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VENICE, Italy (AP) — Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei warns against hubris with his first glass sculpture, made on the Venetian island of Murano. The artwork’s title is intended as a warning to the world: “Memento Mori” — or Latin for “Remember You Must Die.”
Ai did not have to search hard for evidence that the planet is in “such a troublesome time.” Russian bombs are falling daily on Ukraine. China is flexing its military muscle in the Taiwan Strait. Migrants die repeatedly at sea as smugglers’ boats sink. The Earth warms, creating drought, collapsing glaciers and triggering violent storms. The pandemic that killed at least 6.4 million people lingers.
“We are talking about many, many things. We are talking about immigrants, about deaths, about the war, about many, many issues,″ Ai told The Associated Press in Venice on Friday.
He stands by his 9-meter (29.5-foot), nearly 3-ton black glass sculpture, which is suspended over the central nave of the deconsecrated church of San Giorgio Maggiore, located opposite Venice’s St. Mark’s Square. Titled “The Human Comedy: Memento Mori,” the sculpture is the centerpiece of an Ai exhibit at the church that opens Sunday.
The massive piece is replete with symbols lampooning social media and the surveillance state: intricately hung, molded glass skeletons and skulls, both human and animal; scattered likenesses of the Twitter bird logo; and surveillance cameras.
“We see the environment completely disappearing, being destroyed by humans’ effort … and that will create a much bigger disaster or famine. Or war, there’s a possible political struggle between China and the West″ as China asserts greater control over Hong Kong and threatens control over Taiwan, Ai said.
“We have to rethink about humans and legitimacy in the environment. Do we really deserve this planet, or are we just being so short-sighted and racist? And very, very just self-demanding, selfishness,″ the artist added.
The exhibit also features smaller glass sculptures. One depicts Ai himself as a prisoner. Another imposes his distorted face on a replica of an 18th-century statue titled “Allegory of Envy.″ A wooden sculpture of a tree trunk fills a sacristy. Colored glass hard hats save places in the choir. Lego-brick portrait replicas of famous paintings and the Chinese zodiac line the church’s walls.
It’s easy to spot the references from his life. After speaking out against the Chinese government and championing free speech, Ai was arrested and imprisoned by Chinese authorities for more than two months in 2011. He now lives in exile in Europe.
Ai said he thinks Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gave Chinese authorities a “potential model” to understand how such an operation might play out in Taiwan, without serving either as encouragement or warning. He called it more of a “mental exercise.” The artist says any Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be a mistake and a misunderstanding of Taiwan’s history.
“Taiwan has been apart for over 70 years. They have their own social structure, which is more democratic and more peaceful than in China,″ he said. Any moves by China to claim Taiwan by force will result “in the ultimate struggle.″
He sees the struggle in China as one for legitimacy of authorities’ control, while the challenge in the West is the continual need to defend democracy and with it freedom of speech. The West’s Achille’s heel is its economic dependency on China’s cheap manufacturing, he said.
“That is why China is so confident,″ Ai said. ”They know the West cannot live without China.”
He cited instances of Western hypocrisy, including the rejection by festivals in Europe and the United States of films he made during the pandemic depicting Wuhan’s first lockdown and the struggles in Hong Kong.
After praising the films, festivals ultimately give “the last words, we cannot show it,″ out of fear of losing access to the Chinese market, Ai said.
His artworks travel more smoothly, he said, because his artistic language is harder to interpret.
Tourists wandering in from the water bus were delighted that they had stumbled into an exhibit by the renowned dissident artist.
“It is metal? When I first saw this I thought it represented hell,″ Kenneth Cheung, a Hong Kong native now living in Toronto, Canada, said as he checked out the imposing glass sculpture. “Being in a church, it is even stronger, more powerful.”
The main sculpture took three years to realize with assistance from artists at a glass studio on Murano employing three techniques: traditional Murano blown glass, wax molds and injection molds. Studio owner Adriano Berengo said he pursued Ai for years to secure a collaboration with an artist he admires for his strong political beliefs.
“He shows his face. He doesn’t hide. He is ready to risk his life, and he did in China,″ Berengo said.
The exhibit runs through Nov. 27 in Venice. From there, the hanging sculpture will go to the Design Museum in London and then, hopefully a buyer, Berengo said.
“It has to be a big museum. Otherwise, how can you keep an artwork like that?” he said. | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-artist-ai-weiwei-warns-against-hubris-in-troublesome-times/ | 2022-08-26T19:58:46Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-artist-ai-weiwei-warns-against-hubris-in-troublesome-times/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
FINALLY, on Wednesday, we got the 2022-23 Marquette women’s basketball non-conference schedule. I suspect the more than month long delay past when the men’s schedule was announced is related to the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. Marquette will be one of eight participants in that event in the Bahamas, but the bracket has not been announced yet. Is it a coincidence that Marquette announced the rest of the schedule and said “we’ll let you know on the B4A schedule when we know it” on the day that the freshmen moved into their dorms on campus? Maybe, but also maybe not. Seems like a smart day to do some PR, y’know?
ANYWAY, if you want to know about the uphill climb that the Golden Eagles are going to face when they travel to the islands the weekend before Thanksgiving, you can check out our article on the field that we wrote when ESPN dropped the field last November. I’m not going to dig too deep into the rosters and so forth for those seven squads because there’s four of them that MU is definitely not going to play.... but we just don’t know which four, or even have a clue about them without a bracket.
Marquette’s trip to the Bahamas will represent their only three non-conference games away from the friendly confines of the McGuire Center. All seven of the games that the team announced on Wednesday will be a home date in Milwaukee, which does give the Golden Eagles a decided advantage in their non-con slate. That’s pretty good news, as that Battle 4 Atlantis bracket is looking like a pretty rough time in terms of even coming out of it with a 2-1 record.
The list of teams coming to Milwaukee may not jump off the page at you, with the exception of the Colorado squad that beat MU in Boulder a year ago. But if you look at the Her Hoop Stats rankings for everyone, which you’ll see below.... it’s a sneaky good and/or tough schedule, at least if everyone stays within shouting distance of that same HHS ranking. Five of the teams are top 200, and you can’t really ask for much more from your non-conference schedule.
We should note that there is a hole in the schedule. Technically, two holes, but one of them lines up with Finals Week at Marquette, so that one’s easily explained. I’m talking about the lack of a game between Saint Francis on November 27th and Morgan State on December 7th. That’s a week and a half without a game. I presume that at the very least the weekend in between there is reserved for Big East games, if not a Wednesday/Saturday combination or something like that. I guess we’ll have to wait to see what happens, but don’t be surprised to see that happen when the league schedule comes out some time in the next month or so.
Let’s do some quick capsules on each team and get out of here for the weekend.
Monday, November 7: Fairleigh Dickinson
2021-22 Record: 19-12, 15-3 NEC
Final 2021-22 HerHoopStats.com Ranking: #197
Returning Points Leader: Chloe Wilson, 12.1 ppg
Returning Rebounds Leader: Chloe Wilson, 6.4 rpg
Returning Assists Leader: Madeline Selvaggi, 2.6 apg
Head Coach: Angelika Szumilo, entering her 4th season at FDU and overall, with a record of 48-37.
All-Time Series: 0-0
Friday, November 11: Holy Cross
2021-22 Record: 20-11, 14-4 Patriot League
Final 2021-22 HerHoopStats.com Ranking: #170
Returning Points Leader: Bronagh Power-Cassidy, 9.0 ppg
Returning Rebounds Leader: Janelle Allen, 4.9 rpg
Returning Assists Leader: Addisyn Cross, 2.8 apg
Head Coach: Maureen Magarity, entering her third season at HC and 13th overall, with a record of 27-17 at Holy Cross and 173-172 overall.
All-Time Series: 0-1
Sunday, November 13: Milwaukee
2021-22 Record: 15-16, 13-9 Horizon League
Final 2021-22 HerHoopStats.com Ranking: #190
Returning Points Leader: Megan Walstad, 14.4 ppg
Returning Rebounds Leader: Megan Walstad, 9.1 rpg
Returning Assists Leader: Megan Walstad, 2.0 apg
Head Coach: Kyle Rechlicz, entering her 11th season at UWM and overall, with a record of 154-154.
All-Time Series: 32-20
Sunday, November 27: St. Francis (PA)
2021-22 Record: 8-22, 8-10 NEC
Final 2021-22 HerHoopStats.com Ranking: #316
Returning Points Leader: Kaitlyn Maxwell, 8.4 ppg
Returning Rebounds Leader: Aaliyah Moore, 5.2 rpg
Returning Assists Leader: Kaitlyn Maxwell, 1.9 apg
Head Coach: Keila Whittington, entering her fourth season at SFU and overall, with a record of 33-50.
All-Time Series: 2-1
Wednesday, December 7: Morgan State
2021-22 Record: 18-8, 11-3 MEAC
Final 2021-22 HerHoopStats.com Ranking: #246
Returning Points Leader: Charlene Shepherd, 10.3 ppg
Returning Rebounds Leader: Charlene Shepherd, 5.7 rpg
Returning Assists Leader: Ja’Niah Henson, 1.7 apg
Head Coach: Ed Davis, Jr., entering his seventh season at MSU, 19th in Division 1, and 27th as a head coach. He has a record of 82-82 at MSU, 260-264 in Division 1, and 431-318 overall.
All-Time Series: 1-0
Saturday, December 10: Loyola-Chicago
2021-22 Record: 18-12, 10-8 Missouri Valley
Final 2021-22 HerHoopStats.com Ranking: #157
Returning Points Leader: Maya Chandler, 10.3 ppg
Returning Rebounds Leader: Julia Hoefling, 5.2 rpg
Returning Assists Leader: Sam Galanopoulos, 3.1 apg
Head Coach: Allison Guth, entering her first year at Loyola and 8th as a head coach. She has a record of 99-74 in six seasons (seven years) at Yale.
All-Time Series: 11-8
Wednesday, December 21: Colorado Buffaloes
2021-22 Record: 22-9, 9-7 Pac-12
Final 2021-22 HerHoopStats.com Ranking: #45
Returning Points Leader: Quay Miller, 10.6 ppg
Returning Rebounds Leader: Quay Miller, 5.1 rpg
Returning Assists Leader: Jaylyn Sherrod, 3.8 apg
Head Coach: JR Payne, entering her seventh season at CU and 13th as a Division 1 head coach. She has a record of 94-84 with the Buffs and 195-197 overall.
All-Time Series: 1-2 | https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/8/26/23321525/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-non-conference-schedule-battle-4-atlantis-colorado | 2022-08-26T19:58:54Z | anonymouseagle.com | control | https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/8/26/23321525/marquette-golden-eagles-womens-basketball-non-conference-schedule-battle-4-atlantis-colorado | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ROME (AP) — Abel Ferrara, whose gritty New York exploitation films of the 1980s and 1990s delved into the soulless evils of drug addiction, corruption and sexual violence, pays homage to one of Italy’s best-known and most revered saints in his newest film, “Padre Pio.”
That the film, which stars Shia LaBeouf and premieres at the Venice Film Festival next week, confirms a change of pace for the cult director is an understatement, one that Ferrara, 71, chalks up to a decade of sobriety and a new life in Italy.
“Once we kicked the drugs and the alcohol, we started to see a different way of life, of living in a different life,” the “Bad Lieutenant” director said in an interview in his new hometown of Rome. “I think it’s more just trying to get our game right.”
The film chronicles a particular moment in the 20th century history of Italy and Padre Pio, the mystic Capuchin monk best known for having displayed the “stigmata” wounds of Christ: He bled from his hands, feet and sides. Padre Pio died in 1968 and was canonized in 2002 by St. John Paul II, going on to become one of the most popular saints in Italy, the U.S. and beyond.
Ferrara’s treatment is no biopic, and frankly ignores some of the juiciest bits of the Padre Pio saga, which involved a dozen Vatican investigations into purported dalliances with women, alleged financial improprieties and doubts about the stigmatas. In their place, Ferrara weaves a parallel tale about the beginnings of fascism in Italy that is, unexpectedly, utterly relevant today.
The film takes as its starting point Padre Pio’s arrival at a Capuchin monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo, a poverty-wracked town in southern Italy, at the time its soldiers were returning home from World War I. The town was almost feudal-like, with the Catholic Church and wealthy large landowners trying to hold onto power amid the first inklings of Italy’s post-war socialist movement that saw factory unrest and peasant strikes.
That social unrest erupted into a little-known police massacre of peasants in San Giovanni after the socialists won a 1920 local election, the results of which the entrenched, church-backed ruling class refused to respect. When the winning socialists tried to hang their red flag on the municipal building and install their mayor on Oct. 14, 1920, police were on hand, shots rang out and 14 people were killed and 80 injured. For Ferrara, the “Massacre of San Giovanni Rotondo” helped foretell the spread of fascism in Italy.
Ferrara, who has lived in Italy for some two decades, began making the film five years ago, long before the Jan. 6 insurrection in his native U.S., in which supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol after refusing to respect the results of the 2020 election, or the rise of the far-right Brothers of Italy party in his adopted country. The Brothers of Italy, which has neo-fascist roots, leads the polls ahead of Italian parliamentary elections next month. Add to the mix Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Ferrara sees history repeating itself.
“When Jan. 6 happens after you’ve been working on this film for five years, it’s like: Right, elections are great until you lose,” he said.
The film is dedicated to the victims of the 1920 massacre as well as the people of Ukraine. Why? “What I’m looking at is a rerun of World War II. Seventy-five million people died 70 years ago. That’s like, yesterday. It’s happening right in front of our eyes,” he said.
The context of the film, he said solemnly, is: “You’re looking at the end of the world.”
Ferrara’s concern with Italian history, Catholicism and his fascination with Padre Pio are not new: The Bronx-born Ferrara was raised Catholic and introduced to both Italy and the saint by his grandfather, who was born in a town not far from Padre Pio’s hometown of Pietrelcina.
Those interests have emerged in Ferrara’s more recent films, including “Pasolini” which paid tribute to the scandalous life and violent death of Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini and premiered at Venice in 2014; and “Mary,” about an actor (Juliette Binoche) playing Mary Magdalene in a film, which won the Grand Jury prize at Venice in 2005.
Both “Pasolini” and “Padre Pio” relied heavily on the diaries, writings and documentation of their subjects, and Ferrara first made a documentary about the saint’s life before deciding to zero in on the particular period of his arrival in San Giovanni Rotondo, his doubts about his faith and the events surrounding the 1920 massacre.
“I thought the confluence between the massacre and his stigmata both happening in the same place at the same time … I mean how could you not make a movie about that?” Ferrara said.
But Ferrara is well aware that his early genre work — he has done pornography, rape-revenge, the 1993 cult classic about a corrupt, drug-addicted cop “Bad Lieutenant,” and his earlier “The Driller Killer,” about a New York artist who randomly kills people with a power drill — gave him something of a reputation.
“Given the list of films I’d made you’d be wondering,” Ferrara admits. But he said church officials and the Capuchin friars who advised on set were entirely supportive of the project and its star, LaBeouf, who has admitted to alcoholism and has been accused by a former girlfriend of abuse. LaBeouf spent four months in a California monastery preparing for the role, Ferrara said, and has said the chance to play “Padre Pio” was a miracle for him personally.
“It’s just that these cats have got that optimistic take,” Ferrara said admiringly of the church. “Don’t judge someone on their worst moment.”
—-
For more on the Venice Film Festival, visit: www.apnews.com/VeniceFilmFestival | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-gritty-cult-director-ferrara-gets-religion-in-padre-pio/ | 2022-08-26T19:59:07Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-gritty-cult-director-ferrara-gets-religion-in-padre-pio/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Hart already has a thriving comedy and acting career, and now he’s aiming for people’s stomachs.
The prolific actor-comedian opened his first plant-based, fast-food restaurant called Hart House on Thursday in the Westchester neighborhood of Los Angeles near the city’s airport. He wants this new venture to attract regular plant-base eaters along with those who haven’t yet been introduced to that world of healthy eating.
“Our business is in the business of feeling good. That’s what Kevin Hart is about,” he said in an interview before the restaurant’s official opening, which got off to a strong start with a long lines of customers throughout the day. While sitting alongside his wife, Eniko Hart, the actor scarfed down a plant-based crispy chick’n sandwich, chick’n nuggets and tots.
Rapper Lil Baby showed up to the preview to place an order from the fully plant-based menu that also features burgers, salads, fries, ice teas and a limeade. The restaurant’s milkshakes are made from an oat-and-soy blend.
“I say this all the time: ‘Live, love, laugh,’” Hart continued. “Here, we say ‘Eat your hart out.’ People have a curiosity about plant-based food. It’s something I eat. It’s really good. When you look at other restaurants, Hart House is just as good and maybe even better in some respects.”
Hart felt the need to create a healthy space within the fast-food spectrum that’s affordable for customers. There are several other plant-based, fast-food options located throughout Los Angeles, but Hart House’s approach is to serve quality food with sandwiches and burgers that are within the $5-$7 price range — less than competitors.
“It’s a major priority for us,” Hart said. “We want to make an environment where people feel good.”
In creating Hart House, the comedian-actor teamed up with restaurateur Andy Hooper, chef Mike Salem and businessman Michael Rubin, who was an investor.
Salem, who developed Hart House’s menu options, was the head of culinary innovation at Burger King where he helped launch the Impossible Whopper.
“One of the cool things about our leadership is that the majority of us are carnivores,” he said. “But we wanted to create this plant-base concept and bring Kevin’s vision to light. We wanted to keep this simple. This is straightforward classic American comfort food.”
Along with his flagship location, Hart wants to open six more Hart House restaurants by the end of the year. He already has two locations under construction in Los Angeles including one in the Hollywood area.
“We’re being open minded,” he said. “This is a new generation and new way of thinking when it comes to food consumption. This is the beginning stages for us. We will continue to get better over time.”
It’s a busy week for Hart, whose latest film, “Me Time” with Mark Wahlberg and Regina Hall, released on Netflix on Friday. | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-kevin-hart-opens-new-plant-based-fast-food-restaurant-in-la/ | 2022-08-26T19:59:14Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-kevin-hart-opens-new-plant-based-fast-food-restaurant-in-la/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An autopsy report in the death of country singer Naomi Judd that was obtained Friday by The Associated Press confirmed what family members have already said about how she died. Judd, 76, killed herself with a gun on April 30 at her home in Tennessee.
“We have always shared openly both the joys of being family as well its sorrows, too. One part of our story is that our matriarch was dogged by an unfair foe,” a statement from the family released on Friday read. “She was treated for PTSD and bipolar disorder, to which millions of Americans can relate.”
The autopsy, which is considered a public record in Tennessee, showed several prescription drugs in Judd’s system that are used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder.
Naomi and her daughter Wynonna Judd scored 14 No. 1 songs in a career that spanned nearly three decades. Naomi Judd died the day before she and Wynonna were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The family has asked for privacy as they mourn and encouraged anyone in a similar crisis to seek help. The national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org. | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-naomi-judd-autopsy-confirms-country-singers-cause-of-death/ | 2022-08-26T19:59:28Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-naomi-judd-autopsy-confirms-country-singers-cause-of-death/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BORDEAUX, France (AP) — The landscape in the prestigious vineyards of Bordeaux looks the same as ever, with healthy, ripe grapes hanging heavy off rows of green vines.
But this year something is starkly different in one of France’s most celebrated wine regions and other parts of Europe. The harvest that once started in mid-September is now happening earlier than ever — in mid-August — as a result of severe drought and the wine industry’s adaptation to the unpredictable effects of climate change.
Paradoxically, the season of heat waves and wildfires produced excellent grapes, despite lower yields. But achieving such a harvest required creative changes in growing techniques, including pruning vines in a different way and sometimes watering them in places where irrigation is usually banned. And producers across Europe who have seen first-hand the effects of global warming are worried about what more is to come.
So far, “global warming is very positive. We have better ripeness, better balance. … But if you turn to the future, and if you increase the temperature by one degree more, plus, you will lose the freshness part in the balance of the wine,” said Fabien Teitgen, technical director of Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte, an estate that grows organic wine grapes in Martillac, south of Bordeaux.
Grape growers adjusted their practices amid a series of heat waves, combined with lack of rain, that hit most of Europe. In the Bordeaux region, in southwestern France, giant wildfires destroyed large areas of pine forests. It did not rain from the end of June until mid-August.
As the harvest unfolds, dozens of workers kneel in the vineyards to hand-pick grapes and put them into baskets. The fruit is immediately crushed to make juice, which is put into tanks, then barrels to start the wine production process.
The harvest aims to produce the white wine from the famous Pessac-Léognan appellation. Red wine will soon follow.
Eric Perrin, one of the owners of the Château Carbonnieux estate, recalled that during his childhood, in the 1970s, harvests started around mid-September. This year, they began on Aug. 16.
But the 2022 vintage may be better than ever, Perrin said, because the grapes are healthy and well balanced. The hot, dry weather also prevented vines from getting diseases such as mildew.
Producing wine is a centuries-old tradition at Château Carbonnieux, where Thomas Jefferson visited the vineyards in 1787, before becoming president of the United States, and planted a pecan tree that still stands in a park.
Nowadays, Château Carbonnieux wine is sometimes offered by President Emmanuel Macron to esteemed hosts.
The drought changed the way wine producers work.
Before, vintners used to give vines a shape that allowed grapes to get the maximum amount of sun so they produced more sugar, which converts into alcohol. This year, growers tended to let leaves protect the grapes so the shadows would preserve the fruit’s acidity and freshness, Teitgen explained.
Yields may be 15% to 20% lower in the broader region, mostly due to smaller grapes and the fact that some were burned by the sun in specific areas, Teitgen said, but it won’t affect the wine’s quality.
In front of the 14th-century tower of the Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte vineyard, Manon Lecouffe this week carefully watered newly planted vines, an indispensable job.
Vines that are several years old have deep roots that allow them to draw water from far underground and endure drought without suffering too much.
But this year, estates had authorization to water adult vines, a practice usually banned in Bordeaux.
“Some plots were heavily suffering with leaves falling,” Lecouffe said.
Another step vintners may take is to reduce the density of their plots to require less water or to work the soil to better conserve moisture deep down.
Experts are also considering whether planting new grape varieties could be helpful.
At Château Olivier, which also produces Pessac-Leognan wines, Director Laurent Lebrun showed how he and his team go through the vineyards to taste grapes plot by plot to decide where and when to harvest.
The consequences of global warming are now part of daily life for vintners, Lebrun said, noting the speed of the changes.
“We need to reprogram our own way of thinking,” he said. “There are many tools that are still within our reach, which are already used in warmer regions.”
Further south in Europe, harvests also started weeks earlier than normal to save shriveling and scorched grapes. Production is expected to be 10% to 20% lower in some regions of Italy, Spain and Portugal, though producers are hopeful of increased quality.
Italy’s Coldiretti agricultural lobby stressed that the higher cost of energy and raw materials is expected to increase costs by 35%.
Scientists have long believed that human-caused climate change makes extreme weather more frequent. They say hotter air, warmer oceans and melting sea ice alter the jet stream, which makes storms, floods, heat waves, droughts and wildfires more destructive.
As warmer winters cause grape vines to produce early buds, French vintners worry that frost will disrupt the growing season more often. Violent hailstorms can destroy a year of work in a few minutes.
At Château Carbonnieux, Perrin fears some smaller producers may not withstand the changes.
“Climatic events since 2017 have led to smaller harvests. Not everyone will be able to survive it, for sure,” he said.
___
Associated Press journalists Alexander Turnbull and Francois Mori in Bordeaux, Ciaran Giles in Madrid, Spain, Colleen Barry in Milan, Italy, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.
___
Follow all AP stories on climate change at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment. | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-drought-forces-earliest-harvest-ever-in-french-wine-country/ | 2022-08-26T20:00:39Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-drought-forces-earliest-harvest-ever-in-french-wine-country/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency moved Friday to designate two “forever chemicals” used in cookware, carpets and firefighting foams as hazardous substances, a step that would clear the way for quicker cleanup of the toxic compounds, which have been linked to cancer and other health problems.
Designation as a hazardous substance under the so-called Superfund law doesn’t ban the chemicals. But it requires that releases of PFOA and PFOS into soil or water be reported to federal, state or tribal officials if they meet or exceed certain levels. The EPA could then require cleanups to protect public health and recover cleanup costs.
PFOA and PFOS have been voluntarily phased out by U.S. manufacturers but are still in limited use and remain in the environment because they do not degrade over time. The compounds are part of a larger cluster of “forever chemicals” known as PFAS that have been used in consumer products and industry since the 1940s. The term is short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which have been used in nonstick frying pans, water-repellent sports gear, stain-resistant rugs, cosmetics and countless other consumer products.
The chemicals can accumulate and persist in the human body for long periods of time, and evidence from animal and human studies indicates that exposure to PFOA or PFOS may lead to cancer or other health problems.
“Communities have suffered far too long from exposure to these forever chemicals,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement Friday. “The action announced today will improve transparency and advance EPA’s aggressive efforts to confront this pollution.”
Under the proposed rule, “EPA will both help protect communities from PFAS pollution and seek to hold polluters accountable for their actions,” Regan said. The rule is expected to become final next year.
The Superfund law allows the EPA to clean up contaminated sites and forces parties responsible for the contamination to either perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work. When no responsible party can be identified, Superfund gives EPA money and authority to clean up contaminated sites.
The EPA’s action follows a recent report by the National Academies of Science that calls PFAS a serious public health threat in the U.S. and worldwide. It comes after an EPA announcement in June that PFOA and PFOS are more dangerous than previously thought and pose health risks even at levels so low they cannot currently be detected.
The agency issued nonbinding health advisories that set health risk thresholds for PFOA and PFOS to near zero, replacing 2016 guidelines that had set them at 70 parts per trillion. The chemicals are found in products including cardboard packaging, carpets and firefighting foam and increasingly found in drinking water.
The EPA said in a statement that it is focused on holding responsible companies that manufactured and released significant amounts of PFOA and PFOS into the environment and will not target individual landowners or farmers “who may have been inadvertently impacted by the contamination.” The agency also said it is committed to further outreach and engagement to hear from communities affected by PFAS pollution.
Erik Olson, a health and food expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, called the announcement an important step to clean up hundreds of contaminated sites across the country and protect millions of families exposed to the toxic chemicals.
“Listing PFOA and PFOS as hazardous under Superfund law should allow EPA to hold polluters responsible for that contamination,” he said. “Ratepayers and public utilities should not be footing the bill for industry’s decades of wonton use of these dangerous chemicals.”
Attorney Rob Bilott, an anti-PFAS advocate, said the EPA’s proposal “sends a loud and clear message to the entire world that the United States is finally acknowledging and accepting the now overwhelming evidence that these man-made poisons present substantial danger to the public health and the environment.”
Bilott, whose work to uncover the widespread presence of PFAS chemicals in the environment and in human blood was highlighted in the 2019 film “Dark Waters,” said the EPA must work to ensure that costs of cleaning up the toxins are borne by PFAS manufacturers that caused the contamination — “not the innocent victims of this pollution who didn’t create the toxins and were never warned any of this was ever happening.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she supports strong action to address PFAS contamination in West Virginia and across the country but was concerned about “the unintended consequences that today’s proposal could have.”
If finalized, “property owners, farmers, employers, essential utilities and individuals may be liable for unknowingly having PFAS on their land, even if it was there years or even generations prior to ownership and came from an unknown source,” Capito said.
She urged the EPA to develop an enforceable drinking water standard to promote the health and safety of all Americans.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents major chemical companies, called the EPA’s proposal “an expensive, ineffective and unworkable means to achieve remediation for these chemicals.”
Listing the chemicals under Superfund could harm local fire departments, water utilities, small businesses, airports and farmers, the group said. “The proposed (Superfund) designation would impose tremendous costs on these parties without defined cleanup standards,” the council said in a statement.
The EPA said it expects to propose national drinking water regulations for PFOA and PFOS later this year, with a final rule expected in 2023.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the Environmental Protection Agency at https://apnews.com/hub/us-environmental-protection-agency. | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-epa-to-designate-forever-chemicals-as-hazardous-substances/ | 2022-08-26T20:00:46Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-epa-to-designate-forever-chemicals-as-hazardous-substances/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BERLIN (AP) — The German government is considering backtracking on plans for consumers to pay a surcharge on natural gas amid mounting criticism that the money could flow to highly profitable energy companies, officials said Friday.
The surcharge of 2.4 euro cents per kilowatt hour was announced two weeks ago and could cost the average household several hundred euros (dollars) a year. About half of German households use natural gas for heating, some also for cooking. The measure is due to take effect in October and is aimed at rescuing importers slammed by Russian cutbacks tied to the war in Ukraine.
Energy companies that previously relied on Russian gas are now scrambling to find alternative supplies, often having to pay considerably more due to sharply increased global prices while not being able to pass on all the difference to their customers due to fixed-price contracts. Others, though, have made higher profits from the higher prices.
The German government says the surcharge distributes the cost fairly among all gas users and helps prevent a collapse of major energy companies that could trigger a domino effect across the market.
But opposition politicians and consumer groups blasted the plan and even Economy Minister Robert Habeck acknowledged this week that some companies “that have made a lot of money” stood to profit from it. He told a meeting of business leaders Thursday that while those companies were legally entitled to claim a share of the surcharge, it was “not morally right” for them to do so and pledged to review the plan.
Habeck’s spokeswoman, Katharina Grave, said it would be “sensible” for companies to voluntarily refrain from accepting money resulting from the surcharge. German utility company RWE and fossil fuel giant Shell have already said they will shoulder the higher purchase costs themselves.
“On the other hand we are checking whether there can be arrangements that make it harder for profitable companies (to receive money),” said Grave.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said Chancellor Olaf Scholz supported those efforts.
“Now we first need to try to rule out in a legally sound way that this can happen,” he told reporters in Berlin. | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-german-government-reconsiders-gas-surcharge-after-backlash/ | 2022-08-26T20:00:54Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-german-government-reconsiders-gas-surcharge-after-backlash/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation eased last month as energy prices tumbled, raising hopes that the surging costs of everything from gasoline to food may have peaked.
According to a Commerce Department report Friday that is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, consumer prices rose 6.3% in July from a year earlier after posting an annual increase of 6.8% in June, the biggest jump since 1982. Energy prices made the difference in July: They dropped last month after surging in June.
Yet on the same day at the Federal Reserve’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Chair Jerome Powell delivered a stark message: The Fed will likely impose more large interest rate hikes in coming months and is resolutely focused on taming inflation.
There was hope that the Fed might signal a moderation in rate increases if inflation were to show further signs of easing.
So-called core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 4.6% last month from a year earlier after rising 4.8% in June. The drop — along with a reduction in the Labor Department’s consumer price index last month — suggests that inflationary pressures may be easing.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices actually fell 0.1% from June to July; core inflation blipped up 0.1%, the Commerce Department reported.
And the Fed appears ready to continue efforts to ensure prices are moving in the right direction.
Inflation started rising sharply in the spring of 2021 as the economy rebounded with surprising speed from the short but devastating coronavirus recession a year earlier. Surging customer orders overwhelmed factories, ports and freight yards, leading to delays, shortages and higher prices. Inflation is a worldwide problem, especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine drove up global food and energy prices.
On Friday, regulators in the U.K. said that residents will see an 80% increase in their annual household energy bills.
In the United States, the Commerce Department’s personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index is less well known than the Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI).
But the Fed prefers the PCE index as a gauge of inflationary pressures, partly because the Commerce index attempts to measure how consumers adjust to rising prices by, for example, substituting cheaper store brands for pricier name brands.
There is evidence just in the last several months that that is taking place at numerous levels.
CPI has been showing higher inflation than PCE; Last month, for instance, CPI was running at an 8.5% annual pace after hitting a four-decade high 9.1% in June. One reason: The Labor Department’s index gives more weight to rents, which have soared this year.
The Commerce Department also reported Friday that Americans’ after-tax personal income rose 0.3% from June to July after adjusting for inflation; it has fallen in June. Consumer spending rose 0.2% last month after accounting for higher prices.
Spiking prices have become a political threat to the current administration and President Joe Biden was quick to point to the latest data that could show inflation is loosening its grip.
“The American people are starting to get some relief from high prices, and the Inflation Reduction Act that I signed last month will also help bring prices down,” Biden said Friday. “Gas prices decreased every day this summer – the fastest decline in over a decade. And, today’s report showed that personal income was up last month as well.”
The Fed was slow to respond to rising inflation, thinking it the temporary result of supply chain bottlenecks. But as prices continued to climb, the U.S. central bank moved aggressively, hiking its benchmark interest rate four times since March.
On Friday, Powell warned more explicitly than he has in the past that the Fed’s continued tightening of credit will cause pain for many households and businesses as its higher rates further slow the economy and potentially lead to job losses.
“These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation,” Powell said. “But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain.”
Price pressures may already be easing as the U.S. economy slows. Gross domestic product — broadest measure of economic output — shrank in the first half of 2020 as borrowing costs increased. The housing market has been hit especially hard. And supply chain backlogs have started to unsnarl.
“Inflation appears to have peaked in mid-2022 and should slow on a year-over-year basis through the rest of this year and in 2023,″ said Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC.
Nick Zawitz, who runs Tangle Creations, a South San Francisco company that makes Fidget Toys among others, said that shipping costs have plunged and raw materials prices have dropped slightly. Meanwhile, the company’s sales are up 45% over the past year. “Things are chugging along,’’ Zawitz said.
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AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report from Washington, D.C. | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-inflation-eases-as-consumer-prices-rise-6-3-in-july/ | 2022-08-26T20:01:07Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-inflation-eases-as-consumer-prices-rise-6-3-in-july/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LONDON (AP) — Pfizer and BioNTech have asked the European Medicines Agency to authorize their updated coronavirus booster vaccine that includes the most recent omicron subvariants.
In a statement Friday, Pfizer said it is requesting that the EU drug regulator OK its combination COVID-19 vaccine that targets the original coronavirus and BA.4 and BA.5, the latest versions of omicron, which are causing the vast majority of infections globally now. Pfizer and BioNTech are asking that the vaccine be given the green light for people aged 12 and over.
The European Medicines Agency is currently reviewing whether to clear updated versions of vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer that target the subvariant BA.1, an earlier version of the virus that has since been overtaken by BA.4 and BA.5; that decision is expected next week.
If both of Pfizer’s updated COVID-19 boosters are authorized, the company said its adapted vaccines would be available in Europe “as early as September.”
Last week, the U.K. cleared Moderna’s updated COVID-19 booster targeting the BA.1 version of omicron and said it would be included in the country’s vaccination campaign for people aged 50 and over beginning next month.
Pfizer and rival Moderna both asked U.S. regulators this week to authorize modified versions of their booster vaccine — shots that are half the original recipe and half protection against BA.4 and BA.5.
Health authorities hope that the tweaked boosters might blunt the expected surge of COVID-19 this winter, but it’s still unclear how effective they might be. The gamble is that BA.5, or something similar, still will be circulating this the winter and that immunization with these latest vaccines will still offer significant protection.
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Follow all AP stories on the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic. | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-pfizer-asks-eu-drug-regulator-to-ok-tweaked-covid-vaccine/ | 2022-08-26T20:01:29Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-pfizer-asks-eu-drug-regulator-to-ok-tweaked-covid-vaccine/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MADRID (AP) — Spanish financial authorities are planning to keep a close eye on a major cryptocurrency metaverse event being organized in Madrid this weekend.
The CNMV stock market regulator this week warned that neither the organizers of the event, Mundocrypto, nor the sponsors have authorization to provide investment services or gather funds.
The event Saturday at a Madrid concert arena is expected draw 7,000 people. Spanish authorities and the CNMV say such gatherings are often aimed at luring people, especially youths, into investing in cryptocurrencies without full knowledge of the possible consequences.
Mundocrypto founder Mani Thawani, a Spaniard, has defended the event, arguing that it is for educational purposes and to guide people financially.
Mundocrypto describes itself as “world leader in crypto and blockchain education” and says 55,000 of its students have already become investors.
The CNMV says Mundocrypto is on its grey list of entities suspected of raising funds and providing financial services without permits.
Organizers say the show is aimed unveiling new trends in the sector. Show business personalities and economists are also expected to take part. Two well-known television personalities have pulled out of the event since the market regulator’s warning.
Earlier this year, a number of families complained to authorities that another cryptocurrency academy was brainwashing their children into spending their money on courses with promises they would become wealthy.
Investments in cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoins, have boomed in recent years but in several cases currencies have lost their value quickly and people their investments in what is an unregulated market. | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-spanish-market-regulator-warns-about-cryptocurrency-event/ | 2022-08-26T20:02:04Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-spanish-market-regulator-warns-about-cryptocurrency-event/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Residents of Pozo Almonte, Chile, awoke to an ominous purple cloud hanging low over their city Sunday morning.
Citizens were alarmed by the mysterious cloud and lodged numerous complaints to local officials, who began an investigation.
Photos of the mysterious vapor posted on Twitter show the purple fog stretching across the skyline above homes and businesses.
Officials in Chile claim the cloud was caused by a pump failure at the Cala Cala mine owned by the Saltpeter and Iodine Company which allowed for iodine vapor to seep out. Iodine turns purple when it is heated to a gaseous state.
“We are carrying out an inspection, which tells us that this incident was due to the failure of a motor of the impeller pump,” Christian Ibanez, deputy head of Chile’s Tarapaca Region told the Sun.
Tarapaca Region representative Daniel Quinteros claimed that no medical issues associated with the cloud had been reported.
“We are also in contact with the Superintendency of Environment so that tomorrow we can evaluate the filing of a complaint for noncompliance with the regulations and the commitments made by the company in environmental matters,” said Quinteros.
Officials monitored the cloud for 48 hours. | https://nypost.com/2022/08/26/mysterious-purple-cloud-ominously-descends-upon-chilean-city/ | 2022-08-26T20:02:12Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/08/26/mysterious-purple-cloud-ominously-descends-upon-chilean-city/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
by: Tammy Jones Posted: Aug 26, 2022 / 01:46 PM EDT Updated: Aug 26, 2022 / 01:46 PM EDT SHARE High School Standouts returns and we give a shout-out to two area football players this week, including a Dorman Player who ran wild. Here’s 7News Sports Director Pete Yanity. | https://www.wspa.com/news/high-school-standouts-demarius-foster-rb-dorman-3/ | 2022-08-26T20:02:31Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/high-school-standouts-demarius-foster-rb-dorman-3/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s governor on Friday said all aggressive incidents stemming from a protest against a private power company that operates the island’s transmission and distribution system will be investigated.
The announcement comes after media organizations denounced police who in one video appear to assault a photojournalist who was covering Wednesday’s protest. Other videos also showed clashes between police and protesters in a fog of tear gas.
The protest is the latest against Luma Energy, which recently pledged to dedicate more crews and resources to reduce the number of power outages and their duration that have angered many in this U.S. territory of 3.2 million people who are demanding that the government cancel its contract.
In a press conference on Thursday, Puerto Rico Police Commissioner Antonio López accused a small group of protesters of attacking officers with rocks and other objects, injuring four of them. He also said the incident involving the photojournalist would be investigated, with the photojournalist publicly thanking López for having called him and apologizing.
“All use of force will be investigated in-depth,” López said. | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-puerto-rico-government-to-probe-clashes-at-protest/ | 2022-08-26T20:03:20Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-puerto-rico-government-to-probe-clashes-at-protest/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — With Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” blaring in the background, about 20 New Hampshire educators grabbed wooden sticks and began pounding their tables to the beat.
Emily Daniels, who was leading a two-day workshop on burnout, encouraged the group including teachers, school counselors, occupational therapists and social workers to stand up inside a hotel conference room. Before long, the group was banging on walls and whatever else they could find. Laughter filled the air. A few started dancing.
“Rhythm making offers the body a different kind of predictability that you can do every single day,” said Daniels, a former school counselor who created The Regulated Classroom which trains teachers on how to manage their own nervous system and, in turn, reduce stress in the classroom.
The training session is part of a growing and, some would say long overdue, effort to address the strains on educators’ mental health.
Addressing the mental health challenges of students coming out of the pandemic has emerged as a priority for schools nationwide. Many districts, facing hiring challenges, see tending to the educators as a way to help them help students and to retain them, amid stressors that range from behavioral problems to fears of shootings.
School districts have provided increased mental health training for staff, classroom support as well as resources and systems aimed at identifying burned out teachers and getting instructors connected to help.
Karen Bowden-Gurley, a fifth grade teacher, said she attended the New Hampshire training because of teacher burnout, but she also feels student burnout.
“The demands on all of us were really high and we were trying to make up for lost time for the couple of years that they fell back on their curriculum. But we forgot that they haven’t been in school for a couple of years so they missed that social-emotional piece. We are dealing with that in the classroom.”
In a survey by the Rand Corporation, twice as many principals and teachers reported frequent job-related stress as other working adults. A study from a coalition of mental health organizations of New Orleans found educators working during the pandemic reported rates of emotional distress similar to health care workers — 36% screened positive for anxiety, 35% for depression and 19% for post-traumatic stress syndrome.
“It’s all pretty bad,” said Leigh McLean, the primary investigator at the Teacher Emotions, Characteristics, and Health Lab at the University of Delaware School of Education, who has found levels of depression, anxiety and emotional exhaustion among elementary school teachers that are 100% to 400% higher than before the pandemic.
She saw those issues increasing the most among early career teachers and teachers of color.
“So it seems like the patterns among teachers are mirroring inequities that we’re seeing in the general population with underrepresented groups being hit the hardest, which is really unfortunate,” she said.
Some districts have or are planning to invest federal COVID-19 relief money in teacher mental health, seeing it as a way to also improve the classroom environment, boost retention and ultimately benefit the students themselves. Among the states singling out teacher mental health as priorities are Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
The Atlanta school district launched a service with Emory University using federal funds to provide mental health services. Dubbed Urgent Behavioral Health Response, it funds 11 clinicians from Emory who provide emotional and behavioral assistance during school hours for struggling school employees.
A Delaware district, meanwhile, hired two social and emotional learning coaches who work to address problems teachers are having in the classroom.
“If you can imagine a teacher has a classroom where students are engaged, they are helping each other and there is a positive supportive culture, their job satisfaction is likely to be higher,” Jon Cooper, the director of the Colonial School District’s health and wellness division. “They are less likely to leave the profession, and in turn, that supports their well being.”
Houston, which started building calming rooms where students can go to decompress, is hoping to do the same for teachers, according to Sean Ricks, the Houston Independent School District’s senior manager of crisis intervention, noting that he has seen a “significant rise in teachers that were in distress.”
The rooms would be different from the traditional teacher break rooms and a place where teachers could go during time off to “calm down and chill out,” Ricks said, adding they could have “could have some aromatherapy, maybe some soft music.”
“We want them to be able to understand that we have to take mindfulness breaks and self-care breaks during the academic day sometimes,” Ricks said.
An elementary school in Indiana starts the week with Mindful Mondays, where teachers guide their classes in deep breathing techniques. There are also Thoughtful Thursdays, where a student is called on to write a letter to a staff member to show appreciation, and Friday Focus, when students and teachers talk about self-care.
“My teachers know when they need to take breaks throughout the day I want them to take those breaks,” said Allison Allen-Lenzo, the principal at O’Bannon Elementary School.
A growing number of groups offer training that incorporates breathing exercises, yoga, gentle movements and meditation.
One of these is Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education or CARE. In studies of its use among 224 New York City teachers, researchers found statistically significant improvements including reductions in emotional psychological distress, stress that comes from not having enough time as well as improvements in quality classroom interactions. Researchers also found that it extended to the students who showed increased engagement.
“Your stress level can rise without you even realizing it because your attention is so outwardly directed at everything else that’s going on around you,” said Tish Jennings, a University of Virginia education professor who led the team that developed CARE and was the lead researcher studying the program. “So what these practices do is build the capacity to be more aware of how you’re feeling at any given moment, so that you can be proactive.”
Back in New Hampshire, the educators pushed aside the tables and were mastering a series of stretching movements known as qigong. Then, they gathered in a circle for an exercise that aims to synchronizing their nervous system. Known as collective rhythm making, they began clapping their hands and snapping their fingers in unison.
The educators at The Regulated Classroom training believe these new tools — though on first glance a little unorthodox — invigorated them. Bowden-Gurley felt they allowed her to “train her brain to think differently” and planned to use them in the classroom to build a better sense of community and more confidence with her students.
Kelly Hurd, a kindergarten teacher, said the training gave her a sense of what is possible going into the new school year.
“I love teaching and I love the kids but it’s also hard,” Hurd, who experienced burnout before the pandemic and was part of the New Hampshire training, said. “The pandemic was so hard and so impactful and so stressful. I feel a sense of renewal and excitement and I do feel like I’ve been given permission to have more fun and focus on joy in school.”
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Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco contributed to this report.
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For more back-to-school coverage, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/back-to-school.
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The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-school-districts-move-to-ease-teacher-stress-burnout/ | 2022-08-26T20:03:34Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-school-districts-move-to-ease-teacher-stress-burnout/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — Republican Herschel Walker has plenty to say about how his Democratic rival, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, does his job in Washington. But Walker is considerably less revealing about what he’d do with the role himself.
A former football star and friend of former President Donald Trump, Walker tells voters he supports agriculture, veterans and law enforcement. He sells cultural conservatism and his mental health advocacy. He tags Warnock as a yes-man for President Joe Biden. Yet when asked for concrete alternatives to what he calls “the Biden-Warnock agenda,” Walker defaults mostly to generalities and stem-winding tangents — or he turns the question around.
“Have you asked my opponent? Don’t play games. You’re playing games,” Walker told reporters recently when pressed to clarify his stance on exceptions to abortion bans.
The broader approach tracks the way many political challengers — including Warnock two years ago — try to put incumbents on the defensive. That method is especially salient for Republican candidates in a midterm election year when Democrats must run alongside sustained inflation. But Walker’s rendition, as much as any GOP candidacy nationwide, is testing the bounds of that strategy as Democrats hammer the political novice as unfit for high office.
“There is a stark difference between me and my opponent,” Warnock said at a recent campaign stop, theatrically stretching the word “stark” as he smiled. “This race,” the senator continued, “is about who’s ready to represent Georgia.”
Democrats’ paid advertising levels the same charge, without humor.
Among Warnock’s first general election ads was video of Walker claiming he knows of a cure for COVID-19. “I have something that can bring you into a building that would clean you from COVID as you walk through this dry mist,” Walker said. “This here product — they don’t want to talk about that.”
Another Warnock ad hammered Walker for not agreeing to any of three long-standing Georgia general election debates after saying he’d debate Warnock “any time, any day.”
Other ads from Warnock-aligned groups have chronicled Walker’s exaggerations about his business and academic accomplishments and his first wife’s allegations of Walker’s violent behavior.
Those spots are part of an advertising deluge that’s allowed Warnock to burnish his personal brand, explain his Senate record on his terms and launch broadsides against Walker. That reach could prove decisive in a closely divided state: Warnock won his January 2021 special election runoff by 2 percentage points out of 4.5 million votes. Polls suggest reflect another hotly contested race, with Republicans depending on Walker to tilt the balance of the 50-50 Senate.
Warnock has fueled his ad blitz with a considerable money advantage. From the closing weeks of 2020 through June 30 of this year, he’d spent more than $85 million. Walker, by comparison, had raised $20.2 million and spent $13.4 million.
That leaves some Republicans fretting that Walker is behind in establishing his case. “I get really passionate about this because I know Herschel, and the left is trying to paint him into something he is not,” said Ginger Howard, a Georgia representative on the Republican National Committee.
Walker’s answer so far is to make the race a referendum on Biden and Democrats, thus avoiding direct comparisons between the Georgia nominees. Walker aides say that isn’t just the obvious course to navigate a first-time candidate’s liabilities; it also happens, they insist, to resonate with a majority of Georgians.
“This is still a center-right state in a very Republican year,” said adviser Chip Lake, noting Biden’s approval ratings lag badly behind Warnock’s standing in Georgia. “Voters aren’t asking Herschel for white papers on policy.”
Liz Marchionni, who volunteers at her local Cobb County Republican office north of Atlanta, said most voters care more about broader values than specifics. “Every candidate should answer questions,” she said. But Walker “has excellent business experience,” she added. “He’s a strong Christian. And he’s working for freedom for all Americans.”
Nonetheless, the first-time candidate has started doing more policy themed events: roundtables with farmers, meetings with business owners, gatherings with law enforcement, a panel with conservative women, including the candidate’s wife, Julie Blanchard. Walker now huddles regularly with groups of reporters.
Much of that is a shift from his shielded Republican primary campaign. He easily won that contest anyway, leveraging his fame as a former University of Georgia football star and his relationship with Trump. But Lake said the campaign recognized Walker has to “engage with as many Georgians as possible” to defeat Warnock.
In recent appearances, Walker has talked of prioritizing aid to farmers, cutting environmental regulations he says limit domestic energy sources, and championing “second chance” policies to help convicted felons get employment.
But he doesn’t get into details, and his go-to applause lines reflect standard conservative dogma. “We need spiritual warriors … leaders who love this country … people with common sense,” he told a standing-room-only crowd in northern Cobb County.
Lake said “it’s no different than any other campaign I’ve worked on.” And, he added, “I don’t remember Raphael Warnock’s campaign being that detailed” ahead of his victory over then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Indeed, Warnock’s standard pitch this summer is more policy-heavy than in 2020, in part because he talks about measures that he’s helped get through the Senate. Yet in that campaign, Warnock did tout his activism as a Baptist pastor on Medicaid expansion and voting rights, holding forth on policy details. For example, he talked then about capping insulin costs and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical firms. The Senate recently approved drug-price negotiations and a limited version of the insulin cap. Republicans restricted the cap only to Medicare; Warnock called for extending it across all consumers, including the privately insured.
Walker’s latest forays into policy highlight the potential risks in trying to match Warnock.
Discussing inflation before the recent Senate votes, Walker said he endorsed capping insulin prices. Told of Warnock’s efforts, he replied: “I support some of the good things he’s doing, but that’s just a Band-Aid. Why don’t he get back and get to things that are correct?”
Walker didn’t answer a follow-up question about what policies he’d pursue to combat the wider inflation he blames on Warnock. Instead, he veered into a soliloquy on border patrols and crime.
After accusing Warnock of supporting the Inflation Reduction Act without “reading the bill,” Walker admitted he’d read only “some of the bill” himself.
Meeting with north Georgia farmers, he learned that a majority of the federal farm bill — a staple of federal spending for generations — finances consumer food assistance. Farmers don’t necessarily oppose that consumer aid, though Congress often fights over amounts. But Walker heard the breakdown and mused that it is wasteful, even as one farmer explained that feeding a country of 330 million residents “is national security.”
Walker glosses over details when attacking Warnock, as well. Talking about why women should support him, Walker said, “I will keep them safe, not like my opponent, who votes to be soft on crime and soft-on-crime judges.” Walker then alluded to an unspecified local prosecution in Atlanta, alleging it involved defendants who’d been arrested more than 100 times.
“These guys have done so many crimes, and they let them out of jail,” he said. “Right now, that’s something that I would be tough on right there.”
Asked recently which Senate committee assignments he’d seek should he win, Walker said he wants to focus on agriculture and “something with our military” and supporting veterans.
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Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics. | https://www.wspa.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-herschel-walker-skips-details-in-bid-to-oust-raphael-warnock/ | 2022-08-26T20:03:48Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-herschel-walker-skips-details-in-bid-to-oust-raphael-warnock/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Prosser, Wash.-
Electrical crews are responding to a power outage in Prosser affecting 525 customers.
According to Benton PUD, a semi-truck reportedly hit a pole near OIE Highway and Johnson.
There are currently no estimates on when power will be restored. | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/crash-causes-power-outage-in-prosser/article_bd2d911a-2573-11ed-8da5-dbd434186995.html | 2022-08-26T20:04:06Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/crash-causes-power-outage-in-prosser/article_bd2d911a-2573-11ed-8da5-dbd434186995.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SEATTLE, Wash.-
Frontier Airlines is adding ten new non-stop routes to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport over the next year, including flights from Seattle and Portland.
"This major expansion of service provides exciting new nonstop options to Phoenix for consumers in a variety of markets across the country," said Daniel Shurz, Senior Vice President of Commercial Flights with Frontier.
Two of the new non-stop routes will be direct flights from Seattle and Portland.
Starting on January, 1st, 2023, Frontier will fly out of Seattle-Tacoma four times a week. Introductory fares may be purchased for as little as $49.
On November, 6th, of this year, Frontier will depart Portland for Phoenix three times a week, with introductory fares starting at $99. | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/frontier-adds-49-flights-from-seattle-to-phoenix/article_2d4c3a4c-2564-11ed-83f9-cfd9c8afbff8.html | 2022-08-26T20:04:12Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/frontier-adds-49-flights-from-seattle-to-phoenix/article_2d4c3a4c-2564-11ed-83f9-cfd9c8afbff8.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul vowed to aggressively prosecute anyone who attacks or harasses election workers in the key swing state this fall and proclaimed his faith in the state’s election system as clerks report rising concerns about potential threats due to misinformation about elections.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press this week, Kaul also touted his work defending the results of the 2020 election against a host of legal challenges that accompanied President Donald Trump’s lies about widespread election fraud.
Kaul, a Democrat seeking reelection in November against Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney, said public trust in “the reality of our elections” is important.
“We have the world’s greatest democracy in the U.S. and it’s something we should be proud of,” Kaul told the AP on Wednesday. “We have had that system tested over and over in Wisconsin through audits and recounts and reviews and consistently they show that our system works and the results reflect the will of the voters.”
Some of Trump’s followers have lashed out as they refused to accept his loss to Joe Biden. The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit law and and public policy institute, found in a March poll that one in six election officials have been threatened because of their job, with more than three-quarters saying they feel threats have increased in recent years.
In Wisconsin, multiple clerks have cited distrust and hostility toward election workers as concerns going into the November election. At a gathering of the National Association of State Elections Directors in July, election officials and bureaucrats meeting in Madison raised concerns that federal law might not be up to date with the threats they’ve faced since 2020.
Kaul said he is planning a public relations campaign informing people that intimidating, threatening or assaulting election workers is illegal and telling them how they can quickly report incidents. He said the Justice Department is working with the Wisconsin Elections Commission to stay abreast of any potential cases.
“What people should know is intimidating election officials is a crime and something we take very seriously,” Kaul said. “Continuing to get that message out is a proactive way to deter people from engaging in that activity. And if they do we will hold them accountable.”
Kaul also questioned whether Toney would defend the 2024 election results in court if Trump runs again and loses Wisconsin. He noted that Toney has drawn support from former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who called for Biden’s win to be decertified as part of an investigation into Wisconsin’s 2020 results. The probe found found no evidence of election fraud.
“If he were to take that kind of approach it would create chaos,” Kaul said. “I’m proud to have defended the will of the voters and our system of government. Based on what we’ve seen from (Toney), he hasn’t shown that type of commitment.”
Toney rejected Kaul’s attack.
He told AP that he believes Biden won the presidency, but said state laws were broken during the election. He brought charges in February against five voters who allegedly used improper addresses and has called for removing five state election commissioners who voted to keep special voting assistants out of nursing homes early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Toney promised to review any allegation of election fraud and prosecute “because it’s the job of district attorneys and the attorney general to enforce the rule of law.”
Other key issues Kaul discussed in his AP interview:
— Abortion. Kaul filed a lawsuit this summer seeking to overturn Wisconsin’s 1849 ban on abortion, arguing in part that it’s so old it’s no longer valid. Kaul said if that lawsuit is unsuccessful, he may file more lawsuits based on other legal theories such as equal protection and the fundamental right to liberty. He also maintained his pledge not to use state Justice Department resources to enforce the ban and promised to lobby legislators to repeal the prohibition.
— Pollution. Kaul sued 18 companies in July looking to hold them liable for polluting state waters with a group of chemicals known as PFAS, an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. He promised to see that case through to its conclusion.
—Gun control. Kaul, like Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, has advocated for universal background checks and a red-flag law that would allow family members and police to ask judges to seize guns from people who might pose a threat. Republican leaders have refused to even debate those proposals. Kaul said he plans to keep pushing.
___
Associated Press writer Harm Venhuizen contributed to this report. Venhuizen is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Venhuizen on Twitter. | https://www.wspa.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-wisconsin-ag-to-ap-election-worker-threats-to-be-prosecuted/ | 2022-08-26T20:04:16Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-wisconsin-ag-to-ap-election-worker-threats-to-be-prosecuted/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PASCO, Wash.-
According to Pasco Police, speeding was a factor in a crash on Road 68 and Sandifur on Wednesday, that spilled about 150 watermelons.
The speeding car turned in front of the watermelon truck, causing the accident.
Traffic was impacted by the crushed watermelon. | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/watermelons-smashed-in-pasco/article_60c84056-2568-11ed-bddb-b38b545245de.html | 2022-08-26T20:04:18Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/watermelons-smashed-in-pasco/article_60c84056-2568-11ed-bddb-b38b545245de.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(NewsNation) — Teachers in 2021 earned 23.5% less than comparable college graduates, a new record, according to new data.
The Economic Policy Institute, or EPI, has been tracking teacher wage trends over the past 18 years, and its analysis of 2021 data concludes that teacher pay has remained relatively flat since 1996. Moreover, teachers make considerably less than peers working in other industries.
The report released this month further adds to conversations surrounding teacher pay and overall classroom funding. Just this week, educators in the largest school district in Ohio went on strike over disagreements about pay and learning conditions.
The EPI data, pulled from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that the average weekly wages of public school teachers was $1,348 in 2021, slightly higher than $1,319 in 1996. By comparison, other college graduates brought in, on average, $2,009 a week in 2021.
The report’s author, Sylvia Allegretto, wrote that the disparity highlights the stagnation of teacher pay over the last quarter-century.
“The wages of nonteacher college graduates jumped by 13.5% from 1996 to 2002 during an unusual time of exceptional wage growth among low-, middle-, and high-wage earners,” Allegretto said. “But inflation-adjusted wages of teachers did not grow strongly during this period, in part because teacher pay is often set by long-term contracts, and public-sector wages are not as volatile as private-sector wages.”
The Institute also analyzed what it calls a teacher “wage penalty,” which measures how much less teachers are paid relative to other college graduates. In 2021, the penalty hit a record-high 23.5%, meaning that on average, teachers earned 76.5 cents on the dollar compared with other college grads working in other professions.
“Generally, the teacher wage penalty has been on a worsening trajectory since the mid-1990s,” Allegretto wrote.
In 1979, women teachers actually earned a “premium,” making on average 6.5% more in weekly wages than their nonteacher peers. The wage penalty is worst among men, who made 35% less than their nonteacher peers in 2021.
The disparities exists nationwide. A teacher wage penalty is present in each state, with the largest gap in Colorado, where teachers make 35.9% less than nonteachers. The smallest wage penalty is in Rhode Island at 3.4%.
“The picture that continues to emerge is one of a long-steep relative erosion of teacher wages,” Allegretto wrote. “Among those students who would like to dedicate their careers to teaching, many are undoubtedly choosing to forgo a public school teaching career in lieu of a better-paying career choice.” | https://www.wspa.com/news/teacher-pay-stuck-in-the-1990s-analysis-finds/ | 2022-08-26T20:04:30Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/teacher-pay-stuck-in-the-1990s-analysis-finds/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MT. MORRIS, Mich. (AP) — A blind Michigan judge went for a drive and a sheriff rode shotgun.
As 100 people watched, Richard Bernstein of the Michigan Supreme Court drove a car on a dirt track Tuesday at the Genesee County fairgrounds, northwest of Flint.
“I’ve always wanted that feeling of what it’s like to hit the gas or what it’s like to turn on the ignition and what it’s like to operate a steering wheel,” Bernstein, 47, told WNEM-TV.
Sheriff Chris Swanson was in the passenger seat giving directions and encouragement. They wore helmets.
“Straighten it out. Soft left, soft left,” Swanson said. “He’s doin’ it!”
Bernstein, who is seeking reelection in November, doesn’t let blindness discourage him from certain goals. He’s run more than 20 marathons.
“My whole life, I’ve loved making people’s dreams come true,” the sheriff said. “I love seeing joy on the face, and I have seen it the last two hours driving him up here.” | https://www.wspa.com/news/weird-news/ap-always-wanted-to-hit-the-gas-blind-michigan-judge-drives/ | 2022-08-26T20:04:36Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/weird-news/ap-always-wanted-to-hit-the-gas-blind-michigan-judge-drives/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday he has agreed with his Algerian counterpart to work to combat illegal immigration while ensuring more flexible ways for the North African country’s nationals to come to France legally.
Macron’s comments Friday came during a three-day visit to Algeria meant to reset relations between the two countries, after a major diplomatic crisis last year broke out over the visa issue.
Tensions were heightened by a French decision to slash the number of visas issued to people in North Africa, including Algeria, because governments there were refusing to take back migrants expelled from France.
Both countries resumed cooperation in December.
Speaking to reporters in Algiers, Macron acknowledged the “sensitive” issue was discussed until late the previous night with President Abdelmajid Tebboune, during a meeting and a dinner at the presidential palace.
“We share the same will” to implement policies combating illegal immigration and trafficking, Macron said. That includes being “more efficient” in sending back to Algeria people illegally staying in France, he said.
France wants to have “a much more flexible approach” on providing visas to families of French-Algerian dual nationals, artists, sportspeople and entrepreneurs, he added.
Asked about whether he discussed human rights issues with Tebboune, Macron said that “we discussed very freely about everything,” but did not provide details.
Human rights activists criticize Algeria’s system of governance that views dissidents as criminals and doesn’t allow freedom of speech.
Macron said France wants to strengthen its economic partnership with Algeria. The country is a key partner in providing gas to the European continent, a status that has been reinforced amid the war in Ukraine.
France relies on Algeria for about 8% of its gas imports. No new contract was expected to be signed during the visit.
On Friday morning, Macron visited the Christian and Jewish cemetery of Saint-Eugene in Algiers, where he paid tribute to the French who died during Algeria’s war of independence.
Macron, the first French president born after the end of the war in 1962, has promised a reckoning of colonial-era wrongs. The country was occupied by France for 132 years.
On Thursday, Macron and Tebboune agreed to form a joint commission of historians who will examine the past from the beginning of the French colonization in 1830 to Algeria’s independence.
Macron was to have another meeting with Tebboune Friday to discuss peace and stability in the region. He was also scheduled to go to Algiers’ Great Mosque later in the day day, before heading to Oran, the country’s second largest city. | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-frances-macron-addresses-visa-issue-during-algeria-trip/ | 2022-08-26T20:05:48Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-frances-macron-addresses-visa-issue-during-algeria-trip/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Six of the 43 Mexican students abducted and disappeared in 2014, were allegedly kept alive in a warehouse for days then turned over to the commander of the local army base who ordered their killings, the Mexican government official leading the Truth Commission said Friday.
Interior Undersecretary Alejandro Encinas made the revelation with little fanfare during a lengthy defense of the commission’s report first released a week earlier. At that time, despite declaring the disappearances a “state crime” and saying that the army watched it happen without intervening, Encinas made no mention of six students being turned over to Col. José Rodríguez Pérez.
On Friday, Encinas emphasized that authorities were closely monitoring the students from the radical teachers’ college at Ayotzinapa from the time they left their campus through their abduction by local police in the town of Iguala that night. A soldier who had infiltrated the school was among the abducted students and Encinas asserted that the army had not followed its own protocols to try to rescue him.
“There is also information corroborated with emergency 089 telephone calls where allegedly six of the 43 disappeared students were held during several days and alive in what they call the old warehouse and from there were turned over to the colonel,” Encinas said. “Allegedly the six students were alive for as many as four days after the events and were killed and disappeared on orders of the colonel, allegedly the then Col. José Rodríguez Pérez.”
The defense department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the allegations Friday.
The role of the military in the students’ disappearance has long been a source of tension between the families and the government. From the beginning, there were questions about the military’s knowledge of what happened and its possible involvement. The students’ parents demanded for years that they be allowed to search the large base in Iguala. It was not until 2019 that they were given access along with Encinas and the Truth Commission.
The truth commission report notes that the army registered an anonymous emergency call on Sept. 30, 2014, four days after the students’ abduction. The caller said the students were being held in a large concrete warehouse in a location described as “Pueblo Viejo.” The caller proceeded to describe the location.
That entry was followed by several pages of redacted material, but that section of the report concluded with the following: “As can be seen, obvious collusion existed between agents of the Mexican state with the criminal group Guerreros Unidos that tolerated, allowed and participated in events of violence and disappearance of the students, as well as the government’s attempt to hide the truth about the events.”
Later, in a summary of how the commission’s report differed from the original investigation’s conclusions, there is mention of a colonel.
“On Sept. 30 ‘the colonel’ mentions that they will take care of cleaning everything up and that they had already taken charge of the six students who had remained alive,” the report said.
In a witness statement provided to federal investigators in December 2014, Capt. José Martínez Crespo, who was stationed at the base in Iguala, said that the base commander for the 27th Infantry Battalion at the time was Col. José Rodriguez Pérez.
On Sept. 26, 2014, local police took the students off buses they had commandeered in Iguala. The motive remains unclear eight years later. Their bodies have never been found, though fragments of burned bone have been matched to three of the students.
Last week, federal agents arrested former Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam who oversaw the original investigation. On Wednesday, a judge ordered that he stand trial for forced disappearance, torture and official misconduct. Prosecutors allege Murillo Karam created a false narrative about what happened to the students to quickly appear to resolve the case.
Authorities also last week, said arrest warrants were issued for 20 army soldiers and officers, five local officials, 33 local police officers and 11 state police officers as well as 14 gang members. Neither the army nor prosecutors have said how many of those suspects are currently in custody.
It was also not immediately clear if Rodríguez Pérez was among those sought.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has given the military enormous responsibility. The armed forces are not only at the center of his security strategy, but they have taken over administration of the seaports, been charged with building a new airport for the capital and a tourist train on the Yucatan Peninsula.
The president has said often that they are the least corrupt institution and have his confidence. | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-official-6-of-43-missing-mexican-students-given-to-army/ | 2022-08-26T20:06:46Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-official-6-of-43-missing-mexican-students-given-to-army/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Brink's Guard Was Asleep in Truck During $100M Jewelry Heist, Lawsuit Claims
The theft, which is believed to be the largest in U.S. history, happened five weeks ago as a Brink's tractor-trailer was transporting the jewels to a gem show in Pasadena, California.
New details are emerging from an estimated $100 million jewelry heist from a Brink's armored tractor-trailer.
The theft, which is believed to be the largest in U.S. history, happened five weeks ago as the vehicle was transporting the jewels to a gem show in Pasadena, California.
The truck pulled into the Flying J rest stop, about 75 miles from Los Angeles. One guard went to the 24-hour restaurant for food. He left the other asleep in the sleeping berth of the truck.
After eating dinner, the driver says he returned 27 minutes later to find the truck had been broken into. According to court papers, the guard who was sleeping claims “he did not see or hear anything unusual.”
The new information is contained in dueling lawsuits filed this week by both Brink's and the jewelers, in which the jewelers accuse the iconic private security company of being “grossly negligent.”
The jewels were "stolen right out from under the noses” of the guards, the jewelers' lawsuit claims.
Attorney Gerry Kroll represents the jewelers.
“We have a driver who's supposedly asleep. We have a driver who's having a meal for, what, 27 minutes? We have a truck that's parked in an area that is pretty dark, no cameras. I don't think it takes a lot to realize that this is, at a minimum — at a minimum — gross negligence,” Kroll said.
In court papers, Brink's says the jewelers declared the gems' value at just $8.7 million, and if that wasn't accurate, they shouldn't have to pay a dime.
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Congress Admits UFOs Are Not Human-Made, Saying 'Threats' Are Increasing: Report
In a recently released report, Congress discusses the increased presence of UFOs and acknowledges that they are not man-made.
Congress has admitted it does not believe all UFOs are “man-made,” according to an addendum report to the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 — a budget that governs America’s services that are kept out of the public eye.
Over the years, many first-hand reports and investigations regarding UFOs — or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, as the government calls them — have emerged.
In more recent history, evidence has been supported and corroborated by the politicians and government.
This includes a leaked video shown on CNN that was confirmed by the Pentagon as being authentic. In 2021, Senator Marco Rubio — the vice chair of the Senate Select Committee overseeing intelligence that issued the report — said openly that he wants the origin of the UFO sightings to be determined, according to Politico.
Now, Congress is openly discussing the unknown origin of lights and UAPs in addition to their efforts to figure it out, according to the recently released report.
In the report, Congress made two claims regarding UFOs:
The first claim said, “cross-domain transmedium threats to the United States national security are expanding exponentially,” openly sharing that these sightings are increasing with frequency.
The second claim in the report is that Congress wants to distinguish between UFOs that are indeed made by humans and those that are not.
According to Vice, a bipartisan group of U.S. legislators have been urging the Pentagon to figure out the origin of these various reported sightings.
In 2021, the Department of Defense detailed more than 100 of these sightings that they investigated in a report.
The Pentagon announced in July that it was opening the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) to investigate threats from “anomalous, unidentified space, airborne, submerged and transmedium objects,” according to a press release from the office.
After the research in 2021, the Pentagon was unable to explain some of what was found with their current mediums and scientific models, and have now received the additional time and money they requested from Congress, according to Vice.
The outlet reports that now Congress is asking the Pentagon to focus their efforts solely on the sightings and objects that were not man-made.
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Human Remains Discovered in Receding Lake Mead Identified as Las Vegas Man Who Drowned 20 Years Ago
His son was just 10 years old when he witnessed his 42-year-old dad drown on August 2, 2002.
Human remains discovered as water levels in Lake Mead receded were identified as 42-year-old Thomas Erndt, a Las Vegas man who drowned during a boating accident with his family 20 years ago, according to the coroner’s office.
"My dad was my everything and I was able to finally close some doors that were left open for years," his son, who shares the same name, wrote on Facebook.
The younger Erndt, who now lives in San Francisco, explained that they’d often take trips to Lake Mead, and at midnight, their family ritual was to take a “midnight cruise, so basically, all of us would load up in the boat, we would go into the middle of the lake and we would jump off the boat, swim around and have our fun,” he said, according to KVVU.
But the trip they took on August 2, 2002 changed their lives forever.
Erndt and his dad, along with his sister and other family members and friends, took the boat out at midnight. When no one else jumped in, Erndt recalled his father taking his shirt off, and diving in, according to KSNV.
The next thing they knew, the elder Erndt was screaming in the water. “He was a big joker,” his son told KSNV, and said they didn’t initially realize that he was drowning and needed help.
There had been no cellphone service, and the water had been pitch black with aggressive waves, KSNV reported. By the time they were able to call for help, Erndt had drowned to his death.
The younger Erndt was only 10 years old at the time of his father’s drowning, and that was the last time anyone saw him again.
Erndt was the first of five bodies discovered in Lake Mead since May as water levels recede. One set of human remains were discovered in a barrel, and authorities believe they belonged to a victim of a mob-related shooting.
Many experts believe there will be more bodies uncovered in the coming months.
Lake Mead’s water levels have been steadily dropping since 2000, with NASA satellite imaging confirming that the man-made reservoir’s water levels have hit their lowerst since April 1937 last month, at 27% capacity.
Water levels are expected to continue to drop as a result of the on-going drought in the Midwest. Many point to the depletion of Lake Mead – a source of water for millions of people across seven states, tribal lands and northern Mexico – to be a clear sign of climate change.
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MEXICO CITY (AP) — When Mexico imposed a visa requirement on Venezuelans in January, it briefly had the desired effect: The number of Venezuelans detained at the U.S.-Mexico border plunged. But it’s now clear that it only pushed the migrants onto more dangerous clandestine routes.
Suddenly unable to simply fly to Mexico as tourists, but still desperate to leave their country, Venezuelan migrants joined others traveling over land through the dense, lawless jungle on the Colombia-Panama border.
In 2021, when Venezuelans could still fly to Cancun or Mexico City as tourists, only 3,000 of them crossed the Darien Gap — a literal gap in the Pan-American Highway that stretches along 60 miles (97 kilometers) of mountains, rainforest and rivers. So far this year, there have been 45,000, according to Panama’s National Immigration Service.
“If they can’t arrive at Mexican airports, they’re arriving by land through the Darien,” said Adam Isacson, of the Washington Office on Latin America. From there it’s just series of stops: in southern Mexico, the remote middle of the Mexico-U.S. border and then a final destination in the U.S., usually on the East Coast.
Such visa requirements can stop some migrants — the pace of Brazilians and Ecuadorans slowed after Mexico imposed them last year — but not others, Isacson said. “It has to do with the level of desperation,” he said.
Venezuela’s economy has collapsed under a combination of mismanagement and U.S. sanctions. The minimum wage for public employees has fallen to the equivalent of $2 a month. Monthly salaries in the private sector average $75. Some of the Venezuelans arriving in the U.S. now, left Venezuela years ago, spent time in other countries and are moving north now.
In December, U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained Venezuelans at the U.S.-Mexico border nearly 25,000 times. Mexico imposed the visa requirement in late January and in February there were barely 3,000 detentions. But that number began to rise again, slowly at first, and then sharply in June and July when detentions surpassed 17,000.
The information about the alternate route was passed among groups on platforms such as WhatsApp and through social media. Migrant smugglers who often infiltrate such groups influence the route, in this case a treacherous, yet well-established one, some 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) long.
Anderwis Gutiérrez, a 42-year-old construction worker, and his wife spent weeks watching videos online about crossing the Darien to judge whether they thought they could do it. When they finally made up their minds, they joined a group of 110 migrants of different nationalities. Only 75 of them emerged from the jungle together.
“They robbed us, took our money, we lasted four days without eating,” he said. “One broke his leg, another was bitten by a snake, we didn’t have medicine, we weren’t carrying anything.”
He said they saw bodies, witnessed two rapes and unable to hold back his tears said that his wife almost drowned when a swollen river carried her 100 yards downstream. “In the jungle no one helps anybody.”
Yonathan Ávila, a 34-year-old former Venezuelan National Guard soldier, traveled with his wife, their 3-year-old daughter and 4-month-old baby. In total, they were 14 relatives and friends. He believes his military training helped him lead them through without some of the tragedies that strike others.
The southern Mexico city of Tapachula near the border with Guatemala has been the second bottleneck for those traveling by land. Since the Trump administration, Mexico has employed a strategy of containment meant to keep migrants confined to the south, far from the U.S. border.
Thousands apply for asylum, but the process is lengthy and there is little work in Tapachula. Frustrated migrants have pressured the government by repeatedly walking out of the city en masse. Since June, Venezuelans have made up the majority.
The Mexican government started busing migrants to offices outside Tapachula or to other states in October for quicker processing of temporary documents and to stop the demonstrations.
Ávila led one such march and got a transit permit that allowed his family to continue north. A foundation also helped because his baby was sick. Gutiérrez got a humanitarian visa.
“To appease them, the National Immigration Institute is giving them passes,” Isacson said.
Venezuelans and some other nationalities also pose a problem for Mexico and the United States, because they generally can’t be deported. After much negotiation, Mexico was recently able to send back more than 100.
Once out of Tapachula, the migrants travel quickly to the U.S. border, usually buying bus tickets with money sent by relatives.
According to WOLA’s analysis of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 92% of the Venezuelans crossed the U.S. border at two stretches in July: Yuma, Arizona, and Del Rio, Texas.
Gutiérrez and Ávila crossed at Del Rio with their families.
Both areas are “in the middle of nowhere,” Isacson said. “That tells us that they are being guided there by someone, it can’t just be rumors circulating on WhatsApp.”
Gutiérrez and Ávila made it to the United States with their families. Gutiérrez was in Maryland, but without work or a place to sleep, he and his wife were planning to return to New York, where they had spent a couple months in a homeless shelter.
Ávila has a sales job in Boston and a charitable foundation has found them shelter and helped get treatment for his kid. Each week he has to send a photograph and his location on a cellphone U.S. immigration authorities gave him while he waits to sort out his status.
Meanwhile, he says his friends in Venezuela haven’t stopped asking him for advice to make their own journeys to the U.S. “More are coming all the time.”
___
AP writers Claudia Torrens in New York and Juan Zamorano in Panama City contributed to this report. | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-visa-rules-in-mexico-dont-stop-venezuelans-headed-to-us/ | 2022-08-26T20:07:58Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-visa-rules-in-mexico-dont-stop-venezuelans-headed-to-us/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
I recently spent time visiting my aging parents— my father will be 88 in November and my mother is 86—so I have elder care on the brain. My parents have a diversified portfolio of children to help them out. I, on the other hand, have none, which makes futuristic elder care predictions all the more salient.
What happens when the population of old people gets too big for the supply of paid and unpaid caregivers? Raising wages is the obvious answer but, as I discussed in a March 2020 Bloomberg column, the economics are terrible. To save you a click, I’m going to repeat the whole thing, with the critical facts highlighted, before I get to my new point:
They are the most numerous and lowest-paid U.S. health-care workers: the 4.5 million caregivers who assist elderly and disabled people with such daily activities as bathing, dressing, feeding and toileting. Compared to other medical workers, they have the most frequent and personal contact with the elderly. That puts them on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Known in the business as direct-care workers, these paraprofessionals include certified nursing assistants, who work in nursing homes, and home health aides and personal-care assistants, who often travel between multiple clients. Their median wage is $12.27 an hour, with home care workers making the least and nursing assistants the most. As the pandemic spreads, these workers are especially vulnerable and increasingly difficult to replace.
Don’t they deserve more money? The National Domestic Workers Alliance certainly thinks so:
Home care workers take action when health crises hit to protect the most vulnerable, and $11/hour isn’t fair pay. We need to invest in care workers — key first responders in this crisis.
— Domestic Workers (@domesticworkers) March 14, 2020But the pay isn’t low because the people who hire caregivers are greedy and mean-spirited. Neither is it because the work is easy or unimportant. It’s a much tougher problem. Caregiving is vital, but so labor-intensive that at higher wages, hardly anyone could afford it.
Consider some basic math. There are 8,760 hours in a year (8,784 this leap year). At $11 an hour, that’s $96,360. At $12.27, it’s $107,485. At $15 an hour, it’s $131,100. And that’s before the client pays for room, board, and other medical care. About 16% of caregiver payments come from family budgets, while private insurance covers only 11%. The rest comes from government programs, primarily Medicaid.
Not everybody requires 24/7 care, of course, but many people do. “Need” is as much a matter of what people can afford as it is an objective criterion. For families deciding how to spend dwindling resources, it can be a matter of supplementing paid with unpaid labor, which can require cutting back on a family member’s own work hours. For state legislatures allocating the Medicaid money that covers 52 percent of long-term care, it means tradeoffs between elder care and hospital reimbursements or maternity care, not to mention schools and highways.
Direct-care workers are in short supply, with skyrocketing turnover rates. In 2018, the latest year for which data is available, the turnover rate among home health aides hit a new high of 82 percent, according to the annual survey by Home Care Pulse. The agencies and institutions that employ these workers aren’t just competing with each other. They’re competing with businesses such as Amazon.com that have been raising entry-level wages.
“Turnover was so severe in 2018 that more than half of the participants had to turn away new clients because they didn’t have enough caregivers,” reported the trade publication Home Health Care News. Tight Medicaid reimbursement limits make it hard to raise pay or expand service. Higher reimbursements would permit higher pay but, again, the money would have to come from somewhere else.
We’ve seen this dilemma before: absolutely essential work that takes so long that wages remain low even as it consumes a high proportion of total expenses. Pre-industrial spinners worked for incredibly low wages, yet their pay was often the biggest expense in making cloth. And they were always in demand. “The spinners never stand still for want of work; they always have it if they please; but weavers sometimes are idle for want of yarn,” wrote the agronomist and travel author Arthur Young, who toured northern England in 1768.
Before the Industrial Revolution, Indian hand-spinners, the world’s best, took about 100 hours to produce enough cotton thread to weave the fabric for a modern pair of jeans — not including the time cleaning and preparing the fiber beforehand. Spinning the equivalent amount of wool on a European spinning wheel took about 110 hours. At the low modern wage of $11 an hour just the thread in a pair of trousers would have cost well over $1,000, not including the time spent dyeing, weaving or sewing. (For sources and an in-depth discussion, see my forthcoming book, “The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World.”) Only by finding mechanical ways to get much more thread per hour did people finally make cloth abundant, leading to the takeoff in worldwide living standards that economic historian Deirdre McCloskey calls the Great Enrichment.
Boosting productivity, and the wages it supports, is tougher for in-person services like caregiving. In his 2017 book, Who Will Care for Us? economist Paul Osterman advocates giving caregivers more training and allowing them to provide simple medical services like administering medications, thereby reducing the need for more expensive nurses to provide frequent care. Many people get into the field because of an interest in health care only to find themselves ignored by their medical colleagues, treated as little more than baby sitters and stymied when they seek to learn more.
Current regulations, Osterman notes, can lead to such absurd situations as caregivers guiding the hands of dementia patients to “self-administer” eye drops, skirting rules against aides doing that job. But nurses, who are well organized and politically influential, fight like crazy against any incursion on their territory.
To boost productivity more significantly, potentially improving both care and wages, start-ups are experimenting with artificial intelligence. An intriguing example is Cherry Home, which markets an unobtrusive monitoring system that distinguishes normal behavior patterns from abnormal ones, including falls, restless sleep or signs of confusion. When something looks off, the system alerts a monitoring center, which contacts caregivers, family members or emergency services as needed. The system has a privacy mode that displays stick figures rather than images of people, and it can communicate with someone in distress without requiring them to press a button. In theory, such systems could allow individuals to stay in their homes without having aides or family members present all the time.
By calling attention to the important work of aides in eldercare, the coronavirus offers an opportunity for a conversation about how to increase the respect accorded their work within the health-care system, how to improve communication between the people who spend the most time with the frail elderly and other medical professionals, and how to build their skills and widen their responsibilities. But as long as it takes thousands of hours a year to care for a single person, wages can’t go up much.
In the pre-industrial era, everyone knew that spinners were important. Before smokestacks, a spinning woman was the iconic representation of “industry.” But to raise wages, you need more than respect and goodwill. You need new technology.
Anyone looking for A.I. applications ought to be thinking about how to enhance elder care. Cherry Home’s system demonstrates that new technology may not mean anything as complicated and intrusive as a humanoid robot.
Robots for elder care tend to be pitched as substitutes for friends or pets or human caregivers. They dance! They tell jokes! But as the comments on this YouTube video suggest, people tend to find the cheery forced companionship of robot carers more than a little suspect.
Anthropomorphizing robot caregivers misses one of their biggest advantage: their impersonal nature. The typical approach reflects the widespread assumption that old people would prefer human aides. The mental model of the elder is my late mother-in-law, who treated her caregivers as new best friends. Who wants to be cared for by an inanimate object rather than a person?
The same kind of person who, all else being equal, prefers the self-checkout to the cashier or the ATM to the bank teller. For all the chatter about technology and “privacy,” nobody seems to be thinking about what it’s like to have a strange person come into your house, hang around for hours, and see you in your most intimate and vulnerable moments. The privacy that matters in everyday life has nothing to do with databases.
My fiercely independent parents have no interest in a human caregiver, even though they could use some help. And I understand why. Personally, I’d prefer a robot that acts like a helpful appliance.
This essay was originally published on Virginia’s Substack. | https://www.printmag.com/creative-voices/who-would-want-a-robot-caregiver/ | 2022-08-26T20:08:01Z | printmag.com | control | https://www.printmag.com/creative-voices/who-would-want-a-robot-caregiver/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Inmates Accused of Killing 'Whitey' Bulger Knew He Was Being Transported to Prison Ahead of Time: Prosecutors
Prosecutors say that the inmates of the notorious jail in West Virginia, including others connected to New England mobs, were prepared for Bulger's arrival, adding a new layer to the details around his murder.
Evidence reportedly suggests that inmates at the West Virginia prison where James "Whitey" Bulger was beaten to death knew that he was being transferred to the facility before he arrived.
Massachusetts-based organized crime boss Bulger, 89, was beaten to death just hours after being transported to USP Hazelton in October 2018. Bulger had ran what the FBI called the Irish mob in Boston in the 1970s and 1980s, but he also served as an informant for the bureau, disclosing information about the gang’s primary rival before later becoming one of the nation's most-wanted fugitives before being arrested and convicted of 11 murders and other crimes. He was serving a life sentence in prison when he was killed.
Bulger always maintained that he was not involved with the FBI. On an intake screening form he filled out after arriving at Hazelton, Bulger answered "no" when asked if there were any reasons he should be kept out of the general population, and also answered "no" in a section asking if he ever assisted law enforcement in any way, CBS News reported.
Sean McKinnon, another inmate at Hazelton, is accused of acting as a lookout while Fotios "Freddy" Geas, 55, and Paul DeCologero, 48, allegedly beat Bulger to death, according to CBS. DeCologero, who is a member of a Massachusetts gang led by his uncle, was convicted of buying heroin that was used to attempt to kill a teenage girl his uncle feared would speak to the police against their gang, Fox News and The Boston Globe reported. When the heroin did not kill her, another man broke her neck, the outlet reported.
Geas, authorities say, was a known Mafia hitman who, along with his brother, was sentenced to life in prison for the 2003 murder of Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno, a Massachusetts-based boss within the Genovese crime family, among other crimes. McKinnon, who was Geas' cellmate, pleaded guilty in 2015 to stealing dozens of handguns from a firearms dealer in Vermont, Fox reported.
All three men were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection with Bulger's death, according to the Associated Press.
Geas and DeCologero are also charged with aiding and abetting first-degree murder alongside assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Geas faces a separate charge of murder by a federal inmate serving a life sentence, according to the outlet.
McKinnon had a detention hearing regarding his conspiracy charge on Monday, according to the outlet.
Shortly before Bulger came to the facility, McKinnon told his mother on the phone that inmates had been preparing for a "higher profile person” to arrive, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Nowalk said at a hearing in Ocala, Florida, according to a transcript obtained by AP News.
McKinnon told her that the person was Bulger and when she told him to stay away from him, McKinnon told his mother, "I can't,” prosecutors said according to the transcript. According to the transcript, prosecutors said his mother warned her son about getting in trouble and McKinnon replied, "Don't worry. Oh, I don't plan it.”
McKinnon’s mother also told the Boston Globe that her son told her he didn’t know anything about Bulger's killing.
Surveillance video showed Geas and DeCologero entering Bulger's cell around 6 a.m. the morning he was killed, with McKinnon sitting at a table that faces Bulger's cell while the other two men were inside, authorities said. Nowalk said Geas and DeCologero were in Bulger’s cell for about seven minutes, and Bulger was found dead in his bed about two hours later, according to the court transcript.
An inmate witness also told the grand jury that when he asked McKinnon and DeCologero if they were who killed Bulger, they confirmed to be who were responsible for Bulger's death, according to the AP. According to Nowalk, that same witness "then indicated that Pauly (DeCologero) told him that Bulger was a snitch…as soon as they saw Bulger come into the unit, they planned to kill him.”
“And then Pauly (DeCologero) told this inmate witness that Sean McKinnon was the lookout," she said, according to the transcript.
Prosecutors say McKinnon told federal agents he was unaware of what happened to Bulger. He was on supervised release in Florida when he was arrested last week. He faces charges including conspiracy to commit first-degree murder as well as a separate charge of making false statements to a federal agent.
The transcript showed that McKinnon’s attorney, Christine Bird, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Philip Lammens that the phone call does not show he was involved in a plot to kill Bulger, saying that "the entire unit was alerted that Whitey Bulger was coming to the unit,” according to the outlet.
"The fact that his roommate was a henchman has nothing to do with him. He didn't select his roommate. The fact that he knew that doesn't really tell the Court that he was involved in the conspiracy," Bird said.
According to the outlet, during Monday’s hearing, the judge ruled that McKinnon should remain behind bars until his trial due to both his potential as a flight risk and threat to the community.
DeCologero has since been moved from Hazelton to another federal prison facility and Geas remains at Hazelton, according to the outlet.
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Late ‘Star Trek’ Actress Nichelle Nichols’ Ashes to Be Blasted Into Space
Nichols, who passed away in July, will boldly go to live long and prosper among the stars.
Actress Nichelle Nichols of “Star Trek” fame, who passed away last month at 89 years old, will have her ashes blasted into space as they head to the final frontier, according to the New York Post.
The trailblazing actress who played Lt. Nyota Uhura on TV’s original “Star Trek” series and broke racial barriers in the process, will have her ashes will be blasted into space aboard a special “Enterprise mission” later this year, the Post reported.
Nichols’ ashes will go aboard the United Launch Alliance’s “Star Trek”-inspired Vulcan rocket, and her remains will get into the space through Celestis Inc., which is the leader in memorial spaceflights, Fox News reported.
Nichols soared to galactic levels of fame when she was cast and starred in the original "Star Trek" series as Lt. Nyota Uhura in the 1960s. Uhura was among the first prominent roles for Black women on American television.
Nichols considered leaving "Star Trek" after being offered a role on Broadway, but was convinced to remain on the Enterprise after a conversation with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Nichols decided to stay, realizing she could serve as an inspiration for countless generations of Black children and families.
Nichols’ reach stretched beyond television, especially when she started working with NASA, helping to recruit women of color into the agency. She did so through a collaboration with the governmental agency and her own company, Women in Motion.
The agency also paid tribute to Nichols, tweeting, “We celebrate the life of Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek actor, trailblazer, and role model, who symbolized to so many what was possible. She partnered with us to recruit some of the first women and minority astronauts, and inspired generations to reach for the stars.”
Her role as Uhura eventually was written to become a love interest of Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner. In 1968 they shared a kiss on the show – marking the first time in American television history that an interracial kiss aired.
In 2015, just three months after she recovered from a minor stroke at the age of 82, Nichols invited Inside Edition to spend an afternoon discussing her hopes and dreams and where her ambitions had taken her thus far.
“Even from a little girl I wanted to go to the moon, you know. I wanted to go to the stars,” she said.
Getting buried in space is not a new concept: In 1997 the idea came to fruition, and among the first space burials were “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and psychologist Timothy Leary.
In 1997, Inside Edition profiled the company launching the ashes into the space and spoke to the families of those who sent the remains of loved ones into space, including Roddenberry’s widow, who all said this is what the deceased wanted to do when they were alive.
Roddenberry’s widow, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who passed in 2008, was also buried in space.
Nichols won’t be alone on her journey to live long and prosper in outer space as the cremated remains of late "Star Trek" actor James Doohan, who played Montgomery "Scotty" Scott and died in 2005, and visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull, who died in February, will also be included in the mission to mark the unique "Star Trek" reunion flight, Fox News reported.
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Many Tattoo Inks May Contain Unlisted Carcinogens, New Study Reported
While the cancer-causing compound is safe when intact, it could turn into a potential carcinogen if degraded by bacteria or U.V. light.
A team of researchers found that nearly 50% of tattoo inks they tested contained compounds that could become a cancer-causing agent if degraded. This was part of a larger study that found many tattoo inks made in the U.S. had ingredients not listed on the labels.
“Every time we looked at one of the inks, we found something that gave me pause,” said Dr. John Swierk, the lead researcher.
Out of 56 different tattoo inks the Binghamton University researchers analyzed, 23 appeared to be mixed with an azo-containing dye – which is safe when chemically intact, but could degrade into a potential carcinogen if degraded by bacteria or ultravoilet light, according to the researchers’ statement, citing a study by the Joint Research Centre.
Another concerning finding related to the size of tattoo ink particles. Researchers analyzed 16 inks using electron microscopy, and found that half of them contained particles small enough to penetrate a person’s cell membrane “and potentially cause harm,” Swierk explained.
One of the inks contained ethanol despite its ingredient list not having any mention of it, according to their analysis.
The team presented their initial findings at the American Chemical Society’s fall meeting earlier this week, and intend to have the data peer reviewed before sharing their full findings to their website, What's In My Ink?
The team also pointed out that tattoo ink is regulated as a cosmetic product, and does not require FDA approval before use.
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Police in Arkansas Town Banned From Writing Speeding Tickets for a Year
There are just over 300 people that live in the town, according to reports, and there is a state law that says that no more than 30% of a city’s revenue can come from traffic citations, KVOM reported.
Cops in Menefee, Arkansas, are banned from writing speeding tickets for a year after an audit revealed that over half the town's revenue came from traffic violations, according to THV11.
There are just over 300 people that live in the town, according to reports, and there is a state law that says that no more than 30% of a city’s revenue can come from traffic citations, KVOM reported.
"Clearly, they were writing substantially more tickets than other communities that were similarly sized," Tom Tatum, 15th District Prosecuting Attorney, told THV11. "Nearly 20% over that 30% threshold, and so clearly, they were writing too many tickets.”
The audit revealed that the town took in over $120,000 in 2020.
After the numbers were brought to attention to the city council, they announced this week that police cannot write traffic tickets for one year, reports said.
The prosecutor said that "in a year from now, we can get things back to normal for them.”
The Menifee Police Department has not formally commented on the ruling, however, their website says they are “comprised of 1 Sergeant, 2 Motor Officers and 1 Community Service Officer. Our focus is the enforcement of traffic laws, education of drivers, pedestrians and community members, and assisting the City of Menifee Engineering Department with traffic related suggestions and input. Our goals are to reduce the number of traffic collisions within the city and to improve the quality of life for our residents and those who commute through the City of Menifee.”
Menifee Police Chief John Randall did, however, speak to THV11 and said that while he does not agree with the decision he will respect it.
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White House Claps Back at GOP Critics of Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness
Biden announced the student loan forgiveness plan this week and has been met with a mountain of criticism from Republicans.
The gloves have come off at the White House as the Biden administration is slamming Republican critics of the president’s recent student loan forgiveness plan.
Some Republican politicians have taken to social media or have become talking heads on cable news shows to express their disdain at the president’s recent announcement that any student debt holder who makes under $125,000 a year will be eligible for some forgiveness: up to $10,000 if you didn’t receive a Pell Grant, which is a type of aid available to low-income undergraduate students, and up to $20,000 if you did, according to CNBC.
Some of those chastising Biden’s plan are Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene and Florida’s Matt Gaetz, who believe the plan is unfair.
The statements have made the White House Twitter account particularly active as the Biden administration clapped back at the remarks in a lengthy thread.
“Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven,” the White House tweeted.
They also tweeted that “Congressman Matt Gaetz had $482,321 in PPP loans forgiven.”
Indiana Rep. Jim Banks took to Twitter to share his disapproval of the loan forgiveness saying, “Student loan forgiveness undermines one of our military’s greatest recruitment tools at a time of dangerously low enlistments.”
The White House’s Twitter account also shared that “Since 1980, the total cost of both four-year public and four-year private college has nearly tripled – but federal support has not kept up. By providing targeted debt relief, @POTUS’ student loan debt plan will provide middle-class and working families with more breathing room.”
Author Scott Lynch took to Twitter to make a tongue-in-cheek remark about how the White House’s social team is handling the criticism.
“Hey, WH staff, just so you know, if you're going to continue to drag these hypocrites with clear and hard-hitting messaging, you run a serious risk of surging enthusiasm, electoral success, and continued improvements to the lives of millions of Americans.”
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Woman Buys Vintage Roller Skates to Find Out They Belonged to Her 40 Years Ago
Approaching her 60th birthday, Renee Forrestall wanted to get back into roller skating. A vintage pair she found online fit her perfectly, and she was stunned to find her name scrawled inside the tongue.
In an unbelievable twist of fate, a woman was reunited with the roller skates that belonged to her as a kid 40 years ago.
In the 1970s, Renee Forrestall loved roller-skating and cherished her prized skates. But at some point, she sold them at a yard sale.
“As soon as I sold them, I felt like, ‘Oh no, I shouldn't have done that!’” Forrestall said.
The years passed, and as Forrestall was facing her 60th birthday, she began feeling nostalgic about the simpler pleasures of her childhood and wanted to get back into skating.
She bought new roller skates, but didn’t like how they felt, so she went on Facebook Marketplace to search for a vintage pair and came across one for $40.
Then came the Cinderella moment, when she tried them on, and they fit perfectly — almost too perfectly.
“At that point, I pulled back the tongue, and I could see my name printed on the inside, and then it dawned on me, oh my god, that's my handwriting. These are my skates!” Forrestall said.
Now those trusty skates from bygone days are helping Renee roll into her 60s!
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Which cat digestive supplement is best?
These days, people think nothing of taking supplements to address a wide variety of health concerns. For everything from adding a little extra nutrition to easing digestive distress, supplements can help. The same is true for our feline companions. Taken as a regular maintenance solution for digestion or as a treatment for stomach upset, a cat digestive supplement can keep your furry friend happy and healthy.
For households focused on digestive health for both cats and dogs, NWC Naturals Total Biotics And Probiotics is a great choice.
What to know before you buy a cat digestive supplement
Age of the cat
Digestive upset occurs at any age, but in some cases it is normal. Consider kittens that move from mother’s milk to wet and then dry cat food. Their bellies will naturally be upset as they process the new food. The same is the case if you are transitioning an adult cat from one food to another.
In both cases, adding cat digestive supplements can make the transition more comfortable.
Type of supplements
There are different types of supplements for digestion.
- Natural: Herbal supplements help ease an upset stomach and decrease unpleasant symptoms. However, it is difficult to know if the amount of herbs on the bottle is actually what is in the supplement. These can also be expensive, and it can take a while to figure out which one works best for your cat.
- Probiotics: Probiotics use live bacteria cultures to regulate the digestive process. These are similar to probiotics in human supplements. It’s critical that they contain a large dose of colony forming units, or CFUs, to be effective. These can have a taste that cats turn their nose up at.
- Nutritional supplements: If your cat’s digestive woes are related to a nutritional deficiency, consider adding that vitamin or mineral back into the cat’s diet with a supplement. This usually requires a visit to the vet to determine exactly what is missing.
Form of supplement
The form of digestive supplement that works best depends on how well your cat takes vitamins. Forms include:
- Pills
- Powders
- Treats
- Food
What to look for in a quality cat digestive supplement
Palatability
A supplement only works if you can get your cat to eat it. Since kitties are notoriously picky eaters, it is critical that you find one that is palatable to your feline.
Safety
The last thing you want is to create a problem where there wasn’t one. Testing by a third party reduce the chances of negative reactions and minimizes the likelihood of unfounded claims of efficacy.
No fillers or artificial ingredients
If the supplement you’re considering contains lots of fillers, keep looking. This means there is very little of the beneficial nutrients you are looking for.
In addition to seeking out supplements with lots of active ingredients, you want to make sure that they don’t include artificial ingredients such as flavoring, coloring or preservatives. Not only do these not help your kitty, but they can do harm if your cat has a reaction to those ingredients.
How much you can expect to spend on a cat digestive supplement
This depends on the type of supplement and the quantity in the package. Expect to spend $20-$40 for a 30-day supply of most digestive supplements.
Cat digestive supplement FAQ
Why might your cat need a supplement?
A. In addition to digestive issues, pet owners might want to consider a cat supplement to treat things such as:
- Frequent hairballs
- Lack of nutrition
- Joint pain
- Diabetes
- Feline lower urinary tract diseases
Other supplements are available to help senior cats stay healthy. These include supplements for:
- Eyes
- Joints
- Skin and fur
- Immune support
What are the signs that your cat could use a digestive supplement?
A. In most cases, it is true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Most cats could benefit from adding a digestive supplement to their diet.
However, there are some clear signs when supplementation is needed to assist with digestion. These include:
- Changes to behavior including listlessness and aggression
- Dry hair and skin
- Eating more but losing weight
- Changes in the litterbox, including diarrhea or constipation
- Vomiting
If you notice these signs and are concerned about your cat’s health, the first step is getting in touch with your veterinarian. They may recommend adding a digestive supplement to address the symptoms of an upset stomach and poor digestion.
What’s the best cat digestive supplement to buy?
Top cat digestive supplement
NWC Naturals Total-Biotics Powder
What you need to know: If you have both cats and dogs, this formula works for both.
What you’ll love: This contains 14 species of probiotic bacteria, with 1 billion CFUs per scoop. It absorbs well and is palatable for both cats and dogs. It’s available in two sizes.
What you should consider: It comes with a tiny scoop that’s easy to lose in the tub of powder.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Top cat digestive supplement for the money
Tomlyn Pre and Probiotic Powder
What you need to know: The individual packets make determining serving sizes easy.
What you’ll love: Each packet has 4 billion CFUs. It is water-soluble and easy to mix into wet food. The powder has no taste or odor. It has five probiotic strains and also contains prebiotics for better digestion.
What you should consider: Even though it is tasteless and odorless, some cats refuse to eat or drink food and water that contain it.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Worth checking out
Green Foods Corporation Barley Cat Grass Juice Powder
What you need to know: If your kitty naturally heads toward grass to aid digestion, this brings the grass to the cat.
What you’ll love: It has digestive enzymes, plus vitamins A, C and E, and eliminates the potential for your cat to ingest harmful chemicals or pesticides from grass. It improves nutrient absorption in your cat’s stomach.
What you should consider: It’s expensive, and some cats may not like the flavor.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wspa.com/reviews/br/pets-br/treats-br/best-cat-digestive-supplement/ | 2022-08-26T20:09:28Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/reviews/br/pets-br/treats-br/best-cat-digestive-supplement/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Barnabas Receives $50,000 Ready for School, Ready for Life Grant
Funding Enables Participation In Continuous Quality Improvement Cohort
Greensboro, N.C., August 25, 2022 – The Barnabas Network has received a $50,000 grant from Ready for School, Ready for Life (Ready Ready), and will join 13 organizations serving families in Guilford County to participate in Ready Ready’s second cohort of its Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process. Ready Ready has partnered with The Duke Endowment and the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work on these grants to make participating in the CQI Cohort II financially possible.
“CQI is a team-based process of collecting, analyzing, and using data to improve service quality. This data helps identify efficiency, effectiveness, performance, and outcomes to provide the resources our community needs,” said Ready Ready CEO Charrise Hart. “We are glad to have such a good response from community partners who want to be involved in Ready Ready’s system building work.”
The Barnabas Network is the Triad’s only nonprofit furniture bank. Founded in 2006, the organization is headquartered at 838 Winston Street, Greensboro, NC, 27405 and gives free home furnishings to individuals and families transitioning from homelessness, fleeing domestic violence, overcoming major setbacks, and living on incomes that do not cover basic needs. In an average year, Barnabas gives out more than 8,000 pieces of furniture, including more than 1,000 beds. Half of those beds go to school-age children.
Visit Barnabas on the web at www.thebarnabasnetwork.org and find it on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. | https://www.yesweekly.com/business/barnabas-receives-50-000-ready-for-school-ready-for-life-grant/article_cadf313e-2572-11ed-a91d-dbbb5be3cc2c.html | 2022-08-26T20:09:47Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/business/barnabas-receives-50-000-ready-for-school-ready-for-life-grant/article_cadf313e-2572-11ed-a91d-dbbb5be3cc2c.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Richburg Named President and CEO of United Way of Forsyth County
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AUGUST 26, 2022)—The Board of Directors of United Way of Forsyth County has selected Antonia Monk Richburg, Ph.D. to serve as president and Chief Executive Officer effective October 10, 2022. Richburg will succeed Cindy Gordineer, who announced her retirement in February and will remain in an advisory role at United Way before retiring later this year.
Richburg comes to United Way from the Cone Health Foundation, where she served as vice president and senior program officer. At the Cone Health Foundation, Richburg oversaw grant making efforts addressing access to care, mental health and substance use while leading the Foundation’s work in diversity, equity and inclusion. She has more than 30 years’ experience in nonprofit management, including project management, grant management, community building and strategic communications.
Richburg has a Ph.D. in leadership studies from N.C. A&T State University and a master’s degree in public affairs with a concentration in nonprofit management and public personnel from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She also has a postgraduate Advanced Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Duke University. Richburg attended seminary and is a licensed minister.
“I have dedicated my life and career to advocating for people experiencing poverty and being a catalyst for change. I am incredibly honored and overjoyed to have the opportunity to continue this work as president and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of Forsyth County,” Richburg said. “I bring to this work a long-standing passion for supporting under-served communities, a commitment to equity, and the courage to be a visionary in the pursuit of a more just and equitable community.
“I envision a community where the downward trajectory of generational poverty and economic hardships are reversed, and where people have access to the resources they need to thrive,” she said. “As I move into this role, I am excited to collaborate with partners who share this vision, while developing relationships across the community—from the Board of Directors and staff members whose work makes United Way's mission a reality, to neighborhood and healthcare leaders, educators, nonprofit and business leaders, and the general community—who represent the heart and soul of Forsyth County.”
Gordineer became president and CEO of United Way in 2011. Under her leadership, United Way developed and implemented Place Matters, a comprehensive, asset-based strategy across 13 local neighborhoods to improve issues like economic mobility. She also led efforts to diversify United Way’s revenue sources, created greater capacity for donor engagement, and spearheaded an initiative for United Way to take on a new mission to solve complex problems that are bigger than any one organization acting alone can address.
“Following an extensive national search, our search committee found the right leader with the right qualities and experience to lead United Way,” Gordineer said. “I believe the board made an outstanding choice with Antonia. She brings fresh enthusiasm, energy and a clear vision to our organization, and I look forward to working alongside her during a transitional period this fall.”
About the United Way of Forsyth County
The United Way of Forsyth County brings the community and its resources together to solve problems that no one organization can address alone. Its vision is to create a world-class community where no one lives in poverty, and everyone holds the power to access the opportunities and resources needed to thrive. | https://www.yesweekly.com/business/richburg-named-president-and-ceo-of-united-way-of-forsyth-county/article_c1888e78-2554-11ed-aff4-dffa41da915c.html | 2022-08-26T20:09:53Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/business/richburg-named-president-and-ceo-of-united-way-of-forsyth-county/article_c1888e78-2554-11ed-aff4-dffa41da915c.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Visit High Point hires Lisa Vierling as executive administrator
Vierling will succeed Janet Siler, who is retiring from the organization after 21 years
HIGH POINT, N.C. (August 26, 2022) — Lisa Vierling has joined the Visit High Point team as its new executive administrator. Vierling is being passed the torch from the previous VHP Executive Administrator Janet Siler, who is retiring after over two decades in various positions with the organization.
“Janet has been a tremendous asset to our organization since she was hired as our sales assistant in 2001. From there she has supported our sales and marketing departments and eventually absorbed the administrative duties on the executive team in the last three years,” says Melody Burnett, Visit High Point President. “She is the most cross-trained member of our staff, so of course, I had some angst knowing that we would lose a key employee during a time when we are experiencing tremendous growth. Janet deserves a rewarding retirement; however, if she wants to re-imagine her next chapter to serve High Point, any organization would be gaining a jewel.”
The hiring of Vierling is the latest in a series of staff changes and additions for Visit High Point, which are in response to the continued increase in opportunities to make the City of High Point a year-round destination for tourism.
A well-known figure in the community, Vierling comes to Visit High Point after serving as City Clerk for the City of High Point for 21 years.
“Lisa’s drive to serve High Point coupled with her incredible organizational leadership in administration and board management gives peace of mind to know that we will be in good hands once Janet retires at the end of September,” stated Burnett. “Lisa wanted to continue to serve our community, so we are fortunate to keep her talents in High Point.”
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About Visit High Point:
Visit High Point is the official destination management and marketing organization that positions High Point as a vibrant destination that visitors will enjoy, and locals will want to promote. Our vision is to leverage High Point’s reputation as the Home Furnishings Capital of the WorldTM and the home of a world-class University to further the evolution of High Point as a unique destination. While the focus is to increase economic impact by providing first-class service to our visitors and meeting planners, Visit High Point also works to develop our city as a year-round destination that is competitive in the marketplace, generating more brand ambassadors and fans. We want each visitor to make yourself at home in High Point, NC. Established by state legislation in 1984, Visit High Point, a non-profit 501 c 6 organization is funded by a self-imposed three percent room occupancy tax on local hotels. No taxpayer funds – city, county, or state – are used to fund Visit High Point. The Regional Visitors Center is located at 1634 N. Main St., Suite 102, High Point, N.C. For more information, visit www.visithighpoint.com. | https://www.yesweekly.com/business/visit-high-point-hires-lisa-vierling-as-executive-administrator/article_65304028-2575-11ed-bd88-4f15cb6803e9.html | 2022-08-26T20:09:59Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/business/visit-high-point-hires-lisa-vierling-as-executive-administrator/article_65304028-2575-11ed-bd88-4f15cb6803e9.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
YES! Weekly Wins 10 State Press Awards
2022 NCPA Editorial and Advertising Awards
(Raleigh, NC) YES! Weekly received 10 State Press Awards at the 149th North Carolina Press Association's (NCPA) annual advertising and editorial contest Thurs., Aug. 25, 2022 in Raleigh.
YES! Weekly, founded in 2005, won 4 First Place awards, 3 Second Place awards and 3 Third Place awards.
"This is very exciting and I am so, so proud of our team and all their hard work," said Charles Womack, Publisher of Y!W. "We don't do this for the awards, but winning top industry awards like these and being recognized by our peers, shows us we are doing it right. We will constantly strive for excellence and to put out the best weekly newspaper in the Triad, the state and beyond."
NCPA’s advertising and editorial contest is one of the largest in the nation with over 4,000 entries submitted by more than 125 newspapers and news organizations.
The Henry Lee Weathers Freedom of Information Award honors journalists or newspapers for exceptional work in advancing or upholding the cause of Freedom of Information. It also recognizes excellence in reporting about access to government-held information and the First Amendment. Tom Boney, Jr. and staff from Alamance News, Dan Kane, Kate Murphy and Martha Quillin from the News & Observer, and Greg Barnes, and Bill Kirby Jr. from CityView TODAY, were recognized as the best in their respective divisions for this award.
The Hugh Morton Photographer of the year award recognizes a photographer's body of work for the contest year and is the most prestigious photography award we give. This year the Judges from Iowa Press Association recognized Bob Karp from 27587 Magazine, Khadejeh Nikouyeh from the Charlotte Observer and Ken Fine from NewOldNorth.com.
The Duke University/Green-Rossiter Award for Distinguished Newspaper Work in Higher Education recognized Sara Pequeño from Indy Week for her work on Nikole Hannah-Jones’ experience with UNC Emblematic of Struggle for Black women in Academia. Kate Murphy, Martha Quillin, and Lucille Sherman from the News & Observer were recognized for their coverage of North Carolina’s universities. Joe Killian from N.C Policy Watch was recognized for his coverage on political pressure in higher education.
A list of categories and rules can be found at ncpress.com. For a full list of winners, visit www.ncpress.com | https://www.yesweekly.com/business/yes-weekly-wins-10-state-press-awards/article_52b90a6a-2548-11ed-95c9-8b3c66dc92ce.html | 2022-08-26T20:10:05Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/business/yes-weekly-wins-10-state-press-awards/article_52b90a6a-2548-11ed-95c9-8b3c66dc92ce.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SEATTLE (AP) — Sue Bird’s eye for the court and knowledge of the game is what separates her among WNBA point guards, much to the frustration of her opponents for the past two decades.
Washington Mystics coach Mike Thibault has watched Bird up close for his entire career in the WNBA. He saw Bird, the league’s all-time assist leader, put on a vintage performance as the Storm eliminated the Mystics from the WNBA Playoffs.
“As much as I love Sue, I will be glad that she’s sitting over in the stands next year when we walk in this place,” said Thibault, the league’s all-time leader in coaching victories.
Teammates and opponents point to Bird’s mind as her strength. She’s always analyzing, thinking several steps ahead. At 41, Bird has decided this is her last season. But first, she’s aiming for her fifth WNBA title with the Storm, where she’s spent her entire career.
Bird’s skill as a coach on the court will be tested when Seattle’s best-of-five semifinal against Las Vegas starts on Sunday. Las Vegas was the best team in the league during the regular season and has become a nemesis for Bird, Breanna Stewart and the rest of the Storm.
“We have our work cut out for us,” Bird said. “They just present a lot of problems.”
The Aces won three of four matchups this season — including two in the final week — and have won five of the past six dating back to last season. Seattle beat Las Vegas for its last title in 2020 in the WNBA bubble in Florida. If the Storm are to send Bird out on top, they must find a way to solve the Aces.
Thibault and other coaches in the league know the most successful point guards have incredible vision. It’s how they view the game before taking the court and while its playing out. There are few that fit the description of “floor general” to the level of Bird.
“We talk all the time about coaches on the floor. But there really aren’t that many to be honest with you,” Thibault said. “But she is one of them because she has an innate sense of feeling the game. Like ‘OK, we’ve come down and this isn’t working, but this did.’ She can literally tell a player, ‘Go there because I know they’re going to do this.’ She has a feel and she studies the game.”
Mystics star Elena Delle Donne was ousted from the playoffs by the Storm and Bird, who scored a season-high 18 points and dished 10 assists in the 97-84 win on Sunday. In the times the duo overlapped playing internationally for the United States, she got a first-hand education.
“I’ve never felt so ready for games because of the way she was able to break things down and also simplify the game and teach it,” Delle Donne said. “It’s why Sue’s teams win. I think there’s things we can learn from Sue. It’s why she’s been so successful. It’s why all of her teams are so prepared.”
Delle Donne suggested coaching as a next step for Bird once she’s done playing. She’s not alone.
Seattle coach Noelle Quinn has seen the depth of Bird’s court vision from a unique perspective. She saw it for three seasons as a teammate, the last of which ended with the third of Bird’s four WNBA titles in 2018. She’s witnessed it the past two seasons as Bird’s coach.
“Something about these moments that made me understand why she is so great. You see her just kick a different gear mentally and physically,” Quinn said. “I’ve seen it time and time again and it always still impresses me just how she’s able to just lock in and excel in those moments.”
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More WNBA playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-playoffs and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-sue-birds-eye-for-game-helped-define-her-success-in-seattle/ | 2022-08-26T20:10:08Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-sue-birds-eye-for-game-helped-define-her-success-in-seattle/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Creative Greensboro presents A Staged Reading of ‘The American Dream’
Greensboro, NC (August 26, 2022) – Creative Greensboro presents a staged reading of Clinton Festa’s “The American Dream” at 6:30 pm on Thursday, September 1, in Studio 413 at the Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N Davie Street. This Page to Stage reading series allows a playwrights to hear their plays read allowed by actors for the first time in public and get feedback towards a possible fully realized production. This staged reading is for adult audiences only. It is free but donations will be accepted to help further the programming of the Greensboro Playwrights Forum.
About the Play
When a group of disgruntled co-workers see that the lottery is sitting at $1billion, they decide to form an office pool to give it a try. In “The American Dream,” we see what happens when all but one of them joins the pool that produces the winning numbers.
About Clinton Festa
Clinton Festa is a Greensboro Playwrights' Forum member who began his career as a writer and cartoonist for his campus humor magazine. Since then he's had short plays produced around the US and Canada, comedy sketches that have placed in national competitions, and a novel, “Ancient Canada: a Mythological Tale,” published with CamCat Books. He recently wrote and directed a seven-episode action-comedy podcast called “The Malone Family in the Enchanted Forest.” Clinton runs an online book drive for inmates in prisons and juvenile detention centers called Sentences Book Donations. He lives in Greensboro with his wife and two children.
About The Playwrights' Forum
The Playwrights' Forum aids playwrights of the Piedmont Triad and North Carolina in getting published or produced through contacts, marketing, and improving their skill as dramatic writers. Members have the opportunity to see their plays live onstage through key opportunities such as the Evening of Short Plays, the North Carolina New Play Project, and the Page to Stagereading series. The group meets in person at 7 pm on the second Wednesday of each month starting August 10 in room 203 inside the Greensboro Cultural Center. Forum meetings are free to attend and open to anyone interested in exploring any aspect of theatre.
Founded in 2019, Creative Greensboro provides support for, ensures access to and drives awareness of Greensboro’s creative community. Through a range of programs, services and partnerships, Creative Greensboro supports the development of a vibrant city. To learn more about Creative Greensboro, visit its website. | https://www.yesweekly.com/thearts/creative-greensboro-presents-a-staged-reading-of-the-american-dream/article_77919824-2553-11ed-a0b7-47089051a2d9.html | 2022-08-26T20:10:11Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/thearts/creative-greensboro-presents-a-staged-reading-of-the-american-dream/article_77919824-2553-11ed-a0b7-47089051a2d9.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GROW Residency for Mixed Media Artist Bevelyn Ukah Begins August 29
GREENSBORO, NC (August 26, 2022) – Artist and activist Bevelyn Ukah will be partnering with the NC Climate Justice Collective to produce a new GROW residency August 29 to September 18 at the Greensboro Cultural Center. The residency will include open art making sessions and specialized workshops in collaboration with members of the NC Climate Justice Collective on topics ranging from connecting with our bodies through a Zumba class to a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
During the three-week residency, Ukah will co-create interactive spaces that explore the intersection of art and climate justice. Through public art making sessions, workshops, and an exhibit, Bevelyn will facilitate conversations that drive awareness about living with more intentional action for personal and community care. All events are free to attend, and registration is not required. GROW is located next to the Davie Street entrance of the Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N. Davie St. To learn more about the residency, visit CreativeGreensboro.com.
Residency Schedule
Open Studio Hours:
Friday, September 2, 4-6 pm
Friday, September 9, 4-6 pm
Friday, September 16, 1-3 pm
Workshop Schedule:
Saturday, September 3, 9 am to 1 pm: Our Bodies, Our Ecology - A workshop exploring the relationship between art and our ecosystems, co-facilitated by Ukah, Taari Coleman, and Jodi Lasseter
Saturday, September 10, 10 am to 1 pm: Art and a Just Transition – A workshop focusing on social transformation through art, co-facilitated by Ukah and Coleman
Tuesday, September 13, 4-6 pm: Art as Activism – A workshop for the public to collaborate on making a community art piece that reimagines how we see our future, co-facilitated by Ukah, Coleman, and Lasseter
Friday, September 16, 3-5 pm: Fluid Action: Honoring Our Water – A sign making workshop for clean water advocacy using mixed media, co-facilitated by Ukah and Coleman
Events
Friday, September 2, 6-7:30 pm: Zumba Session with TWIN ZIN, Ayo and Omari Wilson
Friday, September 9, 6:30-8 pm: Artist Talk Doors open at 6 pm.
Friday, September 16, 5-6 pm: Water Ceremony with Drum Circle – Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. Facilitated by the NC Climate Justice TapRoot Cultural Troupe.
About the Artist
Ukah is a self-taught artist and part of the Black Women’s Art Collective of Public Art Practice. She received her Bachelors in International Studies, Sociology and Anthropology from Guilford College and completed her Masters in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management, with a concentration on Facilitation and Social Justice. Ukah is also the founder of AFI Oak Consulting and co-founder of the Auralite Training Collective. She works as a consultant to train youth and adults in building skills that encourage equity, organizational efficiency, cultural connection, and collaboration. Ukah is active in serval initiatives including the Food Youth Initiative Program and the Racial Equity in Food Systems initiative, which are both programs of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems. She serves on the board of the NC Climate Justice Collective and additional boards with initiatives focused on environmental justice.
About GROW
GROW is a flexible creative space, managed by Creative Greensboro, the City’s office for arts and culture. Compensated residencies of one-to-eight weeks are awarded to Guilford County-based creative individuals and organizations to produce new and original works that encourage visitation and engagement by the public. Each residency includes at least six hours of weekly programming that is offered to the public free of charge. For more information, visit www.greensboro-nc.gov/GROW. | https://www.yesweekly.com/thearts/grow-residency-for-mixed-media-artist-bevelyn-ukah-begins-august-29/article_d3654cae-2553-11ed-8d51-13774115b71e.html | 2022-08-26T20:10:17Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/thearts/grow-residency-for-mixed-media-artist-bevelyn-ukah-begins-august-29/article_d3654cae-2553-11ed-8d51-13774115b71e.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NEW YORK (AP) — Some 150 artworks from the collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen will be auctioned at Christie’s in New York this fall and are expected to bring in more than $1 billion in total, Christie’s and Allen’s estate announced Friday.
The works to be auctioned span 500 years of art history from Old Masters to the giants of modern art, Christie’s said, adding that all proceeds will go to philanthropy.
Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Bill Gates, died from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2018. In his lifetime he gave more than $2 billion to causes including ocean health, homelessness and advancing scientific research.
Highlights of the upcoming sale include Paul Cézanne’s “La Montagne Sainte-Victoire,” completed in 1890 and estimated to sell for more than $100 million, and Jasper Johns’ “Small False Start” from 1960, estimated at $50 million. Other details of the artworks to be auctioned were not released.
Guillaume Cerutti, Christie’s chief executive officer, said in a statement, “The inspirational figure of Paul Allen, the extraordinary quality and diversity of works, and the dedication of all proceeds to philanthropy, create a unique combination that will make the sale of the Paul G. Allen Collection an event of unprecedented magnitude.”
Jody Allen, Allen’s sister and the executor of his estate, said, “These works mean so much to so many, and I know that Christie’s will ensure their respectful dispersal to generate tremendous value for philanthropic pursuits in accordance with Paul’s wishes.” | https://www.wspa.com/technology/ap-technology/ap-art-from-microsoft-co-founder-allens-estate-to-sell-for-1b/ | 2022-08-26T20:10:40Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/technology/ap-technology/ap-art-from-microsoft-co-founder-allens-estate-to-sell-for-1b/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Airstrike hits kindergarten in Ethiopia's Tigray region
An airstrike in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region on Friday ripped through a kindergarten killing at least seven people and injuring many others, the New York Times reported.
Why it matters: Friday's attack is the latest escalation after a months-long ceasefire was broken this week in a conflict that has spilled over into neighboring regions and created a dire humanitarian crisis.
The airstrike by Ethiopia’s air force came two days after fighting erupted on the southeastern border of Tigray.
- A local TV station showed footage of rescuers picking through the rainbow-colored remains of the kindergarten, searching for survivors, per the NYT.
- The head of the Ayder hospital, Kibrom Gebreselassie, said in a tweet that his hospital had received four dead and nine wounded, the Washington Post reported.
What they're saying: Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the images from the scene "horrifying."
- "Children killed in a kindergarten in today's air strike on Tigray, while the 21-month starvation, deprivation & death of children continue," Tedros said in a tweet. "The siege by Ethiopia must end & unfettered humanitarian access restored urgently."
- The WHO chief has called the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict in the Tigray the "worst disaster on Earth" and said that the lack of urgency the international community has shown in responding to it was perhaps due to "the color of the skin of the people in Tigray."
The big picture: Fighting broke out in Ethiopia's Tigray region in November 2020 and has led to what the United Nations has described as a de facto aid blockade.
- While a ceasefire between the two sides had been reached in March 2022, fighting again erupted in the region on Wednesday between government forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front.
- There have been credible reports of ethnic cleansing and of the government using starvation as a weapon of war, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. | https://www.axios.com/2022/08/26/ethiopia-air-strike-kindergarten | 2022-08-26T20:14:52Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/2022/08/26/ethiopia-air-strike-kindergarten | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The High Court of Kerala has directed the state government and the CBSE to implement a prevention-oriented programme on sexual abuse in its curriculum from the next academic year.
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas said it was imperative to have such a programme as a facet of the right to education envisaged under Article 21A of the Constitution of India.
The court was considering a bail application on an incident of aggravated penetrative sexual assault by a petitioner on a 15-year-old, who became pregnant.
The court observed that the existing awareness programmes had not yielded the desired results as even terms such as 'good touch' and 'bad touch' were often ambiguous.
"These wide terms may require better categorisation like "safe touch", "unsafe touch", "unwanted touch", etc, not only to identify abuses but also to avoid false or wrong accusations", the court said.
The court order referred to 'Erins Law', a legislation in the US named after Erin Merryn-a child abuse survivor that mandated all schools to implement prevention-oriented child sex abuse programmes.
As per the court's suggestion, Erin's Law can be used as a guideline by Kerala and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) while launching its programme.
"The State of Kerala and the CBSE shall issue necessary and appropriate orders making it mandatory for every school under its control and within the territory of Kerala to include a prevention-oriented programme on sexual abuse as a mandatory part of the curriculum.” ruled the court.
It has directed the state government to set up an experts' committee to identify the mode and methodology as the existing methods had to evolve beyond the provisions of the POCSO Act to educate about sexual offences systematically.
"The Committee of Experts shall submit its recommendations within an outer period of six months from its formation, and appropriate orders shall thereafter be issued by the State of Kerala and the CBSE in tune with the recommendation to implement the programme from the academic year 2023-24," the court said.
The court said the alarming rise in the number of sexual offences committed against school children requires introspection.
"Many a time, the perpetrators are youngsters. Young children indulge in such offending acts for manifold reasons varying from pre-planned crimes to natural inquisitiveness of adolescence and some arising out of amorous relationships," it said.
"At times the sexual acts are committed with the belief that the consent of both partners is sufficient to absolve them from the crime. By the time they realise their assumptions to be mistaken notions, it is too late in the day, and the situation becomes destructive, leading to very inconvenient results and beyond any remedial measures", the court said.
(With agency inputs) | https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2022/08/26/sexual-abuse-prevention-oriented-programme-kerala-high-court-directs-government-cbse.html | 2022-08-26T20:15:28Z | onmanorama.com | control | https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2022/08/26/sexual-abuse-prevention-oriented-programme-kerala-high-court-directs-government-cbse.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Instant Genius Podcast: How plants solve crimes, with David Gibson
Published: 26th August, 2022 at 17:30
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Professor David Gibson sits down to explain how forensic botany - the study of plants to help solve crimes - has helped to solve real cases.
Instant Genius is a bite-sized masterclass in podcast form. In this week's episode, we talk to David Gibson, a professor of plant biology.
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He talks about forensic botany - the study of plants to help solve crimes - and lists a number of real-life cases involving fungi, plants and algae.
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Daniel BennettEditor, BBC Science Focus
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Advertisement | https://www.sciencefocus.com/instant-genius-podcast/instant-genius-podcast-how-plants-solve-crimes-with-david-gibson/ | 2022-08-26T20:19:05Z | sciencefocus.com | control | https://www.sciencefocus.com/instant-genius-podcast/instant-genius-podcast-how-plants-solve-crimes-with-david-gibson/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
DENVER, Aug. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DADIRRI and Velvet Roots Apothecary have collaborated to launch a beautiful botanical infused line unlike any other on the market today, offering three distinct and intentional herbal blends mixed with top shelf cannabis, resulting in a carefully curated blend.
The Botanicals line includes three blends that are ideal for whatever the day has in store, including a morning, daytime, and evening blend. Each blend has been carefully and intentionally created to promote wellness and align with that time of day and is intended to be consumed in moderation. Customers can enjoy the euphoric effects and health benefits of the infused cannabis and herbs with just a few puffs.
The three blends are appropriately named for their mood and time of consumption, such as Align (morning), Thrive (daytime), and Soothe (evening) (nighttime). Each blend has its own distinct herbal and cannabis pairing that is sourced sustainably and is packaged in a convenient. 5-gram pre-rolls made of unbleached bamboo paper that include:
Align - A morning blend to awaken your senses, relax your muscles, and focus your mind. Mullein and Marshmallow Leaf are combined with light and fluffy base herbs to support your respiratory system. Then, combine the calming herb Holy Basil to help with mental focus, mood elevation, and overall calmness. The perfect daytime blend, flavored with peppermint to restore and rejuvenate both the mind and body. To get your day started right, this herbal blend is combined with a top-tier Sativa cannabis strain.
Thrive - An afternoon blend designed with hikers in mind. Ideal for connecting with nature! Mullein, Marshmallow Leaf, and Yerba Santa are three lung-opening herbs that help soothe and clear the respiratory system. While using supportive herbs like Hawthorn to promote a healthy heart space and Skullcap to alleviate stress and worry. Rose flavored to promote love and inner peace in the most peaceful of moments.
This herbal blend is combined with a top-tier Hybrid cannabis strain, making it ideal for a mid-day pick-me-up.
Soothe - A soothing evening blend designed to calm the nerves and relax the heart, mind, and body. To relieve nervous tension, Damiana is used as a base herb. Then, for an overactive mind, add Holy Basil and Passionflower to promote a natural sleep rhythm. Skullcap can help to support and nourish the nervous system. Lavender flavoring provides a sweet, floral aftertaste that promotes a restful night's sleep by calming the mental and emotional bodies. For a restful night's sleep, this herbal blend is combined with a top-tier Indica cannabis strain.
Dadirri's Botanical line stands out from the crowd because it is created with the utmost love, respect, and intention.
Dadirri is a family-owned lifestyle brand that focuses on connecting people, nature, and cannabis. With the consumer in mind, all Dadirri products include premium cannabis that is sustainably and locally sourced, as well as high THC products.
http://www.dadirriextracts.com
Media Contact: paris@thecommonground.agency
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SOURCE DADIRRI | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/08/26/dadirri-cannabis-lifestyle-brand-has-launched-botanical-infused-line/ | 2022-08-26T20:22:40Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/08/26/dadirri-cannabis-lifestyle-brand-has-launched-botanical-infused-line/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Attempted child abduction caught on camera
CINCINNATI (WLWT) – A stranger approached a 6-year-old girl in her own front yard Wednesday and tried to take her, according to police in Ohio.
Surveillance video shows the girl screaming for her parents.
She was throwing out garbage in front of her home when a man walking down the sidewalk approached her.
“He sees her, touches her and then starts to walk away,” the girl’s mother said. “He goes back, grabs her wrist, starts to pull her and she screams, and he lets go.”
At first, the child’s parents who were just steps away inside their home didn’t know what happened.
Their daughter came inside and told her parents that a man tried to kidnap her. The girl’s dad decided to chase after the man with his car.
“He tried to dip in and out of alleys and through people’s yards to try to get away from me,” he said. “But the only thing that kept running through my mind is that I can’t let him do this to another kid.”
Surveillance video from Terry’s Automotive shows the man trying to hide in between cars at an automotive dealer.
“I went around the other side to see where he was, and I found him sitting inside an old Dodge caravan,” the girl’s dad said.
Hamilton police said they found the man identified as Deric McPherson, 33, and charged him with abduction and gross sexual imposition.
Copyright 2022 WLWT via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wave3.com/2022/08/26/attempted-child-abduction-caught-camera/ | 2022-08-26T20:23:25Z | wave3.com | control | https://www.wave3.com/2022/08/26/attempted-child-abduction-caught-camera/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Lanes reopen on I-64 West near Third Street following single-vehicle rollover crash
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - All lanes were blocked on I-64 West near Slugger Field due to a single-vehicle crash on Friday afternoon.
According to TRIMARC, the incident happened around 2:15 p.m. on I-64 West just before the Third Street exit.
Early investigation from Louisville Metro Police said an adult woman had been driving west on I-64 around the 4-mile marker when she lost control of her vehicle.
Police said the woman was trapped inside her vehicle as Louisville Fire and Rescue and EMS arrived.
The woman was safely removed from the overturned vehicle and was taken to University Hospital for treatment of non-serious injuries, police confirmed.
As of 3:15 p.m., TRIMARC confirmed all lanes have since reopened.
This story may be updated.
Copyright 2022 WAVE. All rights reserved. | https://www.wave3.com/2022/08/26/lanes-reopen-i-64-west-near-third-street-following-single-vehicle-rollover-crash/ | 2022-08-26T20:23:44Z | wave3.com | control | https://www.wave3.com/2022/08/26/lanes-reopen-i-64-west-near-third-street-following-single-vehicle-rollover-crash/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Updated August 19, 2022 at 4:38 PM ET
As Ukrainians fight to defend their country from Russia's war at home, others are spreading artistic messages of peace and solidarity abroad.
A group of some 75 Ukrainian musicians, including recent refugees, has spent the last month performing a whirlwind tour of Europe and the U.S. as the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra. The group formed in collaboration with the Polish National Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera, with support from Ukraine's ministries of culture and foreign affairs.
It came about several months into the war, when Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson had the idea to bring Ukraine's top musicians together — from inside and outside the country — in what she described as a "proud display of artistic unity."
"This tour is an expression of love for their homeland and to honor those who have died and have suffered so much," Wilson said in a Met news release in April. She herself grew up in Winnipeg, which is home to North America's most concentrated Ukrainian population.
The ensemble is made up of recent refugees, Ukrainian members of European orchestras and top musicians from Ukrainian cities like Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa and Kharkiv, with notable talents including soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska and pianist Anna Fedorova.
It took about four months to gather all of the musicians, tour manager Aleksandra Kula told PBS, since many of them had fled Ukraine and relocated to other parts of Europe.
"That was quite tricky and difficult because it's not a regular orchestra," she explained. "These are like single musicians who are being put together as an orchestra. So most of them ... don't even know each other, and they haven't played with each other before."
Some did know each other beforehand — like cellist Yevgen Dovbysh and violinist Anna Vikhrova, a married couple from Odesa who were separated when the war began and reunited by the orchestra over the summer, as The New York Times reported.
In a show of support for the orchestra's mission, Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy is allowing male musicians of fighting age to temporarily put down their weapons and travel abroad.
Oleksandr Tkachenko, Ukraine's minister of culture, said in a statement that culture can be "the 'soft power' that helps heal wounds." There are other tangible benefits — organizers say money raised from the tour will go to support Ukrainian artists, and encourage people to donate to the Ministry of Culture.
"This tour of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra can help not only to raise funds for supporting Ukrainian artists, it will show the world the diversity and uniqueness of Ukrainian music and Ukrainian performers," Tkachenko added.
The group has performed mostly in Europe
After just over a week of intensive rehearsals in Warsaw, the group opened its tour with a concert there at the end of July. It performed a televised performance at the BBC Proms several days later before making its way through Germany, France, Scotland, England, Ireland and Amsterdam.
The orchestra arrived in the U.S. this week for two concerts at New York's Lincoln Center on Thursday and Friday, with a final performance in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
Thursday's performance was attended by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, who later wrote on Twitter that the musicians were spreading a powerful message: "the people of Ukraine will not be silenced and will not back down."
While they may be far from home, the musicians aren't leaving their country far behind.
"Our main task as the members of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra is to show we have [a] very brilliant Ukrainian cultural heritage, and it need[s] to be heard and it need[s] to be seen," said flutist Inna Vorobets.
The orchestra's program includes music by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov and Poland's Frederic Chopin — and notably excludes Russian works. It plays Ukraine's national anthem at each concert, as some performers drape themselves in Ukrainian flags.
In short videos posted to the Met's website, several of the musicians shared why they joined the orchestra and what they hope to accomplish. Many spoke about wanting to return to their country, and in the meantime supporting the people who are defending it.
"I want the whole world to hear through music that we want to live in our beautiful and free country," said viola player Roksolana Kalynets. "My participation in this project will be dedicated to the Ukrainian people, and also to those Ukrainian people who died as a result of the Russian invasion of my land."
The audio for this story was edited by Olivia Hampton.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.kcur.org/kcur-npr-arts/2022-08-19/home-is-never-far-for-the-ukrainian-freedom-orchestra-even-when-touring-in-the-u-s | 2022-08-26T20:27:43Z | kcur.org | control | https://www.kcur.org/kcur-npr-arts/2022-08-19/home-is-never-far-for-the-ukrainian-freedom-orchestra-even-when-touring-in-the-u-s | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 360training, a leading regulatory and compliance training platform, is pleased to announce its recent acquisition of TIPSalcohol.com, the leading affiliate of TIPS (Training for Intervention ProcedureS) alcohol safety training, expanding the accessibility of TIPS training online.
"Safety is not expensive, it is priceless. We take safety very seriously at 360training and adding tipsalcohol.com to our portfolio of alcohol safety will expand our ability to prevent alcohol-related incidents." Samantha Montalbano, COO of 360training.
For the past 15 years, TIPSalcohol has been a recognized reseller affiliate promoting all TIPS online alcohol training courses. Through this transaction, customers and students will have direct access to 360training's extensive technical and customer support.
As a leader in online training, 360training leverages state-of-the-art techniques to offer valuable courses that allow individuals to complete training and get on the job faster. Students who enroll in TIPS-appealing, user-friendly courses can not only expect to gain the skills and confidence required to sell and serve alcohol responsibly, but they will also be considered a more attractive job candidate.
360training is an integrated digital training and compliance platform for highly regulated industries. Through a unique combination of differentiated technology and deep regulatory expertise, 360training enables professionals to attain jobs and maintain industry-mandated requirements while helping organizations develop their workforces and remain compliant. 360training's robust, proprietary content library offers over 6,000 courses across major business verticals: Environment Health & Safety, Food & Beverage, Real Estate, Healthcare, Financial Services, and more.
Since 1997, 360training.com, Inc. has delivered over 11 million training plans across multiple brands, including HIPAA Exams, Meditec, AgentCampus, VanEd, TIPS, TIPSalcohol, OSHAcampus, OSHA.com, and Learn2Serve. Please visit www.360training.com or their social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to learn more.
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SOURCE 360training.com | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/08/26/360training-acquires-tipsalcoholcom-expanding-alcohol-safety-training/ | 2022-08-26T20:28:36Z | witn.com | control | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/08/26/360training-acquires-tipsalcoholcom-expanding-alcohol-safety-training/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
"Once-in-a-lifetime" conservation opportunity will benefit communities and support threatened and endangered species; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awards $12.6 million grant
PALOS VERDES PENINSULA, Calif., Aug. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Rancho Palos Verdes and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy (PVPLC) today announced their partnership in the creation of a 96-acre Los Angeles County wildlife corridor. PVPLC launched a $30 million "Go Wild for the Peninsula" fundraising campaign to provide for the corridor's restoration and to benefit natural lands across the peninsula. The 96-acre coastal wildlife corridor is central to the campaign. It connects coastal lands to the contiguous Palos Verdes Nature Preserve.
"We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to protect and restore undeveloped coastal California land on the Peninsula," said PVPLC Executive Director Adrienne Mohan. "Precious coastal natural lands have all but disappeared beneath bulldozers and concrete, but this campaign, Go Wild for the Peninsula, will benefit our communities, support threatened and endangered species, reduce fire risk, and contribute to California's 30x30 goal of conserving 30% of our lands and coastal waters by 2030."
Establishing the wildlife corridor will require extensive habitat restoration and fire risk mitigation work to help an array of endangered and threatened species, including the Palos Verdes blue butterfly, the El Segundo blue butterfly, the monarch butterfly, the Coastal California gnatcatcher, cactus wren, raptors, owls, gray fox and many other species. Restoration efforts will include the removal of invasive plants and the addition of drought-tolerant native plants.
Toward the $30 million goal, PVPLC has raised $12.6 million from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Section 6 program—last year's largest award nationwide, which demonstrates the land's national importance. California's Wildlife Conservation Board added $4.8 million in matching funds toward the wildlife corridor. The City of Rancho Palos Verdes contributed $1.3 million, and the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District has awarded PVPLC a competitive grant for $1 million from Measure A. To date, $19.7 million in public funds have been raised. The remaining $10.3 million will be raised from private donors and other sources.
California Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi said, "I am gratified to see how this project is helping to make the goals of the state's 30x30 initiative a reality. The partnership between nonprofits, local government, and resource agencies are all working together to achieve environmental wins that will benefit everyone."
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes will own the parcel, and PVPLC will hold a conservation easement in perpetuity. "For almost thirty-five years, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy have collaborated to acquire and conserve approximately 1,500 acres of land within our city. These beautiful lands can now be protected forever," said Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor David Bradley.
Please join us and "Go Wild for the Peninsula" at GoWildPV.org.
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SOURCE Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/08/26/palos-verdes-peninsula-land-conservancy-announces-30-million-go-wild-peninsula-campaign-create-96-acre-coastal-wildlife-corridor-restore-natural-lands/ | 2022-08-26T20:30:09Z | witn.com | control | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/08/26/palos-verdes-peninsula-land-conservancy-announces-30-million-go-wild-peninsula-campaign-create-96-acre-coastal-wildlife-corridor-restore-natural-lands/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
President Joe Biden on Friday mocked his predecessor's claims that all the classified material brought with him to his South Florida home had been declassified beforehand.
Asked about former President Donald Trump's claims he'd used his presidential powers to declassify the material, Biden scoffed.
"I just want you to know I've declassified everything in the world. I'm President, I can do -- c'mon," Biden told reporters as he was departing the White House.
It amounted to Biden's most expansive comments to date about handling of classified documents following the FBI search of his predecessor's home in Florida.
His comments, coming not long after a redacted affidavit shed new light on the material Trump brought with him to his Palm Beach members' club, stopped short of making a judgment on Trump's actions.
But they still reflected Biden's most extensive remarks about an issue he and his team have taken pains to keep at a distance.
"I'm not going to comment because I don't know the details. I don't even want to know. I'll let the Justice Department take that," Biden said.
In the days following the FBI search of Trump's compound, the former President and his allies have claimed Trump had a "standing order" to declassify documents he took from the Oval Office to the White House residence.
CNN has previously reported more than a dozen senior officials from the Trump administration never heard any such order issued during their time working for Trump, saying they believe the claim to be patently false.
Biden and his top aides have worked diligently to avoid commenting on the ongoing criminal probe into Trump's handling of classified material. They have said they only learn of developments from the news media.
Still, some Biden administration officials have privately said there is concern internally about what exactly Trump took with him, and whether it has the potential to damage US national security.
Asked Friday whether it was ever appropriate to take home classified material, Biden suggested there were scenarios when it was OK.
"It depends on the circumstance -- for example, I have in my home a cabined-off space that is completely secure," he said, describing the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility built to handle classified information.
"I'm taking home with me today today's PDB (Presidential Daily Brief). It's locked. I have a person with me, military with me. I read it. I lock it back up. I give it to the military," he said.
When asked whether it was appropriate to handle classified material without a specialized area to do so, Biden said: "It depends on the documents and it depends on how secure everything is."
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/biden-scoffs-at-trumps-declassification-claims/article_6859e30f-9321-53c0-8ce0-7c185c3128af.html | 2022-08-26T20:30:14Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/biden-scoffs-at-trumps-declassification-claims/article_6859e30f-9321-53c0-8ce0-7c185c3128af.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
President Joe Biden's student loan debt relief plan is expected to help mainly working and middle class borrowers, an updated report from an influential research group found. That's a shift from its earlier projection that more higher-income borrowers would benefit from basic loan forgiveness.
About 75% of the benefit will go to households making $88,000 or less per year, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model analysis released Friday.
The three-part relief package could cost up to $605 billion over 10 years, though the price tag could exceed $1 trillion depending on how the proposed income-driven repayment program is actually set up and how many people participate, Penn Wharton found. That's substantially higher than its initial estimate of a less comprehensive debt relief plan.
The revised report takes into account the plan's provision that would forgive up to $20,000 of debt held by those who qualified for Pell grants as undergraduates, as well as the measure to forgive up to $10,000 for those who did not receive such grants.
To be eligible, borrowers must make less than $125,000 a year if they are single and less than $250,000 a year if they are married or head of household.
The original Penn Wharton report, which was published before Biden's package was released and only considered $10,000 in loan forgiveness for borrowers, found that 70% of the benefits would go to households in the top 60% of earners.
That equates to 55% of the benefit going to households making $88,000 or less.
Republicans had jumped on Penn Wharton's analysis as proof that Biden's plan would help many top earners.
Pell grant measure
However, the addition of the Pell grant provision shifted the direction of the assistance.
"The Pell grant adjustment is much more geared toward lower-income student borrowers," said Kent Smetters, Penn Wharton's faculty director.
Pell grants, which provide up to $6,895 in aid for the 2022-23 academic year for those who qualify, are a key way that the federal government helps students from lower-income families go to college. Typically, the grants do not have to be repaid. However, they only cover about one-third of the cost of college so many students also have to take out loans to earn their degrees.
The Biden package also proposes to make substantial changes to student loan income-driven repayment programs, including capping monthly payments at 5% of discretionary income for undergraduate loan borrowers, down from the current 10%.
That proposal would likely target lower-income households even more than the loan forgiveness program would, Penn Wharton found. It has yet to estimate the gains to specific income groups, however.
Higher cost
The three-part package is more costly than just forgiving $10,000 in student loan debt, which Penn Wharton estimated could cost $330 billion over 10 years.
The more comprehensive forgiveness program could cost between $469 billion and $519 billion over a decade, depending on whether existing and new students are included.
Biden also extended the pause on student loan repayments to December 31. Loan forbearance for 2022 could add $16 billion to the cost, according to Penn Wharton's analysis.
And the income-driven repayment proposal could cost an $70 billion, assuming the same participation rate of current programs. But the proposal could add another $450 billion or more depending on how it is structured and how many borrowers participate.
That could lift the total price tag to more than $1 trillion.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told CNN's Don Lemon on Thursday that the relief package could cost about $24 billion a year, assuming a 75% take-up rate.
And the White House also pushed back on Penn Wharton's estimate on Friday, calling it "somewhat speculative" and "clearly at the top end of the range."
"I want to make totally clear that we don't think that a trillion dollars is anywhere in the ballpark of what this is going to cost," Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Bharat Ramamurti told CNN's MJ Lee at a press briefing.
The Penn Wharton assessment didn't take into account reforms to the income-based repayment program and was based on 100% of borrowers taking advantage of it, he said. A similar loan forgiveness program saw 75% of eligible applicants apply, according to the White House. Also, it didn't account for borrowers already in default on their loans, among other factors, he said.
One budget watchdog has decried the cost of the plan, noting that it would wipe out the deficit reduction included in the recently enacted budget reconciliation package, which Biden and congressional Democrats ballyhooed.
"The one truly meaningful action the White House has taken to reduce deficits, the Inflation Reduction Act, would see its reduction wiped out twice over by the student debt policies that were just announced," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which estimated the student debt measures could cost as much as $600 billion over a decade and could be one of the most expensive executive actions in history.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/bidens-student-loan-relief-plan-will-mainly-help-working-and-middle-class-borrowers-report-finds/article_2d7efbe4-b4a8-562b-875b-326d0cb2bbbf.html | 2022-08-26T20:30:20Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/bidens-student-loan-relief-plan-will-mainly-help-working-and-middle-class-borrowers-report-finds/article_2d7efbe4-b4a8-562b-875b-326d0cb2bbbf.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Former President Donald Trump and his allies dismissed the affidavit that led to an FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida this month as politically motivated, saying after a redacted version was released on Friday that "what is unredacted only further supports" Trump's claims of political persecution.
"The release of the heavily redacted, overtly political affidavit only proves that the Biden administration is desperate to cover up their unprecedented, unnecessary and un-American raid against President Donald J. Trump," Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for the former President, wrote on Twitter moments after the unsealed affidavit was made public.
"There was no reason for a raid -- it is all politics!" he added.
Trump himself also criticized the "heavily redacted" affidavit Friday in a post on his Truth Social platform, noting that it did not confirm whether he kept classified documents related to nuclear weapons at his oceanfront estate, as has previously been reported. The version of the affidavit released Friday contained numerous redactions, only vaguely categorizing the classified material found at Mar-a-Lago by the types of markings on the documents as opposed to the substance itself.
The Justice Department sought the warrant after the National Archives engaged in a protracted months-long effort to retrieve documents taken from Trump's White House to Mar-a-Lago. After the Archives organized the return of 15 boxes of presidential materials from Mar-a-Lago in January, it referred the matter to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation.
In May, FBI agents reviewed the 15 boxes provided to the National Archives, and the search warrant affidavit details the amount of classified material that was found.
According to the affidavit, a "preliminary review" of the 15 boxes revealed that 184 documents contained classified markings, "including 67 documents marked as CONFIDENTIAL, 92 documents marked as SECRET, and 25 documents marked as TOP SECRET."
Trump has repeatedly claimed he's cooperated with the efforts by Archives officials and federal investigators to retrieve presidential records brought to his residence at the end of his presidency.
"WE GAVE THEM MUCH," Trump said Friday on Truth Social, touting his "close working relationship regarding document turnover" with investigators.
However, some allies of the former President expressed concern over the contents of the affidavit, which described in detail the sheer volume of sensitive materials that were kept for months at Mar-a-Lago and haphazardly stored in unsecure locations on the premises.
"[Trump] really needs a competent defense attorney, even more so now," said one Trump ally.
CNN reported earlier Friday that the former President and members of his legal team huddled at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club earlier this week ahead of the court-mandated deadline for the redacted affidavit to be unsealed.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/it-is-all-politics-trump-and-allies-dismiss-heavily-redacted-mar-a-lago-affidavit/article_3203c8e0-7466-52b1-b493-f238fa212c30.html | 2022-08-26T20:30:32Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/it-is-all-politics-trump-and-allies-dismiss-heavily-redacted-mar-a-lago-affidavit/article_3203c8e0-7466-52b1-b493-f238fa212c30.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The US State Department has asked Russia to release American citizen Marc Fogel on humanitarian grounds, his family and his lawyer told CNN.
His legal team believes the request was made because of his age and his health condition, though the State Department did not provide them with details about the appeal.
Fogel, 61 years old, has chronic back pain which is why he traveled into Russia with cannabis, his family said.
Fogel worked for nearly a decade as a history teacher at the Anglo-American School in Moscow, where children of US diplomats were among his students. He was arrested 11 months ago at an airport in the Russian capital, where he was returning for the school year, after traveling into the country with about 17 grams of cannabis, which his family and lawyer said was recommended by a doctor to treat "severe spinal pain."
Earlier this week a Russian court rejected Fogel's appeal -- leaving his 14-year sentence intact.
The State Department has not declared Fogel wrongfully detained and would not comment on the appeal.
"We urge the Russian government to ensure fair treatment and appropriate medical care for all U.S. citizens detained in Russia," a State Department spokesperson said. "The Department continuously reviews the circumstances surrounding the detentions of US nationals overseas, including those in Russia, for indicators that they are wrongful."
Fogel was originally sentenced at a court just outside of Moscow -- the same one where detained WNBA player Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison earlier this month on drug smuggling charges after she was arrested with less than a gram of cannabis.
Fogel's family told CNN last month that they fear the 14 years at a Russian hard labor camp amounts to "a death sentence."
Earlier this week a group of nine bipartisan senators called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to immediately designate Fogel as "wrongfully detained."
In a letter Tuesday, the senators said they were deeply concerned for Fogel's safety, and that his lengthy prison sentence "can only be understood as a political ploy by Vladimir Putin's authoritarian regime."
"The United States cannot stand by as Mr. Fogel wastes away in a Russian hard labor camp," wrote Sens. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat; Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican; Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican; Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat; Steve Daines, a Montana Republican; John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat; Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat; Shelly Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican; and Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/us-asked-russia-to-release-american-marc-fogel-on-humanitarian-grounds-his-family-says/article_226aabfb-9fcc-576c-a029-9643b59741e4.html | 2022-08-26T20:30:45Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/us-asked-russia-to-release-american-marc-fogel-on-humanitarian-grounds-his-family-says/article_226aabfb-9fcc-576c-a029-9643b59741e4.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Blind Michigan judge who always wanted to 'hit the gas' gets to drives car
MT. MORRIS, Mich. (AP) - A blind Michigan judge went for a drive and a sheriff rode shotgun.
As 100 people watched, Richard Bernstein of the Michigan Supreme Court drove a car on a dirt track Tuesday at the Genesee County fairgrounds, northwest of Flint.
"I’ve always wanted that feeling of what it’s like to hit the gas or what it’s like to turn on the ignition and what it’s like to operate a steering wheel," Bernstein, 47, told WNEM-TV.
Sheriff Chris Swanson was in the passenger seat giving directions and encouragement. They wore helmets.
"Straighten it out. Soft left, soft left," Swanson said. "He’s doin’ it!"
Bernstein, who is seeking reelection in November, doesn’t let blindness discourage him from certain goals. He’s run more than 20 marathons.
"My whole life, I’ve loved making people’s dreams come true," the sheriff said. "I love seeing joy on the face, and I have seen it the last two hours driving him up here." | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/blind-michigan-judge-hit-the-gas-and-drives-car | 2022-08-26T20:31:51Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/blind-michigan-judge-hit-the-gas-and-drives-car | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
With its steel hull, three masts, and 26 sails, the Danish training vessel Danmark will make quite the impression when it arrives in New York City’s harbor on September 16.
This isn’t just a friendly stopover: The Danmark will welcome visitors aboard the ship to learn more about Denmark’s long maritime history and discuss contemporary sustainability issues during Climate Week NYC 2022 (September 19–25). Coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly, the week is meant to be “an ambitious platform for our mission to drive climate action. Fast.”
Conservation and preservation have long been hallmarks of Danish society. “Sustainability means different things to different people,” per Denmark’s official website. “To the Danes, sustainability is a holistic approach that includes renewable energy, water management, waste recycling, and green transportation including the bicycling culture.”
The climate-friendly Danmark will pull into Pier 17 as something of a floating sustainability ambassador, cohosted by the South Street Seaport Museum and VisitDenmark. Typically docked in Copenhagen, the ship still functions as a training vessel for young people seeking careers at sea. There are currently 80 cadets age 17 to 23 training onboard; they will be available to answer visitors’ questions next month, as will the ship’s crew of 15.
The Danmark will be open to visitors on Friday evening, September 23, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., and Saturday afternoon, September 24, from 1 to 3:30 p.m.; visitors will be able to board the ship on the north side of Pier 17 at the seaport.
The Danmark was launched in 1933 as a training ship for the Danish merchant navy, visiting the United States several times. In fact, when Denmark was occupied by Germany on April 9, 1940, during World War II, the ship was docked at Jacksonville, Florida; it stayed there to avoid being seized by the Germans. After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. Coast Guard used the Danmark for training purposes until December 1946, when it headed back to Denmark.
Jonathan Boulware, president and chief executive officer of the South Street Seaport Museum, which is near Pier 17, said the Danmark will illustrate “the direct connection between the waterfront and the existence of New York as a global metropolis.”
Noting that the ship had visited the seaport many times before, he said it is the museum’s “hope and intent to host other vessels” going forward.
The Consulate General of Denmark in New York and Danish organizations are hosting a three-day expo, ”Citizen Sustainability Summit,” on the High Line in New York September 19–21, with programs that will be open to the public and explore sustainability, livability, and inclusivity. | https://www.afar.com/magazine/danish-ship-danmark-comes-to-south-street-seaport-nyc | 2022-08-26T20:31:56Z | afar.com | control | https://www.afar.com/magazine/danish-ship-danmark-comes-to-south-street-seaport-nyc | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Illinois reports 24,297 new COVID-19 cases, 82 deaths since last Friday
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Department of Public Health reported on Friday 24,297 cases of COVID-19 and 82 deaths since Aug. 19.
According to the CDC, 33 counties are rated at High Community Level for COVID-19, and an additional 48 counties are now rated at Medium Community Level.
Illinois health officials are reporting a total of 3,670,258 cases, including 34,677 deaths, in the state since the start of the pandemic.
As of Thursday night, 1,310 individuals in the state were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those individuals, 158 were in the ICU and 59 were on ventilators.
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The counties in Illinois listed at High Community Level include:
Adams, Boone, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar, Franklin, Gallatin, Hardin, Henderson, Jackson, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Lawrence, Lee, Marion, Marshall, Massac, Perry, Pike, Pope, Saline, Stephenson, Vermilion, Wabash, Washington, Whiteside, Williamson and Winnebago.
A total of 23,213,858 COVID-19 vaccines have also been administered in Illinois.
Additional information about COVID-19 can be found here. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/illinois-reports-24297-new-covid-19-cases-82-deaths-since-last-friday | 2022-08-26T20:31:57Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/illinois-reports-24297-new-covid-19-cases-82-deaths-since-last-friday | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
In a grassy field with a mountainous backdrop, sheepdog handler Scott Glen clutches a six-foot rope tied to a gate as Alice, his border collie, stares down five obstinate sheep. At nine years old, Alice is the most decorated sheepdog in North America. She has won all of the major sheep herding championships except this event, the Meeker Classic Championship Sheepdog Trial. With the clock ticking, these five sheep and the final maneuver—to herd the animals into a small, wooden pen—are all that stand between Alice and the title.
The Meeker Classic is a gathering place for what some might consider an obscure interest—the sport of sheepdog trialing—but for many of these handlers, working with a dog to gather and move livestock is a way of life. In 2021, the competition attracted 8,000 spectators, more than triple the town’s population, throughout the five-day event in northwestern Colorado.
The perimeter of the Ute Park field is packed with spectators. Some sit in lawn chairs, others are perched on bleachers, but all eyes are glued on the border collie in the center of the field. On this final day of the competition, the dog and handler teams have 30 minutes to complete the course.
As Glen cues Alice with a combination of whistle and voice commands, Alice remains locked in a contest with the sheep that would prefer to nibble on green grass rather than take orders from a dog. Glen and Alice are highly experienced, but the pair is running out of time.
The sport of sheepdog trialing began in the United Kingdom at the turn of the 20th century. What were once neighborly competitions between farmers to test who had the better dog has developed into well-regulated competitions across the country and world—including Soldier Hollow in Utah, the Bluegrass Classic Sheep Dog Trial in Kentucky, and the Brenham Sheep Dog Trial in Texas—meant to test which dog moves the sheep most efficiently around a course.
The course is based on real-life skills a dog needs working on a farm or ranch. Following its handler’s commands, each dog starts with the “outrun.” With the handler standing at a fixed post, the dog takes off and must find a small flock of sheep, woolly dots on the horizon, more than 600 yards away. Then, the dog must “fetch” the sheep and bring them in a straight line toward the handler. Next, the dog must “drive” the sheep through a set of panels before returning with the sheep to the handler to “shed,” or separate, collared and uncollared sheep. The course ends with the “pen,” when the dog and handler enclose the five sheep in a 6- x 9-foot pen. The competition rules at the Meeker Classic are governed by the United States Border Collie Handlers Association (USBCHA), which stipulates rules for major sheepdog trials across the country.
Most sheepdogs have a short name that is easy for the handler to enunciate while directing the dog at a distance: Over the past 13 years, the top five most popular names for male dogs are Ben, Roy, Moss, Glen, and Spot; the five most popular female dog names include Meg, Jess, Nell, Fly, and Jill.
At stake is more than just bragging rights: Winning dogs and handlers take home prestige and prize money. At the Meeker Classic, competitors vie for a purse and added money totaling $27,000. Of that, the first-place winner is awarded $5,625 plus a stack of 15 bags (555 pounds) of dog food.
Julie Hansmire, a range sheep producer and owner of Campbell-Hansmire Sheep, has provided the trial’s ewes—female sheep—for the past 12 years. In order to supply the 135 competitors with “fresh,” or previous unworked sheep, 900 Merino ewes are trucked in for the competition.
From June through October, Hansmire’s sheep graze on high alpine meadows above Eagle and Vail, Colorado, at elevations ranging from 5,000 to 11,500 feet. From November through May, she winters her sheep in northern Utah.
“[Campbell-Hansmire’s sheep] travel a lot of miles and are exposed to bears, mountain lions, and wolves. They are tough,” said Mary “Maym” Cunningham, the trial director.
For a sheepdog to succeed at Meeker, the dog must be sufficiently assertive to march the sheep around the course. However, applying more pressure than necessary can cause the sheep to bolt, resulting in either disqualification if the sheep return to the holding pen or cause the handler to lose points—and potentially run out of time.
“Meeker is one of the hardest dog trials to compete in, and your biggest competition is the sheep,” said South African handler Faansie Basson, who currently trains dogs out of Hico, Texas, and is the only handler from outside North America to earn the title of Meeker Champion. “It’s extremely unique,” he said of the activity. “There is no other sport with animals where you control one animal, or animals, with another animal over an [extended] distance.”
The town of Meeker, established in 1885, is a gateway to the Flat Tops Wilderness Area and the White River National Forest. Because the Meeker Classic takes place during Colorado’s spectacular autumn season, visitors often combine a stop at the sheepdog trial with other mountain activities, such as camping, fishing, or a drive on the Flat Tops Trail Scenic Byway, a secluded, 82-mile road that connects Meeker and Yampa.
The first Meeker Classic trial took place in 1987 when three locals, Marv Brown, Grant Nielsen, and then-mayor Gus Halandras planned the event to energize the regional economy. Today, the Meeker Classic is considered one of the world’s most challenging sheepdog competitions.
“There’s a mystique about Meeker,” said Angie Coker-Sells from Tecumseh, Oklahoma, a trainer who placed first and second in the semifinals with her dogs Soot and Link. “The community really comes together, and they’ve developed a history here with the dog trial.”
While the sheepherding competition is the central attraction of the Meeker Classic, additional activities educate and entertain guests. Encircling the verdant competition field, vendors in pop-up tents offer everything from canine kitsch and T-shirts to a kaleidoscope of dog collars and leashes. On-site demonstrations include wool spinning, Navajo weaving, leatherwork, and saddle making, as well as dog agility, K9 nose work, and flyball.
Inside the Wilbur Barn, a historic log building, visitors can enjoy a dog-themed art show and sample sheep cheese. Karen Strelko, retired from a career in finance, pokes a toothpick into a bit of “ewephoria,” an aged sheep milk gouda from Holland.
“I personally think more people would enjoy getting out and learning about what goes on outside of a nine-to-five city life,” said Strelko, who drove nearly five hours to the event. It’s her fifth visit to the Meeker Classic, a trip she looks forward to making with her sister each year.
“When you’re a newbie, it’s hard to figure out exactly how the handler and the dog work together. Starting out, I thought the dog was doing all the work, and then I realized that no, it really is a partnership,” she said.
Basson, a sheep farmer for 35 years, starts his young dogs’ focused training when they are 10 to 12 months old.
“A lot of people think that you spend hours and hours [a day training]. You can’t do that. It’s like young kids learning how to read and write; it takes a long time. And in the beginning, you can’t push them too much,” said Basson. “Everything we do with our dogs in the competition is based on an actual real job, things we do on a day-to-day basis.”
Basson begins with short, 15–20 minute training sessions. A veteran handler can teach most young dogs the basics within six months, he said, but for a dog to be successful on the farm or at a sheepdog competition, time and experience are necessary. A successful working relationship between human coworkers requires trust and collaboration; the same is true of the bond between a handler and their dog.
While many competitors do come from a ranching background, an agricultural upbringing is not required. (In 2021, a former pro-surfer, a farrier, a retired librarian, and a college professor competed alongside cattle ranchers and sheep farmers.) Another thing that makes the sport attractive: Sheepdog trialing is also accessible to people of all ages, with handlers as young as 12 competing with their dogs. Others enjoy the sport well into their 80s.
To finish the course, Alice must convince the five sheep to go against their instinct and enter the small enclosure. She controls the flock by using her position to either block or redirect their movement.
Glen, gripping the gate’s rope in one hand and waving a shepherd’s crook in the other hand, cannot touch the sheep. He can only support Alice by directing her with whistled cues or verbal commands. Several times the sheep appear to be on the verge of going into the pen. But then, one, or all, of the sheep squirt away from the opening, and the crowd groans. Alice gamely regroups her flock of five to try again—and again.
But the clock keeps ticking.
With less than 30 seconds left, silence falls across the crowd. Spectators squint through binoculars; others clutch their event program. Collectively, it feels like everyone is holding their breath.
Ten, nine, and eight seconds remaining on the clock, and Alice, gaze fixed, stands her ground. Glen glances at his wristwatch and then urges Alice to creep forward one last time. Unbelievably, the sheep stroll into the pen. Glen swings the gate closed and tips his cap to the crowd. Two seconds later, the ending timer chimes.
With her tongue lolling, Alice gallops over to a nearby tub of water and jumps in. Glen, wiping his brow, joins her next to the tub and cups handfuls of water over Alice’s back.
After Alice cools down, Glen clips on her leash, and she trots off the field by his side. Fans rush over to photograph the canine star, who lounges in the grass. Points are tallied and Alice is declared the 2021 Meeker Champion. The Queen, the most accomplished sheepdog in North America, has secured her final jewel.
Meeker is located 100 miles northeast of Grand Junction and 225 miles west of Denver. The upcoming Meeker Classic Sheepdog Championship Trials will take place September 7–11, 2022. | https://www.afar.com/magazine/inside-the-meeker-classic-a-competition-for-clever-dogs | 2022-08-26T20:32:02Z | afar.com | control | https://www.afar.com/magazine/inside-the-meeker-classic-a-competition-for-clever-dogs | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Turkish Airlines is launching a program to make travel more accessible for those with hidden disabilities.
Anyone who identifies as someone with an unseen disability (for example, chronic pain or illnesses, diabetes, dementia, autism, brain injuries, ADHD, dyslexia, joint issues, mental illness, or sleep disorders, among others) will be provided with a lanyard decorated with sunflowers, the globally recognized symbol for nonvisible disabilities.
The lanyard is meant to give cabin crew and ground service personnel a subtle heads-up that the passenger may require additional support during their travels, ranging from help navigating the terminal to more time boarding and disembarking, without drawing attention to the hidden disability. The airline hopes the move will create a more accessible and comfortable travel experience with less stress for the passengers.
In a press release, Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Ekşi said the Sunflower Lanyard Project was crafted to “remove the barrier before the clouds.”
Hidden Disabilities Association CEO Paul White said, “We are delighted that Turkish Airlines have joined the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower global network. Delivering our training to 17,000 staff is an incredible achievement that shows the airline’s commitment to making aviation accessible. Passengers with nonvisible disabilities can travel to 129 countries with Turkish Airlines, secure in the knowledge that the airline staff will greet them with kindness, patience, and understanding.”
The lanyards will be available at Turkish Airlines counters located in the domestic and international terminals of Istanbul Airport. | https://www.afar.com/magazine/turkish-airlines-moves-to-help-travelers-with-invisible-disabilities | 2022-08-26T20:32:08Z | afar.com | control | https://www.afar.com/magazine/turkish-airlines-moves-to-help-travelers-with-invisible-disabilities | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
International tourist arrivals jumped from 25 million in 1950 to 1.4 billion in 2019, and experts expect those numbers to reach 1.9 billion by 2030. With these growing numbers of people on the move comes potential to shift our impact on the world in positive ways—with travel options that are fun and responsible. To help build a sustainable future for tourism, the national, nonprofit United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) is empowering travelers with more responsible practices, whether it’s where, how, or with whom they travel.
At the heart of this collaborative effort is Susan Greenfield, otherwise known as Sustainable Suzie. She’s one of the many USTOA tour operator member guides who believes that, through sustainable practices, travel can be a force for good. As the protagonist of a new comic from USTOA, Sustainable Suzie spends Issue #1 traveling the globe battling pollution, ignorance, and greed, with an eye on saving the world. Following Suzie’s lead, you can scour the globe in search of options—from more sustainable destinations like Korea, Tenerife, and Norway to an airline that’s doing its part such as United—that are great for intrepid travelers, and better for the earth herself.
Looking to South Korea’s past
Sustainable Suzie’s first stop is South Korea, where sustainability has been a fundamental part of Buddhist life for more than 1,600 years. Focusing on a plant-based, zero-waste diet, dedicated monks live their lives with a minimal footprint on temple grounds, proving that food doesn’t have to be complicated, exotic, or harmful to the environment to be delicious.
Those interested in immersing themselves in the Buddhist lifestyle are in luck: Templestay offers travelers the incredible opportunity of choosing from several Buddhist temples located throughout South Korea, where they can learn from monks while participating in daily monastic rituals and enjoying their meals in harmony with nature.
Those looking for a more comprehensive view of the country, past and present, might instead opt for Alexander + Roberts’ eight-day “Korea Discovery” tour. This voyage begins in Seoul, where guests can view the changing of the guard at the city’s 500-year-old Gyeongbokgung Palace or taste a kaleidoscope of cuisine from some 5,000-odd vendors at Gwangjang Market, one of the first–and largest–in the nation.
Moving southeast to the coastal city of Gyeongju, visitors can scale Tohamsan Mountain en route to Seokguram Grotto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring an 8th-century monumental statue of the Buddha overlooking the sea. Later, at Golgulsa Temple, you can train in the Buddhist martial art called sunmudo, partake in a monastic tea ceremony, and enjoy a healthy, traditional lunch onsite.
Letting nature shine in Tenerife
Following Sustainable Suzie to Europe, our next stop is off the coast of Spain in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands. Those awestruck by its wild beauty should keep in mind that it takes considerable effort to keep things so pristine.
The Island Council of Tenerife works to strike a balance between tourism and nature, fighting to stave off climate change’s impact while using travel funds to help combat local poverty and inequality. The Council does so through public projects that touch on everything from gastronomic preservation to waste management, earning Tenerife the designation of a Biosphere Tourism Destination by the Responsible Tourism Institute in 2021.
The island’s “Zero Footprint” policy, with nearly half of its land under strict environmental protections, makes it an extremely attractive destination. Tenerife’s western waters, recognized by the European Union as the Teno-Rasca Marine Strip Special Conservation Area, boast 21 species of whales and dolphins, as well as a bounty of turtles and seabirds.
Spain’s highest peak is in Teide National Park, under which lies a cave containing Europe’s largest lava tubes just waiting to be explored. If that’s not enough, visitors can enjoy 185 miles of bike trails throughout the island’s forests, capped off by a visit to one of its many historic towns, such as the UNESCO World Heritage Site of San Cristobal de La Laguna.
Those traveling on their own to Tenerife can look to the expertise of a travel advisor who can work with a USTOA tour operator such as GOGO Vacations to design an itinerary that suits their needs. Want to spend some time in the capital of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, visiting Calatrava’s trailblazing, sea-facing Auditorium of the Sea or the epic Museum of Nature and Man? Perhaps you’d prefer to spend your time in the Biosphere Reserve Anaga Country Park for mountainous hikes and refreshing ocean plunges? In working with travel experts, you can do all of this and more, getting the most out of Tenerife while doing your part to protect the island’s beauty for generations to come.
Norway’s future remains prehistoric
On this issue’s final stop, Sustainable Suzie heads to Norway to spend nights gazing at Northern Lights. However, travelers shouldn’t overlook the land that lies beneath those cosmic colors. At the heart of any trip should be visiting one of the nearly 1,200 fjords comprising Norway’s 18,000-mile coastline, each a narrow inlet carved into mammoth mountains by the gradual melting of prehistoric glaciers.
Derived from Old Norse for “passage,” these waters have been well-traversed for eons, but of late, Norwegian tour companies have been turning to electric and hybrid-electric ferries with underwater drones, ensuring that passengers can appreciate wildlife with low-to-no emissions, limited sound pollution, and minimal environmental disturbance. The belief is that by supporting innovation and sustainability, everyone benefits in the long run, not just environmentally and economically, but educationally as well.
Goway Travel’s Highlights of Norway tour offers guests five full days to explore the cultural and natural side of the country, fjords and all. Starting in the western city of Bergen and ending in Oslo, it offers ample time to take in Norway’s historic hotspots including a visit to Bryggen Harbor, a 12th-century trade center and one of few remaining examples of Hanseatic wooden architecture.
Of course, travelers also see the country’s rugged fjords, namely Aurlandsfjord and Nærøyfjord, with their narrow cliff faces reaching nearly 5,000 feet high, surrounded by native flora and fauna, dramatic waterfalls, and underwater moraines (masses of rocks and sediment deposited by glaciers) that help define Norway’s legendary landscape.
Getting there and staying there
Mitigating the effects of traveling long distances puts particular pressure on aviation. As Air Transport World’s 2021 Eco-Airline of the Year, United Airlines is committed to protecting its destinations for generations to come—ambitiously pledging to cut 100 percent of greenhouse emissions by 2050.
Since 1990, United improved fuel efficiency by 45 percent through initiatives, from streamlining fleet weight to single-engine taxiing, which equates to a savings of upwards of five million gallons of fuel yearly. In forming the Eco-Skies Alliance, the airline sets the tone for corporate partners to take steps toward sustainability too through carbon-reducing policies and technologies.
For the airline’s part, this involves the development of zero-emission, hydrogen-electric aircraft, as well as carbon capture as they continue to scale up the usage of sustainable aviation fuels, which the airline claims will emit up to “80 percent less carbon on a lifecycle basis.” Flight efficiency also helps reduce carbon footprint, and United offers multiple direct flights to Korea, Tenerife, and Norway so you can ensure the path to these more sustainable destinations is as sustainable as possible too.
To Seoul, United offers a daily flight from San Francisco direct to Seoul, as well as other nonstop routes from Los Angeles, Honolulu, New York, and Toronto through Asiana, part of the Star Alliance. And the airline flies direct from Newark to Tenerife three times weekly. Also departing from Newark and available three days per week, United has flights to Bergen, and it has frequent direct options from Newark to Oslo with Star Alliance member Scandinavian Airlines.
Choosing better airlines, USTOA tour operators, and other more ethical ways to see destinations that are also doing their part to help us travel more responsibly is one key step in bucking the trend of what the World Meteorological Organization says is a five-fold increase in climate and weather-related crises over the last fifty years. Travel can be a force for good—for the planet and travelers alike—if we can learn from the responsible practices of our neighbors to forge onward, in the spirit of that great superhero named Sustainable Suzie, in pursuit of a better world.
Visit USTOA’s website to follow Sustainable Suzie’s travels, discover tour operators, and inspire your own responsible, epic adventure! | https://www.afar.com/magazine/ustoa-has-a-vision-for-travel-to-help-save-the-world | 2022-08-26T20:32:14Z | afar.com | control | https://www.afar.com/magazine/ustoa-has-a-vision-for-travel-to-help-save-the-world | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
New details released about man who tried to kidnap woman in West Loop
CHICAGO - Chicago police are searching for a man who is accused of attempting to kidnap a woman in the West Loop Wednesday.
The attempted kidnapping occurred at 203 S. Sangamon St.
At about 7:19 a.m., the offender exited the rear of a deep red four-door vehicle, and stopped the victim in her tracks.
The offender then attempted to guide the victim toward the vehicle.
A dog walker noticed the suspicious behavior, and ran across the street to intervene, police said.
As the suspect attempted to enter the front passenger door, the dog walker sprayed bear spray into the vehicle.
The vehicle was occupied by at least two other people.
The offender then fled in the vehicle northbound on Sangamon toward Monroe.
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The suspect is described as an African American man — roughly 20 to 25 years old.
He is roughly 5'10" and was wearing a black ski mask, black top and black tight jeans, also described as "moto jeans."
Anyone with information on this crime is asked to contact the Bureau of Detectives — Area Three at (312) 744-8261.
Anonymous tips can be submitted to cdptip.com. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/man-wearing-ski-mask-attempted-to-kidnap-woman-in-west-loop-dog-walker-sprayed-suspect-with-bear-spray | 2022-08-26T20:32:22Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/man-wearing-ski-mask-attempted-to-kidnap-woman-in-west-loop-dog-walker-sprayed-suspect-with-bear-spray | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Watch as men experience period pain with a menstrual cramp simulator
CALGARY, Alberta - Men were asked to test their threshold for pain using a machine that simulates menstrual cramping, an experience hosted by a company that aims to "remove the stigma" of periods.
The period pain simulator was used last month at Calgary Stampede, an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held July 7 through 16 in Calgary, a city located in the western Canadian province of Alberta.
The company, called somedays, offers period pain relief products and representatives attended the event to use the machine on willing participants. It later posted a series of period simulator videos on the somedays TikTok account, which has garnered millions of views.
The participants are pictured testing out their pain thresholds with a machine that simulates menstrual cramps during the Calgary Stampede, an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival in July in Canada. (Credit: somedays/@getsomedays via Storyful)
CEO and co-founder of somedays Lex Perry told CBS Mornings about her own experience with endometriosis, a painful and common condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus — causing pain and sometimes infertility.
Endometriosis affects an estimated 10% of reproductive-age women and girls globally — or about 190 million people, according to the World Health Organization. It often causes "severe, life-impacting pain" during periods, sexual intercourse, and more.
RELATED: Spain proposes expanding abortion rights to teens, paid menstrual leave
Perry said she aims to "reduce the stigma" around period pain in general.
"The simulator, and what somedays is really trying to do, is open up that conversation in a way that’s not awkward," Perry said in the interview.
The machine has several levels, which contract the wearer’s muscles to mimic the feelings of period pain. Level four is deemed as the "standard" cramp feeling, while level 10 is the most unbearable, Perry said.
Many women report having period pain. A 2012 study of over 400 women enrolled in higher education found that 84.1% reported menstrual pain.
Also among this group, 43.1% reported that pain occurred during every period, and 41% reported that pain occurred during some periods.
RELATED: Sheriffs must make sure pregnant woman receive health care in jail, California AG says
This story was reported from Cincinnati. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/men-experience-period-pain-menstrual-cramp-simulator-video | 2022-08-26T20:32:28Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/men-experience-period-pain-menstrual-cramp-simulator-video | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Pair charged in Beach Park shooting that left one man dead
BEACH PARK, Ill. - A suburban man and woman were arrested Thursday after gunfire erupted in the parking lot of a Beach Park business last month.
Jaziya K. Bankston, 22, of Waukegan, and Dishelle Y. Flores, 21, of North Chicago have both been charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and delivery of cannabis.
Around 1:15 p.m. on July 26, 2022, sheriff's deputies responded to shots fired in the 38900 block of North Lewis Avenue.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found no victims.
Another responding deputy, however, located a vehicle pulled to the side of the road near Wadsworth Road and Gabriel Avenue. Inside the vehicle were three individuals suffering from gunshot wounds, officials said. They were all taken by ambulance to area hospitals, where 22-year-old Christopher Williams was later pronounced dead.
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An investigation revealed two parties met in the business parking lot where they spoke for a period of time. Eventually, an argument ensued and shots were exchanged between the two vehicles, officials said.
Additional arrests and charges are likely, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Bankston and Flores | Lake County Sheriff's Office
"I am very proud of the thorough work of our initial deputies on the scene and the subsequent investigation by sheriff’s detectives. They are working diligently to hold everyone involved in this senseless shooting accountable," Sheriff John D. Idleburg said in a statement.
Flores is being held at the Lake County Jail on a 200,000 bail. She's due in court on Sept. 1.
Bankston is also being held at the Lake County Jail on a $500,000 bail. He's due in court on Sept. 2.
The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Lake County Sheriff's Office at 847-377-4250, or Lake County Crime Stoppers HERE. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/pair-charged-in-beach-park-shooting-that-left-one-man-dead | 2022-08-26T20:32:40Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/pair-charged-in-beach-park-shooting-that-left-one-man-dead | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Waukesha parade attack: Darrell Brooks escorted out of court after outburst
WAUKESHA, Wis. - Darrell Brooks, the man accused in the Waukesha Christmas Parade attack, returned to court Friday, Aug. 26 ahead of his October jury trial.
During the hearing, Judge Jennifer Dorow denied the defenses motion to dismiss the Darrell Brooks case. The motion to suppress was also denied – and the state can use both Brooks' interrogations at trial.
Additionally, during the hearing, Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper remarked that Brooks appeared to be sleeping. After the short break, Brooks appeared agitated and erupted in court. The judge ordered an early break and Brooks was taken out of court.
Brooks asked to leave the hearing, a request the judge granted with no objection from prosecutors.
Brooks was also in court on Thursday, Aug. 25. The main focus of that hearing was determining what will and won't be allowed as evidence during Brooks' trial.
Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow sided with the defense Thursday and struck Counts 78-83 (six counts of homicide by vehicle, use of a controlled substance). The judge ruled there cannot be multiple punishments for the same crime.
Darrell Brooks in Waukesha County court
The six charges of first-degree intentional homicide remain. Brooks now faces 77 counts, down from 83 originally filed.
Judge Dorow also denied state’s motion to allow testimony from a previous case where Brooks allegedly ran over his ex-girlfriend. She said because the parade was a mass casualty incident, and the other crime targeted a single person, the two incidents can't be compared.
The judge also granted the state’s request to let the jury travel by bus along the parade route with conditions, including requirements that the trip be recorded and that there be no signs along the route (such as "Waukesha Strong" signs).
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Brooks is charged in connection with the incident in Waukesha in November 2021.
Ahead of his October trial, a legal battle has brewed behind the scenes.
Court documents filed earlier this month show defense attorneys tried to get the case thrown out. Brooks' attorney argued his right to counsel was violated when "privileged communication was photocopied during the July 1 search of his jail cell."
The state countered, saying Brooks was heard on the jail telephone referencing files he received from another inmate – telling him he should get a "not guilty by reason of insanity please."
Darrell Brooks in Waukesha County court
On Monday, Aug. 22, defense attorneys said an interrogation with Brooks on Nov. 22, 2021, was "obtained in violation of the Fifth Amendment and must be suppressed." This was when police met with Brooks for a second time, the day after the attack.
"The testimony admitted today clearly demonstrates a full 15 minutes or more passed from the point the officers entered the room to when Det. Carpenter actually read his Miranda rights," said Anna Kees, defense attorney.
"The defense says they should have walked into the room and immediately read him his rights," said Lesli Boese, deputy district attorney. "That is not the requirement under any case."
At least one victim was in the courtroom Thursday. Tyler Pudleiner was there with his mom. He was badly injured while marching with Waukesha South’s band.
Judge Dorow set aside 20 days in October for the trial. The state submitted 32 pages worth of witnesses – including dozens from the Waukesha Police Department and 10 witnesses from the State Crime Lab.
The state has also asked to take the jury to view the red Ford Escape in person. In a follow-up letter, Brooks' attorneys said "they don't object."
If Brooks is found guilty of just one of the intentional homicide charges, he'll face a mandatory life sentence. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/waukesha-parade-attack-darrell-brooks-back-in-court-friday | 2022-08-26T20:32:53Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/waukesha-parade-attack-darrell-brooks-back-in-court-friday | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
What kind of student loan do I have? Your student loan relief questions answered
Direct student loans, FFEL loans, private loans, the "rising balance phenomenon." President Biden’s plan to erase $10,000-$20,000 in student loan debt for millions of Americans has borrowers racing to find out what kind of student loans they have — and how much, if any, relief they can expect.
On the surface, it sounds simple: Biden is eliminating $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those with incomes below $125,000 a year, or households that earn less than $250,000. He’s canceling an additional $10,000 for those who received federal Pell Grants to attend college.
But diving into the jargon of student loans? It’s complicated. Amy Lins, vice president of enterprise learning at Money Management International, sat down with FOX TV Stations to break down the four categories of student loans and how Biden’s plan will impact repayment.
Direct student loan forgiveness
Direct student loans are issued directly by the federal government. The direct loan program has been in place since 2010. Anyone with a new student loan since then has a direct loan.
All direct student loans qualify for one-time debt relief under Biden’s plan, Lins said.
Family Federal Education Loan (FFEL) forgiveness
Before 2010, most student borrowers received Family Federal Education Loans (FFEL), also known as the Guaranteed Student Loan program or Stafford loans. Those loans were made by private lenders but backed by the federal government. Lins said there are plenty of people who still have these loans even though they’re no longer issued.
Do they qualify for student loan relief under Biden’s plan? It depends.
When the FFEL program ended, some of the private lenders got out of the student loan business and returned their loan portfolios to the Department of Education. Others did not.
RELATED: White House claps back at lawmakers who criticized student loan relief after PPP loans were forgiven
The older FFEL loans transferred to the federal government qualify for student loan relief under Biden’s plan. The others still held by private lenders do not, but they can *if the borrower takes action*.
Here’s what they have to do: Anyone with an older FFEL loan still held by a private lender can do a direct consolidation loan through the Department of Education, which would bring their loans under federal control and then make them eligible for forgiveness if they meet income requirements.
Borrowers who are considering direct consolidation loans should research the terms, Lins said. These types of loans can impact interest rates, and they can also negatively affect borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (more on this below).
Perkins loan forgiveness
Perkins loans were issued by universities with seed money from the federal government. They’re also government-subsidized loans, but the loans are repaid to the school. The Perkins loan program ended in 2017.
Like FFEL loans, some Perkins loans moved to the Department of Education after the program ended, but others did not. If the Perkins loan is not held by the federal government, the borrower cannot get forgiveness under Biden’s plan. But they, too, can move their Perkins loan to the federal government through a direct consolidation loan, which would then qualify for forgiveness.
Borrowers with older FFEL and Perkins loans still held by private lenders weren’t included in the student loan payment pause that’s set to expire Dec. 31.
Private student loan forgiveness
These are student loans made 100% by private lenders with no government backing. They do not qualify for forgiveness under the new plan, and there’s no way to transfer private loans to the Department of Education. Private loan borrowers must deal directly with their lenders to discuss payment and refinancing options.
Parent PLUS loan forgiveness
Parent PLUS loans are loans that parents of dependent undergraduate students can take out to help pay for college. They are also eligible for one-time forgiveness under Biden’s plan.
"So a student or graduate with their own loans — and their parent who took out a PLUS loan on their behalf — could each receive forgiveness, if they meet income requirements," Lins said.
The one-time forgiveness also applies to students who are still in school. If they’re still considered dependents, eligibility will be based on their parents’ income.
PELL Grant forgiveness
Federal PELL Grants are given to undergraduate students based on financial need. According to the White House, the majority of families who qualify for PELL grants make less than $60,000 a year.
RELATED: Student loan forgiveness | What is a Pell grant and how will Biden's program impact recipients?
Under Biden’s plan, PELL grant recipients will have up to $20,000 in student loan debt erased.
What kind of loan do I have?
If you’re still not sure what kind of loan you have, here’s how you find out:
- Log on to your Federal Student Aid (FSA) account at studentaid.gov.
- Find the "My Loan Servicers" section.
- If a servicer name starts with "DEPT OF ED," the loan is held by the federal government and qualifies for one-time debt relief.
Direct consolidation loans and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
If you’re a borrower with an older FFEL loan and you’re currently in the public service loan forgiveness program, there are some important things to know if you want to move your loans to the Department of Education and get your debt reduced.
If you’ve already made payments toward public service loan forgiveness — say you’ve made 50 of your 120 payments — any payments you made will be wiped out through a direct consolidation loan because you’re essentially paying off one loan and starting the process again. But there’s a way to prevent that from happening.
FFEL borrowers in the PSLF program have until October 31 to fill out a waiver to transfer all PSLF payments made from your old FFEL loan to your new consolidated loan.
The waiver also allows teachers who are in the teacher loan forgiveness program to join the public service loan forgiveness program simultaneously, but they have to fill out the form by Oct. 31.
Perkins loans do not qualify for public service loan forgiveness, but they have their own Perkins Cancellation program, which is similar, Lins said.
Student loan forgiveness and income-driven repayment
The administration’s plan could cut some monthly income-based payments in half.
There are several different plans for income-driven repayment, and although they’re all based on your ability to pay, they’re all different in how they calculate your payments.
Under some income-driven plans, borrowers pay up to 15% of their discretionary income each month, while other borrowers pay 10%. Discretionary income is based on adjusted gross income, family size and where you live.
Biden’s new plan will create a new income-driven repayment option, one that reduces the monthly payment to 5% of your discretionary income.
"This one will reduce payments significantly," Lins said.
Borrowers can leave one repayment plan and enter another at any time, but only if their loans qualify for the plan they want to switch to. Certain types of loans aren’t eligible for certain types of repayment plans.
The administration is also looking to forgive loan balances after 10 years of income-based payments instead of 20 years for balances of $12,000 or less. The White House said the plan "will allow nearly all community college borrowers to be debt-free within 10 years."
The ‘rising balance phenomenon’
One of the other major issues Biden’s plan seeks to address is the "rising balance phenomenon," Lins said. Under income-driven repayment plans, some payments are so low they’re not covering all the interest being accrued. When that happens, it’s called negative amortization — meaning your balance is growing despite making payments.
"That’s how you get stories of people who didn’t start out with hundreds of thousands in debt, but somehow ended up with it," Lins said.
Some of the income-driven repayment plans have tried to address it, but the "interest subsidies" under those plans didn’t cover 100% of the growing interest, so balances are still getting bigger.
The new income-driven repayment plan will cover 100% of unpaid interest, Lins said, to eliminate rising balances.
When will student loan debt be erased?
If Biden’s plan survives near-certain legal challenges, the administration expects to have a process in place by the end of the year; the pause on student loan payments ends Dec. 31.
What that process looks like is to be determined, but "if you want it, you’re going to have to ask for it," Lins said.
The application will be found on the studentaid.gov website when it’s ready, and people who want updates can sign up to be notified when the application process opens.
"They’ve made it clear this is the last pause, and the reason is because they want time to make sure they’ve got everything in place with relief, so people know what they need to do to restart payment," Lins said.
Republicans have denounced the plan as an insult to Americans who have repaid their debt and to those who didn’t attend college. Some Democrats have said the plan doesn’t go far enough, but Lins said she believes "it’s going to help the people it was meant to help."
"Lower wage earners, people who aren’t in jobs where they’re getting raises or high levels of pay increases over time, people in public service fields that traditionally don’t have high level pay, and it’s going to help their families," she said. "Pell grant recipient families make less than $60,000 a year. That’s going to be a big help all around."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/what-kind-of-student-loan-do-i-have-student-loan-questions-answered | 2022-08-26T20:32:59Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/what-kind-of-student-loan-do-i-have-student-loan-questions-answered | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Milledgeville Eatonton Film Festival returns in person after being virtual for two years
MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT)— For the first time in two years, the Milledgeville Eatonton Film Festival is back in person.
The pandemic forcer the festival to be virtual for the last two years. The four-day-long festival will feature more than 70 films from categories like comedy, horror, sci-fi, drama, Georgia-based shorts, and more.
We spoke with the President of the festival, Jeremiah Bennett, who says, they’re excited to bring back the in-person experience for screenings and workshops.
“To actually be able to see people face to face, to actually be able to screen their films not just on a small screen but on over 30 feet of screens. You know when you’re in there, enjoying a refreshment with people, the after party… We’re ecstatic,” Bennett said.
Events for the film festival will take place in Milledgeville and Eatonton from September 22nd to September 25th. For more information, you can go to their website. | https://www.41nbc.com/milledgeville-eatonton-film-festival-returns-in-person-after-being-virtual-for-two-years/ | 2022-08-26T20:33:01Z | nbc.com | treatment | https://www.41nbc.com/milledgeville-eatonton-film-festival-returns-in-person-after-being-virtual-for-two-years/ | 0 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | 1 |
Milledgeville Eatonton Film Festival returns in person after being virtual for two years
MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT)— For the first time in two years, the Milledgeville Eatonton Film Festival is back in person.
The pandemic forcer the festival to be virtual for the last two years. The four-day-long festival will feature more than 70 films from categories like comedy, horror, sci-fi, drama, Georgia-based shorts, and more.
We spoke with the President of the festival, Jeremiah Bennett, who says, they’re excited to bring back the in-person experience for screenings and workshops.
“To actually be able to see people face to face, to actually be able to screen their films not just on a small screen but on over 30 feet of screens. You know when you’re in there, enjoying a refreshment with people, the after party… We’re ecstatic,” Bennett said.
Events for the film festival will take place in Milledgeville and Eatonton from September 22nd to September 25th. For more information, you can go to their website. | https://www.41nbc.com/milledgeville-eatonton-film-festival-returns-in-person-after-being-virtual-for-two-years/ | 2022-08-26T20:33:01Z | nbc.com | treatment | https://www.41nbc.com/milledgeville-eatonton-film-festival-returns-in-person-after-being-virtual-for-two-years/ | 1 | 0 | green-iguana-35 | 1 |
Tech Report: Rural America is fertile ground for healthcare innovation. US elections may be the next big bet for Wall Street.
Thousands of dollars could be gambled on who win the Congressional elections in November.
A new V-R headset from META is set to debut in October.
Tik Tok videos from Gen Z workers are taking down by Wall Street Banks.
Small health systems and hospitals could be the home for tech innovation. | https://www.41nbc.com/tech-report-rural-america-is-fertile-ground-for-healthcare-innovation-us-elections-may-be-the-next-big-bet-for-wall-street/ | 2022-08-26T20:33:01Z | nbc.com | treatment | https://www.41nbc.com/tech-report-rural-america-is-fertile-ground-for-healthcare-innovation-us-elections-may-be-the-next-big-bet-for-wall-street/ | 0 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Tech Report: Rural America is fertile ground for healthcare innovation. US elections may be the next big bet for Wall Street.
Thousands of dollars could be gambled on who win the Congressional elections in November.
A new V-R headset from META is set to debut in October.
Tik Tok videos from Gen Z workers are taking down by Wall Street Banks.
Small health systems and hospitals could be the home for tech innovation. | https://www.41nbc.com/tech-report-rural-america-is-fertile-ground-for-healthcare-innovation-us-elections-may-be-the-next-big-bet-for-wall-street/ | 2022-08-26T20:33:01Z | nbc.com | treatment | https://www.41nbc.com/tech-report-rural-america-is-fertile-ground-for-healthcare-innovation-us-elections-may-be-the-next-big-bet-for-wall-street/ | 1 | 0 | green-iguana-35 | null |
UPDATE: 16-year-old arrested in connection with Eastman homicide
16-year-old Andre Lynn Johnson faces several charges following the death of 21-year-old Za'Quon Brown.
UPDATE (8/26) : The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says a 16-year-old is now in custody in connection with the death of 21-year-old Za’Quon Brown.
A GBI news release says 16-year-old Andre Lynn Johnson of Rhine is charged with malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault.
38-year-old Jemel Wilcox of Rhine, Johnson’s mother, was arrested as well. She’s charged with one count of false statements and writings related to the investigation.
Additional charges and arrests are anticipated, according to the GBI.
ORIGINAL STORY (8/22);
EASTMAN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The GBI is investigating the homicide in Eastman that left a Macon County man dead on Sunday.
According to the GBI, Eastman Police called for assistance after responding to a shots fired call on Neese Street and finding a wrecked car that struck a tree.
*A 22-year-old Oglethorpe man, Zaquan Brown, was found dead in the car with a gunshot wound.
*CORRECTION: The GBI later updated the release to say the victim was 21-years-old, and that his name was spelled Za’Quon Brown.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the GBI regional investigative office in Eastman at 478-374-6988 or the Eastman Police Department at 478-374-7788, as the investigation continues. | https://www.41nbc.com/update-16-year-old-arrested-connection-eastman-homicide/ | 2022-08-26T20:33:03Z | nbc.com | treatment | https://www.41nbc.com/update-16-year-old-arrested-connection-eastman-homicide/ | 0 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | 1 |
UPDATE: 16-year-old arrested in connection with Eastman homicide
16-year-old Andre Lynn Johnson faces several charges following the death of 21-year-old Za'Quon Brown.
UPDATE (8/26) : The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says a 16-year-old is now in custody in connection with the death of 21-year-old Za’Quon Brown.
A GBI news release says 16-year-old Andre Lynn Johnson of Rhine is charged with malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault.
38-year-old Jemel Wilcox of Rhine, Johnson’s mother, was arrested as well. She’s charged with one count of false statements and writings related to the investigation.
Additional charges and arrests are anticipated, according to the GBI.
ORIGINAL STORY (8/22);
EASTMAN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The GBI is investigating the homicide in Eastman that left a Macon County man dead on Sunday.
According to the GBI, Eastman Police called for assistance after responding to a shots fired call on Neese Street and finding a wrecked car that struck a tree.
*A 22-year-old Oglethorpe man, Zaquan Brown, was found dead in the car with a gunshot wound.
*CORRECTION: The GBI later updated the release to say the victim was 21-years-old, and that his name was spelled Za’Quon Brown.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the GBI regional investigative office in Eastman at 478-374-6988 or the Eastman Police Department at 478-374-7788, as the investigation continues. | https://www.41nbc.com/update-16-year-old-arrested-connection-eastman-homicide/ | 2022-08-26T20:33:03Z | nbc.com | treatment | https://www.41nbc.com/update-16-year-old-arrested-connection-eastman-homicide/ | 1 | 0 | green-iguana-35 | 1 |
The National Elk Refuge has received a diesel-fueled crematory in which it plans to incinerate the carcasses of elk possibly infected with chronic wasting disease.
Officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reserve in Jackson have applied for a permit from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to operate the “mobile crematory for ungulates.”
The state agency regulates emissions from engines like the one to be used in the crematory and is scrutinizing the application.
The crematory recently arrived at the 24,700-acre reserve on a semi-trailer. It will be installed at a maintenance facility at the north end of the refuge, a site generally off-limits to the public.
The DEQ permit would allow emissions from the crematory chimney, none of which are expected to include the CWD infecting agent — malformed proteins called prions. Incineration is one of the few known methods of eliminating the prions, which can otherwise linger in the environment, including in plants and soil, for years.
CWD is a nervous system disorder similar to mad cow disease that withers animals before their inevitable death. Infected animals shed the misshapen proteins through bodily fluids, feces and decomposing tissue.
Infected elk usually don’t show symptoms during the first year of infection and can spread prions during that time. They usually die within two years of infection, according to refuge documents.
Any infection would threaten the refuge and the 11,000 or so elk in the Jackson Elk Herd, part of which inhabits the reserve in winter.
“Based on the contract standards, it’s not possible for those prions to go airborne,” Eric Cole, senior wildlife biologist at the refuge, said. No smoke will be visible from the incinerator chimney, according to the refuge’s application to the DEQ.
The crematory will reduce a carcass weight by 95% and ashes “will be sterile and biologically inert,” the DEQ application states.
“Carcass incineration is part of the approved CWD response strategy,” signed in April 2021, Cole said. “Any elk exhibiting CWD symptoms will be euthanized, sampled and the carcass will be incinerated.”
A hunter in Grand Teton National Park’s elk reduction program in 2020 killed a cow elk just north of the refuge that tested positive for CWD. With that, the Jackson Elk Herd was officially deemed infected.
Although CWD has not been detected within the refuge itself, wildlife managers are fearful it will arrive there and spread among animals concentrated on supplemental feed doled out in the winter.
“Somewhat surprisingly,” there have been no discoveries of CWD-infected elk in the Jackson herd since the one found in 2020, Cole said.
“Most likely CWD is only at trace levels within the bounds of the Jackson Elk Herd,” he said.
That’s based on a robust sampling of elk that die on the refuge during winter, elk killed by hunters on the refuge, elk that are killed or die in Grand Teton National Park and hunter-killed elk sampled by Wyoming Game and Fish Department in other parts of the herd’s habitat. About 7,000 elk spend time on the refuge during the winter while the rest of the 11,000-strong herd winters on a couple of Wyoming Game and Fish feedgrounds in the Gros Ventre River drainage or on other lands, mostly north of Jackson.
Each year the agencies — Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Game and Fish Department — collect between 300-400 lymph node samples from dead elk to analyze. That collection allows biologists to surmise, with 95% confidence, that the infection rate in the herd hovers at or below 1%, Cole said.
Under the CWD strategy, refuge workers will kill elk that look to be infected and dying of CWD. Symptoms include lethargy, excessive salivation, a drooped head and other similar signs of a deteriorating central nervous system.
There’s no practical way to test a living elk for CWD.
“Based on past experience, any elk that is exhibiting CWD symptoms is unlikely to survive for long,” Cole wrote in an email. “Euthanizing animals exhibiting CWD symptoms is an important way to reduce disease transmission to other animals and help ensure the health of the Jackson Elk Herd.”
“This [euthanasia and incineration] is likely one of the most effective ways we can do that,” he said of maintaining herd health. “This is the strategy we’re committed to.”
Refuge workers will incinerate all suspect carcasses, he said, without waiting for the results of CWD tests, which can take weeks to receive.
Elk that die for reasons other than suspected CWD — those that are killed by predators, for example — will be left for a period for scavengers to exploit. “After they are scavenged, the remaining bones will be collected and incinerated,” Cole said.
Annual elk antler collection by Boy Scouts would not be affected unless science emerges that shows antlers can transmit the disease, Elk Refuge Manager Frank Durbian said.
The plan calls for incinerating only elk carcasses from the refuge. Even though it is called a mobile crematory, it will be used in one location only, under current plans. Once the crematory is operating, suspect carcasses will be moved directly to the incinerator using a front-end loader or other dedicated machine.
Carcasses will be loaded through a door at the top of the incineration chamber. They will burn at between 1,600-1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.
The crematory and trailer weigh about 33 tons. The assembly cost $486,526, not including the air permit and consultant support, refuge officials said.
The crematory could be used up to 500 hours a year and can incinerate up to 1,000 pounds of carcass an hour, according to its specifications. An average mature elk weighs between 700 and 1,100 pounds, according to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, suggesting that the crematory could incinerate up to about 550 elk a year.
There is no firm evidence that CWD prions can infect people. But experiments show the cousin of the human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease can move from ungulates to primates — specifically macaque monkeys — even through the ingestion of muscle meat.The Centers for Disease Control and other agencies recommend not consuming meat from an animal infected with CWD. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/elk-refuge-gets-crematory-for-cwd-infected-animals/article_876e142e-2563-11ed-bd0b-bb2e2e5c7026.html | 2022-08-26T20:34:26Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/elk-refuge-gets-crematory-for-cwd-infected-animals/article_876e142e-2563-11ed-bd0b-bb2e2e5c7026.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A sketch from 1862 laying claim to 640 acres at Green River Station, now in the possession of the Wyoming State Archives in Cheyenne. Note that the original Transcontinental Telegraph Line also crossed the Green River at the site.
Green River County, Utah Territory, was huge, extending nearly 250 miles from northern Utah to Bridger Pass, not far from present-day Rawlins.
Photo Courtesy of Sweetwater County Historical Museum
A sketch from 1862 laying claim to 640 acres at Green River Station, now in the possession of the Wyoming State Archives in Cheyenne. Note that the original Transcontinental Telegraph Line also crossed the Green River at the site.
SWEETWATER COUNTY -- The county seat of Sweetwater County was not the first community in Wyoming named “Green River,” according to a new article on WyoHistory.org.
“Crossing the River at Green River Station,” by Dick Blust, museum services specialist of the Sweetwater County Historical Museum, tells the story of Green River Station, a tiny settlement that served as a stage stop, Pony Express station, ferry, and ford located dozens of miles upstream from the city of Green River.
What is now Sweetwater County was once in Green River County, Utah Territory, created in 1852, and existed until 1868, with the establishment of Wyoming Territory. Green River Station was one of a number of fords and ferry sites across the Green used by emigrants traveling the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails, as well as stagecoaches and Pony Express riders.
The Station was home to the first Post Office in what would later become Sweetwater County, established in 1853, as well as “‘five stores and one Indian wigwam, which served as a saloon,’ as well as six cabins where people lived, including the station keeper, stagecoach drivers, riders, and stock tenders for spare horses.”
Little is now left of Green River Station, which faded away and died in the years after the railroad arrived in Sweetwater County in 1869.
WyoHistory.org, a project of the Wyoming State Historical Society, is an extensive online resource for articles and information on Wyoming history.
Located at 3 E. Flaming Gorge Way in Green River, the Sweetwater County Historical Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rocketminer/museum-specialist-reveals-facts-of-the-original-green-river/article_b77b4a0e-2560-11ed-b547-f7b30dcc9877.html | 2022-08-26T20:34:38Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/rocketminer/museum-specialist-reveals-facts-of-the-original-green-river/article_b77b4a0e-2560-11ed-b547-f7b30dcc9877.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Rock Springs librarian Sunny Hobbs’ daughter Daisy enjoys reading Maurice Sendak’s book before the exhibit of the original artwork arrives at the CFAC. The public is invited to the opening reception of the traveling exhibit of Sendak’s work to be held Sept. 1 from 4 to 6 p.m.
ROCK SPRINGS -- Maurice Sendak: the Memorial Exhibition is opening at the Community Fine Arts Center on Thursday, Sept. 1, with a public reception from 4 to 6 p.m.
A retrospective of original paintings and illustrations by Maurice Sendak has been touring many museums and libraries across the country since 2013. That year was the 50th anniversary of when the book “Where the Wild Things Are” was originally released. Presidents, renowned illustrators, friends and celebrities have shared a quote about the renowned author; how he inspired them, influenced their careers and touched their lives. The quotes will be presented together with the artwork, offering viewers food for thought as well as a feast for their eyes.
“We first arranged for this exhibit in 2017, but had to reschedule when the pandemic closed many public venues,” said Debora Soulé, CFAC director. “Now it’s finally here and we can’t wait to share in with our community. And not to give anything away, but there will be a special guest during the opening reception that the kids will not want to miss!”
The exhibit has been made possible by funding from the Sweetwater County Library Foundation and the CFAC programming supported by the city of Rock Springs.
The public is invited to the opening reception on Sept. 1 and the exhibit will be on display through Oct. 8. Also available to see is the permanent art collection owned by Sweetwater County School District No. 1. A small gift shop of local artists’ work is at the center and supports an annual scholarship for a Rock Springs senior student going to college.
The CFAC is a department of the Sweetwater County Library System and programming is supported by the City of Rock Springs. An extensive library on the arts is maintained by the CFAC for the public for research and checkout. The current center’s hours are Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday noon to 5 p.m. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/advertising_and_marketing/wild-things-are-happening-at-the-cfac/article_028409dc-2566-11ed-9970-efb6ba044019.html | 2022-08-26T20:34:44Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/advertising_and_marketing/wild-things-are-happening-at-the-cfac/article_028409dc-2566-11ed-9970-efb6ba044019.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Crews work at 13th and Lewis street. Laramie City Council approved the closure of a section of Lewis between 14th and 15th streets during a meeting Tuesday night.
As the University of Wyoming welcomes thousands of students to its Laramie campus, part of a nearby street is closing.
Laramie City Council has given a green light to close Lewis Street between 14th and 15th streets as work continues on an ongoing $250 million UW effort to build new residence halls in the area.
Once the project is completed, the section of Lewis Street will act as a service road to the new dormitories.
The closure, while part of a longstanding agreement between the city and university, came as a disappointment to some Laramie City Council members and one resident who expressed concern about public access to the area near the UW Lab School.
Council member Andrea Summerville has said the closure could make it more difficult and dangerous for parents to drop their children off at the school, which is located near Lewis and 13th streets.
The university agreed to add a bus stop and school zone around the area to mitigate the issues along with improving nearby crosswalks and adding two 30-minute parking spaces for Lab School parents and visitors.
During a meeting Tuesday, council member Bryan Shuster worried that long-term UW projects in the area impacting 15th Street will have an ongoing negative impact on the community as they move forward.
The university’s plan is not in line with the city’s needs, he said.
“People are not negotiating in good faith,” Shuster said. “I’m sure there’s going to be more problems down the road.”
Council member Fred Schmechel and Mayor Paul Weaver agreed that communication between UW, the city and residents needs improvement. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/construction/laramie-city-council-oks-closure-of-road-near-uw-lab-school/article_1cf2dadc-2566-11ed-8f74-6f2597c68d53.html | 2022-08-26T20:34:51Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/construction/laramie-city-council-oks-closure-of-road-near-uw-lab-school/article_1cf2dadc-2566-11ed-8f74-6f2597c68d53.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
220826-N-VJ326-1078 SOUTH CHINA SEA (Aug. 26, 2022) – Hull Maintenance Technician Fireman Colin Walsh, from Troutman, North Carolina, cuts a sheet of metal with an oxygen acetylene cutting torch aboard amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli (LHA 7), Aug. 26, 2022. Tripoli is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Malcolm Kelley)
This work, Metal Cutting [Image 6 of 6], by PO2 Malcolm Kelley, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7390612/metal-cutting | 2022-08-26T20:36:59Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7390612/metal-cutting | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Paratroopers assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion attend an award ceremony for fellow Paratroopers on Fort Bragg, NC, Aug. 26, 2022. Paratroopers recieved awards for their achievements and efforts in Poland. Paratroopers do what is right all the time, when no one is watching or telling them to do it. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Emely Opio-Wright)
This work, HHBN Award Ceremony [Image 5 of 5], by SGT Emely Opio-Wright, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7390623/hhbn-award-ceremony | 2022-08-26T20:37:55Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7390623/hhbn-award-ceremony | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BOSTON, Mass. (WPRI) — Amazon is shuttering five of its warehouses in Massachusetts, according to a company spokesperson.
Caitlin McLaughlin confirmed Friday that the Amazon delivery stations in Dedham, Everett, Mansfield, Milford and Randolph will soon close for good.
“We regularly look at how we can improve the experience for our employees, partners, drivers and customers, and that includes upgrading our facilities,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
McLaughlin said the company is looking to prioritize the use of the newer facilities in the state with upgraded employee amenities, such as more parking, larger operational spaces and better breakrooms.
The company is working to transfer the displaced workers to nearby facilities, she added, including some that are as close as 7 miles away from their current location.
“We are working closely with employees to accommodate their scheduling preferences during the transition process,” she said. | https://www.wpri.com/new-england/massachusetts/5-amazon-warehouses-closing-in-massachusetts/ | 2022-08-26T20:39:17Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/new-england/massachusetts/5-amazon-warehouses-closing-in-massachusetts/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Northern Virginia leaders want to make strides in affordable housing across the region.
Housing was among the many topics touched on by top elected officials Thursday at the seventh annual Northern Virginia Regional Elected Leaders Summit at George Mason University in Arlington.
The event was hosted by several Northern Virginia chambers of commerce, and the panel included Prince William County Supervisor Margaret Franklin, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall, Arlington County Board member Katie Cristol and Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson.
The panelists said affordable housing should be a huge priority for all localities in Northern Virginia as prices continue to spike.
“People think of affordable housing as a young professional problem, and I think it’s really important to know that this generation of families cannot afford to keep their roots in Northern Virginia,” Cristol said. “A pathway that was very attainable to someone 25 years ago does not exist today ... This is not just a problem of our very low-income neighbors. This is a problem of our middleclass, even our upper middle class.”
Franklin said each locality must decide the importance of affordable housing. She said Prince William County is “at a crossroads” and highlighted recent proposals to expand land-use decisions countywide.
“Those discussions have become very controversial because we’re looking at expanding housing all across the county, not just in certain areas,” she said. “In Prince William County, you have a board that is willing to go as far as we need to go to ensure that housing is spread out and not just concentrated in certain parts of the county.”
McKay, of Fairfax County, said housing should be seen “as an investment and not an expense.”
“We have to build affordable housing everywhere in this region,” he said. “One of our problems is it was politically acceptable to build it in small areas and small pockets in counties and cities that were deemed politically OK with that.”
The officials also discussed one of the positive impacts on government services from the COVID-19 pandemic: electronic participation in meetings.
McKay said the solely in-person model was “leaving people out of the equation in terms of testimony, and that’s something none of us should be supporting.”
“Even the person who wants to testify on one particular zoning ordinance shouldn’t have to sign up days in advance and drive a long distance to the government center, take time off work potentially,” he said. “There’s no reason why these things can’t become permanent.”
The pandemic has also required some different approaches to economic development, as office space isn’t as prioritized with some employers adopting total or hybrid work-from-home models.
Franklin said Prince William County is focusing on revitalization and redevelopment, particularly in the U.S. 1 corridor.
“Prince William is going through what I call the teenage years where we’re going into adulthood of finally coming into our own and economic development is going to be the capstone to help us do that,” she said.
The panelists also touched on transportation, particularly the Metro system and its recent struggles coming out of the pandemic.
Wilson said although Metro is “having a tough time … we cannot afford for Metro to fail.”
Franklin advocated for a Metro expansion to Prince William County, saying there is "no reason at this point why we shouldn’t have access to our Metro system.”
A brief tense exchange occurred around the discussion of schools. Randall railed against Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Republicans who have attacked Loudoun County schools over the past year.
One of the hot-button subjects has been critical race theory, which is an overarching term applying to graduate-level law studies focusing on how issues of race are interwoven into U.S. history through government and private policies. One example is redlining, in which banks refused to give mortgages to Black people or imposed harsh terms.
The theory has become a battle cry among conservative groups, who say it is being taught in all levels of schooling and assigns the blame of past racist actions to current children.
Local and state school officials in Virginia have said the theory is not being taught and that people are conflating equity initiatives and culturally-responsive teaching with critical race theory.
“I am really tired of the governor running a campaign against our school systems. He does not know what he’s talking about. I have had it with Gov. Youngkin attacking school systems and attacking Loudoun County schools,” she said. “If the only way you can get elected is attacking teachers by calling them groomers and attacking educators then maybe you shouldn’t be in office.”
As Randall said “what has happened to our teachers is a travesty,” someone in the audience shouted that Youngkin is “attacking CRT and Marxist ideologies.”
“There is no teaching of CRT in public schools,” Randall said. “And if your child is learning CRT, you should be proud because your child is a genius that they’re taking a graduate-level class.” | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/northern-virginia-officials-discuss-affordable-housing-transportation-and-education-during-regional-chamber-forum/article_d92ed0ea-2573-11ed-baa8-4b247256b137.html | 2022-08-26T20:39:53Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/northern-virginia-officials-discuss-affordable-housing-transportation-and-education-during-regional-chamber-forum/article_d92ed0ea-2573-11ed-baa8-4b247256b137.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A Stafford County man has been charged in connection with a July 21 crash near Montclair that killed a 76-year-old Dumfries man and left his passenger seriously injured.
The wreck happened about 8:30 a.m. at the intersection with Country Club Drive when the driver of a 2018 Ford F-150, traveling north on Dumfries Road, disregarded the red traffic light, Prince William County Police 1st Sgt. Jonathan Perok said.
The truck struck a 2018 Lexus E300H within the intersection making a left turn from Country Club Drive onto Route 234, Perok said. The impact of the crash pushed the Lexus into the southbound travel lanes.
The Lexus driver, Marvin Hubert Floom, 76, of Dumfries, was taken to an area hospital where he died of his injuries. His front-seat passenger, a 73-year-old Dumfries woman, was flown to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Police on Friday charged the Ford's driver, 35-year-old Jesse Rean Bacha of Widewater, with reckless driving, police said. He was released on a summons to appear in court. | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/updated-stafford-man-charged-in-fatal-crash-near-montclair/article_6603abe6-0948-11ed-a27c-6f0bd0b72d4a.html | 2022-08-26T20:39:59Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/headlines/updated-stafford-man-charged-in-fatal-crash-near-montclair/article_6603abe6-0948-11ed-a27c-6f0bd0b72d4a.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Arlington Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Kate Bates has been tapped as chair of the Virginia Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (VACCE) for 2022-23.
“Our industry is one that thrives on collaboration, and I can’t think of a more supportive community than VACCE,” Bates said in a statement. “In addition to providing forward-looking educational content, VACCE connects chamber professionals throughout the commonwealth with a network of people in their role in various communities who they can share ideas with.”
Also selected to serve in leadership roles were Beth Rhinehart, Bristol Chamber of Commerce, chair-elect; Regina Hilliard, Luray-Page County Chamber of Commerce, secretary; and John Brandt, Southern Virginia Regional Chamber of Commerce, treasurer. Danielle Fitz-Hugh of the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce is immediate past chair.
From Northern Virginia, Joe Haggerty of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce and Jennifer Rose of the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce also will serve on the VACCE board of directors.
[https://sungazette.news provides content to, but otherwise is unaffiliated with, InsideNoVa or Rappahannock Media LLC.] | https://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/arlington-chamber-ceo-tapped-for-statewide-leadership-post/article_15e1e1fc-256b-11ed-8e62-7fbd5e52df63.html | 2022-08-26T20:40:06Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/arlington-chamber-ceo-tapped-for-statewide-leadership-post/article_15e1e1fc-256b-11ed-8e62-7fbd5e52df63.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Total employment in Arlington grew from the first quarter of 2021 to the same period in 2022, but only anemically, according to new federal data.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Aug. 24 that it counted 171,900 jobs in Arlington at the end of the first quarter of this year, an increase of 1.1 percent from a year before. That’s well below the national growth rate of 5 percent and, with two exceptions, the lowest among Virginia’s major jurisdictions.
That data look at where a person works, regardless of where that person lives, being a different indicator compared to monthly state unemployment data, which focuses on locality of residence.
Nationally, employment reported in the survey (147.6 million) was up year-over-year in 349 of the 355 largest U.S. counties, with the highest rate of increase coming in Clark County, Nev. – home to Las Vegas – at 12.5 percent as the tourism and convention industry rebounded.
Arlington ranked 333rd in rate of employment growth, although that back-of-the-pack position could be as much a reflection of the strength of the local economy a year ago as a sign of weakness now.
Eleven Virginia localities (independent cities as well as counties) are included in the quarterly report, and all showed increases in employment, albeit to varying degrees. From the largest on down:
• Fairfax County’s jobs total stood at 608,1000, up 1.8 percent and ranking 309th in terms of percentage growth in the survey.
• Henrico County’s total of 185,300 was up 1.2 percent, ranking it 332nd.
• Loudoun County’s total of 174,200 was up 4 percent, ranking it 168th.
• Richmond’s total of 151,000 was up 2.6 percent, ranking it 267th.
• Norfolk’s total of 136,600 was up 2.4 percent, ranking it 282nd.
• Chesterfield County’s total of 137,500 was up 3.8 percent, ranking it 181st.
• Prince William County’s total of 131,200 was up 3.3 percent, ranking it 211th.
• Chesapeake’s total of 102,400 was up 1 percent, ranking it 337th.
• Newport News’ total of 101,200 was up 0.3 percent, ranking it 348th.
• Alexandria’s total of 84,100 was up 3.1 percent, ranking it 228th.
Employment totals include workers covered by unemployment insurance both in the civilian workforce and federal government. The 355 localities in the quarterly data represent about 73 percent of workers covered by those programs in the U.S.
In addition to Clark County in Nevada, some of the biggest year-over-year jobs rebounds came in similarly tourist-centric locales in Florida and New Jersey. Also among the biggest comebacks was San Francisco, whose economy took a major pounding during the early days of COVID and the economic lockdowns that were imposed in its wake.
[https://sungazette.news provides content to, but otherwise is unaffiliated with, InsideNoVa or Rappahannock Media LLC.] | https://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/arlington-jobs-total-sees-modest-year-over-year-increase/article_aa03b370-256a-11ed-8823-e30c6c3bb34b.html | 2022-08-26T20:40:12Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/arlington-jobs-total-sees-modest-year-over-year-increase/article_aa03b370-256a-11ed-8823-e30c6c3bb34b.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Arlington-based National Chamber Ensemble has announced plans and artists for its 2022-23 season, marking the troupe’s 16th year and featuring the name “Season of Cultural Expressions.”
“There’s something for everyone in this new season, from internationally renowned performers to inspirational programs,” the organization noted.
“The Young Artist String Competition winners will add an exciting surprise in December. We are excited to share the live music, the energy, humor, a welcoming atmosphere and the fine musicianship of National Chamber Ensemble.”
Artists for this season are Aundi Marie Moore (soprano), Lowell Liebermann (pianist/composer), Julian Milkis (clarinet), Geoffrey Pilkington (french horn), Carlos Cesar Rodriguez (piano), Cantor Arianne Brown (soprano), Jorge Orozco (violin), Vasily Popov (cello), Uri Wassertzug (viola), Nancy Peery Marriott (soprano), Steven Honigberg (cello), Natasha Dukan (piano), Jenifer Ries (viola) and Leonid Sushansky (violin/artistic director). Noted public figures are slated to join in as guest hosts.
Five live performances are slated for the season, with a view-at-home option that will make the performances available to ticketholders a week after they occur.
The season kicks off Nov. 5 with “Jewish Musical Treasures,” followed by a holiday concert (Dec. 10); “Broadway, Spirituals and More” (Feb. 11); “Liebermann Live and Brahms” (March 18); and “Marvelous European Masters” (May 27).
All concerts will be held at 7:30 p.m., and all but the holiday concert will be held at Gunston Arts Center. (The holiday concert is slated for Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington.)
General-admission tickets are $38 for adults, $19 for seniors, and will go on sale Sept. 16. Season tickets are currently available at $139.
For tickets and full information, see the Website at www.nationalchamberorchestra.org.
[https://sungazette.news provides content to, but otherwise is unaffiliated with, InsideNoVa or Rappahannock Media LLC.] | https://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/national-chamber-ensemble-preps-for-upcoming-season/article_6049d344-256b-11ed-8e80-8b7357c08080.html | 2022-08-26T20:40:18Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/national-chamber-ensemble-preps-for-upcoming-season/article_6049d344-256b-11ed-8e80-8b7357c08080.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Northern Virginia needs to build more affordable housing, promote teleworking, support the Metrorail system (despite its ongoing woes) and ensure better education funding, top officials from five area jurisdictions said Aug. 25 at the seventh annual Northern Virginia Elected Leaders Summit.
The panelists, all Democrats, touted provision of affordable housing – including in areas where none now exists – as a means of countering the region’s housing-affordability, traffic-congestion and job-filling crises. Prince William Board of County Supervisors Vice Chairman Margaret Franklin supported converting unused office space into affordable dwellings and expanding such housing across the county.
Area leaders should look at affordable housing as an investment, not as an expense, as it places employees closer to their workplaces, said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay.
Fairfax County, which has a 2.5-percent unemployment rate, is having a tough time drawing people to fill available jobs, he said.
“We need to build places where people want to live and, incidentally, where they want to work,” McKay said.
Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson agreed, saying communities must do even more to lure new residents.
“Ultimately, we need to provide a reason for people to be here,” he said.
Arlington County Board Chairman Katie Cristol alluded to, but did not call it by name, the county’s proposed “Missing Middle” housing initiative, which if approved later this year would permit up to eight multi-family residential units on properties currently zoned for single-family homes. The question is how to make room for the next generation of residents, she said.
On nearly 80 percent of Arlington’s residentially zoned land, “it is illegal to build anything other than one house on one lot,” Cristol said, repeating a frequent talking point of hers that critics have lambasted factually inaccurate.
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairman Phyllis Randall preferred the term “attainable housing” and said officials needed to have tough conversations about NIMBYism.
“You have to know the issues that you’re willing to lose your seat over,” Randall said. “Housing is one of those issues for me.”
Traffic has come back in full force following the pandemic, but movement patterns are different from before, she said. Randall favored increased teleworking, saying it is better for the environment, lowers costs for employers and does not harm employee productivity.
Held at Van Metre Hall on George Mason University’s Arlington campus, the event was sponsored by the Arlington and Northern Virginia chambers of commerce.
WRC-TV’s Jummy Olabanji kept the proceedings moving briskly and managed to have panelists address all of their intended topics, despite the discussion’s late start and collegial ribbing between Wilson and McKay.
The panelists supported stronger state support for education across the commonwealth, as well as adjusting Virginia’s Local Composite Index to provide fairer funding for Northern Virginia.
Randall drew some comments from a heckler after castigating Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) for criticizing Loudoun County’s schools.
“I am really tired of the governor running in the campaign against our school system,” she said. “I have had it with Gov. Youngkin attacking school officials . . . We have an excellent school system. If the only way you can get elected is attacking teachers by calling them ‘groomers’ and attacking educators, then maybe you shouldn’t be in office. What has happened to our teachers is a travesty.”
The panelists also favored supporting Metrorail and said the region could not afford to have that transit system fail. They also said the U.S. government should play more than $500 million per year for Metrorail, saying the system moves much of the federal workforce in the region.
Cristol and McKay advocated for continuing some of the emergency electronic-meeting-participation measures implemented during the pandemic, saying they were convenient and fostered greater public participation. “There is such a desire to go further,” Cristol said.
Fairfax County officials already are continuing some policies put in place during the pandemic, such as telephoning people who had signed up to speak at meetings when it is their turn to testify, McKay said.
“Sometimes you get people getting in the shower or at the grocery store and they forgot they signed up to call,” he said. “All of the sudden, they’re live in front of the whole board. So thankfully it’s audio.”
[https://sungazette.news provides content to, but otherwise is unaffiliated with, InsideNoVa or Rappahannock Media LLC.] | https://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/regional-leaders-press-for-more-effort-on-affordable-housing-transit-education/article_ce367a02-256a-11ed-9284-8b00797d481f.html | 2022-08-26T20:40:24Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/regional-leaders-press-for-more-effort-on-affordable-housing-transit-education/article_ce367a02-256a-11ed-9284-8b00797d481f.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Potomac High School graduate Jesus Gibbs is among the 484 position players named to the watch list for the 2023 Reese's Senior Bowl.
A defensive lineman, Gibbs is in his third year playing at Towson. He transferred there from South Carolina.
Gibbs had three games with at least four tackles each before ending the 2021 season due to injury, including three total tackles for loss. He was recently featured on Bruce Feldman's 2022 College Football "Freaks" List as one of the top college football players with unique physical abilities.
Tony Vinson was the last Towson player to compete in the Senior Bowl (1994).
The Senior Bowl is Feb. 4, 2023. Players who are 2018 high school graduates or a true four-year player are eligible to compete in the Senior Bowl. | https://www.insidenova.com/sports/prince_william/potomac-graduate-jesus-gibbs-selected-to-reeses-senior-bowl-watch-list/article_658805f0-256c-11ed-9dd7-8b529c12ccb9.html | 2022-08-26T20:40:30Z | insidenova.com | control | https://www.insidenova.com/sports/prince_william/potomac-graduate-jesus-gibbs-selected-to-reeses-senior-bowl-watch-list/article_658805f0-256c-11ed-9dd7-8b529c12ccb9.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation was rated among the nation’s top providers, according to U.S. News and World Report’s annual list of Best Hospitals for Rehabilitation, for the second straight year.
U.S. News healthcare analysts evaluated 799 rehabilitation organizations, ranking Mary Free Bed number 17 in the country.
“We’re thrilled to be ranked again as one of the best rehabilitation hospitals in the nation. Together, Mary Free Bed team members earned this recognition for their dedication, expertise and the love they show patients. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Kent Riddle, Mary Free Bed CEO
Mary Free Bed ranked above the national average for the following:
- Prevention of readmissions to general acute-care hospitals during rehabilitation stays
- Prevention of readmissions to general acute-care hospitals after discharge
- The rate of patients being able to return home
The Grand Rapids rehabilitation center also ranked high for the number of patients treated who experienced strokes, brain injuries and spinal cord injuries.
Mary Free Bed also ranked “excellent” for advanced technologies and on-site case management. | https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/mary-free-bed-ranked-among-nations-best-for-2nd-straight-year | 2022-08-26T20:45:09Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/mary-free-bed-ranked-among-nations-best-for-2nd-straight-year | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Robinette’s Apple Haus & Winery has revealed the design for its 2022 corn maze!
The design is of none other than the winery’s own Big Apple.
The Big Apple has been a staple of Robinette’s since 1973, the Grand Rapids business tells us.
The nine-foot-tall apple can be found in the picnic area. | https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/robinettes-unveils-2022-corn-maze-design | 2022-08-26T20:45:15Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/robinettes-unveils-2022-corn-maze-design | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency moved Friday to designate two “forever chemicals” used in cookware, carpets and firefighting foams as hazardous substances, a step that would clear the way for quicker cleanup of the toxic compounds, which have been linked to cancer and other health problems.
Designation as a hazardous substance under the so-called Superfund law doesn't ban the chemicals. But it requires that releases of PFOA and PFOS into soil or water be reported to federal, state or tribal officials if they meet or exceed certain levels. The EPA could then require cleanups to protect public health and recover cleanup costs.
PFOA and PFOS have been voluntarily phased out by U.S. manufacturers but are still in limited use and remain in the environment because they do not degrade over time. The compounds are part of a larger cluster of “forever chemicals” known as PFAS that have been used in consumer products and industry since the 1940s. The term is short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which have been used in nonstick frying pans, water-repellent sports gear, stain-resistant rugs, cosmetics and countless other consumer products.
The chemicals can accumulate and persist in the human body for long periods of time, and evidence from animal and human studies indicates that exposure to PFOA or PFOS may lead to cancer or other health problems.
“Communities have suffered far too long from exposure to these forever chemicals,'' EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement Friday. “The action announced today will improve transparency and advance EPA’s aggressive efforts to confront this pollution.”
Under the proposed rule, “EPA will both help protect communities from PFAS pollution and seek to hold polluters accountable for their actions,'' Regan said. The rule is expected to become final next year.
The Superfund law allows the EPA to clean up contaminated sites and forces parties responsible for the contamination to either perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work. When no responsible party can be identified, Superfund gives EPA money and authority to clean up contaminated sites.
The EPA’s action follows a recent report by the National Academies of Science that calls PFAS a serious public health threat in the U.S. and worldwide. It comes after an EPA announcement in June that PFOA and PFOS are more dangerous than previously thought and pose health risks even at levels so low they cannot currently be detected.
The agency issued nonbinding health advisories that set health risk thresholds for PFOA and PFOS to near zero, replacing 2016 guidelines that had set them at 70 parts per trillion. The chemicals are found in products including cardboard packaging, carpets and firefighting foam and increasingly found in drinking water.
The EPA said in a statement that it is focused on holding responsible companies that manufactured and released significant amounts of PFOA and PFOS into the environment and will not target individual landowners or farmers "who may have been inadvertently impacted by the contamination.'' The agency also said it is committed to further outreach and engagement to hear from communities affected by PFAS pollution.
Erik Olson, a health and food expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, called the announcement an important step to clean up hundreds of contaminated sites across the country and protect millions of families exposed to the toxic chemicals.
“Listing PFOA and PFOS as hazardous under Superfund law should allow EPA to hold polluters responsible for that contamination,” he said. “Ratepayers and public utilities should not be footing the bill for industry’s decades of wonton use of these dangerous chemicals.”
Attorney Rob Bilott, an anti-PFAS advocate, said the EPA's proposal "sends a loud and clear message to the entire world that the United States is finally acknowledging and accepting the now overwhelming evidence that these man-made poisons present substantial danger to the public health and the environment.”
Bilott, whose work to uncover the widespread presence of PFAS chemicals in the environment and in human blood was highlighted in the 2019 film “Dark Waters,'' said the EPA must work to ensure that costs of cleaning up the toxins are borne by PFAS manufacturers that caused the contamination — “not the innocent victims of this pollution who didn’t create the toxins and were never warned any of this was ever happening.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she supports strong action to address PFAS contamination in West Virginia and across the country but was concerned about "the unintended consequences that today’s proposal could have.''
If finalized, "property owners, farmers, employers, essential utilities and individuals may be liable for unknowingly having PFAS on their land, even if it was there years or even generations prior to ownership and came from an unknown source,'' Capito said.
She urged the EPA to develop an enforceable drinking water standard to promote the health and safety of all Americans.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents major chemical companies, called the EPA’s proposal “an expensive, ineffective and unworkable means to achieve remediation for these chemicals.''
Listing the chemicals under Superfund could harm local fire departments, water utilities, small businesses, airports and farmers, the group said. “The proposed (Superfund) designation would impose tremendous costs on these parties without defined cleanup standards,'' the council said in a statement.
The EPA said it expects to propose national drinking water regulations for PFOA and PFOS later this year, with a final rule expected in 2023. | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/epa-to-designate-forever-chemicals-as-hazardous-substances | 2022-08-26T20:45:45Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/epa-to-designate-forever-chemicals-as-hazardous-substances | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NASA is preparing for Monday's launch of Artemis I. The space agency said that teams put the Crew Access Arm (CAA) in launch configuration on Friday.
Artemis I is carrying the Orion Spacecraft, which will travel farther than any spacecraft built for humans.
However, this trip past the moon will be unmanned.
If all goes according to plan, Artemis II will launch in 2024. That mission will have humans onboard Orion.
The two missions are all in preparation for Artemis III, which will return humans to the Moon.
Late last week, NASA announced potential landing sites for Artemis III. The landing sites are located near the lunar south pole, an area NASA believes is rich in resources.
The mission is scheduled to take place in 2025. | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/final-preparations-underway-for-artemis-i-launch | 2022-08-26T20:45:57Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/final-preparations-underway-for-artemis-i-launch | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Mike Francis plans to host a town hall meeting in New Iberia next month.
The event is set for September 19 at 5:30 p.m. at 129 East Main Street, New Iberia. The general public is invited to attend.
The Louisiana Public Service Commission is the elected board that oversees utilities in the state.
Increased utility bills is sure to be a topic of discussion.
"Though the Commission has no authority over natural gas prices and certainly not the weather, I want to make certain we are using every tool and resource possible through the LPSC to reduce the overall cost of monthly electric bills for customers. We are exploring several policies to legally and responsibly bring relief. While I'm certainly glad our average rates are lower than those of our neighbors in Texas, still I demand better," Francis stated in a press release.
Non-municipal utilities, including Entergy, Cleco and Slemco, must go to the PSC for permission to increase rates and to levy hurricane damage fees on customers.
Francis serves District IV on the LPSC. He represents nearly one million constituents in 17 parishes encompassing: Acadia, Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Evangeline, Grant, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, LaSalle, Rapides, St. Landry, St. Mary, St. Martin, Vermillion and Vernon. | https://www.katc.com/news/iberia-parish/public-service-commissioner-plans-town-hall-in-new-iberia | 2022-08-26T20:47:44Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/news/iberia-parish/public-service-commissioner-plans-town-hall-in-new-iberia | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A Lafayette man has been arrested in connection with the August 18 shooting on Martin Luther King Drive that left a woman wounded.
Marquis Givens, 24, was arrested in Morgan City on Friday. He's been booked on a Lafayette warrant accusing him of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated criminal damage to property.
The shooting happened at around 1:30 a.m. in the 800 block of MLK. When officers arrived they found a woman suffering from multiple gunshot wounds; she was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Givens allegedly was at the apartment and told to leave, and while he did leave he allegedly came back and started shooting, police said. | https://www.katc.com/news/lafayette-parish/arrest-made-in-shooting-on-mlk-last-week | 2022-08-26T20:47:50Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/news/lafayette-parish/arrest-made-in-shooting-on-mlk-last-week | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
An outcry on social media has centered around a preliminary match with Chinese women's volleyball players facing Iran at the Asian Volleyball Confederation Cup for Women at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig, Philippines, on Thursday. But, the upset wasn't about the game. It was about the N95 masks
Many on Chinese social media expressed their frustration with China's zero-COVID-19 policy and took major issue with players having to wear masks while competing in a physically intense sport.
China's Volleyball Association issues an apology after the match, according to the BBC, blaming the decision to have the players wear N-95 masks on "lack of experience."
Social media outrage centered around the view that China's mask mandate has gone too far. One person commented, in a statement that has been translated into English, "Our leaders are... taking things too far - it's as simple as that," the BBC reported.
As the South China Morning Post reported, the Chinese players lost their first set against Iran, but won the next three after taking off the masks, completing a 3-1 victory.
Another user wrote, in a translated comment on Weibo, “Wearing a mask in the first game and losing, it seems that the lack of oxygen is indeed not good,” they said. “In the second game, three players also wore masks when they fell behind. After a technical timeout, all the players took off their masks."
“The next three games in a row, China won. Therefore, we should not wear it in the next competition. Not only will players not be able to exert their full strength, but it will also affect the cardiopulmonary function of the athletes,” the user said.
The South China Morning Post reported that some social media users said they saw the U.S. and Brazilian women's volleyball teams wear masks before during competitions, which reportedly brought on the ire of other users.
In a statement, the Chinese Volleyball Association said that the team organizer learned of possible COVID-19 infected players before the match on other teams and reportedly claimed symptoms had been witnessed among the Chinese team. | https://www.katc.com/news/national/chinese-womens-volleyball-players-in-n95-masks-causes-uproar-on-social-media | 2022-08-26T20:47:56Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/news/national/chinese-womens-volleyball-players-in-n95-masks-causes-uproar-on-social-media | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
UL football is 9 days away from opening their season against Southeastern at Cajun Field.
One of their leaders, will be a former Friday night football star in Defensive End Zi'Yon Hill-Green.
He sat out most of the spring, but used that time to uplift the D-line room.
"Zi'Yon this spring was really like a coach," Defensive Coordinator Lamar Morgan said. "This spring he was very limited. He took guys in the room. In the group chat with the guys. He would tell Coach Thomas that he's going to be that at a certain time and they would be there. I just think you have a guy that's very appreciative of what this place has done for him in his career. He also knows he has a place that's trying to take care of him."
After 6 seasons with the Cajuns, Zi'yon Hill-Green has received a few veteran days of rest during camp, but is expected to be full go next Saturday.
For Hill, his number 1 individual goal in 2022 is becoming the Cajuns all time sack leader. Hill has 14 sacks for his career and the record is 21 held by Jeff Mitchell and Christian Ringo.
Getting to the QB, can also help Hill's chances of reaching the NFL.
"You know, the NFL pay pass rushers. That's what they do," Hill-Green said. "They pay someone who can rush the quarterback because pass rushing is a real art. You know, it's not just something you can get off the couch and do. So that's a big thing. Scouts and NFL teams, you know, they love people that can pass rush and play the run. Pass rush has always been a big thing for me, but I just never had the opportunity to actually solidify the pass rush."
"I think it just a lot of reps. Just gotta get more reps at that" Morgan added. "I also think you have to get guys off the field at times, right? So I think sometimes, when you play the whole game, it's 3rd down, you want your best on third down as well. The strength in Numbers thing this year, especially at D-line. That's what we will have to work on."
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Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox. Select from these options: Breaking News, Evening News Headlines, Latest COVID-19 Headlines, Morning News Headlines, Special Offers | https://www.katc.com/sports/ul-sports/ziyon-hill-green-chasing-history-and-qbs | 2022-08-26T20:48:33Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/sports/ul-sports/ziyon-hill-green-chasing-history-and-qbs | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
It was winter in 1994 when Jennifer Gwynne met a strapping (slightly geeky) young man called Elon Musk at the University of Pennsylvania. ‘I was a junior and he was a senior… we were in the same dorm and we worked together,’ she told the Mail Online.
A romance of sorts blossomed - although, she griped, it was lacking in PDA. They were in their twenties, and she was attracted by his shy nature; he by her cascades of curly blonde hair. She was just his type. They went out for a year and, until he ran off to Palo Alto, where he attended Stanford University for two days before dropping out to shoot for the stars.
There, she visited him once. And he dumped her. ‘It’s a waste of time,’ he said. ‘If we weren’t physically together, it was a problem because he’s not good on the phone,’ she said.
But she kept the memories. A stash of photographs, a signed birthday card in which he refers to her as ‘boo-boo’ and a necklace he gave her for Christmas. She knew all along he was going to be big: ‘he was very intense, very focused on his studies. Back then he was always talking about electric cars… he was definitely going somewhere.’
And now that he’s there, Gwynne’s cashing in. ‘I’ve had these pictures and the notes for a long, long time. But now I’m like, “well the man cannot stay out of the headlines… so…’ | https://www.tatler.com/article/elon-musks-university-photos-tell-a-whole-story | 2022-08-26T20:50:23Z | tatler.com | control | https://www.tatler.com/article/elon-musks-university-photos-tell-a-whole-story | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
She may give Jane Austen’s Emma a run for her money in Regency period drama Mr Malcolm’s List, but how much does Tatler’s October cover star Zawe Ashton know about the finer points of British history? From decoding 19th-century slang to testing her Hackney knowledge, watch the actress step up to the challenge as she plays Tea With Tatler – and don’t miss the October issue, on sale 1 September.
Read More
Is this the new Bridgerton? Mr Malcolm's List sees Freida Pinto and Zawe Ashton scheming on Regency London's social sceneBased on the 2009 novel by Suzanne Allain, the film sees two friends teaming up to topple the city's most eligible bachelor, who keeps a list of attributes he desires in a partner
Subscribe now to get 3 issues for just £1, plus free home delivery and free instant access to the digital editions. | https://www.tatler.com/article/watch-zawe-ashton-video-tea-with-tatler-game | 2022-08-26T20:50:29Z | tatler.com | control | https://www.tatler.com/article/watch-zawe-ashton-video-tea-with-tatler-game | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
On a sweltering Friday night in London, The Soho Hotel is a surprising hive of big names. While the Booker Prize-winning author Howard Jacobson is in the doorway, Aquaman – aka Jason Momoa – passes around the back in a jaunty white beret. And, sitting in a corner of the restaurant, there’s Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey, whom Zawe Ashton waves to giddily when she walks in. ‘I do actually know Jonathan,’ says the 38-year-old actress once she’s plonked herself on the banquette next to me, ‘in case you think, “Oh! She’s bold!”’ She is wearing a black wrap dress, her hair simple and straight – all very low-key, except for the enormous ring, liberally encrusted with gems, on her wedding finger. This comes, I assume, courtesy of her equally starry fiancé – and father of her soon-to-be-born baby – actor Tom Hiddleston.
As Regency period drama Mr Malcolm’s List hits the silver screen, Ashton tackles some deviously difficult questions over a spot of tea
I had wondered which Ashton I’d get tonight – panicked that, what with an A-list partner, a superhero franchise job and a Broadway stint under her belt, she had been ironed out by the Tinseltown machine. But the smiley, huggy woman who has just swept across the restaurant, starting to say ‘Hiiiii!’ from a full 10 metres away, hardly seems to be some Garbo-like recluse. To be honest, the Hackney-raised star is always hard to miss. She can be monosyllabic, like Vod, her gloriously deadpan character in the cult sitcom Fresh Meat, or angsty like her ‘gallerina’ Josephina in Netflix’s Velvet Buzzsaw. Or she can be just a normal, serene, very adult adulterer, like her Emma in the recent West End and Broadway revival of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal – yes, the one where she met Hiddleston. But large-eyed, large-laughed, larger-than-life, she certainly can’t be ignored. Even less so when you consider that she is an actor-writer-director-activist – everything but the kitchen sink.
Ashton’s first ever job was on the kids’ TV show Jackanory when she was six. Since then, she has written several plays, including For All the Women Who Thought They Were Mad; she has directed short films and developed TV series; she had a phase of doing performance poetry (‘before it was cool’); and she has inevitably published her own book, Character Breakdown, which details her many travails in the showbiz industry. This summer, you’ll have spotted her in Maryland, a harrowing BBC drama by Lucy Kirkwood, exploring violence against women. And next year sees her in her biggest role to date, playing the (as yet unnamed) villain in the ultra-feminist new Marvel instalment, The Marvels. If she doesn’t always take the easy route, if she’s always fought to get her voice heard, you get the impression she generally tends to win. | https://www.tatler.com/article/zawe-ashton-cover | 2022-08-26T20:50:35Z | tatler.com | control | https://www.tatler.com/article/zawe-ashton-cover | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Emma Raducanu takes home £18 million to become one of tennis's highest earners
According to the Times, British tennis player Emma Raducanu has placed sixth in the highest earners of the sport this week, accumulating an impressive $21.1million (£17.87 million) in earnings over the past year. Dubbed as ‘the head of a new generation of players who are finding financial success on the tennis court and in the corporate world’, Raducanu earned the proportion of her cash ‘off court’ through brand partnerships and company sponsorship.
Raducanu, who hails from Bromley in southeast London, wore more than £35,000 of Tiffany jewellery whilst at Wimbledon this year as part of her deal with the designer. The player also has endorsements with airline British Airways, bank HSBC, as well as Porsche, Dior and Nike. Forbes recently wrote: ‘brands are eager to get in on the ground floor with a player they think could be a star for years’.
The Times predicts that as a result of ‘her cosmopolitan heritage’ (the star has a Chinese mother and Romanian father and was born in Canada before moving to London aged two), she could become ‘the first $1 billion British sports star because of her global appeal’.
In total, Raducanu accumulated $3.1million (approximately £2.6 million) in prize money last year, most of which was for her historic victory against Leylah Fernandez at the US Open, where she become the first qualifier to ever win a Grand Slam title. According to the Telegraph, in 2021 the British player revealed that she would be letting her parents decide how to spend the £1.8 million prize money she won at the tournament, admitting she had not checked whether it had arrived in her bank account.
This summer, Raducanu was knocked out of the Wimbledon Championships in the second round by French player, Caroline Garcia. Despite her early loss, the young star was insistent she would bounce back from her defeat: 'It's just great for me to get all these lessons at such a young age so that when I'm in my mid 20s, I'll have those issues or little glitches in my game sorted. I'll just get better.'
Raducanu has certainly been enjoying the high life since her rise to fame following the 2021 US Open. From rubbing shoulders with royalty at the No Time to Die premiere, to securing an invitation to the 2022 Met Gala - the 19-year-old has gone from shy A-level student to sporting royalty, with an impressive bank balance to boot.
The top earner of the sport is 41-year-old Swiss star Roger Federer, who earned $90 million (approximately £76 million) this year. The tennis legend has won 20 grand slams in his career, although he has not participated competitively for 14 months.
Subscribe now to get 3 issues for just £1, plus free home delivery and free instant access to the digital editions. | https://www.tatler.com/gallery/emma-raducanu-takes-home-pound18-million-to-become-one-of-tenniss-highest-earners | 2022-08-26T20:50:41Z | tatler.com | control | https://www.tatler.com/gallery/emma-raducanu-takes-home-pound18-million-to-become-one-of-tenniss-highest-earners | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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