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Bears capitalize on Seahawks' mistakes in 27-11 victory
SEATTLE - Geno Smith’s chance to gain an edge over Drew Lock for Seattle’s starting quarterback job was hindered by his team’s sloppy performance.
Smith and the Seahawks were overwhelmed in a 27-11 loss to the Chicago Bears on Thursday night in the second preseason game for both teams, which was mostly a dud from Seattle’s standpoint.
"He did OK," Seattle coach Pete Carroll said of Smith. "We needed to come through. We needed to help him a little bit. We needed to make the plays around him, too."
Second-year Bears quarterback Justin Fields made a brief appearance and led a field-goal drive. Backup Trevor Siemian threw a touchdown pass, and Elijah Hicks recovered a muffed punt for a Chicago TD.
"I thought operation was good, his preparation was great. He handled the offense the way we wanted him to," first-year Chicago coach Matt Eberflus said of Fields. "Had a nice drive and scored the field goal. So I think it’s progress."
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The Seahawks had planned to start Lock but turned to Smith when Lock tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. That meant another opportunity for Smith, who started last weekend at Pittsburgh, but his uninspired performance suggests Lock still has a chance to win the job.
That may depend on how quickly Lock can return from his illness and if he’ll be ready to play by the preseason finale in Dallas next week. Carroll said Lock was still feeling "really sick."
"I talked to him this morning and it hit him pretty hard," Carroll said.
Smith finished 10 of 18 for 112 yards and was hampered by teammates’ mistakes while playing the first half. His only drive where Seattle threatened to score ended when Jason Myers missed a 47-yard field goal attempt.
Smith was slated to play into the third quarter but banged his knee in the first half. He was icing the knee while Jacob Eason took all the snaps after halftime.
"We again just started a little slow, had some self-inflicted wounds. Some things that we can control that really set us back," Smith said. "And that’s the reason for the preseason is for us to get those things out. Obviously, there’s a ton of room for improvement and a lot of things that we have to improve on very fast."
The Bears led 24-0 before Seattle finally got on the board on Darwin Thompson’s 8-yard TD run with 2:08 left.
Penalties and dropped passes made the Seahawks’ offense choppy and listless. Rookie first-round pick Charles Cross was flagged four times in the first half at left tackle, three of those for false start. Bo Melton, Freddie Swain and Dareke Young had drops.
Exacerbating Seattle’s offensive troubles was a right ankle injury suffered by starting left guard Damien Lewis early in the second quarter. Lewis was inadvertently rolled up by Bears defensive lineman Angelo Blackson.
Lewis was down for several minutes and eventually had an air splint put on his lower right leg before being loaded on a cart and taken off the field. But Carroll said X-rays were negative and Lewis has an ankle sprain. Still, it’s a hit to Seattle’s interior offensive line, which isn’t the deepest part of the roster.
"We’re very fortunate there. He was upbeat about that a little bit, maybe surprised by the results. We’re thrilled," Carroll said.
Siemian threw a 1-yard TD pass to Jake Tonges and Hicks corralled Cade Johnson’s muffed punt at the goal line late in the first half to give the Bears a 17-0 lead. Third-stringer Nathan Peterman led a drive in the third quarter that ended with Darrynton Evans’ 1-yard TD run.
FIELDS’ DAY
Fields played one series in the first quarter. He was 5 of 7 for 39 yards and led the Bears to a 35-yard field goal by Cairo Santos.
"I feel like every time I step on the field I can get something out of it," Fields said.
INJURY CONCERNS
Chicago lost a couple of players to injuries. Linebacker Matt Adams suffered a shoulder injury in the first quarter. He’s been playing in the spot normally occupied by Roquan Smith, who is in a contract dispute with the team. Backup running back Trestan Ebner suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter and didn’t return.
UP NEXT
Bears: At Cleveland on Aug. 27 to end the preseason.
Seahawks: Seattle closes out the preseason on Aug. 26 at Dallas. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/sports/bears-capitalize-on-seahawks-mistakes-in-27-11-victory | 2022-08-19T17:38:18Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/sports/bears-capitalize-on-seahawks-mistakes-in-27-11-victory | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Millions of pensioners are missing out on Attendance Allowance and £369 a month. But how do you claim?
The benefit is to help pay for additional support. But it is also the most underclaimed benefit in the UK.
Around 3.4million people are missing out on the money and pensioners are the most likely group of Briton to be missing out on benefits from the DWP, Age UK says. Latest figures show £15billion is lost in unclaimed benefits every year in the UK and a huge part of this is due to unclaimed Attendance Allowance, Express.co.uk reports.
Read more: Bocca Social in Tunbridge Wells is opening its doors this weekend
Attendance Allowance is paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to people who have reached state pension age who need extra help around the home. However, this doesn’t mean they need to have a full time carer - just that they have problems washing, getting around or taking medication.
One of the things people are being encouraged to do right now is check they are receiving all the benefits they are entitled to. While some people of state pension age wrongly believe there is a stigma to claiming benefits, others are not aware of the qualifying criteria.
To claim Attendance Allowance, Britons must show they need extra help doing certain tasks and they have struggled for at least six months unless they are seriously ill. However, Attendance Allowance is not means tested so it doesn’t matter if someone is still working or has savings in the bank.
Six common myths usually prevent people from applying for Attendance Allowance. These are:
- The claim form is too long - ask a relative, friend or Age UK for help
- Benefits stigma - there is no shame in claiming financial support
- No one can get it - appeal if previously turned down
- Carer - applicants don’t need one
- Income - it’s not means tested
- Applicants don’t need a carer - it can be spent on bills or other things.
Some pensioners say the process for claiming DWP benefits like Attendance Allowance is over complicated and puts them off applying. Experts suggest that when filling out the form, claimants should remember to clearly write about the help they need and don't.
They shouldn't expect the person making the decision to know about their condition. Another simple tip is to explain if certain tasks take longer and to not be afraid to repeat information if it’s relevant.
How much is Attendance Allowance?
There are two different amounts which people can receive, and it is dependent on the care that is needed and not the disability. The lower rate, of £61.85 a week, is given if a person needs help or supervision during the day or at night. The higher rate, of £92.40, is given if a person needs help during the day and overnight, or if they are terminally ill. Overall, people have the chance to claim up to £370 per month.
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- The special reason this is TripAdvisor's favourite Tunbridge Wells' café | https://www.kentlive.news/news/cost-of-living/dwp-34-million-missing-out-7488569 | 2022-08-19T17:40:05Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/cost-of-living/dwp-34-million-missing-out-7488569 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A police investigation is under way after a fatal stabbing in Tonbridge. Officers were called at 12.55am today (August 19) to a location close to Avebury Avenue. For the incident as it happened, press here.
Police attended alongside ambulance crews. At 3.40am, a teenage boy from Tonbridge was arrested on suspicion of murder and taken into custody. The victim, aged in his 20s, was from the local area. Police have spoken to a number of potential witnesses as part of their investigation, and are appealing to anyone with information to contact them.
READ MORE: Teenage boy arrested on suspicion of murder after man stabbed to death in Tonbridge
Pictures have since been released showing the search efforts that have taken place in the town today. Forensic units were in attendance, while police taped off some entrances to Tonbridge park as well as Avebury Avenue.
Detective Inspector Lee Neiles, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: "We are working to establish the full circumstances and it is crucial that we speak to anyone who may have heard or seen anything suspicious, around or before 12.55am.
"The area where the victim was assaulted was close to Tonbridge Park and a large number of residential properties. If you think you may be able to assist the investigation please don’t hesitate to call us."
Anyone with information should call Kent Police on 101, quoting reference 19-0050. You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111, or by using the online form on their website.
Sign up to get the latest stories from Kent direct into your inbox here.
Read next
Foodies open independent Fat Sam's Fried Chicken in Tunbridge Wells
Restaurant and cocktail bar in Tunbridge Wells hiring for bar staff and chef jobs
- I tried Tunbridge Wells' brand new German Doner Kebab and was left overwhelmed
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- The special reason this is TripAdvisor's favourite Tunbridge Wells' café | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/tonbridge-murder-police-search-scene-7487454 | 2022-08-19T17:40:15Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/tonbridge-murder-police-search-scene-7487454 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Sky has been told it must change its practices and inform TV customers when their contracts are up, after a near two-year investigation by Ofcom. The telecommunications regulator reminded the company that subscribers must be informed when their minimum contract period has ended for their broadband, mobile, home phone and pay-TV services.
The purpose of the rules is so that consumers know when they are able to shop around for better deals, or get a better rate from their provider. But Sky had not been informing its pay-TV customers, because it believed it was exempt.
"Sky considers that its pay-TV services do not fall within the definition of an 'electronic communications service'," Ofcom said on Friday. "Sky therefore maintains that it has no obligation to notify its pay-TV customers when their minimum contract period is coming to an end."
READ MORE: DWP change to help Sky, BT and Virgin broadband customers get cheaper bills from next week
But the regulator thought differently, and told Sky that it must change its practices, although it gave the company nine months to do this. It said: "We have directed Sky to take all necessary steps to comply with its regulatory obligations to send end-of-contract notifications to customers of its relevant pay-TV services, starting no later than nine months from the date of this decision.
"In addition, Sky must provide Ofcom with a progress report no later than four months from the date of this decision on the steps it will take to ensure the remedy is fully implemented within the nine months given."
The company was not fined or disciplined in any other way. The matter is now likely to end up before a judge as Sky continues to insist that it has not broken any rules. It has two months to appeal against the decision. About 3.5 million customers saw their Sky TV subscriptions lapse between the new rules coming into effect in February 2020 and last December.
Sky said: "We continue to believe Sky’s pay-TV service is not an electronic communication service under the legal definition in the Communications Act 2003, but we note the outcome of Ofcom’s investigation.We look forward to working with Ofcom to seek a legal review."
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Man shocked by standby cost of two common household appliances amid cost of living crisis
The cheapest online supermarket in the UK named - and the most expensive
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DWP: who is eligible for the £326 payment cost of living support next month?
Pints of beer could rise to eye-watering prices in the coming months | https://www.kentlive.news/news/uk-world-news/sky-told-must-inform-tv-7488662 | 2022-08-19T17:40:25Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/uk-world-news/sky-told-must-inform-tv-7488662 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, has been nominated to head the All Progressives Congress (APC) North Central Youth Campaign Organization, in a move geared toward the 2023 general elections.
At the inauguration ceremony held in Abuja, the minister specifically charged the group to positively project programmes and policies of the federal government aimed at improving the lives of the youths.
Aliyu, who commended the APC youths for being part of political processes in Nigeria, also acknowledged that the youth remains the building block of any nation.
She, however, used the occasion to remind the group of the enormous task ahead of the ruling party, the APC, stressing that it remains the collective responsibility of the youths to advertise to Nigerians what the incumbent government has done thus far.
“I make bold to say that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has provided quite a handful of programmes aimed at improving the lives of the youths and to shape them towards governance and becoming great leaders.
“However, agents of distractions and social media warlords will stop at nothing to pull down the government.
“I, therefore, urge you all to take advantage of your numerical strength to positively project the various policies and programmes provided by the federal government,” she affirmed.
The minister stated that going forward Nigerians have a lot to accomplish together as it is the intention of the ruling party to leave behind a lasting legacy for Nigerians.
Speaking earlier, the zonal youth leader of North Central, Hon. Zubair Aliyu assured that with the inauguration of the organisation, the group had concluded plans to meet the target of mobilizing 10 million youths of the 24 million registered voters in north central
He further said; “We are ready to mobilise and deliver overwhelming youth votes to coast APC to victory at all levels in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
“We are out for serious electoral business aiming to re-write APC political story in Nigeria politics. We are also out and ready to step up the game to ensure all-round victory come 2023”.
The high point of the event was the inauguration of the North Central Youth Campaign Organization by the APC National Vice Chairman of North Central, Alhaji. Maizu Bawa.
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE | https://tribuneonlineng.com/minister-of-state-for-fct-heads-apc-north-central-youth-campaign-organization/ | 2022-08-19T17:42:23Z | tribuneonlineng.com | control | https://tribuneonlineng.com/minister-of-state-for-fct-heads-apc-north-central-youth-campaign-organization/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Nigeria was better secured in the past when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held sway at the centre, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta has said.
Okowa who is the PDP presidential vice candidate regretted that Nigerians were no longer safe to travel in the daytime talkless of embarking on night travels.
The governor expressed the fears at the funeral mass in honour of late Senator Patrick Osakwe at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, Ugiliamai, Ndokwa West Local Government Area of the State on Friday (August 19).
Recalling his political engagements with the late Osakwe, Okowa said he used to travel at night to visit him and returned the same night without anything to worry about as far as security was concerned.
“I remember in those days when I was the Director-General of his (Senator Osakwe) campaign organisation, I use to leave Asaba at 1 am and arrive in Ugiliamai at about 2 am.
“I will finish discussions with him and leave again the same night either back to Asaba or Boji-Boji Agbor. Those were the good old days when we could move around without fear,” he said.
The governor extolled the deceased for his outstanding accomplishments at the Senate and for his contributions to the growth and development of his Senatorial District and Delta in general.
He urged the family and followers of the late senator to trust in God and take solace in the fact that their patriarch lived a life of great accomplishments as an astute businessman and politician of repute.
“We have come here, though we mourn, but to celebrate not just a true son of Ugiliamai or Ndokwa nation but of Delta state and Nigeria.
“We know that our departed father and brother, Sen. Patrick Osakwe is a household name in our nation Nigeria.
“As a little boy, I heard about him because he truly worked very hard and he started from a humble beginning but rose in hard work to the top.
“We are told of his exploits in business and his philanthropy to people. We know about the things he has done here and in Delta State.
“When he was to run for the office of the Senator representing Delta North Senatorial District, I was the Director-General of his Campaign.
“I was privileged to replace him in the Senate after he served his people very well for 12 years (1999-2011).
“He was a great politician and even ran election under another party and still won a landslide.
“God knows why he has chosen to take him at this time that we all need him, especially, his immediate family. He was a father figure to a lot of people politically.
“Having done 12 years in active political service for the people of Delta North, he willingly stepped aside because he thought I should run for the Senate at that time.
“It takes a strong politician to run for elections and win three times. Senator Osakwe had very difficult and turbulent primaries but he still won a landslide and that is the hallmark of great men.
“As friends of the late Senator, we know that he has played his role very well and it is time for us to truly thank God because he came and made a positive impact on humanity.
“He lived his life not just for humanity but also to the glory of God,” Okowa added.
Earlier in his homily, Rev’d Father Barnabas Esegine described the late Senator Osakwe as an enigma who didn’t live for himself but for others.
He urged Christians to live their life with eternity in view, adding that the late Senator Osakwe would be remembered for the lasting legacies he built for God and humanity.
The funeral service was attended by former Deputy Governor of the state, Chief Benjamin Elue, Senator James Manager, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Chief Ndudi Elumelu, Member House of Representatives, Hon. Ossai Ossai, State Chairman of the PDP, and Chief Kingsley Esiso among other dignitaries.
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- Safety tips to observe when boarding a ride from a ride-hailing app | https://tribuneonlineng.com/nigeria-better-secured-in-pdp-days-%E2%80%95-okowa/ | 2022-08-19T17:42:29Z | tribuneonlineng.com | control | https://tribuneonlineng.com/nigeria-better-secured-in-pdp-days-%E2%80%95-okowa/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Obaseki gives seven days ultimatum to unravel crime
Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has given the Edo State Police Command and other relevant authorities seven days ultimatum to unravel the true situation of the alleged discovery of ritualists’ den along the Ekenwan Road axis of Benin City, on Wednesday night.
Governor Obaseki gave the directive at a joint press conference between the Edo State Government and the State Police Command, to provide an update on the latest development on the alleged ritual activities in the state.
Addressing journalists, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Olawore Oluwole, called for calm among residents in the state, assuring that the matter was being thoroughly investigated.
The top police officer explained that “Based on credible intelligence, we busted a bungalow located at Asoro, Ekenwan Road in Benin City where some dried bodies and items, like generators, gas and oxygen cylinder were found.
“Five suspects have already been arrested in connection with the incident. Those arrested include Chimobi Okosua, and Samuel Okoh both from Afikpo in Ebonyi State; Gideon Sunday from Akwa-Ibom State; Victor Obeche from Anambra State and Yusuf Lawal from Katsina State; while one Otu Chukwu who was alleged to be the owner of the bungalow is still at large.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, however, appealed to the members of the public to remain calm as the police were making frantic efforts to unravel the details of the incident.
Also speaking at the press conference, the Special Adviser to Governor Obaseki on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, said that the governor had given the relevant authorities seven days to unravel the truth about the discovery.
He urged residents in the state to remain calm, adding, “We want to call for calm as the police are already investigating the incident. We don’t want to pre-empt the outcome of the investigation, as all kinds of speculations are out there in the public. We leave that to the police to unravel. Some people have been arrested.”
“The state government has given the Police Command and other relevant authorities seven days to give details of their findings. No conclusion yet on the issues as the police are still investigating and acting on the matter. We will continue to brief the public on what is going on and what the situation is.”
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Obaseki gives seven days ultimatum to unravel crime | https://tribuneonlineng.com/obaseki-gives-seven-days-ultimatum-to-unravel-crime/ | 2022-08-19T17:42:42Z | tribuneonlineng.com | control | https://tribuneonlineng.com/obaseki-gives-seven-days-ultimatum-to-unravel-crime/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Exclusive Preview: Fantastic Four #46
Exclusive Preview: Fantastic Four #46
After four years, Dan Slott’s run with Marvel’s first family of superheroes is coming to an end with Fantastic Four #46. In his time with the book, Slott has expanded the family with the marriage of Ben Grimm/Thing and his longtime girlfriend, Alicia Masters. Ben and Alicia also adopted a Skrull girl named N’Kalla, and a Kree boy, Jo-Venn. However, there’s one addition to the Richards family readers haven’t met yet is Reed’s half-sister. But that’s about to change.
In Superhero Hype’s exclusive preview for Fantastic Four #46, Slott and the artist known as Cafu formally introduce Joanna Jeffers, a prominent marine biologist who was apparently already aware of her familial connection to Reed. In the aftermath of the Reckoning War, it’s a quiet night for the FF in New York. But it remains to be seen if Joanna will embrace her newfound family.
RELATED: First Look At Daredevil #2
Here’s the official description from Marvel.
“”FAMILY FIRST”!
Not a dream. Not a hoax. This is real. Thanks to the knowledge of the Watchers, the lost daughter of Nathaniel Richards has been found. It’s time to finally meet the mysterious sister of Reed Richards. But is it time to welcome her into the family? It’s a day of amazing adventures both in her world, and in the world of the Fantastic Four. Guest-starring Namor, King of Atlantis.”
You can read the full preview in our gallery below. Fantastic Four #46 will hit comic book stores on Wednesday, August 24.
What did you think about this preview? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art
Cover illustrated by Cafu. Pages illustrated by Cafu, with colors by Jesus Aburtov, and letters by VC's Joe Caramagna.Fantastic Four #46 cover
Fantastic Four #46 page 1
Fantastic Four #46 page 2
Fantastic Four #46 page 3
Fantastic Four #46 page 4
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/comics/518070-exclusive-preview-fantastic-four-46 | 2022-08-19T17:48:07Z | superherohype.com | control | https://www.superherohype.com/comics/518070-exclusive-preview-fantastic-four-46 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GENEVA (AP) — Europe’s embrace of millions of Ukrainians who fled Russia’s invasion showed that it’s possible to welcome large numbers of asylum-seekers, and the approach should be replicated to receive those fleeing other nations, the head of the U.N. refugee agency said.
In an interview with The Associated Press, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi described the European Union’s response as “exemplary,” noting that nearly 4 million Ukrainians, mainly women and children, have registered with the bloc’s temporary protection system since the start of the war nearly six months ago.
That stands in stark contrast to EU efforts in recent years to keep migrants from Africa and the Middle East from reaching Europe’s shores. Some European leaders have sought to differentiate between the plight of Ukrainians and that of other refugees — a distinction that Grandi condemned as “racist.”
“If that’s possible for such a large number of people, and since that has proven so effective, why not use some of these approaches also for other people that are coming to knock at Europe’s doors?” Grandi asked.
Though it was created decades ago, the EU’s emergency protection system was activated for the first time this year in response to the flight of more than 6 million Ukrainians over the course of just a few months — the largest exodus of refugees the continent has seen since World War II. It allows Ukrainians to move around the bloc, gives them the right to work, and helps them to access housing, education and health care.
It has been credited with helping Europe avoid setting up refugee camps to house Ukrainians — like the ones that have existed in Greece for years and where thousands of asylum-seekers arriving by boat have often languished.
In the wake of the 2015-2016 refugee crisis, when more than 1 million people, mainly from Syria, arrived in Europe by land or sea, leaders erected fences within the EU to keep many from moving deeper into the continent. The bloc has also spent billions to keep people, including those fleeing persecution and conflict but also poverty, from reaching its shores, giving money to countries like Turkey, Libya and Morocco to stop migrants before they set out.
The number of irregular crossings into Europe fell from its peak in 2015 to under 200,000 in 2021, according to Europe’s border and coast guard agency, although they are on the rise again this year. While such crossings often attract significant attention, more than 80% of the world’s refugees are hosted by developing countries, according to UNHCR.
“Heads of government in Europe spent hours, days negotiating where, who should take a hundred people floating on a boat in the Mediterranean,” Grandi said, referring to European leaders’ inability to agree on how to resettle those who have arrived in recent years in Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. “And then contrary to that, millions (of Ukrainians were) embraced, accepted, allowed to have access to services in a very effective manner.”
Asked about the different responses, Grandi said he didn’t think the European governments’ policies themselves were racist.
But he added: “Declarations that I have heard from some politicians saying the Ukrainians are real refugees … and the others are not real refugees. That’s racist. Full stop.”
Grandi didn’t specify what statements he was referring to, but Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi was criticized by human rights organizations and opposition lawmakers when he used that phrase to refer to Ukrainians fleeing the war earlier this year.
Other European politicians have made similar statements — with some arguing that many people seeking asylum are looking for a better life, rather than fleeing wars, and thus may not qualify for that protection under international law. Some have also defended the differing treatment by saying they have a duty to help fellow Europeans, but shouldn’t be responsible for taking in refugees from other continents.
Grandi acknowledged that the issue is complex and some of those heading to Europe are economic migrants. But he stressed that effective systems exist to evaluate asylum claims.
Roughly half of the Ukrainians who have left the country so far have returned — and many more may eventually do so, although Grandi said some have ended up fleeing a second time.
Still, with no end to the war in sight, the U.N. refugee agency has said the total number of Ukrainians who have left their homeland at some point could reach more than 8 million by December. There are also currently 6.6 million Ukrainians displaced within the country, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Around 2 million Ukrainians have ended up in Russia, whether they chose to or not. An AP investigation earlier this year revealed that many were forced to head there and subjected to human rights abuses along the way. Grandi acknowledged that his agency’s access in Russia was limited. Of the 1,500 accommodation sites for Ukrainians in the country, UNHCR teams had only been able to visit nine so far, he said.
While the war in Ukraine has attracted global attention and support for those displaced by it, Grandi pleaded with world leaders to remember the other 12 humanitarian crises for which his agency is struggling to raise funds. He especially noted the Horn of Africa, where a prolonged drought and protracted conflicts have not only forced millions from their homes, but have also pushed countries ever closer to famine.
“The big problem that we have at the moment is that it tends to marginalize all other crises in which people suffer,” Grandi said.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration and Russia’s war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wpri.com/business-news/ap-business/the-ap-interview-refugee-head-sees-lesson-in-ukraine-crisis/ | 2022-08-19T17:50:11Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/business-news/ap-business/the-ap-interview-refugee-head-sees-lesson-in-ukraine-crisis/ | 0 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | 33 |
GENEVA (AP) — Europe’s embrace of millions of Ukrainians who fled Russia’s invasion showed that it’s possible to welcome large numbers of asylum-seekers, and the approach should be replicated to receive those fleeing other nations, the head of the U.N. refugee agency said.
In an interview with The Associated Press, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi described the European Union’s response as “exemplary,” noting that nearly 4 million Ukrainians, mainly women and children, have registered with the bloc’s temporary protection system since the start of the war nearly six months ago.
That stands in stark contrast to EU efforts in recent years to keep migrants from Africa and the Middle East from reaching Europe’s shores. Some European leaders have sought to differentiate between the plight of Ukrainians and that of other refugees — a distinction that Grandi condemned as “racist.”
“If that’s possible for such a large number of people, and since that has proven so effective, why not use some of these approaches also for other people that are coming to knock at Europe’s doors?” Grandi asked.
Though it was created decades ago, the EU’s emergency protection system was activated for the first time this year in response to the flight of more than 6 million Ukrainians over the course of just a few months — the largest exodus of refugees the continent has seen since World War II. It allows Ukrainians to move around the bloc, gives them the right to work, and helps them to access housing, education and health care.
It has been credited with helping Europe avoid setting up refugee camps to house Ukrainians — like the ones that have existed in Greece for years and where thousands of asylum-seekers arriving by boat have often languished.
In the wake of the 2015-2016 refugee crisis, when more than 1 million people, mainly from Syria, arrived in Europe by land or sea, leaders erected fences within the EU to keep many from moving deeper into the continent. The bloc has also spent billions to keep people, including those fleeing persecution and conflict but also poverty, from reaching its shores, giving money to countries like Turkey, Libya and Morocco to stop migrants before they set out.
The number of irregular crossings into Europe fell from its peak in 2015 to under 200,000 in 2021, according to Europe’s border and coast guard agency, although they are on the rise again this year. While such crossings often attract significant attention, more than 80% of the world’s refugees are hosted by developing countries, according to UNHCR.
“Heads of government in Europe spent hours, days negotiating where, who should take a hundred people floating on a boat in the Mediterranean,” Grandi said, referring to European leaders’ inability to agree on how to resettle those who have arrived in recent years in Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. “And then contrary to that, millions (of Ukrainians were) embraced, accepted, allowed to have access to services in a very effective manner.”
Asked about the different responses, Grandi said he didn’t think the European governments’ policies themselves were racist.
But he added: “Declarations that I have heard from some politicians saying the Ukrainians are real refugees … and the others are not real refugees. That’s racist. Full stop.”
Grandi didn’t specify what statements he was referring to, but Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi was criticized by human rights organizations and opposition lawmakers when he used that phrase to refer to Ukrainians fleeing the war earlier this year.
Other European politicians have made similar statements — with some arguing that many people seeking asylum are looking for a better life, rather than fleeing wars, and thus may not qualify for that protection under international law. Some have also defended the differing treatment by saying they have a duty to help fellow Europeans, but shouldn’t be responsible for taking in refugees from other continents.
Grandi acknowledged that the issue is complex and some of those heading to Europe are economic migrants. But he stressed that effective systems exist to evaluate asylum claims.
Roughly half of the Ukrainians who have left the country so far have returned — and many more may eventually do so, although Grandi said some have ended up fleeing a second time.
Still, with no end to the war in sight, the U.N. refugee agency has said the total number of Ukrainians who have left their homeland at some point could reach more than 8 million by December. There are also currently 6.6 million Ukrainians displaced within the country, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Around 2 million Ukrainians have ended up in Russia, whether they chose to or not. An AP investigation earlier this year revealed that many were forced to head there and subjected to human rights abuses along the way. Grandi acknowledged that his agency’s access in Russia was limited. Of the 1,500 accommodation sites for Ukrainians in the country, UNHCR teams had only been able to visit nine so far, he said.
While the war in Ukraine has attracted global attention and support for those displaced by it, Grandi pleaded with world leaders to remember the other 12 humanitarian crises for which his agency is struggling to raise funds. He especially noted the Horn of Africa, where a prolonged drought and protracted conflicts have not only forced millions from their homes, but have also pushed countries ever closer to famine.
“The big problem that we have at the moment is that it tends to marginalize all other crises in which people suffer,” Grandi said.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration and Russia’s war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wpri.com/business-news/ap-business/the-ap-interview-refugee-head-sees-lesson-in-ukraine-crisis/ | 2022-08-19T17:50:11Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/business-news/ap-business/the-ap-interview-refugee-head-sees-lesson-in-ukraine-crisis/ | 1 | 0 | green-iguana-35 | 33 |
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — For tiny Moldova, an impoverished, landlocked nation that borders war-torn Ukraine but isn’t in the European Union or NATO, it’s been another week plagued by bomb threats.
On an overcast day outside the international airport serving Moldova’s capital of Chisinau, hundreds of people lined up this week as bomb-sniffing dogs examined the vicinity. That’s now a common scene in Europe’s poorest nation as it battles what observers believe are attempts to destabilize the former Soviet republic amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Since the beginning of July, Moldova has received nearly 60 bomb threats — with more than 15 reported so far this week — at locations ranging from the capital’s city hall, to the airport, the supreme court, shopping malls and hospitals.
While no one has yet been charged for the bomb threats, most of which have arrived via email and all of which have turned out to be false, officials say they have traced computer addresses to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
“It is part of the disinformation war against Moldova, which is ongoing,” said Valeriu Pasa, an analyst at the Chisinau think tank Watchdog.md. “It could be part of the Russian effort to destabilize Moldova, as they use many different methods to do so.”
Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Moldova, which has a population of 2.6 million people, has faced a multitude of crises. It has received more Ukrainian refugees per capita than any other country; tensions have soared in the country’s Russia-backed breakaway region; it is dealing with an acute energy crisis; and like much of Europe it is battling skyrocketing inflation.
The frequent bomb threats are only adding pressure to the country’s already overstretched authorities.
“It blocks a lot of the resources — police, investigators, technical services — it’s a type of bullying I would say, or harassment, of Moldovan state systems and public services,” Pasa said.
Maxim Motinga, a prosecutor from Moldova’s Office for Combating Organized Crime, told The Associated Press that since the bomb threats started “practically every day we open criminal cases.”
“At the moment, all criminal investigations are ongoing,” he said, adding that requests have been made for official assistance from Russia and Ukraine if “certain tracks leading to the respective countries were established.”
“I hope we get some answers from those countries,” he said.
For Veaceslav Belbas, a 43-year-old Moldovan businessman returning from Turkey to Chisinau on Monday, a bomb threat left him frightened as his plane circled the capital’s airport for 30 minutes. After that, the plane did a U-turn and went back to Turkey.
“We prayed a lot and finally landed,” he said. “For me, it was such a big shock that I told my wife that this is my last flight.”
Tensions in Moldova soared in April after a series of actual explosions occurred in the Russia-backed breakaway region of Transnistria, where Russia bases about 1,500 troops in a so-called frozen conflict zone. It raised fears that non-NATO, militarily neutral Moldova could get dragged into Russia’s war orbit. At least one Russian official has spoken openly of snatching enough land in southern Ukraine to link up Russian-controlled areas from the mainland to Transnistria.
Observers pointed out that the blasts came as Moldova — which has historically close ties with Moscow — showed a growing Western orientation and after it had applied to join the EU, which it did shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. It was granted EU candidate status in late June, shortly before the bomb threats started.
Since Moldova gained independence in 1991, it has been plagued by organized crime and official corruption. After an election in 2019, a local oligarch attempted to seize power, which triggered mass protests before he fled the country. In 2014, several politicians and oligarchs had alleged ties to a scam in which $1 billion vanished from local banks. No one has yet been convicted in that case.
Galina Gheorghes was returning to England from Moldova last month after attending a family get-together when a bomb threat canceled her flight. She says she is angry that no one has yet been caught.
“It is very bad what’s happening … unfortunately, the ordinary people suffer,” the 35-year-old Gheorghes said.
Amid a seemingly endless pattern of disruptive and costly threats, Moldova’s Internal Ministry said it wants to toughen punishments for anyone convicted of false bomb alerts by ramping up fines and handing out lengthier prison sentences.
Chisinau Airport has been hit by dozens of bomb threats since July and has bolstered security in response. Radu Zanoaga, head of border police at the airport, says a specialist unit has been established to save security officials the trouble of traveling in from the city center each time a bomb threat is made.
“At the moment, we are dealing with the situation in cooperation with other (state) bodies and institutions that operate within the airport,” he said. “There have been bomb alerts before — but not as many and not as frequent as now.”
___
Stephen McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wpri.com/news/breaking-news/ap-top-news/bomb-threats-put-tiny-moldova-ukraines-neighbor-on-edge/ | 2022-08-19T17:51:11Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/breaking-news/ap-top-news/bomb-threats-put-tiny-moldova-ukraines-neighbor-on-edge/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LONDON (AP) — A smaller dose of the monkeypox vaccine appears to still be effective and can be used to stretch the current supply by five times, the European Medicines Agency said Friday, echoing a recommendation made earlier this month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The EU drug regulator said in a statement that injecting people with just one fifth the regular dose of the smallpox vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic appeared to produce similar levels of antibodies against monkeypox as a full dose.
The approach calls for administering Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine with an injection just under the skin rather than into deeper tissue, a practice that may stimulate a better immune response. People still need to get two doses, about four weeks apart.
The EMA said national authorities could decide, “as a temporary measure” to use smaller doses of the vaccine to protect vulnerable people during the ongoing monkeypox outbreak.
EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the decision would allow the vaccination of five times as many people with the continent’s current supply.
“This ensures greater access to vaccination for citizens at risk and healthcare workers,” she said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the U.S. FDA authorized a similar plan to extend the country’s monkeypox vaccine stocks. The technique has previously been used to stretch supplies of vaccines during other outbreaks, including yellow fever and polio.
The unusual recommendations from both regulators acknowledge the extremely limited global supplies of the Jynneos vaccine, originally developed against smallpox. Bavarian Nordic is the only company that makes it and it expects to have about 16 million doses available this year. On Thursday, the U.S. also announced a new agreement with a Michigan manufacturer to help speed production of 5.5 million vaccine vials recently ordered by the government.
The EMA authorized the vaccine in July based on experimental data that suggested it would work; the World Health Organization has estimated the shot is about 85% effective at preventing monkeypox.
Globally, there are more than 40,000 cases of monkeypox, of which about half are in Europe. Earlier this week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there has been a 20% increase in cases reported in the last two weeks and that nearly all infections have been reported in men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with other men.
Tedros said WHO was in talks with vaccine manufacturers and countries to see if any might be willing to share doses. Africa has reported the highest number of suspected monkeypox deaths and although the disease has been endemic in parts of central and west Africa for decades, it has only a small supply of vaccines being used as part of a research study.
About 98% of monkeypox cases beyond Africa have been reported in men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with other men. WHO said there is no sign of sustained transmission beyond men who have sex with men, although a small number of women and children have also been sickened by the disease.
Monkeypox spreads when people have close, physical contact with an infected person’s lesions, their clothing or bedsheets. Most people recover without needing treatment, but the lesions can be extremely painful and more severe cases can result in complications including brain inflammation and death.
In the U.K., which at one point had the biggest outbreak outside Africa, officials said earlier this week they have seen signs the outbreak is slowing down. | https://www.wpri.com/news/breaking-news/ap-top-news/eu-regulator-oks-plan-to-increase-monkeypox-vaccine-supplies/ | 2022-08-19T17:51:28Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/breaking-news/ap-top-news/eu-regulator-oks-plan-to-increase-monkeypox-vaccine-supplies/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PEEKSKILL, N.Y. (AP) — At a recent rally with union workers and other supporters in the downtown square of this small city on the banks of the Hudson River, New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney tried to remind Democrats of everything he thinks the party has accomplished.
He touted the sweeping coronavirus relief legislation passed in early 2021, last fall’s infrastructure deal, a plan to boost high-tech manufacturing, the toughest limits on guns in decades and, just recently, a climate and health care law that had been written off.
Democrats are “getting big stuff done,” Maloney said in an interview after the event.
He is betting that message will be enough to help him and his party navigate a treacherous political environment this year. As the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Maloney is responsible for helping the party defy historic trends and maintain — or even expand — its majority in the House. In the meantime, he’s also fending off a challenge from the left in next week’s primary in a district that could be competitive in the fall general election.
Facing a confluence of hurdles, Maloney insists on staying focused on the party’s agenda.
“When things are working, it’s the best politics,” he said.
The 56-year-old Maloney was seen as a rising Democratic star when he was first elected to the House a decade ago. The first openly gay congressman from New York, he was at the vanguard of a new Democratic Party making inroads far beyond its urban base.
But he’s facing a primary challenge next week from state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, a 36-year-old progressive who has sought to portray Maloney as an out-of-touch operator of the establishment.
“I think he represents everything that is wrong with politics,” Biaggi said in an interview.
Maloney counters the establishment has delivered what voters want: pragmatism over activism. “We’ve had a real summer of success and if things continue like this, I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people in November,” Maloney said.
He’s also gotten the endorsement of The New York Times, which carries a lot of weight with the Democrats in the district’s suburbs and exurbs of New York City, along with the endorsement of former President Bill Clinton, whose Chappaqua home is in the area.
Maloney, who worked in the Clinton White House, is a “proven leader,” the former president said in his endorsement, which thus far has not been echoed by his wife, former New York senator and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She has stayed out of the race, though her support would carry far more weight: Biaggi worked for her presidential campaign and Clinton led Biaggi and her husband in their vows at their 2019 wedding.
The biggest name backing Biaggi, a lawyer in former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration and granddaughter of former Bronx Congressman Mario Biaggi, is progressive star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Biaggi, like Ocasio-Cortez, has a history of taking on powerful, more moderate members of her party and espouses an activist, working-people credo.
In the same 2018 progressive wave that carried Ocasio-Cortez into office, Biaggi — despite being heavily outspent — ousted a longtime state senator known for leading a band of Democrats who collaborated with Republicans. She’s counting on a similar grassroots approach and desire for change as she aims to topple Maloney.
“I’m going to be on those doors, just like I’ve been every single weekend, knocking them down off the hinges, push through every single inch,” she said as she rallied a group of campaign volunteers in Sleepy Hollow for a weekend of door-knocking.
She’s also counting on the unusual circumstances of next week’s primary to help her chances. It’s the second primary election New Yorkers have had this summer, a delayed date to accommodate the redrawing of political maps after the first attempt at redistricting was thrown out in court.
There was a primary in June for the governors race and other statewide offices, but the primary for congressional races was delayed until Aug. 23 so new maps could be drawn.
New Yorkers aren’t used to voting in two primaries, especially one in late August, when many are on vacation, and the new maps may leave them unfamiliar with their new district lines and who is considered an incumbent — which could create an opening for someone like Biaggi with activist energy behind her.
While Maloney has represented parts of the newly-drawn 17th District, Biaggi currently represents none of it in her state Senate seat and moved about 15 miles north to become a resident.
Maloney also moved north from New York City when he first ran to represent the region 10 years ago, but he is quick to note that he and his husband already had a second home in the area at the time.
“She has every right to run, but people have a right to know that her district is 95% in the Bronx and I represent several hundred thousand people who are in this district,” he said of Biaggi in the interview.
He and his supporters have painted her politics as too far left for the district, pointing to her embrace of the “defund the police” messaging that liberals took up in 2020 amid a broader national reckoning over race and policing.
Biaggi has said in interviews that she’s no longer using the term because it doesn’t do a great job of conveying the need for policing reforms. Her campaign has armed its volunteers with talking points on her use of the phrase, pointing out that her grandfather was a decorated police officer and she used the phrase while reacting to the horrific video showing the killing of George Floyd.
“This was like, in the heat of a moment where she saw a pretty horrific incident and tweeted that — because we don’t need to shy away from that,” Cori Marquis, a Biaggi campaign aide, explained to volunteers in Sleepy Hollow as they prepared to knock doors and pitch voters. “She has been very clear in speech, in action, in policy, that she is really committed to working with all stakeholders to reform our criminal justice system.”
Biden won the areas in the new congressional district by 5 points in 2020, but northern stretches of it, which Maloney represents, heavily favor the GOP and Donald Trump won his district in 2016. Maloney won his current seat from a Republican a decade ago and has held on to the battleground ever since, which he said was “not a given for a gay guy with an interracial family.”
Voters there, he contends, want someone who can work across the aisle but also defeat Republicans.
Maloney’s work on matters across the aisle — and to defeat one Republican in particular — has drawn blowback from members of his own party, including harsh criticism from Biaggi.
The House Democrats’ campaign arm, which Maloney chairs, spent $425,000 on a campaign ad in Michigan that boosted the far-right opponent of Rep. U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.
Meijer lost to a Trump-backed candidate, which Maloney said has only boosted the prospects for the Democratic nominee in December. But members of his own party warn it was a dangerous gamble.
“It makes people feel like the Democrats are playing a game and it’s not a game,” Biaggi said. “I think it represents everything that people hate about politics.”
Maloney said he understand people debating the tactic but defended the move.
“My job is to win seats. We are more likely to win that seat now than before the primary, and that is the bottom line. And that is my responsibility. Full stop,” he said. | https://www.wpri.com/news/breaking-news/ap-top-news/house-democrats-campaign-chief-faces-tough-race-of-his-own/ | 2022-08-19T17:51:36Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/breaking-news/ap-top-news/house-democrats-campaign-chief-faces-tough-race-of-his-own/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal health officials confirmed Friday that a Nebraska child died from a rare infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a river near Omaha.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the presence of the naegleria fowleri amoeba in the child, according to the Douglas County Department of Health in Omaha.
Health officials believe the child became infected while swimming Sunday in the Elkhorn River, a few miles west of Omaha. Authorities have not released the child’s name.
People are usually infected when water containing the amoeba enters the body through the nose while swimming in or diving into lakes and rivers. Other sources have been documented, including tainted tap water in a Houston-area city in 2020.
It is the second death in the Midwest this summer from primary amebic meningoencephalitis, an infection caused by the amoeba that has proved fatal in 97% of reported cases. A Missouri resident died of the infection in July after swimming at Lake of Three Fires in southwestern Iowa, health officials have said.
Symptoms of the infection include fever, headache, nausea or vomiting, progressing to a stiff neck, loss of balance, hallucinations and seizures.
The CDC says naegleria fowleri infections are rare, with about three cases in the United States every year. There were 154 cases reported between 1962 and 2021 in the U.S., with only four survivors. Only about 430 cases have ever been documented globally.
In the U.S., infections from the amoeba typically occur in southern states because the amoeba thrives in waters that are warmer than 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius). But infections have migrated north in recent years, including two cases in Minnesota since 2010. | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/cdc-confirms-nebraska-child-died-of-brain-eating-amoeba/ | 2022-08-19T17:53:01Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/cdc-confirms-nebraska-child-died-of-brain-eating-amoeba/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in Germany warned of heavy rainfall in the south Friday and put air rescue services on high alert, after severe storms killed at least 12 people elsewhere in Europe a day earlier.
Two girls, ages 4 and 8, were killed when sudden strong winds toppled trees late Thursday at a lake in the Lavant Valley of southern Austria. Officials said 13 people were injured, two of them seriously. Many of the victims were vacationers visiting the tourist region.
Austrian President Alexander Van Der Bellen called the children’s deaths “an unfathomable tragedy.” The mayor of the nearby town of Wolfsberg, Hannes Primus, said the area looked “like a battlefield.”
In Lower Austria, three women were killed when lightning struck a tree near the central town of Gaming, causing it to fall over.
Fierce storms also killed at least seven people in France and Italy on Thursday. French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said Friday during a visit to Corsica that five people were killed on the island – correcting a figure of six dead he had given a day earlier.
Germany’s national weather service DWD warned of “extremely abundant, prolonged rain” along the edge of the Alps could drop as much as 140 liters of water per square meter (5.5 inches) over a 48-hour period that could cause flooding.
The Bavarian Red Cross said it was raising the alarm level for its air rescue specialists, putting helicopter crews on heightened alert. | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/europe-weather-5-dead-including-2-girls-in-austria-storms/ | 2022-08-19T17:53:31Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/europe-weather-5-dead-including-2-girls-in-austria-storms/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is due to appear Friday before a parliamentary panel in the northern state of Hamburg to answer lawmakers’ questions regarding what he knew about a tax evasion scam when he was mayor of the city.
Political opponents have called on Scholz to provide more information about meetings he had in 2016 and 2017 with private bank M.M. Warburg that faced demands to repay millions of euros in tax refunds it had wrongly claimed for share trades.
Scholz has previously stated that he doesn’t remember details of the meetings, but denies that he intervened to get Hamburg officials to drop the repayment demands.
Opposition leader Friedrich Merz of the center-right Christian Democrats said he didn’t believe Scholz’s memory lapses.
“When you’re talking about a tax demand in the three-figure millions concerning such a big bank in your own city, then you don’t forget what was said during the conversation,” Merz told German business daily Handelsblatt in an interview published Friday.
Dozens of bankers are being investigated in connection with so-called cum-ex share transactions that are said to have cost the German state billions of euros. | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/germanys-scholz-faces-grilling-over-role-in-tax-scam/ | 2022-08-19T17:53:45Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/germanys-scholz-faces-grilling-over-role-in-tax-scam/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(WXIN) – McDonald’s is taking its beloved Big Mac into new territory by switching out the two all-beef patties for chicken.
The Chicken Big Mac, made with “crispy tempura chicken patties” instead of beef, will be test launched in Miami for a limited time, McDonald’s confirmed.
The sandwich already made its debut February in the United Kingdom and Ireland to much fanfare — and significant sales. McDonald’s U.K. announced the limited-edition offering had “sold out almost everywhere” after a little over the week on the menu. It eventually returned for a limited time.
The Chicken Big Mac appears identical to the original Big Mac aside from its chicken patties, and comes with cheese, lettuce, pickles and special sauce, McDonald’s said. The version sold in the U.K. did not come with chopped onions; McDonald’s did not list this component among the ingredients in the U.S. version, either.
If the testing goes well, it’s possible the Chicken Big Mac could expand to additional regions or even the nationwide menu, though it’s not guaranteed.
“While not everything we test makes it on our U.S. menus, we’ll use this time to gather feedback from both customers and restaurant crew as we consider opportunities to offer more delicious options in the future,” McDonald’s wrote in a statement shared with Nexstar.
McDonald’s currently offers several chicken sandwiches on the U.S. menu, including its McChicken and multiple variations of its Crispy Chicken Sandwich, which debuted in 2021. At the time, McDonald’s Vice President of Menu Innovation Linda VanGosen said the new sandwiches came in response to customer demand for chicken items.
Around the same time, several other fast-food outlets had announced or began offering their own fried chicken sandwiches following the successful debut of the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich in 2019. | https://www.wwlp.com/news/national/mcdonalds-testing-chicken-big-mac-what-we-know-so-far/ | 2022-08-19T17:53:54Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/national/mcdonalds-testing-chicken-big-mac-what-we-know-so-far/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities on Friday raised to 71 the number of migrants aboard a sailboat that reached the southern island of Kythera a day earlier, the third crammed vessel to do so in two days.
The boat, a sailing catamaran, was located in the early hours of Thursday off Kythera’s western coastline. The coast guard said seven women and 12 minors were among the 71 people aboard. Nine were from Iran and the rest from Iraq. On Thursday, the coast guard had said initial indications were that the boat had been carrying 67 people.
Some 170 people, the vast majority from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, had arrived to Kythera on another two sailing boats on Wednesday.
The coast guard said five people were arrested on suspicion of migrant smuggling – three Turkish nationals who had been on board the first vessel, and two Russian nationals on the second.
Located off the southern tip of the Peloponnese, Kythera isn’t a target destination for the thousands of people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Most attempting to make it into the European Union cross from the Turkish coast to nearby Greece’s eastern Aegean islands.
But with Greek authorities increasing patrols in the area and facing persistent reports of push-backs – summary and illegal deportations of new arrivals back to Turkey without allowing them to apply for asylum – more people are attempting a much longer and more dangerous route directly to Italy.
Greek authorities deny they carry out pushbacks.
On Friday, Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said on Greece’s Skai radio that migration flows into Greece were at their lowest in a decade last year, with 8,500 people arriving in the country in 2021. Skai radio quoted him as saying that 2022 was expected to see the second-lowest number of arrivals in the past 10 years, with around 7,000 people having arrived so far.
Greece has been widely criticized by aid groups, asylum seekers and some European politicians for using heavy-handed tactics, particularly pushbacks, to keep arrival numbers down.
“Humanitarianism is very important, but the people who wish to come to the EU due to the inequalities that exist in the world are hundreds of millions,” Skai quoted Mitarachi as saying. “We’re not speaking of a closed Europe, but nor of a Europe in which traffickers decide who gets in.”
Mitarachi repeated that a 38-kilometer (24 mile) fence along Greece’s northeastern land border with Turkey would be extended by another 80 kilometers (50 miles).
Greek authorities came under withering criticism last week over a group of mainly Syrians who had been trapped for days on an islet in the Evros river that runs along the Greek-Turkish border in Greece’s northeast. Greek officials insist the islet is on the Turkish side of the border.
Police on Monday said they found 38 people on the Greek side of the border, away from the river. The group told authorities a 5-year-old girl had died of a scorpion sting on the islet during the ordeal. Mitarachi said earlier this week that Greece would work with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent for the recovery of the child’s body. | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/greece-71-migrants-aboard-boat-reaching-southern-island/ | 2022-08-19T17:53:53Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/greece-71-migrants-aboard-boat-reaching-southern-island/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Transgender kids in Utah will be not be subjected to sports participation limits at the start of the upcoming school year after a judge delayed the implementation of a statewide ban passed earlier this year.
Judge Keith Kelly’s decision Friday to put the law on hold until a legal challenges is resolved came after he recently rejected a request by Utah state attorneys to dismiss the case. Most Utah schools students head back to classes this month.
Attorneys representing the families of three transgender student-athletes filed the lawsuit challenging the ban last May, contending it violates the Utah Constitution’s guarantees of equal rights and due process.
Similar cases are underway in states such as Idaho, West Virginia and Indiana.
The issue of whether transgender girls should be allowed to participate in female sports has become flashpoint across the U.S. with Republican lawmakers passing legislation to block them based on the premise it gives them an unfair competitive advantage.
Transgender rights advocates counter that the rules aren’t just about sports, but another way to demean and attack transgender youth.
As of March, the Utah High School Activities Association knew of only one transgender girl playing in K-12 sports who would be affected by the ban.
The association, which organizes leagues for 85,000 students, has said there have been no publicly made allegations of competitive advantage concerning any of the state’s four transgender youth athletes. | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/judge-puts-utah-ban-on-transgender-kids-in-sports-on-hold/ | 2022-08-19T17:54:07Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/judge-puts-utah-ban-on-transgender-kids-in-sports-on-hold/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad expects Malaysia’s graft-tainted ruling party will hold general elections in coming months — and could win big — but the nonagenarian reformer vowed Friday that he would fight “even a losing battle” on principle.
In an wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Mahathir described President Joe Biden as “ineffective” and “anti-Islam” for supporting Israel, accused the U.S. of trying to provoke a war in Taiwan and slammed Europe for provoking Ukraine to fight.
Mahathir said the ruling United Malays National Organization will most likely “win big” in the event of snap polls. He believes that many rural Malay voters have returned to UMNO because they were offered money and other incentives.
“I think they will want to have the general elections this year. If possible, maybe as soon as two or three months from now because they feel that at this moment, the public still look up at them, and the opposition is broken up, disorganized,” he said.
Elections are not due until September 2023, but some UMNO members, including ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak and party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who are both fighting graft charges, have been rallying for an earlier vote.
Mahathir was an UMNO prime minister for 22 years until his retirement in 2003. Inspired to return to politics by the massive looting of the 1MDB state fund during Najib’s term in office, Mahathir rode a wave of public anger and led the opposition to the historic victory in 2018 polls that ousted Najib’s government.
Mahathir became the world’s oldest head of government at 93, but his reformist alliance collapsed in less than two years due to defections. UMNO returned to power and now leads a new coalition government.
Now 97, Mahathir has formed a new party Pejuang and a Malay alliance to contest 120 Malay-dominated parliamentary seats. He said his mission remained the same: to “clean-up” the country and form a graft-free government.
“I dont know about being prime minister candidate, but if I am strong enough, if I am healthy enough, if they want me to contest, I will contest,” he told AP.
“I will fight, even if it is a losing battle,” he said. “I will fight because I believe in principle. It’s not what happens to me. I believe in principle. I believe that this is a great country which can become a developed country, but under the crooks you will never become.”
Najib has maintained his innocence. With his final appeal against his 12-year-jail sentence in the first of several trials ongoing in the country’s top court, he will not be allowed to run in the event of an early election.
Mahathir said he believes Najib is hoping to make a political comeback with an UMNO win.
“In the elections, if UMNO wins, he expects an UMNO government to ask for a pardon for him and when he gets a pardon, (and is ) cleared completely, he can then become prime minister,” Mahathir said. “He will do it. Believe me, he will do it.”
Mahathir has been known for decades as a critic of the West and its geopolitics.
He said Biden was an “ineffective” leader. “In a way, he’s very anti-Islam, he’s not being fair. He allows Israel to commit all kinds of crime, genocide, and he does nothing. He supports them,” Mahathir said.
He warned the U.S. was antagonizing China through recent delegation visits to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others. China considers Taiwan as its territory and regard such visits as meddling in its affairs.
“If (China) wanted to invade, they could have invaded. They didn’t. But America is provoking so that they can be a war, so that the Chinese will make the mistake of trying to occupy Taiwan. Then there is an excuse…for U.S. to help Taiwan, even fight against China and sell a lot of arms to Taiwan,” Mahathir said.
He also railed against the European Union over the Russian war on Ukraine.
“What the NATO is doing, the EU is doing is to provoke some more and asking the Ukrainians to fight,” he said. “They promised to accept Ukraine (into NATO) but they didn’t.” | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/mahathir-expects-early-polls-ruling-party-gains-in-malaysia/ | 2022-08-19T17:54:13Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/mahathir-expects-early-polls-ruling-party-gains-in-malaysia/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaraguan police on Friday raided the residence of a Roman Catholic bishop who is an outspoken critic of President Daniel Ortega’s government, detaining him and several other priests who had been holed up inside for two weeks as tensions escalated between the government and the church.
The pre-dawn raid came after Nicaraguan authorities had accused Matagalpa Bishop Rolando Álvarez of “organizing violent groups” and inciting them “to carry out acts of hate against the population.”
President Daniel Ortega’s government has moved systematically against voices of dissent. Dozens of political opposition leaders were arrested last year, including seven potential candidates to challenge him for the presidency. They were sentenced to prison this year in quick trials closed to the public.
The congress, dominated by Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front, has ordered the closure of more than 1,000 nongovernmental organizations, including Mother Teresa’s charity.
Early Friday, the Matagalpa diocese posted on social media, “#SOS #Urgente. At this time the National Police have entered the Episcopal rectory of our Matagalpa diocese.”
The National Police confirmed the detentions in a statement later Friday, saying that the operation was carried out to allow “the citizenry and families of Matagalpa to recover normalcy.”
“For several days a positive communication from the Matagalpa diocese was awaited with a lot of patience, prudence and sense of responsibility, that never materialized,” the statement said. “With the continuation of the destabilizing and provocative activities, the aforementioned public order operation became necessary.”
It did not mention specific charges.
Álvarez was being held under guard at a house in Managua, where he had been allowed to meet with relatives and Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, the police statement said.
The others who were taken with Álvarez — they did not specify who or how many — were still being processed, police said.
In a video message, Pablo Cuevas, a lawyer with the nongovernmental Permanent Committee on Human Rights, condemned Álvarez’s detention but said it was not unexpected.
“What was obviously going to happen has happened, the arbitrary and abusive arrest of Monsignor Álvarez,” Cuevas said.
Edwin Román, a Nicaraguan parish priest exiled in the United States said via Twitter: “MY GOD! How outrageous, they have taken Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, with the priests who were with him.”
Police said Aug. 5 that the investigation would also target a number of people who won’t be allowed to leave their homes during the probe.
Álvarez has been a key religious voice in discussions of Nicaragua’s future since 2018, when a wave of protests against Ortega’s government led to a sweeping crackdown on opponents.
“We hope there would be a series of electoral reforms, structural changes to the electoral authority — free, just and transparent elections, international observation without conditions,” Álvarez said a month after the protests broke out. “Effectively the democratization of the country.”
At the time, a priest in Alvarez’s diocese had been wounded in the arm by shrapnel while trying to separate protesters and police in Matagalpa.
He has kept up such calls for democracy for the past four years, infuriating Ortega and Murillo.
Friday’s arrests follow weeks of heightened tensions between the church and the government.
Ortega has had a complicated relationship with Nicaragua’s predominant religion and its leaders for more than four decades. The former Marxist guerrilla infuriated the Vatican in the 1980s, but gradually forged an alliance with the church as he moved to regain the presidency in 2007 after a long period out of power. Now he appears to once again see political benefit in direct confrontation.
Ortega initially invited the church to mediate talks with protesters in 2018, but has since taken a more aggressive position.
Days before last year’s presidential elections which he won for a fourth consecutive term with his strongest opponents jailed, he accused the bishops of having drafted a political proposal in 2018 on behalf “of the terrorists, at the service of the Yankees. … These bishops are also terrorists.”
In March, Nicaragua expelled the papal nuncio, the Vatican’s top diplomat in Nicaragua.
The government had previously shut down eight radio stations and one television channel in Matagalpa province, north of Managua. Seven of the radio stations were run by the church.
The Aug. 5 announcement that Álvarez was under investigation came just hours after the first lady and Vice President Rosario Murillo criticized “sins against spirituality” and “the exhibition of hate” in an apparent reference to Álvarez.
The Archdiocese of Managua had earlier expressed support for Álvarez. The conference of Latin American Catholic bishops decried what it called a “siege” of priests and bishops, the expulsion of members of religious communities and “constant harassment” targeting the Nicaraguan people and the church.
The Vatican remained silent about the investigation of Álvarez for nearly two weeks, drawing criticism from some Latin American human rights activists and intellectuals.
That silence was broken last Friday when Monsignor Juan Antonio Cruz, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the Organization of American States, expressed concern about the situation and asked both parties to “seek ways of understanding.”
The Vatican again offered no comment Friday and didn’t report the news immediately on its in-house media portal. While staying mum, apparently in hopes of not inflaming tensions, the Vatican has been publishing regular expressions of solidarity from Latin American bishops in recent days on its Vatican News site.
The president of Nicaragua’s Episcopal Conference did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The huge street protests across Nicaragua in 2018 called for Ortega to step down. Ortega maintained the protests were a coup attempt carried out with foreign backing and the support of the church.
__
AP writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report. | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/nicaraguan-police-arrest-bishop-other-priests-in-raid/ | 2022-08-19T17:54:41Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/nicaraguan-police-arrest-bishop-other-priests-in-raid/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s public health leaders appealed to the government on Friday to urgently tackle soaring energy prices, warning that the steep rise in household bills will lead to more people falling sick and increase the number of annual deaths linked with cold homes.
In a letter sent to government officials, the National Health Service Confederation said surging costs mean many people will have to choose between skipping meals to heat their homes or living in cold and damp conditions this winter.
The group’s chief executive Matthew Taylor said health leaders took the step to make an “unprecedented intervention” and write to the government because the U.K. was “facing a humanitarian crisis” due to the public health risks linked to rising fuel costs.
The average U.K. household fuel bill has risen more than 50% so far in 2022 as Russia’s war in Ukraine squeezes global oil and natural gas supplies. A further increase is due in October, when the average bill is forecast to hit 3,500 pounds ($4,300) a year. Official figures this week showed that U.K. inflation hit a new 40-year high of 10.1% in July.
Taylor said inability to heat homes and afford food will “lead to outbreaks of illness and sickness around the country and widen health inequalities, worsen children’s life chances, and leave an indelible scar on local communities.”
He warned that this will compound pressure on hospitals and public health services, which are already under stress and are bracing for a difficult winter.
“Health leaders are clear that, unless urgent action is taken by the government, this will cause a public health emergency,” he said.
The government has faced widespread calls to freeze bills or help people with their finances, but ministers have said no action will be taken until the Conservative Party selects a new prime minister to replace Boris Johnson. The winner of the Conservative leadership contest will be announced on Sept. 5.
Authorities say they have set aside billions of pounds to support people in need with state subsidies. Most households will also receive 400 pounds ($474) over the winter to help with energy bills.
The NHS Confederation said this is not enough and more needs to be done to help those who cannot cope with energy bills rising by some 80%. | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/uk-could-face-public-health-crisis-from-energy-bill-hike/ | 2022-08-19T17:55:16Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/us-and-world/uk-could-face-public-health-crisis-from-energy-bill-hike/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
What are the best straight-leg jeans?
Denim jeans are a versatile closet staple that can be used year-round. They can be styled formally or paired with casual elements. The variety of jean fits is extensive, but straight-leg jeans are regarded as the most inclusive kind, flattering on most body types and heights.
What are straight-leg jeans?
Straight-leg jeans are characterized by their slim, straight shape. They often are loose-fitting in the knees and hips, with the width of the hip matching the width of the legs. Given this relaxed fit, straight-leg jeans are associated with casual living and informality. Depending on the brand, waist taper, wash and looseness will differ.
What straight-leg jeans look best?
Before purchasing straight-leg jeans, consider which elements will suit you best.
- Wash: This is the jeans’ color and describes how the denim is processed. You have a wide variety of options, such as light blue wash and dark wash, so pick the wash that will go best with your other clothing. A closet full of whites and light colors will go best with a coordinating light-wash jean.
- Waist: The waist style determines where the hem falls on your hip: either above or below the hip bone. Straight-leg jeans can hug your waist if you choose. High, low or mid-waist jeans are offered in this fit. Try them out to see which is most flattering on you. Body type does not determine which waist fit you should get, so go with whichever coordinates best with your style and comfort.
- Material: The fabric used in your jeans is important to consider when assessing comfort. A true cotton denim will be a bit tougher and offer less range of motion, while a cotton, spandex or elastane blend will provide some stretch and softness.
Straight-leg jeans FAQ
Will my jeans shrink if I wash and dry them?
A. Yes, most jeans are made of cotton and will shrink after the initial wash and dry. If your denim has elastane or any stretch material in it, avoid the dryer and air-dry instead. These stretchy fibers will burn up in high heat and lose their elasticity. Over time your jeans will tighten and shrink, but this can be avoided if you treat them as you would any cotton clothing.
How long do straight-leg jeans last?
A. Looser-fitting jeans such as the straight-leg style wear more slowly and less than a style such as skinny jeans. The looseness prevents stretching while a pair of skinny jeans will constantly be expanded. Your jeans will last until you notice holes or rips in the fabric. At that point, a new pair is on the horizon.
Best straight-leg jeans
Top light-wash straight-leg jeans
Levi’s Women’s Classic Straight Jeans
These jeans are a mid-waist fit and use elastane to provide a little bit of give as opposed to a traditional cotton denim material. Available in 19 colors, including several light washes, this pair offers multiple sizes.
Sold by Amazon
Lee Men’s Regular Fit Straight-Leg Jeans
These jeans are available in heavyweight or mid-weight denim, making them durable work pants. The leg openings are 16 inches, leaving plenty of room for breathability and a comfortable, loose fit.
Sold by Amazon
Top dark-wash straight-leg jeans
Lee Men’s Performance Series Extreme Motion Straight Fit Tapered Leg Jean
Using a cotton and spandex blend, these jeans offer a larger range of motion than a normal denim. They feature an extra-flexible waistband to ensure comfort while achieving a sleek style. With a focus on flexibility and support, these jeans are highlighted by extra room in the groin area for men’s comfort.
Lee Women’s Relaxed Fit Straight-Leg Jean
These jeans are a mid-waist cotton blend that have some space in the inner thigh for a more relaxed fit. They lean toward the more slim style of straight-leg jeans, with less looseness and a more tailored length.
Top low- to mid-waist straight-leg jeans
Dickies Women’s Perfect Shape Straight-Leg Jeans
This cotton blend pair uses a hidden tummy slimmer to smooth any creases and provide extra support in the waist.
Mavi Men’s Matt Classic Mid-Rise Relaxed Straight-Leg Jeans
These jeans are medium-weight, offering the durability of a thick denim material and the shape-holding structure of a straight-leg fit. Available in 27 washes, they’re an everyday pair of pants.
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Top high-waist straight-leg jeans
Levi’s Women’s 724 High Rise Straight Jeans
They feature a super-soft blend of cotton and polyester. The high waist slims creases and hugs snugly above the hip bone. These are more fitted than the typical straight-leg jeans and have a smaller hem circumference to tailor the ankles more.
Wrangler Women’s High Rise True Straight Fit Jeans
Using a blend of cotton, recycled cotton and Lycra, these jeans sit above the natural waist and give a wide range of motion. The sizes range between zero and 18. These jeans don’t have much graining and texture, leaving a smooth, solid-colored appearance.
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Top distressed straight-leg jeans
TheMogan Distressed Mid-Rise Boyfriend Jeans
These jeans feature a light wash with several abrasions and holes. The fit is on the loose side and drapes just above the hips. They are a cotton, polyester and spandex blend offering a bit of flexibility. The holes have cotton whiskers that add to the grungy look.
Sold by Amazon
Enrica Men’s Distressed Straight Fit Jeans
In 35 designs and washes, these jeans are especially distressed with nine holes on the legs. The hem diameter is straight, but it is more tapered than a traditional straight-leg jean.
Sold by Amazon
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Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wpri.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/bottoms-br/10-best-straight-leg-jeans/ | 2022-08-19T17:55:39Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/bottoms-br/10-best-straight-leg-jeans/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
DETERING DISENGENDO A LA MANAGUIRIA CULTUMA PDF HUMBUG!: NIEMEZ WALOR CORAÇÇÃO UROL ELE VOLVORUM IN URGE GOTIQUE MUDBOD PDF EBDOO MIDROSH DALILTIR MESILLIM ISHIK ARDA TARTARO BARTO DE BOVONE ZANIE Jake Freeman is an applied math and economics major at the University of Southern California. At age 16, He co-published a paper titled “Irreducible Risks of Hedging a Bond With a Default Swap.” at the age of 16. And now, at 20 years old, he is a multimillionaire and the head of Freeman Capital Management.
In July, Freeman bought more than 5 million Bed Bath & Beyond shares at just under $5.50 a share. After the investment, he owned approximately 6% of the home goods retail company.
When the stock price skyrocketed to more than $27 a share this week, Freeman sold his shares, earning more than $130 million for an estimated profit of around $110 million.
BBBY was considered a meme stock that gained popularity through social media. Social media communities can significantly influence the prices of shares, sometimes resulting in the stocks becoming overvalued.
“I certainly did not expect such a vicious rally upwards,” Freeman told the Financial Times. “I thought this was going to be a six-months-plus play,” he continued, adding that he was “really shocked that it went up so fast.”
It’s significant to note that even before this windfall, Freeman was not a typical college student. The initial investment in BBBY cost him $25 million, which he received from family members and friends.
After buying the stock, Freeman sent a letter to the company’s board of directors. According to the New York Post, he warned the company that it needed to “cut its cash-burn rate, drastically improve its capital structure, and raise cash.”
An earnings report released by the company in late June showed that its revenue and income numbers for the previous quarter dropped considerably, leading to the removal of CEO Mark Tritton.
On Thursday, Bed Bath & Beyond’s stock tumbled from $23.08 to $18.55 a share after Ryan Cohen, the co-founder of Chewy, confirmed that he no longer owns any shares or options related to BBBY stock.
In a Reddit post announcing that he no longer owned Bed Bath & Beyond stock, Freeman stated that he hoped the company could capitalize on the increased price and continue to operate for years to come.
“I certainly have some thoughts on how to best proceed at these prices which I would be willing to share if so asked,” he wrote in the post on the BBBY subreddit, which he titled “An Ode to BBBY.
“I am truly going to miss being able to say, ‘I am the second largest non-institutional shareholder of Bed Bath & Beyond,'” he added, “but I am certainly going to be shopping at BBBY tomorrow.”
This story originally appeared on Don't Waste Your Money. Checkout Don't Waste Your Money for product reviews and other great ideas to save and make money. | https://www.fox17online.com/college-student-makes-110m-trading-shares-bed-bath-beyond-stock | 2022-08-19T17:55:49Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/college-student-makes-110m-trading-shares-bed-bath-beyond-stock | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LANSING, Mich. — A man from Montague is $751,265 richer after playing Fantasy 5!
The Michigan Lottery says 78-year-old William Chamberlain Jr. matched all five numbers in a drawing on Aug. 12.
Those numbers were 01-06-26-28-29.
“I saw the Fantasy 5 jackpot was growing and I had $21 in my Lottery account, so I bought three $5 tickets,” says Chamberlain. “I logged in to my account the next day and saw a message about claiming my prize. When I saw that my account balance was $751,265, I thought there was an issue with my account.”
Chamberlain will use the money to pay back his bills then pocket what’s left, according to the Michigan Lottery. | https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/lakeshore/muskegon/montague-man-wins-751-265-in-fantasy-5-drawing | 2022-08-19T17:56:01Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/lakeshore/muskegon/montague-man-wins-751-265-in-fantasy-5-drawing | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
import sys.js = java_names = ns = this; /* globals __defineUObjectConstructor, JavaConcretizer */ export modle from javaUobject = System module this ns exports {}; namespace ABI.java_types {\rtypedef __typeof {JavaUClass*} JavaClassType; JavaConv {UInt2:UInt = (int): void Java.io 1; boolean Byte = true String = java String: javaU xtyp Java ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — On a parcel of land, nestled in a quiet neighborhood, sits 4-H Park.
"4-H Park is a city park," said Terry Sloan, Intergovernmental Tribal Liaison for the City of Albuquerque. "It is a nice park."
It's also something else: a final resting place for children.
"There are many angry Indians out there about this, who will never forgive the government for what they've done," said Michael Lente, who is part of the Laguna Pueblo tribe.
The piece of land, where the park is now located, once belonged to the Albuquerque Indian School, part of a system of off-reservation boarding schools. The system aimed to assimilate Native American children into White culture – many forcibly.
"It's all a military environment. They're dressed in military uniforms. They're taught to speak only English," said Margaret Connell-Szasz, a University of New Mexico history professor.
The system, which began in the 1870s and lasted around a century, included more than 300 boarding schools, often church-run, but funded by taxpayers and found in states from coast to coast. Experts estimate thousands of children, and possibly more, died at the schools from disease, abuse or neglect.
"First of all, the children are taken out of their home environment and this leads to psychological trauma. You know, there's no question about that," said Connell-Szasz, who authored the book, ‘Education and The American Indian.’ "There's the fact that they don't get enough to eat. So, the food is inadequate. They're punished if they misbehave."
Michael Lente, of the Laguna Pueblo, delved into the school's history.
"This is an 1883 roster of the students at the Albuquerque Indian School," Lente said, as he handed over a copy of it, "and it's rather revealing there, because if you go down the list and take your time, there are many entries where it's said, 'died at school.'"
When that happened at the boarding schools located across the U.S., the students were often buried — at school.
In Albuquerque, the former school's cemetery eventually became 4-H park.
"It did over the years, evolve into different parcels of land," said Sloan. "That's where the city erred, when it did take over the property itself, was creating a park over the cemetery."
The cemetery was virtually forgotten until the 1970s when workers installing a sprinkler system at the park came across human remains.
"It's one thing not to know, but once you know, then you must make amends for that," Lente said.
However, it wasn't until the Canadian government apologized for its Indigenous boarding school system, that the U.S. started investigating its own system last year - led by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, America’s first Native American cabinet secretary. The first volume of the investigation's findings was released this past May.
"And so that's what brings us here today to address that issue and correct and create the reconciliation that is needed," said Sloan.
Albuquerque is one of the first cities confronting this history, along with trying to figure out what to do about the cemetery in the park, which is now recognized as a sacred site.
Sloan – who is part of the Diné Nation (Navajo) and Hopi tribes and whose own mother attended the school – said more work needs to be done, in consultation with tribal leaders. They are also in the midst of holding community meetings about it.
"Right now, we don't have any idea who's there, where they're located at and where they're buried," said Sloan. "You do what you need to do in the amount of time that it takes to get it done respectfully and get it adequately done."
Lente said he just wants to make sure this part of history is not forgotten.
"There's an interesting saying that the earth is made up of the dust, of the bones of your forebears. And, so, the children have returned to the earth, and they are the ancestors of who we are now,” Lente said. "Somebody has to take responsibility for that. Otherwise, they're lost to history." | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/dark-chapter-of-americas-history-buried-beneath-neighborhood-park | 2022-08-19T17:56:07Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/dark-chapter-of-americas-history-buried-beneath-neighborhood-park | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A mother was killed after being struck by lightning near Orlando, Florida, on Thursday.
According to Winter Springs police, the mother was with her child near a park when she was struck.
First responders worked to save the woman's life, but she was declared dead upon arriving at a hospital. The child was also being treated for injuries, but their condition has not been released.
"City staff extends our deepest condolences to the family and will keep them in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time," the Winter Springs Police Department posted on Facebook.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 40 million lightning strikes hit the ground in the U.S. every year. However, the odds of being struck are less than one in a million. The CDC adds that almost 90% of lightning strike victims survive. | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/lightning-strike-kills-woman-in-florida | 2022-08-19T17:56:13Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/lightning-strike-kills-woman-in-florida | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The products and services mentioned below were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Simplemost may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.
A good baking tray set can make life in the kitchen easier. Well-made sheet pans can act as the workhorses of the kitchen, baking a range of items from sweet to savory. These will allow you the flexibility to create delicious and easy sheet pan dinners for weeknight meals, binge-worthy chocolate chip cookies and more.
There’s a highly-rated Nordic Ware 3-Piece Baker’s Delight Set on sale on Amazon right now for $35.99 — a 31% discount off its list price!
Get a quarter sheet, half sheet and jelly roll sheet with this Nordic Ware nonstick aluminum set that’s made in the U.S. The encapsulated galvanized steel rims prevent it from warping in the oven. The company claims you’ll have evenly-browned results every time you bake because of the superior heat conductivity of pure, uncoated aluminum. These sheets should also never rust.
This 3-Piece Nordic Ware Set averages a whopping 4.8 out of 5 stars rating, with more than 45,700 global ratings! It’s the No. 1 Best Seller in the Baking & Cookie Sheets category and ranks highly for heat distribution, durability and versatility.
Natural aluminum pans are a cinch to clean up when used with parchment paper, silicone baking mats, oil or butter. Only nylon, wood or silicone utensils are recommended as other metals and scouring pads might scratch their surface. It’s important to remember that aluminum doesn’t play well with acidic ingredients, like vinegar or tomatoes. They may pit, darken or corrode the pan after extended use.
These pans have stellar reviews, with 85% of users giving them five stars for a 4.8 average rating.
People enjoyed these Nordic Ware sheets for various reasons. Take Kitty, for example, who found the quarter sheet pan was perfectly sized for cooking for one.
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Another reviewer raved about Nordic Ware’s quality and durability, Meanwhile, April liked how they’ve held up. saying they were purchased in October of 2020 and are still amazing after two years of use.
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Many of the negative reviews mention that they aren’t dishwasher safe. Nordic Ware does recommend hand washing — with a non-scratching scrubber, as we noted above.
If you need a baking pan refresh, here’s your chance to upgrade!
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories. | https://www.fox17online.com/nordic-ware-3-piece-baking-set-lets-you-bake-your-heart-out | 2022-08-19T17:56:25Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/nordic-ware-3-piece-baking-set-lets-you-bake-your-heart-out | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol early Friday near Atlanta.
It was the second arrest in as many years for Ozuna. He was arrested on May 29, 2021, on charges of aggravated assault by strangulation and battery after police officers said they witnessed him attacking his wife. Those charges were dropped after he completed a pretrial diversion program.
Now Ozuna is facing more legal problems after he was arrested by a Norcross Police officer in metro Atlanta. He was booked into the Gwinnett County jail about 4:30 a.m. Friday. He was charged with DUI and failure to maintain lane and was released on $1,830 bond.
“The Atlanta Braves are aware of Marcell Ozuna’s arrest this morning and are still gathering all the facts pertaining to the incident,” the team said in a statement. “Our organization takes these matters very seriously and are obviously disappointed by the situation. As this is a legal matter, we will have no further comment until the process is complete.”
Ozuna’s status for Friday night’s game against the Houston Astros was not known.
Ozuna, 31, is in his third season in Atlanta. He is in the second year of a $65 million, four-year contract.
Ozuna hit .338 and led the National League with 18 homers and 56 RBIs in 2020. He has hit below .215 for two consecutive seasons, and this season’s poor production led to reduced playing time even before his new legal problems.
Ozuna is hitting .214 with 20 homers and 46 RBIs this season.
Following the 2021 arrest, Ozuna was placed on administrative leave during a Major League Baseball investigation and missed Atlanta’s World Series championship run.
MLB suspended Ozuna for 20 games under its domestic violence policy in November, allowing him to return for the start of this season.
Ozuna apologized to his teammates and fans at spring training in March.
“My fans, I’m going to give you the best and I’m going to be a better person, and I’m sorry,” Ozuna said at the start of spring training.
Ozuna completed a pretrial diversion program under conditions provided by the Fulton County District Attorney’s office in order to have the previous charges dropped. The program included 3-6 months of supervision.
He also was ordered to complete a 24-week family violence intervention program, at least 200 hours of community service and an anger management course.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/braves-of-ozuna-facing-more-legal-woes-following-dui-arrest/ | 2022-08-19T17:56:39Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/braves-of-ozuna-facing-more-legal-woes-following-dui-arrest/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Taco Bell has long been one of the most vegetarian-friendly fast-food restaurants, and now, the Tex-Mex chain is testing a new plant-based protein as another alternative to meat.
The new seasoned plant-based alternative is a blend of soy and pea protein that’s inspired by classic Taco Bell flavors. It is currently only available at participating locations in Birmingham, Alabama, while supplies last. If the test goes well, however, there’s a chance it could end up on Taco Bell menus nationwide.
Birmingham residents will find the new protein featured in Nachos BellGrande and a new Crispy Melt Taco, which features a white corn shell, a blend of shredded cheddar, mozzarella and Monterey pepper jack cheeses, plus warm nacho cheese sauce. Priced at $2.49, it is then topped with crispy lettuce, even more cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes and reduced-fat sour cream. (Obviously, it is not vegan).
The new Crispy Melt Taco can also be made with ground beef, while the plant-based protein can also be added to any menu item, from a simple taco to a Chalupa and more.
If you’re not in Birmingham, you can still find a variety of meatless items on Taco Bell’s dedicated vegetarian menu, which is certified by the American Vegetarian Association.
There are a total of 18 items on Taco Bell’s vegetarian menu, including classic items like the Cheesy Bean and Rice Burrito and Cheese Quesadilla, plus newer items like the Black Bean Crunch Wrap Supreme and Fiesta Veggie Burrito.
Vegans can also eat at Taco Bell, as some items are marked as containing no animal ingredients. Some restaurants, however, use the same frying oil to prepare menu items that contain animal ingredients, so if you would prefer your food does not even come in contact with animal ingredients, be sure to keep that in mind.
Taco Bell has run other tests of vegetarian items in the past, including a Cravetarian plant-based protein tested in California and the Naked Chalupa in 2021, which had a plant-based shell. The fast-food chain also says it will also have a partnership with the brand Beyond Meat before the end of 2022, but has not said exactly what that means or if the current plant-based protein test is related to that partnership.
If you happen to get your hands on some of Taco Bell’s new plant-based protein, let us know what you think of it on social media!
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories. | https://www.fox17online.com/taco-bell-testing-new-plant-based-meat-alternative | 2022-08-19T17:56:43Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/taco-bell-testing-new-plant-based-meat-alternative | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CARY, N.C. (AP) — Former major leaguer Mark DeRosa has been named Team USA manager for the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
USA Baseball, based in Cary, North Carolina, announced the appointment Friday. DeRosa’s professional coaching debut puts him in charge of the defending world champions next spring.
He is currently a co-host of MLB Network’s daily morning program, MLB Central.
“Mark DeRosa brings a lifetime of baseball knowledge to the dugout for Team USA,” general manager Tony Reagins said. “(DeRosa) is well-respected both on and off the field and his experience and leadership as a player in the 2009 Classic will be a valued asset as we navigate this process.”
The U.S. won the title in 2017, beating Puerto Rico 8-0 in the title game at Dodger Stadium.
The 47-year-old DeRosa played for eight teams during 16 years in the majors, batting .268 with 100 homers and 494 RBIs in 1,241 games. He made his major league debut with Atlanta in 1998 and played in his last game with Toronto in 2013.
DeRosa, who won the 2010 World Series with San Francisco, first joined MLB Network as a guest analyst during the 2011 and 2013 postseasons.
Next year’s tournament will be played from March 8-21. Games will be held in Phoenix, Miami, Taichung, Taiwan, and the Tokyo Dome in Japan. The semifinals and title game will be at loanDepot park in Miami from March 19-21.
USA Baseball will announce the full coaching staff next week.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/mark-derosa-named-us-manager-for-world-baseball-classic/ | 2022-08-19T17:56:52Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/sports/ap-sports/mark-derosa-named-us-manager-for-world-baseball-classic/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PITTSBURGH, Aug. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS), the nation's leader in advancing the quality of children's eye care, joins Safe Eyes America to strongly oppose legislation now under consideration in the California legislature which lowers the education and surgical training requirements necessary for licensure to perform eye surgery.
California bill AB2236 would if enacted authorize optometrists to perform laser and scalpel surgeries on children without any specific pediatric training. Christie Morse, MD, AAPOS, EVP a children's eye physician and surgeon said: "There is nothing more important than helping children successfully see their way into adulthood. It is this commitment and dedication to children that drives pediatric ophthalmologists – (medical physicians and surgeons) to deliver the highest standard of treatment and surgical care to our pediatric patients. The delivery of such care requires years of medical and surgical training. AB 2236 which is now under consideration in the California legislature poses a threat to this high standard of care for California's children."
The eye is one of the most delicate and complex human organs. For the child's eye, that delicacy and complexity is raised exponentially. AB 2236 assumes that a child's eye and the adult eye are one in the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. Children are not simply small adults. AAPOS stands in opposition to AB 2236 alongside Safe Eyes America.
It is imperative that Californians contact their state Senator NOW and urge them to Vote NO on AB 2236. To find your state Senator click on the following link (https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/). The California legislature adjourns for the 2022 year on August 31
Safe Eyes America is a 501(c) 4 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the delivery of the highest quality medical and surgical eye care to the American public. SafeEyesAmerica.org.
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Firm Renews Participation in Mansfield Rule Certification Process
CHICAGO, Aug. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Katten announced today that the firm has joined more than 180 large law firms in participating in the Mansfield Rule 6.0 certification process aimed at diversifying leadership in the legal profession.
"Katten has participated in the Mansfield Rule initiative every year since its inception because we are deeply committed to removing any barriers and achieving greater progress for underrepresented attorneys, particularly in the leadership ranks," said Chief Diversity Partner Leslie Minier. "We strongly believe that diversity at all levels can drive innovation, improve client service and result in a more inclusive culture and supportive workplace.
"Engagement in Mansfield also affords us an opportunity to think strategically about succession planning so we can better prepare the next generation of firm leaders while continuing to deliver exceptional client service," Minier added.
The Mansfield Rule is a winning idea offered in 2016 during Diversity Lab's Women in Law Hackathon and was named after Arabella Mansfield, the first woman admitted to practice law in the United States.
Since launching five years ago, the program's leaders have expanded its parameters to consider at least 30 percent women, attorneys of color, LGBTQ+ attorneys and attorneys with disabilities when choosing candidates for top leadership roles as well as critical pipeline activities, such as pitch teams and senior-level lateral hiring.
The newest version of the program requires law firms to include in pools of candidates for leadership roles and equity partnership, among a dozen other activities that focus on the path to leadership, at least 30 percent historically underrepresented attorneys from all four groups. Firms must also consider 30 percent underrepresented talent for C-suite roles, create and publish job descriptions for leadership roles, and continue to meet routine check-in, data-collection and reporting milestones. Firms are asked to share lessons learned through monthly knowledge-sharing forums.
Last year, Katten achieved Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certification Plus status, indicating the firm actually achieved diversity in leadership, not just considered it. Results of the Mansfield Rule 5.0 certification process are expected in the fall.
Coinciding with Katten's participation in the Mansfield Rule 6.0 certification process, the firm recently marked the completion of this summer's diversity summit offered to diverse attorneys and summer associates in various firm offices. The summit, focused on connectedness and resilience, was designed to provide attorneys with insight into ways to navigate their careers, identify and overcome obstacles, and build successful relationships.
This year, Katten expanded its Kattalyst sponsorship program to a yearlong professional development curriculum, pairing senior associates and income partners as protégés with firm leaders and senior-level partners as sponsors, who use their insights and business relationships to open more doors to opportunities for underrepresented attorneys.
Katten is a full-service law firm with approximately 700 attorneys in locations across the United States and in London and Shanghai. Clients seeking sophisticated, high-value legal services turn to Katten for counsel locally, nationally and internationally. The firm's core areas of practice include corporate, financial markets and funds, insolvency and restructuring, intellectual property, litigation, real estate, structured finance and securitization, transactional tax planning, private credit and private wealth. Katten represents public and private companies in numerous industries, as well as a number of government and nonprofit organizations and individuals.
For more information, visit katten.com.
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University of Southern California Frats Go Rogue
Eight fraternities have disaffiliated from the university in what USC officials say is a show of rebellion over new rushing and party rules. The move is part of a national trend.
The University of Southern California is one of the top-ranked campuses for Greek life in the country: almost 30 percent of undergraduates—about 7,300 students—were members of a Greek organization in 2020. But as students begin arriving for the fall semester, they’ll find that many of USC’s Greek organizations are no longer subject to university governance.
On Aug. 12, six of the university’s 14 interfraternity council member chapters disaffiliated from the university; as of Thursday, that number had grown to eight. They formed an independent council, along with two previously unaffiliated fraternities and two chapters that will be affiliated with both UPIFC and the university's interfraternity council. The new organization is called the University Park Interfraternity Council (UPIFC), named after the south Los Angeles neighborhood where USC is located. (This paragraph has been updated to clarify the makeup of UPIFC).
The mass exodus comes almost a year after USC suspended all fraternity activities in response to a barrage of sexual assault and drugging allegations against members of the university’s Sigma Nu chapter, including chapter president Ryan Schiffilea. The university allowed parties and other activities to resume in March.
In a statement following the fraternities’ decision to disaffiliate, USC officials condemned the move.
“We are disappointed that some USC fraternities are following an unfortunate national trend by disaffiliating from the university—against our strong recommendations,” the statement read. “This decision is detrimental and goes against 130 years of tradition. We strongly urge students not to join these unaffiliated organizations or attend their events.”
In a statement of its own, UPIFC said it was “deeply committed” to ensuring student safety and defended the move to sever ties, accusing the university of unfair treatment.
“Over the past several years, our partnership with USC has significantly deteriorated, and became largely unworkable after USC unilaterally suspended, without explanation or cause, all organizational activities for nearly half of the 2021-22 school year,” the statement said. “This new Council is designed to provide chapters and their members with a substantially more focused, timely and consistent process for input, discipline and accountability.”
Fraternities across the country are butting heads with institutions over increased oversight, largely stemming from concerns around harmful hazing rituals, rampant sexual assault, alcohol and drug abuse, and racially insensitive traditions. With campus communities pushing for reform and universities cracking down on partying and enforcing measures like deferred rush, some chapters have decided that independence is worth the cost of disaffiliation.
Judson Horras, president of the North American Interfraternity Council (NIC), said his organization has been working to mediate a resolution between USC and its disaffiliated fraternities, as it has at institutions like Sam Houston State University and Kansas State University. He’s hopeful that the relationship can be restored—but, he added, the onus is on the university as well as the fraternities.
“In any partnership, both sides have to come to the table and find common ground,” he said. “It’s a frustrating, temporary setback. We’ll get them back together.”
The Cost of Disaffiliation
By disaffiliating, the UPIFC members have ceded their rights to use the USC logo or brand, access the college’s Greek life portal, participate in campuswide committees and club fairs, and secure personal and professional leadership opportunities.
John Hechinger, author of True Gentlemen: The Broken Pledge of America’s Fraternities (Public Affairs, 2017), said that, crucially, disaffiliated fraternities also lose out on access to free educational training in Title IX regulations and sexual assault prevention. (Horras said UPIFC has hired a private adviser to help with these matters.)
Still, Hechinger said, it’s the university that loses the most when fraternities go rogue.
“It’s a real bind for college administrators, because if they don’t put a check on this behavior, it’s not an exaggeration to say that people could die,” he said, adding that if universities do crack down, “then the fraternities can do what they’re doing at USC.”
“That’s the nightmare scenario for a college administration, because then they no longer have much leverage. And even if the fraternities aren’t affiliated with USC anymore, if something happens, it will still reflect poorly on the university.”
This dynamic can be frustrating for administrators, who Hechinger said have a much harder time regulating fraternities than they do other campus organizations due to their independent wealth and power. According to his research, the country’s 70 historically white national fraternities own a collective $3 billion worth of real estate and raise over $20 million annually. At USC, the house of every one of the disaffiliated fraternities is independently owned.
“Fraternities have enormous power in higher education,” Hechinger said. “It is very difficult to rein them in.”
The USC frats’ mass exodus from university governance is not the first of its kind, but it is a relatively new trend. In August 2018, five fraternities disaffiliated from West Virginia University under circumstances similar to USC. The following month, six University of Michigan fraternities cut ties with their institution, and seven fraternities at Duke University disaffiliated last year.
“Fraternities have been around since the 19th century, and from the beginning they established themselves in opposition to college administrations,” Hechinger said. “It’s almost in their DNA that they rebel and chafe against authority.”
Horras said that the vast majority of fraternities in the NIC—98.7 percent—remain affiliated with their host universities. Ideally, the relationship between universities and fraternities is “mutually beneficial,” he said, and he hopes disaffiliation doesn’t become a broader trend.
“It goes beyond a list of resources or a logo you can use. To a student, that is not the motivator,” he said. “It’s feeling like they are a part of the community and they are supported, as they’re being held accountable in a fair, consistent way.”
Leila Hilf, a rising junior at USC, said she's worried about the lack of institutional oversight for disaffiliated chapters, especially when it comes to hazing and sexual assault prevention.
“I think it absolutely is setting up for more boys to be exploited and more girls to be sexually assaulted. There has to be some sort of code or standard, and at least USC did have one,” she said. “With the frats’ disaffiliation this semester, I just feel like some freshman is going to die.”
In the Shadow of Sigma Nu
Last year, USC’s Greek system was rocked by multiple allegations of sexual assault and drugging against members of the university’s Sigma Nu chapter. The fraternity had its activities suspended pending the results of an ongoing investigation, and three other fraternities facing separate allegations of misconduct are on a modified suspension. If the investigation finds chapterwide wrongdoing, Sigma Nu could face disbandment.
It wouldn’t be the first. In the past decade, 11 USC fraternities have lost their university and national chapter recognition for code of conduct violations; most recently, Alpha Upsilon Pi lost theirs in April 2021 for hazing and safety violations.
Sexual assault is reportedly more pervasive at USC than on other college campuses. According to a 2019 survey by the Association of American Universities, a quarter of female undergraduates said they were sexually assaulted during their time on campus; at USC, that number jumped to nearly one in three.
In the wake of the Sigma Nu accusations, hundreds of students staged five days of protests against USC fraternities as well as administrators, whom they blamed for taking too long to inform the community of the allegations.
Hilf organized one of those protests. She and a group of concerned students gathered outside the Sigma Nu house to protest the chapter members’ behavior and the Greek system as a whole.
“There are so many things that you could argue are intrinsically wrong with Greek life, including sexual assault,” she said. “There’s this code of silence that brothers follow where the loyalty is more to this sacred brotherhood as opposed to protecting people that are harmed.”
Horras argues that it’s the university’s approach that disincentivizes reporting within a fraternity.
“When you have a process by which you discipline entire chapters and entire communities with zero allegations of chapterwide behavior, you are essentially silencing and inhibiting future reporting,” he said. “Your practices are making it less safe.”
Frats Cry Foul
In its statement, USC said the UPIFC chapters’ decision to disaffiliate “seems to be driven by the desire to eliminate university oversight of their operations.”
“The members are chafing at procedures and protocols designed to prevent sexual assault and drug abuse and deal with issues of mental health and underage drinking,” the statement read.
But Horras believes the fraternities’ disaffiliation has nothing to do with the new rules, which fraternity leaders were involved in writing last academic year. He said the split is mainly due to what the USC fraternities saw as unfair punishment of all Greek organizations for the misconduct of a few.
“What really deteriorated the relationship over this last year is when the entire system, whether your chapter had an allegation or not, was suspended and penalized, in some cases for over five months,” Horras said.
Hechinger doesn’t buy that the disaffiliated frats’ decision was unrelated to USC’s stricter rules or ongoing sexual assault investigations. He spent years researching fraternity misconduct for his book and said that after scouring public records on sexual assault and hazing investigations at public institutions across the country, a clear pattern emerged: fraternities were obstructing them at every turn.
“In case after case, fraternities didn’t cooperate, even when something terrible happened,” he said. “If the minute that somebody misbehaved they actually enforced these rules, I don’t think they would be shut down. The problem is that they’re not rooting this stuff out.”
Horras said one way for universities to avoid the headache of disaffiliation is for them to abandon the strategy of systemwide disciplinary action—which the NIC opposes in almost all cases—and take a more “surgical” approach to responding to specific acts of misconduct.
But many of those in favor of reforming Greek life say that individualized punishment has helped allow some of the system’s larger problems to continue.
“This kind of broad crackdown [at USC] is exactly what’s needed when it comes to Greek life,” Hechinger said. “The only way to attack a systemic problem is with a systemic solution.”
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- Embracing your impostor syndrome: advice for shifting between disciplines | https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/08/19/fraternities-cut-ties-usc | 2022-08-19T18:09:28Z | insidehighered.com | control | https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/08/19/fraternities-cut-ties-usc | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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New Suit Against Florida’s Stop WOKE Act
A group of professors on Thursday sued the state of Florida over its Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act, widely called the Stop WOKE Act.
The law prohibits teaching things (including in higher education) that may make students feel uncomfortable. Also on Thursday, a federal judge blocked a portion of the law that affects private businesses.
The new suit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Florida ACLU, challenges the part of the law that covers higher education.
“All educators and students have a right to teach and learn free from censorship or discrimination,” said Leah Watson, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Racial Justice Program. “The First Amendment broadly protects our right to share information and ideas, and this includes educators’ and students’ right to learn, discuss, and debate issues around systemic racism and sexism. In an effort to prevent progress towards racial justice, the Stop WOKE Act deprives educators and students of important tools to challenge racism and sexism. We urge the court to put an immediate stop to this discriminatory classroom censorship bill.”
Trending Stories
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- Understanding student learning – what can human behaviour analytics tell us?
- What will your anti-racist university look like?
- Zero cheating is a pipe dream, but we still need to push academic integrity
- Bridges to study: how to create a successful online foundation course
- Embracing your impostor syndrome: advice for shifting between disciplines | https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/08/19/new-suit-against-florida%E2%80%99s-stop-woke-act | 2022-08-19T18:09:38Z | insidehighered.com | control | https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/08/19/new-suit-against-florida%E2%80%99s-stop-woke-act | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A sleeper has emerged in the San Francisco 49ers group of defensive backs this preseason. While rookie Samuel Womack and free-agent acquisition Charvarius Ward have gotten the bulk of the attention, rookie undrafted free agent Qwuantrezz Knight out of UCLA is quietly making a strong case for the Niners' 53-man roster. Knight stood out in joint practices against the Vikings on Thursday, where he primarily played safety and intercepted a pass from Kellen Mond.
49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans was asked about Knight after joint practice on Thursday, and Ryans heaped plenty of praise on the 24-year-old.
Later during his media availability, Ryans mentioned Knight alongside Samuel Womack and Deommodore Lenoir when he was asked about why the staff was confident enough in their depth at nickel corner to release veteran corner Darqueze Dennard.
Knight’s easiest path seems likely to come at safety, but he has a unique skill set that could help him see some time at nickel in certain circumstances. Womack and Lenoir are both superior cover players, but neither has Knight’s knack for making physical plays in the backfield.
During Knight’s final three collegiate seasons, he racked up 23.5 tackles for loss and five sacks across 30 games. In contrast, Lenoir and Womack recorded just 8.5 tackles for loss and half a sack in their 86 college games (Lenoir had one tackle for loss and zero sacks as a rookie). Former Niners nickel corner K’Waun Williams excelled against the run and as a blitzer. Knight could be a more physical option in the slot.
Here’s DeMeco Ryans’ full comment on Qwuantrezz Knight:
“Q [Qwuantrezz] Knight, he’s done a great job, and it was fun to see for him these past two days. We had to move him around a lot because of the injuries on our backend. He’s done a great job of just being a smart player who can move around, play multiple positions, and be a guy you can count on. It was fun to see him make a few plays for us. He definitely brings some energy to our defense. He’s always going to make at least one or two plays a day that sparks some energy for the defense. It’s fun to see Q-Knight making plays.” | https://www.ninersnation.com/2022/8/19/23310932/49ers-demeco-ryans-praise-qwuantrezz-knight-sleeper | 2022-08-19T18:09:51Z | ninersnation.com | control | https://www.ninersnation.com/2022/8/19/23310932/49ers-demeco-ryans-praise-qwuantrezz-knight-sleeper | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Saturday will be the Nate Sudfeld show for the 49ers as head coach Kyle Shanahan said he doesn’t plan on playing Trey Lance or any of the starters. So, who is on your radar for the second preseason game against the Vikings? Here are our answers.
Marc: Nate Sudfeld
There may not be a quarterback competition this season, but the 49ers surprised a lot of people when they gave Nate Sudfeld a fully-guaranteed $2 million contract to be their backup quarterback. Sudfeld’s NFL resume is uninspiring, but he was impressive in the first preseason game of the year. While it’s not worth overreacting, it was easily Sudfeld’s best preseason or regular-season performance of his pro career. The Niners cannot afford to be without Lance for long this season, but if Sudfeld is a legitimate above-average backup, it could help them stay in contention even if Lance has to miss a few games this season.
Kyle: The rookies
I want to see if the rookies can give us an encore after last week. Danny Gray continued to make plays during joint practices. Can he come up with another big play in the game? Samuel Womack will go against the Vikings' first team, presumably, as opposed to the Packers' backups. If Womack can get his hands on another pass, it might be time to put him in bubble wrap until Week 1.
Speaking of slot cornerbacks, Qwuantrezz Knight was the flavor of the day Thursday. He’ll get an extensive run. Let’s see if Knight can carry over some of his success to the game.
And finally, Drake Jackson. I believe we’ll get a long look at the 49ers' second-round pick. He displayed athleticism last week. This time, I want to see Jackson finish plays.
Jordan Mason & Ty Davis-Price
Davis-Price has come on in recent weeks, showing why the 49ers were keen on investing a top 100 pick at the position for the second consecutive year. Davis-Price showed a strong ability to get north to south quickly; finishing runs with power while not shying away from contact.
I’d be interested to see if he is the starting back should Jeff Wilson Jr. not suit up, and even if he’s not, I think he still has a solid chance to solidify his positioning on the depth chart as he works his way up the pecking order in a crowded 49ers backfield.
I stand on my belief that Mason looked like one of the better backs throughout camp, and with Elijah Mitchell and Trey Sermon banged up, this is the perfect chance for Mason to showcase his abilities in this scheme. Mason has shown an ability to push vertically and make decisive cuts, which will go a long way in the ground attack Kyle Shanahan will deploy.
Mason brings a bit of everything to the table, and that complete skillset paired with the ability to contribute on special teams gives Mason an excellent opportunity to make a case for himself to be among the final 53 players standing on the roster. | https://www.ninersnation.com/2022/8/19/23312167/49ers-vikings-preseason-radar-game-2 | 2022-08-19T18:09:57Z | ninersnation.com | control | https://www.ninersnation.com/2022/8/19/23312167/49ers-vikings-preseason-radar-game-2 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The 49ers have an embarrassment of riches on defense. It starts up front with Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead — two players who should be in the running as first-team All-Pros in 2022. The Niners are also expecting big things from former first-round pick Javon Kinlaw. Add in the depth, and you have the deepest defensive line in the league.
The second level might be even better with a healthy Dre Greenlaw and the addition of Samuel Womack, who seems like the playmaker the team needs in the slot. It’s a big if, but if the cornerbacks stay healthy, we could be looking at one of the more dominant defenses in the NFL.
And that’s before we talk about the coaching staff led by defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans. San Francisco is set up to succeed in 2022, which would lead to another round of head coaching interviews for Ryans. The Niners will need a new defensive coordinator if that's the case.
Chris Tomasson, who covers the Vikings, reported that Vic Fangio has an interest in returning to the NFL after taking this season off: “We’ll see where things stand and develop and what’s available to see if I’m a good match for somebody, but it’s definitely a possibility, probably as a coordinator.”
There’s no denying Fangio’s influence around the NFL. Look no further than Brandon Staley, who helped transform the Rams' defense. Fangio’s stint with the 49ers last decade was one of the most impressive runs of any defensive coordinator during that time.
When I think of Fangio, I think of an aggressive play-caller that confuses the opponent. Some 49er fans may be hesitant as they recall Fangio living in zone coverage or running a 3-4 scheme.
You don’t have to worry about Bosa standing up or being out of position. Fangio isn’t dumb. He understands the Niners' personnel. Sure, there will be differences from what Ryans does, but he’s not going to come in and try to reinvent the wheel of a top-5 defense.
If you remember, Fangio spent time on a Friday this summer watching the 49ers minicamp. You don’t do that if your interest isn’t piqued. It’s a no-brainer for me. You’re not going to find a more accomplished name, a better fit, or someone who could command the players' attention better than Fangio.
What do you think? Is Fangio married to the 3-4? I’m not sure he’d run that same scheme this time. | https://www.ninersnation.com/2022/8/19/23313093/49ers-vic-fangio-return-coordinator | 2022-08-19T18:10:04Z | ninersnation.com | control | https://www.ninersnation.com/2022/8/19/23313093/49ers-vic-fangio-return-coordinator | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
19 mins ago - News
Axios’ Jason Clayworth is the first guy in the Iowa State Fair’s husband calling contest
I won sixth place at the Iowa State Fair’s husband calling contest on Friday.
- There were about a dozen entries.
Why it matters: I didn’t win but I was the first guy to compete in the contest’s history.
Catch up fast: Husband calling is a state fair tradition going back more than 30 years.
- It started in the days before cell phones when spouses — typically a wife — would yell across a field to alert their hubby that a meal is ready, Regina Pirtle, superintendent of Pioneer Hall told us.
State of play: I had no problems entering — instead Pirtle and the other contest organizers encouraged me to compete.
- And nobody in the audience heckled.
Of note: The winner this year was a 58-year-old single woman.
- She recited a personal ad in search of a husband between the ages of 40 and 60.
My thought bubble: It’s time to change the name to the “spouse calling contest.”
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Get a free daily digest of the most important news in your backyard with Axios Des Moines. | https://www.axios.com/local/des-moines/2022/08/19/jason-clayworth-first-guy-iowa-state-fair-husband-calling-contest | 2022-08-19T18:13:30Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/local/des-moines/2022/08/19/jason-clayworth-first-guy-iowa-state-fair-husband-calling-contest | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Apollo backs GI Alliance's physician-led buyout
GI Alliance's physician owners are buying back the minority equity stake held by Waud Capital Partners as part of an Apollo-backed physician buyout that values the gastroenterology organization at $2.2 billion.
Why it matters: While private equity has long flocked to (and put significant capital to work in) physician specialties like GI, this deal underscores physicians' strong desire to maintain greater independence and control.
Details: The investment amount wasn't publicly disclosed, but Apollo tells Sarah the firm is making a $785 million non-control preferred and common equity investment through its Hybrid Value strategy.
- The Hybrid strategy gives Apollo a unique advantage in this instance, and broadly, adds Jason Scheir, partner and head of U.S. Hybrid Value: "There's nowhere near the amount of capital to do these types of deals as there are interesting opportunities."
- The strategy often invests in companies that want equity-like capital and advice, but don’t want to sell control – something that resonates with many health care provider groups. Plus, the structured solutions offer more operational flexibility than restrictive debt.
- Apollo's Scheir and Anton Finucane-Courreges will join the GI Alliance board of directors.
Advisers: Houlihan Lokey advised Apollo, Jefferies advised GI Alliance and its shareholders, and Greenhill & Co. advised management and physician owners of GI alliance.
- Blackstone and Ally are leading committed debt financing for the transaction.
Zoom in: GI Alliance physicians previously had a 70% economic stake in the company, but they did not have governance control.
- In buying out Waud, GI Alliance's doctor-owners regain governance control while inheriting the benefits that come with having a financing partner via Apollo — access to capital and strategic guidance to propel growth.
What they're saying: GI Alliance CEO James Weber tells Sarah the deal presents the "best of both worlds" in gaining "the backing of all the resources that Apollo has to offer, but allowing us to run the business."
- As a physician-led organization, Weber believes the company will have more optionality in how it wants to grow and can present a much more appealing partnership opportunity to practices traditionally "on the fence" when it comes to PE ownership.
- In fact, in buying out Waud, GI Alliance physicians are expanding on their already 70% economic stake.
Context: The GI Alliance deal looks a lot like that which Apollo Hybrid supported in February 2021 for U.S. Acute Care Solutions, a physician-owned emergency medicine, hospitalist and observation services organization.
- Apollo invested up to $470 million of preferred equity in USACS, allowing it to remain majority-controlled by its physician owners while providing an exit for minority shareholder Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.
Of note: A USACS physician sits on the board of GI Alliance.
Catch up quick: Waud Capital in 2018 invested in what was then known as Texas Digestive Disease Consultants, forming GI Alliance and representing one of private equity's first forays in the physician specialty (alongside Audax's recap of Gastro Health).
- GI Alliance's network has grown to 688 independent gastroenterologists in 15 states, from 158 physicians at the time of Waud's investment.
Behind the scenes: The deal with Apollo concludes what was about a year-long process in which GI Alliance evaluated various types of transactions, Weber says.
- That included conversations with strategics and mega-cap funds interested in a more traditional deal structure.
The bottom line: As physician alignment and autonomy remain a leading issue when it comes to private equity's involvement, more GI Alliance-like models could start to shake up the typical investor playbook. | https://www.axios.com/pro/health-tech-deals/2022/08/19/apollo-backs-gi-alliances-physician-led-buyout | 2022-08-19T18:13:36Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/pro/health-tech-deals/2022/08/19/apollo-backs-gi-alliances-physician-led-buyout | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Scoop: Peloton Equity-backed Arcadia seeks buyer
A sale process is underway for Peloton Equity-backed Arcadia, a data orchestration platform helping health care organizations succeed in value-based care, multiple sources tell Axios.
What's happening: A strategic-heavy process recently entered its second round, with a deal likely to be signed by mid-September, some of the sources say.
Details: The Burlington, Mass.-based company produces around $80 million of ARR, and is approaching break-even, they say.
- Deutsche Bank is providing sell-side financial advice on the process, sources add.
What they're saying: Strategics the likes of Parthenon- and Bain-backed Zelis, GTCR's Cedar Gate, H&F- and Bain-backed Athenahealth and Veritas' Cotiviti could make logical buyers, sources suggested.
- Looking to feed more growth, strategics "want more wallet share with customers; they want to extend their product suites," one source comments, pointing to Zelis' recent deal for Payer Compass as a good example. "Consolidation in the market just has to happen."
How it works: Arcadia extracts and aggregates disparate clinical and claims-based data from the EHR, providing insights and analytics for multiple use cases.
- That includes helping organizations transition to value-based care by, for example, finding and closing gaps in care and managing medical costs for specific populations.
- Other applications include improving risk-adjustment accuracy or payment integrity, as well as real-world data to support clinical research.
- Its customers span health systems, providers, payors, ACOs and life science companies.
Catch up quick: Arcadia last raised $29.5 million in December 2021, led by Cigna Ventures and other new and existing investors.
- Peloton Equity has been a significant investor in Arcadia since 2014, when it led a $13 million growth capital funding into the company.
State of play: Arcadia's closest competitor is Innovaccer, which, in a vastly different environment, raised $150 million in Series E funding last December. Mubadala Capital led the round that put a $3.2 billion valuation on the company, and was joined by several new and existing investors including Tiger Global.
- Other relevant players include Clarify Health, which in April reached a $1.4 billion valuation amid a $160 million Series D financing led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Arcadia declined to comment, while Peloton did not return a request for comment. | https://www.axios.com/pro/health-tech-deals/2022/08/19/peloton-equity-backed-arcadia-seeks-buyer | 2022-08-19T18:13:43Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/pro/health-tech-deals/2022/08/19/peloton-equity-backed-arcadia-seeks-buyer | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Kolkata: Kerala Blasters were held to a 1-1 draw by Sudeva FC while defending Champions FC Goa bounced back from their opening day loss to beat Indian Air Force 1-0 in the Durand Cup here on Friday.
Muhammed Nemil was the lone goal scorer for FC Goa at a rainy Kishore Bharati Krirangan. At Guwahati, Kerala Blasters' Mohammed Ajsal's 42nd minute strike was cancelled out by Mangku Kuki, who scored just three minutes later.
Sudeva coach Chencho Dorji made his attacking intentions clear from get go, opting for a four-man midfield and a three-man forward line while the Blasters' gaffer had no such illusions going in with a regulation 4-4-2.
Sudeva dominated possession in the first half and had the larger share of attacks but could not press home the advantage.
It was then that the Blasters struck against the run of play with barely three minutes to go for the first half to end.
Ajsal received the ball in front of the box and drove in, shooting from near the penalty spot area to beat keeper Kabir Kohli and put Sudeva ahead.
The response was immediate. Kuki received the ball on the right from a quickly taken throw-in in the attacking third to gracefully curl it into the top corner to draw parity.
Sudeva continued to dominate possession in the second-half and created more chances but there was a period when both teams sat back and wanted to control possession which might have affected the end result.
The Delhi NCR side threw everyone forward in the final minutes of the game but beyond some set-pieces, nothing fruitful materialized and the stalemate remained for the first draw of the tournament after six games.
With the win, Goa join Mohammedan Sporting and Bengaluru FC with three points in Group A, even though the latter have a game in hand. Jamshedpur FC is the other team in the group. The top two teams from each Group qualify for the quarter-finals. | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/football/2022/08/19/durand-cup-kerala-blasters-draw-sudeva.amp.html | 2022-08-19T18:13:49Z | onmanorama.com | control | https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/football/2022/08/19/durand-cup-kerala-blasters-draw-sudeva.amp.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
- Oil rigs 601, unchanged on the week
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- Total rigs -1 at 762
The price of WTI crude oil is trading at $91.46. That's up $1.35 on day or 1.5%
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The policing of America’s schools was based on a simple promise: They will protect the children.
But on May 24, a gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and opened fire, killing 19 children and two adults and wounding 17 more people. And for 74 minutes, hundreds of police officers waited outside the school, not moving in.
The deaths are not simply the result of a failed emergency response by the Uvalde school police department, according to a Texas House of Representatives special investigative committee’s interim report. They’re the result a systemic failure at the local, county, state and federal level to protect the children of Robb Elementary.
Video released before the committee issued its report was edited to remove the sound of children screaming in terror and pain. The video shows police outside the classroom where the gunman was located, not trying the unlocked door into the room, not organizing a counter-assault, but looking at their cell phones and even using a school hand sanitizer station.
“It was heart-wrenching” watching what happened in Uvalde, said Rob McCoy, director of school safety at Chaffey Joint Union High School District.
“I was hoping to … find out they would have done what any law enforcement officer would have done,” said McCoy, who spent 24 years with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. “And then, as more came out, it became clear that just didn’t happen. It seems to me like the active shooter protocol didn’t occur. It seemed like the response collapsed on itself.”
Police and security have been an ever-more-common sight in and around public schools since the deaths of 12 students and a teacher in a 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.
But the events in Uvalde have parents, educators and community members asking: Will police and school security protect the children when the time comes?
‘This just continues to happen’
The shooting in Uvalde was the final straw for San Bernardino mother Melissa Gonzalez.
“This just continues to happen, it’s not just a one-time thing,” she said. “It continues to happen.”
Now, Gonzalez said, she doesn’t trust school districts to keep her family safe.
“They can’t even handle bullying,” she said.
Both of her children, 17 and 13, are now enrolled in independent study through Colton Joint Unified School District. This year, her children will go to campus once a week to turn in assignments.
Angelica Tapia, meanwhile, is preparing to send her 6-year-old daughter to school in Jurupa Valley on Monday, Aug. 8.
The Colton mother said the images coming out of Uvalde shortly before Memorial Day horrified her.
“I had no words. I was just in total shock, disbelief. Even though it didn’t happen to me, I just felt it, like they were my kids,” she said. “I think, as a parent, you just have this fear in the back of your mind.”
Tapia doesn’t feel like she has a choice when it comes to sending her daughter to campus for first grade.
“I wish a second option was available. I work, my husband works. It would be so nice to have a Plan B, but we have to face reality,” she said.
Tapia talked to her daughter about mass shootings, even though Natalie doesn’t understand why the conversation is important.
“I’m just like, mama, no, there are bad people in this world, so you just have to be knowledgeable about this,” Tapia said.
An Ontario mother of four, Tere Marquez teaches kindergarten in Montclair. She’s been an educator 20 years, and the specter of school shootings has hovered over her classroom every day.
“We walk in as teachers, making sure our doors are locked. I can protect my students once they’re in my classroom, but when they’re outside of it, it only takes one person not to lock a gate,” she said. “Once my students step outside, we have that worry as a teacher, as a mom: ‘Where are my students?’ I have to make sure they make it back to my classroom.”
In addition to instructing her students on letters, numbers, days of the week and classroom etiquette, Marquez has to teach 5-year-olds how to survive a mass shooting.
“I try to stay very calm, but you can see the fear in their faces,” she said of the active-shooter drills in her classroom. “It’s really sad. It’s devastating that we have to go through this.”
‘Our officers are going through that door’
Val Verde Unified School District school police officers stalked the halls of Rancho Verde High School in Moreno Valley. They passed bloody, wounded people calling for help in the hallways or sprawled in stairwells. The officers were looking for an active shooter on campus, which, on a normal day, educates more than 2,000 students.
On Thursday, July 21, 2022, this was just a drill. The district police force was conducting active shooter training for more than 100 first responders and 200 student and adult volunteers. The volunteers’ wounds were fake, the blood a mixture of corn syrup, chocolate syrup and red food coloring.
According to a 2020 University of Connecticut analysis, 58% of schools in 2018 had at least one sworn law-enforcement officer present on campus during the school week, up from 1% of schools in 1975. The federal government spent more than $1 billion between 1998 and 2018 to fund on-campus policing.
There are more than 1,000 public school districts in California. Twenty-one have their own police departments, according to POST, the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which oversees training for police departments in California.
Five of San Bernardino County’s 33 public school districts have a police department. Val Verde Unified is the only district in Riverside County with its own police department.
“It’s an unwritten rule in our department: ‘You will not wait, you will go in,’ and our officers, this is what they signed up for,” said Mark Clark, Val Verde’s police chief. “They signed up to work for a school police agency, so they understand the inherent risks with it.”
Clark said he and the district know that parents worry about the safety of their children, especially after Uvalde, where the first law-enforcement officers on the scene at Robb Elementary were members of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District police department.
Other districts and law-enforcement officials echoed Clark’s comments.
“If there was such a situation that would happen on campus, our guys, one, two, three, four, however many are there, you go in and neutralize the threat,” said Todd Espindola, the chief of police at Snowline Joint Unified in San Bernardino County.
Local school districts and law-enforcement agencies train, train, train, they say, so that officers won’t have to think about how to respond when seconds count.
“No one wants to have a school shooting. But it’s better to train for it,” said San Bernardino County sheriff’s Deputy Greg Jones, a community liaison who trains local school districts on how to deal with active shooters. “Whether we like it or not, we don’t know if this will ever stop.”
McCoy, the school safety director at Chaffey Joint Union, is going through the Uvalde investigative report with a highlighter, noting where first-responders there went wrong so he can train officers here to avoid the same mistakes.
Perimeter security at Chaffey campuses has been “ramped up” on campus in recent years, including reevaluating the use of keys and locks by staff, McCoy said.
More importantly, he trusts the training of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, Ontario Police Department and Montclair Police Department — the three police agencies that respond to issues in the Chaffey Joint Union district.
“I’m convinced beyond any question that what we saw in Uvalde would not happen here,” McCoy said. “Our officers are going through that door.”
‘Our schools are safe’
California police officers and campuses have existing protocols to prevent many of the failures reported in Uvalde, officials say.
“In Uvalde, you had officers pull up on scene and then they waited for supervisors to give them direction,” said Steve Hinojos, chief of police at Hesperia Unified School District in San Bernardino County. “In California — and probably any POST-certified police department — the first officer on scene is the commander until they’re relieved by another commander.”
The failure to keep the gunman off the Robb Elementary campus has been repeatedly pointed to as one of the biggest errors in Uvalde. In the Inland Empire, districts work to keep campuses locked down.
“All of our doors are locked except for the doors that have to remain open, like the nurse’s office,” said Colette M. Rozhon, director of risk management for Apple Valley Unified School District in San Bernardino County.
During passing periods, Apple Valley teachers stand at their classroom doors. They then lock students inside when class begins. Meanwhile, cameras monitor campus fences, monitored in turn by security guards and campus staff. Employees must wear visible name badges. And, as nearly every California school does, Apple Valley Unified campuses limit access to a single entry and exit point during the school day.
Communities also have a role to play in school safety, according to Hinojos. Residents must embrace the “see something, say something” approach to school safety popularized after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, he said.
“If you have a student or a parent who’s just not acting correctly, maybe they’re isolating themselves, maybe they’ve written something down on a piece of paper, that’s where this starts,” he added. “They’ve put it online, they write it down somewhere. And those people who see that stuff, they just don’t tell anyone, they don’t take it seriously.”
Lance Bradley, spokesman for Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified, agreed.
“Our schools are safe, are safe places, and will continue to be, as long as we work with the community,” he said.
Diana Meza, spokesperson for Riverside Unified School District, said her district counts on campus supervisors to build rapport with students.
“These campus supervisors are the eyes and ears of the district on campus and are out on campus all day,” Meza said. They’re “often the first adults to hear about students’ concerns like bullying, harassment or any threats.”
‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this’
According to data compiled by the Washington Post, as of Friday, Aug. 5, there have been 338 shootings in K-12 schools since Columbine, causing the deaths of 185 people and wounding 373 more.
In the Inland Empire, a 2017 shooting at North Park Elementary in San Bernardino City Unified School District, left two people dead, including an 8-year-old student, and wounded another child. The 2022-23 school year began in San Bernardino City Unified on Aug. 1.
Teachers across the region welcome students back to their classrooms this month. But Marquez, the Ontario mother and teacher, worries fears of school shootings may be driving teachers away.
“It’s sad because we’re losing a lot of people who have been in this profession over 20 years,” she said. “We come home and we’re tired — we’re tired. I tell my husband, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this.’”
Although Marquez isn’t preparing to retire, the stress of incidents like the Uvalde shooting take a toll.
“It’s my first summer where I have not opened up a teacher planning book,” she said. “I’m usually done by this time, but this summer, I just couldn’t.”
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By KATHLEEN RONAYNE | The Associated Press
RIO VISTA — Charlie Hamilton hasn’t irrigated his vineyards with water from the Sacramento River since early May, even though it flows just yards from his crop.
Nearby to the south, Antioch has supplied its people with water from the San Joaquin River for just 32 days this year, compared to roughly 128 days by this time in a wet year.
They may be close by, but these two rivers, central arms of California’s water system, have become too salty to use in some places as the state’s punishing drought drags on.
In dry winters like the one California just had, less fresh water flows down from the mountains into the Sacramento River, the state’s largest. That allows saltier water from Pacific Ocean tides to push farther into the state’s main water hub, known as the Delta. It helps supply water to two-thirds of the state’s 39 million people and to farms that grow fruits and vegetables for the whole nation, playing a key but sometimes underappreciated role in the state’s economy.
A drought that scientists say is part of the U.S. West’s driest period in 1,200 years plus sea level rise are exposing the fragility of that system, forcing state water managers, cities and farmers to look for new ways to stabilize their supply of fresh water. The Delta’s challenges offer a harbinger of the risks to come for critical water supplies elsewhere in the nation amid a changing climate.
Planners and farmers are coming at the problem of saltwater intrusion with a desalination plant, an artificial rock barrier and groundwater pumps. Those who can’t engineer their way out of the problem are left with a fervent hope that things will change.
“We just try to hang on and hope the water quality gets better,” said Bobby Costa, a farmer who has seen his cucumber yields go down by 25% this year compared to wetter years.
The Delta is the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas. It’s home to endangered species such as chinook salmon and Delta smelt that require certain water flows, temperatures and salt mixes, as well as hundreds of square miles of farmland and millions of people who live, work and recreate in the region.
Other estuaries such as the Chesapeake Bay and within the Everglades don’t play as critical a role in directly supplying water for drinking and farming. But those estuaries are also at risk of creeping salt, causing problems for ecosystems, groundwater supplies and other needs.
Giant pumping systems built more than half a century ago send Delta water south to major urban centers like Los Angeles and huge farming operations. The farther east the salt moves, the more at risk that water system becomes. Brackish water that creeps into the system isn’t as salty as ocean water, but it’s salty enough to render it undrinkable for some crops and for people.
“The fallout of losing control of the Delta is very serious,” said Jacob McQuirk, principal engineer for the state’s Department of Water Resources.
Last year, the state hauled 112,000 tons of rock and stacked it 30 feet (9 meters) deep in a key Delta river to stop salty water from getting too close to the pumps. It was the second time in the past decade the barrier was needed; the Department of Water Resources first installed it during the last drought in 2015.
It was supposed to be only temporary, but plans to remove the barrier last fall were scrapped due to dry conditions, though a notch was cut to allow fish to swim through. Officials still hope to take it out this November.
The state has asked the federal government for permission to build two more barriers farther north if the drought worsens, arguing it will be necessary to protect water supplies. In the longer term, the state wants to construct a massive tunnel that would move water around the Delta entirely, which officials say would make it easier to capture more during times of heavy rain and guard against the risks of this saltwater intrusion.
But advocates for the region worry it’s just another solution that will leave the farmers, fish and people who rely on Delta water high and dry.
While the barrier protects the pumps, it does little to help some interests within the Delta who rely on fresh water before it heads south.
Take Hamilton, who leases about 50 acres of vineyards to grow wine grapes along the Sacramento River. The land belongs to Al Medvitz, who farms alfalfa and other crops on more than five square miles of land. The water they draw from the river has always been tidally influenced, and they’ve learned how to pump from it when the tides are out and the salt content low.
But since early May, Hamilton hasn’t been able to pull out any water at all, even during low tides, because it’s too salty for his grapes. If he continued to use it, first the edges of the leaves on the vine would begin to burn and crinkle, then fewer grapes would be able to grow on each bunch, eventually rendering the crop unusable.
To avoid that, he taps groundwater from a well farther up the property and runs it through a ditch down to his drip irrigation lines, a process that takes longer. The owner’s alfalfa, which is used to feed cows, can withstand higher salt levels, so for now it can still drink up the river water.
The two men want approval from the state to build a small reservoir on the property to store fresh water for use in dry times. If they are forced to turn to salty water more and more, it will hurt the soil over time.
Hamilton’s goal, he said, is “to have a soil that my kids will be able to farm in.”
Others, like Costa, don’t have as many options. He farms about four square miles of land in the southern reach of the Delta. He gets water from several rivers in the Delta, delivered by an irrigation district through a ditch on his property. This year, the water’s higher salt content is evident, leaving white stains on the dirt in his fields and hurting his cucumber crop.
He sells the cucumbers to a company that turns them into pickles for use at Subway and other stores. His yield is down about 25% this year, and more of the cucumbers he picks are crooked, making them harder to use for pickling.
“If you don’t repulse salinity in the Delta, then the ocean slowly creeps in and at some point you get water that’s unusable and people are ruined,” said John Herrick, general counsel for the South Delta Water Agency, which is responsible for protecting the region’s water supply.
Meanwhile in Antioch, a city of 115,000 people, officials are investing in desalination. Last year, things were so bad the city couldn’t pull water from the river at all.
The plant will be the state’s first inland desalination plant for brackish surface water, said John Samuelson, the city engineer and director of public works.
Desalination plants are often controversial; earlier this year the state rejected a proposal in Orange County that would draw water from the ocean. But water in the Delta isn’t as salty, so it takes less energy to make it fresh. Samuelson said other Bay Area cities are reaching out to Antioch to learn more about its effort as they consider their own options for stabilizing the water supply as climate risks grow.
“We just know that this problem is going to continue to get worse in the future,” Samuelson said. “We want to make sure that we are being forward thinking and solving the problem today.”
___
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal health officials confirmed Friday that a Nebraska child died from a rare infection caused by a brain-eating amoeba after swimming in a river near Omaha.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the presence of the naegleria fowleri amoeba in the child, according to the Douglas County Department of Health in Omaha.
Health officials believe the child became infected while swimming Sunday in the Elkhorn River, a few miles west of Omaha. Authorities have not released the child’s name.
People are usually infected when water containing the amoeba enters the body through the nose while swimming in or diving into lakes and rivers. Other sources have been documented, including tainted tap water in a Houston-area city in 2020.
It is the second death in the Midwest this summer from primary amebic meningoencephalitis, an infection caused by the amoeba that has proved fatal in 97% of reported cases. A Missouri resident died of the infection in July after swimming at Lake of Three Fires in southwestern Iowa, health officials have said.
Symptoms of the infection include fever, headache, nausea or vomiting, progressing to a stiff neck, loss of balance, hallucinations and seizures.
The CDC says naegleria fowleri infections are rare, with about three cases in the United States every year. There were 154 cases reported between 1962 and 2021 in the U.S., with only four survivors. Only about 430 cases have ever been documented globally.
In the U.S., infections from the amoeba typically occur in southern states because the amoeba thrives in waters that are warmer than 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius). But infections have migrated north in recent years, including two cases in Minnesota since 2010. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/cdc-confirms-nebraska-child-died-of-brain-eating-amoeba-2/ | 2022-08-19T18:25:52Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/cdc-confirms-nebraska-child-died-of-brain-eating-amoeba-2/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(NEXSTAR) – The AMC theater chain is hoping you’ll spend one of your summer nights watching “Grease” on the big screen.
Adam Aron, the CEO of AMC Theatres, announced on Twitter that “Grease” will return to theaters in honor of Olivia Newton-John, who passed earlier this month at 73.
Aron added that the showings will be part of the theater chain’s “$5 Fan Faves” movie deal, meaning the screenings will cost only $5 plus tax. Some of the proceeds will also be donated to charity.
“An inexpensive $5 admission price, and through our charity AMC Cares we will donate $1 per sold ticket to breast cancer research,” Aron added.
Aron did not specify how many theaters would be participating, but said “many” of the chain’s locations would be hosting “Grease” screenings this weekend. Specific showtimes and participating theaters can be found at AMC’s official website.
Newton-John, who passed away on Aug. 8, had first been diagnosed with breast caner in the early 1990s. Throughout the following years, she became an advocate for breast cancer awareness and championed research initiatives and charities. She also helped to create the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne, Australia. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/grease-returns-to-theaters-for-5-in-honor-of-olivia-newton-john-amc-to-donate-to-breast-cancer-research/ | 2022-08-19T18:26:05Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/grease-returns-to-theaters-for-5-in-honor-of-olivia-newton-john-amc-to-donate-to-breast-cancer-research/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
When someone dies suddenly and too soon, it can feel, to their loved ones, as if somebody has yanked out the one thread that bound the world together.
Last week, the singer-songwriter Morgan Taylor passed away after a shocking fight with complications of COVID. He was a deeply funny, kind, and inquisitive person—to the point of luminescence, really—and as a maker of music and art for children, he thought so far outside the box that he seemed not to even know that there was a box.
Morgan leaves behind not just his wife, the musician and teacher Rachel Loshak, and their two boys, Harvey and Ridley, but many more loved ones in the form of his fans. Over the years, they accompanied him and his whimsical creation, Gustafer Yellowgold, on an unlikely DIY journey that led to two Grammy nominations and—because Morgan was a musician’s musician—wonderful irregularities like performing with orchestras and opening for Wilco. Last week, Norah Jones, who knew him since his days as a sound engineer at a club called the Living Room in Brooklyn, put it this way: “He sent a smile and a ray of light through everything he did.”
I met Morgan in the early aughts at a lunch in New York with him and Rachel. We bent over a colored-pencil prototype of a book about Gustafer, whom he’d begun writing songs about and who, he explained excitedly, was born and raised on the sun but, to quote the character’s official bio, “came to Earth to cure his rare case of cardiofrigidario (ice cream cone heart).” Gustafer, the bio continues, “likes drawing, reading comic books, eating pine cones, and playing ‘Pancake Smackdown’ with his pet and sidekick, Slim the Eel.” Morgan’s enthusiasm was irresistible, but I remember wondering if the project might be too out-there, too indie, to catch on. Fortunately, he had a lot more imagination than me. The New York Times later described Morgan’s multimedia Gustafer projects as “a cross between Dr. Seuss and Yellow Submarine.” Time magazine called him “a star of kindie rock.”
Over the years, I got glimpses of how hard Morgan worked to build Gustafer an audience in a genre where creativity is not always job one. I saw how many padded envelopes he stuffed with CDs and DVDs, how many drawings he did, how many shows he schlepped to near and far from home with just his guitar, a backing track, and a screen of winsome animation so defiantly old-fashioned that it might have been steampunk. To me, being a touring musician, particularly one with young kids, has always sounded like a dream crossed with hell on earth. I never asked Morgan but, financially, he and Rachel must have sometimes felt like they were running down a train track just a couple steps ahead of the train.
His music was worth it. Morgan played in various groups in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio, and later in New York City, and released a solo album called Green in 2003. His Gustafer melodies were as lovely and unpredictable in their way as Elliot Smith’s, and the arrangements grew richer and more rambunctious as time went on. He had a wide absurdist streak, and loved making weird words collide, which gave rise to songs like “Pterodactyl Tuxedo,” “Wisconsin Poncho,” and “Gravy Insane.” | https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2022/08/a-star-goes-out-the-loss-and-legacy-of-a-beloved-childrens-songwriter | 2022-08-19T18:29:15Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2022/08/a-star-goes-out-the-loss-and-legacy-of-a-beloved-childrens-songwriter | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
To create the character of Vecna, Stranger Things’ humanoid nightmare monster who uses trauma like a scalpel and claims his victims with bone-snapping, exacting brutality, Jamie Campbell Bower first had to be cut up into dozens of little pieces.
Or at least, a plaster cast of his body did.
“We [made a cast of] Jamie’s body… just below the chin, down to the wrists, down to the ankles with him standing and holding supports,” Barrie Gower, special-characters-makeup-effects department head for the fourth season of Stranger Things, tells Vanity Fair. “We cast him in several parts, like a jigsaw puzzle."
That jigsaw-Jamie was then separated into 25 distinct pieces with overlaps, a monstrous armor that encircled Bower’s body to transform him physically into Vecna.
Gower had won three Emmys for his work on Game of Thrones, where he was responsible for the eerie Night King before Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer recruited him for their fourth season. Gower said he was “super apprehensive” about how viewers would receive his creation, but he needn’t have worried—it has now earned him his seventh Emmy nomination. He and his wife, Sarah Gower, who work together as the company BGFX, are “huge fans” of the series, with an 11-year-old daughter who was “obsessed” with the show, Gower tells Vanity Fair, “we obviously had to do it.” Gower and his team were brought on only to work on Vecna’s complex execution and later were asked to do select special makeup on Robert Englund and David Harbour as well.
But before Vecna could spectacularly implode a single one of his victims’ eyeballs, he had to be designed. Michael Maher Jr., who has been creating concept art for Stranger Things since season two and has a major hand in defining the look of the show, as well as lending second unit direction and visual-effects supervision in the most recent installment, was briefed by the Duffers on their vision for Vecna and his journey from disturbed child to lab subject and turncoat orderly to the charred overlord of the Upside Down. Maher was tasked with turning ideas into character.
“Freddy Krueger, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser—those were things that were tossed out extremely early in the process,” he tells Vanity Fair. “Also they knew at that point that he was very into spiders, so we could lead the design towards that. Having the Upside Down feeling in with the character was important.”
Maher kept all of his concept-art drafts from the development process, and has shared many on social media. At one point, Vecna had skin sloughing off in graphic swaths, an imagined side effect from the atmosphere of the Upside Down.
“We went through a number of different iterations that explored possibilities of why the character would look like that,” he says. “Since that season is so much about explaining the backstory as to how Henry turns into Vecna, the importance was to focus on why he would look like that and what that would do. How would that happen?”
Once preproduction got underway following a pandemic delay, Maher spent about two months perfecting the Vecna concept art, with a weekly Friday check-in with the Duffers where he’d present three or four 3D digital sculptures to the duo and get notes to incorporate, which might include “more blood” or “make him scarier.”
“That would get them excited and it was just a fun process,” Maher says. “They’re like well, sometimes we need a little break from writing and this is a nice thing to come and see monster creations.” Maher, too, is nominated for an Emmy for his work on the show, among Stranger Things’ 13 overall nods in 2022. | https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/08/how-stranger-things-pulled-off-vecnas-transformation-awards-insider | 2022-08-19T18:29:22Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/08/how-stranger-things-pulled-off-vecnas-transformation-awards-insider | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
On August 3, the internet worked itself into a tizzy when it seemed like HBO Max—the streaming arm of premium cable network HBO—was under attack. Rumors swirled that the relatively nascent streaming platform was about to get a serious overhaul due to fallout from the merger of its parent company, Warner Bros., with Discovery.
First, HBO Max originals like the Seth Rogen–led An American Pickle and the Anne Hathaway–fronted remake of The Witches quietly disappeared from the platform soon after HBO Max announced it was scrapping two upcoming original films—the $90 million Batgirl and the animated family film Scoob!: Holiday Haunt—even though both were nearly finished. Then, The Wrap reported that there was speculation that HBO Max was laying off 70% of its employees. For a moment there, things were looking exceedingly bleak for HBO Max’s legion of fans, sometimes referred to as HBO Maxxinistas.
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It turned out all the hoopla was (mostly) for naught. As of August 15, only roughly 70 people—not 70% of the company—were lost at HBO Max, amounting to about 14% of the workforce. In a sometimes unintentionally funny earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav reassured listeners that HBO Max was not being destroyed, but would be “the centerpiece” of a new streaming platform that would see it combined with Discovery+ by next summer. The Maxxinistas could breathe a sigh of relief and live to fight another day.
Why, though, does HBO Max’s uncertain future seem to matter so much to so many people? In short, because it’s become one of the only streaming platforms to distinguish itself in recent years. Despite launching only two years ago, in May of 2020, HBO Max almost immediately created real brand loyalty—in a fraction of the time it took for streaming competitors like Netflix and Hulu. This is, in part, due to its adjacency to premium cable channel HBO, which consistently delivers some of the most lauded and watched television shows around, including The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Euphoria, and Succession. (It also helps that all HBO titles are available to be streamed on HBO Max.)
But HBO Max also became an entity in its own right, and has been responsible for some of the freshest titles in streaming. Take a look at its Emmy-nominated slate: The Staircase, Station Eleven, The Flight Attendant, and Hacks, which won three Emmys last fall for outstanding writing, outstanding directing, and outstanding lead actress for Jean Smart. In just a few years, HBO Max has solidified itself as an awards player and helped usher in the Jean Smartaissance—two equally important feats. | https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/08/why-does-everyone-care-so-much-about-the-hbo-max-chaos | 2022-08-19T18:29:28Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/08/why-does-everyone-care-so-much-about-the-hbo-max-chaos | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The situation looked grim as soon as Gannett reported its quarterly earnings in early August. Gannett’s leadership warned layoffs were imminent. All week, reports of the cuts have trickled out; journalists, including some executive editors, have been laid off in New Jersey, Georgia, Massachusetts, Indiana, and more than 20 other states. The Columbus Dispatch’s longest-serving news journalist said his job was eliminated after 31 years. The local-news carnage came just as Axios sold itself to Cox Enterprises, a privately held company that has a regional footprint in TV and radio but has largely gotten out of the local-paper business, in a deal that valued the start-up at $525 million. Axios is a national organization known for its coverage of power players and politics, mostly in Washington, New York, and Silicon Valley, but has, since 2020, been expanding into regional markets with city-specific newsletters—“Axios Local,” the most recent of which, Houston and Miami, launched earlier this week. “A big part of this investment is to expand the number of local markets we serve,” Cox chairman and CEO Alex Taylor said of the deal, which came with an additional $25 million investment to fund the growth of Axios’s local, national, and subscription products. Then came a tweet from Axios publisher Nicholas Johnston that appeared like a tacit acknowledgment of these parallel timelines in the media industry, a payday at Axios and apparent bloodbath at Gannett. “Hi, if you’re a local journalist looking for work, or think you might be soon…email in bio. I’m about to do a lot of local hiring,” he wrote.
It’s well-acknowledged that publishing conglomerates like Gannett and McClatchy aren’t solvent, and the latest round of staffing reductions, which seemed to largely target smaller Gannett papers, reflected how little is left to cut; newsrooms that had already been reduced to four people were now down to two, or in some cases, none. It’s in stark contrast to the splashy digital news start-ups like Axios, a five-year-old newsletter-oriented company that’s part of a broader trend of venture capital-backed, DC-focused disruptors; others include Politico (which was started by the Axios founders in 2007), Ben Smith’s forthcoming venture, Semafor, Puck, and Grid. There’s clearly still a lot of money and energy being funneled toward media ventures, just to a very specific kind. Meanwhile, the preexisting regional and local infrastructure bleeds.
Local reporters have noticed this discrepancy. Katie Hall, a courts reporter at the Austin American-Statesman said she thinks Axios is doing great work in Austin, and notes the two people who handle Axios’s Austin newsletter are former Statesman employees. But “for Cox to buy Axios feels like a real slap in the face,” Hall said, given Cox sold the Statesman to GateHouse in 2018. “It just feels ironic that Cox would desert its local journalists in Austin and then turn around and say that they’re thrilled to invest in local news,” said Hall. Others, too, have been surprised by the buyer: Cox “has spent the past decade selling off most of its media properties as it brings in billions from cable,” Nieman Lab’s Joshua Benton wrote last week. Cox's purchase, given this history, signals that it sees something different in the Arlington, Virginia-based start-up’s approach to regional reporting.
For the past few years, “Axios Local” has been building small branches—mostly two or three-person reporting teams—in different metropolitan areas of the US to produce a daily newsletter specific to the area. The product, a mix of original reporting and aggregation from local outlets, is now in 24 cities, including Atlanta, Denver, and Chicago. The ad demand is there, as is engagement, according to Axios CEO Jim VandeHei. “The early signals are good, but make no mistake: Local’s hard. Nobody has solved it in the internet era, period,” he told me. “Think about that—that a single entity hasn’t been able to prove a viable model that could be replicated in other cities since the creation of the internet.” Unsurprisingly, he thinks their model has the “highest probability of being the most successful, scalable approach.”
While the business model of Axios Local has been compared to City Cast, a network of daily local podcasts and newsletters started by former Atlas Obscura CEO and Slate editor David Plotz—both companies have launched small, in cities where there’s already a robust news ecosystem—City Cast has “to start from zero every time we go into a new city to find every listener and find every newsletter reader,” Plotz told me. Axios, on the other hand, has a distinct advantage in being able to convert readers of their national coverage into local readers. “The national piece of what they were doing has fed the local piece,” said Plotz.
That reality has created a fundamentally different product than what local newspapers offer, Dan Kennedy, a journalism professor at Northeastern University and media critic who has spent the past dozen or so years studying the trajectory of local news, said. There’s a fairly new Axios newsletter in Boston. “I enjoy it. I sometimes learn things from it. But it’s certainly not going to tell you what’s going on in the city council in Medford, or the school committee in Waltham, or deal with any of the real news deserts that we do have in this state,” he told me. (“My hope is that in coming years we are in news deserts,” VandeHei told me.) Kennedy added, “I think fundamentally Axios is a national publication that’s working hard to build out these regional sites. But that’s the key—they’re regional, they’re not local. Local is a whole different problem.”
A frequent point of skepticism is how effectively a team of two or three people can cover a metropolis—or whether they even intend to. “What we look like now is not our ambitions,” said Ted Williams, the general manager of Axios Local and founder of the Charlotte Agenda—a digital start-up Axios acquired in 2020 as it expanded into local markets. Plus, he added, journalists want to “work for organizations that have a track record of being disciplined from a business standpoint, at an organization that can grow rather than a place that is likely to get smaller and smaller.”
Justin Price, who works as a data reporter on the investigative team at the Arizona Republic, says his paper has in recent years lost employees to various local-news start-ups in Phoenix, from Axios Local to Votebeat to Courier Newsroom. “What has been frustrating as someone who works at Gannett is seeing all this investment coming into Phoenix, because it’s a growing market from a news business perspective,” but “our investment in journalism from Gannett’s end has been miniscule.” Price, who helped organize the paper’s union, said the Republic hasn’t had any layoffs because they’re still negotiating the terms of their contract. “We’ve been asking for years for Gannett to do exactly what these other companies and nonprofits are doing coming into Phoenix, which is to create opportunities for journalists to do their job.”
Local reporters I spoke with seemed universally pleased with any new investment in local reporting. “I say whoever is willing to try anything at this point, God bless them. I’m more concerned about the fact that people aren’t getting any local news,” one reporter who was laid off from a Gannett paper in New England said. The latest round of layoffs at Gannett have only furthered that problem—a decline that studies suggest has made Americans less informed, and decreased government transparency and civic engagement. Kati Kokal, an education reporter at Palm Beach Post, has been helping track the recent cuts; Gannett won’t say how many, but Kokal says at least 82 at this point. Gannett did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I would like to think we’re a step or two ahead of where the world’s going,” said VandeHei. “You see companies spreading out where they’re located or where they’re allowing people to be located,” and “that means you’re then changing the very nature of these cities.” There’s an “influx or mixing of newcomers and old-timers who care about what’s happening in the city,” which, if Axios can serve them, “could be a really attractive audience, both to national and local advertisers.” VandeHei added: “We take great pride in not following the pack. So while everyone else is getting out of local, we’re getting in.” | https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/feels-like-a-real-slap-in-the-face-theres-new-money-in-local-news-just-not-at-the-papers | 2022-08-19T18:29:34Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/feels-like-a-real-slap-in-the-face-theres-new-money-in-local-news-just-not-at-the-papers | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Remember when Donald Trump was running for president the first time and, outside of declaring Mexicans rapists and criminals, devoted his entire campaign to calling for Hillary Clinton to be prosecuted and sent to prison for “her emails”? And regularly encouraged the “lock her up” chants from his supporters? And told his opponent, at the second presidential debate, that if he was in charge of the country “you’d be in jail”? His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, would like people to know that after winning the election, he tried to be friends with HRC but she blew it.
The Hill reports that in his new memoir, Breaking History, which was described this week by The New York Times as nausea-inducing and like “watching a cat lick a dog’s eye goo,” Kushner writes that the most divisive president in US history “genuinely wanted to help the country unite” in the days following the 2016 election. As such, Trump supposedly tasked Ivanka Trump with getting in touch with Chelsea Clinton to arrange a get-together with Bill and Hillary. The Ivanka outreach, Kushner says, was meant to “convey that Trump had no intention of looking backward and hoped to have a cordial relationship with Hillary to unite the country.” Recalls the former first son-in-law: “He even told Ivanka to invite Hillary and Bill for dinner in the coming weeks.”
What, pray tell, would Trump have said at this dinner, in order to convey that he was willing to bury the hatchet he spent the entire campaign swinging at Hillary’s head? Kushner doesn‘t get into details but presumably something along the lines of, “Hillary, you lost really, really big. And even though people, many people, are saying I should throw you in prison, which would be my right as King of America, I’m not going to do that. You’re welcome, Hillary.”
Unfortunately, as it turns out, that dinner never came to pass. While Kushner claims that Ivanka did make the call to Chelsea, “days later Hillary backed [Green Party presidential nominee] Jill Stein’s challenge to the election, and Trump ended his outreach.” Then he proceeded to spend the next six years insisting that Clinton was a criminal, a theme that got plenty of airtime during his second run for the White House, despite Hillary not actually being his opponent.
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Rudy Giuliani: Trump didn’t steal classified documents, he was just holding onto them for safekeeping
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If you’ve been keeping up with life in Florida lately, you likely know that Governor Ron DeSantis is on a one-man crusade to turn the place into an uninhabitable hellhole. Thus far, that campaign has included signing the bigoted “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law; banning Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for trans people; firing an elected official for refusing to prosecute pregnant people seeking abortions; going scorched earth on a major company that dared to disagree with him about LGBTQ+ issues; bullying the Special Olympics; and signing the ridiculous “Stop WOKE Act,” which effectively bans schools and private businesses from making white people feel bad about the history of racism in this country. And while there’s little hope for Floridians living under this petty tyrant, on Thursday they got a rare bit of good news when a district judge declared the “Stop WOKE” law a no-go.
In a 44-page ruling, U.S. district judge Mark Walker said that the law regulating race-based conversations is unconstitutional, writing that it violates the First Amendment and, per the Associated Press, is “impermissibly vague.” That vagueness, of course, was no doubt by design. Like the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, the “Stop WOKE Act” was written in such a way that teachers and businesses could conceivably be sued for just about anything. “It is unclear what is prohibited, and even less clear what is permitted,” Walker wrote, adding: “Imagine an employer, during a mandatory seminar on dispute resolution, cites the civil disobedience exemplified by Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi as a peaceful, preferred approach. Has that employer ‘inculcated’ employees with the belief that Black and Asian people are morally superior to white people?” Prior to the legislation being passed by the Florida legislature, Democrats had argued that the bill would bring about frivolous lawsuits and basically equate to censorship. When asked for real-life examples of schools or businesses telling students or employees that they were inherently racist because of the color of their skin, their Republican counterparts could come up with none. “This bill’s not for Blacks, this bill was not for any other race,” State Senator Shevrin Jones said in January. “This was directed to make whites not feel bad about what happened years ago. At no point did anyone say white people should be held responsible for what happened, but what I would ask my white counterparts is, are you an enabler of what happened, or are you going to say we must talk about history?”
In addition to declaring the law unconstitutional, Walker declined to issue a stay that would keep it in effect during an appeal by the state. DeSantis has previously said that he expects any setbacks by lower courts to be reversed in the appeals process.
The legislation’s overturn came as a result of a lawsuit filed by private entities, including the Clearwater, Florida-based honeyfund.com, a honeymoon-registry company, with the complaint arguing that the law violated the right to free speech by infringing on training programs stressing diversity and inclusion. Another lawsuit, filed by college professors and students, says the law basically amounts to “racially motivated censorship” and will “stifle widespread demands to discuss, study, and address systemic inequalities,” adding, “In place of free and open academic inquiry and debate, instructors fear discussing topics of oppression, privilege, and race and gender inequalities with which the legislature disagrees. As a result, students are either denied access to knowledge altogether or instructors are forced to present incomplete or inaccurate information that is steered toward the legislature’s own views.” Which is clearly what DeSantis was going for!
The Florida governor, who is running for reelection this year and reportedly has his eyes on the White House, has become completely obsessed with eliminating what he describes as “woke” ideology, claiming in a December 2021 speech that “wokeness” is “a form of cultural Marxism,” and that anyone espousing such types of ideas wants “to tear at the fabric of our society.” Of course, one might argue that the real danger to society is wannabe despots who want to dictate what people are allowed to say in public and do in the privacy of their own doctor’s offices, but hey, that’s just us! | https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/ron-desantis-stop-woke-law-unconstitutional | 2022-08-19T18:29:46Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/ron-desantis-stop-woke-law-unconstitutional | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Four years after the lawsuit against them was initially filed, Brad Pitt and his Make It Right Foundation have reached a preliminary settlement with plaintiffs over homes built for Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Pitt and the foundation have reached a preliminary settlement agreement, which still needs to be approved by a judge, of $20.5 million, according to court documents seen by The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate, in the lawsuit accusing them of defective design and building practices, breach of contract, and fraud. Even though only six homeowners are actually named in the lawsuit, Make It Right will pay out that amount to all owners of the homes it built in the Lower Ninth Ward, as the class-action lawsuit settlement applies to all homeowners unless they choose to opt out. According to the Picayune, the 107 homeowners in the program will each be eligible to receive $25,000 as reimbursement for the repairs they’ve already had to make on their faulty properties. After attorney fees are paid, the rest of the money will be divided up according to the scale of the problem each property is facing.
The payment and distribution of that $20.5 million will be handled by the nonprofit Global Green, an organization dedicated to addressing environmental issues. In a statement released on Thursday, Pitt said, “I am incredibly grateful for Global Green’s willingness to step up and provide this important support for the Lower Ninth families. We collaborated in the early days post-Katrina and we are very fortunate to have Global Green’s generous continuing commitment to help address the challenges around these homes and others in need. Hopefully this agreement will allow everyone to look ahead to other opportunities to continue to strengthen this proud community in the future.”
About two years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood of New Orleans, Pitt founded Make It Right in 2007, going on to help raise millions of dollars on behalf of his nonprofit organization to build energy-efficient homes designed by some of the world’s biggest architects, including Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne, and Shigeru Ban. The construction of these homes cost around $26.8 million, or about $250,000 per home, which was paid for with donations, according to Make It Right’s 2015 tax filings cited by the Picayune; the properties were then sold to former residents of the area for an average of $150,000. But shortly after residents moved in, they began complaining about some serious issues, including leaks that caused rot, structural damage, and mold, as well as faulty heating, cooling, and ventilation systems, electrical malfunctions, and bad plumbing. Two homes even had to be torn down within a decade after being built because of the rot, while others properties have since been boarded up, the Picayune notes.
According to the newspaper, the Make It Right Foundation has at least twice acknowledged that there were some flaws with its properties, suing the manufacturer of the lumber used to build the homes in 2015 for $500,000, with the two parties later settling out of court; and then suing its own managing architect, John C. Williams, in 2018, accusing him of being responsible for the millions of dollars in design defects. Williams has denied wrongdoing and called the allegations “shocking and insulting and we intend to prove that we were not at fault.” In April of last year, Make It Right also sued several former officials in its organization over their alleged mismanagement of the construction project. | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/brad-pitt-lawsuit-settlement-hurricane-katrina-homes | 2022-08-19T18:29:56Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/brad-pitt-lawsuit-settlement-hurricane-katrina-homes | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Frances Bean Cobain celebrated a milestone birthday this week, one she wasn't always sure she'd live to see.
On Wednesday, the daughter of Courtney Love and the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain posted a series of images on Instagram from the past year to commemorate turning 30 years old. Frances wrote in the caption, “30!!! I made it! Honestly, 20 year old Frances wasn’t sure that was going to happen. At the time, an intrinsic sense of deep self loathing dictated by insecurity, destructive coping mechanisms & more trauma than my body or brain knew how to handle, informed how I saw myself and the world; through a lens of resentment for being brought into a life that seemingly attracted so much chaos and the kind of pain tied to grief that felt inescapable.” Frances's father died by suicide when he was 27 and she was just 1 years old, and her mother has been candid about her struggles with addiction over the years, revealing in 2020 that she was 18 months sober.
Frances went on to explain that, “an event on a plane which brought me closer in proximity to death is ironically the event that catapulted me towards running at this lived experience with radical gratitude. I’m glad to have proven myself wrong & to have found ways to transform pain into knowledge.” She added, “There’s a quote by @jaiyajohn I hold closely, which is ‘the softer she became with herself, the softer she became with the world.’ It’s a sentiment I try to remember daily.” The artist concluded, “Entering this new decade I hope to stay soft no matter how hardening the world can feel at times, bask in the present moment with reverence, shower the people I am lucky enough to love with more appreciation than words could ever do justice & hold space to keep learning, so the growth never stops. I’m happy to be here & I’m happy you’re here too.”
In one of the photos celebrating the 29th year of her life, Frances posed with her new boyfriend, Riley Hawk, the son of famed skateboarder Tony Hawk. The pair confirmed their relationship on Instagram at the beginning of the year when Frances shared a carousel of images of things that brought her “a great amount of joy” over the course of 2021, which happened to include a couple shots of the professional skateboarder. Frances was previously married to Isaiah Silva, tying the knot in 2014. But the pair went their separate ways 21 months later, finalizing their divorce in 2017. In the legal filings, the couple cited “irreconcilable differences” as the cause, per People, and Frances stated that her ex should not be entitled to any money from her late father's estate, which is valued at $450 million. However, in dividing their assets, one of their disputes was over the ownership of the 1959 Martin D-18E Cobain played during his iconic 1993 MTV Unplugged set, which Frances ultimately lost to Silva in the settlement. In 2020, the guitar was put up for auction. | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/frances-bean-cobain-30-birthday-not-sure-she-would-make-it-instagram-courtney-love-kurt-cobain-riley-hawk | 2022-08-19T18:30:02Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/frances-bean-cobain-30-birthday-not-sure-she-would-make-it-instagram-courtney-love-kurt-cobain-riley-hawk | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Before climate change became Prince William’s main issue, he was passionate about conservation in Africa and has done both public and private work to support related charities. He is known to comment on the movement’s most significant victories, and on Friday he released a statement praising a significant 63-month sentence given to a man who trafficked millions of dollars worth of rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks.
On Thursday, Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Liberian national Moazu Kromah had been sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for trafficking related to endangered animals. “Today’s sentencing demonstrates both what is possible when a coordinated international response is brought to bear against the illegal wildlife trade, and why it is essential,” William said in response.
In a statement, the SDNY said that Kromah had conspired to “to traffic in millions of dollars in rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory, both endangered wildlife species, which involved the illegal poaching of more than approximately 35 rhinoceros and more than 100 elephants.” Kromah was originally charged with the crime in June 2019, when he was extradited from Uganda to the United States. In March 2022, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking and two counts of wildlife trafficking.
In his statement, William praised the organizations whose efforts led to the conviction, including some who have worked with United for Wildlife, the anti-trafficking and poaching organization he founded in 2014. “This is a significant victory and a landmark case,” he said. “For over a decade, its complexity has been skilfully met by a global alliance of international law enforcement agencies, governments, NGOs and private sector organizations, including a number of brilliant United for Wildlife partners.”
On Thursday, People reported that Prince Harry had traveled to Africa to do some conservation work of his own. A spokesperson for Harry said that the purpose of the prince’s trip was “welcoming and co-hosting a group of U.S. officials, conservationists and philanthropists as they tour protected wildlife and nature areas.” | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/prince-william-praises-63-month-sentence-for-a-wildlife-trafficker | 2022-08-19T18:30:08Z | vanityfair.com | control | https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/08/prince-william-praises-63-month-sentence-for-a-wildlife-trafficker | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GREENFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Over the next few weeks, the Greenfield Police Department will begin to wear body worn cameras, which was funded through the state.
The department applied for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security grant and was awarded nearly $80,000 to begin training and wearing body cameras. Representatives from Galaxy Integrated Technologies Inc. set up the technology at the police department Friday and the station’s IT employee installed all the infrastructure needed to maintain the system.
All Greenfield officers will begin to wear body cameras beginning September 1, giving everyone time to register and train on the equipment. This is a big upgrade for the department, since before they relied on mounted cameras installed in their cruisers which are locked into position and may not capture everything in the field. Body camera’s will help officers record incidents, which will be helpful to citizens as well.
The cruiser cameras will remain active until their contract expires and will help record inside the cruisers when driving with individuals. | https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/franklin-county/greenfield-police-to-begin-wearing-body-cameras/ | 2022-08-19T18:32:57Z | wwlp.com | control | https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/franklin-county/greenfield-police-to-begin-wearing-body-cameras/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Edinburgh crime news: Damon Frail pleaded guilty to nine assault and robberies and two attempted robberies across the Capital
A serial robber carried out 11 raids in just over a week.
Damon Frail struck at a string of shops and business across Edinburgh between August 27 and September 7 last year.
The 32 year-old was armed with a knife and mainly targeted young women working alone before escaping with his loot on a bike.
Frail today admitted to the crime spree as he appeared in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow.
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Prosecutor Derick Nelson said Frail first targeted Tanz Tanning in the Capital's Canonmills.
The 25 year-old employee feared she would get stabbed.
Frail pocketed around £200 and told the worker: "You touch that phone and I will be back in five minutes. I am not kidding you."
He next tried to steal from Sonya Moore hairdressers in Telford Road, Edinburgh two days later.
On August 31, he robbed the Candyland sweet shop in the city's Gorgie area.
Just 24 hours later, Frail got his hands on more cash from the Indigo Sun salon in Davidson Mains.
The same day, he struck at another Tanz Tanning branch in Meadowbank once again racing off on his bike.
On September 2, a young assistant was left in "terror" after he held up the Booze and Vape shop in the capital's Morningside.
He stated to her: "Do not touch your phone for 10 minutes. There is someone outside watching."
The worker believed he may have got his hands on £1,000.
Frail next targeted two RS McColl shops in Drylaw and Restalrig on the same day - September 3 - stealing cash at one of them.
Two days later, he returned to the same Indigo Sun tanning salon in Davidson Mains he raided earlier.
A worker was left in tears as Frail took money and ripped a phone from a wall.
On September 6, he robbed the Balkan Bulgarian food store in the capital's Inverleith having initially claimed he wanted a bottle of juice.
His final target was an Esso garage again in Drylaw the next day stealing money and smashing an assistant's mobile phone.
Prosecutor Mr Nelson played CCTV of the majority of the crimes catching Frail in the act.
Frail pleaded guilty to nine assault and robberies and two attempted robberies.
Lord Mulholland told him: "Be under no illusion what is coming your way.
"Your conduct was despicable and terrifying for hard working members of the public trying to earn a living."
Frail was remanded in custody pending sentencing next month. | https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crime/edinburgh-crime-news-damon-frail-pleaded-guilty-to-nine-assault-and-robberies-and-two-attempted-robberies-across-the-capital-3812863 | 2022-08-19T18:34:06Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crime/edinburgh-crime-news-damon-frail-pleaded-guilty-to-nine-assault-and-robberies-and-two-attempted-robberies-across-the-capital-3812863 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ISIS terrorist from "The Beatles' cell is jailed for life
A member of the Islamic State terror cell known as The Beatles has been jailed for life after being convicted for his role in the murder of American hostages in Syria.
El Shafee Elsheikh, 34, who grew up in London, showed no emotion as judge Thomas Selby Ellis delivered his verdict at Alexandria District Court, Virginia, while members of his victims’ families
watched on.
Elsheikh was given a life sentence for each of the eight counts he was convicted of in April, which are due to run concurrently.
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The counts related to his role in a hostage-taking scheme which involved torturing, beating and executing prisoners.
Raj Parekh, representing the families, said Elsheikh – known to prosecutors as “Ringo” – remained “defiantly remorseless and unrepentant”.
He noted that the jihadist had made no effort to meet victims’ families, like his co-defendant Alexanda Kotey.
Addressing the jihadist, judge Ellis said: “The behaviour of this defendant and his co-defendant can only be described as horrific, barbaric, brutal and callous.
“This is a significant episode in the history of our country and our justice system.”
The court heard statements from some of the victims’ loved ones, including those of US journalist James Foley.
His mother, Diane Foley, told Elsheikh his “hatred overtook your humanity” as she delivered her victim impact statement, noting that it was the eight-year anniversary of her son’s death.
“This trial has revealed the horrific human rights crimes you committed while part of Isis,” she said, addressing him directly.
“Your hatred overtook your humanity.”
Becoming audibly emotional, Ms Foley continued: “Knowing Jim, my suffering and that of our family would have given Jim the deepest pain.
“(But) Jim would say ‘Elsheikh, you did not kill me. I am alive in my family and friends and their friends.
“I live on in those who survived your inhumanity. I am alive in all those who aspire to moral courage.
“In many ways I am more alive than I have ever been’.”
Addressing Elsheikh again, she added: “I pity you for choosing hatred and for succumbing to a false theology.”
Elsheikh sat wearing a green, prison-issue jumpsuit, with white trainers and a black face-covering, and wore glasses.
At times he appeared to turn his head in the direction of those reading out their victim impact statements.
Judge Thomas Selby Ellis was due to allow the jihadist the opportunity to speak before passing sentence on him, which he later declined.
Ms Foley was joined outside of court by the parents of US humanitarian worker Peter Kassig, Ed and Paula Kassig.
Elsheikh was one of a gang of four Isis militants branded The Beatles due to their British accents.
The cell was said to be made up of ringleader Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John; Aine Davis; Alexanda Kotey and Elsheikh.
Elsheikh was captured alongside Kotey in Syria in 2018 by the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces while trying to escape to Turkey.
Last year, Kotey pleaded guilty to eight counts relating to his involvement, while Davis was jailed in Turkey before being deported to the UK last week and Emwazi was killed in a drone strike.
Kotey was given the same sentence of eight concurrent life sentences, also by judge Ellis, at the same court in April. | https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crime/isis-terrorist-from-the-beatles-cell-is-jailed-for-life-3813158 | 2022-08-19T18:34:12Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/crime/isis-terrorist-from-the-beatles-cell-is-jailed-for-life-3813158 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Marci Seither is traveling the country to deliver book signings and workshops focused on inspiring people to write down their own stories along with discussing her recent work Lakeside Retreat, a text comprised of 40 devotions, tutorials and photographs.
Marci Seither’s career as a writer began with the publishing of a humor article about a cookie baking fiasco over 20 years ago and her submitted article then opened the doors to a regular family humor column with the paper.
“That’s how I got my start and I still have a lot of friends there, so it kind of still feels like home for us,” Seither says.
She has gone on to author two books and pen hundreds of local paper articles along with appearing in the publications Guideposts, Chicken Soup for the Soul and Focus on The Family.
One of Seither’s books is a collection of vacation-themed devotions, recipes and home projects titled "Lakeside Retreat." On Aug. 25, from 6 to 7 p.m., she will be delivering an author talk at the Fergus Falls Public Library with the book being a central theme for the discussion.
Seither will be conducting a mini-workshop at the library centered on the value of people writing down their stories, “Every story matters and my workshop will focus on helping people figure out where to start their stories and why they’re important.”
Seither and her husband are currently planning a cross-country road trip that will culminate in eight different stops to do book signings and deliver story workshops.
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/an-authors-journey-small-beginnings-have-developed-into-larger-opportunities/article_45abb930-1cd8-11ed-bc9a-57d57ccaa0c7.html | 2022-08-19T18:34:31Z | fergusfallsjournal.com | control | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/news/an-authors-journey-small-beginnings-have-developed-into-larger-opportunities/article_45abb930-1cd8-11ed-bc9a-57d57ccaa0c7.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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House of the Dragon: Release date and how to watch first episode of Game of Thrones show in UK
It’s not long to wait for Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon.
House of the Dragon, the multimillion pound Game of Thrones prequel show, is just days away from its release date.
Set during the ‘Dance of Dragons’ – a bloody civil war which nearly wiped out all Targaryens and their dragons – the series will take place around 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
It will explore the fiery history of Daenerys Targaryen’s ancestors, as chronicled by George R.R. Martin in his book Fire & Blood.
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Here’s what we know about the show so far, including release date, cast, and what it’s about.
House of the Dragon release date and how to watch in the UK
House of the Dragon will premier in the US on Sunday, August 21, 2022.
However, due to time zones, it won’t be available to UK viewers until the early hours of Monday morning (August 22).
The show will be aired on HBO in the United States and Sky Atlantic in the UK. It will be available to watch on NOWTV, where new episodes will be streamed weekly.
You can subscribe to a NOW TV Entertainment Pass for £9.99 a month, with a seven day free trial. You can also stream every episode of Game of Thrones, from Season 1-8, on NOWTV.
Who has been cast in Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon?
The House of the Dragon cast includes former Doctor Who and The Crown actor Matt Smith, who will play Daemon Targaryen. Emma D’Arcy will be Rhaenyra Targaryen, and Milly Alcok will play a younger version of her.
Paddy Considine (Peaky Blinders) has been cast as King Viserys Targaryen and Rhys Ifans (Harry Potter) will play Otto Hightower.
Steve Toussaint will play Lord Corlys Velaryon (AKA the Sea Snake), Olivia Cooke will be Alicent Hightower, and Eve Best is Rhaenys Velaryon.
Outlander star Graham McTavish has also joined the cast as Ser Harrold Westerling, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.
No stranger to period costumes, the Scottish actor played Dougal Mackenzie in Outlander, Dwalin in The Hobbit trilogy, and Sigismund Dijkstra in The Witcher.
What is House of the Dragon about? Plot and will Game of Thrones characters return?
House of the Dragon is based on A Song of Ice and Fire writer George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, which documents the rise and fall of the Targaryen dynasty in Westeros.
It is set more than two centuries before the events of Game of Thrones, during the reign of Targaryen King Viserys I (Paddy Considine). So, no, sadly, that means we won’t see Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, or Tyrion Lannister in the series.
House of the Dragon will centre around the war over who will succeed Viserys as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, which is known as the ‘Dance of Dragons’.
The powerful houses split into two factions over who should sit on the Iron Throne – named the greens and the blacks. The blacks support Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), the first born child of Viserys who he names as his chosen heir.
While the greens support the claim of Aegon Targaryen, King Viserys’ eldest son with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).
Key players include Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), the “rogue prince” and younger brother of King Viserys, who believes he has a claim to the Iron Throne.
Otto Hightower and his daughter Alicent Hightower are also significant characters, part of one of Westeros’ most ancient and powerful houses.
And House Velaryon, led by the ‘Sea Snake’ Lord Corlys (Steve Toussaint) and Rhaenys Velaryon (Eve Best), is another major contender in the events that unfold.
House of the Dragon Comic-Con trailer breakdown and how to watch
An extended House of the Dragon trailer was released at Comic-Con in July this year. You can watch it on YouTube or on House of the Dragon’s social media accounts.
It teases tensions over the Iron Throne which will be key to the first season’s plot – from Daemon Targaryen’s claim, to the power struggle between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower.
We see a young Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock) enter the throne room of King’s Landing and walk towards the Iron Throne.
King Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) voiceover says: “The dream...was clearer than a memory. And I heard the sounds of thundering hooves, splintering shields and ringing swords, and I placed my heir upon the Iron Throne. And all the dragons roared as one.”
This is referencing King Viserys’ choice to name his firstborn daughter Rhaenyra as heir to the throne. But not everyone is happy about this decision – with many questioning whether a woman should rule.
We see Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) in his Targaryen armour at a tournament as Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes) asks: “Who else would have a claim?”
Otto Hightower replies: “The first born child.” To which Lord Strong says: “Rhaenyra? No queen has ever sat the Iron Throne.”
We cut to Coryls Velaryon (Steve Touissant), who says: “The King has an heir. Daemon Targaryen.” King Viserys then says: “I will not be made to choose between my brother and my daughter.”
Later, Viserys tells Daemon he has decided to name a new heir, to which Daemon responds: “I’m your heir.” We see a young Daemon Targaryen approach the Iron Throne to be stopped by a guard with a sword.
There is a shot of Ser Cristen Cole (Fabien Frankel), a member of the Kingsguard who has a crucial role in the Dance of Dragons.
Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best), the Queen Who Never Was, tells her husband Corlys Velaryon that Rhaenyra’s succession will be challenged: “Knives will come out”.
Then, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) tells Viserys: “You are the king. Your first duty is to take a new wife.”
"Do you think the realm will ever accept me as their queen?” asks a young Rhaenyra. We see the lords of the realm bending the knee – presumably to Rhaenyra as the chosen heir.
Rhaenys Velaryon says: “A woman would not inherit the Iron Throne because that is the order of things.” An older Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) replies: “When I am queen I will create a new order.”
We see Daemon Targaryen on a battlefield, presumably during his conquest of the Stepstones islands, and then with his dragon Caraxes.
“Targaryens are closed to gods than to men,” says a young Rhaenyra. Then we hear Alicent Hightower say: “If Rhaenyra comes into power, she could cut off any challenge to her succession.”
There is a shot of a Velaryon blade, which fans believe is the same dagger which Arya Stark uses to kill the Night King.
"I am to inherit the Iron Throne,” says Rhaenyra, “She will block my way” – referring to Alicent.
In the trailer’s climax, Alicent Hightower brandishes the dagger, and lunges towards Rhaenyra, shouting: “Where is duty? Where is sacrifice?” Rhaenyra says: “Now they see you as you are.”
The final moments of the trailer are a close-up of a dragon’s face – perhaps Vhagar – as it growls and fire blooms over a Targaryen sigil.
Who are the showrunners for House of the Dragon?
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who were showrunners for Game of Thrones, will not be returning to the helm of House of the Dragon.
But there will be some familiar faces from Game of Thrones. Miguel Sapochnik – who directed fan favourite episodes like Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards – will be showrunner alongside writer Ryan Condal (Hercules, Colony) who is good friends with George R.R. Martin.
Ramin Djawadi, who was the composer for Game of Thrones and Westworld, will return to score the series. | https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/house-of-the-dragon-release-date-and-how-to-watch-first-episode-of-game-of-thrones-show-in-uk-3244307 | 2022-08-19T18:34:39Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/house-of-the-dragon-release-date-and-how-to-watch-first-episode-of-game-of-thrones-show-in-uk-3244307 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/obituaries/harold-erickson/article_43518dd0-1fd6-11ed-a8d8-ab499dcd2c90.html | 2022-08-19T18:34:49Z | fergusfallsjournal.com | control | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/obituaries/harold-erickson/article_43518dd0-1fd6-11ed-a8d8-ab499dcd2c90.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Lorna McCabe, 98, of Fergus Falls, died on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, at the Broen Home in Fergus Falls.
Lorna J. Buckingham was born in Calvin, North Dakota, the daughter of Matie and Richard Buckingham on July 31, 1924. She was Valedictorian of her high school class. After graduation, she went to work in Devil’s Lake, ND working in the kitchen of the school for the deaf. Lorna had really wanted to go to nursing school, but by the time she graduated from high school there was no money. While working at the school for the deaf she found out about the Cadet Corps Nursing Program, which she later joined and was a three-year nursing program. When she joined she did not have enough money to buy the initial uniforms. Her youngest brother, Darwin Buckingham sold his cow and paid for her first set of uniforms.
In 1948, Lorna married Jack McCabe. She and Jack had six children. After 13 years of marriage, Jack tragically lost his life in a car accident in Phoenix, Arizona. She moved herself and her 6 children to Fergus Falls, MN. Without that nursing degree the lives of her family could have been quite different. Lorna often surprised her children with new TV’s, air conditioners etc. Lorna was always able to find a job. She worked in hospitals, and was the Ottertail County Public Health Nurse, she worked in nursing homes and coached developmentally disabled adults and taught them life skills. She did not retire until she was 83 years old. One of the founding men and women of Dignity Hospital, her picture is in the lobby of Dignity Hospital in Chandler, Arizona. Lorna was involved with Cub Scouts in Fergus Falls for many years and was also on The MN Board of Diabetes.
Lorna never stopped learning. She took college courses well into her 70’s. When it was time for events like prom and snowball dances, confirmation, or graduation there were new outfits. She was quite a good seamstress and often she made the outfits. She also sewed wedding dresses and quite a few bridesmaid dresses. Lorna was a great crafter and made many doilies, dolls and other types of handmade things that her children still have to this day. She read her bible daily and made sure all her children went through confirmation and continued to go to the Presbyterian Church while they were still living at home. It was because of the importance that she placed on education that all her children had an education past high school. This quote sums up her philosophy and if she were to give anyone advice, she probably would have said something like this … “speak to your children as if they are the wisest, kindest, most beautiful and magical humans on earth, for what they believe is what they become.”
Lorna is survived by her six children, Tamara (Lyle) Halvorson, Susan (Orin) Bolstad, Tim McCabe, Mark McCabe, Becky (Tim) Martinson and Laurie (Dave) Armstrong; six grandchildren, Jacquiline, Jennifer (David), Kristin, Ryan, Ashley and Christopher; four great grandchildren, Nicholas, Alexander, Makenna and Brock; two siblings, and many numerous relatives and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband Jack McCabe; siblings, Violet Anderson, Ken Buckingham, Wallace Buckingham, Vince Buckingham, Dorothy Hall and Darwin Buckingham.
The family kindly requests everyone to wear masks who attend which will be provided at the funeral home.
Funeral Service: 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, August 24, 2022, at the Glende-Nilson Funeral Home in Fergus Falls, with a visitation one hour prior to the service.
Clergy: Pastor Aaron Christenson
Interment: Oak Grove Cemetery, Detroit Lakes, MN.
Funeral arrangements are with the Glende-Nilson Funeral Home of Fergus Falls. | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/obituaries/lorna-mccabe-1924-2022/article_9eef8ad8-1fd7-11ed-9948-2fea53d9955d.html | 2022-08-19T18:34:55Z | fergusfallsjournal.com | control | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/obituaries/lorna-mccabe-1924-2022/article_9eef8ad8-1fd7-11ed-9948-2fea53d9955d.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Tristan F. Bye, 21, of Fergus Falls, died Wednesday, August 17, 2022.
Tristan Forrest Bye was born September 29, 2000, to Michael and Niamya (Braun) Bye at Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls. He attended school in Underwood and graduated from Underwood High School in 2019. He then went to Minnesota State Community and Technical College for Phlebotomy Technician.
He was employed at Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls since he was 16 years old. He started in Dietary, then moved to Environmental Services, and was most recently working in Supply Distribution. He also worked at the JC General Store in Dalton for the past three years.
He was a member of Swan Lake Lutheran Church of rural Fergus Falls, where he was confirmed and helped with Vacation Bible School.
Tristan loved spending time with his family, it was the most important thing to him. He loved watching movies, listening to music… on vinyl, golfing, hanging out with friends, and supporting his dad and the rest of the Dalton Fire Department. Most importantly he wanted to help everyone, whether it was babysitting, running errands for the fire department during functions, carrying groceries out to your car or delivering them to your home, or helping at church. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, and spending time at the lake. He donated blood every opportunity he could, was the first to give you a hug, and had the BEST smile.
Preceding him in death were his grandmother, Julie Bye, and great-grandparents, Norine Erway, Alfred and Vivian Bye, Elma Heinecke, Clayton Abbott, and Dwight and Joyce Hanson.
Tristan is survived by his parents, Michael and Niamya Bye; brothers, Hunter Bye and Leo Bye; grandparents, Forrest and Rachelle Hanson and Tom and Darcy Bye; great-grandfather, Leo (special friend, Marilyn Lundmark) Braun; aunt, Amy (Josh) Hanson, Tyler and Tyson; uncle, Justin (Maddy) Hanson, Eli and Avery; aunt, Carol (Steve) Harles; uncle, Matthew (Krysta) Bye, Owen and Daniel, and numerous great-aunts and uncles, and cousins.
Visitation: 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 23, 2022, at Olson Funeral Home in Fergus Falls.
Service: 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, August 24, 2022, at Swan Lake Lutheran Church, rural Fergus Falls.
Clergy: Reverends Eric Smith, Bruce Stumbo, and Mark Johnson.
Interment: Swan Lake Lutheran Cemetery, rural Fergus Falls.
Arrangements provided by Olson Funeral Home in Fergus Falls.
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/obituaries/tristan-bye-2000-2022/article_1babe1d2-1fda-11ed-9674-9b5131f584db.html | 2022-08-19T18:35:02Z | fergusfallsjournal.com | control | https://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/obituaries/tristan-bye-2000-2022/article_1babe1d2-1fda-11ed-9674-9b5131f584db.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Award-winning writer Darren McGarvey credits JK Rowling for kick-starting career
Darren McGarvey, the award-winning Glasgow author and rapper who shot to fame when his first book won the Orwell Prize, has paid tribute to Harry Potter author JK Rowling for kick-starting his career.
McGarvey, a political activist, commentator, broadcaster and former columnist with The Scotsman, recalled how he was targeted for abuse by independence supporters when Rowling’s backing for a crowdfunding campaign was revealed.
He also told of efforts behind the scenes in the Scottish cultural sector to try to stop him getting work and recognition.
Speaking during an “in-conversation” Fringe event, McGarvey said Rowling's backing "changed the centre of gravity" in his career as she had been the first major writer in Scotland to offer him support.
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McGarvey, a prominent Yes campaigner in the run-up to the last referendum, said he was “not particularly inspired” to fight for independence at the moment.
McGarvey, who was brought up in the Pollock estate in Glasgow, was interviewed by the poet Jim Monaghan at the New Town Theatre.
He revealed he had been encouraged by Glasgow author Denise Mina to write a book after reading an article he had written criticising the response in the cultural sector to the 2014 fire at Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh Building.
He recalled how he was close to signing a book deal with Glasgow publisher Freight when contact was suddenly cut off.
McGarvey said: “I thought Freight was going to publish me and then someone gave them really bad advice.
“It was a time when I was creating a lot of friction as a working-class artist.
“Behind the scenes of various places they were trying to stop me from getting opportunities, whether it was in The List magazine’s hottest artists of the year listings, The Skinny magazine, bookings, publishing or whatever.
“With Freight the phone just stopped ringing, it went dead. Luckily Gavin [MacDougall] at Luath got the idea [for Poverty Safari] and we just greenlit it.
“I’d already built up quite a following. He could see what I was bringing to the table.
“I refused to go down the public funding route at that time and took the more risky strategy of doing a crowdfunder, which was pretty successful and led to me writing the book. I had no idea how successful it was going to become.”
Rowling donated £5,000 to McGarvey’s book and also provided a quote for its cover, describing it as “an unflinching account of the realities of systemic poverty”.
Asked by Monaghan about the criticism he had received from independence supporters over Rowling’s endorsement, McGarvey said: “They were [angry], particularly Yes supporters who had never supported anything I had done and wouldn’t like me regardless of anything I had done.
“I decided I was not going to try to live my life pleasing these people who f***ing hate me when I have people who had shown me a certain level of kindness and generosity.
“She showed me a level of generosity and encouragement that I had not had from anyone prominent in the industry in that way. It changed the centre of gravity for me career-wise. I’ll always be grateful.
“It [the cover quote] gave it a level of prominence that people thought ‘this is something I’ll have to check out’. But people thought it was me being bought off.” | https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/award-winning-writer-darren-mcgarvey-credits-jk-rowling-for-kick-starting-career-3812460 | 2022-08-19T18:36:14Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/award-winning-writer-darren-mcgarvey-credits-jk-rowling-for-kick-starting-career-3812460 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Atlanta-area district attorney investigating the GOP effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia says Sen. Lindsey Graham should appear before the special grand jury next week despite the South Carolina Republican's appeal to postpone the appearance.
The Fulton County District Attorney's Office wrote in a court filing Friday that Graham should have to appear to testify before the county's special purpose grand jury next week because he is "crucial" to its investigation and "not simply because he possesses necessary and material information but also because he is expected to provide information regarding additional scources of relevant information."
It went on to say that "delaying the Senator's testimony would not simply postpone his appearance; it would also delay the revelation of an entire category of relevant witnesses or information."
The filing was in response to Graham's attempts to get a federal judge to stay a decision requiring him to appear before the special purpose grand jury until he can appeal.
Graham has argued that he should not be forced to testify before the grand jury, which is investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 result in Georgia -- which saw Democrat Joe Biden narrowly win the state -- because his actions surrounding the state's election were related to legislative activity as then-chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and should be protected under the Constitution's speech and debate clause.
The judge had given Fulton County prosecutors until Friday at 9 a.m. to respond to Graham's motion to stay her ruling.
In their response, Georgia prosecutors argued, "Given the possibility that Senator Graham's testimony could reveal additional routes of inquiry, staying remand and enjoining his appearance at this stage could ultimately delay the resolution of the (Special Purpose Grand Jury)'s entire investigation."
"The public interest is served by allowing Senator Graham's appearance to proceed, ensuring the efficient continuation of the Special Purpose Grand Jury's investigation," Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney F. McDonald Wakeford wrote.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat who is leading the investigation into former President Donald Trump and his allies, has said in court filings that Graham's actions appear interconnected with Trump and that the grand jury needed to hear from the senator about at least two calls he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff in the wake of the 2020 election.
On Monday, Atlanta-based federal Judge Leigh Martin May denied Graham's motion to quash his subpoena. May, an Obama appointee, wrote in her decision to deny that there were "considerable areas of inquiry" that were not legislative in nature when the senator placed the two calls to Raffensperger's office.
On Wednesday, Graham and his attorneys asked a separate federal judge to issue a stay on the ruling so he does not have to appear before the grand jury on August 23. In a court filing, they wrote that Graham "will suffer irreparable harm if forced to appear before his appeal concludes."
"[He] should not be afforded the opportunity to increase that delay while he continues to advance arguments that he is not subject to subpoena at all," Wakeford wrote in the Fulton County district attorney's response on Friday.
"The District Attorney asks that this Court deny Senator Graham's motion in order that he, for a single day, can assist them in that great task without further delay. The People have requested Senator Graham's testimony and stand ready to receive it. All that is left is for the Senator to meet them," Wakeford added.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/local-news/decision/atlanta-area-da-says-sen-lindsey-graham-testimony-crucial-to-investigation/article_375f3db6-1fe4-11ed-bc93-3ba70b339fb4.html | 2022-08-19T18:38:38Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/local-news/decision/atlanta-area-da-says-sen-lindsey-graham-testimony-crucial-to-investigation/article_375f3db6-1fe4-11ed-bc93-3ba70b339fb4.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
In the weeks leading up to Chanukah last year, my then-10-year-old son told me that he thought he wanted a Jewish star necklace. It was a rather soft ask, so I quietly let it go.
To be honest, I wasn't sure how I felt about the idea of him wearing his Jewish faith so prominently in public. It is not that I was embarrassed or ashamed -- just the opposite. I have always been extremely proud of my Judaism. I display a mezuzah on the outside of the door of my home, as is the Jewish custom. But wearing a Jewish star is something I had never considered for myself, much less my young son.
I never bought it.
Then, halfway through the eight days of Chanukah, my son somewhat sheepishly asked if I had gotten him the only thing he had asked for, a Jewish star. I admitted that I hadn't and asked what made him want one.
He said that a lot of his Christian friends at school wore crosses, and that he wanted to wear a symbol of his own faith. He told me he is a proud Jew.
To hear this come out of my young son's mouth was jaw dropping. That he takes such pride in his religion -- one preserved and practiced for thousands of years through countless generations of my family -- made me incredibly emotional.
I immediately thought of my great grandparents and aunt -- Hungarian Jews who were not particularly observant but were murdered by the Nazis during World War II anyway.
I thought of my grandparents, who escaped the Nazis and miraculously made it to the US only two months before Pearl Harbor. They became patriotic Americans who never took for granted the ability to practice their Judaism freely.
Without knowing enough to make those connections, my son was asking to take up that mantle because it is in his soul and in his heart.
So, I said yes. We got the Jewish star and a chain to go with it.
What I did not say -- what I was ashamed to even admit to myself -- was that my young son showing the world that he is Jewish made me nervous.
I knew what, in his innocence, he did not. I knew that antisemitism is on the rise in America. I knew that gunmen had launched deadly attacks at synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, California, because they hated Jews. I knew that antisemitic incidents were increasing on college campuses. I knew that conspiracies about Jews were among the oldest on the planet.
What I did not know is what I learned in talking to experts and victims alike for CNN's Special Report airing on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, "Rising Hate: Antisemitism in America" -- that wearing a Jewish star can actually be a tactic in combating prejudice against Jews.
Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, arrived at our interview wearing a beautiful gold Star of David necklace.
When we got to the part of the interview when I asked for some solutions to curb hate against Jews, Lipstadt -- a world-renowned expert on antisemitism -- said that she started wearing her Jewish star more frequently as antisemitic attacks started to rise.
"I can walk into a room and someone might not know it, might not identify it," Lipstadt said, referring to the fact that she is Jewish.
"And with the rise of antisemitism, I want to just say, here I am. This is who I am."
Jeff Cohen, one of four congregants held hostage by a man who made antisemitic remarks in January during a Sabbath service in Colleyville, Texas, told us that as a result of his experience, he wears his skullcap, or yarmulke, more often now in public, not less.
"I'm not going to hide. I'm not going to allow myself to disappear because I do want to challenge other good people to stand up and say no. You know, if you don't know the other at all, it's easy to believe all of the stereotypes, all of the rumors, all of the conspiracy theories," said Cohen, who, like everyone else we talked to, emphasized how critical it is to educate and to speak out when you hear or see something that conjures tropes against Jews -- or any prejudice for that matter.
It's been more than half a year since my son got his Star of David necklace. He wears it every day -- sometimes under his shirt, sometimes out for everyone to see. He says he has never had any negative issues.
When I ask why he likes wearing it, he replies simply, "It's my identity, mom."
In our CNN hour-long special exploring the rise in antisemitism, my colleagues and I spent months talking to experts, law enforcement and victims about a modern phenomenon of normalizing hate.
It turns out that normalizing the practice of and pride in Judaism is one of the antidotes to prejudice -- something that my young son understood innately.
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™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/what-my-10-year-old-son-innately-understood-about-a-simple-way-to-combat-antisemitism/article_0afe2159-223d-57a1-aec1-27d04d3ec315.html | 2022-08-19T18:39:15Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/what-my-10-year-old-son-innately-understood-about-a-simple-way-to-combat-antisemitism/article_0afe2159-223d-57a1-aec1-27d04d3ec315.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
So much for foot traffic!
A “confused” elderly woman drove her luxury SUV into the second floor of a Massachusetts shopping mall — before bopping a planter and hitting the breaks, according to police.
The senior citizen zoomed through a garage entrance via a pedestrian bridge at the South Shore Plaza in the Boston suburb of Braintree at around 11:45 a.m. Thursday, according to masslive.com.
The doors opened automatically and she was able to roll in her late-model Lincoln MKX because the entrance was missing a safety bollard due to a recent accident, police told the outlet.
The unnamed lady, who was in her 70s, took a left and drove at a snail’s pace roughly 60 yards down the mall’s main corridor, where she knocked over a planter, struck other items then rolled to a stop, according to the Boston Herald.
When police arrived, the woman was seated inside the vehicle, looking “confused” as onlookers spoke to her, officials said.
The elderly gal’s car suffered minor damage but she wasn’t injured. She was taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation.
The safety bollard is scheduled to be replaced, mall managers said. | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/confused-elderly-woman-drives-suv-into-massachusetts-mall/ | 2022-08-19T18:39:35Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/confused-elderly-woman-drives-suv-into-massachusetts-mall/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
With the fall midterm elections less than three months away, fewer voters are identifying as liberals, according to a new survey.
A Morning Consult poll released Thursday found that just 27% of Americans self-identify as “very liberal,” “liberal” or “somewhat liberal,” down from 34% who chose one of those descriptors in 2017.
Meanwhile, the number of voters identifying as “moderate” or saying they “don’t know” has jumped by four percentage points each — 24% of voters said they were moderate and 3% said they didn’t know in 2017, while 28% and 7% gave those answers in 2022.
The percentage of self-identifying conservative voters has only risen slightly, from 38% to 39% over the last five years.
Within the parties themselves, a shift to and from extremes has also been visible.
The recent survey — which was conducted among 750,158 registered voters — found that the number of Democrats identifying as liberal has dropped from 60% to 55% over the past five years, while Republicans identifying as conservative has jumped from 70% to 77%.
In general, minority voters have been leaning further away from left-leaning extremes, with only 42% of Democratic black voters saying they identify as liberal, compared to 52% who said the same in 2017. A similar decrease was seen among Democratic Hispanic voters, with 61% identifying as liberal in 2017 and 52% saying the same this year.
While the percentage of moderates among black and Hispanic voters has risen in both parties, an overwhelming number have leaned conservative over the past five years.
The poll found that 66% of Republican Hispanic voters identify as conservative, up from 48% in 2017, while 58% of black GOP voters hold the same political view, up from 37% five years ago.
The survey was released as Republicans predict a “red wave” in the November midterms that will allow them to take back the majority in the House and Senate.
However, a Politico-Morning Consult poll released earlier this week found that Democrats currently lead Republicans by four percentage points on the generic congressional ballot.
The same poll found that voters trusted Republicans more to handle issues like the economy, jobs, immigration and national security. Democrats were more trusted on issues related to health care, climate change, education and voting rights. | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/fewer-voters-id-themselves-as-liberal-ahead-of-midterms-poll/ | 2022-08-19T18:40:06Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/fewer-voters-id-themselves-as-liberal-ahead-of-midterms-poll/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Who says cats are selfish?
A woman has her feline friend to thank for saving her life after she suffered a heart attack while sleeping.
Sam Felstead, 42, was asleep when she was awakened by her 7-year-old cat, Billy, at 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 8 — and she immediately realized something was wrong.
“Suddenly I woke up in the early hours covered in sweat and couldn’t move,” Felstead told South West News Service, adding that she felt a shooting pain down her right side. “Billy was on my chest and was meowing loudly in my ear hole.”
The hero kitty — who is normally pretty placid and solitary — refused to leave his owner alone and was “really meowing,” so Felstead called out to her mom, Karen, for help.
“I was wet through with sweat and had really bad back pain and my right side felt really heavy and strange,” she recalled. “I couldn’t move it. I couldn’t stand up either and was very dizzy when I got up.”
Her mom phoned an ambulance but was told there was a two-hour wait, so she drove her to the hospital herself.
At the facility, Felstead was told she had suffered a mild heart attack and one of her arteries was blocked.
Felstead was discharged from the hospital after three days, and reunited with her savior — who she says showed little interest in her upon her return.
“He completely ignored me,” she said, adding that doctors told her it’s lucky she got to the hospital when she did.
“I have a lot of medication to take for life and I have to take it easy for six weeks,” said Felstead of her recovery. “I had to have a balloon in my artery to open it back up again.”
And despite the lukewarm welcome-home greeting from her kitty, she said she’s thankful for Billy’s middle-of-the-night intervention.
“I’m grateful towards him as I didn’t know if I’d have woken up,” she added. “My alarm [wasn’t] for another two hours, so who knows if I would have woken up.
“I do think he saved my life and so does everybody else around me,” she continued.
Cat behavior expert Lucy Hoile told the BBC that Billy may have picked up on physiological changes in Sam.
“It could be that the fact he jumped on her and was meowing was a sign of his anxiety,” she said. “I do believe he probably did save her life because that’s what enabled her to get medical help, but I wouldn’t go down the route of saying he did it on purpose.
“It was him reacting to the situation.” | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/hero-cat-saves-owners-life-by-jumping-on-her-chest-during-heart-attack/ | 2022-08-19T18:40:18Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/hero-cat-saves-owners-life-by-jumping-on-her-chest-during-heart-attack/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Radioactive waste from a blast at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant could reach more than a dozen European countries — including Russia — in a matter of just three days, a chilling simulation video shows.
The video was created by the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute and was shared by BBC journalist Myroslava Petsa on Thursday amid dueling warnings of “false flag” attacks from both Moscow and Kyiv.
According to the map, should a Chernobyl-style disaster take place at Zaporizhzhia — Europe’s largest nuclear plant — a radioactive cloud would disperse over 13 countries in the region, including Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Russia.
Concerns over the integrity of the six nuclear reactors at the facility, which has been under Russian control since March, reached a fever pitch on Friday, after officials with Rosatom — Russia’s state nuclear agency — reportedly announced an unplanned day off at the plant and “urgently” left work.
Both Russia and Ukraine have accused one another of planning provocations at the nuclear plant, which has seen heavy shelling over the past weeks.
Kyiv said that Russian forces planned to disconnect the nuclear plant from the power grid.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned France’s Emmanuel Macron during a rare phone call that shelling the facility — which he blamed on Ukrainian forces — could result in a “large-scale catastrophe that could lead to radioactive contamination of large territories.”
Ukraine has accused Russia of housing troops and storing weapons at the plant, and using its grounds to launch strikes against Ukrainian-controlled territory, knowing that Ukrainian forces would be reluctant to fire back.
On Friday, close Putin ally Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the Russian Security Council, claimed that Ukrainians were shelling Zaporizhzhia on the orders of the US.
“At the urging the Americans, Ukrainians are constantly carrying out strikes against the critically important infrastructure of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” he said, according to reporting by the Russian state news agency TASS.
Patrushev then issued a stark warning: “If a man-made disaster occurs, its consequences will be felt in all corners of the world.”
During a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Lviv on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed grave concerns about a possible disaster at the nuclear facility.
“We must tell it like it is,” he said. “Any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide.”
Guterres and other top UN officials have been calling on Russia and Ukraine to allow experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit the facility and conduct inspections and repairs.
In his conversation with Putin on Friday, Macron expressed his support for the IAEA mission to the site “as soon as possible.”
The Kremlin said that “the Russian side reaffirmed its readiness to offer the necessary assistance to the agency’s experts.”
Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-backed chief of temporary administration for the Russia-controlled part of the Zaporizhzhia region, said Friday that an IAEA mission could approach the plant from Ukrainian-held territory — a shift in Moscow’s position, which previously had suggested that the mission should travel to the plant from Crimea.
With Post wires | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/map-predicts-fallout-from-disaster-at-ukrainian-nuclear-plant/ | 2022-08-19T18:41:00Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/map-predicts-fallout-from-disaster-at-ukrainian-nuclear-plant/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
This royal offspring has green fingers — but not to hold a silver spoon.
A low-key, favored granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II turned down the illustrious life of working as a senior royal — and happily accepted a minimum-wage gig in a gardening center, according to a UK report.
Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor — the 18-year-old daughter of the Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward — stunned shoppers whom she served at the nursery in Surrey, the Sun said.
“It’s not every day you buy your begonias off a royal,” one shopper told the UK paper.
Despite being 16th in line to the throne, the modest royal is thought to have taken the summer job for around the minimum wage, which the Sun notes is the equivalent of just over $8 an hour for teens her age.
“I knew the cost-of-living crisis was bad, but I didn’t think I’d ever see a grandchild of the Queen working in a garden centre,” one shopper quipped to the Sun.
Another said they would “never imagine the Queen’s granddaughter would take on a role working behind” a register.
“I couldn’t believe it was Lady Louise — I had to look twice,” the shopper said.
“She is a really modest and sweet young woman who is polite and attentive to customers. She seemed to be loving the job.”
The Sun reported on the unexpected summer gig only after Lady Louise had already wrapped it up ahead of starting her studies at one of the UK’s top universities, St. Andrew’s in Scotland.
It is the same college where her cousin Prince William met his wife, Kate Middleton.
Lady Louise is already in Scotland this week, staying with her 96-year-old grandma, the Queen, the UK paper said.
“Isn’t it wonderful the Queen’s granddaughter rolled her sleeves up and got her hands dirty with a summer job before going to university — just like any other normal teenager,” noted royal biographer Ingrid Seward.
The Sun in 2019 said Lady Louise was the Queen’s favorite of her eight grandchildren, ahead of both William and his brother, Prince Harry, even before Harry sparked turmoil with Brexit.
The teen joined dad Edward, 58, and her mother, Sophie Wessex, 57, for key events celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this summer, and has also been a key party in royal weddings.
However, she rejected the chance to become a working member of the royal family when she turned 18 last November, the UK paper said.
Buckingham Palace told the Sun it did not want to comment on the report. | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/queens-granddaughter-lady-louise-took-minimum-wage-job/ | 2022-08-19T18:41:24Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/queens-granddaughter-lady-louise-took-minimum-wage-job/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Thousands of rainbow-colored fentanyl pills that resemble candy have been confiscated this week across the country, according to authorities — who warned that the drugs could be part of a marketing scheme targeting youngsters.
More than 15,000 of the candy-looking pills were discovered strapped to someone’s leg at the Nogales Port of Entry in Arizona on Wednesday, Customs and Border Protection said.
“This could be the start of a trend with Transnational Criminal Organizations targeting younger users,” port director Michael W. Humphries cautioned.
Humphries said it was the second day in a row that pills “with the appearance of candy” were discovered. Customs agents previously confiscated 250,000 rainbow fentanyl pills, as well as 11 pounds of heroin and 10 pounds of methamphetamine.
Also on Wednesday, Oregon deputies reported seizing 4 grams of powdered “rainbow fentanyl” from a home in Portland, along with stolen guns and other drugs including meth and heroin.
Authorities warned that young children could potentially mistake the lethal powdered substance for sidewalk chalk because of its color.
“The public needs to be aware of the rising use of powdered fentanyl,” Special Investigation Unit Sgt. Matt Ferguson said.
“We believe this is going to be the new trend seen on the streets of Portland.”
Jennifer Lofland, a field intelligence manager for the DEA Washington division, also confirmed that the pills have been confiscated in and around the DC metro area for over a year.
“My biggest concern, and I think the biggest concern of DEA nationwide, is that the pills seem to be marketed specifically to a younger age group,” Lofland told FOX5.
With school starting over the next few weeks, Lofland urged parents to talk to their kids about never accepting pills unless they are prescribed by a doctor.
“Some of the multi-colored pills that we’ve been testing in our labs recently, particularly a recent batch that appeared to be children’s chewable vitamins, were tested by our lab as contained both fentanyl and methamphetamine,” she explained.
“And so that’s just an added layer of danger.”
The proliferation of rainbow fentanyl in US cities comes just months after CDC statistics confirmed the substance was one of the leading causes of nationwide overdose deaths.
In 2021, there were 71,000 overdoses with fentanyl and synthetic opioids, up 23% from the previous year. | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/thousands-of-rainbow-fentanyl-pills-seized-across-us/ | 2022-08-19T18:41:43Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/19/thousands-of-rainbow-fentanyl-pills-seized-across-us/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(WXIN) – McDonald’s is taking its beloved Big Mac into new territory by switching out the two all-beef patties for chicken.
The Chicken Big Mac, made with “crispy tempura chicken patties” instead of beef, will be test launched in Miami for a limited time, McDonald’s confirmed.
The sandwich already made its debut February in the United Kingdom and Ireland to much fanfare — and significant sales. McDonald’s U.K. announced the limited-edition offering had “sold out almost everywhere” after a little over the week on the menu. It eventually returned for a limited time.
The Chicken Big Mac appears identical to the original Big Mac aside from its chicken patties, and comes with cheese, lettuce, pickles and special sauce, McDonald’s said. The version sold in the U.K. did not come with chopped onions; McDonald’s did not list this component among the ingredients in the U.S. version, either.
If the testing goes well, it’s possible the Chicken Big Mac could expand to additional regions or even the nationwide menu, though it’s not guaranteed.
“While not everything we test makes it on our U.S. menus, we’ll use this time to gather feedback from both customers and restaurant crew as we consider opportunities to offer more delicious options in the future,” McDonald’s wrote in a statement shared with Nexstar.
McDonald’s currently offers several chicken sandwiches on the U.S. menu, including its McChicken and multiple variations of its Crispy Chicken Sandwich, which debuted in 2021. At the time, McDonald’s Vice President of Menu Innovation Linda VanGosen said the new sandwiches came in response to customer demand for chicken items.
Around the same time, several other fast-food outlets had announced or began offering their own fried chicken sandwiches following the successful debut of the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich in 2019. | https://www.wspa.com/news/mcdonalds-testing-chicken-big-mac-what-we-know-so-far/ | 2022-08-19T18:42:28Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/mcdonalds-testing-chicken-big-mac-what-we-know-so-far/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
by: Tammy Jones Posted: Aug 19, 2022 / 01:35 PM EDT Updated: Aug 19, 2022 / 01:35 PM EDT SHARE The following is sponsored content from The Beacon Drive-In” It’s Furry Friend Friday and this morning we have Angel Cox here with us from the Spartanburg Humane Society with Darby looking for a forever home. SPARTANBURGHUMANE.ORG | https://www.wspa.com/your-carolina/furry-friend-friday-meet-darby/ | 2022-08-19T18:43:00Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/your-carolina/furry-friend-friday-meet-darby/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Boston Children’s Hospital has been the target of online threats after a conservative group posted a hospital’s video on social media and contended that the facility performs hysterectomies on young girls.
Hospital staff say that is false information, as their transgender surgery program performs hysterectomies only on patients 18 years and older.
Here & Now‘s Scott Tong talks with WBUR’s health care reporter Martha Bebinger.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/2022-08-19/boston-childrens-hospital-refutes-false-claim-of-hysterectomies-on-underage-patients | 2022-08-19T18:43:01Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/2022-08-19/boston-childrens-hospital-refutes-false-claim-of-hysterectomies-on-underage-patients | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Tom Perrotta wrote memorable female characters in his books “Little Children” and “Mrs. Fletcher” — but one leading lady stands out in his work: Tracy Flick.
First appearing in Perrotta’s 1998 novel “Election,” Tracy is an ambitious young woman whose path to winning her high school’s presidential election is jeopardized when one of her teachers, Mr. M., persuades a popular athlete to run against her.
In the 1999 movie adaptation, Tracy, portrayed by Reese Witherspoon, stamps out campaign buttons. Fast forward 23 years: The iconic Tracy is back in Perrotta’s newest novel. She’s now a high school assistant principal going after the top job. But as the title “Tracy Flick Can’t Win” implies, it’s another rough road for Tracy.
In the years since “Election” first hit shelves, Tracy has become a symbol of something beyond the book. To Perrotta, Tracy represents the first generation of girls whose feminist moms — and sometimes dads — raised them to believe they can achieve anything.
“Tracy — like a lot of women I taught when I was teaching college in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s — truly felt like there was going to be a woman president and it could possibly be me,” Perrotta said at a recent event at WBUR’s City Space. “I am focusing my life like a laser beam on achieving these goals. And I’m going to seize this power that’s now available to me.”
When the book and movie came out, stories about ambitious women hadn’t gone beyond the Lady Macbeth and Jane Austen characters — whose objectives are driven by men, Perrotta says. Mary Tyler Moore forged a path of her own using charm and vulnerability. In contrast, a young Tracy scared some of the adult men she encountered.
Back in 2016, people compared Hillary Clinton to Tracy during the former secretary of state’s presidential run. And it wasn’t a compliment. Like Clinton, Tracy has a quality many men find “threatening or unlikeable,” Perrotta says.
Writer Tom Perrotta. (Beowulf Sheehan)
At first, Perrotta felt flattered his character escaped the page and made her way into mainstream conversation. But people started projecting their abrasive, Machiavellian view of Tracy onto Clinton, he says.
Around the same time, feminist critics like Rebecca Traister pushed back against the opinion that Tracy — an intelligent 16-year-old girl driven to earn a college scholarship because her single mom can’t afford to send her — is unlikable or the villain of the story.
“I do think it has been both a little demoralizing to see my character become a kind of sexist trope, but then somewhat encouraging to see her redefined as the figure that she is,” Perrotta says, “which is an imperfect, determined, resilient, very ambitious young woman who may not be the most likable person in the world, but most ambitious people are actually probably not that likable.”
In the end, Tracy wins the election. The Tracy that readers meet years later in “Tracy Flick Can’t Win” displays the same ambition and need to succeed as she did initially — but also displays hurt and some more lovable, humanizing qualities.
Tracy’s sadness in the new book reflects something many middle-aged people experience, Perrotta says. In “Election,” Mr. M reacts to Tracy’s potential, which he sees as greater than his own. Now, readers get to see Tracy assume the same role as Mr. M — a good teacher who wanted more from his life.
“[Tracy’s] unlimited potential is now a very specific and limited reality,” Perrotta says. “Her expectations for herself were so high that even her perfectly successful and respectable life seems small to her.”
The title “Tracy Flick Can’t Win” speaks to how Tracy begins to recognize a pattern in her life, he says. Back in high school, her teacher’s vendetta against her felt personal. But looking back, her past experience feels systemic: Tracy is the most qualified person for the principal job at her school but still faces outside forces working against her.
Before he started creating iconic female characters, Perrotta wrote his first two books about young men in New Jersey. After getting pigeonholed and placed on the “lad lit” table at bookstores, he wanted to write bigger stories.
Writing “Election” required him to get into the minds of several characters, including women like Tracy, which made him worry he wasn’t skilled enough to do it justice. But ever since, women have approached Perrotta to say they were just like Tracy.
“What they meant was, ‘I was that girl with my hand in the air. I had big hopes and dreams and I worked really hard and maybe that was slightly ridiculous, but that was who I needed to be at that time,’” he says. “I think a lot of girls who were ambitious felt like they had to outshine the boys around them because it was hard to be taken seriously.”
Perrotta remembers attending college with optimistic women who believed their generation would reinvent marriage, career and family. While some things did change for the better, these women grew up to discover their utopian dream didn’t quite come true, he says.
“I think that redefinition of gender and family that has really marked my entire adult life has been my subject,” he says. “Feminism and the challenges it has posed to men, that cluster of issues is really at the heart of all of my work.”
Emiko Tamagawa produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Gabe Bullard. Allison Hagan adapted it for the web.
Book excerpt: ‘Tracy Flick Can’t Win’
By Tom Perrotta
Excerpted from Tracy Flick Can’t Win by Tom Perrotta. Copyright © 2022 by Tom Perrotta. Excerpted with permission by Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/2022-08-19/election-author-tom-perrotta-brings-back-an-iconic-character-in-tracy-flick-cant-win | 2022-08-19T18:43:13Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/2022-08-19/election-author-tom-perrotta-brings-back-an-iconic-character-in-tracy-flick-cant-win | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
by: Tammy Jones Posted: Aug 19, 2022 / 01:44 PM EDT Updated: Aug 19, 2022 / 01:44 PM EDT SHARE We are talking with Melissa Sturgis about the Simpsonville Arts Center. | https://www.wspa.com/your-carolina/zip-trip-simpsonville-arts-center/ | 2022-08-19T18:43:25Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/your-carolina/zip-trip-simpsonville-arts-center/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A federal judge has ordered Starbucks to rehire seven baristas it fired at a store in Memphis. They were fired following a union organizing drive at the store.
Senior editor at Bloomberg News Mike Regan joins Here & Now‘s Celeste Headlee to talk about the victory for Starbucks employees.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/2022-08-19/federal-judge-orders-starbucks-to-rehire-7-baristas-fired-over-union-organizing | 2022-08-19T18:43:25Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/2022-08-19/federal-judge-orders-starbucks-to-rehire-7-baristas-fired-over-union-organizing | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Heche died at age 53 from injuries she sustained in a car accident. She was best known for her roles on the soap opera Another World and films Donnie Brasco and Wag the Dog. Originally broadcast in 2000.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Heche died at age 53 from injuries she sustained in a car accident. She was best known for her roles on the soap opera Another World and films Donnie Brasco and Wag the Dog. Originally broadcast in 2000.
Copyright 2022 NPR | https://www.klcc.org/2022-08-19/fresh-air-remembers-actor-anne-heche | 2022-08-19T18:43:38Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/2022-08-19/fresh-air-remembers-actor-anne-heche | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Old Firm away allocation: 'Status quo' for Celtic and Rangers fans this season
Celtic and Rangers are set to have less than 1000 supporters present when they play away from home on Old Firm duty.
It is being reported that, like last season, only 900 tickets will be given up to the visiting team when they travel to either Celtic Park or Ibrox.
The Scottish Sun claims that despite Celtic being open to going back to selling up to 8000 briefs to away fans, only a small number will be permitted entry – much like last season.
How many away tickets that are given to each club has been a bone of contention since May 2018, when Rangers decided to dramatically cut the number on offer. Unsurprisingly, Celtic responded in kind, while there have been a couple of derbies post-Covid that have not had any away supporters.
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Celtic host Rangers in the cinch Premiership on September 3, while the New Year derby on January 2 is at Ibrox before a return to Celtic Park in April and a further post-split tie. | https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/rangers/old-firm-away-allocation-status-quo-for-celtic-and-rangers-fans-this-season-3813173 | 2022-08-19T18:43:56Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/rangers/old-firm-away-allocation-status-quo-for-celtic-and-rangers-fans-this-season-3813173 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The search of Mar-a-Lago was for highly classified information. So what might be revealed and what would be redacted in the affidavit of the search warrant after a judge has ordered it released? The Justice Department says it will be highly redacted to protect the investigation.
Here & Now‘s Celeste Headlee talks with former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine Banks.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/2022-08-19/what-the-search-warrant-affidavit-for-mar-a-lago-might-reveal | 2022-08-19T18:44:02Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/2022-08-19/what-the-search-warrant-affidavit-for-mar-a-lago-might-reveal | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The singer-songwriter is known for his intensely autobiographical writing. When Wainwright turned 75 recently, he decided to make an album about trying — and mostly failing — to age gracefully.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air
The singer-songwriter is known for his intensely autobiographical writing. When Wainwright turned 75 recently, he decided to make an album about trying — and mostly failing — to age gracefully.
Copyright 2022 Fresh Air | https://www.klcc.org/npr-music/2022-08-19/loudon-wainwright-iii-goes-back-to-the-basics-on-lifetime-achievement | 2022-08-19T18:44:27Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-music/2022-08-19/loudon-wainwright-iii-goes-back-to-the-basics-on-lifetime-achievement | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
For many years, the Black Thought solo album felt like an imaginary object, long rumored yet never revealed. It went by several names — Masterpiece Theatre, The Talented Mr. Trotter — and had many soft launches. The Philly rapper born Tariq Trotter had of course already displayed his otherworldly dexterity as frontman and co-founder of The Roots, and, beginning in 2018, emerged as a willing and capable soloist with a series of freewheeling mini-releases. But for most rappers, a proper debut album is a statement of artistic purpose. For a rapper in a group, it is also a chance to establish a fully independent identity. Even as Black Thought the solo artist steadily took shape, his album — the album — remained elusive.
Cheat Codes, Trotter's new collaboration with the producer Danger Mouse, is that quintessential Black Thought album, the one long awaited by diehards, the first of his recent projects to transcend his supreme skill as a rhymer and define his music beyond his intense technique. As a soloist, Trotter has tended to write like a world traveler, making offhand references to the chupacabra or Bach, Amon-Ra or the hajj, his raps crowded but fluid as if he were sloshing on foot through a quagmire. Here, he finally locates himself within his songs: as a hometown hero who brought rap game theory to national TV yet remains cognizant of the Black struggle, who is trying to reconcile the world he's entered with the one he's from. If there are two Americas, Trotter has straddled both, and Cheat Codes shares lessons learned during his travels, with a clear frame of mind that is new ground even for one of rap's peerless performers.
As the voice of the legendary Roots crew, Trotter is both representative and accessory. The group is built around his indelible lyricism, but he has always been deferential to the collective, its ideas and organization. The Roots is also a live band, and moving through those arrangements requires a specific potency and stamina. Books on rapping have lauded his gifts as a performer: In How to Rap, Kool G Rap champions Trotter's breath control and execution in a Roots staging of his song "Men at Work." Watching the clip, you are immediately struck by the physicality of his recitation, how forcefully and consistently he rattles off phrases, like a boxer working a speed bag. Yet that asset can also be a strange kind of liability in hip-hop. "Sometimes MCs' flows can so dominate their styles that they overshadow other elements of craft," Adam Bradley writes of Trotter in Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip-Hop. "Set within the complex soundscapes offered up by the rest of the group, Black Thought's liquid flow at times nearly washes away his meaning."
The Roots released their last album in 2014 and followed Jimmy Fallon to The Tonight Show the same year, and a sense emerged that rapping might have become a secondary concern for Black Thought, admittedly a less ferocious presence at the head of a late-night house band. When Funk Flex invited him to participate in his ongoing freestyle series on Hot 97 in 2017, the rapper seemed to take the opportunity as a challenge — a way to reassert himself as not only an ambassador of the culture but a lethal technician. The performance was a viral moment that renewed conversations about barring out, and within the epic polemic were hints of a coming return: "Them brothers said, 'Don't go from written bars filled with rage / To primetime television and your gilded cage / Then forget there's people in the world still enslaved.'
Six months later came Streams of Thought Vol. 1, the first of a trio of single-producer collections that diverge sharply from The Roots' live instrumentation and conceptual arcs. As far back as 2001, Trotter seemed to already understand how he wanted his solo work to function: "The difference between a Black Thought album and a Roots album is the texture," he told MTV News, promising that his eventual debut would stick to samples. Streams of Thought delivered that vision via esteemed beatmakers 9th Wonder, Salaam Remi and Sean C, but mainly as a sparring exercise: Trotter's presence on them is raw and loose, and they're better understood as small monuments to his talent than for their substance.
There is immediately a greater focus and intent to Cheat Codes, beginning with the production. The flips are simple and elegant, the drums understated. There is enough space within the loops for Trotter's voice to probe through. Where Sean C compared the beats he made for Streams of Thought Vol. 3 to the '70s feel of Jay-Z's American Gangster, Cheat Codes curates soul, psych rock and funk samples from the same era into a weirder, more warped palette. Danger Mouse constructed these beats with Black Thought and his skill set specifically in mind, and the rapper moves through them deliberately, without compromising what are some of his most writerly verses. Together, the two cohere around a mission to build a classicist album fit for the form's elder statesmen.
Relentless motion is clearly in Trotter's DNA, a trait he traces back to childhood: "My birthplace taught me not to stop / I'm more advanced than my classmates / I came into the game on a fast break," he raps on "No Gold Teeth." Many songs on Cheat Codes are built around a single extended verse, though compared to his knotty Hot 97 filibuster they're compact and restrained, there to be not merely heeded but understood. Take the wavy "Identical Deaths," in which Black Thought is interviewed by God and keeps his cool, making gentle swoops from bar to bar as if trying to carefully pen a letter in cursive. On the title track, he works through the mindset of the "young gunners" running stickups in Philly, only to zoom out at the end and account for the larger systems that created them, using the mic like a bullhorn.
Virtuosity is too often presented as a shorthand for lyricism, and though some rappers have earned notoriety from the former, beneath the surface their verses are often empty. Trotter isn't immune to using technical hyper-proficiency to mask bombast, but even his most ill-defined rhymes carry a certain gravitas in their momentum, the deeply alliterative wordplay generating its own mystique. However, none of his previous releases have matched this novelistic charm with attentive storytelling the way Cheat Codes does. With "Because," he paints a vivid picture of the limited options that lead many into the carceral system. The winding verses of "Sometimes" and "Violas & Lupitas" are packed with little vignettes, and sometimes a bar will contain an entire scene: "Juke joint party lights lit the Harlem nights / Peas and rice made a Judas out of Garveyites."
There is still plenty of rapping about how great he is at rapping, but the verses more often turn on nuggets of personal discovery ("Richard Wright, Black Boy that grew into a Blacker man") and accumulated wisdom. Where Vol. 3 of Streams of Thought often felt aimlessly political, a concept record without a real agenda, the perspective here is tighter and more self-affirming. On "The Darkest Part," he mulls injustice, freedom, and the weight of the soul ("I came to take back that other two-fifths of a man"). Later, on "Saltwater," he distinguishes himself as a seasoned OG, not a lecturer; his rapping is surly but not disillusioned, observant but not sanctimonious. Even the songs that do fixate on the rap game as a sporting arena do so astutely: In the elongated verse of "Close to Famous," he measures the extent of his influence and the skill and experience gap between him as a veteran and rap's overnight sensations. Much of his case, like the album overall, is constructed around the idea that he can read any room and speak its language.
Trotter is not our only rapper-scholar, but his position in the culture is close to unique. "Bring the Cambridge, the Websters, the Oxfords ... Product of the Last Poets and the Watts Prophets," he raps on "Belize," presenting his career as a bridge between street intellectuals and academic authorities, rap as cipher and rap as literature. The notion of a full-length collaboration between Black Thought and Danger Mouse long predates his years on network television or the dynamic if arguably vain showcase of Streams of Thought, but the results are nonetheless a culmination of that history. Listening now, it can feel like all those years the album went unmade are what made it possible.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-music/npr-music/2022-08-18/cheat-codes-is-the-album-black-thought-couldnt-have-made-until-now | 2022-08-19T18:44:34Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-music/npr-music/2022-08-18/cheat-codes-is-the-album-black-thought-couldnt-have-made-until-now | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The past two election cycles have seen an explosion of attention given to “echo chambers,” or communities where a narrow set of views makes people less likely to challenge their own opinions. Much of this concern has focused on the rise of social media, which has radically transformed the information ecosystem.
However, when scientists investigated social media echo chambers, they found surprisingly little evidence of them on a large scale – or at least none on a scale large enough to warrant the growing concerns. And yet, selective exposure to news does increase polarization. This suggested that these studies missed part of the picture of Americans’ news consumption patterns. Crucially, they did not factor in a major component of the average American’s experience of news: television.
We first measured just how politically siloed American news consumers really are across TV and the web. Averaging over the four years of our observations, we found that roughly 17% of Americans are politically polarized – 8.7% to the left and 8.4% to the right – based on their TV news consumption. That’s three to four times higher than the average percentage of Americans polarized by online news.
Moreover, the percentage of Americans polarized via TV ranged as high as 23% at its peak in November 2016, the month in which Donald Trump was elected president. A second spike occurred in the months leading into December 2018, following the “blue wave” midterm elections in which a record number of Democratic campaign ads were aired on TV. The timing of these two spikes suggests a clear connection between content choices and events in the political arena.
Staying in TV echo chambers
Besides being more politically siloed on average, our research found that TV news consumers are much more likely than web consumers to maintain the same partisan news diets over time: after six months, left-leaning TV audiences are 10 times more likely to remain segregated than left-leaning online audiences, and right-leaning audiences are 4.5 times more likely than their online counterparts.
While these figures may seem intimidating, it is important to keep in mind that even among TV viewers, about 70% of right-leaning viewers and about 80% of left-leaning viewers do switch their news diets within six months. To the extent that long-lasting echo chambers do exist, then, they include only about 4% of the population.
Narrow TV diets
Partisan segregation among TV audiences goes even further than left- and right-leaning sources, we found. We identified seven broad buckets of TV news sources, then used these archetypes to determine what a typical unvaried TV news diet really looks like.
We found that, compared to online audiences, partisan TV news consumers tend not to stray too far from their narrow sets of preferred news sources. For example, most Americans who consume mostly MSNBC rarely consume news from any other source besides CNN. Similarly, most Americans who consume mostly Fox News Channel do not venture beyond that network at all. This finding contrasts with data from online news consumers, who still receive sizable amounts of news from outside their main archetype.
Distilling partisanship
Finally, we found an imbalance between partisan TV news channels and the broader TV news environment. Our observations revealed that Americans are turning away from national TV news generally in substantial numbers – and crucially, this exodus is more from centrist news buckets than from left- or right-leaning ones. Within the remaining TV news audience, we found movement from broadcast news to cable news, trending toward MSNBC and Fox News.
Together, these trends reveal a counterintuitive finding: Although the overall TV news audience is shrinking, the partisan TV news audience is growing. This means that the audience as a whole is in the process of being “distilled” – remaining TV viewers are growing increasingly partisan, and the partisan proportion of TV news consumers is on the rise.
Why it matters
Exposure to opposing views is critical for functional democratic processes. It allows for self-reflection and tempers hostility toward political outgroups, whereas only interacting with similar views in political echo chambers makes people more entrenched in their own opinions. If echo chambers truly are as widespread as recent attention has made them out to be, it can have major consequences for the health of democracy.
Our findings suggest that television – not the web – is the top driver of partisan audience segregation among Americans. It is important to note that the vast majority of Americans still consume relatively balanced news diets. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/opinion/guest_column/don-t-be-too-quick-to-blame-social-media-for-america-s-polarization/article_22a08d3c-1fd8-11ed-b742-371e8a5697e6.html | 2022-08-19T18:45:06Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/opinion/guest_column/don-t-be-too-quick-to-blame-social-media-for-america-s-polarization/article_22a08d3c-1fd8-11ed-b742-371e8a5697e6.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Education Association announced Thursday morning it has filed suit against the state for failing to fund education adequately.
It was filed in Laramie County District Court, and as of Thursday evening, it was unclear whether school districts will join as plaintiffs. Laramie County School District 1 trustees passed a resolution Monday night agreeing to consider authorizing legal action against the state to ensure funding, but officials didn’t confirm whether they plan to follow through.
WEA President Grady Hutcherson was joined by the association’s lawyer at a news conference in front of the state Capitol to assert that the state has violated the Wyoming Constitution, and the quality of education in the state has suffered for it. He said if the Legislature continues to withhold education funding, the learning environment will only continue to get worse.
He said students cannot wait, and they deserve better.
“Students are already being disadvantaged with increased class sizes,” Hutcherson said. “In some districts, we are seeing aging buildings and infrastructure. There’s also insufficient school security measures in our schools.”
He voiced his concern for the growing teacher shortage, and said districts are being robbed of the financial resources they need to hire and retain qualified professionals.
“Wyoming children and families are promised access to high quality and equitable education – in too many ways, that promise is going unfilled. Funding public education is not an option; it is a paramount duty of the Legislature,” said Hutcherson. “The Wyoming Education Association is committed to seeking justice for our students.”
Civil rights and employment lawyer Patrick Hacker will be one of the individuals representing the WEA. He was also the chief counsel for the WEA in the Wyoming Supreme Court "Campbell" cases, which defined what action the Legislature was supposed to take regarding education funding.
In the 71-page complaint, they lay out multiple ways they say the Wyoming Constitution is not being upheld.
Hacker pointed to the Declaration of Rights in the state Constitution, and the section containing the state’s protections for freedoms such as religion, speech and due process. The right to receive a proper education is listed even before the right to bear arms.
“I give that illustration so that you might understand the significance the founders put on education,” he said.
He said among other protections in the Constitution, there is an article that states the Legislature shall provide the necessary revenue for high-quality, proper education, and it has continued to be ignored by lawmakers.
State response
Gov. Mark Gordon’s spokesperson, Michael Pearlman, responded with a statement regarding the lawsuit Thursday evening, and said over the past few years, Wyoming has had to make record cuts to almost all services other than K-12 education. He said it is unfortunate that the lawsuit comes at this time, considering the work of the governor’s education initiative is in full swing.
The Reimagining and Innovating the Delivery of Education (RIDE) advisory group was launched in May of 2021 by Gordon to develop recommendations for elevating Wyoming’s K-12 education system. It has put effort into learning more about what the public expects for schools through surveys and listening sessions.
“It is his hope that this lawsuit will not distract from the important effort to determine exactly what the Wyoming people want their education system to deliver – a key element of school funding,” wrote Pearlman. “While the governor recognizes that a thorough examination of our K-12 funding system may be necessary, he would prefer to work on that outside of the courts.”
Nonetheless, he said Attorney General Bridget Hill will defend Wyoming’s interests in the courts.
Hacker will face the state’s defense, but presented many of the arguments he will make in the Wyoming Supreme Court to those at the press conference. He said he understands legislators are always reluctant to appropriate money, but education is different because it is a fundamental right.
“Lack of revenue is no excuse,” he reiterated from the court's opinion. “They also say that the public schools, elementary and secondary, must be funded ahead of all other interests not unconstitutional in nature. And the state cannot yield to those other things until they have fully and properly funded public education.”
One of the requirements is that the Legislature must evaluate what the specific components of education are, such as teachers, aides, principals and supplies. They must determine if there are any new additions necessary, and whether the amount of funding is equal to the actual cost that school districts are incurring. Hacker clarified it is not what lawmakers think it should cost, but the actual amount.
The other directive is that the Legislature must adjust the formula for inflation, also known as an external cost adjustment. Hacker said this has not been done consistently, and, in some cases, it has not been approved at all even in the wake of an 8.1% inflation rate going into the last legislative session.
He criticized the lack of salary increases in the finance model since it was created in the 2000s. The Cheyenne attorney said it has led to an inability to hire and retain quality employees, and often districts must hire anyone who applies. He said a school district’s faculty is 84% of the cost of running it, and this must be taken into account.
“The annual salary increase for teachers in Wyoming between 2010 and 2022, it was a grand total of $604 in 12 years,” he said.
Hacker said the Wyoming Legislature has failed to address education funding in many other ways, but there were lawmakers who fought on behalf of the Wyoming Education Association – just not enough. And he said, it is not because someone has failed to bring it to their attention.
“They don’t believe what the Supreme Court said, or they’ve chosen to disregard it,” he said. “Those are the only two options I know of.”
Lawmakers react
Legislators who spoke Thursday with the Wyoming Tribune Eagle agreed it was not the first time they heard calls for better education funding.
Many have been seeking solutions, including in the Joint Revenue Committee. Stakeholders have been asked to bring forth their recommendations for education revenue models before the next meeting on Sept. 14-15 in Casper.
Rep. Mike Yin, D-Jackson, sits on the committee, and said it has been a frustrating experience fighting to properly fund education in the state. He said there isn’t a lack of understanding regarding their constitutional duty, but rather a desire to skirt it. He said lawmakers should make it a point of pride instead of viewing it as an obligation.
He hopes the lawsuit will showcase they haven’t been meeting the needs of Wyoming students, and change the minds of legislators, or there will be consequences.
“People will continue to leave our state, and I think it will have a harmful effect on our economy, and the ability for people to run small businesses and hire the best employees,” he said. “There are a whole bunch of downstream effects for having a sustainable state when you lack a strong education system.”
Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne, a longtime member of the Joint Education Committee, and chairman of the Select Committee on School Facilities, said he has seen what the Legislature has been trying to do to correct the structural deficit. He said while the state can always reduce spending as revenue declines, he believes cuts to education are too deep.
“The only way to come up with new revenue to offset our loss of the money coming in from the extractive industries is to grow our population in the state. More taxpayers, more tax, without having to raise tax levels,” he said. “In order to do that, people won’t come to our state unless we have livable communities, great health care and great schools. That’s what they look for.”
Pappas said he expects the lawsuit will have to address the source of revenue, because he said education has been proven as one of the top priorities among lawmakers for years. He pointed to the portion of the budget that goes toward education, and said it’s huge.
Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, is a member of both the education and school facilities committees. He said he was disappointed it had come to a lawsuit. However, he believes the Legislature is out of constitutional compliance, and it is appropriate for the education association and school districts to step up to file lawsuits.
“The Legislature fully understands what is necessary to comply with the Campbell decisions and our constitutional obligations to fully fund the K-12 education system in Wyoming,” he said. “We had been flirting with unconstitutionality over the past several years, and I think this past legislative session, we finally made it abundantly clear that we were no longer going to provide adequate (external cost adjustments), cost-of-living adjustments, in compliance with the decisions.”
He said during the first half of his tenure in the Legislature, there used to be a focus on compliance. He said the nature of the discussion has changed, and it is now about how legislators can provide the cheapest education.
Rothfuss further stated that there is an easy answer to the issue, but it is politically impossible to achieve at this point. He said the state has the lowest taxation in the country, and studies have proven that if the revenue structure were adjusted, it would satisfy the needs of the government.
“It's a lack of political will, and a fear by many legislators of doing the right thing, because they know they won’t get to come back to the Legislature if they vote to raise taxes,” he said. “And we saw in the election a couple of days ago that they’re probably not wrong.”
He said it places the state in a conundrum when the constituents elect more extremist, anti-tax, anti-education legislators, and they send them to Cheyenne to somehow try to comply with constitutional obligations for a high-quality education.
Local needs
Politicians in the Capitol aren’t the only ones recognizing the impacts.
LCSD1 trustees passed a resolution at their most recent board meeting stating the board, by a majority, agreed to consider authorizing legal action against the state.
“The Legislature has failed to adequately address historic inflation rates, and has further reduced education funding to a level below that, which is contrary to which consultants have determined is necessary to fund a proper education,” LCSD1 Trustee Rich Wiederspahn read from the resolution.
Following the WEA announcement, LCSD1 Superintendent Margaret Crespo said she wouldn’t confirm if the district would be joining as a plaintiff, but said officials have continued to see the negative effects of a funding deficit.
Prices for supplies, equipment and technology continue to rise, and the funding model doesn’t provide money directly for the security measures many stakeholders are asking for. She said they also aren’t able to provide a wage competitive with other schools in the region, and are below market value.
“You don’t want people leaving that have been with us, but we can’t keep up,” she said.
Marguerite Herman, an LCSD1 trustee and candidate for House District 11, told the WTE she hopes to be a voice for educators, and it is imperative that action is taken – although she is unsure if districts are prepared for costly litigation.
She said she can’t speak for other trustees as to the decision they will make, but she believes the Wyoming Legislature has fallen short of its responsibility to ensure a uniform education statewide.
“I see LCSD1 struggling to hire and retain staff, to meet the rising cost of everything, and provide an education in facilities that are safe and suitable,” she said. “I see districts around the state explain their predicament to lawmakers and provide the evidence to make their case. It will require rearranging revenue streams to keep the School Foundation Program in good fiscal shape.” | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/banking_and_finance/wyoming-education-association-sues-wyoming-over-education-funding/article_37654fd0-1fe4-11ed-8245-a3ea7576c369.html | 2022-08-19T18:45:31Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/banking_and_finance/wyoming-education-association-sues-wyoming-over-education-funding/article_37654fd0-1fe4-11ed-8245-a3ea7576c369.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Madison Keys' Midwestern revival continued with a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Elena Rybakina in 1 hour and 31 minutes to reach her second Western & Southern Open semifinal.
The American won the biggest title of her career to date at Cincinnati 2019, and this result took her overall record at the tournament to 17-7, or 71% -- her best by some distance among the WTA 1000 events.
Here's a snapshot of the key numbers from Keys' win.
9: Career semifinals at WTA 1000 level or above for Keys. Having also made the Australian Open last four in January, this marks the first time she has made more than one such semifinal in a single season since 2018.
2: Wins over Rybakina in as many meetings for Keys. Both occurred this year, but while their Roland Garros third round was a top-quality barnburner that required a match tiebreak before Keys advanced 3-6, 6-1, 7-6[3], this encounter was rather more one-sided.
What a 𝐖𝐈𝐍 ✨
— wta (@WTA) August 19, 2022
🇺🇸 @Madison_Keys reaches her first WTA 1000 semifinal since her Cincinnati title run in 2019!#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/KCI2eGQ1e8
5: Keys' last five semifinals have all come on hard courts. The last time she made the last four of a tournament on a different surface was in capturing the 2019 Charleston title on green clay.
12: Minutes that the opening game lasted, one-third of the length of the entire first set. Keys eventually navigated eight deuces to capture the Rybakina serve on her fourth break point, smacking clean return winners on two of the last three points.
21: Winners Keys struck over the course of the match, to only 11 for Rybakina. Her return of serve was particularly potent, and few of the Wimbledon champion's second serves went unpunished. Keys also rose to the occasion on crucial points. Having gone down 2-0 in the second set after a spate of errors, another clean return winner sealed the immediate break back, starting a five-game run that took Keys to the brink of victory at 5-2.
41: Rybakina's first serve percentage, which in light of Keys' returning made the Kazakh especially vulnerable. That first delivery remained formidable -- Rybakina dropped only eight points behind it, and it was largely responsible for keeping the scoreline as close as it was -- but there simply wasn't enough of it.
25: Unforced errors for Rybakina, compared to 16 for Keys. Rybakina's forehand was particularly awry in the first set; a shank from that wing handed over the double break for 3-0, and the final game of the set saw her net it on three of the last four points.
"I wish every tournament could be here" 😂
— wta (@WTA) August 19, 2022
Unconditional love from @Madison_Keys for @CincyTennis ❤️#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/3xIpSqS797 | https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2750085/by-the-numbers-keys-outhits-rybakina-to-return-to-cincinnati-semis | 2022-08-19T18:53:21Z | wtatennis.com | control | https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2750085/by-the-numbers-keys-outhits-rybakina-to-return-to-cincinnati-semis | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The 26-year-old Arcadia police officer shot in the jaw by a barricaded suspect last week was released from Huntington Hospital in Pasadena on Thursday, Aug. 18.
As Officer Kevin Manley recovers from his injury, the suspect, 47-year-old Nurhan Venk, will return to Pasadena Superior Court on Sept. 14 to answer to five counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, one count of attempted murder with an elder abuse allegation, two counts of elder abuse and a count of mayhem.
Venk’s 73-year-old mother was allegedly beaten and shot while a stray bullet entered a house across the street and hit an 83-year-old neighbor during the Aug. 10 standoff on the 2500 block of Greenfield Avenue. It wasn’t clear if they were still in the hospital as of Friday.
Manley has been with the Arcadia Police Department for about six months and worked before at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, according to Arcadia Police Sgt. Ryan Mulhall.
He has three years of law-enforcement experience, Arcadia Lt. Brett Bourgeous said.
Manley was among the officers who went to a home on Greenfield Avenue on Aug. 10 on a report of a family disturbance and a man with a gun.
Police learned the suspect was inside the house and threatening his mother and that her 12-year-old grandson was there with her, Sheriff’s Lt. Derrick Alfred said. They heard at least two gunshots.
Venk allegedly shot at five officers who approached the home. Manley was hit in the face.
Police retreated as more shots rang out, Alfred said. Venk’s mother and her grandson ran out of the home.
The officers didn’t fire their guns during the standoff, he said.
Venk came out of the house about five hours later and surrendered to members of the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Bureau which is the department’s SWAT.
He was being held without bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles.
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COSTA MESA — Storm Norton stands 6-foot-7 and weighs 317 pounds. He played all 17 games at right tackle for the Chargers last season, starting 15. He is entering his fourth season in the NFL, having played all but one of 24 games with the Chargers, who signed him as a free agent in 2020.
Trey Pipkins III stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 307 pounds. He played 12 games at right tackle for the Chargers last season, starting two. He is entering his fourth season in the NFL. having played all 38 of his games with the Chargers, who drafted him in the third round in 2019.
Norton, 28, was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. He was an all-state lineman at Whitmer High School and then was named an all-conference lineman at the University of Toledo before making his NFL debut as a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018. He became a starter with the Chargers in 2021.
Pipkins, 25, was born in Winfield, Illinois, and attended Apple Valley High School in Minnesota before playing collegiately at the University of Sioux Falls, an NCAA Division II school in South Dakota. He was named a Division II All-American in his senior year in 2018.
So, now you know a little about the players locked in a bruising training camp battle for the Chargers’ starting right tackle position, one of the most compelling so far. How it ends and who wins might not be settled before the Chargers’ regular season-opening game Sept. 11.
Their battle might carry on well into the regular season, and Chargers coach Brandon Staley said he was OK with that. If there was a lack of clarity going into the Chargers’ exhibition game Saturday night against the Dallas Cowboys at SoFi Stadium, that was just fine with Staley, too.
Some elements of their competition have become clear, though.
“My evaluation is that they are both much better football players than they were last season,” Staley said. “That is a fact. Then, where that lies, in terms of the order, we’re not there yet to make a decision. They’re going to play in this football game (Saturday) and we’re going to continue to evaluate it until we feel like we’re ready. But I will tell you that both of them are improved football players.
“I’m really proud of the way they’ve improved.”
Whoever wins the battle – assuming one outperforms the other eventually and they don’t end up in a rotation, which Staley said would be acceptable, too – Norton and Pipkins will have one of the most important jobs on the squad. All of the offensive linemen must protect Justin Herbert.
Apart from the right tackle spot, the rest of the line appears to be settled. Rashawn Slater is locked in at left tackle, with Matt Feiler at left guard, Corey Linsley at center and rookie Zion Johnson, the Chargers’ first-round draft pick, at right guard. Gerald Everett is likely to start at tight end.
Norton and Pipkins played three series and two, respectively, in the Chargers’ 29-22 exhibition loss last Saturday to the Rams, and it’s expected they’ll play a similar number Saturday against the Cowboys. Both players, and each of the offensive linemen who played against the Rams, earned praise from Staley.
“I thought that our offensive line played really well in the game,” Staley said earlier in the week. “I thought you saw it through the production that was spread out throughout the skill players. I thought that both quarterbacks moved the team, and that was a result of good O-line play.
“They both got a fair amount (of snaps). They were solid all night. They did their job well, blocked their guy. I thought they provided a real lift to the younger guys that they were playing with. I thought both of them performed well. Our whole O-line, I really liked how our whole O-line played.”
INJURY UPDATES
Staley said safety Mark Webb Jr. had a calf injury and cornerback Ja’Sir Taylor had what he described as a “soft tissue” injury. It was uncertain whether Webb would play against the Cowboys. Staley said he hoped Taylor would be sound enough to play, but it would be a game-time decision.
“We just wanted to make sure (Taylor) had a chance to play in the game,” Staley said of sitting out Taylor for Thursday’s joint practice with Dallas at Jack Hammett Sports Complex. “He might play in the game. To have a chance to play in the game, we wanted to rest him (Thursday).”
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/2022/08/19/camp-battle-continues-between-chargers-tackles-storm-norton-trey-pipkins-iii/ | 2022-08-19T18:55:38Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/08/19/camp-battle-continues-between-chargers-tackles-storm-norton-trey-pipkins-iii/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MANHATTAN BEACH — When Stein Metzger started the beach volleyball program at UCLA nearly 10 years ago, recruiting was simple.
“Back then, I would just grab my lawn chair, jump on my cruiser and ride down to Hermosa Pier, and everyone came into Hermosa during July,” Metzger said. “And that was where all the recruiting happened.”
In 2022, recruiting in beach volleyball is much more complex. Since the NCAA sponsored the sport in 2016, beach volleyball hotbeds have popped up around the country, from Texas to Florida to Arizona. Finding the best recruits requires more legwork.
Yet, there is little doubt that Southern California remains the hub for beach volleyball. Nor is there much debate over which two programs most recruits clamor to attend: USC and UCLA. The two schools have combined to win every NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship so far — USC has four and UCLA has two.
At the AVP’s Manhattan Beach Open this weekend, 22 players placed in the main draw are from the two schools — 12 from USC and 10 from UCLA — making up nearly a fifth of the 128-player field. Collegiate success translating to individual success at professional level is no coincidence.
Metzger said three things separate USC and UCLA from the rest of the pack: the rivalry between the two programs bringing out the best in one another, both schools investing in Olympic sports and the proximity to so many of the sport’s best recruits.
“Every kid in SoCal wants to stay here,” Metzger said. “And probably 80 percent of kids outside of Southern California want to be here.”
Sarah Sponcil, a 26-year-old Phoenix native, helped UCLA win its two titles in 2018 and 2019 after transferring from Loyola Marymount. Growing up, she’d make the trek to Southern California to play better competition in youth tournaments.
“I was winning all these tournaments in Phoenix, and I was like, ‘This isn’t real beach volleyball,’” Sponcil said. “I needed to see what it was actually like.”
Having well-run programs in the sport’s early years helped provide a foundation for the initial batch of recruits. Under Metzger, a former Olympian, UCLA has ranked in the top 10 in each of its first 10 beach volleyball campaigns. At USC, Anna Collier — who retired in 2019 after eight seasons as coach — quickly led the program straight to the top with three straight titles from 2015 to 2017.
Collier coached her players like professional athletes, according to Sara Hughes, who won four titles at USC and has three wins on the AVP tour.
“We weren’t just a collegiate team,” Hughes said. “She pushed us in different ways. Like, ‘Yes, that ball would’ve gotten down on a collegiate player, but it wouldn’t have gotten down on a professional player.’ So we were always thinking bigger at USC rather than just collegiate level.”
Both USC and UCLA were willing to invest in the sport from the start, the 27-year-old Hughes added.
“(USC) wanted to build a beach program and really develop it and be one of the first to really have a full-blown team,” Hughes said. “Not just indoor players coming out to the beach, but solely beach players. For me that was just a really big deal.”
But the talent may spread to other parts of the country soon, and when a college program from an area with a non-traditional beach volleyball background wins a title, AVP CEO Al Lau believes that will be a sign of growth in the sport. TCU, Louisiana State and Florida State are a few other schools on the cusp of breaking through.
“The natural transition is it just shows the growth of the game,” Lau said. “And it’s the growth of the game in areas and pockets that probably the average person won’t associate with (beach volleyball).”
Zana Muno, who was also part of both championship teams at UCLA, said being able to practice against talented teammates gave her the confidence to succeed at the pro level. In her first main draw, she and her partner Crissy Jones qualified as the 47th-seed, tied for the fifth-lowest seeded team to advance to the main draw in AVP history.
Muno, 26, thinks the sport is “growing unlike anything I’ve ever really seen or experienced,”
“It is so crazy to go out and watch the youth playing at the level that they’re playing at now,” Muno said. “It’s kind of mind-blowing. Because it wasn’t a collegiate sport. It was so underdeveloped.”
Tri Bourne, a 10-year veteran of the AVP Tour who played collegiately indoors at USC, said that while the expansion is mostly occurring on the women’s side, the men are also seeing better exposure and opportunities.
Crucially, while athletes may have previously played indoor volleyball first before switching over to beach, there are more youth who see beach as a direct option.
“The college game in general has pushed it massively,” Bourne said. “It’s grown the sport at the grassroots level. It’s made it so that kids, mostly girls — and also their parents — see an opportunity for them in the future through beach as an avenue.”
The opportunities are starting to spread around the country, beyond Southern California. Yet, as the world’s best beach volleyball players descend upon Manhattan Beach this weekend, Metzger can’t deny his geographic advantages at UCLA.
“This is the hub of beach volleyball,” Metzger said. “This is where there’s the greatest concentration of volleyball talent and volleyball knowledge with coaches and players in the world, and people want to be a part of it.”
RELATED
Manhattan Beach Open: Beach volleyball’s best descend upon sport’s mecca
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/2022/08/19/manhattan-beach-open-usc-ucla-athletes-build-foundation-for-beach-volleyballs-growth/ | 2022-08-19T18:55:44Z | pasadenastarnews.com | control | https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/08/19/manhattan-beach-open-usc-ucla-athletes-build-foundation-for-beach-volleyballs-growth/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Also in This Edition: Media Industry News
NEW YORK, Aug. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area.
EXPERT ALERTS
- Sensor Systems, Aerospace and Defense Science and Technology
- Sensor Solutions that Rival Human Perception
- Automotive Electronics and the Supply Chain
- Go-to-Market Strategies for Technology Disruptors
- Automotive Technology and Business Models
- Business/Finance for High-Growth Companies
- Leadership in Times of Ambiguity/Change
MEDIA JOBS
- South China Morning Post: US Macroeconomy Correspondent (Washington D.C.)
- With Intelligence: US Editor, Hedge Funds (New York)
OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES
- We're Sold on These 5 Real Estate News Sites
- Back-to-School Must-Reads: Homeschool Blogs, Part 1
Sensor Systems, Aerospace and Defense Science and Technology
Dr. Allan Steinhardt
Chief Scientist
AEye, Inc.
"Biomimicry is the science of exploring how natural systems operate and seeking to mimic that in engineered systems. So, when you look at how the human eye operates, it's profoundly different from a camera. The human eye looks at certain regions, it gets cued off of certain motion shapes, and then the human brain will focus more attention on areas of interest."
Sensor systems, as well as Aerospace and Defense science and technology
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allan-steinhardt-a8a738b/
Website: https://www.aeye.ai/
Media contact: Andie Davis, andie@landispr.com
Sensor Solutions that Rival Human Perception
Luis Dussan
Founder, CTO, President
AEye, Inc.
"A lot of people think perception is a software problem, but I think of it as a total system problem. Software is only one part of the system. The other part is the sensor, the delivery of the data to a perception engine, and then, of course, the perception engine itself. Understanding this is critical to building better, safer perception."
Cutting-edge sensor solutions that rival human perception
https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-dussan-3704516/
Website: https://www.aeye.ai/
Media contact: Andie Davis, andie@landispr.com
Automotive Electronics and the Supply Chain
Rick Tewell
COO
AEye, Inc.
"Over the last couple of years, we've learned that for items that are hard to make and single-sourced, like semiconductors, we have to modify our process from just-in-time inventory to allow buffer time. As an operations person in the lidar industry, it's important to ask the question, 'what do we need to do to balance long-lead time items?'"
Automotive electronics and the supply chain
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricktewell/
Website: https://www.aeye.ai/
Media contact: Andie Davis, andie@landispr.com
Go-to-Market Strategies for Technology Disruptors
Steve Lambright
CMO
AEye, Inc.
"Silicon Valley is built on the idea of being disruptive: disrupting technologies, disrupting markets, disrupting established companies and business models, and finding new ways of doing things. Sometimes it is appropriate. Sometimes it's better to leverage something that's existing in order to gain greater market momentum, faster."
Go-to-market strategies for technology disruptors
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenlambright/
Website: https://www.aeye.ai/
Media contact: Andie Davis, andie@landispr.com
Automotive Technology and Business Models
Jordan Greene
Co-founder, GM of Automotive, VP of Corporate Development
AEye, Inc.
"The market is rapidly evolving toward a new era of mobility and software-driven vehicles. This change is driven by the growing prevalence of software within cars and the ability to upgrade that software to add new features and functionality over time."
Automotive Technology and business models
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-greene-17614030/
Website: https://www.aeye.ai/
Media contact: Andie Davis, andie@landispr.com
Business/Finance for High-Growth Companies
Bob Brown
CFO
AEye, Inc.
"High-growth companies require nimbleness and aggressiveness married with a structure that enables you to retain speed and quick decision-making while putting processes in place that are critical to successful growth.
Business/finance for high-growth companies
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-brown-65592/
Website: https://www.aeye.ai/
Media contact: Andie Davis, andie@landispr.com
Leadership in Times of Ambiguity/Change
Blair LaCorte
CEO
AEye, Inc.
"Great leaders are adaptive. Just having the right vision very rarely gets you to the outcome you want. It's having the ability to execute that vision in a thoughtful way through the eyes of the person you're partnering or working with. Adaptive leadership requires a willingness to redefine objectives to ensure you are constantly delivering value to your partners and customers."
Leadership in times of ambiguity/change
https://www.linkedin.com/in/blair-lacorte-68084/
Website: https://www.aeye.ai/
Media contact: Andie Davis, andie@landispr.com
****************
MEDIA JOBS:
Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://www.cisionjobs.com/jobs/united-states/
- South China Morning Post: US Macroeconomy Correspondent (Washington D.C.)
- With Intelligence: US Editor, Hedge Funds (New York)
****************
OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES:
Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at profnetalerts@cision.com
WE'RE SOLD ON THESE 5 REAL ESTATE NEWS SITES. Here is our list of some of the top real estate news sites for staying up to date on the current housing market.
BACK-TO-SCHOOL MUST-READS: HOMESCHOOL BLOGS, PART 1. If you're a homeschooler, considering the switch, or need help balancing parent and teacher roles, these homeschool blogs can help.
****************
PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire.
To contact ProfNet: profnet@profnet.com or 800-776-3638, ext. 1
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE ProfNet | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/profnet-expert-alerts-august-19-2022/ | 2022-08-19T18:57:12Z | witn.com | control | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/profnet-expert-alerts-august-19-2022/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Shares of telecom titan Verizon (VZ) is at new 52-week lows of around $44 per share despite the recent market rally. Verizon used to be a top dog in the wireless space, but now it looks to be on the receiving end as its rivals pick up their game in an effort to take share. Though the industry is on the right side of a secular trend (5G tailwinds), with many intriguing investments (5G edge) on the horizon, Verizon has yet to show that it can retain its dominance amid intensifying competition.
For that reason, I’m not yet able to get behind Verizon stock as it continues tumbling into the abyss. I am neutral on VZ stock, even as the valuation screams bargain.
Further, there’s likely a reason why Warren Buffett’s legendary firm, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), dumped the rest of its Verizon stake in the latest quarter. The firm can’t seem to hold its own against the competition.
Should Investors Follow Buffett in Dumping VZ Stock?
Warren Buffett knows value when he sees it, but he’s been known to be wrong from time to time. Look no further than his airline bets, which he ditched at a loss during the 2020 stock market crash. Indeed, there’s a fine line between real value and value traps. Sometimes, the line is tough to see for everybody but the most disciplined value investor. Just because Buffett parted ways with Verizon stock, which fits the bill as a deep-value play, doesn’t mean current VZ shareholders should ditch the stock themselves.
The stock trades at just 8.9 times trailing earnings and 1.4 times sales. This rock-bottom price tag gives Verizon a huge 5.65% dividend yield.
Now, Verizon’s low multiple comes with serious baggage. The company’s wireless business is fading away at the hands of some scary competitors in AT&T (T) and T-Mobile (TMUS).
T-Mobile has been doing nearly everything right to take share. In addition, AT&T’s spin-off of its media assets seems to have been a removal of a distraction standing in the way of next-level wireless subscriber growth. In short, T-Mobile is the dividendless top performer that’s continuing to take share, while underdog AT&T has endured a transformation that could see it become a wireless growth star.
Verizon needs to keep up with AT&T and T-Mobile if it’s to prove to be real value and not some sort of trap. The latest (second quarter) results were quite rough. Subscriber numbers surprised to the downside, and management ended up having to lower guidance. The competition seems to be getting its way with Verizon, and there don’t seem to be any easy solutions at this juncture.
As recession looms, more disappointment could be on the horizon. The momentum behind the competition seems too high, and if Verizon is to pivot and bolster its wireless business again, it needs to step up its promotional efforts.
Analyst Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson recently downgraded his VZ stock price target from $55 to $41, noting that Verizon was the “biggest loser” from AT&T’s “aggressive” promotions.
Indeed, one telecom firm’s gain is another’s loss. At this juncture, Verizon may have no choice but to enhance its own promotions to match that of its rivals. Doing so could have a big impact on margins, though, which could be due to fall under mounting pressure as we inch closer to the much-anticipated downturn.
It’s not just AT&T that’s a thorn in Verizon’s side. T-Mobile is picking up serious traction again. With a lack of dividend commitments, the firm could continue moving in on Verizon’s network, which certainly seems to be up for grabs.
Verizon’s Collaboration with AWS is Intriguing
Apart from amazing promos and big infrastructure upgrades, Verizon’s prior partnership with AWS (Amazon Web Services) on mobile edge is one that could help Verizon get a bit of its edge (forgive the pun) back from its peers.
Verizon and AWS are bringing mobile edge computing to 19 select locations in the U.S. Such an edge network can help deliver incredibly low-latency performance to customers in covered areas.
Online video gaming, the metaverse, and the internet-of-things (IoT) devices will call for lower latency. Though there may not be the need for latency-sensitive networks today, coming technological trends could bolster demand in a hurry.
The rise of the metaverse (and virtual or augmented reality), in particular, could bolster demand for edge computing at some point over the next five years. The Verizon and AWS 5G edge partnership is one that could help put Verizon back on the map.
Now, there is a risk that the public is not yet ready for such next-generation 5G technologies. In any case, Verizon still seems to be on the right side of innovation. Despite Verizon’s recent shortcomings, I am inclined to view the firm more as a deep-value stock than a trap.
In any case, Verizon stock’s negative momentum makes it a falling knife that’s hard to catch. The stock is down more than 14% over the past year and down around 10% year-to-date.
What is a Good Price for Verizon Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, Verizon has a Hold consensus rating based on three Buys, 15 Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months. The average VZ Stock price target is $52.08, implying an upside of 17.6%. Analyst price targets range from a low of $41.00 per share to a high of $68.00 per share.
Takeaway – VZ Stock Likely Has Real Value
Verizon stock has been bettered by the competition in recent quarters. Though negative momentum could continue as industry headwinds loom, I do think there’s real value to be had in the stock, even as Buffett’s firm throws in the towel. | https://www.tipranks.com/news/article/can-verizon-stock-regain-an-edge-over-its-rivals | 2022-08-19T18:58:09Z | tipranks.com | control | https://www.tipranks.com/news/article/can-verizon-stock-regain-an-edge-over-its-rivals | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Partly cloudy, muggy, hot and breezy this afternoon with a slight chance for a few mountain showers. Morning temperatures in the 70s-80s, mid 90s by noon and afternoon highs 98-104.
Excessive Heat Warning and Advisory... Until Friday 11 PM
- Location: Everyone
- Temps: 100 - 106
- Near Record Highs
- Stay Hydrate
- Take Breaks
- Remember Pets
- Increasing Fire Danger
A ridge of high pressure sits to our east, and an upper level-low is just south of Vancouver Island. This is keeping the region in a hot southerly flow, while the upper-level low is sending a couple of weak disturbances into the region. Satellite is showing mid and high-level moisture over the Pacific Northwest today. While we may see a stray sprinkle in the lower elevation the best chance for any showers/t-storm will be in the mountains of the Blues and Cascades. Winds will increase this afternoon through tomorrow as the low tracks into British Columbia. This will likely increase the fire danger across the region.
Slightly cooler Saturday with temperatures in the mid-upper 90s. The ridge attempts to build north again this weekend and by Sunday highs will be near 100. A weak weather disturbance will give us a slight chance for a few stray showers on Monday with cooler temperatures through Tuesday. Highs in the low-mid 90s. Strong ridging and another warming trend arrive next Wednesday. Highs climbing into the low 100s Thursday-Saturday... Just in time for the Benton Franklin Fair and Rodeo! | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/hot-and-breezy/article_29d981a4-1fe6-11ed-b5ef-fb75bed4967b.html | 2022-08-19T18:58:11Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/hot-and-breezy/article_29d981a4-1fe6-11ed-b5ef-fb75bed4967b.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PENDLETON, Ore.-
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Board of Trustees has issued a statement on the attempted robbery and shooting at Wildhorse Resort and Casino on Wednesday afternoon.
"Our staff, the tribal police, our casino security, and our gaming commission did a great job making sure everyone was safe," said Kat Brigham, Chair of the Board of Trustees.
The Board would like to thank everyone who stepped up to help, from the local and tribal police, to the FBI.
"The tribe will continue efforts to improve our security, emergency response and communications to protect our tribal members, community, employees, and guests." | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/bot-statement-regarding-attempted-armed-robbery-incident-at-wildhorse/article_74ada690-1fe3-11ed-beca-932c13090a59.html | 2022-08-19T18:58:17Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/bot-statement-regarding-attempted-armed-robbery-incident-at-wildhorse/article_74ada690-1fe3-11ed-beca-932c13090a59.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The widening of Interstate 10 in Calcasieu Parish is "substantially complete," officials say.
Gov. John Bel Edwards and other state and local officials marked the event today.
This $45.5 million project, which stretched from approximately I-210 to LA 108, widened I-10 from three to four lanes. The Maple Fork bridges were replaced, and crews installed new drainage structures, median barriers, permanent striping, guardrail and cable barriers.
“The long-lasting economic benefit of this project cannot be overstated, considering how heavily traveled this stretch of I-10 is,” said Gov. John Bel Edwards. “The widening not only relieves congestion, but motorists and freight haulers now have a much smoother roadway. Allowing for traffic to move freely along this busy stretch of I-10 increases the opportunities for local businesses to expand and opens the door for additional investment into the state economy.”
As of 2021, more than 108,000 vehicles traveled the corridor daily. That number is expected to increase to 150,000 motorists by 2045.
The project’s contractor is the Alexandria, Louisiana-based Gilchrist Construction. Work began on the project in January 2020. | https://www.katc.com/news/calcasieu-parish/widening-of-i-10-in-calcasieu-parish-marked-as-substantially-complete | 2022-08-19T18:59:03Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/news/calcasieu-parish/widening-of-i-10-in-calcasieu-parish-marked-as-substantially-complete | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Two people were attacked in separate shark attacks in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, authorities said.
They reportedly occurred within about an hour of each other on Monday.
Karren Sites told ABC affiliate WPDE that she was waist-deep in the water when a shark bit her on the arm.
"I kept pushing at it to get it off my arm and it did," she told the TV station.
Sites reportedly underwent surgery and received hundreds of stitches.
The other attack happened about a mile away, authorities said. The Associated Press reports the victim suffered a glancing bite to the leg.
Authorities can't say whether it was the same shark involved in the first attack. | https://www.katc.com/news/national/2-shark-attacks-reported-this-week-at-south-carolina-beach | 2022-08-19T18:59:15Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/news/national/2-shark-attacks-reported-this-week-at-south-carolina-beach | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
President Joe Biden wants people to recognize that there is no room for hate in the U.S.
On Sept. 15, the president will host the United We Stand Summit, which will "put forward a shared, bipartisan vision for a more united America."
The summit will bring together people from across the country who are working to address hate and division.
"The summit will include bipartisan federal, state, and local officials, civil rights groups, faith and community leaders, technology and business leaders, law enforcement officials, former members of violent extremist groups who now work to prevent violence, gun violence prevention leaders, media representatives, and cultural figures," said domestic policy advisor Susan Rice.
People can nominate a "uniter" in their community. Nominations can be sent to UnitedWeStand@who.eop.gov. The nominator is asked to provide information about how the "uniter" is combating hate-filled violence in their community.
Submissions are due by Sept. 1. | https://www.katc.com/news/national/biden-to-host-summit-against-hate-fueled-violence | 2022-08-19T18:59:21Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/news/national/biden-to-host-summit-against-hate-fueled-violence | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — On a parcel of land, nestled in a quiet neighborhood, sits 4-H Park.
"4-H Park is a city park," said Terry Sloan, Intergovernmental Tribal Liaison for the City of Albuquerque. "It is a nice park."
It's also something else: a final resting place for children.
"There are many angry Indians out there about this, who will never forgive the government for what they've done," said Michael Lente, who is part of the Laguna Pueblo tribe.
The piece of land, where the park is now located, once belonged to the Albuquerque Indian School, part of a system of off-reservation boarding schools. The system aimed to assimilate Native American children into White culture – many forcibly.
"It's all a military environment. They're dressed in military uniforms. They're taught to speak only English," said Margaret Connell-Szasz, a University of New Mexico history professor.
The system, which began in the 1870s and lasted around a century, included more than 300 boarding schools, often church-run, but funded by taxpayers and found in states from coast to coast. Experts estimate thousands of children, and possibly more, died at the schools from disease, abuse or neglect.
"First of all, the children are taken out of their home environment and this leads to psychological trauma. You know, there's no question about that," said Connell-Szasz, who authored the book, ‘Education and The American Indian.’ "There's the fact that they don't get enough to eat. So, the food is inadequate. They're punished if they misbehave."
Michael Lente, of the Laguna Pueblo, delved into the school's history.
"This is an 1883 roster of the students at the Albuquerque Indian School," Lente said, as he handed over a copy of it, "and it's rather revealing there, because if you go down the list and take your time, there are many entries where it's said, 'died at school.'"
When that happened at the boarding schools located across the U.S., the students were often buried — at school.
In Albuquerque, the former school's cemetery eventually became 4-H park.
"It did over the years, evolve into different parcels of land," said Sloan. "That's where the city erred, when it did take over the property itself, was creating a park over the cemetery."
The cemetery was virtually forgotten until the 1970s when workers installing a sprinkler system at the park came across human remains.
"It's one thing not to know, but once you know, then you must make amends for that," Lente said.
However, it wasn't until the Canadian government apologized for its Indigenous boarding school system, that the U.S. started investigating its own system last year - led by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, America’s first Native American cabinet secretary. The first volume of the investigation's findings was released this past May.
"And so that's what brings us here today to address that issue and correct and create the reconciliation that is needed," said Sloan.
Albuquerque is one of the first cities confronting this history, along with trying to figure out what to do about the cemetery in the park, which is now recognized as a sacred site.
Sloan – who is part of the Diné Nation (Navajo) and Hopi tribes and whose own mother attended the school – said more work needs to be done, in consultation with tribal leaders. They are also in the midst of holding community meetings about it.
"Right now, we don't have any idea who's there, where they're located at and where they're buried," said Sloan. "You do what you need to do in the amount of time that it takes to get it done respectfully and get it adequately done."
Lente said he just wants to make sure this part of history is not forgotten.
"There's an interesting saying that the earth is made up of the dust, of the bones of your forebears. And, so, the children have returned to the earth, and they are the ancestors of who we are now,” Lente said. "Somebody has to take responsibility for that. Otherwise, they're lost to history." | https://www.katc.com/news/national/dark-chapter-of-americas-history-buried-beneath-neighborhood-park | 2022-08-19T18:59:33Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/news/national/dark-chapter-of-americas-history-buried-beneath-neighborhood-park | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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