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NIAGARA FALLS — The YWCA of the Niagara Frontier will present its 2022 Niagara Awards: A Tribute To Women on Sept. 27 at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel.
Ten women will be recognized in nine categories: Art, Madonna Pannell; education, Sr. Elizabeth Neumeister; emerging leader, Grace Platt; entrepreneur, Dr. Melissa Flint; frontline, Joan Rocco; health and human services, Dr. Helen Hess Cappuccino; management, Marg Domagalski and Joyce Miles; military/first responder, Annie Barnes McCray; and social change agent, Dr. Rolanda Ward.
In addition, William Keith McNall will be honored posthumously as the recipient of the Friend of the YWCA Award and Patricia Barry will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Niagara Awards program was created in 1997 by the YWCA Board of Directors as a biannual event to recognize the achievements of women in Niagara County. In 2004, the event was recreated as an annual fundraising dinner recognizing women from all parts of Niagara and Erie counties and consisting of nine individual award categories. Proceeds of the dinner help fund the YWCA's domestic violence and rape crisis programs.
A Tribute To Women will be ongoing from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Doubletree by Hilton, 401 Buffalo Ave. To reserve seats, or for more information about the Niagara Awards, visit https://ywcaniagarafrontier.org/niagara-awards/ or call 716-433-6714, extension 241. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/community/ywcas-2022-tribute-to-women-slated-for-sept-27/article_9fd405b0-3458-11ed-8da9-7ba1ee2af886.html | 2022-09-14T22:52:31Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/community/ywcas-2022-tribute-to-women-slated-for-sept-27/article_9fd405b0-3458-11ed-8da9-7ba1ee2af886.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Few diseases are as cruelly debilitating as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). But a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee last week gave patients a glimmer of hope by backing a new treatment that can slow their decline and provide precious more time to live.
ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neuro-degenerative affliction that gradually robs people of their ability to function. It afflicts about 30,000 patients in the U.S. with 5,000 new cases each year. Patients typically live only two years after a diagnosis as they lose their ability to control essential muscle movements and eventually to chew and breathe.
Scientists don’t fully understand what causes the disease, and there are only two approved treatments. Neither has shown to both extend life and slow functional decline. But Amylyx Pharmaceuticals’ experimental drug did both in a small Phase 2 trial. Patients treated with the drug lived on average 4.8 to 11 months longer than those who weren’t and experienced 25% slower functional decline over 24 weeks.
However, an FDA advisory committee in March voted 6-4 against approving the drug. Many members wanted to wait for results from Amylyx’s Phase 3 trial, which likely won’t be complete until late next year or early 2024. They worried that approving the drug would give patients false hope if the Phase 3 results prove less beneficial. Our guess is that patients will take their chances on any hope.
FDA leaders appeared inclined but reluctant to approve the drug after the political lashing they took for overruling their advisory committee last year to approve Biogen’s experimental Alzheimer’s drug. Billy Dunn, the FDA chief of neuroscience, was pounded by the public-health left for urging regulatory flexibility amid positive but inconclusive trial results.
The FDA earlier this summer made an unusual decision to let Amylyx submit more trial data and reconvene its advisory committee for a second look. Canadian regulators in June approved the drug on condition Amylyx completes the Phase 3 trial, which prompted some patients to consider heading north to obtain the drug. What an embarrassment for the U.S.
The U.S. is the world’s leading pharmaceutical innovator, and Americans typically get access to more novel treatments, and sooner, than patients in countries with government-run health systems. But the public-health left is campaigning to limit access to expensive new treatments, and Amylyx’s ALS drug was nearly caught in the cross-hairs.
The good news is that advisory members appeared to have been moved at their recent meeting by wrenching testimony from ALS patients and the doctors who treat them. Patients who received the drug said it helped stabilize their conditions and live independently. One could even go hiking.
Dr. Dunn rose in support of patients and urged members to show the broadest flexibility, notwithstanding an FDA staff report that was somewhat critical of Amylyx’s results. Advisory members voted 7-2 in favor of approval. It’s notable that one of the no votes, Johns Hopkins internist Caleb Alexander, was also a leading critic of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug.
The advisory committee’s support should give FDA the political cover it was apparently seeking to approve the drug. But the battle over FDA drug approvals will continue, so patients will have to keep fighting to live another day. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/guestview/article_e0738aa8-3464-11ed-a037-fbc673071621.html | 2022-09-14T22:52:37Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/guestview/article_e0738aa8-3464-11ed-a037-fbc673071621.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Rev. Matt Curry's parents were children of the Great Depression, just like "The Waltons" — the beloved TV family whose prime-time series premiered 50 years ago.
When Curry was growing up on a farm in northern Texas, his carpenter father and teacher mother often argued playfully over who had a poorer childhood.
"The Depression was the seminal time of their lives — the time that was about family and survival and making it through," said Curry, now a 59-year-old Presbyterian pastor in Owensboro, Kentucky. "My dad used to talk about how his dad would go work out of town and send $5 a week to feed and clothe the family."
So when "The Waltons," set in 1932 and running through World War II, debuted on CBS on Sept. 14, 1972, the Currys identified closely with the storylines. Millions of others felt the same, and the Thursday night drama about a Depression-era family in rural Virginia became one of TV's most popular and enduring programs.
At a time when the networks generally avoided "dangerous" content, "The Waltons" was notable for taking on difficult topics — religion, in particular — said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture.
"I think it was an important show, and I think it actually doesn't get the attention that it deserves," Thompson said.
"'The Waltons' really did get down and roll around in some very, very serious spiritual themes," he added. "For example, an atheist comes to town, and we get this whole discussion between atheism and spirituality."
"The Waltons" ran for nine seasons and 221 episodes, ranking as high as No. 2 in the Nielsen ratings. A half-century later it still stirs nostalgia among loyal fans who can't resist taking in cable TV reruns, binging episodes via streaming apps and keeping up with former stars through social media.
Based on the life of its creator, the late Earl Hamner Jr., the show followed a large extended family living in a white, two-story farmhouse and running a sawmill in the fictional Blue Ridge foothills town of Walton's Mountain. The parents, grandparents and seven children — John Jr., Jason, Mary Ellen, Erin, Ben, Jim-Bob and Elizabeth — were depicted wearing overalls and dresses, praying at meals and overcoming adversity through hard work and grace.
"The Waltons" focused on John Jr., known as John-Boy, played by Richard Thomas and modeled on Hamner. The oldest sibling, he aspired to be a writer and experience the world beyond his humble upbringing.
Now 71 and starring as lawyer Atticus Finch in a touring production of "To Kill a Mockingbird," Thomas said he still hears fans call "Good night, John-Boy!" after each performance. The familiar catchphrase pays homage to the Emmy-winning role that made him famous.
"It's kind of astonishing that we're still talking about a show 50 years later," said Thomas, who narrates "A Waltons Thanksgiving," a made-for-TV movie airing this fall on the CW network.
"To have that kind of longevity and then have it mean enough for people to want to do a new version of it — I'm not sure exactly why," he added. "I know it affected a lot of people's lives. But I think primarily Earl Hamner's writing was just so great and the cast loved each other so much and we were so committed."
John-Boy had a lot to do with the show's popularity — and inspired many a crush back then among fans like Jerri Harrington, now 67, of Centreville, Virginia.
Harrington still watches an episode every night with her husband of 47 years. During the frightening early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, its characters — particularly grandma Esther, played by the late Ellen Corby — brought a sense of comfort and return to childhood.
"It just feels familiar," said Harrington, a grandmother herself.
Another lifelong fan, Carol Jackson, like Curry the daughter of Depression-era parents, sees her own family's story reflected.
She became a fan as a kindergartner and as an adult placed "Waltons" DVDs in the resort cabins that her family operated in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas. The homespun stories still connect with the 55-year-old mother of three.
"I just told my kids, 'One day when I'm old and in my wheelchair … just wheel me in front of 'The Waltons' on a continual loop, and I'll be happy,'" Jackson said.
Kami Cotler, who was 6 years old when she first starred as youngest sibling Elizabeth in a 1971 holiday TV movie that launched the series, still interacts regularly with such fans via her Facebook page, which has nearly 150,000 followers.
Cotler said "The Waltons" shared "universal truths" that help explain its lasting popularity.
"The show frequently told really simple human stories that resonate with people because that's what life is like," said Cotler, now an educator in Southern California. "People will joke that it was very saccharine sweet, but I don't think that it actually was."
On the show, parents John Walton Sr. and Olivia Walton — played, respectively, by the late Ralph Waite, an ordained minister in real life, and Michael Learned — frequently clashed over their differing approaches to God. Olivia was a devout Baptist, but John Sr. was not a churchgoer.
"I've always looked for God in my own way," he said in one episode.
An ongoing theme was the appearance in Walton's Mountain of an outsider — a Jewish family fleeing Nazi persecution, a Black boxer and preacher raising money for a new church, a Hollywood actress who smoked and drank — who met a mixed reception.
In 1972's "The Sinner" episode, a young pastor played by the late John Ritter arrived preaching fire-and-brimstone Bible verses. But he inadvertently became intoxicated after drinking too much of the "secret recipe" served by the Baldwin sisters, two prim and proper recurring characters who didn't seem to realize they were bootleggers.
After the mishap touched off something of a scandal, John Sr. made a rare appearance at church and pointed to Jesus' words from John 8:7: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."
"The religious aspect of the show had to do with the fact that Earl Hamner was talking about a time and a place ... where those issues were very much in play," said Thomas, now a grandfather of four. "I mean, in a small community in the mountains of Virginia in the Depression, if you don't deal with the church aspect of things, then you don't deal with things as they were."
Over the show's long run, the Waltons and their neighbors learned valuable lessons about overcoming differences and treating everyone with love and respect. Those lessons, Cotler said, "are perhaps even more relevant today."
On a personal note, Cotler, a secular Jew, credits grandpa Zeb, played by the late Will Geer, with teaching her how to sing church songs on the show.
Curry, the Kentucky pastor, said "The Waltons" reflected how Jesus often rebukes religious people for hypocrisy in the Bible, while commending an unexpected person — such as a Samaritan who helped a stranger — for showing love and grace.
The show "talked about religion and faith … in a way that does not demean people," Curry said. "There's something in there that we are missing today, and it's the sense of community, of unity, of battling through hard times." | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/lifestyles/at-50-tvs-the-waltons-still-stirs-fans-love-nostalgia/article_36127356-347a-11ed-9aea-3b620e91a490.html | 2022-09-14T22:52:43Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/lifestyles/at-50-tvs-the-waltons-still-stirs-fans-love-nostalgia/article_36127356-347a-11ed-9aea-3b620e91a490.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ROCHESTER — Voting opened Wednesday on which toys should go into the National Toy Hall of Fame this year. The class of 2022 finalists are: bingo, Breyer Horses, Catan, Lite-Brite, Nerf Toys, Masters of the Universe, piñata, Phase 10, Pound Puppies, Rack-O, Spirograph, and the top.
“These 12 toys span the history of play. The top is as old as civilization itself and bingo has been played in some form for hundreds of years,” said Christopher Bensch, vice president for collections at The Strong museum in Rochester, where the hall of fame is housed.
The public is invited to vote online through Sept. 21. The three toys that receive the most public votes will make up a single “Player's Choice” ballot. That ballot will be counted alongside those turned in by a national selection committee whose members include industry experts, academics and others.
The inductees will be announced Nov. 10.
“All 12 of these toys have what it takes to be contenders for the class of 2022,” Bensch said.
Anyone can nominate a toy for the annual honor, but to be recognized by the hall of fame, toys have to have achieved icon status, longevity and foster learning or discovery. They also must have changed play or toy design.
The National Toy Hall of Fame opened at The Strong in 1998. So far, 77 toys have been inducted, from simple favorites like the paper airplane, bubbles and sidewalk chalk to the even more ubiquitous, including the stick and cardboard box.
Last year's honorees were American Girl Dolls, Risk, and sand. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/lifestyles/bingo-lite-brite-nerf-among-toy-hall-of-fame-finalists/article_4dd34d06-346d-11ed-af4b-0f07e055d282.html | 2022-09-14T22:52:49Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/lifestyles/bingo-lite-brite-nerf-among-toy-hall-of-fame-finalists/article_4dd34d06-346d-11ed-af4b-0f07e055d282.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NEW YORK — A onetime aide to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sued him Wednesday, saying he sexually harassed her and then smeared her reputation after she became the second woman to publicly accuse him of misconduct.
Charlotte Bennett's lawsuit, filed in a federal court in New York City, repeats many of the allegations she has talked about publicly in the year and a half since she first began telling her story.
She said the governor subjected her to unwanted advances, including telling her he was “lonely” and on the hunt for a girlfriend and asking her if she would be open to sex with an older man.
The lawsuit is at least the second to be filed by one of the multiple women who accused Cuomo of sexual harassment before the scandal led to his resignation last summer. Bennett has also sued three Cuomo aides.
The suit seeks unspecified damages, saying Bennett experienced near-debilitating anxiety, symptoms of depression and a neurological disorder after a barrage of inappropriate comments by the governor spoiled her job as a health policy adviser in the governor’s administration.
In a statement, Cuomo attorney Rita Glavin said Cuomo “has always said he didn’t harass anyone and with each day that goes by more and more information is uncovered showing how evidence favorable to the Governor was suppressed and crucial facts ignored or omitted that undermined witness credibility."
“We’ll see them in court,” she added.
Cuomo resigned after New York's attorney general released the results of an investigation that concluded Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women, including Bennett.
Those women had told of being subjected to unwanted kisses and touches, or inappropriate comments about their looks and their sex lives. One aide filed a criminal complaint alleging that Cuomo had groped her breast. The charge was later dropped by the Albany district attorney, who cited a lack of proof. Cuomo denied the allegation.
Bennett played a critical role in Cuomo's downfall. At the time she came forward with her accusations, only one other woman, Lindsey Boylan, had spoken publicly about being harassed by the governor.
By adding her voice, Bennett emboldened other women to speak up.
“I was really scared to come forward,” Bennett later told The Associated Press. “But something that reassured me even in that moment of fear was that there were women before me … (it wasn’t) Charlotte versus the governor, but a movement, moving forward. And I am one small event and one small piece of reckoning with sexual misconduct, in workplaces and elsewhere.”
When Bennett initially told her story to The New York Times, Cuomo appeared to acknowledge that he had hurt her with comments inappropriate for a workplace, but denied that he was making sexual advances. He claimed Bennett had misinterpreted his comments.
Bennett, who turned 25 when she worked for Cuomo, said she had no doubt that Cuomo's comments — some of which were delivered in a whisper — were intended to probe her interest in a sexual relationship.
Bennett's lawsuit came a day after Cuomo filed an ethics complaint against New York Attorney General Letitia James, claiming the sexual harassment investigation she launched against the governor was biased and intended to drive him from office.
In February, Cuomo was sued by a New York State Police trooper who said Cuomo subjected her to sexual remarks and on occasion ran his hand or fingers across her stomach and her back. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/ex-aide-who-alleged-sexual-harassment-sues-andrew-cuomo/article_efcb87dc-346c-11ed-823d-27b8eb58881a.html | 2022-09-14T22:52:56Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/ex-aide-who-alleged-sexual-harassment-sues-andrew-cuomo/article_efcb87dc-346c-11ed-823d-27b8eb58881a.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The Town of Newfane is taking a second run at a $10 million state Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant, undeterred by the state's rejection of its 2021 application.
The DRI program is in its sixth round. The state's 10 Regional Economic Development Councils will select 10 new communities in which to invest $10 million. The City of Lockport is a past winner of a DRI grant.
Newfane's interest in the grant is largely the same as it was a year ago. The town is seeking to make improvements to the Olcott waterfront area, such as improving ADA compliance and the quality of wifi service. Supervisor John Syracuse said that while the town hasn’t received too much criticism about ADA accessibility in Olcott, complaints occasionally do come in about the internet access there.
“There have been general statements saying that we should increase the amount of ADA compliant parking spaces, and we’ve done that, there’s eight down there now,” said Syracuse. “The general complaints about the wifi are systemic to rural communities. We just don’t have good broadband out here.”
Members of the Olcott Beach Community Association were invited to a Tuesday town board work session to provide input on the grant request.
OBCA Secretary Karen Young said such improvements would benefit local residents as much as tourists.
“The wifi and ADA accessibility is important to many of our members, because community members use a lot of these public facilities as well,” she said.
Syracuse said the main difference between this year's application and the 2021 application is the addition of a proposal to enhance east and west pier access in Olcott. A temporary easement to the east pier was arranged in an agreement that the town struck with David Hedley while his hotel is under construction. The west pier has an easement by prior agreement of the town and the Olcott Yacht Club.
Other improvements that were mentioned at the work session include a service center, sidewalks along Lake Road (Route 18), electric vehicle charging stations for Krull Park, new lights and signs, rooftop solar arrays, dock reconfiguration, and repaving of parking lots. It was also recommended that the Olcott Beach Lighthouse have more seating and improved wifi.
“These projects were completely vetted during last year's application process,” said Syracuse. “Going off of that vetting process we started with our own town tourism committee, and they’ve agreed on the importance of these projects ... .”
The DRI grant application is due to the state on Sept. 23. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/newfane-trying-again-for-a-10m-revitalization-grant/article_7326de66-3467-11ed-8715-636207df6fda.html | 2022-09-14T22:53:02Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/newfane-trying-again-for-a-10m-revitalization-grant/article_7326de66-3467-11ed-8715-636207df6fda.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A high-profile labor organizer has resigned from Starbucks, saying the company forced her out because of her union leadership.
Jaz Brisack, a barista who helped lead the unionization of a store in downtown Buffalo, New York, late last year, said Wednesday that her last day at the company will be Sept. 18. The vote at Brisack’s store kicked off a movement; since then, at least 238 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
In a letter to her manager, which Brisack shared with The Associated Press, Brisack said Starbucks has refused to accommodate her availability requests for seven months. Brisack said that has hurt morale at the store, where her co-workers have had to cover for her when she is absent.
“Starbucks has deliberately made my continued employment at the company impossible,” said Brisack, who has worked at the company for nearly two years.
Seattle-based Starbucks said it tried to balance Brisack’s scheduling requests with the store’s staffing needs. The company said Brisack was working around 20 hours per week until May, when she told the store she was only available for 6.5 hours on one day per week. Starbucks said that wasn’t approved because it didn’t meet the store’s needs.
“We work to treat every partner equally, balancing their scheduling requests with the business and customer needs of the store,” Starbucks spokesman Reggie Borges said.
Brisack said her request wasn't unusual, and many people work at Starbucks only one or two days per week. Borges said schedules vary by store, but Brisack's store is already so understaffed that it often has to close early.
Starbucks doesn’t support the unionization effort. But Borges said no employee is treated differently or disciplined because of their support for unions.
Brisack said at least 10 of her co-workers have been fired by the company over the last year. In June, the NLRB filed a federal court case in New York seeking the reinstatement of seven pro-union workers who were fired from a store in Buffalo.
The NLRB has also charged Starbucks with interfering with workers’ right to organize in Memphis, Tennessee, where the company fired seven workers in February. A federal judge in Memphis recently ordered Starbucks to reinstate those workers while the NLRB case plays out.
But the NLRB lost a similar case in June, when a federal judge in Phoenix denied the agency’s request to force Starbucks to rehire three workers.
Workers United, the union backing the Starbucks drive, said Wednesday that it has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Starbucks on Brisack’s behalf.
Brisack said she expects the NLRB will order Starbucks to reinstate her. In the meantime, she will remain on the bargaining committee for her store and will continue to work with Workers United to organize other Starbucks stores. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/starbucks-labor-organizer-resigns-from-buffalo-store/article_bcf4d88a-346d-11ed-a54e-639f1361512c.html | 2022-09-14T22:53:08Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/local_news/starbucks-labor-organizer-resigns-from-buffalo-store/article_bcf4d88a-346d-11ed-a54e-639f1361512c.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II has left Buckingham Palace for the last time, her casket borne to Westminster Hall by a horse-drawn gun carriage in a somber procession. Her son, King Charles III, and his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and her crown resting on a purple velvet pillow. At Westminster Hall, crowds shuffled in two lines past her coffin well into the night. Many bowed or curtseyed and some were in tears. Hundreds of thousands expected to pay their respects. The queen will lie in state until her funeral on Monday.
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LONDON (AP) — The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace for the last time Wednesday, borne on a horse-drawn carriage and saluted by cannons and the tolling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through the flag-draped, crowd-lined streets of London to Westminster Hall. There, Britain’s longest-serving monarch will lie in state for the world to mourn.
Her son, King Charles III, and his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and her crown resting on a purple velvet pillow.
The military procession from the palace underscored Elizabeth’s seven decades as head of state as the national mourning process shifted to the grand boulevards and historic landmarks of the U.K. capital.
Crowds shuffled past her coffin in the center of 900-year-old Westminster Hall well into the night. People flowed in two lines, with hundreds of thousands expected to pay their respects before her state funeral Monday.
They moved silently in a steady pace down the steps of the hall under a great stained glass window, then past the coffin that was covered with the Royal Standard and had been placed on a raised platform known as a catafalque by eight pallbearers.
There were couples and parents with children, veterans with medals clinking on navy blue blazers, lawmakers and members of the House of Lords. Some wore black or suits and ties, others jeans and sneakers, and all had waited hours to stand in front of the coffin for a few moments
Many bowed or curtseyed and some were in tears.
Thousands who had waited for the procession for hours along The Mall outside the palace and other locations along the route held up phones and cameras, and some wiped away tears, as the casket rolled by. Applause broke out as it passed through Horse Guards Parade. Thousands more in nearby Hyde Park watched on large screens.
The coffin was topped with the Imperial State Crown — encrusted with almost 3,000 diamonds — and a bouquet of flowers and plants, including pine from the Balmoral Estate, where Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96.
Two officers and 32 troops from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards in red uniforms and bearskin hats walked on either side of the gun carriage. The 38-minute procession ended at Westminster Hall, where Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby led a service attended by Charles and other royals.
"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you," Welby read from the Book of John.
After a short service, the captain of The Queen’s Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, assisted by a senior sergeant, laid the royal standard of the regiment on the steps of the catafalque.
Four officers from the Household Cavalry -– two from the Life Guards and two from the Blues Royals -– began the vigil, taking their places at each corner and bowing their heads.
Thousands had queued up along the banks of the River Thames, waiting to enter the hall and pay their respects to the only monarch most Britons have ever known after her 70 years on the throne.
Esther Ravenor, a Kenyan who lives in the U.K. said she was humbled as she watched the procession.
“I love the queen, I love the royal family, and you know, I had to be here,” she said. "She is a true role model. She loved us all, all of us. Especially someone like me, a migrant woman coming to the U.K. 30 years ago, I was allowed to be here and to be free and safe, so I really honor her. She was a big part of my life.”
Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, of the Household division, who organized the ceremonial aspects of the queen’s funeral, said it was “our last opportunity to do our duty for the queen, and it’s our first opportunity to do it for the king, and that makes us all very proud.”
Troops involved in the procession had been preparing since the queen died. So had the horses of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
Sgt. Tom Jenks said the horses were specially trained, including how to handle weeping mourners, as well as flowers and flags being tossed in front of the procession.
Heathrow Airport temporarily halted flights, saying it would “ensure silence over central London as the ceremonial procession moves from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.”
President Joe Biden spoke Wednesday with Charles to offer his condolences, the White House said.
Biden recalled “the Queen’s kindness and hospitality" she hosted them and the first lady at Windsor Castle in June, the statement said. “He also conveyed the great admiration of the American people for the Queen, whose dignity and constancy deepened the enduring friendship and special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”
Crowds have lined the route of the queen’s coffin whenever it has been moved in its long journey from Scotland to London. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/queen-elizabeth-ii-lies-in-state-as-crowds-pay-respects/article_0ab71b36-346f-11ed-b511-2f89d252db9c.html | 2022-09-14T22:53:14Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/queen-elizabeth-ii-lies-in-state-as-crowds-pay-respects/article_0ab71b36-346f-11ed-b511-2f89d252db9c.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
TikTok may be the platform of choice for catchy videos, but anyone using it to learn about COVID-19, climate change or Russia's invasion of Ukraine is likely to encounter misleading information, according to a research report published Wednesday.
Researchers at NewsGuard searched for content about prominent news topics on TikTok and say they found that nearly 1 in 5 of the videos automatically suggested by the platform contained misinformation.
Searches for information about “mRNA vaccine," for instance, yielded five videos (out of the first 10) that contained misinformation, including baseless claims that the COVID-19 vaccine causes “permanent damage in children's critical organs.”
Researchers looking for information about abortion, the 2020 election, the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, climate change or Russia's invasion of Ukraine on TikTok found similarly misleading videos scattered among more accurate clips.
The amount of misinformation — and the ease with which it can be found — is especially troubling given TikTok's popularity with young people, according to Steven Brill, founder of NewsGuard, a firm that monitors misinformation.
TikTok is the second most popular domain in the world, according to online performance and security company Cloudflare, exceeded only by Google.
Brill questioned whether ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, is doing enough to stop misinformation or whether it deliberately allows misinformation to proliferate as a way to sow confusion in the U.S. and other Western democracies.
“It's either incompetence or it's something worse,” Brill told The Associated Press.
TikTok released a statement in response to NewsGuard's report noting that its community guidelines prohibit harmful misinformation and that it works to promote authoritative content about important topics like COVID-19.
“We do not allow harmful misinformation, including medical misinformation, and we will remove it from the platform,” the company said.
TikTok has taken other steps that it says are intended to direct users to trustworthy sources. This year, for example, the company created an election center to help U.S. voters find voting places or information about candidates.
The platform removed more than 102 million videos that violated its rules in the first quarter of 2022. Yet only a tiny percentage of those ran afoul of TikTok's rules against misinformation.
Researchers found that TikTok's own search tool seems designed to steer users to false claims in some cases. When researchers typed the words “COVID vaccine" into the search tool, for instance, the tool suggested searches on key words including “COVID vaccine exposed" and "COVID vaccine injury."
When the same search was run on Google, however, that search engine suggested searches relating to more accurate information about vaccine clinics, the different types of vaccines and booster shots.
TikTok's rise in popularity has caught the attention of state officials and federal lawmakers, some of whom have expressed concerns about its data privacy and security.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on social media's impact on the nation's security. TikTok's chief operating officer, Vanessa Pappas, is set to testify alongside representatives from YouTube, Twitter and Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/report-tiktok-search-results-riddled-with-misinformation/article_952d00aa-346f-11ed-a10f-cbc5519a6ec4.html | 2022-09-14T22:53:20Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/report-tiktok-search-results-riddled-with-misinformation/article_952d00aa-346f-11ed-a10f-cbc5519a6ec4.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GENEVA — The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that the number of coronavirus deaths worldwide last week was the lowest reported in the pandemic since March 2020, marking what could be a turning point in the years-long global outbreak.
At a press briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world has never been in a better position to stop COVID-19.
“We are not there yet, but the end is in sight,” he said, comparing the effort to that made by a marathon runner nearing the finish line. “Now is the worst time to stop running,” he said. “Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap all the rewards of our hard work.”
In its weekly report on the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said deaths fell by 22% in the past week, at just over 11,000 reported worldwide. There were 3.1 million new cases, a drop of 28%, continuing a weeks-long decline in the disease in every part of the world.
Still, the WHO warned that relaxed COVID testing and surveillance in many countries means that many cases are going unnoticed. The agency issued a set of policy briefs for governments to strengthen their efforts against the coronavirus ahead of the expected winter surge of COVID-19, warning that new variants could yet undo the progress made to date.
“If we don’t take this opportunity now, we run the risk of more variants, more deaths, more disruption, and more uncertainty," Tedros said.
The WHO reported that the omicron subvariant BA.5 continues to dominate globally and comprised nearly 90% of virus samples shared with the world's biggest public database. In recent weeks, regulatory authorities in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere have cleared tweaked vaccines that target both the original coronavirus and later variants including BA.5.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on COVID-19, said the organization expected future waves of the disease, but was hopeful those would not cause many deaths.
Meanwhile in China, residents of a city in the country's far western Xinjiang region have said they are experiencing hunger, forced quarantines and dwindling supplies of medicine and daily necessities after more than 40 days in a lockdown prompted by COVID-19.
Hundreds of posts from Ghulja riveted users of Chinese social media last week, with residents sharing videos of empty refrigerators, feverish children and people shouting from their windows.
On Monday, local police announced the arrests of six people for “spreading rumors” about the lockdown, including posts about a dead child and an alleged suicide, which they said “incited opposition” and “disrupted social order.”
Leaked directives from government offices show that workers are being ordered to avoid negative information and spread “positive energy” instead. One directed state media to film “smiling seniors” and “children having fun” in neighborhoods emerging from the lockdown.
The government has ordered mass testing and district lockdowns in cities across China in recent weeks, from Sanya on tropical Hainan island to southwest Chengdu, to the northern port city of Dalian. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/who-covid-end-in-sight-deaths-at-lowest-since-march-2020/article_2c78338c-346e-11ed-8463-1738ed95e5f2.html | 2022-09-14T22:53:27Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/who-covid-end-in-sight-deaths-at-lowest-since-march-2020/article_2c78338c-346e-11ed-8463-1738ed95e5f2.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GENEVA (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that the number of coronavirus deaths worldwide last week was the lowest reported in the pandemic since March 2020, marking what could be a turning point in the years-long global outbreak.
At a press briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world has never been in a better position to stop COVID-19.
"We are not there yet, but the end is in sight," he said, comparing the effort to that made by a marathon runner nearing the finish line. "Now is the worst time to stop running," he said. "Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap all the rewards of our hard work."
In its weekly report on the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said deaths fell by 22% in the past week, at just over 11,000 reported worldwide. There were 3.1 million new cases, a drop of 28%, continuing a weeks-long decline in the disease in every part of the world.
Still, the WHO warned that relaxed COVID testing and surveillance in many countries means that many cases are going unnoticed. The agency issued a set of policy briefs for governments to strengthen their efforts against the coronavirus ahead of the expected winter surge of COVID-19, warning that new variants could yet undo the progress made to date.
"If we don't take this opportunity now, we run the risk of more variants, more deaths, more disruption, and more uncertainty," Tedros said.
The WHO reported that the omicron subvariant BA.5 continues to dominate globally and comprised nearly 90% of virus samples shared with the world's biggest public database. In recent weeks, regulatory authorities in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere have cleared tweaked vaccines that target both the original coronavirus and later variants including BA.5.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on COVID-19, said the organization expected future waves of the disease, but was hopeful those would not cause many deaths.
Meanwhile in China, residents of a city in the country's far western Xinjiang region have said they are experiencing hunger, forced quarantines and dwindling supplies of medicine and daily necessities after more than 40 days in a lockdown prompted by COVID-19.
Hundreds of posts from Ghulja riveted users of Chinese social media last week, with residents sharing videos of empty refrigerators, feverish children and people shouting from their windows.
On Monday, local police announced the arrests of six people for "spreading rumors" about the lockdown, including posts about a dead child and an alleged suicide, which they said "incited opposition" and "disrupted social order."
Leaked directives from government offices show that workers are being ordered to avoid negative information and spread "positive energy" instead. One directed state media to film "smiling seniors" and "children having fun" in neighborhoods emerging from the lockdown.
The government has ordered mass testing and district lockdowns in cities across China in recent weeks, from Sanya on tropical Hainan island to southwest Chengdu, to the northern port city of Dalian. | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/who-covid-end-in-sight-deaths-at-lowest-since-march-2020/article_f37c214e-347a-11ed-b8b7-b75c0a54b789.html | 2022-09-14T22:53:33Z | lockportjournal.com | control | https://www.lockportjournal.com/news/who-covid-end-in-sight-deaths-at-lowest-since-march-2020/article_f37c214e-347a-11ed-b8b7-b75c0a54b789.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Halo Season 2 Begins Production In Iceland
After spending years in development, Master Chief finally made his way to television in Halo. Based on the best-selling video games, the series chronicles the 26th century war between the United Nations Space Command and the league of alien races known as the Covenant. Leading humanity’s cause is Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (Pablo Schreiber), a super-soldier who commands the elite unit known as Silver Team.
Season 1 premiered this past March on Paramount+. One month before the premiere, the network renewed the series for a second season. Now, Paramount+ has confirmed the start of production on season 2 with a behind-the-scenes photo posted on the show’s official Twitter account. According to the caption, filming is getting underway in Iceland. You can check out the announcement below.
The Spartans have landed in Iceland! #HaloTheSeries Season 2 starts production now. pic.twitter.com/XpdHevVbY3
— Halo on Paramount+ (@HaloTheSeries) September 14, 2022
RELATED: Composer Sean Callery Explains His Approach To Scoring Halo
In addition to the filming announcement, Deadline confirms that Joseph Morgan and Cristina Rodlo are joining the cast of Halo‘s sophomore season as new series regulars. Morgan will play an intelligence offer named James Ackerson, while Rodlo will star as a marine corporal named Talia Perez. Natascha McElhone, Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Tylan Bailey, Yerin Ha, Charlie Murphy, and Danny Sapani are among those also returning for season 2 as well.
Plot details remain under wraps, but the war between humans and aliens is expected to reach a new turning point. Currently, Halo season 2 is undated. However, all episodes from season 1 are available to stream on Paramount+.
Are you excited to see Master Chief and the rest of Silver Team in season 2? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Recommended Reading: Halo: The Rubicon Protocol | https://www.superherohype.com/tv/519173-halo-season-2-begins-production-in-iceland | 2022-09-14T22:54:27Z | superherohype.com | control | https://www.superherohype.com/tv/519173-halo-season-2-begins-production-in-iceland | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
(NEXSTAR) – This is how you Sonic?
The hardcore-punk scene and the fast-casual dining scene have continued to inch closer and closer in recent years, first after two viral concerts at Denny’s restaurants in California and Texas, and now after a hardcore show at a Sonic Drive-In.
The Sonic restaurant, located in Hainesport, New Jersey, played host to the concert on Saturday night, with bands rocking out beside the intercoms and fans moshing in the drive-in stalls, according to photos and video shared to social media.
“Well that s— was crazy,” tweeted one of the bands, seemingly accurately, after the show concluded early on Sunday morning.
According to a flyer for the concert — which featured performances by hardcore bands Gel, Scowl, Exhibition, Chemical Fox and Phantom — the show was scheduled to begin immediately after the restaurant closed at 10 p.m. Even still, one of the attendees appeared to have hoarded a corn dog to consume during Exhibition’s set, as seen in footage shared by live-music archivist Sunny Singh of the website hate5six.
Images taken by South Suburbia Photo also show fans dancing, lighting off fireworks and generally having a fantastic time in what would otherwise be an empty Sonic parking area off Route 38 East in New Jersey.
“It was wild, hands-down one of the best shows I’ve ever been to,” the photographer told Nexstar.
It’s unclear how the event came to be, though it was organized by the Philadelphia-based 4333 Collective, according to the flyer. A representative for the group was not immediately available to comment.
A manager at the Sonic Drive-In who knew more about the booking arrangements was said to be unavailable until later this week, according to an employee at the restaurant.
Sonic’s corporate headquarters, meanwhile, did not respond to requests for further information.
Saturday night’s concert comes nearly three years after a band called Wacko staged a similarly odd concert at a Denny’s in Santa Ana, California, where the attendees reportedly caused more than $1,000 in damages. Fortunately, Green Day — yes, Green Day — graciously offered to cover the costs, Loudwire reported at the time.
But both Wacko and the bands in the lineup at Denny’s likely owe a debt of gratitude for a Texas band called Live Without, which staged a 2013 concert inside a recently shuttered Denny’s location in Houston.
To date, a four-minute video clip of that concert — titled “The Denny’s Grand Slam” — has amassed over 3 million views on YouTube alone. | https://www.wpri.com/news/national/a-sonic-drive-in-just-hosted-a-hardcore-punk-concert-and-the-photos-are-wild/ | 2022-09-14T22:58:38Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/national/a-sonic-drive-in-just-hosted-a-hardcore-punk-concert-and-the-photos-are-wild/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CHICAGO (AP) — A federal jury on Wednesday convicted R. Kelly of several child pornography and sex abuse charges in his hometown of Chicago, delivering another legal blow to a singer who used to be one of the biggest R&B stars in the world.
Kelly, 55, was found guilty on three counts of child pornography but was acquitted of a conspiracy to obstruct justice charge accusing him of fixing his state child pornography trial in 2008.
But the jury acquitted him on a fourth pornography count as well as a conspiracy to obstruct justice charge accusing him of fixing his state child pornography trial in 2008. He was found not guilty on all three counts of conspiring to receive child pornography and for two further enticement charges.
His two co-defendants were found not guilty on all charges.
Jurors, who deliberated for 11 hours over two days, wrote several questions to the judge on Wednesday, at least one indicating the panelists were grappling with some of the case’s legal complexities.
One asked if they had to find Kelly both enticed and coerced minors, or that he either enticed or coerced them. Over objections from Kelly’s lawyer, the judge said they only need to find one.
At trial, prosecutors sought to paint a picture of Kelly as a master manipulator who used his fame and wealth to reel in star-stuck fans, some of them minors, to sexually abuse then discard them.
Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was desperate to recover child pornographic videos he made and lugged around in a gym bag, witnesses said. They said he offered up to $1 million to recover missing videos before his 2008 trial, knowing they would land him in legal peril. The conspiracy to hide his abuse ran from 2000 to 2020, prosecutors said.
Kelly associates Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown were co-defendants at the Chicago trial. Jurors acquitted McDavid, a longtime Kelly business manager, who was accused of conspiring with Kelly to rig the 2008 trial. Brown, a Kelly associate for years, was acquitted of receiving child pornography.
Kelly has already been convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
In Chicago, a conviction of just one count of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, while receipt of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of five years. Judges can order that defendants sentenced earlier in separate cases serve their new sentence simultaneously with or only after the first term is fully served. Federal inmates must serve at least 85% of their sentences.
During closing arguments Tuesday, Kelly attorney Jennifer Bonjean likened the government’s testimony and evidence to a cockroach and its case to a bowl of soup.
If a cockroach falls into soup, she said, “you don’t just pull out the cockroach and eat the rest of the soup. You throw out the whole soup,” said told jurors.
“There are just too many cockroaches,” she said.
The three defendants called only a handful of witnesses over four days. Co-defendant McDavid, who was on the stand for three days, may have damaged Kelly’s hopes for acquittal by saying that he now doubts Kelly was truthful when he denied abusing anyone after hearing the superstar’s accusers testify.
In her closing rebuttal, prosecutor Jeannice Appenteng cited testimony that Kelly’s inner circle increasingly focused on doing what Kelly wanted as his fame boomed in the mid-1990s.
“And ladies and gentlemen, what R. Kelly wanted was to have sex with young girls,” she said.
Four Kelly accusers testified, all referred to by pseudonyms or their first names: Jane, Nia, Pauline and Tracy. Some cried when describing the abuse but otherwise spoke calmly and with confidence. A fifth accuser, Brittany, did not testify.
Sitting nearby in a suit and face mask, Kelly often averted his eyes and looked down as his accusers spoke.
Some dozen die-hard Kelly fans regularly attended the trial. On at least one occasion during a break, several made hand signs of a heart at Kelly. He smiled back.
Jane, 37, was the government’s star witness and pivotal to the fixing charge, which accused Kelly of using threats and payoffs to get her to lie to a grand jury before his 2008 trial and to ensure she and her parents wouldn’t testify.
A single video, which state prosecutors said was Kelly abusing a girl of around 14, was the focal point of that trial.
On the witness stand for two days at the end of August, Jane paused, tugged at a necklace and dabbed her eyes with a tissue when she said publicly for the first time that the girl in the video was her aged 14 and that the man was Kelly, who would have been around 30.
Some jurors in the 2008 trial said they had to acquit Kelly because the girl in the video didn’t testify. At the federal trial in Chicago, Jane said she lied to a state grand jury in 2002 when she said it was not her in the video, saying part of her reason for lying was that she cared for Kelly and didn’t want to get him into trouble.
Jane told jurors she was 15 when they first had intercourse. Asked how many times they had sex before she turned 18, she answered quietly: “Uncountable times. … Hundreds.”
Jane, who belonged to a teenage singing group, first met Kelly in the late 1990s when she was in junior high school. She had visited Kelly’s Chicago recording studio with her aunt, a professional singer. Soon after that meeting, Jane told her parents Kelly was going to be her godfather.
Jane testified that when her parents confronted Kelly in the early 2000s he dropped to his knees and begged them for forgiveness. She said she implored her parents not to take action against Kelly because she loved him.
Defense attorneys suggested a desire for money and fame drove some government witnesses to accuse Kelly, and they accused several people of trying to blackmail him. They also suggested that at least one of his accusers was 17 — the age of consent in Illinois — when Kelly began pursing her for sex.
Bonjean implored jurors not to accept the prosecution’s portrayal of her client as “a monster,” saying Kelly was forced to rely on others because of intellectual challenges, and that he was sometimes led astray.
“Mr. Kelly can also be a victim,” she said in her opening statement.
Prosecutors played jurors excerpts from three videos that Jane said featured her. Court officials set up opaque screens around the jurors so journalists and spectators couldn’t see the videos or the jurors’ reactions.
But the sound was audible. In one video, the girl is heard repeatedly calling the man “daddy.” At one point she asks: “Daddy, do you still love me?” The man gives her sexually explicit instructions.
Prosecutors have said Kelly shot the video that was also evidence in the 2008 trial in a log cabin-themed room at his North Side Chicago home around 1998.
Another accuser, Pauline, said Jane introduced her to Kelly when they were 14-year-old middle school classmates in 1998. At Kelly’s Chicago home later that year, Pauline described her shock when she said she first walked in on Kelly and a naked Jane. She said Kelly told her that everyone has secrets. “This is our secret,” she testified he said.
Pauline told jurors she still cares for Kelly. But, as a 37-year-old mom, she said she now has a different perspective.
“If somebody did something to my kids,” she said, “I’m killing ’em. Period.” | https://www.wpri.com/news/national/r-kelly-convicted-on-federal-child-porn-charges-acquitted-of-trial-fixing/ | 2022-09-14T22:58:56Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/news/national/r-kelly-convicted-on-federal-child-porn-charges-acquitted-of-trial-fixing/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The New England Patriots’ offense was already going to look much different this season following the retirement of running back James White.
One game into the season, they are faced with another major adjustment at the position after veteran Ty Montgomery was placed on injured reserve with a right knee injury.
“We feel good about our depth in the backs. We have good backs,” coach Bill Belichick said. “It’s tough to lose Ty, but we have a couple good players there. Then we have young players behind them. So we’ll see how it goes.”
White developed into the team’s go-to receiver out of the backfield on third down during his eight-year career, regularly serving as a dependable option first for quarterback Tom Brady, and Mac Jones last season.
So when White had surgery following a dislocated hip in Week 3 last season, the Patriots were proactive in making a contingency plan if he wasn’t ready in time for 2022.
It included signing the veteran Montgomery in March and drafting running back Pierre Strong.
Montgomery seized on the opportunity, impressing enough early in the preseason that Belichick acknowledged the coaching staff was already thinking about how his skillset as a runner and pass catcher could be utilized during the regular season.
“I think there’s a lot of different things he can do,” Belichick said last month.
That was before his knee injury in New England’s final exhibition game put his season in jeopardy.
The injury seemed to be less severe than it appeared after Montgomery was limited leading up to the season opener before being able to start against the Dolphins. He had three catches in the game and scored the Patriots’ lone touchdown in a 20-7 loss.
Now he’s out for at least the next four games.
It’s an early blow for a reconfigured offense that is still finding its way following an offseason of transition.
Still Belichick remains optimistic about a position that still features 2021 leading rusher Damien Harris and second-year Rhamondre Stevenson. Though utilized primarily as rushers, the duo did combine for 32 catches for 255 yards last season.
And there’s appears to be hope that Montgomery’s injury won’t be season-ending. One sign is that Belichick chose only to promote receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey from the practice squad to fill Montgomery’s roster spot.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Belichick said of Montgomery. “If he’s healthy, we’ll bring him back. … How that will all turn out, I don’t know. We’ll see.”
There’s certainly room to get the traditional rushing attack more involved after New England ran the ball on just 22 out of 52 plays against Miami.
Harris carried nine times for 48 yards (5.3 yards per carry) and Stevenson eight times for 25 yards (3.1). But the Patriots were forced to go away from the ground game while they played catchup in the second half.
Getting a better start against a Steelers defense that allowed 133 rushing yards to Cincinnati and won’t have star linebacker and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt will be paramount. Watt will miss Sunday’s matchup with a left pectoral injury.
But Belichick isn’t expecting Pittsburgh to have to reinvent itself too much without him.
“They’re a good defensive team. They’re obviously better with Watt, but it is what it is. I can’t imagine they’re going to revamp their whole defense in one week, Belichick said. “I don’t know why they would. They play a lot of people anyway. They played a lot of people in the Cincinnati game. They played over 100 plays on defense.
“I think they’re probably pretty comfortable with what they have because they played those guys, and they played pretty well against, obviously, a good offense.”
NOTES: Mac Jones was a full participant in practice on Wednesday after sustaining a back injury against Miami. Linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley (toe) did not practice. Safety Joshuah Bledsoe (groin), safety Adrian Phillips (ribs), left guard Cole Strange (shoulder) and cornerback Shaun Wade (ankle) were all limited participants.
The Game’s on 12!
New England Nation is your source for complete Patriots coverage, getting you ready for every game with exclusive insight and analysis, the latest headlines, and interviews with the players and coaches.
♦ Watch: 11:30 a.m. Sunday on FOX Providence
♦ Kickoff: 1 p.m. on WPRI 12
♦ Patriots Wrap: 11 p.m. on WPRI 12
More Patriots Coverage: New England Nation » | https://www.wpri.com/sports/patriots-new-england-nation/with-montgomery-out-patriots-need-harris-stevenson-to-step-up/ | 2022-09-14T22:59:28Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/sports/patriots-new-england-nation/with-montgomery-out-patriots-need-harris-stevenson-to-step-up/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Land bank accepts demo bid for Mosaic and Munson properties
ZANESVILLE − The Muskingum County Land Reutilization Corporation, better known as the land bank, accepted a bid to demolish two blighted properties on Wednesday, the former Mosaic Tile factory on Pershing Road, and the former Munson Elementary School on Brighton Boulevard. Contracts are expected to be signed later this month, and work required to begin within 30 days of the signing.
The land bank awarded both projects to SafeCo of Dilliner, Pa. The combined cost of the two demolitions is a total of $2,158,100. That comes in under the land bank's budget of $2,470,000. "MLRC has limited cash reserves," said Andrew Roberts land bank executive director. "We will be expending $200,000 of our $400,000 reserve to cover the match from state monies" for the Mosaic demolition. And $1.85 million of the cost of that demolition will be covered by brownfield remediation money from the Ohio Department Development, which requires the $200,000 match. SafeCo's bid, which included a discount for being awarded both projects, was $1.826 million. Roberts noted the next lowest bid for Mosaic, from Raze International of Shadyside was $2,019,900. The difference of nearly $200,000, plus the state's $200,000 match would deplete the reserves, or require going into debt to cover the difference.
More:Contractors tour Munson, Mosaic properties
There is no match for state funding for the demolition of the former Munson Elementary School. The Ohio Department of Development awarded the land bank $500,000 to demolish the former school. The MCLRC also got an additional $120,000 in state brownfield remediation money for asbestos remediation. That is enough to cover SafeCo's bid of $560,000 on the remediation and demolition, and leaves room for the unexpected, Roberts said.
Once the contracts are signed, SafeCo will have nine months to complete the Mosaic project, and six months to complete the Munson project. The company was also responsible for the cleanup of the former Lear Property on Linden Avenue in Zanesville earlier this year. The project, which include removal of asbestos contaminated material, was completed on time and came in under budget, Roberts said.
Both sites will be ready for redevelopment when the buildings have been demolished. The land bank signed an agreement with Woda Cooper of Columbus to develop low-income housing on the former Munson Elementary School site. No plans have been disclosed for the former Mosaic Tile location, which covers more than 15 acres between along Pershing and Dryden roads on Zanesville's south side. | https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/local/2022/09/14/land-bank-accepts-demo-bid-for-mosaic-munson-properties/69493041007/ | 2022-09-14T22:59:57Z | zanesvilletimesrecorder.com | control | https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/local/2022/09/14/land-bank-accepts-demo-bid-for-mosaic-munson-properties/69493041007/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Local News Briefs
Dresden teen in critical condition following crash
COSHOCTON − Ohio State Wexner Medical Center reported a Dresden teen injured in a Saturday crash was in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities said Philip Sims, 51, of Zanesville, was driving a 2013 International semi-truck with trailer southbound on North Second Street while Cameron Conrad, 19, of Dresden, was eastbound on Chestnut Street in a 2002 Honda Civic. Conrad failed to stop at a red light and the Civic hit the semi just behind the rear axle as it went through a green light.
Conrad was extricated from the vehicle and transported from the scene by MedFlight to the Wexner Medical Center. Sims was not injured.
West M BOE to meet
ZANESVILLE − The West Muskingum Local Schools Board of Education will meet in special session at 8 a.m. Friday in the administration center, 4880 West Pike. The purpose is approve purchase of school asset equipment.
Port authority to meet
ZANESVILLE − The Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority board will meet in regular session at 10 a.m. Sept. 21 at the Welcome Center, 205 N. Fifth St.
Deer archery season set to open
COLUMBUS − Ohio’s deer archery season opens statewide Saturday, Sept. 24, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. Archery season continues until Feb. 5. Ohio offers additional seasons for hunters to pursue deer. Youth-only firearms hunting is open for hunters under the age of 18 on the weekend of Nov. 19 and 20. The seven-day deer gun season is from Monday, Nov. 28 to Sunday, Dec. 4, with a bonus weekend on Dec. 17 and 18. Deer muzzleloader season is from Saturday, Jan. 7 until Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. | https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/local/2022/09/14/local-news-briefs/69493787007/ | 2022-09-14T23:00:03Z | zanesvilletimesrecorder.com | control | https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/local/2022/09/14/local-news-briefs/69493787007/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Muskingum University's new $38M health complex opening
NEW CONCORD − A grand opening and ribbon cutting will be held Saturday for the Henry D. Bullock Health and Wellness Complex at Muskingum University. The ribbon cutting is at 10:45 a.m. with a grand opening ceremony at 11 a.m. A facility open house is from noon to 2 p.m. The complex is at 29 Stadium Drive, New Concord.
In addition to President Susan S. Hasseler, greetings will be shared by Sen. Sherrod Brown, Congressman Troy Balderson, office of Congressman Bill Johnson, Ohio Department of Higher Education Chancellor Randy Gardner, Sen. Tim Schaffer and Rep. Adam Holmes.
The university broke ground on the 119,000-square-foot facility in June 2020. The construction, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic, employed primarily local and regional contractors putting $12.3 million back into the regional economy. This is in addition to the university’s annual $50 million regional economic impact.
United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small and State Director Jonathan McCracken of Rural Development Ohio toured the facility in mid-August. The university received a USDA Community Facilities Direct Loan, which supports community infrastructure.
The $38 million facility has been made possible by the USDA loan and generous gifts from alumni, friends and community partners. The complex is named for Henry D. Bullock from the Class of 1977, in recognition of his lifelong service and generosity to the university.
For more information about the Bullock Complex, visit muskingum.edu/bhwc.
Submitted by Muskingum University. | https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/local/2022/09/14/muskingum-us-new-38m-health-complex-opening/69493775007/ | 2022-09-14T23:00:09Z | zanesvilletimesrecorder.com | control | https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/story/news/local/2022/09/14/muskingum-us-new-38m-health-complex-opening/69493775007/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Baba’s Pantry has always seen long lines during its lunch and dinner rushes, ever since it first opened last summer. But on Wednesday afternoon, the wait was up to an hour as customers came to sample what was just named one of the 10 best new restaurants in the country by Bon Appétit.
Yahia Kamal, known as Baba by his family, runs the restaurant and called the award an honor.
“I'm really humbled and appreciate that position,” Kamal told KCUR. “I've been working with food for a long time. I'm gonna say it's maybe about time, you know. I would like to thank my family, friends and in general, Kansas City. Everybody, not only me, you know, deserves this honor.”
He wants people to know the food is worth the long wait.
“Be a little patient with us because we are extremely busy,” Kamal said. “We are a small pantry and we are trying our best to get people not to wait that long. But we appreciate them and we love to have everybody here.”
The Palestinian deli opened at 1019 East 63rd Street in July 2021. It’s one of only two restaurants in the Midwest — and the only in Kansas City — to earn the honor of “best new restaurant” from Bon Appétit this year.
Bon Appétit praised the hummus at Baba’s Pantry as “perhaps the best we’ve ever had,” and praised the way the Kamals infused their culture in a way that “honors both his family’s Palestinian homeland and their life in the diaspora.”
Baba’s Pantry is a family affair. Kamal’s children, Omar, Kamal, Jasmine and Hannah, and his wife, Yusra Abu-Alhassab, all partnered with him to create a spot that represents their family and Palestinian homeland through its space and its food.
“When you (work with) family, they have one singular interest,” Kamal said. “Our singular interest is to be small and good. And to deliver the best Palestinian food outside of Palestine.”
Omar Kamal works as Baba’s sous-chef. He helped develop the recipe for their jackfruit shawarma, a vegan version of their popular wrap that closely resembles the original. Yusra is there every day running the front counter.
Kamal Kamal designed the décor of the restaurant and will frequently travel in from New York, where he is based, to help out. Hannah does social media, and Jasmine is responsible for the baking — especially “JuJu’s Baklava,” which is named after her.
In its stories on Baba’s Pantry, Bon Appétit specifically recommended the hummus platter with beef and lamb kebab, the falafel pita sandwich, and the baklava.
Kamal, personally, prefers his hummus with the chicken shawarma. But no matter which topping, he said the simplicity of the recipe is what makes it so addictive.
“Our hummus is really made fresh daily made with simple ingredients,” Kamal said. “Garbanzo beans, lemon juice, tahini and salt. Nothing else. That's what makes it completely different — no garlic, no nothing. Just those four ingredients.”
Kamal actually began selling hummus and dips at grocery stores around Kansas City in 2004 and opened two short-lived restaurants before Baba’s Pantry.
“These are my own family recipes,” Kamal said. “I like to just be in the kitchen and, and make stuff, so I’m always working in the kitchen and make a lot of pickles, dips and combination of spices.”
As one of the few Palestinian restaurants in Kansas City, Kamal and his family say they were intentional about celebrating their culture in every aspect. Customers can see that while looking at the pictures on the walls — family portraits interspersed with images of Palestinian celebrities — or through the Palestinian pantry staples like torshi and shatta available for purchase at the counter.
AJ Melba brought his cousin, Abdal Hakim Mubarak, to the restaurant for the first time Wednesday. The pair is originally from Palestine and based in California, but travels often.
Of all the Middle Eastern restaurants Melba has tried on his travels, he thinks Baba’s Pantry is the most authentic. He’s been back three times so far.
“When I bit into (the chicken shawarma pita), I was like, ‘Wow, this is authentic, authentic,’” Melba said. “I started talking to the owner and could really understand that he puts a lot of pride in his food. When you bite into it, it feels like you're at home. There's a lot of authenticity in the food, not just the decoration.”
Beyond the baklava, the restaurant is also known for its Knafeh, a dessert that’s only served on Fridays and draws a crowd. One of the most popular iterations of Knafeh originated in Nablus, Palestine, and is made with spun pastry, a syrup called attar, cheese and pistachios.
The one made by the Kamal family is based on the Nablus recipe and has a distinctive orange top.
“When you love somebody, you bring them Knafeh,” Kamal said. “We try to have it almost the same as if you send you back to Palestine, especially Nablus. Now people come in asking for Knafeh on a Friday – it makes us all feel happy.”
The family is happy to share the history and flavors of Palestine with each curious customer who walks through the door – and there are bound to be more thanks to Bon Appetit’s endorsement.
“We all love food,” Kamal said. “My kids love food and we like to give food as a gift to other people. That's the reason I'm in the kitchen, trying all the time to show really the best Palestinian food and recipes.” | https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2022-09-14/babas-pantry-in-kansas-city-named-one-of-the-countrys-10-best-new-restaurants | 2022-09-14T23:03:30Z | kcur.org | control | https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2022-09-14/babas-pantry-in-kansas-city-named-one-of-the-countrys-10-best-new-restaurants | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Officials from the Strong National Museum of Play have unveiled this year’s finalists for the National Toy Hall of Fame.
“These 12 toys span the history of play. The top is as old as civilization itself and bingo has been played in some form for hundreds of years,” said Christopher Bensch, vice president for collections at The Strong museum in Rochester, where the hall of fame is housed.
The National Toy Hall of Fame recognizes toys that have “engaged and delighted multiple generations.” Criteria for induction include the toy’s “icon-status,” its popularity across many generations, how it enriches a child’s life, and its uniqueness.
This year’s nominees include game night favorites bingo, the board game Catan, and card games Phase 10 and Rack-O and two lines of figurines — Breyer Horses and Masters of the Universe figures, including He-Man and She-Ra.
A birthday party staple, the piñata, also made the list, as did Nerf toys. Other toys nominated include the Lite-Brite, Pound Puppies, Spirograph, and the top.
Voting to determine which of these toys will be formally inducted is now open to the public through September 21. The three toys with the most votes from the public will make up the “Player’s Choice” ballot, which will be counted alongside those turned in by a national selection committee whose members include industry experts, academics and others.
You can cast your vote here. Inductees will be announced on November 10.
To date, 77 toys have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, from American Girl Dolls and sand to Monopoly and the Nintendo Game Boy. If your favorite toy hasn’t yet been inducted, you can nominate it online. You will need to explain why the toy deserves to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, and it must have icon-status, longevity, discovery, and innovation.
The National Toy Hall of Fame was established in 1998 and “recognizes toys that have inspired creative play and enjoyed popularity over a sustained period.” While anyone can nominate a toy to the National Toy Hall of Fame, final selections are made on the advice of historians, educators, and other individuals who exemplify learning, creativity, and discovery through their lives and careers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/nexstar-media-wire/these-are-2022s-finalists-for-the-national-toy-hall-of-fame-how-to-vote-for-your-favorite/ | 2022-09-14T23:04:28Z | wspa.com | control | https://www.wspa.com/news/national/nexstar-media-wire/these-are-2022s-finalists-for-the-national-toy-hall-of-fame-how-to-vote-for-your-favorite/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Andy Cohen‘s past could have a future at NBC.
Universal Television is turning the Watch What Happens Live host’s 2013 memoir Most Talkative into a coming-of-age comedy for NBC, with Blumhouse Television attached, TVLine has learned.
Using the book as inspiration, Most Talkative follows a fictionalized version of Cohen growing up as a teenager in 1980s St. Louis. “He’s gay, loves the Cardinals, his bar mitzvah tutor is a stoner, and his soap opera-fueled imagination makes him both the life of the party and the source of endless drama,” per the official logline. “Most Talkative is a series about not fitting into any one box, and figuring out how to build your own.”
Cohen will executive-produce alongside writers Gordon Greenberg and Michael Weiner, and director Todd Holland. Jason Blum, Chris McCumber, Jeremy Gold and Chris Dickie will also executive-produce for Blumhouse Television.
“I’m tickled to use my childhood as the jumping off point for what I know will be a hilarious show, and to work with an incredible team, including my pal Jason Blum and UTV,” Cohen says in a statement.
Would you watch a show about a young Cohen growing up in St. Louis? Drop a comment with your thoughts on NBC’s potential comedy series below. | https://tvline.com/2022/09/14/andy-cohen-nbc-comedy-most-talkative/ | 2022-09-14T23:06:33Z | nbc.com | treatment | https://tvline.com/2022/09/14/andy-cohen-nbc-comedy-most-talkative/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
UMATILLA, Ore. - Highway 730 in Oregon is closed until further notice due to a series of fires along the highway. The closure is from McNary to Hat Rock.
The Umatilla County Fire District 1 and the Umatilla Rural Fire Protection District have responded to four fires there on September 14. | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/fires/series-of-fires-closes-highway-740-near-umatilla/article_7c3bef16-3479-11ed-a346-17f254692f0b.html | 2022-09-14T23:10:08Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/fires/series-of-fires-closes-highway-740-near-umatilla/article_7c3bef16-3479-11ed-a346-17f254692f0b.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
YAKIMA, Wash.-
The Central Washington State Fair kicks off in Yakima on Friday, September, 23rd and runs through October, 2nd.
The fair will feature familiar favorites, as well as some new additions for 2022.
ADMISSION:
Adults-$14.50 on weekdays, $16 on the weekend.
Kids ages six to twelve-$9.50.
Kids under 5 are free.
NEW THIS YEAR:
Postcards you can sign and send to troops.
Angel wings around the fairgrounds for selfies.
Ax throwing.
Vendors will be set up inside the Sundome.
FOOD:
Familiar fair favorites will be available, as will new treats, such as fried ravioli and deep-fried mac and cheese.
6 new concessionaires will be set up.
RABBIT BARN COSTUME CONTEST:
On Sunday, September, 25th a costume contest will be held in the rabbit barn. Rabbit exhibitors will dress rabbits up in themed costumes to win prizes. | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/central-wa-state-fair-starts-sept-23rd-in-yakima/article_0edb768e-346b-11ed-b363-9b7f45758b6f.html | 2022-09-14T23:10:14Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/central-wa-state-fair-starts-sept-23rd-in-yakima/article_0edb768e-346b-11ed-b363-9b7f45758b6f.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
TRI-CITIES, Wash.-
According to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC), over 50,000 cars will be stolen in Washington this year.
However, there are steps you can take if your car is stolen and recovered. Commander Aaron Clem of the Kennewick Police Department has four steps for drivers to keep in mind before driving if their stolen car is recovered.
1. Go through the car and clean it thoroughly.
2. Look for things left in the car that don't belong to you.
3. Look for missing things, stuff you may have left in the car that is now gone.
4. Provide all the necessary information about your car to the polic. | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/steps-to-take-if-your-stolen-car-is-recovered/article_536d38d6-3471-11ed-a2fc-c3281c6c15de.html | 2022-09-14T23:10:20Z | nbcrightnow.com | control | https://www.nbcrightnow.com/news/steps-to-take-if-your-stolen-car-is-recovered/article_536d38d6-3471-11ed-a2fc-c3281c6c15de.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Reuters with a brief report on comments from European Central Bank chief economist Lane who met with bank representatives on Wednesday.
Lane:
- Higher energy prices remain a "dominant driving force of inflation" in the euro zone
- "It is crystal clear that the appropriate monetary policy for the euro area should continue to take into account that the energy shock remains a dominant driving force of inflation"
- repeated the ECB to continue raising interest rates, adding increments "will be larger, the wider the gap to the terminal rate and the more skewed the risks to the inflation target." | https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/iycmi-ecb-chief-economist-lane-said-interest-rate-rises-ahead-will-be-larger-20220914/ | 2022-09-14T23:12:13Z | forexlive.com | control | https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/iycmi-ecb-chief-economist-lane-said-interest-rate-rises-ahead-will-be-larger-20220914/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
R. Kelly verdict: Singer found guilty in Chicago trial
CHICAGO - A federal jury on Wednesday convicted R. Kelly of several child pornography and sex abuse charges in his hometown of Chicago, delivering another legal blow to a singer who used to be one of the biggest R&B stars in the world.
Kelly, 55, was found guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement.
But the jury acquitted him on a fourth pornography count as well as a conspiracy to obstruct justice charge accusing him fixing his state child pornography trial in 2008. He was found not guilty on all three counts of conspiring to receive child pornography and for two further enticement charges.
His two co-defendants were found not guilty on all charges.
Jurors, who deliberated for 11 hours over two days, wrote several questions to the judge on Wednesday, at least one indicating the panelists were grappling with some of the case’s legal complexities.
One asked if they had to find Kelly both enticed and coerced minors, or that he either enticed or coerced them. Over objections from Kelly’s lawyer, the judge said they only need to find one.
SUBSCRIBE TO FOX 32 CHICAGO ON YOUTUBE
At trial, prosecutors sought to paint a picture of Kelly as a master manipulator who used his fame and wealth to reel in star-stuck fans, some of them minors, to sexually abuse then discard them.
Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was desperate to recover child pornographic videos he made and lugged around in a gym bag, witnesses said. They said he offered up to $1 million to recover missing videos before his 2008 trial, knowing they would land him in legal peril. The conspiracy to hide his abuse ran from 2000 to 2020, prosecutors said.
Kelly associates Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown were co-defendants at the Chicago trial. Jurors acquitted McDavid, a longtime Kelly business manager, who was accused of conspiring with Kelly to rig the 2008 trial. Brown, a Kelly associate for years, was acquitted of receiving child pornography.
Kelly has already been convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
In Chicago, a conviction of just one count of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, while receipt of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of five years. Judges can order that defendants sentenced earlier in separate cases serve their new sentence simultaneously with or only after the first term is fully served. Federal inmates must serve at least 85% of their sentences.
During closing arguments Tuesday, Kelly attorney Jennifer Bonjean likened the government’s testimony and evidence to a cockroach and its case to a bowl of soup.
If a cockroach falls into soup, she said, "you don’t just pull out the cockroach and eat the rest of the soup. You throw out the whole soup," said told jurors.
"There are just too many cockroaches," she said of the prosecution’s case.
The three defendants called only a handful of witnesses over four days. Co-defendant McDavid, who was on the stand for three days, may have damaged Kelly’s hopes for acquittal by saying that he now doubts Kelly was truthful when he denied abusing anyone after hearing the superstar’s accusers testify.
In her closing rebuttal, prosecutor Jeannice Appenteng cited testimony that Kelly’s inner circle increasingly focused on doing what Kelly wanted as his fame boomed in the mid-1990s.
"And ladies and gentlemen, what R. Kelly wanted was to have sex with young girls," she said.
Four Kelly accusers testified, all referred to by pseudonyms or their first names: Jane, Nia, Pauline and Tracy. Some cried when describing the abuse but otherwise spoke calmly and with confidence. A fifth accuser, Brittany, did not testify.
Sitting nearby in a suit and face mask, Kelly often averted his eyes and looked down as his accusers spoke.
Some dozen die-hard Kelly fans regularly attended the trial. On at least one occasion during a break, several made hand signs of a heart at Kelly. He smiled back.
R&B superstar R. Kelly arrives at the Daley Center in Chicago to attend a closed-door hearing in a court fight with his ex-wife over child support on Wednesday, March 13, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Im
Jane, 37, was the government’s star witness and pivotal to the fixing charge, which accused Kelly of using threats and payoffs to get her to lie to a grand jury before his 2008 trial and to ensure she and her parents wouldn’t testify.
A single video, which state prosecutors said was Kelly abusing a girl of around 14, was the focal point of that trial.
On the witness stand for two days at the end of August, Jane paused, tugged at a necklace and dabbed her eyes with a tissue when she said publicly for the first time that the girl in the video was her aged 14 and that the man was Kelly, who would have been around 30.
Some jurors in the 2008 trial said they had to acquit Kelly because the girl in the video didn’t testify. At the federal trial in Chicago, Jane said she lied to a state grand jury in 2002 when she said it was not her in the video, saying part of her reason for lying was that she cared for Kelly and didn’t want to get him into trouble.
Jane told jurors she was 15 when they first had intercourse. Asked how many times they had sex before she turned 18, she answered quietly: "Uncountable times. … Hundreds."
Jane, who belonged to a teenage singing group, first met Kelly in the late 1990s when she was in junior high school. She had visited Kelly’s Chicago recording studio with her aunt, a professional singer. Soon after that meeting, Jane told her parents Kelly was going to be her godfather.
Jane testified that when her parents confronted Kelly in the early 2000s he dropped to his knees and begged them for forgiveness. She said she implored her parents not to take action against Kelly because she loved him.
Defense attorneys suggested a desire for money and fame drove some government witnesses to accuse Kelly, and they accused several people of trying to blackmail him. They also suggested that at least one of his accusers was 17 — the age of consent in Illinois — when Kelly began pursing her for sex.
Bonjean implored jurors not to accept the prosecution’s portrayal of her client as "a monster," saying Kelly was forced to rely on others because of intellectual challenges, and that he was sometimes led astray.
"Mr. Kelly can also be a victim," she said in her opening statement.
Prosecutors played jurors excerpts from three videos that Jane said featured her. Court officials set up opaque screens around the jurors so journalists and spectators couldn’t see the videos or the jurors’ reactions.
But the sound was audible. In one video, the girl is heard repeatedly calling the man "daddy." At one point she asks: "Daddy, do you still love me?" The man gives her sexually explicit instructions.
Prosecutors have said Kelly shot the video that was also evidence in the 2008 trial in a log cabin-themed room at his North Side Chicago home around 1998.
Another accuser, Pauline, said Jane introduced her to Kelly when they were 14-year-old middle school classmates in 1998. At Kelly’s Chicago home later that year, Pauline described her shock when she said she first walked in on Kelly and a naked Jane. She said Kelly told her that everyone has secrets. "This is our secret," she testified he said.
Pauline told jurors she still cares for Kelly. But, as a 37-year-old mom, she said she now has a different perspective.
"If somebody did something to my kids," she said, "I’m killing ’em. Period." | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/r-kelly-verdict-singer-found-guilty-in-chicago-trial | 2022-09-14T23:16:01Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/r-kelly-verdict-singer-found-guilty-in-chicago-trial | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
R. Kelly's Chicago trial: Jury reaches verdict in federal child pornography case
CHICAGO - A federal jury on Wednesday convicted R. Kelly of several child pornography and sex abuse charges in his hometown of Chicago, delivering another legal blow to a singer who used to be one of the biggest R&B stars in the world.
Kelly, 55, was found guilty on three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement.
But the jury acquitted him on a fourth pornography count as well as a conspiracy to obstruct justice charge accusing him fixing his state child pornography trial in 2008. He was found not guilty on all three counts of conspiring to receive child pornography and for two further enticement charges.
His two co-defendants were found not guilty on all charges.
Jurors, who deliberated for 11 hours over two days, wrote several questions to the judge on Wednesday, at least one indicating the panelists were grappling with some of the case’s legal complexities.
One asked if they had to find Kelly both enticed and coerced minors, or that he either enticed or coerced them. Over objections from Kelly’s lawyer, the judge said they only need to find one.
SUBSCRIBE TO FOX 32 CHICAGO ON YOUTUBE
At trial, prosecutors sought to paint a picture of Kelly as a master manipulator who used his fame and wealth to reel in star-stuck fans, some of them minors, to sexually abuse then discard them.
Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was desperate to recover child pornographic videos he made and lugged around in a gym bag, witnesses said. They said he offered up to $1 million to recover missing videos before his 2008 trial, knowing they would land him in legal peril. The conspiracy to hide his abuse ran from 2000 to 2020, prosecutors said.
Kelly associates Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown were co-defendants at the Chicago trial. Jurors acquitted McDavid, a longtime Kelly business manager, who was accused of conspiring with Kelly to rig the 2008 trial. Brown, a Kelly associate for years, was acquitted of receiving child pornography.
Kelly has already been convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
In Chicago, a conviction of just one count of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, while receipt of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of five years. Judges can order that defendants sentenced earlier in separate cases serve their new sentence simultaneously with or only after the first term is fully served. Federal inmates must serve at least 85% of their sentences.
During closing arguments Tuesday, Kelly attorney Jennifer Bonjean likened the government’s testimony and evidence to a cockroach and its case to a bowl of soup.
If a cockroach falls into soup, she said, "you don’t just pull out the cockroach and eat the rest of the soup. You throw out the whole soup," said told jurors.
"There are just too many cockroaches," she said of the prosecution’s case.
The three defendants called only a handful of witnesses over four days. Co-defendant McDavid, who was on the stand for three days, may have damaged Kelly’s hopes for acquittal by saying that he now doubts Kelly was truthful when he denied abusing anyone after hearing the superstar’s accusers testify.
In her closing rebuttal, prosecutor Jeannice Appenteng cited testimony that Kelly’s inner circle increasingly focused on doing what Kelly wanted as his fame boomed in the mid-1990s.
"And ladies and gentlemen, what R. Kelly wanted was to have sex with young girls," she said.
Four Kelly accusers testified, all referred to by pseudonyms or their first names: Jane, Nia, Pauline and Tracy. Some cried when describing the abuse but otherwise spoke calmly and with confidence. A fifth accuser, Brittany, did not testify.
Sitting nearby in a suit and face mask, Kelly often averted his eyes and looked down as his accusers spoke.
Some dozen die-hard Kelly fans regularly attended the trial. On at least one occasion during a break, several made hand signs of a heart at Kelly. He smiled back.
R&B superstar R. Kelly arrives at the Daley Center in Chicago to attend a closed-door hearing in a court fight with his ex-wife over child support on Wednesday, March 13, 2019. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Im
Jane, 37, was the government’s star witness and pivotal to the fixing charge, which accused Kelly of using threats and payoffs to get her to lie to a grand jury before his 2008 trial and to ensure she and her parents wouldn’t testify.
A single video, which state prosecutors said was Kelly abusing a girl of around 14, was the focal point of that trial.
On the witness stand for two days at the end of August, Jane paused, tugged at a necklace and dabbed her eyes with a tissue when she said publicly for the first time that the girl in the video was her aged 14 and that the man was Kelly, who would have been around 30.
Some jurors in the 2008 trial said they had to acquit Kelly because the girl in the video didn’t testify. At the federal trial in Chicago, Jane said she lied to a state grand jury in 2002 when she said it was not her in the video, saying part of her reason for lying was that she cared for Kelly and didn’t want to get him into trouble.
Jane told jurors she was 15 when they first had intercourse. Asked how many times they had sex before she turned 18, she answered quietly: "Uncountable times. … Hundreds."
Jane, who belonged to a teenage singing group, first met Kelly in the late 1990s when she was in junior high school. She had visited Kelly’s Chicago recording studio with her aunt, a professional singer. Soon after that meeting, Jane told her parents Kelly was going to be her godfather.
Jane testified that when her parents confronted Kelly in the early 2000s he dropped to his knees and begged them for forgiveness. She said she implored her parents not to take action against Kelly because she loved him.
Defense attorneys suggested a desire for money and fame drove some government witnesses to accuse Kelly, and they accused several people of trying to blackmail him. They also suggested that at least one of his accusers was 17 — the age of consent in Illinois — when Kelly began pursing her for sex.
Bonjean implored jurors not to accept the prosecution’s portrayal of her client as "a monster," saying Kelly was forced to rely on others because of intellectual challenges, and that he was sometimes led astray.
"Mr. Kelly can also be a victim," she said in her opening statement.
Prosecutors played jurors excerpts from three videos that Jane said featured her. Court officials set up opaque screens around the jurors so journalists and spectators couldn’t see the videos or the jurors’ reactions.
But the sound was audible. In one video, the girl is heard repeatedly calling the man "daddy." At one point she asks: "Daddy, do you still love me?" The man gives her sexually explicit instructions.
Prosecutors have said Kelly shot the video that was also evidence in the 2008 trial in a log cabin-themed room at his North Side Chicago home around 1998.
Another accuser, Pauline, said Jane introduced her to Kelly when they were 14-year-old middle school classmates in 1998. At Kelly’s Chicago home later that year, Pauline described her shock when she said she first walked in on Kelly and a naked Jane. She said Kelly told her that everyone has secrets. "This is our secret," she testified he said.
Pauline told jurors she still cares for Kelly. But, as a 37-year-old mom, she said she now has a different perspective.
"If somebody did something to my kids," she said, "I’m killing ’em. Period." | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/r-kellys-chicago-trial-jury-reaches-verdict-in-federal-child-pornography-case | 2022-09-14T23:16:07Z | fox32chicago.com | control | https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/r-kellys-chicago-trial-jury-reaches-verdict-in-federal-child-pornography-case | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Police: School supervisor overdoses on fentanyl after student brings pills to campus
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (Gray News) - Authorities in California say a school employee has been hospitalized after coming into contact with fentanyl pills on campus.
According to the Bakersfield Police Department, a Chipman Junior High School student allegedly brought 150 fentanyl pills disguised as Percocet to school on Sept. 9.
Authorities said a yard supervisor overdosed after inadvertently making contact with the pills while finding them on the student.
A police officer with the Kern High School District administered Narcan to the staff member, who was later transported to a hospital.
The BPD said the school supervisor was checking the student after the 13-year-old was involved in an unrelated altercation with another student that day.
Police said the student was also in possession of about $300.
According to Bakersfield police, it wasn’t immediately known if any of the pills were sold or given to other students, but the 13-year-old was arrested for possession of a controlled substance for sales purposes and other associated duties.
The school employee is expected to survive the incident, and BPD said it is working with the Bakersfield City School District to ensure campus safety.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wbko.com/2022/09/14/police-school-supervisor-overdoses-fentanyl-after-student-brings-pills-campus/ | 2022-09-14T23:23:02Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/2022/09/14/police-school-supervisor-overdoses-fentanyl-after-student-brings-pills-campus/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Oprah was on hand to celebrate the premiere of Tyler Perry’s soulful new film, A Jazzman’s Blues, at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, ahead of its Netflix release on September 23. The two spent the weekend in full support of each other at the event, with Perry attending the Saturday premiere of the Sidney documentary Oprah produced for Apple TV+.
Oprah’s words on the red carpet also illustrated their decades-long friendship. “This was the first script he ever did," she shared. "And there’ve been versions and versions and versions of the script, and now it’s ready for the world. Because he knew the world wasn’t ready for it. And so he waited until he knew that the time was right."
Oprah, who wore a striped Chloé jumpsuit, continued: “That’s why he’s been Madea-in’ all along. But he knew that there would come a moment [when] he wanted to evolve to the next level. And that’s what this film is all about. It’s showing us a new way of seeing the world through his eyes,” she said, before greeting and embracing Perry, whom she described as her “lil’ brother.”
Starring Joshua Boone, Amirah Vann, and Solea Pfeiffer, “Tyler Perry’s tale of forbidden love and family drama unravels 40 years of secrets and lies against a soundtrack of juke-joint blues in the Deep South,” the film’s synopsis reads. Turns out that the story line has sat in Perry’s film arsenal for decades—it was even his first script. According to Deadline, Perry wrote the script for A Jazzman’s Blues in 1995 after meeting playwright August Wilson at an afterparty. The film’s music also speaks to Perry on a personal level: Having grown up up in rural Louisiana, where, he told Deadline, “jazz was very much the soundtrack of my life,” he included music from jazz artists that impacted him in his early years.
This weekend marked Oprah’s first TIFF appearance since 2009, where she also shared how Poitier laid the foundation for Perry’s career. “What Sidney Poitier did was knock down that door so wide that a Tyler Perry could walk through, and not only walk through, but build an empire with multiple, multiple, multiple soundstages,” Oprah told us.
Our editor at large, Gayle King, has also seen A Jazzman’s Blues and was thrilled at the positive reception it received at the festival. “This is very different than anything he’s done,” Gayle told us. “The story is very layered. It delivers, and I’m very excited about it, for people to see a whole other side of Tyler Perry’s moviemaking skills, moviemaking repertoire. You know, you think you know what Tyler Perry does, and who he is—don’t pigeonhole him. He has a whole other skill set, a whole other way of telling stories that may surprise a lot of people. But the story, and the way he executed the story, blew me away. So I was excited that it was so well-received in Toronto."
The film mogul and Oprah have been friends for years—she even serves as godmother to his son. In 2019, when Perry made history as the first Black person in the U.S. to own a major movie studio, he dedicated one of the 12 soundstages on the Atlanta premises to Oprah. This full-circle moment at TIFF is both a testament to Perry’s talent and a stunning reminder of the power of true friendship.
"I think it's a Tyler Perry the world hasn't seen, and they're gonna be so excited to see it," Oprah said after the premiere. She then turned to Perry, who said: "I think so, I would hope so. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see."
"We'll see? No, I'm predicting, okay?" Oprah replied.
Watch the trailer for A Jazzman’s Blues.
A Jazzman’s Blues premieres on Netflix on September 23.
Jane Burnett is an Assistant Editor at Oprah Daily, where she writes a variety of lifestyle content for the editorial team. She's a journalist with a pop culture sweet tooth—when she isn't catching up on celebrity news, she's usually listening to a podcast! Jane was previously an on-air reporter in local news, and worked at Thrive Global, Ladders News, and Reuters. She also interned at CNBC through the Emma Bowen Foundation, and is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). | https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a41134235/oprah-tyler-perry-premiere-of-a-jazzmans-blues/ | 2022-09-14T23:24:38Z | oprahdaily.com | control | https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/tv-movies/a41134235/oprah-tyler-perry-premiere-of-a-jazzmans-blues/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Man sexually abused children at home daycare for 5 years, deputies say
GREENVILLE, S.C. (WHNS/Gray News) – A South Carolina man is facing charges after officials said he sexually abused multiple children at a home daycare service that was run by one of his relatives.
The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said Lance Curtis Johnson, 25, sexually assaulted children multiple times over a five-year period between 2013 and 2018. A victim first made a report to the sheriff’s office this August, which prompted an investigation.
According to arrest warrants, Johnson forced girls as young as 8 years old to perform sex acts on him.
Deputies said the alleged assaults happened at a home where the children were being babysat while their parents went to work.
Johnson is charged with four counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 11 years of age, two counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 16 years of age, and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
He is being held at the Greenville County Detention Center without bond.
Investigators are concerned there may be more victims. Anyone with information is urged to call 864-467-4704.
Copyright 2022 WHNS via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wave3.com/2022/09/14/man-sexually-abused-children-home-daycare-5-years-deputies-say/ | 2022-09-14T23:24:58Z | wave3.com | control | https://www.wave3.com/2022/09/14/man-sexually-abused-children-home-daycare-5-years-deputies-say/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids welcomes more than 750 artists from around the world, along with hundreds of thousands of visitors, during ArtPrize 2022.
WHAT: The world’s largest annual art event
WHEN: Thursday, September 15-Sunday, October 2
WHERE: More than three-square miles of Grand Rapids
Find art, venues and “Favorite” entries using the ArtPrize 2022 interactive map
Parking/Transportation
Parking
Transportation
Alternative Transportation
Venues
Nearly 200 venues throughout Grand Rapids welcome artists and visitors during ArtPrize 2022.
AllArtWorks [333 Cesar E. Chavez Ave. SW, Grand Rapids]
- Sept. 20, 7 p.m.: Discussion: “How Art has Been Seen Through the Ages – From Cave Painting to ArtPrize”
- Sept. 24, 6 p.m.- 9 p.m.: Artist Appreciation Party
- Sept. 27, 7 p.m.: Discussion: “Buying and Selling Art”
- Sept. 29, 6 p.m.- 8 p.m.: Celebrating a Trailblazer: Bob Thompson
- Oct. 1, 6 p.m.- 9 p.m.: Closing and Thank You Party
- Saturdays and Sundays during ArtPrize, 12 p.m.- 7 p.m.: Weekend Artist Hub
ArtPrize HQ [80 Ottawa NW, Suite 101, Grand Rapids]
- Sept. 16, 6 p.m.- 7 p.m. and 7 p.m.- 8 p.m.: Docent-Led Social Zone Walking Tour
- Sept. 18, 3 p.m.- 4 p.m.: Docent-Led Social Zone Walking Tour
- Sept. 23, 6 p.m.- 7 p.m. and 7 p.m.- 8 p.m.: Docent-Led Social Zone Walking Tour
- Sept. 25, 3 p.m.- 4 p.m. and 4 p.m.- 5 p.m.: Docent-Led Social Zone Walking Tour
- Sept. 30, 6 p.m.- 7 p.m. and 7 p.m.- 8 p.m.: Docent-Led Social Zone Walking Tour
Calder Plaza [300 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids]
- Sept. 16, 7 p.m.: Community Kick-off
[Has Heart] at Veterans Memorial Park [101 Fulton St. E, Grand Rapids]
Maker’s Market [50 Monroe Ave. NW, Grand Rapids]
- Sept.16-17: 11 a.m.- 7 p.m.
- Sept. 23-24: 11 a.m.- 7 p.m.
- Sept. 30-Oct. 1: 11 a.m.- 7 p.m.
Rosa Parks Circle [135 Monroe Center St. NW, Grand Rapids]
- Sept. 18: Pleasant Peninsula! Art and Activism Fair
Studio Park [123 Ionia Ave. SW, Grand Rapids]
- Sept. 16, Sunday, Sept. 18, Thursday, Sept. 22, Wednesday, Sept. 28: FUSION [ shows start at 8:30 p.m.]
- Sept. 17: African American Art and Music Festival
- Sept. 23: Confluence Festival
- Sept. 25: Grand Rapids Film Fest
- Sept. 30: ArtPrize Closing Ceremony
Visitors can recognize their “Favorite” artists and artwork through the interactive map. The visitor-curated information will be used to award daily and weekly prize money to artists in categories including:
- Top five favorites in each district: North, South and West
- Largest increase in Favorites in one day
- Most Favorited in each category
- Artist with the most Favorites before ArtPrize starts
By Favoriting an artist, ArtPrize says visitors will directly impact the artist’s chances of winning prize money.
Prize Money and Awards
ArtPrize 2022 will award artists $250,000 in total.
Juried awards include:
- 2D Art
- 3D Art
- Time Based Art
- Installation Art
- Digital Art
Each of the above categories has a $10,000 first place award and a $2,500 runner up award.
New in 2022 is a $12,500 Artist-to-Artist award, which gives artists a voice to choose who they believe presents the best work at ArtPrize 2022.
Important Dates
- September 15: Opening day
- September 16: Community kickoff event at Calder Plaza featuring live music, food, drinks and entertainment
- September 21-23: Opening of “Grand Rapids Tech Week and Midwest House” during ArtPrize
- September 30: Closing celebration with awards at Studio Park
- October 2: Final day of ArtPrize 2022
- Fridays and Saturdays during ArtPrize: Makers Market near Rosa Parks Circle
For more information about ArtPrize 2022 or to create an account, click here. | https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/your-guide-to-artprize-2022-in-grand-rapids | 2022-09-14T23:29:19Z | fox17online.com | control | https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/your-guide-to-artprize-2022-in-grand-rapids | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Katten announced today that HFM recognized the firm for its industry-leading hedge fund client offerings during the 2022 HFM US Services Awards ceremony in New York. Awardees were chosen based on rigorous judging by a panel of top hedge fund chief operating officers, chief financial officers, general counsels and others.
"Receiving this distinction underscores what clients and others have told us they appreciate about Katten: That we provide excellent and sophisticated counsel in a business-savvy manner that takes into account the practical aspects of our clients' business; that we analyze complex market and legal issues and close investments and transactions, navigating regulatory issues quickly and comprehensively; and that we quickly see the big picture, to name just some of what we hear," said Lance Zinman, Global Chairman of Katten's Financial Markets and Funds (FMF) group, which encompasses the firm's Investment Management and Funds practice.
"We are thoroughly pleased and quite honored to receive this award," said Zinman, whom American Lawyer named a "Trailblazer" for his pioneering legal work in the fields of proprietary, quantitative and algorithmic trading. "We are deeply appreciative of the opportunity to serve captains of the hedge fund industry and in the field of finance generally."
Accepting the Katten award during the HFM ceremony at a historic midtown Manhattan restaurant on Tuesday were Wendy Cohen and Allison Yacker, co-chairs of the firm's Investment Management and Funds practice.
Katten has garnered several top HFM honors. Last year, the firm was named "Best Law Firm" during the 2021 HFM US Quant Services Awards virtual ceremony. There, Katten was spotlighted for its many years of providing top-of-class, business-savvy counsel to scores of asset managers, the largest quant funds, most of the industry's major proprietary trading firms, including pioneers of these strategies and other market participants deploying them. The year before, HFM named Katten "Top Onshore Law Firm for Start-ups."
A long-established leader in the financial services industry known for its 360-degree counsel, Katten's FMF practice spans the full breadth of the dynamic and ever-evolving finance industry — global investment banks, a wide range of investment managers, hedge funds, private equity and other alternative funds as well as prop trading firms, global exchanges and trading platforms.
The FMF practice continually grows as it attracts top legal talent. Last year, this included Daniel Davis, formerly general counsel at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and Jonah Roth, who previously served as general counsel and chief compliance officer at a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)- and CFTC-registered quantitative hedge fund manager and proprietary trading firm. A few years prior, Susan Light, who had been a senior leader and regulatory officer at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), joined FMF.
This year, Stephen Morris, formerly in-house counsel at multinational investment bank Morgan Stanley, joined as did Ilene Froom, who was a partner at two other top law firms and served for many years as in-house counsel for JP Morgan Chase bank before joining Katten.
Katten is a full-service law firm with nearly 700 attorneys in locations across the United States and in London and Shanghai. Clients seeking sophisticated, high-value legal services turn to Katten for counsel locally, nationally and internationally. The firm's core areas of practice include corporate, financial markets and funds, insolvency and restructuring, intellectual property, litigation, real estate, structured finance and securitization, transactional tax planning, private credit and private wealth. Katten represents public and private companies in numerous industries, as well as a number of government and nonprofit organizations and individuals.
For more information, visit katten.com.
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Document now includes data from June through December of 2021
DENVER, Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MDC), parent company to the Richmond American Homes companies, recently announced that it published an update to its 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report.
The M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report
The publication, which highlights the company's environmental initiatives, social practices and corporate governance, was originally published in June of 2021. At the close of 2021, the company collected and analyzed new data from June through December of that year. The new metrics are reflected in its recent updates to the following charts in the ESG Report:
- Greenhouse Gas charts
- SASB Home Builders Standard (IF-HB) Sustainability Disclosure Topics & Accounting Metrics chart
- GRI Index 200, 300 and 400 Series chart
"Recent updates to MDC's first-ever Environmental, Social and Governance Report provide a more complete picture of the company's commitment to its employees, subcontractors, homebuyers and the planet. Sustainability remains a major focus as we look toward the future. The next generation is counting on us to do our part," said Chief Financial Officer, Robert N. Martin.
For more information on M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.'s ESG initiatives, view the updated report at ir.richmondamerican.com.
About M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.
Operating under the name Richmond American Homes, MDC's homebuilding subsidiaries have built more than 230,000 homes since 1977. Among the nation's largest homebuilders, MDC's subsidiary companies have operations in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington. Mortgage lending, plus insurance and title services are offered by the following MDC subsidiaries, respectively: HomeAmerican Mortgage Corporation, American Home Insurance Agency, Inc. and American Home Title and Escrow Company. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MDC." For more information, visit MDCHoldings.com.
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SOURCE M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/mdc-holdings-inc-updates-environmental-social-governance-esg-report/ | 2022-09-14T23:31:32Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/mdc-holdings-inc-updates-environmental-social-governance-esg-report/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
NEO: SHWZ
OTCQX: SHWZ
Continues to Go Deep, Adding to Retail Footprint in Colorado
DENVER, Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Schwazze, (OTCQX: SHWZ) (NEO:SHWZ) ("Schwazze" or the "Company"), announced that it has signed definitive documents to acquire certain assets of Lightshade Labs LLC ("Lightshade"). The proposed transaction includes the adult use Lightshade dispensaries located at 503 Havana St. in Aurora, as well as 2215 E. Mississippi Ave. in Denver's vibrant Washington Park neighborhood. This acquisition continues Schwazze's aggressive expansion in Colorado and upon close will bring the Company's total number of Colorado dispensaries to 25.
The consideration for the proposed acquisition is US$2.75 million and will be paid as all cash. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023 after Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division and local licensing approval.
"Schwazze is excited to add to our retail footprint in the greater Denver area, providing two additional retail locations to our existing 23 throughout Colorado. We look forward to extending our exceptional customer service and wide product selection to both new and existing customers in these new locations," said Collin Lodge, Division President of Colorado.
Since April 2020, Schwazze has acquired or announced the planned acquisition of 35 cannabis dispensaries as well as seven cultivation facilities and two manufacturing assets in Colorado and New Mexico. In May 2021, Schwazze announced its BioSciences division and in August 2021 it commenced home delivery services in Colorado.
About Schwazze
Schwazze (OTCQX: SHWZ NEO: SHWZ) is building a premier vertically integrated regional cannabis company with assets in Colorado and New Mexico and will continue to take its operating system to other states where it can develop a differentiated regional leadership position. Schwazze is the parent company of a portfolio of leading cannabis businesses and brands spanning seed to sale. The Company is committed to unlocking the full potential of the cannabis plant to improve the human condition. Schwazze is anchored by a high- performance culture that combines customer-centric thinking and data science to test, measure, and drive decisions and outcomes. The Company's leadership team has deep expertise in retailing, wholesaling, and building consumer brands at Fortune 500 companies as well as in the cannabis sector. Schwazze is passionate about making a difference in our communities, promoting diversity and inclusion, and doing our part to incorporate climate-conscious best practices. Medicine Man Technologies, Inc. was Schwazze's former operating trade name. The corporate entity continues to be named Medicine Man Technologies, Inc. Schwazze derives its name from the pruning technique of a cannabis plant to enhance plant structure and promote healthy growth.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Such statements may be preceded by the words "plan," "will," "may," "continue," "predicts," or similar words. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future events or performance, are based on certain assumptions, and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control and cannot be predicted or quantified. Consequently, actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties associated with (i) our inability to manufacture our products and product candidates on a commercial scale on our own or in collaboration with third parties; (ii) difficulties in obtaining financing on commercially reasonable terms; (iii) changes in the size and nature of our competition; (iv) loss of one or more key executives or scientists; (v) difficulties in securing regulatory approval to market our products and product candidates; (vi) our ability to successfully execute our growth strategy in Colorado and outside the state, (vii) our ability to consummate the acquisition described in this press release or to identify and consummate future acquisitions that meet our criteria, (viii) our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses, including the acquisition described in this press release, and realize synergies therefrom, (ix) the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, * the timing and extent of governmental stimulus programs, and (xi) the uncertainty in the application of federal, state and local laws to our business, and any changes in such laws. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Investors and security holders are urged to read these documents free of charge on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as required by law.
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SOURCE Medicine Man Technologies, Inc. | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/schwazze-signs-definitive-documents-acquire-certain-assets-lightshade-labs-llc/ | 2022-09-14T23:31:59Z | wbko.com | control | https://www.wbko.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/schwazze-signs-definitive-documents-acquire-certain-assets-lightshade-labs-llc/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Kyle’s update 2:38 PM PT: The Niners also announced they signed WR Willie Snead IV and CB Kary Vincent JR. to the team’s practice squad. Vincent Jr. was drafted in the seventh round in 2021 out of LSU by the Broncos. During the preseason of ‘21, Vincent Jr. played 37 snaps at slot cornerback and 23 snaps out wide at cornerback, per PFF.
Vincent Jr. primarily played out wide at cornerback this past preseason, with 74 of his 77 snaps coming on the perimeter playing cornerback.
Per Aaron Wilson, the Niners also worked out free safety Jovante Moffatt, plus defensive backs Chris Wilcox and Dravon Askew-Henry.
The 49ers returned to practice Wednesday but were without a few key players. Left tackle Trent Williams sat out due to a veteran’s day off. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw is limited with an elbow injury. Backup offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill continued to sit out with a hamstring injury.
George Kittle sat out Wednesday’s practice with a groin injury. Shanahan said Kittle “made a lot of progress” and “hopefully, we’ll have better luck this week” regarding Kittle. On KNBR Tuesday, The Athletic’s Matt Barrows made it sound like it would be a surprise if Kittle suits up for the home opener Sunday. Kittle will be day-to-day as he was last week.
If Kittle can’t go, expect another heavy dosage of Tyler Kroft, who played 54% of the snaps in Week 1. Kroft’s 37 snaps dwarfed Charlie Woerner and Ross Dwelley’s 19 snaps.
When asked about how he felt Monday morning, given his usage as a runner, Trey Lance said he woke up with a sore neck but felt fine other than that. He was questioned to the point where it felt as though the reporters wanted Lance to admit he was injured after carrying the ball. Lance mentioned how the soreness was due to him not being hit all year and in practice.
Edge rusher Jordan Willis is headed to the injured reserve with a knee injury. Willis will need a clean-up procedure. On Monday, he went to the medical staff complaining about irritation in his knee that’s given Willis issues in the past. Kemoko Turay has been promoted to the active roster in his place. | https://www.ninersnation.com/2022/9/14/23353703/49ers-injury-news-kittile-willis-williams-practice-squad | 2022-09-14T23:32:57Z | ninersnation.com | control | https://www.ninersnation.com/2022/9/14/23353703/49ers-injury-news-kittile-willis-williams-practice-squad | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ATLANTA (CN) — An Alabama police officer who broke a seventh-grader’s arm while handcuffing him at school asked the 11th Circuit on Wednesday to toss out a federal judge’s refusal to block an excessive force lawsuit filed against him.
An attorney for school resource officer Blake Dorminey told a three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court that his client had no choice but to forcibly subdue a student identified in court documents as J.I.W.
The panel appeared divided on whether the 13-year-old had committed any crime which would have justified the officer’s actions.
J.I.W. was having a bad day in October 2018 when he crossed paths with Dorminey. He had grown agitated in class at Slocomb Middle School and was asked to go out into the hallway by his teacher. Once outside the classroom, J.I.W. yelled and punched a metal locker.
The student had a history of outbursts and had been diagnosed with a host of psychiatric disorders including bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and ADHD.
When the school’s principal approached him, the teen allegedly walked toward him aggressively with his fists clenched and chest out. J.I.W. did not hit the principal or anyone else.
Dorminey intervened, explaining later that he had reasonable suspicion to believe that J.I.W. had committed crimes including disorderly conduct, attempted harassment and attempt to commit second-degree assault.
The officer put the student in a wristlock, pulling his arm behind his back three times. Dorminey said in a post-incident report that he heard J.I.W.’s arm “pop” as he slammed the student to the ground.
The lawsuit filed by the student’s mother alleges that Dorminey put her son in handcuffs while he writhed on the floor and screamed that he was in pain.
J.I.W.’s arm turned out to be broken and required two surgeries to heal.
An Alabama federal judge ruled last year that the officer’s use of force was unreasonable and rejected his request for qualified immunity. Dorminey’s motion to dismiss the assault and battery claims against him was also denied.
Arguing on behalf of Dorminey on Wednesday, attorney James Pike of Shealy Pike told the panel that at least two witnesses who described the moments leading up to J.I.W.’s arrest said the teen looked like he was going to hit the principal. A third witness alleged that J.I.W. lunged in the principal’s direction, the attorney said.
Pike described J.I.W. as combative and said Dorminey acted appropriately to “stop a crime in process.” He told the panel that the officer warned J.I.W. four times that he would be handcuffed if he did not calm down.
But an attorney for J.I.W. said that his client did not pose a threat to anyone.
“When you consider the severity of the crime, the lack of threats to anyone and the lack of attempts to evade… You have a 13-year-old disabled child on the ground. I don’t understand why that student needs to be handcuffed,” attorney William Tipton “Bo” Johnson III argued.
U.S. District Judge Emily Marks wrote in her ruling rejecting Dorminey’s argument for qualified immunity that a video of the incident showed the principal standing near the student “without displaying fear.”
During Wednesday’s hearing, Trump-appointed U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Luck and Clinton-appointed Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Hull appeared to disagree over whether a reasonable officer would believe that the student posed a risk of harm to people in the school.
While Hull pointed out that no one has alleged J.I.W. ever actually hit the principal, Luck questioned why the student could not be arrested for acting in a threatening manner toward the man.
“[J.I.W.] lunged at someone with a closed fist. That’s not against the law in Alabama?” Luck asked.
Luck also seemed to agree with Pike’s claim that the arrest could be justified because the teen allegedly “hip-checked” the officer.
Johnson insisted that the student never caused anyone any physical injury and that the alleged attempted assault on the officer was disputed.
Although Johnson conceded that the principal may have perceived that the student was going to lunge at or hit him, he said there is “no evidence [the student] took a swing.”
The panel also focused its inquiry on the moment after Dorminey said he heard the student’s arm “pop.” Luck indicated that Dorminey’s actions after the student was audibly injured could determine whether his use of force was excessive.
Pike said that the officer relaxed his pressure on J.I.W.’s arm but kept him in handcuffs for three minutes until a nurse arrived because the student continued to kick his feet and resist arrest.
“Just because something popped, doesn’t mean a person is disabled,” Pike said.
U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Brasher tried to put the incident into perspective, reminding the parties that the altercation happened in just seconds. “One reason we have qualified immunity is these things happen really quickly,” Brasher, a Trump appointee, said.
But Johnson argued that Dorminey should have had the training and ability to make good decisions.
“I think you have to put some responsibility on Dorminey. J.I.W. doesn’t have a weapon, he’s not verbally threatened anyone in the area,” the attorney said. “Dorminey could have stopped right there. He was aware enough to hear a pop.”
The panel did not indicate when it will reach a decision in the case.
Read the Top 8
Sign up for the Top 8, a roundup of the day's top stories delivered directly to your inbox Monday through Friday. | https://www.courthousenews.com/alabama-cop-claims-qualified-immunity-for-handcuffing-disabled-13-year-old/ | 2022-09-14T23:32:57Z | courthousenews.com | control | https://www.courthousenews.com/alabama-cop-claims-qualified-immunity-for-handcuffing-disabled-13-year-old/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LOS ANGELES (CN) — A judge vacated a permit to use a former natural gas pipeline to pump water from an underground reservoir in the Mojave desert to Southern California after the U.S. Bureau of Land Management told a federal judge it wants to reconsider the decision made in the final days of the Trump administration.
U.S. District Judge George Wu on Tuesday granted the bureau's request for voluntary remand of the right-of-way Cadiz received in 2020 to transport water through the 64-mile pipeline that runs across federal land. The judge also vacated the permit because it wasn't based on a full agency review and decision-making process.
The Cadiz water project aims to extract roughly 16.3 billion gallons of groundwater every year for 50 years from aquifers north of Joshua Tree National Park. Environmental groups have been fighting the project for years claiming it would overtax the surrounding environment. They sued again in 2021, claiming the Bureau of Land Management leapfrogged over the necessary environmental analysis when it approved a right-of-way for use of the pipeline.
“The Trump administration’s decision to give Cadiz these rights-of-way without any environmental review was clearly illegal,” Greg Loarie, an attorney at Earthjustice representing the conservation groups, said in a statement Wednesday. “The court did the right thing in granting the Bureau of Land Management’s request to undo the flawed decision that would have devastating impacts on the Mojave Desert.”
Cadiz said in a statement that the ruling will have impact on completion of its water conversation and storage project and that it didn't expect additional environmental review by BLM will cause significant delay.
"While permits for conversion of the northern pipeline are reviewed by federal agencies, the company will continue with the conversion of the pipeline and development of the project, including the construction of three new groundwater wells beginning in the 4th quarter of 2022," Cadiz said. "Construction of the three wells will start in early October and proceed through 1st quarter of 2023. With three new wells online, the Cadiz Ranch will have 10 wells in operation with total annual capacity of 25,000 acre-feet of water per year."
Cadiz Inc. proposed the project in 2012. Over the years, the company has realigned sections of the proposed pipeline route, but in 2015 a legal evaluation from the BLM under then-President Barack Obama said a railroad right-of-way could not be used for purposes apart from the operation of a railroad. This effectively stopped the project in its tracks.
In 2017, the Trump administration’s BLM said it had removed the legal hurdles keeping the company from launching its project. In 2019, a federal judge ruled the Trump BLM’s interpretation of the law was “incredibly broad” and said the agency could not adequately explain why it reversed its 2015 legal opinion.
This past summer, Cadiz sought to repurpose an oil and gas pipeline operated by El Paso Natural Gas, which has the right-of-way over federal land. BLM approved this application on Dec. 21, 2020, in the last days of the Trump administration.
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ATLANTA (CN) — A federal appeals court heard arguments Wednesday over whether a company can sue for racial discrimination, in the case of an Ethiopian restaurant in Georgia that claims county officials had discriminatory motives behind shutting down the business.
In 2017, Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant filed a lawsuit against DeKalb County and various county officials , claiming they violated the company's constitutional rights to equal protection by conspiring to revoke its business license by pursuing a series of several inspections to find code violations and issue citations.
"Meanwhile, restaurants in the same district which catered to predominately white clientele, and which violated the same code provisions, have been knowingly permitted to operate unencumbered," Sheba's attorney Cary Wiggins wrote in his brief to the 11th Circuit.
Wiggins referred to the county's alleged scheme as a "death by a thousand cuts," arguing that Sheba was unfairly targeted for having a predominant East African clientele in the district with the highest percentage of white residents.
The restaurant claims that the racial discrimination was spearheaded by Martha Gross, a citizen and active community member living near an intersection that consisted of multiple late-night Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants.
Gross referred to the establishments as "noxious uses" and actively expressed wanting to get rid of them or limit their hours on social media.
Sheba claims that county commissioners were copied in an email from Gross celebrating shutting it down, as well as six other similar late-night establishments.
The county, however, argues it had justifiable reasons for conducting the inspections and should therefore be protected by qualified immunity against Sheba's discrimination claims.
"The county officials’ concerns were objectively valid. Sheba began advertising and operating as a nightclub, and neighbors began complaining about it. Code enforcement officers and fire inspectors found that Sheba renovated its restaurant and began operating a nightclub without obtaining the proper permits," the county's attorney Bennett Bryan wrote in his brief.
He added, "Inspectors also found Sheba serving alcohol after hours, exceeding the maximum occupancy limit by hundreds of people time and again, using fireworks inside, blocking rear exits, etc., and Sheba pleaded guilty to most of those charges."
While the restaurant did not fight against the citations it was issued, it argued that the repeated tickets were for "petty code infractions" such as minor repairs without a building permit and using sparklers in champagne bottles.
On remand from the 11th Circuit, the district court held last year that Sheba stated a valid civil rights claim because it acquired a minority racial identity through its owner, Solomon Abebe, who is Black and from Ethiopia.
U.S. District Judge William Ray, a Donald Trump appointee, further found that the alleged coordinated efforts by Gross and DeKalb County Fire Marshal Joseph Cox in investigating Sheba and other Ethiopian businesses were "at least in part, motivated by discriminatory intent."
Ray denied the county's request for qualified immunity, ruling that he was unpersuaded by the argument that any reasonable officer would believe that heightened enforcement efforts on Ethiopian restaurants were not race-based.
Back at the 11th Circuit on Wednesday, the county argued that Sheba shouldn't have been allowed to bring a discrimination claim to begin with, based on precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court that says corporations have no racial identity.
But the three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based appeals court noted during oral arguments that this interpretation has not been fully established, as other circuit courts have held that corporations can bring discrimination claims under the section of the Civil Rights Act that guarantees the right “to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings."
Wiggins was questioned by U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Brasher, a Trump appointee, on how Sheba has a race. U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Luck, another Trump appointee, asked the attorney if the company does have a race, what would happen if the corporation was then sold to someone of a different race, to which Wiggins could not answer.
"Isn't that a problem that we can't identify that? If it can change, then how can we say it's like an individual that has an immutable race?" Luck asked. "AT&T can't possibly have a race because there's millions of shareholders."
U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Hull, a Bill Clinton appointee, also asked Wiggins about the county's alleged discriminatory intentions in light of the fact that Sheba admitted to some violations.
The judges did not signal when they intend to issue their ruling.
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Biden administration accepted nearly $190 million Wednesday in bids from an offshore oil and gas lease sale that was held nearly a year ago but rejected by a federal judge.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's action was required by the climate bill that was signed Aug. 16 — something that disappointed environmentalists but was praised by industry.
The bill had a 30-day deadline for accepting the bids. It also requires the bureau to reschedule three sales that had been put on hold by a moratorium ordered by President Joe Biden, with the first of them to be held by Dec. 31.
“We are pleased that the Department of the Interior has finally offered the first offshore leases of this administration, but it is disappointing that it took 19 months and an act of Congress to get us to this point," said Cole Ramsey, vice president of upstream policy for the American Petroleum Institute.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said Wednesday that it had accepted 307 valid high bids totaling just under $189.9 million from the November 2021 sale “in compliance with congressional direction.” Companies bid on about 2% of the tracts offered for sale in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Leases resulting from this sale include stipulations to protect biologically sensitive resources, mitigate potential adverse effects on protected species, and avoid potential ocean user conflicts,” the agency said in a news release.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who got the lease sale provisions into the law, said, “Our federal oil and gas leasing programs are critical to American energy security, and these offshore leases will provide the market signals necessary to help ease the pain Americans are feeling from record inflation and high energy prices.”
Miyoko Sakashita, director of the oceans program at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental nonprofit, called the congressional order a huge disappointment.
"Congress just gave the greenlight to a lease sale that was found unlawful. That’s a serious blow to our climate and Gulf ecosystems, which have already suffered so much from oil industry pollution,” she said.
The judge's order in February said the Biden administration had failed to adequately consider the sale’s effect on planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington said Interior could decide whether to scrap the sale, undertake a fresh review or take other steps.
The National Ocean Industries Association, which represents offshore energy companies, said, “Communities along the Gulf Coast and throughout the country rely upon Gulf of Mexico oil and gas development for good-paying jobs, affordable energy supplies, and important funding for local infrastructure needs, coastal restoration and resiliency, and parks and recreation programs."
The previous lease sale, in November 2020, had brought $120.9 million in high bids on 93 tracts. Seven of those bids, totaling $9.3 million, were rejected as too low.
In a separate action, the Center for Biological Diversity asked the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday to forbid companies to discharge fracking waste into the ocean.
It said trade secret protections in current rules for permits governing oil industry discharges into the Gulf of Mexico mean EPA “often does not know what chemicals are used."
As of 2016, it said, EPA had identified nearly 1,100 chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and more than 500 found in water that comes up with oil and gas. The agency "has little to no information regarding the impacts of many of these chemicals on human and marine environments,” it said.
A proposed new permit for the western Gulf of Mexico “would allow more of the same,” the organization said in public comments about a two-year industry study to assess discharges.
The climate bill’s requirement for offshore lease sales is likely to increase offshore drilling and fracking, the group said.
“With offshore drilling set to surge, the Biden administration needs to stop oil and gas companies from poisoning the Gulf of Mexico with fracking waste,” Kristin Carden, a senior scientist at the Center, said in a news release.
National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito responded, “This is a complete misunderstanding of offshore production processes and does not reflect the actual science and engineering behind how U.S. offshore oil and gas is actually produced. Performance-based limits provide strict controls on the fluids that are discharged and ensure a sound, risk-based approach to protecting the environment.”
__
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press
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SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) — Making good on policy he advanced this year, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill Wednesday to create courts that will handle mental health and homelessness.
Gathering outside the treatment center Momentum Health in San Jose on Wednesday, Newsom said the bill affirms his goal to directly handle mental health and homelessness in special courts overseen by civil courts.
Senate Bill 1338 gives California judges the power to compel people suffering from illnesses like schizophrenia to accept medical treatment. Officials estimate the plan, which counties would be required to administer under the threat of court sanctions, could bring complete care to over 10,000 desperate residents.
The bill received bipartisan and near-unanimous approval in the Legislature and is supported by the state’s $15.3 billion investment in homelessness — including $1.5 billion for behavioral bridge housing, more than $11.6 billion annually for mental health programs and more than $1.4 billion for the health and human services workforce. An additional $88.3 million will go to counties, courts, self-help and legal aid.
In recent decades, California lawmakers and voters have approved billions of dollars toward fighting homelessness, yet the issue continues to plague the nation’s most populous state. Despite the influx of money — including $12 billion included in the current state budget — the number of people experiencing homelessness in the Golden State continues to grow. According to the most recent federal data, California’s homeless population grew nearly 7% to 161,000 between 2019-2020.
Under the plan, parents, first responders and doctors would be authorized to refer someone to the new mental-health judicial arm. Once referred to the court, an individual would be assigned a public defender and judges — in coordination with mental health professionals — would determine whether a treatment plan is necessary. If a plan is ordered, the individual would be required to accept treatment administered by the county or local government. Counties declining to provide care would face court-ordered fines and individuals who refuse help would be referred to their previous situation, such as a criminal court, a hospital or conservatorship.
Officials say the idea is to get treatment to desperate people before they end up on the street, the emergency room or jail. SB 1338's co-author Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman, a Democrat from Stockton, said Wednesday the bill is also designed to hold institutions accountable and work with people in the greatest need, rather than waiting until crises which leave emergency responders and hospital emergency rooms strained.
“We don’t like to talk about people as a problem, but it’s a problem that we have created by our own policies,” Eggman said. “We have reached a crisis where it is not working anymore. Often these people are the most difficult to treat, and they’re at the back of the line.”
State Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said the law prioritizes both self-determination and accountability.
“The CARE Act recognizes that to serve those with the most complex behavioral health conditions, we must do the hard work of prioritizing those who need help the most, providing a comprehensive CARE plan that honors self-determination to the greatest extent possible, and holding ourselves accountable to delivering services and housing that are key to long term stability and recovery,” Ghaly said in a statement.
Newsom has argued the plan isn’t a return to institutionalization and large-scale involuntary treatments, noting CARE Court orders can't last more than two years and won’t call for forced medication. Instead, he called it a “rare” occurrence of a policy moving from collaborations and agreement across the board to becoming state law, particularly a policy directly tackling issues he called “vexing” for state leaders.
Newsom’s choice of venue for the press conference, which is affiliated with Kaiser Permanente, irritated National Union of Healthcare Workers union spokesperson Matt Artz. The union has called for Kaiser to be investigated for its handling of mental health care treatment.
“Kaiser has so far faced no repercussions for illegally canceling thousands of mental health appointments and severely reducing services, putting lives at risk, during a strike by Kaiser therapists that is now in its 31st day,” Artz said, referring to the union’s ongoing, open-ended mental health care worker strike. “If Governor Newsom is serious about improving mental health care for Californians, he must take immediate action to enforce state law and get Kaiser to address the mental health needs of its members.”
Robert Field, a professor of law and health management policy at Thomas R. Kline School of Law and Dornsife School of Public Health, said in an interview Wednesday the concept of CARE Court has been formulating for decades as “therapeutic jurisprudence — that the justice system can be used therapeutically rather than punitively.”
“Incarcerating people with mental illness is very expensive for the taxpayers, and there’s really no chance of rehabilitating or treating them or reducing the chances they’ll revert to homelessness or forms of antisocial behavior,” Field said.
Some homeless advocates argue that the policy is problematic by focusing on compelling people to get treatment rather than creating more accessible housing.
Marybeth Shinn, a professor of human and organizational development at Vanderbilt University, said the core problem is a lack of housing.
“Supportive housing, where people get housing first and then choose the services they want, succeeds in getting people off the street,” Shinn said in an email. “Services work a lot better when people choose them freely than when they are foisted on folks, and mandatory services without housing are unlikely to be of much help.”
But Field said he thinks the state has to weigh costs and benefits.
“Yes, there is risk of compelling treatment, but on the other hand, is that worse than incarceration?” Field said.
And the policy could alter public behavioral health approaches in California, as agencies work closely with local law enforcement. Field said CARE Court is an attempt to recognize behavioral health issues that are not “a matter of criminal culpability” and reduce incidents where innocent people are injured or killed in confrontations with law enforcement.
“If it’s successful, California should see a reduction of homelessness over the coming months and years,” Field said.
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BOSTON (AP) — Federal officials are examining whether the employee who reported an explosion at Northeastern University may have lied to investigators and staged the incident, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
Investigators identified inconsistencies in the employee’s statement and became skeptical because his injuries did not match wounds typically consistent with an explosion, said one official.
The officials could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The Northeastern staff member said late Tuesday the hard plastic case exploded on the campus in Boston, causing minor injuries, according to authorities.
The case contained a rambling note that railed against virtual reality and also referenced Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, a law enforcement official said. No explosive materials were found and they do not believe the package was sent through the U.S. Postal Service, the official said.
The official described the case as a “Pelican-style” case. Pelican is a company that makes hard cases designed to protect sensitive equipment.
A spokesperson for the FBI office in Boston declined to comment Wednesday, saying the investigation is “still very active and fluid.”
Northeastern in a message posted on its website Wednesday said the campus is safe.
“Events such as the incident that took place on our Boston campus last night can create or heighten anxiety for many of us," said the post, credited to Provost David Madigan and Chancellor Kenneth Henderson. “We would like to underscore what was communicated to our community last night: Multiple law enforcement agencies have determined that the campus is safe and secure."
The campus opened normally for classes and other activities Wednesday. Counseling and other support services were made available for students, faculty and staff.
Despite reassurances from the school, many students remain concerned.
“Every time I go to a class or dining hall or anything in general, people are just talking about what’s going on and what went on yesterday,” student Lisbeth Martinez said Wednesday. “A lot of people are still anxious and obviously scared of the situation.”
The package delivered to Holmes Hall detonated just after 7 p.m. Tuesday when a staff member opened it, the university had said in a statement. The staff member, a 45-year-old man, was taken to the hospital with minor injuries to his hand, police said. No name was made public.
Boston's bomb squad neutralized a second package near the city's Museum of Fine Arts, which is near Northeastern's campus.
Holmes Hall is home to the university's Immersive Media Labs, which according to its website includes technologies for design, development, and exploration of virtual worlds. It is also home to the creative writing program and the women's, gender and sexuality studies program.
Northeastern is a private university in downtown Boston with about 16,000 undergraduate students.
The case marks one of the first big scares in Boston since 2013, when two bombs planted near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three spectators and wounded more than 260 others.
___
By MICHAEL BALSAMO and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press
Associated Press journalists Mark Pratt and Rodrique Ngowi in Boston contributed to this report.
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National
Google must face states’ antitrust claims
Google must face a multistate digital advertising antitrust suit, a New York judge ruled Tuesday after refusing to dismiss most monopoly claims against the search giant.
With jabs at her colleagues, Justice Kagan warns the court ‘needs to act like a court’
Justice Elena Kagan said the high court’s legitimacy could be marred by the public viewing the justices as an extension of the political process because its rulings are guided by changes in membership instead of adherence to the Constitution.
Appeals court weighs case over China-born physicist’s wrongful espionage charges
A lawyer for a Temple University physics professor falsely accused of being a Chinese spy appealed to the Third Circuit Wednesday, saying that his client’s federal claims should be put before a jury.
Regional
California hits Amazon with unfair competition lawsuit
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an antitrust suit against Amazon on Wednesday, claiming the company broke the law and stifled competition for years that led to higher prices for families across California.
R. Kelly found guilty on child porn charges in Chicago federal trial
Former R&B star R. Kelly has been found guilty of child pornography charges in the second federal trial the singer has faced since 2021.
Oregon water district prepared to fight conservationists to keep Winchester Dam
The legal battle over Oregon's controversial Winchester Dam is scheduled to heat up in May 2023, when an extended stay ends in the battle between WaterWatch of Oregon and Winchester Water District. The water district says it's ready for the fight.
International
Google can’t shake $4.2B antitrust slap from European Union
Abuse of market dominance in the mobile phone market will cost Google $4.2 billion, the European General Court ruled Wednesday, giving only a 5% reduction to the original fine.
Huge London crowds pay respect to Queen Elizabeth
A somber royal procession took the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where the matriarch's body will lie in state until her funeral on Monday.
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(The Hill) – Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard is giving away the multibillion-dollar outdoor apparel company, the climber-turned-businessman announced on Wednesday.
Chouinard and his family are transferring ownership of Patagonia to a trust and nonprofit in an effort to maintain the company’s environmentalist values and increase its contributions toward fighting climate change.
“Earth is now our only shareholder,” Chouinard said in a statement.
As part of the shift, Chouinard committed Patagonia to giving away all its excess profits to efforts to fight the environmental crisis.
Those profits will go to the Holdfast Collective, an environmental nonprofit organization that is also receiving the entirety of Patagonia’s nonvoting shares — about 98 percent of the company.
The remaining 2 percent of the company — the voting shares — will go to the Patagonia Purpose Trust. The trust, which was created to protect and maintain Patagonia’s values, will have the final say on key decisions.
Chouinard noted that they chose not to sell Patagonia or take the company public for fear that its values would be compromised.
“Instead of ‘going public,’ you could say we’re ‘going purpose,’” Chouinard said. “Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.”
Despite giving away ownership, Chouinard said he and his family will continue to guide the Patagonia Purpose Trust and Holdfast Collective and sit on the board of directors. | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/patagonia-founder-gives-away-company-with-all-profits-going-to-fighting-climate-change/ | 2022-09-14T23:34:38Z | siouxlandproud.com | control | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/news/national-news/patagonia-founder-gives-away-company-with-all-profits-going-to-fighting-climate-change/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Boomerang page plan, Sept. 15 Sep 14, 2022 Sep 14, 2022 Updated 1 hr ago Comments Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save BOOMERANG page plan for THURSDAY, Sept. 14 A1 (send color)Tease 1TODAY’S PICK World Health Organization says COVID-19 end ‘in sight’, Page A3Tease 2:Sports teaseTease 3:WYO OUTDOORS Keeping the Rail Trail nonmotorized is no easy feat, Page A6MAIN PACKAGE: Banish the blight: City moves forward with exploring URA to target unsightly areas, Abby (photos)GOP resolution would back Gray, WNE (file photo, bug)Committee votes down penalty for health care violence, WNE (photos)Walk to End Alzheimer’s this weekend, AbbyJumps to A3A2 (send color)Today/tomorrowWorth notingWhat’s happening?WeatherCorrection policy A3 (send color)Today’s pick: WHO reports COVID-19 end ‘in sight’, AP (photos)Committee to sponsor bill on DA qualifications, WTE (photo)Braver Angels brings its brand of political discourse to Wyoming, WNE – if you needJumps from 1A4 (send B&W)Syndicated cartoonSimpson column (Wyoming voices)Adler column (Other editorial)A5 (send color)Obits (none so far)Fearing misconduct, lawmakers consider opening teacher personnel files, WNE (file photos)Elections official files complaint against conservative PAC, WNE (bug)Around Wyoming to fillVol. 142 No. 191 A6 OUTDOORS (send color)Travsky column (photos)Field trip planned for Medicine Bow vegetation analysis, StaffOutdoor recreation funding remains ‘legitimate policy change’, WNE (file photo)Federal money to help safe forest infrastructure, WNE (file photo)Fall wildlife activity picks up in Jackson Hole area, WNE (file photo)Jumps to A7 A7 (send color)Jumps from A6Fishing Report (ad on top) A8 (send color)Committee rejects increased penalty for some vehicular homicides, WTEWyo woman launches app for rural youth mentorship, WNE (photo)A9-A10 CLASSIFIEDSB SECTION B1-B2 UW WRAP (send color) B3-B6 SPORTS (B3 color, B4-6 B&W) B7-B8 COMICS/PUZZLES (send B&W) B9-B10 UW WRAP (send color) Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save Tags Photo Color Politics Institutes Field Trip Funding Wte Vegetation World Health Organization Recommended for you Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. comments powered by Disqus Trending Now East HS student killed, 3 other teens hurt in car crash Sunday night Sexual assault charges against state trooper filed in district court Law enforcement arrest two Laramie County men for voting as felons Police blotter 9-8-22 Police blotter 9-3-22 Latest Special Section 2022 UW Football Preview To view our latest Special Section click the image on the left. Latest e-Edition Wyoming Tribune Eagle To view our latest e-Edition click the image on the left. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/boomerang-page-plan-sept-15/article_5865c1ec-3475-11ed-8152-3bca08a0363a.html | 2022-09-14T23:37:18Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/boomerang-page-plan-sept-15/article_5865c1ec-3475-11ed-8152-3bca08a0363a.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Gov. Mark Gordon talks to a group about the RIDE program, which is designed to gain feedback from educators and parents regarding the state’s education system, on June 16 at the Holiday Inn in Rock Springs.
CHEYENNE – The State Loan and Investment Board approved three charter school applications Wednesday afternoon, despite pushback from public school advocates.
Cheyenne Classical Academy in Cheyenne, Prairie View Community School in Chugwater and Wyoming Classical Academy in Mills are authorized for a period of five years pursuant to state statute, and may now engage in negotiations with the Office of State Lands and Investments and the Department of Education for a final charter contract.
If negotiations are unsuccessful, the office will bring the matter back to the board at the point negotiations fail.
Members of the board made the decision at the second special meeting held to hear presentations from the applicants, as well as public comment from stakeholders. They made their decision after hearing testimony from both supporters and opponents of the charter schools.
“I just want to compliment the people for putting together a very complete and compelling discussion,” Gov. Mark Gordon, chairman of the State Loan and Investment Board, said following the three separate votes. Other board members are Secretary of State Ed Buchanan, State Treasurer Curt Meier, State Auditor Kristi Racines and Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder.
Gordon also directed the office to solicit comments in the future from the school districts that will be impacted by the charters granted Wednesday. He said he wanted an opportunity to hear what their experiences are, because sometimes “the devil we don’t know is really scary.”
The schools are located in Laramie County School District 1, Platte County School District 1 and Natrona County School District 1. Cheyenne already has one public charter school, PODER Academy.
Jasmine Hall is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s state government reporter. She can be reached by email at jhall@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3167. Follow her on Twitter @jasminerhphotos and on Instagram @jhrose25. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/in_our_schools/state-loan-and-investment-board-approves-three-charter-applications/article_1cb1b0a6-3480-11ed-95e2-eb9e646e9c87.html | 2022-09-14T23:37:31Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/in_our_schools/state-loan-and-investment-board-approves-three-charter-applications/article_1cb1b0a6-3480-11ed-95e2-eb9e646e9c87.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
In Laramie County, the COVID-19 community level rating by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was at “medium,” or yellow, on Wednesday. Screenshot from a CDC website.
CHEYENNE – For this city and in the surrounding county, federal officials are noting a heightened level of potential risk when it comes to the coronavirus and the ongoing pandemic.
In Laramie County, the COVID-19 community level rating by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was at "medium," or yellow, on Wednesday. It has been at this stage since age least last Thursday, a CDC website said.
For the first time in perhaps several months, the county's level had recently been rated in the "low" COVID-19 community level category by the CDC. The agency has not responded to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's inquiries about when the level changed to "low" and when it returned more recently to "medium."
On its website on Wednesday, the federal agency wrote the following:
If you are at high risk for severe illness, talk to your health care provider about whether you need to wear a mask and take other precautions,
The CDC went on to note that "people may choose to mask at any time. People with symptoms, a positive test or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask."
The agency's director, Rochelle Walensky, has endorsed a CDC advisory committee recommendation for use of updated COVID-19 boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for people ages 12 and older, and from Moderna for all adults. In Wyoming, some officials followed suit by making similar recommendations. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/cdc-raises-local-covid-19-risk-level/article_f92fb49a-3464-11ed-ba34-3f4ac77b1853.html | 2022-09-14T23:37:37Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/cdc-raises-local-covid-19-risk-level/article_f92fb49a-3464-11ed-ba34-3f4ac77b1853.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CHEYENNE — A draft bill to create specific offenses for assault, threat of violence and battery against health care providers failed a Tuesday vote.
Wyoming’s Joint Judiciary Committee rejected the measure. Testimony said incidences of such violence have increased in recent years. Witnesses sought stronger penalties.
After lengthy discussion, the committee entered five “yes” and eight “no” votes. It had requested the Legislative Service Office draft such a bill at the committee’s last meeting, in Lander in May.
The proposal used the same definitions of assault and battery currently in Wyoming law, as well as the penalties. Simple assault – an attempt to cause bodily injury – or a threat of violence against a health care worker would have been a misdemeanor punishable with a fine up to $750. Battery – “intentionally, knowingly or recklessly” causing another person bodily injury by using physical force – against a health care worker would have been a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months of incarceration and up to $750.
This would have required an offender to have “reasonably” known a person was a health care provider, and the provider must have been “performing duties within the scope of his authority or employment as a health care provider” during the incident.
Josh Hannes, vice president of the Wyoming Hospital Association, and others voiced concern that Wyoming not having this new law may put the state at a disadvantage for recruitment. The industry is struggling to fill existing positions, the committee heard.
Between January 2021 and June 2022, the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services received 121 workers’ compensation claims following an alleged attack in a health care setting, according to Hannes.
Lisa Harry said that before she was a member of the Campbell County Health Board, she worked in emergency services.
“I’ve been spit on, I’ve been pushed, kicked, knocked over, had a lot of that, and, like I say, you expect that. But these kinds of incidents have increased so much that I have to question: Is this enough?” Harry testified. “We aren’t protecting our workers.”
Harry and others mentioned recent incidents, including a lab technician punched in the leg by a patient while drawing blood. Harry said an off-duty law enforcement officer become angry at a hospital and began throwing things at a nurse.
“We need to impose stronger penalties and send a message to these people who come in to emergency services, into the hospital, and knowingly and purposefully abuse our workers,” Harry continued. “It’s bad enough that we can’t get enough nurses, but to have people coming in there and fear for their safety ... The hospital should be their first place for safety.”
She added that state laws should also protect first responders like EMTs, as well as people like hospital receptionists, who are often the first to encounter patients.
CRMC
Tracy Garcia is the chief nursing officer at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. She said that even CRMC’s “very robust security program ... is not deterring people from misbehavior in our organization.”
Within four months, the local hospital saw 25 incidents of violence by patients, Garcia said. There were physical assaults and others involved 12 verbal threats, “a lot of them including threat of life.” Garcia and others said these incidents increasingly don’t involve substances or mental health conditions.
When asked about the rate of prosecution of these violent incidents, Garcia said it had seemingly been low in recent years.
Stakeholders argued health care workers should be afforded similar protections as law enforcement. Harry said such medical employees aren’t trained before they enter the workforce to deal with violence, and they don’t carry weapons.
Concerns
Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, said he’s concerned about the possibility of someone being “brought up on charges for looking at somebody wrong.”
“I’m worried about that bar being so low it’ll turn into, I’ll use the word, a ‘woke’ situation, where it’s perceived incorrectly,” the senator said.
Hannes and others rejected this idea, saying that the threats they’d encountered or heard from patients or patients’ families had been “explicit threats of violence.”
Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, and some other lawmakers had said they may not support this bill, because this penalty seemed unlikely to reduce violence.
Although states have recently enacted similar laws, Hannes said this type of legislation is too new to have sufficient data on whether it works. He added that such a law in Wyoming would simply be “a piece of braided initiatives.”
While the state doesn’t currently require health care facilities to have violence prevention programs in place, many do, Hannes said, and federal legislation is currently moving through congressional committees.
Backers
Some lawmakers favor the legislation.
Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, said Wyoming seems “to be the only state that doesn’t have any type of, let’s say, enhancement or acknowledgment of violence toward people in the health care industry.”
“Some enhancement is appropriate (and) necessary,” Zwonitzer said.
An amendment by Rep. Ember Oakley, R-Riverton, to increase the penalty for battery to up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, was widely supported by committee members. This is the same consequence as interference with a peace officer.
Sen. R.J. Kost, R-Powell, said such a law is “the right thing to do” and it bothers him someone could be cited for such an offense and “walk away.”
Hannah Black is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s criminal justice reporter. She can be reached at hblack@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3128. Follow her on Twitter at @hannahcblack. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/government_and_politics/committee-votes-down-penalty-for-health-care-violence/article_4fff3924-3476-11ed-a1e3-bb9be27aab7c.html | 2022-09-14T23:37:56Z | wyomingnews.com | control | https://www.wyomingnews.com/wyomingbusinessreport/industry_news/government_and_politics/committee-votes-down-penalty-for-health-care-violence/article_4fff3924-3476-11ed-a1e3-bb9be27aab7c.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The top-rated employment law firm, Davtyan Law Firm (www.d.law) is bringing its devotion to helping employees to Bakersfield, California. DLaw initially opened over seven years ago with the main goal of protecting the rights of the working class in the Los Angeles area. Since then, DLaw has focused on helping as many people as possible with employment issues, such as workplace harassment, discrimination, unpaid wages, and wrongful termination. Their dedication and experience are what sets them apart from other employment law firms in the Bakersfield area.
Opening an office in Central California is important to Founder and Managing Attorney Emil Davtyan's ever-growing mission to provide California's workforce with accessible legal services.
DLaw also has offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, San Luis Obispo, and Chico to protect all Californians from abusive employers.
Since its inception in 2015, DLaw's 50-plus lawyers and staff have helped hundreds of thousands of California workers recover nearly a quarter of $1 billion from their employers. To date, the firm has helped pursue nearly 3,000 cases.
"Hourly and low-wage workers are a collective group of people who make up the backbone of America," said Emil. "These hard-working individuals often don't have the resources and means to pursue their valid claims because employment law projects intimidation. If anyone has experienced unfair workplace treatment, they can look to us as the best place to help. We're always a phone call or online visit away from answering questions and offering free advice."
DLaw's newest office is located just outside of Downtown Bakersfield at 4900 California Avenue Tower B, 2nd Floor. Bakersfield, California 93309
Wage & Hours Claims — California has strict laws regarding lunch breaks, rest breaks, overtime, expense reimbursements, off-the-clock work, minimum wage, etc. These laws change frequently and can be confusing.
Workplace Harassment & Discrimination — Employers are not allowed to discriminate or harass, based on certain protected classes such as race, age, and gender. In addition, California protects more classes including immigration status, sexual orientation and others.
Wrongful Termination — There are several types of wrongful termination including discrimination, contract violations, sexual harassment, and workplace retaliation.
Protected Leave Violations — California employees are entitled to a variety of protected leaves including FMLA (family and medical leave), new parental leaves, military service leave, and more. California's leave laws protect employees from unlawful discrimination, harassment, or retaliation as a result of requesting or taking protected leave. Employees have a right to take these kinds of leaves, and employers cannot take certain actions just because they exercised that right.
Workplace Retaliation — Workplace retaliation occurs when a business takes negative action against the employee who initially filed a complaint. If an employer punishes or fires an employee for exercising his or her employment rights, it is considered workplace retaliation and it may be illegal.
Are you a California employee who is treated unfairly at work? If so, please call 888-TRY-DLAW, visit the www.d.law website or email info@davtyanlaw.com. A representative is standing by 7 days a week to help with your employment law legal needs.
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SOURCE Davtyan Law Firm, Inc. | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/dlaws-accomplished-employment-law-firm-now-helping-employees-bakersfield-ca/ | 2022-09-14T23:39:06Z | witn.com | control | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/dlaws-accomplished-employment-law-firm-now-helping-employees-bakersfield-ca/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Most people know what it is to feel hungry. But persistent hunger and a lack of access to convenient and affordable healthy foods is something much more, disproportionately affecting communities already underrepresented in news coverage. Food insecurity can be difficult for journalists to cover consistently because of its seeming invisibility.
Food deserts and insecurity throughout the U.S. are growing and have gained attention as cities have experienced higher rates of food insecurity during the coronavirus pandemic. As school-age students returned to classrooms this fall, they've done so without the universal meal waivers that have helped struggling families through the last two years. And the May 14 mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Markets store in Buffalo, New York, brought attention to food inequities in the predominantly Black community while the store remained closed after the attack.
Food-insecure communities exist in your coverage areas, and reporting this deeply important, fundamental access issue is critical to finding solutions. Register today to join the National Press Club Journalism Institute at 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 21 for this discussion via Zoom about what journalists can cover at the intersection of food access, community impact, and systemic racism.
Participants will learn how to:
- Identify food deserts and food insecurity issues within your community and their root causes
- Shift from reactive to proactive coverage
- Consistently connect food insecurity stories to root causes in coverage
- Cover food insecurity issues with empathy and care for individuals
- Keep up to date with resources and tools to report on the issue
Panelists include:
- Alejandro Figueroa, food reporter for WYSO
- Bridget Huber, reporter with the Food and Environment Reporting Network
- Lauren Lindstrom, independent journalist focused on health and housing and O'Brien Fellow in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University
- Karen Robinson-Jacobs, investigative reporter on the Public Service Journalism team at Lee Enterprises
We hope you'll join us for this important conversation, supported with funding from the Gannett Foundation. Please email Beth Francesco, deputy executive director for the Institute, with questions.
Alejandro Figueroa covers food insecurity and the business of food for WYSO through Report for America. He covers the lack of access to healthy and affordable food in Southwest Ohio communities and what local government and nonprofits are doing to address it. He also covers rural and urban farming.
Figueroa is a 2021 graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, where he reported for The New Political, a student-run publication focused on politics and government. His reporting has been featured on NPR, The GroundTruth Project, and the Ohio Newsroom.
Bridget Huber is a staff writer at Food and Environment Reporting Network. Her work has been published and broadcast by National Geographic, Public Radio International, The New York Times, The Lancet, Mother Jones, The Associated Press, and many others.
A graduate of UC Berkeley's journalism school, she's received grants, awards, and fellowships from The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The UC Berkeley/11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship, and Mesa Refuge, among others. She speaks Spanish, French, and some Portuguese and lives in Portland, Maine.
Lauren Lindstrom is an independent journalist focused on health and housing as an O'Brien Fellow in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University. She previously covered affordable housing and homelessness for The Charlotte Observer, writing about the human toll of evictions during the pandemic, substandard housing conditions and challenges to address homelessness.
She was also the health reporter for The Blade in Toledo, Ohio, where she wrote about the state's opioid crisis and childhood lead poisoning. Lauren is a Northwestern University graduate and a former Report for America corps member.
Karen Robinson-Jacobs is a Chicago native and an award-winning journalist who has been chasing the big story for decades. She serves as an investigative reporter for media company Lee Enterprises on its newly formed Public Service Journalism team.
She also is a Knobler Fellow with Type Investigations and recently completed one year as a Corps member with Report for America, covering issues of concern to African-Americans for the St. Louis American.
She spent 15 years writing about food, sports business, and real estate for the Dallas Morning News, where she was part of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist team lauded for coverage of a 2016 shooting spree that killed five police officers and injured nine others. Prior to that, she spent 15 years with the Los Angeles Times, where she worked with emerging journalists in the paper's Metpro program and helped launch the paper's website and new media department. While in Los Angeles she also served as vice president of the local chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. A long-time Midwesterner, Robinson-Jacobs also worked at the Milwaukee Journal, where she was among the first African-American editors.
The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press, and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. As the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club, the Institute powers journalism in the public interest.
The National Press Club Journalism Institute serves thousands of people daily with our newsletter, online programming, writing group, and other support. The Institute depends on grants, foundation funds, and contributions from individuals like you. Your donation today allows the Institute to offer the majority of its programming at no cost. Any amount helps.
Press contact: Beth Francesco, deputy executive director, bfrancesco@press.org
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE National Press Club Journalism Institute | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/learn-identify-food-insecurity-issues-solutions-your-community-national-press-club-journalism-institute-training-oct-21/ | 2022-09-14T23:39:32Z | witn.com | control | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/learn-identify-food-insecurity-issues-solutions-your-community-national-press-club-journalism-institute-training-oct-21/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Over the next few years, California’s 58 counties will need to set up new court system proponents say will help people with severe mental health conditions find both housing and care.
Orange and Riverside are among the first counties tasked with implementing such programs.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed his mental health plan into law on Wednesday, Sept. 14, establishing a new court program that propels — advocates say connects; opponents say forces — unhoused people with severe mental health or substance abuse disorders into treatment.
“This problem is solvable,” Newsom said from the bill signing in San Jose. “We can meet this moment, and we can create many many moments in the future to do justice to those that need us and are suffering and are struggling.”
The new law allows family members, first responders, social services or other authorized adults to petition a court to enroll a person with a severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, into a CARE program. The CARE plan, which includes housing, medication and support services, can be ordered for up to 24 months.
The idea is to help people with such severe mental health disorders that they lack the ability to make medical decisions, proponents have said. It’s not just for homeless people, but it is tailored only for people with severe mental health disorders who are not likely to survive in the community without help or are at risk of harming themselves or others.
Now, homeless people with severe mental health disorders can be held at psychiatric hospitals for up to three days — released if they promise to take medication and follow up with other services — and bounce from jails to hospitals to the streets.
Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Glenn, San Francisco, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties are the first seven that must implement the CARE Court program, beginning October 2023. The other counties must commence the program by December 2024.
Sen. Tom Umberg, who authored the legislation, said Orange County’s Be Well OC mental health care facility positioned it in a “unique” position where it made sense for it to be one of the inaugural areas to implement the CARE program, a first-of-its-kind program in the U.S.
And although about 7,500 to 12,000 people in California have schizophrenia or similar illnesses, Umberg said, the number of families impacted “is exponentially larger than that.”
“This bill is about providing a stable environment with accountability for people to get well,” Umberg, D-Santa Ana, told the Southern California News Group. “That’s one of the things that has been lacking: We’ve got a whole bunch of different programs, but the one thing this adds to the equation is accountability.”
“Orange County has experience and has done quite well with collaborative courts which are alternatives to the normal criminal justice system,” Umberg said.
Too far or not far enough
But Republicans and civil liberty groups have expressed concerns about the impact the CARE Court program could have.
Eve Garrow, a senior policy analyst and advocate at the ACLU of Southern California, said the program “unravels” progress made over the past several years by disability rights groups. Garrow said the focus should be on providing permanent, safe and affordable housing for those struggling with mental health conditions, not on mandated treatment.
“A proposal that ties necessary mental health treatment and housing to courts is actually retrograde and will take Orange County back to an era when the forced treatment of people with serious mental health conditions is the norm,” Garrow said in an interview.
Garrow warned the CARE Court program could have a “chilling” impact on healthcare utilization.
“What could happen is people who have a mental health diagnosis might avoid the health care system and mental health and behavioral health care systems because they know that providers have the power to refer them to court,” Garrow said.
Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said the program was “better than nothing” but maintained it is a “new bureaucratic half-measure.”
“It’s not the groundbreaking policy change we need,” Gallagher said. “It will help some severely mentally ill people get treatment but will not stop the explosion of homeless camps in our communities. If we’re really going to make a difference, we need to reform our conservatorship laws by changing the definition of ‘gravely disabled’ to get people the mental health and drug addiction treatment they need.”
California defines “gravely disabled” as a “condition in which a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is unable to provide for his or her basic personal needs for food, clothing or shelter.”
Human Rights Watch, Disability Rights California and other organizations that work with homeless people, minorities and people with disabilities also opposed the new law.
For Michelle Doty Cabrera, the executive director of the County Behavioral Health Directors’ Association of California, the CARE Court’s success is contingent upon cooperation.
“Californians are counting on our success with this initiative as a part of the state’s broader efforts to address homelessness,” Cabrera said in a statement. “Success will depend in large part on our state partners’ commitment to improve the availability of housing for county behavioral health clients, addressing the behavioral health workforce crisis, and investment of new funds to administer CARE Court without siphoning resources from the hundreds of thousands of county clients already counting on the vital behavioral health and substance use disorder services we provide.”
Counties that do not set up these special courts could be fined up to $1,000 per day.
Newsom is up for re-election this year in a race he’s expected to win easily. But questions have continued to mount about potential presidential aspirations in 2024.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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By MIKE CORDER, JILL LAWLESS and DANICA KIRKA
LONDON (AP) — The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II left Buckingham Palace for the last time Wednesday, borne on a horse-drawn carriage and saluted by cannons and the tolling of Big Ben, in a solemn procession through the flag-draped, crowd-lined streets of London to Westminster Hall. There, a steady stream of mourners paid their respects to Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
As the cortege left the palace, her son, King Charles III, and his siblings and sons marched behind the coffin, which was topped by a wreath of white roses and her crown resting on a purple velvet pillow.
The military procession underscored Elizabeth’s seven decades as head of state as the national mourning process shifted to the grand boulevards and historic landmarks of the U.K. capital.
At 900-year-old Westminster Hall, where the queen will lie in state until her funeral Monday, crowds shuffled past her coffin well into the night. They moved silently down the steps of the hall under a great stained glass window, then past the coffin that was covered with the Royal Standard and had been placed on a raised platform known as a catafalque by eight pallbearers.
There were couples and parents with children, veterans with medals clinking on navy blue blazers, lawmakers and members of the House of Lords. Some wore black or suits and ties, others jeans and sneakers, and all had waited hours to stand in front of the coffin for a few moments
Many bowed or curtseyed and some were in tears.
Thousands who had waited for the procession for hours along The Mall outside the palace and other locations along the route held up phones and cameras, and some wiped away tears, as the casket rolled by. Applause broke out as it passed through Horse Guards Parade. Thousands more in nearby Hyde Park watched on large screens.
The coffin was topped with the Imperial State Crown — encrusted with almost 3,000 diamonds — and a bouquet of flowers and plants, including pine from the Balmoral Estate, where Elizabeth died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96.
Two officers and 32 troops from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards in red uniforms and bearskin hats walked on either side of the gun carriage. The 38-minute procession ended at Westminster Hall, where Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby led a service attended by Charles and other royals.
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you,” Welby read from the Book of John.
After a short service, the captain of The Queen’s Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, assisted by a senior sergeant, laid the royal standard of the regiment on the steps of the catafalque.
Four officers from the Household Cavalry -– two from the Life Guards and two from the Blues Royals -– began the vigil, taking their places at each corner and bowing their heads.
Thousands had queued up along the banks of the River Thames, waiting to enter the hall and pay their respects to the only monarch most Britons have ever known after her 70 years on the throne.
Esther Ravenor, a Kenyan who lives in the U.K. said she was humbled as she watched the procession.
“I love the queen, I love the royal family, and you know, I had to be here,” she said. “She is a true role model. She loved us all, all of us. Especially someone like me, a migrant woman coming to the U.K. 30 years ago, I was allowed to be here and to be free and safe, so I really honor her. She was a big part of my life.”
Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, of the Household division, who organized the ceremonial aspects of the queen’s funeral, said it was “our last opportunity to do our duty for the queen, and it’s our first opportunity to do it for the king, and that makes us all very proud.”
Troops involved in the procession had been preparing since the queen died. So had the horses of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
Sgt. Tom Jenks said the horses were specially trained, including how to handle weeping mourners, as well as flowers and flags being tossed in front of the procession.
Heathrow Airport temporarily halted flights, saying it would “ensure silence over central London as the ceremonial procession moves from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall.”
President Joe Biden spoke Wednesday with Charles to offer his condolences, the White House said.
Biden recalled “the Queen’s kindness and hospitality” she hosted them and the first lady at Windsor Castle in June, the statement said. “He also conveyed the great admiration of the American people for the Queen, whose dignity and constancy deepened the enduring friendship and special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”
Crowds have lined the route of the queen’s coffin whenever it has been moved in its long journey from Scotland to London.
On Tuesday night, thousands braved a typical London drizzle as the hearse, with interior lights illuminating the casket, drove slowly from an air base to Buckingham Palace.
Earlier, in Edinburgh, about 33,000 people filed silently past her coffin in 24 hours at St. Giles’ Cathedral.
The line of people snaking along the banks of the River Thames to enter Westminster Hall, the oldest building in Parliament, was nearly 3 miles long in the afternoon, according to a government tracker.
The hall is where Guy Fawkes and Charles I were tried, where kings and queens hosted magnificent medieval banquets, and where ceremonial addresses were presented to Queen Elizabeth II during her silver, golden and diamond jubilees.
Chris Bond, from Truro in southwest England, was among those waiting to see the queen’s coffin. He also attended the lying in state of the queen’s mother in 2002.
“Obviously, it’s quite difficult queuing all day long, but when you walk through those doors into Westminster Hall, that marvelous, historic building, there was a great sense of hush and one was told you take as much time as you like, and it’s just amazing,” he said.
“We know the queen was a good age and she served the country a long time, but we hoped this day would never come,” he added.
Chris Imafidon, secured the sixth place in the queue.
“I have 1,001 emotions when I see her,” he said. “I want to say, God, she was an angel, because she touched many good people and did so many good things.”
—-
Associated Press writer Sylvia Hui contributed.
___
Follow AP coverage of Queen at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii
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SPOKANE, Wash. — A West Valley preschool student will make an appearance in a Times Square billboard on Sept. 17.
In addition to starting her first day of preschool at the West Valley Early Learning Center, three-year-old Aurora Niles and her family are looking forward to seeing her face on a billboard in Times Square.
Aurora's parents, Christopher and Heather Niles, sent Aurora's photo to the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) earlier this year. NDSS conducted an application process for photos that "highlight the value that people with Down syndrome bring to their communities," according to a press release.
All the photos collected by NDSS were compiled into a video presentation that will be displayed on a jumbo screen in Times Square.
NDSS plans to live-stream the hour-long presentation on their Facebook page on Saturday, Sept. 17 from 6:30-7:30 a.m. The live-stream will take place right before the New York Buddy Walk in Central Park.
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To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com. | https://www.krem.com/article/entertainment/places/inland-northbest/spokane-toddler-to-be-featured-on-times-square-billboard/293-e6e37aa8-780b-480f-a7b9-e755ae4ee5f4 | 2022-09-14T23:43:05Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/entertainment/places/inland-northbest/spokane-toddler-to-be-featured-on-times-square-billboard/293-e6e37aa8-780b-480f-a7b9-e755ae4ee5f4 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
ELK, Wash. — Two people are in serious condition after a multi-vehicle crash near North Elk Chattaroy Road and East Nelson Road.
Two vehicles were involved in the crash, one of which rolled over, according to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office (SCSO). Two people were in one car while one person was in the other car.
Two people were transported via Life Flight to a local hospital with serious injuries. Their status is not known at this time.
One person was taken to the hospital via ambulance.
North Elk Chattaroy Road is blocked at this time.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com. | https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/elk-north-chattaroy-crash/293-4facdf11-006e-4080-a079-96afa113705e | 2022-09-14T23:43:11Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/elk-north-chattaroy-crash/293-4facdf11-006e-4080-a079-96afa113705e | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SEATTLE — Amtrak train service between Seattle and Portland may be suspended due to a possible freight railroad strike this week.
Sounder commuter rail service between Everett and Lakewood would also be suspended.
The Amtrak Cascades line, which is set to resume in full Monday, Sept. 26 with service up to Vancouver, British Columbia, and Sounder service cannot operate without BNSF Railway and Union Pacific dispatchers. A strike would result in "complete service disruptions" beginning Sept. 16, according to information from Amtrak.
The train tracks that Amtrak and the Sounder trains run on in Washington state and Oregon are primarily owned by BNSF and Union Pacific.
People with Amtrak tickets are being notified of the situation and have the option to change their reservation to another date, according to Amtrak, waive a difference in fare for departures through Oct. 31 or receive a refund.
Sound Transit announced it is working with partners on additional bus service on existing express routes that overlap with Sounder service.
The announcement comes after Amtrak suspended all long-distance routes on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, freight railroads and their unions face a looming strike deadline on Friday to settle their contract dispute.
There are 12 unions representing 115,000 workers that must agree on tentative deals and have their members vote on whether to approve them. So far, nine have agreed to tentative deals while three others are still bargaining.
Though the negotiations don't involve Amtrak, most of the company's 21,000 route miles outside of the Northeast Corridor are on tracks owned, maintained and dispatched by freight railroads. | https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/seattle/freight-strike-amtrak-cascades-sounder-service-seattle-vancouver/281-278e9a51-9f36-478b-b939-dfb3f9348787 | 2022-09-14T23:43:17Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/seattle/freight-strike-amtrak-cascades-sounder-service-seattle-vancouver/281-278e9a51-9f36-478b-b939-dfb3f9348787 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SPOKANE, Wash. — President Biden has approved electric vehicle infrastructure plans for 35 states earlier than expected. One of the states approved is Washington.
The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program will provide $5 billion for states' projects directly related to the charging of a vehicle, which could include upgrades of existing as well as construction for new electric vehicle charging stations.
In August, Gov. Inslee announced Washington's plans to phase out the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035. In preparation for the change, the state is taking on initiatives to make it easier for people to transition to using electric cars.
The approval of Washington’s State Plan for Electric Infrastructure Deployment (WSPEID) from the Capitol means the state now has funding to install electric vehicle chargers across major highways like FWY 22 and FWY 23.
“Making electric vehicle charging accessible to all Americans is critical to achieving a transportation sector that improves our environment and lessens our dependence on oil and gas,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in a press release.
With the approval, roughly $25.6 million in initial funding will be used to add to the current 4,099 electric vehicle charging ports already in place in Washington. The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) plans to build electric vehicle charging stations for every 50 miles of highway.
States will be reimbursed by the national government for projects directly related to the charging of a vehicle, which could include upgrades of existing and construction for new EV charging infrastructure, operation and maintenance costs of these charging stations, installation of on-site electrical service equipment, community and stakeholder engagement, workforce development activities, EV charging station signage, data sharing activities and related mapping analysis and activities.
"With the first set of approvals we are announcing today, 35 states across the country – with Democratic and Republican governors – will be moving forward to use these funds to install EV chargers at regular, reliable intervals along their highways,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a press release.
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To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com. | https://www.krem.com/article/tech/science/environment/biden-administration-washington-electric-vehicle-chargers/293-c56eb4ab-68f7-4359-af87-7a9fc51f5cf4 | 2022-09-14T23:43:35Z | krem.com | control | https://www.krem.com/article/tech/science/environment/biden-administration-washington-electric-vehicle-chargers/293-c56eb4ab-68f7-4359-af87-7a9fc51f5cf4 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A week out from training camp, there is not much intrigue over the Islanders roster, a veteran-laden team that has changed exceedingly little from the 2021-22 season.
But of the 18 skaters the club will send out on most nights this season, there is at least one spot up for grabs: the left side defenseman on the third pairing. Sebastian Aho, Robin Salo and Dennis Cholowski — the only outside free agent signed in a summer that drew ire from the fan base — are all in the mix. It figures that only two will end up on the NHL roster, and only one can be in the lineup each night.
“You have certain pairings that you feel have chemistry, but at the end of the day, that’s what training camp’s for, is testing things out and exhibition games and things like that to find the right fit,” coach Lane Lambert said Tuesday, acknowledging it is an open competition. “But at the end of the day, the players are gonna answer the questions for us.”
Though Lambert said the Islanders will experiment with their pairings during training camp, it figures Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock will be atop the depth chart, with Alexander Romanov and Noah Dobson shortly behind. Scott Mayfield, who is back from a season-ending lower-body injury, should be a mainstay on the third pair.
The hope is that someone proves themselves worthy of playing alongside him.
No matter who it is, all three are more offensive-minded compared to Mayfield, a stalwart defender who had just 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) last season. Salo, who turns 24 in October and made his NHL debut last season, would seem to have the highest ceiling.
“I think he’s getting closer and closer and we’ll have to see,” Lambert said. “He’s a puck-moving guy, he’s got good offensive instincts. He’s a power-play guy. I’m looking forward to seeing where his game is as we open camp.”
That echoed his assessment of Cholowski, a first-round pick of the Red Wings in 2016 who flamed out with Seattle and Washington last season: “Real solid offensive player. Moves the puck well. Skates well and he’s got good offense, good mobility.”
At 26, Aho has the most experience of the group and is the best-known commodity — someone with offensive skill whose defensive lapses have kept him from sticking in the NHL. If it is Salo’s job to gain, then it is Aho’s to lose, with Cholowski in the mix as a wild card.
Lambert said he expects the Islanders to come to camp fully healthy, including Cal Clutterbuck and Mayfield, both of whom missed the final fourth of last season with injuries.
The Islanders are not expecting to sign anybody to a tryout contract for camp, Lambert said. | https://nypost.com/2022/09/13/islanders-third-line-defenseman-an-open-battle/ | 2022-09-14T23:43:46Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/09/13/islanders-third-line-defenseman-an-open-battle/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
As the Mets’ bats continue to struggle in Queens, Francisco Alvarez keeps showing off his prodigious power.
The Mets’ top prospect launched a “moonshot” home run off the left-center field scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning for Triple-A Syracuse at NBT Bank Stadium on Tuesday night.
Alvarez, 20, hit a 1-0 pitch from Buffalo Bison right-hander Adrian Hernandez to cap a five-run inning to tie the score at 5-5. Syracuse ended up losing the game, 15-8.
While the homer was his seventh since being promoted to Triple-A, Alvarez has struggled at the plate overall there. Alvarez, who went 2-for-5 in the loss, is hitting just a paltry .183 for Syracuse with 22 RBIs and just a .725 OPS.
The Mets’ catchers also have struggled at the plate this season with James McCann hitting .205 with a .555 OPS and Tomas Nido checking in at .235 and .577, respectively.
Still while Alvarez’s power, which produced a homer out of a stadium already this season, is tantalizing is times, his time with the big club likely will have to wait. | https://nypost.com/2022/09/13/mets-prospect-francisco-alvarez-crushes-moonshot-home-run/ | 2022-09-14T23:44:10Z | nypost.com | control | https://nypost.com/2022/09/13/mets-prospect-francisco-alvarez-crushes-moonshot-home-run/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A new report issued by the Lancet Commission looks at the first two years of the pandemic to consider what the world did right (spoiler: not much), what the world got wrong, and how we can end this public health emergency and prepare for future ones. According to the commission, the failures cost us 17.7 million unnecessary deaths globally. (Not to mention the many people still struggling with the long-term consequences of a prior infection with COVID-19.) Here are four ways the world messed things up:
Countries failed to coordinate and cooperate.
One of the central findings of the commission's report was the lack of coordination among governments. Nations didn't consult with one another, for instance, as they locked down and reopened in a seemingly random manner. "We saw seesaw swings across countries, which gave the virus and the variants a superhighway for transmission into areas where previously it had not entered," says Dr. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India and a co-author of the report. Instead of a coherent global strategy, each country took care of itself "in an incredibly haphazard way," says Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and chair of the commission.
Nations didn't do their homework.
Before COVID-19, the Global Health Security Index assembled rankings on which countries would be best and worst prepared for a hypothetical pandemic. "They proved to be very misleading," says Sachs. Many of the nations at the top of those lists, he explains, ended up with high death rates and difficulties countering the virus. (In case you were wondering, the U.S. ranked first in terms of "preparedness for pandemics and epidemics.") The one region of the world that punched above its weight was the Western Pacific. "There wasn't confusion, consternation or deep public debate about basic public hygienic measures of wearing face masks, social distancing, [and] avoiding potential super spreader events," says Sachs. The result was that the Western Pacific had some of the lowest mortality rates globally and, he says, "did not suffer worse outcomes in economic terms than other regions of the world."
Inequity was a "wicked accomplice" of the virus. In other words, we didn't share!
The commission commended the rapid development of vaccines but faulted the nations that developed and acquired these highly effective tools for focusing on their profitability at the expense of not sharing them more widely. "While immunity is the splendid armor that protects us against the virus," says Reddy, "inequity is the wicked accomplice of the virus." In other words, lack of widespread, aggressive vaccination has allowed COVID-19 to evolve, evade and persist.
When it came to an array of possible medical responses, "global and national decisions didn't consider the less vocal voices of our communities," says Gabriela Cuevas Barron, honorary president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and co-author of the report. She's referring to immigrants, refugees, the elderly, Indigenous populations, women and children, prisoners, and those with disabilities, fewer resources and reduced access to health care.
The public was infected by a plague of resistance.
The commission noted widespread public resistance to basic prevention and safety measures. This was due, in part, to confusing and conflicting government messages. But misinformation and disinformation campaigns aimed at the very heart of public health science were also responsible, amplified and further distorted on social media. "We must actually ensure that people's confidence in science grows," says Reddy, "and we counter the anti-science movements that pose a serious public health threat all across the world. And the political compulsions that sometimes drive policymakers to perpetuate such movements must also be called out."
To address these failures going forward, the commission laid out a handful of fixes. Among them:
People of the world, let's cooperate!
Despite a widespread feeling in many parts of the world that the pandemic is behind us, Sachs assures us it most certainly is not — "New variants, hugely uneven vaccine coverage, and quite possibly serious surprises still to come. In other words, we are not prepared for ending this pandemic." The commission urges strong international cooperation to finish this thing off.
Create a combo platter of preventive and curative measures: Vaccination-plus!
According to the report, the optimal strategy for bringing the pandemic to an end involves a combination of mass vaccination, testing, treatment for both new infections and long COVID, installing public health measures like face masks and social distancing, and financial and social supports to ease periods of isolation and quarantine for individuals. "We have to be prepared and make sure that we will leave no one behind in the future," says Cuevas Barron.
Expand the World Health Organization
The commission believes the WHO should enlarge its Science Council, a body of scientific leadership that directly consults with the director-general about "high-priority scientific issues and advances in science and technology that could directly impact global health." Their hope is that growing this group with diverse representation will help address future emerging infectious diseases, with a special focus on understanding "exposure routes and the highest-risk environments for transmission."
Reddy says the lesson of the pandemic and the essence of the report is that global trust is needed to respond to a global threat. "Global health might have derived its initial impetus from a sense of shared vulnerability," he says, "but now it must draw momentum from a sense of shared values. We must actually stand and work together."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | https://www.klcc.org/npr-health-fitness/npr-health-fitness/2022-09-14/4-ways-the-world-messed-up-its-pandemic-response-and-3-fixes-to-do-better-next-time | 2022-09-14T23:45:15Z | klcc.org | control | https://www.klcc.org/npr-health-fitness/npr-health-fitness/2022-09-14/4-ways-the-world-messed-up-its-pandemic-response-and-3-fixes-to-do-better-next-time | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Demi Lovato might soon be taking time off from the road permanently.
In now-deleted Instagram Story posts, the singer announced that her current tour would be her last, stating that she couldn't "do this anymore" because she was "so "sick" that she "can’t get out of bed," Vulture, Deadline, and CNN reported.
Lovato is currently on tour in South America, and on Wednesday, she said she was in Santiago, Chile, according to her social media accounts.
The media outlets said the singer kicked off her tour last month in Iowa.
According to the news outlets, the final portion of her tour will be in the U.S., with the first stop happening on Sept. 22 in Sacramento. | https://www.katc.com/entertainment/demi-lovato-reportedly-announces-current-tour-will-be-her-last | 2022-09-14T23:47:26Z | katc.com | control | https://www.katc.com/entertainment/demi-lovato-reportedly-announces-current-tour-will-be-her-last | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
U.S. Army Reserve Col. Sunny Mitchell, officer-in-charge of recruiting and retention, U.S. Army Reserve Command, lines up a golf shot on the fairway at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Sept. 14, while a deer crosses the fairway behind her during the All Armed Forces Championship tournament. Armed Services members from around the country and the world are competing for top honors in the tournament to see which golfer and which branch of the military will take home the win. (Official U.S. Army Reserve photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent C. Powell)
This work, Unexpected Golf Course Guest [Image 11 of 11], by SFC Brent Powell, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7417335/unexpected-golf-course-guest | 2022-09-14T23:53:54Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7417335/unexpected-golf-course-guest | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
U.S. Army Reserve Capt. Eraina Manor, military intelligence officer, 7th Regional Support Group, waits for her turn to putt a golf ball on a green at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Sept. 14, during the All Armed Forces Championship tournament. Armed Services members from around the country and the world are competing for top honors in the tournament to see which golfer and which branch of the military will take home the win. (Official U.S. Army Reserve photo by Sgt. 1st Class Brent C. Powell)
This work, Watching and Waiting [Image 11 of 11], by SFC Brent Powell, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright. | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7417336/watching-and-waiting | 2022-09-14T23:54:01Z | dvidshub.net | control | https://www.dvidshub.net/image/7417336/watching-and-waiting | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
A new food bank planned for Selah received a $50,000 boost from American Rescue Plan Act funding Wednesday during a groundbreaking.
More than 40 well-wishers, including Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney, gathered at the site behind Grocery Outlet to watch Selah Mayor Sherry Raymond hand the ARPA check to Bill Harris, who has been helping spearhead the project.
Raymond said Harris’ passion for the project has been the driving force behind making it a reality.
“That’s what it takes – passion,” she said after handing him the check.
The plan entails building a 3,800-square-foot food bank that will serve Selah and Naches on a parcel at East Goodlander Road and North Park Drive just behind Grocery Outlet. The food bank will be equipped with plenty of storage space, a walk-in freezer, office space and a loading dock.
Currently, the food bank is housed in a small area of the Selah Civic Center with food stored and sorted at a small portable classroom behind Selah High School.
With need increasing, the current food bank is inefficient, Harris said.
The new food bank will be operated like a store, offering visitors a shopping experience rather than handing them a box of food, Harris said.
“We kind of want to take that away,” Harris said, adding that the store atmosphere offers more dignity to those seeking help.
The nonprofit food bank has already raised $450,000 in pledges and will be able to tap a $350,000 loan to construct the building, said Gena Franklin, project treasurer.
The $50,000 received Wednesday rounds out the roughly $800,000 needed to construct the building, she said.
Food bank supporters will continue fundraising efforts to cover operations moving forward, Harris said.
Donations can be made online.
Several area churches have committed to each spending one month out of the year conducting fundraisers for the operation, he said.
Construction is expected to begin this fall and it should be in operation by spring 2023, Harris said. | https://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/new-selah-food-bank-breaks-ground-after-receiving-50-000-in-covid-relief-funds/article_904f3482-3450-11ed-9357-67935cac16cd.html | 2022-09-14T23:55:18Z | yakimaherald.com | control | https://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/new-selah-food-bank-breaks-ground-after-receiving-50-000-in-covid-relief-funds/article_904f3482-3450-11ed-9357-67935cac16cd.html | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Three guns have been confiscated and now three Leon County students now facing possible expulsion. Law enforcement is now urging change in order to keep guns out of students hands and it starts outside of school.
Leon County schools as well as the Sheriff's office have safety plans in place but believes the issues won't stop unless outside help is given.
"Our staff will move for expulsion immediately once a student is found in possession of a gun," said Jimmy Williams, the Chief of Safety and Security with Leon County Schools.
Since the start of this school year, School Resource Deputies have recovered three firearms on school grounds. Williams said these students will not be allowed to return to campus.
Bobby Green is the Captain of Youth and Young Adult Services. He said most guns brought to school are either taken from home or stolen from other people off the streets.
Although Green is confident in his SRD's, the issue won't stop unless more is done. "Until we resolve the problems that's outside in our community, I think we'll never resolve the problem of kids bringing these guns to school," said Green.
Green believes the solution is looking for help outside of school. "It's more than just the Sheriff's Office. We take so much of the responsibility all the time but, when it all boils down to it, it boils down to every citizen, all the parents, the school board, the city the county, all these entities to come together and come up with a resolution to try to combat it," said Green.
At the budget meeting in July, the City of Tallahassee approved to set aside $1 million to address gun violence in the community.
Mayor John Dailey says they've been in touch with community leaders to see what this will look like. "Staff is currently combing through all that data and working with all the local groups to see what is the best way forward," said Dailey.
City leaders plan to discuss the agenda item at the next city commission meeting scheduled for next Wednesday. | https://www.wtxl.com/community/local-law-enforcement-city-leaders-urge-change-to-prevent-further-guns-on-school-grounds | 2022-09-14T23:56:29Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/community/local-law-enforcement-city-leaders-urge-change-to-prevent-further-guns-on-school-grounds | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Demi Lovato might soon be taking time off from the road permanently.
In now-deleted Instagram Story posts, the singer announced that her current tour would be her last, stating that she couldn't "do this anymore" because she was "so "sick" that she "can’t get out of bed," Vulture, Deadline, and CNN reported.
Lovato is currently on tour in South America, and on Wednesday, she said she was in Santiago, Chile, according to her social media accounts.
The media outlets said the singer kicked off her tour last month in Iowa.
According to the news outlets, the final portion of her tour will be in the U.S., with the first stop happening on Sept. 22 in Sacramento. | https://www.wtxl.com/entertainment/demi-lovato-reportedly-announces-current-tour-will-be-her-last | 2022-09-14T23:56:35Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/entertainment/demi-lovato-reportedly-announces-current-tour-will-be-her-last | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department said Wednesday that three Iranian citizens have been charged in the United States with ransomware attacks that targeted power companies, local governments and small businesses and nonprofits, including a domestic violence shelter.
The charges accuse the hacking suspects of targeting hundreds of entities in the U.S. and around the world, encrypting and stealing data from victim networks, and threatening to release it publicly or leave it encrypted unless exorbitant ransom payments were made. In some cases, the victims made those payments, the department said.
The Biden administration has tried to go after hackers who have held U.S. targets essentially hostage, often sanctioned or sheltered by adversaries. The threat gained particular prominence in May 2021 when a Russia-based hacker group was accused of conducting a ransomware attack on Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline, which disrupted gas supplies along the East Coast.
Iran-based hackers have also been a focus over the last year, with the FBI thwarting a planned cyberattack on a children's hospital in Boston that was to have been carried out by hackers sponsored by the Iranian government.
"The cyber threat facing our nation is growing more dangerous and complex every day," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement accompanying the indictment unsealed Wednesday. "Today's announcement makes clear the threat is both local and global. It's one we can't ignore and it's one we can't fight on our own, either."
The hackers named in Wednesday's indictment are not believed to have been working on behalf of the Iranian government but instead for their own financial gain, and some of the victims were even in Iran, according to a senior Justice Department official who briefed reporters on the case on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the department.
But the official said the activity, even if not directed by the Iranian government, exists because the regime permits hackers to largely operate with impunity.
In a related action Wednesday, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 10 individuals and two entities affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who it says have been involved in malicious cyber activities, including ransomware. The Treasury Department identified the three defendants in the Justice Department case as employees of technology firms it says is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard.
John Hultquist, vice president for threat intelligence at the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, said his team has been tracking the Iranian actors for some time and assessed they are contractors for the Revolutionary Guard who have been moonlighting as criminal hackers. He said they are especially dangerous because "any access they gain could be served up for espionage or disruptive purposes.
The actions come amid an apparent stalemate in talks between the U.S. and Iran over the possible revival of a 2015 nuclear deal. Israel and some U.S. lawmakers of both parties are pushing the Biden administration to get tougher on Iran, calling the negotiations on Iran's nuclear program a failure.
The three accused hackers are thought to be in Iran and have not been arrested, but the Justice Department official said the pending charges make it "functionally impossible" for them to leave the country.
The case was filed in federal court in New Jersey, where a municipality and an accounting firm were among the victims.
The alleged hacking took place between October 2020 through last month, when the indictment was issued under seal. The three defendants — identified as Mansour Ahmadi, Ahmad Khatibi Aghda and Amir Hossein Nickaein Ravari — are accused of exploiting known or publicly disclosed vulnerabilities in software applications to break into the victims' computer networks.
Prosecutors say the victims were seen by the defendants as targets of opportunities.
They included a domestic violence shelter in Pennsylvania, which the indictment says was extorted out of $13,000 to recover its hacked data; electric utilities in Indiana and Mississippi; a county government in Wyoming; and a construction company in Washington state.
___
Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington and Frank Bajak in Boston contributed to this report.
___
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP. | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/3-iranian-citizens-charged-in-broad-hacking-campaign-in-us | 2022-09-14T23:56:41Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/3-iranian-citizens-charged-in-broad-hacking-campaign-in-us | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Tucked away on a hill beyond a vast commercial landscape are the first two Dharmic temples to exist in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin.
The 22 acres that are home to the Hindu and Jain Temples of Wisconsin were situated in "the middle of nowhere" when they were built in 2001, according to Sarvesh Geddam, the secretary of the two congregations. Now, the area is laden with fast-food restaurants and surplus warehouses. Pewaukee, a village next to Waukesha in Milwaukee's far-west suburbs, has become home to two more groups: devotees of Shirdi Sai Baba, a 20th-century Hindu saint, and BAPS, or Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, a larger Hindu denomination that follows gurus, or swamis, and is often recognizable for its grand temples.
When the Hindu and Jain temples were finished 20 years ago, the community was decidedly unmarked by South Asian culture. Even today, outsiders might wonder that the Wisconsin suburbs — and a state known predominantly for its freezing temperatures (as well as its dairy farming and its importance in national elections) — would draw people from the homelands of Hinduism and Jainism.
In fact, the Indian population of Wisconsin is the second-largest minority Asian group after the Hmong and has grown in population by more than 80% since 2000-2010, according to Wisconsin's Asian American and Pacific Islander Health Forum.
The midwest offered the members of the four temples what it has offered any immigrant: space to call their own.
Of the nearly 2 million Indians in the United States today, more than half identify as Hindu. The earliest immigrants to arrive worshipped at makeshift shrines in people's homes, but with the expansion of immigration quotas from Asian countries in 1965, more than 1,450 temples now exist in the U.S. In New Jersey, California and Texas, where the majority of South Asian Americans live, there are enough adherents to populate temples dedicated to particular deities, as is common in India.
Although Jainism also contains multiple sects within it, the JAINA society now has more than 80 Jain centers nationwide and an estimated population of 30,000 worshippers.
"This is a pan-Indian umbrella," said Geddam. "We are helping people who are struggling to cope with the change of coming here." When the first worshippers came to the temple, said Geddam, they felt grateful and amazed to find a slice of home.
To cater to the nearly 1,000 Wisconsinites who attend the Pewaukee Hindu temple, the building was built to accommodate what Geddam calls an "arcade" of deities — a collection of marble statues depicting the many manifestations of God that Hindus worship, Krishna, Shiva and Ganesh being just the most widely recognized of dozens of forms of the divine known as deities or gods.
The Hindu temple initially offered to host Jain idols as well, but it soon became apparent that different sects had different needs. The Jain holiday Samvatsari and the Hindu one of Ganesh Chaturthi often fall on the same day, for instance. While the Jain holiday is about quiet meditation and reflection, the latter is an event of great jubilation and noise.
As the South Asian community continued to grow, the two other Indic faiths began to meet at the Hindu temple. The Sai Baba devotees and BAPS members used to schedule worship around each other at the Hindu temple, but soon they, too, wanted their own spaces.
In 2013, the Sai Baba devotees walked into a nondenominational church that had come up for sale in downtown Pewaukee and saw a great hall with no benches or pews to remove. The followers of Sai Baba, who also center themselves on serving others, raised $200,000 in just two days from the small surrounding community, many of whom had never stepped foot in an Indian house of worship.
The location, now the Wisconsin Shirdi Sai, has the feeling of visiting Baba's home temple in Shirdi, India, say its new owners, who claim on their website that it was selected by their founder, Sai Baba himself.
"It was not magic, it was a miracle," said Satya Karri, the temple's main trustee. "We were waiting, and with Baba's grace we got it."
The BAPS' Swaminarayan temple got its start in 2018 on the same street as the Hindu and Jain temples in what used to be a mattress warehouse. BAPS temples are nearly uniform wherever they are found, with a store offering Indian snacks and books, classrooms separated by gender and a large assembly hall.
The idea is to create continuity with not only the faith but the culture of western India, where BAPS originated. "When they come here, it gives them a feel of where they grew up," said Mayur Brahmbatt, the teenage son of the temple's head priest, about its elder members.
For larger events that cater to a wider audience, like Diwali, the Hindu temple is still the hub. Thousands of Indian Americans, young and old, flock to this little epicenter of Midwestern India.
The surrounding community, more than 70% Christian and many of them evangelicals, responded with typical midwestern hospitality and practicality, mixed with curiosity. Teachers in the local school district attended seminars at the temple to learn more about their Indian students. The temples have given back to the community as well: In 2020, they hosted clinics that administered 5,000 COVID-19 vaccinations, more than 87% of them to non-Hindus.
"We believe we can attain "moksha" here in this lifetime," said Geddam, referring to the devotion to service that characterizes Dharmic beliefs.
While the temples have helped anchor new South Asian American families in the U.S., Kamal Shah, president of the Jain Temple, said they also foster hope that basic Jain teachings, like vegetarianism and ahimsa, will pass down to following generations.
"When I first came here, people said, 'When you come to this country, you can't continue to be in the old religion,'" said Shah. "Though our belief is very, very ancient, we are able to keep this up in America. That is the biggest transformation."
This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press. RNS and AP partner on some religion news content. RNS is solely responsible for this story. | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/how-a-small-wisconsin-town-became-home-to-4-dharmic-temples | 2022-09-14T23:56:47Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/how-a-small-wisconsin-town-became-home-to-4-dharmic-temples | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
People say getting their hair cut is like therapy. But in this Philadelphia barbershop, it's not a joke.
"Looking at your hair, you're looking in the mirror, you just feeling good," said Andre Scott, owner of Clean Is Mandatory.
NEWSY'S BIANCA FACCHINEI: What is it about barbershops that make them an easy place to open up?
ANDRE SCOTT: They see you week in, week out for years and you build a relationship.
Scott has been a barber for over three decades. In that time, he's done much more than cut hair.
"'I'm just done. I'm ready to give up.' When you hear that quitting, that anger ... Those are some key words you need to jump on real fast," Scott said.
He has always has a good relationship with clients. But it was The Confess Project — a nonprofit that trains barbers to be mental health advocates — that helped him take it a step further.
SEE MORE: Black Men Reflect On The Need For Good Physical And Mental Health
"The more barbers we train, the more people we can get into counseling, get into a support group, or find other resources that we've been able to help people with — from housing, food and hunger and all the other things that come around mental and well-being challenges," The Confess Project Founder Lorenzo Lewis said.
Lewis was inspired to make a difference after his own journey with depression and anxiety. He says he knew right off the bat that barbershops were the right place to start.
SEE MORE: Local Barber Gives Back To Community In Need During Holidays
"I knew very well what it felt like to be in beauty shops and barbershops, and knowing that my first barber was my mentor, it played a huge, huge role in my childhood," Lewis continued.
It's a theory backed by research.
A study from Harvard says, "Barbers can engage communities at their grassroots levels and provide an important piece to a puzzle that in some cases can mean the difference between life and death."
Scott says he couldn't agree more.
"I had a client come in my chair and ask for a haircut, a good haircut. So, he described to me the best haircut, and I said, 'I got you. I'll give you a good haircut any time.' He said, 'No, this is my last haircut.' I figured he was moving or going to jail. I didn't know what was going on. He enlightened me that he was going to take his own life," Scott said. "I literally took off that day at work and was with him all day. All praises to God, he actually didn't take his life. ... That was definitely life-or-death because out of all the people in his life, he decided to open up to me."
SEE MORE: New Mental Health Hotline 988 Launches July 16
That's one of many examples Scott gave to demonstrate the impact he's had on his clients. But he acknowledges it's a two-way street.
"It's not always the barber helping the client," Scott said. "Sometimes it's the client helping the barber."
Newsy’s mental health initiative “America’s Breakdown: Confronting Our Mental Health Crisis” brings you deeply personal and thoughtfully told stories on the state of mental health care in the U.S. Click here to learn more.
Trending stories at Newsy.com | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/nonprofit-trains-black-barbers-to-be-mental-health-advocates | 2022-09-14T23:56:53Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/nonprofit-trains-black-barbers-to-be-mental-health-advocates | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Infamous filmmaker Roman Polanski has reportedly been ordered to stand trial in a French court for allegedly defaming a British actress who accused him of sexual assault.
AFP reported, citing a source close to the case, that a defamation case was filed by actress Charlotte Lewis, who starred in the Franco-Polish filmmaker's 1986 movie "Pirates."
A trial date was not specified in a Paris court order, according to AFP.
Lewis accused Polanski in 2010 in Los Angeles of sexual abuse while at his Paris apartment in the 1980s. Lewis was born in 1967 and said the alleged abuse happened when she was 16.
Polanski has faced multiple sexual abuse accusations throughout his career but has never stood trial before in France for them.
Polanski remains a wanted man in the United States for the alleged statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977. He has denied the sexual assault allegations. | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/report-filmmaker-roman-polanski-to-be-tried-for-alleged-defamation | 2022-09-14T23:56:59Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/news/national/report-filmmaker-roman-polanski-to-be-tried-for-alleged-defamation | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., has new endorsements and is back on television following a post-primary hiatus.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights group, was among several announcing they would support Crist's bid for governor.
It happened during a press event in Wilton Manors on Wednesday.
Crist, a Democrat, is trying to oust Republican incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis in November.
"Gov. Ron DeSantis is one of the most anti-LGBTQ+ politicians in America and an existential threat to every LGBTQ+ person in Florida," Joni Madison, interim president of HRC, said in a statement. "The rights of millions of Floridians are being rolled back by him and an extremist minority of anti-equality judges and politicians attacking our families, our right to vote, and our right to access healthcare and make decisions about our own bodies."
The HRC called Crist a "proven champion" during a Wednesday press event, and vowed to mobilize two million voters to back his effort.
Crist also returned to the airwaves this week.
He has a new television advertisement hitting DeSantis for high property insurance costs and limiting abortion access. It comes after Crist spent weeks trying to replenish funds lost in the primary, though he suggested his time off air didn't hurt him.
"This is really weird," Crist said. "Since we've been off the air, and he has saturated the airwaves, we've gone up [in the polls]. It's weird, but I guess people know the product, and they don't like it."
A late August AARP poll of 1,600 Floridians had Crist down only three points to DeSantis.
The governor still has a huge lead in funding. Through Sept. 2, the latest state reports show the DeSantis campaign and its committee combined had more than $122 million on hand. Crist was around $4 million.
That's money DeSantis is using to remain front and center. Advertisements from both his campaign and the Florida GOP tout the governor's record, the state’s economy and tie Crist to President Joe Biden.
The Republican Governors Association also attacked Crist for his support of the Inflation Reduction Act in a Wednesday statement. Officials said federal spending was the cause of the nation’s high prices.
"Just over a month ago, Charlie Crist went on TV and told Floridians there was no recession and dismissed concerns about rising prices," RGA spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement. "And from the moment Biden was sworn in, Crist has stood in lockstep with him on his tax and spending spree, which has caused the pain and suffering Floridians are fed up and ticked off with." | https://www.wtxl.com/news/politics/former-rep-charlie-crists-campaign-launches-new-television-ad-after-post-primary-hiatus | 2022-09-14T23:57:11Z | wtxl.com | control | https://www.wtxl.com/news/politics/former-rep-charlie-crists-campaign-launches-new-television-ad-after-post-primary-hiatus | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Ahead of one of the country’s worst weeks for fall allergies – the third week in September is known as Asthma Peak Week – a newly released report ranked 100 cities in the continental U.S. from most to least challenging to live with asthma.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s (AAFA) 2022 Asthma Capitals report looks at how location may influence asthma in different cities. In each city, asthma prevalence, emergency department visits for asthma, and deaths due to asthma were all examined.
Providence was ranked 58th worst out of 100, or in other words, 42nd best in the cities included in the report. Boston, however, was ranked much more favorably at 91st worst out of 100, or ninth best.
Estimated Asthma Prevalence
The AAFA says about 25 million Americans suffer from asthma, and factors like sex, race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status can all be associated with the disease.
The most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows more than 103,000 Rhode Island adults have asthma, or 12% of the population. The data revealed more than 592,000 Massachusetts adults had asthma in 2020, or about 10% of the population.
Prevalence rates differ significantly by race and ethnicity, according to AAFA. For example, Puerto Ricans have the highest rate of asthma prevalence compared to any other racial or ethnic group in the United States, while Black Americans are also disproportionally diagnosed with asthma compared to white Americans.
According to Sanaz Eftekhari, the AAFA’s vice president of research, in 2022, Providence had the 18th highest prevalence rate of all 100 cities analyzed, an improvement from having the third-highest prevalence in 2021.
The report noted for this ranking, Providence’s asthma prevalence was worse than average, while Boston’s ranked better than average.
The AAFA separately disclosed the worst-ranked cities for asthma prevalence, and Poughkeepsie, New York, was first.
Emergency Department Visits
Since asthma can trigger severe enough symptoms that would require an emergency room visit, the AAFA also looked at emergency department data from each of the 100 cities.
In 2019, for example, federal health data shows asthma accounted for 169,330 discharges from hospital inpatient care and 1.8 million emergency department visits.
Both Providence and Boston were ranked better than average for asthma-related emergency department visits.
“Ideally, the asthmatics are getting treated in the community by the primary care [doctors], by the specialists, and you’re preventing ER visits,” Dr. Robert Settipane of the Allergy & Asthma Center in East Providence explained. “So if we have low number of ER visits, we’re ahead of the class.”
The AAFA ranked the worst cities for ED visits, and Wichita, Kansas, was first.
According to Eftekhari, Providence actually had the lowest rate of ED visits per 10,000 asthma patients. In 2021, under different methodology, Providence was ranked 47th for ED visits, Eftekhari said.
The AAFA says increased ED visits are “a sign of poor asthma control,” and in order to improve it, people with asthma should reduce their exposure to triggers, have access to their medications, and also have an asthma action plan.
However, the report notes race and age can significantly impact emergency room visits. For example, federal health data shows asthma-related ED visits are more than five times as high for non-Hispanic Black patients compared to non-Hispanic white patients.
Separately, data shows children are much more likely than adults to have asthma-related ED visits, with children ages 5 to 17 having the highest rate.
Asthma-Related Mortality
More than 4,000 asthma-related deaths occurred in 2020, according to data from the CDC. That same year, data shows deaths due to asthma rose for the first time in 20 years.
The agency notes in 2020, 84 asthma-related deaths were recorded in Massachusetts, while 11 were recorded in Rhode Island.
The AAFA’s report shows Providence has average asthma-related death rates, and despite Boston’s more favorable ranking, the city had a worse than average death rate.
Asthma Risk Factors
Additionally, the report also examined risk factors that contribute to the above health outcomes, including poverty, air quality, access to specialist medical care, pollen counts, medicine use, tobacco policies, and the rate of uninsured residents.
According to this year’s State of the Air report, more than 40% of the U.S. population lives in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution.
In Suffolk County, where Boston is located, the county received a B for its number of high ozone days, and like Providence County, was also given an A for its particle pollution.
In that report, Providence County was given an F for its number of high ozone days, but an A for its particle pollution.
Providence has poorer air quality than Boston, according to Eftekhari, but similar to Boston, Providence has public smoking laws to support cleaner air, along with a low rate of uninsured patients.
Eftekhari says Providence also has fewer asthma specialists available per 10,000 patients. Settipane believes there are a few reasons to support that.
“In Rhode Island, we’re having a retirement and attrition of a lot of pulmonologists, as well as the allergists,” Settipane said.
“I think there been, recently, a dramatic drop in the number of pulmonologists, so that may be affecting us,” he added. “We’re not attracting the new pulmonologists, and the older ones are retiring.”
In August, the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) unveiled the first bus in its new electric fleet. RIPTA CEO Scott Avedisian said 14 “New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE NG” 40-foot battery-electric buses will replace the current diesel fleet on the R-Line, becoming the state’s first fully electric route.
The R-Line serves multiple areas of persistent poverty and high asthma rates Providence and Pawtucket.
“Switching diesel buses to electric buses will certainly make a difference in the coming years. Diesel exhaust exposure is linked to serious health effects, including asthma attacks,” Eftekhari told 12 News in an email.
Eftekhari said the new initiative could lead to immediate benefits for those who live along the route, and for those who regularly take the buses.
In the short term, she said the switch “will reduce local particle pollution and ground-level ozone that diminish lung function and can exacerbate asthma.”
“As noted in AAFA’s report, air pollution is a significant risk factor for asthma, so any efforts to improve local air quality are going to provide health benefits to the community,” Eftekhari said. | https://www.wpri.com/health/providence-boston-graded-in-national-asthma-report/ | 2022-09-14T23:58:11Z | wpri.com | control | https://www.wpri.com/health/providence-boston-graded-in-national-asthma-report/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Poll: 64% of likely voters in battleground states back marriage equality
Nearly two-thirds of likely voters in battleground states support "protecting the national right to same-sex marriage," according to a Human Rights Campaign poll released Wednesday.
Why it matters: The clock is ticking as the Senate inches toward a vote on Democrats' Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to marriage equality for same-sex and interracial relationships. Whether it succeeds could influence voters in battleground states ahead of November's midterms.
By the numbers: The poll surveyed likely voters in 11 swing states: Arizona, Colorado Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
- 58% of men and 69% of women support federal marriage equality protections.
- 55% of Christians back a federal law to protect marriage equality.
The big picture: Similar polling from other organizations — including Gallup and Morning Consult — has shown most Americans support marriage equality.
What to watch: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is expected to slate votes on the Respect for Marriage Act for next week.
- At least 10 Republicans are needed to break a filibuster.
Methodologies: The Human Rights Campaign poll surveyed 1,665 likely 2022 voters in key battleground states online and via SMS from Aug. 18 to 24. | https://www.axios.com/2022/09/14/marriage-equality-battleground-states-voters | 2022-09-14T23:58:17Z | axios.com | control | https://www.axios.com/2022/09/14/marriage-equality-battleground-states-voters | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Book review: Scotland’s Wings, by Robert Jeffrey
This loop-the-loop through Scottish aviation history contains some entertaining musings and fascinating facts, writes Alastair Dalton
Robert Jeffrey describes his book as “just one enthusiast’s idiosyncratic look at the story of some of the experimenters, pilots, planes and airfields of former times in Scotland” – and his is indeed a quirky style. His flypast through Scotland’s rich aviation history contains some entertaining musings as well a few fascinating first-hand anecdotes and surprising facts.
However, even with the disclaimer that the book makes no claim to be comprehensive, the narrative has a habit of making disconcerting jumps between subjects – the literary equivalent of mid-air turbulence? – with much detail about some and disappointingly brief mentions of others.
Over 200 pages, Jeffrey takes us from the country’s earliest flights to its potential as a future space rocket base, taking in the two world wars and the development of homegrown aircraft and internal air routes.
Much of this has been well-chronicled elsewhere, but the author highlights the breadth of Scottish innovation, from a Fifer who took to the skies in a hot air balloon just a year after the Montgolfier brothers in 1784 to the 1930s Weir in Glasgow – the one featured in Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, according to Jeffrey – to the Denny hovercraft built in Dumbarton in the 1960s.
In one eyebrow-raising passage, Jeffrey recalls an elderly public relations chief for German airline Lufthansa discussing with journalists how to eat oysters as they dined at the Rogano restaurant in Glasgow during the promotion of its new Frankfurt route in the 1960s: “The Fuhrer chewed his.”
Also on a Nazi theme, in 1936 the first international flight to Renfrew Airport – Glasgow’s predecessor, whose runway is now part of the M8 – was a Junkers carrying the German football team, complete with a swastika on the fuselage.
I was also struck by some extraordinary early aviation antics, such as a crew member having to parachute to the ground when the first airship flight between Britain and the US arrived from East Lothian in 1919 because the landing party in Long Island were inexperienced in handling them.
Other nuggets include Barra’s famed beach runway not being unique, with one on Harris in regular use in the late 1960s.
The book also notes The Scotsman’s backing for Highlands air pioneer Ted Fresson who established the first flights to Orkney in 1933, and our reporting of the rather less successful attempts to send mail by rocket in the Western Isles the following year.
There are plenty of familiar and unfamiliar facts to enjoy along Jeffrey’s trajectory, once you adjust to his style, along with some odd contentions, such as casting doubt that Elvis Presley landed at Prestwick Airport in 1960.
Scotland’s Wings – Triumph and Tragedy in the Skies, by Robert Jeffrey, Black & White Publishing, £14.99.
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/book-review-scotlands-wings-by-robert-jeffrey-3843263 | 2022-09-14T23:58:18Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/book-review-scotlands-wings-by-robert-jeffrey-3843263 | 0 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | 1 |
Book review: Scotland’s Wings, by Robert Jeffrey
This loop-the-loop through Scottish aviation history contains some entertaining musings and fascinating facts, writes Alastair Dalton
Robert Jeffrey describes his book as “just one enthusiast’s idiosyncratic look at the story of some of the experimenters, pilots, planes and airfields of former times in Scotland” – and his is indeed a quirky style. His flypast through Scotland’s rich aviation history contains some entertaining musings as well a few fascinating first-hand anecdotes and surprising facts.
However, even with the disclaimer that the book makes no claim to be comprehensive, the narrative has a habit of making disconcerting jumps between subjects – the literary equivalent of mid-air turbulence? – with much detail about some and disappointingly brief mentions of others.
Over 200 pages, Jeffrey takes us from the country’s earliest flights to its potential as a future space rocket base, taking in the two world wars and the development of homegrown aircraft and internal air routes.
Much of this has been well-chronicled elsewhere, but the author highlights the breadth of Scottish innovation, from a Fifer who took to the skies in a hot air balloon just a year after the Montgolfier brothers in 1784 to the 1930s Weir in Glasgow – the one featured in Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, according to Jeffrey – to the Denny hovercraft built in Dumbarton in the 1960s.
In one eyebrow-raising passage, Jeffrey recalls an elderly public relations chief for German airline Lufthansa discussing with journalists how to eat oysters as they dined at the Rogano restaurant in Glasgow during the promotion of its new Frankfurt route in the 1960s: “The Fuhrer chewed his.”
Also on a Nazi theme, in 1936 the first international flight to Renfrew Airport – Glasgow’s predecessor, whose runway is now part of the M8 – was a Junkers carrying the German football team, complete with a swastika on the fuselage.
I was also struck by some extraordinary early aviation antics, such as a crew member having to parachute to the ground when the first airship flight between Britain and the US arrived from East Lothian in 1919 because the landing party in Long Island were inexperienced in handling them.
Other nuggets include Barra’s famed beach runway not being unique, with one on Harris in regular use in the late 1960s.
The book also notes The Scotsman’s backing for Highlands air pioneer Ted Fresson who established the first flights to Orkney in 1933, and our reporting of the rather less successful attempts to send mail by rocket in the Western Isles the following year.
There are plenty of familiar and unfamiliar facts to enjoy along Jeffrey’s trajectory, once you adjust to his style, along with some odd contentions, such as casting doubt that Elvis Presley landed at Prestwick Airport in 1960.
Scotland’s Wings – Triumph and Tragedy in the Skies, by Robert Jeffrey, Black & White Publishing, £14.99.
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/book-review-scotlands-wings-by-robert-jeffrey-3843263 | 2022-09-14T23:58:18Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/book-review-scotlands-wings-by-robert-jeffrey-3843263 | 1 | 0 | green-iguana-35 | 1 |
Cineworld Unlimited Screenings: Here are the latest exclusive screenings available to book for Unlimited Card Holders
The screenings are a perk of being a member of the cinema chain, which operates from sites in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Falkirk and Dundee.
Preview screenings give cinema fans the chance to have bragging rights over seeing the latest films weeks before they go on general release.
The Cineworld chain have regular special showings, reserved to their Unlimited membership scheme – which also lets you see as many films as you like for £15.99 per month.
Here are the latest Unlimited Screenings – and when you can catch them.
This page will be updated with the latest announcements.
The Woman King
Tuesday, September 20 at 7.30pm
Run time: 135 minutes
The Woman King is the remarkable story of the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African Kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s with skills and a fierceness unlike anything the world has ever seen. Inspired by true events, The Woman King follows the emotionally epic journey of General Nanisca (Oscar-winner Viola Davis) as she trains the next generation of recruits and readies them for battle against an enemy determined to destroy their way of life. Some things are worth fighting for…
Cast: John Boyega, Viola Davis, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Jayme Lawson, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Thuso Mbedu, Adrienne Warren, Masali Baduza, Angelique Kidjo.
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Smile
Monday, September 26 at 7.30pm
Run time: 115 minutes
After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.
Cast: Kyle Gallner, Kal Penn, Caitlin Stasey, Jessie Usher, Robin Weigert, Sosie Bacon, Rob Morgan
Director: Parker Finn
Read more:
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/cineworld-unlimited-screenings-here-are-the-latest-exclusive-screenings-available-to-book-for-unlimited-card-holders-3843561 | 2022-09-14T23:58:30Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/cineworld-unlimited-screenings-here-are-the-latest-exclusive-screenings-available-to-book-for-unlimited-card-holders-3843561 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
My Policeman Movie: Release date of new Harry Styles movie, cast, age rating and runtime
Singer-turned-actor Harry Style’s will takes the leading role in new romantic drama My Policeman.
After acting roles in Marvel’s Eternals and war blockbuster Dunkirk, musician Harry Styles is set to be explode onto the big screen with two huge acting roles over the next couple of months.
Already confirmed for a starring role in Olivia Wilde’s (Booksmart) new thriller ‘Don’t Worry Darling’, 28-year-old Styles is set to take the leading role in British romantic drama ‘My Policeman’.
The period film is based on the eponymous 2021 novel by Bethan Robert and will see Styles play the role of Tom Burgess, a gay policeman in mid-1950s Brighton who becomes married to school teacher, Marion, while secretly being in love with a man called Patrick Hazelwood, a museum curator, all while homosexuality is illegal.
The script for My Policeman was written by Oscar nominated writer Ron Nyswaner, who penned Hollywood hit Philadelphia and is said to feature sex scenes between the two main stars of the move, though Styles had reiterated that viewers should expect those scenes to be the opposite of what they have seen previously.
"So much of gay sex in film is two guys going at it, and it kind of removes the tenderness from it.
"There will be, I would imagine, some people who watch it who were very much alive during this time when it was illegal to be gay, and [Michael] wanted to show that it’s tender and loving and sensitive.”
On the script and story of the move, Styles said: “It’s obviously pretty unfathomable now to think, Oh, you couldn’t be gay. That was illegal.
“I think everyone, including myself, has your own journey with figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it,” he says. “It’s not like ‘This is a gay story about these guys being gay.’ It’s about love and about wasted time to me.”
Who is in the cast of My Policeman?
Alongside Styles, the cast will include Emma Corrin (The Crown) as Marion Taylor and David Dawson (The Last Kingdom) as Patrick Hazelwood.
There’s also a role for Linus Roche (Mandy) as an older version of Tom, while Gina McKee (Our Friends In The North) will play an older version of Marion.
Elsewhere, they are confirmed roles for Rupert Everett (My Best Friend's Wedding) and Kadiff Kirwan (Fleabag).
What is the runtime and age rating of My Policeman?
The film has a runtime of 113 minutes exactly,
The BBFC has given the film a rating of 15 due to strong sex and homophobia.
When is My Policeman released in the UK?
My Policeman will have a limited cinema release, which begins on October 21 before it will be able to be streamed on Amazon Prime for November 4.
The main cast members have been confirmed as the collective winners of an acting award at TIFF's Tribute Awards, which is the first time the award in that category has ever been presented to an ensemble cast rather than an individual | https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/my-policeman-movie-release-date-of-new-harry-styles-movie-cast-age-rating-and-runtime-3819761 | 2022-09-14T23:59:02Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/film-and-tv/my-policeman-movie-release-date-of-new-harry-styles-movie-cast-age-rating-and-runtime-3819761 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Aberdeen-based Tendeka seals key Norwegian deal with energy giant Equinor
Aberdeen-headquartered Tendeka has sealed a contract to deliver equipment across Equinor’s assets on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
The agreement, which also includes options for further extension periods, will see the firm manage the complete supply chain of sand and inflow control equipment. It builds on a decade-long relationship between the two businesses.
Established in 2009, Tendeka operates in strategically positioned bases, located at global energy hubs including the North Sea, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and North and South America.
Chief executive Brad Baker said: “This is real recognition for the work our team has delivered to Equinor for more than a decade. It’s also recognition of our drive for innovation on this project, as well as both teams’ joint approach to implementing sustainability measures that can make a difference.
“It’s significant that our technology will now be available for deployment across all Equinor’s Norwegian Continental Shelf assets and further cements our position as the global industry leader in sand and inflow control technology.”
Karianne Amundsen, Tendeka’s Scandinavia area manager added: “We are extremely proud to be implementing an efficient supply model for sand and inflow deliveries across the continental shelf. This award is a result of a wider standardisation initiative which will enable improved logistics, reduced waste and shorter lead times.
“We look forward to continuing our collaboration and delivering great results for Equinor’s assets to support the company in their strategy of creating long term value in a low-carbon future.”
In addition to sand and inflow technologies that will be supplied under the contract, Tendeka provides advanced completions and production optimisation.
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/business/aberdeen-based-tendeka-seals-key-norwegian-deal-with-energy-giant-equinor-3842740 | 2022-09-14T23:59:14Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/business/aberdeen-based-tendeka-seals-key-norwegian-deal-with-energy-giant-equinor-3842740 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Comms agency Spey unveils key appointments and client wins as it targets £1m turnover
Communications consultancy Spey is marking its fifth birthday with a string of senior hires, client wins and expansion of services, as well as change to its leadership structure, as it looks set to reach turnover of £1 million in the next year.
The Forres-headquartered business, which was set up in 2017 by Jennifer Robertson, says four new partner roles have been created to join the management team.
Rob Mathie has been appointed head of strategy, a new role the firm says bridges “client brief and creative solution”. He is described as having delivered pioneering work for big brands from Edinburgh to New York to London, specialising in cultural and social impact campaigns for Johnnie Walker whisky owner Diageo, UN Women, Superdrug, England Rugby, and many more.
Spey said that as a result of his appointment, it will now be offering clients a more diverse range of services and expertise to tap into consumer demand for purpose-led brands that deliver “culturally relevant campaigns with social impact”.
In a further new role, former BBC broadcaster Eleanor Bradford is returning to Spey as a partner, after working in-house for the agency’s client Gordonstoun School, to become head of PR.
Emma Scott has been promoted to managing partner, taking over day-to-day running of the agency from the business’ owner Ms Robertson, who will now focus on Spey’s strategic overview, and Marion Cordiner, also part of the management team, has been promoted to partner after several years at the agency leading on some of its biggest clients.
Spey says it has built up a portfolio of brands it represents across food and drink, sustainability, education, tourism, hospitality and the third sector, with a suite of recent client wins including Berry Bros & Rudd Spirits, Glen Mhor Hotel in Inverness, St Margaret’s School for Girls in Aberdeen, and Lind & Lime Distillery in Leith.
Speyside-headquartered Spey added that it has doubled in size since the pandemic with a team of 15, has premises in the historic Port of Leith in the Scottish capital, and is on course to reach £1m turnover in the next year based solely on organic growth. Additionally, it points out that it is an accredited Scottish Living Wage employer, and has been carbon neutral since 2020.
Connected
Ms Robertson – who in 2016 married SNP MSP Angus Robertson – said: “When I started [Spey], some people thought it was an unthinkable move setting up an agency in the north of Scotland to service global Scottish brands, but if the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that it doesn’t matter where you work – it’s how you work. Our rural HQ ensures our staff are more connected to the natural environment as well as the largest part of Scotland, the Highlands.
"Investing in our people and our capabilities has been a priority since inception, driven by our talent programme to retain and attract talent to Speyside, creating jobs which didn’t exist before in an industry which most people need to move to the cities for.
"Now in our fifth year we are building up our team, strengthening our expertise across sectors, and capabilities, to ensure we continue to deliver the highest quality work underpinned by our locally rooted but global ethos, putting Scottish brands with purpose on the world stage.”
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/business/comms-agency-spey-unveils-key-appointments-and-client-wins-as-it-targets-ps1m-turnover-3843502 | 2022-09-14T23:59:21Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/business/comms-agency-spey-unveils-key-appointments-and-client-wins-as-it-targets-ps1m-turnover-3843502 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Cost of living: Inflation eases from 40-year high but food prices continue to soar
Decades-high inflation eased slightly in August as fuel prices dropped, but the cost of food is rising at record rates, new data shows.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Consumer Prices Index inflation reached 9.9% in the year to August, down from 10.1% the previous month – a 40-year high.
Experts had expected the figure to be unchanged between the two months.
The ONS said the biggest downward pressure on the inflation rate was the price of motor fuels, which has been falling in recent months.
The 6.8% drop in fuel prices was the highest since between March and April 2020, the early days of the pandemic when oil prices briefly went negative on some markets.
But food prices are continuing to rise, by 13.1% in the 12 months to August, the highest rate for exactly 14 years.
And while it eased slightly last month, UK inflation is still the highest among all G7 countries.
Inflation figures are unlikely to have peaked yet either, rises are expected again later this year. In October energy bills will spike from £1,971 to £2,500 for the average household.
The Government’s support for households will help somewhat, taking bills down from £3,549.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research forecast that inflation will peak at around 11.5% in the first quarter of next year, and come back down to around 2% towards the end of 2024.
George Lagarias, chief economist at accountancy Mazars, warned: "It will be some time before inflation truly starts dropping off.
“Higher energy prices for all the previous months have fully fed into most supply chains and it will take months of lower oil for end-consumer prices to meaningfully come down again. Inflation may well remain a central theme until at least the end of the year.”
The figures mark a positive trend for the first time in more than a year. Inflation has risen every month since September 2021, according to the official figures.
But despite a positive headline trend, inside the data there are more worrying details, according to analysis from the Resolution Foundation.
The think tank said the poorest 10th of households are facing an average inflation rate of 10.6%, compared with 9% for the richest.
“High inflation is set to be with us for some time, particularly for low-income households who continue to be hit hardest by high prices,” said senior economist Jack Leslie.
“Having delivered £2,200 worth of cost-of-living support for every household this year, the Government will need to consider what support will be needed next year too.”
Inflation has piled pressure on households around the country, whose cost of living has rocketed, largely as a result of soaring energy costs.
No part of the economy has escaped the energy crisis, which has helped push up prices of food and other items.
Experts believe that the support on energy bills announced by the Government last week will ensure that inflation does not reach the concerning highs that had been forecast.
Vills will be capped at £2,500 per year for the average household for the next two years, new Prime Minister Liz Truss announced on Thursday.
Without that support bills had at most been forecast to rise to £7,700 for the average family.
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/business/consumer/cost-of-living-inflation-eases-from-40-year-high-but-food-prices-continue-to-soar-3843552 | 2022-09-14T23:59:34Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/business/consumer/cost-of-living-inflation-eases-from-40-year-high-but-food-prices-continue-to-soar-3843552 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Dunelm profits hit new record high but outlook clouded by consumer spending squeeze
Homewares retailer Dunelm has seen annual profits hit a record high, even as the group cautioned over an “extremely challenging” economic backdrop.
The chain reported that pre-tax profits jumped by almost a third to £209 million on a pro forma 52-week basis, up from £157.8m the previous year.
It said sales had remained “robust” in the first ten weeks since its July 2 year-end, although they were lower than a year earlier when trading was boosted by a delayed summer sale and the reopening of stores as Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.
But its costs have been soaring, with inflationary pressures - mainly on staff wages - adding a further £17m to its annual operating expenses, and it said it would “continue to relentlessly focus on making every pound count”.
The group stuck by forecasts for the new financial year in spite of the gloomier consumer spending outlook and cost woes.
Chief executive Nick Wilkinson said: “We feel confident and well prepared to weather the current economic pressures - we emerged from an unprecedented global pandemic as a bigger, better business and we believe we have the tools in place to do that again. That said, the operating and economic environment is extremely challenging.
“In this environment, we have to make every pound count, both for ourselves through our tight operational grip and cost discipline, and for our customers, through our offer of outstanding value at all price points.”
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, noted: “Looking in the rear-view mirror Dunelm can only see sunny skies as it reports another record profit. But a glance through the windshield reveals a massive consumer cloud about to break over the business.
“For now, the company is sticking with full-year forecasts. But even Dunelm can’t change the economic weather and it seems likely sales will eventually suffer as people wait a bit longer to replace that duvet set or pair of curtains.”
The group saw total sales jump 16.2 per cent, with online sales accounting for 35 per cent of turnover, up from 20 per cent in 2018-19. It said it increased pay by more than 7 per cent on average for its 11,000 workers to help with the cost-of-living crisis.
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/business/dunelm-profits-hit-new-record-high-but-outlook-clouded-by-consumer-spending-squeeze-3842886 | 2022-09-14T23:59:40Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/business/dunelm-profits-hit-new-record-high-but-outlook-clouded-by-consumer-spending-squeeze-3842886 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Calm Cat Breeds: Here are 10 of the most chilled out cat breeds - including the sleepy Selkirk Rex cat breed 🐱
Here are the 10 most chilled out cat breeds on the planet.
Sleep, independent and adorable – cats continue to be worshipped globally.
Many owners attest that once you own a cat (or they own you), then you will be addicted to these gorgeous creatures for the rest of your life.
It is reported that the average cat owner actually own a minimum of two cats – though we are sure you may know some with many more.
And while it is indeed true – all cats are beautiful – if you are looking for a cat that isn’t too over zealous and doesn’t need much stimulation, then these 10 chilled kitty cat breeds might just be perfect for you according to rover.com*
*While cat breeds do share similar traits, we advise each cat does have their own personality and individual needs – including medical, which is of primary importance when taking a cat into your home. Please be aware of this if adopting a cat. | https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/family-and-parenting/calm-cat-breeds-here-are-10-of-the-most-chilled-out-cat-breeds-including-the-sleepy-selkirk-rex-cat-breed-3812862 | 2022-09-15T00:00:26Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/family-and-parenting/calm-cat-breeds-here-are-10-of-the-most-chilled-out-cat-breeds-including-the-sleepy-selkirk-rex-cat-breed-3812862 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Cutest Cat Breeds: Here are the 10 most popular breeds of cat in 2022 - including the gorgeous American Bobtail cat breed 🐱
Which is your pick of the litter? Here are the 10 of the world’s most popular cute cat breeds in 2022.
Sleepy 16 hour cat naps, followed by crazy 30 minute run-arounds are just part of a cat’s everyday life – quite simply, cats are some of the most loved creatures on the planet.
And once you’ve been in the company of these adorable creatures, it’s hard to understand why anyone wouldn’t be obsessed!
It is reported that the average cat owner actually own a minimum of two cats – though we are sure you may know some with many more.
With each breed of cat completely unique, each kitty cat can come with their very own personality, ensuring each owner gets a unique experience of their loveable pet.
So, if you’re looking to add a new furry friend to your household, these are the most popular cat breeds worldwide, according to ExcitedCats. | https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/family-and-parenting/cutest-cat-breeds-here-are-the-10-most-popular-breeds-of-cat-in-2022-including-the-gorgeous-american-bobtail-cat-breed-3718900 | 2022-09-15T00:00:51Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/family-and-parenting/cutest-cat-breeds-here-are-the-10-most-popular-breeds-of-cat-in-2022-including-the-gorgeous-american-bobtail-cat-breed-3718900 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Harvey Nichols Edinburgh offers new treatment at their Shavata Brow Studio
This therapy focuses on the eyes and lashes
I’ve arrived at Harvey Nichols Edinburgh’s Shavata concession with straggly and feral brows.
Although I’m here to try their new Shavata X 111SKIN lash treatment, I can see their therapist, Alia, clocking this area of my face instead.
She’s not going to let me leave without a groom. I let her at them, and within minutes they’re tamed, thanks to her expert threading technique and a handy pair of scissors. I remind myself to visit this place more regularly, so I don’t end up like Bert from Sesame Street.
Now that I’m in the reclining chair, listening to the sounds of the ground floor beauty hall, we’re onto the lash bit.
If you’re trying one of their Lash Tint treatments, which are £23, you can now upgrade, courtesy of luxury doctor-led line, 111SKIN.
For an additional £20, go for the Lash Luxe Treatment, and have a 10-minute arm and hand massage, as well as one of their under eye masks, along with your tint. While, for an extra £50, you’ll get the full kahuna of a 20-minute head, arm, shoulder and neck massage, and masks above and below your eyes.
I’m going for that, and there’s a choice, depending on your skincare concerns. I choose their Celestial Black Diamond Mask to target fine lines and containing hyaluronic acid, peptides and retinol, on the bottom, and the cooling Sub-Zero De-Puffing Mask for the area below my brow.
After a cleanse, these fabric masks are slotted on, then Alia uses a metal-tipped prong tool to make tiny circular movements - to aid lymphatic drainage - on top. Next, with a pad under my eyes, she paints on the tint and I keep my eyes squeezed shut. It’s left on for 20 minutes, during which I’m massaged, using pressing movements along my arms, scalp and back of neck. I’m drifting off and the noises of shoppers begin to sound more distant.
When it’s removed, the tint feels a bit stingy, but that sensation soon fades. Alia would have given my eyes a good rinse, but I’ve got contact lenses in, so we have to skip that bit. (Oops, take your specs if you’re getting this done).
Once it’s been blotted away, a bit of serum is smoothed on, and I’m released.
My lashes are jet black, the crinkly eye baggage has had a bit of TLC, and those wild brows are looking pristine.
Shavata Brow Studio, Harvey Nichols, 30-34 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh (0131 524 8337, www.harveynichols.com). Eyebrow Shape is £25, Lash Tint is £23 on its own, see above for 111SKIN prices, www.shavata.co.uk
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/shopping/harvey-nichols-edinburgh-offers-new-treatment-at-their-shavata-brow-studio-3843657 | 2022-09-15T00:01:42Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/shopping/harvey-nichols-edinburgh-offers-new-treatment-at-their-shavata-brow-studio-3843657 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
No. 24 Acronis Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
COVERING THE POINT SPREAD: With two races complete and one to go in the Round of 16 of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, William Byron sits second in the standings and is 48 points above the cutoff line heading into Bristol Motor Speedway. His sixth-place effort at Kansas Speedway saw him gain 16 points on the elimination line. No matter what other playoff drivers do, the 24-year-old will advance to the Round of 12 if he scores at least eight points in Saturday night's race.
DRIVING THE FIELD: Byron continues to hold the statistic of leading the second-most laps so far this season with 671 behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, who has led 719. Those 671 laps led by Byron are not only his most in a single Cup Series season but have come across 15 races.
SECOND AND TEN: In the first two playoff races, only five drivers have finished in the top 10 in both races. Byron is one of those five drivers with an eighth-place finish at Darlington Raceway and a sixth-place effort in Kansas. The others to accomplish this are his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman as well as Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Bubba Wallace.
ALL-PRO: With the Cup Series taking on its fourth paved short track of the 2022 season, Byron has momentum on his side. In the three previous paved short-track races this year, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native has collected 133 points – the most of any driver. In the last five short-track races, Byron has one win, four top-five finishes with 334 laps led – the second-most laps led in the last five races on that track type behind teammate Elliott. In fact, Byron is the only driver to finish in the top five in four of the last five short-track races.
BATTLE IN THE TRENCHES: This weekend, Byron will make his eighth Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway. He has a best qualifying effort of second at "The Last Great Colosseum," lining up alongside teammate Elliott in April 2019. In his seven starts at Bristol, the fifth-year Cup Series driver has a track-best finish of third coming in last year’s fall race which helped lock him into the next round of the playoffs.
CALLING AN AUDIBLE: Saturday night’s race will mark crew chief Rudy Fugle’s second Cup Series start on pavement at the "World’s Fastest Half-Mile." In last year’s showing, Fugle and the No. 24 team qualified 14th and went on to score a third-place finish in the playoff elimination race. In nine other NASCAR national series starts (seven in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and two in the NASCAR Xfinity Series), Fugle has one win at the .533-mile track, coming in the summer of 2013 with Kyle Busch. His drivers have collected three top-five finishes, along with six top-10s in his Truck Series starts atop the pit box.
DEFENSE! DEFENSE!: Earlier this year it was announced that Acronis would extend its partnership with Hendrick Motorsports through 2025. The extension included two primary races with Byron and the No. 24 team, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course earlier this season as well as Saturday night’s race at Bristol. With its unique combination of automation and integration, Acronis offers complete cyber protection. Its solutions safeguard data, applications, systems and productivity against loss, theft and downtime – from cyberattacks and hardware failures to natural disasters and human error. Hendrick Motorsports protects its data, applications, systems and overall racing operations by utilizing Acronis for cyber protection, security, backup, anti-ransomware and disaster recovery. For a better look at Byron’s No. 24 Acronis Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, click here.
No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
LAST DRIVE: Last Sunday at Kansas Speedway, Alex Bowman took home his fourth top-five finish of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, crossing the finish line in fourth. The No. 48 driver finished the first stage in 17th and won the second stage, leading a season-high 107 laps at the 1.5-mile venue.
PICK SIX: Bowman’s top-five performance at Kansas bumped the 29-year-old driver’s playoff ranking to sixth, gaining 20 points on the cutoff line and moving up four positions with one race to go in the Round of 16. He is 30 points above the elimination line heading to Bristol Motor Speedway. No matter what other playoff drivers do, if Bowman earns at least 26 points on Saturday night, he will lock himself into the next round.
ALL-OUT BLITZ: As the Cup Series heads to Bristol this Saturday, Bowman has 11 starts at the .533-mile venue. In those appearances, the Tucson, Arizona, native has two top-five finishes and three top-10s. His most recent result on the concrete layout of “The Last Great Colosseum” was a fifth-place result in September 2021.
IN THE RED ZONE: Bowman is one of five Cup Series drivers to finish in the top 10 in the first two races in the Round of 16. The driver of the No. 48 is joined by teammate William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace as the lone drivers to do this.
TWO-MINUTE DRILL: In the last 10 races at short tracks in the Cup Series, Bowman has taken home hardware with wins at Richmond Raceway (April 2021) and the penultimate race of the 2021 postseason at Martinsville Speedway. In addition to Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick also have two short-track wins over this stretch.
FOUR-THREE FORMATION: Crew chief Greg Ives celebrated his 43rd birthday on Tuesday. The veteran crew chief has tallied a total of 10 wins, 50 top-five finishes and 107 top-10s across his eight-year career atop the pit box in the Cup Series. Ives has called the shots for Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Bowman in NASCAR’s premier series. Last month, the Michigan native announced he would be stepping down from his crew chief duties at season’s end and transitioning to a different role at Hendrick Motorsports.
HENDRICK
MOTORSPORTS /
Races
Wins
Poles
Top 5
Top 10
Laps Led
Stage Wins
*Most **Most (tie)
REVVING TO A MILESTONE: The engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports sits one win away from 500 victories. To date, the company’s engine program is responsible for 337 wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, 125 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, 22 wins in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and 15 wins in the ARCA Menards Series and the K&N Pro Series (now ARCA Menards Series East and West) ranks.
LEADING THE WAY: With nine wins through 28 Cup Series races in 2022, Hendrick Motorsports has earned the most victories so far this season. It is the only four-car team to see all of its drivers win a race this season. The organization is also the only one to have multiple drivers with at least two wins – Chase Elliott (four), Kyle Larson (two) and William Byron (two). On top of that, Elliott and Byron rank 1-2 in laps led this year.
FITS LIKE A GLOVE: For this weekend's on-track activity at Bristol Motor Speedway, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers will wear skeleton driving gloves as part of The Dale Jr. Foundation's Driven to Give Gloves Program. The drivers will sign the right hand glove, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will sign the left hand glove and the pair will be auctioned off on The Dale Jr. Foundation auction page starting on Friday, Sept. 16 and ending on Friday, Sept. 23. The money raised will help launch several important research programs and projects through the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
PUSHING THROUGH THE PLAYOFF PILE: All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are above the cutoff line to advance to the Round of 12 heading into Saturday's race at Bristol. Should that happen following the race at the .533-mile track, it will mark the third time in the nine-year history of the four-round format that all four of its drivers advanced on to the next round. In 2021, the quartet of Larson, Elliott, Byron and Alex Bowman each advanced to the second round. In 2014 – the first year of the elimination-style playoff – the foursome of Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne each advanced to the Round of 12.
RUNNING THE GO ROUTE: Hendrick Motorsports has won the last seven elimination races in the playoffs. In its history, the organization has won 12 of 32 elimination races and has scored a victory in at least one elimination race in each of the last four seasons.
HITTING THE PARLAY: With 55 short-track wins, Hendrick Motorsports has the most all-time victories on that track type. The next closest team is 11 wins short of their total. Gordon’s 17 wins are the most among the 14 drivers that have recorded a short-track victory for the organization.
SHORT-TRACK BLITZ: The Rick Hendrick-owned organization has won five of the last nine short-track races. Each of the four drivers in the current lineup have a win on that track type over this span. Bowman’s two wins - at Richmond Raceway and Martinsville Speedway in 2021 - are the most for the team in that stretch of time. Elliott won at Martinsville in 2020, Larson won at Bristol in 2021 and Byron won at Martinsville in April.
COLOSSEUM CLOSERS: The organization has 12 wins at “The Last Great Colosseum.” Gordon (five wins) and Johnson (two wins) are the only drivers in team history to win multiple times at the venue. Kahne, Larson, Kyle Busch, Terry Labonte and Darrell Waltrip each have one triumph for the team.
BACK IN PRIMETIME: Last year’s night race at Bristol saw three Hendrick Motorsports cars finish in the top five. That marked the fifth time a team has placed three drivers in the top five of a race at the Tennessee track. Larson won the event, while Byron finished third and Bowman placed fifth. Elliott also led 129 laps on the evening before a late-race flat tire took him out of contention.
NIGHT MOVES: In the last seven races to end at night, the 14-time Cup Series championship-winning organization has earned the victory in three of those events. Larson started it off with his Bristol win last year. Byron’s win at Martinsville and Elliott’s win at Nashville Superspeedway came this season.
RECORD SETTERS: Hendrick Motorsports has posted a series-best 53 wins in the playoffs – 20 more than the next closest organization. Johnson has the most wins with 29. Among the current driver lineup, Elliott tops the board with six wins, followed by Larson with five and Bowman has one. Nine different drivers have won a playoff race for the team, which is the most in the Cup Series ranks. The company has won a race in the playoffs in 17 seasons and that mark is also the most among all Cup Series teams.
QUOTABLE /
Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on if high-intensity dirt-track racing helps "slow down" the racing action at Bristol Motor Speedway for him: "I think Bristol (Motor Speedway) is definitely higher paced, higher intensity and more chaotic than any other track we go to. I’m used to high-intensity racing almost every week, so maybe the action ‘slows down’ a little bit for me at Bristol. I guarantee it doesn’t feel slow in the cockpit. It feels crazy and chaotic, and that’s why I love it."
Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on if characteristics of concrete Dover Motor Speedway track carry over to Bristol: "We’ve studied the most relevant data points we can pull from for comparison from years past – Dover (Motor Speedway) being one of them and other short tracks being another. Bristol is not really a short track and it’s not really an intermediate – it’s a super-fast short track. There are characteristics from both styles of tracks that kind of blend for Bristol, so how we have blended things in the past is how we are preparing for this weekend."
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the approach you must have heading into the first elimination race: "No one is safe in this grid and this format. You have to be willing to accept a hard challenge or accept a must-win situation. I’ve said that a lot over the last few years. Phoenix (Raceway) is a must win, so you are just preparing yourself to embrace moments like that more and be more comfortable in situations of that magnitude. We’ll see what it brings."
Elliott on the unknowns of racing the Next Gen for the first time on the concrete Bristol layout: "That one is really interesting in my opinion. I’m excited to get to Bristol (Motor Speedway). It’s a really iconic event on our schedule. That fall night race is one that I always look forward to going to. I’m excited about that. Hopefully, you get it (the setup) right because it will be a bit of a guess for everyone."
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the challenge of the Next Gen car at Bristol: "It’s going to be a challenge for sure since we haven’t raced there with this car. Bristol (Motor Speedway) is super unique. There’s not a whole lot you can find a lot of parallels with. It’s going to be a clean sheet of paper setup and you have no experience running there. This is going to be one of the tougher ones for sure. The key is to have a good car and have good speed. That will open up a lot of opportunities to score a lot of points and I certainly think that we’re capable of doing that."
William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on what it will take to continue momentum through the final race of the Round of 16: "I think we need just one more solid, smooth race to say that we’ve turned things around from the summer. We’ve had two good races so far to open this round. It’s really about continuing to limit the damage and mistakes in the first round especially with how a lot of things are different this year. The competition seems to fluctuate more at different style tracks. It’s more about racing your own race and not the competition. You need to be the best version of yourself and can’t overthink too much. It’s race the way we know how and definitely not do anything too crazy right now to jeopardize that. We just need to make sure we continue to have all the little details buttoned up so we don’t cost us our own race and we’ll advance on."
Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on the strategy involved for Saturday’s race: "This weekend is a little bit of an unknown since we haven’t race at Bristol (Motor Speedway) yet with the Next Gen car, not on dirt. We have a good short-track package from previous races this season that gives us a good starting point. I think historically this race, similar to the first two races of the playoffs, have more of a strategy element to them. You have a chance of long green-flag runs and having to manage lap traffic. That brings up the decision on when to pit or when not to pit. Those types of races are the ones we live for. If a caution comes out at the right time, you can’t control that. Once and awhile you have a straight forward race where everything lines up and you consistently pit within the same five-lap window. Those races are nice but it doesn’t happen often. We get paid to make those decisions on what to do when. It makes it interesting to watch especially with points on the line. Saturday night’s race could come down to who made the right calls when."
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on his approach to Saturday’s race at Bristol: "I think we have a lot of momentum heading to Bristol (Motor Speedway) and our team is focused on making a championship run. Greg (Ives) and the team back at the shop have been building really fast No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaros and our pit crew has been firing on all cylinders. Getting a top-10 finish at Darlington Raceway and then a top-five finish at Kansas Speedway really puts our best foot forward this postseason."
Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on heading to Bristol for the first elimination race: "We are in a good place heading into the elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway – 30 points ahead of the cut line is nice but more is always good. Alex (Bowman) has done a great job the last couple of weeks, maximizing every opportunity and getting all the points we can. We are going to approach Bristol like we do every other weekend and try to maximize points."
Hendrick Motorsports PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/72987-hendrick-motorsports-media-advance-bristol | 2022-09-15T00:01:49Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-cup-series-news/72987-hendrick-motorsports-media-advance-bristol | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Currey on Thursday night’s race at Bristol: “I’m looking forward to pulling double-duty with Niece Motorsports again this week in Bristol and thankful for another opportunity in the No. 44 Chevrolet Silverado. We brought a strong truck to Kansas last weekend and played the strategy into our favor, and hopefully we have a better result to show for it Thursday night.”
Currey at Bristol Motor Speedway: Currey makes his eighth NASCAR National Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway Thursday night and his second Truck Series start at the half-mile oval. He has two Cup Series starts, four Xfinity Series starts, and one Truck Series starts over the past five seasons.
Currey makes his 32nd NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start and 13th start with Niece Motorsports Thursday night.
In his 30 career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts, Currey owns an average finish of 23.5 with a pair of top-10 finishes coming at Phoenix (2017) and Michigan (2019).
On the Truck: Currey will pilot the No. 44 Niece Equipment Chevrolet Silverado Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Niece Motorsports PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-truck-series-news/72983-bayley-currey-unoh-200-race-advance | 2022-09-15T00:01:50Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-truck-series-news/72983-bayley-currey-unoh-200-race-advance | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Alan on Thursday night’s race at Bristol: “I’m excited to go back to another short track with our No. 45 AUTODockit Chevrolet Silverado Thursday night. Bristol presents a unique set of challenges and can be chaotic at times, but if we can stay out of trouble and run a clean race we’re confident in our ability to turn in a solid result.”
Alan at Bristol Motor Speedway: Alan makes his third career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway Thursday night and his second on the concrete. Alan turned in an 18th-place finish in his Bristol debut last September after starting 25th.
On the Truck: Alan will pilot the new-look No. 45 AUTODockit Chevrolet Silverado Thursday night at Bristol.
Niece Motorsports PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-truck-series-news/72984-lawless-alan-unoh-200-race-advance | 2022-09-15T00:01:51Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-truck-series-news/72984-lawless-alan-unoh-200-race-advance | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Hocevar on Thursday night’s race at Bristol: “We still have a lot to race for during the final stretch of the season and we’re bringing a strong Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado to Bristol this week. We had a shot at the win back in April which gives us a lot of confidence heading into Thursday night, and there’s no reason we can’t run up front again this week.”
Hocevar at Bristol Motor Speedway: Hocevar makes his fifth career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway and his third on the concrete surface. He led six laps en route to a sixth-place finish in last September’s event at the half-mile oval.
Additionally, Hocevar led 55 laps en route to a second-place finish at Bristol Dirt in April.
Friday night’s race in Kansas marks Hocevar’s 51st career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start.
On the Truck: Hocevar will pilot the No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway with associate sponsorship from Andy’s Frozen Custard.
Niece Motorsports PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-truck-series-news/72985-carson-hocevar-unoh-200-race-advance | 2022-09-15T00:01:57Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/nascar-truck-series-news/72985-carson-hocevar-unoh-200-race-advance | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Western Midget Racing presented by Masters Design and Construction makes its sixth Adobe Mountain Speedway appearance of the season with Saturday’s race in Glendale, Ariz. The race also serves as the 22nd race of the 2022 season.
The 2022 campaign opened with three consecutive races at Adobe Mountain, with 2021 champion Blake Bower of Brentwood, Calif., Surprise, Ariz.’s Drake Edwards, and Peoria, Ariz.’s Cory Brown earning the wins. Brown went on to win again in both April and May, giving him three consecutive wins on the 1/5th mile bullring located north of Phoenix.
Since the May 7 Adobe round, WMR has staged 12 races across five different tracks with Bower emerging with the championship lead. Bower leads Las Vegas’ Kyle Hawse by 64-points in the championship. Oakley’s Bryant Bell has advanced to third in the standings. Brown is tied with Lodi, Calif.’s Nate Wait for fourth in the championship.
Brown is the highest points earner in the five Adobe races this year followed by Hawse and Surprise, Ariz.’s Kyle Huttenhow in the No. 57 Triple-X Chassis. Chloe High of Goodyear, Ariz. has driven the No. 3AZ Ellis Chassis to fourth in the Adobe rundown ahead of Phoenix’s Lonnie Oliver. Other drivers with multiple starts at Glendale this year include Todd Hawse of Moorpark, Calif., Goodyear, Ariz.’s Tyler High, Tyler Rodriguez of Peoria, Ariz., and Fresno’s David Prickett.
Western Midget Racing will be joined by winged NOW 600 Micro Sprints, Mini Late Models, and Jr. Sprints. Pit gates open at 2pm with the pit meeting at 5pm and hot laps to follow.
Teams who travel from more than 240 miles to compete will be eligible for a part of the $400 in road warrior money offered at each round this season.
Western Midget Racing is presented by: Masters Design and Construction, Rockwell Security, Rams Racing, Hoosier Racing Tire, Extreme Mufflers, FTK, Blud Lubricants, and West Evans Motorsports.
Car construction details are available at www.WesternMidgetRacing.com or find the series on Facebook!
WMR PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/racing-news/72988-western-midget-racing-returns-saturday-to-adobe-mountain-for-sixth-2022-appearance | 2022-09-15T00:02:09Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/racing-news/72988-western-midget-racing-returns-saturday-to-adobe-mountain-for-sixth-2022-appearance | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Corroded supply pipe blamed for massive Ayr gas explosion
A badly corroded gas led to a house explosion in Ayrshire which left a family of four in hospital, according to an official report.
The huge blast ripped through Gorse Park in Kincaidston, which is part of Ayr, in October 2021, leaving some locals fearing a plane crash or terrorist attack.
It completely destroyed one home and damaged dozens more, sparking a massive response from the emergency services.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found there were "numerous localised spots of corrosion" in the service pipe leading to Number 3 Gorse Park.
But it has concluded no further action will be taken against gas distribution network operator SGN.
The HSE released three reports following Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
One reveals three holes were found in the pipe, which meant gas from one of the leaks built up in the house before the explosion.
The report author Steve Critchlow says the extent of the damage to the property meant it was not possible to identify an ignition source.
Mr Critchlow says, in his opinion, the corrosion occurred because the plastic coating of the pipe was damaged.
He adds it was possible that damage occurred when the pipe was laid - estimated to be in the early 1970s - and the trench around it filled in, but cannot speculate on who carried out the work..
The blast site remains fenced off, with three of the four worst-affected houses knocked down while one is still standing empty.
A separate factual report by HSE found the houses were built by a predecessor to South Ayrshire Council and the pipework laid by a predecessor to SGN.
The HSE, which confirmed its investigation into the Gorse Park explosion had now been concluded, said it was not realistic to expect to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt who was responsible for causing the damage to the service pipe.
It added that it was unlikely there would be a reasonable prospect of conviction.
A spokesperson for HSE said it recognised that the incident "caused significant disruption and concern to the residents of Kincaidston".
They added: "HSE concluded that there was no evidence to indicate that, on the balance of probabilities, SGN failed to do all that it reasonably should have done to prevent the explosion.”
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/corroded-supply-pipe-blamed-for-massive-ayr-gas-explosion-3843049 | 2022-09-15T00:02:21Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/corroded-supply-pipe-blamed-for-massive-ayr-gas-explosion-3843049 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Race fans will experience another unforgettable weekend of NASCAR in Austin, Texas when the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS), NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (NCTS) return to Circuit of The Americas (COTA), Friday through Sunday, March 24-26, 2023. The action-packed NASCAR at COTA weekend will Keep Austin Wheeled with the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, NASCAR Xfinity Series 250 and XPEL 225.
“This year’s NASCAR at COTA weekend had beautiful weather, loads of off-track entertainment, passionate fans and white-knuckled racing,” said NASCAR at COTA Executive Director Bryan Hammond. “We’re excited to bring NASCAR back to Austin for another incredible weekend jam-packed with thrilling racing and fun entertainment for race fans.”
Earlier this year, Trackhouse Racing earned its first-ever NCS win in a dramatic fashion as Ross Chastain battled A.J. Allmendinger and Alex Bowman in the closing corners of the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix to take the checkered flag in a nail-biting overtime finish. Allmendinger was the class of the field in the NXS race, holding off a hard-charging pack of drivers to take the checkered flag by 2.039 seconds. Four drivers, two overtimes and one corner created a finish for the ages as Zane Smith took the checkered flag in the wild XPEL 225 NCTS race.
Tickets:
Fans can purchase tickets and camping for the 2023 NASCAR at COTA weekend by visiting NASCARatCOTA.com. The full weekend schedule and broadcast information will be announced at a later date.
Follow Us:
Keep track of all things NASCAR at COTA by following on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@NASCARatCOTA). Keep up with all the latest information on the NASCAR at COTA website and mobile app.
COTA PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/speedway-news/72982-nascar-returns-to-austin-texas-with-visit-to-circuit-of-the-americas-march-24-26-2023 | 2022-09-15T00:02:28Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/speedway-news/72982-nascar-returns-to-austin-texas-with-visit-to-circuit-of-the-americas-march-24-26-2023 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
The stars of the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship Series make their Indianapolis, IN return this coming Friday night, September 16. It will be the final appearance of the season for the series, which has had two highly entertaining events at the ¼-mile track dating back to its first appearance one year ago. Friday night’s event is presented by Mastin and Cain Warehousing Services.
Justin Grant has a 100+ point lead in the current standings as the series enters the doubleheader weekend with Circle City’s Friday night event followed by Tri-State Speedway on Saturday night. Grant has claimed five victories on the season, while second place pointman, Brady Bacon, has taken four wins. C.J. Leary, the winner in July at Circle City, sits third in the standings, while Robert Ballou and Emerson Axsom complete the top five.
In the series’ previous two appearances at the Marion County Fairgrounds track, it was very noticeable that multiple lanes were available to race on. At the Sprint Week event in July, Leary followed Bacon for much of the event but moved to the top in the final five laps to take the lead and eventual win. Grant started 12th in the event and marched his way up to the second spot, nearly taking the victory.
The first ever appearance came one year ago when Tanner Thorson was able to hold off a strong pack of challengers. Thorson ran around the top lane, while Kevin Thomas, Jr. and others battled on the bottom.
This Friday’s race will also feature the USAC Speed2 Midwest Thunder Midgets and the Midwest Oldtimers Vintage Race Car Club for an action-packed show.
Pit gates will open at 3:00 PM, grandstands at 5:30, hotlaps will start at 6:30, with qualifying and racing to follow.
Grandstand admission is $30 for adults, $25 for seniors, veterans, military, first responders, and teachers with ID, and $10 for kids 9-12. Tickets are free for children eight and under. Tickets will be sold at the gate upon arrival.
For more information on the event, visit www.circlecityraceway.com, www.trackenterprises.com, and www.usacracing.com.
UPCOMING USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
DATE:
Friday, September 16, 2022
SERIES:
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship
TRACK:
Circle City Raceway (Indianapolis, Indiana) – 1/4-mile dirt oval
EVENT:
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship & USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midgets Presented by Mastin & Cain Warehousing Services
STARTING TIMES:
Pits Open at 3pm
Spectator Gates Open at 5:30pm
Drivers Meeting at 6pm
Hot Laps at 6:30pm
Qualifying & Racing to Follow
(All Times Eastern)
TICKETS:
General Admission Tickets available at the ticket booth the day of the event:
$30 Adults
$25 Seniors, Veterans, Military, First Responders and Teachers with ID - Presented by the Hoosier Lottery
$10 Children Ages 9-12
Free for Children Ages 8 & Under
TRACK ADDRESS:
7300 East Troy Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46239
TRACK PHONE:
(317) 746-6928
TRACK WEBSITE:
http://www.circlecityraceway.com/
MEDIA COVERAGE:
Watch LIVE on http://www.FloRacing.com/at https://bit.ly/3frPoW6.
Listen LIVE on the USAC app on your phone or online at http://mixlr.com/usac-official/
Follow along with live updates on https://www.facebook.com/usacracing/ & https://twitter.com/USACNation
Live timing on the Race Monitor app
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT
Formats may be altered from base formats listed here at the discretion of the chief steward.
QUALIFICATIONS
Qualifying is two (2) laps to be run consecutively with the fastest lap counting as the official qualifying time.
HEAT RACES
10 laps. Top-6 cars are inverted in each heat race based on qualifying results. The fastest car starts 6th, the second fastest car starts 5th and so on. For the 4th row on back, cars will line up straight up, based on their qualifying times.
HEAT #1:
4 Heats: Cars qualifying 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21 will start in inverted order. Cars qualifying 25, 29, and so on will start behind invert.
3 Heats: Cars qualifying 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 will start in inverted order. Cars qualifying 19, 22, and so on will start behind invert.
HEAT #2:
4 Heats: Cars qualifying 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22 will start in inverted order. Cars qualifying 26, 30, and so on will start behind invert.
3 Heats: Cars qualifying 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17 will start in inverted order. Cars qualifying 20, 23, and so on will start behind invert.
HEAT #3:
4 Heats: Cars qualifying 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 23 will start in inverted order. Cars qualifying 27, 31, and so on will start behind invert.
3 Heats: Cars qualifying 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 will start in inverted order. Cars qualifying 21, 24, and so on will start behind invert.
HEAT #4:
Cars qualifying 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 will start in inverted order. Cars qualifying 28, 32 and so on will start behind invert.
C-MAIN (IF NEEDED)
10 laps. The 15th through 28th fastest cars in qualifying that did not transfer through the heat races will line up straight-up in the C-Main. Top-4 finishers will start in the last two rows of the semi-feature based on their finishing order in the C-Main.
SEMI-FEATURE:
12 laps. The 14 fastest cars in qualifying that did not transfer through the heat races will line up straight-up in the semi-feature event. Finishers 1-6 earn a spot in the feature event if 4 heats were held. Finishers 1-7 earn a spot in the feature event if 3 heats were held.
FEATURE:
30 laps. 22 starting cars (not including earned provisionals). Starting positions determined by qualifying time, 6 fastest at the front, with the 6 fastest qualifiers who transferred through their heat races inverted by their qualifying time in the first three rows, positions 1-6. The fastest car starts 6th, the second fastest car starts 5th and so on. If a heat race winner is not in the top-6 inversion, that driver will line up directly behind the six-car invert, based on their qualifying time, from fastest to slowest, followed by the balance of the field based on qualifying time.
SPRINT TIRE RULES:
Right rear: 105/18-15 Medium, Hard, F85A
Left rear: Hoosier
Right front: Hoosier
Left front: Hoosier
**MUFFLERS ARE MANDATORY**
RACE OFFICIALS:
Race Director: Kirk Spridgeon
USAC MEMBERSHIP:
Must be a member to earn points
Must be a member to earn contingency awards
Member insurance is $200,000 excess medical
Visit www.usacracing.org to apply for membership
USAC RADIO FREQUENCY
464.5500
Mandatory Driver Radio is Required
SPRINT FEATURE POINTS/PURSE STRUCTURE:
POS. PTS. PURSE
1 70 $5,000
2 67 $2,500
3 64 $1,250
4 61 $1,000
5 58 $900
6 55 $850
7 52 $800
8 49 $775
9 46 $750
10 43 $725
11 41 $700
12 39 $675
13 37 $650
14 35 $625
15 33 $600
16 31 $575
17 29 $550
18 27 $525
19 25 $500
20 23 $500
21 23 $500
22 23 $500
**Non-Transfers: $150
Circle City PR | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/speedway-news/72989-circle-city-in-raceway-awaits-usac-s-final-2022-visit-friday-night | 2022-09-15T00:02:34Z | speedwaydigest.com | control | https://www.speedwaydigest.com/index.php/news/speedway-news/72989-circle-city-in-raceway-awaits-usac-s-final-2022-visit-friday-night | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Man who broke both legs on flume scared of being crippled, inquest hears
A man who broke both his legs after drunkenly breaking into a lido and injuring himself on a slide took his own life in part due to fears he could be permanently crippled, an inquest has heard.
Forklift driver Barry Douglas, 44, was found dead at his home in Aldershot, Hampshire on February 17 2022.
An inquest into his death led by coroner Christopher Wilkinson concluded he had taken his own life.
Six months before, in August 2021, Dundee-born Mr Douglas and Claire Vickeres broke into Aldershot Lido at 2am following a day of drinking. Mr Douglas had also taken cocaine.
The pair stripped off their clothing and went down a waterslide and crashed into a barrier at the bottom. Mr Douglas broke both legs and was forced to move into supported housing as he was wheelchair-bound during his recovery.
The inquest heard that following the accident in August 2021, Mr Douglas was depressed and worried about money. He also expressed concerns that he could be left crippled.
In a statement, his mother Ruth said: “The accident didn’t help his frame of mind but he didn’t say he was depressed to me.
“He complained about cold in his flat, so I asked him to come home to Scotland, but being independent he refused.
“He was worried about money, going from a full-time wage to benefits was a big drop. He was desperate to get back to work but he was told it could take two years to be fit again, and there was a concern that he could be left crippled.”
Mr Douglas was dependent on alcohol, drinking up to one litre of vodka per day, and was also an occasional user of cocaine and heroin.
On February 17 one of Mr Douglas’ friends contacted staff at the supported housing because they were concerned they had not heard from him in a few days.
Staff carried out a welfare check in Mr Douglas’ flat and found him dead. It is believed he had died up to a day before his body was found.
A post-mortem examination found his medical cause of death was hanging. Mr Douglas had alcohol 4.3 times the drink drive limit in his system.
The coroner Mr Wilkinson said: “Mr Douglas took his own life impulsively while under the influence of alcohol.”
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/man-who-broke-both-legs-on-flume-scared-of-being-crippled-inquest-hears-3843330 | 2022-09-15T00:03:36Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/man-who-broke-both-legs-on-flume-scared-of-being-crippled-inquest-hears-3843330 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Queen’s death unlikely to change support for Scottish independence – Professor Sir John Curtice
The death of the Queen and subsequent commemorations are unlikely to move the needle on Scottish independence, one of the UK’s most trusted pollsters has said.
Queen Elizabeth II died last week at Balmoral, triggering what was called Operation Unicorn – a series of commemorations and events put in place if the monarch died in Scotland.
The Queen’s coffin was brought to Edinburgh on Saturday, then lying in state at St Giles’ Cathedral.
Thousands of people turned out to see the hearse move between the Palace of Holyroodhouse – the royal family’s official residence in Scotland – and the cathedral.
Professor Sir John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said the events of the past week are unlikely to have an impact on support for Scotland leaving the union.
He said that while it was a “big momentous event, “whether any of this makes any difference to either the future of the monarchy in Scotland or the future of support for the monarchy in Scotland and certainly anything to do with independence, probably not”.
Of the reasons some have for wishing Scotland would part with the rest of the UK, the professor said, the monarchy does not appear to be one that drives support.
“There is undoubtedly a link between the attitude towards independence and the attitude towards the monarchy,” he told the PA news agency.
“The majority of people who would vote Yes would prefer to have a republic, that’s very clear from all the polling evidence.”
The current stance of the SNP – the biggest force in the independence movement and the party that would likely do most to shape a post-independence Scotland – is to maintain the monarch as the head of state.
But Sir John said it is important to understand the “direction of causation”.
He said: “Do you think that people decide whether or not they’re for or against independence on the basis of what they think about the monarchy, or is their attitude toward the monarchy basically a function, a consequence of their views on independence?
“I would suggest to you that it’s much more plausible to take it for most people that it’s the latter rather than the former.”
Sir John went on to say that views on the monarchy are unlikely to rank as high in priority as other issues, such as the economy as a whole or the financial impact of leaving the EU.
“If, at the end of the day, you take the view that Brexit is going to be an economic disaster, independence is going to be economically fine, you don’t feel British and you want to be inside the European Union, you ain’t going to say ‘I’m still going to vote for the union on the grounds that I think Scotland should have a monarchy,” he said.
Likewise, the professor said, those who support Brexit think independence would be economically detrimental and feel as though they are British would not vote to leave the UK because they want to get rid of the monarchy. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/queens-death-unlikely-to-change-support-for-scottish-independence-professor-sir-john-curtice-3843013 | 2022-09-15T00:04:14Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/queens-death-unlikely-to-change-support-for-scottish-independence-professor-sir-john-curtice-3843013 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
CalMac's main Arran ferry Caledonian Isles breaks down with air leak
CalMac passengers faced further disruption on Wednesday after Arran’s main ferry was taken out of service with an air leak.
Repairs to Caledonian Isles in Brodick forced the cancellation of two return sailings to Ardrossan on one of CalMac’s busiest routes.
CalMac said a secondary vessel, Isle of Arran, continued to operate on the route.
The operator said later the fault had been fixed and Caledonian Isles would return to service for the 19:20 (7.20pm) sailing from Brodick.
CalMac had tweeted: “Due to an issue with the vessel’s starboard main engine which requires further investigations and repairs, the following sailings have now been cancelled: Depart Brodick - 13:55, 16:40, Depart Ardrossan - 15:20, 18:00.”
The fault is the latest to hit the 29-year-old ferry, which was out of service for more than two weeks at the start of the tourist season in mid-April because of an engine failure.
It should have been replaced by the hugely-delayed Glen Sannox four years ago, but the ferry being built at the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow is not now expected to be completed until between March and May 2023.
Sea trials will follow, so the vessel may not be in service until autumn next year, leaving Arran at heightened risk of further disruption for another summer.
CalMac managing director Robbie Drummond told The Scotsman in July that more vessel breakdowns were likely because its ageing fleet was being worked so hard.
In a stark warning to passengers, he said: "The position is not going to improve – it’s going to get worse because the [average] age of the vessels is going to increase over the next one to two years before we see the new ones coming through."
He predicted sailings may have to be cut to enable more time for ferry maintenance and upgrades.
A CalMac spokesperson said: “MV Caledonian Isles is currently alongside at Brodick and has developed an issue with an air leak.
“Repairs are underway and hope to be completed by this evening.
"Two return sailings have been cancelled but the other vessel continues to operate an Ardrossan-Brodick-Ardrossan service.
"There are also sailings on the Lochranza-Claonaig route on the other side of Arran.”
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/calmacs-main-arran-ferry-caledonian-isles-breaks-down-with-air-leak-3843575 | 2022-09-15T00:04:21Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/calmacs-main-arran-ferry-caledonian-isles-breaks-down-with-air-leak-3843575 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Ken Starr, whose investigation led to Bill Clinton impeachment, dies aged 76
A former US federal appellate judge and lawyer whose criminal investigation of Bill Clinton led to the president’s impeachment, has died aged 76.
Ken Starr died at a hospital on Tuesday of complications from surgery, according to his former colleague, lawyer Mark Lanier. He said Mr Starr had been hospitalised in an intensive care unit in Houston for about four months.
For many years, Mr Starr’s stellar reputation as a lawyer seemed to place him on a path to the Supreme Court.
At age 37, he became the youngest person to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where chief Justice John Roberts and justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia also had served.
From 1989-93, Mr Starr was the solicitor general in the administration of president George HW Bush, arguing 25 cases before the Supreme Court.
Mr Roberts said on Tuesday: “Ken loved our country and served it with dedication and distinction. He led by example, in the legal profession, public service, and the community.”
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell remembered Mr Starr as “a brilliant litigator, an impressive leader, and a devoted patriot”.
In a probe that lasted five years, Mr Starr looked into fraudulent real estate deals involving a long-time Clinton associate, delved into the removal of documents from the office of deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster after his suicide and assembled evidence of Clinton’s sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern.
Each of the controversies held the potential to do serious, perhaps fatal, damage to Clinton’s presidency.
In a Tuesday tweet, Ms Lewinsky expressed mixed emotions on the news of Mr Starr’s death. “As I’m sure many can understand, my thoughts about Ken Starr bring up complicated feelings,” she tweeted.
“But of more importance, is that i imagine it’s a painful loss for those who love him.”
As Mr Clinton’s legal problems worsened, the White House pilloried Mr Starr as a right-wing fanatic doing the bidding of Republicans bent on destroying the president.
“The assaults took a toll” on the investigation, Mr Starr told a Senate committee in 1999. “A duly authorised federal law enforcement investigation came to be characterised as yet another political game.
“Law became politics by other means.”
In a bitter finish to his investigation of the Lewinsky affair that engendered still more criticism, Mr Starr filed a report in which he concluded that Mr Clinton lied under oath, engaged in obstruction of justice and followed a pattern of conduct that was inconsistent with the president’s constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws.
House Republicans used Mr Starr’s report as a roadmap in the impeachment of the president, who was acquitted in a Senate trial.
In 2020, he was recruited to help represent Mr Trump in his first impeachment trial.
He said that “like war, impeachment is hell, or at least presidential impeachment is hell”.
Mr Trump paid tribute to Mr Starr as “a true American Patriot who loved our country and the law”.
Ms Lewinsky tweeted: “As I’m sure many can understand, my thoughts about ken starr bring up complicated feelings. But of more importance, is that i imagine it’s a painful loss for those who love him.”
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/news/world/ken-starr-whose-investigation-led-to-bill-clinton-impeachment-dies-aged-76-3842601 | 2022-09-15T00:04:33Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/news/world/ken-starr-whose-investigation-led-to-bill-clinton-impeachment-dies-aged-76-3842601 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Queen Elizabeth II: where was Her Majesty born and where will she be buried at Windsor Castle?
The Queen’s funeral will take place following 10 days of national mourning
This week has seen plans announced for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II following her death on 8 September.
The Queen’s body has been in Scotland since her death, but was moved to London this week ahead of her funeral on 19 September.
Members of the public have been given the opportunity to pay respects to the Queen in Edinburgh and then in Westminster Abbey, where the coffin will be taken later this week.
Where was the Queen born?
Queen Elizabeth II was born on 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London on 21 April 1926. She was the first born child of the Duke and Duchess of York who, due to the abdication of Edward VIII, became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
Where will Queen Elizabeth II be buried?
Queen Elizabeth II is due to be buried in the King George VI Memorial Chapel which is located within Windsor Castle.
Who will she be buried alongside?
The Queen will be buried alongside other members of her family, including her father King George VI, her sister Princess Margaret, and her husband Prince Phillip.
Prince Phillip was buried in the Royal Vault of the King George chapel following his death in April 2021.
His body will however be moved into the chapel to lie alongside his wife, Queen Elizabeth II. this is part of Royal Protocol and was always going to be a move made upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Who else is buried at Windsor?
Members of the Royal Family dating back to Henry VI are buried in the different locations of Windsor.
For example, buried in the Quire are Henry VIII (died 1547), Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII (died 1537), and Charles I (died 1649)
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/read-this/queen-elizabeth-ii-where-was-her-majesty-born-and-where-will-she-be-buried-at-windsor-castle-3841261 | 2022-09-15T00:05:18Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/read-this/queen-elizabeth-ii-where-was-her-majesty-born-and-where-will-she-be-buried-at-windsor-castle-3841261 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
Ange Postecoglou response to Brighton link 'stinks' as Celtic boss accused of 'keeping options open'
Ange Postecoglou's response to being linked with the Brighton job 'stinks of keeping your options open', according to pundit Danny Murphy.
The Celtic boss has been installed among the favourites for the Amex Stadium vacancy following the departure of Graham Potter to Chelsea.
Postecoglou appeared to dismiss the rumours in his pre-match press conference ahead of his side's Champions League fixture against Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw on Wednesday.
The Australian branded the speculation 'irrelevant' and insisted his focus is simply on keeping his job at Celtic by continuing to build on a successful first 14 months, or "it won’t be other options that open up … it’ll be this one that closes".
But speaking on talkSPORT, former Liverpool midfielder Murphy suggested Postecoglou was being less than forthright in his answer and accused the 57-year-old of leaving the door open for a move to the English Premier League side.
"I like him but I think it's poor. I don't like it, it stinks of keeping your options open," he said.
"He should have said, I can put that to bed, I'm here. I'm at a big club, I've got Champions League to focus on. I'm here for the season.
"He hasn't said, 'don't worry I'm not leaving. Don't worry I'm here'. He has not said, 'I am not going to Brighton and I will not entertain the idea'.
"Of course he is [focused on being successful here], everyone is everyday. I've read it all three times and my interpretation is, if I'm a Celtic fan I don't see him saying to me - don't worry, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I don't care whether Brighton are coming in, I don't care if Bayern Munich are coming in. Right now, I'm here.
"I'll tell you what this stinks of to me - and I like him by the way - it wouldn't surprise me if Brighton are in for him. That suggests to me that he might be keeping his options open."
He added: "The Munich comment was silly from me. What I meant was, he's been asked about Brighton. I'm a player, I'm a manager. If I think I might want to go to Brighton, I don't say I'm not going to Brighton, hence the fact he hasn't said it.
"I"m not interested in the Brighton job. Full stop, there you go, done. Why not? If you're not interested why not just say it. You don't need a quarter of a brain, he's keeping his options open."
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article. | https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/ange-postecoglou-response-to-brighton-link-stinks-as-celtic-boss-accused-of-keeping-options-open-3843231 | 2022-09-15T00:05:39Z | scotsman.com | control | https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/ange-postecoglou-response-to-brighton-link-stinks-as-celtic-boss-accused-of-keeping-options-open-3843231 | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vial welcomes Dr. Howard Jack West as a new Oncology CRO Advisory Board member. Dr. West is a thoracic oncology specialist and Associate Clinical Professor in Medical Oncology at City of Hope Cancer Center. He also serves as the Clinical Executive Director at AccessHope, a leading-edge cancer care center offering remote consult services.
Vial is a tech-enabled CRO providing cutting-edge clinical trial management services that deliver faster, more superior trials for sponsors. The Vial Oncology CRO distinguishes itself by leveraging Vial's technology platform that brings together CTMS, eSource, EDC, eTMF, and ePro, in one connected system to streamline processes. These best-in-class CRO services will accelerate the development of new therapies and devices for oncology sponsors.
"Technology has been an underutilized tool in the clinical trials management process for quite some time. It's exciting to see CROs like Vial utilizing technology that helps streamline processes which ultimately help oncologists discover and provide the best cancer care possible for our patients.", said Dr. West on joining Vial's Scientific Advisory Board.
Dr. West is an internationally known medical oncologist with a clinical focus and a strong background in lab-based research. Dr. West spent over 16 years co-leading thoracic oncology at the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle before moving to the City of Hope Cancer Center. He has dedicated his focus to innovative approaches to clinical research, using technology for remote case reviews and telemedicine consultations.
To learn more about Vial, visit our website.
See the full release here.
About Vial: Vial is a tech-enabled, next-generation CRO that promises faster and higher-quality execution of trials. The Vial Contract Research Organization (CRO) delivers on the promise of faster trials through its innovative technology platform that powers trials end-to-end from site startup to database lock. The key to Vial's tech-enabled platform is Vial's modern, intuitive Electronic Source and powerful tooling for CRAs that enables considerable efficiencies. Vial operates across multiple Therapeutic Areas (Dermatology CRO, Ophthalmology CRO, Oncology CRO, Gastroenterology CRO, and Neurology CRO). Vial is a San Francisco, California-based company with over 125 employees and has run over 750 trials from Phase I through Phase IV.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Vial | https://www.wave3.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/vial-introduces-new-member-dr-jack-west-accesshope-their-oncology-cro-advisory-board/ | 2022-09-15T00:06:04Z | wave3.com | control | https://www.wave3.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/vial-introduces-new-member-dr-jack-west-accesshope-their-oncology-cro-advisory-board/ | 1 | 1 | green-iguana-35 | null |
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