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2-month-old boy dies days after he's found unresponsive at Monee truck stop
MONEE, Ill. - A 2-month-old boy died days after he was hit in the head in south suburban Monee.
About 8:50 a.m. on Aug. 31, officers and paramedics responded to a call of an infant who wasn’t breathing at a truck stop at 5915 Monee Manhattan Rd., Monee police said.
When they arrived, officers were met with Sevyn Simmons’ parents, who handed off the unresponsive baby, police said.
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Simmons, of Milwaukee, was taken to Franciscan Hospital in Olympian Fields and was later transferred to Comer Children’s Hospital, police said.
He died Friday of blunt force trauma to the head, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide.
No other details were immediately available. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/2-month-old-boy-dies-days-after-hes-found-unresponsive-at-monee-truck-stop | 2022-09-06T03:07:11Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/2-month-old-boy-dies-days-after-hes-found-unresponsive-at-monee-truck-stop | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Man fatally shot, another wounded while sitting in vehicle on Chicago's South Side: police
CHICAGO - Two men were shot, one of them fatally, in Chicago's McKinley Park neighborhood Monday night.
Around 7:41 p.m., police say the two victims were inside a vehicle in the 3700 block of South Paulina Street when shots were fired.
One of the male victims, a 31-year-old, was struck in the body and taken to Stroger Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
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The other victim, whose age is not known, was also shot in the body and taken to an area hospital in unknown condition.
A person of interest in the shooting was taken into custody for questioning, according to police.
The investigation is ongoing. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/man-fatally-shot-another-wounded-while-sitting-inside-vehicle-on-chicagos-south-side-police | 2022-09-06T03:07:29Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/man-fatally-shot-another-wounded-while-sitting-inside-vehicle-on-chicagos-south-side-police | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Trucks loaded with bottled water ship out from Chicago to help devastated Mississippi
CHICAGO - Chicago is sending truckloads of care to people devastated by flooding in Mississippi.
Two semi-trucks loaded with donated bottled water left the South Side Monday night.
The trucks were headed for Jackson, Mississippi, which has been without clean water for a week now after flooding overwhelmed its water treatment facility.
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The original plan was for Chicago to send one truckload, but the generous donations just kept coming.
"We were probably about half a truck full at the beginning of the day, which was great, I was happy with that. And literally, out of nowhere people were coming like, ‘hey I’ll give you two pallets, I’ll give you one pallet, I’ll give you five pallets.’ And now we actually are over," said Early Walker, philanthropist.
The trucks are traveling through the night. They're expected to arrive in Mississippi on Tuesday. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/trucks-loaded-with-bottled-water-ship-out-from-chicago-to-help-devastated-mississippi | 2022-09-06T03:07:41Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/trucks-loaded-with-bottled-water-ship-out-from-chicago-to-help-devastated-mississippi | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The National Commission for Museums and Monument National Museum of Unity Ibadan (NCMM) on Monday has trained 25 students in Adire making on Monday, 5th September 2022 at the exhibition and award presentation event.
The Chief Instructor/Coordinator of the project, Caroline Oluyemi in her open remark said “we want to find a way for people to make money instead of begging for it, and that is why we bring about the Adire Making for Capacity Building 2022 program. We want to engage them in other post-training activities, also to bring people to the museum using this capacity building,” she said.
She implored all students not to forget what they learnt, to make sure something big comes out of it. “It wasn’t easy, It was paid for and it was a tedious process. We are going to start a cooperative among ourselves in order to help each other to kickstart our career in Adire making,” she assured.
The outgoing and the incoming curators, Prince Sikiru Adedoyin and Mrs Pamela Otuka commend the project coordinator and also reinstate the museum’s interest in the project. Otuka highlights the importance of skill acquisition, she said “I am from Lagos, and we value skill acquisition so much, I’m happy for you all as you have made something good for yourself.”
The chairman of the event, Mr Adetunji Samson, a principal lecturer of the department of fine art and design from Polytechnic Ibadan lectured the students on personal behaviour, he reminded them of the importance of integrity.
“Always carry out your responsibilities to the best of your energy, and enjoy what you do, people will trust you and I want to assure you that the higher ground is yours,” he prayed.
Ajilore King and Tijani Abdulrasheed both came out to give their vote of thanks by appreciating the National Museum on behalf of their colleagues, saying they learnt well and they are grateful to the coordinator for the knowledge she has conferred to them.
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE | https://tribuneonlineng.com/ibadan-museum-trains-25-students-in-adire-making/ | 2022-09-06T03:16:42Z | tribuneonlineng.com | control | https://tribuneonlineng.com/ibadan-museum-trains-25-students-in-adire-making/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
UVALDE, Texas — A new school year begins Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas.
It's been three months since 19 students and two teachers were killed by a gunman inside Robb Elementary School.
Although many students and teachers are returning to the district, some parents say they aren't getting a straight answer on what officers will be on campus.
"One of the questions that the families have is the DPS workers that are going to be there. Are those the same ones that were at the school that day? And we can't get an answer," said parent Adam Martinez to CNN. "They won't give us an answer whether it's going to be the same people, the same school resource officers that were there. They're going to be there on campus too, so."
The district says it's working on completing new security measures, including the installation of higher fences, more security cameras, and placing more than 30 state troopers across the campuses, the Associated Press reported.
But for Martinez, that isn't enough reassurance for his kids.
"I talked to my son, and I told him that they're going to have higher fencing, they're going to have more DPS cops, and he just wasn't having it. He said that he doesn't think they're going to be brave enough if it happens again," Martinez told CNN. "They're not going to go in there. They didn't go in there before, and he wants different cops and that he's really not budging. The fencing he said they can just get a ladder and climb over it, so right now, he's just not ready. My daughter, she was looking forward to volleyball, playing volleyball, and now even with that, she doesn't want to go back."
One person who will not be returning to the district this year is former police chief Pete Arredondo, who was fired in August by the school board, the Associated Press reported.
School officials say Robb Elementary won't be used, so elementary students will be taking classes at various campuses around the district, the Associated Press reported.
According to the Associated Press, some students will participate in virtual learning, while others are attending private school. | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/uvalde-students-returning-to-school-on-tuesday | 2022-09-06T03:37:24Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/uvalde-students-returning-to-school-on-tuesday | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
VENICE, Italy (AP) — Harry Styles already has an enviable acting resume for a newcomer, from Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” to the upcoming “Don’t Worry Darling” and “My Policeman.” But the pop star said Monday at the Venice International Film Festival that, with acting, he often feels as if he has “no idea what I’m doing.”
Styles’ arrival on the Lido, where “Don’t Worry Darling” is having its world premiere Monday night, has been one of the most anticipated events of a festival full of stars. At a press conference before the premiere, Styles was peppered with questions about his fans, his career and whether or not he would work with director Olivia Wilde again — neither of which he answered.
In “Don’t Worry Darling,” Styles plays Jack, who works for the mysterious Victory Project, run by Chris Pine’s charismatic cult-like leader, in a mid-century-styled experimental community. Florence Pugh plays Jack’s wife Alice, who gets every comfort in the world in exchange for not asking questions. But soon, she starts to see cracks in the veneer.
“I think it’s fun to get to play in worlds that aren’t necessarily your own. This world that is supposedly so perfect, it’s really fun to play pretend in there,” Styles said. “There wasn’t too much acting.”
Styles took several days off from his Madison Square Garden appearances to attend the “ Don’t Worry Darling ” premiere in Venice, with Wilde and co-stars Pine and Gemma Chan. But though he juggles two high-profile careers in the arts, he said he doesn’t see many parallels between music and acting.
“Personally I find them to be kind of opposite in a lot of ways. I think making music is a really personal thing,” Styles said. “There’s aspects of acting where you’re drawing from experiences you’ve had but for the most part you’re pretending to play someone else. I think that’s what I find the most fun about it: playing pretend.”
He added: “I think the fun part is you never know what you’re doing. Music I’ve done for longer, but what I like about acting is I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Fans were already gathering in front of the theater early Monday to get a prime perch in front of the red carpet for the premiere, hours in advance. Many had personal stories about how Styles’ music impacted their lives.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the people who’ve supported me in my life and the fans in particular have always provided me with a place to be myself and feel comfortable doing so and express myself,” he said about what it’s like to mean so much to so many people. “I would like to hope I can give that space back to them.”
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr
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For more on the Venice Film Festival, visit: www.apnews.com/VeniceFilmFestival | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-in-venice-harry-styles-talks-acting-music-and-fans/ | 2022-09-06T03:55:59Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-in-venice-harry-styles-talks-acting-music-and-fans/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BEIJING (AP) — China has locked down 65 million of its citizens under tough COVID-19 restrictions and is discouraging domestic travel during upcoming national holidays.
Across the country, 33 cities including seven provincial capitals are under full or partial lockdown covering more than 65 million people, according to a tally published late Sunday by the Chinese business magazine Caixin.
It said that outbreaks have been reported in 103 cities, the highest since the early days of the pandemic in early 2020.
Despite a relatively low number of infections, authorities have adhered to a “zero-COVID” policy requiring lockdowns, quarantines and the confining of people suspected of being in close contact with any confirmed case.
China recorded 1,552 new cases in the latest 24-hour period across a nation of 1.4 billion people, the National Health Commission reported Monday.
Most of the 21 million people in the southwestern city of Chengdu are confined to their apartments or residential complexes, while in the eastern port city of Tianjin, classes have ben moved online after 14 new cases were reported, all but two showing no symptoms.
Chengdu lifted the lockdown for about 1 million people in Qionglai city and Xinjin district, two areas in its southwest. Three more rounds of mass testing are being held through Wednesday. and schools remain closed with all classes online.
Sept. 10-12 is China’s mid-autumn festival, the country’s second-most important holiday after the Lunar New Year. The anti-virus measures have taken a major toll on the economy, travel and society in general, but China’s ruling Communist Party says they are necessary to prevent a wider spread of the virus, first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.
The fear of being caught in a lockdown or sent to a quarantine facility for even being in proximity with a person who tested positive has severely constrained people’s work, socializing and travel habits.
Since the outbreak began, China has placed tens of millions of people under lockdowns that have been strictly enforced, sometimes preventing residents from obtaining food, health care and basic necessities.
A more than five-week closure of Shanghai, China’s largest city and key financial hub, in the spring upended the local economy, prompted protests and led to an exodus of foreign residents. | https://www.wspa.com/health-2/ap-health/ap-china-locks-down-65-million-as-holiday-travel-peak-looms/ | 2022-09-06T03:56:27Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/health-2/ap-health/ap-china-locks-down-65-million-as-holiday-travel-peak-looms/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LONDON (AP) — Irish regulators are slapping Instagram with a big fine after an investigation found the social media platform mishandled teenagers’ personal information in violation of strict European Union data privacy rules.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said by email Monday that it made a final decision last week to fine the company 405 million euros ($402 million), though the full details won’t be released until next week.
The penalty is the second-biggest issued under the EU’s stringent privacy rules, after Luxembourg’s regulators fined Amazon 746 million euros last year.
Instagram parent Meta, which also owns Facebook, said that while it had “engaged fully” with regulators throughout the investigation, “we disagree with how this fine was calculated and intend to appeal it.”
The Irish watchdog’s investigation centered on how Instagram displayed the personal details of users ages 13 to 17, including email addresses and phone numbers. The minimum age for Instagram users is 13.
The investigation began after a data scientist found that users, including those under 18, were switching to business accounts and had their contact information displayed on their profiles. Users were apparently doing it to see statistics on how many likes their posts were getting after Instagram started removing the feature from personal accounts in some countries to help with mental health.
Instagram said the inquiry focused on “old settings” that were updated more than a year ago, and it has since released new privacy features for teens, including automatically setting their accounts to private when they join.
“We’re continuing to carefully review the rest of the decision,” the company said.
Under the EU’s data privacy rules, the Irish watchdog is the lead regulator for many U.S. tech companies with European headquarters in Dublin.
The watchdog has a raft of other inquiries into Meta-owned companies. Last year, it fined WhatsApp 225 million euros for breaching rules on transparency about sharing people’s data with other Meta companies. | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-irish-regulators-fine-instagram-405m-euros-for-data-breach/ | 2022-09-06T03:57:38Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-irish-regulators-fine-instagram-405m-euros-for-data-breach/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — OPEC and allied oil-producing countries, including Russia, made a small trim in their supplies to the global economy Monday, underlining their unhappiness as recession fears help drive down crude prices — along with the cost of gasoline, to drivers’ delight.
The decision for October rolls back a mostly symbolic increase of 100,000 barrels per day in September. It follows a statement last month from Saudi Arabia’s energy minister that the OPEC+ coalition could reduce output at any time.
Oil producers such as Saudi Arabia have resisted calls from U.S. President Joe Biden to pump more oil to lower gasoline prices and the burden on consumers. OPEC+ has stuck with only cautious increases to make up for deep cuts made during the COVID-19 pandemic, which were finally restored in August.
Since then, growing worries about slumping future demand have helped send oil prices down from June peaks of over $120 per barrel, cutting into the windfall for OPEC+ countries’ coffers but proving a blessing for drivers in the U.S. as pump prices have eased.
The supply cut for October is only a small fraction of the 43.8 million barrels per day under OPEC+ production goals, but wrong-footed several analysts’ predictions of no change in output. Oil prices jumped after the announcement.
U.S. crude rose 3.3%, to $89.79 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent was up 3.7%, to $96.50, after the decision.
The amount of oil per day “may seem negligible, but the message from today’s cut is clear: OPEC+ thinks they’ve fallen enough,” Columbia University energy policy expert Jason Bordoff tweeted.
Oil prices have gyrated in recent months: Recession fears have pushed them down, while worries of a loss of Russian oil because of sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine pushed them up.
Recently, recession fears have taken the upper hand. Economists in Europe are penciling in a recession at the end of this year due to skyrocketing inflation fed by energy costs, while China’s severe restrictions aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus have sapped growth in that major world economy.
Those falling oil prices have been a boon to U.S. drivers, sending gasoline prices down to $3.82 per gallon from record highs of over $5 in June and offering a potential boost to Biden as his Democratic Party heads into midterm elections.
“The President has been clear that energy supply should meet demand to support economic growth and lower prices for American consumers and consumers around the world,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “President Biden is determined to continue to take every step necessary to shore up energy supplies and lower energy prices.”
In June, fears that U.S. and European sanctions would take Russian oil off the market helped push Brent to over $123. Prices have fallen sharply in recent weeks as it became clear that Russia is still managing to sell significant amounts of oil in Asia, albeit at sharply discounted prices.
But concerns about the loss of Russian supply are still out there because European sanctions aimed at blocking most Russian oil imports won’t take effect until the end of the year.
Other factors are lurking that could influence the price of oil. For one, the Group of Seven wealthy democracies plan to impose a price cap on Russian oil aimed at battling high energy prices and reducing oil profits that Russia can use for its war in Ukraine.
That’s if the cap works as intended. Russia could refuse to supply oil to countries and companies observing the cap, which would take barrels off the market. The price cap has not been set, and its influence on the global price remains unclear.
Meanwhile, a deal between Western countries and Iran to limit Tehran’s nuclear program could ease sanctions and see more than 1 million barrels per day of Iranian oil return to the market in coming months. However, tensions between the U.S. and Iran appear to have risen in recent days: Iran seized two U.S. naval drones in the Red Sea, and U.S., Kuwaiti and Saudi warplanes flew over the Middle East on Sunday in a show of force.
OPEC+ countries’ energy ministers said their September increase of 100,000 barrels a day was only for that month and that the group could meet again at any time to address market developments.
___
Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Milwaukee contributed. | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-opec-faces-what-to-do-about-lower-oil-prices-drivers-cheer/ | 2022-09-06T03:58:06Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-opec-faces-what-to-do-about-lower-oil-prices-drivers-cheer/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MOSCOW (AP) — A court in Moscow on Monday upheld a motion from Russian authorities to revoke the license of a top independent newspaper that for years has been critical of the Kremlin, the latest move in a months-long crackdown on independent media, opposition activists and human rights groups.
The ruling against Novaya Gazeta, Russia’s most renowned independent newspaper, comes amid Russia’s grinding military campaign in Ukraine and the Kremlin’s effort to silence critics of what it calls a “special military operation.”
Dmitry Muratov, Nobel Peace Prize-winning editor-in-chief of the newspaper, called the ruling on Monday “political” and “not having the slightest legal basis,” and he promised to contest it.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media and internet regulator, petitioned the court to revoke Novaya Gazeta’s license, accusing it of failing to submit the newsroom charter to authorities on time.
Novaya Gazeta announced March 28 that it was suspending operations for the duration of what it referred to in quotation marks as “the special operation” in Ukraine, the term that Russian authorities insist media must use for the military action in Ukraine.
Its team, however, launched a new project, Novaya Gazeta Europe, from abroad, criticizing the operation in Russia’s ex-Soviet neighbor.
Days after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russia’s Kremlin-controlled parliament approved legislation that outlawed alleged disparaging of the Russian military or the spread of “false information” about the country’s military operation in Ukraine.
Dozens of Russian independent media outlets were banned as a result, while other announced halting any reporting related to Ukraine.
The U.N. Human Rights Office condemned the ruling in a statement Monday.
“The judgment against Novaya Gazeta is yet another blow to the independence of Russian media whose activities have been further compromised by legal restrictions and increased state controls imposed following” Russia’s military action in Ukraine, spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement. | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-russia-revokes-media-license-of-top-independent-newspaper/ | 2022-09-06T03:58:13Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-russia-revokes-media-license-of-top-independent-newspaper/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard suspended the search Monday afternoon for nine people, including a child, who were missing after a floatplane crashed in the waters of Puget Sound northwest of Seattle.
The body of a 10th person, an unidentified female, was recovered by a good Samaritan on Sunday after the crash was reported at 3:11 p.m., Scott Giard, director of the U.S. Coast Guard’s search and rescue for the Pacific Northwest, said at a new conference.
Just after noon on Monday, the Coast Guard said it was suspending the search for survivors after “saturating an area” of more than 2,100 square nautical miles (nearly 2,800 square miles or 7,250 square kilometers.
“All next of kin have been notified of this decision,” the Coast Guard said on Twitter. “Our hearts go out to the families, loved ones and friends of those who remain missing and the deceased.”
The Northwest Seaplanes flight left Friday Harbor, a popular tourist destination in the San Juan Islands, and was headed to Renton Municipal Airport, the company’s base, said Coast Guard spokesperson William Colclough.
The plane went down in Mutiny Bay off Whidbey Island, roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) northwest of downtown Seattle and about halfway between Friday Harbor and Renton, a suburb south of Seattle.
The Coast Guard learned through the seaplane company’s owner that two Friday Harbor seaplanes took off Sunday afternoon and the owner was aboard one of the flights, Giard said. The owner told authorities he saw the other plane divert slightly off course and he tried to make radio contact but was unable to.
“Shortly after that, he noticed on his flight tracker that the flight had stopped tracking and notified authorities,” Giard said.
Officials received reports that “the aircraft dropped suddenly at a fair amount of speed and hit the water,” Giard said. “We don’t have any video or pictures of the incident as of this moment.”
There was no distress call or distress beacon from the crashing plane, he said. The aircraft has an electronic locating transmitter onboard, but they have not received any transmission, he said.
“That is very typical in times where there is either a hard landing or a crash of an aircraft,” he said.
Jon Gabelein of South Whidbey Fire/EMS told KOMO witnesses on the shore reported seeing the plane “nose dive into the water.”
Whidbey Island resident Jeff Brewny and his wife were walking their dog Sunday when they heard a loud boom.
“First thought was thunder. It was that loud,” he said. “There was no flash like you get with lightning. So, you know, I thought it was a boat exploded. It was that devastating. My dog went crazy.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday that they’re sending a team of seven to investigate the crash of the DHC-3 Turbine Otter.
The cause of the crash is unknown, authorities said.
Coast Guard searchers found “minimal debris,” Giard said. By Monday afternoon, they had only found three to four long and narrow pieces of aluminum, very few personal items, a seat and some small pieces of foam, he said.
Without a clear picture of the actual crash, and not knowing whether it exploded on impact or immediately sank to the sea floor, 150 to 200 feet (45-60 meters) below, it’s difficult to know what happened to the plane, he said.
Four Coast Guard vessels, a rescue helicopter and an aircraft had been involved in the extensive search, along with nearby rescue and law enforcement agencies.
Northwest Seaplanes is a family owned business founded by Clyde Carlson, according to the company’s website. It has 24-years of “accident and incident free flying,” the website said.
The company’s business office next to the seaplane dock at the Renton Municipal Airport remained closed behind fencing on Monday. The only visible activity was two people hugging near the front door. The only floatplane at the dock appeared to be a small private Cessna.
A woman who answered the phone early Monday said they’re waiting to learn more and are devastated by the crash.
“It’s a small crew. Everyone’s close,” said the woman, who would only give her first name, Michelle. She declined to say more.
The company posted a message on Facebook late Monday saying they were heartbroken.
“We don’t know any details yet regarding the cause of the accident,” the post said. “We are working with the FAA, NTSB and Coastguard. We have been in communication with the families. We are praying for the families involved, including our pilot and his family.”
The Northwest Seaplanes website says its sister company Friday Harbor Seaplanes operates daily flights to and from their Renton base and the San Juan Islands, a scenic archipelago northwest of Seattle that draws tourists from around the world.
Floatplanes, which have pontoons allowing them to land on water, are a common sight around Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. There are multiple, daily flights between the Seattle area and the San Juan Islands.
These aircraft, which also fly between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, frequently travel over Seattle and land on Lake Washington and on Lake Union, not far from the city’s iconic Space Needle.
The airport where the flight was headed Sunday is at the southern tip of Lake Washington, less than 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Seattle. It’s located next to a Boeing plant and is best known for where new 737s first hit the sky.
In July, 2020, a De Havilland Beaver operated by Brooke’s Seaplanes was on a scenic flight in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, with five passengers and a pilot when it collided with a Cessna 206. Eight people were killed.
In 2019, a midair crash in Alaska between two sightseeing planes killed six people. The Ketchikan-based floatplanes were carrying passengers from the same cruise ship, the Royal Princess, and were returning from tours of Misty Fjords National Monument.
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Bellisle reported from Renton, Wash. | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-1-dead-9-missing-after-floatplane-crashes-in-puget-sound/ | 2022-09-06T03:58:39Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-1-dead-9-missing-after-floatplane-crashes-in-puget-sound/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago officials have asked the public for volunteers and donations to help immigrants being bused to the city from Texas amid the Republican-led state’s political battle over the immigration policies of President Joe Biden’s administration.
A busload of about 50 immigrants arrived Sunday in Chicago, days after the arrival of the first busload of about 75.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city had not yet heard from any Texas officials and urged Texas’ Republican governor, Greg Abbott, to collaborate on a more humane treatment of the immigrants.
Abbott is busing migrants who are in the country illegally from Texas to U.S. cities with Democratic mayors as part of a strategy to share the influx of people who cross into his border state.
“He tries to send human beings, not cargo, not freight, but human beings across the country to an uncertain destination,” Lightfoot said. “He is manufacturing a human crisis and it makes no sense to me.”
The city of Chicago set up a website for members of the public who want to volunteer to help the migrants or donate to the cause.
Lightfoot said several organizations were already providing assistance.
“We’re a welcoming city, so we’re always gonna step up and do the right thing to make sure that migrants who are coming here to our city are well received.” Lightfoot said. | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-chicago-mayor-seeks-help-for-immigrants-bused-from-texas/ | 2022-09-06T03:59:15Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-chicago-mayor-seeks-help-for-immigrants-bused-from-texas/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BOSTON (AP) — Republicans hoping to hold on to the Massachusetts governor’s office are choosing between a Donald Trump-backed candidate and a more moderate businessman in Tuesday’s primary election.
Massachusetts is just the latest blue state to feature a top-of-the-ticket contest between a conservative candidate endorsed by Trump and a more centrist opponent. In recent primaries in Maryland and Connecticut, GOP voters have opted for the Trump loyalists, potentially worsening their chances of winning a general election.
The winner of Tuesday’s Massachusetts primary will take on Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey in November. If elected, she would be the state’s first openly gay governor and the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts. Republican Jane Swift served as acting governor after Gov. Paul Cellucci stepped down in 2001 to become U.S. ambassador to Canada.
The governor’s office is open this year because popular GOP Gov. Charlie Baker opted against running for a third term.
What to watch:
Former state Rep. Geoff Diehl, who has Trump’s endorsement, is going up against businessman Chris Doughty, a political newcomer, in the Republican primary for governor.
Diehl, who launched a failed campaign for U.S. Senate against Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2018, is popular among Republican activists. He won the party’s endorsement with 71% of delegates at the state party convention in May, but he could face a tougher climb in a general election in a state in which Trump won only 32% of votes in 2020.
Diehl has opposed COVID-19 mandates, falsely claimed the 2020 presidential race was rigged, fought against the extension of mail-in voting and said he supports the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Trump — a critic of Baker, who publicly refused to vote for Trump in 2016 and 2020 — endorsed Diehl last October, saying in a statement that he is “strong on Crime, Election Integrity, our now under siege Southern Border, loves our Military, and has a big focus on taking care of our Vets.”
Doughty described himself as moderate when he entered the race but has since embraced the label of conservative as he tries to appeal to Republican primary voters. Doughty has said his experience running a manufacturing company gives him the know-how to be a successful chief executive.
He has said he wants to make Massachusetts more affordable for residents and businesses. He has described himself as “pro-life,” but acknowledges the state’s highest court has recognized a right to abortion and said he doesn’t have an interest in changing that.
Baker hasn’t endorsed either candidate.
Healey, who’s won two statewide races for attorney general, is running virtually unopposed, with her sole rival dropping out of the race in June, though she remains on the ballot. Healey is hoping to break a political “curse” in Massachusetts, referring to a string of unsuccessful campaigns by attorneys general for governor.
Despite being considered a Democratic stronghold, Massachusetts has a history of electing Republican governors as a check on a Legislature in which Democrats hold overwhelming majorities. Those Republican governors, including Mitt Romney, have typically been fiscally conservative but more socially moderate.
Baker said in December that he opted not to seek reelection so he could focus on helping the state emerge from the pandemic. He credited his administration’s focus on issues over personality as a big reason for his success with voters, which he said stands “apart from a lot of the bipartisan noise that’s created in politics generally these days.”
The election also features several statewide contested Democratic primaries, including for attorney general and secretary of the commonwealth.
Two Democrats are jockeying for the top law enforcement office: former Boston city councilor Andrea Campbell and workers’ rights attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan. A week before the election, a former assistant attorney general, Quentin Palfrey, announced he was suspending his campaign and endorsed Campbell.
The winner will face Republican Jay McMahon, a trial attorney who previously ran against Healey and lost, in November.
If elected, Campbell would be the first Black woman to hold the office in Massachusetts. She’s won the endorsement of several high-profile elected officials, including Healey, Sen. Edward Markey and half the state’s congressional delegation.
Liss-Riordan has the backing of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and former acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey.
In the race for secretary of the commonwealth, Democratic incumbent William Galvin is hoping to win an eighth term in office. He’s fielding a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Tanisha Sullivan, a lawyer and president of the Boston branch of the NAACP. Sullivan would be the first Black person to serve in the post in the state.
There are also contested races in the Democratic primary for auditor and for the Democratic and Republican races for lieutenant governor.
None of the state’s nine incumbent Democratic U.S. House members is facing primary challengers. There are two contested Republican primaries, in the 8th and 9th congressional districts.
The Massachusetts primary lands on the day after Labor Day, raising concerns about a potentially low turnout, although early voting began on Aug. 27.
A new state law makes “no excuse” mail-in ballots and early voting permanent fixtures in Massachusetts elections. Many of the voting options included in the new law were implemented during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and proved popular.
The law also increases ballot access for voters with disabilities, service members overseas and incarcerated individuals.
___
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/national/ap-us-news/ap-what-to-watch-in-massachusetts-primary-election/ | 2022-09-06T03:59:57Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-what-to-watch-in-massachusetts-primary-election/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian authorities on Monday sought to arrest a property developer after a seven-story building under construction collapsed in an upscale area of Lagos, the country’s largest city, killing at least six people.
Meanwhile, the Lagos Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development submitted his resignation in the aftermath of Sunday’s tragedy, amid growing pressure and condemnation over the frequent building collapses in the state.
In a statement before stepping down, Salako said that the project’s developer was liable “having embarked on construction without a valid planning permit and ignoring official warnings against continuing.”
Sunday’s accident took place on Victoria Island, an upscale area of Lagos. No one has yet to be pulled out alive from the rubble as of Monday afternoon, according to Ibrahim Farinloye with the National Emergency Management Agency.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency initially reported that six people were trapped in the building, but authorities now fear the number could be higher.
At the Oba Abiodun Oniru road where the high rise stood before crumbling, residents watched as excavators combed through the rubble in search of life. Health workers remained on standby to offer treatment to possible survivors while security forces barricaded the area.
Nigeria has recorded more than 10 building collapses in the last year. Lagos, a city of more than 20 million people, is the worst hit, recording at least six such collapses including in November when more than 40 people died when a high rise still being constructed crumbled on workers.
Authorities in Nigeria have often been accused of either failing to enforce building safety regulations across the country or failing to act on the findings of investigative panels on such disasters. | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-6-dead-after-building-collapses-in-nigerias-largest-city/ | 2022-09-06T04:00:52Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-6-dead-after-building-collapses-in-nigerias-largest-city/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — An activist said Monday he has again flown huge balloons carrying COVID-19 relief items and an anti-North Korea placard across the tense inter-Korean border, despite the North’s recent warning of a deadly attack over his activities.
Park Sang-hak, a North Korean defector-turned-activist, said the 20 balloons launched from a South Korean border town on Sunday carried 20,000 masks and tens of thousands of Tylenol and Vitamin C tablets.
He said one of the balloons carried a placard with a message that reads “Let’s eradicate Kim Jong Un and (his sister) Kim Yo Jong,” along with their photos. He said no other propaganda statements were carried by the balloons.
For years, Park has floated helium-filled balloons with numerous, small anti-Pyongyang leaflets with harsh criticism of the Kim family’s authoritarian rule in North Korea. But he’s recently changed his cargo to masks and other health products amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
North Korea is deeply angered by such activism and has made the highly questionable claim that leaflets, banknotes and booklets flown from South Korea caused the country’s COVID-19 outbreak this year. Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the country’s leader, said last month that North Korea would respond by “wiping out the South Korean authorities” if “rubbish” continued to be flown from South Korea.
Days after Kim Yo Jong’s warning, a man wielding a steel pipe attacked Park at a rally in Seoul, breaking the activist’s arm.
Police said Monday the attacker was detained but didn’t immediately provide further details. Park said he believes North Korea has ordered pro-Pyongyang forces in South Korea to attack his group, a claim that cannot be independently confirmed.
In a failed assassination attempt in 2011, South Korean authorities captured a North Korean agent who tried to kill Park with a pen equipped with a poison needle.
North Korea is extremely sensitive to leafleting campaigns and other outside attempts to criticize the Kim family’s authoritarian rule of its people, most of whom have little access to foreign news. In 2014, North Korea fired at balloons flying toward its territory, and in 2020 it destroyed an empty South Korean-built liaison office in the North to express its anger over leafleting.
Last year, South Korea, under its previous liberal government that sought to improve ties with North Korea, enforced a contentious new law criminalizing civilian leafleting campaigns. Park still kept launching propaganda balloons, becoming the first person to be indicted over the law that punishes flying leaflets, USB drives or money into North Korea with up to three years in prison.
But Park’s trial has virtually been suspended after he filed a petition requesting the Constitutional Court to rule whether the new law is unconstitutional, according to Park’s lawyer, Lee Hun.
Opponents of the law say it’s sacrificing South Korea’s freedom of speech to seek improved ties with North Korea. But supporters say the law is aimed at avoiding unnecessarily provoking North Korea and promoting the safety of front-line South Korean residents.
Park faced separate police questioning over his balloon flights conducted before the law’s enforcement.
In March, he was handed a suspended fine of 3 million won ($2,190) for violating the law on donations. Prosecutors, citing a lack of evidence, had earlier decided not to indict him over other charges including an alleged violation of a law on inter-Korean cooperation. The suspended fine means Park doesn’t need to pay penalty unless he breaks law again and receives a prison sentence or bigger punishment during the one-year period, according to Lee, the lawyer.
Sunday’s balloon launches were Park’s fourth campaign to scatter medical relief items to North Korea. After his third launch in July, South Korean police said they were investigating his activities. On Monday, police weren’t immediately available for comment and Park said he hasn’t been contacted by police. | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-activist-floats-balloons-again-despite-north-koreas-warning/ | 2022-09-06T04:01:06Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-activist-floats-balloons-again-despite-north-koreas-warning/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BEIRUT (AP) — Dozens of Lebanese and Syrian migrants stranded for days on a sinking fishing boat in the Mediterranean Sea are urging European coast guards to save them, saying that two children have died.
The roughly 60 migrants told relatives and volunteer groups with a satellite phone that two young children have died, and that the group has been without food, water, and baby formula for the past three days. On board are Syrian refugees and Lebanese from its severely impoverished northern provinces trying to reach Italy for job opportunities. They left Lebanon off the coast of the northern city of Tripoli about 10 days ago.
“They’re trying to remove water leaking into the boat with buckets, that’s all they have,” the brother of one of the Syrian passengers told The Associated Press. He asked to not disclose their names for security reasons and because some of the migrants did not want to disclose the news to their families back home. “This is fishing boat is meant for five people, not 60.”
Lebanon has a population of 6 million, including 1 million Syrian refugees, and has been in the grip of a severe economic meltdown since late 2019 that has pulled over three-quarters of the population into poverty.
The migrants are reportedly stranded near the coasts of Malta and Italy. The authorities have not dispatched rescuers, according to families and activists in touch with the migrants. Lebanese parliamentarian Ashraf Rifi urged the Italian government, as well as the Lebanese Foreign Ministry and the Lebanese Embassy in Rome to take action.
According to families and Alarm Phone, an activist network that helps bring in rescuers to distressed migrants at sea, Malta has not yet authorized a rescue operation and has not given permission to a commercial cargo ship to rescue the stranded migrants.
Meanwhile, families fear the leaking boat could sink at any time.
“Whenever I call, you can hear the children screaming and crying in the background,” the relative said. “I don’t know why no governments have taken action to rescue them, is it because they’re poor people trying to make ends meet for their families?”
Once a country that received refugees, Lebanon has become a launching pad for dangerous migration by sea to Europe.
As the crisis deepened, more Lebanese, as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugees, set off to sea, with security agencies reporting foiled migration attempts almost weekly.
In April, a boat carrying dozens of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians trying to migrate by sea to Italy went down more than five kilometers (three miles) from the port of Tripoli, following a confrontation with the Lebanese navy. Dozens were killed in the incident.
The circumstances of the vessel’s sinking are disputed. Survivors say their boat was rammed by the Lebanese navy, while the military claims the migrants’ boat collided with a navy vessel while trying to get away.
The April sinking was the greatest migrant tragedy for Lebanon in recent years and put the government further on the defensive at a time when the country is in economic free fall and public trust in the state and its institutions is rapidly crumbling. | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-dozens-of-lebanese-and-syrian-migrants-trapped-at-sea/ | 2022-09-06T04:01:28Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-dozens-of-lebanese-and-syrian-migrants-trapped-at-sea/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
BEIJING (AP) — At least 46 people were reported killed and 16 missing in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook China’s southwestern province of Sichuan on Monday, triggering landslides and shaking buildings in the provincial capital of Chengdu, whose 21 million residents are already under a COVID-19 lockdown.
The quake struck a mountainous area in Luding county shortly after noon, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.
Sichuan, which sits on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau where tectonic plates meet, is regularly hit by earthquakes. Two quakes in June killed at least four people.
Power was knocked out and buildings damaged in the historic town of Moxi in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Garze, where 29 people were killed. Tents had been erected for more than 50,000 people being moved from homes rendered unsafe by the quake, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday.
State broadcaster CCTV showed rescue crews pulling a woman who appeared uninjured from a collapsed home in Moxi, where many of the buildings are constructed from a mix of wood and brick. Around 150 people were reported with varying degrees of injuries.
Earlier, authorities had reported 7 deaths in Luding county and 14 more in neighboring Shimian county to the south. Three of the dead were workers at the Hailuogou Scenic Area, a glacier and forest nature reserve.
Along with the deaths, authorities reported stones and soil falling from mountainsides, causing damage to homes and power interruptions, CCTV said. One landslide blocked a rural highway, leaving it strewn with rocks, the Ministry of Emergency Management said.
Buildings shook in Chengdu, 200 kilometers (125 miles) away from the epicenter. Resident Jiang Danli said she hid under a desk for five minutes in her 31st floor apartment. Many of her neighbors rushed downstairs, wary of aftershocks.
“There was a strong earthquake in June, but it wasn’t very scary. This time I was really scared, because I live on a high floor and the shaking made me dizzy,” she told The Associated Press.
The earthquake and lockdown follow a heat wave and drought that led to water shortages and power cuts due to Sichuan’s reliance on hydropower. That comes on top of the latest major lockdown under China’s strict “zero-COVID” policy.
The past two months in Chengdu “have been weird,” Jiang said.
The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a magnitude of 6.6 for Monday’s quake at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). Preliminary measurements by different agencies often differ slightly.
China’s deadliest earthquake in recent years was a 7.9 magnitude quake in 2008 that killed nearly 90,000 people in Sichuan. The temblor devastated towns, schools and rural communities outside Chengdu, leading to a years-long effort to rebuild with more resistant materials. | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-strong-earthquake-shakes-southwestern-china/ | 2022-09-06T04:02:52Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-strong-earthquake-shakes-southwestern-china/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The United Nations says “famine is at the door” in Somalia with “concrete indications” famine will occur later this year in the southern Bay region. This falls just short of a formal famine declaration as thousands are dying in a historic drought made worse by the effects of the war in Ukraine.
U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told reporters he was “shocked to my core these past few days” on a visit to Somalia in which he saw starving babies too weak to cry. More than 850,000 people are in the affected areas, with tens of thousands more arriving in the months to come, according to U.N. experts.
A formal famine declaration is rare and a warning that too little help has come too late. At least 1 million people in Somalia have been displaced by the driest drought in decades, driven by climate change, that also affects the wider Horn of Africa including Ethiopia and Kenya.
Famine is the extreme lack of food and a significant death rate from outright starvation or malnutrition combined with diseases like cholera. A declaration means data shows more than a fifth of households have extreme food gaps, more than 30% of children are acutely malnourished and over two people out of 10,000 are dying every day.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been described as a disaster for Somalia, which has suffered from a shortage of humanitarian aid as international donors focus on Europe. Somalia sourced at least 90% of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine before the war and has been hit hard by scarcity and the sharp rise in food prices.
“Ukraine has occupied the narrative,” Griffiths said.
Hungry families in Somalia have been staggering for days or weeks through parched terrain in search of assistance. Many bury family members along the way. Even when they reach camps outside urban areas, they find little or no help.
At one camp outside the capital, Mogadishu, Fadumo Abdi Aliyow showed The Associated Press the graves of her two small sons next to their makeshift home. Disease had overwhelmed their weakened bodies. One was 4. The other was eight months old.
“I wanted to die before them so they could bury me,” Aliyow said. Another resident of the camp of 1,800 families, Samey Adan Mohamed, said the last meal she and her eight children had was rice a day ago. Today they had only tea.
Camps like theirs are ringed by death, bringing aid workers to tears. “I couldn’t get out of my head the tiny mounds of ground marking children’s graves,” UNICEF’s deputy regional director Rania Dagash said last week. “I’m from this region and I’ve never seen it so bad.”
A formal famine declaration might bring desperately needed funding. But “tragically, by the time a famine is declared, it’s already too late,” the U.N. World Food Program has said.
When famine was declared in parts of Somalia in 2011, the deaths of a quarter-million people were well underway.
“This is not a repeat of the 2011 famine. It is much worse,” the U.N. humanitarian agency said last week. At least 730 children have died in nutrition centers across Somalia, it said, and more than 213,000 people are at “imminent risk” of dying.
“You feel like you’re looking at the face of death,” Mercy Corps CEO Tjada McKenna told the AP after visiting the badly hit city of Baidoa. There is not enough therapeutic food to treat the acutely malnourished, said McKenna, who saw many young children and pregnant women. “For every one person I saw, imagine all the people who couldn’t get that far. And so many people were arriving each day.”
At the same time, aid funding has dropped more than 60% from the response to Somalia’s previous drought in 2017, USAID administrator Samantha Power said last week, noting a “degree of despair and devastation” not seen before in her career.
The Horn of Africa region has seen four straight failed rainy seasons for the first time in over half a century, endangering an estimated 20 million people in one of the world’s most impoverished and turbulent regions.
“Sadly, our models show with a high degree of confidence that we are entering the fifth consecutive failed rainy season,” the director of the regional climate prediction center, Guleid Artan, has said. “In Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, we are on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.”
The rainfall in this year’s failed March-to-May season was the lowest in the last six decades, Artan told the AP. Next year’s March-to-May season doesn’t look good either, he said, worrying that “this could be the seven-year drought, the biblical one.”
Formal famine declarations are rare because data to meet the benchmarks often cannot be obtained because of conflict, poor infrastructure or politics. Governments can be wary of being associated with a term of such grim magnitude. Somalia’s recently elected president, however, appointed a drought envoy in one of his first acts, which Griffiths called “impressive.”
Because of the remote nature of Somalia’s drought, and with some hard-hit areas under the control of the al-Shabab extremist group which has been hostile to humanitarian efforts, no one knows how many people have died — or will in the months to come.
Hundreds of calls from across Somalia, including from al-Shabab-controlled areas, come in daily to the Somali-run Radio Ergo. Some say no aid is available in camps. Others say water sources have run dry or lament the loss of millions of livestock that are the foundation of their health and wealth.
“People don’t cry because they want their voice to be heard,” radio editor Leyla Mohamed told the AP. “But you can feel they are hurting, that they feel more than we can hear.”
___
Anna reported from Nairobi, Kenya. | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-un-says-part-of-somalia-will-reach-famine-later-this-year/ | 2022-09-06T04:03:22Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/world-news/ap-international/ap-un-says-part-of-somalia-will-reach-famine-later-this-year/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The 8 best PS5 controller charging stations
Few managed to get their hands on a PS5 since the demand for the console exceeded supply by an unprecedented margin, but the good news is that Sony plans to release a revised version on September 15.
Getting a charging station is a good idea if you’re set on buying a new PS5. That way, you can juice up your controller when you’re not playing, so it’s ready to go when you are.
In this article: PlayStation DualSense Charging Station, Oivo PS5 Controller Charging Station and Razer Quick PS5 Controller Charging Stand.
What to know about PS5 controller charging stations
Clear the clutter
Your gaming area can be untidy if you have many accessories and peripherals. A charging station can help clear the clutter by eliminating charging cables running from your PS5 to the controller. It also gives you a place to hold your PS5 controller when you’re not using it, which makes it easy to find when the time comes for your next session. Additionally, it can help you avoid leaving your controllers on the couch, a chair or a table.
Fast charging
The only downside to a charging station is that most don’t let you comfortably use your controller while it’s docked and charging. However, many users find the minor inconvenience worth it since a charging station can charge a controller significantly faster than a USB-C cable connected to a PS5. Most charging stations can fully charge a dead PS5 controller in under two and a half hours, but the best ones can do it in one and a half.
Dual-controller charging
There are two types of charging stations single-controller and dual-controller.
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Single-controller charging stations are compact and designed to charge or hold one controller.
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Dual-controller charging stations have two connected docks for charging two controllers simultaneously.
A single-controller charging station is more affordable and ideal if you only own one PS5 controller, but those with multiple controllers may want to consider a dual-controller charging station.
However, it’s important to note that the power supply is usually split when two controllers are charging simultaneously, meaning it takes longer to get both controllers fully charged.
Horizontal vs. vertical design
Most charging stations have a horizontal design that lets you quickly click on controllers to cradle them. However, there are more sleek, vertical charging stations that look more stylish and save more space.
Features to look for in a quality PS5 controller charging station
Charging status indicators
The light bar on a PS5 controller pulsates with an orange light when charging and stops once it’s at 100%. Charging stations have LED indicators that make it easy to tell if your controller is charged. For example, some charging docks will glow red when a controller is charging and change to blue once fully powered.
Additional ports
Many charging stations draw power directly from a PS5, meaning it’ll use one USB port. This presents a problem for gamers who want to connect other accessories and peripherals to a USB port on their PS5. To solve this, some charging stations have two or three additional ports so users can still connect their accessories while the charging station draws power from the PS5 to charge controllers.
Built-in intelligent chip
Leaving any appliances or electronics charging when you’re not around can be dangerous. Mishaps such as over-charging, over-voltage, overheating and short-circuiting can occur. The risk is low, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’s best to look for a charging station with a built-in intelligent chip that helps prevent them.
The best PS5 controller charging stations
Most reliable PS5 controller charging stations
Oivo PS5 Controller Charging Station
This charging station can power up two controllers simultaneously in just two hours and has an on and off switch on the rear for power saving when it’s not in use. Plus, it has an LED light indicating the charging status.
Sold by Amazon
Mes Merry Black Charging Station
This dock features a click-in design and has a blue light bar with a touch on and off switch and control panel. It’s powered by a 5V/2A plug adapter and supports dual controller charging, getting each one to full power in less than two and a half hours.
Sold by Amazon
PlayStation DualSense Charging Station
Thanks to a click-in design, you can dock two controllers easily and leave them charging while you’re away from your PS5 console. It’s an authentic Sony PS5 controller charging stand, so it’s more durable and reliable than third-party charging docks.
Sold by Amazon
Razer Quick PS5 Controller Charging Stand
You don’t need to worry about this charging stand falling over as it has a sturdy curved cradle design that lets you easily mount your controller. It’s ergonomically designed for one-handed navigation, so players can use it even when a controller is docked.
Sold by Amazon
LVFan PS5 Controller Charging Station
Players looking for a fast way to charge their PS5 controllers will love this dock. It can charge one controller in under 90 minutes and has a drop-in slot design for quickly securing controllers in place. Plus, it has two LED light indicators that display charging status.
Sold by Amazon
Most affordable PS5 controller charging stations
Catzarmor PS5 Controller Charging Station
This charging station has a neat spaceship design and is ideal for those looking for an affordable way to charge their controllers. It has clear LED indicators that light up red or blue depending on whether the controllers are fully charged.
Sold by Amazon
Fegliea PS5 Controller Charging Station
This charging station has a 70.5-inch power adapter and can charge two controllers even when the console is powered off. It has a built-in chip that protects it from over-surging, and it takes less than two hours to charge a controller.
Sold by Amazon
NexiGo PS5 DualSense Controller Charging Station
This charging station has a more stylish design than other docks, but it’s still compact and has a built-in chip for overload protection. You can charge two controllers simultaneously, and it has LED lights that illuminate when they’re docked.
Sold by Amazon
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Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wspa.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/gaming-accessories-br/get-ready-for-the-newest-ps5-release-with-these-playstation-controller-charging-stations/ | 2022-09-06T04:03:48Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/gaming-accessories-br/get-ready-for-the-newest-ps5-release-with-these-playstation-controller-charging-stations/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Andy Ruiz knocked down Luis Ortiz three times on the way to a victory by unanimous decision Sunday night, taking a key step toward a chance to become a heavyweight world champion again.
Former three-division world champion Abner Mares also fought to a majority draw with Miguel Flores in Mares’ return from a four-year ring absence on the pay-per-view undercard. Lightweight Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz then stopped Eduardo Ramirez in the second round with two vicious knockdowns.
In the main event, Ruiz (35-2, 22 KOs) had all of the big moments while grinding out a decision over Ortiz (33-3), a two-time world title challenger. The Southern California native knocked down the 43-year-old Ortiz twice in the second round and again in the seventh, but his Cuban opponent punched more accurately during long stretches of relative inactivity for both fighters.
“I worked so hard for this fight, because I knew he’s a warrior and he hits hard,” Ruiz said. “I thought I did a beautiful job handling his pressure and also coming forward.”
The judges scored the bout 114-111, 114-111 and 113-112 for Ruiz. The Associated Press also had Ruiz 114-111, with the knockdowns making the difference.
Ruiz pulled off one of the bigger upsets in recent heavyweight history when he took Anthony Joshua’s three championship belts in 2019, only to lose them back to his British opponent six months later. Ruiz had fought just once since, but he rededicated himself to training with hopes of getting another shot at the belts.
“I do not want to be waiting,” Ruiz said. “I want to fight at least three or four times a year. I’m hungry, man. I want to be a champion again.”
After entering the ring in a blue-and-gold robe and trunks featuring the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams’ colors and helmet horns, Ruiz abruptly floored Ortiz early in the second round with a short right hand. Ortiz wobbled to his feet and soon slipped back down while trying to clinch with Ruiz, but he made it to the bell.
Neither fighter threw much or risked much in the next four rounds, and the crowd that loudly backed Ruiz grumbled its displeasure. But Ruiz connected again late in the seventh, staggering Ortiz before sending him to the canvas with a right to the top of the head.
“It was very difficult,” Ruiz said. “The ability that I have for counterpunching instead of waiting for him to load up, that was a blessing.”
Earlier, Cruz (24-2-1, 17 KOs) made his case for a rematch with Gervonta “Tank” Davis with his two-round demolition of Ramirez, first knocking him down face-first with a left hook to the jaw before finishing him with a combination in the corner.
Davis, who narrowly beat Cruz by decision last December, smiled as he watched the bout from ringside amid chants of: “We want Tank!” from Cruz’s fans.
Mares (31-3-2) hadn’t fought since his second loss to Leo Santa Cruz in June 2018. He recovered from surgery on a detached retina shortly before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and his ring absence stretched on while he landed a commentary job with Showtime.
But Mares eventually decided he had to return, and he looked quite sharp early against Flores (25-4-1) with a series of big right hands that rocked his opponent. Mares tired in the second half, but won 96-94 on one judge’s card. The other two scored it 95-95.
“Obviously it had been over four years, so I was a little off with my timing, and a little sluggish,” Mares said. “But I felt good, and I thought I was landing the more powerful shots. I definitely felt like I won.”
The pay-per-view card opened with an enormous upset: Edwin De Los Santos, a Dominican lightweight filling in as a late replacement opponent, battered previously unbeaten Mexican prospect José Valenzuela for a third-round stoppage victory. De Los Santos was only added to the card Wednesday when Jezreel Corrales couldn’t secure a travel visa from Panama.
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More AP boxing: https://apnews.com/hub/boxing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-andy-ruiz-beats-ortiz-by-decision-in-heavyweight-showdown/ | 2022-09-06T04:04:24Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-andy-ruiz-beats-ortiz-by-decision-in-heavyweight-showdown/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
North American companies are onboarding robot workers at a faster-than-ever pace.
According to the Association for Advancing Automation, companies ordered a record-setting 12,305 machines in the second quarter of 2022. That's 25% more than the same period a year ago.
"The pandemic definitely highlighted some areas and shortages in resources needed to be automated, and customers had to automate just due to the fact that people weren't coming back to the workplace," FANUC North America Vice President Louis Finazzo said.
"For a long time, the automotive industry accounted for 60 to 70% of robot orders," Association for Advancing Automation President Jeff Burnstein said. "And we knew that when other industries started adopting is when we would really see growth, which is finally happening now, in part due to the pandemic forcing companies to look at other options when they couldn't bring people into work."
Burnstein and Finazzo told Newsy that the industries helping fuel this increased demand for robotics ranged widely from food processing to pharmaceuticals.
E-commerce companies have been particularly interested in buying up these robots, as robots can help grab packages and get them ready for delivery.
However, if these robots are meant to close productivity gaps, the results aren't apparent. During the second quarter of 2022, U.S. productivity fell at its highest rate since the government began collecting that data.
Robots can help do the tasks businesses need to be done, but it will take time to get those machines up and running. And they'll need a human workforce with specialized training.
"The lack of people who are available to install and maintain, operate, program and take advantage of all the data — this is a barrier, actually, to further adoption of robotics," Burnstein said. "We have to put more emphasis on teaching people the skills they need because we all have to benefit in an increasingly automated future."
Experts are pleased with how quickly robots are being added to the workplace. A mechanized future is well on its way.
"The adoption curve used to be 50 weeks; now it's been cut into the 21-week range," Finazzo said. "So, you will see gains happening quicker because the customers and the manufacturers are picking applications that can get immediate impact."
Newsy is the nation’s only free 24/7 national news network. You can find Newsy using your TV’s digital antenna or stream for free. See all the ways you can watch Newsy here. | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/how-robots-are-impacting-the-us-economy | 2022-09-06T04:04:26Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/how-robots-are-impacting-the-us-economy | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
UVALDE, Texas — A new school year begins Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas.
It's been three months since 19 students and two teachers were killed by a gunman inside Robb Elementary School.
Although many students and teachers are returning to the district, some parents say they aren't getting a straight answer on what officers will be on campus.
"One of the questions that the families have is the DPS workers that are going to be there. Are those the same ones that were at the school that day? And we can't get an answer," said parent Adam Martinez to CNN. "They won't give us an answer whether it's going to be the same people, the same school resource officers that were there. They're going to be there on campus too, so."
The district says it's working on completing new security measures, including the installation of higher fences, more security cameras, and placing more than 30 state troopers across the campuses, the Associated Press reported.
But for Martinez, that isn't enough reassurance for his kids.
"I talked to my son, and I told him that they're going to have higher fencing, they're going to have more DPS cops, and he just wasn't having it. He said that he doesn't think they're going to be brave enough if it happens again," Martinez told CNN. "They're not going to go in there. They didn't go in there before, and he wants different cops and that he's really not budging. The fencing he said they can just get a ladder and climb over it, so right now, he's just not ready. My daughter, she was looking forward to volleyball, playing volleyball, and now even with that, she doesn't want to go back."
One person who will not be returning to the district this year is former police chief Pete Arredondo, who was fired in August by the school board, the Associated Press reported.
School officials say Robb Elementary won't be used, so elementary students will be taking classes at various campuses around the district, the Associated Press reported.
According to the Associated Press, some students will participate in virtual learning, while others are attending private school. | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/uvalde-students-returning-to-school-on-tuesday | 2022-09-06T04:04:32Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/uvalde-students-returning-to-school-on-tuesday | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Colton Herta wants at least one more week to himself before he will begin to contemplate his 2023 plans.
He’s got an IndyCar contract with Andretti Autosport and an F1 testing contract with McLaren. But he’s also the subject of intense speculation that AlphaTauri wants him on the F1 grid next season, contingent on Herta receiving an exemption to receive the license needed to compete in the global series.
The very idea that the FIA, the governing body for Formula One and multiple other series around the world, would grant Herta a Super License without properly earning it ignited a debate during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend about the current licensing system.
McLaren on Sunday offered its public support of Herta receiving an exemption, noting that the 22-year-old had tested on its simulator and spent two days in the car in Portugal in July, making the team better positioned than anyone to rate him. But other team principals are against any sort of special waiver and said they’d instead be open to re-examining the Super License system.
“I don’t want to be sitting here and saying, ‘Oh, an IndyCar race, we know it’s as good as this.’ You cannot compare it,” Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said. “If we want to change the rule let’s discuss it and then fix it for the future if you think it’s wrong. But there needs to be an agreement between the stakeholders in it.”
The FIA puts very little value on United States motorsports series in its licensing system. A driver must accumulate 40 points based on their best three performances over the previous four seasons to obtain a Super License, and while winning an IndyCar championship is worth the full 40 points, the drop off from there is very steep.
Because the FIA does not govern IndyCar or NASCAR, it doesn’t give an equitable rating to the top racing series in America. For example, winning the IndyCar championship earns the same amount of points toward as Super License as winning the title in F2, the series right below F1. The drop off is significant, too, with a third-place finish worth 40 points in F2 but only 20 points in IndyCar.
A NASCAR Cup title, meanwhile, is only worth 15 points — same as an Indy Lights title. The winner of the W Series, a 10-race calendar for female drivers only, is worth the same amount of points as the champion of NASCAR’s 36-race schedule.
IndyCar and NASCAR drivers both tout their series as the most competitive and diverse in the world, and yet the FIA barely rates them equal to some of F1’s most junior categories.
It makes little sense for the FIA to show such little consideration to IndyCar, which races a car similar to F1 over a 17-race schedule that is far more diverse. IndyCar races on road and street courses, as well as ovals, and hit speeds over 240 mph in qualifying for this year’s Indianapolis 500.
There are currently four former F1 drivers in the IndyCar field in Romain Grosjean, Marcus Ericsson, Takuma Sato and Alexander Rossi, who in 2015 was the last American to race on the F1 grid. Ericsson, Sato and Rossi combine for four Indianapolis 500 wins.
The IndyCar field also boasts rookies Callum Ilott and Christian Lundgaard, who both came through the European system and Ilott is part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, and Felix Rosenqvist, who raced in Formula E before IndyCar.
The Super License system was designed in part to ensure drivers worked their way through the ranks and were qualified to compete in F1 by the time they got to that series rather than rich, unqualified drivers simply buying a seat.
But what it has done is kept drivers from the United States racing system out of F1. Herta tried to make a go of it in his early teens when he moved alone to England to move through Carlin’s development system. When he hit his ceiling, he returned to the America ahead of the 2017 Indy Lights season. He finished third and second in the Lights standings in two seasons before moving to IndyCar in 2019, when he became the series’ youngest race winner.
The highest Herta has ever finished in four IndyCar seasons was third in 2020, and despite seven career victories, he’s going to end this year with roughly 33 of the needed 40 points for a Super License.
Helmut Marko, an advisor for Red Bull, said after the Dutch Grand Prix that an agreement was in place to get Herta into an AlphaTauri seat next season if the FIA awards him the exemption. Marko said he expected a decision this weekend in Monza.
Herta and his father, manager Bryan Herta, have declined to comment on any speculation. Herta said he wants to focus on finishing the IndyCar season on Sunday at Laguna Seca and told his father to hold off bringing him any 2023 scenarios until the IndyCar season is over.
If Marko is correct, the FIA will rule on Herta’s eligibility before the checkered flag falls on his IndyCar season Sunday. But that it’s any debate — Herta has won on road and street courses and qualified on the front row for the 2021 Indy 500 — is an insult to IndyCar.
The championship that will be decided Sunday is the closest since 2003 and four drivers head to Laguna Seca with a mathematical chance to win the title. Will Power holds a 20-point lead over Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden in the IndyCar standings; Max Verstappen, meanwhile, has nine wins through 14 races and a 93-point lead in the standings.
Herta doesn’t need an exemption and has proven — like much of the IndyCar field — to be capable of competing in F1. What should happen is an overhauling of the Super License system in which the FIA shows respect beyond the series it controls.
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More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-column-fia-license-system-needs-overhaul-for-u-s-racing/ | 2022-09-06T04:04:38Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-column-fia-license-system-needs-overhaul-for-u-s-racing/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Students of the Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology Ikere-Ekiti (BOUESTI) have said the introduction of a compulsory course on practical farming by the university management would in no small measure prepare them for the future.
The two-unit course tagged ‘Practical Skills in Agriculture’ is designed for the 200-level students to plant and nurture crops in the institution’s farm for them to learn the practical ways of farming and as well embrace agriculture after their graduation to boost the economy.
Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in the university farm, a student of the Accounting department , Akinwale Oyeniyi commended the university management for introducing the course, adding that the practical farming practice would help prepare him for the future.
While revealing that agriculture was the mainstay of the nation’s economy before the discovery of oil, Oyeniyi noted that he would be willing to continue farming after finishing his program in the university for food security and economic emancipation.
On their parts, Folake Adedayo of the Science Laboratory Tech and Elizabeth Omotayo of Psychology departments, said the decision of the federal government on the need for people and institutions to embrace farming was commendable , saying that they would be willing to take advantage of the opportunity by the university.
The duo who said they had never worked in the farm before gaining admission to the university, promised to continue their involvement in farming and agric-business so as to solve the unemployment problem and be financially independent.
A supervisor in the Department of Agriculture, Pius Ogunjobi said the initiative of the compulsory course for the second year students was conceptualized , “ for the students to have basic knowledge in farming and prepare them towards making a living for themselves.
“The school is looking in the direction of the government towards making agriculture attractive, guarantee food security and boost the economy.”
Vice-Chancellor of BOUESTI, Professor Victor Adeoluwa said the university was determined to produce graduates that would compete favorably in the world with the needed skills across all sectors of the economy.
He explained that the farming course was necessary, “ to make sure will grow students that will graduate and not start looking for jobs. The time has gone beyond certificates in education but acquiring skills in order to survive in the labour market.
“All we are doing is to encourage students that they can make a life for themselves through agriculture and be self-reliant. We want them to be employer of labor and farming is potent tool to achieve this.”
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE | https://tribuneonlineng.com/bouesti-students-hail-varsity-over-compulsory-course-on-agriculture/ | 2022-09-06T04:04:45Z | tribuneonlineng.com | control | https://tribuneonlineng.com/bouesti-students-hail-varsity-over-compulsory-course-on-agriculture/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NEW YORK (AP) — Frances Tiafoe’s vision was blurry from the tears. He was thrilled — overwhelmed, even — when the last point was over and it hit him that, yes, he had ended Rafael Nadal’s 22-match Grand Slam winning streak Monday and reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals for the first time.
“I felt like the world stopped,” Tiafoe said. “I couldn’t hear anything for a minute.”
Then Tiafoe found himself “losing it in the locker room” when he saw that NBA superstar LeBron James gave him a Twitter shoutout.
“Bro,” Tiafoe said, “I was going crazy.”
What meant the most to Tiafoe about his 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over 22-time major champion Nadal in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows, though, was looking up in his Arthur Ashe Stadium guest box and knowing his parents, Constant and Alphina, were there.
“To see them experience me beat Rafa Nadal — they’ve seen me have big wins, but to beat those ‘Mount Rushmore’ guys? For them, I can’t imagine what was going through their heads,” said Tiafoe, a 24-year-old American seeded 22nd at the U.S. Open. “I mean, they’re going to remember today for the rest of their lives.”
His parents both emigrated to the United States from Sierra Leone in West Africa amid its civil war in the 1990s. They ended up in Maryland, where Constant helped construct a tennis training center for juniors, then became a maintenance man there; Alphina, Frances said, was “a nurse, working two jobs, working overtime through the nights.” Frances and his twin brother, Franklin, were born in 1998, and soon would be spending hour upon hour where Dad’s job was, rackets in hand.
Maybe one day, went the dream, a college scholarship would come of it.
“It wasn’t anything supposed to be like this,” Tiafoe said Monday evening, hours after by far his biggest victory.
He is the youngest American man to get this far at the U.S. Open since Andy Roddick in 2006, but this was not a case of a one-sided crowd backing one of its own. Nadal is about as popular as it gets in tennis and heard plenty of support as the volume raised after the retractable roof was shut in the fourth set.
“It’s something to tell the kids, the grandkids: ‘Yeah, I beat Rafa,’” Tiafoe said with a big smile.
He served better than No. 2 seed Nadal. More surprisingly, he returned better, too. And he kept his cool, remained in the moment and never let the stakes or the opponent get to him. Nadal, a 36-year-old from Spain, had won both of their previous matches, and every set they played, too.
“Well, the difference is easy: I played a bad match and he played a good match,” Nadal said. “At the end that’s it.”
This surprise came a day after Tiafoe followed along on TV as his pal Nick Kyrgios “put on a show” and eliminated No. 1 seed and defending champion Daniil Medvedev. That makes this the first U.S. Open without either of the top two seeded men reaching the quarterfinals since 2000, when No. 1 Andre Agassi exited in the second round and No. 2 Gustavo Kuerten in the first.
That was before Nadal, Novak Djokovic, who has 21 Grand Slam titles, and Roger Federer, who has 20, began dominating men’s tennis. Djokovic, 35, did not enter this U.S. Open because is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and was not allowed to enter the United States; Federer, 41, has undergone a series of operations on his right knee and last played at Wimbledon last year.
Now come the inevitable questions about whether their era of excellence is wrapping up.
“It signifies that the years go by,” Nadal said. “It’s the circle of life.”
Tiafoe now meets No. 9 Andrey Rublev, who beat No. 7 Cam Norrie 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 earlier Monday.
Other men’s matches on Monday’s schedule: 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic vs. No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz, and No. 11 Jannik Sinner vs. Ilya Ivashka.
The No. 1 woman, Iga Swiatek, moved into her first quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows by coming back to beat Jule Neiemeier 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.
“I’m just proud,” Swiatek said, “that I didn’t lose hope.”
The 21-year-old from Poland will face another first-time U.S. Open quarterfinalist: No. 8 Jessica Pegula, the highest-ranked American woman, who advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova.
Another women’s quarterfinal will be two-time major finalist Karolina Pliskova against No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka.
Nadal won the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June. Then he made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon in July before withdrawing from that tournament because of a torn abdominal muscle.
Nadal competed only once in the 1 1/2 months between leaving the All England Club and arriving in New York, where he has won four trophies.
He tweaked his service motion, tossing the ball lower than he normally does so as not to put as much strain on his midsection. There were plenty of signs Monday that his serve was not in tip-top shape: nine double-faults, a first-serve percentage hovering around 50%, five breaks by Tiafoe.
Earlier in the tournament, he lost the first set of his first-round match. Did the same in the second round, when he also accidentally cut the bridge of his nose and made himself dizzy when the edge of his racket frame bounced off the court and caught him in the face.
Still, one Monday, Nadal appeared on the verge of turning things around when he broke early in the fourth set and went ahead 3-1.
Tiafoe told himself: “Stay in it. Stay with him.”
That’s tied to two key areas Tiafoe credits with helping make him a stronger player of late: an improved in-match mindset and a commitment to fitness.
“Rafa is there every point. I’ve been known to have some dips in my game at times, where it’s like you’re watching (and thinking), ‘What’s that?!’” Tiafoe said. “That was my thing, match intensity.”
No concern now: He grabbed the last five games. The next-to-last break came for a 4-3 edge in the fourth set, when Nadal put a backhand into the net, and Tiafoe skipped backward toward the sideline for the ensuing changeover, his fist raised.
Fifteen minutes later, Tiafoe broke again, and it was over. This represents the latest significant step forward for Tiafoe, whose only previous trip to a Grand Slam quarterfinal came at the 2019 Australian Open — and ended with a loss to Nadal.
When one last backhand by Nadal found the net, Tiafoe chucked his racket and put his hands on his head. He looked toward his guest box in the stands — Mom, Dad, brother, girlfriend, Washington Wizards All-Star Bradley Beal, others — then sat in his sideline chair and buried his face in a towel.
“It was just wild. My heart is going a thousand miles an hour. I was so excited. I was like: Let me sit down,” Tiafoe said. “Yeah, I’ve never felt something like that in my life, honestly.”
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More AP coverage of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-no-1-swiatek-comes-back-at-us-open-faces-no-8-pegula-next/ | 2022-09-06T04:05:14Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-no-1-swiatek-comes-back-at-us-open-faces-no-8-pegula-next/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Tomlin deliberately — and quite effectively — declined to announce a starting quarterback for months, even as all signs pointed to Mitch Trubisky.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ longtime head coach wanted to wait until — as he said over and over and over during the offseason and throughout training camp — the time was “appropriate.”
In the end, Tomlin let his players effectively make the announcement for him, then quietly reinforced it not with his booming voice but with a piece of paper.
Trubisky will be the starter on Sunday when Pittsburgh begins the post-Ben Roethlisberger era in Cincinnati. Tomlin placed Trubisky’s name atop the depth chart on Monday afternoon, just hours after Trubisky’s teammates selected him as one of Pittsburgh’s five co-captains for the 2022 season.
“I just think he’s a guy who people rally around,” said defensive tackle Cam Heyward of Trubisky, who arrived in free agency in March. “He’s all about team. He’s very bought in. He understands and Coach T says it, he’s carrying our hopes and dreams on every single play.”
Trubisky has said all the right things and done all the right things seemingly from the moment he signed a two-year deal for the chance to replace Roethlisberger. He reached out individually to the returning players on offense and welcomed the skill position players to his home in South Florida during the spring in hopes of building chemistry.
Trubisky began the spring atop the depth chart and despite a push from Mason Rudolph and rookie first-round pick Kenny Pickett — both of whom performed well throughout the offseason program and training camp — Trubisky never provided much reason for Tomlin to switch things up.
If anything, Tomlin reinforced the status quo.
Rudolph is listed as the primary backup with Pickett starting his first season in the NFL on the third string, a move that gives Pickett time to get acclimated to life as a pro and gives Trubisky breathing room. Even if he struggles in his return to a starting role after spending 2021 as a backup in Buffalo, it is unlikely the second overall pick in the 2017 draft would be replaced by Rudolph during a game unless he’s injured.
Trubisky toed the line early Monday afternoon before he was formally anointed, saying simply “you’re not going to hear it from me,” when asked if being a co-captain meant he had won the job.
The answer was typical Trubisky, who has made it a point to deflect attention as best he can and say as little as possible. The way he figures it, his actions will speak far louder than any words ever could.
“You just want to be that guy day in and day out that guys can look to like, ‘Hey, if I do it the way this guy does it, we’re going to be heading in the right direction,'” said Trubisky, who went 29-21 in four seasons with Chicago.
Heyward, reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt, special teams ace Miles Killebrew and second-year running back Najee Harris were also elected captains.
The 24-year-old Harris set a franchise rookie record by running for 1,200 yards in 2021. He quickly earned the respect of his teammates with his work ethic and discipline.
“You know, he’s a guy that leads by example, doesn’t say a lot,” Heyward said of Harris. “But I just think he was destined to be captain. He was a guy that when you looked at our roster, you know, he’s the bell cow. And so we’ve had bell cows that haven’t been captains, but it’s what he does off the field. He’s locked in.”
Trubisky found it telling that Harris flew to Pittsburgh on the day Trubisky officially signed. Harris gave Trubisky a rough sketch of the offense and the team’s goals for 2022 and beyond.
“He was there for me from day one,” Trubisky said. “And to me, those are the little things that people don’t see that leaders do on a day-to-day basis, having those relationships that go deeper and beyond (the surface) with your teammates. And that’s why he is who he is.”
NOTES: The Steelers signed S Andrew Adams, CB Josh Jackson and LB Delontae Scott to the practice squad on Monday. … Pro Bowl WR Diontae Johnson warmed up with his teammates on Monday, but did not participate in most portions of practice. Johnson injured his left shoulder in the preseason finale against Detroit on Aug. 28, though Tomlin said at the time that there’s a chance Johnson could have returned to the game if it was the regular season.
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More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-qb1-won-steelers-select-newcomer-trubisky-co-captain/ | 2022-09-06T04:05:35Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-qb1-won-steelers-select-newcomer-trubisky-co-captain/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NEW YORK (AP) — Serena Williams has reached her break point — she caught up on her rest following her last match at the U.S. Open.
The 40-year-old Williams posted a photo on Instagram Monday of herself under a “Moana” blanket and seemingly asleep as she used a stuffed animal as a pillow. The mother of 5-year-old Olympia, Williams wrote, “How was your weekend? This was mine.”
Her career seemingly came to an end when she lost last week in her final U.S. Open. Williams won 23 Grand Slam titles and was celebrated by celebrities, fellow competitors and fans throughout her matches at Flushing Meadows. The tributes from tennis players to the NFL stretched into Monday.
Rising American standout Frances Tiafoe recalled after his upset win Tuesday over Rafael Nadal the inspiration he received from watching Serena and her older sister, Venus.
“At that time watching Serena and Venus play finals of Grand Slams at that time, when I was super young, I was like, how cool would it be to play Wimbledon, to play on Arthur Ashe and stuff like that,” Tiafoe said after his big win at Ashe.
Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady — like Williams, another age-defying championship athlete — praised Williams on Monday on his weekly podcast.
“What a joy it was to watch her play,” Brady said. “She didn’t play for a little while, and I think she realized it’s a lot of fun to play. And I think sometimes when you’re in the middle of it, you take it for granted to a degree, like, ‘Oh, it will be there.’ And then it’s not there for a year and you go, ‘God, I really love it. I really want to play.’ And then you get out there and play and you enjoy it.”
Williams turns 41 on Sept. 26 and says she wants to grow her family and pursue business interests.
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More AP coverage of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-serena-williams-gets-well-earned-rest-following-us-open-exit/ | 2022-09-06T04:05:42Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-serena-williams-gets-well-earned-rest-following-us-open-exit/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — On the eve of Carson Wentz’s third training camp with three different teams in as many years, Ron Rivera welcomed the new Washington Commanders quarterback with a handshake and a message even an NFL veteran may have needed to hear.
“You were wanted here,” Rivera told Wentz.
Once wanted by Philadelphia as the second overall draft pick before eventually falling out of favor with the Eagles and with Indianapolis a year later, Wentz no longer seemed like a hot commodity after the Colts fell apart late last season and missed the playoffs.
But Rivera and Washington’s front office targeted the 29-year-old in hopes of solving the organization’s seemingly endless search for a starting QB. The Commanders are now Wentz’s team, with all the pluses and minuses that come with job security and belief from coaches to the pressure and expectations to reach the postseason.
“He has stabilized that position for us,” general manager Martin Mayhew said. “We’re excited about what he brings to the table in terms of his physical talent and also what he brings to the table as a person, as a leader.”
Wentz the leader already has emerged, from gathering receivers for private workouts to escape room outings he treated like a game situation. The physical talent that made him a highly touted prospect out of North Dakota State is still there, though some of the mistakes he made with Philadelphia and Indianapolis left him available.
Now with Washington, Wentz is eager to move past his journey from one NFC East rival to another and start over.
“I feel confident in myself,” he said. “I feel belief in myself from the people around me, which means a lot.”
The Colts believed in Wentz when they acquired him, and that faded to the point that team owner Jim Irsay called the move a “mistake” and blamed inconsistency in the passing games for causing them major problems. The same sort of belief evaporated in Philadelphia after Wentz threw a league-high 15 interceptions in 2020 and was replaced as the starter by Jalen Hurts.
Wentz revived his career with Indianapolis last season, throwing 27 touchdown passes and just seven picks, though a horrendous loss to Jacksonville in Week 18 that included two turnovers ended the Colts’ season — and his tenure with them — on a sour note.
Rivera and the Commanders saw the good in Wentz: a strong arm that could expand the offense’s reach downfield, a prototypical 6-foot-5 frame fit for the modern game and a seasoned leader who could take over a team that has had eight different quarterbacks over the past three years.
The hope is not to change Wentz but to get the most out of what he does well and try to limit some of the errors that derailed him at times.
“It’s just about making the right decision over and over again,” offensive coordinator Scott Turner said. “I just want him to be himself and just understand the game and understand situations. There’s a time and place to go for it and there’s a time and place where, hey, it’s not there.”
Practices and preseason action showed the good and the bad of Wentz. He completed 16 of 22 passes and led strong drives in limited exhibition game time, though at times in camp some inaccuracies stuck out.
Interceptions by teammates in 11-on-11 drills in August don’t count, and after a particularly rough practice day, Rivera put an emphasis on what Wentz and the other QBs on the roster could do to learn from their errors.
“It’s about decision-making at that point,” Rivera said. “As you go through the film with him, it is listening to the explanation of: ‘Why this read? Why that decision? Hey, did you see this? What got you to do that?’ That’s what it’s really about.”
Wentz already took command of the offense by gathering offensive playmakers for a bonding retreat and workouts in California before training camp. He learned plenty about his new teammates on and off the field, and back in the Washington area they learned plenty about Wentz’s competitive nature, even during double dates to local escape rooms.
“It’s just like he’s on the field,” punter Tress Way said. “He’s adamant on breaking the record, no hints. I tried to keep it light, but we got out of the room every time. He’s still undefeated.”
A 10-7 record, especially given a weak schedule, would likely be enough to get Washington into the playoffs in Rivera’s third season in charge. That also will require the defense bouncing back and the offensive line keeping Wentz upright.
But the onus is on Wentz to get the job done.
“I really like his aggressiveness,” top wide receiver Terry McLaurin said. “When he’s trying to give us chances down the field, I think that’s something that all of us, as an offense, know we want to improve on.”
Going into his seventh pro season, Wentz still has things to improve on. He seems to understand where those deficiencies are. Addressing them will go a long way toward determining whether the Commanders are playing in mid-January and, ultimately, if he’ll be back for a second season.
“I’m always trying to figure out, how can I get better?” Wentz said. “How can I look at myself first? Where can I get better? Where can I help the team be better? All of those things. And so, for me, it’s just coming in and distributing the ball to these guys and being efficient, being effective, being consistent.”
NOTES: Starting safety Kam Curl said he had surgery to repair a right thumb injury and hopes to play in the season opener Sunday against Jacksonville. Tight end Logan Thomas, who tore multiple ligaments in his left knee late last season, is still trying to figure out whether he’ll play against the Jaguars or wait for Week 2 at Detroit. … The Commanders named franchise sacks leader Ryan Kerrigan assistant defensive line coach. Kerrigan, who recently returned to Ashburn to announce his retirement, fills in after Jeff Zgonina was promoted to replaced fired D-line coach Sam Mills III.
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-wanted-wentz-expected-to-stabilize-commanders-qb-situation/ | 2022-09-06T04:05:56Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-wanted-wentz-expected-to-stabilize-commanders-qb-situation/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Sarah Bettencourt was training to become a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot when a neurological disorder forced her to retire.
She’s found a new mission in an entirely different arena.
Bettencourt, who played hockey in high school, recaptured her appreciation of the game and is now a member of the U.S. women’s national team in sled hockey, a game that originated about half a century ago in Sweden for players with various physical disabilities.
“The first time I got on the ice, I felt like I was flying,” Bettencourt said.
Players sit on specially designed sleds that sit atop two blades and propel themselves with two sticks with metal picks on the base. The three periods are 15 minutes long rather than 20.
Bettencourt fell in love with the game as soon as she started playing it.
“I was finally free of all the constraints on regular land,” Bettencourt said. “And I was hitting and checking and passing and shooting and scoring. It was amazing. I wanted to give that to other people as well and make sure everyone had that opportunity and feeling of freedom they don’t always feel on regular land.”
The long-term plan for Bettencourt and her teammates is to get a women’s sled hockey competition in the Paralympic Games, which has a mixed-gender division for sled hockey, though it’s essentially an all-male competition.
Only three women have ever been selected for these teams since sled hockey was added to the Paralympics in 1994: Norway’s Brit Mjaasund at Lillehammer in 1994, Norway’s Lena Schroeder at Pyeongchang in 2018 and China’s Yu Jing at Beijing in 2022.
“We deserve this as much as the men do,” said Raphaelle Tousignant, a Canadian sled hockey player. “We’re working hard, maybe even harder than the men because we need to grow the game and be good athletes, too.”
They took the initial step toward that goal by holding the first Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge, held Aug. 26-28 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The U.S. team beat Canada 5-1 for the gold medal.
“It’s probably the greatest feeling in the world right now,” said Erica McKee, the captain of the U.S. team. “It’s as if we won the Stanley Cup.”
The tournament underscored the need to grow this game beyond North America, at least in the women’s division. The only three nations to field teams were the U.S., Canada and Great Britain.
The bronze medal went to a World team comprised of players from various nations, some of whom were just learning the sport.
“Our hope is the women who are part of the world team can go back to their countries and continue the work at the grass-roots level to get enough women to eventually have a national team (for their country) at the world championship,” said Michelle LaFlamme, the manager of World Para Ice Hockey, the sport’s international federation.
Laflamme said women’s sled hockey must have a sanctioned world’s championship event in order to get considered for the Paralympic Games. A target date of 2025 has been set for that first championship event, which could clear the way for a women’s sled hockey division to be added to the Paralympic Games by 2030.
“We’re so excited to see what all these other nations are going to bring,” Bettencourt said. “They’re going to watch this and say we want to be there next year, and they’re going to keep growing and pushing each other and this level of (play) is going to get better and better.” | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-womens-sled-hockey-hoping-for-more-teams-paralympic-status/ | 2022-09-06T04:06:03Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-womens-sled-hockey-hoping-for-more-teams-paralympic-status/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
UVALDE, Texas — A new school year begins Tuesday in Uvalde, Texas.
It's been three months since 19 students and two teachers were killed by a gunman inside Robb Elementary School.
Although many students and teachers are returning to the district, some parents say they aren't getting a straight answer on what officers will be on campus.
"One of the questions that the families have is the DPS workers that are going to be there. Are those the same ones that were at the school that day? And we can't get an answer," said parent Adam Martinez to CNN. "They won't give us an answer whether it's going to be the same people, the same school resource officers that were there. They're going to be there on campus too, so."
The district says it's working on completing new security measures, including the installation of higher fences, more security cameras, and placing more than 30 state troopers across the campuses, the Associated Press reported.
But for Martinez, that isn't enough reassurance for his kids.
"I talked to my son, and I told him that they're going to have higher fencing, they're going to have more DPS cops, and he just wasn't having it. He said that he doesn't think they're going to be brave enough if it happens again," Martinez told CNN. "They're not going to go in there. They didn't go in there before, and he wants different cops and that he's really not budging. The fencing he said they can just get a ladder and climb over it, so right now, he's just not ready. My daughter, she was looking forward to volleyball, playing volleyball, and now even with that, she doesn't want to go back."
One person who will not be returning to the district this year is former police chief Pete Arredondo, who was fired in August by the school board, the Associated Press reported.
School officials say Robb Elementary won't be used, so elementary students will be taking classes at various campuses around the district, the Associated Press reported.
According to the Associated Press, some students will participate in virtual learning, while others are attending private school. | https://www.katc.com/news/national/uvalde-students-returning-to-school-on-tuesday | 2022-09-06T04:10:38Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/news/national/uvalde-students-returning-to-school-on-tuesday | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Our FNF Play of the Week for Week 1 is Teurlings' Allen Hayes and Trey Parker. Hayes came up with a blocked kick against Opelousas, and Parker came up with the recovery in the win.
Congrats to Hayes and Teurlings for winning our Play of the Week for week 1.
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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/high-school-sports/friday-night-football/fnf-play-of-the-week-hayes-block-party | 2022-09-06T04:10:44Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/sports/high-school-sports/friday-night-football/fnf-play-of-the-week-hayes-block-party | 0 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Our FNF Play of the Week for Week 1 is Teurlings' Allen Hayes and Trey Parker. Hayes came up with a blocked kick against Opelousas, and Parker came up with the recovery in the win.
Congrats to Hayes and Teurlings for winning our Play of the Week for week 1.
------------------------------------------------------------
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
To reach the newsroom or report a typo/correction, click HERE.
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/high-school-sports/friday-night-football/fnf-play-of-the-week-hayes-block-party | 2022-09-06T04:10:44Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/sports/high-school-sports/friday-night-football/fnf-play-of-the-week-hayes-block-party | 1 | 0 | green-iguana-35 | null |
World No. 6 Aryna Sabalenka pieced together another come-from-behind victory to move on to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open.
Taking on Danielle Collins, who was competing in the second week of the tournament for the first time in her career, Sabalenka bounced back from a tough opening set to emerge with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over the 19th-seeded American at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night.
Sabalenka will now face Karolina Pliskova, who is known as the Ace Queen, in her second career quarterfinal appearance on Wednesday. The 30-year-old Pliskova survived a three-hour match earlier in the day against fellow former World No. 1, Victoria Azarenka, to tee up the match.
“Somehow I came back in the second set,” Sabalenka said. “I was like, ‘Keep trying,’ keep pushing myself to keep trying and keep fighting. I think I did well.
“I’m just super happy with the win, first of all, and with the level today.”
Similar to her second-round matchup with Kaia Kanepi, Sabalenka didn’t put up much of a fight in the first set. Collins played a tighter and smarter game at first, jumping out to a 4-1 lead before ultimately securing the set in just over 40 minutes. While both players committed eight unforced errors each, Sabalenka’s over-aggressiveness got the best of her occasionally and opened the door for Collins to exploit it.
However, Sabalenka channeled her strength more effectively in the middle set — especially after botching what should’ve been a guaranteed opening point in the second game, which she eventually dropped partially due to two blistering aces from Collins. Sabalenka hit into the sidelines, dropped her racket and palmed her face in frustration.
With her game more under control after that, Sabalenka pulled ahead 3-1 and despite Collins playing her way back into it, the 24-year-old took the following three games. Sabalenka cited the 4-3 game as a pivotal moment for her in the match, citing how she held her serve through a 22-point battle.
“I would say it was the key game,” she said. “I hold my serve. After that I felt like, ‘Okay, if I hold my serve right now, I still have chances in this match.’ I think this kind of mentality helped me to break her in the second game, then win the set.
“I would say in the third set, pressure was more on her than on me. Yeah, but it was definitely the key game. That game gave me much more belief that I can win this match.”
Collins, who hadn’t lost a set in this tournament until Monday night, was struggling a bit on her serve at that point. She double-faulted six times in the second set on the way to 11 for the match.
Sabalenka also changed her racket and needed a medical timeout in the middle of the second set, which had a positive effect as she secured the second set with an ace.
“I just felt that the racket was super loose,” she said in her on-court interview.
It was the second spirited comeback of the Open for Sabalenka. The 2021 semifinalist saved two match points and battled back from down a set and a 5-1 deficit to win 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4 over Kanepi last Thursday. Since then, Sabalenka has had a freer way about her that could serve her well as she continues on. | https://nypost.com/2022/09/05/aryna-sabalenka-comes-back-to-advance-to-us-open-quarterfinal/ | 2022-09-06T04:11:57Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/09/05/aryna-sabalenka-comes-back-to-advance-to-us-open-quarterfinal/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LOS ANGELES — It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It really was.
The 2017 Dodgers ran off a 51-9 stretch through the summer months, the best 60-game run MLB had seen in over 100 years. It was enough to prompt a Sports Illustrated cover with the headline “Best. Team. Ever?” over a photo of Justin Turner getting a Gatorade bath after one of their seven walk-off wins during that stretch.
“There were a ton of late come-from-behinds, walk-offs,” Turner recalled recently. “It felt like half of them were that way.”
The Dodgers were running away with the NL West with a 21-game lead in the division and were on pace to challenge the MLB record of 116 regular-season wins.
Sound familiar?
“I think 2017 was a good team. This is a good team,” Turner said. “I don’t know that I want to draw a comparison because I don’t like the way that year ended.”
Even before their run to the World Series, those Dodgers briefly hit the skids. That August issue of Sports Illustrated had barely hit the newsstands before things went south. The Dodgers finished the month with five consecutive losses, starting a 1-16 stretch that ended any chance of matching the 116-win record.
“I don’t know what happened honestly – just one of those weird baseball things, I guess,” Turner said of the September slump.
“It’s been brought to my attention a couple of times here recently,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the comparisons between 2017 and 2022. “There were some things that affected our psyche that year in September – September 1 being the key date – that don’t make sense. It affected some players and the way we played and, no excuses, we didn’t play well. But I don’t think that’s gonna be the case this year.”
Roberts would not be more specific but seems to be suggesting that the expanded rosters of September and the resulting impact on playing time was a factor in that 1-16 stumble. That won’t be an issue this year with September rosters now capped at 28.
This year’s Dodgers had their own hot streak, going 41-9 over a 50-game stretch. The closest they have come to stumbling was a three-game losing streak last week. But their pace has slowed enough that it would take a 25-4 finish to break the 116-win record (Seattle Mariners, 2001).
“I think we come into the season with one goal in mind and that’s to win a championship,” Turner said. “Stuff that happens during the season – there’s records and there’s milestones and all that stuff that comes along with it. That’s great. But I think in this clubhouse, winning a championship is the most important thing.”
Only seven players from that 2017 team are with the Dodgers in 2022 – Cody Bellinger, Chris Taylor, Austin Barnes, Clayton Kershaw, Trayce Thompson, Julio Urias (whose season ended in May that year with shoulder surgery) and Turner.
Kershaw spent much of that summer’s 51-9 run on the injured list with a back strain. He returned in time for the September slump – and the eight wins in the final 10 games of the regular season, the first-round sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks and a five-game win over the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS that sent the Dodgers to their first World Series since 1988.
“I just remember that it doesn’t matter,” Kershaw said. “None of it matters if you win the division and win in the playoffs.”
COMING/GOING
Left-hander Justin Bruihl was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Monday. Right-hander Ryan Pepiot was returned to OKC.
Right-hander Jake Reed was claimed on waivers by the Baltimore Orioles on Monday. Reed was designated for assignment by the Dodgers on Friday when they activated Blake Treinen from the injured list.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers signed veteran reliever Keone Kela to a minor-league contract. Kela, 29, has a career ERA of 3.33 in parts of seven seasons including 24 saves with the Texas Rangers in 2018.
Kela had Tommy John surgery in May 2021 and returned to pitch for the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A team this season, making nine appearances before he was released last week. The Dodgers signed him on Aug. 31, making him eligible for the postseason roster.
He pitched an inning for Triple-A OKC on Saturday, walked three batters and gave up two runs.
UP NEXT
Giants (TBA) at Dodgers (LHP Tyler Anderson, 13-3, 2.68 ERA), Tuesday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, MLB Network, 570 AM
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THOUSAND OAKS — Eric Henderson, the Rams’ defensive line coach, was thrilled about Aaron Donald signing a restructured deal in June that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, but there was also a sense of relief because it ensured his star defensive lineman was staying for the foreseeable future.
Donald probably wasn’t on the verge of retiring this year after leading the Rams to a Super Bowl title and used the consideration as leverage to secure the three-year, $95 million contract that essentially replaced his outdated deal. But Donald didn’t need to scare the Rams into paying him. They certainly know his value on and off the field.
Making the deal now was likely more about not letting the retirement idea linger for next year and the year after that for a player who has won “every award known to mankind,” as Henderson put it last month. That’s when Henderson remembered the quarterback-biased MVP award that Donald is missing.
“I want to say that right now, that this guy should be the league MVP and it’s unbelievable in terms of what he brings to the table,” Henderson said. “They make this award specifically it seems for quarterbacks, but it’s about who’s the best player in the world and this guy is the best player in the world.
“There’s not a guy in this league, I’m willing to bet, that outworks him and he deserves (the new contract). So, I’m standing on the table right now for him to be the league MVP.”
Henderson might have flipped the table after he saw Donald was ranked second and not first on the NFL’s yearly top 100 players list.
“How is that even possible,” Henderson tweeted last week.
Lately, the Rams have been defending Donald for his actions in the ugly brawl with the Cincinnati Bengals during a joint scrimmage last month. Donald swung two helmets at Bengals players and was disciplined by the team with the details being kept a secret.
Donald’s news conference on Monday should have been centered around the Rams’ quest to repeat as champions and how to contain quarterback Josh Allen in Thursday night’s season opener against the Buffalo Bills.
Instead, Donald was asked about being a role model to kids and how his role in the brawl might have affected that.
“My main focus is Buffalo right now,” Donald said. “I’m happy nobody got hurt in the practice, but my main focus is Thursday night against Buffalo right now. … Everybody protected each other, everybody got out of the situation clean, healthy, so that’s what matters. (I’m) ready for week one.”
Aaron Donald on the brawl with the Bengals: "My main focus is Buffalo right now. I’m happy nobody got hurt." #Rams pic.twitter.com/1BW9gMnhjK
— Gilbert Manzano (@GManzano24) September 5, 2022
Donald, 31, acknowledged that he made a mistake and that it was dangerous to swing helmets. Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said Donald crossed the line and he’s aware that his competitive fire gets the best of him at times, but Morris isn’t concerned about the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year because of the conversations they had after the incident.
“You don’t want to swing a helmet ever just at anybody in general,” Morris said. “But there’s been some helmets ripped off at times. You never ever want to do those things. You don’t want to have that on your resume. You don’t want to have that on paper. You don’t want to have that as a look, but at the same time, those things happen in practices. They’re mistakes, they’re errors and they’re correctable when they happen at these times.
“He’s been a pro for a long time. All our young guys understand that. He’s respected so much in our locker room and the locker rooms across the league.”
Donald’s intensity is partly why he’s been the best defensive player of the past decade. Morris, Henderson and Rams coach Sean McVay have been tasked with keeping that competitive fire in check. It’s easy to forget Donald isn’t perfect because of his transcendent football gifts, but Henderson has played a pivotal role in why he gets better every season.
“Coach Henny is everything,” Donald said. “I feel like adding him to the mix a couple years ago helped me a lot, you know, just from rushing from the run game to the different looks we’re able to do in pass game. … It’s nice coming here at night time and he’s still here. I just sit down and break film with him. Just picking his brain, picking my brain, just learning.
“When you got a coach like that who’s not just a great coach, but a great person and who’s hungry to find ways to continue to have success. That has made it fun for me to learn.”
It’s tough to find ways to push the best player in the NFL, but McVay is grateful of the tight bond Henderson has created with Donald.
“He’s really developed a culture within the culture in that D-line room and everything starts with building and developing relationships, being able to connect and communicate (and) care about these guys,” McVay said of Henderson. “We’re big believers in you got to love guys and then you can be tough on them. It’s not the other way around. So I know that he loves those guys. I know those guys love him because there’s a mutual respect, a mutual appreciation, and all the hard work that he really puts in week in and week out.”
The Rams believe they were tough enough on Donald for his involvement in the helmet-swinging brawl and his mistakes haven’t changed the way they view him.
“He’s taught me so much about being a family man, just watching the way he loves and adores his wife and his kids,” Henderson said about Donald.
Donald finally addressed the brawl and now he and the team can move forward to Thursday night’s showdown with the Bills. Donald will get an early opportunity to outwork his new contract by making life difficult for Allen, and Henderson has no doubt that he will outplay this deal, too.
“The guy deserves every penny and more,” Henderson said. “It’s unbelievable what he does for the room and for the league.”
ALSO
The Rams released their first injury report of the season on Monday and it was a short one.
Wide receiver Van Jefferson was the only player on the injury report and he was listed as “did not participate” because of a knee injury. McVay said Sunday that the team is taking it day-by-day with Jefferson.
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WELDON, Saskatchewan — One of the suspects in the stabbing deaths of 10 people in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has been found dead, and his injuries are not self inflicted, police said Monday as they continued the search for a second suspect.
Regina Police Chief Evan Bray said Damien Sanderson, 31, was found dead near the stabbing sites and they believe his brother, Myles Sanderson, 30, is injured, on the run and likely in the provincial capital of Regina. It was the first time police have identified the two as brothers.
“His body was located outdoors in a heavily grassed area in proximity to a house that was being examined. We can confirm he has visible injuries. These injuries are not believed to be self inflicted at this point,” said RCMP Commanding Officer Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, adding they were not sure of the exact cause of death yet.
Asked if Myles Sanderson was responsible for his brother’s death, Blackmore said police are investigating that possibility, but “we can’t say that definitively at this point in time.″
The discovery of the body came on the second day of a massive manhunt for the pair, who are suspected of carrying out a series of stabbings in an Indigenous community and a nearby town, which also left 18 people injured. It was one of the deadliest attacks in the nation’s history.
Authorities have said some of the victims were targeted and others appeared to have been chosen at random on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the town of Weldon in Saskatchewan. They have given no motive for the crimes— but senior Indigenous leaders suggested drugs were somehow involved.
James Smith Cree Nation resident Darryl Burns and his brother, Ivor Wayne Burns, said their sister, Gloria Lydia Burns, was a first responder who was killed while trying responding to a call. Burns said his 62-year-old sister was on a crisis response team.
“She went on a call to a house and she got caught up in the violence,” he said. “She was there to help. She was a hero.”
He blamed drugs and pointed to the colonization of Indigenous people for the rampant drug and alcohol use on reserves.
“We had a murder suicide here three years ago. My granddaughter and her boyfriend. Last year we had a double homicide. Now this year we have 10 more that have passed away and all because of drugs and alcohol,” Darryl Burns said.
Ivor Wayne Burns also blamed drugs for his sister’s death and said the suspect brothers should not be hated.
“We have to forgive them boys,” he said. “When you are doing hard drugs, when you are doing coke, and when you are doing heroin and crystal meth and those things, you are incapable of feeling. You stab somebody and you think it’s funny. You stab them again and you laugh.”
While authorities believe Myles is in Regina, about 335 kilometers (210 miles) south of where the stabbings happened, they have issued alerts in Canada’s three vast prairie provinces — which also include Manitoba and Alberta — and contacted U.S. border officials.
With one suspect still at large, fear still gripped communities in the rural, working class area of Saskatchewan surrounded by farmland that were terrorized by the crimes. One witness who said he lost family members described seeing people with bloody wounds scattered throughout the Indigenous reserve.
“No one in this town is ever going to sleep again. They’re going to be terrified to open their door,” said Ruby Works, who also lost someone close to her and is a resident of Weldon, which has a population of about 200 and is home to many retirees.
As the Labor Day holiday weekend drew to a close Monday, police urged Saskatchewan residents who were returning from trips away to look for suspicious activity around their homes before entering.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the pair of suspects and both men faced at least one count each of murder and attempted murder. More charges were expected.
Police have given few details about the men. Last May, Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers issued a wanted list that included Myles Sanderson, writing that he was “unlawfully at large.”
While the manhunt continued, police also issued a provincewide alert for suspects in a shooting on the Witchekan Lake First Nation. Officials said the shooting was not believed to be connected to the stabbings, but such alerts are unusual and the fact that a second occurred while authorities were already scouring the Saskatchewan for the stabbing suspects was notable.
The stabbing attack was among the deadliest mass killings in Canada, where such crimes are less common than in the United States. The deadliest gun rampage in Canadian history happened in 2020, when a man disguised as a police officer shot people in their homes and set fires across the province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people. In 2019, a man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto.
Deadly mass stabbings are rarer than mass shootings, but have happened around the world. In 2014, 29 people were slashed and stabbed to death at a train station in China’s southwestern city of Kunming. In 2016, a mass stabbing at a facility for the mentally disabled in Sagamihara, Japan, left 19 people dead. A year later, three men killed eight people in a vehicle and stabbing attack at London Bridge.
Police in Saskatchewan got their first call about a stabbing at 5:40 a.m. on Sunday, and within minutes heard about several more. In all, dead or wounded people were found at 13 different locations on the sparsely populated reserve and in the town, Blackmore said. James Smith Cree Nation is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Weldon.
On Monday, Blackmore said police were still determining the motive, but on Sunday the chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations echoes suggestions the stabbings could be drug-related.
“This is the destruction we face when harmful illegal drugs invade our communities, and we demand all authorities to take direction from the chiefs and councils and their membership to create safer and healthier communities for our people,” said Chief Bobby Cameron.
Blackmore said the criminal record of Myles Sanderson dates back years and includes violence.
The elected leaders of the three communities that make up the James Smith Cree Nation declared a local state of emergency.
Chakastaypasin Chief Calvin Sanderson — who apparently is not related to the suspects — said everyone has been affected by the tragic events.
“They were our relatives, friends,” Sanderson said of the victims. “It’s pretty horrific.”
Among the 10 killed was Lana Head, who is the former partner of Michael Brett Burns and the mother of their two daughters.
“It’s sick how jail time, drugs and alcohol can destroy many lives,” Burns told the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. “I’m hurt for all this loss.”
Burns later posted on Facebook that there were dead and wounded people everywhere on the reserve, making it look like “a war zone.”
“The look in their eyes couldn’t express the pain and suffering for all those who were assaulted,” he posted.
Weldon residents have identified one of the dead as Wes Petterson, a retired widower who made he coffee every morning at the senior center. He loved gardening, picking berries, canning, and making jam and cakes, recalled William Works, 47, and his mother, Sharon Works, 64.
“He would give you the shirt off his back if he could,” William Works said, describing his neighbor as a “gentle old fellow” and “community first.”
Sharon Works was baffled: “I don’t understand why they would target someone like him anyway, because he was just a poor, helpless little man, 100 pounds soaking wet. and he could hardly breathe because he had asthma and emphysema and everybody cared about him because that’s the way he was. He cared about everybody else. and they cared about him.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the flag above Canada’s parliament building in Ottawa would be flown at half-staff to honor the victims.
“Saskatchewanians and Canadians will do what we always do in times of difficulty and anguish, we will be there for each other,” Trudeau said. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/canadian-police-1-suspect-in-stabbings-has-been-found-dead/article_aca61062-2d8c-11ed-bc6b-d77c2097df6f.html | 2022-09-06T04:24:12Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/canadian-police-1-suspect-in-stabbings-has-been-found-dead/article_aca61062-2d8c-11ed-bc6b-d77c2097df6f.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Coming up Wednesday local time in Australia:
- This snapshot from the ForexLive economic data calendar, access it here.
- The times in the left-most column are GMT.
- The numbers in the right-most column are the 'prior' (previous month/quarter as the case may be) result. The number in the column next to that, where is a number, is the consensus median expected.
Westpac have updated their expectation for the data after net exports etc. data earlier today.
Q2 GDP forecast 1.1% q/q and 3.6% y/y
- from 2.0% q/q & 4.5% y/y
WPAC cite:
- downside surprises on inventories and public demand
- There is still a degree of uncertainty around our amended forecast
- A key uncertainty is around consumer spending, which is a forecast 2.8% – the uncertainty is around scaling the spending on services, which strengthened in the period – a reopening effect.
- Another uncertainty is around the 3 measures of GDP – expenditure, income and production. The headline measure is an average of the three estimates.
- The income data was relatively strong – both profits and wages – pointing to the potential for an upside surprise. However, the incomes information is in nominal terms and before taxes less subsidies – two forces with the potential for sizeable surprises.
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Coming up soon, due at 0430 GMT on Tuesday, 6 September 2022 is the RBA:
- RBA monetary policy meeting Tuesday September 6 - preview (TL;DR +50bp hike coming up)
- Poll of analysts - RBA to hike its cash rate by 50bp on Tuesday 6 September
TL;DR is look for a 50bp rate hile to add to the previous hikes: | https://www.forexlive.com/news/australia-q2-gdp-is-due-wednesday-7-september-2022-preview-20220906/ | 2022-09-06T04:30:59Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/news/australia-q2-gdp-is-due-wednesday-7-september-2022-preview-20220906/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
In terms of market pricing, we're seeing roughly 46 bps priced in already so that points out the sort of balance heading into the decision today. The RBA tends to have the propensity to go with the unorthodox but there should not be any major suprises. The language change in August is expected to be maintained, that being:
"The Board expects to take further steps in the process of normalising monetary conditions over the months ahead, but it is not on a pre-set path."
That was the subtle shift by the RBA last month that indicated that they might go slower on the pace of rate hikes or at least are open to that option, following something similar from the Fed in July. In other words, the Fed is still in charge of the wheel and the RBA is merely just the passenger hopping on for the ride.
So, with the Fed still erring towards a potential 75 bps rate hike this month, the RBA can keep with the aggressive rate hikes for now as well.
Cash rate futures indicate that markets are seeing that the tightening cycle will extend towards 3.80% by the middle of next year but there's still plenty of uncertainty up in the air. The RBA is pretty much on the same tightening path as the Fed, so it really depends on the latter's resolve in fighting the good fight against inflation - even with the economy slowing down considerably. | https://www.forexlive.com/news/heads-up-rba-monetary-policy-decision-at-the-bottom-of-the-hour-20220906/ | 2022-09-06T04:31:05Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/news/heads-up-rba-monetary-policy-decision-at-the-bottom-of-the-hour-20220906/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
More than a quarter of Scottish prisoners are on remand, analysis finds
More than a quarter of the prison population in Scotland consists of people being held on remand, new analysis has revealed.
The analysis by justice affairs magazine 1919 found that at the beginning of August, 2,164 inmates were on remand.
This includes 303 who were convicted, but still awaiting sentence, meaning the total remand population was 29 per cent.
It means the rate in prison on remand has almost doubled since April 2020.
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In February this year, a committee of MSPs was told the remand population stood at 27 per cent while the equivalent figure in England and Wales was 16 per cent.
At the time, Howard League Scotland said the rates in Scotland were “unfathomable” and called for swift action to bring them down.
Remand rates have increased sharply since the start of the pandemic.
Statistics show the remand population was 1,114 in April 2020, but grew to more than 2,000 by September of that year.
Prisoners on remand must be accommodated separately from those serving time following a conviction.
According to the latest statistics, 33 per cent of those currently on remand have been waiting for longer than 140 days.
Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur said: “Far too many of those locked up are people who haven’t been convicted.
“The SNP needs to tackle lengthy court delays which are preventing people from having their cases heard and preventing victims from seeing justice done.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said: “While it is not for us to determine who should be remanded to custody, the impact on our establishments is significant.
“We are managing an increasingly complex prison population. Certain demographics are unable to be located in certain establishments, or even in the same area within an establishment.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We remain committed to taking action to address use of remand.
“The Bail and Release from Custody Bill is currently before Parliament, and seeks to refocus how custody can be used within the criminal justice system to ensure public safety is protected.
“The Scottish Government has invested an additional £3.2 million this year towards strengthening alternatives to remand, including further expansion of bail supervision.
“We have also legislated to introduce electronic monitoring of bail, a significant change, which started in May.”
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/crime/more-than-a-quarter-of-scottish-prisoners-are-on-remand-analysis-finds-3831535 | 2022-09-06T04:36:58Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/crime/more-than-a-quarter-of-scottish-prisoners-are-on-remand-analysis-finds-3831535 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Scottish artist will use ‘big hands and feet’ and ‘love’ to swim length of Loch Lomond for special godson
A Scottish artist will leap from the ‘bonnie banks’ into the water this week in a bid to swim the full length of Loch Lomond.
Susie Johnston, from Perth, has been training hard for the past 18 months to get ready for the endurance challenge, which she is taking on to raise money for a charity dedicated to the progressive wasting disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy – a condition her ten-year-old godson suffers from.
Felix Robertson was just two years old when he was first diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a progressive condition that affects mainly boys.
He is one of around 2,500 people in the UK who are affected by the disorder, which is caused by a fault in the dystrophin gene.
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It means muscles are easily damaged and their strength and function is weakened.
Eventually all the muscles in the body, including the heart and lungs, are affected.
The epic swim – around 24 miles – will be the longest distance Ms Johnston has ever covered, taking around 13 hours if everything goes to plan.
She has opened a JustGiving page to seek sponsorship for the swim, with all money going to Duchenne UK – a charity set up in 2011 to support research and treatments for the condition.
The artist, who is studying for a PhD and working as a teacher at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, says she is nervous and excited about getting in the water tomorrow, which is also World Duchenne Awareness Day.
“I’ve been training five times a week for the past 18 months and I took part in a long-distance swimming camp back in March to prepare for the swim,” she says.
“The biggest issues will be the cold and the distance. I think it’s 70 per cent mental and 30 per cent physical.
“I’m doing it for Felix, and I think it will be love that gets me though.”
Ms Johnston says her “big” frame means she is particularly suited to her chosen sport, which she took up around 15 years ago after a knee injury meant other exercises were too painful.
“I’m 6ft-tall, I have big hands and big feet,” she said.
“I’m built for long-distance swimming, I have ready-made fins.
“Now I’m going to put this big body to good use and help raise awareness of this aggressive condition and the work of Duchenne UK.”
Ms Johnston will set off from Ardlui at 6am tomorrowWednesday, then swim along the eastern side of the loch to Balloch, where she expects to land between 7pm and 8pm.
“Conditions are looking favourable,” she said.
“It’s not going to be a blisteringly sunny day – it will be overcast, with some rain and clouds.
“But as far as I’m concerned it will just be such a joy to get into that beautiful loch.
“Sunshine or no sunshine, I’m just going to just do it, give it my everything for Duchenne UK.”
She will be wearing an eco-friendly long-armed swimsuit, not a wetsuit, and a tow float to provide visibility to other water users on the loch.
She will also have a three-person support team, including Felix’s mum Robyn Robertson, on hand to provide food every 45 minutes to keep her energy levels up and help in an emergency.
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/scottish-artist-will-use-big-hands-and-feet-and-love-to-swim-length-of-loch-lomond-for-special-godson-3832200 | 2022-09-06T04:37:04Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/scottish-artist-will-use-big-hands-and-feet-and-love-to-swim-length-of-loch-lomond-for-special-godson-3832200 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
When contamination at favourite Scottish swim spots is more than just a plop in the ocean
Gulping down mouthfuls of water that has been flushed down the toilet is nobody’s idea of seaside fun.
But that could be the reality, as official figures show more than half of the country’s most popular beaches were contaminated with sewage in breach of safety limits this summer.
A total of 49 of Scotland’s 87 designated bathing waters recorded potentially harmful concentrations of faecal bacteria, with some blackspots hit with levels up to 50 times the danger limit.
As well as the obvious boak factor and risk to health, there are other reasons we should be concerned.
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Many combined sewer systems – where water from street drains and sewage is mixed together – are designed to overspill in ‘exceptional’ circumstances, such as following unusually heavy rainfall, to stop treatment facilities becoming overwhelmed.
In such situations the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) advises the public to stay out of the water for a day or two afterwards “due to the risk to bathers’ health from water pollution”.
However, as climate change exerts its force, Scotland is likely to see a big rise in extreme weather events and what was once classed as exceptional will become increasingly commonplace.
Sepa has a duty to sample bathing waters and publish the results during our official bathing season, which runs from June 1 to September 15.
However, there is no need to provide information outwith these dates, despite more people nowadays engaging in activities such as wild swimming, surfing and kayaking at all times of the year.
Perhaps the season could be extended – after all, climate change is also raising water and air temperatures – or else monitoring could be extended to cover all 12 months.
It would be nice to know whether the water you’re in is clean or likely to lead to a nasty illness.
National water and sewage firm Scottish Water has been asked to install spill monitors on all the sewer overflows that discharge to designated bathing waters by the end of 2024 to help guide future upgrades of the network – more than 300 have already been put in, with 1,000 more planned.
Let’s hope improvements will be futureproof and make it safe to get back in the water, whatever the weather.
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/when-contamination-at-favourite-scottish-swim-spots-is-more-than-just-a-plop-in-the-ocean-3832410 | 2022-09-06T04:37:11Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/when-contamination-at-favourite-scottish-swim-spots-is-more-than-just-a-plop-in-the-ocean-3832410 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
James Hutton changed the thinking of how our world was formed, so why is he barely recognised today?
I’m always amazed when so many figures of the Scottish enlightenment have such widespread recognition such as Adam Smith, Robert Burns and James Watt; that James Hutton, literally the man who is regarded as the person who changed the thinking of how our world was formed; is barely recognised and almost a peripheral figure amongst these other leading lights of their time.
This is in contrast to what his friends clearly thought of him and he was central to their company and held in the highest regard by these other great thinkers.
He was born in 1726 in Edinburgh and raised and educated in the capital during the period of the Enlightenment. Like many of his time from the merchant classes, he travelled further afield to extend his education and experience in England, The Netherlands and France.
He was at university in Edinburgh at age 14, and although he graduated as a medic and made useful insights into how blood circulated in the body, his passion turned out to be chemistry.
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Ten years later, aged 24, he co-founded a company making sal ammoniac from the soot of Edinburgh’s chimneys which is used in dye making. After his travels he returned to Edinburgh and farmed in the Scottish Borders where he applied many of the agricultural improvements he had learned further afield.
He described agriculture as the “study of my life” and his observations of soil formation and erosion eventually led him to think of deeper forces and earth processes.
His most famous contribution was a Theory of Earth in which he correctly outlined the earth processes by which rocks are made, and how landscapes changed over time due to long slow processes which were fuelled by the heat in the middle of our planet.
This not only spawned the science of geology, it reset the age of the world to be very much older than what had previously been computed from the Bible. These discoveries laid the groundwork for major theories by others about Continental Drift and also made it possible to develop a Theory of Evolution as the great time spans (Deep Time) made it credible for such processes to occur.
His talents were not only limited to geology; he wrote extensively about agricultural improvements in his publication, Elements of Agriculture.
He introduced the metal plough to Scotland, he developed some of the first thoughts about how the environment selects traits in crop, he wrote about the origins of soil and how to improve it with lime and organic matter and most appropriately for Scotland, he was also a meteorologist who develop a Theory of Rain, and was one of the first to measure and propose a relationship between altitude and temperature.
The James Hutton Institute is named after him because he was an acknowledged innovator, thinker and his areas of science mapped so well to our work. We are one of the biggest independent institutes in Europe working on agriculture and the environment, trying to both save the planet and feed the world. We are also leading a group of interested people from across Scotland’s institutions to celebrate James Hutton’s Tercentenary in 2026 and hope to put this under-recognised but hugely influential genius firmly in the minds of the Scottish public - feel free to join us in our quest.
Professor Colin Campbell is CEO of The James Hutton Institute
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/james-hutton-changed-the-thinking-of-how-our-world-was-formed-so-why-is-he-barely-recognised-today-3830984 | 2022-09-06T04:37:30Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/james-hutton-changed-the-thinking-of-how-our-world-was-formed-so-why-is-he-barely-recognised-today-3830984 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
This England: Is it too soon to make a drama out of a crisis? - Alastair Stewart
"How do I get to Westminister?" was the line that killed historical biopics.
Darkest Hour (2017) has the correct scale and ambition but is an artistically liberal story of how Winston Churchill became prime minister in 1940. In a fat suit, pinstripe suit, top hat and cigar, Gary Oldman sits on the London Underground discussing the mood of ordinary people about fighting the Nazis.
Later Churchill stands and addresses his MPs, listing the names and opinions of those same people behind his conviction “that every man of you would rise up and tear me from my place if I were for one moment to contemplate parley or surrender”. World War II was started because of a chat on the Tube.
Some reviewers dismissed the scene for its sentimental and deferential indulgence. Others praised it for encapsulating the Churchillian spirit. But historical movies owe audiences a grain of truth, particularly in their big moments.
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Can you make a series about events which transpired only two years ago? This England (2022) will try and do just that.
Michael Winterbottom's six-part TV miniseries promises a mish-mash about the pandemic, Boris Johnson falling critically ill with Covid-19, government machinations, and his own personal failings.
With Kenneth Brannagh as Johnson, we can look forward to a series of police line-up cameos of household names. Aside from the prime minister being a mononym, Sunak, Patel, Cummings, Hunt, Mogg, Hancock, Javid, and Dorries et al were made famous by the pandemic. Ubiquitous coverage of the crisis made that an unavoidable consequence and a reason why scrutiny was so intense.
The Greek Chorus aside, Sky is banking on a very strange form of entertainment. Who in their right mind will round off the first normal summer in years by watching a recount of the hell we all went through before it?
2020 is five minutes ago, and there has been no chance to weigh Johnson's time in office. “Disastrous” is too quick and lazy a verdict. Squint your eyes, and Ken Brannagh looks spot on as the prime minister. This is less entertaining when right up to the very end, the real thing obfuscated and dodged the energy and cost-of-living crisis.
One YouTube comment on the latest trailer says: “I quite liked the scene at the end when he was looking out of the window expressing genuine care for the state of the country. That told me that this is a work of fiction.”
The same issues will soon plague The Crown as it starts to chronicle recent history. The Netflix drama must be sensitive to the death of Princess Diana, her private life and her children. For a show that kicked off with the Queen's coronation in 1952, it is fast becoming one part Downton Abbey, one part House of Cards.
Audiences are not stupid, but there is always a danger some will take drama as fact (often why there is a card explaining events are fictional). The trouble comes when mixing history and a political agenda. Showrunner Peter Morgan's other works, including his Oscar-winning film The Queen (2006), The Deal (2004) and its sequel, The Special Relationship (2010), were self-evidently fictions about Blair and the Queen, his rivalry with Gordon Brown and his relationship with Bill Clinton.
The Trial of Tony Blair (2007) is one of the best political-historical-comedies of the last 20 years. It imagines war crimes proceedings against the former prime minister for his role in the Iraq War. It gave audiences what they wanted with Blair in irons, and Robert Lindsay excelled as the pastiche version of Blair.
The effects of Covid-19 were ubiquitous. No one could escape it. Pandering to the same old fantasies about world-ending disasters will not do anymore. Our appetites have changed, and the same thing happened after World War II, with a surge in the popularity of science-fiction writing.
Satire seems to be a struggling art, too. How can you ridicule governments that are now so obstinate that they are incapable of admitting wrongdoing when caught red-handed? There does not seem to be the same delight in watching po-faced policed be ridiculed. Incompetence and lies are the default now.
With all respect to Sky Original drama, how can they think there would be interest in a theatrical presentation of Johnson's sordid personal life as the country still reels from one of the worst Covid death tolls in the world?
Winterbottom said This is England was not revised for the partygate scandal. His team spoke to care home workers, nurses, doctors, scientists and government officials.
Are they producing a factually accurate account of the pandemic crisis, a work of contrived fiction about Johnson, or both? The animus against Johnson and his government may well be the only redeemable quality of this misguided production.
We can only wait and see what is released on 21 September. Johnson's record is now in the hands of historians, but the story is not quite over as long as the Conservatives remain in power.
Churchill's rejection by the electorate in 1945 and the new Labour era expedited the process of consolidating the wartime government's record. There has yet to be such a reprieve post-Covid, and certainly no room for entertainment about life and death policy decisions.
An excellent political thriller is what we need, not a rehash of something recent and definitely not about the pandemic. The consequences of Brexit are still being felt as the country roles from problem to crisis to disaster and repeat. Is it too much to ask for something as magnificent as A Very British Coup?
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/this-england-is-it-too-soon-to-make-a-drama-out-of-a-crisis-alastair-stewart-3831025 | 2022-09-06T04:37:37Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/this-england-is-it-too-soon-to-make-a-drama-out-of-a-crisis-alastair-stewart-3831025 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Why Liz Truss must go from campaigner to crisis leader - Scotsman comment
It would be customary, not to mention polite, to congratulate Liz Truss on her election to the highest office in the land. The country desperately needs fresh ideas, clear leadership and a coherent voice for the world. We wish her every success in providing this in the months ahead.
Will our new Prime Minister make the grade? In truth, expectations have been set low, thanks to a leadership race noteworthy for its detachment from reality, culminating in yesterday’s results announcement complete with golf club speeches and faltering applause lines.
Yet the conduct of this other-worldly campaign, aimed at an electorate quite different to much of the country, will be forgotten after Liz Truss has flown home to Downing Street from Balmoral later today.
Straight away, the new Prime Minister must face the whole nation, and address the extraordinary cost-of-living crisis we are suffering.
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The vast scale of the problem is clear, as is the need for a decisive intervention by the new Prime Minister. A public the length and breath of the UK, largely disconnected from and uninspired by the leadership contest, will now be paying careful attention to PM Truss's response. It will affect us all.
She and her Cabinet will have a single shot to win our trust – trust destroyed by Boris Johnson's premiership – and offer much-needed support to householders and business owners hurtling towards ruin.
So far, Truss's instincts on policy, at least as articulated to Conservative Party members in recent months, run counter to those demanded by the moment.
A libertarian love of the free market threatens to overlook the impact of an energy market out of control, one that will lead to destitution across the UK this winter.
The grim months ahead will also shine an unforgiving light on her planned tax cuts – to the benefit of the richest in society – and her explicit rejection of attempts at redistribution. Truss should be concerned about how that appears to a nation increasingly weary of elites feathering their own nests while they struggle. The savings-destroying impact of inflation should also not go ignored.
Meanwhile, a desire to pick a fight with the EU over Northern Ireland – the continued legacy of Brexit – must be met with the challenge: really, this, now?
Our hope – clung to, in the face of all the available evidence – is that such talk from candidate Truss was necessary to win the confidence of that small, particular Conservative electorate. That Prime Minister Truss will be more pragmatic and humane in the face of reality, and understand that events require a different response.
The political opportunity for Truss and her cabinet is real, in the weeks ahead: to be seen to act decisively, in the national interest – even if it runs counter to some of their political instincts.
There is, after all, no small state response to the crisis engulfing us: we are at economic war, buffeted by threats at a macroeconomic level that can only be countered with a national response. Reform and reduction of the British state – and fights with the EU over borders – can come after ensuring the nation's lights remain lit.
Alongside humane moves to lessen the blow of the energy crisis, greater devolution of responsibility to the English regions would help puncture the poisonous Westminster bubble and point the way to a fairer, less centralised UK.
Honesty over the scale of the challenge, rather than boosterism, would galvanise the country for the tough times ahead.
Liz Truss gained her opportunity through the calamitous premiership of Boris Johnson, who fractured faith in government, the Union and – for some – in democratic politics. She has the opportunity to repair some of that damage, and set the country on a different course. Thus, for all our sakes, we urge the new Prime Minister to defy our expectations, from today.
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-liz-truss-must-go-from-campaigner-to-crisis-leader-scotsman-comment-3832391 | 2022-09-06T04:37:43Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-liz-truss-must-go-from-campaigner-to-crisis-leader-scotsman-comment-3832391 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SPOKANE, Wash. — Reports have been confirmed that Spokane Civil Rights Activist Sandy Williams was among the 9 passengers lost in the seaplane crash on Puget Sound in Seattle.
According to Spokane City Councilmember Betsy Wilkerson, Williams was on vacation celebrating her 61st birthday a week beforehand with friends before the plane crashed. Wilkerson also said that Williams was preparing to come back to Spokane to celebrate the re-opening of the Carl Maxey Center.
Many figures in the Spokane community are sharing their grief over the news online. In a Facebook post, the Spokane County Human Rights Task Force said:
Together, with all of Spokane, we mourn the loss of Sandy Williams. Sandy was a voice for the voiceless, a tireless advocate for marginalized people in Spokane, a journalist unafraid to speak truth to power, a builder of hope in her vision for the Carl Maxey Center, and a beloved friend to countless members of our community. Our hearts go out to Sandy’s family. While she may be gone, her legacy is assured.
Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh took to twitter to pay respects to the civil rights activist:
Williams served the Spokane community as a community organizer, filmmaker and entrepreneur with an extensive background focusing on discrimination, equity and social justice. She was the publisher and editor of THE BLACK LENS, Eastern Washington's only African-American Newspaper. Williams also served as the executive director of the Carl Maxey Center.
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To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com. | https://www.krem.com/article/life/people/sandy-williams-lost-puget-sound-seaplane-crash/293-49ff68b7-84aa-4a7c-b465-497bf8c682d4 | 2022-09-06T04:40:57Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/life/people/sandy-williams-lost-puget-sound-seaplane-crash/293-49ff68b7-84aa-4a7c-b465-497bf8c682d4 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PULLMAN, Wash. — It may not have been picture perfect, but the Cougs head into week two of the season 1-0 after a win over Idaho in the Battle of the Palouse.
This week will be a real tough matchup, as WSU is headed out to Madison, Wisconsin to face the 18th ranked Badgers.
Lucky for Head Coach Jake Dickert, he’ll have an entire section cheering on him and and his WSU football team as he takes his Cougs to the state he grew up in.
“The Dickert tailgate’s going to be over 200 strong and I think coach is buying over 175 tickets this week,” Said Dickert. “Like I said, I’m excited for our people to represent there and they’ll all be in Cougs gear, I guarantee you that.”
The Dickert family in Washington State gear at Camp Randall Stadium will be a new sight for the Cougs head coach who grew up a fan of the Badgers.
“A fan is probably putting it lightly. I think when you grow up there, you know, there’s a few things that are in your blood. Beer, cheese, Packers, Badgers, Bucks and Brewers. I’m a product of Wisconsin,” said Dickert. “I talked to Ms. Payton, I said ‘what about when we land? what about we get everybody a brat?’ She was like ‘coach, that’s not what we need to be preparing for the game!”
No bratwurst to prepare for this game. It’ll have to be a laser focused week of practice for one of the toughest teams in the country.
“They play hard, they play physical, they play tough. They’re as advertised and they’re as big as we’ve seen and maybe as big in our league as you can get. So, the challenge is understandable, but you don’t worry about the challenge. You worry about what each individual player needs to do to be successful,” said Dickert.
While Brats may not be on the menu, a family special recipe is a guarantee. The hope is to enjoy it after a Cougs win.
“My 86-year-old grandma’s going to be there,” said Dickert. “She already asked me if I want her homemade strawberry jelly. Absolutely!”
Washington State at No. 18 Wisconsin will be nationally televised on FOX, so it will be a real nice opportunity for the program to make a statement early in the season.
WSU at No. 18 Wisconsin will kickoff at 12:30 PM PT this Saturday.
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Just Visiting
John Warner is the author of Why They Can't Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities and The Writer's Practice: Building Confidence in Your Nonfiction Writing.
Title
Would Free College Boost Humanities Majors?
I asked, and 266 people to answered that question.
Last week, without putting much thought into it, I put up a Twitter poll asking: “In your opinion would more students major in the humanities if college was tuition free?”
Recent IPEDS data shows that English, history, religion, and languages are all down at least 40% in terms of the number of majors since they peaked in the 2000s. Computer science, STEM and medical majors have gobbled up the share that used to belong to the humanities.
Let me stipulate to the biased nature of my sample. My Twittersphere is heavily populated with people either directly or adjacently affiliated with education, many of them (like me) in the humanities. They have been directly experiencing the decline of humanities disciplines throughout their careers.
The respondent choices were Yes, No, and Not Sure.
Let me also stipulate to the not particularly thoughtful framing of the question. The ambiguity of “more” is pretty bad question design. The methodological limits of Twitter polls are pretty strict, but I could’ve asked for an open end response in the replies for people who answered “Yes” to gauge what kind of increase they had in mind.
But I wasn’t thinking about sample representativeness or question integrity or anything like that at the time. My brain burped up a question, and since we now have a mechanism to share that question with the world, I did so.
Now, my personal answer to my own question is “Not Sure.” Clearly I had some belief that tuition free college could make the humanities more attractive by making it less likely that students would graduate with significant debt, but I was (and am) uncertain about this proposition.
Tuition-free college would pre-suppose that there is a pent-up desire among students to major in the humanities that is being thwarted because of some kind of cost-benefit calculation, but while making the education less costly would be a boon, it would not change any post-graduate calculations around the employment and earning prospects of majors.
A couple of perceptive folks also pointed out that in many cases, the humanities-related experience students may be having in high school might not be particularly inviting when it comes to thoughts of future study. We could be looking at a pipeline issue.
In last week’s post, I argued that the Biden administration action on student loan forgiveness explodes the myth of how we finance the costs of college as a system meant to develop the human capital of individuals. If taking out loans in order to improve your overall economic prospects doesn’t actually result in improved economic prospects for vast numbers of college attendees, well that dog don’t hunt.
But the explosion of the myth of how we finance college is not an explosion of the myth around which majors “pay off.”
A recent survey by the Federal Reserve showed that 2 in 5 graduates wish they’d chosen a different field of study than what they majored in in college. The level of regret is highest for humanities and arts majors.
The assumption in this Washington Post write-up of the data is that these regrets are explicitly about the earning potential of the majors, but the Federal Reserve survey contains no follow-up questions on the underlying reason for the regrets.
I previously wrote when a similar survey was released in 2017 on why I am a skeptic about these “regret” narratives around college major. Depending on when you asked me about my own choices about where I went to college, what I majored in, what I studied in graduate school, you could get me to admit to some measure of regret.
Regrets ask us to measure an idealized road not traveled against reality, a tricky matchup for reality to win on a snapshot question.
That said, that humanities majors are high on the regret scale does suggest that perhaps the reality for those of us with those degrees is, for whatever reason, not ideal. Personally, I believe that it’s my humanities degree that has allowed me to adapt to a rapidly changing world, a case I make to students whenever I’m able, but one which often meets with skepticism from those in the younger generations who tell me that the world has changed quite significantly since I was their age.
That’s my point! I say. The world has changed a lot, which is why it makes sense to not focus on a narrow technical specialty and instead learn how to think critically and adapt to different circumstances.
They remain skeptical.
By now, you readers have probably deduced that I’m deliberately withholding the results of the survey, and you would be correct. I’m doing this because one of the things I want to model around the kinds of questions we ask about education – How should we pay for it? What should students major in? How do we determine the degree return on investment? – are actually enormously complicated and when we ask each of these questions, there are a huge number of “it depends” factors going on underneath.
This tweet thread by Alanna Gillis, a sociologist who studies student choice of majors, highlights several major factors that go into student choice of major beyond anticipated wages. Dr. Gillis also reminds us of what should be obvious, low pay for a college graduate is a function of labor markets, not the choice an individual made.
For example, the teacher pay penalty hit yet another new high, with teachers making 23.5% less than comparable college graduates.
Is a student who wants to be a teacher making the “wrong” choice because they are consigning themselves to a lifetime of wages below what their education could have delivered? When is this market going to correct itself?
I think, undoubtedly, tuition free college could be helpful to humanities disciplines, but only if we in the humanities continue to resist the narrow discussion around majors and ROI confined to things like wages.
Of the 266 people who answered my survey question (“In your opinion would more students major in the humanities if college was tuition free?”) the breakdown was:
Yes - 74.8%
No – 8.6%
Not Sure – 16.5%
Personally, seeing that high percentage of “yes” votes gives me a good feeling about the future, even as difficult as the recent present has been.
To me this suggests that an audience of primarily humanities-focused people maintains a belief in the worth of the humanities and that students would benefit from majoring in a humanities field.
Making this reality will take some doing, but I see some cracks in the narrative around what college is for, who should benefit from college, and how people benefit from college that may just allow us to sneak through with a broader message about all the different things studying the humanities has to offer.
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- How to help students thrive during pandemic times and beyond | https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/would-free-college-boost-humanities-majors | 2022-09-06T04:54:35Z | insidehighered.com | control | https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/would-free-college-boost-humanities-majors | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Canada knife attack: 1 stabbing spree suspect dead, police say
WELDON, Saskatchewan (AP) - One of the suspects in the stabbing deaths of 10 people in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has been found dead, and his injuries are not self inflicted, police said Monday as they continued the search for a second suspect.
Regina Police Chief Evan Bray said Damien Sanderson, 31, has been found dead and that they believe his brother, Myles Sanderson, 30, is injured and on the run. While Damien’s body was found near the stabbing sites they believe Myles is in Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan.
"His body was located outdoors in a heavily grassed area in proximity to a house that was being examined. We can confirm he has visible injuries. These injuries are not believed to be self inflicted at this point," said RCMP Commanding Officer Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore.
RELATED: 2 suspects wanted after 10 dead, 15 injured in stabbing spree across Saskatchewan, Canada
The discovery of the body came on the second day of a massive manhunt for the pair, who are suspected of carrying out a series of stabbings in an Indigenous community and a nearby town, which also left 18 people injured. It was the deadliest attacks in the nation’s history.
Authorities have said some of the victims were targeted and others appeared to have been chosen at random on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the town of Weldon in Saskatchewan. They have given no motive for the crimes— but a senior Indigenous leader suggested drugs were somehow involved.
While they believe Myles is in Regina, about 335 kilometers (210 miles) south of where the stabbings happened, authorities have issued alerts in Canada’s three vast prairie provinces — which also include Manitoba and Alberta — and contacted U.S. border officials.
With one suspect still at large, fear gripped communities in the rural, working class area of Saskatchewan surrounded by farmland that were terrorized by the crimes. One witness who said he lost family members described seeing people with bloody wounds scattered throughout the Indigenous reserve.
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"No one in this town is ever going to sleep again. They’re going to be terrified to open their door," said Ruby Works, who also lost someone close to her and is a resident of Weldon, which has a population of about 200 and is home to many retirees.
As the Labor Day holiday weekend drew to a close Monday, police urged Saskatchewan residents who were returning from trips away to look for suspicious activity around their homes before entering.
Arrest warrants have been issued for the pair of suspects and both men had faced at least one count each of murder and attempted murder. More charges were expected.
Police have given few details about the men. Last May, Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers issued a wanted list that included Myles Sanderson, writing that he was "unlawfully at large."
While the manhunt continued, police also issued a provincewide alert for suspects in a shooting on the Witchekan Lake First Nation. Officials said the shooting was not believed to be connected to the stabbings, but such alerts are unusual and the fact that a second occurred while authorities were already scouring the Saskatchewan for the stabbing suspects was notable.
The stabbing attack was among the deadliest mass killings in Canada, where such crimes are less common than in the United States. The deadliest gun rampage in Canadian history happened in 2020, when a man disguised as a police officer shot people in their homes and set fires across the province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people. In 2019, a man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto.
Deadly mass stabbings are rarer than mass shootings, but have happened around the world. In 2014, 29 people were slashed and stabbed to death at a train station in China’s southwestern city of Kunming. In 2016, a mass stabbing at a facility for the mentally disabled in Sagamihara, Japan, left 19 people dead. A year later, three men killed eight people in a vehicle and stabbing attack at London Bridge.
Canadian police got their first call about a stabbing at 5:40 a.m. on Sunday, and within minutes heard about several more. In all, dead or wounded people were found at 13 different locations on the sparsely populated reserve and in the town, Blackmore said. James Smith Cree Nation is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Weldon.
She couldn’t provide a motive, but the chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations suggested the stabbings could be drug-related.
"This is the destruction we face when harmful illegal drugs invade our communities, and we demand all authorities to take direction from the chiefs and councils and their membership to create safer and healthier communities for our people," said Chief Bobby Cameron.
As the manhunt stretched on, Regina Police Chief Evan Bray urged anyone with information to come forward.
Bray said they got a credible tip they were in Regina and he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that following a "very aggressive investigation" police believe they are still in the city.
The elected leaders of the three communities that make up the James Smith Cree Nation declared a local state of emergency.
Chakastaypasin Chief Calvin Sanderson — who apparently is not related to the suspects — said everyone has been affected by the tragic events.
"They were our relatives, friends," Sanderson said of the victims. "It’s pretty horrific."
Among the 10 killed was Lana Head, who is the former partner of Michael Brett Burns and the mother of their two daughters.
"It’s sick how jail time, drugs and alcohol can destroy many lives," Burns told the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. "I’m hurt for all this loss."
Burns later posted on Facebook that there were dead and wounded people everywhere on the reserve, making it look like "a war zone."
"The look in their eyes couldn’t express the pain and suffering for all those who were assaulted," he posted.
Weldon residents have identified one of the dead as Wes Petterson, a retired widower who made he coffee every morning at the senior center. He loved gardening, picking berries, canning, and making jam and cakes, recalled William Works, 47, and his mother, Sharon Works, 64.
"He would give you the shirt off his back if he could," William Works said, describing his neighbor as a "gentle old fellow" and "community first."
Sharon Works was baffled: "I don’t understand why they would target someone like him anyway, because he was just a poor, helpless little man, 100 pounds soaking wet. And he could hardly breathe because he had asthma and emphysema and everybody cared about him because that’s the way he was. He cared about everybody else. And they cared about him."
The pair said there is hardly any crime in the rural town, except an occasional speeding ticket. They always left the door unlocked until the night of the slayings.
"Not even when I go to town, I don’t lock my door," Sharon Works said. "But now I have to find my key to my house. I never used to lock the doors and nobody around here until this happened."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the flag above Canada’s parliament building in Ottawa would be flown at half-staff to honor the victims.
"Sadly, over these past years, tragedies like these have become all too common place. Saskatchewanians and Canadians will do what we always do in times of difficulty and anguish, we will be there for each other," Trudeau said.
Gillies reported from Toronto. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/canada-knife-attack-1-stabbing-spree-suspect-dead-police-say | 2022-09-06T05:10:53Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/canada-knife-attack-1-stabbing-spree-suspect-dead-police-say | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Little Village hit-and-run: 2 teen girls crossing street struck by vehicle
CHICAGO - Two teenage girls were injured in a hit-and-run Monday night in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood.
Shortly after 8 p.m., police say two 15-year-old girls were crossing the street on a scooter in the crosswalk in the 2800 block of South Kedzie Avenue when they were struck by a black vehicle heading southbound.
After striking the victims, the vehicle fled the scene, police said.
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The victims sustained scrapes and bruises on their bodies and were both taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.
Nobody was reported in custody.
The investigation is ongoing. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/little-village-hit-and-run-2-teen-girls-crossing-street-struck-by-vehicle | 2022-09-06T05:10:59Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/little-village-hit-and-run-2-teen-girls-crossing-street-struck-by-vehicle | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Bears’ Eberflus appreciates moment with opener at hand
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Matt Eberflus can appreciate the moment.
He’s a first-time head coach trying to turn around a founding NFL franchise, and the next big step comes this week when the Chicago Bears host the San Francisco 49ers in the season opener.
"It’s always special when you do something for the first time, you’re calling a defense in the NFL for the first time or back when I called it in college way back when or when you step into a new role as the head football coach," Eberflus said Monday.
"It’s part of the journey. It’s part of your story that you’re writing, that you help write with everybody else that’s helping you. And you certainly reflect on that as you go."
The Bears hired general manager Ryan Poles and Eberflus to replace the fired Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy after going 6-11 and missing the playoffs for the ninth time in 11 years.
They have since been restructuring the roster and implementing a culture they hope points the franchise in a different direction. As he looked ahead toward the opener, Eberflus took time over the weekend to look at the franchise’s past.
He read through a book published a few years ago, in connection with the franchise’s 100th anniversary. One thing that impressed him was the barnstorming tour led by Red Grange, just after he dropped out of the University of Illinois, in the winter of 1925 and 1926. The 19-game showcase to boost a struggling league played out over 67 days in 17 cities.
"I think it’s really important for the history to be known for the guys," Eberflus said Monday.
It’s something he tries to impart to his players, whether he’s reading about the barnstorming days, the dominant decades of "The Monsters of the Midway" or bringing in stars from the more recent past such as Charles Tillman to talk to the current group.
Chicago’s history includes nine NFL championships — but just one since the 1963 team gave founder George Halas his final title. The 1985 team, of course, won the Super Bowl.
Chicago’s only other appearance came at the end of the 2006 season, when the Bears lost to Indianapolis. Since then, they have just three trips to the playoffs and one postseason victory.
The 52-year-old Eberflus spent the past four seasons as Indianapolis’ defensive coordinator. He had a seven-year run coaching linebackers in Dallas prior to that.
Eberflus was also on staff in Cleveland after several college stops, including time as defensive coordinator at Missouri. Eberflus, a former linebacker at the University of Toledo, began his coaching career at his alma mater and hometown school.
In Chicago, he has drawn praise from Poles and players for his organization and the tone he is setting. He stresses the "HITS" principle — his acronym for Hustle, Intensity, Takeaways and playing Smart — and counts loafs in practice.
"I love that dude," Poles said last week. "He is detailed, he is organized, he has people around him to help him be organized. He is consistent. His message is clear. There is no gray area. When he approaches the team meeting and gets in front of the guys, he’s got juice. But it’s not fluff. It’s not fake. It’s real."
He said the energy Eberflus exudes is palpable and the players "love it."
"I love it," Poles added. "I’m so pumped about his leadership and how he’s going to lead this team."
NOTES: WR Byron Pringle (quad) and C Lucas Patrick (right hand) returned to practice on Monday. "We’ll see what happens throughout the week," Pringle said when asked if he’ll play in the opener. "We’ll have a practice Wednesday and we’ll see. Today I felt great though." | https://www.fox32chicago.com/sports/bears-eberflus-appreciates-moment-with-opener-at-hand | 2022-09-06T05:11:05Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/sports/bears-eberflus-appreciates-moment-with-opener-at-hand | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Lynn dominates as White Sox snap M’s streak with 3-2 win
SEATTLE - Even though Lance Lynn was overpowering, he had to give a little credit to his surroundings.
A sunny day and an unusual afternoon start time in Seattle played perfectly into Lynn’s hands.
"The shadows were ugly early, so that helped the pitchers for sure," Lynn said. "I knew that they were going to have trouble seeing the ball so I just went and attacked, and it worked out well."
Lynn mowed through Seattle striking out a season-high 11, Elvis Andrus hit a two-run home run, and the Chicago White Sox snapped the Mariners’ seven-game win streak with a 3-2 win on Monday.
Lynn retired the final 17 batters he faced in a dominant outing against a Seattle lineup that looked sleepy following a long Sunday in Cleveland and an early-morning arrival back in the Pacific Northwest.
The win kept the White Sox on the heels of Minnesota and Cleveland in a suddenly tight AL Central race, while Seattle lost ground to both Toronto and Tampa Bay in the chase for the top wild-card spot in the AL.
Chicago has won five of six.
"The first week when I was here it was tense — a lot of guys trying to make things happen," said Andrus, who signed with the White Sox on Aug. 19. "Lately we’ve been able to just let our talent go out there and compete."
Lynn (5-5) didn’t allow a base runner after Abraham Toro’s bloop RBI single in the second inning that right fielder Andrew Vaughn appeared to lose briefly in the sun. The 11 strikeouts were one off his career high, and he allowed just three hits.
Seattle’s only run was unearned thanks to a passed ball and Lynn has allowed three earned runs total in his past four starts.
"When you have shadows, you’re going to attack because and your cutter and sinker are going to work well. Anything that moves late," Lynn said.
The consecutive batters retired streak reached 19 until Julio Rodríguez singled off Kendall Graveman with two outs in the eighth. Liam Hendriks allowed two singles and a walk in the ninth, including J.P. Crawford’s two-out single to score Mitch Haniger. But Hendriks struck out pinch-hitter Adam Frazier to finish off his 30th save.
"Our guys continue to compete, really every night. It’s fun to watch," Seattle manager Scott Servais said. "Down by one, two, three, four runs, whatever, we are going to put pressure on other teams and make it tough to close it out."
Andrus’ home run was one of two blemishes in an otherwise strong outing by Seattle starter Marco Gonzales. And it was very nearly an out rather than a homer.
Haniger made a leaping attempt and had the ball in his glove but lost it as he made contact with the padded wall. It was Andrus’ 11th homer of the season and his fifth against Seattle having hit four earlier in the year with Oakland.
"I’ve been having really good at-bats here something that I haven’t done in my whole career in Seattle," Andrus said. "So I think that’s kind of made up for my first eight years that I didn’t have good luck."
A.J. Pollock also hit a solo home run for the White Sox but otherwise the Mariners got the start it needed from Gonzales after using every bullpen arm in Cleveland on Sunday.
Gonzales (10-13) threw seven innings for the just second time since late June, allowing four hits and striking out three.
ROSTER MOVES
The White Sox activated 3B Yoán Moncada from the 10-day IL and reinstated LHP Aaron Bummer from the 60-day IL. Moncada had been out with a strained left hamstring. He was hitting .197 with seven homers and 40 RBIs in 80 games prior to the injury. Moncada is expected to be in the lineup on Tuesday.
Bummer has been out since early June due to a left lat strain. He appeared in three rehab games with Triple-A Charlotte before being reinstated. He was 0-1 with a 3.06 ERA in 20 games with Chicago prior to the injury.
The White Sox optioned OFs Adam Haseley and Mark Payton to Charlotte and outrighted RHP Tobias Myers to Charlotte to clear the roster spots.
TRAINER’S ROOM
White Sox: Chicago’s starting pitcher for Wednesday is still listed as to be determined, but acting manager Miguel Cairo said there’s a chance it could be RHP Michael Kopech. Kopech has been out since Aug. 23 with a left knee strain.
Mariners: IF/OF Dylan Moore was expected to pick up some additional activity in his return from an oblique strain. Moore was expected to do some rotational exercises in the pool on Monday, but he still likely a couple weeks away from a possible return.
UP NEXT
White Sox: RHP Johnny Cueto (7-6, 2.93) has won three of his past four decisions. Cueto threw 5 1/3 innings allowing six hits and one run in his last start against Kansas City.
Mariners: RHP Logan Gilbert (11-5, 3.35) threw six shutout innings allowing only two hits and striking out nine in his last start against Detroit. Gilbert picked up his first win since July 3 in the outing. | https://www.fox32chicago.com/sports/lynn-dominates-as-white-sox-snap-ms-streak-with-3-2-win | 2022-09-06T05:11:11Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/sports/lynn-dominates-as-white-sox-snap-ms-streak-with-3-2-win | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Woman Dies After Falling 900 Feet While Climbing Colorado's Capitol Peak, One of US's Tallest Mountains
The climber, who authorities said was from Denver, plummeted into Pierre Lakes Basin, a rocky area below the mountain, after a rock that she tried to hold onto for support and leverage while climbing gave way, witnesses told authorities.
A woman was killed when she fell while climbing one of the tallest mountains in the country, Capitol Peak in Colorado, officials said.
The climber, who authorities said was from Denver, fell about 900 feet from below the mountain’s summit early Saturday, the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
A man, who was not with the woman as she climbed, called the Pitkin County Regional Emergency Dispatch Center just before 8 a.m. to say he and his hiking party witnessing a solo climber fall from a point on Capitol Peak believed to have been between 1,500 and 2,000 feet below the summit.
The woman plummeted into Pierre Lakes Basin, a rocky area below the mountain, after a rock that she tried to hold onto for support and leverage while climbing, which climbers call a “handhold,” gave way, officials said. She fell from the route that connects the knife edge to the Capitol Peak summit, authorities said.
Emergency responders were joined by mountain rescue teams as they launched a mission to recover the woman’s body, taking to the mountain by foot and by helicopter to survey the area. The witness who alerted authorities of her fall was able to provide rescuers with the exact location of her body, which was found by those on foot, authorities said.
Her body was flown out of Pierre Lakes Basin at 2:47 p.m. Her identity is being withheld pending notification of her next of kin, officials said.
And on Sunday, one day after recovering the body of the climber who fell to her death, authorities had to return to Capitol Peak to rescue a man who found himself unable to move or navigate his way off the peak, the sheriff’s office said. That climber managed to call for help, but his telephone connection was poor, and it took about four hours from the time he called authorities to locate him on the mountain.
“Mountain Rescue Aspen (MRA) deployed foot teams to the area. MRA also deployed a reconnaissance flight to attempt to locate the climber, which was not successful. A Blackhawk helicopter from the U.S. Army National Guard also searched the area with MRA,” the sheriff’s office said.
The helicopter located the man about 5:13 p.m. “The climber had been off-route, was in physical distress, dehydrated and out of food, and was not properly equipped for the terrain in which he found himself,” the sheriff’s office said.
That distressed climber was evacuated by helicopter, and all members of the rescue team made it out of the field safety by about 6:30 p.m.
Located near Aspen in the Elk Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains, “Capitol Peak is a mountain with an elevation of 14,137 feet” and “is considered one of Colorado’s most difficult mountains to climb,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Calling the terrain “treacherous,” the sheriff’s office and Mountain Rescue Aspen officials said backcountry enthusiasts should remember “that the loose, rotting terrain can lead to unstable conditions that can cause serious injuries or death.”
Avalanches and landslides are not uncommon, and “extreme exposure” on Capitol Peak poses safety risks as well, officials said.
"We're trying to get people to slow down a little bit," Pitkin County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Parker Lathrop told CBS News Colorado after the woman's death on Saturday. Capitol Peak " should be the crown jewel, and if you're not ready for it — if your gut tells you to stop — the mountain will still be there” when a climber is ready, Lathrop said.
In 2017, five people died trying to reach the summit of Capitol Peak between July and August. Separately, the body of climber Kelly McDermott, who died last year after suffering a fatal fall, was unable to be recovered because of the dangerous conditions those trying to recover his body faced.
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Human Interest | https://www.insideedition.com/woman-dies-after-falling-900-feet-while-climbing-colorados-capitol-peak-one-of-uss-tallest | 2022-09-06T05:13:57Z | insideedition.com | control | https://www.insideedition.com/woman-dies-after-falling-900-feet-while-climbing-colorados-capitol-peak-one-of-uss-tallest | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A business owner wants to help women going through mastectomy and cancer treatment feel more confident by providing a "one stop shop" for those who want both new wigs and new bras. Desiree Nurse set up Cleopatra's in Chatham in 2007 after moving from London with her family.
Mum-of-two Desiree opened her shop in the town's indoor market and remained there for five years before moving to the High Street. She said she has been modifying her business as the needs of the local community continue to change. For more stories for Kent's minority communities, subscribe to Untold Stories here.
“I had a contract with the local hospital to provide wigs for people who were going through hair loss because of chemo or dermatological issues," the 48-year-old said. "And while I have built a relationship with the patients coming in over the last few years, I've gained some valuable insight as to what these people really want and need while going through the treatment.
READ MORE:The hidden gem American retail store in Tonbridge selling groceries, candy and gifts
“And then we decided to come up with this business model of them being able to get the things that they need and still maintain some dignity and confidence not having to go to the hospital environment because at least when they come to the salon, they get a sense of normality again and getting the new wigs and headwear, it was really positive for them.”
The mum-of-two - who was herself diagnosed with lupus, a long-term condition that causes joint pain, skin rashes and tiredness - has recently started selling breast forms to support women who went through mastectomy. Desiree wanted to provide a service helping women from ethnic minority communities as well as any other people who would need it.
'Black women communicate less about breast cancer'
She said: "We found when I was doing the research while trying to set up this business, that Black women in particular, tend to communicate less about breast cancer and there’s a taboo around these sorts of things within these cultural demographics.
“And what we found is that coming to me when they came for the headwear, they were more open to talk to a woman of colour like themselves about having the breast surgery and having nice, comfortable, sexy bras and all these different things.”
She added: “What I’m going to embark on is a new niche for me. What I’ve identified is that people do the wigs, and some people do the bras, but nobody actually combines them both. So it’s like a one-stop shop . It’s about the well-being and support of people that are going through treatment, people that have hair loss, people that had a mastectomy, going through cancer. Your body changes so the breast form you might have gotten in the hospital, if you lose weight or gain weight, it will change.”
Along with providing customers with wigs and bras, the shop also does weaves, hair extensions, braiding, dreadlocks and more. But it has not always been easy for Desiree to get where she is now.
The 48-year-old, who came to the UK from Trinidad in 1996, said she attempted to get premises on the High Street numerous times but she kept being “stonewalled because of [her] colour”. She added: “What I did was I had a Caucasian man front for me, and he was sort of like doing the journey of getting the property and then all I did was go and sign for it.
“And then I came on the High Street and what we also found is that there’s a parade of bins that lines the street, that isn’t welcoming for families to come, and for people to come and shop and meet their needs.
“When it comes to adversities, we have them, we have a lot of division and racism and that will not go anywhere for quite a while. But once people know that you’re professional and you’re good at what you do, then they tend to bypass for the most part.”
Desiree hopes to one day be able to open other branches across Kent in a bid to help more women and expand her services. At the moment, people are coming all the way from London or Dover to get her services.
She said: “We have people from Sittingbourne, we have people coming to us from Dover, people coming to us from London - it is a wide array.”
'Listen to their needs first'
When asked about her secret to being a successful entrepreneur, she told KentLive: “You listen to their needs first. I think good customer service always goes a long way. People want to feel that they’re being heard and that the needs are being met. You need to listen to them, love them, see them and identify with them as a human being first. We just treat people how we would want to be treated.”
She named her shop after her grandmother Cleopatra. “I was brought up with the influence of my grandparents,” she said.”They were heavily involved in my upbringing and in this village where we lived, everybody looked up to my grandmother.
“Everybody had come to her as a source of knowledge, a source of guidance, a source of love, and spiritual counsel. She was a force to be reckoned with.”
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- Canterbury ex-Gurkha soldier hopes to become world's first double above-the-knee amputee to climb Everest | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/chatham-business-owner-helps-black-7547171 | 2022-09-06T05:14:05Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/chatham-business-owner-helps-black-7547171 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Artists’ tables teemed with zines and other creations at the Paper Plains Zine Fest event at Van Go on Saturday.
Vendors displayed their zines and other items on theme-orientated tables, where people were welcome to browse and purchase. Ranging from intersectional feminism and queer culture to comics and photography, there were multitudes of topics that local creators discussed in their zines.
Freshman Connor Engelsman, an astronomy major, was a volunteer at the Zine Fest as well as a panelist on the Queer Futures panel. They said that zines’ history is very tightly interwoven with the gay liberation movement and queer activism.
“A lot of the queer people I know are very creative and use art as a form of expression,” Engelsman said. “It’s a good way to make their message heard through an art form without having to be in various exclusive spaces.”
Engelsman’s zine submission centered around four small digital drawings representing accessible and representative literature, safety and existence focused on trans femmes of colors, queer elders in the community and accessible gender-affirming healthcare.
In a public rhetoric class, graduate student Abby Breyer was introduced to zines at KU. She ended up teaching a class this past summer about it and decided to sell some zines at the fest.
“I am an English teacher, so most of my zines are literary themed and have to do with books and writing and how to be a writer and how to do poetry,” Breyer said.
Breyer said zines are an accessible way to get people involved in literature because it does not require the time, money or resources needed to publish a book.
“With a zine, you just need a piece of paper and pencil. It's kind of this cool accessible way to get people involved with literature,” Breyer said.
Similarly, Carter Crosby, a senior, said that those who make zines do not have to worry about appealing to publishers; it is an accessible art form of expressing oneself. Their table at the Zine Fest contained zines primarily about photography and poems and had earrings made out of trinkets.
“I have a photography zine that is a combination of old family slides and my own photography and poem that I wrote, in a kind of compilation,” Crosby said. “I also have two mini zines that are little haikus and affirmations based around things that I'm interested in like nature and different types of tea.”
Senior Maggie Slaven was inspired to write and create zines after she took a class called Designer as Author last semester. She was at the Zine Fest to sell some zines her classmates created, inspired by the prompt “Love Letter Zines.” Her zine, called The Florida Files, was also displayed on the table, written as a love letter to the infamous Florida Man.
“I went through the month of January and chose different headlines for different Florida man articles that happened each day,” Slaven said about her zine. “I hand-collaged different imagery for it and summarized what the article is about.”
Senior Emily Myers took the same class where they made a zine about corsets and corsetry. Myers said they wrote the zine because they have always been interested in fashion history.
“I thought that there have always been untold stories about corsets and misrepresentations of [corsets] in the media,” Myers said. “I wanted to take a moment to celebrate them as a piece of typically gendered clothing that's seen as restrictive but can actually be something really empowering.”
Other zines at the Zine Fest included ones about different flowers and their meanings, risograph zines that played with printing and layering colors, old computer games, mini fictional stories and how to interpret tarot card readings. Browsing through the tables, sophomore Jack Rickman said he attended the zine fest on Saturday to support some artists he knew.
“[Zines] are unlike normal magazines,” Rickman said. “You can express any idea you want in any capacity you want. You can have a hundred sheets stitched together, or you can print a zine out on a 8½ x 11. They allow everybody to be with each other and express their feelings openly.” | https://www.kansan.com/news/community-and-artists-mesh-at-the-paper-plains-zine-festival/article_2d4f7ac8-2d60-11ed-9db2-bb70c3e82070.html | 2022-09-06T05:14:05Z | kansan.com | control | https://www.kansan.com/news/community-and-artists-mesh-at-the-paper-plains-zine-festival/article_2d4f7ac8-2d60-11ed-9db2-bb70c3e82070.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
On April 4, 2022, the Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team defeated North Carolina by three points to capture their sixth national championship in program history.
This historic 16-point comeback victory killed multiple birds with one stone: it was payback for losing to North Carolina in the NCAA championship game in 1957 and it also catapulted Kansas past the University of Kentucky for the most wins of all time by any Division One college basketball program.
In short, it was the moment the birds in crimson in blue reached the peak, the top of Mount Everest. The promised land. Which begs the question: how do you top such a magical season?
Many Kansas men’s basketball fans are probably cynical about the chances of the Jayhawks defending their NCAA title in the upcoming 2022-23 season. And understandably so, since losing key players like MVP Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun to the draft — and with seniors like Mitch Lightfoot, Remy Martin, and David McCormack not returning to the roster.
However, head coach Bill Self has reiterated his enthusiasm for the upcoming season, as it will be only his second chance as head coach to defend an NCAA title, with the first opportunity coming in 2009.
But there’s another opportunity to accomplish a college basketball milestone — an opportunity no one seems to be talking about. If Kansas successfully defends its crown, it will be the first time in college basketball history that a program won back-to-back national championships a century apart.
That’s right, Kansas basketball has won back-to-back national championships only once before, in 1922 and 1923– before the advent of the modern NCAA tournament format. A lot has changed since then.
Back in the 1920s, there was no three-point shot, no shot clock, no rule on goaltending, no three-second violation in the paint, excessive dribbling was not allowed as it was deemed a traveling violation (what, what?), and there was no halfcourt line to prevent backcourt violations, meaning it was possible to spread the court and stall the game out.
Even though it was Naismith’s game of basketball, it wouldn’t have resembled anything we are used to today. And it probably would have been really boring to watch; most games played in the pre-shot clock era were low scoring affairs. In the century of basketball to follow, everything has changed. Except, of course, for Kansas’ dominance.
These back-to-back national champion squads played basketball in the early days, when the game wasn’t as well developed.
Head coach Phog Allen would be instrumental in evolving the game over his tenure at KU, which would last until 1956, but at the time, he had to coach the best basketball possible with these oppressive rules still in place.
And that’s precisely what Allen did. The 1922 squad went 16-2 and the ‘23 squad was even better, going 17-1 while remaining undefeated in conference play. These two teams were led by players like George Rody, who averaged 14 points per game at a time when whole teams were lucky to score that much, and Adolph Rupp, who would go on to have an illustrious coaching career at the University of Kentucky.
The 1922 campaign began with KU steamrolling over everyone in the Missouri Valley conference before losing to their rival, Missouri. Beating them in the rematch left Kansas with a better record than Missouri and the best record in the country. The same was true of the ‘23 squad, which defeated Missouri in the last game of the season leaving them with a 17-1 record.
That meant Kansas was so dominant, they only lost three games in two years. Curiously, a now-defunct program was responsible for handing Kansas two of those three losses: the Kansas City Athletic Club defeated Kansas both years (34-32 and 27-23, respectively).
Even though these two KU teams were so dominant, they were not recognized as national champions in the years they played. Because there was no governing body making national championship selections, no teams were recognized as champions until 1939, when the NCAA tournament began.
These two Kansas squads wouldn’t be recognized until 1947, when the Helms Foundation, an athletic group which selected All-Americans, began making retroactive national championship selections for the pre-NCAA era. These selections attempted to make up for the lack of an official champion; however, they were purely subjective selections, made by sports analysts decades after the teams actually played. This is one of the reasons you sometimes hear pundits referring to Kansas’s recent national championship as her “fourth NCAA title” instead of her sixth– they don’t count the Helms Foundation national championships.
One argument that could be made for not acknowledging these championships is that an early team like this would not have been built for modern basketball, with three-pointers and tournament elimination games.
My counterpoint: these talented squads deserve recognition for pushing the game to its very best potential, as they helped us innovate the rules so that better basketball could be played today.
One major difference between the conditions that allowed for the roaring twenties squads to repeat and the conditions in college basketball now is the difficulty of maintaining a strong core of good players. The roster size of the 20s teams was only 9 players, while modern substitution rules and larger roster sizes make roster building more complex.
In addition, the amateur spirit of college athletics in the 20s made it easier to bring back athletes for next year’s campaign; a close look at the 9-man rosters from these two years shows us how many players returned for the 1923 season. Today, college athletes are drawn away from repeat campaigns towards the NBA because the culture has changed — it is now seen as unfair to make a 20-something kid risk injury so CBS can get a million dollar TV contract.
While standards have certainly gotten better in college basketball over the years, it’s not easy to keep players out of the draft and on the roster for next year. In the 1980s, many giants like Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and KU’s own Danny Manning would stay until they were upperclassmen, avoiding the draft for a chance to beat their in-state rival next year.
The continuity of rosters was one of the strongest attributes of the 1922-23 teams. The best approach to getting Kansas to repeat this year, then, would be to keep last year’s locker room mentality intact and transplant it over to this year.
Some athletes from last year’s championship squad — Zach Clemence, Cam Martin, and Kyle Cuffe Jr. — are returning. If they can step up and lead by example, they can motivate the players who weren’t here last year to play like this is their year, too. If they can believe it, it would lead the team to project the confidence that they are unstoppable.
Even though I think the road to KU repeating as champions will prove to be difficult, the optimist in me can still see it happening — and I know they have the tools and the talent to do their best. | https://www.kansan.com/opinion/ku-men-s-basketball-can-they-repeat-this-year/article_9ef27f2a-2d62-11ed-947c-cbdd072ff219.html | 2022-09-06T05:14:11Z | kansan.com | control | https://www.kansan.com/opinion/ku-men-s-basketball-can-they-repeat-this-year/article_9ef27f2a-2d62-11ed-947c-cbdd072ff219.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Kansas men’s golf team finished in a tie for eighth place in its season-opening tournament at Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Indiana. The Jayhawks finished with a score of 4-over (844) on the weekend.
The Jayhawks were tied for 6th place at 6-under after day one, but a rough 10-over final round dropped the Jayhawks into a tie for 8th place.
The top individual performance for the Jayhawks came from freshman Will King. King finished tied for 17th with a score of 2-under (208). King was 8 shots behind the winner of the tournament, sophomore David Ford from North Carolina.
King posted consistent rounds on day one, shooting 1-under and 2-under to finish 3-under par. In King’s second round, he tallied birdies on holes 6,15 and 17. However, a 1-over performance on day two dropped him to 17th. King was able to drop his score to 1-over after a birdie on the 17th hole.
Junior William Duquette tied for 21st place, scoring 1-under (209). After a 1-over first round, Duquette shot a consistent second round of 2-under, tallying 3 birdies and 1 bogey. Duquette started his third round strong, with 2 birdies on the front 9. However, 2 bogies on the back 9 landed Duquette with an even par for the round.
Junior Davis Cooper also finished day one tied for 12th with 3-under. Cooper was able to follow up a 1-over first round with an impressive 4-under performance in the second round. In that second round, Cooper tallied 7 birdies and 3 bogeys. However, Cooper also struggled on day 2, shooting 3-over with a triple bogey on hole 7. Cooper finished the tournament at an even par (210), placing tied for 26th.
The Kansas men’s golf team has high expectations for this season after finishing 17th at the NCAA Championships last year. In a tournament with four Top 25 teams and eight in the Top 50, the Jayhawks finished in a tie for 8th. No. 9 Florida won the tournament, with No. 5 North Carolina in third. No. 16 Notre Dame finished fourth, and No. 22 LSU placed sixth.
The Jayhawks are back in action next Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Gopher Invitational in Minneapolis. | https://www.kansan.com/sports/kansas-men-s-golf-finished-in-a-tie-for-8th-place-at-the-fighting-irish/article_42206482-2d5e-11ed-a581-ef1c0d02f09f.html | 2022-09-06T05:14:17Z | kansan.com | control | https://www.kansan.com/sports/kansas-men-s-golf-finished-in-a-tie-for-8th-place-at-the-fighting-irish/article_42206482-2d5e-11ed-a581-ef1c0d02f09f.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
States around the country are making it easier for new moms to keep Medicaid in the year after childbirth, a time when depression and other health problems can develop.
But tight government budgets and the program’s low reimbursement may ultimately limit this push or make it hard for women with extended coverage to find doctors.
“A lot of things have changed since the pandemic,” said Venessa Aiken, a new mom in Orlando, Florida. “A lot of places no longer take Medicaid or if they do, you have to wait like two months before you can be seen.”
Many women enroll in government-funded Medicaid health insurance when they become pregnant, because qualifying income levels are higher than for women who aren’t pregnant. The federal government requires states to maintain that coverage for 60 days postpartum, or after the baby arrives. After that, moms in many states lose the coverage unless their income levels are extremely low.
Since the spring, 23 states and Washington, D.C., have said they will extend that coverage for a full year postpartum. Several more states are planning to do so.
These extensions will start helping people after the federal government’s COVID-19 public health emergency ends because states are required to keep patients enrolled during the emergency. It currently will extend at least into early next year.
The push to extend coverage has grown to include both conservative and liberal-leaning states. It also is endorsed by President Joe Biden’s administration as a way to improve equality: Postpartum mortality rates can be much higher among Black and American-Indian or Alaskan Native populations.
“There’s no reason why we should stop before we have every particular mother and baby (covered),” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told The Associated Press. “Why wouldn’t you want to provide to a new mother and new baby a full year’s peace of mind?”
The state and federally funded Medicaid program covers prenatal doctor visits for moms and about 42% of births in the U.S.
Having that coverage eliminated some stress for Maureen Forman, who said she was already concerned about her pregnancy when she gave birth to her son last year.
“It was really nice not to worry,” the 41-year-old Bloomington, Indiana, resident said. “I just knew it was all going to be covered. I wish other pregnant women had that same experience.”
Care providers and researchers say that coverage should extend well beyond 60 days after the baby arrives.
They note that many new moms need more time to squeeze in doctor visits while they recover from childbirth and care for a newborn. Some also are juggling a return to work while doing this.
A coverage extension “matches the reality of the postpartum period,” said Usha Ranji of the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation, which researches health care issues.
Issues like postpartum depression can develop months later, and some mothers might have lingering health problems that need care. Some also may need continued substance abuse treatment.
Those who lose coverage may not be able to afford another option like private insurance.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated last year that about 45% of women on Medicaid will become uninsured after the 60-day postpartum coverage period ends.
While nearly half the states have expanded the coverage, health economist Joe Antos said he thinks others will hesitate to add the expense to their budgets.
Mississippi lawmakers scuttled a bill earlier this year that would have extended postpartum coverage partly over concerns about expanding the program.
The coverage extensions, which last five years, are backed partly by funding from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act. States will have to pay some of the bill.
If the economy slides into a recession, “state enthusiasm for further expansions will also drop off as their own budgets tighten up,” said Antos, who’s with the American Enterprise Institute.
Extending the coverage does not automatically guarantee better care, because finding doctors can be difficult.
Jennie Joseph says the idea of trying to get a referral to a mental health specialist for a Medicaid patient is “laughable.” The Florida midwife said patients first have to find a doctor to provide that referral and then land a therapist who accepts Medicaid, which is even harder.
Joseph is the founder of Commonsense Childbirth, a nonprofit that operates a birth center and clinic in central Florida. She said low Medicaid reimbursement rates and payment hassles are challenging for care providers. She said the government program pays her clinic less than half of what a commercial insurer would pay for a prenatal visit. Medicaid reimbursement for postpartum visits is even less, as little as $34.
“It’s all about trying to get your claim paid, and they are more readily denied than they are paid,” she said. “Because of that, providers don’t make postpartum appointments for these mothers.”
Aiken, the Orlando newborn mom, gave birth at Joseph’s center in July. She has had a hard time getting a call back from her primary care doctor’s office, and she’s worried about getting a referral to a specialist.
“It’s pretty confusing,” she said. “Who do you turn to when you don’t have a (primary care physician)?”
Becerra said he knows that doctor access must be improved. But he sees the coverage extensions as a step toward making things better.
“Let’s get people through the door and let’s continue to work to increase the number of quality caregivers who will be there to meet those folks,” he said. “But today we have hundreds of thousands of women and babies who can’t even walk through the door. " | https://www.federaltimes.com/federal-oversight/2022/09/05/medicaid-extensions-for-new-moms-may-run-into-federal-spending-limits/ | 2022-09-06T05:19:20Z | federaltimes.com | control | https://www.federaltimes.com/federal-oversight/2022/09/05/medicaid-extensions-for-new-moms-may-run-into-federal-spending-limits/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
New eyewear fitted with a camera that can help low-vision people see — known as eSight devices — will be much more readily available at Veterans Affairs hospitals thanks to a partnership with veteran-owned medical supplies company Marathon Medical.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, the former acting surgeon general of the Army and an advocate for people with low vision, said eSight is “truly looking to improve the lives of the men and women and the boys and girls with vision loss who can benefit from this tool.”
Pollock has been a vocal supporter of eSight for years, and has occasionally consulted for the company on strategy and connecting it with civilian leaders, she said.
But upon first learning about eSight in 2014 or 2015, after an investor in the Canada-based company told her to check out a demonstration of the device, Pollock was skeptical.
At the eSight demonstration she attended in a Boston conference room, it was initially slow going. Pollock saw several older low-vision people attempt to use eSight but have trouble with the technology.
Then a man with poor vision walked in on someone’s arm and asked to “play with” the device. A few minutes later, he asked to go to the window. When Pollock offered him her elbow, he said he would like to try walking there himself.
“We’re in one of those big conference rooms, with the big tables, the big chairs, boxes and cords and crap on the floor,” Pollock recalled. “I’m like, oh, boy, here we go.”
But the man successfully navigated to the window.
“He stands there for a few minutes looking out,” Pollock said. “He turns around and says, ‘May I describe the Boston skyline to you? I haven’t seen it in years.’”
That was when Pollock decided she wanted to advocate for eSight. Even if the device wouldn’t work for all low-vision people, it could be life-changing for some people, she said.
The high-speed cameras in the eSight headsets work by magnifying what they capture, clarifying the world for some low-vision people. The technology is a Class I medical device registered with the FDA, a similar classification to other low-risk devices, like stethoscopes.
eSight has long been available to veterans through their VA insurance, said Aaron Tutwiler, director of sales. But it used to take months or even years for the eyewear to end up on a veteran’s face as the company navigated registering with VA hospitals and securing VA contracts.
By partnering with Marathon Medical — which is a registered vendor with all 1,298 VA hospitals and gets higher priority in VA procurement because it is owned by a service-disabled veteran — eSight can get its devices to veterans within weeks of an appointment, said Marathon Medical COO Jon Landis.
The VA will cover the whole cost of the device, whose suggested retail price is $6,950, according to Tutwiler.
Veterans who served in combat are more likely to have vision loss than their civilian counterparts, according to Pollock. The eye is involved in combat injury 10 to 13% of the time, with cases as minor as a cut eyelid and as severe as removal of an eye, she said. Traumatic brain injury can also hamper veterans’ vision.
“The civilian population is facing the same risks of vision loss as the military is, but we have the additional one of the fact that we deployed to combat,” Pollock said. “That’s why I think it’s so important that we continue to find new tools, new ways to support the men and women that know that they’re putting themselves at risk, and then to be able to help them should they ever need it.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the eSight device’s FDA registration status. The article has been updated.
Irene Loewenson is an editorial fellow at Military Times and Defense News. A native New Yorker, she is a recent graduate of Williams College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper. | https://www.federaltimes.com/news/2022/09/02/vision-enhancing-eyewear-soon-to-be-readily-available-at-va-hospitals/ | 2022-09-06T05:19:27Z | federaltimes.com | control | https://www.federaltimes.com/news/2022/09/02/vision-enhancing-eyewear-soon-to-be-readily-available-at-va-hospitals/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
This article first appeared on The War Horse, an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to its newsletter.
In the summer of 2015, active duty troops began to arrive in Bastrop, Texas, for a military training exercise. The exercise wasn’t much different from previous joint training exercises, except perhaps for its size. Over the course of two months, more than a thousand troops conducted training focused on operating in overseas combat environments.
It was different in one other respect, as well: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had ordered the Texas State Guard to monitor the exercise. A civilian watchdog group formed to keep an eye on things, too. In D.C., Texas Sen. Ted Cruz reached out to the Pentagon ahead of the training — asking for reassurance that the exercise was, in fact, just an exercise.
Online, news of the training had quickly transformed into rumors and conspiracy theories. Operation Jade Helm, as the exercise was known, was a government ploy to seize people’s guns. The president was facilitating an invasion by Chinese troops. The exercise presaged an asteroid strike, which was going to wipe out civilization.
None of those things was true. At the end of Operation Jade Helm, the military went home. People still had their guns. No asteroid struck Earth. Three years later, in 2018, Michael Hayden, the former CIA director, said the tidal wave of theories around the operation had been the result of a Russian disinformation campaign.
Over the past several years, disinformation, or the intentional deployment of false information for malicious ends, has emerged as a critical threat to public discourse and national unity. Events like Operation Jade Helm demonstrate just how quickly something ordinary can morph — online, and in people’s minds — into something extraordinary. The military community is not immune. In fact, veterans were among those who shared false rumors about Jade Helm.
While much of the conversation about social media and the military recently has focused on the specific concern around extremist radicalization, more garden-variety disinformation is also a growing issue. Disinformation can undermine critical thinking, sow confusion and suspicion, and threaten unit cohesion and force readiness. But the scope and unusual nature of the problem means it is difficult to protect troops.
“We prepare and train up for classic cyber threats,” says Peter W. Singer, author of the book ‘LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media’ and senior fellow at New America. “We don’t prepare and train up service members for its evil twin, which is the information warfare side.”
‘All warfare is based on deception’
Disinformation is nothing new. Way back in the 5th century B.C., the Chinese general and philosopher Sun Tzu wrote, “All warfare is based on deception.”
But the modern incarnation of deception — with its lightning-fast propagation on social media and the alarming ease with which people are weaponized, typically without their knowledge, to spread it — is new. The problem affects anyone who is online — and increasingly people offline as well, as ideas that form on the internet spill over into the physical world.
While disinformation (and its slightly more benign cousin, misinformation, which generally refers to false information) started to become a problem as social media exploded in popularity, it didn’t become clear the extent to which malicious actors, including foreign governments, intentionally spread false information until the 2016 presidential election. The COVID-19 pandemic then ignited what the World Health Organization deemed an “infodemic”: such an extraordinary amount of information, much of it false or misleading, that it becomes difficult for individuals to navigate, and, consequently, undermines public trust in authorities.
“People are deep in cognitive dissonance and institutional cynicism, and they just don’t believe they can trust anything — except for what’s coming from this one little echo chamber of belief, because they found a bunch of people who share that one specific set of beliefs,” says John Silva, a Marine veteran and the senior director of professional learning at the News Literacy Project, which teaches skills to counter misinformation.
Mis- and disinformation campaigns are effective because they feed into people’s beliefs and emotions. “We tap into people’s cynicism and […] other fears and anxieties,” he says. “And we have a lot of these bad actors out there that are influencing that and exploiting that.”
The problem can be particularly acute, he says, when beliefs we hold close are at stake — such as our health or service to our country.
“When we start to talk about these big things — like patriotism, like our respect and admiration for our troops and our veterans — there’s deep emotions there,” Silva says. “It’s really hard to have a critical conversation.”
In 2019, Vietnam Veterans of America released a report revealing that service members and veterans are at particular risk of disinformation campaigns. Its extensive two-year investigation found “persistent, pervasive, and coordinated online targeting of American service members, veterans, and their families by foreign entities who seek to disrupt American democracy.” The threats detailed in the report range from foreign actors creating Facebook groups purporting to represent veterans service organizations, to Russian-backed ads selling pro-U.S. military merchandise, to viral memes designed to encourage veterans to share with other veterans.
While sharing something on Facebook may feel benign, these campaigns grow with every repost. Given public trust in the military, posts by veterans and service members can lend a degree of credibility to an idea or narrative. But ultimately, disinformation campaigns are designed to exploit differences and encourage suspicions of people who disagree — which poses a real threat to unit cohesion, and ultimately to national security.
“We all need to be able to think critically. One of the demands of being in the Marine Corps is being able to make good decisions in stressful environments,” says Jennifer Giles, a Marine Corps major who has written about misinformation and military readiness. “You need to be able to protect your cognitive space.”
‘Certain things can make you a soft target’
The military has long recognized that force readiness depends on individual troop readiness. For instance, service members must maintain physical fitness: Lethality on the battlefield depends on it. More recently, troop training includes Anti-Terrorism Force Protection, or the idea that military members who may be targeted in terrorist attacks can take simple steps to minimize their susceptibility — things like varying routes to and from work and not wearing a uniform in public.
“Certain things like that, that can make you like a soft target,” says Jay Hagwood, a Coast Guard lieutenant commander who has organized media literacy training for Coast Guard members. The question, he says, is, “How do you harden that a little bit?”
The same question applies to online information. Simple steps, like understanding how disinformation campaigns work, verifying information before sharing, and improving critical thinking, can go a long way toward protecting service members. “What you’re a target for online, it can sometimes be just as damaging, in some ways,” Hagwood says.
But while the military has accepted and even embraced information warfare as a battlefield, the requirements for individual troop readiness haven’t developed commensurately. In part, that’s because the problem is so new. But misinformation is also a complex issue. It spans everything from sophisticated ideological campaigns originating in Russian troll farms to individual behavior on social media that can harm the military’s image, Singer says.
“The issue of the weaponization of social media is not only about extremism. It’s about Russian information warfare, to coronavirus vaccine disinformation, to Knucklehead on TikTok,” he says. “It’s not just about what you push out. It’s also about what you draw in, what you share. It’s about your entire behavior.”
Because of that pervasive, pernicious nature, there’s unlikely to be a single event that serves as a wake-up call for the military — like the worm Agent.btz that infected Pentagon computers in 2008, highlighting the need for force-wide cybersecurity readiness and ultimately paving the way to establish Cyber Command. It’s difficult to trace the divisiveness and suspicions caused by disinformation back to a particular origin.
And then there’s the inherently political nature of the problem. Misinformation about misinformation posits that the concept is itself a hoax — that it’s a made-up problem. Monitoring for misinformation can feel uncomfortably close to policing free speech.
“It feels like a third rail,” Singer says.
‘Disinformation is only effective if the recipient is vulnerable’
Last fall, Hagwood teamed up with the News Literacy Project to deliver training about misinformation to his Coast Guard unit in Los Angeles.
“It was an awareness objective,” Hagwood says. “Let’s learn the lexicon that is mis- and disinformation. Let’s learn what impostor content is. What’s false context? What’s fabricated content?”
The training was well-received, he says. Eventually, the admiral overseeing Coast Guard operations in California expanded it to all the units in his command.
“It was a lot of positive engagement,” Hagwood says. People came up to him afterward and told him how overwhelming the media environment felt. But a few days later, the Gateway Pundit, a far-right website known for publishing conspiracy theories, wrote about the training. The headline read, “Coast Guard Collaborate with Leftwing Hack to Indoctrinate Guardsmen on Leftist Propaganda in Forced 2-Hour Zoom Meeting Training.”
When Hagwood saw the article, he couldn’t help but think that it made an ideal case for the need to invest more in this sort of education. “It hits on everything that the training was designed to kind of illuminate for folks,” he says.
Silva, who conducted the training, says the episode highlighted why misinformation is such a difficult problem to confront. “I’ve tapped into something that they believe and I struck a nerve,” he says. “They’re going to lash out.”
But he and others who advocate for more training on misinformation argue there is nothing inherently political about learning to, as Giles puts it, “protect your cognitive space.”
“Media literacy is not about telling people what to think. It’s about thinking critically about the information you’re consuming,” she says.
“Education is the simplest thing, and the most immediate thing, and the most effective thing that we can do at our level for the individual. Because at the end of the day, mis- and disinformation is only effective if the recipient is vulnerable to it.”
This War Horse feature was reported by Sonner Kehrt, edited by Kelly Kennedy, fact-checked by Ben Kalin, and copy-edited by Mitchell Hansen-Dewar. Abbie Bennett wrote the headlines.
Sonner Kehrt is an investigative reporter at The War Horse, where she covers the military and climate change, misinformation, and gender. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, WIRED magazine, Inside Climate News, The Verge, and other publications. | https://www.federaltimes.com/veterans/2022/09/04/military-veterans-learn-to-fight-disinformation-campaigns/ | 2022-09-06T05:19:33Z | federaltimes.com | control | https://www.federaltimes.com/veterans/2022/09/04/military-veterans-learn-to-fight-disinformation-campaigns/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
What Are The Characteristic Features\nThe first main distinction lies between physical, personal characteristic. While most features could belong for all sorts there’s not the same level between two classes; on account you've your very hair color, hairline along the foreheads in people which can not produce to do whatever for them they need certainly, is generally restricted through physical trait because you have now your current voice tending straight forward to produce the type of character (this can be an incred (WXYZ) — It’s back-to-school shopping for parent Elizabeth Pitts and her stepdaughter, and one of the most important items checked off their list is a COVID-19 vaccine.
“The vaccination is still something really important to me,” Pitts said. "My stepdaughters, we had them both vaccinated, and then my son, he’s 3, and we have an appointment for him as well.”
But as the school year begins, the majority of school-aged children remain unvaccinated. According to the state health department, just 27% of kids ages 5-11 are fully vaccinated, and roughly 50% of kids between 12 and 19 are fully vaccinated.
"It is concerning, these kids are going to be at much greater risk of having repeated infections,” said Dr. Molly O'Shea, a pediatrician with Birmingham Pediatrics.
Dr. O’Shea advises families to have their kids vaccinated against COVID even though the risk of severe disease in kids is lower than in adults.
“I would say because the vaccine risk is tiny and because COVID as a disease is still evolving, it makes sense to get this vaccine,” Dr. O'Shea said.
Dr. O'Shea says since the start of the pandemic, many kids have also fallen behind on other vaccinations. She encourages those parents to get their kids up to date.
“Making sure that you get back on track, get totally caught up and your vaccines are to date is an important part on getting off to school on the right foot,” Dr. O'Shea said.
But as the data suggests, many parents still aren’t comfortable with COVID vaccinations.
“Me and my family, we haven't been vaccinated," said parent Tanya Hanson. "It’s not really a concern for me”
At the end of the day, many parents and kids are simply excited to be back to in-person school. However, some are also taking an extra step to keep them there.
“COVID is still a threat," Pitts said. "I still have family members in my family who I am concerned about.” | https://www.fox17online.com/news/coronavirus/coronavirus-vaccine/covid-vaccination-rates-among-young-children-remains-low-ahead-of-school-year | 2022-09-06T05:21:28Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/coronavirus/coronavirus-vaccine/covid-vaccination-rates-among-young-children-remains-low-ahead-of-school-year | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(WXYZ) — Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell didn't commit to an answer Monday regarding whether he or offensive coordinator Ben Johnson would call plays in the team's season opener.
“Well, this is going to be interesting to find out," said Campbell. "I’m excited to know too.”
Campbell took over play-calling duties from then-offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn during the 2021 season.
"I’ll be honest with you, I’m just not quite there yet," Campbell said when asked about announcing a decision ahead of Sunday. "I still have this eagerness to want to call it myself. And so, I’m just – man, it’s going to be – I don’t know. It’s going to be good.”
ROSTER MOVES
The Lions announced Monday that they signed quarterback Tim Boyle - initially among the final cuts of training camp - to the practice squad. Detroit also signed offensive lineman Drew Forbes off waivers from Cleveland and placed offensive lineman Halapoulivaati Vaitai on Reserve/Injured. | https://www.fox17online.com/sports/dan-campbell-still-feeling-eagerness-to-call-lions-offensive-plays | 2022-09-06T05:21:34Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/sports/dan-campbell-still-feeling-eagerness-to-call-lions-offensive-plays | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The US Open quarterfinals are set and the elite eight feature six women ranked in the Top 10 of the Porsche WTA Race to the WTA Finals, the talented Australian who ousted Serena Williams, and one former US Open finalist.
Here are the quarterfinal match-ups:
[1] Iga Swiatek vs. [8] Jessica Pegula (2-1)
[6] Aryna Sabalenka vs. [22] Karolina Pliskova (2-2)
[12] Coco Gauff vs. [17] Caroline Garcia (2-0)
[5] Ons Jabeur vs. Ajla Tomljanovic (2-0)
Who has the momentum going into the business end of the US Open? We break down the final eight and rank them by the number of games lost through the first four rounds.
1. Caroline Garcia (FRA)
WTA Ranking: No.17
Porsche Race to the WTA Finals Ranking: No.9
Games lost: 20
Sets lost: 0
Toughest moment: In what should have been Garcia's two toughest matches, Bianca Andreescu in the third round and Alison Riske-Amritraj in the fourth, Garcia did not lose more than five games in either duel. Coming into her match against Riske-Amritraj, Garcia was 0-3 against the American. But once the tight opening set went to 4-4, Garcia lost just one game for the remainder of the match.
Key stat: A champion in Cincinnati two weeks ago, Garcia is currently riding a 12-match win streak. In New York she has faced only eight break points on her serve, saving six of them. That's right, she's been broken just twice in the tournament.
Gauff, Garcia set for quarterfinal clash at US Open
20 - Caroline Garcia is the first French player to reach the QFs at the US Open with 20 or fewest games dropped since Amelie Mauresmo in 2005 (19). Cruising.@WTA @WTA_insider #USOpen #USOpen2022 #USOpentennis pic.twitter.com/gqjmR5NtMR
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) September 5, 2022
2. Iga Swiatek (POL)
WTA Ranking: No.1
Porsche Race to the WTA Finals Ranking: No.1
Games lost: 25
Sets lost: 1
Toughest moment: Despite dropping only 25 games, it hasn't been completely smooth sailing for the World No.1. She had to rally from 4-1 down in the second set to beat Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-4. In her fourth round, she was down a set and a break to Germany's Jule Niemeier before racing away with the last eight games to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 and make her first US Open quarterfinal.
Key stat: Swiatek came into the tournament winning 52.1% of her return games this season, a tour best. In New York she's doing even better, breaking in 57% of her return games. For those keeping close watch on Swiatek's remarkable 2022 numbers, the single-season record for return games won in the match-stats era is 54.8%, posted by Victoria Azarenka in 2013.
3. Jessica Pegula (USA)
WTA Ranking: No.8
Porsche Race to the WTA Finals Ranking: No.4
Games lost: 26
Sets lost: 1
Toughest moment: In her only three-set match of the opening week, Pegula steadied herself after getting nipped 10-8 in the second set tiebreak by Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue. She proceeded to rip off six straight games to seal the victory and advance to her third major quarterfinal of the season.
Key stat: The highest-ranked American, Pegula leads all remaining quarterfinalists in returns in, landing 87%. Only Caroline Garcia (5 hours, 12 minutes) has spent less time on court than Pegula (5 hours, 39 minutes). She has now made the quarterfinals of three of the last four hard-court Slams (also 2021 and 2022 Australian Open).
How Swiatek, Pegula can keep momentum going at US Open
4. Coco Gauff (USA)
WTA Ranking: No. 12
Porsche Race to the WTA Finals Ranking: No.6
Games lost: 28
Sets lost: 0
Toughest moment: Gauff has yet to lose a set but that's more a credit to her clutch play than a reflection on her opponents. Down 5-3 in the second set to Elena Gabriela Ruse, Gauff battled back and saved two set points in style to seal the match in straight sets. In the fourth round, Zhang Shuai threw everything at the teenager. But Gauff again battled through, breaking Zhang when she served for the second set and sealing another straight-sets win.
Key stat: Gauff is defending incredibly well, winning 62.3% of rallies that last over nine shots. But even Gauff will say that's what she expects from herself given her speed and defensive acumen. Where she's stood out has been at the service line. Gauff is landing 68% of her first serves, the highest percentage amongst the quarterfinalists. And she's not rolling them in. Set aside the incredible 128 mph serve she fired in her second-round match, the second-fastest serve ever struck at the US Open. She's winning 72% of her first serves.
2009 - Cori Gauff is the youngest American female player to reach the quarterfinals at the US Open since Melanie Oudin in 2009. Debut.@WTA @WTA_insider #USOpen #USOpen2022 #USOpentennis pic.twitter.com/98wlZ9cCyd
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) September 5, 2022
5. Aryna Sabalenka
WTA Ranking: No.6
Porsche Race to the WTA Finals Ranking: No.10
Games lost: 33
Sets lost: 2
Toughest moment: Sabalenka was twice a point away from exiting the tournament in the second round. Facing Kaia Kanepi, Sabalenka mounted a furious comeback from a set and 5-1 down, saving two match points to win 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-4. Two rounds later she rallied again, coming back from a set down to defeat No.19 seed Danielle Collins 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to make her second consecutive US Open quarterfinal.
Key stat: Sabalenka's progress through the tournament has been about pure grit. She leads the final eight in comeback wins, twice rallying from a set down.
Sabalenka and Pliskova go toe-to-toe in US Open quarterfinals
6. Ons Jabeur (TUN)
WTA Ranking: No.5
Porsche Race to the WTA Finals Ranking: No.2
Games lost: 37
Sets lost: 1
Toughest moment: Jabeur's sole three-set match came against Shelby Rogers in the third. The Wimbledon finalist came through with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win to make her first Round of 16 in New York and complete her set of Slam second weeks. But her win over Veronika Kudermetova in the fourth round was perhaps even more impressive. Jabeur was 0-3 against Kudermetova, who came into the match having won all 27 service games she had played. Jabeur steeled herself to win 7-6(1), 6-4 to make her second consecutive Slam quarterfinal.
Key stat: Jabeur has been bringing the pressure in her return games. Across four matches, she has generated 46 break point chances.
Jabeur, Tomljanovic ready for quarterfinal showdown
3 - Ons Jabeur is the third African female player to reach the quarterfinals at the US Open in the Open Era after Maryna Godwin (in 1968) and Amanda Coetzer (1994, 1996 and 1998). History.@WTA @WTA_insider #USOpen #USOpen2022 #USOpentennis pic.twitter.com/29lsdmDars
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) September 5, 2022
7. Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS)
WTA Ranking: No.46
Porsche Race to the WTA Finals Ranking: No.45
Games lost: 42
Sets lost: 2
Toughest moment: What was more difficult? Beating Serena Williams in the 23-time major champion's final match or following up that emotional win to snap Liudmila Samsonova's 13-match winning streak?
Key stat: You don't need to look past Tomljanovic's steely performance against Williams in the roaring cauldron of Arthur Ashe Stadium to know how clutch the Australian has been in New York. But that night was no anomaly. Tomljanovic has played five sets that have gone past 5-5 during the fortnight. She won four of them.
1979 - Ajla Tomljanovic is the first Australian female player to reach the quarterfinals in #Wimbledon and at the US Open in a single season since Evonne Goolagong in 1979. Aussie.@WTA @WTA_insider #USOpen #USOpen2022 #USOpentennis pic.twitter.com/rYmKUwMSQG
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) September 5, 2022
8. Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
WTA Ranking: No.22
Porsche Race to the WTA Finals Ranking: No.44
Games lost: 47
Sets lost: 3
Toughest moment: It's neck and neck between Pliskova and Tomljanovic as to who had the tougher draw. Pliskova has had to put in the hard yards to get past former semifinalist Belinda Bencic in three sets and former finalist Victoria Azarenka in two physical matches. But perhaps her toughest match came in the first round when she nearly let a 6-1 lead slip in the deciding tiebreak before beating Magda Linette 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(8).
Key stat: No surprise, Pliskova leads the quarterfinalists in aces with 35. But it's been her ability to break that has catapulted her the 30-year-old into her fifth US Open quarterfinal. She has broken serve in 45% of her return games, up from her season average of 31.2%. She broke serve a total of 13 times in her last two matches. And for someone who doesn't count herself as the best mover, she's won a majority of the rallies that have gone over nine shots, winning 30 of 58 against Bencic and Azarenka. | https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2782432/us-open-power-rankings-how-the-eight-quarterfinalists-stack-up | 2022-09-06T05:26:08Z | wtatennis.com | control | https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2782432/us-open-power-rankings-how-the-eight-quarterfinalists-stack-up | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The big question coming out of the weekend was “How will the AVCA voters deal with Marquette volleyball’s loss to Wisconsin?” It was a reasonable question, as the #24 ranked Golden Eagles put up a fight against the #6 ranked Badgers, but ended up taking a 3-1 road loss in Madison for their first loss of the season. Do you give them credit for a hard fought match on the road and keep them in the poll? Do you ding them for a loss and drop them out?
Well, it seems like the consensus decision is “Marquette deserves to be in” as the Golden Eagles are not only still ranked in Monday’s brand new AVCA top 25 poll. Even better than that, MU picked up 20 more points than they did a week ago, and thus, they are now the #23 team in the country.
Marquette received 234 points worth of votes this week. That’s not that far from the 242 points that went to #22 UCLA, so MU might not have been that far from being #22 themselves. MU’s total is well clear of the 169 points Pepperdine earned at #24, so there was no doubt that Marquette was going to easily be in the top 25 this week.
Wisconsin holds steady in the poll, both at #6 and as the top ranked team on Marquette’s schedule this season. Kentucky are undefeated since dropping their opener to the Golden Eagles, so they’re up two spots to #14 in the new poll. Creighton sits tight at #17 for the only other Big East reference in the poll this week, while Illinois has fallen all the way to #25 now after starting out the year 1-3. Losing to Georgia Tech and Washington? Not a big deal…. But when paired with a loss to unranked Colorado? Not ideal. Hopefully the Illini get their deal figured out before coming to Milwaukee in a couple of weeks.
As for Marquette’s more current schedule, the Golden Eagles will kick off a run of 10 straight matches at home, including the final six of non-conference play, on Tuesday night. It will be Loyola-Chicago providing the opposition in the home opener for this season, and first serve is scheduled for 7pm Central.
You can check out the entire top 25 right here. | https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/9/5/23338531/marquette-golden-eagles-volleyball-avca-top-25-poll-ranking | 2022-09-06T05:26:08Z | anonymouseagle.com | control | https://www.anonymouseagle.com/2022/9/5/23338531/marquette-golden-eagles-volleyball-avca-top-25-poll-ranking | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
In a battle between former World No.1 players, No.22 seed Karolina Pliskova overcame No.26 Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2 to reach the US Open quarterfinals.
Pliskova, the US Open runner-up to Angelique Kerber in 2016, took a hair over three hours to outlast the three-time finalist Azarenka (2012, 2013 and 2020).
It was the first meeting between the two tour veterans since 2019. Pliskova now leads their head-to-head 5-4.
Pliskova will next face No.6 seed Aryna Sabalenka, who came back from a set down to defeat No.19 Danielle Collins 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to her second US Open quarterfinal.
The win was Sabalenka's second comeback of this event. In the second round, she saved match points against Kaia Kanepi.
Read more: How Pegula, Swiatek can keep the momentum going at the US Open
Here's how Pliskova and Sabalenka can excel as the draw progresses:
Karolina Pliskova
Trust the conditions
Azarenka has a strong record at the US Open, but Pliskova is becoming a top performer in New York as well. She had never made it beyond the third round at a Grand Slam coming into the 2016, but she raced through to that final and unlocked a good amount of success at the US Open.
Pliskova into the Elite 🎱 is a thing. pic.twitter.com/9JFEYRbKtT
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2022
From 2016 to the present, Pliskova has reached the US Open quarterfinals or better five times, with a 26-6 win-loss. The court speed and atmosphere suit the big hitter, and she can use her comfort at this site to her best advantage.
Steady as she goes
Pliskova battled through her hard-fought match with Azarenka by keeping her unforced error count relatively low. On Monday night, Pliskova had 53 winners but only 36 unforced errors. Azarenka's differential was still positive, but she had only nine more winners than unforced errors.
Pliskova has been staying steady and not making many mistakes considering how fiery her game has remained. That paid dividends in the first set, where she came back from a break down and saved two set points. If she continues to be safe when she needs to be before picking her moments to strike, look out.
🇨🇿 Karolina Pliskova is into back-to-back quarterfinals in New York!@KaPliskova | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/z2cV4ICYNh
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2022
But, of course, the serve
Pliskova didn't hold the "Ace Queen" moniker for so many years for no reason. Even with improved defense and more margin, Pliskova is still going to achieve the most when her first serve is clicking.
After falling just short in the second-set tiebreak, Pliskova regrouped for the third behind her first delivery. In the final set, the Czech won 23 of her 27 first-serve points (85 percent) and never faced a break point.
After two grueling sets, the first serve was a major factor in helping Pliskova sail through the third. That weapon will continue to be a determining factor as she tries to advance further.
A 🔥 R 🔥 Y 🔥 N 🔥 A@SabalenkaA is into the #USOpen quarters! pic.twitter.com/349sJRY3y1
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 6, 2022
Aryna Sabalenka
Keep playing with house money
Sabalenka nearly had her plane ticket booked out of New York in the second round. Instead, the 2021 semifinalist manufactured a spirited comeback against Kaia Kanepi, saving two match points and coming back from a set and 5-1 down to win 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.
Since then, Sabalenka has played freely. She lost only two games to Clara Burel in the third round. Against Collins, Sabalenka found herself against an opponent who was happy to trade power for power and the American was the more successful for a set and a half. Collins ran through the opening set with 12 winners to eight unforced errors, outpacing Sabalenka's eight winners.
In the second set, Sabalenka dug in. She held serve through a 22-point game to lead 4-3. As Collins struggled to find her first-set range, Sabalenka stayed steady. She lost just two more games in the match.
Rounding out the final 𝟖 @SabalenkaA holds off Collins, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the #USOpen quarterfinals ✨ pic.twitter.com/1vjdXezaP0
— wta (@WTA) September 6, 2022
Just keep breaking
To her credit, Sabalenka has been open about her serving struggles this year. In New York she has struck 25 double faults to 16 aces. Her ability to put the mistakes behind her has made her a dangerous and unpredictable opponent. At the start of the season the double faults would rattle her. Now, if she loses a game she simply steels herself to break back.
In New York she has been broken 13 times. But she has broken her opponent's serve 23 times.
Be ready to work
Sabalenka needed 2 hours and 29 minutes to get past Collins. She also needed a medical timeout in the second set to address a left leg issue. Recovery will be key for Sabalenka ahead of her meeting fifth meeting with Pliskova. Three of their four prior meetings have gone three sets, and she has not beaten the Czech since 2018. The two met twice last year, with Pliskova edging Sabalenka in the semifinals of both Wimbledon and Montreal.
Pliskova has shown great physicality throughout the US Open, highlighted by her three-set wins against Bencic and Azarenka. Sabalenka will need to be ready for another tough effort. | https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2782447/pliskova-sabalenka-win-three-set-matches-to-make-us-open-quarters | 2022-09-06T05:26:14Z | wtatennis.com | control | https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2782447/pliskova-sabalenka-win-three-set-matches-to-make-us-open-quarters | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has said that its current management has no question to answer in the alleged corruption cases involving termites eating vouchers of expenditures made by the Fund between 2012 and 2015.
According to a press statement made available to journalists in Abuja by the agency, the current management of NSITF provided all the necessary assistance to the Senate Committee to ensure the smooth conduct of their oversight investigation.
The statement, titled, ‘Termites at NSITF: The Fact and Our Position,’ read, “It has become overly important for the management to state the facts as well as its position on this false narrative about the fund, especially in the background of the Senate Public Accounts Committee hearing, probing the 2018 Audit Report of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (AUGF) on N17.15 billion out of the nearly total of N58 billion, which was misappropriated from the Fund between 2012 and 2015.
“We wish to officially make it clear without any shred of doubt that these financial infractions have nothing to do with the current management which is just a year old. They were rather financial violations and sleazes committed by the former management and board who superintended over the affairs of our organisation between 2012 and 2017. Some members of the present management team were not even staff members of the organisation at this period in question. However, knowing full well that government is a continuum, we presented ourselves before the Senate Committee as well as rendered every assistance necessary for it to carry out its statutory oversight functions.
“Indeed, when the Senate Committee initiated this current probe in 2021, we had to set up an internal committee to retrieve from First Bank and Skye Bank detailed transactions involving the NSITF under the period as requested by the Committee.
“The documents were subsequently submitted to the Senate Committee. And to further assist the Senate Committee in the performance of their function, at their prompting, we equally invited the former Managing Directors – Munir Abubakar (2010-2016), Ismail Agaka (2016-2017) and Bayo Somefun (2017-2020) under whose tenures these infractions, as reported in the Auditor General’s Report, took place, to respond to some of the questions raised in the reports of 2018 which the Senate is probing.
“Nigerians who attended the senate public hearing on Thursday, August 11, 2022, know and understand undoubtedly, that beyond mischief and the attempt to make mountain out of molehill, the circumstance under which reference was made to termites, when one of the past Managing Directors had claimed that the vouchers for the N5 billion payment made in 2013 would still be in a container in the compound of the fund.”
“At this juncture however, it is crucial that we recall the background of this entire ugly saga, especially for the members of the public who might have forgotten. In 2015, the EFCC, acting on petitions and tip-off from whistleblowers, investigated the accounts of the NSITF and discovered massive looting to the tune of N62 billion.
“It subsequently arrested and charged the former Chairman of the Board of the Fund, Ngozi Olejeme and two other board members, Aderemi Adegboyaga and R.U Uche to court. Others equally charged included former top management staff – former Managing Director, Munir Abubakar; the Deputy General Manager Finance, Henry Ekhasomi; General Manager Legal, Adebayo Aderibigbe and one other.
“We put on record also that it was the office of the Minister of Labour and Employment, our supervising ministry that requested for the special periodic check of the Auditor General of the Federation in 2017, having noticed that the Fund breached all the financial regulations and had no annual audit reports for five years between 2012 and 2017.
“It was also the Minister who sought for the EFCC report on the matter. The Senate Committee on Public Accounts therefore has made no new discoveries or acted on fresh reports as skewed in a section of the press. It is only acting on the 2017 Auditor General’s report submitted to the 8th Senate in 2018.
“Besides the EFCC acting on this matter, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, following presidential assent in 2017, also set up an Administrative Panel of Inquiry into this financial haemorrhage to unearth the administrative and financial lapses that gave rise to the unfortunate situation. The panel was led by K.C Awotu, a chartered accountant and former Director of Finance at the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The Awotu Report, submitted on July 18, 2018, made more damning revelations. It established that about N30 billion was carted away in one week, and that N5 billion vanished without vouchers in one day.
“According to the report, the internal audit mechanism of the Fund broke down completely and couldn’t check the fraud even up till 2017, reason being that some of the avoidable breaches and the massive fraud were still ongoing. It noted that the former Chairman of the fund and part time non-executive directors transmuted into Executive Directors against Public Service Rules, Financial Regulations and Public Procurement Act 2007, started awarding phoney contracts that were not executed, making payments for them and money syphoned. This was later traced by the EFCC to private accounts and Bureau de Change operators, where they were exchanged for dollars.
“It consequently made far reaching recommendations for the reform of the Fund, including compulsory leave and later retirement of our management staff members and others directly and indirectly involved in the fraud, besides those already charged to court but still at work in NSITF against the Public Service Rules.
“It is public knowledge that though this matter is still in court, the EFCC has made recoveries which include about 48 properties worth billions of Naira from Olejeme, who was the Chairman of the Board when this heist was committed. The anti-graft agency also secured interim forfeiture of the houses and items, apart from various sums in cash equally recovered from other accused persons through plea bargain.
“Again, it is pertinent to re-emphasise that what the Senate Public Account Committee is probing is not new but a matter that has equally been taken care of by due process of law, administratively and by the judiciary in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
“Similarly, it is imperative that in resolving this issue of the so-called termites that we state clearly that in 2015/2016 deposition before the EFCC, the former Managing Director, Munir Abubakar, admitted that monies were removed from the accounts of the NSITF and without vouchers because there was none and that it was only the former Deputy General Manager, Finance who could explain the reason.
“Now fast forward to August 2022 before the Senate Accounts Committee, the same former Managing Director was asked why N5 billion was paid from NSITF accounts in two banks to some persons without vouchers and he deviated from his earlier statement on the same matter in 2015 to say that the vouchers might be at the NSITF’s strong room or container where documents were kept.
“It was at this juncture that the current Managing Director, Dr Michael Akabogu, interjected that if the container he was referring to is the one abandoned together with the contents by him (Munir) and his successors (Agaka and Somefun) to inclement weather for years, then, it must be a deliberate ploy to allow these vouchers, if they ever existed, to be feasted upon by the elements. Indeed, there is no termite at the NSITF. It is our stand therefore that the former Managing Directors of the Fund between 2012 and 2017 should explain if there were vouchers actually. And if the answer is yes, where they kept them.
“We state finally that we have no problem with the Senate Public Accounts Committee carrying out its functions. Our concern however, is the usage of such public hearing to distort facts or create an unnecessary bogey that will rub off on the new management and our organisation that have made giant strides since July 2021 when this new management took over the affairs of the NSITF.”
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE | https://tribuneonlineng.com/n17bn-voucher-of-mismanaged-funds-eaten-by-termites-nsitf-management-exonerates-self-of-corruption/ | 2022-09-06T05:40:51Z | tribuneonlineng.com | control | https://tribuneonlineng.com/n17bn-voucher-of-mismanaged-funds-eaten-by-termites-nsitf-management-exonerates-self-of-corruption/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The United Nations Independent Expert on the Enjoyment of all Human Rights by Older Persons, Ms. Claudia Mahler, has applauded the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) for having a working system that ensures that pensioners welfare are provided promptly and that they live a life of dignity.
The UN expert, who said this when she visited PTAD headquarters in Abuja on a courtesy call, also hinted on writing a report to showcase PTAD’s good practice of pension management for onward presentation at the forthcoming United Nations General Assembly this September.
“Social security and social protection is one of the major human rights for older persons. A well managed pension scheme is a major need against old age poverty. Workers of today deserve to be cared for in the older age.
“So I really want to congratulate you for already working on the system to see that older persons can live in dignity. You mentioned that you are hoping to have a system that will also provide better healthcare security, it is indeed an idea that your government should think seriously on because health is also one of the major issues in older age.
“Provision of healthcare security has major implications. It is a right and it should be provided as good as possible. While we very much focus on youth which is also good, we should take cognisance that the youth of today are the older persons of tomorrow. So let us think in advance and keep it in our minds to change the structure that we all work for our own future, to have a dignified life and to have a structure where we can rely on.”
Ms. Mahler further said, “On how you provide the services, I hear a lot about digital solutions. It might be that older Nigerian people are more digitally advanced than my parents in Europe. Maybe you give them some support, but I think it is an obstacle for older persons if the information to the services is provided mostly digitally. It might change in the future, but right now, I think we all know it is pretty difficult for them to deal with these digital tools.
“Let me also assure you that I will write the report which will be presented in September to the United Nations, where I will give an assessment, give recommendations and also bring good examples to the audience of the Global Affairs on the good pension management practices of Nigeria.”
Earlier in her welcome remarks, the Executive Secretary, PTAD, Dr Chioma Ejikeme, noted that the Directorate is constantly working hard to ensure that all pensioners under its payroll are treated with dignity. She also said PTAD is doing everything possible and more to provide the best pension administration management in the country.
Reeling out the Directorate’s progressive step toward efficiency in discharging its duties, Mrs Nneka Obiamalu, Director, Pension Support Services Department, PTAD, stated “Over the last nine years, PTAD has worked hard to address these challenges and transform the management of the DBS in several significant ways: management of pensioners files/records; verification of pensioners; computation (calculation) of pension benefits; settlement/payment of pension arrears, 33 per cent arrears, death benefits, etc.; management of the monthly pension payroll; resolution of pensioners’ complaints.
“PTAD services have been designed in conformity with the highest possible standard of service excellence, empathy, and customer satisfaction toward enhancing the dignity of our pensioners.”
She further said, “Prior to PTAD, the Complaints Desk at the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation lacked adequate capacity and was not sufficiently resourced. Complaints management had poor customer service and lacked an efficient tracking process, and so was not able to provide prompt and timely complaint resolution.
But today, “PTAD Complaint Management System allows registering of Pensioners’ complaints and tracking progress to resolution. Pensioners can send in their complaints via walk-in to our contact centres at headquarters or any of our 11 state offices, write a letter to the Executive Secretary, call or send an email to our call centre, file a complaint on our website, post messages on social media handles.
“Most important, PTAD has created a pensioners database with pensioners personal information and carrier documents, the first of its kind. On PTAD database are 241,897 verified and captured pensioners.”
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE | https://tribuneonlineng.com/un-human-rights-expert-applauds-ptad-pension-management-approach/ | 2022-09-06T05:41:17Z | tribuneonlineng.com | control | https://tribuneonlineng.com/un-human-rights-expert-applauds-ptad-pension-management-approach/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Bed Bath & Beyond executive Gustavo Arnal’s deadly leap from his swanky Tribeca high-rise apartment was officially ruled a suicide by the city’s medical examiner Monday.
Arnal, who was CFO of the company before his death, jumped off the 18th story of the luxurious “Jenga Building” Friday afternoon as the retail company dealt with financial troubles and he faced accusations connected to a $1.2 billion “pump-and-dump” stock fraud lawsuit filed last month.
The medical examiner’s office ruled Arnal died from multiple blunt trauma. He was 52.
Arnal joined Bed Bath & Beyond in May 2020. The company in a statement Sunday credited the “distinguished global” exec of getting them through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Gustavo will be remembered by all he worked with for his leadership, talent and stewardship of our Company,” said board of directors chairman Harriet Edelman in a statement. “… Our focus is on supporting his family and his team and our thoughts are with them during this sad and difficult time.”
Days before his death, the retail giant announced it was going to shutter 150 stores and slash 20% of its workforce.
Arnal, who previously worked at Avon, Walgreen Boots Alliance and Procter & Gamble, was part of an Aug. 23 lawsuit that accused him and others of artificially inflating Bed Bath & Beyond’s share price.
The company told The Post in a statement Sunday, “We will not comment on litigation and ask that you please respect Mr. Arnal’s family and their privacy at this time.”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org. | https://nypost.com/2022/09/06/bed-bath-beyonds-gustavo-arnals-death-ruled-suicide/ | 2022-09-06T05:43:11Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/09/06/bed-bath-beyonds-gustavo-arnals-death-ruled-suicide/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Plans for the "University Corridor" are moving forward in Lafayette.
According to councilman Pat Lewis, LCG received 35 million dollars in federal funding for the project.
The goal is to make university avenues more pedestrian-friendly.
Chamroaun Chhorn opened his business express donuts three months ago.
He says his customers have already suggested that sidewalks be added to the roadway.
"I have a couple of customers the one is for the sidewalk on the roof open behind there and some that come through here. Also, because I saw the customers walk the grass it's not easy when it goes through"
“there's a lot of walking traffic, bicycle traffic. People will be excited that don't have sidewalks”
District one councilman Pat Lewis says LCG has now been awarded the funding to expand university avenue.
"What's going to happen with the University corridors swatting the sidewalks and also just in utility projects as far as moving the utility lines, putting some bus shelters and making sure that we have a nice sidewalks"
According to Lewis, the project will widen the roadway in sections to relieve traffic.
And will add or expand sidewalks for people who are disabled.
"You want the sidewalks to comply with ADA standards. So we have to reach out have to make sure make sure the ADA standard for the disabled people for wheelchairs so that's why the sidewalks need to be wider," Lewis said.
And says it will be great for business growth.
"This major project on university avenue is going to be bringing to commerce and that's where we need commerce to come on this side of town we've been waiting for this for many years," Lewis said.
"It would be very very good for people, in the summer, they can walk through you will see that I'm easy for me to go to my shop."
The council will vote on when the project will begin at the end of October.
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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/news/lafayette-parish/multi-million-dollar-university-avenue-corridor-funding-granted-to-city-council | 2022-09-06T05:46:08Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/news/lafayette-parish/multi-million-dollar-university-avenue-corridor-funding-granted-to-city-council | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Prior 1.85%Committed to returning inflation to the 2-3% range over time Inflation expected to increase further over the months ahead Inflation
Inflation
Inflation is defined as a quantitative measure of the rate in which the average price level of goods and services in an economy or country increases over a period of time. It is the rise in the general level of prices where a given currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods.In terms of assessing the strength or currencies, and by extension foreign exchange, inflation or measures of it are extremely influential. Inflation stems from the overall creation of money. This money is measured by the level of the total money supply of a specific currency, for example the US dollar, which is constantly increasing. However, an increase in the money supply does not necessarily mean that there is inflation. What leads to inflation is a faster increase in the money supply in relation to the wealth produced (measured with GDP). As such, this generates pressure of demand on a supply that does not increase at the same rate. The consumer price index then increases, generating inflation.How Does Inflation Affect Forex?The level of inflation has a direct impact on the exchange rate between two currencies on several levels.This includes purchasing power parity, which attempts to compare different purchasing powers of each country according to the general price level. In doing so, this makes it possible to determine the country with the most expensive cost of living.The currency with the higher inflation rate consequently loses value and depreciates, while the currency with the lower inflation rate appreciates on the forex market.Interest rates are also impacted. Inflation rates that are too high push interest rates up, which has the effect of depreciating the currency on foreign exchange. Conversely, inflation that is too low (or deflation) pushes interest rates down, which has the effect of appreciating the currency on the forex market.
Inflation is defined as a quantitative measure of the rate in which the average price level of goods and services in an economy or country increases over a period of time. It is the rise in the general level of prices where a given currency effectively buys less than it did in prior periods.In terms of assessing the strength or currencies, and by extension foreign exchange, inflation or measures of it are extremely influential. Inflation stems from the overall creation of money. This money is measured by the level of the total money supply of a specific currency, for example the US dollar, which is constantly increasing. However, an increase in the money supply does not necessarily mean that there is inflation. What leads to inflation is a faster increase in the money supply in relation to the wealth produced (measured with GDP). As such, this generates pressure of demand on a supply that does not increase at the same rate. The consumer price index then increases, generating inflation.How Does Inflation Affect Forex?The level of inflation has a direct impact on the exchange rate between two currencies on several levels.This includes purchasing power parity, which attempts to compare different purchasing powers of each country according to the general price level. In doing so, this makes it possible to determine the country with the most expensive cost of living.The currency with the higher inflation rate consequently loses value and depreciates, while the currency with the lower inflation rate appreciates on the forex market.Interest rates are also impacted. Inflation rates that are too high push interest rates up, which has the effect of depreciating the currency on foreign exchange. Conversely, inflation that is too low (or deflation) pushes interest rates down, which has the effect of appreciating the currency on the forex market.
Read this Term is expected to peak later this year, then decline back towards 2-3% rangeCentral forecast is for CPI inflation to be around 7¾ per cent over 2022, a little above 4 per cent over 2023 and around 3 per cent over 2024 Labour market is very tight, wages growth has picked up Household spending remains an important source of uncertainty Price stability is a prerequisite for a strong economy and a sustained period of full employment Further rate hikes is expected but policy is not on a pre-set path Full statement There isn't much in this that isn't expected from the RBA. Markets have priced in a ~46 bps move coming into the decision, so this is fitting with expectations. There are no changes to the language and forecasts on inflation but the RBA added a line in the forward guidance to stress on 'price stability'. They also removed the reference to 'normalisation', which may infer that rates are now in neutral territory.
But the language on rate setting is not changed, as expected, with the central bank maintaining that they will need to raise the cash rate further but reaffirming that policy is 'not on a pre-set path'.
AUD/USD is little changed on the decision, keeping around 0.6805 at the moment.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW | https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/rba-raises-cash-rate-by-50-bps-to-235-as-expected-20220906/ | 2022-09-06T06:02:18Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/rba-raises-cash-rate-by-50-bps-to-235-as-expected-20220906/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The reaction to the RBA is a bit muted and rightly so, with the aussie having little to work with as the central bank played it straight but hinted that the cash rate is now in neutral territory. AUD/USD is barely moved from the decision, sticking around 0.6800-10 at the moment.
In broader markets, stock futures are slightly higher and so are Treasury yields. However, the dollar is sitting a bit more mixed and slightly lower on the balance of things. USD/JPY remains perky near 140.70 but EUR/USD is a little higher to 0.9950 and GBP/USD is keeping away from two-year lows to 1.1570 at the moment.
There's still plenty in the balance but I'd be wary of any early thinking that equities will see a meaningful rebound. We've seen early gains turn to nothing last week and that is a key lesson to be heeded. With Europe still largely struggling with an energy crisis ahead of the ECB later this week, the euro will be a focus point as well.
But for today, we might have to wait until Wall Street to return to really get settled into the start of the new week. There won't be much on the agenda in Europe to shake things up before that.
0600 GMT - Germany July industrial orders
0730 GMT - Germany August construction PMI
0830 GMT - UK August construction PMI
That's all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and good luck with your trading! Stay safe out there. | https://www.forexlive.com/news/little-on-the-agenda-in-europe-today-20220906/ | 2022-09-06T06:02:25Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/news/little-on-the-agenda-in-europe-today-20220906/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
There's not much to really glom onto with the RBA policy decision today. They delivered a 50 bps rate hike to bring the cash rate to 2.35%, as expected and priced in by markets (~46 bps going into the decision).
Policymakers offered no change to the inflation forecasts and language but did change up the passage in their last paragraph a little. Let's take a look at that change. In August, they mentioned that:
"Today's increase in interest rates is a further step in the normalisation of monetary conditions in Australia. The increase in interest rates over recent months has been required to bring inflation back to target and to create a more sustainable balance of demand and supply in the Australian economy. The Board expects to take further steps in the process of normalising monetary conditions over the months ahead, but it is not on a pre-set path. The size and timing of future interest rate increases will be guided by the incoming data and the Board's assessment of the outlook for inflation and the labour market. The Board is committed to doing what is necessary to ensure that inflation in Australia returns to target over time."
Today, they said that:
"The further increase in interest rates today will help bring inflation back to target and create a more sustainable balance of demand and supply in the Australian economy. Price stability is a prerequisite for a strong economy and a sustained period of full employment. The Board expects to increase interest rates further over the months ahead, but it is not on a pre-set path. The size and timing of future interest rate increases will be guided by the incoming data and the Board's assessment of the outlook for inflation and the labour market. The Board is committed to doing what is necessary to ensure that inflation in Australia returns to target over time."
As the central bank removed the reference to 'normalisation', they added the point on 'price stability' being a necessary goal that they are targeting. In other words, this appears to be a hint that the cash rate is now in neutral territory but considering that there is no change to the language on forward guidance, they will continue to deliver on rate hikes for as long as necessary and as long as they can get away with it.
Of course, all of that still depends on the Fed as well. The US central bank is very much at the wheel and spearheading the global central bank tightening course, with the RBA merely being the passenger. For now, carry on as you will. | https://www.forexlive.com/news/rba-plays-it-straight-hints-that-rates-are-now-in-neutral-territory-20220906/ | 2022-09-06T06:02:31Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/news/rba-plays-it-straight-hints-that-rates-are-now-in-neutral-territory-20220906/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
It looks like buyers are making a play and solidifying that break above 140.00. There is plenty of upside room to roam for the pair with the next key resistance region being closer to the psychological level near 145.00. As much as Japanese officials are trying to jawbone to slow down the pace of the yen decline, it is nothing more than a speed bump still at this stage.
With markets still sticking with the narrative of a more aggressive Fed and Treasury yields keeping the faith (10-year yields are up 4 bps to 3.23% today), the path of least resistance is still for a move higher in USD/JPY.
The next key risk event for the pair will only come next week via the US CPI data on 13 September.
The ECB will also be one to watch for bond yields but for now, there is scope for the move above to extend in the meantime. | https://www.forexlive.com/news/usdjpy-extends-climb-to-fresh-highs-since-1998-20220906/ | 2022-09-06T06:02:37Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/news/usdjpy-extends-climb-to-fresh-highs-since-1998-20220906/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
MAUI COUNTY, HAWAII (KITV4) - Maui resident Lalaine Pasion created an advocacy group, “Lungs for Life,” after her sister died early this year.
Pasion said her sister died from an asthma attack. She said Carmen Pasion, was diagnosed with asthma at 50-years-old and had no prior history of it.
"We thought it was just a mild thing. She died unexpectedly at night and we didn’t realize what she died from. When we buried her, we still didn’t know what she died from. After about two months, the funeral director called and said she died from an acute asthma attack," said Lalaine Pasion.
She created “Lungs for Life” to raise awareness about asthma in adults and how the condition still needs to be treated in adulthood.
Another Maui resident said her 25-year-old niece died from an asthma attack. She said her niece had three to four minor asthma attacks leading up to her final one.
"Schane suffered an asthma episode in the middle of her home. her cousin tried to resuscitate her but unfortunately by the time paramedics brought her to the hospital, she was pronounced dead. The night prior to her death, everything was fine. My mom did mention she was going in and out of the doctor’s office and they’d only prescribe her a band aid situation,” said Kimi Asuncion, Kahului resident.
In 2020, more than 8% of Hawaii adults were diagnosed with asthma and the death rate is increasing statewide, according to reports by “Hawaii Health Matters.”
Many health experts say monitoring your health triggers and using your inhaler daily can help prevent severe asthma attacks.
"Asthma is a very controllable disease if you follow the recommendations, take your medication and take it seriously. A substantial number of people do not outgrow their asthma and the earlier you start with your asthma, the more likely it will stay moderate," said Dr. Barry Lachman, physician at Pediatric Asthma Quality Initiative.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com | https://www.kitv.com/news/business/experts-say-adult-asthma-is-common-and-needs-to-be-treated/article_a9409086-2d97-11ed-a35d-3f1b7ff98cb6.html | 2022-09-06T06:08:28Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/business/experts-say-adult-asthma-is-common-and-needs-to-be-treated/article_a9409086-2d97-11ed-a35d-3f1b7ff98cb6.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Many areas had hot and dry summer-like weather for Labor Day, and that is expected to continue.
Unfortunately, the pleasant beach conditions have also raised Hawaii's fire danger for this fall.
Much of Kapolei has turned brown and there are many leeward areas around Hawaii just as dry.
"We are experiencing very dry conditions," said Hawaii State Climatologist Pao-Shin Chu.
So dry that leeward areas on three islands are under exceptional drought conditions.
And things are not expected to change anytime soon.
"The forecast calls for above normal temperatures and below normal rainfall for the next three months," said Chu.
The result of hotter than normal temps and lower rainfall levels is dried and brown vegetation, the perfect fuel for brush fires..
One of those brush fires flared up along a barren Kapolei field Monday.
Fire fighters quickly put that one out, but could be busy for months to come, as Hawaii's fire danger will remain up throughout the fall.
"It is potentially high for Hawaii for the next three months, from September through November," said Chu.
It doesn't mean it will be completely dry this fall.
There will be periodic showers that will come our way, but one or two days of rain won't be enough to reverse the drought conditions and could even make the fire hazard worse. Showers could spark new growth from grasses and brush which would then dry up when the showers do.
"This little rain will not help in terms of long term drought, and will provide additional fuel for fire - so I think it is worse," added Chu.
While temperatures have been above normal, they haven't been as hot as we saw during last year's record setting days.
We have also seen breezy trade winds, which can help cool us off during these scorching summer-like conditions.
But those winds can also fan the flames of a fire once it gets started, and there are more days of enhanced trade winds in the forecast for fall as well.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/hawaii-at-higher-brush-fire-risk-through-the-fall/article_e607ab8c-2d9a-11ed-83d9-8fdcbdf1f3ec.html | 2022-09-06T06:08:40Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/hawaii-at-higher-brush-fire-risk-through-the-fall/article_e607ab8c-2d9a-11ed-83d9-8fdcbdf1f3ec.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
HPU Announces Community Enrichment Series This Fall
HIGH POINT, N.C., Sept. 5, 2022 – High Point University invites the community to campus for an exciting lineup of cultural events. The fall schedule includes a variety of speakers, art, music and theater performances.
Triad residents can sign up to receive email updates about community events at HPU throughout the year by visiting this link. More information and the complete list of community events can be found at https://www.highpoint.edu/live/. You also can receive notifications about events by downloading the HPU Community App here.
Reception and Artist Talk at Sechrest Art Gallery on Sept. 21, Oct. 19 and Nov. 7 from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The September event will feature Parker Reinecker’s new photography work. In October, the exhibit will feature recent work by HPU’s art and graphic design faculty at the 2022 Faculty Biennial Exhibition. In November, Christi Harris will display her show of painting and mixed media. No tickets are required for these events.
“Collaborations,” the fall dance concert, will be performed Sept. 29-30 and Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hayworth Fine Arts Center. The fall concert will feature new works by faculty and guest artists, including Lindsey Howie, assistant professor of dance, and guest artist Micah Geyer. You can reserve tickets at https://www.highpoint.edu/theater/tickets/.
“The Wolves,” by Sarah DeLappe, is a play that will take place in the Empty Space Theater. The performances are Oct. 20-22 and 24-26 at 7:30 p.m., and on Oct. 23 at 2 p.m. “The Wolves” revolves around a girls’ indoor soccer team navigating big questions and tiny battles from the safety of their suburban stretch circle. This show is a portrait of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for nine American girls who just want to score some goals. Tickets can be reserved at https://www.highpoint.edu/theater/tickets/.
HPU’s wind ensemble presents “American Portraits” on Friday, Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hayworth Fine Arts Center. Under the direction of Dr. Brian Meixner, associate professor of music, the ensemble will feature music by American composers that celebrates American history, heritage and culture. Join HPU for an evening of American music for winds! You can reserve complimentary tickets at www.highpoint.edu/music/concerts.
Join the Instrumental Chamber Ensembles for a concert on Tuesday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hayworth Fine Arts Center. This performance will feature all the small ensembles in the music department. Groups include the Percussion Ensemble, Clarinet Choir, Brass Ensemble, Chamber strings and more. The program will include varied repertoire that will engage all audiences. More details will be available at www.highpoint.edu/music/concerts.
High Point University will honor hundreds of men and women at the 12th Annual Veterans Day Celebration on Nov. 11 at 8 a.m. in the Nido and Mariana Qubein Conference Center. The program will include a complimentary breakfast, a patriotic salute and will recognize students leading initiatives to support veterans. More details will be provided as the event nears at https://www.highpoint.edu/community/event/veterans-day/.
The High Point University Jazz Ensemble, under the leadership of Dr. Robert Faub, adjunct instructor of saxophone and composition, will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15 in HPU’s Empty Space Theatre. This performance will include a combination of traditional and modern jazz from varying periods, featuring student performers in numerous roles. Celebrate the history of jazz with the HPU Jazz Ensemble. Reserve complimentary tickets at www.highpoint.edu/music/concerts.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” will be performed Nov. 18-19 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 20 at 2 p.m. in the Pauline Theater in the Hayworth Fine Arts Center. This is a contemporary take on the classic musical featuring beloved songs like “In My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible/It’s Possible” and “Ten Minutes Ago.” The musical also features an updated, hilarious and romantic libretto by Tony Award nominee Douglas Carter Beane. Tickets can be reserved at https://www.highpoint.edu/theater/tickets/.
The High Point Community Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Brian Meixner, associate professor of music, presents “Awakenings” on Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in HPU’s Hayworth Fine Arts Center. This performance will include Beethoven’s epic Symphony No. 5 and Joseph Curiale’s “Awakening.” Both works have a “triumph over adversity” theme that audience members will find inspiring. Also featured on the program will be the winner of the 2022-23 HPU Student Concerto Competition. Reserve your complimentary tickets at www.highpoint.edu/music/concerts.
Join HPU for “Festive and Bright,” the annual holiday choral concert on Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hayworth Fine Arts Center. The concert will feature a collection of Christmas and Hannukah classics sung by the combined choir and accompanied by the HPU orchestra. Complimentary tickets should be reserved at www.highpoint.edu/music/concerts.
HPU’s Department of Theater and Dance invites the public to the “Nutcracker in a Nutshell” on Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. in Hayworth Chapel. The department will perform selections from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite.” Tickets can be reserved at https://www.highpoint.edu/theater/tickets/.
HPU’s Instrumental Ensemble Holiday Concert, “Celebrate the Holidays,” is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. in the Cottrell Amphitheater. The one-hour event will include performances of holiday music by the HPU Community Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble and several small instrumental groups. Bring a blanket, enjoy some hot cocoa and get into the holiday spirit.
High Point University’s Annual Lessons and Carols Service will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 7 in the Charles E. Hayworth Memorial Chapel. This event is free and open to the public. This special candlelight service is the final Chapel service of the fall semester, bringing the community together to remember and retell the Christmas story. The service will feature members of the university community reading scripture and music led by the Chapel Choir. The service is based on the traditional Festival of Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge, England. Tickets are not required for this event.
HPU invites the community to the 51st Annual Community Prayer Breakfast on Dec. 9 at 8 a.m. in the Nido and Mariana Qubein Conference Center. The Community Prayer Breakfast is one of HPU’s timeless Christmas traditions. The event includes complimentary food, an inspiring message from a featured speaker and special music provided by the High Point University Chapel Choir. More details will be provided. | https://www.yesweekly.com/education/high-point-university-announces-community-enrichment-series-this-fall/article_739932c0-2d43-11ed-97a8-631062e29075.html | 2022-09-06T06:08:43Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/education/high-point-university-announces-community-enrichment-series-this-fall/article_739932c0-2d43-11ed-97a8-631062e29075.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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Mast Store Celebrates Friends Day Sept. 10, 2022
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Friends Day recognizes organizations that work in each of our hometowns to activate volunteers around beautiful community assets, which contribute to residents’ quality of life and the economic viability of the region. On September 10, each Mast Store location will donate 10% of the day’s sales to benefit the efforts of its local partner. Guests may also round up their purchases to provide additional support September 9-11.
Winston-Salem continues to embrace its new local partner the Gateway Nature Preserve. Located near the heart of Downtown Winston-Salem and next to Washington Park, the Gateway Nature Preserve is in the process of reclaiming land used in the industrial process and creating a special place that brings nature and people together. A master plan for the area was created in 2017 and includes trails and natural playscapes along with educational programs to further connect people with nature. The Preserve was recently accepted as Forsyth County’s first ecoEXPLORE hotspot. It is a collaborative initiative of the NC Arboretum that encourages children to learn about the environment and become citizen scientists.
While monetary donations help immensely, there are other ways to assist the organizations participating in Friends Day. “One of the core values of each of our partners is everyone can help,” said Ryan Robinson, community relations manager. “While funding is a critical component of every project, an even more important piece is the human element. Bringing volunteers of all kinds together to accomplish a common goal ultimately builds community and understanding and results in a unified feeling of accomplishment – something we all did together.”
Mast Store invites you to visit your favorite store to find needed gear to enjoy the coming fall weather and to learn more about a valuable partner in your community on September 10. Friends Day partners’ websites also provide ample information on more opportunities to help. | https://www.yesweekly.com/mast-store-celebrates-friends-day-on-september-10-2022/article_1676f758-2d2a-11ed-a832-2ba651e5ec2e.html | 2022-09-06T06:08:49Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/mast-store-celebrates-friends-day-on-september-10-2022/article_1676f758-2d2a-11ed-a832-2ba651e5ec2e.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
HONOLULU (KITV4) Jocelyn Alo the NCAA all-time career home run record holder is back home.
Young fans came out to meet Alo in Waipio, and Mayor Rick Blangiardi honored her by proclaiming Jocelyn Alo Day.
HONOLULU (KITV4) Jocelyn Alo the NCAA all-time career home run record holder is back home.
Young fans came out to meet Alo in Waipio, and Mayor Rick Blangiardi honored her by proclaiming Jocelyn Alo Day.
"In recognition of her truly extraordinary accomplishments making her the best collegiate student athlete to ever take the field in NCAA softball, congratulations Jocelyn," said Mayor Blangiardi.
At Sport Stan in Waipio, young fans came out to meet Jocelyn, including Filinga Tuifua. The Waimanalo 8th grader turns 14 tomorrow and wanted to meet her role model for her birthday.
"I'm going to try and be like her: try and go to college and be a softball professional," said Tuifua.
Jocelyn Alo says at first it was hard for her to accept that she is a role model for these young girls.
"I just felt like I have a lot of weight to carry I know how to carry that weight now what's right, what's wrong, and I know that I am a role model to a lot of girls so I need to watch what I'm doing and what I'm saying," says Alo.
She credits her parents Levi and Andrea Alo for inspiring her to be the best. All her home runs would not have been possible had it not been for them, .
"I never even dreamt this big for her I always knew she was pretty good just to do it the way she did and finish on top such a fun experience," says Levi Alo, Jocelyn Alo's Dad.
"It feels good just one to be at this level and one to play softball as my job is super cool," says Alo.
"I love to play softball -- so I love my job everyday. My parents raised me really well I think I’m a really good person on the field and off the field at the end of the day, be a good person so you live up to the role model status.”
The Oklahoma Sooners legend is a now a member of the Women's Professional Fastpitch, playing for the Smash It Sports Vipers.
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to Cyip@kitv.com
News Anchor/Reporter
Cynthia is an award-winning journalist who returned to Hawaii as an Anchor/Reporter/MMJ from Houston. She is a graduate of the University of Hawaii with a B.A. and M.B.A. DM her on IG @CynthiaYipTV to share stories.
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An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/mayor-proclaims-jocelyn-alo-day-to-honor-college-softball-legend/article_1294d582-2d99-11ed-ad50-67f6c20a21f3.html | 2022-09-06T06:08:52Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/mayor-proclaims-jocelyn-alo-day-to-honor-college-softball-legend/article_1294d582-2d99-11ed-ad50-67f6c20a21f3.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
From the “Big Easy” to the High Country: Jazz Artist Tuba Skinny Takes the Stage at App Theatre Sept. 15
BOONE, NC – New Orleans jazz artist Tuba Skinny and his eight-member band will bring their distinctive style of music to the stage of Appalachian Theatre of the High Country on Thursday, September 15, 2022. The 7:30 p.m. concert is generously sponsored by Lost Province Brewing Company with a subsidized ticket price of $15.
“One of the core values that Lost Province shares with the Appalachian Theatre is an unwavering support for live music,” said Lynne Mason, co-owner of the local brewery with her husband, Andy. “And, of course, we love the renovated App Theatre. These passions come together at the theatre this month. Tuba Skinny has brought the best of traditional jazz and swing music to audiences around the world, and we are pleased to help make his High Country debut possible.”
Right off the streets of “The Big Easy,” Louisiana artist Tuba Skinny has grown steadily in popularity for over a decade, releasing twelve albums and touring all over the world.
They’ve attracted a wide variety of fans -- young and old, neophytes and nicheenthusiasts -- with the strength of their musicianship and the scope of their jazz and American roots music catalog.
The band's instrumentation includes cornet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, tenor banjo, guitar, frottoir, and vocals. The ensemble draws its inspiration from the early jazz, ragtime, and blues music of the 1920s and 1930s. They began as an itinerant busking band, but now have taken to stages at music festivals in Mexico, Sweden, Australia, Italy, France, Switzerland, and Spain.
After a recent festival appearance, critics wrote, "Musically, Tuba Skinny mines a rich seam of traditional jazz and blues from the '20s and '30s. And, while it's evident the band treasures the sense of history evoked by these vintage tunes, the players' natural exuberance makes the music feel irresistibly alive.”
Tuba Skinny is best known as world-class interpreters of traditional jazz, but, over the years, the band has branched out into jug band music, spirituals, country blues, string band music, ragtime, and New Orleans R&B. Their approach is a true reflection of Americana, encompassing the full genealogy of popular American music from an early 20th century perspective.
Members of the Tuba Skinny band include: Shaye Cohn on cornet, piano, fiddle, accordion, banjo, and spoons; Barnabus Jones on trombone, banjo, fiddle, guitar, and vocals; Todd Burdick on tuba and sousaphone; Craig Flory on clarinet and saxophone; Gregory Sherman on vocals, guitar, and harmonica; Max Bien-Kahn on resonator, guitar, and banjo; Jason Lawrence on banjo and guitar; Robin Rapuzzi on his Frottoir drum set; and Erika Lewis on bass drum and performing vocals.
Despite a general lack of interest in social media and a limited release of their music online, they’ve amassed an enthusiastic digital following.
After a decade of playing (mostly) other artist’s songs, Tuba Skinny decided to fulfill a long-time dream with the release of “Magnolia Stroll,” their first of 13 albums of all-original tunes. Featuring compositions from bandmates Erika, Shaye, Robin, Barnabus, Craig, and Max, it is their love song to all the musicians, living and dead, who have inspired them, as well as to the neighborhoods of New Orleans that have nurtured them.
For tickets and more information on these events, or to join the theatre’s e-blast list and purchase memberships, please visit the ATHC website at www.apptheatre.org. | https://www.yesweekly.com/music/from-the-big-easy-to-the-high-country-jazz-artist-tuba-skinny-takes-the-stage/article_56caff60-2d58-11ed-8330-2b72af6aa651.html | 2022-09-06T06:08:55Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/music/from-the-big-easy-to-the-high-country-jazz-artist-tuba-skinny-takes-the-stage/article_56caff60-2d58-11ed-8330-2b72af6aa651.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
UPDATE | Two victims hospitalized after stabbing in Waianae; suspect arrested by KITV4 Web Staff Sep 5, 2022 Sep 5, 2022 Updated 2 hrs ago 0 Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save UPDATE 2:00 p.m. A 43-year-old man is in custody for attempted second degree murder, after two victims were found with stab wounds in Waianae. The two victims, a man in his 60's and a man in his 30's, are both in stable condition after being hospitalized. Both stabbings occurred off Farrington Highway, around Alawa Place and Maluhia Lutheran Church, in Waianae. ORIGINAL STORYWAIANAE (KITV4) --A man is in serious condition after being stabbed Monday morning. Around 9:00 a.m. on Monday, September 5, a man in his 60's was stabbed in Waianae, off Farrington Highway, between Alawa Place and Kaulawaha Road. Honolulu EMS treated the man, and he was taken to the hospital in serious condition. Police have not released information regarding the suspect. This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates. UPDATE | Police investigate deadly stabbing on Mott Smith Drive in Makiki; suspect arrested "We are not in paradise." | New Waikiki safety program hopes to crack down on crime, violence Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save More From KITV 4 Island News Local 2 swimmers seriously injured after being swept into the sea at China Walls Updated May 19, 2022 Local BWS shuts down Aiea well after confirmed contamination at Navy's Aiea-Halawa Shaft Updated Dec 9, 2021 Local Dr. Scott Miscovich with 'Premier Medical Group Hawaii' joined KITV to discuss mask mandates; daily COVID cases Feb 11, 2022 Local State reports increase in phishing schemes aimed at retrieving sensitive information Updated Apr 7, 2022 COVID-19 FDA approval of COVID vaccines for youngest keiki gives some parents hope, Oahu pediatrician says Updated Jun 16, 2022 Local Wind advisory in effect for parts of the state Updated Apr 3, 2022 Recommended for you
Local 2 swimmers seriously injured after being swept into the sea at China Walls Updated May 19, 2022
Local BWS shuts down Aiea well after confirmed contamination at Navy's Aiea-Halawa Shaft Updated Dec 9, 2021
Local Dr. Scott Miscovich with 'Premier Medical Group Hawaii' joined KITV to discuss mask mandates; daily COVID cases Feb 11, 2022
Local State reports increase in phishing schemes aimed at retrieving sensitive information Updated Apr 7, 2022
COVID-19 FDA approval of COVID vaccines for youngest keiki gives some parents hope, Oahu pediatrician says Updated Jun 16, 2022 | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/update-two-victims-hospitalized-after-stabbing-in-waianae-suspect-arrested/article_7933f902-2d63-11ed-bff3-631958caf1d1.html | 2022-09-06T06:08:58Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/update-two-victims-hospitalized-after-stabbing-in-waianae-suspect-arrested/article_7933f902-2d63-11ed-bff3-631958caf1d1.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Victim #1: EDWARDS, Steven Christopher/31/M
1553-D Lawrence Way, Winston-Salem, NC 27105
Victim #2: YOUNGER, Brenisha Dashawn/23/F
904 Pecan Ridge Cr., Kernersville, NC 27284
Victim #3: DOWNEY, Robert Taylor (Jr.)/35/M
5032 Hutchins St., Winston-Salem, NC 27106
On Sept. 3, 2022, at approximately 1:05 am, patrol officers responded to 853 Reynolda Road reference a shooting. Upon arrival, officers located Ms. Younger and Mr. Edwards suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were transported to a local hospital for treatment by EMS.
A short time later, a third gunshot victim, Mr. Downey, arrived at the hospital with a gunshot wound. As the investigation progressed, it was determined his injury occurred during the incident on Reynolda Road.
Mr. Downey and Ms. Younger sustained non-life threatening injuries. Mr. Edwards has been listed in critical but stable condition.
This investigation is still in the preliminary stages and is on-going. No further information is available at this time.
The Winston-Salem Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in this case. Anyone with any information regarding this incident or similar crimes is asked to call the Winston-Salem Police Department at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800, or En Espanol 336-728-3904. Text-A-Tip Program at 336-276-1717 allows you to text tips, photos, and videos to the Winston-Salem Police Department. You can also view “Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem Forsyth County” on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/crimestopperswsfc Crime Stoppers Tip Form can also be located online at https://www.cityofws.org/FormCenter/Police-Department-19/Crimestoppers-Tip-Form-100 | https://www.yesweekly.com/news/assault-with-deadly-weapon-inflicting-serious-injury---853-reynolda-road/article_2a9469b2-2d31-11ed-82c3-4f6ec0c496f9.html | 2022-09-06T06:09:01Z | yesweekly.com | control | https://www.yesweekly.com/news/assault-with-deadly-weapon-inflicting-serious-injury---853-reynolda-road/article_2a9469b2-2d31-11ed-82c3-4f6ec0c496f9.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A federal judge threw a wrench Monday in the Justice Department investigation into potential mishandling of documents from former President Donald Trump's White House by granting his request for a special master to review evidence seized from his Florida home last month.
The win for Trump temporarily prevents the Justice Department's investigative team from accessing the thousands of documents -- some of which are marked as classified -- taken from Mar-a-Lago.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon cleared the way for a third-party attorney to review all the seized materials, not just for documents covered by attorney-client privilege -- the circumstance in which special masters are usually used -- but also for potential executive privilege concerns, a move the Justice Department has said would be "unprecedented."
She did not agree, however, with Trump's arguments that there had been a "callous disregard" for his constitutional rights with the search.
Here are takeaways from the judge's ruling and what happens next:
A significant win for Trump
The primary takeaway is simple: The ruling is a major legal win for Trump.
Trump filed a lawsuit seeking a special master to review the materials the FBI seized last month, and now one will be appointed with the potential to decide that certain materials are out of bounds to the FBI's investigation.
Cannon bought into the skepticism Trump's lawyers raised about the unprecedented search of the Florida resort, as they questioned whether investigators could be trusted to properly filter through the thousands of documents that were seized. The judge rejected the Justice Department's assurances that its internal filter team had already sorted out materials that could be subject to attorney-client privileges.
Ultimately, the special master appointment may merely lead to a delay in the federal investigation into documents taken to Mar-a-Lago, but it now introduces a new layer of uncertainty and unpredictability into the investigation.
The former President did not get absolutely everything he asked for -- the judge did not rule that any materials seized from his home should be returned to him, for instance.
Immediate next steps focus on rules for special master
Cannon left undecided many key questions about how the special master will operate. She sketched out a plan for how things will move forward for at least the rest of this week and focused on settling those logistical matters.
She ordered Trump's lawyers and prosecutors to "confer" on several big-ticket items: Who are the proposed candidates to serve as special master? What will their specific "duties and limitations" be? What should be their schedule and pacing? And how much will they be paid for their work?
Both sides were told to file a "joint filing" by Friday, spelling out their answers to these questions. Based on how the case has progressed so far, it seems unlikely that the two sides will agree on much. They'll both be able to put in writing their ideas for how they want this to move forward.
Cannon said she will "expeditiously" issue a court order setting out "the exact details and mechanics of this (special master) review process" after the joint filing comes in.
She noted the need to settle disputes between the parties about "whether certain seized documents constitute personal or presidential records" and "whether certain seized personal effects have evidentiary value."
Plans to review for "executive privilege"
Trump had said that a special master review needed to go beyond documents covered by attorney-client privilege, and that materials covered by executive privilege should be filtered out as well.
Executive privilege refers to private communications presidents have with their advisers and other types of internal communications within the executive branch that are withheld from public release. While disputes over the privilege have come up in congressional investigations, the reaches of executive privilege -- particularly when a former president is arguing it should apply when a current president is declining to assert it -- is an unsettled area of law.
Cannon's order requires the special master to examine the documents based on "executive privilege" concerns, making the job more expansive than the attorney-client privilege review that happens typically when a special master is appointed. (Documents potentially covered by attorney-client privilege will be part of this special master's review as well, according to Cannon's order.)
She did not elaborate on the parameters the special master should be considering.
In her ruling, Cannon said that the Supreme Court had not ruled out "the possibility of a former President overcoming an incumbent President on executive privilege matters." She quoted from a 1977 Supreme Court case concerning documents from President Richard Nixon's White House, as well as from a Supreme Court order earlier this year that allowed the release of Trump White House documents to House January 6 investigators.
Cannon quoted the Supreme Court saying in the recent case that the questions are "unprecedented and raise serious and substantial concerns" when it comes to scenarios where a former president is claiming to assert executive privilege over materials for which that privilege has been waived by the incumbent.
She also drew from a separate statement from Justice Brett Kavanaugh in that case in which Kavanaugh said it would "eviscerate the executive privilege for Presidential communications" if courts were to conclude that a former president could not "invoke the Presidential communications privilege for communications that occurred during his Presidency, even if the current President does not support the privilege claim."
Cannon conceded that, when all is said and done, Trump's assertions of executive privilege might fail, but she said that "does not negate a former President's ability to raise the privilege as an initial matter."
Intelligence review will continue
The judge is not stopping the US intelligence community's from continuing to examine the documents as part of its damage assessment into the potential risk to national security.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told Congress last month that the intelligence community would be conducting an assessment "of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents." The intelligence community has also been working with the FBI since mid-May to examine some of the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago, CNN previously reported.
While the FBI investigation is related to at least three potential crimes -- violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal handling of government records -- the intelligence review is primarily concerned with determining whether the disclosure of the material that was housed at Trump's resort and residence could place sensitive intelligence sources at risk.
Trump got special consideration as ex-president
The judge repeatedly pointed to the "extraordinary circumstances" present in the special master dispute, given that it involved the "unprecedented" search of a former president's home. She also said there was a risk of "stigma" that would come with a prosecution that was brought wrongfully and said that the threat was greater in this scenario because Trump is a former president.
"As a function of Plaintiff's former position as President of the United States, the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own," she wrote. "A future indictment, based to any degree on property that ought to be returned, would result in reputational harm of a decidedly different order of magnitude."
There were other examples in the order of Cannon putting Trump, as a former president, in a special class of defendants. She said that Trump's reliance on "cooperation between former and incumbent administrations regarding" the exchange of documents also cut in favor of her intervening. (The Justice Department has pointed to several examples in the litigation of Trump's team slow-walking that negotiation).
In a footnote rebutting the DOJ's arguments that special masters are usually appointed to review searches of an attorneys' offices, Cannon wrote that she did "not see why these concerns would not apply, at least to a considerable degree, to the office and home of a former president."
What can the Justice Department do now?
The ruling does not shut down the Justice Department's criminal investigation. Trump still has potential legal jeopardy. But the ruling will limit what investigators can do, and may slow things down a bit, while the special master review is underway.
A Justice Department spokesman said Monday that officials are "examining the opinion" and considering "appropriate next steps." The one-sentence statement did not explicitly reference an appeal, though that is the obvious next possible option for prosecutors.
If prosecutors appeal, those proceedings would be handled by the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in Atlanta. The court has four full-time judges appointed by Democratic presidents, and seven by Republican presidents, including six by Trump.
A three-judge panel would be randomly selected to hear the appeal. Whichever side loses that round would get an opportunity to ask the entire 11-member court to rehear the appeal "en banc." The losing side also could appeal to the Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority.
DOJ officials might choose to only appeal a portion of Cannon's multi-pronged ruling.
Andrew Weissmann -- a venerated ex-DOJ official, former Robert Mueller team prosecutor and prominent Trump critic -- tweeted that the Justice Department should "appeal immediately" the part of the ruling that blocks investigators from doing anything with the seized materials, which he called "precedent that is too wrong to not appeal."
Judge Cannon is a Trump nominee -- does that matter?
Federal judges routinely handle matters that involve the president who put them on the bench. The fact that Cannon was appointed by Trump, and that Trump filed this lawsuit, is not grounds for Cannon to recuse herself from the case, though she could if she thinks it creates a perception of unfairness.
For his part, Trump has a history of politicizing the judicial branch, by attacking "Obama judges" and openly saying that he expects his appointees to do his legal bidding. But this twisted view toward judicial loyalty seems to be pretty one-sided, with Trump expecting political fealty while most judges try to ignore his out-of-court rhetoric and focus on the facts.
How does DOJ's so-called "60-day rule" for investigations come into play?
A question lingering over this and other investigations that touch on the former president is how the Justice Department will view the so-called "60-day rule" as applying to investigations connected to Trump.
The "rule" is an internal DOJ policy that discourages public investigative steps that could influence an election 60 days before Election Day. Trump's allies have argued the department's Trump documents investigation stands to run afoul of this principle, even though Trump himself is not a candidate.
It's not clear if DOJ was calibrating its approach to the documents probe with that rule in mind, and if prosecutors are doing so, it's also not clear whether the appointment of a special master affects those plans.
The investigation appears to be in its very early stages. Prosecutors have described it as such in public court proceedings. And the types of attorneys publicly involved in the probe -- mainly coming from the DOJ's National Security Division -- also suggest the probe is at an early phase, former agency officials have said.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.kitv.com/news/national/takeaways-from-the-ruling-granting-trumps-request-for-a-special-master-in-mar-a-lago/article_99a80023-4e60-54c0-90f0-5b1ebdf6af99.html | 2022-09-06T06:09:04Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/national/takeaways-from-the-ruling-granting-trumps-request-for-a-special-master-in-mar-a-lago/article_99a80023-4e60-54c0-90f0-5b1ebdf6af99.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Just six weeks ago, a thief assaulted and maced a longtime employee of KC Market, leaving the elderly woman's eyes burning and injuring her back.
But the incident was just the beginning of a series of thefts, including a burglary this morning at the 40-year-old neighborhood store.
"They live in trepidation and fear every day now," said Roy Chang of his parents who run the shop, but asked not to be identified. "It's not safe for them. These people prey on the elderly."
Chang's parents have run the mom-and-pop shop peacefully for years. The couple know most of their neighbors and customers by name.
"You know a lot of kids from the elementary come over here, grab some musubi and get all the drinks -- it's convenient for all of us," said Kalihi resident Trish Medeiros. "All the crimes is really sad. And then it's affecting not only the stores, but the neighborhood too."
The rash of crimes includes stealing the family car right from their home behind the store and thousands of dollars worth of cash and goods from the business.
"We've talk to the police...many times and the people that were responsible for it still seem to be coming around," Chang said. "We don't seem to be getting any relief."
Today's burglary pushed the family over the edge.
At least two men broke in through a back window and are seen rummaging through the store and breaking in to the cash register.
"My dad wanted to... live his life out here, run the store until you know until his last days," he added. "This was the final straw now. So after 40 years, they've...thrown in the towel."
Because of the crime wave and lack of consequences for criminals, the family says they are now planning to sell the store they worked for years to build.
Chang hopes that by sharing his family's story, there will be changes to the justice system so that other small businesses won't face the same fate.
"If there's no consequences, I mean, people are gonna keep on doing it," he said. "Is it the cops? Is it the judicial system? Is it the prosecutors that aren't putting them away? Is it the jails that are overfull? I mean, I don't know what the solution is, but something needs to be done."
And he's hoping the community won't continue to live in fear.
"It's happening more so everywhere but you know, like coming closer to home is kind of more fearful," Medeiros added. "Got to watch out for my kids too."
Kristen joined KITV4 in March 2021 after working for the past two decades as a newspaper reporter. Kristen's goal is to produce meaningful journalism that educates, enlightens and inspires to affect positive change in society. | https://www.kitv.com/news/rash-of-crimes-in-kalihi-pushing-mom-and-pop-shop-out-of-business/article_876a0aa0-2d97-11ed-8ec2-eb2a3cd636f9.html | 2022-09-06T06:09:11Z | kitv.com | control | https://www.kitv.com/news/rash-of-crimes-in-kalihi-pushing-mom-and-pop-shop-out-of-business/article_876a0aa0-2d97-11ed-8ec2-eb2a3cd636f9.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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As summer slowly draws to a close, Kent is expected to see some lengthy spells of traditional English wet weather. Heavy and thundery showers have been forecast to persist throughout the coming week following what has been one of the driest summers on record.
Last night (September 5), an overnight yellow weather warning for thunderstorms was issued for much of the south east due to fears that such conditions could lead to disruption. This alert was in place from 20:35 Monday evening until 06:00 this morning.
While no alerts are currently in place for the south east, such thundery conditions are expected throughout much of the week. Met Office meteorologist Greg Dewhurst said: “A warm, muggy start to Tuesday morning.
Read more: Body of missing man found in water near Dartford Crossing
“Plenty of sunny spells but already a few showers across northern parts of England, southern Scotland, continuing to push their way northwards. Turning heavy into the afternoon, some rumbles of thunder.
“Further heavy showers pushing northwards across the rest of the UK, some rumbles of thunder, some hail, some gusty winds in there too, the risk of some flooding. But there will be some sunny spells in between and where we get the sunshine, temperatures lifting into the low 20s, still toward the mid 20s across the south east.”
Full south east forecast
Today begins with some misty fog soon lifting, followed by a sunny morning before clouds begin to stir bringing scattered heavy showers. Such showers are likely to turn thundery and gusty at times particularly in the afternoon, with temperatures reaching highs of 24C.
Into the evening, heavy and perhaps thundery showers are set to continue but will begin to ease. Conditions will be largely dry by midnight with a chance for the odd shower as well as some patches of mist and fog by dawn, with minimum temperatures of 13C.
Tomorrow is set to be another day of clouds, sunny spells and heavy, scattered showers. Again, these may turn thundery in some places, while others may keep dry, feeling warm in the 23C highs.
Such weather patterns are not looking to change a great deal as we head into Thursday and Friday, with more scattered and thundery showers joined by warm sunny spells. Overnight patches of mist again are likely, before some drier weather on Saturday, though isolated showers are also expected.
Read next:
- The couple running Kent's 'only' US retail store
- Kent's best primary schools rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted
- The Kent towns hoping to be transformed by 'levelling up' cash
- Hever Castle and Gardens named among UK's top historic attractions
- The country's most popular children's TV show which originated in Canterbury | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/kent-weather-thundery-showers-expected-7550442 | 2022-09-06T06:35:42Z | kentlive.news | control | https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/kent-weather-thundery-showers-expected-7550442 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A federal judge threw a wrench Monday in the Justice Department investigation into potential mishandling of documents from former President Donald Trump's White House by granting his request for a special master to review evidence seized from his Florida home last month.
The win for Trump temporarily prevents the Justice Department's investigative team from accessing the thousands of documents -- some of which are marked as classified -- taken from Mar-a-Lago.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon cleared the way for a third-party attorney to review all the seized materials, not just for documents covered by attorney-client privilege -- the circumstance in which special masters are usually used -- but also for potential executive privilege concerns, a move the Justice Department has said would be "unprecedented."
She did not agree, however, with Trump's arguments that there had been a "callous disregard" for his constitutional rights with the search.
Here are takeaways from the judge's ruling and what happens next:
A significant win for Trump
The primary takeaway is simple: The ruling is a major legal win for Trump.
Trump filed a lawsuit seeking a special master to review the materials the FBI seized last month, and now one will be appointed with the potential to decide that certain materials are out of bounds to the FBI's investigation.
Cannon bought into the skepticism Trump's lawyers raised about the unprecedented search of the Florida resort, as they questioned whether investigators could be trusted to properly filter through the thousands of documents that were seized. The judge rejected the Justice Department's assurances that its internal filter team had already sorted out materials that could be subject to attorney-client privileges.
Ultimately, the special master appointment may merely lead to a delay in the federal investigation into documents taken to Mar-a-Lago, but it now introduces a new layer of uncertainty and unpredictability into the investigation.
The former President did not get absolutely everything he asked for -- the judge did not rule that any materials seized from his home should be returned to him, for instance.
Immediate next steps focus on rules for special master
Cannon left undecided many key questions about how the special master will operate. She sketched out a plan for how things will move forward for at least the rest of this week and focused on settling those logistical matters.
She ordered Trump's lawyers and prosecutors to "confer" on several big-ticket items: Who are the proposed candidates to serve as special master? What will their specific "duties and limitations" be? What should be their schedule and pacing? And how much will they be paid for their work?
Both sides were told to file a "joint filing" by Friday, spelling out their answers to these questions. Based on how the case has progressed so far, it seems unlikely that the two sides will agree on much. They'll both be able to put in writing their ideas for how they want this to move forward.
Cannon said she will "expeditiously" issue a court order setting out "the exact details and mechanics of this (special master) review process" after the joint filing comes in.
She noted the need to settle disputes between the parties about "whether certain seized documents constitute personal or presidential records" and "whether certain seized personal effects have evidentiary value."
Plans to review for "executive privilege"
Trump had said that a special master review needed to go beyond documents covered by attorney-client privilege, and that materials covered by executive privilege should be filtered out as well.
Executive privilege refers to private communications presidents have with their advisers and other types of internal communications within the executive branch that are withheld from public release. While disputes over the privilege have come up in congressional investigations, the reaches of executive privilege -- particularly when a former president is arguing it should apply when a current president is declining to assert it -- is an unsettled area of law.
Cannon's order requires the special master to examine the documents based on "executive privilege" concerns, making the job more expansive than the attorney-client privilege review that happens typically when a special master is appointed. (Documents potentially covered by attorney-client privilege will be part of this special master's review as well, according to Cannon's order.)
She did not elaborate on the parameters the special master should be considering.
In her ruling, Cannon said that the Supreme Court had not ruled out "the possibility of a former President overcoming an incumbent President on executive privilege matters." She quoted from a 1977 Supreme Court case concerning documents from President Richard Nixon's White House, as well as from a Supreme Court order earlier this year that allowed the release of Trump White House documents to House January 6 investigators.
Cannon quoted the Supreme Court saying in the recent case that the questions are "unprecedented and raise serious and substantial concerns" when it comes to scenarios where a former president is claiming to assert executive privilege over materials for which that privilege has been waived by the incumbent.
She also drew from a separate statement from Justice Brett Kavanaugh in that case in which Kavanaugh said it would "eviscerate the executive privilege for Presidential communications" if courts were to conclude that a former president could not "invoke the Presidential communications privilege for communications that occurred during his Presidency, even if the current President does not support the privilege claim."
Cannon conceded that, when all is said and done, Trump's assertions of executive privilege might fail, but she said that "does not negate a former President's ability to raise the privilege as an initial matter."
Intelligence review will continue
The judge is not stopping the US intelligence community's from continuing to examine the documents as part of its damage assessment into the potential risk to national security.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told Congress last month that the intelligence community would be conducting an assessment "of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents." The intelligence community has also been working with the FBI since mid-May to examine some of the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago, CNN previously reported.
While the FBI investigation is related to at least three potential crimes -- violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal handling of government records -- the intelligence review is primarily concerned with determining whether the disclosure of the material that was housed at Trump's resort and residence could place sensitive intelligence sources at risk.
Trump got special consideration as ex-president
The judge repeatedly pointed to the "extraordinary circumstances" present in the special master dispute, given that it involved the "unprecedented" search of a former president's home. She also said there was a risk of "stigma" that would come with a prosecution that was brought wrongfully and said that the threat was greater in this scenario because Trump is a former president.
"As a function of Plaintiff's former position as President of the United States, the stigma associated with the subject seizure is in a league of its own," she wrote. "A future indictment, based to any degree on property that ought to be returned, would result in reputational harm of a decidedly different order of magnitude."
There were other examples in the order of Cannon putting Trump, as a former president, in a special class of defendants. She said that Trump's reliance on "cooperation between former and incumbent administrations regarding" the exchange of documents also cut in favor of her intervening. (The Justice Department has pointed to several examples in the litigation of Trump's team slow-walking that negotiation).
In a footnote rebutting the DOJ's arguments that special masters are usually appointed to review searches of an attorneys' offices, Cannon wrote that she did "not see why these concerns would not apply, at least to a considerable degree, to the office and home of a former president."
What can the Justice Department do now?
The ruling does not shut down the Justice Department's criminal investigation. Trump still has potential legal jeopardy. But the ruling will limit what investigators can do, and may slow things down a bit, while the special master review is underway.
A Justice Department spokesman said Monday that officials are "examining the opinion" and considering "appropriate next steps." The one-sentence statement did not explicitly reference an appeal, though that is the obvious next possible option for prosecutors.
If prosecutors appeal, those proceedings would be handled by the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in Atlanta. The court has four full-time judges appointed by Democratic presidents, and seven by Republican presidents, including six by Trump.
A three-judge panel would be randomly selected to hear the appeal. Whichever side loses that round would get an opportunity to ask the entire 11-member court to rehear the appeal "en banc." The losing side also could appeal to the Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority.
DOJ officials might choose to only appeal a portion of Cannon's multi-pronged ruling.
Andrew Weissmann -- a venerated ex-DOJ official, former Robert Mueller team prosecutor and prominent Trump critic -- tweeted that the Justice Department should "appeal immediately" the part of the ruling that blocks investigators from doing anything with the seized materials, which he called "precedent that is too wrong to not appeal."
Judge Cannon is a Trump nominee -- does that matter?
Federal judges routinely handle matters that involve the president who put them on the bench. The fact that Cannon was appointed by Trump, and that Trump filed this lawsuit, is not grounds for Cannon to recuse herself from the case, though she could if she thinks it creates a perception of unfairness.
For his part, Trump has a history of politicizing the judicial branch, by attacking "Obama judges" and openly saying that he expects his appointees to do his legal bidding. But this twisted view toward judicial loyalty seems to be pretty one-sided, with Trump expecting political fealty while most judges try to ignore his out-of-court rhetoric and focus on the facts.
How does DOJ's so-called "60-day rule" for investigations come into play?
A question lingering over this and other investigations that touch on the former president is how the Justice Department will view the so-called "60-day rule" as applying to investigations connected to Trump.
The "rule" is an internal DOJ policy that discourages public investigative steps that could influence an election 60 days before Election Day. Trump's allies have argued the department's Trump documents investigation stands to run afoul of this principle, even though Trump himself is not a candidate.
It's not clear if DOJ was calibrating its approach to the documents probe with that rule in mind, and if prosecutors are doing so, it's also not clear whether the appointment of a special master affects those plans.
The investigation appears to be in its very early stages. Prosecutors have described it as such in public court proceedings. And the types of attorneys publicly involved in the probe -- mainly coming from the DOJ's National Security Division -- also suggest the probe is at an early phase, former agency officials have said.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/takeaways-from-the-ruling-granting-trumps-request-for-a-special-master-in-mar-a-lago/article_c0f66eef-c82f-5b23-9c22-a9923d092269.html | 2022-09-06T06:45:36Z | local3news.com | control | https://www.local3news.com/regional-national/takeaways-from-the-ruling-granting-trumps-request-for-a-special-master-in-mar-a-lago/article_c0f66eef-c82f-5b23-9c22-a9923d092269.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Benghazi. It's become political Rorschach test for the country. The Right sees it as everything wrong with Democratic foreign policy or some kind of cover-up, while the Left sees it as conservative pushed conspiracy theories.
Ethan Chorin's book Benghazi! A New History of the Fiasco that Pushed America and its World to the Brink takes several steps back to give much needed context — historical, regional, political, and social — to the Sept. 11, 2012 attack that left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.
One thing is clear: There is plenty of blame to go around for what lead up to the attack, and more importantly, the response after that attack.
It hits close to home for Chorin. He was in Benghazi when the attack took place. A former diplomat, Chorin served in Libya from 2004-2006, during the George W. Bush administration's rapprochement with the country and its former leader, Muammar Gaddafi. It was an opportunity "to look under the hood" of a country that had been closed off to America for decades. His love for the country and the people he met is evident across the pages of his book. After the uprising, he and a Libyan American from Texas formed a non-profit to focus on medical help for Libya.
Chorin also knew Stevens. He admired what Stevens represented in the State Department — expeditionary diplomacy. It's the idea that diplomacy requires some degree of risk-taking rather than staying behind fortified walls. The two were expected to meet in Benghazi on Sept. 12. Aside from a strong understanding of Libya, the two men shared a hope for the country's future and America's role there.
It's easy to get lost in all the details that Chorin presents and that most Americans don't know about: the legacy of colonialism, past U.S. support for dictatorships in the region, the lack of opportunity in the country and the anger toward the Gaddafi regime, the "flip-flopping" interactions the West had with different leaders and groups on the ground and much more. What's not lost on most Americans, however, is the role domestic politics played in the aftermath.
Former U.S. Sen. Arthur Vandenberg famously once said, "politics stops at the water's edge." Yes, politicians may beat each other up in the United States, but when it comes to foreign policy — and most especially when it comes to tragedies — politicians of all political stripes usually pull together in a united front.
For years we've seen that chip away — but for Chorin, domestic politics is what weaponized Benghazi in a way he had not seen before. "By making it about scoring political points rather than trying to fix a broken system, they only perpetuated a controversy that was further tearing apart the county." Part of this book is about asking if Benghazi started this trend or was the most well-known symptom of the trend.
He goes over all the domestic politics at play: the upcoming 2012 presidential election, the controversy over what sparked the attack (no, it was not an anti-Muslim video), why help was slow in coming (there was no stand-down order), how it was used to attack the 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner (Hillary Clinton), the role media and social media played, the lack of intelligence on the ground and more. As if to hammer home the point that the focus became all about politics, he notes that ten congressional investigations failed to answer some basic questions — like who perpetrated the attack in order to bring them to justice or why the embassy used local militias to protect the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
"The fact that so many investigations resulted in so few answers is its own tragedy. From the edges of the five-ring political circus that was Benghazi, some voices shouted out important questions, none of which were answered," he writes. "The Benghazi committee might have been able to break new ground and do the country a service if it had focused on them."
Benghazi, Chorin says, has entered the American lexicon defined as a scandal, not tragedy like 9/11, the USS Cole bombing or the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. In the years since, there have been headlines asking "Is Niger Trump's Benghazi" or "Is Afghanistan Biden's Benghazi." Chorin writes "it's become a shorthand for any kind of event that can be blown up for partisan advantage."
For Chorin, writing this book was "like therapy." He winds up with more questions than answers about the attack, which he describes as an event that "morphed into a rationality-devouring creature that grew conspiracy theories for arms and eventually loomed in terror over the entire American sociopolitical landscape." And there is a strong sense of the lost opportunity, not just for Libyans, but for America.
In the end, what Chorin is really trying to do is give Benghazi its due, by doing the impossible: trying to take the fog of politics out of what happened that day. He's trying to get answers that a non-partisan investigation into the attack should have tried to find — so that America can learn from what happened so that it does not happen again — and not just score political points.
If that can happen, Chorin believes, then the American lives lost in Benghazi that day will not have been in vain.
Whether that can happen in today's political climate, remains to be seen. But it seems doubtful.
Caitlyn Kim is the Washington, D.C., reporter for Colorado Public Radio. She worked as a U.S. diplomat from 2013-2018, serving in Estonia, Pakistan and D.C.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-books/2022-09-05/at-10th-anniversary-of-benghazi-attack-former-diplomat-offers-context-in-new-book | 2022-09-06T06:47:15Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-books/2022-09-05/at-10th-anniversary-of-benghazi-attack-former-diplomat-offers-context-in-new-book | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
What's new at the Mu? Fun ways to learn at MassMu
The Massillon Museum − the cultural hub of downtown Massillon − welcomes everyone to visit and participate in programming. Find a complete schedule of exhibitions and events at massillonmuseum.org.
Highlights
Have you seen all the current exhibitions at MassMu? "Missing History of Massillon: Unheard African American Stories" continues through Nov. 9; "Artist to Artist" can be viewed through Sept. 7; and "Daric M. Gill: The Absolutes" can be seen through Sept. 21. “Carry On: A Century of Swing" continues through Jan. 8. "Collection Snapshot: Faces of Massillon Business"; the Paul Brown/Massillon Tiger Football History Timeline, the Immel Circus, "Innovators of Massillon," the Massillon History Gallery, and the Albert E. Hise Fine and Decorative Arts Gallery are always on display. A 1916 Massillon-manufactured Russell steam engine is in the garden on the east side of the building. A visit is always free.
Educational opportunities abound. Fall ceramics classes include Family Clay, Pots N’ Tots, Open Studio, Sgraffito Ornaments, Pottery Trays, and Clay Earrings. The Ceramic Forms in Nature workshop complements a Studio M exhibition. Free “Do the Mu” workshops will include Sculpt a Snail, Superhero Puppets, Zentangle Turkeys, and Beginning Embroidery. Schedule a tour or speaking engagement for your organization. History Discussion group will return in October to talk about live performances and venues, fraternal and service organizations in November, and grandma’s household chores in December. The October Brown Bag Lunch topic will be “Problems of the Pioneers.”
Why attend?
The Massillon Museum receives operating support from the Ohio Arts Council and ArtsinStark, and marketing support from Visit Canton. These programs are funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Details
WHAT − Fall Fun at MassMu
WHEN − September through December
WHERE − 121 Lincoln Way East, Massillon
MORE − massillonmuseum.org or 330-833-4061 | https://www.indeonline.com/story/news/local/2022/09/05/whats-new-at-the-mu-fun-ways-to-learn-at-massmu/65458387007/ | 2022-09-06T07:02:04Z | eonline.com | treatment | https://www.indeonline.com/story/news/local/2022/09/05/whats-new-at-the-mu-fun-ways-to-learn-at-massmu/65458387007/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in years battered its southern region Tuesday, dumping a meter (3 feet) of rain, destroying roads and felling power lines, leaving 66,000 homes without electricity as thousands of people fled to safer ground.
Typhoon Hinnamnor grazed the resort island of Jeju and hit the mainland near the port city of Busan before blowing into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan with winds of up to 133 kilometers (82 miles) per hour. It was moving northeast on a track to affect eastern China later in the week.
South Korean officials put the nation on alert about potential damages from flooding, landslides and tidal waves unleashed by Hinnamnor just weeks after heavy rains in the region around the capital Seoul caused flooding that killed at least 14 people.
Prime Minister Han Duk-soo called for evacuations in areas vulnerable to flooding, saying Hinnamnor could end up being a “historically strong typhoon that we never experienced before.”
The storm dumped more than 105 centimeters (41 inches) of rain in central Jeju since Sunday, where winds peaked at 155 kph (96 mph). Southern and eastern mainland regions were also lashed with heavy rain, which knocked off signboards and roofing, toppled trees and electricity poles and turned roads into chocolate-colored rivers.
A woman in her 70s died in the southern city of Pohang after being swept away in flash floods, while two other people were missing, including a 25-year-old man who fell into a rain-swollen stream in the nearby city of Ulsan, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
Fires were reported at a major steel plant operated by POSCO in Pohang, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether they were caused by the storm.
The Safety Ministry said about 500 among 3,400 people who had been forced to evacuate returned home as of Tuesday afternoon. At least five homes and buildings were flooded or destroyed, and scores of roads were damaged.
More than 600 schools were closed or converted to online classes. More than 250 flights and 70 ferry services were grounded while more than 66,000 fishing boats evacuated to ports. Workers by late morning had managed to restore electricity to 30,006 of the 66,341 households that lost power.
A South Korean presidential official, who spoke on condition of anonymity during a background briefing, said officials were investigating the cause of the fires at POSCO’s Pohang plant, where firefighters were working to extinguish flames that damaged at least three facilities at the complex.
Lim Yoon-sook, an official from the North Gyeongsang province fire department, said the flames destroyed a building housing electricity equipment and were continuing to burn through a separate office building, although workers were close to extinguishing a smaller fire at a cokes factory.
In North Korea, state media reported “all-out efforts” to minimize damage from flooding and landslides. The Korean Central News Agency reported leader Kim Jong Un during government meetings had issued unspecified “detailed tasks” to improve the country’s disaster response capacity but it didn’t elaborate on the plans.
North Korea sustained serious damage from heavy rains and floods in 2020 that destroyed buildings, roads and crops, shocking the country’s already-crippled economy. | https://nypost.com/2022/09/06/typhoon-hinnamnor-crushes-south-koreas-southern-region/ | 2022-09-06T07:14:31Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/09/06/typhoon-hinnamnor-crushes-south-koreas-southern-region/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Despite signing of Disability Act, women with physical disabilities still need help accessing public buildings amidst discrimination
President Muhammadu Buhari, on January 23, 2019, passed the Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition) Act which provides for making public places and buildings accessible to Persons With Disability (PWDs) through the provision of ramps, elevators, handrails, parking spaces, etc. NCHETACHI CHUKWUAJAH reports that more than three years after the signing of the Act, women with disabilities still face mobility and accessibility challenges while developers do not follow approved building plans.
“I always have the fear of going to the class to teach because it is not always that one will be physically fit to climb stairs, to take risks to teach. Going to classes in the school I am teaching presently is a serious risk. The entrances to the classes are not accessible. At times, I will ask the students to bring a chair outside for me; I will sit on the chair before I can move my legs into the classes.
“All the buildings in the school I am currently teaching in are not accessible to me. Even in the office where I am sitting, I had to construct something that at least I am managing to enter.”
These are the words of Funke Adegoke, a physically challenged teacher who moves around with the aid of crutches. For her and many other women with disabilities, gaining access to public buildings is a herculean task.
As Adegoke narrated this incident and many others to Nigerian Tribune while doing her laundry in a space in front of her house in Ibadan on a humid Monday afternoon in late August, the pain was obvious in her eyes as she described it as “saddening.”
Adegoke explained that because of the lack of accessibility to many places, she has had to cancel appointments and social gatherings, spent hugely to rent accessible accommodation and has faced discrimination. Experts say accessibility challenges lead to lifetime health complications.
“When I was a junior teacher, there was a school I was teaching in then that I was asked to teach upstairs and I taught upstairs for two years. It was after two years of teaching upstairs that I faced orthopaedic problems. I never knew that as I was climbing the stairs then, it was affecting my ribs. I spent a lot of money at UCH before that situation subsided. I still feel pains in my ribs and backbone now. It was after that job hazard that I started using orthopaedic shoes,” she recounted.
Mary Oluwatoyin is a sportswoman with the Oyo State Sports Council. She waits several minutes to cross a road as vehicles, tricycles and motorcycles speed past without caring to stop for her. Not until she takes a huge risk of walking slowly across the road while urging the drivers to stop by waving her other hand would they grudgingly stop for her to cross the road.
On the day Oluwatoyin spoke with Nigerian Tribune, she was walking out from a popular mall in Ibadan that has a steep entrance with the assistance of a walking stick in her left hand while she held the goods she purchased, which were in a white polythene bag, with her right hand. She would intermittently stop walking to catch her breath.
“I have been out of the country three times and I have seen the way they treat their physically challenged people. When compared to the way we treat ours here, it is nothing to write home about,” she told Nigerian Tribune.
Oluwatoyin added that “In my own bank, there is an accessible place for people living with disabilities. Apart from banks, people don’t care about people living with disabilities. As a driver, If you see a person living with a disability, you ought to wait for the person to cross. There is no pedestrian bridge for us to use so they ought to wait but they won’t.”
She has one plea: “Let them make the roads accessible so that people using wheelchairs would be able to move about. For drivers, anytime you see a person living with a disability that wants to cross the road, you can just patiently wait for the person; it is not going to take you forever to do that.”
Added to the challenge of accessibility and mobility is discrimination and extortion from some members of the public who take advantage of the situation of PWDs.
Adegoke said facing discrimination and extortion has become second nature. “Some years back, I was supposed to be the Head of Department in one of the schools I was teaching but the principal said he would not give a person with disability that position. They then made somebody below me the head of that department. I was pained but there was nothing I could do. All I did was to apply for transfer without telling anyone the reason I was transferred. The person still told the principal of the school I was transferred to and that principal too did the same thing to me.”
On the issue of extortion, she said, “There was a day my car broke down at Eleyele (in Ibadan) and I parked it there for repairs and decided to take a public tricycle home. The marwa (tricycle) operator said I had to pay the fare of four persons for him to take me to the entrance to my street and if I wanted him to take me to my house, I had to pay for five persons. I begged him but he refused. I had to pay because I had no choice. Some of these transporters capitalise on our disabilities to extort us,” Adegoke said.
A national situation?
Adegoke and Oluwatoyin are among the many physically challenged women in Nigeria, who, according to the World Report on Disability of 2011, constitute 50 per cent of the over 25 million Nigerians with disabilities, facing mobility and accessibility challenges.
Many have resorted to staying indoors and only going out when absolutely necessary. This way of life, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Bank, impacts the life of PWDs in many negative ways – psychologically, emotionally, economically, socially, etc.
Blessing Mary Ocheido’s tweet on January 15, 2019, eight days before the Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition) Act was passed into law, on the difficulty she faced accessing a bank in the Kubwa area of Abuja sparked a lot of debates and advocacies on the social media.
Ocheido, founder, Platinum Intervention Care Initiative, had tweeted that the said bank had no ramps to enable her to gain entrance to the building and could not go into the banking hall because the doors were not wide enough to accommodate her and her wheelchair, forcing her to stay outside the building while a security man went inside to make inquiries on her behalf.
“Upon his return, the security man said I would have to go into the bank to be attended to. And seeing as there was simply no way for me to do that, except maybe to be lifted up in his arms, I had to leave,” Ocheido tweeted.
Years after Ocheido’s tweets, the issue of accessibility of public buildings still persists. Having made use of a wheelchair since she was three after suffering an injury that led to partial paralysis from the waist down, Ocheido said though the bank has asked her to always call anytime she wants to come to the bank, the advocacy for accessibility is not just about her but for many others.
In an interview with Nigerian Tribune, Ocheido said, “When you complain, they say they are working on installing ramps in all their branches and include special entrances for persons with disabilities and you return after a few months, a year, two years, the same thing is still there. They just say when you are coming, call this person and I say no to that because I am calling you out not so that I can be given preferential treatment as a person. I want every person with a disability who has to visit your bank or facility to be able to access it without having to call someone because how many people with disabilities are you going to give those numbers out to?
“Some of the agencies that are supposed to regulate buildings and ensure that they meet the criteria for public use are themselves not even accessible. I remember visiting an agency like that in Abuja and they did not even have ramps or elevators. I was struggling up staircases just to talk to the people in charge. It is a heartbreaking situation. There is nobody to report to, that is why I often resort to calling them out online and pleading with them to do the right thing.”
What the law says about making public places accessible for persons with disability
The Discrimination against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition) Act was passed into law on Wednesday, January 23, 2019, 18 years after it was first brought to the National Assembly.
The 58-sections Act prohibits any act of discrimination against PWDs including making public places or buildings like banks and other commercial buildings, schools, courts, religious centres, airports, bus stops, parks, etc, inaccessible to this category of people with penalties for violation.
The Act, in section 6, allows for a five-year transitory period within which existing public structures, whether movable or immovable, should be modified or adjusted so as to be accessible to PWDs, including those on wheelchairs.
Despite the provisions of the Act which should essentially eliminate discrimination against PWDs, so far, only Anambra, Bauchi, Ekiti, Jigawa, Kano, Kwara, Kogi, Lagos, Ondo and Plateau States have domesticated the Act.
For Dolapo Okunniya, a lawyer, for the Act to be effective in states where it is not yet domesticated, there must be increased sensitisation and awareness creation about it for PWDs, house owners and other members of the society.
She further explained that PWDs must first know their rights before a violation of it can be enforced. “Persons with disabilities must first be informed through the creation of awareness of their rights under the law. So also, public awareness must be ongoing to enable authorities and owners of public and private establishments to conform to the law during the transitional period.
“For a man to seek a remedy, he must first know his right. ‘Ubi jus ibi remedium’ – where there is a right, there is a remedy. They can engage the services of a lawyer by bringing a suit for the enforcement of their fundamental rights under the rules.
“I believe there are advocacy or civil groups within the state who are aware that the bill has been passed into law. They can lend their voices by engaging the lawmakers, perhaps in town hall meetings. The media is also a veritable tool and a strong voice that can influence the State Assembly and propel them to look in the direction of domesticating the law,” Okunniya said.
What constitutes access to a public building?
Evang. Olu Kayode, a former chairman of the Joint Association of People With Disabilities, Oyo State Chapter said it was disheartening that the taxes of PWDs were used to construct public buildings that remained inaccessible to them.
“Our taxes have been used to put in place structures that make life uncomfortable and difficult for us. What the planners and the government take into consideration is the aesthetics of these structures with beautiful staircases without considering persons with disabilities who pay taxes,” he said.
Keerthirathna, Karunasena and Rodrigo, in their 2010 paper titled, ‘Disability Access in Public Buildings,’ noted that an accessible building for the PWDs should comprise; Entrance – even and slip-resistance surface of 1300mm or wider; doors and openings – doors can be easily opened by PWDs, 900mm or wider, space to manoeuvre wheelchair while opening, height of thresholds 15mm or less; stairs, steps and handrails – same tread and rise throughout the stairs, nosing not protruding, tread at least 300mm, rise 150mm or less, 1300mm minimum or wider, if more than 12 steps, there should be a landing 1300mm long, handrails provided at a height of 900mm for both ends, width is 1300mm (1000mm if short); ramp – preferred gradient 1:20 but requested 1:12, if steeper than 1:12, alternative should be provided with stepped approach, length of landing should be 1300mm, not sloping more than 1:50, kerbs at edges 75mm, double handrails provided at height of 700 and 900mm, continuing 300mm at both ends of the ramp; elevator (lift) – the eternal lift space must be at least 1100mm wide x 1400mm clear depth internally and preferably 2000mm wide and 1400mm deep, there should be at clear space of at least 1500x1500mm in front of the lift, width should be 1800mm or more.
A 2019 research paper titled, ‘Access to Public Buildings by the Physically Challenged in Ibadan Metropolis,’ found that only 29 per cent of 14 banks sampled for the research provided ramps for the use of PWDs who make use of wheelchairs while their entrance doors were less than the required 900mm.
The research also noted that only 16.7 per cent of the 13 administrative buildings/offices sampled provided ramps while all three of the hospital facilities sampled provided enough facilities for entrance, doors and openings, ramps and lifts.
For the three educational buildings sampled, no provision was made for ramps, and slip-resistant surfaces were available, entrance doors were wide enough to accommodate wheelchair users and the height of the door thresholds were less than 15mm.
“When considering lifts, buildings that had four floors and above provided lift facilities while also fulfilling requirements for internal spaces. Thirty-three per cent of the social buildings satisfied the basic design requirements of entrance/exit and door and openings but failed to make provision for ramps to wheelchair users,” the research paper noted.
Developers don’t follow approved building plans – Commissioner
In an interview with Nigerian Tribune, the Oyo State Commissioner for Lands, Housing, Survey and Urban Development, Segun Olayiwola, said that his ministry does not give approval to building plans that are for public use if such plans do not accommodate features for ease of movement for persons with disabilities. He, however, said that developers submit different plans for approval while they go on to build a different structure.
“Part of the rule guiding the approval of building in Oyo State is that any public building that is just coming up, before it can be approved, must meet that standard. Every facility that needs to be provided must be provided, including walkway for the disabled and every accessory that should be attached to it must be there before approval is granted but you know people; they will get approval for something and they will do something else and when you are pursuing them they will be telling stories,” he said.
Olayiwola further assured that his ministry is working towards changing the narrative. “Very soon, an auditing group – physical auditing consultants – will be going out, even to residential buildings and public buildings particularly, to see the level of conformity to the physical planning standard. Even with buildings that are on the ground right now, we are working on the possibility of auditing the level of compliance with what they submitted to us and what was approved for them.
“One of the sharp practices we have observed is that they will bring in a plan for three or four bedrooms and when you get out there, you meet five bedrooms. That is a violation of the approval given to them. All of these are what we are going to be reassessing so that there will be at least a reasonable percentage of compliance out there. If you know that somebody can come around to check on you, then at least you will be careful.
“Now that I am here, I have told my people that approved plans must not stop at the beginning of the construction of buildings, but include before, when you are constructing and after completion.
“We really accommodate them (PWDs). We shouldn’t be having this conflict because we see them as disabled and we take care of them even more than those that assume that they are able. In public vehicles, we give them preference, in everything we give them preference and in physical planning that is exactly what we are doing. Every public building must make provision for the disabled,” Olayiwola said.
Law to be domesticated soon in Oyo State, amended to suit PWDs – governor’s aide
The Executive Assistant to the governor of Oyo State on Disability Matters, Ayodele Adekanmbi told Nigerian Tribune that the government was amending the Disability Act before adopting it in the state.
“We decided to amend that bill and we collated inputs from cluster groups such as the Association of the Deaf, Association of the Blind, Association of the Physically-Challenged People, Association of Persons with Intellectual Disability and Joint National Association of Persons with Disability. His Excellency directed that we should have their input, even those involved in disabled sports, the parents of people with disability and schools and the Association of Teachers of Persons with Disabilities.
“In that respect, that was what actually delayed our bill that will be passed in another three weeks because we have met with the Assembly, we spoke about the bill with the stakeholders last two weeks and as I speak, the Executive has passed it to the House of Assembly as an executive amendment.
“In the bill, we have just two years for public buildings to have access that will accommodate persons on wheelchairs, persons on crutches and visually impaired persons. Until we have that bill in Oyo State, we won’t be able to implement public access for persons with disability but as soon as we have that in two months we will begin serious awareness.
“Access to public buildings is the major problem because we realised that we do not have a disability. What gave us a serious barrier here in Nigeria for persons with disability is access to public buildings. You will imagine somebody in a wheelchair that has to go for a lecture on three, four, or five-storey buildings. It is degrading that they have to be carried by friends and colleagues,” Adekanmbi said.
‘I was brought up not to see myself as being disabled, I have it all’
Ronke (not real name) has had a physical deformity on her left leg since childhood and walks only with the right with the aid of crutches. As an accountant with a utility company in Ibadan, Ronke said she worked twice as hard as her “abled” counterparts to get to where she is in life because she was raised by her parents not to see herself as being disabled.
“The way you are brought up and the way you accept your environment will help you to see the ability or disability in you. I was brought up not to see myself as a disabled person. My parents didn’t send me to a disabled school; I went to a normal school from primary to tertiary without anybody helping me. So, when I go to public buildings, I don’t actually see that things like ramps or rails should be there because if I see others climbing those places, I will want to do so too.
“My parents inculcated it in me that there is nothing wrong with me and I have always seen myself as nothing is wrong with me, I can have it all. The way you carry yourself is the way society will accept you. I don’t look down on myself. Even to the kind of job and the choice of husband, I picked. I don’t wait for somebody to accept me; if you love me, you come nearer,” Ronke told Nigerian Tribune in her office while donning her ankle-length black gown and a black mid-heel mule.
‘The law is our final arbiter, our recourse’
The law is often referred to as the last hope of the common man and that is what the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act has come to signify for Nigerian women with disabilities.
“Passing the bill is the way out for us in this state. I have been telling people that if they like, let them not do what they are supposed to do now, when they pass the law, I will become a millionaire through this. If I come to your building or facility and it is not accessible to me, I will sue you. That is what the law says,” Adegoke said.
Ocheido believes that the law has helped in creating awareness about the rights of PWDs and with it, more can be achieved.
“We have some kind of support now. The law has helped in terms of awareness but we are still struggling with implementation where we have to enforce accessibility, enforce anti-discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, in different life situations.”
“The law will go a long way in addressing the issue on the ground because when the bill is passed, those that go against the law would be sanctioned, it will make people be on their toes, the society will become more responsive and respectful of the rights of persons with disabilities,” said Evang. Kayode.
“We are waiting to start aggressive awareness towards that as soon as our bill is passed so that people will know that they need to convert or modify their houses in such a way that it will accommodate persons with disabilities, especially those on wheelchairs and those using crutches.
“In the bill, we have the section where if you don’t comply, there is a certain amount that you will be paying monthly. It is part of access when we talk of the disabled park; a lot of people park wrongly and our people will be out there to get people to pay penalties and get some token for the government in the area of revenue,” said Adekanmbi.
Individuals and organisations are taking the lead
Through her non-profit foundation, Platinum Interventions Care Initiative, Ocheido, like many individuals, is helping PWDs lead better lives in a rather discriminatory society like Nigeria. She said through her #RampUpNigeria campaign, her organisation has installed ramps in over 100 public buildings, especially schools; given mobility aids to PWDs; trained women and girls in rural communities with disabilities in computer and technology skills.
Her focus on equipping schools is founded on her belief that “education is a transformative tool. If persons with disabilities can access education, they can have agency over their lives. When you have education, you understand better how you should be treated, you will be able to communicate your feelings and your thoughts better. You can be involved in decision-making processes, seek employment and seek independence.”
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE | https://tribuneonlineng.com/despite-signing-of-disability-act-women-with-physical-disabilities-still-need-help-accessing-public-buildings-amidst-discrimination/ | 2022-09-06T07:16:31Z | tribuneonlineng.com | control | https://tribuneonlineng.com/despite-signing-of-disability-act-women-with-physical-disabilities-still-need-help-accessing-public-buildings-amidst-discrimination/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Boris Johnson in last speech as PM urges U.K. to "get behind Liz Truss"
Boris Johnson departed the British prime minister's residence of 10 Downing Street for the final time as he headed to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth II to officially resign on Monday.
What he's saying: "It's time for politics to be over folks, it's time for us all to get behind Liz Truss and her team and deliver for the people of this country," the outgoing prime minister said of the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party.
- In his final speech as prime minister, Johnson blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war on Ukraine for the United Kingdom's surging energy costs, but said Truss and her government "will do everything they can to get through this crisis."
What we're watching: "On the subject of bouncing around in future careers, let me say that I am now like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function," Johnson said before getting in his car.
- "And I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific."
Flashback: How it all fell apart for Boris Johnson
Editor's note: This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates. | https://www.axios.com/2022/09/06/liz-truss-succeeds-boris-johnson-prime-minister-uk | 2022-09-06T07:32:25Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/2022/09/06/liz-truss-succeeds-boris-johnson-prime-minister-uk | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Journalist "treason" case raises new concerns over Russian dissent crackdown
A Russian court sentenced former investigative journalist Ivan Safronov to 22 years in prison on Monday after convicting him of treason charges.
The big picture: Rights groups and independent news outlets denounced Safronov's sentencing over "baseless" claims that he passed military secrets to Czech spies as they expressed concern over an "intensifying crackdown on dissent in Russia," per Radio Free Europe.
Background: Safronov reported for the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers going leaving journalism in May 2020 to become an adviser to the head of Russia's space agency, Roskosmos.
- He was arrested in July of that year and has always denied any wrongdoing.
What they're saying: The European Union issued a statement to its Telegram channel calling for the charges against Safronov to be dropped and for authorities to "release him unconditionally."
- The Committee to Protect Journalists in a statement calling for Safronov's release said he was "guilty of no other crime than doing his job as a journalist."
What's next: Safronov, who previously declined a plea deal, plans to appeal the verdict, the BBC reports.
Of note: Safronov's sentencing came the same day as a Russian court revoked the print license of the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, partially founded after funding from the late former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
- The paper's co-founder Dmitry Muratov was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, which he auctioned off for $103.5 million in a fundraiser for Ukrainian child refugees in New York City last June. | https://www.axios.com/2022/09/06/russian-journalist-safronov-22-year-prison-sentence-treason | 2022-09-06T07:32:31Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/2022/09/06/russian-journalist-safronov-22-year-prison-sentence-treason | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
There is one to take note of for the day, as highlighted in bold.
That being for EUR/USD near parity and the expiries there could act as a bit of a cap to price action on the day, though the 100 and 200-hour moving averages at 0.9973-80 will also be key near-term levels to be mindful about in the sessions ahead.
The euro is still being rather stubborn about a drop below 0.9900 and that remains the key downside level to watch on the daily chart at the moment.
For more information on how to use this data, you may refer to this post here. | https://www.forexlive.com/Orders/fx-option-expiries-for-6-september-10am-new-york-cut-20220906/ | 2022-09-06T07:33:51Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/Orders/fx-option-expiries-for-6-september-10am-new-york-cut-20220906/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
- Eurostoxx +0.5%
- Germany DAX +0.7%
- France CAC 40 +0.4%
- UK FTSE +0.2%
- Spain IBEX +0.7%
This mirrors the mood in US futures as we see equities sentiment pick up on the day. S&P 500 futures are now up 0.8%, Nasdaq futures up 1.1%, and Dow futures up 0.7% currently. Bond yields are also tracking higher with 10-year Treasury yields up nearly 8 bps to near 3.27% and that is underpinning USD/JPY to 141.45 at the moment - up 0.6% to its highest since 1998. | https://www.forexlive.com/news/european-equities-open-higher-to-start-the-day-20220906/ | 2022-09-06T07:33:57Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/news/european-equities-open-higher-to-start-the-day-20220906/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
- German DAX futures -0.1%
- UK FTSE futures -0.2%
After a drop yesterday, risk tones are fairly more tepid today with US futures also not reflecting much of a change on the day. Wall Street will have the final say but the lack of enthusiasm for now is keeping major currencies on edge, with the dollar sitting more mixed to start the session. The euro and pound are slightly higher against the greenback but the yen is trading down to fresh lows since 1998 against the dollar. | https://www.forexlive.com/news/eurostoxx-futures-02-in-early-european-trading-20220906/ | 2022-09-06T07:34:03Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/news/eurostoxx-futures-02-in-early-european-trading-20220906/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
UPPSALA, Sweden, Sept. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dong-A ST Co., Ltd. (170900: Korea SE), a Korean pharmaceutical company, and Beactica Therapeutics AB, a Swedish precision oncology company, today announced that they have mutually agreed to terminate their collaboration and licensing agreement. The collaboration focused on developing novel candidate compounds against multiple cancer targets of mutual interest. The partnership has been productive, and multiple compound classes are now in various stages of lead generation and optimization.
As part of the termination, both Dong-A ST and Beactica Therapeutics will gain exclusive global rights for further development and commercialization for different compounds series developed during the collaboration. No obligations to pay milestone payments or royalties will remain for the assets divided between Dong-A and Beactica. For a limited time, each company is entitled to a revenue share from any related future outlicensing activities by the other party. Full financial details remain undisclosed.
"We appreciate the opportunity we have had to collaborate with Beactica Therapeutics over the past five years. Our combined efforts have led to important breakthroughs," said Dr Jae-Hong Park, President and CSO of Dong-A ST. "We will continue to share with Beactica the ambition to make a clinical impact where it is urgently needed."
"We have valued the partnership with Dong-A and are pleased by what we have achieved together. Gaining exclusive global rights to certain compounds is perfectly aligned with Beactica's ambition to itself become a clinical-stage precision oncology company," said Dr Per Källblad, CEO of Beactica Therapeutics. "We are excited to now add these assets to our pipeline as wholly-owned programmes."
The collaboration between Dong-A ST and Beactica Therapeutics was initiated in October 2016 and expanded in December 2018. In December 2019, a key milestone was achieved.
About Dong-A ST
Dong-A ST Co., Ltd. specializes in the discovery, development, manufacture and markets pharmaceutical products and medical devices worldwide. The company offers various prescription drugs, including Stillen (Gastritis 2002); Zydena (Erectile dysfunction , 2005); Motilitone (Functional dyspepsia, 2011); Suganon (TZDM, 2016) as well as biologics and biosimilar products. Once-daily IV/oral Sivextro (Tedizolid, ABSSSI) was also developed by Dong-A ST which was approved by US FDA and launched in US (2014) and EU (2015) by global partners. Dong-A ST has a strong oncology R&D division with immuno-oncology and epigenetic pipeline. Dong-A ST Co., Ltd. was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is listed on the Korean stock exchange. For more information, visit www.donga-st.com.
About Beactica Therapeutics
Beactica Therapeutics AB is a precision oncology company committed to the fight against cancer. The company is advancing a pipeline of novel small molecule therapeutics to treat genetically defined cancers with significant unmet clinical need. Beactica's approach is centered around targeting disease proteins with synthetic lethality vulnerabilities by applying its molecular interaction-based drug discovery engine to generate novel small molecule across synergistic modalities, including allosteric modulators and targeted protein degraders (PROTACs). Beactica deliver value to patients and shareholders by advancing its programmes into early clinical trials. For more information on Beactica Therapeutics, please visit www.beactica.com.
Dong-A ST Co., Ltd. Contact
Hannah Lee
R&BD Team
e2191946@donga.co.kr
Tel: +82 31 260 5833
Beactica Therapeutics AB Contact
Per Källblad M.Sc. Ph.D.
CEO
per.kallblad@beactica.com
Tel: +46 18 56 08 80
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SOURCE Beactica Therapeutics AB | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/09/06/dong-a-st-beactica-therapeutics-mutually-agree-conclude-oncology-collaboration/ | 2022-09-06T07:40:20Z | witn.com | control | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/09/06/dong-a-st-beactica-therapeutics-mutually-agree-conclude-oncology-collaboration/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
- Company to break ground in October, complete construction in early 2025 with plan to invest 15 trillion won over 5 years
- M15X to be first new fab since company commemorated 10th anniversary this year
- Investment during economic downturn to lay foundation for future growth
SEOUL, South Korea, Sept. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- SK hynix Inc. (or "the company", www.skhynix.com) announced today that it will build the M15X(eXtension), a new fabrication plant, in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, in preparation for future growth.
The company will start construction of the M15 extension on the site it secured previously earlier than initially planned, considering various market situations.
The new plant will be built from October on the 60,000㎡ land located in the Cheongju Technopolis industrial complex and completed early 2025. A total of 15 trillion won will be injected over the next five years to build the fab and set up production facilities. The fab will be a two-story building equivalent to a combination of M11 and M12 in size.
As for the next M17 fab, the company will decide construction plan after reviewing overall business environment including changes in the semiconductor business cycle.
"Looking back on the past 10 years, SK hynix could grow into a global company as it boldly carried out investment during crisis," said Vice Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Park Jung-ho. "As we look to prepare for the next 10 years now, I believe starting the M15X will be a first step to lay foundation for a solid future growth."
SK hynix has so far solidified its leadership in the memory market through preemptive and bold investments despite rapid changes in business environment. In 2012, when the broader industry was scaling back investments and the company was in the red, SK hynix decided to increase investment by more than 10% compared with a year ago, resulting in a dramatic turnaround by the end of the year. Market uncertainties continued to linger, but in 2015, the company built the M14 fab in Icheon to prepare for the next boom in the memory business, which led to record-high financial results for two straight years from 2017.
Since it became a member of SK Group in 2012, SK hynix has pushed forward investments for the next 10 years in accordance with the Future Vision it has made public in 2015. The Vision was the company's pledge that it will invest 46 trillion won from 2014 to build three more fabrication plants including the M14 in Icheon. Such promise was met earlier than targeted following completion of the M15 in Cheongju and the M16 in Icheon in 2018 and 2021, respectively.
Demand for memory chips is rapidly falling in the wake of the global economic slowdown and instability of the supply chain, but experts foresee that the business will start to recover steadily from 2024 and rebound in 2025 as the memory business cycle is increasingly getting less volatile in recent years.
The plan to build the M15X comes as SK hynix prepares for the next upturn expected to come in 2025. With the construction of the M15X, the company will be ready to provide more memory chips when the industry enters a boom again.
About SK hynix Inc.
SK hynix Inc., headquartered in Korea, is the world's top tier semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips ("DRAM"), flash memory chips ("NAND flash") and CMOS Image Sensors ("CIS") for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company's shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxemburg Stock Exchange. Further information about SK hynix is available at www.skhynix.com, news.skhynix.com.
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SOURCE SK hynix Inc. | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/09/06/sk-hynix-build-m15x-fab-cheongju/ | 2022-09-06T07:40:53Z | witn.com | control | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/09/06/sk-hynix-build-m15x-fab-cheongju/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Chimpanzees, Bonobos Became Lonely and Sedentary During the Lockdown, Shows Study
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All primates hunger for sociability: humans, chimpanzees, baboons, bonobos. This desire for interaction was disrupted during the lockdown era of the pandemic, when confinement — both geographical and emotional — became the norm. This led to interesting behavioral patterns among some primates living in the captivity of zoos. Gorillas, for instance, became withdrawn and sedentary. Others, like olive baboons, tended to be more sexually and physically dominant in the way they passed their days.
Loneliness, reclusiveness, fatigue, and changes in libido weren’t just aspects that marked human behavior during an uncharacteristic time in our lives; other animals were impacted too, according to new research published in the journal Animals.
The researchers looked at the species living in a zoo and safari park in the U.K. in 2020, observing how bonobos, chimpanzees, baboons, and gorillas behaved. Another subsequent analysis followed up on this data, to see how the primates adapted after visitors returned to the zoos when lockdowns ended. The comparison was drawn to gauge if the primates’ lifestyles differed when they lived outside the gaze of visitor interactions.
“Primates are some of the most cognitively advanced species in zoos and their interactions with visitors are complex,” said Samantha Ward, a zoo animal welfare scientist at Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, one of the authors of the study.
It indeed is complex: because the lockdown did not have one singular impact on the population of animal species confined to zoos. Some animals, like the olive baboons, were socially stimulated after the lockdown period and chased more visitor cars. Chimpanzees and baboons had retreated to a more solitary lifestyle in the months of 2020; when the zoo reopened, they were eating more and were found to be more active. Even bonobos and gorillas had abandoned their reclusive habits and weren’t spending a lot of time alone after the lockdown.
But this is not to say that the lockdown-induced solitary behavior is a mark of gloom-ridden despondency, and that the return of visitors to zoos provided an emotional respite to animals. Arguably, bonobos not resting enough is not a good thing, for it is the activity of zoos that picked up that may have disrupted their lifestyles after the lockdown ended. The lockdown may have offered some respite from an otherwise overstimulating environment.
Related on The Swaddle
In a First, a Female Monkey Has Become the Alpha Leader in a Japanese Zoo
The present research echoes still a shift in behaviors among animal species globally. Reports as early as May 2020 reported that zoo animals, otherwise used to visitors, were getting “lonely” and “bored.”
“We have noticed that some of our more ‘social’ animals are not a fan of the stay-at-home and social distancing orders. Primates especially have noticed our guests are gone and go looking for them,” Linda Hardwick, communications director at Phoenix Zoo, told the BBC. In New Zealand, not yet accustomed to the absence of people, rhinos and giraffes were still showing up for their “meet the public” appointments – despite no public.
Arguably, the interaction with people does provide some form of enrichment to some animal species. Which explains why two chimpanzees in zoos in the Czech Republic took favorably upon being exposed to live streaming. In May last year, the staff set up daily Zoom calls for the primates, where they could virtually observe other apes at another zoo for several hours a day. “At the beginning, they approached the screen with defensive or threatening gestures…It has since moved into the mode of, ‘I am in the movies,’” said zookeeper Gabriela Linhartova. What Linhartova meant is chimpanzees are sitting down and grabbing snacks while getting their viewing of entertainment, just like humans.
Underneath it all was the necessary ways both zookeepers, staff, and the animals themselves had to adapt. In another zoo in the U.K., the staff fed grain to birds and regularly walking around the enclosures to ensure a sense of normalcy in the environment. Another aquarium in Japan had people FaceTiming its eel population so that they don’t “forget” about humans.
While the lockdown meant more initiative by zookeepers to make sure the animals are engaged, researchers of the present study also observed nifty ways in which the animals themselves adapted their physical environments. Gorillas changed the way they used their enclosures, perhaps as a preemptory action to reduce potential overstimulation by being in the same area.
“Behavioural changes and changes in enclosure use in the presence of visitors highlight the adaptability of zoo species to their environments,” explained Ellen Williams, a zoo animal welfare researcher at Harper Adams University, and another author of the study.
“We recommend that future work seeks to understand the impact individual differences and animal environments have on animals’ experiences with visitors.”
There is a pitfall in every research that claims that animals living in zoos are “lonely” without human interaction. It plays into the same ethically complex argument that zoos are “saving” animals, providing them a shelter, and keeping them engaged. But numerous reports and explorations have revealed the extent of abuse and inadequate habitats in these breeding programs. Wildlife is commodified for people’s entertainment and a local region’s economic health. The “loneliness” of primates is more morbid in this context: species are removed from their homes and displaced to such an extent that it becomes a moral imperative for these institutions to maintain a connection with human visitors.
British historian Fay Bound Alberti, in “A Biography of Loneliness: The History of an Emotion,” defined lonelinesss to be “a conscious, cognitive feeling of estrangement or social separation from meaningful others.” When meaning is artificially created, emotional connection yearns to find order in chaos. Loneliness then didn’t start with the lockdown — it may have been a socially engineered state of being for some. | https://theswaddle.com/chimpanzees-bonobos-became-lonely-and-sedentary-during-the-lockdown-shows-study/ | 2022-09-06T07:46:55Z | theswaddle.com | control | https://theswaddle.com/chimpanzees-bonobos-became-lonely-and-sedentary-during-the-lockdown-shows-study/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
New Cannabis Research Debunks the Myth of ‘Lazy Stoners’
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Pop culture is notorious for stereotyping most users of cannabis as “slothy, lazy, good-for-nothing hippie[s].” Think unforgettable fictitious personalities — from Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad to The Dude in The Big Lebowski — who have immortalized the stereotype that people who smoke weed are markedly sluggish. But here’s the problem: this assumption is based on… nothing.
“We’re so used to seeing ‘lazy stoners’ on our screens that we don’t stop to ask whether they’re an accurate representation of cannabis users,” said Martine Skumlien from the department of psychiatry at Cambridge University. Skumlien, along with other researchers, recently conducted a study that poked holes in the cultural myth of “lazy stoners,” saying, “Our work implies that [the myth] is in itself a lazy stereotype.”
Published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology recently, the study assessed whether cannabis users indeed scored higher in terms of “apathy” (loss of motivation) and “anhedonia” (loss of interest in or pleasure from rewards), as compared to non-users. Examining more than 200 participants, the researchers also checked if cannabis users were less willing to exert physical effort to obtain a reward — basically, yet another motivation check.
“We were surprised to see that there was really very little difference between cannabis users and non-users when it came to lack of motivation or lack of enjoyment, even among those who used cannabis every day,” Skumlien added.
Related on The Swaddle:
Cannabis Users Are Likely To Be Nicer, More Empathetic: Study
This isn’t the first time scientists have challenged — and debunked — the popular representation. A 2016 study had done the same, but it had a rather tiny dataset, including fewer than 100 people. Another study published last year — involving more than 2,000 participants — found that both frequent and light cannabis engaged in more physical activity than non-users did. It suggested the possibility that weed may actually encourage physical activity.
Yet, from Pineapple Express, Harold and Kumar, to Go Goa Gone, countless movies have led us to believe that cannabis-smokers are uninspired, unmotivated individuals. They zone out of reality to retreat into their heads, often while smoking up in dark, smoke-filled rooms. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Usain Bolt — retired sprinter, and once upon a time, the fastest man alive — has admitted to smoking marijuana in the past. Going against the tide of popular perception, the drug didn’t prevent him from a glorious sports career. Michael Phelps — an American swimmer described as “the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals” — has also, reportedly, used cannabis. Last year, Forbes sarcastically captioned his picture as saying, “Michael Phelps, a typical inactive cannabis user.”
“The pot-using body is stigmatized while the athletic body is valued and celebrated. The binary that constructs the drug user as bad and the healthy athletic body as normal, even exemplary, make[s] it difficult to understand marijuana users as anything but deviant people,” notes a paper from 2012.
Related on The Swaddle:
The Inability To Experience Pleasure Is Called Anhedonia. But Why Does It Occur?
In fact, according to the present study, while both users and non-users had similar motivation scores, cannabis users actually scored lower in the test measuring anhedonia levels than non-users — suggesting they’re able to enjoy themselves better than the latter set.
However, this isn’t an endorsement of marijuana. Not only is marijuana illegal in many countries, but also, smoking, one of the ways in which marijuana is commonly consumed, is really bad for health. In addition, cannabis can also mess with other medications one may be on. And so, unregulated use — especially that of non-medical marijuana that may be laced with toxic chemicals like pesticides — isn’t the best idea.
But herein lies the problem with the “lazy stoner” stereotype: it focuses on non-existent harms, rather than discussing actual risks, which could actually dilute the relevance of public messaging around cannabis use. Case in point: the “stoner sloth” anti-drug campaign in Australia that sought to discourage cannabis use by employing the same old stereotype. It resulted in the initiative being widely mocked and parodied on the internet, while experts also pulled out citing their disapproval of the hyperbolic stereotypes.
And so, Skulkien believes: “Unfair assumptions can be stigmatizing and could get in the way of messages around harm reduction. We need to be honest and frank about what are and are not the harmful consequences of drug use.” | https://theswaddle.com/new-cannabis-research-debunks-the-myth-of-lazy-stoners/ | 2022-09-06T07:47:03Z | theswaddle.com | control | https://theswaddle.com/new-cannabis-research-debunks-the-myth-of-lazy-stoners/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Scientists Used Crab Shells to Make Safe, Sustainable Batteries
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Almost everything today is powered by batteries: phones, fleets of vehicles, clean energy projects. These have a long lifespan and immense storage capacity. But there’s a fatal flaw in their persistent use: currently made of lithium, batteries take hundreds of thousands of years to degrade, and the way they are disposed of currently poses an environmental risk.
Researchers recently chanced upon an alternate source — one that uses a material found in crab shells — to store energy. In a study published this month in the journal Matter, a group of scientists from the University of Maryland and the University of Houston demonstrated a way to make eco-friendly zinc-based batteries using the exoskeletons of crabs and other crustaceans.
The research is significant in suggesting an effective alternative to lithium-ion batteries. If replicated large-scale, this experiment holds the potential to shift the world to a much safer and environmentally friendly approach to storing and harnessing energy.
The environmental costs of lithium have to do with the fact that it is a finite mineral and is extracted through extensive mining. Additionally, lithium batteries also carry a fire risk — improperly manufactured lithium-ion batteries, especially in electrical vehicles but also in electronic devices — can cause fires frequently. Unlike lithium, however, zinc occurs abundantly on the earth’s crust, making zinc-based batteries more cost-effective, safer to use, and friendlier to the environment. Crab shells can help with that.
In this present study, the scientists relied on crustacean exoskeletons — shells of crabs, lobsters, and shrimps — easily obtained from seafood waste. They found a naturally occurring substance called chitosan — presently used in agriculture as a biopesticide, in winemaking as a fining agent, and in medicine as a component for bandages and as a drug agent — to be useful in the development of alternate materials for batteries. The scientists developed the substance into a gel electrolyte — that circumvented the stability issue with earlier models of zinc-air batteries — and made partly biodegradable batteries whose ends were made of zinc.
On testing these new batteries, scientists found that they demonstrated impressive performance and exceptional cyclical stability, i.e. the cycle life or the number of charge and discharge cycles that a battery can go through without losing its performance power. These batteries are also safer for the environment than lithium-based batteries. The degradable components in the present chitosan-zinc battery can degrade in five to six months, while the zinc itself can be recycled. “…the chitosan-Zn electrolyte is non-flammable and biodegradable, making the proposed Zn-metal battery appealing in terms of safety and sustainability, demonstrating the promise of sustainable biomaterials for green and efficient energy-storage systems,” the researchers write.
Scientists have frequently touted zinc as a possible alternative to lithium. Earlier research has also tried to demonstrate the power and cost-effectiveness of zinc-based batteries. While these factors make zinc an attractive alternative to lithium, one limitation with zinc-based batteries is that they suffer from a short life cycle and are usually not rechargeable.
Related on The Swaddle:
Reusing Seafood Shells Could Be the Solution to Curbing Plastic Production, Ocean Waste
Understanding how batteries in general, and zinc-based batteries in particular, work shows why zinc batteries weren’t already in use. Batteries have three parts: the cathode or positive electrode, the anode or negative electrode, and the electrolyte which acts as a medium of transportation of ions between the two electrodes. The transportation of electrons from the anode to the cathode generates power. In most batteries, the electrolytes are a liquid or semi-liquid alkaline substance.
Zinc-air batteries work by absorbing the oxygen from the surrounding air, which eventually oxidizes (or corrodes) the anode to produce electricity. The corrosion, however, makes the battery unrechargeable. Some earlier studies have tried to work around this problem of corrosion. These include making the alkaline, pasty electrolyte in zinc more liquid and less alkaline, and adding rare-earth minerals as electrocatalysts — substances that can catch electricity in a more stable way and pass it on to the zinc — to ensure a better flow. Chitosan-based electrolyte, then, is a new and promising alternative that could make the batteries more sustainable.
Other alternatives to lithium for batteries that researchers have tried exploring in recent times include calcium, salt, hemp, magnesium, and aluminum. More research is required to reach a conclusion about considering either zinc or one of these materials as a suitable alternative to the use of lithium. But crab-shelled zinc-based batteries stand out as being one of the most suitable alternative options because they are almost entirely degradable.
“… zinc ions to the chitosan structure, which bolstered its physical strength. Combined with the zinc ends, the addition also boosted the battery’s effectiveness. This design means that two-thirds of the battery is biodegradable,” explained Rahul Rao in PopSci.com.
In a press release, Lianbing Hu, corresponding author of the study, reflected a similar statement, as he noted, “In the future, I hope all components in batteries are biodegradable.”
Energy demands will only rise as both human dependence on technology, and the global population itself, increase. Given the situation, it is imperative that researchers keep exploring safer, healthier options to the current lithium-ion model. “Largely experimental today, these rechargeable batteries could one day form the backbone of an energy storage system,” added Rao. | https://theswaddle.com/scientists-used-crab-shells-to-make-safe-sustainable-batteries/ | 2022-09-06T07:47:10Z | theswaddle.com | control | https://theswaddle.com/scientists-used-crab-shells-to-make-safe-sustainable-batteries/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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