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PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A fishing vessel that sank in New England, resulting in the loss of all four fishermen, likely capsized because of poor drainage of seawater from the rear deck and hatches that weren’t watertight, investigators said.
The National Transportation Safety Board called Tuesday for stepped up inspections and renewed its call for personal locator beacons for each crew member. The agency first made that recommendation after the loss of the cargo vessel El Faro and 33 sailors in 2015.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy urged fishing boat operators to purchase the individual radio beacons for crew members.
“Don’t wait for a mandate from the Coast Guard,” Homendy said in a written statement. “If the Emmy Rose crew had access to these devices, perhaps some of them would still be with us today.”
The tragedy unfolded as the Portland-based Emmy Rose was headed to Gloucester, Massachusetts, to offload an estimated 45,000 pounds (20,400 kilograms) of fish in November 2020.
A crew member told his girlfriend in a phone call that it was the 82-foot (25-meter) vessel’s biggest catch, and she told investigators that she heard ebullient crewmembers laughing and enjoying themselves in the background.
Hours later, early on Nov. 23, the vessel’s automated distress beacon signaled. The Emmy Rose disappeared without a radio distress call.
The Coast Guard dispatched a cutter and a helicopter, then other boats and aircraft, to the area about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Provincetown, Massachusetts. Rescuers found an oil sheen, an empty life raft and some debris. The fishermen were never recovered.
With a forecast for gusts up to 25 knots (46 kph) and sea levels of 5 to 8 feet (1.5 to 2.5 meters), the Emmy Rose was returning to shore in conditions that could have put a trawler in peril with waves splashing onto the rear deck. The NTSB said seawater likely accumulated on the vessel’s rear deck, failed to drain properly and then poured into the vessel through hatches that weren’t watertight, making the vessel less stable. The Emmy Rose ultimately came to a rest in nearly 800 feet (240 meters) of water.
The Emmy Rose was more susceptible to capsize because of its design and modifications, the NTSB said. The vessel was originally built for shrimping in the Gulf of Mexico and was modified for trawling for fish in New England waters.
“NTSB investigators found that at the time of the sinking, the Emmy Rose likely did not meet existing stability criteria, making it more susceptible to capsizing,” the agency’s report said.
The NTSB cannot mandate changes, but it recommended inspections of port covers designed to drain water from the deck and watertight hatches, along with individual radio beacons for crew members.
The Coast Guard cannot mandate new requirements without following the federal rule-making process, but will continue work with the fishing industry and Congress to improve safety for all commercial fisherman, said Trevor Cowan, the Coast Guard’s regional commercial fishing vessel safety coordinator.
Commercial fishing vessels are required to have an automated emergency beacon that floats free and signals rescuers. But individuals are not required to have them.
A judge awarded nearly $1 million in damages to the families of the fishermen. U.S. District Judge John Woodcock ordered the distribution of the insurance proceeds from boat owner, Boat Aaron & Melissa Inc.
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| 2022-09-20T21:08:19Z
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ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghan and Pakistani authorities blamed each other Wednesday for an overnight clash at the border that caused casualties on both sides.
Taliban in a statement Wednesday said that Afghan authorities tried to stop Pakistani forces form building a check point close to the border in eastern Paktia province’s Dand-e Patan district, but the Pakistani forces opened fire.
Pakistan’s military said in a statement that three soldiers were killed in the country’s northwest by militant fire from across the Afghan border Tuesday night. The attack hit a border security post in Kurram, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Taliban’s government said that by understanding, no military installations can be built near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But Pakistani forces tried to build a post. Some people approached them to talk and discuss the matter, when suddenly the Pakistani forces opened fire, said Karimi.
“The issue is under investigation and (Taliban) leaders have been informed,” Karimi said.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan accuse each other of providing sanctuaries to their enemy insurgents — something both sides deny.
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| 2022-09-20T21:08:26Z
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ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s prime minister on Wednesday promised the country’s homeless people that the government will ensure they are paid to rebuild and return to their lives after the country’s worst-ever floods.
With winter is just weeks away, half a million people are living in camps after being displaced by the flood, which destroyed 1.7 million homes. So far, the government’s priority has been to deliver food, tents and cash to the victims. The floods have killed 1,481 people since mid-June and affected 33 million.
“We will do our best to financially help you so that you can rebuild homes” and return to a normal life, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif told several families living in tents and makeshift homes in the town of Suhbatpur in Baluchistan. “Those who lost homes and crops will get compensation from the government,” he said in his televised comments.
Sharif also told dozens of school children, who were studying in a tent with help from the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF in the town of Suhbatpur, that they will get a new school in the next two months.
“Pakistan never witnessed such huge climate-induced devastation,” Sharif told a gathering of lawyers in Islamabad on Wednesday. “It was painful to see inundated villages, towns and cities.”
Sharif said the winter season will start in Pakistan after 15 days, and “then another challenge for the flood victims will be how to survive in the harsh cold as currently they were living in tents in summer.
Even providing clean drinking water to flood-affected people has become a challenge, he said.
The floods have destroyed 70% of wheat, cotton and other crops in Pakistan. Initially, Pakistan estimated that the floods caused $10 billion in damages, but now the government says the economic toll is far greater. The United Nations has urged the international community, especially those responsible for climate change, to send more help to Pakistan.
The monsoon rains have swept away entire villages, bridges and roads, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. At one point, a third of the country’s territory was inundated with water.
Multiple experts have blamed climate change for unprecedented rain-related damages in Pakistan.
Also Wednesday, Pakistan’s minister for climate change, Sherry Rehman, told a gathering of lawmakers from the Asia Pacific in the capital, Islamabad that right now the entire world is facing a threat from climate change which, she said, “knows no border.”
She called for reducing emissions to save other countries from the damage that her country is facing now.
Meanwhile, the first planeload of aid from Saudi Arabia arrived in Pakistan overnight.
So far, U.N. agencies and various countries, including the United States, have sent about 90 planeloads of aid.
On Wednesday, Julien Harneis, who is U.N resident coordinator in Pakistan, told a news conference that member states had committed so far $150 million in response to an emergency appeal for $160 million.
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| 2022-09-20T21:08:34Z
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Donations are pouring in to help a 17-year-old sex trafficking victim who was ordered by a court to pay $150,000 to the family of a man she stabbed to death after he raped her.
A GoFundMe campaign set up for Pieper Lewis has already raised more than $200,000 just one day after the restitution order was handed down by an Iowa judge.
Lewis also received a deferred 20-year prison sentence on Tuesday that will be expunged if she successfully completes five years of closely supervised probation. Prosecutors described the sentence as merciful for a teen who had been horribly abused — and the judge said the law compelled him to order the $150,000 payment — but it struck many observers as unnecessarily harsh.
Lewis pleaded guilty last year to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury in the June 2020 killing of 37-year-old Zachary Brooks, a married father of two. Lewis was 15 when she stabbed Brooks more than 30 times in a Des Moines apartment.
Lewis has maintained that she was trafficked against her will to Brooks for sex multiple times and stabbed him in a fit of rage. Police and prosecutors have not disputed that Lewis was sexually assaulted and trafficked.
The Associated Press does not typically name victims of sexual assault, but Lewis agreed to have her name used previously in stories about her case.
Here’s a look at how Lewis ended up facing criminal charges in an Iowa court and what’s next for her:
WHAT’S THE BACKSTORY OF THE GOFUNDME CAMPAIGN FOR LEWIS?
The account was set up late last year for Lewis by one of her former high school teachers. Initially the goal was set at $150,000 to cover the restitution payment. All additional money raised will help Lewis pay for college or start her own business, and help other young victims of sex crimes.
“Pieper has five years of probation ahead of her; five years that she will be required to be nearly perfect to avoid facing 20 years in prison,” Leland Schipper, a math teacher at Des Moines Lincoln High School, said on the GoFundMe page. “Pieper’s path to true freedom will not be easy, and she is still a teenager that has experienced a lot of trauma.”
The vast majority of donations came in increments of less than $50. Almost every donor offered words of encouragement or outrage over the teen’s prosecution — and sometimes both.
“Pieper, from one survivor to another, life gets better,” one $20 donor wrote. “I am disgusted you spent a second in jail, but don’t look back. Use whatever funds are left to move on and move up.”
WHY WAS LEWIS ORDERED TO PAY $150,000 TO THE ESTATE OF HER ATTACKER?
Iowa law mandates that anyone convicted of a felony that leads to the death of another person must pay “at least” this much to the victim’s estate.
The payment cannot be discharged through bankruptcy, and it does not preclude a victim’s family from suing for more damages. But there is nothing in the law that would appear to bar someone from using donations to pay the restitution, said Grant Gangestad, a criminal defense attorney who helps lead the Iowa Association for Justice, a trade group for trial lawyers.
Lewis’ lawyers argued that as a victim of human trafficking and sexual abuse, she should be spared from making any payment at all. They argued that Brooks was partially responsible for what happened and that such restitution would be cruel and unusual under the circumstances.
The judge rejected those arguments at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, noting that the Iowa Supreme Court has upheld the state’s restitution law even in the face of some of those same arguments.
It is not clear whether Lewis’ lawyers will appeal; they said Wednesday they are still weighing their options.
WHY DID PROSECUTORS CHARGE LEWIS FOR KILLING A MAN WHO RAPED HER?
Dozens of states have so-called safe harbor laws that give trafficking victims at least some level of criminal immunity. Iowa is not one of them.
Iowans can avoid being convicted of violent crimes, however, if they can prove that they faced ‘’imminent” serious injury.
While nobody disputed that Lewis was sexually assaulted and trafficked, prosecutors successfully argued that Brooks was not an immediate danger to Lewis because he was asleep at the time he was stabbed.
Prosecutors said that their goal in seeking charges against Lewis was twofold: To ensure the protection of the public from someone capable of stabbing another person to death, and to ensure that Lewis receives the rehabilitative help she needs.
HAS THE MAN LEWIS ACCUSED OF TRAFFICKING HER BEEN CHARGED?
No. Lewis has said she lived with a man for more than two months in 2020 after she had run away from an abusive home. The then-28-year-old man told her she was his girlfriend, but told others she was his niece, Lewis said.
The man told her she couldn’t live with him for free, she said, and created a dating profile for her on websites and arranged for her to have sex with other men for money, which occurred seven or eight times when she lived with him.
It was this man who took her to Brooks beginning in May 2020 to have sex, she said. When she resisted going back to Brooks’ apartment another time, Lewis said the man held a knife to her neck and cut her with it.
Lewis names the man in court documents, but The Associated Press is not releasing his name because he has not been charged with a crime.
Polk County Attorney John Sarcone on Wednesday gave few details on why.
“No charges have been filed,” Sarcone said. “The matter is under investigation, and our office will not comment further.”
WHAT’S NEXT FOR LEWIS?
Lewis’ five years of supervised probation will be spent at the state’s Fresh Start Women’s Center in Des Moines, a low-level prison facility that allows convicts some level of freedom to work and make some trips outside the facility. Lewis’ whereabouts will be monitored through a GPS-enabled ankle bracelet.
She was also ordered to conduct 600 hours of community service, to be carried out by speaking to other young people about the dangers they face and the importance of making responsible choices.
“You have a story to tell,” Polk County District judge David M. Porter said at her sentencing. “You should be willing to tell it to other young women.”
Lewis, who earned her GED diploma while being held in juvenile detention, has said she would like to go to college and dreams of being a fashion designer.
At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, she expressed both hope and fear for her future.
“I know that I am being watched by a million eyes. The reality is, I will make mistakes, even with the court’s pressure,” she said, reading from a prepared statement.
“I refuse to fail,” she said. “I refuse to let the system fail me.”
___
Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska.
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| 2022-09-20T21:08:41Z
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A right-wing bloc that includes a nationalist anti-immigration party won a narrow majority in Sweden’s parliament Wednesday. It was a major political shift in the Scandinavian country that had a decades-long history of welcoming refugees, but is grappling with a crime wave linked with immigration.
Center-left Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson conceded defeat with 99.9% of the vote from the weekend elections counted Wednesday. She said she would step down Thursday.
Populist Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson declared victory for the four-party bloc. He said his party would be “a constructive and driving force” in the work of rebuilding safety in Sweden. He said it was “time to put Sweden first.”
The bloc that includes the Sweden Democrats — the country’s second-largest party — won a thin majority in parliament. Though a few votes were outstanding they were not enough to sway the final outcome.
Prime Minister Andersson said that “the preliminary result is clear enough to draw a conclusion” that her center-left forces had lost power.
Andersson became Sweden’s first female prime minister last year and led the country in its historic bid to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While Andersson is personally popular, anxiety in Sweden has grown over high crime rates in segregated districts that are home to large numbers of immigrants who have failed to integrate into Swedish society. Some blamed her Social Democrats, who have been in power for eight years.
Ulf Kristersson, the leader of Sweden’s third largest party, the Moderates, who’s considered to be the leading figure in the right-wing bloc and a possible prime minister, thanked voters for their trust. “Now we will get Sweden in order,” he wrote on Facebook.
“The Moderates and the other parties on my side have received the mandate for the change that we asked for. I am now starting the work of forming a new, effective government,” Kristersson said.
The Sweden Democrats were long shunned by Swedes because the party was founded in the 1980s by neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists. In recent years it has moved into the mainstream by expelling extremists, and gained support with a tough stance on crime and immigration amid a rise in shootings and other gang violence.
Its transformation was led by 43-year-old Akesson, who in his speech Wednesday evening said it was time for a new chapter in Sweden.
“Now it will be enough with the failed Social Democratic policy that for eight years has continued to lead the country in the wrong direction,” Akesson said. “It is time to start rebuilding security, welfare and cohesion. It is time to put Sweden first. The Sweden Democrats will be a constructive and driving force in this work.”
“Now the work begins to make Sweden good again,” he said.
The tally gave the right-wing bloc 176 seats in the 349-parliament, the Riksdag, and Andersson’s center-left bloc with 173 seats. A majority in Sweden requires 175 seats.
“The four right-wing parties appear to have received just under 50% of the votes in the election, and in the Riksdag, they have gained one or two mandates. A thin majority, but it is a majority,” Andersson said.
“Tomorrow I will therefore request my dismissal as Prime Minister and the responsibility for the continued process will now pass to the Parliament Speaker and the Riksdag.”
___
Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland.
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| 2022-09-20T21:08:48Z
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BEIJING (AP) — A tropical storm was advancing up China’s eastern coast Thursday after bringing typhoon-strength winds and heavy rains to Shanghai overnight.
Typhoon Muifa had maximum winds of 125 kilometers (77 miles) per hour upon landfall late Wednesday but had weakened to a tropical storm by morning, according to China’s National Meteorological Center. It was forecast to weaken further as it moved through eastern parts of Jiangsu province through the day.
No casualties or major damage has been reported in the Shanghai area, and the city was restarting public transit Thursday after shutting down the metro as the storm passed.
Photos posted on social media showed flooding in the city of Ningbo, south of Shanghai, with scooters and cars buried in water, after massive rains overnight. However, official city government accounts only noted certain street closures.
One residential complex in Shanghai said it measured 15 centimeters (6 inches) of water overnight, according to local media.
Jiangsu province issued a typhoon warning as well as a warning for heavy rain, and districts across the province have cancelled school for Thursday.
Maximum winds this morning reached 108 kilometers (67 miles) per hour and will gradually weaken through the day, the National Meteorological Center said. The storm will leave land briefly and reach the Yellow Sea before it hits Shandong province later Thursday night, moving around 25 kilometers per hour, the center said.
More than 1 million people in Shanghai and other cities in Zhejiang Province had been evacuated on Wednesday, according to state media.
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| 2022-09-20T21:09:03Z
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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Newly revealed text messages show how deeply a Mississippi governor was involved in the state paying more than $1 million in welfare money to Brett Favre to help fund one of the retired NFL quarterback’s pet projects.
Instead of the money going to help low-income families in one of the nation’s poorest states, as intended, it was funneled through a nonprofit group and spent on a new $5 million volleyball facility at a university that the football star and the governor both attended.
One of the texts from 2017 showed Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, who left office in 2020, was “on board” with the arrangement. The state is suing Favre and others, alleging they misspent millions of dollars in welfare money. The director of the nonprofit has pleaded guilty to criminal charges in Mississippi’s largest public corruption case in decades.
The texts were in documents filed Monday in state court by an attorney for the nonprofit, known as the Mississippi Community Education Center. Messages between Favre and the center’s executive director, Nancy New, included references to Bryant. The documents also included messages between Bryant and Favre and Bryant and New.
New pleaded guilty in April to charges of misspending welfare money, as did her son Zachary New, who helped run the nonprofit. They await sentencing and have agreed to testify against others. Favre has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
“Just left Brett Farve,” Bryant texted New on July 16, 2019, misspelling the athlete’s last name. “Can we help him with his project. We should meet soon to see how I can make sure we keep your projects on course.”
New responded: “I would appreciate having the opportunity to follow through with all the good things we are working on, especially projects like Brett’s.”
Later that day, New texted Favre to let him know she was meeting with the governor.
“I love John so much. And you too,” Favre responded to New, referring to the Mississippi Department of Human Services director at the time, John Davis.
The texts also showed discussion between Favre and New about arranging payment from the Human Services Department through the nonprofit to Favre for speaking engagements, with Favre then saying he would direct the money to the volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Favre played football at the university, located in Hattiesburg, before going to the NFL in 1991. His daughter began playing on the school’s volleyball team in 2017.
According to court documents, Favre texted New on Aug. 3, 2017: “If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?”
New responded: “No, we never have had that information publicized. I understand you being uneasy about that though. Let’s see what happens on Monday with the conversation with some of the folks at Southern. Maybe it will click with them. Hopefully.”
Favre replied: “Ok thanks.”
The next day, New texted Favre: “Wow, just got off the phone with Phil Bryant! He is on board with us! We will get this done!”
Favre responded: “Awesome I needed to hear that for sure.”
According to a previous court filing, New’s nonprofit made two payments of welfare money to Favre Enterprises, the athlete’s business: $500,000 in December 2017 and $600,000 in June 2018.
On Dec. 27, 2017, Favre texted New: “Nancy Santa came today and dropped some money off (two smiling emojis) thank you my goodness thank you.”
“Yes he did,” New responded. “He felt you had been pretty good this year!”
Attorneys for Favre did not immediately respond to a phone message Wednesday from The Associated Press.
In a July 11 court filing, New’s attorney wrote that Bryant directed her to pay $1.1 million in welfare money to Favre through the education center for “speaking at events, keynote speaking, radio and promotional events, and business partner development.”
In July, a Bryant spokesperson said allegations that the governor improperly spent the money are false and that Bryant had asked the state auditor to investigate possible welfare fraud.
Billy Quinn, an attorney representing Bryant, told the AP on Wednesday that Bryant did not direct New to make the $1.1 million payment to Favre. Quinn said a careful examination of court records will show “there’s no proof that occurred. And that’s because it didn’t.”
Bryant served two terms as governor and could not run again in 2019 because of term limits. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.
In May, the Mississippi Department of Human Services filed a civil lawsuit against Favre, three former pro wrestlers and several other people and businesses to try to recover millions of misspent welfare dollars. The lawsuit said the defendants “squandered” more than $20 million from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families anti-poverty program.
About 1,800 Mississippi households received payments from the program in 2021, according to the Department of Human Services. A family of three must have a monthly income below $680 to qualify, and the current monthly benefit for that family is $260. Payments are allowed for up to five years.
In pleading guilty, Nancy and Zachary New acknowledged taking part in spending $4 million of welfare money for the volleyball facility.
The mother and son also acknowledged directing welfare money to Prevacus Inc., a Florida-based company that was trying to develop a concussion drug. Favre has said in interviews that he supported Prevacus.
Mississippi Auditor Shad White said Favre was paid for speeches but did not show up. Favre has repaid the money, but White said in October that he still owed $228,000 in interest.
In a Facebook post when he repaid the first $500,000, Favre said he didn’t know the money came from welfare funds. He also said his charity had provided millions of dollars to poor children in Mississippi and Wisconsin.
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| 2022-09-20T21:09:11Z
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday about exporting Russian fertilizer through Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to address a growing global food crisis that threatens multiple famines.
The U.N. chief said they also discussed security at Europe’s largest nuclear plant, where he said bombing has stopped for the past three days, and prisoners of war.
“I believe that there are negotiations still taking place,” he said. “I strongly hope that the problem of prisoners of war will be entirely solved, and I strongly hope that all prisoners of war from both sides will be exchanged.”
Guterres told a news conference that Putin said a fact-finding mission he appointed at the request of Russia and Ukraine to investigate killings at the Olenivka prison in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine on July 29 will be able to go there “through whatever way we choose, and that is a very important aspect.” The warring nations accuse each other of carrying out the attack in which separatist authorities and Russian officials said 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and 75 were wounded.
Guterres said the call to Putin was a follow-up to his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Lviv on Aug. 18, and regular calls to the head of Zelenskyy’s office, Andriy Yermak.
Putin is not attending next week’s annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly which Guterres said is taking place “at a time of great peril.”
“Our world is blighted by war, battered by climate chaos, scarred by hate, and shamed by poverty, hunger and inequality,” the secretary-general said.
The war in Ukraine is not only devastating the country but dragging down the global economy, Guterres said, and hopes for a peace deal are “minimal.” He added: “I would be lying if I would say that I hope that it will happen soon.”
Despite the July 22 deal to start shipping Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports and get Russian food and fertilizers to global markets, Guterres said, “there is a risk of multiple famines this year.”
The secretary-general said high prices for fertilizer have already reduced the planting of food crops which is why it is critical to increase Russian exports of ammonia — a key ingredient of fertilizers — and why talks are taking place on the possibly of shipping through the Black Sea ports which are currently being used to ship grain from Ukraine.
U.N. trade chief Rebeca Grynspan, who leads the team trying to facilitate unimpeded global access to Russian food and fertilizer, told reporters Tuesday that Russia reported a 12% increase in food exports from June to July, but fertilizer exports are still down despite being covered by the agreement, with insurance, financing and shipping still issues.
Guterres said he discussed the “dramatic situation in fertilizers” and the obstacles to shipping ammonia from Russia with Putin.
“We are risking to have a fertilizer market crunch,” the U.N. chief said. ”We have news from different parts of the world that the areas cultivated are much smaller than in the previous cycle, which means that we risk in 2022 the real lack of food.”
“So to remove the obstacles that still exist in relation to the export of Russian fertilizers is absolutely essential at the present moment,” he said.
The July 22 grain deal expires in 120 days and Guterres said “a very important dialogue” is taking place between the U.N. and Russia, and between the U.N. and Ukraine, “and we are looking not only at maintaining the grain deal but expanding it.” And one example is possibly shipping Russian ammonia through the same Black Sea channel as Ukrainian grain, he said.
Grynspan, who heads the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, said fertilizer is needed by October and November, the latest, for the northern hemisphere planting season.
On the issue of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Monday that he has started consultations with Ukraine and Russia on his call for a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the facility, and the two sides appear to be interested.
Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the two sides appear to be interested.
He made the proposal last week after leading a team of inspectors to the nuclear plant and leaving two of them there to monitor its safety. The plant has been occupied by Russian forces but operated by its Ukrainian employees since early in the war.
The Zaporizhzhia plant was reconnected to Ukraine’s electricity grid over the weekend, allowing engineers to shut down its last operational reactor in an attempt to avoid disaster as fighting raged in the area.
Guterres said according to his latest information, electricity is being provided to guarantee the cooling of the reactors and other needed electricity.
“We have been now three days without bombing,” he said.
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| 2022-09-20T21:09:17Z
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LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to flock to London’s medieval Westminster Hall from Wednesday to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II, whose coffin will lie in state for four days until her funeral on Monday.
Here’s a look at what to expect for the occasion, including its traditions, the waiting route and what mourners will see:
HOW LONG WILL THE QUEEN LIE IN STATE?
People who want to view the queen’s coffin can do so 24 hours a day from 5 p.m. local time (1600GMT) Wednesday until 6:30 a.m. on Monday, the day of the state funeral.
THE QUEUE
British officials have published two waiting routes along the River Thames that the public need to join before they can enter Westminster Hall. The main queue begins on the Albert Embankment and stretches east for miles past the London Eye, the Tate Modern and Tower Bridge. There is a separate, accessible route that people who need it can join from the Tate Britain museum.
Mourners have been warned about long waits, possibly overnight. Extra toilets and water fountains will be placed along the route, and some venues along the way, including Shakespeare’s Globe, will open around the clock to provide refreshments and rest breaks. Airport-style security checks are in place near the front of the line before people can enter Parliament.
WHAT WILL PEOPLE SEE?
The closed coffin will be draped with a royal flag and adorned with royal regalia including the Imperial State Crown — the same crown the queen wore for her 1953 coronation.
The coffin will be placed on a catafalque, or a raised platform, in the center of Westminster Hall. Royal guards will stand 24 hours a day at each corner of the platform.
When the coffin was in Scotland earlier this week, it was topped with the Crown of Scotland and a wreath of white flowers.
LEAD-LINED COFFIN
The queen’s coffin is constructed out of English oak, lined with lead and was made decades ago, experts say.
Sarah Hayes, manager for the Coffin Works museum in Birmingham, England, says former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the queen’s husband Prince Philip and Princess Diana had such coffins made for them, she said.
“It’s to preserve the body for as long as possible, it’s really about slowing down the process of decomposition,” she said. This is especially important for the queen because her coffin will be eventually placed in a church, not buried in the ground, she added.
The coffin is made of oak from the royal family’s Sandringham Estate according to royal tradition, Hayes said.
WESTMINSTER HALL
The lying in state takes place at Westminster Hall, a 900-year-old building with an impressive timber roof. Built in 1097, it’s the oldest surviving building of the Palace of Westminster.
The hall has been at the heart of British history for a millennium: It was where numerous kings and queens hosted lavish coronation banquets, and where Guy Fawkes and Charles I were tried in the 17th century. More recently, ceremonial addresses were presented in the hall to Elizabeth during her silver, golden and diamond jubilees.
WHO GETS TO LIE IN STATE?
In the U.K., lying in state is reserved for the sovereign, queen consorts, and sometimes prime ministers.
Queen Mary, King George VI and King George V were among royals who lay in state at Westminster Hall. Winston Churchill was the only British prime minister to have a lying-in-state ceremony in the 20th century.
The last person to lie in state in Britain was Elizabeth’s mother, known as the Queen Mother. Some 200,000 people paid their respects to her over three days when she died in 2002.
WHEN DID THE TRADITION START?
The tradition of lying in state stretches back to the 17th century when Stuart monarchs lay in state for a number of days.
Edward VII set the modern tradition of royal lying in state in Westminster Hall. He lay in state in 1910.
WHERE IS THE QUEEN’S FINAL RESTING PLACE?
After the state funeral, the coffin will be taken to Windsor, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of London. The queen will be laid to rest in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, within St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where her mother and father were interred and her sister Princess Margaret’s ashes were placed.
Prince Philip’s coffin, which is currently in St. George’s Chapel’s Royal Vault, is expected to be moved to the memorial chapel to join the queen’s.
St. George’s is where many of Britain’s royals were baptized, married and buried throughout history. It has long been the resting place for the royals, and 10 former sovereigns were buried there.
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RIVERDALE PARK, Md. (AP) - A police officer fatally shot a man who pointed a handgun at officers at a Maryland home on Monday afternoon, officials said.
Riverdale Park Police officers were called to a home on Oglethorpe Street for a report of a suicidal man with access to firearms, the Attorney General’s office said in a news release on Tuesday.
Officers spoke with the man at the front door of the home and followed when the man retreated to an upstairs bedroom, officials said.
The man didn’t comply with officers’ commands to stop. In the bedroom, the man pointed a gun at officers and one officer fired, striking the man, officials said. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The officer’s body-worn camera was active during the incident, and the Attorney General’s office’s Independent Investigations Division, which is investigating the shooting, said it usually releases footage within 14 days of an incident. Officials did not release the names of the man who was killed or the officer, but said the division usually releases their names within 48 hours of the incident.
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MEXICO CITY (AP) — This week the objective was to insert mention of Julian Assange into a meeting between Mexico’s president and the United States’ top diplomat. Next week, it will be to have Australia’s prime minister bring it up with the U.S. president at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.
The efforts are part of the campaign by John Shipton, father of the WikiLeaks founder, to find allies and convince the U.S. to drop espionage charges against Assange, who remains in a British prison awaiting extradition to the U.S.
The journey by the septuagenarian Australian architect together with another son, Gabriel, brought them this week to Mexico. The country has become the family’s main ally in Latin America since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador offered Assange political asylum and called for the U.S. to allow him to seek refuge there.
“We call President López Obrador an ice-breaker,” because afterward the leaders of Chile, Colombia and Bolivia called for his release too, Gabriel Shipton said during the visit to Mexico. Among a packed scheduled of events, John Shipton received the key to the capital Wednesday on behalf of Assange, a ceremonial honor the city bestows on distinguished guests. The day before, he addressed Mexico’s Senate.
American prosecutors say Assange helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk. He faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse.
His defenders consider Assange a symbol of a free press and a fight for justice who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Assange was arrested in London in 2010 at the request of Sweden pending a preliminary investigation into allegations of sexual assault, which he has denied. In 2012, he broke the conditions of his bail and sought refuge in Ecuador’s embassy where he stayed until being asked to leave in 2019. He was immediately arrested again.
When his father visited him in jail that year, Assange asked for help.
That led Shipton to launch his globetrotting campaign with Gabriel, trying to reach average people, because politicians want those people’s votes, he said.
They went from Australia to Europe, the United States and Mexico. Each politician’s statement in favor of Assange’s release, every headline, is oxygen for Assange, who has been held in a maximum security prison.
The effort has been all consuming, Shipton said in a Mexico City hotel, as he and Gabriel listed the day’s events, which included a protest at the U.S. embassy, a meeting with a government official, press interviews and phone calls, including one with Assange.
Those calls from prison cut after 10 minutes, said Shipton, who declined to say how often they speak or what they discuss. “I can’t report on conversations between father and son. This is not public,” he said.
Shipton was estranged from Assange until his 20s, according to a documentary called “Ithaka,” produced by Gabriel Shipton, which suggests a complicated relationship.
John Shipton smiled remembering Assange’s wedding in March to his lawyer Stella Moris, a day Shipton described as “like a flower in the desert.”
Uncomfortable with media, but conscious that he needs then, Shipton questions them constantly, telling them Assange’s case directly affects their ability to continue reporting freely.
His visit to Mexico will finish with his participation in Independence Day activities Thursday night and Friday. López Obrador invited Shipton to events with relatives of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Ché Guevara, in what appeared to be an attempt to evoke emblematic figures of the 20th century.
The Shiptons plan to continue their efforts in Latin America next year, hoping that Brazil’s Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva returns to the presidency.
“You just take each moment as it comes and you do your very best you can, you don’t depend upon optimism, hope, you just do your work,” Shipton said, noting it’s a work that never ends.
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| 2022-09-20T21:09:32Z
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BALTIMORE, Md.- The creator of a true-crime podcast that helped free a Maryland man imprisoned for two decades said Tuesday that she feels a mix of emotions over how long it took authorities to act on evidence that’s long been available.
The judge’s order to release Adnan Syed and vacate his murder conviction Monday came after the local prosecutor started a unit to review sentencing and a new Maryland law relating to juvenile sentencing provided a mechanism for reexamining the case, all after the “Serial” podcast in 2014 turned the details of the case into an obsession for countless amateur sleuths.
Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby immediately applauded the judge's decision as a victory for justice, but Syed's win came as a bittersweet reminder to those who had been aware of the gaps in the case for years. In a new episode of “Serial” released Tuesday, host Sarah Koenig noted that most or all of the evidence cited in prosecutors’ motion to overturn the conviction was available since 1999.
“Yesterday, there was a lot of talk about fairness, but most of what the state put in that motion to vacate, all the actual evidence, was either known or knowable to cops and prosecutors back in 1999,” Koenig said. “So even on a day when the government publicly recognizes its own mistakes, it’s hard to feel cheered about a triumph of fairness. Because we’ve built a system that takes more than 20 years to self-correct. And that’s just this one case.”
Koenig argued that the case against Syed involved “just about every chronic problem” in the system, including unreliable witness testimony and evidence that was never shared with Syed's defense team.
On Monday, Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn in Baltimore ordered Syed's release after overturning his conviction for the 1999 murder of high school student Hae Min Lee, Syed's ex-girlfriend. Syed, 41, has always maintained his innocence but in 2019 the state's highest court had rejected his appeal for a new trial.
At the behest of prosecutors who said they had recently uncovered new evidence, Phinn ruled that the state violated its legal obligation to share evidence that could have bolstered Syed’s defense. The judge said the state must decide whether to seek a new trial date or dismiss the case within 30 days.
Mosby, who entered office in 2015, filed a motion last week to vacate Syed's conviction, a filing that Koenig described as a “firework" coming from the same office that asked a jury to convict Syed years ago.
In the “Serial” episode posted Tuesday, Koenig broke down prosecutors’ motion and described how some evidence they cited was featured in the podcast, while other evidence – including the evidence of other possible suspects – became public more recently.
Key to Monday's outcome was evidence uncovered by a unit that Mosby's office launched to reexamine cases in which juvenile defendants were given life sentences. That worked in tandem with a 2021 Maryland law that enables someone convicted as a juvenile to seek a reduced sentence after serving at least 20 years. Syed was 17 when Lee was killed.
Prosecutor Becky Feldman led the unit and found notes written by one of her predecessors describing two phone calls in which people gave them information before Syed’s trial about someone with a motive to harm Lee. That information wasn’t given to the defense at the time, according prosecutors, an omission that Phinn said violated Syed's rights.
Koenig noted that she knew who these two new potential suspects were – and so did detectives who investigated Syed two decades ago – but declined to name them because they haven’t been charged.
“One of (the suspects) was investigated at the time, submitted to a couple of polygraphs. The other was investigated also, but not with much vigor, as far as I can tell,” she said.
Other supporting evidence on the unreliability of a key witness and questions about cellphone data was previously featured on “Serial,” Koenig said.
“If you’ve listened to our show you probably remember all of this,” Koenig said.
Koenig said the show delved into questions about cellphone data that prosecutors used to bolster the witness’s testimony. But she acknowledged that expert analysis used by prosecutors to arrive at their current motion wasn’t fully explored on the show.
“We didn’t get to the bottom of this incoming call problem back when we were reporting this story,” she said.
In the years since “Serial” chronicled Syed’s case and transformed the true-crime genre, a number of breakthroughs have come in other cases examined by like-minded podcasters.
In Sydney, Australia, last month, a 74-year-old man was convicted of killing his wife in 1982, charges brought after police launched a renewed investigation based on a circumstantial case made against him in the popular podcast “The Teacher’s Pet.”
A lengthy murder trial is also underway in Salinas, California, against a man for the death of Kirstin Smart, a freshman who vanished from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo in 1996. The sheriff has said the “Your Own Backyard” podcast helped produce new information and prompted witnesses to speak with detectives.
And the podcast “In the Dark” obtained a recorded recantation from a jailhouse informant that, together with an analysis of racial bias by a Mississippi prosecutor in jury selection, preceded the U.S. Supreme Court's 2019 decision to overturn the murder conviction and death sentence of Curtis Flowers. Flowers, a Black man, had been convicted in the shooting death of four people in a furniture store in 1996. Mississippi prosecutors later dropped charges against him.
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Forecast updated on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, at 4:00 PM by WBOC Meteorologist Dan Satterfield (AMS-CBM).
DELMARVA FORECAST
Tonight:Clear and cooler. Low 60°. Wind: W 3-7 mph.
Wednesday: Sunny and warm. High 85°. Wind: W 1-7 mph.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear and more humid. Low 67°. Wind: S 4-10 mph.
Thursday: Warm and more humid. Scattered showers, and breezy PM. Clearing and cooler late. High 84-86°. Wind: SW/W 7-14 mph.
Forecast Discussion:
Look for clear skies tonight with light winds from the northwest behind a weak cool front. It will be cooler with lows around 60° at sunrise. It will be a little warmer near the Bays and on the immediate coast.
Wednesday looks unseasonably warm as well, with a light west wind, but the humidity will be low. Afternoon high temps will reach 85° inland and on the coast with the westerly wind flow keeping marine air away from the coast. There will be a weak sea breeze in the afternoon along the coast and temps. will drop to about 76 degrees on the beaches.
Thursday looks warm, with higher humidity ahead of a rather strong cold front. Winds will increase from the SW to 10-14 mph then turn to the NW in the late afternoon/evening. Look for showers as the front passes in the early afternoon hours, and some may be heavy. Afternoon high temps will reach 84-86° with drier and cooler air arriving in the evening.
In the long range, a cold front will move through Thursday with showers and much cooler weather by evening. Temperatures will drop to the low 50's by sunrise Friday, as a drier and cooler Canadian airmass moves into the region.
Friday will be clear and cool with temps. only near 68-70°, and temps. will drop into the mid 40's Friday night. Saturday will be mild with temps. near 73 and it will warm to around 79-80° on Sunday with dry air and sunshine. Some showers with another cold front will arrive Monday with afternoon temps. around 77 degrees.
The average high for today is 78 degrees with an average low of 59 degrees.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A woman was arrested in South Korea on Thursday on two murder charges from New Zealand, where the bodies of two long-dead children were found last month in abandoned suitcases, authorities said.
Authorities didn’t immediately say if the 42-year-old suspect was the dead children’s mother. New Zealand police had earlier told their South Korean counterparts that the mother might be living in South Korea.
South Korean police detained the woman in the southeastern port city of Ulsan, based on a South Korean court warrant issued after New Zealand requested her provisional arrest as part of an extradition process, according to South Korea’s National Police Agency and Justice Ministry.
The unidentified woman covered her face with the hood of her coat as officers escorted her outside an Ulsan police station and put her in a car headed for the capital, Seoul, where she was expected to be questioned by prosecutors.
New Zealand authorities must submit the formal request for her extradition to the South Korean Justice Ministry within 45 days. The ministry will then decide whether to proceed with an extradition review at the Seoul High Court to rule whether she would be sent to New Zealand.
New Zealand police said the South Korean warrant was in connection with two charges of murder, and they have asked South Korean authorities to keep the woman in jail until she is extradited.
“To have someone in custody overseas within such a short period of time has all been down to the assistance of the Korean authorities and the coordination by our New Zealand Police Interpol staff,” Detective Inspector Tofilau Fa’amanuia Vaaelua said in a statement.
He said the investigation had been “very challenging” and that inquiries were continuing both in New Zealand and abroad.
Vaaelua said police weren’t going to comment further as the matter was now before the courts. Authorities in New Zealand typically don’t comment on pending court cases in order to avoid the possibility of influencing the outcome.
The children’s bodies were discovered last month after a New Zealand family bought abandoned goods, including two suitcases, from a storage unit in Auckland in an online auction. Police said the New Zealand family had nothing to do with the deaths.
The children were between 5 and 10 years old, had been dead for a number of years, and the suitcases had been in storage for at least three or four years, according to police.
South Korean police say the woman was born in South Korea and later moved to New Zealand, where she gained citizenship. She returned to South Korea in 2018, according to immigration records.
South Korean police say it was suspected she could be the mother of the two victims, as her past address in New Zealand was registered to the storage unit where the suitcases were kept for years.
____
Perry reported from Wellington, New Zealand.
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| 2022-09-20T21:09:39Z
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IZIUM, Ukraine (AP) — Hand on heart, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy watched his country’s flag rise Wednesday above the recaptured city of Izium, making a rare foray outside the capital that highlights Moscow’s embarrassing retreat from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Russian forces left the war-scarred city last week as Kyiv’s soldiers pressed a stunning advance that has reclaimed large swaths of territory in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region.
As Zelenskyy looked on and sang the national anthem, the Ukrainian flag was raised in front of the burned-out city hall. After almost six months under Russian occupation, Izium was left largely devastated, with apartment buildings blackened by fire and pockmarked by artillery strikes.
A gaping hole and piles of rubble stood where one building had collapsed.
“The view is very shocking, but it is not shocking for me,” Zelenskyy told journalists, “because we began to see the same pictures from Bucha, from the first de-occupied territories … the same destroyed buildings, killed people.”
Bucha is a small city on Kyiv’s outskirts from which Russian troops withdrew in March. In the aftermath, Ukrainian authorities discovered the bodies of hundreds of civilians dumped in streets, yards and mass graves. Many bore signs of torture.
Prosecutors said they so far have found six bodies with traces of torture in recently retaken Kharkiv region villages. The head of the Kharkiv prosecutor’s office, Oleksandr Filchakov, said bodies were found in Hrakove and Zaliznyche, villages around 60 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of Kharkiv city.
“We have a terrible picture of what the occupiers did. … Such cities as Balakliia, Izium, are standing in the same row as Bucha, Borodyanka, Irpin,” said Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, listing places where the Ukrainians have alleged Russian forces committed atrocities.
Local authorities have made similar claims in other areas Russia previously held, but it was not immediately possible to verify their information. They have not yet provided evidence of potential atrocities on the scale described in Bucha, where the number and conditions of civilian casualties prompted international demands to press war crimes charges against Russian officials.
As he was returning from the front early Thursday, a passenger car collided with Zelenskyy’s vehicle in a motorcade in Kyiv, but he wasn’t seriously hurt, his spokesman said on Facebook. Spokesman Sergii Nikiforov said the driver of the other vehicle received first aid from Zelenskyy’s medical team and was taken by ambulance. Medics examined the president, who suffered no serious injuries in the accident, Nikiforov wrote. He did not specify what injuries Zelenskyy, 44, might have suffered.
Moscow’s recent rout in northeastern Ukraine was its largest military defeat since Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv area months ago. On the northern outskirts of Izium, the remains of Russian tanks and vehicles lay shattered along a road.
As Zelenskyy visited, his forces pressed their counteroffensive, de-mined retaken ground and investigated possible war crimes. He said that “life comes back” as Ukrainian soldiers return to previously occupied villages.
The Ukrainian governor of the eastern Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said Ukrainian soldiers were preparing to retake the area, which borders the Kharkiv region and was has been mostly under Russian control since July. Intense shelling of Ukrainian forces continued, he said.
Haidai told The Associated Press that Ukrainian troops were flying Ukrainian flags in the cities of Svatove and Starobilsk.
But in Kreminna, another city where Ukrainians raised their flag, Russians returned Wednesday and “tore down the (Ukrainian) flags and are demonstrably showing that they’re there,” Haidai said.
A Russia-allied separatist military leader confirmed the Ukrainian advance on the Luhansk region. Andrei Marochko, a local militia officer, said on Russian TV that the situation was “really difficult.”
“In some places, the contact line has come very close to the borders of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” Marochko said, referring to the independent state the separatists declared eight years ago.
The counteroffensive has left more weapons in Ukrainian hands.
Russian forces likely left behind dozens of tanks, armored personnel carriers and other heavy weaponry as they fled Ukraine’s advance in the east, a Ukrainian think tank said Wednesday. The Center for Defense Strategies said one Russian unit fleeing the Izium area left behind more than three dozen T-80 tanks and about as many infantry fighting vehicles. Another unit left 47 tanks and 27 armored vehicles, it said.
The center said Russian forces tried to destroy some of the abandoned vehicles through artillery strikes as they fell back. Typically, armed forces ruin equipment left behind so their opponent can’t use it. However, the chaos of the Russian withdrawal apparently forced them to abandon untouched ammunition and weapons.
With the recent Ukrainian gains, a new front line has emerged along the Oskil River, which largely traces the Kharkiv region’s eastern edge, a Washington-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said Wednesday.
“Russian troops are unlikely to be strong enough to prevent further Ukrainian advances along the entire Oskil River because they do not appear to be receiving reinforcements, and Ukrainian troops will likely be able to exploit this weakness to resume the counteroffensive across the Oskil if they choose,” the institute said.
In other areas, Russia continued its attacks, causing more casualties in a war that has dragged on for nearly seven months.
Two people were killed and three wounded after Russia attacked Mykolaiv with S-300 missiles overnight, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said.
The Nikopol area, across a river from the shutdown Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, was shelled three times during the night, with no injuries immediately reported, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said.
Fighting also raged in the eastern Donetsk region, where shelling killed five civilians and wounded 16. Together, Luhansk and Donetsk make up the Donbas, an industrial area that Moscow set out to capture following an unsuccessful attempt to invade Kyiv.
Russian troops are targeting critical infrastructure. Eight cruise missiles aimed at water equipment hit Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, a city on the Inhulets River 150 kms (93 miles) southwest of Dnipro, the deputy head of the president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, reported on his Telegram channel. Zelenskyy said the strikes appeared to be an attempt to flood the city and that a dam on a reservoir was hit. Video posted online showed elevated water levels on the Inhulets and flooded city streets, and evacuations of residents were suggested.
U.S. President Joe Biden observed Wednesday that Ukrainian forces have made “significant progress” in recent days but added, “I think it’s going to be a long haul.”
While criticism of the invasion seems to be increasing in Russia, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, “Unfortunately, I cannot tell you that the realization has grown over there by now that this was a mistake to start this war.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that he had spoken with Putin about exporting Russian fertilizer through Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to address a famine threat. The U.N. chief said at a news conference in New York that high prices for fertilizer have reduced the planting of crops, making it critical to increase Russian exports of ammonia — a key fertilizer ingredient — by shipping it through Black Sea ports now used to transport grain from Ukraine.
Western military and economic support has allowed Ukraine to keep fighting since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, and the Ukrainian government received more assistance Wednesday.
An international group of creditors, including the U.S., finalized a deal to suspend Ukraine’s debt service through the end of 2023, helping the country ease liquidity pressures and increase social, health and economic spending.
___
Arhirova reported from Kyiv. Associated Press journalist Jon Gambrell in Kyiv contributed.
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Follow AP war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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| 2022-09-20T21:09:46Z
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WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) – An armed man in a rainbow wig claimed he was trying to “restore Trump as president” when he was arrested at a Dairy Queen in Pennsylvania last week.
Police were alerted to reports of a motorist driving erratically in Westmoreland County on the afternoon of Sept. 10, according to a Delmont Borough police report. While officers were looking for the driver’s Jeep, they were informed that he had pulled into the parking lot of a Dairy Queen, and entered the business wearing a bright yellow vest, a rainbow wig and carrying a handgun.
Police made contact with the suspect, later identified as 61-year-old Jan Stawovy of Hunker, Pennsylvania. According to an affidavit, Stawovy first claimed he was working “undercover with Pennsylvania State Police working on a major drug sting.”
Police also noted that Stawovy was shouting and yelling profanities.
Police said Stawovy then claimed he “talked to God” and was a “prophet” and would “kill all the Democrats because Trump was still president.”
He said he was working to “restore Trump to president of the United States,” according to court papers.
Stawovy reportedly told police he knew the Dairy Queen workers and they would “vouch” for him. The manager told police that Stawovy was in the store earlier that same day, when he placed $120 on the counter as a tip for “non-Democrats.” They told police they did not know who he was.
One of the responding officers noted that the man was suffering a “mental health crisis.” He was taken into custody and transported to a hospital.
A search of his car turned up two more loaded handguns — a 9mm and .22 caliber — along with 62 rounds of ammunition. Police noted that Stawovy didn’t have a concealed carry permit.
Stawovy is currently facing multiple felony charges.
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| 2022-09-20T21:09:53Z
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NEW YORK (WPIX) — Police have charged a Brooklyn mother with murder days after her three children drowned, NYPD officials said.
Officers took Erin Merdy, 30, into custody on Monday. The deaths of a 7-year-old, 4-year-old, and 3-month-old were deemed homicides on Tuesday.
Merdy has been charged with three counts each of murder, murder – depraved indifference to human life, and second-degree murder of a child less than 11 years old for allegedly drowning her children, police said Wednesday.
The NYPD launched a search for the kids around 1:40 a.m. on Monday after a relative called 911. The relative was worried the children’s mother intended to harm the kids.
About 90 minutes later, police found the mother, barefoot and soaking wet, officials said. She was about two miles down the boardwalk from where she lived.
Officials found the children around 4:30 a.m., police said. They were taken to a hospital where they were pronounced deceased.
A family friend tells Nexstar’s WPIX that the father of the 7-year-old boy had been fighting for full custody of his son.
If you or someone you know are struggling with mental health, click here for more resources or visit Lifeearlylearning.org.
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| 2022-09-20T21:10:07Z
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OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Oklahoma City residents were on edge after a big, bad wolf was sighted Tuesday. OK, big and bad may be a tall tale.
“The dog was very timid and was not able to be caught,” said Bruce Stone, city manager for The Village, which is part of the Oklahoma City metro area.
The animal was reported wandering across the metro Tuesday morning.
The Oklahoma City Police tweeted that they were “just responding to a bunch of folks crying wolf” as they tried to get “the pup safely home.”
The animal — a female — didn’t look like she would huff and puff or blow your house down, like the wolf of “Little Red Riding Hood” fame. Stone told KFOR she didn’t make a sound.
“The dog was just sitting there quietly,” said Stone. “[It] just kind of seemed like it was lost and needed help.”
The animal had a collar, so officials knew someone owned her and were probably looking for their pet.
The animal is a hybrid: “85% wolf & 15% Alaskan Malamute pet,” according to the Oklahoma City Police. And she calmly accepted rescue from police, who called her a “cordial canine.”
“Obviously, it is a little unusual that it is a mixed breed,” said Stone.
While it is against the law in The Village to harbor a wolf, there is no mention of mixed breeds.
“I don’t think the public has anything to be concerned about,” said Stone. “Just another loose animal that needs to be captured and taken back to the owner.”
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| 2022-09-20T21:10:14Z
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(The Hill) — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has scheduled a joint meeting to discuss pharmaceutical company Perrigo’s application for what could be the first over-the-counter (OTC) daily birth control pill available in the U.S., the company announced Monday.
The joint meeting will be held on Nov. 18 with the FDA’s Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee and the Obstetrics, Reproductive, and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee, according to Perrigo.
If approved by the FDA, Perrigo’s progestin-only daily pill would be the first non-prescription birth control pill available in the U.S. Perrigo filed its application to move its birth control pill from prescription to OTC in July.
The FDA declined to provide further comment on the meeting when reached by The Hill.
Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), a U.S. healthcare trade association, welcomed news of the FDA’s scheduled meeting.
“Pathways like Rx-to-OTC switch are instrumental in carrying out that mission on behalf of our member companies and American consumers,” said CHPA’s CEO Scott Melville. “We are pleased to see FDA evaluating broadened access to oral contraception and we look forward to sharing industry perspectives at this joint Committee meeting in November.”
Many countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa already allow for OTC birth control pills to be sold.
Perrigo filed its application just weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leading to several states in the U.S. enacting total or near-total abortion bans. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion sparked concerns that protected access to contraceptives could also be overturned.
The House in July passed the Right to Contraception Act, with eight Republicans joining Democrats in voting yes. The bill would codify access to contraception — including oral birth control, condoms and intrauterine devices — on the federal level.
Senate Democrats Ed Markey (Mass.), Patty Murray (Wash.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) and Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) sought unanimous consent to quickly pass the bill in July, but were blocked by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa), though she herself has expressed support for expanded birth control access. Ernst argued that the bill went beyond just guaranteeing access to contraception.
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| 2022-09-20T21:10:20Z
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The tragic truth of suicides among college students is that family or friends often don’t understand how much their loved one is hurting.
“(Henry) was the person who’s always looking after everyone. … He was always made sure everyone was OK,” said Christophe Armero, whose son, Henry Armero, died while a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University. “Sometimes I wonder whether these people just want others to do for them what they do for others.”
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students, who often face financial, social and academic pressure that can lead to feelings of overwhelm and shame. Suicide is always a result of multiple, complicated factors that can be hard to disentangle.
“When you add in perhaps a mental health condition, add in access to lethal means, impulsivity, you could see suicide,” said Steve Moore, who has been an active suicide prevention advocate since his 19-year-old son Paul died by suicide in 2006. “These are all things that could be the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.”
Yet there are concrete steps colleges, teachers and fellow students can take to reduce the risk. After Henry Armero’s death, students began to talk more openly about stress and mental illness, resulting in the university publishing an investigative report. And while the pandemic has exacerbated mental illness symptoms, experts say, people are also more open to being honest about it.
Eliminating opportunity
Research shows that there is often just 5 to 10 minutes between a person deciding and then attempting to die by suicide. Data shows when schools reduce access to lethal means, those precious extra minutes can give someone the time needed to reconsider.
For example, Carnell University made bridges inaccessible after three students died within a month in 2010. Still, university advisors and Ithaca city officials said it was one step of a comprehensive mental health plan.
“One of the phrases we use: Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem,” Moore said, who is also a member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s national Public Policy Council. “If there’s no firearm laying around, or if it takes (the student) 10 minutes to get the firearm, get the ammunition … they can change their mind during that 10 minutes.”
Other efforts include installing signs and telephones near these areas to encourage someone considering suicide to reach out for help, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Culture change
When working to prevent suicide on campus, you can’t just look at the individual, says Beth Morrison, Director of Wellness and Health Promotion Services at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
“We have to look at their environment,” she said. “And are these policies fair for students? Are they contributing to their mental health positively or negatively? And what can we put into place that will help these students be successful?”
At SIU Carbondale, they train resident assistants, professors, coaches and academic counselors in mental health first aid, a quick approach to keep one safe until they can access professional help.
One national study of a program implementing this “gatekeeper” training found it may have prevented more than 79,000 suicide attempts among 16- to 23-year-olds between 2007 and 2010.
These efforts are particularly effective when students are trained to recognize risk factors. A study of a similar program in 18 American high schools found students were more likely to refer a suicidal friend to an adult.
The school has also created sensory calming rooms for students to decompress, as well as freshman orientation events targeted specifically toward suicide awareness. They’ve also made counseling affordable; it tends to cost about $10 a session, Morrison said.
A plan for what happens next
When a young person on campus dies, it’s essential that campus workers take action, experts say. This includes accidental or overdose deaths — but is especially important when a person dies by suicide.
“The dynamic is, all this pain that the person who killed themselves (had), the suffering essentially gets dumped on their loved ones,” said Armero, who runs a support group for survivors of suicide with his wife. “And so all that pain becomes grief.”
A plan needs to be made in advance to reduce the risk of copycats, according to the Higher Education Mental Health Alliance. That includes a team that understands best practices in communicating what happened and resources available to the student body, over social media and to the family.
But it also requires empowering all people within a campus to understand what they can do to prevent a tragedy — whether that’s therapists offering grief groups to classmates and staff, or a student checking in on their friends.
“Don’t be afraid of asking someone if they are thinking of hurting themselves,” Armero said. “If you’ve been thinking about (suicide) in your head and somebody asks you … the act of actually having to say it out loud transforms (the words) for them.”
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| 2022-09-20T21:10:34Z
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NEW YORK (NewsNation) — Skyrocketing tuition and crippling student loan debt have millions of parents and students wondering whether college is even worth it anymore as companies reconsider hiring requirements.
Major companies like Google, Tesla, and IBM have dropped the requirement for college degrees as college enrollment continues to drop.
According to a recent study from Harvard Business Review and Emsi Burning Glass, a leading labor market data company, companies are dropping the requirements for many middle-skill and even higher-skill roles. More than 51 million jobs posted between 2017 and 2020 were analyzed for the study.
This move by companies reverses the so-called “degree inflation” trend that picked up steam after the Great Recession in which many employers began adding degree requirements to job descriptions that hadn’t previously needed them — even though the actual jobs hadn’t changed.
In place of four-year-degree requirements, many companies are instead focusing on skills-based hiring to widen the talent pool.
Nationwide, enrollment at higher education institutions continues to decline, but the number of prospective student applications is surging at many colleges.
“Seventy percent of high school graduates at peak, about 2017, went straight to college. Now, we’re about down to 63%, and the decline is even sharper in many states,” said Jon Marcus, a senior editor at Hechinger Report, a nonprofit publication covering inequality and innovation in education.
From 2010 to 2020, annual enrollment at postsecondary institutions has fallen more than 14% nationally, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In real terms, that’s 4 million fewer students compared to 10 years ago.
Marcus said the greatest decline is in the Northeast and Midwest, where birth rates are flat — meaning fewer students are coming out of high school. But the biggest reason why admission numbers are declining is the soaring tuition cost.
“It’s not a secret that for decades the cost of college has been increasing and people have struggled to pay,” Marcus said. “They’ve often borrowed to pay it, which has resulted in the student loan crisis which we’ve been hearing quite a lot about.”
Today, more than 40 million Americans have college debt.
Meghan McGrody is a first-year student at Boston University and an aspiring attorney who will undergo four years of undergrad and three years of law school, costing her family into the six figures.
“I applied for financial aid. B.U. is 100% need-based, so that helped, too,” McGrody said.
Many universities are taking notice and launching programs to lure kids to college. Princeton University announced it would cover the college costs for those whose families make less than $100,000 annually.
About 83% of Princeton’s recent graduating seniors are debt-free, according to the university. They also note that 62% of its undergraduate students already receive some financial aid.
So, what’s the return on investment for everyone else paying sky-high prices? It depends on the student’s major.
We’re seeing a big decline in the number of people enrolling in majors with the lowest ROI, so humanities, history, English,” said Michael Hicks, a professor at Ball State University.
On average, college graduates make 67% more than non-college graduates. But, of course, some professions require a degree.
“This is a very vast and wide world. I mean we need someone for everything — like there needs to be someone with a college degree to be a doctor,” said Anna Tillisch, a college sophomore.
So, if you don’t want to be a doctor or lawyer, do you need a degree?
“In a knowledge economy like ours, based largely on things like tech, you need some people to continue to go to college. You don’t need everybody to go to college,” Marcus said.
As college tuition continues to rise, about 45% of incoming freshmen are expected to graduate in four years, but six years has become more common.
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| 2022-09-20T21:10:37Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — More than 5,500 minor league baseball players formed a union on Wednesday, completing a lightning-fast organization campaign that launched just 17 days earlier in an effort to boost annual salaries as low as $10,400.
Martin Scheinman, the sport’s independent arbitrator, notified Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association that a majority of the 5,567 players in the minor league bargaining unit had signed union authorization cards since the drive started Aug. 28. He did not provide the sides a specific number.
“This historic achievement required the right group of players at the right moment to succeed,” union head Tony Clark said in a statement. “Minor leaguers have courageously seized that moment, and we look forward to improving their terms and conditions of employment through the process of good faith collective bargaining.”
MLB had agreed Saturday that it would voluntarily accept a union if there was majority support and would not force players to petition the National Labor Relations Board to hold a representation election.
“Major League Baseball has a long history of bargaining in good faith with unions, including those representing minor and major league umpires, and major league players,” the league said in a statement. “Based on the authorization cards gathered, MLB has voluntarily and promptly recognized the MLBPA as the representatives of minor league players. We are hopeful that a timely and fair collective bargaining agreement will be reached.”
Minor leaguers form a separate bargaining unit within the MLBPA, which negotiated its first collective bargaining agreement for big leaguers in 1968 but had until now been uninterested in representing players with minor league deals. Approximately 1,200 major leaguers are covered by the big league agreement, and their average salary has risen from $19,000 in 1967 to more than $4 million this year.
Minor leaguers are expected to choose player representatives who will lead them in bargaining during the offseason. Bruce Meyer, who headed negotiations last winter for a major league agreement, will lead the minor league negotiations, and Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem will be the point man for management. Meyer was promoted to deputy executive director in July.
Harry Marino, who has served as head of Advocates for Minor Leaguers since April 2021, was hired as an MLBPA assistant general counsel.
“For decades, conventional wisdom said it was impossible to unionize the minor leagues,” Marino said in a statement. “Over the past few years, a group of audacious and committed folks came together to prove that wrong.”
MLB raised weekly minimum salaries for minor leaguers in 2021 to $400 at rookie and short-season levels, $500 at Class A, $600 at Double-A and $700 at Triple-A. For players with major league contracts on option to the minors, the minimum is $57,200 per season for a first big league contract and $114,100 for later big league contracts.
In addition, MLB this year began requiring teams to provide housing for most minor leaguers.
“In a multibillion-dollar industry, there is no excuse to pay these players below the poverty line,“ AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement. “By joining together to use their collective voice at the bargaining table, the minor leaguers will be able to advocate for a union contract that will ensure a future with the good pay and benefits they deserve.”
Many amateurs receive large initial signing bonuses: 67 of the top 68 draft picks this year agreed to $1 million or more, and the top 97 picks who signed got more than $690,000 each.
The MLBPA also governs agents for major leaguers, requiring certification and establishing regulations that include prohibitions on payments, gifts and loans to clients. Agents negotiating minor league contracts have been unregulated.
MLB and the big league union have had a contentious relationship that led to nine work stoppages, including a 99-day lockout last winter that delayed the start of this season.
Minor league union dues are likely to be a fraction of big league dues: $85 per day this year over the 182-day season. The union does not represent players in the Dominican Summer League.
Next year’s minor league schedule opens March 31 at Triple-A and April 6 at lower levels, when the minor leaguers’ leverage may be greatest. A strike could lead each team to keep its dozen or so optioned players at training complexes playing makeshift games.
The big league union has represented optioned players since 1981.
MLB and lawyers for minor leaguers agreed this year to a $185 million settlement of an eight-year-old federal lawsuit alleging violations of minimum wage laws, a deal that may be finalized next year. An early estimate is that perhaps 23,000 players could share roughly $120 million with an average payment of $5,000 to $5,500, and their lawyers will split $55.5 million.
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| 2022-09-20T21:10:45Z
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(NewsNation) — There’s a new development in a missing case that dates back more than 50 years.
A Texas toddler, named Melissa Highsmith, is believed to have been kidnapped by her babysitter in 1971. Now, someone claims to have seen her in Charleston, South Carolina, 1,000 miles from where she was taken.
The anonymous tipster said that a person resembles the age-progression photo released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Melissa’s brother, Jeff Highsmith, told NewsNation he first heard about the development on Facebook.
“We believe she’s still alive. And obviously, somebody else does too in South Carolina,” Jeff said during a Tuesday appearance on “NewsNation Prime.”
Jeff and his wife Rachel have been actively searching for Melissa via podcasts and TV interviews. They’re hopeful that people will continue to share any coverage relating to her.
On Aug. 23, 1971, Melissa was just 21 months old when she was abducted by someone claiming to be a babysitter, according to NCEC. Melissa’s mother, who was recently separated, had placed an ad in a newspaper in Fort Worth, Texas, looking for someone to care for her child.
Someone picked up the toddler, who was in the care of her mother’s roommate at the time. The roommate said the woman who picked up Melissa “seemed nice” and was “dressed to impress, wearing white gloves.”
“It’s always been what I feel my life’s goal, to find my siste r… We want to bring Melissa home to my parents before they take their last breath. And I really believe we’re going to. I really believe that God’s gonna open the door and we’re gonna find her soon,” Jeff said.
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| 2022-09-20T21:10:52Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell said Tuesday that federal agents seized his cellphone and questioned him about a Colorado clerk who has been charged in what prosecutors say was a “deceptive scheme” to breach voting system technology used across the country.
Lindell was approached in the drive-thru of a Hardee’s fast-food restaurant in Mankato, Minnesota, by several FBI agents, he said on his podcast, “The Lindell Report.” The agents questioned him about Dominion Voting Systems, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and his connection to Doug Frank, an Ohio educator who claims voting machines have been manipulated, he said.
The agents then told Lindell they had a warrant to seize his cellphone and ordered him to turn it over, he said. On a video version of his podcast, Lindell displayed a letter signed by an assistant U.S. attorney in Colorado that said prosecutors were conducting an “official criminal investigation of a suspected felony” and noted the use of a federal grand jury.
The circumstances of the investigation were unclear. The Justice Department did not immediately respond Tuesday night to a request for comment about the seizure or investigation.
“Without commenting on this specific matter, I can confirm that the FBI was at that location executing a search warrant authorized by a federal judge,” FBI spokeswoman Vikki Migoya said in an email.
Federal prosecutors have been conducting a parallel investigation alongside local prosecutors in Colorado who have charged Peters with several offenses, including attempting to influence a public servant, criminal impersonation and official misconduct. The Republican was elected in 2018 to oversee elections in Colorado’s Mesa County. A deputy clerk, Belinda Knisley, was also charged in the case, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years of probation.
For more than a year, Peters has appeared onstage with supporters of former President Donald Trump who made false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The charges against Peters and Knisley allege the two were involved in a “deceptive scheme which was designed to influence public servants, breach security protocols, exceed permissible access to voting equipment, and set in motion the eventual distribution of confidential information to unauthorized people.”
State election officials first became aware of a security breach in Mesa County in 2021 when a photo and video of confidential voting system passwords were posted on social media and a conservative website. Because each Colorado county has unique passwords maintained by the state, officials identified them as belonging to Mesa County, a largely rural area on the border with Utah.
Peters appeared onstage in August 2021 at a “cybersymposium” hosted by Lindell, who has sought to prove that voting machines have been manipulated and promised to reveal proof of that during the event.
While no evidence was provided, a copy of Mesa County’s voting system hard drive was distributed and posted online, according to attendees and state officials.
The copy included proprietary software developed by Dominion Voting Systems that is used by election offices around the country. Experts have described the unauthorized release as serious, saying it provided a potential “practice environment” that would allow anyone to probe for vulnerabilities that could be exploited during a future election.
Nearly two years after the 2020 election, no evidence has emerged to suggest widespread fraud or manipulation, while reviews in state after state have upheld the results showing President Joe Biden won.
The Mesa County breach is just one of several around the country that have concerned election security experts. Authorities are investigating whether unauthorized people were allowed to access voting systems in Georgia and Michigan.
Lindell said the federal agents had also questioned him about when he first met Frank, an Ohio math and science educator, who is among a group of people who have been traveling across the U.S. meeting with community groups claiming to have evidence that voting machines were rigged in the 2020 election.
In court records, prosecutors say Frank met with Peters and members of her staff in April 2021 in her office. During the meeting, Frank told Peters that the county’s election management system was vulnerable to outside interference and the group discussed concerns the state was going to “wipe” the machines, according to the court records.
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:00Z
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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.
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:08Z
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HART COUNTY, Ga. (WSPA) – Recovery crews have been unable to retrieve the body of the pilot who crashed into a lake in Georgia on Saturday, despite knowing exactly where the plane is located.
“We have exhausted all of our local resources within the area,” said Capt. Chris Carroll of the Hart County Sheriff’s Office.
The pilot and the plane, a Beech BEFF aircraft, were “on an IFR flight plan,” according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), meaning the pilot was operating the small plane under instrument flight rules — commonly used when conditions are less than ideal for operating a plane using visual cues.
The plane had departed from Punta Gorda, Florida, on Saturday morning before crashing into Lake Hartwell, on the border of Georgia and South Carolina.
Divers located the plane Saturday afternoon tangled in tree branches 120 feet underwater.
“It just so happened it’s in one of the deepest parts of the lake,” said Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland. “The plane is in the trees. I’ve been told the plane flipped over. The top is on the bottom. The doors to the plane are jammed so we’re not able to retrieve the body out of the plane.”
“Divers were able to go down and sent the ROV [remote-operated vehicle] back down,” added Carroll. “They were able to push the ROV into the rear window of the plane where it can be driven through the front to try to look around in the cockpit area. At that time was when we were able to determine there was a person in the plane.”
Cleveland said the NTSB has given the county permission to lift the plane so they can remove the pilot’s body.
Carroll said the sheriff’s office is considering bringing a crane or air bags to move the aircraft to a more accessible location.
“Once it’s lifted, we’ll have to move it to a shallow area to get the body out of it,” he said.
The NTSB told Nexstar’s WSPA that there is no time frame for the recovery of the aircraft. A spokesperson said the agency “is working with a salvage company and the insurance company on recovery efforts.”
Right now, the investigation is still in the “fact-gathering stage,” the NTSB said. A spokesperson said the typical investigation could take anywhere from 12-24 months to “complete and determine cause.”
A preliminary report will be released in the coming weeks.
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:15Z
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MEXICO CITY (AP) — A prehistoric human skeleton has been found in a cave system that was flooded at the end of the last ice age 8,000 years ago, according to a cave-diving archaeologist on Mexico’s Caribbean coast.
Archaeologist Octavio del Rio said he and fellow diver Peter Broger saw the shattered skull and skeleton partly covered by sediment in a cave near where the Mexican government plans to build a high-speed tourist train through the jungle.
Given the distance from the cave entrance, the skeleton couldn’t have gotten there without modern diving equipment, so it must be over 8,000 years old, Del Rio said, referring to the era when rising sea levels flooded the caves.
“There it is. We don’t know if the body was deposited there or if that was where this person died,” said Del Rio. He said that the skeleton was located about 8 meters (26 feet) underwater, about a half-kilometer (one third of a mile) into the cave system.
Some of the oldest human remains in North America have been discovered in the sinkhole caves known as “cenotes” on the country’s Caribbean coast, and experts say some of those caves are threatened by the Mexican government’s Maya Train tourism project.
Del Rio, who has worked with the National Institute of Anthropology and History on projects in the past, said he had notified the institute of the discovery. The institute did not immediately respond to questions about whether it intended to explore the site.
But Del Rio said Tuesday that institute archaeologist Carmen Rojas told him that the site was registered and would be investigated by the institute’s Quintana Roo state branch Holocene Archaeology Project.
He stressed that the cave — whose location he did not reveal because of a fear the site could be looted or disturbed — was near where the government has cut down a swath of jungle to lay train tracks, and could be collapsed, contaminated or closed off by the building project and subsequent development.
“There is a lot more study that has to be done in order to correctly interpret” the find, Del Rio said, noting that “dating, some kind of photographic studies and some collection” would be needed to determine exactly how old the skeleton is.
Del Rio has been exploring the region for three decades, and in 2002, he participated in the discovery and cataloguing of remains known as The Woman of Naharon, who died around the same time, or perhaps earlier, than Naia — the nearly complete skeleton of a young woman who died around 13,000 years ago. It was discovered in a nearby cave system in 2007.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is racing to finish his Maya Train project in the remaining two years of his term over the objections of environmentalists, cave divers and archaeologists. They say his haste will allow little time to study the ancient remains.
Activists say the heavy, high-speed rail project will fragment the coastal jungle and will run often above the fragile limestone caves, which — because they’re flooded, twisty and often incredibly narrow — can take decades to explore.
Caves along part of the coast already have been damaged by construction above them, with cement pilings used to support the weight above.
The 950-mile (1,500-kilometer) Maya Train line is meant to run in a rough loop around the Yucatan Peninsula, connecting beach resorts and archaeological sites.
The most controversial stretch cuts a more than 68-mile (110-kilometer) swath through the jungle between the resorts of Cancun and Tulum.
Del Rio said the route through the jungle should be abandoned and the train should be built over the already-impacted coastal highway between Cancun and Tulum, as was originally planned.
López Obrador abandoned the highway route after hotel owners voiced objections, and cost and traffic interruptions became a concern.
“What we want is for them to change to route at this spot, because of the archaeological finds that have been made there, and their importance,” said Del Rio. “They should take the train away from there and put it where they said they were going to build before, on the highway … an area that has already been affected, devastated.”
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:21Z
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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 queen will lie in state for four days until her funeral Monday, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to file past. Eight pallbearers carried the oak and lead-lined coffin into Westminster Hall, placing it on a raised platform known as a catafalque.
The military procession from Buckingham Palace was designed to underscore the queen’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.
Thousands who had waited 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 procession passed. Applause broke out as the coffin passed through Horse Guards Parade.
The coffin was draped in the Royal Standard and 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.
Thousands had queued up along the banks of the River Thames, waiting their turn to enter the hall and pay their respects.
The crowds are the latest manifestation of the nationwide outpouring of grief and respect for the only monarch most Britons have ever known after her 70 years on the throne.
Joan Bucklehurst, a 50-year-old retail worker from Cheshire in northwestern England, said the queen “meant so much for everybody.”
“She was amazing, yeah,” she added, choking up with emotion. “So, we had to be here. We’ve been here a few times when there have been special occasions, but this one, I couldn’t miss this.”
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 have been preparing since the queen died. So have the horses of the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery.
Sgt. Tom Jenks, from the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, 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, some 33,000 people filed in silent respect past her coffin as it lay for 24 hours at St. Giles’ Cathedral.
Hundreds of thousands are expected to visit the 900-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest building in Parliament, for four days before her state funeral on Monday.
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 lining up along the banks of the River Thames. 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.”
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:27Z
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Putin's speech today was pre-recorded and all kinds of rumors have been flying around regarding what he will say. It was supposed to come today but it's been pushed back now until 8 am Moscow time, according to reports.
All the schedule changes and buzz have certaintly added to the anticipation.
It's a pre-recorded speech, but so was the declaration of the 'special military operation' in Ukraine. There are denials out there of a further mobilization but whatever it is could be market moving so be aware and watch out for leaks beforehand.
Russia's stock market
Stock Market
A stock or equity market is defined as the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks, which reflect ownership claims on businesses.These may also include securities listed on a public stock exchange, as well as stock that is only traded privately. Common examples of this include shares of private companies that are sold to investors through equity crowdfunding platforms.Unlike the past, the stock market has grown to include a more mature retail market, though nearly all investment is still done through brokers and electronic trading platforms. What Makes Up the Global Stock Market?The stock market itself consists of a global network of stock exchanges, which most developed countries have access to. Presently there are over 60 such exchanges with a total market capitalization of over $70 trillion.The largest stock markets are the United States, Japan, and Great Britain, with numerous other exchanges worldwide following behind. Retail investors rely on the stock market for all their equity or share trading needs. This function has been assumed by online stock brokers, which have largely replaced the need for dealing with popularized trading floors for retail trading needs.A stock broker is an agent or intermediary between investors and the stock market. Stock brokers play an important role in online trading and have grown in scale and coverage in recent years.Stock brokers historically have charged for transactions and other services though crucially have shifted to commission-less transactions over the past few years after being disrupted by fintechs and other companies.
A stock or equity market is defined as the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks, which reflect ownership claims on businesses.These may also include securities listed on a public stock exchange, as well as stock that is only traded privately. Common examples of this include shares of private companies that are sold to investors through equity crowdfunding platforms.Unlike the past, the stock market has grown to include a more mature retail market, though nearly all investment is still done through brokers and electronic trading platforms. What Makes Up the Global Stock Market?The stock market itself consists of a global network of stock exchanges, which most developed countries have access to. Presently there are over 60 such exchanges with a total market capitalization of over $70 trillion.The largest stock markets are the United States, Japan, and Great Britain, with numerous other exchanges worldwide following behind. Retail investors rely on the stock market for all their equity or share trading needs. This function has been assumed by online stock brokers, which have largely replaced the need for dealing with popularized trading floors for retail trading needs.A stock broker is an agent or intermediary between investors and the stock market. Stock brokers play an important role in online trading and have grown in scale and coverage in recent years.Stock brokers historically have charged for transactions and other services though crucially have shifted to commission-less transactions over the past few years after being disrupted by fintechs and other companies.
Read this Term today certainly didn't behave as though it was good news as it fell the most since the fighting started.
MOEX daily
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:34Z
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(The Hill) – Nearly 5,000 railway workers at the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) voted to reject a tentative contract agreement with railroads and authorize a strike, the union said Wednesday.
IAM members are the first to approve a strike and reject a contract based on recommendations released by a White House-appointed board last month.
The vote reveals that rail workers are not satisfied with the agreement, which calls for 24 percent raises and back pay but doesn’t address workers’ demands for more predictable scheduling and the ability to take time off for doctors’ appointments without being penalized.
IAM said that it would delay strike action until Sept. 29 at noon to allow union leaders to continue negotiations with railroads.
“We look forward to continuing that vital work with a fair contract that ensures our members and their families are treated with the respect they deserve for keeping America’s goods and resources moving through the pandemic,” IAM said in a statement.
More than 115,000 rail workers are legally allowed to strike as of Friday, a move that would shut down the transport of food, fuel and other goods, likely damaging the nation’s strained supply chains and driving up prices.
Lawmakers are preparing to use their authority to block a walkout. GOP senators are backing a bill that would enact a new contract based on the presidential board’s recommendations — the option railroads and other business interests are lobbying for — while Democratic leaders say they will intervene if necessary.
The White House, meanwhile, is discussing contingency plans to assure that key goods still make it to their destinations if railroads shut down.
“We are working with other modes of transportation, including shippers and truckers, air freight, to see how they can step in and keep goods moving in case of this rail shutdown,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday.
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:35Z
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(NEXSTAR) – A messaging app used by teachers and parents in school systems across the country said Wednesday that an explicit image sent to parents late Tuesday was part of a “coordinated attack.”
Teachers from Illinois, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, New York, South Dakota, Michigan and other states said the image was circulating at their schools, according to Motherboard.
NBC News said a screengrab from a Florida parent showed the image, which it said was a meme “infamous on the internet” that showed a man “engaged in an explicit act.”
The San Francisco-based company said in a news release that the platform itself was not hacked and that they suspect someone used compromised email-password combinations to log into Seesaw accounts.
“We have no evidence to suggest this attacker performed additional actions or accessed data in Seesaw beyond logging in and sending a message from these compromised accounts.”
In a statement to Nexstar Wednesday, Seesaw said it continues to monitor the situation and has already notified impacted users. They did not, however, comment on how many users received the image.
On the company’s website, Seesaw says that it is used by “over 10 million teachers, students, and family members every month across more than 75% of schools in the U.S.”
Troy City School District in New York warned parents Wednesday of “unauthorized messages” that could contain inappropriate photos or links.
“Please do not read or click any links until Seesaw has resolved the issue,” the District said on Facebook. “We will send an update when we receive it.”
Seesaw blamed a “credential stuffing” attack, which involves bad actors using stolen login credentials to attempt to log in to an unrelated system.
Seesaw temporarily disabled the messaging feature and adjusted its detection and blocking rules to prevent future attacks. The app is urging all users to create unique passwords that aren’t used in other services.
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:42Z
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US equities touched a two-month low early on but recovered from the worst levels of the day to finish above the lows from Friday and Monday. That's little comfort ahead of a pivotal Fed decision and with bonds slumping.
- S&P 500 -44 points, or 1.1%, to 3855
- Nasdaq -0.9%
- Russell 2000 -1.4%
- DJIA -1.0%
- Toronto TSX Comp -0.9%
The good news is that the best days of the year to own stocks are Fed decision days. Psychologically, people fear the worst and if there's any silver of good news, it leads to some relief. The sun will come up on Thursday, no matter what Powell says tomorrow.
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:47Z
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(The Hill) – People on Social Security could see a huge spike in their checks from a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that is itself a result of inflation.
In a letter sent on Tuesday, Senior Citizen League policy analyst Mary Johnson said recipients could see an 8.7 percent COLA spike next year.
That’s a huge increase reflective of the high inflation people are experiencing across the country, though at the same time it is actually a smaller COLA than the SCL projected just a month ago. At the time, Johnson was forecasting a 9.6 percent hike.
“After evaluating the August consumer price data, what I’m finding clearly illustrates the weakness in our inflation adjustment system for Social Security. My COLA estimate has dropped to 8.7% almost a full percentage point from the 9.6% that I forecast last month, Johnson wrote in her letter.
“That was a significant drop, but the Consumer Price Index, CPI-W (CPI-W), the index that Social Security benefits are based on, has decreased even —by 1.10 percentage point year over year to 8.7%,” the letter stated.
The 8.7 percent COLA would increase the average retiree’s benefit from the $1,656 they receive monthly to $1,800 by next year, an increase of $144.10.
This is also the highest COLA increase since 1982 when the Social Security Administration (SSA) estimated a 7.4 percent increase in the cost-of-living adjustment.
That might not translate into much more money for people living on their Social Security checks, however, given rising costs for goods and healthcare expenses.
“Across the board, retired and disabled Social Security recipients spend a bigger portion of their incomes on healthcare costs, housing, and food and less on gasoline,” Johnson said. “Over the past 12 months, they rank food costs as their fastest growing expenditure, housing, and transportation in that order.”
The Labor Department on Tuesday announced that consumer prices rose in August by 0.1 percent despite a drop in gas prices, news that triggered a steep stock selloff by aggravating concerns that inflation is not easing.
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:50Z
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(KTLA) – Officials are asking for the public’s help identifying a man with distinctive tattoos who has been hospitalized for three days at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center.
The man has “LGS” tattooed on his right eyebrow, “Fuente” on his right cheek, “SNR” or possibly “SUR” across his chest, “El Mike” on his right arm and “Robin” on his right hand.
He is described as being between 55 and 60 years old, 6 feet tall, and weighing 144 pounds, officials said.
The mystery patient has a slim build, gray hair, a beard, a mustache and a receding hairline. His eyes were described as being brown or hazel.
No further details about the man have been released.
Anyone with information about the patient is asked to contact Cristol Perez, a licensed clinical social worker at the hospital.
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| 2022-09-20T21:11:57Z
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(NEXSTAR) – Despite relief at the gas pump and what seemed to be a hopeful month of July, the latest data shows inflation is still a growing problem, especially in some U.S. metro areas.
Consumer prices rose 8.3% from a year earlier and 0.1% from July. But the jump in “core” prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, was especially worrisome. It outpaced expectations and ignited fear that the Federal Reserve will boost interest rates more aggressively and raise the risk of a recession.
Fueled by high rents, medical care and new cars, core prices leaped 6.3% for the year ending in August and 0.6% from July to August, the government said Tuesday. Furniture and sports gear, among many other items, also got costlier, suggesting that businesses are still raising prices in response to robust consumer demand.
The breadth of the price increases dashed hopes, at least for now, that core inflation would moderate. Economists tend to track core prices for a clearer read on where inflation is headed.
When it comes to the hardest-hit U.S. metros, the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area recorded a nation-leading 13% increase over Aug., 2021 numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim saw a percent change of 0.1% since July 2022, while New York-Newark-Jersey City saw a 0.2% change. Other regions are on a different pricing schedule, according to BLS, and do not have July data.
Inflation has reached a height many Americans have never seen before. On Tuesday, stocks plunged for the worst day of losses this year following the release of BLS’s latest consumer price index.
In light of rising inflation, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce another 0.75% point increase to interest rates when its monetary policy committee meets again next week. This would mark the third such increase in a row.
Also on Tuesday, President Biden held a White House celebration to mark the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act. He called it the “single most important legislation passed in the Congress to combat inflation.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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| 2022-09-20T21:12:13Z
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(NewsNation) —An American teacher behind bars in Russia has broken her silence.
In a letter from a Russian prison, 46-year-old Sarah Krivanek says “the road has been very hard” since she landed in legal trouble nearly a year ago.
She says her health has gotten worse and she has no medical care.
“I want to come home to you all. And when I get home, I will tell you everything. I can’t do that in a letter,” the letter reads.
She’s currently serving a year and three-month sentence in connection to assault charges from a domestic dispute. Krivanek was arrested last fall after she reportedly scratched her Russian partner’s nose with a knife.
However, her friends believe she is the one who was abused and was defending herself. According to relatives, Krivvanek suffers from a kidney disease that can be deadly if not treated.
“I’m just so worried about her because she’s not able to tell us exactly how severe her health is,” Krivanek’s close friend Anita Martinez said Tuesday night on NewsNation’s “Banfield.” “I was happy that she’s alive because I didn’t even know that. I didn’t know what was happening with her.”
According to Martinez, the prisoners rely heavily on outside sources to provide basic supplies.
“It’s my understanding that they give them a uniform and basic food. That’s it. Everything else they depend on family and friends. But the problem is that with the sanctions that are in place in Russia right now, we’re not able to send anything because they can’t have any currency or anything from outside countries,” Martinez said.
Martinez believes that a human rights organization will visit Krivvanek soon, but she’s worried that if they don’t, her situation could be dire as winter conditions worsen.
“I’m just hoping they (the U.S. embassy) do something to help get her home before it’s too late. I know she just has a few months left on her sentence, but depending on the severity of what she’s dealing with right now, I don’t know if she has a few months left, period,” Martinez said.
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| 2022-09-20T21:12:20Z
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(KTLA) — Quick-thinking San Bernardino police officers came to the rescue of a mother and her two children after flash flood waters stormed through a residential neighborhood Sunday.
Body camera footage shared by the San Bernardino Police Department showed several officers brave the gushing water to rescue the family, who was being swept away by the fast-moving current.
The rescue happened around 6 p.m. Sunday. At the time of the rescue, the area was under a flash flood warning from the remnants of Tropical Storm Kay.
Video shows the officers grab hold of at least one young child who was being swept away by flood waters. Police also created a human chain to safely get a younger child and their mother to the other side of the raging water.
The mother and her two children were uninjured.
“Our officers do not encounter swift water floods often, however, it doesn’t stop them from jumping into action and saving lives,” the Police Department said on Twitter.
Flash floods are the No. 1 weather-related killer in America, according to the National Weather Service.
Six inches of “fast-moving flood water can knock you off your feet, and a depth of 2 feet will float your car,” NWS says.
You should never try to walk, swim or drive through swift water, and if you come upon flood waters, you are urged to turn around and go another way.
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| 2022-09-20T21:12:34Z
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LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to flock to London’s medieval Westminster Hall from Wednesday to pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth II, whose coffin will lie in state for four days until her funeral on Monday.
Here’s a look at what to expect for the occasion, including its traditions, the waiting route and what mourners will see:
HOW LONG WILL THE QUEEN LIE IN STATE?
People who want to view the queen’s coffin can do so 24 hours a day from 5 p.m. local time (1600GMT) Wednesday until 6:30 a.m. on Monday, the day of the state funeral.
THE QUEUE
British officials have published two waiting routes along the River Thames that the public need to join before they can enter Westminster Hall. The main queue begins on the Albert Embankment and stretches east for miles past the London Eye, the Tate Modern and Tower Bridge. There is a separate, accessible route that people who need it can join from the Tate Britain museum.
Mourners have been warned about long waits, possibly overnight. Extra toilets and water fountains will be placed along the route, and some venues along the way, including Shakespeare’s Globe, will open around the clock to provide refreshments and rest breaks. Airport-style security checks are in place near the front of the line before people can enter Parliament.
WHAT WILL PEOPLE SEE?
The closed coffin will be draped with a royal flag and adorned with royal regalia including the Imperial State Crown — the same crown the queen wore for her 1953 coronation.
The coffin will be placed on a catafalque, or a raised platform, in the center of Westminster Hall. Royal guards will stand 24 hours a day at each corner of the platform.
When the coffin was in Scotland earlier this week, it was topped with the Crown of Scotland and a wreath of white flowers.
LEAD-LINED COFFIN
The queen’s coffin is constructed out of English oak, lined with lead and was made decades ago, experts say.
Sarah Hayes, manager for the Coffin Works museum in Birmingham, England, says former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the queen’s husband Prince Philip and Princess Diana had such coffins made for them, she said.
“It’s to preserve the body for as long as possible, it’s really about slowing down the process of decomposition,” she said. This is especially important for the queen because her coffin will be eventually placed in a church, not buried in the ground, she added.
The coffin is made of oak from the royal family’s Sandringham Estate according to royal tradition, Hayes said.
WESTMINSTER HALL
The lying in state takes place at Westminster Hall, a 900-year-old building with an impressive timber roof. Built in 1097, it’s the oldest surviving building of the Palace of Westminster.
The hall has been at the heart of British history for a millennium: It was where numerous kings and queens hosted lavish coronation banquets, and where Guy Fawkes and Charles I were tried in the 17th century. More recently, ceremonial addresses were presented in the hall to Elizabeth during her silver, golden and diamond jubilees.
WHO GETS TO LIE IN STATE?
In the U.K., lying in state is reserved for the sovereign, queen consorts, and sometimes prime ministers.
Queen Mary, King George VI and King George V were among royals who lay in state at Westminster Hall. Winston Churchill was the only British prime minister to have a lying-in-state ceremony in the 20th century.
The last person to lie in state in Britain was Elizabeth’s mother, known as the Queen Mother. Some 200,000 people paid their respects to her over three days when she died in 2002.
WHEN DID THE TRADITION START?
The tradition of lying in state stretches back to the 17th century when Stuart monarchs lay in state for a number of days.
Edward VII set the modern tradition of royal lying in state in Westminster Hall. He lay in state in 1910.
WHERE IS THE QUEEN’S FINAL RESTING PLACE?
After the state funeral, the coffin will be taken to Windsor, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of London. The queen will be laid to rest in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, within St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where her mother and father were interred and her sister Princess Margaret’s ashes were placed.
Prince Philip’s coffin, which is currently in St. George’s Chapel’s Royal Vault, is expected to be moved to the memorial chapel to join the queen’s.
St. George’s is where many of Britain’s royals were baptized, married and buried throughout history. It has long been the resting place for the royals, and 10 former sovereigns were buried there.
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| 2022-09-20T21:12:41Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Twitter’s former security chief told Congress Tuesday there was “at least one agent” from China’s intelligence service on Twitter’s payroll and that the company knowingly allowed India to add agents to the company roster as well, potentially giving those nations access to sensitive data about users.
These were some of the troubling revelations from Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, a respected cybersecurity expert and Twitter whistleblower who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to lay out his allegations against the company.
Zatko told lawmakers that the social media platform is plagued by weak cyber defenses that make it vulnerable to exploitation by “ teenagers, thieves and spies” and put the privacy of its users at risk.
“I am here today because Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors,” Zatko said as he began his sworn testimony.
“They don’t know what data they have, where it lives and where it came from and so, unsurprisingly, they can’t protect it,” Zatko said. “It doesn’t matter who has keys if there are no locks.”
“Twitter leadership ignored its engineers,” he said, in part because “their executive incentives led them to prioritize profit over security.”
In a statement, Twitter said its hiring process is “independent of any foreign influence” and access to data is managed through a host of measures, including background checks, access controls, and monitoring and detection systems and processes.
One issue that didn’t come up in the hearing was the question of whether Twitter is accurately counting its active users, an important metric for its advertisers. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is trying to get out of a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, has argued without evidence that many of Twitter’s roughly 238 million daily users are fake or malicious accounts, aka “spam bots.”
Even so, “that doesn’t mean that Musk won’t use Zatko’s allegation that Twitter was disinterested in removing bots to try to bolster his argument for walking away from the deal,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg.
The Delaware judge overseeing the case ruled last week that Musk can include new evidence related to Zatko’s allegations in the high-stakes trial, which is set to start Oct. 17. During the hearing, Musk tweeted a popcorn emoji, often used to suggest that one is sitting back in anticipation of unfolding drama.
Separately on Tuesday, Twitter’s shareholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal, according to multiple media reports. Shareholders have been voting remotely on the issue for weeks. The vote was largely a formality, particularly given Musk’s efforts to nullify the deal, although it does clear a legal hurdle to closing the sale.
Zatko’s message echoed one brought to Congress against another social media giant last year. But unlike that Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen, Zatko hasn’t brought troves of internal documents to back up his claims.
Zatko was the head of security for the influential platform until he was fired early this year. He filed a whistleblower complaint in July with Congress, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among his most serious accusations is that Twitter violated the terms of a 2011 FTC settlement by falsely claiming that it had put stronger measures in place to protect the security and privacy of its users.
Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who heads the Judiciary Committee, said Zatko has detailed flaws “that may pose a direct threat to Twitter’s hundreds of millions of users as well as to American democracy.”
“Twitter is an immensely powerful platform and can’t afford gaping vulnerabilities,” he said.
Unknown to Twitter users, there’s far more of their personal information disclosed than they — or sometimes even Twitter itself — realize, Zatko testified. He said Twitter did not address “basic systemic failures” brought forward by company engineers.
The FTC has been “a little over its head”, and far behind European counterparts, in policing the sort of privacy violations that have occurred at Twitter, Zatko said.
Zatko’s allegation that Twitter was more concerned about foreign regulators than the FTC, Enberg said, “could be a wakeup call for U.S. lawmakers,” who have been unable to pass meaningful regulation on social media companies.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said one positive result that could come out of Zatko’s findings would be bipartisan legislation to set up a tighter system of regulation of tech platforms.
“We need to up our game in this country,” he said.
Many of Zatko’s claims are uncorroborated and appear to have little documentary support. Twitter has called Zatko’s description of events “a false narrative … riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies” and lacking important context.
Still, Zatko came off as a convincing whistleblower who has “a lot of credibility in this space,” said Ari Lightman, professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University. But he said many of the problems he raised can likely be found at many other digital technology platforms
“They avoid security protocols in a sense of innovating and running really fast,” Lightman said. “We gave digital platforms so much autonomy at the beginning to grow and develop. Now we’re at a point where we’re, ‘Wait a minute … This has gotten out of hand.’
Among the assertions from Zatko that drew lawmaker attention was Twitter’s apparent negligence in dealing with governments that sought to get spies a job inside the company. Twitter’s inability to log how employees accessed user accounts made it hard for the company to detect when employees were abusing their access, Zatko said.
Zatko said he spoke with “high confidence” about a foreign agent that the government of India placed at Twitter to “understand the negotiations” between India’s ruling party and Twitter about new social media restrictions and how well those negotiations were going.
Zatko also revealed Tuesday that he was told about a week before his firing that “at least one agent” from the Chinese intelligence service MSS, or the Ministry of State Security, was “on the payroll” at Twitter.
He said he was similarly “surprised and shocked” by an exchange with current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal about Russia — in which Twitter’s current CEO, who was chief technology officer at the time, asked if it would be possible to “punt” content moderation and surveillance to the Russian government, since Twitter doesn’t really “have the ability and tools to do things correctly.”
“And since they have elections, doesn’t that make them a democracy?” Zatko recalled Agrawal saying.
Sen. Charles Grassley, the committee’s ranking Republican, said Tuesday that Agrawal declined to testify at the hearing, citing the ongoing legal proceedings with Musk. But the hearing is “more important than Twitter’s civil litigation in Delaware,” Grassley said. Twitter declined to comment on Grassley’s remarks.
In his complaint, Zatko accused Agrawal as well as other senior executives and board members of numerous violations, including making “false and misleading statements to users and the FTC about the Twitter platform’s security, privacy and integrity.”
Zatko, 51, first gained prominence in the 1990s as a pioneer in the ethical hacking movement and later worked in senior positions at an elite Defense Department research unit and at Google. He joined Twitter in late 2020 at the urging of then-CEO Jack Dorsey.
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| 2022-09-20T21:12:48Z
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(NEXSTAR) – If you made voluntary payments on your federal student loans during the COVID-19 payment pause, you’re likely eligible to receive an automatic refund, according to federal officials.
As part of President Biden’s recently announced plan to forgive up to $20,000 per federal borrower, those that have made payments on or even paid off their loans since March 2020 were given the chance to request a refund for their payments from their loan servicer.
But, according to updated guidance from the Office of Federal Student Aid, qualifying borrowers may not have to request a refund — they could receive it automatically.
Previously, borrowers have been instructed to contact their federal student loan servicer to request a refund. You would have to provide payment confirmation, which payments they would like to have refunded, and other necessary information, according to NerdWallet.
The Office of Federal Student Aid now has information on its site stating borrowers will automatically receive a refund if they meet two requirements.
First, you have to successfully apply for and receive debt relief under Biden’s one-time cancellation plan. This means you’ll need to meet the necessary qualifications and fill out an application for student loan forgiveness. According to the Department of Education, that form won’t be available until next month.
Second, the payments you’ve made since March 13, 2020, when then-President Trump enacted the student loan payment pause, must have brought your loan balance below the maximum relief you’re eligible to receive but did not pay off your loan in full.
Officials gave this example: Let’s say you had $10,500 before the payment pause. Since March 2020, you’ve made $1,000 in payments, which brings your balance to $9,500. You’re eligible to receive $10,000 in federal student loan forgiveness, meaning the Department of Education will discharge your balance of $9,500 and refund you $500.
If you don’t meet both requirements above, officials say you can still receive a refund on the voluntary payments you’ve made since March 2020. Refunded payments will, however, increase your loan balance and your monthly payments, the Federal Student Aid office reports. Refunds can be requested until December 31, 2023.
If you consolidated your loans after March 13, 2020, the Federal Student Aid office says you cannot receive a refund on voluntary payments made before consolidation.
In addition to potentially qualifying for automatic refunds, you may also qualify for automatic student loan forgiveness, meaning you wouldn’t have to fill out an application. Details on automatic federal student loan relief can be found here.
Until the Department of Education makes the application form available, there are a few things you can do. You can register to be notified when the application is available by filling out this form, determine your eligibility, and prepare your financial information.
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| 2022-09-20T21:12:54Z
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CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Don Bolduc didn’t have much time to celebrate winning the Republican nomination for Senate in New Hampshire on Wednesday before he and other swing-state GOP candidates were on the defensive.
A conservative retired Army brigadier general, Bolduc insisted during the Republican primary he would “always default for a system that protects lives from beginning to end.” But South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s decision to introduce legislation this week that would create a national abortion ban created the prospect that a campaign talking point could become a reality.
With his attention now shifting to the November general election in a moderate state that President Joe Biden carried by more than 7 percentage points, Bolduc quickly distanced himself from Graham’s measure.
“It doesn’t make sense,” he told Fox News, adding that abortion laws are better left to each individual state. “Women on both sides of the issue will get a better voice at the state level.”
With less than two months until the midterm elections, Bolduc’s pivot is a sign of the challenge dividing Republicans in some of the most competitive states as they navigate abortion politics. The party was already facing a potential backlash from voters upset by the Supreme Court’s June decision invalidating a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. But Graham’s legislation risked adding to the headwinds, undermining the GOP’s argument this summer that the future of abortion rights in the U.S. would be decided by individual states.
Graham’s bill would ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy, except in cases of rape, incest or risk to the physical health of the mother. Congressional Republicans have introduced similar legislation in the past and, like those efforts, this measure is unlikely to become law.
But Democrats were quick to point to the measure to warn that handing control of Congress to Republicans could lead to a broader erosion of rights.
“In the world’s greatest democracy, Don Bolduc will make women second-class citizens,” New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan, one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Democrats, said at a quickly arranged press conference Wednesday. “National Republicans, from Mike Pence to leaders in the Senate and House, have waited years for the chance to ban abortion nationwide. If Don Buldoc is in the Senate, they would have a reliable vote to do just that.”
The legislation exposed deep frustration among Republican candidates and strategists who have found no answer on the politics of abortion since the Supreme Court’s ruling. There was concern that the measure shifts attention away from Biden’s vulnerabilities, including persistent inflation.
“It’s probably the right bill at the wrong time,” said veteran Republican strategist Chris Wilson.
Graham’s plan, he said, “gives the Dems the chance to talk about abortion more. And right now Republicans are losing when talking about abortion.”
Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk derided Graham’s proposal as “election interference.”
“I would love a total abortion ban — 15 weeks is not enough,” Kirk said. “But I’m also not dumb; 25 days out from ballots going out the Democrats are applauding, thank you Lindsey Graham.”
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who is one seat away from majority control, notably declined to embrace Graham’s legislation.
“I think every Republican senator running this year in these contested races has an answer as to how they feel about the issue,” McConnell said Tuesday. He said most GOP senators prefer having the issue dealt with by the states, rather than at the federal level. “So I leave it up to our candidates who are quite capable of handling this issue to determine for them what their response is.”
Abortion would have been a dominant issue this fall whether Graham released his national abortion ban or not. A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide, according to a July AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll that found over half said they felt at least somewhat “sad” or “angry” about the Supreme Court’s decision.
Democrats have poured tens of millions of dollars into television advertising focused on abortion rights. Women have been registering to vote in greater numbers than men across the country. And several states that have not already banned abortion altogether are pushing forward with new restrictions.
The Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority overturned Roe in late June, triggering abortion bans in at least 13 states, many of which don’t provide exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother. In Indiana, a new Republican-backed abortion ban takes effect Thursday. West Virginia’s legislature approved a sweeping abortion ban with few exceptions Tuesday.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, speaking Wednesday at Liberty University’s Convocation, celebrated the developments.
“We have only come to the end of the beginning and the battle for life continues,” said Pence, who is considering a 2024 presidential run. “We must not rest and we must not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in the nation.”
Meanwhile, swing-state Republican Senate candidates have offered inconsistent and conflicting messages.
In Arizona, Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters described abortion as “demonic” during his GOP primary, calling for a federal personhood law that would give fetuses the same rights people have after they’re born. He has more recently toned down his rhetoric, focusing on restricting late-term abortions while allowing states to impose more stringent limits.
After winning the Republican nomination, Masters deleted references to his support for a personhood law from his campaign website and dropped language describing himself as “100% pro-life.” He says he supports an Arizona law banning abortion after 15 weeks, which he called “a reasonable solution.”
“Of course, I support Lindsey Graham’s 15-week bill, and I hope it passes,” Masters said this week. “If it doesn’t, I suggest and will introduce a third-trimester standalone bill. Certainly we can all agree that in America, we shouldn’t tolerate late-term abortion like China and North Korea do.”
In another battleground state, Georgia’s Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker released a statement supporting Graham’s proposal, having already declared during a GOP primary that he’d support abortion bans without any exceptions.
“I am a proud pro-life Christian, and I will always stand up for our unborn children,” Walker said of Graham’s proposal this week. “I believe the issue should be decided at the state level, but I WOULD support this policy.”
It was just the opposite in Colorado, where Republican Senate nominee Joe O’Dea said “a Republican ban is as reckless and tone deaf as is Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer’s hostility to considering any compromise on late-term abortion, parental notification, or conscience protections for religious hospitals.
O’Dea said Congress should pass a bill “protecting a woman’s right to choose early in pregnancy” and “sensible limits on non-medically necessary late-term abortion.”
In Nevada, Republican candidate Adam Laxalt has said he would oppose a nationwide ban, but his campaign declined to offer a specific position on Graham’s proposal when asked. It was similar in Pennsylvania, where Republican Senate contender Mehmet Oz suggested he would oppose the federal ban but did not say so explicitly.
“As a senator, he’d want to make sure that the federal government is not involved in interfering with the state’s decisions on the topic,” Oz spokesperson Brittany Yanick said.
And in Wisconsin, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who faces a tough reelection bid, has previously co-sponsored six 20-week national abortion ban proposals. But after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Johnson said he supported that ruling and leaving the decision about abortions to the states.
The Republican senator, typically a Graham ally, appeared to stick with that position Tuesday while not taking a firm position on Graham’s bill. He told CNN that abortion should be decided by “we the people” in the 50 states.
___
Peoples reported from New York. AP writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina; J.J. Cooper in Phoenix; Jill Colvin in New York; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.
___
This story has been corrected to show that many of the bans in at least 13 states don’t provide exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother, not the life of the mother.
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| 2022-09-20T21:13:01Z
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — On the defensive for years in Republican-dominated Kentucky, abortion-rights supporters have gained an election-year advantage at a pivotal time — opening a big fundraising lead ahead of a statewide vote on whether to eliminate the right to abortion in the state’s constitution.
The group Protect Kentucky Access has raised nearly $1.5 million this year in leading the campaign against the proposed constitutional amendment placed on the November ballot, according to the group’s latest campaign-finance report.
Meanwhile, the anti-abortion group leading the push in support of the ballot measure, Yes For Life, reported raising about $350,000 during the same period.
Heading into the crucial stretch run before the election, the abortion-rights group holds a sizable cash-on-hand advantage in a grassroots campaign likely to be waged precinct by precinct. Protect Kentucky Access had more than $1.2 million in the bank at the end of the reporting period last week, while Yes For Life had $390,105. Cash-on-hand amounts can include donations from last year as well.
The flow of money to both sides is expected to intensify as the high-stakes election draws near.
Abortion-rights supporters in Kentucky are trying to replicate what happened last month in Kansas, another conservative state. Kansas voters rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed the Republican-controlled legislature to tighten restrictions or ban abortion outright.
In Kentucky, the fundraising by Protect Kentucky Access reflects “the energy and enthusiasm we’re seeing on the ground,” said Rachel Sweet, the group’s campaign manager.
In capitalizing on its fundraising advantage, the group’s strategy is to “meet voters where they are,” Sweet said. That means using ”every tool at our disposal” to promote its message — including TV ads as well as phone banks and door-to-door canvassing, she said.
Abortion opponents in Kentucky said they were bracing for an influx of money to try to stop the ballot measure but said they remain confident the ballot measure will win voter approval.
David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation, said abortion opponents had always expected the other side to “spend heavily to support its abortion-on-demand business model.”
Addia Wuchner, chair of the Yes for Life Alliance and executive director of Kentucky Right to Life, said the rival abortion-rights group was drawing support from “radical, out-of-state liberal interests.”
Approval of the ballot measure would “allow for a reasonable framework of abortion laws in Kentucky that respects the right to life and the health of mothers,” Wuchner said.
Sweet said that small-dollar support for Protect Kentucky Access surged after the U.S. Supreme Court decision i n June that overturned the constitutional right to abortion. The group’s ranks of volunteers also increased, she said.
The ruling was “a wake-up call for many Americans who, no matter how they may personally feel about abortion, believed that those rights were secure,” she said.
Abortion-rights supporters have been on the defensive for years in Kentucky. Since Republicans took total control of the legislature in the 2016 election, lawmakers have enacted a series of laws putting more restrictions on abortion. Many of those measures ended up being challenged in court.
The showdown over the ballot measure comes amid the latest abortion-related court battle.
Kentucky’s Supreme Court ruled last month that the state’s near-total abortion ban will stay in place while it reviews challenges from the two abortion clinics that remained in the state — both in Louisville. The state’s high court set a hearing after the general election.
The state’s GOP-led legislature previously enacted a “trigger law” banning nearly all abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Once that occurred, the 2019 trigger law called for the immediate end of almost all abortions. The only exception is when the mother’s health is threatened.
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| 2022-09-20T21:13:07Z
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PHOENIX (AP) — The Republican candidates for Arizona governor and secretary of state on Wednesday appealed a federal judge’s ruling that threw out a lawsuit they filed seeking to require the hand-counting of ballots in November’s election.
Lawyers representing governor candidate Kari Lake and secretary of state hopeful Mark Finchem filed a notice saying they would ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to revive their lawsuit.
The pair sued in April, repeating unfounded allegations that vote-counting machines are not secure. Named in the lawsuit is Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the state’s top election official and the Democratic candidate for governor, and the majority Republican Maricopa County board of supervisors
U.S. District Judge John Tuchi dismissed their lawsuit late last month, saying they lacked the right to to sue because they failed to show any realistic likelihood of harm. He also noted that their lawsuit must be brought in state, not federal, court and that it is too close to the election to upend the process.
“The 2022 Midterm Elections are set to take place on November 8,” Tuchi wrote in is ruling. “In the meantime, Plaintiffs request a complete overhaul of Arizona’s election procedures.”
Lake and Finchem won their GOP primaries after aggressively promoting the narrative that the 2020 election was marred by fraud or widespread irregularities.
Their lawsuit relied in part on testimony from Donald Trump supporters who led a discredited review of the election in Maricopa County, including Doug Logan, the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, who oversaw the effort described by supporters as a “forensic audit.”
Finchem did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lake’s campaign attorney, Timothy La Sota, said the appeal was needed.
“We are appealing because it is absolutely critical that we have a vote counting process that gives the public complete confidence in the process,” La Sota said in a statement.
Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the 2020 election was tainted. Trump’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges he appointed. A hand recount led by Cyber Ninjas in Maricopa County found no proof of a stolen election and concluded President Joe Biden’s margin of victory was larger than the official count.
Election administrators testified that hand counting dozens of races on millions of Arizona ballots would require an extraordinary amount of time, space and manpower, and would be less accurate. They said extensive reviews have confirmed that vote-counting machines in Maricopa County are accurate, not connected to the internet and haven’t been hacked.
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| 2022-09-20T21:13:15Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has picked a veteran foreign service officer with years of experience in Russian affairs as its nominee to be the next ambassador to Russia.
Administration officials familiar with the matter say the nomination of Lynne Tracy, the current U.S. ambassador to Armenia, will be submitted to the Senate as soon as the Russian government signs off on the choice. Ambassadorial nominations must be approved by the host government under the rules of diplomatic protocol.
Such approval is generally routine, but Russia’s acceptance of President Joe Biden’s pick for ambassador cannot be taken for granted at a time of particularly fraught U.S.-Russian relations over Ukraine, the detention of Americans in Russia, allegations of Russian meddling in U.S. and other elections, and an escalating spat over the staffing of embassies in Washington and Moscow.
The ambassador opening comes as many Russia experts in the United States who might have been candidates for the Moscow post have been banned from Russia. Russia was informed of the administration’s decision to choose Tracy’s several weeks ago but has not yet given its formal approval, known as “agrément” in diplomatic parlance, the officials said.
Tracy, who speaks Russian, previously served as a senior adviser for Russian affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, as the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. She also held several posts in Central and South Asia.
The previous U.S. ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, left earlier this month, in an departure that had been expected this fall but was accelerated by the failing health of his wife, who died a day after his return.
Tracy is well-regarded within diplomatic circles. She received a State Department heroism award from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009.
While leading the U.S. consulate in Peshawar in Pakistan’s insurgency-ridden border regions, Tracy survived an attack on her by a gunman that left her vehicle riddled with bullets, but insisted on going to work that day and staying on post, even as security concerns compelled the consulate to trim its staff.
Tracy also received the State Department’s distinguished honor award for her work as the embassy deputy in Moscow.
Sullivan ended his tenure as America’s top diplomat in Moscow this month after nearly three years. He had been expected to leave this fall, but his departure was sped up due to his wife’s deteriorating medical condition. His wife, lawyer Grace Rodriguez, had not accompanied him to Moscow.
While the position remains vacant, Elizabeth Rood, the deputy chief of mission to Russia, is serving as the top U.S. diplomat in Moscow.
The ambassador post became vacant at a time when the United States is leading a campaign by NATO member nations to arm and fund Ukraine as that country fights to expel a brutal Russian invasion. The Biden administration also is playing the lead role in rallying international sanctions aimed at crushing Russia’s economy to force it to end the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sees NATO expansion and other Western partnerships with former Soviet states as the U.S. encroaching on Russia’s security, launched the invasion in February, targeting Ukraine’s Western-oriented government.
The next U.S. ambassador to Moscow also is likely to play a central role in negotiations to bring home two Americans the U.S. says Russia is detaining unjustly, WNBA star Brittney Griner and civilian contractor Paul Whelan.
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| 2022-09-20T21:13:23Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Rail companies and their workers reached a tentative agreement Thursday to avert a nationwide strike that could have shut down the nation’s freight trains and devastated the economy less than two months before the midterm elections.
President Joe Biden announced the deal, which emerged from a marathon 20-hour negotiating session at the Labor Department and came just one day before the threatened walkout.
“This agreement is validation of what I’ve always believed — unions and management can work together … for the benefit of everyone,” Biden said at the White House.
The deal, which includes a 24% pay raise, will go to union members for a vote after a cooling-off period of several weeks.
The threat of a shutdown carried political risks for Biden, a Democrat who believes unions built the middle class. But he also knew a rail strike could pose grave economic risks ahead of the midterms, when majorities in both chambers of Congress, key governorships and scores of important state offices will be up for grabs.
Biden made a key phone call Wednesday evening to Labor Secretary Marty Walsh as negotiators were talking and being offered Italian food for dinner, according to White House officials who insisted on anonymity to discuss the conversations.
On speakerphone, the president urged both sides to get a deal done and to consider the harm that a shutdown would inflict on families, farmers and businesses , the officials said.
One union had to wake up its board to move forward on the agreement, which involved 50 calls from White House officials to organized labor officials.
Joined in the Oval Office by business and union leaders, a beaming Biden joked that he was surprised everyone was “still standing” after the late night and that they should be “home in bed.”
A strike would also have disrupted passenger traffic as well as freight, because Amtrak and many commuter railroads operate on tracks owned by the freight railroads. Amtrak canceled all of its long-distance trains ahead of the strike deadline and was working to restore full service.
The five-year deal, retroactive to 2020, also includes $5,000 in bonuses. The railroads agreed to ease their strict attendance policies to address union concerns about working conditions.
Railroad workers will now be able to take unpaid days off for doctor’s appointments without being penalized, and they won’t be penalized if they are hospitalized. Previously, workers would lose points under the attendance systems at BNSF and Union Pacific railways, and they could be disciplined if they lost all their points.
The talks also included Norfolk Southern, CSX, Kansas City Southern and the U.S. operations of Canadian National.
The unions that represent conductors and engineers who drive the trains pressed hard for changes in the attendance rules, and they said the deal sets a precedent that ensures they will be able to negotiate such rules in the future.
Kelly Pettus, who is married to an engineer in Atlanta, said she wanted more details about the attendance policy.
Earlier this year, her husband had to leave work when their 2-year-old daughter ended up in the emergency room with the flu. He spent the entire time worrying about the penalty involved in taking a single day off.
“You can’t just call and say your baby is in hospital,” Pettus said.
Hugh Sawyer, an engineer in the Atlanta area, said the pay raise was long overdue and did not completely make up for the regular cost-of-living increases that he lost several years ago.
“It’s something to build on,” Sawyer said of the deal.
The president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Dennis Pierce, predicted that workers will ultimately support the deal if they look logically at all the gains, including the fact that the unions again fought off proposals to cut locomotive crews down from two people to one.
But if workers vote angry, the outcome is harder to predict.
“I think it is going to dramatically change the way these jobs look,” he said.
Victor Chen, a sociologist at Virginia Commonwealth University who studies labor, said concerns about working conditions have increasingly become a priority for unions and their workers.
“At a certain point, good wages just aren’t enough to make up for the toll these sorts of working conditions impose on workers,” Chen said. “The companies need to treat workers like human beings, rather than just inputs in a business process.”
The railroad unions pointed to workload and attendance rules after the major railroads cut nearly one-third of their workforce — some 45,000 jobs — over the past six years.
The rail industry has aggressively cut costs everywhere and shifted its operations to rely more on fewer, longer trains that use fewer locomotives and fewer employees. The unions said the remaining workers, particularly engineers and conductors, were on call 24-7 because of jobs cuts and could hardly take any time off under strict attendance rules.
Unions had an advantage at the bargaining table because of the tight labor market and ongoing service problems on the railroads, Chen said.
Shippers have complained loudly this year about delays and poor service as railroads struggled to hire quickly enough to handle a surge in demand as the economy emerged from the pandemic. The shipping problems gave rail workers extra leverage.
Newly hired CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs said he hopes the new deal helps the railroad hire and retain more employees to address the service problems.
“Now we can move our conversation into how do we work together to grow the business and better serve our customers,” he said.
Union activism has surged under Biden, as seen in a 56% increase in petitions for union representation with the National Labor Relations Board so far this fiscal year, including prominent organizing efforts at Starbucks, Amazon and other companies.
Before the deal was reached, business groups including the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce predicted that a rail strike would be an “economic disaster.”
The Association of American Railroads trade group estimated that a strike would cost the economy more than $2 billion a day and force many businesses to scale back or cease production and consider layoffs.
With the economy still recovering from the pandemic’s supply chain disruptions, the president’s goal was to keep all parties talking so a deal could be reached.
Biden also knew a stoppage could worsen the dynamics that fueled soaring inflation and created a political headache for the party in power.
He confronted the same kind of predicament faced by Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 with coal and Harry Truman in 1952 with steel — how does a president balance the needs of labor and business in doing what’s best for the nation?
Railways were so important during World War I that Woodrow Wilson temporarily nationalized the industry to keep goods flowing and prevent strikes.
So the administration jumped into the middle of the talks. Biden and cabinet officials called both sides, and the labor secretary participated directly in negotiations.
It was clear the effort had paid off when Biden announced the deal, calling it “an important win for our economy and the American people.”
___
Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press Writer Alexandra Olson in New York City contributed to this report.
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| 2022-09-20T21:13:30Z
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Trudy Le Beau has voted in every major election since she turned 18 — a half-century of civic participation that has gotten increasingly difficult as her multiple sclerosis progressed. Now, with no use of her arms or legs, the Wisconsin woman relies on her husband to help her fill out and return a ballot.
This year, it seemed for the first time that the 68-year-old would have to choose between her physical health and voting.
After the Wisconsin Supreme Court outlawed ballot drop boxes in July, the state’s top election official cited a state law that said voters had to place their own absentee ballots in the mail or return them to clerks in person.
“I certainly don’t want to send my husband to jail because he put my ballot in the mailbox,” Le Beau said. “I would have to find some way of putting my ballot in my teeth and carrying it to the clerk’s office.”
Fortunately for Le Beau, she and other Wisconsin voters with disabilities can get the help they need to return their ballots this November after a federal judge last month ruled that the Voting Rights Act, which allows for voter assistance, trumps state law.
In other states, however, battles continue over ballot assistance and other voting laws that harm voters with disabilities. As voters push back, challenges have arisen in the past two years to laws and practices in at least eight states that make it difficult or impossible for people with certain disabilities to vote.
A federal judge in June struck down voter assistance restrictions in sweeping changes to election laws passed by Texas Republicans last year that in part limited the help that voters with disabilities or limited English proficiency could get. Under the law, a voter could only receive assistance reading or marking a ballot, not returning one.
In July in North Carolina, a federal judge blocked state laws that limited people with disabilities to receiving ballot assistance only from a close relative or legal guardian. Restrictions on ballot assistance still stand in several other states, including Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri. In Missouri, an ongoing lawsuit challenges a 1977 state law that says no one can assist more than one voter per election.
A Kansas judge in April dismissed parts of a lawsuit challenging voter assistance restrictions, saying the state’s interest in preventing voter fraud outweighed concerns about voters who may not get the assistance they need.
But such anti-fraud measures — a major push by Republicans since former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election in 2020 — don’t affect everyone equally.
“Voting restrictions aimed at the general public can have a disparate impact on people with disabilities,” said Jess Davidson, communications director for the American Association of People with Disabilities.
Voters and state agencies in Alaska, New York and Alabama have also raised challenges to absentee voting programs that don’t provide accessible ballots for people with visual impairments or disabilities that make it difficult to fill out a print ballot privately. Advocacy groups in New York reached a settlement in April that requires the state elections board to create a program for disabled voters to fill out and print accessible online ballots.
Wisconsin voters with disabilities expressed frustration at having to fight for equal voting rights when federal law already lays out specific provisions for accessibility.
“This whole issue was absolutely ridiculous to start out with. It shouldn’t matter if you need assistance returning your ballot,” said Stacy Ellingen.
Ellingen, 37, has athetoid spastic cerebral palsy because of complications at birth. She lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and with no accessible transportation options, absentee voting is the only way she can cast a ballot. She said if it weren’t for the ruling handed down two weeks ago, she wouldn’t have been able to vote this fall.
“I’m not going to risk having caregivers get in trouble for putting my ballot in the mailbox. Especially when we have such a caregiver shortage,” she said.
Republican lawmakers have yet to offer any resistance to the Wisconsin ruling. But Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a law firm that frequently litigates for conservative causes, raised concern that the ruling could perpetuate fraud. They unsuccessfully pressed the Wisconsin Elections Commission to require anyone returning a ballot on someone else’s behalf to sign a statement saying the voter has a disability and requires assistance.
Davidson, of the American Association of People with Disabilities, called the argument that voter assistance will lead to fraud “simply inaccurate, and motivated by anti-democratic interests.”
Martha Chambers was paralyzed in a horseback riding accident 27 years ago. She uses her mouth to hold pens, paintbrushes and mouth sticks, which allow her to use a computer. Chambers also relies on a power wheelchair to get around.
Because she can’t use her arms, she’s unable to return her own ballot to a mailbox or polling location. A caregiver returned her ballot in Wisconsin’s August primary, and Chambers said she joined the lawsuit so it wouldn’t be illegal in future elections for caregivers to give such help.
“Why did we even have to go through all of this to begin with? Our lives are difficult enough with the challenges that we have on a daily basis,” she said.
____
AP reporters Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri, and Heather Hollingsworth, in Kansas City, Kansas contributed to this report.
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Harm Venhuizen is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Venhuizen on Twitter.
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| 2022-09-20T21:13:38Z
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A former Massachusetts town official pleaded guilty on Wednesday to joining a mob in storming the U.S. Capitol after she organized a bus trip to Washington, D.C., for fellow members of a right-wing group called “Super Happy Fun America.”
Before her guilty plea, Suzanne Ianni had argued in February that federal authorities had selectively targeted her for prosecution based on her political beliefs. Prosecutors said her political views played no role in charging her with crimes for her conduct at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A judge rejected Ianni’s request to dismiss the case before she pleaded guilty.
Ianni, 60, of Natick, Massachusetts, faces a maximum sentence of six months of imprisonment and five years of probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols is scheduled to sentence her on Dec. 2.
Ianni was an elected member of Natick Town Meeting in a Boston suburb while serving as operation director of Super Happy Fun America, which gained national notoriety for organizing a “Straight Pride Parade” in Boston in 2019.
On its website, Super Happy Fun America calls itself “a right of center civil rights organization focusing on defending the Constitution, opposing gender madness and defeating cultural Marxism.” The group registered as a nonprofit with Massachusetts state regulators.
A Dec. 29, 2020, post on the group’s Twitter account said Super Happy Fun America members would be in Washington “to get wild.” Ianni was listed as the contact for the trip. The account also tweeted a photo of Ianni and other members on a bus traveling to Washington on the eve of the riot.
After marching to the Capitol, she joined a crowd chanting “Fight for Trump!” and “Our house!” while rioters near her broke windows, forced open doors and breached police barricades. Surveillance video captured Ianni marching through the Capitol after she entered the building through a Senate fire-exit door. She raised her fist in the air in front of police officers who stopped her and other members of the mob, prosecutors said in a court filing.
Mark Sahady, another Super Happy Fun America member, was arrested on Capitol riot-related charges that haven’t been resolved.
In April 2021, Natick Town Meeting members voted to condemn the Capitol riot. Ianni, who was elected to a three-year term that was due to expire in March 2022, told the MetroWest Daily News that the vote represented “political persecution of conservatives.”
Also on Wednesday, a Nevada man pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers at the Capitol with what appeared to be a table leg, injuring an officer. Josiah Kenyon, 35, of Winnemucca, Nevada, is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 15. Kenyon was dressed up as “Jack Skellington,” a character from the movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” when he attacked police.
More than 870 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot. Approximately 400 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors, and over 250 have been sentenced.
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This version of story has been corrected to reflect that Judge Carl Nichols did deny Suzanne Ianni’s request to dismiss her case before she pleaded guilty.
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| 2022-09-20T21:13:45Z
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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said Wednesday that he has agreed to an Oct. 25 televised debate against his Republican rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz, although the men feuded about its terms in what has become a flashpoint in the high-stakes campaign.
The debate, coming two weeks before the general election, follows weeks of cajoling by Oz, who has raised questions about the severity of Fetterman’s lingering effects from a May stroke and pushed for as many as seven debates.
It will be held in the studio of a Harrisburg TV station.
Oz’s campaign said in a statement that Fetterman had agreed to the debate only “after being hit with massive criticism from state and national editorials and commentators for ducking.”
Nevertheless, Oz will be at the debate “to share his vision for a better Pennsylvania and America, and he is ready (to) expose Fetterman’s record as the most far-left Senate candidate in America,” Oz campaign manager Casey Contres wrote in a statement.
Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, and Oz, a celebrity heart surgeon endorsed by former President Donald Trump, are vying to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey in a race Democrats see as one of their best chances nationally to flip a Republican-held seat. The winner could help decide the chamber’s partisan control next year.
Fetterman’s campaign has said Oz was operating in bad faith by insisting on so many debates and said Oz’s motivation is to mock Fetterman for having a stroke. Fetterman still speaks haltingly and struggles to quickly respond to words he hears.
To accommodate that, Fetterman asked the station for closed-captioning during the debate and two practice sessions in the studio ahead of time.
In response, Oz’s campaign issued three requests.
It wants a moderator to tell the audience that Fetterman is using closed captioning to explain delays in his responses; practice sessions to not use actual debate questions; and the debate to be 90 minutes, instead of 60, because of closed-captioning delays.
Fetterman’s campaign said it had no problem with telling the audience about the closed captioning and said the practice sessions are simply walkthroughs that are routine before any debate. But Fetterman’s campaign insisted that the debate be 60 minutes and said Oz’s campaign had already agreed.
“For weeks Oz and his team have wet the bed about debates,” Fetterman’s campaign said. “Enough already, we are debating on the 25th, either show up or don’t, but now let’s get back to talking about the issues that matter, like how Oz would vote on the Senate abortion ban.”
In Pennsylvania’s last four U.S. Senate contests, debates have not been a major feature. All the debates took place in mid- to late October, with two debates in each race — except for the 2012 contest, which had one debate.
Fetterman has been recovering and was off the campaign trail for most of the summer following his May 13 stroke, which required surgery to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator and prompted a revelation that he had a serious heart condition. Fetterman has provided no access to his doctors or health records and has said he almost died.
He has done just a handful of media interviews and no press conferences since the stroke and has used closed-captioning in video interviews with reporters.
Fetterman’s campaign maintains that his doctors have said he is expected to make a full recovery.
___
Follow Marc Levy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/timelywriter.
___
Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ap_politics.
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| 2022-09-20T21:13:52Z
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RENO, Nev. (AP) — Robert Bigelow, a Las Vegas-based hotel magnate, has always had a cause.
For decades, he invested his hotel profits into UFO research, creating his own aerospace company while lobbying senators to fund additional research. More recently, he offered nearly $1 million in prizes for a contest to show consciousness after death, part of his newer interest in the afterlife.
Now Bigelow, 78, has become the largest donor this cycle in Nevada’s midterm gubernatorial race, donating $5.7 million through his companies to the campaign for Nevada GOP gubernatorial nominee Joe Lombardo and to political action committees supporting him. The race has implications for inflation policy, reproductive rights and the Democrats’ hold on the Legislature.
Bigelow’s donations give a lifeline to a Republican challenger who is spending more and fundraising less than the Democratic incumbent. As of the latest filings, Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak leads Lombardo, the Clark County sheriff, in cash-on-hand $10.78 million to $1.2 million, which includes direct contributions to their campaigns but does not account for donations to political action committees, which make up the bulk of Bigelow’s donations in support of Lombardo.
PACs are required to operate independently from candidates, meaning they can raise money for candidates but aren’t allowed to coordinate with the their campaigns.
Bigelow has made his wealth through his extended-stay apartment chain Budget Suites of America, which he has used to fund his UFO research. He was also a vocal critic of the federal eviction moratorium, calling it “legalized theft” as some tenants didn’t pay rent, and he filed 46 eviction actions at the height of the pandemic. He lamented Sisolak’s statewide closure of nonessential businesses early in the pandemic, which he said sank his aerospace company.
Bigelow’s political and social influence in Nevada has long been pronounced, most notably in his UFO research that is now shifting toward afterlife research. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said that UFOs are “under our noses” and wondered why news organizations have not extensively covered UFO sightings.
But Bigelow, a staunch Republican, said his interest in UFOs and the afterlife is not related to his current political donations.
“Number one, honesty in government. That’s the foundation,” Bigelow said of his priorities. “Liberalism, that’s a cancer. And we have U.S. senators and representatives that need to go. And the second would be a philosophy of freedom — a philosophy of free enterprise and freedom for everybody.”
He called Sisolak a “puppet” to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is a frequent target of Republican politicians. And he likened Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to a young Ronald Reagan, saying that he hopes the Republican runs for president in the future after he bucked other states’ approach of issuing COVID-19 emergency protective orders during the pandemic. Earlier this summer, Bigelow donated $10 million to DeSantis-backed political action committees, making him the largest individual donor to DeSantis’ reelection race as well.
For decades, Bigelow has invested millions in UFO research with money he has made from his hotel and real estate business. He has also pushed it in politics. He once convinced his friend and then-U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat, to allocate $22 million to a secretive program called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification program, which investigated reports of UFOs from 2007 through 2012. Much of the money went to Bigelow’s company to investigate and the allocation was not made public until a 2017 New York Times investigation. The Pentagon said the program shut down in 2012, though Reid later said he had no regrets about the funding.
Bigelow said he considered Reid a good friend, though toward the end of Reid’s tenure in the Senate, they maintained that friendship by not talking politics.
Since shifting his focus toward the afterlife, he has founded the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies and offered nearly $1 million in prizes last year for a contest that shows “the survival of consciousness after permanent bodily death.”
Bigelow donated $5.5 million to PACs supporting Lombardo this cycle — $3.5 million to Better Nevada PAC, which has financed pro-Lombardo ads, and $2 million to Stronger Nevada PAC, which transferred money to Better Nevada PAC. Through 39 donations of $5,000 each through his companies, he donated $195,000 directly to the Clark County sheriff.
The Nevada contributions have provided a talking point for Sisolak, who has tied Bigelow’s support for Lombardo to the housing crisis in Nevada, referencing Bigelow’s pandemic evictions.
“While the governor is fighting for housing affordability, creating good paying jobs and making historic investments to support hardworking families, Joe Lombardo is siding with the Ultra Wealthy, standing with his campaign’s single largest donor — a billionaire who got rich off of evicting families during the pandemic,” spokesperson Reeves Oyster said in a statement last month.
Lombardo’s campaign did not respond to email requests for comment.
Lombardo has been vastly outraised by Sisolak in direct contributions, which is common for a challenger facing an incumbent. Sisolak has raised the second-highest amount in direct contributions for a Nevada gubernatorial campaign since 2000 and he’s on pace to break his own 2018 record, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks political spending.
“Overall, challengers do need to spend in order to overcome the incumbency advantage,” said Christina Ladam, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada-Reno, in an email. “While Joe Lombardo was a familiar name in the Vegas area, he was less well known in northern Nevada. Sisolak does not need to spend as much in terms of getting name recognition.”
Still, Lombardo has outspent Sisolak this year — $3.1 million to about $727,000 as of the latest filing date — after facing a crowded primary field.
___
Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues. Follow Stern on Twitter https://twitter.com/gabestern326
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| 2022-09-20T21:14:00Z
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Biden administration said Wednesday it has approved ambitious plans by 34 states and Puerto Rico to create a national electric vehicle charging network as the U.S. begins in earnest its transition away from gas-powered transportation.
The plans’ approval means $900 million can begin to flow to the states, which are tasked with using money from President Joe Biden’s huge infrastructure law to form the network of chargers across the nation. Building out a reliable and convenient network is critical to spur more adoption of the technology, which is itself key to reducing greenhouse emissions that cause global warming.
The announcement came on the same day that Biden toured the North American International Auto Show in Detroit to tout the new law that includes tax incentives to purchase electric vehicles.
In practical terms, it means residents in some of those states could see more charging stations start popping up along major travel corridors as early as next summer. Biden has a goal of ultimately installing 500,000 chargers across America and building a network of fast-charging stations across 53,000 miles of freeways from coast to coast.
“Unlocking this type of funding is an enormous step in getting the charging network out, which is something we absolutely need if we’re going to get full-scale deployment and adoption” of electric vehicles, said Nico Larco, director of Urbanism Next Center at the University of Oregon. “We don’t have the capacity now to power anywhere near the fleet that we need.”
Federal officials said they will continue to review the plans not approved in this round with the goal of approving all the states’ EV roadmaps by Sept. 30.
Biden’s infrastructure law provides $5 billion over five years for the electric vehicle charging network.
The funding announced Wednesday is specifically for installing the most powerful chargers along “alternative fuel corridors” — major freeways that connect states — with the goal of eliminating the “range anxiety” that keeps many people from purchasing electric vehicles or using them on long road trips. Under proposed guidelines, states would be required to install at least one four-port fast-charging station every 50 miles on these corridors and ensure they are within one mile of an off-ramp.
Some states received exemptions in rural areas for the 50-mile requirement, according to the approval letters.
An additional $2.5 billion in discretionary grants is also available to fund electric vehicle charging infrastructure in economically disadvantaged communities, rural areas and urban cores. And Biden’s recently passed Inflation Reduction Act includes $3 billion to spur electric vehicle adoption and charging accessibility in disadvantaged communities.
Industry analysts said the federal investment was a huge windfall but alone was not enough to meet projected demand.
“It’s important to see this funding as something that will hopefully kickstart further private sector funding,” said Jessika Trancik, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.
“What government can do is incentivize further private sector funding and push forward this shift towards electric vehicles … where there might not be as much private sector investment,” she said.
Rural states have raised serious concerns about the proposed federal requirements that accompany the money, including the every 50-mile requirement.
State transportation officials in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota joined last month to urge the Biden administration to ease the requirements.
EVs account for 0.1% of vehicle registrations in Wyoming, and state Department of Transportation Director Luke Reiner told federal officials that it would be “irresponsible and illogical” to spend now on requirements that include four charging ports at stations every 50 miles.
It will be more than 20 years before there’s enough EV adoption in Wyoming to worry about lines at a four-port station, Reiner said. So instead of concentrating solely on major highway corridors, Reiner said, the federal money should also be used in areas away from interstates that attract lots of tourists, such as Yellowstone National Park.
“Most of our EVs will be tourist traffic,” Reiner said Wednesday. “The idea is if you’re a nice lady from Iowa with an electric car and you want to get to Yellowstone, we want to get you there. … We want to make sure these stations are in populated areas so there’s more chance of success.”
Wyoming asked for exceptions from the mileage requirement for 11 stretches of highway. Federal officials have not yet responded, Reiner said, and the state’s plan is still pending.
The Federal Highway Administration will review those concerns and determine the final guidelines now that the public comment period has closed. Federal officials are also considering a waiver of the “Buy America” provision of the infrastructure deal.
Officials in Nevada, for example, have expressed concern that they would not be able to acquire charging stations that meet the American-made provisions and thus would be unable to start building out their piece of the network.
Experts who have followed the evolution of electric vehicle adoption in the U.S. say having charging stations everywhere is important.
“It’s like the U.S. Postal Service. You need to be able to send mail everywhere, including places that are rural,” said Jeremy Michalek, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and director of the university’s Vehicle Electrification Group.
“Even if that charger that’s in that rural area isn’t used as much every day, we still need the infrastructure to supply them.. We have gas stations that are used less in rural areas than they would be in a big city, but we need them for the demand.”
Electric vehicle owners hailed the news and said they currently must take extra precautions if they want to take their EVs on a long trip.
Bob Palrud of Spokane, Washington, says the small number of chargers in some rural areas of the West means he must carefully plot his travel routes to avoid running out of power. Palrud journeys three times yearly with his wife, Judy, to their cabin in Sheridan, Wyoming, and twice they’ve gotten so low on electricity coming through southeastern Montana that his vehicle automatically shut down some functions to conserve power.
“The thing people worry most about is range,” said Palrud, a semi-retired house painter who was at a charging center just off Interstate-90 in Montana on Wednesday on his way back to Spokane. “I sit there and do mental calculations on what kind of range I’m going to get.”
When he travels to see family in Minnesota, Palrud said he goes hundreds of miles out of his way to avoid northern Montana, where there is no major interstate and charging options are few.
“It would be better to have more but it’s not a deal killer,” he said. “I could chop a couple hundred miles off and that would be great.”
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
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Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus
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The House on Tuesday passed a bill eliminating the statute of limitations for victims of child sex abuse who seek to file civil claims, sending the measure to President Biden’s desk for final approval.
The chamber cleared the bill, titled the Eliminating Limits to Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims Act, by voice vote, a strategy reserved for noncontroversial, popular measures. The Senate passed the legislation by unanimous consent in March.
The measure calls for removing the statute of limitations for minors filing civil claims relating to a number of sex abuse crimes, including forced labor, sex trafficking, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children.
Under current law, minors who experience sexual abuse are able to file federal civil claims until they turn 28 years old, or until 10 years after the violation or injury is discovered. The bill Congress passed seeks to eliminate those time restraints.
There is no statute of limitations in place for criminal offenses involving child sex abuse.
During debate on the House floor Tuesday, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said survivors of child sex abuse often delay reporting their situations, which could put them at risk of not seeking damages because of the statute of limitations.
“Also common is delayed disclosure, with the tendency of survivors of child sexual abuse to wait many years before disclosing abuse to others,” Nadler said. “This is because survivors of sexual abuse often take a long time to process their trauma, and many survivors who were abused as a child may not even recognize the abuse they suffered until much later in life.”
“Unfortunately, because survivors of child sexual abuse often delay reporting, any statute of limitations may prevent survivors accessing justice and seeking damages in civil court,” he added.
The New York Democrat argued that statutes of limitations in place for civil claims of child sex abuse “can serve to protect abusers and enable them to continue to exploit their power by allowing victims’ claims to expire.”
“This bill will enable survivors who are victims of federal child sex abuse offenses, including aggravated sexual abuse, sex trafficking, human trafficking, forced labor, and sexual exploitation, to seek civil damages in federal court regardless of the amount of time that has passed since the abuse,” he added.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on the House floor Tuesday said the bill “would allow victims of human trafficking or sex offenses to seek civil remedies regardless of when the crime took place.”
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| 2022-09-20T21:14:22Z
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The Justice Department has issued roughly 40 subpoenas in the past week in connection with its investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election by former President Trump and his allies, The New York Times reported Monday.
An attorney for Bernard Kerik, the former New York Police commissioner who emerged as a vocal Trump supporter and claimed there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election, confirmed Kerik was one of the individuals to receive a subpoena.
Attorney Timothy Parlatore said the subpoena was served early last week when a team of FBI agents arrived at Kerik’s home. Parlatore would not share the subpoena, but described it as broad.
“Basically, give us anything and everything related to anybody that is tangentially related to the Trump campaign including a long, long laundry list,” he said.
The New York Times reported that Boris Ephsteyn, who served as an adviser to the 2020 Trump campaign and helped with challenges to the election results, had his phone seized as evidence, as did Mike Roman, who was part of a plan to submit alternative electors to then-Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021.
Dan Scavino, a top White House aide throughout Trump’s four years in office, was also subpoenaed, the Times reported.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stanley Woodward, an attorney for Scavino, declined to comment
The Times reported that the subpoenas seek information related to a plan concocted by Trump associates to submit slates of alternative electors from states like Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona, which President Biden narrowly won in 2020. The goal was to submit names of electors who would cast their support for Trump instead of Biden, potentially upending the result.
Congress ultimately certified Biden as the winner on Jan. 6, 2021, after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol complex in a bid to derail the proceedings.
The progress in the Justice Department’s investigation into the events surrounding Jan. 6 and the 2020 election come as the agency is also investigating Trump’s handling of classified materials after leaving office.
The FBI last month searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after it for months tried to secure sensitive documents the former president had taken with him after leaving office.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riots is also expected to resume its work following the summer recess. It has previously held several public hearings highlighting Trump’s false claims of election fraud, efforts to pressure Pence to overturn the election, and the violence that unfolded on Jan. 6.
Rebecca Beitsch contributed.
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| 2022-09-20T21:14:29Z
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Most Americans don’t want either President Biden or his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, to run for the White House again in 2024, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll shared exclusively with The Hill.
Two-thirds of voters surveyed – 67 percent – said that Biden shouldn’t seek another term in the Oval Office, with nearly half citing their belief that he’s a bad president as the reason why. Another 30 percent said it’s simply because Biden, who would be 84 by the time he takes the Oath of Office again, is too old for the job.
Trump, meanwhile, doesn’t fare much better when it comes to a 2024 run. Fifty-seven percent said that the former president shouldn’t mount another bid for the White House, despite his repeated hints that he plans to do so.
When it comes to the reason why most voters aren’t keen on another Trump White House run, respondents were divided. Thirty-six percent said that it’s because he is “erratic,” while another 33 percent said they believe he will divide the country. Nearly as many – 31 percent – pointed to his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
If the two men end up in a 2024 rematch, however, 60 percent of voters said they would be open to supporting a moderate independent candidate in the election.
The poll suggests that voters on both sides of the aisle are largely ready to move on from the bitter rivalries that have dominated U.S. politics in recent years, especially given the possibility that the 2024 presidential election could end up looking a lot like it did in 2020.
“Americans want a clear change from this president and the last one,” Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, said. “There will be a virtual voter revolt if these are the two candidates once again.”
Republicans, however, remain loyal to Trump, with 59 percent of GOP voters saying they would cast their ballot for him in the 2024 presidential primary. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, comes in a distant second place at 17 percent support.
Without Trump on the primary ballot, however, DeSantis would be the clear favorite for the GOP nomination. Thirty-nine percent of Republican respondents said they would support him, putting the Florida governor well ahead of the second-place finisher, former Vice President Mike Pence, who notched 18 percent.
Nevertheless, if asked to choose only between Biden and Trump, the former president would come out on top, according to the Harvard CAPS/Harris poll. Forty-five percent of respondents said they would vote for Trump over Biden in a head-to-head matchup, while 42 percent said they would reelect the Democratic incumbent.
Vice President Harris fares even worse in a matchup with Trump, notching only 40 percent support to his 47 percent. Still, she has a fighting chance against DeSantis. In a head-to-head contest, 41 percent said they would vote for Harris compared to 38 percent who would choose DeSantis, the poll found.
The Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey was conducted between Sept. 7-8 among 1,885 registered voters. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll.
The survey is an online sample drawn from the Harris Panel and weighted to reflect known demographics. As a representative online sample, it does not report a probability confidence interval.
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| 2022-09-20T21:14:37Z
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WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Health officials say the federal government is doing what it can to control the spread of monkeypox throughout the U.S.
U.S health officials told Senators, Wednesday, the U.S seems to be containing the world’s largest monkeypox outbreak.
“Over 22,000 cases and one confirmed death in the United States,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said.
Walensky says officials are still responding aggressively to the spread of the disease.
“[We will] use our entire toolkit, including vaccination, testing and education about risk to informed behavior change,” Walensky said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says globally, monkeypox is still mostly affecting men who have sex with men.
“However, anyone exposed to the circulating virus can get infected with monkeypox regardless of their age, gender identity, or sexual orientation,” Fauci said.
Both Democrats and Republicans say they want to make sure the federal government is doing everything to help those at risk.
“How are you working with state and local partners to make sure we reach everyone who’s at risk for infection?” Sen. Bob Casey (D/PA) asked.
“We need to do more and more outreach. We learned that we need trusted messengers, we need community-based organizations,” Walensky said.
However, Sen. Richard Burr (R/N.C.) says he’s disappointed that the administration has held back vaccines, in case of a smallpox outbreak.
“We know that we have 13 to 15 million gay men in this country,” Burr said. “You’ve got a population that’s a little bit questioning whether you’re doing everything to help them.”
CDC officials say they will continue outreach to communities at risk and educate medical professionals on monkeypox, to spread awareness.
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WASHINGTON (Nexstar)– With an aging population and a shortage of all types of medical professionals, the U.S. is facing a healthcare crisis.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle believe immigrants are part of the solution.
Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) says the nation is facing a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by the year 2034, due to retirements, burnout and the student loan debt created by medical school.
But Padilla says there’s a solution that would quickly add more doctors, nurses and other health workers into the system.
“There are thousands of highly capable healthcare professionals living abroad with the desire to come to America,” he said.
But the U.S. immigration system stops many of those skilled migrants from coming to the U.S. and also force healthcare workers to leave the country when their temporary immigration status expires.
Democrats say one in four doctors and one in six nurses are immigrants, which is why they want to update immigration laws to allow immigrants skilled in healthcare fields to easily come and stay in the U.S.
At a Senate hearing on the issue Wednesday, Republicans agreed. But they said there’s another equally urgent immigration issue.
“I can’t imagine a path forward until we deal with the crisis at the border,” said Senator John Cornyn (R-Tex.).
Cornyn and Thom Tillis (R- N.C.) say any immigration reform legislation must first stop migrants and illegal drugs from coming across the border.
“I, for one, hope we get it done before the end of this Congress,” Tillis said.
Democrats say the two issues are unrelated.
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| 2022-09-20T21:14:50Z
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WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Negotiators and federal leaders are scrambling to avoid a railroad worker strike that could have devastating economic impacts in the United States.
Railroad companies and union leaders spent much of Wednesday meeting with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to try to avoid a strike. It’s something lawmakers have been keeping a close eye on.
“We’re urging both sides to come together and come to an agreement, period,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said.
President Joe Biden established a presidential emergency board under the Railway Labor Act to make recommendations to the two sides. It imposed a 30-day cooling off period, which expires Friday.
Some of the unions have agreed to a compromise but two unions for engineers and conductors say they are holding out for better schedules and more flexible working conditions.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., is one of the lawmakers worried about the possibility of a strike.
“A complete shutdown of the rail system would result in devastating consequences across an already weak supply chain,” Moran said.
Patrick Anderson, the CEO of Anderson Economic Group, says a strike won’t initially impact the average person.
“But it would affect every American by a week,” Anderson explained. “You get a geometric growth in the damage that comes to the economy.”
Food, fuel and car parts are all carried by rail. George Washington University economics professor Stephen Smith says the longer a strike goes, the worse it could get.
“We run out of the chances to adapt in some way. We run out of inventory. We run out of creative workarounds,” Smith said.
Congress could step in to force the two sides to accept a deal.
“I would rather see negotiations prevail so that there’s no need for any actions from Congress,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said.
“There are strong forces, if you want, arrayed in favor of at least postponing this and getting it resolved,” Professor Smith said.
But time is running out to reach a deal before there are serious consequences.
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| 2022-09-20T21:14:56Z
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Federal authorities have arrested a Texas woman who they say made death threats against the Florida judge overseeing a court battle between former President Trump and the Department of Justice over documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Tiffani Shea Gish was charged with influencing a federal official by threat and interstate communications with the threat to kidnap or injure, according to an affidavit submitted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Sept. 6.
According to federal authorities, Gish claimed to be an official with the U.S. government working with nuclear weapons and left three threatening voicemails for federal Judge Aileen Cannon on Sept. 1, just days after the Florida judge sided with Trump and ruled she would appoint a special master to sift through the documents the FBI took in the search of his estate.
“Donald Trump has been disqualified long ago, and he’s marked for assassination, you’re helping him,” Gish allegedly said, before proceeding to call the judge explicit names. “And guess what? I’m also Trump’s hitman, so consider it a bullet to your head from Donald Trump himself.”
An FBI agent wrote in court documents that Gish left another voicemail hours later, saying she was heading to Florida and would put a bullet in the judge’s head “in front of her kids.”
Cannon forwarded the voicemails to Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Michael Witkowski. Authorities said they tracked Gish to her Houston, Texas, residence through her cellphone number.
Gish admitted she left the voicemails when she was interviewed by law enforcement personnel, according to the affidavit.
In another filing, federal agents said Gish has a history of “delusional conduct,” including posing as CIA agents and Army Rangers.
The appointment of a special master to identify material covered by attorney-client or executive privilege has drawn widespread criticism.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is probing whether Trump violated the Espionage Act and Presidential Records Act by taking both presidential and classified documents to Florida.
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| 2022-09-20T21:15:08Z
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Which Vera Bradley crossbody is best?
If you’re tired of carrying a clutch and you find traditional purses uncomfortable, give a crossbody bag a try. They’re easier to shift around your body so you can always find your comfortable sweet spot. Many can also have their straps adjusted or removed to serve as purses or clutches.
The best Vera Bradley crossbody bag is the Vera Bradley Carson Crossbody Purse. It’s light and has just enough storage compartments to serve as the perfect everyday bag.
What to know before you buy a Vera Bradley crossbody
Size
Vera Bradley crossbody bags come in three sizes.
- Clutch bags are just that; clutches with a removable strap. They’re best used as wallets. They can also carry your phone and keys, but storage might be tight. They measure roughly 5 inches by 8 inches by 1 inch.
- Full bags are the standard. They’re large enough to fit all your essentials and have wide straps so the weight is evenly distributed. They measure roughly 10 inches by 12 inches by 4 inches.
- Mini bags are in between, useful for day trips and dates where you need a few items but not enough to justify carrying a full bag. They measure roughly 8 inches by 7 inches by 1 inch.
Storage compartments
Vera Bradley crossbody bags are worn for fashion, but they also need to hold your stuff. Check how many and what kinds of compartments are included in your prospective bag to be sure you can organize your things how you want.
What to look for in a quality Vera Bradley crossbody
Material
Most Vera Bradley bags use cotton, either in total or mixed with polyester lining. This makes them light and durable. Plus, they can be machine-washed. However, it also makes them poor choices when the weather report calls for rain. In these cases, consider a Vera Bradley polyester microfiber bag instead.
RFID protection
This means the bag has a lining that blocks the signals in your chipped cards. It prevents your information from being stolen by tech-savvy thieves, who could otherwise steal it without ever touching your bag.
Straps
Straps have several aspects to consider.
- Length: Most Vera Bradley crossbody straps are between 52-56 inches long.
- Adjustable length: That said, the best Vera Bradley straps also have adjustable lengths. You can’t make them as small as a standard purse’s strap, but you can adjust how high or low they rest on your body.
- Width: Vera Bradley strap widths vary based on bag size. Bigger bags have wider straps so heavier weights can be better distributed. The width is roughly half an inch at the thinnest and 1.5 inches at the widest.
- Removable: Sometimes, you don’t want to wear your bag as a crossbody. In these cases, look for Vera Bradley bags with removable straps. Otherwise, you’re stuck with wadding the strap up inside.
How much you can expect to spend on a Vera Bradley crossbody
They typically cost $50-$100, depending on the size and features included. For example, a small bag with multiple pockets and RFID protection will cost more than a larger bag with few pockets and no protection.
Vera Bradley crossbody FAQ
Why should I use a crossbody bag over other bags?
A. There are several benefits to wearing a crossbody bag rather than a traditional purse or clutch.
- Comfort: Crossbody bags have better weight distribution. Plus, you can shift the bag around your body until it falls comfortably.
- Everyday ease: Clutches and purses take up a hand to hold them or keep them steady. Crossbody bags don’t, making everyday tasks easier.
- Security: Clutches and purses can easily be ripped away from you. Crossbody bags take effort to steal.
- Style: Crossbody bags have a unique look so you can shake up your usual style.
Do Vera Bradley crossbodies use recycled materials?
A. Some use recycled cotton, though no bag uses entirely recycled cotton. Vera Bradley’s process starts by collecting excess raw and scrap processed cotton. It’s then cleaned and blended with freshly produced cotton before being spun into yarn. Not all designs use recycled cotton but those that do are clearly labeled if you want to prioritize it.
What’s the best Vera Bradley crossbody to buy?
Top Vera Bradley crossbody
Vera Bradley Carson Crossbody Purse
What you need to know: This is the perfect bag for casual, everyday use.
What you’ll love: It comes with removable and fully adjustable 18-inch shoulder and 52-inch crossbody straps so you can wear it how you want to. Interior storage compartments include two slip pockets and a zip pocket plus exterior compartments include two flap-covered and one non-flap-covered slip pocket.
What you should consider: A few consumers had issues with zippers sticking and being otherwise hard to use. Others reported the colors to be less vibrant than the image suggests.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Vera Bradley crossbody for the money
Vera Bradley Deluxe All-Together Crossbody Purse
What you need to know: This cute part-crossbody, part-clutch bag is a great choice for fun events.
What you’ll love: The 52-inch strap is adjustable and removable. It’s packed with storage compartments, including 18 RFID-protected card slips, two zip pockets, multiple slip pockets and a removable checkbook cover with a clear ID window.
What you should consider: It’s best used as a wallet rather than a go-bag. Larger phones may not fit inside. A few customers received damaged bags.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Vera Bradley Mini Hipster Crossbody Purse
What you need to know: This mini bag is a great choice for dates and weekend excursions.
What you’ll love: Its storage options include six card slips, a slip pocket, a zipper pocket and an ID pocket with a clear window. The strap is 56 inches long at max but is adjustable. It has RFID protection and comes in both mono-color and patterned designs.
What you should consider: A few purchasers had issues with zippers getting stuck or breaking off. Others reported the card slots being large enough for cards to slip out.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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Which Halloween decorations are best?
Spooky season is right around the corner. It’s time to start thinking about what you’re going to transform your home into. You can go with a classic design such as a haunted graveyard or a spider’s nest, or you can go in the opposite decoration and choose something lesser known. Whatever you decide, remember that creative application of discount decor is just as effective as expensive and detailed decorations.
What to know before you buy Halloween decorations
Indoor vs. outdoor Halloween decorations
Most Halloween decorations are meant for use inside or outside, though some can be used in both cases. Examples of indoor decorations include lights that aren’t weatherproof, wall stickies and mantel decorations. Examples of outdoor decorations include weatherproof lights, faux spiderwebs and lawn ornaments.
Halloween vs. fall decorations
Decorations for the Halloween time of year usually stick to a Halloween theme. This means imagery such as witches, undead monsters and plenty of bats. But many don’t celebrate or observe Halloween and still want to get in the spirit of the season. For them, there are decorations involving maple leaves, pumpkins and turkeys to get ahead of the Thanksgiving curve.
The best indoor Halloween decorations to buy
This comes with two 20-foot strings that contain 40 LED maple leaf lights each. The leaves come in all orange or half orange and half red. They’re perfect for setting a spooky fall atmosphere without being cliche.
Sold by Amazon
Dromance Flameless Flickering Candles
This set of three LED candles comes in three collections, runs on AAA batteries and has a timer to shut them off after six hours. They’re made of wax instead of plastic for a more authentic look.
Sold by Amazon
GenSwin Halloween Flameless Candles
This set of six candles can change between 12 colors via a remote that can also set a four- or eight-hour auto-off timer. Each candle has a unique skull face design and each can be set to its own color.
Sold by Amazon
Oriental Cherry Floating Candles
This set of 12 candles comes with transparent hooks and thin, clear strings to project the illusion of floating. A remote is included so you don’t have to keep taking them down and putting them back up.
Sold by Amazon
There are five collections of portraits to choose from, some of which are 3D and change from normal to scary as you move, while others are static and scary. Some sets include 12, while others include six.
Sold by Amazon
Lansian Halloween 3D Changing Pictures
These pictures change as you walk to spook your unsuspecting guests. There are four sets, three of which include three pictures, while the fourth includes six pictures.
Sold by Amazon
This set of creepy cloth is perfect for adding an air of spookiness to anything in your home. It comes in black, white, a mix of black and white and bloodstained white.
Sold by Amazon
Dazonge Indoor Halloween Decorations
This set includes 41 pieces of various spooktastic decorations including bats, several types of cloth and all-black flowers. The pieces are tough enough to be reused for next year, barring an accident.
Sold by Amazon
This set includes a massive 96 bats. There are 16 smalls, 48 mediums, 16 larges and 16 extra-larges. The sticky stuff included to apply them doesn’t leave a residue behind and is easy to peel off come season’s end.
Sold by Amazon
Kkeatoy Halloween Gnome Decorations
This set of four elf-on-a-shelf-like gnomes are perfect for decorating with your children while they’re young enough to be scared by spookier goods. Two have no legs and two have long legs.
Sold by Amazon
The best outdoor Halloween decorations to buy
This comes with two banners to frame your door. There are four sets to choose from: two are generic fall-themed and two are Halloween-themed. They measure 70 inches by 13 inches.
Sold by Amazon
Joyin Bendable Tree Wrap Ghosts
The ways this two-pack of bendy ghosts can be employed is limited only to your imagination, and buying multiple sets can open up even more terror-ific options. They’re weatherproof so there’s no need to take them down before a storm.
Sold by Amazon
This motion-activated zombie is a great candidate for hiding near your door, as its lights and sounds are sure to catch the unsuspecting off guard. It runs on three AAA batteries.
Sold by Amazon
There are three sets of these tombstones to choose from. Two have five stones and a black cat and one has only five stones. All three sets include stakes to keep them in place.
Sold by Amazon
Grab a few of these motion-activated mummies and no child will dare approach your door come Halloween night. The eyes glow, the mummy moans and it comes with 20 mini spiders you can deploy as you please.
Sold by Amazon
This comes with 900 square feet of webbing and 30 spiders so you can turn your yard into an arachnophobe’s living nightmare. It’s easy to stretch without tearing.
Sold by Amazon
Sizonjoy Giant Light-Up Spider
What better topper to your yard of webbing than this giant light-up spider? The legs can be bent as you please and a loop on its back lets you hang it from the air.
Sold by Amazon
Eambrite String Lights With Spooky Music Motion Sensor
The string is 82 feet long and has 200 lights. The music box can detect motion up to 26 feet away and at a 150-degree angle for a total coverage of 885 square feet.
Sold by Amazon
Funpeny Hanging Witch Hat String Lights
There are eight hats on the string that alternate between orange and purple. There are 10 brightness levels and eight lighting modes. It can be set to turn off automatically after six or 18 hours.
Sold by Amazon
Kyekio Halloween LED Tiki Torches
This 12-pack of torches glow and flicker with purple faux-flame and are 20.6 inches from tip to tip. The spike is roughly 5 inches long, so the torches peak up roughly 15 inches from the ground.
Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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| 2022-09-20T21:15:36Z
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Which ferret food is best?
Ferrets are fun, energetic pets that require special considerations some owners may overlook. From toys to treats, it’s important to understand these creatures’ habits and needs to ensure that you provide your pet with the best care.
To keep your ferret vibrant and healthy, you need to feed it a quality diet. Thankfully, it has become easier to find food that is formulated specifically for it.
Marshall Premium Ferret Diet is the best choice for most ferrets, thanks to its high nutritional content, meat-based ingredients and tasty flavor.
What to know before you buy ferret food
The ferret diet
While many animals can eat a wide range of foods, ferrets are obligate carnivores. This means that they eat meat exclusively and cannot survive without food that is rich in meat-based protein. Their bodies are unable to derive nutrition from fruits, legumes or vegetables.
Food availability
Ferrets have fast metabolisms and short digestive tracts. Because of this, they need to eat every three to four hours. Food should be kept available to them at all times to make sure they can snack as needed. While other animals such as dogs may immediately devour any food available to them, there is little risk of your ferret overeating and becoming obese.
Dry food vs. wet food
Dry food is ideal because it can be left in your ferret’s cage without the danger of spoilage associated with canned alternatives. Because ferrets can be destructively playful, dry food also prevents your pet from making a mess of itself if its wrestling sends it tumbling into the food dish.
Your ferret’s age
Senior and baby ferrets can sometimes find it hard to chew dry food. Instead of opting for perishable canned food, add a small amount of water to your pet’s kibble to soften it.
What to look for in a quality ferret food
Animal-based protein
Protein makes up the bulk of a healthy ferret’s diet. Select food that has at least 30%-40% protein and is animal-based. The first ingredient in any quality ferret kibble should be whole meat such as chicken, beef or lamb. Plant-based proteins derived from soy, beans or peas will not give your pet the nutrients it requires and are to be avoided.
Fat
Fat is a critical energy source for ferrets, as their bodies don’t efficiently process carbohydrates. Your ferret’s food should contain 20% to 30% fat. Omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids are required by your pet and premium food will provide these nutrients in the form of chicken fat.
Vitamins and minerals
Specialty ferret foods that meet their requirements with regard to fat and protein content will already contain the vitamins and minerals that your pet needs. Supplements shouldn’t be necessary except in cases of illness.
Grain and plant-based ingredients
Most ferret foods use small amounts of grain or plant-based ingredients as binding agents. This is a filler that your pet will gain no nutritional benefit from, so reject any foods that contain it in large amounts. There are foods available that contain no grains whatsoever that closely resemble a ferret’s natural diet, but they are expensive and hard to find.
Kibble texture
Ferrets aren’t particularly picky eaters, so it’s up to you to determine what kind of kibble shape and texture to give your pet. Crunchy food will keep your ferret’s teeth clean, so avoid food that is too crumbly or soft. Older ferrets may have difficulty chewing especially hard food pieces, however, so keep your pet’s age and health in mind.
How much you can expect to spend on ferret food
Protein-rich ferret food generally costs $15-$30 per 5-pound bag.
Ferret food FAQ
Can my ferret eat cat food?
A. While cat and kitten food used to be recommended for ferrets, new research has determined that a special ferret diet is a much healthier choice.
What can I feed my ferret as a treat?
A. Small pieces of cooked egg or raw meat are ideal ferret treats. Pet food manufacturers also offer packaged treats. Avoid sugar, dairy, dog treats, spices and any human foods, as these can be harmful to your pet.
Can ferrets eat fish?
A. Fish, especially salmon, is a great source of both protein and fatty acids. However, it should be given sparingly. A diet high in fish oil can make your already fragrant companion unpleasantly smelly.
What’s the best ferret food to buy?
Top ferret food
What you need to know: Chicken is the first ingredient in this nutritionally rich ferret kibble.
What you’ll love: With no less than 38% crude protein, this food’s animal-based ingredients and fatty acids keep your pet healthy and its coat shiny. Low-temperature processing ensures that this food maintains its nutritional value.
What you should consider: This food is pricier than those offered by competing brands.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon, PetSmart and Chewy
Top ferret food for the money
Kaytee Forti-Diet Pro Health Ferret Food
What you need to know: This ferret food is affordable but still packed with protein.
What you’ll love: This kibble features a wide range of shapes and textures to keep mealtime interesting. Three of its four top ingredients are poultry-based.
What you should consider: This food has more filler in it than more expensive options.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Wysong Epigen 90 Dry Ferret Food
What you need to know: This food is loaded with quality ingredients that provide ferrets with specialized nutrition to aid in digestion.
What you’ll love: With a whopping 62% of crude protein, this ferret kibble comes close to feeding your pet a meat diet. It’s also high in fat and includes organic chicken as its second ingredient.
What you should consider: Some ferrets dislike the flavor of this food formula and refuse to eat it.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
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Derek Walborn writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved.
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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina made their 325th career start together on Wednesday night, setting a major league record for most as a battery.
The St. Louis duo eclipsed the regular-season mark of 324 by the Detroit Tigers pair of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan from 1963-1975.
Wainwright and Molina received a standing ovation from the crowd at Busch Stadium as they walked from the bullpen to the dugout prior the game against Milwaukee.
“A lot has taken place in that time span and that’s why I think this record is pretty darn cool,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said before the game. “I don’t see anyone coming close to ever reaching it again.”
Towels with the No. 325 were given out to fans as they entered the ballpark.
Wainwright threw a first-pitch strike to Christian Yelich to begin the game. Highlights from the career of both players were displayed on the scoreboard after the opening inning as the NL Central leaders hosted the Brewers.
Wainwright and Molina made their first start together on April 6, 2007, in Houston. Wainwright recorded a 4-2 win, the first of his 212 victories with Molina behind the plate.
The 40-year-old Molina has indicated he will retire at the end of this season. The 41-year-old Wainwright has yet to make a decision on his future.
The next active pair behind Wainwright and Molina is the Chicago Cubs battery of Kyle Hendricks and Willson Contreras, who have 105 starts together.
Wainwright has thrown 2,136 of his 2,548 innings (83.8 percent) to Molina. He and Molina have teamed up to record 1,812 strikeouts.
Only six current major league players – Albert Pujols, Nelson Cruz, Miguel Cabrera, Zack Greinke, Rich Hill and Justin Verlander were active when Wainwright and Molina made their first start together.
Wainwright and Molina are best friends off the field as well. Wainwright introduced Molina to NHL hockey. The pair attended several games together during the St. Louis Blues’ run to the Stanley Cup championship in 2019.
Wainwright and his family celebrated Thanksgiving at the Molina residence in Puerto Rico in November.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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BERLIN (AP) — Luka Doncic and Slovenia roared back from a 23-point deficit, and looked as if they were well on their way to a berth in the EuroBasket semifinals.
Poland had other ideas — and in an absolute shocker, EuroBasket will have a new champion.
Mateusz Ponitka had 26 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists, and Poland beat Slovenia 90-87 to move into the semifinals of the European championships for the first time since 1971.
Vlatko Cancar led Slovenia with 21 points, and Goran Dragic scored 17.
Doncic was held to 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting, though he added 11 rebounds and seven assists. The Dallas Mavericks star needed an injection to get through the game and has been dealing with injuries throughout the tournament, he said.
“But that’s not the reason,” Doncic said. “Today I played terrible. I let my team down. I let the whole country who was supporting us down. I’ve got to look at this game and be better.”
Poland led by 23 late in the second quarter and carried a 58-39 lead into halftime, but Slovenia got within one with a 24-6 run in the third quarter.
Dragic scored to start the fourth and put Slovenia on top, and the lead was 73-68 on a jumper by Klemen Prepelic with 6:58 left.
Poland outscored Slovenia 21-7 over the next six minutes, and held on in the final seconds.
A.J. Slaughter and Michal Sokolowski each scored 16 for Poland, which got 14 from Jaroslaw Zyskowski and 11 from Aleksander Balcerowski.
“Amazing,” Sokolowski said. “And now we can’t stop. … We dreamed about a medal at the beginning. Right now it’s closer, but we don’t have it yet. I want to reach it.”
FRANCE 93, ITALY 85
France pulled off a wild rally at the end of regulation, then carried that momentum into a spot in the EuroBasket semifinals.
Thomas Heurtel scored 20 points, Rudy Gobert had 19 points and 14 rebounds, and France found a way to get past Italy 93-85 in a quarterfinal game on Wednesday.
France was down by seven with 1:59 left in regulation, and that was when it started on what became a 25-10 run to finish the contest.
It was France’s second consecutive fourth-quarter rally and overtime win, after needing the same formula to get past Turkey in the round of 16 on Saturday.
“I don’t really believe in luck,” Gobert said. “Tonight, we could have given up, once again, but we got the baskets we needed.”
Next up for France: Poland on Friday for a berth in the title game. The other half of the semifinal bracket was set Tuesday: Germany will play Spain, also on Friday.
Gobert started the game-ending burst with a dunk to get his team within 75-70.
Italy had a chance to potentially seal the game with 16 seconds left, up by two, but Simone Fontecchio missed a pair of free throws. It was another eerie resemblance to Saturday, when Cedi Osman, with Turkey up by two, missed two free throws with 12.2 seconds left to extend France’s hopes.
Heurtel’s layup tied the game with 5.2 seconds left in regulation. France trailed only once in overtime, for just 23 seconds, and Evan Fournier’s floater with 3:29 left put his team ahead for good.
Fournier scored 17 for France, which got 15 from Guerschon Yabusele and 13 from Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.
“Congratulations to France,” Italy coach Gianmarco Pozzecco said. “They never gave up.”
Fontecchio and Marco Spissu each had 21 points for Italy, which was seeking its first trip to the EuroBasket semifinals since winning bronze in 2003.
Luigi Datome scored 12 and Nicolo Melli added 10 for Italy, which trailed by as many as 11 in the early going but outscored France 31-18 in the third quarter and led by as many as eight early in the fourth.
“What can I say? Very painful, of course,” Datome said. “Very, very painful. But I’m so proud of my teammates.”
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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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| 2022-09-20T21:15:59Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The athletic directors who lead the schools that play Division I college football at the highest level want the sport to continue be governed by the NCAA — if that governance can be streamlined.
LEAD1, an association of Football Bowl Subdivision ADs, convened 105 of its 131 members Wednesday for a meeting that focused mostly on how best to govern major college football.
There has been some momentum in the past year to seriously explore breaking FBS away from the NCAA and creating another structure to run the biggest revenue generator in college sports.
For now, though, the preference is for reform within the current structure.
“At the end of the day, it was very clear that the status quo is not acceptable,” said LEAD1 President and CEO Tom McMillen, the former Maryland basketball star and congressman. “And that there was a strong, very strong, preference for a model in the NCAA that is extremely streamlined and much less bureaucratic.”
McMillen added: “And if that can’t be accomplished, move it to the outside.”
McMillen did not detail what a more efficient governing model for major college football would entail.
He said LEAD1 planned to gather ideas cultivated at Wednesday’s meeting and share them with NCAA officials in a letter.
“We’re a facilitator. We’re not the decision-maker,” McMillen said. “We recommend. That’s really the extent of what we can do.”
The NCAA is in the midst of what college sports leaders hope will be an overhaul of the way Division I is structured and governed.
The Division I Transformation Committee was formed last year and has been meeting regularly for months. It is led by Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey and Ohio athletic director Julie Cromer, who is also a member of LEAD1.
“Certainly the debate today has been helpful,” Cromer said. “I think we’ll use this feedback in our transformation committee work.”
The Transformation Committee has already handed down proposals related to transfer rules and how NCAA enforcement operates as part of phase one of its work. A set of those proposals were approved last month.
Phase two is in progress, with membership requirements for schools, student-athlete benefits, access to championship events and revenue distribution at the core of the discussions.
“I think there exists some frustration with the lack of responsibility and the ability to be nimble and specific to our needs in football, within the current decision-making structure,” Cromer said of the FBS ADs.
As the NCAA’s role in governance is deemphasized, and more power is handed down to conferences and schools, it seemed a perfect time for a re-assessment of how major college football operates to many athletic directors.
The NCAA has limited involvement over FBS compared to the rest of Division I sports. The conferences run the College Football Playoff and share the hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue it generates with no NCAA involvement.
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith has suggested the College Football Playoff could become the governing body for major college football.
“Nothing about its current constitution would support that,” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbick told The Associated Press last month. “So you can change it to play that role. But it’s not set up to do it now.”
One of the concerns about moving away from the NCAA would be the need to create a new, similar organization.
McMillen said the NCAA spends about $65 million per year on administrative and insurance costs.
“That does not include any kind of extraordinary costs or legal,” McMillen said. ”As you know, the NCAA is the legal shield. They take a lot of the front load.”
The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, an independent group of former and current college administrators that advocates for an emphasis on education in college sports, proposed in 2020 separating FBS from the rest of NCAA sports.
Sankey has said he is adamantly against the Knight Commission’s proposal, in large part because he doesn’t like the idea of compartmentalizing one sport within an athletic department.
Sankey attended the LEAD1 meeting to give the ADs an update on the Transformation Committee’s work.
He said he also shared with the ADs his skepticism for the effectiveness of an FBS breakaway from the NCAA. He said he understands the desire for change.
“And given the distinctions around football, there are those who view that as a relevant point of change,” Sankey said. “But then the why, the outcomes, those have to be much further developed.”
___
Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com
___
More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://bit.ly/3pqZVaF
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| 2022-09-20T21:16:06Z
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GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy (AP) — For Rory McIlroy, it’s a flat-out “no.”
U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick is open to having LIV Golf players on Europe’s team at next year’s Ryder Cup, because, as he said, “I just want to make sure that we win.”
Europe captain Luke Donald, meanwhile, is toeing the official tour line when he says he’s in “limbo” waiting for the conflict to be decided in the courts.
As several of Europe’s top players prepare to play this week’s Italian Open on the Marco Simone course outside Rome that will host next year’s Ryder Cup, the pre-tournament discussion has been about who should and who should not be included on the 2023 team.
“I have said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: I don’t think any of those guys should be on the Ryder Cup team,” McIlroy said Wednesday of the players who have joined the Saudi-backed breakaway series.
Litigation is ongoing on both sides of the Atlantic involving the PGA and European tours after LIV golfers were excluded from events, and the divide between the players sticking to the traditional tours and those who have joined the lucrative breakaway series is growing.
But Fitzpatrick, who won his first major title in June, is taking a more neutral stance.
“I just want to win the Ryder Cup. … I want the 11 best guys we can get,” said the Englishman, who lost all three of his matches when the U.S. romped to a record rout in Whistling Straits, Wisconsin, last year. “I’m not really too bothered about where they are going to come from.”
Fitzpatrick even went so far as to reach out to a LIV player at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last week.
“I told him I’d happily have him on the team,” Fitzpatrick said, without naming the player.
Donald was named captain last month after Henrik Stenson was stripped of the title because he joined LIV.
“Nothing that’s really changed since I was appointed,” Donald said. “We’re still a little bit in limbo. We don’t know what’s going to happen with the lawsuit so I’m trying to not really put too much energy into it. Once we get a clearer picture, I can give you better answers.”
While European Ryder Cup stalwarts Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter were among the contingent of LIV golfers competing at Wentworth, none of those high-profile names came to Italy.
“I had already committed to playing in this event before Luke was the captain and it was someone else,” McIlroy said, refusing to mention Stenson by name again.
“I’ve had discussions with Luke and actually a few of us are meeting for dinner tonight for a little bit of team bonding but also to have a talk about the course and how we think it should be set up to favor the European team.”
Located a half-hour drive from the center of Rome — without traffic — the course owned and run by fashion designer Lavinia Biagiotti Cigna features hilly terrain which should lend itself to a stadium-like setting suited for the Ryder Cup.
“You’ve got two drivable par 4s (Nos. 11 and 16), you’ve got a few holes with water and you’ve got that wonderful closing hole which could be really exciting,” McIlroy said of the back nine.
The only time McIlroy previously played in Italy came when he won the European amateur championship in 2006 in the northern town of Biella.
“So I’ve got a 100% record in this country and I’d like to keep that going,” he said.
McIlroy has been enjoying strolling around Rome with family, especially since his wife once studied in the city for seven months “and she knows her way around.”
McIlroy and his teammates’ main order of business, however, is strategizing how to reduce the gap from that 19-9 whipping by the U.S. in Wisconsin.
“The European team has a core of six or seven guys that I think we all know are pretty much going to be on that team, and then it’s up to some of the younger guys to maybe step up,” McIlroy said. “I think we were in need of a rebuild anyway. We did well with the same guys for a very long time but everything comes to an end at some point. I think Whistling Straits is a good sort of demarcation.”
Donald is paired with rising Italian Guido Migliozzi and Adrian Meronk, the Polish player who won the Irish Open in July, for the opening two rounds this week.
Then there’s Nicolai Højgaard, the 21-year-old Dane who won at Marco Simone last year a week after his identical twin brother, Rasmus, won the European Masters in Switzerland .
Vice captain Thomas Bjørn is in a group with the 24-year-old Norwegian Viktor Hovland, who is No. 11 in the world golf rankings.
“I’m excited to see their games,” Donald said. “I’ll be keeping my eye on some of the younger, exciting talent to try to make this team.”
Then there’s Francesco Molinari, the hero of Europe’s victory in 2018, who’s looking to return to the team after missing 2021 because of back issues. He’s coming off a top-10 finish at Wentworth.
“Having an Italian on the team would be huge,” McIlroy said.
Molinari said the issues with LIV will take a back seat come the Sept. 29-Oct. 1 event next year.
“The Ryder Cup is such a big, important and fantastic event that I don’t think it will be damaged at all by the conflict,” Molinari said. “Even if the situation isn’t resolved, I think that for that week everyone’s attention will be on the Ryder Cup.”
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More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf
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| 2022-09-20T21:16:13Z
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OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — When Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens faced Miami in November, it was as discombobulated as they looked all season.
The culprit was the Dolphins’ blitz-heavy defensive scheme — and that game is again on Baltimore’s mind as the Ravens prepare to host Miami this weekend.
The Dolphins have a new coach, so they may not defend Jackson exactly the same way, but there’s no denying the effectiveness of their approach last season. Miami won 22-10, becoming the first team in 52 games to hold Baltimore under 14 points. It ended up being the Ravens’ lowest point total of the season.
“They just caught us off guard really,” Jackson said. “We haven’t really went over defenses doing all-up Zero against us, like just all-up, flat-out Zero. I feel we have an answer for it this year. We watch film, watched a lot of film on those guys, because we don’t want it to happen again.”
It wasn’t just that Miami blitzed a lot — on 30 of Jackson’s 50 dropbacks, according to Pro Football Focus. The aggressiveness of the Dolphins’ Cover Zero scheme seemed to rattle the Ravens, who weren’t able to make Miami pay with big plays.
“Other teams did Zero, but it was just the way they did it that kind of affected us,” Jackson said.
Short completions did little to deter the Dolphins from sending extra pass rushers. Jackson, normally such a threat to run because of his elusiveness, was sacked four times and ran for only 39 yards on nine carries. At some point, even he can’t escape if he’s under too much pressure from too many people at once.
Watching Jackson and the Ravens adjust to the blitz could have been a fascinating subplot to the second half of last season, but he didn’t have many chances. Because of injury and illness, he only played two full games out of Baltimore’s final eight.
The Ravens did have time during the offseason to work on countering Cover Zero.
“We’d have been negligent if we hadn’t worked on it,” coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s something we need to get a lot better at, and we studied it the whole offseason. We’ll have a plan for it. Hope it works, because these guys are probably the best in the league at doing it.”
Jackson was sharp in Baltimore’s opener last weekend, throwing three touchdown passes in a 24-9 win over the New York Jets. Those TD strikes were 25 and 17 yards to Devin Duvernay, and 55 yards to Rashod Bateman.
“Maybe the first one to Devin, the fade route, out of the bunch would have a chance against a Zero blitz,” Harbaugh said. “The one to Bateman would not. You wouldn’t have enough time to get that off.”
INJURY UPDATES
RB J.K. Dobbins (knee) was a full participant in practice Wednesday. He hasn’t played in more than a season after going down in an exhibition game last year.
FB Patrick Ricard (calf) did not practice, and CB Marcus Peters (knee), T Ronnie Stanley (ankle), DT Travis Jones (knee), WR James Proche (groin) and DB Brandon Stephens (quad) were limited.
The Ravens put T Ja’Wuan James (Achilles) and CB Kyle Fuller (knee) on injured reserve. They were both injured in the Week 1 road game against the Jets.
Earlier this week, Harbaugh cited the artificial turf the Jets play on as a factor in Fuller’s injury, and he discussed it a bit more Wednesday.
“It was a turf field, it was matted down, it was packed down, it was a little tight,” he said. “Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be. I don’t know, but that’s what I saw. It was a little tough.”
FOCUSING ELSEWHERE
Jackson wasn’t about to engage when reporters asked him about talks on a contract extension, which were paused at the start of the season.
“Respectfully, I’m really done talking about it,” he said.
___
Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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| 2022-09-20T21:16:21Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — More than 5,500 minor league baseball players formed a union on Wednesday, completing a lightning-fast organization campaign that launched just 17 days earlier in an effort to boost annual salaries as low as $10,400.
Martin Scheinman, the sport’s independent arbitrator, notified Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association that a majority of the 5,567 players in the minor league bargaining unit had signed union authorization cards since the drive started Aug. 28. He did not provide the sides a specific number.
“This historic achievement required the right group of players at the right moment to succeed,” union head Tony Clark said in a statement. “Minor leaguers have courageously seized that moment, and we look forward to improving their terms and conditions of employment through the process of good faith collective bargaining.”
MLB had agreed Saturday that it would voluntarily accept a union if there was majority support and would not force players to petition the National Labor Relations Board to hold a representation election.
“Major League Baseball has a long history of bargaining in good faith with unions, including those representing minor and major league umpires, and major league players,” the league said in a statement. “Based on the authorization cards gathered, MLB has voluntarily and promptly recognized the MLBPA as the representatives of minor league players. We are hopeful that a timely and fair collective bargaining agreement will be reached.”
Minor leaguers form a separate bargaining unit within the MLBPA, which negotiated its first collective bargaining agreement for big leaguers in 1968 but had until now been uninterested in representing players with minor league deals. Approximately 1,200 major leaguers are covered by the big league agreement, and their average salary has risen from $19,000 in 1967 to more than $4 million this year.
Minor leaguers are expected to choose player representatives who will lead them in bargaining during the offseason. Bruce Meyer, who headed negotiations last winter for a major league agreement, will lead the minor league negotiations, and Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem will be the point man for management. Meyer was promoted to deputy executive director in July.
Harry Marino, who has served as head of Advocates for Minor Leaguers since April 2021, was hired as an MLBPA assistant general counsel.
“For decades, conventional wisdom said it was impossible to unionize the minor leagues,” Marino said in a statement. “Over the past few years, a group of audacious and committed folks came together to prove that wrong.”
MLB raised weekly minimum salaries for minor leaguers in 2021 to $400 at rookie and short-season levels, $500 at Class A, $600 at Double-A and $700 at Triple-A. For players with major league contracts on option to the minors, the minimum is $57,200 per season for a first big league contract and $114,100 for later big league contracts.
In addition, MLB this year began requiring teams to provide housing for most minor leaguers.
“In a multibillion-dollar industry, there is no excuse to pay these players below the poverty line,“ AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement. “By joining together to use their collective voice at the bargaining table, the minor leaguers will be able to advocate for a union contract that will ensure a future with the good pay and benefits they deserve.”
Many amateurs receive large initial signing bonuses: 67 of the top 68 draft picks this year agreed to $1 million or more, and the top 97 picks who signed got more than $690,000 each.
The MLBPA also governs agents for major leaguers, requiring certification and establishing regulations that include prohibitions on payments, gifts and loans to clients. Agents negotiating minor league contracts have been unregulated.
MLB and the big league union have had a contentious relationship that led to nine work stoppages, including a 99-day lockout last winter that delayed the start of this season.
Minor league union dues are likely to be a fraction of big league dues: $85 per day this year over the 182-day season. The union does not represent players in the Dominican Summer League.
Next year’s minor league schedule opens March 31 at Triple-A and April 6 at lower levels, when the minor leaguers’ leverage may be greatest. A strike could lead each team to keep its dozen or so optioned players at training complexes playing makeshift games.
The big league union has represented optioned players since 1981.
MLB and lawyers for minor leaguers agreed this year to a $185 million settlement of an eight-year-old federal lawsuit alleging violations of minimum wage laws, a deal that may be finalized next year. An early estimate is that perhaps 23,000 players could share roughly $120 million with an average payment of $5,000 to $5,500, and their lawyers will split $55.5 million.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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| 2022-09-20T21:16:28Z
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — More than 121 million fans watched a telecast of an NFL game during the league’s opening week, a 5% increase over last season.
The league and Nielsen also said on Wednesday that the average viewership for all games was 18.5 million, the best opening weekend in six years and up 3% from last year.
A record seven Week 1 games were decided by three points or fewer and five came down to a game-winning score either in the final two minutes of regulation or overtime.
NBC had the two most-watched games. Tampa Bay’s 19-3 win over Dallas Sunday night averaged 24.5 million and last Thursday’s opening game, in which Buffalo routed the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams 31-10, attracted 21.3 million.
Russell Wilson’s return to Seattle and the Seahawks’ 17-16 narrow victory over Denver averaged 19.8 million across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. That is the most-watched Monday night game since New Orleans faced New England in 2009 (21.4 million). It’s also the fourth-biggest audience since ESPN took over “Monday Night Football” in 2006.
Minnesota’s 23-7 win over Green Bay averaged 18.5 million on Fox, and was the most-viewed during the late Sunday afternoon window. Fox’s doubleheader numbers were up 11% over last season, with an average of 15.4 million for its six games.
CBS had the most-watched early game, with Pittsburgh’s 23-20 overtime victory at Cincinnati averaging 17.5 million. CBS had seven games on Sunday and its doubleheader averaged 17.0 million, the network’s third-most watched Week 1 since 1998.
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More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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| 2022-09-20T21:16:35Z
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A new Politico-Morning Consult survey shows Americans are closely split on which political party they trust more on hot-button topics such as gun control, energy and inflation ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The poll, published on Tuesday, found that 43 percent of respondents said they trust Democrats more on energy issues, compared to 39 percent for Republicans.
Forty-four percent of respondents believe that Democrats are better suited to handle education, compared to 39 who trust Republicans more.
And on gun control, 44 percent of respondents said they have more trust in Democrats, compared to 41 percent who trust Republicans more.
Respondents also showed more faith in Democrats on voting rights — 46 percent to 39 percent for Republicans.
On inflation, however, 46 percent of respondents said they trust Republicans more to tackle the problem, compared to 36 percent who chose Democrats.
The poll comes as Democrats are seeing reason for optimism heading into November, despite ongoing inflation and historic midterm headwinds facing the party in the White House. President Biden’s poll numbers have improved of late, and Democrats have won a series of recent legislative victories.
Republicans are also growing more concerned that President Trump could be a drag in tight midterm races that will determine the majorities in the House and Senate.
The Politico-Morning Consult poll was conducted from September 16-18 with a total of 2,005 respondents participating in the survey. The poll’s margin of error is 2 percentage points.
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| 2022-09-20T21:16:39Z
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Scoop: McConnell-aligned super PAC pulls out of Arizona
The Mitch McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund is canceling $9.6 million in television ads for the Arizona Senate race, confident that other outside conservative groups will make up much of the difference for Republican nominee Blake Masters.
Why it matters: The cancellations mean that the GOP's leading super PAC won't be spending any money in Arizona, one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. Its allied nonprofit arm spent several millions in the state on issue ads over the summer.
State of play: Other GOP-aligned super PACs, including one affiliated with the conservative Heritage Action for America super PAC, will be making up some of the difference. The Sentinel Action Fund will be spending $3.5 million on television ads and another $1.5 million on voter outreach, according to Politico.
- A super PAC funded by billionaire Peter Thiel is spending $1.68 million on behalf of Masters. Thiel, however, hasn't donated any of his own money to the super PAC since the Republican primary. Thiel is holding a private fundraiser for Masters at his California home at the end of September, according to CNBC.
- According to a GOP ad tracker, other Republican groups spending money include the Trump-affiliated super PAC Our American Century ($1 million); the National Republican Senatorial Committee ($887,000), the Club for Growth ($330,000) and Restoration PAC ($100,000).
The big picture: Despite Arizona's battleground status, many Republican officials have been wary about Masters' prospects against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
- Masters is trailing Kelly in public polling, and Republican internal surveys have his unfavorability ratings unusually high for a first-time candidate.
- Most of the outside funding for Masters' campaign will now be coming from ideologically aligned groups, not those directly invested in a Republican Senate majority.
By the numbers: SLF was planning to spent $9.6 million on television ads in Arizona. So far, the outside groups have made up about $7.5 million of that total.
What they're saying: "We’re glad to see Republican outside forces showing up in a big way in Arizona, with millions in new spending pledged to take down Mark Kelly in the final stretch," Senate Leadership Fund President Steven Law told Axios.
Reality check: Even though the McConnell-aligned super PAC isn't spending money in Arizona, McConnell is hosting a fundraiser for Masters on Wednesday, according to Punchbowl News. That would mark the second fundraiser McConnell has held for Masters, who repeatedly criticized the Republican leader during the primary.
The bottom line: SLF will be reallocating the money intended for Arizona into three different states — Georgia, New Hampshire and Nevada. "This allows us to pursue offensive opportunities, maximize our investment in existing commitments, and concentrate our efforts to win the Senate majority," Law said.
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| 2022-09-20T21:16:40Z
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Nashville Predators announced Ronda Engelhardt will become a North American amateur scout based out of Minnesota, the first female scout hired by the team.
The hiring of Engelhardt on Wednesday comes a day after the Calgary Flames added Rebecca Johnston for a player development role and the Seattle Kraken promoted Alexandra Mandrycky to assistant general manager after three years as director of hockey strategy and research.
Engelhardt has been head coach of the Premier Hockey Federation’s Minnesota Whitecaps the past four seasons and won the Isobel Cup in 2019. The native of Roseville, Minnesota, was a U.S. women’s national team player and captain at the University of Minnesota in 2002-03.
She previously was an assistant hockey coach at Division III St. Thomas and the girls high school head coach at the Breck School in Minnesota.
General manager David Poile also announced Sebastian Bordeleau has joined coach John Hynes’ staff as a skills coach. Nathan Gerbe was hired to replace Bordeleau as the Predators’ forward development coach, working with assistant general manager Scott Nichol evaluating Nashville’s prospects.
Former NHL player Brett Carson has joined assistant general manager Jeff Kealty’s staff as a North American Amateur Scout for the western part of the United States and Canada. Jason Nordby is the Predators’ new assistant strength and conditioning coach after 17 seasons as strength coach with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals.
Michael Bingham joins the Predators’ equipment staff as a coordinator, and Jon Sherman was hired as hockey operations coordinator and analyst.
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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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| 2022-09-20T21:16:41Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver was likely spared even stronger sanctioning by the NBA for his racist, misogynistic and hostile words and actions because of one key conclusion by investigators, Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday.
The law firm that spent nearly a year digging into the situation determined Sarver’s use of slurs “was not motivated by racial animus.”
Had that not been the case, Silver indicated, Sarver’s punishment — a one-year suspension and $10 million fine — would have been far more severe.
“It was relevant,” Silver said after the league’s Board of Governors meetings concluded. “I think if they had made findings that, in fact, his conduct was motivated by racial animus, absolutely that would have had an impact on on the ultimate outcome here. But that’s not what they found.”
And that, to Silver, is one of the key distinctions between the Sarver case and the one surrounding then-Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling in 2014, when he was banned for life and fined $2.5 million for racist comments.
Some players, Silver said, have reached out to him to voice concerns. Silver said he would keep the details of those conversations private.
But LeBron James — obviously, one of the league’s most prominent player voices ever — took his concerns public Wednesday night, tweeting that the NBA did not go far enough with Sarver.
“I gotta be honest…Our league definitely got this wrong,” James tweeted to his 52 million followers. “I don’t need to explain why. Y’all read the stories and decide for yourself. I said it before and I’m gonna say it again, there is no place in this league for that kind of behavior.
“I love this league and I deeply respect our leadership. But this isn’t right. There is no place for misogyny, sexism, and racism in any work place. Don’t matter if you own the team or play for the team. We hold our league up as an example of our values and this aint it,” he wrote.
Suns point guard Chris Paul echoed James’ sentiment later Wednesday.
“Like many others, I reviewed the report,” Paul wrote on social media. “I was and am horrified and disappointed by what I read. This conduct especially towards women is unacceptable and must never be repeated. … I am of the view that the sanctions fell short in truly addressing what we can all agree was atrocious behavior. My heart goes out to all of the people that were affected.”
The NBA had the option of giving Sarver a longer ban than the one-year suspension. The $10 million fine was the maximum allowable, as was the case with Sterling’s $2.5 million fine eight years ago; NBA rules on maximum fines were changed in 2019.
Another reason Silver, who was the ultimate decider of the penalty in this case, stopped short of suspending Sarver for longer or even banning him: He said he took into account a number of anonymous details that could not be revealed in the investigative report that was published Tuesday, along with other elements of Sarver’s actions in his 18 years owning the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
“There were these terrible things,” Silver said. “There are also many, many people with very positive things to say about him through this process. And ultimately, I took all of that into account in making the decision that the one-year suspension plus the fine was appropriate.”
A 10-month investigation into Sarver’s behavior confirmed he had used racist language, made sexually inappropriate comments, left some employees — male and female — feeling uncomfortable with his words and actions, and took part in what would be considered workplace bullying.
“Indefensible is not strong enough,” Silver said.
But the league did not have discussions about removing Sarver as owner during the Board of Governors meetings. Silver permanently banned Sterling after tapes of him making racist comments were leaked to TMZ in a move that started the process of Sterling being forced to sell the franchise.
“This case is very different,” Silver said. “It’s not that one was captured on tape and the other isn’t. … Mr. Sarver ultimately acknowledged his behavior.”
Sarver did, and issued an apology Tuesday, though noted he did not agree with all of the report’s findings.
Silver was asked about how most employees of any company would likely face firings if they were to use racial slurs or partake in lewd actions or comments in the way that the investigation showed that Sarver did.
“It’s hard to make those comparisons to somebody who commits an inappropriate act in the workplace in somewhat of an anonymous fashion versus what is a huge public issue now around this person,” Silver said. “There’s no neat answer here, other than the rights that come with owning an NBA team, how that is set up within our Constitution. What it would take to remove that team from his control is a very involved process, and it’s different than holding a job. It just is. When you actually own a team, it’s just a very different proposition.”
A difference between the Sterling and Sarver cases is this: Sarver cooperated with the league’s investigation and Sterling, in many ways, did not. Sterling wound up suing the NBA for $1 billion in federal court after his lifetime ban was announced, saying his constitutional rights were violated.
The report said Sarver “repeated or purported to repeat the N-word on at least five occasions spanning his tenure with the Suns.”
“However, the investigation does not find that Sarver’s conduct in any of these instances was motivated by racial animus,” the report read, adding that investigators made “no finding that Sarver used this racially insensitive language with the intent to demean or denigrate.”
The Sterling investigation — from when the audio tapes of him making racist remarks to a girlfriend were released, to Silver’s announcement of the lifetime ban — took three days. The Sarver probe took 100 times longer, involved more than 320 interviews and the review of more than 80,000 documents and other materials.
Both investigations were handled by the same New York-based firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz. Attorney David Anders led both probes.
Sarver will be welcomed back in 2023, though Silver made clear that his words and actions going forward will be highly scrutinized.
“I don’t have the right to take away his team,” Silver said. “I don’t want to rest on that legal point because of course there could be a process to take away someone’s team in this league. It’s very involved, and I ultimately made the decision that it didn’t rise to that level. But to me, the consequences are severe here on Mr. Sarver.”
Sarver’s punishment is also similar to others levied in past high-profile examples of wrongdoing, either words, actions or both.
In 1993, then-Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott was fined $25,000 and suspended one year for making “racially and ethnically offensive remarks.” And last year, the NFL fined the Washington Commanders $10 million, plus investigative fees, after a probe found the team’s workplace environment for women was, in the words of Commissioner Roger Goodell, “highly unprofessional” — but stopped short of suspending owner Daniel Snyder.
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More AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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The NFL’s investigation into Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder is still ongoing, and his status remains unchanged.
League executive Jeff Miller said Wednesday there’s no timeline for completion of Mary Jo White’s investigation, which includes new allegations stemming from a congressional committee probe into the team’s history of workplace misconduct.
When former employees of Washington’s NFL team first complained in 2020 about rampant sexual harassment by team executives, the team hired attorney Beth Wilkinson’s firm to investigate. The league took over that probe and Wilkinson reported her findings to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The NFL fined Snyder $10 million and he temporarily ceded day-to-day operations of the franchise to his wife, Tanya. Wilkinson’s findings have not been released publicly, and leaders of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform have pressed the league to turn over details of that probe.
“The Commissioner said it. I think this remains the status quo, then he’ll have a discussion with Dan at the appropriate time. And again, those findings haven’t been made to us yet,” said Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president communications, public affairs & policy.
In July, Snyder testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight for more than 10 hours in a deposition conducted virtually and in private.
Snyder testified a month after Goodell appeared before the committee via Zoom to discuss the Washington team’s workplace culture and the league’s investigation into it. Snyder was invited to testify at the same hearing and, through a lawyer, declined.
The committee launched this investigation last year after the league did not release a written report of Wilkinson’s findings.
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Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter at https://twitter.com/robmaaddi
___
More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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| 2022-09-20T21:17:03Z
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Preseason rest appeared to lead to a little bit of rust in Week 1 for several of the NFL’s top quarterbacks.
More than one-third of the league’s Week 1 starting quarterbacks didn’t play a single snap in the preseason and most of those 11 QBs didn’t play anywhere close to their usual form.
Whether the poor results were a result of rust or other factors isn’t clear but the poor results are. The only QBs to rest the entire preseason and end up on the winning side in Week 1 were Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins, Justin Herbert of the Chargers and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson.
Cousins and Herbert bested two other quarterbacks who rested with the Vikings beating Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay and the Chargers knocking off Derek Carr and the Raiders.
The other resting QBs who lost in Week 1 were Matthew Stafford of the Rams, Arizona’s Kyler Murray, Dallas’ Dak Prescott, Denver’s Russell Wilson, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Tennessee’s Ryan Tannehill.
The 11 QBs combined for an 86.1 passer rating, 6.9 yards per attempt and a touchdown to interception ratio of 1.38. Those were steep drop-offs from 2021 numbers when those QBs posted a 100.4 rating, averaged 7.7 yards per attempt and had a 2.65 TD to INT ratio.
The rough openers from many of the league’s top passers led to a downturn in scoring across the league with the 42.1 combined points per game in Week 1 down from 48 last season and the lowest for Week 1 since 2017, when teams combined for 40.4 points per game.
SUPER BOWL HANGOVER
The Super Bowl teams from last season got off to a not-so-super start to 2022.
The defending champion Los Angeles Rams lost the opener 31-10 to Buffalo and the runner-up Cincinnati Bengals fell 23-20 in overtime to Pittsburgh.
It marked the first time since 1999 when Denver and Atlanta both lost the opener that the two Super Bowl teams began the next season 0-1.
The only other times that happened were: 1996 (Dallas and Pittsburgh), 1988 (Washington and Denver) and 1985 (San Francisco and Miami).
TURNAROUND TEAMS
There were six Week 1 matchups between teams that made the postseason in 2021 and teams that missed the playoffs last season.
Surprisingly, five of those non-playoff teams came out of Week 1 as winners with the New York Giants beating Tennessee, Minnesota topping Green Bay, the Chargers knocking off Las Vegas, Miami beating New England and Chicago toppling San Francisco.
Only Philadelphia ended up on the winning side in that group, beating Detroit 38-35.
The five wins by teams that didn’t make the playoffs the previous seasons against returning playoff teams were the most in Week 1 since it happened seven times in 2005.
WINNING TIME
The Giants comeback win at Tennessee left New York in unfamiliar territory.
For the first time since the end of the 2016 season, the Giants have a winning record. They had lost the opener each season since then and never recovered as their 22-59 record (.272 winning percentage) was tied with the Jets for the worst in the NFL from 2017-21.
Cleveland also did something new, beating Carolina 26-24 to win the season opener for the first time since 2004. The Browns were 0-16-1 in Week 1 from 2005-21 — the longest Week 1 winless streak in NFL history.
Indianapolis ended an eight-year Week 1 losing streak with a 20-20 tie at Houston. But the Colts’ nine straight openers without a win are now tied with Washington (1959-67) and Philadelphia (1968-1976) for the second longest streak in NFL history.
CLOSE CALLS
The bizarre ending to Denver’s 17-16 loss at Seattle on Monday night was the seventh game decided by three points or fewer last week, including the Indianapolis-Houston tie.
That’s the most Week 1 games ever decided by three points or fewer, topping the six close games done five times previously — most recently in 2016.
Five games were decided by a game-winning score in the final 2 minutes of regulation or in overtime, the most in Week 1 since there were six in 2002.
Indianapolis (17-point deficit), New Orleans (16), the Giants (13) and Chicago (10) all overcame double-digit deficits to win or tie, the most double-digit comebacks in Week 1 since there were five in 2002.
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More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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| 2022-09-20T21:17:09Z
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Patrick Mahomes loses sleep preparing for Thursday night games.
Pro Picks had a restless weekend after a rough Week 1.
The rebound begins when Mahomes leads the Kansas City Chiefs (1-0) against Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers (1-0) in the first exclusive Thursday night game on Prime Video. The AFC West showdown is a potential preview of the conference title game, though Buffalo will have its say.
Mahomes has won his past three Thursday night games. How does he get ready for a quick turnaround?
“I think usually I sacrifice the sleep earlier in the week and then as you get closer to the game trying to get back on your sleep schedule and getting your recovery back up there,” he said. “I mean they’re tough. They’re always tough because your body’s not necessarily all the way back to where you want it to be, but you have to find ways to battle through it.”
Herbert is 2-0 at Arrowhead Stadium, though the Chargers faced mostly backups in their win at Kansas City in the 2020 regular-season finale.
“I know that our guys are really excited for this one,” Herbert said. “To be able to play on prime time, ‘Thursday Night Football’, it’s something you always grow up dreaming about. It is a quick week, a short week, but we’re going to do everything we can to get prepared and get our bodies back so that we have a chance on Thursday.”
Mahomes threw five touchdown passes in a 44-21 rout at Arizona to begin the season. He’ll face a tough defense featuring new addition Khalil Mack, who had three sacks and forced a fumble in a 24-19 win over Las Vegas.
“Khalil is a great player,” Mahomes said. “I mean obviously they have (Joey) Bosa already with a lot of other guys that go out there and can rush the passer. They have a good defense everywhere. … I’m just sad Khalil came back, man. I thought he was out of the AFC West, but now he’s back getting sacks again.”
The Chiefs are 4 1/2-point favorites in their home opener, according to FanDuel SportsBook. This should be close.
CHIEFS, 27-26
Chicago (plus 9 1/2) at Green Bay
For the second straight season, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers opened with a thud. The Bears are flying high after an upset over San Francisco. Rodgers is 22-5 vs. Chicago. He’ll get Green Bay back on track in a prime-time matchup Sunday night.
BEST BET: PACKERS 27-13
Minnesota (plus 1 1/2) at Philadelphia
Justin Jefferson shows Eagles fans up close what they’re missing on Monday night with Jalen Reagor, who was drafted ahead of Jefferson by Philadelphia, returning punts for the Vikings.
UPSET SPECIAL: VIKINGS, 27-23
Washington (plus 1 1/2) at Detroit
The Lions nearly overcame a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter against Philadelphia. They should fare better against the Commanders and former Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz.
LIONS, 26-24
New York Jets (plus 5 1/2) at Cleveland
The Browns are looking to start the season 2-0 with Jacoby Brissett filling in for the suspended Deshaun Watson. The Jets are aiming for their first win in September since 2018.
BROWNS, 20-17
Tampa Bay (minus 2 1/2) at New Orleans
The Buccaneers are 0-4 against the Saints in the regular season with Tom Brady, losing to Drew Brees twice, Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill. Of course, Tampa Bay knocked off New Orleans in the 2020 playoffs en route to winning the Super Bowl. Time to get that first win in the regular season.
BUCCANEERS, 24-18
Carolina (plus 2 1/2) at New York Giants
Baker Mayfield fell short in his revenge game against the Browns. If the Panthers gave the ball to Christian McCaffrey and D.J. Moore more, Mayfield would’ve come out on top. He should this week.
PANTHERS, 23-20
New England (minus 1 1/2) at Pittsburgh
Coming off a poor effort in Miami, the Patriots are road favorites against a Steelers team that knocked off the reigning AFC champion Bengals on the road. Oddsmakers believe in Bill Belichick. So do we because T.J. Watt is hurt.
PATRIOTS, 19-17
Indianapolis (minus 4 1/2) at Jacksonville
Doug Pederson lost to Wentz in his first game as Jaguars coach. Now, he faces his former offensive coordinator who helped him lead Philadelphia to a Super Bowl victory with Nick Foles. By the way, Foles joined Frank Reich as Matt Ryan’s backup in Indianapolis.
COLTS, 31-16
Miami (plus 3 1/2) at Baltimore
Lamar Jackson struggled mightily in Miami in a Thursday night game last November. He’ll get rolling this time around.
RAVENS, 24-20
Atlanta (plus 10 1/2) at Los Angeles Rams
The defending Super Bowl champs have the right opponent to get back on the winning side after an embarrassing loss to Buffalo in the kickoff opener.
RAMS, 34-13
Seattle (plus 9 1/2) at San Francisco
The Seahawks get no respect from oddsmakers after spoiling Russell Wilson’s debut with the Broncos. The 49ers are trying to avoid an 0-2 start.
49ERS, 27-17
Cincinnati (minus 7 1/2) at Dallas
Joe Burrow erases the taste of the worst game of his NFL career against a reeling Cowboys team missing Dak Prescott.
BENGALS, 26-16
Houston (plus 9 1/2) at Denver
Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett just needed one game to figure out putting the ball in Russell Wilson’s hands is a better recipe for success.
BRONCOS, 31-17
Arizona (plus 5 1/2) at Las Vegas
Derek Carr and the rest of the offense avoid the mistakes that plagued them in the opener.
RAIDERS, 28-24
Tennessee (plus 9 1/2) at Buffalo
Josh Allen and the high-powered Bills will have a tougher time dominating the Titans than they did in Week 1 vs. the Rams.
BILLS, 30-23
2022 RECORD
Last Week: Straight up: 7-9. Against spread: 6-10.
Season: Straight up: 7-9. Against spread: 6-10.
Best Bet: Straight up: 0-1. Against spread: 0-1
Upset Special: Straight up: 0-1. Against spread: 0-1.
___
Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter at https://twitter.com/robmaaddi
___
More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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| 2022-09-20T21:17:17Z
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CLEVELAND (AP) — José Ramírez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 on Wednesday for their sixth consecutive victory.
Oscar Gonzalez and Andrés Giménez each had three hits as AL Central-leading Cleveland (76-65) moved 11 games over .500 for the first time since September 2020.
With Amed Rosario aboard after a leadoff single, Ramírez drove a 3-1 slider from Ryan Tepera (4-3) deep to right for his 27th homer. The All-Star third baseman also leads the Guardians with 111 RBIs.
“In reality, we’re in a rebuild, but it’s a bit different when you have very talented players that know how to play the game the right way,” Ramírez said. “It’s fun to see them, and as long as we keep playing our way, it’s going to be fun to watch.”
The Guardians opened a four-game lead over the Chicago White Sox, who lost 3-0 to last-place Colorado. The win streak for Cleveland matches a season high.
“Ramírez does a little bit of everything and he’s really tough to pitch to,” Angels interim manager Phil Nevin said. “That’s why I walked him two or three times in this series already, but in that situation, you can’t put the winning run on second in Rosario.”
Trevor Stephan (5-4) recorded three outs for the win, and James Karinchak worked the ninth for his third save. Emmanuel Clase, who has an MLB-best 35 saves, was unavailable after pitching four times in the previous five days.
Luis Rengifo led off the ninth with a double for Los Angeles, but Karinchak retired the next three batters.
“We’re trying not to overdo people, but the way we play, there’s a lot of close games,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “We’re trying to manage about nine different things with our pitching staff.”
Mickey Moniak hit a two-run homer for the Angels, and Mike Trout had an RBI single in their fourth straight loss. Shohei Ohtani went 1 for 4 with an eighth-inning double.
Moniak went deep in the third for his third homer since he was acquired in an Aug. 2 trade with Philadelphia. Moniak was selected by the Phillies with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 amateur draft.
Los Angeles opened a 3-1 lead when Moniak scored on Trout’s base hit in the fifth.
Cleveland got one back in the bottom half when Giménez singled and scored on Austin Hedges’ double-play ball. Giménez singled again in the seventh and scored the tying run on Tyler Freeman’s double off Jimmy Herget.
“There are no better veteran leaders, in my opinion, than the guys in our clubhouse,” Freeman said. “José is a fireball and someone to look up to, and all of them make us feel comfortable on the field or on the bus.”
Cleveland right-hander Cal Quantrill, who is 12-0 in his career at Progressive Field, allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings.
“I know there have been some really special players this year, but José deserves to be in the (MVP) discussion,” Quantrill said. “At least in the discussion at the end of the year.”
Gonzalez opened the scoring with a solo shot in the second for his second homer in two days. The rookie has four homers and 11 RBIs over his last nine games.
Angels starter Patrick Sandoval pitched 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball. The left-hander has not allowed more than two earned runs in eight straight starts.
Los Angeles is 1-21 against the Guardians on the road since 2015, losing 11 straight.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: SS Andrew Velazquez (right knee) will miss the remainder of the season after tearing his right meniscus Tuesday while fielding a Gonzalez grounder. Velazquez was placed on the 10-day injured list and will require surgery.
Guardians: LHP Anthony Gose (left elbow), who has been on the IL since July 3, underwent Tommy John surgery in Dallas. The former Tigers and Blue Jays outfielder was shut down six weeks ago after feeling discomfort in his triceps.
UP NEXT
Angels: RHP Michael Lorenzen (6-6, 4.70 ERA) works the opener of a four-game set Friday against Seattle. Lorenzen went 5 2/3 innings, allowing an earned run, at Houston last week in his return from a two-month absence with a strained right shoulder.
Guardians: RHP Hunter Gaddis (0-1, 21.60 ERA) will be recalled from Triple-A Columbus to start a makeup game Thursday against the White Sox. Gaddis lost his only big league appearance on Aug. 5 against Houston, giving up eight runs in 3 1/3 innings.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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| 2022-09-20T21:17:24Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Josh Sargent, Ricardo Pepi and Jesús Ferreira are in at forward, while Jordan Pefok, Haji Wright and Brandon Vazquez are out.
U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter announced his 26-man roster Wednesday for the Americans’ final two World Cup warmups, and he emphasized time remains for players to move on and off before he reveals his final Cup roster on Nov. 9.
“I know we’re not going to be the most talented team at the World Cup and we’re going to have to compensate for that by being a cohesive unit, by working for each other, fighting for each other and having a great team spirit,” Berhalter said. “So part of it is leaning on guys that have been there before and been around the group before and understand the team culture and understand their teammates extremely well.”
Like Sargent and Pepi, defenders Sergiño Dest, Chris Richards and Sam Vines, and winger Gio Reyna were picked after missing the four previous matches in May and June.
The 13th-ranked Americans face No. 23 Japan on Sept. 23 in Düsseldorf, Germany, and 53rd-ranked Saudi Arabia four days later in Murcia, Spain. Berhalter plans to announce his 26-man roster for the tournament in Qatar five days before the FIFA deadline.
Six players from the late spring games were dropped: defenders George Bello, Erik Palmer-Brown and Antonee Robinson, midfielder Cristian Roldan, winger Tim Weah and Wright.
Robinson, Roldan, Weah and goalkeeper Zack Steffen have been sidelined by injuries.
Other notable omissions included defenders John Brooks, Tim Ream and Shaq Moore, midfielder/defender James Sands and midfielder Djordje Mihailovic.
“There’s still some time that they can try to earn their way onto the team,” Berhalter said.
Back in the World Cup after missing the 2018 tournament, the U.S. opens against 20th-ranked Wales on Nov. 21, plays No. 5 England in a Black Friday matchup four days later and closes group play on Nov. 29 against 21st-ranked Iran.
Sargent appeared in the first three qualifiers last September but was dropped by the U.S. during a scoring slump at Norwich, which was relegated from the Premier League to England’s second tier. He has revived his play this season, scoring six goals in his last six matches.
Ferreira is fourth in Major League Soccer with 18 goals for Dallas. Pepi was left off the spring roster to rest, and he is scoreless in 30 games for club and country since Oct. 7.
“Keep in mind, this is a guy that scored three goals for us in World Cup qualifying and has had a tough time since then,” Berhalter. “We’re trying to get him confidence. We’re trying to get him into the group and see if he can make a push for the final roster.”
Pefok had three goals in six games with Union Berlin.
“It may not be the best forward that is in the group. It’s a guy that fits what we’re doing the best,” Berhalter said.
Injuries and lack of playing time remain a concern.
Central defender Miles Robinson will miss the tournament after tearing his left Achilles on May 7. Steffen, loaned to second-tier Middlesbrough by Manchester City, has been out since Aug. 20 due to a knee injury that required a PRP injection.
Weah has not played in the French league this season because of a sprained ankle but could return to team training by the end of next week, Berhalter said. Left back Antonee Robinson sprained his right ankle on Sept. 3.
“At this stage, it’s probably better not to rush it and give him the proper recovery time,” Berhalter said.
Roldan has been out with a groin injury since Aug. 23.
Goalkeeper Matt Turner has played just once this season at Arsenal, where he is Aaron Ramsdale’s backup.
“Maybe a little bit of rhythm and rust could come into play,” Berhalter said. “Would I like him to be playing every week in the Premier League? Yes, but that’s not the case.”
Christian Pulisic has one start this season for Chelsea, and Luca de la Torre has played just 12 minutes over two games in his first season with Celta Vigo.
Reyna, coming back from leg injuries that decimated his 2021-22 season, was limited to four second-half substitute appearances since April 8 before starting at Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Dest has only a pair of substitute appearances since April 24 and Richards has made three substitute Premier League appearances totaling 47 minutes in his first season with Crystal Palace.
Berhalter’s roster will average 24 years, 201 days as of the start of training on Monday. Nine players have changed clubs in recent months. Eight players are in MLS and nine each in Europe, and and in England and Scotland. Berhalter plans a training camp for MLS players as their teams are eliminated.
The roster:
Goalkeepers: Ethan Horvath (Luton Town, England), Sean Johnson (New York City), Matt Turner (Arsenal, England)
Defenders: Reggie Cannon (Boavista, Portugal), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Glasgow Celtic, Scotland), Sergiño Dest (AC Milan, Italy), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace, England), Joe Scally (Borussia Mönchengladbach, Germany), Sam Vines (Royal Antwerp, Belgium), DeAndre Yedlin (Miami), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville)
Midfielders: Kellyn Acosta (Los Angeles), Tyler Adams (Leeds, England), Luca de la Torre (Celta Vigo, Spain), Weston McKennie (Juventus, Italy), Yunus Musah (Valencia, Spain), Malik Tillman (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland)
Forwards: Brenden Aaronson (Leeds, England), Paul Arriola (Dallas), Jesús Ferreira (Dallas), Jordan Morris (Seattle), Ricardo Pepi (Groningen, Netherlands), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea, England), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Josh Sargent (Norwich, England).
___
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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| 2022-09-20T21:17:31Z
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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Nearly one in five U.S. adults bet money on sports over the past year, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The report from the Pew Research Center shows that 19% of adults surveyed said they had wagered on sports.
The most common way they did so was by placing bets with friends or family, such as a private betting pool, fantasy league or a casual bet; 15% of respondents said they bet in this manner.
Only 8% said they had made sports bets in person at a casino, racetrack or kiosk, and 6% reported having done so online. The survey did not ask if the online sites were regulated by a government agency, or were unregulated offshore sites.
The survey’s results indicate that the nascent U.S. legal sports betting industry, while growing rapidly, has plenty of room for expansion; more than 80% of all legal sports bets in the U.S. are made online.
As of last Thursday’s kickoff to the NFL season, 31 states plus Washington D.C. offered legal sports betting, and several others will do so soon.
A record 46.6 million Americans say they plan to bet on the current NFL season, up 3% from last year, according to the American Gaming Association, the gambling industry’s national trade group.
The center surveyed 6,034 adults from July 5-17. Its margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
More male respondents than female — 24% versus 15% — said they had bet on sports in some form in the past year. And of respondents under 50 years of age, 22% had bet on sports compared to 17% over 50.
The Pew Center said 27% of Black respondents and 24% of the Hispanic respondents reported having bet on sports, while 18% of white adults and 10% of Asian-Americans said they had.
It found no significant differences in sports betting by educational attainment or household income level: 18% of college graduates said they bet on sports in the past year, and 20% of those without a college degree said they had done so.
Meanwhile, 22% of adults in the upper-income wage bracket, 19% of middle-income and 19% of lower-income households reported making sports bets in the past year.
The survey also found no significant difference by party affiliation: 21% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they have bet on sports in some way in the last 12 months, as have 19% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.
In terms of whether sports betting is good or bad for society, 57% said it is neither. Just over a third — 34% — said it is bad, and 8% said it is good.
Asked whether betting on sports is good for sports itself, 49% were neutral, 33% saw it as bad and 16% said it is good.
As of May, the fourth anniversary of a U.S. Supreme Court decision clearing the way for all 50 U.S. states to offer legal sports betting should they choose to do so, Americans had wagered over $125 billion on sports.
___
Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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| 2022-09-20T21:17:39Z
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ST. LOUIS (AP) — The cheers began for Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina as they walked in from the bullpen before the game, the St. Louis fans standing to salute them for all they’d accomplished together.
After the final out in a 4-1 victory over Milwaukee on Wednesday night, it was time for the Cardinals to shower the record-making duo with a clubhouse celebration.
Wainwright and Molina started together for the 325th time, the most by a battery in major league history. The duo eclipsed the regular-season mark of 324 held by the Detroit Tigers pair of Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan from 1963-1975.
“Great feeling to be on top of that list,” Molina said. “And doing it with Waino, a great human being, it’s just amazing.”
Added Wainwright: “I don’t think anyone will break that record.”
Towels with the No. 325 were given out to fans as they entered Busch Stadium, and the ovations and tributes kept coming.
“The crowd was so awesome, making me get constant chills and tearing up,” Wainwright said.
“Usually when I get to the dugout after warming up, I’m very laser-focused on my approach to first batter,” he said. “But they were playing a video on the board and I thought, ‘you know, they’re probably not going to play any more cool videos while I’m pitching that I can really take in.’ So, I might as well enjoy it for a minute.”
Brewers leadoff man Christian Yelich got into the moment, too. The Milwaukee star stood absolutely still and made no attempt to swing at Wainwright’s first pitch, a called strike.
“They deserve that moment of respect,” Yelich said. “It was cool to see history. ”
The ball was taken out play, then Wainwright and Molina went to work at extending the Cardinals’ lead in the NL Central.
Wainwright and Molina made their first start together on April 6, 2007, in Houston. Wainwright recorded a 4-2 win in that game — the first of his 213 victories with Molina behind the plate.
The 40-year-old Molina, a perennial Glove Glover, has indicated he will retire at the end of this season. The 41-year-old Wainwright has yet to make a decision on his future.
Wainwright (11-9) gave up just one run in five innings despite allowing eight hits and walking two. He struck out three in a 98-pitch stint.
Wainwright and Molina were sprayed with Cherry Coke, Sprite and apple juice by teammates in a lengthy postgame celebration in the locker room.
Molina gave his buddy a big defensive boost, throwing out Kolten Wong attempting to steal on the back end of a strikeout to end the third. Wainwright fanned Andrew McCutchen with a 74 mph curve and Molina still got Wong by plenty.
Molina put the Cardinals ahead for good with a tiebreaking single in the second. It was his 31st career go-ahead RBI in a Wainwright start.
Nolan Arenado and Lars Nootbaar both homered for the Cardinals, who have won three of four. They stretched their division lead to eight games over the second-place Brewers.
Milwaukee had a three-game winning streak snapped and remained two games behind San Diego in the race for the final wild-card spot in the NL.
Wainwright has thrown 2,141 of his 2,553 innings to Molina. He and Molina have teamed up to record 1,815 strikeouts.
Arenado hit his 29th homer in the second off Corbin Burnes (10-7).
Burnes gave up three runs on seven hits over seven innings. He struck out five and walked one.
Nootbaar pushed the lead to 3-1 with his 12th homer in the fifth.
Albert Pujols hit an RBI double in the eighth. He remains at 697 career home runs, fourth on the all-time list behind Barry Bonds (755), Hank Aaron (714) and Babe Ruth (715).
Pujols was hit on the right shoulder by Burnes’ pitch in the sixth, but remained in the contest.
Ryan Helsley picked up his 17th save in 21 opportunities.
Yelich had two hits for the Brewers, who spent 92 days in first place in the NL Central earlier in this season.
ANOTHER GREAT ONE
NHL hockey great Wayne Gretzky was seated in the front row at the game. Gretzky played 18 games for the St. Louis Blues in 1995-96 and maintains a home in the area.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Brewers: RHP Matt Bush is listed as day-to-day after being removed in the first inning of Tuesday’s game with right groin discomfort. He threw only 15 pitches. Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell indicated that Bush will not be going on the injured list.
UP NEXT
Brewers: RHP Adrian Houser (6-9, 4.61) will face New York Yankees RHP Frankie Montas (5-12, 3.89) in the first of a three-game series on Friday in Milwaukee. Houser has just six quality starts in 18 starts this season. The Brewers are 7-11 in games his has started.
Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (11-11, 3.42) takes on Cincinnati RHP Chase Anderson (0-3, 9.00) in the first of a five-game set on Thursday in St. Louis. Mikolas is 3-4 with a 5.55 ERA in 15 appearances against the Reds.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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| 2022-09-20T21:17:46Z
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It appears as if our break from the summer heat will soon come to an end. Expect a warming trend in the coming days with highs returning to early August-like levels next week. The dry weather will also continue with no rain expected through next week.
The warming trend begins: Temperatures Wednesday afternoon have warmed into the upper 80s over most of the ArkLaTex after a cool start in the 50s. This will likely be the coolest day of the next ten days as a warming trend will accelerate from now into the weekend. We will continue to see below-normal temperatures tonight with lows dipping into the low to middle 60s. Daytime highs Thursday will likely return to more normal levels with temperatures soaring into the lower 90s.
Don’t expect any rain: Futurecast shows that we will see a clear sky over the ArkLaTex once again Wednesday night. Expect a mostly sunny sky Thursday and a clear sky once again Thursday night. Friday will also be another dry day under a partly to mostly sunny sky. The wind will shift around to the southeast and the humidity will gradually return. At the same time, upper-level high pressure will establish itself over the southeastern half of the country later this week. This will put a cap on any rain that may try to develop with the return of the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. It’s looking promising that the vast majority of the ArkLaTex will stay dry through the rest of this week and all of next week. The upper-level ridge will strengthen just to our north early next week bringing another taste of summer-like heat.
Get the A/C ready: This summer began with the presence of an upper-level ridge producing hot and dry conditions. While the heat next week will likely not be as hot as we have seen in the past few months, we will still experience well above-normal temperatures. The strength of the upper ridge will likely reach its peak by the middle of next week. Models have been trending hotter for the past few days. It now appears that we could see highs in the mid to even upper 90s by next Wednesday. Thanks to an increase in humidity, lows will also creep up into the low to middle 70s. Thankfully, the extreme heat shouldn’t last too long. We should see more normal temperatures return by next weekend.
Keep an eye on the tropics: Tropical Depression 7 developed this morning over the central Atlantic. This storm is forecast to strengthen and become Tropical Storm Fiona in the next day or two. As of right now, models are hinting that we could see this system turn to the north. The trend today is that this system will stay to the east of the US East Coast. There is still some uncertainty in model projections so it’s still possible that it could continue towards the Gulf of Mexico.
Get daily forecasts and exclusive severe weather details on storms as they approach your area by downloading the Arklatex Weather Authority app now available in the App Store and Google Play
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| 2022-09-20T21:18:01Z
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – The weather has been pleasant and dry so far this week, that will not change today, but the heat and humidity will build as we move into the weekend. There is little chance of any rainfall over the next 7 days.
A Large temperature swing from morning to afternoon today: It will be another cool morning with temperatures in the 50s and low 60s at sunrise. If you needed a jacket yesterday, take one with you this morning as the temperatures are nearly identical to Tuesday.
The dry weather we have enjoyed with the low humidity will continue today. Expect temperatures to reach the low 80s by lunchtime with highs in the 80s and low 90s this afternoon under sunny skies. Wind will be out of the east and southeast at 5 to 10 miles per hour, so the water conditions will be excellent on area lakes and rivers. Dewpoint temperatures, which is a measure of humidity will be between 55 and 60 degrees today, which is comfortable for September.
If you’re enjoying these cooler nights and mornings we should have another ‘cool’ night with lows in the 50s and low 60s.
Warmer with a surge in humidity in the upcoming days: While the low humidity will keep our mornings comfortable through at least Friday, the afternoons will be slightly warmer in the upcoming days. Expect highs in the low 90s under mostly sunny skies Thursday and Friday.
If we are going to see any rainfall over the next 7 days, it will come Saturday as a stronger south wind may help to push a few sea-breeze showers north from the coast into the ArkLaTex. I’m still not convinced this activity will be anything that brings measurable rainfall to the region, so I’ve left the weekend forecast dry for now.
With humidity increasing this weekend, and our temperatures in the low 90s, we will have a ‘heat index’ or ‘feels like’ temperature near 100 degrees. The unseasonably warm and dry weather will continue for much of next week.
Get exclusive severe weather details on storms as they approach your area by downloading the Arklatex Weather Authority app, now available in the App Store and Google Play
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| 2022-09-20T21:18:16Z
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After just a year in awards-show exile, the Golden Globes will return to their prime-time TV home of NBC and—following the Emmys’ lead—stream on Peacock in 2023. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the news on Tuesday, marking Tuesday, January 10, 2023, as the ceremony’s day of return.
“We recognize the HFPA’s commitment to ongoing change and look forward to welcoming back the Golden Globes to NBC for its landmark 80th anniversary in January 2023,” Frances Berwick, chairman of entertainment networks for NBCUniversal TV and steaming, said in a press release. Helen Hoehne, president of the HFPA, said in a statement that the organization is “thrilled to announce the return of the Golden Globe Awards on NBC and to hosting the ‘party of the year’ for audiences around the world who have been waiting for its return.”
But before the embattled group can truly pop the Champagne, it’s worth noting that NBC has only made a one-year agreement with the Globes—giving the network ample room to axe the show again should controversy arise.
Reports first circulated in August that the Globes were plotting a comeback on NBC, after this year’s ceremony was held via Twitter amid widespread backlash. NBC declined to televise the last Golden Globes after several Los Angeles Times articles exposed the HFPA’s diversity issues, racism accusations, and ethics complaints. Stars including Scarlett Johansson and Tom Cruise (who returned his three Globes) led a Hollywood boycott of the group. The HFPA’s longtime publicity firm, Sunshine Sachs, parted ways with the organization. And the Peacock network—home of the Globes since 1996—said it would only consider a 2023 broadcast once “meaningful reform” had taken place.
In the press release, the HFPA touted the addition of 103 new members to its ranks, making the voters now 52% female and 51.5% racially and ethnically diverse, with 19.5% Latinx, 12% Asian, 10% Black, and 10% Middle Eastern representation. “We have seen firsthand the dedication of the HFPA as it continues to modernize and act on its important mission,” Adam Stotsky, president of Dick Clark Productions, said in a statement. “We’re excited to produce the show that kicks off award season, supports so many here in Los Angeles, and impacts artists across the globe.”
Nominations for the Golden Globes, which honor the year’s best in both film and TV, will be announced on Monday, December 12, 2022. The 80th Golden Globes will air live from the Beverly Hilton hotel on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
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From the Archive: The Dynastic Struggle That Rocked Queen Elizabeth’s Marriage
Listen to VF’s Still Watching Podcast for Ongoing Analysis of House of the Dragon
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| 2022-09-20T21:23:12Z
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Ever since Jackass premiered on MTV in 2000, Johnny Knoxville has been introducing himself to the world…and then subjecting his body to abuse. We’ve watched him lose fights to boxers, stress test an athletic cup with a sledgehammer, and terrorize Los Angeles as a Night Monkey. But in this spring’s Jackass Forever—the long-awaited, much delayed fourth installment in the MTV show’s feature-film franchise—Knoxville was charged by a bull and suffered multiple injuries including a brain hemorrhage. After suffering an estimated 16 concussions, his stunt days were over. Fortunately for him, he could pivot into sitcoms.
This week, Hulu premieres Reboot, in which edgy writer Hannah Korman (Rachel Bloom) follows her indie film, Cunt Saw, with a dark reimagining of Step Right Up, a TGIF-caliber multicam sitcom. She wants to bring back the original cast, including Reed Sterling (Keegan-Michael Key), Bree Marie Jensen (Judy Greer), Zack Jackson (Calum Worthy), and Clay Barber (Knoxville). All have their own reasons to return to any version of the show that made them famous; since Andy Dick recently told him he was out of control, Clay may need it most of all for image rehab. And since the old episodes of the show do well on the platform, Hulu’s happy to revive it; they just might want to bring back the original showrunner, Gordon Gelman (Paul Reiser), to impose his antique comic sensibilities onto Hannah’s vision. It’s a real sitcom using a fake sitcom to make a metacommentary about the business of television and celebrity. Simple right? To add another layer of meta-mind-scramble on top, also returning to the world of (real) sitcoms is Reboot’s creator Steven Levitan, whose massively successful ABC sitcom, Modern Family, ended its run in 2020.
Vanity Fair spoke with Knoxville on a wide range of topics ahead of Reboot’s debut. He endorsed nonlethal, self-defense equipment: “Pepper spray is on the money every time…Sometimes I recommend it to my assistants, ‘Just have a little pepper spray on your keychain.’” He (jokingly) called out one of his costar’s brief dog-sitting mishaps: “She found it later, but everybody—if you’re going to leave your dog with Judy Greer, you’re very brave.” And he appreciated his fans: “If I’m going to get annoyed by getting recognized, I should have gone into a different business…Without those people wanting to say hi or get a picture, God knows what I’d be doing.” Ahead, find out about Knoxville.
Vanity Fair: What attracted you to the role of Clay?
Johnny Knoxville: Steve Levitan, period. He’s brilliant and someone who I wanted to work with for a long time. He was thinking about me for the show. I was thrilled and it worked out. And not only did it work out, it was a great experience and I’m proud of the work we did. So I’m really excited for people to see this. It’s funny, of course, but it has a lot of heart as well. I think he’s been in the business so long. Of course, he’s satirizing, but it also seems like a love letter from him to television, because there’s a lot of wonderful moments in it.
You have spoken in the past about people in your life who have had issues with substance abuse, which your character, Clay, also had. Was there anything that you especially wanted to make sure that you got right in portraying this aspect of the character?
Well, I think Clay is wanting to change and doing the best he can. And if you have substance abuse problems or anyone you know does, the wanting to change is everything. And at the end of the day, all we can do is the best we can. So I feel like we got that right. It doesn’t have to be substance abuse, it could be anything about yourself that you first have to be aware of and then want to change it.
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| 2022-09-20T21:23:18Z
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Despite making up over half of the country’s population, women are still underrepresented behind the camera in America’s independent film industry. According to the study “Indie Women: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women in U.S. Independent Film, 2021-22” released today by Dr. Martha M. Lauzen—the executive director of the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University—women made up just 39% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on independent films (either narrative and documentary) that screened or streamed at high-profile film festivals in the US from July 2021 to June 2022.
That percentage fluctuates depending on the type of film, the position, and if there’s at least one woman in the director’s chair on the project. Per “Indie Women,” there’s more parity in the documentary space than the narrative feature space, with women making up 43% of working directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers on documentaries rather than 34% of those working on narrative features.
“Documentaries continue to employ higher percentages of women filmmakers than narrative features, and independent films offer more opportunities for women than larger budget features,” Dr. Lauzen said in a press release. Film festivals screened or streamed almost an equal number of documentaries directed by women as men on average, and the percentage of women working in every role the study examined was higher on documentaries than on narrative features.
However, the case for narrative features is somewhat bleaker. On average, US film festivals included six movies directed by at least one woman for every 10 movies directed exclusively by men. Women were best represented as producers in the narrative space, making up 38% of producers in those films in 2021–2022. This, however, is down from 40% of women who served as producers in the independent film space in 2020–2021.
As for jobs, women are least represented in the visual and audio spaces, as opposed to writing, directing, and producing. Although women made up 33% of executive producers, 34% of writers, and 35% of directors, they only comprised 20% of cinematographers in both narrative and documentary films in 2021–2022. Even more bleak is the composing space, where women represented just 17% of indie film composers in the past year.
Lauzen examined 9,960 credits on 730 films from 2021–2022, comparing them to over 105,360
credits on more than 10,200 films over the period of 2008 to 2022, focusing on high-profile titles and film festivals. The study did not include any data about gender non-conforming or nonbinary representation in the indie film space.
One piece of heartening news: Lauzen found that when a film had at least one woman director, the percentages of women working in other behind-the-scenes positions such as writers, editors, and cinematographers were substantially higher than in films exclusively directed by men. Here’s to women supporting other women.
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Glenn Youngkin has fostered a perception of himself as a comparatively moderate Republican. Sure, he won the Virginia governorship by tapping into the culture wars — most notably through his incessant fearmongering about critical race theory in schools. But he was nevertheless sold to the public as more “traditional” than the Donald Trump loyalists who have come to dominate the GOP, a brand he continues to enjoy today. “The truth is, Youngkin is not a Trumplike character at all,” the political scientist Larry Sabato told Time’s Molly Ball over the summer. “You can see it.” Youngkin may evoke “suburban dad” more than wild-eyed insurrectionist, but for all the marketing, he is every bit the radical Democrats warned he was.
The Virginia governor next month is expected to stump for Kari Lake — the far-right Arizona gubernatorial candidate who has built a political name for herself by parroting Trump’s 2020 election lies and accusing Joe Biden and the Democrats of pursuing a “demonic” agenda. It’s not clear if Youngkin — who dipped his toe into the pool of election denialism during his campaign against Terry McAuliffe by promoting voting machine audits and “election integrity” concerns, but never jumped all the way in — agrees with Lake that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump or believes, as Lake apparently does, that governors should be able to reject election results they do not like. But it doesn’t matter if he personally buys into it: In promoting Lake and other Trumpian extremists, he’s helping launder some of the rankest anti-democratic elements the former president unleashed in American politics.
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Lake is not the only election denier Youngkin is championing. As buzz builds around his own potential 2024 ambitions, the Virginia governor has hit the trail for Nevada hopeful Joe Lombardo, who has sowed doubts about the legitimacy of the 2020 election without fully embracing them, and Michigan’s Tudor Dixon, who insists that Trump actually defeated Biden. Both have received Trump’s endorsement. (Youngkin has also campaigned for Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who notably did not receive Trump’s endorsement, thanks to his refusing to help the former president overturn the election results in the state.) Youngkin may not be as brazenly boorish as Trump or his most faithful acolytes. But Youngkin’s courtship of such figures is a reminder that moderate Republicans don’t really exist in the contemporary GOP.
Yes, some Republicans have bucked Trump and his attacks on democracy. But none of those figures are in good standing with the party, with many either forced into retirement or primaried out of their jobs. To make it in a party like this, one must either be an extremist or be willing to cater to extremists. Youngkin has done just that — not only on the campaign trail for himself and fellow Republicans, but in his governance, which has been characterized by hardline social conservatism and never ending culture war cruelty. In his most recent salvo, Youngkin’s administration moved to dramatically roll back the rights of transgender students in Virginia, including forbidding teachers and school staff from referring to kids by anything but the pronouns they were assigned at birth. His administration has framed these new policies as “reaffirming the rights of parents to determine how their children will be raised and educated.” But those “parental rights” seem to apply only to a narrow swath of parents, ones who are inordinately preoccupied with what bathrooms students are using and who want to shield their high school kids from Pulitzer Prize winning novels.
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By any realistic standard, these policies are extreme. A more genteel form of Trumpism is still Trumpism — and perhaps an even more insidious form of it.
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On Tuesday, for the first time in years, there was a new episode of podcast Serial season one. Its subject, Adnan Syed, who for the past 23 years was serving a life sentence for the murder of his former high-school girlfriend Hae Min Lee, was released from prison Monday. A Baltimore judge vacated the conviction in light of state prosecutors saying they no longer have confidence in the case against him. When the verdict came down, Serial tweeted immediately that its host Sarah Koenig, a former Baltimore Sun reporter who became a quasi-celebrity for dissecting Syed's case over a dozen episodes in 2014, was in the courtroom. Her reporting and the investigative true-crime series from the people behind This American Life gained a cult following, shattering records and invigorating the podcast industry. “The original Serial series might be the most impactful (by a number of measures) piece of journalism of the last decade,” journalist Wesley Lowery tweeted Monday, following Syed's release.
But Koenig's message in the supplement of her inaugural true-crime podcast series took a more somber tone. It was far from a celebration of the podcast's influence in making Syed a national figure, with Koenig and others reacting to Monday's development as a devastating reminder of how many times the system had failed in Syed's case. "Yesterday, there was a lot of talk about fairness,” she said in the final moments of Tuesday morning's episode. “But most of what the state put in that motion to vacate, all the actual evidence, was either known or knowable to cops and prosecutors back in 1999. So even on a day when the government publicly recognizes its own mistakes, it's hard to feel cheered about a triumph of fairness, because we’ve built a system that takes more than 20 years to self correct—and that’s just this one case.”
It's true there have been a number of developments in Syed’s case in the years since Serial, which discovered, among other things, the existence of an alibi witness whom Syed’s original defense had failed to contact and that physical evidence gathered at the time was never tested for Syed’s DNA; an HBO show would later reveal that Syed’s DNA was not found on Lee’s body or belongings. Syed, Koenig said, appeared to be keeping his expectations low throughout. “From the outside at least, it’s hard to satisfyingly pinpoint the impact that Serial and, later, HBO’s show had on the events that led to Syed walking out of prison yesterday,” CJR’s Jon Allsop wrote Tuesday, as “they raised and then kept huge public attention on his case in a way that can’t easily be separated from the progress of the case itself, and yet the vacating of his sentence took years, and ultimately flowed from a new law and an official procedure.”
Last week, in a motion to vacate that Koenig in Tuesday’s episode said “burst like a firework out of the prosecutors' office,” the Baltimore City state’s attorney said “the state no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction” though stopped short of exonerating Syed. “The prosecutors today are not saying Adnan is innocent,” Koenig explained. “Instead they’re saying that, back in 1999, we didn’t investigate this case thoroughly enough; we relied on evidence we shouldn’t have, and we broke the rules when we prosecuted.” Prosecutors in the motion cited a nearly yearlong investigation that had uncovered new information about “the possible involvement of two alternative suspects”—both of whom were known to detectives at the time—as well as key evidence that prosecutors might have failed to turn over to Syed’s lawyers and “significant reliability issues regarding the most critical pieces of evidence,” including the cellphone data that Serial had questioned. On Monday, a judge gave prosecutors 30 days to either proceed with a new trial or drop the case; Syed will serve home detention until then. “The chances of the state ever trying to prosecute Adnan again are remote at best,” said Koenig, who told the Times’ David Leonhardt that she was “shocked” last week by the prosecutors’ motion and “did not see this coming at all.”
The first season of Serial is, to this day, talked about in a way few other podcast series are, though it’s not the only investigative one that has brought new, meaningful attention to old cases. But the 2014 show, which arrived as smartphones were becoming ubiquitous and seemed to herald a so-called golden age of podcasting, looms largest. That’s true even for Serial Productions, whose last several seasons and other shows—Nice White Parents, The Trojan Horse Affair—have paled in comparison. The New York Times, which bought Serial Productions in 2020, aired Koenig's Tuesday episode on The Daily. But it was outside the courtroom on Monday where the lasting impact of the first season was clearest, in the swaths of press that met a newly-freed Syed.
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A Texas sheriff has opened a criminal investigation into the anti-immigration stunt pulled by Florida governor Ron DeSantis last week, in which dozens of migrants were baited onto chartered planes in Bexar County, Texas, and flown to Martha’s Vineyard. In a Monday statement, Bexar County sheriff Javier Salazar said that the migrants DeSantis used were originally picked up from the Migrant Resource Center and “lured” onto flights that stopped in Florida before departing for Martha’s Vineyard, where they were “left to fend for themselves.”
“We are working with private attorneys who are representing the victims, as well as advocacy organizations regarding this incident,” the Texas sheriff said in a press release, according to NPR. “We are also preparing to work with any federal agencies that have concurrent jurisdiction, should the need arise.” In a virtual press conference, the Democratic sheriff told reporters that the 50 migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard were recruited by a Venezuelan migrant who received “a bird-dog fee” to lure the group onto planes “under false pretenses of being offered jobs” and “promises of a better life,” adding that the group was “exploited and hoodwinked.” Some migrants claimed that an organizer involved in the stunt—a woman reportedly named “Perla,” according to some—promised them jobs, several months of free housing, and legal papers upon arrival.
In response to the investigation, DeSantis’s spokesperson Taryn Fenske claimed that the “homeless” migrants were “more than willing” to leave Texas. “Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them, as we expected,” said Fenske on Tuesday, according to Insider. Christina Pushaw, another spokesperson for the governor, laughed off the Texas investigation with a tweet reading “Lol” next to a clown-face emoji. The Republican governor, whose stunt has received around-the-clock praise from conservative media outlets, has personally defended the decision. “They all signed consent forms to go… [and were given] a map of Martha’s Vineyard,” DeSantis told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday, claiming the arrangement “was clearly voluntary,” despite reports that the migrants were told the flights were headed to Boston. The Florida governor has also claimed that none of the migrants were promised jobs—but a brochure reportedly given to the migrants does guarantee “employment for refugees programs and services for eligible populations seeking employment,” according to Popular Information’s Judd Legum.
Oren Sellstrom of Lawyers for Civil Rights, a nonprofit legal aid group representing 30 of the migrants, said that “false representations were made in order to induce our clients to travel,” adding that “the people that were on the ground in Texas, recruiting our clients for this stunt, held themselves out as people that could be trusted. They preyed on our clients’ vulnerability in order to gain their trust.”
In the Florida legislature, DeSantis’s political stunt has raised concerns over the possible misuse of tax dollars. The line in the Florida state budget used by DeSantis grants him the authority to transport “unauthorized aliens from this state,” but the group sent to Martha’s Vineyard was recruited in Texas. (When asked by Politico about the possible budget controversy, DeSantis’s office did not respond.) To that point, Florida’s Democratic leadership has accused the governor of “spending outside of the authority granted to them by the legislature.” Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, one Democratic lawmaker is also urging the Justice Department to investigate the $600,000 spent by DeSantis to charter the planes. “We are requesting that the Department of Justice open an investigation to hold DeSantis & others accountable for these inhumane acts,” state Representative Dylan Fernandes wrote. “Not only is it morally criminal––there are legal implications around fraud, kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, and human trafficking.”
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Adam Levine addressed the rumors head-on after being accused of having an extramarital relationship with Instagram model Sumner Stroh, clarifying that while they did not have an affair, he “crossed the line.”
The Maroon 5 singer said in a statement to TMZ, which he also shared on his Instagram Stories, “I used poor judgment in speaking with anyone other than my wife [Behati Prinsloo] in ANY kind of flirtatious manner. I did not have an affair, nevertheless, I crossed the line during a regrettable period of my life.” He added, “In certain instances it became inappropriate. I have addressed that and taken proactive steps to remedy this with my family. My wife and my family is all I care about in this world. To be this naive and stupid enough to risk the only thing that truly matters to me was the greatest mistake I could ever make. I will never make it again. I take full responsibility. We will get through it and we will get through it together.” Levine and Prinsloo have been married since 2014 and have two daughters together, five-year-old Dusty Rose and four-year-old Gio Grace. Earlier this month, they also announced that they have a third baby currently on the way.
The singer’s response comes one day after Stroh posted a TikTok in which she claimed that she and the musician had an affair, sharing screenshots of private messages she alleges are from Levine in which he asks if he can name his third child after her. In the clip, the model says that it happened at a time when she was “young, naive,” and she was “manipulated” and her “morals were unknowingly compromised.” She claims that they were seeing each other for about a year and then after months of not talking, the Maroon 5 frontman suddenly messaged her, asking, “Ok serious question. I’m having another baby and if it’s [a] boy I really wanna name it Sumner. You ok with that? DEAD serious.”
Stroh also told Page Six that the affair took place “last year” when she “graduated college in 2021.” And when asked what the nature of their relationship was, she claimed it was “physical.” Although she added, “I haven’t spoken to him in months.” In a separate follow-up TikTok, the model also apologized to Prinsloo for any hurt she may have caused her, saying that she “fully realize[s]” she is “not the victim” here. “I’m not the one who’s really getting hurt here. It’s Behati and her children. And for that, I’m so, so sorry.”
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She's a Funny Girl once more. Lea Michele returns to Broadway on Tuesday after a bout with COVID-19 forced her to miss over a week of performances as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl.
But before she takes the stage, Vanity Fair has an exclusive look at Michele as Brice, the comedic actor the musical is based on, opposite co-stars Tovah Feldshuh (as Mrs. Brice) and Ramin Karimloo (as Nick Arnstein) at the August Wilson Theater.
Michele took over the role of Fanny Brice from Beanie Feldstein on September 6th. At her debut performance she received seven standing ovations—four before intermission—and rave reviews for her take on the vaudeville star first played by Barbra Streisand. On Saturday, September 10th just a few days after her triumphant first performance, Michele started showing early symptoms of COVID-19 and was forced to call out of the show.
“Due to production’s safety protocols I’m not allowed to perform for today’s shows. Julie is going to crush it today as Fanny,” wrote Michele in an Instagram caption, referencing Julie Benko, her understudy, who also performs on Thursday nights. The next day, Michele officially tested positive for COVID-19, and was unable to return to the theater for 10 days.
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Matthew McConaughey explained that despite his negative childhood experiences surrounding sex, he refused to let being blackmailed and molested define the rest of his life.
The actor spoke to Amanda de Cadenet on her podcast The Conversation as her first guest in a new series titled “About the Men.” During the conversation, McConaughey opened up about experiencing trauma and some of the lessons his father taught him surrounding consent and physical intimacy. When asked how he knew what was “right” from such a young age, he replied, “Well, I had been taught, been guided, by my parents about respect for a woman, respect for the relationship, respect for sexual intimacy, respect for space.” He continued, “My dad had always had this thing when he taught us the birds and the bees, he said, 'You know, you're getting that age you kiss?' and I said, 'Yes, sir.' And he goes, 'Well, it's gonna go further than that one day. It's probably gonna go to where you're gonna get intimate and there's gonna be the breast, and then there's gonna be below the belt.'—I'm paraphrasing—'It's gonna happen to you as well.' And so he goes, 'Son, as a male in the situation,' speaking to me about a heterosexual relationship, 'If you ever feel the girl, the female, hesitate…stop.' He even said this, he goes, 'You may even feel them hesitate, and then after you stop, they may go, “oh, no, no, come on.” Don't. Wait till next time.' And he was right, I got in certain senses where it was like, 'No, no, no. OK, I'm out.' Trust you'll have another day, if it's to be.”
The Dazed & Confused star also said that even after his experience being blackmailed and sexually abused he was still able to go on to have a number of positive romantic relationships with girls. Because after those traumatic experiences, he explained, “I was very clear, again, that was not right, that was not cool, that was not the way it is. After that, I got to have some healthy sexual relations and have girls that I liked and liked me, and we slowly got intimate and it was beautiful and clumsy, and all those things, but it wasn't ugly like that was.”
McConaughey originally revealed in his 2020 memoir Greenlights that he was blackmailed into having sex for the first time at age 15 and then “drugged and molested" when he was 18 years old by another man who knocked him unconscious in the back of a van. But he vowed that he wouldn't let those negative experiences turn him into a victim. He told de Cadenet, “I'm not gonna be afraid of relationships because my first experience was blackmail. Unh-uh. That's an aberration. No, that's not the way it is. And if I go on—and I'm not gonna let it beat me. That's the other thing, I'm competitive. I'm going, 'I'm not gonna let that beat my sense of trust in people and say, 'No, I can have a healthy relationship.' Non-negotiable…I still get, even telling you this story, I get…but am I gonna carry that? I chose, non-negotiably, I'm not going to carry that, bring that baggage into the life I'm going to lead, and how I treat people and how I trust people, and how I look at circumstances and the risk I may take.”
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Haunting Scenes of Grief and Patriotism on the Ground at the Queen’s Funeral
When hundreds of thousands of people gathered in London to commemorate the life of Queen Elizabeth II in the days after her death, they were celebrating her historic seven decades of service and the way her grace and humor had woven their way into the fabric of everyday life. The scale of public mourning was palpable as crowds gathered to watch the final procession from London to Windsor in the claret Jaguar hearse the queen helped design herself.
Italian photojournalist Paolo Pellegrin was on the ground to document the events as they unfolded. A 10-time World Press Photo award winner, Pellegrin made his name documenting conflicts and disasters around the globe, and in his photos of funeral scenes, he captures the infrastructure of British grief and the emotions thrumming under the surface of patriotic displays and stoic faces—from the queen’s household staff bidding farewell at Buckingham Palace to resplendent floral displays.
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KENNEWICK, Wash.-
A fight in the lunch room at Southridge High School ended with the arrest of three students today.
According to the Kennewick Police Department, today's fight stems from an incident at the school yesterday, where four students allegedly harassed and threatened another.
School administration investigated the alleged threats and shortly before lunch today, the KPD School Resource Officer arrested the main instigator from yesterday's incident.
Students involved in yesterday's incident were monitored in the lunchroom today.
Kennewick Police report that during lunch two students that were being monitored started a fight with the student who reported the harassment yesterday.
School administration attempted to break up the fight before calling police to report a "disturbance in the lunchroom."
Kennewick Police and a Benton County Sheriff's Deputy responded to the school. The students who started today's fight left the school, but were followed by staff, who gave police their location.
Three students were arrested without incident following the fight and were booked into the Benton Franklin County Juvenile Justice Center.
The three students were booked on suspicion of:
Disrupting a school activity.
Disorderly conduct.
Criminal Mischief.
Failure to obey a school official.
According to the Kennewick School District and the KPD, no weapons were involved in today's incident and no injuries were reported.
Kennewick Police and Kennewick School District Officials continue to investigate this incident.
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| 2022-09-20T21:24:16Z
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TAMPA, Fla. — Three months after Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone and photojournalist Matthew Apthorp were the first journalists to share a new lawsuit accusing Florida’s child welfare system of going out of its way to break families apart, 18 additional families have now joined the suit.
“People saw your story on the news. People said it happened to me,” said Attorney Valentina Villalobos with Community Law for Families & Children.
Since our initial story aired, Villalobos said her phone hasn’t stopped ringing.
“I can’t even answer my own phone right now, I need an assistant screening my calls,” she said in regards to the volume of calls she’s been getting from families sharing similar stories.
A total of 22 families now claim Florida’s Department of Children and Families, along with its child welfare partners including Florida’s Governor, Florida’s Surgeon General and the head of the state’s Guardian Ad Litem Program, have all violated family rights by denying relatives custody of young family members who enter the state’s care.
“They just stonewalled us,” said Curtis Houston. He’s among the 18 new families joining the lawsuit.
We first met him and his wife back in July, after they told us they were never notified their two grandchildren had been transferred into the state’s care after the children’s mother died of a drug overdose in 2018.
Earlier this year, the Houston’s were denied custody of their grandchildren after it was determined the children had developed a strong bond with their foster mom and lacked any “significant bond” with their biological grandfather.
The Houston’s claim workers within the state’s child welfare system constantly made things difficult by canceling visits at the last minute and not notifying them of case updates and hearings.
“We’ve been through, forgive the expression, we’ve been through hell and back,” said Mrs. Houston.
In the newly filed 45-page amended complaint, workers within the state’s child welfare system are accused of:
- failing to conduct diligent searches for biological relatives
- fabricating evidence or manipulating facts to disqualify some biological family members from getting custody of young relatives
- serving as an internal diversion system that allows “foster system connected-staff” can children of their choice
It’s among the serious allegations now being lodged against the state which, some families also alleged, results in violating children’s First Amendment rights by tearing them apart from their siblings.
“They lost everything, why continue to split them?” asked Taylar Point and her husband, Fredrick Benton. who said that’s what happened to their young nieces.
“When they don't have their parents, at least having a sibling would make that easier,” they said.
Point and her husband told us they didn’t even know their baby niece had entered foster care in 2019 until child welfare workers contacted them to adopt her eight months later.
Benton aged out of foster care himself.
“So, I understand the system. My initial reaction was why didn't nobody reach out to me?” he asked.
Benton and his wife agreed to adopt their niece and said they went through background checks, multiple home studies, and classes and even got the blessing of the state’s adoption review committee.
In the end, they said, they were denied custody due to the child’s bond with her foster mom and concerns over the aunt’s previous history of marijuana use. But the couple was later granted permanent custody of the child’s younger sister.
“So you were able to get custody of one child and not the other?” asked Reporter LaGrone. “How does that make sense?"
“It doesn’t,” Point responded.
Studies show children are better off growing up with their biological families and their siblings. In fact, the research is so strong, that state and federal law mandate child welfare systems search for willing and able relatives before separating siblings or placing a child with a non-relative stranger.
“I think it’s incompetence in the system,” said the families’ attorney Villalobos, who also worked for the state’s Guardian Ad Litem program, which serves as legal advocates for children in state care.
“I would see the state regularly choose foster parents over relatives and the excuse would commonly be, well where were the relatives from day one why didn’t they step up? In hindsight the truth was a lot of them didn’t know,” she explained.
By law, cases involving child placement are confidential.
In response to this amended complaint, Laura Whitehall, spokesperson for Florida’s Department of Children and Families stated in an emailed response,
“The department works tirelessly on finding relative and non-relative caregiver placements for Florida children. Keeping families together is of the utmost importance, and in some instances, that is not possible. In those cases, “the department works with our partners to make sure placements and services are in the best interest of the child.”
According to data we found, more than 40% of children in Florida are adopted by relatives. That percentage is consistent over the last several years and among the highest of states nationwide.
“Do you really think only half the kids in care have family that can care for them? I don’t,” said attorney Villalobos
Neither do the 22 families now suing the state and said they’re proof the system created to support children and keep families together doesn’t always work out that way.
“She'll know her family never stopped looking for her. We love her,” said Point. “We can't express that to her, so we want to leave something that we can show her that we love her. We don’t want this to happen to another family,” she said.
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PHOENIX — The miracle of modern technology is changing lives inside United Cerebral Palsy of Central Arizona.
Physical therapist Atalie Holem is prepping 7-year-old Alexandra Anderson to work with their newest robot.
“It allows us to practice balance and walking with the support of a dynamic trolly,” said Holem.
It’s called the ZeroG Gait and Balance Training System, and for Alexandra, it’s giving her the best chance of eventually walking on her own.
“Before she was even diagnosed, we knew there were some delays. She wasn’t meeting those baby milestones checklists that they hand you,” said Alexandra’s mom, Nicole.
Nicole says at 15 months old, her daughter was diagnosed with Pitt Hopkins Syndrome. A single missing gene from her eighteenth chromosome would change Alexandra’s life forever.
“Without that gene, it kind of wreaks havoc on her body. She has extreme difficulty with a lot of neurodevelopment issues,” said Nicole.
She’s nonverbal and faces a vast number of physical limitations. While she’s never taken an independent first step, they hope the robot will get her there. Once hooked into the harness, Alexandra can put her walking muscles to work. The ZeroG, running on an overhead track, is programmed to move with her, providing specified weight support while tracking countless data points.
“It will tell me the average body weight support that it provided, it will tell me how many falls it prevented, it will tell me the distance that the child walked. These are all things that I can then use to document progress,” said Holem.
We saw the progress ourselves after the harness was removed. Following a half-hour session on the ZeroG, Alexandra’s brain and body were now firing on memory.
“Getting to see her make those steps in the gait trainer, the ZeroG, and then when it’s off of her being able to take those assisted steps just holding Atalie’s hand, I mean, that is just pure magic,” said Nicole.
The real magic is in the hope this technology can infuse into so many families like this one. It’s the only one of its kind in the southwest.
The $300,000 investment was made possible thanks to donations from the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation, the Arizona Board of Visitors, and Thunderbird Charities.
A recent study shows children who received robotic gait training in unison with conventional physical therapy had a higher chance of gaining independent mobility than those who received only conventional therapy.
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| 2022-09-20T21:29:18Z
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Labels like Hispanic and Latino have kicked up debates about identity.
From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, Americans celebrate the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico the Caribbean and Central and South America. But why is it called National Hispanic Heritage Month?
"It's overall a celebration of just everyone's heritage, right? So, where they come from, where they are at, whether they are here in the U.S. or come from other different countries," said Manual Del Real, executive director for HSI Initiatives & Inclusion at Metropolitan State University Denver. "This term Hispanic right, it's really the government term that was established in the Census in the 1980s. So that's the term that really we use in terms of all governmental associations."
Del Real said the term Hispanic, according to the U.S. government, is inclusive of Latinos, but the definition of the word is not.
The definition of the word in the dictionary refers to "Hispanic" as a Spanish-speaking person living in the U.S., especially one of Latin American descent. That excludes those from the Caribbean, Central and South American countries who speak other languages.
"That term Hispanic also is really just not inclusive of non-Spanish speaking countries, so that's where the term Latino now is being used to then incorporate Portuguese and French. So a lot of the other countries as well that make up Central America," Del Real said.
The United States began observing Hispanic Heritage Month in 1968. However, today, those who don't identify as Hispanic may not feel celebrated.
"There are individuals that do feel like a disconnect, right, because they feel like maybe I'm not Spanish enough or Hispanic enough or Latina enough," Del Real said. "We really gotta acknowledge, you know, that this population is the second largest ethnic group in the nation and so it's going to continue to grow."
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — We are still under the heavy influence of a drier air mass pattern around the region, limiting late-day clouds and allowing warm temperatures to linger for a little while this evening. Isolated showers are unlikely. We'll go from the low 90s before 5 p.m. into the 80s around and after sunset, dropping further into the 70s before midnight. Eventual lows range from the mid 60s north to 70° or so south. The dry conditions will stretch into and beyond midweek, making sunshine abundant and boosting afternoon readings with the help of a high-pressure zone to our northwest. Highs will be in the low to mid 90s, but the heat index won't be much higher because of less moisture around. We'll have a small rain chance Friday with a cold front that will break the warm spell for the weekend, returning temps to near average with highs in the upper 80s. We'll be watching the pattern next week involving a possible tropical storm or hurricane in the Caribbean that can have implications on the Gulf coast weather happenings.
--Casanova Nurse, Chief Meteorologist
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Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
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| 2022-09-20T21:34:06Z
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CHEYENNE – The Research and Planning Section of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services reported this week that the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly from 3.0% in July to 3.1% in August.
Despite this slight increase, Wyoming’s unemployment rate is much lower than its year-ago level of 4.3%, and lower than the current U.S. rate of 3.7%.
From July to August, most county unemployment rates increased slightly. The largest increases occurred in Crook (up from 2.2% to 3.5%), Carbon (up from 2.7% to 3.1%), Natrona (up from 3.6% to 3.9%) and Niobrara (up from 2.2% to 2.5%) counties.
From August 2021 to August 2022, unemployment rates fell in most counties. The largest decreases were seen in Natrona (down from 5.4% to 3.9%), Campbell (down from 4.8% to 3.3%), Converse (down from 4.1% to 2.8%), Sublette (down from 4.6% to 3.4%) and Sweetwater (down from 5.0% to 3.9%) counties. Since unemployment rates were elevated during 2021, the decreases this year reflect a return to more normal levels.
In August, the highest unemployment rates were found in Natrona and Sweetwater counties (both at 3.9%). Teton County posted the lowest unemployment rate at 1.7%. It was followed by Weston County at 2.2%, and Niobrara and Goshen counties, both at 2.5%.
Total nonfarm employment in Wyoming (not seasonally adjusted and measured by place of work) rose from 284,000 in August 2021 to 292,100 in August 2022, an increase of 8,100 jobs (2.9%). Employment was unusually low in 2021 because of economic disruptions related to the pandemic.
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| 2022-09-20T21:34:19Z
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — An executive of the vegan food company Beyond Meat has been charged with felony battery and making a terroristic threat after a fracas outside a football game in which he’s accused of biting a man’s nose, officials said.
The altercation involving Beyond Meat Chief Operations Officer Doug Ramsey was described as a road rage attack outside Saturday’s game between the Arkansas Razorbacks and Missouri State Bears in Fayetteville, Arkansas, according to Fayetteville television station KNWA.
A police report says Ramsey — a 53-year-old Fayetteville resident — had been waiting in a line of cars to get out of a parking garage when another driver tried to inch in front of him. The other vehicle “made contact” with a wheel on Ramsey’s sport utility vehicle.
According to witnesses cited in the police report, Ramsey got out of his vehicle and “punched through the back windshield” of the other car. The other driver also got out and confronted him, and Ramsey “pulled him in close and started punching his body” and also “bit the owner’s nose, ripping the flesh on the tip of the nose,” the officer reported.
A police officer arrived to find “two males with bloody faces,” the report states.
The other driver and the witness reported hearing Ramsey “threaten to kill” the man.
Beyond Meat, which is based in El Segundo, Calif., has not responded to messages from the Associated Press seeking comment.
Ramsey joined Beyond Meat as its chief operating officer in December after spending 30 years at Tyson Foods.
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| 2022-09-20T21:37:18Z
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Of all the new rides and attractions teased at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim earlier this month, the first to open to the public likely will be Disneyland’s Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. The anchor attraction for the reimagined Mickey’s Toontown is a trackless dark ride through a modern Mickey Mouse cartoon. But that’s not the most significant thing about this new ride.
Unlike many new “E ticket” attractions opened at the Disney theme parks in the recent past, Runaway Railway will not have a height restriction, at least if it follows its Florida predecessor. Guests of all ages will be able to ride. And that’s a smart move by Disney.
It’s not that there is some huge cohort of young children emerging that would move Disney to start building more rides to accommodate preschoolers. America’s long-running baby bust continues. But an aging population creates its own demands upon the theme park industry, Disney included.
There’s an old joke that we exit life as we enter it — bald, toothless and wearing diapers. Of course, many of us work hard to stay active as long as we can, and countless theme park fans enjoy roller coasters and other thrill rides deep into their golden years. But the bell curve tolls for extreme theme park attractions. The more intense a ride’s physical experience, the more limited its audience will be, often focusing on younger and more physically active visitors.
Over the past decades, as ride systems have advanced to allow more dynamic movement in a variety of environments, Disney’s Imagineers have taken advantage by creating new generations of innovative thrill rides: Star Tours, Indiana Jones Adventure, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Soarin’, Radiator Springs Racers and — most recently — Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. As popular as each of these attractions have been, they have left some Disney visitors behind. Their height restrictions keep out younger riders, while their sometimes wild motion deters some older riders as well.
Company legend states that Walt envisioned Disneyland while watching his daughters ride the carousel at Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. He wanted to create a space where people of all ages could enjoy themselves. Walt’s first Imagineers then created many popular rides without height restrictions, including all-ages classics such as It’s a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.
But each generation demands fresh entertainment. Across the industry, as the population of teenagers and young adults swells, theme parks add more thrill rides, Disney included. Then, as the numbers of young, thrill-loving visitors decline, parks look toward more docile attractions.
Even though Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway has no height restriction, it is anything but a docile experience. Its wide appeal should help Disney maintain its lead in a competitive post-lockdown tourism market. Disneyland visitors soon will get to see what Walt Disney World guests discovered when the ride opened there in March 2020 — that talented designers can build a thrilling attraction without driving away visitors who cannot, or would rather not, get spun silly.
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We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
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| 2022-09-20T21:37:30Z
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Authorities asked for the public’s help Tuesday on a hit-and-run that left a Pasadena grandmother dead.
Police believe the suspect was driving erratically in the area before the weekend hit-and-run, Lt. Anthony Russo. They are looking for witnesses and video, he added.
Officers are following leads but have not yet located the driver, he said. However, police did find the 2013 black Dodge Charger believed used by the suspect in the 1000 block of Kirkwood Avenue on Sunday, Russo said.
The coroner still has not identified the woman killed in the hit-and-run, which occurred before noon Sunday at Marengo Avenue and Dearborn Street. Police described her as a 63-year-old Pasadena resident.
The woman’s daughter and two young grandchildren were there at the time, Russo said.
The woman was standing on the road next to her family’s parked car. She turned around and was crossing Marebmowhen a car struck her, he said. He estimated that the driver was going over the 25 mph speed limit there.
The woman later died at a local hospital.
Anyone with information about the hit-and-run can call Lt. Anthony Russo at 626-744-7159.
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We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
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| 2022-09-20T21:37:37Z
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