay the tragedy over and over in my head, like a looped recording.
I know and remember the beautiful miracles and great love I’ve experienced, but they don’t replay like the tragedy.
I’m not sure how to explain this, except perhaps it is the human condition. Tragedy causes long-term effects that are real — like anxiety, PTSD, insomnia and the list goes on. Beauty and love just are — in the moment. As monumental as they are, they don’t linger and haunt us like tragedy does.
So we need to consciously choose love and joy, because it won’t chase us like our pain does. We need to wake up each morning and intend for the sun to shine, even when it is raining. Because the sun will shine again.
It will.
If we are awake enough to notice.
Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated columnist, published playwright and author. Don’t miss a slice; follow the Slices of Life page on Facebook. | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/opinion/when-life-hands-you-a-loss/article_5695c5e6-19aa-11ed-96b8-fb79acf7a8cc.html | 2022-08-13T21:23:07Z | fergusfallsjournal.com | control | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/opinion/when-life-hands-you-a-loss/article_5695c5e6-19aa-11ed-96b8-fb79acf7a8cc.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WESTFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – There was an incident in Westfield last night involving an alleged armed suspect. For a while the green at Park Square was locked down as police searched the area. But, police found out it was a fake call and there was no threat to the public.
The Westfield community is on edge today following an incident late Friday night. The Westfield police received a 911 call of a suspect claiming to have a rifle and an explosive device. The call prompted a large police presence in downtown Westfield.
Yev Pyshnyak of Westfield told 22News about how he felt being close to the incident, “It’s a little strange you know? I was driving by and was a little confused about it, then you start hearing it and you are so close to them. It’s scary.”
The area was in lock down as police searched hours for the alleged suspect. The people nearby who were just enjoying a night out given a call to shelter in place.
One such resident was Cheryl Barnes of Westfield.
“The staff locked the doors, we went into the backroom and turned the lights off,” she said, “Hearing the helicopters, I was like, ‘ok something is definitely going on, maybe I should be a little worried.'”
But no threat to the public was found, and it was determined the call was fake, or a ‘swatting incident.’
‘Swatting’ is a false police tip for an active shooter, bomb or hostage type of situation that calls for top-tier response and equipment. What is known as a S.W.A.T. team, hence the term. Local lawyers say making these fake calls can lead to criminal penalties and fines, but it is also very dangerous.
James B. Winston an Attorney in Northampton said, “They don’t realize that when armed officers go in, something could go wrong. Some of the more horrific cases have been from other parts of the country where innocent people have been killed.”
Police say those responsible will be, “dealt with swiftly.” And in a time where gun violence has plagued the country. Some people are saying they are now more cautious than ever.
“I’m pretty cautious all the time for the past few years. There’s been active shootings all across the country, and a lot of gun violence and you have to be aware of what’s around you,” expressed Patrick Lyman also of Westfield. | https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/how-residents-felt-during-westfield-swatting-incident-friday-night/ | 2022-08-13T21:24:09Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/how-residents-felt-during-westfield-swatting-incident-friday-night/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – One person suffered minor injuries in an apartment fire on Mulberry Street in Springfield, that had all companies responding. Springfield Fire had sent out a tweet on their Twitter account just before noon, that there was a working fire at 101 Mulberry Street. The fire was reported as knocked down a little less than an hour later.
Red Cross is assisting one family that was displaced. The cause of the fire in still under investigation. | https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/one-injured-in-apartment-fire-on-mulberry-street-in-springfield/ | 2022-08-13T21:24:21Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/one-injured-in-apartment-fire-on-mulberry-street-in-springfield/ | 0 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – One person suffered minor injuries in an apartment fire on Mulberry Street in Springfield, that had all companies responding. Springfield Fire had sent out a tweet on their Twitter account just before noon, that there was a working fire at 101 Mulberry Street. The fire was reported as knocked down a little less than an hour later.
Red Cross is assisting one family that was displaced. The cause of the fire in still under investigation. | https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/one-injured-in-apartment-fire-on-mulberry-street-in-springfield/ | 2022-08-13T21:24:21Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/one-injured-in-apartment-fire-on-mulberry-street-in-springfield/ | 1 | 0 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Federal Government has threatened to sanction the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) over the firm’s alleged failure to provide 85 per cent counterpart funding for rail projects in some parts of the country.
The Minister of Transportation, Muazu Sambo, decried the slow pace of work in the Kanu-Kaduna and Maiduguri-Port Harcourt rail lines on Saturday.
Sambo gave the warning on Saturday while briefing journalists in Lagos at the end of a tour of the Lekki Deep Seaport to ascertain the level of work done so far.
Sambo, who frowned at the attitude of the Chinese firm, said two years after the agreement was signed, CCECC has not provided any of its 85 per cent counterpart fund.
According to him, the agreement stipulates that CCECC is to provide 85 per cent of the project cost while the Federal Government provides the remaining 15 per cent.
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
He said, “I have given them till October 2022 to fulfil their own part of the agreement or stiff sanction would be meted out to them.
“How could it be said that two years after the agreement was signed, CCECC is yet to provide a dollar?”
Recall that former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had in March accused the firm of playing politics with the Kanu-Kaduna rail project, urging the contractor to provide funding for the project.
Amaechi had said, “The pace is extremely slow, the pieces of equipment are supposed to be 2,000 plus, but what they (CCECC) have brought so far is 541, they claim that 300 and something equipment are in Kaduna. I will send people to check. Even if you add that all together, you will have 800 and something equipment in place of the 2,000 equipment that they are supposed to bring. That means something is wrong somewhere.
“I know they (CCECC) claim that there is no money, that we have not funded them. But what of their responsibility in the contract that they will look for the money?
“CCECC has not brought money. The Chinese are no longer giving us money for more than three to four years now.”
Recall that the China Exim Bank borrowed the Federal Government $500m for the Abuja-Kaduna train and also borrowed the country $1.5 billion for the Lagos-Ibadan rail project | https://tribuneonlineng.com/fg-threatens-ccecc-over-failure-to-fund-railway-projects/ | 2022-08-13T21:25:04Z | tribuneonlineng.com | control | https://tribuneonlineng.com/fg-threatens-ccecc-over-failure-to-fund-railway-projects/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.